Revolution among Sri Lanka's leftists

By Frances Harrison BBC correspondent in Tissamaharama, southern Sri Lanka

The quiet campaigning contrasts with the party's violent past

It is dusk and the villagers are seated on straw mats on the floor listening to an election speech by a man sitting cross-legged in front of them, his face lit only by coconut lanterns.

There is no heckling here, just quiet campaigning to an orderly crowd of farmers with children asleep in their laps.

This is a rally of the Janata Vimukthi Perumuna (JVP), or People's Liberation Front, which was once involved in some of the worst violence in Sri Lanka's recent history.

Now it is steadily emerging as a third force for Sri Lankans disillusioned by the squabbling of the two main parties.

It looks set to increase its number of seats in parliament in the 2 April polls by uniting with President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party - ironically the very politicians they despise.

"Vote for the Alliance" is the slogan of the new generation of JVP revolutionaries as they carry red flags and distribute leaflets.

The JVP comrades are very concerned about the poor so we like them Rally spectator

This is a party that once sent signed death threats as casually as others send dinner invitations.

During two insurrections in the 1970s and 1980s the JVP became embroiled in a culture of casual political killing in which 80,000 people were estimated to have been killed.

Corpses hung from lamp posts or floated ashore from rivers and lakes.

JVP party worker Chandrasena is adamant the party has consigned its violence to the past.

"Even if we wanted to carry arms again we are not able to because the people simply wouldn't allow it," he says, pointing out that the party has been in mainstream politics for a decade now.

Self reliance

In a small back room, unpaid volunteers slowly turn out election posters through screen printing - the most laborious but cheapest method of production.

The JVP boasts that unlike other parties it does not have the backing of big business.

JVP activists inform voters of the evils of privatisation

That is not surprising given its left-wing economic policies.

One way it gets its message across is though drama. University students in colourful clown costumes have been taking to the street in a show against the evils of privatisation.

The message is self reliance - the country was great before colonial powers invaded and foreign aid and investment are not needed.

The public is told that corrupt politicians are selling off even the country's ancient heritage sites - not to mention its rainforests. It plays well with the crowd.

"The JVP comrades are very concerned about the poor so we like them," says one old man leaning over his bicycle as he stops to watch.

"Poor children here don't even have school uniforms but the JVP helps by buying fabric for them."

Tissamaharama is the JVP's stronghold and it has built roads and nursery schools here, often with party money.

The party is campaigning without any big business funding

At election rallies, the red flags of the JVP outnumber the blue of its ally, the People's Liberation Front.

If it comes to power, many fear the JVP will dominate the alliance simply because it is better organised and more committed than any other party in Sri Lanka.

And there are key differences in policy within the new alliance.

The JVP has been bitterly critical of the peace process - taking a hardline nationalist stance and arguing that the problem is not ethnic but economic.

As a result is it is seen by many as chauvinistic towards minorities.

In the deep south, where many people have never even spoken to a Tamil, the civil war between the Tamil Tiger rebels and the military is of little concern.

Here the main issue is giving a voice to the young and the poor.

"Since independence, no party has ever given a chance to young people to talk, to express themselves and to work the way they want to," says one supporter.

Instead of seeking to overthrow the government as in the past - the JVP now has a real chance of helping to run it after the elections.