No coalition with Fine Gael, Fight austerity. Fight for Socialist policies

IRELAND: Friday’s election saw Labour gain the most
votes and seats in its history. But Fine Gael came out as the largest
party. Eamon Gilmore and Enda Kenny have established negotiating teams
to prepare the way for a coalition government. While Labour’s leaders
have given the negotiations the go ahead any final decision must be made
by the party conference which meets on Sunday. Fightback is wholly
opposed to such a deal. We will be arguing at the conference that
coalition or a "national government" as it would be, will tie Labour
hand and foot to a right wing austerity programme. Here is the text of
our leaflet, which we will be distributing on the day. If you would like
a PDF copy of the leaflet to distribute in your Party branch or Labour
Youth Group contact us at
ireland@marxist.com

Labour’s special conference this Sunday
will have an important decision to make. Should party members support
the much touted call for Labour to enter a coalition with Fine Gael, or
instead take a principled stand against the austerity measures which
will doubtless be at the top of Enda Kenny’s programme for government?

The rout of Fianna Fáil
in the elections saw Labour’s vote double and big gains in the number
of TD’s. But we think that it would be wrong for the party to
become”giddy with success”. While coalition might seem like the easiest
option; the line of least resistance, the question has to be asked; How
will coalition with Fine Gael improve the situation of workers and their
families?

The policy differences between Labour and Fine Gael
have become if anything more pronounced over the course of the last few
months. Enda Kenny might make a few minor concessions to Labour in
initial discussions, but the battle lines have already been drawn in the
state. The EU/IMF bailout, the recent Finance Act and the Croke Park
Deal represent Irish Capitalism’s response to the worst economic crisis
in the history of the state. While Kenny might negotiate a marginally
lower interest rate, his programme for government won’t differ
qualitatively from that of FF.

It should also be noted that whatever Enda Kenny
proposes in terms of concessions to Labour the fact is that the economic
crisis and now the policies of the EU and IMF will be decisive over the
next period. A fine Gael led government will be a government of crisis,
whether or not Labour is in coalition with FG. The bourgeois is acutely aware of this.

Sections of the Party leadership and some trade
union leaders have argued that a coalition government would protect
workers and Jack O’Connor has said that. "A balanced government with a
Labour input will help to protect and create jobs, social welfare levels
and public services."

But if that was the case surely the policy of
“social partnership” pursued by the unions would have protected working
people? The reality is that on the basis of thecurrent economic crisis
the ruling class have no alternative but to attack working people if
they are going to preserve their profits. At every turn of the
negotiations between the government and the unions over the past period
the “social partnership” broke down. Any “programme for government”
agreed by Eamon Gilmore and Enda Kenny will have more holes in it than a
sieve.

But isn’t coalition “in the national interest”? The
truth is that Labour would become a hostage to the programme of Fine
Gael. Enda Kenny will rule in the “national interest” of the Irish
Bourgeoisie and their masters in New York, London and the EU/IMF. The
interest of working people is directly opposed to austerity measures,
emigration, unemployment, wage cuts and 30,000 job cuts in the public
sector. James Connolly summed up the situation in “The Irish Worker” in 1915 when he said “Yes, friends, governments in capitalist society are but committees of the rich to manage the affairs of the capitalist class.” The
only way to represent the interests of working people today is to break
decisively with the policies of capitalist austerity and fight for a
socialist programme.The experience of the coalition in Britain between
the Tories and the Lib Dems has been that the so called “radicals” among
the Lib Dems have made no impact whatsoever. The Tories have introduced
swingeing cuts which will have a catastrophic effect on working people
as they work through. The Lib Dems have supported them and have suffered
the consequences. They have been the ones to take the blame. Make no
bones about it, the FG leaders will be more than willing to hand over
the most exposed ministries to the Labour Party. Labour ministers will
be put in charge of all the “social” ministries, the very ministries
that will take the brunt of the cuts.

Coalition would sow huge divisions within the
party. Labour has always come under pressure from the bosses, but
fundamentally the party rests on the support of working class people.
Under the present economic and political conditions in the state that
pressure will grow massively. If the party associates itself with Fine
Gael austerity it would haemorrhage support. The Party will come into
conflict with the unions and would become riven with splits reflecting
the different class pressures upon it. The experience of past coalitions
is clear; without a fundamental break with right wing bourgeois ideas
Labour will become a hostage to them.

Labour has a clear choice to make; tail end Fine
Gael’s right wing programme and get the blame for the austerity
measures, or take a principled stand and reject the austerity programme.
Labour has won 37 seats; the party would become the biggest opposition
party if we chose to reject coalition. But to become an effective
opposition Labour needs a clear programme. Eamon Gilmore has vacillated
and prevaricated over the big issues. Instead of fighting the cuts for
example Labour’s position has been to seek to appear “reasonable” to the
bond markets and the speculators. Labour needs to take a clear position
on the question of nationalising the banks and in relation to the debts
generated by the property speculators.

Labour needs to lead a struggle against austerity both in the Dáil
and among the working class. A clear programme would demand no more
cuts. Workers shouldn’t be made to pay for the bosses’ crisis. We need
the nationalisation of the banks and big industry under workers control
and management. Labour should demand an end to house repossessions and
the nationalisation of any company making redundancies. Instead of
bailing out the speculators Labour should fight for a socialist plan of
production and a massive scheme of public works to mop up unemployment.

One thing is for sure, there is no solution to the problems of Irish workers and their families in coalition with Enda Kenny.