Róisín McAleer.
We are not failing. But are we winning?
Sometimes it’s tiring trying to hold things together, trying to keep people focused, trying to be patient when you can see the gap between what people say they believe and what they’re actually prepared to do. Or even, in fact, able to IMAGINE.
What we are finding at our meetings, and on the street is that many agree with our message, and our analysis.
But agreement without action isn’t progress. It’s stagnation. And you can’t build anything solid on a stagnant movement that keeps doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.
Vladimir Lenin wrote about this again and again when he described the gap between consciousness and action. People don’t move automatically from knowing something is wrong to doing something about it. That leap doesn’t just organically happen of its own accord. It has to be organised. It has to be led. It has to be built with discipline and patience. Otherwise, what do we get?
People agree, but won’t commit.
People want to engage, but are afraid.
People wait for an academic or a celebrity to say the same thing before they’ll stand over it themselves.
People looking for a saviour, another party, another election, another face to pin their hopes on. That instinct, to look to the Dáil as the centre of politics, is really, really holding us back.
Politics is not in the Dáil. Power is not there either. Anyone who has even a wee bit of knowledge of James Connolly understands that.
Politics is in our workplace, when the manager pushes too far and no one pushes back. Politics is in the supermarket when you find yourself looking for whatever the equivalent of Yellowpack is these days in Aldi, Tesco or Dunnes. Politics is in your child’s school when their tree planting nature activity is sponsored by Amazon. Politics is in your GAA club that is being sponsored by Allianz. Politics is in your street when your neighbour is moving out because the landlord is upping the rent again. Politics is in the local hotel that is being converted into an IPAS centre. Politics is in the bus that doesn’t arrive on time, in the hospital letter that asks do you still want to be kept on the waiting list (or would you rather die sooner). Politics is when people are struggling and left to fend for themselves, believing they are in some way to blame for the way they have “ended up”.
I for one realise it’s not easy to let go of that electoral habit. I grew up believing that suffragettes fought hard for the vote, so we should bloody well use it. It feels legitimate until it stops working for you. But voting is where energy goes to die if it’s not rooted in something stronger on the ground.
It’s hard not to snap when someone says “maybe we should just run candidates,” or “maybe we need a big conference,” and inside you’re thinking, Jaysus, will ye ever cop the fuck on. But you have to smile and say something they don’t want to really hear in as diplomatic way as possible. Which Tyrone women like me find very hard indeed, in case you haven’t noticed.
We explain, we’ve tried that road. We explain, momentum without direction is drift. We say conferences without cadres are just talking-shops. We are not just numbers, as my wise comrade keeps reminding me.
The question we find ourselves asking is is awareness without organisation harmless? Or harmful?
Revolutionary organisation, as history shows us, is not spontaneous. It never was. It’s built slowly, deliberately, and usually when you’d rather be doing anything else. And the question we keep asking many Pal groups and fuel groups is the simplest one:
Then what?
Shut down the country—then what?
Block a port—then what?
Stop a road—then what?
If there’s no answer, then we’re not talking about strategy. We’re talking about gestures.
We touched on this ourselves in a Zoom this week when we talked about Peadar O’Donnell. When he and others took over the Monaghan asylum, it wasn’t for optics. It wasn’t a trend for a day on Insta or X. It was organised, disciplined, and tied to something concrete. Workers asserted control, even if only briefly, and showed what that looks like in practice. When we look at attempts to do similar actions since, I think of RHL’s recent acqusitions of derelict buildings, of our own occupation of Pimlico House less than a week after October 7th, and of the 132 Days at UCD Break the Academic Chains of Zionism encampment.
We need to understand that protest to control does not just happen overnight. We must move from expression to actual power, and that is not easy.
We also need to be frank about what we have now. Activism is treated like a hobby. A few hours here. A meeting there. A post online. A life split neatly in two with one foot in struggle, the other kept firmly in the comfort of the old world. Or is it the real world?
And I’m not saying that to shame anyone. I’m saying it because it’s true, and because we won’t move an inch until we’re honest about it. You can’t build change by stopping traffic for a few hours. You just can’t.
Revolutionary politics isn’t something you dip into when it suits. It has to be part of how you live, how you spend your time, how you relate to people, what you prioritise. Not in a way that burns you out or wrecks you altogether, but in a way that’s consistent and grounded.
And here’s the bit no one likes hearing. Discipline matters.I know, I know…sounds harsh. Sounds rigid. But discipline is just what turns a scattered group into something that can actually act together. It’s not about control for the sake of it. It’s about effectiveness.
Same with commitment. It’s not turning up to a weekly demo and heading off home again. It’s not logging into a Zoom every Monday night.
And demands, this is another one. They’re not chants. They’re not vibes. They’re levers. They have to be clear, specific, rooted in real conditions, and something we can actually organise around. Otherwise we’re just making noise for the sake of it.
So where does that leave us? Tired, maybe. A bit frustrated. Trying to hold the line while also trying not to lose people along the way. But still here.
And here’s the Irish mammy in me now. If you know something is right, don’t wait for permission. Don’t wait for someone on a stage or a screen to tell you it’s safe. Get up and do your bit, even if it’s small, even if it’s awkward, even if you’re not sure you’ve it all figured out. But don’t do it alone.
If you’ve been nodding along to any of this, then come in properly. Come to our meetings. Speak up, even if your voice trembles. Get involved beyond the surface. Ask questions, take on a task (there are many!), be part of building something that lasts longer than a moment, or a Whatsapp group.
Our task isn’t to get more agreement. We’ve plenty of that already. Our task is to build a working-class organisation that can turn that agreement into actual power. Otherwise it’s the same story, over and over again.
One step forward. Two steps back.