from Samasamajist (27/8/62)
The following letter was sent by G.C. Perara, secretary of the All Island Congress of the Sama Samaja Youth Leagues, to the Secretary of the lioscow Youth Centre, dated 26/8/62. Dear Comrade,
The All Ceylon Congress of Sama Samaja Youth Leagues gladly accepted the invitation to send a delegation to the Youth Festival at Helsinki and as you are aware, nine members of our organisation attended the Festival as part of the Delegation from Ceylon. You are also aware that our delegation dimssoc isted itself completely and publically from the attack made on the Festival by a section of the Ceylon delegation led by ir. Homa Dabare. In fact our delegation issued a statement to the press denouncing lir. Dabare's action. This statement : =ceived much publicity in the world press and coming as it did from a Ceylonese group, helped to counter lir. Dabare's anti-Festival propaganda.
In face of these facts, it is with the deepest regret that we have to protest to you against the treatment to which a member of our delegation, comrade Marshall Perara, and a colleague of his from the Fourth Internaticn:1 movement have heen subjected at the Festival. These comrades distributed at the Festival, as they had every right to do, the leaflet which the Fourth ‘aternational Secretariat had issued for the occasion. As you are aware, our orgenisation is affiliated to the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Ceylon section of the Fourth International. Finding that there was opposition from some quarters to the distribution of this leaflet, comrade Marshall Perara and his colleague met 3 members of the International Preparatory Committee regarding the matter. These members of the I.P.C. told our comrades that they could distribute the leafiet a little away from the Festival Halls.
However the Festival guards, who were all members of the Finnish Communist Party, still did not allow the distribution. Thereupon our comrades met a Polish comrade of the I.P.C. who agreed to have the matter fully discussed at the I.P.C. meeting of 4/8/62. He fixed the morning of 5/8/62 to communicate the I.P.C. decision. This Polish comrade met comrade Marshall Perara on 5/8/62 in. the morning and informed our comrade that the I.P.C. had read the leaflet and that it was not anti~Festival, but that it should be only distributed outside the Festival Halls. The Polish comrade also explained that perhaps the Finnish guards had thought that the leaflet was anti-lestival. Our comrades then asked for a note in the Finnish language permitting distribution outside the Halls. The Polish comrade promised to bring the note, but did not turn up.
On 1/8/62 our comrades were asked by the Festival guards not to distribute the leaflets anywhere. Accordingly, our comrades left the leaflets some distance away and came back, without any leaflets, in order to search for one ifr, Garcia of the I.P.C. to discuss the matter. Then a whole set of about 12 Festival guards pounced on our comrades, manhandled them and, finally, took them to the Crime Police Station at Helsinki. The Finnish police released our comrades who had committed no crime or wrong whatsoever.
We have to protest against this indefensible behaviour of the Fest— ival guards and the failure of the Festival Organisers to ensure the necessary protection to our comrades. We have further to protest against this whol! + undemocratic denial of the right to disseminate our views to those present at the Festival, especailly after the leaflet hae been accepted by the I.P.C. as being