petty bourgeoisie. The Labor movement has not taken to heart Connolly's Leninist slogan, that in spite of the united front with the revolutionary nationalists the workers must retain their independence and their leading role.
De Valera's tardy (or premature [?]) rising against the compromise and the Free State, in which many workers and agricultural laborers took part, was also a mistake. It had as a result the further destruction of the active forces of the workers and the revolutionary strata of the petty bourgeoisie.
Today the position of the revolutionary movement in Ireland is most unsatisfactory. The trade union movement is split and weakened. There is neither a Socialist Labor Party nor a Communist Party. The Labor Party is weak and expends its energy in petty reformist work. In reality, it is simply the parliamentary representative of the trade unions and has no proper organization. Amongst the remaining Republicans who have been quite scattered, there are many good revolutionary forces. The peasants are unorganized.
Thus we see that the first task of the Irish working class is to consolidate its forces and create a virile leadership and organization. It is an absolute necessity to found a class conscious revolutionary Labor Party, and in this connection we must welcome the existing tendencies towards forming an Irish Workers' Party. The trade unions must be strengthened and made into a real powerful trade union movement. The Labor Party must raise the standard of Connolly; it ought never to lose sight of the fact that the workers alone should have the struggle for the final liberation from British imperialism and capitalism. It must not forget that for this end it must act jointly with the peasantry, and this is all the more possible in Ireland since the majority consists of hard working small farmers.
Thus, in union with the British working class, the other oppressed people in the British Empire and the workers of other countries, the Irish workers will raise aloft in Ireland the red flag of the Irish Workers' Republic.G. Schüller.
