Malachy McGurran
Vice President SF Workers’ Party: Councillor Craigavon Borough Council: Member Executive Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association who died on 27th July 1978. His death robbed our party and class of one of our finest and most dedicated comrades who made a huge contribution to building a Workers’ Party.
A true follower of Tone and Connolly.
His political principles and aims were clear and steadfast.
The Unity of our People – Catholic, Protestant, and Dissenter.
The Defeat of Sectarianism.
The Overthrow of Capitalism.
The Victory of Socialism.
To establish a United Democratic Secular Socialist Irish Republic.
In the continuing struggle against Capitalism Malachy would have echoed the view “Governments in capitalist society are but committees of the rich to manage the affairs of the capitalist class”.
He took as one of his guiding principles the statement in Marx’s Communist Manifesto “The Free Development of each is the condition for the free development of all”. Through his life as a revolutionary Malachy put into practice Lenin’s advice: “It is not enough to be a revolutionary and an adherent of socialism or a Communist in general. You must be able at each particular moment to find the particular link in the chain which you must firmly grasp with all your might in order to hold the whole chain and to prepare firmly for the transition to the next link; the order of the links, their form, the manner in which they are linked together, the way they differ from each other in the historical chain of events, are not as simple and not as meaningless as those in an ordinary chain made by a smith”. Lenin Volume 27. Page 274.
Again Malachy would have recalled James Connolly’s warning: “ If you remove the English army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the socialist republic your efforts would be in vain. England would still rule you….through her capitalists…… to your ruin even while your lips offered hypocritical homage at the shrine of that Freedom whose cause you betrayed“.
We quote a extract from the oration delivered at Malachy’s funeral: “A courageous and compassionate man. He loved humanity and respected human values. He knew the dignity of men and women and hated with a deep hatred whatever attempted to rob them of that dignity. He was a man of patriotism and history. He loved his country for its people and his countries history for the peoples struggle that could never be contained in narrow pages or narrower creeds. It was this that made him a republican and a socialist of deep conviction”.
In his short but worthwhile life Malachy McGurran experienced deceit and betrayal from false friends and cowards but also loyalty and respect from Comrades, Friends and many, many thousands of people of all political persuasions. In these difficult times for Socialist Republicans we require to remember Malachy’s confidence and optimism, that despite short term betrayals and petty cliques, a principled class conscious Workers’ Party will eventually succeed in achieving Malachy’s and our objective of a United Democratic Secular Socialist Irish Republic.
On this, Malachy’s anniversary, let us, his comrades, and socialists all over the world, redouble our efforts to build a united and powerful Left force nationally and internationally to end once and for all the obscenity that is capitalism.
Ard Comhairle, The Workers’ Party of Ireland.
27th July 2017