Background to Guerrilla Communists
Out… and about
Guerrilla Communists is made up of communists whose intention is to cause the Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) to organise as an actual communist party rather than it its current form as a party that calls itself the Communist Party of Ireland.
For the past thirty years or more the CPI has operated as a personal possession of the leadership. Any attempt to question any aspect of the leadership of the party, the direction of the party or the organisation of the party is met with ruthless and unprincipled attacks on any member who dared to transgress.
While rigidly controlling all activity within the Party there was no apparent realisation that if debate was stifled within the Party, then, sooner or later, the debate will take place outside the Party. So, the incessant internal control mechanisms were useless when members decided not to play by their rules any longer. They cannot exercise control over communists who are no longer members – communists who they forced out of the Party.
Many of the current leadership have been in place for all this time and longer. They have led the party to where it is today – more on that anon. Anyone who makes it into leadership positions, even committee members, either toe the line or learn to toe the line or very quickly they are on their bike.
And, if you don’t get on the bike voluntarily you will be on your bike one way or the other. You will be side-lined, discriminated against, bullied, face disciplinary threats and finally you will leave or you will be pushed.
An extraordinary feature of this process is that, up until recently, those tactics worked.
Members got fed up of doing nothing except attending endless meetings, or selected members were prevented from playing any useful role or were forced out or expelled. For the most part, those members left the party and that was more or less the end of it. Whatever about how that process affected the individual on their personal or political life was of no consequence – what mattered was that the party was not publicly touched as a result. The problem, as far as the party was concerned, was solved and life returned to normal.
However, in recent times things have changed – not in the party – but in the attitudes of those who for whatever reason or by whatever means left the party or were effectively, if not actually expelled.
There will be a tendency to dismiss the views and actions of such ex-members as being disgruntled, spiteful, or of having chips on their shoulders thereby dismissing anything they have to say or do. If that is how you approach the content of these pages then, be our guest – it will be a very comforting escape from reality. You will have remained in the ranks of those who think that people who are or were members of the Party who have been discriminated against side-lined, bullied, expelled etc should have no voice or that their voices are tainted by their experiences.
They do have voices and they will be heard, if not inside the Party then they will be heard outside the Party and, there is nothing the Party can do about it.
The only thing that matters is whether the content of these pages is correct or not, or partially so, and whether the analysis is worthy of examination.
Without passing any judgement on the crisis that eventually came to a head between the factions of the party in the north of Ireland and in the south (there were two area committees) a group of members in the north were either expelled or found themselves unable to reregister. This group, instead of skulking away with their noses bloodied decided to ignore the National Executive Committee (NEC) and continued to call themselves the Belfast Branch of the Communist Party of Ireland and the Northern Area Committee (NAC) continued to operate.
For the first time, the NEC and the rest of the leadership realised that you can vote a problem away but you cannot actually make it go away. Time will tell what the outcome of this game of draughts will be but the mould was broken.
Then, the Party situation deteriorated. Notices emerged from the ‘Communist Party of Ireland’: “Irish Communists Signal Intent to Reconstitute Communist Party of Ireland.” What would appear to be at least some of the members referred to above, appear to have mounted a further open challenge to the Party.
However, if the composition of this challenge is more or less the same people who led the northern faction until their marginalisation or expulsions, then it has to be noted that they too, until early-2021, were in the same leadership that led the Party to its current dismal state. Again, only time will tell what will emerge from this initiative and, therefore, should not be pre-judged.
Just before that, the ‘problem’ of the Connolly Youth Movement (CYM) was ‘solved’ and links between the two organisations were severed. Little thought was given to the realisation that as the more ‘advanced’ of the pair, the CPI had the greater responsibility to ensure the future of good relations between the two organisations. The fact is, the Party did not have the political or organisational skills to successfully manage that task and in the end returned to what they know best – brute force.
To cap all that, ex-members, expelled members, current members and prospective members are now organising in Guerrilla Communists to challenge the CPI to develop into an effective communist party. What could not be achieved within the party may well be achieved from outside the party. The days when the Communist Party of Ireland could carry on in their old ways unchallenged are at an end.
For a description of the old ways and the reaction to challenges go to When it all goes wrong
The proverbial genie is out of the bottle and the Party has nobody to blame but itself.