The Leadership of Irish Socialist Republicans extends Revolutionary greetings to our members and supporters across Ireland and abroad. In particular we commend the work of our mass organisations Anti Imperialist Action Ireland and Macradh- ISR Youth for their work over the past 12 months and their unfailing commitment to rebuilding the struggle for National Liberation and Socialist Revolution and the All Ireland People’s Republic.
We also extend greetings to all Revolutionary Irish Republican Organisations and Independents who like us remain committed to the struggle for National Liberation and Socialist Revolution, and we look forward to working with you in the year ahead. We also send our solidarity to all Irish Republican POWs in gaols across Ireland and to Revolutionary Political Prisoners held in gaols around the world for their commitment to the fight against Imperialism, from Brazil to Palestine and from Peru to India, Turkey and the Philippines.
Revolution is a growing force in the world, and we view the Irish struggle very much in the context of the international revolutionary struggle to defeat imperialism. As such international solidarity is one of the key weapons in the hands of revolutionaries and we extend our solidarity to all oppressed nations struggling for National Liberation and self-determination, and in particular to the People’s Wars now raging the fire of Revolution in various parts of the world, which are the highest expression of the struggle for Freedom and Socialism.
2022 is an important year for the struggle for National Liberation and Socialist Revolution in Ireland. One hundred years ago a gang of native traitors representing the interests of domestic capitalism allied with British Imperialism and launched a counter-revolution to violently suppress the All Ireland People’s Republic that had been proclaimed in arms in 1916 and established in January 1919.
The partition and counter revolution in Ireland has led to 100 years of a counter-revolutionary class war against our people as the garrison class and imperialism profited from the exploitation and oppression of the Irish Working Class. As 2022 begins that counter revolution is continuing with the same class forces that betrayed the Republic 100 years ago still administering Ireland as a colony and semi-colony on behalf of imperialism subjecting our people to an artificial housing crisis, food poverty, extortionate energy prices, a failing healthcare system despite the Trojan contributions of frontline workers, and homeless citizens left to die in the street. 100 years of counter-revolution has been enough. It is the task and duty of all revolutionary republicans to resist and defeat the counter-revolution and imperialism in Ireland and to reestablish the All Ireland Republic. National Liberation remains the key question in Ireland as 2022 begins.
The Republic will not be reestablished however by placing our struggle within the confines set by imperialism and the counterrevolution. In particular, elections and participation in the partitionist parliaments in Ireland are a dead end for revolutionaries. For 100 years, those would be revolutionaries who have entered Leinster House and Stormont have become part of the system and inevitably ended up administering Ireland on behalf of Imperialism. Reformist methods will not lead to the Republic. It’s time for new thinking, Revolutionary thinking that seeks to rebuild the Republic from the ground up, outside the counter revolutionary and imperialist system, instead mobilising the working class in their own communities to play their part in the struggle for National Liberation and Socialist Revolution, building alternative Republican power structures, such as Resistance Committees, Centers of Resistance and Revolutionary People’s Councils that once established and anchored in communities across the country, can become the living institutions of the reestablished Republic.
Revolutionary Socialist Republicans must take stock of the situation and accept that our enemies are United and there are a whole array of counter-revolutionary and imperialist forces working against us together. From the illegal presence of the British Army, the RUC/PSNI, MI5, the Free State Army and police to the civil administrations of the counter revolution and imperialism in Ireland, the forces of reaction are United in there desire to prevent the restoration of a sovereign, independent All Ireland People’s Republic. For this reason, and to strengthen the struggle for National Liberation and Socialist Revolution, we once again call for the establishment of an Anti Imperialist Broad Front which would unite all Revolutionary Socialist Republicans and other progressives around a common programme to pursue the struggle for the Republic, respecting organisational differences, integrity and autonomy but ensuring a new level of cooperation in areas where there is agreement, that would greatly advance the struggle for National Liberation and Socialist Revolution.
This year Anti Imperialist Action Ireland will reach an important milestone in its development, turning five years old. For five years it has been a leading voice advocating National Liberation and Socialist Revolution in Ireland. In that time AIA has demonstrated a clear commitment to building a vibrant Revolutionary Socialist Republican Movement across the country, advocating an All Ireland Class Struggle and has an organised presence across all four provinces, with supporters in every Irish city. 2021 was a year of continued strong growth for AIA, establishing a number of new branches and attracting scores of new young people who bring new ideas and fresh thinking to the struggle for national liberation and Socialist Revolution in Ireland. We are rebuilding the struggle across the country and as we enter 2022 the Revolutionary Socialist Republican Movement finds itself in a stronger position then this time last year.
Despite the restrictions of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, AIA remained active and to the fore on some of the key issues facing the Irish Working Class including housing, anti evictions, anti fascism and highlighting the ongoing British Occupation. We remain committed to working on these issues with likeminded comrades in the year ahead and in particular, our activists in occupied Ireland will be to the fore in opposing moves by the forces of occupation to designate Armagh as a so-called ‘UK City of Culture’. Armagh is an Irish city, with a proud history of resistance to imperialism, and attempts to present it as otherwise, will meet with forthright opposition.
Throughout 2022, we will also ensure to remember and highlight the extra-judicial executions of more then 88 Republicans by the Counter-Revolution as they fought in defence of our Republic. Those same counter-revolutionary forces continue to use extrajudicial measures against Revolutionary Republicans today, such as ‘special’ non jury courts designed to ensure the imprisonment of Republicans on trumped up political charges.
2022 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday Massacre, a war crime ordered at the highest level of the British Government and carried out by the British Army’s Parachute Regiment against the innocent civilians of Derry on January 30 1972. We extend our solidarity to the Bloody Sunday families and to the wider community in Derry on this important anniversary. We call on other Socialist Republicans and progressives to join us at the Bloody Sunday Commemoration in a vibrant bloc, to demonstrate the growing strength of Revolutionary Republicans.
The year ahead will be an important one for Republicans and the challenges presented must be overcome with fresh Revolutionary thinking. We enter 2022 optimistic about the opportunities for the growth of the struggle for National Liberation and Socialist Revolution and confident that the Revolutionary Socialist Republican analysis will continue to find support in working class communities across the country. We appeal to all our supporters who want to play an active part in the national and class struggle to give serious thought to joining Anti Imperialist Action Ireland this year to help strengthen the Revolutionary Resistance.
Let Revolutionary Socialist Republicans across Ireland raise the cry ‘Defeat the Counter Revolution and Imperialism for National Liberation and Socialist Revolution!’
Béir Bua
Irish Socialist Republicans