CPI ignores opportunity to address outstanding issues
Following the election of a new National Executive Committee (NEC) at the recent party congress, a former member of the party who had been expelled in 2022 wrote to the NEC expressing the view – on the basis of mutual interest – that it should review the decisions it took at that time. The CPI has not responded to that letter.
Where to begin?
A start to resolving the wide range of issues that has plagued the party since the early 2020s could have been made even if undertaken slowly and cautiously. Finding ways to do that would have taken some working out but it would beat remaining steadfastly silent as if the issues would magically disappear if enough time goes by. Not much of a strategy, is it? Considering the commissions and examinations of various historical events and issues in the recent past in Ireland, it is clear that the passage of time, like ignorance, is no defence in law or in political morality.
Some of the perpetrators are still in power or were recently elevated which, in itself, reflects the absence of any possibility of freshness or originality emerging in the party. Most importantly, such a process would have to start with addressing the human elements of the abuses and the consequences for the individuals concerned. After all, that is where communism begins and ends.
………..the passage of time, like ignorance, is no defence in law or in political morality.
Over the years, and culminating in the early 2020s, individuals who were trying to be communists, trying to further the aims of communism and trying to contribute to the development of the CPI, were hounded out of the party. One after the other, members were banished to other political parties, to the margins of political activity or to total political inactivity as a consequence of getting on the wrong side of some ‘leader’ or committee. At times, it looked like there were more ex-members of the party than actual members and this is particularly a true reflection of the situation today.
The expulsions were not always overtly forced. Members who, for whatever reasons, found themselves on the wrong side of some petty disagreement or political argument were isolated and chipped away at until the message was properly absorbed. Then, they just left the scene.
That method worked very well – for the leadership and the committees. How individual members were treated is not an academic or procedural issue: the fact is that many members were treated very badly over a very long time – at least, back to the reign of Michael O’Riordan. In the time up to the 2020s, a degree of sophistication was employed to deal with such little problems and it worked very well in that the level of isolation or bullying would be hard to pinpoint exactly. Consequently, the leadership and the rest of the membership were never seriously challenged – mostly because hard evidence was difficult to pin down.
However, there were a few practice sessions in the lead-up to the 2020s purges where the bending of the rules were stress-tested and effectively applied with no kick-back from the members.
This normalization of destructive principles and practices within the party leadership and the cowardly acquiescence of the general membership would inevitably have its consequences.
The chickens came home to roost in the early 2020s under the leadership of Eugene McCartan – a veteran of the of the old school. The urge to exert maximum control and settle old scores once and for all, caused the leadership and the committees to lose control of themselves as they unashamedly replaced a ‘successful’ methodology with brute force and political thuggery to ‘resolve’ whatever irritations were bothering them.
The consequence of abysmal leadership abilities, complete disregard for any form of diplomacy or candour, reckless brashness coupled with the total disregard for the welfare of the targeted members led to the production of copious self-incriminating written evidence that eventually ensured a number of responses – all outside their control.
It is the existence of all this written evidence – not its exposure – that is the problem. The various and distinct responses of the excluded members – from the creation of a new communist party to the Guerrilla Communists campaign to expose the CPI, are merely side-shows compared to the difficulties facing the party. The evidence is there to stay and the veracity of that evidence is the reason the CPI is hamstrung in a mode of silence.
Rather than examining origins and culpability, or trying to find ways to approach possible correction, the CPI tries to move on to something different and hopefully, distracting, mostly by resorting to messages of solidarity, reports on commemorations and statements devoid of any strategic direction. (see CPI website).
Meanwhile, the continuing lack of any corrective measures from the CPI is counter-productive for the party, to say the least. The longer the party leadership continues to endorse the actions of the leadership of the early 2020s the harder it becomes to distance themselves from the consequences.
The election of Jimmy Corcoran and Jimmy Doran as General Secretary and National Chairperson respectively, following the recent party congress, gives a flavour of the dilemma facing them individually and collectively: they would have to repudiate themselves as they both were central figures to the procedural abuses that took place at that time and which they have continued to endorse by their inaction, their silence, and their continuing roles in the leadership of the party.
Continuing to ignore opportunities to start the inevitable process of repudiation and reconciliation is yet another manifestation of their poor levels of leadership and lack of sense of any form of justice.
We will return to this specific issue in detail in future posts. Meanwhile, the evidence will not go away. Neither will the requirement for the CPI to expunge its shameful past – and its ever-increasingly shameful present.