Organising for mass politics - Perspectives for struggle today

By Paul Murphy

Irish capitalism is heading into troubled waters. The capitalist class’s difficulties will present us with important opportunities. Understanding the contradictions present within Ireland’s position in the global capitalist system will assist us in seizing them.

While the political pendulum globally has swung rightwards in recent years, we have seen the emergence of powerful leftward countercurrents that provide a fertile environment for the building of the socialist left. 

The last year has proven that with the correct political choices, we can have a significant impact. The challenge now is for socialists to engage in mass politics combined with an organising model that maximises our impact. What that means is a rich combination of bold national initiatives to shape politics, intensive local and electoral work to deepen our roots and empowering of activists through participatory organising. 

Ireland in a world divided

The Irish political establishment finds itself in a paradoxical situation. In the short-term, their developmental model of Irish capitalism has paid off. By positioning Ireland as a tax haven conduit for US multinationals, they have ensured high levels of nominal economic growth and massive budget surpluses, fuelled by the small percentage of tax paid by US corporations funnelling their profits through Ireland. 

However, in doing so, they have fuelled inequality, an unprecedented housing crisis and discontent. The stranglehold of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael has been weakened to the point that an alternative government, excluding both, may be on the agenda at the next election. 

This government, the most right-wing in decades, is very unpopular. The cruel budget has deepened its unpopularity with its failure to protect living standards. The overwhelming victory of Catherine Connolly in the Presidential election serves as a warning to the establishment that their values are not held by the majority.

By tying their fate so closely to that of US capitalism, they have also placed themselves in an extremely precarious situation economically and geopolitically. One striking fact - Ireland accounts for more foreign holding of US assets than China, Germany and Spain put together (over $2 trillion out of $35 trillion). This dependence on the US is mirrored by the dependence on the rest of the EU, which controls the currency through the ECB and provides Ireland’s largest export market. 

As the rift between US and European capitalism grows, they are attempting to straddle a widening chasm. One economic leg is planted firmly on US soil, while the other leg, including political as well as economic relations, is planted in Europe. If relations between the US and European states continue to deteriorate, as appears likely, this continued straddling may prove impossible. 

This creates real political problems for the establishment as the demands of their US and European “allies” clash sharply with the attitudes of the mass of people - for example, on Palestine and the Occupied Territories Bill, on neutrality, and on visiting Trump in the White House. The same applies to their kid glove treatment of Big Tech corporations - with their data centres allowed to consume more and more of our electricity and water, while being used to promote toxic content, including sexual abuse imagery. 

Their model of an open economy reliant on US multinationals and particularly on Big Tech means that Ireland is particularly exposed to global economic shocks. The AI Bubble will inevitably burst, and the Irish economy will be on the frontline of those affected. Similarly, if the US-Israeli imperialist assault on Iran and Lebanon continues, Ireland is particularly vulnerable to the oil price hikes. 

What has been a period of relative political stability could become explosive. Socialists have a crucial task of preparing ourselves for these situations. Part of this preparation is to analyse the key trends in society in order to position ourselves to alter the course of politics and build People Before Profit as a substantial ecosocialist force.

Political Trends

How limited the “journeys” which many of our establishment politicians went on to re-invent themselves as progressive liberals at the time of Repeal the 8th has been quite dramatically exposed. 

Simon Harris, the man who posed as a champion of Repeal, is now openly telling lies about homelessness designed to demonise asylum seekers. The “urbane” Jim O’Callaghan weekly issues harsh pronouncements, tweets about deporting asylum seekers and introduces new legislation designed to strip asylum seekers of basic legal rights - all an exercise in performative cruelty.

This, of course is part of a global shift to the right - on behalf of the ruling classes. In Ireland it also had the more particular aim of cutting across the momentum towards Sinn Féin and the left. Former Fine Gael politician John Deasy spelt out the government’s strategy very clearly in the Business Post:

“People certainly don’t become indifferent to society’s most pressing problems that continue to cause huge pain, but they do become less politically responsive when they’ve heard the same thing said over and over again. Other issues invariably come to the fore and compete for their attention.

“The issue of immigration is doing just that. By the time the next election rolls around, housing could find itself on a par with immigration as the big concern in conservative Ireland.”

This rightward shift of the ruling class is not just on immigration - but goes across the board. While floods destroy people’s homes, lip service to climate action has been abandoned by an Irish government which now includes climate change deniers. Over Christmas, the government quietly dropped the commitment to the legally binding targets previously agreed for 2030. They are accelerating investment in data centres to facilitate more AI development and want to import LNG to fuel them. 

This is not just a disaster ecologically, it also directly contradicts any attempt to prioritise housing or transport, because energy is being diverted to the production of AI slop. Although the environmental movement has been at a global ebb, there is the potential for significant struggle around the development of an LNG terminal in particular. 

While the shift to the right amongst the ruling class is almost universal (witness the formerly ‘liberal’ Tech Bros queuing up to fund Trump’s inauguration), amongst working class people it is much more mixed. 

There is no question that in general, attitudes have shifted to the right. This is the case particularly in relation to immigration - where relentless propaganda from both the establishment and the far right - combined with the absence of major working class movements giving people a sense of power - has had an impact. 

The populist right has become a very visible and vocal trend in Irish politics - represented by Aontú, Independent Ireland and many independent TDs. In opinion polls they now have around 10%+ of support. The 13% of people, including 25% of 18-35 year old men, who spoiled their votes in the Presidential election, is another example of this trend in politics.

Far-right and fascist forces remain largely fractured and disorganised. The electoral potential on the right seems likely to consolidate around more right-populist forces like Independent Ireland and Aontú. Within the far-right, however, there does appear to be a certain consolidation around the National Party - who are a dangerous fascist outfit.

The anti-immigrant street movement is at a relative ebb right now. Objectively, there is a significant decline in the number of asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees who are coming to Ireland which may reduce the potential for flashpoints of new IPAS centres. But poisonous racist ideas have gotten a hold across society. 

Women’s rights are a particular target of attack for the right. The narrow defeat before Christmas of a pro-choice Bill previously introduced by Bríd Smith and passed second stage in the last Dáil is a good illustration of this process. The vote was called by Peadar Tóibín of Aontú, and then the vast majority of FG and FF voted with him against removing the paternalistic three-day waiting period. 

The far-right, behind their patriarchal talk of ‘protecting women’, want to remove all access to abortion, and force women back into the home. Their focus on attacking trans people is related to an attempt to reinforce ‘traditional’ gender roles. Highlighting this anti-woman agenda will be an important task in building a broad anti-fascist movement. 

The backlash against the rightward turn is particularly strong amongst women in general and young women in particular. Polling internationally and in Ireland suggests that women are moving leftward. This represents a crucial opportunity to redress the historically significant gender imbalance within the left. 

The rise of the far right is unfortunately not a temporary phenomenon, but something that will be an ongoing challenge for us in the years to come. Challenging racism and prejudice of all sorts within the working class is a key task in the unifying of the class to fight against the capitalist class. 

How we do that has been the focus of multiple national meetings. Our agreed approach can be briefly summarised as a) confronting and attempting to block the far-right from mobilising where possible, b) broader united fronts to challenge racism and c) consistent work to try to mobilise working class people and focus anger upwards at those really responsible. 

But there is a powerful backlash to this rightward shift, typified by the opposition that Trump engenders worldwide. It is worth remembering that even at the height of the anti-immigrant protest movement, the numbers turning out week in and week out for Palestine were always far greater. In every working class area where tricolours have been erected as an anti-immigrant symbol, there are very many people who are disgusted at this abuse of the tricolour and the branding of their community in this way. 

The revival of Irish, expressed by the popularity of Kneecap and other artists, is part of a struggle over defining what it is to be Irish today. In opposition to the narrow white nationalism of those who are hanging the tricolours on lampposts is one which is rooted in our anti-colonial struggle. James Connolly remains a crucial reference point for us. 

Catherine Connolly’s election victory was also an electoral expression of this countercurrent, just as Mamdani’s victory in New York and Die Linke’s good election result in 2024. It is vital to underline that this countercurrent doesn’t just automatically mean good election results or movements - these need to be consciously organised and built. 

The Connolly campaign showed that when the left leads and sets the agenda, we can win. We can't let the far right or the establishment set the agenda, the socialist left must take the front foot, building campaigns and fighting for a left government

The left after the Connolly victory

On the surface, it appears that politics has returned to ‘normal’ after the spectacular Connolly victory, which demonstrated that left unity can win. Despite the public declaration of interest in left co-operation, the other parties of the left appear hesitant about making any actual moves in that direction. This is fuelled by political caution and narrow electoral party advantage. 

It is People Before Profit that has tried to drive this forward - proposing a joint motion on the Occupied Territories Bill involving all of the forces of the Connolly campaign, working to develop united front campaigns on the cost of living and neutrality, and making a series of proposals designed to push forward the discussion on left government, including working towards a joint assembly of the left and establishing formal transfer pacts for the upcoming by-elections. So far, this has not been widely reciprocated. 

However, the polls suggest that the Connolly campaign continues to have an impact. The latest Business Post opinion poll shows Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael combined support falling to an historically low 33%, down 10% from the last general election. The combined support of the ‘Connolly coalition’ is 44%, with the lion’s share of that taken by Sinn Féin at 24% and the Social Democrats at 10%. 

The Connolly result has given renewed momentum to the idea of a left alternative. Of course, PBP’s opinion poll rating, which remains stuck at three percent should also puncture any impression that a rising tide of the left will necessarily lift all boats. Together with being the champions of the desire for change of ordinary people - “unite the left - fight for a left government”, we must also differentiate ourselves. 

We can do so by putting demands and pressure on the others on the left - to rule out coalition with FF/FG, to stop the scapegoating of asylum seekers, to use their authority to mobilise people now instead of waiting for an election and by advancing distinct anti-capitalist politics which relate to thousands of working people e.g. No shamrock for Trump. Where other left parties slide back to pro-capitalist policies, we should challenge them openly, e.g. on rent hikes for council tenants. We also need to out-organise these other forces locally and nationally. 

Pat Leahy in the Irish Times wrote a piece which explains part of the hesitancy of other parts of the left to engage with us as follows:

“A delicate question is posed by the role of People Before Profit-Solidarity, early cheerleaders for Catherine Connolly and among the most enthusiastic proponents for a united left. But none of their putative partners believe for a moment that any imaginable programme for government would be sufficiently left-wing for People Before Profit-Solidarity to support.

“In other words, nobody expects People Before Profit-Solidarity to be in government with them. That being so, a break is inevitable – and better to have it sooner rather than later and before the left-wing alliance has been dragged too far to the left, the argument goes. That would deprive the left alliance of some of its most effective media performers, though. People Before Profit-Solidarity TDs continue to enjoy a media profile that Government backbenchers can only dream of.”

He is not wrong that a programme for government would have to be ‘sufficiently left-wing’ for People Before Profit to consider joining it. This is not because of an abstract concern for leftist purity. It’s because tackling real world problems - housing, climate, cost of living - means taking on the capitalist class, which profits from these crises. 

We want to be in a left government, not for Mercs and perks, but as part of a transformative movement to fundamentally change society. We do not want to be part of a government that wins votes promising change but follows the rules of capitalism and therefore fails to deliver. A left government must be willing to take on the corporate landlords, break with the tax haven model and lead an ecosocialist transformation.

It is up to us to explain in popular and accessible terms the key measures that would be required for us to participate in a government. This approach was outlined previously in the ‘red lines’ and ‘core policies’ strategy and expressed in our ‘Left Government’ pamphlet. We will need to update these to have a way to clearly and simply explain the necessity of a government committed to a rupture with the capitalist system. 

Alongside that, we can publicly and privately commit that regardless of agreement on a programme for government, our votes will be used to elect a non-FF/FG Taoiseach and a government that excludes FF and FG.

In the by-elections, we need to vigorously pursue the possibility of a transfer pact. If we continue to get no real engagement in our attempts at serious bilateral discussions with Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats, and the idea of a liaison committee of the left, and an assembly of the left, we should consider how we can work with others to take grassroots initiatives which move the situation on and skillfully challenge the failure of others to grasp the opportunities to deepen left co-operation.

Workers’ struggles

Workers’ struggles undoubtedly remain at a low ebb. The number of days lost to industrial action in 2024 (the most recent year available) is the second lowest ever since the records began. A related problem is that trade union density has declined by 5% since 2020.

However, there is significant discontent in workplaces across the country. The Covalen strike is a microcosm of some of the struggles of the future. It is a strike of workers who are subcontracted to work for Meta on content moderation. It is partly about the displacement of workers by AI - an issue that will only increase in importance in the coming years. The picket lines have an energy and life which is infectious to anyone who attends - reflecting the multinational nature of the workers as well as their youth.

Another struggle that does not fit the traditional definition of industrial action is that of the taxi drivers. Like the Covalen workers, they are faced with the reduction of their autonomy and a crushing of their living standards by the power of Big Tech. In their case, Uber is consciously attempting to undermine the regulated fare structure through its fixed pricing model. The call for the NTA to develop a public taxi app is a popular one that cuts across the so-called “common sense” of free market provision of services. 

The most significant strike in the last year was that of the school secretaries and caretakers, organised in Fórsa, who commenced an indefinite strike in late August, combined with significant protest action. This was a strike for parity of treatment in terms of pensions in particular. After suspending the strike in September, a full resolution has still not been reached. 

The conduct of the school secretaries strike, as well as the development of the Digital and Techworker Alliance (part of the CWU) which is organising the Covalen workers is an illustration that amongst some sections of the union leadership there is a growing recognition that continuing to do the same as was done before is the road to increasing irrelevance of trade unions. Bold organising campaigns are necessary to recruit in the private sector in particular.

But the decline in union influence and the failure of union leaders to give a lead on the issues facing the working class more generally (such as housing) does not mean that all avenues for struggle are closed off. Given the assault on living standards, the ongoing housing crisis and the general failure to address people's needs, resistance is often displaced, as was the case with water charges, outside of the workplace. 

The world continues to slide deeper into barbarism marked by ecological devastation, war and genocide and the rise of the far-right. The southern state is no outlier, but part of this general process.

Compared to socialists in many other countries across the Global North, we do have distinct advantages. The rise of the far-right, although frightening and real, is much less developed than elsewhere. The political establishment has not recovered from the loss of its support base in the Great Recession and continues to decline. The left, broadly defined, maintains real support amongst the working class and can win the next general election. People Before Profit exists as a small, but significant national reference point for a section of radicalising young people and class conscious workers. 

The global crises of capitalism, both geopolitical and economic, will hit these shores harder than many other countries. They will further undermine the political establishment and create further openings for both the radical right and the left.

We are in a privileged position as socialists in Ireland that the choices we make really matter. The development of a balanced perspective which pinpoints the opportunities that exist will enable us to grasp them.

This article is based on a document presented to People Before Profit’s recent AGM.