National Socialist Irish Workers Party

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

National Socialist Irish Workers Party
Abbreviation	NSIWP
Leader	Terence Allan-Byrne
Founded	1968
Dissolved	late 1980s
Headquarters	6 Brendan's Cottages, Irishtown, Dublin 69 Eugene Street, The Coombe
Newspaper	Phoenix
Ideology	Neo-Nazism
Political position	Far-right
International affiliation	World Union of National Socialists
Politics of Ireland Political parties Elections

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 Éireann 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]

References

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