Opportunities for the working class

national | worker & community struggles and protests | feature

Thursday July 30, 2009 13:21

by Paddy Hackett

Mass rallies of workers

Cowen, Lenihan, and Coughlan
Axis of Eejits

The Fianna Fail government, by frantically rushing criminal legislation through the Oireachtas, is hoping to exploit "the law and order" issue ...

... as a desperate means of stemming any further loss in popular support while using this strategy as a platform to rebuild and expand popular support. It seeks to take over the Fine Gael mantle as "the law and order party". It hopes that by introducing such measures it can succeed in crushing crime. It hopes too that "law and order" will form part of the grand diversion from the economic disaster besetting Ireland. By wiping out crime and "making the trains run on time" Fianna Fáil hope that the resulting increasing authoritarianism of the state will transform it into a keener weapon for constricting the working class.

On the other hand the great weakness and inherent instability of the current government renders it, in many ways, a more dangerous regime. Like a bear with a sore head, it randomly hits out in all directions. But this unstable government may provide the working class with opportunities to strengthen itself by developing its political consciousness and action. The more the government randomly attack the working class the greater the chances of the latter's class consciousness and politics growing. This may lead to the tranformation of the Irish working class into a more politically advanced and class conscious class. Fianna Fail may be creating capitalism's grave by its current attacks on the Republic's workers.

The working class must take to the streets of the cities of Ireland as one united force. Even if it does not feel strong enough to engage in sustained and general strike action under the present debilitating conditions, there is nothing to stop it organising monster rallies outside of (so to speak) working hours. With the right slogans and demands such mass rallies can only but increase the strength and class confidence of workers while correspondingly weakening the self-confidence of the government. Workers are increasingly seeing through SIPTU's Jack O Connor's empty huffing and puffing on the air waves. The trade union leadership, let me say, has been appalling even in terms of its own narrow politics. Trade Unionist apparatchiks, like Manus O Riordan, should be on the air waves and elsewhere presenting the union position. Instead much of the union apparatii prefer to hide. They have not even the confidence to defend their own politics of capitulation.

Ahern and Cowan recklessly and irresponsibly wasted state resources, albeit capitalist, in order to venally maintain themselves in power. The relatively large increases in children's allowances and other benefits were meted out by them to buy votes and thereby win the last general election. These two politicos and their supporting nomenklatura were prepared to even put the interests of the capitalist system at stake in order to maintain themselves in power. It is surprising that there have been little, if any, calls to have Ahern and Cowan arrested and charged with the squandering of the state's resources. Ruairi Quinn T.D. has come, as I understand it, nearest to such a call.