Whether by directly improving workers’ pay and conditions, promoting progressive legislation, or reducing economic inequality, being a member of a trade union provides a unique opportunity to proactively remedy social and economic inequity. Trade unions provide an avenue to dissolve the fetters imposed upon ordinary citizens by those who profit from their immiseration. They can help to build a foundation upon which society can be built anew.
The bogeyman of the welfare cheat is used to accentuate divisions among the working class and create a scapegoat which redirects anger away from the capitalist class. This myth is perpetuated by the capitalist class and their mouthpieces in the media and in government, through over the top articles, wasteful government campaigns and anti-working-class rhetoric.
Leo’s Gambit: The Myth of the “Welfare Nation” Read More »
Carl Friedrich wrote that a totalitarian party is one with “a totalist ideology, a party reinforced by a…police and monopoly control of…industrial mass society”. That is exactly what the party of the capitalist class in any capitalist nation is. It controls industrial mass society and the government of the capitalist nation and the working class are given no say.
The Totalitarianism of Capital Read More »
“It is hard to watch things back home and see how they should be done, and how they could be done. Its not rocket science. The people and the party go hand in hand, and people do see the benefit of doing these things and that’s why they’re happy to do it”
Quarantining in China: An interview with an Irish emigrant Read More »
In April 1989, Dynamo Dresden were playing in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. The GDR national team was set to qualify for the 1990 World Cup as they eliminated the Olympic champions, the USSR. If East German football was so strong, how is it almost non-existent in 2021?
How Unification Killed the Beautiful Game Read More »
The government has completely dropped the ball in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and pursued a reactive, rather than a proactive strategy. This is in marked contrast to the country at the epicentre of the pandemic: China
Shutting the Stable Door – 11 Months too Late Read More »
This “Super League” shows the consequences that out-of-control, deregulated capitalism has on a working-class sport. The news, which had so many football fans up in arms, should be seen in the context of the consequences of capitalism that will commercialise anything in society, even sports.
Super League? Super Scam! Read More »
Americanisation has taken root and Ireland requires an intellectual revolution, rooted in Gaelic culture, Republicanism, and anti-imperialism. So that, someday, some people of Ireland will not stage protests outside the GPO against the Bill Gates-George Soros conspiracy, but instead engage with the concrete political and economic issues we face.
Conspiracies vs Class Consciousness Read More »
In a time of growing living costs, and stagnant wages, a Dunnes worker stresses that there really is power in a union and that a better future is possible if we unionise.
Diary of a Dunnes Worker Read More »
The concept of a free press has always been pushed in capitalist society. Journalists and newspapers, we’re told, act as a force of neutral arbitrators, who bring the truth to the people and offer honest analysis of current affairs. This simplistic definition, however, hides the true nature of the so-called “free” press and, in the name of free speech, affords them freedom from criticism.
What Makes a Free Press? Read More »