Lanka Sama Samaja Party

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party was the first modern political party in Ceylon, later Sri Lanka.{{Cite web|title=The Lanka Sama Samaja Party from its Beginnings to its Expulsion|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/ceylon-srilanka/review01.htm |website=marxists.org |access-date=2020-07-07}}{{Cite book|last=Pinto|first=Leonard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ifVMCgAAQBAJ&q=first+sri+lankan+political+party+lanka+sama+samaja&pg=PT73|title=Being a Christian in Sri Lanka: Historical, Political, Social, and Religious Considerations|date=2015-07-14|publisher=Balboa Press|isbn=978-1-4525-2862-5|language=en}} It was noted for its choice to use a native name rather than an English name, and its members were known as "Samasamajists". The party was the first Marxist party in South Asia. The Sinhala term samasamajaya was one coined by Dally Jayawardena in the Swadesa Mitraya to translate the term 'socialist'.{{Cite book|last1=Lerski|first1=Jerzy Jan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjQ0AAAAIAAJ&q=samasamajaya+Dally+Jayawardena|title=Origins of Trotskyism in Ceylon: A Documentary History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1942|last2=Lerski|first2=George Jan|date=1968|publisher=Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace|language=en}} However, the usage of samasamajaya has since been superseded by samajavadaya (which corresponds to similar usage in various Indian languages) in everything but in the names of the LSSP and various of its splinter groups.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPkdAAAAIAAJ&q=samajavadaya|title=Parliamentary Debates|date=1965|language=en}} The Tamil term samadharmam was used to translate 'socialist', but nowadays the English term is used.{{Cite book|last1=Murugesan|first1=K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LW0FAAAAMAAJ&q=samadharmam+socialist|title=Singaravelu, First Communist in South India|last2=Subramanyam|first2=C. S.|date=1975|publisher=People's Publishing House|isbn=9780883867143|language=en}}

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party was founded on 18 December 1935, with the broad aims of Sri Lankan Independence and Socialism, by a group of young politicians.{{Cite book|last=Wickramasinghe|first=Nira|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-xQ8qk9mgYC&q=18+December+1935+lanka+sama+samaja&pg=PA201|title=Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History of Contested Indentities|date=2006|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3016-8|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nUoZAAAAIAAJ&q=18+December+1935+lanka+sama+samaja|title=Tribune|date=December 1981|publisher=Ceylon News Service}} The group at the foundation numbered a bare half-dozen, and composed principally of students who had returned from study abroad, influenced deeply by the ideas of Karl Marx and Lenin.{{Cite book|last=Duraisingam|first=Thambimuttu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjpuAAAAMAAJ&q=Karl+Marx+and+Lenin.+lanka+sama+samaja|title=Politics and Life in Our Times: Selected Articles Published for Over a Century|date=2000|publisher=Thambimuttu Duraisingam|language=en}} The original group consisted of Leslie Goonewardene, N.M. Perera, Colvin R. de Silva, Philip Gunawardena and Robert Gunawardena.Leslie Goonewardene{{cite web|title=A Short History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/goonewardene/1960/lssp.htm|publisher=Marxists Internet Archive(MIA)}}Charles Wesley Ervin, Tomorrow is Ours:the Trotskyist Movement in India and Ceylon, 1935-48, Colombo: Social Scientists Association, 2006{{Cite book|last=Guruge|first=Ananda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jUTf-jaS2xAC&q=Leslie+Goonewardene,+N.M.+Perera,+Colvin+R.+de+Silva,+Philip+Gunawardena+and+Robert+Gunawardena&pg=PA239|title=Peace at Last in Paradise |date=2011-10-28|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4634-1838-0|language=en}}

The LSSP grew out of the Youth Leagues of Ceylon – societies of young people, mainly intellectuals, who wanted independence for the British ruled Sri Lanka – in which a nucleus of Marxists had developed.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PAtsYHLUiz4C&q=Youth+Leagues+of+Ceylon+Lanka+sama+samaja|title=History of Ceylon: From the beginning of the nineteenth century to 1948|date=1959|publisher=Ceylon University Press|language=en}} The party's leaders were predominantly educated returnees from study in London;{{Cite book|last=Duraisingam|first=Thambimuttu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TztuAAAAMAAJ&q=Harold+Laski+Lanka+sama+samaja|title=Politics and Life in Our Times: Selected Articles Published for Over a Century|date=2000|publisher=Thambimuttu Duraisingam|language=en}} youth who had come into contact with the ideas of the European Left and were influenced by Harold Laski, an English political theorist and professor at the London School of Economics.{{Cite book|last=Gunawardena|first=Charles A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWLQSMPddikC&q=London+Lanka+sama+samaja&pg=PA172|title=Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka|date=2005|publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd|isbn=978-1-932705-48-5|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Jayasuriya|first=Laksiri|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IxtBDwAAQBAJ&q=Harold+Laski+Lanka+sama+samaja&pg=PT200|title=Taking Social Development Seriously: The Experience of Sri Lanka|date=2010-08-17|publisher=SAGE Publishing India|isbn=978-93-85985-87-4|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMCn6HZK8nIC&q=Harold+Laski+Lanka+sama+samaja&pg=PA32|title=Problems of Communism|date=1973|publisher=Documentary Studies Section, International Information Administration|language=en}} Dr S.A. Wickremasinghe, an early returnee and a member of the State Council from 1931, was part of this group.{{Cite web|title=S. A. Wickremasinghe {{!}} Making Britain|url=http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/s-wickremasinghe |website=open.ac.uk |access-date=2020-07-07}} The Youth Leagues campaigned for independence from Britain, notably organising opposition to the so-called 'Ministers' Memorandum', one which in essence called for the colonial authorities to grant increased power to local ministers.{{Cite book|last1=Lerski|first1=Jerzy Jan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ut9mAAAAMAAJ&q=ceylon+opposition+'Ministers'+Memorandum'|title=Origins of Trotskyism in Ceylon: A Documentary History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1942|last2=Lerski|first2=George Jan|date=1968|publisher=Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace|language=en}}

The group, through the South Colombo Youth League, became involved in a strike at the Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills in 1933.{{Cite book|last1=Muthiah|first1=Wesley S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wCcvAAAAYAAJ&q=lanka+sama+samaja+Wellawatte+Spinning+and+Weaving+Mills|title=The Bracegirdle Affair: An Episode in the History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party|last2=Wanasinghe|first2=Sydney|date=1997|publisher=Young Socialist Publication|isbn=978-955-95284-5-6|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=The Island|url=http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=18240 |website=island.lk |access-date=2020-07-07}} The mills; the island’s largest textile factory at that time with 1,400 workers (two-thirds of Indian origin and one-third Sinhalese), gave the members of the Youth League a chance for leadership as well as experience in trade union agitation.{{Cite web|title=T. Perera: Edmund Samarakkody|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/samarakkody/commentaries/perera01.htm |website=marxists.org |access-date=2020-07-07}} During this period, the collective published an irregular journal in Sinhala, Kamkaruwa (The Worker).{{Cite book|last=Amarasinghe|first=Y. Ranjith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxkvAAAAYAAJ&q=lanka+sama+samaja+party+Kamkaruwa|title=Revolutionary Idealism and Parliamentary Politics: A Study of Trotskyism in Sri Lanka|date=2000|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|language=en}}

In 1933 the group got involved in the Suriya-Mal movement, which had been formed to provide support for indigenous ex-servicemen by the sale of Suriya (Portia tree) flowers.{{Cite book|last=Seneviratne|first=H. L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ypjyd2th7mkC&q=Suriya-Mal+movement&pg=PA130|title=The Work of Kings|date=1999|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-74865-8|language=en}} The Suriya-Mal movement surged as a reaction to the fact that at the time Poppy Day funds went solely to British ex-servicemen.{{Cite book|last=Jasentuliyana|first=Nandasiri|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKTTDAAAQBAJ&q=suriya-mal+movement+british+ex+servicemen&pg=PT206|title=Same Sky, Different Nights|date=2016-07-29|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-5246-0041-9|language=en}} The movement was honed by volunteer work among the poor during the Malaria Epidemic of 1934-1935. The volunteers found that there was widespread malnutrition, which they helped fight by making pills of 'Marmite' yeast extract.{{Cite web|title=Lerski: Origins of Trotskyism in Ceylon (Chap.1)|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/srilanka/ch01.htm |website=marxists.org |access-date=2020-07-07}}{{Cite book|last1=Lund|first1=Ragnhild|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PWaOAQAAQBAJ&q=Suriya-Mal+movement&pg=PA63|title=The Tsunami of 2004 in Sri Lanka: Impacts and Policy in the Shadow of Civil War|last2=Blaikie|first2=Piers|date=2013-10-18|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-96638-8|language=en}}

In 1936 the LSSP contested the State Council elections in four constituencies and won two of them, Avissawella and Ruanwella.{{Cite web|title=The Island-Midweek Review|url=http://www.island.lk/2008/08/20/midweek2.html |website=island.lk |access-date=2020-07-07}} The two new members, Philip Gunawardena and N.M. Perera, worked at the dismay of the British Colonial government; one that they were trying to dismantle.{{cite news|date=15 August 2004|title=Dr.N.M.Perera 1905-1979:An honest and upright politician|publisher=Sunday Observer|url=https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2004/08/15/fea02.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050908022505/http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2004/08/15/fea02.html|archive-date=8 September 2005|df=dmy-all}}

Around this time, the LSSP began fraternal relations with the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) of India.{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=Robert Jackson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eUtQjseKaIC&q=Congress+Socialist+Party+lanka+sama+samaja&pg=PA165|title=International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement|date=1991|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-1066-2|language=en}} Mrs Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya of the CSP was invited by the LSSP for a highly successful political tour of the island.{{Cite book|last=Silva|first=E. P. De|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Km0CAAAAMAAJ&q=Kamaladevi+Chattopadhyaya+lanka+sama+samaja|title=A Short Biography of Dr. N. M. Perera, Ph.D., D.S.c., B.Sc|date=1975|publisher=De Silva|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Ralhan|first=O. P.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kKOaAAAAIAAJ&q=Kamaladevi+Chattopadhyaya+lanka+sama+samaja|title=Concept of socialism|date=1998|publisher=Anmol Publications|isbn=978-81-261-0055-2|language=en}} Leslie Goonewardene was also sent as a delegate to the CSP.{{Cite web|title=Glossary of People: Go|url=https://marxists.catbull.com/glossary/people/g/o.htm |website=marxists.catbull.com |access-date=2020-07-07}} Despite their move towards Indian relations, the LSSP maintained a clear distance from the Indian radical left, and considered the Communist Party of India to be an extremist force.{{Cite book|last=Nyrop|first=Richard F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhFCAAAAIAAJ&q=extremist+Communist+Party+of+India&pg=PA355|title=Area Handbook for India|date=1975|language=en}}

In 1937, the British Colonial Governor Sir Reginald Stubbs attempted to deport a young Anglo-Australian planter, Mark Anthony Bracegirdle, who had joined the LSSP.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iAdDAAAAYAAJ&q=1937+stubbs+bracegirdle|title=Ceylon Studies Seminar|date=1970|publisher=University of Ceylon|language=en}}{{Cite news|date=1937-11-25|title=Bracegirdle Case.|pages=12|work=Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17411798|access-date=2020-07-07}} He went into hiding in defiance of the Governor and the LSSP started a campaign to defend him.{{Cite web|date=1999-09-23|title=Obituary: Mark Bracegirdle|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-mark-bracegirdle-1121185.html |website=The Independent |language=en }}{{Cite web|date=2016-04-21|title=The Bracegirdle Incident|url=https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-bracegirdle-incident-2/ |website=Colombo Telegraph |language=en-US |access-date=2020-07-07}} He appeared on the platform at that year's May Day rally, and was able to have his deportation order quashed in the courts.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FVCOAAAAMAAJ&q=bracegirdle+may+day+rally|title=Britain, World War 2 & the Sama Samajists: A Study of the Documents Contained in the Secret Files Maintained by the Public Record Office, London|date=1996-01-01|publisher=Young Socialist Publication|isbn=978-955-95284-4-9|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NA5uAAAAMAAJ&q=bracegirdle+quashed|title=Nēthrā: A Non-specialist Journal for Lively Minds|date=2000|publisher=International Centre for Ethnic Studies|language=en}} Through this incident, Stubbs was isolated. The incident led to the further strengthening of an argument for independence as the Bracegirdle incident had brought almost the entire State Council into opposition to the colonial government.{{Cite book|last=Ludowyk|first=Evelyn Frederick Charles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bb0LAAAAIAAJ&q=bracegirdle+State+Council+into+opposition+to+the+colonial+government|title=A Short History of Ceylon|date=1967|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9788013019714|language=en}}

Bracegirdle had been working among the plantation labourers, who were often working in squalid conditions, receiving very little health care, education and living in 'line rooms'.{{Cite book|last=Silva|first=Lloyd Oscar De|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3fkLAQAAMAAJ&q=bracegirdle+line+room|title=Echoes in the Memory|date=1992|publisher=Lantana|isbn=978-0-908265-04-6|language=en}} In 1940, the Lanka Estate Workers' Union (LEWU) intervened in a strike at Mooloya, becoming the harbinger of a wave of trade-union action on the plantations.{{Cite book|last=Warnapala|first=W. A. Wiswa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMYEAAAAMAAJ&q=lanka+sama+samaja+Mooloya|title=Civil Service Administration in Ceylon: A Study in Bureaucratic Adaptation|date=1974|publisher=Department of Cultural Affairs|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Sumatipāla|first=Kē Ec Ăm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tr4LAAAAIAAJ&q=lanka+sama+samaja+Mooloya|title=History of Education in Ceylon, 1796-1965: With Special Reference to the Contribution Made by C.W.W. Kannangara to the Educational Development of Ceylon|date=1968|publisher=Tisara Prakasakayo|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Goonaratna|first=Colvin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9TVuAAAAMAAJ&q=lanka+sama+samaja+Mooloya|title=NM, in His Own Words, As Seen by Others|date=2006-01-01|publisher=Dr. N.M. Perera Centre|isbn=978-955-8713-01-3|language=en}}

Meanwhile, in the LSSP a number of members had become influenced by the ideas of the Left Opposition led by Leon Trotsky.{{Cite book|last=Syed|first=M. H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4aAzbmPKIcC&q=lanka+sama+samaja+Leon+Trotsky&pg=PA193|title=Encyclopaedia of Saarc Nations|date=2002|publisher=Gyan Publishing House|isbn=978-81-7835-125-4|language=en}} Individual party members, notably Philip Gunawardena, had encountered Trotskyist groups earlier during stays in Britain and the USA. The Trotskyists within the LSSP came together and formed a secret faction known as the "T" (after Trotsky) group.{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=Robert Jackson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eUtQjseKaIC&q=lanka+sama+samaja+Leon+Trotsky&pg=PA166|title=International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement|date=1991|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-1066-2|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=The Fight for Trotskyism in South Asia|url=https://www.icl-fi.org/english/esp/62/lssp.html |website=icl-fi.org |access-date=2020-07-07}} The group's original members were Philip Gunawardena, N. M. Perera, Colvin R. de Silva, Leslie Goonewardene, Robert Gunawardena and Vernon Gunasekera, the Party Secretary.{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=Robert Jackson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eUtQjseKaIC&q=lanka+sama+samaja+Leon+Trotsky&pg=PA166|title=International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement|date=1991|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-1066-2|language=en}} They were later joined by Edmund Samarakkody and V. Karalasingham.{{Cite web|title=Edmund Samarakkody, 1912-1992|url=http://www.whatnextjournal.org.uk/Pages/History/Edmund.html |website=whatnextjournal.org.uk |access-date=2020-07-07}}

In 1940, the LSSP split with the expulsion of the pro-Moscow fraction led by S. A. Wickremasinghe, M. G. Mendis, Pieter Keuneman and A. Vaidialingam.{{Cite book|last=Duraisingam|first=Thambimuttu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjpuAAAAMAAJ&q=1940+S.+A.+Wickremasinghe,+M.+G.+Mendis,+Pieter+Keuneman+and+A.+Vaidialingam+lanka+sama+samaja|title=Politics and Life in Our Times: Selected Articles Published for Over a Century|date=2000|publisher=Thambimuttu Duraisingam|language=en}} The expelled members formed the United Socialist Party (USP) which later evolved into the Communist Party of Ceylon (CPC).{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMCn6HZK8nIC&q=1940+United+Socialist+Party+lanka+sama+samaja&pg=PA29|title=Problems of Communism|date=1973|publisher=Documentary Studies Section, International Information Administration|language=en}}{{Cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=David S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S4uyAAAAIAAJ&q=1940+United+Socialist+Party+lanka+sama+samaja|title=Political Parties of Asia and the Pacific: A Reference Guide|last2=Sagar|first2=Darren J.|date=1992|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-0-582-09811-4|language=en}} With the expulsion of the communists, the LSSP planted itself as an independent Trotskyist party.{{Cite book |publisher=United States Congress Senate Foreign Relations Committee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cQHUdLTstLgC&q=lanka+sama+samja+Trotskyist&pg=PA29|title=Strength of the International Communist Movement: Special Subcommittee on Security Affairs|date=1953|language=en}} In its heyday, the LSSP was the Fourth International's most successful component.{{Cite book|last=Gunawardena|first=Charles A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWLQSMPddikC&q=first+marxist+marty+Lanka+Sama+Samaja&pg=PA151|title=Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka|date=2005|publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd|isbn=978-1-932705-48-5|language=en}}

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the party was forced to go underground due to its opposition to the British war effort.{{Cite book|last=Saran|first=Parmatma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KCAdAAAAMAAJ&q=lanka+sama+samja+world+war+two|title=Government and Politics of Sri Lanka|date=1982|publisher=Metropolitan|language=en}} The two State Council members of the party and others on its Central committee were arrested and jailed, but Leslie Goonewardene evaded arrest and went underground.{{Cite book|last=Silva|first=K. M. De|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OktuAAAAMAAJ&q=lanka+sama+samja+two+State+Council+members|title=Sri Lanka: The Second World War and the Soulbury Commission, 1939-1945|date=1997|publisher=Stationery Office|isbn=978-0-11-290558-5|language=en}}

On 20 April 1941, a secret conference in Kandy, attended by 42 delegates, was held.{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/glossary/orgs/l/a.htm|title = Glossary of Organisations: La}}{{Cite book|last=Perera|first=T.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmJuAAAAMAAJ&q=20+April+1941+42+delegates |title=Revolutionary trails, Edmund Samarakkody: a political profile |date=2006 |publisher=Social Scientists' Association |isbn=978-955-9102-80-9 |language=en}} Leslie Goonewardene, who was in hiding, attended this conference at which the new programme and constitution were adopted.{{Cite book|last=Jasentuliyana|first=Nandasiri|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKTTDAAAQBAJ&q=20+April+1941+42+delegates&pg=PT207|title=Same Sky, Different Nights|date=2016-07-29|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-5246-0041-9|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Sanmugathasan|first=N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lzlAAAAMAAJ&q=LSSP++Bolshevik-Leninist+Party+of+India,+Ceylon+and+Burma|title=Political Memoirs of an Unrepentant Communist|date=1989|publisher=N. Sanmugathasan|language=en}} The cover organisation of the party enabled him to work for a period of one year and three months till he left for India.{{Cite book|last1=Guṇavardhana|first1=Raṇavīra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JlYAAAAMAAJ&q=leslie+goonewardene+cover+of+party+before+india|title=A Short History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party|last2=Goonewardene|first2=Leslie|date=1960|publisher=Gunaratne|language=en}} An openly functioning section of the party was established, led by Robert Gunawardena, S.C.C. Anthonipillai, V. Karalasingham, K.V. Lourenz Perera and William de Silva.{{Cite book|last=Jasentuliyana|first=Nandasiri|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKTTDAAAQBAJ&q=Robert+Gunawardena,+S.C.C.+Anthonipillai,+V.+Karalasingham,+K.V.+Lourenz+Perera+and+William+de+Silva&pg=PT207|title=Same Sky, Different Nights|date=2016-07-29|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-5246-0041-9|language=en}} The 'open' section of the party led a strike wave in May 1941 and strikes in 1942 and 1944.{{Cite book|last1=Lerski|first1=Jerzy Jan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ut9mAAAAMAAJ&q=May+1941+strike+wave+ceylon|title=Origins of Trotskyism in Ceylon: A Documentary History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1942|last2=Lerski|first2=George Jan|date=1968|publisher=Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Amerasinghe|first=E. F. G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=24DtAAAAMAAJ&q=1944+strike+wave+ceylon+lanka+sama+samaja|title=Employee Relations and Industrial Law: A Collection of Papers|date=1998|publisher=Employers' Federation of Ceylon|language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j30eAAAAIAAJ&q=1944+strike+ceylon+lanka+sama+samaja|title=Ceylon Sessional Papers|date=1961|publisher=Government Press|language=en}}

Following the Japanese raid on Colombo on 5 April 1942, the imprisoned leaders escaped and fled to India.{{Cite book|last1=Aldrich|first1=Richard J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D86lnjjU7PIC&q=5+April+1942+Japanese+raid+ceylon&pg=PA236|title=Intelligence and the War Against Japan: Britain, America and the Politics of Secret Service|last2=Aldrich|first2=Professor of International Security Richard J.|date=2000-04-13|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-64186-9|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Ashley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VXevAwAAQBAJ&q=5+April+1942+Japanese+raid+ceylon&pg=PA296|title=The British Empire and the Second World War|date=2006-03-09|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-8264-4049-5|language=en}} In India, the proscribed LSSPers merged their party into the Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma (BLPI).{{Cite book|last=Ervin|first=Charles W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0IPSAAAAIAAJ&q=Bolshevik-Leninist+Party+of+India,+Ceylon+and+Burma|title=Philip Gunawardena: The Making of a Revolutionary|date=2001|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|isbn=978-955-9102-34-2|language=en}} Preparatory work had been done in this connection by Leslie Goonewardene, Doric de Souza and Bernard Soysa.{{Cite book|last=Rose|first=Saul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=74kiAAAAMAAJ&q=Bolshevik-Leninist+Party+of+India,+Ceylon+and+Burma+formed|title=Socialism in Southern Asia|date=1959|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Talwar|first=Sada Nand|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GW0cAAAAMAAJ&q=Bolshevik-Leninist+Party+of+India,+Ceylon+and+Burma+formed|title=Under the Banyan Tree: The Communist Movement in India, 1920-1964|date=1985|publisher=Allied Publishers|isbn=9788170230052|language=en}} The LSSP thus became the Ceylon section of BLPI.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UdDTVi914jcC&q=Bolshevik-Leninist+Party+of+India%2C+Ceylon+and+Burma+formed&pg=PA151|title=British Documents on Foreign Affairs--reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print: Burma, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Indonesia, The Philippines and South-East Asia and the Far East (General) January 1949-December 1949|date=2000|isbn=978-1-55655-768-2|language=en|last1=Best|first1=Anthony}} Through the BLPI, the Ceylonese trotskyists attained their formal membership in the Fourth International.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4STPAAAAMAAJ&q=Bolshevik-Leninist+Party+of+India+Fourth+International|title=Manifesto of the Fourth International to the Workers and Peasants of India|date=1942|publisher=Pioneer publishers|language=en}} The Ceylonese Samasamajists who went to India participated actively along with the BLPI in the struggle for independence that commenced in August 1942 in India.{{Cite book|last=Perera|first=T.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmJuAAAAMAAJ&q=August+1942+quit+india+bolshevik+leninist|title=Revolutionary trails, Edmund Samarakkody: a political profile|date=2006|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|isbn=978-955-9102-80-9|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Rana|first=Mahendra Singh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9rfAAAAMAAJ&q=August+1942+quit+india+bolshevik+leninist|title=Indian Government and Politics: A Bibliographical Study (1885-1980)|date=1981|publisher=Wiley Eastern|isbn=978-0-85226-763-9|language=en}} It was generally realised that the impending open revolt against imperialism in India was going to be decisive for the future not only of India but of Ceylon as well. Their property and assets back home were confiscated.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FVCOAAAAMAAJ&q=Goonewardene+property+seized+India|title=Britain, World War 2 & the Sama Samajists: A Study of the Documents Contained in the Secret Files Maintained by the Public Record Office, London|date=1996-01-01|publisher=Young Socialist Publication|isbn=978-955-95284-4-9|language=en}} Various other members were arrested.{{Cite book|last=Sheppard|first=Barry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zerHmlD76ycC&q=lanka+sama+samaja+arrested+british&pg=PA237|title=The Party: The Socialist Workers Party, 1960-1988|date=2005|publisher=Resistance Books|isbn=978-1-876646-50-9|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Goonatilake|first=Susantha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIFjDwAAQBAJ&q=lanka+sama+samaja+arrested+british&pg=PA266|title=Recolonisation: Foreign Funded NGOs in Sri Lanka|date=2006-09-05|publisher=SAGE Publishing India|isbn=978-93-5280-538-9|language=en}} Only Colvin R. de Silva, Leslie Goonewardene, Vivienne Goonewardena and Selina Perera succeeded in evading arrest up to the end.{{Cite book|last=Wriggins|first=William Howard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCfWCgAAQBAJ&q=Colvin+R+de+silva+arrrested+british&pg=PA126|title=Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation|date=2015-12-08|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7690-7|language=en}}

File:Procession at Bangalore during Quit India movement, by Indian National Congress.jpg

During the war there was a split in the movement. N. M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena opposed a merger into the BLPI and formed the 'Workers' Opposition'.{{Cite book|last=Richardson|first=Al|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IFOOAAAAMAAJ&q=Philip+Gunawardena+opposed+a+merger+into+the+BLPI|title=Blows Against the Empire: Trotskyism in Ceylon: The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1964|date=1997|publisher=Porcupine Press|isbn=978-1-899438-26-6|language=en}} After the war, they reconstructed LSSP as an independent party.{{Cite book|last=Baring |first=Maurice |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/655235|title=C|date=1924|publisher=Doubleday, Page|oclc=655235}} Members of the other section, formed out of the exiled BLPI nucleus, effectively maintained a separate party, the Bolshevik Samasamaja Party.{{Cite book|last1=Fukui|first1=Haruhiro|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pV0lAAAAMAAJ&q=Bolshevik+Samasamaja+Party+founded|title=Political Parties of Asia and the Pacific|last2=Hughes|first2=Colin A.|date=1985|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-21350-2|language=en}} The latter group functioned as the Ceylon section of BLPI and was led by Colvin R de Silva, Leslie Goonawardene and Edmund Samarakkoddy.{{Cite book|last=Ervin|first=Charles Wesley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GqTaAAAAMAAJ&q=Colvin+R+de+Silva,+Leslie+Goonawardene+and+Edmund+Samarakkoddy|title=Tomorrow is Ours: The Trotskyist Movement in India and Ceylon, 1935-48|date=2006|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|isbn=978-955-9102-83-0|language=en}}

The relation between the two groups was often antagonistic. The BSP accused the LSSP of 'organisational Menshevism'.{{Cite book|last=Amarasinghe|first=Y. Ranjith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxkvAAAAYAAJ&q=LSSP+Menshevism|title=Revolutionary Idealism and Parliamentary Politics: A Study of Trotskyism in Sri Lanka|date=2000|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|language=en}} The LSSP accused the BSP of being introvert doctrinaires. LSSP wanted to build a mass-based party, whereas the BSP concentrated on building a cadre-based (revolutionary) party.{{Cite book|last=Biyanwila|first=S. Janaka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T7kuCgAAQBAJ&q=Lanka+sama+samaja+mass-based+party&pg=PA38|title=The Labour Movement in the Global South: Trade Unions in Sri Lanka|date=2010-10-18|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-90426-4|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Siriwardena|first=Regi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6huOAAAAMAAJ&q=bolshevik+samasamaja+cadre-based|title=Working Underground: The LSSP in Wartime : a Memoir of Happenings and Personalities|date=1999|publisher=International Centre for Ethnic Studies|isbn=978-955-580-044-0|language=en}} On 25 October 1945 fist-fights broke out at between the two groups at a meeting of the BSP.{{Cite web|title=Edmund Samarakkody, 1912-1992|url=http://www.whatnextjournal.org.uk/Pages/History/Edmund.html|website=whatnextjournal.org.uk |access-date=2020-07-07}}

The LSSP and the BSP were both at the helm of the strike waves that occurred in the post-war period.{{Cite book|last=Liyanage|first=Pulsara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWRuAAAAMAAJ&q=Bolshevik+samasamaja+strike+waves|title=Vivi: A Biography of Vivienne Goonewardena|date=1998|publisher=Women's Education and Research Centre|isbn=978-955-9261-07-0|language=en}} In 1946 there was a brief reconciliation between the two factions.{{Cite book|last=Richardson|first=Al|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IFOOAAAAMAAJ&q=bolshevik+sama+samaja+lanka+sama+samaja+reconciliation|title=Blows Against the Empire: Trotskyism in Ceylon: The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1964|date=1997|publisher=Porcupine Press|isbn=978-1-899438-26-6|language=en}} At the general election of 1947 the LSSP emerged as the main opposition party, with 10 seats.{{Cite web|date=2016-02-04|title=Results of Parliamentary General Election - 1947|url=http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/Results_1947%20GENERAL%20ELECTION.PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204082107/http://www.slelections.gov.lk/pdf/Results_1947%20GENERAL%20ELECTION.PDF|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-02-04|access-date=2020-07-07}} The BSP obtained 5 seats. They also had the support of the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC - which later became the Ceylon Workers' Congress) of Natesa Iyer, which had 6 members in Parliament and of various independent members.{{Cite book|last=Kanapathipillai|first=Valli|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QI7HNNa48WMC&q=Ceylon+Indian+Congress+lanka+sama+samaja+support&pg=PA40|title=Citizenship and Statelessness in Sri Lanka: The Case of the Tamil Estate Workers|date=2009-08-01|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-84331-807-1|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Vanniasingham|first=Somasundaram|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RHziAAAAMAAJ&q=Natesa+Iyer+1947+election|title=Sri Lanka: The Conflict Within|date=1989|publisher=Sangam Books|isbn=978-0-86132-206-0|language=en}} However, SWRD Bandaranaike and his Sinhala Maha Sabha backed the newly formed United National Party (UNP), which was thus able to form a government under DS Senanayake.{{Cite book|last=Rambukwella|first=Harshana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XaZjDwAAQBAJ&q=Sinhala+Maha+Sabha+backed+the+newly+formed+United+National+Party&pg=PA77|title=The Politics and Poetics of Authenticity: A Cultural Genealogy of Sinhala Nationalism|date=2018-07-02|publisher=UCL Press|isbn=978-1-78735-130-1|language=en}}

The BLPI-affiliated BSP became an independent party in 1948, and was recognised as the Ceylonese section of the Fourth International when the BLPI was dissolved.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UdDTVi914jcC&q=Bolshevik+Samasamaja+Fourth+International&pg=PA151|title=British Documents on Foreign Affairs--reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print: Burma, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Indonesia, The Philippines and South-East Asia and the Far East (General) January 1949-December 1949|date=2000|isbn=978-1-55655-768-2|language=en|last1=Best|first1=Anthony|publisher=Univ. Publ. of America }}

File:SL Independence.jpg by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester in the presence of Rt Hon D.S. Senanayake as first Prime Minister of Ceylon.]]

In 1948, the country was granted Dominion status by the British.{{Cite book|last=Geographer|first=United States Department of State Office of the|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDgZhetwQwIC&q=ceylon+dominion+1948&pg=PA8|title=Profiles of Newly Independent States|date=1965|publisher=Office of Media Services, Bureauof Public Affairs|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Independence Day in Ceylon |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/independence-day-ceylon |website=History Today |access-date=2020-07-07}} The armed forces continued to be commanded by British Officers and the Royal Navy and the RAF continued to have bases on the island (at Trincomalee and Katunayake).{{Cite web|title=Removing "remnants of colonialism" |website=Daily FT|url=http://www.ft.lk/ft-lite/Removing-"remnants-of-colonialism"/6-672509 |language=en |access-date=2020-07-07}}{{Cite web|title=The RAF and RCyAF - A parting of the ways |url=http://airforce.lk/pages.php?pages=the_raf_and_rcyaf |publisher=Sri Lanka Air Force}} The Government was heavily pro-British and anti-Soviet.{{Cite book |author=United States Department of State Public Services Division |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0c5iAsJdbcwC&q=Dudley+Senanayake+pro+british&pg=PA25|title=The Subcontinent of South Asia: Afghanistan, Ceylon, India, Nepal [and] Pakistan: Background|date=1959|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|language=en}} The new government proceeded to disenfranchise plantation workers of Indian Tamils descent, using the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948 and the Parliamentary Elections Amendment Act of 1949.{{Cite book|last=Kanapathipillai|first=Valli|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QI7HNNa48WMC&q=Ceylon+Citizenship+Act+of+1948+disenfranchisement&pg=PA41|title=Citizenship and Statelessness in Sri Lanka: The Case of the Tamil Estate Workers|date=2009-08-01|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-84331-807-1|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Chowdhory|first=Nasreen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DP5fDwAAQBAJ&q=Ceylon+Citizenship+Act+of+1948+disenfranchisement&pg=PA51|title=Refugees, Citizenship and Belonging in South Asia: Contested Terrains|date=2018-06-13|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-981-13-0197-1|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Vamadevan|first=M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=23k8AAAAMAAJ&q=Ceylon+Citizenship+Act+of+1948+disenfranchisement|title=Sri Lankan Repatriates in Tamil Nadu: Rehabilitation and Integration|date=1989|publisher=Zen Publishers|language=en}} These measures were intended primarily to undermine the Left electorally.{{Cite book|last=Weiss|first=Gordon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=26uhDwAAQBAJ&q=Ceylon+Citizenship+Act+of+1948+undermine+left&pg=PT451|title=The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers|date=2012-09-04|publisher=Bellevue Literary Press|isbn=978-1-934137-57-4|language=en}} Of these acts, N. M. Perera said:

'I thought racialism of this type died with Houston Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler. I do not believe that anyone claiming to be a Statesman would ask us to accede to a bill of this nature ... We cannot proceed as if we were God's chosen race quite apart from the rest of the world; that we and we alone have the right to be citizens of this country.'{{Cite web|title=Welcome to UTHR, Sri Lanka|url=http://www.uthr.org/BP/volume1/Chapter1.htm |website=UTHR |access-date=2020-07-06}}

The split between the LSSP and the BSP had weakened the movement, and in particular the BSP which was clearly the smaller of the two parties.{{Cite book|last=Amarasinghe|first=Y. Ranjith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxkvAAAAYAAJ&q=split+of+LSSP+and+BSP|title=Revolutionary Idealism and Parliamentary Politics: A Study of Trotskyism in Sri Lanka|date=2000|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|language=en}} A process of reunification was initiated, and in 1950 the BSP merged into the LSSP.{{Cite book|last=Silva|first=Colvin R. De|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UlEdAQAAMAAJ&q=split+of+LSSP+and+BSP|title=Their Politics and Ours|date=1954|publisher=Lanka Samasamaja|language=en}} Through the reunification, the LSSP became the Ceylonese section of the Fourth International.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUTvAAAAMAAJ&q=LSSP+became+fourth+international+1950|title=Intercontinental Press Combined with Inprecor|date=1977|publisher=Intercontinental Press|language=en}} However, Philip Gunawardena opposed the reconciliation with the BSP.{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=Robert Jackson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eUtQjseKaIC&q=LSSP+became+fourth+international+1950&pg=PA186|title=International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement|date=1991|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-1066-2|language=en}} Thus he left LSSP and formed a new party, Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party (VLSSP).{{Cite book|last=Scalapino|first=Robert A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9hKCAAAAIAAJ&q=Viplavakari+Lanka+Sama+Samaja+Party+foundation|title=The Communist Revolution in Asia: Tactics, Goals, and Achievements|date=1965|publisher=Prentice-Hall|isbn=9780131530492|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last=Kearney|first=Robert N.|date=1983|title=The Political Party System in Sri Lanka|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2150202|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=98|issue=1|pages=17–33|doi=10.2307/2150202|jstor=2150202|issn=0032-3195|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite web|title=The Fall of the Leftist Movement|url=https://archive.ceylontoday.lk/features-more/2878 |website=CeylonToday |language=en |access-date=2020-07-08}}

At the 1952 general election, the electoral performance was harmed by the relative prosperity due to the price of natural rubber being driven up by the Korean War.{{Cite book|last=Nyrop|first=Richard F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvMXAAAAIAAJ&q=1952+ceylon+general+election+rubber&pg=PA60|title=Area Handbook for Ceylon|date=1971|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|language=en}} Also, the disenfranchisement of the Indian Tamil estate workers by the UNP government deprived the LSSP of one of its main bases.{{Cite book|last=Wijeyeratne|first=Roshan de Silva|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tVttAAAAQBAJ&q=disenfranchisement+of+the+Indian+Tamil&pg=PA114|title=Nation, Constitutionalism and Buddhism in Sri Lanka|date=2013-08-15|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-03835-9|language=en}} Moreover, it damaged the electoral fortunes of its ally, the CIC, which went unrepresented.{{Cite book|last=Mitra|first=Subrata K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ao5CAQAAIAAJ&q=Ceylon+indian+congress+unrepresented+1952|title=Politics of Modern South Asia|date=2009-02-06|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-45628-9|language=en}}

In 1953, the LSSP took the lead in organising the Hartal.{{Cite web|date=2013-02-18|title=The Debasement Of Politics After The 1953 Hartal|url=https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-debasement-of-politics-after-the-1953-hartal/ |website=Colombo Telegraph |language=en-US |access-date=2020-07-08}} The immediate cause for the Hartal was a hike in the price of rice from 25 cent to 70 cent per measure by the UNP government.{{Cite book|last=Wickramasinghe|first=Nira|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1sCHCwAAQBAJ|title=Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-022579-7}} At the time, J.R. Jayawardena was the finance minister of the country.{{Cite book|last=Biziouras|first=Nikolaos|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BEUsAwAAQBAJ&q=1953+hartal+Jayawardene+finance+minister&pg=PA98|title=The Political Economy of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Economic Liberalization, Mobilizational Resources, and Ethnic Collective Action|date=2014-03-26|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-80553-3|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2013-08-11|title=60 years since the Great Hartal|url=https://www.himalmag.com/60-years-since-the-great-hartal-2/|website=Himal Southasian |language=en-GB |access-date=2020-07-08}} Maintaining the price of rice at 25 cent had been an electoral promise given by UNP in the 1952 elections, and when the new rates were introduced to the public, uproar ensued.{{Cite book|last1=Isenberg|first1=Joan P.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=65gegDaEsToC&q=1953+hartal+election+promise&pg=PA499|title=Major Trends and Issues in Early Childhood Education: Challenges, Controversies, and Insights|last2=Jalongo|first2=Mary Renck|date=2003-01-01|publisher=Teachers College Press|isbn=978-0-8077-4350-8|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Lanka)|first=the Socialist Equality Party (Sri|title=Sri Lankan independence: 60 years of communalism, social decay and war|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2008/02/sril-f04.html |website=wsws.org |date=4 February 2008 |language=en |access-date=2020-07-08}} This anger was furthered by the suspension of the meals given to schoolchildren and hikes in rail ticket fares and postal fees.{{Cite web|title=De Silva: Hartal!|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol2/no1/hartal.html |website=marxists.org |access-date=2020-07-08}}

Prior to 1953, the concept of a 'Hartal', or general strike, was relatively unknown in Ceylon. Through their exile, the LSSP leaders had witnessed the immense impact of the hartals during the Quit India Movement, ensuring that this knowledge was brought with them.{{Cite book|last=Nossiter|first=Thomas Johnson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CSQUxVjjWQC&q=1953+hartal+quit+india&pg=PA200|title=Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation|date=1982-01-01|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-04667-2|language=en}}

The Communist Party and VLSSP supported the Hartal and the SLFP and CIC expressed sympathy for the demand of the Hartal, but did not actively support the call for strike.{{Cite book|last=Fernando|first=Warnakulasuriya Thomas Aquinas Leslie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8hFVAAAAYAAJ&q=1953+hartal+Communist+Party+and+VLSSP|title=Being close to them: among some eminent personalities|date=2006|publisher=Godage International Publishers|isbn=9789552092947|language=en}}{{Cite book|last1=Mel|first1=de Neloufer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h0f_D1qiXQgC&q=1953+hartal+Communist+Party+and+VLSSP&pg=PA15|title=Women & the Nation's Narrative: Gender and Nationalism in Twentieth Century Sri Lanka|last2=Mel|first2=Neloufer De|date=2001|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-1807-0|language=en}} The Ceylon Mercantile Union supported the demands of the strike, but in not take part in it.{{Cite book|last=Dumont|first=René|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W6y4AAAAIAAJ&q=Ceylon+mercantile+union+1953+hartal|title=Paysanneries aux abois: Ceylan, Tunisie, Sénégal|date=1972|publisher=Éditions du Seuil|language=fr}} Rather it encouraged their members to go to work wearing black armbands as a means to protest.{{Cite book|last1=Muthiah|first1=Wesley S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2iHtAAAAMAAJ&q=1953+hartal+black+armband|title=We Were Making History: The Hartal of 1953|last2=Wanasinghe|first2=Sydney|date=2002|publisher=Young Socialist|isbn=978-955-9150-03-9|language=en}}

The Hartal took the country to a complete standstill.{{Cite web|date=2018-08-12|title=The day Trotskyists shut down a country: 65th anniversary of the Sri Lankan Hartal|url=https://socialistaction.org/2018/08/12/the-day-trotskyists-shut-down-a-country-65th-anniversary-of-the-sri-lankan-hartal/ |website=Socialist Action |language=en-US |access-date=2020-07-08}} Afraid of a revolution in the making, the government cabinet sought refuge on {{HMS|Newfoundland|59|6}}, a Royal Navy warship offshore.{{Cite web|title=14 Aug 1953, 5 - The Guardian at Newspapers.com|url=http://newspapers.com/image/259449190/?terms=hartal+ceylon |website=Newspapers.com |language=en |access-date=2020-07-08}}{{Cite book|last=Perera|first=Mario|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2zxZDwAAQBAJ&q=HMS+Newfoundland+hartal&pg=PT108|title=WHILE GOD SLEPT: "Forces of darkness as Angels of Light Sri Lanka: 1971-2009"|publisher=Wordit CDE|isbn=978-93-87649-75-0|language=en}} The mass upsurge that accompanied the action of the strikers caused Dudley Senanayake to resign from the premiership.{{Cite book|last=Mehta|first=Raj K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WyRZKMxTPXsC&q=Dudley+Senanayake+resignation+hartal&pg=PA39|title=Lost Victory: The Rise & Fall of LTTE Supremo, V. Prabhakaran|date=2010|publisher=Pentagon Press|isbn=978-81-8274-443-1|language=en}}{{Cite book|last1=Silva|first1=K. M. De|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6orPBJCSPhIC&q=Dudley+Senanayake+resignation+hartal&pg=PA295|title=J.R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka: 1906-1956|last2=Wriggins|first2=William Howard|date=1988|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-1183-9|language=en}} The Hartal emoboldended the LSSP to start to consider that the party might be able to seize state power.{{Cite book|last=Perera|first=Mario|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2zxZDwAAQBAJ&q=effect+on+LSSP+of+hartal&pg=PT108|title=WHILE GOD SLEPT: "Forces of darkness as Angels of Light Sri Lanka: 1971-2009"|publisher=Wordit CDE|isbn=978-93-87649-75-0|language=en}}

In 1956 the LSSP went into a no-contest pact with the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front) of SWRD Bandaranaike, which he had formed with Philip Gunawardena and the VLSSP.{{Cite web|title=The Island|url=http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=146770 |website=island.lk |access-date=2020-07-08}}{{Cite book|last=Wickramasinghe|first=Nira|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5hMoBgAAQBAJ&q=Mahajana+Eksath+Peramuna+LSSP+no+contest&pg=PT218|title=Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History|date=2014-01-03|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-025755-2|language=en}} The MEP won a landslide in the polls held that year.{{Cite journal|last=Namasivayam|first=S.|title=The General Election in Ceylon in 1956|date=1955-01-01|url=https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/IX/3/307/1499547|journal=Parliamentary Affairs|language=en|volume=IX|issue=3|pages=307–310|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a052901|issn=0031-2290|url-access=subscription}} The LSSP once again became the main opposition party, and N. M. Perera became the Leader of Opposition.{{Cite book |author=United States Department of State Public Services Division |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pB1SAQAAMAAJ&q=N.+M.+Perera+became+the+Leader+of+Opposition+1956&pg=PA7|title=Ceylon, 1957: Background|date=1957|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|language=en}} Through this, the LSSP supported the reforms initiated by the new government, but strongly opposed the 'Sinhala Only' policy.{{Cite book|last=Riaz|first=Ali|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8GJAgAAQBAJ&q=LSSP+oppose+sinhala+only&pg=PA156|title=Religion and Politics in South Asia|date=2010-02-26|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-99985-9|language=en}}{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YIAMAQAAMAAJ&q=LSSP+oppose+sinhala+only|journal=South Asia Bulletin|title=Volumes 6–7|date=1986|publisher=University of California, Los Angeles|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=Robert Jackson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eUtQjseKaIC&q=LSSP+oppose+sinhala+only&pg=PA171|title=International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement|date=1991|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-1066-2|language=en}} In July 1959, both LSSP and the Communist Party withdrew their support for the government, as inner-party feuds within the SLFP had resulted in a temporary victory for the right-wing and expulsions of leftist ministers like Philip Gunawardena.{{Cite book|last=Palmer|first=Norman Dunbar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbcJAAAAIAAJ&q=LSSP+and+the+Communist+Party+withdraw+support+1959|title=Elections and Political Development: The South Asian Experience|date=1975|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-0341-1|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IQ4xAQAAIAAJ&q=July+1959,+both+LSSP+and+the+Communist+Party|title=The Commonwealth Yearbook|date=1990|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|isbn=9780115802393|language=en}}

In March 1960, the LSSP contested the general elections on the slogan 'forward to a Sama Samaja Government'.{{Cite book|last=Abhayavardhana|first=Hector|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BWNuAAAAMAAJ&q=March+1960+LSSP+sogan|title=Hector Abhayavardhana: Selected Writings|date=2001-01-01|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|isbn=978-955-9102-40-3|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XD9bAAAAMAAJ&q=March+1960+LSSP+sogan|title=Intercontinental Press|date=1975|publisher=Intercontinental Press|language=en}} The votes won by the LSSP, the Communists and the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (a new party, not the 1956 front) of Philip Gunawardena, were sufficient to have made them the biggest bloc in Parliament. However, due to their contesting separately, the LSSP and the MEP won just 10 seats each, the CP a mere 3.{{Cite web|title=28. Ceylon/Sri Lanka (1948-present)|url=https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/asiapacific-region/ceylonsri-lanka-1948-present/ |website=uca.edu |language=en-US |access-date=2020-07-08}}{{Cite book |author=United States Directorate for Armed Forces Information and Education |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cr8z7N0lpRsC&q=March+1960+election+ceylon&pg=PP3|title=Ceylon|date=1968|publisher=Department of Defense, Armed Forces Information Service|language=en}} Elections were held again in July and the LSSP had a no-contest pact with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, which was thus able to form a government.{{Cite news|date=1960-07-20|title=1960: Ceylon chooses world's first woman PM|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/20/newsid_2784000/2784527.stm|access-date=2020-07-08}} The Fourth International was highly critical of the electoral tactics of LSSP, and the LSSP chose not to attend the World Congress of International the following year.{{Cite book|last=Frank|first=Pierre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlWqAAAAIAAJ&q=Fourth+International+critical+of+lssp+1960|title=The Fourth International: The Long March of the Trotskyists|date=1979|publisher=Ink Links|isbn=978-0-906133-08-8|language=en}}

In 1962, officers of the Army and Police attempted a coup d'état aimed at overthrowing the government and bringing the UNP to power.{{Cite book|last=Horowitz|first=Donald L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbP_AwAAQBAJ&q=1962+coup+ceylon&pg=PA21|title=Coup Theories and Officers' Motives: Sri Lanka in Comparative Perspective|date=2014-07-14|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-5412-7|language=en}} This plot was foiled, and the SLFP lurched leftwards in terms of policy.{{Cite book|last=Warnapala|first=W. A. Wiswa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M5uNAAAAMAAJ&q=1962+coup+SLFP+leftwards|title=Sri Lanka Freedom Party: A Political Profile|date=2005-01-01|publisher=Godage International Publishers|isbn=978-955-20-8853-7|language=en}} The local branches of petroleum companies were nationalised, leading to a boycott of the country by the oil multi-nationals; the boycott was broken with help from the Kansas Oil Producers Co-operative and the Romanian Government.{{Cite book |author=United States Congress House Foreign Affairs Committee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPJFxL1tLl0C&q=1962+ceylon+petroleum+nationalisation&pg=PA21|title=Expropriation of American-owned Property by Foreign Governments in the Twentieth Century, Report Prepared by the Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress, for the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Committee Print ... 88-1 ... July 19, 1963|date=1963|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Nayyar|first=Deepak|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Y-wCwAAQBAJ&q=1962+ceylon+petroleum+nationalisation+Romanian+Government.&pg=PA193|title=Economic Relations between Socialist Countries and the Third World|date=1977-06-17|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-349-03293-8|language=en}}

A parallel process was one of increasing self-confidence and unity amongst the Ceylonese left-wing. In the parliament they were in the opposition.{{Cite web|title=28. Ceylon/Sri Lanka (1948-present)|url=https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/asiapacific-region/ceylonsri-lanka-1948-present/ |website=uca.edu |language=en-US |access-date=2020-07-08}} On May Day 1963 the three main left parties (LSSP, CP and MEP) held a massive joint rally.{{Cite book|last=Kearney|first=Robert N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJbpDwAAQBAJ&q=ceylon+may+day+1963+joint+rally&pg=PA155|title=Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon|date=2021-01-08|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-33174-7|language=en}} That was followed by the launching of United Front on 12 August, the tenth anniversary of the 1953 Hartal.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ctE4AAAAIAAJ&q=ceylon+United+Front+launched+august+12|title=World Marxist Review|date=1963|language=en}} The front launched agitations on issues like bring down the prices of essential commodities, leading it to represent an immediate threat to the governance of SLFP. The SLFP began to offer the left parties ministerial posts and worked intensively to break the unity of ULF.{{cite web|title=Hartal!|url=http://www.revolutionary-history.co.uk/backiss/Vol2/No1/Hartal.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109041300/http://www.revolutionary-history.co.uk/backiss/Vol2/No1/Hartal.html|archive-date=9 January 2008|publisher=revolutionary-history.co.uk|df=dmy-all}}

The 1950s and 1960s were in many ways the "Golden era" of LSSP.{{Cite book|last=Guṇavardhana|first=Pilip|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cm5uAAAAMAAJ&q=Golden+era+of+the+LSSP|title=The State Council Years, 1936-1942: Speeches Made in the Legislature Compiled Under the Auspices of the Philip Gunawardena Commemoration Society|date=2006|publisher=Godage International Publishers|isbn=978-955-20-9707-2|language=en}} At the time, the most powerful trade unions in the country supported LSSP politics.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uj0ZAAAAIAAJ&q=Golden+era+of+the+LSSP|title=Tribune|date=1977|publisher=Ceylon News Service|language=en}} The most prominent trade union in the public sector in this period was the Government Clerical Service Union, which gave the a great support to the political struggle of LSSP.{{Cite book|last=Kearney|first=Robert N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJbpDwAAQBAJ&q=ceylon+Government+Clerical+Service+Union+LSSP&pg=PA100|title=Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon|date=2021-01-08|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-33174-7|language=en}} The forefront leader of GCSU, I. J. Wickrema, openly appealed for support to the LSSP-CP coalition in order to defeat imperialism.{{Cite book|last=Kearney|first=Robert N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJbpDwAAQBAJ&q=GCSU+LSSP-CP+coalition&pg=PA159|title=Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon|date=2021-01-08|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-33174-7|language=en}} The GCSU publication Red Tape constantly criticised the UNP government and asked the people to support the left.

In 1964, the LSSP held a conference at which the majority agreed with a theoretical categorisation of the SLFP by Hector Abhayavardhana as a petty bourgeois party, leaving the door open to a united front with it.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_y0AAAAIAAJ&q=1964+LSSP+SLFP+petty+bourgeois|title=Asian Survey|date=1972|publisher=University of California Press|language=en}} A minority faction, led by Colvin R de Silva and Leslie Goonewardene, opposed the move but opted to stay within the Party.{{Cite book|last=Jayaratne|first=Osmund|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lLorAAAAYAAJ&q=Colvin+R+de+Silva+and+Leslie+Goonewardene+opposed+coalition|title=Memoirs of Osmund Jayaratne|date=2004|publisher=Godage International Publishers|isbn=978-955-20-7584-1|language=en}} Another minority faction led by Edmund Samarakkody, Merryl Fernando, V Karalasingham and Bala Tampoe, left the party and formed the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary) - the LSSP(R).{{Cite book|last=Nyrop|first=Richard F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvMXAAAAIAAJ&q=1964+SLFP+Colvin+R+de+Silva+and+Leslie+Goonewardene&pg=PA267|title=Area Handbook for Ceylon|date=1971|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|language=en}}

Later that year, the LSSP joined the coalition government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.{{Cite news|date=1964-05-10|title=Talks on Ceylon Coalition Approved by Ruling Party|work=New York Times|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1964/05/10/97390220.html?pageNumber=6}}{{Cite book|last=Biyanwila|first=S. Janaka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T7kuCgAAQBAJ&q=LSSP+joins+SLFP+coalition&pg=PA47|title=The Labour Movement in the Global South: Trade Unions in Sri Lanka|date=2010-10-18|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-90426-4|language=en}} Three of its MPs became Ministers; Dr N. M. Perera (Finance), Cholomondely Goonewardena (Public Works) and Anil Moonesinghe (Communications).{{Cite news |title=BRITONS CRITICIZE CEYLON PROPOSAL; Say a Ban on Remittances Would Damage Trade|work=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1964/08/09/119439081.html |language=en }} The LSSP was expelled from the Fourth International, and the membership was passed on to the LSSP(R).{{Cite book|last=Samaranāyaka|first=Gāmiṇi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QvDHdlk4tGIC&q=LSSP+was+expelled+from+the+Fourth+International&pg=PA124|title=Political Violence in Sri Lanka, 1971-1987|date=2008|publisher=Gyan Publishing House|isbn=978-81-212-1003-4|language=en}}

The Coalition Government fell in 1965, due to the desertion of several members.{{Cite book|last=Kearney|first=Robert N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJbpDwAAQBAJ&q=Ceylon+Coalition+Government+fell+in+1965&pg=PA157|title=Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon|date=2021-01-08|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-33174-7|language=en}} However, the number of votes won by the LSSP increased at the general election held that year. After the election, supporters of the party were subject to a co-ordinated campaign of victimisation by the new seven-party coalition led by the UNP.{{Cite book|last=Kearney|first=Robert N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJbpDwAAQBAJ&q=1965+LSSP+victimisation+by+UNP&pg=PA106|title=Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon|date=2021-01-08|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-33174-7|language=en}} In 1968, the LSSP joined the SLFP and the CP in a United Front; one that suffered clashes due to the Moscow-oriented focus of the CP.{{Cite book|last=Nubin|first=Walter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iudi2JJLaUAC&q=1968+LSSP+united+front&pg=PA128|title=Sri Lanka: Current Issues and Historical Background|date=2002|publisher=Nova Publishers|isbn=978-1-59033-573-4|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VJIqAQAAMAAJ&q=1968+LSSP+united+front&pg=PA31|title=Problems of Communism|date=1973|publisher=Special Materials Section, United States Information Agency|language=en}} That year's joint May Day rally was said to be the biggest ever to take place in Sri Lanka.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=olLRAAAAMAAJ|title=Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East|date=1968|publisher=Monitoring Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation}}

In 1970, the United Front, of which the LSSP was part, was elected to power in landslide.{{Cite book|last=Roberts|first=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xgjH0GjmTeIC&q=1970+LSSP+election&pg=PA3|title=Exploring Confrontation: Sri Lanka--politics, Culture and History|date=1994|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-3-7186-5692-9|language=en}} The LSSP had 19 MPs in the House of Representatives.{{Cite book|last=Oberst|first=Robert C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3akDwAAQBAJ&q=1970+LSSP+19+seats&pg=PT26|title=Legislators And Representation In Sri Lanka: The Decentralization Of Development Planning|date=2019-04-03|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-71153-4|language=en}} Dr NM Perera, Dr Colvin R de Silva and Leslie Goonewardene became Ministers of Finance, Constitutional Affairs with Plantation Industries and Transport and Communication, respectively.{{Cite web|title=1 Aug 1970, Page 17 - The Gazette and Daily at Newspapers.com|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/96747106/?terms=Lanka+Sama+Samaja |website=Newspapers.com |language=en |access-date=2020-07-08}}

The Party was able to advance parts of its programme considerably: Foreign-owned plantations were nationalised, local ownership was restricted, democratically elected workers' councils were established in state corporations and government departments under the purview of its ministries, and measures were taken that narrowed the gap between the rich and poor.{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=A. Jeyaratnam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qes8AAAAIAAJ&q=ceylon+Foreign-owned+plantations+were+nationalised&pg=PA193|title=Electoral Politics in an Emergent State: The Ceylon General Election of May 1970|date=1975|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-1-001-32712-9}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jwZAAAAIAAJ|title=Tribune|date=1975|publisher=Ceylon News Service}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKBtAAAAMAAJ&q=ceylon+nationalisation+1970|title=Asian Almanac|date=1971|publisher=V.T. Sambandan}}

Several LSSP members were appointed to important posts in which they could press forward the party programme: Anil Moonesinghe became Chairman of the Ceylon Transport Board and theoretician Hector Abhayavardhana was made Chairman of the People's Bank and Doric de Souza was appointed permanent secretary to the Ministry of Plantations.{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=Robert Jackson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eUtQjseKaIC&q=Anil+Moonesinghe+became+Chairman+of+the+Ceylon+Transport+Board&pg=PA178|title=International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement|date=1991|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-1066-2|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Abhayavardhana|first=Hector|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BWNuAAAAMAAJ&q=Hector+Abhayavardhana+was+made+Chairman+of+the+People's+Bank|title=Hector Abhayavardhana: Selected Writings|date=2001-01-01|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|isbn=978-955-9102-40-3|language=en}}{{Cite book |author=Sri Lanka Pārlimēntuva Senate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQIeAAAAIAAJ&q=Doric+de+Souza+was+appointed+permanent+secretary+to+the+Ministry+of+Plantations|title=Parliamentary Debates|date=1970|language=en}}

Dr Seneka Bibile, a member of the LSSP, became the founder Chairperson of the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) - which distributed drugs at affordable rates, by generic name instead of by trade name.{{Cite book|last=Jayaratne|first=Osmund|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lLorAAAAYAAJ&q=Dr+Seneka+Bibile+Chairperson+of+the+State+Pharmaceuticals+Corporation|title=Memoirs of Osmund Jayaratne|date=2004|publisher=Godage International Publishers|isbn=978-955-20-7584-1|language=en}} The SPC, which became a model for the Third World and remains so today, was based on a report on Pharmaceuticals in Sri Lanka of which the authors were Dr S. A. Wickremesinghe and Seneka Bibile.{{Cite book|last1=Fathelrahman|first1=Ahmed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ewe5BAAAQBAJ&q=Dr+S.+A.+Wickremesinghe+and+Seneka+Bibile+State+Pharmaceuticals+Corporation&pg=PA90|title=Pharmacy Practice in Developing Countries: Achievements and Challenges|last2=Ibrahim|first2=Mohamed|last3=Wertheimer|first3=Albert|date=2016-02-13|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-12-801711-1|language=en}}

The Congress of Samasamaja Youth Leagues and the other bodies affiliated to the party (membership of the party proper was still restricted to a small cadre, on a Leninist model) saw unprecedented growth at this time.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} The leadership looked to Salvador Allende's Chile as a model of revolution through parliamentary means.{{Cite web|date=2015-06-10|title=N. M., Allende & Chavez: Re-reading Three Strategies For Socialism|url=https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/n-m-allende-chavez-re-reading-three-strategies-for-socialism/ |website=Colombo Telegraph |language=en-US |access-date=2020-07-08}}{{Cite web|title=The Island|url=http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=126292 |website=island.lk |access-date=2020-07-08}} Leslie Goonewardene, easily the most cosmopolitan of the party's leaders, established contact with the 'Captains' of the Movement of the Armed Forces ('Movimento das Forças Armadas' - MFA) of Portugal, after the Carnation Revolution of April 1974; he also became a theoretician of Eurocommunism and its application to Sri Lanka, writing a pamphlet 'Can we Get To Socialism This Way'.{{Cite book|last1=Muthiah|first1=Wesley S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XaHaAAAAMAAJ&q=leslie+goonewardene+christian|title=Socialist Women of Sri Lanka|last2=Thiruchandran|first2=Selvy|last3=Wanasinghe|first3=Sydney|date=2006|publisher=Young Socialist Publication|isbn=9789559150060|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=A. Jeyaratnam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kfK34Y7mYkC&q=leslie+goonewardene+theoretician&pg=PA41|title=The Break-up of Sri Lanka: The Sinhalese-Tamil Conflict|date=1988|publisher=Hurst|isbn=978-1-85065-033-1|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Duraisingam|first=Thambimuttu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjpuAAAAMAAJ&q=leslie+goonewardene+theoretician|title=Politics and Life in Our Times: Selected Articles Published for Over a Century|date=2000|publisher=Thambimuttu Duraisingam|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Goonewardene|first=Leslie|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1056508031|title=Can we get to socialism this way?|publisher=The Times of Ceylon|location=Colombo|oclc=1056508031}}

In 1975, the United Front broke up with the expulsion of the LSSP ministers.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jfnySuCvVPYC&q=lanka+sama+samja+Trotskyist|title=The Economist|date=1977|publisher=Economist Newspaper Limited|language=en}} The party then pursued a line of forming a new socialist alliance, the Socialist United Front (SUF).{{Cite news |title=Unknown |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oEVbAAAAMAAJ&q=Socialist+United+Front+LSSP |newspaper=Intercontinental Press |year=1977 |language=en}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2020|reason=This is a year's worth of news! Provide the exact date, author, title and page!}} This was finally formed in 1977 with the CPSL and with the People's Democratic Party (PDP), made up of leftist elements from the SLFP led by Nanda Ellawala.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ieYhAQAAIAAJ&q=Socialist+United+Front+Nanda+Ellawala|title=Link: Indian Newsmagazine|date=1977|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Muller|first=Tom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d33MfEFXvW8C&q=Socialist+United+Front+Nanda+Ellawala&pg=PA1353|title=Political Handbook of the World 2012|date=2012-04-02|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-1-60871-995-2|language=en}}

In 1977, the LSSP and CP lost all their Parliamentary seats, and the Left was unrepresented - something that had not happened in the 46 years since the introduction of universal suffrage.{{Cite book|last1=Silva|first1=K. M. De|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d2riAAAAMAAJ&q=In+1977,+the+LSSP+and+CP+lost+all+their+Parliamentary+seats|title=J.R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka: 1956-1989|last2=Wriggins|first2=William Howard|date=1988|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=9780824816926|language=en}} The party and its allies received over 8% of the vote, but this was not sufficient to win any seats under the first-past-the-post system then in place in Sri Lanka.{{Cite book|last1=Bastian|first1=Sunil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJgBroRWX_MC&q=first-past-the-post+system+sri+lanka&pg=PA199|title=Can Democracy be Designed?: The Politics of Institutional Choice in Conflict-Torn Societies|last2=Luckham|first2=Robin|date=2003-08-23|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=978-1-84277-151-8|language=en}} The same year the LSSP suffered another split, as a group led by the youth leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara broke away and formed the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP).{{Cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=David S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S4uyAAAAIAAJ&q=Nava+Sama+Samaja+Party+formed|title=Political Parties of Asia and the Pacific: A Reference Guide|last2=Sagar|first2=Darren J.|date=1992|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-0-582-09811-4|language=en}}

This was compounded by the death of N. M. Perera in 1979.{{Cite book|last=Gunawardena|first=Charles A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWLQSMPddikC&q=death+of+N.+M.+Perera+in+1979&pg=PA108|title=Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka|date=2005|publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd|isbn=978-1-932705-48-5|language=en}}{{Cite book|last1=Fukui|first1=Haruhiro|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pV0lAAAAMAAJ&q=death+of+N.+M.+Perera+in+1979|title=Political Parties of Asia and the Pacific|last2=Hughes|first2=Colin A.|date=1985|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-21350-2|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=The Island-Features|url=http://www.island.lk/2009/08/13/features7.html |website=island.lk |access-date=2020-07-08}} His funeral was one of the largest ever seen in Colombo.{{Cite book|last=Duraisingam|first=Thambimuttu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjpuAAAAMAAJ&q=N.+M.+Perera+funeral+colombo|title=Politics and Life in Our Times: Selected Articles Published for Over a Century|date=2000|publisher=Thambimuttu Duraisingam|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nz8ZAAAAIAAJ&q=N.+M.+Perera+funeral+colombo|title=Tribune|date=1979|publisher=Ceylon News Service|language=en}}

In 1980, an even worse catastrophe occurred. The UNP Government provoked a strike in the Railway Department.{{Cite book|last=Biyanwila|first=S. Janaka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pm7FBQAAQBAJ&q=1980+sri+lanka+strike&pg=PT109|title=The Labour Movement in the Global South: Trade Unions in Sri Lanka|date=2010-10-18|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-90425-7|language=en}} The strike became a general strike.{{Cite book|last=Jayatilake|first=Linus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bm9MswEACAAJ&q=1980+sri+lanka+strike|title=General Strike 1980: Sri Lanka President J.R. Jayawardene's Democracy Unmasked|date=1980|publisher=National Committee|language=en}} The government cracked down on the trade unions, jailing many labour leaders, including Anil Moonesinghe and G.E.H. Perera of the Government Workers' Trade Union Federation.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PgeyAAAAIAAJ&q=1980+strike+lssp|title=Labour Capital and Society: Travail Capital Et Société|date=1983|publisher=Centre for Developing-Area Studies, McGill University.|language=en}} The strike was crushed and with it the LSSP trade union movement.{{Cite book|last=Fernando|first=J. Basil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1rcVAQAAIAAJ&q=sri+lanka+1980+strike+was+crushed|title=Sri Lanka: Militarization Vs. Modernization|date=1991|publisher=Asia Monitor Resource Center|isbn=978-962-7145-13-4|language=en}}

In 1982 the LSSP split over the question of a coalition with the SLFP. Anil Moonesinghe, Cholomondely Goonewardena, G. E. H. Perera, Wilfred Senanayake and others formed the Sri Lanka Sama Samaja Party (SLSSP), which dissolved the next year and merged with the SLFP.{{Cite book|title=Sri Lanka Sama Samaja Party Political Parties in Sri Lanka, Trotskyist Organisations of Sri Lanka|publisher=TypPRESS|year=2013|isbn=978-613-9-19336-3}}{{page needed|date=July 2020}} Moonesinghe charged that the LSSP had been taken over by the BSP faction.{{page needed|date=July 2020}} Scuffles broke out between the LSSP and the SLSSP at the joint May Day procession that year.{{page needed|date=July 2020}}

At the Presidential election held that year, the LSSP put forward Dr Colvin R de Silva as its candidate, the SLSSP backed Hector Kobbekaduwa of the SLFP.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0sZAAAAIAAJ|title=Tribune|date=1982|publisher=Ceylon News Service}}{{Cite book|last=Jayawardane|first=Lakshman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTduAAAAMAAJ&q=Dr+Colvin+R+de+Silva+presidential+candidate|title=Sri Lanka presidential election, 88: issues and trends|date=1988|publisher=Lakshman Jayawardane|language=en}} Dr Colvin R de Silva was beaten into 5th place.

Following the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in 1987, the party was at the receiving end of the terror campaign.{{Cite book|last=Bhasin|first=Avtar Singh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhhuAAAAMAAJ&q=Indo-Sri+Lanka+Accord+in+1987+lanka+sama|title=India-Sri Lanka relations and Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict documents, 1947-2000|date=2001|publisher=Indian Research Press|isbn=978-81-87943-10-5|language=en}}

The LSSP joined the People's Alliance, the front led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1994.{{Cite book|last=Busky|first=Donald F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K5Bxd7sq9KcC&q=lssp+joins+People's+Alliance&pg=PA65|title=Communism in History and Theory: Asia, Africa, and the Americas|date=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-97733-7|language=en}} It had three members elected to Parliament that year.{{Cite book|last=Biyanwila|first=S. Janaka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T7kuCgAAQBAJ&q=LSSP+has+three+members+elected+to+Parliament&pg=PA25|title=The Labour Movement in the Global South: Trade Unions in Sri Lanka|date=2010-10-18|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-90426-4|language=en}} Bernard Soysa was Minister of Science and Technology.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FXesBG6LlhIC&q=Bernard+Soysa+was+Minister+of+Science+and+Technology&pg=RA5-PA3|title=Sri Lanka News|date=1997|publisher=Embassy of Sri Lanka|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Embassy (U.S.)|first=Sri Lanka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYii6xBPtjgC&q=Bernard+Soysa+was+Minister+of+Science+and+Technology&pg=PP7|title=News Letter|date=1995|publisher=The Embassy|language=en}} In 1999, Vasudeva Nanayakkara was expelled after having publicly criticized the People's Alliance government.{{Cite book|last=Lansford|first=Tom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i39ZDwAAQBAJ&q=Vasudeva+Nanayakkara+expelled+from+LSSP&pg=PT6003|title=Political Handbook of the World 2015|date=2015-03-24|publisher=CQ Press|isbn=978-1-4833-7156-6|language=en}} Nanayakkara had joined LSSP from the NSSP in 1994 and had been elected MP for Ratnapura.{{Cite book|last=Dissanayaka|first=T. D. S. A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x2VuAAAAMAAJ&q=Vasudeva+Nanayakkara+Ratnapura|title=The Politics of Sri Lanka: The provincial council election of 1999|date=1994|publisher=Swastika (Private) Limited|isbn=978-955-572-001-4|language=en}} After his expulsion, Nanayakkara floated the Democratic Left Front.{{Cite web|last1=Rajadorai|first1=N. P.|last2=Corr|first2=Ratnapura Special|title=Vasudeva never changed his party, policies– PM|url=http://www.dailynews.lk/2020/02/24/local/212334/vasudeva-never-changed-his-party-policies%E2%80%93-pm |website=Daily News |language=en |access-date=2020-07-08}}

When the SLFP shelved the PA and formed the United People's Freedom Alliance together with Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna ahead of the 2004 elections, the CPSL and LSSP initially stayed out. They did however, sign a memorandum with the UPFA at a later stage and contested the elections on the UPFA platform. LSSP won one parliamentary seat. Its lone MP, Tissa Vitharana, was named Minister of Science and Technology.{{cite news|date=1 October 2005|title=Divisions in the left emerge|work=BBC News|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2005/10/051001_batti.shtml}}

The LSSP has gradually decreased in strength. The Congress of Samasamaja Youth Leagues has been disbanded. The party celebrated its 70th anniversary in December 2005, with a well-attended rally in Colombo.{{cite web|title=Ceylon/Sri Lanka: The Rise of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party|url=http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/alex/works/in_trot/cey1_1.htm|publisher=Marxists Internet Archive(MIA)}}{{cite news|date=24 December 2007|title=Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the working class|work=Daily News|url=http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/12/24/fea02.asp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228173318/http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/12/24/fea02.asp|archive-date=28 February 2008|df=dmy-all}}{{cite web|title=Origins Of Trotskyism In Ceylon|url=http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/srilanka/ch03.htm|publisher=Marxists Internet Archive(MIA)}}{{cite web|title=The Struggle for Trotskyism in Ceylon|url=http://www.bolshevik.org/history/smk/SMK01.htm|publisher=International Bolshevik Tendency (IBT)}}

On 4 December 2019, Tissa Vitharana was appointed as Governor for the North Central Province, Sri Lanka,{{Cite web|title=Governor post for Tissa Vitharana|url=https://www.lankanewsweb.net/67-general-news/52841-Governor-post-for-Tissa-Vitharana |website=lankanewsweb.net |language=en |access-date=2020-02-20}} being sworn in before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.{{Cite web |date=2019-12-04|title=Tissa Vitharana among two new Governors appointed|url=https://colombogazette.com/2019/12/04/tissa-vitharana-among-two-new-governors-appointed/|website=Colombo Gazette |language=en-GB |access-date=2020-02-20}}

File:Lsspoffice.JPG]]

The LSSP operated as a cadre party on the Leninist model.{{Cite book|last=Roberts|first=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xgjH0GjmTeIC&q=LSSP+cadre+party&pg=PA338|title=Exploring Confrontation: Sri Lanka--politics, Culture and History|date=1994|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-3-7186-5692-9|pages=338|language=en}} In order to become a member one had first to be active in the peripheral organisations such as the trade unions, women's organisations and youth leagues.{{Cite book|last=Kearney|first=Robert N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJbpDwAAQBAJ&q=LSSP+cadre+party&pg=PA72|title=Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon|date=2021-01-08|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-33174-7|pages=72|language=en}} Thereafter it was necessary to serve several months' apprenticeship as a candidate member before being elevated to full membership with voting rights. The basic unit of the Party is the Local, consisting of only full- and candidate-members. Locals also exist inside trade unions.{{Cite web|title=Leslie Goonewardene: A Short History of the LSSP|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/goonewardene/1960/lssp.htm |website=marxists.org |access-date=2020-07-08}}

Internally, the LSSP uses democratic process. The supreme body is the conference, which is summoned every few years. The conference decides on policy and elects a Central Committee (CC) to preside over its implementation.{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=Robert Jackson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eUtQjseKaIC&q=Lssp+central+committee&pg=PA174|title=International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement|date=1991|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-1066-2|pages=174|language=en}} The CC appoints members to bureaux to look after specific area, such as the Educational Bureau (EB), Organisational Bureau (Orgburo) and Trade Union Bureau (TUB); The Political Bureau (Politburo) is appointed to deal with day-to-day political matters and effectively provides leadership.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jwUuAQAAIAAJ&q=Lssp+politburo|title=Asian Recorder|date=1975|pages=pCLXXXVII|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Wickramasinghe|first=Nira|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-xQ8qk9mgYC&q=Lssp+central+committee&pg=PA210|title=Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History of Contested Indentities|date=2006|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3016-8|pages=210|language=en}} The CC also appoints an Editorial Board for running the Samasamajaya newspaper.{{Cite book|last=Karalasingham|first=V.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DGJYAAAAMAAJ&q=Lssp+Editorial+Board|title=Politics of Coalition|date=1964|publisher=International Publishers|language=en}}

The Party also has regional groupings, which have conferences and appoint office bearers for the Regional Committees (RCs).{{Cite book|last=Perera|first=T.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmJuAAAAMAAJ&q=Lssp+Regional+Committees|title=Revolutionary trails, Edmund Samarakkody: a political profile|date=2006|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|isbn=978-955-9102-80-9|pages=68|language=en}} Internationally, there was just one Local, the London Branch. This was also known as the Lanka Socialist League, and was anchored around Wesley Muthiah.{{Cite book|last1=Muthiah|first1=Wesley S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wCcvAAAAYAAJ&q=Lanka+Socialist+League+Wesley+Muthiah|title=The Bracegirdle Affair: An Episode in the History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party|last2=Wanasinghe|first2=Sydney|date=1997|publisher=Young Socialist Publication|isbn=978-955-95284-5-6|language=en}}

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 Goonewardene
• Bernard Soysa
• Batty Weerakoon
• Wimalasiri de Mel

{{refbegin}}

: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.

{{refend}}

In recent elections, the LSSP has contested as part of a political coalition of multiple parties.

• In 1989, the LSSP contested as part of the United Socialist Alliance.
• From 1994 to 2001 the LSSP contested on the lists of the People's Alliance.
• From 2004 to 2015, the LSSP contested on the lists of the United People's Freedom Alliance.
• In 2020, the LSSP contested on the lists of the Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance.

{{Social democracy sidebar}}

:See List of Members of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party.

{{Socialism sidebar}}The LSSP has never had a formal leader.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1MMAAAAYAAJ&q=LSSP+never+had+formal+leader|title=Towards a History of the Fourth International: Education for Socialists Bulletins Towards a History of the Fourth International|date=1975|publisher=National Education Department, Socialist Workers Party|pages=12|language=en}} In the period immediately after its formation, Dr Colvin R de Silva was elected President, but the post was later removed.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FVCOAAAAMAAJ&q=LSSP+Dr+Colvin+R+de+Silva+president|title=Britain, World War 2 & the Sama Samajists: A Study of the Documents Contained in the Secret Files Maintained by the Public Record Office, London|date=1996-01-01|publisher=Young Socialist Publication|isbn=978-955-95284-4-9|pages=5|language=en}} For many years, N. M. Perera was the leader of the LSSP Parliamentary Group and was recognised by the public as the party leader.{{Cite book|last=Amarasinghe|first=Y. Ranjith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxkvAAAAYAAJ&q=N.+M.+Perera+was+the+leader+of+the+LSSP+Parliamentary+Group|title=Revolutionary Idealism and Parliamentary Politics: A Study of Trotskyism in Sri Lanka|date=2000|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|pages=191|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Wickramasinghe|first=Nira|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-xQ8qk9mgYC&q=N.+M.+Perera+was+the+leader+of+the+LSSP+Parliamentary+Group&pg=PA217|title=Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History of Contested Indentities|date=2006|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3016-8|language=en}} 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.{{Cite book|last=Jayaratne|first=Osmund|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lLorAAAAYAAJ&q=Esmond+Wickremasinghe+LSSP|title=Memoirs of Osmund Jayaratne|date=2004|publisher=Godage International Publishers|isbn=978-955-20-7584-1|pages=23|language=en}} W. Dahanayake, the later prime minister, was associated with the LSSP before gravitating right-wards (finally ending up in the UNP).{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ezomR7cBacsC&q=W.+Dahanayake+LSSP|title=The Ceylon Historical Journal|date=1952|publisher=Tisara Prakasakayo|pages=161|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Richardson|first=Al|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IFOOAAAAMAAJ&q=W.+Dahanayake+LSSP|title=Blows Against the Empire: Trotskyism in Ceylon: The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1964|date=1997|publisher=Porcupine Press|isbn=978-1-899438-26-6|pages=77|language=en}}

Tissa Abeysekara was at one time tipped to parliament on the National list, however on two occasions he was holding public office (Chairman National Film Corporation) and therefore turned down, but remained an integral member of the party.{{cite news|url= http://archives.dailynews.lk/2009/04/22/news20.asp|title= True humanist |date=22 April 2009|work= dailynews |access-date=13 May 2013}}

The LSSP's main organ has always been the Samasamajaya newspaper.{{rp|242}} Its founder-editor was B. J. Fernando, who composed the Sinhala version of the Internationale.{{Cite book|last1=Lerski|first1=Jerzy Jan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ut9mAAAAMAAJ&q=B.+J.+Fernando+lssp|title=Origins of Trotskyism in Ceylon: A Documentary History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1942|last2=Lerski|first2=George Jan|date=1968|publisher=Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace|page=33 |language=en}} Today, its publication is somewhat irregular. For many years it was supplemented by the Tamil Samadharmam which was commenced in 1938.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FVCOAAAAMAAJ&q=Samadharmam+LSSP|title=Britain, World War 2 & the Sama Samajists: A Study of the Documents Contained in the Secret Files Maintained by the Public Record Office, London|date=1996-01-01|publisher=Young Socialist Publication|isbn=978-955-95284-4-9|language=en}} Its first editor was K. Ramanathan, later succeeded by T. E. Pushparajan.{{Cite book|last=Amarasinghe|first=Y. Ranjith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxkvAAAAYAAJ&q=LSSP+K.+Ramanathan|title=Revolutionary Idealism and Parliamentary Politics: A Study of Trotskyism in Sri Lanka|date=2000|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|language=en}}

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.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=By4sAAAAIAAJ&q=LSSP+Kamkaruwa|title=Social Science Review|date=1980|publisher=Social Scientists Association.|language=en}} The 'open' section also brought out Straight Left in English.{{Cite book|last=Sworakowski|first=Witold S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IlQYAAAAIAAJ&q=LSSP+Straight+Left|title=World Communism; a Handbook, 1918-1965|date=1973|publisher=Hoover Institution Press|isbn=978-0-8179-1081-5|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Amarasinghe|first=Y. Ranjith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxkvAAAAYAAJ&q=LSSP+Straight+Left|title=Revolutionary Idealism and Parliamentary Politics: A Study of Trotskyism in Sri Lanka|date=2000|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|language=en}}

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.{{Cite book|last=Kearney|first=Robert N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJbpDwAAQBAJ&q=LSSP+Ceylon+Mercantile+Union&pg=PA162|title=Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon|date=2021-01-08|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-33174-7|language=en}}

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.{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=A. Jeyaratnam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hj22Puk37IUC&q=Janadina+1965&pg=PA157|title=Electoral Politics in an Emergent State: The Ceylon General Election of May 1970|date=2010-06-10|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-15311-9|language=en}} 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.{{Cite book|last=Abhayavardhana|first=Hector|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BWNuAAAAMAAJ&q=Socialist+Nation,+edited+by+Hector+Abhayavardhana|title=Hector Abhayavardhana: Selected Writings|date=2001-01-01|publisher=Social Scientists' Association|isbn=978-955-9102-40-3|language=en}}

A press, the 'Star Press', was begun as a semi-commercial venture, to print the LSSP's publications and still operates.{{Cite book|last=Wriggins|first=William Howard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCfWCgAAQBAJ&q=Star+Press+LSSP&pg=PA475|title=Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation|date=2015-12-08|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7690-7|language=en}}

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.

• Cocos Islands Mutiny
• Ceylon Federation of Labour
• GCSU Sri Lanka
• I. J. Wickrema
• Communist Party of Sri Lanka
• Ceylon National Congress
• Sri Lankan independence movement

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/History/Lssp.html Leslie Goonewardena, A Short History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party] accessed 4 November 2005
• [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/srilanka/ch01.htm George Jan Lerski, Origins Of Trotskyism In Ceylon] accessed 4 November 2005
• [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/alex/works/in_trot/cey1_1.htm Robert J. Alexander, Ceylon/Sri Lanka: The Rise of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party] accessed 25 December 2005
• James Jupp, Sri Lanka — Third 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.

• {{official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20150601224255/http://www.samasamaja.org/}}
• [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv72973 George E. Rennar Papers.] 1933-1972. 37.43 cubic feet. At the [http://lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.] Contains ephemera on the Lanka Sama Samaja Party from 1957.

{{Collaboration with Axis Powers}}

{{LSSP}}

{{Sri Lankan political parties}}

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Category:Communist parties in Sri Lanka

Category:Political parties established in 1935

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Category:Trotskyist organisations in Sri Lanka

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Category:Indian independence movement

Category:Collaboration with Imperial Japan