You alright lads and ladettes.

I was wondering if anyone could link me or type out for me themselves republican socialist theory, i.e. explaining why you believe there needs to be a national liberation struggle against the brits before socialism can occur, how you think this'll happen, etc.

Thanks.

Hello Pogue welcome to the group.

Our politics are "an effort to rally the masses to the anti-imperialist struggle by taking up economic and social issues." (Sean Swan, Official Irish Republicanism)

Essentially the thinking is that establishing socialism itself is an exercise in self-determination. So although the socialism and national liberation* cannot be chronologically separated, the national liberation part is a logical priority. Much of the left would have a reversed argument, that socialism will resolve the national question. Unless one wants to maintain a border in Ireland, it has to be addressed at some point.

It was the analysis of James Connoly and those who formed the IRSP that partition unleashed "carnivals of reaction" which blocked working class unity. That analysis is still correct- most Protestants support the union and vote in the most reactionary parties in Western Europe. Protestants are still several times more likely to have a job than Catholics, and it's the same for housing in Belfast. As long as the Unionists are given constitutional guarantees by Britain, they don't have to really change the situation.

Nations do not have rights, but people do. We don't see ourselves as nationalists. we see republicanism as a project to trascend the ethnic nationalisms of the Irish and British communities in Ireland. And that this would ensure the rights of all its people while removing sectarianism from politics.

Also, we would insist that some form of left republicanism based in the working class is the only republicanism worth anything, as the other forms appeal to the bourgeoisie to change the current constitutional situation. We believe as Connolly did tht only the working class have an interest in removing the border and the sectarian state.



*NL in this context means all the people of Ireland deciding their future together through a referendum or new institutions without Britain interfering or giving constitutional guarantees to the Unionists, which is referred to as the Unionist Veto.

Republican Socialism is the logical evolution of the original liberal-bourgeois idea of Republicanism. The United Irishmen had a bourgeois leadership and although progressive can't really be called proto-socialist. Through the 19th century various ideas came to the fore in Republicanism that could definitely be called socialist, including appeals to the international working class as seen in the 1867 Fenian Proclamation, in the 20th century Republican Socialism appeared as a distinct ideology with people like James Connolly, Gilmore, Costello etc.

My own interpretation would be that the Republican movement embodies both the original ideas of the United Irishmen (which never prospered due to the British occupation) and later socialism - in effect, shifting Republicanism and drawing a parallel between its core ideas and wider left wing political developments.

Thanks for inquiring Pogue. I do not see republican socialism as a ideology of its own, more an Irish interpretation of anti-imperialist ideologies such as marxism. Unfortunatly people see us republicans as being sectarian purely because we are opppossed to the presence of the British empire in this country and all other countries. Many marxists in Ireland and other countries have a skewed view of the conflict in the 6 counties, we believe we hold the pure marxist/socialist view, when the writings of Marx etc are taken into consideration. Anyways, here are some useful documents from the IRSM website.
http://irsm.org/history/tapowerdoc.html

http://irsm.org/irsp/costello/

Events elsewhere also inform theory. Socialism could not have been implemented in China without the overthrow of the European and Japanese occupations. Vietnam could not truly be free while subject to French, Japanese imperialism and the later US client state.

Any kind of socialism would be impossible to implement in Ireland without firstly the removal of its part-occupation by a foreign imperialist power.

yeah you hit the nail on the head there. I'm ignoring that long winded debate about whether Ireland is a nation or not in the politics forum because it hardly matters. If the Protestants in Ireland want to be British, that's fine. Let them hold British passports if they like and teach their children British history and opt out of studying the Irish language if they like. the real issue is self-determination, not identity.