Death of Comrade Tom French, former President of the Workers Party of Ireland

It is with a profound sense of loss and sadness that the Workers Party of Ireland announces the passing of our comrade, friend, and former President of the Workers Party, Tom French. Cde Tom died on the morning of 12^th March 2023 and his funeral took place on 14^th March, attended by his comrades and friends.  Our current Party President, Ted Tynan, and the Central Executive Committee of the Workers Party, expressed sincere condolences to Tom’s family, to his wife Frances, his children and grandchildren and to the wider family circle.

A funeral tribute was delivered by Cde Gerry Grainger on behalf of the Central Executive Committee and the Northern Ireland Regional Committee of the Party. Cde Tom French spent his life committed to the cause of socialism, a man of principle who lived a life dedicated to working for the good of his class and with a vision for a future free from the poison of sectarianism which divides our people.

Tom was born in 1934. He was an active trade unionist, a member of NASUWT and Craigavon Trades Council; a civil rights activist and hardworking member of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association; and a local government Councillor for our Party.

The WPI has received many messages of sympathy from across the island of Ireland and beyond in tribute to a comrade who was deeply committed to the struggle for peace, justice and equality and who was not afraid, even in the darkest and most dangerous days of our history, to make a stand for what he believed. 

Tom represented our Party in many elections under the banner of “Peace, Work and Class Politics”. Despite illness in recent years, he remained a member of the Workers Party until the end. Despite his ill health, Tom’s dedication and commitment to his socialist principles and to his comrades in the Workers Party never wavered. He stayed the course when others abandoned our anti-sectarian, socialist ideology for personal gain, the false promises of social democracy, or the siren call of nationalism.

For Tom there could be no liberation, no freedom, without the emancipation of the working-class, both at home and across the world.

Tom won a seat on Craigavon Borough Council in 1978 and he remained a dedicated councillor in Craigavon until 1993. He flew the flag for the Party in many other elections, including, Assembly and Parliamentary elections, polling 19% in one election in 1986.

Tom was a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Workers Party for many years. In 1992, he was elected Chairman of the Workers Party in Northern and in 1996 he was elected to the position of Party President, replacing, Marian Donnelly, who was herself the first female leader of a political party in Ireland. He retired from that position in 2000 and was replaced by our late comrade, Seán Garland. Tom continued to serve the Party as a member of its Central Executive Committee for many years.

Tom was also a leading, and founding, member of the Peace Train, a campaign group set up in 1989 across the island in response to the repeated bombing of the Dublin to Belfast railway line by the Provisionals. He was, like his late comrades, Tomas MacGiolla and Des O’Hagan, a long-time proponent of the need for a Bill of Rights, which he maintained was a necessary foundation for building real peace and political progress in Northern Ireland.

Throughout the ages, working people have dreamed of a world of peace, freedom and equality, an end to exploitation and oppression, a society free from misery and suffering. Tom French, together with his comrades, envisioned the fulfilment of that dream in the building of a socialist society based on the power of a united working class.

Tom French was a leading member of our Party, the Workers Party of Ireland. He served the Party with distinction throughout his life. His life, work and immense contribution will be remembered.

G. Grainger

Central Executive Committee

Workers Party of Ireland

March 2023