Workers' Party (Ireland) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Workers' Party
Páirtí na nOibrithe
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| President | Michael McCorry (disputed) |
| Founded | 17 January 1970 |
| Split from | Sinn Féin |
| Headquarters | 8 Cabra Road, Dublin 7, Ireland |
| Youth wing | Workers' Party Youth |
| Ideology | Communism Marxism–Leninism Irish republicanism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| European affiliation | INITIATIVE (2013–2023) ECA (2023–present) |
| International affiliation | IMCWP WAP |
| Colours | Red |
| Local government in the Republic of Ireland |
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The Workers' Party (Irish: Páirtí na nOibrithe) is a political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It believes in communism, which is an idea about creating a society where everyone is equal and resources are shared. The party also supports Irish republicanism, which means it wants a united Ireland, free from British rule.
The party's history goes back to the original Sinn Féin group, started in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. The Workers' Party as we know it today was formed in 1970. This happened after a big disagreement within Sinn Féin. One group, which became the Workers' Party, wanted to focus more on Marxism, a way of thinking about society and economics that focuses on class struggle. This group was first called "Official Sinn Féin" or "Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place)". This helped tell them apart from another group, "Provisional Sinn Féin".
Over time, the party changed its name. In 1977, it became "Sinn Féin – The Workers' Party". Then, in 1982, it simply became "The Workers' Party". The other group, Provisional Sinn Féin, eventually became known just as Sinn Féin.
By the late 1980s, the Workers' Party became quite successful in elections in the Republic of Ireland. After the 1989 Irish general election and 1991 Irish local elections, they had 7 members in the Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament) and 24 local councillors. However, after major changes in the world, like the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, most of the party's elected members left. They formed a new party called Democratic Left in 1992. Since then, the Workers' Party has been a smaller party. In 2021, there was another disagreement within the party, which led to some debate about who was in charge.
Party Name Changes
In 1971, the party registered to take part in elections in the Republic of Ireland under the name Sinn Féin. During the early to mid-1970s, it was known as Official Sinn Féin or Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place). This was to tell it apart from the other group, Provisional Sinn Féin, or Sinn Féin (Kevin Street). Gardiner Place was an important place because it was the main office for Sinn Féin for many years before the split in 1970.
At a special meeting in January 1977, Official Sinn Féin changed its name to Sinn Féin – The Workers' Party. They won their first seats in the Dáil Éireann under this new name. In 1979, there was a vote to remove "Sinn Féin" from the name, but it didn't pass. This change happened three years later.
In Northern Ireland, the party used the name Republican Clubs to get around a rule that banned Sinn Féin candidates. After 1970, they continued to use this name, and later called themselves Workers' Party Republican Clubs. In 1982, both the northern and southern parts of the party officially became The Workers' Party.
Sometimes, the Workers' Party is called the "Sticks" or "Stickies". This nickname came about in the 1970s because they used sticky badges for their Easter Lily emblem during their 1916 celebrations. The other group, Provisional Sinn Féin, used a pin badge instead.
Party History
How the Party Started
The modern Workers' Party began in the early 1960s. After a military campaign by the IRA ended in 1962, the republican movement started to rethink its goals. Throughout the 1960s, some important leaders, like Cathal Goulding and Tomás Mac Giolla, began to lean towards Marxism. They studied and talked with other left-wing groups in Ireland and around the world.
This new way of thinking made some traditional republicans unhappy. They wanted to stick to the idea of a united Ireland and using armed force. The new thinkers believed that the main problem stopping Irish unity was the division between Protestant and Catholic working-class people. They thought this division was caused by "divide and rule" tactics used by those in power. They felt that military actions only made these divisions worse. The left-wing group believed that working-class people could unite to fight for a socialist republic across all of Ireland.
However, this Marxist view was not popular with many traditional republicans. The party leaders were also criticized for not protecting Catholic areas in Northern Ireland from attacks. There was also a big debate about whether elected members should refuse to take their seats in British or Irish parliaments. Most of the leaders wanted to stop this refusal.
In 1969, a group of people, including Seán Mac Stiofáin, formed a "Provisional Army Council". This happened before an important Sinn Féin meeting in 1970. At that meeting, the Sinn Féin leaders couldn't get enough votes to change the rule about refusing to take seats. There were arguments about cheating and expulsions. When the meeting voted to support the leaders, a group led by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh walked out. They then announced the start of a new Sinn Féin group. This new group became known as "Provisional Sinn Féin" and its military wing as the Provisional IRA. The group that stayed became "Official Sinn Féin" and was linked to the Official Irish Republican Army. Official Sinn Féin, led by Tomás Mac Giolla, continued to follow the ideas of Goulding's Official IRA.
A main reason for the split was that the Provisionals wanted military action to be the most important goal. They felt the old leaders were replacing traditional Irish goals with "foreign socialism".
In 1977, Official Sinn Féin officially approved its new name: Sinn Féin The Workers' Party. This change was completed in April 1982 when the party became simply the Workers' Party.
Political Changes
Official IRA Ceasefire
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Even though the Official IRA was involved in the early violence in Northern Ireland, it quickly stopped its military actions against the United Kingdom's forces. They declared a permanent ceasefire in May 1972. After this, the political side of the movement grew quickly throughout the 1970s.
The party believed that fighting against religious divisions was their most important job. Their plan was to first unite working-class people in Northern Ireland. Then, they wanted to create a united Ireland, and finally, a socialist society in Ireland.
IRSP/INLA Split
In 1974, the Official Republican Movement split again over the ceasefire and the party's direction. This led to the creation of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), led by Seamus Costello. The IRSP also formed its own armed group, the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). There were some violent clashes between these groups until they agreed to a truce in 1977.
In 1977, the party published a document called Irish Industrial Revolution. This document, written by Eoghan Harris and Eamon Smullen, explained the party's economic ideas. It said that the violence in Northern Ireland was "distracting working class attention from the class struggle". It used Marxist ideas to say that American influence was strong in the south of Ireland. It also criticized Irish business leaders for not developing Ireland as a modern economic power.
Official Sinn Féin became more focused on Marxism-Leninism. They strongly criticized the idea of using armed force, which Provisional Sinn Féin still supported. Their new approach to the Northern Ireland conflict was summed up by their slogan: "Peace, Democracy, Class Politics". They wanted to replace religious divisions with a class struggle that would unite Catholic and Protestant workers. This slogan was similar to Vladimir Lenin's "Peace, Bread, Land", showing where the party got its new ideas. Official Sinn Féin also built friendly relationships with the Soviet Union and other socialist and communist parties worldwide.
Throughout the 1980s, the party strongly opposed political violence by republican groups. They even suggested working with British security forces, which was a controversial idea. They were one of the few left-wing groups in Ireland to oppose the 1981 Irish hunger strike by members of the INLA and Provisional IRA.
The Workers' Party, especially a group around Eoghan Harris, strongly criticized traditional Irish republicanism. Some critics even said their views on Northern Ireland were similar to those who wanted to keep Northern Ireland part of the UK.
The Ned Stapleton Cumann in RTÉ
To gain more influence in the Republic of Ireland, the party formed a secret group called the Ned Stapleton Cumann within RTÉ, Ireland's national broadcaster. This group was led by Eoghan Harris, and its members were all RTÉ employees, many of them journalists. Famous members included Charlie Bird, John Caden, and Marian Finucane.
The group started in the early 1970s and stayed secret until the Workers' Party split in the early 1990s, around the time the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Being secret was very important because RTÉ reporters were not allowed to be openly involved with political parties. This was to make sure they seemed fair and unbiased as journalists. The Cumann had influence within RTÉ and used it to shape what was shown on TV. They tried to promote ideas that matched the Official Sinn Féin/Workers' Party views, especially about the Provisional IRA.
One show affected by the Cumann was Today Tonight, which focused on investigative journalism. Even though Cumann members weren't directly on the show, they made sure that Workers' Party members often appeared without having to say they were part of the party. The Cumann also influenced The Late Late Show, a very popular talk show. They placed Workers' Party activists in the studio audience, and these audience members often took part in discussions on the show.
During the 1981 Irish hunger strike, the Cumann was unhappy with the positive news coverage that the hunger strikers, like Bobby Sands, were getting. These strikers were linked to the Provisionals. In response, the Cumann produced stories that focused on the people who had been harmed by violence from the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland.
The 1992 Split: Workers' Party and Democratic Left
In early 1992, a big split happened in the Workers' Party. Six out of their seven members in the Dáil, their member in the European Parliament, many local councillors, and a large number of other members left. They formed a new party called Democratic Left. This new party later joined with the Labour Party in 1999.
There were two main reasons for this split. First, a group led by Proinsias De Rossa wanted the party to accept more free-market economic ideas. After communism ended in Eastern Europe, they felt that the Workers' Party's Marxist ideas were stopping them from winning more votes. Second, there were new reports in the media about the Official IRA still existing. It was said that they still had weapons and were involved in illegal activities to raise money.
De Rossa and his supporters wanted to distance themselves from these alleged activities. At a special party meeting on 15 February 1992, De Rossa and General Secretary Des Geraghty proposed a motion to change the party's structure. The motion got 61% of the votes, but this was not enough to change the party's rules, which required a two-thirds majority. The Workers' Party later claimed that there was cheating in the vote. Because the motion failed, De Rossa and his supporters left and formed a new party, first called "New Agenda" and then "Democratic Left". In the Republic of Ireland, the Workers' Party was left with only seven councillors and one member of the Dáil.
In Northern Ireland, before the 1992 split, the party had four councillors. Tom French stayed with the Workers' Party. Gerry Cullen and Seamus Lynch joined the new Democratic Left. David Kettyles ran in later elections as an independent.
While most of the elected members left with De Rossa, many members stayed with the Workers' Party. Sean Garland, a party leader, called those who left "careerists" who ran away after the Soviet Union collapsed. Marian Donnelly became president from 1992 to 1994. Tom French was president from 1994 to 1998, when Sean Garland took over. Garland retired in 2008, and Mick Finnegan became president until 2014, followed by Michael Donnelly.
There were a few smaller splits later on. Some members left to form Republican Left, and others joined the Irish Socialist Network. In 1998, another group of former Official IRA members formed the Official Republican Movement. This group announced in 2010 that they had given up their weapons.
The 21st Century
Since the early 1990s, the Workers' Party has worked hard to regain its strength in both parts of Ireland. The party has a youth group called Workers' Party Youth and a Women's Committee. They also have offices in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and Waterford. Besides their political work in Ireland, they send groups to international meetings of communist and socialist parties.
The party supported an independent candidate, John Gilliland, in the 2004 European elections in Northern Ireland.
Waterford City was a strong area for the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. In the 1997 general election, Martin O'Regan almost won a seat in Waterford. However, in February 2008, John Halligan from Waterford left the party because it would not stop opposing service charges. He was later elected to the Dáil for Waterford in 2011. The party's last councillor in Waterford lost his seat in the 2014 local elections.
Michael Donnelly, a university lecturer from Galway, became the party President at a meeting on 27 September 2014, after Mick Finnegan retired.
The Workers' Party asked people to vote No against the Treaty of Lisbon in both the June 2008 referendum (which failed) and the October 2009 referendum (which passed). It was the only left-wing party to campaign for a No vote in the 2013 Seanad abolition referendum. They called for a Yes vote in the marriage equality referendum in 2015. The party supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum.
The party has been involved in campaigns for public housing and renters' rights because of the housing crisis in Ireland. In 2016, the party released a housing plan called Solidarity Housing. This plan suggested a new way to provide affordable housing in Ireland. Later that year, a Workers' Party proposal for 100% public housing on a site in Dublin was passed by the city councillors. However, this was later changed after the Minister for Housing, Simon Coveney, got involved.
The party has a strong tradition of supporting secularism, which means keeping government and public institutions separate from religion. In April 2017, Councillor Éilis Ryan organized a protest against the idea of a new National Maternity Hospital being controlled by the Religious Sisters of Charity. The Workers' Party campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum to repeal the Eighth amendment in May 2018. They were the only party in the Dáil to oppose the introduction of the Eighth amendment back in 1983.
In the 2019 local elections, Éilís Ryan lost her seat on Dublin City Council. This left Ted Tynan as the party's only elected representative in Ireland.
In November 2020, the Standards in Public Office Commission announced that the Workers' Party was one of five political parties that did not provide their financial accounts for 2019, which is required by law.
2021 Split
In April 2021, The Phoenix magazine reported that the party voted to remove their only elected representative, Ted Tynan. The party itself disputes this. In response, a group within the party held an emergency meeting. They voted that they no longer trusted party president Michael Donnelly and chose Tynan as his replacement. Micheal McCorry became president of the Donnelly group, while Tynan became president of the other group. The Belfast Telegraph also reported on this in April 2021. They suggested that one group tried to remove Tynan because he hadn't paid his membership fee. However, Tynan told the newspaper that he believed the real reason was that a new group of members wanted the party to become more supportive of Irish republican ideas, such as having a vote on Irish reunification. Historically, the Workers' Party was against such a vote, saying it would cause divisions. They believed the solution for Northern Ireland was to unite both groups under the idea of Internationalist Socialism. Tynan and his supporters want to keep the old position.
Nuclear Power
In 2023, the Workers' Party released a policy document called "Lets Get Real". In this document, they stated that nuclear power is the only energy choice for Ireland that is reliable, affordable, and produces low carbon.
The party suggests that Ireland should build 6 regular nuclear power plants at 2 or 3 different locations. They estimate this would cost around €50 billion.
Electoral Success
Republic of Ireland Elections
The Workers' Party first won a seat in the 1981 election when Joe Sherlock was elected in Cork East. They increased this to three seats in 1982 and four seats in 1987. The Workers' Party had its best election results in 1989. They won seven seats in the general election. On the same day, party president Proinsias De Rossa won a seat in Dublin in the European election.
After the split of 1992, Tomás Mac Giolla was the only member of the Dáil who stayed with the Workers' Party. He had been the party president for almost 30 years. Mac Giolla lost his seat in the general election later that year. No one from the party has been elected to the Dáil since then. However, at a local level, the Workers' Party kept some elected members in Dublin, Cork, and Waterford after the split. Mac Giolla was even elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1993.
Outside of the southeast, the Workers' Party still has active groups in places like Dublin, Cork, and County Meath. In the 1999 local elections, they lost all their seats in Dublin and Cork. They only managed to keep three seats in Waterford City. More election losses and a small split meant that after the 2004 local elections, the party had only two councillors, both in Waterford.
The party put forward twelve candidates in the 2009 local elections. They also ran Malachy Steenson in a special election in Dublin Central. Ted Tynan was elected to Cork City Council. Davy Walsh kept his seat in Waterford City Council. In the 2014 local elections, Tynan kept his seat, but Walsh lost his due to big changes in the voting areas. In January 2015, an independent councillor named Éilis Ryan joined the party on Dublin City Council.
In the 2011 general election, the Workers' Party had six candidates, but none were successful. In the 2016 general election, they had five candidates, again without success.
At the 2019 Irish local elections, the party was left with only one councillor, as Éilís Ryan lost her seat on Dublin City Council.
Northern Ireland Elections
The party won ten seats in the 1973 local elections in Northern Ireland. Four years later, in May 1977, this number dropped to six council seats, and they received 2.6% of the vote. One of their best results was when Tom French got 19% of the vote in a special election in 1986 Upper Bann by-election. However, a year later, when more parties ran, he only got 4.7% of the vote.
Three councillors left the party during the split in 1992. Davy Kettyles became an independent, while Gerry Cullen and Seamus Lynch joined Democratic Left. The party kept its one council seat in the 1993 local elections with Peter Smyth. This seat was lost in 1997, meaning they no longer had elected representatives in Northern Ireland.
The party did not do well in the March 2007 Assembly election. They won no seats. In their best result in Belfast West, they got 1.26% of the vote. The party did not have any candidates in the 2010 UK general election. In the 2011 Assembly election, the Workers' Party ran in four areas. They received 586 votes (1.7%) in Belfast West and 332 votes (1%) in Belfast North.
The party took part in the UK general election in May 2015, putting forward candidates in Northern Ireland for the first time in ten years. They had five candidates and received 2,724 votes. Gemma Weir got 919 votes (2.3%) in Belfast North. The party did not have candidates in the December 2019 election. In June 2020, the party announced that their Northern Ireland Business Committee and Belfast Constituency Council had separated from the party because they adopted "pro-unionist" policies.
The party ran in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, winning 839 votes (0.10%).
Party Leaders
| Leader | Portrait | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Tomás Mac Giolla |
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1962–1988 |
| Proinsias De Rossa |
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1988–1992 |
| Marian Donnelly |
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1992–1994 |
| Tom French |
|
1994–1998 |
| Seán Garland |
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1998–2008 |
| Mick Finnegan |
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2008–2014 |
| Michael Donnelly |
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2014–2021 |
| Disputed between Michael McCorry and Ted Tynan |
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2021–present |
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Images for kids
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Logo of the Democratic Left
