The rise of the Irish far-right has finally become a media issue. Following far-right arson attacks on proposed refugee centres and assaults on election workers from parties believed to be critical of capitalism, RTÉ has pushed the issue of migration towards the top of its current affairs agenda, to the […]
Ireland
Recognition of Palestine State is victory of Irish People
The Communist Party of Ireland welcomes the decision of the Irish government to recognise the State of Palestine. This decision by the Irish state to recognise the State of Palestine is the result of decades of demand and struggle, a struggle that has intensified since the invasion of Gaza in […]
50th Anniversary of the Dublin-Monaghan Bombings
Páirtí Cumannach na hÉireann / the Communist Party of Ireland once again expresses its solidarity with the families of the victims of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings on this the 50th anniversary; bombings that murdered 33 and injured 300 of our fellow citizens, leaving many families and individuals scarred for life both […]
The Assembly and Mobilising Northern Workers
The Socialist Voice is to be commended for providing the only party medium on the Irish left that supports critical debate. Such debate was evident in the February, March, and April editions on unions in the North. These articles reflected on the Assembly and its potential for worker rights. One […]
The Good Friday Agreement – Constructive Ambiguity
Over the past quarter century, there has existed in the North of Ireland a political policy known as “constructive ambiguity”. A stratagem long practiced by British colonial administrators, it first emerged in public discourse during the negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement. More than a little patronising, the underlying […]
Lough Neagh – the eye of capitalist climate destruction
Lough Neagh, just outside Belfast, has often been described as the “eye of the bear” that is the outline shape of the island of Ireland. It is the largest fresh-water lake in Ireland or England. The lake is 20 miles long, about 10 miles wide and is about the size […]
Lord Alderdice and the North
Two rival positions are circulating regarding the British and the North. The first is the British have no interest in maintaining the North. Lord Alderdice recently revived this argument in an interview online, claiming the Irish government, not the British, block unity. The second is that the British want to […]
The cause of Labour is the cause of Ireland, the cause of Ireland is the cause of Labour
The trade union movement, north and south, is at a significant crossroads where it can choose to struggle, fight, grow and raise the expectations and consciousness of our class and with our class, or it can choose to be further incorporated into the structures of Imperialism. With changing demographics and […]
Cumann na mBan, Women and Revolutionary Politics
On 2nd April 1914, in Wynne’s Hotel in Dublin, Cumann na mBan was founded. The first provisional committee of the organisation included Agnes MacNeill, Nancy O’Rahilly, Mary Colum, Jenny Wyse Power, Louise Gavan Duffy, and Elizabeth Bloxham, with MacNeill as its president. Its objectives were to advance the cause of […]
Disability rights and capitalism
Following the success of the “No” vote on the Care Amendment it is time to speak of the next attack on people with disabilities, the Green Paper on Disability Reform. This paper was proposed in the latter half of 2023 and since has had to face down a number of […]
St Patrick’s Day Subservience
It is hardly surprising that many progressive people have become increasingly uneasy about the Sinn Féin leadership’s relationship with the British establishment. Party vice president and Stormont First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, was recently pictured in a close embrace with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, while only last May, along with […]
Michael Gaughan (1949-74)
The tricolour that draped Michael Gaughan’s coffin was used for Terence McSwiney’s funeral, contributed by life-long Communist Party member Muriel MacSwiney, widow of Terence MacSwiney. During the people’s resistance against injustice in the North of Ireland, it was said that ordinary people did extraordinary things. This could be said of […]
Letter to the Editor: Trade Union Politics in the North
Socialist Voice articles last month by Jimmy Doran and Niall Cullinane provided the basis of an interesting discussion in the Greater Belfast Branch of the CPI. The articles were about the January 18th “Generalised Strike Action” across the North, directed against the British Tory Secretary of State for withholding funding […]
Palestine and Ireland
The first British military governor of Palestine, Ronald Storrs, wrote that the purpose of the 1917 Balfour Decleration was to create a “loyal Jewish Ulster in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism.” The settler-colony of Israel was created by the same imperialist interests which colonised Ireland and brutalised our people. […]
A Carefully Crafted Story – RTÉ’s Inside Penneys
Fresh off the back of a year of public-private financial blunders, including revelations of Ryan Tubridy’s secret overpayment, UK-based barter account use, undisclosed free-car deals and a Toy Show Musical money-pit scandal, our public-service broadcaster is back with ‘Inside Penneys’. During the summer of 2023, Motive Television / RTÉ production […]
Imperialism for Slow Learners
When Barack Obama was elected as the first black president of the United States in 2008, there was jubilation and celebration of this “historic event”. The “We are One” concert was held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to celebrate the incoming President Obama where Pete Seeger and Bruce […]