May Day is a very special occasion for all socialists and progressive-minded people. It is a day when we not only commemorate the Haymarket Massacre, where working men and women in America paid the ultimate sacrifice fighting for their rights, but it is also a day for us to celebrate. On this day we remember with a great sense of pride all the past victories of our class and look to them for inspiration, as we move ever further towards our goal of complete national, economic and social emancipation in Ireland.
May Day is also a time for us to show solidarity with the struggles of workers internationally. With that in mind, we in the Republican Socialist Youth Movement would like to extend comradely greetings to all those engaged in anti-imperialist struggle, whether they be in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere. Like Ireland, we demand an end to the imperialist occupation of all sovereign nations and their people, and for the release of all illegally held prisoners. We salute all those who risk their lives and liberty in the fight against capitalist exploitation and imperialism. As capital is international, so must we be, and it is heartening to see the fight against U.S. imperialism and capitalism being fought on many fronts, from the Middle-East, to the Philippines, to Latin America. We send our sincere solidarity to all of you.
On a domestic level, Ireland and its workers are facing many problems, not least this current economic crisis. The living standards of normal working people are under attack by those who wish to preserve their failed system. The ruling class in the South of Ireland are determined to make the low-paid and vulnerable pay for the careless risk-taking and profiteering their system rewards and perpetuates. If the judicial system in this country is not going to bring about justice for us to the bankers, developers, speculators and political elites who have robbed our nation and our people, then the working class must mobilise and cast our own judgement. This government has played a very clever game in seeking to drive a wedge between public and private sector workers. We must see beyond this and realise that if they strike a blow against any worker, whether in the public or private sector, it is an attack on all of us.
North of the border, due to the sectarian structures present in the Northern Ireland statelet, we now see class issues being drowned out in the interests of neo-liberalism. Issues like class have been made totally subordinate to what is essentially a sectarian headcount. It is clear the Belfast Agreement does nothing to alleviate sectarianism and only serves to divide and ultimately disempower our class. Workers North and South of the border find themselves artificially divided against their interests and solely in the interests of imperialism and capitalist dominance. This situation must end, and the only solution can be found in the politics of Republican Socialism.
The Republican Socialist Youth Movement urges all workers to cast aside all the artificial divisions between them, designed and implemented by the ruling classes of Ireland and Britain, and to mobilise towards breaking the connection between this country, Britain and capitalism. We urge you to spurn the advances of lying careerist politicians in the South who will tell you that all we need is a change of government, and also the reformist bastardism of Republican Socialism in the North of those who claim to represent our interests. For it is true to say that there is no parliamentary road to our goals as some may claim, as the struggle for both national liberation and socialism are intrinsically linked it is clear that neither can ever be achieved through the institutions capitalism has created to oppress and exploit us.
It is now time to return to the politics of Connolly, Costello and Wolfe Tone.
Victory to the working class and onwards to the 32 County Socialist Republic!
Ard Chomhairle
Republican Socialist Youth Movement
