Sri Lanka leftist parties
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During the
Donoughmore Donoughmore (spelt ''Donaghmore'' by Ordnance Survey Ireland; Irish: ''Domhnach Mór'') is a civil and Catholic parish in County Cork, Ireland. This rural district lies 25 km west-northwest of Cork city. Donoughmore is part of the Cork Nor ...
period of political experimentation (1931–48), several Sri Lanka leftist parties were formed in British colonial
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 ...
. Unlike most other Sri Lankan parties, these leftist parties were noncommunal in membership.


History

Working-class activism, especially trade unionism, became an important political factor during the sustained economic slump between the world wars. The leftist parties represented the numerically small urban working class and the larger rural working class concentrated in the plantations and mines. Partly because these parties operated through the medium of trade unionism, they lacked the wider mass appeal needed at the national level to provide an effective extra-parliamentary challenge to the central government. Nonetheless, because the leftists occasionally formed temporary political coalitions before national elections, they posed more than just a mere "parliamentary nuisance factor." In 1953 it was the left who summoned the '
Hartal Hartal () is a term in many Indian languages for a strike action that was first used during the Indian independence movement (also known as the nationalist movement) of the early 20th century. A hartal is a mass protest, often involving a total sh ...
' of 1953 which led to the resignation of the Prime minister, Dudley Senanayake. The first important leftist party was the
Ceylon Labour Party The Ceylon Labour Party (CLP) was a political party in Sri Lanka. History The Ceylon Labour Party was formed in October 1928, with A. E. Gunasinha as president and Proctor Marshall Perera as secretary. Its executive committee included C. H. Z. ...
, founded in 1931 by A.E. Goonesinha, but this had drifted into communalist strike-breaking action by 1937.


Marxist oriented parties

Three
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
oriented parties—the Ceylon Equal Society Party (
Lanka Sama Samaja Party The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP (Literal translation, literally: Lanka Socialist Party, Sinhalese language, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil language, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமா ...
—LSSP), the Bolshevik-Leninist Party, and the
Communist Party of Sri Lanka The Communist Party of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂය, ''Sri Lankavay Komiyunist Pakshaya'' ta, இலங்கை கம்யூனிஸ்ட் கட்சி, trans ...
(CPSL)--represented the Left proper. They grew out of the Youth League movement, the struggle to get funds for Sri Lankan ex-servicemen, volunteer work during the
Malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
Epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...
and the anti-colonial struggle of the 1930s, which culminated in the call for full independence (eschewed by D.S. Senanayake and others of the
elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...
). All three were divided on both ideological and personal grounds. The Soviet Union's expulsion of
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
from the Communist Party after Lenin's death in 1924 exacerbated these differences, dividing the Communists into
Trotskyists 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 re ...
and
Stalinists Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...
.


Lanka Sama Samaja Party—LSSP

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party−LSSP, formed in 1935 and the oldest of the Sri Lankan Marxist parties, indeed of all existing Sri Lankan parties, took a stance independent of the Soviet Union, becoming affiliated with the Trotskyist
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 wor ...
, which was a rival of the
Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
. Its two representatives in the
State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...
,
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 ...
and Dr
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 ...
, were a thorn in the side of the British colonial administration. Most LSSP leaders were arrested during World War II for their opposition to what they considered to be an "
imperialist Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
war." However, they managed to escape and the LSSP's underground work continued throughout the war. The party's propaganda was a vital element in the mutiny of the
Ceylon Garrison Artillery 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 ...
on the
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in 1942. It was the main opposition party after the general elections of 1936, 1947 and 1956, the second largest party in Parliament after the general elections of 1947, 1956 and 1970. Although in more recent years, the LSSP has been considered a politically spent force, gaining, for example less than 1% of the vote in the 1982 presidential elections, it has nevertheless been touted as the world's only successful Trotskyist party. This was because it participated in Government and because it has played a role far larger than its electoral success would suggest, having been ideologically hegemonic in the period 1936-1977. The 1972 Republican Constitution was drafted by Dr Colvin R. de Silva, an LSSP Minister and the country's leading lawyer.


Bolshevik-Leninist Party

The Bolshevik-Leninist Party was formed in 1945 as a breakaway group of the LSSP, which reunited with its parent in 1950.


Communist Party of Sri Lanka−CPSL

The Communist Party of Sri Lanka−CPSL, which began as a Stalinist faction of the LSSP that was later expelled, formed its own party in 1943, remaining faithful to the dictates of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.


The Socialist Party of Sri Lanka

The Socialist Party of Sri Lanka is the first left-wing party in Sri Lanka to nominate a female presidential candidate. Dr. Ajantha Perera, an environmental scientist, who has over 30 years of experience advising multiple Ministries in Sri Lanka and Fiji, will be contesting in the Presidential elections of December 2019. Dr. Ajantha Perera is also the first female Presidential candidate of Sri Lanka this millennium (since 1999).


See also

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leftist Parties 1930s in Ceylon 1940s in Ceylon Communism in Sri Lanka Political history of Sri Lanka Political parties in Sri Lanka Socialist parties in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan independence movement Trotskyist organisations in Sri Lanka