YES For Irish Unity campaign held a public talk and debate in Castlebar Co Mayo that began the conversation in Connacht about a Border Poll, demographic shifts and the building of a socialist Ireland.
Michael McLaughlin of the IRSP continues.
“Change can come so gradually that we can be excused for thinking that advances are actually retreats. We are in a crisis today so far reaching that a parliamentary solution to end the exploitation of our class and the greed and corruption of the capitalist cabal is no longer a path worth following. Real change will come from the streets.”
“Both Connolly and Costello seen the benefits of using elections as a platform for a socialist program that brings the national question and the class question under one banner. We see the benefits of using an all Ireland referendum campaign, based on the principle of national liberation and socialism, as trigger, to prick the national and class consciousnesses of the Irish people. The momentum created during a border poll and the movement that emerges towards ending partition will be unstoppable.”
“We accept as socialists that in a 32 County framework post the ending of partition we may not like the look of this new Ireland. At the moment the capitalist class is maneuvering for a smooth transition to continue its neoliberal exploitation. If the appointment of arch bootlicker Drew Harris as head of the Gardai is anything to go by the stage is set for more State oppression.”
“We cannot ignore the opportunity for ending partition and articulating a socialist Ireland in the process, yes, continue to fight our daily battles but with the biggest one of our generation on the horizon, a referendum campaign to end partition, we must use it to push for socialism.”
