The word Socialism itself has faced severe attacks and subversion specifically because it represents the noble European ideal of community cooperation, mutual respect and charity towards one’s own people. Its original meaning has been purposefully subverted by Marxists, who, of course, follow the Marxian conception of the word as proposed by the Jewish political theorist Karl Marx. Due to his subversion of the word Socialism itself, and the concepts he tried to tie on to it, the general public now associate the word Socialism with moral degeneracy, societal corruption and an explicitly nation-denying internationalism. This is one of the reasons why we differentiate ourselves by using the term National Socialism, as the word “National” itself , properly understood, is an antithesis to Marxist doctrine. Even in James Connolly’s time he was wary of all of the fools who tried to tie on their respective degenerate philosophies onto Socialism, stating of the European Socialists that their movement has been “to a great extent hampered by the presence in its ranks of faddists and cranks, who were in the movement, not for the cause of Socialism, but because they thought they saw in it a means of ventilating their theories on such questions as sex, religion, vaccination, vegetarianism, etc., and I believed that such ideas had or ought to have no place in our programme or in our party.” It is self-evident to any honest person that the leftist Socialists of today are nothing but the “faddists and cranks” that Connolly warned of.

We in Clann Éireann totally reject the Marxian definition of Socialism as inherent within it is a total denial of personality and individuality and indeed of human nature itself. These Marxists erroneously believe that their Socialism is a stepping stone phase to a society based on an impossible and unnatural equality amongst all of its members. Equality, in its Marxist context, is an impossibility. Human nature determines that each individual has a different natural ability, intellect and will, and due to this fact an unequal status amongst men will always exist if a society is to function whatsoever. Quite literally all of human history confirms this as undeniable and accepting this fact is in no way an endorsement of Capitalism. We fully believe that any Irishman who puts the pursuance of capital above the welfare of his own people is indeed an enemy of Ireland. Our people are intuitively aware of this fact, hence our native concept of the nationally despised and rightfully derided gombeen man, he defines “capital above community/national interest”.

Our National Socialism aims at a society in which no man who fulfils his full duty is judged by class and that social mobility is fluid and based on ability, i.e. that being born to the poorest is no obstacle to rising to the highest. This is not Marxist “sameness” or equality of position, but is one where the State seeks to have a leadership of the very best, regardless of the circumstances where that best originates from, be he from a family of millionaires or the son of a single-mother welfare-recipient. This is the concept we are referring to when in Principle Six we state our belief in “an aristocracy of achievement within a democracy of opportunity”.

Our definition of Socialism is National, and therefore inherently anti-Marxist, and indeed is already inherent in Irish history, going back to at least our medieval past, with the concept of Meitheal. Meitheal has no direct English translation but it is often described today as a “communal work team”. Historically, it referred to rural neighbours coming together in order to share their labour for the benefit of the community with tasks such as harvesting crops, saving hay, building structures and preparing turf. Everyone contributed time and labour knowing that when they needed help, the community would show up for them too. Key elements of Meitheal include mutual aid: give help, receive help; shared responsibility; collective effort for the common good; no expectation of monetary payment, goodwill and charity drives the exchange; social bonding and community resilience. Within the concept of Meitheal is an intuitive understanding and a wilful and happy acceptance of duty to one’s own people. This duty to one’s own people is at the core of our understanding of Socialism in its true and National sense. Marxism inverts this noble duty, divorces it from the Nation and places it on an international and amorphous “working class”. Under this corrupt and false theory no more is your duty to the Nation, it is now to your international “class-brothers” and you must be willing to plunge your Nation into disarray, accept class-hatred and wage war against all the other classes of your people. Such a vile concept deserves nothing but total contempt and destruction.

Vis-a-vis and consistent with Meitheal is the idea that he who contributes to the national community without restrictions will receive back the same from that community, either personally, or to his family and bloodline, so that it isn’t just a one way transaction. This provides for the idea that we support the welfare state, as such shorn of parasitism. The individual who gives his all to the Nation can either expect it back in help directly to him, or rendered to his family should he for example make the ultimate sacrifice of his life.

Arthur Griffith had this to say on the topic, and we agree with his words entirely:
”I know that those who represent the Nation to him as an enemy or as an illusion bid him destroy the chief factor in the world that can prevent capital abusing its power. I know that Irish Labour deserves well of the Irish nation for it was more faithful to it in the past than Irish Capital. I know that the strength of the claim the Irish workingman on the Irish nation is not that he is a workingman, but that he is an Irish workingman, that if he prefers a claim as a nationless workingman he possesses no right or title in Ireland which the last English workingman who stepped upon our shores or the next emancipated Chinese coolie who comes hither may not equally claim.”

Ultimately, the Socialist, as understood through Nationalism, is one who serves the common good, i.e. follows his inborn duty to his Nation, without rescinding his individuality, his personality, or the product of his personal efficiency, all of these unique traits must be protected and promoted and remain intact. Our Socialism is pro-property, unlike that of the Marxist subversives. True Socialism values the individual and encourages him in his individual efficiency, at the same time holding that his individual interests must work in harmony with those of the Nation and never against it. The true Socialist wants the State’s object, its essence, its core defining principle to be this: serve the Nation and serve only the Nation.

– Caleb Ó Muireadhaigh