Edmund Samarakkody

Who was Edmund Samarakkody?

Edmund Samarakkody was a leading Trotskyist in Sri Lanka and at one time a member of that country's parliament. He was a leader of the Fourth International's section, the LSSP, and a supporter of the establishment of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International in 1963. After the LSSP was expelled from the International, he co-founded the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, which was the section of the Fourth International. After disagreements with Bala Tampoe, he left the International after its1969 World Congress. After attempting to gain recognition for his new group, he courted the iSt, now International Communist League but did not end up merging. He worked alongside the Italian GOR for a period following this.

In 1960 he was elected as LSSP Member of Parliament for the Bulathsinhala constituency. However, in 1965, contesting from the LSSP, he received only 278 votes in the same electorate - the LSSP's Mangala Moonesinghe was elected MP with 14,023 votes.