Site updated on March 16th 2004

New Socialist Party Publications

Towards Division, not Peace

Update: 28/1/4 - Final section added, apologies for the delay.
Written in Oct-Nov. 2001, Towards Division Not Peace is essential reading for those attempting to understand the complex process of sectarian polarisation and division and how a solution can be found. The collapse of the Assembly confirms many of the conclusions in the pamphlet on how sectarian parties are incapable of delivering real peace.
The question of how a united movement of workers and youth could be built in the next period is also dealt with, and the document is an invaluable tool for all activists in the unions, communities, schools and colleges.
The whole pamphlet is now available on line.
The printed pamphlet can be bought from our offices in Belfast and Dublin. Costs Euro5 or £3 (post free)

International Women’s Day Statement – March 8th 2004

Below is an International Women’s Day statement by Carmel Gates, Socialist Party member, Time For Change activist in Nipsa and the unions elected President.

It was in the USA that the first International Women’s Day protest demonstration happened, organised in 1857 by female textile workers in New York. That protest was part of an ongoing struggle for pay, trade union rights and equality for women workers.

Since 1857 it is on 8 March every year that, across the world, activists in the workers’ movement remember all women who have fought to transform their conditions and the class-ridden society around them. Read more here...

Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) statement:

Women against War and Capitalism - International Women's Day 2004

The day of international working women's solidarity - 8 March - is celebrated this year just days before the first anniversary of imperialism's attack on Iraq. A relatively short "war" pursued against the background of mass opposition world-wide has given way to a "peace" shaken daily by new clashes, as occupying forces and collaborating Iraqis come under fire. Read more here...

2nd Statement: Women: - Why socialists should oppose the ban of the hijab.
CWI Statement, issued March 6th 2004.

PDF version of the IWD 2004, CWI statement

SWP proposals for socialist slate in Assembly elections.

A proposal by the SWP for a Socialist Slate in the future Assembly Elections, with a response by the Socialist Party.
In recent weeks the SWP in Northern Ireland have approached the Socialist Party and other parties, groups and individuals inviting us to participate in a socialist slate to contest the Assembly elections. Below we have published the correspondence between the Socialist Party and the SWP which deals with our attitude on this question.
On 14th June a meeting was called by the SWP was held in Belfast to discuss forming a socialist slate. The Socialist Party sent an observer and circulated our reply to the SWP. At that meeting it was stated by several members of the SWP that in the event of a socialist slate candidate running in a constituency where a genuine working class campaign had decided to run (e.g. on the issue of hospital closures), the socialist slate candidate would stand against such a candidate. Incredibly, it was stated by the SWP that 200 votes for a socialist slate candidate would be more significant than a genuine anti-hospital closure candidate getting elected!

Refugees, racism and capitalism in Australia

By Stephen Jolly
Published by the Socialist Party in Australia, 2002
This pamphlet is dedicated to the hundreds of people locked up in Australia's privately-run detention centres.

Update: Scottish Socialist Party

After the elections in Scotland on May 1st, we've carried a few articles on the developments of the Scottish Socialist Party. In order to give some indication of the general direction of the SSP, we've also added here a review of a recent book by 2 leaders of the SSP.

A short cut to socialism Review of Imagine a book from Alan McCombes and Tommy Sheridan Reviewed by Per-Åke Westerlund, a member of the CWI in Sweden. 21st March 2001
the other articles can be accessed at the SP sitemap.

Update: March 8th, International Women's Day.

International Women's Day statement by the Commmittee for a Workers International.

NEWS: Feb. 20th statement by the Committee for a Workers International on politics after Feb. 15th.
This is now available so(Click here)

Socialist opposition to American militarism

Joe Higgins spoke in the Dail on Wednesday 29th January in opposition to the continued abuse of Irish facilites at Shannon to help their armed forces. The reports can be read here. Book Review
In the late 1960s, the name of Frantz Fanon became associated with the idea of an armed revolution in the 'Third World'. In the words of his biographer, David Macey, in his new book, 'Frantz Fanon: A life', "Fanon came to be seen as the apostle of violence, the prophet of a violent Third World revolution that posed an even greater threat to the West than communism", and "the spokesman of a Third Worldism which held that the future of socialism - or even the world - was no longer in the hands of the proletariat of the industrialized countries, but in those of the dispossessed wretched of the earth".

Read Ciaran Mulholland's review of a recent biography of Fanon.

NEWSFLASH

Important book now available.


A comrade in Dublin has scanned in Beyond the Troubles an important book by Peter Hadden, the NI Secretary of the SP. The book was produced in 1994 but is still very relevant to all socialists interested in politics in Northern Ireland.

Franz Fanon

In the late 1960s, the name of Frantz Fanon became associated with the idea of an armed revolution in the 'Third World'. In the words of his biographer, David, Macey, in his new book, 'Frantz Fanon: A life', "Fanon came to be seen as the apostle of violence, the prophet of a violent Third World revolution that posed an even greater threat to the West than communism", and "the spokesman of a Third Worldism which held that the future of socialism - or even the world - was no longer in the hands of the proletariat of the industrialized countries, but in those of the dispossessed wretched of the earth".
A recent biography of Fanon has been reviewed by Ciaran Mulholland, from Belfast. Please feel free to pass on any comments.

Articles from Socialism Today on Northern Ireland.


Introduction to Marxism

We intend to make a number of good, easily understood pamphlets available here. Please feel free to read them, print them off, distribute them. The key point is to study and then put these ideas into practice.
The first document in this new series is a reprint from 1983, What is Historical Materialism. This is, to put it simply, how Marxists draw lessons from historical developments.

10th April 2002.

Middle East. A discussion on the latest developments.

The Belfast branch of the Socialist Party held a wide ranging meeting meeting on developments in the Middle East, Palestine/Israel, on Monday 8th April. This meeting will hopefully be followed up by a public meeting organised by Socialist Youth in Belfast. Keep in touch for details of the date and venue. To give some indication of the opinion of the Socialist Party on these developments, here is the latest statement by the Committee for a Workers International of which we are a section.

The French comrades have issued some information about their response to the vote obtained by Le Pen, the far right candidate in the first round of the French elections.

The Committee for a Workers International officers (the International Secretariat) issued regular updates of their analysis of the American led war in Afghanistan and it's consequences. The latest document we can offer here dates from February 2002. Afghanistan, Islam and the Left is a long position statement by us on the war and how groups on the Left should have reacted to the political developments. To see more of the statements on the war along with numerous other documents from the SP in Ireland and across the world, visit our documents collection on this site.



Just before International Women's Day Fianna Fail, the major party in giovernment in Dublin, backed by the Catholic Church, tried to further restrict women's rights on the abortion issue. But the Mullahs of Ireland were defeated. Read our position, before the referendum, in this article. The referendum was DEFEATED.



It is ironic that the Irish government is trying to cut women's rights to choice on the eve of International Women's Day, March 8th. Here is the statement by the CWI on IWD 2002.



There are a substantial number of documents about the Afgan War and other issues in our Documents Collection
Where is Sinn Fein going? 2 important articles from the Summer 2001 issue of Socialist View reflecting how the Socialist Party views the 'progress' of Sinn Fein North and South. If you've any queries or points of difference, contact us to discuss the matter. A sizable number of other articles from that edition of the journal and others from our paper are also now available.



We have recently added a couple of articles that should be read by all marxists and socialists, they deal with the coup in Chile in 1973. Read them, they are important.



Commemorate May Day

The Belfast May Day march took place on Sat. 3rd May 2003. It was a bit smaller than recent years – this is likely to have been due to some exhaustion caused by the recent number of anti-war parades, etc.

The Socialist Party had a good delegation on the parade, with both the Party and the Socialist Youth banners present. We distributed leaflets for the public meeting being held on Wed. 7th May to discuss workers in struggle. We also sold significant numbers of papers, etc. The book stall was well received and a wide range of material purchased.

The raffle prizes - Michael Moore's Stupid White Men and a bottle of Black Bush - were won in St.George’s Market by Julie Burns and C Mulholland.

May Day statement, 2002, by the Committee for a Workers International (to which the SP is affiliated.)


The History of May Day (From The Socialist, produced by the SP in England/Wales.)

May Day by Marxists. This is a collection of material on the Marxists Internet Archive, with articles by Marx, Engles, Lenin, Trotsky and numerous others. Well worth a visit.

Documents

War in Afghanistan


Since the development of the War in Afghanistan following the World Trade Centre bombings of September 11th, the CWI and it's sections have issued a number of important documents analysing events. A number of these are available below. We would encourage all activists to study these reports/documents and should you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.

We have started with the earliest documents.

In the days immediately after the attacks on America the CWI and it's America comrades issued the following statements.

One comrade who was in New York during the attacks sent her Eyewitness reports.

This was followed on September 15th by a statement by Socialist Alternative, the US supporters of the CWI, End the Cycle of Terrorism.

On September 15th Peter Hadden, one of the leading Socialist Party members in Ireland contributed an article to this discussion, Why Marxism opposes Terrorism.

The International Secretariat of the CWI presented an analysis, The World Trade Centre attack: The Political and Economic Aftershocks.

Once the attacks on Afghanistan started the CWI issued this statement.

Joe Higgins, the Socialist Party member of the Irish Parliament, made the following points in a parliamentary debate.

Dave Nellist, one of the leading comrades of the Socialist Party in Britain and the national chairman of the Socialist Alliance issued this statement.

As the situation developed, the CWI issued a follow-up statement, The Complications for Imperialism grow.

Differing sections of the CWI have responded to the war, this statement comes from the Democratic Socialist Movement, the Nigerian Marxist organisation.

The November 2001 of Socialist Alternative, the newspaper of the US supporters of the CWI carries a number of articles of related to the war, including the editorial. Socialist Alternative's editorial, Nov. 2001

Other articles:

One on the repressive legislation being pushed through the legislature.

An important article, How to Build the Anti-War Movement.

The International Secretariat issued another update of their analysis of the war and it's consequences. This was issued on November 16th 2001. The War in Afghanistan – A Decisive Turn

Low Pay Campaign



The Struggle for Socialism Today

(A reply to the politics of the Socialist Worker's Party) - A 1999 document by the Socialist Party in Ireland

Assorted reports/documents.




Online Publications


(The following Socialist Party publications are reproduced in PDF format. Acrobat Reader is required to be able to view the contents. This can be downloaded free from Adobe. If you are living in the British Isles or Europe, however, you may find it quicker to download from the UK open government site ).

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