The Great Internship Scam: Free Labour Dressed Up In The Fancy Cloak Of Reciprocity

As a recent university graduate and new member of Ireland’s massive 14% + unemployed club, I have been eagerly scouring the internet looking for work. Of course this task was never going to be easy with over 400,000 others on the dole queues, but the task is not being made any easier by the government’s promotion of free labour for employers through the normalisation of internship schemes. A cursory glance over any jobs website with show that many companies are no longer hiring for real jobs and it is only internships on offer. I mean one can't blame the companies can they? If you run a for-profit business and there is free labour on offer, you would be mad not to take advantage of it.

Convention on the Rights of the Working Class

Convention on the Rights of the Working Class

Preamble

·         Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

·         Whereas disregard and contempt for the rights of the working class have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want of employment has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

·         Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that the rights of the working class should be protected by the rule of law,

·         Whereas the peoples of the world have reaffirmed their faith in fundamental worker’s rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

·         Now, Therefore the Communist International proclaims this CONVENTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE WORKING CLASS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Convention constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

·         The Communist International also rejects completely capitalism and everything it stands for. We reject the idea of private property, greed and ‘free’ markets. We call on the workers of the world to rise up, throw off their chains and seize the means of production from the capitalist class, and use these means for the betterment of all men and women, not just the few.

The Labour Party: A Party Of Lies And Broken Promises

A recent Facebook rant  made from the profile of Labour Youth (Dublin South-West) on a ULA event page caused a bit of embarrassment to the national leadership of that organisation, who moved quickly to have the comments removed and went on to issue an apology on their national Facebook page. A young man named Sean Glennon also went onto the national Facebook page to say it was he who had posted the comments, and that he was not a member of Labour youth and did not agree with their values and policies.

However, since then it has emerged that the young man who posted the comments was in fact a prominent Labour Youth member, and was an administrator on their Facebook page. While the comments could be passed off as juvenile naivety, I believe that the whole debacle provides a deeper and more disturbing insight into the policies of the current Labour Party in Ireland.

The Enough Campaign And The ULA

The 'Enough' campaign's recent #IrishRevolution July16th protest demonstration drew a crowd of between 400 to 1000 people (depending on who you ask) onto the streets of Dublin's city centre. The event didn't quite live up to its billing, but was an energetic and encouraging demonstration nonetheless, by groups opposed to the EU / IMF deal, and other issue specific groups. The Enough campaign was initiated by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) to try to create a broad opposition campaign against the EU / IMF deal, and to demand a referendum on that deal. Whilst this type of initiative is to be welcomed, I believe that its demands do not go far enough. I also believe that future campaigns ought to be initiated, developed and prepared for under the banner of the United Left Alliance (ULA). Unfortunately, the SWP don't agree with this, and prefer to push ahead with their own 'Enough' campaign.

The Crisis Of Capitalism: What Lies Ahead?

We are often told by the innumerable economic commentators on the issue, that we are currently experiencing the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. However, the current crisis is in many ways different to others because of its globalised nature and because of the ‘advanced’ form of capitalism it exposes. It must be recognised that capitalism as a form of investment in manufacturing has been in decline since the 1970s, with modern ‘advanced’ capitalism now based on financial speculation. The crisis we are experiencing illustrates that far from being part of a boom and bust process, the inherent greed that capitalism predicates itself upon has led to the system destroying itself from the inside out.

Speeches From The ULA Forum

The recent United Left Alliance forum in Liberty Hall (25/6/2011) was the first real opportunity for the different factions within it to debate a possible future programme that the ULA should adopt. Below are the main speeches from the first plenary session of the day, with an introduction from Ailbhe Smith from People Before Profit, and speeches from  Professor Terrence McDonough from NUI Galway, Kevin McLoughlin from the Socialist Party and Kieran Allen from the Socialist Workers Party. In a previous post  I have already put forward my views on the internal debates within the ULA. By watching these speeches, you can make your own mind up. 

Reformism: A Cancer To Socialism

The great James Connolly once said "The day has passed for patching up the capitalist system, it must go." His words ring true more so now than they ever did, and should be noted by some factions within the broad left of Irish politics. The underlying debate that simmered at the ULA forum in Liberty hall (25/6/2011), was on the type of programme that a new mass party (when the ULA goes that way) will adopt. The Socialist Party put forward the case for a strong and principled 'socialist' programme, with a clear and explicit route towards a socialist society.  The Socialist Worker's Party and People Before Profit called for a socialist programme too, but one that is less explicit and is focused more on daily struggle for reforms, with 'socialism' as the "long term" aim. In this approach, they are making a grave error. The objective situation has arrived, and in diverging from DeValera's famous 1918 injunction, "labour must wait", it must be put forward that labour must wait no more!

Songs Of The Working Class

This is a project that I have wanted to do for some time now but with my university and other commitments I have not been able to take the time to put it together.  I had no unified collection of worker's songs in my possession, and I have not come across one in the shops that brings together all the songs that I love.  So, now that I have some free time I have managed to put this little collection together for your (and my) listening pleasure. Of course, it took me some time to choose a final 17 songs for the album, and I had to leave out song excellent songs of working class struggle.  If you feel there is a song that I have not included that should be on the album, please post a comment on this page and I may make some amendments before I finally produce it.  I intend to put all of these onto CD, and sell the album for €5 each, with all of the proceeds going towards the funding of future campaigns against the water tax, home tax, education cuts etc etc... If you would like to purchase a copy, drop me an email and I can post it on to you.