The Socialist Republican Party was an

Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

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

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. 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 Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

(IRA) members and Protestant trade unionists around Victor Halley, all based in West

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. The party produced a newspaper, ''Northern Star'', edited by Vincent MacDowell (father of former Green MEP Nuala Ahern) who would go on to be active at various times in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, the Green Party 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. 20 MPs were elected unopposed (38%), the vast majority of whom were U ...

, 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.

Merge into the Irish Labour Party

In February 1949, on the advice of the administrative council of the Irish Labour Party, the Socialist Republican Party and disaffected members of the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) set up a provisional committee on establishing a branch of the Irish Labour Party in Northern Ireland. Later that April, a 'six counties council' was set up to co-ordinate a merger into the Irish Labour Party pending the October 1949 party convention to amend the constitution to permit expansion into Northern Ireland. The council consisted of: * Harry Diamond – Chairman * Frank Hanna – Vice-Chairman * Jack Beattie – Treasurer * Jack Macgoughan – Secretary Within nine days however, Frank Hanna resigned from the council expressing doubts about the feasibility of a merger and about public support for the party. On 8 January 1950 the merger was complete when the 'six counties council' was abolished and replaced with a regional council within the Irish Labour Party. Diamond later stood for Parliament under a variety of labels before eventually 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 ...

Election results

General elections

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