The Workers' Party Páirtí na nOibrithe | |
|---|---|
_logo.png){kind=logo} | |
| President | Michael McCorry[1] (disputed) |
| Founded | 17 January 1970[a] |
| Split from | Sinn Féin |
| Headquarters | 8 Cabra Road, Dublin 7, Ireland |
| Youth wing | Workers' Party Youth[2] |
| Ideology | Communism Marxism–Leninism Irish republicanism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| European affiliation | INITIATIVE (2013–2023) |
| International affiliation | IMCWP WAP (disputed) ECA (disputed) |
| Colours | Red |
| Website | |
workersparty | |
The Workers' Party (Irish:Páirtí na nOibrithe) is anIrish republican,Marxist–Leninistcommunist party active in both theRepublic of Ireland andNorthern Ireland.[3][4]
The party formerly asserted a claim of direct descent from theoriginal Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 byArthur Griffith. It took its current form in 1970 following a division within Sinn Féin, in which the majority faction followed the leadership in aMarxist direction. It was known asSinn Féin (Gardiner Place) orOfficial Sinn Féin, to distinguish it from the minority faction of "Sinn Féin (Kevin Street)" or "Provisional Sinn Féin". It changed its name from Sinn Féin toSinn Féin The Workers' Party in 1977 and then to theWorkers' Party in 1982. In that time, Provisional Sinn Féin came to be known simply asSinn Féin. Both groups were tied to corresponding paramilitary groups, with Official Sinn Féin tied to theOfficial Irish Republican Army.
By the late 1980s, the party had broken through electorally in the Republic of Ireland and at its peak it elected 7TDs at the1989 general election and 21 councillors at the1991 local elections. However, following thefall of the Berlin Wall andcollapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, almost all the party's elected members broke away and formedDemocratic Left in 1992. Since 1992 the party has existed as amicroparty. A 2021 split in the party left the party's status disputed.
In 1971, it registered to contest Dáil and local elections in the Republic of Ireland under the nameSinn Féin.[5] From the early to mid-1970s, it was known as Official Sinn Féin orSinn Féin (Gardiner Place) to distinguish it from the rival offshoot Provisional Sinn Féin, orSinn Féin (Kevin Street). Gardiner Place had symbolic power as the headquarters ofSinn Féin for decades before the 1970 split.
At itsArdfheis in January 1977, Official Sinn Féin renamed itselfSinn Féin – The Workers' Party. Its first seats inDáil Éireann were won under this new name. A motion at the 1979 Ardfheis to remove theSinn Féin prefix from the party name was narrowly defeated. This change would come about three years later.[6]
InNorthern Ireland, Sinn Féin was organised under the nameRepublican Clubs to avoid a ban on Sinn Féin candidates (introduced in 1964 under Northern Ireland'sEmergency Powers Act). The Officials continued to use this name after 1970,[7] and later used the nameWorkers' Party Republican Clubs. In 1982, both the northern and southern sections of the party became The Workers' Party.[8]
The Workers' Party is sometimes referred to as the "Sticks" or "Stickies" because in the 1970s it used adhesive stickers for theEaster Lily emblem in its 1916 commemorations, whereas Provisional Sinn Féin used a pin for theirs.[9]
The modern origins of the party date from the early 1960s. After the failure of thethen IRA's 1956–1962border campaign, the republican movement, with a new military and political leadership, undertook a complete reappraisal of itsraison d'être.[6] Through the 1960s, some leading figures in the movement, such asCathal Goulding,Seán Garland,Billy McMillen,Tomás Mac Giolla, moved steadily to the left, even toMarxism, as a result of their own reading and thinking and contacts with the Irish and international left. This angered more traditional republicans, who wanted to stick to the national question and armed struggle. Also involved in this debate was theConnolly Association.[10] This group's analysis saw the primary obstacle toIrish unity as the continuing division between the Protestant and Catholic working classes. This it attributed to the "divide and rule" policies ofcapitalism, whose interests were served by the working classes remaining divided. Military activity was seen as counterproductive, because its effect was to further entrenchsectarian divisions. The left-wing faction believed the working classes could be united in class struggle to overthrow their common rulers, with a 32-county socialist republic being the inevitable outcome.[6]
However, thisMarxist outlook became unpopular with many of the more traditionalist republicans, and the party/army leadership was criticised for failing to defend northern Catholic enclaves fromloyalist attacks (these debates took place against the background ofthe violent beginning of what would be termedthe Troubles). A growing minority within the rank-and-file wanted to maintain traditional militarist policies aimed at ending British rule inNorthern Ireland.[6] An equally contentious issue involved whether to or not to continue with the policy ofabstentionism, that is, the refusal of elected representatives to take their seats in British or Irish legislatures. A majority of the leadership favoured abandoning this policy.
A group consisting ofSeán Mac Stiofáin,Dáithí Ó Conaill,Seamus Twomey, and others, established themselves as a "Provisional Army Council" in 1969 in anticipation of a contentious 1970 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis (delegate conference).[6] At the Ard Fheis, the leadership of Sinn Féin failed to attain the required two-thirds majority to change the party's position on abstentionism. The debate was charged with allegations of vote-rigging and expulsions. When the Ard Fheis went on to pass a vote of confidence in theofficial Army Council (which had already approved an end to the abstentionist policy),Ruairí Ó Brádaigh led the minority in a walk-out,[11] and went to a prearranged meeting inParnell Square where they announced the establishment of a "caretaker" executive of Sinn Féin.[12] The dissident council became known as the "Provisional Army Council" and its party and military wing as Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA, while those remaining became known as Official Sinn Féin and theOfficial IRA.[13] Official Sinn Féin, under the leadership ofTomás Mac Giolla, remained aligned to Goulding's Official IRA.[14]
A key factor in the split was the desire of those who became the Provisionals to make military action the key object of the organisation, rather than a simple rejection of leftism.[15][16] The pre-split leadership, they stated, had attempted to replace the programme of Wolfe Tone and James Connolly with "the foreign socialism of Marx and Mao". If this had gone unchecked, their argument went, the "traditional" IRA would have been replaced by the “so-called National Liberation Movement”, including Communist Party members.[17]
In 1977, Official Sinn Féin ratified the party's new name—"Sinn Féin The Workers' Party"—without dissension.[18] According to Richard Sinnott, this "symbolism" was completed in April 1982 when the party became simply the Workers' Party.[19]
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Although the Official IRA became drawn into the spiralling violence of the early period of conflict inNorthern Ireland, it almost immediately reduced its military campaign against theUnited Kingdom's armed presence in Northern Ireland, declaring a permanent ceasefire in May 1972. Following this, the movement's political development increased rapidly throughout the 1970s.[6]
On the national question, the Officials saw the struggle against religious sectarianism and bigotry as their primary task. The party's strategy stemmed from the "stages theory": firstly, working-class unity within Northern Ireland had to be achieved, followed by the establishment of aunited Ireland, and finally a socialist society would be created in Ireland.[20]
In 1974, the Official Republican Movement split over the ceasefire and the direction of the organisation. This led to the formation of theIrish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) withSeamus Costello (whom theOfficial IRA had expelled) as its chairperson. Also formed on the same day was IRSP's paramilitary wing, theIrish National Liberation Army (INLA). A number of tit-for-tat killings occurred in a subsequent feud until a truce was agreed in 1977.[21]
In 1977, the party published and accepted as policy a document called theIrish Industrial Revolution.[22] Written byEoghan Harris and Eamon Smullen,[6] it outlined the party's economic stance and declared that the ongoing violence in Northern Ireland was "distracting working class attention from the class struggle to a mythical national question". The policy document used Marxist terminology: it identifiedUS imperialism as the now-dominant political and economic force in the southern state and attacked the failure of the nationalbourgeoisie to develop Ireland as a modern economic power.[23]
Official Sinn Féin gravitated towardsMarxism-Leninism and became fiercely critical of thephysical force Irish republicanism still espoused by Provisional Sinn Féin. Its new approach to the Northern conflict was typified by the slogan it would adopt: "Peace, Democracy, Class Politics". It aimed to replacesectarian politics with a class struggle which would uniteCatholic andProtestant workers. The slogan's echo ofVladimir Lenin's "Peace, Bread, Land" was indicative of the party's new source of inspiration. Official Sinn Féin also built up fraternal relations with the USSR and with socialist, workers' andcommunist parties around the world.[6]
Throughout the 1980s, the party came to staunchly oppose republicanpolitical violence, controversially to the point of recommending cooperating with British security forces. They were one of the few organisations on the left of Irish politics to oppose the INLA/Provisional IRA1981 Irish hunger strike.[6]
The Workers' Party (especially the faction around Harris) strongly criticised traditionalIrish republicanism, causing some of its critics such asVincent Browne andPaddy Prendeville to accuse it of having an attitude to Northern Ireland that was close toUlster unionism.[24][25]
Part of the party's plan to gain influence in the Republic of Ireland was the formation and maintenance of a secret branch (cumann), theNed Stapleton Cumann, inside Ireland's national broadcasterRTÉ. Centred around the leadership of Eoghan Harris, the members were all employees of RTÉ and many of them were journalists. Members includedCharlie Bird,John Caden andMarian Finucane. The branch started in the early 1970s and continued to operate in secrecy[26] until the Worker's Party broke apart in the early 1990s as theSoviet Union collapsed (1991) and likewise the Workers' Party saw amajor split with the formation of theDemocratic Left (1992). Remaining undetected was fundamental to the existence of the Cumann, as officially RTÉ reporters were not allowed to have party-political affiliations, in order to appear objective as journalists. The Cumann was influential within RTÉ, and used its position to shape the output of RTÉ programming; they pushed for narratives which reflected the official Sinn Féin/Workers' Party outlook, particularly in relation to theProvisional IRA.[27][28]
One programme impacted by the Cumann,Today Tonight, aired 4 nights a week and focused on investigative journalism. Although not directly involved with the show, the Cumann members ensured that SFWP members regularly appeared on the programme without having to acknowledge their membership. The Cumann was also able to influence one of RTÉ's flagship showsThe Late Late Show, and placed SFWP activists into the show's studio audience, a studio audience who often took part in discussions on the show.[27]
During1981 Irish hunger strike, the Cumann was deeply annoyed by the positive coverage that the hunger strikers (such asBobby Sands) began to receive, as they were aligned with the Provisionals. In response, they produced pieces which focused on the victims of violence by the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland.[27]
In early 1992, following a failed attempt to change the organisation's constitution, six of the party's seven TDs, its MEP, numerous councillors and a significant minority of its membership broke off to formDemocratic Left, a party which later merged with theLabour Party in 1999.
The reasons for the split were twofold. Firstly, a faction led byProinsias De Rossa wanted to move the party towards an acceptance of free-market economics.[29] Following the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, they felt that the Workers' Party's Marxist stance was now an obstacle to winning support at the polls. Secondly, media accusations had once again surfaced regarding the continued existence of the Official IRA which, it was alleged, remained armed and involved in fund-raising robberies, money laundering and other forms of criminality.[30]
De Rossa and his supporters sought to distance themselves from alleged paramilitary activity at a special Árd Fheis held atDún Laoghaire on 15 February 1992. A motion proposed by De Rossa and General SecretaryDes Geraghty sought to stand down the existing membership, elect an 11-member provisional executive council and make several other significant changes in party structures was defeated. The motion to "reconstitute" the party achieved the support of 61% of delegates. However, this was short of the two-thirds majority needed to change the Workers' Party constitution. The Workers' Party later claimed that there was vote rigging by the supporters of the De Rossa motion.[31] As a result of the conference's failure to adopt the motion, De Rossa and his supporters split from the organisation and established a new party which was temporarily known as "New Agenda" before the permanent name of "Democratic Left" was adopted.[32] In the South the rump of the party was left with seven councillors and oneTD.
In the North, before the 1992 split, the party had four councillors – Tom French stayed with the party, Gerry Cullen (Dungannon) and Seamus Lynch (Belfast) joined New Agenda/Democratic Left, and David Kettyles ran in subsequent elections in Fermanagh as an Independent or Progressive Socialist.[33]
While the majority of public representatives left with De Rossa, many members remained in the Workers' Party. Sean Garland condemned those who broke away as "careerists" and social democrats who had taken flight after the collapse of theSoviet Union and labelled them "liquidators".[34]Marian Donnelly replaced De Rossa as president from 1992 to 1994.Tom French became president in 1994, and served for four years untilSean Garland was elected president in 1998. Garland retired as president in May 2008, and was replaced byMick Finnegan who served until September 2014, being replaced by Michael Donnelly[35][36]
A further minor split occurred when a number of members left and established a group called Republican Left; many of these went on to join the Irish Socialist Network. Another split occurred in 1998, after a number of former OIRA members in Newry and Belfast,[37] who had been expelled, formed a group called the Official Republican Movement,[38] which announced in 2010 that it had decommissioned its weapons.[39]
The Workers' Party has struggled since the early 1990s to rejuvenate its fortunes in both Irish jurisdictions. The Workers' Party maintains a youth wing, Workers' Party Youth, and a Women's Committee. It also had offices in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Waterford. Apart from its political work at home in Ireland, it has sent party delegations to international gatherings of communist and socialist parties.[6]
The party supported an independent anti-sectarian candidate, John Gilliland, in the 2004 European elections in Northern Ireland.[40]
Waterford City remained a holdout for the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. In the1997 general election, Martin O'Regan narrowly failed to secure a seat inWaterford.[41] However, in February 2008,John Halligan of Waterford resigned from the party when it refused to drop its opposition to service charges.[42] He was later elected a TD for Waterford in the 2011 general election. The party's sole remaining councillor in Waterford lost his seat in the2014 local elections.
Michael Donnelly, a Galway-based university lecturer, was elected as the party President at the party's Ard Fheis on 27 September 2014 on the retirement ofMick Finnegan.[43]
The Workers' Party called for a No vote against theTreaty of Lisbon in both theJune 2008 referendum, in which the proposal was rejected, and theOctober 2009 referendum, in which the proposal was approved.[44][45] It was the only left-wing party to campaign for a No vote in the2013 Seanad abolition referendum.[46] It called for a Yes vote in themarriage equality referendum in 2015.[47] The party supportedBrexit in the2016 referendum.[48]
The party has been involved in campaigning for public housing and renters' rights as a response to the ongoing housing crisis in Ireland. In 2016, the party published Solidarity Housing, a public housing policy that proposed a cost-rental housing model for Ireland.[49][50] Later that year, a Workers' Party motion for 100% mixed-income public housing on the publicly owned O'Devaney Gardens site in the north inner city was passed by Dublin City Councillors, but was later overturned after an intervention by Minister for HousingSimon Coveney.[51]
The party retains a tradition of secularism. In April 2017, Councillor Éilis Ryan organised a demonstration against the proposed control of the new National Maternity Hospital by theReligious Sisters of Charity.[52] The Workers' Party campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum torepeal the Eighth amendment in May 2018, having been the only party in the Dáil to oppose the introduction of the Eighth amendment in 1983.[53]
At the2019 local elections, Éilís Ryan lost her seat on Dublin City Council, leaving Ted Tynan as the party's only elected representative in Ireland.[54]
In November 2020, theStandards in Public Office Commission announced that the Workers' Party were one of five political parties who failed to provide them with a set of audited accounts for 2019, in breach of statutory obligations.[55]
In April 2021,The Phoenix reported that at the party's annualArdfheis the party voted to expel their only elected representative Ted Tynan.[56] This is disputed by the party themselves.[57] In response, a faction of the party called an emergency general meeting in which they backed a vote of no confidence in party president Michael Donnelly and voted Tynan as his successor.[56][57] Micheal McCorry, who had been General Secretary, became president of the Donnelly faction, with Tynan president of the breakaway faction.[58] TheBelfast Telegraph also reported upon the story in April 2021, and suggested one faction had tried to expel Tynan on the stated basis that he had not paid his membership fee for that year. However, Tynan told the Belfast Telegraph that he believed the actual basis for his expulsion was that a new guard of members who wished to move the party towards moreIrish Republican positions, such as being in favour of a referendum onIrish reunification, sought to push him out of the organisation. Historically the Workers' Party opposed a border poll on the basis it would be "sectarian" and pit Nationalists against Unionists, and argued instead that the solution to Northern Ireland would be to unite both groups under the banner of Internationalist Socialism. Tynan and his supporters seek to retain the old position.[59] The rights to use the 'Workers Party' name are disputed; the Tynan-led party can be identified by the use of the logo showing two clasped hands,[60] while the McCorry-led party uses the logo of the 'starry plough' and has revived the 'Republican Clubs' name within Northern Ireland.[61]
Since theRussian invasion of Ukraine, the Workers' Party has supportedRussia and says it is actuallyfighting against NATO. The party believes thatRussian imperialism does not exist.[62] It supports what it calls "Russia's resistance...[to]... the imperialist order" and said that though Russia is capitalist and not socialist, "it counters Western hegemony".[63] They state that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was caused by "NATO's drive at expansion and attempt to encircle Russia", and "the refusal of the United States to tolerate a power existing outside of its dollar hegemony".[64]
In 2023, the Workers' Party launched its policy document "Lets Get Real", stating that nuclear power is the only energy option for Ireland which is reliable, affordable and low carbon. The party advocates Ireland building 6 conventional nuclear plants at 2 or 3 sites for an estimated cost of €50 billion.[65]
The Workers' Party endorsedCatherine Connolly in the2025 Irish presidential election, due to her opposition toNATO and support ofIrish neutrality.[66]
The Workers' Party made its electoral breakthrough in1981 whenJoe Sherlock won a seat inCork East. It increased this to three seats in1982 and to four seats in1987. The Workers' Party had its best performance at the polls in 1989 when it won seven seats in thegeneral election and party president Proinsias De Rossa won a seat inDublin in theEuropean election held on the same day, sitting with the communistLeft Unity group.[6]
Following thesplit of 1992,Tomás Mac Giolla, a TD in theDublin West constituency and president of the party for most of the previous 30 years, was the only member of the Dáil parliamentary party not to side with the newDemocratic Left. Mac Giolla lost his seatin the general election later that year, and no TD has been elected for the party since then. However, at local authority level, the Workers' Party maintained elected representation on Dublin, Cork and Waterford corporations in the aftermath of the split, and Mac Giolla was electedLord Mayor of Dublin in 1993.
Outside of the south-east, the Workers' Party retains active branches in various areas of the Republic, includingDublin,Cork and County Meath.[67] In the1999 local elections, it lost all of its seats in Dublin and Cork and only managed to retain three seats in Waterford City. Further electoral setbacks and a minor split left the party after the2004 local elections, with only two councillors, both inWaterford.
The party fielded twelve candidates in the2009 local elections.[68] The party ranMalachy Steenson in theDublin Central by-election on the same date.[69] Ted Tynan was elected toCork City Council in the Cork City North East ward.[70] Davy Walsh retained his seat inWaterford City Council.[71] In the2014 local elections Tynan retained his seat; however Walsh lost his, following major boundary changes resulting from the merging of Waterford City and County councils. In January 2015, Independent councillor Éilis Ryan onDublin City Council joined the party.[72]
In the 2011 general election the Workers' Party ran six candidates, without success.[73] In the2016 general election, the party ran five candidates, again without success.
At the2019 Irish local elections, the party dropped to one remaining councillor, with Éilís Ryan losing her seat on Dublin City Council.
| Election | Leader | Seats won | ± | Position | First pref. votes | % | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 as SF | Tomás Mac Giolla | 0 / 144 |  | 4th | 15,366 | 1.1% | No Seats |
| 1977 as SFWP | 0 / 148 | | 4th | 27,209 | 1.7% | No Seats | |
| 1981 as SFWP | 1 / 166 |  1 | 5th | 29,561 | 1.7% | Opposition (Abstained information vote onminority FG/Lab government) | |
| Feb 1982 as SFWP | 3 / 166 | 2 | 4th | 38,088 | 2.3% | Opposition (Supportedminority FF government) | |
| Nov 1982 | 2 / 166 |  1 | 4th | 54,888 | 3.3% | Opposition | |
| 1987 | 4 / 166 | 2 | 5th | 67,273 | 3.8% | Opposition | |
| 1989 | Proinsias De Rossa | 7 / 166 | 3 | 4th | 82,263 | 5.0% | Opposition |
| 1992 | Tomás Mac Giolla | 0 / 166 | 7 | 8th | 11,533 | 0.7% | No Seats |
| 1997 | Tom French | 0 / 166 | | 11th | 7,808 | 0.4% | No Seats |
| 2002 | Seán Garland | 0 / 166 | | 9th | 4,012 | 0.2% | No Seats |
| 2007 | 0 / 166 | | 9th | 3,026 | 0.1% | No Seats | |
| 2011 | Mick Finnegan | 0 / 166 | | 10th | 3,056 | 0.1% | No Seats |
| 2016 | Michael Donnelly | 0 / 158 | | 11th | 3,242 | 0.2% | No Seats |
| 2020 | 0 / 158 | | 14th | 1,195 | 0.1% | No Seats |
| Election | Seats won | ± | First pref. votes | % | ± |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 as SF (Officials) | 6 / 805 | New | 16,623 | 1.3% | New |
| 1979 as SFWP | 7 / 769 | 1 | 31,238 | 2.3% | 1.0 |
| 1985 | 20 / 828 | 13 | 43,006 | 3.0% | 0.7 |
| 1991 | 24 / 883 | 3 | 50,996 | 3.6% | 0.6 |
| 1999 | 3 / 1,627 | 21 | 6,847 | 0.5% | 3.1 |
| 2004 | 2 / 1,627 | 1 | 4,170 | 0.2% | 0.3 |
| 2009 | 2 / 1,627 | | 4,771 | 0.3% | 0.1 |
| 2014 | 1 / 949 | 1 | 3,147 | 0.18% | 0.12 |
| 2019 | 1 / 949 | | 2,620 | 0.15% | 0.03 |
| 2024 | 0 / 949 | | 1,700 | |
The party gained ten seats at the1973 Northern Ireland local elections.[74] At the1977 Northern Ireland local elections, this fell to six council seats and 2.6% of the vote.[75] One of their best results was whenTom French polled 19% in the1986 Upper Bann by-election, although no other candidates stood against the sitting MP and a year later, when other parties contested the constituency, he only polled 4.7% of the vote.[76]
Three councillors left the party during the split in 1992. Davy Kettyles became an independent 'Progressive Socialist'[77] while Gerry Cullen in Dungannon and the Workers' Party northern chairman,Seamus Lynch in Belfast, joined Democratic Left.[78] The party held on to its one council seat in the1993 local elections with Peter Smyth retaining the seat that had been held by Tom French in Loughside,Craigavon.[79] This was lost in1997,[80] leaving them without elected representation in Northern Ireland.
The party performed poorly in the2007 Assembly election; it won no seats, and in its best result inBelfast West, it gained 1.26% of the vote. The party did not field any candidates at the2010 Westminster general election. In the2011 Assembly election the Workers' Party ran in four constituencies, securing 586 first-preference votes (1.7%) in Belfast West and 332 (1%) inBelfast North.
The party contested the2015 Westminster general election, standing parliamentary candidates in Northern Ireland for the first time in ten years. It fielded five candidates and secured 2,724 votes, with Gemma Weir picking up 919 votes (2.3%) inBelfast North. The party did not field candidates in the2019 Westminster general election. In June 2020 theArd Comhairle announced the Northern Ireland Business Committee and Belfast Constituency Council had split from the party by adopting "pro-unionist" policies.[81]
The party contested the2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, winning 839 (0.10%) first-round votes.[82]
| Election | Seats won | ± | % | First pref. votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 0 / 78 | | 1.8 | 13,064 |
| 1975 | 0 / 78 | | 2.2 | 14,515 |
| 1982 | 0 / 78 | | 2.7 | 17,216 |
| 1996 | 0 / 110 | | 0.5 | 3,530 |
| 1998 | 0 / 108 | | 0.25 | 1,989 |
| 2003 | 0 / 108 | | 0.27 | 1,881 |
| 2007 | 0 / 108 | | 0.14 | 975 |
| 2011 | 0 / 108 | | 0.17 | 1,155 |
| 2016 | 0 / 108 | | 0.23 | 1,565 |
| 2017 | 0 / 90 | | 0.16 | 1,261 |
| 2022 | 0 / 90 | | 0.10 | 839 |
| Year | Seats | ± | First Pref. votes | FPv% | ± |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 as RC | 8 / 526 | New | 20,680 | 3% | New |
| 1977 as RC | 6 / 526 | 2 | 14,277 | 2.56% | 0.44 |
| 1981 as WP-RC | 3 / 526 | 3 | 12,059 | 1.81% | 0.75 |
| 1985 | 4 / 565 | 1 | 10,415 | 1.63% | 0.18 |
| 1989 | 4 / 582 | | 13,078 | 2.12% | 0.49 |
| 1993 | 1 / 582 | 3 | 4,827 | 0.77% | 1.35 |
| 1997 | 0 / 462 | 1 | 2,348 | 0.37% | 0.4 |
| 2001 | 0 / 462 | | 1,421 | 0.18% | 0.19 |
| 2005 | 0 / 462 | | 1,052 | 0.15% | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 0 / 462 | | 760 | 0.12% | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 0 / 462 | | 985 | 0.16% | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 0 / 462 | | 868 | 0.13% | 0.03 |
| 2023 | 0 / 462 | | 678 | 0.09% | 0.04 |
The party has published a number of newspapers throughout the years, with many of the theorists of the movement writing for these papers. After the 1970 split the Officials kept publishing theUnited Irishman (the traditional newspaper of the republican movement) monthly until May 1980. In 1973 the party launched a weekly paperThe Irish People, which was focused on issues in the Republic of Ireland, there was also aThe Northern People published in Belfast and focused on northern issues.[83] The party published an occasional international bulletin and a woman's magazine calledWomen's View. From 1989 to 1992 it produced a theoretical magazine calledMaking Sense. Other papers were produced such asWorkers' Weekly.
The party produces a magazine,Look Left.[84] Originally conceived as a straightforward party paper,Look Left was relaunched as a more broad-left style publication in March 2010 but still bearing the emblem of the Workers' Party. It is distributed by party members and supporters and is also stocked by a number of retailers including Eason's and several radical/left-wing bookshops.[85]
| Leader | Portrait | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Tomás Mac Giolla | | 1962–1988[6] |
| Proinsias De Rossa | .jpg) | 1988–1992 |
| Marian Donnelly |  | 1992–1994 |
| Tom French | .jpg) | 1994–1998 |
| Seán Garland |  | 1998–2008 |
| Mick Finnegan | | 2008–2014 |
| Michael Donnelly | | 2014–2021 |
| Disputed between Michael McCorry and Ted Tynan | | 2021–present |
The change was symbolised in 1977 by the alteration of the party's name to Sinn Féin The Workers' Party, the symbolism being completed in April 1982, when the party became simply the Workers' Party.
The Vote No to Lisbon group is the same coalition that opposed the initial referendum as the Campaign Against the EU Constitution. It includes Sinn Fein and several small left-wing groups, including the Socialist Party, the Socialist Workers Party, the Workers Party, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the People's Movement and Eirigi.
The Workers Party is the only Left party which is opposing this referendum
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
