What is Socialism and how can it be achieved?

"Drive Shell to Sea" Brian Keane (on the right) assisting in closure of Statoil Garage

Speech by Ógra Shinn Féin activist Brian Keane.

Recently delivered at the 'Socialist Youth' Summer Camp in Wicklow, where Ógra Shinn Féin where involved in a debate with Labour Youth and Socialist Youth.

Socialism as a concept cannot be summed up as easily as its opposite, capitalism. Capitalism is quite simply the pursuit of wealth by many individuals; the strongest will succeed while the weakest fall by the wayside. At present, this is the dominant social, economic and political ideology in global politics. We, of course, recognise that the basing of a society on such a negative human condition as greed is inherently wrong. We look to build a better system, one where all are cherished equally.

The broad term socialism describes the range of ideas that seek to find an alternative to capitalism. It is very easy for those on the left to get sucked into the isms within socialism, treating the writings of their preferred writer as dogma, a text that is perfect and one must not deviate from the proscribed path. This neo religious concept of politics has in the past, and continues in the present, to restrict the growth of the left in Ireland and throughout the world.

The defining value of socialism and of Republicanism - is equality. That is the aim, the motivation and the end. It therefore stands to reason that socialism is the system that can best achieve that aim. We in Ógra Shinn Féin, as socialist Republicans, seek to achieve a 32 County Democratic Socialist Republic. This Republic will be based on but not limited to - the Proclamation of 1916 and the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil, probably the two most radical and progressive documents in Irish political history.

The Republican Movement is, and always has been, a broad church in terms of its socialist outlook. There is no huge consensus within the Movement about the exact makeup of the socialist Republic to which we aspire, but all members are united by our dream of equality.

The only debate is therefore how best to achieve that equality, and capitalism, the status quo, is not going to achieve that. The Republican Movement is at the coalface of our communities, dealing with the daily problems that ordinary people face in their day to day lives arising from the type of economic system that has been imposed upon them. Poor housing, education, health and working conditions can all be traced back to the fact that, in this capitalist society, money is power. By working with communities to deal with the consequences of the system, we also work to open their eyes to the cause of their problems.

We seek to empower communities, to help them to help themselves. We need to empower communities, give them responsibility and control over their own lives.If and when we seek to bring the means of production under social ownership, we need to have a clear idea of what we mean by social ownership. We do not feel that having all sectors of the economy under State ownership is the best way of working. As well as empowered communities, we need empowered workers, who can own and operate their businesses by way of cooperatives and other progressive ownership models. This is true democracy, democratic ownership, not what passes for democracy in the two statelets on this island. This is a decentralised socialist model that allows for the true ownership of the wealth of the nation by the people, not purely by the megalith known as the State.

All too often the state and the people are confused and interchanged words. As we have seen in the past, many so called socialist countries in the past, the State was certainly not representative of the people or working for the people, rather working towards its own self preservation.Now we must begin to look towards how we achieve socialism. True socialism can only be achieved with and through the consent and cooperation of the people, through the democratic system.

We must therefore work in every legitimate way possible to influence the process in order to maximise the socialist mandate. That process is not limited to elections, but also encompasses street protests and popular demonstrations, empowering communities and workers and any other way that may influence public opinion and support. That is why all socialist political parties must not only have good politics, but also good strategy. The best practical way in which we can achieve and preserve a Socialist Republic is by putting in place a socialist constitution.

The 1937 constitution of the 26 Counties most certainly is not one that meets this need. The best opportunity for us to create a socialist constitution is when not if, but when we finally drive the foreign imperialist occupation from the north-eastern 6 counties of our country. At this juncture in our history, the Irish people will be faced with the establishment of a new state. Republicans do not want to see the absorption of the 6 counties into the 26 counties, preserving and expanding the conservative, corrupt and downright criminal status quo of the south.

We would not wish to inflict that upon our northern comrades. To accept such would not be worth even one life or one day in prison for any Republican. Luckily, neither would our Irish brothers and sisters of the Unionist persuasion. This would therefore mean that there would be a brand new constitution needed, new structures and new Government. One where all would feel equally respected and cherished. It is at this point that the socialist Republic can be achieved by ensuring that we have the maximum mandate for that Republic, strengthening our hand in negotiation.In this constitution, we must enshrine economic and social rights and an economic system that has the pursuit of equality not profit at its core.

Once that constitution is in place, it is only the people who can then change it by referendum. Ógra Shinn Féin will continue its work as part of the Republican Movement to achieve the aim of a 32 County Democratic Socialist Republic, based on the Proclamation of 1916 and the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil, cherishing all the children of the nation equally.