Communist Party of Northern Ireland

The Communist Party of Northern Ireland was a small communist party operating in Northern Ireland. The party merged with the Irish Workers' Party in 1970 to form the reunited Communist Party of Ireland. Formation The party originated in the 1941 split in the Communist Party of Ireland (CPI), which also produced the Irish Workers' League (IWL) in the Republic of Ireland. The split was due to the difficulties of operating in the Republic, and the unpopularity of the argument that Ireland should enter World War II in the Republic, as opposed to its popularity in Northern Ireland. In July 1941, the Communist Party of Ireland National Executive suspended independent activities and its membership were encouraged to undertake entryism and join the Irish Labour Party, and trade union movement, the Irish Labour Party was not organised in Northern Ireland and in October the Communist Party of Northern Ireland published its manifesto. The CPNI held its first conference in October 1942, in Belfast, with many former members of the CPI from the Republic attending. By 1943, it had grown to 35 branches, although it was not able to operate openly in more strongly Catholic areas. Indeed, while the party in Belfast had a mostly Catholic membership in the 1930s, following the split, it became mostly Protestant.