Hot to Trot: Explaining radical left electoral strategies in Ireland

Since 2011, People Before Profit/Solidarity has been the most electorally successful Trotskyist movement in the Global North. This is surprising as Irish voters tend to avoid ideological radicalism and many Trotskyist parties view electioneering as a strategic dead end. There is an assumption that the ease of access for new entrants provided by the Irish electoral system explains the ability of these outsiders to gain parliamentary representation. But to what extent does Proportional Representation-Single Transferable Vote account for the electoral strategies of Irish Trotskyism? This article argues that Proportional Representation-Single Transferable Vote is a necessary but insufficient condition to explain the electoral focus of People Before Profit/Solidarity. More pertinently, it is internal ‘supply-side’ party decisions that have aided electioneering. These consist of three essential features. First, representation is facilitated through vote-seeking strategies that involve intense local activism on neglected issues of working-class concern. Second, interleft competition means that Trotskyist parties – which would otherwise prioritise extraparliamentary activism over electioneering – strenuously seek elected office to avoid irrelevance within the radical left and to secure state resources for the cause. Finally, the formation of pluralist electoral vehicles aids vote-seeking by including the organising capabilities of non-party activists and reducing ideological rigidity. The article refines supply–demand explanations for radical left electoral success by demonstrating the importance of internal supply-side decision-making for Radical Left Party electoral strategies.