The Plough

THE SOCIALIST SOCIETY

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:48:00 +0000

THE SOCIALIST SOCIETY
Keynote Address given by Dr Terry Robson at the Launch of the IRSP’s documents:

• Perspectives on the Future of Republican Socialism in Ireland
96 Page Analysis of the IRSP views on the various issues facing the Irish working class.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dsfpbluuo0cduak/PerspectivesDocument.pdf

• Republican Socialist Programme for Ireland
12 page summary of the perspectives document.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/lwp9roz5wsow4ay/RepublicanSocialistProgramme.pdf

I want to take this opportunity at the outset of thanking the leadership of the Republican Socialist Movement for inviting me to address this gathering so that the two documents which are being launched today can reach our working class audience and be used as a tool in raising their consciousness and in developing strategies to build a serious political opposition to the Tories and their Irish collaborators.
My contribution this afternoon is to focus on the building of the socialist society in Ireland.
In setting out the ideas contained in the programme of the IRSP, it is important at all times to recognize and acknowledge the roots of the movement and also acknowledge as socialist revolutionaries that our function and role is to seek to expose the opportunism of those who describe themselves as socialists but who nonetheless have engaged with every conservative administration in the Free State and in Britain to lever themselves into power
The pathetic spectacle of the Sinn Fein leadership attempting to address the current financial crisis by announcing a series of irrelevant measures designed to assist the coalition governments at Stormont and Westminster, was at least embarrassing and at worst politically damaging.
It should not be the function of socialist revolutionaries to assist in propping up the northern state any more than it should be the function of socialist revolutionaries to provide excuses for the continuation of this capitalist system.
Of course many cynics will point to the IRSP and demand that its members ‘get real’ and deal with the realities of life in the 21st century. But tell that to the millions of French workers and students who threaten to bring the state to its knees through strike action and boycott in their campaign of opposition to state imposed cuts. Tell that to the millions of working class people who are going to be adversely affected by the measures expected to be introduced by British Chancellor, George Osborne, Stormont finance minister Sammy Wilson and inevitably by the Irish Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan. And now we hear that thirty CEO’s of major companies including Tesco and Asda support the austerity measures. And still the banks pay out massive bonuses to their executives and additional rewards to their investors.
Does the IRSP have an answer to these problems? I believe that it does! Build alliances of trades unionists and community activists and prepare for the socialist society. Bring the state to its knees and build the socialist society. Nationalise the banks and financial institutions and build the socialist society. Abolish the border, reunite the nation and build the socialist society. There is no other answer to the global financial crisis. Any other solution will inevitably drive the advocates of reform into the arms of the collaborators and their financial backers in the IMF. Any other solution will inevitably result in the working class having to pay for the greed of the few.
So, what is Sinn Fein’s response? What is their solution to a resolution of the crisis? Place a levy on mobile phone companies. Initiate a cut in Minister’s, senior civil servants and MLA salaries and expenses and – wait for it – introduce a 3p levy on the use of plastic bags! Sinn Fein should get real. James Connolly must be turning in his grave. It would have been better for them if they had kept their tongues in their cheeks.
For this reason therefore I want to briefly draw your attention to two important areas which are matters of public concern and to acknowledge the historic and ideological roots of our movement with that of James Connolly. The first area is to expose the hypocricy of those within the establishment who refuse to lay the blame for the current economic and financial crisis on the bankers and their allies as well as to force them to admit that even though we might be satisfied at seeing them prosecuted for what they have done - which is unlikely - it is important to recognize that it is the capitalist system which is at fault. Secondly it is important to look at the arms of the State, namely, its police forces, and seek to provide a constructive alternative to a so-called ‘reformed’ police service, which is truly democratic, accountable and without access to arms.
As to our historic roots: In 1910, Connolly returned to Ireland, first landing in Derry, as organiser of the new Socialist Party in Ireland. He was co-founder of the Labour Party in 1912. He was the Belfast organiser for the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union. This Union led the wave of class struggles that affected both Dublin and Belfast. Connolly succeeded in uniting Catholic and Protestant workers against the employers. In October 1911 he led the famous Belfast Textile Workers’ strike. The wave of employee strikes was countered by the employers in the notorious Dublin Lock-out of 1913. On this occasion, Dublin employers, organised by William Martin Murphy, the chairman of the Employers’ Federation and owner of the Independent newspaper, set out to crush the workers and their organisations. The ITGWU replied by blacking Murphy’s newspapers, which led to the lock-out of the workers. Connolly became the workers’ leader following the arrest of James Larkin. He himself was arrested and went on hunger strike, but was released after a week. Larkin and Connolly appealed for help from abroad and in September the first food ship sailed into Dublin supported by British workers.
Hence our roots in working-class action and international cooperation.
The Easter Proclamation bears marks of Connolly’s influence: the egalitarianism of the opening address: ‘Irishmen and Irishwomen … ’; and the socialist demand that ‘We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies’. Connolly was sentenced to death by a British Military Tribunal for his role in the Rising and was executed by a firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol at dawn on 12 May 1916.
Meanwhile more recently, Sinn Fein contribute to the warning by Connolly of a ‘carnival of reaction’ by forging an alliance with the DUP, one of the most reactionary political parties in Europe so that they can share the spoils of localized power. They are either easily bought, or have a ‘fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach to politics. Consider for example, Gerry Adams’ disastrous performance on RTE during the Free State elections when he failed abysmally to provide even the most basic understanding of the southern economy.
The Free State has had a varied and erratic approach to the question of economic stability. Every attempt by the left and the republican left to seek answers to the problems of unemployment and poverty was to respond to international crises by seeking either to provide piece-meal solutions, or to bend over backwards to meet the demands of those managing the new global economy. The growth and collapse of the southern economy is well documented::
In the 1990s, the southern economy began the 'Celtic Tiger' phase. The European Union contributed over €10 billion into infrastructure. By 2000 the South had become one of the world's wealthiest nations, unemployment stabilised at 4% and income tax was almost half 1980s levels. During this time, the Irish economy grew by five to six percent annually, dramatically raising Irish workers’ incomes to surpass those of many states in the rest of Western Europe, including Britain.But the onset of the recent crisis demonstrated in no short measure the weakness of the capitalist system in Ireland and exposed the dangers of building a local economy on foreign capital.
How do these developments compare with that taking place north of the border? The tendency over the past two centuries and in particular the period described as the Industrial Revolution, the pro-Unionist, capitalist class located most of the nation’s wealth in the North Eastern corner of Ireland. This inevitably led to the consolidation of economic power amongst the Unionist financial elite and to the inevitable sense of uneven development and to the emasculation of weaker sections of the Irish economy. It led to the inevitable division of the country into two separate states. It also led to the further consolidation of power amongst the Unionist ruling class in Belfast and the systematic programme of discrimination against the minority Catholic population, in particular in that area often described as ‘West of the Bann’.
Now we are faced with the Tory’s introduction of the most savage cuts in public expenditure to meet the deficit – the legacy, if the Tories are to be believed, of three successive Labour administrations. So much for the advantages of union with Britain.
In the north, the coalition of DUP and Sinn Fein go cap-in-hand to Downing Street for hand-outs whilst Gerry Adams continues to make a fool of himself as chair of a panel of the Sinn Fein leadership presenting their recommendations to the crisis of £1.8 billion in savings. But the bottom line is that in whatever way they chose to explain away their collaboration with Unionism, the fact is that they are helping to manage the British economy in Ireland. Meanwhile European workers protesting against changes in pension rights take to the streets in a united effort to resist measures which affect their hard-won rights. While the RUC/PSNI raid workers homes in Derry cheered on by Sinn Fein, French workers are confronting the police on the streets of Paris, Marseilles and Lyons. What a contrast, and what an embarrassment to our tradition of opposition to the state.
This brings me to the second and final issue of this presentation which goes to the heart of the dilemma facing republican and socialist community workers.
Socialists should have no illusions in the police. They are the first line of the repressive arm of the state. This state is, to paraphrase Marx, a committee for managing the common affairs of the middle class. One of these 'common affairs' is the problem of managing the working class and ensuring it is never in a position to threaten private property and the means of production - the basis of class power in all capitalist societies. For socialists the police represent a serious obstacle to realising socialism because it is the function of the police to provide the substance of this management process. This is why, traditionally, many a revolutionary programme has argued for disbanding the police and its replacement by militias formed from the conscious workers themselves - to defend and strengthen working class power - in just the same way that Connolly advocated the founding of the Irish Citizens’ Army.. The obvious difficulty is that calling for the abolition of the police invites derision and dismissal as unreal and impractical.

This has tended to leave the left with very little to say about crime and everyday policing. It is often said that republicans may be good on the diagnosis of crime but weak in what can be done about it, creating the impression that the left is soft on criminality. Obviously, this is not good enough - it leaves us disarmed in front of those communities where crime and anti-social behaviour is endemic. And from an 'orthodox' point of view of progressing the class struggle, there is no development of a strategy to neutralise the police as the first line of the capitalist state. It's an issue left hanging in the air, presumably to be sorted out at some point down the line.
Meanwhile those working within the community sector are confronted with daily dilemmas of having to seek solutions to community demands for law and order.

The IRSP recognises that working class communities bear the brunt of crime and argues for a variety of strategies to tackle it including empowering those communities through the democratic control of policing. At the moment accountability is haphazard and indirect and dominated to some extent by Sinn Fein. It is vital that the IRSP challenge the Sinn Fein stranglehold of this issue. Democratic accountability exists partially through the police committees only, and even then they have no rights over policy or personnel. This is neither a new nor a unique problem
In South Africa following the removal of the apartheid regime the local communities were faced with an upsurge of criminal activity. Simply put, their answer was to ignore the existing policing structures and build localized defense committees with responsibility for law and order. As it was the policing arm of the state which permitted the apartheid regime to continue it would have been impossible to have any confidence in it. Forty years after the murder of Sammy Devenney in this city by members of the RUC and still the Historic Enquiry team haven’t as much as acknowledged or recognized RUC guilt.
The situation in the North is no different. The RUC was formed to defend the state and to provide the state with the justification to continue its programme of religious and political discrimination.
New policing structures need to be built which separate policing from the state. The PSNI man of 2010 who kicks in the door of a republican to search his or her home and take them to Antrim holding centre and then to Maghaberry is no different from the RUC man of 1971 who kicked in the door of a republican to take them to Castlereagh and Long Kesh. Similarly, the PSNI man who carries out these early morning raids is the same man who visits the local community centre with proposals to combat local crime.
At its base, the North continues to be a sectarian state which must be dismantled with all of its institutions rebuilt in the interests of the working class. The Northern state was created and built to represent one section of the population and ultimately to subjugate another section of the population in the interests of the capitalist class, north and south.
The task of Republican Socialists ultimately is to expose the anomalies, build the revolutionary Party and lay the basis for the socialist society envisaged by James Connolly and Seamus Costello. That is why he brought us together in the Spa Hotel in November in 1974.

IRSCNA on INLA disarming

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:17:00 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3 March 2010
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America

IRSCNA response to INLA Decommissioning

The leadership of the Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America applaud the commitment of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement to put party-political work first.

The IRSCNA realize that this decision was not made lightly, and that in order for the IRSP to meet its full potential as a working class republican socialist party in the tradition of Connolly, Costello, Power and Gallagher, the Movement must evolve within the context of existing realities on the ground.

We agree with the leadership of the Republican Socialist Movement that the conditions for armed struggle do not presently exist at this time. We accept that some may be unhappy with this move, but now is the time to think with our heads and not with our hearts, and come together in a united front to help build our Movement at this critical time in our history.

In the past, it was virtually impossible for Republican Socialists to organise without the full weight and threat of British and native capitalist repression being employed against them. Now, thanks to the heroic sacrifices of our comrades, we have the opportunity to make our revolutionary Republican Socialist message heard and made more relevant than ever before, in working class communities across the political divide, North and South, without the spectre of guns coming between our class allies or haunting our Movement.

Now more than ever is the time to attack the capitalist regime and its corrupt system of privilege and undemocratic power North and South --with class politics and community organising -- to build the red base and become the voice of our class, the working class.

The IRSCNA look forward to working within this new political framework of the Party. We encourage all our comrades and supporters to take full advantage of this new opportunity to help build our political presence and spread the message of Repubilcan Socialism.

We wish the party every success with this essential work and commit to being a supportive and collaborative North American partner in this work.

###

Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 901479
Kansas City MO 64190-1479
USA

irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/

INLA Prisoners reaction to INLA disarming

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:18:00 +0000

Response from the INLA aligned prisoners to the announcement that the INLA has dumped weapons.

17 February 2010

We, the IRSM prisoners at Portlaoise Gaol, Tony McClelland Cumann IRSP welcome the recent decision of the Irish National Liberation Army to put its arsenal of military weaponry beyond use.

Having previously endorsed the declaration by the leadership of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement that "the war is over"; we now view the decision and actions of the INLA to disarm as logical and indeed a necessary step in further developing the struggle for unity, democracy and socialism in Ireland.

This historical development, the culmination of a protracted internal consultative process which involved the prisoners, serves to underline the commitment that exists within the IRSM at every level to achieving our goals and aspirations solely through political application and endeavour.

We salute the selfless bravery of all INLA volunteers and comrades in the IRSP as we look forward to the challenges of the future with confidence and enthusiasm. Onwards to the republic!

Signed: PAUL KELLY, NOEL MOONEY, JONATHAN KEOGH,
NEIL MYLES,GERARD KELLEGHER, GERARD MACKIN,
ANTHONY LEE, EUGENE KELLY, PADDY WALLS, OWEN CLAIL,
DAVID O CONNOR, THOMAS KELLY, DENNIS DWYER,
JOHN McCROSSAN

ENDS

Statement from the leadership of the INLA

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:16:00 +0000

Statement from the leadership of the
Irish National Liberation Army

On the issue of weapons held by the INLA.

The Irish National Liberation Army, as part of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, was formed in December 1974 in order to bring about a 32 County Socialist Republic on the island of Ireland. Since then many sacrifices were made by our volunteers, dozens were killed and many hundreds jailed and exiled as a result of their revolutionary activity. We would like to commend our volunteers past and present, for their courage and steadfastness in the face of overwhelming odds and adversity. At various stages during the conflict the volunteer soldiers of the INLA took the war to the heart of the British establishment and to their military, political and capitalist apparatus in Ireland.

Our actions helped bring an end to Unionist one party rule in the six counties and like all other parties to the conflict our members have suffered, have been killed, imprisoned, died on hunger strike and marginalized – but never broken nor defeated. We pay tribute to our fallen comrades who gave their lives in the struggle, we also pay tribute to their families and share their pride and sorrow. We also salute the courage and steadfastness of all of our supporters who risked and sacrificed so much.

The nature of the conflict in the north of Ireland for a generation dictated that armed struggle was the only option available to those who wished to bring down a corrupt and stubborn regime and to remove the British occupation from Ireland and we make no apology for our part in the conflict. We believe that conditions have now changed in such a way that other options are open to revolutionaries in order to pursue and ultimately achieve our objectives.

Revolutionaries must continually analyse and adapt to the prevailing conditions of the day. To fail to do so will ultimately mean that the failures of the past will be repeated. James Connolly said in 1915; "We believe in constitutional action in normal times; we believe in revolutionary action in exceptional times." We do not see the continuing occupation of the six counties as acceptable and no nation should be occupied by any foreign imperialist state but we do believe that the retention of INLA weapons at this time clearly alienates a large section of the working class on the island of Ireland from the struggle to build socialism. We see it as our duty as revolutionaries to persuade the working class that there exists massive benefits in embracing socialism and building a republic that embraces all the children of the nation equally and that is something worth fighting for. We believe that as the battlefield has changed then so too must our tactics. We will continue our !
struggle to bring about the republic for which so many of our comrades gave their lives pursuing.

The circumstances which brought about the need for armed conflict have changed radically. We, along with other republicans, can claim some credit for the progress that has been made. In particular the recent decommissioning of loyalist weapons can be traced back to the INLA’s imaginative “no first strike” policy of 1994.

The INLA have now been on cease-fire for almost twelve years and in recent times has been engaged in a process of in-depth consultation and collective debate, locally, nationally and internationally. On 11th October 2009 the INLA announced that our military war was over concluding that the time was right to reaffirm the primacy of politics and clearly stating that it is our belief that armed struggle is not a viable option at this time.

We can now also confirm that the INLA has disarmed through a joint facilitation group consisting of a local, a national and an international organisation. This was done in a process in accordance with international standards. The joint facilitation group included; Creggan Enterprises Derry, The Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Dialogue Advisory Group, Amsterdam, an international conflict resolution organisation.

We hope that this move will further enhance the primacy of politics as outlined in the Ta Power Document and that it will, in time, unite and advance the working class struggle in Ireland. We recognise that real, meaningful and lasting change will only be secured through radical political struggle from a united working class in Ireland. We remain committed to ending partition, eradicating sectarianism and uniting Ireland by building a viable working class alternative. We will seek to engage with all other progressive forces to work towards these ends. The volunteers of the INLA will not be found wanting in the continuing struggle for the liberation of the working class.

The INLA and the entire Republican Socialist Movement remains steadfastly opposed to the partitionist and sectarian set-up in the six counties. These moves by the INLA do not mean an acceptance of either Stormont or the political, policing and judicial structures in the north. We will continue to oppose these structures as vigorously as before through the primacy of politics. We remain steadfastly opposed to any British colonial policing in any part of Ireland.

Whilst our tactics are changing our objectives remain the same - the establishment of a 32 County Socialist Republic envisaged by generations of Republicans from Liam Mellows to Ta Power and from James Connolly to Seamus Costello. The tradition of Irish Republican Socialism remains and is growing. We are convinced that the northern state as a political entity is unworkable and we remain opposed to the Good Friday Agreement and it’s institutions which perpetuate sectarianism and division among our class.

All our comrades and activists will prosecute our struggle politically and with the same vigour with which they fought the British state in Ireland. We have fought the long war, let us now fight for an independent Irish society based on the principles of equality, social justice and lasting peace.

08-02-10
ENDS

Leadership Statement

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:57:00 +0000

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE LEADERSHIP OF THE IRISH REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST MOVEMENT

The INLA and IRSP were formed in 1974 in order to create a 32 County Socialist Republic. In those 35 years military volunteers and political activists have fought with courage and honour and have struck at the heart of the British military and political machine in Ireland and in Britain. The INLA is a key constituency within the Republican Socialist Movement (RSM). The INLA recognised that its struggle was based upon two distinct phases:

(1) Armed Resistance
(2) Political Organisation

In 1994 the INLA put in place a no first strike policy and in 1998 called a complete cease-fire. Both of these decisions were based on its political analysis and monitoring of the changing military and political environment. The recent progress on loyalist decommissioning can be traced back to the INLA's "no first strike policy" of 1994 and the INLA acknowledges this progressive step by loyalism.

The RSM has been informed by the INLA that following a process of serious debate, consultation and analysis, it has concluded that the armed struggle is over and the objective of a 32 County Socialist Republic will be best achieved through exclusively peaceful political struggle.

The RSM agree with this analysis and are fully supportive of the move to build a left wing party that has a clear objective of a 32 County Socialist Republic based on the principles of equality, justice, inclusion, human rights and dignity.

It is within the above objective that the RSM opposed the Good Friday Agreement and continues to do so. We as a movement believe that the Six County State is not a viable political entity, which cannot be reformed and fitted into a flawed two State solution.

The RSM has always aspired to the principle of the primacy of politics as espoused by Ta Power.

The future struggles are political. We urge all comrades, members, volunteers and supporters to join the political struggle ahead with the same vigour, commitment and courage that was evident in our armed struggle against the British State.

To para-phrase James Connolly 'let us arise', build a left political alternative in Ireland and support the struggle against global capitalism.

Ultimately our allegiance is to the working class, onwards to victory.

The Plough Vol 06 No 05

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:19:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://theploughblog.blogspot.com/

Vol 6-No 5

Sunday April 12th 2009

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1. Easter Statement From the leadership of the IRSM

2) Republican Socialist Youth Movement Statement

3) Prisoners Statement

4) IRSCNA Easter Solidarity Message

Easter Statement From the leadership of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement

Comrades,

We send greetings first of all to the families and friend of our dead INLA volunteers and our dead comrades from the IRSP killed for their political beliefs. We send greetings and solidarity to all our comrades currently imprisoned for their political activities.

We remember all those who in the latest phase of the struggle for liberation from the yolk of imperialism fell in the struggle. And we salute the memory of all republicans of whatever hue who died in the struggle for the self-determination of the Irish people.

Easter is a time, when all over Ireland and in parts abroad, Irish republicans gather to pay homage to our dead and to renew our resistance. It is also a time to take stock, to re-evaluate where we stand and to ask where stands the struggle for an independent Irish Republic?

Comrades if truth be told the struggle has suffered a severe set back over these last years. Consider the enemies who face us. A foreign power, a native government of appeasers in the South and in the North a puppet administration in cahoots with MI5, the PSNI and supporting the most repressive laws we have ever seen.

Those, who sold the Good Friday Agreement as an advance for Irish republicanism, sold a lie. It was a defeat.

However it would be a mistake to simply jump up and down and bemoan the mistakes of the past or dwell on what others did or did not do.

Do we, the Republican Socialist Movement learn from our past? Do we the Republican Socialist Movement have a strategy and a determined path to follow? Yes we do!

We have clearly set out our position on the type of resistance we believe should be followed by Republicans in this day and age. That is why we have worked for Republican political unity with other organisations.

The IRSP is part of the Republican Forum for Unity. We encourage all republican socialists to give their full support to the activities of the Forum. Where we can work on issues together we will.

That does not in any way hinder or stop the building of our own Party. We encourage all those who want to change the system join the organisation that that consistently and persistently opposed both imperialism and capitalism. Join the IRSP

We say as we have been saying for years that the road forward is the political road. We do not mean the road to Stormont and the pleasures of administering power for the British. We do not mean the path to the Dail and the pleasures of administering power on the behest of the native bourgeoisie and foreign capital.

We mean the political road of revolution, of the transformation of the two states in Ireland the seizing of power from the capitalist elites, the taking back from the robber barons the land resources, the economic resources and wealth that rightly belongs to the whole of the people on the island.

We recognise that the continuation of partition is a block to the well being of all citizens on the isle. It perpetuates sectarian bitterness turning neighbour against neighbour, stifles our economic well-being and allows the continued social and economic exploitation of the working class regardless of religion or race.

No body should be happy to see peace walls in Belfast City or else where dividing neighbour from neighbour. Those walls are a clear indictment of the failure of British rule. They are an indictment of Stormont rule. They shout loudly that the Northern state is a failed state.

No one should be in the least surprise therefore that the continued existence of a failed state perpetuates a violent reaction. There will always be republicans who are prepared to take up arms to resist. That should surprise no one. It is entirely predictable.

Generations have come and gone and seen violence, communal strife, repression discrimination unemployment, emigration and poverty. History worldwide shows that these things breed the conditions for armed resistance.

But simply wishing it away will not change that. Nor will it be changed by righteous anger, by emotion or by the trusted and tried and failed methods of the past.

Irish republicanism needs a new direction. All around we see the proliferation of splinter groups evolving from what used to be the Provisional Republican Movement. We do not rejoice in division. That is why we advocate and support a broad front policy of –co-operation with others. Renewed republicanism is in the overall interests of the vast majority of the people on the isle.

But renewed republicanism must take into account the wishes and needs of the people
In a time of severe attacks on the living standards of the working people throughout the island Republicanism cannot stand aside and think only of a pure Republic unrelated to the existing social and economic conditions.

We believe that the best way forward for Irish republicanism is to totally embrace the socialist ideal and for Irish republicans to throw themselves fully into the day-to-day struggles of the people. The building of a mass movement of working people to change the world we live in is our best chance of success.

And it needs to be side loud and clear from this and all republican platforms that the political struggle for a Socialist Republic holds no threat to those who see themselves as coming from different traditions.

Part of our task is to convince and reach out to those who we have failed to persuade as to the validity of our beliefs. That is why we in the republican socialist movement will take all opportunities to reach out and influence sections of the protestant working class of the validity of our socialist ideas.

We applaud the tremendous work carried out by our members and ex-prisoners in Teach na Failte in the work they do in working class areas bring working people of differing backgrounds together. That is real republicanism. That’s what Tone, Mitchell, Connolly Mellows and Costello stood for.

That is the Republicanism to take away with you today from these hallowed grounds. We are resolutely opposed to Imperialism. We are resolutely opposed to Capitalism. But, we are resolutely for working class unity and against sectarianism.

Comrades, we have, as a movement faced death.

Comrades, we have as a movement faced imprisonment.

Comrades, we have as a movement faced slander lies and informers and traitors.

Comrades we have as a movement faced the might of Imperialism and we have not flinched.

Nor will we flinch no matter what they throw at us.

We stand today at these graves unbowed and as determined today as when we were formed, to stand by the Socialist Republic.

Victory to the Working class

On to the Republic

(Speech delivered by Ard-Comhairle member Theresa Considine)

Easter 2009 Republican Socialist Youth Movement Statement

On behalf of the Republican Socialist Youth Movement we welcome all who attend here today and thank the IRSP for this opportunity to speak as we pay homage to the men and women of Easter 1916 who so gallantly met the invading forces of imperialism in Ireland with unwavering bravery and purpose.

We would also like to take this opportunity to send our solidarity to the Political Prisoners who languish here in Ireland and elsewhere as well as to the people of Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan, who like the people of Ireland have suffered so greatly at the hands of a bloody Imperialist war machine.
Nearly a century has passed since 1916 and not much has changed for Irish revolutionaries, our class is still subjected to the will of a corrupt minority, but what better way to set about our task of building a mass revolutionary movement than to meet head on our foreign persecutors and their native accomplices with similar dedication to that shown by the rebels of Easter Week, 1916. Ultimately, the most sincere tribute to those who fought in 1916 will be to take on their aspirations and goals as our own and to set about making them not just a romantic dream, but a reality. That is what we are in the business of, a 32 County Socialist Republic and nothing short of it.

In recent times we have set about the re-organization of our movement, with great strides being made by the dedicated young activists within our ranks. Our movement is growing and our political ideals have never been more relevant, it is now time to push on. Through the Irish Republican Forum for Unity the mechanisms have been put in place to create a broad front capable of harnessing the obvious discontent felt by our class with the political, economic and social status quo. It is only through such initiatives that real change can be brought about. The republican socialist voice has been fragmented for too long, it is unity that will bring our politics to the forefront of the political landscape, it is through unity that real inroads will be made towards our goal.

James Connolly, the 1916 leader, once said that the working class are the incorruptible inheritors of the Irish fight for freedom. It is with this in mind we must progress our politics and overall strategy, immersing ourselves in the struggles of our class and aiding them in their own emancipation. We can never abandon our class, doing well to remember that without the workers themselves there will be no revolution. We here in the RSYM continue to strive to achieve what James Connolly and Seamus Costello seen as there aim.

On this a day, a day where we salute the participants of the 1916 rebellion and the fallen comrades of our own movement, we recall the glorious failures of the past and seek to find a successful way forward. The only way forward is to unite our class to smash the institutions that seek to divide and exploit us, with the establishment of a democratic socialist republic our ultimate aim.

EASTER STATEMENT FROM REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST PRISONERS, PORTLAOISE

Comrades, Supporters, Families and Friends, we the Republican Socialist POW’s here in Portlaoise Gaol send each of you our heartfelt comradeship. Easter is a sad time for us, but it is also a time of reflection where we pledge to redouble our efforts in rebuilding and strengthening the Republican Socialist Movement.

As we mark the 94th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, we recall with great Honour and Pride, the courage of our comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle for a 32 county Socialist Republic.

As you will know, our Movement has come under vicious attack from the forces of Capitalism in both the 6 and the 26 counties. They will not break us. They tried to break us inside these walls. They segregated us from each other, abused our families, turned them away from the Prison and tried to take away our Political Status. They failed. They could not break our spirit. They will try again and they will fail again.

The comradeship on our landing is so strong that we feel we are unbreakable and we are driven by your support and the memory of our fallen comrades from the INLA and the IRSP.

The POW’s wish to take this opportunity to salute the leadership and the Volunteers of the noblest Army of the people, the INLA! We salute the Ard Comhairle of the IRSP and its activists and we send solidarity greetings to all our friends, our Families and our Comrades.

Victory to Irish Working Class!

O/C INLA POW’s Portlaoise Prison

IRSCNA EASTER SOLIDARITY MESSAGE

At this Easter time the Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America pay respect to the spirit of 1916, and in particular the contribution of the Irish Citizen Army and the distinct republican socialist tradition.

Despite the constant lies and slander from the desperate lackeys of the bosses who have tried to convince the world that the rising was sectarian or simply mad, the Easter Rising remains an inspiration to all freedom-loving exploited people. It is a fitting time to remember our comrades who gave their lives for a Workers Republic.

We recognise the Irish Republican Socialist Party as the inheritor of Ireland's incorruptible tradition of working class anti-imperialism and true human liberation.

We are honoured to continue supporting the IRSP and Teach Na Failte, and representing them in North America. We salute the hard work of our comrades who daily build the party in the footsteps of Connolly and Costello. We recognise the courage of the Irish National Liberation Army in continuing their stance and when necessary being ready to defend the working class.

We also note with pride the excellent work done by the IRSP's youth section in
advancing republican socialist and youth politics. The Republican Socialist Youth Movement continues to represent the working class republican socialist tradition throughout Ireland.

We take this opportunity to send our greetings to the Republican Socialist prisoners. They, like our martyred fallen comrades, remain an ever-present inspiration to us in our efforts. We likewise send greeting to all those in Ireland and around the world imprisoned for wanting to live in a better world.

The IRSCNA would like to recognise the hard work and commitment of our friends in the Irish Freedom Committee and look forward to coming together with them yet again to commemorate the hunger strikers of 1981.

We are living in a time of extended and unresolvable crises. A collapse in which the failure of the Good Friday Agreement and St Andrews accords are obvious. No longer are the bosses' agreements serving to cover the divisions and fault lines in the Occupied Six Counties. As long as Britain remains, there will be no peace in Ireland, and no genuinely democratic settlement is possible.

The IRSCNA is proud to report that we are now larger and more active in North America than we have been in years. We continue to proudly serve the IRSP and stand by the republic.

(Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America)

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What’s On

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The Plough Vol 06 No 04

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:26:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://theploughblog.blogspot.com/
Vol 6-No-4

Wednesday April 8th 2009

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Failed state

2) Visteon -IRSP Accuses Politicians of Evading Responsibility

3) Collapsing all around -Some recent headlines

Failed state

It has not gone away. If anyone thought that the issue of partition was concluded and peace made, they are mistaken. Recently two British soldiers and a PSNI officer were shot dead. Their deaths were a tragedy for their families and regrettable.

The attacks were followed by the usual security response. House raids, arrests, rioting the demonisation of individual republicans and the use of extensive anti terror laws to imprison and interrogate suspects. A media campaign was launched to denounce not only those organizations alleged to be involved in the attacks on the British army and police but all those republicans who desist from giving allegiance to the new institutions of the northern State. Accusations of drug dealing criminality etc and terms like terrorists, fanatics traitors etc were uttered by former republicans who in the past had the same terms used against them. The media went into overdrive denouncing the “terrorists”.(See The Plough vol 6-3 for the definitive position of the INLA on these matters)

All the superficial changes ushered in by the Good Friday and St Andrews Agreements were and are not, enough to hide the glaring contradictions inherent in those agreements. Those agreements centre on the mistaken notions that Britain is neutral between two divided communities that the issue of sovereignty is irrelevant and that sectarianism is the central problem, They are based on the old imperial notion of “divide and conquer”

Sectarianism is not a quaint notion confined to the strange inhabitants of the north of Ireland. The passions angers and hatred in the Shankill and Ardoyne, to name but two areas, are shared across the globe. In many cases the existing divisions between tribes, races and religions became an extremely useful tool for the imperialist powers to exploit and turn neighbour against neighbour.

For centuries the sub-continent of India existed in comparative peace. Under British Imperial rule differences were emphasized and eventually faced with the power of the Indian National Congress the British decided to partition the sub-continent. Today sectarian violence spreads through the whole Indian subcontinent, Pakistan is a failed state in turmoil and Bangla Desh is one of the poorest countries in the world. These are the bitter fruits of Imperialism

The Irish Republican Socialist Party has set its face firmly against sectarianism. Our comrades in many areas intervene, sometimes daily to dampen down sectarian feelings and incidents and prevent the spread of sectarian violence. We make a conscious effort to reach out to those within protestant working class areas to explain our ideas our views and our beliefs. Such outreach work in no way lessens either our socialism or our republicanism. We are resolutely anti-imperialists. Those activities have the unanimous support of our leaderships.

British control of the north is now as strong if not stronger than before the launch of the Provisonal IRA campaign. That may be a unpalable fact for many but it is nevertheless true. The British spend more on intelligence in the 6 Counties than is spent on Islamic terrorism. Relationships between the ruling classes of Britain and Ireland have never been stronger. Britain can continue to recruit and train British soldiers in a part of Ireland. The PSNI has increased recruitment from the catholic population. The state institutions are reasonably stable and there is certainly little appetite for a return to armed struggle.

All of this is not to say that the Northern State is stable. On the contary it is still a failed state just like Pakistan. In every decade from its foundations there have been armed revolts against this state. People have been driven into sectarian mindsets and poverty used to divide people. Symbols such as flags and banners have been used to taunt and provoke people into rioting on a regular basis and every year precautions are taken to prevent sectarian marches provoking even greater rioting. No “Northern Ireland “ is not a stable state and no matter how many times it is said by the media “Windsor Park, home of Linfield FC is not a “national stadium”

Easter time is when Republicans march to honour the republican dead and in a sense renew their commitment to the broad ideals of republicanism. This year the multitude of republican organizations and the ritual denunciations of those who may have deviated the slightest from some form of “pure republicanism” will no doubt confuse and alienate those who republicanism should be attracting to its banner, i.e. the working class.

Irish republicanism historically has always been based on the urban and rural poor That is its natural base. Of course there have been leaders from different classes some of whom went on to forsake their republicanism. Others have used their republicanism to ingratiate themselves into the elite ruling classes. And as always the poor urban or rural have remained poor.

So it could be argued that at this critical point Irish Republicanism is at a cross roads. The recent upsurge in violence would indicate that there are those who want to maintain armed struggle as the main vehicle to attain republican ideals. History teaches us all hard lessons. Only fools refuse to learn the lessons of history. The armed struggle waged by a variety of organizations including the PIRA, the INLA and the OIRA failed to achieve their objectives.

It is no good re writing history to pretend otherwise. It was the mass struggle of the civil rights movement that achieved limited bourgeois democratic objectives – not the PIRA campaign. It was the sound of march feet that undermined the old unionist ruling class. It was something else that gave us first Paisley and now Robinson as first Minister administering British rule. So lets not pretend otherwise.

At the same time the IRSP works hard to unite the republican base and we have engaged in joint talks and political activities with other republicans while at the same time advocating our own views and perspectives.

The working classes are divided. The schools are separated, lives are divided, even the graveyards are segregated. In Belfast, there is a wall that separates one section of working class from another section of the working class. No radical, no republican no socialist no revolutionary can be happy with this set up.

Having benefited from the Celtic tiger and the economic benefits following the ceasefires many are now for the first time enduring economic misery as unemployment soars and redundancies gather apace while the Irish Government imposes massive attacks on the working class. Some how the blame for this is allocated to world conditions or the greed of bankers and investors.

The blame rests with the system that predominates –capitalism. That is the message that needs to be hammered home. No amount of tinkering nor reforming will change the fundamental nature of capitalism. It is a system based on the over-production of goods will change that basic fact. The IRSP have always said in the spirit of James Connolly that the class and national question are intertwined and now is the time for republicans to lead the class struggle.

The occupation of the West Belfast site of Vistion by workers is an example of a class fightback by the workers. The Belfast factory is divided roughly fifty fifty between those from a catholic of protestant background but staffed 100% by working class who are leading the resistance to the shutdown. The Belfast workers set an example taken up by fellow workers in in Enfield and Basildon. If management get away with this, 600 workers at the three plants will be sacked and left on the minimum statutory redundancy pay. Statutory redundancy pay is paltry. Even workers with 30 years’ service are only entitled to £9,000 and most will get far less.

So it is clear that there is a commonality of interest between workers in Ireland and England and of course world wide. Capitalism respects no borders loves no nationalities, destroys native cultures and imposes a consumerist culture in order to maximizes its profits.

In the struggle for national independence in the early 20th century Eamon De Valera famously told the labour leaders “Labour must wait” and that bourgeois unification must come first. Well Labour is still waiting unification is still on the long finger and the workers are still getting screwed. There are too many fake “socialists “ out there trying to fool the workers in order to get and maintain power

No more waiting. No war but the class war.

Visteon -IRSP Accuses Politicians of Evading Responsibility

The IRSP last night accused local politicians of rerouting responsibility regarding the investment and manufacturing crisis in the North of Ireland.

The IRSP Employment spokesperson Sean White, told activists last night that it was easy to blame a global economic crises or credit crunch rather than blame the companies and bankers who intentionally created the crises; crises created in the interest of profit.

The current economic situation may be global; but the loss of jobs locally is a consequence of the Stormont Programme for Government with its dependency on inward investment. Job losses are the result of policies in favour of the employers whilst ignoring the needs of workers.

The long-term needs of the workers were known at Visteon UK's when Stormont was subsidising the profits of its directors.

Sean White went on to say; “there is no “natural” order to the economy. There are no innate, static laws overriding economic behaviour. It is a myth to say nothing can be done. What is termed the “economy” is the way people work, to produce goods and services, and then decide how, where when to sell or use what they produce. People decide rightly or wrongly. It is people who make success, make mistakes. It is people who gamble for profit. It is people who exploit other people. We must move away from treating the economy as if it is a fluke in the weather”

All economists know that recessions and inflation just don’t happen. They are caused. The Banks deliberately restricted the flow of currency; that is a fact, a fact not disputed by the Bankers. Bankers were aware that a restriction of currency gives way to a recession.

The Banks responsible for investment have so far ignored the pleas from the First Minister Peter D. Robinson MP MLA and deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness. On the 16th December 2008 The First Minister Peter D. Robinson MP MLA and deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness and their Executive colleagues Nigel Dodd’s and Arlene Foster today met with the Chief Executives of local banks to explore further initiatives to ease the impact of the present economic downturn on consumers and businesses. To date there has been no response.

Who governs? The Banks or the elected representatives?

The IRSP are asking whatever happened to the billions investment promised to create new jobs in current industries. This time last year $750million was promised for investment in current industries. The investment was announced on the 7th April 2008, by William C. Thompson Jr. Comptroller of the City of New York, who is Chief Investment Advisor of the New York City Pension Funds which currently hold assets of $110billion
A small number of people made decisions regarding how this money was used or if it was used. The IRSP believes that the Irish people deserve answers

Companies are downsizing or closing as a consequence of poor investment.
Of course there is the immediate response car sales are down by an average of 33% but remember in generic terms profit averages 40%. Decreases in profit are compensated with job losses and cuts in labour; in turn increasing the workload on workers. There is no evidence of any major investment outside of construction. But there is evidence that the Banks responsible for investment paid increased bonuses to their Directors

Trans National Companies here are not facing unreserved profit loss. TNCs require extensive returns; not marginal profit.
The reported losses of Visteon UK's are per centage falls in profit. However such profit is not great enough for TNC investment

Visteon UK's reported losses totalled £669m. However in the West Belfast section of the company administrators found no evidence of any losses. According to the IRSP spokesperson there is not a single component produced by Visteon that we cannot match in terms of a nationalised industry.

Different members of the Stormont Government have come out with statements in support of workers who face job losses. But they place no blame on the employers.
There is an illusion that Stormont cannot and does not to interfere in free-market capitalism. An illusion partly created by the first and second ministers when they visit the US with their begging bowls and partly the Programme for Government. They over emphasise no government interference.

In fact, without Stormont with its inward investment policies, TNCs could not exist at all. Government actions and programs have tended to reinforce and stabilize the basic relationships of all Trans National Companies here; guaranteeing private property rights, supplying British and US business (including Fords and later Visteon UK's with needed inputs (like reliable infrastructure and skilled, disciplined workers), expanding markets, and managing social relationships in a way that promotes both stability and profitability. If Stormont can interfere on behalf of the Bosses, it can interfere on behalf of the workers

What was not considered by our MLA’s waltzing about in Stormont and should be, is that workers continue to produce the said components for Ford or any other car company. The Assembly has already stated that
“we are a Growing a Dynamic, Innovative Economy, in a position to invest and build our own infrastructure with a highly trained workforce.”
The factory should be nationalised under workers control. But that would be too radical a step for any of the parties in Stormont already committed to administering the neo liberal economic policies of the pro-business Brown Government in Westminister.

Collapsing all around Some recent headlines

200 bank jobs to be lost in North of Ireland------

Hughes Christenson Belfast 90 Redundancies

Thousands could go in cull of civil service jobs-----
Staff face axe in £200m cuts plan--------
29 workers are to be let go by Arntz Belting in Derry
Wrightbus, has announced plans to make 235 staff redundant.----------
Northern Ireland teachers face compulsory redundancy-----
Translink to axe 75 jobs----------
Further redundancies FG Wilson.------------
Visteon in Belfast 210 workers sacked
Almost 1,000 jobs to go at Bombardier in Belfast--------

Nortel has made 87 people redundant at its plant in Newtownabbey.-----------

One-third of services firms cut jobs in March

Grove Turkeys to lay off 75 staff in Monaghan--------

-SR Technics to implement first wave of 600 lay-offs -------

2% of NI manufacturing base lost in four days---

Central Bank predicts 7% economic decline this year

400 architecture jobs go in year

Government expects economy to shrink 8%

Most severe Budget in decades

Marxist Education
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The Plough Vol 06 No 03

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:25:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://theploughblog.blogspot.com/
Vol 6-No 3

Saturday March 14th 2009

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial

2) Statement.

The following statement was released to the Sunday Tribune on Friday 6th March. An article based on it was published in the Sunday Tribune on Sunday March the 6th by Suzanne Breen. It was given to the Plough on Friday 13th and we re-publish it without comment.

Statement on behalf of the Leadership of the Irish National Liberation Army

We would like to place on public record the position of the Irish National Liberation Army on the continued accusation of criminality made against the I.N.L.A. from a range of sources, including the British and Irish Governments the IMC, [i] <#_edn1> the PSNI and the Gardai, the Media and Provisional Sinn Fein. A series of briefing against the Irish National Liberation Army have included lies distortions and inaccuracies.

Drugs Trade

The Irish National Liberation Army has no involvement in the drug trades. We have taken action against those who use the name of the INLA as a cover for their own rotten drug dealing and will do so in the future if necessary.

In the North West of Ireland two individuals who had never any connection with our movement were warned to desist from their activities and were subsequently dealt with. One had set up a so called “I.N.L.A. gang” as a cover for drug dealing and intimidation and recruited a number of impressionable young people. The other had used the name “Irish National Liberation Army” in connection with his drug dealing activities and extorted money from a number of families in the Limavady area.

In a number of areas we have, in conjunction with local communities, closed down a number of drug gangs preying on working class communities. We don’t turn a blind eye to drug dealing in areas in return for a percentage cut, for to do so would be to condone the drugs trade.

But we recognise that the drug problem is a complex issue and that it requires a multi agency approach in order to hold that problem at bay. The z Irish National Liberation Army recognise that it cannot solve the drug problem. That can only be done by a united community response against the dealers. However the use by British state agencies of those same drug dealers as informers, touts and provocateurs against republicanism means that the drug culture will continue to poison working class communities.

Where evidence is given to us of serious accusations against our members we investigate. If our membership deviates from our policy they are dealt with. But it is worth pointing out that no past or current member has been convicted for drug offences while a member of the movement.

However we do take accusations seriously and as a result of evidence presented to us are currently investigating activities of people associated with us in a major Irish city. As a result pending the outcome of those enquires we have stood down a number of people.

Contract Killing
It has also been alleged by those closely associated with provisional Sinn Fein that the Irish National Liberation Army and indeed a prominent member of the IRSP and a former long tern political prisoner, was involved in a contract killing in the North West against a sheep farmer. We utterly refute this accusation. Indeed we go so far as to say they who made the accusations should look closer to home.

Tiger kidnappings.

Accusations have been made that the Irish National Liberation Army have been involved in a series of so-called Tiger Kidnappings in North Belfast. We are aware that there are a number of criminal gangs have been involved in these. Those gangs contain individuals who a number of years ago were dismissed from the movement with ignominy. The Irish National Liberation Army had no hand or part in those kidnappings. We have warned those involved to desist from their activities

So-called “Dissident” Activity.

We also note that in these comments and briefings we are referred to as “dissidents”. In so far as we disagree with the current political set up and the continued existence of a British administration based on Stormont, yes we do dissent. No republican can do other. We have always rejected the Good Friday Agreement but we have only encouraged political opposition to it.

We are not and will not be, in any military alliance with other armed republican organisations.

We strictly adhere to the position as outlined in our 1998 ceasefire statement.
“-the conditions for armed struggle do not exist”—-----“It is now time to silence the guns and allow the working classes the time and opportunity to advance their demands and their needs. See (endnote 1)
Since 1998 we have encouraged people to engage in political as opposed to military activity. In the current political circumstances we believe that is the only viable option. That is one of the reasons we have encourage Republican Socialists to engage with other republicans in broad front groups such as the Forum for Republican Unity to pose Republican Alternatives to the current political set up.
The IMC
We utterly reject the stream of erroneous reports from the IMC (see end note ii) a body that believes Ardoyne is in West Belfast. (Page 5 IMC Report 20). The continued regurgitation of gossip, speculation, half-truths and British propaganda emanating from that body is worthy of the gutter press. For the record the Irish National Liberation Army is not in the process of targeting, encouraging young people to engage in inter community conflict or drug dealing.
On the contrary we have totally endorsed the activities of our ex-prisoners through Teach Na Failte to lessen sectarian tensions at interfaces to support cross community work with young people and to encourage working class solidarity. Our ex-prisoners are active in reaching out to all working class communities. A range of community groups, voluntary organizations and Government agencies can confirm this.( Not that we expect the IMC to actually investigate this.)

The Irish National Liberation Army

Finally the leadership of the Irish re-affirms its total commitment to the 1998 ceasefire. Any actions we take or have taken are to defend the integrity of our movement, protect our membership and ensure that vulnerable working class communities have some defence against sectarian attacks. We pose no threat to loyalist or unionist working class communities.

End statement

End Notes
[1][1] Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) "Ceasefire Declaration", issued on Saturday 22 August 1998
"We have accepted the advice and analysis of the Irish Republican Socialist Party that the conditions for armed struggle do not exist. The Irish National Liberation Army has now shifted from the position of defence and retaliation to the position of complete ceasefire. We have instructed all our units to desist from offensive actions from noon today. The Irish National Liberation Army is now on ceasefire. We take this historic opportunity to pay tribute to our fallen comrades who gave their lives in the struggle. To their families we share their pride and sorrow.We wish to praise first the courage, loyalty and commitment of our volunteers. For nearly 25 years they have been in the forefront of the anti-imperialist struggle and have upheld the principles of republican socialism. In armed combat, in prison protest on the blanket in hunger strikes, in prison escapes, on picket lines and in mass demonstrations, they have at all times upheld the right of the whole of the Irish people for self-determination. To the wider public who through support and solidarity in such committees as the Relatives Action Committees, the National H-Block and Armagh Committees, Relatives for Justice and other solidarity committees around the world, we thank them for the support they gave to our prisoners.
To those prisoners in gaol, in Portlaoise and Long Kesh we offer our heartfelt thanks for their loyalty and steadfastness throughout the years. Though scorned, slandered and derided, marginalised and demonised, they stuck by the principles of republican socialism. We salute their courage. We also acknowledge and praise the role played by the families and friends and supporters of our members. Through no fault of their own they have had to suffer much over the years. We applaud them and fervently wish they never have to endure such suffering again.
In calling this cessation we recognise that the political situation has changed since the formation of the INLA. We recognise that armed struggle can never be the only option for revolutionaries. In the new conditions prevailing it is only right to respond to the new conditions. Those conditions demand a ceasefire.Although we, for our part believe that the Good Friday Agreement was not worth the sacrifices of the past 30 years and are still politically opposed to it, the people of the island of Ireland have spoken clearly as to their wishes.
The working classes have borne the brunt of the consequences of the war for the past three decades. They have also suffered repression, social deprivation, unemployment and poverty. We recognise their desire for a cessation of violence expressed through the referendum and for a peaceful future.The onus is now on all political parties, governments and observers to ensure that the democratic wishes of the Irish people are upheld. This includes all armed groups. Therefore we have taken this ceasefire decision to take account of the people's desires.
Now we turn to the consequences of our part in the war. We acknowledge and admit faults and grievous errors in our prosecution of the war. Innocent people were killed and injured and at times our actions as a liberation army fell far short of what they should have been.For this we as republicans, as socialists and as revolutionaries do offer a sincere, heartfelt and genuine apology. It was never our intention, desire or wish to become embroiled in sectarian or internecine warfare. We accept responsibility for our part in actions, which hindered the struggle. Those actions should never have happened.
We have, however, nothing to apologise for in taking the war to the British and their loyalist henchmen. Those who preyed on the blood of nationalists paid a heavy price. However, the will of the Irish people is clear. It is now time to silence the guns and allow the working classes the time and opportunity to advance their demands and their needs.In the new conditions prevailing we will support the politics of the IRSP who have our full confidence and support in the words of our founder Seamus Costello, when speaking about his class, the Irish working class, "We are nothing and we shall be everything"

[1] Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)

(ii)
2.17 In our Eighteenth Report we said that INLA had been less active in the six months then under review than it had been in the previous six months, save for serious crime. We concluded that it was serious crime which constituted its main common purpose. Nevertheless, in common with other dissident republican groups, it undertook targeting for the purpose of possible attacks and we believed it retained a desire to mount attacks. Overall we believed that despite its recent low level of activity it remained a threat and had the capacity for extreme violence.
2.18 In the six months under review members of INLA were, we believe, responsible for the one paramilitary murder which was committed in Derry in June. The victim was apparently going to the aid of a man who might have been the intended target of the assailants. The organisation continued to plan and to perpetrate a number of serious crimes, including drug dealing, extortion, robbery and offences against the revenue such as fuel laundering and smuggling. It also targeted individuals. We think it also may have sought to exploit tension at community interfaces, for example by inciting young people to engage in public disorder or through shows of strength. ----

The Plough Vol 06 No 02

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:07:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://theploughblog.blogspot.com/
Vol 6-No 2

Tuesday March 3rd 2009

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial

2) 200,000 march against the crisis

3) Sinking ships

4) The Eagle

5) IRSP On The EU

6) The Late Bob Doyle

7) From The Media

8) Letters

a. Pat The Baker

b. Bloody Sunday internement Meeting

9) What’s On

Editorial

This edition of the Plough deals mainly with the economic crisis. That is as it should be. Too often in the past Irish Republicans while denouncing the evils of imperialism, concentrated only on the physical side of Imperialism in Ireland, ie the British army and the symbols of Imperialist rule. But Imperialism is much more than that. The current crisis of capitalism is an opportunity for the republican left to sink deep roots into the working class and raise the issues relevant to the everyday lives of the workers while pushing to the for always the way the imperialist partition of Ireland has created two reactionary states, divided the working class and stole the wealth that rightly belongs to the vast majority of people on this isle. We also carry two tributes to two dead communist comrades, Rosa Luxemburg and Bob Doyle.

The Starry Plough magazine is the printed organ of the Irish Republican Socialist Party. This latest format carries with it a wide range of articles from ‘Stand By The Republic’, ‘Marx Vindicated?’, ‘Youth Politics in Ireland’, ‘The Growth of Republican Socialism’, ‘Cuban Revolution 50 years on’ and much more.

The aim of this publication is to assist and develop republican socialist ideas as well as to create debate. This is your magazine. We constantly require input from both members and our supporters.
If you can contribute articles, photos, drawings, information on potential bookshops or stockists or anything else that you feel will help this project then please get in touch with us.This magazine is put together by a volunteer collective of activists and is paid for only by donations, subscriptions and sales. We have no corporate backing nor do we want any.We aim to produce the Starry Plough in this format as a quarterly publication to provide a republican socialist perspective that’s not normally covered in other papers. The Starry Plough Magazine can be obtained from your local IRSP Cumann, all decent bookshops and by mail via email:
starryplough@gmail.com

200,000 march against the crisis

There were spectres haunting Dublin on Saturday Feb 21st, the fear of unemployment and of job cuts but more importantly the spirit of James Connolly and Jim Larkin the founding fathers of the Irish labour movement. It took two hours to get from Parnell Square to the final rally. 200,000 people, workers, their families and their kids, young and old, from all over the country, Cork, Kerry, Sligo, Donegal, the midlands and all over. And they were fed up

“why should we pay the price for these greedy b*******”.

The fact is that the crisis in Ireland has generated a huge movement. Many people pointed out that they’ve never been out on strike or been on a demo in their lives, but then again we’ve never had this sort of situation before. Even members of the PD forra, the soldier’s organisation were present.

It’s not hard to see why. Unemployment is now 326,000 and all over the country jobs are going over like ninepins. It was no surprise that the Waterford workers and the workers from SR technics were at the front of the march. The latter shows the depth of the crisis while the former shows the fighting spirit which has characterised the working class in this crisis.

What is clear as well is that demonstrations like this help to give the workers a sense of their own power. 200,000 is about 1 in 20 of the population. That’s like 15 million marching in the states or 3 million in Britain. The Irish bosses have been wrong footed by the strength of the Irish workers response. The Irish bourgeois is very weak. It’s massively dependant on foreign investments and exports particularly to Britain, so much so that the volatility of sterling against the Euro is creating big problems in and of itself.

But the flip side of this is that the Irish working class has been greatly changed over the past years. Instead of emigrating to Britain or the states for work people have been “coming home” for years now, wages have gone up and to be honest people have more to fight for than ever before. The crisis puts all that at risk and people aren’t prepared to lie down and take it. The problem for the bosses is that to make all this money they’ve strengthened the working class. They’ve created their own grave diggers as Karl Marx would have said.

The scandals over the last few days over the “golden circle” where the Anglo Irish Bank management lent € 451 million to 10 of its top shareholders to buy its own shares, only adds to the anger. Why should the working class pay for the crisis? It’s entirely of the bosses own making.
That anger was reflected in the speeches by the trade union leaders

“ICTU President Patricia McKeown, said it was time for workers to demonstrate their power and if Government did not pledge to act on their behalf they must be prepared to deny them a single vote” RTE

“David Begg of ICTU pointed out that sooner or later – and he believed sooner – the whole banking system would need to be nationalised”. Irish Times

The government is clearly under enormous pressure. But they are on the horns of a dilemma. Someone has to pay for the crisis, and you can be sure that the bosses won’t. So they are trying to appear reasonable, meanwhile everyone can see they are in a tailspin.
“In a statement issued this morning, the Government said there was a considerable amount in ICTU’s Plan for National Recovery that was "entirely consistent" with its own agenda.

"In particular, it reflects the Government’s view that an integrated national response to the current crisis is not only desirable but essential if there is to be a sufficient impetus and coherence of approach to meet the scale of the challenge," the statement said.

"The Government recognise that the measures which it is taking are difficult and, in some cases, painful. The Government is also convinced, however, that they are both necessary and fair," it continued.

The statement described the pension levy as "reasonable" and said it reflected "the reality that we are not in a position to continue to meet the public service pay bill in the circumstances of declining revenue".” Irish Times
Given the strength of the march and given the huge pressure that the trade union leaders are under, we can expect that they will be forced to go further than they perhaps intend. But it would be an absolute disaster to simply rely on the 10 point plan to save jobs and wages.
We should demand of the trade union leaders that they fight for every job and for every cent.
The banks should be nationalised under the democratic control of the working class.
Any company threatening redundancies should be nationalised under workers control.
We need a majority Labour government with a socialist programme. No excuses and no collaboration with the tweedle dee and tweedle dum parties of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Séamus Loughlin from
--------------------

Sinking Ships

The good ship Capitalism is all but sunk and its 2nd and 3rd class passengers are floundering in icy waters looking for something to grab onto to keep themselves afloat. There isn't enough flotsam for everyone so in desperation they begin squabbling and fighting each other for survival. Meanwhile, the 1st class passengers of this ship haven't even got their feet wet and float by on their roomy lifeboats looking over the sinking lower classes and occasionally toss out the straws from their cocktails for the drowning to grasp at.

If only the lower class passengers could realise that their enemies in this hardship are those bloated 1st class passengers floating by; those who guided the ship comfortably to the iceberg and who are comfortably floating away from it.

Wildcat strikes may be the wildest fantasies of the radical left but they can only be deemed as radical as their intent and vision. In the cases of Lindley, Kilroot and other places around Britain, the breadth of vision is summed up by the protest slogan at these sights, "British Jobs For British Workers". The connotations of such a slogan soon caught the eye of the racist BNP who sought to exploit the sentiments of the protesters. Though the BNP were admirably snubbed by the picket organisers, the arguments made could have struck a chord with many of the ordinary workers seeking an outlet for their anger.

It is, in essence, a very reactionary position to take in place of a potentially progressive one. If the placards of the protesters had read Control of British Industry to British Workers, the scope for change would have widened enormously. Workers should never have to turn against worker in order to better their lot but rather turn against the industrialists who make decisions based solely on profit margins that affect the well being of all workers, British or otherwise.

The right to employment is only secured when the workers have greater control in all aspects of industry. The Venezuelan model of "Cogestion" or government/worker control is proving limited success in its early stages and should be explored in future disputes.
In a somewhat differing dispute, workers at the Waterford Crystal plant have occupied their factory at the news that over 400 workers are to lose their jobs after receivers announced plans to close the site. Both of these incidents of industrial unrest are the outer layers of a much deeper problem.

Whilst workers in Britain and Ireland face much harder times in a very uncertain future, BP's annual profits jumped 39% to £18.1bn as last year's soaring oil prices fuelled results. This proves two things. Firstly, there are massive amounts of revenue to be made by nations through their natural resources; revenue that could be used to fund public services and national economic recovery through state funded employment.

Secondly, massive amounts of this revenue is being channeled into fewer hands through various means with the complicity of friendly governments and this is the flank that all workers must unite to attack.

The 26 Counties especially caters more for multinational investors and their desire for profit than it does for the basic needs of its citizens. This is done through a twin policies of opening up Ireland's natural resources to Multinationals at extremely beneficial rates of tax as well as creating a tax haven for multinationals to register their profits; a fact highlighted by US companies doubling their profits in Ireland from $13.4 billion to $26.8 billion between 1999 and 2002. This massive surge in profit is not the reflection of a surge in real investment but rather due to a rise in US companies declaring their profits in Ireland to benefit from its low tax regime. According to Forbes Magazine Ireland boasts one of the lowest corporate taxations in the world, 12.5%. To put this in perspective, one has to look at the US rate of 35% and the UK's 28%.

Moreover, Ireland also offers multinational corporations self-assessment on their tax profits and this obviously results in companies writing off massive amounts of tax from their balance sheets. This has been done in two categories; liquidisation/receivership/bankruptcy and ceased trading which collectively contributed to 60% of total tax write offs between 1997 and 2001. If the Irish government is willing to write off these figures, why can't similar figures be invested in joint government/worker initiatives in cases such as Waterford Crystal?

At the same time, the Comptroller and Auditor General were alarmed at what they called "Phoenix Companies", i.e those that fell only to rise again, abusing the principle of limited liability to the tune of millions of Euros of taxes.

These corporate friendly policies have been lobbied for in a show of unity of Sinn Fein and the DUP when they argued against "unfair competition" from the South by lowering the Northern corporate tax rate from 30% to 12.% This, it was argued would cause a massive rise in capital within Northern Ireland from outside investment. This as as it has been in the South for all the wrong reasons to benefit all the wrong people.

The "All Ireland Economy" envisaged by those in favour of this reduction have apparently learned nothing of the devastation of Irish Society caused by the Celtic Tiger.

Ireland's position as Europes No.1 business friendly tax haven has damaged Irish society in a number of ways. Firstly, massive corporate tax cuts have drastically reduced Ireland's tax base to a mere 29% of GDP, overshadowed by an EU average of 40%. This in turn resulted in less money for public services crucial for human welfare and development of Irish Citizens. Already atrocious health and education services are further underfunded and opened up to free market privatisation.

This caused ever increasing inequality in Irish society as well as crippling indirect or 'stealth taxes' that make up 41% of the overall tax burden in Ireland. Low income families are hit harder by these indirect charges such as GP fees, medicine fees and even bin charges. This is coupled with a grossly unfair universal vat rate of 21% on ordinary goods and services.

Whilst ordinary Irish citizens struggle to make ends meet in their ordinary daily affairs, multinationals are able to use Ireland to both cream revenue from its national reserves as well as to bank its profits with no social responsibilities. Isn't this the enemy that needs to be faced down rather than, "foreign workers"?

Ireland's position as the willing benefactor to US corporations has sparked a dangerous race to the bottom with its European neighbours that has seen Germany, Poland and Austria and the Netherlands cutting their corporation taxes.

As a basic demand, the left should begin a European wide campaign of action, both political and industrial to demand that these tax incentives be removed and replaced with more socially responsible, strongly regulated taxation system of multi-national corporations within All EU nations. Stronger regulation of Workers rights/benefits to a high uniform standard would also close the profit margins of importing cheaper labour.

Whilst falling far short of worker control, these two issue can be strongly argued as a collective step forward and could unite workers on a European wide basis.

Tomas Gorman (Feb 102009)

The Eagle

Who was Rosa Luxemburg?

She was born on March 5th, 1871 in Zanosc, Poland (the Russian occupied part of it at the time). Her father was a Jewish merchant, both of her parents were spoke German as their first language, thus she grew up Polish- and German speaking, unusual at a time when most Jews used Yiddish.
A long illness during childhood left her bed-bound for a year during which she taught herself to read and write and the Russian language.
In 1884, now living in Warsaw, she was admitted to grammar school. An exceptional pupil, the only criticism her teachers had to voice was that of
“a rebellious attitude towards the authorities”.
Jewish kids were an absolute rarity at an upper-class grammar school in Poland during those days. Her school days were the time of first contact to the illegal group “Proletariat II”. One of the organisation’s leaders, Martin Kasprazak, saw the massive potential of the young woman and introduced her to the writings of Marx and Engels.
Proletariat II was uncovered by the security forces in 1888 and most of its leaders – Kasprazak included – were slaughtered. Rosa Luxemburg managed to escape, hidden inside a load of hay. She left Poland and went to Zürich where many revolutionaries from Russia and Poland had taken refugee.

In 1890 she was delegated to the International Socialist Congress in Paris, where she put before the delegates her famous “no money for militarism and war” resolution. Her opposition against the reformist leaders of the movement, especially Eduard Bernstein, sharpened from this time on.
1904 was the year of Rosa’s first imprisonment – many were to follow – when she had to serve 3 months for her anti-monarchist publications. During the Warsaw-uprising in 1905 she became editor of the daily “the red flag”. Back in prison in 1906, her comrades bailed her out but the authorities put a “restriction-on –movements” order on her. She ignored this travel-ban and went to Finland. There she met with Lenin, they tried to analyse the reasons for the failure of the 1905 revolution in Russia. From 1907 to the beginning of World War I Rosa Luxemburg taught at the SPD* party school. Being one of few Social Democrats who saw – and campaigned against – war looming, she kept emphasising on the need to fight militarism and the war- mongering of the German bourgeoisie. This radical attitude along with her numerous publications against the decay of the SPD into a pro-bourgeois reform party led to a leading role within the revolutionary wing of the movement – the split of which became inevitable around that time.
The establishment saw Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Wilhelm Pieck (the first president of the GDR after World War II) as the most dangerous revolutionaries during the war, whilst Social Democrats like Noske were welcome helpers to hold the working class down, Rosa Luxemburg and her comrades were hardly ever out of jail.
In 1918 the defeat of German imperialism, which came just months after the victorious October Revolution in Russia and the sharpening class-contradictions, led to a revolutionary situation. Rosa Luxemburg, just out of prison, took a leading role in the November – Revolution. The murderous betrayal of the uprising by the SPD, the incapability of the “independent” Social Democrats to take leadership made a new revolutionary party a necessity.

Rosa Luxemburg was one of the delegates at the founding congress of the KPD**, “now we are back with Marx”, was her famous comment after it.
From this point on, prison was no longer good enough; the hunt on Luxemburg, Pieck (who managed to escape) and Liebknecht began. Rosa Luxemburg was beaten to death after her arrest by members of the elite-unit “Kavallerieschützendivision”, just two weeks after the founding of the Communist Party of Germany; Karl Liebknecht was killed on the same day.

One of the complicated questions about Rosa Luxemburg is who can “claim” her of the by various political forces today. Indeed, both Social Democrats and people who are or were close to the “4th International” are, in the one or the other way, influenced by Leo Trotsky’s theories, refer to her.

The answer isn’t an easy one; I think what matters most to Communists:

Despite her disagreements with Lenin and many other revolutionaries of the time – including Trotsky- Rosa Luxemburg was totally clear about the need for a revolutionary avant-garde of the working class. She left the Social Democrats when it had become obvious that the party was lost for revolution and revolutionaries and helped founding the Communist Party. That makes her part of our heritage, not that of people who were and still are trying to doctor the symptoms of a system which is condemned to death.

Lenin on Rosa Luxemburg:
“An eagle can dive lower down than a chicken, never but can the chicken reach the heights the eagle reaches. Rosa Luxemburg was wrong on the question of the independence of Poland. She was wrong in 1903, when judging menshewism, she was wrong on the theory of the accumulation of capital. She was wrong in July 1914, when she supported the unification of Mensheviks and Bolsheviks; she made mistakes in her prison-writings in early 1918, though she corrected many of them later. But despite all these mistakes – she was and she will remain an eagle”

By Marion Baur- From Unity newspaper of the CPI

IRSP ON THE EU
The Irish Republican Socialist Party are opposed to any second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The people have already voted on this issue last June, 2008, and rejected the advice of the establishment and their parties rejected Lisbon and further Irish integration into the EU's neo-liberal core policy, competition in a free market. This agenda was articulated quite frankly by Baron Daniel Janssen, a member of the most influential EU lobbying group, the European Roundtable of Industrialists. The ERT consists of the chairpersons and CEO's of the continents largest corporations. It's influence was described by Baron Janssen as having achieved
"a double revolution in EU decision making. It had succeeded in reducing the power of the state and of the public sector in general through privatisation and de-regulation and by transferring many of he nations powers to a more modern and internationally minded structure at European level".
We in the IRSP believe that only integration on a socialist basis from which to build links with our European neighbours.

The Lisbon treaty heralds the end for the Irish Constitution with democratic decision making being centralised further. This erosion of Sovereignty is even harder for the Irish people to swallow considering the already existing denial of full democracy caused by the Illegal occupation of the Northern six counties by another EU partner, Great Britain.

Moreover, to quote the CAEUC website,
"The Lisbon Treaty would give the EU new competence (law-making power), or significantly extend existing competence, in at least 32 new areas. And it would broaden current law-making power in 40 other areas.For example, the EU could decide the way public services are financed (Art 14 TFEU)". The Irish people answered quite clearly when last asked to abandon so much democratic decision making power.

Recently our political leaders came back from Brussels with some half baked tale about promises "of legally binding guarantees" which are meaningless. They are not even guarantees but merely "promises of guarantees" which are certainly not the same thing. The Charter of Conditional rights which is being presented by supporters of the treaty as a protector of Social rights smacks of Orwellian "doublethink". The charter espouses basic social rights such as rights to education and adequate health care. This is qualified however with the premise that it "does not establish any new power or task for the union". What this means for us is that welfare deficiencies such as our socially apartheid health care system remains unchanged by this charter.

Other rights proclaimed by the Charter are equally as vague. Whilst the "right to engage in work ... the freedom to seek employment, to work..." is mentioned, the right to employment is not directly stipulated. In a further check, all espoused "rights" are limited "in accordance with ... national laws and practices", giving the Irish government a get out clause if any individual or union tries to enforce the charter.

Irish Neutrality needs to be reinforced and rebuilt after the disgusting episode that saw over a million US troops passing through Irish Airports on the way to Imperialist adventures in Afghanistan and the Middle East. The Lisbon Treaty is a further step towards Irish integration into a EU Army structure. This is diametrically the wrong direction viz a vie neutrality. Moreover it would align the Irish army to colonial and former colonial powers who use the cover of humanitarian intervention in the 3rd world as cover for protecting their interests. As the political motivation for EU integration lies in the Neo-liberal agenda, the actions of its "super army", of which Ireland would be active, would reflect that.

The EU core policy of aggressively pursuing the free market agenda ultimately results in negative environmental impact. Neo-liberal globalisation disregards eco-welfare as much as it ignores social welfare. Even worse, it actively prevents any moves or actions that seek to improve either that effect profit potential of corporations. The Lisbon Treaty pays hollow homage to climate change promising to promote action on environmental degradation without stipulating any real commitment. A homage that rings even more hollow when set in context of the free market ethos of the EU.

Also worrying the EU actively promotes the use of Nuclear Energy as a future resource over that of renewable sources. This is warped emphasis concretised in the Lisbon Treaty through the proposed creation of the European Atomic Energy Commission.

As far as the IRSP are concerned there should be no second referendum as it has already been decided by the people. However given the fact that there is going to be one we, along with our colleagues in the Campaign Against European Union Constitution, will be campaigning for another rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. Lisbon mark one was essentially the ill-fated European Constitution, rejected by the French and Dutch electorate which was why these people were not allowed to vote on acceptance or rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. Just as Lisbon mark one was of no noticeable difference to the European Constitution, so too will Lisbon mark two be of any consequential difference to its doomed predecessor.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party would strongly recommend another rejection, not that there should be a re-run in the first place, of the Lisbon Treaty. Our rejection of this treaty is for the same reasons we rejected it the first time, ie;
· It remains a vehicle to further exploit Irish/European Workers by further denying them avenues of controlling the national economy by stripping existing (albeit weak) rights to employment and the rights to exercise Industrial Action.
· It remains a vehicle to undermine Irish Sovereignty in Law making and regulation.
· It remains a vehicle to pull Ireland further away from Neutrality and towards the NATO sphere of influence and control.
· remains a vehicle of further environmental degradation via its free market ethos and commits Ireland in an EU framework to promote nuclear power over renewables.

THE LATE BOB DOYLE

This short speech by an IRSP member was made at the Connolly monument Dublin after a march on Saturday 14th February 2009 to commemorate the death of Bob Doyle.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party would like to take this opportunity to salute and pay tribute to the late Bob Doyle. Bob was a life long communist and therefore internationalist who fought against the fascists of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39. During the Civil War Bob was interned in the concentration camp at San Pedro De Cardena, where much hardship was endured. Again during the civil war Bob Doyle fought alongside comrades such as Jack Jones, founder of the retired members association of the Unite union (formerly the Transport and General Workers Union) as part of the International Brigades. Other well known Irish Republicans also fought in the struggle against fascism, people such as Frank Ryan and Kit Conway to mention only two. To anybody who has seen the film “Land and Freedom” a picture will develop of the struggle Bob and his comrades were engaged in.

Bob Doyle was a member of the Communist Party in Britain and after the civil war in Spain he returned to his duties as an activist helping guard the party’s headquarters against far right, as he had done in Dublin 1933 helping to defend Connolly House against a siege by right wing elements who, as in London put the building under constant attack. During first years of world war two Bob signed on for service in the British Merchant service, joining the ships company aboard the Empire Sentinal which was instructed initially to go to Dunkirk for the evacuation. This order was altered and it was ordered the ship be sank to block the entrance to Poole harbour thus preventing access to Nazi shipping and U. Boats. This was Bobs way of fighting against fascism in a different way. The second half of the second world war years Bob spent much time fire watching the communist party headquarters in Kings Street London along with other comrades like Harry Pollit, Peter Kerrigan and William Gallagher, everybody had to take their turn fire watching. This was the spirit and commitment of Bob Doyle.

Today as we once again witness the crisis of capitalism and the rise of neo liberalism, now the established political order of the bourgeoisie, we must also be vigilant of more sinister forces waiting in the wings. As capitalism stumbles from crisis to crisis, as we are witnessing in Ireland today with the loss of 1,350 jobs at Dublin airport within SR Techniques, formerly Tool Aer Lingus, the tool of fascism is readily available to the capitalist system. In Britain we are witnessing the rise of the far right and such organisations as the British National Party the likes of which we, as was Bob Doyle, must be ever vigilant of. To the right of the British National Party are a group styling itself Combat 18. This name comes from the first and eighth letter of the alphabet, AH Adolph Hitler. To ignore these groups will be done at our peril.

Just as Bob spent a huge part of his life fighting fascism both through the communist party and, equally importantly, the trade union movement, and in particular the print union SOGAT, we today must prepare for a similar struggle. Far right ideology is probably at its most prevalent today than at any other time since the days when Bob and his comrades faced it head on both in Spain and Cable Street, London. Franco may be long dead but Francoism must certainly is not. In recent years we have seen Jewish graves desecrated by the thugs of groups like Combat 18 with swastikas spray painted over tomb stones, we have witnessed the kicking to death of Robert Hamill, simply because he was a Catholic, by right wing thugs in Portadown in the six counties and in London the brutal murder of Stephen Lawrence simply because of his skin colour. This is the very ideology which Bob Doyle and his comrades were prepared to lay down their lives against and in defence of the Spanish Republic.

The Spanish Republic came into being in 1931 and lasted until its unfortunate demise in 1939. That demise was in no way the fault of people like Bob Doyle and the International Brigades. Almost everything at the disposal of international capitalism was hurled at the republic including the Lufftwaffe, or air force, of Nazi Germany. At the same time Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator, sent Italian crack fascist troops against the Spanish republic. These attacks were aimed at various economic areas and in particular Guaddalajara, North of Madrid. Sea ports were blocked preventing, or limiting, any form of aid from the Soviet Union to the republic, and in these respects with hindsight it could be argued that the republics fait was sealed from the outset of the civil war. The British Royal Family went to great lengths to salute General Franco, including sending the late Queen Mother to publicly insult the prisoners of the International Brigades, telling Franco “do what you wish”. This should tell you whose side they were on, what a surprise.
Bob Doyle dedicated his life to fighting fascism and in defence of democracy, socialism and republicanism.

To finish needles to say, as I began, Bob Doyle and your comrades we in the IRSP and trade union movement we salute your memory.

From the Media

pean single market is undermining labour

February 5, 2009 9:23 | by Brian Denny As strikers rage at the use of foreign workers at an oil refinery, Brian Denny lays the blame at the door of the EU. THE use of Italian contract workers at Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire is the latest example of employers across Europe going on the offensive and undermining organised labour. Refinery owner French oil giant Total gave the £200 million contract to Italian company IREM as it was the cheapest tender. More than 300 of its employees are today being kept on barges berthed at the docks in nearby Grimsby and are being ferried to the refinery to work. The company claims that the Italian workers are on the same wages as their British counterparts, but, even if this was true, sleeping on containers in the freezing seas on the Humber estuary constitutes a lower social wage for these workers. The fact that British energy workers do not know the conditions that these contractors are employed on is enough in itself to set alarm bells ringing. This process undermines the very idea of collective bargaining, a concept which is under attack in a number of ways by employers and the European Union. Total is exploiting EU law which demands the free movement of capital, goods, services and labour, a neoliberal model which facilitates a race to the bottom in wages and conditions. This process began back in 1987 with Margaret Thatcher's Single European Act, which Tory MP John Bercow later boasted was about imposing a single market to achieve the "Thatcherisation of Europe." This internal market was designed to slowly remove barriers to the free movement of capital, goods, services and labour, the so-called "four freedoms," until capital could move anywhere and any time regardless of the consequences. Rather than liberate workers, it has enslaved them by turning people into commodities, with very few collective rights, to be exploited and dumped without regard to social models built up over generations in the member states. We saw this process at work in the Irish Ferries dispute in 2006, when Irish seafarers were displaced by sweated Latvian and Polish labour being paid a third of the wages. The Gate Gourmet strike of 2005 also saw low-paid Polish workers displace local staff, mainly British Asian women. Four recent judgements by the European Court of Justice, known as Laval, Viking, Ruffert and Luxembourg, have also enshrined this race to the bottom in ECJ case law and gives huge new powers to employers to bring in contract labour anywhere within the EU. The ECJ and the European Commission are effectively implementing a programme to narrow the scope for member states to preside over their different social models and labour markets in the context of foreign companies posting workers to their territory. In the Luxembourg case, the ECJ does not even recognise Luxembourg's right to decide which national public policy provisions should apply to both national and foreign service providers on an equal footing. This process is also being played out at Staythorpe power station near Newark, where employers in the energy sector are also refusing to employ local unionised labour. French engineering group Alstom has been contracted by energy privateer RWE to build the power station and two companies, Montpressa and FMM, have since been subcontracted to carry out construction work. It is clear that the the employers' response to the growing economic crisis is to exploit neoliberal EU rules on "free movement" and drive down wages, exclude organised labour and maintain their profits. A stark illustration of this is the fact that the spontaneous strike action came a day after Shell reported the biggest annual profit in British corporate history of £21.9 billion, leading to renewed calls for a windfall tax on energy companies. But the use of cheap foreign workers as a battering ram against organised labour is not a new concept. In 1934, as European countries followed the United States into the Great Depression, French writer Antoine de St Exupéry described Polish miners expelled from French coalfields once they had fulfilled their usefulness as "half-human shadows, shunted from one end of Europe to the other by economic forces." This is the European reality for more and more workers as Brussels imposes its increasingly discredited neoliberal economic model that treats labour like a tin of beans. Even Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has said that angry energy workers were "entitled to an answer." Yet while new Labour remains wedded to the creation of a pseudo-state called Europe, where democracy and workers' right only exist in the past tense, then more and more workers will be asking the same questions. Brian Denny is secretary of Trade Unionists Against the EU Constitution. This article first appeared in the Morning Star, now a free access site. see also http://www.spectrezine.org/europe/BrianDenny4.htm

Sport
850 Mini workers sacked on the spot
(Monday 16 February 2009)FROM Morning Star

by industrial reporter Paul Haste

VULNERABLE agency workers became the latest victims on Monday of bosses' attempts to protect their profits from recession.
Hundreds of workers contracted by local employment agencies and used by BMW to make the Mini at its huge Cowley plant near Oxford were thrown out of their jobs in a bid to cut costs.
The livelihoods of 850 people, many of whom had worked at Cowley for years, came to a sudden end when workers were herded into a mass meeting with BMW bosses near the end of their nightshift and told not to return.
Adding insult to injury, the stunned workers were then each handed a letter ordering them to return their uniform to the company or be charged £35.
BMW executives recently announced a colossal £47.6 billion in revenues in 2008.
They have assured shareholders - pointing to an increase in Mini sales last year - that profits will be "clearly positive" when the company's accounts are released next month.
But BMW's disdain for workers deliberately employed on precarious agency contracts was savaged by Unite joint leader Tony Woodley, who stormed: "Sacking an entire shift like this and targeting workers who have no rights to redundancy pay is blatant opportunism on BMW's part and nothing short of scandalous."
Referring to the government's reluctance to implement the European Agency Workers Directive, which would have allowed the Cowley workers equal rights alongside the directly employed BMW workers, Mr Woodley said: "BMW couldn't attempt this in Germany because it would be illegal to do so.
"It is a disgrace that workers in this country can be so casually thrown to the dole," he added.
Mr Woodley's fellow joint general secretary Derek Simpson added: "This disgraceful mass sacking shows just how vulnerable these workers are to the current economic downturn, as employers treat them as second-class citizens."
As the agency workers left the plant, where 3,500 directly employed BMW workers will continue to produce Minis, production line operative John Cunningham declared furiously that they had been "betrayed."
He said: "They've planned this for months and we've only just been told. I don't know what's going to happen to me and my family."
Colleague Silvia Fernandes added: "I've never been sick, I've never missed work and they tell me with one hour's notice that I have been sacked."
Fellow worker Javid Najibi revealed that all the agency staff were likely to get "no payout, no redundancy pay, nothing."
A Business Ministry spokesman claimed that the government wanted to "provide protections for working people," but he insisted that ministers would do this "without removing the important flexibility that agency work can offer employers."
But the government's attitude was shredded by Mr Simpson, who pointed out: "There is nothing to stop ministers acting now to protect agency workers.
"Agency workers have family commitments - they have to find money every month to put food on the table and pay the mortgage just like full-time workers. The current inequalities between agency workers and full-time employees must end," he demanded.

Books

Canadian Book “Labourers On The Rideau Canal”

We are proud to let you know that the landmark and definitive history of the Rideau Canal Labourers (1826-1832), "mainly Irish" is now published. Please order from Borealis Press (www.borealispress.com ).

Copies are also available @ $20 from Kevin Dooley.
This book is the result of many years of work by the Rideau Canal Celtic Cross Committee, all of it initiated by Kevin Dooley and family.

Sincerely,
Onagh Dooley,
on behalf of The Dooley Family
613-726-758

Kevin Dooley has been a supporter of the IRSP for many years,

Letters.

A Chairde,

I’m calling on Irish republican socialist groups, trade unions and workers solidarity movements to lend your support to a campaign of boycotting Pat The Baker goods and services. This company has been at the forefront of a campaign of slave labour, exploitation of workers, refusing the right of an employee to join a trade union without fear of being victimised, bullied, beaten, discriminated against and eventually dismissed from their employment.

This company has setup a farce of a works committee who exclusively negotiate on your behalf without your knowledge to themselves under the strict control of Pat The Baker directors and human resources managers. As in 1993 this farce was established as not more than a lynch mob lead by paid bully boys and under the strict control of Pat The Baker management.

Recently just like 1993 when workers decided they had enough of being treated as second class citizens being paid lousy pay from a tin pot company, management yet again refused to allow an employee to join a union in the faint hope of getting better pay and conditions for himself and other workers.

Recently an employee was at the receiving end of a campaign of intimidation and victimisation after he approached management regarding rates of pay, working conditions and hours/days worked.

As set out in Pat The Baker employee contract an employee receives €338.71 for 40 hours 5 out of 7 days. This works out as €8.47 per hour. But the reality is that the employee was working 60 to 80 hours which would result in the employee only being paid €5.64 per hour for 60 hours work and €4.23 per hour for 80 hours work which as stated out in the The National Minimum Wage Act 2000 the national minimum wage for an adult worker is €8.65 an hour not any of the above. The company states that your rate of pay has been fixed to compensate you for having to working on such days as Saturdays and Sundays but in reality it is far from it.

On a normal working day your day begins at 3:30am and finishes 3 to 4pm. Clearly set out in the National wage agreement any person or persons working at least three hours between the period of 12 midnight and 7am in the morning that employee is classed as a night worker and an employer is subjected to pay a night time premium. Which Pat the Baker has failed so miserably to do.

In November of 2008 an employee requested time off as his wife was 11 days overdue expecting their first baby. Pat The Baker management decided to put the employee on the furtherest route away from the hospital where his wife was expecting their baby and refused to give time off to attended the birth, after the employee requested to cover a local run to be near the hospital. Previously to this he was refused a day off to attend his wife’s final hospital appointment due to ”another employee’s personal problems”.
As the campaign of intimidation against the employee intensified, Pat The Baker management began to attempt to disrupt this employees family life by ringing his home phone at unsociable hours, and at one stage the employee saw a Pat the Baker manager driving around his estate searching for his house when it was clearly stated not to do so as prior arranges were made for a meeting. On the employee’s mobile phone he was receiving threatening and abusive phone calls from an administrator of Pat The Baker. The employee was forced to change his mobile phone number.

The Pat The Baker management ordered the employee to drive a mechanically dis-repaired van for over three days with no regard for the employee’s safely or life, when the employee clearly stated the mechanical failures in the van to Pat The Baker management.

The employee was forced by management of Pat The Baker to leave the company due to the employee right to proper pay and conditions and working in a safe environment under health and safety law. Pat The Baker has refused to pay the employee for bank holidays and overtime due.

End the backstreet sweatshops in Ireland

Show your support sign our petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/petition-sign.cgi?bptb32

Subject: Bloody Sunday Event
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 17:06:53 +0000

A Chara,
On behalf of the REPUBLICAN NETWORK for UNITY I would like to thank all those who took part in and contributed to an honest, open and informative debate on the issue of internment in the Gasyard as part of the Bloody Sunday calendar of events. A special thanks must go to the panellists Gary Donnelly (32CSM),Gerry Ruddy (IRSM) Tony Catney (RNU) and Thomas Mc Fadden (Chairperson) for their contributions to this very well attended discussion.
Invitations were also sent to the SDLP and Sinn Fein but they declined,Sinn Fein citing their position that the debate lacked merit and would descend into a Sinn Fein "bashing" exercise.
For us in RNU the existence of draconian legislation in Ireland today, which facilitates the iniquity of internment, is a Justice issue and we make no apologies at highlighting this crime. Even if it does prove to be uncomfortable for various established constitutional parties.We in RNU wish to make it clear that "bashing" Sinn Fein was neither the aim nor the motivation for such a debate, as all those who attended will have witnessed an objective, constructive and informative analysis of internment from 1971 to 2009.
Six weeks ago an Irish Republican, who had just been released from a British prison three weeks beforehand, was detained at Belfast airport. He was subsequently informed by stint of an order signed by the British Secretary of State,that he would be re-imprisoned without any recourse to legal process or legal representation. No charge was levelled against him. No opportunity was given to him to conduct a defence and no court procedure was applied .In short,Terry Mc Cafferty was arbitrarily detained and imprisoned at the whim of a British minister, sound familiar? Yes,Terry Mc Cafferty was and still is interned without trial.
The REPUBLICAN NETWORK for UNITY call for the immediate release of Terry Mc Cafferty and an end to internment in the North and South of our country.

Is mise le meas

Danny mc Brearty RNU

Marxist Education
http://www.newyouth.com/archives/theory/marxismfaq.asp

What’s On
Ashanti Alston was a member of the Black Panther Party in the 1960's and early 1970's. As a political prisoner he spent over a decade in US prisons. Ashanti has since become an anarchist while still drawing on many of his experiences and ideas that spurred him on as a Black Panther activist.
Related Link:: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/90924
Interview: http://inthemiddleofthewhirlwind.wor...-inter....ston
Venue: An Culturlann (Gallery room), 216 Falls Road, West Belfast
When: Tuesday 3rd March
Time: 7pm
Contact Belfast WSM:
belfastwsm@yahoo.com
07864833031
www.wsm.ie

Cork

New Year Statement from the Leadership of the IRSP

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:01:00 +0000

Special Announcement

New Year Statement from the Leadership of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1st January 2009

The IRSP send greetings to all our members and supporters as we enter 2009 . We send sincere solidarity greetings to all republican Prisoners, at home or abroad. We express our fullest solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip enduring a barbarous assault by the pro-imperialist Israeli regime. We stand shoulder to shoulder with all those who resist the forces of imperialism and reactionary ideologies.

We are confident that the way forward not only for all the people on the isle of Ireland but also throughout the world is through the struggle for socialism. The current crisis of capitalism is leading to an attack on the living standards of millions of working class people. Unemployment will rise, more will sink into poverty and the dangers of war increase. The only viable alternative is Socialism, which will replace the anarchy of the free market with a planned economy that caters for the needs of the majority.

It is clear to many Republicans a that the current set up at Stormont is not a steppingstone to a Republic but a cementing of British rule in Ireland. The IRSP will continue to work with other republicans to expose the hollow fallacies at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement. We will not be deflected by the campaign of arrests, harassment denigration and lies carried out by pro-imperialist forces north and south of the border on our membership.

We urge all republicans to work in harmony with each other to expose the weaknesses of the current constitutional set up. It is not a time for “ourselves alone” philosophy.

At the same time we urge all republicans and socialists to step up our activities in both the social and economic fields. Unless and until republican socialists take ownership and leadership of the day today class struggles then our struggle will not succeed.

Finally we salute all our former political prisoners, all our former and current volunteers who have stood loyally by the ideals and principles of republican socialism.

The Struggle continues.

The Plough Vol 05 No 14

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:42:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://theploughblog.blogspot.com/
Vol 5-No 14

22 December 2008

E-mail newsletter and blog of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial

2) Thoughts for Christmas

3) PSNI/RUC –What’s the Difference

4) IRSP Oppose Second Referendum: But Urge A No Vote

5) Back On The Plantation

6) Are We All Barmy?

7) éirígí- New Zealand interview

8) Letters

Editorial

As 2008 draws to a close it is usual to reflect on what has past and make new resolutions for the New year. Much has changed and much remains the same.

Capitalism is in crisis. The so-called “credit crunch” gets the blame for the crisis. This of course is a good way to shift the blame on to the consumers who spent too much and created such debt that the system started to collapse. So ironically in order to save the system those same consumers are now being encouraged to spend! spend! spend!! Right -wing Governments are all but nationalising the banks, pouring billions into their coffers and calling on the workers to tighten their belts, accept reduced wages, and reductions in their living standards. While there are greedy bankers, investors etc the crisis is not the result of their greed. Crisis is inherent in the capitalist system. Marx was the first to really analysis the system of capitalism and today all over the world many are going back to the writings of Karl Marx to make sense of the world system.

“In these crises there breaks out an epidemic that, in all earlier epochs would have seemed an absurdity – the epidemic of over production. Society suddenly finds itself put back into a state of momentary barbarism; it appears as if a famine, a universal war of devastation has cut off the supply of every means subsistence, industry and commerce seem to be destroyed; and why? (“The Communist Manifesto” Karl Marx- http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm)

Take the car industry today. There is massive overproduction and yet the Bush administration wants to bolster the car industry by pouring billions of taxpayers money into subsidising that industry while reducing the wages and conditions of the workers in that industry. So much for the “free market” espoused by the capitalist classes for the past thirty years. Capitalism itself creates anarchy in production, sponsors wars and in pursuit of profit distorts and destroys the very world we live in and ignores the appalling poverty it causes. (See Thoughts for Christmas below)

The claims of the apologists for capitalism, that it is democratic and egalitarian, is absurd. Democracy is ignored when the results go against the interests of the capitalists .(See IRSP Oppose Second Referendum below)
Much has been made of the concept of equality particularly in relation to the Northern Statelet. The Provisionals in rewriting history managed to place “ equality” as the main focus of the armed struggle. However equality is grossly overrated. For example both the rich man and the poor man have equal rights to sleep on the streets. Do you thinks they equally exercise that right?
The full power of the media is also used to get what it wants. For example Irish News Columnist Tom Kelly was one of the key figures behind the British Government’s manipulation of the conduct of the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement. Writing in the Irish News Dec 22nd 2008 he justifies the ban on Republicans in the media imposed by Conor Cruise O’Brien in the 1970’s

“ No one –not even the media has the right to be complicit in advocating the rights of anarchists or insurrectionists in a democracy-”

So the message from these advocates of capitalism is no free speech for those want to change systems. No chance of the likes of Tom Kelly raising awkward questions for the PSNI and its attack on political activists ( See PSNI/RUC –What’s the Difference below)
Another change has been the election of the First Black President to run the USA. Amidst all the enthusiasm for Barack Obama it should be remembered that in the words of a former President “ the business of America is business”
Obama’s mission is to reform capitalism. (See “Back On The Plantation” below) Those who place great hopes in him are doomed to be disillusioned.

Marxists analysis the world we live. That analysis explains how capitalism works. But it is not a religion. It is a tool to be used. Unfortunately the inability of many socialists to avoid making petty sectarian attacks on other socialists alienates many working class people from the ideas of socialism. There are socialist sects who genuinely belief that they and only they know true revolutionary path. They reserve their fiercest criticism for other socialists and soft pedal on their criticism of the system they are supposed to oppose.

These sectarians provide great ammunition for other republicans to take a standoff approach to working class issues. We believe that in this they are mistaken. The IRSP has always advocated that republicans must take a leading part in the struggles of the working class. Over the past few years we have increased our involvement in those struggles while never losing our radical anti-Imperialism. We recognised, before many others, that the Good Friday Agreement was a severe defeat for Republicanism. That defeat only strengthened our belief that it only through the working class that genuine liberty can be achieved.

“Seasons greeting to all our readers”

Thoughts for Christmas

In a report published on 20 October to the UN's International Network on Water Environment and Health (INWEH) stated that 2.5 billion people (a third of global population) has no access to proper toilets (ie which are free from diseases) and 1.2 billion other have no access to toilets at all and have to either relieve themselves wherever they can (resulting in 200 million tons of shit ending every year in rivers causing pollution etc) or sometimes have to queue up to half an hour to wait for their turn in collective toilets.

The health impact is considerable: diseases linked to diarrhea kill 1.8 million people every year, including 5000 children every day. 88 % percent of those deaths are related to the lack of proper toilets. The UN estimates that it would only cost 38 billion dollars to give everyone access to proper toilets. (Herve Morin, L'acces aux toilettes, enjeu mondial de developpement, Le Monde, 30 October 2008)

Terry Eagleton wrote that it would take a transformation of the political economy of the entire planet to make sure every one on it had access to clean drinking water....

Parallell to this UN estimate is that the number of people suffering from hunger has increased from 848 million in 2005 to 925 million in 2008.
(LOR)

PSNI/RUC –What’s the Difference

Another IRSP member from Strabane was arrested on December 17th in the morning under the ''Terrorist Act 2000'' in connection with alleged membership of the INLA and the killing of drug dealer and suspected PSNI agent Brian McGlynn. The CID took his wife into a room and proceeded to question her and put a number of propositions to her asking her to work for them and that they would relocate her and her family if she would provide evidence/information on Willie Gallagher and another IRSP man who was arrested last week. They also asked her if she had any information on the Republican Forum meetings held in Toome. She couldn't get over the audacity of them and told them to fuk off!
On Tuesday 9th DecemberWillie Gallagher was arrested at 7.00am under the same Act and same allegations and taken to Antrim PSNI station. Also on the warrant was seizure of all mobile phones and computers. During the raid they allowed his two young sons aged 8 and 5 to go to school. At the end of the raid at approximately 10.45am when they couldn't locate any mobile phones they threatened to arrest his wife if she didn't tell them the whereabouts of mobiles and stated that they were going to take the two sons out of school to search them. The school was contacted and it was stated to them that under no circumstances were the PSNI to be give permission to take them out or search them. A relative of Willie Gallagher then went and took them out of the school.

The solicitor acting on behalf of Willie Gallagher was present during all of these so-called interviews during Tuesday and Wednesday and stopped the interviews several times during both days to make a written complaint to the station inspector that nothing was being put to WG. and that there was no grounds, outside of a PSNI publicity stunt, for his arrest. At one time, during one of the suspensions, he asked the inspector if there was a Human Rights Commissioner as he wanted to make contact to complain about the nature of W.G.’s arrest. He was told to make a complaint to the Police Ombudsman to which he replied that he felt that his complaint went beyond the Ombudsman’s remit. The PSNI were also accused during these interviews of deliberately leaking the name of WG. to the local radio stations and press and they didn't dispute the fact that many people equate arrest with guilt and that was the real purpose of his arrest.

It is also worth mentioning that before each interview the PSNI gave the solicitor a written form which they call “disclosure[ and they ask questions on that particular disclosure. At one stage in one of these disclosure documents it stated that they wanted to question W.G. about his association with named individuals. In the solicitor’s consultation room WG pointed out to his solicitor that one of the names was wrong and that person was dead. They probably meant the name of a person who had arrested a fortnight before. Within 30 seconds there was the running of feet towards the consultation room and the detective in charge asked to see the solicitor and told him they made a mistake with one of the names. The solicitor then entered the consultation room laughing quite loudly stating that they weren't shy in making it obvious that the consultation room was bugged.

During the second day of WG’s detention the PSNI arrested another IRSP man from Strabane, Andy Connolly and during his two days in Antrim his solicitor also made similar complaints. Both of the arrest warrants were issued on the 27th November but they didn't effect them for almost a fortnight. They raided Andy's house when he was present in between those two dates. WG was released the following evening and Andy was released a day later.

The arrests cannot be viewed in isolation and that there is a wider context. It is the vilification, demonisation and marginalisation of anti-GFA republicans in general and in this instance the IRSP in particular The state forces are also using a compliant media in their strategy. Only recently the PSNI claimed that they uncovered £10k of controlled drugs connected to the INLA during searches in Strabane and Derry. They were forced to backtrack when the only newspaper, the Strabane Chronicle, challenged the PSNI for evidence and details of the find in which they refused. The IRSP later found out that steroids were seized in Derry and had nothing to do with raids on the IRSP.

Even more alarming was the case of a Strabane man called Paul Madden who on the 30th November was pulled in by the PSNI at Belfast airport when returning from Poland. He was asked to work for them, was offered £100,000 to do so and it was put to him that he had access to both A. C.'s and W.G.’s house and that he could ''plant evidence'' in both houses.
At one stage they asked him what was in his bags and he jokingly replied ''two kilos of coke'' and they stated that if he agreed to work for them they would give him ''safe passage'' through the airports with whatever he wanted if he agreed to work for them and do as they asked. He told them to fuk off and contacted the IRSP that night about what happened and appeared badly shook up by his experience.

Paul Madden and Willie Gallagher did an interview with the Strabane Chronicle on the 8th December told them his story and informed them that he was going to his solicitor to make a formal complaint and that he was also going to complain to the Police Ombudsman. The very next day Willie Gallagher was arrested. Thus does policing work in the new “reformed” Northern Ireland. Provisional Sinn Fein must be proud that they “put manners” (to quote Adams) on the PSNI.

Common practice for the PSNI now seems to be
Ø The bugging of solicitor’ consultation with clients,
Ø The planting of evidence,
Ø Turning a blind eye to drug dealers,
Ø Arresting children
Ø Harassment of political activists
Ø Lying to the Media
Ø Using the media to discredit political activists who don’t accept the current political settlement.
Ø Spying on legitimate political meetings

IRSP Oppose Second Referendum: But Urge A No Vote

The Irish Republican Socialist Party are opposed to any second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The people have already voted on this issue last June, 2008, and rejected the advice of the establishment and their parties and kicked Lisbon out. Now because things did not go the establishments way they, and their political masters in Paris and Brussels, have decided that the people must vote again and this time, from their view point, get it right. There is one thing for certain if, last June, the outcome of the first referendum had been favourable towards the establishment parties and Lisbon was accepted there would have been more chance of finding rocking horses running at Epsom than a second referendum. The establishment are going ahead with this insult simply because they can! It can be reasonably argued that this issue, following a precedent being set after the Nice Treaty was re-run, signals the beginning of the end for the Irish Constitution. Referenda are all well and good provided they go the establishments way and when they don’t, try again. If the voice of the people is as sovereign as we are led to believe Lisbon would be dead and buried. It would appear that treaties in Ireland are similar to Brams Stockers character Dracula, the people think the beast is dead only to find it risen from the dead.

Recently our political leaders came back from Brussels with some half- baked tale about promises “of legally binding guarantees” which are meaningless. They are not even guarantees but merely “promises of guarantees” which are certainly not the same thing. Even the promises they have are not priority issues. The issue of a commissioner was sited by around 2-3 percent of respondents when surveyed as to why they voted no! Things which really matter to people, such as the possibility of public services going out to private tender, and workers rights, didn’t even warrant a “promise of a guarantee”. Any workers rights will be subject to the needs of capitalism and the bosses being served adequately first meaning, the bosses will still have the right to trample all over workers except with the Lisbon Treaty behind them. The European elite gave some vague recognition of respecting Irelands neutrality while at the same time continuing to speak of “Battle Groups”. For what it is worth at a meeting, which the IRSP attended, at the offices of the European Commission in Dublin on Monday 15th December a speaker representing the Fine Gael party, Lucinda Creighton, when questioned by a representative of the Irish Anti War Movement on Irish neutrality said Ireland “was not neutral”. Fine Gael are supposed to be the party of opposition in the Dail. However when it comes to defending the class interests of the bourgeoisie there is no opposition. When the IRSP representative questioned Joe Costello, Labour Party, at the same meeting about his party’s apparent change of heart regarding a second referendum he was unable to give a straight answer. The question was put to Joe that “the Labour Party were against a second referendum after the defeat of the first one” he answered “we are opposed to a second referendum in the same format, asking the same questions”. When the Chairperson of the forum, Kevin Rafter, pushed the labour speaker asking “if you had to vote tomorrow which way would you vote” to which the beleaguered Labour TD again could not give a straight answer.

As far as the IRSP are concerned there should be no second referendum as it has already been decided by the people. However given the fact that there is going to be one we, along with our colleagues in the Campaign Against European Union Constitution, will be campaigning for another rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. Lisbon mark one was essentially the ill-fated European Constitution, rejected by the French and Dutch electorate which was why these people were not allowed to vote on acceptance or rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. Just as Lisbon mark one was of no noticeable difference to the European Constitution, so too will Lisbon mark two be of any consequential difference to its ill-fated predecessor.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party would strongly recommend another rejection, not that there should be a re-run in the first place, of the Lisbon Treaty. We would warn people who may be undecided that any “promises of guarantees” are a far cry from written guarantees and must not be taken in the same light. Even if the government do manage to get something more concrete on the area of a commissioner how much importance would you, the people, place on this issue? Also do not be misled with such clap trap as “we have received a declaration” from the European Commission because, like “promises of guarantees”, declarations are meaningless. They are not protocols, they hold no legal weight no more than do promises.

Finally we might remind people of the words of former French President Valery Giscard d Estang on the Lisbon Treaty, in order to deny the French people a referendum, the treaty should be designed to “head off any threat of referenda by avoiding any form of constitutional vocabulary”. This was echoed by the Belgium Foreign Minister, Karel de Gucht, who said “the aim of this treaty is to be unreadable”, in other words don’t let the people have a clue what they are voting on. There will be no fundamental difference in Lisbon mark two to that of mark one, simply because it can’t be changed without rewriting the whole document and it has taken too long for the European bourgeoisie to concoct for that to happen. The bottom line is there will be no change in the meaning or content of the Lisbon Treaty, make sure there is no change in the outcome of the vote. When the time comes vote NO .

Kevin Morley

Back On The Plantation

There were two kinds of Negroes. There was that old house Negro and the field Negro. And the house Negro always looked out for his master. When the field Negro got too much out of line, he held them back in check. He put ‘em back on the plantation. --- Malcolm X

It’s truly a historic moment that a black man has been selected President of the United States, a country with a long and deep tradition of de jure and de facto institutional racism, bigotry and violence both here and abroad.

It’s also important to bear in mind however that the same mostly white Anglo-Saxon Protestant power elite (a.k.a. English-Americans) that have been running this country since 1776, and who are largely responsible for that racism, bigotry and violence, could put a chimpanzee up for the job and get most of the people to bark along like trained circus seals at a mantra mumbling show.

So although I don't expect much from this tame trimmer Obama or from any other elite tribune, I do hope American law, politics and economics don't get any worse which isn’t quite the same as saying things will get any better.

For instance, Obama is appointing Congressman Rahm Emmanel, a first class Zionist citizen of Israel and son of the Irgun, as his Chief of Staff in the White House. Jewish terrorists and oppressors of Palestine couldn’t be happier! Watch for AIPAC pardons.

Worst still, rumors are floating regularly in the usual media that Obama will also keep Bush’s Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on board in what surely will be a continuation of the Bush-Cheney-Exxon oil and gas land grabbing policies in the Middle East.

Ralph Nader was right! Obama must answer the question: Uncle Sam for all the people or Uncle Tom for the wealthy and powerful? Hundreds of thousand dark-skinned peoples’ lives depend on it to say nothing about all the working class white lives that will be risked to kill all those working class black and brown lives.

There is no such thing as a friendly face of imperialism or colonialism. That’s just a fraudulent mask for more of the same occupation and subjugation to extract other peoples’ natural resources.

And this imperial process, with masks or without, just generates blow back for the rest of us in the form of among other things suicide bombers and pilots. Talk about this as a clash of civilizations is just corporate financed academic and media speak to divert citizens at home from seeing the real cause for among other things the planes-into-buildings effect.

Fact is American foreign policy hasn’t changed much since the days of the Plains Indian Wars. All kinds of government excuses and lies were used then and now to eradicate or subjugate Native Americans while stealing their land and resources. And so it goes.

Even when Native insurgents successfully strike back as the Lakota and Cheyenne did in 1876 when they wiped out General George Custer’s 7th Cavalry (a 19th century US Army roving death squad), the usual business backed government and media are able to distort their own war crimes as heroic and their dead soldiers as victims of savage barbarity. The power of myth by power!

That’s why long time house negro Colin Powell was able to launch his longer than expected US Army career by making public relations excuses for the US Army’s mass slaughter in My Lai, Vietnam. He was simply lying and myth making in service to that same power as he always has ever since.

Now try and imagine what a career stopper he would have gotten had he told the truth about My Lai (that there was at least two My Lai massacres a month during the US Army’s Operation Speedy Express) or had he incinerated white people in 1989 Panama or 1991 Iraq.

Instead, he and Condolezza Rice got paid lots of money and tribute as the chief blacks up front to lie the US into war against more dark skinned people for Bush & Cheney & the oil companies. So don’t believe for a moment that they were set up by them.

The way of the ass kisser is easy, so easy in fact that if Robert Gates doesn’t stay on in Obama’s Cabinet then watch for Colin Powell to replace him.

To be fair though to Barack Obama, all American Presidents either hail from the ranks of the elite or bend over backwards to serve them like house Negroes on a plantation.

And any candidate who starts to even think about reading from his own script will go the way of Nixon or Kennedy fired from or fired on.

It was ever thus. Article 2 of the US Constitution and the Federalist Papers by Madison, Hamilton and Jay explaining same couldn’t have been clearer: the Presidency is the hand picked guardian of the elite hence their Electoral College. He is their step and fetch it Constitutional dictator. It has always has been this way, and always will be until most of the rest of us start copping on and stop barking along.

And that dear readers, is the only hope we can believe in.

(24/11/08 by Eoghan O’Suilleabhain)

ARE WE ALL BARMY?

For those who are not yet aware, the economic, for want of a better word, system we are forced to endure, is in crisis. The minority who own and control society, the bourgeoisie or capitalist class, and their puppet governments around the globe are trying to work out what to do. The unfortunate truth is they don’t know what to do and even if they did there would be no real hurry because these people, we for some reason of obscurity, refer to as ’they’ haven’t suffered any real decrease in their standards of living. They are not exactly loosing money but aren’t accumulating quite as much. To offset this, what they term as a loss, workers must loose their employment, homes and in many cases family. Those members of the large employing class who cannot offset these losses sufficient to compensate their reduction in profits through job losses simply shut up shop and in many cases retire. It is the working class and small business’s, petit bourgeoisie, who bear the brunt of capitalisms instability.

People in many areas of working class life are asking what are they going to do?, once again whoever they may be, the question should be when are WE going to do something about it? This system even when it is working, if that is the correct term, is in a permanent state of instability. Gone are the old maxims of ‘a job for life’, ‘security of tenure’ and many other what seems like ancient confidence boosting orations which would appear now condemned to the dustbin of history. The modern equivalent of laissez faire economics, known affectionately as the unfettered free market is in fact exactly that, unfettered. There would appear to be no hands on economic policies by various governments as the market is allowed to find its own level. The result of such political folly is precisely what we are witnessing on a daily basis every week and month. This imbecile system could be likened to driving a car, or more to the point not, using the clutch, gears and accelerator and not using the steering wheel and brakes!!! Yes you would be asking for trouble wouldn’t you? Particularly if you were on a motorway, you may even wonder why and how, if you survive, you’ve managed to crash into a juggernaut lorry. Liken this scenario to the hands off policies regarding the economy pursued by various governments on behalf of their indigenous ruling classes and the picture may become a little clearer. Even though recently such fancy jargon as “re-capitalisation” have been mentioned it does not substitute a more hands on approach to economic policy.

Of course there is an alternative to this mayhem and its called socialism. Under this system the economy would be planned, goods and services to be produced for the needs of the people and not the greed of the minority capitalist class. A hands-on approach to the economy would replace the “free market” and the only employer would be the state with the means of production under workers control. Instead of our imaginary car careering along the motorway with no brakes or hands on the steering wheel it would be under competent control. Under socialism there would be only one bank, in the case of Ireland it could be the State Bank of Ireland again with a hands on approach. Peoples jobs, homes and in many cases families, which under capitalism is no more than an economic unit, would no longer be subject to the uncertainties of the ‘market’. The car would have a driver capable of steering it in the correct direction, thus avoiding the dreaded juggernaut lorry.

The issue is that capitalism would have to go. Socialism, not to be confused with labourism, can not co-exist with capitalism. It is one or the other and as capitalism doesn’t work for the majority of us, unless my imagination is playing tricks and the news reports are just one big party game, it is that system which must become our dearly departed preferably through peaceful means.

Disposing of capitalism, which I doubt will go away voluntarily, will only be achieved through the harnessed power of the organised working class hopefully dragging the progressive elements of the petit bourgeoisie with them. To anybody within these ranks who naively believe that capitalism still works or, that they owe the boss class something ask yourselves, is a system where the security, happiness and health of the majority is dependent on the wealth accumulation of a tiny minority really worth hanging onto? If after this examination people still think the present system is the best attainable then the sanity of us all must be seriously in question.

Kevin Morley

Irish Republican Socialist Party Dublin

We came across the following interview in the web site of the Workers Party in NewZealand. We thought it might be useful to share with our readers

éirígí- New Zealand interview-

Building an alternative movement in Ireland <http://workersparty.org.nz/2008/12/07/building-an-alternative-movement-in-ireland/>
The Spark December 2008 - January 2009
The organisation is called éirígí; its chairperson, Brian Leeson, was interviewed by Philip Ferguson for The Spark.
Philip Ferguson: Could you tell us how you first got involved in political activity?
Brian Leeson: I suppose I first became politically active in the summer of 1989 when I attended a large protest in Dublin that was demanding a British withdrawal from occupied Ireland. It was called to mark the 20th anniversary of British troops being re-deployed onto Irish streets back in August 1969. For a few months before the demonstration I had been becoming more politically conscious, particularly with regard to the war that was then raging in the occupied Six Counties. What struck me most about that day was the contrast between the sheer size of the protest and the tiny amount of media coverage it received. Despite the fact that more then 20,000 marched that day, it hardly registered on the political landscape at all. Of course, this was at a time when state censorship by both the London and Dublin governments excluded republican spokespeople from the airwaves. Within a couple of weeks of that demonstration I had taken a decision to become politically active. I applied to join Sinn Féin, but at 15 years of age I was too young. Instead, I started to sell the An Phoblacht newspaper each Saturday morning outside of the General Post Office on Dublin’s O’Connell Street - a building which fittingly had served as the headquarters of the 1916 Rebellion. From then on I became ever more involved in the republican struggle and the Provisional Movement, which I remained a part of until early 2006. PF: How and why did éirígí come into existence? How would you explain your pretty rapid growth?
BL: éirígí was formed as a socialist republican campaigns group in April 2006. Initially, there were just seven members and the organisation was based solely in Dublin. In May 2007, at our first Ard Fheis (national congress), the decision was taken to constitute éirígí as a political party. Since 2006, éirígí’s membership has grown steadily, to the point where we now have ciorcail (branches) all across Ireland. As to why éirígí came into existence; what was then a small group of people thought it was time to make a new beginning in terms of socialist republican politics. We believed there to be the political space for a new socialist republican organisation. The growth of the party since then has confirmed that our original analysis was correct. There is clearly a significant number of people who were basically waiting for a credible vehicle to emerge for them to join or support. I think this fact, along with the hard work of our activists, explains our relatively rapid growth.
PF: What is éirígí’s view of the current situation in the north?
BL: The British occupation of the north of Ireland is as real today as it ever was. In July 2007, there was much fanfare surrounding the ending of the British Army’s 38-year-long Operation Banner campaign in the Six Counties. What wasn’t mentioned was that, on the very day Operation Banner ended, a new British army campaign began in the north - Operation Helvetic. Under Helvetic, 5,000 British troops remain garrisoned in the Six Counties. These troops can be deployed at will by the British Government. In addition, much of the “temporary” repressive legislation that the British Government introduced to suppress the republican struggle had now been made permanent. Also in 2007, the British Government’s spy agency, MI5, was appointed as the chief gatherer of intelligence on Irish republicans. To facilitate this, a massive MI5 base has been built on the outskirts of Belfast. This facility will also serve as the main headquarters for MI5 in the event of an attack on their London headquarters. On the front line of the occupation is the PSNI - formerly the RUC. The PSNI remains a highly sectarian, paramilitary police force. Since its name change the PSNI has added CS gas and tasers to its arsenal of lethal plastic bullets. These “less lethal” new weapons are in addition to the standard issue handguns and assault rifles routinely carried by members of that force. On the socio-economic front, nationalists remain two-and-a-half times as likely to be unemployed as unionists and, in some areas, nationalists make up 83% of those on the housing waiting list. All of this compounds a deeply unequal society where working-class people generally, and working-class Catholics in particular, are exploited and denied basic rights. In short, the Six Counties remains a highly abnormal state and necessarily so in order to maintain the British occupation.
PF: The south of Ireland, the Twenty-Six County state, is often held up in New Zealand as a model of “social partnership” between the state, the bosses and the unions. What are things really like for workers in the south?
BL: That may be so, but it should be also noted that the Twenty-Six County state was the first in Europe to enter recession earlier this year. Socially and economically, the Twenty-Six County state now rates second only to the United States in terms of inequality within the ‘developed’ world. This fact is a massive indictment on the class of politicians and business people who have decided policy in the south to the detriment of the majority of the population. The Twenty-Six Counties, Ireland as a whole and the rest of Europe are now in financial meltdown due to the manner in which our economies have been structured and mismanaged by political parties and corporations that have only their own interests at heart. Fianna Fáil (the main and near permanent party of government), their coalition partners and their friends in big business are at the top of the guilty list in this regard. They have allowed a chaotic, greed-fuelled auction to take centre stage in this country over the last 15 years and labeled it the finest economy in the world. Yet, as soon as this “fine economy” implodes, the hundreds of thousands of people who actually work to generate the wealth are expected to foot the bill to save those who mismanaged it. Instead of harnessing the wealth of recent times to create first-class health, education and transport systems, the Dublin government has provided us with rising unemployment, mass privatisation and endemic child and fuel poverty.
PF: Is there much of a challenge to the class collaborationism of the union leaderships? What role does éirígí see for itself in challenging this collaboration?
BL: The whole carefully-manufactured “consensus” that lauds “social partnership” as a panacea for all our ills in now beginning to fall apart. It is falling apart because the brutal realities of the capitalist economic system are becoming ever more obvious. According to the “social partnership” narrative, everyone was a winner - workers, bosses and the state. This narrative cannot survive the utter failure of the system that “social partnership” was designed to protect. Now that the economy is in crisis, it is clear that everyone isn’t a winner. Once again, it is working class people who are being told to tighten their belts, while the wealthy secure their gains and are supported by massive government bail-outs. éirígí has stated from day one that there is an alternative to this dog-eat-dog economic madness and it is one based on cooperation, solidarity and participatory planning, i.e. socialism. It is the job of every left-wing organisation, including éirígí, to fill the vacuum of ideas that exists in terms of how to deal with the economic crisis with socialist politics.
PF: One of the key things that has bedevilled Irish republicans, including socialist republican’s since Connolly’s time is the relationship between the class and national questions or, put another way, the class and national aspects of the Irish revolution. How do you see that class and national relationship in Ireland being linked?
BL: Connolly believed that the relationship between the class and national questions is fundamentally indivisible. What has bedevilled Irish republicans since that time is how to build a movement that effectively deals with both. éirígí shares Connolly’s analysis that the Irish revolution has two aspects - the national and the social. To resolve one, you have to resolve the other. The key to socialist republican thinking is to understand that the military occupation of Ireland and the denial of political democracy that it represents is just one aspect of what Connolly referred to as the “conquest of Ireland”. The social aspect - the replacement of the collective ownership laws of the native population with private property relations, particularly with regard to the land - was what provided the material incentive in the English invasion of Ireland. Any successful re-conquest of Ireland must remove the social and economic system that the English imported to Ireland. In éirígí’s opinion, any revolutionary movement in Ireland must have the resolution of the national and social questions as its core objectives.
PF: The other issue that has bedevilled the movement in Ireland is the relationship between military and political activity, or party and army. How do you view the issue of armed republican activity?
BL: Any population that has the misfortune to find itself under foreign occupation has the right to use armed force to remove that occupation. Whether it was the French resisting the Nazi occupation or the Vietnamese resisting Franco-American aggression, the principal is the same. And that principal also extends to the Irish context. However, while any people may have a principled right to use armed struggle, it may not always be tactically or strategically the correct option. We believe that there are other, more effective ways to challenge and defeat British rule in Ireland today.
PF: What possibilities are there for uniting anti-imperialists, at least around particular projects and maybe into some kind of ongoing coalition? Is éirígí working along those lines or do you have a different view?
BL: Since its foundation, éirígí has been working with anti-imperialists and other progressives on a number of issues. The first of these was the “Shell to Sea” campaign which is resisting Shell Oil’s operations in County Mayo. This was closely followed by éirígí joining the Irish Anti-War Movement, which is made up of a broad coalition of groups opposed to Irish collaboration in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently, éirígí has worked within the Campaign Against the European Union Constitution, which was one of the lead organisations in the recent defeat of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. We believe the building of a new progressive social movement to be an essential step on the road to transforming Ireland’s socio-economic system. Such a movement will need to encompass trade unions, political parties, community groups, campaign groups, residents’ associations and non-aligned individuals. Similar movements have played an important role in the recent move to the left within a number of South American countries. éirígí believes there are lessons to be learned from these countries that could be applied to the Irish context.
PF: There are also a number of explicitly socialist-republican currents, such as the Irish Republican Socialist Party. What is éirígí’s attitude to the idea of trying to regroup all the socialist-republicans into a single organisation?
BL: While, theoretically, the ideal situation would see a single socialist republican party we have to recognise that the conditions for such a party do not yet exist in Ireland. The reality is that there are a number of organisations, including éirígí and the IRSP, that profess a left republican analysis. These various organisations have come into existence for a range of different historical reasons, some of which still exist today. While, at a superficial glance, these differences may seem surmountable, a more comprehensive analysis reveals much deeper tactical and ideological separation. To prematurely attempt a merger or coalition of these groups and parties may well damage the tentative growth that radical politics in Ireland is currently enjoying. In éirigi’s opinion, a better option at this time is for groups of similar outlook to work together on single-issue campaigns, similar to those outlined above. Over time, the conditions for a single socialist republican party may well emerge.
PF: How does éirígí see things in Ireland developing over the next, say, decade? How do you see éirígí developing in that context?
BL: The discourse in Ireland, both north and south, over the last decade has been dominated by an “end of history” type analysis. The aim of this propaganda was to promote the idea that all forms of popular struggle were finished. According to this view, the economy, although fundamentally unequal, was fundamentally sound and needed nothing but minor tinkering with. Meanwhile, the national question was settled, with the British occupation continuing indefinitely. In éirígí’s view, the next 10 years will be about exploding these myths. The truth remains that the economy is not fundamentally sound - it is on the point of collapse due to the way it was managed in the interests of the wealthy few. Already, we have seen tens of thousands of people taking to the streets of Dublin to protest about government cuts. The Six County state is not functioning as it was supposed to under the normalisation agenda of the British government and it never will. The communities that always opposed British rule are witnessing the failure of British rule on a daily basis. In light of this, I think the next 10 years are going to see a rejuvenation and popularisation of the struggle for an independent, socialist Ireland. It won’t be easy, but we’re determined to get there.
PF: Is there anything you’d like to add?
BL: I’d like thank you for giving éirígí the opportunity to explain its ideas to people in New Zealand. Communication and solidarity between peoples involved in struggle is essential in the fight for a better world, and long may it continue.

An IRSP Response to “Building an alternative movement in Ireland”

Whilst it is certainly heartening to see a small resurgence in radical politics though groups such as Eirigi; it is equally demoralising when they hold demostrations on issues that are collectively agreeable and ask other groups/parties to leave their banners at home.
Brian also mentions ideological and tactical separation in a throwaway manner without divulging to the rest of us what exactly these are.
One difference that i can think of is that the IRSP has always rejected the GFA as a blueprint for Irish National self determination and socialism and didn’t adopt this stance after an inevitable decision by PSF to support and endorse the PSNI/RUC.
There are real moves being made by the IRSP and 32CSM as well as the Republican Network for Unity to come together and find commonality of purpose that allows us to by pass “ideological and strategic differences” to co-operate on single issues to greater effect.
Eirigi have consistently been invited to take part in the Republican Forum to debate commonalities and differences but have as yet to take part citing the ideology strategy line.
Tomas Gorman IRSP

Letters

Political Prisoner.

www.no129.info

For the release of Mustafa Atalay

Mustafa Atalay is one of the five accused in the §129b trail in front of the higher regional court in Stuttgart. “I`m a journalist and a socialist- no terrorist.” was his response to the charge of membership in a foreign terrorist organisation.
Mustafa Atalay is 52 years old and lives in Germany since 2000 as a political refugee. Since November 2006 he is non- stop in detention awaiting trail. Most of the time he was isolated and he has a strict special conditions arrest.
Mustafa Atalay is suffering from a heart condition. 2006 h. He had a bypass-surgery in which he got three new bypasses. He was arrested out of hospital. Two bypasses are occluded again. During the imprisonment more cardiac-surgeries would have been necessary. He takes 8 till 10 drugs because of cardiac and circulation problems and other diseases.
Mustafa Atalay was in Turkish prisons for over 15 years. He was tortured and suffers from bodily diseases now. An expert who was called by the court made out a stress disorder. Mustafa has to be released now!
Signatures are very welcome and can be sent to
hamburg@political-prisoners.net <mailto:hamburg@political-prisoners.net>
via e-mail or to Gefangenen Info Neuer Kamp 25 20359 Hamburg via letter

Marxist Education
http://www.newyouth.com/archives/theory/marxismfaq.asp

The Plough Vol 05 No 13

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:12:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://theploughblog.blogspot.com/
Vol 5-No 13

Tuesday 11th November 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial

2) Belfast Agreement Revisited-Ten Years On

3) Capitalism, The Curse of the Working Class

4) From the media

5) Letters

6) What’s On

Editorial

Sunday November 2nd saw a march past by a British Army regiment through the centre of Belfast supported by cheering crowds of unionists and loyalists. The overwhelming impression created was of triumphalism. Union jacks waved, the unionist city councillors took the salute and the army band played its music. Truly this march marked the defeat of republican armed struggle, the consolidation of British rule in a part of Ireland and a slap in the face to those nationalists and republicans who backed the Good Friday Agreement.
The huge turnout could be partially explained by the decision of provisional Sinn Fein to organise a protest march in opposition to the parade. Many unionists and indeed many nationalists could not understand their decision. After all they, provisional Sinn Fein, supported the British police force, the PSNI, accepted MI5 having control of political policing, sit on policing boards and local partnerships with the police and in the words of one of the leading figures, Francie Molloy
“Republicans are prepared to work an executive. We are really prepared administer British rule in Ireland for the foreseeable future. The very principle of partition is accepted, and if the Unionists had that in the 1920’s they would have been laughing” (Sunday Times [Irish Edition] March 28 1999)

In truth provisional Sinn Fein only called their rally when other republicans announced that they would protest. Fearing too be outflanked on their ‘republican’ side PSF forgot about reaching out to Unionists and went for confrontational politics. This resulted in a huge rise in sectarian tensions in Belfast.
There were three other protests held. The smallest was that held by the Workers Solidarity Movement (Anarchists) who hoped for a cross community protest against the militarist celebrations.
“We ask anyone who opposes sectarianism, nationalism (either British or Irish) and imperialism, to join us in opposition to the parade this Sunday 2nd November at 11am sharp”
At least, unlike the anti war movement controlled by the Socialist Workers party the WSM were prepared to organise on the day. Unforunately for them they lost the run of themselves before the demonstrations by attacking those others who were also preparing to demonstrate against the RIR parade in Belfast.
“WSM have nothing in common with rival republican organisations seeking to ‘outgun’ each other over the reactionary mantle of nationalism”.

There is a clear distinction between the nationalism of an oppressed nation and the nationalism of an Imperialist nation. Do the WSM really believe there is no difference between the nationalism of the BNF and republicans in Ireland? To even pose that question brings out the lack of theoretical understanding the WSM spokesperson has of Irish Republicanism. The IRSP sees itself as an internationalist organisation based firmly not only on the internationalism of James Connolly but also the universal principles of the United Irishmen based on the revolutionary ideals of the French Revolution. We are not nationalists but we very firmly support the struggle for national liberation from imperialism. That struggle is essentially progressive despite errors and mistakes in its pursuit. The nationalism associated with British imperialism is reactionary. The WSM may say a plague on all your houses but the essence of this position is to end up in the camp of the reactionaries.

The protest organised by éirígí was hampered by the fact that they would not allow any other banners but their own on the protest. (Shades of their origins in the PSF-ourselves alone or –should it be we are in control?) In a direct challenge to PSF they organised a march but refused to apply for permission to march. This no doubt was to appeal to the more macho of the Provisional support base.

The IRSP leadership met coming up to the parade to discuss our options. One strongly favoured was to organise a separate protest the day before the RIR march thus avoiding any sectarian clashes. However in the end as part of our commitment to the Republican Forum we decided to support the picket organised by the Network for Republican Unity in the Markets area where about 150+activist gathered for a peaceful picket.

The irony of so many protests involving republicans only indicates the divisions and differences. That of course is the inevitable consequences of the defeat of the armed struggle. It took many republicans a long time to realise that the Adams /McGuiness leadership had caved in to the British establishment. Disillusionment demoralization set in. The mass of the people remained indifferent. So it is good that many now recognize that a new direction is needed. We believe that direction has to be socialist.

The IRSP supports the Republican Forum for Unity. It is a political forum to discuss republican ideas and options and to try to place back on the political agenda republican objectives. The IRSP recognises that there are strong differences within the Forum but we see no problem in putting forward our arguments, our ideas, our positions, to other republicans. We will continue to put forward our class analysis in each and every forum we participate in.

Belfast Agreement Revisited-Ten Years On.

The IRSP position is very clear. In 1998 the I. R. S. P. opposed that Agreement mainly on the basis that it institutionalised sectarianism in the political institutions of the North.

“After thirty years of conflict, civil rights agitation and death destruction and mayhem the end result is that we have now got a more sophisticated head counting exercise. There is now no incentive for people to move away from entrenched sectarian positions”(Political Secretary’s Report to Ard-Feis 1998)

We also pointed out that the issue of sovereignty was so ringed around with pre-conditions and confusions that unionists and nationalists could interpret the issue of sovereignty in the agreement to suit their own political stance. We pointed out clearly that

"Northern Ireland in its entirety remains part of the United Kingdom"
(Article one of Annnex A of the agreement)

We queried whether the so- called equality agenda would in fact be implemented.
10 years there is still no Bill of Rights, no Irish Language Act and the DUP resisting anything that smacks of a nationalist agenda.
We also pointed out that
“The cross border bodies are not moves towards unity. They are simply pragmatic responses towards the need for capitalist economic efficiency within the context of the European Union. Does any one here think that improved co-operation on issues such as
’animal and plant health.. teachers qualifications and exchanges, waste management social security fraud control, aqua culture accident and emergency services’ (GFA)
was what the last thirty years was all about.?” (ibid)

We also did not believe that the RUC would be abolished or essentially reformed. The RUC became the PSNI and many young catholics are now joining the PSNI with the strong encouragement of provisional Sinn Fein.

At that time we tried to tell the strong republican base that existed in
1998, that in essence the GFA was a defeat for republicanism and that rather than try to work the new institutions by jointly running the north with unionists, (in effect administering British rule,) republicans should form a legitimate opposition within the new assembly and oppose from both a republican and socialist positions the right wing policies being implemented under British direction whilst upholding the republican base positions.

Unfortunately few were prepared to listen to us. They were prepared to put their trust in the ‘republican leadership’. In the intervening 10 years many who once scorned our arguments have since come to realise that they were fooled by that same republican leadership and that our initial position was correct. There have been at least two splits from Provisional Sinn Fein since then and a fracturing of republicanism.

From a Republican perspective the republican position has suffered a serious defeat.
Ø MI5 now have a strong physical presence in North Down,

Ø British regiments are still stationed in the North of Ireland at the level they were in 1968,

Ø British troops can march through the streets of Belfast

Ø a regime still operates from Stormont administrating British rule

Ø and the British Treasury dictates the economic policies that regime implements

Supporters of the Good Friday point out the gains they claim made since the GFA. They point out that it covers a wide range of areas from

“constitutional issues, political matters, institutional arrangements, human rights, equality, policing, justice, language and culture issues.” (Gerry Adams Irish Times April 2nd 2008)

and that progress has been made on these fronts.
Yes. There have been changes. Now we have a vibrant catholic/ nationalist middle class now on an equal basis with protestant/unionist middle classes. In Adam’s own words there is now a “level playing field” (ibid)
The mantra of “equality” is rarely away from the lips of Provisional Sinn Fein leaders. But what kind of equality? Is it equality for the middle classes? Is it the equality of poverty? Is it economic equality?

In the early days of the Civil Rights movement those of us on the left pointed out that one of the consequences of calling for equal rights on issues such as housing and jobs, under the current economic system would be to create less job and housing opportunities for protestants thus further feeding sectarianism within those thus disadvantaged.

Equality under capitalism meant taking from one group and giving to the other. That simply facilitated the old Imperialist tactic of divide and rule.

The Unionist Aristocracy and bourgeoisise in collaboration with sections of the British ruling class argued forcefully against Home Rule at the turn of the 20th century on the grounds of religion, the economy, the interests of the British Empire, strategic military grounds and racism.

They created an all class alliance that linked the protestant proletariat to their industrial masters. Despite the fact that the unionist bourgeoisie was extracting as much surplus value from the protestant proletariat as they could possibly exploit, the protestant masses identified with their exploiters and with the reactionary British Empire fearing a loss of, in many cases, imaginary privileges they had, compared to the catholic masses.

When the first Northern Government was set up in 1921 the first Cabinet looked
“ -like an executive committee of Northern industry and commerce”
(page 68” Northern Ireland ; the Orange State” Michael Farrell Pluto Press 1990)

Protestant workers who either opposed partition or preached socialism were described as “rotten prods” and driven out of their workplaces.
Thus was created an enormous block to Irish independence, a block it must be said, greatly underestimated and misunderstood by republicanism

As the 20th century progressed many Protestant workers formerly ‘privileged’ by easy access to jobs in heavy industry, found their sector in decline. Resentment, hatred, bitterness based on years of indoctrination about the privileges of being British made many easy prey to bigotry and sectarianism. It took courage to stand up to sectarian hatred and there were many trade unionists workers and socialists who did so.

James Connolly, Ireland’s outstanding Marxist writer in the early part of the 20th century had argued strongly against partition on the grounds that it would create a reactionary bulwark against socialism. And so it has proved.

The Good Friday Agreement, far from being but a stage on the road to a united Ireland that its supporters argue, has in fact re-enforced the sectarian nature of the 6-county state by pushing its inhabitants into being either “unionist” “nationalist” or “other” for the purposes of forming an administration.

Adams has argued that
“The British policy in Ireland has changed dramatically… British policy was about repressing republicanism; British policy in the last decade, or so, has been about trying to find some accommodation with republicanism.” (1)

The price to be paid for the inclusion of republicans in talks was the exclusion of republicanism. This means dialogue with Republican leaders and organisations but on the basis of an agenda that excludes the political objectives of Republicanism.

Central to the political objectives of Republicanism was

Ø that there would be no internal settlement,

Ø that the Irish people have a right to self-determination

Ø and it's not dependent on the agreement of a majority in the north.

The whole peace process may have included Republicans, but from the 1993 Downing Street Declaration to the final 1998 Belfast Agreement, was always based on the British state’s political alternative to Republicanism since 1972:

Ø an internal solution (a power sharing assembly in the North which includes Nationalists)

Ø with the externality of an Irish dimension (cross border bodies) grafted on it.

The longstanding Republican demands were never serious runners for all party talks, and none of them appeared in the final Belfast Agreement.

Instead we now have political parties based on communal interests. It is in the political interests of the mainstream political parties to maximise their votes within the protestant or catholic sections of the population. So it is in the direct interests of PSF, SDLP, DUP, and UUP to maximise the turn out from their “side of the house”. Now as the administration is a coalition there is absolutely no chance of radical measures, never mind socialist measures, being introduced. After all the budget is allocated from Westminster and must be allocated in accordance with the wishes of the Westminster Government which means implementing neo -liberal economic policies.

So when Gerry Adams of Provisional Sinn Fein argues that,

“The fierce opposition from within unionism and the British system to the Belfast Agreement has stemmed from the recognition that the agreement is a powerful instrument for change.” (Gerry Adams Irish Times April 2nd 2008)

he is being less than honest. The Agreement is an instrument of British policy. It has stabilised the Northern state. And did not the most formidable opponent of change and of opposition to nationalism and Catholicism, Ian Paisley point out that Adams had revised every republican position he ever had and that PSF were now administrating British rule?

‘I did smash them [the Provos] because I took away their main plank. Their main plank was that they would not recognise the British government [in Ireland].
“ ‘Now they are in part of the British government. They can’t be true Republicans when they now accept the right of Britain to govern this country and take part in that government.’
(Interviewed on BBC radio One “Andrew Marr Show” on March 9 2008)

When Paisley agreed to share limited power with Provisional Sinn Fein he knew that the Union was safe.

The 1998 Belfast agreement amounts to the following:
1) The British state has repeated its 1973 Sunningdale declaration of intent to remain in the North until a majority in it asks it to do otherwise;

2) The British state has made it clear that the unionist veto shall remain in place and has strengthened the partitionist ethos underlying that veto by having it enshrined it in the revised Southern constitution;

3) The British state has ruled out any transition to a united Ireland by refusing to state that by a certain date - no matter how far in the distant future - it will no longer have a presence in Ireland.

4) The fact remains that the unionists will determine when the north will join a united Ireland.

This represents the best deal unionists could possibly have won. In the words of Anthony Blair, the British Prime Minister:

'This offers unionists every key demand they have made since partition eighty years ago...
The principle of consent, no change to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland without the consent of the majority of the people, is enshrined.
The Irish constitution has been changed.
.A devolved assembly and government for Northern Ireland is now there for the taking.
When I first came to Northern Ireland as a Prime Minister, these demands were pressed in me as what unionists really needed.
I have delivered them all.'
( Blair’s Dawn Call kept the heat on Trimble, Sunday Times, 4 July 1999)

The IRSP has advanced the argument that in the current climate there is no basis for republicans engaging in armed struggle. There is little or no popular support, organisations may well be infiltrated with people hostile to the national struggle and the prospects of any successful conclusion to an armed campaign practically nil.

Republicans need to take a different direction and we have argued consistently that that direction is the class struggle. Needless to say the mere mention of class struggle has the politically sectarian jumping up and down frantically shouting ‘economists, “reformists” “anti republicans” and whatever suitable insult they can think up without having to make up a suitable sensible argument. Worst of all, in their eyes, are those who put forward clear arguments based on a socialist understanding of modern Irish society. They are accused of being trendy middle class intellectuals living in theoretical ivory towers.

Such anti-intellectualism has no place in any revolutionary movement.

It is almost impossible to think of one revolutionary leader from the 20th century who was not also simultaneously a writer and thinker; Lenin, Trotsky, Gramsci, James Connolly, Padraigh Pearse, Liam Mellows, Mao tse Tung, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara.

Also in the IRSP itself many of our own leaders including Seamus Costello, Ronnie Bunting, Johnny White, Miriam Daly, Ta Power and Gino Gallagher were critical thinkers, writers and doers, basing themselves on the class struggle.

The IRSP has argued from its inception that without national liberation there can be no socialism and without socialism there can be no national liberation. So in deepening and developing the class struggle we are in actual fact deepening and developing the struggle for national liberation.

Republicans need to remember some wonderful phrases of Wolfe Tone, a founder of Irish Republicanism,

“To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country--these were my objects.
To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissentions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman, in the place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter--these were my means."
"To unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter under the common name of Irishmen in order break the connection with England, the never failing source of all our political evils, that was my aim".
"If the men of property will not support us, they must fall. Our strength shall come from that great and respectable class, the men of no property".

We republican socialists need to remember that it is not “our community” we owe allegiance to but to our class.

The Northern economy is heavily dependant on the public sector, services and retailing. Large numbers of people are economically inactive in the North with nearly 40% of the working age population. The education system is socially divisive class based and not fit for purpose. Every year over 1000 pupils leave school without basic qualifications and over 12000 without GCSE passes in Maths and English.

Gas bills are going up. Electricity bills are going up. Water charges are being introduced. Public sector jobs are being axed and replaced by the private sector. Working class families can now not afford mortgages and the state refuses to increase substantially the supply of social housing to meet current needs. There is a slump in the building trade and energy prices are rising dramatically.

In the South of Ireland the economy is now in recession and unemployment is expected to rise to 5.5%or 6% this year. House prices are falling rapidly and as in the North some working class families now find themselves with negative equity. Many now face the prospect of either selling their homes or having them dispossessed and moving into rented accommodation to be at the mercy of landlords. The recent budget was a vicious attack on the living standards of the working class but let the wealthy off almost scot free.

Capitalism worldwide has suffered its greatest shock since the great depression in the1930’s. That Depression aided the rise to power of fascism with the subsequent world war. What happens in the world economy directly affects workers in both parts of Ireland. Neither of the two administrations can protect the working class from the effects of a recession even if they were so inclined. Administrations that include the right wing PD party in the South and the right wing DUP in the North will have as their first priority defence of capitalism and their cronies in the business world. For all Sinn Fein’s professed “radicalism” they are the party that introduced Public Private Initiatives that essentially is privatising the educational system.

For capitalism, that has been one of the outstanding successes of the Belfast /Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Fein is now working the capitalist system with a gusto and enthusiasm that would turn the stomachs of those who once believed in their left wing posturing.

We say to those republicans shed away your illusions and work towards republican aspirations by joining with growing sections of the working class in taking up explicit anti-capitalist stances. There is now an opportunity to rally working class forces in a fight back against the cuts now being imposed. Are republicans prepared to join in that fight? And be under no illusion when fighting for the working class in these day to day struggles we are also pushing forward the anti-imperialist struggle.

Gerry Ruddy

CAPITALISM, THE CURSE OF THE WORKING CLASSES: IF THEY COULD ONLY SEE IT

“Capitalism is not intelligent, it is not beautiful, it is not just, it is not virtuous and it does not deliver the goods” (John Maynard Keynes, economist whose theories included a mixed economy which influenced the post war labour government under Clement Atlee in the UK, far from a revolutionary or Marxist).

There is a nasty rumour flying around telling people that the global capitalist economic system is in some kind of crisis. Some irresponsible people, masquerading as politicians and others as economic experts are trying to claim that the wonderful capitalist system is in its worst state for ‘one hundred years’. These so called people of wisdom must have completely overlooked the events of Wall Street, 1929-30, and what led to the “Great Depression” of the 1930s because according to my maths and political history the 1930s are less than a hundred years ago and the events of Wall Street make what is happening now look little more than a blip.

There are however some people out there, not economists or would be politicians, but ordinary every day people who can see a bright side to this terrible abyss which we are supposed to believe is second only to the bubonic plague. These are the people who for the first time in their lives can actually afford goods and services without accumulating massive debts. One young woman reportedly said ‘I hope this goes on for ever’ for the first time I can afford a house ‘if this is recession bring it on’. Of course this woman will be in a minority because things are not so bad, or good, that everybody can afford a house unless thy have won the pools or the lotto even at reduced prices and those who may be able to are in constant fear of redundancy.

The economic situation we are in merely means that the profits of the capitalist class, bourgeoisie, are down on previous years, it does not mean they are making no profit at all. Of course this is more than that greedy class of parasites can bear so, as a consequence, and to offset their profit reduction they lay off the workforce thus making sure it is the working class who take the brunt of capitalist irresponsibility and instability. This in turn leads to many people being unable to meet their mortgage demands consequently leading to house repossessions by the mortgage companies, meaning in the case of many no job no home. Equally because house prices are falling, which is not too good if you are trying to sell a property, many mortgage companies are reluctant to give mortgages in case the applicants manage to pay the mortgage off before their dying day thus denying the lenders huge profits in interest.

For years now some working class people living in denial have been masquerading as bourgeois. Now it is about time some of these upstarts who for some time have been walking around with their noses in the air claiming to be property owners realised that they are not, no more than a corporation tenant is, because the mortgage company own the house and let the occupier miss one weeks repayment, which is happening, and they will see who the real property owners are! The fact is, in these times the corporation tenant is far safer, as far as security of tenure goes, than the would- be property owner. Corporations tend not to evict without good reason and certainly not for missing one week’s rent.

One of the most grotesque spectres about this whole messy affair is the way the bourgeoisie manage to convince people that lower, affordable, housing and other goods and services is a bad thing and, the irony is that the very people who benefit from lower prices are easily convinced it is a bad thing. The reality is that for some people who, through no fault of their own, have lost employment and home of course this ‘credit crunch’ is a bad thing. For those who the mortgage companies will not give a mortgage to because they cannot debt laden them for eternity it is actually a good thing, though they are among the ones who are convinced it is a bad thing. However for those who can afford to buy a property at a much reduced price, probably out of their nest egg, or at least put a good deposit down without a mortgage and pay the rest of the installments out of their wages, as long as they have wages, the present situation may be seen as a good thing.

Having briefly, very briefly, looked at this comedy of errors called capitalism which we are constantly told is the finest way of managing our affairs (god we must be dead from the neck up) and that the capitalist system is the only way forward (I beg to differ), which for the capitalist class who seldom, as a class loose, it probably is. As far as the working class is concerned, if they could only see it, this imbecile system is probably the worst possible way of their affairs being managed. What is needed is not a bit of tampering with an already corroded economic system but the entire dismantling of the capitalist mode of existence, production, to be replaced with a new competent dependable system called socialism based on the common ownership of the means of production control and exchange, a planned economy and one state run nationalized bank, one employer, the socialist state with the working class in control of the means of production, full democracy both at the point of production and elsewhere e.g. within the communities, and an end to the profit, profit, profit mentality which has gripped society since the industrial revolution and before.

Those who once argued and agreed with head cases like the then US President Ronald Reagan that the former Soviet Union was “evil” should take a look in the mirror and a quick glance around themselves and ask what is so godly about capitalism. Despite the many grotesque distortions in the former USSR who ever heard of the State Bank of Moscow going bust? A Socialist political and economic system would guarantee housing for all, yes Corporation housing with some modifications. An example of these modifications on what we know as corporation housing presently could be perhaps the right, if a tenant wished, to build small extensions or patios provided these improvements to the property do not completely decimate the local environment. People would have security of tenure and be able to sleep comfortably at night without the worry of the bailiffs turning up to evict them the following morning. This kind of political and economic system would not suit the bourgeoisie but then again it is not supposed to. The fact is for the majority of people, the working class, capitalism is unstable, offers no long term security and as far as deliverance of goods and services are concerned, well only if it is profitable.

The moral to this story is that society does not have to be constructed in this unsafe, unreliable semi-imbecile way. There is a better competent method of conducting our affairs, which is not dependent on a small minority making huge, mega, profits on the backs of the majority. That system is socialism.

Kevin Morley
Irish Republican Socialist Party, Dublin

Letters

In response to “Forty Years On . Civil Rights in the plough Vol 5 -12 (http://theploughblog.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html)
Excellent article. Interesting points raised about SP and SWP too. Left sectarianism is clearly alive and well. Those two organisations have no foundations within the class they claim to represent and yet remain resolute in their arrogance toward republicans!

The IRSP stance on the subject of housing is totally correct and admirable. It is great to see socialist republicans tackle issues affecting all sections of the working class from a principled political position and without discrimination. I believe reps of protestant workers were approached about the march}. Long may it continue.

The fact remains that while an imperialist force remains in this country sectarianism will continue to exist, it is only when a socialist republic is established that we will see sectarianism finally ended and our class can go about organising a nation free from such social ills. It is important to recognise the source of sectarianism in Ireland and of course avoid drifting into reformism. We must tackle immediate issues like this that effect the working class while fully standing behind and promoting with pride our revolutionary politics and never distancing ourselves from our goal to make allowances for anyone.

Sligo Reader

Marxist Education
http://www.newyouth.com/archives/theory/marxismfaq.asp

The Plough Vol 05 No 12

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:03:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://theploughblog.blogspot.com/
Vol 5-No 12

Friday 17th October 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial

2) Forty Years On

3) Falling apart at the seams.

4) Aidan Hulme

5) What’s On

Forty Years On

The fortieth anniversary of the historic October 1968 civil rights march in Derry took place recently on October 5th. While some of the veterans of those days were swanking around the Guildhall in Derry that weekend mixing with Presidents, Noble Peace Prize winners and getting insulted by DUP Minister, Gregory Campbell, two protests took place that put the so called gains of the past forty years into perspective.

On the Saturday at lunchtime outside the Guildhall (where I joined them) a small group of Republicans held a protest as the President of the 26 counties Mary Mc Aleese arrived for the civil rights celebrations. The republicans, who are referred to as “Dissidents” by those who have bought into administering British rule in Ireland, were protesting about the abuse of power by the political police in the 26 counties against four Derry republicans. I did not see any of the so-called veterans of the civil rights movement come out to join in the protest. This despite the fact that draconian laws still exist and are still used by the political police north and South of the border. Nor was there any sign of the so called socialist groups in Derry who are so quick to organise a picket, march or protest if Imperialism acts in far off countries the way it does in Ireland.

But then that is not surprising. The respectable wing of the civil rights movement never wanted any thing to do with anything that smelt of radicalism. People like Brid Rogers did not want either republicans or communists on the civil rights committees in the late sixties. John Hume advised against both the October the 5th March 1968 and the Bloody Sunday march January 30th 1972 and stayed away from both marches. However when the catholic middle classes saw the angry of the catholic working class, against the injustices suffered from even before the founding of the northern Ireland state, expressed on the streets they jumped on the band wagon before the wagon left them far behind. There were also some republicans who advised against taking part in the civil rights movement. It was a distraction from the national struggle. They went on to split the republican movement and founded the provisional republican movement. Some of them today have now false memory syndrome of the “leading role” they played in the civil rights struggle.

Those of us who argued then that the civil rights struggle was not just about the discrimination against the catholic /nationalist population but also needed to campaign against the economic barriers that bore heavier on the working classes whether unionist or nationalist, were derided as ultra –leftists. Those who denounced us were sections of the republican movement, that later took the Official Republican movement into the Workers Party, and the Communist Party of Northern Ireland who saw the political process as a linear movement going from one stage to another but only after all of one stage had been reached. So the struggle for democratic rights should not be distracted by either the struggles for national or economic rights.

Such a stance meant that the Unionist establishment could paint the civil rights movement as only a catholic front that threatened the privileges of the protestant working class then benefiting from first preferences choices of jobs in heavy industry and housing. Yet four of the five main demands of the civil rights movement were conceded fairly rapidly. The repressive Special Powers act was kept and then a whole series of repressive laws replaced it.

And yet forty years from October 5th 1968 over four hundred people took part in the second protest that weekend in 2008 when the North Belfast Civil Rights Association took to the streets on the same issue of housing that was so relevant to the civil rights movement forty years ago. (pictureshttp://rsmforum.proboards107.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1878&page=1)

There was a large turnout of members of the IRSP and other republicans from a variety of groups as well as anarchists and those most directly affected by the lack of available housing in North Belfast. Unfortunately there was also no sign of those socialist groups such as the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers Party who it seems only want to protest when its safe. i.e. they don’t get identified with republicans or associated with issues that may be perceived as sectarian.

Three years ago the SDLP disclosed that people from a nationalist/catholic background made up 75% of those on the Housing Executive’s waiting list in North Belfast but only had 36% of the social housing allocation.

Today the figures for those on the housing list are nearer to 84% Catholic/ Nationalist. Areas like Ardoyne are bursting at the seams. Yet there is ample housing in North Belfast Rows of empty houses exist in North Belfast.

They are however in North Belfast nearly 25 interfaces with so-called peace walls and the empty houses are in areas that are perceived as protestant. There has been an outflow of protestant families from North Belfast. But because of the sectarian nature of politics in the North even the Housing Executive recognises these areas as “protestant” and refuses to allocate homes to Catholics. Unionist politicians have whipped up protestant fears of a catholic takeover and encroachment into “protestant” areas and created a climate of fear that inhibits genuine progressives within the protestant working class from identifying with the aims and objects of the N.B.C.R.A.

The Housing issue in North Belfast is the litmus test by which we judge if the Unionists who say they have embraced power sharing and other aspects of the Good Friday Agreement are really sincere. As yet no elected unionist has raised the chronic housing problem in North Belfast. The nature of the northern state dictates that politicians only have to cater for those “on their own side of the house”, ie catholics or protestants but not both. That is the essential reason why the IRSP rejected the Good Friday Agreement. It cemented sectarianism into the body politic. We maintain that only by the establishment of a Socialist Republic can the sectarianism that divides the working class be begun to be broken down.

But we are not afraid to take up causes that may appear to “offend” sections of the working class. The essential belief we bring to the housing issue is “need not creed.”

Communities groups working within nationalist communities have publicly expressed support for people on the Shankill campaigning for social housing in opposition to property speculators. No socialist or republican should hesitate to support working class people who are oppressed. We don’t ask their religion or the colour of their skin or what their sexual orientation is. Wherever there is injustice we should fight it.

Forty years on from the start of the civil rights struggle the same type of issues that confronted people then still exist today. It is not a time for self-congratulations as to what anyone did forty years ago, or award us medals, or plaques or badges for doing then what was right. The place for any republican or socialist or self-proclaimed Marxists is outside the Guildhall in Derry, in solidarity with political prisoners, protesting and marching against housing discrimination. On the streets in protest at the many injustices that still exist in this society. That is the real spirit of 68’.

Gerry Ruddy

Falling apart at the seams.

Last weekend the Euro politicians put together the biggest bank bailout in history. Just three days later and everything’s falling apart at the seams again. European shares tumbled. Falls of up to 7% took place in the value of shares. The $250bn from the Euro banks seemed to be of no value in stopping the collapse of the money markets. While the system is far from collapse it is now clear that we may be moving towards a worldwide recession. It is undoubtedly the worst recession since the great depression in the 1930’s. Nine out of ten of the shares to fall the most are in resource stocks. Rio Tinto the mining company saw shares drop 17%in one day.

Rather than be grateful to Governments pouring money into the banks the bankers are now demanding that they be allowed to pay out dividends to their share holders. The British Prime Minister sunk £37bn into three banks to keep them afloat. The Irish Government guaranteed the survival of all the Irish based banks. The USA Government is handing over vast sums of money to financial firms virtually free.
And the bankers want more. That is the reality of capitalism. Having demanded for years a free market economy without any restraints or Government controls, the banks, when the shit hits the fan, want Government intervention in terms of money, ie taxpayer’s money but still want no Government regulation.
It is easy for the British prime Minister to blame "irresponsible" bankers. Yet it was he who for ten years presided over a period of cheap credit. Low interest rates may have been to stimulate the economy but a major affect was the creation of mountains of debt not only for financial institutions but also for the ordinary person in the street.

Credit cards were given out hand over fist to people who had no way of paying back the debts they accumulated. Every week homes were bombarded with gloss leaflets encouraging people to sign up to the latest offer from the credit card companies. TV and films pushed the consumer life style down people’s throats. Three foreign holidays a year was the norm, women should live like the WAGS and the men emulate the life style of the David Beckam’s of this world. Trade union values of solidarity and brotherhood and equality were derided. The individual consumer was king. Working class areas lost their sense of solidarity as the values of the free market were embraced by unemployed youth turned on the glorification of drug culture. Crime soared in working class areas and anti social behaviour drug taking knife culture and a callous disregard for our fellow humans took hold.

In the meantime it is the taxpayers in the main who will bear the main burden of the collapse of the system and the on set of recession. The budget introduced this week by the Irish Government will lower disposable incomes by 1%. VAT has been increased and a 1% levy on all incomes under Euros100, 000 is introduced and 2%for incomes over euros 100,000. Naturally there is no change in corporation tax.

Those set to experience the greatest losses in the coming year are those who lose their jobs, and have difficulty in finding new employment. Changes in the jobseekers allowance mean that the unemployed will now be worse off.

On top of that there has been a cull of Government agencies. One of the most prominent is the Combat Poverty agency now to be merged into the Department of Social and Family Affairs. A thorn in the side of the Government in the past with regular critiques of policy the agency now loses its independence and one doubts any more criticisms of policy. There were tax increases across the board, on income, Vat and duty rates. There were cutbacks in public services. One commentator speaking of the budget said

“If you leave aside the elderly, the women and the children, no-one else feels any pain.”

Two years ago the Republic’s economy was booming and the government had more money than it could spend. Now it is bust.
House prices in the south are down more than 10 per cent in the past year.
Meanwhile in the North the unemployment numbers have raised by 1200 the biggest increase in 22 years. Most of the job losses are from the construction industry. However the North’s economy is relatively better off in comparison with both the 26 counties and Britain due to the high number of public sector jobs. However the % of people, who are economically inactive, is a staggering 26.7 % the highest of all UK regions.

What is happening to European economies has to be seen in an international context.
“Over the past year, the number of hungry people in the world increased from some 850 million to 925 million, as a direct result of higher food and energy prices. Since early 2007, protests about high food prices and general living costs have occurred in almost 60 countries, with violence occurring in more than 20 of these. The current crisis will push the number of hungry people to well over one billion, about one-sixth of the world's population.”

The costs of hunger are not sufficiently widely known. Half of the almost 10 million children under the age of five who die annually do so from a combination of malnutrition and easily preventable disease. Tens of millions of children suffer from physical and mental stunting as a result of chronic malnourishment of pregnant women and children under two years. The costs in terms of lost human potential and economic development of countries are enormous. (Tom Arnold is chief executive of Concern Worldwide)

The poorest of the poor spend 50-70 %of their income on food and live on less than 50 cents a day. Very few of the promises made by richer nations to help the hungry have translated into action.
That is why it is so important for republicans in Ireland to not only examine and understand the reasons for the current crisis in capitalism but also to take, a view point not from a narrow nationalist perspective, but to look at the whole issue from an internationalist perspective.
Long derided and almost forgotten about by the intelligentsia of the world because of the failure of Stalinism and the collapse of the totalitarian Eastern regimes the ideas of Karl Marx are now once more coming back to prominence.

“The history of all hitherto existing society [2] is the history of class struggles”.

“The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones.”

“Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinct feature: it has simplified class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other -- bourgeoisie and proletariat.”

“The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honored and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage laborers.”

“The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation into a mere money relation.”

“The bourgeoisie has, through its exploitation of the world market, given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country. “

“Though not in substance, yet in form, the struggle of the proletariat with the bourgeoisie is at first a national struggle. The proletariat of each country must, of course, first of all settle matters with its own bourgeoisie.”
(http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html)

GR

Aidan Hulme

The following leaflet was handed out in Derry on Behalf of Aidan Hulme recently. As a result of that and pressure by a wide range of organisations and individuals an assurance was given by the authorities that Aidan will have a consultant assessment before the end of month and there will be a consultant led care management plan in place. Gangrene is not present in his foot and an agreed care package is now put in place. The OC of the wing will have access to all visits by the doctor as well as visits by the Governor, which gives an opportunity to monitor the progress over the coming weeks.

The working together of all those who aspire to a different kind of Ireland than exists today show what could be achieved when we unite in action. While we all have our differences there are many things we can and should unite on in the spirit of the Broad Front advocated by Seamus Costello.

I.R.P.W.A
Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association
Alarming concern has been expressed for the continuing medical condition of republican prisoner Aidan Hulme in Portlaoise Prison. Following a visit from a Doctor it was observed that Aidan’s toes on his injured leg had turned black giving rise to fears of possible gangrene. The Doctor relayed to the Prison Governor that Aidan should be seen by a Consultant in this field as a medical imperative. The Governor has stated that Aidan’s case would be prioritised but as of yet no decisive action has been taken.

Aidan is currently on twenty-one tablets a day and requires the use of Morphine Patches to alleviate pain. His complexion has turned yellow which may indicate liver damage as a result of the high dosage of medication. He is currently confined to bed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

The Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association urges all republican and socialist groups to campaign vigorously to ensure Aidan’s medical needs are urgently met. We will be petitioning Minister Dermot Ahern to intervene immediately so that Aidan can receive the proper medical attention in a proper medical facility.

Why was Kevin Murray allowed to die?

Irish Republican POW Kevin Murray (48) had been serving a 12-year sentence at Portlaoise Prison, Ireland; when early in 2001 he began to complain of severe headaches and dizziness. Repeated visits to the prison doctor did not alleviate his increasingly severe headaches, or lead to proper medical attention to his very rapidly deteriorating physical health. In mid-September of 2001, after a great deal of protest by fellow POWs and family and friends outside of the prison, Kevin was finally moved to an outside hospital to receive desperately needed medical attention for what was found at that late stage to be a massive brain tumor. By this time, however, his condition had become inoperable; and he was transferred almost immediately from Beaumont Hospital to a hospice care facility near his family in Dundalk.

Kevin was administered last rites in early October after suffering a stroke, which left him blind. Several weeks later, on Tuesday, November 13th, Kevin lost his long struggle for life. Kevin Murray died a few short weeks after finally being released from Portlaoise prison for the emergency hospital care, which had been requested, by himself, his family, and his fellow prisoners for several months prior to his death.

Duty of care:
We firmly believe that the Irish Government and the Irish prison service have failed in their duty of care to ensure the basic human rights of adequate medical treatment to Irish Republican POW’s, resulting in the death of Kevin Murray and the deteriorating health of Aidan Hulme. We would urge people to express their concern and contact Department of Justice, Dermot Ahern, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform,94 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2 Phone: + 353 1 602-8202 Email: info@justice.ie Issued by Derry 32csm on behalf of I.R.P.W.A

Trade union Notes
New rates will be implemented from 7 October 2008 as follows:
National Minimum Wage
Adult rate - £5.73
18-21 year old rate - £4.77
Under 18 rate - £3.53.

Marxist Education
http://www.newyouth.com/archives/theory/marxismfaq.asp

What’s On?

Tuesday October 21st at 7 pm.

Belfast Salon explores the new politics of Northern Ireland.

“Arranged marriage or meeting of minds?”

The transformation of Provisional Republicanism from anti state insurgency to partners in Government is often described as a form of political rehabilitation, where, through skilful management and against all the odds, those at the margins are brought into the fold of mainstream politics.

Rejecting the so-called ‘great man’ or ‘betrayal’ approach to history and locating Irish republicanism in a global political context, a new book- The New Politics of Sinn Fein- draws parallels between the movement’s accommodation with the British state, its embrace of identity politics and the broader decline of universalist forms in contemporary politics.

The Belfast Salon will discuss these ideas with author Kevin Bean, looking at the redefinition of republicanism in the context of ideological changes that have taken place across the political spectrum over the past 20 years.

Tuesday October 21st at 7 pm.

Upstairs at the Spaniard, Skipper Street, Belfast

29 October, Wednesday 5-6,

‘Writing the history of the Official Republican Movement Dr Brian Hanley (QUB) Seminar Room 1, Governance Building, 53-67 University Road Belfast

Wednesday 29 October7:00pm
The Future Together is hosting a public debate on in the Lansdowne Court Hotel, Antrim Road. Belfast This will be an opportunity to have your say and discuss the educational arguments on the future of education.

This is a public event that commences at and will finish promptly at 9:00pm.

Sir Ken Bloomfield and Professor Tony Gallagher will be contributors to the debate. All political parties will also be represented.

WEDNESDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2008 6 P.M. to 8 P.M.AN EVENING
WITH ANTHONY MCINTYRE - Ausubo Press celebrates its New Book Good Friday: The Death of Irish Republicanism by Anthony McIntyre is an indispensable book for anyone wanting to understand the Sinn Fein peace process from an Irish Republican perspective. Anthony McIntyre and Ausubo Press look forward to the pleasure of your company at a congratulatory gathering celebrating the publication of his new book, Good Friday: The Death of Irish Republicanism.

SAVE THE DATE! Please join us on: WEDNESDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2008 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. The Linen Hall Library, The Northern Room 17 Donegall Square North Belfast BT1 5GB, Northern ireland.com
RSVP by contacting publicity@ausubopre ss.com - no later than 29 October.
"McIntyre's book should be read by anyone with an interest in modern Irish republicanism. " Richard English
An Ausubo Press book www.ausubopress. com

The Plough Vol 05 No 11

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:07:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://theploughblog.blogspot.com/
Vol 5-No 11

Friday 3rd October 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial

2) The Bail- out

3) Political prisoners In Portlaoise-The background

4) March For Houses

5) Letters

a. Diplock courts still in use

6) What’s On

EDITORS NOTE .
Due to technical difficulties some subscribers to the Plough have been removed inadvertently. If you have been a subscriber I the past and wish to renew please please send e-mail entitled “subscribe” to johnmartinps@eircom.net.

Editorial
On the 30th of September the Chief Constable of the PSNI (RUC) said in a television interview;

'I think what we are seeing is that dissidents are getting and are prepared, to take more risk,' 'They are determined to kill a police officer.

That is the Continuity IRA, Real IRA and indeed INLA and there seems to be some almost bizarre competition to raise the level of attack to achieve the awful objective of killing a police officer just because there is someone out there protecting the communities.' 'They are just determined to cause mayhem, to actually bring Northern Ireland back to a place it is simply not going to go. So their plan is completely flawed at every level but I do think they see the political impasse at Stormont as an increased opportunity to recruit. The people we are arresting are not 50 or 60 year-olds from the old world, these are young people who are being targeted by dissidents - disenfranchised, marginalised youth, and young people who they are now turning to this to do their dirty work for them.'-
'We are confident that collectively we have a very good picture. It never will be a perfect picture - it never was a perfect picture it is not now.
I do think politicians and communities need to decide what they want to do.
In particular the politicians need to nail the political vacuum in which these people are now operating. Until they do that, quite frankly, I think the opportunities for recruiting more marginalised young people, the next generation into this crazy activity will continue.'
The reason for his statement?- the political vacuum at Stormont. For three months Provisional Sinn Fein and the DUP could not agree an agenda for meetings of the power sharing executive. There has been a paralysis at the heart of the power sharing administration and both sides have reverted to playing sectarian politics. Events including the so-called credit crunch will eventually force both sides into agreement.
But the Chief Constable knows that there is increasing disillusionment out there with the political process. The current international crisis of capitalism will have tremendous repercussions on the working classes both nationalist and unionist in all parts of Ireland. Those charged with the security of the state fear the politicisation of the youth, of the marginalised, of the working class. So by calling up the spectre of the so- called dissidents the Chief Constable hopes to demonise those who oppose the current political settlement and push the bourgeois politicians into co-operating.
Of course his warnings are based on a fundamental lie. The INLA are now on ceasefire for over ten years and are totally committed to that ceasefire. They have made it clear on a number of occasions that they believe that the tactic of armed struggle at this juncture in Irish history is wrong and have urged comrades to become totally involved in political class politics in Ireland. That has been the consistent position since 1998 and there is little prospect of that changing.
And there is no better time for comrades to engage in class struggle. The IRSP have always said that the class struggle and the national question were intertwined. At times too much emphasis has been place on the national question at the expense of the class question. Now there is a growing awareness world wide of the true face of capitalism. It is our job to help expose that face, engage on issues relevant to the class and along with others provide the revolutionary leadership that is needed at this time. Involvement in key issues such as social housing by IRSP comrades is a start but much, much more needs to be done. Events are moving in our favour.
In the heart land of USA capitalism Wall Street a protest was held against the bail-out plan of Bush. Leaflets proclaiming that "Capitalism has failed" were snapped up by the crowd of several thousands who were chanting slogans such as “You Broke it! You Buy it!" and "Bail out is Bullsh*t! The demonstrators included a large number of construction workers ‑ ironworkers, labourers, plumbers and steamfitters ‑ as well as teachers, city workers and others. The Wall Street Stock Exchange was covered with people who were chanting and some carried signs that read "Jump! You Fu*kers!" (a blunt message to the speculators and bankers in their towering offices above).
Even here in Ireland the leader of the Irish Labour Party, Eamon Gilmore has been forced by events to take a leftist stance. In the Irish Parliament in response to Fianna Fail Government's unprecedented move to guarantee the deposits and debts of six financial bodies, he said
a 'decade of corporate greed' had 'come home to roost'.. 'I can see what's in it for six chief executives of the six banks between them earning €13 million a year,' 'If you're proposing to hand over the deeds of the country to bail out the banks what are we getting in return?' “. What were the 'nuts and bolts' of the deal, The guarantee was 'just as likely to embolden the banks to take even greater risks'.
The Government 'could have bought a 50 per cent stake in the entire banks in this country for €5 billion. Instead you've given them a guarantee for almost €500 billion.'
Such sentiments will be shared by a vast majority of the people in the island as they struggle to met mortgage payments, avoid redundancy and try to raise the cash to pay the rapidly increasing bills for power heat and food. Others will be forced by economic constraints to go to the money-lenders. There is no better time to win sections of the working class to a revolutionary socialist programme. As the regime in Stormont remains paralysed and the elected politicians get more worked up about the GAA and flags and painting post boxes green the opportunity exists to mobilise class discontent and place firmly in the centre of political life the class struggle. A class struggle that we republicans socialists see as the essential part of the struggle for national liberation.
JM

The Bail- out
The Emergency Economic Stabilisation Act proposes to put $700bn of taxpayers' money, which is the equivalent to 6% of America's annual output, to protect the USA banking system and not spend it on new hospitals, Medicare, more schools and better education. It is the equivalent to the entire cost of the Iraq war. would have ‘safeguards for taxpayers'. They knew it was just a bailout for the rich at the expense of the majority of working people.

The Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson who proposed the plan is the former head of Goldman Sachs, the most powerful investment bank in the world. He earned used to $40-50m a year in salary and bonuses. He represents just 1% of the population, those 450 billionaires in America and 3m millionaires who between them own 25% of all America's wealth.

The consequences of this huge bail-out will mean both inflation and stagnation which will also affect the whole of Europe. Millions will suffer, unemployment will grow, people will be made homeless, thousands will shiver through the winter unable to heat their homes.
Capitalism has failed. Thatcherism saw the rise of unrestrained capitalism. National assets were stripped bare and sold off to private businesses. With the collapse of the Soviet Union socialism was declared dead and we had come to the end of history- ie the class struggle. But now we see that the so called "free market" depends for its very survival on the taxpayer. Rather than prop up the market the taxpayers should demand the nationalsition of the banks and the taking back into public ownership of the key industries in the economy. Capitalism is bankrupt. Let us build socialism.
GR
(Source http://www.marxist.com/paulson-plan-kick-in-face-for-capital.htm)

Political prisoners In Portlaoise-The background

Around the turn of the century just before the bulk of PIRA prisoners were released under the Good Friday Agreement a number of Real IRA prisoners were charged and brought into Portlaoise Jail in the 26-counties. The prison authorities and the screws were going to either disperse them to other prisons or to the 'bunker' where they would either have been criminalised or had to stay in solitary, as they had no landing to go on to.
The INLA prisoners intervened and gave them accommodation on the INLA E4 landing rather than see fellow republican prisoners in solitary confinement or being criminalised.

The Real IRA eventually got their own recognised landing on E3 and thanked the INLA for accommodating them. Since that time there remains a very good relationship between both sets of prisoners. Later the Continuity IRA found themselves in the exact same position and were to be moved to Limerick jail where they would have been treated as common criminals. Once again the INLA prisoners accommodated the CIRA prisoners on the INLA landing.

Then a number of years ago several PIRA prisoners found themselves in the same position as the Real and Continuity prisoners and once again the INLA prisoners accommodated them. So at this stage there were INLA prisoners, Provisionals and Continuity on the INLA landing of E4.

The Reals were on E3 and McKevitt's 'faction' a breakaway from the Real IRA on E2 and Gilligan's mob of criminal drug dealers were on E1.

The INLA prisoners( which included Declan Duffy, and Dessie ‘OHare two comrades demonised by the Fre Stae media) then drew up a Charter, which both the Provisionals and Continuity had an input into, and which enshrined the rights of all the groups, recognised each other’s organisations and structures, and agreed that all would be treated with equal respect and dignity and have an equal say in the landing.

Remember this was an INLA landing and in the past INLA prisoners had been treated extremely badly by PIRA command structures in jails and treated as common criminals. So the stand taken by the INLA prisoners with the full authority of their outside leadership was magnanimous and extremely tolerant.

Subsequently over the following few years from the Charter was introduced, all of the then existing INLA prisoners were released. This just left the Provisionals and Continuity and a small number who split from the Continuity on E4. Then last year the Provisional prisoners refused admittance to the wing to a Dundalk man charged with INLA membership. He had to remain in solitary confinement until the outside leadership of the Republican Socialist movement sorted out and the comrade was 'allowed' to go on to E4. Subsequently the Dundalk comrade got bail. Then last year the Provisional prisoners once again refused admittance to a man charged with keeping INLA weapons and once again the outside leadership of the Republican Socialist movement intervened resulting in him being admitted to E4.

On February 2008 a number of people were arrested in Cork and charged with INLA membership and when jailed they went onto the INLA E4 landing, the Provisional prisoners left and aligned themselves under Micky McKevit's command on E2.

Over the next number of months a number of people were charged with allegedly INLA activities and membership and others were released on bail. There are now currently 11 prisoners on E4 associated with the INLA and 8 or 9 out on bail.

Subsequently the PIRA prisoners broke both the spirit and letter of the Agreed Charter by claiming sole rights to visiting boxes. This is the background to the recent disturbance in Portlaoise. Despite that disturbance the Republican Socialist Movement remains committed to the Charter, regards all other political prisoners as political prisoners, makes no distinction between them and rejects any elitism among political prisoners. Our position has always been that if we can enhance the position of any republican prisoner regardless of affiliation we will do so
The Republican Socialist Movement are now attempting to make sure that there is a mechanism put in place which will ensure that whatever grievances exist, they can be resolved peacefully.
(WG)

MARCH FOR HOUSES

The North Belfast Civil Rights Association recently called a press conference to publicise a march for housing on October 5th 2008
A number of homeless families appeared at the press conference. Mother of 2 young children, Sarah Jane Begley told reporters, she has been living in a one bed-room hostel in New Lodge Tower Blocks for the past 4 years. She said she could see no way out.
" I have 158 points but I've been told I need 170 to get a house. I know other families who have more points and they can't even get a house. The Housing Executive told there is no where for me to go apart from flats and I don't want a flat. It is depressing living there. My kids are going nuts because the place is so small”.

One family living in a one bed-roomed flat recently had 20 points deducted from their points allocation following the death of their baby son. The campaign has a series of demands including
One family One house Rent cap on landlords

End discrimination Security of tenure

More social housing no to high rise flats

This campaign is against a background of a paucity of social housing in North Belfast which weighs heavily against those from a perceived nationalist /catholic background who make up 83% of those on the Housing Executive’s waiting list. This is the direct result of past efforts by the establishment to segregate North Belfast. For the established political parties there is no incentive for them to provide adequate housing due to their dependency on sectarian voting patterns.

MARCH FOR HOUSES

SUNDAY 5TH OCTOBER

FROM CARRICK HOUSE HOSTEL (carrickhill Belfast assemble1.30pm) To customs house square campaigning for:

One family one house

Rent cap on landlords

End discrimination

Security of tenure

More social housing

organised by:north belfast civil rights association tel: 07973609362 email:nbelfastcra@gmail.com

WHO ARE WE ? - The North Belfast Civil Rights Association is a
non -party political association made up of community and housing activists concerned with the total lack of a progressive housing strategy that will begin to tackle the critical housing problems in North Belfast.

WHAT ARE WE ?- The North Belfast Civil Rights Association is a
non-sectarian, non-violent campaign aiming to highlight the ongoing housing crisis effecting working class communities in North Belfast.

WHY A CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH ? - Housing rights are civil rights!
Forty years on from the original campaign initiated by the NICRA it is once again necessary to demonstrate the inequalities, discrimination and housing poverty that exist today in 2008.

WHO SHOULD SUPPORT THIS CIVIL RIGHTS CAMPAIGN ? -

Families! Young People! Community Groups!

Residents Associations! Trade Unions! Political parties

Political activists! Students Parents

Ethnic minorities Human Rights Activists

Civil Rights activists Youth Organisations

WHO IS THIS CAMPAIGN DIRECTED AT? - This civil rights campaign is aimed at no individual, political tendency or specific section of our community. It is however aimed at exposing a system that allows for the continuation of discrimination that sees 83% of the current people waiting to be housed from the NIHE housing list in north Belfast, being from the Nationalist/Catholic community.

WHY NON SECTARIAN? - The NBCRA recognises that there are chronic housing conditions in many Unionist/Protestant working class areas. Indeed we note the current campaign against exploitation by Private developers in those areas. We support their campaign against exploitation and invite the Protestant working class and their representatives to support the –

MARCH FOR HOUSES! - WE SHALL OVERCOME 2008

Letters

Diplock courts still in use
(The Following letter was sent to the Andersonstown News in response to an article on Monday September 22nd 2008)
Andersonstown News Thursday http://www.belfastmedia.com/yourletters_article.php?ID=674

In your editorial on Monday you wrote about the problems faced by former republican prisoners who went through the Diplock non-jury court system.

I am sure a lot of your readers were surprised that we still face these sort of problems and I would like to thank your paper for highlighting these issues.

Towards the end of the article you wrote:
"There is of course the question of the very conveyor-belt system by way of which republicans were consigned to prison. The Diplock courts are completely discredited and a depressing reminder of a sorry past. The most debauched junta in the sorriest tin-pot state would have baulked at introducing such a travesty and calling it justice. And yet we had it here."

What surprised me about this is not that you pointed out the Diplock system was totally unjust, but you made it sound as if it was a thing of the past.
It is not a thing of the past. You ignored that this system is still in use today to imprison republicans. On the day your paper was printed yet another 'trial' started in the no-jury courts. Will this man have a fair trial in today's system, as opposed to what we had in the past? What in your opinion is different about the Diplock system of "our sorry past" and the Diplock system of today? I see no difference at all.

At the moment there are republicans imprisoned who went through the Diplock courts since 1998. Should you not also highlight their plight and call for their release? After all, they went through the very same system you say is "completely discredited".

If not why not?

Your article was in relation to an interview with Mickey Culbert from ex-prisoner group, Coiste na nIarchimí, who also failed to mention the political prisoners today. He did not say if the 17,000 former political prisoners he spoke about include prisoners released after the general release in 2000.

I would like to know if these republican prisoners are to be part of Mickey's project and have their records cleaned as well, or are they beyond the pale and to be treated as common criminals?

As Sin Féin moves lock, stock and barrel into the Northern State, it needs to be asked of them if they, and the ATN, support Diplock courts and do they believe if they are courts that justice can be had in?

The state police have even more powers today than they had during the conflict. A member of this force can stand up in court, and without evidence, say that s/he believes that the 'defendant' is a member of an illegal organisation and this is enough to get a conviction.

Why is Provisional Sinn Féin, or better still, nationalist newspapers like the ATN, not highlighting the wrongs that still exist in this "sorry tin-pot state"?

This is the "travesty" that is still being called "justice". Why?

Gerard Foster,

Trade union Notes
New rates will be implemented from 7 October 2008 as follows:
National Minimum Wage
Adult rate - £5.73
18-21 year old rate - £4.77
Under 18 rate - £3.53.

Marxist Education
http://www.newyouth.com/archives/theory/marxismfaq.asp

What’s On?

THURSDAY, 9TH OCTOBER 7.30 P.M.
Octogenarian Hedy Epstein knows what she's talking about when it comes to fascism. She alone of all her family survived the Nazi anti-Jewish onslsaught in the Germany of the Thirties because her parents managed to send her out of the country on the Kindertransport. Her family subsequently perished in the concentration camps.

Because of her experiences Hedy became a strong campaigner for human rights. She has supported many causes including that of Palestinian liberation. She has consistently criticised the policies of the State of Israel, drawing comparisons between these and those of the Nazis. Because of this she has been the object of vitriolic attacks by the Zionist lobby.

She pulls no punches as the title of her latest tour of the UK and Britain shows :

NEVER AGAIN! - END ISRAEL'S WAR CRIMES

You have an opportunity to see and hear this amazing woman in the North for one evening only :

AN CULTURLANN, FALLS ROAD, BELFAST
THURSDAY, 9TH OCTOBER 7.30 P.M.

(There will be a small entrance fee 2/ 1 to cover costs and refreshments will be provided)

Tuesday October 21st at 7 pm.

The Belfast Salon explores the new politics of Northern Ireland.

Arranged marriage or meeting of minds?

The transformation of Provisional Republicanism from anti state insurgency to partners in government, is often described as a form of political rehabilitation, where, through skilful management and against all the odds, those at the margins are brought into the fold of mainstream politics.

Rejecting the so-called ‘great man’ or ‘betrayal’ approach to history and locating Irish republicanism in a global political context, a new book- The New Politics of Sinn Fein- draws parallels between the movement’s accommodation with the British state, its embrace of identity politics and the broader decline of universalist forms in contemporary politics.

The Belfast Salon will discuss these ideas with author Kevin Bean, looking at the redefinition of republicanism in the context of ideological changes that have taken place across the political spectrum over the past 20 years.

Tuesday October 21st at 7 pm.

Upstairs at the Spaniard, Skipper Street, Belfast

7.pm 9th of Oct. "GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT - ISSUES AND CHALLENGES THAT FACE OUR WORLD. Time: All Thursdays at 7.pm.
Place: Dundalk Institute of Technology.
Further info: http://www.learn.ie/www/product.asp?pID=117&cID=3

The Plough Vol 05 No 10

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:22:00 +0000

The Plough

Vol 5-No 10

Wednesday 17TH September 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial

2) A Nationalist Distraction

3) The Structure of the Revolutionary Party

4) Trade Unionism in the North of Ireland.

5) The man the bourgeois forgot

Editorial

This edition of the Plough carries two interesting discussion articles.

One by a young comrade deals with the nature of the revolutionary party. Too often in the past republican organisations have become so dominated by strong individuals that debate discussion and arguments became impossible leading to frustration. Or else weak leaderships would drift along leading to lack of direction strategy or ideas again leading to demoralisation and frustration. There is a real need for a centralised ideologically based leadership imbued with the revolutionary Marxist ideas that encourages the widest democracy and discussion but also the firmest discipline in action. There can be no place for windbags, bar room socialists/ republicans, egotists or Sunday activists in a revolutionary organisation. Commitment in time, finance, ideas, in activity, and at all times putting the long-term interests of the working class first are the marks of those comrades genuinely committed to change. Such attributes will ensure that the collective leadership that emerges does not resemble the kind of dictatorial centralised bureaucratic control exercise currently by the Adams faction of provisional Sinn Fein.
The other discussion article outlines some thoughts on the trade union movement in the North of Ireland and accurately points out the failure of the republican left to seriously develop any trade union strategy.
We also include a historical piece by a young Dublin comrades on the life and times of James Clarence Mangan a Dublin born republican almost written out of our history.
Incidentially it is important to claim our history and Ireland has along tradition of links with the international struggle of the working class. Two example
1/ Che Guevara had strong Irish roots His father Ernesto Guevara said in 1969: "The first thing to note is that in my son's veins flowed the blood of the Irish rebels" Che's grandmother, Anna Isabel Lynch, was born in the west of Co. Galway and eventually she moved to South America. Once there she met a man called Guevara, and they had a child they named Ernesto who was Che's father.
(Source http://www.fantompowa.net/Flame/che_guevara_irish_roots.htm)
2/ The Hearts of Steel, tillers of the soil, men of tenant farmer, artisan and labouring classes and descendants of the Presbyterian planters branded themselves together on the estates of Lord Donegall in County Antrim during the 1770’s to lower the rents cess and tithes. A graven sundial made in Templepatrick had a sickle and hammer crossed and above the words “Hearts of Steel” and below “Necessitas non habet legem” (Necessity knows no law)
“So the Bolsevik insignia, the hammer and sickle had a County Antrim prototype in the late 18th century” (Source Irish News Sept 17th 1939)

A nationalist distraction.

Recently a Provisional Sinn Fein MLA Barry McElduff said:

'Young people need to be encouraged when they make political statements in a peaceful and political manner.'As many as 50 post boxes have been painted in Tyrone in the past month.
'It is ironic that in Lifford post boxes are green but in Tyrone, only one mile away, they are red. 'This is about blurring the border.'(Newsletter 10 September 2008)

He was talking about some young Provo supporters going around the countryside and painting the post boxes Green. Now there is no doubt that this is an issue that the vast majority of working class people in Ireland have been worrying about and fretting badly about for years.
Never mind rising unemployment within the building trade particularly in County Tyrone, never mind huge increases in Gas prices for consumers never mind huge increases in electricity for consumers, never mind huge increases in home heating oils never mind huge increases in the cost of staple foods for household such as 60%increases in the cost of eggs, never mind huge increases in mortages, and never mind increases in poverty homelessness suicide anti-social behaviour and the credit crunch. Don’t pay attention to the collapse of two of the four largest banks in the USA and the subsequent ramifications world wide for working people loss of jobs, pensions etc., Never mind the failure of the power sharing executive to meet in three months and the inability of Stormont to do anything. Never mind that!!!.

They are all distractions to take away the minds of the Irish people from the supreme task of the moment, the achievement of the national ideal! Paint the post boxes green and unite Ireland.Whoa! Whoa! What a brilliant idea.
Readers when you have finished being sick, remember the words of James Connolly
“If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic England would still rule you”

Colouring post boxes green does not a republic make nor liberates the working class. It is a total distraction by nationalists to avoid facing up to the links between the national and class question.

Gerry Ruddy

The Structure of the Revolutionary Party

“Structure is the very essence, because everything involves around, depends upon and springs from the very structural make up of the movement”-Ta power

These prophetic words from Thomas Power sum up how important the structure of the revolutionary party is; how it relates to everything the party ends up doing; how it influences the behaviour of the membership as well. Power was emphasising its importance in relation to the failures of the IRSM in the past. But was he correct in this analysis? Can we really blame a bad party structure for the bad politics and counter revolutionary behaviour of Republican movements in the past? While we may not allow ourselves to believe that party structure is the only cause of these mistakes, it is nevertheless historically proven to be a re-occurring phenomenon when we look at the failures of the republican movement in the past.

A major failure of the Republican movement has been the many splits from within the party. Most republican parties today can trace their history back to some sort of split with the main party bloc and a lot of the time these splits were aggressive. If we stay with the IRSM for a moment and look at how they came into fruition we can point to the structure of the party the people who formed the IRSP were in before its creation as a major reason for this. We will try to point out how a proper party structure would have prevented the fracturing of the Republican party/movement as a whole and how if this problem had been solved in the years before the major splits we would today be looking at a much larger, co-ordinated and defined republican voice in Ireland.

Historical mistakes of structure

The IRSP/IRSM was a split from Official Sinn Fein. I would like to be able to say that they “evolved” from the Officials but the fact of the matter is that it wasn’t an evolutionary process from one political principle to another, it was a split, and a bloody one too. The reasons for this are clear. The party structure of the Officials was so bad that it basically cut off from the membership any democratic expression of political ideas. Seamus Costello, who would go on to form the IRSP, was working from within the party to try and direct the republican movement in a more left direction for a very long time. He worked tirelessly to put his ideas out into the party to be debated, using normal and legal methods, but the party structure let him down. The structure of the party was so backward that not only did it not allow Costello free expression of ideas but it forcibly cut him off from the party and it was because of this that those who adhered to the ideas of Costello felt they had to split from the main party bloc.

The facts are clear here, the formation of the IRSP was a direct result of the lack of a democratic structure within the Officials. The political ideas of Costello were on their way to securing the shift of party principles within the Officials and because the leadership did not want this it used the backward structure of the party to make this impossible. If the party structure was correct then the Officials would possibly have never split but would have instead accepted the majority will of the membership and would have taken a less reformist position in regard to its activities.

Granted, some would have left, but the party would be intact because its ideas would have been achieved democratically. Any party which secures its ideas un-democratically stops being a party of the working class. This process just defined-of the democratic acceptance of the ideas of the majority and the inevitable result from those who don’t agree to walk away from the party-would be classified as a purge and not a split. This is because the minority idea was subordinated to the majority idea and those who would not accept this left. When the majority idea is suppressed and a walk out occurs this is then a split. A split in a party is a very bad thing, but it is something republicans take as normal nowadays.

A split is completely different from a purge. Every party must purge itself of reformist and counter revolutionary ideas once in a while but a split is different. When a section of the membership feel that the only path left for there ideas is to create a new party and break away from the main bloc then that informs us that freedom of expression of ideas or democratic debate is absent from that party.

If you want to grasp how catastrophic the decision to split the party is you could also look at Provisional Sinn Fein as an example. Imagine that there was no split from that movement. Those who believed in different ideas/tactics had stayed in the main party because there ideas were not suppressed by the leadership. Just imagine how important that section of the party would be today. That section could use the apparatus of the party to secure support for new ideas for the direction of the party and with a majority these ideas would be implemented. But sadly those from within PSF who had different ideas have split on two separate occasions because the democratic freedom of expression of ideas was curtailed, the party structure was wrong. And now any feeling of objection to the direction of PSF ends up in more splits.

This situation is a disaster for the working class struggle. The massive mandate that the PSF party has secured has been let rot by those who split. This mandate is still loyal to the PSF party and the possibility of shifting this mandate towards a more revolutionary position is never going to happen because those with different ideas have split from the party. As we have seen this was because of the lack of democratic expression of ideas within the party which is an effect of bad party structure.

The missing link

There is something lacking from the party. Its absence secures at the point of difference of opinion the fracturing of the Republican Party. This “something” is the party structure of the party which led the masses in Russia to social revolution, the Bolsheviks. It is a structure called “Democratic Centralism”. It might sound like an oxymoron but that’s the key. It’s a dialectical structure in that it contains contradictions. It is both “democratic”, and “centrally led”.

The party which has as its structure a democratic centralism is a party full with debate and freedom of ideas. The party members who disagree with a certain tactic of the movement are comfortable in the party because they are given freedom to express and articulate their ideas from within the apparatus of the party. If they secure a majority and they do not represent a bourgeois infiltration then the democratic structure of the party means that idea is implemented. We must remember that the party is not as important as the principle the party was created to agitate for (a workers republic). If we remember this then we would not have any issue with watching a party which was once revolutionary become a party of reform because we would just accept this majority decision and leave the party and join another organisation which still held the principles we adhere to.

Look at how the Labour party have changed completely in their principles, but the party is not as important as the principle so we just accept this and move on. We must have the same attitude when it comes to our own party. The fear of accepting majority ideas causes the structure of the party to turn into a bureaucracy and traditionalism runs rife. Bureaucracy and democratic expression of ideas can not co-exist in a revolutionary party. The fear of infiltration from Bourgeois ideas is a direct cause for the lack of democratic expression of ideas within the grass roots of the party. This is why centralism is vitally important when it comes to the implementation of this structure.

Centralism

We are talking about parties which are fighting for the overthrow of capitalism and securing the workers republic. We are involved in a war, the class war, and we must implement structures within the vanguard of this war to keep the party safe from reformist or bourgeois infiltration. This is where centralism comes in. The bourgeois party has a central idea which runs through all of its different parties. Bourgeois parties the world over have a central idea which keeps them from becoming a party of the working class(ie supporting capitalism) and the party of the working class must also have a central idea which keeps it from becoming a party of the bourgeoisie.(ie building socialism)

This is why the revolutionary party needs a central leadership. The main job of this leadership is, among other things, to safe guard the revolutionary party from bourgeois ideas. If this is done properly then the fear of infiltration from Bourgeois ideas will be curtailed and democratic expression of ideas will be allowed flourish from within the grass roots. The oxymoron of Democratic centralism ceases to be when they are both implemented together fully. The democratic expression of ideas would not exist without the central leadership to safe guard against bourgeois ideas and the central principle of the party (working class struggle) would not exist without the free expression of ideas from within the party. The central idea needs healthy debate around it in order for the party to understand the importance of defending it against Bourgeois ideas. When they understand this they see the importance of a central leadership. Each element plays of the other and both are vital to the proper implementation of this structure.

Conclusion

A Republican party structured on the idea of Democratic Centralism would end the phenomenon of the split from within Irish republicanism. Once there is an avenue for the expression of an idea from within the party there would be no need to create that avenue outside the party. Democratic Centralism would also encourage healthy debate amongst the grass roots and as a consequence would heighten the calibre of the membership. The central leadership would need to continue to educate themselves in the politics of class struggle so the cadre of the party would also be raised.

The party we see now is a party which is growing in its knowledge and understanding of class politics, from top to bottom, and this knowledge will be of huge importance when it comes to deciding party policy and actions relating to the class struggle. A party which does not have these qualities will be a party which will make the wrong decisions when it comes to the class struggle. The lack of a good party structure inevitably results in poor quality of debate from within the membership which in turn results in a low calibre of class based knowledge. The leadership is also affected in that it becomes a bureaucratic clique and dictatorship.

It is of upmost importance that left republicans structure themselves along the lines of Democratic Centralism if they are to be relevant to the working class struggle. This must come before any attempt at activism because any activism that is not a result of direct party policy only serves to confuse the membership and the masses. The theory must be sorted first and then you can initiate activities and policies from this confident position. You wouldn’t face a snow storm without the proper protective clothing, without being prepared. The same logic must be applied to the class struggle. Without firm theoretical and structural foundations the party is at risk of collapse if faced with stormy conditions. This has been proven throughout history.

Now let us end with another inspirational quote

“If you do not correct your mistakes you will stumble from one mistake to another”-Lenin

“Redflag32”

Trade Unionism in the North of Ireland.

Trade union activities are heavily constrained by the economic nature of the Six counties. Economically, the Six Counties are dominated by a massive public sector comprising some two thirds of the economy (compared to less than 30 percent in the 26 counties). While the state is responsible for 68 percent of economic output, more than 95 percent of the Northern private sector is made up of small businesses. 90 percent of companies there employ fewer than ten people and only 0.5 percent of companies have a workforce of more than 200. In terms of employment, 41 per cent of the work force is employed in the public sector (compared to a UK average of 20 percent), while the rest of the labour force stands at 15 per cent in retail, 13 per cent in manufacturing, 11 per cent in finance and real estate and 10 per cent in construction. On top of that, more than 500,000 people, that is over 40 percent of the working age population, are economically inactive. This is the highest economic inactivity rate of the UK. An economy based on government jobs, corner shops, and state benefits severely limits the material basis for a progressive trade union movement.

In the North of Ireland, the partitionist division of the trade union movement creates an additional problem. Workers are divided between British and Irish unions. Total trade union membership in the Six Counties stood in 2007 at 250, 948 members. The public sector dominates with over 65 percent of membership. 75 percent of members are affiliated to UK unions, 20 percent to Northern Ireland ones and only 5 percent to Irish unions. The first problem facing activists in the unions is that of a divided clientele and an institutionally divided movement. This historically has always been the case. Not only do you have Orange and Green workers, you have Orange and Green unions. James Larkin for example had some successes, not least because he was an official of an English union, and therefore less open to attack by loyalists on grounds of national allegiance. Connolly in contrast was far less successful. For example, his organising of mineworkers in Larne was thwarted overnight once workers discovered that he represented a southern union; which resulted in the miners not only abandoning Connolly, but the strike as well. When Larkin criticised Connolly for not making as much headway as he had, Connolly’s reply was instructive:

“… he [Larkin] is for ever snarling at me and drawing comparisons between what he accomplished in Belfast in 1907 and what I have done, conveniently ignoring the fact that he was then the secretary of an English organisation, and that as soon as he started an Irish one his union fell to pieces, and he had to leave members to their fate” (S Levenson James Connolly: a biography London 1973, p221).

The consequence of this is that with a divided movement, taking political stances outside purely trade union issues would drive away one section or another of the divided clientele. In his book States of Ireland, Conor Cruise O Brien tells of a Communist Party shop steward in the North who was used to bringing politics into the work place and is now busy trying to keep it out because politics inevitably means conflict.

The trade union movement only exists on the basis of the lowest common denominator between workers. ‘Politics’ have to be avoided. So, for instance, the trade union movement has been reluctant to take up the issue of repression because it would alienate protestant workers. A few trade unionists did set up the Trade Unions Committees Against Repression (TUCAR). But when Brian Maguire, an AUEW and TUCAR activist, was found hanged while in police custody in 1978, the union movement was notorious for its self-castration on the issue, fearing to alienate Orange workers.

Throughout the conflict, trade unions have not only avoided politics but have actively OPPOSED the republican struggle (for example during the 1981 hunger strikes leading officials of the Northern Ireland Committee pointed out to police those trade unionists active in the H-Block struggle. )

Despite these structural limitations, the bulk of the left places great emphasis and hope on trade union work. They point to the example of the 1907 strike organised by James Larkin or the 1932 Outdoor Relief Riots when workers of the Falls and the Shankill united. These events have been mythologised by the trade union movement and most left groups as examples to emulate. However, these events –with their bloody aftermaths- in fact show how fragile working class unity was and how easily it could be broken by sectarianism. Though dramatic, these struggles were too short to have any lasting impact on Orange ideology (although a small number of Protestant workers were won to socialism) nor did they help pursue the long-term political interests of the working class movement. Protestant workers would only unite with Catholics when the economic situation was extremely severe and even then the seeds of discord were always present: while overriding political issues such as partition remained unsolved and the major structural determinants of working class disunity ignored, working class unity could only be a short lived, ephemeral occurrence.

The problem with that type of left analysis is that trade unions and sectarianism are viewed as opposites. Sectarianism is seen to exist outside trade unionism, or if inside a regrettable aberration. But sectarianism and trade unionism are not opposites, except in the realms of abstract analysis. Trade unions in a sectarian society cannot remain insulated from the society of which they are part. Workers coming from the Unionist community have a dual consciousness in which proletarianism and sectarianism co-exist. In 1971, for example, a militant engineers’ march against the British government’s Industrial Relations Act was led by Billy Hull. Just weeks later, the same shop steward led the same workers out on a march to demand internment and repression. There is a whole literature about the development of sectarian trade unionism and about the mutual acceptance between unionism and trade unions. In fact, as the example of the 1974 and 1977 loyalist general strikes demonstrate, the loyalists have had more of a trade union base than republicans. Trade union activities and militant loyalism are far from incompatible.

While individual republicans are members or active in trade unions, no republican organisation (including the IRSP) has a formal trade union strategy or programme. Some republican socialists believe that
“reclaiming the unions” should be a priority. They argue that the unions are sound working class organisations, the problem is that they are
“misled by bureaucrats “
What they propose is to mobilise the “rank and file” members of the unions against those “bureaucrats”. But this ignores the fact that the material, social and political conditions of existence of the trade union movement depend on partition.

This is why while it is at best possible to push individual trade union bureaucrats to the left ; it is not possible to do so for the official trade union movement as a whole. As the late Jimmy Brown put it,
“the trade union movement which began as a workers organisation inside the state, has now become a state organisation inside the class “

A radical movement can only be built OUTSIDE OF and in OPPOSITION TO the official trade union movement. Some republicans and socialists have begun this task – Tommy McKearney with the IWU for example. However the IWU remains very small and its impact limited.

LOR

The man the bourgeois forgot
James Clarence Mangan

One would find it odd that a man who walked around Dublin City in the early 19th century ashen faced, dressed in a voluminous cloak, wearing green spectacles, a blond wig and a pointed hat with two umbrellas under each arm would be as inconspicuous to the public as this man is today. Eccentricity though is not what should have made James Clarence Mangan more popularly known. His poetry and essays are prepared with enough beauty and originality to break through the bourgeois face of literary Ireland but alas it isn’t so. Literary Ireland consults Britain and America before it declares which Irish poets are great. Mangan is not one of “the greats” because he was a true Dubliner. To juxtapose him with someone like James Joyce is to create a distinction between a Euro-American prose and a true Dublin prose. Joyce’s prose was on a Dublin theme, Mangan’s prose was Dublin to the core. This all relates to the fact that academic Ireland is national in form but British in content. We haven’t enough space to go into that here but those of you who wish to read up on it would be advised to read the book “The Dubliner-the life and times and writings of James Clarence Mangan” by Brendan Clifford, available from Athol books.

Mangan was born and raised in the south inner city of Dublin, Fishamble Street (now lord Edward Street) in a house opposite the Christ church cathedral. He was the son of a father who he described as a “human boa constrictor” and he blamed his parents for most of his life’s shortcomings. At the age of 15 he took a job in a scrivener’s office in York Street, his work involved the tedious task of copying legal documents by hand. He took up writing as a pastime during his time at the scrivener’s office and began writing poetry, puzzles, and other items in a variety of Dublin publications. During his life Mangan’s work was to appear in such publications as “The Comet”, “The Irish penny journal” and “The Nation”. Although his early work was apolitical his later work had a lot of political content. He had strong connections with the Young Ireland movement and wrote in the paper “The Nation” on a regular basis. Young Ireland was not like the national movement which secured national freedom in 1922. It stood squarely for religious freedom for a start. Young Ireland was destroyed by the bourgeois nationalists in the decade after 1900. In fact, if the Nationalist movement which secured national freedom in 1922 would have been an evolution from Young Ireland then it would have had enough non-catholic support to create a state which included the whole of the island. But national freedom was led by the Catholic bourgeoisie and this meant the partition of the state at the point of “independence”.

Mangan was unfortunately a victim of the cholera epidemic in Dublin in 1849. While he was in the Meath Hospital he sensed his death so he frantically wrote down all his last works on any piece of paper he could find. A nurse binned these pieces of paper after his death because she had previously been reprimanded for not being tidy enough, and so we will never see what was written during his last few days in Hospital. They have been binned. Just like Mangans poetry has been binned by the bourgeois Literary of Ireland. His essays, his influence in Irish political and cultural life, his life story of toil and hardship in an ugly and cultureless Dublin can only be found in obscure pamphlets written not by lovers of poetry but mostly by political activists who understand that culture can only be achieved by man if he is free from the toil of work. Mangan represents the cultural revolution of the working class that would take place after the emancipation of the workers. The bourgeoisie in Ireland are the class of people who have been free from the toil of work who were able to influence what we now call Irish culture. Culture and Art should not be solely in the hands of a minority class, it is for all. Along with the Socialist planned economy and the reduction of hours of work for the working class will come an amazing cultural revolution. The workers will finally be in a position to be involved in Culture and it will flourish.

Unfortunately we just don’t have the material for me to write more about Mangan’s life. A lot of his time is undocumented as he seems to “disappear” for large chunks of history. I could tell you that he had a drink and opium habit, I could tell you which pubs and dens he drank in. But I don’t think that’s important, either is the fact that as he got older he became more eccentric and the description of his attire given at the start of this essay can only really be contributed to this stage of his life. What I can do in this essay however is point out that there is more to Irish culture than what the bourgeois academics of Literary Ireland claim. Its our duty to seek out and reclaim this aspect of our history because nine times out of ten the majority of the population (workers) can not connect or relate to the culture of the rich. Mangan is a Dublin poet true and true, he lived his whole life as a worker in Dublin and his poems and essays were printed in Dublin journals. If your looking for literature that really represents Dublin and Ireland then Mangan is your man.

Mangan was the poet laureate for The Nation. In its first issue he wrote this. Mangan has poems that are more widely known and appreciated, but seen as we touched on his political persuasion in this short essay I think this would be the right poem to re-print.

The Nation’s First Number

Tis a great day, and glorious, o public, for you-
This October fifteenth, Eighteenth Forty and Two!
For on this day of days, lo! The Nation comes forth,
To commence its career of wit, Wisdom and Worth-
To give genius its due – to do battle with wrong-
And achieve things undreamed of as yet save in song.
Then arise! Fling aside your dark mantle of slumber,
And welcome in chorus The Nation’s First Number.

Here we are, thanks to heaven, in an epoch when mind
Is unfettering our captives and couching our blind;
And the press with its thunders keeps marring the mirth
Of those tyrants and bigots that still curse the earth
Be it ours to stand forth and contend in the van
Of the truths legions for freedom, that birthright of man,
Shaking off the dull cobwebs that else might encumber
Our weapon-the pen-in The Nation’s First Number.

We announce a new era – be this our first news –
When the serf grinding landlords shall shake in their shoes;
While the ark of a bloodless yet mighty reform
Shall emerge from the flood of a popular storm!
Well we know how the lickspittle panders to power,
Feel and fear the approach of that death dealing hour;
But we toss these aside – such vile vagabond lumber
Are but just worth a groan in The Nation’s First Number.

Though we take not our motto, Nul n’a de l’esprit,
(As they once did in Paris) hors nos bons amis,
We may boast that for first-rate endowments, our band
Form a phalanx unmatched in – or out of – the land.
Poets, Patriots, Linguists, with reading like Parrs-
Critics keener than sabres – wits brighter than stars;
And reasoners as cool as the coolest cu-cumber
Form the host that shine out in The Nation’s First Number.

We shall sketch living manners – and men – in a style
That will scarcely be sneezed at, we guess, for a while;
Build up stories as fast as of yore Mother Bunch,
And for all twists take the shine out punch;
Thus our wisdom and Quizdom will finely agree
Very much, public dear, we conceive, as you see
Do the lights and the shades that illume and adumber
Each beautiful page of The Nation’s First Number.

A word more – to Old Ireland our first love is given;
Still, our friendship hath arms for all lands under heaven.
We are Irish – we vaunt it – all o’er and all out;
But we wish not that England shall “sneak up the spout”
Then, O’public! Here, there, and everywhere through the world,
Wheresoe’er Truths and Liberty’s flags are unfurled,
>From the Suir to the Tweed, from the Boyne to the Humber,
Raise one shout of applause for The Nation’s First Number.

For more information,

The Dubliner-the life and times and writings of James Clarence Mangan by Brendan Clifford Athol books
http://www.atholbooks.org/index.php

Poems-James Clarence Mangan- Gallery books.

Hidden Dublin-deadbeats,dossers and decent skins-Frank Hopkins (Mercier)

Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clarence_Mangan

(Redflag32)

Grassroots Shop Stewards and Union Activists Conference on:

Re-Building Trade Union Activism
Saturday 20th September

Venue: UNITE Hall,
Middle Abbey St, Dublin

AGENDA

11.30 to 1pm: Pay claims, social partnership and re-building our unions

Speakers: Jimmy Kelly, Regional Secretary UNITE; Owen McCormack,
Busworkers Action Group; Dick Roche TEEU National Executive

Break

2pm - 3.30pm: Public sector cuts and outsourcing: How do we resist
Speakers: Joe Tully, (Nurses Rep); Bernard Lynch ASTI; John Kidd SIPTU
Convenor, Dublin Fire Brigade

3.30pm - 5.pm: Recruiting to the unions: How we organise

Speakers: Paul Hansard, President SIPTU Construction Branch; speaker from
UNITE organising unit.

All speakers in a personal capacity

Entrance Fee ?5 (to cover running costs)

WHY THIS CONFERENCE:

The trade union movement needs a radical change of direction. For twenty one years it backed social partnership deals and this has led to the weakening of the grassroots of the movement. But at the first sign of recession, the employers' organisation, IBEC, told us that workers cannot get the wage increases we deserve. Wages had to be cut - and not profits!
Those who gained most from the boom now want us to pay for the recession.

There is a real danger that employers will try to destroy hard fought-for conditions. Outsourcing and agency working have become the new weapons that are used against workers.

We have to resist. But the present model of union organising will not serve us well for the battles head. Some of the union leaders have become too close to the government and do not know how to fight.
One result of the failed strategies of the past, is that union density has fallen. Ten years ago, more than one in two workers was a member of a union. Today it has fallen to one in three and, amongst young workers, only one in four.We need a return to grassroots trade union activism to tackle this.We would, therefore, would like to invite fellow shop stewards and union activists to a national gathering to discuss a new way forward for our unions.

This gathering is inspired by a few simple ideas:

· That we need strong unions that can take on the employers and win real gains for workers.

· That union leaders must show leadership in this fight - and not be messengers for the government or the employers.

· That we need a strong shop steward organisation that is able to mobilise its members to take action.

· That we should be willing to use all weapons at our disposal, ranging from publicity battles to industrial action. We must do what it takes to win.

· That our unions need a strong political voice and that we cannot be
tied to one political party, which jettisons our interests.

This conference will be a practical, working conference that will bring together grassroots activists from a number of unions. Our aim is to spread the power of good examples, to learn from each other and to build solidarity.

We, the undersigned, support this Grassroots union conference and urge you to attend.

Signed:

Kieran Allen (President, Education Branch SIPTU), Paul Hansard (President
Construction Branch SIPTU), Joe Moore (CWU National Executive), Des Derwin (President Engineering Branch SIPTU), Tommy Hogan (Regional Committee UNITE), Kevin McGaley (President Killarney Branch SIPTU), Doreen Fitzgerald (Shop Steward, Health Professional Branch SIPTU), Niall Smyth (Branch Secretary, Dublin City North Branch, INTO), John Kidd (SIPTU Convenor Dublin Fire Brigade), Mick Scanlon (Shop Steward Cork No 3 Branch SIPTU), Tony Greene (SIPTU area shop steward, Construction Branch), Brendan Begley (Shop Steward, SIPTU Education Branch) Eugene McDonagh (NRBU Executive) Rory
Coleman (shop steward Harristown Bus garage) Tony Kelly (Convenor Waterford Crystal) Mary Ryan (TUI Dublin County Branch Committee member) Alice Sheridan (PSEU Branch Committee member) Dick Roche (TEEU shop steward & President of Waterford Trades Council) Breege Scanlon (Nurses Rep)
(All signatories are in a personal capacity and the descriptions are not
used to indicate anything other than the signatories are union activists)

Please ciculatre details of the conference to any e mail list of trade
unionists.

For further information on the conference contact: 087 2839964 or email:
kallen@iol.ie

What’s On?

18th Sept. DOCUMENTARY:
"HISTORIA DE ROSA" (the Story of Rose) By: Florence Jaugey (2205, 30 min.) Time:19:00 o'clock Where: Pearse Centre, 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 The documentary will be introduced by Victoria Díaz García
Organised by LASC and Choice Ireland

19th Sept. LASC STALL IN Culture Night
LASC is taking part in the Global Fair in Culture night with books and crafts from Latin America including fair traded coffee, handmade boots made from the Zapatista communities along with Kankuamo jewellery.
http://www.culturenight.ie/detail.asp?ID=106

LATIN AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT ISSUES COURSE. Starting 23rd September.
This lively and participative course provides an overview of the causes and consequences of lack of development in Latin America. Rooted firmly in the experience of the people of the region, the course will cover historical, social, economic, political and cultural perspectives.
Where: Ballsbridge college of Further Education.
Further info: http://www.ballsbridgecollege.com/dev.html

CHARLA LATINA!!!!
DEVELOPMENT ISSUES THROUGH LATIN AMERICAN SPANISH
Fom 25th September to 27th November. Thursdays 6:00-7:30 pm
To enrol, fill in the booking form you find on
http://www.lasc.ie/activities/charla-latina-08.html
Please enrol ASAP as courses fill up very quickly!!!

LASC RESOURCE CENTRE AND SHOP - Books, organic produce from Latin
America, Latin American craft and much more!!
http://www.lasc.ie/resources/index.html

12th Sept SEVENTH NORTH SOUTH INTERCULTURAL FORUM
NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE ON RACISM AND INTERCULTURALISM (NCCRI)
Place: Tower Hotel, Derry, County Derry Time: 9.30 am
More info: www.nccri.ie and 042 935 2730

13 Sept. IPSC SPONSORED WALK THROUGH THE DUBLINMOUNTAINSTime: 11:00am in the car park of The Step Inn
Further info:http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/ipsc/displayEvent.php?eventID=458

15 Sep. SAMI MOUKADDEM: LAUNCH NIGHT OF NEW CD "THE FACTS OF LIFE FOR THE PALESTINIAN"
Time: 7:30PMVenue: The Button Factory, Temple Bar (aka Temple Bar Musisc Centre),
http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/ipsc/displayEvent.php?eventID=456

19 and 20 Sep. CONFERENCE 'HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE'.Place: St. Patrick's College
Website: www.spd.dcu.ie/chrce

9th of Oct. "GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT - ISSUES AND CHALLENGES THAT FACE OUR WORLD. Time: All Thursdays at 7.pm.
Place: Dundalk Institute of Technology.
Further info: http://www.learn.ie/www/product.asp?pID=117&cID=3

The Plough Vol 05 No 09

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:25:00 +0000

The Plough

Vol 5-No 9

Friday 5th September 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial –the vacuum!

2) Recession

3) Roddy Connolly and the Struggle for Socialism in Ireland

4) Lisbon Dead But Is It Buried?

5) Grassroots Shop Stewards and Union Activists Conference

6) Letters

Editorial
Where political vacuums exist there is always someone to rush in and fill the gap with alternatives. The current paralysis at Stormont has created a gap. The failure of the DUP and Provisional Sinn Fein to come to agreement on the devolution of policing and justice and the inability of the executive to meet over the summer has lead to a growing disillusionment among some sections of the population. Many nationalist who having once lent their votes to H-block candidates many years ago decided to stick with Provisional Sinn Fein as it moved towards its peace process. They once hoped that, not only would peace break out, but that huge political gains would be made by Northern Nationalists. They indeed did get a cessation of violence but they also got Ian Paisley as First Minister, Peter Robinson as First Minister, MI5 now officially based in the North of Ireland and with full control of security matters relating to Republicans. They also got a local administration under the financial control of the British Treasury and committed to the implementation of the privitisation policies of the Blair /Brown Governments. On the plus side it could be argued that reforms were achieved including the reform of policing, the recognition of an all Ireland dimension, a commitment to equality and human rights and cross border bodies.
Regardless however of the arguments pro and anti the Good Friday Agreement there is as yet no widespread opposition to the agreed political structures in the North. Yes there is a cynicism, and there are doubts among the general population about the long -term stability of the Stormont system but no strong viable alternative exists.

Within what could call the broad republican traditions there are conflicting views. Some of the existing organisations that emerged from the provisional tradition believe in the efficacy of armed struggle while others while condoning street rioting hesitate at calling for a return to armed struggle. Some base their politics on events that happened ninety years ago while others appeal to so called traditional republican values.

Those who emerged from the official Republican traditions of the early 1970’s based their politics and actions on various interpretations of Marxism. They placed class struggle at the heart of their beliefs. Along the way some of them ditched the national question and concentrated only on the class issue. This lead some of them to join the British Imperialists in condemning the republican hunger strikers and labeling anyone who did not share their analysis as “terrorists” “ultra leftists.” They confused nationalism and the struggle for national determination and so became cheer leaders for rapid industrialisation under capitalism. In this they were accompanied by some of the so called far left who while formally recognising there was some kind of national question in practice ignored it and made pious appeals for class unity as they attempted to build a base within the trade union movement.

The Republican Socialist movement itself made errors mistakes and took wrong turns during the years of its existence. That said there is no such thing as the perfect organisation. To err is human. A sign of the genuineness and relevance of a revolutionary organisation is its ability to learn from its mistakes. Organisations are set up to pursue specific policies and have a clearly defined set of beliefs. They are not set-up simple to exist. Once the existence of an organisation becomes more important than the ideals and principles that set it up in the first place then it no longer deserves to exist for it will inevitably corrupt its ideals in the interests of perpetuating its existence.
The current demand by the Democratic Unionist Party for the disbandment of the Provisional IRA’s Army Council has a certain amount of logic. After all where it is now is certainly not where it was when set up in 1970. Certainly not in terms of beliefs, aims and objectives and certainly not in terms of principles. Perhaps that could be said of a lot of organisations. After all external changes in the world have a direct impact on events in Ireland.
For example the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major shock for many on the left with a smattering knowledge of Marxism. It was such a shock that many became so disillusioned that they abandoned politics. Those on the right gloated and said it was the end of history and that capitalism had won the class struggle. Previously revolutionary national liberation struggles now began to make peace with the Imperialist overlords. Hence the Irish Peace Process. In retrospect it now clear that the visit of people like Adams and Mc Guinness to the USA in the early nineties was to pay homage to the world’s only super power and promise to forget all that “revolutionary nonsense” they had previously sprouted.
Others took from the collapse of the Soviet Union and from the internal sectarian squabbling of far left organisations that marxism itself had failed. So called revolutionaries dismissed Marxism as irrelevant to the “real revolutionaries.”
Yet Marxism is the only thing that can make sense of what is happening in the world. History was not ended. Class conflicts have arisen all over the world. In recent years the masses in South America have shifted to the left and socialism has taken root in place like Venezuela and Bolivia. Of course that is no guarantee that it will last but it does prove the essential validity of the Marxist analysis.

The IRSP from its foundation in the mid 1970’s was always influenced by Marxism. People from Seamus Costello through to Ta Power had an essentially Marxist analysis of the national question in Ireland. Ronnie Bunting was another Marxist influenced at one time by Maoism. The essential document for all republican socialists -the Ta Power Document is a Marxist document and has guided the leadership of the Republican Socialist Movement for at least the past 14 years and was the guiding document for Gino Gallagher when along with others he began the rebuilding of the movement. But Marxism is not a religion it is a guide. Those who fetish the writings of Marxism are no better than the fundamentalist preachers who try to ram the Bible and creationism down one’s throat.
It is the use of Marxism methodology and approaches that should guide the IRSP in the coming period. We have been consistent in our analysis of the current political peace process and have on that basis clearly pointed out the folly of taking the armed road at this historical juncture. We are not pacifists and we do seek revolutionary change but that will not come about simply because we want it. We have clearly stated in the past that while there is no basis for organisation unity with other republicans there is room for –co-operation on matters of mutual interests including demonstrations pickets etc.
We have also firmly set out our stall. We are socialists and we firmly base ourselves on the needs and aspirations of the working classes in Ireland. Our way forward is to build the revolutionary party and that means the fullest commitment from all our comrades concentrating, not on blaming other republicans for the political vacuum but posing instead the alternative way forward, the Marxist , the republican socialist road. With out 100% commitment from all those who call themselves republican socialists that road will be all the harder to travel.
At a time of credit crunches, inflation, lay offs rising food petrol prices and a general air of economic despondency we Republican Socialists need to make sure that the really class issues are raised and not get side tracked by the blind alleys of anti-social behaviour, drugs, flag waving or sectarian issues. The national question is inextricably tied up with the class question. It is our job to clearly put both to the fore.
jm

RECESSION

As the economies of the two artificially separated parts of the island of Ireland both limp from one crisis to another it would appear, certainly from media reports, that all sympathy is aimed in the direction of the employers and business. There is little mention of the people who really suffer when capitalism finds itself in trouble, the working class. This should come as no major surprise as it is the capitalist class, the wealth accumulators, and not the wealth creating working class, who own and run society for their own benefit. Governments, Irish, British and those who sit in that farcical Northern Assembly who call themselves a government but lack full governmental powers, are there to govern the affairs of and in the interests of the capitalist class. On a recent UTV, news report the regional newscaster was almost in tears as she was informing the viewers, some of whom had probably lost their jobs, how hard the ‘economic slowdown’ would be for business and how bad business’s would be hit, how profits would suffer etc. Needless to say there was very little words of sympathy for the working class many of whom stand to lose their employment, not chiefly because of any bad government decision or policy,( after all they only do what their capitalist masters require them to do,) but because of working in an unstable, unreliable and uncaring system.

Capitalism is a system geared solely to allowing the minority capitalist class to amass huge profits on the backs of the majority working class. It is true that in these post modern times some working class people don’t see themselves as working class and for these people a reality check is probably about to ensue. Working class (proletariat) people are only permitted to make a living and improve their living standards on the strict proviso that the capitalists are to amass huge profits out of the labour power of these same workers. If it is not profitable it does not get produced irrespective as to how much society as a whole needs the product, no production no labour required.

In the Twenty Six Counties the picture is much the same as in the Six Counties. The building trade, as far as labour is concerned, is in a mess because property speculators can not make as much profit out of once vastly inflated house prices. Therefore the people who actually build the houses, workers in the form of Bricklayers, Carpenters, Electricians, Plasterers, Glaziers, Painters and Labourers etc., are “laid off”. Less profits for these speculators and employers should not be confused with no profit it simply means not as much profit. This scenario is not specific to the building trade as it is repeated in many other sectors.

What can those gallant men and women who consider themselves fit to govern sitting in Dail Eirean do about the situation? The strange fact is that, like most people who are in jobs they are incapable of carrying out, they don’ know what to do! Even if they did have in inkling as to which way they should proceed they would find progress very difficult because they blindly follow an economic policy placing the interests of the “market” over and above all other considerations (and if the Lisbon Treaty is ever passed these interests will take an even larger preference). They take a minimum intervention stance in the economy, a modern equivalent of the 19th century Laissez Faire economic ideology initially based on the “invisible hand” theories of the 18th century economist Adam Smith, and even he accepted labour as the chief contributor in creating wealth. If these people who sit in Dail Eireann and their counterparts who do the same in the parliaments of other countries had any idea of what to do, or had the balls to do it, they would take a more hands on approach to the economy, whether it suited the needs of the capitalist class or not (and whether Brussels approved or not),

1/stop tax breaks for big business,

2/nationalise all medium to large companies, including the building trade,

3/cap profits

4/back away from the notion of a pay freeze at the instigation of the employers.

Economic planning as opposed to the anarchy of the so called free market would become economic policy. Had this policy previously been adopted the economic slowdown which could reach recession levels may have been avoided. Instead of giving corporate tax reductions and tax breaks to their masters in big business the same money, after all public services were taken care of, could have been saved for times of crisis. Put simply a socialist planned economy based on production for the needs of people as opposed to the profits of the few.

Well fellow proletarians it looks for us like the crisis is about to arrive, and when Brian Cowen, An Taoiseach,went to the piggy bank guess what!, it was empty. Poor Brian and his cabinet did not know what to do when suddenly he, Brian, had an idea We’ll BORROW the money from our capitalist friends abroad. What Brian and his puppet government did not realise is that capitalism has no friends, they even despise each other such is the ruthless nature of the system. As a consequence of this imbecile system, governed by fools for the benefit of thieves, it is the working class and not the robber barons who normally suffer. This we are constantly reminded is the only way, the finest route, the only pragmatic political avenue, to follow in the management of our affairs, and the problem and tragedy is people, even those who stand to lose their jobs and therefore their income swallow it and, tragically will encourage their children to do the same.

(Kevin Morley)

Charlie McGuire
Roddy Connolly and the Struggle for Socialism in Ireland
Cork University Press, 2008. 328pp.

As the son of James Connolly, Roddy Connolly wished to continue the fight for the realisation of his father’s ideals through involvement with the Republican Movement , the Communist Party (of which he was one of the founders) and finally in the Irish Labour Party. Until his death in 1980, Roddy Connolly took part in the Easter Rising, formed Ireland’s first Communist Party, was briefly involved in the Workers Party of Ireland in 1926, and ended up joining the Irish Labour Party with the intention of taking it to the left. In the 1940s, he was twice-elected Labour TD, and in the 1970s returned as chairman and Senate member. Charlie McGuire’s book is important not only because it is the first biography of Roddy Connolly to be published, but also because it challenges the dominant interpretation of the extraordinary times through which Roddy Connolly lived.

« An examination of Connolly’s career assists those historians who wish to challenge these conservative interpretations because it illuminates the thread of radicalism that runs throughout twentieth-century Irish social and political history, and in so doing, alters appreciably the latter’s overall appearance. »

This book,

« dedicated to all those redoutable and often forgotten women and men who were ever part of the struggle for socialism in Ireland »,

is written from a perspective sympathetic to the ideals that motivated Connolly father and son. This book will be of great interest to Republicans and Socialists. The only problem is that it is very expensive –49 Euro- but it is possible to get this important book through library or interlibrary loan.

Roddy Connolly continued his father’s fight after his execution for taking part in the 1916 Rising. McGuire provides a succint but valuable assessment of the reasons behind James Connolly’s decision to take part in the Rising. This is all the more important given that he is often accused of having abandoned socialism for nationalism, taken a pro-German position, and subordinated the working class movement to petty-bourgeois forces. A key factor pushing James Connolly towards the rising was his analysis of the world war and post-war perspective.

« Connolly clearly believed that the war was a result of the crisis of a decaying British capitalism and imperialism, as opposed to a general crisis of world capitalism and imperialism. (Note : this distinguishes Connolly’s analysis from that of Lenin or Luxemburg –LOR)

He saw the British Empire…as a brake on the economic, political and cultural progress of colonial nations throughout the world and Ireland in particular. In the light of the failure of the Second International to stop the war, Connolly moved to the position that the next best outcome would be a British defeat and the destruction of its empire. But Connolly also feared that if the British won, they would be able to offset their declining power for another generation. This would allow them to carry through the partition of Ireland…Connolly also looked at the disappearing liberties of the working class in both Ireland and Britain and felt that these might be permanently lost in the post-war period.

» These are some of the reasons why James Connolly came to favour a German victory in the Great War ; something not mentioned in the usual hagiographies of Connolly. Better the victory of « German State Socialism », as he called it, as it carried « more possibilities of progress » than British imperialism.

Because James Connolly did not see the war as a general crisis of imperialism (he viewed it only as its British variant) Connolly did not foresee the post-war convultions that would rock European capitalism in the 1917-1920 period. As McGuire notes,

« He did not hold to the perspective of a maturing European working-class revolt, but felt that the Irish working class’s only chance at avoiding the terrible fate he saw awaiting it lay in an immediate strike at the British before the limited window of opportunity afforded by the war was closed off for another generation. »

James Connolly ultimately threw in his lot with a section of the advanced nationalist petty bourgeoisie in 1916. This did not represent a failure of his politics or an abandonment of socialism. The problem for Connolly however, was that the respective balance of forces in this joint venture was weighted heavily in favour of the adavanced nationalists. The problem with this from a socialist point of view is that

« rather than the organised working class leading the revolt pulling behind it the revolutionary petty bourgeoisie ; the opposite was true. » The petty bourgoisie would lead the revolt with only a marginal input being made by the organized working class that had been badly weakened by both the Dublin lock-out and the war. Charlie McGuire defends Connolly’s stance : « It was not the revolt he had envisaged or worked towards, but one, given the perspective that he held to, that Connolly felt he had no choice but to organize and be involved in. He had not abandoned socialism…but was, in his view, acting the only way a socialist could, in the given circumstances. »

This disgression to show that the quality of Charlie McGuire’s discussion of 1916 illustrates the overall strength of his analyses throughout the book.

A substantial part of McGuire’s biography of Roddy Connolly deals with the period usually referred to as the ‘war of independence’ and the ‘civil war’. Since the second half of the 1990s, ground breaking studies of the period have been published. Most of them reject the idea that class struggle was central to the dynamic of the period and argue that it had no real socialist content or potential. In contrast, Charlie McGuire’s book « show that the assumption made by most historians that this was a purely conservative revolution –and Richard English, Tom Garvin , Peter Hart and Henry Patterson are just four in a long list of historians who hold this view- is one in need of major qualification. It is, in fact, more accurate to see the Irish Revolution as springing from various, and at time conflicting, sources , some proletarian, other bourgeois. True, it was led by the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois elements and ultimately served sectional interests within those classes. This though, does not alter the fact that there was a proleterian aspect to it as well. The level of strike activity and agrarian disturbances, the fact that the land question lay unresolved, the existence of soviets and workers’ rule, shows this demonstrably to be the case. The input of the Communists during the Irish Revolution highlighted these social aspects. It introduced a Marxist subjective factor into the objective situation, which helped to illustrate its class component. This was particularly the case after the outbreak of the Civil War in June 1922. … In short Connolly and the CPI recognized the social strand within the Irish Revolution and, considering it to be its most significant component, sought to make it the basis of the entire anti-Treaty movement, warning that this was the only way it would succeed. This shows that there was logic behind the communist argument that involvement in the Civil War was involvement in the class war. And as a whole, it illustrates that the Irish Revolution was not the straightforward conservative, bourgeois revolution that so many regard it to be.

» This challenges Richard English’s argument that the ideas of Socialist Republicans of that time had little value and no real basis in reality.

The same goes for the twenties and thirties. The political and economic problems of the Free State « created considerable political space on both the national and the social fronts and constituted a golden opportunity

» for the left. « Instead Fianna Fail, which emerged simultaneously and which courtesy of its much wider base and superior level of organisation was able to occupy with ease the radical anti-Treaty ground in Irish politics, swamped it. For three years the Irish Left had had numerous chances to build an alternative to the neo-colonialism of Cumann na nGaedheal but had wasted them all. Now it was too late. Fianna Fail’s potent mix of economic and political nationalism, coupled with promises of industrial jobs and land reforms, allowed de Valera to win over large sections of the working class as well as the petty bourgeoisie. In effect, he had taken up both the national and the social questions, linking social and economic improvements with progress on the national question, albeit in a non-republican, non-socialist manner, and stymied any hopes the Left might have had of emerging as the main opposition to Cumann na nGaedheal. »

It is not that Republican Socialists such as Roddy Connolly did not have a real chance. « That Irish workers voted for material reasons for (Fianna Fail) the party that they saw upholding their interests, and could link those interests to the national question politically and economically, suggested that a party in the James Connolly tradition might receive a fair hearing. »

The problem for the left is that « whereas Fianna Fail was from its inception a large party that looked capable of defeating Cosgrave, the WPI was tiny. In such circumstances, there could be only one winner in the struggle for the anti-Treaty political ground. » Charlie McGuire shows the negative and divisive role played by James Larkin in those formative years of the Irish communism. Larkin bears a heavy responsibility for the fact that there is no significant Republican Socialist party in Ireland today. James Larkin is probably one of the worst things that happened to the Irish left. The book provides excellent material on the early years of Irish communism.

Roddy Connolly was involved in the short-lived Republican Congress . « Could Congress have succeeded ? In his Rathmines speech, Connolly made the assertion that the working class was becoming more and more militant, more confident…Connolly’s core argument did contain more than a grain of truth. After several years of sporadic, unsuccessful, defensive strike activity designed to minimize wage cuts, 1934 had seen a resurgence in working-class struggle. … Conditions were becoming more favourable for working-class struggle. It is possible that had Congress survived Rathmines…a healthy movement might have been created, having as its aim the directing of this militancy. This is not to argue that such development would have been certain. The power of Fianna Fail was considerable in the early period of its rule. In addition was the impact of the Red Scare, formented by the Catholic Church and possessing virulent qualities. In these conditions the creation of a healthy left-wing movement would have been an immensely difficult task. At the same time, however, the contradictions within Fianna Fail, which had already become evident and which were highlighted by the activity of Connolly and the rest of the Congress, had created a degree of political space for the Left to operate in. Rathmines, though, ensured that this opportunity would be passed up and that the Left would continue to exist in extreme marginalization. »

After the failure of the Republican Congress, Larkin confined himself within the Irish Labour Party, and as time passed, moved increasingly to the right. At the end of his life, Roddy Connolly had become a right-wing social-democrat (he supported the expulsion of John Thorne and the Irish Militant Tendency) instead of communism, and defended the institutions of Leinster House rather than their overthrow. Charlie McGuire mentions the links Roddy Connolly had established with Seamus Costello during the 1960s. They were from the same area in Wicklow, and Connolly had welcomed Costello’s election ; although in the 1970s he would come to denounce Republicans engaged in subversive activities North and South. Using Roddy Connolly’s example, the second part of the book offers solid grounds for rejecting the strategy of transforming the Labour party from within, the implicit conclusion being that the development of working class politics requires political and organisational break with Labourism.

Liam O RUAIRC

LISBON DEAD BUT IS IT BURIED?

On the 12th June 2008 the voters of the twenty six counties were asked to vote for acceptance or rejection of a document compiled by the custodians of European capitalism known as the Lisbon Treaty. The electorate, comprising of a relatively high turn out of well over 50%, voted in excess of 100,000 votes to reject this treaty. This sent a clear message to the government of the Free State for conveyance to their so-called counterparts in Europe that they had been given a democratic mandate by their people not to ratify Lisbon.

The rules of the game were for the Lisbon Treaty to become enshrined in European legislation all 27 member states had to ratify the document. The Irish people, who were the only population in the European club to get the opportunity to vote, said NO. The fact that the Irish people voted to reject Lisbon should have signaled the death of this treaty and, it is broadly felt, if the whole of the peoples of Europe had the chance, which the Irish had, they would have in all probability also rejected this illegible rubbish.

There were many reasons why the people voted NO in this referendum not least the tireless work carried out by umbrella groups such as the Campaign Against European Union Constitution (CAEUC), which consists of a number of affiliated political parties, groups and individuals the Irish Republican Socialist Party being one. As far as individual reasons why people voted to reject the treaty it is fair to say there is no single issue which could give a pointer. Some people, with much justification, were afraid of the “market” becoming the lead factor in the administration of public services. After all the health service for example is already in a poor state for working class people who, unlike the private patients, rely on the public sector without the profit factor becoming the dominant force. Other people voted for rejection because the text, that is those who could get their hands on a copy, was illegible and those who could not obtain a copy, the majority, did not hear one tangible argument as to why they should vote to accept the treaty. Another reason cited by many was that acceptance would signal the final death knell for Irish military neutrality. So the reasons for rejection were many but there is one thing for certain; the concise arguments for a NO vote won the day much to the wrath of the Irish and European establishments.

The campaign for a NO vote began in earnest several months ago with many public meetings taking place throughout the country. The hard work paid off. However unfortunately it is becoming increasingly clear that despite the large mandate afforded to the government to take back to Brussels for rejection it is not the end of the saga. It was reported well before the referendum that 499 MEPs had taken a decision that if the Irish voted for rejection that vote should be ignored and the treaty enshrined anyway. In other words the Irish can vote which ever way the please it alters nothing. The IRSP raised this issue even to the point of over labouring perhaps but it is becoming clear that those labours may have been well founded. For example one French newspaper headlines read ‘The Irish Must Vote Again’ and there is much talk of a second referendum just like what happened with the Nice treaty a few years ago. If this moving of the goalposts does occur again it, to all intents and purposes, will render all future referenda in Ireland worthless. Worthless because if the people do not vote the establishments way they will simply be asked to vote again until they get it right. However it has not yet been decided by the European elite whether the Irish people will have to vote again but there is one thing which appears to be a certainty and that is if they do it will not be the governments decision, though publicly it must appear to be so, the order will come from Brussels and/or Paris. It must be remembered that there is no mandate for a second referendum because as the establishment kept constantly reminding us all in the run up to the referendum if the treaty is rejected “there is no plan B”.

Another option for Brian Cowen and his team of political masquerades, which again there is no mandate for, is to renegotiate the Lisbon Treaty perhaps giving it a different name, for example The Leafy Suburb Just Outside Madrid Treaty, making it slightly more legible but not wholly comprehensible, dotting a few I’s and crossing the T’s and resubmitting what would essentially amount to a treaty consisting of the same content with a different name. This would be difficult to do because the reason the Lisbon Treaty was made illegible was in the words of the Belgian Foreign Minister, Karel de Gucht, “the aim of the constitutional treat was to be more readable; the aim of this treaty (Lisbon) is to be unreadable”. Perhaps the reason the French and Dutch electorate voted to reject the original “Constitutional Treaty” could well have been because it was readable. If Lisbon was to be resubmitted under whatever title in a legible form the establishment run the risk of an even larger humiliation, after all imagine just for once playing something like a slightly more honest hand and still being kicked into touch.

The twenty six county government could, if they wish negotiate a completely new treaty but must remain mindful that for Ireland Lisbon is dead. Any new treaty must include, among other points, the following:

1) Public services must be exempted from the merciless mechanics of the “market”.

2) Irish troops must be withdrawn from PFP (Partnership For Peace which is NATO led) and any other aggressive military organisations such as battle groups. Only then will people be reassured that Ireland’s neutrality is safe.

3) A democratic Europe where the people are the final arbiters.

4) A bill of rights within Europe including a charter for workers which takes preference over all other considerations including the “market”, profits, the needs of the minority employers and must include free collective bargaining for all employees to be recognised by all employers. Any charter on fundamental rights, from an Irish perspective, must include the right of the Irish people as a whole to self determination unmolested by outside influence and artificial borders.

5) A socially inclusive Europe for all its peoples.

The government should remember that their people have given them a mandate and a strong one at that. They should forget about appeasing Mr Barrosa, President of the European Commission, and the French President Mr Sarkozy along with other European leaders and work with the mandate they have been given.

Kevin Morley

Grassroots Shop Stewards and Union Activists Conference on:

Re-Building Trade Union Activism
Saturday 20th September

Venue: UNITE Hall,
Middle Abbey St, Dublin

AGENDA

11.30 to 1pm: Pay claims, social partnership and re-building our unions

Speakers: Jimmy Kelly, Regional Secretary UNITE; Owen McCormack,
Busworkers Action Group; Dick Roche TEEU National Executive

Break

2pm - 3.30pm: Public sector cuts and outsourcing: How do we resist
Speakers: Joe Tully, (Nurses Rep); Bernard Lynch ASTI; John Kidd SIPTU
Convenor, Dublin Fire Brigade

3.30pm - 5.pm: Recruiting to the unions: How we organise

Speakers: Paul Hansard, President SIPTU Construction Branch; speaker from
UNITE organising unit.

All speakers in a personal capacity

Entrance Fee ?5 (to cover running costs)

WHY THIS CONFERENCE:

The trade union movement needs a radical change of direction. For twenty one years it backed social partnership deals and this has led to the weakening of the grassroots of the movement. But at the first sign of recession, the employers' organisation, IBEC, told us that workers cannot get the wage increases we deserve. Wages had to be cut - and not profits!
Those who gained most from the boom now want us to pay for the recession.

There is a real danger that employers will try to destroy hard fought-for conditions. Outsourcing and agency working have become the new weapons that are used against workers.

We have to resist. But the present model of union organising will not serve us well for the battles head. Some of the union leaders have become too close to the government and do not know how to fight.
One result of the failed strategies of the past, is that union density has fallen. Ten years ago, more than one in two workers was a member of a union. Today it has fallen to one in three and, amongst young workers, only one in four.We need a return to grassroots trade union activism to tackle this.We would, therefore, would like to invite fellow shop stewards and union activists to a national gathering to discuss a new way forward for our unions.

This gathering is inspired by a few simple ideas:

· That we need strong unions that can take on the employers and win real gains for workers.

· That union leaders must show leadership in this fight - and not be messengers for the government or the employers.

· That we need a strong shop steward organisation that is able to mobilise its members to take action.

· That we should be willing to use all weapons at our disposal, ranging from publicity battles to industrial action. We must do what it takes to win.

· That our unions need a strong political voice and that we cannot be
tied to one political party, which jettisons our interests.

This conference will be a practical, working conference that will bring together grassroots activists from a number of unions. Our aim is to spread the power of good examples, to learn from each other and to build solidarity.

We, the undersigned, support this Grassroots union conference and urge you to attend.

Signed:

Kieran Allen (President, Education Branch SIPTU), Paul Hansard (President
Construction Branch SIPTU), Joe Moore (CWU National Executive), Des Derwin (President Engineering Branch SIPTU), Tommy Hogan (Regional Committee UNITE), Kevin McGaley (President Killarney Branch SIPTU), Doreen Fitzgerald (Shop Steward, Health Professional Branch SIPTU), Niall Smyth (Branch Secretary, Dublin City North Branch, INTO), John Kidd (SIPTU Convenor Dublin Fire Brigade), Mick Scanlon (Shop Steward Cork No 3 Branch SIPTU), Tony Greene (SIPTU area shop steward, Construction Branch), Brendan Begley (Shop Steward, SIPTU Education Branch) Eugene McDonagh (NRBU Executive) Rory
Coleman (shop steward Harristown Bus garage) Tony Kelly (Convenor Waterford Crystal) Mary Ryan (TUI Dublin County Branch Committee member) Alice Sheridan (PSEU Branch Committee member) Dick Roche (TEEU shop steward & President of Waterford Trades Council) Breege Scanlon (Nurses Rep)
(All signatories are in a personal capacity and the descriptions are not
used to indicate anything other than the signatories are union activists)

Please ciculatre details of the conference to any e mail list of trade
unionists.

For further information on the conference contact: 087 2839964 or email:
kallen@iol.ie

The Plough Vol 05 No 08

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:55:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://www.theplough.netfirms.com/
Vol 5-No 8

Thursday 3rd July 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial

2) Clear Class Divisions

3) Oration for Crip

4) Unionist quotes

5) Letters

Editorial

This edition of the Plough carries two important articles, which are complementary. One is a detailed analysis of the current class divisions within Irish society North and South. It basically outlines why Republican Socialists want to change Irish society. The current Provisional Sinn Fein leadership, (now bitterly divided into pro-McGuinesss and pro-Adams factions) years ago dropped the slogan for a united Ireland and settled for an Ireland of Equals. Nearly every speech made references to equality. Such was the emphasis on equality that Adams during the last Free State elections prattled on about equality on TV when questioned about economic affairs. However his equality was only a slogan and was not about economic equality. Such was his performance that not only did the political pundits look on bemused but so did the electorate. The (P) Sinn Fein went down.
That equality meant nothing to the (P) Sinn Fein leadership has been proved by their performance in the local British administration at Stormont. Pledges against a water tax have been dropped and (P) Sinn Fein activists have secretly taken down their anti water tax posters and banners. They now accept another tax on the working class. Indeed they now accept the status quo which Liam’s article exposes for its inequalities. No doubt many (P) Sinn Fein activist will argue they want to make major changes. Maybe but they will not do that by tinkering with a basically unjust system. Trying to reform capitalism from within, history has proved, does not work. Minor changes may be made but the system that leads to wars famine starvation world wide continues.
The second article is the full text of Willie Gallaghers’ oration a the grave side of comrade Crip Mc Williams on a hillside above the town of Newry. Crip was a loyal comrade of the Republican Socialist movement. He chose to take up arms against the British occupation forces when young, a choice many others made believing they had no alternative. Crip grew up in a war zone where riots were common gunfire persistent and death no stranger. The British army was an oppressive occupation force which despised the natives of Ballymurphy, Turf Lodge and other mainly nationalist estates of West Belfast. Working class nationalists were treated like shit. Many were beaten up tortured framed and jailed. Others openly shot dead without provocation. That same British Army along with its masters, give the green light to loyalist murder gangs to unleash naked sectarian murder on the nationalist population. Collusion between loyalists and the British establishment meant that guns were imported for loyalist use, intelligence files leaked to the murder gangs , routes to and from the homes of nationalists cleared by the army to allow murder gangs to do their dirty deeds, forensic evidence destroyed, charges dropped against leading loyalists, and names given from on high for loyalists to kill. All of this to block the right to self-determination.
Crip along with many other young men and women saw the connection between imperialist oppression and class oppression.. In his early teens while going through the city cemetery with his brother, Paul the British army opened fire killing Paul in front of Crip’s eyes. From then on he was an implacable opponent of Imperialism. That is why he joined the INLA.
As Willie’s speech points out Crip’s life is not determined by his actions against chief loyalist mass murder, Billy Wright. He was a rounded individual with a great sense of humour who bore his eventual fatal illness with courage and fortitude. He supported the INLA decision to call a ceasefire in 1998 and loyally supported the politicisation of the movement since then. Crip was an ordinary guy who lived in extraordinary times. As we bid farewell to a comrades it is appropriate to quote the words of the 18th century republican, Thomas Paine.
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of men and women”
Farewell comrade.

Clear Class Divisions

For Republican Socialists, there is a fundamental division within society; that between the "working class" and the "capitalist class". But what is the exact nature of this division? Many would answer that it is one between "rich" and "poor", the "have" and the "have not". Statistical evidence clearly points to a sharp division between the have and the have not.

In 2007 Bank of Ireland Private Banking Limited published a report entitled The Wealth of the Nation. It disclosed that net wealth per head in the 26 counties had increased from 148 000 to 196 000 Euro from 2004 to 2006. It stated the top 1 per cent of the population held 20 per cent of the wealth, and the top 2 per cent held 30 per cent of the wealth, with the top 5 per cent holding 40 per cent of the wealth, leaving the remaining 60 per cent of the wealth to be shared among 95 per cent of the population.
But if the value of housing were left out, then the top 1 per cent held over a third of all wealth (34 per cent). It said 3000 millionaires were created in 2006 and that there were 33 000 millionaires in the country in 2007. Of these 30 000 had wealth of up to 5 million Euro. Nearly 3000 had wealth of between 5 million and 30 million Euro and 330 had wealth in excess of 30 million Euro.

Meanwhile almost 7 per cent of the population of the 26 counties are living in consistent poverty, that is almost 300 000 people living on incomes of less than the equivalent of about 11 000 Euro for a single person and being unable to afford two pairs of strong shoes, or unable to afford a meal with meat or chicken or fish every second day, or unable to afford a waterproof coat. Aside from that, 17 per cent are at risk of poverty (over 700 000 people), that is, living on equivalent incomes of less than 60 per cent of the average. That is about 11 000 Euro for a single person or 27 000 Euro for a household of two adults and two children. (1)

However, class is not simply about dividing people into rich and poor. Being rich or poor is an effect of class divisions, not its cause. A class refers to a group of people who share a similar relation to the way they earn their living.
Those who rely on wages, pensions or social security benefits to live, who are compelled to sell their labour to survive constitute the working class.

Those who live on profit, rent and interest constitute the capitalist class.
To live the workers have to work for an employer otherwise they would have no source of income. The capitalists own companies and products on whose profits they live; the same for landlords and speculators who live on rents generated by the properties and land they own. They employ (or ‘exploit’) the labour of workers, from which they will derive their profits.

A recent report estimated that capitalists in Ireland made an average 45 800 Euro of profit per worker. (2) This is what Marx and Engels meant by ‘proletariat’ and ‘bourgeoisie’:
"By bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern capitalists, owners of the means of social production and employers of wage labour.
By proletariat, the class of modern wage labourers who, having no means of production of their own, are reduced to sell selling their labour power in order to live." (3)
In terms of statistical measurement; the bourgeoisie can be defined as Socio-Economic Groups (SEGs) 1-4 and 13 in the Northern Ireland Registrar General’s classification and Social Classes I-III in the 26 counties’ Labour Force Survey.
The proletariat comprises all other SEGs in the Registrar General’s classification and Social Classes in the Labour Force Surveys together with the unemployed. (4) The 45 800 Euro of profit per worker made by capitalists are what scientific socialists call ‘surplus value’.
Why do Republican Socialist campaign for the abolition of the class system? The effects of class society can be summed up by a single shocking statistic that is defiantly ignored by the political class and by most of the media: that 5 400 people die prematurely in the 26 counties every year because of the inequality they suffer from being on the wrong side of the class divide. Thousands more live miserable lives because of broken health, also arising from inequality. The proportion of people who die in the 26 counties because of inequality is significantly higher than in other European countries. (5)
It is the capitalist class which has benefited the most from the economic growth in recent years; both in absolute terms and in relative terms. Overall, the disposable weekly income of households in the 26 counties rose by 54 percent between 1995 and 2000, or in absolute terms from 281 pounds to 434 pounds. But whereas the top ten percent of households saw their incomes increasing by 62 percent, the bottom ten percent increased their incomes by 33 percent. (6) Apologists for the current economic system will point that the fact that the bottom ten percent increased their income shows that it works.
However, as professor Robert Erikson of the Swedish Institute of Social Research wrote last year:
"The general increase in income does not seem to have been matched by a general change in income inequality, except for a possible but uncertain increase of the relative share of the very highest incomes." (7) More significantly, the evidence suggests that workers lost out relatively, with wages falling as a proportion of the various incomes generated within the 26 counties economy, whereas capitalists increased their share.

Until 1987, the share of wages, pensions and social security in the 26 counties stood at 69.2 percent, with profits, rents and self-employed earnings taking the other 30.7 percent. By 1997, the share of wages; pensions and social security fell to 56.3 percent and mostly the share going to profits had risen to 43.7 percent. In 2004 the first category had again fallen to 52.1 and the second risen to 48.1 (8) As Whelan argued already in 1995,
"The nature of Irish industrialisation has been such that the degree of disadvantage suffered by the working classes has been greater than conventional…analysis would suggest." (9)
As Garrett FitzGerald notes:
"during the Celtic Tiger period the incomes of many better-off people rose quite disproportionately vis-a-vis those of the less well-off". (10)
By the end of the 1990s, the share of total income enjoyed by the top 1% of 26 counties earners was more than twice the level prevailing throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The top 5% of the population holds 40% of the wealth. (11) This reflects US trends: In the United States in 1970, chief executives earned 25 times the average worker’s wage. In 2007 chief executives earned 360 times the average worker’s wage. (12)

In the Six Counties, things are no better. The material well-being of the working classes has been eroded between 1971 and 1995: a 42.7 per cent growth in non-earner families, a three fold increase in poverty, a 32.2 per cent decline in income, a rise in unemployment from 4.3 percent to 14.2 per cent all attest to social dislocation. Conversely, the evolution of the economy has significantly benefited the middle and upper classes. In the period 1971-1995 they have enjoyed a 28.1 per cent rise in their share of total income and by 1995 possessed the highest levels of personal savings as a percentage of disposable income within the United Kingdom. (13)
Has the ‘peace dividend’ changed things?
"It has become increasingly evident, however; that insofar as there can actually be said to have been a peace dividend its benefits have not been evenly distributed." (14)
For the upper and middle classes, life has never been better. (15) But a 2006 report showed that the poorest members of society in the six counties were worse off than ten years before. (16) The UN Human Development Reports rank the 26 counties among the most unequal developed countries in the world. Yet the Poverty and Social Exclusion NI survey revealed that inequality in the North is greater -a Gini coefficient of 0.42 compared to 0.36 in the 26 counties -the Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality ranging from zero (complete equality) to one (complete inequality). (17)
When looking at who has benefited the most of the economic growth, things are also made more complex due to a number of unique characteristics that set off the Irish economy from others within the EU, including others on the EU periphery.
The 26 counties are unique in Europe in the degree that its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exceeds its Gross National Product (GNP) because of the profits that are removed by transnational corporations (TNCs) operating there. In very broad terms, GDP measures the value of what is produced in the 26 county economy, by indigenous and foreign enterprises alike. It represents the net output or added value generated in the economy during any given period. GNP, on the other hand, identifies that portion of the income generated in Ireland that is retained in this country in any time period. In sum, where GDP measures the value of output produced, GNP represents what the 26 counties gets to keep from what is produced here. As the economics editor of the Irish Times explains:
"For most advanced countries, GDP and GNP are interchangeable but Ireland is a special case because of the scale and importance of foreign direct investment in the Irish economy. Foreign industrial investment provided the platform for the Irish boom and foreign-owned enterprises continue to dominate production and exports in Irish manufacturing industry. They contribute substantially to the amount of output produced and income generated in Ireland. That contribution is reflected fully in the GDP statistics. However, foreign companies did not invest in Ireland for the good of their health. They came to Ireland because it was a highly profitable location that allowed free profit repatriation. A major slice of the profits, dividends, interest and other income earned by foreign-owned enterprises operating in Ireland is exported abroad. Such repatriations comprise a substantial element of the outflow of net factor income from the country. This net outflow of factor income is a large number. In 2007, it exceeded €29 billion, equivalent to more than 15 per cent of GDP."(18)
In other words up to one fifth of the value generated within the 26 counties economy each year is spirited out of the country, principally in the guise of the repatriated profits of transnational corporations.
The 26 counties are not unique in that TNCs have a leading role in their economy. However:
"By the turn of the century, Ireland had by far the highest level of direct US investment per manufacturing worker of any country in Europe, with the capital deployed per worker being a full seven times higher than the EU average. … In the process, the Republic of Ireland became more dependent on US investment than many countries in Latin America, which has often been described as ‘America’s backyard’." (19)
At the end of 2005, there were 473 US TNCs operating in the 26 counties, accounting for 47 per cent of companies supported by the IDA and employed 70 percent of the employment provided by IDA sponsored companies in Ireland. (20)
In the 26 counties, imperialist transnational corporations are more important to the accumulation of capital than the internally generated process of accumulation. Imperialist capital is the motor of industrial development, and Irish capital has a generally weak and subordinated role to it. Inward stocks of foreign direct investment as a percentage of GDP grew from 71.5% in 1990 to 129.7% in 2003 while the average for the EU15 was 10.9% in 1990 and 32.8% in 2003. (21)
TNCs were directly responsible for 45 percent of economic growth in the 26 counties during the first half of the 1990s and between 1995 and 1999 directly accounted for 85 percent of economic growth in terms of their value added. Their rising profits alone accounted for 53 percent of economic growth! Between 1990 and 1999, output in the three main TNC sectors grew by 375 percent and employment by 73 percent. Thus output per employee grew by 215 percent during that period.
In comparison, in Irish companies output rose by 55 percent and employment by 40 percent. Output per employee grew by about one percent annually, which is quite low by international standards. By 1999, the average worker in the foreign sector produced nearly eight times more output by value than did the average worker in the rest of the economy. (22)

The consequence of this is that the 26 counties bourgeoisie is in a position of relative weakness and that its representatives are not in a position of equality with imperialist capital. They are not a strong and independent fraction of the global capitalist class and are not in position to challenge of compete with imperialism. It is thus significant that in a recent article on the Irish bourgeoisie, the Ireland correspondent of the Financial Times could write:
"The ranks of the super-rich include few manufacturers, partly because foreign-owned companies have dominated that sector –about 70 percent of Irish manufacturing exports came from US-owned companies."
He also adds regarding the people who became millionaires thanks to the Celtic Tiger:
"Some commentators complain that… the new moneyed class are just property speculators. One measure of this is the dearth of new listings on the Irish stock exchange. And the Irish boom has certainly been heavily concentrated in the property sector. About a third of the 80 000 individuals setting up businesses between January 2003 and June 2006 were in construction." (23)
It is thus wrong to think that capitalism in the 26 counties is no different from that in any other EU country. The strategic sector of the 26 counties are dominated by imperialist capital.
For Republican Socialists, the current model of economic development being pursued in Ireland is a failed and unjust system. The fact that 700, 000 people still live in poverty despite more than a decade of prosperity and growth shows that economic growth is at best not linked to social development. (24) And at worse, the current model of development has increased social and economic inequality, whose effects results in at least 5400 people dying needlessly in the 26 counties. Also, another major contradiction is that despite a decade of growth putting them in the league of the richest states, the 26 counties still have infrastructures and collective equipment reminiscent of poor countries. (25)

Republican Socialists also argue that the current model of economic development leaves Ireland in a highly vulnerable position. First due to the dominance of imperialist capital, shocks to US economic growth would have 'a much stronger effect' on the pace of Irish economic activity than economic shocks of a similar magnitude in the Euro area or Britain, the IMF has found. A one percent drop in US economic growth translates into a 1.75 percent drop in the 26 counties. This is because the US is the 26 counties' main source of foreign direct investment and largest single export market. (26) Second, the 26 counties ratio of housing investment to GDP at 13.3 percent is more than twice as high as the average 6.5 per cent for OECD countries, leaving the 26 counties highly vulnerable to depression in that sector. On top of that residential investment had increased its share of GDP in the 26 counties from 7.8 per cent in 2000 to 13.3 per cent in 2006. (27) Added to the slow down in the US economy, it means that the 26 counties will be left in an even worse position.
Liam O RUAIRC
NOTES
(1) Vincent Browne, A nation divided by weatlh, The Irish Times, 13 February 2008
(2) Martin Wall, Irish firms make profit of €45,800 per worker, report says, The Irish Times, 2 July 2008
(3) Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1848
(4) Peter Shirlow, Class, Materialism and the Fracturing of Traditional Alignments, in Brian Graham (ed) In Search of Ireland: A Cultural Geography, London and New York: Routledge, 1997, 90
(5) Vincent Browne, Political class defiantly ignores massive inequality, The Irish Times, 14 May 2008
(6) Ronaldo Munck, Social class and inequality, in Sara O'Sullivan (ed), Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2007, 307
(7) Tony Fahey, Helen Russell, Christopher T Whelan (eds), Best of Times?, Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, 2007, 271
(8) Kieran Allen, Globalisation, the state and Ireland's miracle economy, Sara O'Sullivan (ed), Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2007, 244-245
(9) Christopher Whelan, Class transformation and social mobility in the Republic of Ireland, in P Clancy, S Drudy, K Lynch and L O Dowd (eds) Irish Society: Sociological Perspectives, Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, 1995, 351
(10) Garret FitzGerald, Growth should be used to build an equitable society, The Irish Times, 2 December 2006
(11) Fintan O Toole, Inequality now official policy, The Irish Times, 15 January 2008
(12) Kathy Sheridan, Mind the Gap: wage disparity spreads from private to public, The Irish Times, 12 January 2008
(13) Peter Shirlow, op.cit, 100-101
(14) Colin Coulter and Peter Shirlow, The Peace Process in Northern Ireland, in Sara O'Sullivan (ed), Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2007, 191
(15) Jim Smyth and Andreas Cebulla, The Glacier Moves? Economic change and class structures in Northern Ireland, in Colin Couler and Michael Murray (eds), Northern Ireland After The Troubles? A Society in Transition, Macmillan, 2008
(16) BBC webpage, Poor 'worse off now than in 1996', 14 September 2006
(17) Goretti Horgan, Class in Northern Ireland, in Sara O'Sullivan (ed), Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2007, 322
(18) Paul Tansey, Riddle of the economy shrinking and growing at the same time, The Irish Times, 1 July 2008
(19) Kieran Allen, Neither Boston or Berlin: Class Polarisation and Neo-Liberalism in the Irish Republic, in Colin Coulter and Steve Coleman (eds), The End of Irish History? Critical Approached to the Celtic Tiger, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003, 57
(20) Paul Tansey, Recession in US would seriously affect Irish economy, IMF warns, The Irish Times, 31 January 2008
(21) European Commission, European Economy No. 6 2005, p. 399. (Figures supplied by Joe Craig)
(22) Denis O'Hearn, Macroeconomic policy in the Celtic Tiger: A critical reassessment, in Colin Coulter and Steve Coleman (eds), The End of Irish History? Critical Approached to the Celtic Tiger, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003, 38 and 45
(23) John Murray Brown, Lucre of the Irish, Prospect, January 2008
(24) Carl O Brien, Country following flawed economic model, says CORI, The Irish Times, 19 June 2008
(25) Marion Van Renterghem, L'Irlande, enrichie, a conserve les infrastructures d'un Etat pauvre, Le Monde, 21 Septembre 2007
(26) Paul Tansey, Recession in US would seriously affect Irish economy, IMF warns, The Irish Times, 31 January 2008
(27) Paul Tansey, 'Growth Recession' only game in town, The Irish Times, 11 April 2008

Oration for Crip
Volunteer Christopher 'Crip' McWilliams

“Comrades, we stand here today in memory of and in solemn salute to the life of an Irish revolutionary, Irish National Liberation Army Volunteer Christopher McWilliams.

The Republican Socialist Movement stand in grief beside his family, acutely aware that they have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother and an uncle and whilst we are saying our last farewell to a brave and valued comrade who has came to the end of his long journey, we recognise that their loss is deep and profound. We respect them in this time of grief.

I have spoken over the past number of weeks to many of Crip's comrades, many of whom are here today, and all are in a state of disbelief. One comrade said, and I make no apology for repeating it here today,

''since hearing the news of Crip's deteriorating condition I had the same gut-wrenching feeling as I had in 1981 as we waited for the hunger strikers to die one by one in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh''.

Crip of course was no stranger to British prisons having spent most of his adult life incarcerated by the British occupation forces. Indeed for many who only knew Crip by reputation may believe that his only contribution to the struggle was the execution of Billy Wright in Long Kesh. Nothing could be further from the truth: Crip was a well rounded and experienced Volunteer, highly respected by his peers, courageous and determined to play his part in the struggle. Though there were many attempts to vilify and demonise him by the media, and others, he never sought or countenanced notoriety. Crip was not a man of letters or of endless theoretical speculation, however this did not mean that he was unthinking or did not posses the ability to look forward and plan and execute revolution in Ireland.

Crip had energy and intelligence, he was accurate and thorough, known for his sense of humour and tenacity and as a human being displayed great concern and humanity for his fellow people. He was both a thinker and a man of action with an outstanding mind and personality, respected by his fellow volunteers and this generation of republican socialists.

He was a Belfast man born and bred and grew up in a republican neighbourhood in West Belfast. His brother Paul was murdered by the British army when he was just 16 years old. Crip joined the INLA when just a teenager and in 1984 was imprisoned after being captured after a gun battle in a Lenadoon flat in which his friend and comrade Paul 'Bonanza' McCann was killed. He was sentenced to 14 years and served half of it in the H-Blocks.

In 1991, a few short months after his release, he was arrested and convicted for the IPLO killing of a bar manger in Belfast. Charges he passionately contested and spoke often about and remained consistent right up to his death about his innocence. Whilst in prison Crip once again re-joined the INLA and was involved in a number of operations in Maghaberry prison before rejoining his comrades in May 1997 in Long Kesh.

For a time in the 80s along with his friends and comrades Gino Gallagher and Bonanza McCann and others who must remain anonymous at this time took the war against the British war machine in their native Belfast to new heights of determination and execution. In short, they had the enemy on the run for long periods of time. Indeed the very mention of their names had the Brits running for cover.

It is true that the life of an Irish revolutionary is often a short one with generations of freedom fighters either dying in a hail of bullets whilst on active service, by stealth of assassination from British death squads, or languishing in British prisons and dying on hunger strike or exile from the land of their birth. That Crip endured imprisonment and oppression all his life is undeniable, however, it was a very different type of struggle he had to undertake when he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer shortly after his release from the H-Blocks.

He faced this struggle against cancer with the same courage, tenacity and philosophy as when waging war against the British and it was these qualities , along with treatment, I believe, which brought his cancer into remission and allowed him to enjoy his last few years in the bosom of his loving family, enjoying the normality that so many take for granted. We, his comrades, are thankful that he enjoyed those few short years surrounded by those he loved and cared for.

During these past few weeks Crip and I had many long and deep conversations on a wide range of subjects. He spoke of his deep love for Julie and Carla and how much happiness and peace they brought him since his release. He spoke of his love for his son and the rest of his family in Belfast and how proud he was of all of them who supported him through thick and thin. He spoke about how touched he was during a visit in the hospital a few weeks ago with the relatives of some of Billy Wright's victims. One of them asked him if he had any regrets about his part in the operation in removing this mass murderer. He said

''As an INLA volunteer I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever in my part in the operation against Billy Wright. I take no pleasure in his death and done what I had to do and I will take that to the grave with me''.

This man then shook his hand and thanked him for bringing him justice and a sense of closure to the family's suffering.

He spoke too about the public Inquiry into Wright's death and that he was looking forward to taking part in it. The Inquiry were in contact with Crip's solicitor a number of months back stating that they would be summonsing him and they supplied a number of written questions which they demanded answered. They stated that failure to answer all the questions would result in a term of imprisonment. Some of the questions were
''how were the weapons smuggled in. Who was involved in the smuggling. Who else outside the prison was involved?

Crip made it quite clear that whilst he would cooperate he would not incriminate any Volunteer nor would he compromise the methods used in smuggling weapons into prisons and that he was prepared to spend the rest of his life in prison protecting those secrets. He believed that the Inquiry was just a sop to the DUP and scorned at the notion of collusion and regretted that the Inquiry's remit did not cover Wright's murder campaign as a British agent.

Crip, quite rightly, was proud of what he described as his 'small contribution' to the noble struggle for freedom and of his first involvement as a teenager with the Irish National Liberation Army. After his release from prison Crip once again offered his services to the INLA and remained a valued and committed Volunteer right up to his death.

It is fitting today when we lay our gallant comrade to rest in his adopted home of Newry, that we recall past Irish republicans revolutionaries from this area, the Young Irelanders, John Mitchel buried at Old Meeting House Green on the High Street and John Martin buried in Donaghmore.

In February1848 John Mitchel founded a newspaper the United Irishman as an organ for revolution, its overriding principle is a fitting epitaph for INLA Volunteer Christopher 'Crip' McWilliams :

''The Irish people have a just and indefeasible right to Ireland and to all the moral and material wealth and resources thereof, to posses and govern the same for their own use, maintenance, comfort and honour as a distinct sovereign state.''

We lay you to rest safe in the knowledge that you are lying among friends. We salute you comrade, rest in peace with the other brave soldiers of the INLA and IRA.”

Oration delivered by IRSP member Willie Gallagher

Unionist quotes
Delivered by Willie Gallagher on behalf of the Irish Republican Here are some quote and facts which indicate just how sectarian the Northern Ireland state was. (Quotes taken mainly from CAIN site, which is run by the University of Ulster. The post is long, but informative):
1) Quotes by the Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland from 1921-1969:
"I have always said I am an Orangeman first and a politician and Member of this Parliament afterwards. ... The Hon. Member must remember that in the South they boasted of a Catholic State. They still boast of Southern Ireland being a Catholic State. All I boast is that we are a Protestant Parliament and Protestant State."
 Sir James Craig Northern Ireland Prime Minister1921-1940
"Another allegation made against the Government and which was untrue, was that, of 31 porters at Stormont, 28 were Roman Catholics. I have investigated the matter, and I find that there are 30 Protestants and only one Roman Catholic there temporarily." 
J. M. Andrews Northern Ireland Prime Minister 1940-1943
"When I made that declaration last 'twelfth' I did so after careful consideration. What I said was justified. I recommended people not to employ Roman Catholics, who were 99 per cent disloyal."
 Sir Basil Brooke Northern Ireland Prime Minister 1943-1963
"It is frightfully hard to explain to Protestants that if you give Roman Catholics a good job and a good house they will live like Protestants because they will see neighbours with cars and television sets; they will refuse to have eighteen children. But if a Roman Catholic is jobless, and lives in the most ghastly hovel, he will rear eighteen children on National Assistance. If you treat Roman Catholics with due consider and kindness, they will live like Protestants in spite of the authoritative nature of their Church ... " 
Captain Terence O'Neil Northern Ireland Prime Minister 1963-1969
2) Discrimination in Public employment
"When it is remembered that the first Minister [of Home Affairs], Sir Dawson Bates, held that post for 22 years and had such a prejudice against Catholics that he made it clear to his Permanent Secretary that he did not want his most juvenile clerk, or typist, if a Papist, assigned for duty to his Ministry, what could one expect when it came to filling posts in the Judiciary, Clerkships of the Crown and Peace and Crown Solicitors?" Mr. G.C. Duggan, Comptroller and Auditor-General in Northern Ireland (1967)
"Clear instances of discrimination against well qualified Catholics occurred from the beginning . . . At the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bates refused to allow Catholic appointments. . . . While Unionist politicians were included on civil service appointment boards, nationalist requests for this privilege were ignored. As the years passed, evidence emerged of Orange Order surveillance of Catholic civil servants and even civil servants married to Catholics. Prominent and respectable Unionists like Sir Robert Lynn (editor of the Northern Whig) and Sir Charles Blackmore (Cabinet secretary) were the messenger-boys for the Order in these matters. Craig's attitude was at best ambiguous. Predictably, the number of Catholics in the higher ranks of the NICS dropped consistently throughout the late '20s and early '30s" From Bew, Gibbon and Patterson "The State in Northern Ireland, 1921-72" (Note: Paul Bew, now a member of the House of Lords, is a unionist historian, and, to use his own words, an 'informal advisor' to David Trimble)
"We are satisfied that all these Unionist controlled councils have used and use their power to make appointments in a way which benefited Protestants. In the figures available for October 1968 only thirty per cent of Londonderry Corporation's administrative, clerical and technical employees were Catholic. In Dungannon Urban District none of the Council's administrative, clerical and technical employees was a Catholic. In County Fermanagh no senior council posts (and relatively few others) were held by Catholics. . . Armagh Urban District employed very few Catholics in salaried posts, but did not appear to discriminate at lower levels. Omagh Urban District showed no clearcut pattern of discrimination, though we have seen what would appear to be undoubted evidence of employment discrimination by Tyrone County Council" The conclusion of the Cameron report (1969) (Commission appointed by  the Governor of Northern Ireland)
It is also worth mentioning that Terence O'Neill states that when he was Minister of Finance in the 1950s he had to face a campaign against him in the Cabinet because it was believed that since he had taken up office Catholics were being encouraged to join the civil service.
3) Discrimination in Private employment
'At a meeting in Derry to select candidates for the Corporation Mr. H. McLaughlin said that for the past forty-eight years since the foundation of his firm there had been only one Roman Catholic employed - and that was a case of mistaken identity' Derry People 26 September 1946.
"[Our three candidates] employ over 70 people, and have NEVER employed a ROMAN CATHOLIC" Pamphlet issued by the St George's Ward Unionist Association during the 1961 Belfast municipal elections.
At the end of the 1960's, Harland and wolf employed about 10,000 workers. Of these, less than 500 were catholic. Roughly the same proportion was found at Shorts and other big employers. Moreover, many of the Catholics employed there were subject to sectarian abuse. This situation was brought to the attention of the American authorities by members of the nationalist community. The result was the Macbride principles, a code of conduct for US companies operating in Northern Ireland, which ensures that there is no discrimination in selection and other areas. These principles have now been passed in sixteen states in the US. It is quite remarkable that a foreign country has to introduce such a code in its dealings with a modern European "democracy".
4) Discrimination in Local elections
"The Nationalist majority in the county, i.e., Fermanagh, notwithstanding a reduction of 336 in the year, stands at 3,684. We must ultimately reduce and liquidate that majority. This county, I think it can be safely said, is a Unionist county. The atmosphere is Unionist. The Boards and properties are nearly all controlled by Unionists. But there is still this millstone [the Nationalist majority] around our necks." E.C. Ferguson, Unionist Party, then Stormont MP, April 1948
" I need hardly point out to you that in Derry , unless something is done now , it is only a matter of time until Derry passes into the hands of the Nationalist and Sinn Fein parties for all time . On the other hand, if proper steps are taken now, I believe Derry can be saved for years to come... " Sir Dawson Bates to Lord Craigavon 1934
In 1920's, against strong opposition from the British Government, the Northern Ireland Parliament abolished proportional representation and redrew the electoral boundaries, with the result that they gained fifteen more seats, leaving the nationalists, who made up roughly a third of the population, with eleven seats out of seventy-three. For this reason, nationalists have since that time been consistently under-represented.
The city of Derry is perhaps the best case. Since the formation of the Northern Ireland state the population ratio of Derry has been more or less 60:40 catholic to protestant, but the structure of the council has always been roughly 40:60 nationalist to unionist, simply because the boundaries were changed in order to produce a unionist majority.
 For reasons of space I have said nothing in regard to policing, or parades, or housing. I have included quotes to show not merely that the Northern Ireland state was unjust from top to bottom, but also that the discrimination which occurred was more or less policy and was often openly expressed.
The standard unionist explanation is that Catholics were discriminated against not because of their religion, but because it was thought that they might be people who might work within the system to bring about a United Ireland. This does seem odd, for, first, part of the South's hostility to the north was a result of the discrimination, and, second, it is generally the case that giving people equality makes them less, not more, likely to want to change the status quo. Yet it does appear that this was part of the reason. Nonetheless, it can hardly be without significance that the Orange Order is found in Scotland, the USA, Canada, and New Zealand, and in all these places its members have invariably been fiercely, and sometimes violently, anti-catholic.
Source JColtrane in politics blog-Henry McDonald May 25th 2008

Letters
The Turkish government has jailed a woman trade unionist, Meryem Özsögüt, and has kept her in detention for nearly six months.

Meryem is a leader of the public sector union SES, and we've been asked by Public Services International (PSI) to launch a big online campaign demanding her release.

For more details and to add your signature, please click here now.

This campaign will not take off, and we will not secure Meryem's release, unless we can mobilize thousands of our members around the world.

Please do what you can to help this campaign go viral -- forward it to your email lists, post information on your union websites, pass out flyers at events, use new tools like Twitter, Facebook and blogs to spread the word.
Meryem needs our help. I know that I can count on all of you.

Eric Lee

The Plough Vol 05 No 07

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:59:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://www.the> plough.netfirms.com/
Vol 5-No 7

Thursday 12th June 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) It’s the Economy!

2) Communists and the Irish Civil War

3) Union News

4) Fact File

5) From the Media
a. So this is what the ruling class really thinks
b. Right wing links to Guerrillas

6) What’s On

It’s the Economy!
In May of this year the unemployment rate in the USA had its highest monthly increase in 22 years. In the 26 counties (Irish Republic) there was the largest rise in the unemployment figures for 15 years. In early June the Governor of the bank of England, Mervyn King said ,
“We are passing through the most prolonged period of financial turmoil that most of us can remember. Whether, as the IMF has argued, it is the worst period of financial stress since the 1930s is too early to judge”
He also said that recent financial "party" of cheap credit and excessive risk-taking has left a situation where
"when the party ends, some innocent bystanders may lose their homes altogether."(Independent Wed 11th June 2008)
World oil prices jumped nearly $11 to a record $138 dollars a barrel,

“after a senior Israeli politician raised the spectre of an attack on Iran and the dollar fell sharply against the euro"
(Jad Mouawad, "Oil Prices Skyrocket, Taking Biggest Jump Ever," New York Times, 7 June 2008).
Oil prices have quadrupled since 2004.
All of these facts impact on Ireland both North and South. The implications of these facts need to be taken on board by Republicans in Ireland. To neglect the economic implications of these facts would be politically disastrous for any republican organisation. Historically Irish Republicanism has neglected the class struggle. (See below “Communists and the Irish Civil War”)
During both the 1930’3 and the 1950’s as the Irish emigrated in their millions driven out by unemployment and poverty main stream Irish republicanism concentrated on military actions, almost totally ignoring the social conditions around them. Unfortunately today there are still some republicans who either deny the existence of class struggle or say that the class struggle can wait until the national struggle is solved. Such an approach will make republicanism irrelevant to the mass of the Irish people.

The four main Parties governing the Northern Statelet argued consistently in their campaigns to set up a Northern Administration that political peace would have economic benefits. They did not of course specific who would receive those economic benefits. Now that they have achieved their aim of a local administration they now are sending out messages that it may take decades to construct a vibrant economy for the north. For example the Institute of Directors calculates up to 140,000 new jobs will have to be created over the next decade if the economy is to show overall growth. Most economists suggest that inward investment particularly from the USA and a massive investment in tourism facilities are the best means of economic growth. Recently a lot of money was spend on a major investment conference bringing CEO’s from major USA financial investment institutions to the North to “sell” our financial benefits to the USA investors. Years ago the then President Clinton
“-hosted an investment conference in Washington, and supported a similar one in Belfast, amid all the excitement after the signing of the agreement.” (Paradox of peace: private wealth, a weak economy IRISH INDEPENDENT Saturday April 12 2008) By Brendan Keenan and Yvonne Hogan)
Positive economic messages are being sent out to investors all with a view for them to come and invest.
Should we all be equally optimistic and welcome the new riches we will all soon receive? Well actually it is not so simple as that.
Yes there have been economic benefits of the new dispensation. Businesses in City centres have been transformed. There is a vibrancy and excitement about some of these city centres. Many working class districts have seen big increases in car ownership in the past ten years. The centre of Belfast has been transformed with major new buildings shopping centres and a vibrant café culture established. There are huge changes taking place in the Titanic Quarter with a new city village being established. The regeneration of the rivers sides in both Belfast and Derry is modelled on regeneration schemes in Britain The road net works are being upgraded to permit a faster flow of traffic. For two to three years there was a property boom as house prices increased by an incredible 36% in 2006.
Is this not all to the good? Well actually no. Take the Titanic Quarter, which is being built with imported migrant workers and few if any from East Belfast working class areas being offered work there. The apartments are being built with an eye for investors or aspiring white-collar city types.
The road-building programme is geared towards speeding up the movement of private lorries (even as oil prices soar) to facilitate big business and ignores almost completely public transport systems. Little or no environmental considerations are taken into account especially the effect on the health of working class communities adjacent to the motorways. The farcical appointment of S.Wilson as the new minister for the environment shows very clearly the priority the administration takes on the protection of the environment. Wilson is the least friendly member of the DUP towards that environment. Few expect Wilson to challenge the planners and business interests who have destroyed inner city working class life.
The so-called property boom has forced working class families out of traditional working class areas in Belfast, such as the Lower Ormeau Road, the Holylands, Stranmillis and the Village. These areas are now blighted by hundreds of “to let” signs and empty houses and apartments for much of the year while newly weds, young couples and ordinary families wait on the housing list for social and affordable housing that is not there.
The private investor is king. Many of these investors came from the South of Ireland and bought up huge blocks of apartments with a view to make quick financial gains. The result? There is now a growing housing crisis. This is of course the inevitable consequence of “Thatcherism”. Huge swathes of public housing were sold off to tenants who joined the property owning classes. The Housing Executive, which once had total responsibility for public housing became weakened as many of its functions passed over to housing associations. Unfortunately the Housing Executive allowed itself to accommodate to local sectarian tensions by having separate points allocations for catholic and protestant families. That is why hundreds of homes in North Belfast lie empty within so called protestant areas while hundreds of catholics cannot get a house. If houses were allocated on the basis of need only then all those empty homes would be filled by families.
That of course would be the sensible attitude of any kind of radical Administration. Sinn Fein (Provisional) once posed as radical.
A radical response to the Housing crisis would be the immediate introduction of a Home tax of a £1000 per month on any apartment or house empty for six months or more and the seizure for public housing of any similar building without compensation if empty for two years or more.
Those two step alone, would lower private sector rents immediately, make thousands of homes available at affordable rents to all and end the housing crisis within a short period of time.
Unfortunately it would also go against the pro-capitalist tendencies of all the parties in the Assembly so is unlikely to see the light of day until genuine socialist voices make themselves heard .
But it is not only families on the housing waiting lists who are in distress. Recently the Northern Ireland Consumer Council revealed that families are now paying out more than £40 a week more than this time last year for the necessities. Prices rises in food, fuel and mortgage repayments, as people came off two year low rate mortgage, mean that most families are now paying at least £160 per month more. Food costs have risen by 7 per cent in the past year. For example bread has risen in price by 12 per cent and butter by more than 60 per cent in the last 12 months (It’s an odd time for assembly to hitch itself to US economy By Patrick Murphy Irish News 13/05/08)

With the slow rise in the cost of a barrel of oil up to $139 compared to $40 last year we can expect a steady rise in the cost of living for most families in both parts of Ireland. Already electricity prices have gone up by 14% and are due to rise again in October. Some families who recently bought new homes are now in negative equity and some particularly those in the building trade where there has been a massive slow down in economic activity, are having difficulty making the mortgages repayments. The housing charity Shelter estimates that there are likely to be about 53,000 home repossessions in Britain and Northern Ireland this year.
Overall the northern economy is heavily dependent on high levels of public spending. Public spending accounts for 60% of the economy as against 40\50% in Western European Union states. ((Paradox of peace: private wealth, a weak economy IRISH INDEPENDENT Saturday April 12 2008) By Brendan Keenan and Yvonne Hogan))
This public spending, paradoxically has benefited to a greater extent the professional middle classes. They have some of the highest disposable income in the British Isles. With the continued existence of elite Grammar schools these classes, don’t, unlike their counterparts in England and Wales have to spend a fortunate on sending their children to British public Schools.
The commitment of the Stormont Regime to the neo-liberal agenda means that Government public spending will gradually be reduced as creeping privitisation speeds up. The professional middle classes in the higher ranks of the public services can easily make the transition to the private sector. Those most to lose from this process will be those valiant civil servants at the sharp end of the civil service in the so called lower ranks who will see their jobs transformed and sold off to the private sector. That is why it is so important to defend public sector workers.
Unfortunately it is the policy of the Stormont regime to carry on the economic policies as dictated by the London Treasury. That same treasury has benefited by the reduction in security costs due to the outbreak of peace. It is now pursuing a policy of making the Stormont regime pay its own way. And sadly the new administration has actually under-spent to the tune of £170 millions, money which reverts to the Treasury. Local attempts to be allowed to reduce corporation tax to 12.5% equivalent to that in the Irish Republic were quickly shot down by Westminster.

Against this gloomy economic background it should be clear that there will be increasing opportunities for those of us on the left to make gains among working class people who find life increasing difficulty under capitalism.
After all “N.Ireland is the lowest region for productivity,80% of the UK average, public expenditure amounts to 62% of GDP, compared to 42% for the whole UK and 27% for the Republic; 23% leave school with no qualifications and the economically inactive are 27% of the workforce, compared to the 21% UK average.”
(Good Fences don't mean good neighbours Barry White BELFAST TELEGRAPH Tuesday, May 13, 2008)

Put simply there are now great opportunities for Left Republicans and Socialists to make gains within the working class movement. Now is clearly the time for an intensification of class work. Lest some think such a call for class struggle is somehow a dilution of our republicanism and/ or a retreat into some form of “trotskyist economism” may I suggest that they go back to basics and read again James Connolly.
As we have again and again pointed out, the Irish question is a social question, the whole age-long fight of the Irish people against their oppressors resolves itself, in the last analysis into a fight for the mastery of the means of life, the sources of production, in Ireland. Who would own and control the land? The people or the invaders; and if the invaders, which set of them – the most recent swarm of land-thieves, or the sons of the thieves of a former generation? –
. The revolutionists of the past were wiser, the Irish Socialists are wiser to-day. In their movement the North and the South will again clasp hands, again will it be demonstrated, as in ’98, that the pressure of a common exploitation can make enthusiastic rebels out of a Protestant working class, earnest champions of civil and religious liberty out of Catholics, and out of both a united Social democracy.
(Labour In Irish History” James Connolly)

(gerry ruddy)

Communists and the Irish Civil War
This article originally appeared in Scottish Socialist Voice. Charlie McGuire is a history researcher at the University of Teeside, Middlesbrough. His book Roddy Connolly and the Struggle for Socialism in Ireland was published by Cork University Press in 2008.

The historian and author Charlie McGuire outlines the role played by communists in the Irish Civil War
The Irish civil war of 1922–23 is one of the most neglected events in Irish history. In contrast to the Tan war of 1919–21, a celebrated event about which a great deal has been written, very little attention has been paid to a conflict that not only exacted a heavier toll in terms of casualties, but was also more significant in shaping subsequent political divisions within the southern state itself.
Ken Loach's acclaimed film The Wind That Shakes the Barley is perhaps the first film to look in any detail at the nature of the divides that existed within the Irish independence movement, and the manner in which these worsened after the signing of the December 1921 Treaty. Leaving aside the predictable hostility from the armchair imperialists of the English Tory press, most serious critical comment concerning the film has been positive and has recognised the importance of opening up a debate on this important period in modern Irish history. It is as a contribution in this direction that this article on the experience of communists in the Irish civil war is intended.
The Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) was formed in October 1921. Its president was Roddy Connolly, the son of James, and himself a 15-year old boy soldier during the Easter rising. Other notable figures included fellow-1916 veterans, Sean McLoughlin and Paddy Stephenson, and Glaswegian socialist exile, George Pollock.
The political situation into which the new party was born was that of an uneasy peace between the IRA and the British state. Following a two-year war, a truce had been agreed and negotiations were under way. Indeed, it had been the prospect of more relaxed political conditions that had persuaded the communists to come out into the open and set up their new party. Previously, Irish communists had been operating underground, with some joining the IRA and attempting to spread socialist ideas from within the organisation.
The CPI was skeptical of the negotiations that were taking place. In the aftermath of the Treaty, which copper-fastened the partition of Ireland, and installed a pro-imperialist government into power in the new semi-colonial twenty-six county Free State, it became the first political party to oppose it. Roddy Connolly argued that in return for a share in the spoils of the British Empire and the exploitation of Irish workers, the Sinn Féin leaders, and the upper section of the Irish bourgeoisie that was now backing them, had both destroyed the independence movement and strengthened British imperialism.
>From December 1921 onwards, the CPI argued that civil war was inevitable and that the anti-treaty majority within the IRA should prepare for it. This did not happen, however. Instead, rejecting a class analysis of the Treaty, the anti-treaty IRA leaders plumped for a strategy based on diplomatic maneuvering, designed to restore unity with their Free State counterparts. It was an approach that disempowered and ultimately paralysed the IRA rank-and-file. When civil war finally broke out, on 28 June, the Free Staters quickly crushed the IRA in Dublin, forcing hundreds of republicans to flee south to Munster, large parts of which were controlled for the time being by the anti-treatyites.
Many CPI members fought alongside the IRA in Dublin. After the fall of the republican garrisons, Connolly and Pollock travelled to London. There, they met Mikhail Borodin, an executive member of the Communist International. Borodin had been dispatched by Moscow to assist the CPI. Together, the three drew up a socialist programme, containing such demands as the nationalisation of industry, land re-distribution, the abolition of all rents and the arming of the workers.
Aware of the explosion of labour militancy in parts of Munster, where several soviets had been established by striking workers, the plan was to encourage the IRA leadership to set up a provisional government in Cork, and, by using the socialist programme to win support from workers and small farmers, turn the tide of war against the Free State government.
Connolly, accompanied by Seán McLoughlin, duly travelled to Cork and presented the IRA leader, Liam Lynch, with the socialist programme. Reinforcing the communist position, McLoughlin wrote an accompanying article in the CPI journal in which he stated:
“Victory lies with the side that can attract to itself the masses, the workers of the towns and cities and the landless peasants. Republicans here is your chance. With the workers behind you, the Free State lapses into the black hell from whence it came.”
But whilst Lynch was sympathetic in principle to the programme, he appeared more concerned with organising a purely military campaign to defeat the Free State. As a result, the programme was not implemented.
This, however, was not the end of the CPI-IRA collaboration. McLoughlin left Connolly in Tipperary, and took command of an IRA flying column that operated mainly in east Limerick. There, he used his influence to spread socialist ideas within the local republican movement. Séamus McGowan was another leading communist who joined the IRA and amongst the dozen or so jailed by the Free State. Connolly meanwhile travelled to Berlin, then Moscow, in order to put together an arms deal for the IRA. This was unsuccessful, but was further evidence of the degree to which the communists were willing to go in support of the IRA campaign.
The input of the CPI did have an effect on the IRA. Liam Mellows, the imprisoned IRA leader, wrote from his cell that the IRA should set up a provisional government in Cork and implement the socialist programme advocated by the CPI. He also expressed his interest in joining the CPI. So too did his fellow-imprisoned IRA officer Joe McKelvey. Peadar O'Donnell, a member of the IRA GHQ, had gone a step further and actually joined the CPI by this stage.
Unfortunately, however, those within the IRA leadership on the outside did not push the struggle leftwards or mobilise the workers against the Free State. This left the republican campaign isolated. By mid-August, Cork, and every other Munster town, had fallen to the Free State. By October, the Free State felt confident enough to begin a policy of executing republican prisoners. Mellows and McKelvey were amongst the first of seventy-seven who would eventually be shot by Free State firing squads. By the spring of 1923 it was all over. The neo-colonial Free State, backed by Churchill and Lloyd George, had triumphed.
The Irish Civil War was a deeply significant conflict. It exposed starkly the class divides in the Irish independence movement and, as a result of the input of the CPI, led to a section of the IRA moving towards socialism as a means of toppling the Free State. For socialists and anti-imperialists today, it remains a conflict worthy of close study. This is because it showed clearly that any compromise with imperialism only strengthens it, and that any anti-imperialist strategy that divorces itself from the struggles of the working class will either end up angling for such a compromise, or be powerless to prevent it.

Fact file
Infamous sayings

"I say give me Ian Paisley any day.”

"One year into his tenure as deputy first minister, former IRA commander Martin McGuinness says he believes Ian Paisley is doing more for Irish unity than dissident republicans... "I say give me Ian Paisley any day.’’ (William Graham, McGuinness basks at Stormont, Irish New, 6 May 2008)

See also the Irish Times:

“The fact that we have so many important people coming from the United States - twice more than was initially expected - clearly is a major vote of confidence in what is happening here. “People with very busy schedules are taking time out to look very seriously at what we have to offer. That is very encouraging indeed at a time of economic difficulty in the United States.”

McGuinness Hails US business leaders
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0506/breaking9.htm

>From the Media

So this is what the ruling class really thinks

THE ECONOMIST

Northern Ireland's economy
Hard sell
May 1st 2008 | BELFAST
>From The Economist print edition
A beauty parade for foreign investors turns the spotlight on blemishes too

"But that border is also a cause of what Northern Irish businessmen, and politicians of all stripes, regard as the biggest impediment to attracting investment: the Irish Republic's 12.5% corporate tax rate is less than half of that levied in Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. They want a big cut in their own tax rate—but a report in December from Sir David Varney, a trusted advisor of Mr Brown, has probably dealt that notion a fatal blow. In Westminster eyes, this would mean the end of fiscal union between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain.
And there are other reasons for foreign investors to hang back. Northern Ireland has a bloated public sector, its workforce is mostly badly trained and integration with its southern neighbour is limited. In a second report, published on April 30th, Sir David prescribes some bitter medicine, rather than the tax sweetener locals still hanker after. He proposes cutting civil-service pay—high compared with that in Northern Ireland's private sector—and selling off public assets, such as Belfast's port, bus and rail services. Sinn Fein is unlikely to be keen; it remains staunchly left-wing. Sir David also urges stronger cross-border links with bodies such as the Irish Development Agency; on this point, the unionists will balk.
John Bradley, an economist in Dublin who has been studying Northern Ireland's economy since the early 1990s, reckons there is a deeper reason why investors may drag their heels. Northern Ireland's oldest problem has not yet been laid to rest: sectarian tensions are quieter but remain, and anti-Britishness is still acceptable among former IRA supporters. This, he says, must change, for “if the North is not an attractive place for British firms, it will be unattractive to foreign firms.”

Right wing links to Guerrillas

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/03/venezuela.colombia

and see comments that follow!

(Please note the Guardian changed the headline without consulting me.)
Response
It is not only Chávez who has links to guerrillas
Uribe's dealings with rightwing paramilitaries remains an untold story, says Andy Higginbottom
* Andy Higginbottom
* The Guardian ,
* Tuesday June 3 2008
* Article history
Your report on the find by Colombian security forces diverts attention from the mounting evidence of President Álvaro Uribe's own links with rightwing paramilitary death squads (Laptop emails link Chávez to guerrillas , May 16).

The article states that Interpol "announced that a two-month forensic investigation of the laptops seized in a raid by Colombian security forces concluded they belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc)".

None of the findings in Interpol's report "conclude" any such thing, as in conclude after an investigation. The two Interpol investigators are computer experts: neither speaks Spanish, and they were tasked solely with inspecting the kit. Interpol assumes that the equipment it inspected was indeed used by Farc, it did not investigate the circumstances of their seizure, when the Colombian army killed 25 guerrillas in its raid into Ecuador on March 1. Are the Colombian security services to be trusted?

It is they who presumably sourced the article's claim that: "Leaks from the trove of 16,000 files and photographs have suggested high-ranking Venezuelan officials plotted to help the Marxist group to obtain weapons and funding."

Your article is more remarkable for the story it did not tell, also involving computers. In the early hours of May 13 Uribe extradited 14 leaders of the paramilitary Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia from its custody to penitentiaries in the US. This manoeuvre leaves in tatters any justice component of the government's own "justice and peace" process. Despite admitting the murder of more than 4,000 people, the "para" leaders have been extradited on drugs charges, not human rights violations, for which they may never stand trial.

In the course of this sudden extradition, top paramilitary Salvatore Mancuso's computer and the hard drives used by four other leaders have disappeared from Itagüí maximum security prison. One drive was used by "Tuso Sierra", known to have business dealings with the former senator Mario Uribe, President Uribe's cousin and lifelong political ally.

With no less than 96 Uribe supporters in the country's congress being held in detention or under investigation for links with the paramilitaries, this latest manoeuvre adds to the suspicion that Uribe himself enjoys impunity at home and in the US. International press investigation of the allegations is thus vitally important, but still woefully absent.

Uribe and Chávez exemplify the two social models competing for the continent's future: neo-conservatism versus "socialism of the 21st century". The Andean region is split. Like Uribe, Peru's Alan García is eager to strike a free trade and investment deal with the European Union, while Ecuador and Bolivia, like Venezuela, will not accept the EU's privatisation terms.

In Lima this month I joined 8,000 participants from indigenous peoples' groups, environmental organisations and social movements - at the "people's summit"; we rejected the primacy of corporate interests in the relationship between our two continents. We would all appreciate a better informed reporting of these inspirational developments rather than mere snapping at Chávez.

· Dr Andy Higginbottom is a senior lecturer at Kingston University and is secretary of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign a.higginbottom@kingston.ac.uk

What’s On

lunchtime rally - all welcome

BELFAST SAYS NO TO BUSH

12.30pm Monday 16 June 2008

City Hall

Called by:
Belfast Anti War Movement

Supported by:
Irish Congress of Trade Unions - NI
Unison
Fire Brigades Union
Belfast trades Council
National Union of Students- USI
Irish Anti War Movement
Justice not Terror
(others to be added when confirmed)

* Other actions on the day to be confirmed

GEORGE BUSH – NOT WANTED HERE

We are appalled at the news that George Bush will visit Belfast next month. It is disgraceful that his visit is as a result of an invitation issued by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

This part of the world more than most places has an understanding of the deep damage and pain that war and conflict produces. George Bush is internationally regarded as a warmonger. The so called “war on terror”, now rebranded as the “war for democracy” that he has championed has inflicted that damage and pain on countless millions.

The world has seen the particular type of Bush “democracy” that was brought to Iraq in the form of the torture photos of prisoners held at Abu Ghraib Prison and the pictures of twisted bodies lying in the streets of Baghdad’s marketplaces. There are now over 2 million internally displaced Iraqis who have been forced to flee their homes. There are also over 3 million refugees who have been forced to flee the country completely.

According to CNN almost a third of all Iraqi children are suffering from chronic malnutrition and almost three quarters of Iraqi civilians no longer have access to clean water.

Bush’s phoney war has done nothing except create global misery and despair. His justification of the war has been to condemn Muslims as backward fundamentalists prone to violence. This has led to a massive increase in Islam phobia and racist attacks committed against those perceived to be Muslim has risen massively in recent years.

Apart from the war, Bush’s international crimes include a refusal to sign up to Kyoto and a refusal to do anything meaningful about global warming. This has placed the lives of millions of people in immediate danger due to the freak weather conditions that are already taking place. Longer term, the very planet itself is at risk.

Bush has also been responsible for misery much closer to home. Americans rightly accused Bush of leaving the residents of New Orleans to perish following Hurricane Katrina simply because they were black and poor and therefore considered expendable. Whilst he has spent countless billions on the war he has left millions of Americans without a proper healthcare system and a proper social security infrastructure. Bush has presided over a country where ordinary working people have seen their conditions deteriorate massively. While the poor have gotten poorer, the rich have gotten richer.

The Future Together is hosting a public debate on Thursday 19 June in the Lansdowne Court Hotel, Antrim Road, Belfast. This will be an opportunity to have your say on the rising costs of living and how it is hitting everyone hard in the pocket.

This is a public event that commences at 7:00.

NI Executive Minister Gerry Kelly (Sinn Fein), Eleanor Gill (Northern Ireland Consumer Council) and Professor Paddy Hillyard (Former Independent Chair of the Water Tax Review) will be contributors to the debate.

Ceartais -
Ceartais have an online petition on the investigation of the use of CS Gas in Long Kesh. Please sign it.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Ceartais/signatures.html

Also Public meeting The use of CS Gas in Long Kesh.
Tuesday the 17th of June starting at 7.00pm in the GlenPark, Ardoyne Ave.

Comrades our annual Bodenstown commemoration is being held this year on Sunday 29th of June,

The Plough Vol 05 No 06

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:33:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site www.theplough.netfirms.com/
Vol 5-No 6

Friday 9th May 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) IRSP Tour of Catalonia
2) Speech in Catalonia by Willie Gallagher IRSP
3) Republicanism, Irish and Iranian
4) Union News
5) Fact File
6) From the Media
a. The U.S. Role in Haiti's Food Riots
b. The border — economic asset for North and South
c. Disadvantaged Americans queue for aid in New York
7) What’s On

Sunday the 18th of May is the date of the National Hunger Strike Republican Socialist Commemoration being held in Derry, it starts at 2.00pm from the Rosemount factory. All welcome

IRSP TOUR OF CATALONIA

At the beginning of May two comrades from the IRSP toured Catalonia giving the IRSP view on the Irish Peace Process to a number of well attended public meetings. Each of the public meetings, lasted between two and a half hours and three hours each with some very lively debate and question and answer sessions. In between meetings the IRSP meet with a number of groups throughout the region. The IRSP delegates met grassroot socialist groups working hard at a local level, Alerta Solidaria, (Solidarity Alert ) MTD ( Movement for the Defense of the Land, ENDAVANT ( Socialist Organistion for National Liberation, Pro-independence student union SEPC, anti- repressive organisation Rescat (Rescue) and CUP ( Candidacy for Popular Unity as well as six well attended public meetings throughout Catalalonia including the cities of Barcelona, Castello, Vic and Vilafranca.

The Catalonian groups/audiences were well versed in both the Agreement and Irish politics in general, but only had Provisional Sinn Fein's version of the GFA. The audiences were up to date on issues such as such as the Richard O”Rawe controversy, MI5's influence in shaping the process through infiltration, water-tax, and the Irish Language

Although Provisional Sinn Fein's presence in Barcelona is well known their supporters declined invitations to attend the public meetings. Perhaps they feared dealing with the IRSP analysis, particularly around the “consent” principle, the acceptance of a British police force, the continued existence of Diplock courts and the calls for arrests and imprisonment of anti-GFA republicans by leading Provisional Sinn Fein politicians Judging from the mood of the various groupings and audiences they were wise to decline as they would have had some very difficult questions to answer. Recently Provisional Sinn Fein were on tour in Catalonia where they advised local separatists to adopt 'their' model of conflict resolution and that of the GFA as a way of achieving independence.
The IRSP on the other hand advised our Catalonian comrades to study our analysis and to get a copy of the GFA, study that, in particular the constitutional aspects of it, and make their own decisions.
The IRSP delegates also had a lengthy conversation with the editor of a left wing paper who admitted that there was an article in their paper recently slagging off the IRSP. She, the editor, revealed that other Catalonians had challenged the article and the editor apologised that the content had being biased and one sided. It was based on information she got from one of the Basques who in turn got their 'information' from PSF. IRSP delegates confirmed that Provisional Sinn Fein have been demonising the IRSP in particular and anti-GFA republicans in general for years. They had alleged that Republican Socialists were involved in drug dealing, an other allegation also made by some Basque nationalists under the influence of PSF.

But a number of Catalonians actually lived for a while in Belfast and Derry and, both in the audiences and groups, were aware of the machinations of the Provisional Sinn Fein and of the extent of their lies against the Republican Socialist Movement

The IRSP pointed out that the main focus of the analysis presented centered around the agreement and the consequences of it in relation to the constitutional/partition. The agreement was a massive defeat for republicanism. It was stated that historically the IRSP/INLA focused on national liberation believing that the resolution of partition was a prerequisite to the struggle for social liberation. We also pointed out that the agreement institutionalised sectarianism, keeping the working class divided.

There was a big interest in the prisons issue. Many were surprised that there were between 30 and 40 political prisoners in Ireland at present. Some had been led to believe that there were only 3 prisoners left, the Castlerea(PIRA) ones.One Catalonian ex-prisoner, Pep, related that he had visited Derry last year and attended a meeting in the Gasyard where PSF came out with that line on prisoners and that he challenged them on that lie. Willie Gallagher of the IRSP also gave an account of the 'undermine and absorb' campaign from the mid-eighties in the H-Blocks. He also pointed out the 26 County State’s current propaganda campaign, particularly through the media and their adoption of the membership charges being employed against the IRSP and the 32csm.

Many Catalonians found it difficult to get their heads around PSF publicly calling for nationalists to play a part in imprisoning anti-GFA republicans with public calls to inform to a British police force and put republicans through a British judicial system using repressive 'anti-terrorist' laws which Provisional Sinn Fein once had opposed for so long.

The IRSP delegated pointed out that we were a small organisation who have been greatly weakened through decades of conflict with many in our leadership having been assassinated with many attempts to crush us completely. Republicanism has been greatly fractured. But the IRSP were sure of our politics , our revolutionary commitment and our desire to establish socialism in all Ireland

Speech in Catalonia by Willie Gallagher IRSP

“It is an honour to be here today to give you all the analysis of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement in relation to what is generally known as the Irish Peace Process.

The year 2008 will mark ten years since the Belfast Agreement was signed. This occasion offers the opportunity to examine the reasons advanced for advocating or opposing the Agreement and how well they have stood the test of time.

The parameters of the Belfast Agreement were the logical outcome of the peace process. Gerry Adams claims that the peace process represented a seismic shift in British state policy. He claimed that the British policy towards republicanism had changed from one of repression to one of accommodation. He claimed that the British position was one of inclusion in dialogue and negotiations. What goes unmentioned is that ‘the strategic objective was to include republicans while excluding republicanism’. The price to be paid for the inclusion of republicans in the talks was the exclusion of republicanism. This means dialogue with Republican leaders and organisations but on the basis of an agenda that excludes the political objectives of Republicanism.

Central to the political objectives of Republicanism were that there would be no internal settlement, that the Irish people have a right to self determination and it’s not dependent on the agreement of a majority in the north. The whole peace process may have included Republicans, but from the 1993 Downing Street Declaration to the final 1998 Belfast Agreement, was always based on the British states political alternative to Republicanism since 1972: an internal county solution with cross border bodies grafted on it. The longstanding Republican demands were never serious runners for all party talks, and none of them appeared in the final Belfast Agreement.

The key conditions were later formalized in the Downing Street declaration of 1993 as an end to violence and a commitment to exclusively peaceful and democratic means. Equally important was the British government’s commitment to the consent principle and its refusal to act as a persuader for a United Ireland. When it called the cessation of its campaign in 1994, Republicans were in effect, accepting these parameters for talks. The recent publication of Alastair Campbell’s diaries shows that Blair made it clear to the Provisional leadership that the settlement would not “explicitly commit to a United Ireland” and that “Adams was ok” with such parameters, although Mc Guinness appears to have been more reluctant.

The culmination of this peace process was the signing of the Belfast Agreement on April 10th 1998 and its subsequent endorsement n two referendums on 22nd May 1998. Apologists for the Belfast Agreement argue that it was an act of self determination, freely negotiated and democratically endorsed.

There are three objections to this.

First, it was not ‘freely negotiated’ as it was the British state which determined the parameters of the negotiations restricting them to those of the Downing Street Declaration, the Framework Document and the Mitchell principles. The paramount principle endorsed in those documents, to which all participants in future talks had to pledge their adherence and commitment, is the principle of consent. Therefore all participants to the process were committed to partition before the talks commenced, which was in effect a negation of an expression of self-determination.

Second, the political package on offer was subordinate to the British states approval. The Belfast Agreement had to be accepted and ratified by Westminster before it was presented to the people of Ireland, leaving aside any objections they may have. Irish objections, whether raised or not, are meaningless to the British government under this wholly undemocratic arrangement.

Thirdly, there were two referendums held in two different states for different purposes and different sets of questions. The fact that they were held concurrently did not make them a single event and even less an act of self-determination, with the Six County referendum having the power of veto over that to be held in the Twenty Six Counties. For those three reasons, “the triple lock” as Blair called them; the Agreement was not an exercise in self determination, but instead was a copper-fastening of partition. For those three reasons, the fact that the referendums were carried by a big majority of those who voted in the Six Counties (71%) and an even larger one in the Twenty Six Counties (94.5%) does not refute that there was a democratic deficit in the whole process.

On top of that, the 1998 Belfast Agreement was promoted by the ‘manufacturing consent’ – as Chomsky would have put it – that a ‘No’ vote meant a vote for violence and a ‘Yes’ vote as a vote for peace, manipulating opinion polls and relegating dissenting voices to the margins.

‘Information Strategy’ a British government document outlines the governments strategy for getting the right result through campaign and blatant media manipulation designed to flood Northern Ireland with positive stories about the peace deal.

The logic, dynamic and parameters of the peace process combined to mould a partitionist framework which served to pre-determine a type of outcome republicanism had for long stood rock solid against. The 1998 Belfast Agreement amounts to the following: the British state has repeated its 1973 Sunningdale declaration of intent to remain in the North until a majority in it asks it to do otherwise; the British state has made it clear that the unionist veto shall remain in place and has strengthened the partitionist ethos underlying that veto by having it enshrined in the revised Southern constitution; the British state has ruled out any transition to a United Ireland by refusing to state that by a certain date - no matter how far in the distant future – it will no longer have a presence in Ireland. The principle of consent, no change to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland without the consent of the majority of the people is enshrined. With no end to partition, no British declaration of intent to withdraw, no United Ireland, the outcome of the peace process had no identifiable Republican content. It was a ‘partitionist fudge’.

The Provisional movement claims that the Belfast Agreement does not represent a defeat for Republicanism. Danny Morrison, former Sinn Fein publicity director, claims that the British couldn’t defeat the IRA nor could the IRA defeat the British, so the IRA did not win but had not lost either. That is demonstrably wrong. The political objective of the Provisional IRA was to secure a British declaration of intent to withdraw. It failed. The objective of the British state was to force the Provisional IRA to accept that it would not leave Ireland until a majority in the North consented to such a move. It succeeded.

The Sinn Fein movement claims that the Belfast Agreement does not represent a defeat but an honourable compromise. First is that it was Nationalism and Republicanism that did the main compromising. The bitter pills the peace process has required Republicans to swallow are: “the deletion of Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution (the territorial claim over the North); the return of a Northern Assembly; Sinn Fein abandoning its traditional policy of abstentionism; reliance on British-government-appointed commissions on the equality and human rights issues and on the future of policing; and the implicit recognition of the principle of unionist consent on the constitutional question”

Republicans sit in an assembly they never wanted. The British government never gave a declaration of intent to withdraw. There is still a heavy British army presence in the North. The police have not been reformed. MI5 are entrenched in the North. Unionists won on the big philosophical issue. In return for Unionist concessions on power-sharing and an Irish dimension, Nationalism and Provisional Republicanism explicitly signed up to acknowledging that there can be no end to the union without the consent of the majority in Northern Ireland, and that it is legitimate for consent to be withheld if that is the majority view. The Sinn Fein movement has gone much further than a ‘compromise’, an ‘accommodation’ or a ‘negotiated settlement’. In endorsing the ‘principle of consent’ contained in the Agreement, accepting that Northern Ireland will as of right, remain part of the United Kingdom until such time as a majority within the six counties decides otherwise, Sinn Fein had ditched the idea that lay at the heart of its own tradition and that had provided the justification in political morality for the campaign, indeed the existence of the IRA”

The only significant constitutional shift went in the opposite direction of republican objectives, the British state retained sovereignty in the North and the consent principle was embedded, whereas Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution were deleted. Thanks to the framework of the Belfast Agreement, it is the Dublin government, not the British, which has dropped its claim to jurisdiction, leaving Northern Ireland within the UK. In the words of former British Prime Minister Blair, the settlement
‘is not a slippery slope to a United Ireland. The government will not be persuaders for unity’.

For the DUP, Northern Irelands place within the Union has been strengthened.

“I have not changed my unionism, the union of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, I believe is stronger than ever”

declared Ian Paisley in his inauguration speech as First Minister. The DUP believes that it has safe-guarded Unionist interests through forcing the Provisional movement “to transform and conform” to use the expression of new DUP Leader Peter Robinson.

In positive terms, according to Mitchel Mc Laughlin:

‘There is steady demographic, political, social and economic change, undeniably pointing in one direction, towards support for a United Ireland’. But do these changes really point in that direction? The first argument is that demographics show that the Catholics will soon be in a majority position in the North and will vote for a United Ireland at the earliest opportunity. Partition will supposedly come to an end when Catholics reach the magic figure of 51% of the population in the North. However, the idea that a United Ireland could be brought about by demographic change has been highly disputed and dealt a blow by the most recent census figure, for those reasons senior Irish government sources have stated that they do not expect Northern Ireland’s constitutional position to be raised again for ’30 to 35 years’.

The second argument is that the development of an all-Ireland economy will create a dynamic towards unification and therefore make partition redundant. The argument that the ‘all Ireland economy’ is a stepping stone towards a United Ireland is 100% wrong. Economic exchanges by themselves will not abolish the border no more that the development of the Benelux economy merged the three countries together.

The third argument is that the development of cross-border institutions will generate a political dynamic towards unification. Cross-border bodies – cannot and will not lead to re-unification and an end to British rule. In his address on 30th September 2000, Martin Mansergh, Northern Advisor to three successive heads of 26 counties administrations stated that
‘there is no evidence, let alone inevitability, from international experience, that limited cross-border co-operation necessarily leads to political unification’. Such bodies have existed for decades and have not brought a United Ireland any closer.

The Belfast Agreement is non-transitional and that Sinn Fein strategy is no logger designed toward destabilising the northern state which would possess the potential to create transitional structures.

Clearly, by its own admission, it is no longer Sinn Fein’s intention to destabilise the Northern State , as one senior figure pointed out,

“we are prepared to administer British rule in Ireland for the foreseeable future”

Consequently all the central tenets of both traditional republicanism and Provisional republicanism have been jettisoned. In making the Belfast and St Andrews Agreements work now, Sinn Fein are working the same basic institutions and arrangements that they worked to undermine more than 30 years ago and refused to accept until recently. They are also accepting that the SDLP’s policy, analysis and approach throughout the years were correct.
“It should be clear that what they are doing is implementing the policies which have been consistently pursued by the SDLP. The Good Friday Agreement, again heavily negotiated by the SDLP is identical to Sunningdale” in 1974. This raises the question of whether Sinn Fein can justify the IRA campaign, between its rejection of the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973 and the Belfast Agreement of 1998, objectively speaking, very little progress towards Republican objectives if the provisions of Sunningdale and the power-sharing executive ad the provisions of the Belfast Agreement are compared.

If Republicans were right to reject Sunningdale, there logically is little justification for them to accept the terms of the Belfast and St Andrews Agreements. As Bernadette Sands-Mc Kevitt said about her brother’ “Bobby did not die for cross-order bodies with executive powers. He did not die for nationalists to be equal to British citizens within the Northern Ireland state”.

Opponents of the peace process like her have been vilified. However, opponents are neither ‘dissidents’ as they do not dissent from the core principles of Republicanism, nor war-mongers as they are often portrayed. They are not against peace, but against the process. They are for peace, but not peace at any price; and for all the reasons discussed above, the current process cannot deliver peace and justice.

The essence of the Agreement is that when the Provisional movement openly supports the policing and court systems, the DUP will share power with them, with a DUP First Minister and a Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister in devolved government. According to a DUP document the St Andrews Agreement makes fundamental changes to the Belfast Agreement and offers from a Unionist perspective ‘undoubtedly a better package’ compared to the 1998 Agreement. It secures:

Unionists setting the political agenda

DUP veto over all major decisions

DUP veto over cross border relations

Republicans jumping first

Republican support for the police, the courts and the rule of British Law

No Sin Fein policing and justice minister

For the provisional leadership the most contentious issue in the St Andrews Agreement was the pledge to support the PSNI, MI5 and the court system. It has caused untold heartache amongst the republican community. Futhermore, the leadership of Provisional Sinn Fein have openly called on the republican community to inform on anti-GFA republicans, arrest them using anti-terrorist legislation, to put them through the Diplock courts and create more political prisoners.

They expect us and the community to support these anti-republican declarations. The transfer of ‘counter terrorist’ intelligence from the police to MI5 means at present that any justice minister would have no effective control over counter terrorist operations in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein is colluding with the British state to hide the fact MI5 has been given an expanded role in the North to take supreme control of all counter terrorist intelligence with virtually no accountability or outside control.
According to Ian Paisley;

‘Monday 26th March 2007 was a day of great victory for the unionist people of Northern Ireland. That was the day republicanism accepted the strength of unionism; that was the day that Irish republicanism adhered to our demands. That was the day that unionism secured its future’. Paisley says that the DUP made Sinn Fein realise

‘it was the end for republicanism’ Gerry Adams will sit in our Assembly – a British institution of the British state. He will take an oath pledging to support the police, the rule of law and British Justice… The IRA has finally been shunned from the politics of this province. The DUP will ensure that it ever returns” He concluded by saying that the DUP is in control: ‘Unionist are writing the agenda, we are dictating the pace of change and we are controlling the conditions for government’ This is because Unionists will have an effective veto on all Sin Fein policies, unionists will have the ultimate veto.

The Achilles heel of the current settlement is ‘creative ambiguity’ has been central to the peace process. George Orwell would have appreciated the way ‘an “agreed Ireland” ‘turned out to mean the very opposite of a ‘United Ireland’, while ‘power-sharing’ came to denote ‘separate spheres’, not reconciliation”.
Or as Bernadette Devlin Mc Aliskey puts it more bluntly, peace has been bought by “perjury, fraud, corruption, cheating and lying”. That is probably one of the reasons why Professor Paul Bew asks whether the St Andrews Agreement and restoration of devolution are a “model for world peace or Hitler-Stalin Pact Ulster style”. Despite all the hype about the St Andrews Agreement and power-sharing there remains a split in its interpretation by the two communities which is fundamental enough to bring it down. For Nationalist and Sinn Fein, it is supposed to be a transition to a United Ireland. For Unionists, it is supposed to secure the six counties’ place within the UK and give them the ‘ultimate veto’. Both cannot be right at the same time and therefore the process is likely to generate further instability. This fundamental flaw should create the space for a political alternative to develop.

Republicanism, Irish and Iranian

Listen to "The Foggy Dew," sung by The Wolfe Tones , in commemoration of the Easter Rising (24 April 1916). The song's lyrics contrasts Irishmen who served on the British side in the Battle of Gallipoli with Irish republicans who fought against the British Empire:
Right proudly high over Dublin Town
they flung out the flag of war
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky
than at Suvla or Sud-El-Bar . . .
'Twas England bade our wild geese go,
that "small nations might be free";
But their lonely graves are by Suvla's waves
or the fringe of the great North Sea.
Oh, had they died by Pearse's side
or fought with Cathal Brugha
Their graves we'd keep where the Fenians sleep,
'neath the shroud of the foggy dew.

An Irish friend of mine in Belfast, James Daly , told me: "By the way, the Iranians sent a plaque to the family of my friend Patsy O'Hara commemorating his hunger strike to the death."

Intrigued, I looked up more signs of Iranian identification with Irish republicanism. Here's the most eloquent: Iranian revolutionaries renamed "Churchill Street" -- the street behind the British Embassy -- "Bobby Sands Street" (Pedram Moallemian, "Naming Bobby Sands Street," The Blanket, 24 February 2004). Despite the British government's pressures on the Iranians to change the name again, the street remains dedicated to the memory of the Irish revolutionary.
Neither in Iran nor in Ireland have the highest revolutionary goals been achieved yet. But the flames of republicanism are still alive in the finest of their men and women. Tiocfaidh ár lá. Our day will come.
(FROM YOSIE BLOG http://montages.blogspot.com/

Union news

BRITISH TELECOM DISCRIMINATES AGAINST IRISH STAFF

“We've been asked by the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) in Ireland to help wage a global online campaign targetting British Telecom (BT). It turns out that BT is happy to recognize unions in Northern Ireland, but will not do so in the Republic. In fact, BT is refusing to even talk to CWU officials. Enough is enough -- companies cannot play the game of respecting workers' rights where they have to, but ignoring them where they don't. Please take a moment to send a strong message of protest to BT:”

http://www.labourstart.org/btireland

Fact file

According to an article in the 13/04/2008 edition of the Sunday Business Post (Jonathan O Brien, The Truth Behind The Agreement), 61 per cent of all crimes in the North in 2005 were sectarian in nature.
This is ENORMOUS, especially if compared with crime in the US or Britain or France - you wouldn't have 61 per cent of all crime racist in nature!

USA 2008: The Great Depression
Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive – a sure sign the world's richest country faces economic crisis

From the Media
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley04212008.html

April 21, 2008
30 Years Ago Haiti Grew All the Rice It Needed. What Happened?
The U.S. Role in Haiti's Food Riots
By BILL QUIGLEY

Riots in Haiti over explosive rises in food costs have claimed the lives of six people. There have also been food riots world-wide in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivorie, Egypt, Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

The Economist, which calls the current crisis the silent tsunami, reports that last year wheat prices rose 77% and rice 16%, but since January rice prices have risen 141%. The reasons include rising fuel costs, weather problems, increased demand in China and India, as well as the push to create biofuels from cereal crops.

Hermite Joseph, a mother working in the markets of Port au Prince, told journalist Nick Whalen that her two kids are
"like toothpicks"they' re not getting enough nourishment. Before, if you had a dollar twenty-five cents, you could buy vegetables, some rice, 10 cents of charcoal and a little cooking oil. Right now, a little can of rice alone costs 65 cents, and is not good rice at all. Oil is 25 cents. Charcoal is 25 cents. With a dollar twenty-five, you can't even make a plate of rice for one child."

The St. Claire's Church Food program, in the Tiplas Kazo neighborhood of Port au Prince, serves 1000 free meals a day, almost all to hungry children -- five times a week in partnership with the What If Foundation. Children from Cite Soleil have been known to walk the five miles to the church for a meal. The cost of rice, beans, vegetables, a little meat, spices, cooking oil, propane for the stoves, have gone up dramatically. Because of the rise in the cost of food, the portions are now smaller. But hunger is on the rise and more and more children come for the free meal. Hungry adults used to be allowed to eat the leftovers once all the children were fed, but now there are few leftovers.

The New York Times lectured Haiti on April 18 that
"Haiti, its agriculture industry in shambles, needs to better feed itself." Unfortunately, the article did not talk at all about one of the main causes of the shortages -- the fact that the U.S. and other international financial bodies destroyed Haitian rice farmers to create a major market for the heavily subsidized rice from U.S. farmers. This is not the only cause of hunger in Haiti and other poor countries, but it is a major force.

Thirty years ago, Haiti raised nearly all the rice it needed. What happened?

In 1986, after the expulsion of Haitian dictator Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loaned Haiti $24.6 million in desperately needed funds (Baby Doc had raided the treasury on the way out). But, in order to get the IMF loan, Haiti was required to reduce tariff protections for their Haitian rice and other agricultural products and some industries to open up the country's markets to competition from outside countries. The U.S. has by far the largest voice in decisions of the IMF.

Doctor Paul Farmer was in Haiti then and saw what happened. "Within less than two years, it became impossible for Haitian farmers to compete with what they called 'Miami rice.' The whole local rice market in Haiti fell apart as cheap, U.S. subsidized rice, some of it in the form of 'food aid,' flooded the market. There was violence, 'rice wars,' and lives were lost."

"American rice invaded the country,"recalled Charles Suffrard, a leading rice grower in Haiti in an interview with the Washington Post in 2000. By 1987 and 1988, there was so much rice coming into the country that many stopped working the land.

Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste, a Haitian priest who has been the pastor at St. Claire and an outspoken human rights advocate, agrees. "In the 1980s, imported rice poured into Haiti, below the cost of what our farmers could produce it. Farmers lost their businesses. People from the countryside started losing their jobs and moving to the cities. After a few years of cheap imported rice, local production went way down."

Still the international business community was not satisfied. In 1994, as a condition for U.S. assistance in returning to Haiti to resume his elected Presidency, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced by the U.S., the IMF, and the World Bank to open up the markets in Haiti even more.

But, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, what reason could the U.S. have in destroying the rice market of this tiny country?

Haiti is definitely poor. The U.S. Agency for International Development reports the annual per capita income is less than $400. The United Nations reports life expectancy in Haiti is 59, while in the US it is 78. Over 78% of Haitians live on less than $2 a day, more than half live on less than $1 a day.

Yet Haiti has become one of the very top importers of rice from the U.S. The U.S. Department of Agriculture 2008 numbers show Haiti is the third largest importer of US rice - at over 240,000 metric tons of rice. (One metric ton is 2200 pounds).

Rice is a heavily subsidized business in the U.S. Rice subsidies in the U.S. totalled $11 billion from 1995 to 2006. One producer alone,Riceland Foods Inc of Stuttgart Arkansas, received over $500 million dollars in rice subsidies between 1995 and 2006.

The Cato Institute recently reported that rice is one of the most heavily supported commodities in the U.S. -- with three different subsidies together averaging over $1 billion a year since 1998 and projected to average over $700 million a year through 2015. The result? "Tens of millions of rice farmers in poor countries find it hard to lift their families out of poverty because of the lower, more volatile prices caused by the interventionist policies of other countries."

In addition to three different subsidies for rice farmers in the U.S., there are also direct tariff barriers of 3 to 24 percent, reports Daniel Griswold of the Cato Institute -- the exact same type of protections, though much higher, that the U.S. and the IMF required Haiti to eliminate in the 1980s and 1990s.

U.S. protection for rice farmers goes even further. A 2006 story in the Washington Post found that the federal government has paid at least $1.3 billion in subsidies for rice and other crops since 2000 to individuals who do no farming at all; including $490,000 to a Houston surgeon who owned land near Houston that once grew rice.

And it is not only the Haitian rice farmers who have been hurt.

Paul Farmer saw it happen to the sugar growers as well. "Haiti, once the world's largest exporter of sugar and other tropical produce to Europe, began importing even sugar-- from U.S. controlled sugar production in the Dominican Republic and Florida. It was terrible to see Haitian farmers put out of work. All this sped up the downward spiral that led to this month's food riots."

After the riots and protests, President Rene Preval of Haiti agreed to reduce the price of rice, which was selling for $51 for a 110 pound bag, to $43 dollars for the next month. No one thinks a one month fix will do anything but delay the severe hunger pains a few weeks.

Haiti is far from alone in this crisis. The Economist reports a billion people worldwide live on $1 a day. The US-backed Voice of America reports about 850 million people were suffering from hunger worldwide before the latest round of price increases.

Thirty three countries are at risk of social upheaval because of rising food prices, World Bank President Robert Zoellick told the Wall Street Journal. When countries have many people who spend half to three-quarters of their daily income on food, "there is no margin of survival."

In the U.S., people are feeling the world-wide problems at the gas pump and in the grocery. Middle class people may cut back on extra trips or on high price cuts of meat. The number of people on food stamps in the US is at an all-time high. But in poor countries, where malnutrition and hunger were widespread before the rise in prices, there is nothing to cut back on except eating. That leads to hunger riots.
In the short term, the world community is sending bags of rice to Haiti. Venezuela sent 350 tons of food. The US just pledged $200 million extra for worldwide hunger relief. The UN is committed to distributing more food.

What can be done in the medium term? The US provides much of the world's food aid, but does it in such a way that only half of the dollars spent actually reach hungry people. US law requires that food aid be purchased from US farmers, processed and bagged in the US and shipped on US vessels -- which cost 50% of the money allocated. A simple change in US law to allow some local purchase of commodities would feed many more people and support local farm markets.

In the long run, what is to be done? The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who visited Haiti last week, said "Rich countries need to reduce farms subsidies and trade barriers to allow poor countries to generate income with food exports. Either the world solves the unfair trade system, or every time there's unrest like in Haiti, we adopt emergency measures and send a little bit of food to temporarily ease hunger."

Citizens of the USA know very little about the role of their government in helping create the hunger problems in Haiti or other countries. But there is much that individuals can do. People can donate to help feed individual hungry people and participate with advocacy organizations like Bread for the World or Oxfam to help change the U.S. and global rules which favor the rich countries. This advocacy can help countries have a better chance to feed themselves.

Meanwhile, Merisma Jean-Claudel, a young high school graduate in Port-au-Prince told journalist Wadner Pierre
"...people can't buy food. Gasoline prices are going up. It is very hard for us over here. The cost of living is the biggest worry for us, no peace in stomach means no peace in the mindâ€?I wonder if others will be able to survive the days ahead because things are very, very hard."

"On the ground, people are very hungry,"reported Fr. Jean-Juste. "Our country must immediately open emergency canteens to feed the hungry until we can get them jobs. For the long run, we need to invest in irrigation, transportation, and other assistance for our farmers and workers."

In Port au Prince, some rice arrived in the last few days. A school in Fr. Jean-Juste's parish received several bags of rice. They had raw rice for 1000 children, but the principal still had to come to Father Jean-Juste asking for help. There was no money for charcoal, or oil.

Jervais Rodman, an unemployed carpenter with three children, stood in a long line Saturday in Port au Prince to get UN donated rice and beans. When Rodman got the small bags, he told Ben Fox of the Associated Press, "The beans might last four days. The rice will be gone as soon as I get home."

Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com
People interested in donating to feed children in Haiti should go to http://www.whatiffoundation.org/ People who want to help change U.S. policy on agriculture to help combat world-wide hunger should go to:
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/ or http://www.bread.org/

Disadvantaged Americans queue for aid in New York

We knew things were bad on Wall Street, but on Main Street it may be worse. Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families.
Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s.
The increase – from 26.5 million in 2007 – is due partly to recent efforts to increase public awareness of the programme and also a switch from paper coupons to electronic debit cards. But above all it is the pressures being exerted on ordinary Americans by an economy that is suddenly beset by troubles. Housing foreclosures, accelerating jobs losses and fast-rising prices all add to the squeeze.
Emblematic of the downturn until now has been the parades of houses seized in foreclosure all across the country, and myriad families separated from their homes. But now the crisis is starting to hit the country in its gut. Getting food on the table is a challenge many Americans are finding harder to meet. As a barometer of the country's economic health, food stamp usage may not be perfect, but can certainly tell a story.
Michigan has been in its own mini-recession for years as its collapsing industrial base, particularly in the car industry, has cast more and more out of work. Now, one in eight residents of the state is on food stamps, double the level in 2000.
"We have seen a dramatic increase in recent years, but we have also seen it climbing more in recent months," Maureen Sorbet, a spokeswoman for Michigan's programme, said. "It's been increasing steadily. Without the programme, some families and kids would be going without."
But the trend is not restricted to the rust-belt regions. Forty states are reporting increases in applications for the stamps, actually electronic cards that are filled automatically once a month by the government and are swiped by shoppers at the till, in the 12 months from December 2006. At least six states, including Florida, Arizona and Maryland, have had a 10 per cent increase in the past year.
In Rhode Island, the segment of the population on food stamps has risen by 18 per cent in two years. The food programme started 40 years ago when hunger was still a daily fact of life for many Americans. The recent switch from paper coupons to the plastic card system has helped remove some of the stigma associated with the food stamp programme. The card can be swiped as easily as a bank debit card. To qualify for the cards, Americans do not have to be exactly on the breadline. The programme is available to people whose earnings are just above the official poverty line.
For Hubert Liepnieks, the card is a lifeline he could never afford to lose. Just out of prison, he sleeps in overnight shelters in Manhattan and uses the card at a Morgan Williams supermarket on East 23rd Street. Yesterday, he and his fiancée, Christine Schultz, who is in a wheelchair, shared one banana and a cup of coffee bought with the 82 cents left on it.
"They should be refilling it in the next three or four days," Liepnieks says. At times, he admits, he and friends bargain with owners of the smaller grocery shops to trade the value of their cards for cash, although it is illegal. "It can be done. I get $7 back on $10."
Richard Enright, the manager at this Morgan Williams, says the numbers of customers on food stamps has been steady but he expects that to rise soon. "In this location, it's still mostly old people and people who have retired from city jobs on stamps," he says. Food stamp money was designed to supplement what people could buy rather than covering all the costs of a family's groceries. But the problem now, Mr Enright says, is that soaring prices are squeezing the value of the benefits.
"Last St Patrick's Day, we were selling Irish soda bread for $1.99. This year it was $2.99. Prices are just spiralling up, because of the cost of gas trucking the food into the city and because of commodity prices. People complain, but I tell them it's not my fault everything is more expensive."
The US Department of Agriculture says the cost of feeding a low-income family of four has risen 6 per cent in 12 months. "The amount of food stamps per household hasn't gone up with the food costs," says Dayna Ballantyne, who runs a food bank in Des Moines, Iowa. "Our clients are finding they aren't able to purchase food like they used to."
(By David Usborne in New York Tuesday, 1 April 2008)

The border — economic asset for North and South

Even in a recession the potential for cross border co-operation is stunning and will be the big story of the next couple of years.
Expect to hear more about the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor linking the 1 million people in Greater Dublin with the 700,000 in the Belfast travel-to-work area as well as lifting the economic fortunes of centres like Dundalk, Drogheda, Newry, Lisburn and Banbridge.
The surprising thing is that much of this economic potential is fuelled by political partition.
Politicians are discovering what smugglers always knew, the border, with its differential tax and grant regimes, can be used like a natural resource for mutual enrichment. Its potential has been unlocked by the removal of the threat that political unity could be pushed through without consent.
In a past so remote that it is hard to credit it was the same man and not some distant ancestor, someone called Ian Paisley once campaigned for a boycott of Irish goods and currency under the slogan “we don’t want your Mickey Mouse Money.” It may also have been some earlier Peter Robinson who posed with an automatic rifle and called for a fence along the “frontier” with the republic.
That was a world away when increased cross border investment was announced at Stormont on Tuesday. “For a number of months now Brian and I have had meetings, correspondence and our officials working together to arrive at this position ... we want to ensure that there is the highest level of co-operation to the advantage of both our peoples.”
There are good reasons for the change of tone. When Robinson wanted a border wall, the IRA were using the republic as a base for attacks, extradition for terrorist offences was nonexistent, and security co-operation was poor compared to today. Articles Two and Three of the Irish Constitution, claiming jurisdiction over Northern Ireland, made cross border co-operation look like a Trojan Horse and gave the whole idea a threatening character for unionists.
The articles were removed as part of the Good Friday Agreement which, far from lying in a Sadducee’s Grave, continues to shape the political architecture of the island. A visit by the Queen to Dublin would have been impossible with the territorial claim in place. Its removal has also silenced any doubts about Dublin’s attitude to physical force nationalism. The links between the two parts of the island are now a practical matter to be decided democratically.
The other big change, which calls for closer co-operation, is the economic and social transformation of the republic. Then unionists looked down on it as a backwater where pothole candidates won Dáil seats and the Catholic Church dictated the social agenda. Now it’s the north which has the potholes, while the south appears a prosperous, progressive sort of place whose success Ulster wants to emulate and share.
Northern Ireland still relies on an economic subvention from Britain which would cripple the republic, with its smaller tax base, if there was unity in the morning.
The rationale for much of the southern investment in the north would also disappear. Aer Lingus, for instance, chose Belfast over Shannon partly because they could offer differential wages and benefits in the north. As an Irish company it can also use transfer pricing to avail of higher levels of grants here while realising many of its profits in Dublin where corporation tax is 12% instead of the 30% paid in the UK.
The decision by Cowen to allow Dublin based companies to establish subsidiaries in Belfast follows proposals by the Bank of Ireland to move its hedge fund operations here. Both are based on the advantageous fiscal relationship as well as our ready supply of graduates. They can do the work in the north, with its lower overheads and better incentives, while paying much of their corporation tax in the south.
That gives us an edge not enjoyed by Cork, Galway, Limerick or even London. There, JP Morgan, the US bank, predicts that 40,000 workers in the City will lose their jobs as a result of the credit crunch. Let’s hope that Cowen and Robinson are right and the new arrangement is allowed by the EU.
In Northern Ireland we have a unique economic niche in difficult times. This unique selling point is a border with a friendly neighbour on the other side of it.

(by Liam Clarke, News Letter 17 April 2008)

What’s On

Talk with former Guantánamo detainee Murat Kurnaz Limerick, Sat May 10th, 8pm

Talk with Murat Kurnaz, who was held in Guantánamo Bay detention facility for almost five years, will visit Limerick next week following the publication of his book, Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantánamo. Murat Kurnaz spent almost five years as a prisoner in the so-called 'war on terror' first in Kandahar in Afghanistan and then for over four and a half years in Guantánamo Bay before being released.

Quaker Meeting House, Southville, Gardens, Ballinacurra, Limerick, Sat May 10th, 8pm. (see attached map of Limerick for directions)

Regular monthly vigil at Shannon airport Sun 11th May, 5pm.

A vigil is held every month at Shannon airport on the 2nd Sunday of the month. Former Guantanamo detainee Murat Kurnaz will attend this month's vigil.

Further information on these three events are included in the attached documents and on Indymedia event notices.

All events are in association with Amnesty International.

Contacts:

Edward Horgan (edward.horgan@ul.ie) for further information on the Ban Cluster Bombs event.

John Lannon (john.lannon@ul.ie, 087 8225087) for further information on the events involving Murat Kurnaz.

Friends,
As you may know, this year marks the 60th Anniversary of the Nakba (the catastrophe), whereby the indigenous population of Palestine was driven from their lands, through a mixture of murder, massacre and mayhem.
This was done to facilitate the foundation of the State of Israel, a Zionist state, which was illegally declared on May 14, 1948.

By this time, some 750,000 Palestinians had been ethnically cleansed from historic Palestine, some 531 villages, towns and cities had been depopulated and destroyed, and even today, some 6 million Palestinian refugees are prevented from returning to their homes, by Israel, in breach of United Nations Resolution 194.
This refusal bears heavily upon the Palestinian people, many of whom still have the keys to their homes and the deeds for their lands.
If justice is to be served, if right is to be seen to be done, then the Palestinian refugees must be accorded their RIGHT of return.

To this end, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is holding a national demonstration in Belfast on Saturday 17 May, assembling at the Arts College (York Street) at 1:30pm and marching to Belfast City Hall for speeches and a rally.

As a long and loyal supporter of Palestinian rights, we would urge the Irish Republican Socialist Movement to join with us on this seminal day. We would call on you to bring you banners, placards, flags, members, friends and supporters to the march for justice in Palestine.

It would help us immensely if you could reply to this email indicating whether or not you intend joining us on the day.
Should you require any additional information please do not hesitate to contact us through email, or by calling me personally on 07708941904.
I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at the assembly point.

In solidarity,

John McCusker

Chair Belfast Branch

IPSC

There is a great need for solidarity to be shown to the Raytheon 9 whose trial is due o take place in Belfast mid-May. If you can keep in tune with activities via their website they would appreciate it very much.
1. Raytheon 9 Trial Set to Kick Off in Belfast May 19th.
www.raytheon9.org
Please send messages of solidarity and/or show other forms of solidarity for this important trial.

Iraq war updates:
This blog is one of the best in terms of analysis of what is currently happening in Iraq
http://www.juancole.com/

Chekhov's article 'Libertas: US Military Contractors Against Lisbon!' is interesting pre-June12th Lisbon Treaty referendum reading:
www.indymedia.ie/article/87311

6. Grassroots Gathering June bank holiday weekend 2008
Pencil this into your diary as it will be a great opportunity to catch up with other activists, co-ordinate/initiate activities and have some down-time to keep your engines running.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86105

The Plough Vol 05 No 05

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:28:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site http://www.theplough.netfirms.com/
Vol 5-No 5
Monday 28th April 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) 10 years on From the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement

2) The Incompatibility of Green and Orange

3) An analysis of the RIRA's attacks on the PSNI

10 years on From the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement

April 2008 was the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. In 1998 the Irish Republican Socialist Party opposed that Agreement mainly on the basis that it institutionalised sectarianism in the political institutions of the North.

“After thirty years of conflict, civil rights agitation and death destruction and mayhem the end result is that we have now got a more sophisticated head counting exercise. There is now no incentive for people to move away from entrenched sectarian positions”(Political Secretary’s Report to Ard-Feis 1998)

We also pointed out that the issue of sovereignty was so ringed around with pre-conditions and confusions that unionists and nationalists could interpret the issue of sovereignty in the agreement to suit their own political stance. We pointed out clearly that

"Northern Ireland in its entirety remains part of the United Kingdom"
(Article one of Annnex A of the agreement)

We queried whether the so- called equality agenda would in fact be implemented given that

“the deputy leader of the Unionists said that nationalists could not expect equal rights to unionist because unionists were the majority.”(Political Secretary’s Report to Ard-Feis 1998)

10 years there is still no bill of rights, no Irish Language Act, and the DUP resisting anything that smacks of a nationalist agenda.
We also pointed out that
“The cross border bodies are not moves towards unity. They are simply pragmatic responses towards the need for capitalist economic efficiency within the context of the European Union. (see below-from the media The border — economic asset for North and South) Does any one here think that improved co-operation on issues such as
’animal and plant health.. teachers qualifications and exchanges, waste management social security fraud control, aqua culture accident and emergency services’ (GFA)
was what the last thirty years was all about.?” (ibid)

We also did not believe that the RUC would be abolished or essentially reformed. We were wrong there. The RUC became the PSNI and many young catholics are now joining the PSNI with the strong encouragement of provisional Sinn Fein.

At that time we tried to tell the strong republican base that existed in
1998, that in essence the GFA was a defeat for republicanism and that rather than try to work the new institutions by jointly running the north with unionists, (in effect administering British rule,) republicans should form a legitimate opposition within the new assembly and oppose from both a republican and socialist positions the right wing policies being implemented under British direction whilst upholding the republican base positions.

Unfortunately few were prepared to listen to us. They were prepared to put their trust in the ‘republican leadership’. In the intervening 10 years many who once scorned our arguments have since come to realise that they were fooled by that same republican leadership and that our initial position was correct. There have been at least two splits from Provisional Sinn Fein since then and a fracturing of republicanism.

Clearly from a Republican perspective the republican position has suffered a serious defeat. MI5 now have a strong physical presence in North Down, British regiments are still stationed in the North of Ireland at the level they were in 1968, a regime still operates from Stormont administrating British rule and also implementing economic policies dictated by the British Treasury. Former armed combatants it is true are now involved in running that Administration and that has gripped the imagination of those with only a superficial analysis of politics. But the question has to be asked in whose interests are they administering British rule?

Supporters of the Good Friday Agreement especially from those who once took up arms against British rule point out the gains they claim made since the GFA. They point out that it covers a wide range of areas from
“constitutional issues, political matters, institutional arrangements, human rights, equality, policing, justice, language and culture issues.” (Gerry Adams Irish Times April 2nd 2008)

and that progress has been made on these fronts.
Yes. There have been changes. Now we have a vibrant catholic/ nationalist middle class now on an equal basis with protestant/unionist middle classes. In Adams own words there is now a “level playing field” (ibid)
The mantra of “equality” is rarely away from the lips of Provisional Sinn Fein leaders. But what kind of equality? Is it equality for the middle classes? Is it the equality of poverty? Is it economic equality?

In the early days of the Civil Rights movement those of us on the left pointed out that one of the consequences of calling for equal rights on issues such as housing and jobs, under the current economic system would be to create less job and housing opportunities for protestants thus further feeding sectarianism within those thus disadvantaged.
Equality under capitalism meant taking from one group and giving to the other. That simply facilitated the old Imperialist tactic of divide and rule.

The Unionist Aristocracy and bourgeoisies in collaboration with sections of the British ruling class argued forcefully against Home Rule at the turn of the 20th century on the grounds of religion, the economy, the interests of the British Empire, strategic military grounds and racism.

Through the Ulster Unionist Council they created an all class alliance that linked the protestant proletariat to their industrial masters. Despite the fact that the unionist bourgeoisie was extracting as much surplus value from the protestant proletariat as they could possibly exploit, the protestant masses identified with their exploiters and with the reactionary British Empire fearing a loss of, in many cases, imaginary privileges they had, compared to the catholic masses. The trade union movement was divided. As early as 1843 skilled workers in the iron shipyard formed a trade union called the “Belfast Protestant Operatives Society” to keep out Catholics from the shipyard.
(page 27”Yes We have No Banannas” Paddy Devlin Blackstaff press1981)
When the first Northern Government was set up in 1921 the first Cabinet looked
“ -like an executive committee of Northern industry and commerce”
(page 68” Northern Ireland ; the Orange State” Michael Farrell Pluto Press 1990)

But it also included two working class members off the Unionist labour Association in minor positions to keep the protestant proletariat on board. Protestant workers who either opposed partition or preached socialism were described as “rotten prods” and driven out of their workplaces.
Thus was created an enormous block to Irish independence, a block it must be said, greatly underestimated and misunderstood by republicanism

As the 20th century progressed many Protestant workers formerly ‘privileged’ by easy access to jobs in heavy industry, found their sector in decline. Resentment, hatred, bitterness based on years of indoctrination about the privileges of being British made many easy prey to bigotry and sectarianism. It took courage to stand up to sectarian hatred and there were many trade unionists workers and socialists who did so.

James Connolly, Ireland’s outstanding Marxist writer in the early part of the 20th century had argued strongly against partition on the grounds that it would create a reactionary bulwark against socialism. And so it has proved.

The Good Friday Agreement, far from being but a stage on the road to a united Ireland that Provisional Sinn Fein adherents argue, has in fact re-enforced the sectarian nature of the 6-county state by pushing its inhabitants into being either “unionist” “nationalist” or “other” for the purposes of forming an administration . There is now no incentive for main-stream political parties to reach across the divide.

Instead we now have political parties based on communal interests. It is in the political interests of the mainstream political parties to maximise their votes within the protestant or catholic sections of the population. So it is in the direct interests of PSF, SDLP, DUP, and UUP to maximise the turn out from their “side of the house”. Now as the administration is a coalition there is absolutely no chance of radical measures, never mind socialist measures, being introduced. After all the budget is allocated from Westminster and must be allocated in accordance with the wishes of the Westminster Government which means implementing neo -liberal economic policies.

So when Gerry Adams of Provisional Sinn Fein argues that,

“The fierce opposition from within unionism and the British system to the Belfast Agreement has stemmed from the recognition that the agreement is a powerful instrument for change.” (Gerry Adams Irish Times April 2nd 2008)

he is being less than honest. The Agreement is an instrument of British policy. It has stabilised the Northern state. And did not the most formidable opponent of change and of opposition to nationalism and Catholicism, Ian Paisley point out that Adams had revised every republican position he ever had and that PSF were now administrating British rule?

‘I did smash them [the Provos] because I took away their main plank. Their main plank was that they would not recognise the British government [in Ireland].
“ ‘Now they are in part of the British government. They can’t be true Republicans when they now accept the right of Britain to govern this country and take part in that government.’
(Interviewed on BBC radio One “Andrew Marr Show” on March 9 2008)

When Paisley agreed to share limited power with Provisional Sinn Fein he knew that the Union was safe.

The IRSP has advanced the argument that in the current climate there is no basis for republicans engaging in armed struggle. There is little or no popular support, organisations are well infiltrated with people hostile to the national struggle and the prospects of any successful conclusion to an armed campaign practically nil. A military strategy is an elitist strategy at this time.

Republicans need to take a different direction and we have argued consistently that that direction is the class struggle. Needless to say the mere mention of class struggle has the politically sectarian jumping up and down frantically shouting ‘economists, “reformists” “anti republicans” and whatever suitable insult they can think up without having to make up a suitable sensible argument. Worst of all in their eyes are those who put forward clear arguments based on a socialist understanding of modern Irish society. They are accused of being trendy middle class intellectuals living in theoretical ivory towers.

Such anti-intellectualism has no place in a revolutionary organisation. It is almost impossible to think of one revolutionary leader from the 20th century who was not also simultaneously a writer and thinker; Lenin, Trotsky, Gramsci, James Connolly, Liam Mellows, Mao tse Tung, Stalin Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara. Also in the IRSP itself two of our outstanding leaders Gino Gallagher and Ta Power were critical writers. One has only to read through their prison exercise books to see the depth of their intellectual thinking. All of the above were thinkers, writers and doers, basing themselves on the class struggle.

The IRSP has argued from its inception that without national liberation there can be no socialism and without socialism there can be no national liberation. So in deepening and developing the class struggle we are in actual fact deepening and developing the struggle for national liberation.

Too many republicans, influenced by the immediacy of armed struggle think there is a quick solution to political problems whether it is the issue of anti-social behaviour, (kneecap the hoods or more direct community work) or the issue of partition (one more heave). Too often one can hear republicans referring to “my community” when making arguments about lack of resources, interface violence or other local issues. What they actually mean by “my community” is a local catholic community where they do some community work. Republicans need to remember some wonderful phrases of Wolfe Tone, a founder of Irish Republicanism,

“To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country--these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissentions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman, in the place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter--these were my means."
"To unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter under the common name of Irishmen in order break the connection with England, the never failing source of all our political evils, that was my aim".
"If the men of property will not support us, they must fall. Our strength shall come from that great and respectable class, the men of no property".

We republican socialists need to remember that it is not “our community” we owe allegiance to but to our class as stated by the leading founder of the IRSP Seamus Costello.

”I owe my allegiance to the working class”

In an examination of the connection between the role of the state and community action another founder member of the IRSP has written

“-many engaged in community action operate within their perceptions of a civil society and do so in the full knowledge that they subscribe to the hegemonic values of the state. – They become as a consequence an extra-bureaucratic arm of the state”—
(The State and Community Action” Terry Robson- Pluto Press-London 2000.)

The reality is that community politics is no substitute for class politics. Community politics can certainly complement class politics especially when it creates positive links between communities fighting common economic and social problems. Currently there are enough class issues to unite many sections of the working class in Ireland.

The British taxpayer pays out £7 billions per year to subsidise the North its 1.7 million inhabitants. . That is the equivalent of £4000 per head.
Now that stability has been secured future British Governments will want value for money. Having lost heavy industry and seen the failure man-made textiles as a replacement the Northern economy is heavily dependant on the public sector, services and retailing.
Large numbers of people are economically inactive in the North with nearly 40% of the working age population. The education system is socially divisive class based and not fit for purpose. Every year over 1000 pupils leave school without basic qualifications and over 12000 without GCSE passes in Maths and English. For this pool of labour prospects are bleak as there is an expectation that in the British economy over 3Million jobs will be shed in the unskilled sector in the next 10 years or so.

Currently households in the north pay out 40% of that paid out by households in Britain. Gas bills are going up. Electricity bills are going up. Water charges are being introduced. Public sector jobs are being axed and replaced by the private sector. Working class families can now not afford mortgages and the state refuses to increase substantially the supply of social housing to meet current needs. There is a slump in the building trade and energy prices are rising dramatically.
In the South of Ireland the economy has slowed down to a 2%growth rate its lowest growth rate for 20 years and unemployment is expected to rise to 5.5%or 6% this year. House prices are 15% down on their peak in 2006 and as in the North some working class families now find themselves with negative equity. Many now face the prospect of either selling their homes or having them dispossessed and moving into rented accommodation to be at the mercy of landlords.
Currently the strong Euro and weak sterling means that the 70% of small businesses that export to the British market could face difficulties. 60,000 Jobs are dependent on UK trade links.

Capitalism worldwide has suffered its greatest shock since the great depression in the1930’s. That Depression aided the rise to power of fascism with the subsequent world war. What happens in the world economy directly affects workers in both parts of Ireland. Neither of the two administrations can protect the working class from the effects of a recession even if they were so inclined. Administrations that include the right wing PD party in the South and the right wing DUP in the North will have as their first priority defence of capitalism and their cronies in the business world. For all Sinn Fein’s professed “radicalism” they are the party that introduced Public Private Initiatives that essentially is privatising the educational system.

For capitalism, that has been one of the outstanding successes of the Belfast /Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Fein is now working the capitalist system with a gutso and enthusiasm that would turn the stomachs of those who once believed in their left wing posturing. We say to those republicans shed away your illusions and work towards republican aspirations by joining with growing sections of the working class in taking up explicit anti-capitalist stances. There is now an opportunity to rally working class forces in a fight back against the cuts now being imposed. Are republicans prepared to join in that fight?

Gerry Ruddy

The Incompatibility of Green and Orange

I am going to argue that Green and Orange are incompatible, and that the traditional failure of Republican leaderships left and right to recognize this is part of the reason for the present debacle. If anyone says they are united in the local assembly, I would argue that Orange has triumphed over Green, and that what the Green stood for has disappeared. Only Republican socialist leaders such as Connolly and Costello were free of the illusion of their compatibility .James Daly
******************************

The Irish national colour is green. It is the Green of Wolfe Tone and the
United Irishmen. But the Republican flag is Green, White and Orange. Why this contradiction in colours? It reflects Republicanism's contradiction in its attitude to Irish loyalism.

It was Thomas Davis who in 1848 put Orange in the "national colours". The Young Irelanders went to the revolutionary government in France, looking for money and arms. The French government was no longer revolutionary, and was afraid of provoking Queen Victoria. But they told the Republican delegation that as Republicans they must have a tricolour of the national colours. The Young Irelanders said that these were Green and Orange. And so, instead of guns and money, they came back with a silk green, white and orange flag -- with tassels.

Loyalists are a Ku Klux Klan, with membership in the six counties at working-class level but also in the highest ranks of the law, police, civil service, farming and corporations. Until well into the 20th century Orange men (sic) dominated all 32 county Irish social and economic life, including the power of employment. That is why it would seem natural to Davis to name Orange as one of the national colours.

Davis completely romanticised the Orange order. In one of his poems he
Wrote
"Great was the oath the Orangeman swore :... Orange, Orange, Green and Orange, Orange and Green will carry the day".

He meant Republicans and Loyalists united in a national liberation struggle against England! His song was to be sung to the tune of The Protestant Boys (Lillybulero). Thus Davis confused the Irish Protestant patriots who resisted the Act of Union with the bully boys who organised to crush the very movement Davis belonged to.

As well say "NAACP and KKK will carry the day!"

I would argue that part of the reason for the present debacle lies in that
Republican attitude to loyalists, which is reflected in the colours of the
Republican tricolour. By the way, I use the term "loyalists" as it was used during the American war of independence, to refer to pro-imperialists opposed to the national liberation struggle. There are other Irish people who are pro-imperialists opposed to the national liberation struggle, but for our purposes I confine the term to those in the Orange tradition. I am not referring just to so-called paramilitaries, whom I would call death squads, like the Contras, and would compare to the Ku Klux Klan. For me the paramilitaries were the RUC, an official adjunct to the British army.

In the term "loyalists" (loyal to the Imperial Crown etc) I include Unionists including Paisley's voters. Their leaders were already seen in their unity in the UDA's headquarters at Hawthornden House, where all Unionist politicians and paramilitaries met and plotted murder each day. They bore out the words of Basil Brooke at a dinner in Stormont in 1933:

"Some people have told me that we need fascism. We have the Orange order. We have the B-Specials. What need have we of fascism?"

James Connolly saw the socialist struggle as a democratic struggle against imperialism, so when he came across examples, as he did frequently among the Republicans of his day, of the belief in an alliance of green and Orange against the British, his response in his working-class paper The Worker's Republic was "Greater claptrap was never heard" -- and many other furious things expressing righteous indignation and urgency. They can be found in the Cork Workers Club's “Ireland Upon the Dissecting Table”: James Connolly's Writings on Ulster and Partition, a collection of all but censored statements by Connolly, which has itself been all but censored. At that time the loyalists had no second thoughts about being Irish. The song Croppies Lie Down begins "Ye loyal sons of Erin... "

Part of partition's carnival of reaction is their refusal now to recognize themselves as Irish. Some of us acquiesce in accepting the loyalists' claim to be "part of the British working-class".

Hero-worship of Orangemen can be found in many issues of Dublin-produced An Phoblacht around 1975. On the back pages there were large photographs of members of loyalist murder squads, with captions such as "Heirs of the 1798 radical tradition" in wilful denial of the transparent fact that they were heirs of the Orange tradition which was created to destroy the radical tradition.

Loyalists are referred to en masse as our misguided fellow countrymen, as though the most salient point about them was that in their travels they had taken a wrong turning. I have heard senior Republicans affirm forcefully that they would never fight their fellow countrymen, forgetting that they had already fought the official Republicans, and seemed ready to fight anyone who resisted the peace process in arms.

The former Republican Anthony McIntyre called a leader of those paramilitaries who presided over the Holy Cross outrage
"a liberation theologian". That party was invited to meetings in Scotland to contribute to the formation of a socialist movement, which could only happen because they had been placed on a pedestal by Republicans.

The imperialists use the empiricist term "conflict" as a featureless blanket term to hide deeper essential realities, such as oppression and liberation, which produce the symptoms of conflict. Among themselves the imperialists refer to it all as "disturbances" (of their peace).

The media call it sectarian conflict. But religious sectarianism is properly speaking a dispute between rival Protestant sects over which has the road to salvation. Republicans have never seen the struggle as about religious salvation, therefore on their part there was nothing sectarian.
It is the loyalists who see the connection with England as a sectarian goal, as is made clear by the aim of the Orange Order -- the Protestant succession. A gable painting I saw in the 60s said
"The secret of England's greatness is the open Bible".

The Republican goal has for two centuries been liberation from Britain and an independent Irish republic. How has the anti-imperialist struggle degenerated into consensual bargaining about identity politics in the six counties -- with the inevitable outcome, given the power structure, the rule of this part of the UK by Ian Paisley DD (Bob Jones University)? Why is Elizabeth still our Queen and head of our established church? Why is the union Jack our national flag?

Part of the answer is the attitude of the Republicans to the loyalists,
which is a schizoid oscillation -- a wishful-thinking love-in fantasy of fellow-Irish solidarity alternates with realistic fear. These two strands
are expressed in the "Principle of consent", which is outrageously one-sided. It amounts to giving the Unionists whatever they want -- and that happens to be the union. This position is obviously inconsistent with the essential Irish republican attitude to British imperialism. Connolly saw this because he was a socialist -- and anti-imperialist.

Connolly's working-class activist experience and his attitude to the class and national questions left no room for Orangeism. For Connolly, as for
Marx, concern for the Irish working class would inevitably lead to the struggle for national liberation as part of the international struggle against imperialism. He recognized the division of the Irish working class.
I remember a very successful strike of lorry drivers which was broken when loyalists found that the leader was a Sinn Feiner -- he also had to leave his job. The harsh reality of the Protestant community's violent
pro-imperialism may force retreat, but it does not justify dressing up a defeat like that Sinn Feiner's as respect for the Orange tradition -- thus abandoning anti-imperialism.

Connolly said that we must not adhere slavishly to everything Wolfe Tone said. For me, one of Tone's sayings should be reversed. Whereas he said
"My aim was to break the connection with England; my means was to unite Catholic Protestant and Dissenter in the common name of Irishmen",

in this round of the struggle we should have said,

"Our aim is to unite Catholic Protestant and Dissenter in the common name of Irishmen; our means is to break the connection with England". Ends and means should have been reversed.

George Gilmore alleged there was a nine word spoken military order from James Connolly as he turned and moved away from the hearer: "Not a shot to be fired in the North". An argument based on a likely miscommunication is a bit of a flimsy foundation to be the basis of politics in the North for a century after. The alleged order is not in keeping with what Connolly wrote, which should have more authority.

Arguing the commonality of interest between Republicans and Loyalists,
Gilmore quoted the anti-English stance of a farm worker in Portadown (in the murder triangle) who pointed out that his boss had married a
Bloody Englishwoman. I suggest that should be spelled all one word, like damnyankee, which was an American southerner expression for a northerner who didn't understand the necessity of slavery. Perhaps the Portadown boss's English wife didn't understand the necessity of Orangeism.

Loyalists have always had their own politics independent of the British government, and it has always been anti-Catholic and anti-nationalist. It should have been dealt with as such by Republican politicians. Instead, the slightest criticism of loyalists has been attacked from all sides as an example of sectarian bigotry, in the way critics of Israel and Zionism have been viciously attacked as anti-semites by the Zionist Anti Defamation League. Britain has been the only actor which Republicans were allowed to criticise.

Desmond Greaves's long Introduction to Thomas Jackson's Ireland Her Own gives all the arguments for independence and sovereignty, but in the middle suddenly switches to arguing that on the strength of these arguments we see clearly the need to restrict the struggle to one for civil rights in the North. We must delay national liberation until there is democracy in the North, because any other approach would lead to sectarian conflict. Thus we must unite the working-class in the North, and only then seek national liberation.

This approach divided the class and national question, and outlawed the national question, which came to be called at best green Hibernian nationalism, at worst "green fascist spawn of Hitler". (There was of course no orange fascist spawn of Hitler). The civil rights movement was taken to be a class issue which could be universalised and cross the "sectarian" barrier. So NICRA issued a television appeal to people south of the border to stay away from the Newry demonstration (fourteen miles from the border) of the week after Bloody Sunday because "It is a Northern Ireland issue".

The Official Republicans' failed fantasy of a Catholic and Protestant working class alliance to resist a proposed Ring Road for Belfast was described by Seamus Costello as "Ring Road socialism", alluding to Connolly's description of William Walker's politics as "Gas and water socialism".
They had no understanding of the inevitable pre-emptive violence of loyalists faced with any raising of the oppressed community's heads.

It was thought only the national question would enrage the loyalists. Hence Conor Cruise O'Brien talked of the danger of a bloodbath and compared the situation to the Congo, which had broken out into civil war when the Belgians left "without first ensuring stability". It was not recognized that the Belgians never left -- their secret agents stayed to promote Belgian interests and provoke the civil war and the assassination of Lumumba.

Once the civil rights demands were seen to be already enough to provoke a bloodbath, the Provisionals came to explicitly share O'Brien's analysis of the Congolese and Irish situations. Their position therefore implicitly relied on the British to preside over an assembly, which they wanted to go to, "for the better government of Northern Ireland". (During the campaign for election to that assembly Austen Currie remarked that the best known candidate was Mr Boycott).

Provisional PRO's were given the strictest orders that they were never to use the term United Ireland; they could use the terms United Ulster or
Greater Ulster (they never did). (At this time also the word "revolutionary" was dropped, and replaced by "radical", a usage dear to the moneyed Quaker peace interest and the then federalist British Liberal party).

The leadership explicitly supported the UWC strike as showing the admirable resoluteness of loyalists, and they collaborated with the UWC, for instance in the distribution of petrol. There was no criticism of the atrocities of loyalism, even of the Dublin and Monaghan bombing, which was a part of the UWC strike as John Taylor, from his Hawthornden House base, made clear, saying on television prior to the bombing that appropriate action in support of the UWC strike would be taken in the Republic.

Was the military campaign, as it is sometimes alleged, "doomed militarism"
?Against it certainly was the slow and gradual growth of repression and censorship especially in the South. But another factor was that all Republican leaderships, left and right, confined the issue to the six-counties.
The first Provisional Republican leadership would not allow northern members to cross the border into the south to organise educational meetings, demonstrations, etc., and point out the 32 county nature of the issue.

Dissent on this issue was not allowed. They pursued remedies for the situation among experts in "conflict resolution" with a six county orientation. Theoretically there was a fig-leaf of rhetoric about the nine counties of Ulster, but even there it was recognized -- with enthusiasm -- that "Unionists" would have a majority in government. They forgot what unionism means; with a majority, unionists would vote for the union -- to be part of the UK.

The Irish people has not spoken, they have been coerced into giving up their territorial rights. They now have to love not only the loyalist sinner, but the sin. Responding to the maudlin self-pity of loyalists who claimed that the Ulsterman was an endangered species, they have rushed to reassure them that they only want a union of hearts not of territory, a position in which the Republicans have adopted the sentimentality of John Hume. The loyalists have no such illusions. It was always a question not of what we will do with the loyalists but what the loyalists will do with us. They have treated the few demands of republicanism with the contempt that the Israelis have shown to the Oslo agreement.

What was needed was all Ireland unity in demanding the national territory. The giving away of articles 2 and 3 was surely something unprecedented in recent peacetime history -- but of course it was a war, and loyalism is on a permanent wartime footing. No party was demanding the return of the six counties to the whole Irish people. Leaders in the South used the power of the state to suppress that demand. But they could only do this because they leadership of both wings of the Republicans were also effectively suppressing it, among their members and among the population of the island.

Their demand was so oriented to the wishes of the loyalists that it inevitably led to the stabilising and strengthening of the position of the six counties in the UK. Everybody except the loyalists set their sights at professional conflict resolution, in the course of which they gave up more and more to unyielding loyalism. This process of emboldening loyalism had great support from American governments and that was welcomed by Republican leaders, as "internationalising" the Irish question.

It wasn't always like that. In the earliest days a British Tory minister
Quintin Hogg said the only trouble uniting the two parts of Ireland was that the English sixpenny piece did not work in Irish public telephones. Garret Fitzgerald talked about the responsibility Ireland would have to assume, to ensure a federal solution. He spoke of community police, a codename for employing Republicans as police in Republican areas. This was part of the ongoing conflict resolution.

This phase culminated in a joint presentation in the Europa Hotel, by
Republican sympathiser Frank McManus and Ian Paisley's trusted colleague Desmond Boal, of a plan for a federal Ireland. There were to be local parliaments in Belfast and Dublin, with a central parliament in Dundalk. This event shows how low loyalist stock was at the time.

In polls taken at the time, the plan was rejected by a majority. The loyalist community rejected it as a sell-out to Republicans. For nationalists a British presence seemed necessary for protection from loyalism. The plan did not have a guarantee that the Northern local government could behave responsibly and not at worst instigate ethnic cleansing pogroms. There were ominous statements by loyalist "paramilitaries", announcing that slackers (idle, feckless, unemployable people -- no doubt with large families, due to the ban on contraception) would not be tolerated in an independent Ulster (which is the name under which the conflict resolution solution, called federalism on the Falls, was sold on the Shankill).

The only political leader to oppose this process in the short time left to
him was the Republican socialist Seamus Costello. A full treatment of his position would take too long for the present occasion, but the essence is in the document he presented to the Broad Front Conference.

James Daly

(Below we republish an article that is currently causing some debate on the IRSP discussion site.
(http://rsmforum.proboards107.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1255)
The two clear issues emerge from the document are the effectiveness of armed struggle in the present context and the issue of a labour aristocracy. We invite our readers to comment.)

An analysis of the RIRA's attacks on the PSNI

The majority of the non-Provisional Republican family would see nothing inherently wrong in the two recent shootings of two police officers by the Real IRA, although opinions may range from cheerleading to outright indifference. This may very well be the case but there is plenty to bring into consideration when looking at the methods employed by the organisations not on ceasefire and the consequences of those methods.

The methods used by the RIRA and other Republican military organisations have been tried and tested throughout the ages all to dismal failure even when there was significant support amongst the nationalist population for those actions. A Provo Mark II organisation is not what Republicanism needs.

The current methods of armed resistance do not work. The shooting of two PSNI officers isn't likely to force a British withdrawal and

Ireland at present is a first world country which participates in the plunder of the third world and the extraction of capital from those countries. Ireland's ruling class are a joint oppressor as an integral part of global capital. Ireland has a large labour aristocracy whose livelihood depends on the extraction of super profits from third world labour.

In this climate attacks by Republicans will have a minimal effect. There is currently no appetite for armed actions against the police from within the community at any section. The argument that there was never overwhelming support for an armed campaign is valid but the conditions were readily available to sustain it.

The outright revulsion from the community at the attacks was perhaps best comparable to the shooting of Ranger Best in Derry. At the height of the armed struggle public backlash against the Official IRA was severe for shooting an off-duty soldier.

The attacks in Dungannon and Derry may have been co-ordinated but this gives rise to a further argument – is British intelligence purposely trying to discredit Republicans opposed to the Good Friday Agreement through military action?

There may be some validity to this, owing to the failure of the CIRA and RIRA over a combined 30+ year history to carry out any sort of substantial attack or even claim the life of a single British soldier of police officer. It is strange that two police officers were wounded within the space of two days at the current political juncture, when Republicans opposed to the Good Friday Agreement perhaps harness the most support and influence ever.

We must learn from the mistakes of the past. Republicanism as a whole, if it is to survive, if it is to become relevant and if it is to cultivate mass support must renew itself, tackle social issues and emerge itself in the burning issues surrounding working class politics.

The path ahead won't be easy, some scared cows will have to be brought to the altar and slaughtered but it will be the most rewarding path. One that is genuine, open, free of conspiracy. One that has the mass movement of the working class as its incorruptible foundation.

For years we were told it was 'the cutting edge' of the PIRA that would achieve our goals, the role of the mass of Irish people was reduced to spectators. We cannot afford to repeat those mistakes. A renewed armed campaign were the masses are reduced to spectators under the premise that the RIRA will do what the PIRA did for 30 years only try a little harder will bring us in a circular motion to the position we are in today.

Without recalling 30 years of armed struggle, by the late 80s armed struggle lacked the intensity of the 70s and had petered out to sporadic attacks every few days. If that failed to sufficiently move the British political establishment towards granting independence for Ireland, then it seriously time for Republicans to re-evaluate what went wrong and to pave the road ahead for the future.

Sean McGowan, Belfast.
Saturday, 19th of April 2008.

What’s On

'The Relevance of Marxism Today'
Organised by gtGallery with Belfast District & Trades Union Council
The panel includes: Joe Bowers, Harry Donaghy, Eleanor Phillips and Sean Mitchell.
The event will be held at 6.30pm on Tuesday 29th April in gtGallery (84-94 Great Patrick Street … next to Beggs & Partners and opposite the Corporation Street Dole Office)

If you have any queries ring Ruth at gtGallery - Tel: 028 90330920

30 April 2008

Dungannon & South Tyrone Borough Council, conference invitation:
Racism: Moving Beyond Denial?
A major conference examining the present acknowledgement of racism, its manifestations and what should be done to tackle it.
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Dungannon Campus: South West (nee East Tyrone) College
Community Relations Week - EU Year of Intercultural Dialogue

Keynote speakers:
Arun Kundnani, Institute of Race Relations
Bernadette McAliskey, South Tyrone Empowerment Programme
Dr Robbie McVeigh, Independent Researcher

Political Parties Q&A Panel:
Chair: Benedicta Attoh (independent practitioner)
Dolores Kelly MLA (SDLP), Richard Watson (UUP), Alex Maskey MLA (Sinn Féin), Naomi Long MLA (Alliance party)
DUP spokesperson TBC

Workshops and Closing Plenary:
Workshops on the topics of: models for the public sector, racism in the workplace, racism faced by Travellers and on the role of the Assembly.
A spokesperson from OFMDFM will provide government input.

Full details of conference, speakers and a booking form contact
Ligia Parizzi, Anti Racism Officer, Dungannon Council
ligia.parizzi@dungannon.gov.uk or fax (028) 87728650.
This conference is specifically targeted at all persons with an interest in this area of work in all sectors including local government, community and voluntary sector NGOs, statutory agencies, Trade Unions, government departments, researchers and others with an interest in anti-racism.

The Council gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Peace II extension programme through the South Tyrone Area Partnership for its anti-racism programme and the support of OFMDFM for its racial equality work.

There is no charge for the conference. We would anticipate considerable demand and would urge early booking.

Kindest regards,
Ligia Parizzi

Anti-Racism Officer

Tel: 028 8772 8603

Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council

Comhairle Dhún Geanainn agus Thír Eoghain Theas

Rathgannon Sooth Owenslann Burgh Cooncil

Family Fun Day In Great Patrick Street
1pm – 4pm Saturday 3rd May 2008
A Mini-May-Fest that aims to raise awareness of the links between child exploitation in the third world and consumerist pressure on young people in this country. In partnership with gtGallery, the Communication Workers Union, Cliftonville Community Centre and Sailortown Regeneration Group, Teach na Failte with a range of multi-cultural contributions.
The Theme: to raise awareness of child exploitation and research the links between child labour in the Third World and consumerist pressure on young people in this country.
What goes on:
Launch of Anti-Exploitation Tee-Shirts
Dance Extravaganzas
DJ Demos
The Big Draw In
Speaker's Corner,etc, etc

Come back to Crossakiel ?on Saturday & Sunday 3 & 4 May 2008 ??for parades, speeches & songs ?a mini-festival ?in commemoration of ?Jim Connell ?the man who wrote The Red Flag.
??About Jim Connell and The Red Flag

For the index to the website on THE RED FLAG: the song, the man, the monument,
click here
For more about the ?life of Jim Connell ?and the ?history of the song, ?click here
For more about the monument in Crossakiel ?and how it came to be, ?click here
For the song itself, ?lyrics, click here ?and sound files, ?click here
For photos of Crossakiel in 2002 and video of Billy Bragg singing on the day, click here ? ? ? ?
Sat 3 May 2008 in McCabe's Bar, Crossakiel

9pm: support act
10:45 Grada

Sun 4 May 2008 in the village of Crossakiel

2:30: samba band

3pm: parade of trade unions and bands to the Jim Connell monument followed by speeches by Bob Crow, Pat Thornley, Gerry McCormack and singing of The Red Flag by Jimmy Kelly

5pm on: music including Patricia, Hamsandwich, SayLaV also for kids: face painting and play time in yard at rear of McCabe's sponsored by the trade union movement in Ireland and Britain and by local businesses
For more information, contact Jim O'Brien at 046-9022339 ?or Cllr Tommy Grimes at 087-9806688?or e-mail to crossakiel@gmail.com or jimbo337@hotmail.com ? ?? Website by Dr Helena Sheehan ?E-mail: helena.sheehan@dcu.ie

The Plough Vol 05 No 04

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:29:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site www.theploughblog.blogger.com/
Vol 5-No 4
Saturday 22th March 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1)Easter 1916-2008

2) IRSP Easter Commemoration 2008 Speech

3)RSYM Easter Statement

4)Billy Rat Inquiry

5)The China Question

6)Free Tibet?

Irish Republican Socialist Movement

Easter Commemoration

Easter Sunday, 23rd March 2008

Dunville Park, Belfast

Assemble 11am

March to RSM Plot, Milltown Cemetary

All Republicans and Socialists welcome

Easter 1916-Easter 2008

Every Easter since 1916 all over Ireland and in some other parts of the world homage is paid to the men and women of 1916 who on Easter Monday went out to do battle with the then greatest Imperialist power in the world. The Easter Rebellion was crushed the leaders executed but a spark had been lit that inspired oppressed peoples throughout the world to believe that freedom and independence from Colonialism and Imperialism was possible.

Easter 1916 has international significance but unfortunately many of the republicans who gather all over Ireland will not see the international dimension of the 1916. Irish bourgeois nationalists began soon after 1916 to revise the history of 1916.

It became a glorious sacrifice by pure minded Irish nationalists like Padraigh Pearse to redeem the soul of Ireland who by shedding their blood just like Jesus Christ at Calvary reasserted Ireland’s manhood and justified the creation of a bourgeois state.

The actual class conditions that motivated the likes of James Connolly and the trade unionists who set up the Irish Citizen’s Army to battle capitalism were written out of history. Radical ideas were demonised and the heroes of 1916 elevated into almost saint like status with no politics but a pure love for Ireland and of course totally identified with the Roman Catholic Church. Connolly’s Marxism was airbrushed from history. Liam Mellow’s call for republicans to appeal to the men and women of no property was demonised as anti-catholic and communistic. Rome spoke and the people listened! Censorship, piety poverty emigration and intellectually sterility became the order of the day from the twenties to the fifties.

During that period those few active republicans in Ireland were generally speaking non-drinking non-cursing and upholders of catholic morality. They survived in a stifling environment channelling all their revolutionary energies towards yet another armed uprising or establishing a guerrilla campaign against British interests in Ireland. They had no time for social protest, saw class struggle as alien, and had no understanding of the position of the majority of the protestant working class. This is not to condemn them for they were in a sense prisoners of history caught in a time warp where intellectual freedom was frown on, censorship all controlling and clergy particularly in the partitioned 26 counties almost looked up to as next to God!

But not all conformed. There has always been class-consciousness within republicanism and the story of the role of the left within that fine revolutionary tradition has not yet reached wider layers of the working class.

Only in the late fifties and early sixties did the radical ideas of Connolly and Mellows and the class nature of the struggle for liberation begin to re-surface within Irish Republicanism. That republicanism had gone through many stages since 1916.

It had fought a sustained war of national liberation that ended in partition and the splintering of the Republican forces. It had embraced physical force and the exclusion of any political activity. It had swung to the far left in the thirties and at the bidding of the bishops rapidly abandoned that left radicalism. It flirted with fascism and Nazism in the late thirties and early 1940’s. It began to look to the left when yet another armed campaign, Operation Harvest 56-61 ended in dismal failure with many ex-prisoners demonised, ignored and neglected within areas of Belfast that later became known after 1969 as “republican areas”. Older republicans referred to the newcomers as 69’ers

That swing to the left of course raised issues of policy. The divide between those who argued for a step-by-step approach; first democracy, then national independence and then finally a struggle for socialism, and those who argued for both socialism and independence began. But while that debate was simmering there was also the international explosions of 1968 world -wide when revolution looked to be possible.

Those heady days convinced many that success was just around the corner. Ireland would be united, socialism would reign supreme and the world would be a better place. Yes indeed! The Provos emerged believing that all this talk of socialism was nonsense and was indeed an alien ideology and only direct military action such as bombing the shit out of the 6-counites would yield success. They got it wrong and ended up re-establishing British rule in the north on a firmer basis and without any of that nasty socialism they had so despised in 69/70

And the left including all the different sections of the republican left?
Sadly yet another failure-too introspective, politically sectarian and some were seduced into believing that the rattle of rifles was the sound of revolution. Others believed that they had the way, the truth and the light and so looked down with contempt on others of the left or else launched either verbal or physical murderous assaults on those who failed to share their world-view.

Hopefully all those of a left orientation within the broad family of republicanism will study the barren years from 1916 until 2008 and learn the simple basic lesson that republicanism without socialism is a dead end and that unless and until Left republicans embrace the totality of the international class struggle the prospects of success are nil. Back to Connolly, back to Marx and forward to the liberation of the Irish working class as part of an international victory of the world proletariat.

(Gerry Ruddy)

IRSP Easter Commemoration 2008 Speech
Sunday 23rd March
Republican Socialist Plot
Milltown Cemetary
12.00 Noon

Delivered by Paul Little (Ard Comhairle)
Republican Socialism will not be bought, will not be sold and will not be deflected from its revolutionary path.

Comrades, supporters and friends, on the 92nd anniversary of the Easter 1916, we assemble to commemorate the courageous actions of Irish Republicans and Socialists as they strove to light the revolutionary touch paper that would rid Ireland of British occupation and capitalist control.

We recall with pride the courage and tenaciousness of Comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle for a 32 County Irish Socialist Republic.
Today we honour our fallen Comrades of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and Irish National Liberation Army.

We pay tribute to their families and friends, your sacrifice has been permanent and long term and often goes unacknowledged, we acknowledge your courage, your steadfastness and your pain. It is only through the pursuance of the revolution, the continuance of working class struggle and the attainment of our goals that we can truly commemorate our fallen comrades.

We send revolutionary greetings to our POW’s in Portlaoise and Maghaberry, your continued incarceration is testament to the arrant failure of those who purport to represent the interests of the Irish working class, whilst swigging champagne and playing happy families with our oppressors.

Across the world, global imperialism runs rampant, we send solidarity to all those who struggle against occupation, exploitation and genocide in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan. ‘Western Democracy’, far from being a tool for liberation and empowerment for oppressed peoples across the globe, is in fact the weapon of the oppressor.

It corrupts and divides the oppressed and disenfranchised, replacing the natural solidarity among our class with division, suspicion and poverty. Western democracy dissipates working class unity; it promotes sectarian and racist division that enables it to exploit countries and peoples in the pursuance of greed and profit.

In each and every decade there have been a generation of Irish men and women who have been prepared to step up to the mark and ensure that the noble aim of an Irish Socialist Republic that recognises and cherishes the worker as the central pillar of revolution from which all else is possible.

The Republican Socialist Movement has come under attack by the forces of capitalism in both the six counties and the 26 counties, over the past year our membership and supporters have come under a sustained and draconian assault from the Free Staters. Arrest, assault and detention of republican socialists have become commonplace.

It is important to put these detentions in their political context, The IRSP is experiencing measured growth, this growth of membership is due in no small part to our involvement and support of civil rights campaigns across the Island.

Whether it is the fight against occupation, against unjust wars, against racism, against unfair taxes, against the exploitation of workers or against the rape of our national resources, the IRSP seek no compromise and make no apology for our revolutionary actions. We will not take any lectures from the corrupt and internationally discredited Dublin administration in regards to how we organise.

In 2008 in Ireland we are witnessing a prolonged and sustained attack by the reactionary forces of global imperialism and national capitalism on the Irish working class. Whether it’s our people ravaged by poverty due to economic recession, unemployment, ill health, and poor education or imprisoned in their own homes frightened of the drug barons and their hooligan thugs.

This week we have witnessed the brutal murder of former republican prisoner Bap McGreevy in West Belfast attacked by thugs, crazed by drink and drugs. Many of you here today will remember Bap McGreevy, not just here in Belfast where he was a friend and neighbour, but also those who met Bap in Long Kesh, an innocent man sentenced to life imprisonment by a corrupt British regime. He bore this grave injustice with great courage and dignity, he deserved better than being kicked to death in his own home.

Unfortunately, Bap’s murder is not isolated, each week across Ireland, in Dublin, Derry, Limerick, Cork, we learn of such attacks. These conditions exist because of exploitation. Poverty and hardship, they are not an innocent symptom or a side effect of capitalism; capitalism requires the exploitation of workers to make excessive profit.

To paraphrase Seamus Costello when talking about the Republican Socialist Movement he said, ‘a movement that cannot defend itself has no place talking about defending and representing the Irish working class’. I would like to extend that sentiment.

A working class movement that cannot defend, protect and nourish the interests of the Irish working class has no place calling itself a revolutionary movement.

Our aim is oust imperialism, oust capitalism in all its guises and end the occupation and exploitation of the Irish working class. To our oppressors we state; you will not criminalise the Irish working class or our struggle for emancipation.

Let no one here today have any doubt about our intentions we intend to prosecute revolution in Ireland, we will achieve revolution through organising mass agitation and civil disobedience, remember comrades if the working class refuses to be governed by what passes for democracy in Ireland, it will not be governed. That has to be our starting point for rebellion.

We remember fallen Irish revolutionaries of past liberation campaigns on the anniversary of Easter 1916, we remember them with pride and a determination to succeed.
You are today’s revolutionaries
Be a revolutionary in the home
Be a revolutionary in the community
Be a revolutionary in the workplace
Refuse to conform in an unjust society.
Together we can conclude the unfinished business of Easter 1916 in this new millennium.

RSYM Easter Statement
Comrades and friends,

Ten years ago, the Good Friday Agreement was signed. The struggle was declared over, something that was a “relic of the past” according to the ruling class. This ruling class was content and confident enough to assume that history was to end in 1998 and everything since then would strengthen and uphold their positions. This is true for the nationalist parties who uphold British rule in Ireland but it is not true for Republicans.

But Republicanism needs to be relevant and we need to be relevant. There is nothing revolutionary about calling oneself a Socialist but not working for the empowerment of the working class. There is nothing revolutionary in itself about having a secret army up your sleeve for a rainy day. There is nothing revolutionary about the wink and nudge attitudes. It’s the form we take as an organisation, the decisive and strategic political line decided collectively that will be the ultimate deciding factor. We are faced with two options, to sink or to swim.

Back to James Connolly, back to Seamus Costello should be our method over the coming years. We need to return to our roots as an organisation if we are to advance. The politics and ideas of men like Connolly and Costello are not fossilized relics; they are not to be quoted selectively at political opponents and comrades to prove one point or another, the real intention of which is to often silence people for daring to disagree with revered figures.

We should regard the teachings of Connolly and Costello as scientific processes which give us the tools, along with the classics of Marxism, to analyze the motive and class forces at work in society. Why do we neglect this? If the fundamentals are not grasped the potential is there to sink amidst a sea of dogmatism and its partner – Stalinism – as we tail the long forgotten politics and slogans of yesteryear to an indifferent working class and youth.

Ten years from the Good Friday Agreement there is still no viable vehicle for the Irish working class to see the attainment of its goals and to assert itself, let us set the task of building a party of the new type. It is duty of all Republican Socialists to set the task of rebuilding the movement politically.

It won’t be easy and there will be pitfalls, traps and sabotage along the way. But it is in our interests and the interests of the working class to continue to forge an organisation that can guide and give leadership.

Ta Power once said

“It is only by strengthening ourselves ideologically, inculcating in ourselves the values and ideals of the struggle and building up the ranks of the revolutionary party that we will make it.”

Comrades, that is the way forward for the IRSM.

http://www.rsym.org/news/easter-statement.html

Billy Rat Inquiry

www.billywrightinquiry.org

Over the past few months journalists have been releasing tit-bits of information relating to the Rat Inquiry in articles that are at best misleading at times. Not so long ago Alan Murray released an article in the Sunday Life claiming that John Kenneway was a Special Branch agent during the period of 1996-97 and this was exposed during evidence at the Inquiry.

This was a malicious and misleading claim which was not true, and never said at all during the Inquiry, as was previously pointed out in an article I posted in response to Murray's claims. I backed up my article with facts and what was really said verbatim at the the Inquiry in relation to that matter. Other journalists were in contact with me in relation to Murray's article and agreed, after I quoted the Inquiry word for word and told them how to access the facts, that Murray's article was indeed misleading. Only Murray can say why he wrote that this was said during the Inquiry when in fact nothing of the kind was said.

I believe over the next number of months we can expect more misleading information in both the press and internet and that is why I believe members and supporters of the Movement should follow the Inquiry themselves, study it carefully, study some if not all of the testimony several times, do not jump to conclusions and remain focused so that all claims can be viewed from an informed position.

By doing so this will prevent comrades from being misled by a mixture of truths, half truths, lies and innuendo that we constantly hear about in some of the gutter press from both lazy journalists and those with a malign agenda. It will be more than interesting for all, particularly members of the Movement and prisoners during that period. For those who have not been following the Inquiry I would advise them to go to the very beginning and take it in chronological order which will take some time, probably a few months, to get to the present day rather than jump to the more 'juicier' testimonies.

For example it is very tempting to jump to the testimonies of MI5, Special Branch or even the Security Governors(some of their evidence is indeed laughable) but by doing so some of the context can be missed.

Do not take as Gospel some of the 'conclusions' that the Inquiry are stating-for example the Inquiry Panel, barristers for the PSNI and Security Services(MI5), Special Branch and MI5 have all stated that the Ard Comhairle 1997 were in fact the Army Council of the INLA. These claims are outrageous and malicious lies as any member of the Movement, particularly Ard Comhairle members at that time can attest to. At first this particular claim was funny in the extreme but when examined more closely it can be viewed as quite sinister in its implications and possible consequences.

Another good laugh is one of the themes that the INLA were 'in fact' subordinate to the Provisionals and it was the Provisionals who were behind the Rats execution. Apparently many in the Provos spread this yarn around themselves in the immediate aftermath of the killing for reasons best known to themselves.

The Inquiry have indicated that they will be requesting/summonsing Crip and Sonny to attend. They have sent them a list of questions they are demanding answered and if they refuse to answer all questions listed they have threatened to hold them in contempt and imprison them.

Some of the questions listed are
: who brought the weapons into both Maghaberry and Long Kesh? How were they brought in?
Who authorised the killing outside the prison and
who promised Crip and John admission to the INLA wings on April 1997?
At this stage we are unsure who in the IRSM will be called to give evidence but we are requesting that any member, past or present, who is summonsed to attend immediately get in contact with the Movement for advise and direction in relation to getting proper legal representation. We also believe that if there were any agents connected to the Movement (RUC, MI5, British Army, Prison Service) they will be exposed and identified during the Inquiry.

This has already been discussed by the leadership and it has been indicated to us that if there are any agents, past or present, then they should present themselves to the Movement and give a full account of their activities and no harm will become of them. My advise to anyone who was/is compromised is: you know the drill, come forward to the Movement with a solicitor or priest or whoever you trust to act as a guarantor and your safety will be guaranteed before its too late for you and you become exposed. Anyone, of interest to the Movement, who is summonsed to the Inquiry and fails to contact us about it could be assumed to have something to hide therefore its important that all do get in contact.

Whilst on the subject of agents the press recently focused in on a part of evidence given by a MI5 officer who had the designation of 'Witness Agent Handler' who stated that he received information from an informant in April 1997 that prisoners in the Kesh would kill Wright by injecting poison through a syringe if he was moved to the INLA Block. What the press didn't print was suggestions that this agent was 'low level' and who was on the ''periphery, edges'' of the INLA who reported 'second and third hand gossip' to his handler. Nor did they print in their articles that further evidence during this MI5 officers testimony suggested that this agent was viewed as 'low level and unreliable'.

To date most members of the Movement who are of 'interest' to the Inquiry have been given various designations such as Ard Comhairle member 1,2,3,4,5........etc or INLA member 1,2,.....or (the fictitious labels of) Chief of Staff, 2nd In Command. (I think everyone and their granny, except Special Branch and MI5, know that the last Chief of Staff was Gino Gallagher).

Other designations are Maghaberry prisoner 1,2, 3...and there may be, though not mentioned yet, designations for some prisoners who were in the Kesh at the time. All those who have been given designations have not been named at the Inquiry ''at this stage'' which suggest that that may come at some other stage during the period of the Inquiry.

When accessing the Inquiry website there are a number of links on the left hand side such as 'transcripts' and 'time tables' which deal with oral evidence given at the Inquiry and as I stated earlier it will take quite some time to navigate all the links and evidence given so far. Anyone who comes across anything they believe is of important interest should contact the Movement.

(Willie Gall)

The China Question?

Once again the national question has raised its head this time not Ireland but in Tibet. It is no coincidence that the outbreaks that have occurred happened only months before the Olympic Games are due to be held in Beijing.
Those who believe that politics have no part in sport sadly are delusional. Soccer in the North of Ireland was always closely identified with unionism despite large nationalist participation. Cricket was seen as the sport of the military garrisons. Gaelic sport has always been identified with the nationalist movement and indeed was re-invented in order to bolster Irish nationalism. During the seventies and eighties the Olympics were used by both Washington and Moscow as weapons in the cold war. And of course there was the shame of the Berlin Olympics in 1936 used to propagandise Nazi culture and power.
So be assured the 2008 Olympics will also be used to score political points. Irish socialists and republicans need to see beneath the surface and not be taken in by the bourgeois media in its one-sided presentation of the events in Tibet.
One of the reasons for unrest is not just down to suppression of the monks but the consequences of the rapid industrialization of China itself. An industrialization itself, which could impact on the Olympics itself due to the extremely poor environment that surrounds Beijing.
Chinese industrialization is developing at breakneck speed. That is causing a process of uneven development. There are specific designated capitalist zones that contrast greatly with the old state owned industrial areas. This is part of a process that will eventually, unless halted, lead to the dismantling of the planned economy and the restoration of capitalism in China.
Millions are flocking to the industrial and urban areas away from the low wages, and lack of facilities in many of the more isolated rural areas of China. This is causing mass polarization and huge social inequalities. The top richest 10% in the cities own 45% of the wealth. There are over 200 million unemployed and the poorest 10% of the population own only 1.4% of the wealth. Many of the rural poor flood into areas where there are national minorities and earn relatively high wages fuelling discontent within the national minorities who see themselves as disadvantaged. These national minorities number over 100 million and include Tibetans, Turkmen, Mongolians and Uighers.
There is an in-built tendency within Irish Republicans to immediately side with any people struggling to achieve independence. Our own long struggle to complete the national question has tended to blind us to aspects of independence struggles, which can be reactionary. Would Irish republicans be happy to support Tibet’s independence if that meant the restoration of the serfdom that existed there 60 years ago?
Of course the development of industrialisation affects national minorities but it also affects the vast majority of the Chinese people themselves and not always in a good way. For example although China produces 30% of the world’s coal its’ miners suffer 80% of the deaths in mining world wide. Health and safety standards seem ineffective when over 80,000 workers were killed in work related accidents in 1991. Rapid industrialisation and the introduction of capitalism has shot that figure up to 440,000 in 2003. Suicide is the number one cause of death for those between 20-35. Every year nearly 3 million people attempt suicide and about 250,000 succeed.
Those who argue that China is still a socialist state will point to the improvements in the life of the working class. But rapid industrialization under capitalism also improves social conditions for some elements of the working class. Today only 1/3 of production comes from the state sector.
The Chinese Communist Party has over 70 million members. Over 30% of that membership comes from the capitalist sector. The Chinese bureaucracy and the capitalist class have a joint interest in dismantling the gains of the Chinese revolution and want to integrate the Chinese economy into that of world capitalism.
But in doing so they are creating a huge working class in China, which at the end of the day is the only force that can resist the capitalist road and unite all working class people regardless of ethnic origins in solidarity and socialism.
(gr)

Free Tibet?
This was first published in the The Plough Vol 1-41 on the 30 May 2004.Given the recent upsurge in Tibet we re-publish.

In Western countries, the movement to 'free Tibet' from Chinese occupation is very popular among the 57 different varieties of liberals and human rights campaigners. The media generally presents a very positive image of Buddhism, the Dalai Lama is hailed as a modern saint, and an idealized image of Tibet before the Chinese take over is given. However, it is worth examining what sort of place Tibet was before the Chinese intervention, who benefited and who lost from it, and who the people campaigning for 'free Tibet' are (1).

In Tibet, prior to the Chinese take over, theocratic despotism had been the rule for generations. An English visitor to Tibet in 1895, Dr. A. L. Waddell, wrote that the Tibetan people were under the "intolerable tyranny of monks" and the devil superstitions they had fashioned to terrorize the people. In 1904 Perceval Landon described the Dalai Lama's rule as "an engine of oppression" and "a barrier to all human improvement." At about that time, another English traveler, Captain W.F.T. O'Connor, observed that "the great landowners and the priests . . . exercise each in their own dominion a despotic power from which there is no appeal," while the people are "oppressed by the most monstrous growth of monasticism and priest-craft the world has ever seen." Tibetan rulers, like those of Europe during the Middle Ages, "forged innumerable weapons of servitude, invented degrading legends and stimulated a spirit of superstition" among the common people (Stuart Gelder and Roma Gelder, The Timely Rain: Travels in New Tibet, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1964, 123-125). In Tibet, slavery was the rule.

The following account was written by Sir Charles Bell, who was the British administrator for Chumbi Valley in 1904-05: "'Slaves were sometimes stolen, when small children, from their parents. Or the father and mother, being too poor to support their child, would sell it to a man, who paid them _sho-ring_, "price of mother's milk," brought up the child and kept it, or sold it, as a slave. These children come mostly from south-eastern Tibet and the territories of the wild tribes who dwell between Tibet and Assam.' (Charles Bell, Tibet: Past and Present, Oxford, 1924, pp. 78-79. Taken from http://www.faqs.org/faqs/tibet-faq)

In 1953, six years before the Chinese takeover, the greater part of the rural population (some 700,000 of an estimated total population of 1,250,000) were serfs. Serfs and other peasants generally received no schooling or medical care. They spent most of their time working for the monasteries and high-ranking lamas, or for a secular aristocracy that numbered not more than 200 families. They were in practice owned by their masters who told them what crops to grow and what animals to raise. They could not get married without the consent of their lord or lama. A serf might easily be separated from his family should the owner send him to work in a distant location. Serfs could be sold by their masters, or subjected to torture and death (for more details see http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html).

Whatever wrongs and new oppressions introduced by the Chinese in Tibet after 1959, they did abolish slavery and the serfdom system of unpaid labor. They started work projects, and greatly reduced unemployment and beggary. They built the only hospitals that exist in the country, and established secular education, thereby breaking the educational monopoly of the monasteries. They constructed running water and electrical systems in Lhasa. They also put an end to floggings, mutilations, and amputations as a form of criminal punishment under Buddhist rule. Chinese rule in Tibet has often been brutal, however its extent has often been exaggerated.

The accusations made by the Dalai Lama himself about Chinese mass sterilization and forced deportation of Tibetans, for example, have remained unsupported by any evidence. Both the Dalai Lama and his advisor and youngest brother, Tendzin Choegyal, claimed that more than 1.2 million Tibetans are dead as a result of the Chinese occupation. This figure is more than dubious. The official 1953 census, six years before the Chinese take over, recorded the entire population of Tibet at 1,274,000. Other estimates varied from one to three million. Other census counts put the ethnic Tibetan population within the country at about two million (Pradyumna P. Karan, The Changing Face of Tibet: The Impact of Chinese Communist Ideology on the Landscape, Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 1976, 52-53). If the Chinese killed 1.2 million then entire cities and huge portions of the countryside, indeed almost all of Tibet, would have been depopulated - something for which there is no evidence. The Chinese military force in Tibet was not large enough to round up, chase, and exterminate that many people even if it had spent all its time doing this.

It is worth examining who is behind the 'Free Tibet' movement. The former elites lost many of their privileges due to the Chinese takeover. The family of the Dalai Lama lost no fewer than 4000 slaves! It is thus not surprising that feudal lords should campaign against the social gains of Maoism. Their campaign has found an international echo thanks to the CIA. Throughout the 1960s the Tibetan exile community received $1.7 million a year from the CIA, according to documents released by the State Department in 1998. The Dalai Lama's organization itself admits that it had received millions of dollars from the CIA during the 1960s to send armed squads of exiles into Tibet to undermine the Maoist revolution. The Dalai Lama's annual share was $186,000, making him a paid agent of the CIA. Indian intelligence also financed him and other Tibetan exiles (Jim Mann, "CIA Gave Aid to Tibetan Exiles in '60s, Files Show," Los Angeles Times, 15 September 1998; and New York Times, 1 October, 1998). Today, mostly through the National Endowment for Democracy and other conduits that are more respectable-sounding than the CIA, the US Congress continues to allocate an annual $2 million to Tibetans in India, with additional millions for "democracy activities" within the Tibetan exile community (See Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison, The CIA's Secret War in Tibet, Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 2002, for example).

Also, while presenting himself as a defender of human rights, the Dalai Lama supports more than dubious causes. For example, in April 1999, along with Margaret Thatcher and George Bush senior, the Dalai Lama called upon the British government to release Augusto Pinochet.

While Chinese rule is resented by many in Tibet, people are also afraid to loose the social gains of Maoism. A 1999 story in the Washington Post notes that the Dalai Lama continues to be revered in Tibet, but
"few Tibetans would welcome a return of the corrupt aristocratic clans that fled with him in 1959 and that comprise the bulk of his advisers. Many Tibetan farmers, for example, have no interest in surrendering the land they gained during China's land reform to the clans. Tibet's former slaves say they, too, don't want their former masters to return to power. "I've already lived that life once before," said Wangchuk, a 67-year-old former slave who was wearing his best clothes for his yearly pilgrimage to Shigatse, one of the holiest sites of Tibetan Buddhism. He said he worshipped the Dalai Lama, but added, "I may not be free under Chinese communism, but I am better off than when I was a slave." (John Pomfret, "Tibet Caught in China's Web," Washington Post, 23 July 1999)

(1) This article has benefited greatly from much of the information contained in http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html.

Liam O Ruairc • 12 May 2004

Fact file

189,485 people were unemployed in the 26-Counties in February 2008 up 30,000 on February 2007. This represents 5.2% of the workforce and is the highest figure in 8 years.
There was a 10% fall in the construction industry in January compared to January 2007.

From the Media

What’s On

5th April
Protest Against Water Charges

The We Won't Pay Campaign has called a protest in Belfast against the Northern Ireland Assembly Executive's decision to introduce water charges in April 2009.

1pm Saturday 5th April Castle Place
The We Won’t Pay Campaign has announced that the unexpected threat of water bills increasing by 15% next year is a warning of what will happen year after year unless the charges are defeated. Pat Lawlor, secretary of the anti-water charges campaign, said
“We have continuously warned that once water charges are introduced, bills will escalate year after year which will financially cripple thousands of households. We have seen the experience already in Britain, where water charges soared by 50% in the first four years of the introductionof water charges. This year, bills will increase by 18% on average in April, some areas will see water bills go up by 25%.”

The We Won’t Pay Campaign also attacked the
“political parties who claimed to oppose water charges when seeking election to the Assembly but are now clearly preparing to stab the people in the back by imposing charges next April.”

The group also demanded that the “water service be brought fully back into public ownership and democratically run in the interests of the public, and not as a potential source of profits as the directors of Northern Ireland Water Ltd. want.”

30 April 2008

Dungannon & South Tyrone Borough Council, conference invitation:
Racism: Moving Beyond Denial?
A major conference examining the present acknowledgement of racism, its manifestations and what should be done to tackle it.
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Dungannon Campus: South West (nee East Tyrone) College
Community Relations Week - EU Year of Intercultural Dialogue

Keynote speakers:
Arun Kundnani, Institute of Race Relations
Bernadette McAliskey, South Tyrone Empowerment Programme
Dr Robbie McVeigh, Independent Researcher

Political Parties Q&A Panel:
Chair: Benedicta Attoh (independent practitioner)
Dolores Kelly MLA (SDLP), Richard Watson (UUP), Alex Maskey MLA (Sinn Féin), Naomi Long MLA (Alliance party)
DUP spokesperson TBC

Workshops and Closing Plenary:
Workshops on the topics of: models for the public sector, racism in the workplace, racism faced by Travellers and on the role of the Assembly.
A spokesperson from OFMDFM will provide government input.

Full details of conference, speakers and a booking form are attached:
Completed booking forms to be sent to: Ligia Parizzi, Anti Racism Officer, Dungannon Council
ligia.parizzi@dungannon.gov.uk or fax (028) 87728650.
This conference is specifically targeted at all persons with an interest in this area of work in all sectors including local government, community and voluntary sector NGOs, statutory agencies, Trade Unions, government departments, researchers and others with an interest in anti-racism.

The Council gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Peace II extension programme through the South Tyrone Area Partnership for its anti-racism programme and the support of OFMDFM for its racial equality work.

There is no charge for the conference. We would anticipate considerable demand and would urge early booking.

Kindest regards,
Ligia Parizzi

Anti-Racism Officer

Tel: 028 8772 8603

Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council

Comhairle Dhún Geanainn agus Thír Eoghain Theas

Rathgannon Sooth Owenslann Burgh Cooncil

The Plough Vol 05 No 03

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:32:00 +0000

The Plough

Web Site http://www.theploughblog.blogger.com/

Vol 5-No 3

Thursday 13th March 2008

E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1)Editorial:

2)State Repression

3)Statement from Eddie McGarrigle

4)Suicide and drugs

5)The Power of Protest

6)Raytheon Media Gag

7)Republican Socialist Murals

8)From the Media

i.Can the US today really compare with Czechoslovakia in 1975?

ii.Provisional Sinn Fein Ard Feis

iii.I did smash Sinn Fein - Paisley

9)Fact File

Irish Republican Socialist Movement
Easter Commemoration
Easter Sunday, 23rd March 2008
Dunville Park, Belfast
Assemble 11am
March to RSM Plot, Milltown Cemetery
All Republicans and Socialists welcome

Editorial:
The detention and vicious assault of five IRSP members in the 26 County -state should be cause for alarm for all radicals and left wing activists throughout the state. Whilst obviously an attempt to kick down the moderate growth of the RSM is the south, it should also be seen by others as a shot across the bows; that they too can be arrested, stripped and beaten in the street, be smeared in the media and condemned by a senior Gardai officer on politically motivated, false charges.

Whilst some political groups rallied to support the 5 victims of state brutality, others were astoundingly indifferent to the situation. In a country where most know the price of everything yet the value of little, it is unsurprising that the general public didn't react, but the question needs to be asked; where was the CPI, the Socialist Party, the Socialist Workers Party etc during all of this? Indeed some individuals showing their political sectarianism, have sided with the state, in online blogs, citing the dubious smoke and fire principal.

The democratic contradictions of Capitalism and Imperialism are being faced by us all in Ireland. In Mayo we campaign against multinational appropriation of our resources, in Shannon against our participation in global imperialist adventurism, across the country against the de-lapidated welfare system, in the North against imperialist partitionist domination. It is time that left groups around Ireland began to see the links in all of these issues and that an attack on one group within this framework of resistance sets a precedent for the treatment of all.

The admission of Bertie Ahern that the southern state faces a tough economic future because of the US economic downturn echoes the reality in Westminster where Darling has fashioning his latest Budget with the restrictions opposed by Capitalisms latest slump. It also reaffirms our opposition to reckless and erratic Globalised Capitalism and its system of market forces that inevitably peak and slump.

Should the world sneeze when the US catches cold? We need to challenge our place in the global world order and begin to push for alignment with progressive states such as Venezuela, Cuba and Libya for example. Ireland’s position, internationally, is one of sub-ordinance and dependence on savage imperialist capitalism.

Failure to question and resist this is as reprehensible as the silence of those who turn the other cheek when 5 Republican activists are arrested, brutalised and framed by corrupt state forces.

State Repression
Comrades from the IRSP appeared in court on Friday 29th of February charged with membership of the INLA. They were 42-year-old Edward McGarrigle, John McCrossan, 46, Gareth Dunne, 22, Gerard Kelleher, 26, and Neil Myles, 53

Those are the only charges leveled against our comrades. However when they were arrested in a blaze of publicity all sorts of allegations appeared in the media.

UTV news item on the 23rd of February when they were first arrested said;

“Six suspected dissident republicans were being questioned by police today.
“the arrests were as a result of a prolonged investigation targeting serious crime and terrorist activity in the Cork city area.”

“Gardai refused to detail the circumstances of the arrests and what the men had been doing - but it was understood a number of weapons were seized during the operation”.

RTE on the same day reported;

“a number of weapons and paraphernalia are understood to have been recovered during the operation.”

On the day they were charged the BBC said they were arrested

” as part of an operation against an alleged kidnap plan.

The three-judge Special Criminal Court heard that, when charged, McGarrigle replied:

"I believe this is an unjust and unwarranted charge based on a Draconian law. I'm innocent of any charge which will be brought against me."

When the men appeared in court on the 29th of February Detective Superintendent Diarmuid O'Sullivan of the Garda Special Detective Unit carried on the propaganda war against the RSM. As the Irish Independent reported (Saturday march 1st 2008)
“A kidnap and €1.6m extortion plot was masterminded by a wheelchair-bound INLA chief, Disabled Eddie McGarrigle, from Co Tyrone, orchestrated the botched ransom bid on a businessman in Cork last weekend which gardai foiled after a seven-month surveillance operation, the court was told.

Opposing bail O’Sullivan claimed that

“he feared the suspected INLA men would flee the country, intimidate witnesses and continue INLA activity if freed”

Now as the men were charged with INLA membership only and as all that is required is for the judges to believe the word of a Garda officer what witnesses could be intimidated? Surely not a garda officer?

And then how could they intimidate if they have already fled the country?

Seven months of alleged surveillance and the only charge they could come up with requires no evidence except one Garda’s word.

Bail was granted to our comrades but with massive civil liberty restrictions intending to limit any political activity

These charges are reminiscent of those brought by the brits during the seventies and eighties with the use of draconian powers which removed political activists from the streets by interning them in prison or remanding them on bail with such massive civil liberty restrictions that they cannot move from the house without fear of their bail being revoked.

The use of special powers by the Free State against Republicans is nothing new. However it is clear that a clear pattern is emerging in the 26-county state. Republican political activists are being demonised and harassed. Media frenzy is wiped up against those who do not conform to the aims and aspirations of bourgeois nationalist Ireland.

Precisely because of the political analysis and political activity of the IRSP and not the alleged activities of the INLA (whose ceasefire is solid) bourgeois nationalists fear the growth of those who utterly reject the capitulation to British Imperialist interests as represented by the Belfast and St. Andrews’s Agreements. More and more republican political activists who had bought into that ‘peace process” pushed by the provisional leadership now are realizing that they were sold a pup!

The obvious pole of attraction for those working class militants is towards those who consistently correctly analysed the capitulation by nationalist Ireland and put forward a radical socialist alternative. That is why bourgeois Ireland wants to crush the IRSP.
(JM)

Statement from Eddie McGarrigle
"Do not be influenced by the tripe you read in the right wing media regarding our recent arrest and subsequent charge of membership. In all the hours of questioning that we endured never once was it mentioned to us about tiger kidnapping, weapons etc. This tripe reported in the media should be viewed for what it is, an attempt by securocrats working to a political agenda to demonize, criminalize and demoralize the membership of the IRSM. No charges have been laid against any of us, which includes the two Dublin lads (who were released on bail), in connection to the lies planted in the media.

I want to put on record that the treatment that we all received whilst in custody was nothing short of torture. The Irish Government speak out and condemn human rights abuses in faraway places such as China and Iran, whilst their political police in the free state can carry out such acts without impunity, such hypocrisy. I myself was thrown out of my wheel chair onto the ground a number of times by a number of special branch interrogators, who took great delight in stamping, punching and slapping me in the head and body, whilst making sure that they had the camera turned off in the interrogation room. All the other lads suffered the same and more at the fists and boots of our torturers.

Eventually we were charged with membership of an illegal organization namely the INLA and remanded to Portlaoise Internment camp (The Irish Free States, Guantanamo Bay). A charge frequently used by the free state to intern Republicans-Republican Socialists. At our bail hearing in the Diplock Special Criminal Court, the state fiercely opposed bail to all of us.

Superintendent Dermot O'Sullivan was the main objector to bail, swearing under oath that the accused were involved in a conspiracy to extort money for the INLA from a businessman in Cork. When our legal team objected to O'Sullivan's evidence on the basis that none of us before the court were charged with any offence connected to evidence submitted by O Sullivan, one of the three judges quipped that he would allow the superintendent to continue with his evidence solely because

"The state was alleging that the accused were members of the INLA and it was reasonable to ascertain that you don't join the INLA and do nothing. I like many others have read the newspapers in regards to reports of tiger kidnappings and seizure of weapons".

How can anyone one of us expect any kind of justice when one of the judges on the bench comes out with such tripe?

Thankfully after a number of legal objections and arguments by our legal team, the three Judges in the Diplock Court set bail with stringent conditions and hopefully myself, John and Neil will be released in a week or so.
(The above statement was released on 2nd march All the comrades have since got bail)

Suicide and Drugs!!
In some areas of West Belfast, almost half of the people are being proscribed anti-depressant drugs. This revelation, published in a local newspaper came to light around the same time it was revealed that the manufacturer of the drug Seroxat withheld evidence that the controversial drug increased the likelihood of suicide amongst teenagers.

Suicide is a major issue not only in West Belfast but also amongst working class communities throughout Ireland, north and south. It’s imperative and the interest of the general public that the government establishes the direct link that exists between anti-depressants and suicides before more communities, families and lives are ripped apart by suicide epidemics.

Depression is an issue many people suffer from but often when treatment
is sought they are given a proscription for quick fix anti-depressant drugs rather than real treatment. The IRSP have said for years on end this was not the way forward in tackling depression and suicide in working class communities.

The suicidal tendencies that Seroxat exacerbates are so great that Seroxat cannot be proscribed to anyone under the age of 18. In nine tests conducted by the drug’s manufacturer and pharmaceutical giant Glaxo-Smith-Kline (GSK) between 1994 and 2002 the drug was found
in-effective in treating depression in children.

3.4% of children on the drug experienced mood changes, tried to harm themselves or thought of committing suicide, compared with 1.2% on placebo pills.

The new Stormont budget will see a cut in funding for those suffering mental illnesses with 500 workers set to lose their jobs in Community Health Care under the auspices of increased efficiency.

This is a crisis waiting to explode.

Sean McGowan,
Belfast.
Tuesday, 11 March 2008

The Power of Protest
On January Dasa Kacova was sacked by the management of Delaney’s restaurant for refusing to remove her jumper on a very cold day. Her case was then taken up by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Belfast. A written appeal by Dasa was ignored. Letters written on her behalf by trade unionists seeking re-imbursment for loss of earnings and holiday entitlements were ignored. Dasa is a migrant worker. Many employers have blatantly disregarded workers rights when the workers are migrants. This exploitation has the added benefit for the employers of turning some disgruntled local workers against migrant workers. Racism in effect becomes the tool of the employers in the daily class struggle. On Thursday 6th march the Belfast Trades Council organised a picket on a busy Thursday evening outside Delaney’s restaurant. Over forty comrades from a wide range of groups including the IRSP, the Socialist Party, An Eirígí, and rank and file trade unionists picketed for two hours. No one crossed the picket line and there was widespread support from the general public. Two days later a similar picket was held on Saturday afternoon. Almost immediately Dasa’s demands were conceded following a mangement decision to negotiate with the unions.
Dasa thanked all involved in the campaign of solidarity with her.
Direct action works and all of the left need to get their fingers out and join all protests against exploitation and oppression regardless of who organizes the protests. The bulk of working class people have no time for the political sectarians who puffed up with their own importance see themselves as the sole revolutionary vanguard and look down with disdain on all others.
(gr)

Raytheon Media Gag
There is a ban in the north of Ireland on the media mentioning anything to do with Raytheon, the third largest manufacturer of missiles in the world. The company employs nearly 80,000 people world wide.

The ban was imposed by the Derry Recorder, Judge Philpott on the 10th of December 2007. This follows the occupation by nine republicans and socialists of the Raytheon plant in Derry in protest at the Israeli bombing of Lebanon when missiles guided by Raytheon technology killed, among others 14 children in Quana on the 30th July.

The Derry Plant of Raytheon was ironically opened in 1991 by joint Noble Peace Prize holders John Hume and David Trimble. They claimed that the arrival of the arms industry factory to Derry was a first installment of an Irish peace dividend!!

The Derry Nine were charged with criminal damage. The British Crown Prosecution Service asked for and got the trial moved from Derry to Belfast on the grounds that protests in Derry could influence the jury. No media outlet has reported this transfer of a trial to Belfast.

All sections of the left republican and socialist need to give its full solidarity to the Derry comrades.

Republican Socialist Murals

Origionally published in An Glór newssheet of the RSYM
An Glór recently caught up with former INLA Prisoner turned artist Gerard Foster to discuss the striking murals that have appeared over the past two years in Belfast and Derry. The murals, sporting communist inspired red stars against a yellow backdrop have been unprecedented and have broken the traditional mould of what a Republican mural should constitute.

The idea originally came to fruition as the 25th Anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike was approaching. Gerard said “People everywhere referred to this event as an IRA hunger strike, with the three INLA members who died effectively being airbrushed out of history.” It was against this backdrop that a group of former prisoners and current IRSP members came together and decided to erect a series of murals to reclaim what appeared to be a forgotten piece of history.

Gerard and a group of others initially set about erecting a mural to Derry born Hunger Striker Patsy O’Hara in Belfast. Gerard commented “We knew so little about painting murals we started in February.”

Debate raged around the composition of the mural – distain was expressed from some quarters at the red star, a communist symbol, finding itself on a Republican mural. Those painting the mural were not sure themselves at first but Gerard says “There is also another forgotten piece of history, many have forgotten the reasons for the IRSP splitting from the Officials and why we exist today.”

The idea for the stylised red star was inspired by political art from Cuba and has now become the hallmark of IRSP commemorative murals throughout the country.

The first mural of Patsy O’Hara had such an impact that debate raged in the local press, people were traveling from afar to see and photograph it and people were discussing it – for the first time in many years the IRSP now had a mural it could call its own.

It wasn’t long before the group found themselves invited to Derry to paint another mural commemorating Patsy O’Hara shortly before the unveiling of a newly erected monument to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Patsy’s death. The Derry mural was completed in similar style to its Belfast counterpart but just as Gerard and the others were placing the final touches a car pulled up.

One of Patsy’s nieces came over and said her aunt was here to see the mural. Gerard recalls the nervousness felt as Peggy stood there gazing at the mural and he stood looking at her, trying to read her face for any sign of disapproval. She said nothing and continued to look at the mural. Her first words to the group were “I am glad you put INLA on it, Patsy died for more than the five demands he died for the INLA also”.

Speaking on plans for the future Gerard said a few ideas were currently being worked on, including a mural emphasising the anti-sectarian nature of Republicanism and the fact that many Republicans have came from the Protestant community.

From the Media
Can the US today really compare with Czechoslovakia in 1975?

This article appeared in the Guardian on Thursday March 13 2008 on p2 of the Comment & features section. It was last updated at 10:34 on March 13 2008.

Nine-times Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova has retaken Czech citizenship, which she lost when she defected from the former Czechoslovakia as an 18-year-old. Although she intends to retain her US citizenship, last year she told a Czech newspaper that she was now as ashamed of George Bush's America as she once was of the communist regime of her homeland. "The thing is, we elected Bush," she said. "That is worse! Against that, nobody chose a communist government in Czechoslovakia."
Strong words, but can one really compare the Czechoslovakia of 1975 with the United States of today?

Czechoslovakia, 1975: Despite widespread discontent with the oppressive Husak regime, a 1974 study finds active support for the government in 15% of the population, identified as pensioners, party bureaucrats, careerists, "parasites", extremist ideologues and persons involved in the Stalinist repression who fear that liberalisation might force them to account for their crimes.
US, 2008: George Bush's approval ratings generally hover around 30%, although one recent poll put it as low as 19%.

Czechoslovakia, 1975: Free healthcare available to all citizens.
US, 2008: 47 million Americans (16% of the population) have no health insurance. Another 16 million are "underinsured".

Czechoslovakia, 1975: Despite an increased standard of living and the widespread availability of material goods, consumerism is failing to placate a population fed up with draconian political controls.
US, 2008: Despite a rise in the cost of living, consumerism continues to placate a population largely oblivious to the curtailment of its freedoms.

Czechoslovakia, 1975: Growth of "net material product" is at an annual average of 5.7%, exceeding the target rate of 5.1% set out in the fifth Five-Year Plan. Full employment.
US, 2008: Energy Information Administration this week predicted negative growth in the two forthcoming financial quarters, the official definition of recession. 101,000 private-sector jobs were lost in February alone.

Czechoslovakia, 1975: The granting of visas to foreigners is "arbitrary", with denials justified under the "defence of national security", according to dissidents.
US, 2008: The American government uses the Patriot Act to bar entry to foreign visitors on the basis of ideology, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Czechoslovakia, 1975: Torture, though not officially sanctioned, has become a covert tool of state policy.
US, 2008: Torture officially sanctioned.

Provisional Sinn Fein Ard Feis
Delegates also hotly debated the place of socialism in the party constitution though, in reality, this is essentially the argument about ‘‘modernisation’’.

One speaker pointed out that socialism was associated, not with political utopias, but with repressive regimes; speakers who extolled the party’s socialist credo were far more numerous.

‘‘Adherence to socialism will maintain our policy advantage,” insisted one, evoking the inevitability of the socialist republic.

How would this come about? Another speaker had the answer: ‘‘Our unrivalled republican socialist ingenuity.” The motion calling for the constitution to be amended to drop the socialist aspiration was overwhelmingly defeated. (Sunday Business post Sunday March 2nd 2008)
I did 'smash' Sinn Fein - Paisley
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7285912.stm
Outgoing Northern Ireland first minister Ian Paisley claims he did achieve his pledge to "smash" his republican rivals Sinn Fein.
Speaking on the BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, he said Sinn Fein could no longer be "true republicans" because they were "in part of the British government". ....

Andrew Marr asked Mr Paisley how he could reconcile working with Sinn Fein, the party he wanted to "smash".
"I did smash them because I took away their main plank," he said.
"For their main plank was that they wouldn't recognise the British government. Now, they're in part of the British government."

Fact File

US National Debt

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 11 Mar 2008 at 01:22:13 PM GMT is: $9,400,154,447,537.56

The estimated population of the United States is 303,602,664 so each citizen’s share of this debt is $30,962.03.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $1.69 billion per day since September 29, 2006!

The U.S. is in recession. The U.S. lost 63,000 jobs last month, the biggest drop since the start of the Iraq war over five years ago, and the latest in an increasingly gloomy trend. The private sector has now shed an average of 47,000 jobs every month over the past three, with no pick up in sight.
“The 63,000 decline in US non-farm payrolls in February is the clearest and most reliable indication yet that the economy is now in recession”, said Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics. There was a decline of 101,000 in private sector payrolls last month compared to a modest 26,000 drop in January.

The Plough Vol 05 No 02

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:26:00 +0000

The Plough Vol 5 No 2
Web Site www.theplough.netfirms.com/

February Friday 29th 2008

e-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial:

2) Problems of infiltration

3) Gerry Adams address to Ulster Sinn Fein

4) The Lisbon Treaty: A further erosion of democracy

5) Ruairí Ó Brádaigh on the Belfast Agreement

6) From the Media

Problems of infiltration

It is standard practice for the security forces that defend imperialist interests to infiltrate revolutionary organisations as well as many non-revolutionary organisations. Even Church based organisations have been infiltrated This infiltration usually has a number of key aims; to gather intelligence on what is going on; to pinpoint the key people in the organisation: to spot those with weak spots who can be either blackmailed to work for the security forces or else used to destroy the organisation itself . Their key aims are to infiltrate, undermine, absorb, manipulate, damage and destroy.

Police agents tend to be the ones who advocate extreme and or violent tactics regardless of actual existing conditions. They also promote any kind of faction fight which might weaken or split an organization. When there is an internal split and there are two clearly opposing sides they advocate purges, expulsions and witch hunts

Needless to say such activities actually leads to a demoralisation of the membership Any witch hunt against suspected police agents only demoralizes the members of an organization who start to suspect everyone of being a possible agent. That is why there is a steady but slow drip feed of who worked as informers in Sinn Fein and the IRA(P) The aim is to cause confusion, create the belief that the security forces knew everything and are invincible. It also has the added bonus of causing committed revolutionaries to even question their own past activities.

Recently an iconic republican and socialist freedom fighter, Brendan, the Dark, Hughes sadly died. In an article in the Sunday Tribune, Suzanne Breen quoting from his writings conveyed that sense of demoralisation, defeat and disillusionment that not only Brendan but hundreds more republican fighters have felt at the right wing turn of Sinn Fein and the spate of informer revelations,

The last of the writings he gave me conveyed his inner torment:
"I go to bed in pain, I wake in the middle of the night in pain, I get up in pain. What the f**k was it all about?" (Sunday tribune Feb 24th 2008)
Irish Republicans have always been infiltrated. During the sixties the gardai in the South of Ireland had a highly place agent in the Army Council of the IRA. Republicans and Socialists have to accept that it goes with the territory. In the last ten years the Republican Socialist Movement has uncovered at least three police agents some with a clear agenda to provoke sectarian stife including the burning of Orange Halls.

Also acting on distorted bits of information gleaned by these informers the British and Irish intelligence services have been disseminating black propaganda against the RSM for years.

Just a few examples should suffice.

Stories were circulated almost weekly in cartoon rags like the Sunday World that the INLA was involved in drug dealing. Evidence ? None. For the record the INLA is opposed to drug dealing and no serving INLA member has been convicted of drug offences.

A security force document dated January 1998 PS01-stated that

“PIRA would have  sanctioned the murder of Billy Wright in the Maze Prison,” .

"... it had at the same time gained a hold over INLA  whom they could use to carry out PIRA-driven operations  whilst they were publicly able to maintain their own  ceasefire.”

“the recent murder of Billy Wright by the INLA  must have been cleared by PIRA and they would not come  down on the perpetrators.”(14th Jan 1998)

This information which of course was completely false was then leaked to M15 stooges in the media both to belittle the efforts of the INLA and also as a stick to put pressure on the Sinn Fein leadership then in delicate talks with the British and Irish Governments.

A series of articles also appeared in the cartoon press slandering a leading member of the RSM falsely alleging among other things that ; he was Chief of Staff of the INLA, ; he was fighting for control of the INLA against others; he was feuding with the local IRA(P) ;was drug dealing and doing deals with loyalists in the LVF.

Recently both North and South in response to the steady growth of the IRSP in membership, influence and activity the intelligence services have formulated a clear strategy to destroy the IRSP by affirming clearly that membership of the IRSP also entails membership of the INLA. Already nine comrades have been charged in the South with membership of the INLA before Special Courts where they can be convicted on the word of a senior Garda officer. Party meetings have been raided by the Free State Special branch and party activists repeatedly stopped and harassed carrying out political activity. British Intelligence documents have been worded to give the same impression and also falsely claim that the leadership of the IRSP are also the army council of the INLA.

Irish Republicans have been well used to such activities. Obviously it is best to be wary of those who advocates dangerous tactics that could damage members, supporters or the movement. Those within an organisation who are extremely factional and divisive also need to be treated with suspicion. Those who also take on the mantle of a Joe Stalin and want to launch purges against party members may also be working to a different agenda. A person who combines all three of the above activities may not necessarily be an agent but their activities can demoralise and disillusion other comrades.

The best response is to oppose their arguments, patiently explaining the correct tactics and oppose all efforts to splinter the party. If they are sincere and not infiltrators, their response to such efforts should indicate their revolutionary committment..

But always remember that since revolutionaries by definition can not reject all violence, nor all illegal methods, someone who is advocating violent or even illegal tactics is not necessarily an infiltrator.

The Republican tradition of clandestine military struggle always open it to police infiltration. The same is true for every struggle in which an organization of the left opts for a military strategy, justified or not by circumstances.

The key defence against infiltration for a revolutionary organization is having a set of strategy and tactics appropriate for the conditions, an internal political life that is as democratic as the conditions allow and which learns from the previous experience of the revolutionary movement.

Current circumstances in Ireland, North and South allow for political education, internal democratic discussion, and open political activity. The IRSP have an opportunity to reach out to the mass of working people in Ireland with a clear revolutionary anti-capitalist message. Only with mass political work can we lessen the influence of those who would be provocateurs agents and informers.

With acknowledgement to Anthony Boynton >inThu, 14 Feb 2008

Subject: [Marxism] Infiltration and remedies

(Below we republish, for the benefit of those who still harbour illusions in PSF socialism a speech by a leading member of Provisional Sinn Fein)

Gerry Adams address to Ulster Sinn Fein

Feb 1st 03

Building the Future – Gerry Adams MP MLA

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP MLA addressed the AGM of the Party’s Cúige Uladh – Ulster AGM – in Letterkenny Donegal. The following is an edited version of his speech: In his remarks Mr. Adams stressed the importance of the party’s work to build Sinn Féin. He said:

“We are endeavouring, to the best of our ability, in the Councils; in the Assembly; in Leinster House; in Údarás na Gaeltachta, and in the European Parliament, to ensure that our representatives are pursuing the correct policies, in keeping with our manifesto commitments and our republican objectives. In addition we are very aware of the need to ensure that the republican constituency, and our own organisation, understands what we are doing.

And we are equally conscious of the imperative to communicate what we are doing and our vision of republicanism in the 21st century, and its relevance to everyday life, to the widest section of people and in a coherent and effective manner. “

The Sinn Féin leader emphasised that the party is “not anti-business. We are pro-business.”

Mr. Adams said: “Neither are we a high tax party. Although, we are against the super profits being made by multi-nationals, and the big banks, like the obscene $31.3bn profit announced this week by Shell.

To tackle this a special tax should be applied to profits over a reasonable percentage. Sinn Féin understands the need for a strong economy to provide the essential health and education and other services that citizens have a right to expect in the 21st century. Building the economy is therefore a major priority for our party.

That means developing a new working relationship between our party and those who are trying to build their businesses and economic projects; particularly in the indigenous small and medium sized business sector and the trade union movement.

Sinn Féin also actively supports workers rights, including the right to a fair wage, decent conditions of employment and the right to be part of a trade union. We need to work together to deliver the next generation of jobs that will drive the economy forward and sustain economic prosperity.”

Referring to the Assembly debate last week on the Programme for Government, the Budget, and the Investment Package Mr. Adams spoke of the progress that was made, the attitude of the SDLP and the imperative of securing ‘economic sovereignty’.

He said: “The electorate here in the south is starting to wake up to the way it which it was conned in the recent election. But unless we build a credible campaigning alternative for them to support it will be difficult to make the progress necessary to fully tackle inequalities in our society. An important part of this is the progress made last week in the northern Assembly where we secured agreement on the Programme for Government, the Budget, and the Investment Package. This was a very significant achievement which was widely welcomed. On the other hand the negative attitude of the SDLP was not. The SDLP’s deranged behaviour in the Assembly is proof that it hasn’t recovered from the electoral setback it received last March. It has no coherent leadership and no coherent politics and it obvious that its leadership lives in a little world of its own. Back in the real world Sinn Féin takes satisfaction from the fact that the Programme for Government, the Budget, and the Investment Package were equality proofed. That means that government policy and the money it spends are being scrutinised to ensure that they are being applied and used in the best interests of all citizens. This is the first time this has ever happened. And it is entirely due to the determined approach of the Sinn Féin Ministers and our Assembly team. However we are very mindful that this is only the first Programme for Government, Budget, and Investment Package of this Executive. And we know that there are many problems of disadvantage and poverty, in particular child poverty, in urban and rural areas; there is serious underfunding in our health and education services; in the environment; on cultural rights; in infrastructure; in our agricultural industry and economy; in housing provision, and across many other issues. We don’t have enough money to do what we would like. The reality is that we have to work within an inadequate block grant from the British Government. It is a significant problem that taxation and public expenditure policies are determined in London. The fact is we are on the edge of British Exchequer concerns. That is self-evident in the inadequate block grant, the absence of any meaningful financial peace dividend, as well as London’s refusal to accept the need for a lowering of corporation tax. No British Chancellor – no British government – has ever worried about the impact of their policies on people living in East Belfast, or North Antrim or the Shankill. Lack of economic sovereignty is something that the Assembly and Executive, and unionism in particular, will have to face up to in the time ahead. The current financial structures do not work for citizens in the north. We need greater fiscal independence and an increase in the block grant if we are to deliver high-quality public services, and have a bigger, better, more effective, more efficient and prosperous economy. That means the Executive and the Assembly presenting the British Government with a united position which seeks greater economic sovereignty in the time ahead. It also means all of us, including unionists, building on the economic and business links that exist on this island. I am convinced that sustainable social and economic progress will only occur in the context of a single-island economy. And irrespective of our other differences, none of the parties in the Assembly underestimates the potential for greater prosperity that the all-Ireland political institutions, agencies and bodies can bring in times ahead. “ Gerry Adams also set out some of the calendar of work ahead of party activists, including our party Ard Fheis in four weeks, the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and a second run of Townhall Meetings that are scheduled for April. He said: “At the end of this month we will be holding our Ard Fheis. In addition, April 10th is the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. To mark that landmark date Sinn Fein will be organising another series of Townhall meetings in April. These events will provide us with an opportunity to reflect on the positive gains made in the last 10 years; the positive work that has been done on policing and justice since last January; and to outline our Sinn Féin vision for the road ahead and the achievement of our republican goals.

These meetings will also provide Sinn Fein with an opportunity to report on our stewardship and to explain our strategy and goals for the time ahead. Later in the year we plan to do another series of Townhall meetings throughout the South. This year we also celebrate the 40th anniversary of the civil rights campaign taking to the streets. So, as in 1988 when we marked the 20th anniversary of the Civil Rights campaign, Sinn Féin will be organising a series of events, including public meetings, marches, and debates to commemorate NICRA s unique and important contribution to the last 40 years.

The Cúige will also be involved in the next few months in the campaign against the Lisbon Treaty. Sinn Féin will be the only significant party campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty referendum. It will be a tough and difficult campaign. But I believe that Sinn Féin will be standing with the majority of people on this island who share our concerns about the direction of the EU. “ Concluding Mr. Adams said; “we have a lot of work ahead of us - all part of the jig-saw of activities and strategies which are about building this party; building our electoral support; advancing our republican goals; and building the future.

To succeed we have to take the republican message of hope and change, of progress and equality, to every village and town and city; to every street and parish; to every corner of this island; and to every citizen.

Today we can take great confidence from the reality that republicanism is bigger and more popular than in generations; and is ready to achieve what those previous generations only dreamed of. This is our time to change the course of Irish history.

(Below we reprint an article from Socialist Voice about the coming referendum in the 26 counties around the Lisbon Treaty. Whilst the Plough has serious reservations about the strategy proposed we republish this as a contribution to the ongoing debate on the European Union within republican socialism)

The Lisbon Treaty: A further erosion of democracy

The campaign for a No vote on the Lisbon Treaty or renamed EU constitution (90 per cent the same as the rejected constitution) continues to gather pace.

The struggle for a No vote will be one of David-and-Goliath proportions.
The Irish establishment are pulling out all the stops to secure a Yes vote, even enlisting the support of the French fascist Le Pen, to make it appear that he represents the No campaigners. Those promoting the Treaty from the social-democratic position are to the fore in attempting to present opponents as narrow nationalist or fascist.

The Government plans to hold more than forty meetings of parliamentarians around the country to “inform” the public of the contents of the treaty, while the Forum on Europe plans to hold sixty
“information meetings.” We will be subjected to a massive barrage of supposedly objective information.

This is the means by which the Government hopes to use public money to promote one side and to circumvent previous High Court and Supreme Court decisions about the use of public money to influence the outcome in a particular way.

The two main establishment parties have stated that they intend to spend nearly €2 million in their campaigns. The Irish elite have been attempting to set the terms and the parameters of the debate, in the hope of preventing a wider discussion on its content.

• They will present those opposed to the Treaty as far-leftists or as fascists— people and organisations that no reasonable or sensible person could associate with.

• They will try to control the debate around the mantra that “Europe” has been good for us and that there is no need to discuss the contents.

• They will claim that it is purely a “reform” treaty, with nothing new.

• They will claim that it is not the constitution that was rejected by
the French and Dutch voters.

• The /Irish Times/ has been actively promoting and encouraging
Jean-Marie Le Pen to visit Ireland.

• They are attempting to frighten the voters with dire warnings of the consequences of a No vote.

* This treaty will not be defeated by a narrow “leftist” opportunist posturing but by presenting the case against the treaty from a broad democratic viewpoint. We need to pull together broad democratic opinion into a position of opposition. If the anti-treaty forces fall for the political traps set by the establishment and start attacking other No forces, we will lose before we can get started.*

The supporters of the treaty can be taken on and defeated by exposing the false statements, distortions and lies they are peddling with regard to its content.

We need to present and win the arguments in relation to

• a further significant transfer to the European Union of sovereignty over a wide range of areas affecting Irish people;

• sixty-eight new areas that would be decided by majority votes;

• the loss of a Commissioner;

• the continued and growing concentration of power in the hands of the
Commission;

• the further weakening of national governments and thereby of democratic accountability;

• the granting of autonomy to the European Commission, accountable only to itself, further eroding democratic control;

• the continued shift away from a union of equals (if it ever was) to one where growing power lies with the big member-states by the use of majority or qualified voting;

• the continued drive to build a centralised superstate with is own military-industrial complex and army;

• the fact that the European Union would become a legal entity in its own right, superior to its member-states, able to negotiate international treaties and agreements in its own name, which it is not able to do now.

We would lose control over foreign policy, as this would be decided by qualified majority voting rather than unanimity.

* This would mean that at forums such as the United Nations, if the
European Union adopted a position it would be binding on member-states and they would have to vote for that position.*

We could have the British and French governments voting on our behalf in the Security Council; or the European Union itself could seek a seat on the Security Council. And the countries of the majority world would be faced with a formidable imperial bloc. The European Union would have its own “high representative” for foreign policy; it would be possible to have its own diplomatic representatives if it so wished.

The treaty would be a self-amending treaty in specific areas. It would
further consolidate the neo-liberal economic dogma within the European
Union. It affirms the priority and superiority of the market.

This is not a complete list of the areas that this treaty would affect or change but only some of the most significant ones.

One of the areas where we need to build resistance is within the trade union movement, which is now feeling the impact that the Services
Directive is having on its members’ jobs and living standards. Elements of the leadership of the trade union movement have been withholding open support for the treaty as a bargaining lever with the Government so as to get legislation relating to agency workers.

The trade union leadership supported the Maastricht Treaty, the Single
European Act and the Amsterdam and Nice Treaties without question, taking the word of the various Governments on the content and the consequences of adopting them in blind faith. That unquestioning position and support meant that they took their eye off the ball, and they are now paying the price.

Trade unionists, like many others, made judgements based on who else was opposing the treaties rather than looking seriously at their content and the possible consequences for them.

* As more and more power is ceded to Brussels we will have less and less opportunity of bringing about change here at home. As the European monopolies, bankers and big corporations concentrate their power and
control in and through the Commission, Irish workers must fight for a weakening of its power and its controlling influence.*

(from SOCIALIST VOICE CPOI cpoi@eircom.net)

Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, President of Sinn Féin Poblachtach on the Belfast Agreement

“The Belfast Agreement of 1998 does not provide for final British government disengagement from Ireland and therefore cannot be regarded as the ultimate settlement.

“This agreement took nine years to become effective and is basically an artificial arrangement to secure British rule in an artificially carved out area of Ireland and to safeguard the future of the vested interests of the 26-County State.

“It has succeeded in creating an “institutionalised sectarianism” that is going to constrain the right of all the people of Ireland to self-determination. In the medium to long-term, this artificiality is bound to collapse. When the Stormont budget was introduced last week there was only the very small Alliance Party to oppose it. There is in effect no opposition.

“The Agreement has succeeded only in subverting former Republicans to act as agents of British rule. Such an arrangement can never be viewed as a long term solution. Meanwhile the nationalist electorate continues to grow as is clear at local council level. However to look forward to a small majority of nationalists in the Six-County area within a gerrymandered Ireland is not the way ahead. With the passage of time the question arises: “Would they still be nationalists?”

From the Media

Tax havens lure super-rich

Sunday, January 20, 2008
Latest figures from the Irish Revenue show the extent to which many Irish high rollers have chosen to base themselves abroad, writes Ian Kehoe.

They are the business elite of Ireland, but many are now opting to pay tax in other jurisdictions. From Malta to Bermuda and from Portugal to Gibraltar, Ireland’s high rollers are relocating to low-tax destinations across the globe.

Although Ireland’s tax rates are relatively low by international standards, an increasing number of high-net-worth individuals are deciding to leave the country of their birth and move to places with more welcoming and forgiving tax regimes.

For years, the Irish authorities knew that many of the country’s wealthiest individuals were not registered in Ireland for tax purposes. However, they were never able to gauge just how many individuals were outside the Irish tax net.

New figures prepared by the Revenue Commissioners finally reveal just how many tax exiles have decamped Ireland for other jurisdictions. According to new figures obtained by The Sunday Business Post, there are 19 high-net-worth individuals who are Irish domiciled but who are legally non-resident for tax purposes.

The figures, from the Department of Finance, only includes individuals whose net worth (their assets less their liabilities) is valued at more than €50 million.

There are estimated to be more than 250 people on the high-net worth list, which is monitored by a special unit within the Revenue Commissioners.

Nineteen out of 250 people might not seem like a high ratio, but it includes the majority of Ireland’s super wealthy. Of the top 20 individuals on the Irish Rich List, at least half are tax resident outside Ireland.

John Magnier and JP McManus, the Irish horseracing tycoons, are both based in Geneva, as is Hugh Mackeown, the chairman of the Musgrave Group, the €4.6 billion Cork retail giant.

Michael Smurfit, the packaging magnate, is the honorary Irish consul to Monaco, while dancer Michael Flatley also pays his tax in the principality. Billionaire financier Dermot Desmond officially resides in Gibraltar. A number of these high profile figures have pointed out over the years that their business activities generate millions for the Irish Exchequer.

The 19 names on the list are just the top of the tax exile iceberg, however. According to the Department of Finance, it only includes individuals who filed an annual return in Ireland for the 2005 financial year.

As such, it only pertains to people who generated an income in Ireland or made a gain from the disposal of an asset during the period in question. Therefore, it does not take into account Irish individuals who earned their money overseas and who did not generate an income in Ireland during the year.

It is not just the high rollers who are relocating to tax-efficient economies. According to the Revenue Commissioners, Ireland now has more than 3,000 tax exiles who claim non-residency. Many of these individuals are not in the top 250, but have serious wealth nonetheless.

According to the Revenue, there were 3,050 individuals who claimed non-residency for tax purposes in 2005, the first year that the tax authority was able to discover the actual number of Irish tax exiles.

Press Statement

"Tightened Siege on Gaza Reaches Unprecedented Levels and
Endangers the Life of 1.5 Million Civilians"

Israel has imposed a severe siege on the Gaza Strip since Hamas' winning of the parliamentary elections in January, 2006. Furthermore, Israel has tightened this siege following Hamas military domination over the Gaza Strip in June, 2007 when Israel declared that the Gaza Strip is an enemy entity.

Two weeks ago, Israel has tightened the siege and embargo imposed on the Gaza Strip reaching unprecedented levels. This action included various sanctions such as: cut-off fuel and electricity provisions to Gaza as well as all other energy resources. Israel has also imposed strict closure on all Gaza Strip border crossings, preventing movement of civilians including patients' for medical services. Such procedures led to entire shut-down of the sole energy producing station in the Gaza Strip, two days ago. As a consequence, Gaza is drowning in darkness whereas electricity from all homes, industrial, and health facilities in the Gaza Strip was cut-off entirely.

The electricity cut-off, therefore, has paralyzed all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip as water supply couldn’t reach the homes of Palestinians; elevators in the high-rise towers have not functioned properly; and household electrical instruments have been shut down completely. Nonetheless, what is more critical is the water and sewage systems are about to shut down in addition to electricity generators in major hospitals and sanitation vehicles. All such matters warn of a humanitarian, health and environmental crisis.

Due to the denial of deliveries of vital supplies of food, fuel and humanitarian aids to the Gaza Strip, there has been a crisis in obtaining necessary food supplies for the people in Gaza. This situation added to the already existing crisis due to the fact that 85% of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip depends mainly on the humanitarian aids for securing their basic needs of survival. Furthermore, the stoppage of electricity and fuel as well as flour cut-off have caused even more paralysis in the bakeries in the Gaza Strip, thus preventing the Palestinians from receiving their necessary needs of bread.

All forms and consequences of the siege imposed by Israel aggravate the Palestinians' sufferings in Gaza Strip, coinciding with the economic crisis and high rate of poverty and unemployment. The new procedures of siege have led to significant rise of burdens on the Palestinian civilians and families, as well as an emergence of a new wave of feelings of panic, anger, suppression and helplessness. As a result, the psychological sufferings of people are intensifying in the presence of the economic hardships.

Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) is gravely concerned over the continuation of the tightened siege and isolating Gaza from the outside world. Further, GCMHP warns against the critical humanitarian, health and mental ramifications of this siege on the civilians which threaten their life and significantly deepen their suffering. Such consequences are becoming more apparent as reports warning of the death of patients in intensive care units and deterioration of the health conditions of chronic disease patients including cancer and kidney failure.

In this critical time, GCMHP calls upon the international community, human rights organizations and all peace activists around the world to hold their moral and legal responsibilities to end the Israeli inhumane siege and its repercussions that reach the levels of war crimes. Additionally, GCMHP demands the international community not to remain silent towards the Israeli crimes and to immediately intervene and pressure Israel to end its siege and collective punishment imposed on the Gaza Strip that threatens the life of 1.5 million innocent civilians.

Gaza Community Mental Health Programme

The Plough Vol 05 No 01

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:25:00 +0000

The Plough
Web Site www.theplough.netfirms.com
Vol 5-No 1
Sunday January 20th 2008

e-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial:

2) Three areas of struggle

3) Book Reviews
a. The Politics of Enmity

4) From the newspapers

5) Facts

6) Without comment

7) Letters

8) What’s On

Editorial

We would like to send New Year greetings to all our readers in this the first Plough of 2008 and thank them for their support and comments through the last four and a half years.

The new year usually sees people in the advanced countries make resolutions to give up smoking, loss weight save money have more holidays and so on. That luxury does not extent to about 92% of the world’s population. Most live in absolute (as opposed to relative) poverty. Irish Republican Socialists basing themselves on the revolutionary ideas of the leading leftist thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries resolutely stand on the side of all those who suffer under imperialism and capitalism. We are internationalists, secular socialists, and Irish Republicans. We can do no other than take an internationalist stance.

We salute the heroic resistance of the Palestinian masses to the Zionist occupation, we support the armed resistance to the USA occupation of Iraq, we applaud the Cuban masses for their defence of the gains of the Cuban revolution and we stand resolutely with the Bolivarian movement in Venezulea as it attempts to break free from the chains of capitalism.

All over the world there are major problems including global warming, starvation, ethnic wars, armies of occupation, slavery and massive poverty. We believe only the establishment of socialism on a world wide scale can begin to deal realistically with these problems.

But we are not abstract dreamers. We act now. Living in the Ireland of the year 2008 we must deal with the problems that confront the working classes today. It is clear that there is a downturn in the international capitalist market. House prices in many areas are plummeting. Speculators and landlords are taking a hit. In the south of Ireland the bench marking body wants public sector workers to take a 0% rise in wages while inflation goes up. Local councilors in the north and south have been in the past and still are in hock to the speculators and owners of property. One only has to look at the links between Ian Paisley Junior and property developer Seymour Sweeney to realise that there are those who think that the business of politics is business itself!

Three Areas of Struggle

The growth of the IRSP as an organisation has been steady and consistent for the past ten years. More and more young people have now come to accept that what previously posed as a radical republican socialist alternative was merely a vehicle by which aspiring sections of the petty bourgeoise could get their hands on the levers of power and use them to the advantage of their class. Others think that they can turn the clock back and re- fight the old fight only this time with better leaders. They are wrong. Since 1798 Irish Republicans have used armed resistance against the British. At no time have republicans defeated the British. At times the guns or pikes were put away “for another day” as republicans faded into the background and reformist nationalists took the lead. These reformists were at all times ready to settle for less than full Irish independence. And the republicans in the background failed to seriously challenge this reformism. No! They were too busy dreaming of past defeats or looking forward to another generation repeating their own failures. So-called mainstream republicanism failed the Irish people. By the rejection of political action and by solely concentrating on armed resistance they helped create the conditions for reformists to park the struggle for liberation.

The alternative strategy is that advocated by Republican Socialists. It is the same strategy as James Connolly. It is the class struggle.
Some people see the term “class struggle” as somehow representing only the struggles of workers for better pay and conditions and refer to this as
“economism”. That is not our meaning. Rather we identify with V.I. Lenin when he clearly outlined the role of the revolutionary,

“-a popular tribune who knows best how to react to all and sundry expressions of arbitariness and oppression wherever they occur, which ever stratum or class they affect; who knows how to generalize all these expressions into one picture of police violence and capitalist exploitation, who knows how to utilize every little thing in order to expound before all men his Socialist conviction and his democratic demands , to explain to each and everyone the universal historical significance of the liberating struggle of the proletariat.” (V.I. Lenin “What is to be done?” Page 124 Panther Modern Society London 1970)

We must adopt to today’s conditions while bearing in mind the arguments of Marx and Engels that there were three great areas of struggle for revolutionaries, the political, the economic and the theoretical.
To concentrate on only one of these areas at the expense of the other two is to pave the way for defeat, disillusionment and the passivity of the masses. Irish republicans who put all their faith in the armed struggle simply disarm the masses. Look at how a militant working class nationalist working class has almost sleep walked into acceptance of the new Stormont as their previous leaders in armed struggle simply capitulated to the pressures.
Nationalist workers did so because of their loyalty to the organizations that awoke them to political life and gave an organized expression to their aspirations and put them into words. That role was in the main taken by the provisional movement.
On the other hand there were those who concentrated on the day today struggles of the workers while ignoring the democratic tasks of the day and in reality capitulated to the backwardness of many workers by refusal after refusal to campaign around the issue of the national question. The failure of many on the left to actively participate in the day to day struggle for civil rights in the late sixties or to actively participate in the campaign against internment in the early seventies simply paved the way for the provisional leadership to capture the allegiance of the nationalist working class. Breaking that allegiance is the responsibility of those who would claim the mantle of republican revolutionaries.

The defeat of the republican struggle from 1969 and the failure to prevent neo-colonial exploitation of Irish workers and of our natural resources was and is down to a failure of revolutionary leadership

In the early part of the 20th century the Bolshevik Party succeeded in a very short time in winning over the decisive majority of the workers and soldiers in the Russian revolution. They did this not by oratory, rhetoric, spontaneity, activism or sloganising. They did this on the basis of clear Marxist ideas and methods. They combined an ideological firmness on all fundamental questions with tactical flexibility needed to win over the masses to the side of the revolution. Building such a party today in Ireland will be no easy task. Ta Power pointed out the scorn some activists held for those who developed ideas and posed political actions. Within republicanism there is a tendency to denigrate thinkers particularly those who challenge the orthodox ideas of generations. And there is also sadly a lack of flexibility in tactics. To reject tactics such as fighting elections or taking seats in parliaments is to tie ones hand behind ones back before entering the ring. Republican socialists have always been flexible able to adopt to the situation we find ourselves in and work it to our advantage.

But we now need to accelerate the ideological development of the movement accelerating our political education to lay the basis for the formation of a new generation of political leaders who can lay a strong foundation for renewed revolutionary struggle in the days weeks and years ahead.
But along with this theoretical development we also need to intensify our work in the political struggles of the workers.
In this the tenth year of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement a priority could be a series of meetings /marches denouncing the fruits of that agreement. Republican socialists should seek to do that with other radical bodies but if necessary go it alone.
Again in the south of Ireland we need to re-establish our commitment to Connolly socialism and should organise meetings with others on the relevance of Connolly socialism today.
But these activities should not detract from pushing social issues, unemployment, housing, health and education etc. We need to show that Stormont and the Dail are an integral part of the capitalist system and will work only for the rich.
We Republican Socialists should also use this time to re-emphasise our non sectarian republicanism. We should not be afraid to preach the gospel of divine discontent in areas where we would usually not go. Loyalist/Protestant working class people should have nothing to fear from socialism or republicanism. They are not our enemies. Militant actions by sectarians masquerading as republicans pushed these people away from our politics. Let us reaffirm that we are pro-working class.

A major advance towards that would be by increasing our participation in the trade unions. Republican socialists are weak on the ground in trade union activity yet that is an area of struggle that holds out great possibilities of recruiting militant workers regardless of their perceived religious background.
The quality of the leadership is ultimately decisive in all revolutionary struggles. Republican Socialists have had outstanding leaders in the past including the likes of Seamus Costello, Miriam Daly, Ronnie Bunting, Ta Power and Gino Gallagher. Our movement has quite rightly paid homage to our dead comrades. But we also need to remember that revolutionaries including all of the above look forward to a better world. We need to look forward not back and establish a republican socialist leadership of the highest quality.
Gerry Ruddy

Book Review

(a slightly different version of this originally appeared in HISTORY IRELAND November/December 2007))
The Politics of Enmity

Paul Bew
Ireland: The Politics of Enmity 1789-2006
Oxford University Press, 2007 (613pp)

This volume is an addition to the Oxford History of Modern Europe series. “The book is about the conflict between the Protestant British -both on the British ‘mainland’ and in Ireland itself- and the Catholic Irish” states the preface. More specifically, it is a detailed history of the management of that enmity from the 1800 Act of Union to the 2006 St Andrews Agreement. All the various political frameworks created by the British state to solve its ‘Irish problem’ - Home Rule, partition, etc- are discussed in detail. With great skill, Bew recreates the political world of the ruling classes in London, Dublin and Belfast throughout two centuries through an extensive use of archives and papers available, and also attempts to convey the mood of popular politics through a particular emphasis on the press. The book is meticulously researched, thoroughly argued, often original in its insights; and most of its conclusions will be subject to controversy.

The author writes from a perspective sympathetic to liberal unionism and what he calls ‘conciliatory nationalism’. Parnell’s May 1891 speech, which insisted that “conciliation” was the only possible nationalist response to the “reasonable or unreasonable” sentiments of the Unionist community expresses one of the central arguments advanced by this book. While Bew defends ‘conciliatory nationalism’, he is critical of republicanism for failing to either convince or conciliate Unionism. However, it is not that Republicanism disregards the issue of Unionist consent to political arrangements, where it differs from other political forces like constitutional nationalism is that it refuses Unionist consent to be a prerequisite for constitutional change. While arguing that it is undesirable to coerce a ‘minority,’ republicanism contends that to give a guarantee to a ‘minority’ in advance against all coercion is to put a premium on unreasonableness and to make a settlement impossible. It will have no incentives to consider other political options so long as the British government gives it unconditional guarantees. The consent of a minority becomes transformed into a veto over the majority - unity by consent of a minority, partition by coercion of the majority. Bew’s stress on the importance of conciliation is partially based on a reading of history which concludes that it is impossible to coerce Ulster.

However, the fact that Ian Paisley could admit in a recent interview regarding why he came to endorse the St Andrews Agreement -“The British government threatened me. I was frightened. I was frightened for my country”- suggests that in specific historical conjunctures this can be possible. (1)

The emphasis upon the issues of conciliation and coercion is one of the strongest points of the book. But the author’s defence of conciliatory nationalism against a republicanism which exacerbates enmity with Unionism is sometimes problematical. Pearse for example was a constitutional home ruler who became a revolutionary after the Tory and Unionist subversion of the democratic request for Home Rule. Bonar Law’s “there are things stronger than parliamentary majorities”, the Curragh mutiny, the Larne gun running -events dismissed by Bew as “an extreme form of the politics of theatre” and as threats “more apparent than real”- convinced some conciliatory nationalists that the constitutional process was not allowed to be effective and that the threat of force was.

In his reading of the 1916 Rising, reduced to the more than questionable notion of a “blood sacrifice”, Bew underestimates the degree to which the actions of the Tories and the Unionists had a central role in driving figures of proven constitutional instincts such as Pease away from the constitutional path towards insurrection. The author also underestimates the extent to which the development of Unionism and partition were due to British policy rather than factors internal to Ireland. Edward Carson himself later admitted: “What a fool I was!” he exclaimed, “I was only a puppet and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland in the political game that was to get the Conservative Party into power.” (2) Bew believes that there was nothing 'artificial' about the creation of Northern Ireland and that partition was inevitable.

However, it was the British government which chose the way in which Ireland was divided and imposed this by force. The plan to partition Ireland was made long before any boundary areas were decided and long before the overall population of what is now the six and twenty six counties had any say in the matter. Moreover, in 1916 there were 17 Home Rule MPs in Ulster as opposed to 16 Unionists. It is inconceivable that face-to-face negotiations between Republicans, Nationalists and Unionists would have produced the same settlement. Unfortunately Unionists refused to attend the first meeting of the All-Ireland parliament set up in January 1919 and work out a political arrangement. They instead supported a continued attempt by Westminster to rule Ireland against the democratic mandate of the people for their own national parliament. The book lacks an in-depth discussion of the significance of the 1918 elections and of the consequences of the British government’s refusal to accept its results. The Unionist support for the British military campaign to crush the democratic wish of the people through the ‘fascist dictation’ of the RIC to use the very words of Crozier, the first commanding officer of the Auxilairies, puts them again into the camp of coercion rather than conciliation, something not emphasized by Bew despite his frequent criticisms of the negative aspects unionism.

The book contains some fine analyses on how strategic considerations shaped the nature of British state policy towards Ireland; for example with the Act of Union or during the Second World War. Bew agrees with Peter Brooke’s statement that the British state has no selfish strategic interest in Ireland today and even evokes “unselfish strategic interests”.

However, one can hint from an interview Brooke gave to Spanish academic Rogelio Alonso that this sentence was essentially intended to strengthen the hand of those within the Provos who were pushing for a ceasefire and embrace the peace process rather than as a statement of fact. Has the end of the Cold War made the British state's strategic interests in Ireland redundant? In his book The Geopolitics of Anglo-Irish Relations in the Twentieth Century (London: Leicester University Press, 1997) G.R. Sloan, Deputy Head of Strategic Studies at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Darmouth argued that the end of the Cold War had not diminished Ireland's strategic importance; compelling the British state to pursue a strategic policy of 'geopolitical dualism': on one hand ensuring that part of Ireland remains within NATO, and on the other claim 'no selfish strategic interests' to further the peace process. This is not of course to argue that strategic interests are the prime factor in shaping British state policy towards Ireland; but to emphasise that Bew is wrong to take as axiomatic that the British state has no longer any strategic interests in Ireland today.

The book finishes with a question mark as to whether the Provos acceptance of the principle of consent marks the end of over two centuries of enmity. As long as the British state remains in Ireland, there will always be those who will attempt to strike a blow against ‘normalization’ and ‘amnesia’ to use Bew’s good description of the intent of Robert Emmet’s 1803 insurrection. This book is not the “definitive history of Ireland” but rather a sophisticated polemical reading of the history of Ireland since the French revolution. It can be difficult and heavy going in some places if one is not familiar with some of the issues discussed. The book will be especially of interest for people interested in ideas and arguments.

Liam O RUAIRC

(1) Dan Keenan, Paisley chose power-sharing over 'destruction of Union', The Irish Times, 6 April 2007
(2) ATQ Stewart, Edward Carson, Dublin: Gill&MacMillan, 1981, p.125

From the newspapers
Most Russians said to favour Soviet-style economy
MOSCOW (Reuters) - More than half of all Russians favour a return to a Soviet-style economy and believe democracy could be sacrificed to maintain order, according to an opinion poll. Fifty-two percent of respondents to the poll, conducted by the independent Levada Centre, said they favoured an "economy based on state planning and distribution" -- a reference to the Communist-era economic system.The figure has increased by 11 percentage points since 1997. The number of respondents who said they favoured an "economy based on private property and market relations" declined in the same period to 29 percent from 40.
The emergence of the market economy and the introduction of democratic freedom changed Russia's economy dramatically in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.But privatisation has also been accompanied by plummeting living standards for many Russians.
President Vladimir Putin, who came to power in 2000, has made restoring order his priority. Opponents say this has damaged democracy and accuse Putin, who has to step down next year, of focusing political and economic power in the Kremlin. Under Putin, the government has also claimed back control over strategic sectors of the economy.
According to the Levada Centre, 69 percent of respondents believe that"maintaining order is paramount even if democratic principles and personal freedoms need to be breached". Only 18 percent of respondents thought otherwise. However, 66 percent of respondents said they believed authorities should remain under the control of the people, against 55 percent two years ago. The representative poll was conducted on November 20-23 among 1,600respondents. Error margin was 3 percent.
(Writing by Oleg Shchedrov; editing by Robert Woodward)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL0671501520071206

Facts

Belfast: slow growth and low cost labour…
A report from the Centre for Cities > produces interesting statistics about Belfast

,Of 60 cities Belfast has the slowest growth (-0.8% over ten years).
Belfast has the lowest wages. £395.7 being the average wage.
Belfast also has the lowest employment rate at 63.4%.

The demand for social housing in the north it at its highest in 30 years according to a new report. It has also been revealed that no new social housing is being built in west Belfast.
Recent reports on the extent of poverty in the north is also alarming, before housing costs 43% of homes live on 300 a week, 16% live on 200 per week and 25% after housing costs. 22% of employees are in the ‘low pay sector’ and 8 of the 10 of the UK’s ‘economic blackspots’ are in the north.
Meanwhile, Seagate have made 900 workers redundant despite receiving 37 million in government grants of the tax payers money!
Without comment.

THE IRISH TIMES headlines on a recent (Provisional ) Sinn Fein's Ard Fheis

Republicans get comfortable with notion of prosperity
Analysis Sinn Fein leaders are signalling significant shifts in policy

Adams concedes need to alter SF message
President's address Sinn Féin must fundamentally reshape its message in the Republic if it is to succeed in future elections, the party's president, Gerry Adams, has conceded following poor results in May's general election.

McDonald tells party migration must be managed
Debates Sinn Féin is "not in favour of an 'open door' or 'open border' policy", the party's Dublin MEP Mary Lou McDonald told a special conference to conclude the party's lengthy review of its general election performance.

Ferris calls for public support of Garda in fight against drug crime
Illegal drugs Kerry North Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris called for public assistance for the Garda in the battle against drug-pushing.

Political parties seen as most corrupt institutions

Irish people see political parties as the most corrupt institutions in the country, according to a survey by the Transparency International Organisation.

The survey has also found that almost half of people believe corruption will
increase in the coming years. 51% say the Government isn't doing enough to tackle the problem.

Transparency International, which campaigns against corruption throughout the world, says the findings of the survey show that inquiries like theMahon Tribunal must be allowed to continue their work unhindered.
06/12/2007 -

10% rise in A&E charges

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has defended the Government's decision to increase A&E charges by 10% as part of 'budget.
A visit to Accident and Emergency wards will now cost €66.
The rise was designed to encourage people to go to a GP rather than clogging up A&E units.
Lesson don’t get sick!

__
Letters

Re the “Editorial: So What˙s The Alternative? In many of our activities as a Party we in the IRSP are often asked, occasionally in a hostile manner, but more often in a resigned but curious”

Fellow Worker,

I cannot Thank you enough for the clarity and honesty of this editorial. I had the great fortune of being friends with several noted and notorious civil rights activists in the USA civil right movement, one of whom was the only white person in Dr M L King Jr’s entourage on the evening when he was assassinated. Over and again this woman would note that there is absolutely nothing worse than betrayal by someone who you believed to be your friend. I’ve found this to be consistent and unfortunately ingrained in the movement of those of us who struggle for fairness and justice, no matter where we are.

The great betrayal of those, who we believed to be our comrades, morphing themselves into the very people they preached that they hated, seems all too universal.

My Irish ancestors came to Kentucky in the 1770’s seeking a better life for our families and communities. The wealth of the land, be it the crops, the coal, the timber, the eco-system or the health and safety of our workers has been repeatedly exploited and exhausted with little or none of the fruits or benefits of that wealth remaining here in these mountains.

In Kentucky, in Ireland, it is painfully clear that the wealth of our communities belongs to the people who live in those communities. If there is a way to obtain this end other than democratic socialism, it entirely escapes me.

Once again, thank you for the clarity with which you explain the difficult dynamics of the Irish working people’s lives. Those dynamics are no less devastating to good decent men and women across the globe as long as the World Bank and IMF control our destinies and not democratic communities.

For Justice,

Frank Barrett Norris

Louisville, KY USA

Dear friends,
On the 8th January two young persons were arrested in the Basque Country by Spanish Guardia Civil. They were accused of being members of ETA. Their names are Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola. On the 9th januaqryIgor Portu was transfered to the intensive care unity of "Donosti Hospital". The reason:

- Two ribs Broken.- Perforate lung .- Haemorrhage in the left eye.
- Bruises all over the body.
This link will send you to a copy of the medical report:

http://www.gara.net/agiriak/20080107_parte_igorportu.pdf

We have recently known the tortures and rape that Gorka Lupianez suffered a month ago in the hands of the Guardia Civil.Mattin Sarasola, the other arrested, continues under custody of the Guardia Civil. We fear that he might also be being tortured at this moment.
Please spread the news.
All the best,
Batasuna - European Office
0032 (0 ) 473881513
What’s on

Republican Network for Unity
Bloody Sunday Workshop

7.30pm Monday 28th January
Gasyard

*Political Parties are asked to indicate whether they would like to nominate a speaker to the panel

Truth against Lies

The Republican Network for Unity is an organisation made up of ex-Republican prisoners and concerned Republicans. It was formed over a year ago to provide a platform from which British rule in its various guises can be effectively challenged.
RNU propose to host a workshop during the Bloody Sunday Commemoration events on the theme of “truth against lies”. To defend truth and expose lies in the political arena in a fundamental prerequisite of real democracy and political activism.
The British Government has effectively used lies and misinformation as weapons of war in Ireland for generations. Bloody Sunday, its aftermath and the Wigery whitewash are examples of this fundamental, deliberate and strategically targeted dishonesty. They are by no means isolated examples but form part of an elaborate tapestry of lies woven into the political fabric of the occupied six counties of Ireland.
The RNU would like the workshop to host an open debate on the damage systemic lies can inflict upon the political sphere itself. Over recent years, the British Government has been involved in political “window –dressing” trying to sell the normalisation of the six counties to the nationalist community. In reality, the draconian powers to detain, remand and intern are still on the statute books and, if anything have been beefed up so as to support the American “War on Terror”. MI5 are openly overseeing the implementation of RUC/PSNI security policies and the British Army haven’t gone away. These were all among the critical issues that brought marchers out onto the streets on Bloody Sunday.
We would like these issues to be debated in the workshop as well as specific instances of continuing RUC/PSNI political policing and use of diplock courts. The case of Sean Hoey recently exposed how readily senior RUC/PSNI officers will resort to lying in order to frame those they suspect of Republican sympathies. This is only the tip of the iceberg and one of a number of similar cases in recent years where lies and tampering with evidence were shown to be among the ordinary techniques the RUC/PSNI use – and have always used – to “police” nationalist areas. Others cases include that of Martin Brogan, the Seamus Doherty case and the trial of Kevin Murphy.and others who were set up by a Special Branch agent.

Comrades,
Shell To Sea

The RSYM, in co-operation with the Shell To Sea campaign are holding a
Shell To Sea picket on Tuesday 29th of January at 5pm outside
Andersonstown Shell Station in protest over the continued abuse of the community in Erris, Co. Mayo by Shell and Garda thugs and over the
selling off of Ireland's natural resources.

We are asking for your support to make this event a success.

More information on the situation at present can be sought from:
http://www.corribsos.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_to_Sea

The Republican Socialist Movement invites all members, supporters and fellow republicans and socialists to the 25th Anniversary Commemoration March in Memory Of INLA Volunteer Neil McMonagle.

2pm, Saturday 2nd February 2008

Assemble Galliagh Co-op

http://irsm.org/fallen/mcmonagle/

SATURDAY 16TH FEBRUARY

CELEBRATORY PARADE in support of THE IRISH LANGUAGE AND DIVERSITY

1 pm Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich to the city centre.

Here’s some important information about the next big event in the ‘Tá’ project.
Spread the word and come out and show your support for the Irish language and diversity!In the past number of years, the Irish language community has grown and developed. More and more people have felt they could show their interest in the language. New schools and new projects have been established. But in recent months, the Irish language has been under non-stop attack.

POBAL has launched a new campaign to give a chance for everyone to show their support for the Irish language. Anyone can do it - individuals, Irish language groups, schools, local councils, residents’ associations, partnerships, teachers, ethnic minorities, trade unionists, artists – you name it!

We have posters and flyers and can get these to anyone who would like them. If you can give an hour or two to get involved in the work of the project, give us a shout 028 90 438132 or eolas@pobal.org

THE CUBANS ARE COMING...THE CUBANS ARE COMING...THE CUBANS ARE COMING...
WHERE?-GLASGOW CENTRAL HOTEL
WHEN?- 7.30PM THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY
WHO?- ORLANDO BORREGO- CHE GUEVARA'S DEPUTY 1959-1964
'Orlando Borrego is so identified with me all that is missing is for him to get asthma and we
would be the same person'- Che Guevara, Bolivia 1967

...and representing two other generations of Cubans-

JESUS GARCIA- PHILOSOPHER AND AUTHOR OF FIVE BOOKS ON SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY
YOSELIN RUFIN- YOUNG WOMAN LEADER OF CUBA'S FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

WHY?- TO PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO HEAR AND DISCUSS WITH THE SPEAKERS HOW
CUBA HAS MAINTAINED ITS COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL JUSTICE, HEALTH, EDUCATION AND
WELFARE FOR ITS PEOPLE. HOW THE CUBANS HAVE RETAINED AND DEVELOPED THEIR
SOCIALIST REVOLUTION, INTERNATIONALIST PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE DESPITE THE 50
YEAR BLOCKADE OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION.

This is an opportunity not to be missed. Join us in building for this important and historical event. Support the events below. Donate what you can at www.cubansarecoming.org . Contact us for leaflets, posters, tickets and details of how you can work with us to promote this meeting.

GLASGOW AND DUNDEE BUILD UP EVENTS
GLASGOW

Tuesday 22 January - RATB Speaking Tour Organising Meeting! 7pm
Open to any individuals and organisations who want to help out with publicising and organising the Speaking Tour.
7-9pm, Tuesday 22 January

Room 613, Boyd Orr building, University Avenue

Glasgow University

Saturday 26 January - The Cubans are Coming Street Event! 12-4pm
Help publicise the Speaking Tour and defend Socialist Cuba! All Welcome, Open Megaphone
Top of Buchanan Street - Near Buchanan Galleries and Donald Dewar Statue
Glasgow City Centre

Saturday 16 February - The Cubans are Coming Street Event! 1 -3pm
Socialism into the 21st Century
Help publicise the Speaking Tour and defend Socialist Cuba! All Welcome, Open Megaphone
Top of Buchanan Street - Near Buchanan Galleries and Donald Dewar Statue
Glasgow City Centre
Nearest Subway - Buchanan Street

Saturday 23 February - The Cubans are Coming Street Event! 1-3pm
Socialism into the 21st Century
Help publicise the Speaking Tour and defend Socialist Cuba! All Welcome, Open Megaphone
Top of Buchanan Street - Near Buchanan Galleries and Donald Dewar Statue
Glasgow City Centre
Nearest Subway - Buchanan Street

DUNDEE

1) Dundee Speaking Tour Support Event: DVD- "How Cuba Survived Peak Oil"
Discussion and Speaking Tour Support Planning.
Thursday 24 January
7-9pm
Room G9
Dundee University Tower
Perth Road, Dundee

2) Dundee Speaking Tour Fundraiser: DVD/ Social- "Erroll Flynn And The
Cuban Revolution".
Cuba Libres, Music, Quiz and Raffle. £5/ Donation
Thursday 14 February
7-9pm
Room G9
Dundee University Tower
Perth Road, Dundee

3) "Take This Bus To Cuba!" Transport leaves Dundee for Glasgow Speaking Tour Rally
Thursday 28 February
5.00pm- returning for 12.00am £10/Donation
Meet at Braes Bar,
Perth Road, Dundee
JOIN US. SUPPORT THE SPEAKING TOUR!CONTACT:
cubansarecoming@yahoo.co.uk
Mobile:07779785529
VENCEREMOS! VENCEREMOS! VENCEREMOS!

The Plough Vol 04 No 26

noreply@blogger.com (Irish Republican Socialist Party) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:57:00 +0000

The Plough
(Web site http://www.theplough.netfirms.com/)
Vol. 4- No 26
Wednesday December 5th 2007
E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial: So What’s The Alternative?

2) Government Pay Hikes an Insult to the Workers!

3) Book Review

4) Without comment.

5) What’s On?

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Editorial: So What’s The Alternative?

In many of our activities as a Party we in the IRSP are often asked, occasionally in a hostile manner, but more often in a resigned but curious way,

“So What’s your Alternative to the Good Friday Agreement?”

Often as not the question is posed by supporters of the Provisionals or by ex members of that movement who simply walked away in disgust at the direction their movement had taken. It is a genuine question. It is one that requires a serious answer. And it is not a question to be answered in pubs and social clubs as former ex-combatants reminisce over a few pints and ask where did it all go wrong? That’s when the mixing can be begin and as the drink flows in so does the wit flow out.

Those who now are in the ascendancy – those who now walk the corridors of power when once they walked the streets in protest, can feel secure in the knowledge that there is no serious opposition to their hegemony.

The Administration At Stormont (TASS) has no serious parliamentary opposition. The pathetic little Alliance party is desperately trying to get the Ulster Unionist Party to give up the fruits of office and join them in opposition. But any opposition based on the Alliance or unionist perspectives would be a false opposition because they all fundamentally accept the prevailing economic policies pushed by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the USA Government.

Of course there will be minor differences within TASS. The two main nationalist Parties PSF and SDLP will place more emphasis on “social justice” and “equality” while the unionist parties will emphasise issues s such as “law and order” and “economic stability” and “prudence.” When elections loom both sides will then revert to banging the big drum of nationalism of unionism to stroke up the sectarian flames and bring out their voters.

It is also most unlikely that a coherent electoral opposition could be established before the next elections to create a new TAAS. Any such opposition would have to be built on clear opposition to the economic and social policies of the current TASS. It would have to be socialist, have some prospects of success to generate support and have no illusions that there really is a parliamentary road to socialism. No organisation now existing would seem to have these credentials. Nor would there necessarily be agreement that such credentials would be essential. In other words all those on the left would soon find reasons to fall out with each other and denounce the SWP/SP/CPI/ etc as traitors to the class struggle.

So in the sense of parliamentary opposition it is true there is no alternative to the GFA.

But generally the question is not posed in terms of economic or social alternatives but in republican terms and is posed in such terms that really only two alternatives are allowed for – the continuation of armed struggle or settling for TASS.

Armed struggle in Ireland has a romantic tinge about it, particularly when posed in terms of heroic sacrifice or in terms of the heroism of the Easter Week uprising. Indeed it has almost achieved such status that to question its efficacy is akin to blasphemy. During the period of the seventies and eighties few dared to raise their voices within republican circles about armed struggle. To do so would be to invite all sorts of insults such as “sticky” or “peace lover” Ironic is it not that some of those most passionate about denouncing “Stickies” are the very ones who stole the “Stickie’s” clothes and now implement their policies!!!

So armed struggle was the tactic used to achieve the goal. Oh yes the goal! What exactly was that the armed struggle was for? Simple! The Socialist Republic! What does that mean? Don’t worry we will sort that out when we achieve it !! At least that was what the volunteers were told.

Yes indeed. There was in reality a lot of sloganising, a lot of passion, a lot of violence but little long term thought. Those who began to question, who raised awkward questions either about the armed strategy or the direction their leadership was going were sidelined, dismissed or killed in action. Consequently when the strategy of the long war began to look more and more threadbare and experienced volunteers became disillusioned there was little appetite for resistance to the new direction. Action had been all theory nothing. So when the action stopped Republicans were left bemused

On the issue of the validity of armed struggle in the present day there is much argument but little clarity. Let us state clearly that as long as there is a British claim to sovereignty over any part of the island of Ireland there will always be republicans who regard it as perfectly legitimate to use force to resist that claim. That is a given.

However the question republican socialists would pose is it a viable tactic to use at this moment in time? Does it have any possibility of success? Are the balance of forces both nationally and internationally favourable to the pursuit of armed struggle. Are the forces of resistance well armed, trained, freed from informers and agents and capable of sustaining a campaign that would win popular support from the people of Ireland and be capable in the long run of forcing the British and Unionists to the negotiating table to hammer out a deal for better than the current deal encapsulated by the GFA and the St. Andrews agreement? The answer is obviously no.

Some may think that the unification of the various republican forces such as the INLA and the varying IRA’S could create a strong armed group capable of taking on the Imperialists. Not so. The political differences and analysis are so wide that it could not happen. Currently it is nearly impossible to get agreement on mounting pickets. No chance of agreement of running a war.

Also it needs to be stated clearly that the Republican Socialist analysis is such that it precludes a unification with others forces with very different approaches and policies. Our analysis is simply put. The class and national question are so intertwined that to pursue one without the other is to invite almost certain defeat. Following the defeat of the republican armed struggle and the temporary stabilisation of the six county state with its shaky TASS and coalition of four neo-liberal parties republicans must take a different direction. And clearly that direction is back to the class –the working class- for the James Connolly approach is as relevant now, if not more relevant than, when he was alive.

For at least the past 12 years we have been saying that the liberation of the working class is the task of the working class itself- that there can be no liberation without socialism. We have consistently argued against an elitist approach to the revolutionary struggle firmly basing our positions not only on Connolly and the great Marxist writers but also on our founder Seamus Costello and of course our fallen comrade Ta Power.

But of course if you read the writings of some of the “real” or “continuity” Marxists you would never know this. Take this piece of writing

“We have just come through a quite savage conflict. It seems to us that at a very minimum a new movement would have to offer some critique of the militarist strategy that led to defeat and also to have some orientation to the working class and at least initial expressions of class hostility to the Irish capitalist class and its role in advancing the imperialist offensive.”-

“A major problem over the past decade has been the reluctance of even quite sharp critics of the republican leadership to leave the republican family. “

Socialist Democracy 2nd April 2007 (http://www.socialistdemocracy.org/Correspondence/CorrespondRepublicanOpposition.html)

The IRSP have offered a critique of the militarist strategy. We have clearly articulated our class position in our newspapers, our public meetings in this e-mail newsletter and in public conferences. A cursory search of our web site will confirm that.

And as regards the so-called reluctance to “leave the republican family” we have also a very clear position on that. We deny there is any such thing as a republican family. Nor is there any such thing now as the “republican movement” What we say is there are differing republican traditions. We are the republican socialist tradition and we recognise there are other traditions such as the provisional republican movement and so on .We make no claim to be the republican movement. Such claims bear no relation to the class forces in Irish society or take account of the reality of capitalism or imperialism.

In the above-mentioned correspondence it is unclear if Socialist Democracy favour a break with Republicanism or see a new form of resistance arising from a break with provisionalism. There is however no room for ambiguity in the Socialist Workers Party’s guru Eamon McCann. Writing recently in the “radical Marxist revolutionary” newspaper, The Belfast Telegraph McCann in a critique of Gerry Adams speech at Edentubber gave his clear position

“Within the parameters of republican thinking, they have a point. And there's the problem. Republicanism.   The problem is republicanism.” (http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/article3164196.ece)

Sadly for Eamon and the Socialist Workers Party and all the other “real” socialists and Marxists, Irish republicanism for all its faults, (and we in the IRSP have been critical of those faults) is a revolutionary tendency that cannot be ignored or dismissed. We believe that it can form the core of any new revolutionary upsurge of the working class in Ireland against both imperialism and capitalism. Building such a movement is the real alternative to the Good Friday agreement. Join us in building that alternative.

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GOVERNMENT PAY HIKES AN INSULT TO THE REST OF US:

By now most people on this island will be aware of the twenty-six county governments recent pay hike. Many, including branches of the media, are asking the question whether An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, should reject the pay rise of 18% or, in the case of Mr. Ahern €38,000, while they are telling the rest of us to tighten our belts?
On Monday 19th November the Irish Independent, under the headline ’UNION BOSSES STAY SILENT ON AHERN’S MASSIVE PAY RISE’ could inform us of the silence on this issue by ten of the states leading union leaders. These union bosses, David Begg ICTU, Jack O’Connor SIPTU, Peter McLoone IMPACT, John Douglas MANDATE, John Bolger T&G UNITE (formerly ATGWU), John Carr INTO, Blair Horan Civil and Public Sector Union, Steve Fitzpatrick Communication Workers Union, Larry Broderick Irish Bank Officials Association and Padraig Walshe Irish Farmers Association were asked two simple questions by the newspaper. Question 1 Do you believe the Taoiseach and his cabinet should reject their personal pay awards outlined in the report by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the public sector?
Question 2 Do you believe all of the pay increases for top public service posts outlined in the report should be rejected at this time, yes or no?
Of the ten union leaders asked these two questions only John Bolger answered yes while the other nine ’refused to answer’.

These pay rises to most other workers are higher than the annual salary which they receive in the form of a monetary wage a point not missed by the Irish Labour Party front bench who, for political gain purposes only, in the form of Ciaran Lynch said “for most people €38,000 is not a pay increase, it’s a salary”. This is perfectly true but the question which must be asked of the Labour Party, now part and parcel of the bourgeois political set up, if they were in governmental power and an outside review body awarded them the same pay rise would they accept or reject?

It must be remembered that the Labour Party, like their British counterparts are not the same as that formed by James Connolly and James Kier Hardy respectively which, particularly in the case of the former, were revolutionary at their outset. My own opinion is that if the Irish Labour Party were in control of the affairs of capitalism and a pay award of this magnitude was to be recommended they would accept, probably sitting the fact that it was recommended by an outside body, much the same as Mr Ahern has done.

It should be pointed out to be objective that Minister for the Environment, John Gormley and Eamon Ryan of the Green Party are to hand back their cash award either to the party or groups who promote the fight against climate change or perhaps split the cash between both. Whatever these two ministers will not be accepting the pay hike.

On now to the silence of the lambs within the trade union leadership! On the surface the union bosses should almost certainly have come out in total condemnation of these pay rises. However on closer examination it may not be as clear cut as it first appears. For example next year these same union leaders will be entering negotiations on pay under towards 2016, an initiative involving government, trade unions and employers used to tell workers they must tighten their belts, this government pay hike could, used correctly, be a good negotiating tool. If, and it is a big if, these union bosses enter negotiations with a demand for a 28% pay rise, as their top line which should always be kept secret, with a bottom line of 18%, the same as the government, with the exception of two, have accepted then it may well be a good move to stay quiet for the moment. However if these same champions of class warfare and workers struggle (sic) stay silent and settle for anything less than 18% for example 3% or 4%, which I am fearful to say is the likely outcome, then the silence of the lambs will mean exactly that and could only be described as yet another betrayal by the union leadership in order to secure their own co-existence.

The union leadership should have battle plans drawn up for, what should be, the coming showdown which should include calling out their members on indefinite strike action in the event of the rejection by the government and employers of their 18% pay demand. After all if we are talking about a benchmark well surely this has now being set at 18%. We must await with interest the outcome of this potentially volatile situation. The union bosses should be delighted that they have this precedent in their negotiating armoury the reality is, sadly, somewhat different.

Kevin Morley IRSP, Dublin

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Book Review

What is to be done today?

Lenin Reloaded: Toward a Politics of Truth, edited by Sebastian Budgen,
Stathis Kouvelakis, and Slavoj Žižek, Duke University Press, Durham, 2007. 337 pp
While in recent years Marx has become quite fashionable again and revolutionary figures like Che Guevara remain popular, Lenin is still popularly seen as a blood-thirsty dictator, the precursor of Stalin, and most philosophers disparage his writings as crude and vulgar. All the contributors to Lenin Reloaded maintain that he is of continued intellectual significance, certainly enough to deserve renewed attention. Furthermore, all agree that it was Lenin who made Marx’s thought explicitly political; who extended it beyond the confines of Europe; and who in many respects actually put it into practice. However, they are divided as to just what is to be done with Lenin now.
The essays originated in a conference on Lenin held in Essen, Germany in February 2001. The contributors include many of today’s leading lights, from Žižek, Badiou and Balibar, to Eagleton, Jameson and Negri. All address the relevance of Lenin for the 21st century rather than, say, his historical significance for Bolshevism. Some are very broad in scope, such as Eagleton’s on the relevance of Lenin for our postmodern age, while others, like Lecercle’s highly original attempt to work out how Lenin’s concepts, strategies and tactics contribute to a philosophy of language, have a narrower scope. Some, like Negri’s essay, unsurprisingly has very un-Leninist conclusions.
In the words of Badiou, all contributors to this book ‘are taking up Lenin’s work in order to reactivate the very question of theory along political lines’. For the collection’s editors:
‘Lenin’ is not the nostalgic name for old dogmatic certainty; quite the contrary, the Lenin that we want to retrieve is the Lenin-in-becoming, the Lenin whose fundamental experience was that of being thrown into a catastrophic new constellation in which old reference points proved useless, and who was thus compelled to reinvent Marxism. The idea is that it is not enough simply to return to Lenin…for we must repeat or reload him: that is, we must retrieve the same impulse in today’s constellation.
In other words, what the book urges is a reinvention of the revolutionary project for the present in the same manner that Lenin retooled Marx’s thought for specific historical conditions in 1914.
For Balibar, there is only one philosophical moment in Lenin and it is precisely the First World War that determines it. Lenin’s turn to questions of epistemology and dialectical method, as it is recorded in his philosophical notebooks of 1914-1915, constitutes the first decisive step of an entire strategy to overcome the crisis of leadership of the working class that erupted with the beginnings of the war and the collapse of the Second International. These led Lenin to a profound rethinking of his earlier categories and to the lucid intuition that the methodological Achilles heel of Second International Marxism was its incomprehension of dialectics; hence his famous remark that ‘none of the Marxists understood Marx’. In letting the true content of Hegel’s logic emerge, Lenin was able to restore the properly revolutionary impulse of Marxism itself, its dialectical heart. For example, his notes on Hegel’s doctrine of Being end with the well-known exclamations on the ‘leaps’ and their necessity, thus distancing himself from the gradualism of Second International Marxism. The clear and informative essays by Kevin B. Anderson and Kouvelakis in particular demonstrate how Lenin’s reading of Hegel opened the way to a new beginning, a genuine re-foundation of Marxism itself.
For Lenin there was no revolutionary movement without revolutionary theory. Callinicos emphasizes how, for Lenin, every significant turn in events drove him to reconsider how best the situation was to be understood from a theoretical perspective in order to intervene in the conjuncture. Lenin’s famous dictum that ‘politics is the most concentrated expression of economics’ is intended to highlight the necessity of focusing on the ways in which social conflicts are refracted in the political field in a specific and irreducible form, governed by the logic of the struggle for state power. Lenin thought of politics as a time full of struggle, a time of crises and collapses. The specificity of the political is expressed in the concept of the revolutionary crisis. Lukács was right to call ‘the actuality of revolution’ the core of Lenin’s thought.
Daniel Bensaïd and Callinicos counter pose the Leninist concept of crisis to Badiou’s concept of ‘event’ and the Left-Decisionism of Žižek:
The dialectical relation between necessity and contingency, structure and break, history and event, lays the basis for the possibility of a politics organised in duration, whereas the arbitrarily voluntarist gamble on the sudden explosion of an event may allow us to resist the mood of the times, but it generally leads to a stance of aesthetic resistance rather than militant commitment to patiently modify the course of things.

Sylvain Lazarus, a co-thinker of Badiou, argues for ‘an intellectuality of politics without party or revolution’; whereas Bensaïd defends the necessity of political organization:
‘A politics without parties…ends up in most cases as a politics without politics: either an aimless tailism towards the spontaneity of social movements, or the worst form of elitist individualist vanguardism, or finally a repression of the political in favour of the aesthetic or the ethical’.
The Leninist mode of politics is often thought to be elitist and authoritarian, but Lars T Lih’s contribution responds to those kind of criticisms by arguing that Lenin’s ideas have often been misunderstood as a result of confusions sometimes caused by mistranslations. Eagleton gives the following example to illustrate Lenin’s much maligned concept of the vanguard:
Those members of the Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers who fought with James Connolly against the British imperial state in the Dublin Post Office in 1916 constituted a vanguard. But this was not because they were middle-class intellectuals – on the contrary, they were mostly Dublin working men and women – or because they had some innate faculty of superior insight into human affairs, or because they were in serene possession of the scientific laws of history. They were a vanguard because of their relational situation – because, like the revolutionary cultural avant-guardes in contrast with modernist coteries, they saw themselves not as a timeless elite but as the shock troops or front line of a mass movement. There can be no vanguard in and for itself, as coteries are by definition in and for themselves. And a vanguard would not be in business unless it trusted profoundly in the capacities of ordinary people, as elites by definition disdain them.

Badiou notes how today the political oeuvre of Lenin is entirely dominated by the canonical opposition between democracy and totalitarian dictatorship. In an excellent essay, Domenico Losurdo undermines this opposition by examining the relation between Western democracy and imperialism/colonialism. He contrasts the thought of classical figures of the liberal tradition, such as Tocqueville or John Stuart Mill, with the central role of the critique of colonialism and imperialism in Lenin’s thought. Lenin represents a break not only at the political level but also at the level of epistemology. Democracy cannot be defined by abstracting the fate of the excluded. Also, in periods of crisis, war and other ‘states of exception’, democracy tends to be suspended, with power resting on the unelected and repressive apparatus of the state. This why the Leninist understanding of the state is not just of the specific material condensation of the balance of forces between classes, but one of an essentially coercive body.

This collection of essays is recommended, not just because of the quality of the various contributions, but above all because Lenin’s philosophical interventions have been largely neglected and ignored since Althusser. The book has one negative aspect though, in that no essay discusses Materialism and Empirio-Criticism (aside from occasional negative remarks, such as Eagleton claiming that it is ‘a work in which one can hear the occasional gurgling of a man well out of his depths’). However, it remains interesting as a political mode of intervention into epistemological questions of science (there, a crisis of physics). Finally, none of the authors really address a decisive political consideration: whether the ‘historical Lenin’, still much demonised today, remains an obstacle to their attempt to reload Lenin for the 21st century.

Originally published in RADICAL PHILOSOPHY (www.radicalphilosophy.com

Liam O’Ruairc

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Without comment.

Paisley and McGuinness in US to 'sell' the North
Belfast Briefing: "Hello corporate America - we're open for business." That's the all-important message Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness are out to promote this week in the United States

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Paisley and McGuinness merger gets welcome on Wall Street

The North's First Minister, the Rev Ian Paisley, and Deputy First
Minister, Martin McGuinness, have begun a week-long visit to the United
States with a visit to the New York Stock Exchange, where they received
a rapturous reception from Irish-American business leaders.In the warped logic of a few SFers who delude themselves they are still
socialists, this is no doubt just a "new site of struggle".

A little learning is a dangerous thing. There is a layer of people in
SF who, while in prison, learned the Laclau-Mouffe bastardisation of
Gramsci rather than Gramsci himself. (PF)

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Almost 1.5 million people have salaries of less than the €38,000 pay rise recently granted to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

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“Northern Ireland Water has spent more than £16 million on consultants sinceApril, it has been revealed.”

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“The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg today ruled that allegations of security force collusion in the loyalist murders of eight men in South Armagh in the 1970s had not properly been investigated.

The case was taken to Europe by the families of the eight men following what they considered to be a failure by the Government to properly have investigated detailed allegations of collusion made by a former member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1999.

The court ruled unanimously that in all the cases there had been a violation of Article 2 [right to life] of the European Convention on Human Rights due to the lack of independence of the RUC which handled the initial stages of the investigation into the allegations. “

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The PSNI has told Northern Ireland's senior coroner that John Stalker's report on "shoot to kill" incidents remains classified as " top secret", 20 years after it was completed.

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Pressure is building on Unilever at the OECD, whose Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises require overseas subsidiaries of transnational companies to conform to international standards of trade union and human rights. Fourteen months after the IUF charged Unilever with gross violations of the Guidelines through the fraudulent sale and closure > of the company's Mumbai (Bombay) factory in India, and a scant three weeks after the IUF charged the company with vicious union-busting in the Indian state of Assam > , brutal human rights violations - this time in Pakistan - have again landed Unilever in the dock at the OECD.

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Unions Mobilize Internationally Against Global Job Destruction at Unilever

Unions around the world will be organizing a variety of actions on December
4 to highlight their common demand for an end to Unilever's systematic
destruction of jobs.

http://www.iuf.org/den4697

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A new US intelligence report concludes that Iran's nuclear weapons development programme has been halted since the autumn of 2003 because of international pressure — a stark contrast to the conclusions US spy agencies drew just two years ago.

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What’s on?

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IRSP
This sun will be the 30th anniversary of the death of Vol. Colm Mc Nutt. There will be a march starting at Creggan shops in Derry and finishing in William st. Assemble at Creggan shops at 2pm.
There will be a do afterwards. Everyone is welcome.

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SOLIDARITY GIG FOR RAYTHEON 9 - NEXT FRIDAY

Anti-War Ireland had scheduled a Dublin solidarity gig to occur while
the Ratheon 9 were on trial for their occupation of Derry's Raytheon
offices in 2006 - their action was in protest at the murderous
onslaught that summer by the Israeli military against the Lebanese
people. Raytheon is an arms manufacturer that supplies the US-backed
Israeli armed forces.

The nine Derry anti-war activists have since had their trial
postponed, till January 2008, but AWI intends to go ahead with the
fundraising solidarity gig.

The main act will be Dave Lippman, a well-known US anti-war, anti-Bush
singer/songwriter and satirist. Dave is popping over from a tour of
Britain to show his solidarity. This should be an excellent gig and
very good fun!

For details, check out the following link:

http://indymedia.ie/article/85276&comment_limit=0&condense_comments=false#comment214044

Date & time: 8pm, Friday 7th December

Where: Seomra Spraoi, 4 Mary's Abbey (just off Capel Street by the
Luas line), Dublin 1.

Cost: 7 euros (waged) or 5 euros (unwaged/student/etc.)

Note: Get there on time because it could fill up quite quickly and
people may have to be turned away.

Organised by Anti-War Ireland - Proceeds to Raytheon 9

CAOIMHE BUTTERLY TO SPEAK ON SITUATION IN MIDDLE EAST

National Speaking Tour: The Crisis in Lebanon and the situation of Palestinian
Refugees.

Guest Speaker: Caoimhe Butterly (Irish Human rights activist currently based in
Lebanon)

Caoimhe Butterly has been working in the Middle East for several years. She
will give an eyewitness account of life in Lebanon in the aftermath of
Israel's war, the current plight of Palestinian refugees, and the situation
in Nahr El-Bared refugee camp.

Lebanon is entering a period of political instability - a dangerous vacuum
with no President and no political solution/compromise in sight. At the same
time, Palestinians living in a variety of refugee camps in Lebanon look
anxiously at Annapolis and Nablus and wonder about their short and long term
future, while those living and exiled recently from Nahr El-Bared return
cautiously to the mayhem left behind by the Lebanese Army and the
insurgents.

This event is part of a 13-part speaking tour of Ireland organised by
Anti-War Ireland, the Irish Anti-War Movement, the IPSC, Galway Alliance
Against the War, the Derry Anti-War Coalition and the Raytheon 9,
Amnesty International and
a number of individuals who are supporting the tour.

Speaking engagements:

SLIGO
Monday Dec 3rd: Sligo: 8.00 pm, Glasshouse Hotel, Hyde Bridge, Sligo

DUBLIN
Tuesday Dec 4th : Dublin : 7.30pm, Connolly Books, East Essex St.,
Temple Bar in Dublin

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK
Wednesday Dec 5th
Lunch time : 1pm - 2pm : UCC, room G7 in the Kane building.

UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK
Thursday Dec 6th : Limerick : UL [venue to be confirmed]

GALWAY
Friday Dec 7th : Galway [venue to be confirmed]

DERRY
Saturday Dec 8th : Derry [venue to be confirmed]

BELFAST
Tuesday Dec 11th : Belfast [venue to be confirmed]

DUBLIN
Wednesday Dec 12th : Dublin : Amnesty, Freedom Café, Fleet Street Cafe 7pm

CORK CITY
Thursday Dec 13th : Cork [venue to be confirmed]

We will send out more information as it comes to hand.

http://www.antiwarireland.org/