Workers' Party President, has slammed Brian Cowen's view of history

international | miscellaneous | press release

Thursday May 20, 2010 16:24

by Malachy Steenson - Workers Party

Michael Finnegan, Workers' Party President, has slammed Brian Cowen's view of history as outlined in his speech 'A Decade of Centenaries: Commemorating Shared History'

Michael Finnegan, Workers' Party President, has slammed Brian Cowen's view of history as outlined in his speech 'A Decade of Centenaries: Commemorating Shared History'.

"Brian Cowen", said Mr Finnegan "has outlined a list of events from the decade 1912 to 1922 which undoubtedly are of importance. But it is the events which he has omited which reveal his mindset and his narrow nationalistic view of irish history"

The Workers’ Party
www.workerspartyireland.net

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NEWS RELEASE

Thursday, 20 May 2010

Workers' Party Slams Cowen's View of a Shared History

Michael Finnegan, Workers' Party President, has slammed Brian Cowen's view of history as outlined in his speech 'A Decade of Centenaries: Commemorating Shared History'.

"Brian Cowen", said Mr Finnegan "has outlined a list of events from the decade 1912 to 1922 which undoubtedly are of importance. But it is the events which he has omited which reveal his mindset and his narrow nationalistic view of irish history"

"While we in the Workers Party would share the Taoiseach's concern that these anniversaries would not be used to justify sectarian attacks or a return to narrow nationalism, we do not accept his analysis which would drape our collective and individual histories with a blanket of shallow sentiment"

"It is revealing that in a major speech dealing with 1912 to 1922 that Brian Cowen could omit the Dublin Lockout of 1913. This event transfixed and polarised society throughout Ireland on a class basis. This was the event which initially put the names James Connolly and Constance Markiewicz into the wider public domain. This was the event which led, on an immediate basis, to the formation of the Irish Citizen's Army. This was an event that showed the true nature of society at that time, as was so brilliantly captured on both paper and TV, by James Plunkett's Strumpet City."

"Brian Cowen wants to pretend that class division no longer exists in this country. We are numbed by his constant repition of the mantra "we are all in this together". That was a lie in 1913 and it is still a lie. In 1913 the bosses had their leaders in William Martin Murphy and their willing lackeys in the Freeman's Journal, Arthur Griffith's Sinn Fein, and the Irish Parliamentary Party. Today the bosses have a myriad of organisations ranging from IBEC to the Construction Industry Federation, and a host of political mouthpieces across Fine Fail, Fine Gael, Bord Snip, and the media."

"The Workers Party would also strongly oppose any attempt to rehabilitate the Great War of 1914-1918 as some kind of natural disaster which befell Irishmen from North and South. As James Connolly, Lenin and others correctly identified at the time the "war to end wars" was an immoral war for empire and for control of the rising capitalist markets. There was no part of Ireland in the war which was either wrong or right - it was the capitalists of Europe using the workers of Europe as cannon fodder. And as WW1 and the death of 10 million people in Europe cannot be justified, much less now must it be used to inure people to imperialist wars in Iraq or Afghanastan or to propagandasie for the creation of a new EU imperial army."

"In his speech Brian Cowen happily declares himself an Irish Republican. The pity is" concluded Mr Finnegan "that his republicanism is modelled on Ronald Reagan rather than Padraig Pearse, Wolfe Tone, or James Connolly".

Ends

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Comments (4 of 4)

here here

by francis hughes

Thu May 20, 2010 17:58

Very good post. Spot on

this hits all the bases

by unemployed worker

Fri May 21, 2010 10:53

I used to find the workers party a bit sectish and I always found it very hard to stomach de rossa and rabbitte, but lately i like the stuff being put out by the w.p. is is usually well written and thought out which ias rare on the left. i first began to change my mind about the w.p. after thew Nice referendum and later the Lisbon treaty, their material was better than most of the other no stuff. Keep up the good work guys. out of curiosity were ye on the march last Tuesday?

Tuesday's march

Fri May 21, 2010 15:05

Unemployed Worker

Approx 25 WP members attended the march both weeks with posters and banner and will also be attending next weeks.

You can also see the relaunched Look Left here http://www.lookleftonline.org/

Cowan also omitted...

by Jolly Red Giant - Socialist Party / CWI

Fri May 21, 2010 19:22

...the revolutionary upheaval by the working class in Ireland from 1918-1922 when workers moved decisively to campaign on a socialist agenda and cause panic among the members of the Provisional Government and the upper ranks of the IRA.

Cowan omits talking about how workers took over and ran Limerick for over a week, how workers took over many other towns and villages as they flexed their muscles, up to and including the Munster Soviets of 1922.

Cowan omits to mention that workers were threatened with the IRA when they occupied factories and creameries. He omits to mention that the IRA kidnapped union organisers, branded others as British spies and imposed IRA curfews in an attempt to break strikes.

Cowan conveniently omits to talk about what was known at the time (1918-1922) as the 'red flag years' (and the betrayal of the workers movement by William O'Brien, Thomas Farren, Thomas Foran and Tom Johnson)

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Workers' Party President, has slammed Brian Cowen's view of history

Comments (4 of 4)