Pat Rabitte's resignation as Labour leader has prompted a lot of speculation and comment on the future of the Labour Party and the left. Labour’s new leader Eamonn Gilmore and the candidates for deputy leader, Jan O’Sullivan and Joan Burton have focused on the need for Labour to re-organise and build their party around the country. But the problems facing the Labour Party run far deeper than this.
The Labour Party’s shift to the right was speeded up under Pat Rabbitte’s leadership so that they are now almost indistinguishable on fundamental issues from Fine Gael or Fianna Fail. In the last election Labour were politically wedded to Fine Gael, an alliance which ultimately cost them votes.
Under Eamonn Gilmore’s leadership Labour will not fundamentally change. They might get more TDs at the next election and even be part of a Fianna Fail or Fine Gael led government, but this will not benefit the working class, nor will it represent any development for the left.
Pro Labour commentators state that they must be in power to be relevant or have an impact. However when Labour were in government in the last 25 years, they introduced savage cuts in health and education and share the blame for the current crisis in the health service. They also privatised TEAM Aer Lingus, gave the rich a tax amnesty, and supported the introduction of water charges!
Some are calling on the Labour Party to play a role in developing a new bigger left in Ireland. The Socialist Party believes this is a blind alley. Labour is no longer a left wing party in any sense. They are a party committed to the capitalist market, lead by careerists whose main ambitions centre around being in government with either Fianna Fail or Fine Gael. And if and when Labour are next in government they will support anti-working class policies just as they did in the past.
The Socialist Party believes there is a need for a new mass working class party. A party that will defend jobs, wages and public services, that will campaign for a better health service and proper funding for education.
When the economic downturn fully kicks in there will be a new period of job losses, and major cutbacks in government spending. Working class people affected by these attacks will get organised to defend their living standards. It will be from these new struggles that the activists and trade unionists will emerge to build a new mass working class party.
