Communism in Sri Lanka
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Communism in Sri Lanka dates back to 1935, when the
Communists of the LSSP later formed the
World War II
When World War II began between most of world's superpowers, back then the LSSP, a Trot majority party, who had an alliance with the Fourth International protested against the war. Following the launch of Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union, the party broke between Trotskyists and Stalinists. The Stalinists extended support towards The Allies while the Trotskyists remained neutral. This led to the creation of the Stalinist United Socialist Party of Sri Lanka which later became a pro-Soviet faction during the Cold War.
The LSSP activists generally opposed the war calling it
Post-World War II (Cold War)
United National Government and ethnic question
The pro-Dominion UNG came to power creating rightist measures to destabilize the left-wing parties and create a pure-race state where people of other races like Indian Tamils (mostly Dravidic) are not allowed to gain citizenship in Ceylon. Over 700,000 Tamils were left stateless.[4] LSSP quoted:
I thought this form of racialism was killed with
Houston Chamberlain. We can't act like somebody chose a group of people to exist in a certain country.
Hartal strike
Led by the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and other leftist parties who called on the public to resist the government and demonstrate civil disobedience and strikes, the hartal was primarily a protest of the labouring class, and as such there were no exclusions based upon caste, ethnicity or religion.
The protests saw much sabotage and destruction to public infrastructure, as a means of frightening and halting the government. This occurred mainly in the Western, Southern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces as well as other minor protests around the rest of the island. The demonstrations lasted only a day with at least 10 people killed, resulting in the resignation of the Prime Minister.
United Front government
United Front of Sri Lanka was formed as a
The Socialist coalition government lasted from 1970 to 1975, until breaking up into factions and dissolving.
Sino-Soviet split
Following the
Civil War (1983-2009)
In the early stages of the Civil War of Sri Lanka also known as the
The United Socialist Party demanded the creation of Socialist United States of Sri Lanka and Eelam as an end to the civil war.[9]
JVP Insurrections
During the late 1960s a movement named as the JVP was initiated by
The leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna drew worldwide attention when it launched an insurrection against the United Front government in April 1971. Although the insurgents were young, poorly armed, and inadequately trained, they succeeded in seizing and holding major areas in Southern and Central provinces before they were defeated by the security forces. Their attempt to seize power created a major crisis for the government and forced a fundamental reassessment of the nation's security needs. This also created crisis between
Parties
- Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
- Communist Party of Sri Lanka
- Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist)
- Lanka Sama Samaja Party
- Communist Party of Sri Lanka (Marxist-Leninist)
- New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party
- Frontline Socialist Party
Trotskyist parties[a]
- Nava Sama Samaja Party
- Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party
- Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)
- Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Alternative Group)
Alliances
- United Front (Sri Lanka)
- United Left Front (1965)
- National People's Power
- Socialist Alliance (Sri Lanka)
- Left Liberation Front
Paramilitaries
- Saman Piyasiri
- The 'T' Group (LSSP) - Operated as the military arm of the LSSP[10]
- LTTE
- National Liberation Front of Tamil Eelam – A small but influential Maoist group based largely in Jaffna, which "drove down the road to perdition by splitting hairs over the question of whether it should first build an armed wing or a mass political movement."
Representation in the parliament
Most Communist parties entered the parliament of Sri Lanka, with the
References
- JSTOR 2757827.
- ^ Lerski, Jerzy Jan; Lerski, George Jan (1968). Origins of Trotskyism in Ceylon: A Documentary History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, 1935-1942. Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace.
- ^ "Trotskyism in Ceylon".
- ISBN 9781843318071.
- JSTOR 2756507.
- JSTOR 2643171.
- ^ http://noolaham.net/project/280/27956/27956.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "USP against India". The Hindu. 21 October 2008.
- World Socialist Website.
- ISBN 978-0-8223-1066-2.
Notes
- ^ Sri Lanka have a variety of Trotskyist groups. But many Trotskyist groups were not Communist but instead Socialist. See List of Lanka Sama Samaja breakaway parties
- ^ See the Tamil militants list
- ^ see the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
Further reading
- C. A. Chandraprema, Sri Lanka: The Years of Terror. The J.V.P. Insurrection 1987-1989 ISBN 9559029037
- Ceylon University, History of Ceylon: From the beginning of the nineteenth century to 1948