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 services, education, housing, and the environment, both north and south of the British imposed border.
The “new government” in the 26 counties has yet to be formed but as it will be dominated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael with a replacement for the Greens, it will be a case of more of the same. The policy of depending on the capitalist market to develop the economy, provide housing, healthcare, transport, and other critical social services will continue to impoverish and devastate working class communities. The leader of Fianna Fáil has made it clear that he intends to further erode what remains of Irish neutrality, as the government fully endorses the EU/NATO policies against Russia and the People’s Republic of China. There are no benefits for our class in pursuance of this militaristic strategy.
For those living in the six counties, the election of an extremely right-wing, pro-imperialist Labour government in Britain will mean a continuation of imperial rule hidden behind the fig leaf of the Assembly. The pro-war policies of the British government will result in further cuts in social spending, as billions will be diverted to the arms industry. British rule in the six counties ties the statelet directly into NATO, as it seeks direct confrontation with Russia and the People’s Republic of China. Ending partition and creating a neutral 32 county sovereign workers’ Republic is in the interests of the working class, in the six counties as well as those in the 26.
The results of the elections in both the six and 26 counties expose the limits of bourgeois democracy. Issues such as housing, poverty, health were ignored. The broader issues such as the national question, the lack of real decision making in our communities and places of work, the relationship of the state to the EU, UK and the US were ignored. There was no mention of neutrality and no discussion on the risks the economic model of reliance on foreign capital pose to the economic future of both parts of the country. These issues will not be debated or resolved in either the Dáil or the Assembly. However, the strength of our class – both urban and rural – does not lie in parliaments. It lies in our ability to organise in our communities, in our workplaces, in our trade unions, in our schools and colleges, in short, our strength lies in our numbers.
In the past year we have seen, and are seeing, the imperialist-backed genocide of Gaza by Zionist Israel spread throughout the region of West Asia. The heroic resistance of the people of Palestine, Yemen and Lebanon is also resistance against the same imperialist forces which have sown terror and destruction across the region and the world. The overthrow of the Assad government in Syria has strengthened imperialism and its local proxies while giving a morale and material boost to the Israeli regime.
The incoming Trump presidency highlights the need for continued political and material solidarity with the Cuban Revolution in particular – along with Nicaragua, Venezuela and all peoples currently being sanctioned for their resistance to imperialism – including the urgent need for removal of Cuba from the so-called “state sponsors of terrorism” list.
We can see from the continued escalations in Ukraine, China’s Taiwan province, Korea and West Asia that war, terror and destruction are in the DNA of imperialism. However, we are also seeing resistance of workers around the world, from across Latin America to Africa’s Sahel region to West and East Asia, in defence of peace, sovereignty and solidarity.
It is vital for people across Ireland to keep up the struggle to put pressure on the Irish state, to implement the Occupied Territories Bill, cease the use of Irish airspace for the transport of weapons for use in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, to finally end the use of Shannon Airport by the US military, and instead pursue a sovereign foreign policy with a progressive neutrality, not subordination to Brussels, Washington or London.
In the coming year we in the Communist Party of Ireland will work with all progressive forces to advance the interests of the working class. Revolutionary politics is not about accepting what the ruling class concedes, it is not about pessimism and defeatism, no, revolutionary politics is about envisaging a new society, an all-Ireland, socialist and neutral republic. Every struggle against capitalism, every strike, ever anti-eviction protest, every march against the further encroachment of NATO and militarism contains the material with which the working class can build the movement to overthrow native capitalism and its imperialist masters.
In the words of Connolly, “Our demands most modest are, we only want the Earth”.
Beirigí bua
