Yeah, but what’s in it for them? Those Fianna Fáil ‘Independents’… September 16, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Irish Politics.8 comments
A flurry of reports about the Fianna Fáil “Independents” this week, that group who have lost the party whip. Interestingly the concentration in the media has been on the TDs, understandable in that they are the ones who are most directly involved in propping up the government. But let’s not forget that there are at least four, and possibly five, Senators who have lost the whip. That’s quite an attrition rate, whatever way one cuts it.
So now we hear about ‘olive branches’ being offered to the dissident four FF TDs.
Mr Cowen said the Government was committed to making sure it had a working majority in the Dáil in order to do what was necessary on behalf of the country.
He said the four TDs who had lost the whip had been fully supportive of the Government.
“There are issues that arose during the course of this administration on which people took some decisions, but their support for the party is clear,” said Mr Cowen.
And there’s apparently been…
…reports that at least some of the exiled TDs had been involved in discussions about returning to the parliamentary party.
The four outside the party whip are Dr Jim McDaid of Donegal North East; Dr Jimmy Devins and Eamon Scanlon, Sligo, and Mattie McGrath, Tipperary South.
The political significance is that…
The return of the four would give Fianna Fáil 74 seats in the 163-member Dáil at a time of growing uncertainty about the continued support of the Independents who have backed the coalition since the summer of 2007.
And this at a time when the other Independents… the Independent Independents, as it were, are just a little bit restless.
Tipperary North TD Michael Lowry and Kerry South TD Jackie Healy Rae voted against the coalition over the Stag Hunting Bill in July, and while they resumed their support on other issues before the Dáil summer break, their long-term commitment is now in doubt.
Former Galway Progressive Democrat TD Noel Grealish announced during the summer that his support has become conditional, and he is expected to act in tandem with Mr Lowry and Mr Healy Rae when the Dáil resumes at the end of this month.
The coalition narrowly survived a number of Dáil votes before the summer, and the attitude of the three Independents, who had been regarded as solid supporters, has led to doubts about the coalition’s ability to survive until the summer of 2012.
And those are just the pro-ish Government Independents (there are some great rumours floating around that they’re being offered blandishments by the opposition to cut and run at the next Budget – thing is it’s hard to see what an opposition with such a potentially crushing majority can offer them that would be sufficient incentive for them to do the deed).
There’s also the two or three non-Government Independents floating around as well who seem, as has been noted previously on the CLR, to vote with and agin the Government with remarkable fluidity – though as someone commented at the weekend perhaps that’s not such a surprise since there’s little appetite to be seen as the people who pulled down the government, and it’s worth reflecting on that dynamic because it really goes to the heart of much of what we’re seeing, or to be more precise not seeing.
This is, as it’s now almost compulsory to note, the least popular government in living memory. The constituent elements are in the electoral dog house, at least according to the last rush of polls before the Summer, and while much may have changed subsequently as with Cowen’s unfortunate media appearance one morning this week it has been far from a case of out of sight out of mind. There’s no end of hypthosising over the shape of the upcoming polls, due out at the turn of the month as the Dáil resumes. I don’t, just for the record, have a clue what they’ll show. The volatility of their results in recent times has been such that it would take a brave person to adamantly state that such and such will be the case. Pushed I guess I’d think that we’ll see some decline in the LP vote, perhaps a marginal increase in that of FG and potentially a slight decline in the FF vote. But note that that’s a pretty hazy outline at best.
And this is where that feeds into the calculations of TDs. Noone can be certain how any particular action will play with the public. Fianna Fáil is electoral poison, but it’s interesting, is it not, that none of the dissidents has left FF. Indeed take a look at them and they still see themselves as FF TDs. So, poison it may be and yet they’re still on board.
More importantly, as Cowen noted, they’ve been ‘supportive’ of the Government, particularly – indeed most crucially – on economic matters. There’s an enormous irony, not unremarked upon both here and elsewhere, that the issues they’ve broken on have been peripheral to the economic policies forwarded by the Government.
That being the case I find it hard to believe that they’ll cut and run over the Budget late in the year. Indeed in a later report in the Irish Times it was clear that they’re not that exercised about it…
[Eamon] Scanlon said he wanted the extension for Sligo General hospital promised in the last budget and Mr. McGrath said that the Taoiseach would need to ‘restrain’ the Green Party.
Also useful to note that neither Scanlon nor McGrath had been contacted by the chief whip, John Curran (who tellingly ‘point[ed] out that they were broadly supportive of the Government’s economic policy’). Which suggests that Jim McDaid and Jimmy Devins are much closer in to the party than the other two.
Also perhaps significant that Joe Behan, that earliest of first movers, is no longer seriously mentioned as being amongst the ranks of those who might be enticed back.
Certainly the Independents have fractured in a way that simply could not have been anticipated in 2007, or indeed by studying the Technical Group of the previous Dáil which remained distinctly separate from pro-FF/PD administration Independents. Of course the situation was radically different in the last Dáil with the need for Independent support being markedly less than it is in this one, something that one might suspect provided no end of comfort for many amongst their numbers denied, providentially, the need to choose between various none too pleasant options.
Consider another statement by Eamon Scanlon…
‘The Government has my support but at the same time I am very conscious of Sligo General Hospital and the improvement that’s required for that hospital’.
If that sounds like a man who has found a reasonably – and perhaps uniquely -comfortable place in the Irish polity, well most likely that is because he has, neither entirely out, nor entirely in, but able to straddle the two. In a political environment going through unprecedented convulsions that may be far from the worse place to be. What benefit is there to Scanlon or McGrath or indeed the two Dr’s, McDaid and Devins to return to their old position? So, not quite the shedding of FF TDs to the joys of genuine Independence that has been long predicted, but instead a half-way house that suits a government dependent on staggering forward for fear of seizing up completely and suits individual TDs wary about an unpredictably competitive electoral environment fast approaching.
Whether voters will respond positively to this remarkable feat of political agility remains to be seen.
That public/private wage cuts issue… September 16, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Irish Politics.19 comments
As Marie Sherlock noted at the Greaves School on Sunday, one small piece of information came out last week that may have been largely ignored in the news about Anglo-Irish and other issues.
The Central Statistic Office released the latest figures on wages. Some headline figures from the PDF which you can download from the CSO?
Average weekly earnings fell to €682.91 in Q1 2010, down from €709.55 a year earlier representing a fall of 3.8% over the year. This compares with a revised estimated decrease of 0.4% in the year to Q4 2009. See tables 1, 2 and 2a.
And…
Across the economic sectors average weekly earnings fell in 11 of the 13 sectors with the largest decreases in the Education (-9.1%) and Transportation and storage (-7.3%) sectors. See tables 1, 2, 2a and graph opposite.
And…
Weekly earnings in the private sector fell by 2.8% compared with a fall of 5.5% in the public sector. The Q1 2010 estimates reflects the
decreases in public sector pay rates announced in the Budget in December 2009. Earnings in the public sector are, however calculated
before deduction of the pension levy that was introduced in March 2009.
Indeed that tied into a point that Sherlock made which was that in the private sector there was considerable variation as to how, and whether cuts were implemented with in the vast majority of instances, I think she quoted 60% plus, wage freezes being the norm.
Given that the totality of the public sector has taken wage cuts this disparity is quite marked. It’s also instructive to see that:
Davy analyst Aidan Corocoran said the fall in average weekly earnings was “dramatic”
“The public sector wage bill was slower to respond to the recession than that of the private sector,” he wrote in a note. “But the public sector caught up in Q1 2010 as the decreases in public sector pay announced in December’s Budget kicked in.”
Note though that those decreases don’t include the pension levy. I’ve no particular problem with that levy (albeit a tapered introduction across three or four years would have been arguably a better way to this in a deflationary economy), but to argue that cuts in an income of upwards of 12% on average across the public sector aren’t in and of themselves a significant burden to those who have to shoulder them is bizarre (as indeed are the implicit calls from the Sunday Times editorial this weekend which seems to seek more). Particularly when cuts in the private sector as is now evident from the figures, and in truth this was already noted by various other bodies across the past two years, including IBEC and other private sector research, are of lesser range and impact.
And while it is absolutely correct that there has been significant unemployment in the private sector (although the public sector has not been untouched by same, as any one in education and other areas can attest), to try to lock that into the public sector in some nominal equality of pain seems to miss the point that that is how the private sector operates and that is in no small part why we have social welfare and other instruments to defray the most pernicious effects of job loss and creation.
Or to put it another way, there’s been enough rhetoric about seeking some sort of ‘parity’ of pain, a task which seems futile to me.
But that said, what about the spread of cuts in the context of different work areas.
The weekly earnings of Clerical, sales and service employees fell by 5.9% in the year to Q1 2010. Relatively lower decreases were recorded for the Managers, professionals and associated professionals and Production, transport, craft and other manual workers occupational groups (-3.9% and -3.5% respectively).
Telling, is it not, that Managers, professionals and related professionals have had much smaller wage cuts than clerical, sales and service employees (interesting to parse out the production, transport and other manual workers and why their wages haven’t fallen as precipitously – I’d hesitantly suggest that it is possible that unionisation in those areas might have something to do with it but I may well be way off).
Mandate in the Irish Times piece notes that:
…the data showed that people on lower incomes are being squeezed the hardest by the recession and called on the Government to protect low-income workers in the upcoming Budget. “Today’s earnings figures published by the Central Statistics Office show that the weekly earnings of the lowest paid workers in the economy – clerical, sales and service staff – fell by 5.9 per cent in the year to the first quarter of 2010. Average weekly earnings for such staff are now less than €470 per week and work out at around €24,000 per year,” said general secretary John Douglas “Ironically, while the incomes of the lowest paid workers are falling lower than others within the economy, the pressure they are experiencing from rising prices is the greatest. Yesterday’s inflation figures demonstrate that the cost of transport has increased somewhat with quite significant increases in clothing and footwear prices as well as home-related costs like electricity charges.
I wouldn’t be too optimistic if I were Mandate. The cries for incorporating those on low incomes into the tax net gather pace as the budget races towards us. And while there’s little enough cover for the government in inflation figures (in terms of arguing that costs of living are decreasing), that’s hardly likely to stay their hand.
We’re all anti-capitalists now. Honest. September 15, 2010
Posted by Garibaldy in The North.39 comments
Interesting collection of stories in the Observer centred on a written list of answers to questions from the Guardian provided to Henry McDonald by the Real IRA. The Real IRA and its associated grouping have never shown much interest in politics, asserting that national sovereignty is the sole question to which they address themselves. This interview from February 2008 makes it clear that the position is pretty much Brits Out. Since then, they have stepped up their campaign, resulting in several deaths and a large number of “punishment” attacks on those supposedly involved in the drugs trade and other anti-social activities. At the same time, agitation on the issue of conditions within the prisons has intensified. Despite the assertion in Febrary 2008 that they were not simple militarists, there has been little sign of any interest in politics. So far, so traditional nationalism.
Which makes the following from the statement issued to the Guardian all the more interesting.
“We have a track record of attacking high-profile economic targets and financial institutions such as the City of London. The role of bankers and the institutions they serve in financing Britain’s colonial and capitalist system has not gone unnoticed.
“Let’s not forget that the bankers are the next-door neighbours of the politicians. Most people can see the picture: the bankers grease the politicians’ palms, the politicians bail out the bankers with public funds, the bankers pay themselves fat bonuses and loan the money back to the public with interest. It’s essentially a crime spree that benefits a social elite at the expense of many millions of victims.”
The colonial stuff is obviously nothing new, especially in relation to the police force. However the stuff about the capitalist system is a different matter. McDonald thinks this is an attempt to cash in on the unpopularity of bankers and the banking system north and south, and points out that ultra-leftist terrorism targetting the banking sector has proven to be a miserable failure in other places it has been tried.
The adoption of this type of rhetoric is baffling. Not only because it goes against the whole approach of putting the sole focus on the right of the Irish nation to independence – and an anti-colonial/imperial rhetoric can gel with this type of nationalism as we’ve seen in the past – but also because it seems to risk needlessly alienating people they have attracted through their traditional nationalism. They have grown and re-organised on the basis of a traditional militarist nationalist programme cloaked in the rhetorical of national sovereignty and occasionally anti-colonialism, plus action against anti-social elements. Despite the involvement of people associated with the 32 CSM in some left protests, it’s hard to see that this statement is signalling a move to the left. More likely it is pure opportunism, possibly combined with the concerns of a small element within them, mirroring at some level what happened with the provisionals before them. It’s worth noting that there is nothing quoted about the southern banking crisis, although there may have been something in the original statement. I doubt though that a reference to the British colonial and capitalist system is intended to suggest that the directors of Anglo-Irish Bank have been added to pizza delivery men as legitimate targets.
So a strange interview, not least for how it was handled. Maybe an interesting sign of an attempt within this organisation to develop a more political approach. But I’d be surprised it there is a change in the way they operate on the ground.
Government, governance and private sector… September 15, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Irish Politics, The Left.add a comment
In a way the contribution that has remained with me the most from my very limited attendance at the Desmond Greaves school was WIlliam Kingston. Kingston, who is Professor and Research Associate at the School of Business Studies in TCD and has specialised on issues of public policy and administration, set out his stall as one who agreed entirely with Marx’s analysis in terms of overview, but not at all with his proscriptions, provided a thoughtful critique of aspects of the civil service.
A number of points he made were actually pretty good. For a start he dismissed the notion that you could bring private enterprise-like structures into the civil or public service. He saw that as fundamentally incorrect. Nor did he seem to cleave to the idea that our public sector was inefficient or poor at its tasks. He was more than agnostic on agencies, arguing that they should be folded into departments in order that political control and responsibility could be exercised. I’m sorry now I didn’t ask a question about that because while I’m not hugely concerned as to whether an agency is inside or outside a Department – except where such agencies have a clear regulatory or other role that necessitates distance (one thinks of financial regulation, or the Equality Agency) I think there are good reasons to give them distinct identities…one thinks of some of the instruments of foreign aid such as Irish Aid itself which sits within the DFA (on a side note Kingston in another context, perhaps deliberately, perhaps not, referred to the DFA as the Department of External Affairs).
And political control and responsibility is where it is at, one way or another. The current anger directed towards quango’s (most recently expressed on the front page of the Sunday Times) seems somewhat odd given that the reason for the proliferation of many of them (and Blair Horan and Marie Sherlock both echoed this point) was to diminish political responsibility. They’re not creations of the centre left, not at all. The great blooming of agencies in recent times occurred during the FF/PD administrations, not during the previous FG/LP/DL administration.
Another point he made that is of considerable value was that early retirement for senior civil servants, thus allowing them a further career in the private sector, led to egregious conflicts of interest in terms of their ability to conduct their jobs in the civil service competently. This is something that is little remarked upon given the previous enthusiasm to map private sector dynamics and processes onto the public sector, and calls to have easier recruitment of private sector expertise into the public sector (as if the latter had no expertise of its own). But there are significant problems as regards policy formulation and implementation that arise in a situation where there is too close a relationship between different sectors, and Kingston is right to warn of this. Indeed it is arguable that it is precisely this area which allowed for the ultimate fracture of sense as regards the financial, construction and housing industries, albeit that the closeness occurred in the main at executive level rather than below it.
So Kingston on many of these thoughts, and in his call for strong mechanisms for whistleblowers inside the public services – he name-checked Donegal and the blood scandal as necessitating same, is clearly worth listening to carefully.
It was however his proscriptions more broadly at the conclusion of the talk which some might find more difficult to agree with. He sought a replacement of PRSTV with the alternative vote and the cutting of half of the number of T.D.’s in the Dáíl. He felt that PRSTV had engendered a ‘tribal’ political environment where localism and local concerns trumped national ones – he gave examples of decentralisation as evidence of that. I’m not entirely convinced that localism was behind the concept of decentralisation, as much perhaps as its implementation. I mean by that that it seemed to me that decentralisation was an idea born of a sort of ‘modernisation’ gone awry. And not entirely awry. This is a small country, albeit improved transportation has lessened journey times significantly over the past decade or so. But there is an issue of an over concentration on Dublin as the central hub around which all else radiates. Whether though, as Kingston noted, it made much sense to decentralise elements of our civil service to smaller towns is another question again.
But decentralisation, as such, seems more driven by a wish to emulate processes found internationally, without due regard for their implementation, rather than tribalism as such. And it is difficult to see how the replacement of PRSTV with the alternative vote, or any other voting system, would substantially alter that. Indeed were it a case that the Dáil was filled, or half-filled – if we take his proscription literally, with the fearsome technocrats that such approaches often seem to have as their logical end point, there’s always the danger that we might see policies as bad or worse introduced. But it was Patricia McKenna, speaking from the floor, who made the most sensible point as regards that. Given that this would presumably confer even greater power on political parties in terms of candidate selection, their track record in government gives little reason for optimism that that would result in better outcomes.
Indeed Kingston seemed on much stronger ground when he called for better legislation (perhaps he sees that as a function of a streamlined Dáil), and expressed a far from unreasonable scepticism as to the state as the sole provider of expertise. Now, here I think it’s worth parsing out his thoughts a bit further, because they seemed to me to be a little contradictory. He gave an example of how intellectual property rights legislation which had been ruled upon by the courts, but was amended on behalf of an IDA client who took umbrage at that legislation by the government of the day. Rather than this being a crushing indictment of government or the state, although neither comes out of it well, it seemed to me that this spoke of yet again a cosy and compliant relationship between private enterprise and government. That, as has been seen all too often in recent times, sees the state acting as the supplicant doing the bidding of private enterprise. Of course, it’s not a single undifferentiated ‘private enterprise’ either, but rather the parts of which have or can acquire the greatest influence.
And while it’s difficult to disagree with his scepticism as regards the state, this doesn’t mean that the state cannot and will not be key in any future dispensation as an element of a broader mix.
So does his critique rest within currently modish attitudes towards government and governance? Absolutely, would seem to be the answer. But if one can park those and consider his thoughts on more fundamental relationships they’re of considerable utility for shaping a left approach to the state in transition.
Street-art… September 15, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Culture.3 comments
This might be of interest, an exhibition of street-art in Anewspace Gallery Friday 24th September to Sunday 3rd of October 6 Chatham Street Dublin 2
Featuring Works by
ADW ASBESTOS CANVAZ CISTO CONOR HARRINGTON COOL-C DBC(WE HOPE) EINE EELUS KARMA LOKI MORGAN SOLUS SPLINK(I LOVE LAMP) WILL ST LEGER XPIR & MORE TO BE ANNOUNCE
Mind you, check out the press release…
Over the past 5 years there has been an explosion of Street-art worldwide and Ireland has experienced a growing movement with several international names creating pieces in the city. As well as local artists developing into respected figures. This project hopes to shine a spot light on the movement and expose the viewer to the world that is happening under their very nose.
Street Art or Graffiti is not the art of the dis-enfrancised community. It is not a about being poor, a minority, talented or clever. It is more a sense of opportunity and motivation. An expression outside the boundaries of societies accepted outlets. To often it is high-lighted in press sound bites regarding its removal.
It exists because it can. The artist is the viewer, often creating works that are never seen beyond a close circle of fellow artists and friends. And while it can be appreciated. Unlike many forms of expression, a mass or gallery audience is not its concern. It has existed forever and is beyond any fashion trend or movements. It will always be ‘despite your face’.
This collection hopes to present Irish and International street art in the Dublin area. It is by no m eans a complete over-view (as the scene is far bigger then anyone can imagine). But instead is a snap shot of an under ground existing in Irish society. …
Hmmmm….
Area man seeks to start his own ‘new’ liberal, small government, low-tax political party… September 14, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.20 comments
…in the comments section of the Irish Times. And look who’s at fault…
I’m all for a second republic but let us be clear there needs to be a choice made by the people. People have two choices. a) A large government, i.e. more of same that got us in this mess, high taxes, a lethargic economy, nanny state that interferes with our personal freedom, intrusive into our lives, bureaucrats making choices for us or b) We embrace a liberal Ireland, where government is as small as it needs to be, government is local, more personal choice, more support for family through tax changes, tax on wealth through a land value tax and a truly business driven society that supports local quality of life. A liberal party I believe, like the one I’m trying to start is the only way for Ireland to develop in a second republic. What a magnificent tribute that would be to the ideals of 1916-1921.
Well… that’s a departure, so.
No Minister… September 14, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Pseudo-Science, Science.44 comments
Right.
The Minister was to launch The Origin of Specious Nonsense by John May at Buswells hotel tomorrow, with actors playing the parts of Charles Darwin and King Kong.
Uh-huh…
Mr May is also offering €10,000 to anyone who can prove evolution at a biochemical level. He describes himself on the website www.theoriginofspeciousnonsense.com as “like Abraham Lincoln, self-educated, and might be viewed as a polymath, left school young and commenced my real education”.
And the Minister?
Speaking from Galway earlier last night, Mr Lenihan said while he “remained to be convinced” by Mr May’s arguments, he would be attending the launch in a personal capacity and as he believed “diversity of opinion is a good thing”. However following Mr May’s request he has withdrawn from the launch.
Oh brother.
Terror-stricken? It’s not the economy… it’s you! September 14, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Irish Politics.7 comments
Or so says Stephen Collins this weekend in the Irish Times, under the heading ‘Weight of terror over Anglo is cracking our optimism’. Never! That the costs of propping up Anglo Irish Bank, or as he himself puts it…
AS THE Government continues to wrestle with the awful magnitude of the Anglo Irish bailout, there is a real danger that the despair it has generated will fuel the recession by undermining confidence in the possibility of a recovery…
If this is indeed an ‘awful magnitude’ then surely there’s nothing irrational about terror. Indeed terror seems like a perfectly reasonable response given a small point that he ignores.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has insisted again and again that while the scale of the problem at Anglo Irish Bank is appalling, it is still manageable. The governor of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, has voiced the same opinion.
But here’s the problem. Neither Lenihan or Honohan, or even worse the crew currently ‘running’ Anglo Irish Bank have bothered to say what the price tag precisely will be. And while it may be ‘manageable’ to deal with in reference to the ‘scale’ of Anglo Irish Bank at what cost to the society as a whole?
Gort na Móna/Glór na Móna Lecture Series: An Ghaeilge Faoi Ghlas – Republican Prisoners and the Irish language revival in the North of Ireland September 13, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, The Left.2 comments
Many thanks to the person who forwarded this to the CLR. A very interesting topic.
Gort na Móna CLG & Glór na Móna present
Community Lecture Series 2010
September – Friday 17th, 7.30pm
Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh – ‘An Ghaeilge faoi Ghlas: Republican Prisoners and the Irish language revival in the North of Ireland’
Feargal is a former pupil of Bunscoil Phobal Feirste and Meánscoil Feirste in West Belfast. He attended Queens University Belfast and recently completed his PhD in 2009 with a thesis of the same title as his talk. He is also a playing member of Gort na Móna CLG and active in the Irish language revival in the city. He is chairperson of Glór na Móna and works full-time as Project Worker with Gaeltacht Quarter Irish language development agency Forbairt Feirste.
The talk will take place in Gort na Móna CLG, Springfield Road, Belfast.
Left Archive: Case for the Formation of a Republican Socialist Party – precursor of the Official Republican Movement, late 1990s September 13, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Left Online Document Archive, Official Republican Movement (1990s/2000s), Republican Left/later ORM.34 comments
This document can be downloaded by clicking on the following link: REP LEFT
Many thanks to the person who forwarded this and the accompanying overview of the document.
This internal document was a proposal on the future of the ‘Official Republican Movement’ (ex members and supporters of the Workers Party) at the ORM conference attended by over 120 members in the Ulster Peoples College 1999. Calling for the launch of a new political party to be titled ‘Republican Left’, the motion was one of two on the table and, should it be available, it would be worthwhile putting up for some context as its alternative, as I recollect the formation of a ‘society’.
The document looks to be the work of a committee as it is a little ‘choppy’ and goes into tremendous detail in some areas and skims others. The proposal document is quiet long, 7 sections, starting with an introduction that places it firmly as a ‘tactical’ way forward for the ORM and begs delegates to listen to both arguments as both “are by comrades genuinely committed to our organisation.” Then, as with all internal republican debates, it harks back to the past to give some historical justification for its core rationale.
In this case the starting point is the ‘failed’ 50′s campaign is the starting point followed by a cramming of the 1970′s and 1980′s Official/WP transformation, essentially stating that within this process the baby was thrown out with the political bathwater particularly the WP analysis of Irish Nationalist aspiration (counter productive and reactionary) and British Nationalism (must be understood and respected) rather than the rejection of all nationalisms for socialist unity of the working class.
More interesting is the point mooted that the split in the Workers Party was basically a split in the leadership without much involvement from the general membership. It backs up this assertion with a breakdown of the various ‘factions’ and names some ‘leading lights’ associated.
After that, in a section about the political bankruptcy of the WP, it asserts that the WP lost the working class in the Republic when it refused to engage with the Concerned Parents Against Drugs campaign and was openly hostile to it. The document rounds off returning to the introduction putting forward a case for a Socialist Republican Party.
The proposal/document was endorsed at the meeting by over two thirds of the attendees. However, it was noticeable that few of the ORM ‘Leadership’ supported it (possibly only two or three of the eighteen). After the Conference they shelved the proposal as “the time wasn’t right” failed to rebrand as Republican Left and, instead, implemented the alternative proposal.
JJ McGarrity (Jnr)
