Vol. 3-No 6
July 2012
Editorial
1/ The Wage Slaves Of Ireland
2/Religion, The Tool Of The Rich And Powerful
Editorial.
This edition of the Red Plough carries two articles by two other comrades, one on wage slavery and the second on the role of religion in society. Both,while not in the headlines of the mainstream media are highly relevant. Austerity is bearing down heavily on the working people of the Ireland. The exploitation of the labour and resources of Ireland continues unabated with little serious organised opposition by the left. The Labour Party endorses that exploitation while the forces in the United Left Alliance are too business watching their leftist allies to build a serious opposition. Meanwhile the discovery of a major oil find of the Cork coast will, given current fiscal policies by the Free State Governement add little to the resources and wealth of the people of Ireland.Rather it will simply increase the wealth of the O’Reillys of this world.( The recent strong performance of Providence Resources showed no signs of faltering. Ongoing confidence in the market that the exploration company can capitalise on its Barryroe oil discovery saw its shares closing up 7.27 per cent or 56 cent at €8.26.(Irish Times July 20th 2012)
The recent so called “Orange Fest” in the North once more showed the reality behind the Orange marches-anti catholicism. The blatant playing of sectarian tunes, (and not pop tunes as alleged by Nelson McCausland, MLA and Minister in the Northern Administration and bigot) outside a Catholic Church for 20 minutes while marching around in triumphalist fashion revealed the rel nature of the loyal orders. So it is relevant to examine the role of religion in society. For those interested in exploring in depth the role of religion in ireland see “Ireland and the Politics of Bigotry” –
gr
The Wage Slaves Of Ireland
Ireland today, much the same as the rest of the capitalist haven often referred to as the European Union (EU), is for the working class, though many may not realise it, a life of fear. Fear of unemployment, fear of family breakdown, fear of eviction by rogue landlords, fear of being unable to pay the bills and, most importantly, the mortgage.
Not much has changed for many since the days of the absentee landlord except today’s money grabbing leech speaks with an Irish brogue not an English one. Many good men and women fought to rid Ireland of such evils for all time. Others who pretended to fight for the same were secretly quite happy to kick the “Brits” out, rightly so, and replace that set of tyrants with themselves. These plastic liberators saw an opportunity, under the banner of liberation, to make an absolute fortune for themselves if they could only get rid of the incumbents of the day occupying this position, the British Aristocracy and later the bourgeoisie (capitalist class).
Today the money grabbing capitalists who occupy Ireland, North and South, are of a trans-national nature. Large companies from the United States, Britain, Japan and many other countries including the Irish ruling elite exploit the working class of Ireland. In the six counties they renamed their police force the “Police Service of Northern Ireland” (PSNI), formerly the “Royal Ulster Constabulary” (RUC) and encouraged Catholics to become members. To the dispossessed working class, Roman Catholic, Protestant or Presbyterian it matters not one iota whether a skull is caved in simply for trying to improve their lot by the baton of an officer who shares the same religion or not. They are still the agents, like any other police force, of capitalism.
According to a recent report by the Irish League Of Credit Unions 1.8 million people throughout the 26 counties are left with around €100.00 per month to spend after all the bills, mortgages, have being paid. These people are in what passes for “meaningful employment” whose employers, like all employers, face no such circumstances of depravation. For these “wage slaves” going to a place of employment amounts to a means of survival and nothing more.
Social pleasures, such as they be, are not in the dictionaries of these people. A weekend night out down at the pub or the pictures is an unthinkable concept for these poor folk after a weeks toil. According to the same report around 10% of these unfortunate wealth creators are also slaves to “money lenders” who charge extortionate rates of interest, in many cases so high that the victims remain in debt until their dying day.
The banks or other forms of “legal” loan agencies, which still have to be paid back at lower rates of interest, refuse these people credit thus forcing them into the hands of the “loan sharks”. Just imagine €100.00 left per month after bills have being paid, not much left to buy food let alone drink. A poor standard of life to say the least.
Prisoners perhaps enjoy more pleasure than these wretches at least they don’t have a pub on every corner which they can not afford to enter or cinemas which they can only dream of taking the kids to due to lack of finance.
This is capitalism at its legal best. The workers are legally robbed of their produce on a daily basis at their place of employment then they, in many cases, go into a distributing outlet and buy, often at inflated prices, the goods they have collectively produced and handed over, without question, to their employer. They then pay, foolishly or otherwise, mortgages and rents at a far higher rate than would be the case if society was organised in a more sane manner. In some cases, the unfortunate minority, life becomes so intolerable that suicide becomes the only way out.
Arguably the only piece of this sad jigsaw which is missing is the workhouse, which is still a recent point of history, or the concentration camp. At least in these hell holes the experience would be short, as the inmates would generally be worked to death, and no bills to pay on fear of eviction.
The ironic tragedy is that society could be organised so much better and civilised. Produce for the needs, these include luxuries and pleasures, of the people as opposed to the greed of the few, indigenous or multinational. Such a system is called socialism and the capitalists go to alot of trouble using their media and fear of the sack convincing people, most of who would benefit beyond recognition, how terrible such a system would be. The irony is most would be benefactors believe their oppressors!
Under socialism there would be no money lenders, they’d be at best in prison, no private exploiters of labour (employers) and no mortgage companies. Going to see a doctor or a visit to hospital would no longer be a financial burden as health would be a right and the service “free at the point of need” (it beggars belief what the people of the United Kingdom are doing allowing the capitalist vultures to swoop in and steal their National Health Service!). These are but a tip of the socialist iceberg regarding the advantages of such a system for the working class and, indeed if they could see it, the small business class, often referred to as the petty bourgeoisie.
The idea of wage slavery would be no more as the workers commonwealth gains momentum. No more would the aforementioned 1.8 million peoples lives be such a burden that in a few cases suicide is deemed the only answer as going to a place of work is merely a means of survival. Work would be more of a pleasure with people employed by the workers state to carry out jobs they have an aptitude for and not because it pays more. Pay equilibrium would be the target with pay differentials narrowing rapidly. Voluntary retirement at an earlier age would be an option, an antithesis to capitalism which seeks people work until their dying day, with a pension equal to their pay when working.
To bring about socialism, the people who would benefit from it, the majority, would have to want it. The question is do they? If they do they will have to fight for it as voting as we know it under the present state of affairs will not deliver, pity that it would be much easier if it could. The bottom line is, if the working class wish to improve their position and govern society for and by themselves they are going to have to scrap for every bit of ground. The alternative is settle for what is in place and the suffering, which will get worse, which accompanies it.
Liam Thompson
Religion, The Tool Of The Rich And Powerful
If a person, a man, were to walk up and without laughing or cracking their face in any way shape or form stated that his mother was a virgin and impregnated by a ghost resulting in him being the offspring most people would perhaps laugh. Others might go into hysterics and perhaps the more sensible amongst us may recommend some kind of medical help. If the person were to be a woman and made a similar statement claiming instead that she is a virgin, married and had an affair with a ghost a similar response from the audience could be expected.
This story, romantic as it may sound, is one of the basic anecdotes for the Christian religion. Within this religion there are numerous denominations, Roman Catholic being the largest by some distance, creating religious divisions among the people, primarily the dispossessed. Then comes the Protestant groups, in Ireland the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterians, Methodists and others. These divisions, first highlighted in 1517 at the start of the European reformation, historically have and are still being used by the ruling classes and the army of Britain and, more covertly, the United States of America in recent times to maintain schisms amongst the population of Ireland primarily in the six counties.
I’ve brought the USA to the fore because of their trans-national companies in Ireland seeking cheap labour and a job hungry workforce which is perhaps why George Mitchell had such a high profile in the negotiations which led to the signing of the “Good Friday Agreement”. Couple this with the fact that the USA are the dominant power in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and a force from this organisation is useful in monitoring the defence of their Eastern Seaboard, the next point of call after the West of Ireland, the suggestion of covert US involvement may not be so far fetched! Religious divisions have being exploited, not the first choice weapon in the armoury of the capitalists and Imperialists but never the less a weapon, to maintain their grip. This tool is not only used in Ireland as a controlling “opiate” but universally across the globe.
There are many religions across the planet with equally ridiculous stories aimed at keeping the faithful exactly that, faithful. Muslims, for example, follow Islam which is their choice, a choice nobody has a right to deny them, and there are two variants, Shia and Sunni with little love for each other. Hindu is another religion which is opposed to Islam and the followers of this variant of superstition, worship a god in another different way. Then we have the Sikhs who choose an alternative way again to worship a god.
The one thing all these religious groupings, Christian, Muslim, Hindus and Sikhs, have in common is they all believe there is only one god. They are all Unitarian. Outside all these religious sects we have the Jews, who claim to be descendants of the ancient Hebrews. Who knows maybe they are, after all we are all descendants of somebody or group, and read the scripts of the Old Testament? The Jews have suffered centuries of persecution and have good historical reasons to be wary of “the other.”
Irrespective of which group they are all tools of the ruling classes. The Jewish ruling class use the story of Mount Zion and the Hebrews right to return separating them from the Palestinians who have become refugees in their former home (the Israeli Palestinian conflict).
The partition of India and Pakistan along religious grounds, India being Hindu while Pakistan is Muslim. Neighbours who had lived side by side for generations with no more antagonisms than any other neighbours had to uproot and leave to settle in their designated areas. This situation is not dissimilar to that in the North of Ireland and they both have one constant factor, Britain. The situation on the subcontinent, India and Pakistan, the hatred which has festered, and been festered, between these two religious groups has often spilled over onto the streets of other countries in times of conflict at home. A friend of mine can remember an Indian restaurant in London when Hindus and Muslims confronted each other with machetes and knives to give one small example of confrontation.
Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers so the potential danger to the region and beyond is obvious. Divisions on religious grounds have, arguably, being used by larger powers, not least the USA, to control the region. In 2011 the US violated Pakistani airspace to kill, we are told, Osama Bin Laden. There is a question mark over this US violation of Pakistani airspace. Firstly under International Law it was illegal and secondly no body was ever revealed perhaps because there never was one to produce. Perhaps there never was a living Bin Laden! After all what have we seen as evidence of Bin laden? A few pictures of a bearded Arab gentleman! This is another argument for another time perhaps but the American excuse for this violation was religious based.
Throughout history religious groups or sects have been blamed and scapegoat by larger powers to create a crisis situation. Adolf Hitler created a nonexistent Jewish conspiracy to justify his persecution of them, the Jews, and other groups imposing draconian laws on the German people as a whole. Jews, communists, socialists, trade unionists, gypsies and anybody else the regime considered a threat or just did not like. The irony is many Germans, who considered themselves Christian, agreed with the Nazi dictator.
In more recent times the western powers led by the United States have created a Muslim bogey man instilling rampant paranoia leading to racism against this group. If a country has a problem or economic crisis the remedy is easy, manufacture a situation, blame a religious group divert peoples attention away from the real problems they face and, in the case of the USA, do what the hell you like citing, in this case Arab Muslims, for aggressive domestic and foreign policies. Bingo full house no questions asked its all the Muslims fault just like in Germany 1933-45 it was all the Jews fault!!
The Christian religion has a set of rules for its followers which if broken will upset God! These are known as the ten commandments every one of them broken by those who tell everybody else of the consequences of doing so. Perhaps the one mostly broken by governments, often in the name of God, is “thou shalt not kill”. What this joke should perhaps say is thou shalt not kill unless we tell you to do so! This clear breach of their own rules normally applies when the interests of a given countries ruling classes are at odds with those of the ruling elite of another land.
Working class people are then sent out to fight for the interests of their betters, kill people they have never even met and whose social conditions they perhaps have much in common. To dignify these acts regiments of various armies have their own religious man often referred to as a Padre or the equivalent. The presence of these psalm singing hypocrites is supposed to legitimise the slaughter in the eyes of, guess who, God!
Another commandment these Christian self righteous brigands like to break is “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery”. This is a handy one to break really because it takes two to break it. It means jumping into bed with your mate’s wife or husband is pretty cool providing, in the case of the Catholic denomination, the guilty criminals go to confession and admit it to God. This I found, before I grew up, was pretty useful. A have your cake and eat it scenario. Perhaps what this commandment should say is thou shalt not commit adultery but if you do don’t get caught! This covers those pretend Christian denominations which do not have the confessionary get out of jail clause.
Then we had the ultimate religious war, the modern crusades against the Muslims by the Christians. The modern variant of the Knights Templar from the middle ages led by George W. Bush, Richard The Lion Heart reincarnated, and his side kick Tony Blair. To carry out this crusade of plunder across the Middle Eastern oil fields needed another situation to be created. It has being argued by a number of unrelated people all around the world that the tragic events of September 11th 2001 provided the platform. Arguably masterminded by the higher echelons of the United States the results stand as testimony to remind us all. We shall not labour the who done it bit as this is not the theme. What transpired was many lives were lost in the twin towers. Christians and Muslims, across the Middle East lost their lives in pursuit of oil. A “religious war” crowed George Walker Bush and his congressmen and senators none of whose sons were expected to fight!
In Afghanistan right now this religious genocide is still going on. British, US and troops from other countries are out there fighting an organisation called the Taliban. This group were once, according to Michael Moore, very close friends of the Bush family and could therefore be trusted to look after Americas interests in the country. They were after all the Afghan government. What did it matter to the West if women were regularly executed just for questioning their husbands. Suddenly these horrendous acts of barbarism against women were wrong as was the lack of democracy in the country another principle which had been overlooked by the West for years.
What had changed was the Taliban and the Bush family were no longer best mates, or “buddies” and could no longer be trusted to look after TAPI (Turkiestan (sic), Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indian) natural gas pipeline. This is of course is an extension of the “holy war” pursued by Bush, the holy grail being huge profits. The various armies of the different countries involved have their usual array of holy men to legititmise in God’s eyes, the killing going on.
The real meaning of religion has its tell tale signs. For example the Christian variant has songs they like to sing. These songs are called Hymns and in a merry kind of way some of them tell us how to know our place in society. One which comes to mind is All Things Bright And Beautiful one line informs us of the rich man in his castle the poor man at the gate, ring any bells? Another one of these top twenty fools melodies is Onward Christian Soldiers which one line glorifies these righteous souls “marching off to war”.
There are in real terms two sets or classes of people who need, as opposed to wholly believing in, religion. The first is the very, very rich and powerful to maintain the illusion that its God’s will for them to have everything and, in the case of monarchs and aristocrats, a divine right to rule. These people don’t actually believe themselves but they need others to so they continue this farcical pretence.
The other class are the have-nots in society who need something to believe in, in the hope that divine intervention will come to their aid and strike the debt collector or mortgage company agents stone dead. Of course this desire never happens could it perhaps be because the debt collectors are also believers and God prefers the wealthy to the poor? That’s it, that’s why the poor are born that way and will die much the same, its God’s will!! Its also God’s will to encourage people to believe in the myth of being property owners when really their houses belong to the mortgage company. Strangely enough very little is heard of the line
“there is more chance of a camel passing through the eye of a needle than a rich man entering heaven”, a little inconvenient perhaps!
It would appear that these religions all have their story book. In Christianity the Bible rules but for the Muslims the Koran is the true word. Although these books probably make very interesting reading for the less intelligent amongst us but they are just not true. In fact no more true than the accomplished children’s writer Enid Blyton’s works such as Noddy And Big Ears. The Bible has been rewritten several times, firstly from Latin into English and other languages.
Strangely enough in the early days of education, it was this book the ruling classes used to educate the poorer orders but only the parts which encouraged people to believe, particularly children. Then around the time of the reformation the rules were altered slightly to accommodate and represent the interests of the aspiring mercantile class, the early capitalists. These modifications were carried out and written by mortal men and not some divine being. Yet these modifications superseded for some of the brethren the original scriptures the authors of which are unknown. What is certain is that these authors were, like Enid Blyton, of earthly origin.
Many of the deliverers bringing these religious messages are anything but godly themselves. In fact some could be described as the antithesis of what they claim to believe by preaching the opposite. This odd behaviour differs from the padre who tries to legitimise, in the eyes of God, killing on the field of battle because this gang of hypocrites actually preach retribution and in certain cases hatred.
During the Spanish Inquisition any mortal who questioned the Pope or the Catholic faith could face a painful death. Various protestant groups at the time of the European reformation had much blood of folk who would not follow on their hands. During the English reformation, which coincided with its European counterpart, King Henry Vlll had much to answer for.
Many extreme Muslim clerics have issued the death penalty on many people, authors, artists, Christians and non-believers. Perhaps one of the more famous of these cases would be that of Salmon Rushdie for allegedly insulting the prophet Mohammed. More recently the Irish Daily Mirror reporter Cronan Scanlon on Tuesday 17th July 2012 reported ’FLOG THUG GANGS, SAYS REV’. This was a short article expressing the opinion professed by Church of Ireland clergyman David Crooks. This ungodly set of ideas proposed ’the time has come to end the softly, softly approach to dealing with criminals, suggesting corporal punishment by stick and hard labour’. One can only ask what the fabled Nazarethian would make of the clergyman’s opinions, especially voiced in his name?
Throughout history and pre-history there have existed many different forms of worship and an equally diverse number of Deities. Many ancient tribes are said to have worshipped the Sun and Rain as gods. These forms of worship though equally misguided do at least have a certain logic about them. For example both the sun and rain exist and the behavioural pattern of both does affect the quality of harvest which the crops would yield. It would therefore follow that, and given the ignorance of the times, that praying for a good yield to the sun could be beneficial. Equally paying homage to the rain may prevent flooding and the annihilation of the crops and, therefore, food and survival. There have also being many other icons worshiped through the ages some perceived more logical, if equally false, than others. Today these superstitions continue in the forms outlined above.
Finally despite the many differences in theological thought in modern religions there is one thing these conveyors of the “true word” have in common, they all serve a ruling interest or class which need, in order to maintain their control in society the masses to follow. Keeping the people in “ignorance and fear” is an essential, though not the only, ingredient in this aim. Once the masses start asking questions, no matter what that question may be, the ruling elite perceive problems. This is why they, the ruling classes, pay Priests, Vicars, Ministers, Clerics, Rabbis etc a lot of money to keep the masses in this state of “ignorance and Fear”.
There is one thing that may be said about these fanciful stories from Christ to Mohammed. That is at very, very best there may be a vague, very vague element of truth in them. A base which to build the story round. It is unlikely that any group of people 2,000 years ago would have had the imagination to make up from scratch such a fanciful tale. The story could have been born out of the activities of a local trouble maker demanding peoples rights, land and bread for the people and a greater redistribution of wealth! This rebel may have come across the idea of the mercantile class sharing their profits with everybody just as the farmers should share their food,. Does this theory ring any bells? Today people of this nature are often referred to by the ruling classes as, ironically enough, GODLESS COMMUNISTS! This may not be an exact or even remotely approaching the reality of events 2,000 plus years ago but it makes more sense than the rubbish which passes for so called official events.
There are those who, rightly or wrongly, do genuinely believe in Jesus Christ, the prophet Mohammed or something else and must be left free of persecution to do so. However when these beliefs are hijacked by a power seeking bourgeoisie whose only interest is domination and profiteering it becomes a different matter. The socialist republic must offer freedom of religion with no discrimination to those who still feel a need for such activities, remembering the present conditions of poverty, starvation, unemployment and low living standards will no longer exist. However no religion irrespective can be allowed to interfere with the democratic mechanics of the workers republic.
Dick Dawkins
A Descriptive History Of The Irish Citizen Army [Kindle Edition]
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Marxist Education
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A Descriptive History Of The Irish Citizen Army [Kindle Edition]
Kindle Price:
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$8.29 includes VAT* & free international wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
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You Save:
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Marxist Education
James Connolly Archive http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly
The Red Plough is an independent Republican Marxist Internet publication
Please feel free to comment on the contents of the Red Plough.
We welcome political comments and criticisms. If you know of anybody who might wish to receive the Red Plough please send his or her e-mail address to
To unsubscribe to The Red Plough please send e-mail entitled “unsubscribe” to
It is the policy of The Red Plough to acknowledge information and articles from other sources.
