IRSM Hunger Strike Commemoration

Sunday August 25, 2002 19:01

by Henry Joy - IRSM

IRSM Hunger Strike CommemorationIn August every year we gather here at this monument to honour the 1981 hunger strikers. This year marks the 21st anniversary of that period in which we lost ten of the bravest men Ireland has ever seen. We, in the Republican Socialist Movement, are here today not just to remember them but to re-dedicate ourselves to the political ideals that our comrades fought and died for.

In August every year we gather here at this monument to honour the 1981
hunger strikers. This year marks the 21st
anniversary of that period in which we lost ten of the bravest men Ireland
has ever seen. We, in the Republican Socialist Movement, are here today not
just to remember them but to re-dedicate ourselves to the political ideals
that our comrades fought and died for.

We in the IRSP as part of the Republican Socialist Movement, represent the
radical authentic voice of the working class within the Republican
tradition. We are a class-based party believing that the only united
Ireland that can meet the aspirations of the working class people is a
Socialist Republic.

We in the Republican Socialist Movement acknowledge that there have been
diversions along our journey - in the main caused by the removal of our
best leaderships through state sponsored and directed murder, the absence
of the primacy of politics and self criticism. However, we have always
stood steadfast in our opposition to Stormont and focused on our
revolutionary goal of a thirty two county socialist republic for which
there can be no compromise.

Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which in our view
institutionalises sectarianism, naked sectarian hatred has rampaged through
working class areas. This may suit some people but as Republican Socialists
we take no pleasure in watching working class communities at each others'
throats while the middle classes tut-tut in the plush homes along the
Culmore Road at the antics of the lower classes!!!!

Unlike the middle classes, our comrades and members live in these so called
interface areas and are active on the ground in defending working class
homes from sectarian attack. The INLA have assured us that they will use
any means necessary to defend working class homes from attack and we
support them in that stance.

We are neither war mongers nor sectarian bigots. We do not want to see
working class communities attacking neighbouring working class areas. And
as a movement we have put forward political proposals to help defuse
tensions. The Non-Aggression Pact is one such proposal.

The Non-Aggression Pact is about encouraging working class dialogue,
co-operation, and breaking down barriers. It is about neighbours reaching
agreement between themselves without the fear of manipulation by armed
groups. It is a bottom up approach within the control of the people at
grass roots level. It is the beginning of
working class communities taking control of their lives and the ending of
their manipulation by thugs, bullyboys, and political opportunists. We
appeal to community workers, activists, and trade unionists, particularly
within Unionist areas, but also within Nationalist areas, to shake off the
grip of those manipulators who
would deny you the right to control your own lives.

The Good Friday Agreement has failed and our analysis is that it will
eventually collapse.

The collapse of the current power sharing Executive would be in the
interests of the working class. Would it not be better for Sinn Fein to
pull the plug now, walk out of the Executive, and build a united Republican
and Socialist opposition to the stabilisation of a Northern state that
benefits only the those who have a vested interest in the capitalist system?

Whatever they do is their choice. But we say that both North and South they
are going down the path laid out by the Workers Party, the path of
reformism and acceptance of the status quo. That is their privilege and
right to do so, and they have been electorally successful in doing so. That
is their road. It is not ours.

Other Republicans believe that the continuation of armed struggle will
bring about a Republic. That by clinging to absolutes they can by the
purity of their principles convince the "people" to back them. We think
that they should reconsider and reflect on the dividends of the thirty
years of armed struggle.

To quote James Connolly, speaking about honouring Tone at Bodenstown: "It
is only right at the grave of Wolfe Tone for Republicans to pay homage but
it also our duty to put our ideas, policies, and beliefs under the
microscope and re-examine what we stand for and see if we are doing things
the correct way."

Today in Derry 2002 that quote from Ireland's greatest Socialist sums up
the approach of the Republican Socialist Movement to the politics of modern
day Ireland. That is what both the IRSP and the INLA have been doing over
the past six years - re-evaluating, re-examining, and renewing in the light
of current realities our policies and principles. Self-criticism is the
life blood of any movement and friends and comrades from this platform I
can assure you that we will not have in this movement any "omerta", any
stifling of healthy dissent, or suppression of other than leadership views.
Any of our initiatives will not be leadership driven against the wishes of
the membership.

A healthy democratic, radical, and Socialist movement is the best vehicle
for the liberation of the working class. It is now time to build a working
class movement in Ireland that is class-conscious, Socialist Republican,
and prepared to take on all the vested interests of capitalism.

There is revolutionary potential stirring within the working class in
Ireland. The day of the Celtic Tiger is fading and we will soon be back
to nemployment, poverty, poor housing, and a cap in hand attitude to the
imperialist power of the USA. The anti-globalisation movement is an
anti-capitalist movement. There are stirrings of dissent in many parts of
the world. We welcome that and stand with all the anti-imperialists and
Socialists against oppression whether from US imperialism or religious
fundamentalism.

But our fight, our struggle, our battlefield is here in Ireland. Our
comrades, our members, our fighters are every day involved in the struggles
of the Irish working class.

They are there in defence of Nationalist working class areas in Belfast
from Loyalist sectarianism. They are there in the fight against the drug
barons of Dublin and elsewhere, and are marching with the inner city
communities against the ravages of hopelessness, deprivation, and poverty.
They are there in the trade unions fighting against the alliance of
capitalists and trade union bureaucrats that tries to stifle and contain
working class militancy. They are involved in the struggle against the
privatisation of public amenities and against water charges. They are there
in the struggle for political prisoners and supporting the release of our
comrade Dessie O'Hare. We were the first group to go onto the streets of
Derry in the renewed campaign for segregation and political status for
political prisoners in the six counties. We actively opposed the visit by
former US warlord Bill Clinton to this city. We were at the forefront of
the campaign in support of the death fasters in Turkey and during anti war
demonstrations here in Derry our party gave leadership with the clear and
concise message "No War But the Class War!"

In short, wherever there is struggle that is where the class-conscious,
militant, and the members of this movement will be. For comrades -
like Larkin, like Connolly, like Costello, like O'Hara, Lynch and Devine
-?we preach the gospel of discontent.

Regardless of what others do, we in the Republican Socialist Movement will
stand by the Republic of Connolly, Mellows, and Costello.

On to the Republic, comrades!

Victory to the Irish working class!

--Delivered by John Murtagh, IRSP Ard Comhairle