Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)
Sri Lanka: SEP presidential candidate addresses meetings in war-ravaged north
By our reporters, 30 October 2019
The SEP presidential candidate explained that the democratic rights of the oppressed can be achieved only in the struggle for socialism.
Eightieth birthday tribute to Sri Lankan Trotskyist Nanda Wickremasinghe
By David North, 26 October 2019
Nanda Wickremasinghe, who turned 80 on October 15, is a founding member of the Sri Lankan section of the ICFI.
Sri Lankan SEP holds inaugural presidential election meeting
By our correspondents, 26 October 2019
Speakers explained that the Socialist Equality Party is the only one presenting an international socialist program for the working class and the poor.
Vote for SEP candidate Pani Wijesiriwardena in the Sri Lankan presidential election
Build a socialist movement against imperialist war, austerity and dictatorship
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 25 October 2019
There is no solution to the immense dangers facing workers in Sri Lanka and internationally—war, austerity and the threat of dictatorship and fascism—within the framework of capitalism and its outmoded nation state system.
Sri Lankan SEP and IYSSE hold successful meeting on India’s Kashmir lockdown
By our correspondents, 19 October 2019
“The Modi government’s anti-democratic moves are not just directed against the Kashmiri people, although they are the immediate target, but against the working class as a whole.”
Sri Lankan SEP presidential candidate holds press conference
By our correspondents, 15 October 2019
“This election is being held in the midst of a growing political and economic crisis of the government and the ruling class as a whole.”
Video: SEP presidential candidate Pani Wijesiriwardena addresses nationally-televised meeting in Sri Lanka
By our reporters, 11 October 2019
Wijesiriwardena’s speech was heard by about 4,000 people at the event and watched by tens of thousands across Sri Lanka on two television networks.
Sri Lankan SEP announces presidential election campaign public meetings
9 October 2019
The Socialist Equality Party meetings will discuss the vital social and political issues confronting workers, youth and the poor.
Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka to contest the November presidential election
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 5 October 2019
The election has been announced amid rising opposition to the government’s austerity measures and the eruption of mass strikes by public sector workers for higher pay.
How to win the teachers’ fight in Sri Lanka
By the Socialist Equality Party teachers group, 25 September 2019
Teachers must organise independently of the unions, build rank-and-file action committees and unite with all other sections of the working class fighting Colombo’s austerity measures.
Sri Lankan SEP/IYSSE public meeting: The political issues at stake in the Indian government’s savage Kashmir lockdown
By the Socialist Equality Party and IYSSE (Sri Lanka), 25 September 2019
We urge workers, youth and WSWS readers to attend our Colombo meeting in order to participate in this important discussion on the political perspective required by the working class, highlighted by Modi’s brutal crackdown in Kashmir.
Build action committees! Expand the strike!
A socialist perspective for the Sri Lankan university employees’ struggle
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 10 September 2019
Non-academic university staff, who are beginning an indefinite strike today, should expand their struggle by appealing to other sections of the working class.
Sri Lankan SEP holds “Free Assange” rally and public meeting in Hatton
By our reporters, 21 August 2019
The hour-long morning demonstration won important working-class support in the central province town, which is surrounded by Sri Lanka’s major tea estates.
Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka intensifies the campaign to free Julian Assange
By our correspondents, 22 July 2019
The Sri Lankan Trotskyists held a well-attended public meeting in Colombo and a powerful rally in Jaffna.
Strong support for Julian Assange at Sri Lanka’s Jaffna University
By our reporters, 9 July 2019
SEP and IYSSE campaigners campaigned for a July 10 picket that will be held in defence of the WikiLeaks founder in the war-ravaged city.
SEP (Sri Lanka) to hold Free Assange meetings and demonstrations
6 July 2019
The SEP and IYSSE calls upon workers, students, youth, artists, journalists and intellectuals to support the campaign to free Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning.
SEP wins support for Assange and Manning at Sri Lanka’s Peradeniya university
By our reporters, 29 June 2019
Tenishan, an agriculture student, asked: “Is it democratic to imprison journalists who have revealed war crimes?”
Sri Lankan workers need a socialist program to defeat Colombo’s police-state preparations
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 12 June 2019
All factions of the warring Sri Lankan bourgeoisie are united in the use of communalism to divide the working class and in moves towards police-state rule.
Aftermath of terrorist attack: Sri Lankan SEP public meeting warns about threat of dictatorship
By our reporters, 27 May 2019
The speakers explained that the dictatorial turn by the Sri Lankan government is part of the international response of ruling classes to the resurgence of class struggles.
Defeat the government’s police-military dictatorial plans
SEP/IYSSE public meeting in Colombo on Sri Lankan emergency declaration
17 May 2019
The meeting will discuss the revolutionary socialist perspective needed to defend the democratic and social rights of working people.
The ICFI’s program intersects with a new wave of working-class struggle
By Wije Dias, 11 May 2019
We are publishing here the text of the speech to the 2019 Online International May Day Rally delivered by Wije Dias, General Secretary of the SEP in Sri Lanka.
SEP (Sri Lanka) holds successful May Day meeting in Colombo, despite government efforts to bar celebrations
By our reporters, 3 May 2019
Some 200 workers, students, youth, professionals and housewives from areas throughout the island attended the meeting.
Sri Lankan SEP denounces political parties’ support for President Sirisena’s police state measures
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 2 May 2019
The SEP warns that the main target of the repressive measures is not Islamic extremists, but working people and their struggles against the government’s austerity agenda.
Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka to hold May Day meeting in Colombo
The new wave of international class struggle and the fight for socialism
26 April 2019
The SEP meeting is being called amid growing indications that Colombo may use the recent terrorist bombings as a pretext to ban all May Day events.
Sri Lanka: Abbotsleigh Estate Workers Action Committee and SEP hold powerful conference
By our correspondents, 20 March 2019
Over 100 people participated, including estate workers, workers from a diverse range of trades, students and a delegation from Sri Lanka’s war-ravaged northern province.
Support grows for Sri Lankan plantation workers’ conference
By our correspondents, 16 March 2019
Campaign teams hold discussions with workers on estates across the country’s central hill district.
SEP meetings launch Tamil edition of The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century
By our correspondents, 6 March 2019
The meetings at Hatton in Sri Lanka’s central plantation district and Jaffna, in the war-ravaged north, attracted important layers of workers and youth.
Sri Lankan tea plantation workers protest victimisations
By our reporters, 19 February 2019
Demonstrators denounced the unions’ betrayal of recent wage strikes and demanded management immediately end the frame-up of militant Annfield Estate workers.
Sri Lankan SEP public meetings to launch Tamil edition of The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century
7 February 2019
The book is critical in exposing the many lies perpetrated about the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the subsequent degeneration of the Soviet Union.
The 50th anniversary of the founding of the SEP (Sri Lanka)
Victory of the Trotskyists in the 1985–1986 split in the ICFI
By Saman Gunadasa and K. Ratnayake, 29 December 2018
The political struggle against the WRP prepared the ICFI for the new period of revolutionary class struggles that are now emerging.
The 50th anniversary of the founding of the SEP (Sri Lanka)
The RCL/SEP’s struggle against the anti-Tamil civil war
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 28 December 2018
Part five outlines the RCL/SEP’s intransigent political struggle to defend the democratic rights of the island’s Tamil minority and to unite the working class, Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim, on the basis of socialist internationalism.
The 50th anniversary of the founding of the SEP (Sri Lanka)
The RCL/SEP’s political struggle against the LSSP’s betrayal
By W.A. Sunil and Deepal Jayasekera, 27 December 2018
The RCL waged a consistent struggle, under difficult conditions, against the second coalition government, particularly against the LSSP, which continued to dishonestly trade on its previous Trotskyist record.
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court refuses to hear SEP’s legal action against May Day meeting ban
By our correspondent, 18 December 2018
The government’s intention was to sabotage May Day demonstrations and rallies, a tradition established by workers before the end of British colonial rule in 1948.
Sri Lankan president reinstates sacked prime minister
By K. Ratnayake, 17 December 2018
Sirisena’s decision to reappoint Wickremesinghe will not end the crisis but is just a temporary pause in the ongoing political conflict within Sri Lanka’s ruling elite.
The international significance of the Sri Lankan plantation workers’ strike
By Deepal Jayasekera, 17 December 2018
In the midst of the strike, workers at the Abbotsleigh Estate turned towards revolutionary politics and forms of organisation, establishing an action committee independent of the unions, under the political guidance of the Socialist Equality Party.
Sri Lankan plantation workers end strike action under protest
By Saman Gunadasa, 15 December 2018
Sri Lanka plantation workers denounced the unions and returned to work on December 14, after a nine-day strike for a doubling of their daily wage.
SEP (Sri Lanka) holds successful public meeting on political crisis
By our correspondents, 22 November 2018
The speakers stressed the necessity for the working class to adopt a socialist and internationalist program, in opposition to all factions of the ruling elite.
SEP (Sri Lanka) to hold lecture on “Lessons of History and the Fight for Socialism Today”
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 21 November 2018
The lecture in Jaffna will focus on the political lessons of key strategic experiences of the 20th century for the working class and their contemporary relevance.
Fight for a socialist solution to the political crisis in Sri Lanka
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 31 October 2018
The SEP calls on the working class to reject the cynical manoeuvres of all factions of the ruling elite and to mobilise independently to fight for its own class interests.
The struggle for socialism and the importance of history: David North interviewed on Radio Sri Lanka
12 October 2018
David North, chairman of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site, was interviewed at length on Radio Sri Lanka’s “Coffee with Dan” program early this week.
Watch: David North interviewed on Sri Lanka’s English-language Channel Eye TV
10 October 2018
David North, the chairman of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site, discussed the 80th anniversary of the Fourth International on “Rise and Shine,” Sri Lanka’s most popular English-language morning television show, on October 8.
Eighty Years of the Fourth International: The Lessons of History and the Struggle for Socialism Today
By David North, 9 October 2018
On October 7, David North, International Editorial Board chairman of the World Socialist Web Site, delivered the following lecture to a well-attended public meeting in Colombo, organised by the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka).
Large Colombo audience hears David North’s lecture on the history of the Fourth International
By our reporters, 9 October 2018
David North concluded his Sri Lankan tour with a powerful lecture in Colombo, delivered to a large, enthusiastic audience.
David North’s lecture at Peradeniya University in Kandy attracts significant support from students and workers
By our reporters, 5 October 2018
The 200-strong audience responded enthusiastically to the lecture marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Fourth International.
David North outlines contemporary relevance of Trotskyism at Colombo media briefing
By our reporters, 3 October 2018
North’s address provoked thoughtful questions from Capital Radio and Independent Television Network reporters.
Text of David North's remarks to Sri Lankan press conference on Trotskyism
By David North, 2 October 2018
These remarks were delivered by David North, chairman of the WSWS International Editorial Board, at a press briefing in Colombo on October 1.
Sri Lankan students discuss upcoming anniversary meetings on the history of the Trotskyist movement
By our reporters, 2 October 2018
University students in Kandy and Colombo outline their financial difficulties, concerns about unemployment and voice support for David North’s forthcoming lectures.
SEP and IYSSE win broad support for Peradeniya university meeting on the struggle for Trotskyism
By our correspondents, 29 September 2018
SEP campaigners have spoken with scores of students, workers and academics at the campus, explaining the historical record and political importance of the struggle for Trotskyism in Sri Lanka and internationally.
David North warmly welcomed on his arrival in Sri Lanka
28 September 2018
North stressed the immense role played by Trotskyism in the political development of the working class in Sri Lanka.
The 50th anniversary of the founding of the SEP (Sri Lanka)
The RCL/SEP’s political struggle against petty-bourgeois radicalism
By Kapila Fernando, 28 September 2018
The past five decades have confirmed the far-sightedness of the RCL/SEP’s political analysis and exposure of the petty-bourgeois radicalism of the JVP.
Workers and students support Sri Lankan meetings on the struggle for Trotskyism
By our reporters, 27 September 2018
Students and Colombo Port workers discuss the significance of the forthcoming SEP public meetings and the necessity for an international socialist party of the working class.
80th anniversary of the Fourth International and 50th anniversary of the SEP (Sri Lanka)
David North to address meetings in Sri Lanka on the lessons of the history and contemporary struggle for socialism
19 September 2018
Understanding the historic fight waged by the Fourth International and the SEP for the revolutionary leadership of the international working class is vital for the emerging class struggles.
Sri Lankan SEP member Mohamdiramlage Chandrasiri (1955–2018)
By Wimal Fernando, 19 July 2018
Retired bank worker Chandrasiri will always be remembered for his selfless dedication to Trotskyism, the rights of the working class and the building of the SEP.
SEP anniversary meeting in Sri Lanka denounces anti-immigrant attacks
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 27 June 2018
The following resolution was unanimously endorsed at the Sri Lankan Socialist Equality Party’s 50th anniversary meeting, held in Colombo this month.
SEP in Sri Lanka holds powerful 50th anniversary meeting
By our correspondents, 27 June 2018
The meeting began by paying tribute to the party’s founding general secretary Keerthi Balasuriya, Wilfred Pereira and all those who gave their lives to the fight for Trotskyism in Sri Lanka and South Asia.
Greetings from David North to the 50th anniversary meeting of the Sri Lankan SEP
By David North, 27 June 2018
For a half century, the party that was founded in 1968 by an extraordinary group of young revolutionaries has upheld the banner of the International Committee of the Fourth International.
Sri Lankan artists speak out in defence of Julian Assange
16 June 2018
Lakshman Mendis, Bertie B. Kudahetti, Ratnasiri Paranawithana and Bartholameuse Wimalaratne endorse the international campaign to free Julian Assange.
Fifty years of the Socialist Equality Party of Sri Lanka
Arm the working class with the program of socialist internationalism and with revolutionary leadership!
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 16 June 2018
The fulcrum of the 50-year struggle of the RCL/SEP has been the fight for the political independence of the working class and the program of permanent revolution.
Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka) to hold lectures to mark its 50th anniversary
By our reporters, 14 June 2018
The SEP lecture series will discuss the significance of the party’s half-century struggle for Trotskyism.
Free Julian Assange rallies called in Sri Lanka and India
7 June 2018
The SEP and supporters of the ICFI will demonstrate in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, and Sriperumbudur, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Sri Lankan workers and students defend Julian Assange
By our correspondents, 7 June 2018
Many of those who spoke to the WSWS compared the attacks on WikiLeaks to the Sri Lankan government’s measures against journalists.
Sri Lanka SEP files fundamental rights case against Colombo Municipal Council
By our correspondent, 6 June 2018
The legal action against the May Day meeting ban seeks to further expose the government’s anti-democratic attacks on working people.
The Maruti Suzuki workers and the re-emergence of class struggle across South Asia
By Wije Dias, 7 May 2018
Wije Dias, general secretary of the Sri Lankan section of the ICFI, and a veteran Trotskyist of more than 50 years standing, spoke from Colombo to the ICFI’s International Online May Day Rally.
Despite government ban, Sri Lankan SEP and IYSSE hold successful May Day meeting
By our correspondents, 3 May 2018
Workers, youths, professionals and housewives, as well as Tamil-speaking residents from Jaffna and plantation workers from the central hills, attended the meeting.
SEP and IYSSE demonstrate against Sri Lankan government’s May Day ban
By our correspondents, 30 April 2018
Almost one hundred SEP and IYSSE members and supporters participated in Friday’s picket, denouncing the government ban and other anti-democratic attacks.
Workers and youth denounce Sri Lankan May Day ban
By our correspondents, 27 April 2018
SEP and IYSSE members are winning important support for their campaign against the government’s prohibition on celebrations of the international workers’ day.
Oppose the Sri Lankan government’s ban on May Day celebrations
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 25 April 2018
The SEP calls on all workers, oppressed people, youth, students and intellectuals to join it in protesting against this blatant attack on the democratic rights of the working class.
SEP (Sri Lanka) calls May Day meeting in Colombo
By the Socialist Equality Party, 19 April 2018
In holding its public meeting on May 1, the SEP is opposing the government’s efforts to sabotage May Day celebrations.
Sri Lankan workers’ inquiry presents findings on Meethotamulla garbage disaster
By our correspondents, 12 April 2018
The Meethotamulla disaster, which claimed at least 32 lives, was a social crime, created by capitalism and its political servants.
Halt the thuggery of non-academic union bureaucrats against WSWS reporters
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 4 April 2018
A WSWS journalist and photographer was violently attacked by union officials at a meeting of striking non-academic employees in the Colombo suburbs on March 27.
Oppose Sinhala racist violence against Muslim community in Sri Lanka
By the Socialist Equality Party, 10 March 2018
The government and the ruling elite are using anti-Muslim communalism to divert and divide the working people.
Sri Lankan local elections: SEP holds public meetings in island’s north
By our correspondent, 9 February 2018
SEP candidates explained why an international socialist program is necessary to fight the government’s social austerity measures and attacks on democratic rights.
Seventy years after Sri Lankan independence: The record of capitalist decay and the necessity for socialism
By Vijith Samarasinghe and K. Ratnayake, 3 February 2018
Throughout the Indian subcontinent, there is no real independence from imperialism and the ruling classes have failed utterly to provide democratic rights and decent living standards for all.
Sri Lanka: SEP holds first local election meeting in plantation area
By our correspondents, 19 January 2018
Speakers explained that growing social unrest in Sri Lanka, including strike action by key public sector workers, was part of an international radicalisation of the working class.
Local government election in Sri Lanka: Support SEP campaign against austerity and war! Fight for a workers’ and peasants’ government!
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 9 January 2018
The SEP is campaigning for the international socialist program needed by workers, youth and the poor, who are increasingly coming into struggle against the government’s attacks on their democratic rights and living standards.
Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka) stands for local government elections
By our correspondents, 23 December 2017
The SEP is the only party contesting the elections on an internationalist and socialist program against the looming threat of a world war, social counter-revolution and dictatorial rule.
SEP in Sri Lanka pays tribute to Keerthi Balasuriya
By our correspondent, 20 December 2017
Balasuriya’s untimely death in December 1987 “cut short an invaluable and devoted service to the cause of international socialism.”
On the 30th anniversary of the death of Comrade Keerthi Balasuriya
By David North, 19 December 2017
Keerthi’s death on December 18, 1987 was an irreplaceable loss to the International Committee of the Fourth International and its Sri Lankan section.
Sri Lankan students and workers oppose Google censorship of the WSWS
By our correspondents, 22 November 2017
“It’s very important to organise the working class on an international basis.”
Successful public meeting in Colombo marks the Russian Revolution centenary
By our correspondents, 18 November 2017
About 150 workers, students, youth, professionals and housewives attended the event and around 300 watched it live via the Internet.
Sri Lankan SEP and IYSSE commemorate Russian Revolution at Peradeniya University
By our correspondents, 11 November 2017
SEP/IYSSE members campaigned extensively at the university and in neighbouring areas prior to the meeting provoking animated discussions on the political lessons of the October Revolution.
Sri Lankan SEP/IYSSE calls public meetings to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution
27 October 2017
The Colombo meeting will discuss the political and theoretical lessons of the October Revolution for workers, students and young people being propelled into social and political struggles today.
Sri Lankan academics oppose Google censorship
By our correspondent, 7 October 2017
Google’s actions are “a gross abuse of monopolistic power” and related to its close links to the US state apparatus and the Pentagon.
Sri Lankan SEP Jaffna meeting discusses political bankruptcy of Tamil parties
By our reporters, 11 September 2017
The speakers explained the necessity for Tamil and Sinhalese workers to build a revolutionary party based on an internationalist socialist perspective.
Sri Lankan university workers defeat union attempts to victimise SEP member
By Pani Wijesiriwardena, 5 September 2017
SEP member Dehin Wasantha has a three-decade record of fighting for the rights of Sri Lankan workers, students and the poor on the basis of socialist internationalism.
SEP meeting in Jaffna: Reject Tamil bourgeois nationalism. Build the Socialist Equality Party!
19 August 2017
The meeting will discuss the degeneration of the Tamil bourgeois nationalist parties in Sri Lanka and the necessity for a revolutionary party based on socialist internationalism.
The road forward for Sri Lankan workers after the betrayal of the CPC strike
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 12 August 2017
The struggle against privatisation and to defend jobs can be waged only through a political fight against the profit system, on the basis of socialist policies.
Public meeting in Chennai, India: Oppose the US-led imperialist war drive!
7 August 2017
The Modi government has effectively transformed India into a “frontline” state in the US-led military war drive against China.
Independent Inquiry Committee holds meeting on Sri Lankan garbage dump collapse
By our correspondent, 26 July 2017
The Independent Workers’ Inquiry called by the SEP will expose the class roots of the Meethotamulla disaster and the culpability of successive governments.
Socialist Equality Party holds public meeting on Sri Lankan floods disaster
By our correspondents, 5 July 2017
The meeting discussed the recent catastrophe, which killed at least 300 people, and the other social disasters created by the capitalist class.
Sri Lankan students demand release of framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers
By our correspondents, 7 June 2017
Kelaniya University students denounced the jailing of the Indian autoworkers and supported the international campaign to free them.
Floods in Sri Lanka: Government responsible for another social disaster
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 5 June 2017
The deaths and human suffering are results of the callous disregard for the lives of ordinary people by successive governments dedicated to defending the profit system.
Sri Lanka: SEP holds meeting and picket in Hatton for release of Maruti Suzuki workers
By our correspondents, 27 May 2017
Plantation workers, youth and housewives from Hatton and plantation estates participated in the SEP campaign.
SEP (Sri Lanka) calls for workers’ inquiry into Meethotamulla garbage dump disaster
By the Socialist Equality Party, 9 May 2017
The Socialist Equality Party will initiate an independent working class investigation into the April 14 catastrophe that killed 32 people and displaced over 150 families.
Sri Lanka: Jaffna picket demands release of framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers
By our correspondents, 1 May 2017
Jaffna workers, youth, fishermen and housewives joined an SEP/IYSSE picket and public meeting to protest the witch-hunt and jailing of Indian autoworkers.
Sri Lanka SEP holds picket in Jaffna to free Maruti Suzuki workers
By our correspondents, 28 April 2017
Despite the anti-democratic intervention of student union leaders, most Jaffna University students supported the campaign.
Sri Lankan university students condemn Maruti Suzuki frame-up
By our correspondents, 3 April 2017
Students and workers in Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna denounced the heavy sentences imposed on framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers in India.
Sri Lankan SEP and IYSSE hold picket to demand freedom of Maruti Suzuki workers
By our correspondents, 1 April 2017
The well-attended SEP/IYSSE picket attracted the attention and interest of workers and youth who were returning home from work or school.
Sri Lankan SEP/IYSSE to picket and hold public meeting for release of Maruti Suzuki workers
30 March 2017
The campaign to overturn the frame-up of the Maruti Suzuki workers requires the independent mobilisation of the working class in India, throughout South Asia and internationally.
Sri Lankan workers support campaign to free framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers
By our correspondents, 28 March 2017
Socialist Equality Party campaigners distributed the ICFI statement “Free the framed-up Maruti Suzuki workers” in Sinhalese and Tamil.
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