Irish Republican Socialist Party

A political party formed on 8 December 1974 to campaign for an all-Ireland socialist republic. The founder of the party was Seamus Costello but the best known member at that time was Bernadette McAliskey. The bulk of the membership initially came from previous members of Official Sinn Féin (OSF) and some previous members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Many of these people were unhappy with the ceasefires called by the Official and Provisional wings of the IRA. At the time it was formed it was strongly denied that the IRSP had a military wing, however, many commentators were, even then, detailing links with the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Damaged by allegations of gangsterism and drug dealing, and by frequent and bloody feuding among members of the INLA and between it and other republican groups, the IRSP has never been numerically significant and by 1999 had only a few dozen active members in Northern Ireland (and others in the Republic; like other republican organizations, it was established on an all-island basis). The IRSP currently calls for a broad front of republican and socialist groupings to oppose what it regards as the unduly moderate position of Sinn Féin and to speak for 'the subject people of the six counties and the oppressed working class of Ireland'.