Day of industrial action

Thousands of public servants, suported by people from all walks of life here, have taken part in the largest mass strike in decades to protect public services.

The Workers Party actively supported the rallies  in Belfast and in towns and cities across Northern Ireland.

The ‘boom and bust’ cycle of capitalist economics means that economic ‘crises’ come around with regularity.

It is easy and popular to say that the current ‘crisis’ has been caused by the greed and speculation of banks and financial institutions. That’s partially true, but it’s not the full story.

This crisis is an inevitable part of the structural and systemic crises in the world capitalist system.

The debts that have been incurred are not a sovereign or government debt. It belongs to companies, corporations and speculators. Yet we are being forced to bail out the bankers at a cost to public services, jobs, education health and social development.

This ‘crisis’ was not a natural phenomenon. It was a systemic failure compounded by the work of local and global financiers confident that, when the bubble burst, the public purse would bail them out.

Of course we need to stop the cuts and tackle the bankers, but fundamentally we need to change the system. The alternative is Socialism