In the last issue of Socialist Voice it was shown that, as part of the liberal agenda, the period of wage-slavery was being extended to the degree that it is unlikely that most people forced to work until seventy years of age or beyond will be able to enjoy their […]
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Organising and mental health
“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality . . . We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity will be transformed into […]
A summer of change
This summer has indeed been very different from summers of the past—and it wasn’t just the long period of hot weather. There has been a sustained period of civil disobedience by ordinary citizens, who have been marginalised by high rents and low pay as a result of the neo-liberal policies […]
Victor Jara sings on
Forty-five years ago, on 11 September 1973, the Chilean military, under the command of General Augusto Pinochet and backed by the United States, overthrew the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende. Allende, who had won the election in September 1970, was faced even before taking office with the enmity […]
Films- Provoking viewers to think about fascism
Winner of the Golden Globe for best foreign-language film, In the Fade, by the Turkish-German director Fatih Akın, is one of the more important new political films on the state of Germany today. It is loosely based on the NSU (National Socialist Underground—i.e. fascist) trials, which were concluded this summer […]
Films – Some harsh truths about American police and politics
BlacKkKlansman is Spike Lee’s latest cinematic offering, a dramatic dark comedy that is based on a true story of a black detective who goes undercover in the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. The film has suffered criticism for being “anti-white” (the irony is tangible on that one) and for […]
I Come And Stand At Every Door
Originally a poem by the great Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet and translated into English by Jeannette Turner. Here Gabriel Rosenstock translates Pete Seeger’s version of this great antiwar song (https://tinyurl.com/pnyykae). Im’ sheasamh ar gach tairseach bím Im’ sheasamh ar gach tairseach bím Ní chloistear áfach mo choiscéim An […]
Tressell’s work is a timeless piece of working class literature
Robert Tressell’s book The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists is the first important working-class novel in English literature, written between 1906 and 1910 and first published posthumously, and very abridged, in 1914. The working class has championed this novel about their experience and written from their own point-of-view like no other working-class novel […]
The anti-fascism of Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov led the Communist International from 1934 to 1943. During that time, he contributed to the Communist understanding of fascism, more so than any other Marxist theorist. Dimitrov outlined the origins and purpose of fascism as well as the strategy the Communist movement had to adopt in order to […]
Congratulations to Palestinian solidarity activists
Statement by the Communist Party of Ireland 13 July 2018 The Communist Party of Ireland welcomes the passing by the Seanad of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill, introduced by the independent senator Frances Black. The vote of 25 in favour and 20 against is an important and […]
The Israeli “nation-state law” is a fascist step towards apartheid
Statement by the Communist Party of Israel The need today is to strengthen the unity of the Palestinian citizens’ struggle and, forming the widest Jewish-Arab front to fight Fascism. The Communist Party of Israel considers the “Basic Law: Israel – the Nation State of the Jewish People”, a serious […]
We have reached the end of history
We have reached the end of history: at least as far as the junior certificate cycle is concerned. Following the revamp of the Junior Cert model history will no longer be a compulsory subject with only English, Irish and Mathematics remaining mandatory. Though this has been sold as “giving the […]
Psychology’s punitive history
“The peoples of the world do not want a repetition of the scourge of war.” Psychology has a complicated relationship with the world at large, often seen as something to be a bit wary of. Like nuclear engineering it has the ring of something easily corrupted and dangerous about […]
Trump is just the vulgar face of an increasingly violent neoliberalism
Let’s hear it for the Donald. A round of applause for the great educator. In the face of criticism, ridicule and condemnation, the US president crossed the Atlantic and delivered a virtuoso performance. No other occupant of the Oval Office has visited Europe and provided such a clear and unambiguous […]
Armed Response Unit breaks up political protest in Cork
Cork Branch, Connolly Youth Movement Members of the Connolly Youth Movement (CYM) had inhabited two buildings, dubbed Kent House and Mellows House, to highlight the ongoing housing crisis. The six residents had been living there for over two months. However, on July 24, a worker of the maintenance group […]
Retirement age: The new stealth tax
A bill is at present going through Dáil Éireann that would allow the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to increase the retirement age for public servants to 70 years of age. The bill will allow a future minister the option of increasing the compulsory retirement age to 75. This […]