Lanka Sama Samaja Party
There is strictly no General Secretary, but a Secretary to the Central Committee, assisted by a Deputy and an Assistant. Secretaries have been:
- Vernon Gunasekera
- Leslie Goonewardena
- Bernard Soyza
- Batty Weerakoon
- Wimalasiri de Mel
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Electoral results
| Lanka Sama Samaja Party electoral results |
Candidates nominated |
Candidates elected |
Votes | % of national vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 28 | 10 | 204,020 | 10.81 |
| 1952 | 39 | 9 | 305,133 | 13.11 |
| 1956 | 21 | 14 | 274,204 | 11.47 |
| 1960 March | 101 | 10 | 325,286 | 11.26 |
| 1960 July | 21 | 12 | 224,995 | 7.96 |
| 1965 | 25 | 10* | 302,095 | 7.90 |
| 1970 | 23 | 19 | 433,224 | 8.68 |
| 1977 | 82 | 0 | 225,317 | 3.61 |
- In the 1947, 1952 and 1956 elections the assembly had 95 single-member constituencies. In 1960 it was expanded to 151 seats and in 1977 to 168.
- In 1965 Bernard Soysa was elected unopposed in his constituency.
In recent elections, LSSP has contested on the lists of the People's Alliance and, in 2004, on the lists of the United People's Freedom Alliance.
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Leaders and Important Members
The LSSP has never had a formal leader. In the period immediately after its formation, Dr Colvin R de Silva was elected President, but the post was done away with later. For many years, NM Perera was the leader of the LSSP Parliamentary Group and was recognised by the public as the party leader. However, the actual leadership has always been that of a group represented in the various bureaux of the Central Committee.
A large proportion of the leadership of the Left in Sri Lanka started their political lives in the LSSP. This is even true of the political right; for example, Esmond Wickremasinghe (the father of Ranil Wickremasinghe) was a leading member of the party - before marrying the daughter of the wealthy press baron D. R Wijewardena and being appointed editor-in-chief of Lake House. W. Dahanayake, the later prime minister, was associated with the LSSP before gravitating right-wards (finally ending up in the UNP).
- Dr S.A. Wickremasinghe
- Philip Gunawardena
- Dr N.M. Perera
- Dr Colvin R de Silva
- Leslie Goonewardena
- Robert Gunewardena
- Edmund Samarakkody
- V. Karalasingham (Carlo)
- Vivienne Goonewardena
- S.C.C. Anthonipillai (Toni)
- Selina Perera
- Mark Anthony Bracegirdle
- Regi Siriwardena
- P. H. William de Silva
- Bernard Soysa
- I. J. Wickrema
- Hector Abhayavardhana
- Doric De Souza
- G.P. Perera ('Elephant Perera')
- D.G. William ('Galle Face William')
- Cholomondely Goonewardena
- Wilfred Senanayake
- Anil Moonesinghe
- Seneka Bibile
- Osmund Jayaratne
- G.E.H. Perera
- Batty Weerakoon
- Tissa Vitarana
- Carlo Fonseka
- V. S. Rajah ('Raja Sahodaraya')
The names in brackets were the pseudonyms used by V. Karalasingham, and S. C. C. Anthonypillai while underground during the Second World War [4]which continued to be used as nicknames long after they were no longer required for secrecy; and the nicknames given to the trade unionists G. P. Perera and D. G. William, from their original places of work, the Elephant cigarette factory and the Galle Face Hotel.
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Publications
The LSSP's main organ has always been the Samasamajaya newspaper. Its founder editor was B. J. Fernando, who composed the Sinhala version of the Internationale. Today, its publication is somewhat irregular. For many years it was supplemented by the Tamil Samadharmam which was commenced in 1938. Its first editor was K. Ramanathan, later succeeded by T. E. Pushparajan.
In the period of underground struggle, the Kamkaruwa, was revived as a legal Sinhalese weekly the 'open' section of the Party and published until banned by Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton. The 'open' section also brought out Straight Left in English.
In 1960 a special magazine was brought out to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the LSSP, Visi Pas Vasrak. The large number of members of the Ceylon Mercantile Union (CMU) who had been sacked from Lake House that year collaborated in its production.
In 1965, in response to the need for a broad-left popular newspaper to counteract Lake House's Dinamina, the LSSP and members of the SLFP began the Janadina daily and the Janasathiya weekly newspaper, later supplemented by the poetry periodical Janakavi. The CMU members sacked from Lake House were prominent in these publications as well. A similar task was carried out in English by The Nation ; however, when this weekly was taken over by the SLFP, the LSSP started the Socialist Nation, edited by Hector Abhayavardhana.
A press, the 'Star Press', was begun as a semi-commercial venture, to print the LSSP's publications and still operates.
In 1975 a theoretical journal, Rajaya was published, edited by a board led by Osmund Jayaratne. This and its English version State, were suspended after a few issues.
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See also
- Cocos Islands Mutiny
- Ceylon Federation of Labour
- GCSU Sri Lanka
- I. J. Wickrema
- Communist Party of Sri Lanka
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References
- ^ "Dr.N.M.Perera 1905-1979:An honest and upright politician", Sunday Observer, 15 August 2004.
- ^ Hartal!. revolutionary-history.co.uk.
- ^ "Divisions in the left emerge", BBC News, 01 October, 2005.
- ^ Ceylon/Sri Lanka: The Rise of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. Marxists Internet Archive(MIA).
- ^ "Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the working class", Daily News, 24 December 2007.
- ^ Origins Of Trotskyism In Ceylon. Marxists Internet Archive(MIA).
- ^ The Struggle for Trotskyism in Ceylon. International Bolshevik Tendency (IBT).
- ^ "War tops May Day", BBC News, 01 May, 2008.
- Leslie Goonewardena, A Short History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party accessed 4 November 2005
- George Jan Lerski, Origins Of Trotskyism In Ceylon accessed 4 November 2005
- Robert J. Alexander, Ceylon/Sri Lanka: The Rise of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party accessed 25 December 2005
- James Jupp, Sri Lanka — Thirld World Democracy, Frank Cass, London, 1978.
- Y. Ranjith Amarasinghe, Revolutionary Idealism & Parliamentary Politics - A Study Of Trotskyism In Sri Lanka, Colombo, 1998.
- Wesley S. Muttiah and Sydney Wanasinghe, We Were Making History - Saga of the Hartal of August 1953, Colombo, 2002.
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External links
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