Communist Party of Ireland Páirtí Cumannach na hÉireann Socialist Voice Partisan Patriotic Internationalist Number 178 December 2019 €1.50 www.commmunistpartyofirerland.ie

Page 2 Criminal commerce H Page 4 Céad míle falsehood H Page 5 Defend Assange and Manning Page 6 Socialist alternative H Page 9 Is national pride anti-marxist Page 10 Solidarity with Bolivia H H Page 12 Colombia/ Cuba Page 14 Culture H H Page 16 Waiting for Godot

“From the entry of the Labour Party into the Municipal Council to the present day their course has been marked by dissension, squabbling and recrimination. No single important move in the interest of the worker was even mooted, the most solemn pledges were incontinently broken, and where the workers looked for inspiration and leadership, they have received nothing but discouragement and disgust.”—James Connolly (Workers’ Republic, 16 September 1899) SV Socialist Voice Debt, austerity, 43 East Essex Street Dublin D02 XH96 (01) 6708707 and the EU ISSN 0791-5217 A decade of “austerity” has left a trail of destruction and poverty Eugene McCartan reports page 2 j/7G@7I1\URQPPX/ Zazb DEBT, AUSTERITY AND THE EU

the banking debt imposed was owed to German banks. A decade of “austerity” has left a trail of hospital waiting-lists, a housing crisis, and cuts in workers’ wages and conditions, a decade in which workers have experienced a growing spread of precarious employment, precarious shelter, precarious health services, and a precarious future for pensioners. The learned professor put this down in particular to “historical trauma” regarding debt and inflation in German historical experience. While this may have played a small, subjective part in their thinking, what is clear is that German monopoly capitalism would have experienced a huge crisis if Ireland—like Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece—had refused to take responsibility for the massive over- borrowing and speculation by financial institutions, both national and global. EUGENE MCCARTAN The “learned” professor suggests that “Austerity” was for saving the system, in the euro crisis Ireland was caught in saving finance capital. The crisis OWARDS THE end of November the the crossfire between Germany and presented an opportunity for the ruling Irish media published reports of southern European bail-out countries and class throughout the European Union and Tcomments made by Prof. Christian was forced to bear “unnecessarily harsh beyond to seize the moment and launch Kastrop, a former associate of the German austerity measures.” an assault on the working class, to take minister of finance, Wolfgang Schäuble, We as a people need to keep in back from workers what they had forced one of the architects of the debt crisis. mind that we were forced to take from the elite over many decades. The Kastrop now works for the Bertelsmann ownership of 42 per cent of all banking learned prof., like all such elements Foundation, a think tank sponsored by the debt by the European Union, within academia, played a necessary role Bertelsmann Group, one of the principal dominated, as it was and is, by German in forming the ideological building-blocks German transnational corporations. monopoly capital. A significant part of to sustain the system.

big business. The construction industry has for There is nothing new about shady years been a byword for shabby Turning a dealings within the world of lucrative practice, with its brown envelopes, the commerce; and Ireland is no exception. use of substandard products, and blind eye During the Economic War of the 1930s unconscionable mistreatment of labour. a leading Unionist politician with Elsewhere, migrant workers are being TOMMY MCKEARNEY property along the border reassigned B forced to do lengthy periods of overtime Specials and Revenue personnel so as in some factories at a flat (and at best HERE IS AN old adage that if to facilitate the importation of cattle minimum wage) rate. This cruelty is something appears too good to be from “Éire” into Britain via Northern being enforced by unscrupulous Ttrue, it probably is. Moreover, Ireland, in violation of the then British gangmasters, using a range of threats, responsibility goes both ways. Anyone embargo on Southern Irish produce. including physical intimidation. buying something below its obvious Forward ninety years and there is Managements, content to be the market value without checking the origin evidence that big business on both recipients of cheap lab our, do not care has to know there is a real probability of sides of the border is still turning a blind to investigate. illegality or outright criminality being eye to both sharp and frankly illegal Some of the most blatant uses of involved. activity. Frequently this involves illegality, however, now occur in a The common perception is that such subcontractors supplying services at business at present under the spotlight. shady deals are done by petty crooks levels below a viable or going rate. The haulage industry is rife with working from dark alleyways. There is, These practices, more prevalent in malpractice, and sometimes lethally so. however, a more sinister involvement in some industries than others, afford the Central to this is continuous pressure to this type of crime by those other master captains of industry a measure of reduce freight costs, and often done at crooks: the management and owners of “credible denial.” all costs. Illustrating this point is a

2 Socialist Voice December 2019 We as a people need to keep in mind that we were forced to take ownership of 42 per cent of all banking debt by the European Union, dominated, as it was and is, by German monopoly capital.

Not alone was “austerity” an attack report outlining the over-dependence on from the savage exploitation of workers on the living standards of workers and tax revenue from corporate tax. They around the globe. their communities, it was also an make the claim that up to €6 billion, or These corporations will only continue ideological attack on the idea of public 60 per cent, of the Government’s to declare profits here until another debt and borrowing. Kastrop played a corporation tax may be temporary, only subservient client state offers them a central part in drafting what are called for as long as it suits transnational better deal. The increased Government “fiscal brakes,” adopted since 2016 for corporations to declare their taxes here in spending is financed in part by these the German federal budget and from next tax-haven Ireland. corporation taxes and is not a true year for Germany’s sixteen federal states, Corporation tax rose to a record reflection or based on the real strength of which have also been adopted and €10.4 billion last year, more than double economic activity here, and is thereby not imposed by the EU. the amount collected in 2014. This is sustainable in the long term. This is The German state and ruling class caused by what is called the “onshoring where the EU fiscal rules on government believe in cutting public services, slowing of assets,” which is due in some measure borrowing will have a significant impact economies first, to maximise the effect of to a small global clampdown on when these sources of tax revenue dry up public funds invested subsequently as transnational tax avoidance and growing or are reduced. stimulus. These “fiscal brakes” will global corporate profits. About half last Once again workers will face further prevent current and future German year’s total came from a mere ten and ever deeper attacks on their wages finance ministers from borrowing more companies, such tech giants as Apple, and conditions. Services such as health than 0.35 per cent of economic output, Microsoft, Dell, Google, and Oracle. and education will come under further at the federal level since 2016 and from The Fiscal Council noted that attack. Neither will the housing crisis be next year in the provinces. In Germany corporation tax receipts now account for solved with the Government’s current this has contributed to years of chronic one in every five euros of tax collected strategy. We will see a further tightening underspending on education and physical by the Government. It also warned that of the power and control of finance and digital infrastructure. between €2 and €6 billion of the capital. These fiscal rules will be imposed current €10 billion total may be what it Workers will always be made to pay throughout the EU from next year and will calls “excess,” or a temporary aberration the price for the recurring crisis. What is have a very negative impact on workers in the tax take—what we would term needed is a radical break with this failing and their families and on public services “imperial rent,” whereby the Irish and crisis-ridden economic system. as more and more of the tax take comes establishment rents a brass plate in the Those who continue to argue for the from working people, and taxes on capital International Financial Services Centre system, and those who argue that are subsequently reduced. to transnational corporations, where membership of the EU is the only way The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council—a they can wash their profits through the forward but simply needs progressive Government-appointed think tank of Irish tax system and cream off a few reforming, need to explain how this is to tame individuals—recently issued a billions of those profits—profits accrued be done. H recent example where a bona fide The point to keep in mind is that Nevertheless, there are steps that operator lost a long-standing contract those profiting most from this are the can and should be taken while pursuing when a competitor undercut him by an masters of capital in control of the overall objective of a workers’ unsustainable 25 per cent. construction, retail, transport, and republic. In the first instance, it is The consequence is to cause some food production. Although not directly important to see past the small fry and people, desperate for a wage, to evade involved in lawbreaking, it is to expose large companies and their statutory regulations by employing inconceivable that high-powered shareholders that are profiting by devious techniques to circumvent managements are unaware of the cost abusing labour. Secondly, progressive legislation guaranteeing rest and of labour and must bear responsibility society has to make it more difficult to recuperation periods. As a result, for the fall-out. cut the price of labour by battling to have drivers and the public are put at risk. It is important to recognise this not all sectors of the economy unionised. Still more dangerous, however, is an merely as a law-and-order issue. Alongside these steps, it is crucial issue now being raised by conscientious Undoubtedly there is a case for that the toxic and symbiotic lorry-drivers. They say that a number of prosecuting individuals and groups of relationship between right-wing elected unprincipled and suspect small individuals; but the overall culprit is (and seeking-to-be-elected) transport operators have been the capitalist system. Moreover, representatives and big business is submitting rock-bottom tenders for political and economic systems don’t exposed. transcontinental subcontract work to function separately from society. The Taken in isolation, these measures larger companies. How, they ask, are only way to definitively end the will not provide a comprehensive these small-scale outfits able to do so, criminal abuse of working people is to solution to issues detrimentally affecting and why? In a nutshell, what else are replace capitalism, the economic the working class. Nevertheless they they doing to subsidise their system underpinning the exploitation offer an alternative to passively unprofitable runs? of labour. accepting the intolerable. H Socialist Voice December 2019 3 POLITICS

Céad míle falsehood

of the establishment, because the reason is at the core of their capitalist ideology. Imperial wars—facilitated by Ireland by means of Shannon Airport—are a major source of refugees, as hundreds of thousands of people are displaced in Libya, Syria, Yemen, and anywhere else that has resources that imperialism wants to get its hands on, or any people who dare to stand up against the imperialist hegemony. Refugees are not looking for what Gemma Doherty (by- election candidate in Fingal) might call “our jobs”: they are fleeing our bombs, many of which pass through Shannon Airport unhindered on their way to create death and destruction around the world. Of course all immigrants are not refugees. Some are economic migrants. The mainstream media put a capitalist spin on this, that “these poor people are fleeing wretched conditions in the poverty-stricken countries they come from.” What they don’t tell us is that 83 per cent of all products made in the world are produced in the self-same poverty-stricken countries, by First World corporations, which pay poverty wages for these products, which are then sold here and in the rest of the “developed world” at a massive profit made from the hard labour of workers in the global south. It is the poverty wages of JIMMY DORAN on arrival, as many of them are capitalism that force people to migrate. terrorists, even going so far as The “developed world” has been AST MONTH the ugly face of suggesting that this applied to children developed at their expense. capitalism came into the public as young as four years old. She The global south is not naturally poor: Lglare when thirty-nine people froze eventually apologised, saying that she it is unnaturally impoverished, by to death in the back of an Irish had used a “very poor choice of words.” colonialism in the past and by global juggernaut, having been smuggled into This pseudo-apology was fully accepted imperialism today. Britain from Viet Nam. by the taoiseach and the tánaiste; there Leo Varadkar accepts Verona Later on, as November came to a was no need for any further action or Murphy’s apology, as it suits the interests close and the Christmas shopping frenzy explanation, and Fine Gael were happy of Fine Gael to have a divided people was in full swing in the streets, on to have Verona Murphy as their here, where one worker distrusts the television and radio and in the candidate in the election. other—the old method of divide and newspapers, sixteen people were There was no attempt to explain or to conquer that served the British so well in discovered in the back of another build empathy about why people are the past and serves their lackeys today. juggernaut, on its way to Rosslare. risking their lives to travel to Ireland and Where is the céad míle fáilte that Mercifully, they were alive. Europe, or why those who survive this Ireland is so famous for? There seems to Only a few days earlier Verona perilous journey are then forced to spend be no welcome in Achill, Oughterard, or Murphy, Fine Gael’s candidate in the years in our present-day Magdalene Ballinamore. We are not naturally racist Wexford by-election, suggested that laundries, “direct provision.” in Ireland: we ourselves have travelled immigrants should be “deprogrammed” But that would not be in the interest the world as economic migrants, have

4 Socialist Voice December 2019 The global south is not naturally poor: it is unnaturally impoverished, by colonialism in the past and by global imperialism today. endured British rule in the past and the neo-liberalism of the counter-revolution today. Racism is taught to us: we are not born with it. It is very subtle but facilitated by governments to serve their interest: capitalism. It is not immigrants who drive down wages, it is employers. These attitudes can be traced right back to the foundation of the state. Fine Gael was born out of the fascist Blueshirts. Éamon de Valera, founder of Fianna Fáil, was the most right-wing IRA commandant, the only one who refused to allow women in his ranks during the rising, and the only one the British did Defend Julian Assange not execute. They knew well who to take out and who should survive to serve their interests. and Chelsea Manning! If Lorraine Clifford-Lee picks up a few SEÁN EDWARDS The blatant and sustained arbitrariness extra votes for Fianna Fáil in the Fingal shown by both the judiciary and the by-election because of her anti-Traveller N 2010 Chelsea Manning (then Government in this case suggests an and racist tweets, Mícheál Martin will not known as Bradley Manning) was alarming departure from the UK’s complain. They are happy for such views Iworking as a US military intelligence commitment to human rights and the to be expressed. They will condemn the analyst when she came across a video of rule of law. This is setting a worrying comments and apologise in time to gain an American helicopter crew calmly example, which is further reinforced by some votes and will not lose others as a massacring Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. So the Government’s recent refusal to consequence, but the seed is planted. shocked was she that she sent the video conduct the long-awaited judicial The question has to be asked: If to Wikileaks, which published it, thereby inquiry into British involvement in the Murphy and Clifford-Lee are expressing exposing the nature of the US military CIA torture and rendition programme. these opinions on Twitter and in public occupation of Iraq. (You can watch the In my view, this case has never been interviews, what are they saying behind video at https://collateralmurder. about Mr. Assange’s guilt or closed doors? These were not a “poor wikileaks.org. It is not easy to watch, but innocence, but about making him pay choice of words”: they were racist watch it anyway.) the price for exposing serious statements, made by two women from Since then she and Julian Assange governmental misconduct, including the two largest political parties in Ireland. have been the target of the fury of the US alleged war crimes and corruption. The apologies were accepted authorities, with the aid of Britain and Unless the UK urgently changes wholeheartedly, and no explanation given Sweden and, since the treason of Lenín course and alleviates his inhumane of why they were wrong: just a slip of the Moreno, also of Ecuador. situation, Mr. Assange’s continued tongue. Chelsea Manning was sentenced to exposure to arbitrariness and abuse It is no accident that right-wing and thirty-five years in prison but was may soon end up costing his life. fascist parties are growing once again released by Barack Obama after seven Once again the British and American around the world. years. (117,000 people signed a petition authorities have shown their Capitalism is the cause of people for her release.) She is now jailed for vindictiveness and their contempt for fleeing their homelands through refusing to answer questions to a grand their own laws, especially their frequently exploitation and war. Other capitalist jury, that is, refusing to testify against declared democratic principles of parasites profit by smuggling people; Assange. freedom of speech and freedom of when they arrive here other capitalists Julian Assange is now held in a high- publication. This is a threat to press profit from the vile conditions that they security prison in England; having freedom in general. have to endure in direct provision. completed a sentence for skipping bail, If you are looking for a campaign of As Fidel Castro said, “capitalism is he is now held without charge or trial protest from the corporate press you will repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is awaiting extradition to the United States. not find it; instead it is conducting a alienating . . . because it causes war, The UN special rapporteur on torture, campaign of vilification against Julian hypocrisy, and competition. ” Nils Melzer, has expressed alarm at the Assange. The rest of us should realise Capitalism has neither the capacity, continued deterioration of Julian that it is our democratic rights that are the morality nor the ethics to solve this Assange’s health since his arrest and under attack, and it is Julian Assange crisis for humanity—because it is the detention earlier this year, saying that his and Chelsea Manning who are defending cause of it. H life is now at risk. them. H Socialist Voice December 2019 5 THE CAPITALIST ILLUSION

Part 5 There is an alternative: socialism

and of economic migrants from the impoverished and underdeveloped peripheral countries, including Ireland. To maintain western domination, consumption, and capital accumulation, the capitalist and imperialist powers instigated perpetual war around the globe for the control of the world’s land and resources. The continuation of this is exemplified in Latin America today with EOGHAN O’N EILL also being the first state to launch coups in Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, satellites and send people into space—an Colombia, and Brazil, countries that, to HE MOST important task of our extraordinary feat in science and varying degrees, are under attack or have class is to shatter the illusion that engineering. been taken over by right-wing forces, Tsocialism failed. Socialism, directed The Soviet Union planned and built up aided and abetted by the United States by communist and workers’ parties— its metropolitan cities with some of the and its EU allies. contrary to what we are all taught and told most advanced and also affordable public As the Marxist scholar Michael Parenti to believe—did in fact succeed. It worked, housing schemes, public utilities and succinctly puts it, “the Third World is not and continues to work, very well. transport systems ever built, all with the poor. You don’t go to poor countries to It would be a huge error not to point full participation of all branches of make money! There are very few poor out the obvious fact that within fifty years industry, working together with a common countries in this world. Most countries of socialist revolution the republics of the goal in an organised, planned way. are rich! The Philippines are rich! Brazil is Soviet Union went from being backward, Lest we forget, it is vitally important to rich! Mexico is rich! Chile is rich! Only the semi-feudal peasant societies to some of reiterate the fact that it took capitalism people are poor.” the most advanced civilisations, with a hundreds of years—of genocide, slavery, The people are poor because the level and scale of development robbery, organised crime, and every other wealth that is created has been unprecedented in human history. It form of exploitation and extortion of land, appropriated by capitalists and foreign guaranteed those most basic human labour, and natural resources—to build monopoly capital. Wealth, transferred in needs that no capitalist country has been its metropolitan centres. These cities and its money form, is channelled from the able to provide to all its citizens, while states were built on the backs of slaves transnational corporations and their local

6 Socialist Voice December 2019 Therefore, by definition, in a socialist state industries, utilities, services etc. must be largely indigenous, not being reliant on or held hostage to foreign direct investment. subsidiaries to the banks and offshore greatest participation of citizens in a subsidising of the arts, with free or very accounts of the indigenous capitalists and variety of political, industrial and social cheap access to theatres, cinemas, those in the imperialist centres, who in forums and institutions. museums, and art galleries. Sport and turn finance the political ruling class to Foreign trade is underpinned by an cultural infrastructure is heavily invested ensure that the policies and laws adopted equivalent of exchange between countries in to allow people to follow a creative and are framed in their interests. Any and not by the current trade treaties that successful career in sport and the arts. objection or opposition is met with deadly favour the developed nations over the Financial and public support coming from and devastating force against those who underdeveloped, facilitating the continual a conscious citizenry dedicated to the resist this imperial hegemony. spread of poverty. At its core, socialism is betterment and fulfilment of all cultural This is fundamentally how the a system of accumulating social labour to avenues can be achieved without having capitalist system works; and “imperialism” build social capital in order to guarantee private vested interests turning the is the word we use to describe this whole the basic human rights of all people. activity into a sales event. In other words, process. It is parasitic and, vampire-like, it Under socialism, literally hundreds of sport, art and culture can be geared sucks the blood of every nation that holds millions of people were provided with towards the use value of the activity the resources it needs to quench the education, from primary to third level, rather than the exchange value. unquenchable thirst for greater profits, with medical care and housing, all free of A socialist system can and does greater wealth and capital accumulation, charge or almost so. The people had facilitate this because a planned and ultimately greater misery for the homes, with homelessness more or less economy, with the conscious participation majority of the peoples of the world. eradicated, thanks to the low-rent of an active citizenry, can direct funds to Its defining feature is the private housing policies directed towards the where people see and agree upon the ownership of the means of production, building of the housing stock held in necessity and amounts for funding. i.e. the land, the factories, the mines and public ownership. Today, trillions lie in the bank vaults of mills, infrastructure, and services. Private Socialist states train and employ more western “democracies,” but they lie idle, capital is in the hands of a tiny minority, doctors and nurses per capita than earning interest for the tiny minority who who make all the major decisions on how capitalist countries and, as in the case of have control and ownership of them to they use and abuse the factors of Cuba, have sent their doctors to areas buy up more and to further monopolise production—land, labour, capital, and around the globe stricken by disasters. In the world’s economy. enterprise—and who get to keep the contrast, the United States sends its Not only does socialism releases the spoils, produced by the labouring masses. military to take advantage of a crisis. potential of all this idle money for Socialism is the antithesis of this Having these three core needs investment in any and all appropriate primitive and vile anarchic system. It is satisfied has meant that people in sectors of society but the level of not reliant on the exploitation and plunder socialist states enjoy a healthy life, accumulation by a tiny minority would not of other nations or its own citizens for its generally with guaranteed one-month be possible, because the exploitation of development but in fact is built by the holiday or rest time, and can put people one person by another—the source of conscious efforts and labour of its to work in a wide variety of vocations and accumulating wealth under capitalism— citizens, who, through class struggle and industries, with guaranteed employment, would no longer be possible, meaning education, have become conscious of the social security, pensions and social that a much fairer and equitable class nature of society. insurance to cover any unforeseen distribution of wealth would take its This is why we cannot be taken in by circumstance. place, and not just on the national scale the false promises of social democracy Child care and creches are integrated but at the international level. and the different colours of revisionism. in work-places to facilitate and promote As regards democracy, socialism, as For even if a capitalist country succeeds in participation by women in the work force understood by the Communist Party, is building a strong social system, with a and to change the dynamics and role of for deepening and widening the proper health service, education, housing, men and women in the family and at participation of citizens in political life; it etc., it is done with the blood of our home. This issue has not been fully doesn’t limit itself to electioneering, or to brothers and sisters in the resolved but must always be part of the a secret ballot of elected leaders, and underdeveloped world. socialist agenda for the further and does not give emphasis to competing Therefore, by definition, in a socialist complete emancipation of women under political parties, which is the extent of state industries, utilities, services etc. socialism. capitalist “democracies.” Its goal is to must be largely indigenous, not being The diet in a socialist state is ensure the broadest involvement and reliant on or held hostage to foreign direct generally much healthier than in capitalist participation by different sections of investment. The infrastructure and main states. Without having the incentive to society—industrial, agricultural, cultural, means of production are held in common lace all foods with addictive sugar and social and other organisations of the by all citizens, where communication, additives in order to sell more and make people—being represented at all levels of planning and co-operation between all greater profits, food production can be government, so that there is a greater branches of industry in the economy are based more on environmentally sound democratic say by all in how the country directed towards predetermined social food-processing. is run, planned, and managed. goals and plans, which are set by the Culturally, socialism allows for the CONTINUED OVERLEAF

Socialist Voice December 2019 7 NATION

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 opposed to socialism, but only because GRAHAM HARRINGTON they are made conscious of the effects, Socialism gives meaning to the word and not the causes, of the problems. S THE “Irish question” comes “democracy”: rule by the people. The A vast chasm separates capitalism back to haunt British Toryism as government of a socialist state, as and socialism. Most people are given a Awell as British social democracy, directed by the maximum participation of false understanding of what socialism is it is worth reflecting on what attitude its citizens, goes about the task of by those who have either a very clear Irish Marxists should take on the drafting and then implementing a plan, class interest in maintaining capitalism national question. directed by the people, to meet the and so distort the concept of both It is worth pointing out that needs and wants of its people, using its capitalism and socialism and by those nationalism is only ever criticised when land, its natural resources and human who have no comprehension of the it comes from an oppressed people; labour, which is held in common by all for capitalist system yet who feel they have very seldom is it understood that the betterment of all. the authority to speak of socialism. nationalism in its worst forms usually When a socialist revolution succeeds Of course mistakes have been made; comes from an oppressor country. in changing the social, political and but the pioneers of anything will Then it becomes “common sense,” the economic order, it adopts a socialist invariably make mistakes. This is all part default. programme, i.e. the common ownership of the process of creating something While calls for “no borders, no of the means of production. No two new. It is how we learn from the mistakes nations” or such slogans might go countries will be the same in everything of the past so as not to repeat them that down well as sound bites at union they do, but what they all have in is the most valuable lesson for future conferences, they do not offer any common is that they will be targeted by revolutionary movements. concrete political programme that can the imperialist powers, which will do, as Above all, socialism is the conscious unify the class. The reality is that they have done, everything in their vast construction of a society where resources nations are a material thing, a result of power to undermine the revolutionary are directed to where they are needed, the uneven development of capitalism socialist country. such as in health, education, housing, over the centuries. The contradiction So they restrict trade to and from and the welfare of its citizens, above the between the core and peripheral these countries, causing shortages and private interests of a small minority. nations is one of the sharpest problems in the economy. This and many It does this, and has done this, with contradictions in the era of other acts of sabotage, as well as the support of the class-conscious imperialism. espionage. cause distortions in the people, despite the global capitalist Lenin, in his article “On the socialist economy. This is the key to aggression, isolation, and falsification of National Pride of the Great Russians,” understanding the reality for existing its existence. This is socialism in theory asks: socialist countries in an extremely hostile and practice; and if this was taught in Is a sense of national pride alien to capitalist world, and is one of the schools, from primary to third level, us, Great-Russian class-conscious reasons people are so critical and instead of the anti-communist proletarians? Certainly not! We love propaganda that is prevalent in western our language and our country, and education systems, class-consciousness we are doing our very utmost to within the working class would rise, which raise her toiling masses to the level would of course cause serious concern of a democratic and socialist for the ruling classes. consciousness. The reason socialism is treated with such contempt and is criminalised at every opportunity by the western imperialist media and mouthpieces is that they know it is the only system that can threaten the monopoly of the capitalists and imperialism. The success of the capitalist illusion is to convince most people that the victims—socialist countries—are to blame for crimes perpetrated against them by imperialist policies. H

PICTURES: On building new plants Alexander Deneika (1899-1969) USSR in Construction Immensly popular 1930s Soviet magazine published in four languages with avante garde design

8 Socialist Voice December 2019 It is worth pointing out that nationalism is only ever criticised when it comes from an oppressed people.

Indeed Lenin criticised Rosa Despite many on the left rightly do not extend their revolutionary Luxemburg’s dismissal of nationalism as praising Cuba for the revolution’s propaganda and revolutionary mass “actually playing into the hands of the independence and its slogan of Patria o activity directly to the sphere of Black-Hundred nationalism of the Great- muerte (homeland or death), when struggle against national Russians!” anyone in Ireland raises the point that oppression... that such socialists act Patriotism has always been a we should learn from this positive as chauvinists and lackeys of characteristic of socialist states, from the example of patriotism and socialism bloodstained and filthy imperialist USSR to Cuba. Even the anti-fascist war being one and the same, those same monarchies and the imperialist in which 26 million Soviet lives were lost leftists recoil in horror. They see the bourgeoisie. (Lenin) defeating the Nazis is known as the Great Tricolour, the national anthem and the The Reconquest of Ireland will only Patriotic War. However, it deserves to be history of this country not as symbols come about as a conscious act by a pointed out that among many in the other that can inspire and unify people but as risen people. A positive vision of eastern European socialist states Soviet sources of division. They seem not to patriotism, based on making the patriotism was seen, rightly or wrongly, as understand that not only the Cuban working class the ruling class in the a cover for Great-Russian chauvinism. revolution but other socialist revolutions nation, not only offers the ability to More damagingly, the reverence for came from national liberation struggles, advance a programme that challenges the Soviet Union on the grounds of its role as in Viet Nam, Mozambique, Angola, cross-class nationalism in its worst in defeating fascism and liberating and China. Even Ho Chi Minh wrote: expressions but also allows us to bring eastern Europe, as well as its many At first patriotism, not yet unity to our class, in the best patriotic economic and social achievements, led to communism, led me to have traditions of our people. a mechanical approach to building confidence in Lenin, in the Third These patriotic traditions include not socialism in the people’s democracies International. Step by step, along the only political leaders such as Connolly, that arose in the late 1940s. In socialist struggle, by studying Marxism- Pearse and Tone but also cultural Cuba an important emphasis was put on Leninism parallel in participation in figures in our nation’s history, from avoiding these mistakes and creating a practical activities, I gradually came Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde to socialism based on Cuban conditions, on upon the fact that only socialism and Brendan Behan. It also includes an Cuba’s history, rather than being an communism can liberate the appreciation of our people’s history, a imitation of the USSR. It was this that led oppressed nations and the working history of anti-imperialism and working- to socialist Cuba preserving its system people throughout the world from class resistance, not only in Ireland but after the counter-revolutions in eastern slavery. in all corners of the globe, such as Europe, taking inspiration from the To be blunt, some people’s belief is Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (a founder- Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariátegui, not in the Reconquest of Ireland but member of the Communist Party of the who said: instead they pin their hopes on our USA), Mary “Mother Jones” Harris in the We certainly do not want socialism in betters, whether it be the remaining United States, and Daniel Florence Latin America to be a copy or imitation. vestiges of British social-imperialism or O’Leary, the Corkman who served with It should be a heroic creation. We have the new, European cosmopolitanism. the Liberator Simón Bolívar. to give life to Indo-American socialism The socialists must explain to the From the IRB Manifesto of 1867 to with our own reality in our own masses that British socialists who do the Democratic Programme of the first language. Here is a mission worthy of not demand freedom to separate for Dáil, we need to reclaim our people’s our generation. the colonies and Ireland . . . and who pride. H Is national pride anti-Marxist?

Socialist Voice December 2019 9 SOLIDARITY

colonial reaction, enraged to see their privilege and authority being eroded. As “My sin was being ever, these minority forces are propped up and orchestrated by the US empire, against the majority of the people and indigenous, leftist, their will. Immediately following Morales’ re- election in October the right wing and anti-imperialist” denounced the vote as illegitimate (while so far producing no evidence to support their claim). An explosion of fascistic violence erupted in the subsequent days and weeks, primarily targeting socialists, indigenous people, and labour organisers. In the face of this right-wing terror, and pushed by the military, the democratically elected president was forced to resign. In the words of Morales himself, “my sin was being indigenous, leftist, and anti-imperialist.” His most offensive error was taking control of the country’s resources to utilise them for the people’s benefit, rather than that of foreign corporations. Under MAS’s leadership, Bolivia was undertaking the industrialisation of its lithium production, moving towards an economy based on producing value-added commodities rather than wallowing in chronic JF people of Bolivia have made enormous dependence on exporting raw materials gains: lifting millions out of poverty, and importing finished products. S THE brutal coup in Bolivia has improving literacy, reducing Latin American countries (indeed all yet again demonstrated, these unemployment, nationalising their natural neo-colonial countries) have been Asuffocating limits on democracy gas reserves, and making Bolivia the dealing with this kind of structurally are even narrower in nations under the fastest-growing economy in the region. exploitative economic relationship with boot of imperialism and neocolonialism. In direct reaction to these incredible the imperial core for decades, and only Under the leadership of President Evo successes, a fascist reaction has reared left-wing movements led by the likes of Morales and his party, MAS (Movement its ugly head. Much as in Venezuela, this Evo Morales and Hugo Chávez have to Socialism), the poor and indigenous opposition represents the organised white pointed the way forward.

DECLAN MCKENNA reinstatement of the elected Ireland’s president, without precondition. N A LETTER to the minister for They also called on him to clearly foreign affairs, Simon Coveney, state that the Irish Government complicity ICuba Support Group Ireland, would not recognise any regime Venezuela-Ireland Network and that would emerge from this illegal Nicaragua Solidarity Ireland action. in the coup condemned the coup d’état in Clearly laying the charge of Bolivia and the forced resignation complicity, the groups stated: “We in Bolivia of President Evo Morales and believe that this coup results from declared full recognition of the the long-term, concentrated constitutional legitimacy of his interference and financing by the presidency. United States and by other They called on Coveney to members of the Organisation of clearly condemn this coup d’état American States. This relentless and immediately demand the interference—including by Ireland

10 Socialist Voice December 2019 The illegal ousting of Morales and his ministers comes one week after they broke off a lithium deal with the German corporation ACISA.

In order to hold fast this endemic the imperialists have stolen and freeing Sources and exploitation, the dictatorial right-wing it from the pressures of capitalist government now in power promises to competition and overproduction. further reading reimpose the monopoly control of Western corporations, watching capitalist conglomerates over the mineral-rich Bolivia and foaming at the l Common Dreams, “Bolivian coup comes country’s valuable resources—namely, mouth, were furious that a few million less than a week after Morales stopped multinational firm’s lithium deal,” at the second-largest concentration of politically conscious workers, peasants https://tinyurl.com/tt4wngh • Telesur, lithium on the planet. Global demand for and indigenous people should so “Bolivia: Morales to industrialize lithium the mineral is skyrocketing, and this substantially affect their profit margins. for battery experts,” at trend is expected to continue. The people of Bolivia are now https://tinyurl.com/ta33oa7 The illegal ousting of Morales and his experiencing their unforgiving revenge. l Daniel Ramos, “Bolivia picks Chinese ministers comes one week after they But the militant organising of the partner for $2.3 billion lithium projects,” broke off a lithium deal with the German Bolivian masses has amply at https://de.reuters.com/article/us- corporation ACISA. In a recent demonstrated their refusal to accept bolivia-lithium-china/bolivia-picks-chines statement, the company expressed its counter-revolution, having tasted the e-partner-for-2-3-billion-lithium-projects- confidence that “our lithium project will fruits of an alternative to neo-liberal, idUSKCN1PV2F7 be resumed after a phase of political imperial domination. l Telesur, “Bolivia to industrialize lithium calmness and clarification”—to The stakes of this struggle are truly for battery experts,” at translate: calm and clear for capital, global in nature. Those who stand www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivia- terror and destitution for people. against the left government in Bolivia Morales-to-Industrialize-Lithium-for-Batte That dozens of Bolivians have already stand against the struggle for climate ry-Exports---20190619-0009.html been massacred in the streets in order justice and the survival of our planet. l V. I. Lenin, The State and Revolution , to ensure Western domination of this Only with the democratic ownership of chap. 5.Karl Marx, Capital, vol. 1, chap. increasingly prized mineral demonstrates the world’s major industries and 31. the horrifying reality of Marx’s resources can we move towards a pronouncement that at birth “capital sustainable relationship with the earth, n “When I was a cadet—what’s the comes dripping from head to foot, from such as Cuba has been pioneering. cadet motto at West Point? ‘You will not every pore, with blood.” Ravenous for short-term profit, and lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who The electronic technologies created tied to the laws of competition, the do.’ I was the CIA director. We lied, we with this blood-soaked lithium will no capitalists in power will not allow even cheated, we stole. We had entire training doubt be marketed by Western the destruction of our planet to upset courses.” companies as “eco-friendly” and constant accumulation and growth. But Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, “sustainable”; but the reality for our victories against their power are speaking at Texas A&M University, 15 planet and its people is quite different. If possible, as the people of Bolivia have April 2019. (The audience laughed and total environmental collapse is to be demonstrated, and only by their cheered.) averted we must seize economic and renewed success can other countries political power from the self-destructive hope to follow in rejecting the rule of capitalist class. The people of Bolivia corporate imperialism and monopoly have set out on that revolutionary path, capitalism and finally forge a socialist reclaiming the land and resources that path. H

as part of the European Union—in the EU and the Organisation of ignoring the constitution in relation the internal affairs of other American States could think of to to the status of Morales, he then countries in Latin America has led avoid any condemnation of the invoked the same constitution to only to instability, economic events taking place. Instead of recognise the declaration of yet destruction, and wholesale abuse accepting the constitutional another “interim” president. of the human rights of ordinary position as it existed—Evo Morales This shameless endorsement of people. is still the president, as a result of lawlessness by Coveney exposed “We believe also that the Irish the undisputed previous election— his true position. Rather than Government’s continuing support Coveney questions the result of being the foreign minister of an for the recent attempted coup the election that gave Morales independent, neutral state he is d’état in Venezuela has directly another term, beginning in January nothing but a minor regional contributed to the coup in Bolivia.” 2020. mouthpiece of the United States In the Dáil, Maureen O’Sullivan He then stated that Morales had and the European Union and his TD asked the minister to condemn resigned but failed to acknowledge ministry relegated to the status of the coup. Instead Coveney stated that that “resignation” was at the a sub-office of the US State every reason the United States, point of a gun. Indeed, while Department. H Socialist Voice December 2019 11 SOLIDARITY

Juan Guaidó across the border with Venezuela, it is not too serious about No peace in Colombia suppressing them. Duque, of course, gives unconditional support to Guaidó, and Colombian paramilitaries have aided Venezuelan landowners by murdering peasant activists there. Such is the frustration at the non- compliance with the peace agreement, especially with the murder campaign, that the leaders of the FARC negotiating team, Iván Márquez and Jesús Santrich,

c have decided to “go back to the r

a mountains” and resume the armed F

o struggle—a decision that was repudiated d i t

r by the leaders of the FARC party, Rodrigo a P

Londoño and the late Alexander Parra. :

O The peace movement carries on bravely T

O as before, trying to pressure the H

P government into implementing the agreement. Two brave representatives of SEÁN EDWARDS protect their land from big landowners or Colombian women’s organisations transnational agribusiness corporations. recently spoke in Dublin. Claudia Mejia HE LONG WAR I n Colombia This violence especially affects the of the organisation Sisma-Mujer and originated in the countryside, from indigenous population. These gangs Maria Eugenia Diaz Alarcón, representing Tthe state oppression of the were, and are, also the main organisers women human rights defenders, gave an peasants and the continuing drive of the of the production and distribution of account of the continuing non- large landowners (latifundistas) to cocaine. compliance and sabotage of the enlarge their landholdings at their Since the peace agreement the agreement. They explained that the expense, using paramilitary gangs to paramilitary gangs have actually stepped peace agreement paid special attention terrorise the people. The Fuerzas up their activities. Up to 8 September, to women’s rights and safety, for the first Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia 151 ex-combatants of the FARC and time in history in a deal of this nature; (Revolutionary Armed Forces of 666 social leaders have been yet women activists and women’s Colombia) began in Marquetalia, in the assassinated. Especially targeted is the organisations have been targets of the south of the country, in 1964, movement for the replacement of illicit paramilitary campaign, subjected to consolidating the resistance and crops with normal agriculture. sexual violence and murder. developing into a powerful force. The murder of Alexander Parra ( above) Local elections have just been held in In September 2016, after four years brings the number of ex-combatants Colombia. They are already surrounded of protracted negotiations in Havana, the murdered to 168. He was the by controversy, with allegations of vote- Colombian government and FARC signed representative of the political party FARC buying and other malpractices. The an agreement to bring the fifty-year (Alternative Revolutionary Front of the Movement for Electoral Observation armed conflict to an end. This agreement Common) in the process of reintegrating reports some hundreds of violations; was vociferously opposed by ex-president FARC soldiers in civil society. He was there were even some arrests for vote- Álvaro Uribe and his ultra-right party killed in the centre for reintegration, buying operations. More seriously, in the (amusingly called the Democratic which was supposed to be protected by period before the elections seven Centre), and was narrowly defeated in a the state as part of the agreement. candidates were killed. referendum. Their candidate, Iván The government denies the existence Even so, anti-government candidates Duque, was elected president in 2018. of paramilitaries, referring to “dark won some important positions, including In November an amended version, with forces” or “criminal bands” as the those of the mayor of Bogotá and concessions by the FARC, was passed by perpetrators of these crimes. Not so the Medellín. The election is regarded as a the Congress and entered into law. paramilitaries themselves. The “Águilas big defeat for Duque, Uribe, and the During the war the state and the Negras” (Black Eagles) openly boast “Democratic Centre.” ruling class made use of paramilitary about their activities and habitually send The protagonists of the peace gangs that assassinated left-wing out death threats. process will take heart. They will push politicians and social leaders and Since the government collaborated harder for its implementation; but it will massacred peasants who were trying to with the “Rastojos” gang in smuggling be a long and difficult struggle. H

12 Socialist Voice December 2019 Here, many Cubans believe that in Bolivia President Evo Morales made a serious strategic error by resigning and going into exile “to avoid bloodshed. Our Letter from Cuba planet Earth is on fire

S PART of Global Climate Action PAUL PATRICK hegemony throughout Latin America. Day, Galway Alliance Against The US government has openly stated AWar held a vigil in the city on HE COMMUNIST PARTY of Ireland its intention of overthrowing the Friday 29 November to draw attention has anti-imperialism in its DNA governments of Cuba, Venezuela, and to the link between climate change Tand has consistently supported Nicaragua. It supported the Brazilian and war. the Cuban people in their struggle government’s persecution of the The group believes that this issue against US aggression. This year, progressive leaders Dilma and Lula, the has been simply ignored. A despite decades of US imperialist racist and fascist coup in Bolivia, and spokesperson stated: “In 2018 over economic blockade, the people of Cuba the austerity measures and repression $1.8 trillion was squandered on overwhelmingly endorsed a new by the right-wing governments of weaponry. What a massive waste of constitution, which reaffirms that “Cuba Ecuador and Chile. It will resist any resources on something whose is a Socialist State” and will “advance to attempts by Uruguay and Argentina to principal aim is to destroy! And the creating a Communist society.” introduce progressive policies that biggest climate killer of all is the US This seemed to trigger the Trump hinder US interests. military, which we collude with daily government to tighten the economic Here, many Cubans believe that in at Shannon Airport. blockade even further. Cruise ship Bolivia President Evo Morales made a “The EU has embraced militarism companies with American connections serious strategic error by resigning and with gusto. Between 2004 and have been stopped from docking in going into exile “to avoid bloodshed.” It 2006 it spent €65 million on the Cuba; remittances from Cubans in the had the opposite result, leaving his military. But military spending has United States to their families in Cuba supporters leaderless and bearing the rapidly increased. From 2014 to have been strictly limited; American brunt of the racist, fascist violence 2020 it will have jumped to an airlines are forbidden to land at Cu ban unleashed by the right-wing coup. The enormous €6,585 million. airports other than Havana; American same US-backed right-wing tactics were However, directly because of tourists are blocked by US regulations; attempted in Venezuela and Nicaragua, PESCO and the European Defence sanctions are imposed on members of but the leadership of those countries Fund, the proposed military budget the Cuban government; and, most stayed firm and faced them down. You for the period 2021–27 will see it recently, there has been an attempt by can never negotiate with US-backed spiral to a colossal €43,995 the US government to persuade, fascist violence. million. blackmail and intimidate American In this context, solidarity support for “It’s time to sound the fire alarm. tanker-owners not to deliver to Cuba. Cuba in Ireland remains essential. The We have to prioritise the glaring Much of this has been led by the new Cuba Support Group in Belfast is link between the military-industrial extreme right-wing Marco Rubio, thriving and doing effective work. Its complex, warfare and climate member of the Republican Party, who leadership is elected by the members disaster, environmental damage seems to have the ear of Trump when it and accountable to them annually. That and forced migration. comes to Cuban policy. is the model that we need throughout “Help to get this deliberately Yet again this year the UN General Ireland. ignored message across and to Assembly condemned the US economic Despite the direct US imperialist demand that militarism must be blockade of Cuba, with only the United threat, Cuban society remains calm and addressed as a matter of urgency States, Israel and Brazil voting for the determined. The newly elected National by global powers, but in the first blockade, while the Cuban people Assembly and President Díaz-Canel will instance by our government. We will continue to suffer the restrictions it continue to resist any attempt to be on the streets of Galway, rain or brings. overthrow the socialist system of Cuba. shine. We can no longer allow our We need to clearly recognise that As the popular phrase here says, “Aquí, governments to ignore—or, even Cuba is at the centre of the US no se rinde nadie!” Here, no-one worse, empower—the war imperialist drive to reassert US surrenders anything! H industries that are destroying people and our planet for profit.” H Socialist Voice December 2019 13 CULTURE

The story of a lifer example. And there was resistance, lives unfolds before our eyes, making for including the many plans to escape. In a genuinely unique volume whose NIALL FARRELL the midst of these endeavours, the dark contributors hail from all over Ireland, and deadly hand of British military south and north, and from both sides of Séamus Murphy, Having It Away: A story intelligence appears; so too do the the sectarian divide. of Freedom, Friendship and IRA Jailbreak ubiquitous divisions inside the republican Scott McKendry writes about geese (Bray, Co. Wicklow: Castledermot Press, movement. migrating in winter to the Shankill Road, 2019; €10). Betty Murphy is to be congratulated Belfast: “They come at the end of for ensuring the publication of this November, | fleeing the Icelandic freeze; “Having it away” was a slang term in the volume. The book left me with one real swapping the aurora Borealis | for murals English prisons of the 1950s for making regret: not having got to know “Lifer” in memory of Stevie McKeag | and Bucky an escape. It is the title of Séamus Murphy properly when we would meet at McCullough; || and those for Cromwell, Murphy’s account of his imprisonment in the Gralton and later the Greaves Cúchulainn, Luther || and Iron Maiden’s Wakefield Prison, Yorkshire. He was one Schools. Eddie the Head | dressed up as The of three IRA men caught during a raid on Trooper, moonlighting for the UFF.”(“Duck, a British army depot near London in Duck, Goose”) August 1955. Aged only twenty, he was A first anthology of Just over on the Falls Road, Gearóid given an extraordinarily harsh sentence of working people’s Mac Lochlainn opens on another season, life imprisonment. “Heatwave Eile”: “Bhí an boladh bréan ag Despite the title, the escape plays poetry análú | ó leithreas briste síos sa only a small part in this splendid book. Choirceog Beach | róláidir inniu. Instead we get a well-written and honest Dofhulaingthe. | Bhí mo phoill sróine ag look at life inside the British prison damhsa | le sewage an heatwave órga | system of the 1950s, and much more. a ghlac seilbh ar an chathair | seachtain The brutality of the prison warders is ó shin.” evident; but Murphy also describes the The collection includes poets from the people incarcerated, including many rural and industrial working class as well unfortunate Irish people, who had been as those in traditionally middle-income forced to emigrate from Ireland. jobs, forced into short-term contracts by A Ukrainian fascist was also a prisoner a neo-liberal economy. “Working class” (though not because he fought on the has come to encompass all these groups. side of Hitler against the Soviet Union). Homelessness is a main theme, Reference to fascism in Ukraine reminds casting dark shadows in manifold one of the dominant role it now plays in manifestations. One of these is an that country, thanks to its nurturing by the overarching feeling of alienation from United States and the European Union. mainstream society: “The greedy | rub The author does not hesitate to bestow their hands | with glee in much the same his own scathing judgement on the Nazi | way now as | they did back then. Over collaborator. | a hundred | and seventy years changed Indeed Murphy’s socialist | nothing. The | rich get richer and the | republicanism shines through the whole poor grow more | poor, and most of us book as he writes about a host of issues, have | nowhere to | live. For there ain’t from the Catholic Church to the Land War no home | in Dublin.” (Ross J. Walsh, and many other historical events. And Jenny Farrell (editor), The Children of the “Black 47”) there are insightful cameos of many Nation: An Anthology of Working People’s Then there is the very real social different inmates, including Cathal Poetry from Contemporary Ireland violence against more than ten thousand Goulding, the Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs, (Newcastle upon Tyne: Culture Matters, homeless people. Sarah Boyce evokes and the politically mixed group of Cypriot 2019). this for Belfast: “Its brick-bled and rain- EOKA fighters who found themselves in wept heart, | whose municipal vision cuts Wakefield along with the author. This anthology deals with the identity of through | its public benches; | no space Among the prison population was a the working class, the marginalised, here for homeless bums | Meanwhile, sizable number of gay men. people in precarious employment, the down a high street entry | great black- Homosexuality was a criminal offence in unemployed, the homeless. The title of backed gulls | span a crumpled sleeping England at the time. The author relates a the collection recalls the pledge made in bag | in search of carrion. (“Its Beating tragic story of one unfortunate man who the Proclamation of 1916. Heart”) escaped the brutal regime by suicide. Most of the literature we read deals Other writers, such as Rita Ann But there is also humour: Séamus’s with comfortable middle-class lives. Here Higgins, address unemployment with conversion to vegetarianism is one the authenticity of sixty-seven working unrepentant sarcasm: “Hey Minister, we

14 Socialist Voice December 2019 Murphy’s socialist republicanism shines through the whole book as he writes about a host of issues, from the Catholic Church to the Land War. like your suit | have a bun, where are our Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on 2 Pearse was in correspondence with jobs? | But there was no point; | he was October 1869. The book is a collection of Tagore, and the latter’s play The Post here on a bun-eating session | not a job- haiga—a style of Japanese painting often Office had its world premiere in the Abbey finding session. || His hands were tied. | accompanied by a haiku poem. The Theatre in 1913. His tongue a marshmallow.” (“No One artists are the watercolourist Masood This book explores many facets of Mentioned the Roofer”) Hussain from Kashmir and the Irish poet Gandhi’s life. For the younger readers it The book contains the views of both and haikuist Gabriel Rosenstock. could well be a first introduction to ideas immigrants and emigrants. Peggie Hussain’s exquisite watercolours are a of colonialism. For example, the following Caldwell, from rural Donegal, writes of reinterpretation of historical photographs haiku echoes Frantz Fanon’s book The this experience, continuing: “Fallacies taken of Gandhi. Rosenstock’s haiku are Wretched of the Earth: echo: Live Register lowest it’s been since in Irish and English. This is significant, as 2008. || But in these hills the white one of the main themes of the book is are there hats enough noise rebounds, | the absence of colonialism and Gandhi’s awareness and to go round . . . fledgling song deafening us.” (“Still They opposition to it, including the colonising the wretched of the earth Go”) function of language. Along with the British socialist In the following haiku Rosenstock publisher Culture Matters, the Irish trade colder than all the prisons gently hints at India’s own discrimination union movement was instrumental in you’ve been thrown into . . . against the “Untouchables,” not without bringing this anthology about. Downing Street railings a reminder that “many societies have their own forms of class discrimination, Available from Connolly Books (Dublin), In addition to the amazing interplay of snobbishness and exclusiveness, often Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop (Galway), Vibes the two art forms, the book is based on dress, accent, schooling, & Scribes (Cork), and on line from interspersed with fascinating insights into money, property and other outer www.culturematters.org.uk/index.php/sho Gandhi’s life and philosophy. These reveal distinctive markings.” p-support/our-publications/item/3184- that the book is designed to make the-children-of-the-nation Gandhi accessible for the younger a hand generation. They invite readers to like any other hand . . . consider historical events, forms of the untouchables Walking with Gandhi protest and the effects of colonialism and relate them to the present. This book is a gem. It is a beautiful The information put together for the book, a wonderfully enriching pleasure in readers is not designed to turn Gandhi aesthetic appreciation and engaging the into a saint. It relates aspects that mind. It quotes many people on the surprise us, for example that “he significance of Gandhi’s philosophy of achieved much for the status of his fellow non-violence, such as Albert Einstein’s: “I Indians in South Africa . . . but native believe that Gandhi’s views were the Africans—such as Zulus—do not hero- most enlightened of all the political men worship Gandhi today. Au contraire! in our time. We should strive to do things Gandhi took the side of the British in the in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting Zulu uprising of 1906.” for our cause, but by non-participation in It was in South Africa that Gandhi’s anything you believe is evil.” journey began, when he was thrown off a To finish with a quotation from Gandhi train for sitting in a “whites only” carriage. himself, one that struck a particular chord This awakening was the beginning of his with me is “Poverty is the worst form of lifelong quest for freedom and justice. violence.” H Nelson Mandela said about him later, in India: “You gave us Mohandas; we returned him to you as Mahatma.” Many of the tactics Gandhi first used in South CONNOLLY JENNY FARRELL Africa he employed again in India. Back in India, in 1915, Gandhi’s Gabriel Rosenstock, Walk with Gandhi / friend, the poet Rabindranath Tagore, BOOKS Bóthar na Saoirse , illustrated by Masood gave him the title Mahatma, “great soul,” Hussain (Dublin: Gandhi 150 Ireland, a name Gandhi never warmed to; it Established 1932. 2019, paperback, hardback, and Ebook). deified him in some way. Ireland’s oldest radical bookshop. Tagore makes several appearances in 43 East Essex Street, between This is a beautiful book to commemorate this book. One of these connects him to Temple Bar and Parliament Street. the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Irish anti-colonial struggle: Patrick Tuesday to Saturday 10.00 to 17.30 Socialist Voice December 2019 15 Beckett’s play is of immediate CULTURE relevance to the world today.

with his slave, which is a nod to the Waiting for Godot existence of a “master” class, he sees Gogo and Didi and comments: “You are human beings none the less . . . Of the same species as myself . . . Made in God’s image!” Any aspiration to godlike form and intellect has been annulled, or perhaps the reverse applies: God is this. Thinking is an effort. On one occasion Didi and Gogo contemplate suicide by hanging themselves from the bare tree (of life?). One reason they do not do this is that one of them may remain alive and therefore alone. That is a fate worse than death. “I remain in the dark.” This gives some hope. Two characters are, after all, JENNY FARRELL In 1948, after the war and the a small community, and they do help nuclear carnage of Hiroshima and each other survive. Great Carthage waged three wars. It was Nagasaki, people had almost come to And when Pozzo asks Gogo and Didi still powerful after the first, habitable still the end of their humanity and any for help in getting to his feet they after the second. Gone without trace positive human experience. respond to this with “It is not every day after the third.—Bertolt Brecht (1951). In Waiting for Godot there is no that we are needed.” This profound prospect of action. The entire play statement acknowledges that Pozzo’s AMUEL BECKETT died thirty years presents us with the two main call for help is addressed to “all of ago, on 22 December 1989. He characters doing nothing and waiting in mankind,” and “at this place, at this Sreceived the Nobel Prize for vain. Narratives that were once useful moment of time, all mankind is us, Literature fifty years ago, in 1969. for endorsing human goodness have all whether we like it or not.” Ironically, all Arguably Beckett’s most famous play been stripped of their meaning, four men end up on the ground, and is Waiting for Godot. Typically, when this including a clearly vain hope for God(ot) their cries for help go unheeded. play today is presented the comedy of it to arrive. In fact waiting for God(ot) Standing upright has become is emphasised, as is its “absurdist” label, prevents any movement out of this impossible. Purposeful labour and action suggesting that life is meaningless. state. When a boy appears to tell them no longer define us. Beckett had moved permanently to that Godot is not coming today, Beckett’s play is of immediate France in the late 1930s. After the Estragon refers to himself as Adam. relevance to the world today. Like outbreak of the Second World War he Humankind has become what Brecht, Beckett warns of the ultimate remained in Paris, where he joined the Shakespeare’s King Lear refers to when destruction of humanity. He does not Resistance following the Nazi invasion of he speaks of the most destitute: a give his audience much hope. All we can France. “poor, bare, forked animal. ” do is take this message to heart and From 1947 on, Beckett wrote When the character Pozzo appears, change the world. H primarily in French. Waiting for Godot, written in 1948, is no exception. The Second World War was just over. Join the fight for socialism Although this is not specifically stated, Send me information on the Communist Party of Ireland Beckett’s play presents the audience with a post-nuclear-war scene. The stage is name practically empty except for a country road and a bare tree. In this landscape address two characters, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), just about exist. These two men struggle to perform the most elementary actions, such as taking off a post code shoe. They sleep rough and are regularly beaten up by gangs at night. This is so email commonplace that they barely comment on it. The human experience is reduced phone to simply staying alive and performing, with effort, the simplest actions. send to CPI 43 East Essex Street Dublin DO2 XH96 or CPI PO Box 85 Belfast BT1 1SR

16 Socialist Voice December 2019