Much more damage would have been done to the political life of Northern Ireland without the Workers Party, Mr Sean Garland, the party's national treasurer, said yesterday.
Speaking at the grave of Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown, Co Kildare, at the party's annual commemoration, he said it was opportune, on the 200th anniversary of the 1798 rebellion, for the party to "cast a cold eye on the political situation in our country and to endeavour to point the way forward for our party and class".
The Workers Party had been consistent in driving home the message that terrorism will never succeed in anything other than to deepen the division among the working class.
They had "held the line against blind sectarian hatred" and had played a part in "influencing key individuals and groups to move away from terrorism and sectarianism".
While it has flaws, the Belfast Agreement, Mr Garland said, represented a "positive move forward".
Mr Garland later lamented the decline in strength and influence of the trade union movement. It was "one of the most significant and shameful defeats over recent years".