Ireland: After the elections to support the vote 'no' campaign, as they do not recognise the Southern constitution and therefore would not vote at all.
Neither individual Sinn Fein participation in the campaign, nor the presence of all the smaller anti-imperialist parties in the AAC, could offset the damage what next? this did to the anti-imperialist and nationalist movement in the eyes of those who look to it to bring answers to social, political and economic questions. Fianna Fail's support for the 'yes' campaign was accompanied with the usual hypocritical
On Wednesday August 17, a public debate took place in Belfast between John Mc
"republican' rhetoric.
So, in the end,
Anulty, member of Belfast City Council and of People's Democracy, Irish section of the effect was that the idea that Repubthe Fourth International, and Danny Morrison, elected member of the Northern licanism equals Catholicism was strengthened, and an unwise emphasis given to
'After the Elections - What Next?' posed an important the 'anti-Protestant' nature of the amendquestion for the anti-imperialist movement in Ireland, coming after the gains made ment by the liberal anti-Republican AAC by Sinn Fein in the recent election. The interest it aroused was demonstrated by the leadership.
very large attendance at the meeting, organised by the James Connolly Society which exists to promote open discussion between republicans and socialists.
A clear lesson has to be learnt for the
We reprint here the texts of the speeches made by the main contributors.
future - Republican socialism will mean were first published in Socialist Republic, paper of People's Democracy, in its Sepnothing unless there is active support to all the struggles of the oppressed in Ireland. No other method will advance the cause of Irish unity.
Women want answers now about their rights - they will not be convinced by promises of what will happen after British control of
Ireland is ended. The divorce referendum is coming soon. This will test whether or not this lesson has been learned.
WHAT NEXT?
Overall, the result was a considerable for the anti-amendment achievement forces, representing tens of thousands of Irish voters who rejected a sectarian approach to the Southern constitution.
The size of the 'no' vote certainly means that the issue has not been decided for all time, and to that extent also represents something of a set back for the far- right supporters of the pro-amendment campaign, who wanted a derisory "no'
The question of abortion and a vote.
woman's right to choose will be more and more discussed in post-referendum Ireland.
From this point of view, along with the proposal to hold a conference for anti-amendment activists to discuss how to prepare for future defence campaigns
- against attacks on family planning clinics, individual women, etc. - the profor an international tribunal is posal important.
Such a tribunal, to investigate the crimes against Irish women as regards their right to control their own fertility, would allow Irish women to build links with the broad international women's movement which has had to face these sorts of attacks in many countries.
It would also be an ideal forum to open up the debate on the right to choose by drawing out the links between the right of contraception and the right to abortion.
Ireland Assembly, and of Sinn Fein.
The theme of the debate,
The victories of Sinn Fein in the Assembly elections and more recently in the Westminster elections have an importance beyond the undoubted immediate gain for Sinn Fein as an organisation.
It shows that after 15 years of punishing oppression and brutality the nationalist population in the North are still undefeated, still willing to struggle on, still willing to register resistance to British
The importance of this should not be underestimated. Sinn Fein won similar victories in the 1950s but in a time of calm and when traditional nationalism had stood aside in despair. These victories now, after a long and bitter struggle, and in the teeth of opposition from the SDLP, the Southern politicians and the Catholic church. The support gained is a real barrier to British plans.
Already, the gains from the election have reversed a British strategy of many years standing to present the IRA as isolated criminals and their own repression as simply a 'police action'. The votes for Sinn Fein have made nonsense of this explanation.
John McAnulty (DR)
This vote, plus the bloody trauma of the H Block struggle, has convinced sections of the [British] Labour Party left and progressive forces in America and elsewhere that Britain has no solution to offer here and a whole new layer of solidarity has been created.
The key point here is that any solidarity internationally ultimately depends on mass struggle here. But despite the election successes, the mass struggle on the streets and in the factories is at a low ebb. The fact is that while we face new opportunities, we also face many new problems.
After the high point of struggle here the nationalist masses were filled with enthusiasm and confidence and successive British and Unionist opponents struggled from expedient to expedient without any clear strategy. Now we face an extreme
British government which understands that no real conciliation or cosmetic reform is possible. One aspect of this is their decision to continue the Assembly in the face of a total nationalist
The hysteria in republican circles at the time of the Assembly's formation has been followed by a dangerous apathy. We should not forget that as long as the Assembly exists it acts to stake a British claim that any future solution will be a partition solution. Neither should we forget that it was through the Assembly that the Unionists lobbied for the "Shoot to kill' policy that nationalists are suffering from today.
In response to this the Southern par ties and the SDLP have offered their 'Council for a New Ireland'. This is a real threat to the anti-imperialist movement. Irish capitalism sees the vote for Sinn Fein as a threat to itself. Before, it could, from time to time, indulge in nationalist rhetoric in order to obtain some leverage over British strategy. In this crisis they need to crush the anti-imperialist sentiment of Irish workers to survive. The only direction that the forum can move in is towards further repression internally and more collaboration with Britain. The
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shows this clearly.
imperialism.
struggle unemployment.
fightbacks:
of Irish capitalism.
ties.
port for them.
port.
lican Movement.
working class.
working class.
cess.
the people important.
22 bate.
They win sections of the working class to their program and in voting for this program workers take a first step. It is up to revolutionaries to present them with the next step of uniting in mass struggle against capitalism and imperialist is the job o
It is the job of revolutionaries to prepare and organise and unify the struggle why to pose the question of power. That is we need a revolutionary party and that is what Peoples Democracy is fighting to build.
There are many problems to be retunities. solved. But there are also many opporIn The main point is that we do not have to resolve all these problems
Many will resolve themselves in action.
What we do need to do is to unite together to build united action.
Adams' recent speech advocating passive resistance to the British occupation is a welcome move in this direction. should not delay but come together now to build a movement of the working class that can throw out the imperialists and their capitalist collaborators and put forward the real solution to the crisis of imperialism - an Irish Workers' Republic! The H
Danny MORRISON
, left the neonle the condemned, They
Fein's
Sinn
There
1 intorrentic or revolutionary should fall into.
against, of falling into clientelism with regards to the constituency advice centres which have absolutely no use unless we people.
of the
Ireland which has
That's how they criminalisation, and indeed
ish are going to have to be fought on a number of separate fronts. It was going to take a considerable amount of time to remove the British presence from Ireland and during the course of that revolution (because that's what it's going to be) will be the flourishing of certain ideas with regard to the liberation of every single man, woman and child with regards to attitudes in the home, our attitudes towards gay people, our attitudes towards how economics is generated, how people live, how property should be redistribued. And that is, in fact, what we hope to gain at the end of the day - complete and absolute control of our lives and to be able to determine what we do with our lives.
Our struggle is very certainly unique with regards to the liberation struggles in other countries throughout the world and, in particular, in other third world countries. For example, the struggle here is being fought against a background of mass media disinformation and information. No other struggle took place against such a background, no other successful struggle, and in fact it is true to say that whenever we fight with an Armalite in one hand and a ballot paper in the other it's an experiment, an historic experiment. Whenever the Yanks were fighting in Vietnam and whenever the Vietcong were fighting against them and indeed in Namibia, in Angola, in Mozambique, none of those soldiers were faced with the exact repercussions of their actions against the enemy. But every time a shot is fired in the North of Ireland, or a landmine is exploded, and there are fatalities or casualities, the media draws through the mill the exact effect of that operation on the total community here.
I think the nationalist people of the North have to be congratulated, and certainly the Republican Movement has to be clapped on the back, considering what it has withstood over the last 14 years. The struggle is going to be a long struggle, the political successes are only going to reap certain benefits to the struggle. They have shown there is popular support, they have overturned British propaganda. Now what we hope to do, and indeed this is where the problem arises, because problems always arise from success, the problems which we face North, South and in Britain and internationally, have to be analysed, have to be examined and we have to come up with strategies which dovetail on certain fronts.
The Republican Movement has developed as a result of certain divisions in Ireland and certain attitudes. The electoral successes in the North, and indeed if we are to develop these in the South where people largely consider the institutions of the state as legitimate, presents us with major difficulties and I honestly don't know how we are going to overcome them.
People who are not particularly tied to our tradition can put forward certain strategies which are difficult for the Republican Movement to overcome, be-
OW
cause unfortunately whenever Britain divided Ireland, in 1920 with the Government of Ireland Act, and whenever she enforced that, in 1921, actual recognition of Free State institutions, and not just the Oath of Allegiance with De Valera was later to ditch, but the actual institutions of the state led to a major problem, led to a split and led to the Civil War. Indeed, down the decades one has often been considered as a traitor if one ever entered into institutions which other men and women had died opposing. The Republican split in 1969 enforced that division and it presents major problems to us. For example, if Sinn Fein, in order to develop the popular struggle in the North, in order to link in with and properly represent working-class interests, advocate entry into Leinster House, it would still present major problems and possibly insuperable problems and potentially split problems.
So we have many, many problems to face. Also I would personally be afraid that we would attract to our movement people who are really interested in political careers. At the present point in time, given the abstentionist policy of the Republican Movement and the fact that, at least internally, anyone who stands for election has to declare an oath of allegiance to the Republican Movement, republican philosophy, and ideology. would be afraid that we would attract to cur movement people who would be interested in getting into debating chambers, into parliament for their own ends and for their sectional ends and not for the ends of the people. We are going to have to remember this point whenever we discuss the way forward. Secondly, inside the North, I believe that the nationalist community is basically sound.
We've had many crosses to bear, from the time of internment and from the HBlocks which replaced internment.
The H-Blocks and Armagh gaol were filled with young men and women on the basis of signed, forced incriminating statements made by these people under spells of 7 days in Castlereagh, Gough barracks and Strand road. Whenever the Brits found that that had been blown wide open, they then moved from there to the present strategy of using hired perjurers. Now we're going to have to mount a street campaign against that which will also have its limitations because the British appreciate absolutely the value of this strategy.
It has the potential of rending the nationalist community apart, it certainly creats distrust and of course a major by-product of it is that Republican activists, along with ordinary people, are going to go to gaol for long periods of time. We are going to have to determine strategies and tactics to fight all these problems. The electoral victories give us the opportunity to link in with people in Britain who sympathise with national unity. But to this day, no organisation, along with ourselves let me modestly add, has produced or finalised a strategy for British withdrawal. We come up with statements like 'Disarm the RUC or UDR!' or with statements like Immediate, total British withdrawal!' and yet the various scenar•ios are going to present us with major problems. The Republican Movement is fighting a long struggle and it is prepared to develop its strategy as it goes along
I believe that we totally and absolutely need unity but I also think that comrades in other organisations have to bear respect for the traditions of the Republican Movement.
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