90th Anniversary of LSSP and Leftism in Sri Lanka

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party was formed on the 18th of December 1935.

- BY PROF. TISSA VITARANA (LEADER AND GENERAL SECRETARY, LSSP)

Its four leaders were Dr. N. M, Perera, Dr. Coivin R, de Silva, Philip Gunewardena and Leslie Goonewardene, who also became the General Secretary. (Prior to this, in 1933, the Wellawatte Mills strike first led to their getting together in action). It must be mentioned that The LSSP was the first properly constituted political party in the country. It was also the first genuine Left party and its political philosophy was based on Marxism-Leninism. It took the name " Sama Samaja", which means " Equal Society", as, at that time, the people in Sri Lanka were unfamiliar with the terms Socialism and Communism. It was quickly accepted by the people and, despite the use of state power and thuggery against the LSSP by the local capitalist class, backed by the British rulers, the Party rapidly gained popularity among the people. In the General Election of March 1936 Dr. N. M. Perera was elected to represent the Ruwanwella electorate and Philip Gunawardena the Avissawella electorate. Unfortunately, Dr. S. A. Wickramasinghe was unable to retain Akuressa, which he had won in the 1931 Election, and Leslie Goonewardene failed to win Panadura due to the use of caste and money unfairly against him. Leslie, throughout his political career, refrained from descending to such a low level of politics But the LSSP stand helped in the process of uniting and politicisation of the people which was necessary to generate the confidence of the people in their ability to win Complete Independence through the democratic process.Throughout its history a major role in the success of the LSSP was its provisio