Northern Ireland: 1 Class Struggle and Civil Rights. The Political background

[p012] ‘L Glass Strugole and Civil Rights The Political Background The first of two articles by Cliff Slaughter 6 Fourth International, Summer 1970

[p013] 1 Class Struggle and Civil Rights The Politicat Background The first of two articles by Cliff Slaughter 6 Fourth International, Summer 1970

[p014] IRELAND, after hund- reds of years of imperial- ist Oppression, was par- titioned following the workers’ uprising of Easter 1916 in Dublin and the 1918 Civil War. The present state of Nor- thern Ireland consists of six counties in the north-east of Ireland, the remaining 26 constituting Eire, the Re- public. From 1912 onwards, the landlords and capitalists of what is now Northern Ire- land, particularly in Belfast, organized open military re- sistance against the proposed ‘Home Rule’, in which the Liberal government of the day at Westminster proposed to grant limited independence to Ireland. Led by Sir Edward Carson, this reactionary group, sup- ported by the Tories and by elements of the military Gen- eral Staff in Britain, forced a situation where ‘Ulster’, or the six counties of the North-East, remained attached directly to the Westminster government. These ‘Unionists’ have had to base their politics ever since on the supposed advan- tages of this union to the Protestant majority in North- ern Ireland. Whereas the Catholic re- ligion predominates in Ireland as a whole, the six counties contain a majority of those professing Protestantism. This arises from historical processes beginning in the 16th and 17th centuries, in which the English ruling class settled Protestant farmers, mostly Scots, in these coun- ties, giving them the best land, in order to consolidate their rule. Now, of course, the vast majority of their descendants who remain in Ireland are propertyless wage-workers in Belfast and the smaller towns. In order to keep the work- ing class of the North dis- united, to keep the Protestant workers in the political grip of the Unionist (Conservative) Party, it has been necessary above all to convince them that the connection with Britain and the continuance of Unionist rule is an advantage to them as workers. Thus the Catholic worker is discriminated against by the Capitalists and the state: his votes are worthless through ‘gerrymandering’ or the arrangement of constituencies; 2 In order to keep the working class in Ireland divided, it is necessary to convince them that the connection with Britain and the continua- he has less chance of a house; he is excluded from many jobs; his children will be worse educated in inferior schools. In addition, welfare services of the type won through struggle in Britain apply to the North, and contrast with the Republic. It is now a desperate matter for the capitalists of Ireland and Britain that this division be preserved. The international crisis of capitalism has reached the stage where a conflict with the working class in every Capitalist country cannot be avoided. This is the lesson of France, Italy and Germany, as well as tion of Unionist rule is an advantage to them as workers. Northern lreland—the political issues Northern Ireland, Eire and Britain. FATAL Tt will be fatal for the capi: talists once the workers who are crowded into Belfast slums are drawn, united, into this struggle against their real enemies, the employer, the landlord, and the government, instead of being led, as the agents of the capitalist class are deliberately leading them, into clashes on a _ religious basis. There have been no barri- cades in the upper-class and middle-class areas of Belfast, no clashes between rich Catho- lics fighting for civil rights and rich Protestants fighting as ‘Loyalists’! The attention of the ruling class is turned instead to per- petuating these divisions in the working class. But the game is up! Because capitalism can provide no future for either the Protestant or the Catholic worker; and because these workers sense the strength and _ offensive power of their class through- out the world, their need to fight will not and cannot be contained within the old re- ligious ‘sectarian’ framework. Within only a week or two of the clashes between the forces of the state and groups of Catholic workers in August this year, a remarkable change took place in the situation. Protestant workers, for half a century used as a pillar of support for the ‘British con- nection’, found themselves in street battles against the occu- pying British Army! For a few extreme right- ‘wing Unionists to raise the idea of breaking from West- minster was one thing: it was only a warning of the tensions which were coming to the sur- face as the old equilibrium became uneasy. But for the poor Protestant workers of Belfast, deluded for generations into voting Union- ist (i.e. for all that went with union with Britain) to fight British troops was quite an- other thing Simon-pure reformers and so-called socialists of course will object that those Protest- ant workers clashed with the 7

[p015] troops only because the troops prevented them from fighting the Catholic workers. That is, of course, what happened. But the objective logic of events is here of decisive im- portance. These workers have been led to express. their bitterness and frustration as victims of exploitation, un- employment and bad housing by taking it out on their class brothers, the Catholics. CLASH The clash with the troops signifies precisely that the maintenance of capitalist rule in Northern Ireland can no longer depend on this device, together with the Special Powers Act that goes with it. These same workers will find the troops, forces of the state, supported by the ‘Pro- testant’ Constabulary and B- Specials (now policing the ‘Protestant’ slums), attempting to batter them down in strike struggles. WAGE-CUTS Also they have Wilson attempting to introduce anti- union legislation and face in- creased unemployment, wage- cuts and ‘productivity’ speed- up. The Catholic worker is coming into the same overall struggle against capitalism and the Wilson government. Because of the reformist and reactionary control of his unions and_ political parties, from the Republicans and the Stalinists, he has been led by the middle-class ‘civil rights’ advocates to believe that pressure on Wilson will bring positive reforms on jobs, housing, education, votes and protection against arbitrary arrest. STRUGGLE Many Catholic workers saw the Civil Rights movement as a way of expressing that will- ingness to struggle which has been. steadily building up against capitalism in every country. They thought that by giving their support to ‘civil rights’ they could bring pressure to 8 The Union Jacks were out in this Protestant area when the troops moved in with their armoury. But all illusions about ‘protection’ from the army are being dispelled as state forces are used against both Catholic and Protestant workers. Street barricades in Dublin during the Irish Civil War of 1918. Fourth International, Summer 1970

[p016] Many Catholic workers saw the civil righty movement as a way of expressing that willingness to stru against capitalism in every country. bear on the Unionists for sub- stantial reforms. Their middle-class leaders peddled the argument that sup- port for this could be got from the Labour government in Britain. The whole perspective of the leadership of the civil rights movement —a middle- class leadership supported by middle-class ‘socialists’ of the ‘state capitalist’? and Stalinist varieties — was that British capitalism had within it the possibility of granting demo- cratic reforms and allowing a further peaceful development of capitalism in Northern Ireland. But for the Catholic worker who marched behind their banners in Belfast or Derry, it was a step towards something quite different: it was the only way he could see, at that stage, of using his growing strength to challenge the employers and the government. Above all it is necessary to understand, not only that the middle-class leaders inevitably betray this movement from be- low, but something else. The political crisis which opened up with O’Neill’s re- signation and the split in the Unionist Party brought in its train a series of objective struggles in which the class issues will inevitably come to the fore, and in which great opportunities arise for the de- velopment of united working- class actions and the develop- ment of a Marxist leadership in Britain as well as in Ireland. If we approach the question from another angle, this be- comes clear. What is the real content of the slogan ‘one man, one job’ or *‘. . . one vote’ or *. . . one house’? What is the content of the demand for ending discrimination in edu- cation ? JOBS SCARCE For the working class, the ‘jobs’ question is a matter of more jobs. But capitalism has entered a phase internationally —~and even more certainly within declining British capi- talism—where jobs must get scarcer and not more plentiful. Thus, if the Northern Ireland and British government ‘prom- ise’ to implement the reforms demanded by the civil rights movement, what can _ this mean? Unemployment in Northern Ireland is at this time seven and a half per cent, or three times the rate in Britain. The ruling class is patently incapable of controlling the social contradictions and establishing ‘law and order’. Hence the ‘normal’ problems of reducing the labour force in capitalism as a whole are much worse in Northern Ireland. These promises, like all the promises of Tories and all the promises of Wilson and the reformists, are a lie and a fraud. Northern Ireland—the political Issues Northern Ireland’s problems, even more obviously than those of Britain, require social- ist solutions. LESSON Bitter struggles, in which the workers of Belfast and Derry are unable to resolve even the smallest day-to-day questions without armed clashes with the forces of the state, will force this lesson upon these workers in a very short time. To fight for these policies against all diversions is the task of Marxists in this situa- tion. It was because of the middle-class orientation of the initial leadership of the civil rights movement that the Catholic workers found them- selves apparently facing the prospect of wholesale death and destruction by August of this year. The Royal Ulster Constabu- lary and the B-Specials (con- sisting largely of extremist right-wing elements, some of them followers of the Protest- ant Reverend Ian Paisley) used their government status and their arms to carry out brutal attacks on the Catholic wor- kers’ quarters. Whole streets were burned down and several deaths occurred. NOT ORGANIZED Against these odds the un- prepared workers fought bravely, but the independent ggle which has been steadily building up fighting capacity of the work- ing class had never been organ- ized, of course, by the civil rights leaders, even of the so- called ‘left wing’. The ‘state capitalists’ of the ‘International Socialism’ group, and others like McCann, who constitute this ‘left wing’, then found themselves unable to oppose the intervention of British troops. Their supporters say: ‘With- out the troops there would have been a pogrom (ie. a violent attack and killing of Catholics)’. They forget, first, that this ‘pogrom’ is now about to be organized by the troops and the Royal Ulster Constabulary and B-Specials who are part of the same state machine; and, second, that their own politics of liquidation into civil rights, instead of independent mobilization of the strength of the working class, created the conditions for Wilson’s troops to intervene. Now the Cameron Report on the events between October 1968 and April 1969, together with the witch-hunt of the capitalist press, led by the ‘Daily Mail’, is turned on McCann, Toman, Devlin and Farrell, of the student ‘People’s Democracy’ section of the Civil Rights movement. No effort must be spared in the labour movement of Britain and Ireland to defend them and all the Irish militants against whom the attack is directed.

[p017] The Labour government must be told to keep its hands off any of the workers and civil rights members whom the Unionists want to make scape- goats for their own historical bankruptcy. But the lessons must be learned. These ‘left wingers’, among them revisionist supporters of groups like the ‘state capital- ists’, considered that the fur- ther development of capitalism in Ireland gave the opportunity for a reform movement (civil rights). In this way the Catholic section of the working class would begin to develop con- sciousness, so it was thought. Instead, the revolutionary nature of the problems facing the Irish workers, Catholic and Protestant, was the essence of the question, and required a socialist, revolution- ary, not areformist programme and preparation; a working- class organization, not a liqui- dation into the middle-class organization (civil rights) with a reformist programme. The situation was and is building up to a .evolutionary one. Therefore, as soon as the workers show even a small example of their strength and combativity, counter-revolu- tionary reprisals are prepared by the Unionists. Unable to prepare for revo- lution, the ‘lefts’, because of their revolutionary words, and because they are useful as a scapegoat, fall victim in the witch-hunt to these reprisals. The working-class move- ment will defend them, be- cause the attack on them is essentially the ruling class’s first preparatory blow in tightening the grip of repres- sion in Ireland. Reprinted from ‘Workers Press’ of Tuesday, October 7, 1969. 10 Paper 6d. 12s. back: Hard Price: 30s. cover Ke 5 cf WHAT IS THE SOVIET UNION AND WHERE IS IT GOING? TROTSKY 6d. 10s. Paper back : BETRAYE Hard Price: 21s. cover NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS LTD. 186a CLAPHAM HIGH STREET, LONDON, S.W.4 THE AGE OF PERMANENT REVOLUTION ANTHOLOGY Edited with an introduction by Isaac Deutscher (with the assistance of George Novak). Published by Dell Publish- ing Co. Inc. Distributed in Britain by New Park Publica- tions Ltd. Price 9s. 6d. A concise and invaluable collection of Trotsky’s writings. The theoretical genius of one of the world’s great Marxists and co-leader of the first successful socialist revolution is brilliantly revealed in this book. It is an indispensable addition to the library of all communists who are serious about studying, understanding and grasping the method and programme of contemporary Marxism. Orders to: NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS LTD 1I86A CLAPHAM HIGH ST., LONDON, S.W.4 Fourth International, Summer 1970

[p018] The Labour government must be told to keep its hands off any of the workers and civil rights members whom the Unionists want to make scape- goats for their own historical bankruptcy. But the lessons must be learned. These ‘left wingers’, among them revisionist supporters of groups like the ‘state capital- ists’, considered that the fur- ther development of capitalism in Ireland gave the opportunity for a reform movement (civil rights). In this way the Catholic section of the working class would begin to develop con- sciousness, so it was thought. Instead, the revolutionary nature of the problems facing the Irish workers, Catholic and Protestant, was the essence of the question, and required a socialist, revolution- ary, not areformist programme and preparation; a working- class organization, not a liqui- dation into the middle-class organization (civil rights) with a reformist programme. The situation was and is building up to a .:evolutionary one. Therefore, as soon as the workers show even a_ small example of their strength and combativity, counter-revolu- tionary reprisals are prepared by the Unionists. Unable to prepare for revo- lution, the ‘lefts’, because of their revolutionary words, and because they are useful as a scapegoat, fall victim in the witch-hunt to these reprisals. The working-class move- ment will defend them, be- cause the attack on them is essentially the ruling class’s first preparatory blow in tightening the grip of repres- sion in Ireland. Reprinted from ‘Workers Press’ of Tuesday, October 7, 1969. 10 3 2 3 g g : Yr o o : LJ : S WHAT IS THE N SOVIET UNION 5 FS AND WHERE 3 = IS IT GOING? ° 2 2 ; TROTSKY a a NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS LTD. 186a CLAPHAM HIGH STREET, LONDON, S.W.4 THE AGE OF PERMANENT REVOLUTION Edited with an introduction by Isaac Deutscher (with the A TROTSKY assistance of George Novak). Published by Dell Publish- # ing Co. Inc. Distributed in Britain by New Park Publica- ANTHOLOGY : tions Ltd. Price 9s. 6d. A concise and invaluable collection of Trotsky’s writings. The theoretical genius of one of the world’s great Marxists and co-leader of the first successful socialist revolution is brilliantly revealed in this book. It is an indispensable addition to the library of all communists who are serious about studying, understanding and grasping the method and programme of contemporary Marxism. Orders to: NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS LTD 186A CLAPHAM HIGH ST., LONDON, S.W.4 Fourth International, Summer 1970