Bill O'BrienThe crisis in the Communist Party of Ireland has become more acute and personal in recent months. 

Ireland was always in a desperate need for a proper Communist Party and what has gone over the years for a Communist Party has been a grave disappointment and a shame on communism in general. In recent months the crises has dramatically deteriorated and it's important for people to look at what its all about, what it stands for and who the personalities are.

The history

As pointed out in a recent issue of Socialist Voice (number 201, Magazine of the Communist Party of Ireland) the party was founded in 1921. This is a fact but what they don't tell us is that it was dissolved within a very sort time of its coming into existence. The reason being that the Communist Party of Great Britain deliberately misinterpreted the instruction that came from Moscow, and the general secretary of the British party told the Irish Party they were to dissolve. This was a lie and took decades to discover. The author Liam O'Flaherty and the son of James Connolly, Rory Connolly dissolved the party. This was the beginning of a bad history between the British communists and the Irish communists

There were lots of Communist who were around at the time, like Sean McLaughlin who Connolly handed over his command to in the last days of the rising, that refused to join the Communist Party of Britain, (even though some were living in Britain at the time) because of their jingoistic anti-Irish attitude that prevails within that party, at the time and still does up to this day. 

Many British communists among themselves also refused to join the party, or were expelled from the party because they were pushing an anti-imperialist line which was regarded as ultra leftist by the leadership of the British Communist Party. People like the Scottish Socialist John Maclean and the feminist socialist Sylvia Pankhurst come to mind. Of course the Communist Party of Britain will give different reasons as to why there were neither not allowed into the party or expelled. 

The Communist Party Of Ireland was resurrected again in the 1930s on an all Ireland basis. But at the invasion of Russia in 1941 it split again, on the friendly and mutual basis, with a view of how best it could help the Soviet Union. In the Free State, as it was called then, it became known as The Irish Workers Party and in the six counties became the Communist Party of Northern Ireland. During the time the party in the six counties built a base among the unionist population. All of this is a contributory factor to their current difficulties

What is the current situation?

The party appears to have split at least three different ways, Belfast and Cork went in one direction Dublin in another, and the youth movement disassociated themselves from the Communist Party of Ireland earlier this year. This was dealt with in an article presented to The Pensive Quill some months ago. In Belfast there appears to be two entities claiming that they are the Communist Party: the Communist Party of Ireland Greater Belfast Branch is one and the CPI Belfast branch is another. CPI Belfast branch is made up of people who are dual members of the Communist Party of Ireland and at the same time members of the Communist Party of Britain. The Dublin branch members who are based mainly around the general secretary and refer to the Belfast people (behind the backs of course) as the King Billy communists. But they are Red Unionists at the end of the day.

The Communists in general have marginal influence within the left in Ireland. They can claim influences in particular trade unions, mainly Unite, though in recent months Unite has been exposed as a union that supports imperialism in Ireland in more ways than one. The first one being one of its members boasted about saving in the British Army in Ireland in recent years and how wonderful and beneficial it was for him - it made him a better member of Unite after he left the army. This caused serious problems for their Unite in the Community project. The second was when one of the candidates for the general secretary's ship of Unite boasted about getting an arms deal and saving the aircraft industry in Belfast. That industry is making unmanned Aircraft for the Royal British Air Force.

The Red Unionists in Belfast appear to be holding onto the property and the newspaper, Unity, which is now produced online and cannot be bought in Connolly Books in Dublin. It's hard to know who has the property in Cork. Needless to say time will clarify that point.

They are running the campaign to have the Industrial Relations Act 1990 repealed. It is going on for some years now, doesn't seem to be getting very much traction. They did manage to have a resolution pasted at the recent Congress of the ICTU this year, but that in itself will have limited effect. They same not to either have the organisation or guts to fight it on the streets, which is the only place it is going to be won.

Overall

Overall this appears to be an amicable divorce. Apart from Twitter and Facebook accounts there has been no serious outbursts of animosity yet. The Dublin group under the general secretary appear to be holding on to all the international contexts. The Communist Party of Ireland always boasted that it was the smallest party in Ireland, but the biggest party globally, which they can not say now since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But that doesn't stop them from going on with the illusion. Since the Youth group has moved away from the party they seem to have gone to different organisations also. Some helped in working with genuine anti-imperialist groups, others are searching for a new home and there is even talk of the creation of a new Communist Party, but overall The Comrades are certainly in crisis.

The same old, same old.

An old Communist who was once in the British and Irish parties was of the opinion that the Irish Communist Party did not follow the principles of Marx and Engels, but did follow the practice of a Australian native bird. It flies in ever decreasing circles to the highest point in the sky where it cannot be seen any more and rumour has it that disappears up its own ass-hole. He said that over 40 years ago and its appear that has always been the way - and still is.

⏭ Bill O'Brien is an independent republican.

The Comrades Are In Crisis

Bill O'BrienThe crisis in the Communist Party of Ireland has become more acute and personal in recent months. 

Ireland was always in a desperate need for a proper Communist Party and what has gone over the years for a Communist Party has been a grave disappointment and a shame on communism in general. In recent months the crises has dramatically deteriorated and it's important for people to look at what its all about, what it stands for and who the personalities are.

The history

As pointed out in a recent issue of Socialist Voice (number 201, Magazine of the Communist Party of Ireland) the party was founded in 1921. This is a fact but what they don't tell us is that it was dissolved within a very sort time of its coming into existence. The reason being that the Communist Party of Great Britain deliberately misinterpreted the instruction that came from Moscow, and the general secretary of the British party told the Irish Party they were to dissolve. This was a lie and took decades to discover. The author Liam O'Flaherty and the son of James Connolly, Rory Connolly dissolved the party. This was the beginning of a bad history between the British communists and the Irish communists

There were lots of Communist who were around at the time, like Sean McLaughlin who Connolly handed over his command to in the last days of the rising, that refused to join the Communist Party of Britain, (even though some were living in Britain at the time) because of their jingoistic anti-Irish attitude that prevails within that party, at the time and still does up to this day. 

Many British communists among themselves also refused to join the party, or were expelled from the party because they were pushing an anti-imperialist line which was regarded as ultra leftist by the leadership of the British Communist Party. People like the Scottish Socialist John Maclean and the feminist socialist Sylvia Pankhurst come to mind. Of course the Communist Party of Britain will give different reasons as to why there were neither not allowed into the party or expelled. 

The Communist Party Of Ireland was resurrected again in the 1930s on an all Ireland basis. But at the invasion of Russia in 1941 it split again, on the friendly and mutual basis, with a view of how best it could help the Soviet Union. In the Free State, as it was called then, it became known as The Irish Workers Party and in the six counties became the Communist Party of Northern Ireland. During the time the party in the six counties built a base among the unionist population. All of this is a contributory factor to their current difficulties

What is the current situation?

The party appears to have split at least three different ways, Belfast and Cork went in one direction Dublin in another, and the youth movement disassociated themselves from the Communist Party of Ireland earlier this year. This was dealt with in an article presented to The Pensive Quill some months ago. In Belfast there appears to be two entities claiming that they are the Communist Party: the Communist Party of Ireland Greater Belfast Branch is one and the CPI Belfast branch is another. CPI Belfast branch is made up of people who are dual members of the Communist Party of Ireland and at the same time members of the Communist Party of Britain. The Dublin branch members who are based mainly around the general secretary and refer to the Belfast people (behind the backs of course) as the King Billy communists. But they are Red Unionists at the end of the day.

The Communists in general have marginal influence within the left in Ireland. They can claim influences in particular trade unions, mainly Unite, though in recent months Unite has been exposed as a union that supports imperialism in Ireland in more ways than one. The first one being one of its members boasted about saving in the British Army in Ireland in recent years and how wonderful and beneficial it was for him - it made him a better member of Unite after he left the army. This caused serious problems for their Unite in the Community project. The second was when one of the candidates for the general secretary's ship of Unite boasted about getting an arms deal and saving the aircraft industry in Belfast. That industry is making unmanned Aircraft for the Royal British Air Force.

The Red Unionists in Belfast appear to be holding onto the property and the newspaper, Unity, which is now produced online and cannot be bought in Connolly Books in Dublin. It's hard to know who has the property in Cork. Needless to say time will clarify that point.

They are running the campaign to have the Industrial Relations Act 1990 repealed. It is going on for some years now, doesn't seem to be getting very much traction. They did manage to have a resolution pasted at the recent Congress of the ICTU this year, but that in itself will have limited effect. They same not to either have the organisation or guts to fight it on the streets, which is the only place it is going to be won.

Overall

Overall this appears to be an amicable divorce. Apart from Twitter and Facebook accounts there has been no serious outbursts of animosity yet. The Dublin group under the general secretary appear to be holding on to all the international contexts. The Communist Party of Ireland always boasted that it was the smallest party in Ireland, but the biggest party globally, which they can not say now since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But that doesn't stop them from going on with the illusion. Since the Youth group has moved away from the party they seem to have gone to different organisations also. Some helped in working with genuine anti-imperialist groups, others are searching for a new home and there is even talk of the creation of a new Communist Party, but overall The Comrades are certainly in crisis.

The same old, same old.

An old Communist who was once in the British and Irish parties was of the opinion that the Irish Communist Party did not follow the principles of Marx and Engels, but did follow the practice of a Australian native bird. It flies in ever decreasing circles to the highest point in the sky where it cannot be seen any more and rumour has it that disappears up its own ass-hole. He said that over 40 years ago and its appear that has always been the way - and still is.

⏭ Bill O'Brien is an independent republican.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the window Bill on a fractious little world. All seems like something lifted from the schismatic world of the religious sects.
    I found the CPI in Belfast limited in its range but good at what it did. I could always get things done with them in a way that wasn't possible with the Trotskyist groups which had much more ambitious projects. I found the Communists to be efficient organisers with an eye for detail. They knew how to keep a meeting in line without letting it wander down the road right back to 1917.
    Central Committees and dictators of the proletariat are not for me.

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  2. Cheers for the information there comrades. Was not aware of the shenanigans about the initial formation and dissolution but it does chime with a very early method of operation that unfortunately applied to many Communist Parties. Glad to see our John MacLean mentioned. His principled opposition to the Communist Party of Great Britain can be found for those who want to see it but yon point about history being written by the victors is appropriate here too. The BBC had a program on about the new towns in Scotland and Che Guevara was mentioned in the context of a new town in Fife - Glenrothes. The CPGB was very big in Fife, based on the many mines. William Gallagher was the West Fife CPGB MP until 1950. Gallagher was the main source of the smear agin MacLean that he was unbalanced, which led to his cruel political isolation in any CPGB dominated accounts of his life. MacLean called Gallagher 'Lenin's gramophone.' and suffered for his refusal to sublimate Scottish politics to the Moscow line. We could discuss what that line was but I would say that - and contrary to Lenin himself - all the new CPs who were prepared to accommodate comfortably with social democracy/ Labour Parties/ Socialist Parties used Lenin and his revolutionary authority to justify that accomodation. In the decades that followed those CPs while being home to many genuine revolutionaries, got more and more comfy in the trade union and labour movement circles to the fatal detriment of the working class. In Lenin's words 'opportunism' had triumphed in those parties. Che himself always refused to join Latin American CP's on similar grounds and the role of the CP in Cuba was certainly not one of leadership. This period in history cannot be covered in short comments but in regard to Ireland the British CP was absolutely roasted by the Communist International for its failure to build solidarity with Ireland's liberation struggle. It was down to John MacLean and his wee band of comrades to call for Hands Off Ireland. See my material on John MacLean https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=001708632083434152746:wm8pm41cpz8&q=https://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/britain/scotland/1972-john-maclean-part-i-battlepost-of-the-poor-frfi-146-dec-1998-1999&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiqhM7bl8_0AhUN2BoKHW5QDjAQFnoECAEQAg&usg=AOvVaw24XBV4FtU9iZXejOMKjOeQ

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