Readers of Socialist Voice may be familiar with the idea of worker self-directed enterprises, or WSDEs. The idea is promoted in the United States, particularly by the Marxian economist Richard Wolff. Those who are not acquainted with the logic behind WSDE might be well served by engaging with this topic, […]
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Struggle in the work-place hasn’t gone away
Struggle and resistance in the work-place is more common than readers might think. If we think of resistance or conflict between capital and labour in work-places as only industrial disputes, well then, yes, it is a pretty dismal picture. Of course we see the headline disputes of workers collectively organised […]
What is going on in the housing market?
Marx’s theories are the key to understanding the Irish housing crisis. It may seem that the situation we find ourselves in is a uniquely modern one, but nothing could be further from the truth. What has happened is a gradual shift from battles at the “point of production” (where value […]
How do you solve a problem like unionism?
It was said of the Bourbons after the Restoration in 1814 that they had forgotten nothing and learnt nothing. Something similar may well be said about the DUP in particular and unionism in general. Having seen its regional parliament collapse yet again in early 2017, and largely as a result […]
The Imperial Cup Final: EU v. UK?
Let’s make no mistake about it: despite the merry-go-round of posturing in the Brexit negotiations, it is and always was two imperial powers locked in a phoney war of position; and the concerns of Irish citizens are of little interest to either Britain or the EU. The interests of the […]
Land value tax: A response
■ See “Understanding land value tax” by Eoghan O’Neill, Socialist Voice, January 2018, p. 10 I do not think it is correct to suggest that land is finite but can be reused. We have seen in Chernobyl that land will not be reusable in any human lifetime; it is useless for […]
A story of commitment and defeat
Michael Ryan, My Life in the IRA: The Border Campaign (Dublin: Mercier Press, 2018) Mick Ryan, a member of the IRA from the age of nineteen, became one of the most active participants in the IRA’s “border campaign,” launched in December 1956 and officially abandoned in February 1962, though its […]
Hollywood and the Indigenous peoples
Following the American Civil War there was a brief period of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states before the imperialist war was resumed against the Indigenous peoples of America, when the colonialists gave full expression to the policy of “manifest destiny” in both extending the borders of the United States […]
Letter from Cuba
Trump’s State Department has just announced the initiation of a “Cuban Internet Task Force”—another illegal, offensive and typical act of interference in the internal affairs of a nation lining up to conclude its general election process. It makes a bit of a mockery of their indignation at what Russia was […]
Catalan elections Workers’ kamikaze revenge!
A growing international tendency that should concern political activists is the rightward turn of working-class voters. In the United States, workers’ support determined the election of the ultra-rightist Donald Trump, presenting himself as fighting neo-liberalism and the globalisation policies of the ruling Democratic Party, seen as driving American industry overseas. […]
Even more US bombs dropped on Afghanistan (with a lot of help from Ireland)
At the end of last year the US Air Force had dropped about three times as many bombs on Afghanistan as in 2016. New statistics show that by the end of October there had already been 3,554 “fired weapons.” Over the past year they had registered 1,337 munitions drops. The […]
Educational peace project proposed for schools
A number of peace activists and groups have come together to promote an educational project in national and secondary schools entitled “Fly Kites, Not Drones / Eitleoga Seachas Dróin.” The initiative was first launched in Britain by a number of organisations, including the Catholic Church’s Pax Christi and the Society […]
National Day of Action against US Wars at Home and Abroad
Resolution of the Conference on US Foreign Military Bases, held at Learning Commons Town Hall, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, 12–14 January 2018 WHEREAS the United States has been in a state of perpetual war and has been using its unrivalled military might in every corner of the world to […]
“The name is communism”
Cover of the first edition, written in German, published in London in 1848. It reads: “Manifesto of the Communist Party | Published February 1848 | Proletarians of all Lands, Unite! | London | Printed in the offices of the Workers’ Educational Association | By J. E. Burghard | 46, Liverpool […]
Something to celebrate: The first Dáil Éireann and the Democratic Programme
Next January the Peadar O’Donnell Socialist Republican Forum will mark the centenary of the first Dáil Éireann and the publication of one of modern Ireland’s landmark documents, the Democratic Programme. The forum will celebrate the occasion with a conference in Liberty Hall, Dublin. While it is important that seminal events […]
The EU driving privatisation
The crisis in health services is Europe-wide. The pace of market-driven health “reform” has speeded up since capitalism’s 2008 crash as neo- liberal governments—with both conservative and social democratic labels—have imposed the costs of saving the banks on working people. Public health services, with their massive property holdings, substantial staff […]