Republican Socialist News

Posted by admin at 12 April , 2009

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 said 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

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Posted by admin at 12 April , 2009

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 93rd 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 POWs Portlaoise Prison

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Posted by admin at 12 April , 2009

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.

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Posted by admin at 12 April , 2009

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 recognize the Irish Republican Socialist Party as the inheritor of Ireland’s incorruptible tradition of working class anti-imperialism and true human liberation. We are honored 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 recognize 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 of war. They, like our martyred fallen comrades, remain an ever-present inspiration to us in our efforts. We likewise send greetings to all those in Ireland and around the world imprisoned for wanting to live in a better world.

The IRSCNA would like to recognize 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 for the Workers’ Republic.

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Posted by dublin at 10 April , 2009

Today in the twenty six counties the free state government, employers organisations, headed by IBEC (Irish Business and Employers Confederation) and the ICTU (Irish Congress of Trade Unions) unions are in what can only be described as a betrayal of the organised working class. By organised I mean those workers who are organised into trade unions. The agreement between the above trio is called “Partnership” which is basically an agreement which the employers can break at any time it suits them, as they have already done. The ICTU affiliated unions agreed with their “partners” last September a deal which was suppossed to last for three years. This deal was well below what any self respecting trade unionist would argue for, the exact details I have not got at hand but are not relevant to the point in question, an agreement which tied the hands of those sections of workers who wished to fight. Of course the employers and governmnet are delighted that they can immobilise a large section of the organised working class with the conivance of their leaders.

Since last September the employers and government have broken this, at best pathetic, agreement as even this was not sufficient for them in their assault on the proleteriat. The trade unions had to respond to this, what can only be described as a betrayal, by balloting their members for a one day strike due to take place on March 30th 2009. One union, IMPACT, failed to get the two thirds majority needed to sanction the industrial action. They were one percent short of this suicidal figure. The two thirds rule is a liability and should be replaced by a simple majority. This was sufficient for the ICTU unions to return to the negotiating table and call the intended action off. This action had been mandated by the other ICTU affiliated unions but this tiny detail was conviniently forgotten or overlooked in their, the leaderships, hurry to get back in the employers good books. The ICTU union leaders were delighted to be back at the negotiating table. At this point it may be correct to explain what negotiating means, it does not mean the same as consultation which it appears many union chiefs have forgotten. Negotiation means going in with a militant plan to attain the best available deal appertaining to a given situation which under “Partnership” the ICTU union leadership failed to do. This “Partnership” was/is very much weighted towards the employers favour and ties the hands of any militant shop stewards movements. It is a case of the ICTU leadership plotting out a map of coexistence with the employers whose interests are poles apart from the union members they are suppossed to represent.

The shop stewards and the local union shop is the backbone of any trade union and not those highly paid fat cats at the top. It is often very difficult to spot the difference between a trade union leader and the employers, not only because they dress similar which in itself is not a problem but when the language used is identical then there is a problem. Under “Partnership” the hands of the shop stewards and the rank and file union members are tied in a manner not dissimilar to handcuffing. “Partnership” has resulted with the union boses accepting that workers must realise a cut in living standards is inevitable to bail the capitalist system out of the mess the bourgeoisie have made of it. Due to incompetence on behalf of the employing classes. the bankers, property speculators, developers etc. the workers have to pay, and pay with the conivance of their union leaders. It is time for the shop stewards movements to reassert themselves and call lightening action over the heads of the official trade union leadership.

However all is not lost. There is a breed of new unions slowly coming through most prominently led by the Independent Workers Union who are not shackled by “Partnership” simply because they are not affilliated to ICTU. ‘a group of Irish Trade Unionists, organised around the IWU, is convinced that organised labour as it is presently structured under the ICTU has lost its way. The leaders of the large, bureaucratic unions have become little more than an arm of management and the state. They often function to control workers rather than advance their interests’. These words from the IWU are vindicated by the actions of the ICTU leaders in negotiating/ being consulted within the terms of “Partnership”. As a member and activist of the IWU I am convinced this union will not go down the same avenue of betrayal. We follow in the footsteps of Connolly and Larkin and will continue to do so.

Kevin Morley

Irish Republican Socialist Party

Branch Secretary Dublin Cumann.

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Posted by admin at 7 April , 2009

During the period of the Hunger Strikes(s) I sat on the Belfast Executive of the H-Block, then H-Block/Armagh Committee.  I did so as the Republican Socialist prisoners’ representative. During this I time interacted and consulted with numerous senior members of the provisional movement in relation to the ongoing Prison campaign, and developments therein.

I wish to respond to claims made by Danny Morrison on Radio Foyle, yesterday April 6th 2009. I did take Danny Morrison (as I had other provisional representatives) to Long Kesh in July of 1981.

Whilst I have yet to personally hear the said interview, I am led to believe that Danny Morrison said that I was told of, or was already aware, of a set of proposals that were to be put to the prisoners, and that we had talked of this.

This did not happen. If he had of appraised me of such a serious development, my first point of reference would have been to contact the National leadership of the Republican Socialist Movement, in particular those delegated with the struggle within the Blocks. At no point had I cause to.

Clearly put…it did not happen.

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Posted by admin at 6 April , 2009

The IRSP believe that these Downing Street documents, at face value, appear to vindicate Richard O’Rawe in the claims he made in regards to this crucial period of the Hunger Strike. These confidential 10 Downing Street letters, which were written contemporaneous, certainly contradict PSF’s version of events from that period. The IRSP have been investigating similar claims that are contained in these documents for quite some time and will be making their conclusions public after examining the evidence in its totality.

Over the past number of days the IRSP has been speaking to relatives of the three INLA Hunger Strikers, ex-INLA Army Council members who were involved in the Strike at that time and also to the then OC of the INLA prisoners about these particular documents. All have stated that they were not aware of the ‘back-channel initiative’ or of an ‘acceptance of the content of Thatcher’s offer but not the tone’ by the PIRA in July 8th 1981 which these documents clearly indicate.

Both the then INLA Army Council and the INLA prisoners OC have stated to the IRSP that if they had have been made aware of the content of these developments at that time they would have ordered the INLA prisoners to end their hunger strike.

Many questions now arise from these documents which only the NIO, PSF, the Mountain Climber and Brendan Duddy can answer and therefore the IRSP would call on all these parties to reveal all the documentation and information that are relevant to this period. The IRSP, on behalf of some of the relatives of the Hunger Strikers, will be seeking meetings with the relevant parties in the very near future.

Michael Devine Junior speaking this morning to the IRSP has stated that -‘’the families demand and deserve the truth about what really happened during this period. These latest disclosures have added substantial weight to previous claims that the last six hunger strikers lives could have been saved. Did my Father and his five comrades die because a number of individuals didn’t like the tone of Thatcher despite accepting the content of her offer? Why were the families or the prisoners themselves never told about the nature and content of these contacts? I would appeal to SF and the British Government, given their public positions on truth and reconciliation, to tell us the truth and give us closure’’.

Willie Gallagher on behalf of the IRSP Executive 02-04-09

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