Sinn Fein weathers bourgeois offensive
IRELAND ty in important parts of Northern Ireland. In numerical terms, the Sinn Fein vote went down from 102,601 in 1983 to 83,388; while, the SDLP vote went up from 137,012 to 158,087.
The SDLP now has three MPs, as against one for Sinn Fein, whereas in 1983, it had only one elected. It won a sec-
ALTHOUGH Northern Ireland is legally part of the United
Kingdom, once again the election here had virtually nothing to do with the election in the rest of the UK territory. The competition was not between the Conservative and Labour parties. Neither exists.
Politically, the most important contest was between two
Irish nationalist parties, the bourgeois Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and the revolutionary nationalist
Sinn Fein. The Unionists, who represent the community built up in Ireland by British rule, ran a single slate in this election. Only in a few constituencies where the nationalist and Unionist communities are almost equal in size was there a real race between Unionists and nationalists.
GERRY FOLEY
INN FEIN defeated a concerted at-
S tempt by the bourgeois nationalist Catholic party and Catholic
Unionists to take the West Belfast seat away from its president, Gerry Adams. The revolutionary nationalist candidate got 16,862 votes, against 14,641 for his SDLP rival, J.G. Hendron.
The Alliance Party, which represents mainly well-off Catholics who accept the union with the United Kingdom, chose not to run a candidate of its own. Although it rejects the SDLP as a "sectarian" (that is,
Catholic communalist) party, it was obviously ready to team up with the bourgeois nationalist party to defeat Sinn Fein.
In 1983, the anti-Sinn Fein vote was split by Gerry Fitt, an old nationalist politician who moved to the right. He got about 10,000 votes, but retired after the election to the British House of Lords and
BBC personality programs.
Result not a foregone conclusion
The SDLP threw a good part of its notably swelled resources behind the effort to oust Adams. It ostentatiously opened a headquarters and "advice center" in the area, promising to help the local people with their problems. It failed, however, even to recapture much of Fitt's vote, increasing its total only by 3,707 votes.
In fact, the moderate combination against
Adams seems to have been a bit too obvious. The flashy opening of the SDLP's
"advice center" raised questions about
6 where the party had been before the elections. Also, an assassination attempt on a local Republican leader, Alex Maskey,
International Viewpoint • July 13, 1987 shortly before the vote was an incentive to militant nationalists to mobilize for the
Nonetheless, in its assessment of the election results, the Sinn Fein paper, An Phoblacht, pointed out that the result in West Belfast was not a foregone conclusion. "High unemployment and poor housing breed apathy, not political motivation. And recent rioting and hijackings antagonized many people around the Falls Road." It attributed the Sinn Fein victory largely to "a very good election team which had done its homework well in advance of the elections." In fact, Sinn Fein ran a well organized and highly motivated campaign in
The West Belfast election was decisive for Sinn Fein and for the struggle of the oppressed Catholic population. Sinn Fein's strongest organization and political leadership are based there. The gains of the H-Block movement and the politicalization of the Republican movement are most concentrated in this densely populated Catholic ghetto.
People's Democracy, the Irish section of the Fourth International, participated in the Sinn Fein campaign in West Belfast. It argued for a presenting a program that could cut further into the electoral base of the SDLP, focusing on against Catholics. It argued against a defensive strategy based only on holding "the Republican vote."
Although, Sinn Fein held most of the gains it made during the H-Block movement, it continued to suffer a loss of momentum and erosion in this election. The SDLP gained in most places. What is more, the bourgeois party further consolidated itself as the dominant nationalist parond seat, in Newry/Armagh in the special by-elections in January 1986. This time, it had a third elected in South Down, edging out the English quasi-fascist Enoch Powell, an exotic attraction offered by the Unionists. In the latter constituency, the Sinn vote was only 2,363 against 26,579 for the SDLP candidate, Ed O'Grady.
In Newry/Armagh and South Down, a considerable part of the SDLP vote is probably a tactical vote to defeat the Unionists, since there is a close division in these constituencies between Unionists and nationalists. In fact, Sinn Fein encouraged this to some extent by proposing a pact in 1986 for dividing up constituencies with the SDLP.
SDLP support for
Hillsborough agreement
The SDLP gains are more dangerous because the SDLP supports the Hillsborough Agreement between the British and Irish government, which is designed to give the "moderates" a club against the revolutionary nationalists and to allow the Dublin government to increase its collaboration with the British and Unionist repressive forces. Although Sinn Fein staved off disaster, it failed to undermine the SDLP's claim to represent the majority of the Catholic population.
Despite important advances in the H-Block campaign and after, Sinn Fein still reveals the lack of a revolutionary political strategy. The two most common explanations offered so far by Sinn Fein leaders for the stagnating vote are quite superficial. One is that more time needed is needed to build up the movement's electoral machine. The other is that the SDLP vote is a middle class vote and so can never be taken by a revolutionary party.
If the majority of the nationalist population, even in the North, were hopelessly conservative, the national struggle would have no chance of victory. Moreover, no revolutionary movement, not even one with the traditional roots of Sinn Fein, has unlimited time. Eventually, if masses of people see no way forward, they fall back into the old patterns.
The Thatcher victory in Britain and a shift of the Dublin government to the right promise stepped-up attacks on the Republican movement. If Sinn Fein continues to fail to advance, worse, it continues to lose momentum, the national struggle could face very grave political and material setbacks. The West Belfast victory has simply gained Sinn Fein time to reconsider its political strategy. *