Socialist Democracy

Contents

We haven’t gone away y’know!
The political class have returned to the Dail. A new budget will be set. A new offensive against the working class will swing into 
action, around denial of democratic rights, public sector pay, privatisation, and above all around the housing crisis.  (read more)

Housing crisis: The outcome of a gombeen state and vulture capitalism
The crisis in housing extends well beyond Ireland, even though it is extremely acute here. A war is being fought between the 
classes with, on the one hand, properties in major cities being sold before they are built not to be lived in, but to serve as 
reservoirs for surplus capital. (read more)

Housing and the left: Beyond reformism
There was bitter complaint among the ranks of the TDs of the Solidarity/People Before Profit when a resolution on the housing 
crisis was dismissed by the Irish Dail when it resumed its deliberations after the summer recess.   Amidst the furore there was 
little consideration or discussion of the proposal itself. Essentially it called for a referendum to insert into the Irish constitution a 
declaration on the right to a home.  (read more)

Summing up the Right2Water struggle
The Right2Water struggle, the biggest mass challenge to the austerity programme of the Irish government, is clearly at an end. It 
should be the most commonplace thing in the world to look back and access the outcome of the campaign. However this has not 
happened. The groups involved seem anxious not to look back but rather to move on to new projects. (read more)

Brexit and the Irish border
Over a year on from the referendum vote - and despite repeated assertions of their desire for a “seamless and frictionless” border
 - the British government are no closer to providing an answer. This is clear from the position paper on the Irish border that was 
produced in August which was once again big on aspiration but containing a set of proposals that bore no relation to the real 
practical problems presented.  (read more)

The zombie peace: Calls to save Stormont—yet it fails every test
For most of 2017 the Irish peace process has been in crisis and the northern assembly collapsed. There are frantic calls for 
restoration and both Sinn Fein and the DUP proclaim that their one desire is to agree a new executive.  (read more)

The Creeping Privatisation of Dublin Bus
It has recently been announced that that the company Go -Ahead has won the contract to operate 10% of outer Dublin Bus 
routes. This means a major transfer of undertakings from the public to the private sector and will mean another erosion of terms 
and conditions for bus workers in general.  (read more)

Haddington Road: ICTU’s Most Moderate” demands
As the situation stands it seems likely that the Public Service Stability Agreement, the new Haddington Road deal, will go through. 
Not because it is good, which it certainly isn’t, but simply because the entire bureaucracy are unwilling to oppose it and the right 
wing actively support it.  (read more)

Capital 150 conference success
Members of Socialist Democracy attended the Capital 150 conference in London on 19/20th September. Held at the University of 
London, a full review of the current state of Marxist theory was attempted.  (read more)

Against state repression in Catalonia!
There  should  be  utter  condemnation  of  the  repression  of  the Spanish  state.  Catalonia’s right to self-determination must be 
respected. The crisis exposes the weakness of the post-Franco settlement in Spain and of the pretentions of Europe to guarantee 
democratic rights.   (read more)

For choice: Let loose the “monstrous regiment” of women and the other regiments
of the working class!
What the 45,000 strong march for choice in Dublin on 30th September tells us is that nothing has been settled for the Irish state.   
The most recent mobilisations, around water charges, have been seen off by some fancy footwork by the government. A tactical 
retreat on charging allowed them to preserve the privatisation structures.   (read more)