"The Labour Movement in Ireland stands for the ownership of all Ireland by all the Irish; it therefore fights against all things calculated to weaken the hold of the Irish upon Ireland, as it fights for all things calculated to strengthen the grasp of the Irish people upon Ireland and all things Irish."

Turns out I was wrong and these guys haven't been reading any Connolly. They just like the brand.

They must only be squatting in a hostel which is earmarked to accommodate foreigners because there's a severe shortage of buildings which aren't.

"We proclaim the right of all people in Ireland to housing regardless of their nationality or ethnicity..."

This is the government's position.

That's why they want to house foreigners in the building the Revolutionary Workers Union are squatting in.

That's why up to 40% of people presenting as homeless every month are recently arrived immigrants from all over the world. They're not even bothered pretending to be asylum seekers any more.

The RWU support them coming here. They support housing them. The government is trying to do that for them.

This guy blurs his face like he's saying something dangerous but he has the same detrimental position as the government.

? facebook.com

***"The chief enemy of a Celtic revival today is the crushing force of capitalism which irresistibly destroys all national or racial characteristics, and by sheer stress of its economic preponderance reduces a Galway or a Dublin, a Lithuania or a Warsaw to the level of a mere second-hand imitation of Manchester or Glasgow.

In the words of Karl Marx, “Capitalism creates a world after its own image,” and the image of Capitalism is to be found in the industrial centres of Great Britain.

A very filthy image indeed."***

Ireland needs to import more migrants from outside the EU says Adrian Cummins, CEO of the Restaurants Association of Ireland.

Working conditions in the hospitality sector are dire so Cummins wants to bring in more foreigners who will tolerate it.

As Alan McQuaid points out here, they're going to need healthcare, housing and crèche facilities or schooling if they bring kids with them among other things. Who gets that bill? After five years here they can apply for citizenship.

We have NGOs focused on sustainability but nobody ever costs the mass importation of cheap labour for the long term. It's unsustainable. It drives down the standard of living.

Meanwhile we're struggling to find accommodation for the unlimited number of 'Ukrainians' coming in, never mind Irish people.

In the IRPT's study yesterday, they blamed poverty for the over-representation of foreigners in the prison system, so why do we keep bringing more of them in to work minimum wage jobs?

?? Late Stage Ireland

"Men like Clarke and Connolly were intensely nationalistic and many think that Connolly was not so much but that's not true, I know that's not true, because he told me so."- Dev

“I am determined that my race shall not go the way of the Aztec and the Indian. I believe in the brotherhood of man, regardless of races, but I do not believe in extending that brotherhood to the point of eliminating myself voluntarily from the struggle for existence and turning over this country to my brothers of other races.”

- Ernest Untermann

Like Connolly, Untermann was a member of the Socialist Labour Party of America (SLP) and later the Socialist Party of America. He is credited with translating socialist writings by Engels and Marx for an American audience, including the first American translation of Das Kapital. Despite being a committed socialist he openly opposed immigration, recognising the effects it has on workers conditions and, as the above quote illustrates, the issue of finite resources and living space of a given country.

Seems like some socialists aren't overly fond of the progressive social projects so important to their blue-haired university allies. Wonder if they'll get over the last hurdle and realise that caring for you own People's needs above those of other's is perfectly…

Seems like some socialists aren't overly fond of the progressive social projects so important to their blue-haired university allies. Wonder if they'll get over the last hurdle and realise that caring for you own People's needs above those of other's is perfectly natural, or is immigration the hill they are willing to die on? It's not an either/or choice between criticising capitalism or immigration - the real problem is both.

This isn't a new issue by any means and is reminiscent of the debate American socialists were having in the early 1900s regarding the effects immigration was having on the material conditions of workers at the time and how this came into conflict with "internationalism". Funny things happen when reality meets theory.

Here's a few interesting quotes from the socialists of the era, contemporaries of James Connolly who was still in America at the time, as well as one of his own.

"Because your neighbor's house is burning, shall you set your own house in fire? No, say I. Defend your own house and then help your neighbor, that is the way."

- Victor Berger

"I believe in the international solidarity of the working class.... But I do not believe in international solidarity to the point of cutting my own throat."

- Ernest Untermann

"It is hard to believe that any Socialist really thinks that the immigration question is serious enough to justify a Socialist in doing the dirty work of the capitalist class"

- James Connolly

⬆️⬆️⬆️ Accurate and still as relevant today as it was when he wrote it, if not more so.