Jeanne Hoban
Encyclopedia
Jeanne Hoban known after her marriage as Jeanne Moonesinghe, was a British
Trotskyist who became active in trade unionism and politics in Sri Lanka
. She was one of the handful of European Radicals in Sri Lanka
.
roots, her mother, May Irene Free, was a small businesswoman of partly Jewish extraction. Her early life was spent in a variety of Army camps. In 1936 her father was appointed an instructor at Eton College
, and they settled in Slough
. She attended Slough High School for Girls
, where she became Head Girl in 1942.
During the Second World War, she was once machine-gunned by a Nazi
Luftwaffe
aircraft. Although selected for London University, she had to do her two-year National Service
as a government inspector in the Bristol
aircraft factory at Staines
. There she joined the Communist Party of Great Britain
(CPGB) in 1943. She was a member of the Transport and General Workers' Union
and anyway came from a fairly radical background - the Merseyside
branch of what would later become the Militant Tendency
used to meet in her aunt's house in Birkenhead
. To the end of her life she was to maintain that the members of the CPGB were the most dedicated and conscientious political workers she was ever to know
At University College London
and LSE
, she studied law. There she met her future husband, Anil Moonesinghe
, who converted her to Trotskyism. and also a young conscientious objector called Stan Newens, who would later become a Labour Party MP and MEP.
(RCP), and Jeanne was elected to its National Executive. She fell out early with Gerry Healy
, who was most prominent in the RCP at the time, but remained close to Ted Grant
. She was associated with the group around Tony Cliff
, the so-called 'State-Caps' after their characterisation of the USSR as 'State-Capitalist'. The group would later become the Socialist Workers Party
(SWP).
She married Anil Moonesinghe in 1948 and they moved into a houseboat called 'Red October', which they built together, on the Thames near Marlow. They both entered the Labour Party
in Slough, on the orders of the RCP. Jeanne was elected to the Executive of the Labour Leagues of Youth, later being put on the list of Labour Party Parliamentary candidates. She and Anil were associated with the MP for Slough Fenner Brockway and with George Padmore
, the prophet of Black African Liberation.
After graduating from University College, she studied International Law at the London School of Economics
. However, she was unable to complete her Masters Degree as she was forced urgently to accompany Anil to Sri Lanka in 1952.
(LSSP) and worked in the Lanka Estate Workers' Union (LEWU), which organised labourers on the tea and rubber plantations. At the time the British
were still very powerful on the island, in spite of the country having obtained a form of independence in 1948. The British planters, aghast at the idea of a white woman speaking on behalf of coolies, prevailed upon the government to deport Jeanne, but she went into hiding with Vivienne Goonewardena
and the LSSP fought successfully to prevent the deportation, in a repeat of the Bracegirdle affair.
group of newspapers as a journalist, recruited by chief editor Esmond Wickremasinghe (the father of Ranil Wickremasinghe
) along with other left-oriented intellectuals such as Herbert Keuneman and Regi Siriwardena
. She had a column (under the pseudonym 'Jane Freeman') in The Observer
and also worked on the Jana
magazine. In 1955 she was called upon by Wickremasinghe to help write the a speech for Sir John Kotelawala
, the then Prime Minister
. This was the Bandung Conference of Non-Aligned Movement
, and the speech, which became quite famous, was a joint effort with the brilliant B.J.B Fernando ('Bonnie').
In the mid-1950s, she joined Sri Lanka's first co-operative housing scheme, the Gothatuwa Building Society, founded by Herbert Keuneman, Seneka Bibile
, 'Bonnie' Fernando and other members of the radical intelligentsia
. This led to the foundation of the Welikadawatte
housing estate, which attained some fame as an island of intellectual creativity.
Jeanne formed a journalists' branch of the Ceylon Mercantile Union
(CMU) at Lake House, much to the chagrin of the management which had strenuously upheld a 'no unions' policy. She was elected national Assistant Secretary of union, a post she held for several years. In 1960, she and several other trade-unionists were sacked from Lake House and were not reinstated. At this time she edited Visi-pas-vasarak, a magazine brought out by the LSSP on its 25th anniversary.
In the 1960s, she was involved in the Union’s publications and was active in many strikes of the period.
. She subsequently joined the Ghana
High Commission (at the time Kwame Nkrumah
was President and had been advised by George Padmore) as a press officer, but returned to teaching at the Castle Street School (later Devi Balika Vidyalaya) in Borella, St Michael's Polwatte and St Paul's Milagiriya.
She went on to edit the left-wing Patriot newspaper. She was also foreign news editor of the 'Nation' newspaper. In 1967, her she was one of those proposed to contest the Agalawatte
constituency on the LSSP ticket, but Dr Colvin R de Silva was selected by the party's central committee
in preference to her. She became active in the Kantha Kavaya, a circle of leftist women led by Tamara Kumari Ilangaratne. One of the proposals she made through this organisation, for a consumer council, was later adopted.
In 1968 she began broadcasting on the arts programme of Radio Ceylon
. From 1970-72 she presented a radio programme, 'Partners for progress'.
government, she was appointed to a committee to look into the teaching of English in Sri Lanka Schools. She was seconded to the Curriculum Development Centre, where she edited its bulletin. There she was on the drafting committee of a new series of English Language textbooks. She was associated with a group of educationists led by Douglas Walatara
, who wanted to teach English through the medium of the students' mother tongue, the indirect method. The new English textbook, which replaced the GCE (Advanced Level) English textbook, and which she was partly responsible for, was controversial, avoiding Chaucer and Shakespeare, but including Bob Dylan
(Blowin' in the Wind
), John Lennon
(Imagine
) and Isaac Asimov
(Jokester) - her personal favourite, Arthur C. Clarke
's ("The Star
"), was left out for fear of offending Roman Catholics.
She returned to England for a short time and was active in the Anti-Nazi League
and the trades-union movement. In 1981 she returned to Sri Lanka once again.
She died in 1997 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease
. She left two children, Janaki and Vinod.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Trotskyist who became active in trade unionism and politics in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. She was one of the handful of European Radicals in Sri Lanka
European Radicals in Sri Lanka
The European Radicals in Sri Lanka were Europeans who went against the colonial system prevailing in Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was then known. Their contribution was far greater than their numbers would appear to merit, mainly because of their defiance of the white-supremacist attitude that pervaded...
.
Early years
She was born in Gillingham, Kent. Her father, Major William Leo Hoban was a British featherweight boxer and former soldier of IrishIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
roots, her mother, May Irene Free, was a small businesswoman of partly Jewish extraction. Her early life was spent in a variety of Army camps. In 1936 her father was appointed an instructor at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, and they settled in Slough
Slough
Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
. She attended Slough High School for Girls
Slough Grammar School
The school is a Language College, a Science College, a Leading Edge School, an ICT-Focus School, a Training School, an International School under the International Baccalaureate Organization and a participant in the Primary Language Initiative. From September 2004 it has offered some International...
, where she became Head Girl in 1942.
During the Second World War, she was once machine-gunned by a Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
aircraft. Although selected for London University, she had to do her two-year National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
as a government inspector in the Bristol
Bristol Aeroplane Company
The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aero engines...
aircraft factory at Staines
Staines
Staines is a Thames-side town in the Spelthorne borough of Surrey and Greater London Urban Area, as well as the London Commuter Belt of South East England. It is a suburban development within the western bounds of the M25 motorway and located 17 miles west south-west of Charing Cross in...
. There she joined the Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
(CPGB) in 1943. She was a member of the Transport and General Workers' Union
Transport and General Workers' Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union, also known as the TGWU and the T&G, was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland - where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union - with 900,000 members...
and anyway came from a fairly radical background - the Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
branch of what would later become the Militant Tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
used to meet in her aunt's house in Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
. To the end of her life she was to maintain that the members of the CPGB were the most dedicated and conscientious political workers she was ever to know
At University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
and LSE
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, she studied law. There she met her future husband, Anil Moonesinghe
Anil Moonesinghe
Anil Moonesinghe was a Sri Lankan Trotskyist revolutionary politician and trade unionist. He became a Member of Parliament, a Cabinet Minister, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and a Diplomat. He authored several books and edited newspapers and magazines. He was Chairperson and General Manager of...
, who converted her to Trotskyism. and also a young conscientious objector called Stan Newens, who would later become a Labour Party MP and MEP.
RCP and Labour Party
The three of them joined the Revolutionary Communist PartyRevolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1944)
The Revolutionary Communist Party was a British Trotskyist group, formed in 1944 and active until 1949, which published the newspaper Socialist Appeal, a theoretical journal Workers International News and an entrist paper for its Labour Party work The Militant .- Collapse of the RSL and founding of...
(RCP), and Jeanne was elected to its National Executive. She fell out early with Gerry Healy
Gerry Healy
Thomas Gerard Healy, known as Gerry Healy , was a political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International, and, according to former prominent U.S. supporter David North, the leader of the Trotskyist movement in Great Britain between 1950 – 1985...
, who was most prominent in the RCP at the time, but remained close to Ted Grant
Ted Grant
Edward "Ted" Grant , 9 July 1913 in Germiston, South Africa – 20 July 2006 in London) was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain...
. She was associated with the group around Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
, the so-called 'State-Caps' after their characterisation of the USSR as 'State-Capitalist'. The group would later become the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
(SWP).
She married Anil Moonesinghe in 1948 and they moved into a houseboat called 'Red October', which they built together, on the Thames near Marlow. They both entered the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
in Slough, on the orders of the RCP. Jeanne was elected to the Executive of the Labour Leagues of Youth, later being put on the list of Labour Party Parliamentary candidates. She and Anil were associated with the MP for Slough Fenner Brockway and with George Padmore
George Padmore
George Padmore , born Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse, was a Trinidadian communist who became a leading Pan-Africanist in his later years.-Early years:...
, the prophet of Black African Liberation.
After graduating from University College, she studied International Law at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. However, she was unable to complete her Masters Degree as she was forced urgently to accompany Anil to Sri Lanka in 1952.
Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, Jeanne joined the Lanka Sama Samaja PartyLanka Sama Samaja Party
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka....
(LSSP) and worked in the Lanka Estate Workers' Union (LEWU), which organised labourers on the tea and rubber plantations. At the time the British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
were still very powerful on the island, in spite of the country having obtained a form of independence in 1948. The British planters, aghast at the idea of a white woman speaking on behalf of coolies, prevailed upon the government to deport Jeanne, but she went into hiding with Vivienne Goonewardena
Vivienne Goonewardena
Violet Vivienne Goonewardena was a Sri Lankan pioneer socialist and feminist. Her life and politics were shaped by the most interesting times of the Sri Lankan Left and she was in turn one of its more colourful personalities.-Political beginnings:Goonewardena was drawn into politics while still...
and the LSSP fought successfully to prevent the deportation, in a repeat of the Bracegirdle affair.
Lake House and the CMU
She joined the Lake HouseLake House
Lake House is an Elizabethan country house dating from 1578, in Wilsford-cum-Lake in Wiltshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The gardens are Grade II listed in the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest....
group of newspapers as a journalist, recruited by chief editor Esmond Wickremasinghe (the father of Ranil Wickremasinghe
Ranil Wickremasinghe
Ranil Shriyan Wickremesinghe , MP, is a Sri Lankan politician and current Leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan parliament. He was Prime Minister of Sri Lanka twice, from May 7, 1993 to August 19, 1994 and from December 9, 2001 to April 6, 2004...
) along with other left-oriented intellectuals such as Herbert Keuneman and Regi Siriwardena
Regi Siriwardena
Regi Siriwardena was a Sri Lankan academic, journalist, poet, writer, playwright and writer of screenplays.- Early life & education :...
. She had a column (under the pseudonym 'Jane Freeman') in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
and also worked on the Jana
Jana
Jana is the spelling of several unrelated given names.* a Slavic short-form for Johanna.* the Roman goddess Diana, who was often called Jana*In India however, Jana is a shortform for the Hindu god Janarthanan....
magazine. In 1955 she was called upon by Wickremasinghe to help write the a speech for Sir John Kotelawala
John Kotelawala
General Sir John Lionel Kotelawala, KBE, CH, KStJ, CLI was a Sri Lankan soldier and politician, most notable for serving as the 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1953 to 1956....
, the then Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
. This was the Bandung Conference of Non-Aligned Movement
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
, and the speech, which became quite famous, was a joint effort with the brilliant B.J.B Fernando ('Bonnie').
In the mid-1950s, she joined Sri Lanka's first co-operative housing scheme, the Gothatuwa Building Society, founded by Herbert Keuneman, Seneka Bibile
Seneka Bibile
Senaka Bibile was a Sri Lankan pharmacologist. He was the founder of Sri Lanka’s drug policy, which was used as a model for development of policies based on rational pharmaceutical use in other countries as well by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and...
, 'Bonnie' Fernando and other members of the radical intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
. This led to the foundation of the Welikadawatte
Welikadawatte
Welikadawatte, a middle-class housing estate in Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka was a result of the first co-operative housing scheme in Sri Lanka.In the mid-1950s, Dr. Seneka Bibile, together with Herbert Keuneman, 'Bonnie' Fernando, Anil and Jeanne Moonesinghe and other members of the radical...
housing estate, which attained some fame as an island of intellectual creativity.
Jeanne formed a journalists' branch of the Ceylon Mercantile Union
Ceylon Mercantile Union
The Ceylon Mercantile Union is one of the largest trade unions in the commercial sector in Sri Lanka.The Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers Union was originally built in 1928 as a white-collar union in the mercantile sector. Victor Corea and A.E...
(CMU) at Lake House, much to the chagrin of the management which had strenuously upheld a 'no unions' policy. She was elected national Assistant Secretary of union, a post she held for several years. In 1960, she and several other trade-unionists were sacked from Lake House and were not reinstated. At this time she edited Visi-pas-vasarak, a magazine brought out by the LSSP on its 25th anniversary.
In the 1960s, she was involved in the Union’s publications and was active in many strikes of the period.
Teaching, journalism & broadcasting
In need of employment, Jeanne turned to teaching at the Terence de Zilva School in KolonnawaKolonnawa
Kolonnawa is a town in Colombo District in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. The town has a clock tower.-References:...
. She subsequently joined the Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
High Commission (at the time Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana...
was President and had been advised by George Padmore) as a press officer, but returned to teaching at the Castle Street School (later Devi Balika Vidyalaya) in Borella, St Michael's Polwatte and St Paul's Milagiriya.
She went on to edit the left-wing Patriot newspaper. She was also foreign news editor of the 'Nation' newspaper. In 1967, her she was one of those proposed to contest the Agalawatte
Agalawatte
Agalawatte is a town in Kalutara District of Sri Lanka, and is an electoral division.- History :Agalawatte is part of the Pasdun Rata or Pasyodun Korale , created when King Parakramabahu the Great drained the Kalu Ganga basin.North of Agalawatte is the 'Fa Hien Cave', where evidence has been found...
constituency on the LSSP ticket, but Dr Colvin R de Silva was selected by the party's central committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
in preference to her. She became active in the Kantha Kavaya, a circle of leftist women led by Tamara Kumari Ilangaratne. One of the proposals she made through this organisation, for a consumer council, was later adopted.
In 1968 she began broadcasting on the arts programme of Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.- Edward Harper :...
. From 1970-72 she presented a radio programme, 'Partners for progress'.
Education reform
In 1972 (as part of the ongoing educational reforms instituted by the United Front (Sri Lanka)United Front (Sri Lanka)
The United Front was a political alliance in Sri Lanka, formed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party , the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka in 1968...
government, she was appointed to a committee to look into the teaching of English in Sri Lanka Schools. She was seconded to the Curriculum Development Centre, where she edited its bulletin. There she was on the drafting committee of a new series of English Language textbooks. She was associated with a group of educationists led by Douglas Walatara
Douglas Walatara
Dr Douglas Walatara was a notable Sri Lankan Lecturer in English. He initially taught at the Sri Lankan Government Training College in Maharagama for over 20 years...
, who wanted to teach English through the medium of the students' mother tongue, the indirect method. The new English textbook, which replaced the GCE (Advanced Level) English textbook, and which she was partly responsible for, was controversial, avoiding Chaucer and Shakespeare, but including Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
(Blowin' in the Wind
Blowin' in the Wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan and released on his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963. Although it has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of questions about peace, war and freedom...
), John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
(Imagine
Imagine (song)
"Imagine" is a song written and performed by the English musician John Lennon. It is the opening track on his album Imagine, released in 1971...
) and Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
(Jokester) - her personal favourite, Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
's ("The Star
The Star (short story)
"The Star" is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. It appeared in the science fiction magazine Infinity Science Fiction in 1955 and won the Hugo award in 1956. The story was also published as "Star of Bethlehem"...
"), was left out for fear of offending Roman Catholics.
She returned to England for a short time and was active in the Anti-Nazi League
Anti-Nazi League
The Anti-Nazi League was an organisation set up in 1977 on the initiative of the Socialist Workers Party with sponsorship from some trade unions and the endorsement of a list of prominent people to oppose the rise of far-right groups in the United Kingdom. It was wound down in 1981...
and the trades-union movement. In 1981 she returned to Sri Lanka once again.
She died in 1997 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
. She left two children, Janaki and Vinod.