The provided text discusses the significant influence of left-wing perspectives in contemporary Irish politics, with a particular focus on the role played by the Irish bourgeois working class. The author argues that this demographic, despite its privileged status, has a strong attachment to working-class values and leftist causes, and has been instrumental in shifting the center of Irish politics towards the left. Key examples cited include the student protests at Trinity College in support of Palestine and the presence of socially privileged individuals in the leadership ranks of left-wing parties like Sinn Féin and Labour. The author also highlights the irony of privileged individuals promoting equality while maintaining their own advantages and criticizes the idealized view of socialism held by the Irish bourgeois working class, contrasting it with the real concerns and challenges faced by the working class in Ireland.The provided text discusses the significant influence of left-wing perspectives in contemporary Irish politics, with a particular focus on the role played by the Irish bourgeois working class. The author argues that this demographic, despite its privileged status, has a strong attachment to working-class values and leftist causes, and has been instrumental in shifting the center of Irish politics towards the left. Key examples cited include the student protests at Trinity College in support of Palestine and the presence of socially privileged individuals in the leadership ranks of left-wing parties like Sinn Féin and Labour. The author also highlights the irony of privileged individuals promoting equality while maintaining their own advantages and criticizes the idealized view of socialism held by the Irish bourgeois working class, contrasting it with the real concerns and challenges faced by the working class in Ireland.
One of the most remarkable features of the contemporary political landscape in Ireland is the way in which a left-wing perspective has been woven into virtually every political debate of the past 30 years.
Therefore, when Official Ireland looks out at the world today, it is not from the political centre, but from a broad left-centre perspective. This is now embedded not only in Irish political discourse, but in political commentary in general.
Key to this worldview is the role of a largely privileged and Dublin-centric demographic that has shaped much of Ireland’s political narrative over the past 30 years. This is the Irish bourgeois working class, undeniably privileged yet enjoying identification with the working class and a range of leftist causes.
This was illustrated by the recent student blockade and encampments on the grounds of Dublin’s Trinity College. Not for the first time we have seen the spectacle of student activists from some of Dublin’s more affluent suburbs flaunting their working class credentials by camping out in solidarity with Palestine.
Today, the adult version of these Trinity protesters can be found in the ranks of Ireland’s left-wing establishment. They include the likes of Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, Labour leader Ivana Bacik and PBP’s Paul Murphy, to name a few. Far from having working-class roots, many are socially privileged and are alumni of some of Ireland’s most exclusive private schools.
Not that social privilege should exclude anyone from participating in politics. However, the irony of socially privileged people building political careers on the basis of equality, of all things, must be emphasized. It seems that the more privileged this political demographic becomes, the more obsessed it becomes with the abstract ideal of equality.
The greatest achievement of the Irish bourgeois working class has undoubtedly been the way in which it has dragged the centre of Irish politics to the left, resulting in the de facto ideological capture of parties such as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. What were once clearly right-wing political parties are now little more than versions of the Labour Party promoting broadly left-wing policies. It is therefore only fair to say that both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are now more left-wing than even the British Labour Party.
Consider the real record of Fine Gael, who have had control of the Treasury for most of the past 13 years. With government spending expected to hit €110 billion by 2024, it is clear that Fine Gael is now fully committed to a socialist vision of an expanded state.
This is not the behavior of right-wing or even center-right political parties, but of parties that have completely embraced the left’s belief in an expanded superstate. Their social policies on abortion, gender ideology, and immigration cannot in any meaningful way be called right-wing or conservative.
The other thing about the Irish bourgeois working class is that they have an idealised view of the left and everything to do with socialism. Many are children of the Irish Boomer generation, so it’s not surprising that they grew up with a rosy view of socialism.
This idealization included not only wearing T-shirts featuring socialist legends like Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, but also adhering to a rule that no one was allowed to talk about the economic carnage or deliberate human rights violations that accompanied their icons.
It is interesting to see how this political demographic views what you might call the ‘real’ working class of Ireland, as opposed to their own glorified view of themselves as some kind of working class. This is clearly seen in the depiction of ongoing protests in working class areas over the imposition of asylum seekers into their areas.
Initially, the idea was that such protests were being orchestrated from outside by the mythical far-right. The picture it painted of people in places like East Wall, Roscrea and Newtownmountkennedy was clear: the working class are simple souls who, unlike us, the bourgeois working class, are susceptible to manipulation and need to be rescued from their own imbecility.
As the protests grew and the nonsense of that trope collapsed, it was replaced by a new narrative. This is the narrative that is now evident on social media in light of such local protests – that the protesters are not just unemployed layabouts and profiteers, but also racists, fascists, homophobes and far-right extremists.
So much for the idealization of the working class! When push comes to shove, it seems class really does matter, especially when the Irish quality looks down on working people and abuses them.
The recent investigation into the Sinn Fein leadership’s disastrous election results south of the border clearly shows that on issues such as immigration they may be seriously out of step with the real working class.
The thing about Ireland’s affluent social activists is that they are as obsessed with political fashion trends as they are with politics. If their Boomer parents were enamored with things like T-shirts of the likes of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, their children are equally obsessed with the idea of the political fashion statement.
Nowadays, taking a knee for the American Black Lives Matter movement or wearing a keffiyeh or Repeal T-shirt are the kind of political fashion statements meant to impress your friends, but also to make a coherent political statement about whatever.
When we talk about the Irish bourgeois working class, the reference to political royalty is indeed entirely appropriate. Despite all the talk of equality, it is clear that these people in fact see themselves as superior to the Irish working class.
Some things never seem to change.
