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Socialist Democracy is a fragment of "People's Democracy", a left nationalist current which emerged in Belfast in the 1960s and which subsequently affiliated to the USFI. People's Democracy held a seat on Belfast City Coucil in the 1980s during a period when Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, were boycotting electoral contests. People's Democracy supported the IRA's terror campaign.
When Sinn Féin ended their boycott and gained mass support among the nationalist community, People's Democracy withered away. A number of their activists, such as trade union official Anne Speed, joined Sinn Féin.
Socialist Democracy has fewer than ten members. It has never contested an election but it has obtained the recognition of the USFI which had no affiliated or sympathising section in Ireland since the dissolution of People's Democracy.
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