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“Irish politics and society have reached an inflection point,” cries an opinion piece in a recent edition of the Irish Times. The comment refers to a report released by More in Common on opinions and attitudes in Ireland. In particular, when asked about their views on “our political and social institutions”, a staggering 41 percent leaned towards the response: “Just let them all burn”.
And just to be clear, this is not some sort of undirected mob rage. In fact, 63 percent agree that the “system is rigged to serve the rich and influential.” As revolutionary communists, we couldn’t agree more. What is this if not working-class anger in search of an expression?
‘Shockingly’, the report goes on to find that the issues at the top of the agenda for the Irish Presidency of the EU Council do not rank particularly high among people’s concerns. It turns out that, in the middle of a profound and prolonged cost-of-living crisis, people are more worried about… the “Cost of Living” (66 percent) than, say, “Defence and Security” (4 percent) or “Relations with the EU” (3 percent).
Who would have thought!
The South
Indeed for us thinking people living in the real world, it is not difficult to understand why more than four in ten would be ready to burn it all down.
The story in the news seems to have been the same for years now. Rents are rising. Homes are getting more expensive. Homelessness figures break records almost every month. Healthcare waiting lists are soaring. Inflation is picking up once again. Ah, and yes, of course, workers should exercise restraint when demanding higher wages. After all, we all gotta make sacrifices for the good of the economy – you see, ‘we sacrifice your living standards, and you should sacrifice yours.’
On top of all this, add the energy crisis provoked by the imperialist aggression against Iran and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Add the inflationary pressure resulting from the AI speculative bubble (did someone say energy price cuts for data centres that we’ll pay for through energy and water shortages and higher bills?). Add the jitters in the bond market pushing up global debt and interest rates – costs that some of us will pay through higher mortgage repayments. Add the mounting redundancies resulting from AI and global economic uncertainty.
As we go to print, the customary dance preceding the October Budget is taking place among government ministers. Again, we have heard it all before: ‘Yes, there is plenty of money in the coffers, but it is not for you!’
Last year, in one fell swoop, the government, having secured re-election, removed all cost-of-living measures and froze the tax bands – effectively making working-class families €2,000–€3,000 poorer per year.
No doubt, under immense pressure, they will be forced this year to make partial concessions on some energy support measures and adjust the tax bands. But they have made it clear that these measures will not be enough to compensate for past – or future – inflation. In other words, once again, workers are being made to pay for the crisis of the capitalist system.
Meanwhile, public-sector workers organised in SIPTU, Fórsa, and INMO have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action. These trade unions represent hundreds of thousands of workers. A coordinated public-sector strike would have the power to wrest significant concessions from the government. But the trade union bureaucracy is doing everything it can to hold the movement back, using the strike ballot not as a mandate for action, but as a bargaining chip in negotiations.
The North
The situation for workers and youth in the Six Counties is getting more and more desperate as time passes.
Having secured a generous 26.8 percent pay rise for themselves, the MLAs broke for nine long weeks of summer recess. Those poor souls are now back at work – just in time to line up for another £2,000 potential increase in their salaries!
Obviously, with such generous pay rises, they must be churning out one fantastic piece of legislation after another! Well, not quite…
In fact, we are still without a budget. Stormont departments have therefore been operating on a contingency budget since April, meaning they have 5 percent less than last year. And that’s without even mentioning the failure to introduce modest reforms such as the Good Jobs Bill, or to repair school roofs.
No, seven months away from the next election, Stormont’s sessions are already little more than electoral platforms for parties shouting at each other, opportunities to manufacture social media clips, and endless culture wars.
The Assembly was restored almost three years ago after a lengthy hiatus. How many people are now wondering: what difference has it made, except that the MLAs are getting even more money now? Is it any surprise that in the last opinion polls the three parties that came out on top at the last Stormont elections are polling at lows not seen for 5 years and more?
Wake-up call!
Returning to the Irish Times opinion piece mentioned above, its author argues that its findings should serve as a “wake-up call”, pointing to the sheer level of disillusionment and disenfranchisement simmering beneath the surface of Irish society.
Yes – behind all the celebrations for the unprecedented tax bonanza, the ‘resilience’ of the Fianna Fail-Fine Gael political duopoly, and the supposed good sense of Irish voters – the more serious strategists of the ruling class can’t help but notice that they are sitting on top of a volcano, gearing up for an explosion. They fear what comes next.
The fuel protests, the fracturing of the political system, the massive mandates for industrial action in public-sector trade unions, and the major demonstrations in the streets for Palestine, against Trump’s visit, in defence of neutrality etc.: these are all tremors foretelling a future eruption of class anger.
The problem is that all the anger that currently exists is not finding an expression, neither in political parties nor in the existing trade unions. It’s there – but you can only get glimpses of it through opinion polls, or flashes of struggle and support for militant action against the government.
We do agree that the current situation should serve as a wake-up call – but not for the ruling class, which, in its desperate efforts to preserve a doomed system, is driving society ever deeper into the abyss. The wake-up call must be directed at us revolutionaries in Ireland.
As capitalism staggers from one crisis to the next, life is becoming an unbearable nightmare for workers and young people. We do not have all the time in the world. We must build an alternative now – and we must do so with urgency.
