First off, it’s a great privilege to be asked by a member of the Lynagh family to speak here today. In fact it’s a great honour.
Secondly, I want to express our total solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist the Zionist and imperialist genocide against them. Victory To The Palestinian Resistance And The Palestinian People. !!!!
For now, close on 900 years, the Irish people, Too, have fought the British occupation of Ireland, in every and any way they could.
Vol Jim Lynagh, who we are honouring, again, here today, was one of those, guerilla soldiers, who fought and died in the resistance, in the latest period of struggle, against the continued occupation of the six North Eastern counties of this island, and indeed their on-going influence in the 26 county state.
He, like hundreds of other volunteers, gave their lives in the resistance against the British, against their colonialism, and against their ruthless imperialism.
Hundreds of thousands went through interrogation centres and the imperialist jails, and hundreds of thousands were or still are affected in some way or other, by that 30 year war.
If Jim were standing here today he might well ask: What Happened Comrades? What happened? How did we arrive here? And what are we going to do about it? And from what many of us knew of him, that is, conceivably, what he would propose. He was clearly a man of action.
Like Jim, all IRA volunteers fought and died, went to the jails and suffered along with their families for a 32 County Socialist Ireland - and nothing less. And that 32 county Socialist Republic, is clearly enshrined, under Article 3.2 of the IRA constitution. It’s a public document now, and there for all to read. Let's not forget that !! Many try to hide it and ignore it. It was also clearly outlined in the 1919 Democratic Programme of the First Dáil, that we are guided by, as Socialist Republicans. So, when we speak of these martyred soldiers and honour them, we need to be clear in our thinking and language - what they stood for and we need to understand what that means in practice, and what it means for our continuing struggle.
We cannot allow counter-revolutionaries, anywhere, to dilute or dismiss the reality of what that 30 year war was about; a Socialist Republic, and it was Not about reformism Or the infamous Michael Collins, 'stepping stone to the Republic' mantra.
They did not die for a liberalist notion of equality, reform or revisionism. They did not die for an Irish language act and they certainly did not die for a shared or agreed Ireland, to be still ruled by the powerful and wealthy, at the expense of the majority in Ireland, the poor and working poor. That's Not what it says in the army constitution Or the 1919 Democratic Programme of the First Dáil, or the Fenian or 1916 Proclamations either.
Comrades, as Socialist Republicans, the Only way that we can honour All our patriot dead, is to continue the work, that they fought and died for. And that work, is to begin to build, begin to build now, with the people on the ground, for that Socialist Republic. It is our duty to begin to build in every area and within our communities in every part of Ireland, North, South, East and West.
We also need to be mindful that the ordinary person in the street or townland has little or no idea what Socialism or a Socialist Republic means. And that lack of knowledge, has been deliberately perpetuated by those in the world who want to retain their power and dominance over us. We are told that Socialism is a fantasy, a pipe dream, even! We are told it will not work and of course we are told that capitalism is the only thing that does work ! It certainly does work, but it presently works for the rich and powerful, the one or two percent of the population in Ireland and in most countries of the world.
But there is never a mention about the reality of 'corporate socialism' which is alive and well and working perfectly, for the powerful, the wealthy and the ruling class. The Socialism of multi billion pounds grants, the socialism of billions in tax concessions. So 'their socialism' works perfectly for the elite few. To end their power, we need to harness the ‘power of the people’, the majority, the working class in Ireland; to begin to build for the People's 32 County Socialist Republic.
That building process will have to be based on organizing local people's councils and assemblies, the decentralising of democracy pull power out of their institutions and into, our New Democracy. And that is, power from the bottom up, in every possible location on this island. There is no end to the social justice issues of: housing, health, education and All the issues that affect people's daily lives. That's how we widen our appeal and build our strength. We need to begin to actively hold power to account, expose its lies and ultimately, undermine their capitalist political and economic system. Through this work, we, in turn, educate, politicize and show the people that they Do have the power of change and the power to build for that new Socialist Ireland; despite the lies, we have all been fed. The strength of all of these various campaigns lies in them being stitched together, rather than taken as single issue campaigns. That knitting together, of campaigns, is what builds the foundations of the road, leading to the Socialist Republic. It also builds the ‘fuel of our resistance’. Power will Never surrender without a bloody battle, that’s a certainty.
And yes, as part of our Tactical strategies, we can and we should, exploit their parliaments, electorally, not in a clientelist way, adhering to, bourgeois democracy, Or Being Controlled By It. Electoralism, on its own, will never achieve our goals - never. But in combination with our local assemblies, where the real power will be - with the people, is an entirely different matter. That’s the basis of what radical and Revolutionary politics is about. Our struggle, cannot be corralled within the confines of capitalism and it's bourgeois parliamentary systems. We cannot be about perpetuating their system, we have to be about destroying it, because it has clearly failed us. If we are not about that, then we are fooling ourselves and worse than that, we are ignoring the, hundreds of years of the sacrifices and our Republican dead. If we, as Socialist Republicans, are Not about building for taking power in Ireland. all 32 counties of it, then, effectively, we are about nothing, nothing at all - end of: we’re deluding ourselves and deluding those around us too - its hot air we are talking about.
And why am I talking about this Radical and Revolutionary strategy? Well, lets think about it. After 30 years of the last phase of armed struggle, alone, and then the 1998 ‘pacification process’, sold to us as a ‘peace process’, lets ask ourselves this question: where is the Irish liberation project at now - Where is it at !!! . . . after centuries of struggle? Would Jim and his comrades be impressed? I doubt it very much.
We, Socialist Republicans, especially since the 1922 counter-revolution, have repeatedly conceded power to our enemies, at the end of every phase of struggle.we have allowed them to trick us, sell us pups, blind us with their bullshit and baffle us with their false brilliance. We have Never planned or built, for taking power. Are we terrified by that notion? How could that make any sense? And we will, in fact, we are Certain, to do it again, even by default, if we don't start to build the initial structures, to build, within our communities, for taking power, in Ireland. And also, to consolidate our work from the bottom up, for the building of, and Retaining of - retaining of - that’s vital - that Socialist Republic.
To finish, the starting point for all of this is for a core of Socialist Republican activists to begin a deeper dialogue among ourselves, around this whole strategic area of, radical and Revolutionary activism via the many social justice, political and economic issues, and how we might best make a start on that. Our activists and the people need to witness Socialism in action, on the ground, today.
But it must be emphasized, that our core activists have to fully understand it first and have purchase on the overall strategy; and why that strategy is necessary. It needs to be clear that the road to the Republic, is the 'road of an empowered people’. The Republic of James Connolly and many others like him.
Comrades, if we don't, start that dialogue, building and learning now, no matter how genuine or committed we are, we will never reach the prize of a Socialist, Workers or People's Republic, not ever. And we cannot allow another 30, 50 or 900 hundred years to pass and not achieve our liberation.
GRM
⏩Barry Murray is a socialist activist.
⏩Barry Murray is a socialist activist.
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