Writings on the struggle for workers unity and socialism
First published September 13th 2014 by Socialist Party
How will Ian Paisley, who has died at the age of 88, be remembered? As the firebrand preacher who stoked the fires of conflict in Northern Ireland or as a peacemaker and the partner in government of Martin McGuinness?
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Image: Benny on picket at Mid-Ulster Hospital Magherafelt, during strike against sectarian killings, March 9th, 1989.
Benjamin (Benny) Adams died after a long illness on October 6th 2014 at the early age of 65. Benny was active in the Militant, the forerunner of Socialist Party in Ireland, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. For most of that time he worked full-time as a political organiser.
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First published by Socialist Party June 9th 2018
It is 70 years since the foundation of the National Health Service in 1948. Then and today the NHS leads the world in the provision of comprehensive public health care provided free at the point of delivery. There is nothing else like it in the world and it is fiercely prized by working people, still coming out top as the most popular institution in every opinion poll.
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Material from Cross-Community Labour in Fermanagh and South Tyrone Constituency
FST-Assembly-Election-2022-Canvass-Card.pdf
https://againstthestream.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Save-our-SWAH-poster.pdf
First published on Internationalist Standpoint Website, May 29 2022
The results of the Northern Ireland Assembly election on May 5th mark a significant political turning point. For the first time since Ireland was partitioned and Northern Ireland was created in 1921, a nationalist party (based in the Catholic community) has won and emerged with the greatest number of seats. This means that Sinn Fein Vice-President Michelle O’Neill will become the First Minister (FM), in the new power-sharing Executive when it is formed. The positions of FM and Deputy First Minister (DFM) are equal in terms of legal powers, but the FM is widely accepted to be the senior role. Sinn Fein winning the FM position is a hugely symbolic moment both for Catholics and Protestants. Most Catholics are in a celebratory mood whilst most Protestants are fearful for the future.
The outcome of this election is undoubtedly a watershed moment, but it is important to note that it resulted from a small increase in the Sinn Fein vote. Sinn Fein’s vote only went up by 1%, from 28% to 29%, and it returned exactly the same number of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) as before (27). There was significant fall in the vote of the major Unionist (Protestant-supported) party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which dropped from 29% to 24% and lost four seats, falling to 25. The DUP lost some votes to the more moderate Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), but mostly to the hard-line, right-wing Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV). It also lost the votes of many working-class Protestants who abstained, angry at the lack of delivery on economic and social issues.
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First published on Militant Left Website, April 14th 2022
Councillor Donal O’Cofaigh is standing as a Cross-Community Labour Alternative (CCLA) candidate in the 2022 Assembly election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone (FST). Donal’s election to Fermanagh and Omagh Council in 2019, and his record of opposition to the main parties is a powerful demonstration that an alternative can be built. The Assembly election is the next step in the journey to build the type of new mass party we need. All genuine Left, and anti-sectarian, community and trade union activists should come behind Donal’s campaign, but also look to the future and consider what can and must be done in their area at the next local elections in 2024.
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First published by Militant Left, June 27th 2021
Left candidate, Carmel Gates, has won the election for the General Secretary position in Northern Ireland’s largest union NIPSA (Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance) gaining 44% of the vote. Her nearest contender won 34%, and the two other candidates scored 12% and 10% respectively. Carmel is a supporter of the Militant Left (CWI in Ireland).
Continue readingFirst published Internationalist Standpoint website, January 31st 2022
Internationalist Standpoint have re-published several articles which address the question of a “border poll” in Ireland, either directly or indirectly [read the collection of articles here]. This is to be welcomed. Debate and discussion for the purpose of clarification and agreement around programme are essential in the development of the workers movement. A full debate requires careful analysis, in-depth thinking, a willingness to examine the most difficult issues, and an application of the method of Marxism. A superficial approach will be of no assistance to the workers movement over the next difficult years. The articles re-published here are of uneven quality: not all the authors engage with the realities of the situation, and as result draw incorrect conclusions and put forward programmatic demands that are problematic, even dangerous. It is not possible in one short article to fully critique the ideas expressed to date, or to explore all the relevant issues: this article is an introduction to a series of articles which will be published on this site in the coming weeks.
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