We are proud to announce the launch of communism.ie – the official website of the Revolutionary Communists of Ireland! We stand for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and fight for a Socialist United Ireland, as part of the struggle for the world proletariat revolution. If you agree with our programme, then join us in the fight for communism!
Capitalist Ireland is facing an existential crisis. As a country that has for centuries been at the rough end of imperialist domination, Ireland has been severely shaken by the terminal crisis of world capitalism.
Sixteen years since the 2008 crash that brought the Celtic Tiger to a grounding halt, none of the problems facing workers and youth have been solved. The housing crisis is spiralling out of control, with record homelessness figures and as much as 70 percent of young adults permanently cut out of the renting market. The healthcare system is on the brink of collapse, with 20 percent of the population on waiting lists. Schools are overcrowded and understaffed. There's hardly a single branch of the state's infrastructure that is not on the point of collapse, suffering from chronic underinvestment and the permanent threat of further cuts.
On the back of the terminal crisis of British capitalism, and the self-inflicted wound of Brexit, the national question has come back with force in the North. Sectarian riots broke out in 2021, and the risk of further violence is a sword of Damocles hanging over the region.
Massive anger is bubbling beneath the surface in society. Hundreds of thousands are sick to the stomach of the status quo. The institutions of capitalist Ireland are being discredited, one after the other. The political authority of the Catholic Church has all but disappeared. The two-party system in the South is collapsing, and an unprecedented Nationalist First Minister has just been sworn in in the North. The war on Gaza has starkly exposed the Irish ruling class’ hypocrisy and subservience to world imperialism – and pushed tens of thousands to march through Dublin on a regular basis.
The labour movement has also begun to stir from its slumber with several strike actions and occupations taking place, crowned by the public sector workers’ strike in the North this January. This was the largest cross-community strike to take place in the Six Counties for the last 92 years.
It is against this backdrop of deep crisis and growing class anger that we founded the Revolutionary Communists of Ireland / Image: Revolutionary Communists of Ireland
But the trade union bureaucracy is doing all it can to hold back the working class, and redirect its anger through safe channels. On the other hand, having previously adopted left-reformist rhetoric, Sinn Féin is now betraying all the promises they have made since getting close to power in 2020. They are bending backwards to reassure the imperialists and the big capitalists that they can be a safe pair of hands – haemorrhaging support as a result. It is in filling this vacuum that the far-right has seen something of a modest growth in the last year, and the enormous anger found an outlet in a heavily distorted form in the Dublin riots.
It is against this backdrop of deep crisis and growing class anger that we founded the Revolutionary Communists of Ireland in April.
All of the crises facing Irish workers today have a common cause in the capitalist system, they therefore share a common solution. Only communism can sweep away all the ills of capitalist society and the scar of partition left by imperialism on our country.
What the Irish working class needs first and foremost is revolutionary leadership. The urgent task of communists is to organise the most advanced layers of workers and youth and connect them with the most advanced ideas, the ideas of Marxism.
The launch of our new website – an outstanding collective achievement of all the members of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) in Ireland – is aimed precisely at equipping us with yet another sharp weapon in our Marxist arsenal. Communism.ie will strive to provide the Irish workers and youth with the sharpest Marxist analysis of events in Ireland as they unfold. It will be the voice of the Revolutionary Communists of Ireland, and carry reports from the frontline of the struggle. It will draw lessons from the immense wealth of inspiring revolutionary traditions of the Irish masses in their struggle against imperialism.
For the revolutionary events that impend, it is necessary to build a revolutionary party fit to lead the workers to victory. We are still a small organisation, but the IMT in Ireland is advancing quickly.
There are many ways you can support us today. Keep up to date with communism.ie and send us your feedback. You can get a subscription to our quarterly magazine here. Or can get in touch with us to send a one off or regular donation. Every cent and penny will go toward the building of a genuine Bolshevik organisation in Ireland.
But what we need most is communist fighters – workers and young people ready to dedicate themselves to the fight for revolution. We have nothing to lose, and a world to win!
As the great Marxist revolutionary, and martyr for the cause of the international proletariat, James Connolly once said “our demands most moderate are, we only want the Earth.” If you agree, then join the Revolutionary Communists of Ireland today!