National Socialist Irish Workers Party Explained

Country:Ireland
Abbreviation:NSIWP
Leader:Terence Allan-Byrne
Foundation:1968
Dissolution:late 1980s
Headquarters:6 Brendan's Cottages, Irishtown, Dublin
69 Eugene Street, The Coombe
Ideology:Neo-Nazism
Position:Far-right
Newspaper:Phoenix
International:World Union of National Socialists
Elections Dab1:Elections in the Republic of Ireland

The National Socialist Irish Workers Party (NSIWP) was a minor neo-nazi party in Ireland, founded in 1968.

History

The NSIWP was founded in 1968 by Terence Allan-Byrne in Irishtown, Dublin.[1] Among its members was Jos Mussche, a former member of the Dutch SS. Its newsletter was called Phoenix.[2] [3] The party had close links to the National Socialist British Workers Party, and was affiliated to the World Union of National Socialists.[4] [5]

In 1979, Byrne had a swastika carved into his chest; he refused to allow an Indian doctor treat it and was referred to another hospital, where a different doctor refused to treat him and ‘remarked that the wounds he was receiving were costing the tax-payers a lot of money’.[6]

The NSIWP only ever had a handful of members and never contested any elections; however, it was important in producing of Nazi paraphernalia for the European and British movement, as, unlike most European countries, Ireland had no law like the British Race Relations Acts that forbade production or sale of neo-Nazi material. They also sent threatening letters to Irish Jews and Black people living in Ireland.[7] Tomás Mac Giolla (Workers' Party, a socialist party), Tony Gregory (an independent left-wing TD) and Alan Shatter (a Jewish Fine Gael TD) raised the matter in Dáil Eireann in 1985;[7] the Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act, 1989 made the production of such items illegal.

Republican socialists and other anti-fascists occasionally fought with NSIWP members.[8] "Commander" Byrne died in the early 1980s, and the party ceased to exist by the late 1980s. Colm Tarrant, secretary of the NSIWP, later went on to work with the Irish–Arab Society, an anti-Israel organisation.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1987 Letter from The National Socialist Irish Workers Party. 27 August 2015.
  2. Web site: Phoenix: A National Socialist Irish Workers Party Publication. 21 February 1973. National Socialist Irish Workers Party. Google Books.
  3. Book: Tomorrow Belongs to Us: The British Far Right since 1967. 9781317190882. Copsey. Nigel. Worley. Matthew. 14 December 2017.
  4. Book: Macklin, Graham. Failed Führers: A History of Britain's Extreme Right. 27 March 2020. Routledge. 9781317448808. Google Books.
  5. Book: Eliteforschung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Analyse, Kritik, Alternativen. December 2013. 9783663120889.
  6. Web site: The Dumb Nazis Of Dublin 4. Broadsheet.ie. 6 February 2013.
  7. Web site: Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Racialist Literature. – Dáil Éireann (24th Dáil) – Thursday, 6 Jun 1985 – Houses of the Oireachtas. Houses of the. Oireachtas. 6 June 1985. www.oireachtas.ie.
  8. Web site: UNDERTONES: THE FAR-RIGHT & ANTI-FASCISM IN IRELAND 1945-2012.
  9. Book: Louvet, Marie-Violaine. Civil Society, Post-Colonialism and Transnational Solidarity: The Irish and the Middle East Conflict. 28 June 2016. Springer. 9781137551092. Google Books.