Partisan • Patriotic • Internationalist
In a recent interview with the Irish Times, arch-revisionist historian Roy Foster opined that Irish reunification is nearer than he would have thought a couple of decades ago. A week earlier the Irish News published results of an opinion poll indicating a majority of Alliance Party voters believed that, in […]
In the age of social media, the term “vibe” is often used as shorthand for aesthetic, often with the substance shifted into the background and just picking up on the visual, sensory or language aspect of an object, movement, culture, or politics. I was reminded of this term when reading […]
Last month’s Socialist Voice had an article on “learning with the people.” The writer made the point about its content that “is anything being said that hasn’t been said a thousand times before? Almost certainly not.” While that may be true, it seems that it’s often forgotten. Socialist movements are […]
To my eternal embarrassment, it’s only in very recent times that I realised that, in the scale of human existence, capitalism was actually a very young system of living—or existing. For some reason, I never thought to see it in terms of age. It would seem obvious now, but it […]
“No ethical consumption under capitalism” is a phrase that is often bandied about with no real connection to its origin. It’s used to provide cover for superfluous hauls and conspicuous consumption (or overconsumption), the line of thinking being that “if no choices are ethical then I can and should be […]
Last month the 22nd International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties was held in Havana. During the week, exchanges were made between 73 different communist and workers’ parties from 53 countries and a unified plan of action and resolution were agreed, including a unanimous call to action against and condemnation […]
There is nothing more foreign to Ireland than capitalism. While the primitive Irish communist system was not perfect, the feudal and capitalist systems of production were brought to this country by an English bayonet. The Irish left has struggled to understand this contradiction within Irish capitalism, instead seeing the class […]
The word “democracy” (from the Greek dēmos, meaning people, and kratos, meaning power) is certainly the most used and abused word in the world of politics—particularly bourgeois politics. It is used to mean whatever capitalist power wants it to mean. It can mean peace; it can mean war, death, and destruction; it can mean […]
What on earth was going on here last month? To all appearances a supposedly sovereign independent republic immersed itself in sympathy and affection for the British monarchy. Within hours of the announcement of Elizabeth’s death, RTE had a crew broadcasting solemnly from London. The Government fell over backwards in its […]
At the end of July the Communist Party of Ireland participated in an on-line International Marxist Parties Forum organised by the Communist Party of China. The theme of the forum was “Adapting Marxism to the National Conditions and the Times of the 21st Century.” The CPI was represented by Eugene […]
Part 2 Last month I wrote an article on the importance of political theory. In that article I explained that it is not enough to read the Communist Manifesto to learn about Marxism properly but that you must examine different points of Marxism. In this article I will examine the […]
This year’s James Connolly Conversations return as face-to-face meetings. At the same time we will provide an opportunity for others to join in the conversation on line. The sessions will take place on four consecutive Saturdays, from 28 May to 18 June, at 11 a.m. The meetings are designed to […]
The Americas are very much the front line in the struggle against US imperialism’s drive for unipolar, planetary dominance. The United States first tested its Monroe Doctrine there—the brazen assumption that the entire continent is America’s “back yard”—and has since sought to export this sense of colonial proprietorship throughout the […]
Unity is indeed strength. We must ensure that the strength gained from Irish unity is for the working class. The partition of Ireland was an imperial solution as a result of the British empire beginning to crumble at the beginning of the last century. The British empire has been confined […]
The article by Alan Farrell in the March issue under the heading “In defence of China” raises some extremely important questions but offers answers that are unsustainable. The writer asks three questions to represent the concerns expressed by many people, and proceeds to answer them. But the questions themselves are […]
Scientists and environmentalists, decades ago, warned the world of an impending global pandemic. Those in the corridors of power who paid no heed to it are now surprised and shocked. Scientists have raised the alarm over a greater catastrophe endangering our very survival on this