After an extensive debate within the Socialist Party, a group of members, including Paul Murphy, have decided to leave and intend to launch a new socialist group. When they decided to leave, the party accepted that and we all aim to have an amicable and cooperative relationship in the future in the interests of working class people. Paul will continue as a member of Solidarity – People Before Profit and all six TDs in Solidarity-PBP will continue to work together closely in Dail Eireann and work together in building and assisting struggles in workplaces and communities.
Issues that were discussed within the party over the last year include:
Differences on the balance of our work, between building movements together with others and building our party independently and how we relate to existing political parties to our right – including Sinn Féin and the Green Party, and how we engage with broader movements and political forces.
Linked to the above, some different perspectives and emphasis in relation to how a broad mass left party and movement can be built? This includes differences about how to relate to others on the radical left, how a broad left will be built, and the role that new movements and explosive developments from below including the women’s movement and the environmental movement and other grassroots struggles will play.
A difference on the best way to argue for and build support for the ideas of socialism, which also expressed itself regarding aspects of our programme and policies in the context of a coming economic crisis.
While we agree on the significance and importance of the global women’s movement, differences existed about how we should engage in that movement, for example, how much emphasis we should have placed on our work as part of the broader Together4Yes campaign compared to the ROSA campaign.”
