FUNDAMENTAL
AIMS OF
THE WORKERS' PARTY
TO CHANGE THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF BOTH
STATES OF IRELAND TO ESTABLISH A DEMOCRATIC, SECULAR, SOCIALIST
REPUBLIC; A UNITARY STATE ON THE ISLAND OF IRELAND.
AS THE PARTY IS ALSO INTERNATIONALIST, WE SEEK TO TRANSFORM A
WORLD WHICH ENSLAVES TWO THIRDS OF ITS PEOPLE AND CONDEMNS THEM
TO A LIFE OF POVERTY BY CAPITAL, TO A WORLD OF PEACE, DEMOCRACY
AND SOCIALISM.
Workers Party Policies on
the following subjects
Northern Ireland Peace
Process
The Workers Party support the Good Friday Agreement and the
re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly we view this as
an opportunity to create a permanent Peace and a durable
political agreement which is widely acceptable to all our
citizens. Compromise is essential for a successful conclusion to
the present impasse. The aim must be to create a New Northern
Ireland with democratic institutions of government to which all
citizens can lend their allegiance. A strong Bill of Rights which
will not only guarantee individual and communal rights but be the
democratic guarantor of new institutions is central to a New
Northern Ireland. Agreed linkages with the rest of the island of
Ireland, Britain and Europe should reflect not only the political
aspirations of all citizens but also the changing political
world.
Agreement such vital matters as structures of governance,
constitutional issues and broader political, economic and social
linkages are of course central to the achievement of stability
and in terms of copperfastening Peace. The Workers Party fully
recognise this and therefore have consistently supported the
convening of All Party Talks, including both Irish and British
Governments with the aim of arriving at an acceptable political
agreement. However the Workers Party are strongly of the view
that such an agreement must contain within it proposals and
strategies which are designed to create a new order not simply
one which will copperfasten and accommodate the prejudices,
hatreds and tribal divisions which have contributed so much to
our problems in the past.
Specifically a new agreement must lead to:
Since our early involvement in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights
Association the building of democracy and acceptable institutions
of government have been central to the Workers Party programme.
Equally we have opposed all armed campaigns by para-militaries as
not only sectarian in character but because they have prevented
badly needed political progress and solidified the power blocs of
unionism and nationalism. It is our hope that in conditions of
Peace and Democracy new political allegiances can be given a
chance to flourish. The struggle for jobs, against social
deprivation, decent housing, adequate health care and an end to
class discrimination in education, is one which transcends
religious barriers.
That is why the Workers Party put forward a strong socialist
programme and will campaign vigorously on all these issues.
A full policy statement on N.Ireland
is available here
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The Republic of Ireland
THE WORKERS PARTY believes that the class division, and
division between wealth and poverty in the Republic of Ireland
are wider than ever before.
The Republic's economy is now described as the 'Celtic Tiger'.
However control of the economy is firmly in the hands of an elite
Trans National Sector. As we politically move towards greater
European integration our economy is, more than ever, dominated by
the US. Once again Irish capitalism has failed.
Our natural resources, which should form the basis for a viable
and sustainable manufacturing and processing industry are
underutilised. Whether it is lead and zinc from huge mines like
Navan, Galmoy and Lisheen, or hides from our 7,000,000 national
cattle herd the story is the same. Our natural resources are
exported and with them the possibility of real jobs for our
250,00 unemployed and 1,000,000 forced to live on welfare.
The government has failed in all the key social areas of health,
education, taxation, welfare and housing. Our housing situation
shows most clearly the failure of successive Irish governments to
confront the real needs of the people. The constitution
sanctifies the rights of private property and so the State has
totally refused to tackle the issue of the price and supply of
building land. Even where the planners have attempted to put
order on building, an unholy right-wing alliance has formed to
protect the rezoners and builders. This alliance is nationwide
and the payback is seen in all the right-wing parties.
The government has refused to tackle the need for social housing.
There are massive waiting lists, thousands in need in every local
authority, but only provision for a few hundred houses. Yet
landlords and speculators have made massive profits from special
tax exemptions and from welfare subsidies to poorer tenants in
the private rented sector.
THE WORKERS PARTY believes that Partnership 2000, between
the Governments, the unions and the employers has failed to
deliver to workers, to the low paid, to the unemployed and to the
poor in society. While we strongly agree with the concept of
collective bargaining there is no mechanism to ensure that
governments and employers deliver, especially on the non-pay
elements of the deal. We also believe that there is a conscious
effort to create a false "politics of consensus" which
depoliticises unions and community groups and leads to apathy in
the political system.
THE WORKERS PARTY demands the separation of Church and
State. Certain advances have been made in the areas of private
morality and marriage, but real battles are still to come
especially in the areas of health and control of education.
THE WORKERS PARTY believes that the civil liberties of
citizens are under attack. The right to bail, to trial by jury,
to picket, to free assembly have all been grossly curtailed and
other liberties are under attack. This erosion cannot be condoned
and least of all under the guise of the state mounting a 'serious
fight against crime'.
Full text available here.
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The
European Union
Although it is almost 30
years since Ireland and Britain joined what was then the European
Economic Community, major vital questions still need to be
resolved as to the direction, size and political nature of the
European Union. At the heart of the debate is the question of
what type of Europe do we want. Clearly big business and capital
see Europe as solely a market place and have therefore advocated
its development solely in economic terms. They have sought a
deregulated single market dominated by purely economic
considerations. Equally this has been to the detriment of the
European Institutions which are not yet fully democratic and
remain distant and aloof from the European citizens of all
countries.
The Workers Party vision of Europe is from a different
perspective. Whilst it is true that major benefits have accrued
to Ireland and Britain by virtue of European membership this does
not invalidate our criticism of the democratic deficit or of a
narrow economic vision of Europe and its people.
The Workers Party support:
It was for these reasons that we have opposed in the past the
Single European Act (1986), the Maastricht Treaty (1992) and the
Amsterdam Treaty (1998). Presently the Treaty of Nice is to be
put to the people of the Republic of Ireland for approval. This
Treaty will seriously erode our position of neutrality and draw
Ireland deeper into a European military alliance. We are
therefore calling on the people of the Republic of Ireland to
vote NO to the Nice Treaty on June 7th.
A full Workers' Party position on the Treaty of Nice is available by clicking here.
A full policy statement is available
here
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Internationalism
We understand internationalism to be part of our revolutionary
political heritage. It has its roots in the link between the men
and women of '98 and the inspiring slogan of the French
Revolution for "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity". It
is thus as much a component of our ideology as our goal of a
"democratic, secular, socialist unitary state in Ireland - a
Republic".
` Internationalism, then, for The Workers' Party is not an
afterthought. Naturally therefore as we built the Party into
Ireland's first modern socialist party we established friendly
relations with many parties, movements, organisations and states
in different parts of the world. We identified key criteria -
that they shared our views on democracy, socialism, world peace
and disarmament, democratic political struggle and opposition to
terrorism.
Let us give some examples. We supported the Vietnamese people in
their struggle against the barbarous American imperialist
aggression; we provided medical aid to the MPLA Workers' Party of
Angola and we have constantly supported the African National
Congress in their opposition to Apartheid and the racialist South
African regime; we have had as guests at our Annual Ard Fheis
representatives from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation,
Cuba, China, Korea, the former USSR and GDR and various parties
and groups of parties ranging from the Japanese Communist Party
to the Left Unity Group in the European Parliament.
Not least among our international activity was the promotion of
the European Committee for Peace and Security which emerged from
the 1975 Helsinki Final Act. Indeed The Workers' Party through
the Irish Committee did more than any of our native governments
to promote understanding among our people of the contribution
which the ECSC process was making to preserving peace and
understanding during the difficult years of division in Europe.
At the same time we recognised both from our own history, power
relations within Ireland and the need to improve communications
with democratic and social democratic organisations the
importance of building links in Britain and the USA. For many
years we sent speakers to the United States on lecture tours
explaining the importance of anti-terrorism and the struggle for
democratic politics and guaranteed civil rights in Northern
Ireland. It is no exaggeration to claim that our voice was the
sole opposition raised in Irish-American circles to the funding
of Provisional terrorism in Ireland.
While clearly all these activities and associations placed us
firmly on the side and within the "socialist camp" the
Party at all times preserved its independence and integrity in
dealing with all our foreign comrades. We will continue with this
policy.
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