Communists from across Ireland will gather for the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of Ireland.
Under the slogan “Peace, Independence and Socialism”, Ireland’s communists will gather in Dublin this month for the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of Ireland. Delegates to Congress will debate and vote on the Political Resolution, an International Resolution, and motions from Party Branches. An equally important task of Congress will be the election of a new National Executive Committee.
The process leading to Congress began over 18 months ago with Political Schools dealing with the concrete economic reality of the triple lock of imperialism on Ireland, north and south, as well as how Irish neutrality is a key element in the struggle for national liberation and socialism. This fed into the Political Resolution drafted by the National Executive Committee, which was then discussed by the party membership, and amendments were proposed by the Branches. Congress is the culmination of this collective process of inner-party democracy.
Congress takes place as an increasingly aggressive US imperialism tries to maintain its world dominance and “clear the decks” to prepare for war against the People’s Republic of China. The US has dropped all pretence of acting in accordance with international law and providing faux humanitarian reasons for its wars of aggression. The EU, including Ireland, as well as Britain, struggle to find a formulation that can both “defend” international law and at the same time support US illegality. Tensions within the Atlantic alliance are increasing as the US puts the interests of its own capitalist class ahead of the stability of the NATO/EU bloc. War is now discussed as a rational option within EU and NATO circles, and the mass murder of civilians and carpet bombing of homes, hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure has been normalised following the Zionist genocide in Gaza. Nationally, the Irish capitalist class have intensified their attacks on Irish neutrality in order to pursue ever closer integration with NATO.
Congress will discuss how this new phase of imperialist aggression will continue to impact the Irish working class and how the struggle for an independent, united and socialist Ireland is an integral part of the struggle against war and mass murder, and also part of the broader anti-imperialist struggle. Ireland is an island, but we are connected to the wider world. In common with most capitalist states, Ireland has a housing crisis. The private rented sector is dominated by US capital, with profits being sucked out of the country into the pockets of US capitalists and the US war machine. State ownership of this sector will become part of a renewed public housing programme and also reduce the profits of US capitalism. As the drive to war intensifies, billions of euro will be diverted from socially necessary spending and poured into the coffers of the merchants of death.
From the first Communist Party of Ireland in 1921 through to its re-establishment in 1933, the Communist Party of Ireland has been an integral part of the struggle for social and national liberation. The 27th Congress is the latest step in that process. We will grapple with the complexities of charting the correct political position to advance the struggle for national liberation and socialism in a politically partitioned country dominated by the triple lock of US, EU and British imperialism and native capitalism. We will be guided by Marxism-Leninism, not as a dogma which will give us the most “revolutionary” slogan, but as a tool with which to analyse the concrete political and economic situation and come up with the correct strategic position to advance the struggle for socialism.
