photo: Paul Mattsson
ETOL Writers: Peter Hadden
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photo: Paul Mattsson |
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“Socialism ... means no privileged elite, only the right of people themselves to manage their own affairs. It means creating an international brotherhood and sisterhood, a unity based on respect of difference and in which all national and minority rights would be guaranteed. It is the unity of the working class, built in the struggle for such a society that will solve the national problem in Ireland.” |
Peter Hadden was a representative from Ireland at the 1974 founding congress of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) and was re-elected to its International Executive Committee thereafter. Born into a Protestant household in Country Tyrone, Northern Ireland, he joined the ‘Militant’, in Britain, while studying at Sussex University in the late 1960s. He returned to Northern Ireland in 1971, committed to building the forces of Trotskyism and the unity of the working class, along with the other initial forces of the Irish Militant. After a few years working for the NIPSA union, he worked full time as a leading member of the National Executive of the Irish Militant/Socialist Party for the rest of his life, serving as a guiding influence on the party, both north and south. Peter was Northern Secretary of the party, including during the long years of the ‘Troubles’.
Renowned for his clarity, Peter made very important contributions on many political issues and Marxist theory, in particular concerning a socialist analysis of and programme for the national question in Ireland and internationally. He wrote prolifically for the socialist press in Ireland, Britain and internationally, including Militant Irish Monthly and The Socialist. In addition to his journalistic work, Peter wrote pamphlets and books, such as Common Misery, Common Struggle (1980), Divide and Rule (1980), Beyond the Troubles? (1994), Troubled Times: The National Question in Ireland (1995) and Towards Division Not Peace (2002). This archive is intended to give an outline of his full life of political work.
Irish Times: Peter Hadden – Co-founder of Socialist Party (May 2010)
Kevin McLoughlin: A tribute to comrade Peter Hadden’s contribution (May 2010)
Niall Mulholland: Peter Hadden – an inspiring life for socialism (May 2010)
Spring 1969: Bogside – Saturday 19 April
August 1971: Terrorism Leading to Disaster
September 1971: Trade Unions must fight internment
October 1971: Internment – Threat to all workers
January 1972: One answer, workers unity
March 1972: Connolly and the 1916 uprising
March 1972: Only working class can bring Irish unity! (pamphlet, with John Throne)
April 1972: Derry murders condoned – The Widgery whitewash
May 1972: End sectarian violence with Trade Union Defence Force
September 1972: Protestant workers and the struggle for socialism
October 1972: No coalition – for a socialist Labour Party
November 1972: Officials’ Civil Rights demand – inadequate at this stage
December 1972: Stop sectarian violence
January 1973: Officials’ Ard Fheis – Adopt socialist ideas demand rank and file
April 1973: The Easter Rising
1974: Northern Ireland – For Worker’s Unity (pamphlet)
February 1974: Civil Rights and socialism – not separate issues
March 1974: Trade union movement must defend workers
Summer 1974: Northern Irish Perspectives (document)
July 1974: Conference of Workers Parties needed now (as Peter Hunt)
July 1974: Protestant workers poverty (as Peter Hunt)
August 1974: Communist View – Attack on BICO (letter, as Peter Hunt)
September 1974: After three years of internment in Northern Ireland – Only workers’ movement can solve the problems (as Peter Hunt)
September 1974: McElhone killing (as Peter Hunt)
November 1974: A strong union (unsigned)
December 1974: NILP Conference (as Peter Hunt)
January 1975: Belfast picket shot (as Peter Hunt)
January 1975: NILP Conference – Shows the need for a genuine workers’ party (as Peter Hunt)
February 1975: Belfast picket shot – TU Defence Force needed (as Peter Hunt) (as Peter Hunt)
March 1975: UUAC supports British Tory Party (as HP)
July 1975: Attack on workers’ wages
August 1975: Sectarian murders continue (as Peter Hunt)
September 1975: End killings – call trade union conference (as Peter Hunt)
December 1975: Northern Ireland Housing Executive
1976: For Socialist policies to save jobs
February 1976: NILP accused of turning against socialism (press release)
April 1976: Belfast Workers protest – Meter man murdered (as Peter Hunt)
June 1976: Trade unions can overcome sectarian murders
July 1976: Flecks Strike
August 1976: Campaign for workers’ unity
August 1976: Shankill Peace March
September 1976: What now for the Peace Marchers?
September 1976: Workers defence in Northern Ireland
October 1976: Peace Movement – Labour Movement must intervene (as Peter Hunt)
November 1976: Mobilise Unions (as Peter Hunt)
December 1976: Labour representation in Northern Ireland (letter)
May 1977: UUAC – Loyalist stoppage (letter)
May 1977: With a Trade Union Defence Force Workers can break Paisley
August 1977: Northern Perspectives (document)
October 1977: Goodyear – Craigavon sit-in (as Peter Hunt)
October 1977: NILP and sectarianism (letter)
October 1977: Split in anti-Unionist camp shows need for a New Party of Labour
February 1978: Maintain ICTU Unity (as Peter Hunt)
April 1978: End Sectarianism (as Peter Hunt)
April 1978: Workers to oppose Paisley (as Peter Hunt)
May 1978: Suicide at Castlereagh
July 1978: British Election – Keep Tories out
October 1978: Civil Rights – 10 years of struggle in Northern Ireland
April 1979: Bennett Report – Police torture exposed
May 1979: Gas industry to close
May 1979: Trade Unions must fight repression
June 1979: Northern Ireland – Youth fight for socialism
July 1979: Italy – for a workers’ government
October 1979: Mass action not individual terror
December 1979: Fitt resigns
December 1979: A vital tradition for Irish Labour (with John Throne)
January 1980: H-Blocks – Sectarian campaigns will not end repression
February 1980: Northern ICTU Conference – Support Grows for a Labour Party
March 1980: Carreras – unions must defend jobs
March 1980: Common misery, Common struggle (pamphlet)
April 1980: Workers unity in action
June 1980: H-Block and Armagh – issues for the labour movement
June 1980: 1980 Labour and Trade Union Group Conference
July 1980: Hunger strike protest
August 1980: Belfast dock strike
August 1980: Divide and Rule (pamphlet)
October 1980: EEPTU must back this fight
October 1980: Northern Perspectives (document)
October 1980: Workers’ voice must be heard
November 1980: Sectarianism and the hunger strike
December 1980: H-Block and Sectarianism
January 1981: Lessons of H-Block – Only Labour can end repression
February 1981: British Labour Right rejects democracy
April 1981: Labour Movement must give a lead
May 1981: Class action against repression
May 1981: Fight Repression!
May 1981: Northern Ireland – Stop sectarian upsurge
May 1981: Stop sectarian upsurge
May 1981: Workers’ Unity against THE REAL ENEMY
May 1981: Worker’s unity can end repression – H-Block
July 1981: Class solutions vital
July 1981: H-Block crisis – Tories to blame
September 1981: No Capitalist Answers – For a Party of Labour
October 1981: Does Britain want to get out?
November 1981: Lessons of the hunger strike
November 1981: Provos out to Provoke Civil War
1982: Northern Perspectives (document)
January 1982: Northern Ireland – For Workers’ Unity and Socialism
March 1982: One answer – workers’ unity
April 1982: Northern workers need a party of Labour
October 1982: Assembly – a platform for Tories
October 1982: Northern Ireland – Sectarianism no solution
November 1982: Assembly elections – no hope for political stability
January 1983: Provisionals – a blind alley for youth
March 1983: Karl Marx – founder of scientific socialism, revolutionary thinker and activist
July 1983: Sinn Fein move to the right
October 1983: Supergrasses
October 1983: War in Lebanon – class unity the key
November 1983: Guerilla warfare – no alternative to mass struggle
December 1983: Why socialists must oppose Sinn Fein
February 1984: Militant editor on Irish tour
April 1984: Marxism and the Labour Movement
August 1984: Northern Ireland – A Marxist analysis (pamphlet)
September 1984: State Terror
October 1984: The National Question in the epoch of imperialism
December 1984: Miners turn tide
Spring 1985: Northern Ireland – Marxism and the State (as Harry Peters)
April 1985: Socialist candidates in local elections
May 1985: Northern Ireland’s history of class struggle
Summer 1985: Sinn Fein blocks workers’ unity
November 1985: Anglo-Irish Talks – can they solve the crisis?
December 1985: Anglo Irish Agreement – workers movement must put an alternative
December 1985: Letter to the papers about the Anglo-Irish Agreement
February 1986: Opposition to proposed Loyalist stoppage
February 1986: Union silence leaves field open to sectarians
Spring 1986: The Anglo-Irish Agreement – A Warning to Labour
March 1986: 1976 – Workers fight sectarian attacks
April 1986: Anglo-Irish Agreement – Workers face heightened sectarianism
April 1986: Attacks on bus drivers must be opposed
May 1986: Divide and rule – then and now
May 1986: Northern Ireland public services right wing manoeuvre
June 1986: “Allow Free Discussion” – demands NIPSA Broad Left
June 1986: On Loyalist threat to ICTU Conference
July 1986: Civil war threat – workers must respond
September 1986: Unions must provide defence
November 1986: One year of the Anglo-Irish Agreement
June 1987: Sri Lanka – Only socialist revolution can end the bloodbath
July 1987: Northern Ireland Perspectives (pamphlet)
July 1987: Sectarian tension mounts in Northern Ireland
November 1987: Anglo-Irish Agreement – another failed solution
January 1988: New recession will open up world revolution
February 1988: Palestinian youth revolt
March 1988: Lessons of Ford workers’ victory
April 1988: How workers defeated the bigots
Summer 1988: Northern Ireland – Tories Reach an Impasse
June 1988: De Lorean style “realism” or a socialist solution
October 1988: 1968 – Lessons of the Civil Rights Movement
December 1988: World Economy – Will there be a slump?
1989: The Troops go into Northern Ireland
March 1989: Afghanistan – Why the Russians Withdrew
April 1989: Defend nationalisation – No to the buy-out (as Harry Peters)
April 1989: Irish Labour Party Conference – Witch-hunt of Militant
Autumn 1989: Twenty Years Since the Troops Went In (Debate with Clare Short)
October 1989: Provos bomb marines in Deal (as Harry Peters)
December 1989: Greece – the prospect for world capitalism
February 1990: Towards workers democracy
March 1990: Northern Perspectives (document)
June 1990: Nicaragua – lessons of election defeat
September 1990: Gulf Crisis opens up periods of upheavals internationally
September 1990: Pat Wall – a lifetime fighting for socialism (obituary)
December 1990: Will Britain withdraw? – An analysis of Brooke’s statement
January 1991 Stop the Slaughter
February 1991 How to build the anti-war movement
March 1991 Slaughter in the Gulf
April 1991 Brooke Initiative – Can talks bring a solution?
May 1991 Northern Perspectives (document)
September 1991 Stalinism in Ruins – following the failed coup
January 1992: Build workers’ unity to end the troubles and drive out the Tories
January 1992: How we can defeat sectarianism
March 1992: Labour’s Hidden Past – An answer to sectarian myths
April 1992: A chance to vote for socialism
July 1992: Northern Perspectives Statement (document)
August 1992: Yugoslavia – disintegration and slaughter
November 1992: New document shows Sinn Fein moving to Right
November 1992: No Pay Freeze
March 1993: Militant Labour stands in May elections
March 1993: People in bullet proof houses
March 1993: Towards a lasting peace?
October 1993: Middle East conflict – has it been resolved?
October 1993: Something in the air?
October 1993: Talks about Talks
November 1993: Can there be a settlement?
1994: Beyond the Troubles? (pamphlet)
1994: Northern Perspectives (document)
January 1994: After the Downing Street Declaration is a solution possible?
January 1994: A Precisely Worded Fudge
February 1994: Within the Italian Left
April 1994: Massacre in Hebron (as Maurice Hatton)
June 1994: Loughinisland Outrage
September 1994: IRA Ceasefire – will it bring peace?
September 1994: New strategy or dead end?
October 1994: Loyalist ceasefire – Time for some class politics
October 1994: Statement on the Ceasefire in Northern Ireland
1995: Troubled Times – The National Question in Ireland (pamphlet)
January 1995: Will Peace bring jobs?
February 1995: Could the Times sink Major’s plans?
Spring 1995: Our Programme for the 1990s
March 1995: Are you being framed?
Autumn 1995: Arms Decommissioning
September 1995: After a year of the ceasefires Can Talks bring a solution?
November 1995: Round one to hospital workers
1996: Northern Perspectives (document)
January 1996: Problems for Palestinian Peace Process
February 1996: Another roadblock on the path to peace
March 1996: Has Republicanism reached an impasse?
March 1996: Northern Ireland – there is no capitalist solution
April 1996: Somewhere between war and peace
June 1996: Labour Coalition victory
July 1996: Calls for RUC disbandment (with Manus Maguire)
July 1996: NI ‘peace’ process rumbles on
July 1996: On the edge of the abyss
July 1996: Sectarianism returns as “peace process” crumbles
July 1996: Should marches be banned?
July 1996: Socialism or civil war
July 1996: A week of shattered hopes (with Manus Maguire)
September 1996: Back from the Brink
September 1996: Rebuilding class unity
September 1996: Unions must provide defence
October 1996: Northern Ireland – is there a solution?
November 1996: Fight the health service vultures
1997: Northern Perspectives (document)
April 1997: Montupet – Belfast workers walk out
May 1997: Montupet Strike raises basic issues (letter)
May 1997: No Change in Northern Ireland
June 1997: Fight jail threat with workers’ solidarity
June 1997: Climbdown by Montupet bosses
July 1997: Back from the brink?
July 1997: Montupet strikers defeated – but lessons will live on!
September 1997: Ceasefire 2
September 1997: Sectarian parties have no solutions
October 1997: No prospect of a real solution
October 1997: Northern Ireland’s hidden history
October 1997: Why we fight for working class unity
November 1997: IRA dissidents split on Mitchell Principles
November 1997: Republican Divisions
1998: Northern Ireland – An opportunity for class politics (document)
January 1998: Ceasefire under threat?
April 1998: An agreement maybe – but no solution
April 1998: Giving peace a chance? (interview)
April 1998: Northern Ireland’s endgame?
May 1998: Northern Ireland ‘Peace’ – A new framework for sectarian conflict?
May 1998: Where now for Northern Ireland?
May 1998: Will the Agreement bring peace?
May 1998: “Yes” vote won’t end sectarianism
July 1998: More questions than answers
July 1998: Socialists get a friendly response
July 1998: Stepping back from the brink
July 1998: Workers’ unity can bring peace
September 1998: After the Omagh bomb
1999: The Struggle for Socialism Today (pamphlet)
February 1999: Belfast – unity needed to fight sectarianism
February 1999: Rough Justice Is No Solution
March 1999: The rocky road to Good Friday
April 1999: “Name and shame” list not short of candidates (letter)
May 1999: Broken promises and no peace for Palestinians
May 1999: High Stakes in Northern Ireland Peace Process
May 1999: Northern Ireland Standoff
May 1999: Parades – Spirit of Drumcree or Spirit of Dromore?
May 1999: Raised Expectations and Dashed Hopes
May 1999: Support Montupet Strikers
Summer 1999: Living on a knife edge
July 1999: Drumcree Countdown
July 1999: Keeping the Red Flag Flying
July 1999: Northern Ireland’s Long Week
September 1999: Debate with AWL on NI Peace Process
September 1999: Patten Report on RUC
November 1999: After the Wrangling It’s Time for Class Politics
2000: Paddy Devlin (1925–1999) (obituary)
January 2000: Northern Assembly – we won’t accept excuses
Spring 2000: 1969 Cabinet Papers – A new insight into Britain’s role
Spring 2000: Northern Ireland Assembly crisis
April 2000: Sinn Fein – activists oppose shift to the right
May 2000: IRA Statement – Is the war over?
May 2000: Northern Ireland – Good Friday two years on
May 2000: Why the IRA shifted on arms
June 2000: Bookies staff to strike
July 2000: The alternative to the annual battleground
July 2000: Parades crisis needs working-class solution to wider sectarian conflict
July 2000: Parades – Socialist Party Statement
September 2000: What’s behind the loyalist feud?
November 2000: Northern Ireland – Another Middle East in the Making?
Summer 2001: Middle East – On a Knife Edge
June 2001: Edging closer to all-out war (as Paul Howard)
June 2001: Northern Ireland – The No Choice Election
July 2001: Killed for Being a Catholic
July 2001: Northern Ireland ‘peace process’ – Sliding into sectarian conflict
August 2001: Stop the slide into conflict
August 2001: Workers Must Challenge the Bigots
September 2001: Holy Cross conflict
September 2001: No cause justifies this
September 2001: No to War – No to Terrorism
September 2001: Why Marxism Opposes Terrorism
September 2001: Working Class Must Unite Against Sectarianism
January 2002: Statement on Northern Perspectives (document)
January 2002: Strike against sectarianism
January 2002: Striking against sectarianism – United action can succeed
February 2002: Lift all threats – Stop all attacks
March 2002: Don’t privatise the Post Office
March 2002: Private finance initiatives
March 2002: Towards Division Not Peace (pamphlet)
June 2002: Northern Ireland – A tinderbox of anger
June 2002: Sectarian violence worsens in Belfast
July 2002: Build the fight against sectarianism
July 2002: Support the sacked airport workers
August 2002: What will be changed after today’s rally? (letter)
October 2002: Assembly Collapse – A Failure of Sectarian Politics
October 2002: Workers must reclaim the peace process
November 2002: Assembly collapse reflects growing polarisation
November 2002: Stand by the Firefighters
January 2003: Airport Struggle Continues (interview with Gordon McNeill)
January 2003: Bin the Bain Report – Act to Defend the Fire Service (inc. interview with Tom Maguire)
February 2003: Fire Fighters Lead 20,000 Strong Belfast Anti-War Demonstration
April 2003: Bush/Blair seek Peace Process alibi to cover their responsibility for slaughter in Iraq (with Joe Higgins)
April 2003: Iraq – Occupation, the Reality of ‘Liberation’ (with Stephen Boyd)
April 2003: Stop the Slaughter in the Gulf (with Stephen Boyd)
May 2003: Imperialism’s Grim Legacy – The Reality of Occupation (with Stephen Boyd)
May 2003: Northern Ireland Assembly elections – Only working class can end sectarian impasse
May 2003: Northern Ireland elections – Polarisation widens
Summer 2003: Correspondence with SWP over Left slates in elections
Summer 2003: European workers fight back
June 2003: Angry Shorts’ Workers Reject Pay Deal
July 2003: Can sectarian politics be challenged?
July 2003: Sacked airport workers resume pickets
September 2003: Carpet Factories Face Closure – Management to Blame
September 2003: Free the bin bag two
October 2003: The Socialist Party – Fighters for the Working Class
October 2003: The Socialist Party – Fighters for the Working Class – 2
December 2003: Divided vote hides workers disillusionment
December 2003: Northern Ireland – End of the Road for the Assembly?
December 2003: Shorts dispute not over yet
January 2004: All bureaucrats are equal but some are more equal than others
January 2004: Sacked Airport Workers Take Battle to Court
February 2004: Sacked Airport Workers – We Want the Truth to Come Out
March 2004: Airport Workers – Hunger Strike Wins Inquiry
March 2004: End of the Road for the Assembly?
March 2004: Statement on Northern Political Situation (document)
Spring 2004: Nigeria – A country in crisis
April 2004: Airport inquiry starts
May 2004: Dessian factory strike
May 2004: Fighting racism (with Ciaran Mulholland)
July 2004: Support Dessian Strikers
September 2004: 80 per cent set to resist the water tax – survey
October 2004: Do we want New Labour to organise in Northern Ireland?
December 2004: What happened to Peace Deal cash? (letter)
January 2005: Sacked airport workers’ tribunal – Employers & union officials in the dock
February 2005: The failure of sectarian politics
February 2005: Now we need to change the T&GWU
March 2005: Northern Statement (document)
March 2005: Socialist challenge in Fermanagh
March 2005: Where now for the peace process?
April 2005: Republicanism in crisis
May 2005: Elections produce another sectarian headcount
May 2005: Hunger strike wins concessions
May 2005: No choice elections show need for a new workers party
May 2005: Polarisation widens
May 2005: Socialist policies give an alternative to sectarian division
August 2005: Disband ALL paramilitaries
August 2005: Northern Ireland after the IRA statement
September 2005: August 1969 – When workers stood up to sectarianism
October 2005: Headed towards renewed conflict not peace
November 2005: Northern Ireland – Towards conflict or peace?
December 2005: George Best wrote poetry with his feet
2006: Northern Perspectives – Perspectives and Tasks (document)
January 2006: After Sharon – Middle East in turmoil
March 2006: Historic strike victory for postal workers ...
March 2006: Postal workers say: “We may have to strike again”
April 2006: The real ideas of James Connolly
April 2006: Strike threat at Visteon
May 2006: Visteon – Bosses say “accept cuts or we close”
June 2006: Fighting to save jobs in Lisnaskea
October 2006: FE colleges close as lecturers fight for parity
November 2006: No peace dividend for working class people
Winter 2006: Northern Ireland talks – Another deadline! Will it work?
January 2007: Visteon – Industrial action forces concession on pay parity
February 2007: Another election, another recipe for sectarian deadlock
February 2007: Sinn Fein’s major U-turn
March 2007: Sacked airport workers say they were fired “for trade union opinion and socialist beliefs”
March 2007: They may “do the deal” but can an Assembly last?
March 2007: Water charges a key issue in Assembly election campaign
March 2007: British government/local parties make power-sharing agreement and retreat on water charges
April 2007: “We won’t pay” say hundreds of demonstrators in Belfast
May 2007: Belfast airport workers – Campaigning for justice
May 2007: Northern Ireland – 1907 Dockers and Carters’ strike
May 2007: Sacked airport workers out to prove that … Ordinary workers can fight back
May 2007: Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley’s DUP form power sharing Executive
July 2007: Power sharing internationally – How and why it has failed
September 2007: Belfast International Airport workers win ground-breaking court victory
December 2007: Sinn Fein ministers are toeing a Thatcherite line (letter)
January 2008: Socialist Party replies to Sinn Fein attacks on classroom assistants
February 2008: Another election, another recipe for sectarian deadlock
Spring 2008: Iraq five years on – Invasion and occupation – An unmitigated disaster
March 2008: British state repression, the IRA’s armed campaign and the Labour Movement
May 2008: Sacked airport workers’ six year long battle for justice
Summer 2008: Belfast Airport Workers – Setting the True Record Straight
June 2008: Belfast Airport workers – The long battle for justice
June 2008: “We will not be silenced”
July 2008: Airport workers win appeal – We need fighting democratic unions
September 2008: Attempt to jail Gordon McNeill fails
September 2008: SP calls for nationalisation of energy companies
October 2008: UNISON union expels socialist activist
November 2008: Sectarian agendas at play
December 2008: Royal Irish Regiment Parade – Sectarian agendas at play
Winter 2008: Descent into Chaos – The United States and the failure of nation building in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia
January 2009: End the invasion of Gaza
April 2009: Belfast Visteon occupation – One week on and still solid
May 2009: Action gets results – Visteon occupation
June 2009: Northern Ireland – Who can fill the political vacuum
July 2009: August 1969 – When British troops went into Northern Ireland
August 2009: Afghanistan – will this be Obama’s Vietnam?
Encyclopedia of Trotskyism OnLine (ETOL) | Trotskyist Writers’ Index
Last updated: 25 September 2020