:''See

Irish Workers' Group :''See Irish Workers' Group (1976) for the Irish Workers' Group which was a member of the League for a Fifth International.'' The Irish Workers' Group (IWG) was a Marxist political party in Ireland. It originated as the Irish Workers Union, whic ...

for the Irish Workers' Group which was active in the 1960s.'' The Irish Workers Group was a small

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

political group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The party was formed in 1976 as a breakaway from the Socialist Workers' Movement, taking a more rigorously

line and stronger position on the North and women's rights. It was affiliated to the

League for the Fifth International The League for the Fifth International (L5I) is an international grouping of revolutionary Trotskyist organisations around a common programme and perspectives. History L5I was founded in 1989 as the Movement for a Revolutionary Communist Inte ...

(L5I). The group was active in several places in Ireland, notably

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

and

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

, and published a magazine called ''Class Struggle'' between 1977 and 1995, as well as publications on

James Connolly James Connolly (; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was a Scottish people, Scottish-born Irish republicanism, Irish republican, socialist, and trade union leader, executed for his part in the Easter Rising, 1916 Easter Rising against British rule i ...

, the Irish question and the

Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed ...

, where they shared the position of Workers Power in Great Britain, giving unconditional support to the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

and opposing the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

. They criticised what they deemed as the

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

and

centrist Marxism Centrist Marxism represents a position between revolution and reformism. Within the Marxist movement, ''centrism'' thus entails a specific meaning between the left-wing revolutionary socialism (exemplified by communism and orthodox Marxism) and ...

positions of other groups on the Irish left, such as the

League for a Workers Republic The League for a Workers' Republic (LWR) was a Trotskyist organisation in Ireland. Foundation It was founded in 1968 by members of the Irish Workers' Group, which was mainly centred on Irish emigrants to Britain and was itself the result of ...

, Socialist Democracy and the Socialist Workers Movement on this question. Throughout their existence, they stood for the defence of what they perceived as the forces fighting British

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

, such as the

Continuity IRA The Continuity Irish Republican Army (Continuity IRA or CIRA), styling itself as the Irish Republican Army (), is an Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a united Ireland. It claims to be a direct continuation of the or ...

and the

Real IRA The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA (RIRA), was a Dissident republican, dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aimed to bring about a United Ireland. It was formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional Irish Republica ...

. When the Socialist Labour Party was formed, the Irish Workers Group joined the party as a tendency, but left in 1979. In 1989, it formed part of the League for the Fifth International (L5I) when that group was founded, through which it was associated with

Workers Power (UK) The League for the Fifth International (L5I) is an international grouping of revolutionary Trotskyist organisations around a common programme and perspectives. History L5I was founded in 1989 as the Movement for a Revolutionary Communist Inter ...

. In 2006, most of the remaining Irish supporters of the L5I were expelled along with the

Permanent Revolution Permanent revolution is the strategy of a revolutionary class pursuing its own interests independently and without compromise or alliance with opposing sections of society. As a term within Marxist theory, it was first coined by Karl Marx and ...

group in the UK. A small group called Workers Power, briefly active in the mid-2000s, remained affiliated with the L5I, but does not appear to have been directly connected with the Irish Workers' Group.Workers' Power Ireland Blog [Archived

Notes

External links

Irish Workers Group (1976) - Irish Left Archive

Published material on IrishElectionLiterature.com
{{Authority control 1976 establishments in Ireland All-Ireland political parties Communist parties in Ireland Far-left politics in Ireland Irish republican parties League for the Fifth International Political parties established in 1976 Trotskyist organisations in Ireland Trotskyist organisations in Northern Ireland