Post by RedFlag32 on Jan 20, 2008 19:43:18 GMT
Three Areas of Struggle
The growth of the IRSP as an organisation has been steady and consistent for the past ten years. More and more young people have now come to accept that what previously posed as a radical republican socialist alternative was merely a vehicle by which aspiring sections of the petty bourgeoise could get their hands on the levers of power and use them to the advantage of their class. Others think that they can turn the clock back and re- fight the old fight only this time with better leaders. They are wrong. Since 1798 Irish Republicans have used armed resistance against the British. At no time have republicans defeated the British. At times the guns or pikes were put away “for another day” as republicans faded into the background and reformist nationalists took the lead. These reformists were at all times ready to settle for less than full Irish independence. And the republicans in the background failed to seriously challenge this reformism. No! They were too busy dreaming of past defeats or looking forward to another generation repeating their own failures. So-called mainstream republicanism failed the Irish people. By the rejection of political action and by solely concentrating on armed resistance they helped create the conditions for reformists to park the struggle for liberation.
The alternative strategy is that advocated by Republican Socialists. It is the same strategy as James Connolly. It is the class struggle.
Some people see the term “class struggle” as somehow representing only the struggles of workers for better pay and conditions and refer to this as
“economism”. That is not our meaning. Rather we identify with V.I. Lenin when he clearly outlined the role of the revolutionary,
“-a popular tribune who knows best how to react to all and sundry expressions of arbitariness and oppression wherever they occur, which ever stratum or class they affect; who knows how to generalize all these expressions into one picture of police violence and capitalist exploitation, who knows how to utilize every little thing in order to expound before all men his Socialist conviction and his democratic demands , to explain to each and everyone the universal historical significance of the liberating struggle of the proletariat.” (V.I. Lenin “What is to be done?” Page 124 Panther Modern Society London 1970)
We must adopt to today’s conditions while bearing in mind the arguments of Marx and Engels that there were three great areas of struggle for revolutionaries, the political, the economic and the theoretical.
To concentrate on only one of these areas at the expense of the other two is to pave the way for defeat, disillusionment and the passivity of the masses. Irish republicans who put all their faith in the armed struggle simply disarm the masses. Look at how a militant working class nationalist working class has almost sleep walked into acceptance of the new Stormont as their previous leaders in armed struggle simply capitulated to the pressures.
Nationalist workers did so because of their loyalty to the organizations that awoke them to political life and gave an organized expression to their aspirations and put them into words. That role was in the main taken by the provisional movement.
On the other hand there were those who concentrated on the day today struggles of the workers while ignoring the democratic tasks of the day and in reality capitulated to the backwardness of many workers by refusal after refusal to campaign around the issue of the national question. The failure of many on the left to actively participate in the day to day struggle for civil rights in the late sixties or to actively participate in the campaign against internment in the early seventies simply paved the way for the provisional leadership to capture the allegiance of the nationalist working class. Breaking that allegiance is the responsibility of those who would claim the mantle of republican revolutionaries.
The defeat of the republican struggle from 1969 and the failure to prevent neo-colonial exploitation of Irish workers and of our natural resources was and is down to a failure of revolutionary leadership
In the early part of the 20th century the Bolshevik Party succeeded in a very short time in winning over the decisive majority of the workers and soldiers in the Russian revolution. They did this not by oratory, rhetoric, spontaneity, activism or sloganising. They did this on the basis of clear Marxist ideas and methods. They combined an ideological firmness on all fundamental questions with tactical flexibility needed to win over the masses to the side of the revolution. Building such a party today in Ireland will be no easy task. Ta Power pointed out the scorn some activists held for those who developed ideas and posed political actions. Within republicanism there is a tendency to denigrate thinkers particularly those who challenge the orthodox ideas of generations. And there is also sadly a lack of flexibility in tactics. To reject tactics such as fighting elections or taking seats in parliaments is to tie ones hand behind ones back before entering the ring. Republican socialists have always been flexible able to adopt to the situation we find ourselves in and work it to our advantage.
But we now need to accelerate the ideological development of the movement accelerating our political education to lay the basis for the formation of a new generation of political leaders who can lay a strong foundation for renewed revolutionary struggle in the days weeks and years ahead.
But along with this theoretical development we also need to intensify our work in the political struggles of the workers.
In this the tenth year of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement a priority could be a series of meetings /marches denouncing the fruits of that agreement. Republican socialists should seek to do that with other radical bodies but if necessary go it alone.
Again in the south of Ireland we need to re-establish our commitment to Connolly socialism and should organise meetings with others on the relevance of Connolly socialism today.
But these activities should not detract from pushing social issues, unemployment, housing, health and education etc. We need to show that Stormont and the Dail are an integral part of the capitalist system and will work only for the rich.
We Republican Socialists should also use this time to re-emphasise our non sectarian republicanism. We should not be afraid to preach the gospel of divine discontent in areas where we would usually not go. Loyalist/Protestant working class people should have nothing to fear from socialism or republicanism. They are not our enemies. Militant actions by sectarians masquerading as republicans pushed these people away from our politics. Let us reaffirm that we are pro-working class.
A major advance towards that would be by increasing our participation in the trade unions. Republican socialists are weak on the ground in trade union activity yet that is an area of struggle that holds out great possibilities of recruiting militant workers regardless of their perceived religious background.
The quality of the leadership is ultimately decisive in all revolutionary struggles. Republican Socialists have had outstanding leaders in the past including the likes of Seamus Costello, Miriam Daly, Ronnie Bunting, Ta Power and Gino Gallagher. Our movement has quite rightly paid homage to our dead comrades. But we also need to remember that revolutionaries including all of the above look forward to a better world. We need to look forward not back and establish a republican socialist leadership of the highest quality.
Gerry Ruddy (From The Plough Vol 5-1
The growth of the IRSP as an organisation has been steady and consistent for the past ten years. More and more young people have now come to accept that what previously posed as a radical republican socialist alternative was merely a vehicle by which aspiring sections of the petty bourgeoise could get their hands on the levers of power and use them to the advantage of their class. Others think that they can turn the clock back and re- fight the old fight only this time with better leaders. They are wrong. Since 1798 Irish Republicans have used armed resistance against the British. At no time have republicans defeated the British. At times the guns or pikes were put away “for another day” as republicans faded into the background and reformist nationalists took the lead. These reformists were at all times ready to settle for less than full Irish independence. And the republicans in the background failed to seriously challenge this reformism. No! They were too busy dreaming of past defeats or looking forward to another generation repeating their own failures. So-called mainstream republicanism failed the Irish people. By the rejection of political action and by solely concentrating on armed resistance they helped create the conditions for reformists to park the struggle for liberation.
The alternative strategy is that advocated by Republican Socialists. It is the same strategy as James Connolly. It is the class struggle.
Some people see the term “class struggle” as somehow representing only the struggles of workers for better pay and conditions and refer to this as
“economism”. That is not our meaning. Rather we identify with V.I. Lenin when he clearly outlined the role of the revolutionary,
“-a popular tribune who knows best how to react to all and sundry expressions of arbitariness and oppression wherever they occur, which ever stratum or class they affect; who knows how to generalize all these expressions into one picture of police violence and capitalist exploitation, who knows how to utilize every little thing in order to expound before all men his Socialist conviction and his democratic demands , to explain to each and everyone the universal historical significance of the liberating struggle of the proletariat.” (V.I. Lenin “What is to be done?” Page 124 Panther Modern Society London 1970)
We must adopt to today’s conditions while bearing in mind the arguments of Marx and Engels that there were three great areas of struggle for revolutionaries, the political, the economic and the theoretical.
To concentrate on only one of these areas at the expense of the other two is to pave the way for defeat, disillusionment and the passivity of the masses. Irish republicans who put all their faith in the armed struggle simply disarm the masses. Look at how a militant working class nationalist working class has almost sleep walked into acceptance of the new Stormont as their previous leaders in armed struggle simply capitulated to the pressures.
Nationalist workers did so because of their loyalty to the organizations that awoke them to political life and gave an organized expression to their aspirations and put them into words. That role was in the main taken by the provisional movement.
On the other hand there were those who concentrated on the day today struggles of the workers while ignoring the democratic tasks of the day and in reality capitulated to the backwardness of many workers by refusal after refusal to campaign around the issue of the national question. The failure of many on the left to actively participate in the day to day struggle for civil rights in the late sixties or to actively participate in the campaign against internment in the early seventies simply paved the way for the provisional leadership to capture the allegiance of the nationalist working class. Breaking that allegiance is the responsibility of those who would claim the mantle of republican revolutionaries.
The defeat of the republican struggle from 1969 and the failure to prevent neo-colonial exploitation of Irish workers and of our natural resources was and is down to a failure of revolutionary leadership
In the early part of the 20th century the Bolshevik Party succeeded in a very short time in winning over the decisive majority of the workers and soldiers in the Russian revolution. They did this not by oratory, rhetoric, spontaneity, activism or sloganising. They did this on the basis of clear Marxist ideas and methods. They combined an ideological firmness on all fundamental questions with tactical flexibility needed to win over the masses to the side of the revolution. Building such a party today in Ireland will be no easy task. Ta Power pointed out the scorn some activists held for those who developed ideas and posed political actions. Within republicanism there is a tendency to denigrate thinkers particularly those who challenge the orthodox ideas of generations. And there is also sadly a lack of flexibility in tactics. To reject tactics such as fighting elections or taking seats in parliaments is to tie ones hand behind ones back before entering the ring. Republican socialists have always been flexible able to adopt to the situation we find ourselves in and work it to our advantage.
But we now need to accelerate the ideological development of the movement accelerating our political education to lay the basis for the formation of a new generation of political leaders who can lay a strong foundation for renewed revolutionary struggle in the days weeks and years ahead.
But along with this theoretical development we also need to intensify our work in the political struggles of the workers.
In this the tenth year of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement a priority could be a series of meetings /marches denouncing the fruits of that agreement. Republican socialists should seek to do that with other radical bodies but if necessary go it alone.
Again in the south of Ireland we need to re-establish our commitment to Connolly socialism and should organise meetings with others on the relevance of Connolly socialism today.
But these activities should not detract from pushing social issues, unemployment, housing, health and education etc. We need to show that Stormont and the Dail are an integral part of the capitalist system and will work only for the rich.
We Republican Socialists should also use this time to re-emphasise our non sectarian republicanism. We should not be afraid to preach the gospel of divine discontent in areas where we would usually not go. Loyalist/Protestant working class people should have nothing to fear from socialism or republicanism. They are not our enemies. Militant actions by sectarians masquerading as republicans pushed these people away from our politics. Let us reaffirm that we are pro-working class.
A major advance towards that would be by increasing our participation in the trade unions. Republican socialists are weak on the ground in trade union activity yet that is an area of struggle that holds out great possibilities of recruiting militant workers regardless of their perceived religious background.
The quality of the leadership is ultimately decisive in all revolutionary struggles. Republican Socialists have had outstanding leaders in the past including the likes of Seamus Costello, Miriam Daly, Ronnie Bunting, Ta Power and Gino Gallagher. Our movement has quite rightly paid homage to our dead comrades. But we also need to remember that revolutionaries including all of the above look forward to a better world. We need to look forward not back and establish a republican socialist leadership of the highest quality.
Gerry Ruddy (From The Plough Vol 5-1