Private profit first

In his New Year statement, Workers Party President, Michael Donnelly, has singled out the relentless pursuit of private profit as the determining factor in low wages, precarious employment , poor public services and homelessness in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The world of market forces “….is a world that rests on the principle of private profits first; all other things a poor second. It is this system that they insist shall prevail that is the primary cause of all our social ills and problems.

This exaltation of private profit ensures that there will be poverty, that there will be low wages and that there will be homelessness,” he said.

Northern Ireland

Addressing the situation in Northern Ireland Mr Donnelly attacked what he called the Sinn Fein and the DUP’s collective commitment to a sectarian carve-up of power and squabbling over the perks of office….. that has condemned the people of Northern Ireland to two years of uncertainty and a fear of sliding back into the deadly grasp of violent ethno-nationalism.

“Without a united working class “, he said “there will only be a suffocating and deadly divisive ethnic and sectarian political climate in which workers and their families will continue to suffer. Whether green or orange, a capitalist ruler is still a capitalist ruler!”

Sean Garland

Paying tribute to former Party President and life long revolutionary Sean Garland who died earlier this month, Mr Donnelly said, “…without his vision and foresight the Party as we know it would most probably not exist as it does, as a Party dedicated to revolutionary change, built upon the ideology of Marx and Lenin, of Tone and Connolly.

“The struggle continues to build the Workers Party into a political force capable of establishing a democratic, secular, socialist, unitary state on the island of Ireland – a Socialist Republic”, Comrade Donnelly concluded.

Follow the link for the full New Year statement:

Party President’s 2019 New Year Message

Unfortunately, we can be fairly confident about what 2019 will bring, local Workers Party representatives have said.

In a joint New Year’s statement Party representatives in Belfast, Conor Campbell (Black Mountain), Gemma Weir (Castle), Patrick Lynn (Botanic), Chris Bailie (Oldpark), Patrick Crossan (Colin) and Joanne Lowry (Court) said:

“This year will see thousands of local people struggling to make ends meet. Thousands of teenagers will leave school with little or few qualifications. Many of those seeking a university education will find it unaffordable. Others will search in vain for apprenticeships”

Sectarian Standoff

“The Assembly will continue its sectarian standoff as Sinn Fein and the DUP prioritise local cultural identity issues over political progress, and both parties will continue to stand idly by as education, health, housing and other public services grind to a standstill”.

“Both parties will also ramp up the sectarian temperature, creating further divisions and leaving themselves no room for compromise because of the expectations they have engendered in their supporters”, they said

“Those who vote for this toxic stalemate should question their actions and examine the consequences”.

“At the last Assembly election nearly 650,000 people voted for parties that supported cuts to public services, segregated education, zero hours contracts, lower corporation tax and austerity for working people and their families”.

“All the while there are more than 100,000 children living in poverty and at least 15,000 people officially homeless. We are looking at a generation scarred for life”

“Tribal politics and sectarian brinkmanship can only survive if it receives support. If we continue to condone it, then subsequent condemnation is meaningless and worse.

Realities

“These are the realities we face going into 2019. Potential, opportunity and achievement are all sacrificed at the altar of sectarianism fuelled by the worst excesses of British and Irish nationalism”

“Working people, those seeking employment, students and the elderly need a socialist, secular and anti-sectarian road map to chart a way forward which offers a quality of life for all in a society run by them, for them. We have seen what the alternative offers”, they concluded.

It is with deep sadness and regret that the Workers Party announces the death of Sean Garland, a life-long comrade, a member of the Party’s Central Executive Committee and one of the people who most influenced and shaped the Workers Party over many decades. 

Party President Michael Donnelly has paid tribute to Mr Garland saying that he was “a unique and charismatic individual whose contribution to Irish political life cannot be overestimated”. 

The socialist project                                                                                              “Sean never took the easy option or the path of least resistance”, he said, “he always based his decisions, and his actions, on what he adjudged to be in the best interests of working class people and the revolutionary socialist project.”

Internationalism                                                                                                “Sean’s contribution to rethinking and redefining the republicanism of the late 1950s and early 1960s was immense. It changed the course of progressive political thought, emphasised the internationalism of the class politics of the Workers Party and the common struggle of all workers wherever they lived and decisively rejected the narrow nationalism that others chose to pursue with catastrophic consequences.”

 Legacy                                                                                                                  “Comrade Sean Garland devoted his life to the struggle to build a socialist future. His legacy and his influence will endure in the class politics which he espoused and in the generations of working people at home and abroad that he has influenced and inspired. We extend our deepest sympathy to his family at this time. We have all lost a fearless revolutionary standard bearer, a colossus of socialist politics, a comrade and friend”, Mr Donnelly concluded.

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