Ireland: Dublin Bus Workers’ Strike - their story Last week an important dispute flared up at the Dublin Bus company over new work schedules. Although the strike was called off today, the present article, written last week, gives an idea of the militant mood that exists among Dublin's bus workers.
Ireland: Basque Marxist speaks at meetings of socialist republicans A Basque Marxist was on a speaking tour of the North of Ireland at the end of October. He spoke to audiences in Belfast, Strabane and Derry mainly composed of republican socialists, but not only. There was keen interest in seeing how the experience of the Basque situation could be applied to the North of Ireland, and vice versa. We make available here a report, originally published in The Plough, the journal of the Irish Republican Socialist Party.
Ireland: Stormont Executive’s new budget – nice for the bosses but what’s in it for workers? Last week the Executive in the North of Ireland presented its budget. It has been presented as a budget that will create jobs, improve services and reduce poverty. A closer look reveals tax concessions and incentives for the bosses and cuts in jobs and social spending and increased taxation for the workers. They are preparing social turmoil in the future.
The Tragedy of Michael Collins Michael Collins was a great Irish revolutionary and nationalist who more than any one person may be considered to have created modern Ireland. His political tragedy, like other well-meaning nationalists in the age of imperialism was to attempt the impossible; to try to achieve meaningful national independence, in Ireland's case uniting both Catholics and Protestants, without breaking free from the binds of capitalism.
Ireland - An Overview 1967-2007 A Speech delivered in Barcelona Wednesday August 1st 2007 to a gathering of Marxists from around the world by Gerry Ruddy, a member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
Ireland: IRSP members arrested in Waterford Some disturbing events have been taking place in the south of Ireland, where two IRSP members have been arrested and are being held under the notorious “section 30”. This is clearly a case of political victimisation and should be condemned by all socialists.
Ireland: Imperialism not neutral As Gerry Ruddy explains, “The issue of the national question in Ireland is at heart a class question. The division of the country into two separate states has encouraged sectarianism, seriously dividing the working class and allowing the continued exploitation of all workers.†This while in the recent period the IRSP in the South of Ireland has come under attack from political policing.
Right increases votes in Irish general election - A recipe for future crisis In spite of its social and economic policies – and the corruption scandals - the ruling Fianna Fáil party held its ground in the recent Irish elections. This can be understood on the basis of the prolonged economic boom and the lack of a credible genuine left alternative.
Ireland - Class struggle is the only option The armed struggle is over. Class struggle is the only option. Those who ignore the class question and stand alone on their “republican principles†stand condemned to remain in splendid isolation. We now live in different times and the old certainties now no longer hold. We all on the left need to forget our petty differences and become relevant to the lives of the working classes in Ireland while keeping alive our vision of socialism.
Easter statement of the Republican Socialist Youth Movement, April 8, 2007 The following speech was delivered by a representative of the Republican Socialist Youth Movement Ard Comhairle at the national Republican Socialist Movement Easter commemoration held in Belfast on Easter Sunday, 2007.
Ireland: After recent elections in the north The power-sharing executive involving Sinn Fein, the DUP and others, that should emerge from last week’s elections to Stormont, will be called on to apply the anti-working class policies dictated from London. Socialist Republicans now face the task of offering a class alternative.
Socialist Republicans cannot accept new police force in the North of Ireland The replacement of the old Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) with the PSNI has received the support of Sinn Fein leaders. This has opened up a heated debate among Republicans on whether this is acceptable or not. Here we provide three articles written by comrades of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, where they explain why Republican socialists cannot accept such a force.
On the 25th Anniversary of the Irish Hunger Strikes of 1981 Twenty five years ago British imperialism demonstrated its cold, calculating cruelty in the face of Irish Republican prisoners who felt they had no alternative but to make the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle for political rights, embarking on a hunger strike that would tragically end with their deaths. Gerry Ruddy of the Irish Republican Socialist Party has sent us an excellent and intimate analysis of those events, highlighting the need to build a revolutionary movement based on Marxism and rooted in the working class across all boundaries. Read the article on the Socialist Appeal website.
The Wind That Shakes The Barley... This latest of Ken Loach’s films is well crafted and well thought. It has been thoroughly researched and really gets under the surface of the processes and the events that helped shape the current situation on the island of Ireland.
Irish Republican Socialists stress central role of the working class “We urge all republicans to turn towards the working class movements, get active in the unions, and raise issues that while relevant to the immediate interests of working also form a bridge towards more radical and revolutionary demands.” We reproduce the editorial from the latest e-mail newsletter The Plough (Volume 3, Number 25, 14 June 2006) of the IRSP. We have their kind permission to reproduce it.
