The Socialist Republican Party was an Irish republican

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

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 ...

. It was founded in 1944 by a coalition of former Nationalist Party members, former

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

(IRA) members and Protestant

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

s around

Victor Halley Victor Halley (1904-1966) was a trade unionist and socialist in Northern Ireland, who identified the cause of labour with the achievement of an all-Ireland republic. A Presbyterian, Halley was born at 19 Carew Street, Belfast on 15 January 1904, ...

, all based in West

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. The party produced a newspaper, ''Northern Star'', edited by Vincent MacDowellElection History of Vincent McDowell
/ref> (father of former Green MEP Nuala Ahern) who would go on to be active at various times in the

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association ) 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,

, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

for which he was elected a councillor and the Irish Labour Party. 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 genera ...

, the party won 5,497 votes and Harry Diamond took the Belfast Falls seat. He held the seat in 1949, with no other candidate contesting it. A couple of months later, the group joined 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, ...

. Diamond later stood for Parliament under a variety of labels before forming the

Republican Labour Party The Republican Labour Party (RLP) was a political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1964, with two MPs at Stormont, Harry Diamond and Gerry Fitt. They had previously been the sole Northern Ireland representatives of the Socialist R ...

References

{{Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland Defunct political parties in Northern Ireland Irish republican parties Political parties established in 1944 Socialist parties in Ireland 1944 establishments in Northern Ireland Political parties disestablished in 1949 1949 disestablishments in Northern Ireland