SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor, has called on the Left to unite in providing a “coherent vision” of how Irish society can move beyond “the culture of the quick buck” which has devastated Irish society towards building a “New Republic”.

O’Connor made his call in an oration at the grave of Alicia Brady one of the last martyrs of the 1913 Lockout. She died after being fatally wounded during a confrontation with strike breakers and was buried one hundred years ago on Saturday, 4th January.

“It is time now to abandon the failed strategy of basing public policy on individual greed and to revisit the task of building a New Republic informed by the ideals of collective solidarity which were so brutally suppressed in this city in 1913. 

“In that regard the trade union movement and the Left are the only forces in our society which reflect the interests of the majority and which are sufficiently organised and resourced to lead the way.”

He added: “If we are really serious about being true to the memory of Alicia Brady and all those she stood with throughout that epic struggle, we have an obligation to offer more than protest and caustic commentary.”

It was necessary to face up to the challenge of developing a coherent vision for Irish society based “on equality and the primacy of the common good. We must also demonstrate that we have the capacity to bring it about and outline a strategy as to how it would work in the context of today’s globalised economy.”

That meant people on the Left realising that until "we command a majority it is entirely legitimate, indeed essential, for parties and individuals to participate in government with those on the centre right either in Dublin, or Belfast.

“We have to have a more rational strategy than standing aside and allowing working people to be battered into the ground in the hope they would follow us as a result of the experience.”

The Left and the trade union movement needed to display “an intellectual generosity of spirit that recognises that no one has a monopoly of wisdom. We must be sufficiently pragmatic to avoid condemning those with whom we disagree on questions of strategy and tactics, or dismissing their programmes as ‘fantasy economics’ and the like.”

Also addressing the commemoration was Alicia’s niece, Brigid Taylor, Chairperson of the Irish Women Workers’ Union Committee, Terese Caherty, and 1913 Committee co-ordinator, Padraig Yeates. SIPTU Campaigns and Equality Organiser, Ethel Buckley, chaired the event.

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