136-528: Tomás Mac Giolla ( Irish pronunciation: [ˈt̪ˠʊmˠaːsˠ mˠək ˈɟɪl̪ˠə] ; born Thomas Gill ; 25 January 1924 – 4 February 2010) was an Irish Workers' Party politician who served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1993 to 1994, Leader of the Workers' Party from 1962 to 1988 and President of Sinn Féin from 1962 to 1970. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency from 1982 to 1992. He
272-653: A united Ireland , and finally a socialist society would be created in Ireland. In 1974, the Official Republican Movement split over the ceasefire and the direction of the organisation. This led to the formation of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) with Seamus Costello (whom the Official IRA had expelled) as its chairperson. Also formed on the same day was IRSP's paramilitary wing,
408-498: A TD in the Dublin 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 new Democratic Left . Mac Giolla lost his seat in 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
544-560: A barn which was then set alight, with the Catholic and Protestant rebels ensuring none escaped, not even a child who it is claimed managed to break out only for a rebel to kill with his pike. In the trials that followed the massacres, evidence was recorded of anti-Orange sentiments being expressed by the rebels at Scullabogue. Partly as a result of this atrocity, the Orange Order quickly grew and large numbers of gentry with experience gained in
680-506: A battle when the priest who accompanied the Defenders persuaded them to seek a truce, after a group called the "Bleary Boys" came from County Down to reinforce the Peep o' Day Boys. When a contingent of Defenders from County Tyrone arrived on 21 September, however, they were "determined to fight". The Peep o' Day Boys quickly regrouped and opened fire on the Defenders. According to William Blacker ,
816-505: A debate about protests against Protestant woman Letitia Dunbar-Harrison being appointed as County Librarian in County Mayo . Two years later he stated: "I have always said that I am an Orangeman first and a politician and a member of this parliament afterwards ... All I boast is that we have a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State ". At its peak in 1965, the Order's membership
952-519: A landowner who had represented Cavan as a Liberal and who had ridiculed the order's "big drums", donned an Orange sash . Saunderson, who went on to lead the Irish Unionist Alliance at Westminster, had concluded that "the Orange society is alone capable of dealing with the condition of anarchy and rebellion which prevail in Ireland". After Gladstone 's first Home Rule Bill was defeated in
1088-746: A march in opposition to the Vietnam War in Dublin. In November 1973 Tomás Mac Giolla addressed the World Congress of Peace Forces in Moscow, at a time when the Officials were becoming increasingly associated with Eastern Bloc socialism. While Mac Giolla had previously criticised the Soviet system, he never fully explained when or why his stance changed. He later suggested that Cuba would be a more suitable model for Ireland than
1224-512: A massive police / army operation, and threatened to derail the peace process . The situation in Portadown was likened to a "war zone" and a "siege". During this time, supporters of the Orangemen murdered at least six Catholic civilians. In 1995 and 1996, residents succeeded in stopping the march. This led to a standoff at Drumcree between the security forces and thousands of loyalists . Following
1360-635: A mediator between the Marxist–Leninist wing headed by Seán Garland and the social democratic wing of Proinsias De Rossa. At the 1992 special Ardfheis he voted for the motion to abandon democratic centralism and to re-constitute the party much as the Italian Communist Party became the Democratic Party of the Left . However the motion failed to reach the required two-thirds majority and after
1496-644: A minor split left the party after the 2004 local elections , with only two councillors, both in Waterford . The party fielded twelve candidates in the 2009 local elections . The party ran Malachy Steenson in the Dublin Central by-election on the same date. Ted Tynan was elected to Cork City Council in the Cork City North East ward. Davy Walsh retained his seat in Waterford City Council . In
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#17330942471391632-404: A more violent and jingoist vehicle for the promotion of Unionism. Some anti-Masonic evangelical Christian groups have claimed that the Orange Order is still influenced by freemasonry. Many Masonic traditions survive, such as the organisation of the Order into lodges. The Order has a similar system of degrees through which new members advance. These degrees are interactive plays with references to
1768-654: A name that recognized the landing of William of Orange in England and the start of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Its flag, known as the Boyne Standard and Orange Standard , has a field of orange with a purple star and a St. George's Cross in the upper left corner. Orange represents the monarchs in the House of Orange. The basis of the modern Orange Order is the promotion and propagation of "biblical Protestantism " and
1904-712: A new Independent Orange Order (IOO). Within the year, the Independents had nine lodges in Ballymoney alone. The split had first occurred in Belfast. In laying the foundation stone of the Working Men's Institute in Belfast in 1870, William Johnston had welcomed Catholics and Protestants uniting "around the flag of 'The United Working Classes of Belfast' determined to show that there are times and circumstances when religious differences and party creeds must be forgotten". Others within
2040-524: 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, who had been expelled, formed a group called the Official Republican Movement, which announced in 2010 that it had decommissioned its weapons. The Workers' Party has struggled since
2176-534: A part in framing the laws of the land. The likelihood of Irish Catholic members holding the balance of power in the Westminster Parliament further increased the alarm of Orangemen in Ireland, as O'Connell's 'Repeal' movement aimed to bring about the restoration of a separate Irish Parliament in Dublin, which would have a Catholic majority, thereby ending the Protestant Ascendancy. From this moment on,
2312-519: A permanent ceasefire in May 1972. Following this, the movement's political development increased rapidly throughout the 1970s. 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
2448-549: A persecution is now raging in this country ... the only crime is ... profession of the Roman Catholic faith. Lawless banditti have constituted themselves judges ... and the sentence they have denounced ... is nothing less than a confiscation of all property, and an immediate banishment. A former Grand Master of the Order, also called William Blacker, and a former County Grand Master of Belfast, Robert Hugh Wallace have questioned this statement, saying whoever
2584-536: 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. 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 Housing Simon Coveney . The party retains
2720-570: A seat in Cork East . It increased this to three seats in 1982 and to four seats in 1987 . The Workers' Party had its best performance at the polls in 1989 when it won seven seats in the general election and party president Proinsias De Rossa won a seat in Dublin in the European election held on the same day, sitting with the communist Left Unity group. Following the split of 1992 , Tomás Mac Giolla ,
2856-655: A senior Orange fraternity. Since the Fenian -organised funeral in Dublin for Terence McManus in 1861, Johnston had been asking: "If Nationalists are allowed such mobilisation, why are loyal Orangemen not allowed to march freely". On the Orange Twelfth 1867, he forced the issue by leading a large procession of Orangemen from Bangor to Newtownards in County Down . The contravention of the Party Procession Act earned him
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#17330942471392992-460: A significant minority of its membership broke off to form Democratic Left , a party which later merged with the Labour Party in 1999. The reasons for the split were twofold. Firstly, a faction led by Proinsias De Rossa wanted to move the party towards an acceptance of free-market economics. Following the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, they felt that the Workers' Party's Marxist stance
3128-519: A tradition of secularism. In April 2017, Councillor Éilis Ryan organised a demonstration against the proposed control of the new National Maternity Hospital by the Religious Sisters of Charity . The Workers' Party campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum to repeal the Eighth amendment in May 2018, having been the only party in the Dáil to oppose the introduction of the Eighth amendment in 1983. At
3264-602: A two-month prison sentence. The following year, as the standard bearer of United Protestant Working Men's Association of Ulster, Johnston was returned to Parliament for Belfast. By the late 19th century, the Order was in decline. However, its fortunes were revived in the 1880s after its embrace by the landlords in opposition to both the Irish Land League , presided over by nationalist leader Charles Stuart Parnell , and Home Rule . In response to Gladstone 's first Irish Home Rule Bill 1886 , Colonel Edward Saunderson ,
3400-506: A wave of loyalist violence, the march was allowed through. In 1997, security forces locked down the Catholic area and forced the march through, citing loyalist threats. This sparked widespread protests and violence by Irish nationalists. From 1998 onward the march was banned from Garvaghy Road and the Catholic area was sealed-off with large barricades. For a few years, there was an annual major standoff at Drumcree and widespread loyalist violence. Since 2001, things have been relatively calm, but
3536-1087: Is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant king William of Orange , who defeated Catholic king James II in the Williamite–Jacobite War (1689–1691). The Order is best known for its yearly marches , the biggest of which are held on or around 12 July ( The Twelfth ), a public holiday in Northern Ireland. The Orange Order is a conservative, British unionist and Ulster loyalist organisation. Thus it has traditionally opposed Irish nationalism / republicanism and campaigned against Scottish independence . The Order sees itself as defending Protestant civil and religious liberties, whilst critics accuse it of being sectarian , triumphalist , and supremacist . It does not accept non-Protestants as members unless they convert and adhere to its principles, nor does it accept Protestants married to non-Protestants. Orange marches through Catholic neighbourhoods are controversial and have often led to violence, such as
3672-512: The 1993 local elections with Peter Smyth retaining the seat that had been held by Tom French in Loughside, Craigavon . This was lost in 1997 , leaving them without elected representation in Northern Ireland. The party performed poorly in the 2007 Assembly election ; it won no seats, and in its best result in Belfast West , it gained 1.26% of the vote. The party did not field any candidates at
3808-727: The 2010 Westminster general election . In the 2011 Assembly election the Workers' Party ran in four constituencies, securing 586 first-preference votes (1.7%) in Belfast West and 332 (1%) in Belfast North . Orange Order Defunct The Loyal Orange Institution , commonly known as the Orange Order , is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants . It also has lodges in England , Scotland , Wales and
3944-503: The 2014 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 on Dublin City Council joined the party. In the 2011 general election the Workers' Party ran six candidates, without success. In the 2016 general election , the party ran five candidates, again without success. At
4080-456: The 2019 Irish local elections , the party dropped to one remaining councillor, with Éilís Ryan losing her seat on Dublin City Council. The party gained ten seats at the 1973 Northern Ireland local elections . At the 1977 Northern Ireland local elections , this fell to six council seats and 2.6% of the vote. One of their best results was when Tom French polled 19% in the 1986 Upper Bann by-election , although no other candidates stood against
4216-556: The 2019 local elections , Éilís Ryan lost her seat on Dublin City Council, leaving Ted Tynan as the party's only elected representative in Ireland. In November 2020, the Standards 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. In April 2021, The Phoenix reported that at
Tomás Mac Giolla - Misplaced Pages Continue
4352-702: The Battle of the Boyne . Since the 1690s commemorations had been held throughout Ireland celebrating key dates in the Williamite War such as the Battle of Aughrim , Battle of the Boyne , Siege of Derry and the second Siege of Limerick . These followed a tradition started in Elizabethan England of celebrating key events in the Protestant calendar. By the 1740s there were organisations holding parades in Dublin such as
4488-582: The Drumcree conflict . The Orange Order celebrates the civil and religious privileges conferred on Protestants by William of Orange , the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic who became King of England , Scotland , and Ireland in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The Order regularly commemorates the victories of William III and his forces during the Williamite War in Ireland in the early 1690s, especially
4624-537: The House of Commons on 8 June 1886, Irish Home-Rule MPs in the House accused the Order's Belfast Grand Master, the Church of Ireland rector Richard Rutledge Kane of fomenting the violent rioting in Belfast that took 32 lives. RIC constables had been brought in from other parts of Ireland, many of them Catholic, when revellers, celebrating the defeat, had begun attacking Catholic homes and businesses. Kane did not counter
4760-575: The Irish Free State in 1922 and then in 1949 a Republic . The Orange Order had a central place in the new state of Northern Ireland. From 1921 to 1969, every prime minister of Northern Ireland was an Orangeman and member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP); all but three Cabinet ministers were Orangemen; all but one unionist senators were Orangemen; and 87 of the 95 MPs who did not become Cabinet Ministers were Orangemen. James Craig ,
4896-583: The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). A number of tit-for-tat killings occurred in a subsequent feud until a truce was agreed in 1977. In 1977, the party published and accepted as policy a document called the Irish Industrial Revolution . Written by Eoghan Harris and Eamon Smullen, it outlined the party's economic stance and declared that the ongoing violence in Northern Ireland was "distracting working class attention from
5032-616: The Irish Republican Army (IRA) around 1950. He was interned by the government of Ireland during the 1956–62 IRA border campaign . He also served a number of prison sentences in Mountjoy Prison , Dublin. In 1961, he married May McLoughlin who was also an active member of Sinn Féin as well as of Cumann na mBan , the women's section of the IRA. She died on 24 March 2018. At the 1961 general election , Mac Giolla unsuccessfully contested
5168-666: The Irish Transport and General Workers' Union leader, James Larkin . The Grand Master of the Independents, R. Lindsay Crawford outlined the new order's democratic manifesto in Orangeism, its history and progress: a plea for first principles (1904). However, his subsequent call in the Magheramorne Manifesto (1904) on Irish Protestants to "reconsider their position as Irish citizens and their attitude towards their Roman Catholic countrymen" proved too much for Sloan and most of
5304-704: The Irish language , he was in company of Henry Henry , the Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor , but also Thomas Welland , the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore , and George Raphael Buick, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church and branch vice president. The Branch president was Kane's parishioner, Dr. John St Clair Boyd . There was a time, historian Brian Kennaway remarks, when Orangemen, still regarding themselves as Irish patriots, "had no problem with
5440-535: The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland . The party formerly asserted a claim of direct descent from the original Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith . It took its current form in 1970 following a division within Sinn Féin, in which the majority faction followed the leadership in a Marxist direction. It was known as Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place) or Official Sinn Féin , to distinguish it from
5576-632: The Republic of Ireland , as well as in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States . The Orange Order was founded by Ulster Protestants in County Armagh in 1795, during a period of Protestant–Catholic sectarian conflict , as a fraternity sworn to maintain the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. The all-island Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland was established in 1798. Its name
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5712-464: The Tipperary North constituency for Sinn Féin . In 1962, he became president of Sinn Féin , and was part of the leadership that moved the party to the left during the 1960s. In 1970, Sinn Féin split and Mac Giolla remained leader of Official Sinn Féin , with a faction led by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh initially known as Provisional Sinn Féin. Initially, Mac Giolla's approach to his former comrades in
5848-416: The Ulster Unionist Council decided to bring these groups under central control, creating the Ulster Volunteer Force , an Ulster-wide militia dedicated to resisting Home Rule. There was a strong overlap between Orange Lodges and UVF units. A large shipment of rifles was imported from Germany to arm them in April 1914, in what became known as the Larne gun-running . However, the crisis was interrupted by
5984-414: 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 the Official IRA . Official Sinn Féin, under the leadership of Tomás Mac Giolla , remained aligned to Goulding's Official IRA. A key factor in the split was the desire of those who became the Provisionals to make military action the key object of
6120-452: The "Sticks" or "Stickies" because in the 1970s it used adhesive stickers for the Easter Lily emblem in its 1916 commemorations, whereas Provisional Sinn Féin used a pin for theirs. The modern origins of the party date from the early 1960s. After the failure of the then IRA's 1956–1962 border campaign , the republican movement, with a new military and political leadership, undertook a complete reappraisal of its raison d'être . Through
6256-411: The 1960s, some leading figures in the movement, such as Cathal Goulding , Seán Garland , Billy McMillen , Tomás Mac Giolla , moved steadily to the left, even to Marxism , 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
6392-411: The 2004 European elections in Northern Ireland. Waterford City remained a holdout for the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. In the 1997 general election , Martin O'Regan narrowly failed to secure a seat in Waterford . However, in February 2008, John Halligan of Waterford resigned from the party when it refused to drop its opposition to service charges. He was later elected a TD for Waterford in
6528-416: The 2011 general election. The party's sole remaining councillor in Waterford lost his seat in the 2014 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 of Mick Finnegan . The Workers' Party called for a No vote against the Treaty of Lisbon in both the June 2008 referendum , in which
6664-399: The Bible. There is particular concern over the ritualism of higher degrees such as the Royal Arch Purple and the Royal Black Institutions . The Order considers important the Fourth Commandment , and that it forbids Christians to work, or engage in non-religious activity generally, on Sundays. When the Twelfth of July falls on a Sunday the parades traditionally held on that date are held
6800-412: The Boyne Club and the Protestant Society, both seen as forerunners to the Orange Order. Throughout the 1780s, sectarian tension had been building in County Armagh , largely due to the relaxation of the Penal Laws . Here the number of Protestants and Catholics (in what was then Ireland's most populous county) were of roughly equal number, and competition between them to rent patches of land near markets
6936-414: 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 shows The 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. During 1981 Irish hunger strike , the Cumann was deeply annoyed by
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#17330942471397072-447: The De Rossa motion. 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. In the South the rump of the party was left with seven councillors and one TD . In the North, before the 1992 split, the party had four councillors – Tom French stayed with
7208-410: The Donnelly faction, with Tynan president of the breakaway faction. The Belfast 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
7344-408: The Eastern European states. Despite his prominent role, Mac Giolla was not the primary architect of these ideological shifts within the party. His more traditional republican outlook continued to cause unease among some members. As president of Official Sinn Féin, however, Mac Giolla played a crucial role in steering the party towards electoral politics, a process that was further solidified in 1977 when
7480-399: The Governor believed were the "lawless banditti", they could not have been Orangemen as there were no lodges in existence at the time of his speech. According to historian Jim Smyth: Later apologists rather implausibly deny any connection between the Peep-o'-Day Boys and the first Orangemen or, even less plausibly, between the Orangemen and the mass wrecking of Catholic cottages in Armagh in
7616-416: The Irish language version of his name. He won a scholarship to University College Dublin where he qualified with a Bachelor of Arts degree, followed by a degree in Commerce. A qualified Accountant, Mac Giolla was employed by the Irish Electricity Supply Board (ESB) from 1947 until he went into full-time politics in 1977. In his early life Mac Giolla was an active republican . He joined Sinn Féin and
7752-532: The Irish language". (Kane's memorial at the Clifton Street Orange Hall over whose opening he had presided in 1885, commends him as a "Loyal Irish Patriot"). Famously, when in 1880, as part of its campaign for the Three Fs (fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale) and of resistance to evictions, the Land League organised the withdrawal of labour from Captain Charles Boycott , a land agent in County Mayo , Orangemen from County Cavan and County Monaghan , under military and police protection, helped bring in
7888-463: The Northern conflict was typified by the slogan it would adopt: "Peace, Democracy, Class Politics". It aimed to replace sectarian politics with a class struggle which would unite Catholic and Protestant workers. The slogan's echo of Vladimir 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' and communist parties around
8024-412: The OIRA bombed the headquarters of the Parachute Regiment . This resulted in the deaths of seven people, including five female cleaners. Mac Giolla expressed shock at the attack and attributed it to an ineffective bomb maker. The question of how far the OIRA should go in using armed force was one of the issues that led to the ceasefire in May 1972, which Mac Giolla fully supported. The Officials argued that
8160-527: The Orange Institution of Great Britain, advised the Marquess that following "a death of importance" (the passing of the King), the Orangemen would abandon their policy of "non-resistance" to the present "Popish Cabinet, and democratical Ministry" (the parliamentary reform ministry of Earl Grey ) and that "it might be political to join" them. Londonderry demurred: he had no doubt that the Duke of Cumberland would be persuaded that "the present state of liberal Whig feeling in this very Whig county ... entirely preclude
8296-439: The Orange Order re-emerged in a new and even more militant form. In 1835 Parliament conducted an enquiry into Orangeism and declared the oaths of the Orange Order to be illegal and prohibited their demonstrations and parades. In 1836 the Order was accused of plotting to place Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Imperial Grand Master of the Orange Order, on the throne in place of Victoria when King William IV died; once
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#17330942471398432-430: The Order regarded such unity as tantamount to religious and national ecumenism . Such differences came to a head in 1902, in the contest to succeed Johnston as MP for Belfast South (and at time when four fifths of lodge masters in the city were workingmen). Thomas Sloan established the Independent lodges after he had been expelled by the Order for running as the nominee of the Belfast Protestant Association against
8568-419: The Order since 1921. On the Sunday before 12 July each year, Orangemen in Portadown would traditionally march to-and-from Drumcree Church . Originally, most of the route was farmland, but is now the densely populated Catholic part of town. The residents have sought to re-route the march away from this area, seeing it as "triumphalist" and " supremacist ". There have been intermittent violent clashes during
8704-410: The Order still campaigns for the right to march on Garvaghy Road. The dispute led to a short-lived boycott of businesses owned by Orangemen and their supporters elsewhere in the region. Membership of the Order was historically lower in areas where Protestants are in the majority, and vice versa. In County Fermanagh , where the Catholic and Protestant populations are close to parity, membership in 1971
8840-414: The Protestant people by the Catholics". Historian Richard R Madden wrote that "efforts were made to infuse into the mind of the Protestant feelings of distrust to his Catholic fellow-countrymen". MP Thomas Knox wrote in August 1796 that "As for the Orangemen, we have rather a difficult card to play ... we must to a certain degree uphold them, for with all their licentiousness, on them we must rely for
8976-407: The Provisional IRA's campaign was pushing Protestants towards reaction. By 1978, Mac Giolla was asserting that "the Provos are engaged in a war against the Irish people … can anyone say that the atrocities of the infamous Black and Tans were any worse?" This sharp criticism of the Provisional IRA became a defining feature of Mac Giolla's rhetoric and that of his party. In 1969 he attended and spoke at
9112-437: The Provisional movement was one of conciliation, though over time, bitterness emerged. He was firm in his belief that the rise of the Provisionals was largely due to support from elements within Fianna Fáil. As violence in Northern Ireland escalated, Mac Giolla reiterated that the Official IRA (OIRA) favoured mass popular resistance, but would resort to "retaliatory" military action when deemed necessary. In contrast, he condemned
9248-401: The Provisionals' armed struggle, labelling it both counterproductive and sectarian. This stance sometimes led to confusion. After the OIRA killed Unionist Northern Ireland Senator John Barnhill , Mac Giolla initially blamed British agents. However, the Officials later admitted and defended the operation as a necessary retaliation against repression. Following Bloody Sunday on 30 January 1972
9384-455: The Union. In the early nineteenth century, Orangemen were heavily involved in violent conflict with an Irish Catholic secret society called the Ribbonmen . One instance, publicised in a 7 October 1816 edition of the Boston Commercial Gazette , included the murder of a Catholic priest and several members of the congregation of Dumreilly parish in County Cavan on 25 May 1816. According to the article, "A number of Orangemen with arms rushed into
9520-402: The aftermath of the split, and Mac Giolla was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1993. Outside of the south-east, the Workers' Party retains active branches in various areas of the Republic, including Dublin , Cork and County Meath. In the 1999 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
9656-450: The background of the violent beginning of what would be termed the Troubles ). A growing minority within the rank-and-file wanted to maintain traditional militarist policies aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland . An equally contentious issue involved whether to or not to continue with the policy of abstentionism , that is, the refusal of elected representatives to take their seats in British or Irish legislatures. A majority of
9792-468: The battle was short and the Defenders suffered "not less than thirty" deaths. After the battle had ended, the Peep o' Days marched into Loughgall, and in the house of James Sloan they founded the Orange Order, which was to be a Protestant defence association made up of lodges. The principal pledge of these lodges was to defend "the King and his heirs so long as he or they support the Protestant Ascendancy ". At
9928-686: The church and fired upon the congregation". On 19 July 1823 the Unlawful Oaths Bill was passed, banning all oath-bound societies in Ireland. This included the Orange Order, which had to be dissolved and reconstituted. In 1825 a bill banning unlawful associations – largely directed at Daniel O'Connell and his Catholic Association , compelled the Orangemen once more to dissolve their association. When Westminster finally granted Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Roman Catholics were free to take seats as MPs (and take up various other positions of influence and power from which they had been excluded) and play
10064-496: The class struggle to a mythical national question". The policy document used Marxist terminology: it identified US imperialism as the now-dominant political and economic force in the southern state and attacked the failure of the national bourgeoisie to develop Ireland as a modern economic power. Official Sinn Féin gravitated towards Marxism-Leninism and became fiercely critical of the physical force Irish republicanism still espoused by Provisional Sinn Féin. Its new approach to
10200-493: The collapse of the Soviet Union and labelled them "liquidators". Marian Donnelly replaced De Rossa as president from 1992 to 1994. Tom French became president in 1994, and served for four years until Sean Garland was elected president in 1998. Garland retired as president in May 2008, and was replaced by Mick Finnegan who served until September 2014, being replaced by Michael Donnelly A further minor split occurred when
10336-612: The conflict, the Order had a fractious relationship with loyalist paramilitary groups, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Independent Orange Order and the Free Presbyterian Church . The Order urged its members not to join these organisations, and it is only recently that some of these intra-unionist breaches have been healed. The Drumcree dispute is perhaps the most well-known episode involving
10472-517: The council in 1997. In the November 1982 general election Mac Giolla was elected to Dáil Éireann for his party. In 1988, he stepped down as party leader and was succeeded by Proinsias De Rossa . He served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1993 to 1994, the first Workers' Party councillor to serve as Lord Mayor, and remained a member of Dublin Corporation until 1998. While president he was regarded as
10608-541: The country and encouraged Defender recruitment, creating a proto-army for the United Irishmen to utilise. The United Irishmen launched a rebellion in 1798 . In Ulster, most of the United Irish commanders and many of the rebels were Protestant. Orangemen were recruited into the yeomanry to help fight the rebellion and "proved an invaluable addition to government forces". No attempt was made to disarm Orangemen outside
10744-404: The current rules use the wording "non-reformed faith" instead. Converts to Protestantism can join by appealing to Grand Lodge. James Wilson and James Sloan, who issued the warrants for the first Lodges of the Orange Order along with 'Diamond' Dan Winter, were Freemasons , and in the 19th century many Irish Republicans regarded the Orange Order as a front group established by Unionist Masons as
10880-650: The departure of six Workers' Party TDs led by De Rossa to form the new Democratic Left party in 1992, Mac Giolla was the sole member of the Workers' Party in the Dáil . He lost his Dáil seat at the general election later that year by a margin of just 59 votes to Liam Lawlor of Fianna Fáil . In 1999, Mac Giolla wrote to the chairman of the Flood Tribunal calling for an investigation into revelations that former Dublin Assistant City and County Manager George Redmond had been
11016-614: The early 1970s and continued to operate in secrecy until the Worker's Party broke apart in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed (1991) and likewise the Workers' Party saw a major split with the formation of the Democratic 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
11152-448: 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. The party supported an independent anti-sectarian candidate, John Gilliland, in
11288-451: The entire of its Roman Catholic population", with notices posted warning them "to Hell or Connaught". Other people were warned by notices not to inform on local Orangemen or "I will Blow your Soul to the Low hils of Hell And Burn the House you are in". Within two months, 7,000 Catholics had been driven out of County Armagh. According to Lord Gosford , the governor of Armagh: It is no secret that
11424-414: 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
11560-464: The first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, maintained always that Ulster was in effect Protestant and the symbol of its ruling forces was the Orange Order. In 1932, Prime Minister Craig maintained that "ours is a Protestant government and I am an Orangeman". This was in response to a speech the year before by Éamon de Valera in the Irish Free State claiming that Ireland was a "Catholic nation" in
11696-638: The first to contribute to repair funds for Catholic property damaged in the rebellion. One major outcome of the United Irishmen rebellion was the 1800 Act of Union that merged the Irish Parliament with that of Westminster, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Many Catholics supported the Act, but the Orange Order saw it as a threat to the "Protestant constitution" and 36 lodges in counties Armagh and Monaghan alone passed declarations opposing
11832-447: The government hoped to thwart it by backing the Orange Order from 1796 onward. Irish nationalist historians Thomas A. Jackson and John Mitchel argued that the government's goal was to hinder the United Irishmen by fomenting sectarianism , thereby creating disunity and disorder under pretence of "passion for the Protestant religion". Mitchel wrote that the government invented and spread "fearful rumours of intended massacres of all
11968-495: The harvest on his employer's estate. But among Orangemen there was tenant-farmer support for reform. One reason the majority Irish Conservatives at Westminster did not oppose Gladstone's 1881 Land Act conceding the three F's was their recognition that "the land grievance had been a bond of discontent between Ulster and the rest of Ireland and in that sense a danger to the union". Quite apart from participation in local tenant-right associations, they had reports of Orangemen in
12104-526: The headquarters of Sinn Féin for decades before the 1970 split. At its Ardfheis in January 1977, Official Sinn Féin renamed itself Sinn Féin – The Workers' Party . Its first seats in Dáil Éireann were won under this new name. A motion at the 1979 Ardfheis to remove the Sinn Féin prefix from the party name was narrowly defeated. This change would come about three years later. In Northern Ireland , Sinn Féin
12240-562: The late 1980s, the party had broken through electorally in the Republic of Ireland and at its peak it elected 7 TDs at the 1989 general election and 21 councillors at the 1991 local elections . However, following the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, almost all the party's elected members broke away and formed Democratic Left in 1992. Since 1992
12376-494: The leadership favoured abandoning this policy. A group consisting of Seán 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). 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
12512-559: The march since the 19th century. The onset of the Troubles led to the dispute intensifying in the 1970s and 1980s. At this time, the most contentious part of the march was the outward leg along Obins Street. After serious violence two years in a row, the march was banned from Obins Street in 1986. The focus then shifted to the return leg along Garvaghy Road. Each July from 1995 to 2000, the dispute drew worldwide attention as it sparked protests and violence throughout Northern Ireland, prompted
12648-505: The membership, and Crawford was eventually expelled. From the outset, the Orange Order was instrumental in the formation of a distinct Ulster unionism. In 1905, when the Ulster Unionist Council was established to bring together unionists in the north including, the Order was given 50 of 200 seats, It was a position within the constitution of the Ulster Unionist Party that the order was to maintain until voting to sever ties with
12784-632: The minority faction of "Sinn Féin (Kevin Street)" or "Provisional Sinn Féin". It changed its name from Sinn Féin to Sinn Féin The Workers' Party in 1977 and then to the Workers' Party in 1982. In that time, Provisional Sinn Féin came to be known simply as Sinn Féin . Both groups were tied to corresponding paramilitary groups, with Official Sinn Féin tied to the Official Irish Republican Army . By
12920-718: The months following 'the Diamond' – all of them, however, acknowledge the movement's lower-class origins. The Order's three main founders were James Wilson (founder of the Orange Boys), Daniel Winter and James Sloan. The first Orange lodge was established in nearby Dyan, and its first grandmaster was James Sloan of Loughgall. Its first-ever marches were to celebrate the Battle of the Boyne and they took place on 12 July 1796 in Portadown , Lurgan and Waringstown . The Society of United Irishmen
13056-470: The official supervisor at the election count in Dublin West and was a close associate of Liam Lawlor. In 2003, Redmond was convicted of corruption by a Dublin court but subsequently had his conviction quashed due to conflicting evidence. In his eighties, Mac Giolla continued to be active and was a member of the group which campaigned to prevent the demolition of No. 16 Moore Street in Dublin city centre, where
13192-416: The official unionist candidate, one of the city's largest millowners. For at least some of his supporters, the split was a protest against what they saw as the co-optation of the Orange Order by unionist political leaders and their alignment with the interests of landlords and employers (the "fur coat brigade"). With other independents, in the great Belfast Lockout of 1907 Sloan was to speak on platforms with
13328-415: The old position. 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. The Workers' Party made its electoral breakthrough in 1981 when Joe Sherlock won
13464-438: The organisation, rather than a simple rejection of leftism. 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. In 1977, Official Sinn Féin ratified
13600-676: The other twenty-six counties became Southern Ireland . This time period saw intense cross community conflict/violence which took place intermittently and mostly in Belfast. (see The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922) ) This self-governing entity within the United Kingdom was confirmed in its status under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, and in its borders by the Boundary Commission agreement of 1925. Southern Ireland became first
13736-651: The outbreak of " the Troubles " in 1969, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland encouraged Orangemen to join the Northern Ireland security forces , especially the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). The response from Orangemen was strong. Over 300 Orangemen were killed during the conflict, the vast majority of them members of the security forces. Some Orangemen also joined loyalist paramilitary groups. During
13872-668: The outbreak of the World War I in August 1914, which caused the Home Rule Bill to be suspended for the duration of the war. Many Orangemen served in the war with the 36th (Ulster) Division , suffering heavy losses, and commemorations of their sacrifice are still an important element of Orange ceremonies. The Fourth Home Rule Act was passed as the Government of Ireland Act 1920 ; the six northeastern counties of Ulster became Northern Ireland and
14008-510: The party added "The Workers' Party" to its name. His popularity among the rank and file helped ease concerns within the movement, particularly for those who viewed the name change as a further departure from its republican roots. In 1982 the party became simply the Workers' Party . Mac Giolla was elected to Dublin City Council representing the Ballyfermot local electoral area in 1979 and at every subsequent local election until he retired from
14144-446: The party has existed as a microparty . 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 name Sinn Féin . From the early to mid-1970s, it was known as Official Sinn Féin or Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place) to distinguish it from the rival offshoot Provisional Sinn Féin, or Sinn Féin (Kevin Street) . Gardiner Place had symbolic power as
14280-622: The party in 2005. In 1912, the Third Home Rule Bill was introduced in the House of Commons . However, its introduction would be delayed until 1914. The Orange Order, along with the British Conservative Party and unionists in general, were inflexible in opposing the bill. The Order helped to organise the 1912 Ulster Covenant – a pledge to oppose Home Rule which was signed by up to 500,000 people. In 1911, some Orangemen began to arm themselves and train as militias. In 1913,
14416-468: The party towards more Irish Republican positions, such as being in favour of a referendum on Irish 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
14552-401: The party's annual Ardfheis the party voted to expel their only elected representative Ted Tynan. This is disputed by the party themselves. 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. Micheal McCorry, who had been General Secretary, became president of
14688-553: The party's new name: Sinn Féin The Workers' Party without dissension. According to Richard Sinnott, this "symbolism" was completed in April 1982 when the party became simply the Workers' Party. Although the Official IRA became drawn into the spiralling violence of the early period of conflict in Northern Ireland , it almost immediately reduced its military campaign against the United Kingdom 's armed presence in Northern Ireland, declaring
14824-474: 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. 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
14960-556: The plot was revealed the House of Commons called upon the King to disband the Order. Under pressure from Joseph Hume , William Molesworth and Lord John Russell , the King indicated measures would have to be taken and the Duke of Cumberland was forced to dissolve the Orange lodges. Hume laid evidence before the House of Commons of an approach in July 1832 to Lord Londonderry . A letter from Lieutenant-Colonel W. B. Fairman, Deputy Grand Secretary of
15096-516: The positive coverage that the hunger strikers (such as Bobby 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. 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
15232-476: The possibility of successful efforts at this juncture". In 1845 the ban was again lifted, but the notorious Battle of Dolly's Brae between Orangemen and Ribbonmen in 1849 led to a ban on Orange marches which remained in place for several decades. This was eventually lifted after a campaign of disobedience led by William Johnston of Ballykilbeg , Sovereign Grand Master of the Royal Black Institution ,
15368-462: The preservation of our lives and properties should critical times occur". The United Irishmen saw the Defenders as potential allies, and between 1794 and 1796 they formed a coalition. Despite some seeing the Defenders as "ignorant and poverty-stricken houghers and rick-burners", the United Irishmen were indebted to the Armagh disturbances as the Orangemen had scattered politicised Catholics throughout
15504-499: The principles of the Reformation . As such the Order only accepts those who confess a belief in a Protestant religion. As well as Catholics, non-creedal and non- Trinitarian Christians are also banned. This includes members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormons ), Jehovah's Witnesses , Unitarians , and Quakers . Previous rules specifically forbade Roman Catholics and their close relatives from joining but
15640-467: The proposal was rejected, and the October 2009 referendum , in which the proposal was approved. It was the only left-wing party to campaign for a No vote in the 2013 Seanad abolition referendum . It called for a Yes vote in the marriage equality referendum in 2015. The party supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum . The party has been involved in campaigning for public housing and renters' rights as
15776-557: The rumour that they were on a punitive mission for the Liberal government , declaring that, unless they were disarmed, 200,000 armed Orangemen would relieve them of their weapons. At the same, in 1895 Kane was a patron of the branch in Belfast of the Gaelic League , which in the decade to follow was to become indissolubly linked with Irish nationalism . As a patron of the League's promotion of
15912-458: The sitting MP and a year later, when other parties contested the constituency, he only polled 4.7% of the vote. Three councillors left the party during the split in 1992. Davy Kettyles became an independent 'Progressive Socialist' while Gerry Cullen in Dungannon and the Workers' Party northern chairman, Seamus Lynch in Belfast, joined Democratic Left. The party held on to its one council seat in
16048-400: The start the Orange Order was a "parallel organisation" to the Defenders in that it was a secret oath-bound society that used passwords and signs. One of the very few landed gentry who joined the Orange Order at the outset, William Blacker, was unhappy with some of the outcomes of the Battle of the Diamond. He says that a determination was expressed to "driving from this quarter of the county
16184-530: The surrender after the Easter Rising was completed. He also served on the Dublin '98 committee to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the 1798 Rebellion . He died in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin on 4 February 2010 after a long illness. Workers%27 Party (Ireland) The Workers' Party ( Irish : Páirtí na nOibrithe ) is an Irish republican , Marxist–Leninist communist party active in both
16320-484: The violence was deepening sectarian divisions and preventing unity between workers. In a speech at Carrickmore, County Tyrone, in July 1972, Mac Giolla stated that "the Irish revolution … demands the support of the Protestant working class," asserting that the violence of August 1969 had been carried out not by ordinary Protestants against Catholics, but by the B Specials and some members of the Orange Order . He also claimed that
16456-435: The west (in counties Armagh , Cavan , Fermanagh and Tyrone ) actually joining the national League. Tension between tenants and landowners, nonetheless, continued within the Order, the focus shifting from tenant right to "compulsory purchase" (the right of tenants to buy out their landlords at fixed valuations). Particularly in north Antrim , where their organisation was strong, from 1903 tenant farmers began to defect to
16592-407: The working classes could be united in class struggle to overthrow their common rulers, with a 32-county socialist republic being the inevitable outcome. However, this Marxist outlook became unpopular with many of the more traditionalist republicans, and the party/army leadership was criticised for failing to defend northern Catholic enclaves from loyalist attacks (these debates took place against
16728-638: The world. Throughout the 1980s, the party came to staunchly oppose republican political 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 IRA 1981 Irish hunger strike . The Workers' Party (especially the faction around Harris) strongly criticised traditional Irish republicanism , causing some of its critics such as Vincent Browne and Paddy Prendeville to accuse it of having an attitude to Northern Ireland that
16864-523: The yeomanry because they were seen as by far the lesser threat. It was also claimed that if an attempt had been made then "the whole of Ulster would be as bad as Antrim and Down", where the United Irishmen rebellion was at its strongest. However, sectarian massacres by the rebels in County Wexford "did much to dampen" the rebellion in Ulster. The Scullabogue Barn massacre saw over 100 non-combatant (mostly Protestant) men, women, and children imprisoned in
17000-483: The yeomanry came into the movement. The homeland and birthplace of the Defenders was mid-Ulster and here they failed to participate in the rebellion, having been cowed into submission and surrounded by their Protestant neighbours who had been armed by the government. The sectarian attacks on them were so severe that Grand Masters of the Orange Order convened to find ways of reducing them. According to Ruth Dudley Edwards and two former Grand Masters, Orangemen were among
17136-410: Was around 70,000, which meant that roughly 1 in 5 adult Ulster Protestant males were members. Since 1965, it has lost a third of its membership, especially in Belfast and Derry. The Order's political influence suffered greatly after the unionist-controlled government of Northern Ireland was abolished in 1973. In 2012, it was stated that estimated membership of the Orange Order was around 34,000. After
17272-709: Was born Thomas Gill in Nenagh , County Tipperary . His uncle T. P. Gill was a Member of Parliament (MP) and member of the Irish Parliamentary Party of Charles Stewart Parnell . Tomás's father Robert Paul Gill, an engineer and architect, also stood unsuccessfully for election on a number of occasions. His mother was Mary Hourigan. Mac Giolla was educated at the local national school in Nenagh before completing his secondary education at St. Flannan's College , Ennis , County Clare . While at St. Flannan's, he changed to using
17408-494: Was charged with allegations of vote-rigging and expulsions. When the Ard Fheis went on to pass a vote of confidence in the official Army Council (which had already approved an end to the abstentionist policy), Ruairí Ó Brádaigh led the minority in a walk-out, and went to a prearranged meeting in Parnell Square where they announced the establishment of a "caretaker" executive of Sinn Féin. The dissident council became known as
17544-519: Was close to Ulster unionism . Part of the party's plan to gain influence in the Republic of Ireland was the formation and maintenance of a secret branch ( cumann ), the Ned Stapleton Cumann , inside Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ . Centred around the leadership of Eoghan Harris, the members were all employees of RTÉ and many of them were journalists. Members included Charlie Bird , John Caden and Marian Finucane . The branch started in
17680-701: Was fierce. Drunken brawls between rival gangs had by 1786 become openly sectarian. These gangs eventually reorganised as the Protestant Peep o' Day Boys and the Catholic Defenders , with the next decade in County Armagh marked by fierce sectarian conflict between both groups, which escalated and spread into neighbouring counties. In September 1795, at a crossroads known as "The Diamond" near Loughgall , Defenders and Protestant Peep o' Day Boys gathered to fight each other. This initial stand-off ended without
17816-510: Was formed by liberal Presbyterians and Anglicans in Belfast in 1791. It sought reform of the Irish Parliament, Catholic Emancipation and the repeal of the Penal Laws . By the time the Orange Order was formed, the United Irishmen had become a revolutionary group advocating an independent Irish republic that would "Unite Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter". United Irishmen activity was on the rise, and
17952-502: 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 the Provisional IRA . 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,
18088-537: 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. De Rossa and his supporters sought to distance themselves from alleged paramilitary activity at a special Árd Fheis held at Dún Laoghaire on 15 February 1992. A motion proposed by De Rossa and General Secretary Des Geraghty sought to stand down
18224-408: Was organised under the name Republican Clubs to avoid a ban on Sinn Féin candidates (introduced in 1964 under Northern Ireland's Emergency Powers Act ). The Officials continued to use this name after 1970, and later used the name Workers' Party Republican Clubs . In 1982, both the northern and southern sections of the party became The Workers' Party. The Workers' Party is sometimes referred to as
18360-526: Was the Connolly Association . This group's analysis saw the primary obstacle to Irish unity as the continuing division between the Protestant and Catholic working classes. This it attributed to the " divide and rule " policies of capitalism , whose interests were served by the working classes remaining divided. Military activity was seen as counterproductive, because its effect was to further entrench sectarian divisions. The left-wing faction believed
18496-469: Was three times as high as in the more Protestant counties of Antrim and Down, where it was just over 10% of adult Protestant males. Other factors that are associated with high rates of membership are levels of unemployment that more closely match Catholic levels, and low levels of support for the Democratic Unionist Party among unionists. The Orange Order's name stems from the Orange Associations,
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