The Irish Workers' League (1948–1962), later the Irish Workers' Party (1962–1970) was a communist party in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Background

The Southern section of the Communist Party of Ireland had suspended its activities from 1941 onwards, because of police interference in its activities and the difficulties imposed by the emigration of many members to find work in England. Members were encouraged instead to join the Labour Party (although many were subsequently expelled). The influx of communists to the Labour Party and the union movement, from both

James Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party (Ireland), Labou ...

's party and the Communist Party of Ireland, caused a split in Labour, with the formation in 1944 of the National Labour Party. During this time, the communists still ran a revolutionary book-shop called ''New Books'' and produced a publication, ''Irish Review''.

Irish Workers' League

After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, former internees from the Curragh Camp, including members of the "Connolly Group," along with individuals expelled from the Labour Party, established a party in Republic of Ireland on 8 November 1948 under the name Irish Workers' League.

Michael O'Riordan Michael O'Riordan (; 12 November 1917 – 18 May 2006) was the founder of the Communist Party of Ireland (3rd) and also fought with the Connolly Column in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. Early life O'Riordan was bo ...

became its secretary, and others involved in early meetings of the party included

Dominic Behan Dominic Behan ( ; ; 22 October 1928 – 3 August 1989) was an Irish writer, songwriter and singer from Dublin who wrote in Irish and English. He was a socialist and an Irish republican. Born into the literary Behan family, he was one of the mo ...

Sam Nolan Sam Nolan (1930 – 14 April 2024) was an Irish trade unionist and politician activist who was the secretary of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions. Biography Born in Dublin, Nolan became active in the Irish Workers' League soon after World Wa ...

, Joe O'Connor and Sean Mulready.'The Communist Party of Ireland 1921 - 2011' By Matt Treacy, Dublin 2012. The IWL resumed publication of ''

The Irish Workers' Voice ''The Irish Worker's Voice'' is an official newspaper of the Communist Party of Ireland (CPI). The paper is published weekly on and off by the various guises under which the Communist party of Ireland was constituted. The first issue was on the ...

'' which had been a publication of the Communist Party. The IWL ran candidates unsuccessfully in the

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

, and 1961 general elections.

Change of name to Irish Workers' Party

The group's name was changed to the Irish Workers' Party in 1962, but this organisation did not register itself as a political party. Thus, it did not select candidates until the 1965 general election, when it fielded some candidates unsuccessfully, and again in the general election of 1969. In December 1965 the IWP began publishing a monthly newspaper, '' The Irish Socialist'', from its ''New Books'' bookshop. In 1970, the Irish Workers' Party merged with the

Communist Party of Northern Ireland The Communist Party of Northern Ireland was a small communist party operating in Northern Ireland. The party merged with the Irish Workers' Party in 1970 to form the reunited Communist Party of Ireland. Formation The party originated in the 194 ...

to reconstitute the all-Ireland

Communist Party of Ireland The Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) is a Marxist–Leninist party, founded in 1970 and active in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland following a merger of the Irish Workers' Party and the Communist Party of Northern Ireland. It ra ...

General Secretary

* 1948–1970:

External links

Communist Party of Ireland website

References

Coakley, John. “http://Ljournal.ru/Wp-Content/Uploads/2017/03/a-2017-023.Pdf.” Minor Parties in Irish Political Life, 1922–1989, vol. 21, no. 3, 2017. The Economic and Social Review, doi:10.18411/a-2017-023. Communist Party of Ireland Defunct political parties in the Republic of Ireland Political parties established in 1948 Communist parties in Ireland 1948 establishments in Ireland 1970 disestablishments in Ireland Political parties disestablished in 1970 {{Ireland-party-stub