After the war there was a split in the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena, who had opposed a merger into the BLPI, reconstructed the LSSP as an independent party. Members of the other section, formed out of the exiled BLPI nucleus, effectively maintained a separate party, the Bolshevik Samasamaja Party (BSP). The latter group functioned as the Ceylon section of BLPI and was led by Colvin R de Silva, Leslie Goonawardene and Edmund Samarakkoddy.
The relation between the two groups was often antagonistic. The BSP, which concentrated on building a cadre party, accused LSSP of 'organisational Menshevism'. The LSSP wanted to build a mass-based party and accused the BSP of being introvert doctrinaires. On 25 October 1945 fist-fights broke out between the two groups at a meeting of the BSP.
In 1946 there was a brief reconciliation between the two factions. At the general election of 1947, the LSSP emerged as the main opposition party, with 10 seats. The BSP obtained 5 seats.
The BLPI-affiliated BSP became an independent party in 1948, and was recognized as the Lankan section of the Fourth International, when the BLPI was dissolved.
In 1950 the LSSP and BSP merged once again. The membership in the Fourth International was passed on to LSSP. When the group around Anil Moonesinghe split from the LSSP in 1982, he charged that the party had been taken over by the BSP faction.
Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, commonly known as Dr. N. M. Perera, was one of the leaders of the Sri Lankan Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). He was the first Trotskyist to become a cabinet minister. He served two terms as Minister of Finance and Leader of the Opposition, as well as one term as the Mayor of Colombo.
Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party was a political group in Ceylon, that broke away from the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party, since Philip Gunawardena refused to reconcile with the Bolshevik Samasamaja Party. When the BSP and LSSP fused in 1950, Gunawardena split to form VLSSP.
Bolshevik–Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma (BLPI) was a revolutionary Trotskyist party which campaigned for independence and socialism in South Asia. The party was formed in 1942 as a unification of two Indian groups, with the Lanka Sama Samaja Party of Ceylon. It was recognised as the Indian section of the Fourth International.
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP, is a major Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. It was the first political party in Sri Lanka, having been founded in 1935 by Leslie Goonewardene, N.M. Perera, Colvin R. de Silva, Philip Gunawardena and Robert Gunawardena. It currently is a member of the main ruling coalition in the government of Sri Lanka and is headed by Tissa Vitharana. The party was founded with Leninist ideals, and is classified as a party with socialist aims.
Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary) was a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka, formed in 1964 when the Lanka Sama Samaja Party was expelled from the Fourth International. LSSP(R) was constituted by the ideological hardliners who opposed LSSP joining the national government and wanted to preserve the bonds to the Fourth International. The United Secretariat recognised it as the Sri Lanka section of the Fourth International.
Colvin Reginald de Silva was a Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister of Plantation Industries and Constitutional Affairs, prominent member of parliament, Trotskyist leader and lawyer in Sri Lanka. He was one of the founders of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, the first Marxist party in Sri Lanka.
Violet Vivienne Goonewardene, commonly known as "Vivi", was a Sri Lankan anti-colonial activist and prominent politician, serving as one of the world's first female ministers. A key figure in both the Indian independence movement and the Sri Lankan independence movement, Goonewardene was a prominent member on the non-aligned stage, where she fought against perceived injustices and was critical of the Middle East diplomacy sponsored by the United States. Goonewardene was the first and, to date, only female National Hero of Sri Lanka. By her death, she was one of the Left's most vibrant personalities, and the foremost female figure in the Sri Lankan leftist movement.
The United Socialist Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. The party is led by perennial presidential candidate Siritunga Jayasuriya. It is affiliated with the Committee for a Workers' International.
During the Donoughmore period of political experimentation (1931–48), several Sri Lanka leftist parties were formed in British colonial Ceylon. Unlike most other Sri Lankan parties, these leftist parties were noncommunal in membership.
The Sri Lanka Sama Samaja Party (SLSSP) was formed in 1982, when the LSSP split over the question of a coalition with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
Edmund Peter Samarakkody was a Ceylonese lawyer, trade unionist, politician and Member of Parliament.
Hector Abhayavardhana was a Sri Lankan Trotskyist theoretician, a long-standing member of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and a founder-member of the Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma.
Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena was a Sri Lankan Marxist politician and leftist. A founder of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, the first political party in Ceylon which was known for having introduced Trotskyism, he later formed the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and was called 'the Father of Socialism' and as 'the Lion of Boralugoda'. A member of the State Council of Ceylon and the Parliament of Ceylon, he served as the Minister of Agriculture and food under S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike from 1956 to 1959 and as Minister of Industries and Fisheries in the national government under Dudley Senanayake from 1965 to 1970.
Leslie Simon Goonewardene was a prominent Sri Lankan statesman. He founded Sri Lanka's first political party, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, in 1935, and served as its General-Secretary from 1935 to 1977. Goonewardene was a key figure in both the Indian independence movement and the Sri Lankan independence movement. He was designated as a National Hero of Sri Lanka for his leadership in the independence movement, and his efforts are celebrated each year on the Sri Lankan Independence Day.
Vaithianathan Karalasingham was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, writer, politician and one of the leading members of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party.
Weerahennedige Theodore Wilfred Meryl Fernando was a Ceylonese teacher, trade unionist, politician and Member of Parliament.
Sebastian Cyril Constantine Anthony Pillai, also spelled S.C.C. Anthonypillai, was a Ceylonese-Indian trade unionist, politician and Member of Parliament.
Mahatelage Henry Peiris was a Ceylonese Marxist politician and a pioneer member of the country's socialist movement.
James Cornelius Thomas "Jack" Kotelawala was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician.
Communism in Sri Lanka dates back to 1935, when the Lanka Sama Samaja Party was founded by Trotskyists who campaigned for freedom and independence of Sri Lanka which was then a colony of the British Empire and known as Ceylon.
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