Edinburgh University's problem with Communism and Palestine.

In a city enriched in history, and glistening unexpectedly in sunlight, it isn’t too clichéd to suggest that the scene in Edinburgh since the Scottish ‘heat wave’ hit town over the past week is postcard-esque. A short stroll from the packed pavements of Princes St and you arrive at one of the capital’s most elusive and sought after destinations, the University of Edinburgh. With past alumni including David Hume, Charles Darwin, and Chrystal MacMillan, and with a ranking of 27^th in the world, it is a prestigious symbol of Scottish academia.  However, behind the statistics and sunshine, there is a very dark presence growing on campus; the censorship of Communist and pro Palestinian politics.

With the lowest percentage of working class students at any Scottish University, classism has emerged to poison the University. Whilst smirks and crude remarks are plentiful, one thing most certainly vacant was a radical left political force, to represent the vulnerable, oppressed minorities who in a city and university engulfed with elitist arrogance, lack a voice to represent them.

Following a split from the moderate and inactive Marxist Society, Edinburgh University Communist Society formed in September 2016. After forming ‘unofficially’ they applied to join the student association, Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA). Whilst other societies quickly received confirmation of their affiliation to EUSA, the Communist Society were left waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Having grown tired of the blatant bias and ignorance shown by EUSA, the Communist Society again applied, this time in November 2016. Yet just like their first attempt at affiliation, EUSA did not even show the courtesy to acknowledge the application.

Whilst right wing societies flourished with the help of EUSA, the Communist Society was left in the lurch. That said, they did not give up, holding regular meetings, and events. One of the few societies to hold a committee where there is a 50:50 gender split of roles, and where roles must be held by individuals from the LGBT, and black and E.M communities, they were quickly pinpointed as a threat to the status quo of the white middle class, and most tellingly, right wing English university.

Other societies to feel the wrath of right wing scrutiny include Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), who successfully motioned the union to adopt BDS in March 2016. However, external pressure from the Israeli Embassy saw this democratic process overturned, highlighting the role external Zionist bodies have in student politics.

A Christmas food bank was held by the society to generate much needed items for Edinburgh’s most vulnerable, yet the reception from fellow students was pitiful. Society members were taunted, laughed at, and the food bank was scoffed at by the majority of passers-by. Once again the Communists had the last laugh, as they brought some temporary joy to the working class of Connolly’s city.

Israeli Apartheid Week was to the Society a fantastic chance to give a platform for the Palestinian people, in an environment where they were neglected irrevocably. Following hundreds of pounds invested to organise the event, we were told hours before our primary lecture that we could not hold it on University grounds. Yet for months previous, we had held numerous activities on campus. From a night dedicated to Fidel Castro, to weekly reading groups, the Communists quickly established the Society as one of the most active and fulfilling in George Square. So why were we not given permission to host Apartheid Week? Simply because being Pro Palestine at this University is a no go. Any declaration of support for the Palestinians treated like vermin by Israel will see one tarnished with claims of anti-Semitism. Anybody who is bold enough to accuse Israel of what it is, an Apartheid State, will be hounded in the student circles.

We were told IAW had been cancelled because we weren’t registered with (Edinburgh University Students Association) EUSA, yet as explained- this wasn’t an issue for activities which weren’t focused on Palestine.

-      

-    Why were we twice ignored in their application to affiliate with EUSA?

-       Why did the Israeli Engagement Society and its members boast of shutting the event down with the help ‘from above’ on social media?

Following the commencement of a nationwide hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners last month, members of the Committee decided to also embark on a hunger strike for two reasons:

1.    To show solidarity with the brave Comrades of all Palestinian factions striking in Israeli jails

2.    To protest university’s complicity in maintaining the Apartheid regime, and to pressurise them into adopting BDS.

Our hunger strike lasted a week, before EUSA  agreed to meet us. Yet in our brief exchange with them, they showed nothing but distaste and disrespect towards us, going as far as reporting our President to his head of school. By raising over £500 for Palestinian prisoners, and highlighting university’s role in the genocide of natives, we once again generated success for the cause, and will begin a second hunger strike in the coming days.

The far left and pro Palestinians are simply not tolerated on UK campuses.   Yet you cannot cancel ideas. The more the university tries to weaken the far left movement, the stronger it becomes.

Hunger Strike Statement from Communist Society.

We are merely a few days into what has proved already to be a grueling endeavor- both physically and mentally. Yet for the Palestinian prisoners two weeks into their hunger strike, one can only begin to imagine the torment, yet bravery they are experiencing. Faced with enslavement under the toxicity of Zionism, hundreds of Comrades, from all factions of Palestinian resistance have lit a fuse for the rest of the world when darkness threatens to engulf us. It is a fuse that we believe must be seized upon, and utilised to spark a greater flame.

Who are we?

Edinburgh University's first ever Marxist Leninist organisation and the strongest voice for Palestine and its people on the campus. Though the university is dominated by right wing politics, with a strong Zionist presence (who rely on the Israeli embassy for assistance) we have refused to succumb to pressure.

Our activism is based around three elements:

1.    Domestic issues (e.g. helping the homeless in Edinburgh)

2.    National issues (e.g. fighting austerity in Scotland and the UK)

3.    International issues (e.g. holding fundraisers for Palestinian prisoners)

Last month we held a stall which saw us raise over £100 for Palestinian charities. We had planned to hold a week long list of events for 'Israeli Apartheid Week', but sadly the influence of the Zionists once again proved too powerful, as the event was cancelled by the University, though not after Zionists boasted on social media of how helpful the Embassy could be.

We are committed to socialist revolution, and much like Communists in past eras, we always have, and always will stand by the Palestinians. We are planning to find an exchange trip for Palestinian students for over the course of the next academic year.

Why the hunger strike?

It has been a potent tactic of the far left for decades. As committed Irish republicans, we often look to the socialist martyrs of 1981, and the sacrifice they made. We know, that occupying a building, or holding a strike will only achieve so much- but by putting our bodies through the potential dangers of a hunger strike, we are hoping people will realise just how committed we are to Palestine. There have been attempts, through protests, and through bills at the university to adopt BDS, yet the might of the embassy proved too much. However this time we feel, both the symbolism of the hunger strike (to show solidarity with our Palestinian comrades), and the severity of it, will prove too much for university to stay complicit in the genocide.

What do we hope to achieve?

We hope that the strike will force the University to simply Boycott and Divest from Apartheid Israel:

-       - To boycott Israeli academics and educational establishments

-       - To divest from companies (such as CAT) which is responsible for the destruction of thousands of Palestinian homes

We will remain on hunger strike until the University at the very least agree to discuss this with us.

Until Victory,

Edinburgh University Communist Society

The normalisation of language in Palestine

Propaganda is the means from which Imperialists and Capitalists impose principles and ideals upon youth. Books. Articles. Archives. Interviews.Documentaries. Though the form may vary, there is an underlying theme; the normalisation of language. There is no greater example of this than in the example of Palestine. Throughout this short analysis, I have highlighted four such examples of this. 

Apartheid, not War. 

Often referred to as the Arab-Israeli, or Palestinian-Israeli conflict, here we must affirm our most fundamental point. This is not a conflict. It is not a war. It is not a battle. Israel has a strong mobilised army. Israel has a ferocious naval force. Israel has an aggressive air force. Israel has the most modern warfare technology in the world. Israel has support of the global superpowers, both in terms of financial, diplomatic, and military aid. What does Palestine have? Palestinians have none of these, their only worthwhile tactic is guerrilla warfare, given that rockets etc pose no threat to the advanced technological advances of the Zionist colonialists. The Oxford Dictionary defines war as 'a state of armed conflict between different countries or different groups within a country.' But as I have just clarified, this is not a conflict, it is Apartheid. It is not a fair fight, it is genocide. 

The agenda of the Capitalist class is to whitewash history, and to edit literature, to mask the horrors of their imperialist campaigns.  By doing this, to the sub conscious worker on the other side of the planet, they are presented with, and buy into the idea that this is a War, and that 'Israel is defending themselves.'

Defence against whom?

A phrase uttered in almost every Zionist's argument behind the Apartheid regime is that 'Israel has a right to defend itself'. Whilst one acknowledges the horrors committed against the Jewish people, and urges everyone to do so, I can also categorically dismiss the argument that Israel has a right to defend itself, because there is no threat to Israel. The Arab bourgeois have long betrayed the Palestinians, with the possible exemption of Algeria. The Soviet Union, the Palestinians' greatest ally dissolved several decades ago.Israel continues to receive billions of international aid, which it uses to further the genocide of Palestinians by advancing its military and secret services. How is a teenager with a stone a threat to a country with such advanced warfare?  How is a farmer a threat to a country which has wiped out his entire family? Note that in the news, the word threat is used to describe Palestine and Palestinians more than Israel. Yet it is Israel which has created an Apartheid State. It is Israel which has brutalised millions in an illegal occupation (by international Law). It is Israel which has cut off water supplies to Gaza during Ramadan. It is Israel which uses young boys as human shields.It is Israel which has purposefully targeted schools and hospitals.  

But, Hamas....

Again a common rebuttal by the Zionists is that 'Hamas attacked Israel first', or that 'Hamas have (insert grossly fictitious fact here). The first point I will make is that when right wing groups are elected, the left are told to respect the election. Hamas are delusional in their ideology, nasty in their views- but ultimately are democratically elected.  Hamas are a group of working class guerrilla fighters. They do not possess the backing of a global superpower like Israel does. They cannot rely on billions worth of aid to assist their fight. Whilst I condemn the leaders of Hamas, and other Islamic extremists for their disgusting ideology one cannot help but feel sheer anger when Zionists try to claim the actions of a cell of guerrilla fighters (who lack any education and useful weaponry) is the reason that Israel resorts to breaching international law with its Apartheid regime, time, and time again. There was no Hamas before Israeli oppression intensified. Oppression breeds resistance. And whilst the ideology Hamas swear by is to be neglected and rejected, one cannot but feel sympathy for Palestinians who after being subjected to the brutalisation of the regime, feel Hamas are the best solution.

The Apartheid Wall

280 miles long, almost 30 feet high, the Apartheid Wall which annexes through Palestine,divides families from one another, children from their schools, and farmers from their land- yet why does the Western media label it as a Security Wall? This is where the normalisation of language can be best seen, perhaps. Security from whom? It is not a conflict, and this is not for security purposes. It is to keep Arabs out, to keep Muslims out, and to maintain the ethnocracy that Israel has become. It is symbolic of Apartheid. Since when did isolating men from their land become a security issue. It has plunged thousands more into poverty and destitution, Exploitation from the Capitalist system, and oppression from the Imperialists has ravaged the Palestinian people. This wall is a beacon of both. 

Victory to Palestine. Victory to the PFLP. 

Axe the Act

Since the Scottish National Party has prevailed to power, one group of people has continued to be suppressed, and victimised. This is the working class.  Salmond, Sturgeon, and pseudo socialists alike may paint a picture of Scottish Society being open and tolerant, yet their draconian decisions in government has bear witness to a deluge of destitution. There is no more act, symbolic of the Tartan Tories than the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Communications Act.

In this essay, I will

A.    Explain the extrinsic nature of the Act

B.    Highlighting the importance of the media in sustaining the Act

C.   Analyse the statistics behind it

D.   Highlight specific case examples

A.     

“An Act of the Scottish Parliament to create offences concerning offensive behaviour in relation to certain football matches, and concerning the communication of certain threatening material” is how the Scottish Government define this Act.

Definitions in politics are we know are deceitful. The upper classes who drafted and passed this bill share no affinity with football. They have not followed their team to dreary defeats in Dingwall, or enjoyed elated adventures with their friends in Aberdeen. The petit bourgeois and bourgeois who promoted this policy are out of touch from the working man, and in a sense are alienated from his activities in the same way Marx spoke of in the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844.

This Act to the petit bourgeois combats hooliganism, sectarianism and violence. Yet there is already established government legislation which offers a solution to these problems. In fact, fresh schemes are produced frequently, such as the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) On Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion.

Why then introduce another in the form of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Communications Act? The answer lies at the root of the problem in Scotland. This policy deliberately targets working class men from Govan to Gorgie, from Parkhead to Peterhead. No other act solely focuses on this one demographic, yet as I explained in my essay Scotland and the National Question, a core feature of the SNP’s success has been the oppression of the working class.

This Act was not brought in to prevent Sectarianism- as I have explained, several other policies cover this. Instead, this Act grew out of the petit bourgeois’ growing influence in Scottish politics, and growing influence in the SNP.  There are plenty of foul slurs to be heard at Murrayfield, yet Rugby is the Middle Class’ pleasurable lust, so the SNP stay clear of upsetting their most trusted and loyal group within society.  Passionate, young, working class dissenters are the SNP’s worst enemy, so much so that they have constructed a charter to isolate and scrutinise this type.

B.     

The role of the media is fundamental factor to understanding why this Act has been maintained, despite the glaringly obvious resentment from the masses. As I have reiterated the point, it is not necessary to mention once more regarding the isolation between the bourgeois’ and the working man’s football, but the media’s portrayal of football fans, as racist, violent thugs is a key aspect of why this Act has remained in government.

 To outsiders, to those who have never been to a football match, there has been a vicious, false, and damaging stereotype of football fans. Hooliganism from the far right in the 1980s has left its mark, and for some reason, football fans the world over have been tarnished with this reputation. Yet only in Scotland, are fans oppressed in this manner.

The Green Brigade, the left wing ultras of Celtic, Scotland’s most successful club. They regularly hold food drives, football tournaments for refugees, and have just recently raised almost £200,000 for two Palestinian charities. Yet very few of these charitable acts are pinpointed by the media. Instead, since a banner revealing the group’s rightful resentment of a blood-stained poppy on the Celtic jersey, newspapers across the country have swindled Scots into accepting this age old fallacy that football fans are evil brutes, and to going to extreme lengths to do so. Instead of focusing on the incredible generosity of the Celtic fans to raise so much money for the Palestinian cause, or producing some credible journalism for once, the Sun (which one should never, ever, buy), made the ridiculous argument that these funds would finance terrorism. This is the same Sun which made the disgusting claims over the tragedy Hillsborough disaster, so one should not be surprised, yet this still remains a revolting remark.

The media’s manipulation has led to many out with the game assert that ‘both sides are as bad as each other’. Yet there is a clear difference between the songs of Glasgow Celtic, and of the Newco Rangers. Celtic fans, sing songs of oppression and resistance, Newco Rangers fans songs of brutality and repression. As the minority, Irish Catholics were subject to slanderous sectarianism, which the Protestant majority bathed in. So whenever people make this claim, you have to ask them if they have ever been to a match, which one presumes is not the case. A song about freedom for Ireland, should never be treated as the same as a song whose lines include “we’re up to our knees in Fenian blood”’. This point is imperative. However, the spotlight being shone solely on Rangers supporters is ridiculous. Anti-Catholic racism has plagued Scottish society for well over a century, from within media, and within politics, yet why only now does a ruling party claim to set out to end it?  The answer again lies at the issue of class. Working class Rangers supporters are being targeted for this behaviour- quite rightly, yet this disease is not just present in Ibrox and Protestant council estates. It is present in bourgeois establishments, who escape the wrath of the powers at be on the basis of their class, and their class only.

A final point with regards to the media  is that if you ask Celtic fans, and Rangers fans whether it is religion or politics which divide them, and the vast majority will say the latter. The media cunningly painted a picture of Catholic Celtic fans and Protestant Rangers fans who hated each other because of religion, yet fans of both clubs will tell you otherwise. It is easy to call somebody sectarian and make a scapegoat of them, something the Scottish media has thrived in doing.

C.    

The misuse of taxpayers’ money on this Act alone should be enough to see it rescinded. As anybody who follows their club frequently can tell you, the increase, and intensification of policing has not only drained football fans, but drained the funds from the SNP’s seemingly infinite budget.

-       Where does the money for increased policing in and outside football grounds come from?

-       Where does the money which is invested in intensive profiling of young, working class men come from?

-       Where does the money which is invested into court cases come from?

The answer to all three is of course, the taxpayers’ money. The working class’ money. And still, the SNP portray themselves as a radical left alternative.

In 2013/14, 161 people were prosecuted under the legislation. In all, 86 were found guilty; a conviction rate of just over 53%.The conviction rate for murder last year was over 80%. The total conviction rate across Scotland was 85%.

With a conviction rate so low, why is it that heavy handling of football fans, and intensified arrests are growing under the SNP government? I once again focus on the issue of class.

This is not a case of what team one supports. It is rather the opposite. Fans Against Criminalisation (FAC) have united teams the nation over, and yet still, working class men are being woken in the middle of the night for a song they sung months ago. Sectarianism is not a 90 minute problem. It is not restricted to social media, it is not restricted to football grounds, and it is not restricted to the working class. Yet as I have explained, the media, in collaboration with the bourgeois have manifested this illusion in order to strengthen their grasp on the masses.

D.

Though the story of a German tourist being arrested for singing about the IRA without knowing the lyrics’ context may bring some temporary hilarity to this topic, for the majority of the fans oppressed by this legislation, there is a very contrasting emotion.

The one case which always remains in one’s mind is that of Comrade Sean Millar, a fellow season ticket holder at Celtic. During an away game to Hearts, Sean wearing a Free Palestine t-shirt was spoken to, and reprimanded by police.

The past weekend saw other incidents of heavy policing. Celtic fans were watched by eagled eyed officers, who clearly had targeted sections of the support beforehand, and were prepared to pinpoint these marked individuals.

 It is time that this Act was banished from government, along with the fools who implemented it. The real criminals are not football fans, and sectarianism is not restricted to football stadia. Instead sectarianism, used by the ruling class to divide, has been overlooked for so long that the easy option now is to connect the dots between football fans and sectarianism. This is not an issue of Celtic vs Rangers, or Hibs vs Hearts. This is an issue of rich vs poor, and it is us who are losing the battle.

Trump, the Perfect President.

Donald Trump, regardless of his fleeting act to distance himself from the ruling class, is the zenith of the bourgeois. He is exploitative, xenophobic, and chauvinistic.Trump is not a disgrace to the presidency, but rather a natural heir to his predecessors .Trump is a consequence of the problem. And Capitalism is the problem.

Liberals and Western leftists have flooded the streets as we speak, in protest of who they claim to be the most racist President in history. This premise can be easily refuted by anybody with even the slightest knowledge of the past.

Noam Chomsky's assertion, that if the Nuremberg Laws were applied, every U.S President post WW2 would be indictable is correct.

Truman's atrocities in Korea, has ravaged the nation so that today imperialism still persists. The use of nuclear weapons, and barbaric tactics were a characteristic of U.S policy in Asia during this period.

Take Eisenhower, he did not take any time in launching a military coup on the popular nationalist government in Iran. A 25 year dictatorship was Eisenhower's solution. Guatemala has not seen a democracy since he installed a U.S puppet regime to replace it, and still today the country is engulfed in corruption and tragedy. The rise of left wing parties in Indonesia was of grave concern to the Eisenhower administration, so yours truly began to fund fundamentalists to wear away the possibility of a workers party coming to power.

John F Kennedy, lauded by many as a champion of social rights was anything but. It was he who invaded South Vietnam, it was he who insisted on the advancement of Napalm, it is he to blame for the children being born with birth defects, even today, almost 50 years on. Kennedy insisted on targeting areas of fertile land to bind the Vietnamese people to a slow, torturous death. His aggression towards Cuba was based on terrorism, and terrorism solely.

President Johnson expanded the War into China, multiplying the number of casualties by millions. The democratic revolution in the Dominican Republic was blocked by his administration, whilst the Israeli occupation was financed and supported by his regime.

Richard Nixon, the founding father of the 'war on drugs' (war on working class people with illness), did not restrict this oppressive policy to the states, but also to Colombia, funding the military to prevent the growth of far left groups such as F.A.R.C.

Gerald Ford's tenure may have been short, but his legacy is marred quite rightly by his support for the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. Chomksy refers to this act as genocidal. The U.S secretly financed the right wing nationalists who massacred thousands.

Carter was behind the increase in the flow of weapons to the fundamentalists in Indonesia via Israel, maintaining the genocide in East Timor. The Camp David agreements are what Carter is rendered best for, yet this was no diplomatic excellency, Conspiring with the Arab bourgeois, aid to Israel was increased both financially and politically, leaving the Palestinians helpless and exposed. In all Chomksy alleges that 50% of all foreign aid under Carter went to Israel, which should serve as no surprise.

Ronald Reagan, along with ally Margaret Thatcher was behind some of the worst scenes of pillage the 20th century witnessed. Nicaragua and her people are still tormented from U.S policy under the Reagan regime.

George H.W.Bush's invasion of Panama left 3000 dead. Why the invasion? to remove Noriega, who years previous to his disposal had committed endless horrors, whilst being financed by the C.I.A. Whilst Iraq sought diplomatic relations with the U.S, Bush sought military brutality, and a key-hold in the region. Under International Law, attacking infrastructure in war is illegal, yet in Iraq this was a regular occurrence, as colonialism began to infect the region once more. The sanctions he drafted killed hundreds of thousands, who starved to a long and painful death.

Bill Clinton oversaw and maintained the sanctions of Iraq, despite the calls from the international community and the U.N, that this was resulting in so many deaths, he refused to listen, and the blood of the children lay rattle-boaned on the bombed streets, are on his hands. Several tens of thousands Sudanese lay dead as a result of Clinton's finance driven foreign policy. Clinton referred to U.N solutions in the Middle East in his own words as "obsolete", his solution? Thousands of deaths,His legacy? The rise of extremists.

Over one million civilians in Iraq alone have died because of George Bush's invasion in 2003. Puppet regimes replacing democratic, left wing ones are the platform from which Al Qaeda and now I.S have flourished. In Afghanistan, men were forced to watch their children and wives be raped in front of them as their parents, bullet ridden collapsed. This is the 'freedom' American presidents boast proudly of.

Obama. Idolised by liberals and western leftists, for his antics on television. But not idolised by those he deported, and by those he bombed. President Obama deported more people, and bombed more countries than any other U.S president. Read through my list, digest those atrocities, evaluate those acts, and now reflect that Obama has bombed more countries than any of them. Just as I write this, people are out in their numbers at Trump's ban on Muslims to the U.S. Yet this is not his idea. President Obama drafted this bill, all Trump done was sign it. So whilst he may seem hilarious and down to earth on your T.V, he, like all the others, is a war criminal.

Communism and National Liberation in Palestine.

Anti-imperialism can take two paths, the Nationalist one, which seeks to rid a country of foreign forces and achieve independence, and the far left one, which as well as seeking this, longs for the removal of Capitalism. In every anti-imperialist struggle there are bodies on either side. In Ireland, there was the Provisional Irish Republican Army (P.I.R.A), the nationalists, and the Irish National Liberation (INLA), the Communists. In Palestine, there is Hamas, the nationalists, and Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Communists. Only one path results in peace and freedom.

PFLP were founded by George Habash in 1967 as a radical Marxist-Leninist alternative to the moderate PLO. Unlike the PLO, they do not recognise the state of Israel, opposing negotiations with them. The military wing of the PFLP is the Abu Ali Mustapha brigades, named in honour of the former leader assassinated by Zionist forces.PFLP support the one state solution of a secular Marxist-Leninist nation.

National liberation is not enough to Free Palestine. History tells us that the efforts which go to the removal of colonialist regimes are in vain unless the Capitalism system leaves with these imperialists. In Palestine, Arabs are oppressed by imperialism orchestrated by the Zionist settlers, but also by Capitalism maintained universally by the bourgeois, many of whom are Arab themselves.

"As it is, the Palestinian people do not all live under these same conditions but rather under different living conditions, a fact which we cannot scientifically ignore."
(Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine, official PFLP document, 1969.)

Imperialism is a consequence of Capitalism, which is the cause. If you only seek to destroy the consequence which is Zionist colonialism, then the cause, Capitalism would still remain and maintain misery and pain to the Palestinian proletariat.

In any revolution, Comrades must know who their enemies, and who their allies are.

Mao, in "Analysis of the Classes of Chinese Society"  (March 1926) makes the following statement, which is applicable to all anti-imperialist revolutions.
"Who are our enemies? Who are our friends?

This is a question of the first importance to the. The basic reason why all previous revolutionary struggles in China achieved so little in their failure to unite with real friends in order to attack real enemies..."

Though Hamas may look upon the Jews as the problem, as the problem, what they ignore is that the Arab bourgeois has ignored the struggle of the Palestinians for decades, just as the Provisional IRA targeted working class Protestants, Hamas treat the Jews in the same way, without realising that religious persecution is a counter revolutionary act. Jews are brought up believing every Arab wants to murder them, yet this is the work of bourgeois propaganda. The working class, both Jewish and Arab are not natural enemies. Sectarianism is a tactic of the ruling class to dismantle working class unity. This occurred in Ireland 40 years ago just as it does in Palestine today. When united, the proletariat are a grave threat to the ruling order, so religious hatred is encouraged- but also crucially exaggerated to widen the gap between not only the Jews and Arabs, but the bourgeois and proletariat.


"The Palestinian bourgeois which now lives in Palestine under Zionist Occupation is not among the forces of the revolution although it has not manifestly associated itself with Israel and will in reality remain the class force through which the enemies will always try to defeat the revolution  and stop it in the middle of the road"
(Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine)


A secularist Marxist Leninist state is the only solution to achieving peace. Jews, Arabs and Christians lived in harmony for decades before Western Imperialism ravaged the land, and they can do so again without it. When you talk of national liberation, you must fully understand what liberation means. Unless you seek to destroy the Capitalist system, then there would be no liberation. The working class Arabs and Jews would continue to hate each other, they would continue to be exploited, and be told that the other is to blame- not the bourgeois. The Palestinians are not just exploited by Zionism, but by Capitalism. Liberation must mean liberation. Liberation must mean Marxism-Leninism.

Irish Republican Socialism

100 years on from the Easter Rising, it brings great sadness to my heart to see the sacrifice Connolly gave, the greatest sacrifice a man can give, his life, was in vain.

The occupied six counties, like Scotland, demand independence and independence only. Yet independence without socialism can bring no liberty to the working man, and instead, the suffering, the destitution, and the poverty would long reign over the Irish proletariat

Unlike Scotland, the Irish people have a legitimate right to call for independence. They have been a colony of the British for 800 years, and the bloodshed resisting their colonial occupiers could fill the ocean a hundred times over.  I will always maintain that no country suffered more at the hands of the British Empire than the Irish. Yet as I have mentioned in previous work, we have not seen a more courageous and revolutionary group than those on this island.

However, parallels with Scotland are plentiful, and I would advise Comrades to read my short essay ‘Scotland and the National Question’ before moving onto this.

Sinn Fein may well bring unification to Ireland, but unification will not bring to an end the suffering of the Irish people. Sinn Fein is a capitalist party who whether in a divided or a unified Ireland will maintain a Capitalist agenda.

“If you remove the English army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain. England would still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs.”

-       Shan Van Vocht (socialist newspaper) January, 1897. Reprinted in P. Beresford Ellis (ed.), "James Connolly - Selected Writings", p. 124

James Connolly was a Socialist. The Irish Citizen army fought on Marxist principles and despite the best efforts of counter revolutionaries and revisionists to whitewash history, the Easter Rising was a Socialist rebellion. It was a rejection of colonialism from the British, a rejection of imperialism of the First World War, and an acceptance of Connolly’s life ambition, a Socialist Republic free of foreign influence.

Fast forward to the modern day, and Ireland still lacks unity. Yet she also lacks a movement worthy of continuing the fight for freedom asides the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP). By going into parliament with the Unionists, by accepting the Good Friday agreement of 1998, Sinn Fein accepted partition, and they accepted British rule. This is a perfidious act to commit, and one that will not be forgiven or forgotten. No parliament is ever so valuable that one should throw away his ideals to take a seat in it. There are parallels between the sell-outs in the British Labour Party, and those in Sinn Fein, despite ideological contrasts.

The only worthy group continuing Connolly’s fight are IRSP. The political wing of the Marxist-Leninist militia INLA, they are the party of the people, not of the corporate bosses like Sinn Fein in Stormont.

The following quote comes from “This is Republican Socialism”   direct tfrom he official party.

“The struggle for national liberation cannot be separated from the class struggle. Any attempt to isolate one from the other will result in failure. It is meaningless to speak of a free nation, if the overwhelming majority remain oppressed, and national sovereignty is lost through multinational corporate control of the economy just as much as by partition. At the same time, someone who refuses to challenge British imperialism in Ireland cannot claim to be fighting for socialism and the continuation of partition props up the divisions in the working class of Ireland that hold us back from our own liberation. We have no choice in whether or not we wish to consider the interconnection of the national and class questions; reality forces us to do so.

We define the national liberation struggle as that struggle which seeks to force a British military withdrawal from the occupied six counties. The destruction of the pro-British loyalist armed forces. The withdrawal of British political influence from all parts of Ireland. The ending the partition of the island of Ireland and the overturning of both the partionist governments presently administering political affairs of Ireland. The gaining of collective economic control of the nation's resources by the nation as a whole and the eradication of any control or influence exercised by foreign capitalists over any aspect of the Irish economy. The recognition of a separate Irish cultural identity and the establishment of revolutionary 32- county socialist republic.

We aim to build a strong alliance in Irish society of our class in towns and cities, agricultural workers in the country-side, unemployed workers, working class refugees, linked as a movement internationally with other like-minded liberation struggles.

We firmly stand-by the struggle for a republic. On that we are inflexible, but our struggle for the republic is a means to an end. For us, the national liberation struggle is but an aspect of the struggle for socialism.”

There are many, in Sinn Fein who protest that they are Socialist. To them I ask the following:

What Socialist would agree to maintain British influence in Ireland?

What Socialist would meet with representatives of the apartheid Israeli government?

What Socialist would support the neoliberal and imperialist E.U?

To end this analysis, I again use material from the IRSP.

Sinn Fein is a petty bourgeois nationalist organisation concerned with the political freedom of Ireland.

The IRSP is a republican Marxist organisation dedicated to a political, economic, social and cultural revolution that will rid Ireland of all of Imperialism and Capitalism.

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Sinn Fein (ourselves alone) rarely co-operate with others and do so only when they consider it politically advantageous (example during the hunger strike).

The IRSP's central policy has been the Broad Front, a pre-condition for revolution in Ireland.

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Sinn Fein is an abstentionist party.

The IRSP would take parliamentary seats in certain limited circumstances.

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Sinn Fein regards the "peoples" support as necessary for the success of their struggle.

The IRSP regard the working class as central to any struggle. The class struggle is the struggle.

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The IRSP seeks international support from socialists, working class organisations and genuine anti-imperialists.

Sinn Fein also seek the above support and that of reactionary organisations such as Noraid.

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The IRSP has never publicly attacked specific actions of the Irish Republican Army.

Leaders of Sinn Fein have joined the witch hunt against actions of the Irish National Liberation Army.

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According to Gerry Adams: "There are no Marxists in Sinn Fein."

The IRSP welcomes Marxists in its ranks.

This is a well-organised design pamphlet, which explains the ideological differences between the two.

My next piece will be applying the Ta Power document in a modern day light.

I thank the Irish Republican Socialist Party for these resources allowing me to produce this short piece.