Guerrilla Communists

Communist Party of Ireland (Groucho Marxist) in disarray

If there was one feature that was generally associated with communist parties, it was that they were principled, particularly in their policies. Without principle and integrity, communist parties laid themselves open to all manner of attack to undermine their overall policies.

Of course, some of the problems with principles is that they can often be very restraining and quite demanding of disciplined application and approach. These issues can be managed by principled leaderships – indeed, it is a primary function of leadership of uphold and defend the principles of their party.

But, what happens when the leadership is slack or devoid of principle or integrity or discipline? When a leadership is scared to death of the democratic structures with the party? When they are scared to death of their own members? When they are themselves quite often without leadership ability? When they are delusional about their place in the great scheme of things?

You get the Communist Party of Ireland, that’s what you get.

There is nothing new or unpredictable about ‘leaders’ who have little or no leadership abilities – they are forever terrified of being exposed or of being replaced and they almost always resort to subterfuge, deception and hostility to maintain their positions and avoid criticism.

Of course, these will always be a degree of bias and subjectivity in any analysis of the quality of leadership displayed by any individual or collective. So, we will endeavour to stick to objectivity, material evidence and historical outcomes to make our arguments.

It is at this point we are reminded of the great Groucho Marx quip: “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.”

What a pity over the past four/five decades, that the leadership of the Party was not as good at leading as they were at staying in power. We will move quickly from 1970 to the present largely because there is so little of note to report.

Mick O’Rordan was General Secretary from 1970 until 1983. He was National Chairman from 1983 to 1989.

Eugene McCartan took over as National Chairman from 1989 to 2001 when he then became General Secretary until 2021.

More than three decades in charge and so little to show for it. In the last few years of McCartan’s rule, the Party split, the Connolly Youth Movement (CYM) ended its close relationship with the Party and a spate of expulsions pulverised the Party. Tactics that had never before been seen in the Party were employed to ensure that ‘undesirables’ – that is, members who would not kneel before their betters – were hounded out, ‘de-registered’ or expelled. Such niceties as a right of appeal were dispensed with by use of ‘clever’ manipulations that by-passed all norms and disregarded the rights and welfare of the individuals and blemished forever the integrity of the Party itself.

Time will tell how ‘clever’ they are at undoing the enormous damage they inflicted on the Party and on their own political and personal reputations.

Not to be outdone, those in the lineup for the future leadership were also getting their practice in.

So, to the present: Jimmy Corcoran is General Secretary.  Corcoran presided over a show trial of members accused of bullying another member – more detail here: Without integrity | Guerrilla Communists

One of the members declined to be subjected to a show trial but the other member went to the bitter end. It would be expected – when you can conduct a show trial not constrained by any guidelines or procedures, when you get full cooperation from the accused, when you can turn the principle that the onus of proof lies with the accuser on its head and when you can pre-determine the outcome – the least that could be expected is that you would get the verdict right. Right?

Wrong. A member, accused of bullying ends up being convicted of harassment despite the fact that the word harassment was not in the complaint nor was it raised at any point in the verbal or written aspects of the ‘trial’.

Subsequently, when the accused pointed out the glaringly obvious to the National Executive Committee (NEC), and asked it to correct the record, the NEC REFUSED. And, continues to refuse to this day despite the fact that bullying and harassment are entirely different legal concepts.

Corcoran, who could not even get a show trial right, is now the General Secretary of the Party that perpetrated such a charade. Both Corcoran and the Party stand over that outcome.

Can it get any worse than that? It can. The accuser in what brought about that show trial was Ciara Ní Mhaoilfhinn who is now the National Chairperson of the Party. Ní Mhaoilfhinn knows that the accused in this case was not accused of harassment. Yet, she is now the Chairperson of the NEC that refuses to correct the verdict.

That member was expelled from the Party (de-registered to ensure that he had no right of appeal) because he would not agree to stop doing something that he had never done and which he had never being accused of doing. Still, that verdict remains in place.

Can it get worse than that? It can. The accused found himself accused of bullying by Ní Mhaoilfhinn on a number of alleged grounds including that he continued to try to find information on some documents related to standing orders in the Dublin Branch. At that time, Ní Mhaoilfhinn was one of the Dublin Branch officers. She had presented a personal document to the NEC but there was another related document in existence that was not declared. And its origin was unclear. That undeclared document is reproduced below and it turned out to be from the Dublin Branch Officers to the NEC. As a Dublin Branch Officer, Ní Mhaoilfhinn was a co-author. This document was not discussed at any Dublin Branch meeting nor were members of the Dublin Branch made aware of its existence before or after it was presented to the NEC.

Yet, the pursuit of the truth behind that secret document, among other issues, resulted in a member being expelled from the Party and the co-author of an unauthorised and secret document elevated to the position of National Chairperson of the Communist Party of Ireland.

Perhaps Corcoran and Ní Mhaoilfhinn might like to explain why there was, and remains, such a difference in the way that two allegations of bullying were, and continue to be, handled by them and by the NEC?

As they say: you couldn’t make it up. The tragedy is that we didn’t have to.

However, it would be unfair to lump these named individuals with all the blame. Successive National Executive Committees, regional, branch, and sub committees have endorsed and enabled the most outrageous breaches of democracy, accountability and Party discipline. Great play is made of the term “democratic centralism” that is, the collective responsibility of the members of a committee within the Party and of the members as a whole.

By their own operational structure, these ‘leaders’ take the rest down with them. Alternatively, the members of the various committees take their ‘leaders’ down with them. Either way, they are collectively and individually responsible for both serious miscarriages of justice against individual members, and collectively and individually responsible for the disarray and impotence that is the Communist Party of Ireland today.

In the circumstances, the term Groucho Marxists is quite a flattering description of where the Party is today and of the ‘leaders’ who have taken it to where it is.

As we have stated before: Everything the CPI stands for and promotes has to be better than the existing order. Otherwise, it has no purpose.

 
More detail on the secret document:

Below is the document that the Dublin Branch officers delivered secretly to the NEC in May, 2021 on ‘behalf’ of the Dublin Branch. Some of the content of this document – at the time it was written and presented to the NEC – flagrantly violated the policy of the Dublin Branch itself. Proposals that the branch officers (joined by the majority of the members at the previous Branch meeting) voted against, were now presented favourably by the very same clique.

Of course, there was no backlash nor was anyone held to account for such disregard for the newly adopted Branch policy. There was no accountability at Dublin Branch level because the document was submitted in secret by the Branch Officers.

However, the NEC was aware that the contents of the document were both in breach of the newly adopted Dublin Branch policy AND that the document was presented in secret by the Branch Officers. Eugene McCartan, the then General Secretary, attended the Branch meeting where these new policies were adopted and had, in fact, voted against the position of the Branch Officers on one of the proposals before the meeting. McCartan recognised the absurdity of what was happening and it was this what led to a review of standing orders within the Party.

The pursuit of this secret document, among other issues, earned two members of the branch accusations of bullying and eventual conviction of one member for harassment!

This document represents just one example of the secrecy and abuse of power by the leadership at national and branch level. The secrecy was compounded when this document excluded the necessity for branch officers to declare to their members any correspondence – in or out. The subsequent standing orders document circulated by the NEC contained a clause on disclosing correspondence but revised standing orders were quietly circulated by the NEC with the clause requiring disclosure of correspondence excluded.

We have plenty more where that document came from but this will do – for now.

Right of Reply:

As always, we offer a right of reply to the CPI and to any individual mentioned in this article and we will promptly publish any correction or clarification we receive from those sources.

The secret document:  

 STANDING ORDERS
DUBLIN DISTRICT BRANCH

 
1. Name of Branch
The Branch will be known as the Dublin District Branch of the Communist Party of Ireland.
2. Aims
The aim of the Branch is to work towards the realisation of the Party’s programme as agreed at Congress. This work will be conducted through the various established committees, or through project-based assignments, as need arises, in between each Congress.
3. Elections
Branch Officers will be elected by secret ballot at the AGM. This will be done by way of an overall vote of all members present. Branch members who are unable to attend the AGM in person may request a postal ballot, which will be provided by the Secretary.
Ballot papers will be deemed “spoiled” if filled out incorrectly and/or incompletely.
4. Branch Meetings

1. Branch meetings will be held on the second Monday of every month.
2. Without exception, apologies should be sent directly to the Branch email.
3. In line with the Party’s Constitution, members must present their membership card at each meeting.
4. Seven (7) days’ notice will normally be given for all meetings.
5. There is no quorum for a Branch meeting.
6. Regardless of whether the Branch meeting is conducted in person or online, an attendee who wishes to leave the meeting early must notify the Chairperson in advance.
7. The agenda for the meeting will be prepared by the Secretary and Chairperson, in consultation with the other Branch Officers, and Branch members will be provided with a copy prior to the meeting.
8. Branch members may submit requests for general items for discussion to be included on the agenda. A decision will be taken by the Branch Officers on the relevance of same to the work of the Branch when setting the agenda. In the event that an item is not included, the Branch Officers will revert to the Branch member with the reason for their decision.
9. Branch members who wish to submit motions must do so in writing to the Branch email no less than seven (7) days prior to the date of the meeting. These will be circulated by the Secretary ahead of the meeting to allow members time to review the motion(s). Voting will be conducted as per Standing Order 7 below.
10. Online Meetings: Should a situation arise where there is persistent disruption to the proceedings or digression from the agenda (i.e. conduct which is deemed to be out of order), the Chairperson may call for a vote to remove any member(s) causing such disruption or digression. Such member(s) to be removed from the meeting if no less than 50% of members present vote in favour.

 
5. Annual General Meeting & Special General Meetings

1. The AGM will be held each year in January, unless a motion is passed by the Branch to defer it for a stated reason. The timeframe for deferral must be specified within any such motion.
2. Special General Meetings will be held whenever it is considered necessary by the Branch Officers or whenever the NEC so orders.
3. Any other requests for a Special General Meeting must be submitted to the Secretary stating the purpose of the meeting and signed by not less than 50% of the membership of the Branch. No other business will be discussed at such meetings beyond the item for which the Special General Meeting has been called.
4. Without exception, apologies should be sent directly to the Branch email.
5. In line with the Party’s Constitution, members must present their membership card at the AGM or Special General Meeting.
6. Seven (7) days’ notice will normally be given for the AGM or Special General Meeting.

1. There is no quorum for an AGM or Special General Meeting.

1. Regardless of whether the AGM or Special General Meeting is conducted in person or online, an attendee who wishes to leave the meeting early must notify the Chairperson in advance.
2. The agenda for the AGM and Special General Meeting will be prepared by the Secretary and Chairperson, in consultation with the other Branch Officers, and Branch members will be provided with a copy prior to the AGM or Special General Meeting.
3. Branch members may submit requests for general items for discussion to be included on the agenda. A decision will be taken by the Branch Officers on the relevance of same to the AGM when setting the agenda. In the event that an item is not included, the Branch Officers will revert to the Branch member with the reason for their decision.
4. Branch members who wish to submit motions must do so in writing to the Branch email no less than seven (7) days prior to the date of the AGM. These will be circulated by the Secretary ahead of the AGM to allow members time to review the motion(s). Voting will be conducted as per Standing Order 7 below.
5. Online Meetings: Should a situation arise where there is persistent disruption to the proceedings or digression from the agenda, the Chairperson may call for a vote to remove any member(s) causing such disruption or digression. Such member(s) to be removed from the meeting if no less than 50% of members present vote in favour.

 
6. Duties
Chairperson:
To preside over all meetings of the Branch, including the AGM or Special General Meeting. To ensure that business is carried out in an orderly and efficient manner, taking all contributions from Branch members through the chair.
Secretary:
To take the minutes of all meetings of the Branch, draft the agenda for meetings, conduct correspondence, keep records and generally administer the affairs of the Branch in accordance with its decisions.
Treasurer:
To keep the accounts of the Branch, prepare and present to the AGM a report on the finances of the Branch, consisting of income and expenditure for the previous year.
Deputy Chairperson:
To provide support to the Chairperson in the discharge or their duties.
Deputy Secretary:
To provide support to the Secretary in the discharge or their duties.
Deputy Treasurer:
To provide support to the Treasurer in the discharge or their duties.
 
7. Voting
Voting on all matters at Branch meetings will be by a show of hands, except where a secret ballot is specified by these standing Orders or by the NEC, or where the Chairperson deems a secret ballot is necessary.
8. Standing Orders
The Standing Orders may not be revised or amended except at the AGM or at a Special General Meeting of all the Branch members deemed for that purpose. Such revisions or amendments to take effect when ratified by the NEC. However, the Chairperson may accept a motion to suspend Standing Orders provided the number of the Standing Order is stated and if a two-thirds majority of the members present at the meeting vote in favour of its suspension.
9. General
These Standing Orders, in conjunction with the Constitution of the Communist Party of Ireland, are binding on all members of the Dublin District Branch.
The NEC will be the final authority on the interpretation of these Standing Orders.

Comment & opinion

HOME