When the BSP and LSSP fused in 1950, Gunawardena split to form VLSSP.
Philip Gunawardena lead the Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party (VLSSP) since 1951 and as constituent party formed the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP, Peoples’ United Front) in 1956 under the leadership of Mr.SWRD Bandaranaike to form the first people’s government in 1956 General Election.
At that election, VLSSP won five seats in the parliament as part of MEP.
In 1959 VLSSP was disbanded and Gunawardena reorganized his party with the name Mahajana Eksath Peramuna.
VLSSP should not be confused with Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary), which was a later splinter group of LSSP.