:''See

Irish Workers' Group :''See Irish Workers' Group (1976) for the Irish Workers' Group which was a member of the League for a Fifth International.'' The Irish Workers' Group (IWG) was a Marxist political party in Ireland. It originated as the Irish Workers Union, wh ...

for the Irish Workers' Group which was active in the 1960s.'' The Irish Workers Group was a small

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

political group in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The party was formed in 1976 as a breakaway from the Socialist Workers' Movement, taking a more rigorously

line and stronger position on the North and women's rights. It was affiliated to the League for the Fifth International (L5I). The group was active in several places in Ireland, notably

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

and

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

, and published a magazine called ''Class Struggle'' between 1977 and 1995, as well as publications on James Connolly, the

Irish question The Irish question was the issue debated primarily among the British government from the early 19th century until the 1920s of how to respond to Irish nationalism and the calls for Irish independence. The phrase came to prominence as a result ...

and the

Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

, where they shared the position of Workers Power in Great Britain, giving unconditional support to the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...

and opposing the Good Friday Agreement. They criticised what they deemed as the

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

and

centrist Marxism ''Centrism'' has a specific meaning within the Marxist movement, referring to a position between revolution and reformism. For instance, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and British Independent Labour Party (ILP) were bot ...

positions of other groups on the Irish left, such as the

League for a Workers Republic The League for a Workers' Republic (LWR) was a Trotskyist organisation in Ireland. Foundation It was founded in 1968 by members of the Irish Workers' Group, which was mainly centred on Irish emigrants to Britain and was itself the result of ...

, Socialist Democracy and the Socialist Workers Movement on this question. Throughout their existence, they stood for the defence of what they perceived as the forces fighting British

imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...

, such as the

Continuity IRA The Continuity Irish Republican Army (Continuity IRA or CIRA), styling itself as the Irish Republican Army (), is an Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a united Ireland. It claims to be a direct continuation of the ori ...

and the Real IRA. When the Socialist Labour Party was formed, the Irish Workers Group joined the party as a tendency, but left in 1979. In 1989, it formed part of the League for the Fifth International (L5I) when that group was founded, through which it was associated with

Workers Power (UK) Workers' Power is a Trotskyist group which forms the British section of the League for the Fifth International. The group publishes the newspaper ''Workers Power'' and distributes the English-language journal ''Fifth International''. Origin Th ...

. In 2006, most of the remaining Irish supporters of the L5I were expelled along with the

Permanent Revolution Permanent revolution is the strategy of a revolutionary class pursuing its own interests independently and without compromise or alliance with opposing sections of society. As a term within Marxist theory, it was first coined by Karl Marx and ...

group in the UK. A small group called Workers Power, briefly active in the mid-2000s, remained affiliated with the L5I, but does not appear to have been directly connected with the Irish Workers' Group.Workers' Power Ireland Blog [Archived

Notes

External links

Irish Workers Group (1976) - Irish Left Archive

Published material on IrishElectionLiterature.com
{{Authority control 1976 establishments in Ireland All-Ireland political parties Communist parties in Ireland Far-left politics in Ireland Irish republican parties League for the Fifth International Political parties established in 1976 Trotskyist organisations in Ireland Trotskyist organisations in Northern Ireland