Today the Workers Party held a number of commemorations across the island – here is the text of our Easter oration 2024.
Comrades and Friends,
Thank you for coming here today for the Workers Party’s annual Easter commemoration.
We stand here to honour those who have gone before us in the battle to establish a democratic, secular, and socialist Ireland – a republic rooted in the revolutionary principles of liberty, equality, fraternity, the unity of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, and the determination to cherish all our children equally.
We remember today the men and women of 1916 who opposed imperialist war and sought to build a better Ireland, including those who never gave up on that struggle despite the two reactionary states that emerged on our island just over a century ago. We also remember our own comrades who lived, worked, struggled, and died for our Party and its vision of an Ireland governed by and for a united working class, with the evils and oppression of sectarianism and capitalism banished once and for all.
Their example reminds us today of our responsibilities, of the need for our unwavering dedication to transforming the Workers Party into the vanguard of the working class, into a Party capable of leading the revolutionising of Ireland’s politics, economy, and society.
And that – and nothing less than that – is our goal comrades. The revolutionary transformation of our island and of the lives of its people. We aim to put economic, political, and social power where it belongs – in the hands of the majority, the working class. Despite all the efforts made to entice us away from that vision, to settle for something less, to swap principle for popularity, we will never turn our backs on it. That is what it means to be a member and supporter of the Workers Party.
We need only look around us for the urgent need for our Party and for our politics. In the Republic, we see record homelessness, unaffordable rents never mind unaffordable mortgages, around two-thirds of young adults still living in their childhood bedrooms, and the far-right rising.
As Marxist-Leninists, and as a Party with long experience of the nature of British and Irish nationalism in Ireland, we are not shocked by the rise of a local white supremacist far right, supported by similar elements in Britain, the US, and elsewhere. Nor are we shocked by mainstream politicians from the right and the supposed left scrambling to adopt far-right talking points and to shift their politics to tail-end the far-right. Nor are we surprised at the failures of the Gardaí to deal properly with the campaign of burning potential host venues for asylum seekers.
Nevertheless, we call for the creation of a popular campaign against the far right, drawing in a wide range of elements opposed to their actions. The trade unions offer one potential vehicle for mobilising such a campaign, but so too do those political parties and politicians that claim to oppose the far right. It is time they put their money where their mouths are. We call on the government and gardaí to take a more proactive line in catching and punishing those responsible for the racist arson campaign. And we call on those on the left not to give any ground to the far right intellectually or politically. These are potentially dangerous times, and the complacency and dilly dallying must end.
Housing remains a major problem in Northern Ireland as well, not just in terms of homelessness, but also in terms of rocketing rents. We had thought that the era of the rack-renting landlord in Ireland had passed nearly a century and a half ago. Instead, it is a new golden age for landlords, including those vulture funds who the various governing coalitions have only been too happy to facilitate.
The Workers Party offers an alternative to the housing crisis. That alternative is a state-owned company that builds good quality homes and makes them available to workers and their families at reasonable rents. It means ending the transfer of hundreds of millions from public funds into the pockets of private landlords. And it means ending the speculative dynamic in the economy that has already proven so ruinous, and will continue to do so for generations.
There is a crisis in public services in both parts of Ireland. The two health services are under severe pressure, and displaying the result of decades of under-investment and of governments committed to increasing the opportunities for profit of private healthcare providers. In 2022, the British Medical Association said that if the NHS in England, Wales, and Scotland was in crisis, a new word needed to be invented to describe how bad the situation in Northern Ireland was. And it has only gotten worse since then.
Make no mistake: the Tories have been deliberately running down the NHS in order to make privatisation seem a more attractive option. Among the many failures of the Northern Ireland Executive parties, their shameful neglect of the NHS stands out as one of the worst. Of course, none of those parties rejects the basic economic principles of what is popularly known as neo-liberalism, so their failure to adequately defend the NHS is no surprise.
While we welcome the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive, we are under no illusions. The gestures of inclusivity and togetherness cannot mask the sectarian logic on which the major parties rely. Many of the same failed and failing policies will be continued, even If electoral self-interest means that some attempts are made to placate an angry electorate. None of the major parties has an alternative vision, economic or socially. They remain what they all are – parties serving primarily the interests of various sections of the bourgeoisie.
The swapping of one Fine Gael leader for another will likewise do nothing to address the serious challenges faced by working people. Nor is there any sign that whatever coalition government emerges from the next general election will be capable of or even interested in the bold measures necessary to address the housing crisis, the neglect of public services, and the need to create a sustainable economy based on real economic activity that serves the Irish people, and not the accounting tricks of multinationals.
The Workers Party will be flying the red flag in the forthcoming local elections in the Republic. Our candidates will include our President, Councillor Ted Tynan and Rachel Hurley Roche in Cork. These are vital elections for the Party, organisationally, politically, and ideologically. We urge all members and supporters to participate as far as they can in the election campaign. These local elections will not be without their challenges, but they offer an opportunity to cement our position. We will be offering principled class politics, unambiguously and unashamedly. They offer the chance to connect with a wider audience, to demonstrate the ongoing relevance of our political message, and to put in place a vital springboard for rebuilding the Party.
We saw a boost in membership and profile following last year’s elections in Northern Ireland, and aim to reap similar benefits from these elections.
Imperialism means war. Connolly’s involvement in 1916 was directly the result of the betrayal of proletarian internationalism by the vast majority of socialist parties in Europe when the war broke out. He hoped that the Irish Citizen Army would light a spark that would rekindle the internationalist flame. Lenin’s Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism laid out extremely clearly the nature of modern imperialism as a form of capitalism, and how imperialist competition was a driving factor of war. Looking at the world around us, at Ukraine and at the genocidal campaign in Gaza supported by the most powerful country in human history and its allies, we see again how Lenin and Connolly were right to link capitalism and war.
Neutrality has been a key principle of the Irish state, and it has allowed it at times to play a progressive role in international affairs. The determined campaign to end it by important elements within the political elite and their supporters in the press, academia, and elsewhere is something the Workers Party strongly opposes. At a time when a conflict between NATO and Russia grows ever more likely, it is repugnant to see bourgeois politicians and commentators call for the Republic to join NATO. We welcome the recent decision to intervene in the South African case against Israel. Neutrality is the best way for the Irish state to play a progressive role in world affairs. We remain committed to it.
Lenin died 100 years ago this year. Last year, our Easter speech noted out continuing commitment to the idea of a Marxist party based on Leninist principles Seán Garland laid out in 1973. This year, in the midst of imperialist war and when various reformist elements at home and abroad demonstrate their inability to grapple with the fundamental question in modern society, we note the continuing need for a vanguard party as theorised and practised by Lenin and the Bolsheviks if capitalism is ever to be defeated.
Comrade and friends,
Thank you once again for your attendance today. We leave here with a clear vision of the immense task we have set ourselves, but also our eyes fixed on the immediate priorities as well as our long-term aims. We must build the party, take advantage of the opportunities offered by the local elections, continue to work in our workplaces, communities, and trade unions, always with an eye on raising class consciousness and class politics.
Workers Party of Ireland 