Republican Socialism will not be bought,
will not be sold and will not be deflected from its revolutionary path.
Comrades, supporters and friends, on the 92nd
anniversary of the Easter 1916, we assemble to commemorate the courageous actions
of Irish Republicans and Socialists as they strove to light the revolutionary touch
paper that would rid Ireland of British occupation and capitalist control.
We recall with pride the courage and tenaciousness
of Comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle for a 32 County Irish
Socialist Republic. Today we honour our fallen Comrades of the Irish Republican
Socialist Party and Irish National Liberation Army.
We pay tribute to their families and friends,
your sacrifice has been permanent and long term and often goes unacknowledged, we
acknowledge your courage, your steadfastness and your pain. It is only through the
pursuance of the revolution, the continuance of working class struggle and the attainment
of our goals that we can truly commemorate our fallen comrades.
We send revolutionary greetings to our POW’s
in Portlaoise and Maghaberry, your continued incarceration is testament to the arrant
failure of those who purport to represent the interests of the Irish working class,
whilst swigging champagne and playing happy families with our oppressors.
Across the world, global imperialism runs rampant,
we send solidarity to all those who struggle against occupation, exploitation and
genocide in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan. ‘Western Democracy’, far
from being a tool for liberation and empowerment for oppressed peoples across the
globe, is in fact the weapon of the oppressor.
It corrupts and divides the oppressed and disenfranchised,
replacing the natural solidarity among our class with division, suspicion and poverty.
Western democracy dissipates working class unity; it promotes sectarian and racist
division that enables it to exploit countries and peoples in the pursuance of greed
and profit.
In each and every decade there have been a generation
of Irish men and women who have been prepared to step up to the mark and ensure
that the noble aim of an Irish Socialist Republic that recognises and cherishes
the worker as the central pillar of revolution from which all else is possible.
The Republican Socialist Movement has come under
attack by the forces of capitalism in both the six counties and the 26 counties,
over the past year our membership and supporters have come under a sustained and
draconian assault from the Free Staters. Arrest, assault and detention of republican
socialists have become commonplace.
It is important to put these detentions in their
political context. The IRSP is experiencing measured growth; this growth of membership
is due in no small part to our involvement and support of civil rights campaigns
across the Island.
Whether it is the fight against occupation,
against unjust wars, against racism, against unfair taxes, against the exploitation
of workers or against the rape of our national resources, the IRSP seek no compromise
and make no apology for our revolutionary actions. We will not take any lectures
from the corrupt and internationally discredited Dublin administration in regards to how we
organise.
In 2008 in Ireland we are witnessing a prolonged
and sustained attack by the reactionary forces of global imperialism and national
capitalism on the Irish working class. Whether it’s our people ravaged by poverty
due to economic recession, unemployment, ill health, and poor education or imprisoned
in their own homes frightened of the drug barons and their hooligan thugs.
This week we have witnessed the brutal murder
of former republican prisoner Bap McGreevy in West Belfast
attacked by thugs, crazed by drink and drugs. Many of you here today will remember
Bap McGreevy, not just here in Belfast
where he was a friend and neighbour, but also those who met Bap in Long Kesh, an
innocent man sentenced to life imprisonment by a corrupt British regime. He bore
this grave injustice with great courage and dignity, he deserved better than being
kicked to death in his own home.
Unfortunately, Bap’s murder is not isolated,
each week across Ireland, in
Dublin, Derry, Limerick, Cork, we learn of such attacks. These conditions
exist because of exploitation, poverty and hardship; they are not an innocent symptom
or a side effect of capitalism; capitalism requires the exploitation of workers
to make excessive profit.
To paraphrase Seamus Costello when talking about
the Republican Socialist Movement he said, ‘a movement that cannot defend itself
has no place talking about defending and representing the Irish working class’.
I would like to extend that sentiment.
A working class movement that cannot defend,
protect and nourish the interests of the Irish working class has no place calling
itself a revolutionary movement.
Our aim is to oust imperialism, oust capitalism
in all its guises and end the occupation and exploitation of the Irish working class.
To our oppressors we state; you will not criminalise the Irish working class or
our struggle for emancipation.
Let no one here today have any doubt about our
intentions we intend to prosecute revolution in Ireland, we will achieve revolution
through organising mass agitation and civil disobedience; remember comrades if the
working class refuses to be governed by what passes for democracy in Ireland, it
will not be governed. That has to be our starting point for rebellion.
We remember fallen Irish revolutionaries of
past liberation campaigns on the anniversary of Easter 1916, we remember them with
pride and a determination to succeed.
– You are today’s revolutionaries
– Be a revolutionary in the home
– Be a revolutionary in the community
– Be a revolutionary in the workplace
– Refuse to conform in an unjust society.
Together we can conclude the unfinished business
of Easter 1916 in this new millennium.
Source: e-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, The Plough, Vol. 5, No. 4, Saturday 22nd
March 2008
