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# What Is Aontacht?
- URL: https://aontachtmedia.ie/what-is-aontacht/
- Published: 2026-09-15T21:10:43.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T21:10:43.000Z
- Description: Before Aontacht, there was no socialist outlet in the country that was not a closed club for one specific party or tendency.
- Author: László Molnárfi
- Tags: Critical Analysis

In Aontacht, we are delighted to see our numbers grow. It is almost 5,000 on Instagram. However, as we reach this moment, it is very important we remind ourselves what ‘growth’ means. 

The purpose of Aontacht is to be a revolutionary socialist newspaper, offering our services to the revolutionary socialists. There is at once what we call the newspaper, and then its composition. The newspaper is composed of a mycelium network which establishes links with the revolutionary socialist movement, which is for now in its infancy. The newspaper is organically tied, through its activities, to this revolutionary socialist movement. In other words, the newspaper works directly with various class-conscious groups, highlighting them, while at the same time being part-and-parcel of the same movement and intervening. These class-conscious elements are dispersed across Irish society and are far off from being united in a vanguard; yet, we must still attempt to march as a bloc. The bloc is not something we searched for. The liberals, sectarians and the revolutionaries neatly sorted themselves into the relevant categories by mere virtue of refusal, or acceptance, of being invited to have a stake in this paper which never hid its principles of anti-imperialism, socialist republicanism and radical openness to debate. If we are discussing the growth of the newspaper, then what must be examined, before any decision is taken, is how it will change its composition.

There can be a lot of abstract talk about ‘professionalization’, ‘becoming a real newspaper’, or mere waffle of ‘growing the paper’ through capturing broader layers of society and becoming ‘mainstream’ and securing ‘funding’. Unless it is examined what the effect of each decision will be on the composition of the newspaper, we could err towards growth for growth’s sake if we are too impatient. This would be an adverse change in the composition of the newspaper away from revolutionary socialism towards mainstream politics. The newspaper does not, and should not, stand apart from the revolutionary socialist movement as an activity of its own. This would be breaking off from the bloc. The newspaper is at once a mirror reflecting the bloc and a means through which the bloc finds its voice.

It is, for instance, possible to grow exponentially through bypassing the activities of the existing revolutionary socialist movement, which has very low mass support. This will de-align itself with the existing forces. It would erode the organic connections we currently have with the as-of-yet-in-its-infancy revolutionary socialist movement. This is putting the cart before the horse, albeit it is a mistake which has been made before. Those who advocate for this incorrect approach would, for instance, place great emphasis on the fact that a newspaper can be led by revolutionary socialists, while appealing to broader layers, through moderating the politics somewhat and making its face friendlier. This might be described as the elevation of the newspaper as a force considerably above and beyond the real, tiny and meagre forces of the existing class-conscious elements of society, and the substitution of organic links with them for organic links with liberals. Those who believe this is the correct path conceive of Aontacht as a run-of-the-mill bourgeois newspaper, without seeing the few ways in which it differs, namely its direct relationships to revolutionary socialist forces from whom it takes instructions, its distinct political line and the fact that its writers are also participants of the same movement.

Some socialist parties insist that their own organisation comes first, amassing support in any way possible, including through recruiting from spaces with liberals, such as with proxy movements. They are composed of mycelium networks which are no longer under their own control, but have been outsourced to a liberal milieu, the consistency of socialist politics dissolved within the individual threads. As long as our organisation grows, no matter how, the revolution is closer, because we are, internally at the core, socialists; therefore the supporters which we have amassed are tied to us. This is idealistic because the political consciousness of the leadership of the organisation is emphasized over the political consciousness of its supporters. The supporters, whom they are enticing with the liberal carrot, are relegated to a nearly non-existent role in terms of the weight of their material force. What is actually produced here is: liberal social forces led by revolutionary socialists. This does not make the liberal social forces revolutionary socialists. It makes the revolutionary socialists liberal by virtue of the actual decisive weight of their supporters’ politics. **This is a successful attempt to pull a liberal rabbit out of a magic hat in the present, and then a fateful attempt to pull a socialist rabbit out of the same magic hat in the future.** 

There are some who advocate the strategy of a Sinn Féin-led left-goverment. If a socialist party can enter into a left-government as a minority partner, it is claimed, they can use the moment to force a crisis. People are under ‘creative illusions’ about the ability of social democratic forces to bring necessary changes. Therefore, upon seeing the failure of the State, they will automatically act in a revolutionary way when these illusions are broken. **The mistake is that the magician who conjures liberal rabbits out of the hat to the deafening applause of his audience over the years, will find mere scattered applause when he pulls out a socialist rabbit out of the same hat abruptly**. We should say that it is those people who advocate for such a strategy that have ‘creative illusions’, with their magical, shapeshifting rabbits, which are at once liberal, and at once, socialists.

![](https://aontachtmedia.ie/content/images/2026/09/data-src-image-72972972-2ff3-4920-8a2f-b711086fa977.png)

Aontacht must retain the politics, march with the bloc and remain patient. The aim must never be to grow Aontacht by itself. The aim should be to grow Aontacht while keeping the composition of the newspaper consistent with the revolutionary socialist movement as it exists in Ireland. 

Aontacht will grow in tandem with the growth of the revolutionary socialist forces in Ireland. If the support for revolutionary socialism is in the millions, we will grow to the millions, not sooner, not later than that, in tandem with the corresponding shifting class forces and consciousness. It is of course necessary to participate in these shifts through active intervention; it is not advisable to remain passive.

It is bad to either exaggerate the ability of one’s own organisation to affect change, much like how it is bad to downplay the ability of one’s own organisation to intervene in society. It is good to evaluate the concrete position of one’s organisation, and see where improvements can be made. It is crucial to see beyond the numbers and know the composition of the social forces which one’s organisation is involved with. 

Regardless of our past internal and external controversies which have been an example of organic *struggle* that we have only come out of stronger and having evolved, improved and learned from, Aontacht should always be an open forum for organic revolutionary struggle, a home for all tendencies within socialism, and a uniting force towards the collective rising tide of socialism, from which we can all benefit. 

Before Aontacht, there was no socialist outlet in the country that was not a closed club for one specific party or tendency. To those who do not like Aontacht, we would say that Aontacht filled a vacuum left by your own cliquish behaviour which has arisen out of a siege mentality that has become the norm on the Irish Left. We need to break out of that siege mentality and collectively advance socialism. Not be worried about who is taking a few activists off of whom while what activists are there get collectively burned out. 

Into the future, the vision for Aontacht is a big tent of opinion for socialists and republicans. One where groups and parties, big and small can have a voice, to the exclusion of centrist “liberalism” as is found in mainstream vaguely “left-leaning” outlets, to the exclusion of reaction as is found in cult “free speech” outlets, as well as to the exclusion of the aforementioned cliquishness as found in most other leftist outlets. 

The vision is for an outlet where public debate is encouraged, where criticism and self-criticism is encouraged. 

To this end, we would say to those who have positioned themselves as foes, come on and submit your counter arguments to anything we have published. We are not afraid of criticism and welcome the debate and diversity of tendency. 

To those who have positioned themselves as friends, we say a big thank you, and thank you for your contributions, support, and that we welcome ongoing contributions to the debate. 

Debate only strengthens the cause of socialism across the board. It only strengthens the outlet, and it only strengthens both those promoted and those criticised. The criticism we have received only strengthens us. 

As we move steadily in the direction of becoming the biggest explicitly socialist outlet in the country we hope to serve the struggle in Ireland and internationally to the best of our ability. We will, however, not do this at the cost of our cutting edge and will not trade the independence of our collective voice for funding or support. This is a project of passion, not an attempt at fame and fortune, and we plan for it to remain that way long into the future.