Sugiswara Abeywardena Wickramasinghe

Dr. Sugiswara Abeywardena Wickramasinghe (13 April 1900 – 25 August 1981) was the founder of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka. The first Leftist to be elected to Ceylon State Council in 1931, he is considered as one of the leading political figures in the twentieth century of Sri Lanka.

S. A. Wickramasinghe received his school education at Mahinda College, Galle. During his stay at Mahinda College, he joined the school societies and engaged in social services and Buddhist activities. Later he entered Ananda College, Colombo. There after he went to the Ceylon Medical College, and he proceeded to the United Kingdom for his post-graduate studies. In England, he plunged into the anti-imperialist movement. It was during this period that he first met and began to work with the leaders of the future Left movement such as N. M. Perera, Colvin R. de Silva and Leslie Goonewardene, who were also studying in London and fellow-students of Marxism.

After returning to Sri Lanka, he founded the Communist Party of Ceylon and also served as the General Manager of Buddhist Theosophical Society schools in Sri Lanka. A Medical Practitioner by profession, he started working as a doctor after his post-graduate studies andjoined theGovernment Service and started practising in his native Matara district.

He hailed from Nasnaranketiya Walawwa, Athuraliyain Southern Sri Lanka,but gave up all his wealth and comforts for the sake of downtrodden. Dr Wickramasinghe was married to Doreen Young, a British leftist who later became a prominent Communist politician and a Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka. She and Dr Wickremasinghe had two children, Suren (an architect) and Suriya (Amnesty International IEC Chairperson, 1982–85).