Workers Solidarity Movement

This position paper was modified October 2014 - read the current version at http://www.wsm.ie/c/wsm-membership-engagement-policy

This position paper outlines the two forms of WSM membership and how we engage with people interested in the WSM

Our rulers at Stormont are living in fantasy land if they believe a reduction in corporation tax will results in thousands of jobs being created. It will open the floodgates to profit driven bosses resulting  in workers rights and conditions being further eroded with a further escalation in cuts in essential public services such as health and education. 

Overcrowding, slopping out, TB infection, pathetic education facilities, Irish prisons are in deep crisis.  Judge "Padlock" Patwell recently retired after 52 years on the bench. He was notorious for his hardline attitude and sent many a man and woman to jail. It was on the subject of  Cork prison that he remarked whilst being interviewed on radio the other day, he was bemaoning the temporary release system, but refered to the 40 prisoners currently sleeping on matresses on the floors of the recreation room.

"They want to cut the wages of lowest paid workers, to boost the bosses profits", that was one workers reaction to todays announcement of an all out assault on the wages of low pay workers.  The mask is well and truly off, Fine Gael minister Richard Bruton revealed that workers across the retail grocery, hairdressing and security sector will have their wages, terms and conditions attacked. The government is anxious to row back agreements under the JLC (Joint Labour Committee) system which had set minmum rates of pay in the sectors and insured fixed rates of extra pay for Sunday work, anti social hours and overtime.

This is a collection of videos of protests around the May 2011 visit of the British Queen to Dublin.  Ten thousand security personnel were deployed and the city locked down over the four days to prevent effective protest.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Irish trade union movement is in crisis. Even a cursory glance at trade union density figures demonstrates the depth of the crisis.  Just 34% of the overall Irish workforce, and only a worryingly tiny 20% of part-time workers, are members of trade unions.[i]

Former Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald's death was announced this morning. As is usual in such circumstances we are being subject to a load of old guff, very rarely in such instances are we treated to an honest assessment of a mans life instead we are expected to believe in the individauls perfection.  The great phrases you will hear for the next week will be that he was "a patriot who always put the national interest first", "an honest man, a fair man", "he did the state some service" etc. At least the last is true, Garret Fitzgerald was a thouroughly pro-state, pro-capitalist, pro-EU, pro-imperialist politician.  He never wavered in his support for the capitalist order.

At the moment, the predominant view in the Government , the media and in business circles is that the two large, high-profile state visits by the British Queen and the US President will give a massive boost to Ireland, both in terms of increasing tourism and in terms of improving Ireland's current image of a bankrupt and disfunctional isle in the eye's of the world's media.

However, is this viewpoint accurate? It seems to me to be a naive and ill-thought out endeavour, without thinking seriously about the facts and implications.

Since our formation in 1984 the WSM has produced over a hundred articles providing an analysis of Irish Republicanism from an anarchist perspective.  These have ranged from analysis of the issues of the day (eg the Peace process or the targeting of building workers) to detailed re-examination of the history of the republican rebellions and movements.  You can find many of there articles in our Irish Republicanism collection of articles on this site along with some of the key documents of Irish republicanism.

Other related article collections include those on Loyalism, the 1916 rebellion, the 'Peace Process' & Sinn Fein.  We are in the process of creating these collections, use the search box to find additional articles or check the Imperialism listing which currently contains 150+ articles.

Responses to the economic crisis and the bank bailout in Ireland, Greece and Portugal, and reflections on recent revolutionary events in the Arab world will feature among the many topics up for discussion at the 6^th Annual Anarchist Bookfair which will be held in Liberty Hall, Dublin on Saturday 14^th May.