CYM Statement on the European
Parliament Elections
The CYM is heartened to see there are a
number of leftwing candidates running in the upcoming European
elections, who are prepared to challenge the disastrous
policies of the European establishment, which have caused mass
youth unemployment across Europe. The CYM does want to work
with leftwing groups and individuals who are resisting the
neo-liberal policies of the EU. We recognise the contribution
Paul Murphy MEP of the Socialist Party, who has co-operated
with other socialists in the Parliament, and has been an
articulate voice against austerity. We wish Paul good luck in
the upcoming election.
However, we do not believe that any of these candidates are
fundamentally opposed to the European Union. The EU is
inherently an imperialist alliance designed to serve big
business, and put the interests of capital before the
interests of labour. The fact that there is no significant
progressive force in Ireland calling to leave the EU, or even
the Euro, confirms that the left in Ireland is very naive
about the inherently capitalist and imperialist nature of the
EU.
Imperialism and neo-liberalism is enshrined in the EU
treaties. The CYM do not see the EU as reformable. There is no
possibility of a ‘Social Europe’ while the EU exists.
The idea that a ‘Social Europe’ can be created
by the EU is a dangerous myth perpetuated
by Social Democrats. The Social Democrats want to con
workers into thinking they will receive a social dividend if
they pledge their support to European imperialst and
capitalist project.
These elections are an opportunity for people in Ireland to
consider our relationship with the European Project. The CYM
calls on young people to question the nature of the Euro
currency, and ask ‘
In whose interest does it serve?’
The European Central Bank is a fundamentally undemocratic
institution that runs European monetary policies in the
interests of bankers and big business. The ECB is more
concerned with keeping interest rates low than creating jobs
for young people. The ECB, in collaboration with subservient
Irish elites, has shackled tens of billions of private banking
debt upon the Irish people. This debt is illegitimate, and we
call on it to be repudiated.
The neo-liberal policies, emerging from Brussels and
Frankfurt, pit the peoples of Europe into competition with
each other for jobs and services. These policies divide
European people and give rise to reactionary forces. The CYM
wishes to see a Europe built upon co-operation between
democratic, socialist and sovereign nations, where the economy
is democratically planned according to people’s needs and
abilities. Only an economy built around public ownership and
planning can create dignified employment for all, as well as a
guaranteed right to healthcare, education, housing, and access
to a high level of culture and leisure.
Socialism is needed to stop our environment being destroyed
for profit, and stop imperialist wars for new markets and
resources. Socialism cannot be achieved within the current EU
framework, and any talk of Socialism within the EU is pure
folly. We hope that other groups on the left will come to
realize that socialism can only succeed outside of the EU.
[statement ends]
The
World Federation of democratic Youth on the First of May
On the First on May, the Workers Day. The day that resembles
the righteous of the peoples in a prosperous developed world. In
a world, that reaches their presence as individuals with a right
to produce, a developed society. Being the ones that
benefit from their own production, taking this advantage of
their qualities for a better life.
On this great day, history strikes its events, that shouldn’t
be forgettable, in the necessity of overthrowing the system
responsible of the misery of the workers for decades. The
exploitation of the workers’ capability, so that the minority
can rule, on the flesh of the majority. The attack of the
workers’ trade union, to deprive the
workers from organizing their strength. The measures of the
liberal economy, privatization and open market, turning the
workers into slaves of the monopolies. Working in the lowest
conditions, for the benefits of these monopolies.
On this great day, history also strikes with the struggle of
the workers that forced their rights, and forced the
resemblance of their right on this day. The struggles of the
workers, that rejected the exploitation of the capitalist
system, the privatization of their national wealth, the long
working hours, the monopolization of the product and means of
production by the capitalist system. The wars, invasions, and
intervention done by their name, only benefiting the
monopolies and capitalist system.
From the struggles of the workers, to the peoples, forces, and
systems that supported, fought, and struggled to obtain the
legitimate right of the peoples and workers through the
history. Into the measures and character of imperialism
depriving this right.
The World federation of Democratic Youth salutes the workers
and youth of the world in the First of May. As well as,
confirms its position among the workers’ struggles, against
their exploitation. Besides the progressive forces fighting
against imperialism, its measures and aggressions. Into a
world, that insures the workers’ right.
Long live workers’ struggle!
The CC/HQ of WFDY
Budapest, May 1st 2014
Youth
Resistance CYM Public Talk Video by Connolly Media Group
No to
forced labour schemes, Yes to real jobs, real pay and a
real future!
Ireland’s youth are in crisis. Facing prolonged
unemployment, cuts to social welfare, increases in
college/apprenticeship fees and the proliferation of
questionable free labour schemes, some 177,000 young people
have emigrated from Ireland since 2008.
They are voting with their feet, leaving in search of real
jobs, real opportunities and a real future.
They leave behind the empty promises and empty rhetoric of
the government parties.
They leave behind the “Youth Guarantee” which has neither
the funding nor capacity to deal with the scale of the youth
unemployment crisis and which perversely will see young
people being forced to take up places on free labour schemes
such as JobBridge and Gateway or face the threat of further
cuts to their social welfare.
Our young people deserve better than a choice between forced
emigration or forced poverty. Take a stand for real jobs,
real pay and a real future for young people in Ireland.
CWU Youth Committee Ireland
Mandate Youth Network
ScamBridge
Trade Union Left Forum
Unite Youth - Dublin Activist Group
Unite Youth Ireland
We're Not Leaving
Connolly Youth Movement
Young Workers Network
Dublin Council of Trade Unions
SWAN
Union of Students in Ireland (USI)
Sinn Féin Ireland
Sinn Féin - Republican Youth
Common announcement of the CYO's on the
developments in Ukraine
The developments in Ukraine are
particularly crucial and dangerous, first of all for the
people and the youth of the country, who are being transformed
again into victims of the intense antagonisms between the
USA-EU and Russia, for the control of markets, of natural
resources and the transportation networks of the country.
The open intervention of the EU-USA-NATO, the utilization
of fascist groups and organizations which are the
descendants of the SS and spread fascist and Nazi venom and
anticommunism, the planned persecutions and banning of
political parties primarily against the communists, and the
racist laws that are being prepared against the
Russian-speaking population and other minorities, all
demonstrate the character of the developments, and uncover the
lies about the “triumph of democracy in Ukraine”.
The youth – especially in Europe – can now see more clearly
the real face of the EU: it's a union of the capitalists and
of the monopolies of Europe and serves their interests; that
is why the EU is reactionary in its nature. It is a
union of military interventions, wars, support of the fascist
groups, of anticommunism which is its official ideology. All
those cultivating the illusions that the EU can
transform into a force of peace and stability in favor of the
peoples, have a great responsibility here.
The Communist Youth Organizations that sign this announcement:
Denounce the intervention of the EU-USA-NATO in the internal
affairs of Ukraine, the direct support that they are providing
to the armed fascist groups, the menaces of a foreign military
intervention.
Express our solidarity with the Communists of Ukraine. We
denounce the persecutions and the attempts to ban the
Communist Party of Ukraine.
The young people of the working class and of the popular
strata must not fall in the trap of nationalist dilemmas, in
choosing a side in the antagonisms over who will exploit them.
On the contrary, the youth have an interest in
organizing and struggling along with the working class, to
open their own way: the way of the struggle in favor of our
modern needs, so that the wealth remains in the hands of those
who produce it, so that we rid ourselves from the imperialist
unions and their antagonisms.
1. Communist Youth of Austria KJOe
2. Union of Communist Youth Brazil UJC
3. Communist Youth Avancando Brazil JCA
4. YCL Britain
5. Communist Youth of Bolivia JCB
6. YCL Canada
7. Colombian Communist Youth - JUCO
8. EDON Cyprus
9. Young Socialists Croatia
10. Young Communists of Denmark - Ungkommunisterne i Danmark
11. Communist Youth of Ecuador JCE
12. Movement of Young Communists France MJCF
13. Socialist German Worker Youth - SDAJ
14. YCL Georgia
15. Communist Youth of Greece KNE
16. Left Front Hungary – Baloldali Front
17. Young Communist Front of Italy FGC
18. Connolly Youth Movement Ireland
19. YCL Mexico – LJC Mexico
20. Young Communists of Norway – UngKom i Norges
21. Paraguayan Communist Youth – JCP
22. Portuguese Communist Youth – JCP
23. RCYLb Russia – RKSMb
24. YCL Yugoslavia (Serbia) – SKOJ
25. Collectives of Young Communists, Spain – CJC
26. Union of Communist Youth of Spain – UJCE
Social Media: In whose interest does
it serve?
I can’t help but wonder sometimes if the internet and all of
its social media outlets like YouTube, facebook, twitter,
blog sites, instagram etc have been the biggest help or the
biggest hindrance in fostering unity among left political
forces, engaging young people in class politics and creating
new narratives to events happening around the world. There
has been a definite increase and shift in how stories are
breaking and in the age of digital technology and the
arrival of broadband internet, there has been a
transformative shift in how the public interact, receive and
relay information on an almost infinite number of topics.
This has enabled them to not only enter but in fact shape
the traditional media discourse. Before the arrival of the
digital revolution, this had been under the exclusive
ownership of institutions of the media.
Statement of WFDY on the
developments in Ukraine
The past months the international anti-imperialist movement is
watching closely the dangerous developments that are taking
place in Ukraine and the power struggle among imperialism that
are leading the Ukrainian people in dangerous paths. The past
few days the situation has deteriorated more openly into an
international crisis.
The developments starting with the so-called Maidan
demonstrations against the Yanukovych government showed
clearly the elements of international interventions over the
control of the country. The European Union, NATO and the US
supported openly the demonstrations against the
Russia-orientated government of Ukraine as a way of
controlling the developments in a country that has great
geopolitical interest in the power battle between Russia and
NATO-EU. The gas lines connecting Russia to Europe and the
effort to strengthen NATO presence around Russia are directly
connected to the current situation.
In their will to promote their political, military and
financial interests, the European Union openly supported
neo-Nazi and far right paramilitary groups that leaded the
violence during the demonstrations. Despite their efforts to
present the Ukrainian demonstrations as a revolution in the
name of freedom and democracy, the European Union revealed
once again that imperialism, the monopolies and fascism are
connected systemically. The new laws of the so-called
revolutionary government which support minority discrimination
and the ban of the Communist Party in Ukraine are applauded by
the EU. At the same time, the Yanukovych government cannot
claim its innocence in the roots of these developments as its
corruption and unpopular policies supported another part o the
Ukrainian bourgeoisie and created public frustration.
These are results of the capitalist reconstruction that
started in the 1990’s. The promises of a prosperous future
shortly lead to hunger, unemployment, chaos, and continuous
economic crises. Today the people of Ukraine are facing the
results of the capitalist reconstruction in their country.
In this escalating confrontation between the Ukrainian
bourgeoisie and the sides that each one has chosen, whether
this is the EU-NATO or Russia, the people of Ukraine have
nothing to benefit by putting their country as a protectorate
of any power. The accusations for interventions coming
especially from the EU and NATO but also from Russia are
ridiculously hypocritical. The sovereignty and dignity of the
people of Ukraine can be only found in the fight of the
interests of the working class
and the popular masses and not by their dominate class that
puts them into adventures that can only bring war and misery.
At the same time the intense and undisguised intervention of
EU-NATO in Ukraine caused the imitated response of Russia. The
escalation of the crisis is rapidly internationalized,
confirming the concerns of WFDY that repeatedly stated: the
capitalist crisis in intensifying the international
antagonisms of the monopolies and the threat of a small or
wider scale international military conflict.
In the light of current development, the World Federation of
Democratic Youth stands in solidarity with the people of
Ukraine and their fight to stop the march of EU-NATO supported
fascism in their country. At the same time we underline that
the popular interests cannot be aligned with the interests of
any imperialist as they serve only their monopolies. In the
shadow of the forthcoming developments WFDY clearly states
that the only ally of the youth is the struggle of the popular
masses and the anti-imperialist movement.
The CC/HQ of WFDY
Budapest, 5 March, 2014
Joint Statement of Communist and
Workers’ Parties on the recent developments in Ukraine
(Proposed by the KKE and DKP)
Statement on the reactionary developments in
Ukraine
The recent dramatic
developments in Ukraine do not constitute the “victory of
democracy” by the alleged “revolutionaries”, as it is being
described by the mass media of the USA and the EU, but is a
dangerous development, above all for the people of Ukraine
themselves.
Reactionary political forces, ideological descendents of the
Nazis, have risen to the political “surface” with the
assistance of the EU and the USA. These are forces which
apart from destroying the offices of their opponents, are
planning political persecutions, and the banning of parties,
above all against the communists, and even racist
legislation at the expense of the Russian-speaking
population, like what has been in force for the last 20
years in the countries of the “European” Baltic, with
the blatant political support of the EU.
The communist and workers’ parties that
sign this Joint Statement:
- Express our solidarity and support with the
communists of Ukraine, above all with those who in many
instances went on to the streets in order to defend the
monuments of Lenin and the other Soviet and ant-fascist
monuments, which found themselves “targeted” by the
ideological “cleansing” of history being attempted by the
nationalist-fascist armed groups
- Denounce the USA and the EU regarding their
blatant involvement in the internal affairs of Ukraine,
regarding the direct support they provided and are providing
to the armed fascist groups, supporting historical
revanchism against the outcome of the 2nd World War,
transforming anti-communism into their official policy, as
well as beautifying the fascist groups, their criminal
ideology and activity, promoting the division of the people
of Ukraine with planned persecutions at the expense of the
Russian-speaking of Ukraine.
- Highlight that the
positions of the opportunist forces are dangerous, which
spread illusions that there could exist another “better
EU’, “another better association agreement of the EU with
Ukraine”. The EU, like every capitalist inter-state union,
is a predatory alliance which has a deeply reactionary
character can not become pro-people, and acts and will
continue to act against the workers’ people’s rights and
the peoples.
- Note that the developments in Ukraine are
connected to the intervention of the EU and the USA, are
the results of the fierce competition of these powers with
Russia for the control of markets, raw material and the
country’s transport networks. However the people of
Ukraine, as all the other peoples of Europe have no
interests in siding with the one or the other imperialist,
or the one or the other predatory alliance.
The interests of the working class and popular strata of
Ukraine mean that they must prevent themselves from being
“trapped” in nationalist, divisive dilemmas, on the basis of
ethnic, linguistic, religious particularities and to
prioritize their common class interests, to chart their path
of class struggle, for their rights and socialism. Socialism
remains as timely and necessary as ever. This is the
perspective against every capitalist inter-state union, in
order to pave the way for an economy and society that will
not operate on the basis of profit, but on the basis of the
needs of the workers.
ENDS.
Is it just me, or has the world
gone mad?
Is it just me, or has the world gone mad?
That eighty-five people in a Roman bath
Bathe in blood while wearing a mask—
They must feel shame, or is that too much to ask?
But these are the gods for whom temples are built
And it is we left standing without a pillow to sleep.
Is it just me, or has the world gone mad?
With this Russian roulette, the chips have been set.
Our mother the player the bullet she’ll get,
Because there’s too much return with betting on black.
No room at the table for the poor voice of the masses,
That is for the oligarchs, patriarchs, and monarchs.
Is it just me, or has the world gone mad?
With coloured risings and revolutionary-speak,
A boxed image tunnelled to its peak,
While cannibalised writing takes a front seat,
Carving these intricate tales of the East,
The lens set to blur to hide the veneer.
Is it just me, or has the world gone mad?
That the demons of the past have won at last.
From the blood-soaked forests they’ve hoisted their mast,
Proud of atrocities their legacy has cast.
They’ve stepped from their murky disgusting shadow
And now line the streets with a legion to follow.
Is it just me, or has the world gone mad?
That the very same heroes whose history is buried,
The real men and women, of which there are many,
Took on and beat the world’s most fearsome army,
Now, like a cruel twist of fate, set to repeat,
To be one of the first victims, just like back in ’33.
But it’s not just me: the world has gone mad.
The insanity of it all makes it so frustrating and sad.
Doing the same thing over and over again,
Expecting to get something else instead.
So we must look to the past and always remember
Those heroes who fell and their glowing embers.
[EON]
Whose revolution?
Apparently there’s a revolution afoot in
Ukraine. Just tune in to RTE, the BBC or Euronews and you
could be forgiven for thinking that a wave of popular unrest
is sweeping the country, on the receiving end of which is a
Russian-imposed puppet government that established itself
through coercion and sustains itself through autocratic
terror.
The riots are serious and
sustained. Police and protesters have been killed and injured.
The demonstrators’ spokespersons are being interviewed
continually by the Western media—threatening “civil war” and
asserting that they are in the business of overthrowing a
dictatorship.
No matter how many times this
is repeated, however, the factual information stubbornly
refuses to acquiesce in their story. Ukraine’s government was
elected by the Ukrainian people on 28 October 2012, an
election that was notable for a sharp fall in support for
Yulia Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party, and the almost tripling
of the vote attained by the Communist Party.
So, is this protest movement
just an attempt by Ukraine’s pro-Western opposition to heap
some pressure on the government before the 2015 elections?
Closer inspection of the rioting crowds reveals a much more
sinister purpose.
On 1 January this year
thousands of young men wearing masks and balaclavas marched
side by side with Second World War veterans—complete with
their old uniforms and deactivated guns—through the capital
city, Kyiv. They were involved in a commemoration that would
be considered unthinkable in much of the rest of modern
Europe. The march’s imagery told the story of the
participants’ ideals: the black-and-red flags, the Celtic
crosses, the runic of the German Schutzstaffel—the SS; and on
their placards the hard-faced image of Stepan Bandera. This
was the uncompromising leader of the militant terrorist branch
of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, which declared
an independent Ukraine on 30 June 1941—nine days before Nazi
Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
This independent Ukrainian
government’s first act was to collaborate with the Nazis, who
enlisted Bandera’s men in setting up Ukrainian volunteer
battalions. So began an era of incredible barbarism; for, like
the Nazis, Bandera believed that “Bolshevism” and the Jewish
population of Ukraine were the enemies within Ukrainian
society that were to be “cleansed.” A Banderist pamphlet
proclaimed to Ukrainian Jews: “We will lay your heads at
Hitler’s feet.” For more than 1½ million of them, as well as
hundreds of thousands of (Jewish and non-Jewish) Polish,
Hungarian and Russian civilians, the mass graves of the “final
solution” were to be their fate.
The Germans had no intention of
allowing Ukrainian independence of any kind within their Third
Reich, and so they jailed Bandera and his government for
several years, before releasing him again in 1944 when the war
turned against them, setting him up with his own headquarters
in Berlin and letting him and his colleagues return to train
the death squads of the “Ukrainian Insurgent Army.”
Bandera’s story didn’t end in
the ruins of Berlin in 1945, however. Declassified CIA
documents in 2007 revealed that Bandera worked first for
British and then West German intelligence after the war. On 14
October 1959 he was discussing the expansion of his
underground operations in Ukraine while dining with the top
brass of a thoroughly infiltrated BND (West German
intelligence). Acting on this information, the following day a
KGB anti-terror unit caught up with him.
Bandera’s legacy and that of
the rest of the anti-Soviet émigré and underground
OUN/Banderist movement has left an indelible mark on Ukraine’s
political landscape. Always close to West German and latterly
EU interests, and implacably opposed to any policy considered
socialist or pro-Russian (for they regard these as essentially
the same), the modern protesters of the UDAR and Svoboda
(formally the “Social-Nationalists”) remain committed to their
wartime idea that Ukraine is “ruled by a Muscovite-Jewish
mafia” and annually commemorate Ukrainian Waffen-SS divisions
and attack Victory Day celebrations.
While the young men on the
barricades in Kyiv and throughout western Ukraine are the
openly fascist cadres of these groups, what makes them truly
dangerous is the gamble of the larger and more moderate
Fatherland party in supporting this movement, under the cover
of protesting against the government’s opting for a trade deal
with Russia rather than the European Union. They know they
cannot control the movement on the streets, but with the
brazen blessing of the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and
the president of the EU Council, Herman van Rompuy, they
clearly feel that they will be in a position to negotiate on
its behalf with the “international community” if a coup
develops that can bring down the government.
The ideas such a
“revolutionary” government would be based on—presumably within
the “liberal” European Union—should be reason enough to take
these riots very seriously. As one commentator recently
pointed out, if the BNP and EDL were to begin rioting in
England while holding up images of Oswald Mosley it would be
one thing; if they received support from the European Union
and the United States, entirely another. (DOC)
THE WORLD FEDERATION OF DEMOCRATIC YOUTH
PROCLAMATION IN REJECTION OF THE VIOLENT ACTIONS OF
VENEZUELAN FASCIST RIGHT-WING AGAINST VENEZUELAN PEOPLE
In recent hours, the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela has come under attack from the fascist right-wing,
as a the plan of imperialism against the revolutionary
process; supported by the most reactionary sectors -inside and
outside- of Venezuela, whose format is similar to the coup
d'état driven in 2002 against the President Hugo Chavez.
This plan has the objective not only to end the Bolivarian
process, but undermining the process of regional integration
in Latin America. Today, a reverse in the process in Venezuela
means to deal a blow to the rest of the democratic and
progressive process on the continent.
We condemn and repudiate the deaths that have resulted from
the concretion of these violent acts, generating disorder,
attacks on public institutions and generally promoting a
violent destabilization agenda in the country. We support the
call for peace, defense of the revolutionary process and unit
have different youth organizations in Venezuela.
Attending to the call for international solidarity we are
asking to all members and partners of the World Federation of
Democratic Youth to express solidarity with youth, people,
workers and the Venezuelan Government continuation of the
legacy of Commander Chavez.
Long live the World Peace!
Down with imperialism!
CC/HQ WFDY
Budapest, Frabraury 14th, 2014
Tacaíonn Ógra Uí Chonaíle go
láidir le tionscnamh Chonradh na Gaeilge "Lá Mór na
Gaeilge" a reáchtáil don Satharn seo chugainn, 15ú
Feabhra.
Eagraíodh an léirsiú i ndiaidh cinnidh
an Choimisinéara Teanga, Seán Uí Chuirreáin, go mbeidh sé
ag éirí as a phost ag deireadh na míosa seo, i ngeall an
easpa tacaíochta rialtais ó Dheas do chearta pobal na
Gaeilge, go háirithe i gceantair Gaeltachtaí.
Luaigh an tUasal Uí Chuirreáin nach bhfuil Oifig an
Choimisinéara Teanga in ann feidhmiú mar is ceart de bharr
an laghdú in achmhainní na hOifige.
Laghdaíodh leithdháiltí na
nGaeltachtaí i ngach Buiséad ó thús na géarchéime, trí
imeallú a dhéanamh ar an dteanga sa chórás riaracháin
phoiblí.
Níl rochtain cheart a thuilleadh ag muintir na
nGaeltachtaí ar sheirbhísí phoiblí trí mheán na Gaeilge.
Cuimsítear seribhísí bunúsacha ar nós oifigí poist agus
dochtúirí. Saraíonn na polasaithe rialtais seo a gcearta
teanga.
Baineann an cruachás leis an Tuaisceart chomh maith. Is í
Tuaisceart na hÉireann an t-aon áit idir an dá oileán seo
nach bhfuil reachtaíocht ar bith ann le cosaint a
thabhairt dá teanga dhúchais.
Is furasta an rud é do na rialtais, ó dheas agus ó
thuaidh, leithcheal a dhéanamh ar mhionlaigh ar nós lucht
na nGaeltachtaí.
Impíonn Ógra Uí Chonaíle ar ógra na tíre a dtuairimí a
chinntiú ar an gceist thábhatach seo. Is ógánaigh iad
formhór lucht labhartha na teanga ar an oileán seo.
Is cuid lárnach í an Ghaeilge dár gcultúr ach fulaingeoidh
sí mura léirimid dlúthphairtíocht leis an tsreachailt ar a
son.
Is linn an teanga. Go mairfidh sí go brách.
ENDS.
The CYM urges all young people to support "Lá Mór na
Gaeilge" and to attend the protest "Walk For Your Rights"
on Saturday, February 15th.
Young people make up the majority of Irish language
speakers on this island. The language will suffer unless
we, the youth, make a strong statement of solidarity this
Saturday to all those concerned about its future.
ENDS.
Education: A Front for Youth's
Struggle
In times of economic crisis and relentless austerity such as
these, it is crucial to take a step back from the
situation in which we find ourselves and examine the bigger
picture. While many of us are used to the typical news
digest concerning the government's quest for jobs and
the public finances, one sector of our society is undergoing
major "reforms" that receive little critical coverage:
education. The state's budget deficits over the past few
years have been used as an excuse for the ruling classes, both
here and in the real centre of power, the EU, to
implement fundamental changes in the way our education
systems are funded. This unquestionably means the
privatization of our academic institutions, particularly
at third-level, as well as an increased role by businesses and
philanthropists (i.e. wealthy private investors) in how
they are run. The consequences of such measures will be
grave for young people and society in general if we leave our
centres of learning at the mercy of market forces and
the destructive demands of profit.
Last November, the EU parliament passed a resolution
establishing a programme called "Erasmus+", which will operate
in all member states of the EEA (European Education
Area) for the next six years. While RTÉ dressed the initiative
up as a "€14 billion fund to help young people to study
in other European countries", its scope and aims have a
far wider reach. The preamble emphasizes the importance
of cooperation between higher education institutions and
businesses, and apprenticeships are advocated as a means
of bridging the gap between knowledge acquired through
education and the skills needed for work. Such policies
are casualizing young people's entry into the labour market,
making them grateful for the opportunity to work for
nothing. If anyone was under the illusion that the Irish
government is the only authority to have focused on internship
schemes such as JobBridge, they're wrong. It's an official EU
policy line, designed to provide enterprises with a free
supply of highly qualified labour. It is not about young
people upskilling themselves. What is usually referred
to as “labour mobility” in the media has now been given
the seemingly innocuous title “learning mobility” by the EU
Parliament.
The EU's attitude towards the cost of education for students
is contemptible. In a
parliament resolution of April 2012, third-level institutions
were encouraged "to expand scholarship and funding
programmes", but in a resolution of October 2013, Member
States were called on to "uphold the right of all
persons, whatever their economic circumstances, to free
and universal education of high quality". The “social Europe”
we hear of so often clearly has no concrete plan
regarding the provision of accessible, affordable
education services in the future.
The position is unambiguous however, when it comes to the more
mercenary aspects of the EU's ambitions. The Bologna
Declaration states that "We must in particular look at
the objective of increasing the international
competitiveness of the European system of higher
education.... We need to ensure that the European higher
education system acquires a world-wide degree of
attraction". The Bologna Process aims to standardize
qualifications throughout the EEA, a move which benefits
employers seeking graduates from states with cheaper
labour costs. It also gives support to "universities'
independence and autonomy", which is simply a way of
inviting private interests in through the front door, instead
of a university being funded by taxes and subject to any
government oversight.
To bring the issue home, consider Dick Ahlstrom's article in
the Irish Times from October 28th last. State funding
for our universities is fast falling towards the 50% mark, and
this article discussed the State's possible future role
as a minority stakeholder in the third-level sector.
Outgoing UCD president Hugh Brady expressed his opposition to
what he perceives to be "State command and control",
arguing that universities should be allowed to pay their
own way in the world. How has UCD embarked on these plans as
of late? With the help of those ever-so independent
individuals, the philanthropists. Who are they? Peter
Sutherland, for one, chairman of Goldman Sachs, who
part-financed a €25 million development, the Sutherland
School of Law. Denis O'Brien is another, after whom the
O'Brien Centre for Science is named, a development supported
by numerous industry partners that will cost €300
million in total. The sky's the limit for these universities
once they tap into the vast amounts of private capital
at their fingertips. Companies such as Intel and
Accenture hand over the funds, and dictate the areas where the
investment should go, where the graduates should come
from. These projects will serve to help UCD to "compete
internationally for the best staff and researchers and the top
rated graduates and postdoctoral researchers" according
to Dr Brady. The industry partners will receive a fine
return on their investments, and with the means of
international graduates at the disposal of the
universities, the question of affordable education for the
Irish people will be ignored.
Those who actually provide education are suffering as well.
Both Dublin and Westminster have used the crisis as an
excuse to target teachers and, particularly in the case of
the South, to break the back of the resolute teachers'
unions. The Haddington Road Agreement is simply
condemning teachers and lecturers to unpaid labour. Just like
their students, they are expected to work for nothing.
All Supervision & Substitution Scheme payments have
been abolished for secondary school teachers, with a minimum
of 43 hours of such unpaid work to be put in every year.
Third-level staff have to contribute an extra 75 hours
of work per year, and they will only receive 75% of their
former rate for marking exams. What is less known is the
amount by which workers' pay in the education sector has
declined. The latest figures from the CSO show that between Q3
2009 and Q3 2013, their weekly wages were reduced by a
shocking 12.8%, more than any other employment sector in
the economy. The corresponding figure is 13% in the North. A
recent strike in Belfast by lecturers' and students'
unions was supported by the CYM.
CYM opposes the reforms in the education sector that have
taken place during the present crisis. We reject the EU
agenda of privatizing our educational institutions, of
exposing the education system to the brutality of market
forces. We oppose the continued growth of private
funding in this sector, a development that will render our
third-level institutions unaccountable and out of public
hands. We express our strongest solidarity with the
struggle of teachers and lecturers that have suffered as a
result of government policies in the education sector,
and with their unions who strive to defend their working
conditions.
The quality of our education suffers as a result of the
exploitation of these workers. The government is not
acting in the students' interest, because it is beholden to
the interests of its private creditors and the EU. Young
people must act in their interest. The CYM supports the
constitutions of Cuba and Venezuela, which guarantee their
peoples an education system free of charge, democratic
and obligatory. We call on all young people to engage in
a struggle for this objective.
(Article published in Socialist Voice,
Jan. 2014)
Seven Myths about the USSR
By Stephen Gowans
The Soviet Union was
dissolved 22 years ago, on December 26, 1991.
It’s widely believed
outside the former republics of the USSR that Soviet
citizens fervently wished for this; that Stalin was hated as
a vile despot; that the USSR’s socialist economy never
worked; and that the citizens of the former Soviet Union
prefer the life they have today under capitalist democracy
to, what, in the fevered parlance of Western journalists,
politicians and historians, was the repressive, dictatorial
rule of a one-party state which presided over a sclerotic,
creaky and unworkable socialist economy.
None of these beliefs is true.
Final declaration of the 18th WFDY
World Festival of Youth and
Students
The 8000 of delegates of the 18th
World Festival of Youth and Students who gathered
from 88 countries in Quito, Ecuador, under the
slogan “Youth united against imperialism, for the
World of Peace, Solidarity and Social
Transformation” declare the following:
We salute the people of Ecuador and
its struggles; we express our solidarity in the
struggle of the Ecuadorian people for popular
conquests and radical social-political changes. With
the support of the progressive and militant youth of
Ecuador which in the past years have made important
steps forward and achievements through its struggle
through the process of the “Citizens Revolution” the
international anti-imperialist youth movement
constructed another important moment in the history
of its organized struggle. We gathered in Latin
America, a continent were the youth movement is
steadily growing, once again for the biggest
anti-imperialist youth event in the world to
strengthen our common struggle towards our common
goal: the overthrown of Imperialism..
Read more
On the 46th
Anniversary of the Founding of the PFLP
On this, the 46th anniversary year
of the founding of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, the Connolly Youth Movement
wishes to send its fraternal greetings and
congratulations to our comrades in Palestine
fighting the Zionist occupation of their homelands.
From its founding in 1967 by George
Habash, and throughout these past 46 years of its
existence, the PFLP has remained steadfast in its
resistance to perpetual Zionist aggression.
Throughout its 46 years of struggle, the PFLP has
continuously brought the plight of the people of
Palestine to the attention of the whole world, and
has defended those same courageous people with
honour and dignity. During the massacre of innocent
men, women and children in Gaza in November 2012,
the PFLP, along with other groups, were to the fore
in resisting Israel’s attacks, answering each bomb
and missile in kind and showing the world that the
Palestinian people will not simply lie down in the
face of imperialist aggression, but will tenaciously
defend themselves.
Further, the PFLP has always rejected
the notion that there can be any settlement or
‘peace’ with the racist, apartheid state of Israel
as long as it continues to occupy stolen Palestinian
land, incarcerate millions of Palestinians in
open-air prisons such as the Gaza strip, and refuse
millions more Palestinian refugees the right to
return to the lands and homes that were so brutally
stolen from them upon the creation of the artificial
Zionist state in 1948. The PFLP has consistently
opposed the cul-de-sac of US-sponsored ‘peace talks’
with Israel, seeing them for what they are - mere
distractions from the struggle for true freedom and
democracy in Palestine. The fact remains that US
imperialism was and is the driving force behind the
Zionist state’s criminal acts in Palestine, and any
so-called ‘peace’ brokered by such charlatans must
be seen for the hypocritical sham it is.
Today, as we speak, the PFLP has
several hundred members incarcerated by the Zionist
state, among them the General Secretary of the
Front, Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat. We call on the Zionist
state to immediately release Comrade Sa’adat, along
with all political prisoners and prisoners of war
unjustly held in Zionist cages for the sole ‘crime’
of resisting the occupation of their lands.
On this, the 46th
anniversary year of the founding of the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine, we salute the martyrs
Ghassan Khanafani, George Habash, Abu Ali Mustafa, and
all those who have given their lives for the cause of
freedom and socialism. We wish our comrades in the
PFLP the greatest success and total victory in their
struggle to build a single, democratic, egalitarian
society in all of historic Palestine, where people of
all religions and none can live in peace, with full
economic and social freedom.
The death of Nelson Mandela
Statement by the Communist Party of
Ireland
5 December 2013
The Communist Party of Ireland expresses its great sadness
at the death of one of the great anti-colonial leaders of
the late twentieth century, Nelson Mandela.
Mandela was a towering
and inspirational figure, a leader of the oppressed of
South Africa and beyond. Together with other liberation
leaders he was convicted in the Rivonia Trial, concerning
two charges of sabotage, one under the Suppression of
Communism Act and one under the General Law Amendment Act.
Their arrest and trial provoked worldwide solidarity, with
money being collected in Ireland and around the world in
the early 1960s to be sent to the International Defence
and Aid Fund to assist Mandela and the other liberation
prisoners in their legal defence.
At this moment it is important to
acknowledge the major contribution made by working people
around the world to Mandela's liberation.
Despite spending
decades incarcerated in apartheid prisons, he remained
unbowed and unbroken. His walk to freedom, with his wife,
Winnie Mandela, beside him, was a defining image of the
late twentieth century. The white apartheid regime, which
for decades nestled snugly under the protective wing of
western governments, did not and could not break him or
the people’s resistance.
In one of his first
speeches Mandela paid tribute to the unbreakable and
unselfish solidarity given to the oppressed masses of
South Africa by the Soviet Union and the socialist bloc,
as against the inaction and active collaboration of almost
all western government with the apartheid regime that
incarcerated him for twenty-seven years. Mandela also paid
tribute to the heroic Cuban internationalists who defeated
the invading South African army on the battlefields of
Angola, which marked the beginning of the end of apartheid
South Africa. No doubt those same western governments will
now heap false praise on this champion of human
liberation, though they did nothing to help during his
long incarceration.
With his passing we also remember the
thousands of ordinary citizens, both inside and outside
South Africa, who campaigned for his release and for the
imposition of sanctions on the apartheid regime but whose
demands fell on deaf ears for many decades.
With the death of Nelson Mandela humanity
has lost a deeply humane and committed liberation leader.
We salute him and all the great leaders and fighters who
struggled, and those who are still struggling, for freedom
and social liberation. The long walk to freedom still has
many miles to go. Statement ends
United for Education!
Connolly Youth Movement supports the UCU, Unite and Unison
university staff strike on the 3rd December and urges students
to show solidarity with the strike by joining them on the
picket line. University staff have seen their pay cut by 13%
over the past 4 years while the cost of living has continued
to rise. At the same time staff are being asked to undertake
increasing workloads to the detriment of their health and
teaching. Around 30% of staff are working over 50 hours a week
and a large proportion of higher education institutions are
using precarious zero hours contracts. At the same time over
half of vice-chancellors are receiving salaries of over
£242,000. The conditions imposed on university staff have a
direct impact on students.
Overworked and underpaid staff's teaching ability is reduced
and so the quality of education students receive mirrors the
working conditions of those that teach them. This is happening
at the same time as higher education tuition fees, and their
associated debts, are dramatically increasing and educational
grants decimated. Both students and university staff have a
common struggle against austerity, the destruction of our
education services, the rights of who those who work within it
and young people's futures. We do not have to accept these
conditions which have been thrust upon us by those who seek to
profit from them. Through collective action workers and
students can demand social change for a system that supports a
decent standard of living for workers and an education system
geared towards supporting students rather than market forces.
Strike Information
Queens University, Belfast: Rally at 1pm at
QUB Student Union University of Ulster: Picketing at Campus
entrances throughout the day.
Open Letter of the KKE to the Communist
and Workers’ Parties on the Anti-Communist Activity of Die
Linke in the EU Parliament
Dear comrades,
We denounce anti-communism, we struggle against the
anti-communist positions of the EU and the anti-historical
equation of the socialism’s contribution with the monstrosity of
fascism at the International Meetings of Communist and Workers’
Parties, as well as at the other meetings of the CPs.
We highlight the irreplaceable
contribution of the Soviet Union to the struggle of the
peoples and we refer to the 20 million dead which it gave to
defeat Nazism.
We expose the dangerous rationale of the “two extremes” and
the relevant framework of the EU, as well as of the bourgeois
governments, a framework that has led to the persecution and
banning of Communist Parties.
We all understand that the struggle against anti-communism and
against the distortion of the historical contribution of
socialism is a very serious task and that the anti-communist
stance must be decisively denounced.
Consequently, we want to inform you that recently the MEP
Helmut Scholz, a cadre of the German Left party “Die Linke”, a
member of the presidium of the European Left Party (ELP),
organized in the European Parliament on the 12th and 13th of
November a meeting with the title: “I traveled to your country
as a guest – German opponents of Hitler as victims of
Stalinist terror: Family histories 1933-1956”.
As the EU Parliamentary Group of the KKE
denounced: “This is a wretched attempt to present German
anti-Nazis as victims of the Soviet workers’ state, an even
more sordid version of the official political line of the EU
that equates fascism-Nazism with communism and promotes the
“theory of the two extremes”. It is an insult to the thousands
of German communists and other anti-fascists who resisted,
paying the price with their own lives, against the Hitlerite
barbarity. A blatant insult to the millions of Soviet people,
communists and militants of the USSR and in all the countries
of Europe, who gave their lives to crush the fascist atrocity.
A vulgar slander at the expense of the first workers’ state in
the history of humanity, at the expense of the unprecedented
gains achieved by the workers under Socialism.”
We assess that this issue is very serious and exposes the
dangerous role of opportunism as a vehicle for the promotion
of the bourgeois ideology and political line, as a force that
defends and disseminates the anti-communist positions of the
European Union.
The communist men and women are obliged to provide a decisive
response.
15.11.2013
International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE
Four pillars to build an alternative
"Now is the time that
we woke up to this reality, that class warfare has been
initiated against us by the imperialist powers, the
capitalists and its class collaborators here in Ireland.
It’s up to us, the youth of today to change the corrupt and
debilitating policies of yesterday to begin building the
nation of tomorrow!" (CYM new pamphlet "Permanent austerity
or path to socialism").
Had enough yet?
The plan of the Irish
government is becoming increasingly obvious: They have no
intention of trying to create jobs for young people, and
instead want to force us into emigration.
International
capitalism and their local managers in Ireland, cannot
provide a prosperous, or even stable future for us.
The need to create a
socialist system based on the common good, rather the
profits of a few, is more necessary than ever.
Women right to choose
The Connolly Youth
Movement supports a women’s right to choose as a
fundamental human right to control her reproduction. We
believe that women faced with a crisis pregnancy are best
placed to make their own decisions that impact on their
lives and those of their families. We advocate for full
access to safe and free abortion on demand as a
cornerstone of a truly democratic equal and secular
society.
However, women's
reproductive rights are only a part of the broad range of
women's rights. Women are underrepresented in society in
terms of both work and political participation. The
consequences of the crisis of capitalism effects women in
the first place and in many aspects. Not only difficult
material conditions but also lack of job stability, long
working hours, stress and time requirements from
individual careers are real problems women face. Some of
the main reasons why women decide not to have a child is
an interference with work, school and the fact that they
can't afford it.
Read more
Anti-Fascist Demonstration, O'Connell
Street
CYM took to O'Connell
Street today, Saturday September 21st, to demonstrate
their condemnation of the recent attacks by fascists in
Greece, led by the extremist forces of Golden Dawn.
CYM showing red flags
in solidarity with the KKE and the KNE (Sept. 21, 2013)
The demonstration was
organised by Anti-Fascist Action Ireland, to mark the
brutal murder of an anti-fascist rapper and trade
unionist, Pavlos Fyssas, on Wednesday, September 18th.
Read more
KKE/KNE on murder of 34 year old by
Nazis
of Golden Dawn in Athens
"The KKE calls on the people and
youth to denounce the murder of the 34 year old in
Keratsini by the fascists of Golden Dawn in a mass and
decisive way. The criminal and murderous activity of
Golden Dawn has the aim of intimidating the workers and
the youth. It grows bold due to the multi-facetted support
provided to it by the rotten capitalist system and the
interests of big business, which created it and nourish
it, so that it can attack the people who are struggling,
standing up for their rights, so that it can attack the
labour and people’s movement.
The people and the youth have the
strength to stop the murderous activity of the Nazis. The
workers’ trade unions, the mass organizations in the
cities and villages, the people’s committees must isolate
the cowardly murderers of Golden Dawn, and protect the
people from its poison and activity. The people’s alliance
must be strengthened in order to put an end to the
activity of the Nazis and the system that nourishes them."
Photo: KKE/KNE antifascist
demonstration, Athens (Sep. 18, 2013)
CYM Solidarity with Cuban 5
CYM calls for an
immediate release of Cuban heroes: Gerardo Hernández
Nordelo, Ramón Labañino Salazar, Rene González Sehwerert,
Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez and Fernando González Llort.
Five men are held as political prisoners by the US, after
unfair trial convicted and sentenced to four life terms
and one 75 years. Cuban 5 were gathering information on
violent Miami exile gangs, who planned terrorist attacks
on Cuban soil.
CYM expresses the
full solidarity with Cuban patriots and demands the review
of the case and immediate release of Cuban 5.
Photo: Vigil for
Cuban 5, The Spire, Dublin (Sep. 12, 2013)
40th anniversary of the fascist coup
in Chile
Made in the USA
On 11 September
2013 was the fortieth anniversary of the fascist coup in
Chile, when the democratically elected government of
Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup that was
planned, organized and directed from Washington.
Photo: Picket at US
Embassy, Ballsbridge, Dublin (Sep. 11, 2013)
Read more
On the intentions for direct
military interventions in Syria
The World Federation
of Democratic Youth highly condemns the imperialist
military and political moves towards a direct military
intervention to the sovereign state of Syria. WFDY
re-affirms its position that we stand against any military
or by other means intervention against the people of
Syria.
Read more
Download the poster.
James Connolly
Biography of
Ireland’s greatest Marxist
“Connolly was
‘dragged up,’ like most proletarian boys. Connolly,
nevertheless, is well educated. His education is of that
sort that comes from conflict with circumstances
. . . His whole character has been coloured by
these circumstances, which have been bitter, and he has a
deep hatred of those institutions which have weighed so
heavily on the working class.”—Murtagh Lyng
Click here for
a short biography.
To read the important writings of this patriotic Irish
Marxist, click here.
Download this CYM poster in JPEG format
Download the high resolution
image.
Communist Perspective blogspot
Click
here for the latest news and updates.
The Connolly Youth
Movement is a youth organisation committed to fighting for
democracy, freedom and unity in this country. The CYM
takes part in the struggle to build socialism in Ireland
and everywhere around the globe.
We unite in our ranks
the many different traditions on this island and of new
people living and working here.
We work primarily
with the Communist Party and the trade union movement to
build an alternative youth culture, to open people’s minds
to the alternatives to capitalism and slavery.
We also work with
other progressive movements to develop young workers’ and
students’ consciousness in their own proud history and
culture.
As a member of the
World Federation of Democratic Youth we struggle in
opposition to imperialism and for liberation around the
globe of all oppressed peoples, including ourselves.
Following the early
1990s crisis in socialism the CYM declined and became
defunct for many years. In 2002 it was revived. Since its
revival the CYM has founded branches in Dublin, Cork,
Belfast, and Galway.
 |
Our programme
The Connolly Youth Movement
(CYM) is an all-Ireland socialist youth
organisation supportive of the Communist Party of
Ireland . . .
|
Our constitution
“Membership shall be open to
all young people between the ages of 14 to 30 who
agree to this Constitution and the Programme of
the CYM . . .”
|
