What are the political perspectives in Ireland?
The political situation in Ireland has undergone a striking transformation. For a long time, Ireland acted as a bridge between the US and Europe. But the world situation is now unravelling. The entire structure on which Irish capitalism has rested is under severe threat.
At the same time, there is a massive political vacuum. The political establishment and its institutions are deeply hated. Nine percent of people in the North of Ireland have no trust in any political party.
In the South, meanwhile, the two main parties are able to scrape barely a quarter of the eligible vote combined, and in the presidential election, they got just 11 percent!
The youth, meanwhile, are extremely open to new ideas and alternatives. There is no need to wait for a particular crisis. The time is now.
View this post on Instagram
We are finding way more people interested in communism than we could possibly recruit at this moment in time.
This means we are lagging behind. The objective conditions are way ahead of us, and we are rapidly trying to catch up!
We heard about your recent successes. How was this achieved? What did comrades work on to reach these milestones?
Honestly, there is no secret to it. What is the key to everything, as we often keep stressing, is Marxism.
We are the only ones who can correctly explain the Irish situation, the world situation, the Soviet Union, what imperialism is, what is happening in Palestine, and so on. Whoever decides to join our organisation does so because of our ideas.
Through understanding that we alone hold the key to understanding perspectives, we know that there is no other choice. No one else is going to build this organisation for us.
View this post on Instagram
How have you injected this purpose in every single comrade?
I remember when we had our first membership subs drive, in order to be able to afford our full-timer.
A comrade gave a lead-off at a Central Committee meeting, speaking about the need for a full-time revolutionary, who can dedicate themselves to leading the work. I remember how it gave me goosebumps. He put the whole organisation on a war footing.
Everyone thought: we simply need to raise this money. We can do this, and what an incredible thing it would be if we did. We would make history. It’s on this basis, feeling massively inspired, that in no time we achieved our target and, by now, have exceeded it.
One thing that is striking is the attitude of the Irish comrades, and the sense of urgency they have to build. Can you tell us more about that?
We say to everyone interested in joining that they need to have the desire to build the party. Your first action is to find someone to recruit. Think about your friends, your classmates, your family – whoever you can think of – and see if you can win one of them to revolutionary communism.
From this understanding flows everything. To build, we need finances, well-organised and well-attended branches, and a constant search for new potential recruits. It also means raising your level of political understanding, to help lead the organisation.
View this post on Instagram
Let’s turn to the future. Building on these significant successes, what are the next steps forward?
Now that we have achieved two full-timers and an office, we want to reach 100 comrades by our Congress in April.
Once we hit 100, we are considering a third full-timer. Either way, even if we hit 95 by the Congress, I’m still popping that champagne bottle!
The excitement about what lies ahead is unmistakable.
We want to tie ourselves into the knot of history, to place ourselves on that long thread running from Ted Grant back to James Connolly. We are proud that we are approaching the 200 members that James Connolly once had – and just look at the history they wrote!
