Why The Red Network Has Left People Before Profit

The Red Network unanimously voted to leave People Before Profit. This is our statement.

Unity on the left should be about fighting for the day to day needs of the working class. Nothing will ever change for us in that respect. We have always and will always push for united front social movements - like the water charges movement - to take on the government.

But practical unity on particular issues must be accompanied by free and open debate about political strategy and tactics. Political differences should be discussed openly in front of the working class. We feel that the Red Network has a special voice on the socialist left, a working class voice, and we think it needs to be heard.

There are many good activists in People Before Profit that we’ve worked alongside for many years. People like Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Gino Kenny or Cllr Conor Reddy all work hard in communities. But the nature of People Before Profit as an organisation means the fruits of all that work are often wasted.

We will still be working with many of the same activists in campaigns and movements. The difference will be that the lines of political demarcation will be clearer and we think working class people will benefit from this clarity.

We need a working class socialist organisation that links hard work and deep organising with clear and honest political principles. Even the best activists in People Before Profit tone down their socialist politics in public. Therefore, there are a number of reasons we feel that People Before Profit is no longer the political vehicle for us.

The first key issue for us is around the question of government and political honesty.

People Before Profit say they would enter government with Sinn Féin if certain “red lines” are met. Behind the scenes there’s a range of opinions in the party but mostly they say that they’ve no intention of going into government with Sinn Féin but could eventually go into government with others on the radical left.

The Red Network has never treated the working class like children who need to be drip fed socialist politics. We think socialists should be upfront about what we really want. We passionately disagree with those who say one thing in public and another in private. Mainstream politics is corrupt and dishonest, socialists need to be straight with people. You can’t be a “secret socialist”.

The Red Network position on left government has always been clear: Any Red TD elected to the Dáil would help kick out Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, voting for a Sinn Féin led government externally and on a case by case basis. That’s the best position to be in to discipline Sinn Féin and force them to deliver on their promises.

A Sinn Féin government would coalesce with the establishment and leave untouched the real government, the permanent government - the state bureaucracy, army chiefs and head Guards. Every incoming government has to sit down with top civil servants and negotiate a programme for government within parameters acceptable to the system.

Our vision of change goes much further than that. We want a 32 County Worker’s Republic where assemblies of workers in workplaces and communities elect delegates, who are recallable, to a worker’s national assembly. We want real democracy, not the fake democracy of the Dáil, or Stormont for that matter.

But that level of change would take a working class revolution - mass protests and strikes leading to workplace occupations and a challenge to the old state. We need to start explaining that that’s what we really want. You can’t be a secret socialist and expect to build up a layer of worker activists who, while taking a lead on day to day struggles, can articulate a vision for deeper change and convince other workers of the need for that change.

The current left is divided into those who talk about revolution but sit on the margins of the working class or those who stand in elections and do work in communities but play down their socialist politics. We reject both these approaches. We do the hard work but want to be open about where we need to go to actually win.

The second key issue is the question of class war not culture war

People Before Profit likes to engage in student moralism and performative politics. We reject that approach. As People Before Profit has moved right on the question of entering government they also lost touch with some of their pre-established working class base. This was particularly evident after the “Green wave” of 2019.

People Before Profit argued at the time that we needed to drop anger and appear more respectable - in order to chase white collar votes. Those of us who went on to form the Red Network argued that failing to articulate the deep anger people felt in the estates would leave an opening for the far right to misdirect that anger.

We knew the strategy was wrong because most activists who would form the Red Network were workers or from working class estates. We knew where our people were at.

Across the world the left has followed the same mistaken strategy, as they’ve become more middle class they’ve justified a move to the right by posturing on social issues. This strategy is the strategy of the Labour Party and People Before Profit have been pulled in the same direction.

The arc of working class struggle rose from the bank bailout in 2008 until the end of the water charges movement in 2017. After that the arc of struggle fell and working class people became demoralised. When the pandemic hit it further demoralised people.

The Red Network has always argued for a serious focus on the working class. We want systematic work in the trade unions and in working class estates. Deep organising - that’s the only way out of the position we find ourselves in. That’s the only way to put the most advanced workers back in the driving seat and exercise a pull on the confused middle ground.

A big strike by any significant group of workers or a sustained housing movement with roots in the estates - these actions would pull confused workers back in behind the workers giving a lead. The argument against divisive ideas becomes a practical argument.

Class struggle can pull those who don’t agree with us on social issues into common struggle. Whereas the moralism of anti-racist work that’s external to class struggle only mobilises those who already agree with the left. You can never escape the left bubble that way.

Student moralism has overtaken People Before Profit as the class basis of the party has changed. The more they advocated for entering government the more they recruited middle class people who wanted that. These were often people with no real connection to the working class who instead thought activism was all about performative moralism.

This moralism can be used to beat rivals on the left by claiming you’re the most radical because you shout “Nazi!” the most. Moral posturing is a way to silence critics as you move to the right on key questions like government. Anyone who disagrees with you is “pandering to the racists!”

They even accused us of “repeating the talking points of the far right” when we pointed out the differing class composition of an anti-racism protest at the GPO and the people you’d meet while active in the poorest estates. Relating facts isn’t “pandering to racists!”

Our members who lived at Tathony House fought on behalf of all workers facing mass eviction from that apartment block. Our speeches always included the need to oppose division. Our Councillor Madeleine Johansson has taken on racism on the doors and explained how the government is the source of all our problems.

We Reds are absolutely opposed to all divisions in the working class as it only helps the establishment win. But we advocate opposing division in the course of class struggle. You have to have done hard work in the working class to have the authority to win people away from divisive ideas. This organic anti-racism is more powerful because it is practical.

This is especially important now when low levels of struggle combine with a constant flood of online filth and lies. There’s no shortcut to get out of a situation like that - you have to have lots of conversations at doorsteps, in workplaces and in campaigns.

People Before Profit will say they agree that we should build roots but they constantly drop deep organising work to go chase the protest of the week. Many middle class activists don’t even realise they are sabotaging the working class left. They do it without realizing what they are doing. They prioritise moralising over deep organising and we cannot tolerate that anymore.

The third key issue is that there’s no party programme

A party programme sets out where you mean to start and where you want to get to. This was traditionally done by socialists using a minimum maximum method. Minimum demands are those that we mobilise on today - demands for measures that improve working class life right now under capitalism. Socialists need to be on top of the details of the struggles of today.

Maximum demands are those we’d implement after the working class takes power - like making all elected representatives recallable or setting up a democratically planned economy. The minimum/maximum programme clarifies that you are people who are fighting on the key issues of today but that you link that fight to the need for the 32 County Workers’ Republic of tomorrow.

We Reds say to our class - here’s where we mean to start fighting but without political power all these minimum demands can be rolled back. That’s why the fight carries on until workers are in the driving seat. Workers need to take political power into our own hands.

The Socialist Workers Network, who control People Before Profit, reject any programme and instead argue that demands are just expressions of whatever struggle happens to be going on. Members aren’t trained to move from the issues of the day to the need for socialism and this inevitably leads to opportunism.

They’ll argue that People Before Profit is a “transitional organisation” or “non-revolutionary” - but that means the fight for socialism becomes about watering down your politics and this can only be justified if they believe struggle will automatically educate. It doesn’t.

This means that the party does not map out a line of march from reform to revolution. In addition, connecting day to day struggles to the underlying fight for a workers’ republic requires systematic socialist political education. People Before Profit does not do this. There are socialist theorists in People Before Profit who have produced some valuable work. But those ideas are restricted to internal discussions and internal network meetings. This leads to a kind of halfway house of secret socialism and public opportunism.

In the end, the outer position ends up silencing the inner position. This is confusing and dishonest. A confused party cannot provide leadership. And working class people are sick to death of dishonest politicians. The minimum maximum approach teaches all activists to roll up their sleeves and fight hard on every key issue of today - while clearly indicating the path to tomorrow. That’s what we represent.

(You can read our new programme on this website)

The fourth key issue is their inability to build up working class leaders

The tendency that controls People Before Profit, the Socialist Workers Network, operates on a philosophy that prioritises struggle over politics. The healthy side of this is they are quick to call protests on any given issue, the unhealthy side is they downplay political debates and the development of working class politics.

If you play down politics because there’s always a “protest of the week” then you inevitably disarm working class activists and your political direction remains in the hands of those who already have political theory - like students and academics.

In every social movement there are competing forces who intervene to misdirect the movement. From conservative trade union bureaucrats to ultra lefts. You can’t just tail movements and hope that by cheerleading you will recruit and grow. Those recruits don’t stick around.

The Red Network advocates for united front social movements but we think there needs to be open and honest debate between participants in such movements and that nothing should be hidden from the working class. Every strategy or tactic should be open to cross examination.

Political debate is also important to recruit serious workers, who represent something, and won’t join a left organisation lightly. One union shop steward won to the left is worth fifty atomised individuals who come easily and go easily. It takes hard work and long arguments to win those people. It won’t happen automatically. We want to do that hard work.

The fifth key issue is the opportunism evident in the party

When People Before Profit Sligo Councillor Gino O’Boyle, took a deputy mayor’s position in a deal with Fianna Fáil, there were arguments at People Before Profit national meetings. The Cork branch rightly put down a motion condemning the Sligo councillor.

The motion got through because some members of the Socialist Workers Network broke ranks despite all their old guard defending Gino O’Boyle. But afterwards when the councillor refused to step down from the controversial position no further action was taken and he was suggested as a General Election candidate.

Red Network members on the steering group then argued that he should have been told that he could only be a candidate if he stepped down from that role. This was rejected. At the AGM the steering group majority argued that we shouldn’t focus on any councillors “mistakes”.

The whole logic of the situation derives from the philosophy of chasing votes as an end in itself. The purpose of standing in elections should be to educate our class about the need for a rebellion, to organise struggle and build an organisation. Socialist organising can’t just be about chasing votes.

This opportunism is encouraged by the political philosophy of the Socialist Workers Network which always prioritises immediate requirements over long term strategy or principles. This opportunist approach is why they reject a party programme - they don’t want to be tied into promises to the working class.

The sixth issue is disorganisation

People Before Profit is a frenetic organisation that jumps from issue to issue, dropping one campaign to set up another. The philosophy that struggle will automatically solve all problems leads to tailing the issue of the week and a frenzied organisational approach.

This burns out many activists. Many of the key members of the Red Network have been field organisers for the party at some point. We fought hard against the frenetic approach. But ultimately it’s built into the very nature of a party like People Before Profit and stems from their core beliefs.

The lack of a programme means political incoherence which in turn leads to organisational incoherence. People Before Profit is like a coalition of separate branches each with their own pet campaigns. The lack of a political programme keeps the party in a “pre-party” state - in the formation of a real party all these separate circles would be united politically and organisationally.

But People Before Profit maintains this “pre-party” chaos intentionally and promises that struggle will harden the organisation up as it goes. They’ve promised this for 20 years. Serious working class activists can’t waste more of their hard work building an organisation that constantly throws away years of work by carelessly changing from one campaign to another and chasing easy recruits who don’t stick around.

It’s like you’re laying the bricks in the foundation of a building and your “partner” keeps pulling them back up, getting distracted from the key task. No worker would put up with that. We won’t put up with that any longer. We need strategic thinking and a sustained focus on workplaces and estates. The Red Network won’t drop that work because there’s a supposed quick fix. In the end those who try to take the quick path end up running to stand still.

Lastly, they tried to ban us from public polemics

We’ve fought inside People Before Profit for many years to try to change their politics and methods. We stood in steering group elections and spoke at every AGM and National Council. We think workers should be included in every debate on the left and have published articles outlining our views.

They passed a ban on steering group minority members writing public articles about People Before Profit. They want to keep workers in the dark and treat them as a stage army only fit for the next mobilisation. This ban is unprecedented in the socialist movement, where minority positions have alway been allowed to articulate their views.

Members of the Red Network led the fight against mass evictions at Tathony House in Dublin 8. We have members in Forsa Left, in SIPTU and other unions who are fighting for grassroots control of the unions. Our members are active in CATU branches all over the country from Cork to Swords.

Our Cllr Madeleine Johansson works tirelessly for her constituents and is constantly taking on tonnes of case work to help those in need. We are working class activists who refuse to be silenced any longer. We are being suffocated in People Before Profit.

We need an organization that stands in elections but does it to promote a working class rebellion. We need an organization that builds and works in united front movements but offers a clear political line within them. We need an organization that builds up grassroots union networks to force the bureaucracy to fight or to bypass them when they won’t. We need an organization that tells the truth to our class no matter what.

People Before Profit is not that organisation.

We want to build a working class, revolutionary left, that can take on the establishment and forge a path to a 32 County Workers’ Republic. It’s not going to be easy - but nothing worthwhile ever is. If you want to work hard in workplaces and estates while openly advocating for revolutionary change then we need you to join the Reds. To everyone else on the revolutionary left - come talk to us. We need to unite all the working class socialists into one strong revolutionary organisation.

“The Irish people will only be free, when they own everything from the plough to the stars.” James Connolly.