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IT’S ONE OF the ongoing questions in Irish politics: why can’t the smaller left-wing parties unite as one force and become a real alternative to the political establishment?
There are currently five ultra left-wing parties or movements in the Dáil right including the United Left, People Before Profit, the Socialist Party, the Anti Austerity Alliance (AAA) and the Workers’ Unemployed Action Group.
While they all have links of some sort – the Socialists are practically part of AAA – the failure to band together to form one, cohesive political party has been highlighted as the main reason why no radical left alternative has emerged in Ireland in the aftermath of the crisis.
It’s an issue we discussed in detail with the People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett when he came to visit us in TheJournal.ie this week.
Prior to the last general election, the United Left Alliance (ULA) emerged as a potential new political party. In the year or so that followed, there was much talk about the ‘imperative of uniting the left‘.
But the ULA fell apart in 2013 amid infighting over the pace of its progress and a failure to attract ordinary working class people as members.
The scale of the division became apparent in the European elections last year when there were two left-wing candidates in Dublin.
As incumbent MEP Paul Murphy attempted to hold the seat for the Socialist Party, the vote was significantly split by the candidacy of People Before Profit’s Brid Smith, and Murphy missed out.
“[It is] very regrettable that People Before Profit decided to put forward a candidate against Paul, who is an incumbent with three years of highly credible activity in the European Parliament,” Murphy’s predecessor in Europe, Joe Higgins, said at the time.
But when when it was put to Boyd Barrett that there was “arguably” a seat for the left if only one of them had run, he responded “arguably, arguably not”.
He went onto say that it was PBP’s view that the the left probably “couldn’t have won the seat” unless Higgins had run. He argued that what happened in the end was the best outcome for the left anyway:
Boyd Barrett went on to argue that his party is “the force on the left that is most actively promoting unity”.
He pointed out that People Before Profit has been the leader in the organisation of the Right2Water campaign and also took the reins of the campaign against the privatisation of Coillte lands.
He said that PBP is “actively engaged” in discussions with the Anti-Austerity Alliance with the view to forming some “sort of alliance or pact” going into the next election.
But why not a political party that could truly change the established parties? After all, Sinn Féin is gradually emerging as a left alternative in recent years.
Boyd Barrett disputes the idea that his party isn’t benefiting and that there is no coherence among the left-wing parties.
He even believes that the left is “more united” than the right-wing parties in the Dáil “who can’t agree on anything”:
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Too many chiefs, that’s why.
Too many idiots is probably more accurate
FG, SF, FF and labour are full of idiots and they seem to get on pretty well so that can’t be it.
Idiots? Hardly. Prone to splitting and division as well as egotism and vanity? Definitely.
i would vote for ANYONE to make sure that FF, FG or Labout don’t get in !! they don’t even have to get their sh** together. The bunch of self serving, corrupt, treacherous traitors must be shown the door. It is painful to have to stand by and listen to all the siteserv stuff and see what these people are really up to under the guise of running the country. They are running our country in to the ground and absolutely anyone would be a better option to at least put a stop to this absurdity. Micheal Martin is delusional to think people expect any better from FF, it was cringeworthy to watch him speak and then hear him bandy the word fascist about. Ireland is becoming more like a fascist regime every day and they’re trying to bring in new laws to stop us talking about it !!!!!!!!!
Fascist … Yeah, good one. Go back to bed or go to mass, whichever will keep ye quiet.
Mass ???
Too many idiots already running this country. Time for change. Look at Greece. All you will hear is but look at syriza . a left wing government that is a disaster. What they won’t say is , it was right wing governments that destroyed Greece with their policies. Not left wing. It was right wing governments in Greece that allowed tax evasion, corruption, cronyism. Not syriza. It was right wing. Syriza are only in government a few months. Did people think they were magician’s and they only had to snap their fingers to fix the problem. No that takes time. It takes time to clean up a country that was rife with corruption, cronyism, tax evasion and the same will be needed here. We have all of this as well. We have the HSBC 350 and Greece has the lagarde list.
Vin,
I can only speak for my experience in the AAA but I’ve seen no vanity or egotism. There’s mostly hard work and volunteerism and I see Joe Higgins throwing posters into the back of his battered oul Primera or Ruth Coppinger making Superquinn sausage sandwiches at the BBQ in her house to thank people for helping out in the by election.
Littleone, massive social spending is a left wing policy. Maybe the Greeks should have paid some bloody taxes and actually worked instead of going on the lash since they joined the euro. They have nobody to blame but themselves, should’ve been thrown out years ago and the contagion wouldn’t have spread to countries like Ireland.
“Superquinn” sausages no less. la de da.
does she serve champagne with them?
Come on, Waddler. Remember Paul Murphy recommending that a People Before Profit candidate should step aside so as not to split left wing voters in the last election? Not only was that vanity, it also showed a lack of respect for democratic process; the electorate chooses the best candidate on the day, not Paul Murphy. That’s just one example. How about Ruth Coppinger banging on about how Customs shouldn’t be seizing illegal abortion pills last week? She thinks she can supersede the law of the land and that isn’t vanity? Come on, man. That’s two examples literally off the top of my head.
Who didn’t pay the taxes in Greece. A lot of corruption. The lagarde list is an example. Swiss bank accounts. HSBC . seems common theme .
Super Quinn sausages are rotten
There I said it!
LOL
BCC,
Most of the Greek tax evasion you speak of was perpetrated by the right wing governments from the Metaxas dictatorship of the 70s to the neo liberals of the Samaras regime led who facilitated vast wholesale tax evasion by the corporate oligarchy of shipping, energy, media etc.
Greek tax compliance was no better before the joined the currency union but it wasn’t a problem that destroyed their economy.
But when Greece ceded it’s monetary sovereignty and joined the Euro it’s economy was fundamentally changed which led inevitably to their present predicament. Euro membership has effectively placed a household budget constraint on the nation where government spending must be funded via taxation.
This limitation does not apply to a sovereign currency issuing state e.g. Denmark which has no financial constraint within the domestic currency. In this case the state can afford to buy whatever resources are for sale in the domestic currency. So if doctors and nurses are available for work, the state can afford to hire them to staff the health service, ditto for building hospitals, schools, public transport, water network etc. There are no financial limits on social spending though the state can of course face real resource constraints e.g. a lack of doctors or energy etc.
The only reason that the Troika hold any leverage over Greece now is that the nation’s debts are in what is effectively a foreign currency, the Euro. The same holds true for Ireland.
This is a key reason why European democracy is largely a façade now and why the unelected technocrats of the ECB and IMF get to decide how many Greek and Irish children need to go to bed cold and hungry so that the corporate elite which the Troika serve continue to accumulate vast wealth at the rate they’ve become accustomed to.
Sovereign currency issuing nations like the U.K are never required to balance the books. A budget deficit is of no concern to a nation with control of its own currency. The U.K can sustain ANY size of debt or deficit which is denominated in sterling. The ‘debt’ and any interest due is paid via keystrokes at the Bank of England. That is why the enormous £850 billion bank bailout in the U.K. did not bankrupt the nation as it did in Ireland’s case and why the EU holds no stick over Britain, Denmark etc.
The difference with Greece and Ireland is that these nation’s debts are effectively a foreign currency debt which cannot be keystroked out of existence as monetary sovereignty has been ceded to the ECB.
So Ireland, Greece, Spain Portugal etc must obtain Euros to service the debt using the real resources (e.g labour or exports) of the nation or borrow euro funding externally also to be repaid ultimately with the real resources of the citizens.
The Euro was a deliberately designed monetary trap which we will ultimately need to exit if it continues down the current destructive neo liberal path which serves the interests of capital over the interests of the majority (labour).
A vote for FG is a vote for Denis O’Brien no hiding that anymore. enda i s O’Briens bell boy
nothing like the erudite super intelligent politicians in government
Vin,
The article is about a level of unity or at least cooperation among the parties of the left. It’s common sense not arrogance to recognize that there is only one Left/Socialist MEP seat up for grabs in Dublin. If the electorate always chose the best candidate on the day then Michael Lowry would not be a TD for the past 30 years.
Coppinger is to be credited for breaking an unjust law. Almost every mass civil movement in history to improve the human condition has begun with the breaking of the law. This is so because the law is largely constructed to protect the interests of those who benefit most from the status quo.
Not so very long ago condoms were illegal in the brave republic of ours and these women were also breaking the law in 1971
P.S. It’s difficult to maintain a civil debate with barbarians who don’t appreciate Superquinn sausages :)
Better call callely. They also had the biggest defence budget in NATO . where French and German companies had deals going with the right wing governments which ran to many billions. With a lot of corruption involved.
No, man, that’s not the same and you know.
The PBP candidate had as much of a right to run as Murphy did. I said the electorate chooses the candidate, admittedly not always the best candidate, but it wasn’t right for him to suggest that someone else should step aside to suit his ambitions. It was pretty anti-democratic actually.
The precedent that Coppinger tried to set was wrong; Customs officers can’t pick and choose what come in and what doesn’t in terms of illegal contraband.
As a new member of people before profit I don’t want to see pbp running against the AAA and vice versa. If there’s room for 2 seats then happy days but that’s rarely the case.
Paul may have reached the number of votes for duhlin mep if brid hadn’t have run but who knows, more importantly let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Once both sides have room for compromise which is a trait the left needs to learn especially if they are ever to have a chance in government.
They could also take many more votes from labour, renua and the greens If they get behind the right policies.
Renua SME policy is common sense and will probably be in next budget. Green party environmental policy is very good yet people before profit have done more regarding water, forestry and renewables over the past few years.
Then labour you know yourself, the party of u turns
There are 6 parties on the Looney Left, one of them just has a recent history of violence
eh no… its not vanity to campaign for a woman’s right to control her own body, do you have access to a dictionary?
Owen we all recognise it’s not vanity to campaign on an issue. It’s the notion that impartial customers officers could breach their contract and the law by ignoring these packages. It’s like a medical cannabis user asking the same for shipped cannabis oil packages.
No chance in hell will the officers agree as they want to keep their job. Ruth Coppinger should put in a bill and continue to campaign but requesting others who she doesn’t even know to break the law is unfair.
As a socialist I know if I was a customs offers I would continue to do my job as per the contract I signed. Although I’d vote for someone to democratically legislate so we can regulate and administer these pills to those that need them.
littleone. Greece had made great strides in the three years before Syriza came to power. it only took three months for Syriza to blow it all. I suggest you check the facts before launching diatribes. The far left would do the same here , burning the indignities we have had to endure. And the hardships.
Jesus go back and read waddlers comment you clearly ignored all of it
Ha!
Interesting. Thanks
Those were replies to AAA’s comments! First was regarding the sausages, second regarding the euro.
Of course it was Superquinn sausages, she couldn’t be going to Aldi or Lidl as a champagne socialist.
…..?? We have no idea of fascism,
God help those who live with it.
She got them for free!!!??
David G
I see you omitted Labour in your analysis, how is all in the Labour debacle camp.
I always imagined it is because the leaders wouldn’t give up their leadership if they were to merge xD
Left wing politics in this country is a populist sham.Tell everybody what they want to hear and criticise everything unpopular as if there is an alternative without suggesting a better one.
The reality is they are just in it for the career with the main focus being getting re-elected and would run a mile from actually being in government.
Syriza messed up with their rich promises, now find themselves holding the steering wheel and are steering the country over a cliff – hopelessly pathetic.
Some clowns here want to follow the same calamatous route when we are just getting things right.
Any chance of a balanced party that could represent the vast majority of us…
How are we “just getting things right”?
All good point’s James until I got to the “getting things right” part.
Your wrong James.
Falling unemployment, reduced budget deficits & a growing economy are all terrible things.
The comments above me agree.
Vin, employment numbers rising, budget deficit almost sorted from a being 17b deficit per annum, growth at 4% plus, record low borrowing rates which indicate international market confidence in our economy, exports exponentially increasing and austerity finished with disposable income finally increasing.
The above is factually correct – not a subjective opinion. Sorry for the positivity.
Austerity finished with? Please. What do you think will happen after the election? There’s still water charges and the Broadcasting Charge to come. On top of that, services have been slashed across the board. Things are improving in some sectors but we still face a myriad of problems. To say austerity is over is naivety in the extreme.
Syriza are in only in government a few months. Did you think they were magician’s and they only had to snap their fingers and the country would be fixed. Greece was destroyed by policies of right wing governments who when in government in Greece. It was not a left wing party that was in control of Greece as it was destroyed by tax evasion. Should the government here have fixed our country here after a few months going by your logic they should have. Time is needed to sort out the mess left by a right wing government in Greece and that’s what syriza are trying to fix . they also are trying to clean up from tax evasion, corruption, cronyism. We have all that here and any new government who wants to clean up the mess , it would take time. We have HSBC 350 and Greece has the lagarde list.
Vin austerity is finished when the govt is in a position to hand out more than they take in. That is the position now and hopefully for many years to come if we don’t lose the run of ourselves again.
As for Syriza (not your comment I know) what a hopeless clueless joke of a party. Good to have a lefty guinea pig in place somewhere though to give us an example of what Murphy, Coppinger, RBB etc want for this country. In reality they don’t because they have no intention of being in govt and getting exposed like Syriza.
James its quite simple . it was not syriza in government in Greece as it was destroyed by corruption, tax evasion, cronyism. It was right wing governments. You may not like the fact but its a fact. You may think any country that is in a mess from decades of corruption and cronyism and tax evasion should be fixed in weeks is mad. If syriza should have sorted out the mess from right wing governments policies so quick. Why has it taken the government years here. Its should be so easy according to you.
Man, you sound like you have Stockholm Syndrome or something, “Lose the run of ourselves again”. This country was chronically mismanaged by incompetent, overpaid clowns. We didn’t all lose the run of ourselves or get caught up in the madness but whether we did or not we all got an equal share in austerity. By all, I mean the ordinary people, not so the well off or those who implemented austerity at the behest of foreign powers. The left in this country are a scattered, ineffective shower but the establishment party represent themselves and little else.
Little one I never denied that at all. Fiscal responsibility has to be a hall mark of good government. Syriza may be 100% genuine in their intentions but their economic policies are fundamentally flawed and that’s why they are faced with reneging on their promises or ruining an economy which was on the way back.
Vin those clowns were voted in by the people. You sound like they were foisted on us.
I don’t care who is in govt but you can’t consistently spend more than you take in.
They are also trying to clean up the corruption. Tax evasion. That happened. All under right wing governments. So it will take time. Greece had a major tax evasion and corruption problem. That even included politicians. The lagarde list all about Swiss bank accounts is an example of this. So maybe the reason they have not sorted the problems yet is because the problems left by previous governments was worse than they imagined.
So james you borrowed from the banks and didn’t pay it back right. If i had written that post i would have said “they”as i didn’t ask for anything from anyone just worked hard.
Alright, I have read the comments and here’s my take on Ireland and it’s situation at the moment.
In regards to the economy, we are still have a deficit to crush and the best way to do that is through taxation and cutting spending (austerity)
Our GDP growing will also significantly help our current situation and should make it easier to cut the defecit. It’s very unstable as we’re relying on the global economy and low interest rates which isn’t a good thing to rely on.
The country needs to start working on paying off more of it’s debt and work on crushing it and make sure we don’t repeat mistakes.
Right now, we’re relying on luck and the guidance of the European Union to recover and what we need to have in the future his harsh regulation across the board in everything. We need to make sure we don’t have any more fiscal mess ups and to be honest I don’t think we have a government that will do this correctly. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil just appear as cronies to me. Sinn Féin are economically incompetent and Labour fall in with F.G and F.F as liars.
In my opinion we need a new political party that we can trust to an extent that will be transparent but realistic. Wouldn’t it be great if a government was actually able to say ‘lads, we screwed up one our education reforms and we’ll revise them now with the trade unions input’ instead of trying to convince us horrible reforms are great.
Just my opinion but feel free to tell me what you think.
Falling unemployment… How many have emigrated? How many are on zero hour contracts? How many are job sharing since this government offered the incentive to employ 2 people for the same job rather than 1?
Budget deficit down… Cuts in spending and imaginative accounting and fair enough a slight increase in the tax take.
Growing economy… Let’s take exports out of the calculation and see how much the economy is growing.
The unfortunate facts are we are give or take a couple of billion exactly were we were 5 years. This government blatantly lied with populous promises to gain power, since taking power they have shamelessly attacked the middle and working class people of this country. People want a change and it’s coming, the hope from Fine Gael that the election will be all about the economy is false hope, this election will be about a sham billing company, continued cronyism and the lies told from last time.
Sorry Von – what are you on about not paying back borrowings? Explain please?
@Thomas
Exports has everything to do with the economy though. It’s all about that trade surplus :D
In regards to the rest of your points some are true although I would say they are very over-emphasized to a certain extent, when people are talking about the selling of a company for a couple million yes, that deal stinks of corruption but a few million is nothing really in the bigger scale of things.
Sinn Féin are in no way economically superior to Fine Gael, quite the contrary and don’t get me wrong I don’t like Fine Gael but I want a competent government and I have found it to be the same problem with the other left parties.
What I think we need is a new party (lol not renua haha) that can bring change.
“budget deficit almost sorted”. What planet do you live on?
@Biscuits
The Budget deficit last I remember was around 6b which isn’t too bad at all. It’s the national debt that remains a problem if that is what you mean?
I hate to burst your bubble, but do you actually believe the figures? Unemployment down because of taking people off the live register and sending them in courses and jobs bridge. Okay, but not employment. Also no mention of the numbers emigrating. The figures for the fall in unemployment are heavily massaged. If the government wasn’t trying to get Dennis O’Brien a few more bob, they would have the loans of Irish Water on their books, where they belong, and the figures would be less impressive to our overlords in the EU. Meanwhile, our health service is in such a shambles it’s beyond even commenting on, homelessness in the capital is ruining people’s lives, people who have jobs are often working with contracts that allow an employer to do practically whatever they want. So please tell me, if the economy is so great, who is benefitting? Because it’s not the average person, let me assure you. And in case you’re wondering, I am employed, but I can’t wait to see this government brought down and with any luck FG, FF, LAB permanently gone.
I don’t agree at all that austerity is the solution. I see that it would give more money to people at the top, where it is not needed, while making the people at the bottom pay for it. The same people who had little if anything to do with the causes of our predicament. This leads to greater inequality in society which has significant long term consequences, often very costly ones, Eg the cost of trying to manage anti social behaviour from a generation who feel detached from the rest of society. Also, austerity has taken money out of local economies and increased unemployment, not making anything better unless you’re okay with sacrificing small rural communities where local businesses couldn’t survive. I think taxation is a grand idea if the people and businesses who have more pay for it. And cuts are okay too, if the people who claim to serve the people, not to mention those who failed in their job of governing the country take the cuts, and not a token one. In any case, if the figures weren’t massaged, and if we measured the cost of austerity in terms of real people’s lives and what it has cost them, not just figures and formulas, it would be clear that it hasn’t worked at all. We need something better, and soon.
@Noirin
If we tax the businesses more there is less of a motivation to start them which means we now have less of an incentive to start them.
If we tax businesses and the rich and wealthy to the max we will also have a corporation exodus on our hands and the FDI will be all gone and we’ll be screwed until we encourage Irish small businesses.
James, your second line is the crux of the matter. Any person/household/business/country that consistently spends more than they take in is heading for disaster, or continuing to stay broke…or more broke.
James ,A government should never take on a private debt and turn it into a public debt and hoist onto the backs of the Irish people , debt is costing 8 billion euro a year to service ,,That money would mean we would not have so many extra taxes ,,,,and those that governed us and ran the banks and the regulator all retired with massive pensions ,,instead of been charged with treason ,
Its the judean peoples front versus the peoples front of judea
Splitters!
They could do with reigning in the craziness a bit. It’s not like this government is difficult to beat up.
The left could gain a lot more ground by not talking about ripping up the foundations of society and this ridiculous tax the super rich nonsense. Most people know that capital is too mobile
They COULD gain ground that way but I’m glad they put their mad ideas out in the open rather than have them revealed once they’re in power
Abolishing the senate, eliminating judicial independence, using An Garda Síochána as a political tool, turning the Dáil into a farcical party political broadcast platform and colluding to transfer State assets to certain individuals is not ripping up the foundations of society?
Nobody could do any worse than thee FF/FG/Lab triumvirate, which is why it is absolutely essential that we get a change. I have a lot of admiration for Syriza because it’s beginning to look like they are playing their weakness to do a lot of damage to the core interest groups in the eurozone. We should be aligning ourselves to them, not standing on the German sidelines.
We have elected successive governments that have placed Ireland on its knees. The only way to correct that means to never return them to government, even if it looks like we have to hurt ourselves to do it.
There will be no political change until the people make it absolutely clear that they want it.
I always voted for Higgins and the socialist party. I continued giving that vote to Paul Murphy but I’ve grown tired of him now and his need to jump on every bandwagon going. Turns up at every protest to get his photo taken but the last straw for me was his support of the Halawas. Had a discussion with him over this and he basically said that although socialists oppose what the Muslim brotherhood stand for they support the right of them “peacefully” protesting and that poor Ibrahim and his truth distorting sisters were innocently there on holiday. I just couldn’t give him my vote any more after that. Thing is now I haven’t a clue who to vote for at the next election!
It reads like you’re split, Stephen…
so you want him to support a military coup that has massacred thousands and denied democratic rights to its citizens? You have evidence that this Irish citizen was doing some thing other than peacefully protesting or that his family are lying about this? You comment are attempting to justifying the potential death of an young man guilty of nothing other than been a Muslim:
But of a non issue there Stephen. Guage a party on how they will run the country as opposed to a side issue they spend a day or 2 on. Take Sinn Fein for example. They will be getting my 2nd/3rd preference yet I cannot stand their nationalism.
As Brendan Behan once said, ‘The first item on the (left wing) agenda for any Irish committee is the split’ .
SF are on the Looney Left?!
And that entity has split dozens of times.
Funny how lots of commenters (excluding bots) here love to have a go at the ‘loony left’ yet probably slam the usual FG, Labour & FF trio on other articles. Thankfully the next GE won’t be decided solely by Journal commenters as lord only knows what parliament we’d have :P
5 4 3 2 1 , YFG attacks .
They could easily say the same of sinn fein or any other party are the youth attacking so instead how about we debate everyone to death
There are some master debaters in YFG alright
The left will never unite, Most of them hate each other, some of them are too far left and the others won’t touch them and then you have the AAA who put out leaflets slating other left parties #joke
It is impossible to tether that many loonies together.
because they are all idiots
I agree PatJoe FF and FG they really are a bunch of idiots
They’re all mad as each other. Shop stewards who love the sound of their own voice. If this lot formed a govt tomorrow we would be back at the polling booth before Xmas. Oh and most of us would be on the dole by Xmas also. Borrowing would be up to pay for the dole because tax income would be down.
The only left party that can bring about change and have a significant role in government is sf. I would urge people to vote firstly for sf and then transfer to the other left parties. They all need to sit down together and come up with a strategy of transferfing votes and not splitting the vote.
The right are very busy here this morning.
They’ll be gone again tomorrow when more of the siteserv details come out.
They have principles and are not power hungry like the parties of right. F F, F G, Labour, Renua, Greens and the dead P D’s.
The Greens & labour are right-wing?
That’s news to the world!
Have you been living in a cattery ?
That is where cats often live alright.
That explains it then, sheltered living.
Both green party and labour party policies pre election are largely left wing yet their track record is right ring.
Unlike some people here I only gauge a party on their record not their proposals. Sinn Fein are left but if they get in who knows
I dont see the diffefence in all these parties. They should merge and form a coalition with SF for the next govt.
They should join together and vote no in endas referendums and force a GE,guaranteed. Lose 4 referendums to the people is a clear message of no confidence in endas government from the people and we want them out.opposition and media will crucify him and force a GE.another 13 months of ena is too much.
Yeah denying Enda his referendums is definitely how to do it!
No matter how badly I want to see the end of this shower in government, the right to equality regardless of sextant orientation is too important to use as a weapon. I will vote on May 22 for the rights of LG BT people to be upheld, but I will also refuse to pay for water, or more precisely pay for it again and again. Not paying Irish Water is a fair and more effective to give Enda the push he needs
Why is no one suggesting that all the ring/ centre right parties unite renua fg ff lab and all the righ wing independents Shane Ross Marie McGrath Lowry etc
Careerism prevents such a thing happening
Why cant all the right wing parties unite and get their act together????
well said Matthew FG / FF two wings of the same bird
People’s Front of Judea, Judean People’s Front, etc etc. This is why the Spanish Civil War resulted in victory for Franco, too much petty ideological infighting among the left. Communists vs Anarchists vs Marxists vs Trotskyites vs Anarcho-Syndicalists vs Leninists. Much as a hate the right you gotta give them credit for their organizational skills.
What would they call themselves the protesters?
If they joined together they could be called the Anarchist Party.
Their election slogan: We are the party for the abolition of all parties. If we are elected we will promptly abolish ourselves.
^ someone who doesn’t know the difference between anarchism and socialism
Very simple reason. Left wing party memebers beleive they are 100% correct on all issues. I’ve often been shocked to see how certain they are of their views. They will not listen to contrary opinions and not engage in debate with people who don’t share their views. This is rarely seen in right wing parties. As a result small differences in policies between lefties can’t be compromised on because people who don’t share their views are evil. As a result of this inability to listen to others opinions and compromise the parties can never co-operate.
I don’t suppose you’ve ever tried to talk about austerity to Fine Gael?
Or maybe nationalism to Sinn Fein?
Or maybe you’ve tried talking to Fianna Fail about the bank bailout? (And the greens)
Talk to labour about their 2011 election manifesto compared to the reality.
Last but not least talk to renua about their similarities with fine gael/ Fianna Fail
They are all dictators and want it their way simple as that!
Certainly id give my vote either People before profit or Socialist party but they seriously need to stop this nonsense and come together, it’s the only chance they have of building a proper alternative left alliance to the parasites in FG /FF /Labour and I wouldn’t trust SF either, look at what they have done up north.
I.m not laughing out loud.
“Why can’t all the left wing parties get there act together?” Think the answer might be in the question!!!
Because they’re left wing parties. They are so obsessed with opposition rather than government that they don’t even agree with one another for fear they might end up making decisions that actually affect people’s lives.
Oh look. Another discussion on left unity and a bunch of comedians with the same clichéd Monty Python quotes as if it was the first time we’d heard them. The left as much as the right has its own historical and political differences which means it’s not just a simple mathematical equation that they can all join up as one force. Unfortunate, but reality. The ULA was an electoral arrangement to maximise the vote on the left post bailout but without mass involvement on the ground from new members willing to build a new force, it was ever only going to be a temporary one. We are however in a whole new political period with the water charges campaign having radicalised and politicised thousands of new people and it is on this basis that unity will be imperative, initiated from a grassroots level to create a new broad alliance which can form the basis of an Irish Syriza or Podemos. The next election will be a watershed in Irish politics so watch this space.
I have always seen a great similarity between the Far Left and the Far Right.
Sinn Fein and the DUP (the chuckle brothers) are like peas in a pod.
They both stink of Fascism.
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