An alternative Left
The question sometimes arises whether or not there is any true Left in Irish politics. Labour has agreed to enter a pact with the right-wing Fine Gael to get into government; Sinn Féin, the rising alternative Left party, is said to be waiting for an opportunity to go into government with Fianna Fáil; and the Greens would probably go into government with either of them. The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has declared himself to be a socialist at heart. The real Socialist party, which is just seven years old, has one Dáil representative, Joe Higgins. The Kerry man, who once trained to be a priest says: "a true left-wing alternative is yet to be created in Irish politics and I see my role as being a part of the process of building it".
In the short term, Higgins hopes to increase the representation of his party after the next election. The party will put forward six candidates, including Clare Daly, who spent a month in Mountjoy jail with him in 2003 over their opposition to the introduction of bin charges. But he says his party's goals extend way beyond the next election: "We see a broader movement in the years ahead to set up a Left alternative, this is the ongoing process that this party is part of and not wheeling and dealing to get into government".
He says, "Labour offers no radical left-wing alternative", and is highly critical of the party's decision to enter a pre-election pact with Fine Gael: "It is not in any sense a Left or socialist party that would be in a government of neo-liberal economic policies, which would probably carry on the economic policies of the Fianna Fáil-PDs coalition". He says the party has changed a lot since the 1970s, but the recent development does not surprise him: "They have for a long time objected to radical policies". Higgins was a member of Labour's Administrative Council, but was expelled in 1989 because he was part of what was known as "militant Labour", a radical Leftist faction within Labour.
Higgins was elected as an independent councillor in 1991, and ran for the Dáil in 1992 but failed to secure a seat. He became part of the socialist movement, whose beginnings can be traced back to the introduction of water charges in 1994, and led the two-year campaign against the charges. He stood in the 1996 Dublin West by-election, but was beaten by Brian Lenihan Jr by just 250 votes. In the general election the following year, he topped the poll when he ran for the newly-formed Socialist party.
Since then, his own profile and that of his party has continued to rise. He was a figurehead in the campaign against the introduction of bin tax charges in 2003, and was successful in his campaign to seek proper pay for Turkish workers at Gama construction. These days, he is involved in the campaign against the construction of the Shell gas pipeline through land in county Mayo.
"If the Dáil runs its full term, it will have been a very eventful five years as far as the Socialist party is concerned," he says. Higgins believes these campaigns show that the need for socialism is still alive today. "The exploitation of migrant workers is going to become a serious issue in Irish politics over the coming year and it is an issue that needs left-wing attention".
He says that the need for "total transformation of society" is as strong today as any time in history. "When we see the obscenity of hundreds of millions of euros being spent on weapons and warfare, it is obvious that there is a need for a radical change in the way society is run." He describes himself as a "radical socialist", and believes socialism will eventually be successful because "society can't go on forever in this stagnant pool, and people will see the need for radical change quicker than you would imagine".