APRIL 24 is the anniversary of the beginning of the 1916 Easter Rising. A combined force of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army seized a number of buildings in Dublin, raised a green flag with the words “Irish Republic” above the GPO (General Post Office) and Padraig Pearse read the Proclamation of the Republic.

The Rising took place against WWI, unleashed by the main imperialist powers which led to the mass slaughter of millions from the imperialist centres and their colonies.

Pearse, James Connolly and the other signatories to the Proclamation sought to use the conditions created by the imperialist war to break away from the British empire and, in Connolly’s case, create a socialist republic.

Connolly recognised that in the imperialist stage of capitalism, a subject country like Ireland could only achieve real freedom by overthrowing not just the British adminstration but also the capitalist system.

For Connolly, the struggle for national liberation and the struggle for socialism were not separate struggles but two aspects of the same struggle for liberation. It was a model that was later successfully utilised by Communist-led anti-colonial forces to smash the European colonial empires.

Much has changed in Ireland in the 110 years since the Rising, however much remains the same. While the 26 counties has achieved political independence, it is still dominated by imperialism.

The policy of neutrality, which flows directly from the 1916 Rising has been increasingly eroded and is under constant threat as a result of EU membership.

The economic model pursued by the Irish bourgeoisie since the 1950s has led to a dual economy: a foreign-owned enclave producing pharmaceuticals, ICT, and financial services for export, and a domestic sector concentrated in construction, retail, food services, and public employment, with much lower productivity and wages.

The agricultural sector is geared towards the export of 90 per cent of its output, mainly beef and dairy products, while the country imports over 80 per cent of its fruit and vegetables.

The tenements of 1916 may be gone but homelessness remains a growing problem.  

The Six Counties remains a direct British colony with a devolved assembly that has institutionalised sectarianisn in which nationalist and unionist compete in a futile contest for dominance within structures designed to deny both communities real control over their lives.

This April 25 and 26, within walking distance of the GPO, Ireland’s Communists will gather under the slogan of “Peace, Independence and Socialism” for the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of Ireland.

Congress will reaffirm, following Lenin and Connolly, that class struggle and the struggle for national liberation are inseparable. The fight for socialism cannot be realised without breaking the chains of imperialist domination; equally, national independence cannot be secured on a capitalist basis that preserves exploitation and dependency.

Our scientific and historical analysis demonstrates that imperialism in Ireland obstructs the development of class politics and divides the working class, north and south. National liberation and socialism must advance together, as two sides of the same struggle.

From the first Communist Party of Ireland in 1921 through to its re-establishment in 1933, the Communist Party of Ireland has been an integral part of the Irish struggle for social and national liberation.

The 27th Congress is the latest step in that process. We will grapple with the complexities of charting the correct political position to advance the struggle for national liberation and socialism in a politically partitioned country dominated by the triple lock of US, EU and British imperialism and native capitalism.

As imperialism is once more prepared to unleash war on a global scale, the struggle for socialism and a peaceful world becomes ever more urgent. In the words of James Connolly, “our demands most modest are, we only want the Earth.”

Jimmy Corcoran is general secretary of the Communist Party of Ireland.