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As of 2004, the Socialist Party is Ireland's newest political party. Formerly known as Militant Labour or Militant Tendency, it adopted the name The Socialist Party in 1996. The Socialist Party is a Trotskyist group, which is affiliated to the Committee for a Workers' International
Like their comrades in the Socialist Party of England and Wales, in the 1970s and 1980s members of the organisation practiced entryism in the Irish Labour Party. In the early 1990s many of its members were expelled from Labour, and it was at this point they adopted the name Militant Labour.
In the 1997 election, they 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 Clare Daly narrowly missed out on a second socialist seat.
In Autumn 2003 the Socialist Party were all over the Irish media, as both Joe Higgins and Clare Daly had been sent to Mountjoy Prison for a month for refusing to abide by an Irish High Court injunction relating to the blockading of bin lorries. This was part of the Anti-Bin Tax Campiagn. 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 Socialist Party is organised in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. They produce a monthly newspaper called The Socialist (formerly Socialist Voice, The Voice, and Militant) and an irregular theoretical journal called Socialist View (formerly Socialism 2000)
Not to be confused with the Irish Republican Socialist Party or the Socialist Workers Party.
External links
- Socialist Party website (http://www.socialistparty.net/)
- Socialist Party (Northern Irleand) website (http://www.geocities.com/socialistparty)
- Youth section of the Socialist Party (http://www.socialistyouth.tk)
- Website of the CWI (http://www.socialistworld.net) Of which the Socialist Party is an affiliate
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