Read part I here and part II here
The prospects for the left in Ireland in the coming period are an important topic for left activists everywhere. As of 2025 there has been continuous period of 34 years during which a Trotskyist has held as seat on a council or in the Dail (parliament) in the south of Ireland. If the current Dail sees out its full term, to 2029, that means there will have been a member of the Socialist Party holding a council seat or a Dail seat continuously for 38 years. This is a remarkable feat in any circumstances, and there is no comparable success for a Trotskyist party anywhere else in the world. By 2029 People for Profit will have held an elected seat continuously for 22 years. How this success has been achieved is worth examining in detail, as are the prospects for the left in the next period. In the aftermath of the three elections that took place in 2024 local, European and general, it is an opportune time for the left to re-evaluate its electoral tactics.
Trumpism and Ireland
The time for such a re-evaluation may be shorter than we think. The new government appears to be stable but is in fact inherently unstable because of the crisis of the system. Every election is a snapshot, reflected conditions which often change rapidly. Within days of the new government being formed there was disruption in the Dail as non-government TDs protested against the awarding of increasing speaking time to government supporting TDs, an anti-immigration far-right march through Dublin drew a crowd between 5000 and 10,000, and Sinn Fein surged ahead in the opinion polls. Above all else the sense of impending crisis has been exacerbated by the re-election of Donald Trump in the US.
As things stand, the next general election is nearly five years away, but if Trump imposes tariffs on important sectors of Ireland’s export-orientated manufacturing sector, in particular pharmaceuticals, and if he takes measures which lead to the onshoring of the profits earned by the big multinational high tech and digital companies, the Irish economy could face a recession unlike anything seen since the 1980s. The result would be a period of turmoil and social upheaval in which no government, even with a very large majority, would be safe. The Independent TDs could peel away from the coalition. The major parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, could split internally and split from each other.
Even if the coalition holds together the need to impose swinging cuts or large tax increases may, in time, mean that the government has no alternative but to call a general election to establish that it has ongoing support. This election would allow the left to once again intervene in a more favourable objective situation. Such a scenario could unfold within one, two or three years. Sinn Fein would also seek to capitalise and may swing left as a crisis unfolds. The left will then, once again, have to engage in a period of intense discussion and debate as how to orientate to Sinn Fein voters and to the mass consciousness that may propel a Sinn Fein led government to power. Simultaneously the left will need to recognise and counter the threat from the far-right, both on the streets and in electoral contests. In conditions of crisis the election of significant numbers of far-right candidates to the Dail cannot be excluded.
Independent Class-Based Politics
An assessment as to where the left is today, both in electoral terms and in terms of numbers and influence is necessary. As already outlined, there is one particular factor in Ireland which does not generalise to most other Western European countries -that is, the absence of a mass Stalinist or Social Democratic Party over the entire history of the Irish state. In the recent period the successive crises of social-democratic and Stalinist currents everywhere means that a vacuum has opened which can be filled, or partially filled, by the revolutionary left, either standing candidates alone or in alliance with others on the left, or through the building of broader formations. However, despite the objective situation being favourable for the left, and the crises of social-democracy and Stalinism, the left is going backwards almost everywhere.
The reason for this is primarily the long-term consequence of the collapse of Stalinism 35 years ago. The revolutionary left has been severely impacted by the setting back of consciousness of the mass of the working class, who remain convinced that “communism” only leads to dictatorship and impoverished living conditions. They will not easily be persuaded otherwise.
The inability of the far left to grow substantially and consistently is a result both of the long-term impact of the collapse of Stalinism and theoretical weakness which means both an inability to explain the world, and to fully take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Ideological confusion and further fragmentation have resulted, most visibly in the multiple splits in the Committee for a Workers International between 2018 and 2024.
If the left is to win the support of working class and young people, it must address the day-to-day reality of their lives. The independence of working-class parties is key. Above all, left parties must avoid being drawn into an objectively pro-capitalist coalition government, and a Sinn Fein lead government will be objectively pro-capitalist. Tactically the best way forward is making it clear that the left parties will support such a government from the outside, examining each piece of legislation or decision on its merits, and only voting for those which are favourable to the working class.
Left Co-operation and Left Unity
Over the last 20 years there have been significant attempts to build new mass left parties in Europe, most especially in Greece (Syriza) and in Spain (Podemos, but also the Left Party in Germany, the Socialist Party in Holland, and many others. The organisational form has varied, the arc of electoral success has been very different from country to country, but the results have been essentially the same-all such initiatives have ended in defeat and disillusionment (with the partial exception of France).
The left in Ireland has experimented with electoral alliances, the most important of which was the United Left Alliance. The Socialist Party and Socialist Workers Party have both organised broader groupings. In the case of the SWP the People Before Profit Alliance, and in the case of the SP the Anti-Austerity Alliance, and then Solidarity. Other left groupings have sought to bring together elements on the left in a complex jigsaw, for example through ‘Right to Change’, and ‘Independents for Change’. No single organisational form has allowed for a breakthrough moment.
Working class people do not easily understand or forgive divisions on the left. There is an onus on us, once again, to examine the extent to which we can come together. Left TDs and councillors should seek maximum cooperation based on an agreed platform of class-based demands. Demands on environmental issues and issues of special oppression must be framed by a class analysis. On this basis maximum principled unity should be sought. Opportunities to lead mass movements must be seized, and timely initiatives taken to draw new forces as a step towards a mass party of the working class.
A serious consideration should be given to a new initiative to unite the left-not just PBP and the SP/Solidarity but all groups which are willing to fight and have an orientation to the working class, as well as campaigners and activists- based on a common minimal programme. Such a program should agree on opposition to coalition with pro-capitalist parties, but a detailed discussion would be necessary to ascertain whether agreement was possible on more contentious but relevant issues.
It is probable that full agreement is not possible, but it should be possible to contain disagreements within a common structure and agreed decision making processes. This could include, for example, a majority vote on some issues, but more likely, the ability of any group to maintain its own position on contentious issues. Examples of such issues include attitudes to the national question in its many guises, but most especially on the question of a border poll, and attitudes on issues of special oppression and rights, including issues relating to sex and gender. One difficult issue is likely to be the attitude to a future potential Sinn Fein-led government, as it is already clear that there are differences on this key issue between what are likely to be the main components of a future alliance, People Before Profit and the Socialist Party/Solidarity.
The independence of left parties must have a meaning and must be visible to working class people. The left must speak to the needs and the aspirations of working-class people and convince them that they represent them in their day to day lives, as well on nationally important issues, and seek to build support and a base in local communities and in workplaces.
From Local to National
Whilst it is not easy for a small party to make a breakthrough and then to hold a seat in a single constituency, it is much more difficult to obtain national relevance, given that in national contest most voters are voting for the next government. If a small party does not appear to them to be a likely contender for a place in government, it may may not win the necessary votes to stay in contention for a seat. This is always the problem for smaller parties, but the Workers Party were able to go beyond this initial reluctance in a sustained drive over 15 years. Sinn Fein went from several decades of not winning any seats in elections to gaining its first seat in 1997 and within 20 years, becoming the largest party by a narrow margin in the popular vote.
A revolutionary party contesting an election, either independently or in a broader front with others, is not equivalent to either the Workers Party or Sinn Fein, but nevertheless, there are lessons to be learned for the left. It is important that workers gain a sense of a serious approach, and this depends on the ability to initiate, lead and sustain campaigns on relevant issues, to offer day-to-day representative work in the area and to be seen to cooperate with others in community groups, campaign groups, trade unions and other left parties. If the left appears to be fractious and divided, this will set a ceiling on the potential vote.
Working class and young people can be persuaded to cast a vote for a left party in their local constituency on the basis that this will provide the best possible representation for workers in the area, but also that the election of far left TDs in as many constituencies as possible builds the power of the working class, especially in a period of political flux. The left parties need to explain that entering government in the next period of years is an unlikely prospect, given that even a potential “left” government will be comprised of parties such as Sinn Fein, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats or the Green Party, which are not consistent representatives of working-class people.
Orientation and Tactics
The SP were criticised by the leadership of the CWI before 2019 for an “opportunist” approach in elections. Whilst the then SP leadership accepted some mistakes, in the main each campaign was fought on a principled basis. Now elements of the International Socialist Alternative (ISA) leadership (from which the SP split in 2024) appear to be questioning the entire electoral work of the CWI, not just in Ireland but also in the USA. It is of course easy to make the obvious point that electoral politics inherently poses the risk of opportunism and a turn to the right, and distracts to from the need to build the revolutionary party but making this point and then stepping back from the arena of electoral politics is a retreat into abstract propagandism.
The “subjective factor”-the programme, tactics and orientation of the far-left parties-is vitally important. Success, or lack of success, on the electoral plane is related to positions adopted on concrete issues and overall political trajectory. It is necessary to examine today’s reality: to consider the “public face” of the left parties and formations in electoral contests.
The trajectory of the SP has been to adopt “socialist feminism” as its public face. A necessary initiative, to orientate to women and youth who are concerned about issues of special oppression, has come to dominate all of the work of the Socialist Party, which now organises and intervenes through the socialist feminist formation ROSA. Often the word ‘socialism’ only appears in SP articles and leaflets when it is joined to the word ‘feminism’.
Explaining a negative is always difficult, but there can be no doubt that if the Socialist Party had gained momentum and seats over the course of the last 10 years, that the explanation offered would be the decision to wholeheartedly adopt socialist feminism and to make this the central thrust of the Party’s work. That socialist feminism has become the watchword of the Socialist Party, and over this period, it has lost seats, and arguably credibility, cannot be ignored. The danger for the SP is that socialism, a broad idea which in its very essence implies that it is for all, becomes obscured and lost.
Sinn Fein’s “High-Wire Act”
PBP has been very focused for several years on the possibility of a Sinn Fein lead “left” government and has orientated to this scenario. PBP advocate for a border poll on the question of the reunification of Ireland without any consideration taken of the dangers this poses for the future of the workers’ movement, north and south. The danger for PBP is that they become associated closely with Sinn Fein and then risk the danger of a worker or young person deciding to vote for Sinn Fein, rather than Sinn Fein-lite.
The daily contortions of Sinn Fein on almost every issue add further complications for the left in trying to orientate to a pro-Sinn Fein sentiment among important layers of workers and young people. Sinn Fein support is mostly based on its image of revolt and resistance, and an easy acceptance that it is therefore “left”. Sinn Fein seeks to capitalise on this in working class areas, whilst simultaneously courting business, from the local to the multinational. As the Irish Times newspaper put it in a 2023 headline written when Sinn Fein were expected to soon be in government, Sinn Fein is engaged “in a high-wire act: courting big business and the ‘left behind’” (Irish Times, April 14th, 2023). The article quotes party economy spokesman Pearse Doherty’s clear statement: “Nobody who wants to see a radical programme by Sinn Fein wants business to be punished. They need to have a job”.
Sinn Fein developed from a left-right split in the Republican Movement (an umbrella term for Sinn Fein and the IRA) in 1969-1970. Today’s Sinn Fein are the continuation of the right-wing faction. Whilst since the 1970s it has used left language to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the context, over recent years it has moved to the right in its language and slogans, and has worked hard to prove to the national and international ruling class that it can be trusted with the levers of power.
The attitude of Sinn Fein is encapsulated in its response to an internal critic Tommy McKearney. McKearney is an iconic figure in the Republican Movement. He was a senior member of the IRA in Tyrone in the mid-1970s, he served a life sentence for his activities and nearly died after 53 days on hunger strike in 1980. Three of his brothers and several other family members died in the conflict. In the mid-1980s he formed the League of Communist Republicans with several dozen other IRA prisoners. He resigned from the IRA, and he and his comrades were forced to another prison by the IRA leadership, fearful that their ideas would spread. In 2011 he published “The Provisional IRA – From Insurrection to Parliament” (Pluto Press) in which amongst other criticisms he argued that the progress of the “Movement” was halted because it had not developed “a clear socialist programme”.
It fell to leading Sinn Fein member Danny Morrison to respond, and he did so with a scathing attack on socialism and Marxism in general and a call to engage with “reality”:
“Some of his analyses and contentions I would agree with but his prescription suffers from a certain idealism and utopianism which are not unconnected to his Marxist outlook. Ideological class struggle sounds good but communism has been tried by Lenin, Stalin and Mao, to name the bigger failures on the blood-soaked canvass.
Despite a potential world recession and a scramble for new (or tried and failed) panaceas, communism has hardly been embraced by the working classes. And how are we to organise society between now and the communist utopia but to engage with reality?”(A dissenting view full of contradictions ‘The Provisional IRA: from insurrection to parliament’, Danny Morrison, An Phoblacht, 6 February 2012).
Since this review was written Sinn Fein have sought to “engage with reality”, dropping previously sacrosanct positions, one by one. In October 2021 (Irish Times, Sat Oct 30, 2021) it reversed its long-standing policy of outright opposition to the “Special Criminal Court” (SCC) at its Ard Fheis (annual conference). The non-jury SSC was established to counter the IRA’s armed campaigns and was used during the Troubles to prosecute members of the Provisional IRA. Due to the nature of its powers, the legislation underpinning it – the Offences Against the State Act – must be reviewed annually by the Dáil and Seanad (upper house). Sinn Féin has traditionally opposed this legislation and has been persistently critical of the use of the SCC. The Ard Fheis motion was tabled by Sinn Féin’s Ard Comhairle (leadership body) and whilst it included criticisms of the SCC in relation to civil liberties and outlined the need for the law to be modernised it also acknowledged that non-jury courts may be needed in “exceptional circumstances”. Delegates who spoke against the motion argued that the idea of a non-jury court was “something this party should not advocate for, due to human rights abuses but were told by the leadership “we are all aware how this legislation was used in the dark days of the past…….but those “dark days are long over”.
By 2023 Sinn Fein were shifting on their long-term positions on neutrality and opposition to participation in military alliances. Sinn Fein is no longer opposed to Irish participation in the European Union’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (Pesco) and to NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP)-it previously was committed to withdraw both from both.
Across 2023 and 2024 Sinn Fein shifted their position on the rights of migrants and refugees. In November 2023, after a racist riot in Dublin City centre fomented by far-right organisers, the Dáil debated a motion from the Rural Independent Group. The motion did condemn the riot, or racism, but instead focused on immigrants and asylum seekers. Sinn Fein responded in the debate and one of its speakers, Matt Carthy TD, went so far as to say that any migrant who breaks the law “should no longer be entitled to remain in Ireland”. Such a step would be unenforceable under EU law. Sinn Féin’s motion of ‘No Confidence’ in the Justice Minister that same week, while condemning the riot, made no mention of racism or the role of the far-right.
When the UK Supreme Court ruled on the meaning of a “woman” last month the Sinn Fein Health spokesperson David Cullinane posted on X: “The Scottish Supreme Court ruling on the legal meaning of woman is a common-sense judgement. The ruling found that for the purposes of equality legislation a ‘woman’ means a biological woman & ‘sex’ refers to biological sex. It also confirmed that trans people are protected under their Equality legislation in a separate category of gender reassignment.” A day later he issued an apology stating such a “complex” issue needs to be approached with “compassion” and he apologised for any offence caused. The current position of Sinn Fein on the issues relating to trans rights are not known.
The setbacks suffered by Sinn Fein over all three elections in 2024 which means both that a Sinn Fein-led government and a border poll is off the agenda at this time. This may change and change quickly of course. A profound crisis could bring the government down and in an early general election SF could once again gain the ascendency as voters reject the parties of the system. Then PBP will have a decision to make: to join a SF-led government or to support it from the outside. More specifically it will need to decide whether to support or not support a call for a border poll. The issues remain as dangerous, if less acute. Independent class politics on all issues is the key, including an independent class position on the North.
Lessons From Ireland
In Article One, we posed the question, are there generalisable lessons from the experience of the far-left contesting elections in Ireland over the course of the last 35 years? The importance of speaking to working class people in language they understand and addressing their issues cannot be understated. The necessity to build the broadest possible unity on the far left, and to engage with others to build new broad formations when the circumstances allow applies everywhere.
An obvious lesson from Ireland is the importance of taking electoral work seriously. This means both a patient, measured long-term and persistent approach, and the ability to seize the initiative with boldness and audacity. Studying and examining the peculiarities of the electoral process in each country is necessary and then contesting seats with credible candidates who have worked hard on the ground for a significant period of time before the election. In some circumstances it may be credible to launch a more general campaign across multiple constituencies, especially if the left has been engaged in a serious and sustained campaign or campaigns in the period before an election. When a sudden change in consciousness occurs and the working class are seeking answers and alternatives relatively unknown candidates may make progress and such opportunities must be seized.
All of these approaches should be counterposed to the occasional foray into electoral politics when no work has been done in advance. The average worker or young person will not be convinced that the left candidate will still be there in the aftermath of the election and will not be persuaded to vote left on this basis. Such an approach is sometimes justified as a propaganda exercise however, to raise the profile of a small group and recruit the ones or twos to revolutionary politics, but it should not be the main approach of any revolutionary group.
In Conclusion
Elections do not supplant revolutionary politics, but to do supplement in important ways. In certain circumstances, such as in Ireland, it can allow the revolutionary left to make important breakthroughs and to gain a wider audience. In other circumstances, it allows the revolutionary left to work with others using a united front approach to build broad new mass parties or preliminary formations, which either lead to or point to the need for such left broad mass organisations.
Some workers and youth consciously vote for a socialist, some for a radical anti-establishment alternative, and some for strong local representation. It will always be thus until the moment of the revolution. Today voters will vote for a revolutionary party but do not yet see the prospect of a successful revolution, even in the distant future. Workers and young people are more likely to vote for a broader left formation or platform, and all opportunities must be seized to create such vehicles. The working class requires a political voice, and mass parties must be built to provide this voice. A revolutionary core within such parties will ensure that the ideas of Marxism are carried to the widest possible audience. Electoral politics reflects politics on the streets and in the workplaces, and does not replace it, but it is an arena of struggle which we should not ignore or treat lightly.
