Pobail
The resignation of Pat Rabbitte should be welcomed by those on the left in Ireland, both inside and outside the Labour party. Rabbitte’s record has shown him to be a corrosive element on the Irish left, bitterly opposed to Sinn Féin, the largest political force on the left in Ireland, and all too willing to move the Labour Party to the centre-right and align with Fine Gael, adopting many of their policies wholesale.
The members of the Labour Party that consider themselves left-wing, particularly those progressive individuals in Labour Youth, have a battle on their hands. They need to ensure that they get a Labour Party leader elected that recognises the importance of left cooperation and the need to realign Irish politics in the long-term beyond the old Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael axis. They need to ensure that the new Labour Party leader adopts this as their primary political project, bringing Labour back to the left and broader cooperation with others in the spectrum of the left, particularly Sinn Féin.
In the last 2 elections the Labour Party has not seen any significant movement in its support. When they stand alone they go nowhere, when they align themselves to a centre-right platform with Fine Gael they recede while giving the Blueshirts a new lease of life.
There is only one road down which the Labour Party should go, that is to put a strong, left-wing analysis in front of the people, working alongside Sinn Féin against the pro-privatisation, neo-liberal type politics espoused by the other parties.The first steps have been taken by Labour in the deal done with Sinn Féin in the Seanad election. While this was done under Rabbitte’s leadership, it was certainly against his established political track record of pouring scorn on Sinn Féin, suggesting that those on the left of the Labour Party have been active in this role already.
They now need to drive home their advantage and ensure that a progressive, far-sighted leader is put in place.
Let’s hope that they don’t pull another Rabbitte out of the hat!
13 comments:
Has the 'Sticky' domination of Irish Labour perhaps come to an end, perhaps now there is genuine opportunity to build a credible Irish Left led by Sinn Féin and Labour.
Ógra and labour Youth will be crucial in this!
Daniel
Slan abhaile Pat - or as my mates in the nortn say - good riddence!
Joe
Why does SF always have to be so nasty...just reminds me why Labour should steer clear of SF
Now wouldn't you think he'd do the decent thing and resign his seat aswell......
...now don't let the door hit you on the way out pat me ould flower.
stephie.
hold on ogra are on the left?
Surely you are not suggesting that Sinn Fein is a party of the left. As long as SF allows itself to be led by the sectarian wing of republicanism it will never lead the left in Ireland. If it wishes to do so they must purge their leadership of all these yesterday's men like McGuinness, Adams etc
The last comment is ridicolous, to say 'Sectarian wing' and then call for a 'Purge'.
Me thinks a Stalinist Stick is leaving comments on the Ógra blog. Purge this purge that.
Sticked out of it!
Barra
Couldn't agree more pobail. The right's dominance of Irish politics has long been a thorn in our collective side. Undoubtedly Labour's firm drift to the centre before the last election resulted in polarising Irish voters so that they yet again voted with the civil war in mind, or worse still didn't bother at all.
Rabbitte's jump from the labour leadership is hopefully the beginning of a re-alignment of the Irish left. we shall wait and see..
Good riddance, glad to see the back of a very bitter and pompous leader.
Sinn Fein are th most left party in the Dail.
Who else called for a universal health care system, re nationalisation, gay marriage and doption and troops out of shannon (while meaning it).
I wasnt ware it made you right wing because your not just going to sit around while a foreign army occupies a chunk of your country.
If Labour is so distasteful to SF why did SF do a deal with Labour for Senate votes?
Oh a little bit more observation would not go astray my Anonymous friend.....nobody said anything about Labour being distasteful to SF.
Tut, tut. Misconstruing words again. I think you'll find Seachranaide was just stating facts.
Pat Rabitte hindered the left in Ireland. End of story. Now he's stepping down. Let's hope whoever replaces him is more forward thinking and it doen't become a better-the-devil-you-know-scenario!
stephie.
Labour isnt distasteful to us its just Rabitte is very anti republican and I personally think he's incredibly pompous.
I have alot of respect for the majority of Labour members I know and alot of them are well and truly sick of him.
This is a chance to build further links with Labour and create a unified left alternative.
Labour isn't distasteful to SF, though some members are, especially, though not confined to, the Sticky wing. Many of them were brought through the Eoghain Harris school of politics in the WP, so what would you expect. I think it's quite telling that despite this, there was still a deal done on the Seanad. There are many good left wingers in the Labour Party and they obviously were able to assert themselves. At the end of the day, SF is the party that is politically closest to traditrional Labour values.
As to the nastiness comment, it's nothing of the sort. Rabbitte was highly damaging to the Irish left. I welcome his removal as leader. That's because I want the politics I hold to progress, nothing more. This pathetic fauning over him now that he has left the leadership is wrong, politics isn't about how witty he was in LH or how interesting he made sitting in the Dáil chamber for other TDs, it's about the politics he espoused, and they were centre-right, neo-liberal politics, far from Labour core values.
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