The Communist Party of Northern Ireland was a small

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

operating in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The party merged with the

Irish Workers' Party The Irish Workers' League (1948–1962) and Irish Workers' Party (1962–1970) were names used by the communist party in the Republic of Ireland. Background The Southern section of the Communist Party of Ireland had suspended its activities from ...

in 1970 to form the reunited

Communist Party of Ireland The Communist Party of Ireland (CPI; ga, Páirtí Cumannach na hÉireann) is an all-Ireland Marxist–Leninist communist party, founded in 1933 and re-founded in 1970. It rarely contests elections and has never had electoral success. The part ...

Formation

The party originated in the 1941 split in the

(CPI), which also produced the

Irish Workers' League The Irish Workers' League (1948–1962) and Irish Workers' Party (1962–1970) were names used by the communist party in the Republic of Ireland. Background The Southern section of the Communist Party of Ireland had suspended its activities from ...

(IWL) in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. The split was due to the difficulties of operating in the Republic, and the unpopularity of the argument that Ireland should enter

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in the Republic, as opposed to its popularity in Northern Ireland. In July 1941, the Communist Party of Ireland National Executive suspended independent activities and its membership were encouraged to undertake

entryism Entryism (also called entrism, enterism, or infiltration) is a political strategy in which an organisation or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organization in an attempt to expand influence and expand the ...

and join the

Irish Labour Party The Labour Party ( ga, Páirtí an Lucht Oibre, literally "Party of the Working People") is a centre-left and social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. Founded on 28 May 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, ...

, and trade union movement, the Irish Labour Party was not organised in Northern Ireland and in October the Communist Party of Northern Ireland published its manifesto.The Communist Party of Ireland A Critical History, Part 3
by DR O'Connor Lysaght, 1976. The CPNI held its first conference in October 1942, in Belfast, with many former members of the CPI from the Republic attending. By 1943, it had grown to 35 branches, although it was not able to operate openly in more strongly Catholic areas. Indeed, while the party in Belfast had a mostly Catholic membership in the 1930s, following the split, it became mostly Protestant.

Growth and decline

The CPNI stood their own candidates in the

1945 Northern Ireland general election The 1945 Northern Ireland general election was held on 14 June 1945. The election saw significant losses for the Ulster Unionist Party, though they retained their majority. Mirroring the result across the rest of the UK in the 1945 UK general ...

. While they did not come close to winning any seats, they polled a respectable 12,000 votes for their three candidates (

Betty Sinclair Elizabeth Sinclair (3 December 1910 – 25 December 1981) was an Irish communist organiser. Early life Born as Elizabeth Margaret Sinclair at 44 Hooker Street in Ardoyne, Belfast on 3 December 1910, Betty came from a Church of Ireland family an ...

, William McCullough and Sid Maitland), who retained their deposits.Matt Treacy, ''The Communist Party of Ireland 1921 - 2011'', pp.163-164 The CPNI was unable to use any momentum from their election result and declined in the following decades. It stopped publishing its newsletter, ''

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

'', in 1947, membership fell from 1,000 in 1945 to 172 in 1949, and at the

1949 Northern Ireland general election The 1949 Northern Ireland general election was held on 19 February 1949. The election became known as the Chapel-gate election because collections were held at churches in the Republic of Ireland to support the Nationalist Party campaign. Th ...

it ran only McCullough, who took just 623 votes. Nonetheless it became prominent in the trade unions, with Sinclair becoming full-time secretary of the

Belfast Trades Council Belfast Trades Council, also known as Belfast & District Trades Union Council, brings together trade unionists in and around Belfast in Northern Ireland. History The council was founded on 29 October 1881 at a meeting of eleven trade unionists. T ...

. The party continued to intervene in elections, supporting

Jack Beattie Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

candidacy at the 1950 Belfast West by-election, and standing Jimmy Graham and Eddie Menzies unsuccessfully in that year's local elections in Belfast. A Joint Council was established to co-ordinate the activities of the CPNI and the IWL, although disputes between the two sometimes arose, particularly over the priority given to opposing the

partition of Ireland The partition of Ireland ( ga, críochdheighilt na hÉireann) was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. I ...

Civil rights movement and merger

By the early 1960s, the CPNI was promoting the

Northern Ireland Labour Party The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party in Northern Ireland which operated from 1924 until 1987. Origins The roots of the NILP can be traced back to the formation of the Belfast Labour Party in 1892. William Walker stoo ...

, then from 1965 tried to establish a civil rights movement with leading trade unionists and

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

s. It hoped to politicise the IRA; its highpoint was the civil rights association (

NICRA ) was an organisation that campaigned for civil rights in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in Belfast on 9 April 1967,

) of the late 1960s in which Sinclair was prominent, although she was openly critical of the lack of engagement from colleagues such as Andy Barr and

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

. As well as Sinclair, other CPNI members involved in the NICRA were Noel Harris (Chairman) and Denis O'Brien Peters (Secretary). It ultimately became the junior partner in a merger with the Irish Workers' Party, which was once again acting as an independent organisation, which in 1970 became the Communist Party of Ireland. The CPNI published following its creation in 1941 the newspaper ''The Red Hand''. Its on-and-off weekly newspaper ''

'', following the merger in 1970, became the weekly publication of the Belfast District of the

. Since 2021, ''Unity'' is no longer published by the

General Secretaries

:1941:

Sean Murray Sean Murray may refer to: * Sean Murray (field hockey) (born 1997), Lisnagarvey player and senior Ireland international * Sean Murray (footballer, born 1993), Dundalk FC player and Irish youth international * Sean Murray (Gaelic footballer), Dubli ...

- organiser from 1950-61.A Shop Stewart remembers
by Malachy Gray, Saothar 11, Journal of the Irish Labour History Society, 1986. :1942-46: William McCullough :1963-70: Hugh Moore

References

A critical history of the Communist Party of Ireland (1976)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Communist Party Of Northern Ireland 1941 establishments in Northern Ireland 1970 disestablishments in Northern Ireland Communist parties in Ireland Communist parties in Northern Ireland Communist Party of Ireland Defunct communist parties Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland Political parties disestablished in 1970 Political parties established in 1941