PAPtER OF THhE SOCIALIST PAReTY s o c ISiSUE 126 a lisOCTOBER / NOt VEMBER 2019 NO TO INSIDE

Housing crisis & abuse of power CARBON p3 TAXES! FEATURE: Winning the class war in the US Make the real p7 polluters pay!

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Wealth inequality – a growing chasm By Manus Lenihan

The world is becoming an ever- are being chopped up into apart - be more hotels, along with rip-off more cold and harsh place for ments. Showers are shoe-horned in accommodation for the wealthier workers and poor people - seen a few feet from the beds, and ten - students. in Ireland with the housing crisis. ants don’t have control over their Meanwhile this state is a play - own heating. In the 1900s they just ground for the wealthy. called them tenements. But the Growth of REITS marketing departments have been earning their keep: a new scheme Irish banks lent €3 billion to con - Tenement conditions for charging workers through the struction in 2011; in 2018 it was just nose to live in barracks is branded €638 million. The credit for all this An asking price of €400, €500 or as “co-living.” feverish building is coming not €600 a month for a shared room from Irish banks but from Real Es - has now become normal, but you tate Investment Trusts (REITS) and still haven’t seen it all. One ad (From Cities stripped bare international capital. These are the flatsharing FB page RooMigo on people who are demolishing and September 14th) demands €610 It’s not just a housing crisis. The rebuilding our streets. Not that “our per month – not for one room, and closing of the Bernard Shaw in own” indigenous breed of billion - not even for a shared room, but for Dublin shows the way cities are aire is any better. a shared bed! being sterilized and stripped bare. “Extra walls can double income Those cranes that cover the skyline, for landlords!” gushes the Times those vacant lots that are at last Construction bosses call R yanair’s Michael O’Leary is one o (September 30th). Here we see the being built on after being covered the shots f Ireland’s 2,000 “ultra-wealthy” innovative genius of capitalism on with weeds for fifteen years – display yet again. Across Irish they’re not building social housing Construction industry bosses have towns, semi-d and terraced houses or services or places to socialize; it’ll been exposed in a report called “De- economy. Now Foreign Direct In - construction workers, farmers or democratising the Irish planning vestment (FDI) joins it in the dust - paramedics. Buying up shares and system” (Lennon & Waldron, 2019). bin of history: 2/3 of Ireland’s FDI is waiting for the money to roll in is In 2017 the government decided “phantom,” according to re - much harder than a week of 12- that developers could now bypass searchers. For capitalism around hour shift work assembling med - council approval. It was presented the world, having vast volumes of ical devices; networking with other as a way of solving the housing cri - phony FDI is now just part of doing rich people at fancy parties is sis (It has utterly failed, in case you business, and Ireland is happy to much harder than being a single were wondering). But the report oblige. So while the politicians pat parent or a full-time carer; buying shows that it was designed by and themselves on the backs over back your own shares of stock is for big builders. Documenting the “growth” and “investment,” most exhausting work, and those who massive amount of lobbying that Irish “FDI” is just sordid tax- earn their living through this vital went on, the report shows that dodging. task must live in envy of bar - these capitalists thought the plan - tenders, waiters or chefs. ning system was “too democratic” and that “Joe Public” had too much The wealth creators? power. Fine Gael listened with an at - Growing poverty Two thousand people in Ireland tentive ear and implemented their each have wealth exceeding €30 Meanwhile 760,000 of those nurses, ideas to the letter. million, according to Wealth-X. This construction workers, delivery driv - means that per capita, we have the ers, coders, carers, soldiers and Sordid tax dodging fifth-highest number of these waiters are living in poverty – mak - ultra-wealthy parasites in the ing up one-sixth of the population Ireland’s Gross Domestic Product world. But don’t worry, they – and many of them are paying (GDP) has for a long time been worked hard to get where they are huge rents to some of those same ly rent in Dublin is over €2,000 Average month useless as a way to measure the today – much harder than nurses, 2000 ultra-wealthy people.

Cork North Central By-Election Cllr. Fiona Ryan – socialist fighter challenges capitalist establishment

By Conor Payne will take place across the state. They ers will push for “Green” austerity are an opportunity for working class taxes on working people, we will call ounCillor Fiona ryan and young people to pass judgement for real climate action, and for mak - Chas been selected as the Sol - on this right-wing Fine Gael govern - ing the big business polluters pay. idarity candidate in the upcom - ment, which is facilitated by Fianna This includes fighting for free ing Cork north Central Fail’s co-operation in the Dáil. De - public transport for all, massive By-Election. Fiona is a member spite their talk of “recovery,” many public investment to create Green of the Socialist Party. as an ac - people feel no significant benefits- jobs, and democratic public owner - tivist and Councillor, Fiona has this has been primarily a recovery for ship of the energy industry and a record as a fighter for work - the rich, for landlords, developers other key sections of the economy to ing class people: and big business. plan for a rapid transition to renew - She has led tenants fighting There is certainly no “recovery” for able energy. against evictions, including the suc - those paying record high rents, or On housing, we will campaign for cessful struggle of Leeside Apart - waiting years for social housing. real rent controls, banning evictions ments residents which opened up 59 There is no recovery in the health into homelessness and a massive empty homes to people on the coun - service, or other public services still programme to build public homes. cil waiting list. reeling from austerity. Fiona was a leading figure in Cork No-deal Brexit in the battle for abortion rights . Action on climate change The government and bosses are lin - She has actively supported local On Climate Change, this government ing up to make workers pay the price environmental campaigns, including talks the talk but plans to build ter - for Brexit, while preserving the prof - cycling campaigns and in opposition minals for imported fracked gas in its of big business. We will use the to the disastrous OPW plans for the Shannon and the Port of Cork. campaign to oppose any job losses, such as nationalisation of industries tion of this neoliberal big business river Lee. In Cork North Central, pay cuts, or austerity and call for planning job losses, are needed. government and would be a boost for and the Socialist Party will offer a trade union and workers’ action to As the only candidate representing the fight for housing, workers’ rights Punish Fianna Fáil & Fine Gael genuine socialist alternative. While fight back. Socialist policies that this clear alternative, a strong vote and climate action, and for the gen - This by-election is one of four which the government, the Greens and oth - break with the capitalist market, for Fiona will represent a clear rejec - uine socialist left. HOUSING 3 THE SOCIALIST #SexIsNotRent Housing crisis & abuse of power

messages to back it up. These mes - drastically altered when she chal - sages graphically illustrate the power lenged him on a maintenance issue Outrageous WhatsApp landlords can now use and abuse and when her HAP payment was de - messages sent by against a backdrop of record high layed. He issued a Notice to Quit. landlord to tenent, rents and record low number of Other HAP tenants told us of land - which Ruth Coppinger rental properties. lords commenting on their appear - TD read out in Dáil in ‘Laura’ wanted to highlight this to ance, discouraging boyfriends and September prevent other women or vulnerable sending suggestive messages. tenants going through the same. We In all cases, female tenants toler - agreed a strategy to raise it in the ated it so as not to risk offending Dáil and media. them and being denied the property. In the Dáil, we made the point that no research exists in Ireland on the Build social & affordable housing extent of sexual harassment by land - Following the revelations, the Min - lords. In England, research by Shel - ister for Housing held a meeting ter found 250,000 women had with Mick Barry TD and myself. We experienced this. In the 25-34 age called for research to be done and group, 13% of tenants said they had the department is to come back By Ruth Coppinger TD faced this in the last five years. There about this. We pointed to the dan - is no reason to think Ireland is dif - gers of HAP as the main form of so - xPloitation haS always ferent — or likely worse, given the cial housing, rather than mass Ebeen part and parcel of the acute nature of the housing and rent public home-building, and argued private rented sector, including crisis. that HAP properties should be allo - sexual exploitation. With the Massive publicity followed putting cated by councils not private land - escalating housing crisis, the a spotlight on unwanted sexual at - lords. We also demanded real rent balance of power has dramati - tention in the rental sector. And with controls and the passage of Solidar - The landlord offered cally shifted even more to land - it, more women disclosed to us. ity’s Anti-Evictions Bill which would the tenant to stay in his lords. But until recently‘sex for give tenants security and remove home for free 'if they rent’ had only been anecdotal Those in HAP most vulnerable the easy threat of eviction landlords and not publicly brought out in A particular pattern emerged in the now have. could come to an ireland. HAP (Housing Assistant Payment) But of course the root of this is the arrangement' In September, Socialist Party sector. Tenants — mainly women failure of the state to provide social members were approached by a with young children — who face in - and affordable housing. This creates young woman whose friends we had security and homelessness are, of a perfect storm for predatory land - assisted in a previous eviction situa - their nature, more prey to landlords lords. The housing crisis can be re - tion. She had been propositioned by and letting agents as HAP properties solved if vast vacant public land her landlord, offering discounted or are more difficult to secure. banks are utilised to build thousands free rent for sex. One woman, Kirsty, spoke about of social and affordable homes. her experience with a letting agent Working-class people should not Sexual harassment who prioritised her for the property, have to rely on profiteering landlords What was unusual about this sexual then quickly began sending dinner for accommodation. Only then can harassment by a landlord against a invites, complimenting her and fre - these power dynamics between land - tenant was there were WhatsApp quently dropping in. His demeanour lord and tenant be ended. End landlord profiteering – real rent controls now

By Jonathan Diebold rent in the city), can rise to nearly €2,500 in the space of 5 years. This S irEland enters yet an - rise in rents takes place against an aother consecutive year of economic landscape increasingly crisis in the housing sector, the marked by precarious employment government continues to fail to and the erosion of workers’ rights. provide meaningful solutions to tackle rising rents and in - A deepening crisis creased homelessness. Com - There is a greater economic insecu - pounding the ongoing lack of rity around Brexit and a looming re - public and social housing is the cession in the early 2020s which will government’s refusal to insti - mean wages are certainly unlikely to tute real rent controls that will rise in a way that can come close to see them reduced to levels that offsetting this. Homelessness is sure are affordable. to continue to rise with no invest - While the construction of public ment in public homes. housing is a vital demand to place on Even with the 4% limit, loopholes the government, in order to ensure exist to surpass it. For instance, a that the power of landlords and vul - landlord can evict a tenant in order ture funds is reduced, rent control is to renovate the property, and then an important step towards ensuring increase the rent significantly. people have some degree of security A government that was serious in their homes. However, Fine Gael about tackling the housing crisis and and Fianna Fail, parties which them - spiralling rents would need to intro - selves consist of and are supported Real rent controls, including reductions to affordable levels, are urgently needed duce real rent controls, so that rents by a large number of landlords, actually reflect peoples’ wages - rents won’t even take this small step. report that national rents are now control, with the institution of “Rent areas of Ireland rents cannot in - that only increase at the rate of infla - 35% higher than their pre-2008 Pressure Zones” (RPZs), but these crease by more than 4% annually. tion and are reduced to affordable Rents skyrocketing peak, at nearly €1,400 - and much have largely been symbolic gestures What this means in practice is that levels. Real rent controls such as Rents have skyrocketed, with higher in cities. Overtures have for PR purposes. in Dublin, for example, a rent of these would need also to close loop - Daft.ie stating in their latest rental been made in the direction of rent RPZs mandate that in certain €2,000 (which is now the average holes, especially around evictions. 4 EDITORIAL & ANALYSIS THE SOCIALIST Building a movement for socialist change

By Cillian Gillespie conclusions about society, and have helped to win important victories in ONce AGAIN working-class people the fight against austerity and for land - were put on rations in Budget 2020. mark progressive change. We fought There was the paltry increase of 30c alongside working-class activists in in the minimum wage from it’s al - building mass non-payment of water ready paltry figure of €9.80 an hour, charges from 2014 to 2016. Working there was a freeze on pension in - with ROSA activists and Women on creases, a hike in carbon taxes and a Web our members played a critical role stubborn refusal on the part of the in ensuring 12-weeks on request was government to invest in free public won as part of the Repeal victory. More transport, childcare, public housing recently we have actively worked with and social services generally. school students in building for the cli - mate strikes on 20 September and the A rigged system Socialist Party in the North fought Recovery notwithstanding, this is the shoulder to shoulder with workers in reality of capitalism in Ireland today This vista, combined with the cli - of such an alternative is simply out of tion rights and the inspiring climate Harland and Wolff to successfully de - – a rigged system for big business, mate catastrophe facing our planet, the question, given the array of differ - change strikes and protests. This illus - fend their jobs and skills from the bankers and the super-rich. While will pose sharply the question of build - ent small left groups which they argue trates how the oppressive, profit-driven threat of redundancy. many have felt little tangible benefit ing a mass socialist alternative for are incapable of uniting. The Socialist and exploitative nature of this system The method of political sectarianism, from the upturn in the economy, we working class and young people in the Party and Solidarity will of course work has and will bring a new generation which means socialists standing back will certainly feel the pain when a 2020s. The reality is that all the main others on the left, as we have done into political activity. Similar move - from the real struggles of ordinary peo - downturn takes place. This could be parties, including Sinn Féin and the with People Before Profit in the Dáil. ments from below will come into exis - ple, is alien to the politics and practice triggered by a no deal Brexit or a Green Party, accept the logic of a cap - However, this argument fails to recog - tence in workplaces, communities, of the Socialist Party – which our record slump in the world economy, given italist system that is creating a race to nise that it is the conditions of capital - schools and colleges. A deepening rad - demonstrates. We have not only seri - that Ireland is particularly vulnerable the bottom in workers rights, a hous - ism and the radicalising impact its icalisation and social explosions are in - ously engaged with these movements to the shocks of a global recession. ing crisis and rampant inequality. multiple crises is having on young and evitable in the coming decade, posing but have consistently linked them with This will result in job losses, wages working-class people that will lay the the question of anti-capitalist change. the need for socialist change and a and conditions put on the chopping explosions from below basis for the building of a powerful break with the capitalist system. This is block and the imposition of a new The recent resignation of Paul Murphy left-wing movement in this country. Socialists and struggle something we will continue to do, austerity regime, while big business TD from the Socialist Party has resulted The last five years has seen the explo - The Socialist Party has always sought working alongside others on the social - is bailed out and Ireland remains a in a number of media commentators sion of the water charges movement, to work alongside those who have yet ist left, as part of the struggle to build a low tax regime for the 1%. cynically suggesting that the building the historic campaign that won abor - to draw socialist and anti-capitalist mass left and working class movement.

Oughterard protests & preventing racist division

By Mick Barry TD vately-run catering businesses. The State paid private firms operating hE iSSuE of the direct Pro - the network of centres across the tvision system became a na - country €72 million last year. Signif - tional talking point in icantly, asylum seekers have begun September when protests in in recent years to organise to shut oughterard, County Galway, this system down. forced a climb down on plans to open a Centre in the town. Homes for all not racism The Department of Justice and the Socialists demand the dismantling of owner of Oughterard’s Connemara the entire direct provision system, an Gateway Hotel had planned to use end to deportations, a defence of the the hotel as a centre for “less than right to asylum, the unrestricted 250” asylum seekers. More than 800 right to work for all asylum seekers, people in a town of 1,300 attended a and the right to housing for all – in - public meeting to oppose a Direct cluding those who seek sanctuary in Provision Centre into Oughterard. this country. We say that the vast wealth in the hands of big business Social crisis and the super-rich should be used to An around-the-clock picket was build public housing on public land placed on the hotel and regular at - for all those who need it. Migrants tendances of 50-plus were reported and non-migrants should not be in from the picket line. On 1 October, competition for the scarce resources the owner of the hotel withdrew the that the capitalist system is willing to tender for the Centre. A previous at - provide. tempt to site a Direct Provision Cen - The present government is com - tre in Rooskey, Co. Roscommon, had plicit in fueling racism through its been thwarted following local oppo - own actions of ghettoising asylum sition and an arson attack on the seekers and deportations, and in cre - building in question. Fueling prejudice down so badly on the social issues. it’s also true to say that this was ating a social crisis by starving com - The social crisis in Oughterard Local Rural Alliance TD, Noel Greal - Meetings in Oughterard were also probably the most significant far- munities of investment in public was a key driving factor in the ish, told the public meeting that addressed by extreme right-wing ac - right intervention into a community services. This is also a government protest movement. There is cur - African asylum seekers were coming tivists like Rowan Croft (Youtuber issue in this country in many years. which includes ministers such as rently only one GP service, the Garda to Ireland to sponge “off the system “Grand Torino”), local far-right Na - Josepha Madigan, who sought to station was shut down several years here”. Grealish was defended by his tional Party organiser Gerry Kin - Inhumane Direct Provision system whip up anti-Traveller sentiment ago, the schools are overcrowded Rural Alliance colleagues Mattie Mc - neavy and Gearoid Murphy (who Socialists are also opposed to the Di - when standing in the 2014 local elec - and the town has been neglected for Grath TD and Michael Collins TD. once described his politics as being rect Provision system – but for very tions. key infrastructure projects. Right- The Rural Alliance have always been “probably somewhere between liber - different reasons. We cannot rely on them to end wing politicians and extreme right- a grouping of gombeen men. Now it tarianism and national socialism, Direct provision has forced more racism. Only a mass movement that wing activists were able to intervene seems it’s a group that will tolerate with a touch of Christian ethos”). than 7,000 asylum seekers into over - unites all working people, Irish and into the controversy and pit the in - racism within its ranks as well. While it is important to point out crowded, inhumane centres which migrant, in a fight for massive public terests of the majority of people in The irony is that the Rural Alliance that these activists downplayed or take a heavy toll on the mental investment in jobs, housing and de - the town against the interests of asy - often support the Government in hid their far-right affiliations and health of adults and children alike. cent services for all, and opposes of lum seekers. Dáil votes, propping up the very were removed from local campaign Direct provision has created a bo - this oppressive, racist capitalist sys - Government that has let the people Facebook groups when unmasked, nanza for hotel owners and pri - tem, will be able to do that. WORKPLACE 5 THE SOCIALIST Growing exploitation at work Why young workers must organise

By Neil Moore struggles internationally.

WholE generation of Moving into action ayoung workers are realis - We’ve seen the fight for a living wage ing the reality of the so called in both the US & UK from fast food post-recovery economy is not workers in giants such as McDonalds all it is cracked up to be. rising and Deliveroo, to mass ‘wildcat’ rents and higher costs of living walkouts in Google around sexual are at odds with low wages, the harassment. english language teach - erosion of employment rights, ers, construction workers, archaeol - and further casualisation of ogists, bartenders, restaurant work. workers, supermarket and pharmacy workers have all taken an approach A precarious existence of organising their colleagues and This can be seen by the huge growth engaging in battles with their bosses of the service sector, with low paid, to push back against the race to the entry level jobs – compared to the bottom. decline of manufacturing, usually There is a want and a need for a highly skilled and unionised, with new generation of workers to organ - good pay and conditions won ise themselves and their co-workers through years of struggle. The shift and struggle. Not all of this struggle to more precarious work and work - will develop within the structures of ing conditions has a real and dam - the labour movement, however we aging impact of working people – as recognise the best vehicle for this work is becoming more alienating, change will be through the trade insecure and underpaid, we are see - union movement – where the most ing an unprecedented mental health successful struggles of working- crisis among young workers. class people have been won previ - Yet, despite huge challenges ously. young workers are beginning to de - Hospitality workers are among the most exploited in terms of wages and conditions mand more – a living wage, zero- Role of trade unions tolerance for sexual harassment, A new generation of workers in sec - retail must be organised now. This training and developing a new layer vestment in public services and respect and decency at work are by tors that haven’t been seriously or - means the trade union movement of shop stewards and activists. It fight for better pay and conditions – no means revolutionary demands, ganised in decades, such as getting serious about putting re - means engaging in a serious strug - reversing the impact of years of aus - but have led to potentially explosive hospitality, call centres and most of sources into organising campaigns, gle to defend jobs, to demand in - terity and precariousness.

English Language Teachers strike for union recognition School secretaries take on two-tier By Harper Cleves Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018, THe TeAcHeRS at the Delfin Lan - which flowed from this report, and was pay guage School have voted to take pushed for by ELT branch members, strike action in order to put pressure would require all English Language on management to recognise the Schools abide by Irish Employment By Kate Relihan union of their choice, Unite. This de - Law. cision was made following repeated Last month, school secretaries attempts by Unite the Union to dis - Pressure needed commenced a work to rule over cuss the concerns of the workers In a system driven by the blind pursuit a reprehensible two-tier pay with the management at Delfin. of profit, workers cannot rely on the scheme stemming back almost Teachers organised and participated benevolence of their bosses, as the four decades. in two half-day work stoppages on the workers at Delfin are now demonstrat - While secretaries employed by 23 and 30 September in order to put ing. It is only through co-ordinated ac - the Department of Education pressure on Delfin, but to no avail. After tion that workers are able to wrest even enjoy the status and benefits of this they came out on strike on Mon - basic rights from the hands of the cap - public servants, those employed day, 7 October and are due to step up italist class. This year we have seen in - by the individual Board of Man - their action in the following week with creased evidence of workers agement of schools are on tempo - two days of strike action planned. organising themselves. The paramedics rary contracts, are paid as low as organising in NASRA are engaged in a €12 an hour, with no bonus nor Getting organised continuous battle to have the fighting pension entitlements, and are According to an english language union of their choice recognised by the forced to sign-on during school teacher interviewed at the picket, this HSE. holidays. dispute can be traced back to a year Currently, the Wrightbus workers in ago, when the management team at Ballymena, County Antrim are fighting Solidarity is crucial Delfin attempted to strongarm workers Ongoing strike at Delfin English Language School, Parnell Square, Dublin to protect job losses after the com - Without a doubt, school secre - into signing low hour contracts, guar - pany went bust following capitalist taries are public servants - the anteeing only three hours of work a Precarious employment itable industry that is worth €800 mil - mismanagement. And just recently lifeblood and face of every school, week. This inspired workers to self or - Such conditions are reflected across lion per annum, a figure that will likely the workers at Harland and Wolff ship - but for forty years establishment ganise and look into joining the English the sector. A government report con - rise as more students will come to Ire - yard in , with the help of Unite governments have seen them as Language Teachers (ELT) branch of ducted by an independent mediator land from Europe in the aftermath of the Union Organiser, and Socialist mere skivvies. If talks at the do not Unite. Within a year, Delfin achieved found that in a sector with over 100 Brexit. Party member Susan Fitzgerald, man - result in public sector status for 100% union membership. schools, the vast majority of teachers The government report was aged to save their jobs following a secretaries, strike action will be Delfin workers are organising in are dissatisfied with the security and prompted, in fact, by the sudden clo - several month occupation of their necessary, and it is imperative that order to fight back against low pay, un - conditions of their employment. Most sure and subsequent occupation of the workplace. the main teachers’ unions show paid breaks, and a lack of holiday pay. teachers described their employment Grafton Language School in Portobello, These workers were bolstered by their solidarity. The owners of Delfin close the work - as ‘precarious’, because of the uncer - which the ELT branch of Unite played a demonstrations of solidarity by other Such solidarity was seen nation - place officially for two weeks at Christ - tainty of their teaching hours, low pay, crucial role in. The ELT branch itself workplaces, as well as the increasingly wide during the work-to-rule as mas, forcing teachers to sign up for the and the number of school closures began in 2015 following the closure of militant mood of workers on this island staff pictures of secretaries along - dole, which many are not eligible for as that have occurred with little to no 16 languages schools over the course and internationally. The Delfin workers side teachers, SNAs and caretakers they have not accrued enough PRSI warning for the staff, often including of one year. One of the proposed new will need similar solidarity combined flooded social media. points while teaching English abroad. withheld wages. This is a highly prof - amendments to the Qualifications and with their determined action. 6 SPECIAL FEATURE THE SOC

By Daniel Waldron

e need a dyn amic capitalist economy “W that gives every - body a justified belief that they can share in the benefits. What we increasingly seem to have in - stead is an unstable rentier cap - italism, weakened competition, feeble productivity growth, high inequality and, not coinciden - tally, an increasingly degraded ism democracy. Fixing this is a chal - apital lenge for us all, but especially for C those who run the world’s most important businesses. the way our economic and political sys - tems work must change, or they will perish.” This is how commentator Martin Wolff concluded his piece in the Fi - nancial Times , entitled “Why rigged capitalism is damaging liberal democ - racy”. Increasingly, capitalist com - mentators and ideologues are drawing the conclusion that the legitimacy, and even the existence, of their system is under serious threat, and that it must be “reset” if it is to survive.

Living standards undermined The neoliberal economic model which has dominated for decades – a re - sponse to a crisis of profitability in the 1970s – has promoted a race to the bottom in wages and conditions, deregulation of the labour and finan - cial markets, privatisation and attacks on public services and social security, and the dominance of unproductive finance capital. This sowed the seeds of the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession, following which workers were again made to pay the price through harsh austerity. None of the causes of that crisis have been re - solved, and economists are warning of the overwhelming likelihood of an - other downturn. The events of the last decade have increasingly hollowed out the author - ity of the “political centre”, the repre - Inequality and climate catastrophe sentatives of neoliberalism, resulting Capitalism is structurally incapable of in profound political instability. This functioning on any basis except that The powerful r has been reflected in the crisis British of maximising profit. Any capitalist capitalism faces around Brexit, and who tries to defy this reality will not By Laura Fitzgerald in the rise of right-wing populist fig - remain a capitalist very long. The in - ures like Trump, and Bolsonaro. But equality and dysfunctionality which THe ReSURGeNce of a powerful US it has also led to developments on the commentators like Wolff bemoan are labour movement, with a militant- left, with the rebirth of industrial a natural by-product of the system rank-and file its engine, shows no struggle and growing openness to so - working as it must. Similarly, while sign of abating in 2019. This is after cialist ideas in many countries, the individual capitalists may be con - a historic 2018. in which a total of rise of reformist figures like Sanders cerned about climate change, they 485,000 workers went on strike, and Corbyn, and the emergence of cannot overcome their myopic and more than in any year since 1986. global movements against sexism, chaotic system’s inability to act in the 2018 figures contrasted dramati - climate change and so on, with many urgent, coordinated way necessary to cally with 2017, in which only active in these movements drawing deal with the crisis. For example, 25,000 went out on strike, lower anti-capitalist conclusions. This is Barack Obama accepted that man- than any year on record other than what troubles capitalist strategists made climate change was a reality, 2009, the height of the economic like Wolff. but he still promoted the fracking in - crash. dustry, because the interests of big Acting in the interests of all business and US imperialism de - Teachers’ revolt Reflecting this concern for the future manded it. The workers’ movement upsurge began of their system, the US Business Capitalism is a parasitic system in the “Red State” of West Virginia in Roundtable has, for the first time in which has nothing to offer but poverty, February 2018. Sick of their poverty its history, issued a statement which inequality, war, bigotry and destruc - wages and systematic undermining of has redefined the primary purpose of tion of our environment. As James public education by Republicans and a corporation from serving its share - Connolly said, “The day has passed for Democrats alike, this revolt of teachers holders to serving “all of our stake - patching up the capitalist system; it that included wildcat unofficial strike holders” – ie, workers, communities, must go.” Because of its role in produc - action and which scored a victory, etc. They envisage a capitalism with a tion, the working class is the force with began precisely where union structures human face, acting in the common in - the collective power to strike at the and officialdom was weak, allowing a terests of all. heart of capitalism. We need to build rank-and-file takeover that was the root Of course, the emptiness of these fighting, democratic trade unions and of its militancy and victories. words becomes clear when you con - a political voice for the working-class, Erin Brightwell of this paper’s US sis - sider that one of the 181 CEOs who Front page of the Financial Times , reflects the anxiety of some in the capitalist establishment with a socialist programme aimed at ter organisation, Socialist Alternative, signed this statement is Jeff Bezos, taking society’s wealth and resources writes that: “After decades of decline Amazon owner and richest man in the working conditions. He is currently US co-thinkers - because she has cam - into democratic public ownership, so in the power of unions, the teachers world. Bezos has viciously resisted at - bankrolling efforts to unseat Seattle paigned for a tax on major corpora - they can be used to meet the needs of and school support workers of West tempts by Amazon staff to organise City Councillor Kshama Sawant – a tions in the City to help fund social people and planet, not create profit for Virginia boldly staged a statewide, ille - against poverty pay and Dickensian member of Socialist Alternative, our housing and homeless services. a tiny elite. n SPECIAL FEATURE 7 CIALIST Winning the class war in the US

By Justin Harrison Opposing anti-union laws Many of these proposed reforms look f there is going to be class back to the militant fighting tactics “i warfare in this country, it’s that built the U.S. unions in the first time that the working class of place, tactics that the bosses decided this country won that war.” – were much too effective, and used Bernie Sanders their political power to make them il - As the fight for the Democratic legal. nomination grinds on towards the These proposals would eliminate winter and spring primary season, most of the current legal and eco - Bernie Sanders continues to work nomic barriers to organising unions hard to differentiate himself from the and conducting successful strikes, pack, by putting forward a bold, clear, and dramatically shift the balance of working class program to revitalise power in the workplace and the and mobilize the labour movement. broader economy in favor of the He is calling on the unions to rally to working class. his campaign and join him in the Point by point Sanders responds to fight against the obscene accumula - the political demands of the union tions of wealth and power of the bil - leadership, giving them everything lionaire class. that they have been saying they need to restore the economic and political “The Organiser in chief” power that unions have lost over the In a series of campaign events, past 50 years. This shift of power speeches and social media posts this would result in the dramatic improve - August and September he rolled out ment in wages, working conditions, Bernie Sanders has become the leading figure in the developing movement of the US working class his Workplace Democracy Plan, “… health, and the overall quality of life establishing a national goal to double for the vast majority of Americans. is lining up behind Warren as a reli - tion. It means building a new political corporate cash, commit themselves to union membership….” and declaring Based on this, every union in the able “progressive” alternative to force that contests with the corporate fight for pro-working-class policies, that if elected, “I’m not only going to US should be endorsing and cam - Sanders in case Biden should falter. dominated parties alongside deter - and if they are accountable to demo - be Commander in Chief. I am going paigning for Sanders right now, mo - If Sanders wins the election and mined, disciplined mass actions to cratic structures. The establishment to be Organiser in Chief.”, commit - bilizing and engaging their begins to carry out his planned re - have a chance of winning. will split before accepting any of this. ting to use the office of the president membership to fight alongside him to forms, he will face the most ferocious With an intentional approach to to actively support union organizing, win the election and carry out his opposition from the rich and power - Time For A New Party building sustainable local structures and to mobilize mass support for his programme. ful, including economic and political We need to lay the groundwork now organized around his unifying work - program. sabotage by the Billionaire Oligarchs, to build a new party to fight on ing class program, and linking them Included in his plan are commit - Serious Opposition the Democratic Party leadership and Sanders programme in the likely event with ongoing struggles against racism, ments to guarantee the right of public Big Business will not sit still and let the corporate media. that he is undemocratically blocked sexism, climate change, oppression workers to organize and bargain col - Sanders win the election and carry Winning even the most basic of from the nomination, just like 2016. and class exploitation, Sanders’ cam - lectively, give federal workers the out his plan. Even if he wins the nom - these reforms will require a mass mo - Unfortunately Sanders has not drawn paign can initiate the work of building right to strike, enact “card check” or - ination, corporate America would bilization of the unions, the youth, this conclusion and continues to argue a new mass party uniting all working ganizing, eliminate “right to work” rather have four more years of Trump and working class communities, for turning the Democrats into a and oppressed people in the US. Such laws, ban the permanent replacement than a Sanders presidency. He is al - going beyond anything we have seen “working class party.” The only way a party can play a critical role in fur - of striking workers, and re-legalize ready facing the full opposition of the since the 1970s. It will mean being this happens is if the Democrats’ pub - ther popularising anti-capitalist and sympathy strikes. Democratic Party establishment, that prepared to take political strike ac - lic representatives end all reliance on socialist ideas. n

resurgence of US labour movement

gal strike, shutting down the entire (UAW) on strike against General Mo - ments, from the 1% vs the 99% of Oc - public K-12 [Pre-School to Secondary tors (GM) in a seminal and strategic cupy, to #BLM and anti-Trump Education. Editor.] education system dispute that at the time of writing has women’s movement. for eight days and winning a wage in - involved an all-out stoppage for three It was especially seen in the class de - crease for themselves and all public weeks solid. mands evident in Bernie Sanders’ previ - sector workers as well as defeating Steve Edwards of Socialist Alterna - ous Democratic primary challenge, that various threatened attacks. The educa - tive writes about the UAW strike’s sig - called for a political revolution against tors’ rebellion that began in West Vir - nificance: the billionaire class. This campaign mo - ginia then led to eruptions in a “When the GM contract came up in bilised and inspired millions of workers number of other states, both “red” and 1982 the UAW leadership had already and youth, including a huge popularis - “blue,” including Oklahoma, Arizona, accepted the logic of concessions to ing of socialist ideas, acting as a fore - Kentucky, North Carolina, South Car - preserve corporate viability, and runner of labour’s upsurge, as it’s olina, Colorado, Washington State, therefore (so they believed) their fuelled by a backbone of a new genera - Oregon, and California. It has also had members’ jobs. That contract saw the tion of politicised worker- an impact on how workers in other in - first acceptance of a lower pay scale activists. dustries view going on strike.” for new hires. With 35,000 Chicago public schools “This strategy has never worked. A powerful working class teachers and staff set to strike from 17 The record shows that since that mo - It’s worth noting that included in strike October 2019, a new battle line for the ment, GM has gone from 440,000 figures for 2018 and 2019 are battles teachers’ revolt will open up. unionized employees in the U.S. to the that specifically target racism and sex - present figure of just under 50,000. In ism in a whole range of disputes, in - From McDonald’s to General Motors 2018 GM reported $10.8 billion in U.S. cluding action by furniture workers The revitalising of the US trade union profits but announced the shutting demonstrating against the barbaric movement has spread to hospitality, down of five North American plants.” treatment of refugees by the state. from the #MeToo inspired McDonald’s The multi-racial and all-gendered strikes, to a strike of hotel workers at Growing radicalisation working-class of the US has emerged the Marriott hotel chain, involving Decades of attacks on workers’ wages as a powerful arbiter of solidarity and nearly 8,000 workers; to retail, for ex - and conditions, the ravages of priva - progress in the teeth of reaction under ample the Stop and Shop strike in tised healthcare, and a major drive to Trump, and its continued industrial New England earlier this year involv - further privatise education are the un - and political organisation is vital for ing 31,000 shop workers; to tech, in - bearable conditions pushing US work - the working class and oppressed cluding the first moves towards ers into action. The radicalisation everywhere. Its force organised Google workers unionising; and now present in US society in the decade around the ideas of socialism can end to heavy industry, with 50,000 auto since the Great Recession has been the rule of capitalism in the “belly of workers in the United Auto Workers 50,000 workers at General Motors are currently on strike represented in bursts of social move - the beast”. n 8 INTERNATIONAL THE SOCIALIST Egyptian protesters break the wall of fear

By Colm McCarthy movements can threaten the posi - tion of seemingly unassailable rulers. n 20 September, protest If such developments were to hap - returned to the streets of pen in Egypt, it could have an inspir - oEgypt. the emergence of ing effect across the region. rallies calling for an end to abdel Fattah el-Sisi's brutal Growing confidence rule in Egypt in recent weeks So far, the protests are nowhere near mark an important develop - the scale of those that occurred from ment in challenging the fear 2011-13, which were themselves the factor that has subdued opposi - product of years of organising. How - tion to him since he came to ever, the confidence to go on these power in 2013. protests indicates an important step has been taken, since it shows that A corrupt regime anger is again beginning to trump The spark for the protests was pro - the fear factor inspired by the secu - vided by a series of videos from for - rity apparatus of the Egyptian state. mer building contractor and actor Thousands have been arrested. Mohamed Ali, alleging that el-Sisi Television networks, which are has squandered millions in public largely owned by Egypt’s intelligence funds on palaces, villas and vanity agencies, have resorted to threaten - projects. The videos posted from ing people off attending the demon - Barcelona, where he now lives, have strations. However, by the brutal chimed with the discontent felt by standards of the el-Sisi regime, swathes of the Egyptian population. which was responsible for the Despite eventually addressing the al - biggest massacres in modern Egypt - legations, el-Sisi hasn’t attempted to Major anti-el-Sisi demonstration in Cairo on 20 September ian history in 2013, the response has deny their substance. been muted. This is against the backdrop of con - the revolts in North Africa spread to Discontent among some elements of Brotherhood government of Morsi This regime can be brought to its tinuous austerity measures linked to Egypt in the early weeks of 2011. the military is reflected in the fact allowed military figures to pose as knees by a movement of the masses, a $12 billion IMF loan in 2016. Sub - Under el-Sisi, a similar process has that a former chief of staff of the defenders of the population from Is - with Egypt’s powerful working class sidies for energy and food have been seen him win praise from the masters armed forces was amongst those lamism whilst re-establishing their at its helm. A key lesson of the revo - gutted, going beyond the previous at - of international capital, whilst discon - who had their candidacy blocked for dictatorship. However, el-Sisi's in - lution of 2011 is the necessity to link tacks on them during the “reforms” of tent amongst the broad mass of the last year's sham presidential elec - credible brutality means that the po - the struggle for democratic rights the 2000’s. These “reforms” - which population brews. tion. Donald Trump has referred to tential for explosive events can see with the need to break from the cap - served to benefit both capital and the el-Sisi as his “favourite dictator” and control slip from the hands of the italist system that the military dicta - patronage networks around the then Splits in the regime praised him for dealing with the warring factions in the military elite. torship in the country is based on. dictator Hosni Mubarak at the ex - There is some speculation that Mo - “chaos” in the country, which re - The scale of the protests in Sudan This means fighting for a govern - pense of the Egyptian working class - hamed Ali has the support of ele - mains the second largest non-NATO and Algeria, that brought the down - ment of workers and the poor that provoked widespread resentment, ments within the Egyptian military recipient of US military aid. fall of the al-Bashir and Bouteflika takes the key wealth and resources but this didn’t find expression until who wish to see the back of el-Sisi. The failed, year-long Muslim dictatorships, shows how quickly into democratic public ownership. Hong Kong: Mass protests defy clampdowns & repression

By Maurice O’Connor Hong Kong government is a result of being backed by the CCP, which does oliCE violEnCE against not want to concede any democratic Solidarity with Pprotesters in hong Kong rights fearing the precedent it will has moved to a higher level re - create. victimised socialist cently, with live ammunition With the Chinese government being used against protesters. being the true power behind the & trade union a clip of a protester being shot Hong Kong regime, the question is in the chest has gone viral. posed of how the protests can take activist This is the response of the Hong on the might of the CCP. The answer Kong regime, and the Chinese “Com - would seem to be: not alone. If the By Thomas White munist” Party (CCP) that backs power of the Chinese government is them, to months of huge protests in to be truly threatened, it must be Hong Kong is facing a wave of cor - the city, centred around protecting joined by a movement of the working porate ‘white terror’ – dismissals, and extending democratic rights. class in mainland China. spying and intimidation – against The protests have seen up to two workers and trade unionists that million people on the streets at vari - Role of chinese working class voice support for the mass protest ous points, out of a population of The Hong Kong protests have in - movement that exploded there in seven million. cluded three partial general strikes, June. organised primarily through social Fear of ccP regime media. These are illustrative of how Nathan Leung Lai Pong, a member A ban on face masks was recently in - the CCP regime can be taken on. The of Socialist Action (sister organisa - troduced, to little effect, with the demands of the protest need to be tion of the Socialist Party in Hong protests continuing unabated. The extended to include full democracy Kong) and an outsourced worker regime has even considered a partial for China and Hong Kong, including at HSBC, was dismissed on 5th shutdown of the internet, to cut the right to form independent trade September after participating in across the organising of protests. unions. The Chinese working class the general strike against the gov - While protests have been focused need to see Hong Kong’s struggle as ernment two days earlier and giv - on the Hong Kong regime, and its fully connected with their own. ing media interviews about the leader Carrie Lam, there have been The general strikes and workplace need for a trade union for bank leaks that suggest the limited power struggle highlight how society can be workers. of this regime, with the CCP taking changed. A movement for demo - an ever firmer grip on the state re - cratic rights is completely bound up On 2 October, the Socialist Party sponse to the protests. The Chinese Four months on: mass protest movement continues in Hong Kong with the struggle against capitalist took part in an international day government fear, above all else, that rule, which profits from the repres - of protest against this anti-worker the wave of protests in Hong Kong “too little, too late”, many supporters Protests of this scale would have sion of the CCP regime. Real democ - repression, alongside socialists will spread to mainland China. of the Chinese government feel that likely won huge concessions from racy can only come about if this and trade unionists from New York While the withdrawal of the extra - any concessions would encourage governments in other parts of the system is overthrown and replaced to Yemen. dition law was seen by protesters as similar protests in mainland China. world. The limited response of the by democratic socialism. CLIMATE CHANGE 9 THE SOCIALIST Who’s afraid of Greta Thunberg?

By Emma Quinn men and their mouthpieces in the connection to capitalism, is posing capitalist media, hitting a nerve and the real potential of radicalising mil - arth StriKE , Friday 20 triggering a predictable wave of sex - lions of young and working-class September, saw the ist, patronising attacks against this people. Many are becoming more Elargest demonstrations 16-year-old - from Trump to Putin, open to the need for a break with this against climate change yet. Mil - to Europe's richest man, Bernad Ar - rotten system and have an increasing lions-strong marches and nault, to Piers Morgan, Jeremy desire for a world without inequality protests took place, inspired by Clarkson and even Ryan Tubridy get - and oppression. Such a world can Swedish activist Greta thun - ting his oar in. only be possible with a united and berg, whose solo protests de - Arnault (who made his billions via international struggle against capi - veloped into the global “School luxury brands like Givenchy and talism and the building of a socialist Strike for Climate”. Dior, items out of reach for the ma - alternative. Young people left school and took jority of ordinary people) ironically to the streets, demanding urgent ac - accuses Greta of “demoralising Strike action tion on environmental destruction young people”. There is clearly an Greta has not yet come to this con - and, three days later, Greta called overlap between right-wing nation - clusion, and perhaps never will, but out the “betrayal” of world leaders at alism, climate change denial and mi - she has inspired a generation to get the UN Summit in New York. sogyny, and that was certainly organised and “strike”, and has “You have stolen my dreams and present in much of the commentary. voiced her support for trade unions my childhood with your empty All the basic boxes were checked. and workers taking solidarity action words. And yet I am one of the lucky The comments were infantilising, with school students. This an essen - ones. People are dying. Entire derogatory of her mental health and tial and vital next step that could un - ecosystems are collapsing. We are at she was accused of being “exploited leash the massive power of the the beginning of mass extinction. by her parents and the international working class and really put fear into And all you can talk about is money left”. French academics grossly sug - those at the top. and fairy tales of eternal economic gested the teenager is not “sexy Trump et al might be afraid of growth. How dare you!” enough”. More mainstream sexism Greta joins march in New York on 20 September Greta, but she is not afraid of him, talked of her being too hysterical, evident in the glare she gave him Disgusting attacks shrill, fanatical, etc. swer is; they have a vested interest in that the planet is more important and in her final comment to the UN: Greta’s raw reminder of the brutal the status quo, and in capitalism, the than their profit, and who are com - “We will not let you get away with reality of climate change and the Growing radicalisation fundamental driver of climate de - ing closer to the conclusion that the this… The world is waking up. connecting of that with the profit So, why have powerful politicians, struction and also, conveniently status quo and their system needs to Change is coming whether you like system was inspiring for most. Un - bosses and conservative men of a enough, of profit. And they are go. it or not”. surprisingly, it had the opposite ef - certain age engaged in the public afraid. They are afraid of Greta and The issue of climate change, be - The onus is on us to ensure that fect on the world's most powerful bullying of a teenager? The short an - the millions of people who are saying cause of its absolute and undeniable this change is socialist change.

No importation of fracked gas! School Students explain why they are striking against climate change: By Gary McDonald

BEliEvE we have a “i chance here, a chance to replace a climate of fear and anxiety with a new climate of action and opportunity, that’s in our hands, responding to the challenge of the century with creativity, imagination, courage and, above all, deter - mination” The sheer hypocrisy of this drivel that was uttered by Leo Varadkar at the recent UN climate summit in bound to occur. To add insult to in - mate change, but a willingness to New York was indeed matched by jury, it’s also very likely that the proj - foster it by continually supporting the shameful actions that he and his ect will receive government funding the interests of the industry, big Fine Gael government have so re - to support the multimillion-euro business and vulture funds. Fine cently taken. construction! Gael attempt to present themselves The Irish state has just given a The US fracked shale gas industry as champions of the environment company, owned 50-50 by Hess is most at fault for the huge rise in but, in reality, they are complicit in LNG (a subsidiary of the US multi - global methane emissions over the its destruction. national Hess Corporation) and past decade. Worryingly, fracked gas Poten & Partners Inc, the green light is mostly composed of methane, System change “I strike because I can, I have the opportunity to stand up for myself and to build a 500MW gas power plant, which is an even more potent green - That is why the meaningful change for others, I have the opportunity to make tiny changes towards a liquid gas storage containers and an house gas that traps in the atmos - required to avert complete catastro - global goal. And to ignore this opportunity would be a betrayal of those import terminal on the Shannon Es - phere even greater amounts of heat phe must come from below in the who can't and an insult to those who are suffering.” tuary in County Kerry. than CO2. form of system change. Organised movements of the – Marcus MacGabhain (16) Pollutive and dangerous Blow to climate working class, joining and becoming This construction would see Ireland If the construction of this facility was active in trade unions, taking collec - “The reason I strike for climate is because, at the end of the day, it’s do strategically placed to receive Hess allowed to proceed, it would deliver tive strike action in their workplace, or die, and I want to be on the right side of history.” LNG supplies from its operations another blow to the Earth’s environ - all the while arming themselves with from all over the globe, attracting ment and it would be another set - socialist ideas, could bring about the – Roisin Garcia (16) large volumes of sea-based traffic back in the global fight against end of the fossil fuel industry and the carrying the dangerous fracked liq - climate change. We must resist its system that drives it, capitalism. "climate change, perpetuated by the unsatisfiable greed of big busi - uid gas to and from Ireland. The con - construction and any further expan - Using these methods of political ness and an unresponsive government, is destroying the very ground struction would undoubtedly have sion of the fossil fuel industry with action, these industries need to be beneath our feet. Only by striking in unison and in force can we force devastating effects on the local protest action. taken into public democratic hands their ever-searching hands away from the shrinking purse of Mother ecosystem. This is yet another instance of a worldwide so that we can begin the earth and towards the reaction of a sustainable world." The fracked shale gas industry is capitalist government demonstrat - immediate transition away from the known to be extremely pollutive and ing, once again, not only an inability production of fossil fuels in favour of – Jay Sacker (17) highly dangerous, so accidents are to take meaningful action against cli - renewable energy. 10 NORTH & OBITUARY THE SOCIALIST Nationalise Wrightbus to save jobs

hE SoCialiSt Party young people here when they leave sends solidarity to the education. t1,200 Wrightbus workers faced with redundancy since empty words the firm went into administra - Rightly, there is anger at the fact the tion on 25th September. Staff Wright family ‘donated’ £15 million were informed that talks with from the firm to their Green Pastures potential buyers had fallen Church in recent years. This shows through and that almost all of both incompetence and a cynical dis - them were to be made jobless regard for the livelihoods of Wright - with immediate effect due to bus staff. Workers held a protest cash flow issues. outside the church this Sunday and Private security was used to en - have called for the family to hand sure the workers left the site, with over the land on which the site management clearly fearing the po - stands in order to help secure a fu - tential for an occupation like that at ture for the plant. Harland & Wolff, where nine weeks Once again, the political establish - of action by the workers stopped the ment have shown they have nothing yard simply going to the wall and but empty words to offer workers created the space for another buyer facing redundancy. Local MP Ian to step in. Paisley Jnr seems to spend most of his time either taking dodgy holidays Another blow for Ballymena or wringing his hands about local job If the jobs at Wrightbus are lost, it losses, but he has nothing meaning - will be the latest in a series of major ful to say. blows to manufacturing in the Bal - Like all the main parties, the DUP lymena area in recent years follow - embrace the logic of the capitalist ing the closures of JTI Gallaher, market, with short-term profit as its Michelin and other firms. These job be-all and end-all. Boris Johnson pre - losses first and foremost impact the viously talked about Wrightbus and workers and their families, but they Harland & Wolff being part of a “big have a broader impact across the industrial agenda” for the North, yet 1,200 jobs are at risk at Wrightbus based in Ballymena local economy, through supply his government also said that the fu - chains and decreased spending ture of the shipyard ultimately rested Scottish government, under pres - Unite with regard to Wrightbus. Wrightbus workers can produce power. on “a commercial decision.” sure, recently stepped in to nation - The workers at both Wrightbus electric and hydrogen-fuelled vehi - Crucially, they deprive young peo - alise the Ferguson Marine shipyard and Harland & Wolff have skills that cles for public transport. That these ple of the opportunity to learn a Fight for public ownership on the Clyde. If it can happen there, can contribute to tackling the most workers are instead threatened with skilled trade, leading to a decent job. What is needed is immediate nation - why not in Ballymena? Nationalisa - pressing crisis facing humanity being thrown on the scrapheap un - Poverty pay and precarious condi - alisation of Wrightbus to safeguard tion was correctly raised by the Har - today – climate change. Harland & derlines the dysfunctional, short- tions in retail, hospitality and other the jobs and skills for the future. land & Wolff workers and their Wolff workers have expertise in pro - sighted nature of the capitalist service industries are what face most That is not a fantasy demand. The unions and has also been raised by ducing at-sea wind turbines, while system. Obituary: John Throne (1944-2019)

ddrESSinG a national vened into the Labour Party and litical foundation and the tradition of aConference of the Socialist played a vital role in organising the dedication and commitment that Party in dublin on 21 Septem - opposition to coalitionism and tak - had been laid previously by many ber, national Executive mem - ing on the Labour right-wing under comrades, clearly with John Throne ber Kevin Mcloughlin marked the respective leaderships of Bren - making a major contribution. the recent passing of John dan Corish, Frank Cluskey and From the latter part of the 1980s throne in Chicago and regis - Michael O’Leary. John was based in the US. There he tered his important role in the John was first elected onto the was a leading full time activist in founding and building oF the leading body of the Labour Party, the Labor Militant, the CWI group in the , the forerun - Administrative Council, at the Na - US, in its early and formative years. ner of the Socialist Party, and tional Conference in Wexford in The political approach that John the Committee for a Workers’ 1978. Subsequently, in the early adopted to building a socialist organ - international (CWi). 1980s, this role was assumed by Joe isation evoked strong opposition Along with comrades such as the Higgins and with agreement, John from a majority of members and he late Peter Hadden, John Throne subsequently left Ireland to do vital was removed from his positions at a played a crucial role in assembling work of building an International as conference of Labor Militant in 1996. the forces that would form the Mili - an organiser with the CWI. Notwithstanding that since that tant in Ireland in 1974. He also par - The Militant grew rapidly North time the Socialist Party in Ireland ticipated in the formation of the and South from 1982 to 1986, nu - and John have disagreed on many is - CWI, which was established in the merically and in its influence. This sues, including John making imbal - same year. was based on our principled position anced criticisms of the CWI John was a leading full time on the national question, encapsu - generally and of the party in Ireland worker for Militant based in Dublin. lated in our slogan “For Workers’ in particular, we believe it is impor - He was originally from just outside Unity and Socialism,” our work in tant and appropriate to recognise Lifford, County Donegal and was the unions and in popularising so - publicly the significant role that propelled into political activity by the cialism and Marxism through the John Throne played in the formation events in Derry in the late 1960s. Young Socialists in the North and and building of the Militant Ten - After moving to Dublin in the early Labour Youth in the South. This suc - dency, the forerunner of the Socialist 1970s, John and the Militant inter - cess was in part due to the good po - Party and the CWI for over 25 years. John Throne was a founding member of Militant, predecessor of the Socialist Party REVIEW & INTERVIEW 11 THE SOCIALIST Film review: Joker – a reflection of modern times?

By James McCabe myth that is used by the establish - ment to try to divorce mass shoot - oKEr iS an engaging film. it ings from their socio-economic Jwon the top award at the context. venice Film Festival, but has The stereotype of the mass shooter also faced a wave of scorn from as a loner with mental health issues film critics; some of whom de - deflects from the wider context of the scribe it as “irresponsible” and growth of far-right ideas, as well as “toxic.” the social alienation and stress af - Set in the fictional Gotham City in fecting so much of the population the early 1980s, commentators from due to the precarity of work and all quarters have argued that the housing in capitalist society today. film’s backdrop of wealth inequality Not to mention the current backlash and political turmoil will strike a against the global women’s move - chord with today’s audiences. ment and the hyper-masculinity The protagonist, Arthur Fleck, is a that’s celebrated in US culture as grown man who lives with his part of its pro-war propaganda. mother. He takes medication to treat his ailing mental health and lives a Insular Hollywood poor, precarious existence as a clown The picture that Joker paints of and budding stand-up comedian. modern capitalism is a departure not Fleck’s comedy routines fail to make only from the comic book genre but people laugh while at the same time from the generally banal storylines his condition of involuntary, uncon - and flat characters that an out-of- trollable laughter makes him the touch Hollywood has churned out subject of ridicule amongst his peers. over the past period. Along with a number of humiliat - Joker had the biggest October opening of all time at the box office The film indicates a growing ing experiences, he loses access to awareness by sections of the upper mental health counselling and med - Turmoil in Gotham ing placards with slogans such as Dangerous film? middle-class milieu that dominate ication due to budget cuts. His situ - The Wall Street trio turn out to have “Resist” and “Eat the rich.” A Much of the hand-wringing by com - Hollywood of the impact of capitalist ation evokes further pity as we learn been employees of billionaire masked protestor is shown on the mentators about the film focuses on crisis on working-class and op - that he was subject to severe child - Thomas Wayne, who’s asked in a TV evening news shouting, “f*ck the the supposed danger that Arthur pressed people today. hood abuse while at the same time interview about the murders and rich, f*ck Thomas Wayne, and f*ck Fleck’s violent actions could spark At the same time, the depiction of we’re repulsed as his fantasies about whether they were motivated by the system.” copycat mass shootings. The idea the protest movement in Joker as a a next-door neighbour result in him anti-rich sentiment. Wayne then In previous Batman films, Thomas that films are the main cause of horde of violent rioters bent on stalking her on her way to work. His rails against poor people, and de - Wayne was portrayed as a noble phi - mass shootings is consistent with chaos could well indicate the anxi - internalised frustration and rage scribes them as “clowns” who never lanthropist, yet in Joker, we dis - the mainstream media’s superficial ety that this layer feel about move - then manifest in murderous violence made something of themselves. This cover that billionaire Wayne abused response to these increasingly com - ments that could in any way when he shoots a trio of Wall Street comment sparks a backlash of a female employee, reflecting the mon events. Also, the notion that destabilise or threaten the system bros who assault him on the subway. demonstrations and riots by protest - sexist, exploitative behaviour that mental health and violence go hand- upon which their own power and ers wearing clown masks and carry - sparked the #metoo movement. in-hand is a dangerous and insulting privilege rests. Women’s football 2019: Equal pay, #Metoo & Megan Rapinoe

Keishia Taylor interviewed tions down because it impacts the Kaepernik and things like that. money they have available for When you see things like #metoo, I Suzanne Wrack, Women’s themselves and the men’s team. think it’s innate solidarity. Just by Rapinoe saying she’s “not going playing football, female players are Football Writer for The to the f*cking White House” put breaking with stereotypes and tra - Guardian , on her way to her in the spotlight and when it ditional gender roles in a way that was announced that the prize isn’t necessarily a conscious politi - Lisbon – the first time The money would be doubled, she said cal act, but they are playing an im - “double it again!” – she’s really portant role. Guardian had sent someone embracing the role of constantly to cover an international pushing things forward. And foot - You broke the #metoo story in the ball commands a huge amount of Afghanistan FA – could you tell us women’s friendly! respect! People often follow what about that? their team or national team does The Women's World cup was ex - extremely closely, so it wields real I had interviewed some of the tremely significant this year, with power to be a leader on challeng - Afghanistan women’s team the the equal pay campaign and the ing issues of sexism, racism, etc. year before, so when I heard rum - wonderful Megan Rapinoe. What and positively change things. blings about terrible contracts with made this year so special? no rights I got in touch with the The feeling that enough is enough players and from there I ap - What’s so fantastic about this and unashamedly pushing things proached the team manager who world cup is that big disputes over forward can be seen elsewhere in connected me with some of the equal pay and expenses coincided the global feminist movement as victims. It was great as a journalist with women’s football growing and well. Do you think the players are to be able to publish a story that getting more investment. The US inspired by other movements? had a material effect on the play - team shattered the idea that if you ers, particularly when the legal sys - Outspoken star player of the US women’s national soccer team, Megan Rapinoe want equal pay then you have to Nothing exists in isolation and tem wasn’t going to help them. generate the same amount of everything has a context. I think The players were very keen to happening everywhere, so the women’s rights and what is and money as the men’s team, because the attitudes that are reflected in widen the discussion, to say that idea there wouldn’t be one in isn’t acceptable. they have been doing that since society are reflected in and this is definitely happening else - sport is ridiculous! These cases al - 2015! It’s much more ideological through football. I’d say Rapinoe is where and to support others to ways existed but now we’re more Hear more from Suzanne at Bread & than that – it’s about profits for the definitely looking at other move - come forward. confident to speak out on these Roses Festival, 26 October, Project top of FIFA and generations of ments and drawing inspiration, tak - Football is a part of society, it’s issues and tackle them. There’s a Arts centre, Temple Bar, Dublin. In - holding women’s pay and condi - ing a knee in support of Colin not in a vacuum. #Metoo has been growing consciousness around terview with Suzanne at 1.45pm! PAPtER OF THhE SOCIALIST PAReTY s o c ISiSUE 126 a lisOCTOBER / NOt VEMBER 2019 Government defers paltry minimum wage increase DemanD €15 / hour min Wage noW!

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