Left at the Crossroads

Socialism is dead and buried in Eastern Europe. However, many socialists would say that it was never alive there, that what in fact existed was 'State Capitalism'. They argue that we need socialism more today than we ever did.

They point to the fact that capitalism is destroying the earth's environment; wasting its natural resources on puerile consumer wants; treating animals with wanton cruelty; and slaughtering, raping, torturing and impoverishing fellow humans on every continent. They accuse capitalism of developing a system whereby millions of tons of food are stored indefinitely at great expense, while millions are starving to death.

For the socialist, pure capitalism has no morality or conscience. It will destroy anything and everything that gets in its way. A capitalist sees no difference between selling guns or nappies, poison or medicine; the only thing that matters to the capitalist is profit.

Socialism, on the other hand, is based on a respect for all people. It believes in creating an environment within which the weak are given the opportunity to live dignified and full lives. It believes that the earth's resources should be shared in as equal a way as possible. Free education, free health care, old age pensions and unemployment assistance are examples of socialism at work. We live, therefore, in a part socialist/part capitalist society.

But can pure socialism work? Can society function without the profit motive? The nine groups below think it can. Their ideal socialist society would be one in which the wealth creators (i.e. the mass of the people) share equally in that wealth. They believe in power to the people; localised decision making; decentralisation wherever possible. They believe in a society where all feel empowered, where all co-operate for the betterment of all.

But if they believe all this, then the questions must be asked: Why have socialists had a history of often venomous rivalry? And is it not a disturbing contradiction for socialists to call on, for example, the workers within the warring factions of what was Yugoslavia to unite, when those advocating such unity are riven with division?

Very few of the people I interviewed for this feature saw a need for a united Left. Some did acknowledge that a divided Left weakens the cause of socialism. However, the majority seemed more concerned to push the interests of their particular organisation, than the overall interests of socialism. Phrases like "we have the correct political analysis, while everybody else is wrong", were common. And it often seemed that the groups were as keen to get a a dig in at the 'opposition', than in attacking the "real" enemy.

I have avoided printing most of these "digs" because doing so would have doubled the size of this article. They ranged from someone categorically informing me that another group didn't exist, even though I had met three members of that group an hour previously; from A telling me B weren't working class enough, and C telling me A weren't working class at all; from one group describing everyone one else on the left as "middle class student wankers"; from someone describing the more zealous socialists as "failed priests"; from D telling me that A were the same as B, when A had told me that they were most definitely not; to another describing the obsession every other group has with becoming the socialist party.

If such back-biting is meant to be humourous, then capitalism is surely laughing. However, anyone looking to the Left for a coherent strategy for a new socialist society can only feel perplexed. They will look at the definitions of socialism these groups have given and ask: "Aren't they all basically the same?" In essence, yes, all the definitions are similar. However, it must be said that fundamental differences do exist about how some of these groups wish to see a socialist society achieved in Ireland. (For example, between those who support/oppose the use of armed force by the IRA.) Nevertheless, many of the other differences seem more like the dotting of the i's and crossing of the t's of theory.

That is not to say that these organisations are concerned only with theory. Most are highly active on the ground: whether it be leafletting, selling their papers, postering, marching, picketing, fundraising or organising public meetings about the issues of the day. They have given substantial support to the Pat The Baker and Nolan Transport strikers; publicised health care and social welfare cuts; and made stands for the rights of Gays, Travellers and other minorities.

Their members show great idealism in a society which breeds apathy and hopelessness among the poor and disadvantaged. In a time when it is, to say the least, unfashionable to be known as a socialist, they have stood by their principles and visions.

All this good work has little impact on the wider society. Most of these groups are at best nits on the capitalist system. Perhaps a unified Left could make a real impact. However, although many of these organisations have joined forces to promote issues such as the Repeal The Eight Amendment campaign, permanent unity seems to be for workers of the world, not socialists. As one spokesperson did concede: "It's terrible to see at meetings where the small Leftist groups are always tearing into each other. I think it's maybe because left wing politics is over-dominated by a sort of narrow ideology. And they tend to pick out theoretical differences among themselves to debate on. Whereas the more Right wing parties are much more pragmatic . . .

"Working class people don't vote socialist in substantial numbers because they don't think the Left can do anything. They see socialist parties as being very factional, fighting among themselves; that they don't seem to have an ability to even manage themselves to any great extent. I think you need to have an ability as well as a theory."

• Militant Labour

"I would see socialism as a society where the majority control and produce the wealth. Instead of a situation like at present where you have a tiny minority controlling the wealth and deciding that the rest of us live in poverty." - Clare Daly

Militant are a Revolutionary Socialist Organisation, with approximately 250 members. They would see themselves in the tradition of the people who fought against Stalinism in the 1930s, tracing a direct lineage back to a group which was expelled out of the Labour Party during the 1940s. Their recent origins are to be found in the Civil Rights Movement in the North during the late 60s, their first paper having appeared in February 1972.

Militant are strongly opposed to the IRA because they believe that there can't be any solution to the Northern Conflict without the unity of the working classes - both North, South, in Britain and internationally - who would then en masse take on the capitalist system. They have a base, they say, among the Protestant working class and within the Northern unions.

"We believe that the pendulum is going to swing back in the direction of people seeing that capitalism is not able to solve any of the problems," spokesperson Emmett Farrell states. "Unfortunately, the leaders of Labour and Trade Union Movements, internationally and in Ireland, have been absolutely craven in support of the capitalist system being the only possible alternative. We believe that that will change and that these people will begin to argue for socialist policies or they will be removed. We intend to make sure that that happens."

To Militant, socialism involves local democracy, whereby decisions are made on a community basis. They feel that all elected representatives should get the average industrial wage, with necessary expenses. They also believe that there should be a full right to recall, in case a TD does not honour his/her election pledges. Along with this they would like to see rotation of duties. They have argued very strongly against the Social Partnerships, because of their "in bed" with capitalism approach.

Militant believe in socialism by peaceful means if possible but by force if necessary, citing the instance that should a socialist republic be set up, then it would have to defend itself against the capitalists.

"Militant Labour is the only organisation in Ireland - North and South - which has a tradition of struggle alongside working class people," Clare Daly states. "It is an organisation of working class people. In terms of the ideas, campaigns and issues we have taken up, we are second to none in offering advice and support. And we are not only based in Ireland. We have an international organisation which is second to none. Because we believe that people internationally have a common interest. And we believe that our organisation will help to unite those struggles."

Contact: PO Box 3434, Dublin 8. Tel: (01) 677 2686

• The Workers Party

"Socialism is the giving to each individual, from childhood on, an equal start to life, equal education opportunities . . . and it is the control of the economy so that there are jobs available for all." - Ann Finnegan.

The Workers Party traces its roots back to the formation of Sinn Féin in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. It broke with that party in 1970 because it wanted to follow a socialist rather than nationalist agenda. For a period it was known as Official Sinn Féin; then Sinn Féin - The Workers Party; then The Workers Party. Recently, it experienced a major split, with Democratic Left being formed, leaving The Workers Party without any Dáil representation.

"Successive government's vision for the country would appear to be to make the wealthy more wealthy and the poor poorer," Finnegan states. "That is the reality we are facing now. So, therefore, what we would take on is to educate people as to what's happening. We would let them know that the amount of GNP going to social welfare has been reduced for the last ten years. And this is deliberate government policy."

While having an objective of a United Socialist Ireland, The Workers Party are strongly opposed to the use of armed struggle in the North. Finnegan: "There is a danger - and it's not realised by a lot of parties and people who talk on the Northern Ireland issue - a danger, which we are aware of because we work in the North of Ireland, that the situation is going rapidly downhill and reaching civil war proportions. Peace is the major thing to be pushed, and anything that would get the two communities working together, that is what we would encourage. "

The Workers Party believe in building from where they are and making the political institutions more democratic and accountable to the people, rather than in seeking to create new institutions. They see a future socialist economy being run with a mixture of both public and private institutions. They do not support the capping of individual wealth or other such approaches.

Ann Finnegan believes that the Labour Party "constantly let down the principles they stand for." She is similarly disappointed with the Trade Unions. "I think the Unions should be in the forefront of promoting the idea of the right of everybody to a job. And I think in that respect they're falling down very much . . . I think the wages paid to the top union people are way, way out of line - £70,000 per annum is way out of line for a union leader."

Joining The Workers Party, "offers young people, especially, a vision of the future, as opposed and in contrast to what is offered by the major parties, who seem to have a very miserable future outlined. We have a vision of a country where people can work for something for a future here at home."

Contact: The Workers Party, 86 Parnell Street, Dublin 1. Tel: (01) 874 0716

• Sinn Féin

"Socialism is effective power by the people. Not just electing a representative for four or five years and then having no real control over it. We would envisage a participatory democracy, and maximum economic equality." - Seán Ó Mearthaile.

"The basic objective of Sinn Féin," Ó Mearthaile states, "is a Democratic Socialist Republic for all of Ireland. Within that we would envisage very strong decentralisation. And not just moving offices from Dublin out to Athlone or anything. But actually a bottom-up type of organisation, where the actual driving force is the local community. We would also envisage it being a secular country without organised religion having any formal role in the state at all.

"We believe that the people who are oppressed in the North do have the right to resort to arms to get rid of that oppression and military occupation. But once that has been achieved the role of armed struggle has ended completely. And from then on we would advocate only and purely political means of achieving a socialist Ireland. We would not see it as being imposed on the people in any shape or form. We do not believe in the dictatorship of the proletariat or any other sort of dictatorship."

Responding to the criticism that Sinn Féin's support for the IRA merely adds to the divisions within the working classes, Ó Mearthaile responds: "That was tried for fifty years and nothing happened. Unionism became more solidified. And it was a bit like the South African situation. You could say, for example, if you're going to have an armed struggle against apartheid, then you're going to alienate progressive whites. But just because progressive whites were against apartheid doesn't mean it was going to fall of its own accord. When people did try to struggle for equality in the 60s in the North, they were beaten off the streets. The IRA was born out of the fact that there was nothing to defend those people. And even if Sinn Féin condemned the IRA from the rooftops, they're not going to go away, because the people still believe that they need an army to defend them."

Sinn Féin believe that multinational capitalism has failed for the vast majority of people. They support the ideas of local co-operatives and the nationalising of the main financial institutions. "The capital which is draining out of the country every year should be fed back in for economic development. That's why there is this permanent dichotomy between the sound economic fundamentals of high growth, low inflation and so on, and still massive unemployment.

Ó Mearthaile believes that you should join Sinn Féin because it, "is the best vehicle to achieve a more progressive democratic and socialist Ireland. I'm not from any Republican background at all. I simply joined it because of what was happening on the streets; who was doing the organising on the streets; who was really promoting socialism in a practical way."

Contact: Sinn Féin, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. Tel: (01) 872 6932.

• Socialist Workers Movement

"Socialism means that the resources in society should come under the democratic control of the people who produce those things. It's really about working class people controlling society and the means of production in society." - Richard Boyd Barrett

Formed in the 1940's in Britain, and originally called the International Socialists, The Socialist Workers Movement (SWM) always opposed Stalinism, describing it as 'State capitalism'. The Irish SWM emerged in the early 1970's, and has presently around 200 members.

SWM see themselves as Revolutionary Socialists, with their main objective being a successful international workers revolution. "The state can never be reformed," Boyd Barret believes. "The state will always fight for the interests of capital. And therefore the state has to be smashed. We would argue that workers revolutions will happen. It's not something that we can decide upon or that we can engineer as socialists. The importance of having a political organisation is that most of the previous revolutions have been defeated precisely because there has been no coherent political ideas among the people who have been making the revolution. We would hope to win the leadership of the masses of people when they are making the revolution, to try and make that revolution successful.

"The basic thrust of our politics could be summed up in the phrase: 'socialism from below'. We believe that the way to change things is by involving the maximum number of people. The major difference between ourselves and every other group on the left is that they all argued, in one way or another, that what happened in Eastern Europe was a form of socialism; we completely disagreed. Our slogan has always been: 'Neither Washington nor Moscow, but international socialism'."

SWM urged for a vote for Sinn Féin in the 80's because "there was great resistance towards the State during that period and this resistance, for better or for worse, was being led by Sinn Féin, Boyd Barrett explains. "We felt tactically that it was better to put ourselves on the side of ordinary people fighting back. In other words, this was not an oath of loyalty to Sinn Féin and the IRA, but if you like was putting ourselves on the side of ordinary people. We dropped that policy because we believe that Sinn Féin has now become entrenched in the armed struggle, and is not interested in mobilising people on the streets and not relating to mass action."

"The world is in an absolute mess," Boyd Barrett says "Wars, famine, poverty are destroying the lives of millions of working class people around the world and there is a need for an alternative. The alternative that everyone else has offered is either what we have or what we had in Eastern Europe. We believe in a fundamentally different system based on working class people, their own creativity and imagination and their ability to fight collectively and we are the only people who represent that vision."

Contact: SWM, PO Box 1648, Dublin 8. Tel: (01) 872 2682.

• The Communist Party Of Ireland

"Socialism is an Ireland free, where the wealth is owned by the people for the people. An Ireland where people come first. Where the political life and economic life will be focused on that, rather than what we have at this moment of time, where economics is focused entirely on profit and the enrichment of a few individuals at the expense of the majority." - Eugene MacCartan

The Communist Party Of Ireland seek a socialist 32-county Ireland. "We have always believed in all means and manner of struggle to be used to achieve a political goal," MacCartan states. "We believe in parliamentary means; and extra-parliamentary means - but the key element in any sort of process is the involvement of people." However, they do not support the IRA campaign, because they see it as dividing the working class and entrenching British rule in the North.

While acknowledging a painful awakening about what took place in Eastern Europe and Russia, and being "horrified and shocked" by its excesses, MacCartan would argue that not everything that happened was wrong, that aspects such as full employment, free housing, education, health care and the policy of 'culture to the people' were positive results. He derides the opinion that capitalism will make Eastern Europe a better place for the majority of the people, stating that capitalism has always been for the rich.

MacCartan claims that The Communist Party has had a proud history in Ireland, standing for pluralism, divorce and contraception during the 50s and 60s, and thus suffering the coercion of the State and Church. He believes that you should join The Communist Party Of Ireland because, "Capitalism is an insane way to organise things . . . Wealth and society can only be run in one of two ways. It can be run in the interests of a tiny minority, which is the way things work now in Irish society. Or we can organise society whereby it's run in the interests of the majority of the people."

Contact: The Communist Party of Ireland, 43 Essex Street East, Dublin 2. Tel: (01) 671 1943

• Republican Sinn Féin

"Capitalism has mass poverty and extreme wealth and is unjust and state capitalism, on the other hand, limited people's freedom. We look to a third form of decentralised socialism, which would give people economic and political democracy." - Ruairí Óg Ó Brádaigh.

Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) split from Sinn Féin in 1986 because Sinn Féin dropped the abstentionist policy in relation to the Dáil. RSF saw this as a fundamental principle; that a recognition of the Dáil was in essence a recognition of the legality of partition, and by extension a recognition of Stormont and the House Of Parliament and their right to rule over Ireland. It thus sees itself as holding the true mantle of Irish republicanism.

RSF's objective is a Federal Democratic Socialist Republic. Ó Brádaigh: "A federal Ireland would be based on the four provinces, where a limited number of powers are maintained at the national level but the majority are devolved to four regional parliaments. Below that again there would be a District Council level, which would have substantial powers for job creation, health, education. We believe that any power which can be exercised at a lower level, should be exercised there. This would allow for variations between say the education curriculum between Belfast and Cork, Galway and Dublin."

As far as the IRA campaign is concerned, Ó Brádaigh explains that, "Our policy is that we support the right of the Irish people to take up arms to fight foreign occupation. We think that that is a right that any people have. Now, that doesn't imply support for any particular group, that's just a general statement."

"If you join Republican Sinn Féin," Ó Brádaigh states, "you'll be taking part in an organisation that aims to end the British presence in Ireland, which has divided Irish people for hundreds of years and which has blocked progress on political, economic and social fronts. And whether we like it or not, that is the major obstacle in the way of Ireland developing itself into a modern socialist democracy."

• Workers Solidarity - Anarchist Organisation

"We would say that anarchism is the real socialism. In that socialism is about social ownership; the production to satisfy people's needs, rather than the profit of a small minority." - Alan MacSimóin.

"What marks us out from the other groups on the Left," MacSimóin states, "is the emphasis we put on freedom. For us it's not an additional little bit of icing on the cake or something which can be dispensed with in allegedly difficult times. Freedom, to us, is integral to socialism. We don't think you can divide the two. We totally reject the Leninist tradition of Russia and Eastern Europe, which has been shown to have absolutely nothing to do with socialism. Police states have nothing at all in common with what we're promoting."

Anarchists do not believe in elections or in the Dáil, as MacSimóin points out. "We are against the division in society between rulers and ruled, so we're not going to choose people to rule over us. For us, democracy should be about people who are affected by a decision having the opportunity to take part in making that decision. Clearly, we don't have that at the moment.

"We don't want to take power. We see our role as being to create the mechanisms for everyone who wants to take power over their own lives. Which means we're working towards a situation of not electing a majority government or having a military coup d'etat. We want to see workers councils, genuine tenants and residents associations, taking the decision making down to the lowest possible level, and then federating it upwards, so that people can have their finger on the pulse as much as they want to. We look forward to the day when there is no longer a need for our organisation. All the others see their organisations as going on to the end of history."

Contact: Workers Solidarity, PO Box 1528, Dublin 8.

• Class War

"A socialist society is one organised from the ground up. People get what they need. Ordinary people organising society." - Class War spokesperson.

Class War were formed in the mid 80's, partly as a response to the miners' strike, and take a direct 'Bash the rich by all means necessary' approach. Their paper, Class War: Britain's Most Unruly Tabloid, is extreme in its humour, replacing Page 3 boobs, with pictures of bashed-in bobbies. One of the covers had Arnie and his gun and motorbike on it, with the heading, "RICH SCUM . . . WE'RE BACK FOR . . . YOUR JUDGEMENT DAY. IT'S VERY PERSONAL."

"We see ourselves as an organisation of workers who are willing to have a go at changing things," a spokesman for Irish Class War, which was formed February 1993, states. "The only people with an interest in changing things are the working class. We're the only ones who can change things. So we don't look to anybody to lead us. We look towards the struggles that workers find themselves in.

"We have no qualms about the use of violence. We look at it that working class people live with violence every day. They have everything just stolen from them. You only have to walk down a street late at night and you meet a copper and he's giving you grief.

"We want anybody who thinks things are crap and thinks yeah, I want to change it, as members. You can't change it on your own. I can't go out tomorrow and go, right, you rich people, you have had enough, you're not getting no more, give it back. They'd laugh at you. The only way you can do it is through strength. Why we organise is to make it easier to get our ideas across. The more of us there are, the louder we can shout."

Contact: Class War, PO Box 5, Derry, BT48 6PD.

• Red Action

"Socialism is the majority of people having the majority of power. It's anti-profit, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist." - Red Action spokesperson

British Red Action were set up in 1990, and are a break-away group from the Socialist Workers Movement. Irish Red Action is a semi-autonomous branch of the larger organisation.

Red Action are a direct action, revolutionary socialist organisation, who fully support the armed struggle in the North. "Loyalism is a supremacist ideology, like fascism," a spokesperson states. "It will never be broken until the British state stop backing it." However, they do not support Sinn Féin or the IRA per se, seeing Sinn Féin as a Leftist rather than socialist party. "Anyone that doesn't support a woman's right to choose couldn't classify themselves as socialist."

Red Action see themselves as strongly working class, believing that most other Left groups are middle-class controlled. They believe that Leninism lead to Stalinism, and that most capitalist systems will fall eventually. "One of our major slogans would be: 'For the Class, not the Party'."

"We are the only revolutionary working class party both here and in England. We believe in no platform for fascists. We oppose them both ideologically and physically. Which means, in actual fact, physically stopping them speaking. We can claim credit over here for stopping the embryo of a fascist movement.

"If you genuinely support the working class struggle and are willing to put yourself forward for the benefit of the class, as opposed to the benefit of yourself or your ego, we'd be more than interested in you. Because we expect so much commitment of our members, it's not an attractive sort of venture for adventurers. We find ourselves attracting hardened sort of socialists, who have been down the road and been disillusioned with other groups."

Contact: Red Action, PO Box 3355, Dublin 7