S. C. C. Anthonypillai
| S. C. C. Anthony Pillai | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Member of the Lok Sabha for Madras North | |
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In office 1957–1962 |
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| Succeeded by | P. Srinivasan |
| Member of the Madras State Legislative Assembly for Choolai | |
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In office 1952–1957 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
27 April 1914 Jaffna, Ceylon |
| Died | 16 August 2000 (aged 86) Chennai, India |
| Spouse(s) | Caroline Anthonypillai |
| Alma mater | |
| Ethnicity | Tamil |
Sebastian Cyril Constantine Anthony Pillai (27 April 1914 – 16 August 2000) was an Indian trade unionist, politician and Member of Parliament.
Anthony Pillai was born on 27 April 1914 in Jaffna in northern Ceylon. He was the son of S. Anthony Pillai. His family were Roman Catholics whose ancestors came from Tirunelveli District in India. Anthony Pillai was educated at St. Patrick's College, Jaffna. After school he studied history at the Ceylon University College. He later studied at King's College London where he was a member of the India League and a Marxist study group of Ceylonese students.
Anthony Pillai married to Caroline Gunawardena, daughter of Don Jacolis Rupasinghe Gunawardena, in 1939. They had four sons (Mahendran, Ranjit, Nalin Ranjan and Suresh Kumar).
Anthony Pillai was one of the founding members of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) in 1935. He rejoined the LSSP after returning to Ceylon from the UK in 1938. The LSSP leadership had high hopes about Tony, as he was known, but as he could not speak Sinhala, the main language of Ceylon, LSSP leader Philip Gunawardena suggested that he get lessons from his sister Caroline. The pair fell in love and married.
The LSSP sent Anthony Pillai and Caroline to Nawalapitiya to organise Indian Tamil estate workers a LSSP union. This was dangerous work as the British plantation owners were known to use violence to suppress unions. When World War II broke out in September 1939 the LSSP opposed the "second imperialist war". The LSSP played a major role in a wave of strikes in 1939/40 and consequently it was proscribed in 1940 and its leaders Colvin R. de Silva, Philip Gunawardena, N. M. Perera and Edmund Samarakkody arrested in June 1940. However, Anthony Pillai, Caroline and her brother Robert Gunawardena continued to organise strikes by bus, harbour and granary workers during 1940-41.
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