LSSP leader Prof Tissa Vitarana in his May Day message says that the poor go hungry and in the face of Government inaction the people have turned to lengthy peaceful protests, but in vain, and now may turn to more violent forms of protest like hartals.

The message says: The Lanka Samasamaja Party (LSSP) gives its best wishes to the working people of Sri Lanka on May Day, the day of unity and celebration of the working class of the world. But with the deepening crisis of global capitalism, aggravated by the Covid 19 Pandemic, the economic burden has been passed onto the working and poor people, with rising prices and frozen incomes. Job losses have occurred due to the owners trimming the workforce and factory closures, leading to longer working hours and increased unemployment. Worker’s rights like overtime payments, EPF etc that the LSSP won are now being cast aside. Steps like contract labour is undermining the trade union movement, which stood at 70% in 1970 and has now dropped to 8%. The rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer, with the rich-poor gap widening, both within nations like Sri Lanka, and between nations.

In Sri Lanka more than 60% of the families live below the poverty line and many have to manage on one meal a day. The plantation workers and other workers in the rural agricultural sector suffer most. The middle class too has been affected recently after the dollar crisis.The malnutrition level has gone up to 18.3%, having an adverse effect on the physical and mental development of the children, the future generation. The Government has publicly stated that traders are free to charge any prices, thus exploiting, both the cultivator and the consumer, at their will. State intervention in marketing to control prices is absent. The poor go hungry and in the face of Government inaction the people have turned to lengthy peaceful protests, but in vain, and now may turn to more violent forms of protest like hartals.

. The high cost of living, with a token increase in income to state sector employees, ignoring the private sector, has led to widespread resentment and peaceful protests. The Government needs to have a dialogue with the protestors and address their grievances, but for some peculiar reason it is not, which makes one wonder whether there is an ulterior motive. The trade union movement is weak and this has been further affected by the contract labour system, which the employers manipulate. All these may facilitate the USA achieving its objectives. It needs to have Sri Lanka as a semi-colony and a military base to replace Diego Garcia, which it has had to give back to Mauritiuson an ICC directive. With an earlier Finance Minister, who remains a force in the Government, and the President in consort as American citizens in charge of the Sri Lankan economy it has been made bankrupt. This has justified borrowing from the IMF, and accepting their harmful conditions. The path is being cleared to force us to accept both the IMF terms, as well as sign the MCC and SOFA agreements with the USA. The former to exploit our economy, and the latter to use Sri Lanka asa military base for the USA.

This May Day must be made the occasion to expose these sinister moves, increase public awareness and as one nation prevent their implementation. The LSSP calls upon all progressive and nationalist forces in Sri Lanka to help save our country at this critical juncture. Long live the

Sri Lankan people as one Nation in unity and harmony, and let us overcome the dangers confronting us.