Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)

{{Infobox political party

|name = Socialist Equality Party

|native_name = Samajavadi Samanatha Pakshaya

|lang1 = Sinhala

|name_lang1 = සමාජවාදී සමානතා පක්ෂය

|lang2 = Tamil

|name_lang2 = சோசலிச சமத்துவக் கட்சி

|logo = Socialist Equality Party of Sri Lanka logo.png

|logo_size = 250px

|colorcode = Red

|leader =

|chairperson =

|president =

|secretary_general =

|founder = Keerthi Balasooriya

|leader1_title = General Secretary

|leader1_name = Deepal Jayasekera

|slogan =

|founded = 1968 as Revolutionary Communist League, 1996 as Socialist Equality Party

|dissolved =

|merger =

|split = Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary)

|predecessor = Revolutionary Communist League

|merged =

|successor =

|headquarters = 795 1/1, Matiambalama Junction, Kotte Road, Kotte

|newspaper = Loka Samajavadi Web Adavi Vimarshana (printed version of its central organ, WSWS), Tholilalar Pathai, Kamkaru Mawatha

|student_wing = International Youth and Students for Social Equality

|youth_wing =

|membership_year =

|membership =

|ideology = Communism
Trotskyism

|position = Far-left

|national =

|international = International Committee of the Fourth International

|european =

|europarl =

|affiliation1_title =

|affiliation1 =

|colors =

|seats1_title =

|seats1 =

|seats2_title =

|seats2 =

|seats3_title =

|seats3 =

|symbol = Pair of Scissors
File:Election Symbol Socialist Equality Party Sri Lanka.png

|flag =

|website = [http://www.socialequality.lk/ socialequality.lk] [https://www.wsws.org/ www.wsws.org]

|country = Sri Lanka

|footnotes =

}}

The Socialist Equality Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1968 as the Revolutionary Communist League by former student members of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary) who joined the International Committee of the Fourth International. They remained loyal to Gerry Healy until the majority of the International split from his organisation. Since the death of its founder and leader Keerthi Balasooriya in December 1987, Wije Dias assumed the leadership. In 1996, it changed its name to the Socialist Equality Party, in line with other members of the surviving ICFI.[http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/07/30/seps-j30.html "Sri Lankan SEP General Secretary Wije Dias interviewed on national election channel"], World Socialist Web Site, 30 July 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2015. In the 2005 Sri Lankan presidential election, the party's candidate, Wije Dias, came 11th of 13 candidates, with 3,500 votes (0.04%).

It publishes analyses on political, economic and other issues, and runs election campaigns via the World Socialist Web Site.

On War in Sri Lanka

It has consistently opposed the war in Sri Lanka and according to its own words it opposes "racism, capitalism, imperialism and terrorism". It maintains that the civil war can only be end by uniting working people regardless of their ethnic origin and demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of armed forces from the North and East. Its political program calls for a Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and Eelam as part of the Union of Socialist Republics of South Asia.A socialist perspective to end the war in Sri Lanka: [http://wsws.org/articles/2009/feb2009/sril-f04.shtml Troops out of north and eastern Sri Lanka!]

On Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

It has consistently opposed the LTTE’s demand for a separate state, insisting that the democratic rights of the Tamil masses can only be defended through a united struggle of the Sinhala and Tamil workers for genuine social equality. It maintains that the LTTE's demand for separate state of Tamil Eelam in North and East of Sri Lanka will only give the LTTE leadership the opportunity to further the interests of a thin layer of the Tamil middle class whose ambition is to act as local agents for investors of major economies in a capitalist statelet and which will not improve the living conditions of masses.A socialist program to end the war and social inequality: [http://wsws.org/articles/2000/sep2000/sl-s26.shtml Election statement of the Sri Lankan Socialist Equality Party] September 2000

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20090122223029/http://wsws.org/category/as-lanka.shtml World Socialist Web Site on Sri Lanka]
[http://www.wsws.org/sinhala/ World Socialist Web Site in Sinhala]
[http://www.wsws.org/tamil/ World Socialist Web Site in Tamil]

Category:1968 establishments in Ceylon

Category:Communist parties in Sri Lanka

Category:International Committee of the Fourth International

Category:Political parties established in 1968

Category:Trotskyist organisations in Sri Lanka