Irish Republican Socialist Party

The party of James Connolly and Seamus Costello, the students of Tá Power and Gino Gallagher, we hold that the struggle for Socialism and Irish Freedom must progress together. We believe in struggle from below and utilising all means available to achieve Irish unity. We practice politics in command, rejecting both narrow militarism and leftist pacifism. We spurn nationalist reliance on the European Union as incompatible with the objectives of Irish freedom & Socialism and refuse to be constricted by the confines of the Good Friday Agreement. North and South we oppose the oppression of state capitalist policing and encourage alternative means of community self defence. In the spirit of Easter 1916 we “declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies” Join with us.

Policy Document, 'Republican Socialist Programme For Ireland'

Policy Document, 'Perspectives On The Future Of Republican Socialism In Ireland'

Policy Document, 'Britian Out Of Ireland. Ireland Out Of The EU.'

About Us....

The Irish Republican Socialist Party was formed in 1974 by republicans, socialists and trade unionists who believed the class struggle and the Irish national question are one in the same.

Since then the IRSP has campaigned and agitated around the core issues of ending the British occupation in the North of Ireland, building socialism and opposing all foreign interference in the affairs of the Irish people.

We campaign in solidarity with other oppressed peoples from around the globe struggling for national liberation and socialism.

The IRSP rejects two-nationism and believing that there is only one nation in Ireland will campaign to convince the working class as a whole that it is in their political, economic and democratic interests to have it re-established with the removal of the border.

latest activism, news & opinion

Current IRSP campaigns

IRISH BORDER POLL, NATIONAL CANVASS

Sample DescriptionThe IRSP see merit in campaigning positively for a border poll or referendum on the issue of Irish unification. Unlike the parties of Nationalism however we approach the issue from an unapologetic Marxist perspective, holding that a Socialist Republic cannot be built on aspirations to remain in the EU. Our party canvasses regularly in working class areas to build momentum for a border poll. Our position in this regards is set out in the policy document 'Britain out of Ireland/Ireland out of the E.U.

OPPOSING STATE POLICING IN IRELAND

Sample DescriptionWe oppose the PSNI from both a national and class perspective and reject attempts by mainstream nationalism to portray that force as acceptable. The IRSP campaign regularly to highlight the lead role which British military intelligence (MI5) play in directing the PSNI and actively oppose attempts to ingratiate that force within working class communities in the North. Likewise we hold that the Gardaí in the twenty six counties act ultimately in the interests of privilege and the political status quo there. The IRSP encourage all working class communities to explore viable alternatives to state policing as a means of making areas safer.

HOUSING

The IRSP campaigns for the establishment of a national housing commission consisting of representatives of the construction and housing industry along with trade unions. The housing commission's sole purpose would be to deliver high standard secure social housing for all.

ALL IRELAND ECONOMIC SYSTEM

The IRSP believes that the partition of Ireland is the single biggest factor against economic stability North and South and contributed in no small part to the continuation of discrimination and exploitation and that a commission be established consisting of all representatives of the organised working class to examine ways and means to establish an all Ireland socialist economic system.

EDUCATION

The IRSP calls for the formation of a commission consisting of all representatives of the organised working class, including the academic community, to examine ways and means for the establishing of an all-Ireland student centered education system.

HEALTH

The IRSP campaigns for an all-Ireland one single publicly funded health care system with further resources made available for research at the teaching Hospitals in Belfast, Dublin and Galway.

Environment, Judiciary & Policing

OUR ENVIRONMENT

Sample DescriptionThe IRSP supports the prosecution of a policy aimed at reducing our dependency on non-renewable sources of energy, both domestic and industrial, and a clear commitment to using renewable sources of energy as the main source of energy. All waste should be recycled with waste of a very low toxicity which is not recycled to be used as a source of fuel. There must be a total opposition to all forms of nuclear activity, power and bombs with the immediate closure of the Sellafield nuclear plant.

JUDICIARY

Sample DescriptionThe IRSP calls for the establishment of a national commission to oversee the democratic election of an all-Ireland republican judiciary, subject to the democratic control of the people, that protects citizens and their interests, not prosecutes.

POLICING

The IRSP do not offer support to nor endorse either the illegitimate PSNI or the Garda we view both as pillars on which the rogue states on this island, the corrupt Irish Free State and the sectarian northern state, rest upon. The IRSP rejects the attempt to force these unpopular arms of the state on the wider community and calls for the establishment of an unarmed all-Ireland police service subject to democratic control of the people.

Equality, Globalisation & Unionism

EQUALITY

The IRSP recognises that the working class in Ireland continues to be the driving force in building and strengthening the Irish economy North and South and that this should be reflected in a more equal distribution of the nation’s wealth and resources.

GLOBALISATION

The IRSP is opposed to the process of economic development described as globalisation, as it favours the free movement of capital and places an emphasis on the exploitation of the poor and the needy in the search for the maximising of profit.

ULSTER UNIONISM

The IRSP views unionism and Orangeism, and by definition loyalism in Ireland, as a reactionary, racist and anti-democratic ideology which must be opposed at every opportunity. The IRSP appeals to the unionist workers to reject conservative ideologies and join with their brothers in the struggle to create a fair and equitable all-Ireland socialist society.

BRITISH WITHDRAWAL

Having specified the date for its total withdrawal from Ireland, Britain must immediately withdraw all troops to barracks, release all republican political prisoners, grant a general amnesty for all offences arising from the military campaign against British forces or through involvement in the civil disobedience campaign, abolish all repressive legislation, grant a Bill of Rights which will allow complete freedom of political action and outlaw all discrimination whether it be on the basis of class, creed, political opinion or sex. Britain must also agree to compensate the Irish people for the exploitation which has already occurred through reparations.

TRADE UNION MOVEMENT

The IRSP provides critical support for any measures which seek to alleviate poverty, discrimination and exploitation. Republican socialists have to learn how to work with union leaders and bureaucracy when they move in the right direction and how to combat them when they vacillate or sell out.

THE COMMUNITY MOVEMENT

The IRSP recognises the limitations of the community movement as one which opens the prospect of the state exploiting opportunities for control. On the other hand, involvement in community-based activities does present an opportunity to provide leadership and build local alliances. The IRSP seeks to build alliances with all social movements and views the coming together of the trade unions and community sector as desirable in the long-term interests of the Irish working class. To this end, the IRSP supports any attempts to unionise community.

SOCIALIST ECONOMICS

Socialism means the ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange collectively by the entire working class, with an end to wage labour, an end to production for profit and its replacement by a system of production based on human need.

EUROPEAN UNION

The IRSP supports the demand for the greater strengthening of our nation’s independence and neutrality and note the problems associated with EU membership as inconsistent with the need for a socialist society. Consequently, the IRSP supports moves towards greater co-operation between European socialist political organisations and we call for a referendum on Ireland leaving the European Union.

ALL- IRELAND RAIL NETWORK

As a matter of urgency, the IRSP calls for the establishment of a national commission of enquiry to establish the most effective means of re-establishing the national rail network. Recognising the urgency of the environmental crisis, the IRSP calls for the establishment of a fully resourced programme of public works with statutory planning powers to acquire land to enable the re-establishing of the rail network throughout the island of Ireland.

what we believe in

NATIONAL LIBERATION & socialism

Only the creation of a thirty-two-county Irish socialist republic can provide the means by which Irish national liberation can be realised; subsequently, there can be no socialism without national liberation in Ireland, nor can there be national liberation without socialism.

INTERNATIONALISM

Socialist internationalism was best expressed in the resolution presented to the Second International at Stuttgart, supported by James Connolly in 1907. This asserted: ‘Wars between capitalist states are, as a rule, the outcome of their competition on the world market, for each state seeks not only to secure its existing markets, but also to conquer new ones. In this, the subjugation of foreign peoples and countries plays a prominent role. These wars result furthermore from the incessant race for armaments by militarism, one of the chief instruments of ruling-class rule and of the economic and political subjugation of the working class.’ The IRSP campaign in solidarity with other oppressed peoples from around the globe struggling for national liberation and socialism.

ON THE ISSUE OF ARMED STRUGGLE

The IRSP state that there is no parliamentary road to socialism, because socialism cannot be forged by seizing the bourgeois state apparatus; nor is there a militarist road to socialism, because a social revolution requires the active participation of the masses; and therefore a socialist republic can only be established through the mass revolutionary action of the working class in the political, economic and social spheres. We do not agree with armed actions in the current climate, holding that they are counterproductive and act to prop up the structures of the failed sectarian set up. However the IRSP recognises the right of the Irish people to engage in whatever form of struggle it deems appropriate.

JAMES CONNOLLY

It should be recognised that the IRSP stands in the tradition of the Irish revolutionary James Connolly and that the IRSP therefore is a revolutionary socialist organisation which believes that class conflict is the motivating force in human history in which the IRSP stands unreservedly and exclusively for the interests of the working class.

ELECTIONS

The IRSP is not an abstentionist party and will decide its attitude towards the contesting of any particular election on the basis of a thorough analysis of the conditions prevailing at the time.

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