Workers Party Annual Wolfe Tone
Commemoration
Bodenstown, 2025.
Oration by Gerry Grainger
Tone and the Society of United Irishmen
We gather here once again at the grave of one of Ireland’s greatest revolutionaries, Theobald Wolfe Tone. We are here to commemorate Tone and the Society of United Irishmen, who represented in their own times the most advanced revolutionary politics and practice. They looked at the injustices and inequalities of Irish society, analysed what was needed to end them, and embraced the need for a revolution abolishing the political, social, and economic status quo. They fought for a revolution that would see democracy replace aristocracy, a republic replace monarchy, secularism and unity replace sectarian division, and establish Ireland as an independent state that played a leading role in alliance with allies in France and elsewhere in the struggle to build a better future for all humanity.
At the heart of United Irish politics lay unity – the unity of Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter. In other words, unity of all the men and women of no property, regardless of their ancestry, their religion, and their birth. The United Irishmen realised how the native reactionary political and economic elite, and their allies in Britain, benefited from the division of the Irish people, and saw that only unity could defeat and overthrow their corrupt and exploitative system.
Their political programme and strategy followed from this central truth - as has ours, ever since the 1960s when inspired by Cathal Goulding, Tomás Mac Giolla, Seán Garland Des O’Hagan and others, we rethought our theory and practice, emphasising the lessons of the United Irishmen, Marx and Engels, Connolly, and Lenin, and set about building the unity of the Irish working class and a political party able to give expression to its needs and revolutionise Irish society in its interests.
Our presence here today is a reaffirmation of our belief in that vision. We have never, will never, and can never compromise on it.
One of the pillars of the politics of Tone and the United Irishmen was that Ireland could stand on its own two feet as an independent country that made its own decisions about its politics, society, and economy, and the role it wanted to play in world affairs. This was the point of Tone’s second pamphlet, and one of which he remained proud until the end of his days. In Spanish War! Tone rejected the idea that Ireland should always go to war when Britain went to war. He noted that the spoils of imperial warfare went to the British alone, while Ireland’s economy and people, especially its poor, would suffer. He asserted Ireland’s right to stand alone and make its own decisions on war and peace, and on its place in the world more generally.
In the case of an imperialist war with Spain, Tone asserted Ireland’s rights to make its own decision, and demanded neutrality. In An Address to the People of Ireland in 1796 Tone spoke of the “new order of things commencing in Europe” and a future in which the unnatural union between Church and State will be dissolved.
Internationalism and proletarian solidarity
Tone also believed that, where appropriate, Ireland should ally with other countries for the good of all humanity – this was an important aspect of the alliance he negotiated with France. While he believed in the right to neutrality, he also saw Ireland as having a role to play internationally.
The programme of the Fenians had an internationalist element; Connolly and Larkin recognised the need for common struggle by workers across the world; Irish socialists voiced their support for the Great October Socialist Revolution and travelled to Spain in defence of the Spanish Republic. There is a long and honourable internationalist tradition and proletarian solidarity which has been followed by our Party in its support for socialist and anti-imperialist struggles across the world and our membership of European and international alliances of communist and workers’ parties.
Neutrality
Neutrality has been a bedrock of the foreign policy of the Irish state since its foundation. Neutrality remains extremely popular with the people, who regard it as a fundamental principle of the state.
Of course, the Republic’s ability to play an independent and positive role in world affairs has been increasingly constricted by its membership of the European Union. As followers of Marx and Lenin, we recognise the fundamental economic aspect of imperialism, and there is no doubt that the European Union maintains imperialist practices in relation to the former colonies. The increasing militarisation of the European Union – which has been rejected in referendums – and the increasing attempts to transform it into a more coherent political entity that can advance the agenda of European capital are major threats to neutrality.
Imperialism and Imperialist War
Since imperialist rivalry and ambition sparked the war in Ukraine in 2022, there has been increasing and open pressure from the EU’s political elite on the Irish government to abandon neutrality, and to align itself with the militarist policy advocated by the EU and US to promote imperialist intervention and wars. Once again, we are fed a diet of lies designed to support neglecting the public good in favour of filling the coffers of the military-industrial complex. These forces have no respect for the rights of the people to determine their own policies, attitudes and futures – instead they demand compliance with the diktats of unelected and unrepresentative warmongers.
The notion that Russia is somehow poised to invade western Europe was taken to even more ridiculous heights this week in the UK, with the claim by a supposedly “Labour” government that it is necessary to prepare for a war on home soil. This is not so much propaganda as outright lies and the most unsubtle of attempts to manufacture consent for militarism and war.
Unfortunately, the reality is that there are growing numbers among the Irish capitalist class and political and social elite who wish to end Irish neutrality and sign up to NATO. The right-wing media features prominently the tame academics, former military figures etc. pushing the militarist and pro-NATO agenda. The Defence (Amendment) Bill recently announced by the government seeks to end the Triple Lock, which was designed to ensure that Irish troops could not be sent abroad on military adventures in defiance of international law. The agenda is clear – these people want Irish troops to be able to participate in the likes of the destruction of Libya, which has benefited imperialist powers and international corporations, and not the people of Libya.
Just this week we have seen the NATO countries promise to more than double their average military spending at the insistence of their, in the telling words of the NATO Secretary General, “daddy”, Donald Trump. Have we not got record homeless figures, a health service in crisis, and many more problems that need to be addressed rather than throwing money away on expensive and unnecessary military equipment?
Nor should we be blind to what joining NATO would actually mean – the genocide in Gaza has been facilitated by all the major NATO powers, and not just the United States. They have done this through the supply of weaponry, surveillance and intelligence, and other logistical support. The people of the Republic do not wish to join NATO, they do not wish it to participate in imperialist wars and to support genocidal campaigns by NATO members and allies.
We in the Workers Party continue to struggle against the militaristic tide, and the entanglements that weaken Irish neutrality. We will continue to do so, as part of the campaign to defeat the Defence (Amendment) Bill, and more broadly the resistance to the militarists at home and abroad who have made ending Irish neutrality an imperative. This is a struggle, not just about our role in the world, but about the democratic rights of peoples to decide their own destinies.
Imperialism means war. We continue to counterpose proletarian internationalism to militarism, imperialism, and war. We have been very clear in our analysis of the war in Ukraine as an imperialist war, one that is killing working class people in huge numbers in the struggle to control vital natural resources and about the strategic balance in eastern and central Europe. We continue to combat the analysis of those on the left who misdiagnose the nature of that war, and of the regimes involved in it. Opposition to imperialist war is a core element of our politics, as it was for Tone, for Connolly, and for Lenin. Unfortunately, others at home and abroad have forgotten this, but we will not.
Palestine, the Middle East and Iran
Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza and its murderous activities in the West Bank continues to target civilians, not just with bombs, but with starvation and the repeated massacring of people simply seeking food. In recent days, soldiers in the Israeli military have told the Israeli news outlet Haaretz that aid distribution centres in Gaza have become “a killing field,” with the military leadership ordering soldiers to fire on unarmed Palestinians.
The capitalist world stands indicted. It is not just a case of inaction, but of active facilitation and support by most of the major imperialist powers. This war has provided the opportunity for the most reactionary parts of Israeli society to ramp up their seizure of land in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, and wage war across the region. The ongoing aggression of the murderous Israeli state, particularly in Palestine, has spread to other countries in the region. The recent attacks on Iran by Israel and the US represent a very dangerous escalation of a situation that has already brought tragedy to people in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. While the ceasefire is welcome, we note how imperialist powers turn to war as a solution, and the dangerous times in which we live.
Our Party, as a party of internationalists, calls for an end to imperialist war and aggression in the Middle East, and a free and independent state of Palestine.
Across the globe, imperialism is provoking increasing competition, rivalry, and war. The rapidity with which war is being embraced is of great concern, especially to the working class, which inevitably ends up paying the price of war.
We send our solidarity to those seeking peace, freedom, and an end to exploitation and oppression. We salute those especially who continue to promote internationalist working-class solidarity against the war drums of nationalism and racial and religious hatred.
Racism and the far-right
The continued activities of a white supremacist far-right movement in Ireland, which is funded and helped from abroad and that has organised a sustained campaign of violence against accommodation for refugees and more sporadic racist violence, is a major challenge demanding our resistance.
Tone and the United Irishmen sought to replace distinctions based on religion and ethnicity with unity. That remains the revolutionary position today, not just in relation to sectarianism but also to racism. We can never give ground to either. Unfortunately, there are those who regard themselves “on the left” who have given ground to racism, and even adopted some of the thinking espoused by racists themselves, instead of resolutely challenging it. As we have said repeatedly, we must emphasise unity, and give no ground to racism and racists. We salute our members throughout the country, most recently in Cork, Newry and Belfast, who have been prominent in demonstrating against white supremacism and racism.
Tone and the United Irishmen sought to replace distinctions based on religion and ethnicity with unity. That remains the revolutionary position today, not just in relation to sectarianism but also to racism. We can never give ground to either. Unfortunately, there are those who regard themselves “on the left” who have given ground to racism, and even adopted some of the thinking espoused by racists themselves, instead of resolutely challenging it. As we have said repeatedly, we must emphasise unity, and give no ground to racism and racists. We salute our members throughout the country, most recently in Cork, Newry and Belfast, who have been prominent in demonstrating against white supremacism and racism.
The Pogrom
We come here to commemorate Tone and the United Irishmen, but also this year, 50 years on from 1975 , we remember our own members, supporters, and families who fell victim to those who hated and attacked the Party because of our adherence to the ideals of Tone. They gave their lives for the vision of the United Irishmen, and that vision is something that sectarian Irish and British nationalists despise. The Workers Party remains a vital and necessary force, continuing to offer the anti-sectarian and socialist alternative.
Capitalism has failed - Socialism is the Alternative
The Workers Party also offers an alternative to the failures of capitalism, north and south. For all their differences, the two states in Ireland reveal clearly the problems of capitalism. We reject a society where someone has to wait more than 330 hours in Accident and Emergency departments. We reject a society that sees the majority of young adults trapped in their childhood bedrooms by outrageous rack-renting, absentee vulture fund landlords, and house prices gone mad due to speculation. We reject the inequality, the exploitation, the denial of fundamental human rights which we see wherever we look – all of which are the direct result of decades of government policy, no matter which combination of parties were in power.
All the parties that have been in power across Ireland, embedded as they are in the capitalist system, have proven that they will fail the working class. Only a government of and for the working class can deliver the solutions the working class needs and demands. Amidst an ever-worsening climate crisis, the Dublin and London governments are weakening their commitments to combat climate change. The Stormont Executive’s policies in this area are a farce. Imperialist war and imperialist war machines are hugely damaging to the environment. And of course, while Bezos flies to the edge of space with all the environmental damage it entails or attempts to take over Venice for his recreation, on the back of the dreadful conditions experienced by Amazon workers, and while the entire planet is experiencing the consequences of a climate change, it is the poor and low-income communities and developing countries that bear the heaviest burden. Private ownership of the means of production is irreconcilable with a safe and sustainable environment. The solution to the environmental crisis requires a socialist solution involving democratic control over the economy that ensures that the planet and its people, flora and fauna are protected from the ravages of capitalism.
We stand here in the spirit of Tone and the United Irishmen. They understood the enormity of the task they faced, but they remained resolute in the face of all their difficulties, and their actions and ideas remain an inspiration. Our task is huge, but we remain inspired by the actions, example, and principles of the United Irishmen as we seek to turn protest into class politics and to build the Workers Party and the socialist alternative.
G. Grainger
Central Executive Committee
Workers Party
Speaker