Fighting against their plans to cut

ONLY DAYS after the Irish government announced a savage austerity plan, nearly 100,000 people protested in Dublin.

The government wants to cut old age pensions, the minimum wage and unemployment compensation, and eliminate public sector jobs--all to pay for $90 billion in loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to bail out Irish banks. The demonstration was called by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the equivalent of our AFL-CIO.

Amid the first winter snow, the crowd moved through downtown Dublin to the General Post Office--the headquarters of the Easter 1916 Rising that began Ireland's War of Independence. Most people marched with their union. There was a large contingent from the United Left Alliance, a newly formed coalition pressing for decisive action to stop the austerity deal. They chanted that the unions should call a general strike.

When the march reached the General Post Office, balladeer Christy More sang "An Ordinary Man" about a worker who is unemployed after his factory closed down. Leaders of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions denounced the government and the plan to bail out the banks. But they offered few specifics on how they plan to fight back.

As the main demonstration finished, the United Left Alliance continued the rally. Several thousand people gathered to hear the Socialist Party Member of the European Parliament, Joe Higgins, declare that "the bills of bankers and developers are being handed over to the Irish working class...We need a nationwide strike to say that we will not pay."

Richard Boyd Barrett, a local councilor representing the People Before Profit Alliance, demanded that the unions call a general strike and called for the people to "lay siege to the Dail (the Irish parliament) on budget day."

The United Left Alliance is working to organize a strong left-wing, working-class alternative in the next Irish parliament. It is committed to opposing the budget cuts and taxing the rich to create jobs. It has been formed by the People Before Alliance, the Socialist Party, and the Workers and Unemployed Action Group.

They have already recruited 15 candidates, including local councilors, several former members of the Irish parliament, and labor and community activists. Every candidate will sign a pledge to oppose the budget cuts and never to vote for a coalition that includes any of the mainstream parties that support them.

The Alliance is committed to organizing resistance in the unions and communities, as well as in the parliament. It is hoped that in the future, it could provide the basis for a new organization of the Irish left.

For now, as Joe Higgins said at the press conference announcing the formation of the United Left Alliance, "The presence of a number of genuine left [representatives] in the Dail offering a visible political alternative will be a massive pole of attraction to workers, unemployed and young people and can become a real factor in the unfolding crisis."