2 Socialism and the struggle in Ireland. The Political background

[p019] 2. Socialism and the Struggle in Ireland The Political Background The second of two articles by Cliff Slaughter Northern lreland—the political issues 11

[p020] Struggle in ireland The Politica The second of two articles by Cliff Slaughter Northern Ireland—the political issues 11

[p021] IN THE FIRST part of this article, the present situation in Northern Ireland was traced to the Unionist (Tory) conspiracy, beginning in 1912, to prevent national independence by armed force and terrorism. Sir Edward Carson and the Northern Ireland capitalists, supported by the Tories, succeeded in preserving their own interests by partition- ing the six ‘Ulster’ counties from the South and North- West. Now, in 1969, the ‘old’ questions have come up in violent forms. History can- not be cheated. In the 20th century, the age of imperial- ism, only the working class and the socialist revolution can solve the problems of national independence, demo- cratic demands and the land in backward countries. In Northern Ireland, only a working class, socialist pro- gramme, with the working class organized for independent ac- tion behind a Marxist party, can finish the historic task of ending the rule of the Union- ists, Capitalist representatives POBLACHT NA H EIREANN. TRE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT IRISH REPUBLIC TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND. IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she reeeives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom, Having erganised and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her exiled children in America - and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory. ; We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every: generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty ; six times during the past three hundred years, they have asirtcd it in arms, Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hercby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives and thc livis of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations. The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve te pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past. Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National Government, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people, We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High Ged, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishoftour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common geod, prove itself worthyof the august destiny to which it is called. Signed ca Behsit of the Provisional Gevernment, THOMAS J, CLARKE, SEAN Mac DIARMADA, THOMAS MacDONAGB, P, HK PEARSE, EAMONN CEANNT, JAMES CONNOLLY. JOSEPH PLUNKETT. Now in 1969 the old questions have come up once again in violent forms. History cannot be cheated. Only the working class and the socialist revolution can solve the problems of national independence and democratic demands. A step along this road was taken in Ireland in 1916, when a provisional government was set up during the Easter Rising in Dublin. It issued the declaration above. 12 of imperialism. Reformists and middle-class tendencies cannot do it. In the Republic, the South, an aborted form of national independence, with various constitutional modifications since 1920, was established. Since then the Irish native bourgeoisie has ruled the coun- try in defence of its own and foreign capital. The working class of the Irish Republic, leading the small farmers, is breaking from the capitalist parties and moving into action in its own interests. Prime Minister Lynch and the government party make a few speeches about the North and the need for unity of the nation ‘in the long run’! But this trick, of seeming to represent Irish independence as a way of keeping the people’s allegiance, will not work any longer. The more the struggle against the government in the South grows alongside’ the violent clashes in the North, the more the working class sees that its traditional ‘nation- alist’ representatives use their nationalism only as a cloak for their class interests. It is in the interests of the workers of Northern § and Southern Ireland to unite against their own bosses, Unionist and ‘nationalist’, and against British imperialism which they defend: that means to aim at a united workers’ and small farmers’ republic, a Socialist United Ireland. For the capitalists, North and South, this is the great threat. They want the present con- nection with Britain, because they have no real economic in- dependence from British capi- tal and no strength of their own to keep down the working class. This is what has just been proved in the North. The Unionists’ police and ‘Special’ forces in the North, even when backed by the thousands of armed Orange ‘irregulars’, could not keep ‘law and order’, and 7,000 British troops have been called in. The British Labour govern- ment used its troops to defend capitalist property and to de- fend the Conservative care- takers of British imperialism in Ulster. These Unionists are part of the ruling class and the Tory establishment in Britain. By supporting them the Labour government was pro- viding strength to the British ruling class for its economic and political battles with the working class. All those who do not oppose the sending of troops are col- laborating in this imperialist war of intervention. This raises the other side of the story which is necessary for working out a programme and strategy for the Irish wor- king class: the connection be- tween the struggle in Ireland and the class’ struggle- in Britain. We shall return to this point. In the first of these articles we showed how the crisis pros- pects facing the Protestant majority of Belfast workers (in shipbuilding and engineering) were like a time-bomb under- neath the present situation, in which the Catholic workers have been the first to move. In the South, the situation is coming to a head with in- exorable force. This year, des- The Unionists, led by Prime Minister Chichester-Clark, are part of the ruling class and Tory establishment in Britain. By sup- porting them with troops, the Labour government also _ pro- vides strength for the British ruling class in its economic and political battles with the work- ing class. Fourth International, Summer 1970

[p022] IN THE FIRST part of this article, the present situation in Northern Ireland was traced to the Unionist (Tory) conspiracy, beginning in 1912, to prevent national independence by armed force and terrorism. Sir Edward Carson and the Northern Ireland capitalists, supported by the _ Tories, succeeded in preserving their own interests by partition- ing the six ‘Ulster’ counties from the South and North- West. POBLACHT NA _H EIREANN. THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT IRISH REPUBLIC TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND. IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition ef nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom. Having organised and trained her manhood Now, in 1969, the ‘old’ questions have come up in violent forms. History can- not be cheated. In the 20th century, the age of imperial- ism, only the working class and the socialist revolution can solve the problems of national independence, demo- cratic demands and the land in backward countries. In Northern Ireland, only a working class, socialist pro- gramme, with the working class organized for independent ac- tion behind a Marxist party, can finish the historic task of ending the rule of the Union- ists, capitalist representatives through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her exiled children im America - and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory. . We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty ; six timcs during the past three hundred ycars they have asterted it in arms, Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hercby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations. The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. ‘The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve te pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past. Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National Government, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people, We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, aad we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishofiour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common geod, prove itself worthyof the august destiny to which it is called. Signed ea Behail of the Provisional Gevernment, THOMAS J, CLARKE, SEAN Mac DIARMADA, THOMAS MacDONAGH, P, H. PEARSE, EAMONN CEANNT, JAMES CONNOLLY. JOSEPH PLUNKETT. Now in 1969 the old questions have come up once again in violent forms. History cannot be cheated. Only the working class and the socialist revolution can solve the problems of national independence and democratic demands. A step along this road was taken in Ireland in 1916, when a provisional government was set up during the Easter Rising in Dublin. It issued the declaration above. 12 of imperialism. Reformists and middle-class tendencies cannot do it. In the Republic, the South, an aborted form of national independence, with various constitutional modifications since 1920, was established. Since then the Irish native bourgeoisie has ruled the coun- try in defence of its own and foreign capital. The working class of the Irish Republic, leading the small farmers, is breaking from the capitalist parties and moving into action in its own interests. Prime Minister Lynch and the government party make a few speeches about the North and the need for unity of the nation ‘in the long run’! But this trick, of seeming to represent Irish independence as a way of keeping the people’s allegiance, will not work any longer. The more the struggle against the government in the South grows alongside’ the violent clashes in the North, the more the working class sees that its traditional ‘nation- alist’ representatives use their nationalism only as a cloak for their class interests. It is in the interests of the workers of Northern § and Southern Ireland to _ unite against their own _ bosses, Unionist and ‘nationalist’, and against British imperialism which they defend: that means to aim at a united workers’ and small farmers’ republic, a Socialist United Ireland. For the capitalists, North and South, this is the great threat. They want the present con- nection with Britain, because they have no real economic in- dependence from British capi- tal and no strength of their own to keep down the working class. This is what has just been proved in the North. The Unionists’ police and ‘Special’ forces in the North, even when backed by the thousands of armed Orange ‘irregulars’, could not keep ‘law and order’, and 7,000 British troops have been called in. The British Labour govern- ment used its troops to defend capitalist property and to de- fend the Conservative care- takers of British imperialism in Ulster. These Unionists are part of the ruling class and the Tory establishment in Britain. By supporting them the Labour government was pro- viding strength to the British ruling class for its economic and political battles with the working class. All those who do not oppose the sending of troops are col- laborating in this imperialist war of intervention. This raises the other side of the story which is necessary for working out a programme and strategy for the Irish wor- king class: the connection be- tween the struggle in Ireland and the class struggle in Britain. We shall return to this point. In the first of these articles we showed how the crisis pros- pects facing the Protestant majority of Belfast workers (in shipbuilding and engineering) were like a time-bomb under- neath the present situation, in which the Catholic workers have been the first to move. In the South, the situation is coming to a head with in- exorable force. This year, des- The Unionists, led by Prime Minister Chichester-Clark, are part of the ruling class and Tory establishment in Britain. By sup- porting them with troops, the Labour government also _ pro- vides strength for the British ruling class in its economic and political battles with the work- ing class. Fourth International, Summer 1970

[p023] The Irish capitalists face a working class whose historical traditions of struggle link up with the international offensive now being mounted by the working class. That is the reason for blatant attacks like the Burntollet Bridge ambush of a civil rights’ march by B-Special thugs (above). places continue, but the ruling Class is fearful of the daily growing rejection of religious North, with their perspective Under the impact of this \ . -I'Sp v of a ‘rationalized’ capitalism in pite frantic government appeals - ; revival in the labour move- for wage-restraint, despite threats of legislation with the Criminal Justice Bill which could jail strikers, the main- tenance electricians of the Electricity Supply Board fought a bitter struggle through to the end and won an increase of 25 per cent! Within a few weeks, follow- ing their example, building workers won an approximate increase of 20 per cent, phased over nine months. Other sec- tions are now moving into the fray. In the West, the Tynagh mining company, having got its hands on very rich silver and other deposits with the pros- pects of gigantic profits, has been crippled by a two-month strike. Already the men have re- fused a £4-a-week increase and the prospects grow of a long and bitter struggle. In conditions where workers in the West of Ireland have in recent months gained confi- dence from a temporary spring and summer improvement in employment, these strikes are bound to increase the militancy of other sections. ment, and the recent General Election campaign, the govern- ment party withdrew its pro- posed anti-union legislation this year. It will certainly try to re-introduce it, and this will bring a political struggle against the legislation. In the last three years, the small farmers have mounted considerable campaigns against the government. After the partition of Ire- land, definitively settled in 1923, the division of the land, despite the indemnity condi- tions attached to it, success- fully took the heat out of the century-old agitation in the countryside. But the pressure of finance capital and the big banks has put an intolerable squeeze on the small farmers. Like the small traders of the town, driven out by the supermarket investors, they are made bank- rupt in their thousands every year. On top of these basic prob- lems in the class struggle sits the powerful Catholic church. Its economic strength and its political influence in high Northern ireland—tThe political issues authority by the proletarian youth. In the recent elections, the Labour Party of the Irish Republic was compelled to put on a ‘left’ face, talking about ‘socialism’ being restored to their programme. Although their programme turned out not to be socialist at all, what they are doing is modifying their statements to comply with the pressure from the working class. Recent recruits to their par- liamentary party, like Conor Cruise O’Brien and_ other liberals, help them in this deception. What they hope is this: the old nationalism, helped by Catholicism, will not be able to contain the struggle much longer; in these days of mod- ern capitalism, we should drop the old nationalist myths, and form a truly modern reformist, social-democratic party for the Irish workers. (See Conor Cruise O’Brien in ‘New Left Review’, 37 May-June, 1966.) In this way, they are very like the ‘lefts’ who formed People’s Democracy in the the North and an opening for reforms in the shape of civil rights. Now there is certainly plenty for reformists to get their teeth into (if they had any teeth) in the Republic of Eire. The standard of living is, on official figures, less than 60 per cent of that in Britain and 20 per cent lower than that of the North. Even if we consider only the town workers, who are better off than the small farmers and agricultural workers, we find average earnings about £3 10s. per week lower than in Britain. As for the countryside, be- cause of differences in State subsidies and pricing policies, added of course to the poor quality of land in the West, production per acre annually is £19 on grass and inilk output, compared with £59 in the North. ; It is worth giving a few other examples, because one big question comes up among Northern Irish workers, which will more and more be asked in the South also: what price a united Ireland under Lynch and the ‘Green Tories’ of the South ? 13

[p024] When the Protestant worker in the North asks that ques- tion, he is not referring at all only (or even primarily) to the future of religious freedom or discrimination, but to the basic living and welfare standards of the workers. The Catholic worker in the North asks the same question. But when they both ‘ask’ this question politically, and fight for an alternative, jointly with the workers of the South —on that day the prospect of a united socialist Ireland opens up. Unemployment benefit, like all welfare benefits, is the same in Northern Ireland as in Britain. In the South, an un- employed man with a wife and two children gets £7 18s. 6d.; in the North £9 4s. In the South, old-age pen- sion is not due until 70, and is only two-thirds of the pension in Britain and the North. The Health Service hardly exists at all in the South. In 1965 the maternity grant was £4 (and contraception was banned). A widow with two children in the South gets 3 0°° a week, in the North New houses built in the South in 1965 reached the record figure of 8,146. The North, with less than half the population, and still with a disgraceful housing situation, built 9,516 houses in the same year. Northern Ireland’s education budget Jast year was £51 mil- lion. The South, with double the population, spent £49 million. These social benefits in the North are supported by a sub- sidy from the British Ex- chequer of about £130 million annually. This is always pre- sented in government publicity as some sort of gift from Britain. It is of course a great deal smaller than the annual amount extracted in profits by British and international capi- tal each year, not to mention the advantages gained by Brit- ish capitalists from the flow of Irish emigrants suffering under a 74 per cent unemployment rate in Northern Ireland. . We saw in the first part of this article that, with the growing world economic crisis, the reform programme of ‘civil rights’ could not soive in any way the jobs and housing problem for the workers in the North, which must get worse for the Protestant workers as 14 well as the Catholic. What is the prospect for any such reform in the South? As already outlined, the Fianna Fail government is already preparing anti-union laws, let alone ‘democratizing’ and ‘reforming’. Behind these measures are two factors. In the first place, the low level of capital investment in