THE left wing grouping known as Militant Labour has renamed itself as the Socialist Party.
Its most prominent member is Mr Joe Higgins, who came close to winning the Dublin West by election last April.
The Socialist Party will stand five candidates in Dublin constituencies in the general election. It also intends to join other candidates on a common platform calling for justice in taxation.
"We shocked the political establishment in Dublin West and we will really shock them in the forthcoming general election," Mr Higgins told a press conference in Dublin.
Militant Labour was founded by members of the Militant Tendency who were expelled from the Labour Party in 1989.
Mr Higgins said the word "militant" used to stand for activists within the labour and trade union movement but recently it had acquired negative connotations in the media and become associated with "terror groups".
Party members have been active in campaigns against water charges and drug abuse. Given the "mood for an alternative" among the public, Mr Higgins expected his party to make "very significant steps forward".
In a statement, the party said it was "determined to make a real impact on the political life of the country over the course of the next few years".
It would be "a campaigning socialist political party taking up all the issues that affect ordinary working class people".
The Socialist Party had harsh words for Labour and Democratic Left: "They claim to be the parties that represent ordinary working class people. These claims are completely false."