TheIrish Workers' Group (IWG) was aMarxistpolitical party in Ireland. It originated as the Irish Workers Union, which later called itself the Irish Communist Group,[1] and contained a variety of people who all considered themselves to be Marxists. Some were from anIrish Republican background, and some, including Gerry Lawless,[2] also became involved inSaor Éire.[1][3]
In time the group developed distinctTrotskyist andMaoist wings. The latter broke away to form the Irish Communist Organisation, which evolved into theBritish and Irish Communist Organisation. The former became the Irish Workers' Group, setup by Lawless.[2] The IWG produced a paperIrish Militant and a theoretical journalAn Solas/Workers' Republic.
By 1967 the IWG, then based in London among exiled political activists, was failing and handed over their journal toSean Matgamna and Rachel Lever who were about to launch Workers Fight. A section with support in Ireland then formed theLeague for a Workers Republic which entered discussions with theSocialist Labour League, British affiliate of theInternational Committee of the Fourth International.[1][4]
Other members of the IWG later influential in the Irishfar-left wereEamonn McCann, a leader of theSocialist Workers Party, andMichael Farrell, a leader of the now defunctPeople's Democracy. This group seems to have ceased to exist in the late 1960s.
A laterIrish Workers' Group was an organisation that split from theSocialist Workers Movement in 1976. It maintained links with theBritishWorkers Power group and theLeague for a Fifth International.[5]
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