New Years Statement from Leadership of IRSM

1st January 2009

The IRSP send greetings to all our members and supporters as we enter 2009 . We send sincere solidarity greetings to all republican Prisoners, at home or abroad. We express our fullest solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip enduring a barbarous assault by the pro-imperialist Israeli regime. We stand shoulder to shoulder with all those who resist the forces of imperialism and reactionary ideologies.We are confident that the way forward not only for all the people on the isle of Ireland but also throughout the world is through the struggle for socialism. The current crisis of capitalism is leading to an attack on the living standards of millions of working class people. Unemployment will rise, more will sink into poverty and the dangers of war increase. The only viable alternative is Socialism, which will replace the anarchy of the free market with a planned economy that caters for the needs of the majority.It is clear to many Republicans a that the current set up at Stormont is not a steppingstone to a Republic but a cementing of British rule in Ireland. The IRSP will continue to work with other republicans to expose the hollow fallacies at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement. We will not be deflected by the campaign of arrests, harassment denigration and lies carried out by pro-imperialist forces north and south of the border on our membership.We urge all republicans to work in harmony with each other to expose the weaknesses of the current constitutional set up. It is not a time for “ourselves alone” philosophy.At the same time we urge all republicans and socialists to step up our activities in both the social and economic fields. Unless and until republican socialists take ownership and leadership of the day today class struggles then our struggle will not succeed.Finally we salute all our former political prisoners, all our former and current volunteers who have stood loyally by the ideals and principles of republican socialism.

The Struggle continues.