A
chairde agus comrádaí,
We
stand once more to commemorate our working class
martyrs. Socialist and Republican revolutionaries
that selflessly pursued the Socialist Republic.
The Socialist Republic that these revolutionaries
fought and died for has still to be realised and
it remains to this day the goal of the Republican
Socialist Movement.
1916
may seem to be a relic of the past to some but
the ideals that drove those revolutionaries, in
particular the Irish Citizen Army are still held
dear by our movement. We salute all of those who
made sacrifices for the Socialist Republic, many
of those are not able to join us here, their dedication
sealed their fate.
The
strength of this movement today is testament to
all of our comrades hard work but the struggle
has just begun. Anti-Good Friday Agreement Republican
organisations will soon find ourselves under the
utmost scrutiny as we have already seen since
the acceptance of the PSNI by the largest nationalist
party. The PSNI are out to prove themselves. From
this point in time, things can only prove to be
more difficult.
The
Irish people have suffered much under the imperial
yoke, too much to sit back and accept the very
principle of the Unionist state and their veto.
The Union is firmly cemented, the Good Friday
Agreement contains no mechanism to grant Irish
unity. The British leaving Crossmaglen is heralded
as a great victory, what is not mentioned is that
the British will maintain a permanent garrison
here in Ireland. The number of troops permanently
stationed here will be larger than the number
of troops they used to invade Iraq.
Too
much was lost, too much was sacrificed. There
can be no shortcuts to our objectives, half measures
have always ended in compromise and compromise
has always ended in defeat and surrender. Those
who compromise find themselves acting contrary
to what they originally intended to achieve.
It
will be by the merit of our work and our effort
to convince the working class of the virtue of
our politics that represents the current struggle.
The British, capitalist class and their armed
defenders still remain the enemy but the methods
have changed.
Anglo-American
companies, encouraged by their own imperial governments
are flooding this country with capital to pacify
our people. They have succeeded to a large decree,
but there will always be those who can never be
purchased. Some of those who brought successive
British governments from crisis to crisis are
today in alliance with that same government.
They
benefit from a capitalist Ireland and have the
most to fear from a Socialist revolution, which
occasionally they will dress up their politics
as representing. Let us not be distracted, there
is an unsurpassable margin between the careerist
and the revolutionary.
Comrades,
there is much more work to be done. Let it be
embraced for us to move forward and develop this
movement into a fortress built upon the foundations
of the working class.
Ní
saoirse go saoirse lucht oibre.
