A group of prominent People Before Profit members have resigned from the Socialist Workers Network (SWN), the long-standing Trotskyist movement which has been the driving force behind the party.
Fifteen members signed a letter circulated to the wider membership in recent weeks claiming they were being marginalised from decision making by a “hegemonic” and “sect-based” leadership.
All have remained members of PBP. The situation means the SWN – the dominant force of the party since its foundation in 2005 – currently has just one active member on the six-person officer board of PBP.
The Rise network of TD Paul Murphy, the 15 members who resigned from SWN, and supporters of independent socialist Eddie Conlon, are now seen as the dominant players in the party.
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Those who resigned include Dublin city councillor Conor Reddy; PBP national organiser Aislinn Shanahan-Daly; and Dublin organisers Damian Kelly and Farah Parvazi.
Some members from Belfast are also said to have withdrawn from the SWN in recent months.
The dispute seems to revolve around widening differences in approach and strategy between younger members of the SWN and long-standing members.
The letter, seen by The Irish Times, identifies “an increasingly significant generational divide between younger comrades in the SWN who have stepped up to lead, and those who have been around for decades”.
It argues that Marxist organisations cannot survive without meaningfully passing the mantle to the next generation. “It seems clear to us that we do not fit the mould of what an ideal younger generation might look like in the eyes of the hegemonic wing of the SWN.”
When criticisms have been made about shortfalls in SWN’s political coherence and authority, the letter claims, they have been met “with accusations of being undemocratic, mouthpieces for ‘Belfast’, apolitical, overly personalised, unskilled, ageist, and more”.
It describes the current organising culture of the SWN as “sect-based” and “hegemonic”.
“It follows that political difference in the SWN is repeatedly dealt with through denial of its very existence, or at worst marginalised through dogmatic moralism.”
In a letter responding to the resignations, the political committee of the SWN said division was not the answer.
“We acknowledge the difficulties expressed by comrades and the frustrations that often arise from political debates and tensions but we also feel the decision to leave is premature. We wish to state publicly that the door is open for any comrade who wishes to rejoin,” it states.
Splits and disagreements have been commonplace in small left-wing parties. Last year, another allied organisation, the Red Network, announced it was leaving PBP over a perceived rightward shift, the party’s willingness to enter into coalition with Sinn Féin, and its focus on electoral politics rather than organising a working class revolution. Among those who left were south Dublin councillor Madeleine Johansson.
The group that split from SWN is due to meet Richard Boyd-Barrett next week to discuss the situation. The Dún Laoghaire TD remains in SWN, which was founded in 1971. Former Dublin South Central TD Bríd Smith and sociologist Kieran Allen are other well-known members.
Boyd-Barrett emphasised that while members had resigned from SWN, they were remaining in PBP.
“There are some debates about strategy and tactics. It’s not something I’m terribly worried about. It’s an ongoing discussion and I think you will find it in any vibrant political project,” he said.
Parties of the left were possibly more honest about different currents of thought than other parties, he said.
“In Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael there are people who are pro-Israel and pro-Palestine. There are different factions. They have their divergences but are not, in my opinion, very honest about them.”
Reddy told The Irish Times he would prefer the internal discussion to play out before making detailed comments.
He did say that PBP was operating in very different landscapes compared to 2005 and the periods around the successes of the water charges, and Repeal, campaigns. “It’s a reflection of that reality, this discussion,” he said.
A potted history of splits in Irish left politics
1969: Sinn Féin split into provisional and official factions
1989: The Militant Tendency of the Labour Party was expelled at the annual conference in Tralee. Leading members Joe Higgins, Clare Daly and Mick Barry went on to form the Socialist Party in 1996.
1992: The Workers Party was sundered after a large faction led by Proinsias de Rossa, and including all its six TDs, left to form Democratic Left. The new party merged into the Labour Party five years later. The Workers Party, now a minuscule organisation, later experienced a further split.
2011: The group of parties and individuals United Left Alliance won six seats in the Dáil. Within two years it was defunct after Tipperary socialist Séamus Healy became the first of a number of TDs to leave.
2012: Clare Daly left the Socialist Party after it heavily criticised her close political ally Mick Wallace over his tax affairs. At around the same time, another TD, Joan Collins, left People Before Profit. The following year, they set up a new political party, United Left.
2019: Dublin TD Paul Murphy left the Socialist Party after founding the Rise group, which then became one of the “networks” in PBP. In 2021, Murphy became fully integrated into PBP.
2025: Another of the groups in PBP, Red Networks, severed ties over disagreements on political direction and strategy. Dublin South councillor Madeleine Johansson was among those who left.
