Communist Party

On 4 July 2009, just a few days after my appointment as Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure, there was an article in Unity, the magazine of the Communist Party of Ireland, criticising my political views. In it the anonymous author referred to comments I made some time ago about the CPI and said:

He referred to the Women’s Rights Movement as being a creation of the Communist Party and named the party’s current chairperson, Lynda Walker, as being one of the chief architects. Thanks for the praise, Nelson.

In the Belfast local government elections in 1997 Lynda Walker contested the Court electoral area, which covers the Shankill Road, but she did not stand as a Communist, even though she was a member of the Communist Party.  She stood as a candidate for the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, the party that was led by Professor Monica McWilliams.

The NIWC was a relatively young party but Lynda Walker had many years of political activity under her belt as a member of the Communist Party of Ireland. In fact she attended the CPI weekend school in Dublin in May 1997 and spoke at the annual CPI commemoration of James Connolly at Arbour Hill. [Unity 17 May 1997]

That was the weekend before the Belfast City Council election and one wonders how many voters in Court knew the Women’s Coalition candidate seeking their support was also a Communist. [Unity 24 May 1997]

It would also be interesting to know if Monica McWilliams knew she was fielding a candidate who was a member of the Communist Party and why Lynda did not mention it on her election literature.

Perhaps all this says something about how the CPI operates. In fact it is more of a ‘secret society’ than many organisations that are normally described as such.