About us
Horizon aims to be a space for Irish Marxists to engage in open debate, critically examine our ideas, and collectively advance the struggle for socialism.
In June Kelly’s recent piece Islands of Struggle it is argued that unity on the Irish socialist left must be grounded in programme and open debate. I agree with this in principle, but the content of the programme is the most important matter. The article however underplays the role of the National Question, treating it as if it were one issue among many rather than the central test on which socialist politics in Ireland stands or falls.
Kelly writes:
‘Historically, the greatest obstacle to unity has been the National Question, and here, too, we need a political culture capable of decisive action. While people may hold opposing views, they must be able to unite in action.’
Unity won’t just come from good intentions. It must be grounded in a clear, shared recognition that the chains of national oppression must be broken as the primary task of the Irish working class.
Partition has always been the greatest barrier to working-class unity on this island. The British state carved up Ireland to maintain its domination, creating two puppet “states” North and South. Any socialist politics that does not start from the necessity of breaking this domination is condemned to failure.
Socialist unity can only be formed with those who accept this basic fact. The Socialist Party, which advocates a “Socialist Federation of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales,” cannot be part of any socialist organisation worth its salt. Their gas and water socialism, which treats reactionary Orangism as equivalent to Nationalism, has no place in our movement, even in a minority capacity. They are social-chauvinists dressed up in red.
Real internationalism can only be built on the basis of freedom. The Irish working class must fight for its own independent and socialist republic. Only from a position of national sovereignty can Irish workers reach out in genuine solidarity to comrades across “these islands”.
Marx put it best:
‘The English working class will never accomplish anything before it has got rid of Ireland. The lever must be applied in Ireland. That is why the Irish question is so important for the social movement in general.’1
Without national independence, the working class here cannot act as a united force on an international level. Political unity must come on the right basis. The foundation of that unity is the struggle for a sovereign 32-county workers’ republic. Only then can we speak seriously about building a united organisation.
If you want to get in contact with a a submission or a response to the above letter reach out at [email protected]