Origins
Democratic Left was formed after a split in the Workers' Party, which in turn had its origins in the 1970 split in Sinn Féin. Although never formally styled as a communist party, the Workers' Party has an internal organisation based on democratic socialism, fratneral links with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and other communist and workers party, and campaigned for socialist policies. The party gained support during the 1980s - a decade of cutbacks and hardship in Ireland - winning 7 TDs in the 1989 general election and 24 councillors in the 1991 local elections.
However between 1989 and 1992 the Workers' Party was beset by a number of problems. The collapse of communism in eastern Europe had put many Soviet aligned parties on the defensive and had caused a number of them to reconsider their core ideological beliefs. A faction led by Proinsias De Rossa wanted to move the party towards an acceptance of free market economics viewing the party's Marxist stance as an obstacle to further electoral success. The party was languishing at the polls and there was increasing tension between the party's elected representatives such as De Rossa, Pat Rabbitte and Eamon Gilmore and another grouping involving activists and organisers on the party's Central Executive Committee, led by Sean Garland. Finally the broadcast of a BBC Spotlight programme 'Sticking to their guns' in June 1991 had raised questions on the party's links to the Official IRA. The Official IRA had been on ceasefire since 1972 but was frequently accused of being involved in fund-raising robberies, money laundering and other forms of criminality.
On the 15th of February 1992, a special conference was held in Dún Laoghaire to reconstitute the party. Over the preceding two weeks there were clashes at a number of party meetings between supporters of De Rossa and Garland. A motion proposed by De Rossa and General Secretary Des Geraghty sought to stand down the existing membership, elect an 11 member provisional executive council and make several other significant changes in party structures. Initially supporters believed that the motion would pass but it was defeated by 9 votes. After the announcement of the results, De Rossa told the delegates "You have your decision. I honestly believe it is a bad decision, but you have made it,". Both sides accused each other "packing votes".
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