Patrick Smith (politician) career, Smith being said to have shouted across the floor at Dáil Éireann, "They gave us stepping-stones, but they [state forces in 1922] would not walk on them." A play on the same quote by Irish revolutionary, Michael Collins. He entered the Dáil in September 1923, as a Republican candidate. In 1926, Éamon de Valera, the Leader of Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein, approached Smith and persuaded him to join his newly founded political party, Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fail abandoned the abstentionist policy of Anti Treaty Sinn Fein and its elected members took their seats in Dáil Éireann. De Valera and Smith
Irish Workers' Party (1926) Irish Workers' Party (1926) The Irish Workers' Party was a communist party in Ireland. It was founded in 1926 by former members of the Communist Party of Ireland and other communists. Among its members were Roddy Connolly (son of James Connolly), who served the party leader, Nora Connolly (daughter of James Connolly), Tom Lyng, the trade unionist P. T. Daly, Walter Carpenter Jnr, and Jack White. Many of the members had been active in Jim Larkin's Irish Worker League, and the party attempted to affiliate with the Communist International in place of the IWL. The party published "Irish Hammer and