Promoting the Politics of Connolly

national | anti-capitalism | news report Thursday May 15, 2008 15:30 by éirígí press at eirigi dot org

éirígí Organises for the Future

Speaking at the graves of the leaders of the Easter Rising on Saturday (May 10), éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson called for an honest assessment of the state of radical politics in modern-day Ireland.

“Radical, revolutionary, separatist, republicanism is far weaker now than what it was a decade ago – in both political and organisational terms," Leeson said.

"Acceptance of this fact is the first necessary step in the process of reorganising and re-building a diverse social movement for the combined objectives of British withdrawal and social and economic justice."

Leeson was speaking to a 200-strong crowd on the occasion of éirígí's third annual James Connolly Commemoration in Arbour Hill Cemetery.

The éirígí chairperson continued: “From our foundation, we in éirígí have believed that very little good can come from dwelling on the past and that the only long term-beneficiaries of inter-republican recriminations will be the ruling classes in both Britain and Ireland. Instead of such recrimination we need to make a cold, accurate, objective assessment of where republicanism now stands and from there plot a course for expansion, popularisation and ultimately for victory.”

“Within that process there are difficult personal choices for us all to make. Individually, we each must choose to draw a line under the betrayals and disappointments of the past. Individually, we each must choose to recommit ourselves to the objective of an Irish socialist republic. Individually, we must again begin to believe that we can achieve that objective through a movement of ordinary Irish women and men working together in political struggle and, individually, we must choose to commit of our time and energy through certain hard times in the months and years ahead.

“Then, finally and collectively, we must choose to act.

“Our actions and our tactics must be appropriate to their time - recognising that, while republicanism has been weakened over recent years, the enemies of republicanism have grown proportionately stronger. We should neither overstretch nor undersell ourselves, but instead set about taking realistic steps to incrementally strengthen republicanism across the island.”

Also speaking on the day was former H-Block hunger-striker and Idependent Workers' Union organiser Tommy McKearney. McKearney provided a moving argument for why the politics of James Connolly are still relevant to and, indeed, necessary for the betterment of the Ireland of today.

The well-attended commemoration followed éirígí's second Ard Fhéis since its establishment as a campaigns group in 2006.

The Ard Fhéis, which was notable for the wide geographical spread of those in attendance, passed a number of motions of concern to the éirígí membership, elected a new national officer board and concluded with an address by former political prisoner and newly-elected General Secretary Rab Jackson.

Further accounts as well as images and footage from Saturday's events can be viewed at www.eirigi.org