The answer should be quite simple. It should be organising an irreconcilable resistance to the reconquest of Ireland by the troika, oppose the imposition of the Financial Stability Pact, fight the quisling coalition and the politics of endless austerity.

To do so effectively it should adopt the most democratic structure possible, allowing the fullest discussion and analysis closely linked to common action and exploring all the possibilities of resistance open to the working class.

The leadership of the ULA should be composed of delegates from constituent political parties and from branches, constituting a national committee and electing an executive body. Conference should be the apex of detailed internal discussion, with formal resolutions for voting.

In reality the "democracy" of the ULA would make the most hardened union bureaucrat blush. Decisions are made through secret diplomacy between rival factions. "Conferences" are carefully staged rallies held to rubber stamp the pre-agreed arrangements.

Workers have been sold out for decades now through social partnership. The absence of democratic structures in the unions facilitated this treachery. What they need now is an organizational form where their self activity and self organization is encouraged and developed 

We believe:

The goal of the ULA should be to build a revolutionary working class party.

The central policy of the ULA is should be oppose utterly the austerity policy pursued by successive Irish governments and supervised by the Troika. 

We oppose the immediate aim of the austerity - that the workers pay the debts of the bondholders or any part thereof.

We oppose the goal of restructuring, aimed at driving wages, services and conditions down in an indefinite race to the bottom.

We assert that there are no "better, fairer ways" to pay the bondholders. A worker's economic programme to provide jobs and services would require immediately the tearing up all promissory notes and the expulsion of the troika.

The ULA should oppose the trade union leadership's collaboration in the imposition of austerity. We call for the scrapping of the Croke Park agreement and urge the building of a rank and file trade union network that will unite workers across union structures and allow them to organize against collaboration both inside and outside the unions.

The Socialist Party have on a number of occasions rejected the project of turning the ULA into a party and called for activists to join their own ranks. They say the ULA should be an alliance. This is the purest hypocrisy. Campaigns are organized by constituent parties with no attempt to work through the ULA.

In reality the ULA is primarily a badge or trademark through which disparate groups try to advance electoral projects.

Irish workers deserve better. If you accept elements of our argument endorse the resolution on facebook and help us open a discussion on truly united political action in defense of the working class.