He was in London from 1927 to 1933, where he studied under Professor Harold Laski, gaining his PhD with the thesis on the Constitution of the German Weimar Republic.

This was followed by a further comparative study, of the Constitutions of the UK, United States, France and Germany; which gained him a DSc from the University of London.

His opponent was the incumbent Molamure Kumarihamy of the Meedeniya Walauwa, the feudal manor which had tremendous power over the poor people of the Sabaragamuwa area at the time.

Following his election, he and Philip Gunawardena, the other LSSP member of the State Council, used it as a platform voice the party's policy and objectives for complete independence from Britten, where as the Ceylon National Congress was advocating self-rule.

In 1937, he formed the Ratmalana Railway Workers' Union and was the LSSP delegate to the Indian National Congress session.

In 1939, Perera formed the All-Ceylon Estate Workers' Union and lead a militant strike at Mooloya Plantation in January 1940.

He was smuggled into Bombay in July 1942 and worked with the Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma (BLPI) in that country's independence struggle.

With the first taking place in 1940, with the split of the ro-Moscow fraction led by S. A. Wickremasinghe, M. G. Mendis, Pieter Keuneman and A. Vaidialingam.

Having lost their seats in the State Council due to their imprisonment, the LSSP contested the 1947 general elections under the new constitution.

He was a strong opponent of the Official Language Act, and narrowly escaped death then a bomb was thrown on stage when he was addressing a crowd at the Old Town Hall.

He had to step down as minister when the United Front was defeated in the 1965 general elections and sat in the opposition having retained his seat in parliament.

This was party due to global macro economic conditions of the such as the 1973 oil crisis as well as the results of government policies such as the Bandaranaike government's attempts to centralise the economy and implement price controls which resulted in declining revenue from coconut, rubber and tea exports and increased food-importation costs.

He died on 14 August 1979 at the Colombo National Hospital following gall-bladder complication, aged 75 and his funeral gathered large crowds.

[12][13] He married fellow LSSP founding member and later party secretary, Selina Margaret Peiris on 6 March 1936.