In spite of the extensive coverage of Trump’s storming arrival in the Oval Office, there remains a certain complacency in Ireland and elsewhere about what this presidency means. With the balance of power in the world changing away from the USA’s total control, there is now a question as to […]
Politics
On the crisis of historicity as root of ideological decadence
For the purpose of this contribution, decadence is primarily demonstrated in class self-indulgence. Media discourse, synchronised with election cycles, demonstrates this well, as the capitalist class and its state clientele put focus on issues divorced from those of the working class. At those few points of convergence, we see the […]
January’s Socialist Voice issued an editorial accompanying an article about trangender rights[1] that rightly calls for respect in debates on this topic. Surely, the more obvious issue here is why we have this debate at all. From the point of view of scientific socialism, the matter is entirely irrelevant. As […]
Stormont Assembly: going nowhere!
At the start of a new year, it is worthwhile asking what are the prospects for positive progress in the northern six counties? It will hardly surprise our readers if we say that the omens are not offering much ground for optimism. Depressingly, the statistics, recording social deprivation amid a […]
Declan Kearney on “left” alliances in An Phoblacht
Declan Kearney, Sinn Féin MLA writing in the An Phoblacht paper, is wondering out loud about a “left Republican alliance being the way forward”. Interesting though that he didn’t say that a Socialist Republican alliance is the way forward! There’s a big difference between the ‘Liberal Left’ approach and a […]
Statement on the outcome of the 2024 General Election in the 26 Counties
The outcome of the general election in the 26 counties will do nothing to solve the multiple crises of homelessness, health provision, rising prices and precarious employment facing many urban and rural working-class communities. Nor will it deal with the continuing erosion of democracy which sees the Irish government unable […]
Successful ICTU Motion on Health Services
Comrade Gearóid Ó Machail, SIPTU NIDC Workplace Representative and National Executive Committee member of the Communist Party of Ireland, succeeded in having the below resolution passed at the recent NIC-ICTU Biennial Delegates Conference in the Guildhall, Derry. MOTION: This motion calls on ICTU to lead an active campaign to highlight […]
General election results in the 26 Counties
The results of the General Election are now in, with the two major establishment parties – Fianna Fáil (48 seats) and Fine Gael (38) just falling two short of securing an overall majority with 86 TDs combined. Elsewhere, Sinn Féin won 39 seats, the Labour Party won 11, the Social […]
Elections in the Republic
The rumour mill is suggesting that a General Election in the Republic is perhaps closer than previously indicated by the Taoiseach. Tensions between the coalition partners over issues such as taxation of zoned farmland may cause the government to fall, forcing the incumbents to go to the country. Fuelling this […]
Capitalist Democracy
Election coverage has become a dominant part of the entertainment/propaganda sector that passes for news coverage in Ireland and the rest of the capitalist world. The soap opera that is the US Presidential election has become prime-time viewing with its twists and turns, the latest being the attempted assasination of […]
A Transformative Political Strategy – Decentralised Democracy and bourgeois electoralism – a reply to Comrade Eoghan O’Neill.
Many shades of Republicans and other groups/parties on the Left, have been calling for a coming together of the broader Left for some years now. Recently though, the calls for “unity of purpose” appear to be a bit more prolific, on social media and public speeches. Eoghan O’Neill, writing in […]
An Electoral Transformative Strategy
The following article is presented to offer up for debate a potential transformative electoral strategy in the wake of the recent local and EU elections. There is a wider and more important debate and strategy to be formulated over the coming months and years on how to deepen and broaden […]
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 […]
Coalition Government Running Out Of Steam and a System That Can’t Be Fixed!
The three party coalition government of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party is clearly running out of steam. Their Programme for Government has failed on many levels, from housing to the environment to healthcare, the list goes on. Their housing strategy has failed as private capital is driven […]
Ruling By Fooling
Fifty years after the collapse of the first attempt to reform the governance of Northern Ireland, the six county state remains a hopelessly failed political entity. Not only is it afflicted with the chaotically dysfunctional local Stormont administration, but lurking always in the background is manipulation by Britain’s Deep State. […]