The strengths of the Irish left…

We’ve been discussing weaknesses on the left, problems with various campaigns, there have been a myriad number of complaints about this party or that party, or all parties. And non-parties, and think tanks and groups and so on. All of this can, when constructively directed, be very useful and important. Self-criticism and self-awareness in tandem with self-reflectivity (which is not necessarily the same as self-awareness) are vital to the success of any leftist project whatever its stripe.

And it is true that in the past four or five years there’s been a steep learning curve – or even further back if one is to count in the most useful educative experience of the Green Party entering government – and granted they were leftish, more than leftist, but their example is one that had some impact further afield – and not alone for the catastrophic conclusion to that time in government, but for the very fact they were there at all.

Obvious points on that curve – or would it be more appropriate to say aspects drawn from that process, would be: the general passivity of the broader population in the face of the worst socio-economic crisis in generations; the concentration on electoral politics and contest as a means of exercising political power on the part of that broader population (and the cathartic effects of same); the problems raised by radical cadres being drawn into the day to day parliamentary and constituency process, but the paradox generated by that being a product of the outcome of elections contested by same parties and formations; the limitations of campaigns as a means of political activity; the lack of unity on the Irish left between its various parts; the minority nature of that left; the tension between different forms of leftist thinking and approach and so on.

Each of these is worth treating of in and of itself.

But what of the opposite, what of the clear strengths of the Irish left? How does that fit into the broader picture, and what are these strengths?

After all, if – to focus momentarily on electoral politics – the election in 2011 while no new dawn did do one thing of value that was in bringing a broader and deeper mix of leftists into Dáil Éireann than ever before.

So what else?