Socialist Voice Review
October 2026
Try as we might, we could not get excited about the October issue of Socialist Voice.
There are a few relatively interesting articles one of which, The Public Sector Struggle and the Question of Class Power by Andrew Reagan, stands out for its clarity. Another, Venezuela Under Imperialist Control, offers a Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) perspective. It must be remembered that when things were going well for the Chinese in Venezuela, the Chinese and naturally, the CPI, did not have much time for the PCV complaining about the policies of the Venezuelan government. Now that China has little or no interest in Venezuela, the PCV may be back in favour – at least, with the CPI.
After that we find ourselves back to China again. First, there is The CPI and China: Celebrating National Day and Deepening Internationalist Ties: “On 22 September, the Chinese Embassy in Ireland hosted a reception marking the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The Communist Party of Ireland was honoured to accept the invitation of His Excellency Mr. Zhao Xiyuan, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Ireland, and his wife, Madame Li Yi, to join the celebrations.” We think the CPI was honoured to receive an invitation and the Ambassador may have been “honoured” that the CPI accepted the invitation but what is this “honoured” business?
It is more likely that the Ambassador sent an invitation and did not expect any grovelling appreciation of the fact to have to appear in Socialist Voice. And, just in case we missed the magnitude of the supposed honour bestowed on the CPI we were informed that they were in the company of “More than 400 guests…. Among those present were the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces; government officials; TDs and Senators; Lord Mayors and Cathaoirligh; representatives of Irish civil society; and diplomatic envoys to Ireland.”
Who writes this stuff? Gearóid Ó Machail writes this stuff.
Then, from East Asia no less, in Letter: China and Cuba, Graham Harrington, tries to explain China’s position towards support for Cuba. After expressing quite a few arguments as to why China might not be able to do more to assist Cuba, he cites reasons why Russia might not be able to offer more assistance. What Russia does or does not do has nothing to do with the case: Russia has no ideological affinity with Cuba while we can reasonably expect that China does.
However, Harrington’s concluding paragraph is more troubling and inherently contradictory. First, he tries to protect China from legitimate questioning about its support for Cuba with a generalised attack on “leftists in the imperial core” (mirroring Comrade Ó Machail in his similar attack in the September Socialist Voice).
Then, having listed numerous reasons why China could not or should not confront the US on the issue of Cuba, he calls for pressure to be put instead on the Irish government and Irish political parties: “The Cuban Revolution and people are putting up a great struggle and need concrete political solidarity, not tokenistic gestures that would make leftists in the imperial core feel better about China. The emphasis should not be put on criticising China’s supposed lack of action, but instead on putting it up to the Irish government, and certain Irish opposition parties, who all claim to be against the blockade but say nothing to their friends in Washington about it, and take no meaningful political action on challenging the blockade.”
We are not suggesting that pressure should not be put on these entities but, if the argument for China is that despite its size and power, it can be intimidated or otherwise constrained into inaction or reduced support then surely the same consideration must be given to the Irish government and political parties? Just as in the case of Russia, what Ireland does has nothing to do with what China does.
CPI Website:
Moribund is one word to describe the content of the CPI website. Pointless is another. See also CPI Website
In Socialist Voice we had the party basking in the glory of an invitation to a Chinese Embassy event and being “honoured” to be so invited. Having shown due deference to the Chinese hosts the party then elevates itself to being in a position to “salute” the working people of Garvaghy Road: “The Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) salutes the working people of Garvaghy Road and their many supporters.” Again, we ask, who writes this stuff?
A couple of “statements” and a number of notices advertising events under the banner of Connolly Conversations in Connolly Books is the sum total of activity on the site during October. One such notice Connolly Conversations — The Truth About Xinjiang: What Is Behind Allegations Of Uyghur Forced Labour And Genocide is accompanied by an attractive poster:
Fair enough but, after all that effort, and getting speakers together, where is there a report on the proceedings? Not in Socialist Voice and not on the CPI website. A handful of people got to participate directly and the show was over. Everything about the show looked impressive but the show was still just a show.
Still no sign – a full six months later – of the party programme (Political Resolution) and Constitution and Rules adopted at the National Congress last April. Here’s what Jimmy Corcoran had to say about the process leading to the production of these documents: “Under the slogan “Peace, Independence and Socialism…… “The process leading to Congress began over 18 months ago with Political Schools….. “This fed into the Political Resolution drafted by the National Executive Committee, which was then discussed by the party membership, and amendments were proposed by the Branches”.
Talk, talk, talk. That’s the CPI today: a talk show.