Fightback

Fightback is the printed Magazine and online journal of the International Marxist Tendency in Ireland. The website was launched in July 2009 and has recently passed 153,000 hits. Fightback carries regular updates on the political and industrial situation throughout the island of Ireland and internationally. The historic defeat of FF and the Greens in the last election reflected the extent of the economic and political crisis in the state. The new FG/Labour coalition is rapidly demonstrating itself to be a government of crisis, which is coming under pressure from the bosses on one side and will come under enormous pressure from the working class on the other. Labour must break the coalition and fight for the interests of working people. In the North the effects of public sector cuts will mean the loss of up to 48,000 jobs. The trade unions have a duty to fight against the cuts and to provide a mass working class political alternative to the sectarian blind alley of Stormont. There is only one majority in the North - the working class; and it needs a political expression.

The next period will see a heightening of the class struggle both North and South of the border. Under these conditions the ideas of Marxism will be an invaluable tool for the trade union movement and for the youth. We hope to bring together those workers and young people who recognise the need to develop a strong Marxist Tendency within the Labour movement and among the Youth across the whole of the Island of Ireland.

We base ourselves on the ideas of Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, VI Lenin, James Connolly and Leon Trotsky; the basic principles of the Marxist movement. Over the past 18 months we have been extremely encouraged by the response that we have had to this website. We now have regular readers in all of the cities in Ireland as well as many towns and villages and over 145 countries internationally also.  We are confident that we have the best international coverage of any left website in Ireland, as well as the most up to date analysis. Over the past period we have received many new hits from the Middle east and North Africa, specifically Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, the Palestinian territories, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar.

We are confident that our perspectives and analysis have been borne out by events and we would encourage you to read the articles posted on the site. We know as well that our articles have been translated and reprinted in Spanish, Portugese, Catalan, Italian, Dutch and German as well as other languages and have been circulated throughout Latin America and Europe. We would recommend you to read our material and study the theoretical stuff that we have reproduced. We are about to publish the fifth edition of the magazine and shortly we'll be publishing a new edition of Labour in Irish History by James Connolly.

Most importantly we'd urge you to join with us in the fight for Socialism.

Where we stand

• Nationalise the banks and the major industries under the democratic control of the working class
• You can’t control what you don’t own we need a democratic socialist plan of production
• Nationalise any factory or business threatening redundancy under workers control and management.
• Make the bosses pay for the crisis.
• "Social Partnership" has proven little more than a trap for the working class. Industrial action to protect jobs, services, wages and conditions.
• Not a cent off the pay, not a second on the day.
• No wage cuts or attacks in conditions on either side of the border
• Kick the four year budget into touch. Sack Cowen; the Fianna Fáil and the Greens.
• No coalitions with Fine Gael. For a  Labour and Left Government with a socialist programme.
• No collaboration with the bosses. Labour must supportthe workers in struggle.
• A 32 hour working week with no loss of pay
• For a €12.50 per hour minimum wage.
• For a free and universal health care system
• Affordable and adequate housing for all, no reposessions
• Place empty housing under state control; slash the housing queues
• Fight all discrimination whether on the grounds of religion, age, race, gender or sexual orientation.
• Fight anti union legislation. For full union recognition in all workplaces - with no loopholes
• No to the Lisbon Treaty; No to a Bosses Europe, for a Socialist United States of Europe.
• No to Stormont and the sectarian blind alley of the Good Friday Agreement
• For a mass non sectarian workers party in the north, based on the trade union movement
• For a Socialist United Ireland linked in a voluntary federation to a socialist Britain as part of a European and World Socialist Federation.
• Workers of all countries unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains

The International Marxist Tendency (IMT) World School that was held in Italy between 31 July and 5 August was a tremendous success. About 225 comrades from many different countries and continents travelled to the Italian seaside resort of Marina de Massa in order to attend a week of intense but enjoyable and educational meetings.

There were comrades present from Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Estonia, Russia, Greece, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, USA, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. There were apologies from a number of countries who were unable to attend either for financial or visa problems (Serbia, Morocco, Nigeria etc.). However, a link was established to the Nigerian comrades through Skype, which enabled them to follow at least the main sessions as they were taking place.

Alan woods speakingThe overwhelming majority were young comrades, reflecting a significant influx of new members in several sections of the IMT over the past year.

The links here are to the various websites of the sections of the International Marxist Tendency in the rest of the world. In addition we include links to a number of reference and solidarity sites that workers in Ireland will find useful. We are always adding to these links and would be grateful for suggestions for other sites that we might add.

We first published this article a couple of days prior to the Christmas break. Since then it has received a great deal of interest from readers in Ireland and around the world. We are putting it back on the front page of the website to make it more accessible. If you want to know more about the ideas of Marxism and how they can applied to history read on...

Hieronymus Bosch was one of the most remarkable and original painters of all time. His works were painted six hundred years ago, yet they seem astonishingly modern, anticipating surrealism. This is the art of a world in a state of turbulence, torn by contradictory tendencies – a world in which the light of reason has been extinguished and where animal passions have gained the upper hand, a world of terror and violence, a living nightmare. In short – a world very like our own. Alan Woods examines it from the standpoint of historical materialism.