The anti-imperialist movement after
Enniskillen
EDITORIAL CHRISTMAS could look a bit brighter here at International Vlewpoint, Although many of our supporters have been contributing to our subscription and fund drive, there are some weak spots, and so the overall effort appears less. Moreover, many introductory
EDITORIAL • IRELAND
AN IRA BOMB explosion in Enniskillen while crowds were subscriptions from our last drive are about to run out.
gathering on November 8 to commemorate British war dead
In these days, It requires a opened the way for a propaganda and repressive campaign speclal effort to keep an against the revolutionary anti-imperialist movement in international publication go-
Ireland. Eleven people were killed in a crowd Including many ing, and the minute our supporters lapse into complacency we start to see the
The bombing was portrayed by the pro-imperialist press and negative results, In particuauthorities, as well as the Irish conciliationists, as an attack lar, we were hoping that we could get enough Initial supon Protestant people as such. All sections of the Irish people port to restore the issue for were shocked by the pointless suffering of harmless the second half of July, individuals. The Republican leadership characterized the which we had to cut two planting of the bomb as a grave error, saying that it had been years ago. But it is now far from certain that we will be triggered accidently and was not intended to harm civilians.
able to do so. The small size
Such errors have in fact been a feature of the IRA's guerrilla of our print run means that campaign from the very beginning, being related to the printing costs still make up a large proportion of our total difficulties of small popular units waging war against a costs.
massive modern military machine. Enniskillen was thus far
Even an increase of a few from the first such error, and previous ones were no less hundred in circulation would significantly reduce this.
There is, however, a way to
But this miscarried operation came in the context of general brighten up Christmas at /V loss of momentum of the Republicans' political campaigning and that of potential readers at the same time. /V would and of increased losses of militants involved in the armed make an excellent Christ struggle. It thus exposed the Republicans and the mas present for revolutionanti-imperialist movement as a whole to particularly grave ary activists and students of dangers. They are illustrated by the widespread raids of international politics.
At the end of the year, unhomes of anti-imperialist activists that came in the wake of fortunately our circulation
Enniskillen. Although these coordinated operations of the usually drops. We assume
Dublin and imperialist repressive forces were ostensibly that is because people are putting off whatever outlays searches for arms, the net was cast wide enough to include they can In order to save for purely political activists, such as Ann Conway of the Dublin
Christmas presents and the branch of People's Democracy, Irish section of the Fourth like. The problem is that the holidays are a festival of
In the following article, a leader of People's Democracy commodity fetishism, and subscriptions to magazines takes up the dangers of the post-Enniskillen imperialist and are not considered in that pro-Imperialist offensive and how to meet them.
category.
But a subscription to IV would have much more use value than traditional gift goods, It would continue for six months to a year (depending on the generosity of the donor), and Its value would grow rather than fade usual postwith the
Christmas letdown. Furthermore, many gift subscriptions would help us Increase the value of the magazine for all its readers.
elderly people and children. costly in innocent human lives. International. JOHN MCANULTY
J OINING IN the British hue and
cry against the anti-imperialist struggle, the representatives of bourgeois nationalism, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in the North, and the major southern parties have been no less hysterical.
Their hysteria is tinged by relief. The tragedy occurred just a few days before the second anniversary of the Anglo-Irish agreement, which committed Dublin to actively support the continuation of British rule and Unionist ascendancy in the North, in return for cosmetic reforms that would supposedly guarantee equality for Catholics within the northern state.
Two years later, there is still no reform. But the British have been pressing the bourgeois nationalists to or ree 3 ressive measures — the extradition of reDecember 7, 1987 • International Viewpoint
IRELAND publican suspects from the south and an anti-violence pledge to effectively ban Sinn Fein, the political wing of the republican movement, from elections
Now the Enniskillen tragedy has become cover for a massive wave of repression north and south. It has become clear that the Dublin government intends to introduce an extradition law permitting extradition of Republicans to Diplock [no jury] courts in the North. The Northern bourgeois nationalist party, the Social Demoand Labour Party (SDLP), has swung behind the new repression, announcing that it was withdrawing cooperacouncillors that support violence, thereby paving the way for excluding Sinn Fein from local government.
A fortnight after the deaths, what president of Sinn Fein Gerry Adams called the "hidden agenda of the Anglo-Irish agreement" was shown in the coordination of Irish and British state forces in a single all-Ireland imperialist offensive involving raids on Sinn Fein offices and mass arrests of republican activists. The Catholic hierarchy have issued a statement declaring it a sin to support the anti-imperialist
Gerry Adams has refused to condemn military action by the IRA, but in a shift of emphasis said that he would not attempt to justify the bombing and that it should never have happened.
Need to review strategy and tactics
Despite the many correct points made in Sinn Fein's statements about the hypocrisy of the British government and the source of the violence, the Republicans have tended to withdraw into themselves and not to build a broad counter-attack to expose the hypocrisy of the imperialists and the neo-colonialists.
There is a need to review the tactics and strategy of the anti-imperialist struggle. How has the republican movement become so dangerously isolated just a year after Gerry Adams proclaimed the primacy of politics and urged a turn to the left?
The history of Irish republicanism is the history of the domination of the military organization over the political wing. In practice, the military command still has overall authority in the eyes of most
Also there has traditionally been confusion about the role of Irish capitalism. When the Anglo-Irish agreement was signed, Sinn Fein were conducting an electoral unity offensive directed at the SDLP, one of the main supporters of the agreement. The Republicans did not attempt to campaign against the collaborators. The first test of the new political orientation came with last year's general election in the 26 counties.
Sinn Fein did badly, with around two per International Viewpoint December 7, 1987 cent of the vote. They had not defined a political line at their ard-fheis [conference], but had looked to a pragmatic process of development through electoral and community struggles. The result was a manifesto that included a formal statement of opposition to imperialism, but which did not point up imperialist control of the 26 county neo-colony in a clear enough way to distinguish it sufficiently from the reformist parties of the left.
Election result a blow for
Republican leaders
The election result was a real blow for the Republican leadership. The absence of mass struggle or electoral victories prompted caution. A stagist view of the revolutionary process began to develop, with Gerry Adams declaring "socialism is not on the agenda."
The results of this were seen at the ard-fheis debate this year. Discussions of major issues in the class struggle were either opposed by the leadership or relegated to the side lines. In his presidential address, Gerry Adams said "most people will not struggle, never mind vote, for abstract things. The big ideas the party has about liberation, nationalism and independence will have to develop out of the small ideas concerned with local grievances, protests,
Rarely can a political orientation have survived so short a time. Within a week, the Enniskillen tragedy had ensured that the battle centered around the "big ideas." Who was to win the allegiance of the Irish people? The imperialists and capitalists with their calls for the imposition of order, anti-imperialists calling for
Good possibilities for a fightback
In the mid-1970s, a similar isolation of the military struggle and a strategic weakness of the anti-imperialist movement led to the formation of the pro-imperialist "Peace People."
Such a movement is unlikely now. Partly because the masses have gone through that experience. But mostly because the masses of the working people, despite all this hysteria, have not rejected the republicans. They accept that the Enniskillen deaths were accidental, while recognizing dangers posed by the policy that led to them.
There are thus good possibilities for a fightback. The Irish bourgeoisie are locked in a crisis which compels them to keep in step together behind a common political Dublin has a majority of one. But on every major issue, they can count on the support of the opposition. This eases conflict over alternative strategies. But it also reduces their room for maneuver and increases their isolation from the masses
The Anglo-Irish agreement was meant to provide cover for such collaboration. In practice, Unionist resistance has badly worried Britain. They cannot afford to see the mass base on which their military occupation of the North rests become completely demoralized. For that reason, they have called a halt to cosmetic reform, and the Dublin government has been pushed into a tight corner, from which the Enniskillen tragedy cannot extricate it.
The Anglo-Irish agreement has not succeeded in altering the basic situation. If it had, there could be no conflict now in the Dublin parliament over extradition. If it had, the Sinn Fein vote in the North would have collapsed, and there would be no need for trying to exclude Sinn Fein from
Socialism has to be on the agenda
The Republicans can still rise to the challenge. They are now a more political movement with a mature and experienced leadership. Stagism is not yet a hardened current.
The dominant characteristic of the leadership is a flexible pragmatism. Politicization has led to the emergence of a number of currents within the movement. The prisoners have formed Marxist study circles, and are urging the movement to have the results of their study included in its strategic discussions.
At the recent ard-feis the debates were more rooted in the actual movements and struggles of the masses. This was very evident in the debate on women's rights and around resolutions on the struggles of or-
The extradition of militants and the growing coordination of state forces on both sides of the Irish border have created a great deal of resentment among working people. Before the extradition machinery can really roll, the Irish state will have to face risky battles to extradite militants for the sort of activities that distinguished its alleged founding fathers.
The British plan to ban Sinn Fein is no mere administrative matter but involves disenfranchising a major section of the northern electorate, stripping away the last pretences of democracy in the northern statelet.
People's Democracy, the Irish section of the Fourth International, will discuss building a fightback with the Republicans and other anti-imperialists.
We will argue that in this struggle socialism has to be on the agenda, that Irish capitalism has to be identified as an enemy and that the organized power of the working class is a major weapon in the fight for Irish freedom. *