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Vol 6-No 5
Sunday April 12th 2009
E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
1. Easter Statement From the leadership of the IRSM
2) Republican Socialist Youth Movement Statement
3) Prisoners Statement
4) IRSCNA Easter Solidarity Message
Easter Statement From the leadership of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement
Comrades,
We send greetings first of all to the families and friend of our dead INLA volunteers and our dead comrades from the IRSP killed for their political beliefs. We send greetings and solidarity to all our comrades currently imprisoned for their political activities.
We remember all those who in the latest phase of the struggle for liberation from the yolk of imperialism fell in the struggle. And we salute the memory of all republicans of whatever hue who died in the struggle for the self-determination of the Irish people.
Easter is a time, when all over Ireland and in parts abroad, Irish republicans gather to pay homage to our dead and to renew our resistance. It is also a time to take stock, to re-evaluate where we stand and to ask where stands the struggle for an independent Irish Republic?
Comrades if truth be told the struggle has suffered a severe set back over these last years. Consider the enemies who face us. A foreign power, a native government of appeasers in the South and in the North a puppet administration in cahoots with MI5, the PSNI and supporting the most repressive laws we have ever seen.
Those, who sold the Good Friday Agreement as an advance for Irish republicanism, sold a lie. It was a defeat.
However it would be a mistake to simply jump up and down and bemoan the mistakes of the past or dwell on what others did or did not do.
Do we, the Republican Socialist Movement learn from our past? Do we the Republican Socialist Movement have a strategy and a determined path to follow? Yes we do!
We have clearly set out our position on the type of resistance we believe should be followed by Republicans in this day and age. That is why we have worked for Republican political unity with other organisations.
The IRSP is part of the Republican Forum for Unity. We encourage all republican socialists to give their full support to the activities of the Forum. Where we can work on issues together we will.
That does not in any way hinder or stop the building of our own Party. We encourage all those who want to change the system join the organisation that that consistently and persistently opposed both imperialism and capitalism. Join the IRSP
We say as we have been saying for years that the road forward is the political road. We do not mean the road to Stormont and the pleasures of administering power for the British. We do not mean the path to the Dail and the pleasures of administering power on the behest of the native bourgeoisie and foreign capital.
We mean the political road of revolution, of the transformation of the two states in Ireland the seizing of power from the capitalist elites, the taking back from the robber barons the land resources, the economic resources and wealth that rightly belongs to the whole of the people on the island.
We recognise that the continuation of partition is a block to the well being of all citizens on the isle. It perpetuates sectarian bitterness turning neighbour against neighbour, stifles our economic well-being and allows the continued social and economic exploitation of the working class regardless of religion or race.
No body should be happy to see peace walls in Belfast City or else where dividing neighbour from neighbour. Those walls are a clear indictment of the failure of British rule. They are an indictment of Stormont rule. They shout loudly that the Northern state is a failed state.
No one should be in the least surprise therefore that the continued existence of a failed state perpetuates a violent reaction. There will always be republicans who are prepared to take up arms to resist. That should surprise no one. It is entirely predictable.
Generations have come and gone and seen violence, communal strife, repression discrimination unemployment, emigration and poverty. History worldwide shows that these things breed the conditions for armed resistance.
But simply wishing it away will not change that. Nor will it be changed by righteous anger, by emotion or by the trusted and tried and failed methods of the past.
Irish republicanism needs a new direction. All around we see the proliferation of splinter groups evolving from what used to be the Provisional Republican Movement. We do not rejoice in division. That is why we advocate and support a broad front policy of –co-operation with others. Renewed republicanism is in the overall interests of the vast majority of the people on the isle.
But renewed republicanism must take into account the wishes and needs of the people
In a time of severe attacks on the living standards of the working people throughout the island Republicanism cannot stand aside and think only of a pure Republic unrelated to the existing social and economic conditions.
We believe that the best way forward for Irish republicanism is to totally embrace the socialist ideal and for Irish republicans to throw themselves fully into the day-to-day struggles of the people. The building of a mass movement of working people to change the world we live in is our best chance of success.
And it needs to be side loud and clear from this and all republican platforms that the political struggle for a Socialist Republic holds no threat to those who see themselves as coming from different traditions.
Part of our task is to convince and reach out to those who we have failed to persuade as to the validity of our beliefs. That is why we in the republican socialist movement will take all opportunities to reach out and influence sections of the protestant working class of the validity of our socialist ideas.
We applaud the tremendous work carried out by our members and ex-prisoners in Teach na Failte in the work they do in working class areas bring working people of differing backgrounds together. That is real republicanism. That’s what Tone, Mitchell, Connolly Mellows and Costello stood for.
That is the Republicanism to take away with you today from these hallowed grounds. We are resolutely opposed to Imperialism. We are resolutely opposed to Capitalism. But, we are resolutely for working class unity and against sectarianism.
Comrades, we have, as a movement faced death.
Comrades, we have as a movement faced imprisonment.
Comrades, we have as a movement faced slander lies and informers and traitors.
Comrades we have as a movement faced the might of Imperialism and we have not flinched.
Nor will we flinch no matter what they throw at us.
We stand today at these graves unbowed and as determined today as when we were formed, to stand by the Socialist Republic.
Victory to the Working class
On to the Republic
(Speech delivered by Ard-Comhairle member Theresa Considine)
Easter 2009 Republican Socialist Youth Movement Statement
On behalf of the Republican Socialist Youth Movement we welcome all who attend here today and thank the IRSP for this opportunity to speak as we pay homage to the men and women of Easter 1916 who so gallantly met the invading forces of imperialism in Ireland with unwavering bravery and purpose.
We would also like to take this opportunity to send our solidarity to the Political Prisoners who languish here in Ireland and elsewhere as well as to the people of Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan, who like the people of Ireland have suffered so greatly at the hands of a bloody Imperialist war machine.
Nearly a century has passed since 1916 and not much has changed for Irish revolutionaries, our class is still subjected to the will of a corrupt minority, but what better way to set about our task of building a mass revolutionary movement than to meet head on our foreign persecutors and their native accomplices with similar dedication to that shown by the rebels of Easter Week, 1916. Ultimately, the most sincere tribute to those who fought in 1916 will be to take on their aspirations and goals as our own and to set about making them not just a romantic dream, but a reality. That is what we are in the business of, a 32 County Socialist Republic and nothing short of it.
In recent times we have set about the re-organization of our movement, with great strides being made by the dedicated young activists within our ranks. Our movement is growing and our political ideals have never been more relevant, it is now time to push on. Through the Irish Republican Forum for Unity the mechanisms have been put in place to create a broad front capable of harnessing the obvious discontent felt by our class with the political, economic and social status quo. It is only through such initiatives that real change can be brought about. The republican socialist voice has been fragmented for too long, it is unity that will bring our politics to the forefront of the political landscape, it is through unity that real inroads will be made towards our goal.
James Connolly, the 1916 leader, once said that the working class are the incorruptible inheritors of the Irish fight for freedom. It is with this in mind we must progress our politics and overall strategy, immersing ourselves in the struggles of our class and aiding them in their own emancipation. We can never abandon our class, doing well to remember that without the workers themselves there will be no revolution. We here in the RSYM continue to strive to achieve what James Connolly and Seamus Costello seen as there aim.
On this a day, a day where we salute the participants of the 1916 rebellion and the fallen comrades of our own movement, we recall the glorious failures of the past and seek to find a successful way forward. The only way forward is to unite our class to smash the institutions that seek to divide and exploit us, with the establishment of a democratic socialist republic our ultimate aim.
EASTER STATEMENT FROM REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST PRISONERS, PORTLAOISE
Comrades, Supporters, Families and Friends, we the Republican Socialist POW’s here in Portlaoise Gaol send each of you our heartfelt comradeship. Easter is a sad time for us, but it is also a time of reflection where we pledge to redouble our efforts in rebuilding and strengthening the Republican Socialist Movement.
As we mark the 94th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, we recall with great Honour and Pride, the courage of our comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle for a 32 county Socialist Republic.
As you will know, our Movement has come under vicious attack from the forces of Capitalism in both the 6 and the 26 counties. They will not break us. They tried to break us inside these walls. They segregated us from each other, abused our families, turned them away from the Prison and tried to take away our Political Status. They failed. They could not break our spirit. They will try again and they will fail again.
The comradeship on our landing is so strong that we feel we are unbreakable and we are driven by your support and the memory of our fallen comrades from the INLA and the IRSP.
The POW’s wish to take this opportunity to salute the leadership and the Volunteers of the noblest Army of the people, the INLA! We salute the Ard Comhairle of the IRSP and its activists and we send solidarity greetings to all our friends, our Families and our Comrades.
Victory to Irish Working Class!
O/C INLA POW’s Portlaoise Prison
IRSCNA EASTER SOLIDARITY MESSAGE
At this Easter time the Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America pay respect to the spirit of 1916, and in particular the contribution of the Irish Citizen Army and the distinct republican socialist tradition.
Despite the constant lies and slander from the desperate lackeys of the bosses who have tried to convince the world that the rising was sectarian or simply mad, the Easter Rising remains an inspiration to all freedom-loving exploited people. It is a fitting time to remember our comrades who gave their lives for a Workers Republic.
We recognise the Irish Republican Socialist Party as the inheritor of Ireland's incorruptible tradition of working class anti-imperialism and true human liberation.
We are honoured to continue supporting the IRSP and Teach Na Failte, and representing them in North America. We salute the hard work of our comrades who daily build the party in the footsteps of Connolly and Costello. We recognise the courage of the Irish National Liberation Army in continuing their stance and when necessary being ready to defend the working class.
We also note with pride the excellent work done by the IRSP's youth section in
advancing republican socialist and youth politics. The Republican Socialist Youth Movement continues to represent the working class republican socialist tradition throughout Ireland.
We take this opportunity to send our greetings to the Republican Socialist prisoners. They, like our martyred fallen comrades, remain an ever-present inspiration to us in our efforts. We likewise send greeting to all those in Ireland and around the world imprisoned for wanting to live in a better world.
The IRSCNA would like to recognise the hard work and commitment of our friends in the Irish Freedom Committee and look forward to coming together with them yet again to commemorate the hunger strikers of 1981.
We are living in a time of extended and unresolvable crises. A collapse in which the failure of the Good Friday Agreement and St Andrews accords are obvious. No longer are the bosses' agreements serving to cover the divisions and fault lines in the Occupied Six Counties. As long as Britain remains, there will be no peace in Ireland, and no genuinely democratic settlement is possible.
The IRSCNA is proud to report that we are now larger and more active in North America than we have been in years. We continue to proudly serve the IRSP and stand by the republic.
(Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America)
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IRSCNA
ALL correspondence to the Irish Republican Socialist Party in NorthAmerica, (the IRSCNA) should now be sent to:
IRSCNA
PO Box 901479
Kansas City, Missouri
64190-1479
USA
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