The World Socialist Party (Ireland), founded as the Socialist Party of Ireland in 1949 before changing its name a decade later, was a
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
political party in the impossibilist tradition. It was a companion party of the
World Socialist Movement
The World Socialist Movement (WSM) is an international organisation of socialist parties created in 1904 with the founding of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB).
The member parties share a common classical Marxist worldview and an adh ...
(WSM) and was closely connected to the
Socialist Party of Great Britain
The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and oppo ...
(SPGB). The party's offices were in
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 Kingdo ...
and it was most active 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 ...
, although it was also active 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 party participated in elections in Northern Ireland, but without success. ''Socialist View'' was the party's newspaper. The party disbanded in the 1990s.
Political positions
As with all parties in the WSM, the object of the World Socialist Party of Ireland was " e establishment of a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interests of the whole community.''Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Ireland'' (1949).
The party was staunchly anti-Leninist. Along with its companion parties in the WSM, it believed that
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
could only be established when the majority of the population decided that socialism was in their best interests, not through a
revolutionary vanguard
Revolutionary Vanguard (in Spanish: ''Vanguardia Revolucionaria'') was a political party in Peru founded in 1965 by various Marxist groups. Leaders included Ricardo Napurí (who created it after participating to the MIR The party held that parliament could and should be used in the course of establishing a socialist society.
The party stressed the limited nature of any
reform
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
within the
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
system, saying of 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, ...
that it "serves capitalism just as faithfully as the other political parties, and as you cannot serve capitalism and the majority of the people at the same time, the Labour Party is as much to be condemned from the workers' viewpoint as the others. It does not and cannot act in the interests of the Irish working class".
The party articulated its views on Northern Ireland 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 " ...
in two documents, ''Ireland: Past, Present and Future'' (1983) and ''The Anglo-Irish Accord and Its Irrelevance for the Working Class'' (1986). Like other Marxist parties, it believed that the origins of the conflict lay in
divide and rule
Divide and rule policy ( la, divide et impera), or divide and conquer, in politics and sociology is gaining and maintaining power divisively. Historically, this strategy was used in many different ways by empires seeking to expand their ter ...
tactics of the ruling class, of privileging Protestant workers over Catholic ones. Unlike many other parties of the left, it also believed that
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
and
identity politics
Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these i ...
were no solution. Indeed, it was argued that this focus stood in the way of achieving socialism and therefore both
republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
and loyalist paramilitaries were considered to be "fighting the bosses' battles". The British government was denounced for participating in political terrorism while claiming to oppose it.''Ireland: Past, Present and Future'' (1983). p. 16. The Catholic civil rights campaign was also seen as amounting to nothing more than an insistence that the miseries of capitalism be distributed equally among the working class without regard to religion while something better could be created. The party did claim to oppose partition but only the partition "between the rich and the poor, between the capitalist class and the working class".
The party viewed the Irish War of Independence in much the same light as it viewed the later conflict in Northern Ireland, saying that as far as the working class was concerned, it only amounted to a change in masters.''Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Ireland'' (1949). p. 7.