How spontaneous are violent right-wing actions currently taking place in both jurisdictions on this island? There can be little doubt that sinister elements are playing a role organising these disturbances but what is the magnitude of the threat posed by these agitators. Are they just a small number of dangerous […]
Author: Tommy McKearney
Inheritance Tax and the Government of the 1%
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, emboldened by recent election results, are confident enough to return to policies that feather the nests of the ruling class. They have created the narrative facilitated as always by their lackeys in the media that inheritance tax is “too punitive and unfair and needs to […]
The Economics and Politics of Unity
With Sinn Féin recently securing a hat trick of seats, their border poll call has escalated. In this article, unity economics are engaged to strengthen preparation for such prospects and likely aftermath. In doing so, I assume that the economics of unity will be settled between the British and Irish […]
A Transformative Political Strategy – Decentralised Democracy and bourgeois electoralism – a reply to Comrade Eoghan O’Neill.
Many shades of Republicans and other groups/parties on the Left, have been calling for a coming together of the broader Left for some years now. Recently though, the calls for “unity of purpose” appear to be a bit more prolific, on social media and public speeches. Eoghan O’Neill, writing in […]
Building Beyond Electoralism
In the June issue of the Socialist Voice I wrote an opinion piece intended to stimulate a debate on what I thought was the best strategy in the electoral arena, specifically looking at the upcoming General Elections in the 26 counties. That article has indeed sparked discussion and it has […]
Why would we hand over our achievements to those who oppose us?
Many Socialist Republican and anti-imperialist groups in Ireland have a well-founded distrust of our parliamentary political system. They know from bitter experience that no solutions for the plight of the working class or a United Socialist Ireland will emanate from there. To quote Connolly: “Governments in capitalist society are but […]
Ransom ’79: film review
Ransom ’79 (dir. Colm Quinn, 2024) is the story of Charlie Bird working on his final documentary, about a demand to extort £5 million from the government or foot-and-mouth disease would be unleashed into the south of Ireland, back in 1979. This is a true crime story, that remained covered […]
Pride Event: Coming Out
On Tuesday 25th June, the LGBT committee of CPI’s Dublin branch organised a screening of the East German film, Coming Out (dir. Heiner Carow, 1989), with party members and members of the public in attendance. Coming Out was the last film produced in the GDR, by the production house DEFA, […]
Republicanism and Working-Class ideology
On the 23rd of July 1803, Robert Emmet led roughly 80 men towards Dublin Castle. They were armed with pikes, pistols and blunderbusses. Emmet wouldn’t see the drunken riot that his revolution would descend into – the lack of discipline amongst the men caused him to leave Dublin and go […]
The dangerous framing of a Putin Puppet
“Fuck off Kremlin Clare, you Putin puppet”, shouted a Dublin man leaving Lidl in Dublin as Clare Daly politely asked him for a number one vote in the upcoming EU elections. Just one of dozens of abusive comments made during the 2024 EU election campaign. Some called her a c*nt, […]
Palestine and the Environmental Struggle: a debate between Andreas Malm and Matan Kaminer
A recent series of blog posts on the website of Verso Books, acclaimed publisher on the left, attracted a lot of attention online. Andreas Malm, best known for his excellent analysis of the capitalist systems of climate emergency, started this series off with his long and informative essay “The Destruction […]
Letters: Julian Assange
Dear Editor, All those who support peace and neutrality will welcome the release of Wikileaks founder and journalist Julian Assange. He has been freed after five years incarcerated in Britain’s most notorious Belmarsh Prison, and is expected to travel home to Australia after he agreed to plead guilty to a […]
Dictatorship and Democracy
Words carry meaning, they carry history and they are influenced by history as well. The meaning of the word “dictatorship” has evolved since Marx used it. Dictatorship acquired a terrible meaning after Hitler’s Nazism and Mussolini’s fascism. Every past society is a dictatorship of some class or the other. The […]
Authoritarianism on the rise – New laws in Denmark and Germany
Two important and worrying new laws are on the way in Denmark and in Germany which evidence the ongoing increase in the authoritarian nature of the State across Europe. These laws come in response to the loss of legitimacy that is a hallmark of states in this era of monopoly […]
Post Election Prospects for Progress in South Africa
In recent months, South Africa has led the way in making the case to the International Court of Justice that the Israeli government must be held accountable for genocide in Gaza. South Africa, under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), once again stood out as a beacon of […]
The Invisible Front: A Woman’s Perspective
Spy thrillers about and accounts of East-West spying during the cold war abound, are always written from a particular Western political standpoint. Autobiographies relating the stories of former “agents for peace” on the other hand are rare. Beatrice Altman-Schevitz’ The Shadow in the Shadow is the only such memoir to […]