IRSP commemorate the 1916 Easter rising, Belfast.

[IrishWorker]

Several thousand members, supporters and spectators from all over Ireland and beyond, took part in the annual Irish Republican Socialist Movement’s Easter commemoration in Belfast today. Marchers assembled at Dunville Park at 11.30am and made their way in disciplined formation along the Falls Road towards Milltown Cemetery led an IRSM colour party, followed by a Republican flute band. En route to the Republican Socialist plot in Milltown Cemetery, the colour party stopped briefly to lower it’s flags outside the former Falls Road home of James Connolly, leader of the 1916 Rising and the ideological father of Irish Republican Socialism. In Milltown Cemetery, the IRSM colour party paused to pay it’s respects at the grave of INLA volunteer Patrick “Paddy Bo“ Campbell who was only 22 years of age when he was murdered by armed criminals in Dublin, on 10 October 1999.

At the IRSM plot comrade Gerard Murray of the IRSP in Belfast officiated as wreathes were laid on behalf of the many branches of the movement in Ireland, internationally and from fraternal organisations abroad. Comrade Gary Keenan of IRSP-Alba read the 1916 Proclamation. Comrade Eoghan McLaughlin of the RSYM read the address on behalf of the youth movement. IRSCNA comrade John Shook delivered the international speech. A member of the IRSM colour party read the Republican Socialist roll of honour.

The main oration was delivered by Cork IRSP comrade, Jason Nott, who re-affirmed the movement’s adherence to the Ta Power doctrine of the ‘Primacy of Politics’ and spoke of the steady advances made by the Irish Republican Socialist Party over this past year. The commemoration ended with the rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann by the Erin Go Bragh Flute Band from Scotland.

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[IrishWorker]

Below is the oration delivered by Jason Nott of the IRSP in Cork at the IRSP's annual Easter 1916 Commemoration in Belfast on Easter Sunday:


Comrades,

today we gather to remember and salute the memory of our comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of a 32 County democratic Irish republic. An Irish Republic based on the finest principles of socialism - freedom, equality and fraternity.

We remember with pride those volunteers of the Irish National Liberation Army and their comrades in the Irish Republican Socialist Party who lie buried in this plot and further afield.

Without their intellect, their courage and their bravery the integrity of republican socialism would have long ago been consigned to history, but I am proud to say we are still here following in their footsteps.

We also send fraternal greetings to all imprisoned republicans, our comrades in Portlaois and to the republican prisoners in Maghaberry who are on protest at this time. Especially in our thoughts is Marian Price, the victim of a vindictive British state, and we call for her immediate release
Easter is the time of year when we commemorate not only the political vision of the men and women of Easter week 1916, it is also the 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 sombre 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, 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.

It is necessary that as we remember our brave comrades that we learn from history and attempt to build our revolution on a solid political foundation that will arm us with the tools necessary. 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.

Whilst it is natural and correct at Easter time that our thoughts turn to fallen comrades and times past, it is also necessary that we plan and strategize for the future, if their lives are not to have been squandered on the altar of political expediency.

That brings us to where we are at today in the 21st century, a struggle that has been in the doldrums for nearly two decades as those who have signed up to the Good Friday Agreement pursue their partitionist agenda. The failure of other republicans to fully understand the nature of this failure adds to the political conundrum that we face today. As Irish Republican Socialists we fully understand the nature of that failure, ‘as the absence of war does not necessarily mean peace, the lack of political integrity cannot be covered up by the establishment of dysfunctional institutions such as Stormont and the Dail.’

Seamus Costello set out his plans for a socialist republic, his vision of a revolutionary working class political party, the Irish Republican Socialist Party. We are the genuine inheritors of the mantle of Connolly, Mellows and Costello and whilst we are humble as we don the mantle that has been handed down to us we take on the responsibility with determination, resolute that the IRSP will continue to develop our politics and strategies that can lead us to victory.

The IRSP have studied the past and learned from it. We’ve seen our weaknesses and our faults but these are far outnumbered by our strengths and successes. We’ve re-organized and are building. We are building a formidable political organization that is led entirely by the ideals of the men and women who we today gather to remember.

In the past year the IRSP has built on our working class base and felt confident to enter a number of candidates in local council elections in the north and to work with the others in the south, our intervention into electoral politics is not a sign of our acceptance in any way, shape or form of the continuing British occupation of the six counties, it is however a clear message from the republican socialist movement that we are no longer prepared to let our political message be marginalized or ignored. Across Ireland IRSP electoral intervention demonstrated that the IRSP have a credible working class message that we will continue propagate.

The leadership of the Republican socialist movement takes this opportunity to address our membership across Ireland and further afield, our supporters and the Irish working class in its totality- now is not the time for recriminations about the past, now is not the time for hankering over lost opportunities in struggle. We must keep building the revolutionary struggle in Ireland and we will be at the forefront of that revolution.
As we approach the hundredth anniversary of the 1916 rising it is important that we recognize the vision and commitment of it’s leaders, it is important that we remember all those brave Irish Republicans who have lost their lives in struggle for an Irish Socialist republic in the intervening years. It is our solemn pledge to their memory and vision to pursue our aims with the same commitment and determination.

As Individual republican socialists often we experience isolation and a lack of confidence because we ultimately struggle against the monolith of global imperialism and it is difficult to understand how we as individuals can impact on the enormity that constitutes global imperialism.

Worry not Comrades, every one of us is a revolutionary, revolution is in our blood, every day that we engage in revolutionary activity, every day that we spread the gospel of discontent, whether it be in the Unions, in the Residents Associations, in the campaigning working class action groups, is a day that brings the overthrow of capitalism one day nearer, do not fear struggle, it is the very life blood that revolutions are built on and the Irish revolution is no different.

Comrades, New fields of working class struggles are opening up in front of us. The current successful campaign of mass non-payment of the Household Charge in the 26 counties is an example of such new struggles. The reaction to this campaign which has seen well over 1 Million households steadfastly refusing to pay an unjust tax is a sure sign that the mood among the Irish masses is not one of conformity. The Irish working class today, just as it was in the period after the 1916 Rising, is revealing itself as fertile ground for the cultivation of discontent and the only true protagonist capable of delivering revolutionary social change. Our own movement has been and will continue to place ourselves at the heart of such struggles. The IRSP will continue to play a role in raising class consciousness and constantly seek to identify and play our part in the emergence of such new fields of working class struggle.

It is important that we live a revolutionary life as part of a global revolution; all of us have our part to play on the road to victory. Every day that we spread the republican socialist message is one day closer to victory.

Today we remember and salute fallen comrades, as the sun sets on today’s commemoration let us rededicate ourselves to daily revolutionary activity one and all, in the mould of Connolly, Mellows and all our fallen,

Let the fight go on.

[IrishWorker]

Republican Socialist Youth Movement Easter Oration.


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Firstly it is an honour and a privilege to be asked to speak at the Republican Socialist Movements annual Easter commemoration representing the Republican Socialist Youth Movement.

We in the Republican Socialist Youth Movement send our solidarity and support to the staff and volunteers of the Irish National Liberation Army, the members of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and to our political prisoners on E4 landing, Portlaoise prison.

Also we would like to take this opportunity to send our solidarity to all political prisoners on protest in Maghaberry, we hope that the situation is resolved soon; the RSYM will continue our steadfast support for all Republican political prisoners and all our comrades internationally who find themselves incarcerated for their part in National Liberation struggles globally.

Comrades we are in the midst of an unprecedented attack on the living standards of the Irish working class. Native capitalism and foreign Imperialism has declared war on our class, the right wing juntas in Stormont, Westminster and Leinster house have launched a new and hard-line offensive in the class war. The Torys, the Fine Gael/Labour coalition and their cronies in the puppet regime in Stormont want to deal working class confidence and resistance a death blow, we say bring them on comrades.

The working class need to radically respond to these attacks, republicans and socialists need to step up to the plate and show leadership in this time of crisis. We should not shy away from confrontation with the forces of capitalism, we should agitate towards it. We must end the cycle of tepid reaction to this oppression, we must work towards bringing the critical mass onto the streets to smash capitalism and bring the pillars of the establishment tumbling down around the surflated fat cats in the native ruling class.

The physical tools of revolution are easily procured, but before we reach this stage again, we must use our ideological tools to build confidence within the working class of our abilities and foresight. We must convince the working class that within the ideology of Republican Socialism their freedom from oppression and a fair and equal society waits.

Comrades this is where our struggle is at in Easter 2012 and we should use occasions like today, when we remember those who fought and died on Easter week, when we remember our Republican Socialist fallen, to rededicate ourselves to the struggle and make the Republican Socialist Movement a catalyst for revolutionary change in Ireland.

[Avocado]

Tiocfaidh ár lá

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

8 April 2012
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America

Easter Statement 2012

On the 96th anniversary of the Easter Rising, the Irish Republican
Socialist Committees of North America send solidarity greetings to
our comrades and fellow members of the Irish Republican Socialist
Movement in the Irish Republican Socialist Party, Irish National
Liberation Army, Republican Socialist Youth Movement, and Teach na
Failte, along with all republican socialist prisoners of war
presently in Irish and British prisons.

On this day above all, we proudly remember all those who gave their
lives for an Irish Workers' Republic. Just as we salute the example
of James Connolly and his brave comrades in the Irish Citizen Army
who fought for national and class liberation in 1916, we also
remember those comrades in the IRSP and INLA who died so that the
working class party of Connolly and Seamus Costello could continue to
exist and continue the struggle for socialism. The political
independence of the working class is essential in the struggle to
build socialism.

It is therefore fitting that we also take the occasion of Easter 2012
to reaffirm our unwavering support for the leadership and program of
the IRSP. Our commitment to the struggle for national and working
class liberation in Ireland, and working class liberation worldwide,
is unbroken.

We are proud to be the North American section of the IRSM, building
solidarity as well as giving practical aid and support to the best of
our ability. We stand firm in the Republican Socialist tradition
begun by Connolly and continued today by the IRSP, a party whose
political analysis and leadership has never been as sorely needed as
now. The IRSP is the only organization within Irish anti-imperialism
that can both understand the line of march and lead by example.

Recent events have tragically confirmed Connolly's analyses. The new
fiscal treaty which has been prepared for Ireland will further
severely limit the nation's sovereignty. It will ensure that the
downward spiral in living standards continues without relent. In the
occupied six counties, the bosses assault on working people has gone
so far that the unemployed will now be denied their own homes and
forced to live in overcrowded accommodations. Those bourgeois
"republicans" who hijacked the anti-imperialist struggle insisted
that socialism had to wait. Reality has demonstrated again and again
that the struggle for independence cannot be divorced from the class
struggle without disastrous results.

Our struggle is not over. And our comrades who fought, struggled,
starved, and died for a free Ireland would accept nothing less than a
united and socialist Irish Republic in which the means of production,
exchange, and distribution are under the control of the working class
and its allies; a society that puts conscious human will in the
driver's seat, above the irrational chaos of the markets; and a
nation that cherishes all the children of the nation equally.

In the immortal words of James Connolly, "Our demands most modest
are, we only want the earth."

###

Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
[email protected]
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html

[IrishWorker]

Fantastic speech from our comrades in North America Danielle.