It affiliated with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Labour Party and had around 16,000 members.

[3] Its Dublin branch left the following year, to form the Civil and Public Services Union.

[3] In 1980, the CPSA published a history of its first 75 years, From Humble Petition to Militant Action.

[3] Militant supporter John Macreadie initially won the ballot.

However, the election was blocked and the courts ordered it to be re-run, with John Ellis receiving 42,000 votes, Macreadie 31,000, and the Broad Left '84 candidate, backed by the Communist Party, 13,000.