People Before Profit members are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Terrence McDonough.
He was a professor of Economics in NUI Galway, where he developed a consistent body of work based on a Marxist analysis.
In a discipline that often assumes that capitalism is natural, Terry stood out as someone who openly critiqued the system in sharp and clear ways.
More than this, Terry was someone who was willing to engage with the wider workers’ movement. In 2009, for example, he produced a wonderful Hierarchy of Earnings, Attributes and Privilege report which showed in a graphic form how ‘Ireland has long been judged one of the most unequal of the advanced industrial nations.’
Terry was also an extremely impressive academic who developed Marxist theory in the Social Structures of Accumulation Framework.
He was an original thinker who did not confine himself to a conventional notions of economics but entered discussions on the nature of colonialism in Ireland or the role of migrant workers in a modern neoliberal Ireland.
He will be sorely missed as a figure who made a big contribution to the body of Marxist thinking on the Irish left.
His legacy will continue in the growing ranks of people who have developed a distinct anti-capitalist consciousness and are willing to challenge a system based on greed and inequality.
