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 […]
Socialism
Irish communist solidarity with Cuba
In late January, the Communist Party of Ireland handed over €5,000 to the Cuban Ambassador to Ireland, Bernardo Guanche Hernández, as part of our ongoing solidarity work with the Cuban people and their revolution. The money was raised for medical solidarity with Cuba, as the illegal US blockade continues to […]
Communist Legend: Blas Roca Calderio
24th July 1908 – 26th April 1987 Cuban Communist Blas Roca was General Secretary of the pre-1959 Cuban Revolution Communist Party, the Popular Socialist Party (PSP). Under his leadership the Cuban communists provided key organisational and ideological structure for Fidel Castro’s socialist revolution. Post-Revolution, Blas Roca became a Central Committee […]
What do we mean by Socialism?
By now most New Year’s resolutions, made with the best of intentions, have been broken. Most of these resolutions were wishes that took little account of the reality of our lifestyles. As a result, they were unachievable. In politics something similar happens. Many Irish people seek an alternative to capitalism […]
Mental health and alienation under capitalism
The discourse around mental health has long been dominated by the psy disciplines, particularly psychiatry which has been influential in determining our understanding of “mental illness”. To do so it relies on the DSM – The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The DSM is used to diagnose and […]
Long Live the November Revolution
Lenin said, “Revolutions are the festivals of the oppressed and the exploited” and November 7th is the Russian revolution day. The polyonymous revolution is called as October revolution or November revolution due to the change from the Julian calendar to Gregorian calendar which had a difference of 13 days. Every […]
Marx and the Founding of International Working Men’s Association
On September 28th 1864, a public meeting was summoned by George Odger, president of the London Council of Trade Unions, and Randal Cremer, secretary of the Mason’s Union. The meeting took place at St. Martin’s Hall, now Queen’s Theatre, which had a capacity for 4,000 people. In a letter to […]
The August Revolution
On 19th August 1945 the Viet Minh, led by the Indochinese Communist Party, which would later become the Communist Party of Vietnam, took over the capital city of Vietnam, Hanoi. Within two weeks, Viet Minh forces liberated most of the villages and rural towns across north and central Vietnam. Describing […]
James Baldwin
James Baldwin was born one hundred years ago in Harlem, New York, 2 August 1924. Baldwin’s stepfather David, a Pentecostal preacher, was a factory worker, earning too little to provide for his family of nine children. His mother Berdis, a migrant from the South, worked in domestic service. The young […]
Challenging Hegemony to Breakthrough
To the Marxist it is indisputable that a revolution is impossible without a revolutionary situation; furthermore, it is not every revolutionary situation that leads to revolution. What, generally speaking, are the symptoms of a revolutionary situation? We shall certainly not be mistaken if we indicate the following three major symptoms: […]
Pride Event: Coming Out
On Tuesday 25th June, the LGBT committee of CPI’s Dublin branch organised a screening of the East German film, Coming Out (dir. Heiner Carow, 1989), with party members and members of the public in attendance. Coming Out was the last film produced in the GDR, by the production house DEFA, […]
James Connolly Commemoration at Arbour Hill
The following is a speech given by Cuban Ambassador of Ireland, Bernardo Guanche Henandez, at this year’s James Connolly Commemoration at Arbour Hill in Dublin: “Comrades all, I am very honored this afternoon to pay tribute to a historical figure of the stature of James Connolly, a prominent Marxist and […]
Review – James Connolly Festival 2024
In a departure from the usual week-long run of events, this year’s James Connolly Festival ran from Thursday to Sunday, culminating on 12th May: 107 years to the day that Ireland lost its greatest martyr and Marxist theoretician, James Connolly. It was at the outbreak of war in Europe during […]
Without fear, without hope
In an often mentioned quote from the Italian partisan and later president, Sandro Pertini exclaimed that “sometimes in life it’s necessary to fight, not just without fear, but also without hope.” Today, as we have access to a wide range of media reports on the major crises around the world, […]
On the need for a Popular Front
In March I wrote a piece suggesting it is time for a new Popular Front, given the many multifaceted and related crisis humanity faces, but one that must be both eco-socialist and anti-capitalist given ecological and military developments since the 1930s. In our 26th Congress document we have already called […]
Freirian Critical Dialogue – An Empowering Element of Struggle
One of the major drawbacks to radical and transformative actions by activists involved in struggle, is the hoary old chestnut of a lack of class consciousness out there in the wider population… or so we like to believe. We say it constantly: why is it that there appears to be […]