United Socialist Party (Sri Lanka)


The United Socialist Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. It is affiliated to the Committee for a Workers' International.

History

The USP traces its history back to the main opposition left group in the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, the Vama Samasamaja. This group were introduced to what was to become the Committee for a Workers' International in the 1970s. The Vama Samasamaja became the Nava Sama Samaja Party when it separated from the LSSP in December 1977 following a number of expulsions from the LSSP starting in 1972.
The NSSP was a section of the CWI from its foundation until it left in 1989. Disagreements on areas of theory and policy with the CWI eventually led to a split. One disagreement was over the leaders of the NSSP deciding to support the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, which led to the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force, in a document issued on 12 February 1988. After 1989 the NSSP became a section of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, while those still supporting the CWI became the USP.

Political positions

Sri Lankan Civil War

The USP criticised the Indian government for providing military support to the Sri Lankan government whose armed forces were conducting a campaign against opposition in the north of the country. The party opposed the Rajapaksa government's militarist solution to the country's civil war, holding the position that military victory in the Tamil-dominated areas will not solve the national question, with ill feeling and further violence likely as a result. USP General Secretary, Siritunga Jayasuriya, is also quoted as saying that the government's military operation was a “war not against LTTE cadre, but against the Tamil people.”

Elections

In the 2005 Sri Lankan presidential election, its candidate, Siritunga Jayasuriya, came third with 35,425 votes.
In the 2006 council elections, the USP won 710 votes in Eheliyagoda Pradeseheeya Sabha, winning a seat in the council.