1. law, govt and politics
2. government

Socialist Voice
SV
The government
can be defeated
Communist Party of Ireland
Páirtí Cumannach na hÉireann
Partisan Patriotic Internationalist
Number 119 November 2014 €1.5
IN THIS ISSUE
EU/US trade deal Page 3
Mairia Chaill case Page 4
Ebola: Cuba acts Page 5
Budget for the well off Page 6
Fares rise Page 7
Scotland battle Page 8
Malala Nobel prize Page 9
International Brigade Page 10
Poetry Page 11
Dracula and imperialism Page 12
Eugene McCartan
T
HE TURN-OUT of more than
100,000 working people
on 11 October, followed by
the national mobilisation on 1
November, in which
approximately 200,000 people
took part in local protests
around the country, show that
the Right2Water campaign is
growing in strength and is
drawing new forces into
resistance against the water
charges.
The campaign is broadening
the base of resistance and has
rocked the Government and the
political establishment.
Credit is due to the coalition
built by the five trade unions
leading the Right2Water
campaign—Mandate, Unite, the
Communications Workers’ Union,
the Civil, Public and Services
Union, and OPATSI (the
Plasterers’ Union)—but also to
the militant self-organised local
resistance in many communities
around the country. This is a rare
moment, and the potential of this
growing alliance must be built on
and not damaged by narrow
political sectarianism and
opportunism.
continued overleaf
contined from page one
Socialist Voice
43 East Essex Street Dublin 2
water
The scale of the demonstration in
October was not the result of any
coverage in the state-controlled RTE or
the corporate media. There was an
almost total media black-out leading
up to the mass demonstration. The
press conference called by
Right2Water was attended by RTE and
other media, yet nothing appeared on
the television news and little in the
newspapers.
While the trade unions set the date
and organised for the day, 100,000
working people, largely non-union,
responded and descended on the
capital.
This union-led campaign has created
momentum and breadth for the
development of this mass mobilisation
and has provided a broad umbrella for
a whole range of forces and individuals
that the left could not reach or that
have been alienated by the past
actions of certain ultra-left elements.
Leaflets and other materials were
distributed through the trade union
structures to shop stewards and
section committees. More than half a
million leaflets were distributed in a
matter of weeks.
It is clear from the budget that was
announced in Dáil Éireann a few days
after the water march that the
Government is in panic mode, cobbling
together some concessions on
allowances and the like.
Irish Water, established by the
Government to oversee the installing
of water meters and the collection of
charges, has turned out to be a
shambles. Many of those now running
the organisation have come from the
very bodies that ran the public water
system into the ground in the first
place. They have been shown to be all
too eager to have their hands in the
greasy till, with their outrageous
bonuses and other benefits.
What lies behind the imposition of
water charges is the drive to
commodify water and create a revenue
flow, thereby establishing a market ripe
for privatisation, Once this happens,
under EU competition rules it is
forbidden to have a “state monopoly,”
so privatisation is an absolute
certainty. Denis O’Brien is a significant
shareholder in the company now
installing water meters.
Privatisation is the real agenda, as
agreed under the “Programme for
Ireland” with the external Troika of the
EU, ECB and IMF, with the complete
agreement and support of Fianna Fáil,
Fine Gael, the Labour Party and the
Green Party and as carried out in
peripheral and Third World countries
Socialist Voice page 2
under “structural adjustment”
schemes.
If we are to build on the last
mobilisation then we need to
continue to broaden out the
campaign against these charges
and to involve more trade unions,
community groups, pensioners’
organisations, and others. The
campaign must continue to narrow
the ground on which the
Government can manoeuvre
against the growing public anger
and resistance.
The greater number of people are
opposed to water charges because
they know full well that it will lead to
privatisation, and that private
corporations will control the very
means of life—water. People are
aware that if water is privatised, every
time they prepare a bottle of milk for
their child or a cup of tea or coffee, or
simply have a glass of water, some
corporation will make a profit.
The building of this coalition on the
central demand of the right to water
can place it at the heart of political
struggle in the next general election. A
victory on the water charges will be a
clear rebuttal of the Irish
establishment but more importantly a
significant rebuttal of the EU and IMF.
Water charges are the direct result
of the bank bail-out and the imposition
of the anti-people illegitimate debt
upon the Irish people by the external
Troika in connivance with the Irish
establishment. The Irish people are to
carry the burden of a massive
corporate debt and to pay more than
€8 billion in interest charges alone
every year just to service this debt.
We need to go further and raise the
demand for a constitutional
amendment that will enshrine the
public ownership and control of water,
to be developed and used in a
sustainable way, and make it
impossible to be privatised. The
current talks between the EU and the
United States on the Transatlantic
Trade and Investment Partnership
(TTIP) will make this demand even
more urgent.
Pressing the demand for an
amendment to the Constitution of
Ireland offers the left an opportunity to
present a positive, forward-looking,
progressive approach, rather than how
the mass media want to portray it, as
constantly negative and with no
alternative to offer.
This is the only way to protect the
public interest at this time from the
grasp of profit-hungry corporate
raiders. It can provide an opportunity
to present a positive way forward and
bring the struggle to the Government
and away from the narrow “double
taxation” argument.
Raising the demand of a
constitutional amendment has the
potential to open up the debate about
the nature of the economic system
that gives priority to profits above all
else, above the common good and the
protection of a precious resource and
of the environment.
We need to politicise this issue
so as to develop the people’s
genuine anger into a wider political
opposition to the economic and
social priorities being imposed by
the EU and facilitated by all the
main political parties. This would
also expose the crass political
opportunism and electioneering by
elements of the left.
The demand is for the right to clean
water, the abolition of the water
charges, financing the provision of
water from general taxation, and
guaranteeing public ownership by
constitutional amendment, thereby
preventing Governments in the future
from attempting to introduce charges
and privatisation.
This is the experience from
successful radical struggles in Latin
America. We have to develop the
people’s anger into a conscious
political resistance. It was this strategy
that successfully led to transformative
political change in Bolivia. There can
be such a moment in Ireland if we
successfully broaden and politicise this
campaign, rather than narrowing the
focus for short-term electoral
opportunism, which has already
alienated militant community forces.
This is potentially the first major
challenge to the mantra of “There is
no alternative” since the present crisis
began. We now need to start building
for the next mobilisation, outside Dáil
Éireann, on 10 December.
s Clonmel
demonstrates
‘The greater
number of
people are
opposed to
water charges
because they
know full well
that it will lead
to
privatisation,
and that
private
corporations
will control the
very means of
life–water’
European Union
EU negotiation terms declassified
Nicola Lawlor
HE European Union has
finally declassified the terms
of reference of the EU
Commission in negotiating the
highly secretive agreement
known as the Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership.
Despite the secrecy and
unaccountable nature of the talks,
those interested in the negotiations
had a good sense of what was coming
through, looking at similar trade
agreements, understanding the nature
of monopoly capitalism globally, and
through leaked reports, including an
important impact assessment report
commissioned by the EU itself.
The terms of reference now
disclosed, unfortunately, did not
surprise critics. In fact they arguably go
further, in strengthening the power of
capital and in particular big business,
than we might have thought.
It is somewhat ironic that the
declassified document has much
superficial language about transparency
and engaging with civil society when
this document itself, dated June 2013,
was released to the public only in
October 2014, more than a year after
negotiations formally began.
As for engaging with civil society, we
know that 93 per cent of all private
meetings held in advance were with
corporate lobbyists and not civil society
or interested citizens.
So, what does it actually say? As
critics have suggested, it specifically
talks about the “reciprocal liberalisation
of goods and services . . . with a high
level of ambition going beyond existing
WTO [World Trade Organisation]
T
commitments” and the “effective
opening of each other’s markets” while
“removing unnecessary obstacles to
trade and investment . . . by reaching
an ambitious level of regulatory
compatibility for goods and services,
including through mutual recognition,
harmonisation . . .
“This should include specific and
substantive provisions and procedures
in sectors of significant importance to
the transatlantic economy, including,
but not limited to, automotives,
chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other
health industries, Information and
Communication Technologies and
financial services . . .”
Never in the history of such trade
agreements has harmonisation meant
the upward lifting of standards in such
areas as food safety, health and safety
at work, minimum capital ratios,
workers’ rights, or other such
“obstacles.” The harmonisation will be
downwards and will negatively affect
workers, consumers, citizens, and the
environment.
There are not many tariffs or duties
remaining between the EU and the
United States, so the obstacles are in
large part protective standards in the
EU regarding food safety, production,
labour rights, state enterprises, and
other non-trade barriers.
“The aim of the negotiations on
trade in services will be to bind the
existing level of liberalisation . . . at the
highest level of liberalisation . . .
covering substantially all sectors and all
modes of supply while achieving new
market access by tackling remaining
long-standing market access barriers
. . . aim at including provisions on antitrust, mergers and state-aids.
Furthermore, the Agreement should
address state monopolies, state owned
enterprises and enterprises entrusted
with special or exclusive rights . . .
ensuring unrestricted and sustainable
access to raw materials.”
This is quite simply a recipe for
further liberalisation, and then
privatisation, which will make state
enterprise unsustainable and ultimately
illegal. The inclusion of an “investor-tostate dispute settlement mechanism”
will mean there is no going back from
privatisation without a fundamental
breach with the international legal
system.
The document also outlines the
direction that public procurement will
take, “ensuring treatment no less
favourable than that accorded to locally
established suppliers . . . to address
barriers having a negative impact on
each other’s public procurement
markets, including local content or
local production requirements, in
particular Buy America provisions.”
This, without doubt, will favour large
monopoly corporations, which, through
sheer size and scale, will win contracts
ahead of smaller, more local serviceproviders.
And finally, the document includes a
number of specific references to
finance and capital flows and in the
same vein seeks to increase the
mobility and flow of capital, free of
barriers, and harmonise regulations on
banking and finance. (Back to business
as usual.) “The Agreement shall
include provisions on the full
liberalisation of current payments and
capital movements . . .” This will only
lead to further instability, anarchy, and
imbalances between economies.
‘There are not
many tariffs or
duties
remaining
between the
EU and the
United States,
so the
obstacles are
in large part
protective
standards in
the EU
regarding food
safety,
production,
labour rights,
state
enterprises,
and other nontrade barriers’
Green light for risk-free speculation
THE EUROPEAN Central Bank
plans to buy rebundled packages
of debt and covered bonds,
secured on assets such as
property. It will include buying
debt with a credit rating of
“junk” from Greece and Cyprus,
as long as such countries are
under a formal international
financial programme.
The danger for working
people throughout Europe is
clear. The ECB will buy “lowquality loan securitisations” at
inflated prices as part of its
scheme to buy so-called assetbacked securities. These are
created by banks pooling
mortgages and corporate, car or
credit card loans and selling
them to insurers, pension funds,
and now the ECB.
The credit risks taken by
private banks would be
transferred to the ECB, and
therefore to taxpayers, without
getting anything in return. The
incalculable risk is socialised.
Those who speculate will make
huge profits and derive great
benefit, while the losses will be
socialised, and working people
throughout Europe will pay the
price. It’s a win-win for the
banks and finance house.
This is something the CPI has
been pointing out for a long
time. These institutions have
been established to facilitate, to
advance and protect the
interests of finance capital, not
to protect the people’s
interests. The announcement by
the ECB is the green light for
risk-free speculation.
Socialist Voice
Ireland
Transforming a tragedy
into an opportunity
Tommy McKearney
R
EADERS COULD be forgiven for
feeling that little more of value
can be said about the Mairia
Cahill case. The Sunday Independent
devoted sixteen pages of one issue to
the question,* and it was not alone
among the media in conducting this
type of frenzied investigation.
Broadcast and print journalists,
internet trolls and a medley of
commentators joined in what was cast
as a defining moral issue.
The choice offered was strictly limited,
to the point of being Manichean: one
either joined unreservedly in the
condemnation or was practically deemed
guilty of condoning rape and rapists.
No civilised person countenances
rape. It is a vile and terrible crime, and
there can be no ambivalence or
equivocation about it or any excuses for
protecting those who commit it.
Nevertheless every person is entitled to a
hearing, and this applies also to those
accused of rape.
This remains a crucial point to bear in
mind when looking at this case. No-one
has been found guilty, and the most that
anybody can say is that the charge
remains unproved. Nevertheless,
opinions and condemnations are being
delivered with scant regard for this
important fact.
Moreover, it is undeniable that a
determined effort is being made to
transform a tragic situation into an
opportunity to inflict damage not just on
the Sinn Féin leadership and party but on
the widest possible number of
republicans. The debate is skewed in one
direction, ignoring several pertinent
aspects of the general issue.
These strident commentators are
giving little consideration, for example, to
what they believe the organisation in
question should or indeed could have
done, especially in the light of existing
reality in the North at the time. Are they
suggesting that the accusation should
have been accepted at face value and the
accused punished without ceremony? Are
they realistic when saying the accused
should have been handed over to the
same authorities that conducted
undercover intelligence operations
through its Kincora paedophile ring?
Could that community have depended
for help from a police force that valued
the recruitment of agents as more
Socialist Voice page 4
important than prosecuting wrongdoing?
Of course there are many questions
that should be put to those who took it
upon themselves to examine this case in
the first instance. Why was the
investigation of a Belfast person
entrusted to people from his home city?
Why did the investigators not seek the
advice of a qualified social worker? There
were, after all, many within that
movement who would have assisted.
Undoubtedly there are people in Belfast
who have questions to answer, and
should be made do so. However, it
remains important to emphasise that any
such inquiry has to be carried out in
order to uncover the truth and not to
conduct a political vendetta.
Moreover, this case has to be viewed
holistically. There is the question of how a
young woman has been mistreated by the
several institutions involved. And it
should not be overlooked that there is
more than one institution, and none
emerge with great credit. However, there
is also the question of how this
undoubtedly traumatised woman has
been used to further an agenda that has
very little to do with seeking justice for
the abused.
A witch-hunt has been launched, and
it is not focusing directly on the person
accused of the crime but on an entire
constituency and community. This is not
just about Gerry Adams or even his Sinn
Féin party: the onslaught goes much
wider and is not so much aimed at a party
and its leader but is being extended to
include a strong current in Irish political
life—a current, no matter what view one
has of it, that in the recent past has dared
to challenge the ruling order and tried to
subvert the status quo.
Several sections of the left maintained
a consistent, trenchant and principled
critique of the Provisional IRA campaign
while it lasted. Their criticism focused on
the limitations of the use of force or on its
counter-productive potential. They
viewed the IRA campaign as misguided,
albeit having a desirable objective. In
more recent times, sections of the left
have criticised Sinn Féin for being
opportunist or for entertaining socialdemocratic illusions.
On both counts the commentary was
meant constructively, even when robust,
biting, or indeed subject to debate.
On the other hand, right-wing supporters
of the free market and neo-liberal consensus
had and have a different objective when
criticising republicans. In the past they feared
that IRA success might pitch Ireland into
socialist revolution and thus deprive them of
their many advantages and assets. More
recently this element is concerned that the
apparent rise and success of Sinn Féin may
leave a lasting impression that challenging
the state does not inevitably bring defeat,
isolation, and rejection. However compliant
or conformist Sinn Féin may be or may
become, its electoral rehabilitation risks
setting a bad example as far as the forces of
right-wing conservatism are concerned.
To paint an entire generation of radical
republicans as morally degenerate,
corrupt and brutally desensitised would
be an achievement for Conservative
Ireland and its allies abroad. What is at
stake is not just the future of a Sinn Féin
party that is gradually becoming centrist
but of a much wider constituency that
makes up one of the great radical forces
on this island. What the right wing is
seeking is not only the head of Gerry
Adams but the heart of Republican
Ireland.
Political activists blinded by distaste
for the Sinn Féin leadership might well
ask themselves whether the Irish
Independent, Fine Gael, DUP and Daily
Mail are acting as disinterested players.
What, they might ponder, are the
consequences of contributing to a
campaign led by the most reactionary
elements in the country, a campaign that
has as its primary objective the
destruction of a powerful antiestablishment current?
What if this carefully crafted offensive
can dislodge Sinn Féin from its present
position. Would it pave the way for a
progressive breakthrough, or would it
merely strengthen the ruling order? What
would be the implications in the future
for a genuinely socialist republican
movement if a template for its
destruction is being created now?
Distrust, dislike or even downright
antipathy for Gerry Adams and his party
should not cloud anyone’s judgement or
mislead them into assisting a reactionary
agenda.
Moral outrage not supported by proof
is a destructive tool that has been used all
too often in Ireland, and never in a
progressive cause. We should be careful
not to follow the piper before finding out
where he is leading us.
*Sunday Independent, 26 October 2014.
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Des Guckian
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solidarity
advance parties, reached Liberia and
Guinea.
The 461 volunteers now in the
affected areas add to the more than
4,000 Cuban medical personnel in
thirty-two African countries, including
2,269 doctors, some of whom will
integrate with the anti-Ebola
campaign.
Volunteers agree not to be
repatriated to Cuba should they be
contaminated by, or die from, the
virus. “Cuba is the only country I know
responding with human resources in
terms of health doctors and nurses,”
said the chairperson of the African
Union, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
In spite of being subject to a
debilitating internationally condemned
US blockade for the last fifty-two
years, Cuba has one of the world’s
finest medical systems, offering its
citizens a free universal health service
and co-operating internationally after
natural disasters and epidemics. It
of Nicaragua and Nicolás Maduro of
cared for 40 per cent of the victims of
Venezuela, the UN special envoy for
the Haïtian earthquake in 2010.
Ebola Affairs, David Navarro, and the
Almost 50,000 Cuban-trained health
director of the Pan-American Health
professionals work in the world’s
Organisation, Carissa Etienne,
poorer regions.
attended. The president of Ecuador,
The delegates to the Havana
Rafael Correa, was also represented.
Summit signed a 23-point declaration
The president of Cuba, Raúl Castro,
calling for bio-security groups led by
set the tone of the meeting.
expert Cuban facilitators, improvement
I am convinced that if this menace
in the flow of information between
is not stopped in West Africa by
immediate and efficient international participating countries, the
reinforcement of airports and vigilance
response, with adequate resources,
on national borders, and increased
co-ordinated by the World Health
Organisation and the United Nations, diagnostic laboratory facilities.
Given this emergency—and in sharp
it could become one of the worst
contrast to ALBA’s human solidarity—
epidemics in human history . . . I
EU foreign affairs ministers, gathered
stress our willingness to work with
in Luxembourg, failed to agree on any
other countries, even the United
concrete measures at all for assisting
States . . . The Ebola threat is too
areas in Africa affected by Ebola. All
serious to be made into a political
they could come up with was the
football.
possible appointment of some
Eurocrat to oversee some undefined
Cuba’s response to the United
European response.
Nations call (largely ignored by the
The EU’s irresponsible shilly-shallying
capitalist media) reflects this sense of
and its covert racism, contrasted with
urgency. The UN secretary-general
Cuba’s whole-hearted response to the
stated in his message to the summit
needs of Ebola-stricken Africa, reflect
that Cuba’s response exceeds that of
a dilemma facing the world’s peoples:
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors
should they fight for a future based on
Without Borders), the International
genuine human values or on a dogRed Cross, the United States
eat-dog capitalism, whose response to
(acknowledged, grudgingly, by the
secretary of state, John Kerry), Britain, human suffering is subject to narrow
financial considerations?
or China.
The choice is between adopting the
On 1 October a Cuban anti-Ebola
humanitarian ideology of socialism and
brigade—fifty doctors, a hundred
the EU-US neo-liberal way, which
nurses, three epidemiologists, three
subjects the fate of nations to a
intensive-care specialists, three
infection-control specialist nurses, and greedy minority’s financial interests.
Put more bluntly, our choice is
five social mobilisation officers—
between socialism and barbarism!
reached Sierra Leone. On 21 October
two further brigades, preceded by
Ebola:
EU dithers, Cuba acts
Tomás Mac Síomóin
T
HE YAWNING gap between
socialist and neo-liberal
values is reflected in the
response to the call by the
secretary-general of the United
Nations, Ban Ki-moon, for
international assistance to stem
the deadly advance of the Ebola
virus in Africa. Cuba’s response
was immediate and massive; the
European Union heaved and
brought forth—a mouse!
The urgency of a rapid response to
Ebola was emphasised last month at
an extraordinary summit in Havana of
ALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for the
Peoples of Our America). It was called
by the president of Venezuela, Nicolás
Maduro, to plan emergency measures
for fighting this highly infectious viral
disease. It has already caused almost
5,000 deaths in West Africa, and
possibly 15,000, according to the
World Health Organisation, and
threatens millions, and not only in
Africa.
Even to slow down its spread,
international aid needs a twenty-fold
increase, says Ban Ki-moon.
ALBA was founded ten years ago by
two socialist states, Cuba and
Venezuela, to oppose US government
interference in the Caribbean and
Central America. It now embraces nine
Latin American and Caribbean
countries: Antigua and Barbuda,
Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador,
Nicaragua, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines, and Venezuela.
Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia,
Michel Martelly of Haïti, Daniel Ortega
page 5 Socialist Voice
capitalist values
A budget for the well off
T
HE TAX measures
announced in the recent
budget will cost €405
million annually, and they only
apply to those earning €32,800
per year (€630.77 per week) in
2014 if single or €41,800
(€803.85) if married. This is
very unfair to lower-paid workers.
The changes in the universal social
charge affect only those whose income
was more than €10,036 (€193) in
2014. The benefit increases as
income rises, to €17,576 (€338); at
that point the benefit is €174.20
(€3.35), and all taxpayers at incomes
above this level get this €174.20.
The cost of changes in the universal
social charge is only €237 million a
year. It is important to note that, even
after the budget changes, the charge
is applied to incomes above €12,012
(€231), while income tax becomes
payable after €16,500 (€317.31) for
a single person or €33,000 (€
634.62) for a married person.
The Christmas bonus of 25 per cent
will cost €63.5 million. It will be given
in December 2014 and, if funds are
available, again in December 2015.
This does not apply to any of the other
measures, so social welfare recipients
are being singled out for special
treatment.
The increase in children’s allowance
of €5 per month per child (€120 per
year) will be given to all families with
children, regardless of income, as is
clear from table 2.
The massive increase of 40 cents on
a packet of twenty cigarettes will raise
€53 million annually, which will hit
those on low incomes more than those
on high incomes, because they tend to
smoke more.
Altogether, the budget was obviously
geared towards those on high
incomes. They benefited from the
changes in tax, the changes in the
universal social charge, the water
services rebate, and the changes in
children’s allowance. And they will be
less affected by the tax increase on
cigarettes.
Single person
Table 1 shows the effect of the budget
on different income levels. It includes
the effect of the water charges at a
rate of €175.68 per year.
A person over twenty-five receiving
social assistance will be €28.68
worse off in 2015 (€0.55 per week).
They will not get any benefit from the
Socialist Voice page 6
tax and USC measures. They will get a
Christmas bonus of €47 and a water
charge rebate of €100.
A person on the minimum wage will
be €33.66 better off in 2015 (€0.65
per week). They will not get any benefit
from the tax measures. They will get
€35.14 of a water charges rebate,
and the changes in USC give them a
benefit of €174.20.
A person on the average wage will
be €255.66 better off in 2015
(€4.91 per week). They will get a
benefit from the tax measures that
kick in at €32,800. They will get
€35.14 of a water charges rebate,
and the changes in USC give them a
benefit of €174.20.
A person on €70,000 per year will
be €605.66 better off in 2015
(€11.64 per week). They will get a
benefit from the tax measures
(€572.00) that kick in at €32,800.
They will get a water charges rebate of
€35.14, and the changes in USC give
them a benefit of €174.20.
Single people paid more than
€70,000 will benefit by a similar
amount. This is because of the clawback of the 1 per cent tax reduction,
1
EFFECT OF BUDGET CHANGES Single household
Social
assistance
188.00
Weekly
income
Annual 9,776.00
income
Universal
social
charge
Tax
measures
Water
100.00
charge
rebate
Xmas
47.00
bonus
Water
–175.68
charge
Annual –28.68
net
change
Weekly
net
change
–0.55
Minimum
wage
346.00
Average
wage
673.08
Wage
17,992.00
35,000.00
70,000.00
174.20
174.20
174.20
222.00
572.00
35.14
35.14
35.14
–175.68
–175.68
–175.68
33.66
255.66
605.66
0.65
4.91
11.64
Average
wage
673.08
Wage
35,000.00
70,000.00
174.20
174.20
1,346.15
2
EFFECT OF BUDGET CHANGES
Married household two children
Social
Minimum
assistance
wage
Weekly
312.80
346.00
income
Annual
16,265.60
17,992.00
income
Universal
174.20
social
charge
Tax
change
Children’s
allowance
Xmas
bonus
Water
charge
Annual
net
change
Weekly
net
change
1,346.15
482.00
120.00
120.00
120.00
120.00
–278.16
–278.16
–278.16
–278.16
20.04
71.67
71.67
553.67
–0.38
1.38
1.38
10.65
78.20
Ireland
from 41 to 40 per cent, in the higher
tax rate by an increase in the USC
from 7 to 8 per cent on incomes over
€70,044 (€1,347 per week).
It’s clear from the table that the
benefit goes up as income goes up,
and that those receiving social welfare
will be worse off.
Married person with two children
Table 2 shows the effect of the budget
on different income levels. It includes
the effect of the water charges at a
rate of €278.16 per year.
A person over twenty-five receiving
social assistance will be €28.68
better off in 2015 (€0.38 per week).
They will not get any benefit from the
tax and USC measures. They will get a
Christmas bonus of €47, a rebate of
€100 in the water charge, and €120
extra in children’s allowance.
A person on the minimum wage will
be €76.68 better off in 2015 (€1.38
per week). They will not get any benefit
from the tax measures. They will get a
rebate in the water charge of €55.63,
a benefit of €174.20 from the USC
changes, and €120 extra in children’s
allowance.
A person on the average wage will
be €255.66 better off in 2015
(€71.67 per week). They will get a
benefit from the tax measures that
kick in at €32,800. They will get a
rebate of €35.14 in the water
charges, and the USC changes give
them a benefit of €174.20, with
€120 extra in children’s allowance.
A person on a wage of €70,000 will
be €553.67 better off in 2015
(€11.64 per week). They will get a
benefit from the tax measures (€482)
that kick in at €41,800. They will get
a rebate in water charges of €35.14,
and the USC changes give them a
benefit of €174.20, with €120 extra
in children’s allowance.
Married people on incomes over
€70,000 will benefit by a similar
amount because of the claw-back of
the 1 per cent tax reduction, from 41
to 40 per cent, in the higher tax rate,
and an increase in the USC from 7 to
8 per cent on incomes over €70,044
(€1,347 per week).
The benefit to a single person
on €70,000 is approximately 17
times the benefit to someone on
the minimum wage, while the
benefit to a married person on
€70,000 is 7 times that of
someone on the minimum wage.
The ratios are worse when the
comparison is with social welfare
recipients. All in all, a fair budget
à la Fine Gael and Labour.
Bus and train
fares rise again
■ Brendan Gallagher
T
here is yet more pain for ordinary people as
the cost of using public transport has shot
up. All fares for buses, trains and trams were
increased on 1 November by as much as 28 per
cent. This means that the cost of using public
transport has risen by nearly 40 per cent since
2012.
These increases are a direct result of
Government policy and its cuts to public transport
subventions.
The people most hurt most by the increases are
workers on low incomes and young people. It is
these same workers and young people who are
simultaneously being crucified by rent increases by
the parasitic landlord class. As a result they have
been forced to live further out from the cities,
which makes their commute to work more
expensive. A single bus fare in Dublin is now
€3.30 for those travelling more than thirteen
stops. This means a worker travelling into the city
from the suburbs will be paying €6.60 for their
daily commute—almost an hour’s labour on the
minimum wage.
For the unemployed the situation is even worse,
to the point where searching for work will become
too expensive for some.
Yet the Government tells us there is an
economic recovery. There is no doubt that
Government policies have led to a revival for the
bankers, landlords, business leaders, and other
economic elites. However, the ordinary people of
Ireland have endured six years of cuts and
regressive taxes.
Those who believed a vote for the Labour Party
in the 2011 general election would shield people
from the effects of austerity have been proved to
be extremely naïve. As always, the Labour Party in
government has been nothing more than the red tie
on the blue shirt.
The strategy of the corrupt Irish elite is to
extract as much wealth as possible from ordinary
people, and transfer it to themselves and their
international capitalist masters. They have
succeeded in doing this through massive bank bailouts, shifting the tax burden onto ordinary people,
forcing up property prices and rents, driving down
wages, and making massive cuts to public services.
The huge increases in public transport fares
over the last three years are just a single part of
this strategy of transferring wealth upwards.
Workers and young people need to get organised
to resist the Irish establishment and their banker
bosses, who wish to erode our standard of living so
that they can increase theirs.
Not until this government has been booted out,
and replaced with a government that serves the
ordinary people, i.e. a socialist government, will
Ireland be able to get the public transport service
that its people deserve.
One woman’s
experience of
Job Bridge
Maria’s story
I
HAD STARTED working in
1983 after completing a
decent Leaving Cert. Life was
simple then, and over the next
fourteen years I had moved from
working for a small local
company to working in a major
international conglomerate as PA
to the chief executive.
In 1996 I got married, and the
following year our first child was
born. My husband and I decided
that one of us should give up
work to mind our children. I
agreed to give up work, even
though I was earning far more
than my partner. Some years
later, in 2009, I took up a course
in women’s studies, which was
sponsored by one of the
universities.
The course lasted four years,
and I graduated with a diploma in
women’s studies last June. In
2013 I had decided to re-enter
the work-place after finishing a
computer course—another one of
these measures that would
hopefully “maximise my
employment prospects,” as the
Government is so fond of telling
us. I got a few days here and
there before getting a position
for three months at the end of
the year.
It was a boost to my morale to
be earning money again. Then
again, it wasn’t simply of my own
volition that I returned to
employment. My spouse hadn’t
received a pay rise since 2008,
which means his net wage has
fallen, as his employer’s pension
contributions have stopped
altogether.
I signed up with various
recruitment web sites in the new
year, yet the only part-time
positions available (it wouldn’t be
practical for me to accept a fulltime post) were part of the Job
Bridge scheme, which I wasn’t
eligible for. At the end of March I
spotted an offer on one of these
web sites for a company based
nearby, and I applied for it,
despite the Job Bridge tag.
contined on page 9
page 7 Socialist Voice
Scottish independence
from having any impact on what they
will sell as “English” affairs, cleverly
outmanoeuvring the Labour Party.
Westminster will no doubt attempt to
give greater devolution without real
devolution, using the subvention to
ensure indirect political control and
make sure its economic and political
interests are secure.
Sneering, bullying and threatening
were the order of the day, until the
whole of the English oligarchy suddenly
felt the need to reveal their love for
Scotland and to promise the sun,
moon, and stars—promises that
evaporated the morning after the
referendum. Even the “celebs” were
mobilised. That gallant knight of the
realm, Bob Geldof, opined that the
United Kingdom was “one of the
greatest ideas invented”!
A successful Yes vote would have
created a momentum for change
throughout these islands and beyond.
The beginning of the dismantling of the
imperialist construct, the United
Kingdom, would have had a huge
psychological and practical effect.
Its effect on Ireland would be
enormous, as it would deal a huge blow
to Orangeism and undermine unionism.
It would mean that administrations and
all political tendencies would be forced
to prepare for the final collapse of the
UK structure and the inevitability of an
all-Ireland state. And, of course, the
opener for those who hold the socialMícheál Mac Aonghusa
North is of much less strategic interest
democratic view of the state as a kind
to London than Scotland. On top of
of neutral instrument that merely
EGARDLESS of the
that, events in Scotland have dimmed
monitors democracy and allows the
outcome, the Scottish
referendum has rocked the electorate to make its own choices. The the notion of “Britishness,” even in
British establishment to its core. establishment employed the well-tested England.
The imperialist powers have been
Queen Elizabeth Windsor may be strategy of creating economic and
quite enthusiastic about abolishing
political uncertainty, with well-timed
purring, but her political high
multinational states in eastern Europe,
announcements by leading economic
command is not.
in line with their interests and strategy;
forces that they would “withdraw” or
Although the initial reaction of their
but in the heart of the imperial
political hierarchs to the result was, no shift their headquarters out of
metropolis they need to maintain strong
Scotland—classic tools in the imperial
doubt, one of relief, they have to face
toolbox, used on countless occasions to centralised states. The weakening of
up to the fact that 45 per cent of the
remove non-compliant governments but the British state is something they can’t
electorate, and the majority of Scots
afford.
under fifty-five, voted for independence, now used in the imperial heartlands.
Of course Scottish independence
Many Scottish people have come to
led by large areas of working-class
would not of itself mean that that
realise that the state is the prime
concentration: Glasgow, Dundee, west
country would break with imperialism in
Dunbartonshire, and north Lanarkshire. apparatus of the ruling class and that
the immediate future. The biggest
Almost more frightening for them has the major media are, directly or
continuing infringement on its
been the emergence, with a huge level indirectly, arms of the state.
independence would be membership of
The imperial Labour Party was
of spontaneity, of a radical antithe EU, which—despite what its
imperialist grass-roots movement. Every challenged at the last leg of the
campaign as opinion polls showed that spokespersons were saying—would
issue of importance in future
welcome a new member with open
governance was discussed in the home, the working class had been convinced
arms, in the manner of spiders and
that they may have some chance of
pub, community hall and even kirk by
flies. Scotland might also be pressured
hundreds of thousands of people, most returning to traditional socialinto membership of NATO and
democratic solutions in Scotland. The
of whom had no previous significant
involvement in imperial wars.
warmonger Gordon Brown certainly
political involvement. This was despite
It is possible, however, to be
pushed the No camp over the line. But
the mobilisation of all the
optimistic that they would not be able
in reality they are the real losers, as
communications and propaganda
to impose that so easily, as the majority
they are no longer wanted.
mechanisms of the state to smother
of Scots have shown opposition to all
The English Tories will now make
the trend towards independence.
the imperial wars of the last twenty
every effort to cut off the Scottish MPs
Indeed the campaign was an eye-
A drawn battle
R
Socialist Voice page 8
‘Of course
Scottish
independence
would not of
itself mean
that that
country would
break with
imperialism in
the immediate
future. The
biggest
continuing
infringement
on its
independence
would be
membership of
the EU,
which–
despite what
its
spokespersons
were saying–
would
welcome a new
member with
open arms, in
the manner of
spiders and
flies. Scotland
might also be
pressured into
membership of
NATO and
involvement in
imperial wars’
years, and there is fury at the revelation
that Whitehall was considering the
possibility of the nuclear base at
Faslane being constituted as a crown
dependency or a sovereign base area,
as in Cyprus. (Indeed it was publicly
hinted that a similar arrangement was
intended for Shetland and its adjacent
oilfields.)
Scottish Labour imported the rather
ridiculous Ed Milliband, the laughable
John Prescott (who had the
“revolutionary idea” that the Scottish
football team should be subsumed into
a “British” squad), and a circus of
English MPs, many of whom had never
been in the country before, escorted in
by party outriders to add bulk to the
unionist campaign. In doing so it
committed self-immolation, losing
voters, members and activists for ever.
Its right-wing leadership has nothing to
offer Scots except cuts, further
financialisation of its economy, and
more recruitment for foreign wars.
The unionist cause was also backed,
somewhat shamefacedly, by a left
sectarianism that opposed
independence because such a
development would not automatically
lead to socialism. Doing so placed
them objectively on the imperialist side.
One is reminded of what Lenin had to
say in 1916:
To imagine that social revolution is
conceivable without revolts by small
nations in the colonies and in
Europe, without revolutionary
outbursts by a section of the petty
bourgeoisie with all its prejudices,
without a movement of the politically
non-conscious proletarian and semiproletarian masses against
oppression by the landowners, the
church, and the monarchy, against
national oppression, etc.—to imagine
all this is to repudiate social
revolution. So one army lines up in
one place and says, “We are for
socialism,” and another somewhere
else and says, “We are for
imperialism,’ and that will be a social
revolution!
The rulers of Britain seem to have
won this battle, but they themselves
know that it has been a pyrrhic victory
and that it signals the beginning of the
end of the United Kingdom construct.
In reality it has been a drawn battle.
Two things are certain. Firstly, the
warlords and financiers know they
have to realign their interests and
create new structures to preserve
their power. Secondly, sooner or later
Scotland will be independent. Not
even the SNP can prevent it.
Nobel Prize winner Malala:
“Socialism is
the only answer”
continued from page 7
Soon afterwards I got a call
and went for the interview.
I told them that I wasn’t
eligible for the Job Bridge
Tomás Mac Síomóin
scheme, to which they replied,
“Well, that changes things.” I
OU WOULD think that the modern Nobel
was offered a six-month
Peace Prize is a CIA invention. Shameless
placement at €100 a week for
war criminals, like Henry Kissinger and
twenty-five hours’ work.
Barack Obama, scooped it, after all.
They indicated that there
So we smell a rat when the capitalist media praise the
would be a permanent placement
bravery of its latest recipient, a seventeen-year-old
at the end of the contract. I
Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, who stood up to Taliban
accepted, as I wasn’t going to
aggression—as if her achievement justifies the US illegal
get the experience elsewhere
invasion of Afghanistan and that this “helped” the
and thought this would look good
Afghanis, apart from the thousands killed and maimed in
on my CV.
the process!
My spouse was disgusted at
You would never think from capitalist media reports that
the news, and the kids were
the real Malala is an anti-drone activist and committed
slightly aghast, but they saw my
socialist. When she declared before the United Nations,
side, and I knuckled down.
“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can
I enjoyed the work, although
change the world,” Western media and propagandists
the employer always kept me at a
(same thing) were happy that she seemed to be ignoring
distance and never spoke to me
the horrific poverty that is the inevitable result of
once during the six months about
imperialism’s exploitative mechanisms.
my position, even though I was
When she advocated “a glorious struggle against
tasked with exactly the same role
illiteracy, poverty, and terrorism,” only two of these three
as my colleague in customer
things were emphasised by the western media. (Guess
service. I was confident that I
which one is excluded!)
would be kept on, as I was
For Malala herself understands that education per se
always kept busy.
cannot provide billions of impoverished people with food,
My six months were up at the
clean water, and health care. She stresses the importance
end of October, and when no
not only of promoting education but also of directly
discussion regarding a future
combating poverty—a call that falls on the presstitutes’
position seemed forthcoming, I
deaf ears. The same press that filters Malala’s messages
e-mailed my boss.
selectively, lauding her advocacy of non-violence, happily
I was called in to the office
acclaimed the obscene violence of the US invasion and
occupation of Afghanistan. Though it records her thoughts and promptly told that I was no
on education and non-violence, it ignores those aspects of longer any use to the company. I
Malala that oppose US drone strikes and capitalism itself. was given the excuse that my
employer had recently been
Malala met Obama last year in the White House. The
suffering from back pain and
press praised Obama and his family for interrupting their
would be staying in the office in
busy schedule to meet the teenage activist. She said she
future, and therefore someone
“expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fuelling
else could be transferred from
terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and
accounts to customer service. I
they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people.”
was given a week’s notice and
Obama ignored her, continuing to sign his now notorious
Tuesday morning drone death lists. The White House left
told that I could do up my own
her comment out of its official statement.
reference. That was the end of it.
Just as dishonest is the media silence regarding
A month has passed since I
Malala’s politics. In March 2013 she sent a message to
was let go, and I feel cheated. I
the 32nd Congress of Pakistani Marxists. Her statement
don’t regret taking up the sixreads: “I’d like to thank the International Marxist Tendency month placement in the first
for giving me a chance to speak last year at their Summer instance, as I really hadn’t any
Marxist School in Swat and also for introducing me to
other options. I am probably only
Marxism and socialism . . . I would like to send my
one of thousands of people in
heartfelt greetings to this year’s congress. I am convinced this country who just want a halfsocialism is the only answer, and I urge all comrades to
decent job so as to ease the
take this struggle to a victorious conclusion. Only this will
financial burden but have been
free us from the chains of bigotry and exploitation.”
duped by an unscrupulous,
This is the “hidden” Malala, who recognises that true
miserly employer who simply
liberation takes more than education, that it needs
doesn’t want to pay a proper
socialist rather than bourgeois democracy. “Socialism is
wage.
the only answer, and I urge all comrades to take this
He moves on, unperturbed by
struggle to a victorious conclusion.” Her call was not
it all, and will probably do the
recorded by capitalism’s media circus . . .
same thing again.
Y
page 9 Socialist Voice
our history
Calling all Friends of the International
artists & Brigades in Ireland
designers Student Essay Competition
2014–15
Cairde na mBriogáidí
Idirnáisiúnta in Éirinn
Comórtas Aiste do Dhaltaí
2014–2015
To mark the
centenary of the
1916 Rising the
CPI is inviting
designers and
artists to submit a
design for a badge
to celebrate this
important event.
The winning design
will be chosen by
the artist Robert
Ballagh during the
Socialist Voice
Festival in May
2015.
Tá Cairde na na mBriogáidí Idirnáisiúnta in Éirinn ag
lainseáil an dara comórtas aiste do dhaltaí dara leibhéal.
Tabharfar cuireadh don bhuaiteoir a aiste a léamh i
Madrid Dé hAoine 20 Feabhra 2015 agus freastal ar
chomóradh bliantúil Chath Jarama Dé Sathairn 21
Feabhra 2015, chomh maith le tuismitheoir nó
caomhnóir. Díolfar as na heitiltí agus as an lóistín, mar
aíonna againne agus ag AABI (Cairde na mBriogáidí Idirnáisiúnta i Madrid).
Bíodh ábhar an aiste aon ghné de pháirt nó d’eispéiris
bhaill na mBriogáidí Idirnáisiúnta as Éirinn i rith Chogadh
Cathartha na Spáinne nó an tionchar a d’imir an cogadh
ar bhaill na mBriogáidí ina dhiaidh.
Tá cead ag aon dalta idir sé bliana déag agus naoi
mbliana déag d’aois atá ag freastal ar chúrsa dara
leibhéal i scoil, i bprintíseacht nó in institiúid oideachais i
rith thréimhse an chomórtais aiste a chur isteach ach é a
chur isteach roimh mheán oíche Déardaoin 20 Samhain
2014, mar aon le sonraí teagmhála an dalta agus sonraí
teagmhála múinteoir nó maoirseoir cúrsa le go dtig aois
an dalta a dheimhniú.
Is féidir aistí a chur isteach i nGaeilge nó i mBéarla. Ní
mór dóibh a bheith suas le 1,600 focal, agus ní mór gach
foinse d’fhíricí a bheith luaite.
Cuirtear na haistí agus na sonraí teagmhála chuig
[email protected].
Gheobhaidh gach dalta a chomhlíonann na
coinníollacha thuas teastas a dheimhníonn gur ghlac sé
páirt sa chomórtas.
Beidh cinntí na moltóirí críochnaitheach.
Tá rún ag lucht eagraithe an chomórtais imeacht a
shocrú in Éirinn ag a léifidh scríbhneoir na n aistí sa
chéad áit agus sa dara háit, agus scríbhneoir an aiste is
cruthaithí, a gcuid saothar.
Is é aidhm an chomórtas suim daoine óga sa nua-stair
a spreagadh, go háirithe i dtaca le hidéil agus le bearta
na n óglach sna Briogáidí Idirnáisiúnta. Ba mhaith linn a
chinntiú go bhfíorófar aisling an mhórchinnire Poblachtach
Dolores Ibárruri nuair a d’impigh sí ar na daoine a bhí ag
amharc ar mháirseáil dheireanach na mBriogáidí i
bhfómhar na bliana 1938 insint dá bpáistí faoi na
hóglaigh a tháinig chun na Spáinne leis an daonlathas a
chosaint.
Sa lá atá inniu ann tá contúirtí agus dúshláin na 1930í
le feiceáil arís, agus ní mór dúinn smaoineamh ar bhearta
agus ar mhianta na ndaoine sin a chuir a n anam i mbaol
mar mhaithe le cúis ar ceacht agus rabhadh dúinn anois í.
Submissions can
be made either by
e-mail or on paper
(maximum of five
colours). The
badge will be cast
in metal, 25 mm
in diameter. The
winning entrant will
also receive €100
in prize money.
For the
competition rules
e-mail
[email protected].
The Friends of the International Brigades’ third annual essay
competition for second-level students will accept essays on
any aspect of the role and experiences of the members of
the International Brigades that relate to Ireland, either
during or after the Spanish Civil War (1936–39).
The aim of the competition is to develop young people’s
interest in modern history and in particular an appreciation
of the ideals and activities of the volunteers in the
International Brigades. We thus hope to carry out the words
spoken by the great Republican leader Dolores Ibárruri when
she told those watching the brigades’ farewell march in the
autumn of 1938 to tell their children about these volunteers
who came to Spain to defend democracy.
In today’s world we are living through times which recall
the dangers and the challenges of the 1930s, and we need
to recall the aspirations and deeds of those who risked their
lives for a cause that remains as a lesson and a warning to
us today.
• The final version of each essay, in either English or Irish,
should not be more than 1,500 words in length.
• At least three sources should be consulted, and the essay
should have footnotes indicating when these sources are
being quoted or relied upon in the text.
• Any student up to nineteen years of age in any secondlevel course anywhere in Ireland during the time of the
competition is eligible to enter, provided the essay is emailed to the FIBI before the deadline and is accompanied
by contact details for the teacher or the course supervisor
who can confirm the student’s age and participation in a
second-level course.
• The FIBI’s e-mail address for essays and contact details is
[email protected]. All queries and other
messages should go to our usual e-mail address,
[email protected]. We recommend submitting
essays in PDF format as an e-mail attachment.
• The deadline for submitting essays is Thursday 20
November 2014.
• All entrants will receive a certificate attesting to their
essay, suitable for inclusion in CVs etc.
• All decisions by the judges are final.
Further details about the competition and the Friends of
the International Brigades in Ireland are on its Facebook
page at
www.facebook.com/SpanishCivilWarEssayCompetition/info.
The organisers also hope to arrange an event for the
writers of the essays placed first and second, and the most
original essay, to read their essays here in Ireland.
Socialist Voice page 10
poetry
I am not out of
place
Richard Bryant
I am not out of place,
I am not out of time,
My beliefs are strong,
And they are mine.
For I no longer believe
What I was told,
The lies are wrong,
History was retold
To the throng,
Profits must be
Drained from sand and sea,
While children starve,
On my street.
With my voice,
With my feet,
I’ll change the plan,
Wait and see.
Our comrades know
The truth will float,
With our work,
All may hope
To live free
From chains and ropes,
When the truth is told,
To the fullest scope.
It is amazing
Richard Bryant
It is amazing,
that the cruelty perfected,
among thatched huts of Kenya,
would be neatly packaged,
and forever burned,
into Irish memories,
as minds were turned,
from despair to hope,
or royalty adjourned,
people free,
and of war unconcerned.
Under the Red
Banner of Truth
Yámá, Dia an
Bháis
Gabriel Rosenstock
Yámá,
Chonac do ghadhar ceathairshúileach
Is níor scanraíodh mé
Chaitheas cnámh chuige
Chonac tú féin ansin
Ar muin buabhaill uisce
Lúb rópa i do lámh chlé
Chun an t-anam a stracadh as mo
chorp –
Ach nílimse marbh
Imigh leat anois
Is aimsigh corpán ceart duit féin
Istigh i nDáil Éireann!
Richard Bryant
Under the red banner,
My comrades lived,
Under the red banner,
My comrades are alive,
Under the red banner,
We continue to look,
North,
South,
East,
West,
Anywhere we find the oppressed,
Tell their story,
Disconnect their distress,
Ideologies which are hoary,
Because we wish to impress?
No,
Because the truth must be expressed.
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Join the struggle for
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Communist Party of Ireland
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Name
Yama, God of
Death
Yama,
I saw your four-eyed dog
And was not afraid
I threw him a bone
Then I saw yourself
Riding a water buffalo
A loop of rope in your left hand
To tear the soul out of my body –
But I’m not dead
Off you go now
And find a real corpse for yourself
Inside in Dáil Éireann!
CONNOLLY
HBOOKS
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page 11 Socialist Voice
culture
Dracula and the horror of imperialism
The Sleep of
Reason Produces
Monsters (Goya)
Jenny Farrell
M
ANY READERS tend to
regard novels, and films
based on their contents,
as mere “entertainment,” i.e. as
pleasant ways to pass the time.
The idea that the creators of
such stories may use them to
send a “message” to the reader,
still less an ideological message,
seldom occurs to them—and still
less again the idea that this
message may encode a stringent
critique of the prevailing political
and economic order, whether its
original creator consciously
intended it or not!
Nor could these original creators
foresee that the literary images they
created would inspire the creations of
ideologically motivated film directors.
Thus the Gothic and, later, horror
genres, which began in the middle of
the eighteenth century, enjoy an
unbroken tradition to this day. Both
these art forms were intrinsically linked
to developing capitalist societies and
emerged during the period leading up
to the French Revolution. From there
on they express an underlying sense of
Socialist Voice page 12
horror and madness that subverts
prevailing ruling-class assertions about
the right and reason of their system.
The Irish writer Bram Stoker added a
new dimension to this aesthetic of
horror with his novel Dracula (1897),
about the vampire who lives by
sucking blood from people, thereby
killing them and turning them in turn
into vampires.
Such an apt image for the advent of
imperialism wasn’t lost on the artists
of his time. As the major colonial
powers went to war over their colonial
spoils, Germany and Britain looking for
their “fair share,” in Stoker’s Dracula
the act of property acquisition by a
foreign aristocrat, facilitated by an
English lawyer and his employer, brings
the lifeblood-sucking vampire into the
ordinary world. This is the horror: evil
can enter the ordinary world, wreaking
havoc and threatening the lives of
many, with the help of “respectable”
lawyers selling property.
This image struck a chord with the
German expressionist film-maker F. W.
Murnau. He based the first horror film
in cinema history on Dracula, shot in
1921, just three short years after the
appalling horror of the First World War.
The film-makers avoided copyright
issues by changing the story around a
bit and calling it Nosferatu: A
Symphony of Horror. (“Nosferatu”
appears in the novel as the word for
the Undead.)
Some of the other changes,
however, are very interesting indeed.
One is that the property deal, with all
its horrendous implications, is
emphasised. Murnau fuses the estate
agent with Stoker’s madman,
Dracula’s servant Renfield, who will
not allow the certain onset of evil to
prevent the property deal!
The other plot change worth noting
in the light of then recent history is
that evil is destroyed—but only at the
cost of innocent human life, as is also
the case in Stoker’s novel.
When Werner Herzog of the New
German Cinema movement, in an
effort to reconnect with pre-Nazi
German cinema, made a new version
of Nosferatu in 1979 he, unlike
Murnau, takes from Stoker’s text the
idea that, once infected by Dracula,
people will turn into vampires unless
they are killed and a stake put through
their heart!
Once again the estate agent is a
madman, prepared to risk the lives of
many people in order to make a good
profit through property sales. As in
Murnau’s film, he is in cahoots with
Dracula. In a horrific extension of the
original idea, as Dracula’s servant he
is sent far away by his master to
spread the plague.
Murnau’s image of the all-destroying
plague is developed into an
apocalyptic vision by Herzog. He sees
evil spreading from two sources: by
those turned into vampires themselves
and also by Dracula’s servant by
means of the plague. Both survive the
demise of Dracula.
Herzog’s horrific image of a
destruction that cannot be stemmed
is, arguably, a most compelling
cinematic presentation of the horror
wrought by the ravages of an unbound
and unregulated capitalism. As
Murnau’s film invents horror for
cinema, so Herzog’s film, made after
two world wars, amid the threat of a
nuclear war and many more to come,
can no longer envisage the defeat of
evil. Herzog’s film, in the metaphorical
language of art, drives Horror into the
Apocalypse of imperialism at war.
EVENTS
An introduction to the Communist Party
Friday 7 November, 7pm Union Centre, 55 North Main Street, Cork
In celebration of the October Revolution (1917)
Oriel Workers’ Education Circle
The next meeting of the Oriel Workers’ Education Circle will take place on
Saturday 29 November at 2pm in the Unite offices, Francis Street, Dundalk.
The selected text for the meeting is Wage Labour and Capital by Karl Marx.
National Right2Water assembly
Wednesday 10 December, 1pm Dáil Éireann, Kildare Street, Dublin