Easter Message from the leadership of the Republican Socialist Movement 2014 Delivered at Milltown Cemetery by Eoin Campbell, IRSP Comrades, today we gather to remember and salute the memory of our comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of a 32 County workers republic. We remember with pride our comrades, the volunteers of the Irish National Liberation Army and the political activists of the Irish Republican Socialist Party who lie buried in this plot and in similar plots across Ireland. Without the courage and bravery of those who went before us, the integrity of our political struggle would have long ago been compromised by pretenders to our political philosophy. Republican Socialism was always a separate political identity from the wider republican struggle, and our movement has always espoused a distinct political outlook. This is what attracted activists of the calibre of Costello, Power, Daly, OHara and Gallagher and many more hundreds of men and women from across Ireland to the ranks of the Republican Socialist Movement. When they had a choice they chose the RSM over the Provisional version of republicanism. Within those who founded our movement were the brightest and bravest volunteers of their generation and they had the potential to affect revolutionary change in Ireland. Sadly attacks on our movement from state and non-state forces stifled that potential from the very beginning. Our task as we stand here to remember our fallen comrades is to rededicate ourselves to the political ideals for which they gave their lives. To again rebuild a movement that can and will fulfill that potential to build revolution in Ireland. Whilst we remember the men and women from the latest phase of the conflict, those who we knew personally as friends and as comrades, we remain mindful that Easter is the time of year when we commemorate those who went out during that week in 1916 in order to overthrow the British administration in Ireland. It is a time when we analyse the current state of the Irish republican struggle and its ability to confront the forces of British and international imperialism in Ireland. We also use this somber time to review how we as the Irish republican socialist movement continue to prosecute revolutionary struggle in Ireland. The men and women of Easter week 1916 tilled the land of the nation and sowed the seeds of working class resurrection in Ireland, from that fateful week Irish republicans have striven to drive the British from our shores, we have yet to realize the aims and goals of the 1916 proclamation. That is the unfulfilled potential which I mentioned earlier, the revolution that has yet to happen in Ireland. The hundredth anniversary of the Rising is fast approaching and there is talk members of the British aristocracy participating in commemorative events here in Ireland. This will go against all that the republican people have fought against for hundreds of years. Likewise the recent event in Windsor Castle in England where a so-called leader of Irish republicanism raised a glass to salute the British monarch, whilst Ireland remains occupied, is the antithesis of anything resembling republicanism. No principled republican would ever countenance saluting any monarch and what makes this situation even more perverse is that Sinn Fein are attempting to tell the republican people of Ireland that this is a step on the road to the republic, nothing could be further from the truth.This is simply normalising the current political situation in Ireland which is far from normal. Republicans need to get back to revolutionary struggle. A real struggle of the people and a struggle which will not be fought within the confines of Windsor Castle or other British grand houses. Likewise mimicking the British aristocracy by dressing in their clothes and taking part in their antiquated customs will not bring us one inch closer to the republic for which so many of our friends and comrades gave their lives. We in the Republican Socialist Movement will not be taken in by this charade as we see it for what it is. It is anti-republican and attempts to take us further from the republic. The toasting of the British queen by Martin McGuinness was not done in the name of Irish republicanism. It is necessary that as we remember our brave comrades that we learn from history and attempt to build towards revolution, we need to learn from mistakes of the past and build on solid political foundations that will provide the strong basis for political change in Ireland. We have been doing that. For the past three years the Irish Republican Socialist Party has undergone great change and development. This is part of the continuing struggle for socialism in Ireland for without the primacy of politics for which many of our comrades died the struggle would have little to no chance of ever achieving success. The primacy of politics as envisaged by our fallen comrade Ta Power is what drives the entire Republican Socialist Movement. The political forces of the cultural and economic right are fighting the class war with every weapon they have at their disposal. Internationally imperialist powers are carving up the world’s resources and manipulating borders in a manner not seen since the 19th century and all in the interests of global capitalism. The living standards of the European working class are being driven down by so called austerity measures. The rich and the powerful are turning the crisis in the capitalist financial system into a crisis in public spending bailing out the financial terrorists of the 1% whist criminalising the poor and the working class. Ireland is as occupied as it ever was. British imperialism still physically occupies the six counties pushing a right wing economic agenda that is creating a surge in unemployment, underemployment, deprivation and poverty. The 26 counties are no different. The IMF/ECB/EU troika controls the Irish puppet state dictating budgets and encouraging the privatisation of all the means of production, distribution, exchange and natural resources. The forces capitalism has drawn up against the Irish working class are immense comrades. They are using their vast wealth and influence to crush any and all opposition to their plans of domination. But Republican Socialists have never been known to shy away from a fight. Our strength in battle comes from the empowerment of our class by our revolutionary Republican Socialist ideology. Being of the working class means making Republican Socialism relevant in your community and I say here today comrades if you are not playing a positive role within your community you are not a Republican Socialist. IRSP members and indeed other members of the wider left republican family in Ireland need to become leaders within the working class movements. We need to espouse our revolutionary politics of working class empowerment in our trade unions, our community groups and our residents associations. Comrades it is only by becoming off the people that we can act in their interests. Comrades we stand here today commemorating all those Irish revolutionaries who paid the ultimate price for their aspirations of freedom. From the brave men and women of 1798 to the brave men and women of the Irish National Liberation Army they are all equal in sacrifice. What is fitting of the occasion in which we remember our fallen is that it takes place on the anniversary of one of the greatest broad front actions in Irish history. The 1916 Easter Rising. A time when the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Republican Brotherhood the Irish Citizens Army and Cumann na hBann came together in a broad front to fight against British imperialism. Seamus Costello talked of anti-imperialist unity in a broad front in 1974. And the IRSP in 2014 still espouse the ideal. What needs to be done comrades on this the 40th anniversary of our movements foundation is the redefining of Costello’s anti imperialist broad front. The contemporary broad front will be made up of trade unions, community groups and all Irish anti imperialist political forces. This is what we have to strive for when we leave this grave yard today. Let the fight go on!
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 10:37:28 +0000
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