The Communist Party of Sri Lanka (; ) is a communist party in Sri Lanka. In the 2004 legislative election, the party was part of the United People's Freedom Alliance that won 45.6% of the popular vote and 105 out of 225 seats.
History
thumb|right|Communist Youth Federation
The CPSL was founded as the Communist Party of Ceylon in 1943 and was a continuation of the United Socialist Party. The USP had been formed out of the Marxist–Leninist wing of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. The USP was proscribed by the colonial authorities.
The USP and then the CPC was initially led by Dr. S. A. Wickramasinghe.
In 1952 Wickremesinghe's wife, the English-born Doreen Young Wickremasinghe, a former leader of the Suriya-Mal Movement, was elected to the Sri Lankan parliament.
In 1963 the Communist Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna formed the United Left Front (1963). The ULF broke down in 1964 when the then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike offered ministerial posts to LSSP and the CP.
In the mid-1960s the U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 1900.
During the 2020 Parliamentary elections, the CPSL put forward two candidates, Mahesh Almedia in Colombo and Weerasumana Weerasinghe in Matara, under the SLPP's Pohottuwa symbol. Dr G. Weerasinghe was nominated for the party's National List. Weerasumana was the only candidate to successfully enter Parliament with 77,968 preferential votes.
Gunasekera stepped down as General Secretary of the CPSL on 30 August 2020. Dr G. Weerasinghe was unanimously elected as the new General Secretary by the Central Committee.
Party organization
The youth wing of CPSL is the Communist Youth Federation. CYF is a member organization of
the World Federation of Democratic Youth.
Allegations
The CPSL and other Leftist parties were framed by the J R Jayawardane government for instigating 1983 Black July pogroms against the Tamil people. The party was banned and leaders including D.E.W. Gunasekera were imprisoned for over a year. The ban was lifted due to the lack of evidence for the charges and intervention from the Soviet embassy. The ban on the JVP and NSSP stayed the same.
Publications
Aththa (Truth) is the CPSL's flagship Sinhala newspaper, which was renowned for its high standard of journalism, progressive editorials and Sinhala prose.
The English organ of the CPSL was the Forward weekly.
Electoral history
Presidential
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Election year
! Candidate
! Votes
! Vote %
! Result
|-
! 2024
| Dilith Jayaweera
| align=center| 122,396
| align=center| 0.92%
|
|}
Parliamentary
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Election year
! Votes
! Vote %
! Seats won
! +/–
! Result for the party
|-
! 1947
| align=center| 70,331
| align=center| 3.73%
|
| 3
|
|-
! 1952
| align=center| 134,528
| align=center| 5.78%
|
|
|
|-
! 1956
| align=center| 119,715
| align=center| 4.52%
|
|
|
|-
! 1960 (March)
| align=center| 147,612
| align=center| 4.85%
|
|
|
|-
! 1960 (July)
| align=center| 90,219
| align=center| 2.93%
|
| 1
|
|-
! 1965
| align=center| 109,754
| align=center| 2.71%
|
|
|
|-
! 1970
| align=center| 169,199
| align=center| 3.39%
|
| 2
|
|-
! 1977
| align=center| 123,856
| align=center| 1.98%
|
| 6
|
|-
! 1989
| colspan=2 align=center| Part of USA
|
|
|
|-
! 1994
| rowspan ="3" colspan=2 align=center| Part of PA
|
|
|
|-
! 2000
|
| 1
|
|-
! 2001
|
|
|
|-
! 2004
| rowspan ="3" colspan=2 align=center| Part of UPFA
|
| 1
|
|-
! 2010
|
|
|
|-
! 2015
|
| 1
|
|-
! rowspan=2|2020
| rowspan=2 colspan=2 align=center| Part of SLPFA
| rowspan=2|
| rowspan=2|
| <small>(2019–2022)</small>
|-
| <small>(since 2022)</small>
|}
See also
- Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist)
- Communist Party of Sri Lanka (Marxist-Leninist)
- New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party
References
External links
- Gift from CPSL to the German Socialist Unity Party (SED) in 1976