Irish Catholic Hierarchy and Irish Capitalism - Partners in Crime.

De Valera - President of Ireland, representative of Irish capitalism, kissing Catholic official's ring 

 Sean O'Torain 

Thank you Kevin Higgins for your poem – “Irish Government MinisterUnveils Monument To Victims Of Pro-life Amendment." It makes me think how we always have to be on guard so as not to be taken in when the balance of forces in a society change, when the consciousness of the majority in a society change, and when the representatives of capitalism and capitalism itself, feeling the wind of change, tries to sneaky foot away from their past crimes, pretending to have nothing to do with them.

In relation to the issue dealt with in Kevin’s poem we need to be clear: Irish capitalism worked with the Catholic hierarchy to allow that Catholic hierarchy to carry out its cruel crimes against women and children in the Republic of Ireland. Do not be fooled by their present attempts to pose as agents of progress. The following question has to be asked.

How did the unelected all male anti women Catholic hierarchy get the power they came to wield in the Irish Republic? Power over education, power over health, power to imprison women and young girls for so-called crimes, power to imprison women and young girls and make them work as slaves, power to dictate so-called moral law. To answer this we have to look at the role of Irish capitalism.

After the state gained its quasi independence in the early 1920’s, Irish capitalism was very weak. It was so because of the role it played in the period leading up to and during the struggle for independence.  The top Irish capitalist, William Martin Murphy, on behalf of the Irish capitalist class worked together with the Catholic hierarchy and British imperialism to take on and starve and break the union organizing effort of the Dublin workers in the 1913 Dublin lockout. Murphy became know as "William Murder Murphy" due to his brutality during the lockout.

The Catholic hierarchy blocked the children of the locked out workers from being taken to Liverpool to be fed and looked after in Liverpool workers’ homes as it said this would undermine their Catholic beliefs. At the time of the 1916 uprising this same top Irish capitalist Murphy called for the killing of the 1916 fighters to go on until James Connolly the Irish workers leader and socialist was murdered. And until it saw the way the wind came to blow after the uprising, the Vatican, the top global leadership of the Catholic hierarchy praised the “zeal” with which the Irish hierarchy had supported the brutal suppression of the 1916 uprising by British imperialism.

The result of all this was that after the new Irish capitalist state got its relative independence in the early 1920’s, Irish capitalism was very weak, had very little authority. A consequence of this was that the Irish capitalist class needed help to run the new state. They needed an ally. They did not have to look far as there was one eager ready and willing, holding out its hand in friendship. This was the unelected all male pro-capitalist anti women Catholic hierarchy.

Rushing to the aid of the Irish capitalist class crying we will help, we will help, the Catholic hierarchy stepped forward and the deal was made. The newly in power, but weak, Irish capitalist class gave this unelected all male Catholic hierarchy control over education, over health, over so-called moral law, allowed it to imprison women and young girls and make them work as slaves, allowed it to run so-called schools to imprison young boys, and eventually would declare the whole outfit a Catholic state. What did Irish capitalism get in return for this huge hand out, this hand over of power of these extremely important aspects of Irish life? What they got in return was not small. In return for giving control over these aspects of Irish life and declaring the South a Catholic sectarian Irish state, the Irish Catholic hierarchy pledged to, and did, defend capitalism and simultaneously moved against any left wing force that threatened it.  

From its pulpits and through its full time apparatus of bishops and priests and nuns it defended capitalism and whenever any talk of socialism came up it moved with all its resources against it. It propped up the weak Irish capitalist class and its capitalist system. This was not much of a deal for Irish capitalism, as the Catholic hierarchy would have defended capitalism anyway. The Catholic hierarchy did defend capitalism, and still does so all over the world where it has power.  Today, this institution is the main church of capitalism. But the Irish capitalist class was so weak and sniveling that they handed over all this power to the Catholic hierarchy for something the hierarchy would have done anyway.

So then, when we correctly condemn the Catholic hierarchy for the monstrous crimes against the women and children of Ireland we must also condemn Irish capitalism. It is equally to blame for these crimes. The weakness of Irish capitalism resulted in the deal, which gave the Catholic hierarchy the power to carry out their crimes, inflict their cruelty. The Irish capitalist class must not be let off the hook. It is now trying to squirm of that hook. Irish capitalism and its representatives, its political parties, must be equally condemned for the crimes that are now being exposed. 

On a perhaps more controversial note. As the Catholic church is the main church of capitalism, and as capitalism is destroying life on earth, as the Catholic church is dominated by an unelected male anti women clique, should people be members of this church?  To be so props up this organization and its pro capitalist ideas and its anti women stance.  The author of this article believes people who stand for a better world should not be members of this church or any of the organized churches. They are all pro - capitalist and anti women to a greater or lesser degree.  For those who cannot separate themselves from the Catholic church then I would suggest that they organize inside that church against its pro-capitalist and anti women polices and to make it democratic. That is,  that its leadership should not be exclusively male and that its weekly gatherings should not be one man telling the listeners what is what but should be gatherings for discussion and exchange of views. 

If any other organization was led by an unelected all male leadership it would condemned. Why should the Catholic church be given a pass? Why should any of the churches be given a pass? But a note of caution.! This was tried before. The Liberation Theology movement in the Catholic church in the 1960’s and 1970’s, tried to make that church the church of the poor, not the church of capitalism. The Catholic hierarchy hounded these forces out of the church and cooperated with US imperialism in crushing them, and killing them, especially in Latin America. The Catholic hierarchy do not rule over an organization with over 1 billion members, do not control an organization with billions of dollars in wealth and property, have not survived for many centuries by confining itself to making weekly speeches from its pulpits. It also believes in using the fist.