Socialist Party Documents archive
New pamphlet available.
We have added a pamphlet on Historical materialism, it's easily understood, print it off and give it a read.
Despite pouring rain, tens of thousands attended the anti-sectarian rallies in 7 towns across Northern Ireland on January 18th 2002.
To get some analysis and reports read here.
Over the past years one of the main ways for the Socialist Party to let people know what we're up to was the holding of public meetings, rallies, etc. To advertise these, or to put across some general socialist message, we have posted tens of thousands of posters across the walls of the North.
In an attempt to let you know what some of these were like, we've drawn together a small selection of our posters. More WILL be added over the next few days. If you have any more at home, please contact the office.
8th September 2001
Given the sectarian clashes which have erupted in North Belfast after loyalist protests outside Holy Cross primary school, here is an article explaining the Socialist Party's views on these events.
14th August 2001
As a part of the very successful Low Pay Campaign initiated by Socialist Party members in Northern Ireland, we were in touch with Assembly members who agreed to put forward a motion demanding the £5 minimum wage.
Read the debate to see the attitudes of 'our representatives' to the low paid.
There are a large number of documents now available on line, statements about the Afgan War, on International Women's Day; historical material on Ireland, Chile and Historical Materialism.
In January 2002 a Loyalist murdered a 20 year old worker, postal worker Daniel McColgan, and within hours the Socialist Party and Socialist Youth had started calling for widespread protests. This time these calls were listened to and despite terrible weather,tens of thousands of workers and young people protested on January 18th. An inital
Socialist Youth statement is available. Several extensive reports on the demonstrations are also online.
Article on the latest developments of the 'Peace Process'
THE WORDS "peace process" are fast becoming a misnomer to describe what is happening in Northern Ireland. After the Westminster and Local Government elections Trimble's resignation as First Minister was inevitable. His resignation in turn has put the future of the Assembly and therefore of the Good Friday Agreement in doubt.
(By Peter Hadden)
Meanwhile on the ground bitter sectarian clashes have become a regular part of life along the interfaces in areas like North Belfast. It is clear that the UDA - or at least big sections of it - have returned to war. Their attempt to build a political wing in the form of the UDP has got nowhere. It is the Johnny Adair wing that is now in the ascendant and the pipe bombings and shootings are the result.
Most of the recent sectarian attacks have been orchestrated by the UDA and are directed against Catholics. But sectarianism is not a one way street. There have also been attacks on Protestant homes and Protestant property.
The danger now is that this situation will get out of hand and descend into a battle between sectarian forces for territory. Aware of the dangers the British and Irish governments together with the leaders of the pro agreement parties will now try to work out a rescue package for the Assembly. They hope that some trade off between IRA decommissioning on the one side and demilitarisation and policing of the other can get Trimble off the hook.
The problem about any such rescue operation is that the ground for compromise is narrowing. The peace process has always been about getting an agreement at the top, between sectarian politicians. Meanwhile the division on the ground, which has always been the real problem, has remained.
In fact not only has it remained, it has been reinforced. It has been reinforced both by the pro Agreement parties who need people to keep voting along sectarian lines to put them in power and by the openly sectarian anti agreement forces who have been whipping up sectarianism in order to destabilise the Executive.
Early on in the peace process the Socialist Party described it more as a "repartition process" than a genuine process of bringing people together. The truth of this analysis can be seen in what is happening today. The recent elections were probably the most polarised in Northern Ireland's history. The fighting that is taking place on the ground is about territory. Loyalist groups are trying to halt the geographical advance of the catholic population and stop areas becoming mixed. One of the main reasons is to create a climate of fear and confrontation in protestant working class areas so that groups like the UDA can maintain a degree of control and their drug operations can continue.
For republicans the sectarian battle over territory has been conducted under the disguise of a fight for "equality", "parity of esteem" and so on. Socialists are absolutely opposed to discrimination and are for the rights of all groups within society to express their culture without harassment or intimidation.
But there is a difference between this and using the increase in the catholic population in formerly Protestant areas to gradually change the complexion of these areas, to make them more overtly "nationalist". Many of the flashpoints over parades are in areas that until quite recently were mainly Protestant but which are now mainly Catholic.
What is happening illustrates very clearly the changed nature of the troubles. A recent television documentary about the origins of the ceasefires explained how the IRA tried to reach an agreement with loyalist paramilitaries that they would not shoot each other. Their aim was to emphasise that the war was against Britain, not against the Protestants.
In the early years of the conflict both sides, but especially the republican movement, saw themselves as highly politically motivated. The IRA liked to compare themselves with the ANC or other "National Liberation Movements". So the target was "British Imperialism", not those on the other side of the peace line.
Whatever the motivation the effect of the IRA campaign was always sectarian. However a long political road has been travelled since the seventies and eighties. The British are no longer view as the main problem. Republicans want the British Government to get on side and act as "persuaders" of the Protestants who are now recognised as the main stumbling block preventing a united Ireland.
The consequence of this and of the naked sectarianism of the UDA is that if there is a fullscale return to conflict it will not be to the "long war" and the Troubles as they were. This time the comparisons will not be with the ANC or any other "national liberation struggle" but will be with Bosnia or Macedonia. It would be a sectarian war over territory that would lead towards actual repartition.
It may well be that the opposition of the mass of people to the sectarian killings and attacks will prevent this outcome for now. But there are no grounds for complacency. Even if there is a political deal and the Assembly survives it is quite clearly not a solution. How will it survive the next election when an anti agreement unionist is likely to be the First Minister with a Sinn Fein member as his or her deputy?
The peace process in the hands of sectarian politicians and paramilitaries will fail. Left to these people the end result somewhere down the line will be a Bosnia. It is urgent that an alternative is found.
What we need is a real peace process based on bringing the communities together and allowing people to set about solving the problem themselves, not relying on the failed sectarian politicians to do it.
We need an initiative from community and trade union organisations to challenge and halt the sectarian attacks. We need these organisations to start to combat the sectarian intimidation and allow people who want to live in mixed communities to do so. The sectarian flags and bunting should come down. Beyond this we need a united working class movement to bring Catholics and Protestants together to tackle the real issues of providing decent jobs, decent services and facilities.
The sectarian parties disagree on everything - except how to cut hospitals, privatise our services and excuse employers who pay poverty wages. We need a working class party to challenge them and to show Catholic and Protestant workers that there is an alternative socialist way forward that can halt the present slide sectarian conflict.
Socialist Youth protest against Sectarian Attacks
SOCIALIST YOUTH members held a protest in Belfast city centre on Saturday 30th June against the sectarian attacks breaking out across the North.
(By Gary Mulcahy)
The protest attracted hundreds of people to the stall to sign our petition. One supporter drove in especially to sign the petition and to join the protest. He has just been intimidated from his house and is now homeless. He explained that young people in his area were being targeted for recruitment to the paramilitaries and it was important that Socialist Youth continued with its work.
A 14-year old school student who had come to the protest decided to join Socialist Youth because she saw Socialist Youth as the only people who were taking a stand. Leaflets were distributed calling on the trade unions and community organisations to take mass action by mobilising workers and residents against the bigots on both sides intent on dragging us into a summer of violence.
For large sections of youth, there is no time for Green and Orange politics. Socialist Youth will continue to swim against the stream of sectarianism, and campaign to build a credible alternative throughout the summer months.
Public Meeting
The Politics of Che Guevara
This was the first public meeting organised by Socialist Youth in Belfast, and it was a marvellous success.
90 people crowded into the meeting room. The hotel staff had to open up an extra room and bring in dozens of chairs from other rooms to get everyone in!
The young meeting heard two organisers of Socialsit Youth, Chris from Belfast and Mattie from Dublin, go into some depth about the life and politics of Che. As well as this discussion, there were points made against the tuition fees, the SY anti-sectarian campaign and the need to build a fighting alternative to the bigots.
The audience was impressed by the discussion and after the meeting a number of them joined up, with another older member of the audience expressing interest in joining the Socialist Party.
This was a great launch for the Socialist Youth in Belfast. We will go on for bigger and better things. Join us.
Socialist Youth is the new youth wing of the Socialist Party. Socialist Youth is open to all young people to join who wish to build a strong young socialist movement to challenge the corrupt capitalist system. Socialist Youth is not a debating society, we are a campaigning organisation, fighting on issues like low pay and our opposition to tuition fees. None of the mainstream parties offer anything to young people. They are responsible for somethings, like sectarianism, poverty and exploitation. If you are sick of sectarian politics and want to fight for a socialist future, don't just moan about it, do something, join Socialist Youth.
E-mail us at our office, Socialist Youth or ring us at 9023 2962
Union rethinks £2m Labour link in 'privatisation' protest
Article in the
Guardian newspaper by Barrie Clement, Labour Editor
22 June 2001
Labour's long relationship with the trade unions was under threat last night
after its biggest single donor decided to review links with the party in
disgust at the Government's "privatisation" policies.
In an unprecedented move, the public service union Unison voted to take a
fundamental look at whether it gets value for money from its annual donation
of more than £2m, which forms a significant slice of Labour's income.
Despite strong opposition from the Unison leadership, the union's annual
conference in Brighton said it needed to reassess the relationship because
of the Government's "attack" on the wages and conditions of state employees.
The move follows a warning of nationally coordinated strikes by Unison,
Britain's biggest union, and a decision by the Fire Brigades Union to "free
up" its political fund so that the money can be used to back parliamentary
candidates who support the union's aims.
The RMT rail union - a prime mover in the establishment of the Labour Party
in 1900 - will debate a similar motion next week. At its biennial conference
next month, the Transport and General Workers' Union, another of the party's
largest affiliates, will be urged to look at alternative ways of using its
political fund.
In response to the mounting concern in the union movement, Tony Blair
yesterday told the Cabinet to go out and explain Government policies on
attracting private money into public services.
His spokesman said he had told ministers that it was "important to have
constant explanation of what this was about as people will try to
misinterpret and misrepresent it".
Proposing the motion in the Unison debate, Glen Kelly, a Socialist Party
member from Bromley, said that, by making the donation, the union was
"feeding the hand that bites us". He said that while the last Conservative
government introduced the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) at one hospital,
Labour had done it at 38.
Geoff Martin, Unison's left-wing London convenor, and a Labour Party member,
said the motion passed by his union's conference meant there had to be "root
and branch" review of the donations.
"The leadership... opposed the motion quite strongly, but the decision by
the conference means that people are asking some serious questions about the
nature of the union's relationship with the party. We are not going to be
taken for granted any more."
He said that while the motion - passed by 478,000 votes to 386,000 - was proposed by the Socialist Party, many of the speakers in favour were Labour
Party members.
Embarrassed Unison leaders were anxious to play down the significance of the decision. Dave Prentis, general secretary of the union, who argued against
the proposition, said the union was happy to conduct the review and report back to next year's conference.
"The vote does not change in any way whatsoever our arrangements with either the Labour Party or our general political campaigning work," he said. Mr Prentis pointed out that a move earlier in the conference to withhold funds to Labour if the Government was not prepared to stop the use of the PFI was "roundly defeated". He said that other motions instructed Unison to use the links with Labour Party to pursue union policies.
The resolution passed yesterday stated: "Conference notes that, increasingly Unison members are asking why we hand over millions of pounds of members
money to fund a party which is attacking our jobs, wages and conditions."
On Wednesday more than 2,000 delegates at the conference backed nationally coordinated strikes and rallies to halt the "privatisation juggernaut" as the Queen's Speech unveiled plans for legislation which will increase private sector involvement in public services.
A senior Labour source said: "I'm sure that when Unison weighs up the benefits, they will stick with Labour."
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