Editing Workers' Party (Ireland) (section)

===Origins===
{{About||early history|History of Sinn Féin|}}

The modern origins of the party date from the early 1960s. After the failure of the [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|then IRA's]] 1956–1962 [[Border campaign (IRA)|border campaign]], the republican movement, with a new military and political leadership, undertook a complete reappraisal of its {{lang|fr|raison d'être}}.<ref name=lost>''The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party'', Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, {{ISBN|1-84488-120-2}}</ref> Through 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 was the [[Connolly Association]].<ref>''Patterns of Betrayal: the flight from Socialism'', Workers Party pamphlet, Repsol Ltd, Dublin, May 1992, page 74</ref> 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 the working classes could be united in class struggle to overthrow their common rulers, with a 32-county socialist republic being the inevitable outcome.<ref name="lost" />

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 [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] attacks (these debates took place against the background of [[The Troubles#Beginning|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]].<ref name=lost/> 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 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).<ref name=lost/> 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 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,<ref>''Sinn Féin: A Hundred Turbulent Years'', Brian Feeney, O'Brien Press, Dublin 2002, {{ISBN|0-86278-695-9}} pg. 250-1, ''Sinn Féin: A Century of Struggle'', Parnell Publications, Mícheál MacDonncha, 2005, {{ISBN|0-9542946-2-9}}</ref> and went to a prearranged meeting in [[Parnell Square]] where they announced the establishment of a "caretaker" executive of Sinn Féin.<ref>''The Lost Revolution: The Story of The Official IRA and The Workers' Party'', Brian Hanley & Scott Millar, Penguin Ireland (2009), {{ISBN|978-1-84488-120-8}} p.146</ref> The dissident council became known as 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]].<ref>Richard Sinnott (1995), ''Irish Voters Decide: Voting behaviour in elections and referendums since 1918'', Manchester University Press, p.59</ref> Official Sinn Féin, under the leadership of [[Tomás Mac Giolla]], remained aligned to Goulding's Official IRA.<ref>''The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party'', Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, {{ISBN|1-84488-120-2}} pp. 286–336</ref>

A key factor in the split was the desire of those who became the Provisionals to make military action the key object of the organisation, rather than a simple rejection of leftism.<ref>{{cite book|first=Henry |last=McDonald |author-link=Henry McDonald (writer) |title=Gunsmoke and Mirrors |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-7171-4298-9 |page=28|publisher=Gill & Macmillan }}</ref><ref>Stephen Collins, ''The Power Game: Fianna Fáil since Lemass'', {{ISBN|0-86278-588-X}}, p. 61</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |first=John |last=Mulqueen|title='We serve neither Queen nor Commisar': The birth of the Provisional IRA |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/we-serve-neither-queen-nor-commisar-the-birth-of-the-provisional-ira-1.4150357 |date=27 January 2020 |access-date=2024-01-13 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref>

In 1977, Official Sinn Féin ratified the party's new name—"Sinn Féin The Workers' Party"—without dissension.<ref>''The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party'', Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, {{ISBN|1-84488-120-2}} p. 336</ref> According to Richard Sinnott, this "symbolism" was completed in April 1982 when the party became simply the Workers' Party.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinnott |first=Richard |title=Irish Voters Decide: Voting Behaviour in Elections and Referendums Since 1918 |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1995 |isbn=9780719040375 |location=Manchester and New York |page=59 |quote=The change was symbolised in 1977 by the alteration of the party's name to Sinn Féin The Workers' Party, the symbolism being completed in April 1982, when the party became simply the Workers' Party.}}</ref>