| Socialist Party Páirtí Sóisialach |
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|---|---|
| Leader | Collective Leadership (National Committee) |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | 141 Thomas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland |
| Youth wing | Socialist Youth |
| Ideology | Democratic Socialism Trotskyism[1] |
| Political position | Left Wing |
| National affiliation | United Left Alliance |
| International affiliation | Committee for a Workers' International |
| European affiliation | European Anticapitalist Left |
| European Parliament Group | European United Left–Nordic Green Left |
| Official colours | Red, white |
| Dáil Éireann |
2 / 166
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| European Parliament |
1 / 12
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| Local government in the Republic of Ireland |
6 / 1,627
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| Website | |
| www.socialistparty.net www.socialistpartyni.net (Northern Ireland) |
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| Politics of the Republic of Ireland Political parties Elections Politics of Northern Ireland Political parties Elections |
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The Socialist Party (Irish: Páirtí Sóisialach) is a socialist political party active in Ireland. It is a member of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI).
Formerly known as Militant Tendency, then Militant Labour, it adopted the name The Socialist Party in 1996. From their foundation in 1972 until the 1980s, members of the organisation practiced entryism in the Labour Party. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of its members were expelled from Labour, and it was at this point they took an "Open Turn" and established an independent organisation with the name Militant Labour.
The Socialist Party is a member of the national left-wing coalition United Left Alliance. The party is currently represented by 2 TDs, 1 MEP and 6 councillors.
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Through campaigning work it has built some electoral support, Joe Higgins first being elected to Dáil Éireann - the lower house of the Irish parliament - in 1997 and to the European Parliament in 2009 along with five other members elected to local councils in Dublin, Cork and Drogheda. It has found it harder to gain an electoral foothold in Northern Ireland, but it has a minor presence in the trade union movement there plus a youth wing.
In the 1997 election the party returned one TD to Dáil Éireann - Joe Higgins (Dublin West), who became prominent during the Anti-Water Charges Campaign. In the 2002 election, Joe Higgins retained his seat, and in the Dublin North constituency Councillor Clare Daly narrowly missed out on a second seat.
In the 2004 local elections the party gained two council seats, one in South Dublin County Council and another in Cork City Council. They also retained their two previous seats on Fingal County Council. In the European elections held on the same day, Joe Higgins received 23,200 (5.5%) votes in the Dublin constituency, but did not win a seat being eliminated on the 3rd count. In the 2007 Dail election, Joe Higgins failed to retain his seat in the Dublin West constituency.
In the 2009 European and local elections, Joe Higgins took a seat in the Dublin European constituency with 50,510 (12.4%) first preference votes, as well as gaining a seat in the Castleknock local electoral area of Fingal County Council.[2][3] Elsewhere in the local elections, Clare Daly, Ruth Coppinger and Mick Barry retained their seats while Terry Kelleher and Frank Gallagher won seats on Balbriggan Town Council and Drogheda Borough council respectively. Mick Murphy lost his seat on South Dublin County Council.
In the 2011 general election the Socialist Party elected two TDs to Dáil Éireann. Clare Daly was elected for the Dublin North constituency, while Joe Higgins regained his seat in Dublin West. The party contested these elections as part of the United Left Alliance, a political alliance which included the People Before Profit Alliance and the Workers and Unemployed Action Group along with independent activists. The ULA took five seats in total.[4] Higgins's seat in the European Parliament was filled by Paul Murphy.[5] The Socialist Party selected Councillor Ruth Coppinger to contest the Dublin West by-election, 2011, with a full recount ordered after only 18 votes separated her from Fianna Fáil's David McGuinness.[6][7][8]
The Socialist Party is active in the trade union movement, arguing for more militant action in defence of workers’ interests. It also holds influence in the Northern Irish branch of the FBU where its members played a key role in encouraging the FBU's split from the British Labour Party in 2004.
The Socialist Party is also involved in many community campaigns, including the Anti Water Charge campaign in 1996 and the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign in 2003-2004. It has been involved in the movement against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the occupation of Palestine and continues to be active in campaigns against fascism, racism, low pay exploitation and religious sectarianism. They advocate and support rights for workers, women, ethnic minorities and homosexuals.
On 19 September 2003, Joe Higgins and Clare Daly were sent to Mountjoy Prison for a month for refusing to abide by a High Court injunction relating to the blockading of bin lorries.[9][10][11][12] This was part of the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign. Other members (along with people from other parties, and non-aligned activists) also went to prison for varying amounts of time for similar reasons. The campaign however was described by the Phoenix Magazine as "an abject failure" which "left many thousands of families across Dublin in financial and legal difficulty, it proved a useful campaign and publicity tool for SP candidates in a number of constituencies" [13]
In 2005 the Socialist Party and in particular Joe Higgins TD and Mick Murphy were involved in highlighting the exploitation of immigrant Turkish construction workers working for the Turkish multinational GAMA on Irish state projects. Workers were being paid as little as €2.20 an hour[14] (minimum wage in Ireland was €8.65) while being forced to work up to 80 hours per week. This led to a strike by immigrant workers in Ireland.[15][16][17] The strike ended, with the workers winning tens of thousand of euros each in unpaid wages and overtime. Joe Higgins called on Conor Lenihan to resign after Lenihan referred to the GAMA Construction workers as "kebabs".[18]
Socialist Youth is the youth wing of the Socialist Party. One of its members was also imprisoned as a result of the events around the anti-bin charge campaign.
Some members of Socialist Youth have been supportive of the Shell to Sea campaign and anti-war movements.
Both Socialist Youth and the Socialist Party itself have as key policies the taking of economic power out of the hands of the bankers, speculators and wealthy industrialists and instead transfer that power to working class people. The Socialist Party stands for public ownership and democratic economic planning of the key areas of economic activity.
In relation to Northern Ireland, the Socialist Party advocate a radical alternative to the status quo. They wish to transcend borders and bring working class unity in Ireland. They argue a capitalist united Ireland would mean continuance of capitalist exploitation of the working class and that capitalism is incapable of overcoming sectarianism. The socialist Ireland that they propose would be a voluntary part of an international socialist federation.
In the 2008 and 2009 referendums on the Treaty of Lisbon, the Socialist Party campaigned for a "no" vote.[19][20] The party called for a referendum on the December 2011 EU deal, and said it would reject the deal in such a vote.[21]
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