Article

Trade Unionism

Social partnership? No, thanks

“Social partnership” is anti-democratic, because a small group of insiders make the deal. This is then packaged and sold to workers as the best deal possible at this time, given the present circumstances. Social partnership comes onto the horizon as a result of political, employment and economic crisis, in order […]

Culture

Power: Aude Lorde

The recent demonstrations that began in Minnesota following the murder of George Floyd by a white cop are not only a continuation of the past seven years of the Black Lives Matter movement but of decades of struggle by black people against a racist police force, which functions to uphold […]

Obituary

Edwina Stewart (1934–2020)

Edwina Stewart, communist and civil rights activist, died on Friday 29 May 2020, in the presence of her daughters. She had been ill for a while. Edwina was born in East Belfast, and her family came from the radical Protestant tradition that she was proud of. Both her parents were […]

Ireland Narrated

Containing by restraining

Nothing worries an established ruling class so much as a series of unpredictable events over which they have no control. This is especially so when these events pose questions about the stability of the status quo. There can be little doubt that developments over the last six months have given […]

Political Economy

On supernovas and milkshakes

The economist John Smith of the University of Sheffield caused a lot of debate with his recent article “Why coronavirus could spark a capitalist supernova,” in which he offered a powerful rejection of mainstream and Keynesian analysis of the bond market. For years now, “core” capitalist economies have been suffering […]

Trade Unionism

Who shapes legislation on workers’ voice?

Over the last two decades legislation has been introduced that provides workers with some collective voice or mechanisms for pursuing collective goals. None of these have been collective bargaining or legislation providing for union recognition. Ireland stands out among most countries in still not having union recognition and collective bargaining […]

Political Economy

Who said that?

“Bourgeois ideology is far older in origin than socialist ideology, it is more fully developed, and has at its disposal immeasurably more means of dissemination.”—V. I. Lenin (born 150 years ago), What Is to Be Done? The covid-19 pandemic will result in a “savage recession” around the world “that will […]

International

Another (final?) defeat for Juan Guaidó

In Venezuela the month of May began with a bang. A group of mercenaries—North American, Colombian, and Venezuelan, armed and trained in Colombia with the participation of drug-dealing paramilitaries, the Drugs Enforcement Administration of the United States, and the benign surveillance of the Colombian government—mounted an invasion of Venezuela. The […]