Cyril Toman is a political activist in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

.

Toman attended Queen's University Belfast, where he joined the Labour Club, and also the Belfast Willowfield

Belfast Willowfield (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Belfast Willowfield was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.-Boundaries:Belfast Willowfield was a borough constituency comprising part of southern Belfast...

 branch of the Northern Ireland Labour Party

Northern Ireland Labour Party

The Northern Ireland Labour Party was an Irish political party which operated from 1924 until 1987.In 1913 the British Labour Party resolved to give the recently formed Irish Labour Party exclusive organising rights in Ireland...

 (NILP). He visited Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 as the group's representative in 1964. In 1965 - 66, he edited the Labour Club's Impact journal, and was the Chair of the Literific Society debating society. He also became Chair of the NILP Young Socialists, and joined the revolutionary socialist Irish Workers' Group

Irish Workers' Group

The Irish Workers' Group was a Marxist political party in Ireland. It originated as the Irish Workers Union, which later called itself the Irish Communist Group, and contained a variety of people who all considered themselves to be Marxists...

.

On leaving university, Toman became a teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

 in Newtownards

Newtownards

Newtownards is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. Newtownards is the largest town in the Borough of Ards. According to the 2001 Census, it has a population of 27,821 people in...

. He joined the Young Socialist Alliance, and became a prominent leader of People's Democracy

People's Democracy

People's Democracy was a political organisation that, while supporting the campaign for civil rights for Northern Ireland's Catholic minority, stated that such rights could only be achieved through the establishment of a socialist republic for all of Ireland...

, whose other members included Michael Farrell and Eamonn McCann

Eamonn McCann

Eamonn McCann is an Irish journalist, author and political activist.-Life:McCann was born and has lived most of his life in Derry. He was educated at St. Columb's College in the city. He is prominently featured in the documentary film The Boys of St...

, contemporaries of his at university. Through the Young Socialist Alliance

Young Socialist Alliance

The Young Socialist Alliance was a Trotskyist youth group of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States of America. It was founded in 1960, although it had roots going back several years earlier. It was dissolved in 1992...

, he and Farrell were the main promoters of the Belfast to Derry March in 1968. Toman stood for People's Democracy in Mid Armagh

Mid Armagh (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Mid Armagh was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.-Boundaries:Mid Armagh was a county constituency comprising the south central part of County Armagh. It was created when the House of Commons Act 1929 introduced first-past-the-post elections throughout Northern Ireland...

 at the Northern Ireland general election, 1969

Northern Ireland general election, 1969

-References:*...

, where he took 27.7% of the vote.

In 1969, he was an organiser of a civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 march from Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 to Dublin. At the border customs post, he presented two books which had been condemned by the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, The Ginger Man

The Ginger Man

The Ginger Man is a 1955 novel by J. P. Donleavy.First published in Paris, the novel is set in Dublin, Ireland, in post war 1947. Upon its publication, it was banned in the Republic of Ireland and the United States of America for obscenity....

and The Girl With Green Eyes, the first of which was banned in the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, in order to challenge censorship

Censorship

thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

 laws. This proved controversial within the movement, and Toman was also criticised for organising the march badly.

Following Bloody Sunday (1972)

Bloody Sunday (1972)

Bloody Sunday —sometimes called the Bogside Massacre—was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which twenty-six unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army...

, Toman visited Armagh

Armagh

Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...

 and Dublin to raise support before travelling to attempt to defend Free Derry

Free Derry

Free Derry was a self-declared autonomous nationalist area of Derry, Northern Ireland, between 1969 and 1972. Its name was taken from a sign painted on a gable wall in the Bogside in January 1969 which read, “You are now entering Free Derry"...

. Once there, he spoke at public meetings to "keep up morale".

Toman later joined Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

, and he stood unsuccessfully for the organisation in South Down

South Down (Assembly constituency)

South Down is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973...

 at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1982. He later moved to Australia.