On the Struggle to Defeat Capitalism and Imperialism in Ireland

national | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis Monday August 19, 2013 17:22 by R.Ascal

At the dawn of the 21st century, the long struggle for Irish National Liberation is far from completed. Today Ireland and her people find themselves subjected to the interests of International Imperialism. Three giants of International Imperialism co-operate and compete with each other for dominance in Ireland, namely the US, the European Union and British Imperialism.

Between them, these three forces exploit and oppress the people of Ireland, with the aid of a domestic 'capitalist class' for their own material gain, while at the same time they compete with each other for total control.

There remains in Ireland, genuine opposition to this Imperial domination and the struggle for national liberation is close to the hearts of the Irish working class.

However the forces of Irish anti- imperialism find themselves small and isolated in 2013. While there are some very optimistic signs that the anti- imperialist struggle can be re-built, with broad appeal amongst the masses, those of us involved in the struggle for national liberation and socialism must recognise the current position of the revolutionary movement. A real, popular strategy must be put in place to win the people of Ireland to the struggle for national liberation and socialism!

In order to rebuild the struggle for socialism in Ireland to a position were in can successfully establish an Irish Socialist Republic, we must first recognise our strengths and our weakness, analysis the prevailing conditions and the main issues facing the Irish working class and map out a clear strategy for defeating capitalism and imperialism in Ireland.

It is the task of every socialist republican to win more and more people to the cause of socialism in Ireland. We can only do that by understanding the issues that face our class and by setting out a clear vision, not just of what we are against, but more importantly of the type of Ireland we are fighting for!

In short, we have to clearly identify the enemies of the working class, the obstacles to achieving socialism, the forces that can play a positive role in the anti- imperialist struggle and work day and night amongst the people to re-popularise the struggle for national liberation and socialism in Ireland.

The first step is examining the main issues facing our class today and tackling some of the main obstacles in the struggle for socialism. It is then up to socialist republicans to put out a clear strategy to over come such obstacles and to once again, unite the working class behind the demand for national liberation and socialism!

It is the opinion of this blog that the following consist of the main issues facing the Irish working class and the main obstacles in the struggle for socialism in Ireland. A thorough examination of such issues and a clearly defined strategy for overcoming such obstacles would greatly strengthen the revolutionary forces in Ireland.

1. British Imperialism and Partition
2. European Imperialism
3. The Role of the US in Ireland
4.The Ruling Elite in Ireland/ Domestic 'Capitalist Class'
5..Working Class Political Apathy
6. Lack of Working Class Organisation/ Class Unity
7. The Current Crisis in Capitalism
8. Hostile Media

Over the next number of weeks we will be running a series of articles discussing the above and offering suggestions as to how socialist republicans might address them. We welcome submissions or comments on these topics from our readers. Just send us an email at Towardsasocialistrepublic@gmail.com