IRSCNA: Good Luck, IRSP Candidates!

antrim | politics / elections | press release Monday May 02, 2011 11:12 by IRSCNA irscna at irsm dot org

The IRSCNA sends good luck wishes to the IRSP's candidates in the North's council elections

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2 May 2011
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America

Good Luck, IRSP Candidates!

The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America send good
luck wishes to our five Irish Republican Socialist Party comrades
running for election in the North of Ireland's council elections on
May 5th.

Jim Gorman (Lower Falls) and Paul Little (Oldpark) are running for
election to Belfast City Council, Lucy Callaghan (Northland) and
Martin McMonagle (Shantallow) are running for election to Derry City
Council, and Paul Gallagher (Mourne) is running for election to
Strabane District Council.

Historically, the IRSP has seen a handful of members elected to
councils, North and South. In the 1970s, IRSP co-founder Seamus
Costello was elected to Bray Urban District Council and Wicklow
County Council in the South, while in 1981 two IRSP candidates were
elected to Belfast City Council in the North, and one was elected to
Shannon Town Commission in the South.

While the IRSP continues to believe that there is no parliamentary road
to socialism, because socialism cannot be forged by seizing the
bourgeois state apparatus, it stands in the tradition of Costello and
other IRSP members elected to councils in the past, who used their
positions to advocate for the working class and as a platform to
build support for revolutionary politics without following a reformist
path. Costello called for guerilla tactics on the streets and in the
chambers of elected bodies, seeing the latter as a way of organizing,
agitating, and educating.

The IRSCNA is proud to see our five IRSP comrades following the path
previously trod by Seamus Costello, and we know that if they are
successful in their election bids, their motto in the council
chambers will be, "we owe our allegiance to the working class!"

In the words of revolutionary Assata Shakur (a former member of the
Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army), "No movement can
survive unless it is constantly growing and changing with the times.
If it isn't growing, it's stagnant, and without the support of the
people, no movement for liberation can exist, no matter how correct
its analysis of the situation is. That's why political work and
organizing are so important. Unless you are addressing the issues
people are concerned about and contributing positive direction,
they'll never support you."

Once again, we urge working class voters to cast their votes for the
republican socialist alternative on May 5th, and to check out the
candidates before the election at http://www.irsp.ie/election/

Onward to victory, comrades! We wish you the very best of luck!

###

Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html