Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Ireland (1950)

From the May 1950 issue of the Socialist Standard

What a welter of violence and confusion is suggested by the term "Irish Politics." It brings to mind Sinn Fein, the Easter rising, De Valera, Home Rule, Fine Gael, Costello, Black and Tans, Irish Free State, Fianna Fail, Connolly, Ulster, Cumman nan Gaedheal and a host of other things that are difficult to sort and see in their proper perspective. Why is the country divided into Eire and Northern Ireland? What are Fine Gael and Fianna Fail? Who are Mulcahy and McGilligan? What is Vocationalism? These are questions that it is difficult to answer from the news and reports contained in English newspapers.

Our companion party, The Socialist Party of Ireland, has published its manifesto and all these questions are answered in language that is simple to understand. Our Irish comrades draw no punches. They take each of the Irish political parties including Labour and Communist, both in Eire and in Northern Ireland, and they lay them wide open to show what they are and what interests they serve. The manifesto shows us the condition of the Irish workers before and since the establishment of the Republic. It tells of the differences between the two Labour Parties in Northern Ireland and the two Trade Union Congresses that function there. It treats of the "Border Question" and the way in which it is used to confuse the Irish workers. From this manifesto we learn of "Vocationalism," a peculiarity (?) of Eire politics, which, upon analysis by our comrades, turns out to be nothing more nor less than the "Corporate State."

This is a pamphlet well worth reading by workers in all parts of the world. Its language is forceful and it hits out at all the Irish confusion-mongers and enemies of the working class in that island. Its statements are proved by quotations from the mouths of politicians that it condemns. It is a welcome addition to a Socialist library.

You should read these 28 pages of information-packed writing. The price is only 6d. plus postage.

W. Waters