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Local & Euro Elections 2004
 Vote Socialist Party
By Kevin McLoughlin


European Elections - Vote Joe Higgins TD

The Socialist Party is standing Joe Higgins T.D. in the Dublin consituency for the European Elections on 11 June.

Joe Higgins has been the real opposition to Fianna Fail and the PDs. He lives on a workers's wage and showed how different he is to all other elected politicians when he went to jail fighting the bin charges.

Joe has pledged that if elected he will donate all of his MEP's salary to the fight to change society. Compare this to the attitude of all other MEPs whose main purpose for getting elected is to jump onto the EU "gravy train" taking their huge salary and doubling it with expenses.

Joe Higgins T.D. explains the issues that the Socialist Party will be campaigning on in the European Election.

Halt the Privatisation Juggernaut

Privatisation goes against the interests of working people. Decisions on what aspects of our services the Irish Government is willing to put up for grabs at international trade negotiations are taken behind closed doors without democratic accountability. We will use the European Election campaign to adamantly oppose the privatisation agenda and call for high quality public services that meet the needs of people rather than the profit margins of multinationals, with proper wages and conditions for the workers.

Defend Workers' Rights

In Europe today, the pressure is to extend people's working lives and cut pensions. At the European Competitiveness Council held last April, European bosses met with Mary Harney to discuss how to create a more "flexible" workforce- flexibility for the bosses that is. Harney agreed that the E.U. should "legislate for the floor not the ceiling". It is obvious that the Government is prepared to enter a "race to the bottom" with the wages and conditions of all E.U. workers converging towards those in the poorest of the new E.U. States rather than raising standards everywhere.

We back the millions of E.U. workers who have mobilised against these attacks, on pension rights in particular.

Oppose Militarisation of the EU

There is a relentless drive to create an armed superpower to protect the economic and political interests of the major powers in the EU. Already 60 billion a year is wasted on weapons production in the EU. The Socialist Party is very clear that an EU army capable of throwing its weight around on the world stage on an equal footing to the US will no more create a world free from conflict than invasion of Iraq created democracy and stability for the Iraqi people. Conflict will only be eliminated when the poverty and repression that give rise to it are eliminated.

For a socialist Europe

Over the coming weeks, the Socialist Party and myself will be putting forward the alternative to a big business dominated EU - a democratic, socialist Europe. This means production for the needs of humanity, rather than the profits of big business. It means the creation of genuine democratic structures, which put real economic and social power in the hands of ordinary people rather than in the hands of political parties, which are in the pockets of big business. Under these conditions, it would be entirely possible to meet the economic and social needs of all the people of Europe.
Local elections


Why you should vote socialist party

The Socialist Party is standing in the Local and European Elections to represent working class people who have been left behind by the Celtic Tiger and who have been abandoned by the establishment parties. In contrast Fianna Fail, the PDs and their Councillors are standing to represent the rich and powerful.

In per capita terms, Ireland is now the wealthiest country in the EU. That is in large part as a result of the massive growth in the productivity of Irish workers over the last 15 years. The actual share of the wealth that goes to workers has declined by 25% over the same time. Now 15 billion euro of profits created here are repatriated each year.

Tax cuts for the rich

Instead of spending the wealth to provide for people's needs, this Government has further boosted profits for big business by using it to provide tax cuts to the rich - a billion euro a year from recent budgets.

Workers still pay the vast bulk of all tax in this country and benefits from income reductions are being completely cut across by the raft of local stealth taxes.

People are able to survive because currently there are high rates of employment. However, essential services are ceasing to be people's by right. Decent healthcare and education is dependent on having a good income.

In 1991 business paid a 50% tax on profits, now it's 10 - 12.5%. The Government have completely undermined the tax base because of the cuts to the rich. If unemployment resulted in less tax income but more need for spending, the money will not be there primarily because it has gone into the pockets of big business.

Profiteering is at the root of many of the problems that ordinary people face. Yet this Government has encouraged an orgy of profit! Why is buying a house out of the reach of working class people? Because two thirds of the price is profit and goes to the land speculators, property developers and the Government. This Government and the capitalist market system it defends has failed working class people.

No to privatisation

The Government wants to sell off public utilities, including our public transport system, to profiteers, this will mean worse services, higher bus fares and the imposing of lower waged casualised jobs.

The majority of working class people oppose these policies but that opposition is not reflected in the official Dail "opposition" or in the trade unions. The idea that Sinn Fein or the Greens were going to be radical forces fighting on behalf of workers has been diminished. They have moved significantly to the right in the last year in preparation for going into Government with one or other of the conservative political blocks.

We are the only party that has responded in words and deeds to these new attacks of Fianna Fail and the PDs.

It was the Socialist Party who led the biggest struggle yet against this Government - the bin tax struggle.

Our TD Joe Higgins and Cllr. Clare Daly went to jail for a month for defending the communities that elected them. In contrast, Sinn Fein who have considerably more resources than we posess at the moment, refused to fight in a serious way.

In the bin tax battle, we had the correct ideas and tactics and people were willing to fight but the trade union leadership were intent on betraying the movement even though 22 activists went to prison. That's why the Socialist Party is organising inside the unions to get rid of the bureaucrats and for unions that would defend workers' rights.

A socialist programme

We want to organise people around the following programme:

* No to privatisation which means the robbery of working class people and a deterioration in services

* Run public companies under democratic workers' control

* Democratic public ownership of the banks, financial institutions and the key sectors of the economy

* A socialist plan of the economy to cater for the needs of society - putting people before profit

The Socialist Party wants to build a new mass movement around this programme, which would be capable of taking on the establishment. That's why we want your support.

Voting for the Socialist Party on 11 June is important but it is only a start. Working class people are the majority in society but we must get organised in the communities, in the unions and politically in order to change this country.
Join the Socialist Party

It is an incredible fact that 48,000 applicants are now on the State's housing lists at the end of the biggest economic boom in the history of the State.

Politicians debate about whether to model the health service on Boston or Berlin but for ordinary people the service more closely resembles Bangladesh with promises to end hospital waiting lists lying broken in the gutter.

The Government plans the re-introduction of water charges. The rich, on the other hand, receive tax cuts to the tune of 1 billion euro and the AIB is allowed rip customers off to the tune of at least 25 million euro and faces only a slap on the wrist.

Meanwhile, the Government gives the US war machine the use of Shannon Airport as a refuelling pitstop. How many of the torturers we have seen in the newspaper photographs flew through Shannon? The same Government is prepared to play the race card to minimise losses in the upcoming elections.

The Socialist Party believes that the root cause of all these problems is a system which puts the drive for profit above everything else. We stand for ending this capitalist system and replacing it with a democratic, socialist society geared towards satisfying the needs of working class people.

We are standing in these elections to challenge the capitalist establishment and to explain a socialist alternative. When the elections are over our struggle will continue, helping to reclaim the trade union movement for workers' interests and helping to build a fightback in the workplaces and the communities.

We are confident that a fight back by working class people will develop and that we will play a key role in this, as was the case with the Dublin bin tax struggle last year. We aim to play a key role in the establishment of a new, mass party of the working class in this country, open to all who want to struggle to change society. Ultimately, we believe that a mass Socialist Party, linked to a mass movement of working class people, will be necessary to overthrow this system and replace it with a democratic, socialist society.

A democratic, socialist society will bring all major industry under public ownership and democratic control - and use society's wealth to end low pay, hospital and housing waiting lists, second class services, inequality and war forever.
Join us in our struggle.

Contact the Socialist Party: phone (01) 6772592, e-mail info@socialistparty.net or write to PO Box 3434, Dublin 8 or Join us Online