The face of the capitalist political establishment in Ireland for the past seven years, Leo Varadkar, has resigned as leader of Fine Gael and from the Taoiseach position.

　　Varadkar has been, without doubt, one of the most reliable servants of the Irish ruling class in the last decade. He was once the man they needed. But the times have now changed.

　　Anti-establishment anger

　　Hatred is building towards Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and the whole political establishment. Varadkar’s party is staring disaster in the face, with local and European elections in June and a general election due within a year.

　　One-third of Fine Gael TDs have announced that they will not stand in the next general election. The rats are fleeing the sinking ship. Varadkar is only the latest.

　　Despite the shock in Fine Gael circles at Varadkar’s announcement, the frenzy of speculation about his motives in the media, and the endless sycophantic articles about his ‘heartbreaking’ speech and legacy, the mood amongst the vast swathe of people is remarkably indifferent.

　　Varadkar’s legacy

　　In his resignation announcement, this consummate representative of the capitalist class had the cheek of asserting that he has taken Ireland from “austerity to prosperity”. Even in his parting words, he remains the posh boy, living in a world utterly detached from the lives of ordinary people, whom he looks down upon with the haughtiest contempt.

　　It is doubtful whether the 13,531 homeless people in Ireland feel very ‘prosperous’. Nor the 70 percent of young people considering migration, the 700,000 on hospital waiting lists, the three-in-four parents unable to secure a spot for their children in oversubscribed schools, the 377,000 that can’t afford adequate heating, the 670,000 living in poverty, etc., etc.

　　In 2017, Varadkar took up the mantle of protecting the imperialists’ profits, shoving austerity down the throats of workers as the country continued to suffer from the hangover of the debt crisis.

　　The imperialists demanded a balancing of the budget (i.e., heavy austerity). And, as a faithful representative of the Irish ruling class, Varadkar executed the diktats of the capitalists in Washington, Brussels, and London. Meanwhile, multinationals made obscene profits out of the sweat of the working class.

　　Ireland today is one of the most-unequal countries in Europe, where the richest 20 percent own 73 percent of the country’s wealth, while the poorest 20 percent holds no more than a meagre 0.2 percent.

　　Landlords make an aggregate €4.5+ billion of rental income on the back of the housing crisis. Bosses made an absolute killing during Varadkar’s term in office, with corporate profits almost doubling to €300 billion in seven years.

　　Varadkar’s government has been one of crisis for the workers, and unprecedented prosperity for bosses and landlords. Is it any surprise that vast anger exists today against the government?

　　A last throw of the dice

　　The referendums–being mere wordplay, with no clear material gains attached to them, and confusion surrounding the whole thing–became a chance for many to register their feelings with Varadkar, Martin, and company.

　　Incredibly, many on the left–infected by the ideas of postmodernism, and its obsession with meaningless wordplay as the height of political activity–fell into the trap set by the government. A cynical gamble on the part of the latter led to heated Yes-Yes versus Yes-No debates inside these circles, missing the point entirely.

　　Communists will of course fight for any and all concrete gains for workers and oppressed groups. But we understand that genuine liberation can come only by relegating capitalism to the dustbin of history.

　　Only when the means of production are nationalised and placed under a democratic plan to abolish want in housing and the other necessities of life, providing for the full socialisation of care and other domestic tasks–only then can we liberate women from the shackles of class society.

　　Simon Harris: back to “Fine Gael basics”

　　The timing of Varadkar’s resignation is hardly a coincidence. Many disgruntled voices have been raised inside Fine Gael for quite some time now.

　　When the much-anticipated poll bounceback failed to materialise in late 2022, after Varadkar regained the Taoiseach’s office, many saw the writing on the wall. The referendum defeat was the signal that heads had to roll inside the party.

　　A change of faces at the top won’t alter Fine Gael’s fortunes, however. For a long time, Varadkar has tried to carry on a balancing act: representing a party that stands for everything reactionary and backwards in Irish society, while seeming to lean with the prevailing wind in society. Fine Gael’s base could go along with it as long as Varadkar could deliver electoral successes.

　　But that’s now over, as soon-to-be Taoiseach Simon Harris hinted in his skin-crawling first speech to the media as the new leader of Fine Gael. It is clear that he intends to take the party back to “Fine Gael basics”, speaking as he did about “law”, “order”, “rural Ireland”, “enterprises”, and attempted a bit of forced, tub-thumping Republican-bashing about “taking our flag back”.

　　Ireland has gone through sea changes in the last decades. An agenda of austerity and social conservatism, however appealing to Fine Gael’s base, won’t cut much ice with millions of Irish workers.

　　A period of open clashes in the class struggle is opening up. Before we enter this period, the main parties of the ruling class are already emerging as a spent force. In returning to their reactionary base, the true representative of Irish capitalism, Fine Gael, will find itself resting on a very thin stratum. The working class, on the other hand, has never been more powerful.

　　For all their reactionary, bellicose rhetoric, the Simon Harrises of this world cannot alter this objective balance of forces, which precludes a quick resolution of the crisis of capitalism in favour of the interests of the ruling class.

　　On the other hand, the working class currently lacks a leadership which can decisively lead to a rupture with capitalism through a socialist revolution and the creation of a 32-county socialist republic.

　　But in the course of the battles to come, the working class of Ireland, starting with its most advanced layer, will come to understand its interests ever more clearly.

　　Only when we, the working class, own everything, “from the plough to the stars”, can we solve the deep social problems wracking Ireland.

　　Only by expropriating the big banks, industries, and construction monopolies, and placing them under the democratic control of the working class, will we be able to use the immense wealth that exists in Ireland to tackle all the problems facing our class head on.

　　This is the programme the revolutionary communists in Ireland are fighting for. Join us in our struggle!

　　Editor: Zhong Yao  Liu Tingting

　　From: https://communist.red/ireland-varadkar-flees-before-the-storm-breaks/（2024-4-4）