Workers Party

The Workers' Party (WP) grew out of Official Sinn Féin which was considered the political wing of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA). The Workers' Party is organised in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with the Northern section being semi-autonomous. The organisation is a Socialist / Marxist Republican party which arose from the "Official" majority faction which remained loyal to the then leadership of Sinn Féin in the 1969-70 split. At that time the Northern section of Sinn Féin operated under the name Republican Clubs and following the split became know as Official Republican Clubs (then Republican Clubs the Workers' Party; then Sinn Féin the Workers' Party; finally in 1982 the Workers' Party). The movement's attempts to develop radical anti-sectarian socialist politics in the North were hampered by the climate of violence in the 1970s and 1980s. The party also had to content with allegations of gangsterism associated with the Official IRA and by factionalism within the political wing. The party suffered a serious split in 1992 when six of its seven Teachta Dáil (TDs) left the party to set up a new organisation Democratic Left (initially called New Agenda). The WP, which campaigns for peace, full employment and class politics, has been represented by six councillors on local councils in Northern Ireland, with one remaining councillor in 1996. However the party rarely secured more than 2.5 per cent of the parliamentary poll, and only 0.6 per cent in 1992; in the 1996 Forum elections its share fell to 0.5 per cent. The party supported the Good Friday Agreement. The Workers' Party is led nationally by Tom French (National President); its Northern Regional Secretary is Tommy Owens.