Top 10 Reasons To Vote Socialist In The General Election

As we face into a General Election campaign James O’Toole outlines the top ten reasons why working class people should vote socialist number one, then transfer left.

ONE: The polls show Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil ahead, we need fighters in the Dáil.

If the polls are right we face the prospect of a return of the current government - without the Greens and with right wing Independents instead. This will be an anti-worker government that will claim a mandate to go on the attack.

In that situation you need fighters like Gino Kenny or Richard Boyd Barrett in there to put it up to the arrogant establishment. But that leads onto reason two.

TWO: Sinn Féin bottled it and gave in to bullying from the establishment and their far right minions.

Let’s be clear - anti-immigration protests worked for the establishment, shifting the political spectrum right and leading to the return of another of the same old rotten governments we’ve had for a century.

The immigration debate meant a downgrading of discussion about 40 years of failed neoliberal policies - the intentional destruction of public housing to enrich private profiteers. This was a gift to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. They must love it!

Sinn Féin buckled under pressure and flip flopped losing voters mainly to the right, but also to the left. They could have fought for this support but didn’t. This is why most far right votes came from the former Sinn Féin voter base and not from the socialist left.

If the Shinners buckle before entering any government how would they deliver on anything they’ve promised when the entire weight of the unelected civil service, the D4 media and the billionaire class turned up the heat?

Voting socialist sends a message that working class people want to fight the establishment, not join it. That leads onto point three.

THREE: All the opposition parties except the socialist left are open to going into government with Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil.

From Sinn Féin to the Soc Dems they’ve all said they’ll wait to see what the numbers are before ruling the establishment parties out. And we all know how Labour and the Greens are happy to kick the working class and have done so in recent governments.

A vote for any of the above parties is an indirect vote for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil! Don’t waste your vote. They’ve all forgotten where real power lies and that what the Dáil does the streets can undo. That’s point four.

FOUR: People power can beat any government if we mobilise in large enough numbers.

After the 2008 crash union leaders like Jack O’Connor said elect Labour and they’d fix everything for us. That was a lie. They got in and betrayed every promise they’d made.

We didn’t beat water charges by getting people like them elected or by changing the government - we beat a right wing Fine Gael led government by mobilising in our tens of thousands. A weakened establishment then tried to court progressive votes by offering marriage equality and repeal - but it was campaigning from below that drove these changes.

A working class that fights can force any government to deliver. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions refused to fight on housing over the last two years and failed to use their numbers to force the government to change course - the frustration that then grew in the working class eventually began to erode left votes. You have to fight. Socialists know this.

FIVE: Socialists know racism is divisive poison that always serves the establishment and will stand up to it.

A vote for socialists is a vote for working class unity and against those who seek to turn Irish workers against migrant workers - on our buses, in our hospitals, on our building sites.

Divide and conquer is as old as the hills and while racist gobshites pretend they hate the establishment they actually do their bidding. We want a class war, not divisive culture war shite imported from the USA that clouds the minds of the working class and turns worker against worker.

SIX: Socialists aren’t afraid to take on the rich.

You can’t solve the housing crisis if you pander to vulture funds. You can’t solve low wages and the cost of living crisis if you pander to greedy bosses. Workers or bosses, tenants or landlords - pick a side and fight back.

Sinn Féin try to keep everyone happy - addressing a union meeting one day and the business community the next. Enough fence sitting. We need voices for the working class, for the homeless, for all the workers struggling to get by on low pay.

Socialists are that voice.

SEVEN: Socialists oppose neoliberal Green polices and instead want to make corporations pay for the damage they’re doing.

The Green Party want regressive carbon taxes on ordinary workers. Socialists aren’t afraid to say loud and clear: the corporations are the polluters, make them pay for a just transition to a sustainable economy.

Capitalism is an unplanned scramble of every corporation against every corporation. Any concessions to that system and they’ll throw the environment out the window to make a few quid. The Greens were incapable of challenging that because they are wed to capitalism.

But then again so are Sinn Féin and the Soc Dems. Once in power they’d go the same route. Only socialists connect working class poverty and climate action into one class struggle. We want to solve both by challenging the system.

EIGHT: Socialists won’t sell Irish neutrality out.

The establishment want to make Ireland a pawn of NATO and incorporate us into the Western military machine. Most working class people in Ireland want nothing to do with the NATO powers - like Britain, France and the USA - all of whom are responsible for mass murder on an industrial scale.

All these warmongers are also standing over the genocide in Gaza. Sinn Féin’s concessions to the PESCO deal - which leads to an EU army - are pathways to incorporation into the EU military machine - which operates in close cooperation with NATO.

Socialists have always stood the tradition of the great James Connolly who fought against imperialist wars. We have no time for any of the Empire builders and will fight for a 32 county socialist Ireland that stands as a beacon of hope for all the oppressed peoples of the world. But the EU is not just developing on the military front.

NINE: Socialists have no illusions in the EU.

EU treaties enshrine the very economic policies that have destroyed this country. Neoliberalism says privatise, outsource and run down public services to enrich greedy corporations. Socialists argue to break those treaties if they stand in the way of housing working class people in Ireland.

We don’t want to let bureaucrats in Brussels dictate economic policy. Sinn Féin, Labour and the Soc Dems make lots of nice promises but then say they’ll operate within this restricted neoliberal framework. Either they are very naive or they are lying. The needs of the people come before any piece of paper.

TEN: Socialists will keep fighting until the needs of the people are met.

For socialists the aim isn’t a cosy ministerial pay cheque, a ministerial merc and the perks of office - we want to solve the problems working class people face. Getting rid of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would be a good start but no party that can currently replace them stands for challenging capitalism.

Vote for fighters who will.