Socialist elected as President of the North's largest union

by Jim Monaghan Mon Jun 02, 2003 20:07

"Unfortunately elections to the General Council (Executive) held in
January this year had given the right wing a majority. A key task
now is to use the position of Carmel as President and the five other
Socialist Party members on the General Council to rebuild the left in
the union so that it can win a majority in next year's election."

I doubt that the Left in this union is soley of the Socialist Party. To gain a real unity and progress the Left vanguard should seek to be pluralist and mobilise the other socialist in this union.
Congrats on this fine showing.
Now to get rid of the other fakirs like Geraghty and co.

by NIPSA SP Mon Jun 02, 2003 20:28

As Jim correctly points the left and activists are organised in a broad grouping called Time For Change.
The votes at the conference are a real break through in NIPSA which is the largest union n the north.

by Jimmy Cake Tue Jun 03, 2003 01:01

This is great news. Well done to the SP and to everyone else involved in Time for Change. As Jim says, now lets get rid of Geraghty and the bureaucrats in all the other unions.

by maybe but Tue Jun 03, 2003 13:28

Also bear in mind Geraghty and pat Rabbite claim to be socialist too and they seem to be just closet fine gealers.

by hs - sp Tue Jun 03, 2003 17:45

judge them by their actions not prejudice.

by (A) Wed Jun 04, 2003 00:00

Yippie!! A socialist in the parlament,we are saved!! Its so beautiful i wanna cry.....

by Good Wed Jun 04, 2003 00:38

A good result major step forward.
A job of work remains to be done if NIPSA and other unions are to become fighting democratic organisations.

by hunter Wed Jun 04, 2003 19:06

- considering Carmel was already President. So it's more of a continuation of the momentum. The fact that Ciaran narrowly missed out on the VP position is a step forward though. If Carmel could get elected as Gen Sec then this would be hugely significant, If I remember correctly she got something like 39% in the last Gen Sec election.

And as for '(A)'s comments above - looks like A didn't even take the time to read the headline - the key part being "Elected to the North's Largest UNION"!!!! Unless, mr.A here sees no role for the unions in the struggle to change society?

SP as SDs? Come on now, more shit stirring. And glad to see none of the SP members have risen to the bait.

Congrats to Carmel, commiserations to Ciaran and good luck to the Time for Changers.

by john throne - labors militant voice Fri Jun 06, 2003 19:33 loughfinn at aol dot com

Congratulations to Carmel Gates and the other SP members who did so well in the NIPSA elections. These gains are a tribute to the decades of hard work by the SP activists on behalf of the members. They are also a tribute to the hard work of the many formers SP activists who could not longer find a place for themselves in that organization. This should not be forgotten either.

Regular readers of indymedia postings concerning the SP will know that I have been arguing a particular position relating to what the SP should do. By the way I am glad to see the SP announce its gains on the indymedia. Hopefully this will end its remarks that this medium is not worth bothering with and discussions on here do not have to be answered as they are of no significance.

I have been arguing that after Joe got elected in the South the SP should have used that platform to develop a united front approach to the work. Not just build the occasional united front on one specific issue while confining all their political work to just recruiting to the SP but fight for the uniting of activists and anti capitalist forces to take up the offensive against the working class by direct action tactics in neighbourhoods and the workplaces. I have been arguing that the SP policy of building a united front around one specific issue and from this recruiting to the SP is not realizing the full potential of the movement, in fact it is a sectarian approach.

The SP has a new opportunity now to move away from this position it has held for the past years and which has been holding back the movement. Using the platfrom of Carmel and the other five members of the executive the SP should launch an offensive. Of course taking up the day to day issues in the union. But taking these up in a way to make every effort to include all anti capitalist and activist forces in the union and who receive the unions members services who will fight the employers. And within this process explain that the attacks are the result of the capitalist offensive and while not insisting the opposition forces in the union and beyond make it necessary to be anti capitalist to join, to make anti capitalist a theme which is continually discussed in this movement.

Around the opposition forces in the union that it influences these forces should make a special effort to reach out to the neighbourghoods to help build local commitess based on anti capitalist direct action fight to win policies. Into these make a major effort to involve all working class activists, all the activists in the local struggles that are taking place, and all the various anti capitalisr groups and activists.

Crucial to the sucess of these will be the issues they take up but as important the tactics they use to fight on these issues. In my opinion the only way these will put down real roots in the North and change the class balance and dynamic in the North is if they carry out the most militant direct action in pursuit of their aims. That is on the water charges that are coming in, the same type of campaign that defeated them in the South. And on all the other issues using defiant fight to win tactics. It is only when working people begin to see that there are forces prepared to go all the way to win gains for working poeople, it is only when working people see this and see it linked to an explanation that the problems they face are a result of the capitalist offensive that is taking place around the world and will have to be fought around the world that a new movement would have a chance of breaking out of the old sectarian religious mode , the post 30 year war defeatist mode.

In this context the SP would also be on the way to campaign from these committees of action for a united political front, a new left works party, whichever of these seemed the most approariate at the time. But of course this would just turn into a failed electoral alliance like the Socialist Alliance in England and Wales unless it came out of the work and the build ing of local direct action fight to win anti capitalist activist committees onm the ground.

I hope that Carmel's election will pose to the SP members that the policy of united front on one or two specific issues and from this and focus on recruiting to the SP, that this approach limits the potential of the movement that exists. That it pevents the development of a wider based compative anti capitalist force within which the SP could fight for its own ideas and be a constituent part. I remember how criitical we in the CWI used to be when groups won important positions and they did not use these positions to launch an offensive to draw together all the forces that exist and were prepared to fight. We correctly considered them to be sectarian. The SP has not used its position in the Dail in a correct way,, hopefully a discussion will develop in the SP and focus on the mistakes in the South and seek to use the new platforms in the NIPSA in a more constructive manner.

I am a little worried about one thing in this regard. A message to Indymedia by John Doe - SP, Tuesday June 3rd, 2003, 9.29 pm read: NIC-ICTU have circulated a model letter of protest, supporting the anti-water charges campaign in N. Ireland. Copies of their mail and the model letter are on SP sites". What worries me anout this is that it makes no effort to place the water charges in the context of the global offensive of capitalism, it makes no effort to explain that the NIC-ICTU and the international union bureaucracy have capitulated to this bureaucracy and that any victory in the water charges will have to be won against this capitalist offensive and against the policies of the bureaucracy of the NIC-ICTU. It seems to me to call this a model letter indicates the thinking of the SP to be that of seeking an alliance with the bureaucracy which would not disrupt their positions. I hope this is not the case, I hope the new positions will see Carmel and the Comrades launch a major campaign aimed at the working class in the North and South and with full anti capitalist direct action fight to win flags flying and explaining the need to take up the fight throughout the working class and to make this a fight to win, no token protests and no illusions in model letters from the bureaucracy.

Comradely John Throne. And again congratulations to Carmel and the other SP Comrades.

by SPySPotter Sun Jun 08, 2003 17:30

In Mondy 2 June Irish Times Matt Waine of the SP condemns direct action at Evian.

by a Sun Jun 08, 2003 21:05

SPySPotter you know that this is just not true. I wonder spyspotter what are you, liar,fool or cop?

by SPySPotter Mon Jun 09, 2003 11:16

The SP always seem to be in a quandry when activists clash with the state. The SP dont seem to know whicj side they shoulkd be on. Take Shannon, even back to the Poll Taxx.

by Durutti Fri Jun 13, 2003 14:55

SP are part of Sell Out leadership in fire fighter strike.

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