“CONTRARY TO the spoutings of the establishment mouthpieces, the…”
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Socialist Republic1982The Southern state and its partiesEconomy, the EEC and EuropeThe Southern state and its partiesEconomy, the EEC and Europe
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CONTRARY TO the spoutings of the establishment mouthpieces, the Irish Press and the Irish Independent, Jim Kemmy will not go down in history as the ‘man who brought down the 22nd Dail’. When the history books are written, Jim Kemmy will be known for his long and consistent record, not as an uncompromising socialist, but as a traitor to the cause of the _working class; who shored up “one of the most repressive and anti-working cliss governments in the history of the State. Kemmy himself made it clear that he cast his vote against the Budget reluctantly, and was prepared to sell his vote to Fine Gael for a concession on food subsidies. It was Fine Gael who refused to compromise on their strategy of immediate erosion of living standards. Jim thinks people can be fooled into accepting a gradual erosion of living standards. Kemmy sees his role as TD as one of begging for crumbs from the Coalition table in return for his active betrayal of the cause of working people to seek radical social change.
In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Jim Kemmy stated that because he had supported the government through a couple of serious divisions he felt he had ‘earned the right to make some contribution to the Budget’. Jim Kemmy unashamedly admits his complicity in the Coalition’s savage attacks on those he claims to represent. In an excerpt from his diary (published by the Sunday Independent), Kemmy condemns himself:
“Tn serious divisions in the Dail, on the Tuam Sugar Factory, the reduction d the school entry age and others, it was my vote which held the government in power. I had responsibility for government decisions since my vote was keeping them in power.”
For Kemmy the vote against the Budget was a “‘hard decision’. He really wished he could help out the Coalition friends. He says he was “very sorry that it (the Coalition) saw fit not to entertain my modest views. This they could have done without damaging their overall proposals or strategy.”
Precisely, Jim. We couldn’t have said it better.
Jim Kemmy’s record on the National struggle is no better. He is a vociferous opponent of the movement in defence of the H Block/Armagh prisoners and the aspirations of the Irish people to unite the country. Instead he supports the ‘right’ of loyalists to impose their undemocratic and violent veto on the rights of the Nationalist community in the North. Likewise, he categorically refuses to defend the rights of the ‘working people of Poland, who are fighting for free trade unions and workers’ democracy — perhaps the one virtue Mr Kemmy can be credited with is consistency.
Jim Kemmy’s politics are based on getting piecemeal reforms without posing a socialist alternative to the present system.
Joe Harrington is part of the Socialist Alternative — he is part of the day-to-day struggles of working people to organise themselves to win a better life. Give JOE HARRINGTON your No. 1 Vote.