Presidential Address of Michael Finnegan delivered at the Workers’ Party Ard Fheis on 27th September 2014.
Comrades,
Since we last met there have been tremendous changes in the country. The living standards of working class people have been slashed. Thousands have been thrown onto the dole and some of the brightest and best of our young people have been forced to emigrate leaving behind them broken hearted parents and grandparents. And let us be clear the vast bulk of those people will not be returning.
For those at work pay and conditions have been eroded. The unemployed, pensioners and others depending on welfare have seen their incomes massively reduced. At home the bankers and developers who were lauded as business gurus by the media and above reproach have been exposed as the reckless gamblers they really were. Their irresponsibility brought the country to its knees and generations will pay the price for a long time to come.
Austerity is now a virtue we must all embrace – some call it ‘wearing the green jersey.’ However, the jersey is a hair shirt for the poorest, getting more comfortable as incomes rise and is luxurious cashmere for those at the top whose wealth is increasing. The green jersey for the victims of the recession – the unemployed means cutting their benefits, abusing them as ‘lazy’ and generally blaming them for the state of the economy. This ploy is not only used in Ireland. Paul Krugman in last Tuesday’s Irish Times calls it a ‘blame the victim’ tactic and is constantly used by the American right.
Isn’t it curious how the same propaganda is churned out in different parts of the world? But then the dominant ideology world-wide is neo-liberalism where profit is god. And those profiting are what a UN report revealed some years ago as the 1% who own 40% of the world’s wealth. The world’s richest 10% account for roughly 85% of the planet’s total assets, according to the report, while the bottom half of the population – more than 3 billion people – own less than 1% of the world’s wealth..’ A recent Oxfam report states that in the past 20 years, the richest 1% had increased their incomes by 60% and in the ‘UK, inequality is rapidly returning to levels not seen since the time of Charles Dickens.’
Those in the financial and internet sectors comprise much of the ‘super rich.’ Bill Gates is one such person. Interestingly he has been revealed as one of the bailed out bondholders having invested or rather gambled in Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Nationwide Building Society, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks. Many an Irish special needs child will pay the price for this bailout with a reduced education and consequent poorer life chances. This wealthy elite is becoming increasingly rich through squeezing services and wages – not through production of more wealth. Their agenda is the creation of more and more inequality and reversing the progress working class people have won over the last century. Everywhere workers and the poor have been made to pay for the crisis.
Austerity is nothing new to the political establishment in Ireland. Fine Gael and many in the Fianna Fail party have long advocated such measures. It was that thinking that gave rise to the PDs and allowed Charlie McCreevey to attack those depending on social services. To their shame many in the Labour Party seem to sit quite comfortably with those measures.
The effect of this austerity – also called ‘competitiveness’- has reduced workers’ pay and conditions to frightening levels. In the last few weeks we have seen workers being locked out in the refuse and construction industries. The workers in Greyhound fought to prevent cuts to their pay of over 30%. The construction workers working on sites that belong to the Department of Education have had to mount pickets to fight for the most basic of rights. In schools in the Dublin area bricklayers, highly skilled workers, were forced to work as bogus self-employed, for as little as €8 an hour. Many thousands of workers throughout the state are termed self-employed. Employers usually source those workers through an agency. Many of them are from the international community. They have no rights even to the minimum wage. They are not entitled even to minimum notice or redundancy payment. They are not entitled to draw job seekers allowance when they become unemployed, nor do they get holiday pay and are denied pensions and sick pay which were automatically granted to construction workers. This problem has not appeared overnight. It has been there for many years and unions in the construction industry must deal with this urgently.
However, workers living standards have suffered in more ways than reduced wages. The ideology of the market has demanded the widening of what they call the tax base. So now we have tax on homes and even tax on the most basic essential to life – water. Increasingly essential services are privatised. Again this is an international phenomenon. It does not matter if the poor cannot pay as was the case in Bolivia when water was privatised the quest for profit takes priority and the neo-liberal agenda forges ahead.
In Ireland the government taxes the home but they will not tax land no matter how many acres is owned – it is not seen as property. J. P. McManus and John Magnier own vast amounts of land in Dublin and throughout the country – as do the Bruton family. But they pay no rates or tax of any sort on that land. However, the corner shop in every village or town will pay rates. In Dublin this is often as high as €8000 per annum. Recently I was contacted by an old aged pensioner who lives in a 1930s built council house. She was extremely angry and rightfully so because property tax was being taken out of her pension. This woman has paid tax and PRSI all of her working life. Compare that to what McManus and Magnier pay. Or to the pensions that are paid to many politicians. How can the levying of tax on the average home in Dublin or Cork be justified while at the same time hugely wealthy people such as J.P. McManus escape scot free? Clearly, injustice is part and parcel of the austerity agenda.
As strong as neo-liberalism may be there are also challenges to its dominancy. It is heartening to see the type of protest that took place worldwide last weekend on climate change. In New York thousands marched on Wall St protesting against the power of the markets and the dangers their policies present to our climate. Clearly, many Americans have grave doubts about the financial elite, the policies pursued on their behalf and want change. Indeed it is difficult to imagine the one in six Americans who live in poverty, or those whose wages are steadily declining not desiring a challenge to those who are impoverishing them.
Similarly, the response of the people of Scotland on the independence referendum took the Westminster establishment by surprise. It sent out a message that people will never accept their identity to be submerged into a greater entity such as Britain. Many Scottish people justifiably want to be able to determine their own future. The Scottish referendum impacted globally as was clear with Obama advising a rejection. A strong aspect of the debate dealt with Scottish people’s concerns regarding the inequality in their society which they viewed as imposed by Westminster. They challenged the idea that children should go to school hungry in a wealthy nation and why such a large section of people should live in poverty. Many were totally opposed to the privatisation agenda and were particularly angry at the threat to the National Health Service. The vote for independence may not have been carried but they have succeeded in returning the issue of equality to the national agenda.
Irish people also want to determine their own future. Unfortunately, the same rancher farmer and big business interests that won out in 1921 still rule. We also have to cope with the confusion and division caused by northern violence. Pandering to the most extreme elements in the north has deepened sectarian divisions. The DUP and Sinn Fein in all their inflexibility and lack of political leadership now rule.
Unfortunately too many in the south have forgotten the lessons of the murderous decades of tit for tat sectarian murders and bloody slaughter – which brought Sinn Fein to their present day position. Many now – even the Siptu President, Jack O’Connor – see Sinn Fein as holding a way forward for workers. How those on the Shankill Road respond to this is not part of the equation. How can this be consistent with building Siptu and recruiting members among Protestant workers which should surely be a prime part of union policy? This flawed and dangerous thinking is to the detriment of the long term interests of working class people. The all-embracing party that is Sinn Fein who are equally at home among big business equates with the emergent Fianna Fail of the 1930s.
It is important that we in the Workers’ Party clearly state our views on 1916 as we approach the centenary year. The greatest monument to 1916 and the sacrifice of those who fought is to build a country that is truly independent. This means freeing ourselves from the great powers and having a truly independent and neutral foreign policy. It means condemning U.S. invasion of or interference in, countries such as Iraq, Libya, Syria and others. The result of these actions is now a world that is much more dangerous and fragmented. It also means opposing the Gaza genocide. However, we must clearly point out that the condemnation of Israeli atrocities does not equate with being anti-Jewish or denying the Holocaust.
Honouring 1916 also means seeking freedom from want for our people. Meaningful and well-paying jobs, the building of services that deliver equality for people in health and education are priorities. It also means women to be able to avail of health care when pregnant that puts their lives and well-being ahead of fundamentalist religious beliefs. The spirit behind the 1916 rising was at stark contrast to the arrogance and might of empire. The great powers of that day were engaged in a bloody war that had no regard for the lives of the millions who were sent out to be slaughtered day after day and had even less regard for them as they returned home and attempted to improve their lot. ‘To treat all the children of the nation equally’ was anathema to the thinking of the British establishment. They were destroying their own young men by the million.
The horrors and carnage of the Great War is well documented. It is described by Siegfried Sassoon as the ‘hell where youth and laughter go,’ a war of aggression and conquest’ where planning and decisions were made by generals and others well behind the lines. Nineteen sixteen was a bloody event but in the scale of the times it was miniscule and the fundamental ethos was egalitarian and concerned with the advancement of humanity. It was the direct opposite to the progression of empire with no regard for human life. John Bruton when he criticises 1916 as unnecessary and mistaken is displaying where his real interests lie. His narrow self-interest does not allow for criticism of the slaughter and inhumanity of the Great War instead he turns his venom on the aims of 1916 because of the ‘violence’. Connolly’s ideas for workers were conveniently lost with his execution and with it much of what the Dublin working class contributed to the Rising. Of course his killing was encouraged by William Martin Murphy and it is his legacy that John Bruton inherits as he allies himself with today’s powerful international elites.
Emigration since the foundation of the state meant that those in power never had to face up to the challenges of providing for its population whether it be provision of jobs, health, education or indeed facing up to the exporting of our problems such as the thousands of women seeking abortions in Britain.
Earlier this year the party took part in local elections. Those who stood as candidates for The Workers’ Party deserve the appreciation of the party. The recent election has shown us that we have a solid basis for building. This was shown especially clearly in the contested areas in Dublin, Cork and Waterford. We most certainly cannot claim a great show of strength but we can state quite definitely that we experienced solid support, despite the populist appeal of Sinn Fein, in the contested areas. Ballymun and South Dublin have shown that people are seeking a working class political leadership to represent them. This was the case also in the successful returning of a seat in Cork and in Waterford where changes in election boundaries worked against them.
These were small successes but if we are to go forward we must learn from the mistakes of the past and seriously start campaigning on behalf of working class communities. While we must continue to develop our policies and adapt to changing times having to do so must never prevent the party from campaigning and reaching out to people and communities. Those of us who have been involved over a numbers of years know that you can only have success by being involved with the people. The reality is now that it will be a new generation that will lead the party over the next decade. Therefore, we must encourage young people to take up positions of leadership within the party. Society has changed and with it pressures have increased on people. For example, it is no longer possible for people with young families to attend meetings once or twice a week.
The sale of our magazine, Look Left, which has been successful in providing a voice for the left, is more difficult to promote. It may take time and effort but nonetheless we can set ourselves achievable targets to rebuild and become a powerful force among working class people. I strongly feel that our members must be encouraged to become active within the trade union movement and that means producing demands that are relevant to union members.
One of these demands I mentioned earlier and that is the urgent need to put pressure on the government to introduce legislation that will restore the benefits that were held under Registered Agreements. This is an area where the Party could give a lead and recruit new members. We must be seen to be organised and to be fighting on behalf of workers. Above all we must endeavour to build a class consciousness among workers. This was being developed in the late 80s and 90s. Then we continually made the point that in better off areas people vote in their class interests while many workers expressed a lack of interest in politics or voted for a personality.
The undermining of the growth of class awareness among workers was a severe setback in 1992. James Connolly faced the same problem in his time. He held that the landlord and capitalist ‘are thoroughly class-conscious and in all their measures never lose sight of the cardinal principle of the class struggle. While the average worker makes a great show of having nothing much to do with politics.’ All government, he concluded, was ‘class government…and …the middle-class and aristocratic swindlers who hold the reins of political power know it is amply proved.’ Our eventual aim, comrades, is the creation of a government – a class government – that puts the working class in power. Only then and co-operating with the left internationally will we be able to begin to build a truly just and fair society.
Earlier this year Michael informed members that he would not be standing for re-election as Party President at this year’s Ard Fheis. He received a warm reception from members who gave a standing ovation at the end of his address. Michael will remain an active member of the Party, especially in the Lucan / Clondalkin areas of Dublin where he has worked for many years.
A new Party President, Mickey Donnelly, was elected by the delegates at the conference and will continue the work of rebuilding and renewing the party.