Anthony Theodoric Armand "Doric" de Souza (1914–1987) was a Sri Lankan

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

politician, Senator, Professor of English and a brilliant Marxist theoretician. Doric de Souza, a hero unsung
/ref> Born to Goan journalist

Armand de Souza Armand de Souza (29 October 1874 – 1921) was a Ceylonese newspaper editor and democratic activist. Early life De Souza was born in Assagaum, Goa, to a Roman Catholic family belonging to the Saraswat Brahman community. He was the tenth des ...

, who was the editor of the '' Ceylon Morning Leader'' and a founding member of the

Ceylon National Congress The Ceylon National Congress ( Sinhala: ලංකා ජාතික කොන්ග්‍රසය ''Lanka Jathika Kongrasaya'') (CNC) was a Nationalist political party which was formed in Ceylon on 11 December 1919. It was founded after national ...

, Doric was educated at as a young child at St Bridgets Convent, and then at

St. Joseph's College, Colombo , motto_translation = In Knowledge and Virtue , location = T. B. Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10 , country = Sri Lanka , coordinates = , caption = School Facade , pushpin_m ...

as well the

University College, Colombo Ceylon University College was a public university college in Ceylon. Established in 1921, it was Ceylon's first attempt at university education. The college didn't award degrees under its own name but prepared students to sit the University of Lo ...

where he graduated with a BA honours in English. After graduating he received a scholarship to the University of London and on his return was appointed as a Lecturer in the English Department of the University College, Colombo. He was interested in the field of Linguistics - as well the phonetic transcriptions of speech in the English language. A member of the Trotskyist political party Lanka Sama Samaja Party, he became active in its underground work specially during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, when LSSP was banned for undermining the war effort. This was at a time when even

Esmond Wickremesinghe Cyril Esmond Lucien Wickremesinghe (29 May 1920 – 29 September 1985) was a Ceylonese press baron, lawyer, and a successful entrepreneur. He also played key role in defeating Sirimavo Bandaranaike that brought United National Party's Dudley Senan ...

was in the underground. He assisted Colvin R de Silva and

N.M. Perera Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, commonly known as Dr. N. M. Perera ( Sinhala එන්.එම්.පෙරේරා ; 6 June 1904 – 14 August 1979), was one of the leaders of the Sri Lankan Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). He ...

in breaking out of jail and smuggled them to India. On several trips to India he was arrested by the Indian Police. In 1946 he was elected to the

Colombo Municipal Council The Colombo Municipal Council is the municipal governing body of Colombo, the largest city and financial centre in Sri Lanka. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of Colombo, current elect is Rosy Senanayake, and 119 elected 119 muni ...

and held the seat till 1952 when he resigned to take up the post of Senior Lecturer in the English Department in

Peradeniya Peradeniya ( si, පේරාදෙණිය, translit=Pēradeniya; ta, பேராதனை, translit=Pērātaṉai) is a suburb of the city of Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a m ...

at the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Unive ...

. In 1957 elected to the Senate and served till 1969. That year he retired from the University of Ceylon and was appointed as Associated Professor of English of the

Vidyalankara University Pannaya Parisujjhati , mottoeng = Self-purification is by insight , established = 1875 Vidyalankara Pirivena1959 Vidyalankara University , type = Public , endowment = , adminis ...

in 1970 and remained there till 1982. He left academia to serve as Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Plantation Industries and Constitutional Affairs under Minister Colvin R de Silva during the Bandaranaike regime. He married his student Violet, (1915- 2006) who also graduated from the University College in Colombo, and later completed her postgraduate work in librarianship in London, and served as the Associate Librarian at the Peradeniya University (1953- 1968) and the Head University Librarian at the University of Colombo from 1968 till 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Souza Doric 1914 births 1987 deaths Members of the Senate of Ceylon Lanka Sama Samaja Party politicians Sinhalese academics Alumni of Saint Joseph's College, Colombo Alumni of the Ceylon University College Academics of the University of Ceylon Sri Lankan independence activists Prisoners and detainees of British Ceylon Members of the 3rd Parliament of Ceylon People of British Ceylon Sri Lankan people of Indian descent