Left Unity?

A way forward?
On Saturday February 5 around one hundred Left activists gathered in the Gresham Hotel Dublin to discuss the possibilities of co-operation of the broad Left, Paul Dillon reports.

The “left unity conference” heard calls for a transfer pact in the general election and for long term co-operation between activists from all parties and none.

However, there was some disagreement among speakers at the event. Socialist Party MEP for Dublin Joe Higgins told attendees that the Labour party could take no part in left unity and recommended that left wingers within that party breakaway. Councillors Cian O’Callaghan and Dermot Looney from the Labour Party told the conference that they would oppose any coalition arrangements with Fine Gael. They both argued that a left government was within reach for the first time in Irish history.

Sinn Fein’s Eoin O’Broin and Aongus O’Snoadaigh TD insisted that their party was opposed to any coalition with right wing parties. O’Broin went on to outline the historic problems with co-operation among the Irish left which he saw as devided into three distinct strands, the social democratic Left, revolutionary Marxist and republican Left. Mick Finnegan of the Workers Party called for left wingers to actively campaign for transfers to each other, as he was doing in Dublin Mid West.

A session on coalition building within trade unions and the community sector, heard contributions from SIPTU leader Jack O’Connor and UNITE’s regional secretary Jimmy Kelly. O’Connor told the conference that the Croke Park deal was better than the alternatives that were on offer and that he had tried, but failed, to make a national strike happen.

He said his position, leading a union of over 200,000 members meant he had to make decisions with his “head rather than his heart” adding that the main focus of the left at this moment in Irish history must be to build it’s infrastructure, referring to the need for a progressive newspaper.

Some attendees attacked O’Connor over his leadership, with one activist advising him to “consult his conscience”. Kelly repeated his call for strike action to counter the government’s austerity measures stating that the trade union movement and left must stand alongside rank and file trade unionists against the right’s onslaught. O’Connor justified Labour entering a coalition with Fine Gael on the grounds of his experience of the 1992-1997 governments with Labour participation. Jimmy Kelly ruled out UNITE support for a government led by a right wing party.

Mary Murphy of the Department of Sociology in NUI Maynooth told the conference that the experience of patient coalition building in key Latin American countries needed to be learnt from in Ireland. People Before Profit alliance councillor Richard Boyd Barrett called for all left forces, including social democrats, to find common purpose, pointing to the broad coalition that was now active in Egypt. However he outlined his own experiences of opposition from the Labour party on Dun laoghire-Rathdown county council.
Ailbhe Smyth of the United Left Alliance criticised the approach of the left to feminism and advised women not to chair meetings and conferences, but insist on speaking positions instead.

In a contribution from the floor Labour party activist Helena Sheehan called for the creation of ‘Left Forum’ to discuss a united strategy going forward. There was general support for the idea from those present in meeting conducted in a generally constructive atmosphere.

In an inspirational moment 92 year old Desmond Brannigan, a former advisor to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and an expert in natural resources, told the conference that there was enough oil and gas off shore to fuel an Irish economic comeback. He expressed little faith in this happening, as the politicians would simply follow the advice of senior civil servants and ignore the truth.

In the final session of the conference on economic policies and social transformation, UCD lecturer Kieran Allen told the conference that Keynesianism was no longer possible as the investment required was not available due to a loss of faith on the part of capitalists in Ireland.

Kathleen Lynch of the UCD School of Social Justice told the conference that a great emotional injustice was being felt by many older people in Ireland, who would suffer as emigration robbed them of their children and grandchildren.