Communist Party of Ireland

The earliest attempt to form a communist political party in Ireland was a result of the Socialist Party of Ireland, founded by James Connolly, changing its name to the Communist Party of Ireland and affiliating with the Communist International in 1921. This organisation was relatively small and included among its ranks figures such as Roddy Connolly and Nora Connolly O'Brien (children of James Connolly, who was killed in the aftermath of the Easter Rising), as well as writers Liam O'Flaherty and Peadar O'Donnell. In practice, this organisation was heavily allied to the anti-Treaty IRA but distinguished itself by calling for a workers' republic. It had one elected TD, Patrick Gaffney, who switched from the Irish Labour Party.

This earlier group disbanded in 1923 and joined the Irish Worker League founded by James Larkin as the Irish representative of Comintern (along with Larkin's Workers' Union of Ireland). Larkin broke off his affiliation with Comintern in 1928 after a period of private disillusionment with the Soviet Union. The Connolly siblings attempted to set up a replacement, the Revolutionary Workers' and Working Farmers' Party, but this lasted barely a month. Activists associated with James Larkin Jnr (who had attended the Lenin School in Moscow) founded the Revolutionary Workers' Groups in 1930 with their The Irish Workers' Voice (distinguished from Larkin Snr's The Irish Worker) to fully replace the first Communist Party of Ireland.

The present-day CPI was founded in 1933 by the Revolutionary Workers' Groups. In 1941 the part of the party in the Republic of Ireland suspended its activities, while in Northern Ireland it continued to operate under the name Communist Party of Northern Ireland. The party was re-established in the Republic in 1948 under the name Irish Workers' League, which changed its name in 1962 to the Irish Workers' Party. The two sections reunited as the Communist Party of Ireland in 1970.

In the first half of the 20th century, the Communist Party failed to gain any traction. The party provided most of the Irish volunteers on the government side[2] in the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War, losing a number of members who were killed in action. The Communist Party of Ireland was also one of the key components in establishing the Republican Congress in 1934, bringing communists, republicans, trade unionists and tenants' organisations together.[3]

Historically, the party belonged to the wing of international communism that looked to the Soviet Union for inspiration. In the mid-1960s, the U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 100.[4] The party grew consistently through the 1960s and 1970s. In the late 1960s, some IWP members (notably Michael O'Riordan) became active in the Dublin Housing Action Committee. The IWP also condemned the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, although O'Riordan was opposed to this position.[5] In March 1970, following the CPNI/IWP merger, the new Communist Party of Ireland issued a manifesto called For Unity and Socialism, advocating the election of left-wing governments in both parts of Ireland, and, eventually, the creation of a United Ireland.[6]

The CPI strongly criticised the Anglo-Irish Agreement, claiming the AIA "underlined Partition and gave Britain a direct say in the affairs of the Republic".[7] In the 1980s, its membership declined significantly during the electoral rise of the Workers' Party of Ireland and this trend continued after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The party's aim is to win the support of the majority of the Irish people for ending the capitalist system and for building socialism. It is actively opposed to neo-liberalism and to the European Union. Internationally, it maintains fraternal relations with other communist and workers’ parties and is a strong supporter of Cuba and Venezuela.

Autobiographical accounts of the party in this period have been written by Mick O'Reilly[8], Helena Sheehan[9] and Kevin McMahon.[10]

One notable split from the CPI was the Eurocommunist grouplet the Irish Marxist Society, which left the CPI around 1976. The IMS was founded by Joe Deasy (1922–2013), Sam Nolan (1930-), Paddy Carmody, George Jeffares, Mick O'Reilly (1946-) and other former CPI members.[11] The IMS advocated Marxist feminism[12] and was also outspoken in its rejection of the Two Nations Theory of Northern Ireland.[13] Most of the IMS's members later joined the Irish Labour Party[14], where they played a leading role in the formation of Labour Left.[15]

The party stood two candidates in the 2014 local elections, neither were elected.[16] The CPI fielded one candidate for the 2016 Dáil Éireann election for the Cork North-West constituency.[17]