Features
What place do elections have within socialist strategy? Does the restrictive nature of democracy under capitalism—intentionally stacked in favour of wealthy elites—mean the ballot is of little use for the workers movement or, conversely, that socialists should settle for what they can get from the lesser of two
Features
On International Women’s Day, Emma Hendrick argues while we certainly need more women in political office, it’s even more important to have women that put working class and marginalised women’s needs at the centre of their activity. International Women’s Day was born from women’s demands
Features
Cailín McCaffery looks at the radical history of International Women’s Day, arguing that the day and all it holds remains critical in the fight for real liberation. “We were born into an unjust system; we are not prepared to grow old in it.” – Bernadette Devlin This past year has
Covid-19
Ireland was one of the most unequal societies in Europe when the pandemic began. A year later, Brian O’Boyle highlights how the Irish government’s response has widened those inequalities, and it is only through workers organising that these trends can be reversed. The crisis associated with Covid 19
Ecosocialism
Ecosocialist groups are currently debating whether growth or degrowth is the appropriate demand for the movement. In this first part of a two article series, John Molyneux explores the concept of growth. Throughout most of the existence of the labour and socialist movement the dominant position has been to favour
Features
Sipho Sibanda is a human rights activist who has lived in Belfast since 2015 and specifically focuses on the rights of people seeking refuge in Northern Ireland. In June 2020, Sipho was one of the speakers at a Black Lives Matter protest in Belfast which galvanised thousands of people to
Features
In part two, as support for Sinn Féin from the Irish working-class rises, Kieran Allen examines different historical opportunities of socialists forming, or not forming, left governments and the lessons for socialists in Ireland today. Part one of this series can be read here. One of the main tasks
Features
In this two-part series, Kieran Allen looks at how revolutionaries and socialists should approach the prospect of a Left Government. In this first part, he lays out the role of socialists in Parliament as well as what constitutes a genuine left government. Socialism has not come from parliamentary legislation
Features
Below is an abridged and edited extract from Kieran McNulty’s article, War and the Working-class in Kerry 1919-1921 published in Saothar, Vol. 45, 2020, (Irish Labour History Society). The high prices during the First World War, followed by the economic depression in Ireland, led at the turn
Covid-19
The race for a vaccine has highlighted the divide between the world’s richest and poorest nations. Finbar Lynch argues for a not-for-profit People’s Vaccine through a suspension of intellectual property rights in order to tackle the pandemic at a global level. “The doctrine that in time
Covid-19
A year on from an historic election, where Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael could only muster 44% of the vote between them, Bríd Smith TD looks back at some of the crises the coalition government has staggered through, highlighting the hope embodied in the Debenhams struggle and the Black Lives
Features
In November the Minister for Communities announced plans to reclassify the Northern Ireland Housing Executive as a housing ‘mutual’. Housing activist Glyn Robbins explores the record of mutuals in Britain, arguing that this reclassification amounts to a privatisation that will make matters worse. Soon after being elected in 1997, Tony