The anti water charges mass movement

international | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis

Saturday October 11, 2014 21:28

by john throne - Facts For Working People

Do not let left sectarianism and ultra leftism damage the anti water charges mass movement.

How can this mass movement against the water charges be developed into a lasting mass movement against austerity and capitalism.

Nobody can say there is not a mass movement in Ireland now against the water charges. I would like to just contribute one thought. Why has the left been so unsuccessful in building a mass base in the working class. i believe it is a combination of sectarianism and ultra leftism. That is the left seeking to put their own interests over those of the movement and seeking to tie the movement to a demand that the movement is not ready for. I believe that the do not pay the water taxes is the stand and the demand that the mass movement should take. Link this to mass direct action and protest. Link it to a mass direct action of refusing to pay and going to jail and not pay. I believe that this can build a mass direct action united front. But what then.

The anti poll tax movement in Britain was a mass united front on one simple demand. Can't Pay Won't Pay. At its height 18 million people were not paying and they were clogging the courts by occupying them and they won. But what happened after that. Again we have sectarianism and ultra leftism.

The CWI was the leadership of the anti poll tax movement. As victory was taking shape they should have opened up the movement to a mass workers movement against the attacks of capitalism. they should have sought to build the anti poll tax committees into working class committees of resistance. But they did not do this. Obsessed with their sectarian desire to recruit new members and terrified they would lose control and their own leaders would d lose their petty positions they undermined the potential for the mass movement to take steps along the revolutionary road. They were afraid they would lose control of any movement which sought to bring in the masses of the anti poll tax fighters into a mass revolutionary movement. So they undercut the potential of the movement. This was a tragedy.

The same situation must not be allowed to happen in Ireland. The sectarianism of the left groups wrecked the ULA. This must not be allowed to happen again. I am not in Ireland so I cannot be precise but i believe we should draw up a few basic demands along with the do not pay the water taxes demand and seek to build from this new movement a mass direct action movement with branches in every workplace, union local, community, school and college. Pick a basic name for this - one that attracts and does not repel. Leave the word "left" out of it. Leave the word "capitalism": out of it, leave the word socialism" out of it. For a Society Owned and Run by Working People. This is far too long but it is the idea concept I am trying to get at. Or maybe a name that is against what is. No Bankers, No Bosses, No Capitalist Politicians. I am stumped here for a name. But what I am convinced of is that if the left does not get rid of its left sectarianism and ultra leftism then we will once again see a mass movement rise and fall and leave little trace. I believe we need to most determinedly and drastically look at our past. Why is the left so weak today when so many new forces are taking action. I believe the main reasons are sectarianism and ultra leftism. And flowing from this a serious left sectarian inbalance when trying to approach the transitional method.

I pose this question. What is the equivalent today of Bread Peace and Land. This is the kind of demand we need, the equivalent today can allow us to build a mass fighting workers movement with a lasting foundation which can take on capitalism.

John T.