The trajectory of the global capitalist economy reveals a deep and persistent malaise. Since the Great Recession of 2008-2009, G7 economies have failed to regain their former dynamism. The acute yet temporary recession triggered by the global pandemic has only exacerbated this long-term trend. Across the G7, metrics for business […]
Tag: Capitalism
Haiti: Descent into capitalist barbarism
The political situation in Haiti has led to a surge in gang violence. This has led to attacks on aircraft and the closing of Haiti’s largest international airport. The increase in gang violence has also disrupted humanitarian organisations that are currently in Haiti, such as Partners in Health, known as […]
New Year’s Statement 2025
The Communist Party of Ireland sends revolutionary greetings to Ireland’s working class, family farmers, students and apprentices, and to all those forces fighting to create a better future for our people. The coming year will see continued attacks upon the living standards of our class and further degradation of health […]
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 […]
Profiting from Old Age
The 26 counties has a rapidly ageing population. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the amount of the population aged 65 or over grew 40% between 2013-2023, from 569,000 to 806,000. By 2051, the number will double to 1.6 million. As with everything in this country, the lack of […]
Trump World
The election last month of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America has received extensive media coverage. Much of the reporting has, understandably, focused on the individual and his idiosyncratic, even eccentric behaviour. How did such an unconventional character manage to persuade a majority of Americans to […]
Statement on General Election
The forthcoming General Election takes place in the context of multiple crises, such as rising prices, rising rents, and homelessness. The health system is operating beyond all capacity, with excessive waiting times for GP appointments, in A&E departments, over-crowded hospitals, and people waiting years to be referred to a specialist. […]
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 […]
Migration
Migration has become an issue in Irish politics, although the extent to which it influences voting preference is moot. Much of the discourse around migration consists of liberals condemning working class communities for questioning the effects of migration on their communities, the racist right blaming migrants for the social and […]
Foreign investment, the productive forces and Ireland
Our understanding of foreign direct investment (FDI) is heavily influenced by Lenin’s analysis of imperialism, where FDI is seen as the export of capital from the advanced capitalist core, led by monopolists, to peripheral countries. The motive behind this is clear: to secure higher rates of surplus value no longer […]
Book Review – Techno Feudalism by Yanis Varoufakis
The M-C-C’-M’ circuit means Money (M) which is exchanged for Commodities (C) – including labor power which also becomes a commodity in a capitalist society – involved in the production process to produce a value-added commodity (C’) which is sold for more Money (M’), and thus the accumulation of capital […]
Lord Alderdice and the North
Two rival positions are circulating regarding the British and the North. The first is the British have no interest in maintaining the North. Lord Alderdice recently revived this argument in an interview online, claiming the Irish government, not the British, block unity. The second is that the British want to […]
Capitalism’s “good name” is being damaged!
The Tory Housing Secretary Michael Gove has said that Kingspan Insulation in Cavan is “giving capitalism a bad name.” (Irish News, Sat 20th January 2024). Really! He went on to say that Kingspan is trying to “minimise their involvement” in regards to their insulation materials being used in the cladding […]
Footsteps of Fascism
“It will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy, that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed”: these are the words of Joseph Goebbels, the man in charge of propaganda in Nazi Germany. Nazis came to power democratically through elections and then subverted […]
2024 – A Year for Change
Make the new year a year of resistance of hope and of solidarity. Capitalism is dragging human development backwards. The appalling videos and images of death and suffering coming out of Palestine, in particular from Gaza and the West Bank, have shocked billions of people across the world. Our TV […]
Alienation in Marxist theory
CPI released a statement condemning the Dublin riots which contained the word “alienation”. How is alienation connected to the riots? Alienation is a concept put forward by Hegel, and was also mentioned by William Thompson who according to James Connolly was the first Irish socialist. Alienation literally means separation, and […]