This Easter, like many Easters past, sees other Republican organisations parading to Republican plots throughout Ireland, each with their own following, whether it be big or small, and each castigating Britain for her Imperialist role in Ireland. We recognise that each of these separate Republican organisations are anti-imperialist and have been the main opponents of Imperialism in Ireland in the latest phase of the struggle against Britain, but by the very fact that these organisations viciously vilify each other over the graves of our Republican dead demonstrates the division and confusion which exists in Ireland to-day.

This division and political confusion in the context of our Party has manifested itself in a most ugly and antagonistic fashion, and has resulted in a situation where, for the past four months, determined efforts have been made to smash and destroy the Irish Republican Socialist Party.

Since the formation of our Party last December our Belfast members have been the victims of a terror campaign which would have impressed Brigadier Kitson himself, and could only have been equalled in ferocity by the British occupation army. We have witnessed the assassination of one of our members in Belfast, Hugh Ferguson, along with countless shootings, kidnappings and beatings. All this from an organisation which many of us belonged to at one time, and many of our comrades of former times sit in confused silence and watch their leaders order and execute these vile deeds. We have consistently and on every possible occasion, stiven to end this conflict. We are confident that the aggressors will eventually realise that terror will not stop the growth of our party, which has a legitimate political programme, and that tactics of this nature only strengthen us further in our determination to present and work for our policies, which we believe will lead to the creation of a Socialist Republic. The destruction of our Party and the Officials would only be in the interests of British Imperialism. We wish to state quite clearly that the formation of our Party as an alternative to the sterile policies being presented to the working class of Ireland is a significant contribution to the building of independent working class politics. We as a party understand the necessity of uniting the National struggle with the Class struggle. We will not fall into the Imperialist trap by waging the National struggle to the exclusion of the class struggle, and likewise we will not exclude the National struggle from the Class struggle. The needs of our class are the needs of Ireland, they cannot be presented in isolated parts, but must be welded together to secure the end of British Imperialist rule in Ireland, North and South. To this end one of our many tasks in the short term is to work for the unity of the Irish people behind the demand that Britain end her presence and interference here, and to do this we seek the formation of a broad front to actively work for this demand. We as a party are prepared to work with any organisation or individuals who support our demands that:

1. Britain renounce all claims to sovereignty over any part of Ireland.
2. Britain specify an early date for the total withdrawal of her military and political presence from Ireland.
3. Britain release all Internees and Political Prisoners and grant an amnesty for offences arising from the military campaign against British forces, or through involvement in the Civil Disobedience campaign.
4. Britain abolish repressive legislation.
5. Britain grant a bill of rights that will ensure the complete freedom of political action, and outlaw all discrimination whether it be on the basis of class, creed, political opinion or sex.
6. Britain agree to compensate the Irish people for the exploitation that has already occurred.

Under such a short term programme, we as a party must ensure that, for the sake of gaining some concessions, we do not drop our other demands, which would mean a return to a pre-1969 position in the North where the basic problems would still exist, and also we must ensure that the struggle does not de-generate into a mere campaign for a bill of rights. In Ireland today, because of the crises in the capitalist economies throughout the world, society as we know it is divided on class lines and the native Irish capitalist class are uniting with their imperialist masters in an effort to solve their problems at the expense of the working class. We see so-called labour party leaders unable or unwilling to mobilise the workers in defence of the class interests, and because of this the large pool of unemployed in the country has been left leaderless and at the mercy of the capitalist system. Even today the workers, North and South, are being fooled into believing that acceptance of Wage Agreements and Social Contracts are in their interests, when in fact they are instruments used to blunt the effectiveness of the workers in their opposition to redundancies and short time working weeks. We must ensure that they see the socialist alternative. They must be made aware that the fight for the right to work is the same as the fight against the British Army, is the same as the fight against Internment and the Offences Against the State Act and is the same as the fight for more houses.

All the problems confronting the Irish working class are caused by the one enemy - Foreign Imperialism and Native Capitalism. The Left in Ireland today must realise that in order to resist the attacks on the Irish workers and small farmers, there must be unity of action in this resistance and if they refuse, because of political sectarianism, to come to the defence of the workers, they will suffer the fate of the reformist and be pushed into a position of total irrelevance in the context of working class politics.

In the struggle ahead the Left in Ireland must regain the ground lost in 1969 and the main thrust against British Imperialism must not be left to people who do not understand the real nature of British Imperialism. Therefore the IRSP will not lose sight of its ultimate objective - the establishment of a 32 County Democratic Socialist Republic, with the working class in control of the means of production, distribution and exchange.

Only when this is achieved can sectarianism and the working class division be banished for eternity. Only when this is achieved can the rightful inheritors of the wealth of Ireland build a Socialist economic system on the needs of the working class, an economic system which would build houses according to the needs of the plain people and not for the needs of profit. An economic system that would secure the right to work, and vest control of the factories in the ends of the working class. Only under such a system can the working class be in complete control of their own destiny.

We have a Party which knows the way forward, we have a membership who, in the main have contributed their entire adult lives to the cause of Republicanism and Socialism and who understand the mistakes of the past. The conditions exist for large scale social upheaval. The only thing needed is the existence of a genuine Republican Socialist Party working in conjunction with and in the interests of the Irish working class.

The IRSP is such a party and we ask you to play your part in the struggle for National Liberation and Socialism by joining our ranks.