Bolshevik Samasamaja Party

The Bolshevik Samasamaja Party was the

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

section

Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma 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 rev ...

(BLPI) after 1945 and of the

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of ...

in 1948-1950, after the dissolution of the BLPI. After the war there was a split in the

Lanka Sama Samaja Party The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP (literally: Lanka Socialist Party, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமாஜக் கட்சி), is a major Trotskyist politica ...

(LSSP).

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 ...

and

Philip Gunawardena Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena (11 January 1901 – 26 March 1972) was a Sri Lankan Marxist politician and leftist. A founder of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, the first political party in Ceylon which was known for having introduced Trotskyi ...

, who had opposed a merger into the BLPI, reconstructed the LSSP as an independent party. Members of the other section, formed out of the exiled BLPI nucleus, effectively maintained a separate party, the Bolshevik Samasamaja Party (BSP). The latter group functioned as the Ceylon section of BLPI and was led by

Colvin R de Silva Colvin Reginald de Silva (1907 – 27 February 1989; commonly known as Colvin R. de Silva) was a Cabinet Minister of Plantation Industries and Constitutional Affairs, prominent member of parliament, Trotskyist leader and lawyer in Sri Lanka. ...

, Leslie Goonawardene and

Edmund Samarakkoddy Edmund Peter Samarakkody (19 April 1912 – 4 January 1992) was a Ceylonese lawyer, trade unionist, politician and Member of Parliament. Early life and family Samarakkody was born on 19 April 1912, the fifth of seven children to Charles Peter ...

. The relation between the two groups was often antagonistic. The BSP, which concentrated on building a cadre party, accused LSSP of 'organisational Menshevism'. The LSSP wanted to build a mass-based party and accused the BSP of being introvert doctrinaires. On 25 October 1945 fist-fights broke out between the two groups at a meeting of the BSP

In 1946 there was a brief reconciliation between the two factions. At the general election of 1947, the LSSP emerged as the main opposition party, with 10 seats. The BSP obtained 5 seats. The BLPI-affiliated BSP became an independent party in 1948, and was recognized as the Lankan section of the Fourth International, when the BLPI was dissolved. In 1950 the LSSP and BSP merged once again. The membership in the Fourth International was passed on to LSSP. When the group around

Anil Moonesinghe Anil Moonesinghe (15 February 1927 – 8 December 2002) was a Sri Lankan Trotskyist revolutionary politician and trade unionist. He became a member of parliament, a Cabinet Minister of Transport in 1964, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament from 199 ...

split from the LSSP in 1982, he charged that the party had been taken over by the BSP faction. {{Sri Lankan political parties 1948 establishments in Ceylon 1950 disestablishments in Ceylon Communist parties in Sri Lanka Defunct political parties in Sri Lanka Political parties established in 1948 Political parties disestablished in 1950 Political parties in Sri Lanka Trotskyist organisations in Sri Lanka