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 […]
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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 […]
Starmer and the North
The upcoming UK elections are poised to bring Labour to power in Britain. The question that arises is, what implications will a Starmer government have for Ireland? The answer is very little. While Labour’s plan to revoke the Legacy Act is a positive step, their energy, transport, and workers’ rights […]
Working Class Unity the rust proof Weapon of our Class
Trade unions were born out of capitalism and represent the first steps in the organisation of workers as a class. The main power workers have is their numerical strength: unfortunately, this is weakened by division and lack of unity. Some of this division is created by union-busting employers who create […]
Results of Local & EU Elections of June 7th
The 7th of June Local and EU elections showed the continuing strength and stability of bourgeois ideology in Irish society. Despite facing several related crises such as housing & homelessness, a deteriorating health service, increasing levels of poverty, right-wing attacks on migrants, as well as opposition to the government’s policy […]
A Political Earthquake: A Communist Perspective on the Fascist Surge in France.
This past Sunday, as Europe anxiously awaited the results of the European elections, many of us in France experienced a deep sense of fear and indignation. The far-right’s surge across the continent, though anticipated, materialised into a chilling reality. We now face the grim prospect of an increased number of […]
East German Literature: Challenges and Triumphs in Cultural Recognition
East German Literature: Challenges and Triumphs in Cultural Recognition Germany’s minister of state for culture, the senior Green politician Claudia Roth, one of the almost exclusively West German-born government officials, voiced her surprise at a recent literary event upon discovering that there were other books on East German (GDR) bookshelves […]
Report from Bohemian FC vs Palestine, 15th May 2024 in Dalymount Park
Formal recognition by Ireland of the Palestinian state is expected to happen before the end of the month. To all intents and purposes, it occurred at Dalymount Park in Dublin on Wednesday, May 15. The first game of a Palestinian national team on European soil was always going to be […]
Erinnerungskultur — Germany’s False Memory Syndrome
On May 17, German MEP for Brandenburg Christian Ehler tweeted: “Earlier this month, the leadership of Trinity College Dublin gave in to pressure from anti-Semitic student group [sic] and committed to punishing the Jewish people for protecting themselves against the terrorists of Hamas operating out of Gaza.” It was part […]
A Popular Front – Ideology and Organisational Form
Earlier this year, I wrote in Socialist Voice on the need for the Party to consider resurrecting the concept and approach of the Popular Front as necessary at this time, but to do so in a new context and not by merely replicating the past. I argued that this is […]
Book Review: Maya Wind’s Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom
Maya Wind’s Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom saw its Dublin launch at Trinity College, mere minutes after the Trinity students celebrated the end of their encampment. The book launch was a chance to contextualise the euphoria of one of the first wins for the […]
Urania
With the current culture wars focusing on mainly trans people, singling out trans women in particular (and forgetting trans men exist), one would almost forget that Irish feminists were once involved in a feminist journal that had subscribers all over the world. It was revolutionary in its writing, trying to […]
Portugal’s Unfinished Carnation Revolution of 1974
Fifty years ago on April 25th, Portugal’s 41-year-old dictatorship, the oldest in Europe, was overthrown in just 24 hours with only four dead – all shot by the fascist secret police. “The centre of Lisbon was awash with flowers and knots of jubilant groups on every street corner. Soldiers and sailors […]