Socialist View, No. 10

Many thanks to the person who forwarded this to the Archive.

This edition of Socialist View from the Socialist Party contains a range of articles. Most prominent are those concerning the war in Iraq. But there are also pieces on the struggle against Neo-liberalism in South American and privatisation in Ireland under the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat coalition.

Peter Hadden pens the main piece which has the headline ‘No War for Oil’.

The right wing cabal surrounding George Bush in the White House are determined to go to war with or without United Nations backing. Tony Blair is also determined to be in on the act. Take away the political window dress­ing, the recent statements by both lead­ers, particularly Bush’s warmongering State of the Union Address, make their intentions clear.

And:

More huge eloquent and less ambiguous is the military juggernaut headed for the Gulf.

He concludes:

Although the living conditions of the oppressed masses in the ex colonial world and the working class in the advanced countries may be different, both have a common interest in getting rid of this rotten capitalist system. ‘What is needed is a world struggle, uniting the working class across national boundaries in the fight for a socialist system in which oil, water and the other resources of the world would be publicly owned, democratically managed and shared between all the peoples of the planet.

The task of getting rid of tyrants such as Saddam Hussein, as well as all the pro western dictators in power across the ex colonial world, is down to the people of those countries. The working class movement in the West should give every practical assistance in this. Similarly, the task of getting rid of George Bush is a job for the US work­ing class. They too should be given every help and assistance from work­ers around the world.

Tens of millions across the globe will take to the streets against this war. It is possible to see in this the outlines of a new movement of the working class and the oppressed that could not only stop the warmongers but could put an end to the system that breeds them.

Other pieces reference ‘A Global Anti-War Movement’ and one looks at the experience of Vietnam. There’s also a more local piece on the Peace Process in Ireland.

A socialist alternative, and ultimately a mass party of the working class in Northern Ireland, must be based on this unity, not on hopes alone. In 1996 the Labour Coalition came from nowhere and won two seats. Hospital campaigner Raymond Blaney won a seat on Downe District Council at the last council elec­tions. Against a background of a wortd economic recession, a war for oil in Iraq, the implementation of right wing policies by the Executive and an upturn in class struggle (such as an increase in the number of strikes) mounting a serious socialist challenge is needed at the next Assembly elections.

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