It was announced today that the NAMA board members received a huge pay hike with the board's chair receiving a 70% pay increase. This is in stark contract to the two successive wage cuts of between 14% - 18% of income for all public sector workers. ... read full story

The ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is a trade agreement being negotiated by the Obama administration through the United States Office of the Trade Representative. The trade agreement is particularly interesting on a number of points. ... read full story

The rich remain rich and the rest of us are supposed to keep them that way. That’s why we get pay cuts, health cuts, education cuts, job cuts. It’s not as if dipping into the pockets of PAYE workers is the only way to foot bills. A mere 5% of the Irish population own 40% of the wealth. And a tiny 1% own most of it (34%). What pinko fantasist came up with these figures, asks the cynic. Well, it was that well-known radical outfit, the Bank of Ireland (in its Wealth of the Nation report). ... read full story

Anarchist organisation, Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM) has attacked Michael O'Leary's support for the Lisbon treaty, describing O'Leary as "one of Ireland's most notorious anti-union employers" ... read full story

The economic crisis we face in Ireland is that huge amounts of money have been lost with the collapse of the property bubble. The question is, who will pay? Will it be the crooked bankers and dodgy developers responsible for this mess, or us, the ordinary working people? ... read full story

NAMA is nothing short of straight class robbery – robbery from ordinary workers in order to shore up the property developers and big bankers who got us into this mess in the first place. It can be described as unfair, it can be described as immoral but in reality it’s naked capitalism at work. ... read full story

The McCarthy or “Bord Snip Nua” report on public spending outlined a range of proposed cuts in government expenditure. Of the €5.3b in possible savings, it can be safely said that at least €4b of this (and probably more) targets the working class. Indeed, a full third of the cuts are aimed at pensioners and unemployed. In the private sector, attacks on our class continue in the form of pay cuts, short time and lay-offs. ... read full story

John Fleming, the west Cork businessman who began his career making sheds and ended up owing the banks €1 billion – the tab for which we will be picking up, no doubt – is a great example of how the other half is dealing with the recession. Whereas you and I have to pinch and scrape, John Fleming can still call on plenty of spare coins – despite his massive debt. ... read full story

Analysis from 1984 of the National Plan that was put forward to get us put of the 1980's recession. ... read full story

Article from Workers Solidarity 1, 1984 about the recession and the companies & individuals who were making millions ... read full story

Working people continue to bear the brunt of the economic recession in terms on job cuts, poverty wages and house repossessions, while the rich and powerful in our society are bailed out again. This is state capitalism and comes under various forms from thatcherism to neo-liberalism.

The Belfast Anarchist Communist Discussion Group, set up by the Belfast branch of the Workers Solidarity Movement recently invited Michael Reinsborough to give a talk on the topic of neo-liberalism.

The public meeting took place on Wednesday 17th June in the Belfast Unemployment Centre.

... read full story

At our Spring national conference earlier this month the WSM debated and voted on a number of documents on the capitalist crisis and the resistance to it. This text is the agreed collective position of the WSM and looks at the causes of the crisis, how it impacts workers in Ireland, what resistance there has been and what hope there is for the future. ... read full story

Long-term Rossport campaigner, Sean Mallory, gives his views on the give away of Ireland’s natural resources and the recession. ... read full story

When Brian Lenihan announced his budget last October, two of the measures in particular were met with howls of outrage and his government was forced to back down post haste. The first of these - and the one most people remember because of the dramatic pictures of the Age Action meeting in Westland Row church where Minister of State John Moloney was booed off the stage – was the attempt to take away the automatic entitlement of over-70s to medical cards. ... read full story

A bully is strolling across a schoolyard in Clara. He steals from, humiliates and hits the other kids. Whatever you decide is the best way to deal with him, there is one thing you probably won’t do. You won’t sit down with him over tea and biscuits and try to hammer out an agreement about how to convince everyone else that bullying is inevitable and might even be good for them. ... read full story

If waged employees today do practically all real work, then the capitalist has no role other than collecting dividends, living the high life, and gambling on the Stock Exchange. The big banks, all of which are now kept afloat with our tax money, and most of which are now majority state-owned, are still paying massive “bonuses” to their top people. ... read full story

If truth be told, should we be surprised by revelations in recent weeks concerning the expenses of ‘our’ politicians?
... read full story

Lenihan’s budget has continued the political strategy of defending the wealthy. Where is the reaction? Where is the anger? ... read full story

"We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money, and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless. This is a crime. Bank bosses should be jailed. This is just the beginning."

(Statement released by the anonymous group behind the attack.) ... read full story

There is no money left in Ireland. At least that’s what you might think after listening to Brian Cowen, Enda Kenny, IBEC and the parade of capitalist economists and pundits who parrot this nonsense. Yes, we are heading into a deep recession but guess who is expected to pay the cost?
... read full story