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Irish Left Archive
@leftarchive.ie
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Digital collection of political material from and about the left in Ireland.

🔗 Website: https://www.leftarchive.ie
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leftarchive.ie
Socialist Party members are part of Solidarity, and it is affiliated with International Socialist Alternative (ISA) since the latter formed from divisions in the CWI.

8/8
Logo of Solidarity: The Left Alternative. Logo of International Socialist Alternative.
December 13, 2025 at 11:26 AM
leftarchive.ie
The contemporary Socialist Party was formed in 1996.

It arose from the Trotskyist Militant tendency in Labour and the Labour and Trade Union Group in the North, which were associated with Militant in Britain and the Committee for a Workers International CWI.

www.leftarchive.ie/organisation...

7/8
Logo of the Socialist Party. Front cover of Militant newspaper from January 1972. It has the tagline For A Socialist United Ireland and is labelled Special Irish Edition. The main headline is Ireland: The Real Issues
December 13, 2025 at 11:26 AM
leftarchive.ie
In 1982 the SPI merged with Jim Kemmy's Limerick Socialist Organisation to form the Democratic Socialist Party.

Here are some documents from the the SPI in our collection: www.leftarchive.ie/organisation...

6/8
Pamphlet cover reading: The Socialist Party of Ireland - Report of the 1st National Congress - Dublin, 1-2 December 1973 Front cover of SuperSpi magazine.
December 13, 2025 at 11:26 AM
leftarchive.ie
In 1971 another Socialist Party of Ireland (SPI) was set up, with a number of former Official Sinn Féin members among the founders.

It identified strongly with the USSR, and was opposed to nationalism (forming part of the "Socialists Against Nationalism" campaign).

5/8
Front cover of The Socialist Future: Programme of the Socialist Party of Ireland Logo of the Socialist Party of Ireland [1971], showing a five-pointed star with a torch in the centre.
December 13, 2025 at 11:26 AM
leftarchive.ie
The next Socialist Party of Ireland was formed in Belfast and Dublin on 28th May 1949. It was associated with the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) and the World Socialist Movement, a Classical Marxist left movement.

Here's their manifesto: www.leftarchive.ie/document/419/

3/8
Scanned text reading: The Socialist Party of Ireland object: The establishment of a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the whole community.
December 13, 2025 at 11:26 AM
leftarchive.ie
The Socialist Party is a name that has been used at different times by unrelated groups in Ireland, from the early 20th Century to the present, and from a number of strands of the left.

Here's a thread on the various Socialist Parties in Ireland.

1/8

#IrishPolitics #IrishHistory
A grey-scale logo of a five-pointed star with a torch in the centre. Front cover of a book, with the text: Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Ireland, With Declaration of Principles; Price 6d. A logo of a red, five-pointed star with the words Socialist Party beside it in black text.
December 13, 2025 at 11:26 AM
leftarchive.ie
#OTD 13th December 1970, the Socialist Party of Ireland was formed.

www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...

#OnThisDay #IrishPolitics
Screenshot of a web page, reading: The Socialist Party of Ireland was formed The Socialist Party of Ireland was formed on the 13th December 1970. The first National Congress took place in December 1973, at which the Central Committee reported: Comrades, As this is the first National Congress of our party, it is the duty of the inaugural Central Committee to put on record the circumstances which gave rise to the founding of the party, and to report on its development and activity since that time. … The Socialist Party of Ireland was formed in Dublin on the 13th of December 1970. The founding members appointed a Central Committee, which drew up a manifesto and a constitution. The manifesto announcing the formation of the party was published on the 19th January 1971.
December 13, 2025 at 10:50 AM
leftarchive.ie
"Defence Tactics for Demonstrators"

An article from The United Irishman in 1969 outlines tactics for dealing with police at Irish demonstrations.

www.leftarchive.ie/document/vie...
A cartoon of five figures wearing overcoats and hats each holding a placard. It is captioned, "Front rank shoulder to shoulder. Padded headgear, topcoats." Scanned image of text, reading: Isolated policemen to be well taken care of and are NOT to be molested apart from having their braces removed. A trousers ready to fall down is the best safe-guard against further rioting by a policeman.
December 12, 2025 at 4:40 PM
leftarchive.ie
#OTD 8th December 1974, the Irish Republican Socialist Party was formed.

www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...

#OnThisDay #History #Politics
Web page screenshot, reading: The Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) was formed at a meeting in Dublin on the 8th of December 1974, by former members of Official Sinn Féin. Announcing the new party, the first issue of The Starry Plough (in April 1975) states: It was unanimously agreed that the object of the Party would be to “End Imperialist Rule in Ireland and Establish a 32 County Democratic Socialist Republic, with the Working Class in control of the Means of Production, Distribution and Exchange.”
December 8, 2025 at 1:52 PM
leftarchive.ie
This Socialist Workers' Party poster from the campaign highlighted catholic hypocrisy with an image of Bishop Eamonn Casey, reading: ""Let the Bishops look after their own families…"
A poster with a picture of Eamonn Casey and reading: Socialist Worker / Divorce: Let the Bishops look after their own families… / Vote for Change! / Vote Yes
November 24, 2025 at 6:15 PM
leftarchive.ie
#OnThisDay, 5th October 1968, a civil rights march in Derry was stopped by the RUC at its starting point in the Waterside and marchers were attacked with batons. The RUC assault led to rioting in the city and is often cited as the starting point of “the Troubles”.

www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...
1968 A Civil Rights march in Derry was attacked by the RUC On Saturday the 5th of October 1968, a civil rights march in Derry was stopped by the RUC at its starting point in the Waterside and marchers were attacked with batons. The RUC assault led to rioting in the city, and is often cited as the starting point of “the Troubles”. (Full text on linked page).
October 5, 2025 at 7:23 AM
leftarchive.ie
The 1931 ban included a number of Republican and communist organisations, as noted in this newspaper report.
Image of text, reading: The following associations have been declared by order of the Executive Council to be unlawful associations: Saor Eire. The association styling and calling itself the Irish Republican Army, sometimes known as ‘the I. R. A. or Oglaigh na hEireann. Fianna Eireann. Cumann na mBan. Friends of Soviet Russia. The Irish Labour Defence League. The Workers' Defence Corps. The Women Prisoners’ Defence League The Workers’ Revolutionary Party (Ireland). The Irish Tribute League. The Irish Working Farmers' Committee. The Workers’ Research Bureau.
September 26, 2025 at 7:30 AM
leftarchive.ie
The founding conference of Saor Éire was held #OnThisDay 26th September 1931.

The Left Republican group was banned later that year and collapsed shortly afterwards.

www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...
Scanned document cover, reading: Saor Éire – Draft Constitution and Rules.
September 26, 2025 at 7:30 AM
leftarchive.ie
"The Greatest Irony of the Century"

From *SuperSpi*, magazine of the Socialist Party of Ireland, published in 1978 soon after the first Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
A scanned magazine article, reading: The Greatest Irony of the Century The State of Israel recently celebrated er its 30th Anniversary without being able to say that its future was any more secure than at the time of its proclamation in 1948. What is unique about Israel that it is still surrounded by hostile neighbours and its existence still under question? It is the fact that the political basis of the state is founded on Zionism, a political movement founded on the principle that people of of the Jewish religion cannot be assimilated into any of the nations of the world bat must live in an exclusively Jewish state on their own. Zionism, first organised as a movement by Theodor Herzal 1897, was always a reactionary movement which found its greatest supporters in the GAL ranks of European conservatives. The ioe Jerusalem British government, the German Kaiser and the Russian Czar were greatly interested in Herzal's movement and he rec- eived support from them in his efforts to detach Jewish people from the nations of their birth and pressure them into joining this campaign for a seperate state for Jews. [Herzal] did not mind where this state would be established but, when after the First World War the British became rulers of Palestine, the land where once existed the Hebrew tribal states of ancient Israel and Judah, the Zionists fixed their sights on establishing a state on this territory. After World War II, when the Western powers at the United Nations agreed to allow the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, hundreds of thousands of Jewish people from Eastern Europe were helped by the Zionist movement to emigrate to Palestine and give the necessary muscle for establishing the State of Israel in 1948. The wishes of the Arab people of Palestine were totally ignored in all these developments and almost their entire number were forced, by terrorism and open warfare, to flee from their ancestral homeland into neighbouring Arab states. Since 1948, Zion…
August 22, 2025 at 9:11 AM
leftarchive.ie
#OnThisDay, 21st of August 1984, during the miners’ strike in Britain, a group of partners and children of striking miners visited Tallaght. The week-long trip was organised by the Tallaght Committee to Support Mine Workers.

www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...
A circular yellow sticker reading "Dig Deep for the Miners". In smaller text, "National Union of Mineworkers" describes the circumference.
August 21, 2025 at 6:35 AM
leftarchive.ie
#OnThisDay, 9th of August 1971, internment was re-introduced in the North with a large wave of arrests and imprisonments in dawn raids.

www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...

#Ireland #Politics #OTD
On the 9th of August 1971, internment was re-introduced in the North with a large wave of arrests and imprisonments in dawn raids. Aimed at weakening the IRA, 342 people were arrested in the initial action, all from Nationalist or Republican backgrounds. Several days of violence and protest followed immediately afterwards. The policy of interment was continued until December 1975.
August 9, 2025 at 7:30 AM
leftarchive.ie
"Long Live the Heroic Palestinian Resistance!

Down with The Fascist Aggression and Genocide of U.S.-Backed Israeli Zionism Against The Lebanese and Palestinian People!"

Published #OnThisDay, 1st August 1982, by the Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist).

www.leftarchive.ie/document/378/
Scanned article, reading: Long Live the Heroic Palestinian Resistance! Down with The Fascist Aggression and Genocide of U.S.-Backed Israeli Zionism Against The Lebanese and Palestinian People! The Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist) whole-heartedly condemns the vicious fascist invasion of the Israeli Zionists into the Lebanon. This act, which flouts all international law and the resolutions of the United Nations, has absolutely no justification; certainly not as “retaliation" for attacks on Israeli diplomats etc., as Begin and his fascists claim; it is simply the continuation of the constant policy of Israeli Zionism to crush the Palestinian people's just resistance -- this time by attempting Hitler's plan of a “final solution", through the calculated genocide of the Palestinian people in the refugee camps in the Lebanon. CPI(M-L) calls on all democratic and anti-imperialist people to take up the cause of the Palestinian people, and to organise to arouse the support of the entire Irish people against Israeli Zionism. For the cause of the Palestinian people in fighting for their homeland is the same just (Contd. p.6).
August 1, 2025 at 7:07 AM
leftarchive.ie
#OnThisDay 19th of July 1984, a group of workers refused to handle South African goods, beginning the anti-apartheid Dunnes Stores strike.

www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...

#Ireland #Politics #History #Apartheid
The Fruits of Apartheid. Sketches of fruits are labelled "Whites Only", "Violence!", "Forced Removals", "Detention Without Trial" and "Poverty". The caption reads "Support the fight for justice in South Africa; do not buy South African fruit."
July 19, 2025 at 7:59 AM
leftarchive.ie
#OnThisDay 18th of July 1981, a march in support of the Hunger Strikers campaign, ongoing since March of that year, ended with violent clashes outside the British Embassy after a Garda baton-charge, in which more than 200 people were hurt.

www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...
1981: Serious clashes between Republican demonstrators and Gardaí outside the British Embassy took place On 18th of July 1981, a march in support of the Hunger Strikers campaign, ongoing since March of that year, ended with violent clashes outside the British Embassy after a Garda baton-charge, in which more than 200 people were hurt. A document from Revolutionary Struggle after the event, ‘Organise Against State Repression’, states: On the 18th. July thousands of people from all over the country mobilised in Dublin for a march on the British Embassy in support of the Hunger Strickers [sic]. Before reaching the Embassy however, the marchers were stopped at Merrion Rd. by a wall of cops in riot gear, seceral [sic] rows deep. This strategy of confrontation and intimidation, meant to frighten people off the streets and deny them expression, was resisted by many brave comrades who tried to fight their way through. The cops held rank for fifteen minutes and then charged. Their violence and brutality as they ran riot, beating everyone in their path was pyscotic [sic].
July 18, 2025 at 7:25 AM
leftarchive.ie
#OnThisDay, 26th June 1986, a referendum was held in Ireland to remove the prohibition of divorce.

The referendum was unsuccessful, with divorce remaining prohibited until 1995.

www.leftarchive.ie/subject/2225/
A poster reading: Civil divorce is a civil right / Vote Yes! / The Workers Party
June 26, 2025 at 2:53 PM
leftarchive.ie
"I'm not interested in politics because I don't eat, wear clothes, breathe air or live in a house. I'm incurable and when I die I'll bury myself."

The first issue of *People's Voice*, produced by Saor Éire in Cork.

www.leftarchive.ie/document/2405/

#Ireland #Politics #SaorÉire
Front cover of People's Voice, No. 1, November 1968. A meek character is saying, "I'm not interested in politics because I don't eat, wear clothes, breathe air or live in a house. I'm incurable and when I die I'll bury myself." Underneath is written, Workers: Awaken to your power!
June 20, 2025 at 7:33 AM
leftarchive.ie
#OnThisDay. 12th of June 1982, the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) voted to dissolve. Founded in 1977, the SLP sought to build a party of the Left, bringing together former Labour members and Left groups.

www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...

#Ireland #Politics #Socialism #SLP
The Party's Over, from Gralton, No. 3.
June 12, 2025 at 2:54 PM
leftarchive.ie
The Irish Women United charter was published in each issue of their magazine, Banshee.
IRISH WOMEN UNITED CHARTER PREAMBLE: At this time, the women of Ireland are beginning to see the need for, and are fighting for liberation. This is an inevitable step in the course of full human liberation. Although within the movement, we form diverse groups with variant ways of approaching the problem, we have joined together around these basic issues. We pledge ourselves to challenge and fight sexism in all forms and oppose all forms of exploitation of women which keep them oppressed. These demands are all part of the essential right of women to self-determination of our own lives — equality in education and work; control of our own bodies; an adequate standard of living and freedom from sexist conditioning. We present these demands as the following women’s charter. 1. THE REMOVAL OF ALL LEGAL AND BUREAUCRATIC OBSTACLES TO EQUALITY: 1. i.e. with regard to tenancies, mortgages, pension schemes, taxation, jury service, equal responsibility for children, social welfare benefits and hire purchase agreements. 2. The right to divorce. The Constitution should be reviewed with a view to examining the role of women and updated to eliminate discrimination against women. 2. FREE LEGAL CONTRACEPTION: 1. State financed birth-control clinics. 2. The right [t]o a free, legal and safe abortion. 3. THE RECOGNITION OF MOTHERHOOD AND PARENTHOOD AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION WITH SPECIAL PROVISION FOR: 1. State support for programmes implementing the socialisation of housework, i.e. community laundries, kitchens, eating places etc. 2. State provision of an adequate place to live, irrespective of sex, age, number of children and marital status. 3. The provision of local authority, free of charge, twenty-four-hour nurseries, giving every satisfaction in respect of hygiene and education; to be staffed by trained personnel and under the control of the communities in which they are located. [Truncated by Bluesky. Full transcription on our website, linked in this thread].
June 8, 2025 at 10:12 AM
leftarchive.ie
#OnThisDay 8th of June 1975, a conference of circa 100 women constituted Irish Women United – "the only criteria for joining to be agreement on the demands of the charter".

www.leftarchive.ie/calendar/on-...
What is Irish Women United? We are a group of Women's liberationists who believe that the best perspective for struggle against women's oppression in Ireland lies in an ongoing fight around the charter of demands printed here. We came together originally in April 1975 as a few individual women interested in the idea of building a conference to discuss a charter; what its demands should be and how a campaign should be built. At this conference on June 8th, attended by approximately 100 women, we constituted ourselves as a separate group, Irish Women United -- the only criteria for joining to be agreement on the demands of the Charter. Irish Women United works on the basis of general meetings (discussions and action planning, at present every week in Dublin), join actions (e.g. pickets, public meetings, workshops, at present on women in trade unions, contraception, social welfare and political theory) and consciousness-raising groups.
June 8, 2025 at 10:12 AM
leftarchive.ie
A cartoon on the contradictions of "pro-life" positions.

From Women's View in 1983, during the eighth amendment referendum.

Women's View was produced by the National Women's Committee of the Workers' Party throughout the 1980s.
A priest stands at a lectern, which is labelled "this week's sermon – No Abortion". A sign behind him says "Next week's sermon – we need the death penalty".
June 7, 2025 at 10:43 AM