Easter Statement from the IRSM

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Sunday March 27, 2005 18:48 by IRSP - Irish Republican Socialist Party dublinirsp at hotmail dot com PO Box 10081, Dublin 1, Ireland 0876 320 323

(Delivered by Andy Gallagher Easter Sunday 27th March 12 2005)

Easter Statement from the leadership of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement


BACK TO CONNOLLY-FORWARD TO SOCIALISM

Comrades of the IRSP, Volunteers of the INLA, our republican socialist prisoners in Portlaoise and Castlrea, relatives of our dead comrades, our ex-prisoners and friends and supporters, the republican socialist movement sends you fraternal greetings and solidarity on this Easter afternoon as we honour not only our own dead comrades but also all republicans who fell in the struggle against British Imperialism.

Republicanism is in crisis, is floundering and seems to be coming more and more detached from reality. The generic term Republicanism has been sullied not just in the past few months but in the past number of years by spin doctoring, by blatant and persistent lying, by cover-ups and clean ups worth of the mafia.

But we in the Republican Socialist movement cannot afford a holier than thou attitude. The Republican socialist movement has not been immune itself from errors mistakes and actions which sullied the name of republicans. Only a year ago we faced the wrath of many for incidents in Ardoyne. But we did not run and hide from those difficulties. We faced up to them dealt with it both internally and externally. The result has been a rise in our support and an increase in our membership

In the long history of republicanism there has always been people who joined for the so-called protection of the army. There are people who play at revolution and strut around like the bullyboys they are. There is a time for flexing muscles and a time for flexing brains. This is a time comrades and friends for flexing our brains. We do not need bar room republicans full of brawn and testosterone. The INLA has made clear to us that it supports the disciplined and politically controlled use of physical force in the context of armed anti imperialist struggle. It is not a private militia used to intimidate people in the context of personal disputes, bar brawls, personal grudges and the like. And it will do all in its power to ensure that it never becomes that.

I could mention many of our volunteers and activists but Let me mention just three of our fallen comrades and committed INLA volunteers Seamus Costello, Ta Power and Gino Gallagher. All three were also political activists and no task was too small for them to do. Whether it was sitting at boring meetings, making tea for comrades, driving around the country, planning military attacks moving guns, making bombs, and in Seamus’s case sitting in local councils, or selling the Starry Plough no task I repeat was too small for them.

There is no place in this movement for those who stand apart from the every day tasks of building the movement and part of that means selling the Party Newspaper. All three of those brave men believed passionately in the politicisation of republicans. If that was good enough for Costello, for Power, for Gallagher then it should be good enough for you.



By following their example we will play our part in re-establishing the credentials of republicanism as a valid revolutionary doctrine relevant to the needs and aspirations of the Irish working class. For there can be no doubt that the broad republican tradition has since the beginning of the so called peace process lost the high moral ground that had been obtained by virtue of being genuine anti-imperialists. But comrades we will not join with the friends and allies of the British, the USA and the Free State in the demonisation and victimisation of other republicans. Yes we have been, are and will be, critical of policies that other republicans and socialists follow. We vehemently disagree with the Good Friday Agreement and all that has flowed from it. But comrades we recognise other republicans -as republicans and acknowledge and admire the brave struggle that they have carried out. But politically we believe they have taken the wrong road

Instead of recognising that the armed struggle had run into the ground other Republicans elevated the so-called peace process as another step on the road to the Republic. They were and are wrong and mistaken. All that has happened since 1998 has strengthened partition. Sectarianism has raged like a virus throughout many working class areas and instead of unity we have even more divisions than ever.

Doing deals with the Free State establishment and entering alliances with the ruling classes of the Britain and the USA has weakened republicanism not strengthened it. Those who challenge us “ where’s your mandate?” and “what’s the alternative to the Good Friday Agreement “ have fallen for the illusions of power that a few election gains bring. Muttering the mantra of mandates does not blind us to the stark realities on the ground. The republican struggle has suffered a defeat.

Our dead comrades did not fight for an Ireland of equals. They fought for a socialist republic not a revamped Stormont- for the destruction of capitalism- not for seats in a capitalist coaliation-for unity not for more division. For us as a movement despite our mistakes and errors it was always about the liberation of our class- the working class - from the chains of capitalism. Real Politics is not about implementing the Good Friday Agreement. Our politics is about challenging the status quo. Not making capitalism work.

Ten years ago the great and good scoffed at our so-called outdated views on capitalism. They thought the collapse of the Soviet Union was the death knell of socialist and revolutionary ideas and actions. Well comrades look at the present state of the world and tell me that capitalism is working. Africa is in dire poverty with millions dying of aids- and starvation. Asia is in turmoil as the reactionary rich seek to maintain almost feudal power over the masses. South America is increasing turning towards the ideas of Socialism as witnessed by the revolutionary process underway in Venezuela and the increasing contact by many states with Socialist Cuba. Meanwhile the USA is becoming increasingly belligerent in its Imperialism despite its failures to end the Iraqi resistance.

But we are not enemies of the USA or of Britain. As internationalists we recognise the working classes in those countries as our brothers and sisters.
We recognise that the real enemy is the system of capitalism that spawns the reactionary policies of the World Trade organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It is these organisations that are dictating the policies of privatisation that is inflicting so much suffering on people around the world and that unfortunately other republicans bought into when Ministers in Stormont.

The consequences of the neo-liberal agenda of these World Bodies can be seen on the ground here in Ireland. . 8.000 thousand job losses in the North West as a direct result of Globalisation. These losses are not just figures; they are the real lives of Irish people destroyed by capitalism. The poor of Eastern Europe flock to Ireland to be exploited by every crook, gangster and thug that calls himself an employer. It is no wonder that increasingly independents get elected to the Dail, as there is growing disillusionment with the established political parties. Low wages, anti trade union practices, racism homophobia, educational services cut to pieces, increasing gaps between the rich and the poor and tax free breaks for the super rich.

Meanwhile many working class areas in the cities and towns of Ireland are breeding grounds now for thugs, knife wielding morons and young people with no social conscience. Social cohesion of working class communities has collapsed. Individualism and the “me -me -me” generation has almost destroyed working class solidarity. The health services north and south are in almost terminal decline and many now dread going into hospitals for fear they come out dead due to the appalling state of the hospitals themselves. Everyday in many ways the working classes on this island suffer humiliation and exploitation from the capitalist classes.

Those parties who in the face of these defeats whip up nationalism and or sectarian hatred are the enemies of the working class. Comrades, flags don’t put food on the table. We refuse to allow ourselves to be boxed into the role of defenders of this or that community. Our only community is the working class-Catholic Protestant Dissenter Sikh Muslim or Jew.

It is clear that there are three options facing the broad republican movement.

Route one is to follow the Provisional movement in its headlong rush into constitutional nationalism and accept the status quo of capitalism. Be in no doubt that PSF want to manage capitalism in Ireland and believe they can do it better than the existing rulers. The IRSP reject that route.

Route Two is to unify those republicans who reject the Good Friday Agreement in a joint political and military onslaught on British rule. Some belief that the “Republican Movement” can be rebuilt around the re-commencing of the armed struggle. The IRSP reject that route.

Route Three is to return to the republicanism of James Connolly and to raise the class questions in every arena, in every struggle in every battlefield.

For it is only by the working classes in Ireland taking up the issues that affect them, that the link can be made between the class and the national question. There is no short cut available. We face only a long hard slog of persuasion and of hard work. Republican Socialists must reach out to the youth, to the trade union activists to the community activists trying to improve their communities. We need to reach out to other republicans and socialists and together find a way to implement the visions of Connolly and Costello. For partition and British Imperialism will never be defeated until the class question comes to the fore. The IRSP accept that route.

Republicans need to return to basics. A return to the democratic principles inherent in republicanism is a first step followed by the taking up of the class issues that press down on the Irish working class. All republicans should henceforth put their trust not in parliamentary leaders or army councils but in the revolutionary instincts of the advanced sections of the working people on the island of Ireland. What this means in practice is the building of a revolutionary republican Party that links the struggle against privatisation north and south, that opposes Imperialism at home and abroad, that stands up for the rights of all workers, and that is firmly committed to the creation of a Socialist Republic. That’s where the energies of real republicans should be geared.

That is no mean task. We must overcome our own divisions and suspicions our own inertia our own self-righteousness and elitism. For our part we are prepared to sit down with any party or group to discuss issues frankly and in a comradely spirit, and to consider working together on issues we can agree on. We call on all those with a radical or republican or a socialist view to engage in constructive dialogue with us.

There is real truth in the old slogan that you cannot have a free Ireland without a free working class. Let us return to the ideals of James Connolly. His ideas were relevant in 1916.They are still relevant today. Stand by the ideals of Connolly and we cannot go wrong. On this Easter 2005 let us renew our faith in the republicanism and the socialism of James Connolly the founding father of our republican socialism. Back to Connolly-forward to Socialism.

Ends


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IRISH NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY PRISONERS OF WAR STATEMENT
EASTER 2005
Delivered at IRSM Easter Commemoration, Belfast
Sunday 27th March 12 2005

The INLA POW’s give our continued support to the Leadership of both the INLA and IRSP. We send Easter greetings to all our Comrades within the Republican Socialist Movement, to friends and supporters at Home, and throughout the World. We extend our support and solidarity to our fellow political prisoners. To the Basques and Catalan prisoners, to the Turkish and Kurdish death fasters, to the Palestinian prisoners and to all political prisoners in Chile, Puerto Rico, USA and through out the World. We stand resolutely with, and pay tribute to all those fighting imperialism worldwide. We support the freedom fighters of Iraq.

Comrades on this, the 89th Anniversary of the Easter Rising, we gather once more to pay homage and to remember all those who gave their lives for a democratic Socialist Republic. We pay respect to and honour the republican dead- no matter what organisation they belonged to. While today, we in the Republican Socialist movement remember in particular our own martyred dead and our fallen comrades; we do not forget or ignore those other Republicans who sacrificed their lives so that this country could be free. We remember them all with pride.

At noon on that Easter Monday in 1916, members of the Irish Citizen Army and the Irish Volunteers occupied the GPO and strategic building around the centre of Dublin. From the steps of the GPO Padraig Pearse read aloud the proclamation of the Irish Republic, announcing that they were setting up a Provisional Government replacing Britton’s? These were extraordinary events involving ordinary men and women who lived in extraordinary times.

To day let us pause for a moment, and reflect on what, all those who died for the Republic, think they were doing. Irish men and women bravely fought and died for the rights of all of us, for all the people of this island to live in political, economic and social freedom in a Republic that cherishes all the children of the Nation equally.

Ask yourself, “Who today, stands by that concept of the Republic. The fat cats of Irish business life; The politicians who feed on corruption, greed and bribery, these very same politicians who have labelled Republicans - Republican Socialists as criminals. The full force of the establishment have united, to try and denigrate the sacrifices of all those we honour here today by there continuance in making unsubstantiated allegations of criminality against our Movement.

The facts speak for themselves, imprisoned INLA members were all convicted of political offences, there is no members of the INLA awaiting trial for criminal offences, No Member of the INLA or indeed the IRSP is involved in any type of criminality. However there are those out side of the Republican Socialist Movement who use the name of the INLA for there own ends, some with the approval and encouragement of the security agencies both north and south. These parasites who have descended into this type of activity, besmirch the name of Republicanism and not only is there no place for them in our movement, there is no place for them in society, for like the capitalist system they are a piraya who feed off the working class. There will never be a place in our movement for anyone who believes they can use it for personal advancement or financial gain.

Unlike Fianna Fail which has seen high ranking members of there party involved in criminal activities such as money laundering with the Guinness, Mahon, Cayman Trust, C J Haughey was rather partial to the odd bribe or two and ex Fianna Fail Minister Ray Burke is in jail on bribery and corruption convictions. The hypocrisy of the establishment is breath taking. None of these stand for the Republic, for they have allowed the poor of this country to slip into further debt and misery, with the gap between the rich and poor growing wider.

Nor do the Racists who preach hatred and enflame sectarianism, or the trade union leaders who have sold out the workers, nor those who wish to maintain oppression and inequality. None of these stands for the Republic we want to see.

We as Republican Socialists cannot and will not live under British colonial or unionist rule, for that rule is unjust, cruel, discriminatory and imperialistic. Seven years on since the signing of the GFA, what has changed? West minister maintains direct rule. The British army still patrol our streets, there intelligence service still operates clandestine operations, they continue to maintain and update their military installations. Sectarian clashes have increased and there is still no real justice or equality for the Republican- Nationalist community. Dessie O Hare continues to be held as a political hostage by the free state government who has reneged on its commitments under the GFA and Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry are denied recognition of there political status which was won because of the sacrifice of the hunger strikers in 81.

Comrades, It is time for us in the Republican Socialist Movement to take stock of where we are and where we are going, and how best to prepare politically and organisationally for the next phase, which will be our struggle, ie the class struggle. There is a danger at the moment of Republican Socialists ending up simply reacting to events. We encourage and fully support the Ard Chomhairle of the IRSP who are actively involved in preparing a long-term overview of a strategic and political understanding of what has to be done to achieve our aims and objectives.

Now that there is an acceptance of the primacy of politics, as outlined in the TA Power documents, the development of the party is critical, if we are to prepare the Irish working class for the struggles ahead. Political leadership comes from a political party that fully understands the situation and who possess the necessary tactics, strategies and policies that enables the working class struggle to move forward.

Our role should be to act as a catalyst to the struggle of the people, North and South, protestant and catholic so as to give them a cohesive programme of direction whilst raising their level of political consciousness. Our Movement has this potential if we are prepared to take the political responsibility that goes with it, and one of those responsibilities is to give voice to the people. There is a duty on each and every comrade to identify with, and participate in the everyday struggles of the people. Educate, agitate and organise comrades. It was the way of James Connolly it was the way of Costello, Onward to victory.

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