IRELAND: The four year plan has been announced, the
cuts have been declared and the working class, particularly the poorest
sections,
are in the firing line once again.
“Our freedom must be had at all hazards.
If the men of property will not help us they must fall; we will free ourselves
by the aid of that large and respectable class of the community – the men of no
property.”
Theobald Wolfe Tone
IRELAND: The four year plan has been announced, the
cuts have been declared and the working class, particularly the poorest sections,
are in the firing line once again. The minimum wage is to be cut by €1 per
hour. So the poorest workers will face an 11.5% pay cut. VAT which affects the
poorest far more than the rise will rise to 23%. The point at which workers
will begin to pay tax is to be cut by €3,000 to €15,300 which means
even more pain. There will be more pension cuts while the Corporation tax rate
remains just the same at 12.5%. But even despite this draconian attack on
working people the bond markets are still demanding their pound of flesh. The
bond markets are demanding 8.91% for a ten year bond tonight.
The full text of the plan is available
here: http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1124/plan.pdf
However the coalition seems to have backed
off from ditching the Croke Park Deal. Instead they are demanding full
implementation. This is very significant as it represents a statement of intent
that puts “reform” of the public sector on the table once again. The other
issue of course is the need to get the budget passed and no doubt the Fine Gael
leaders have their own plans as to how they might squeeze working people.
Another issue where the government appear to have backed off is over the
question of the old age pension, although work pensions will be savaged –
again. This reflects the turmoil inside FF where TDs have said they would vote
against the budget.
The attack on the public sector will also
include big job losses and a 10% pay cut for new entrants into public sector
jobs. This “two tier workforce” is a divisive policy designed to divide workers
as well as saving money. The unions must oppose this measure and fight for the
rate for the job. The plans outlined in the proposal are a recipe for an
intensification of class conflict within the state. But under the current
conditions it will be extremely difficult for the government to make any
headway in terms of imposing cuts and reorganisations in the public sector.
Many workers are enraged by the crisis which Cowen and Lenihan have walked
straight into. The government has no authority and no one especially themselves
imagine that they will be in a position to implement it.
Every step that the coalition has taken to
stabilise the situation, every cut, every “reform” will do nothing more than
further destabilise the situation. That is the lesson of the last two years and
indeed the current proposals will deliver precisely the same outcome.
Capitalism is in a deep impasse. The Capitalists and their representatives have
no solutions. They are to use Trotsky’s words from the 1930’s “tobogganing to
disaster with their eyes closed”.
The private sector worker, the public
sector, the youth, particularly the students – who face a 25% increase in fees,
the pensioners, the poor, all have been put on notice by the government’s
proposals. Under the current conditions it is likely that there will be a big
response. The trade union leaders have a huge responsibility to galvanise the
movement and organise a giant campaign to drive the coalition out of office.
The demonstration against the pension levy
in February 2009 brought up to 150,000 people on to the streets of Dublin drawn
from all sections of the working class and from the whole country. The new
stage in the crisis requires not only a demonstration on the same scale, but
also a mass campaign of industrial action to stop the so called reforms in
their tracks. The government has to go, but we don’t want more of the same from
Fine Gael with Labour presenting a soft face to workers while going along with
right wing policies. Labour must take the lead and demand an end to the
domination of the state by the banks and the speculators. As Wolfe Tone explained:
“Our freedom must be had at all hazards.
If the men of property will not help us they must fall; we will free ourselves
by the aid of that large and respectable class of the community – the men of no
property.”
Wolfe
Tone’s words should be a wakeup call to the Labour and Trade Union leaders. We
need a clear programme and a leadership that represents working people. Now
more than ever the ideas of Connolly and Larkin, the socialist ideas that laid
the basis for the development of the trade unions and the Labour Party itself
are of enormous importance.
·
Nationalise the banks and big
industry
·
Cancel the debts
