Roy Johnston

Roy Johnston (born 1929) is an Irish physicist. He was a Marxist who as a member of the IRA in the 1960s argued for a National Liberation Strategy to unite the Catholic and Protestant working classes. He wrote extensively for papers including the United Irishman and Irish Times.

Biography

His father was Joseph Johnston, a farmer, economist and historian, a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin and a member of the Seanad Éireann on several occasions between 1938 to 1954. Joe Johnston was a home ruler who hailed from a small farming Presbyterian background in Tyrone.

Roy was born in Dublin in 1929 he was educated at St. Columba's College, Rathfarnham, and Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied experimental science and mathematics, specialising in theoretical physics.

Roy Johnston has been affiliated to various progressive and left wing organisations throughout his life. As a student in Trinity he was associated with a Marxist group, the Promethean Society, which in 1948 was part of the formation of the Irish Workers’ League, eventually becoming the Communist Party of Ireland.