Only he is a Marxist who extends the rec- Subscriptions (£30 p.a. or £15 six months - pay ognition of the class struggle to the recogni- Economic & Bulletin Publications) and circulation: £3 tion of the dictatorship of the proletariat. p&p EPSR, po box 76261, This is the touchstone on which the real Philosophic London sw17 1GW [Post Office Registered.] Books understanding and recognition of Marxism e-mail: [email protected] is to be tested. V.I.Lenin Science Review Website — www.epsr.org.uk Vol 22

EPSR books Volume 22 fear and shattered confidence, or failed to understand why the visit was so damaging in the Leninist perspective on triumphant first place. Giving a US visa and full freedom to be internation- Irish national-liberation struggle ally reported and quoted to the figure most publicly associated Part 3 (Feb 1994–Feb 1996) with the armed revolutionary challenge to British imperial- ism’s continued domination over a colonised part of Ireland, is sensationally damaging in more ways than one. Obviously, all the cadres of the national-liberation struggle and all of its supporters world- wide will receive an enormous boost from seeing Adams dance rings round the plodding British attempts to hide the truth about its vicious repression and to tell lies about the resistance to it by the IRA and Sinn Féin. Obviously, the representa- tives of British imperialism on the ground, – the soldiers, the administration of the police- military dictatorship, and the Orange colonist settler commu- nity posing as ‘British Irishmen’, – will feel more disheartened than ever and are already show- ing the signs of making more and more of the mistakes that will come from demoralisation. And all of the plainly con- trived attempts by the counter- revolutionary propaganda to Imperialist splits are the for weak Britain reflects stand reality on its head and say that it is the Republican real issue, – over Ireland, trade-war conflicts as much movement which is split and in trouble, and that it is the the BMW takeover, the as Irish policy differences. British devious ‘peace’ manoeu- vres which have gained from stock market tremors, and Fake-’lefts’ see a Sinn Féin these developments, – are just so much wishful thinking, or everything else. The British ‘defeat’ eagerly because any whistling in the dark. propaganda cover-up about victories over imperialism But crucially being ignored almost completely is one of the Adams visa blow is just put a stop to their armchair the most significant factors in this whole drama which is the pathetic self-delusion, as socialist pontificating. The undoubted deep fissures in the imperialist camp which have bad as the lying concern by longterm decline of British been revealed, and in particu- lar the weak and increasingly imperialism generally over imperialism is the Marx- scorned position of the British Bosnian muslim pain when ist key to an analysis of the imperialists within that cut- throat racket. the civil-war dead in Kabul, Irish troubles. Orange colo- The Adams saga points up one of the most fundamental issues a direct Western responsi- nist barbarism only con- of Marxist theory on which the Bulletin has always tried to in- bility, are ignored. US snub firms that decline. sist in its longstanding analysis The Sinn Féin leader’s public- and even on what Americans of how the British ruling class is [EPSR No 737 08-02-94 ] ity is now being downplayed by think of the struggle. gradually being defeated by his- The massive counter-revolution- the bourgeois press as an influ- But the initial hysterical tory in its efforts to hang onto ary propaganda campaign to try ence on the outcome of the na- reaction of the British establish- its colonised gains in Occupied 1 to diminish the impact of Gerry tional-liberation war in Ireland; ment and media was the right Ireland, or at least not to have Adams’ visit to New York is on public opinion in Britain, response, even if they now lie to admit defeat by an armed missing the point entirely. Ireland and the Occupied Zone; about it and try to hide their revolutionary struggle (see ILWP EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Books vol 8 & 15 – Ireland). in front of an international are at stake is clear from the given him the visa, they had to jus- Assessing how the battle was audience. capitalist media’s own admis- tify it,” said one Foreign Office -offi going between British colonial- This was one small event sions, – as tight-lipped and cial. “You could read the whole epi- ism and international bourgeois causing specific measurable stultified as were the British sode as the Americans having been taken for a bit of a ride.” ‘anti-terrorist’ propaganda on irritation between London and bourgeois press comments: Yet Britain’s complaint against the one hand, and the forces Washington, much of it already IN ONE of the sharpest transatlan- the US is of naïvety rather than bad of national-liberation on the discounted by bourgeois media tic rows in years, Britain yesterday faith: “Clinton was persuaded by other, was always as much a propaganda. angrily criticised the granting of a people who overwhelmingly be- question of interpreting inter- But the implications behind United States visa — and the con- lieved he would use his New York imperialist relationships on the this devastating rebuff could be sequent widespread publicity — speech to make a step towards world economic trade-war and incalculable for the longterm to the Sinn Féin president, Gerry peace,” one senior source said. military alliance stage as trying fate of British imperialism, im- Adams, and blamed President “There are two categories of peo- to evaluate how the rival camps plying just exactly that decline Clinton for a decision opposed by ple in the States who argued for the many of his own advisers. visa: those who will support any- were doing in Ireland, and how in world standing which has Ministers reserved their sharp- thing Irish and the second category the conflict was being perceived been nagging away at the back est barbs for Mr Adams but officials who judge things on their merits by the British public. of Britain’s great difficulties threw caution to the winds and said and this time genuinely thought it Hitherto, and still the case in with the Irish problem in the that chances for the Downing Street was worth offering a carrot.” general, the entire bourgeois- first place. Declaration could have been im- White House officials have - ad imperialist racket would stand And on top of a general state- paired by a “lousy idea”. mitted that the president ended united in its condemnation of ment about the diminishing As a triumphant Mr Adams left the the ban on Mr Adams mainly be- revolutionary armed struggle importance of London in inter- US last night after his 48-hour media cause of pressure from two promi- against an existing monopoly- national imperialist big-power blitz, again saying that Britain alone nent Democratic senators, Edward was obstructing the search for a set- Kennedy and Patrick Moynihan, capitalist establishment. considerations, the Washington tlement, John Major accused him of who face re-election battles this year But gradually, historically, humiliation also raises more hiding behind a “smokescreen of for Irish-American votes. the relentless development immediate concerns about what evasions and falsehoods”. “The President obviously gets a of renewed long-term inter- specific manipulations and Before boarding his flight to political dividend by accommodat- imperialist economic crisis has calculations have gone into the Dublin, Mr Adams promised to ing Pat and Teddy on this,” a White meant that other potentially Clinton regime’s decision to make “concrete” decisions soon House insider told the New York decisive considerations have deliver this particular snub at on his party’s role in the Northern Times. “But he also thought it was a come into play. this particular time. Ireland peace process. He added that risk worth taking on its own merits. The devastated British Is it a comment about internal the many prominent Americans, “The only downside is that it obvi- including Mr Clinton and Senator ously ticks off the Brits but, equally demeanour and the enormous European considerations with Edward Kennedy, who supported obviously, that is acceptable to a lot smokescreen of confusion a wish on Washington’s part to his visit to the US, “will not be let of us.” brought out by the Adams take London down a peg or two dow n”. Ray Seitz, the US ambassador publicity triumph in New York at the expense of strengthening “I want to see an end to all violence. to London, who opposed the visa demonstrates this reality of American relations with Ger- The raising of this issue [by the and is deeply embarrassed by the how international imperialist- many, for example, or to reduce British Government] is a diversion. episode, gave one clue when he ad- domination and trade-war London’s influence on European I don’t see the British Government dressed lobby correspondents at perspectives are the only serious Community-wide affairs in gen- being asked to renounce violence,” Westminster as the storm burst on basis for analysing all political eral in order to encourage other he said. Wednesday. He conceded that there Foreign Office officials blamed Mr was a dispute about the degree to developments everywhere on different influences? Clinton squarely for allowing Mr which Mr Adams had fulfilled his earth. Or maybe it reflects a much Adams in, saying he knew it would visa conditions. After all, Adams was still wider-scale tendency by the USA “go down like a lead balloon” in Damage limitation was the next not being reported in Ireland to possibly deflate European London. stage: Sir Robin Renwick, the British or Britain, so nothing was lost importance in general in order Mr Hurd told Mr Gore frankly ambassador to the US, said on there where these questions to concentrate America’s inter- of British dismay. The Foreign Thursday that Mr Adams reminded of self-determination over a ests much more on the Pacific Secretary had also had a “lively” him of Goebbels, the Nazi propa- disputed patch of territory are area as the most crucial region meeting with Tony Lake, Mr ganda chief. ostensibly going to be decided. governing the USA’s longer-term Clinton’s national security adviser. Warren Christopher, the secretary And US imperialism and the political and economic future? of state, backed the British position, This waspish mood over Brit- American public in general has One thing for certain is that as did the CIA. ain’s discomfiture carried over not obviously decided to take up the decision to scorn London Ray Seitz, the US ambassador to into the attempted ‘reporting’ the cause of the Irish national and give a propaganda visa to Britain, obliquely confirmed yes- itself of what Adams actually liberation struggle in a big way Gerry Adams is not limited to terday that he and colleagues at the said. The hurt national British as a result of Adams’s words, so just a US intervention into Irish state department had been over- bile in this piece from the most not much was lost there either. affairs. There is a lot more to ruled by the White House in the ‘liberal’ and ‘freedom of the The British bourgeois- it than that, – as interested as decision to grant Mr Adams a visa. press’ posturing stables of all, – imperialist hysteria over the the Americans are in scoring There had been “a big tussle” he is almost tangible: said. Adams visit comes about largely electoral points off each other In London the Foreign Secretary THE roar rattled the ballroom because of the painful truth in domestic USA politics by scorned Mr Adams as “a failed poli- chandeliers. For 2,000 cheering, the debacle has told about buttering up one ethnic lobby tician”. But he told American offi- stamping Irish-American repub- the standing of degenerating or another from time to time, cials privately of his deep dismay licans gathered at the Manhattan Britain in the pecking order of or even in boosting one US at an ill-timed visa that could do Sheraton, it was a moment for inter-imperialist conflict. government department against serious damage to the chances of which they had worked for 20 The steadily declining Brit- another where slanted regional moving forward with the Downing years. Looking on, misty-eyed, ish interests just do not rate political bias may be thought Street Declaration. from afar they had “kept the faith”, they said. Now, finally, their hero, very highly in Washington any to prevail and to need rectify- As the Foreign Secretary and his officials picked gloomily over one Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, longer. ing, (–although this reported of the stormiest weeks in the history was standing before them. The Clinton regime’s agree- aspect (State Department and of the special relationship between As they chanted his name and ment to a visa for Adams in CIA interests versus those of the Washington and London, it was the pipes wailed, Mr Adams told the face of almost demented Democratic Party and sympa- clear that whatever the expectations them the tide had turned. The hated incessant British protests was a thetic government departments of his American hosts, Mr Adams British were on the run both politi- colossal world-public humilia- in general) is already bordering had failed to meet them. cally and morally, for “a nation that tion for London. on those bigger inter-imperial- Precisely what the expectations enslaves another can never, ever be Not only was it a shatter- ist world issues already identi- were remains a mystery. Details f ree”. He had been vilified by the cen- 2 ingly painful blow for the Tory fied as one of the main factors in of the conversations between Mr Adams and US consular staff in sored and censorious British me- government itself, but it also this explosive affair.) Belfast have not been made available dia but that did not matter. George damagingly pricked the bubble How much more to it remains to the British government. Nor are Washington, Yasser Arafat, and of British arrogance and conceit to be seen, but that big issues they expected to be. “Once they’d Nelson Mandela had received simi- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 lar treatment, he said. ganda tried subsequently to Pressure from Washington on assure itself in Britain that John Major and from people like nothing was really wrong with themselves on Bill Clinton would ul- its world view, and that no great timately force the British army out. “Let us resolve to face the new mil- lasting damage had really been lennium having moved the republi- done to its positions and its can agenda to the top of the national prejudices. agenda of this country,” Mr Adams The sophisticated Guardian said. editorial was reduced to resur- “We’ve shown we can move pres- recting some of the most dis- idents, move the most powerful honoured clichés in the whole country in the Western world. We repertoire of the spurned Ulster are in the final phase... Get behind Unionists, ridiculed at other the banner, spread the gospel, keep the faith!” times in other columns: After the sanitised media perfor- “Ken Maginnis got it right when mances of the past two days, the he wrote yesterday that the cause mask dropped on Tuesday night of terrorism has been elevated and from what the New York Daily News that of democracy diminished.” yesterday called the “human face of And further down on the same Gerry Adams New York visit in 1994 meeting Bill Clinton the IRA”. point: The IRA’s armed resistance to national liberation struggle by a Gone were the bland, beguiling that police-military dictatorship long way. prevarications about peace pro- “None of Mr Adams’s followers is cesses, dialogue, and going the extra denied the vote. He does not speak with its built-in ‘democratic These middle-class zombies mile. In their place was the face of for a disenfranchised majority or unionist’ majority, is further simply cannot see the forest for militant nationalism, primarily fo- even a disenfranchised minority.” subjected in the Guardian and all of the trees that are around. cused on victory not solutions. What a stinking old rat of an elsewhere to accusations of Petty-bourgeois ‘left’ In an interview published in yes- argument this is. causing a major split in the Re- journalism, of course, has terday’s New York Post, Mr Adams The ‘British Irish’ Orange publican camp, and that really an especially large need for appeared to let his ‘man of peace’ colonists were a less than 20% the New York ‘peace’ propa- defeatist rationalisations about guard down momentarily. minority in the general election ganda by Adams has damaged there being no anti-imperialist “I think in circumstances where the national-liberation struggle victories in sight on the Irish there is military occupation, that it results in British-occupied is legitimate for people to exercise Ireland at the end of World War much more than it has damaged national-liberation struggle resistance,” he said. “If you have I which voted overwhelmingly the British cause. front because of never having British troops on the street, you will (nearly 80%) for immediate Irish A further Guardian refine- had the intelligence, the cour- always have people to counter that independence. ment of this wishful thinking age, or the class sense to back a with resistance. I would like to see Instead of letting that Dail claims that a voluntarily offered defeat for British imperialism, a situation where people don’t have parliament meet to proclaim and desired British compromise or because of having ‘supported’ to do that.” its democratic freedom, British on its sovereignty over the Oc- the Irish national-liberation For the edification of people far re- bayonets closed it down and cupied Zone of Ireland is unable struggle on a completely sectar- moved from the bloody realities of to proceed unless the IRA/Sinn ian basis denouncing every Armagh, Fermanagh, and Belfast, waged war on the Irish national- Mr Adams served his Sheraton sup- liberation movement instead Fein can accommodate to a ‘de- move as a ‘sellout’ which did porters up a heady brew of safely ending up ripping out fifth of feat’ (of its wish to get instant not conform to some Mickey vicarious patriotism, liberation ro- Ireland’s territory at gunpoint complete reunification) by a Mouse ‘plan for revolutionary mance, and emotive anti-British bile. and handing it to the Orange brief moment of triumph (the socialist victory’ or other ivory- Nor was he slow to dramatise his colonists for all time as a new, – New York publicity for Adams) tower programme-mongering. own role. He’d been shot, beaten, im- and believed-to-be unchallenge- prior to burying the national- It is always safest for armchair prisoned, gagged, and ostracised by able, – ‘country’ of “Northern liberation struggle in some new socialists to declare that ‘there eight previous denials of a US visa. Ireland”. The British police-state ‘pluralist’ lash-up, partially is only one way to do it’ on any His personal story, he suggested, obscuring the old hardline real- issue whatever so that any real was a metaphor for the republican protection of that colonial grab cause. from the effectively disenfran- ity of British Northern Ireland defeats or setbacks can quickly “It’s a great night for Ireland,” said chised minority of Irish people behind some new all-Ireland be disowned completely as a Tom Lydon, aged 86, who was born there, has been a large cause of façades. ‘counter-revolutionary sell-out’. in County Mayo and now lives in all the ‘troubles’ ever since, – a And the fake-‘left’ swamp The entire history of Philadelphia. “England has tried gerrymandered hellhole of a petty-bourgeoisie in Britain Trotskyite bile, stabbing the everything to crush us. I can remem- reactionary political backwater back up this capitalist press Soviet workers state in the ber the Black and Tans — can you? I with no possible viable longterm rationalisation of British back from 1923 onwards, is the came here to show support. I try to historical future all the time imperialism’s real new setbacks classical form of this demented keep in touch. “ by claiming that Sinn Féin subjectivism. Mr Lydon belongs to an older, that Irish national sentiment better-informed generation of Irish- lasts with breath in it to fight and Adams have now ‘sold out All these wild predictions Americans. But the reaction to Mr and protest with. completely’ on their national- and fantasies over a national- Adams of younger people in the Maginnis can be one of the liberation struggle by going to liberation defeat in Ireland may overflow crowd was more strident less objectionable Orange bigots New York to agitate for a ‘peace- yet, of course, prove true on the by far. With clenched fists raised in for all he likes but he still rep- ful solution’, etc. immediate political detail of any the air they vowed to continue the resents the foul heritage of one Now it is of course possible settlement. When dealing with struggle. of the most evil acts of colonial that the Republican move- the philosophy of nationalism, Like Sinn Féin itself with its savagery – the brutal partition ment does have many splits or nothing can ever be guaranteed meagre electoral base, Tuesday’s is even badly split on current about the conduct of this fun- “Friends of Gerry Adams” rally of Ireland – in all history, and represented but a tiny fraction of speaks with all of the arro- strategy and tactics to do with damentally bourgeois-idealist America’s 44 million people of Irish gant hypocrisy and conceited the negotiations with British mentality. descent. But Mr Clinton’s decision selfishness that goes with that imperialism. But the middle-class defeat- to give Mr Adams a platform for his disgraceful record of fascist op- But the point that all this ism which slewed around last views has fundamentally distorted pression and illegal land seizure, defeatist gibberish has in com- week following the Adams’ that reality. – not to mention the endless mon is that it simply cannot see, triumph in New York had a far As he prepared to fly back to nazi discrimination and police or does not want to see, the far more certain bourgeois-idealist Dublin last night, Mr Adams knows brutality that was regularly bigger picture of the imperial- vulnerability about it. Such he has scored a spectacular political ist system itself badly split and defeatism simply does not start victory. inflicted on the Irish in the Oc- cupied Zone by the RUC and ‘B’ in crisis and in more desperate out from any objective analy- 3 This pain carried on into the Specials and is still inflicted to need of bogus ‘triumphs’, – both sis of the imperialist crisis at seething irrational claptrap this day by their replacement as a whole and in its several im- all but begins solely with the with which bourgeois propa- British mainland forces. perialist parts,– than the Irish subjective requirements of the EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 given ‘left’ sect or middle class sentence, with other matter related litically, to let you have a bit of peace, ernment moves for a devolved commentator. The psychology of to it, constitutes the only really new for a while?” and negotiated solution to the it is pathological. If imperialism element in the declaration. The sen- The brutal fact is that the two crisis over Ireland’s self-deter- is never defeated, then fake- tence runs: governments, and Mr Hume, were mination and future, the offer “The British government agrees conned by Sinn Féin into issuing ‘left’ anti-imperialist commen- that it is for the people of the island a declaration that benefits nobody of new talks to which, however, tators will never in their life of Ireland alone, by agreement be- except Sinn Féin’s masters, the IRA. Sinn Féin would not be invited. have to face a situation where tween the two parts respectively, to The governments and Mr Hume This very old procrastinat- their own ivory-tower views exercise their right of self-determi- were led to believe that the IRA was ing gibberish should not fool a are proved wrong. Their anti- nation on the basis of consent, freely so war-weary that all it wanted was single soul. It is the Sinn Féin/ imperialism worn lightly on the and concurrently given, North some formula with the magic word IRA national-liberation struggle sleeve is valid for ever provided and South, to bring about a united “self-determination” in it, to save which has put an end to the old that imperialism never really Ireland, if that is their wish.” its face, and then it would give up gerrymandered ‘devolved’ and goes down to defeat. Hence the No previous British government the fight, for good. Mr Reynolds, it ‘negotiated’ so-called ‘solution’ has ever agreed to any proposition seems, was assured of this by some profound hatred of all these of that order. monks he met in the border area, to the Irish troubles, and will types for any real proletarian- Middle-class Unionists tend to be and the diagnosis was subsequently obviously do so again if London dictatorship success against legalistic in their approach to docu- confirmed by Mr Hume. Mr Major is stupid enough to try yet imperialism, and their lifelong ments. But Sinn Féin-IRA looks at appears to have experienced simi- more humbugging tricks on the anti-Sovietism. They are real documents in terms of symbols and lar revelations. It was all a put-up played-out ‘democratic majority’ instinctive anti-communists, signals: especially those which sug- job. The alleged war-weariness was theme. Every objective-minded and they will readily denounce gest who is winning the battle of never more than a ploy. Those who person on earth will realise that all armed revolutionary struggle wills. That sentence, issued officially fell for it cannot admit the fact, even if the basic issue of Ireland’s if they ever feel it putting the on behalf of the British government, to themselves, so the ploy is still genuine independence and conveys to them the message that working. imperialist ‘democracy’ system the IRA is winning. Hence the eu- reunification is not now at last in danger. phoria. Almost as inept a response to addressed, then there is not the A much better guide to The general pattern of Sinn Féin- the way things are having to slightest chance of any really whether the Irish nationalists IRA’s responses over this year is pre- go on the national-liberation reliable peace in Ireland, or any have sold out or not, or just dictable. There will not be the “per- struggle front worldwide as a real progress. adopted the trappings of ‘victo- manent end to the use of, or support result of the profound crisis the This head-in-the-sand make- ry’ in order to mask the pain of for, paramilitary violence” which entire imperialist system in now believe world of the British defeat, as the fake-‘left’ swamp the two governments have been plunging into (and has been capitalist system over Ireland is are claiming, – comes from the looking for and still pretend may be heading for over a long time currently being very powerfully round the corner. Sinn Féin-IRA will in particular parts like around scalded reactions to the Down- seek further concessions, in the form reinforced by the total ideal- ing Street Declaration and all of “clarifications”. Indeed, the clarifi- British imperialist degeneracy ism of all bourgeois imperialist its ramifications by the Ulster cation game is already in full swing. – is the behaviour of the British behaviour on the international Unionist colonial diehards and John Hume has called for clarifica- government itself when trying economic crisis. Protestant bigots, and by the tions to be provided by the British to face up to the inevitable The British ruling class for more venomous Green-Tory and Irish governments for both humiliation of being seen to example, never stop telling counter-revolutionaries in Dub- Sinn Féin and the Rev Ian Paisley’s have been got the better of by themselves and others that lin like Conor Cruise O’Brien: party (a recipe for diplomatic bed- Sinn Féin and the IRA. things are getting steadily lam). Gerry Adams has backed Mr WE ARE being told that the IRA is The latest counter-blast by better when they clearly are Hume’s demands, adding for good Downing Street to the Adams under heavy pressure to deliver measure that Mr Major’s failure to not. And internationally, the peace. Some even hold that it is date to provide the necessary clari- propaganda triumph in New stock exchanges are pushing about to split under this terrible fications is “childish” and “grossly York consisted of more ridicu- hundreds of millions of gullible strain. Don’t believe a word of it! irresponsible”. The IRA will measure lous subjective-idealism than savers further and further out The morale of Sinn Féin-IRA — its continuing dosage of violence in had even spewed out the days on a limb by insisting that if one organisation, not two — is far proportion to the responses to the before (see last week’s Bulletin) the market-makers think that higher now than it was at the be- demands for clarification. in claiming the loss of the last a new boom is about to take off, ginning of last year. And the main There are likely to be tactical cease- major British-owned car manu- then that is all that is required reason for this is the Downing fires, and when these break down Street declaration of 15 December facturer to a German take-over to make it happen. The stock the blame will be cast on the intran- as a ‘vote of confidence in Brit- 1993. sigence of the Unionists, the per- markets have managed to peak The Irish Times has a Northern fidy of the British government, and ish engineering know-how’, etc. in one and the same week both reporter who has the entrée to the the treachery of the Irish one. Even First came the inspired press because the general economic appropriate circles. Her name is at this stage, the most congenial of ‘stories’ that Sinn Féin’s public- news was good, making things Suzanne Breen, and she was among these themes is being addressed. ity victory was really a defeat reliable, – and because the the guests at Sinn Féin’s Christmas Mr Hume this week charged that in disguise because of Adams general economic news was bad, party, right after the publication of Mr Molyneaux “does not want the being forced to say he wanted a which would make a cut in inter- the Declaration, and after the IRA’s IRA campaign to stop and is provok- peaceful solution. The shallow est rates via a central bank-rate immediate and derisory response, ing them into continuing”. So if the which took the form of announcing ‘logic’ of this argument is both cut essential, – thus making IRA campaign does continue, it will astonishingly ignorant of all its customary three-day Christmas be the Unionists, and not the IRA, things even more reliable. truce. Gerry Adams in person pre- who are responsible, in Mr Hume’s basic negotiating tactics since But in spite of bourgeois sided over the festivities of his fol- eyes. In short, Sinn Féin-IRA and its negotiations began in human idealism’s ridiculous subjective lowers and friends. friends have already begun an en- civilisation, – namely now all delusions and wishful thinking, Were the assembled Sinn Féiners joyable game of cat-and-mouse with participants are for a ‘peace- the British imperialist crisis cast down at the IRA’s rebuff to the the two governments, and with the ful agreed solution’ and how it over its failed colonial policy in declaration which their President longing for peace of a gullible public is the other side insisting on Ireland nevertheless continues had done so much to shape? They in both islands. warring disagreement instead, edging bit by bit towards the were not. The general mood was one It is not Sinn Féin-IRA that is un- of unalloyed euphoria. They were – and also ludicrously at odds only eventual real solution, the der pressure. It is Sinn Féin-IRA that with the British government’s delighted with the declaration — is applying — and occasionally re- completion of Britain’s long- which they felt was a coup on their laxing — the pressure, in a highly own actions, in denying Adams lasting snail’s-pace withdrawal own part — but they were also en- sophisticated manner. Those who the chance to repeat on British from the Occupied Zone, and tirely supportive of the IRA’s “no believe the group to be under pres- television what he said in New the completion at some stage of hurry, let’s see” response. Implicitly, sure, because of the general long- York. If Adams being forced Ireland’s reunification. but unmistakenly, they support the ing for peace, are utterly mistaken. to say he is a man of peace in Bit by bit, little snippets of in- continuation of the violence. For terrorists, a general longing for New York is good for the British formation about British imperi- But why should Sinn Féin-IRA be peace does not constitute a threat. cause, then why not encourage alism’s actual capitulation to the so pleased with the Downing Street On the contrary, it is an asset a ma- 4 declaration? The reason is that it him to say it ten times a day on demands of the national- libera- jor resource, that they exploit at will: London television? contains one sentence included at “You want peace, do you? Well, we tion struggle have become well its behest, in an attempt to appease control the supply of that commod- Second came the rushed an- established in spite of all the them, as they well know. And this ity. How much will you pay us, po- nouncement of new British gov- amazing depth, persistence and EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 variety of smokescreens which British ruling-class sensitivity has thrown up to try to hide its defeated climb-down. The Anglo-Irish Treaty was the first big milestone, conceded by the fire-breathing imperialist Thatcher regime of all people, – accepting in print, in public, the right of Dublin to have a say in what goes on in ‘Northern Ireland’. The even barmier right-wing Major gang have let the slide- out go further in the Downing Street declaration which now states that Britain has ‘no more interest’ in ‘Northern Ireland’, a complete abandonment of the ‘British Ireland’ sovereignty jingoism of the prime British imperialist epochs. Now further concessions are being discussed in Sinn Féin’s direction, – possibly irresistible alist-crisis perspectives which gests that at least two and probably remaining six-county Occupied after Adams’s propaganda coup alone can provide a reliable three counties in Ulster are already Zone to include as many colo- in New York: guide to what is really happen- lost...Armagh for instance has an nist areas and exclude as many ing in the class/national war- overwhelming Irish nationalist pop- Irish areas as possible, these There was a mood of cautious-opti- ulation owing no allegiance to the mism in Dublin yesterday after Sir ring in Ireland. On a lesser note, State or the British crown.” To all in- fascist representatives of British Patrick held six hours of talks with the Bulletin’s insistence on ‘the tents and purposes, it says, the RUC colonial violence now propose Dick Spring, the Irish foreign min- British colonists in the Occu- and army have already withdrawn to rip out a couple more heav- ister. Sir Patrick indicated that the pied Zone of Ireland’ as the only from “these nationalist border coun- ily Irish county areas and still Government may be prepared, af- correct historical description ties”, so “surrendering two or three claim that the rest is ‘Ulster’, or ter all, to offer Sinn Féin some form of the deliberately tendentious provinces (counties) to the Irish ‘British Ireland’. of clarification to the declaration — ‘British-Irish, Ulster Union- Republic would alleviate much of Even their stinking name an option stoutly rejected earlier by the security problem.” the Prime Minister. ist, Loyalist Northern Ireland’ of Ulster Unionist is a rotten labels shows how it would have Under the heading “What to do fraud. But still the cringing pet- Sir Patrick and Mr Spring agreed with these people” are discussed three to continue to provide explanations paid off last week if consist- options for the many Catholics liv- ty-bourgeois ‘liberal’ and ‘left’ of the declaration through public ent Sinn Féin propaganda had ing behind the redrawn border. scribblers in Britain refuse to speeches. rendered Hurd’s counter-blasts “Expulsion” would reduce demands acknowledge the justice of the Sir Patrick said he didn’t wish to about ‘the people of Northern upon food supplies but give enemy armed revolutionary struggle to see anybody under any genuine Ireland’ impossible by always forces extra men. “Internment” complete Ireland’s national lib- misapprehension about what the refusing to accept the very would be a drain on resources but eration; and still wave after nau- declaration said. But he was not in- legitimacy of such a bastard provide a “useful bargaining chip seating wave of ‘Ulster Unionist’ viting requests for clarification and in any negotiations”. “Nullification” was not prepared to negotiate or put statelet, or even its name. frauds and fascist hypocrites are And backing up the evidence is chillingly described as “difficult invited to spew out their bile to glosses on the document. again but reduces demands on food “I think we ought to get away from of the British ruling class losing supplies and if all could be rounded dominate the British broadcast- dancing on the head of a pin about its way internationally in the up the process could be finished ing channels. whether it’s clarifying or what word inter-imperialist conflict as the within 1-2 weeks”. Ireland is Ireland and all you wish to use and concentrate on key to the colonial decline in The doomsday plan was “a very who want to live there honestly what the document does.” Occupied Ireland, the Orange valuable return to reality”, a prom- should accept the majority wish He also used one of the potent colonist community has shown inent member of Ian Paisley’s clearly stated and fought for, for words in the current republican de- increasing signs of demoralised Democratic Unionist Party said over 800 years, that the Irish bate by adding that the document last night Party spokesman Sammy made the two governments “per- or deranged behaviour, confirm- want their independence free of ing that it is an artificial lying Wilson, a former Belfast lord mayor, any British sovereignty claims suaders” towards an agreement said it showed some people were between the people of Northern existence which is on the way prepared to take radical action to whatsoever. The fake ‘Ulster Ireland. out. protect an independent Ulster iden- Unionist’ veto, imposed by Brit- The ‘loyalist’ nightmare plans ish bayonets, is one of the great It is still possible that the Irish tity. for yet another repartitioning obscenities of history. national-liberation struggle of Ireland, creating yet another This proposed new onslaught And the national-liberation will yet be frustrated by British anti-nationalist ghetto on Oc- of barbaric British terrorist struggle could not be more re- imperialist intransigence or cupied Territory and resuming violence against the Irish in strained or rational in its propa- paralysis, or sidelined because the whole troubles for another their own land, the cause of all ganda on this point, even down even worst crises have over- 70 years, underline this hope- the troubles from their very to allowing the Occupied Zone taken London in the course of lessly outdated reactionariness start 800 years ago, continues to be called ‘Northern Ireland’ the terrifying inter-imperialist like nothing else, repeating the the usual historical sleight- and the British Colonists to be trade-war crisis now threaten- monstrous ethnic-cleansing of-hand and deception so that called ‘Unionist’ Irish: ing the British ruling-class’s which has so shamefully scarred ‘Ulster’ can be made to appear very survival. GERRY Adams, president of Sinn the whole history of British im- as basically ‘British’ territory, But events so far over British Féin, told The Observer yesterday perialist interference in Ireland: conveniently burying the ger- imperialism’s longstanding dif- that the Government should tell rymandered ripped-out reality ficulties over the slow death of PLANS for an ethnically cleansed the Unionist majority of Ulster that Protestant homeland, with the of this ‘British Ulster’ to start its Orange colonist community’s their future lay within a united “surrender” of at least two border with which already had to forget Ireland. domineering spirit (in step with counties, were revealed yesterday about three of Ulster’s nine ‘First of all, in reality they have no the degeneration of the British in loyalist paramilitary documents counties in the 1921 carve-up right to a veto in the Irish context. ruling class in general) have portraying a “doomsday scenario” because of their heavily Irish I mean that no national minority 5 all underlined the value of the in Northern Ireland. majority population. has any right to a veto. In the Irish Marxist method which provided Describing repartition as the pre- context, we have to accept that the Having grotesquely ger- the ILWP [now EPSR - ed] with its ferred option, one document says: Unionists are a sizeable grouping of rymandered the border of the theory of the longterm imperi- “British military intelligence sug- our people, a very significant large EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 minority, and also that they live Mayhew, Mr Hurd and other British militarisation to be ended. The proposal for a new $1 billion mostly in the north-east of the coun- cabinet members is hardly the lan- ‘I can’t stop the IRA. And anyone export credit programme, to guaran- try. guage of peace. who thinks that any one individual tee US arms manufacturers against ‘So we have to get their participa- ‘We are told to take it or leave it, can stop the IRA misunderstands the defaults by buyers, is being strongly tion, we have to have their involve- we are told there is going to be a dynamic of the situation. But what pressed by the commerce secretary, ment, we have to seek the maximum crackdown, we are accused of teas- I can do and what I am prepared to Ron Brown, who is emerging as the consent. But that cannot be a precon- ing or stringing the whole issue out. do, I am prepared to take risks, to most energetic salesman for the US dition. We cannot decide as has hap- We are told they are running out play a part in developing a peace arms and aerospace industries. pened for almost all of this century, of patience with us, we are threat- process and embrace a process of US armed forces equipment; and there can be no movement — while ened with internment and so on. I peace which the IRA can embrace.’ personnel are being sent to push the the Unionists are a sizeable minority have to say the British Government sales effort at the Singapore defence in the Irish context they are a very have made no attempt to bring us on The ‘loyalist’ (British colonist) exhibition later this month. small, insignificant minority in the board.’ response is just to go on butch- In the 1980s, the US sold $134 bil- British context, in the context of the Setting out his own view of what ering innocent Catholic Irish lion worth of weapons and mili- six counties and Britain. Britain now needed to do, he said: ‘It individuals to try to terrorise tary services to 160 countries and ‘Now who will decide the fate of is time for you to bring about some the nationalists into submis- political movements, according to a the six-county state? The British accommodation with the rest of the sion, – just like it has always new book, And Weapons For All, by Parliament. That is where the sov- Irish people. Whatever is going to been for 800 years of British William Hartung, senior research ereignty lies. That is where the ju- be done will end up being a matter imperialist intervention. fellow at the World Policy Institute. risdiction lies. That is where the for legislation because the corner- The only thing more degener- In the 1990s, arms sales intensified, Government of Ireland Act — an stone you see of British involvement with $34 billion in new orders from Act of the British Parliament — will in our country is the Government ately criminally cowardly that Middle East and Gulf countries after be changed, not by the Unionists but of Ireland Act. At the end of the the British colonial violence in the war with Iraq, Mr Hartung says. by the British Parliament and that day that must be done away with.’ Ireland is the supine treach- The biggest wave of arms sales in is the reality of the situation. ‘The Specifically, Mr Adams said there ery to the cause of Ireland’s history took place in the nine weeks Unionists will not move and we were too many ambiguities, the dec- independence by the Green Tory before the 1992 election, when cannot expect them to move until laration did not explain the mechan- establishment in the Republic. President Bush announced over $20 the British persuade them to. They ics of the peace process and above The RTE censorship on Sinn Féin billion in new weapons exports. have no right of a veto over any pol- all, he wanted clarification on the has been partially lifted at last, “In just two months, George Bush icy. They certainly have no veto over key point of self-determination. but the big question is what on rushed through the equivalent of a British policy.’ ‘The British Government refrained year’s worth of weapons exports,” But Mr Adams said: ‘The British from saying that they had no politi- earth was it doing there for 20 Mr Hartung writes. Mr Bush did so use that as a pretext. In the Irish cal interest in Ireland, if you noted years in the first place. But the even while his government’s policy context, of course, we cannot make what they said, they said they had Dublin bourgeoisie will always was to limit arms sales to the Middle progress and we cannot have the no strategic or economic interest in be too busy getting up and down East through joint talks between the society we want to have unless we Ireland. They didn’t say they had no off their knees to get opportun- Big Five arms exporters — the US, have the full participation of the political interest in Northern Ireland. istic economic crumbs off the Russia, Britain, France and China. Unionists. We can’t move without Mr Major in his commentary on the Western imperialist table to them.’ document when he presented it to find time to answer. THE Clinton administration has What he wanted from the British the House of Commons said that it But even that middle-class decided to re-equip the Argentine Government was an agreement with didn’t mean a united Ireland, that it Air Force, despite British objec- Dublin that it would, within an ac- didn’t mean Dublin involvement in wretchedness will be swallowed tions, in a $250 million (£172.5 mil- cepted timescale, ‘restore to the Irish the affairs of Northern Ireland, that up by the immense turmoil to lion) deal for 36 American-built people not just the principle of self- it didn’t mean joint sovereignty. He come from general inter-im- Skyhawk fighter-bombers with ad- determination but the exercise of the gave a long list of Nos.’ perialist trade-war upheavals. vanced radar technology. right to self-determination’. ‘How Mr Adams denied that Sinn Féin The Adams visa snub will seem The move will add to fears of erod- we exercise it is a matter for us to was deliberately stringing along the trivial compared to the trade- ing British influence in Washington work out among ourselves, but the two governments, saying: ‘There is war shocks to come, and Dublin after last week’s row over the wel- British, in other words, must point nothing in it for us to string along will not be spared, share crashes come accorded Gerry Adams, the the Unionists in that direction. the two governments. The two gov- and all. Sinn Féin leader. ‘If they don’t do it now, they are ernments told us that they took The US reluctantly met one British going to do it in the future and the some lengthy time to put this dec- Domineering imperialist plea that if US aircraft were sold Unionists know that the British are laration together. John Hume and I aggression can only go in one to restore the balance of air power going to move to a point where they took months to get where we were. direction – towards war, – and between Argentina and its neigh- are actually to agree with what I am The problem is centuries old. It has far more than toes will be trod- bours, Chile and Brazil, they should outlining, and I am saying that this only been published for a month, den on, of presumed ‘friend’ and be incapable of matching the hand- should be done sooner rather than that is not stringing along.’ ‘foe’ alike: ful of potent British Tornado fighters later.’ Asked how Protestants could join A ROW is brewing in the Clinton stationed in the Falkland Islands. As for the joint Downing Street a healing process when the IRA was administration over federal sub- “We are content with the offer the declaration, he said: ‘This declara- still killing members of that com- sidies for United States arms ex- US has made,” British diplomats tion comes a long way along the munity, he said: ‘I don’t accept the ports, to maintain US dominance peace process and even further Protestants are being targeted, al- said yesterday. [...] of almost 60 per cent of world arms along the peace strategy which Sinn though I do accept the perception sales, with contracts worth $31 bil- Meanwhile bourgeois Britain Féin initiated five or six years ago, so from their point of view.’ lion last year. continue to stab itself in the we have to look at it in the context of Asked what the Republican contri- our strategy. bution to that process would be, he ‘Does it advance the peace strat- said: ‘I think first of all we have to be egy and does it move forward the very open — treating people who are whole peace process? The two gov- Unionists, who have a sense of alle- ernments and other supporters of giance with Britain, who want some the declaration say that it provides recognition of that — we have to be the basis for a settlement. But the very open. Second, we are accept- document is full of ambiguity. There ing that we are not going to jump are so many contradictions, not just today from a partitioned Ireland, a between Unionists and others, but divided Ireland, a part of the coun- between the two governments. Mr try under British jurisdiction, from Reynolds and Mr Major have on that situation into an independent every issue that has raised itself a to- socialist republic tomorrow.’ tally different attitude.’ Mr Adams continued: ‘There is no Commenting on the letter he sent possibility of the IRA unilaterally de- last week to John Major, seeking ciding to end this campaign and an- clarification of the declaration, Mr yway the IRA isn’t the only force in- Adams said: ‘A cause for concern volved. There are a number of forces 6 which should be taken aboard by involved. So the situation has been English readers is that this decla- militarised and we need to go about ration was made and trumpeted a process of demilitarising that, of as a declaration for peace. The lan- bringing into play political factors, guage used since by Mr Major, Mr political processes which allow the EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 foot, as hard and frequently as trade war, in everything, and cease wanking on about the of weaker IRA strength now possible it seems. Portillo’s rabid is on the way to revolutionary ‘poverty of historicism’ (which compared to 1921 may not be xenophobia is now standard overthrow at the climax of the simply means how they hate totally misleading (and there Tory meeting talk, apparently. inter-imperialist crisis. the Marxist class analysis of are scores of other complex It is an outdated class system civilisation’s development) but relative judgments to take into which is losing in Ireland, in the Build Leninism. JB then offer ‘historical’ judgments account), what the grotesque themselves to justify their philistine ‘historian’ Kee simply Defeat of reaction in South Africa own extremely class-conscious ludicrously ignores is that the ‘analyses’ of the events in health of British imperialism in has a message for Orange colonists Ireland, – such as Kee’s latest 1994 is just a farcical shell of its effort this week, asking in the world position in 1921. in Ireland, The collapse in imperialist capitalist press for the Govern- And the Orange community, positions means national-liberation ment to concede negotiations to strongly colonising an occupied the national-liberation move- Ireland “in the name of the will be preferable to Bolshevik revo- ment because the IRA has been British sovereign and Brit- ‘defeated’: ish sovereignty”, etc, – is even lution. Only the middle-class ‘left’ Given the ideological insistence sicker. That ‘League of Empire with which for those 25 years the Loyalists’ diehard mentality, swamp has backed Tory disorientation IRA have proclaimed their goal as rampant around the ‘Ulster’ a united Ireland and the end of Unionists at that time of the propaganda that the London Decla- British sovereignty, they should great bogus ‘victory’ for British have had only one response to imperialism in the Great War ration is all about an ‘IRA surrender’. the Declaration: to throw it out at once. They did no such thing. And (World War l) was already some- Weak nationalist policies are best chal- still do not. For three months now thing of a dubious-sounding Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin have desperation measure when the lenged by Leninist perspectives, not asked for “clarification”. There first UDI threats were notori- is no clarification needed. The ously made by Carson & Co sectarian sniping. Wrong strategy and Declaration is crystal clear: there against Home Rule legislation at can be no change of sovereignty In the time of the Curragh Mutiny tactics are the right of any genuine Northern Ireland unless a major- by rebellious army officers. Even ity of the people there agree to it. in the contemporary accounts anti-imperialist struggle. The blame Future democratic political organ- isation in Northern Ireland will of the Unionist bluster, it is for their danger rests entirely with be sought within that unalterable hard not to see in it some early structure. Adams’s blurring call for traces of Ian Smith’s tragi-comic the hypocritical system of imperial- clarification is a disguised admis- theatrical self-righteousness of sion of defeat. 50 years later, a performance ist ‘democracy’ and ‘market freedom’ The second alternative when ne- reduced to farcical parody by gotiating with people who come to Ian Paisley’s over-rehearsed concealing the monopoly-bourgeois the table in a relatively weak posi- ranting. tion is to help them do so without It was the full strength and dictatorship. Racist bile cannot hide losing too much face. Given the rela- tively diminished IRA activity since implacable interest of British establishment humiliation over Heath- the Declaration, until Heathrow, imperialism which imposed and the possible significance of the partition on Ireland at that 1921 row. [EPSR No 742 15-03-94] fact that the bombs there did not ex- period of the centuries-long The routing of the diehard white It is asserted that the Orange plode, public opinion might now ac- national-liberation struggle, - cept the arrival of Sinn Féin at the colonists in South Africa by the mafia would unleash a blood- not the wagging of the British table without pre-conditions. The imperialist dog by its ‘Ulster’ national-liberation movement bath which would never end, Declaration itself makes clear that contains a timely and most if the British tried telling the Unionist tail. The diehard the negotiation would in no way be Unionists were opposed to any appropriate lesson for illumi- colonists that the Occupation about altering the present structure nating the troubles in Ireland. was over and that British forces of sovereignty in Northern Ireland. retreat by British imperialist Bourgeois political opinion would henceforth stay on for What would be discussed would sovereignty from any part of has always pretended that large- just a brief while to ensure a be the details of the new demo- Ireland. The London ruling class ish and well-established settler secure and disciplined transfer cratic Northern Ireland state and compromised that ‘loyalty’ by communities (Rhodesia, South of authority to the armed power the return to it of representative calculating that imperialist Government after 20 years. Today’s Africa, Occupied Ireland, Zion- of a united Irish state. interests could get a quicker, statement by the IRA seems to add to cheaper, and more secure deal ists, etc) could never be tackled The ILWP alone has always the argument for such an invitation. head-on by the ‘free’ West, even explained what anti-historical to prevent full Irish independ- In 1922, when a far more power- ence (to avoid possible future when they were clearly seen to nonsense this argument is ful IRA representing the majority be in the wrong, and voted on as (regardless of whether or not in Ireland in a way the present IRA alliances with foreign powers such by the United Nations (as decadent British imperialism has never done, was at deadlock against Britain on Britain’s own happened with the UDI whites could ever face such a dramatic with the British Government, that back doorstep and guarantee in Rhodesia who were allowed humiliating climb-down, ‘in- Government, having first demanded only British military bases to survive for another 14 years stantly’ solving what bourgeois surrender, finally agreed simply and ‘home ground’ around the to talks about a truce. These took of colonial/feudal dictator- ideology has always pretended island of Ireland) – by giving place over two days, during which Irish nationalism some limited ship until the ill-armed and were ‘insoluble difficulties’, etc.) some very unpleasant violence still desperately impoverished local The Bulletin has published ar- half-hearted ‘independence’ to took place, but a truce was eventu- shut it up, – the 26-county ‘Free black-nationalist forces routed ticle after article for more than ally arrived at. The truce held until this dictatorship themselves in 10 years (See ILWP Books vol a political settlement was achieved. State’ initially compulsorily national-liberation war). 8 & 15 – Ireland and dozens of History, though not always a useful remaining within the British The British police-military subsequent additions) detailing model for the future, has particular Empire (later Commonwealth). regime of bogusly ‘protestant’ how the ‘community’ of British- relevance to an Ireland in which it is It is the collapse of that static or ‘loyalist’ bigots colonising the occupied Ireland has been stead- consistently part of the present. old world-imperialist geographi- north east corner of Ireland is ily disintegrating directly in line Don’t these bourgeois just love cal manoeuvring and military still always presented as having with the decay in the position the thought that revolutionary pecking-order prestige, espe- cially as far as bankrupt British an unchallengeable right of veto of British imperialism itself ‘terrorism’ can be defeated, and 7 over the reunification of Ireland (internationally, economically, that the establishment power imperialism is concerned, which (monstrously partitioned by militarily, domestically, etc, etc). (of British imperialism) can would make any similar strate- arbitrary imperialist violence The Popper-minded bourgeois prevail. gic manipulation by Britain now in 1921). ‘historians’ like Kee & Go never But while the appearance against Irish nationalism such a EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 nonsense. Temporarily, a mild verbal commitment to ‘majority agree- ment in Northern Ireland’ (the Unionist veto on reunification) persists. But Kee and Co are being more idealistically foolish than ever in believing that such mo- mentary theoretical propaganda about ‘guaranteed commit- ments’ and ‘democratic rights’, etc, would not be abandoned in a flash, – and replaced by even more grandly-resonant ‘prin- ciples’ (i.e. totally hypocritical bullshit), – at the first moment it suited British imperialism’s remaining curtailed aims in life (such as sucking up to Wash- ington even more to do what it is told). This ridiculously undemo- cratic and historically outdated ‘veto’ racket in the hands of these psychotic ‘Loyalist’ diehards is trivial rubbish compared to the major British imperialist statement of retreat over Ireland, – enforced by the invincibility of the national-lib- eration struggle and the ridicule of world opinion condemning Britain for its brutal dithering and paralysed intransigence, – that Britain has no further be resolved. geoisie’s fake-‘left’ fake- the leadership of the Soviets) as economic or strategic interest in But the triumph for the ‘revolutionary’ sniping at the the best tactic for exposing the keeping the Occupied Zone of strength of the national- ANC to prevent it taking power disasters of class-compromise Ireland within British sover- liberation movement has been by destroying all proletarian and centrism, and for allow- eignty. enormously stimulating world- confidence that there could be ing the proletariat to make its This enforced London declara- wide, and is of monumental something on the far side of an own crucial mass-revolutionary tion both marks a further stage significance. ANC electoral victory other than experiences itself. in the triumph of the national- Sadly, such a victory will only the ‘total defeat’ – is a sterile The mistakes that could be liberation struggle, and further tend temporarily to confirm the tactic. criticised in Sinn Féin’s leader- encourages the Republicans to- present flawed ANC/SACP class- It continues the ivory-tower ship of the anti-imperialist wards even greater endeavours. compromise programme in posi- ‘revolutionary’ opportunism of struggle in Ireland would be The whole situation of the tion, naïvely supporting ‘market middle-class intellectuals who never ending but for Leninist outdatedness of the entire im- democracy’ as the way towards simply subjectively get off on science to approach the situa- perialist system of market (and full ‘black emancipation’ when it proving to their devoted sects tion that way would to sow il- military) domination by the is in fact only emancipation for that they would be better lead- lusions in workers that all that Great Powers, and of the out- the middle-class blacks and at ers than the existing ones of the was wrong with bourgeois na- datedness in particular of the a time when the revolutionary ANC, IRA, FMLN, USSR, MPLA, tionalism was a tactic or policy traditional politically dominant overthrow of capitalist owner- etc, etc, ad infinitum, from 1917 or two, etc. roles of British imperialism now ship is the best agenda, not its onwards. This would be grossly that it is bankrupt in the midst class-compromise sustenance The role of Leninist science is misleading. The anti-Marxist of the most terrible slump- on into a period of all-out inter- not to substitute itself for the philistinism of Republicanism warmongering turmoil that the imperialist world trade war leadership of bourgeois nation- disarms workers about the real (dying) capitalist epoch has ever followed by shooting war which alist revolt, whether that of Sinn nature of the world imperialist approached, – is relentlessly will be a total catastrophe for Féin, the PLO, or the ANC, once crisis and prolongs anti-com- pushing Unionism (arrogantly the proletarian masses every- those historical movements are munist anti-proletarian-dicta- and incorrectly called Ulster where. in progress. torship prejudices (such as faith Unionism) towards the farci- But the only plausible tactic Democratic-liberation revolu- in religion, in parliamentary cal debacle the AWB diehards for the moment in South Africa tions have been led often by ‘democracy’, the ‘free market’, slumped to in South Africa. is to continue supporting the communists (as in Vietnam, etc, etc) just as destructively as Their humiliation on the ANC/SACP into office so that its China, Cuba, Angola, etc) but any petty-bourgeois idealism. streets of Mmabatho and market-compromise catas- once bourgeois nationalism But while middle-class Mafikeng by the local black pop- trophe can be demonstrated has taken a genuine lead in the nationalism is a catastrophic ulation in revolt (and dragging in practice to the awakening anti-imperialist struggle (South leadership for the proletariat in Pretoria’s stooge ‘homeland’ masses, but simultaneously Africa, Ireland, etc), it can then the long term, there are well- police and army trusties with building an anti-nationalist merely become nothing but a established historical prec- them in a joint overthrow of dic- movement of revolutionary totally destructive provocation edents for accepting that in the tator Mangope) may not be the theory to prepare for planned- to just shout ‘sell out’ endlessly short term, a serious lead in the end of White Colonial resistance socialist proletarian dictator- from the sidelines. anti-imperialist struggle might to black national liberation, or ship which alone will be able to At two separate phases of be given by petty-bourgeois the last word in how the anti- rescue South Africa (and every the revolutionary year 1917, the liberation movements which 8 communist diversions sown by other country on earth) from Leninists twice called for power slowly developing communist Pretoria stooge divisions in the the inter-imperialist holocaust to be taken by the petty-bour- groups might well have to play black population, such as the to come. geois nationalist-opportunists second fiddle to (it) for a time. Inkatha Zulus, will ultimately The British petty-bour- (the Trudoviks and others in This in no way means giving EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 unconditional support to Sinn sectarian violence’, etc, – these night after night to thwart the solidarity with the national- Féin. That would create the most petty-bourgeois ‘revolutionar- security services. liberation movement’s right to grotesque illusions, and lead ies’ have only ever helped Brit- We are facing cowards who fight imperialist tyranny how- to the most ghastly misunder- ish imperialist propaganda keep have secreted one or more de- ever it thinks fit. The blame for standings. The need is to give workers everywhere confused vices near the airport and who the arbitrary dangers this might unconditional support to every about ‘democratic majority have slunk away.” cause to everyone is to be laid anti-imperialist group’s right rights’ and suchlike by retreat- Well, there may be much solely at the door of imperialist to strike against imperialism in ing from unconditional support criticism to make of Sinn Féin/ reaction, wholly responsible for whatever way they think fit, – for national liberation’s right to IRA tactics from a position of the troubles in the first place. even when the tactics are those pursue whatever anti-imperial- correct revolutionary strug- Remarkably, sections of bour- which revolutionary Leninism ist tactics and strategy it thinks gle against imperialism; but geois opinion in Britain seem would never dream of employ- fit. accusing the national-liberation poised to reach exactly such a ing in anti-imperialist struggles Once again now, the despic- struggle volunteers of cowardice defeated conclusion, including it itself was leading. able fairweather ‘anti-imperial- when they face an enormously in Fleet Street editorials and Bolshevism would not neces- ist’ frauds everywhere are anew high death-attrition rate and news coverage: sarily disagree with the tactic tut-tutting against the ‘callous persecution by what is virtu- Say what you like about the IRA, but of armed terrorism as such disregard for ordinary human ally a British police-military they are certainly a professional (see lengthy quotations from life if hundreds of innocent peo- dictatorship on ‘prevention of terrorist organisation. If they took Lenin on this subject in ILWP ple had been killed at Heathrow, terrorism’ questions, especially so much trouble to contrive the se- Books vol 8 & 15 – Ireland pt1&2) as might have happened’, etc. in the drumhead ‘courts’ in quence of attacks and to conceal at any particular time, and And as usual well out in front the Occupied Zone of Ireland the mortars, why did they not take certainly not permanently for in slimy nauseating hypocrisy and especially as condemned more trouble to ensure that they all occasions, as revisionism of within this disgusting chorus by international opinion over actually exploded? Why did they not use state of the art mortar ord- various kinds has pretended. of ‘reforming’,’compromising’, the torture barracks there, the nance? The answers to these ques- The disagreement would almost and ‘negotiating’ dimwittedness previous concentration-camp tions are essential parts of a coher- certainly always be with the are the fake-Republican petty- internment without-trial, and ent interpretation of Heathrow. But political perspectives which bourgeois stooges for Western the now notorious ‘legal’ frame- at this stage the repetition of the the different types of idealist imperialist values ensconced in ups in British courts of Irish botched deed sounds like an in- groupings inevitably disoriented Dublin around the permanently people just for being Irish, – is sistent message: Look what I could themselves and others with, Green-Tory Dail parliament. just loathsome racist bile. do if this was for real. As the song – wildly assuming that terror That crippling little jerk Reyn- It remains desperately tragi- says, there’s no success like failure. tactics, for example, could im- olds would not even be success- cally true, of course, that the ex- This morning’s statement by the IRA leadership absolutely confirms mediately give such startling fully selling pegs door-to-door treme ‘solutions’ which British that this is an organisation which lessons to millions of workers in Epsom, let alone be posing imperialist intransigence has wants to find a way of striking a that entire historical processes as an internationally recog- imposed on successive genera- deal with the British and Irish gov- could be in an instant due to the nised and respected statesman, tions of Irish patriots for 800 ernments. If that statement is a re- dramatic propaganda effects of were it not for the devastating years to have their own island jection of the Downing Street dec- sensational actions. blows struck by revolutionary back again, free from British laration then the word No has lost Such voluntarism is the nationalism over the last 200 domination, – are potentially its meaning. Rarely can an organisa- deadly enemy of Marxist objec- years which have step by step catastrophically dangerous for tion with such a revolutionary tradi- tive science which allows for forced back British imperial- totally innocent members of the tion have sounded so unwilling to spurn the hand proffered by its en- enormous feats to be achieved ism from its total domination British and international public. emies. In the course of a short state- by deliberately organised subjec- over Ireland (not one single But the answer to that is to ment the words “positive” and “flex- tive factors of persuasion and victory of which advance was do the obvious historically- ible” appear four times each. The education, – provided, of course, not subsequently claimed as its necessary and logical thing and overwhelming impression is of an that such developments are in own with maximum humbug complete the British colonial organisation anxious for the chance line with historical necessity by some ‘reformist’ lash-up or withdrawal from Ireland by re- of peace. (strictly governed by what is other, sniffing around picking storing Irish unity immediately Is the tone of the statement con- possible at any given time in the up the pieces of partial retreat and warning the Orange coloni- tradicted by the Heathrow mortars? class relations of production at by imperialism, but still not al diehards who wish to remain Or are the two not consistent and compatible? Only a fool can answer different specific levels of tech- total defeat, and still dominant). ‘Irish’ to obey Ireland’s laws or this for certain. An overnight out- nology, productivity, and social Reynolds and his grisly face police-military repression rage can easily make a mockery of cohesion.) corpse-picking crew are ferret- by a combination of nationalist yesterday’s apparently well-judged The Bulletin has always totally ing around now like rats round Irish forces, transitional-period conclusions. But for the moment the distrusted Sinn Féin’s wool- the coffin of further British British forces, or temporary two sound remarkably in harmony. liness on correctly analysing imperialist retreats which they United Nations forces, if any of The IRA are asking, not to say plead- the epoch the world is living sense have been forced out of that would be necessary, (which ing, for talks; at the same time they through, which has resulted in London by the astonishing is unlikely, judging by the per- are giving a chilling warning of the the national liberation forces achievements of the national- formance of the AWB colonist perils which await refusal. It is nei- ther unprincipled nor unreasonable being frequently disarmed by liberation forces. diehards facing historical neces- to expect the British government to anti-communist international His vomit-inducing sancti- sity in South Africa). give a more serious answer to them propaganda and pro-Western monious whine against ‘the Any such ‘reformist’ collaps- than it has done so far. ‘democracy’ illusions which inhuman evil of cowardly ing stages of imperialist crisis Mr Adams’s confidence that di- have only strengthened impe- violence arbitrarily terrorising (as the British ruling class rect talks will resume was shared by rialism and weakened the fight innocent passengers, British might try to cut its heavy load Peter Robinson, deputy leader of the against British domination. and Irish alike, at Heathrow of losses and disasters in all hardline Democratic Unionist Party. But at the same time, the Bul- Airport’, etc, is right in line with directions), – is not a mat- “Of course the Government are go- letin has always led the way in the self-righteous oafish chief ter for Leninist revolutionary ing to talk to the IRA again,” he said, claiming that it would be a “reward” principled denunciation of the police boss in Britain (whose law agitation. Let dying bourgeois for stopping the violence. ‘left’ swamp for its fairweather enforcement officers gave the chaos collapse how it will. But Mr Hume’s claim in media inter- treachery to the anti-imperialist world the Guildford Four stitch- it is a needed argument to views from the US yesterday that the struggle every time that the up, the Birmingham Six brutal expose the petty-bourgeois fake IRA did not intend any of the mortars Irish national-liberation move- frame-up, and the terror black- ‘revolutionaries’ who denounce it fired at Heathrow to explode was ment (Sinn Féin or the IRA or mailing of the Maguires, forcing national-liberation ‘terror’ tac- endorsed by a senior RUC officer last others) pursued dubious tactics bogus ‘confessions’ out of them tics really only from the point of night He said: “In military terms which played into British im- all by sheer fascist violence) who view of middle-class armchair this is powder puff stuff and it is9 perialism’s propaganda hands. said of Heathrow: socialists who hate the threats quite obvious what they are up to. What they are doing at Heathrow is Joining in the usual middle- “We are not facing audacious to their own comforts from hinting at the potential.” class chorus of ‘down with terrorists who are coming back having to declare unconditional Mr Hume, who wants the EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Government to reopen direct talks There is an urgent need to refocus replace Stalinist revisionism up and sell itself short into a with Sinn Féin, said: “It was their in- attention and to move the peace pro- and Trotskyite sectarianism messy compromise while yet far tention to demonstrate to the British cess forward. has rested entirely on seeking from achieving full independ- government what they are capable to explain and analyse the real ence now, or its own vaguer of, so that if there is a total cessa- ************* movement of international class more limited goals, or even just tion of violence they are not backing TWELVE IRA mortar bombs fired down or standing down from a po- and national forces governing what could be achieved at the at Heathrow in three separate at- world developments, without present from the confused and sition of weakness, but from a posi- tacks over the last five days were tion of strength.” not primed to explode, according which understanding no true demoralised British imperial- to republican sources. communist programme, strat- ists. ************* Commander David Tucker, head of egy and tactics for class struggle But the sectarian ‘IRA THE IRA last night capitalised Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist squad, can remotely begin to be suc- sell-out’ material has nothing on the confusion its mortars have said the devices all had a “consistent cessfully elaborated. whatever to do with any such caused when its coded telephone mechanical defect”. He refused to Much has been got wrong, objective scientific judgment warnings closed both Heathrow speculate on claims that the attacks and will inevitably be got wrong of the class and national forces once more and Gatwick airport in were part of an IRA propaganda in the future too. involved in the Irish question Sussex. campaign. But every incorrect assess- internationally, but everything The two airports reopened late last According to sources quoted by night after police had searched the the Dublin Sunday Tribune, although ment and understanding has to do with the subjective needs perimeters for more than two hours, the mortar bombs fired last week also been painstakingly reana- of wretched petty-bourgeois but the IRA appeared to have scored contained quantities of the high lysed and the lessons learned, fake-‘revolutionary’ sects, who a significant propaganda coup. explosive Semtex they were never hopefully. conduct one-sided polemics on About 20 troops were drafted into meant to explode. Such an approach has no con- all matters solely to prove that the search around Heathrow after The fact that four more mortar nection whatever with anything they are always right. a request from the Metropolitan bombs used in yesterday’s attack else on the supposed ‘left’ And for the moment, matters Police, the Ministry of Defence said. also failed to explode could add cre- which is in fact but a swamp of still look poised for a historic Detectives were satisfied there were dence to the claims and illustrate opportunist confusion run by British imperialist sell-out, and no further mortar launchers hidden the IRA’s ability to score considerable in the areas, although during an ear- publicity coups while maintaining a middle-class sectarian mentali- not the other way round. For lier sweep along Heathrow’s nine recent change of tactics with an ap- ties of various kinds. the moment, on the capitalist miles of fencing they missed those parent commitment to not taking ci- The Bulletin has had to cam- press’s own coverage, it hardly which sent yesterday morning’s vilian lives. paign against an avalanche of looks like it is Sinn Féin and the missiles into the airport. The latest attack, which caused lit- petty-bourgeois defeatism and IRA who have been beaten and As police again refused to evacu- tle damage, proved to be a big em- idealist muddle-headedness wish to surrender, as Major & ate the airports, thousands of pas- barrassment for the security forces. from all directions, includ- Co (and the Trots) have been sengers were refused permission to Commander Tucker admitted yes- ing the anti-communist and pretending. leave the terminals, even though IRA terday that the area from which anti-Marxist Sinn Féin itself, to Possible next developments warning calls had suggested termi- the latest batch of bombs had been nals would be targets. launched had been searched by hun- explain that British imperialism will be serious splits in the One mortar had hit Terminal Four dreds of officers less than 24 hours has long since been forced onto Unionist ranks akin to the divi- at Heathrow in yesterday morning’s earlier. a path of snail’s-pace with- sions among the South African attack, but like the other 11 in the The Sinn Féin leader’s remarks drawal (from its last colonisa- colonists, with half doing a three attacks over five days, it did concerning the Heathrow attacks tion of Ireland territory) by the bourgeois accommodation deal not explode. and the value of attracting interna- historical period of universal with the ANC, and half vowing Police said the no entry, no exit tional exposure amount to an expo- imperialist-system crisis, of to resist black rule to the death. policy was adopted for people’s sition of current republican thinking specific dire British imperialist A proposed all-Irish government safety and accused the IRA of a cyni- on the role of the armed struggle. economic and political crisis, of some kind would be likely to cal attempt to cause fear and panic. Speculation of a split in the move- The IRA said in a statement from ment seems misplaced. Violence and irresistible advance of mass lead to the same defeated fissure Dublin its warnings should be will accelerate the peace process and revolutionary politics world- in Unionism. heeded. “The luck of the British au- is therefore complementary to it, Mr wide. It seems to be monopoly- Internationally the pressure thorities who are deliberately taking Adams appeared to explain. bourgeois, international policy will soon be on the Zionist colo- these calculated and cynical gam- Talking peace while continu- to accommodate this advance nists of Occupied Palestine too, bles with people’s lives will inevita- ing the war perhaps best sums in its less dangerous national- and the obvious split there will bly run out,” it said. up the approach. Seamus Mallon, liberation phase (IRA/Sinn Féin) be for the Tel Aviv establish- “It’s now six months since the the Social Democratic and Labour where possible rather than to ment to agree to international leadership of Oglaigh na h-Eireann Party’s deputy leader, described Mr hold off and provoke closer and imperialist prodding to abandon indicated its positive and flexible at- Adams’s comments last night as ap- titude to the developing Irish peace palling and added: “I believe there closer towards renewed Bolshe- the aggressive settler mental- initiative. is a growing hypocrisy about an or- vism (which is coming anyway). ity rampaging around the West “Our public statement came in the ganisation which talks peace in the Despite its limited resources, Bank and the Gaza Strip, for wake of the announcement by John morning and carries out, acts like the Bulletin has tried to plot some further accommodation Hume and Gerry Adams that they these and supports acts like these in every move in the signs of im- with Arafat’s bourgeois-nation- had temporarily suspended their the afternoon.” perialist pressure on London to alist compromise before the talks and had forwarded a report Mr Adams said the eight mortars effect a capitulation to irresist- intolerable crisis drives Pales- on the position reached to date to fired on successive nights at the air- ible Irish nationalist aspirations tinians (and all Arabs) further Dublin for consideration. port were a reminder designed to ac- but without, of course, being towards Bolshevism. “The awaited response of the two celerate Britain’s thinking and bring governments came on December 15 fresh clarification of its policy. seen to be giving in to the ‘men But none of these ‘reformist’ with the Downing Street declara- The continuing conflict was a of violence’, etc. compromises will last out the tion. Despite the negative attitude product of Mr Major’s refusal to talk The latest twist has been inter-imperialist trade-war cri- of the British government since then to Sinn Féin. “The British govern- the London Declaration which sis which will rage on all the way and their refusal to build on the op- ment are presenting the major ob- bourgeois propaganda has to general imperialist warmon- portunity for peace, the IRA wish to struction,” Mr Adams said. tried to pass off as a ‘generous gering and renewed largescale publicly note that our positive and “The British government have response to the IRA/Sinn Féin communist revolution. Build flexible attitude to the peace process stalled this process by refusing to wish to surrender and abandon Leninism. Douglas Bell is an abiding and enduring one. This engage with Sinn Féin. Engagement its futile campaign of violence’ is evident from our responses to de- by the British government with Sinn velopments to date and in our con- Féin moves the process on.” etc, – imperialist claptrap vilely tinued willingness to be flexible and supported by petty-bourgeois positive in explaining the potential The historic record is worth ‘left’ subjectivism sneering at for moving the situation forward. collating. The ILWP’s longstand- the ‘IRA sell-out’ just to give “There is a responsibility on the ing attempt to establish the its own idealist ‘revolutionary’ 10British government to move from need for objective Marxist philosophical chaos an egocen- its current negative stance. The peo- science to be reintroduced to the tric boost. ple of Britain and of Ireland deserve international labour movement National-liberation muddle- better. The continued opportunity headedness might yet will trip for peace should not be squandered. for the first time in decades to EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Stalker inquiry by the state’s Patrick Mayhew. What he means is that he Split British bourgeoisie more isolated judicial frame-up of one of its will not rub its nose in the dirt as long as it own senior police officers; the leaves the battlefield; as long as it behaves than ever by failure. New yielding to like respectable bourgeois politicians. 18-year-jail terms imposed It is highly unlikely that the current un- Irish national-liberation not hidden by arbitrarily for vengeance on six favourable conditions will produce what a totally innocent Irishmen, the more favourable situation could not. media lies. Confusion-mongering on Birmingham Six; the similar Now, however, it seems that the revolu- monstrous fitting up of the tionary situation will be resolved negatively, Ireland by petty-bourgeois fake-’lefts’ in favour of imperialism, and the excep- Guildford Four and the Maguire tional circumstances will no longer apply. family, deliberately killing some Revolutionaries in the Six Counties will be is too stupid to help either. Imperi- of them in their long insanity- left without an organisational focus. alism’s elitist domination system in provoking prison sentences We pose the same question to all revolu- just for the sake of the morale tionaries in the Six Counties. Although many and pride of the British ‘legal’ communists and socialist republicans have retreat everywhere. worked within Sinn Féin and the IRA, they system; the night terror raids on never had a voice in that organisation. These [EPSR No 752 24-05-94] Catholic housing estates in the comrades will be among many to realise Occupied Zone of Ireland; the what the true content of Sinn Féin’s policy is. Continuing unresolved ‘free fication. concentration-camp imprison- If, as we fear, imperialism succeeds in im- world’ economic crisis and deep- Little is convincingly put for- ment-without-trial of Intern- posing a settlement more or less on its own ening inter-imperialist conflicts ward in reply when the Orange- terms, will the heroic sacrifices of our Irish ment; etc, etc, etc, –– the petty- comrades have been in vain? Will the suf- over Bosnia & elsewhere are the colonist thugs are quoted as bourgeois public opinion in fering endured - the assassinations, state explosive background to the sneering defiance at the fact Britain would feel it had all this torture, imprisonment and sacrifice - have latest humiliations for Brit- that “the IRA has bombed its to impossibly face up to if once been for nothing? This will certainly be the ain’s ruling class, so hopelessly way to the negotiating table”, it even allowed official mention case if, once the cries of ‘sell-out’ have died divided and now whipping up and vowing to frustrate such of the idea that the Republican down, they make their final retreat into a left anti-Europeanism as a chauvin- a way forward by unleash- movement has been conduct- republican cul-de-sac. istic cover for failures. ing mindless sectarian terror ing a legitimate revolutionary The CPGB pretence that it is British imperialism’s snail’s- against Irish catholics, whether national-liberation war and has working to disillusion work- pace withdrawal from the colo- Sinn Féin supporters or not. actually been triumphant, – and ers in Britain and Ireland nised zone of Ireland slithered And a delicate silence is main- with every right on its side. from falsely believing in IRA/ forward a bit more with the tained over the humiliating So despite all the admissions Sinn Féin as anti-imperialist recent question-and-answer defeat for British imperialism between the lines that in effect, revolutionaries so that a real farce over the Downing Street for having repeatedly promised the British imperialist govern- communist revolutionary move- Declaration. that the Republican movement ment has had all its bluffs called ment can be built in Britain and The ruling-class pretence once was just a bunch of hated and by the Republican movement Ireland, should fool no one. again is that they are still not isolated terrorist-criminals who and is now negotiating with Only completely confused and negotiating with Sinn Féin and were rapidly being wiped out those same “criminal bloody ter- posturing middle-class idiots, the IRA, and the bourgeois press or demoralised and who would rorists who deserve only to be pretending to be ‘revolutionar- dutifully assured everyone that soon no longer be a problem. hunted down and locked away ies’, ever could have muddled the published exchanges would But still the bourgeois ideo- from decent human society for a the Sinn Féin/IRA bourgeois- amount to a ‘brush off’ for the logical machine cannot openly very very long time indeed”, etc, nationalist liberation struggle national-liberation struggle. cope with the revolutionary there is still the same consti- with communist revolution in Above all, the fiction was fur- notion that Sinn Féin represents pated inability as ever among the first place. ther maintained that there had a genuine national-liberation bourgeois ideology to even men- The Republicans are not been no retreat by London from struggle which has, arms in tion the very notion of a legiti- supposed to be, and have never its earlier hardline postures that hand, defeated the entire mate armed national-liberation remotely pretended to be, Marx- no clarification of the Declara- armoury of British military- struggle in connection with the ist-Leninists out to win state tion was needed or would be imperialist repression trying IRA and Sinn Féin. power by proletarian dictator- given, and certainly that not the to crush that determined spirit Most pathetically of all, the ship in order to build a planned slightest suggestion of negotia- for Ireland to be reunited once middle-class fake-‘left’ of anti- socialist workers state. tions was involved in answering again, ending the hated parti- communist thinking equally For the record, in case any Sinn Féin’s questions. tion, and to be wholly independ- echoes the bourgeois-imperial- workers anywhere have been But as the capitalist media ent, ending the hated British ist propaganda, writing off the fooled, the CPGB have not the themselves were finally forced colonisation. Republican struggles, but from faintest grasp of, or the slightest to admit (albeit quietly and in The middle-class just cannot its own idiot-sectarian posture interest in, a real proletarian- parentheses), the Government’s accept that such romantic revo- of being ‘ultra-revolutionary’. dictatorship workers revolution 21-page published reply amount- lutionary perspectives could The ludicrously misnamed anyway. Their record is an abys- ed to exactly that, – clarification ever be viable for fear that the ‘Leninist’ faction of the former mal one of loud posturing that and therefore the public renewal next step people may get used Communist Party (CPGB, a title the Moscow-led ‘international of the secret negotiations that to would be the notion of all-out these poseurs have now claimed communist’ fraternity was the had already taken place. communist revolution. Nor can as their own) for example, has only organisation that could be Another huge smokescreen British petty-bourgeois public joined the Fleet Street lie ma- taken seriously as able to and was put up by Whitehall claim- opinion easily live with the idea chine (in putting the boot into wanting to defend the world ing that its previous insistence that it is the British ‘democratic’ Sinn Féin) by implying that the socialist revolution and that on the IRA accepting a one-sided state which has been Ireland’s Republicans are sell-out stooges: any group outside the family cease-fire before Sinn Féin could fascist-imperialist gaoler, only For those of us who wanted to see the was wasting its time, – followed be considered “worthy to be let able to impose the hated parti- British army forced out of the Six Counties by an equally deafening silence into” the peace talks and the tion by means of just as ruthless clinging to the skids of its helicopters, this when this ‘only real communist new settlement discussions for a police-military dictatorship as turn of events is undoubtedly a setback. movement’ liquidated itself in Ireland ‘after a decent interval’, any of the big colonial-aggres- The worldwide sweep of reaction in the all directions, leaving them- – was still valid. sion powers have been guilty of wake of the failure of bureaucratic social- ism does not bypass the Six Counties. For selves outside the door as a com- But even Fleet Street’s own this century, including the open 25 years there has been an extraordinarily pulsorily evicted and powerless middle-class commentaries periods of fascist warmonger- prolonged revolutionary situation there, minority. almost conceded the point that ing. posing a threat to the existence of the That grotesque humiliation, the Republican movement had The MI6/RUC shoot-to-kill United Kingdom itself. This is now moving unanalysed and unexplained effectively battled its way into death squads; the Gough towards an end which looks likely to leave 11 the British state intact in charge and in the to this day, was preceded by the conference chamber with its torture barracks denounced in Six Counties. the equal farce of the ‘Leninist’ latest 25-year fight for Ireland’s the International Court; the THE IRA does not have to surrender, ac- CPGB ‘world socialist family’ fac- total independence and reuni- astonishing suppression of the cording to Northern Ireland secretary tion refusing to openly support EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 line had the ‘official communist’ bug and sheer barminess. movement the remotest inten- There has been a revolution- tion or the slightest conception ary struggle for 25 years, thanks of developing the revolutionary to the heroic achievements of anti-imperialist struggle, both the IRA/Sinn Féin who not only nationally and internationally. totally eclipsed the ‘official In practice, world revisionism communists’ on whether or was already well on the ‘peaceful not it was correct to continue road’ to total class collabora- the revolutionary fight against tion (which only ended with imperialism, but who also Gorbachev’s total liquidation). built the only real mass move- Where were these CPGBers then? ment as well, – the remarkable The ‘Officials’ all ended up in a proletarian political rising total reformist swamp. associated with the incredible And when it was the bour- hunger-strike movement, ‘dirty’ geois-nationalist Provos who protests, and Westminster proved to be the only movement electoral triumphs to rout the willing and capable of continu- British imperialist attempts ing to lead a revolutionary anti- to write off the Republicans as the proletarian-dictatorship better the real-life drama of imperialist struggle, it was the nothing but isolated ‘common Polish workers state when under Vietnam in their denouements. clear duty of all revolutionaries criminals’ and ‘terrorists’. The counter-revolutionary attack Such details are childishly ir- everywhere to critically give colossal political success of that from the CIA-Vatican stooge relevant to seriously assessing unconditional support to the revolutionary movement is en- Solidarnosc gangsters, led by imperialist victory or defeat in Republicans’ right to fight for tirely down to the IRA/Sinn Féin Walesa, who are now in charge the endless variety of real-world the national-liberation of their national-liberation struggle, but of Poland, handing it over to complications of dismantling all country in any way they chose. whenever has the CPGB’s fake Mafia capitalism and imperialist the vestiges of the monopoly- But where did these CPGBers ‘Marxist-Leninist materialist exploitation. capitalist colonial epoch in stand at that point? analysis’ of the world accepted These ‘revolutionary’ heroes nearly 200 different types of They were undoubtedly still such a conclusion? of the ‘Leninist’ faction mut- countries and different types of hiding behind the door along But to state that there has tered fearfully that backing social, economic, and political the corridors of ‘peaceful coex- been a “prolonged 25-year the Polish workers state in the conditions all round the globe. istence’ class-collaboration. revolutionary situation” in midst of its great difficulties and As explained, what is hap- While showing unconditional Ireland in a supposedly Marxist- after such a patchy record might pening in Ireland at the mo- solidarity with the revolution- Leninist CPGB newspaper is only lay the ‘cause’ open to even ment is the completion of the ary fight, real communists, in to invite complete disbelief or more international embarrass- national-liberation struggle, led Ireland and elsewhere, would total confusion. For Marxism, ment. by the traditional bourgeois- have taken a critical road the ‘revolutionary situation’ These are not revolutionar- nationalist movement for Irish towards building up a Leninist has always classically been that ies in the reconstituted CPGB independence (and reunifica- party within that revolutionary condition of virtual collapse of but just ‘left’-posturing echoes tion, now). struggle. all bourgeois state and social of exactly the same disgrace- But the Sinn Féin/IRA Re- It is certainly the case now authority plus that surge of fully cowardly and philistine publicans are revolutionaries that a proletarian-dictatorship class-conscious fighting mass opportunism which had the old nevertheless, who have taken critique of the sort of class-col- mobilisation by the proletariat revisionist Stalin-loyal CPGB on Britain’s imperialist-state laborating reformist compro- which would make the seizure creeping up the backside of dictatorship (dominating the mise that the revolutionary of state power by a conscious the reactionary British labour colonised zone of Ireland by the national-liberation struggle Bolshevik party leadership pos- and trade-union movement in usual fraud of capitalist ‘democ- will probably end up in after a sible, and desirable. the post-1945 Stalin-ordered racy’) arms in hand. ‘negotiated settlement’ with There has not remotely been insanity of a class-collaborating The anti-imperialist national- London,– will be more relevant any such ‘revolutionary situa- non-existent ‘peaceful road to liberation struggle did not have than ever. tion’ anywhere in Ireland not socialism’ to accommodate Mos- to be led by the bourgeois-na- But the worst position from once in the whole 25 years, nor cow’s paranoid anti-Leninist tionalist IRA/Sinn Féin. It could which to start trying to build a was there ever likely to be any superstition of the possibility of have been led by communists, new Bolshevik Party in Ireland such situation, nor is there permanent peaceful coexistence as was the national-liberation would be the one taken up by likely to be any such situation between imperialism and the struggle in Vietnam and in these defeatist academic-cynic arising there now in the short dictatorship of the proletariat. Indo-China generally. Indeed CPGBers. term. These CPGBers had a phil- the ‘Official’ IRA and ‘Official’ Their view that there has The Occupied Zone of Ireland istine hostility to theory Sinn Féin (as opposed to the not only been no revolution- has an overwhelming majority then with their bovine sizist Provisional Sinn Féin/IRA after ary triumph in Ireland (for the population of British colonists, simple-mindedness that the a split) were very close to the ‘of- national-liberation struggle), masquerading as ‘Northern Third International was the only ficial’ communist movement. but that imperialism has even Irish’ or even more bogusly as communist movement the world But it was that ‘official com- emerged from the struggles ‘Ulstermen’. had and would be the only one munist’ tendency to which more entrenched than ever, – is They are all welcome to be- it would ever need, – and they the CPGBers all their life long just an insanity which will be come genuine Irishmen the mo- have a philistine hostility to have always kow-towed in jeered out of hearing in Ireland ment they accept a united Irish theory now, as seen in every is- such a philistine and cowardly by all but the most academic government and reunification, sue they turn their attention to, way, which led the path into ‘revolutionary’ sectarian-indi- but for the moment they remain as in the above ‘revolutionary’ ‘respectable bourgeois politics’, vidualists suffering from the British imperialist colonists in posturing imbecilities about the and, worse still, led the way most neurotic subjective-ideal- terms of the international class situation in Ireland. in denouncing the Provos for ism imaginable, - i.e. people just and national struggles of the Dissecting this academic “pointless isolated individual- like these armchair-socialist monopoly-capitalist system’s dilettantism bit by bit, what ist terror” in trying to continue CPGBers. worldwide warmongering crisis, has forcing the British army the armed struggle, which was Their view of a 25-year-long – the solution to which, for the out clinging to the skids of its supposedly “substituting itself “extraordinarily prolonged revo- sake of the flowering of the helicopters got to do with it? for the real mass revolutionary lutionary situation” in Ireland, national aspirations of every 12 ‘Apocalypse Now’-type movies, movement of the working class one moreover which was “posing country on earth, alone lies in with their huge box-office needs of Ireland, north and south”, a threat to the existence of the the international revolutionary to pay for huge budgets, require etc, etc. United Kingdom itself” is an triumph of the dictatorship of Hollywood to always mimic or That might have been a good amalgam of extraordinary hum- the proletariat. EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 But vaguely pretending now but an effort agreed by John Major ping stone” to complete “demilitari- And it is equally obvious that to be playing at being ‘interna- and Albert Reynolds, the Taoiseach, sation”, and to a peaceful settlement. in all such circumstances, and to help “the joint declaration explain tional revolutionaries’ as these These ‘negotiations’ are no tri- with the imperialist power not CPGBers do in their childish itself.” being threatened with total Why should the Government be so umph for imperialist status quo, academic shallowness, – whilst coy? Perhaps it is the fear of a back- as even this wary middle-class elimination by a proletarian- totally ignoring the very power- lash at Westminster. However, min- comment, trying to put the best dictatorship revolution, – it will ful and important reality of the isters will have taken note of what gloss on things, has to admit. often suit the colonial-bourgeois enormously significant revolu- happened after last November’s There is no ‘defeat’ neces- regime to do a compromise deal tionary triumph of the Irish na- revelation that the Government sarily in having to negotiate a with the national-liberation tional-liberation struggle on the had been conducting extended se- conclusion to a national-libera- struggle to at least preserve way towards that even greater cret talks with Sinn Féin. Although tion struggle. In fact, it has been something for the old rul- there were dire predictions about defeat for imperialism that lies routine for 90% of the great ing class, and to head off any in store for it at the hands of Mayhew’s future, when the further class-war and national- Northern Ireland Secretary justi- postwar national-liberation international proletarian-dic- fied his actions he received a sym- movements to end this way. The war deterioration in the general tatorship socialism, – is just the pathetic hearing in the House. Vietnam war was one of the few imperialist crisis which would depths of irresponsibility. Labour did not seek to capitalise on spectacular exceptions to this mean a communist revolution Their philistine muddle- his embarrassment, and Tory MPs rule, and that only because it arising for certain if the nation- headedness (that the failure cheered when he declared that the was indeed led by real com- al-liberation struggle continued of a fully-fledged Bolshevik Government would maintain its munist spirit. But what were to get absolutely nowhere. Revolution to emerge (impos- contacts with the Republicans. “We the CPGBers doing at that time On top of all that in the case shall keep exploring the opportu- sibly) out of an unmistakably too? Declaring total support, of the Sinn Féin nationalist bourgeois national-liberation nities for peace. Peace properly at- movement, the Republicans tained is a prize worth risks.” no doubt, for Moscow’s efforts struggle must therefore mean Only the Unionists, specialists to coerce Hanoi into further could never appeal to more than that imperialism has triumphed in isolation, were angry. Mayhew negotiated truces, such as had a minority of the entire popula- once again) – is such a mo- also got a relatively easy ride from marked the Third Internation- tion for support anyway (where ronic perception that even the the right-wing press. And when al’s attitude to the whole history the limited revolutionary strug- impressionistic petty-bourgeois Mayhew announced that, contrary of the struggle in Indo-china, gle is for Irish independence scribblers, making admissions to his previously-stated position, he and beyond. and reunification). A negotiated between the lines in their vain would respond to the Republican These CPGBers line up cur- and totally obscured ‘retreat’ by calls for clarification, there was little efforts to maintain some ration- rently with the rest of the British imperialism was always ality as they try to keep their criticism. the likely outcome of this The message is clear: die-hard fake middle-class ‘left’ of the counter-revolutionary spirits Unionists aside, there is a negligible Trotskyite tradition in joining national-liberation movement, up, – can put it to shame: political price to be paid for nego- their sneers at Sinn Féin for – as the Bulletin explained from THERE is no peace process in the tiations with Sinn Féin. People may ‘capitulating’ to British imperi- the very beginning (see ILWP north of Ireland without the ac- not like it, but if it brings violence alism with sneers at the ANC for Books vol 8 – Ireland written in tive involvement of the Republican nearer an end, they will swallow it. ‘doing a sellout deal’ with South the early 1980s about the snail’s Movement. This political truth has Indeed, there are potential politi- African imperialism. pace withdrawal from Ireland been unambiguous from the start cal rewards: Major’s statesman pose Once again, these armchair- by British imperialism) which was never more credible than when but for 25 years, politicians have socialist ultra-‘revolutionary’ at that time was derided by denied it. Sir Patrick Mayhew’s he stood on the steps of Downing everybody as a correct analysis, Street with Reynolds to announce attitudes are just a mockery of about-turn on Sinn Féin’s calls for – which is no longer the position clarification of the Downing Street that Declaration. serious Marxist-Leninist sci- Declaration put beyond doubt the They counted on the Republicans ence, deliberately confusing na- now. Bits of the swamp are crucial importance of Republican being stampeded, partly by pub- tional liberation with socialist beginning to echo the Bulletin’s participation. lic opinion and especially by their revolution so as to score some line in a struggle not to get left Even though it was long ago ac- own supporters, into compliance academic ‘super-revolutionary’ too far behind events, and even cepted that the IRA could not be with the Government agenda. In points against bourgeois the capitalist press is quietly defeated militarily, British govern- fact, support for Sinn Féin’s position nationalist movements like the repeating a bourgeois version of remained solid, enabling it to resist ments have consistently sought a ANC and Sinn Féin which never this understanding: political solution without refer- being bounced into something the ence to Sinn Féin or the IRA. This party felt worthless. Like the adept should have been regarded as Earlier, the former Irish foreign failed at Sunningdale in 1973; at tacticians they are, the leadership revolutionary socialists to start minister, Peter Barry, claimed that Hillsborough in 1985; at the Brooke/ played for time. with. Britain had decided to withdraw Mayhew talks of 1990-92; and it The Declaration would never have And in terms of national- from Northern Ireland and had al- was about to fail again when last come into existence had not the liberation struggle, the accusa- ready begun the process. “I’m not December’s much-hyped Declaration London and Dublin governments tions of ‘treacherous sell-out’ saying they’re going overnight. It began its inevitable run into the been forced together to try to wrest could take at least 25 years, but I and ‘capitulation to triumphant believe the decision has been taken ground. the initiative back from the nation- imperialism’, etc, are just plain alists. That the peace process, ago- and the process begun,” he told In January, Mayhew seemed to set utterly wrong interpretations his face against this lesson when he nisingly tortuous though it is, has the Cork Examiner. “Britain now told the Commons: “We shall not come this far is the achievement of of what is going on in his- regards Northern Ireland as finan- add to, or take away from, gloss, Hume and Adams, not of Major and tory, – just defeatist ultra-’left’ cially draining, strategically re- or interpret the text... we shall not Mayhew. Adams is serious about posturing from middle-class dundant and an international em- clarify it because it speaks for it- peace. sectarians whose only accept- barrassment.” self...” Now Mayhew seems to have Sinn Féin is serious, too, and it can able revolution ever will be one Mr Barry, who is regarded as an learned that if anything is to come of deliver. Although some politicians that takes place at the top of an influential figure in Anglo-Irish the Declaration, the Government will have tried to raise the spectre of a relations, received support from ivory tower. the hardline Democratic Unionist have to talk to Sinn Féin. It has taken split in the Republican movement, It is obvious that at the no serious commentator suggests leader, Ian Paisley, who said that five months and many lives for that national-liberation stage of to sink in. that there is any evidence for such a successive governments had sought Mayhew will persist in the line scenario. anti-imperialist struggle, the to push the province into a united that the Government is not “nego- The Provisionals have avoided any vast proletarian masses will not Ireland. tiating”. He will go through the fa- serious divisions within their ranks necessarily have been forced The carefully controlled London miliar semantic hoops to prove that since their inception in 1970. As one into total revolutionary struggle release of Britain’s replies to he and his Prime Minister have not activist put it to me, “I don’t like it by the climax of an imperial- Sinn Féin’s questions on the been contaminated by improper re- [the Declaration], but if Gerry says ist economic crisis. It is also Downing Street Declaration have it’s good enough for him, it’s good lations with “men of violence”. obvious that the consciously obviously not yet confirmed the The British maintain that clarifi- enough for me.” mounted national-liberation Adams says that the Declaration growing understanding that a cation does not equal negotiation. resistance to continued colonial In the word games of the Troubles, does not in itself provide a basis for snail’s-pace British withdrawal 13 we now learn that the announce- a lasting peace. “There can be no domination might never rise from Ireland is the likeliest ment on Friday that the Government quick fixes,” Adams has said. But he to equal military or political outcome, but they once again was willing to answer queries from has also, more positively, described strength to that of the imperial- did not dispute this perspective, Gerry Adams was not “clarification”, the Declaration as “a possible step- ist power and its colonial set-up. and they totally gave the lie to EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 all the bourgeois press and fake- wishes of a greater number of the peo- term attitude towards the Irish people. democratic principles for the British ‘left’ speculation that what is ple of Northern Ireland. What is the What are the British government’s government to base its Irish policy on really going on in these negotia- British government’s precise definition long-term interests and objectives in the objective of ending the union? of ‘a greater number of the people of relation to Ireland? tions is a straightforward com- Comment: The Joint Declaration Northern Ireland’ and how would this Comment: Paragraph 4 of the Joint makes it clear the British govern- plete surrender by the IRA and be measured in practical terms? Sinn Féin, a complete abandon- Declaration already fully spells out ment is committed to upholding ment of Irish reunification, and Comment: The wish of a greater the British government’s objectives the principle of consent. number of the people of Northern and interests in relation to Ireland a total capitulation to continued Q.19 (a) Given the declared opposition Ireland would be determined by — in terms which speak for them- of both governments to coercion, how imperialist domination. These a numerical majority of those val- selves. In particular it states that replies are worth adding to the will the coercion of Northern nation- idly voting in a poll fairly and ex- the British government’s “primary alists into the six county state be ad- record the Bulletin has kept of plicitly organised for this purpose. interest is to see peace, stability and the slow-but-sure unfolding of dressed in real terms? Provision for such a poll is made in reconciliation established by agree- (b) How will the denial of nationalist the final national-liberation section 1 of the Northern Ireland ment among all the people who in- rights be redressed in real terms? triumph of the revolutionary Constitution Act 1973. habit the island, and they will work (c) When will repressive legislation be Republican struggle, and the Q.2 Given that the document put to together with the Irish government ended? further humiliating setback to you in June 1993 was welcomed by to achieve such an agreement, Comment: This question is based the IRA leadership which commented, which will embrace the totality of the defeated and decrepit Brit- on assumptions which have no on October 3 1993, that it “could form relationships”. ish imperialist bourgeoisie and foundation in reality. It is the the basis for peace”, could you clarify Does the British government ac- its degenerated Orange-colonist Q.13 clearly declared aim of both gov- the differences, if any, between this cept that while the consent of a major- community in the Occupied ernments that all new arrange- document and the Downing Street ity of the people of the six county state Zone of Ireland: ments agreed in the course of po- Declaration? to constitutional change, as referred to litical dialogue should be based on In its most positive passages, the in the , Comment: This question, referring Downing Street Declaration consent. An end to violence would document stresses that the repub- may be desirable it is not a legal re- to a document put to us by the Irish open the way for a comprehensive lican movement need not accept quirement in international law? the declaration in full. All it has to government, does not arise from reassessment of existing provisions do to enter talks is to renounce vio- any uncertainty about the text of Comment: Both governments make against terrorism, many of which lence permanently. the Joint Declaration, which was the clear in the Joint Declaration that any would become irrelevant and obso- The questions, forwarded to product of detailed and extensive change in the constitutional status lete in a climate of peace. London by the Irish government, discussions between the two gov- of Northern Ireland would be sub- ernments. Therefore the only text ject to the consent of a majority of From the last reply, it is clear have been divided into six catego- that all of the attempted ‘crimi- ries and then dealt with individu- that bears our name and on which its people, as set out in the Anglo- we can comment is that which was Irish Agreement, itself, an interna- nalisation’ legislation against ally by means of brief commentar- the Republican movement ies. While avoiding the politically issued on 15 December 1993 by the tional instrument registered at the charged term of “clarification”, it de- Prime Minister and the Taoiseach. United Nations. would be dropped immediately. scribes its comments as being “elu- The Taoiseach has clearly stated the Q.18. The British government has The chances for early reunifica- cidation”. (Sinn Féin’s original ques- long-term objectives of the Irish gov- called upon Sinn Féin to renounce vio- tion of Ireland are less clear, – tions are in italics). ernment in the search for a lasting set- lence. What does this involve? particularly on the humiliating- tlement. It is essential that the British Q.4 The British government says, in Comment: There has to be a per- for-Britain question that the government displays the same honesty the Downing Street Declaration, manent end to the use of, or sup- Irish minority were coerced and frankness in outlining its long- ‘that they will uphold the democratic port for, paramilitary, violence. For into the hated Orange partition Sinn Féin and the IRA this would state of non-existent ‘North- involve a public and permanent re- ern Ireland’ in 1921 in the first nunciation of violence as a means place totally against the wishes of achieving political ends, and of the overwhelming majority commitment to peaceful and dem- of the people of Ireland who ocratic means alone. Within three had fought and voted 80% for months, as has already been pub- licly made clear, the British govern- the independence from Britain ment would in these circumstances of the whole of Ireland, which begin exploratory dialogue with the Downing Street ‘reply’ Sinn Féin. just chooses to pretend never The purposes of such dialogue happened and is not now an would be: issue (when it quite clearly is i) to explore the basis upon which the historical issue which must Sinn Féin would come to be admit- eventually find a just answer in ted to an inclusive political talks the reunification of Ireland). process to which the British govern- ment is committed but without an- But while the Fleet Street edi- ticipating the negotiations within torials stuffily try to gloss over that process; London’s capitulation on the ‘no ii) to exchange views on how Sinn negotiations until a cease-fire’ Féin would be able over a period to (or a ‘surrender’ as the middle- play the same part as the current class fake ‘revolutionaries’ constitutional parties in the public would describe it) as a ‘wise life of Northern Ireland; and generous concession’ to iii) to examine the practical con- ‘help Sinn Féin climb down’ and sequences of the ending of violence. The reason for the time lapse be- to avert ‘terrible new trouble’ tween a permanent cessation of from Orange-colonist sectarian violence and exploratory dialogue violence, – other parts of the is to enable the commitment to ex- capitalist press have been just a clusively, peaceful and democratic bit more honest about the real methods to be fully demonstrated. arm-twisting that has been go- The British government accept the ing on in the circles of inter-im- validity of all electoral mandates, in- perialist conflict to force Britain cluding that of Sinn Féin; and, being to give ground, and about the committed to the democratic pro- cess, endorses the freedom of voters real anachronism now of British to choose their elected representa- colonialism in Ireland: tives. Since the signing of the declara- 14 Q.5 The British government has said tion last December, Ministers have that it has “no selfish, strategic or eco- been adamant that there was no nomic interest in Northern Ireland” need for further explanation. But Would it not be more in accord with after a five-month impasse there was growing pressure — not least EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 from Washington — that the de- armed, mainly Protestant body, they the IRA need not surrender and that jected to continuing terror. The mands from Gerry Adams and his say, it will never be able to operate all we seek is “a just peace”. The British mood is to do anything to colleagues were not unreasonable, with the consent of the nationalist. more the IRA murders and maims, end the nightmare short of a total particularly in view of the task of Catholic minority. As for the British the more forlorn British policy looks. loss of honour. Dublin has a differ- persuading their grass roots that Army, flying its Union Jack in be- Dublin officials even ponder aloud ent agenda. After centuries of strug- the time has come to call off vio- sieged Crossmaglen, its image as an about the likely British reaction to gle, playing the waiting game is the lence. occupying force is beyond dispute. the setting free of IRA prisoners. It’s smart thing to do. Even so, there were fears that the How, then, to break the deadlock? a long way down the trail, they con- British response would be dismiss- “Play it smart,” they say. Only by be- fide, but so is a lot more in the Major- Defeated by Irish nationalism, ive, offensive even to Nationalist ing “smart” can the British negotiate Reynolds peace package. defeat by proletarian dictator- opinion. At one point last week the a lasting peace which has eluded 25 As of now, Northern Ireland re- ship can’t be long delayed. Build signals coming from London were years of struggle and cost the sta- mains a twilight democracy, sub- Leninism. Joe Harper. so alarming that Albert Reynolds tioning of one third of the British said he would disassociate himself Army and billions of pounds a year. from the British response if it was By “smart”, I responded, you mean Damaging losses to Britain’s colonial unduly dismissive. doing what Dublin says? Laughing, When the answers to Sinn Féin’s they did not dissent. intelligence service and to its prestige questions were published on With the Downing Street declara- Thursday, they were both longer tion in the bag, they are poised for will bring the reunification of Ireland and more considerate than anyone further advances. In security terms, had expected. they say, the IRA has enough vol- closer, marking the further dying off The difficulties remain formida- unteers, weapons, explosives and ble. After 25 years of death and im- funds to maintain its current high of the imperialist system in general prisonment there are many people level of activity for the foreseeable living in the Republican ghettos future. On the political front, they where the British ruling class is par- who see any talk of compromise as say, with a double dose of Hibernian a sell-out. Sinn Féin leaders are de- smartness, that Northern Ireland ticularly badly deteriorating. termined not to risk a split, arguing can never enjoy peace unless its na- EPSR No 754 07-06-94 that any move which left the young, tionalist minority is granted equal- [ ] more militant activists on the out- ity and a “parity of esteem” with the side and determined to continue Unionist majority. So far as Dublin is By wiping out more than one anti-terrorist experts, and of would lead to an even worse situa- concerned, this means institutional third of the top brass of the the secret service’s specialist tion. links between the province and the British imperialist establish- counter-revolutionary depart- In this context the one reply in republic, to match the Unionists ment in the Occupied Zone of ment, all in one blow. There had last week’s document which the continuing their constitutional links Ireland, the crashed helicopter been no claim by the Republican Northern Ireland office may come with Britain. has caused both crippling mate- press office in the first three to regret is the rejection of the ques- Not only do their eyes remain rial damage and also a stagger- days after the crash, but London tion about ‘repressive legislation’ fixed on eventual Irish unity; they will be worrying that this might and ‘the denial of Nationalist rights’ believe they got the British to agree ing humiliation to the ruling as ‘having no foundation in reality’. in Downing Street to act as “per- class in London. just be a trick by the national- For many people living in places suaders” in bringing the North and The Irish national-liberation liberation struggle to get the like West Belfast the experience of South together, “whatever that in- struggle will inevitably benefit Establishment to make a re- repressive legislation is all too real volves”. No talk now of taking an enormously from this military lieved ‘no evidence of sabotage’ and their mood will be an important iron fist to the IRA. “The peace pro- and political catastrophe for statement, and then to come factor in determining if and when cess requires immense patience.” Britain. up with detailed knowledge of the IRA calls off the violence. Reynolds told his staunchly repub- Sinn Féin was already run- exactly how the mission was That decision is likely to be some lican party last weekend. As W B ning rings around the Whitehall accomplished. way off. Yeats wrote, he added. “Peace comes negotiators, forcing the ac- Second, either way, there ****************** dropping slow.” It does indeed, and while it does, it is British policy that knowledgment that the Down- can only ever be egg perma- Downing Street declaration [The] is being stretched to incredulity ing Street Declaration really was nently on the ‘counter-terrorist’ with Albert Reynolds was aimed at while the Irish government watches the opening of bargaining talks department’s face for having bringing the IRA to the peace table. and waits. To the Unionists, Major with the IRA in spite of all the themselves made half their Ulster’s constitutional nationalists says he believes passionately in the denials to the contrary. leadership vulnerable in one go said it would. The British would union; to the nationalists, that they have only to lift a finger to bring Now these disastrous set- by putting all their young intel- can have a united Ireland when they backs (to Britain’s ability to ligence stars into one fallible the gunmen in from the cold and have a majority for it, and we will they would come, they said. But successfully combat guerrilla helicopter flight. It would seem not stand in their way. to be the most elementary rule they have not. Three-day ceasefires While we dig in behind our war, already gravely in doubt expired promptly after Christmas Maginot defences on the border, the as a result of London agree- of security when fighting such and Easter. Heathrow has been Irish leader offers new inducements ing to peace negotiations with a determined foe as the Irish targeted. Last week, an RUC patrol to Ulster’s Unionists to throw their ‘terrorists’ in the first place) will national-liberation struggle to was shelled by a mortar which lot in with a united Ireland. The place even more emphasis on never have more than a tiny was fired from the grounds of a American-Irish lobby will prime the really triumphant position percentage of crucial leadership Catholic church in John Hume’s the pump for a united Ireland as Derry constituency. that the Republicans’ political personnel at risk of guerrilla the Jewish lobby did for Israel, he and military efforts have carved attack at one single time and Yet we still await the “iron fist” says. Meanwhile. Dublin insists on response promised by British and out for the cause of Ireland’s location, (except where any risk a northern power-sharing deal be- at all could be totally ruled out), Irish ministers if the violence did tween nationalists and Unionists complete independence at last, not end. If my visit to Dublin and that will take the sting out of the and reunification. - or at risk of a chance accident. Irish security chiefs on the border British connection. The snail’s pace withdrawal by A Chinook helicopter flight is anything to go by, we will have to All clever stuff. While the British British imperialism from one of over foggy seas and windswept wait for ever. cabinet hums and haws, the only its last colonial outposts, slith- mountains might seem hazard- The only anti-terrorist measure real danger of Dublin’s strategy ers forward once more (see ILWP ous enough to begin with. To left open to them is internment coming unstuck is the rise of sectar- they say, and you can forget that be- Books vol 8 & 15 Ireland). make such a flight over the ian violence by Protestant paramili- This latest farce has more Occupied Zone of Ireland and cause the IRA has a fresh tier of un- taries. Reynolds was so concerned known people ready to take over. hallmarks of a ruling-class sys- then Celtic Scotland at low about it last week that he called tem which has come to the end level and with such a valuable They also argue that since three in on the British to protect national- four terrorist incidents have noth- ist areas. During such operations, of its days. cargo would seem more like an ing to do with the border, the core he added, security forces acting “in First, the Tory establishment advanced state of decay in mind of the IRA menace is northern-based that situation” should be free from still dare not say for sure, for and spirit by the ruling class. and British security policy, to put attack. For this, much thanks. fear of subsequent embarrass- Thirdly, on top of all this, it bluntly, does not stand a chance. With nothing to show for the ment if it proves wrong, that it it looks as if the travelling The Irish, I found, have a high pro- 15 Downing Street declaration on the was not a brilliant IRA mission intelligence supremos were fessional regard for the Royal Ulster ground so far. British policy is in Constabulary and the British Army which struck down the cream stupid enough not only to travel danger of becoming increasingly of British military intelligence, all together on a potentially but consider they have an impos- desperate. Sir Patrick Mayhew says sible task. So long as the RUC is an of the police Special Branch dangerous journey, but even EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 overall, and is los- time it wanted to if it really put ing its last colonial its mind to it, etc. fight in Occupied And that arrogant compla- Ireland in par- cency looks suspiciously like ticular, — there is continuing even right through still time for one the actual process of the British more ruling-class imperialist regime coming a dinner, — and humiliating cropper over its at- then another, and tempts to ‘defeat terrorism and then...... … establish peace with honour’ This pantomime in pretending to not be being would seem to sum driven out of its last colony. All up brilliantly the of the sly London manoeuvring whole history of about the Downing Street Dec- British monop- laration, planting disinforma- oly-capitalism’s tion here, there and everywhere eventual tragic implying that really the IRA had decadence. ‘had enough’ and really ‘wants The entire con- to surrender’, and that the Tory duct of the snail’s- Government is just doing Sinn pace withdrawal Féin a ‘humanitarian favour’ by from the Occupied letting them give up their strug- Zone of Ireland gle for reunification but under barmier to take with them in expertise, including the Director has been carried out with just cover of being ‘allowed’ to par- readable files a vast quantity of and Co-ordinator of Intelligence, one consideration above all oth- ticipate in constitutional talks the most top secret information John Deverell. The nine soldiers ers, – namely that the British which will ‘offer’ to everyone about the ‘counter-terrorist’ who died made up about a third of the Northern Ireland specialist mili- ruling-class should not been ‘peace with honour’, etc, –– is all war, in particular such crucially tary intelligence hierarchy. seen to lose face. In particular, part of these insane delusions of sensitive details as the lists Reports over the past 48 hours it has been considered vital that the British ruling class that they of agents provocateurs and have suggested the dead officers whatever the reality, on no ac- can still be in control of things, informers within the ranks of were to have met their mainland count could even the suggestion or make everyone effortlessly the national-liberation struggle, counterparts to discuss the terror- emerge that the revolutionary believe that they are still in and their methods of opera- ist threat to the whole of the United national-liberation struggle control of things, which to this tion, and possible forthcoming Kingdom — a claim still being made might have actually won itself decadent way of thinking is just targets and missions, as well as by the Northern Ireland Office last a settlement arms-in-hand and as good. their key runners and contacts night. But authoritative security sources against the very worst counter- But the reality on the ground outside. in Britain and Northern Ireland revolutionary might and wit is an unanswerable material And, fourthly, as if this have told The Observer that the rea- that one of NATO’s biggest ‘anti- situation which tells a totally was not bad enough, it then son for the trip was to hold ‘brain- terrorist’ stalwart powers could different story and which will turns out later that the whole storming’ discussions about the ter- throw at the Republicans. give a totally different outcome. ‘brainstorming’ intelligence rorist threat in Ulster, away from the This non-stop propaganda British imperialism really trip was not really necessary officers’ normal environment. that ‘the terrorists are losing’ is in full-spate decline histori- anyway, and that the packed They admitted that the trip also and ‘Britain will never make a cally speaking, and all of its golf clubs and fishing rods for had both a social and a ‘rest and negotiating response to terror- institutions and confidence a few pleasant days of ‘rest and recreation’ side. Eyewitnesses to the crash on the Mull of Kintyre last blackmail’, etc, etc, could have and know-how are really being recuperation’ R & R) in the Scot- Thursday night described seeing only ever had the disastrous undermined by this unending tish countryside were as much golf clubs and fishing rods among effect of lulling the complacent decadent deterioration. a concern of the ‘anti-terrorist’ the bodies and wreckage. conservative British bourgeoisie The British-colonist com- hierarchy as the irreplaceable One mainland security source who with another bout of groundless munity in the Occupied Zone of personnel and documents which maintained extremely close profes- false security and ridiculous Ireland is as doomed as the co- went on the flight, – as has been sional links with those who died in ‘superiority’ to the natives, etc. lonial British settler remnants hinted even in some bourgeois the crash said yesterday: ‘There may The golf clubs, fishing rods, were in Rhodesia which briefly press reports: have been an element of R & R. The reason for these conferences in the and formal public-school dinner declared UDI (with the London THE CREAM of Ulster’s anti-ter- past has been to take some of the japes, all point to a decadent Labour Government’s help) in rorist intelligence officers wiped leading players away for a complete ruling class which simply can- 1965 to boast that they would out in the Chinook helicopter crash break, to talk over the options. not get its mind on the real job “never give in to the ignorant in Scotland had no operational ‘Over the years, it has produced in hand, - namely that British black masses who had not the need to leave Northern Ireland. some first-class results, but occa- The Observer has learned that the imperialism is losing all its faintest idea of how to run an sionally it has been disappointing positions in the increasingly advanced country and economy Inverness conference to which the — there isn’t always something new 25 officers from MI5, the RUC Special to discuss. competitive inter-imperialist that the whites had built up”; Branch and Army Intelligence were ‘But it does help for people from world trade conflict, and is com- etc, etc, and who were still travelling was confined entirely to different organisations to get to mensurately declining in social pretending the same nonsense Ulster-based personnel, raising se- know each other. It starts with a for- cohesion on every front at the to anyone who would listen 15 rious questions as to whether the mal dinner, a few drinks; then down same time. years later when the national- risk of flying them out of Ulster was to business. There is another formal This arrogant ruling class still liberation struggle finally forced worth the benefit. dinner to round things off.’ kids itself in part, deep down, that colonial police-military A series of top security sources However, security sources in stated yesterday it was never in- that it really ought to continue dictatorship to capitulate. Northern Ireland told The Observer to rule the world, and that it The British-colonist Orange- tended they should be joined by that there were several possible se- mainland police officers from cure locations within the province still could rule the world if it men have been losing their Special Branch or the Anti-Terrorist where a meeting of this kind could really wanted to, or if it ever got spirit as a community for a long Squad, nor by mainland-based MI5 take place. These included Stormont pushed into having to seriously time, just as the Rhodesians staff. Castle, the Castlereagh detention defend itself again as in the in- eventually lost theirs, and The damage caused by the crash centre, and top hotels where large ter-imperialist World War parts just as the die-hard apart- is immense. It is understood the 10 RUC meetings have been held in the I and II. A whole generation of heid whites in South Africa officers from theRUC Special Branch, past. the lead agency in Ulster terrorist in- anti-Irish jokes have helped de- now seem to have lost theirs, 16telligence, amounted to 40 per cent Even though British imperi- lude the British bourgeoisie that promising to declare UDI and of its command level. alism is losing its economic the Micks really are thick, and cut part of South Africa adrift The six dead MI5 officers represent position in the world, is losing that British know-how could for a whites-only homeland, an even higher proportion of local the inter-imperialist trade war give them a good thrashing any but only succeeding (so far) in EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 shooting themselves in the foot the economy would probably need the Chancellor about low base rates. areas. ‘We see ourselves as less and making humiliated fools of to run a primary trade surplus on British as time passes.’ said the the current account of the balance This unanswerable picture of leader. ‘It is evident from what has themselves. relative decline also inevitably All these communities are of payments — that is, the current been happening since the Anglo- account excluding overseas invest- must imply aspects of absolute Irish agreement and the Downing doomed by the march of history, ment income and payments — to decline as well as far as the Street Declaration that the British and sooner or later events will finance the outflow of debt interest. self-confidence and leadership Government’s long-term objective show it, whatever the propa- But there are offsetting considera- style of the British ruling-class is a united Ireland and we feel they ganda disinformation that is tions. Thanks again to contrasting is concerned. It leads in general are preparing the groundwork. spread about. composition, the rate of return in towards self-deceiving compla- ‘They are putting structures in Parent British imperialism the form of dividends, profits and cency and paralysed arrogance place so that when that eventually is in a terminal crisis as far as interest on assets tends to fall short comes about it will not be such a of that on Britain’s liabilities. A fur- such as the British bourgeoisie long step.’ its world-dominant standing of have been showing, for example, old is concerned, – as even the ther depressant arises now from the He showed no trust in the pre- excess of liabilities over assets. over Ireland. sent Secretary of State for Northern capitalist press itself will admit Taking everything into account, The British-colonist Orange Ireland, Sir Patrick Mayhew. in its more self-searching mo- the golden rule for debt sustainabil- establishment in the Occupied ‘He’s certainly one of the greener ments in the smaller print: ity turns out to be quite simple and Zone of Ireland is part of that Secretaries of State. I wouldn’t trust LOATH though governments are quite lethal. To keep net debt sta- British ruling-class decadence, him. He has lied and lied again. to admit it there is a dread inevita- ble in relation to GDP, the UK would whether it likes it or not. Signs ‘We feel we’re being taken into a bility about the value of the British need broadly to secure primary of exactly the same self-delu- united Ireland against our will and pound. It goes down. Sometimes trade balance, if not modest surplus. we will do everything to resist that. Alas, the required transformation sions and ailing, contentless ‘The Dublin government is the the fall is smooth and restrained, grandeur can be seen in the a graceful handmaiden of export looks impossibly onerous, for two bigger threat. We don’t see our own growth and import saving. At other reasons. ‘Ulster’ hierarchy as in its Brit- government as a threat, but its long- times, the fall is sharp and brutish, First, the economy starts from a ish parent, and for exactly the term objective seems to be that it an ugly mother of financial crisis. position of substantial deficit. Even same reasons, - because the real wants to leave. We believe if they But whether fast or slow, fair or on official figures, flattered byun- international basis for Britain’s could leave tomorrow they would.’ foul, the dominant trend is down. der-recording of black-economy im- past imperialist roles and for Lord Carson, the father-figure of The devaluing pound is a neces- ports, Britain’s primary deficit last the Orangemen’s undemocratic Loyalism, once predicted that ‘the sary if disagreeable consequence of year ran to more than 2 per cent of and pirated domination over the final battle will be between Loyalists Britain’s economic infirmity, moder- GDP. Second, the economy suffers and the British Army’. But the UFF from a high trend rate of import Occupied Zone of Ireland has leader said: ‘It is too early for that ating but not reversing the inexora- now totally disappeared both ble forces of relative decline which penetration, a longstanding feature to happen. It would be a sorry state seemingly emasculate all once-great which abated surprisingly little in in practice and in spirit. On a of affairs if our own Government economic empires. the 1980s despite undoubted gains world scale, the British imperi- turned our own army against us, Let us then entertain conjecture in industrial efficiency. As a result, alist tradition is bankrupt in all considering that a lot of us in the of the next lurch — a drop that may without persistent improvement departments. Loyalist community served in the prove vertiginous, white-knuckle in competitiveness, the UK must Much has been made of the armed forces and I have served.’ and decidedly unwelcome to a gov- necessarily grow more slowly than supposed sting-in-the-tail of the ernment bent on economic recovery overseas economies simply to keep Orange fascist gangs who have BECAUSE of the job I am in, peo- through cheap money. the trade deficit in check. ple will say I am a bastard, but if This condition would put the UK’s been threatening a last-ditch For, without precedent in 140 stand to wreak havoc in the Oc- I wasn’t doing it, someone else years, the British economy today has warranted growth rate at about two- would be.’ So says the former probably become an international thirds of the average in the indus- cupied Zone and over all Ireland if their British-imperialist British Army soldier who is now debtor, amassing liabilities with the trial world. Unfortunately, a steady commander of the Ulster Freedom rest of the world in excess of over- sequence of trade deficits would domination ‘permanent veto’ Fighters, an illegal Protestant ter- seas assets. lead to an explosive rise in Britain’s status is taken away from them. rorist force. By the end of last year, net over- stock of overseas debt. The UVF and UFF and Red On Wednesday, UFF gunmen tried seas debt by our calculations was TO ACHIEVE debt stock and ex- Hand Gang and other nazi to murder a wheelchair-bound mul- well over £20 billion, a modest pro- change rate stability at the same groupings are variously said to tiple sclerosis victim just days after portion (4 per cent) of the gross do- time would require the elimina- be able and ready and willing he had returned from Lourdes seek- mestic product but a far cry from the tion of the trade deficit and a sacri- to drown Ireland in a total ing a miracle cure for his illness. heady levels seen at the height of fice of growth. Assuming overseas Paul O’Neill, a 33-year-old Catholic, Britain’s rentier economy. bloodbath, north and south, growth averages a little over 3 per if their ‘right to be British’ is was hit in the face and arms as eight On the eve of the first world war, cent a year in the next five years, shots were fired through the win- according to Professor Feinstein’s our economic model suggests a taken away from them, etc, etc. dows of his Belfast home. His fa- estimates, Britain’s net overseas as- warranted growth of UK GDP of 1.5 They are alleged to be capable ther, Aidan, 61, was wounded in the sets totalled 180 per cent of GDP, gen- per cent a year with virtual stagna- of taking a bombing campaign chest. Police dismissed claims that erating net overseas income equiva- tion of private-sector spending. to Dublin just as the national- the family had any link with IRA ter- lent to 8.5 per cent of GDP. The associated low inflation rate — liberation struggle has taken it rorists. The gigantic slide in Britain’s ex- averaging 2 per cent — might offer to the Occupied Zone and to the Twenty-four hours later, Loyalist ternal worth was arrested tempo- some comfort to the Government. British mainland. Much play paramilitaries shot dead a Sinn Fein rarily in the 1980s, thanks to the bo- Far less agreeable would be the ne- councillor’s wife at her home in the nus of North Sea oil. But after seven was made recently of one appar- cessity to raise taxes again to pre- ent Orange-colonist foray into city. Mother-of-two Theresa Clinton, years of abnormal trade deficit, the vent an otherwise explosive rise in 33, was hit when a UFF gunman external asset position has reverted government debt, the result of secu- the South when a bomb blast sprayed the house with bullets. to trend and threatens to become lar economic stagnation. shook a Sinn Féin fund-raising The attacks are part of a long rapidly unsustainable. At today’s Although all such estimates need event at a suburban Dublin pub, line of brutal sectarian murders level of sterling, the economy would to be taken with a large pinch of salt, killing two people, the bombers mounted by Protestant paramilitar- eventually slide into deep debt, an the scale of the problem dwarfs any getting clean away. ies. Loyalists have been responsible unsightly beggar in an unforgiving conceivable qualification. With ster- The capitalist press attempt for eight of the 11 terrorist murders global capital market. ling unchanged, Britain’s non-accel- to play up this aspect of the in the province this year. According Although there is inevitably con- erating-overseas-debt rate of growth Troubles: to its leader, the UFF intends to con- siderable uncertainty about the is unacceptably puny. tinue its attacks in the North and large sums involved in all direc- The Chancellor clearly thinks so. The mood in the Loyalist camp is has targeted for assassination John tions, it is a reasonable assumption On his preferred policy settings, very dangerous just now. There is a Hume, the Social Democratic and that the UK has today descended to private-sector spending growth, far sense that the focus is on Sinn Fein Labour Party MP who has been the status of a small-scale interna- from stagnating, is already running and that both governments have holding talks with Sinn Fein leader tional debtor. towards 5 per cent a year. been dancing to its tune. ‘There Gerry Adams. The UFF is also threat- The next question concerns sus- Unhappily, on this basis, Britain’s are TV crews camped permanently ening to take its campaign into the tainability. Imagine that sterling external net debt would explode, outside the Provos headquarters in Irish Republic. stays at its current level and consider rising to more than £200 billion by the Falls Road. Why? Because they Of the Irish Prime Minister, Albert the transformation in trade per- 1998, over 20 per cent of GDP. kill people,’ I was told recently. Reynolds, and his involvement in 17 formance necessary to prevent an Except that it won’t. Long before the Downing Street Declaration, the ever-spiralling level of international the debt blows up, sterling will As a first step, the UFF is attempt- UFF leader said: ‘The more interfer- indebtedness. As every schoolboy have sunk and taken with it into the ing to build up recruits in border ence, the more intransigence on his knows, the textbook answer is that weedy depths for ever the dream of side, the more inevitable a Loyalist EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 assault on the South.’ or IRA suspects in cold blood Hence the extraordinary unto itself, - revelations which But reading between the lines a without an atom of serious phenomenon of the director- the British Government had little, a slightly different picture evidence against them or so general of the Security Service gone berserk trying to suppress emerges to the one which coun- much as the pretence of a trial (Gestapo) not only permitting worldwide, - for example, - as ter-revolutionary propaganda (such as the drumhead jury-less name and personal details to simply “wrong”. would like to put across. ‘courts’ {have} set up under the be revealed for the first time in And even if Rimington can- Whatever else the diehard police-military dictatorship in history of an incumbent, but nily wanted this dismissive British colonists are say- the Occupied Zone). There were even now going full frontal onto verdict to be seen as applying ing, their bleating reveals an conflicting policies over the national television to give a only to the controversy about astonishing level of defeatism mainland police ‘investigation’ friendly reassuring chat about how seriously MI5 agents tried and sense of betrayal. There is over some of these shoot-to-kill how supposedly law-abiding, to undermine the Harold a defiant attitude but it is much crimes and disasters, conducted democratic, and accident-free all Wilson Labour Governments, more one of a dog in the manger by John Stalker, the Manchester this secret-police work now is. - and conveniently ignoring rather than that of people Deputy Chief Constable who Possibly these ultra-right the endless rampage of illegal with an aggressive triumphant was then sensationally framed fanatics want to cash in on the activities and dubious political perspective. Despite all their by his own British establish- temporary reprieve from inter- stunts Wright confessed to on positive bombastic propaganda ment and hounded off the en- national class pressure on impe- other pages, - this insolent and efforts, these colonist sectar- quiry – and out of the police for rialism from the self-liquidation contemptuous response still ian voices sound as if they are good, because of having found by the revisionist degeneracy in leaves uncommented-on the beaten before they start. They out too much about the illegal Moscow, to take the opportu- startling business of the enor- sound like what they are, – a fascist goings-on by the authori- nity to pretend that capitalist- mous implications of just saying discredited and futile historical ties in the Occupied Zone and state ‘security’ is a non-class that Wright was “wrong”. blind-alley which is doomed to their secret service controllers operation in the interests of This was one of the most failure and extinction. from Britain. everybody; and possibly they senior, respected, and experi- This raises the question of It could easily be that such want also to get in quick, before enced figures ever in MI5’s whole what might have been behind raids on Dublin and elsewhere the international slump-may- spy-catching history. And if he the recent strangely success- by fascist UFF/UVF die-hards hem really starts, to pretend was “wrong” about all that he re- ful bombing raid on Dublin. It could be kept going for a demon- that world order and justice is vealed of the Gestapo’s work yet might be that the UFF UVF car- strative while by British reac- relatively simply available and was prepared to defy the British ried out a risky and difficult op- tion at the heart of the imperial- well-secured provided that just Government across the courts eration successfully, first time, ist establishment. tiny handfuls of ‘terrorist’ and of the world to prevent his book without any previous experience But as these pathetic UFF ‘subversive’ individuals are of memoirs from being censored or failures at such missions. comments above testify, it is closely kept under control. or suppressed, then what did But it could equally be that not impossible that the British Presumably Rimington was this say about such an archetyp- these fascist die-hards were army itself would be obliged to put up on national television al Security Service representa- assisted to their target by a take on seriously the last-ditch because this opportunity for the tive, approved in office for more much more competent authority propaganda spectacular of imperialist-state secret police to than 30 years? such as the British MI5 which British dying reaction, and deal put across this sly and deceit- That he was a totally com- is used to such dirty tricks and with it. There are plenty of other ful stunt just happily coincided pulsive liar? Or all the time which has its own fascist axe to ways it could be dealt with too, with the MI5 agency having an completely mad? Or an incor- grind against other section of if it develops. unusually deceptively-mild- rigible betrayer of his country’s the British bourgeois establish- But the quality of this die- looking boss at the moment, - a interests, and utterly contemp- ment over the vexed question of hard stand would seem imme- woman. tuous of democratic parliamen- whether to relinquish the final diately to be very low-spirited But bourgeois women cannot tary control? colonial hold on Ireland or not. and meanly-gangsterish right hide their class fanaticism no What it says is that Riming- The whole record of the recent from the start, – mere venge- matter how hard they try or ton was lying through her teeth British turmoil over its Irish en- ance killings to try to wreck the how good an act they are. This when gushing her bilge about tanglement has shown endless house before leaving for good. middle-class governess figure how law-abiding, responsible, signs of an internal sectarian Such a moronic fascist outlook would have ‘subversives’ strung principled, and reluctant to war being fought out between is out of its time for the 1990s up with piano wire as soon as intrude on any citizen’s privacy, the various British imperialist in the Occupied Zone of Ireland. look at them. etc, the agency was, - peopled by agencies in the Occupied Zone It has no future or worthwhile Rimington just told non-stop totally reasonable, politically- such as MI5, Army intelligence, perspective at all. It would seem lies, and not with a look as if neutral, and kindly angels, it the RUC Special branch, the to be very unlikely to have any butter would not melt in her seems, who wish no harm to mainland police counter-terror- success at all for very long. mouth, but with a look that you anyone. ist units, etc, etc, not to mention All the talk here is of bitter- would be ruthlessly punished if Top spycatcher Peter Wright’s the rival factions within the ness against the British estab- you dared to disagree with her. revelations of ruthless, class- British bourgeois ruling-class lishment. There is no future in Only a totally dehumanised biased fanaticism are either party, the Tories, and the civil that. The British imperialist fanatic could stand there ly- totally correct, - or else totally service establishment inside the establishment is the very es- ing that MI5 did not commit mad, — revealing thereby a Occupied Zone and in Whitehall sence of the Orange-colonist murder, did not have a political completely different kind of as well. community. The one will quickly view on anything, and was full ruthless fanaticism at the head There were conflicting policies decay and collapse without the of totally law-abiding self- of MI5. Either way, the present over the shoot-to-kill episodes other.[] sacrificing servants of democ- head of MI5 is revealed as an which gunned down Sinn Fein Build Leninism Joe Harper racy and parliamentary control utterly fanatical, class-hatred- (representing public support demented arsehole. Neither the MI5 show, nor ‘left’ and control over what MI5 does Murder and lying treachery “in your name”, etc.) are all that the British imperial- muddleheadedness, can confuse the Having boasted that MI5 ist secret police live by and live consisted entirely of just simple for. Rimington can try all she picture of British imperialist defeat little civil servants doing their likes to distance her agency’s simple little surveillance work work from other crimes of in Ireland, despite all its murderous without any hidden agendas, the capitalist state, but only tyranny. or conspiratorial cliques, or imbeciles will fall for this. The secret political axes to grind, - Birmingham Six were tortured, 18[EPSR No 755 14-06-94] she then just dismissed Peter framed, and then banged up Wright’s astonishingly detailed for 18 years of their lives for Because of this hopelessness, as the capitalist state such as MI5 revelations of MI5 being a highly something which the law knew perceived, of British imperial- secret policemen, are becoming political factionalising law all along they did not do. The ism’s plight, some watchdogs of very agitated. EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 is worst about monopoly-bour- geois class society deserving to be totally destroyed. The tactics of the IRA or the INLA or anyone else in apply- ing individual-terror guerrilla war to anything and everything regarded as standing for the British imperialist state and occupying forces, – however dubious the political logic from any point of view, and however tinged with unappetising na- tionalist venom, – are one thing. The intention is obvious: – to wipe out, damage, or intimidate every aspect of the British co- lonial connection with Ireland, including, clearly, the resident pro-British population in any of its activities which have as their aim the protection, sustenance Guildford Four and the Maguire bursting every gut to nail “ter- pub, etc. and supply of the colonist state family likewise. The Gibraltar rorism and everyone connected Plants and agents provo- in Ireland. Three were murdered in cold with” by fair means or foul, per- cateurs will have to listen to This is the continuation of blood by the British secret secuting Irish accents and politi- the same political analysis of an 800-year war of national- service. Murder squads were cal sympathisers at random the international imperialist liberation fought by the Irish to operating (and still are) in the and with extreme brutality and economic crisis as everyone end all British control over their Occupied Zone of Ireland, and menace, - the political bosses of else, and eventually, nothing island. As in all such struggles they were found out by the MI5 are seeking a political deal on earth will hold back the throughout history, the tactics Stalker inquiry, which then with those very same “terror- working class from agreeing are NEVER set by the guerrilla had to be suppressed by hook ists”. No wonder it is widely to a Marxist-Leninist analysis fighters but only ever by the or by crook, and its author, - a rumoured that there are MI5 of the only possible solution, a aggressive colonial authority. senior British police officer, one influences behind attempts to revolutionary solution, to the The only way that tiny bands of Rimington’s own “honour- sabotage any new constitutional now incurable decadence of a of intervening colonists have able and trustworthy honest agreement for British imperi- dying capitalist system. ever been able to overcome civil servants defending the alism to finally pull out of its Letter-opening, phone- the far greater masses of the security of the state with great interference in Ireland’s affairs, tapping, and arrests have never indigenous population has self-sacrifice”, John Stalker, had allowing reunification at last stopped the spread of revolu- been through the most ruth- to have his career butchered under an independent Irish tionary Marxist understanding less brutal terror and wholesale and his name slandered to get government. in the past. They will never stop extermination. That was how the British capitalist state off Rimington’s other chilling the invincible role of revolution- the Americas were won by the the clearly-proven charge of threat to be gathering the entire ary theory in the future either. white man (English, Spanish, premeditated ‘judicial’ murder membership lists of every single It will soon be gushing out of French, etc) from the Indian and cover-up. organisation which challenges every crack in the soon-to-ex- civilisations (Mayan, Aztec, But the last laugh is with the the validity of the present plode class struggle, and all the Iroquois, etc); New Zealand anti-imperialist struggle. ‘parliamentary democracy’ arrests on earth will not stop it. from the Maoris; Australia from Rimington had to reveal that racket (dominated by monopoly- So old iron knickers can do her the Aborigines; etc, etc; and more than half of the whole of capitalist ruling-class interests worst. Like Thatcher, all she will how the control of the whole of MI5’s resources now have to go in a thousand-and-one uncon- succeed in doing is turning on Ireland was won from the Irish on combatting the IRA and Sinn trollable ways), - is likely to be the decadent geriatrics in the for nearly 700 years until the Féin. So much for the ‘success’ equally as inept as imperialism’s establishment with the hint of revolutionary war of independ- of 25 years of murderous repres- ‘counter-terrorist’ attempts to perfumed tough leather, and ence of 1918-1920 forced the oc- sion against the Irish national- hold back the Irish national- gentle horsewhipping. It will be cupying British imperialist state liberation movement. Such a liberation struggle. utterly irrelevant to the break- to concede an Irish Republic on catastrophic failure has been Revolutionary theory will up of the imperialist system and 26 of Ireland’s 32 counties. the whole ‘counter-insurgency’ decide the outcome of the class the advance of the class strug- British imperialist brutality operation that, - even as the struggle in Britain, not sordid gle, just like Thatcherism was.[] continued right throughout the Gestapo bloodhounds are still little informant’s lists of who Build Leninism. JH negotiations (which finally saw says what to whom in which the Irish Free State established in 1921), threatening to torch BBC lies about ‘tit for tat’ violence Irish volunteers of the national the whole of Ireland if the liberation struggle, as is being IRA/Sinn Féin negotiators did in the Occupied Zone of Ireland are claimed by the bourgeois estab- not make do with 26 counties lishment. (despite the last all-Ireland elec- deliberately-concealing the fascist Nor do these degenerates in tions of 1918 having produced a despair of wrecked imperialist power. any way reflect “the ordinary near 80% vote for total inde- people of the protestant tradi- pendence of the whole of the Crashing markets will further under- tion in Ulster who are worried island from British rule or con- about being forgotten”, as the nection. So much for the British mine the bourgeoisie. But a return top colonist clergyman Eames bourgeoisie’s real concern for has tried to pretend. the “wishes of the majority” to Leninist party-building science an These cynical killers who mas- which only began to be touted sacred the Saturday-night pub by London once the artificial urgent need. crowd in Loughinisland village border had been gerrymandered [EPSR No 756 21-06-94] watching Ireland’s World Cup in a crazy meandering line 19 football progress, represent across Ulster to leave three of The fascist thugs of the British Occupied Zone of Ireland are contemporary imperialist politi- its counties in the Republic, and colonist community in the in no way comparable to the cal attitudes only, and all that six under continuing British EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 military domination with cra- British imperialist fortunes. terror-tyranny of the IRA, etc”, remotely provided ‘even-handed zily zig-zagging boundaries to This same murderous destruc- and so on, is the most evil and justice’ to the Irish minority embrace the maximum possible tive ignorance and prejudice has cynical deception of all. dominated by the gerryman- of traditionally colonist settle- emerged just as fanatically in If the MI5 and the rest of dered permanent colonist ments to produce artificially a other dying colonial situations the British imperialist gestapo majority. Obviously it has only new “majority” inside the bogus such as the Smith regime which agencies devoted just a tiny frac- ever confirmed the sectarian land called “Northern Ireland” tried for 14 bloody years to tion of the huge resources they status quo, just as it is still going where ‘democracy’ could claim hang onto colonial domination spend in trying vainly to control through the motions of doing in to be in favour of remaining in over Zimbabwe as Rhodesia, the Irish national-liberation the Downing Street Declaration, the United Kingdom.) or the South African apartheid struggle – on these groups of promising that the ‘Northern That imperialist terror sectarians who equally vowed mercenary nazi thugs instead, Ireland majority’s rights’ will domination over the one third “no surrender”, just like Paisley – there would be an overnight be preserved, etc. By cementing of the population of genuine & Co, in order to gerrymander transformation at least in this the Partition injustice, Brit- Irish people trapped behind the ‘democracy’ and boundaries for aspect of the ‘troubles’. The UVF ish ‘democracy’ ensures that new British imperialist frontier a few decades longer to try to and UFF fascist reprisals could nothing but hatred can ever then became institutionalised preserve their ‘white, protestant be tamed immediately with just be bred thereafter until that as the sectarian RUC and ‘B’ paradise’ from ‘heathen incur- the slightest sustained serious criminal division of the country Specials and the sectarian local sions’, etc, – by state terror, counter-terrorist campaign of Ireland is corrected and made British army regiments,- all of covert murder squads, torture by the British police-military well again. which only came into existence barracks, concentration-camp dictatorship. The sordid little killing acts to ensure that any remaining internment without trial, But of course there is not the of the murderously aggressive Republican sentiments in the midnight snatch-squads busting slightest wish or intention to scum in the fascist extremist colony were systematically into homes, supergrass plants, hold back these nazi thugs just bands are very much the appro- persecuted for the rest of time; black propaganda subversion, yet, – or possibly not at all. priate and anticipated outcome urged prejudice. etc, etc, – all the same barbaric By half turning a blind eye to of British imperialism’s basically The terror-murder of tactics used by British colonist these ridiculous Hitler-strutting paralysed negative position. individuals for their attitude domination to try to hang onto stunts of these out-of-date Ian There is zero future perspec- to the imperialist state was its fraudulent ‘Ulster’ Occupied Smiths, the British bourgeois tive for the ‘British Ireland’ established hundreds of years Zone. establishment hopes that Ulster fiction about the torn-out bits ago by the British colonialists, Similar patterns of dying fascist colonism can confuse of Occupied Ulster, and no com- as were systematic starvation imperialist behaviour were ob- people into thinking that the pensation in view for all of the in the famines, kidnapping and served in the decadent decline imperialist system faces an past ‘loyalist’ posturing by the holding to ransom, collective of other empires such as the impossible dilemma in the misguided settlers, fatuously punishments, detention without French in Algeria, the Belgians Occupied Zone, – hounded beating their breasts about ‘No trial, torture for information, in the Congo, the Portuguese in by society-wrecking violence surrender’ when the epoch of plus every other manner of brib- Angola, Mozambique, etc, the whichever way it turns. Empire has long since passed. ery and corruption to shatter or Americans in Panama, Nicara- This is the biggest nonsense And yet at the same time, disgrace Irish nationalism and gua, Vietnam, etc, and so on. of all, of course. It is precisely British imperialism cannot bear promote the pro-British connec- All such terminal colonial the continued existence of the to openly admit that its foul lit- tion. No new ‘terrorist’ tactics barbarism was marked by its British monopoly capitalist tle game of partitioning Ireland have ever had to be invented by rotten lack of perspective, – ruling class’s interests in the artificially has come to a sordid the national-liberation struggle hired gangs of thugs killing for Occupied Zone of Ireland that is little end, and all attempts to ‘terrorists’. And every new de- the sake of sheer terror in order the sole basic cause of all of the defeat the national-liberation velopment in the guerrilla war vainly to try to hang on to what violence there. struggle have been a disastrous was only in response to some historically was no longer ten- Although no longer engaged failure. new intransigence or colonial- able. Continuing white political in financially or geopolitically This leaves the fascist “majority” imposition on the domination of the southern exploiting its colonial territory, political-aggression content of Irish by the British imperialist states of the USA against ad- the British imperialist presence the colonialist mentality with state in its bogus new guise vancing black mass democracy still 100% prevents all further nowhere to go but down even of the non-existent country was another example of this natural progress there and in deeper into spiteful arrogant of “Northern Ireland”, – just a failed barbarism, so similar to the whole island of Ireland. His- prejudice. All Paisley’s at- repository for lingering British- the criminal fascist rottenness toric Irish national aspirations tempts at a serious Carson-type colonial sectarianism. currently trying vengefully to reborn of 19th and 20th century fascist-colonist UDI (mimick- But as the Irish national- destroy all civilised life in the world nation-state develop- ing the Curragh mutiny days liberation struggle has fought British imperialist Occupied ments, must finally be given full and Smith’s Rhodesian racket) on against this tyranny, so has Zone of Ireland. birth to before anything else have come to humiliating the British imperialist domina- It is an outrageous nonsense can happen there of a decisive disaster. The civil disobedience tion been finally forced to begin for Bishop Eames and the rest of major kind on the economic, campaigns have collapsed; the to recognise once again the the British imperialist bour- political, social or cultural stage. provocative forays into the renewed pressing claims of Irish geois-propaganda establishment Reunification and total formal Republic immediately broke independence. led by the BBC to present these state independence are an itch down in embarrassment; the There is no such pattern of isolated nazi-gangster stunts by that simply will never go away stormtrooper uniformed mid- historically-evolving develop- the UVF, the UFF, the Red Hand until it is satisfied. night mobilisations turned out ments and inevitability about mafia, and other paid stooges as By guaranteeing in the to be a derisible farce in reality; events concerning the fascist- just “tit-for-tat actions by the fraudulent way that it does the and Paisley’s bombastic rhetoric colonist backlash against protestant community”. These ‘rights of the majority’ in the is beginning to sound ever London’s enforced reconsidera- acts of indiscriminate random artificial bastard entity called lamer, convincing no one. tion of its imperialist position butchery against Irish people ‘Northern Ireland’, British This effective collapse of the in Ireland. trapped behind the artificial imperialism makes it inevita- whole morale of the out-of-date There is not one scrap of per- ‘Northern Ireland’ barriers by ble that its stamp of authority British imperialist settler com- spective, one ounce of histori- the infamous 1921 Partition unavoidably becomes the stamp munity, occupying and govern- cal justification, or one iota of of Ireland, one of the sickest of repression. ing Ireland in the name of the heroic self-sacrificing volunteer- crimes in all imperialist his- The very proclamation of the British Crown, has therefore struggle in these sordid acts of tory, – are simply the scum-filth non-existent state of ‘Northern left nothing but the nastiest mindless butchery and violence of fascism, left behind by the Ireland – part of the United gutter fascist echo of imperialist 20 by the Orange-colonist mafia. death of the colonial era. Kingdom’ spelt out violent in- supremacy rumbling bitterly in These grubby little thugs are What is more, this pretence soluble confrontation from Day the guts of politically backward just the typical fascist scum left of “inevitable uncontrollable One onwards, unendingly. The individuals of a thug-like dispo- behind by the receding tide of counter-terror to answer the British jurisdiction has never sition, allied to straightforward EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 crooked mafia circles who are recriminations start hotting up closest colonist community, the defiance in the Occupied Zone into guns, violence, racketeer- over what and who is to blame settlers in the Occupied Zone of look like being a sick dying ing, and anarchy of every kind, for the continuing ruling class Ireland, the only ones ever to be swansong of a once mighty automatically. decline. Major only hangs on be- included as part of the United imperialist supremacists. The result is all these blood- cause no one else and no other Kingdom itself. Out of counter-revolutionary curdling fascist-gang threats factions are bold enough to The Bulletin has consistently prejudice and arrogant ignorant to make not just the Occupied offer any dramatically different traced the worsening relations racism which is hard to unlearn, Zone ungovernable but the alternative policies as far as the between the colonist establish- all bourgeois propaganda whole of Ireland too by ‘taking general style of this beleaguered ment in Ireland and the London in Britain continues to sow the war of resistance into the Tory Government is concerned. establishment. The tendency in nothing but confusion about South’, – but only the brutal And this Tory sclerosis hangs on this contradictory pattern has Ireland’s ‘troubles’ with the cold-blooded massacre of an old greatly courtesy of the farcical always unavoidably inclined grotesque distortion that “tit chap having a Saturday-night spinelessness of Labour’s three towards the Carson rebellion for tat sectarian violence” is all drink inn his local in reality, – supposedly ‘leadership’ can- and Curragh Mutiny standard that is going on in the Occupied so far. didates, all terrified of saying mould. The ever-increasing Zone. So far, – for it is not incon- anything about anything. venom of colony comment about These criminal lies from ceivable that hopeless fascist Faced with the greatest capi- ‘London treachery’ only empha- Bishop Eames to the Labour despair by the colonist mental- talist crisis in British imperial- sises this trend. Party which only encourage ity in the Occupied Zone could ism’s history and confronting But as examined in previous fascist reaction, might not nec- coincide with a far vaster quan- one of the weakest and most Bulletins, there can be no great essarily be intended to continue tity of similar political depravity despised ruling-class regimes future for such a sterile perspec- all the way to real nazi coup arising out of imperialist decay ever, the Labourite opportunist tive as an essential offshoot of provocations in the colony. But on the British mainland itself as movement cannot even manage British imperialism taking on the debilitating influence of this the monopoly-capitalist ruling a good belch in the Tories direc- British imperialism in order bourgeois propaganda on all class continues to prove how tion, let alone give a scrap of se- to guarantee its own British potential anti-imperialist clar- out-of-date it is on all fronts rious anti-crisis leadership. This imperialist continuity. As noted, ity in Britain (and elsewhere) of the international trade-war continuing ludicrous charade such degenerate reaction in the is not helped by the appallingly crisis. must mean several more nails in Occupied Zone might just coin- degenerate condition of all so- But so far, the nazi gangs the rapidly-nearing-completion cide with a like-minded fascist called ‘left’ or ‘liberal’ opinion, have not met with unashamed coffin of the parliamentary- outburst of vengeful despair currently, in the wake of the bourgeois support in the Oc- ’democracy’ pantomime (where on the mainland itself, briefly desperate confusion bequeathed cupied Zone as Hitler’s fascist Prime Minister’s Question Time boosting its credibility. by the monstrous revision- scum did in Germany in the is now an international joke TV But even a Hitlerite turn in ist let-down of Moscow’s final 1920s and 1930s of similar slot on a par with Clive James’s Britain looks for the moment as self-liquidation, and of the imperialist decline. Which is bizarre Japanese television being beyond the clapped-out chaos left behind by attempted why this vengeful dog-in-the- commercials and game-show British ruling class, so decadent, ‘anti-Stalinist’ analyses of these manger reaction in the Occupied pranks). paralysed, and deluded has it monumental postwar develop- Zone to the collapse of British These media fantasies of become. In which case by one ments.[...] imperialist supremacy has risen triumphant British imperialism means or another, these miser- Build Leninism to no greater ‘No-surrender’ and routed Irish nationalism able gestures of nazi-colonist Joe Harper heights than shooting innocent are, of course, never challenged Catholics or Irish citizens (or by Labour’s treacherous ‘bi- Royal soap opera ‘success’ hardly the even innocent bystanders of no partizanship’ on all questions persuasion or of the protestant where the Gestapo-minded answer to Britain’s trade-war problems faith) in the back in late-night establishment shouts ‘national pub massacres. security interests’, etc, and in or collapse of bourgeois confidence. At the same time as the bour- turn do their bit to prolong geois propaganda machinery the venomous delusions of the The monarchy is out of date, just like in Britain presents an outra- Ulster fascist gangs. imperialism. Dollar crash will scupper geously biased account of these But the really sick worries at demented fascist provocations the heart of all this nonsense all. ‘Loyalism’ dying on every count. as being merely ‘inter-communi- grow steadily worse under the ty tit for tat’ and supposedly on pressure of such never-ending [EPSR No 758 05-07-94] a par with the heroic 800-year hammer blows as the latest [...]already in view are renewed thority. The Nazi-level depravi- national-liberation struggle by statistical doubts about any direct inter-imperialist confron- ties of terror-torture inflicted the Irish, - the philistine media so-called ‘economic recovery’ in tations over the increasingly on the Irish national-liberation are also continuing vainly to sight, and this week’s renewed antagonistic trade war. struggle (as remarkably con- conceal British imperialism’ s ‘Black Monday’ panics in the Extending the feud by Britain firmed by the Channel 4 cover- retreat around the Downing money markets and on the stock inside the EU against German- age this week) by the ‘forces of Street Declaration question by exchanges. French domination over the the Crown’ render this bogusly still pretending that it is the The racist murder gangs of next commission president, it is ‘neutral’ and non-comprehend- Republican movement which is the dying imperialist commu- significant that France has now ing monarchy even more odious split and incapable of making nity in Occupied Ireland will all joined in with German trade- and futile as an institution, up its mind and moving things be rendered even slightly more sanctions threats against the making the colonists’ ‘loyalty’ forward, - thus standing on its inhuman than ever by such import of British beef products. look more and more like a kiss head the obvious reality that destabilising anarchy as the Meanwhile, British bour- of death for both partners. it is the British establishment latest ‘inexplicable’ share-price geois-imperialist confidence And a preview of further which is hopelessly paralysed collapses, or generally disturb- continues to dwindle on all Channel 4 coverage later in the about its degeneration in ing feverish turmoil and uncer- fronts. week notes how the demoralisa- general, and about its humiliat- tainty. The imperialist system And nothing could be more tion of the colonist community ing defeat by the IRA/Sinn Féin of crisis staggers on to create symbolic of the unease at the begins with bourgeois paralysis: national-liberation struggle in even more widespread mayhem heart of the ruling-class system particular. and confusion than ever before. This month, 25 years after British than the outdated way in which troops arrived in Belfast, the mood These divisions and lack of re- In the process, all imperialist- the colonist remnants in the Oc- in the Protestant heartland is trou- solve (and total lack of any con- system relations that have ever cupied Zone of Ireland should be bled and uncertain. fident or serious policy perspec- existed continue to be steadily culturally so oriented towards Now, it is working-class 21 tives, – almost on any subject) undone, including such ‘special’ their supposed loyalty to the Protestants who feel they are on the are becoming more and more relationships as the one be- Crown, now so tarnished as the losing side, caricatured across the blatant as the back-stabbing tween Britain and its oldest and emblem of British power and au- world as bigoted rednecks. Looking EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 fearfully across the peace wall which spoke of her shock. ‘A young man ruling class. Sinn Féin and the IRA had won divides the Shankill Road from the said to me: “Why would I work? The UFF Orange logic is that total support of the Irish in the Falls, they see an increasingly con- My father never worked.” Twenty- the Irish national liberation OZ and the total sympathy of fident Catholic community which five years ago you would never have struggle would only halt opera- world opinion everywhere, but has made enormous gains, political heard a Protestant say that.’ and economic. Most bewildering of Recent research has revealed an- tions if London had promised crucially in the huge Irish-ex- all, it seems to many Protestants that other shocking statistic — dra- a deal ultimately resulting in traction population in the USA. this has happened as a result of the matically low levels of educational British withdrawal from the OZ The fascist-colonial remnants IRA’s terrorist campaign. ‘Violence achievement. Only a handful of chil- and reunification of Ireland. may now have to be fought, works’ is a phrase one hears grimly dren in the Shankill Road pass the Such a deal has long been easier but nasty all the same for repeated again and again to explain 11-plus each year and very few go on the cards ever since the clapped-out British imperial- the rise in support for loyalist para- on to higher education. It was partly early 1980s had proved that ism. military groups. to deal with this that Sally Paul and Jackie Redpath, who runs the other women at the Hummingbird Greater Shankill Development Centre started a programme of Final demise of Britain’s rotten ‘North- Agency, analyses the experience courses to encourage parents, par- of loss and defeat. ‘You have to un- ticularly single mothers — of whom ern Ireland’ colony now in sight, derstand that the Protestant com- there are many — to help their chil- munity is a community in retreat dren. reversing the hated Partition for ever. — physically, politically, economi- One of their most striking dis- cally, culturally.’ He points to the coveries was the lack of knowl- Further British concessions over Ire- decline in population in the Greater edge among many working-class Shankill area over the past 15 years Protestants of their own history and land mark an important milestone in from 120,000 to 56,000 as younger culture. ‘How could we know? We families have moved out. To many were only taught English history, the anti-imperialist struggle, making of those who remain this planned the Battle of Hastings and so on,’ redevelopment, which has inevita- Sally Paul said. One woman in her possible an end to anti-Irish chauvin- bly left an imbalance of elderly peo- own adult education class refused to ple, is evidence of a deliberate strat- believe that the Protestant commu- ism among workers and underlining egy to drive Protestants from this nity had only arrived in Northern part of Belfast. Some of the most bit- Ireland in the seventeenth century. the value of Marxist-Leninist scientific ter arguments about the re-routing Now the centre runs Irish language of Orange parades have been when classes as well as history. analysis of the situation the police have diverted them from This remarkable initiative focuses [EPSR No 767 06-09-94] streets which were once Protestant a spotlight on another part of the but are now occupied by Catholics. loyalist community’s sense of loss The latest developments in the nity in the Occupied Zone only This physical retreat has been ac- and confusion about its own iden- Irish question point unmistak- emphasised how out-of-date companied by a sense of political tity. There are 23 different Protestant ably towards one of the greatest and impossible-to-sustain the defeat and betrayal. Most loyalists, churches in the Shankill Road, each national-liberation victories situation had become. even those who are prepared to offering a different view of Divine ever gained by armed revolu- The writing on the wall admit that discrimination against Truth. Even allowing for the fact Catholics was a major cause of the that the defining characteristic of tionary struggle. become obvious for this colonial Troubles, will also reel off a list of Protestantism is the individual’s re- Britain’s long slow withdrawal remnant in the wake of the sen- political losses over two decades. lationship with God, this makes for from colonial domination of sational political coups scored The signing of the Anglo-Irish intense fragmentation. the last bits of Ireland it had by national-liberation heroism Agreement in 1985 and, more It has also made it much more diffi- held onto, has suddenly spurted in the hunger-strikes-unto- recently, the Downing Street cult to develop community projects: into virtual declaration of a full death in 1980-81, the parallel Declaration have aggravated the one of the strengths of the Catholic retreat. electoral breakthrough with suspicion that Britain has no long- community has been the leadership Reunification under Irish the Irish voters in the OZ, and term interest in maintaining the provided by a monolithic church. majority rule and ending the the simultaneous beginnings Union. In this context, Prince In this, as in many other fields, Charles’s apparent indifference to one has a sense that people in the despised Partition will not be of IRA guerrilla-war supremacy the Williamite settlement, which Shankill are looking half enviously, completely conceded yet, but over its RUC, British Army, MI5 Orange marches commemorate, is half angrily at how the Catholic London’s ungracious and be- and Special Branch opponents, - simply another example of how far community has emerged, appar- grudging acceptance of the IRA’s eventually able to bomb Britain even the Royal Family has drifted ently stronger from the experience ceasefire terms plainly confirms itself almost at will, and on from loyal Protestant Ulster. of the past 25 years. There is the how it is the Irish guerrilla war two occasions, at Brighton and The economic decline of indus- suspicion, for example, that ‘the which has proved unbeatable, Downing Street, nearly wiping trial Belfast has fallen particularly Catholics have all the best poets, the and how international public out the entire British Cabinet. hard on the Shankill Road. Workers best musicians, the best writers’. opinion has forced the world At the same time, Sinn Féin’s employed in places such as the The problem extends beyond Harland and Wolff shipyard were cultural identity. The flight of the monopoly bourgeoisie to tell political spokesmen and strate- overwhelmingly — and unapolo- Protestant middle classes from poli- London to quit. gies became increasingly adept getically — Protestant. If you were tics, the perception that many ap- The longterm crisis of the at outmanoeuvring British a teenager in the Shankill 25 years pear to be ashamed of their roots, British imperialist system imperialist decadence and the ago you had automatic access to a adds to the sense of many in the (and of imperialism in general) time-warped Orange colonists. job. Now Harland and Wolff, which Shankill that they have been aban- meant that the colonial oc- The international imperialist- employed 20,000 in its heyday, has doned by those who should be pro- cupation of parts of Ulster had system allies of Britain’s ruling fewer than 2,000 workers. Mackie’s, viding leadership and solidarity. ceased to have any confident class in Washington and the the engineering works, had 7,500 These include a perfidious British ring of truth about it whatso- Common Market capitals have on the payroll at the start of the Government intent on pushing Troubles. It now employs fewer than them into a united Ireland, the ter- ever. steadily grown more impatient 200. Unemployment is 25 per cent ritorial threat from Dublin and the The Occupied Zone (OZ) on for London to finally do some- in the Shankill area, comparable to violence of the IRA. bits of six counties of Ireland thing to resolve the endless sore Catholic West Belfast. was a strategic anachronism, an of having to brutally repress an To Protestants, who believed they [..]Philistine stupidity not only impossible-to-justify colo- unbeatable national-liberation were entitled to jobs and who de- rules but gets worse. The bour- nial legacy, and an increasing struggle. fined themselves by the work ethic, geoisie is losing its grip entirely. economic liability as Britain’s In the trade-war crisis now the effect has been devastating. May Build Leninism. formerly triumphant imperial- preoccupying the Western pow- Blood, a veteran trade unionist, Joe Harper ist trade-war positions went ers, the former allies and now ri- into steep and irreversible vals of Britain will not be averse Ireland colonialist ‘civil war’ threat decline following the traumatic to taking advantage of London’s 22 [EPSR No 766 30-08-94] experience for Britain of its lost paralysed plight. prestige and colonies during and The Major government is The fascist threat by British ‘civil war’ if the IRA announces a after World War II. clearly unhappy at the pressures colonial die-hards in the Occu- ceasefire will be the worst night- The paralysed decadence of from Washington and Dublin to pied Zone of Ireland to inflict mare come true for the British the Orange-colonial commu- now speed up the peace-negoti- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 ation process, scarcely hiding its there will be no return to the ably to spell out a profound transitional phenomenon of the dismay at the speed with which bastard Orange-fascist statelet and despairing confusion on 20th century. invitations are now going out set up by the 1921 Partition the British side, knowing that The final result of the relent- to Sinn Féin and IRA leaders to tyranny. things were going wrong but less economic decline of British parade as triumphant interna- The sick fiction of ‘Northern unable quite to admit to itself imperialism (and the entire tional statesmen. Ireland’ will not disappear over- exactly what it was. imperialist system) must be But the London attempts to night but neither will it ever be At a more primitive level, proletarian socialist revolu- cover up its humiliation by in- revived as an artificial colonial the sad acts of sectarian terror tion. Whatever economic, social sisting that more of a surrender enclave dominated by a built-in perpetrated on Catholics since and political arrangements tone should be read into the gerrymandered British-bigot the ceasefire by Orange-fascist are tacked together for the Six IRA’s ceasefire announcement ‘majority’. gangsters incapable of reorient- Counties (the occupied zone of are going to be swept aside and No announcement can yet ing to the loss of colonial domi- Ireland’s nine-county province ignored. be made that the infamous nation, tell even more plainly of Ulster), either temporarily or The British establishment are Orange-colonists ‘veto’ over of a community in turmoil and in the slightly longer term, the just making fools of themselves any dismantling of Britain’s scared to even contemplate bourgeois-nationalist compro- even more by trying to delay imperialist gains in Ireland has what is happening to it. mise deal can provide no lasting things until the word ‘perma- been at last torn up and all the At the same time, the imme- solution. nent’ is added to the ceasefire ‘No Surrender’ posturing aban- diately more animated response The incurable collapse of proposals. doned as a silly historical relic. from Sinn Féin and its support- British imperialist know-how It is clearly just the flimsiest Truculent feelings among the ers to the ceasefire agreement and the paralysed degenera- of pointless gimmicks to try more fascist-chauvinist minded indicated in whose favour the tion of its local Orange-colonist to prevent the more hardline of the colonist community are new understandings were being ruling class is a feature of a Orange-colonist reactionaries still too sore to make it sensible reached. much broader crisis of capital- from denouncing Major & Co to risk too openly provocative For appearance’s sake London ism itself, and deep structural totally as selling out ‘Northern a challenge to the Orangemen’s will continue to drag its feet on changes in bourgeois society Ireland’. past glories. giving any recognition at all to will continue to operate, what- But the colonial game is up But the signs are unmistak- the triumphant positions won ever new class-collaborationist and it seems that the bigger able that the main British for furthering the national-lib- regime is installed. bourgeoisie around Molyneaux ruling-class establishment in eration of the whole of Ireland But the sneering ‘left’ criti- might have finally reluctantly the economic, political, military, by the achievements of Sinn cism of whatever arrangements accepted this, – in return for and civil service fields now all Féin and the IRA. Sinn Féin has entered into (with some further economic and accept the worldwide pressures But the rest of the imperialist Washington, Dublin, Lon- social guarantees for their per- for finally winding up a hopeless camp which has so influenced don, and other sections of the sonal futures from the recent cause. London’s final climb-down has Occupied-Zone middle class) as flurry of international talks And although nothing drastic no such inhibitions. An immedi- a ‘sell-out’, – is hopelessly wide involving Dublin, Washington, will be done to reduce the Or- ate flood of Sinn Féin initiatives of the mark. and the Common market. ange bourgeois-colonial status and influential international The national-liberation strug- American and EEC investment immediately, all the evidence summitry has been announced, gle by Sinn Féin and the IRA has aid, plus new joint enterprise continues to point to a new only confirming who has really always been a bourgeois-nation- prospects with all-Ireland retreat by the ruling class in won the peace in Ireland. alist movement. institutions, look like being Britain from its age-old imperi- Adams & Co will be justly But as the Bulletin has con- the hoped-for way of giving the alist stance towards Ireland. celebrated, having achieved sistently explained from the whole war-torn north east of The national-liberation strug- such a miraculous national-lib- start, this became the main Ireland a new deal so that the gle’s ‘ceasefire’ offer came after eration triumph with such tiny anti-imperialist fight, – and still-unresolved details of what a fortnight’s intensive lobbying resources and against all the a serious one with enormous precise new constitutional ar- by a delegation from the Clinton odds in terms of the far more international implications. rangements will prove accept- presidency and the powerful powerful civil-war foe it took on It is farcical wishful thinking able to all parties, can have time Irish-extraction economic and in the Orange community, the by fake-’lefts’ such as Berna- to become less of an explosive political lobby in the USA, led by infinitely more powerful impe- dette Devlin-McAliskey to mut- issue. Bruce Morrison. rialist opponent it got the better ter that ‘the war is now over and But despite all of the continu- As a result of further pres- of in guerrilla war, and the the good guys lost’ just because ing confusion and the sick pos- sures and bargaining with Lon- seemingly hopelessly impossible the useless petty-bourgeois sec- turing from every aspect of the don, Dublin, and all the political urban terrain on which to try to tarianism of her Trotskyite cir- now terminally wounded colo- tendencies in the Occupied Zone fight this guerrilla war. cles failed to capture a leading nial inheritance, – from London, (OZ), the IRA finally felt confi- But the real explanation of all role for their wholly academic from sectarian Unionism, from dent enough to announce a halt the recent immediate goings- bogus ‘Marxism’. the lumpen fascist ‘No surren- to military operations forthwith on in the Ireland question are The political and guerrilla- der’ gangs, etc, – what appears to make way for a new period still only a fraction of the truly war successes of IRA/Sinn Féin obvious is that the old order has and stage of campaigning. historic story which is gradually cannot be ignored in any serious been fatally undermined. What final concessions were unfolding. Marxist-Leninist scientific ap- Britain’s imperialist dictator- made to the national-liberation Whatever secret deals are praisal of the movement of all ship in Ireland is finally over struggle is not clear but it seems eventually revealed, and class-war forces in their totality, after 800 years of savage repres- obvious from all the subsequent whatever the final details of the – the only possible starting out sion and heroic resistance. posturing that it was the British changes in Ireland, the whole point for the very ABC of Marx- Agreement has obviously imperialist side which most felt process can only be understood ism. been reached that no new at- in need of more bluffing to cover in terms of historic shifts in the Imperialism has once again tempts will ever be made again a further embarrassing retreat. international balance of class taken on the anti-colonial to establish exclusive British The empty huffing and puffing forces. movement and once again sovereignty over any part of about the IRA’s failure to declare The world role of the British imperialism has been beaten, Ireland. their ceasefire to be ‘permanent’ imperialist bourgeoisie (and – in spite of the more difficult Never again will any Irish looked like a telltale sign that of the imperialist system in conditions imposed on the anywhere in all 32 counties have London was desperately playing general) has long been a slowly anti-imperialist struggle (as to live under anything but Irish with its fingers to hide some dying one. seen in Cuba’s renewed sabotage citizenship. guilt or shame. Britain’s continued colonial problems, eg.) by the appalling Exactly what authority over The bankrupt furore and control of the north-east corner self-liquidation by the Moscow the six-county Occupied Zone tortuous cover up later on about of Ireland was always doomed revisionist bureaucracy. 23 of Ulster will be established to the first new repatriations of to ultimate humiliating defeat This further setback to the replace British sovereignty has hardline IRA prisoners-of-war by the strength of national- British ruling class could be not been worked out yet, but seemed even more unmistak- liberation struggle, a great incalculable; and for the world EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 imperialist bourgeoisie as a anti-imperialist revolution. And whole, another terrifying exam- then all ‘really good people of ple has been set of how armed conscience’ such as the Devlins revolutionary struggle (albeit and Foots of this world consider bourgeois-nationalist struggle) themselves to be, could then has triumphed over every sav- indulge themselves in truly age repression and vilification uninhibited and unworried that the ‘all-powerful’ imperi- triumph-mongering around alist military and propaganda such a ‘guaranteed success’. monopolies could throw at it. But only in never-never land. These are lessons of infinite In the real world, anti-imperial- importance for the world’s ist struggles of true significance masses in a historical period can take place in an endless va- of unprecedented ideological riety of circumstances. Marx- confusion. ism-Leninism has never hidden The fake-’lefts’ snigger its awareness of the chronic lim- because their incorrigible anti- itations of bourgeois-nationalist communism and anti-Sovietism fights for independence such as (hatred of the dictatorship of that of Irish Republicans going the proletariat) has marooned way back into the 19th century. them as the most confused and But it has also never failed to defeatist elements of all. Their give the correct enthusiastic analysis of the world has got welcome to such blows as have everything wrong, from the been struck against imperialism class character of the East Eu- by such ‘freedom fighters’ (see ropean workers states and the ILWP Books vol 8 & 15 Ireland ). precise obstacles to world so- Lenin, for example, revelled in The guerrilla-war conflict brain around the simple fact cialism created by bureaucratic the clattering setback to British was the worst of all possible that its continued colonisation revisionism, to the significance imperialism that was created by scenarios from that point of of part of Ireland was now hope- for the anti-imperialist epoch of the 1916 Easter Rising (hope- view. The pain, anger, and lessly out of date and no longer such national-liberation strug- lessly flawed from a Marxist tac- humiliated suffering of an army, economically or politically gles as those in Ireland, South tical point of view, and in terms which could not win, and that (or even militarily) sustain- Africa, Nicaragua, etc. of its class content and perspec- of its family and friends back able in the last decades of the The sectarian subjective- tives) by the very middle-class home, was as intense as in any 20th century following several idealism of these ‘left’ groups Fenians led by Pearse. war. Yet the war itself was not generations of relentless British is, comically, the very essence of The assessment of British one which could ever result in imperialist decline. bourgeois-imperialist philoso- imperialism’s 1994 setback at the total shameful defeat of that It will not be long before phy, of course. the hands of the Irish national- army so that feelings of revolt London’s Ireland policy for the The simplistic pattern is to re- liberation struggle needs to be against the ruling class (which last quarter of a century will be main in wishful thinking ivory made free from the farcically sent it there on an impossible seen to have been one of the last towers on the fringes of every distorting lens of chronically- mission and without the proper great monumental follies of a real anti-imperialist struggle on sick individualist Trotskyite equipment or support to do the self-deluding dying colonial era earth and to just carp at the way thinking (permanent anti- job, – the universal revolution- which finally totally corrupted it is being ‘mishandled’, deliber- Leninism masquerading as ary outcome of World War I,) – and degenerated the brains of ately refusing to mobilise work- Marxism – see ILWP Books vols could develop. the ruling class which was sup- ers in unconditional solidarity 3, 4, & 5). The non-stop repressive war posed to be wisely ruling over it. with those under imperialist One immediate practical against the undefeatable nation- The lesson of history is that attack. advantage of enormous impor- al-liberation struggle could only this ruling class will have to Thus Devlin spits contemptu- tance will be the winding up of mean that anti-Irish hatred, – be overthrown. It will not get ously at the Irish national-lib- such a longstanding source of and the potential for permanent better by itself, and it will never eration struggle’s advance: “I’m such foul chauvinistic bitterness fascist divisions weakening the give up or admit that it is now not against the ceasefire, I’m infecting the British working working class in Britain from completely useless and an em- just against dirty dealing. But class. finally seeing imperialism as barrassment to mankind. this isn’t my game. It’s a dirty There will still remain plenty its enemy too, and fighting it, – Even now as the full shame- dishonest game.” of other racist issues on which would continue indefinitely. ful stupidity of past British At the same time, her fascism can feed to pollute Now that the “defensive war stubbornness over the issue Trotskyite co-thinkers at the workers minds, but it will help against evil Irish terrorism” is of Ireland’s final complete anti-communist Socialist Worker greatly in the fight against reac- over and done with, it could be independence is becoming clear, have just snarled out at the tionary British nationalism if an possible to very quickly elimi- the sclerotic London political es- height of the US imperialist actual war is not taking place in nate the race-hate consequences tablishment (all parties) cannot onslaught on the Cuban workers which British troops are getting of that conflict, – and even be avoid making further humiliat- state: killed by ‘foreigners’. possible to let British workers ing idiots of themselves by con- Cuba is not a democracy. Its rulers’ claims to Racist hatred of the Irish has see finally what a criminally tinuing vainly to try to bolt the be socialist are a cynical lie. bedevilled the understanding of unfair and unjustified nonsense stable door long after the horse The US has stepped up its economic war, British workers for more than a and the result is savage economic crisis. that whole 25-year struggle to has run off, – still trying at this The government has responded by intro- century, – as Marx and Engels hang on by British imperialism late stage to claim that they ducing rationing while allowing those with famously noted in declaring “No was in the end, – a completely were right to treat Adams & Co US dollars—the rich and the state bureau- nation which enslaves another pointless waste of life and as “petty murderous criminals” crats— to buy in special shops. can itself be free”. needless destruction of a whole in the past, and that they should This has widened the gulf between rich All the time that the Irish region of Ireland, not to men- still be treated as such in the fu- and poor and stoked growing bitterness sore festered, every new genera- among the mass of people. tion the futile fear, death, dam- ture, – at a time when the rest of This is what lies behind recent riots in the tion of British proletarians was age and disruption sustained by the world is beginning properly Cuban capital. Havana, and it is fuelling the bound to be poisoned with anti- Britain itself. to regard the Sinn Féin and IRA exodus of refugees. Irish hatred to some extent, What was the terrible conflict leaders as triumphant national- All these fence-sitting, cyni- sowing divisions in the working all for in the end? Nothing liberation statesmen. 24 cally defeatist outlooks rest on class in Britain and making the except to save the blushes of For what else is this nonsense just one breathtakingly childish justice of the Irish situation im- the degenerate British imperial- all about of vainly trying to notion, – that somewhere some possible to see because of “our ist ruling class which felt too persuade Washington to not day, there will be the perfect boys being killed there”, etc, etc. humiliated and proud to get its give travel visas to Adams, EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 McGuinness, Cahill, etc (when from the start, disagreeing pro- Armagh gaol, – has helped spark off years of growing disquiet among the clearly it is going to happen, as foundly with everyone else. the biggest demonstrations ever seen imperialist NATO allies, - as their inter- it has already happened despite The essence of the disagree- against continued British rule of the national position worsened because of London’s objections), – and ments has been the differing occupied north of Ireland. growing economic crisis, – that the he- estimates and characterisation Despite the constant threat of roic Irish national liberation struggle ridiculously continuing to try rightwing terror reprisals from the sick against the brutal savagery and torture banning Adams from being of the strength and role of Brit- fascist minds of the ‘loyalist’ fanatics of the ultra-right police-military re- heard and admired in Britain by ish imperialism, the nature of or the professional killers of the British gime in the occupied north of Ireland such farcical tricks as keeping its Irish colony, the potential of army’s secret counter-revolutionary was an embarrassment they could no on with the ‘actors voices’ hav- the class forces involved in the arm, the SAS, – nearly 50,000 repub- longer afford. ing to mouth all Sinn Féin and struggles there, and the influ- licans marched through Belfast at the Assassination of leading Republican IRA statements to emphasise ence on all of this of the inter- weekend, out of a population in the activists by the secret SAS army mur- the ‘evil’ of the original sources, national crisis of the capitalist city of little more than four times that. der squads, the extraction of false ‘con- and by preventing Adams from system. (It is the equivalent, in terns of the fessions’ under torture at the hands Only the ILWP has insisted population of London, for example, of of the fascist-minded RUC and army addressing the coming Labour a street demonstration by no less than ‘interrogators’, the ‘conviction’ of Re- Party conference. that the epoch of incurable 2 million workers down Oxford Street). publicans at the fraudulent no-jury Very handily, the juvenile imperialist crisis was continu- Despite all the frenetic propaganda drumhead ‘courts’, and their incarcera- idiot Blair now in charge of ing, and only the ILWP pointed lies of the British military dictatorship tion in Long Kesh concentration camp the Labour Party has instantly out that British imperialism was and the collaborationist bourgeoisie in – and all in the name of British capi- confirmed the total bankruptcy steadily losing the struggle in the north of Ireland (and many in the talist ruling class domination over a of all British middle-class par- Ireland, even when Sinn Féin South, too), the republican movement slump-ridden colony with more than liamentary politics (all incur- itself was full of defeatist pessi- is just the opposite of ‘dying’, and ‘los- 16% unemployment, – all of this was a ably corrupted by past imperial- mism declaring that the hunger ing support fast’. million tines worse than even the wild- strikes were less than the On the contrary, the IRA, – in the est anti-Soviet propaganda lies the CIA ism) by backing the Tory ban on absence of a revolutionary socialist al- could spread about what was supposed Adams and by continuing to put resounding victory over British ternative, – is currently carrying more to be happening in the Afghan revolu- up with the futile censorship of imperialism that they eventu- of the nationalist and socialist aspira- tion to wipe out backward tribalism, Sinn Féin and the IRA. ally proved to be, and later tions of the Irish masses than ever feudalism, banditry, drug addiction, There is no cure for this cre- declaring that the Anglo-Irish before. and religious stupor. tinous arse-end of the decrepit Treaty of 1985, the first obvious In spite of its incorrect terrorist The approaching martyrdom at parliamentary pantomime admission by British imperi- methods against non-military tar- about Christmas time through death horse either. The whole rotten alism that it was on the way gets, the IRA’s legitimate fight against by starvation of the hunger strikers in capitalist-imperialist game towards total withdrawal from British army occupation and the local Long Kesh concentration camp was a Orange order capitalist dictatorship is prospect which the hard-pressed ma- is out of date. Only Marxist- Ireland (see ILWP Books vol 8 & winning enough support among the nipulators of imperialism’s worldwide Leninist scientific understand- 15 Ireland), was in fact a ruthless republican masses to make its long- anti-communist crusade could not ing can now provide leadership strengthening of British imperi- promised ‘wiping out’ by the military, cope with. to take civilisation forward. alist control and intransigence, the RUC, and the loyalist gangsters an The British ruling class has been told Adams & Co are not quite it, as and a further setback to the impossible task. So just as in Egypt, to do something about the disastrous will quickly be demonstrated as national-liberation cause (when Cyprus, Aden, and other colonies be- advertisement for the ‘democratic’ the class-compromise national- it was in fact an important mile- fore it, the Irish struggle for independ- capitalist system that the continuing liberation deals go ahead but stone towards Britain’s eventual ence, however brutally repressed, is tragedy of the occupied north of Ire- fail to grasp (as has happened total retreat). proving impossible to defeat. land represents. The military occupation can kick Hence the hush-hush Thatcher, Car- in South Africa, for example) The Bulletin has always tried down as many doors in the early hours rington, Howe and Atkins talks with that the only real way ahead to provide a full record of the of the morning as it likes, murder as Haughey and the Green Tories in Dub- is through planned socialism evidence demonstrating this many innocent people as it likes, false- lin. under working class rule. continued crisis for the impe- ly convict them at drumhead courts It was an unprecedentedly powerful But it is obviously of enor- rialist system (on this and on and detain them by the thousand in delegation to send on a ‘routine’ meet- mous significance that Adams, every other subject) and will concentration camps, but the Irish ing on Anglo-Irish affairs. The presence Morrison, McGuinness & Co all continue to do so now, in this national liberation struggle will go on. of the Foreign Secretary, the Chancel- trained in Marxism-Leninism and subsequent articles. The endless propaganda lies about the lor, the north of Ireland political supre- during the 1970s period when As well as showing the British occupation, the torture and the mo Atkins, and the Prime Minister all other barbaric illegalities of the decay- at once shows how difficult and crucial many of them were held without evidence for the Bulletin’s ing imperialist regime, the lopsided were the matters in hand. trial in the internment concen- Marxist-Leninist conclusions, it attempts to prop up the bankrupt capi- The total refusal by Thatcher in Par- tration camps, thus producing is also appropriate to recall how talist economy, - all of this is marking liament subsequently to say a single the brightest new generation of this understanding developed the terminal crisis of the British ruling word about what went on in Dublin leaders that the national-liber- historically. Not every aspect class rather than the ‘eliminating’ of proves how serious the situation is. ation struggle had had in a long of the Bulletin’s struggle to the IRA. All talk of the new ‘initiatives’ that time. The same could be said analyse events has been correct The new surge in the mass move- the Tories routinely tried like all new about the triumphant ANC-SACP of course. But the main thrust ment of resistance, signalled by the governments before them, – in fact national-liberation leaders in of the ILWP’s understanding has hunger strikers and their huge sup- just a surface tinkering with the issues South Africa, e.g., – and in just port marches in every part of Ireland, without any real intention to change been proved uniquely on target, brings the fresh intrigues and ‘initia- anything, – all such bromide waffle has about every other anti-colonial as will be demonstrated in sub- tives’ of the new Tory Government to been dropped. struggle too, – all trained in sequent weeks. a complete halt. The rumours now are of genuine sympathy (sadly all too vague For the moment, some very It could mark the beginning of the measures to try to get the British rul- and shallow) with Leninism to early comments from 1980 end of British domination of Ireland ing class off the hook. the extent that the remnants of in the first 15 months of the for all time.” That is the reason for the real alarm among the ‘loyalist’ bigots who run the Lenin’s Third International still Bulletin’s existence, can serve December 4, 1980 (Bulletin 66) understood what the scientific to show the purpose of an north. essence of Leninism was. attempted Leninist analysis, There is even talk of a rival hunger- The Bulletin has always “The British ruling class is coming un- strike by UDA fascist thugs, also gaoled characterising all the class in Long Kesh, to whip up again the re- accepted that any claims to forces involved and examining der overwhelming international fire to do something to end the festering sore actionary ‘colonial settler’ spirit of the Marxist-Leninist understand- in which direction the entire original Scottish and English colonisa- ing by anyone could only finally of its military occupation of the north scene was developing, – knowl- of Ireland. tion of Ulster to declare ‘No Surrender’ be proved by seeing how any edge of which in any situation is In the recent debate in the American again, this time to their Westminster attempted analysis of the the only secure basis for a sound Congress, little publicised in Britain for protectors, probably going all the way international balance of class revolutionary understanding obvious reasons, speaker after speaker to UDI, a unilateral declaration of in- forces matched up to the actual and movement to develop: – solid bourgeois from left, right and dependence on the Ian Smith lines developments in the world’s centre of the US ruling class – rose to in Rhodesia, – and doomed to just as 25 “The Irish republican hunger strikers’ certain a failure. How quickly would struggles. ‘fast unto death’, – the seven men in denounce Britain’s involvement and the catastrophic muddle over relin- depend on how greatly the imperial- The ILWP has pursued its own Long Kesh concentration camp now ist NATO powers wanted to present distinctive analysis of Ireland being joined by three women held in quishing its last colony. This was only the culmination of ‘clean hands’, – free of the stain (of EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 sanctions-busting) which tainted them lives up to its responsibilities in in these. this statement represents a crucial throughout the inevitable slow death cracking down on the collusion It is understood Mr Adams has consensus. In conclusion, we said: of the Smith regime.” that exists between the RUC and loy- been assured that a visa of greater “In any new situation there is a alist extremists.” flexibility and duration than the 48- December 11,1980 (Bulletin 67) heavy onus on the British Govern- hour one granted him in February The Irish lobby in the United States ment to respond positively, both will allow him to travel widely in has already shown its influence the USA. This is almost certainly due in terms of the demilitarisation in the negotiations that led to the The latest evidence from the to President Clinton’s intervention. of the situation, and in assisting ceasefire. Irish-American opin- best source possible, the capital- In February, the Government the search for an agreed Ireland ion now considers that visits to ist press’s own admissions, strongly opposed the granting of by encouraging: the process of Ireland by ex-congressman Bruce continue to back up the perspec- the visa for Mr Adams to visit New Morrison, the political ally and national reconciliation. It is our York, but this was overruled by tives begun in those early Bulle- friend from Yale University law informed opinion that the peace the Clinton administration. Last tins and developed successfully school days of President Clinton, process remains firmly on course. night Downing Street said it had in more than 700 subsequent were effectively that of a special We are, indeed, optimistic that no knowledge of the visa being weekly publications. presidential envoy. He has made the situation can be moved tangi- granted. Ultimately, it was the damage three visits in the past 12 months, Meanwhile, Albert Reynolds, the bly forward.” meeting Sinn Féin and Unionist to British imperialist prestige Irish Taioseach, said this weekend That evening, the Taoiseach, leaders, the Irish government and and economic interests which that he persuaded President Clinton Albert Reynolds, issued a compre- Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Secretary brought a whole raft of influ- to waive US immigration rules and hensive statement. of State for Northern Ireland. ences together to force London allow Mr Adams’s last visit. He said On Monday, I disclosed that I to accept defeat in its pointless In an RTE Radio discussion yester- that when “the chips were down” had provided another assessment damaging war against the Irish day the Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds earlier this year he told President of the developing situation to the national liberation struggle: was at pains to emphasise the in- Clinton that a visa would strengthen IRA leadership, at its request. This fluence of Irish-Americans over the Mr Adams’s hand within the repub- assessment updated the one I had YESTERDAY’S historic IRA cease- IRA. He said the last-minute deci- lican movement. “It enhanced his fire will be as welcome in the City sion to grant visas to the former IRA stature and gave him the strength provided a month ago in the run- as in the Falls Road. After all, it was leader Joe Cahill and a Sinn Féin to go back and make the argument up to the Sinn Féin conference in at the Guildhall last November that councillor were so important that stronger.” Letterkenny. All of this preceded John Major launched his peace ini- there would have been no ceasefire Although British officials last yesterday’s IRA announcement, tiative. Two successful IRA bomb- announcement had it not occurred. night insisted that Mr Clinton and comes after years of very ing attacks in the City had shaken Britain advised against the visa be- had made no direct appeals to Mr careful management by Sinn Féin London’s financial community and ing granted. Major for any humanitarian ges- they needed reassurance. of our peace strategy. Mr Morrison last night confirmed ture as a signal of goodwill to the There is an onerous responsibil- Apart from worries over security the importance of the Cahill visa. IRA, White House sources told the ity — some may say there always within the Square Mile, there was But the US Government had resisted Guardian: “There were recommen- the sharp rise in insurance pre- British pressure for the second time dations made by the President.” The has been — on everyone with miums — and more tellingly the this year and shown Sinn Féin that it President had “gently prodded”’ Mr influence to seize new opportu- threat that some key international was committed to helping them find Major to transfer some IRA prison- nities to move the situation on. financial institutions, especially the a way out of the conflict. Britain’s re- ers back to Northern Ireland from Irish republicans have shown a Japanese, were considering using sistance to the Cahill visa showed British jails, NSC sources said. willingness and a flexibility to look Dublin, Luxembourg or Frankfurt the loathing with which it viewed Other White House officials have forward. This must be matched by as the base of the operations. the respectability which the United made it clear that the US also wants London’s future as an international a willingness by others to move States was preparing to grant prom- an end to the broadcasting ban on forward. Within Britain, champi- financial centre, an annual subven- inent IRA figures whom London has Sinn Féin. tion to Northern Ireland climbing worked so hard to demonise, in- ons of freedom and justice have to £4 billion and a troops commit- formed sources said. For the record, the Gerry Adams played a commendable role over ment that weakened Britain’s capac- The leading Irish-Americans in- and IRA statements were as the decades in promoting the ity to undertake Great Power obliga- volved in the peace talks along follows: cause of peace in Ireland. Others tions were beginning to concentrate with Mr Morrison also include a TWO phrases describe the situ- must now join them. The onus is London’s minds wonderfully. Tipperary-born journalist, Niall ation here as I write this. One is on London. The ceasefire opens the way to O’Dowd, two officials from the AFL- So what must be done if a peace a reduction in London’s security CIO umbrella trade union movement the old cliché, “a week is a long commitment, but the real public ex- time in politics.” The other is an settlement is to be built? I am (the equivalent of the British TUC) an Irish republican, I believe that penditure savings will only come and two prominent businessmen. opening line from Bobby Sands’s if Northern Ireland’s economy can The group represents the sophis- diary of his hunger strike, when the Irish people have the will, the be weaned from its dependence on ticated new face of Irish-America, a he wrote: “I am standing on the intelligence and the right to govern public spending and generate some far cry from the stereotypical image threshold of another trembling ourselves. I believe that the British sustainable economic activity. of media accounts. Government is the root cause More trade with the Republic will world.” I presume there is some The businessmen of the group in- sense of this throughout Britain. of the conflict in this country. be an important stimulus, and the cluded William Flynn, 67, chairman I am referring to the current I believe that this Government much touted Dublin/ Belfast growth of Mutual of America, an assur- has no right to interfere in Irish corridor could really take wing. On ance group with $6bn in assets, and frenzy of speculation about what the other hand, Northern Ireland’s is to happen now after the IRA affairs. I understand the fears and Charles “Chuck” Feeney, chairman anxieties of Unionists. I have a economy has disintegrated so far, of General Atlantic Corporation and cessation of violence. There is an and so many have a vested interest a frequent visitor to London. They urgent need to ensure that this view of the British Government’s in the racketeering on both sides of have been persuasive in getting the new situation is not squandered. responsibility for this situation, the sectarian divide that returning Clinton administration to prepare Last week, Sinn Féin invited a and of the need for London to play the province to economic normal- an ambitious reconstruction pro- a constructive role in resolving ity will be a long drawn-out affair. US delegation to meet with us, to gramme for Northern Ireland pend- discuss the role of Irish America these difficulties. After all Glasgow, Liverpool and ing a peaceful settlement. The pro- and the US in the evolving peace If the peace process is to suc- Newcastle — British cities compa- gramme could reach between $150m ceed, then the British Government rable with Belfast — have troubles and $200m and is modelled on the process. The delegation led by enough without Belfast’s history. Bruce Morrison represented an must be moved to set aside the assistance programme for South failures of the past. There must The mainland’s subvention looks Africa’s transition to democratic important and typical section of like continuing. rule. US opinion. The meeting, one of be a new beginning. Tory party At present the United States a series of protracted discussions, political considerations, leadership And it is the weakened position problems at Westminster or pacts of British imperialism relative spends $19m a year through the was an important and positive Ireland fund and this is expected to with the Unionists should not be to its competitor-’allies’ which one. be trebled to $60m. On Sunday I met again with allowed to prevent the creation of has made world opinion about In addition, New York City’s an inclusive and peaceful society Irish independence irresistible: comptroller Alan Hevesi is draw- SDLP Leader, John Hume. This also was a good meeting, during in Ireland. Mr Major must take “There will be an international ing up plans for so-called “Ireland which we recommitted ourselves immediate measures to end the 26 outcry if loyalist paramilitaries peace bonds” to be underwritten deadlock by creating a proper continue killing,” one well-placed by the London and Dublin govern- to the peace process. Afterwards, ments. Cities and municipalities he and I issued a joint statement. climate for inclusive and meaning- American source said yesterday. ful negotiation. “And the world is now watching with large Irish ethnic communities As representatives of nationalist to see that the British Government are expected to invest pension funds opinion in the north of Ireland, The whole approach of the Brit- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 ish Government to the question knowing only its own class pain calmly stating that they understood weekend, with the Mail on Sunday of negotiations with Sinn Féin is and confusion and seeing little that the prison policy was laid down splashing on Baroness Thatcher’s totally unacceptable, and requires more: some time ago. It was unfortunate outrage (since denied) and the timing, but it did not suggest the News of the World’s Woodrow Wyatt to be changed drastically. And DID the IRA declare peace or war? rhetoric will not be enough. There government had done a deal with spluttering at the idiots “ ” respon- It was difficult to tell from the me- the IRA. sible. Brian Hitchen’s first column must be fundamental political and dia’s response which was at best, Next morning the press launched since becoming editor of the Sunday constitutional change. But this is grudging and, at worst, contemp- into an orgy of condemnation. Express argued that the prisoners not an occasion for me to deni- tuous. Even the allegedly objective “Madness” (the Sun); “a disaster” should have been sent home in cof- grate the London Government broadcasters were guilty from the (Today); “crass decision” (Mail) and fins. for its policy towards Ireland, or moment the story broke of pursu- so on. The row bubbled on over the Build Leninism. DB towards Sinn Féin, or those we ing an angle which set the day’s represent. political agenda for Unionists and rightwing Conservatives. And despite the threatening In both news and current affairs knee-jerk reaction of the Union- programmes, on television and ra- ists to the current developments, dio, there was a single-minded con- this is not the time to be deroga- centration on the IRA statement’s use tory about them. It is a time to of the phrase “complete” cessation extend the hand of friendship, rather than permanent. Interviewers and to urge dialogue, and calm hammered away at this one aspect reflection. of the story to the virtual exclusion Anglo-Irish relationships have of any other. Given that the Irish government reached a decisive moment. I had accepted the statement’s un- call upon all to ensure that the derlying message, and that John process towards democracy is Major said he was “not hung up on rapid and uninterrupted. We have a particular word”, the broadcasting waited too long for our freedom. coverage went beyond scepticism, We can no longer wait. To relax which is an honourable journalis- ‘Free’ world sinks deeper into bottom- our efforts now would be a mis- tic enterprise, and tipped over into take which generations to come bias. less slump bog will not be able to forgive. Seize No wonder that by the time of BBC2’s Newsnight, after suffering se- [EPSR No 768 13-09-94] the moment, Mr Major! mantic arguments in a dozen earlier But the sick Goebbels propa- than a serious part of the politi- interviews, John Hume’s exaspera- ganda by the Guardian and cal future. tion showed through. The man who “Recognising the potential of the others about the 13th of March The Dublin train bombs, the had put his reputation on the line to tugboat provocation has not ostentatious camera poses of current situation and in order to broker an historic peace quoted dic- enhance the democratic process tionary definitions of “complete”. He dented Cuba’s revolutionary ‘defiant armed strength’, and and underlying our definitive com- asked wearily: “Is that good enough resolve. the continuing isolated slaugh- mitment to its success, the leader- for you?” The ex-Yugoslav workers- ter of innocent Catholics or ship of the IRA have decided that In fairness, it was Newsnight’s state Serbs likewise show little Irish because of their religion or as of midnight, August 31, there Jeremy Paxman, turning to the en- inclination to give in to Western race are nastier and potentially will be a complete cessation of raged Unionists in the studio, who ‘free market’ bullying without very serious, – but still do not military operations. All our units asked the day’s most pertinent ques- a fight, so much so that NATO is ring true. tion: don’t you understand how have been instructed accordingly. now publicly splitting over what Almost certainly, they lack odd it looks in Britain where peo- anti-socialist stunt to try next. credibility as a “counter-terror “At this historic crossroads the ple think a ceasefire is something leadership of the IRA salutes and to celebrate that all you do is moan But despite London’s sur- campaign to keep British commends our volunteers, other about it? This contrasted oddly with prisingly firm stand against sovereignty over the disputed activists, our supporters and the the moment on Radio 4’s Today pro- Washington on the Balkan territory” because such savagery political prisoners who have sus- gramme when one presenter, in de- question, on Ireland it contin- would lack much believable tained the struggle against all odds fiance of historical fact, stated that ues to back-pedal and give in to motivation or perspective. for the past 25 years. loyalist violence “is a function of IRA international pressure. Erstwhile unbeatable British “Your courage, determination v iolence”. Evidence continues to pile imperialist strength and ar- In general, the BBC, which is appar- and sacrifice have demonstrated up that secret agreements have rogance has been in irreversible ently indulging in an orgy of self- indeed been reached to wind up decline throughout the century. that the freedom and the desire congratulation about its “brilliant” for peace based on a just and last- coverage, has little to celebrate. It the British colonial nonsense World domination by a hand- ing settlement cannot be crushed. might reflect instead on whether called ‘Northern Ireland’. ful of imperialist powers is We remember all those who have it really did fulfil its mission to ex- The futile violence of the die- itself now rapidly collapsing as died for Irish freedom and we plain. Relentless goading of inter- hard Orange colonist response a workable and acceptable in- reiterate our commitment to our viewees does not help viewers or was predictable but it is also ternational system of relations republican objectives. listeners to understand. There was already showing signs of being between states and between “Our struggle has seen many a lack of historical and contextual ludicrously ineffective as well as classes. analysis, and a failure to offer the gains and advances made by hopelessly out of place. A rival ‘nationalist’ claim for kind of insights to be found in next The anti-Irish ‘loyalists’ these colonising ‘loyalists’ to set nationalists and for the demo- morning’s newspapers. cratic position. We believe that On Friday there was virtual una- who have effortlessly turned against the legitimate nation- an opportunity to secure a just nimity among press, radio and TV to fascist gangsterdom in the alist aspirations of the Irish and lasting settlement has been that the transfer of IRA prisoners UVF and UFF from having their Republicans makes no sense. created. from Britain to Northern Ireland imperialist dominance frus- The loyalty of these ‘unionists’ “We are therefore entering was a blunder of the first magnitude. trated, instinctively realise that is only to old-fashioned Union into a new situation in a spirit of Part of the reason was the under- destructive despair is all that is Jack arrogance which is now determination and confidence, standing that Major was “livid” and left to their rotten supremacist completely out of date on colo- had ordered an inquiry. His leaked determined that the injustices ideology. nial territory. “outburst” gave the media justifica- But it is so far not looking at These ‘loyalist’ gangs are still which created this conflict will tion to manufacture a story about a be removed and confident in the potentially uncontroversial move. all convincing, damaging, or there, – but with historical goals strength and justice of our strug- The fact that it was largely syn- threatening. now more than 50 years out of gle to achieve this. We note that thetic was proved by the discussion Paisley’s rumbustious walk- date, they can not be expected the Downing Street Declaration is on Radio 4’s The World Tonight. Robin out from 10 Downing Street was to do much more than simply not a solution.” Lustig, the presenter, endlessly a good laugh but not really very slowly fade away in sour incon- 27 prompted two Protestant spokes- frightening. There seems to be solable bitterness. The middle-class media of Brit- men, the Rev Roy Magee and David some spontaneous grasp that Gerry Adams has given just ish imperialism responded with Trimble, into criticising the transfer. these bigoted ‘unionists’ are a hint of how the snail’s pace typical petty-bourgeois venom, But they refused to be drawn, both more a theatrical museum-piece withdrawal by British imperial- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 ism from the Occupied Zone able. They would be acceptable British were able to ease Unionist embraces Adams for business- of Ireland is envisaged, – first within a framework, within a pro- outrage with their outright denial of like discussions on the changed burying for ever the idea of a cess which had a very clear policy involvement. future political shape of Ireland. British ‘Northern Ireland’ and objective. If a London government But London has had its own share The Bulletin has analysed this and a Dublin government agreed to of unpleasant chores. The covert then gradually reintegrating end British jurisdiction with what- links between British officials and extreme bourgeois sensitivity to those British who want to con- ever timescale was involved, and the IRA — an operation Dublin an- any suggestion of a revolution- tinue living in Ireland back into then in order to get over these dif- grily denied all knowledge of — ary guerrilla victory before, of a unitary Irish state as it used ficulties which you’ve identified in were an essential and dangerous course, as well as the middle- to be, but a fully sovereign and relation to the Unionists there had part of the process. class media’s self-deception independent Ireland: to be a number of interim measures So, too, were the repeated confron- in always claiming ‘imminent in between time, of course that’s to- tations with Ian Paisley, in which Mr SINN Féin president Gerry Adams defeat for the IRA’: tally different. Major was given the task of humili- is confident he will see a British ating, if not isolating, the rampaging After thousands more lives have been withdrawal from Northern Ireland But from the outset what you re- bull elephant of Ulster politics. lost; after further enormous destruc- within his lifetime, and envisages quire is a statement of intent to The teamwork has not been with- tion and disruption of livelihoods; a series of interim arrangements to withdraw? out genuine strains and anger. after being properly put in the dock assuage Unionist fears, leading in- No, that would have to be an end During the Anglo-Irish talks that internationally for its inhuman torture exorably to a united Ireland. result rather than a beginning. led to last December’s Downing of suspects, its barbaric SAS assassina- In his first interview with a British Street Declaration, a senior British tion squads, and its NAZI-style intern- newspaper since the IRA called an source privately lambasted Mr ment-without-trial in concentration end to its campaign, Mr Adams said And there is further circum- Reynolds for making ‘a bog’ of every camps, and its midnight terror raids on the Government must accept its re- stantial evidence that the stage stage in the process. Irish homes throughout the occupied sponsibility to become a persuader reached in British imperial- But another British source said zone; - after all this senseless mayhem, of the Unionist community that its ism’ s snail’s pace withdrawal last week that both sides kept well the ruling class is getting ready to pull future does not lie within the United from Ireland is confronting within the limits of the ‘tolerances’ out anyway, ignominiously defeated in Kingdom. the Orangemen with the truth on either side. its final rotten attempt to hang onto a Mr Adams said the issue of It was understood, he added, that corner of Ireland at least, - by hook or whether or not last week’s IRA state- that the colonial days are over, Mr Major and Mr Reynolds had dif- by crook. ment meant a permanent end to its – from this clearly officially ferent constituencies and concerns, The ruling class is most sensitive of campaign of violence should now be inspired disclosure leaked to although that did not stop the Irish all to it being thought that its mighty set aside in order to move towards the public via capitalism’s ‘free Prime Minister opening up contacts police-military dictatorship has been an inclusive negotiated settlement. press’ racket: with the loyalist paramilitaries, just forced out by a handful of IRA guer- Once all the parties were around the REPORTS of Dublin’s impatience as Mr Major had sanctioned indirect rillas, especially considering that the table, however, he conceded that the with London’s ‘foot-dragging’, and contact with the IRA. IRA is so politically handicapped by fundamental question of reconciling John Major’s irritation with the ‘eu- Last week Mr Reynolds dismissed its insane policy of anti-civilian terror the two competing claims of sover- phoria’ of Albert Reynolds in the a suggestion that his meeting with bombing. eignty was impossible. wake of the IRA ceasefire, are well Mr Adams might rupture the joint But the facts are that the Republican “I think they are irreconcilable. founded. approach, saying; ‘There is abso- movement’s heroic struggle against British policy has failed. You have But such reports have become part lutely no risk of a breakdown be- the police-military dictatorship, - the a British Government which has of a diplomatic process designed to tween the two Prime Ministers in enormous suffering and sacrifice that been moved to say it has no real reassure the two communities of this.’ the IRA and the nationalist working interest in being here. One has Northern Ireland that their interests When a similar question was put class have withstood, and the fanatical- to then set in place negotiations are being well protected. to Mr Major last Wednesday, he said: ly courageous fight by the Republican which take up these matters. I’m an The two Prime Ministers are act- ‘Everyone must make their own military wing against overwhelmingly Irish republican and I want to see ing as a pair of sheepdogs; working judgments about what pace to take superior odds of the British occupa- British jurisdiction ended and an instinctively and skilfully as a co-or- things. The Taoiseach and I have tion, - all this has won the sympathy of Irish jurisdiction begin.” dinated team to cajole and induce a worked very closely indeed over the the international working class. It has forced even the bourgeoisie in Do you think that will happen? peaceful coexistence. Well-informed past couple of years, and I do not sources argue that the two and their doubt for a single second his com- countries like the USA, the British rul- I’m certain of it, perhaps not in these officials are playing a clever game mitment to have a permanent end to ing class’s closest ally and support, to negotiations, but I think at the end of deception; reports of tension be- violence and to be able to move for- condemn the continued military oc- of this struggle I will certainly see tween London and Dublin are part ward satisfactorily.’ cupation. a united Ireland, if I am spared, in of the phoney war that precedes British Government sources said So the Guardian’s very long sour my lifetime. I think that by the mil- peace, it is also said. Mr Major and last week that the bond of trust grapes editorial this week beginning lennium we should be well on the Mr Reynolds have carved up their between the two men was strong “The ProvisionalIRA now has very little road to a situation where British ju- respective roles, enabling the British enough not to be broken by ‘the bur- going for it” was written because the risdiction has ended. Prime Minister to keep the main- den of history’. remarkable turnaround now in sight in stream Unionists sweet, while Mr British policy on Ireland has touched Everything that is known so far And a good part of all this on the rawest of raw nerves of the rul- about the British and Irish gov- Reynolds keeps Sinn Féin’s Gerry bluffing, – unnoticed by these Adams and the IRA on board. Thus, ing class, particularly the IRA’s part in ernments’ joint framework docu- spoon-fed Fleet Street stooges, forcing that turn-round. ment points to another internal Mr Major was able last week to keep his hands ‘clean’, while the Irish – is to fool British middle-class The one thing the bourgeoisie can- settlement in Northern Ireland. opinion that although the not stand, having staked its survival Would you accept this? Prime Minister held talks with Mr Adams and John Hume of Ulster’s ‘loyalists’ are having the wool on the illusions and tricks of “parlia- Mr Hume and myself have already nationalist Social Democratic and pulled over their eyes, so too are mentary democracy” and the “rule of said that an internal settlement is Labour Party. Sinn Féin. law” which it has hypocritically built up over the centuries of unchallenged not a solution. So are we expected That left British officials free to de- This deception makes it to believe that the nationalists in scribe the Dublin meeting as ‘pre- imperialist domination, is the example the six counties are going to acqui- possible to continue the petty of a relatively small group of dedicated mature’, while Irish officials were bourgeois ideological illusion esce in something we don’t want equally free to pour scorn on Mr revolutionary nationalists openly “de- being imposed on us? And is the Major’s adamant refusal to accept that there has been no victory fying” the Crown’s “law and order” and Dublin government going to acqui- that the IRA offer amounted to a per- for revolutionary national-liber- winning mass support for that inde- esce to that and is Irish America or manent end to violence. ation struggle, and no defeat for pendent stand, undermining British the US administration going to ac- The Irish counter-attack did not British imperialism. capitalist rule. quiesce to that when we have had mean Dublin did not understand But even in its own words, The British bourgeoisie fear that as 70 years of an internal settlement? British reticence. Irish officials know this Fleet Street leak gives no things start to get rougher in Great Britain due to the slump, and workers An internal settlement is not a solu- only too well that Britain’s atti- parity at all of both Sinn Féin tion. I’m not expecting the partition tude helps James Molyneaux main- begin to realise that the “parliamen- of Ireland to end overnight. Sinn and the ‘unionists’ being taken tary democracy” fraud is doing noth- tain the united front of his Ulster for a ride. The IRA are to be Féin will be seeking through nego- Unionist party. ing (about their suffering, permanent tiations to bring that about and that Similarly, when last year’s paving secretly negotiated with; Paisley mass unemployment, and falling liv- will take time. agreement was reached between Mr is to be openly humiliated. ing standards) but act as a bromide to divert anger from revolutionary So you might see a series of in- Adams and Mr Hume, British of- Molyneaux is fed meaningless 28 channels, – similar moves for political terim measures? ficials were able to say it had noth- drivel by Downing Street only to ing to do with them; they had not help him pretend to his commu- mobilisation independent of the ruling The policy objective will govern even seen the document. That ‘dirty nity that its interests are being class will begin in Britain. what interim measures are accept- But the degeneration of British capi- work’ was left to Dublin, and the protected; but Reynolds openly EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 talism proceeds rapidly and becomes back to historical progress that technological modernisation of intransigence? Because of Lon- more and more obvious whatever rot- the revisionist self-liquidation capitalism, on the other hand, don Tory stupidity, or shire Tory ten propaganda smokescreens it puts in Moscow temporarily repre- has been steadily transforming recalcitrance? Nothing at all up to hide its political catastrophes sented. tens of millions of former dumb was specified (in the question as in Ireland, Rhodesia, and elsewhere, and whatever lying humbug it spreads It might have been expected peasants or proletarian factory printed in the Guardian, which through the press, parliament, and its that imperialism would at least wage slaves the whole world commissioned the poll) about millions of reformist agents through- get a brief second wind at such over into street-wise communi- people’s doubts in the IRA’s out the Labour and trade union move- a dramatic moment of ‘end of cations-wise modern people. longterm intentions. ment about “preserving democracy”. history’ and ‘new world order’ And in Ireland, for example, And in any case, this 41% was The capitalist system is not about hysteria. But remarkably, the they will no longer put up with not at all the most significant democracy but about power, the power astonishing collapse of the the disgracefully blatant racist figure, for editorialising pur- of the ruling class to dominate the East European bureaucracy has discrimination which ran the poses, or headlines. Vastly more economic life of the country and as hardly helped imperialism’s old Northern Ireland colony, – important was the fact that only much of the outside world as it could through imperialism and colonialism, survival at all. a corrupt and savage piece of 16% of Britain now favours the and to extract super-profits to enable it The British ruling class has imperialist tyranny from the Government trying actively to to live the life of a ruling class - domi- continued to degenerate and start, – ripping out bits of six keep Northern Ireland as part of nating landowning, industry, the pro- make a hopeless mess of its of Ulster’s nine counties at the the United Kingdom, 84% pre- fessions, politics, the civil service, the contradiction-solving. And point of ferocious Black-and- ferring either to be neutral on police-military hierarchy, the judiciary, specifically, the Irish national- Tan fascist bayonets to create a the question or wanting to see press, television and publishing, and liberation struggle has moved stupid haven for a dying colonial Ireland reunited once again. the academic world. on from being privately ac- ‘loyalist’ breed and impose a And even on the ceasefire That domination is now crumbling cepted as unbeatable by London dictatorial nightmare on the un- question, the fact that 55% because the capitalist system is bank- rupt. It can no longer develop the as long ago as the 1985 Anglo- fortunate Irish nationalists left either did not know how long economic resources sufficiently suc- Irish Treaty first giving Dublin behind within the ludicrously the ceasefire would last, or cessfully, (–due to its repeated slumps an official say in the affairs of gerrymandered Partition fron- thought it would be permanent and wars,–) to satisfy mankind’s legiti- the Occupied Zone, – to being tiers, – the last word in modern or last a year or two – was much mately expanding aspirations. publicly acknowledged in 1994 imperialist-racist evil. more interesting than the 41% The failure and historical out-dated- as undeniably a key part to But despite the collapse of the of dullards who spontaneously ness of the system cannot be hidden by the future of the Six Counties Moscow revisionist bureaucracy parroted that “it would not last”. any amount of television propaganda - (‘Northern Ireland’), thus ef- and the apparent triumph of It suits petty-bourgeois phil- or any amount of brutal military sup- fectively reuniting it with the the imperialist ‘New World istinism of all kinds to pretend pression, as the 20th century history of Ireland has shown, the century of rest of Ireland in all but name, Order’ (the same old racket as that “terrorism” (revolutionary British imperialist decline. – regardless of bitter Orange- before), British imperialism has guerrilla war and national-liber- colonist reaction. still been totally undermined ation struggle) is futile, refusing January 15, 1981 (Bulletin 71) The dramatic triumph of the by the Irish national-liberation to see that the 25-year fight by The actual denouement of this IRA’s revolutionary guerrilla war struggle. IRA/Sinn Féin has totally de- longwinded colonial degen- in the heart of West Europe will So profound are the implica- moralised and outmanoeuvred eration has taken longer than have played a significant part tions for the British bourgeoisie British colonialism and won anticipated, partly because in mapping out the path of the of acknowledging a total trans- such worldwide support that these revolutionary develop- inevitable future proletarian formation in relations between London has finally been forced ments always do take far longer revolt against capitalist crisis in now-backward colonial ‘masters’ to negotiate a completely new than it is hoped, and partly general. and now far-more-progressive future for the island in which because of the enormous set- Build Leninism. JH colonised ‘subjects’, that middle- ‘Northern Ireland’ as such (the class ideology still cannot come ripped-out, gerrymandered, Crisis undermining of the imperialist to grips with the evidence aggressively-armed, anti-Irish staring them in the face, – British colony of the hated powers, leading inexorably towards namely that the Sinn Féin/IRA partition infamy) will no longer national-liberation struggle exist. this World War III holocaust, proceeds has completely outclassed the The same bewildered middle- relentlessly. Ireland a brilliant example entire British establishment in class press under British imperi- propaganda, political manoeu- alism has also grasped at every [EPSR No 769 20-09-94] vres, military matters, inter- straw in trying to convince itself [...]healthy ‘competition’, far War III holocaust, proceeds national diplomacy, financial that the despised IRA/Sinn Féin from keeping the free-enter- relentlessly. organisation, internal security, has achieved nothing: prise system honest, only leads Ireland has just provided a self-discipline, etc, etc, etc. JOHN Major effectively handed it into ever deeper corruption brilliant example of how old im- While Adams & Co are Northern Ireland’s protestant ma- and cynicism as those who perialist patterns are being irre- already running away with the jority a veto on political change last had the power, who think they sistibly eroded by the influences peace negotiations, the Guardian night when he promised a referen- ought to have it and are being of capitalist evolution itself over editorials are still kidding them- dum on the outcome of peace nego- tiations. denied it unfairly, use every a period of time eventually mak- selves that public opinion in dirty trick in the book to either ing old relationships impossible Britain is still as supportive of But there is far more spontane- keep on top or else to get on top to sustain any more. the Government and as hostile ous capitalist media informa- and stay there. It was British imperialism’s to the national liberation strug- tion to the contrary. The only In the corporate and indi- world position which always gle as ever it was on the Irish veto agreed is on any resur- vidual entrepreneurial world, inspired the Orange-colonist question. rection of the old ‘Northern this means domination by ruth- minority to insist successfully They took an opinion poll Ireland’ British colony in any less cartels and skulduggery by and arrogantly on its separate finding recently, showing that shape or form. As the Bulletin ruthless crime syndicates and superiority to the colonised bog- 41% thought the ceasefire in has explained for 15 years, Brit- mafias. In the sphere of nation Irish Catholic past. Ireland would only last a few ish imperialism has long been states, this means an endless But British imperialism weeks, and declared: engaged on a snail’s-pace with- round of arms-race diplomacy has long since ceased to have “This poll shows with unambigu- drawal from Ireland; and a long treachery, spying and industrial any progressive anti-feudal- ous clarity that public opinion is non-sovereignty interregnum is sabotage, and in the end open catholic ‘protestant’ role. Its sceptical about the IRA’s longterm the likeliest way round London’s trade war, followed by ruthless own monopoly-imperialism has intentions”. fears of an Orange-‘loyalist’ die- alliance-forming and shooting been the greatest reactionary It showed nothing of the sort. hard reaction: 29 wars. influence on earth for a very No reason at all was given as IT WILL take at least 20 years of Yet the undermining of the long time. to why 41% thought that the peace before the people of Ulster imperialist powers, leading The endless expansion and ceasefire might only last a few are expected to face the question of inexorably towards this World evolutionary reorganisation and weeks. Because of Unionist a united Ireland, Albert Reynolds EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 says in an interview today that pect the international community, “It will take time to bring this alist progress as worthless if it could help calm Unionists’ fear people in Ireland, the British people, about, and while there may be var- does not amount to a ‘perfect’ that they face a republican stam- believe that Sinn Féin and the British ied views on the length of time in- socialist revolution with them- pede. government will meet this year, pos- volved I am sure that Mr Reynolds selves leading it, while in prac- The Irish Prime Minister tells The sibly before Christmas. would not wish to delay such a de- Observer that there will be no united “There is absolutely no reason velopment.” tice chiming in with reaction’s Ireland ‘in this generation — it’s a whatsoever why the British govern- cynical onslaughts on such question of what happens over the ment and Sinn Féin, within a matter anti-imperialist struggles.) years’. of weeks, could not be involved in Sinn Féin, of course, remain A more detailed analysis will If Belfast, London and Dublin discussions.” petty-bourgeois nationalists be made next week of how the manage to achieve an interim agree- He insisted in an interview with and ultimately an obstacle to philistine petty-bourgeois ‘left’ ment that is endorsed by referen- BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend Leninism. But Marxist science in Britain has again joined reac- dums on both sides of the border, that any settlement reached through has always grasped that defeats tion to deny that British impe- Mr Reynolds says it will take a gen- talks would have to be put to all the for imperialism can come in rialism has been forced into any eration for people to understand people of Ireland. “It is quite clear many forms, and has denounced the evolving benefits of that ‘New that Irish nationalist opinion is new retreats over the ceasefire. the ‘left’ sectarians (who in Build Leninism. Ireland’. ‘All I’m saying is, “Build an agreed that there can be no internal words dismiss all anti-imperi- intermediate future, and let a future settlement, that there can be no par- Adam Carr generation decide what’s the best fu- titionist arrangement and there can ture for the island of Ireland”.’ be no veto for anyone.”. Approaching storms will blast away In an apparent reference to Mr Downing Street yesterday hinted Major, he adds: ‘Others take a differ- that it was still pressing President middle-class head-in-the-sand atti- ent view. I’d never forgive myself if Clinton not to authorise a visa for I felt I’d let it slip away for want of Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin president, tudes towards the actual real crisis action.’ to visit the United States until the ‘The nationalist community needs IRA had clarified that its ceasefire of the imperialist system. Continuing to be assured that there will be no was permanent. return to the discrimination of the Mr Reynolds’s warnings chimed British ruling-class humiliations over past, that they can look forward to with John Major’s increasing con- a genuine involvement in govern- cern to dampen public expectations Ireland further disrupt bourgeois-ide- ment, that there will be parity of es- of an early breakthrough. He has teem and equality of treatment. And told colleagues that negotiations on alist illusions. to be fair, I do think there is accept- the new Anglo-Irish blueprint for ance of the need for change.’ constitutional reform in the prov- [EPSR No 770 27-09-94] Mr Reynolds believes that the ince may not be completed until ‘New Ireland’ is possible: with December — five months behind the [...] As the faltering trade-war- how proceeds apace, as even the Unionists and nationalists working original deadline. divided leadership of the impe- bourgeois ideologists them- together in a new Stormont assem- rialist world begins to stumble selves cannot avoid reporting: bly; with North and South working more and more away from con- THE Sinn Féin president Gerry together on joint economic interests THE forces of Irish republicanism Adams yesterday denounced fident and successful counter- like trade and tourism; and with gave the British a good beating yes- John Major’s announcement of a revolutionary anti-communist London and Dublin standing back terday, as the war over Northern Northern Ireland referendum as aggressiveness worldwide and to let the communities find their Ireland raged on the airwaves of “premature and presumptuous”. into inter-imperialist conflict own equilibrium and balance. America. Mr Adams said that other steps That raises the question of how, and warmongering self-preser- Gerry Adams, on the third day of now needed to be taken by Mr and when, he sees a united Ireland vation, the class collaboration- his American tour, was the star of Major, including an acceleration in coming about. ‘You wouldn’t get it ist dreams will fade, and the network TV interviews and newspa- “de-militarisation” leading to “in- in this generation,’ he says without Marxist-Leninist understanding per front pages, while John Major’s clusive dialogue and negotiations”. hesitation. ‘It’s a question of what of the real revolutionary move- envoy, former northern Ireland The Government’s position was happens over the years. minister Michael Mates MP, stayed at odds with popular, political and ment of history will come more ‘If we can get a new accommoda- firmly off the American media international opinion. “Mr Major’s and more into focus. tion as to how the whole island is to menu. reference to a referendum in the six NATO counter-revolutionary go forward, if we can get economic The Sinn Féin president was the counties is both premature and pre- and anti-communist aggressive- co-operation and demonstrate the featured guest on ABC TV’s Good sumptuous. The six county statelet benefits of it, let the whole situation ness is bogged down in Bosnia Morning America programme — for is an artificial and gerrymandered evolve, because it will take a genera- and the Balkans, in Somalia, in the second day running. ABC ran its political entity with an in-built and tion anyway to get people to under- Hong Kong, in Haiti, in Ireland, nine-minute interview with him in permanent Unionist majority,” said stand. and everywhere else. German, two parts, an honour only usually Mr Adams. However, Sinn Fein’s Martin Japanese, Italian, and French granted to the biggest names. “The British government-imposed McGuinness warned: ‘Irish nation- British officials had made Mr veto based on this artificial major- imperialism show no signs of alists are agreed that there can be no Mates available to counter Mr ity is both undemocratic and unac- being able to pick up the falter- internal solutions, no partitionist ar- Adams, but the offer was declined. ceptable. Discussion on how agree- ing Anglo-Saxon baton. rangements and no vetoes. Partition Asked about the decision, an ABC ment would be measured, when the The nuclear arms race will has clearly failed. There has to be spokesman said: “Michael who?” search for agreement has not yet be- fundamental constitutional and po- continue and become increas- A computer search revealed that gun, is therefore premature. litical change.’ ingly unpleasant. Racial, reli- not a single American newspaper “All these matters should properly gious, and national conflict will had mentioned Mr Mates’s visit, de- be the subject of discussion in a pro- continue to mount inexorably signed as a public relations effort to THE assertion by the Irish prime cess of inclusive negotiations which worldwide, leaving Popper and prevent Mr Adams having an unfet- minister, Albert Reynolds, that this should begin as soon as possible.” tered run at the US media. generation will not see a “united Mr Adams said he had been asked all middle-class philosophical complacency gently spinning in Dozens of US newspapers have Ireland” was greeted with disap- to comment on the Irish prime min- covered the Adams mission with pointment by Sinn Féin yesterday. ister Albert Reynolds’s recent re- the grave. everything from warm editorials to But the party forecast that it will marks. “Let me say that I agree with On top of all that, the front-page photographs. be included in direct all-party nego- the thrust of his remarks in respect worldwide capitalist system’s The degree of coverage lavished tiations with the Government before of British troop levels. His other financial markets are poised for on Mr Adams is all the more re- Christmas. Mr McGuinness said: “I comments about Irish unity are a their greatest crash in history, markable considering the scant at- was surprised and disappointed to matter of opinion about the time this dwarfing the impact of the 1929 tention the American media nor- hear what Mr Reynolds had said, will take. There is no doubt about Great Collapse on Wall Street. mally pays foreign leaders. Jacques and I think many other people, the need for a united Ireland.” Chirac, the mayor of Paris and a pos- particularly nationalists, will have Mr Adams said that from Sinn And some of the more futile stock market gambling is sible future president of France, vis- been, too. We should not take pessi- Féin’s point of view the objective of ited Washington last week and was mistic views at this stage. We have negotiations was to replace British exactly duplicating the notori- barely noticed. to be realistic, but we should not be jurisdiction with Irish jurisdiction ous Florida land speculation of Rachelle Cohen, a senior editor at 30pessimistic. based on agreement “among the 1928 in demented profiteering the Boston Herald, said the newspa- Mr McGuinness said it was now a Irish people.” Sinn Féin wanted to pointlessness:[...] per’s board gathered on a Sunday to question of when rather than if Sinn see a 32 county republic which was Meanwhile, the decline of hear Mr Adams because he was now Féin meets government representa- also the policy of Mr Reynolds’s monopoly-imperialist know- a figure of international clout. “He’s tives to hold talks about talks. “I ex- Fianna Fail party. EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 playing in the big leagues,” she said. interregnum, then clearly the forces, – the Socialist Worker MP and chief executive in the Irish Republic, David Greenway, a senior editor at national-liberation struggle will leads the way in writing off the when those same executives are trying to the Boston Globe, said Mr Adams was cut the pay of workers at Dublin airport by start again on every front, as latest national-liberation strug- 20 percent. now as big a draw as Yasser Arafat Adams has warned. gles triumphs as a sell-out and or Nelson Mandela. “The perception It would be astonishing if the a defeat: Sinn Féin and the IRA have that this is a serious breakthrough never been engaged in a social- has put him on a different level,” he British establishment attempts It was a genuine mass struggle for inde- said. to make an issue of Adams’s pendence. But many Sinn Féin leaders, ist revolution, so the SWP’s Nor is it just the media which blunt speaking brought any- headed by Michael Collins, grew scared that defeatist scorn poured upon is giving Mr Adams the red car- thing more than renewed con- the rising would pass beyond their control. them for their ‘failure’ is a piece pet treatment. At each stop, he has tempt down on London’s head. Collins accepted a deal with Britain – it left of ludicrous irrelevance. Ireland divided. Unionists and the British been greeted by senators and con- Without saying so, the ruling And what this snivelling gressman, many of them treating government held the north east of the class is still desperately clinging country with almost all the major industry sectarian approach by the clas- him as an Irish leader-in-waiting. to the hope that it can somehow and thousands of Catholics were trapped sic academic armchair socialists Tomorrow, mayor Rudolph Giuliani under Unionist rule. Many saw Collins as a fails itself to do is to remotely of New York will give him the grab some tiny propaganda con- solation (out of its retreat-hu- traitor. The IRA split and there was civil war. appreciate what a further tre- freedom of the city — a move San A section led by Eamon De Valera fought to Francisco is expected to copy later in miliation in finally negotiating mendous blow against imperial- overthrow the deal. ism this openly national-libera- his nine-city tour. concessions to the ‘terrorists’) But by 1923 De Valera was beaten. He soon by making it possible to pretend performed a similar U-turn to Collins. tion struggle has achieved. And to add to London’s woes, in muffled tones that the IRA De Valera split away to found a politi- Of course the conflict is end- Gerry Adams has made the has in fact surrendered in all but cal party called Fianna Fail. This is the Tory ing in a form of class-collaborat- obvious response to the British name by accepting in advance Nationalist party that has dominated Irish ing compromise, and with pure ruling class’s pathetic attempts politics since. nationalism incapable of solving that they have given up military Now Adams appears to be embarking on to wring some propaganda operations ‘permanently, for all a road similar to other Sinn Féin/IRA leaders anyone’s problems longterm. point-scoring out of the disas- time’, etc. before him. But could a tiny nationally- trous humiliation of finally hav- If London is not careful, all At each split in the Republican movement based urban guerrilla war inside ing to negotiate peace – (with that such pathetic clumsy ma- former leaders of the armed struggle have the very territory of the most the Irish national liberation noeuvring will earn it is more gone over to contesting elections and com- famous imperialist power in peting on the ground of established politi- history, – based on just a few struggle who were supposed blunt international comments cians. In every case it has been a dead end. to be nothing but terrorist that it is in fact the British colo- The failure of established parties on all sides hundred thousand isolated criminals’ who would only ever nial police-military dictatorship to offer anything but communal based poli- Irish-nationalist population, be given the chance to surren- which has given up, not the IRA, tics leaves the way open to hardened bigots – be expected to drive the full der unconditionally, etc) – by – as Paisley and other embit- among the Loyalists. might of the entire British making a silly issue out of the tered colonials keep on howling. In the absence of resistance to wage imperialist army, representing cuts and job losses some working class a nation of 55 million people, to word ‘permanent’ which the IRA As always, the fake-‘left’ Protestants can turn in desperation to obviously refuses to tack on to petty-bourgeois swamp is ever Loyalist violence. actual total military defeat? its generous ceasefire proposals. ready to come to the aid of The tragedy is that Sinn Féin and the IRA And arguing that a proletar- The British colonial occu- beleagured bourgeois-idealist are throwing themselves into alliance with ian revolution could do it (or pation of part of Ireland can thinking, throwing in its pen- the enemies of working class Catholics and really arguing that if we, the have peace for as long as it is Protestants. Socialist Worker, had been in nyworth of added confusion Gerry Adams has thanked Bill Clinton – prepared to continue sensibly from its phony middle-class the man who turns away drowning Cuban charge of things, we would have negotiating a longterm settle- ultra-‘revolutionary’ position to refugees and prepares to invade Haiti – for done it, etc) is utterly irrelevant ment and solution to the hated try to cast doubt on the value his help. and the most disgusting imagi- disaster of the Partition of Ire- of Sinn Féin’s rout of British He has applauded Irish prime minister nable. land (to provide a sunset haven imperialist intransigence and Albert Reynolds, a Tory whose government And if it is all so easy to take is cutting jobs and benefits, holding down on the British police-military for a dying breed of empire- incompetence. wages and raising taxes every bit as much minded ‘loyalist’ colonists.) By lame historical analogy – as Major. dictatorship militarily and If the disgraceful historical which sounds intellectual but In fact, the very timing of the ceasefire an- politically and thrash it totally, fiction of ‘Northern Ireland’ which fails completely to judge nouncement was geared to help Reynolds. then why does not the Socialist and its stinking gerryman- 1994 events in the context of It came on the very day he stood to face Worker ‘revolutionary’ middle- dered racist dictatorship is not the international imperialist the climax of a scandal that has dogged his class get on and do it inside administration. Britain itself? finally dead and buried at the crisis in 1994 and its totally new It came on the day he announced a end of this long peace-initiative international balance of class £15,000 a year pay rise for himself and every These fake-‘left’ petty-bour- geois degenerates play only one objective role in life and that is to queer the pitch for Marxism- Leninism, and they must be fought to a standstill before the revolutionary movement can flourish, – as the subsequent article clearly explains. These ‘general strike now’ activists are just an obstacle to the development of revolution- ary theory, nothing more. ‘Big organisation’ posturing is their sole political approach to the working class, really nothing more than a rival commercial brand-image attitude that Labour electoralism has now at last finally decided the time is ripe to embrace openly (with the final historical triumph’ of capitalism, as they see it). SWP sectarianism is to be the organ- iser of the working class, not 31 Marxist-Leninist understanding of how the international balance of class forces is really working EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 out. As in every case with revi- will be another dead end. Build by liberal bourgeois “solutions” that prom- ed the entire British ruling class sionism through the ages, this Leninism. Douglas Bell ise to spread the endemic poverty more leaving it utterly tongue-tied evenly. In a situation of increasing economic desperation, fighting over a shrinking slice and undermined. of pie only stokes up the fires of sectarian- Obviously, the Sinn Féin/IRA Parliamentary capitalism in its entirety ism. triumph is not yet a ‘workers revolution’, or even remotely is one giant swamp of graft and cor- This grotesque ultra-leftism any ‘solution’ to the immediate postures its ‘revolutionariness’ capitalist crisis afflicting Ireland ruption protected only by the class- in the most irresponsible and (and everywhere else, of course), childish way imaginable. or even any guaranteed immedi- collaborating stupidity of the ‘reform- Past Bulletins and ILWP Books ate satisfaction of Irish national vol 8 (& 15 - Ireland)have quoted ist’ and revisionist ‘opposition’ and by aspirations and an end to the endlessly from the works of ‘troubles’. Marx, Engels, and Lenin on the the anti-communist propaganda of But it does represent a colos- important strategic under- sal retreat by British imperial- the very ’free press’ making the sordid standing to communists that ism and reflects an enormous bourgeois-nationalist and other movement in international class revelations. But Ireland proves how defeats for the imperialist rul- forces which have felt obliged to ing class can frequently be of force London to accept that it is imperialism, and all subjective-idealist enormous help and significance potentially seriously damaging for the subsequent success of revisionist confusion, is still losing to the Western imperialist cause proletarian-dictatorship revolu- for naked British colonialism tion to get rid of capitalism badly. to keep on hopelessly brutally altogether. repressing a national-liberation [EPSR No 775 01-11-94] It is just numbskulled postur- fight which not only obvi- ing to keep on pointing out that [...]But even as the British capi- the British army—which continues to ride ously will not be beaten but bourgeois-nationalist liberation talist state appears to be getting roughshod through the Catholic ghettos— which could start to become an imminent possibility. is not necessarily a short step away with murder as far as its an increasingly dangerous The British imperialists do not always see from communist revolution (al- privatisation, sleaze, and other revolutionary beacon for the eye to eye with the fractious Loyalists, but though they proved inseparable rackets are concerned, – in the for now they have no intention of abandon- oppressed worldwide, as the in Vietnam and Cuba, for exam- longer historical view of broader ing their old allies. international imperialist slump ple). It is well-known that Sinn real-world developments, the Many working-class Catholic youth join continues to deepen. Féin are philistinely ignorant of imperialist system is running the IRA because they mistakenly see it as After their first academic and the only force opposing the British army. Yet Marxism-Leninism. into more and more difficulties pointless paragraph above, the the IRA’s “armed struggle” was never really The crucial question, however, in every comer of the globe, and Sparts diatribe then quickly has aimed at—or capable of—driving the mas- is whether or not this bour- the British imperialist bourgeoi- sive British imperialist military presence out to descend into just plain un- geois-nationalist struggle can sie in particular continues to of Northern Ireland, but rather at pressuring truths or distortions, or commit cause British imperialism an degenerate. Britain to the conference table. yet more historically strategic enormous setback. Yet even on Ireland, where It would be fatal for working people to errors by way of false analogies, have illusions in such “settlements.” In To ask the question is to the game is so plainly up as far or just simply get things wrong. South Africa the newly installed Mandela/ answer it. Why else has British as hanging on to the disgraceful The fight for Leninist parties De Klerk regime has already moved to break imperialism been fighting all colonial outrage called Northern strikes of black workers and squelch the of proletarian-dictatorship revo- these years with more than Ireland is concerned, it is still expectations of the impoverished black lution must never cease to grow, half their mainland infantry the fake ‘socialists’ who do most masses. The Palestinian PLO now has its own as is obvious to all real Marxists cops to keep down the Palestinian masses forces to ‘defeat terrorism’ in to conceal the real picture of (although of doubtful appeal in Gaza and Jericho. And while conditions the Occupied Zone of Ireland London’s humiliation at the pro- in fact to these Trots who, as in Northern Ireland are not identical, Ruari (and beyond) if not to avoid a gressive hands of Irish national- O Bradaigh, the leader of the dissident na- always, are terrified of having to humiliating reversal with dire liberation forces. tionalist group Republican Sinn Féin, has call communist revolution by its consequences for all the ruling Despite having fought their warned that behind Gerry Adams’ call for crucial proletarian dictatorship class’s interests? The Spart slo- way to a revolutionary tri- “new policing arrangements” is a veiled ap- name), and the pan-bourgeois- peal for recruiting Republican militants to gan for proletarian-dictatorship umph, arms in hand, against nationalist coalition taking serve in a “police service to be run in parallel revolution (although these the monstrous imposed evil of shape for the reunification of with the RUC” to do “England’s dirty work in opportunist sectarian cowards Partition and the gerryman- Ireland” (Irish News, 6 September). Ireland will naturally become never spell this out scientifical- dered bastard sterile statelet of the then open enemy of further ly) is not incorrect as an abstract non-existent ‘Northern Ireland’, The declaration marks the latest social progress. theoretical statement but in – an amazing success which stage in the quest by the IRA and its But it is sectarian insan- political wing, Sinn Féin, for a ‘nego- practice is worse than useless, – should have all revolutionar- ity to just sneer at the final tiated settlement” with British impe- a complete academic diversion. ies cheering everywhere just as completion of Ireland’s war of rialism, pursued through the “‘good To proclaim communist aims previous bourgeois-nationalist offices” of the southern Irish clericalist independence against bitter does not necessarily make it triumphs over British colonial- state and underwritten by U.S. imperi- British imperialist resistance as obligatory to rubbish national ism in Ireland had Marx and alist chief Bill Clinton. an event of not only no histori- Hoping to secure a place in the liberation aims. Just read Marx Lenin cheering in earlier peri- cal importance but as actually “New World Order” ordained by and Lenin on the subject. ods, – many ultra-‘left’ petty- a reactionary development, (as Washington following the destruc- And it is particularly stupid bourgeois posturers have been tion of the Soviet Union, the IRA/ Sinn these ridiculous Spart academ- and reactionary sectarianism to incapable of any response but Féin are predictably claiming a vic- ics try to do), – no matter how denigrate a national-liberation a sick sectarian bleat of misery tory. Yet the oppressed Catholic mi- unpleasant the sight of ‘‘imperi- struggle carried out in such a and condemnation. nority in Northern Ireland have been alist lackeys’ in Dublin jumping offered nothing in exchange for the revolutionary manner, both Listen to the Trotskyite once again onto the nationalist cease-fire. Sinn Féin does not even de- politically and militarily, by Spartacists’ analysis of the bandwagon. mand the withdrawal of British troops Sinn Féin and the IRA, arms in latest clever Sinn Féin/IRA from the North. And as proof of the ridicu- hand. And especially so when peace strategy to wrongfoot the lousness of the point they are The recent move was foreshadowed by the that national-liberation move- donkey-like British imperialists: trying to make, these boring Anglo-Irish declaration between London ment turned out to be the only and Dublin last December. As we warned and dimwitted Trot ultra-’lefts’ The current IRA cease-fire settles nothing serious and effective anti-impe- then: “Any imperialist ‘deal’ will be bloody then have to be very economical in Northern Ireland. The “troubles” will not rialist movement going, – and end short of a workers revolution which and brutal and will necessarily be at the ex- with the truth to try to back up pense of the oppressed Catholic minority. And one with undoubted sensational 32wrests power from the blood-drenched their daft stance. it would not do any good for working-class success which has dramatically British bourgeoisie and its lackeys in Dublin The ‘Protestant ascendancy’ is and Belfast. Protestants either.” captured the world’s imagina- not ended yet, nor is the British Britain is not about to put an end to The Loyalist stranglehold over the tion, commanded wide interna- Protestant workers will only be reinforced army withdrawn, clearly. But it Protestant ascendancy, nor is withdrawal of tional sympathy, and confound- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 is equally plain to all who would former empires. camp internment without trial, intentions towards the whole see it that the old outrageous The wild analogies with South the torture-barracks routine population of Ireland, - nothing colonial notion of a supposed Africa and the PLO are just silly brutalisation of all national- remotely in common with the country called ‘Northern Ire- and misleading, but are wrong ist suspects, and the nightly genocidal, repressive, sectar- land’, – a tame stooge of blatant anyway. Of course it was a house-wrecking onslaughts on ian reaction which these Spart British imperialism on occupied necessary historical stage to go strongly republican areas, – not ivory-tower loons ascribe to Irish soil, – is nevertheless ut- through for the ANC national- to mention the sinister murder- Sinn Féin and the IRA. terly doomed now, never to be liberation struggle to form a ous activities of the ‘loyalist’ Already the Sparts’ instant resurrected. bourgeois nationalist inde- fascist terror gangs. September predictions are look- Only complete sectarian fake- pendence government before The infamous irresponsibility ing not just silly, but looking ’left’ fools can fail to see this, or the correct unending struggle for this casual Trot observation like a clear provocation from fail to see what a huge revolu- for a proletarian-dictatorship that the war might just as well these strange fake-“lefts”: tionary shift of historical forces socialist revolution could hope go on for all the good that any Meanwhile, the viciously sectarian RUC and this represents. to make further significant ‘peace settlement’ might do, Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) are still in place, The Sparts are just wrong. progress in southern Africa. It becomes more graspable when and the heavily armed fascistic Protestant Disregarding Trot silly canny would have been sectarian gib- the Sparts’ motives are further Loyalist/Unionist paramilitaries, who have wordplay, the ‘Loyalists’ cer- berish, incomprehensible to the probed. They actually hate the killed far more people than the IRA this year—mostly in random, indiscriminate at- tainly are being abandoned in African masses, to have agitated Irish national-liberation move- tacks on the Catholic populace—have re- the sense that the essence of for a Leninist revolutionary ment, and want it slaughtered, fused thus far to reciprocate the IRA’s cease- the former British colonialist movement in South Africa in di- virtually accusing it of genocidal fire. tradition, – i.e. ‘Ulster is forever rect antagonistic opposition to fascist intent against British As a woman from Ardoyne—a Catholic British’ (meaning the gerry- success for the ANC’s national- imperialism’s ‘loyalist’ stooges, area of north Belfast where unemployment mandered ripped-out parts of liberation war. The cause of and joining in with British runs 47 percent—put it: six of the Irish province’s nine proletarian dictatorship was imperialist propaganda to de- “I want peace but nothing has counties), – is no more, – de- obviously served, not hindered, nounce Sinn Féin as nothing but changed around here. The stroyed by a heroic revolution- by the prior defeat of apartheid- a movement of sectarian terror: Brits and the peelers (cops) are ary-guerrilla war from a wholly imperialist dictatorship by the still on the streets, young lads Any attempt to forcibly incorporate the are still being harassed. We’re legitimate national-liberation national-liberation forces. And large and relatively well-armed Protestants terrified of a loyalist attack” movement. that is even true to some extent into the Irish clerical state could only pre- (Irish Times, 8 September). It is just the depths of trivial- in Occupied Palestine in spite of cipitate a wholesale communal conflict. Only hours before the cease-fire went into ity for these Spart cretins to the trivial extent to which the While Irish Republicans usually present their struggle as fundamentally directed against effect, a Loyalist gang dragged Belfast try to present the successful Zionist Occupation has been British imperialism, the more hardheaded Catholic Sean McDermott from his bed and negotiations forced on infinitely forced to retreat, and in spite of IRA nationalists acknowledge that the executed him. Shortly after the IRA dec- stronger British imperialism the suicidal ludicrousness of the Protestant Loyalists are the ultimate obsta- laration, John O’Hanlon was shot in cold by the tiny but unbeatable pocket-handkerchief sized ‘in- cle to their programme of reunification with blood outside a friend’s house in Belfast. revolutionary war as proof that dependent’ areas which Arafat the South. As one Belfast IRA commander On 5 September the Protestant paramilitary told an American journalist: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) set off a large “the IRA’s ‘armed struggle’ (put has accepted as Palestinian ‘self- car bomb outside Sinn Féin’s headquarters in offensive [inverted] commas determination’. That truly bogus “This is not about peace. This in Belfast, following up five days later with in the original) was never really ‘settlement’ will be the death of is about getting the referees off an assassination attempt against a Sinn Féin the playing field, about finding activist. aimed at...driving the massive Arafatism, which is to the good, a way for the British to leave British imperialist military but it will also be a further with some semblance of dignity. The actual historical develop- presence out of Northern spur to a clearer understanding The real war has always been ments are clearly different Ireland (noticeably not put in that it is imperialist economic between us and the Loyalists. from these hopelessly wrong That has not changed, and that’s quotes by these Sparts who domination of the region as predictions revealing complete presumably accept the British a whole, spearheaded by the what we’re getting ready for.” —New York Times, 2 September muddleheaded incomprehension bastard colony’s legitimacy). Zionist colonial presence, which of the first thing about the real What insane crap is this. One must be defeated before genuine The bloody logic of this nationalist line is currently being played out in the former class and national war situation of the most dramatic and trium- Arab national aspirations and Yugoslavia. in Ireland. phant guerrilla wars of all time self-determination can be However, a central component of the IRA’s But exactly what the bal- fought by tiny forces against a achieved, – obviously only under nationalist strategy involved reprehensi- ance of forces between British huge enemy which succeeded proletarian-dictatorship revolu- ble indiscriminate terror against Northern imperialism and the national- Protestants, as well as against civilian tar- virtually in laying siege to that tion eventually. liberation movement will enemy’s own capital city (the Quoting O’Bradaigh’ s views gets in Britain, aimed at exacerbating the communal divide between Catholics and exactly throw up at this stage is barriers are still up around Lon- as ‘proof’ that Sinn Féin and Protestants and at galvanising the op- obviously not yet fully clear. don’s Square Mile, so terrified the IRA are only negotiating pressed Catholic minority behind the ban- Yet the signs still accumulate, is British monopoly capitalism with London in order to “do ner of Green nationalism. – from the capitalist press’s own of further crippling blows to England’s dirty work in Ireland” [..]We call for the formation of integrated coverage of events, – that things workers militias to combat both imperialist/ its property and its prestige), – for it, is just more sectarian are still well on course for com- and these armchair socialists unseriousness. Loyalist rampage and sectarian terror from any quarter. pleting the rout of the British pretend that it was nothing, and And it is just plain wrong, and [‘..]The Protestant majority are deeply imperialist colony on occupied no real intended challenge to shows disgraceful lightmind- hostile to—and a significant number of Irish soil, and for the eventual British imperialism. What total edness, to claim that neither Northern Catholics are wary of—the nation- reunification of Ireland under a mental bollocks. nationalist or ‘loyalist’ workers alist project of reunifying the North with the bourgeois democratic republic, - Of course the guerrilla war’s have gained a thing from the even more poverty-stricken and virulently anti-woman southern clerical state, where the best conditions of capitalist aims were limited, – to force brutal war being brought to an divorce as well as abortion is illegal. dictatorship for proceeding with British imperialist rule out of end by British military occupa- the struggle for a revolutionary Ireland. No sane person doubts tion’s acceptance of the IRA’s And this Trot-totalitarian intol- workers state: that it is now on its way out. truce-for-talks initiative. These erance of genuine Irish national And only the most pedantic armchair socialists obviously aspirations, barmily regarding The symbolism carried more weight dilettantes could be so childish have never even considered the ‘loyalists’ as equally-good than what he said. Mr McGuinness, as to try to make more sectar- what an enormous national Irish patriots (!), – has had the an executive member of Sinn Féin, ian points out of the obvious sacrifice has been put up by the lifelong nerve to denounce the told BBC TV’s On the Record he had reality that the British Occupa- Irish population of the Occupied Soviet workers state for its received a private assurance from ‘undemocratic arbitrariness’. the Government that it was work- tion would eventually be forced Zone to sustain 25 years of un- ing towards a united Ireland, a to effectively surrender via a precedented repression-terror What a sick joke. claim first made in January by Sinn covered-up negotiated ‘peace by the British army, special Time will tell what a mon- Féin when it published secret cor- 33 settlement’, – just as has always assassination forces, secret strous misrepresentation the respondence between the party happened with 99% of West police, and RUC shoot-to-kill above comments are of the and the Government. European colonial retreats from squads, etc, plus concentration- national-liberation movement’s “In March of last year I did have EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 a meeting with a representative of with John Major at Chequers today, tutional status of Northern Ireland tists — who are talking about British the British government who said made his clearest call yet for the es- — either at present or in the future.” withdrawal in a timespan of 20 to 30 the eventual outcome of all Britain tablishment of cross-border institu- These institutions, which would years — will we know if Northern was trying to do would be that the tions in the framework document deal with matters such as tour- Ireland is rid of political violence. island would be as one,” he said, but being negotiated by the two govern- ism and investment, were not to be refused to identify whom he spoke ments. confused with joint authority over to. “He was there on the authority The differences threaten to delay Northern Ireland by the two govern- JOHN Major’s announcement that of the British Prime Minister John further the so-called Joint Framework ments. “The constitutional future direct talks with Sinn Féin will be- Major and the Secretary of State for Document on new relationships be- will be decided democratically — as gin soon marks the lifting of an of- Northern, Ireland Patrick Mayhew. tween Britain and the two parts of set out in the two governments’ joint ficial veil of secrecy over contacts There is no doubt about that.” Ireland. The document — which is declaration last December,” he said. which go back more than 20 years. Referring to Mr Major’s speech in seen as the essential next step in the In the past 12 months, that veil has Belfast on Friday, Mr McGuinness political process — was originally Since the IRA called its cease- been torn away by press revelations said the Government had already scheduled to appear in July, but the fire there has been a feeling that which appear to give Sinn Fein’s publicly accepted there could be two governments are deadlocked every move — by all sides — has version of events more credibility no internal political settlement for over issues of sovereignty and been quietly but carefully choreo- than the damage-limitation exercise Northern Ireland. Mr Major, he said, cross-border powers. The chances graphed. The wrangling over the launched by the Northern Ireland significantly adopted republican ter- of publication in time for Thursday’s permanence issue was a tactic for Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, last minology, saying they were moving Commons debate on the peace ini- Mr Major to buy time and see if the November. towards a “just and lasting peace.” tiative seem slim. Mr McGuinness’s IRA was serious, and to make room In a document dated March 23 “The British government are claim is based on the private con- for loyalist paramilitaries to decide last year, the Government repre- slowly but surely disengaging from tacts between the IRA and govern- about the merit of pursuing a cam- sentative is quoted as saying that Sir Ireland,” he said, but admitted he ment officials last year, of which ac- paign of violence. Patrick wanted to include Sinn Féin was sceptical of private assurances counts sharply differ. Mr Major knew why Sinn Féin in a political settlement “not because given by the Government. He de- Mr Reynolds said yesterday that could not call the IRA ceasefire per- he likes Sinn Féin but because it can- rided suggestions by the Ulster cross-border bodies with executive manent. Under the IRA’s rules, its not work without them.” Unionist leader James Molyneaux powers were essential for establish- seven-member army council can The representative goes on: “The that there could be a new Northern ing peace. Their remarks will re- call a cessation, but it needs to be final solution is union (of the North Ireland assembly. “If he thinks the quire Mr Major to do even more to endorsed by an army convention — and South of Ireland). It is going to SDLP and the Dublin government reassure Unionist opinion that he of up to 500 delegates — to make it happen anyway. Unionists will have and ourselves will support assem- has not embarked on a step by step permanent. to change.” bly elections at the beginning of next path to unification. A convention must be called Sinn Féin alleged that the break- year, I think James Molyneaux is liv- Mr McGuinness also clashed within 12 months of the council down was caused by government ing in cloud-cuckoo-land.” with Unionists by insisting that decision, leaving a lot of breathing forgeries and deception. But Ian Instead, the Government had ac- no devolved assembly in Northern space to carefully assess the devel- Paisley’s Democratic Unionist cepted there could not be a set- Ireland could be established, until oping situation. But yesterday’s an- Party claims contacts have contin- tlement based on a new Northern agreements had been reached on the nouncement will do much to ease ued throughout this year as the IRA Ireland assembly and it was moving whole future of North-South rela- the pressure on Gerry Adams to ceasefire was awaited. closer to a position where it could tions. show to his republican hardliners A basis for broad agreement was act as a “persuader” for a united In his most remarkable claim that the IRA initiative is paying tan- the aim. “Neither a purely internal Ireland. “They have said there Mr McGuinness said: “In March gible dividends. solution nor a return to domina- can be no internal settlement. The of last year, I did have a meeting The rescinding of all the remain- tion of one side by the other would British government in recent times with a representative of the British ing closure orders on border roads achieve this,” Mr Major said yester- have used interesting terminology Government who said to us that the was a masterstroke by Mr Major, day. to talk about being “facilitators,” eventual outcome of all that Britain coming only a day after Sinn Féin In 1985 Paisley was right — or, at about bringing people together. It was trying to do would be that the produced a glossy map detailing the least, more right than his rival James is a short step, in my opinion, from island would be as one.” 100 roads closed by the British army Molyneaux — when the Anglo- the language which they are using Mr Reynolds told a Fianna Fail in the last 25 years. Irish Agreement gave Dublin for to use the language of being a per- rally in Co Kildare: “If nationalists The physical impact of the measure the first, time a say in the affairs of suader.” [Northern Ireland’s catholics] are will add to the feelgood factor of the Northern Ireland. Last December He stressed Sinn Féin was com- being asked at present to accept the peacetime situation. Scenes of un- he denounced the Downing Street mitted to the peace process and he reality and the consequences of the hindered passage between commu- Declaration even before he had read believed there was the best opportu- present majority wish of a continua- nities cut off for so long will make it it. But this time its Molyneaux who nity for 70 years to achieve a lasting tion of the union between Northern all the more difficult for those who is claiming Paisley’s misread it; solution. “Irish republicans have set Ireland and Britain, their desire for may yet harbour thoughts of a re- Gerry Adams has been conned and the agenda. Everybody else is jump- meaningful institutional links with sumption of the armed struggle. the Union is safe. ing to the Irish republicans’ tune.” executive functions must also be ac- This element is likely to make its Paisley is far from convinced. “It His remarks, immediately con- commodated.” voice heard once it becomes clear the is more likely that James Molyneaux demned as mischief-making by But he added: “It is wrong to see opening of the border does not mean has been conned,” he says. His prob- Downing Street, came as the Irish co-operative institutions, democrat- the end of partition. Only then, lem is that the unionist people don’t prime minister, Albert Reynolds, ically mandated north and south, as when republican fundamentalism appear to believe him. Or if they do, speaking on the eve of his meeting in any way prejudicial to the consti- is tested against Sinn Féin’s pragma- they show scant evidence of want-

34 EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 ing to do anything about it. Maybe a promise of a Northern Ireland ref- Sir Patrick Mayhew, came under side that they must surrender their weariness has set in from being ha- erendum, it is tempting to ask who hardline Unionist pressure in the weapons before people will talk to rangued by the same voice so many Paisley thinks he now. It is scarcely Commons yesterday not to open them is to invite this very fragile times about betrayal. comprehensible that Northern exploratory talks with Sinn Féin consensus to collapse.” Most damaging of all to hardline Ireland’s most popular politician after Mitchel McLoughlin, the par- In remarks bound to fuel Unionist unionism is the acceptance by loyal- has been so marginalised in the ty’s Northern Ireland chairman, suspicions, he added: “People will ist paramilitaries that Molyneaux is peace process. said the IRA was unlikely to surren- recognise the difference between right. A unique coalition of minds Paisley has a fundamentalist ap- der its weapons before negotiations a ceasefire and a permanent peace. has formed between the broad, proach to the problems. Nationalism on a new constitutional settlement Let’s hope we have a permanent conservative church of the Ulster and Unionism are irreconcilable were near completion. peace. What we haven’t got as yet, Unionist Party and the radical- philosophies and one must defeat In the first Commons debate on because we aren’t even in the neces- sounding grassroots loyalist parties the other. There can be no compro- Northern Ireland since the IRA and sary negotiations, is agreement on who keep closely in touch with the mise on that. It’s a message which loyalist paramilitaries declared a the political structures for the island gunmen. sounds more appealing to the back- ceasefire, Sir Patrick implied that he of Ireland.” It is difficult to sell “sell-out” when ground sound of bombs and bullets, would not allow Sinn Féin to enter Peter Robinson, deputy leader of even the gunmen who profess to hence the claims — rubbished by substantive talks on the future of the Democratic Unionists, claimed spill blood for the Union have called British, Irish and American security Ireland until the IRA’s arms had been Mr Major had reneged on a promise it a day. Paisley’s esteem is low on sources — that the IRA is continuing surrendered. But he appeared to ac- not to allow the IRA to enter talks un- the Shankill— the symbolic heart of to buy arms. cept that the IRA would retain them til all the arms had been handed in. loyalism to the Crown. At a recent But he is right about one thing. during exploratory talks. conference on protestant culture The nationalists and the unionists Mr McLoughlin, speaking on BBC Revisionism is the dying and identity his party was attacked are both claiming they have “won” Radio yesterday morning, said: clammy hand of subjective for piously refusing to negotiate in Northern Ireland. “They can’t “There is a considerable, amount of bourgeois-idealist philosophy with people who once supported both be right,” he says. Paisley will distrust both in the British govern- holding back workers from or were involved in violence while continue to call “betrayal” from the ment’s track record on Ireland, and Marxist-Leninist science, – fake hinting at the use of the same dark margins, even if nobody appears to the failure of constitutional politics ‘socialists’ from right-wing forces when it suited them. be listening. over the last 70 years, for it to be Labourite ‘reformist’ class-col- This charge is strongly denied by Mr Powell said there was a “game realistic to expect either the IRA or laborators to the sectarian Trot Paisley and his party, but the memo- plan” to detach Northern Ireland loyalists would hand over weapons middle-class ultra-lefts at the ries of his deputy, Peter Robinson, in from the United Kingdom. “Give before there is clear evidence that... a red beret and the late-night rallies them self-government upon a scale there is consolidated prospect for other extreme. Build Leninism. of men brandishing firearms certifi- that they cannot refuse and attach to agreement on political structures. Spread the ILWP Bulletin. Joe cates haunt them all still. “He’s led it conditions which will bring them “To insist as a precondition to any Harper us all up to the top of the hill only into a united Ireland.” to march us back down again too of- The only protection lay in his slo- Dublin farce a headache for bourgeois ten,” is a common observation. gan, “the union, the whole union, Paisley can be accused of playing and nothing but the union”. reaction, not for real anti-imperialist the same old games. Only last week, Away from the conference floor, after liberally peppering the “en- one delegate from the party’s pro- advance. Imperialist crisis everywhere emies of Ulster” — everybody but gressive wing was heard to whis- the DUP — with buckshot he warned: per in the bar: “Personally, I’m all exposing the rotten warmongering “The Union is not safe, the Union for an all-Ireland tourist board, for can be betrayed. We would repeat to instance.” But his face clouded with essence of imperialist ‘democracy’, John Major and the Dublin govern- worry when asked if this might be ment the challenge of Lord Carson extended to agriculture — Ireland’s completing the conditions for its revo- — interfere with us if you dare, be- other big earner — and if so, then cause you cannot rule us without was not this simply the rocky road lutionary overthrow by the working the consent of the majority.” to Dublin? “That’s the problem, we Carson founded the original Ulster just don’t know,” he admitted. “The class armed with Leninism. Volunteer Force, which was pre- cross-border bodies are the crux pared to coerce the Government into now.” [South West Bulletin No 96 17-11-94 in EPSR No 778] giving Northern Ireland its own ger- Mr Hume’s refusal to countenance rymandered parliament and a place another internal settlement for The resignation of the Irish colonialism, without the help in the Union at the point of a gun. It Northern Ireland is the block in the prime minister, Albert Reyn- of the treacherous leadership in was Carson’s UVF 80 years ago which road for the Ulster Unionist game olds, brought down by a storm Dublin. introduced the gun to Northern plan, and though his name was of accusations and exposures The “peace process” is not the Ireland’s politics. Carson is a heroic barely mentioned he was Banquo’s of lying, sleaze, corruption and gift of Reynolds, or Major, or figure for Paisley. He doesn’t dis- ghost at the weekend’s feast. cover-up, is far more damaging Clinton, or anyone else, to be courage comparison. This spring he to the hold that the lying fraud taken away because of a domes- ran a series of Carson Trail-style ral- THE IRA will not be prepared to of capitalist ‘democracy’ has on tic political crisis in Ireland, lies across the province. the Irish working class, than it Britain or the US. But it was a founder of the modern relinquish its armoury as the first UVF, a group responsible for some stage in the process of reaching a is likely to be to the “peace pro- The overwhelming inter- of the worst atrocities of the last 25 political settlement. cess”, though it does highlight national recognition of the years, who galvanised the public Sinn Féin sources have already the limitations of the national- legitimacy of the nationalist when he spoke of the loyalist para- ruled out movement on the arms ist perspectives put forward by struggle, spectacularly built on militaries’ “abject and true remorse” question without significant pro- Sinn Féin/IRA. in recent months with Adams’ upon the announcement of their gress in other areas, including re- While it is possible that the visits to the US, and the propa- ceasefire. lease of prisoners, withdrawal of change of leadership in Dublin ganda victories scored by the Gusty Spence is this week in the troops, and replacement of the RUC, as well as new political structures. will throw up some problems for sophisticated nationalist tactics United States as part of a loyalist the continuation of negotiations compared to the clumsy wood- delegation presenting their mes- Yesterday Mr Adams said there sage to the same politicians that could be no preconditions to talks. over British withdrawal from enness of London, is not going Gerry Adams has recently met. The “All the guns and explosives of all the Occupied Zone, and the per- to disappear simply because “No” word has gone out of fashion. the armies need to be decommis- sonal relationships established Reynolds has been exposed as a “Unionists have a legitimate politi- sioned. The issue is to get all the between the parties involved are lying hypocrite. cal philosophy which they must go weapons taken out of Irish politics,” obviously of significance, by far Neither is the 1985 Anglo- out and sell,” says David Ervine, an- he told Brian Walden on ITV. the biggest problem presented Irish Treaty (forced out of the other spokesman for the Progressive “Any attempt to get a section of by the collapse in Dublin is the cowardly green tories in Dublin Unionist Party and a broker of the nationalists to disarm unilaterally, I would think, would be doomed to one now facing Westminster and the British colonial state by loyalist paramilitary ceasefire. and the green Tories in Dublin. the huge international support It is a journey which Paisley failure.” has persistently refused to make. Pressed repeatedly on the matter, The “peace process”, as it for the hunger strikers, the elec- Further sidelined by John Major Mr Adams said it was Sinn Fein’s in- stands today, has been won, tion of Bobby Sands to West- 35 who, with the skills of the chief tention to remove the gun “perma- arms in hand, by the heroic minster whilst dying as a politi- whip’s office, threw the turbulent nently and irreversibly” from Irish and determined revolution- cal prisoner of the British state, pastor out of Number 10 and pulled politics. ary nationalist struggle led by and the continuing unbeatable the rug from under his feet with the THE Northern Ireland Secretary, Sinn Féin/IRA against British military struggle of the IRA) EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 about to be rescinded because of semi-feudal Catholic establish- in order to deliberately lay on UVF activist who has served a Reynolds’ resignation. ment, paedophile priests, bent a last-minute ‘demonstration life sentence for sectarian kill- Britain’s public admission, judges and lying politicians, a of complete impartiality and ing at that. conceded in the Downing Street Marxist class analysis (exposing objectivity’, for the first time He was quoted in the bour- Declaration, that it no longer the whole rotten stinking racket ever, just so as to provoke this geois press: has any economic or strategic of the ‘democratic’ capitalist very backlash. Asked about his decision to take interest in ‘Northern Ireland’, system, and advancing the need By using the ‘strict letter of part in this weekend’s events Mr cannot be unsaid. for proletarian revolution and the law’ to set up a situation Hutchinson, a member of the The international standing the building of an Irish workers which manufactured petty- Progressive Unionist Party’s del- of Irish political leaders like state) makes much more sense bourgeois mob hysteria can egation holding talks with civil McGuinness and Adams, whom than the more limited nation- pretend to find ‘completely servants, said: “It’s well known the British have for years tried alistic perspectives put forward intolerable’, the Establishment what happened on Bloody Sunday. to dismiss as nothing more than by Sinn Féin, which currently can creep closer to declaring It shouldn’t have happened, irre- spective of what people might say. criminal racketeers, will not appear to be viewing the dif- the whole 25-year ‘emergency’ It is an event in our history which be undermined because of the ficulties into which the cowardly to have been ‘correct’ in the way we could have done without.” exposure of the real criminal Dublin leadership has run solely it was conducted, but to all be However, he told the Derry Journal: racketeers, the ones running as an occasion for alarm and now ‘out of touch with changing “When we witness loyalists and government in Dublin. gloom. realities’, etc. Unionists taking part in a debate The problem that British im- Seen in its wider context, the At which point it might be- in the Bogside, something positive perialism now has, in company crisis in Dublin is yet another come easier for the entire Brit- must have come out of the events of with the Dublin administra- reflection on the difficulties ish bourgeoisie to pronounce all Bloody Sunday.” tion, is how to carry on with the afflicting the bourgeoisie eve- the ‘law and order’ provisions of The Democratic Unionist Party will be represented by Gregory steady withdrawal of British rywhere as the relentless crisis a conflict which is now ‘in the Campbell, the party’s leader in the occupation, and with negotia- of capitalist ‘overproduction’ past’ to be ‘out of date’. city. Three years ago Mr Campbell tions over new constitutional causes ever greater internation- That way, the 25-year attempt criticised Derry city council for arrangements, without letting al tension, resulting in increas- to defeat the national-liberation funding the weekend’s events, out into the open the extent ingly paralysed governments struggle does not have to be which culminate in a mass march. of secret deals, promises etc., as ‘solutions’ to the anarchy considered as a ‘big mistake’ or At the same time, the Dublin threatening thereby further to of capitalism get ever further worst of all as a ‘total failure’. It government has stepped up the undermine London and Dublin’s away. The divisions opening can begin to be written off as ‘no pace of releasing its Republican face-saving operations, – at a up in the former ‘free world’ longer relevant to the changed prisoners, clearly with the con- time when both administrations anti-communist ‘alliance’ are conditions and changed at- nivance of the British govern- are permanently on the brink of now becoming so wide that even titudes in which all those ment, whatever is pretended to collapse. the complacent petty bourgeois involved find themselves’. the opposite. At a moment when the Irish commentators for the capitalist Crucial to this stratagem And with respectable part working class may well be won- press can no longer ignore them. working will be the role of the of the British Establishment dering how much longer they [...] British colonist ‘loyalists’, and currently going out of their want to be putting up with a D Watts they have partly started re- way to praise Gerry Adams for Discussion sponding just as Downing Street so helping to bring peace to would have wished, – denounc- Occupied Ireland, the capital- Deepening twilight of British imperial- ing the campaign to release ist state is slowly gearing up Clegg as “typical English par- for a total transformation in ism over Ireland is a sound measure tiality”, and demanding equal British imperialism’s relations reconsideration for the plight with the Occupied Zone and the of how the whole monopoly-capitalist of ‘every prisoner jailed just for Republic: doing their job’ in the civil-war system internationally will soon be conflict now ended, – meaning The Sinn Féin leader, Gerry Adams, the jailed UVF and UFP Unionist receives a remarkable tribute from the former Northern Ireland forced to submit to revolutionary chal- thugs, the RUC and UDR ‘cowboy’ Secretary, Peter Brooke, in a televi- killers, and, presumably, the sion profile to be shown by the BBC lenge, the Mexican economic crisis national liberation struggle’s tonight. Mr Brooke tells Panorama: being typical. Republican prisoners-of-war as “In my view he was a brave man well. and I hope he will be justified. [EPSR No 787 31-01-95] Some of the language has “That step [the ceasefire] was a The campaign to free Private screens around the world, must been remarkable. “Why are crucial step. I describe it myself as Clegg shows the humbug and stop come what may. not the Irish prisoners being a Rubicon. He led them across that hypocrisy of the British ruling The prisoners issue might treated the same as the English Rubicon. And I think the whole of Ireland, and the whole of these is- class as its most degenerate, but be one way of sowing so much prisoners”, etc, – dropping lands, and I think arguably the there could be some crippled confusion over British imperial- all reference, for once, to the whole of the world is grateful to him method in this Establishment ism’s involvement in Ireland ‘Britishness’ which these Ulster for having done it.” madness. that, to Washington and the colonists are usually so proud to Earlier this month the Northern Alone, the ILWP has consist- EEC’s satisfaction, - the entire flaunt. Ireland Secretary, Sir Patrick ently explained (see ILWP Books 25-year ‘emergency’ can be More remarkable still, both Mayhew, said Mr Adams needed vol 8 & 15 – Ireland ) that British declared to have been full of of the main Unionist political some government support to pre- imperialism has for more than mistakes on all sides, and there- parties sent representatives vent him being replaced by a more a decade basically been seeking fore better wound up, but with at the weekend to a confer- hardline republican leadership. ways to get out of Ireland com- no ‘losers’ or ‘winners’. ence in Derry, organised by the That current government pletely but without appearing to The astonishingly high- nationalists to honour the 14 comment is, of course, of the concede any victory to the IRA’s powered Clegg campaign has Irish civilians massacred by the usual mealy-mouthed kind. and Sinn Féin’s armed revolu- suddenly been whipped up British paratroopers on Bloody The British imperialists want tionary struggle. out of nothing by the sorts of Sunday 23 years ago this week. a deal because they have been Washington and the Common establishment figures who know And perhaps even more hopelessly trounced, politically Market have long insisted that exactly why the normal ‘rule of astonishingly, the Ulster Vol- and militarily, by the outstand- the highly damaging image for law’ and the status quo should unteer Force sent a delegate to ing Irish national-liberation the West of bloody colonial war prevail, for deep reasons of commemorate the murdered struggle, – and they want a deal 36 inflicted on a great European abiding class-rule domination. Irish civilians for whom no Brit- with Adams now they have been nation by one of the pillars of It is looking suspiciously as ish military or police represent- forced to negotiate. NATO and the ‘free’ world, and if Clegg was kept in jail by a atives were ever found guilty or But the Tory Cabinet tactic shown nightly on television series of High Court judgments even charged, – and a former has been obvious throughout EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 of only wanting to be seen to they are ‘unjust’ now, they were tradict the ludicrous Downing the paramilitaries to the negotiating be dragging their feet, conced- ‘unjust’ then, Messrs capitalist Street posture that it has never table, even armed, than to risk the ing no ‘victories’ for Sinn Féin press. And every IRA volunteer and will never concede anything creation of splinter groups by insist- or the IRA, and no ‘defeats’ for soldier was only ‘doing their to the IRA, exposing Major’s ing on disarmament. One top RUC man said: ‘It’s all to the colonist population or their duty’ as well, just like Clegg is supposed ‘negotiating stance’ as play for. The people at the top are British military protectors. dubiously claimed to have been pure hogwash which is merely committed to the process — keep Major & Co are nervously doing. covering things up while wait- them locked into the process, and waiting for the impossible The campaign to clear Clegg ing for the Unionists to accept keep the other people happy... Splits situation, which is now facing as such is, of course, the most that the colonial game is up could lead to all sorts of problems. It the dying British colony, to outrageous nonsense. It was once and for all. is better if agreement is reached in begin to completely under- Clegg and his troop who carried The capitalist press itself any talks, that everyone is involved.’ mine the colonist community out the unprovoked butchery on has reported some interest- The flexible and pragmatic ap- and their die-hard ‘Unionist’ the teenage joyriders, gleefully ing aspects of the real British proach being taken by the police is fuelled by the knowledge that the intransigence, at which point it doing so as no less an author- imperialist position which is all terrorists could secretly keep guns is hoped that these ‘Loyalists’ ity than the BBC has admitted for facilitating the reunification in reserve and, even if they handed themselves will start to come up through its Panorama reporter of Ireland: them all in, could quickly get hold with new proposals for how this John Ware who has described SECURITY services throughout of more — there are 120,000 legally- colonial remnant can survive in gruesome detail the scenes Ireland believe it could prove coun- held guns in Northern Ireland, and peacefully, happily coexisting of triumphalism in the para- ter-productive for the Government guns for sale all over the world. with completed Irish Republi- troop barracks after the killing to insist that the IRA and Loyalists A senior Garda said: ‘The Provos can independence at long last where a cardboard mock-up of a surrender their arms before being could make a gesture and tell us after 800 years of struggle, in a Vauxhall Astra bore the legend allowed to participate in full peace where certain weapons are, and say talks, The Observer has learnt. “That’s it”. We don’t have an inven- reunited Ireland. ‘Built by robots; driven by Irish; tory of what they have.’ The British Establishment stopped by A Company’, to the John Major said in a BBC radio in- terview on Friday that he judged He added; ‘It is the intent not to use then hopes that the whole background of chortled smirks other political parties would not guns and bombs again that matters. Anglo-Irish political scene will demanding ‘take my picture wish to sit down with Sinn Féin If they handed in everything now, have become so muddled, so with the trophy’, etc. ‘without significant progress having they could restart making bombs in confused, and so transformed If there is a case for releasing been made on arms’, adding: ‘It is a year’s time.’ that London will continue to be Clegg on the grounds that ‘he equally my judgment that the British Peter Robinson, deputy leader of able to pretend that ‘no conces- was only doing his duty’, it could Government — any British govern- the Democratic Unionist Party, com- sions’ at all have, been made to only make sense if the respon- ment — could not, unless there had mented on Mr Major’s stand yester- been progress on arms.’ day: ‘They [the British Government] ‘armed terrorism’, and that the sibility for the unprovoked told us they were not talking to the ancient British pledge of ‘No deliberate butchery of teenage But Garda and RUC sources at the highest levels told The Observer that IRA—but they were. Then they gave surrender’ to the ‘Loyalists’ will joyriders was placed higher up, – it was more important to bring all an unequivocal assurance that they not have been reneged on by the either with the officers who sent would never clarify the Downing Tory Government. A Company out on patrol and Sinn Féin alone has appeared briefed and trained them, or to strike the right note over the British imperialist political the British bourgeois campaign establishment in the colony who to release Private Clegg. Clegg created the culture of colonial should be let out only when domination in the first place, all the prisoners of the ‘emer- persecuting and victimising the gency’ have been let out, Adams native Irish for centuries. explained. But simply switching respon- This would seem to meet sibility for the teenage joyriders with the British Government’s deaths to the higher-ups in this secret agenda, if there is one. If way can hardly be what the toffs the artificial clamour to release at the Daily Telegraph and the Clegg becomes too great, despite Daily Mail and their legions of his ‘lawful’ conviction for the retired-general supporters had unprovoked murder of Karen in mind. Reilly, then the way for London Their monstrous, racist, and to deal with the problem would fascistic claim is for complete be to advance talks about releas- exoneration for “a proper job, ing all those who ended up in well done”, etc. But such nause- jail as a result of ‘doing their ating degeneracy, however, need duty’ in the national-liberation not undermine any influence war. this campaign might have for Some of the bourgeois cam- viewing all those jailed as a paigning has played right into result of this national-liberation the hands of such an agenda. struggle with compassionate The Daily Mail, for example, has clemency. Such decadence might been screaming with contempt even add to a new mood for against the grotesque ‘injustice’ seeing everything from the past of Cleggs’ legal processes, sneer- in a different light. If the only ing that ‘he was found guilty ‘lawfully’ convicted British sol- by a court which did not even dier for murder can suddenly be have a jury’. Just so, and for declared to be a ‘hero’, it might nearly 25 years, the Republican do nothing for fascism but nationalist population has been merely make it possible for Brit- jailed and persecuted by similar ish public opinion to accept that ‘courts’ just for being Irish, everyone ‘lawfully convicted’ frequently convicted to prison in the course of the ‘emergency’ sentences for membership of should now be looked at in a some suspect Irish organisation fresh way. or other all on the say-so of an Beyond the prisoner issue, 37 “informer’s” muffled voice from the peace process is proceeding behind a screen in these Diplock anyway, – and once again in drumhead courts-martial. If ways which completely con- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Street Declaration — but they did. in Northern Ireland are entitled to administered and spent by the lo- The British monopoly- They promised that the IRA would either a British or an Irish passport, cally elected authorities. Differences imperialist establishment not be invited to exploratory talks or both. Northern Ireland’s inhabit- in levels between different areas has humiliatingly failed to do until it renounced violence and per- ants’ greatest need for defence this would soon be smoothed out. anything but continually lose to manently ended its murder cam- century has been against each other. Even if they were not, and this paign — but they did. The territorial issue can be fudged: led to population movements for the IRA and Sinn Féin because ‘Now, having pledged never to al- at present both the UK and the reasons of taxation rather than reli- it is a historically decadent low the IRA to enter full negotiations Irish republic lay claim to Northern gion, it would not be the worst way ruling class which has outlived until it hands over its arms and ex- Ireland; amend the Government of of furthering integration. No British its epoch of supremacy by some plosives, they tell us that “progress” Ireland Act to allow explicitly unifi- government, faced with the possibil- time and a long distance now, on this subject is all that is required cation by consent and alter the Irish ity of drastically cutting its annual and because the very process of — and they will define what consti- constitution to remove the impera- £3 billion contribution to Northern capitalist-system development tutes progress.’ tive to achieve it, and the situation Ireland, would object to loss of tax has irresistibly created ever new can remain substantially as is, pend- income from its 1.5m people. and more capable centres of And some of the bourgeois ing developments which only a fool Let the people of Ulster agree to- media have started to describe would try to predetermine. gether — or separately if they must anti-imperialist resistance and the ‘new Ireland’ as a fait accom- What matters is immediate events — on common Vat rates, health ser- struggle as the working masses pli, being lived daily, and are on the ground. A key issue is polic- vice funding and benefit levels. This have been transformed by the even proposing their own politi- ing. The Unionist-dominated RUC is no sell-out but a bold experiment social and cultural processes cal superstructures which might is already preparing for change. in restoring democracy to grassroots of advanced production-organ- constitutionalise this dramatic Senior RUC sources admit that not level. isation and technology into a transformation: only new recruits but candidates As for central government repre- class no longer appropriate for for promotion from the rank of chief sentation, let Northern Irish MPs Across the road Robinson’s bar, exploitation and domination inspector to superintendent are be- take seats in Westminster or the Dail but ready to become the ruling gutted and almost demolished ing asked how they would react to a as they choose (perhaps with non- in a bomb attack, has been refur- radical change in the culture of the voting rights in the other as well). class itself. bished at a cost of £2.4m and now force. Open all doors except violence. And Ireland only reflects is packed to the doors every night There is acceptance that only a There is no easy blueprint for much more vital challenges to of the week. much greater nationalist involve- peace in Northern Ireland; the above the imperialist order taking Robinson’s is a tangible metaphor ment will make the force univer- ideas are simply irons in the fire. place on the international stage. for the changed identity of Belfast: sally acceptable, and if that means a They could, however, produce a de- As the Bulletin has steadily a Janus-like symbol of the city’s new style and structure, it is worth gree of autonomy in which national- anticipated, the economic crisis two sides, republican and loyalist, it to return to normal policing rather ists would consider themselves reu- back to back The front bar is solidly in Mexico is turning out to be a than full-time anti-terrorism. Early nited with the rest of Ireland while monster headache for the whole Anglo-Irish, all mock-Victoriana retirements, widened recruitment, Unionists would remain British as complete with life-size figures of accelerated promotions and local long as they wanted. free-market system, if not a Sherlock Holmes and Watson. The community policing administered John Hume’s successful catch- lethal one yet. back bar, also accessible through a by up to 36 sub-divisions could be phrase is not a “united Ireland” but It does not just involve the separate door, is known as Fibber the beginning of a new order. an “agreed Ireland”, in the shortterm ‘usual problems’ of corruptly- McGee’s, equally pastiche but from In short, cantonisation is on it might have to be an agreement to governed ‘banana republic’ a different kit: a Donegal grocer’s the agenda. The concept failed in differ, but surely that is better than coming to grief for trying to kitchen pub, with hanging hams, Bosnia, but that is a war on a greater no agreement at all? We have al- live beyond their means with wellies and fiddle music. scale and not yet fought to a stand- ready experienced the alternative. Partly because of the official borrowed money. At stake is not still. only the entire market in inter- London-sponsored campaigns Ulster’s thankfully less brutal form All of this is consistent with against old bigotries, but more on of ethnic cleansing is relatively com- the actual developments in the national capital movements, account of the growth in the na- plete: the ghettos have rearranged British imperialist snail’s-pace but the very capitalist theories tionalist population of Belfast, the themselves. Communities are more withdrawal from the Occupied which have promoted the com- Celtic-Irish element in the city’s or less homogenous. Where they are Zone of Ireland established plete de-regulation of ‘modern’ culture has grown enormously. not, it is because the inhabitants are more than a decade ago. The rightwing economics. Three decades ago my grandfather, prosperous enough not to care. first official talks for 70 years And just how vital and deep a Stormont civil servant, Shankill A British government could do between the British Govern- the terrified divisions are in Road shopkeeper and past master of to Northern Ireland what Mrs his Orange Order lodge, would have ment and representatives of the bourgeois circles which for dif- Thatcher did to the Greater London ferent reasons are regarding the been horrified at the idea of street council: dissolve it into its constitu- Irish national liberation strug- signs in the Irish language in Belfast. ent parts. Not, in this case, the six gle have at last been held. And Mexican crisis as the final straw Today, even Protestants accept their counties, but smaller units, on bor- out of those talks have slipped or a bridge too far, – can be presence in nationalist areas. ough council level in parallel to po- leak after leak about the new seen from the paralysing split An even more crucial difference licing districts. cross-border bodies that are to the turmoil has led to between is that the new breed of politicians Whether existing boundaries are be set up with executive powers Clinton’s White House and the on the fringe of the Protestant para- acceptable or have to be redrawn is to regulate certain matters on new-right Republican Congress. militaries have learned a new lan- a topic for the talks. Already the bor- an all-Ireland basis, plus leak [...] guage themselves, compared with der has little meaning; if there were the familiar rantings of the Rev lan after leak about how the domi- All of which highlights the no police checkpoints, there would utter irrelevance to the inter- Paisley and his Protestant funda- be nothing to indicate crossing from nant Western allies (the United mentalism. “It’s time to ditch the one state to another in the west of States of America and the Com- national imperialist crisis of dinosaurs,” says Ervine. “We need the province. mon Market) have been pushing Blair’s soppy sentiments replac- to take the ayatollahs out of politics Currency is a problem, though as the Downing Street paralyt- ing Clause 4, and the Tory splits over here. John Paul II is a nice old the two are currently so near parity, ics all the way towards a new for or against a Eurocurrency. Polish bloke. It doesn’t do anybody only a small one. A single European sustainable peaceful settlement Marxist revolution is the only any good going around shouting currency would solve it. A “Europe of the Irish national question at sane perspective. Adam Carr he’s the anti-Christ. And calling the of the regions” may be unpopular Catholic Church the harlot of Rome long last. in Chelmsford, but it seems a good Ireland itself is not a world- is just downright offensive.” idea in Crossmaglen. Whereas the old breed of Unionist Different levels of taxation and shattering matter, and the politician affected not to know how social services North and South are defusing of the national issue to pronounce the names of the Irish frequently cited as a last-ditch de- there will not of itself have a republic’s two main parties, Fianna fence against Irish unity. But there great impact on the internation- Fail and Fine Gael, the new breed, is no absolute reason why the people al balance of class forces. from Ervine to Ken Maginnis, the of Northern Ireland should follow But the mess British imperial- sharply intelligent Ulster Unionist either pattern precisely. ism has got itself into, and how MP, know how to say them, who The province ran itself under de- they are and what they mean. “We London has been forced to set volution for half a century, immor- about trying to extricate itself 38have to. Whether, we like it or not, ally but not inefficiently. A greater they have a say in what happens degree of devolution could operate from its mire, – is full of signifi- here,” says Ervine. on similar lines. There is no rea- cance for the wider class-war There is no reason to end the cur- son why income tax should not be struggles against imperialist rent situation by which those born collected along with council tax, decadence. EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 what went on there, – the Bul- ment about “preserving democracy”. Discussion: letin was able to write: The capitalist system is not about democracy but about power, the power Bourgeois propaganda stunts cannot “After thousands more lives have been of the ruling class to dominate the lost; after further enormous destruc- economic life of the country and as halt historic trends in the international tion and disruption of livelihoods; much of the outside world as it could after being properly put in the dock through imperialism and colonialism, balance of class forces. internationally for its inhuman torture and to extract ‘super’-profits to enable [EPSR No 788 07-02-95] of suspects, its barbaric SAS assassina- it to live the life of a ruling class - domi- tion squads, and its NAZI-style intern- nating landowning, industry, the pro- The confusing propaganda Government if it did not tear ment-without-trial in concentration fessions, politics, the civil service, the blitzkriegs during the past week up the framework document camps, and its midnight terror raids on police-military hierarchy, the judiciary, Irish homes throughout the occupied press, television and publishing, and over Ireland and the Mexican (for bringing forward a reuni- zone; – after all this senseless mayhem, economic crisis show the worth fied Ireland at some time in the the academic world. the ruling class is getting ready to pull That domination is now crumbling of the Marxist-Leninist scien- future) - were so much wishful out anyway, ignominiously defeated in thinking, - some fundamental because the capitalist system is bank- tific outlook as the only sound its final rotten attempt to hang onto a rupt. It can no longer develop the materialist analysis of bour- class-historical truths would corner of Ireland, at least, – by hook economic resources sufficiently suc- geois society. have been a useful guide. or by crook. cessfully, – (due to its repeated slumps The Times ‘leak’-attempt to Downing Street has not just The ruling class is most sensitive of and wars), – to satisfy mankind’s legiti- galvanise the dying Orange suddenly gone weak-minded all to it being thought that its mighty mately expanding aspirations. colonist community into revolt and soft with the result that police-military dictatorship has been The failure and historical out-dated- forced out by a handful of IRA guer- ness of the system cannot be hidden by against the snail’s-pace British ‘the real interests of Britain rillas, especially considering that the imperialist withdrawal from and the British people were any amount of television propaganda – IRA is so politically handicapped by or any amount of brutal military sup- Ireland, was followed by further being sacrificed’, etc, – and the its insane policy of anti-civilian terror Orange colonist community in pression, as the 20th century history Whitehall reactionary lobby bombing. of Ireland has shown, the century of efforts to pretend that rebelling the Occupied Zone of Ulster had But the facts are that the Republican British imperialist decline. Ulster Unionists could combine not just suddenly gone to sleep movement’s heroic struggle against Now the British ruling class is falling with the Labour Party to bring or started to smell particularly the police-military-dictatorship, – the apart as its system crumbles beneath down the Tory Government at offensively whereby the main enormous suffering and sacrifice that it. Westminster. British Tory Establishment the IRA and the nationalist working The gestures and hints (the Dublin class have withstood, and the fanatical- summit, the concessions to the hun- But this desperate and pa- would, out of the blue, suddenly ly courageous fight by the Republican thetic deception looked doomed start wanting to ‘betray’ or ger strikers, etc) of acceptance at last military wing against overwhelmingly by the British ruling class that its re- from the start. Although the ‘sell out’ this part of the United superior odds of the British occupa- Kingdom and the British people, maining toe-hold on Ireland, – its mili- obscene opportunists Blair tion, – all this has won the sympathy tary occupation of the north, – can no & Co are capable of any dirty – as was all being implied by of the international working class. longer be maintained (a development tricks going to try to get into this reactionary Union-Jack- It has forced even the bourgeoisie in already reported by the Bulletin), still office, – imagining that Labour waving Whitehall lobby and its countries like the USA, the British rul- fall far short of an agreement to actu- could be bamboozled into help- backward press contacts. ing class’s closest ally and support, to ally get out, as we explained. ing Orange colonist fascists to British imperialism’s real condemn the continued military oc- The Tories want to end the infamous cupation. sabotage the peace process in intentions towards its colonial history of London’s 800-year attempt So the Guardian’s very long sour to dominate Ireland by quietly slipping Ireland, – and still maintain occupation of part of Ireland, grapes editorial this week beginning popular electoral support, – and what was the real truth away so that no one will notice, – and which lay behind all the wild “The Provisional IRA now has very certainly without giving the impres- sounded like one barroom fan- little going for it” sion of a complete humiliation and tasy too many. media speculation and confu- was written because the remark- reversal of policy due to having its Without ruling out the most sion-mongering of the last week able turnaround now in sight in Brit- Orange police-military dictatorship amazing unexpected leaps, about an ‘unstoppable revolt’ ish policy on Ireland has touched on undermined by a handful of IRA guer- turn-rounds, and transforma- against Downing Street policies, the rawest of raw nerves of the ruling rillas, backed by the entire Republican tions in the politics of deep and and an ‘unbeatable electoral class, particularly the IRA’s part in forc- working class. incurable crisis of the capitalist alliance with Labour to halt the ing that turn-round. The bigoted Protestant bourgeoisie system to come, the chaos is not Tory Government in its tracks’, The one thing the bourgeoisie can- look like making any such quiet with- that great yet to suppose that etc, etc, – could only be success- not stand, having staked its survival drawal impossible for the Tories. on the illusions and tricks of “parlia- The Stronge family’s refusal to let even the unprincipled imbe- fully approached from a correct mentary democracy” and the “rule of the Westminster government be rep- cile Blair could think he could understanding of the post-1945 law” which it has hypocritically built resented at the ritual tribal funeral of get away with such a stunt as international balance of class up over the centuries of unchallenged the former Stormont speaker, gunned voting with nazi ‘loyalists’ to forces. imperialist domination, is the example down by the IRA together with his prolong colonial dictatorship in The basis for British imperial- of a relatively small group of dedicated equally-prominent son in a major as- the Occupied Zone of Ireland, ism’s historic retreat from its revolutionary nationalists openly “de- sault by the IRA in retaliation for the especially after so many years of colonisation of Ireland began to fying” the Crown’s “law and order” and uncontrolled murders of leading Re- Labour (albeit futilely and inco- be laid down a long time ago. winning mass support for that inde- publicans (Bernadette Devlin the lat- herently) supporting eventual Far from it being a last- pendent stand, undermining British est attempted victim) by the capital- capitalist rule. ist state and its tolerated Protestant reunification of Ireland as its minute decision arbitrarily on The British bourgeoisie fear that as assassination squads, – was obviously basic policy, and as many years Major’s part to ‘betray’ Moly- things start to get rougher in Great the consensus of the whole northern of opposing the annual renewal neaux & Co, and a decision Britain due to the slump, and workers Ireland ruling class. of the Prevention of Terrorism which, moreover, a lot of Union- begin to realise that the “parliamen- It marks an unheard-of low in rela- Act in opposition to the detailed ist jumping up and down would tary democracy” fraud is doing noth- tions between the Tory ruling class in mishandling of the ‘Emergency’ be able to reverse, – the British ing (about their suffering, permanent Britain and their “Ulster Unionist” imi- and the Irish question by the Establishment acceptance that mass unemployment, and falling living tators in the north of Ireland. Tories. the colonial game is up in the standards) but act as a bromide to di- The Curragh Mutiny and Carson’s But before it could be fully Occupied Zone of Ireland be- vert anger from revolutionary chan- 1911-1914 rebellion is generally nels, – similar moves for political mo- seen how the Times leak and its thought of as the gravest-ever crisis came clear a long time ago. bilisation, independent of the ruling in relations between Westminster and handling were a plain propa- Even in January 1981 with class will begin in Britain. the “loyalist” capitalist class in Ireland. ganda stunt by a Rule-Britannia still four years to go before the But the degeneration of British capi- But that was against the Liberal Par- lobby within the British Estab- 1985 Anglo-Irish Treaty first talism proceeds rapidly and becomes ty. The dominating sector of the Brit- lishment to pretend that they tentatively accepted that the more and more obvious whatever rot- ish ruling class around the Tory Party could command a new Carson affairs of the occupied Zone ten propaganda smokescreens it puts openly sided with the Orange rebellion rebellion against any imposed were properly the concern of up to hide its political catastrophes against London in that period. The reunification deal from Lon- the whole of Ireland, and the in Ireland, ‘Rhodesia’ and elsewhere, infamous partition of Ireland in 1921 39 don, – and how the hints that door was just slightly opened to and whatever lying humbug it spreads was the result. through the press, parliament, and its an electoral deal with Labour But now it is the Tory Party, the voice the idea of Dublin governments millions of reformist agents through- of the ruling class establishment itself could bring down the Major developing some official say in out the Labour and trade union move- which is preparing to abandon the EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 province finally to Irish national libera- of conditioning British public opinion of British imperialism and its growing The totally justified violent class tion. for the ignominious British military economic and political crisis, – just as revolt by the Irish Republicans in the For this rift to have already degener- pull-out after recent years and previ- that was the background to the partial north over the last 15 years now en- ated to the point where the Tories are ous centuries of vicious and ultimately retreat from Irish domination in 1921. sures that it won’t be. being virtually boycotted for their ‘fail- futile repression and destruction. But no dying ruling class has ever Despite some IRA political willing- ure to protect Loyalist Ulster’ implies But the safe petty bourgeois gang of voluntarily let go its hold on power. ness to compromise, and despite all that strong feelings of UDI – unilateral journalists, politicians and academic The history of the world is the history the sabotage by the local Orange Order declaration of independence - are rife historians gathered in the studio were of new emerging forces pushing the of solutions to the prisoners status again. by no means let completely off the dying ruling class out of the way; it is dispute, etc, the decaying British rul- It implies that the Tories’ reluctant capitalist establishment leash. the history of class struggle. ing class will be forced out. [ILWP No acceptance, under US imperialist pres- They had one last essential service to And that struggle has NEVER been 79 12-03-81 -ed] sure, that the spectacle of permanent perform, – and that was to drum it into peaceful. It has always been climaxed armed rebellion against British mili- viewers heads that ‘violence’ is the real by a violent overthrow of the old order. Later on, this analysis was tary occupation in the north of Ire- cause of all the intractable problems Unlike anarchists and nationalist- regularly added to, detailing land was fatally tarnishing the West’s and the one impossible obstacle to a terrorists however, revolutionary the symbolic role played by the “freedom and democracy” image, could final solution of the Irish troubles. Marxists do not make violence the Occupied Zone of Ireland itself finally force Britain to get out, as the The violence of the IRA, naturally. starting point of the struggle. in the decline of British imperi- Bulletin has explained. Not the violence of British rule which Exactly the opposite. Only the revo- alist fortunes, – a military base The rift gives more credibility, there- first CONQUERED Ireland and has lutionary working class has the power guarding Britain’s back door fore, to the understanding that deals hung on since by sword, bullet, and to finally and completely end imperi- which was no longer needed were discussed at the recent Dublin gallows. Not the violence of the ger- alist oppression and bring about real (or too expensive to maintain) summit for an elaborate cover-up of rymandering Orange bourgeois clique independence and national self-de- a British withdrawal from northern which tyrannously ruled the remaining termination. And that is through the given British imperialism’s now Ireland. occupied north of Ireland after British socialist revolution which alone, when vastly reduced importance in Paisley’s continual prodding at the imperialism was forced to relinquish completed at the higher stage of com- world economic and military settlement with the Maze hunger- control of three-quarters of Ireland munism, can eradicate any basis for domination after 1945 (and strikers and blanket-protest men gives after the Rising and the bloody War of class or national oppression arising out increasingly declining because the same impression. Independence against the Black and of the unequal economic development of further economic decadence He knows that a sell-out is being Tans, 1916-1921. of the world. (vis-a-vis Germany, the USA, cooked up. [ILWP Bulletin 73 – ed] Even the anti-partition Catholic na- But the working class becomes Japan, the Common Market, tionalist John Hume, the sop to ‘Irish revolutionary not through military or etc) by the time of the 1960s A few weeks later, the Bulletin opinion’ on the programme, could not insurrectionary organisation, as neces- explained again: please his parliamentary circus-mates sary as that may ultimately be, (due to and 1970s); and a shipbuilding “If there was no intention of getting quick enough by declaring “violence is ruling class police-military dictatorship and engineering heavy-industry Ulster off its hands by a deal with Dub- no solution” and condemning the IRA and civil war), but through POLITICAL base which was no longer profit- lin, then what would be the point of as much as anybody. organisation. And in many cases, even able because of that very decline the continuous pained reassurances This fraudulent petty bourgeois con- under autocratic tyranny let alone in British imperialism’s world- to Paisley and the rest. Just let the spiracy of journalists, politicians, and bourgeois democracy, terrorism can be wide performance in economic master-race loonies see after a time academics is not just aimed against IRA an obstacle to revolutionary political competitiveness. that nothing is happening (if there re- tactics and the class-purpose of IRA organisation. That expensive outpost in Oc- ally are no such pull-out plans), and the violence (both of which Marxist revo- Many of the IRA’s terrorist tactics cupied Ireland was becoming a lutionaries also depart from). have been just such an obstacle, – con- trouble will die down of its own accord. pointlessly expensive burden for What makes the Tories’ intentions It was aimed against the very notion firming and cementing the IRA’s bour- hard to comprehend, – and what could of class violence as a solution to class geois nationalist limitations. all kinds of reasons. force their abandonment (apart from oppression. But the IRA’s purely military nation- At the same time, the Bulletin Paisley), – is the ruling class’s obsessive It was a message to the working class al-liberation struggle against the Brit- began to note the corresponding fear that they must not be seen to be of Britain: “Violence is bad. It will nev- ish police-military dictatorship has decline in the internal confi- ‘giving in to violence’, i.e. withdrawing er solve anything. Don’t think that any been all too painfully successful from dence and reason-for-existing under IRA pressure. British pull-out from the remaining a Tory ruling class point of view, from of the British colonist com- This was also the curious final mes- military occupation of Ireland has got the beginning of this century to the munity itself. The one million sage of the long television series on anything to do with the violent resist- present day, and it has now forced yet bogusly ‘British-Irish’ could ance of the IRA.” another retreat. Irish history which ended this week quietly survive unremarkably with a studio discussion. To the extent that IRA violence re- The petty tyranny of the gerryman- The series on BBC and ITV were flects a class war determination by dered Orange rule of Ulster would have if they meekly and sensibly clearly inspired by the British capitalist Irish workers and intelligentsia to fight gone on for ever if the Republicans had merged properly into their Irish establishment after years of a total ban against British ruling class domina- not grown rebellious by the end of the background. But as the arrogant on televising such sensitive material, tion, (or that of its Protestant Orange 1960s. And if the British army had met colonist advanced guard for which clearly brought out the great petty bourgeois proxies), – then it is no resistance from the IRA and the en- continued British imperialist injustice and brutality of Britain’s long precisely the IRA’s violence which has tire Republican working class in the oc- rule, they were bound to be a domination of Ireland. finally forced Britain’s hand. cupied north, that same petty tyranny dying and spent force. Brit- They could only have been given the The background to this is, of course, would have eventually been installed ish imperialist rule was dying go-ahead for the deliberate purpose the steadily weakening world position back in power there.

40 EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 worldwide, – losing position of ‘struggle’ (i.e. posturing) was sovereignty to its imperialist More revolutionary repercus- after position in economic, supposed to prevail. creditors, including control of sions in Mexico from all this are political and military matters to The Mexican crisis is almost its own oil reserves; suspicion inevitable, swelling the already rival imperialist powers and to as rich in class-war lessons. that all the players are devalu- powerful spontaneous commu- the national-liberation strug- Clinton’s presidential coup to ing currencies or raising inter- nist rebellion in the southern gle, – and the British imperial- twist the arms of the reluctant est rates not for the “world’s provinces. ist colonial community in the Congress, the IMF, the BIS, and common good” but for partisan And if the ‘surplus’-capital Occupied Zone of Ireland would some Western ‘partners’ to national or private interests; trade-war bubble is prevented be bound to see its whole way bail out the collapsed Mexican public certainty that taxes and from swamping Mexico, it will of life, and its whole lifestyle, “investment” bubble, reveals cuts are once more being used burst out somewhere else some- die too. It was self-consciously how unprecedentedly close to a to bail out failed multinational time soon.[..] becoming a community which worldwide markets meltdown in monopoly-imperialist gambling. Build Leninism JB knew the game was up and had modern times things were last started to no longer believe its week, – and still are, in effect, War requiems cannot drown the own bombastic propaganda, – because the debt crisis, and the just as progressively befell the ‘hot money’ fears that the circus drumbeat of capitalism’s endlessly British colonial communities juggling can no longer continue, in Rhodesia, in South Africa, has only been ‘solved’ once renewed aggressive conflicts. Marxist- and elsewhere around the old again...by stoking up an even Empire as the national-libera- bigger debt crisis to ‘overcome’ Leninist scientific understanding of tion struggle irresistibly swept the difficulty, and by juggling modern history is now crucial and forward under the unstoppable even more balls in the air than influence of the world social- ever before. sabotaged principally by the 57 varie- ist revolution (albeit by then Inter-imperialist bitterness becoming bogged down in its nearly brought things crashing ties of fake-’lefts’. own internal development by down this time, – as Germany & [EPSR No 789 14-02-95] the lethal sickness of revisionist Co poured scorn on bigger IMF ideology). bailouts while the fundamental The Russian Revolution failed to tionary socialist history from Marxist-Leninist science of US indebtedness underlying complete what was so famously the 19th century onwards, but history as the history of class the Mexican near-catastrophe, begun in 1917 largely because particularly from 1917 onwards. struggle and nothing else, fun- still remains unresolved (and the grasp of Marxist-Leninist Only the steady building of a damentally, in modern times, unresolvable, other than by philosophy proved subsequently party totally dedicated to that provided the only basis for a new Depression, trade war, to be much feebler than the 57 scientific task will be of real trying to decide if in 1995 the and world war). Washington varieties of petty-bourgeois use to the working class in the British imperialist colony could hopes the China trade war can anti-communist ‘leftism’ world- very complex international and rally its forces to prevent the be a successful practice for wide. class-war battles to come. creeping reunification of Ireland universal fisticuffs to come. It The next great leap forward And that building will not as a press/Whitehall lobby was might turn out to be the first in history will take place when be done by a single gimmick implying, and if the Labour of many bloody noses to come the post-1945 capitalist crisis but only by the struggle for Party’s opportunism could be for the decadent imperialist of a massively long inflation- revolutionary theory itself, bent far enough to help Orange ‘leadership’, now undermined by ary boom finally matures in blow-by-blow, understanding- reaction to turn back the clock. ‘surplus’-capital sclerosis which unstoppable international by-understanding, as history As soon as all this present must befall the whole monop- currency collapses, and civil-war unfolds. The greater the volume confusing dust has settled, it oly-imperialist system eventu- aggression by the ruling class and spread of revolutionary un- will be informative to analyse ally, under iron laws of capitalist finally obliges the working class derstanding, the more and the how the fake petty-bourgeois accumulation discovered by to take to the proletarian-dicta- faster will the party grow. ‘revolutionaries’ of the bogus Marx and still unrefuted. Chi- torship road once again, roughly The complexities of the ‘left’ in Britain have continued na’s centrally-directed economy along similar lines to what is national-liberation struggle their cretinous misleadership of should cope much better with potentially posed in Mexico in Ireland have repeatedly workers on the Irish question, trade war than the more vicious now, but on a far more brutal exposed the pathetic theoretical disarming the proletariat from but anarchic Western market and ruthless worldwide scale, backwardness of the fake- effective class struggle totally free-for-all. possibly after the reimposition ’left’, including the weakness by keeping up the ignorance Meanwhile, more propaganda of inter-imperialist warmonger- of Sinn Féin itself which for of the real world and real class smokescreens have been poured ing of some description. ages limped along burdened struggle analyses that workers out by bourgeois ideology to The last thing that is needed by a petty-bourgeois defeatist have always suffered from under hide the hysteria over Mexico’s meanwhile is just more ‘left’ attitude towards victory over a variety of subjective-idealist near-crash, among them the party posturing of the old imperialism (see ILWP Books illusions from anarchism to crudely obvious substitution at Trotskyite activist kind which vol 8, 15 & 22 Ireland) when it ultra-leftism. once of Brazil for Mexico as the is utterly bankrupt on the vital failed to grasp how the Hunger This SWP, WRP, RCP, etc, new ‘engine’ of Latin American question of first mastering com- Strikes and the related political swamp play the crucial role in ‘economic miracles’ on the sim- pletely the scientific revolution- successes had dealt the colo- helping the straight bourgeois plistic grounds that since Brazil ary theory of Marxism-Lenin- nial statelet a mortal blow, and press, from the Guardian to the did not immediately follow ism, – proudly and philistinely how the Anglo-Irish Treaty of Times, to try to stampede the Mexico down the chute, then so in the case of such outfits as 1985 confirmed that setback to political situation in Britain that must make it a real winner. Class War and the SWP, the most British imperialism, accepting into a reactionary catastrophe, This bilge was followed by prominent of the anti-Soviet, Dublin’s authority over affairs as happened last week with the extraordinary spectacle of anti-proletarian-dictatorship, in the occupied north, albeit all the lying gibberish about the Brazilian Cabinet taking a anti-communist groupings. only in embryo form. how the IRA/Sinn Féin Irish 25% pay cut (from their huge A steady increase in the ‘left’ Recent twists and turns and national-liberation struggle was salaries) to con the masses pressure that these anti-Len- frenzied propaganda smoke- ‘properly’ going to be defeated into accepting a 42% loss in inist organisations can apply screens from a humiliated Brit- after all, supposedly. The whole the purchasing power of their might be good for a laugh or ish imperialist establishment bourgeoisie, from large to small, minimum wage. Such stunts even no great harm in itself, – over its ill-concealed snail’s pace collectively hate the idea of hint that desperation is close in but crucially it will not achieve withdrawal from Ireland (mak- armed revolutionary struggle, Brazil too. what most needs to be achieved, ing ghoulish nonsense of the especially one of such ‘uncouth’ Despite the propaganda blitz- – a complete relearning and last 25 years’ colonial butchery 41 spontaneity as that of the IRA/ krieg around Mexico’s near-col- re-working of Marxist-Leninist in an 800-year-long record of Sinn Féin, triumphing where a lapse, stark facts emerged such theory from top to bottom, re- failed conquest) – have exposed more bogusly ‘learned’ tradition as the effective loss of Mexican digesting the whole of revolu- more of the fake-’left’ confu- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 sion. are best served by unity with their fellow unbeatability of the IRA and the all-Ireland approach. The previous issue of Class workers, ‘Catholic, Protestant or dissenter.’ It real damage to City of London As the Bulletin has repeatedly ex- must be a party which can show Protestant plained, the extreme Orange and im- War, for example, included the workers that they have nothing to gain from fortunes that the mainland following statements: bombing campaign had begun perialist bourgeoisie may not like this supporting the northern state and that they proposed virtual abandonment of the have nothing to fear from the type of Ireland to inflict towards the end of the Gerry Adams assured everyone that the IRA old Union Jack-waving ‘guarantee’ that which would come from the destruction of initiative had given the republican move- struggle. Ulster would for ever remain ‘British’, ment “an opportunity to secure our political both partitionist states. These remarkable achieve- At the moment this may not seem possi- but their ability to fight against it as objectives.” ments in turn influenced power- Carson, the Tory Party, and the British In the weeks which followed the ceasefire ble but the alternative is for us to continue ful imperialist ‘allies’ of Britain Army officer caste did in the pre-World announcement, Sinn Féin were to show just to live in a society which breeds hatred and how they hoped to achieve those objec- violence. We cannot afford to leave it to in Washington and the Common War I period is only a farcical shadow tives. Having realised that the IRA campaign right wing politicians to sort out a future Market to twist London’s arm of its former self. could not succeed, they were now hoping to which will condemn another generation to into accepting that it would That extremist colonialist wing of the enter into an alliance with the SDLP and the sectarian division and poverty. have to dismantle this last British ruling class has lost its Empire Southern government. armed colony, – being careful and all its confidence in the subse- As socialists we have said all along that The essence of this naïve and quent half-century. The days of brazen the IRA campaign could not deliver even self-contradictory drivel is only to do so without making imperialist domination, – of Ireland or the limited aims of republicanism, but we to pointlessly damn the Irish it obvious that it was mostly a anywhere else, – are fast dying and be- are equally opposed to the new ‘unarmed national-liberation struggle for capitulation to revolutionary coming impossible for the ‘free world’ strategy’, which has nothing to offer the Irish not being a workers revolution- armed struggle. to get away with any longer. working class. ary socialist struggle, (which Wrapped up in their ridicu- Thus Paisley’s threatened revolt is al- You could be forgiven for thinking that gets described, however, in more lous subjective preening, these ready proving to be far less substantial Sinn Féin has taken a massive political step than shallow press predictions have to the right. Why then does Sinn Féin seek wimpishly reformist terms than dismal anarchists really have not the faintest idea what is indicated over the last few years. And agreement with parasites like the SDLP and ever Sinn Féin’s Popular-Front Hermon’s stand implies that the Brit- Fianna Fail? The answer to this lies in the really going on in the interna- coalition nationalism could ish capitalist state machine in the occu- politics of republicanism, because, no mat- even be accused of). tional balance of class forces. pied zone may itself be in a position to ter how radical they claim to be, republicans This infantile ‘left’ posturing And having failed to grasp successfully take on the job of routing view their role as that of advancing condi- how Sinn Féin had finally tions for the Catholic/nationalist section of can only have the effect of weak- the threatened ‘protestant’ backlash, the population. What better way to do this ening and confusing potential realised, through its ceasefire i.e. the fascist reaction. than to get the most powerful nationalist British workers’ sympathies for initiative, that British imperial- The New York-run Spartacists’ hys- party, Fianna Fail, on your side. what is an entirely legitimate ism had had enough and wanted terical defeatism about Paisley’s threat- Far from ‘broadening the battlefield’ in nationalist fight (for all its to get out, the Class War infants ened bloodbath (Spartacist Britain No 38 December/January) is in the first the new unarmed strategy, Sinn Féin are limitations from a revolutionary then announce that they do not going down an increasingly narrowing road support the continuation of the place, therefore, grotesquely out of which can lead only to an alliance with the socialist perspective). touch with the real events in the class very people who are the enemies of every And out of this imbecile IRA’s military strategy either, war. working class person in this country. determination to beat their but then confess that they do But much worse is their utterly RE- “Does he believe that our long-suffering middle-class ‘revolutionary’ not know quite what to think or ACTIONARY reasoning behind their people would be any better off in a united chests, the anarchist philistines recommend anyway. refusal to recognise the legitimacy of Ireland brought about in conjunction with They then wind up with the the Republicans’ national liberation these people? Has he learned nothing from almost inevitably just casually completely falsify what Sinn most crass opportunist garbage war. Irish history which repeatedly teaches us The contemptuous fake-’left’ re- that common fronts with middle class par- Féin’s aim has been and what of all, uttering a ludicrously marks that “green nationalism is no ties with different economic aims inevitably naïve reformist plea for a ‘nicer’ the national-liberation war has less bigoted and reactionary than Or- lead to sell-outs for the working class?” tremendously achieved against system, etc, coupled with the The letter was signed “Worried ange” betray a lunatic confusion of na- all the odds, – and against all most criminally dangerous tionalism and imperialism, a profound Republican.” light-minded delusion that In the four and a half years since this letter the perpetual sneering from the ignorance of Marx and Lenin, and a was penned it is becoming clear that Sinn fake-‘left’ pigmies in the British ‘protestant workers’ (whatever criminal siding with savage imperialist Féin have learned nothing from Irish history petty-bourgeoisie. they are) merely have to be repression of that national liberation and also that more recent developments As has been exhaustively appealed to for bringing about struggle. would seem to give “Worried Republican” demonstrated in ILWP Books vol a socialist paradise in Ireland Irish nationalism is as limited as any much more to be worried about. 8 & 15 and in countless Bulletins almost overnight. nationalism. But where nationalism However this does not mean that we becomes a genuinely mass movement agreed with the republican ‘armed strug- since then, it is just a mon- The anarchists’ grotesque imperialist and racist slander of with revolutionary implications in the gle.’ We argued that the IRA campaign could strous historical falsification to fight against imperialism, Marxists not win and that the politics of republi- pretend that the IRA campaign the Irish Republic as a “parti- have always acknowledged its justifica- canism were incapable of bringing about “could not succeed” and has not tionist state” just as responsible tion and never crassly opposed it on change. succeeded. British imperialism for reactionary sectarianism as sectarian abstract ideological grounds There are others on the left, in both Britain the British colonialists, repeats (which in practice would only amount and Ireland, who believed the armed strug- is pulling out of its occupa- to the most hypocritical material sup- gle to be the only tactic which could get the tion of part of Ireland, – and almost exactly the sort of fake- Brits out, therefore they gave total support the bastard colonial statelet of ’revolutionary’ posturing that port for imperialism). to the republican campaign and called for ‘Northern Ireland’ will never be the Bulletin was challenging Orange ‘loyalism’ is nothing what- ever to do with nationalist liberation a vote for Sinn Féin. In doing this they were re-established again in anything against the peculiar Spartacist forced to dismiss the entire Protestant work- struggle against imperialism. It is pure remotely comparable to its old American ultra-lefts as long colonialism of the worst Rhodesia- ing class. ago as January 1982, and later Since the IRA ceasefire the response from sectarian annexationist form, white-settler kind. White workers in those groups has ranged from supporting if restored at all. The eventual that year against the grotesque South Africa are among the most rabid the new ‘unarmed strategy’ and insisting re-unification of Ireland is now opportunist lunacies of Healy’s wavers of the national flag. But that that Britain has been bombed to the nego- firmly and irrevocably on the Redgraveite circus: does not make their nationalism the tiating table,” to accusing Sinn Féin of sell- agenda. British imperialism, for its part, is los- equal of the black national liberation ing out. This represents an enormous ing more money than ever propping up struggle. Class War believes that it is time for social- Neither is the flag-waving of ‘protes- ists to take stock of the changing political historical milestone, and a the artificial Orange bourgeois state- let and is also losing the propaganda tant’ workers in the occupied north of landscape and begin discussing how the colossal achievement for a small Ireland anything to do with a national small left wing forces in Ireland can begin to but determined armed revolu- struggle to the IRA (the hunger strikes, Bobby Sands’ election victory, etc), and liberation struggle. It has everything to build their influence, in order to provide an tionary struggle against the full do with the politics of fascist colonial- alternative to what we believe is the failure also, slowly, the national liberation war might of the oldest-established ism. Lenin’s line, following Marx, was of republicanism. too. to support the petty bourgeois IRA all The type of peace process which we really metropolitan imperialist power The Tories’ latest £90 million dole need - one which will build more houses, of all. to the province is clearly just a token the way to full Irish independence. improve the health service, provide mean- The British ruling class was and deliberately framed to underline Writing in The right of nations to ingful employment and a decent education not at all convinced at the start London’s view that a long-term solu- self-determination against Rosa Lux- system - is not even up for discussion. of the emergency 25 years ago tion to the north of Ireland’s appalling emburg (the Spartacists’ spiritual in- spiration although they take the name 42UNITY that it should abandon this economic problems (nearly 20% unem- ployment) lies within the context of an of her German revolutionary party in What is needed is a new movement within last colonial outpost. It only vain), Lenin explained how the Irish working class, north and south, became persuaded to pull out “the English working class fell under the influence of the Liberals for a fairly long time, which can show workers that their interests by the phenomenal stubborn became an appendage to the Liberals, and by adopting a liberal-labour policy left itself EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 leaderless. The bourgeois liberation movement in Ireland grew stronger and assumed semi-proletarian masse against oppression revolutionary forms. Marx reconsidered his view and corrected it. ‘What a misfortune it by the landowners, the church, and the is for a nation to have subjugated another.’ monarchy, against national oppression, etc., The English working class will never be free until Ireland is freed from the English – to imagine all this is to repudiate social yoke. Reaction in England is strengthened and fostered by the enslavement of Ireland... revolution.” “And in proposing in the International a resolution of sympathy with ‘the Irish nation’, ‘the Irish people’ (the clever LV would probably have berated poor Marx for forgetting This is immediately followed by an at- about the class struggle!), Marx advocated the SEPARATION of Ireland from tempt (long-winded, feeble, and mud- England.… dled) to elaborate Marxism-Leninism’s “If capitalism had been overthrown in England as quickly as Marx had at first CLEAR and well-known rejection of expected, there would have been no room for a bourgeois-democratic and general purely nationalist political struggle national movement in Ireland. against imperialism, and rejection of But since it had arisen, Marx advised the English workers to support it, give it a the anarchist weapon of individual ter- revolutionary impetus and see it through in the interests of THEIR OWN liberty.... ror. “The ‘unpracticality’ and ‘impracticablity’ of the separation of Ireland (if only owing to But this has nothing whatever to do geographical conditions and England’s immense colonial power) were quite obvious.... with the quote from Lenin they give. “Both the Irish people and the English proletariat proved weak. Only now, through And the quote they give has nothing the sordid deals between the English Liberals and the Irish bourgeoisie, is the Irish whatever to do with their attempted problem BEING SOLVED (the example of Ulster shows with what difficulty) through DENUNCIATION of nationalist armed the land reform (with compensation) and Home Rule (not yet introduced). Well then? struggle. Just the opposite. Does it follow that Marx and Engels were ‘Utopians’, that they put forward ‘impracticable’ Lenin was attacking some German national demands, or that they allowed themselves to be influenced by the Irish petty- for this nauseating AGENT PROVO- ‘Marxists’ who were trying to dismiss bourgeois nationalists (for there is no doubt about the petty-bourgeois nature of the CATEUR work in the Labour move- the 1916 Easter Rebellion in Dublin as Fenian movement), etc? ment, trying to finger the nationalists. nothing more than a ‘putsch’ with little “No. In the Irish question, too, Marx and Engels pursued a consistently proletarian Their aim is to prove their conten- social backing. (The WRP dishonestly policy, which really educated the masses in a spirit of democracy and socialism. Only such tions that - omit any explanation of the purpose of Lenin’s polemic). a policy have saved both Ireland and England half a century of delay in introducing the 1. “thirteen years of armed struggle The meaning of his remarks is self- necessary reforms, and prevented these reforms from being mutilated by the liberals to have exposed the infantile belief of IRA evident: that ON THE WAY to a com- please the reactionaries. leaders that bombs in the UK could pleted socialist revolution which will “The policy of Marx and Engels on the Irish question serves as a splendid example wring reforms from Whitehall and lead alone finally rout imperialism and of the attitude the proletariat of the oppressor nations should adopt towards national to a negotiated settlement in the north allow the fulfilment of any people’s movements, an example which has lost none of its immense PRACTICAL importance. of Ireland. “ It serves as a warning against that ‘servile haste’ with which the philistines of all countries, legitimate national aspirations, the 2. That “the hunger strikes were a grue- colours and languages hurry to label as ‘utopian’ the idea of altering the frontiers of states bourgeois political status-quo will be some failure”. that were established by the violence and privileges of the landlords and bourgeoisie of broken up by all manner of revolts one nation. 3. That “the armalite in one hand, the and mass struggles led by all man- “If the Irish and English proletariat had not accepted Marx’s policy and had not made ballot in the other” is a “politically un- ner of political movements. And that the secession of Ireland their slogan, this would have been the worst sort of opportunism, viable policy”. for revolutionary socialists to STAND a neglect of their duties as democrats and socialists, and a concession to ENGLISH ASIDE from (let alone denounce) such 4. And that terrorism has “strength- popular struggles would be the height reaction and the ENGLISH bourgeoisie.” (May 1914). ened the Tories’ resolve to continue the of REACTIONARY SECTARIAN STU- The English proletariat still remains correctness, and triviality of this major brutal repression of the north”. PIDITY and tantamount to a stab- weakened by its toleration of the re- argument of the ‘Spartacist Interna- 5. And that “defending the right of in-the-back to the eventual socialist actionary repression of the national tional’ is almost unbelievable. the IRA” to fight imperialism “is a long revolution. liberation movement in the occupied Their very labelling of workers in the call from actually defending the ex- In other words, Lenin’s quote is actu- north of Ireland. The practical way colonial occupation of the north of Ire- pediency of such actions”. (A remark- ally proving that IT IS THE WRP who forward for the final defeat of impe- land as ‘protestant’ workers is a farce ably frank if accidental admission by are “serving Thatcher” by their middle rialism throughout the entire British and a fraud. the WRP of their TOTAL humbug in class anti-Leninist HOSTILITY to na- Isles remains the defeat of imperialism Any ‘loyalist’ workers in the north pretending to defend national libera- tionalist revolt. through the final complete victory of who go along with the infamous Union tion rights IN WORDS while oppos- Lenin had no such hostility, as the Irish nationalism. Jack-waving frustration of legitimate ing those rights to fight imperialism above quote graphically demonstrates. The hopelessly academic New York demands for the restoration of full IN PRACTICE, – (especially when the Just the opposite. He welcomed any Spartacists exhibit all the crass insensi- Irish independence have only one la- going gets hot and the respectable revolutionary movement against im- tivity of ‘oppressor nation philistines’. bel - ‘reactionary’. And their rotten line Redgraveite petty bourgeoisie feel like perialism as helping to break up the Crudely, they try to equate the inclu- in support of nearly 70 years of some- running away from any possible Fleet old political structures and open the sion of religion on the official curricu- thing approaching military-fascist Street taint of ‘responsibility for vio- way to Marxist-Leninist revolutionary lum of Irish schools with the age-old dictatorship must be fought and de- lence’)). socialist consciousness. imperialist-colonialist tyranny of Brit- feated in whatever way it takes, – not Lenin was for a Marxist proletar- ish domination of Ireland! pandered to as the reactionary Sparts But the quote they use from Lenin, to ian dictatorship, a strong workers try to back up this confession of op- When Paisley demagogically declares ‘We would like. state, and the international socialist portunist cowardice and COMPLETE prefer to die than give in to the bondage Vanessa Redgrave’s kept band of revolution as the final solution to the and tyranny of Dublin’, he is appealing to an middle class anti-communists, the anti-Marxist political bankruptcy, problems of imperialism, and not for instinctive recognition among Protestant WRP, persist in lying to the working means exactly the OPPOSITE of what merely national self-determination, or workers that what is posed in a forcible re- class about the Marxist-Leninist at- the WRP intend it to convey. anarcho-syndicalist terror. unification is a reversal of the terms of op- titude to nationalist struggles against They quote from chapter 10 of Of course Sinn Féin Irish nationalists pression,’ imperialism. Lenin’s 1916 work “The socialist revolu- are not Marxist-Leninists. Whoever An outrageous distortion of a quote tion and the right of nations to self-deter- the Sparts declare, virtually arguing said they were? Lenin’s point is PRE- from Lenin is their latest pathetic mination”. Paisley’s racist-fascist case for him. CISELY that the German ‘Marxists’ he contribution to the bourgeoisie’s cam- “To imagine that social revolution is ‘White’ South African workers could was attacking were being “ridiculously paign to put down the Irish national conceivable without revolts by small argue just as persuasively against be- pedantic” for “vilifying the Irish rebel- liberation movement (Labour Review nations in the colonies and in Europe, ing forced to accept the domination of lion by calling it a ‘putsch’”. No 5, 1982). without revolutionary outbursts by a black society. Either side of the WRP’s hilariously The silly Redgraveites then repeat section of the petty bourgeoisie with all The comparison of religious educa- mis-chosen quote, Lenin explained their slanderous provocation made its prejudices, without a movement of the tion and 700 years of colonial domina- that the in July after the IRA bomb attacks on politically non-conscious proletarian and tion is ludicrous enough. But the Spart military ceremonials in London’s Royal armchair socialists are so mesmerised “centuries-old Irish national movement, having passed through various stages and parks: by ‘Trotskyist programme’ fetishism combinations of class interest, manifested itself in particular in a mass Irish National that they are obviously under the illu- “Who authorised this latest bombing epi- Congress in America which called for Irish independence; it also manifested itself in street sion that in ‘enlightened’ ‘protestant’ sode and why?” implying that the IRA was in fighting conducted by a section of the urban petty bourgeoisie and a section of the workers Britain, there is no compulsory reli- league with the British capitalist state. after a long period of mass agitation, demonstrations, suppression of newspapers, etc. gious education in schools! In reality, “The Provisional IRA has come to Whoever calls such a rebellion a ‘putsch’ is either a hardened reactionary, or a doctrinaire the entire working class throughout Thatcher’s aid. We denounce these bomb- hopelessly incapable of envisaging a social revolution as a living phenomenon.... the British Isles is forced to suffer sti- ings in the strongest possible terms. They ‘Whoever expects a ‘pure’ social revolution will never live to see it. Such a person pays serve Thatcher and the capitalist state....” fling compulsory Christian religious lip-service to revolution without understanding what revolution is.... 43 education in all state schools. Workers the well-funded Redgraveite petty “The socialist revolution in Europe cannot be anything other than an outburst of in the occupied north of Ireland will bourgeoisie declared, making their mass struggle on the part of all and sundry oppressed and discontented elements. be no worse off on that score under provocation explicit. Inevitably, sections of the petty bourgeoisie and of the backward workers will participate Dublin rule. The concealed racism, in- Fatuously, they try to recruit Lenin in it. Without such participation, mass struggle is impossible, without it no revolution is possible. And just as inevitably will they bring into the movement their prejudices, EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 their reactionary fantasies, their weaknesses and errors. But objectively they will attack twisting the sword, sometimes un- transplanted campers, though still capital....… wittingly, but more often with calcu- in a substantial minority on their “A blow delivered against the power of the English imperialist bourgeoisie by a lated cruelty, ever since. Protestant side of the river Foyle, rebellion in Ireland is a hundred times more significant politically than a blow of equal According to Shakespeare, were, by a combination of gerry- force delivered in Asia or in Africa.… Richard II talked of subduing “these mandering and knuckle-dusting vi- “...an oppressed civilised nation has reacted to a military oppression unparalleled rough-headed Irish kerns.” He olence, still governing a nationalist in ferocity by establishing an organ of revolutionary protest. The dialectics of history needed money for wars against his population of over 80,000. are such that small nations, powerless as an independent factor in the struggle against own English barons. That was in the It was in Londonderry that imperialism, play a part as one of the ferments, one of the bacilli, which help the real anti- 14th century. the rioting began, and it was in imperialist force, the socialist proletariat, to make its appearance on the scene… Not much more than 100 years Londonderry that British troops in “We would be very poor revolutionaries if, in the proletariat’s great war of liberation ago, the Victorian historian Thomas 1972 fired on a procession agitating for socialism, we did not know how to utilise every popular movement against every Babington Macauley, writing about for the vote and killed 14 unarmed single disaster imperialism brings in order to intensify and extend the crisis. If we were, the Battle of the Boyne, sneeringly citizens. The mayhem of the past on the one hand, to repeat in a thousand keys the declaration that we are ‘opposed’ to all described Irish patriots of that time quarter of a century really started national oppression and, on the other, to describe the heroic revolt of the most mobile and as “aboriginals.” And Macauley was there. And it will break out again enlightened section of certain classes in an oppressed nation against its oppressors as a a Tory-hating liberal! unless, this time, at long last, the ‘putsch’, we should be sinking to the same level of stupidity as the Katutskyites. This column is no place for a his- British government stops listening “It is the misfortune of the Irish that they rose prematurely, before the European revolt tory lesson and I am not qualified to to the Unionist extremists in Ulster of the proletariat had had time to mature. Capitalism is not so harmoniously built that give one. But you cannot, if you have and acknowledges that, like all its the various sources of rebellion can immediately merge of their own accord, without any sense of justice, arrive at Derry modern predecessors, it has been reverses and defeats. On the other hand, the very fact that revolts do break out at different by British Rail without being con- perpetuating a grievous wrong. times, in different places, and are of different kinds, guarantees wide scope and depth to fronted with a terrible wrong that Once anti-communist revision- the general movement. we have done. ism has abandoned the inbuilt “But it is only in premature, individual, sporadic, and therefore unsuccessful, The destination sign on the sta- revolutionary movements that the masses gain experience, acquire knowledge, gather tion platform says “Londonderry.” disciplines of Marxist-Leninist strength, and get to know their real leaders, the socialist proletarians, and in this way Why is the city, still officially thus science of constantly testing prepare for the general onslaught....” named? In 1613, James I, the Scots all theoretical understand- Every single word of Lenin’s here is shouting and snarling from the king of England, was minded to give ing against all the practical alive with a real revolutionary’s exhila- Unionist bigots still lie ahead. The the citizens of London a present. outcomes of historical devel- ration at the “heroic revolt” albeit of shooting — God forfend — could He gave them Derry, and he in- opment, and has substituted petty bourgeois Fenian nationalists, even break out again. But the out- sulted the natives by prefixing subjective idealism instead, just as every genuine revolutionary come is as inevitable as daybreak. their Irish city with the name of justifying ‘leadership’ positions today will feel enormous sympathy The Irish majority will reclaim its his English capital. To ensure that already adopted just for the for the masses of Republican workers nation from the British Crown and the Londoners could enjoy their gift. James planted a few thousand sake of personal comfort and and youth in the occupied north of the sooner we acknowledge it the prestige, – then fake-‘leftism’ Ireland who have been brought onto easier we British with any sense English and Scottish settlers there, the streets to fight the police-military of history (and of conscience) will with a mandate to rule the roost. can rapidly go very far wrong dictatorship by the savage imperialist sleep at nights. That is ancient history. Yet only 26 indeed. Build Leninism. repression of the Fenian nationalists. Already, I hear the sound of at years ago the descendants of those Douglas Bell What an enormous distance be- least one million throats retching tween Lenin’s enthusiastic sympathy at the idea of our conceding victory British imperialism being driven out of for nationalist revolt as part of the cha- to the barbarous forces of the IRA. I otic unplannable break-up of imperial- don’t like the thought of it myself. Ireland is about to enter its final phase. ism, and the middle class Redgraveites’ The bombings and the maimings, HATRED of the nationalist revolt. As the shooting down of husbands in Armed revolt vindicated, despite all Lenin explained, in reality it merely front of wives, the pitiless mass mur- proves that these petty bourgeois po- ders of civilians at Enniskillen and what British propaganda has claimed. seurs are OPPOSED to the social revo- at Warrington — the thought of the [EPSR No 791 28-02-95] lution. perpetrators of these horrible atroci- In just the same way, these lunatic ties prospering from their bloody British imperialism’s intention justice and also an increasingly sectarians were OPPOSED and HOS- deeds is, indeed, hard to swallow. to abandon its colony in Ireland untenable political reality. TILE to the spontaneous anarchic But two considerations may help has at last been spelled out, British imperialism’s police- revolts in Brixton, Toxteth and Moss the most embittered of Britons to more or less, in the Framework military dictatorship, which Side last year. Who is really “serving reconcile themselves to the absolute Document for further talks in ripped the colony at bayonet inevitability of a unified Ireland. Thatcher”? The WRP opportunist sec- the peace process. point out of Ireland’s newly-won tarian reformists. The first is that it is not with the actual bombers and the assassins While the language is still independence in 1921, and has Compare all this pathetic petty- that the British government will be deliberately vague and obscure, preserved the British colonist bourgeois fake-’left’ ignorance — indeed already is — negotiating and commitments to Ireland’s order since, may not have been with the following pained but a gradual handover of power. On reunification remain at a snail’s ‘defeated’ in a strictly military honest acknowledgment of the northern side of the island that pace, the central point that sense, as bourgeois ideologists objective historical reality from Britain has so haughtily or igno- ‘Northern Ireland’ will be no are all comforting themselves the very bourgeois Manchester rantly considered a province of the more is unmistakable. by saying. Evening News: UK dwell thousands of Irish peo- The disgraceful history of But much more importantly, ple, who, although they regard the I HAVE spent half this week in Protestant ascendancy as a despotic 75 years of armed occupation neither could the IRA/Sinn Féin Ireland, commuting between occupation, have never hurled as and tyranny over the north- guerrilla war and political revolt Derry and Belfast. I have been in a much as a duster against a Paisleyite east corner of the independent be defeated either, – despite friendly, but distinctively foreign councillor, let alone at a British sol- country of Ireland is at last to be some of the most monstrously country. Since the silencing of the dier. wound up. criminal dirty tricks by Britain guns at the end of last August and They have argued, peacefully, po- The blatant British coloni- in the whole history of rotten the disappearance of British troop litically and patiently, for an end to alism which ruled under the colonial repression, – including patrols from the streets, it seems British rule. And, in the main, it is absurdly anachronistic to call the deceitful banner of ‘Ulster loyal- torture barracks condemned at with their spokesmen that Major ism’ has finally been accepted the European Court; a murder country of my hosts Northern and Co are already doing business. Ireland. It also seems gratuitously It is lamentably true that without as no longer valid by public campaign by Gestapo secret- insulting to give Derry its colonial the bloody warfare of the past 25 opinion in Britain, after having police and nazi military units London prefix, so loathsome to 80 years these civilised opponents of long been condemned by world against mere Republican ‘sus- odd per cent of the city’s popula- the Crown would still be pleading opinion. pects’; the most blatant cover- tion. and arguing in vain. The national-liberation strug- up of that murder campaign The truth needs to be faced. The And that brings me to the sec- gle against the Orange Order when the Stalker inquiry was Nationalists and the Republicans ond factor worth considering. The gerrymandering of the ripped- most foully undermined by MI5 have won. That is to say, they have, IRA did not spring from a demonic in the almost unanimous opinion out bits of six of Ulster’s nine and Home Office stunts; other 44 impulse of the natural Irish sons counties has convinced every- barbaric shoot-to-kill provoca- of our European partners, of the of Cain. It was the poisonous eruc- United States and of the majority of tation of a wound that we first in- one that the colonists’ claim to tions like the cold-blooded mas- civilised nations, won the argument. flicted on Ireland several centuries sovereignty over the area was sacre of the Gibraltar Three and Years, possibly another decade, of ago, and in which we have been both a grotesque historical in- the Bloody Sunday slaughter in EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Derry; years of concentration- camp detention-without-trial of hundreds and hundreds of a Republican political persuasion behind the barbed wire of Long Kesh; the attempted demoralis- ing ‘criminalisation’ of Repub- lican prisoners, denying them prisoner-of-war rights which only ended with the heroic hunger strikes, dirty protests, and political electoral triumphs; the brutal routine midnight destruction raids with sledge- hammers and terror tactics on Republican homes; the infa- mous Prevention-of-Terrorism Act harassment of all Irish people around the British Isles for more than 20 years including 7-day brutalisings in police and prison cells without any charge being needed, 95% of which detentions led to no charges but were pure racist victimisation and intimidation; a tyrannical Hitlerian censorship of even Sinn Féin voices being heard on radio and television discussing the justness of the national- liberation struggle, or anything the new developments are continues, or has to be reintroduced, agreed in principle to the move in at all; etc, etc, etc, etc. worth studying in some detail the British Government agrees other the framework document. And when this guerrilla war since part of British imperialist arrangements will be made ‘to im- Opinion in Northern Ireland started bombing the City of bourgeois ideology is still trying plement the commitment to pro- may also have been softened by six mote co-operation between North months of peace. A poll carried out London to pieces, requiring the to insist that the Framework and South’. on behalf of Channel Four News sug- heart of British capitalism to Document concedes nothing to For all the soothing words by gested that just over half its people be ringed with a steel fence and the national-liberation struggle Government ministers about con- believe the framework document’s impossible-to-live-with security and to Ireland’s reunification. sent and discussion, the need to con- proposals form the basis for a last- restrictions, – it may still have While not civilised enough sider and not wanting to impose an- ing peace, and that 87 per cent want been technically the case that to eat 75-years or more of past ything on anybody, the thrust of the their own party to participate in Britain’s police-military dicta- weasel words on the subject of document is towards an eventual inter-party talks — including 63 torship over the Occupied Zone Ireland’s legitimate fight for full all-Ireland settlement. ‘Achieving per cent of those supporting Ian of Ireland was still ‘undefeated’, self-determination, robbed of agreement among all the people Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party. who inhabit the island of Ireland’, There are a number of reasons - but the will of the British it by the treacherous Partition ‘establishing agreement among the for this. The business community ruling class, the most crucial outrage imposed at gunpoint, – people of the island of Ireland’, these has already seen the benefits which factor, to fight on had at last parts of Fleet Street are at least phrases crop up again and again.. peace has brought. Those associated evaporated completely. coming out with slightly new- Gerry Adams and the Rev Ian with loyalist paramilitary groups Parts of this historic Frame- sounding weasel words: Paisley both understand that the have begun to feel their way into the work Document deserve to be When he and the SDLP’s John Hume document spells out more explic- political process and are no longer reproduced for the record, in launched what became known as itly than ever before what has been prepared to allow the more extreme line with the Bulletin’s admira- the Hume-Adams initiative, there implicit in previous Anglo-Irish Unionist politicians to threaten to ble and detailed documentary were two key arguments with proposals, from the Sunningdale fight to the last drop of their blood. which they hoped to persuade the Agreement in the early Seventies, Already the benefits of peace are record over the past 14 years through the Anglo-Irish Agreement taken for granted. When people are of explaining the underlying IRA the time had come to put away the guns. The first was that while in 1985 and the Downing Street forced to think of what it would be tendency of British imperialism Declaration of last year. like to go back, the prospect is un- to want to get out of Ireland, the IRA could not be defeated by the British Army it could not attain its Despite a moral commitment to bearable. despite all the ‘No Surrender’ the Unionists and a determination objectives of forcing the British to The Framework Document is in bluster, because the British to do the right thing by them, Britain withdraw from Northern Ireland fact more plainly for the reuni- ruling class had had its day, will not stay in Northern Ireland a by a campaign of terrorism. On the fication of Ireland than even because the British imperialist moment longer than is necessary. contrary, as long as the Unionist these belated admissions, if it economy was on its last legs, community was under threat There is no suggestion that Irish policy is neutral. On the contrary, is read intelligently without the because the colony itself was there was no question of a British it is accepted that Dublin has an on- blinkers of past British imperi- no longer any kind of strategic Government abandoning its citi- going and partisan interest. Public alist prejudices which not only or economic prize but was just zens to terrorists. reaction in Britain to publication of force the Government to still an expensive handicap, and The second argument followed from this; once the threat was seen the document seems to confirm the speak in double-talk, but make because the postwar era had Hume-Adams analysis that now to be removed, the British would be- it impossible for the British become the age of the break-up the killing has stopped the IRA is gin to withdraw political and emo- capitalist press, either, to own and defeat of all direct colonial- no longer blamed for the intransi- tional support from the Unionists. up to their own past blind stu- ism through national-liberation gence of the Unionists. The opin- The publication last week of the pidity on this question, denying struggles and because British framework document, and popular ion poll published in last Friday’s Daily Telegraph showed 92 per cent for 25 years that the national- imperialism was too weak to be reaction in Britain, indicates this of the British public approved of the liberation struggle was winning, much use at indirect colonial may have already begun to happen. document and 68 per cent thought or would ever have the slightest domination any longer (see ILWP The document envisages strong Unionists would not be justified in chance of winning. Books vol 8, 15 & 22 Ireland). cross-border institutions. Ideally these will involve politicians from refusing to take part in talks. Still the headline on this That documentation must In the Irish Republic, 63 per cent a new assembly in Belfast working piece tries to justify the past wait until the next Bulletin favour changing the terms of their 45 with members of the Dáil in Dublin. bourgeois ideological stance by for lack of space this time, but country’s constitutional claim But Paragraph 47 spells out the fall- proclaiming “A victory with- meanwhile, the British capital- on the North, an opinion poll in back position, already endorsed by out the guns”, wanting to say ist press’s own comments on both governments. If direct rule Dublin’s Sunday Press newspaper in- dicates today. The Irish government (but not having the ounce of EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 humanity required to spell it jailed for explosives offences who myself were not interested in poli- again inflamed when a paratrooper out openly) that “all right, the is now the genial voice of loyalism’s tics. I said there had to be something opened fire on a crowd in Coalisland, national-liberation struggle may militant tendency, typifies the spir- more to politics than the traditional leaving three people with gunshot have won, – but we were still al- itual schizophrenia. “I am British,” Orange and Green colour scheme. wounds. Locals claimed paratroop- declares Ervine. Asked if he was They should concentrate on the real ers used foul language and taunted ways right to denounce terrorist also Irish he would want a closer issues such as creating jobs.” people to take a weapon from them. violence as not only despicably definition of the question. In an unprecedented move, intolerable but also as a hope- It remains to be seen where “Ulsterish” is not an adjective and public opinion ends up on the Brigadier Tom Longland, in charge lessly losing tactic,” etc. even if it were it would be inaccu- of army operations in the Armagh Not so. The national-libera- rate: three counties of Ulster are in Irish question, especially in and Tyrone border area, was re- tion struggle has won by armed the Irish republic. “Northern Irish” the Occupied Zone itself and in lieved of his command. Six of his revolution, nothing else. is accurate, but by drawing atten- particular among the British men were charged with assault, dis- And having battled for so long tion to partition suggests the pos- colonist community. orderly behaviour and damage to and so unbeatably, that revolt sibility of unification. The Unionist But the general trend of property. The total withdrawal of Ulsterman therefore prefers to say 3 Para from Northern Ireland was is now in a position to offer British imperialist decline, as “British”, even though it is inexact: evidenced in the latest Barings considered seriously in London. besieged British imperialism a he belongs to the United Kingdom of This cloud overshadowed the trial truce so that sensible self-deter- Bank fiasco, for example, can Great Britain and Northern Ireland. only help add relentlessly to the of Clegg and five colleagues in 1993. mination talks can at last begin, His bit is not part of Britain. Claims that the case had originally – and to have it gladly accepted, Better-off Ulster folk have opposed demoralisation surrounding the been marked “no prosecution” by in spite of the continuing silly Irish unity on economic rather than ‘British’ Ireland claim, including the DPP but was revived 11 months pretence by London that it is religious grounds. The high taxa- among the Orange Order itself later as a result of a Panorama docu- still not going to respond to tion in the republic is frequently which drew all of its historic mentary have always been denied armed blackmail. cited — so a Labour government in arrogance and aggressiveness by the RUC. Westminster might be expected to The bitterness of the Clegg affair The Sinn Féin-delivered peace from out of the undoubted shift the balance towards Irish unity international superiority at lingers on. As a result of army re- process is even now acceptable in unexpected ways. sentment, the anonymous RUC of- to a growing body of hardline one time of British imperialist But economic excuses are just a fi- culture. ficer who testified against Clegg’s Orange colonist opinion, once gleaf to cover up instinctive feelings colleagues has had to be moved to again as revealed by the anti-IRA inbred over centuries. Achievement How quickly that could all another station in Co Down. There capitalist press itself, (which of the IRA’s aims would be — as some fall apart is shown first and he has been abused by soldiers of may now be slightly more eager of them have always known — the foremost on the economic front. another regiment, who have refused to detect some wavering in end not just of Northern Ireland but British imperialism is being to go on patrol with him. the previous ‘No Surrender’ also of the Irish republic as we know trounced in every department Nor is that resentment confined to it. The injection of 1m Protestant the regiment. It is an elite unit, some intransigence because it helps to of the trade war, just seeing Ulstermen would transform that so- collapse its most traditionalist, argue, trained for a narrow military get humiliated London intransi- ciety. purpose and unsuited to the sensi- gence off the hook): longstanding and prestigious ***************** merchant bank of all time. tivities of policing Northern Ireland. In the Berlin Arms and other drink- LEADING businessmen in However indirectly, that But the whole British imperial- ing dens on the Shankill Road — Northern Ireland yesterday ac- humiliating catastrophe will ist existence is now “unsuited the last arm of Protestant Ulster in cused Unionist politicians who unavoidably add to the general to the sensitivities of policing” Catholic west Belfast — the leaked condemned the Anglo-Irish frame- the Occupied Zone of Ireland details of the framework document British sense of failure, disaster, work document of losing touch (or any other colonial territory caused few surprises. Nor in the with opinion in the Province. and retreat, on all fronts. smarter suburban saloons off the The businessmen warmly wel- But the willingness to cut out anywhere),– not just its fascist- Newtownards Road in east Belfast comed the document which, they some of the imperialist bullshit aggression paratroop elite. was there anything to match the said, would bring economic benefits. at last, and to start facing up Imperialism is a historic blustering shock of Ian Paisley and There has been a big upsurge in eco- honestly to the real clapped- system of world development John Taylor. The hard men of Ulster nomic activity since the IRA and loy- out situation confronting the which has now well passed its know that their longstanding — alist ceasefires. British imperialist bourgeoisie, ‘consume-by’ date. From the some would say time-serving — Howard Hastings, operations can already branch off into some very beginning, capitalism mainstream politicians failed them director of Hastings Hotels, criti- could never ‘advance’ without long ago. surprising new directions, – as cised the Ulster Unionists and preparing, deep within its own The illegal Ulster Volunteer the Democratic Unionists who in this remarkably frank piece Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence dismissed the document within from the capitalist press as social relations of property and Association (UDA) and their politi- minutes of its publication on background to the astonishing production, an ultimately un- cal counterparts, the Progressive Wednesday. He said: “I don’t hear propaganda stunt by sections of containable contradiction with Unionist party (PUP) and the Ulster a grassroots echo in what they are the reactionary establishment the exploited-labour source of Democratic party (UDP), have long saying. I think on this occasion the in support of the army’s murder all profits. Its global ‘over-pro- faced up to the military and strate- Unionist politicians have lost touch of joyriders in the Occupied duction’ crisis now, as brilliantly gic facts of the conflict. In a “safe” with their constituencies — that is Zone: analysed in last week’s Bulletin, house in Portadown, I once listened the first in a generation.” can no longer ‘advance’ other to a UVF hitman, a rationally intelli- In August 1990 a patrol from the Mr Hastings, who said he was than by even greater monopo- gent killer, tell me there would one a Unionist and is chairman of the regiment went into the republican day he a united Ireland. His job, he Institute of Directors in Northern Lenadoon estate, armed with clubs, lisation concentration, wiping explained, was to delay as long as Ireland, said the all-Ireland dimen- and beat five civilians senseless. out of weaker rivals, ‘winning’ possible this logical consequence of sion of the document would help Four soldiers were fined £450 each. the cut-throat trade-war com- Britain’s betrayal. business. “There are areas of mutual This incident set the stage for the petition partly by destroying For “betrayal” is exactly how economic benefit. For my business Clegg affair a month later. alternative capacity as well as they see it. On the wall of the PUP’s it would be better if a single tourist To commemorate the “kill” other taking-over and ‘rationalising’ Shankill Road office, along with board marketed Ireland at the inter- paras erected a cardboard model of duplicate production, – and all portraits of volunteers killed in national level.” the bullet-riddled car in their mess. the time prepared to escalate paramilitary violence, are grainy Mutual antipathy reached a climax However, Mr Hastings added the disruptive social cost of black-and-white pictures of men in that his members would take their nearly two years later in another in- khaki marching off to the Somme, time to consider the document. Eric cident that had important repercus- such anarchic conflict towards most of them never to return. The Cairns, who runs an estate agency in sions. On May 11, 1992 a member of inter-imperialist shooting war UVF today considers itself directly south Belfast and North Down, said 3 Para stepped on an IRA mine and or smaller-scale colonial wars descended from the force raised by John Major had emphasised that it had both his legs blown off. in one direction, and towards Lord Carson in 1912 to oppose Home was a discussion document. “It is Soon after, a patrol in Coalisland permanent mass unemploy- Rule. It is proud of the fact that in akin to a draft contract. It is up to came under a hail of bottles and ment and an endless succession August 1914 its members signed up us to sort out the real contract.” Mr stones. of frustrated social aspirations to fight and die for king and country. Cairns called on Unionist leaders to The following day, according to lo- for millions in another, – if they Postcards from the 1930s proclaim cal councillors, paratroopers armed consider the document with “cool ‘cannot be avoided’, etc. 46the Shankill Road “the heart of the heads and business acumen”. with truncheons went on a violent Empire”. When they talked of the Mr Cairns added that politicians rampage in Coalisland. A senior When British imperialism’s empire, it was “ours”, not something were out of touch with the business army officer was relieved of his com- decline in the international belonging to the English. community. He said: “A Unionist mand. pecking order began to feel eco- David Ervine, a former UVF man MP asked me why people such as A week later, local feeling was nomically and socially intoler- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 able to a particularly sensitive later, in an unstoppable, small- nothing but headaches. ernments and bosses throughout Ireland. section of population in the scale, partial revolution. It is no different now, in spite There is nothing in either document about new jobs, homes, better wages, ben- Occupied Zone of Ireland in the Even more than in the of all the abundant evidence efits or healthcare. 1960s, a class, social, cultural, miniature and particularized currently presenting itself of a A fightback against the government and and nationalist revolt began to anti-imperialist struggle in humiliating defeat for British bosses in Britain and Ireland could see occur. Ireland, class war alone remains imperialism; of an end to the Protestant workers shift. Instead of feeling And despite all the tremen- the key to the understanding of hated nonexistent ‘province of “betrayed” they could begin fighting for dous odds against it, that all future historic development Northern Ireland’ now being their class, with Catholic workers as their al- lies. launching of a tiny spontaneous worldwide. Build Leninism. assured, never to be returned to; revolt has resulted, 25 years Douglas Bell of the colossal advantage in all This naïve rubbish asks nearly directions of being able to com- all the wrong questions, and Tory ruling class made angry fools plete Ireland’s independence; gets nearly all the wrong of the undoubted tremendous answers. of by US backing for Ireland’s inde- significance of the national- It is unbelievable unclass- liberation struggle historically conscious ignorance to pre- pendence war, now a peace initiative. in the steady dismantling and sent the struggle in Ireland, Shamed London establishment cannot overthrow of the colonial-impe- as nothing but middle-class rialist system; etc, etc. religious sectarianism failing to hide its disgrace. Reunification is the Despite all these magnificent get along, – to a background of gains from the Irish struggle economic deprivation. agenda. Only bourgeois Britain and which will help put imperialism British colonist ideology is into its coffin more firmly than not just engaged in routine fake-’lefts’ squirm with embarrass- ever, – the posturing middle- beating of the Orange drum, class ‘lefts’ in Britain still refuse as explained by the SWP, nor ment. to see anything but defeats and are ‘Catholics’ (whoever they [EPSR No 793 14-03-95] setbacks in Ireland, expressing are) just seeking rights, nor are ‘Protestant workers’ the main British imperialism’s long- breakthroughs coupled with the only their own posturing ‘ultra- victims of sectarianism, nor is drawn-out snail’s-pace capitula- invincibility of the IRA’s armed revolutionary’ stupidity and the London government seeking tion to the heroic resilience of struggle, it is revolutionary lack of theory. no change. the Irish national-liberation force which has finally broken In for example the SWP’s The entire historic British struggle has received a dramatic the British imperialist bourgeoi- childish exhibitionism, de- imperialist system is in crisis, kick up the backside from the sie’s colonial intransigence in its manding to see ‘Catholic and and its colonial ruling-class resumed triumph of Gerry Occupied Zone of Ireland. Protestant workers’ (whatever mentality in the vulnerable Oc- Adams’s campaigning in the USA For the Marxist-Leninist un- they are) ‘uniting immediately cupied Zone of Ireland is facing and before world public opinion. derstanding of the international for revolutionary socialism a complete cultural breakdown The Clinton presidency has balance of class forces and the now’, etc, – the present reveal- and annihilation from standing humiliated Major’s government relentless historic overthrow of ing international balance of right in the path of worldwide by inviting Adams to the White imperialism since the start of class forces scarcely get exam- historic forces of national- House and encouraging Sinn this century, the inevitability ined at all, and the crucial post- liberation which inevitably will Féin to recommence open fund- and importance of this national war phenomenon of national- grow stronger and refuse to be raising in the United States, liberation triumph, and the liberation struggle might just denied as the general crisis of while London limps along, still degenerate humiliation of the as well not exist in anti-colonial the monopoly-capitalist system refusing to open full round- British ruling class, has not and anti-imperialist history ei- universally plunges ever faster table peace negotiations. been difficult to analyse. ther, for all the grasp that these towards economic collapses Tory backbenchers have made British imperialism’s posi- sad Trotskyite ultra-lefts show and international proletarian a feeble attempt, alongside the tions and strength in the world of reality: revolution. colonist MPs from the Occupied have suffered terribly under Will the Framework Document end sec- To delay proletarian revolu- Zone of Ireland who deceitfully siege ever since the close of the tarianism? tion, imperialism has conducted mislabel themselves ‘Ulster 19th century, and have declined THIS IS unlikely. It is really about restructur- a major historic retreat from Unionists’, to take a stand particularly rapidly since 1945. ing division on religious lines, not abolish- direct political colonisation against American and world- With the collapse of British ing it. The proposals do nothing to end the false since 1945. wide pressure for a settlement, political empire as well as of idea that Protestants and Catholics have Whatever the Popular Front by refusing talks until IRA arms much of Britain’s imperialist in- separate identities and cannot live together. faults of Stalinism throughout are decommissioned. dustrial and military strength, The two governments want to under- its Third International career But the mainland ruling class the colony ripped out of the cut the Republican desire for Irish unity and after, national-liberation had already given in on this northeast comer of Ireland by by drawing the Catholic middle class of Northern Ireland into a “power sharing” ar- has obviously played an epoch- position last week, announcing the evil of Partition in 1921, de- rangement with the Unionists. making part in the general that after all, talks could begin nying Ireland its full independ- In fact, ordinary Protestants have nothing dismantling of the monopoly- “on an exploratory basis” before ence and self-determination, no to lose from the proposals—though they imperialist world. a single IRA gun was handed in. longer played any worthwhile would not gain anything either. Only in superficial appear- In other words, the entire strategic or economic role. JOHN MAJOR has made it clear that he ance does the planet seem under British propaganda stance that On the contrary, the renewed does not want real change. The move towards talks and diplomacy the influence of one monopoly- no concessions to the Irish outbreak of national-liberation has meant a turn away from any sort of fo- capitalist superpower more national-liberation struggle struggle there at the end of the cus on struggle by the mass of people from than ever, or under collective would be discussed “while the 1960s rapidly turned the Oc- below. imperialist domination more threat of armed revolt re- cupied Zone into a burden and WE HOPE the peace continues. than ever. mained” now publicly has not a a nightmare, economically and But there can be no stable peace on the The West has been obliged to shred of credibility left to it, just politically. basis of two groups of capitalists coming together. It requires the unity of Protestant recruit half the world into its as it has been plainly obvious But for the scores of petty- and Catholic workers. ruling-class profiteering glitz, to any class-conscious workers bourgeois fake-‘left’ movements The problem at the moment is that the – and the workers of the whole with half a brain for many years in Britain splitting, confusing, only alternative to the Unionists on offer ap- world into potential revolution- now (see ILWP Books vol 8, 15 and holding back the work- pears to be a nationalist alliance between ary confrontations with capital. & 22 – Ireland and subsequent ing class with their sectarian Gerry Adams and the Irish government. In that situation it is easy for Unionists to And this has all had to be Bulletins). subjective-individualism, their claim that any gain for nationalists will mean accomplished via keeping going In other words, as the Bulletin shallow anti-Marxist idealism, a loss for them. the most sustained inflationary 47 has been explaining for the and their instinctive middle- That is why there is a desperate need for boom in all history, which can past 14 years since the triumph class-philistine anti-commu- socialist politics and an organisation that only eventually lead to the most of the Hunger Strikes and nism, – the Irish situation has emphasise the united interests of Protestant devastating economic slump Sinn Féin’s associated political always confounded them with and, Catholic workers in fighting Tory gov- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 and fascist civil-war chaos in all equally damned, but lumping rassed forcibly-exposed entrist London which caused hun- history, dominated by another Sinn Féin in with this reaction- parasites take an even more dreds of millions of pounds of inter-imperialist war, poten- ary paralysis via its ‘nationalist reactionary line than the SWP damage to British monopoly— tially the most destructive ever, alliance with the Irish govern- dilettantes. They astonishingly capitalism and threatened to and probably the last one that ment’ for a hopeless peace be- try to comfort Ian Paisley, tell- choke financial life there to civilisation will ever put up tween ‘two groups of capitalists ing the Unionists not to despair a standstill, with even more with, a catastrophic threat only coming together’. What a cesspit because it is the Irish national- catastrophic consequences for to be ended finally by universal of stupid ignorance is such ‘left’ liberation struggle which has the British imperialist economy, proletarian revolution. analysis. accepted that its armed struggle – by forcing the police to impose Marxist-Leninist science Of course Sinn Féin are not has been defeated; – and ex- a steel-walled checkpointed has never failed to grasp that revolutionary socialists, and plaining the failure of Paisley’s barrier around the central nationalist guerrilla wars of of course the Dublin govern- attempted renewed ‘Carson Square Mile, – had nothing to independence are an inevitable ment must essentially be seen trail’ fascist UDI (backed by do with bringing London to the phenomenon on route towards as Green Tories. But the Irish UVF/UFP fascist sectarian kill- conference table, forcing the a final planned socialist world national-liberation struggle ings) as merely being because British police-military dictator- of workers states, – as quoted at against British imperialism is the ‘Protestant workers’ (like ship to suspend its murderous great length direct from Lenin a a very real and monumental the ‘Militant’) realise that there civil war, – according to these few Bulletins ago. historical phenomenon, still has been no ‘sell out’ by London, bogus ‘Marxists’. In a deceitful How could such a stubborn, tremendously influencing the but only by Sinn Féin: display of ‘left’ romantic postur- bitter, heroic revolt as that by international anti-imperialist Real fears do exist amongst Protestants that ing, these IMG pseuds claim the Irish national-liberation fight, still capable of being a key attempts are being made to coerce them that ‘brilliant united displays movement against British im- vehicle in inter-imperialist con- into a united Ireland, but this isn’t the aim of of anti-sectarian working-class perialist domination, – defeat- flict, still needed as an antidote the Framework Document. solidarity by Protestants and ing barbed-wire concentration to the chauvinistic poisoning of The leaders of the Ulster Unionist Party Catholics’ made the IRA ‘give have incorrectly analysed the political situa- camps of detention-without- the British working class, and tion. They believe that the IRA called an end up’, – and will carry on resisting trial; endless midnight terror still capable of producing revo- to its military campaign from a position of the evil of a ‘capitalist united army raids on republican homes; lutionary heroism and the price- strength and that the price of the IRA cease- Ireland’ in prospect. torture barracks; shoot-to-kill less lesson of what armed revolt fire is concessions to nationalists, moving At the moment, of course, a death squads; enforced hunger can achieve which will stand the towards joint authority and eventually to a reunited Ireland would indeed united Ireland. strikes; total censorship silenc- forces of progress in good stead They believe that the IRA cessation is only be capitalist. But not nearly ing; non-stop PTA harassment for all time to come. temporary and that if the Provos don’t get as reactionary-imperialist, it and exclusion orders and the These ‘left’ worms wallow in their way, the military campaign will re- could be pointed out, as these like; frame-up show trials; etc; this philistine mire out of the sume. former (and still continuing, etc; etc; – withstand every vile most small-minded conceit of But the Provos haven’t forced the British in many ways) loyal Labourites repression that the British po- being for ‘real’ and ‘pure’ social- government into a corner. The leaders of who worked diligently to secure the republican movement realised the limits lice-military dictatorship could ism, while in practice, of course, and the weakness of their ‘armed struggle’. office for the British imperial- inflict upon it, and somehow not never doing anything but sit on They moved into an alliance with the ist Labour governments which be a defeat for British imperial- the fence and carp when any SDLP, right-wing establishment parties in reinstalled the police-military ism when it finally prevailed and actual anti-imperialist advances the South and Irish-American capitalists to dictatorship over the Occupied forced London to negotiate??? are being made anywhere, such pressurise the British government. Today colonial zone of Ireland in How can such a humiliating as in the Irish national-libera- there are no plans for mass demonstrations 1968 in the first place, which to show Protestant resistance. There have climb-down by British imperi- tion struggle, or in Cuba, or in been no calls to do so from the factories or rushed through the fascist PTA alism, which had never ceased the national-liberation struggle the shop floor. This does not signify illusions (Prevention of Terrorism Act) vowing to not consider ever in general, or in 70 years of So- in the Framework Document but it shows in one evening without a single negotiating anything with ‘the viet-led socialist camp, etc, etc. that Protestants don’t feel they are about to Commons vote against in 1974, common criminals of terrorism These middle-class opportunist be sold out. and which imposed the barbaric Throughout 1992 and 1993, thousands of until they had all surrendered opponents of the dictatorship of Protestant and Catholic working-class peo- reactionary ‘criminalisation’ and handed over their guns’, the proletariat posture sancti- ple demonstrated against sectarianism and stain on the Republican prison- etc, – now be described as ‘no moniously about “better wages, sectarian killings, it was this brilliant display ers-of-war later on, forcing the change’ by the British govern- healthcare,” etc, but always end of working-class unity that brought the Dirty protests and eventually ment??? up creeping behind the Labour ‘peace process’ where it is today. the Hunger Strikes which saw How could the ceasefire and Party organisers of the princi- Protestants will oppose attempts to co- ten young Irishmen sacrifice erce them into a capitalist united Ireland. end to civil war forced on the pal permanent reformist class their lives in hideous suffering British police-military dictator- treachery to workers. The IRA’s undefeated bombing and cruelty to this monstrous ship by the IRA’s invincibility, The ‘Militant’ crowd of embar- campaign against the City of imperialist Labour Government not be regarded as a ‘gain’ for “ordinary Protestants” (what- ever they are)? And only total ‘left’ sectar- ian nincompoops could regard British imperialism’s colossal capitulations towards Ireland’s reunification over the last 10 years in the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Downing Street declaration, and the Framework Document, as wanting “to undercut the Re- publican desire for Irish unity”. All that these tedious ‘rank- and-file’ sectarians can grasp is some childish dogma about “struggle by the mass of people from below” to unite “Protes- tant and Catholic workers in fighting Tory governments and 48 bosses throughout Ireland”, thereby not only putting the Dublin government on a par with British imperialism, to be EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 policy. Ireland they will apply the princi- created to cater adequately for pre- joint basis. This would include the These reactionary little ple of self-determination by the peo- sent anti future political, social and preparation, in consultation with Labour-Party ‘left’ ‘Militant’ ple of Ireland on the basis set out economic interconnections on the is- the two Governments, of joint sub- jerks still do not really disagree in the Joint Declaration: the British land of Ireland, enabling represent- missions under EC programmes and Government recognise that it is atives of the main traditions, North initiatives and their joint monitor- with these racist-chauvinist La- for the people of Ireland alone, by and South, to enter agreed dynamic, ing and implementation, although bourite provocations, – so full of agreement between the two parts new, co-operative and constructive individual projects could be imple- contempt for the Irish national- respectively and without external relationships. mented either jointly or separately. liberation struggle. impediment, to exercise their right Both Governments agree that Both Governments envisage reg- A major obstacle, of course, of self-determination on the basis these institutions should include a ular and frequent meetings of the to the obscene Little Englander of consent, freely and concurrently North-South body involving Heads North-South body: jingoism of these Militantites, given, North and South, to bring of Department on both sides and □ to discharge the functions crowing that the Irish national- about a united Ireland, if that is their duly established and maintained agreed for it in relation to a range of liberation struggle has been wish; the Irish Government accept by legislation in both sovereign matters designated for treatment on that the democratic right of self-de- Parliaments. This body would bring an all-Ireland or cross-border basis; beaten, – is the Framework Docu- termination by the people of Ireland together these Heads of Department □ to oversee the work of subsidi- ment itself, – not the desperate as a whole must be achieved and representing the Irish Government ary bodies. propaganda padding of British exercised with and subject to the and new democratic institutions in The two Governments envisage imperialist intransigence in agreement and consent of a majority Northern Ireland, to discharge or that legislation in the sovereign of the people of Northern Ireland. words, none of which is new, oversee delegated executive, harmo- Parliaments should designate those Both Governments recognise that – but the newly-stated conces- nising or consultative functions, as functions which should, from the Northern Ireland’s current constitu sions to Ireland’s reunification - appropriate, over a range of matters outset, be discharged or overseen and full national self-determi- tional status reflects and relies upon which the two Governments desig- by the North-South body; and they nation, plus no mention of the the present wish of a majority of its nate in the first instance in agree- will seek agreement on these, as people. They also acknowledge that ment with the parties or which the on other features of North-South hoax ‘Northern Ireland’ bastard at present a substantial minority of two administrations, North and statelet ever being resurrected arrangements, in discussion with its people wish for a united Ireland. South, subsequently agree to des- the relevant political parties in again on its old basis. Reaffirming the commitment to en- ignate. It is envisaged that, in deter- For the record: Northern Ireland. It would also courage, facilitate and enable the mining functions to be discharged be open to the North-South body The primary objective of both achievement of agreement over a or overseen by the North-South to recommend to the respective Governments in their approach period among all the people who in- body, whether by executive action, administrations and legislatures to Northern Ireland is to promote habit the island, they acknowledge harmonisation or consultation, ac- for their consideration that new and establish agreement among that the option of a sovereign united count will be taken of: functions should be designated the people of the island of Ireland, Ireland does not command the con- (i) the common interest in a given to be discharged or overseen by building on the Joint Declaration. sent of the unionist tradition, nor matter on the part of both parts of that body; and to recommend that They take as guiding principles for does the existing status of Northern the island; or matters already designated should their co-operation in search of this Ireland command the consent of the (ii) the mutual advantage of ad- be moved on the scale between agreement: nationalist tradition. Against this dressing a matter together; or consultation, harmonisation and (i) the principle of self-deter- background, they acknowledge the (iii) the mutual benefit which may executive action. Within those re- mination, as set out in the Joint need for new arrangements and derive from it being administered sponsibilities transferred to new Declaration; structures to reflect the reality of by the North-South body; or institutions in Northern Ireland, (iv) that any new political arrange- diverse aspirations, to reconcile as (iv) the achievement of economies the British Government have no ments must be based on full respect fully as possible the rights of both of scale and the avoidance of unnec- limits of their own to impose on for, and protection and expression traditions, and to promote co-oper- essary duplication of effort. the nature and extent of functions of, the rights and identities of both ation between them, so as to foster In relevant posts in each of the which could be agreed for designa- traditions in Ireland and even-hand- the process of developing agreement two administrations participation tion at the outset or, subsequently, edly afford both communities in and consensus between all the peo- in the North-South body would be between the Irish Government and Northern Ireland parity of esteem ple of Ireland. a duty of service. Both Governments the Northern Ireland administra- and treatment, including equality of They agree that future arrange- believe that the legislation should tion. Both Governments expect opportunity and advantage. ments to Northern Ireland, and provide for a clear institutional that significant responsibilities, The two Governments will work Northern Ireland’s wider relation- identity and purpose for the North- including meaningful functions at together with the parties to achieve ships, should respect the full and South body. It would also establish executive level, will be a feature a comprehensive accommodation, equal legitimacy and worth of the the body’s terms of reference, legal of such agreement. The British the implementation of which would identity, sense of allegiance, aspira- status and arrangements for politi- Government believe that, in prin- include interlocking and mutually tion and ethos of both the unionist cal, legal, administrative and finan- ciple, any function devolved to the supportive institutions across the and nationalist communities there. cial accountability. The North-South institutions in Northern Ireland three strands, including: Consequently, both Governments body could operate through, or could be so designated, subject to (b) North-South institutions — commit themselves to the princi- oversee, a range of functionally-re- any necessary savings in respect with clear identity and purpose to ple that institutions and arrange- lated subsidiary bodies or other en- of the British Government’s pow- enable representatives of demo- ments in Northern Ireland and tities established to ‘administer des- ers and duties, for example to en- cratic institutions, North and South, North-South institutions should af- ignated functions on an all-island or sure compliance with EU and in- to enter into new, co-operative and ford both communities secure and cross-border basis. ternational obligations. The Irish satisfactory political, administra- constructive relationships; to pro- Specific arrangements would need Government also expect to desig- tive and symbolic expression and mote agreement among the people to be developed to apply to EU mat- nate a comparable range of func- protection. In particular, they com- of the island of Ireland; to carry out ters. Any EU matter relevant to the tions. mit themselves to entrenched pro- on a democratically accountable ba- competence of either administration Although both Governments en- visions guaranteeing equitable and sis delegated executive, harmonis- could be raised for consideration in visage that representatives of North effective political participation for ing and consultative functions over the North-South body. Across all and South in the body could raise whichever community finds itself a range of designated matters to be designated matters and in accord- for discussion any matter of inter- in a minority position by reference agreed; and to serve to acknowledge ance with the delegated functions, est to either side which falls within to the Northern Ireland framework, and reconcile the rights, identities both Governments agree that the the competence of either adminis- or the wider Irish framework, as the and aspirations of the two major tra- body will have an important role, tration, it is envisaged that its des- case may be, consequent upon the ditions; with their support and cooperation ignated functions would fall into operation of the principle of consent. (c) East-West structures - to en- and in consultation with them, in three broad categories: hance the existing basis for co-opera- While the principle and over- developing on a continuing basis tion between the two Governments, all context for such new structures an agreed approach for the whole Consultative: The North-South and to promote support and under- are a recognised concern of both island in respect of the challenges body would be a forum where the write the fair and effective operation Governments in the exercise of their and opportunities of the European two sides would consult on any of the new arrangements. respective responsibilities, they con- Union. In respect of matters desig- aspect of designated matters on Given the absence of consensus sider that the structures themselves nated at the executive level, which which either side wished to hold and depth of divisions between the would be most effectively negoti- would include all EC programmes consultations. Both sides would two main traditions in Northern ated, as part of a comprehensive and initiatives to be implemented on share a duty to exchange informa- Ireland, the two Governments agree three-stranded process, in direct a cross-border or island-wide basis tion and to consult about existing that such an accommodation will in- dialogue involving the relevant po- in Ireland, the body itself would be and future policy, though there 49 volve an agreed new approach to the litical parties in Northern Ireland responsible, subject to the Treaty ob- would be no formal requirement traditional constitutional doctrines who would be called upon to oper- ligations of each Government, for the that agreement would be reached on both sides. ate them. Both Governments con- implementation and management of or that policy would be harmo- In their approach to Northern sider that new institutions should be EC policies and programmes on a nised or implemented jointly. EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Harmonising: In respect of these Both Governments envisage that to operate, and direct rule from ingly about what is envisaged as designated responsibilities there the framework would include Westminster was reintroduced, the effectively a new North-South would be, in addition to the duty administrative support staffed British Government agree that other government for the whole of to exchange information and to jointly by members of the Northern arrangements would be made to im- Ireland. Paisley is not mistaken consult on the formulation of pol- Ireland Civil Service and the Irish plement the commitment to promote icy, an obligation on both sides to Civil Service. They also envisage co-operation at all levels between in his bitter rejection. ‘Militant’ use their best endeavours to reach that both administration will need the people, North and South, repre- are just irresponsibly trying to agreement on a common policy to arrange finance for the North- senting both traditions in Ireland, as avoid saying that their Little and to make determined efforts to South body and its agencies on the agreed by the two Governments in Englander opportunism has overcome any obstacles in the way basis that these constitute a neces- the Joint Declaration, and to ensure always been hopelessly and reac- of that objective, even though its sary public function. that the cooperation that had been tionarily in the wrong towards implementation might be under- The remit of the body should be developed through the North-South the Irish national-liberation taken by the two administrations dynamic, enabling progressive ex- body be maintained. struggle. separately. tension by agreement of its func- The document is overwhelm- DB Executive: In the case of these des- tions to new areas. Its role should ignated responsibilities the North- develop to keep pace with the South body would itself be directly growth of harmonisation and with Great-power differences in a world responsible for the establishment of greater integration between the two an agreed policy and for its imple- economies. of sharpening trade-war conflicts are mentation on a joint basis. It would Both Governments envisage a however be open to the body, new and more broadly-based the key expression of the class-war where appropriate, to agree that Agreement, developing and ex- the implementation of the agreed tending their co-operation, reflect- contradictions which are the source of policy would be undertaken either ing the totality of relationships by existing bodies, acting in an between the two islands, and dedi- all future development. Cultural and agency capacity, whether jointly or cated to fostering co-operation, separately, North and South, or by reconciliation and agreement in social despair reflect the same seismic new bodies specifically created and Ireland at all levels. They intend mandated for this purpose. that under such a new Agreement explosions to come. In this light, both Governments a standing Intergovernmental [EPSR No 794 14-03-95] are continuing to give considera- Conference will be maintained, tion to the range of functions that chaired by the designed Irish That imperialist crisis and flection of London’s touchiness might, with the agreement of the Minister and by the Secretary of inter-imperialist conflict are over its catastrophic enforced parties, be designated at the outset State for Northern Ireland. It would the decisive framework for all climb-down to Sinn Féin and and accordingly they will be ready he supported by a Permanent to make proposals in that regard in Secretariat of civil servants from immediate future developments the IRA’ s national liberation future discussions with the relevant both Governments. in world history can no longer struggle. Northern Ireland parties. The Conference will be a fo- be doubted after the sensa- But plainly a lot more is in- By way of illustration, it is in- rum through which the two tional deterioration in rela- volved than just disagreements tended that these proposals would Governments will work together in tions between Washington and about the Irish question, where include at the executive level a pursuance of their joint objectives London, the oldest and firmest to some extent the US imperial- range of functions, clearly defined of securing agreement and recon- ‘alliance’ in the ‘free world’ ists actually share the British in scope, from within the follow- ciliation amongst the people of the of anti-communist counter- establishment’s deep concern ing broad categories: sectors involv- island of Ireland and of laying the revolution. (supported by all ruling classes ing a natural or physical all-Ireland foundations for a peaceful and har- framework; EC programmes and monious future based on mutual Disagreements about the everywhere) that the Tory gov- initiatives; marketing and promo- trust and understanding between Irish national-liberation strug- ernment should not only not be tion activities abroad; and culture them. gle are the obvious instant seen to be capitulating to armed and heritage. The Conference will provide a friction-point at the moment, revolution, but that the appear- Again, by way of illustration, the continuing institutional expres- marked, by intense British ance should be given, if at all Governments would make propos- sion for the Irish Government’s humiliation at the way in which possible or if enough confusion als at the harmonising level for a recognised concern and role in re- Gerry Adams, president of the can be sown, that it is the armed broader range of functions, clearly lation to Northern Ireland. The separatist movement in the Oc- ‘terrorists’ who have abandoned defined in scope (including, as ap- Irish Government will put for- cupied Zone of Ireland, has been their struggle as hopeless. propriate, relevant EU aspects), ward views and proposals on is- from within the following catego- sues falling within the ambit of given a hero’s welcome in the The British ruling class re- ries: aspects of agriculture and fish- the new Conference or involving USA, crowned with a glittering sentment of ‘American interfer- eries; industrial development; con- both Governments, and deter- reception at the White House ence’ over such a sensitive issue sumer affairs; transport; energy; mined efforts will be made to re- itself, against desperate Tory as British imperialism’s failure trade; health; social welfare; educa- solve any differences between the pleas that any such triumphal to defeat the IRA; plus evi- tion; and economic policy. two Governments. The Conference recognition would be gravely dence that in the end it was the Both Governments envisage that all will be the principal instrument damaging to Downing Street government in London which decisions within the body would for an intensification of the co-op- interests. could not cope with any more be by agreement between the two eration and partnership between As bourgeois commentaries civil-war bombing disasters on sides. The Heads of Department both Governments, with particu- lar reference to the principles con- themselves are noting, Clinton’s the City, or security setbacks on each side would operate within slap in the face for Major & Co to its police-military dictator- the overall terms of reference man- tained in the Joint Declaration, in dated by legislation in the two sov- this Framework Document and in the is based on more than just ‘disa- ship over the Occupied Zone of ereign Parliaments. They would new Agreement, on a wide range greements about tactics’ over Ireland, – could only have been exercise their powers in accordance of issues concerned with Northern how to respond to Sinn Féin’s given such desperately chal- with the rules for democratic au- Ireland and with the relations be- peace initiative. lenging expression last week if thority and accountability for this tween the two parts of the island of The American ruling class it coincided with other much function in force in the Oireachtas Ireland. is clearly contemptuous of the deeper grudges and fears about [the Irish Parliament] and in new Both Governments believe that whole position of the Brit- Britain’s position in the world. institutions in Northern Ireland. there should also be provision ish bourgeoisie on just about The British capitalist press it- The operation of the North-South in the Agreement for develop- everything to do with the whole self is inhibited from giving any body’s functions would be subject ing co-operation between the two to regular scrutiny in agreed politi- crisis now facing the imperialist more than the barest outline of Governments and both islands on system worldwide, on almost how basic these contradictions cal institutions in Northern Ireland a range of “East-West” issues and and the Oireachtas respectively. bilateral matters of mutual inter- all questions of international now are: Both Governments expect that est not covered by other specific economics and politics. JOHN MAJOR’S angry rebuff to there would be a Parliamentary arrangements, either through the The unprecedented snubs of President Clinton over the Gerry 50 Forum, with representatives from Anglo-Irish Inter-governmental the US and British governments Adams visit highlights a deepen- agreed political institutions in Council, the Conference or other- openly refusing to communicate ing concern in Whitehall that the Northern Ireland and members of wise. with each other at the highest row is much more than another the Oireachtas, to consider a wide In the event that devolved insti- level out of hostility to each example of a spat between friends. range of matters of mutual interest. tutions in Northern Ireland ceased other’s position is certainly a re- Many now believe that tectonic EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 plates in the relationship have circles given the sophistication Washington paying more at- flabby and complacent from moved. of modern communications. Last tention to France and Germany too long success at colonising British and American interests night it emerged that unable to talk within the Common Market is empire-building, and one which are diverging so fast, officials be- directly to Mr Major, Mr Clinton only one aspect of the problem, has catastrophically fooled lieve, that it is becoming difficult had faxed the Prime Minister what to recognise the common ground American officials described as a downgrading Britain’s impor- itself as to its real standing in that for more than 40 years made “conciliatory” letter designed to re- tance. At the same time, the USA the pecking order in the 20th the Anglo-American relationship pair the extraordinary open rift. is at least getting ready to fall century by fortuitously ending uniquely close. The changes have However Mr Clinton’s letter failed out with France or Germany or up on the ‘winning’ side in two been exacerbated by the Clinton explicitly to respond to a key de- both even more violently, if it world wars which, on its own, Administration, especially in the mand that Mr Major had made in his has to, than has just happened it would have lost, abysmally, - quarrels over Bosnia and Ireland. letter — that the President should with Britain. this bourgeoisie is decadent and But officials believe that unless a -su press Mr Adams during their two And equally, as is now facing demise. preme effort is made to get relations meetings this week to start decom- common knowledge, all the And some recent griev- on a better footing, the goodwill that missioning the IRA’s arsenal. bound the two countries together Administration sources said the countries of the European ous hammer-blows to British may be eroded for ever. thrust of Mr Clinton’s message Community (EC) are constantly finance-capital have directly Officials have been holding inten- was that he and Mr Major shared at loggerheads with each raised inter-imperialist sore- sive talks, throughout Whitehall, to the same goal of peace in Northern other over internal Common points. analyse what has gone wrong. The Ireland though they disagreed on Market wrangles, sabotaging The Barings merchant bank main concern is that without a solid tactics. each other’s exports at every collapse raised envy against no political relationship, not only will Conservative anger over Mr opportunity over such potential specific rival but underlined transatlantic co-operation become Clinton’s decision to see Mr Adams bureaucratic minefields as the London’s weakness against more fraught, but that burgeoning surfaced in the Commons. James ‘beef scare’ controversy, the international investment bank- trade relations between Britain and Couchman, MP for Gillingham, said America may suffer. There are wor- the move had struck a “grave blow” ‘lamb dumping’ scandal, the ing in general, Barings being ries also that Britain is increasingly to the special relationship. Tony ‘veal crates’ campaigning, etc; or broadly thought to be ‘too puny’ seen in America only of value as a Newton, the Commons Leader, who undermining each other’s high- for the dangerous and volatile member of the European Union. was standing in at Question Time office candidates; or ganging world of the lucrative deriva- America has come to accept that for Mr Major, underlined the depth up for trade advantage in other tives markets. the EU will speak with one voice on of irritation within the Government. ways; or using even more ruth- But the Barings crash had trade negotiations or foreign policy, He said the American less financial sanctions to do an followed earlier scandals at and pays less attention to British Administration had been left in EC ‘partner’ in the eye such as Warburgs, the City of London’s views in isolation. Both Mr Clinton “no doubt” about the Government’s raising or not raising, lowering most powerful merchant bank, and former President Bush have view. paid as much or more attention to or not lowering interest rates as which too had proved to be no France and Germany than to Britain, Monopoly-capitalist slump the case may be, or defending real competition for the vastly officials here believe. rivalry is the basic cause of or not defending particular cur- mightier American investment the inevitable and incurable ******************* rency parities regardless of prior banks which have now started divergence between Britain and agreements, etc, etc. to dominate (along with some THE deepening rift between the USA, and between any of the Even more telltale are the other foreign financial conglom- Britain and America was exposed other ‘great powers’. obvious splits now within each erates) some of the more profit- last night with the disclosure that The cut-throat competitive- John Major has kept President ruling class, such as the British, able business in the City. Clinton waiting for four days to ness of the imperialist system which indicate how seriously the Some sections of the British talk about the Gerry Adams’ visit is only seen in the full picture main inter-imperialist divisions bourgeoisie took a very strong to Washington. once the trade war has broken have already gone, frightening stand against those ruling-class Administration officials said yes- out in earnest at the peak of different sections of the bour- circles which had decided to let terday that Mr Clinton had first tried market expansionism, where- geoisie into denouncing each Barings go to the wall, raising to telephone Mr Major last Saturday, after the only ‘gains’ that can other for the ‘disastrous con- precisely the issues of Britain’s the day after Mr Major sent him an be made by any grouping are at sequences’ that will follow, it is position in the international angry letter about his decision to al- each other’s expense, ‘winning’ argued, if Britain gets too close imperialist pecking order as low Mr Adams to raise funds in the by driving a rival multinational United States, but the day before the to or too far from its ‘allies in their real grievance against the Prime Minister flew to the Middle into bankruptcy. Europe’, or its old relationship ‘men of failure’: East. This is the stage now being with America, or its Common- The Barings bankruptcy is a Sources in Washington believe reached in capitalism’s long wealth friends, or too close or historic defeat for the Bank of that a furious Mr Major has been post-1945 trade cycle. All the too far from ‘standing indepen- England, which raises harsh issues trying to punish Mr Clinton for counter-revolutionary freema- dently’, etc, etc. The Tory ruling of national interest. The Bank can- ignoring the advice of No 10 and sonry’s clubby and philistine class are always quietly sniping not afford to be seen to fail in such Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Northern anti-communist complacency at each other anyway. But the an attempt. It failed because it was Ireland Secretary, not to give the of the inflationary boom years periods when it has come to not prepared to take an unquantifi- Sinn Féin president the red carpet is now giving way to the bitter able risk as the lender of last resort. treatment. open splits within the bourgeoi- recriminations and terror of The argument that the failure is Downing Street officials confirmed sie have always been periods of “non-systemic” is entirely bogus. in Amman that the White House isolation of the downward- international imperialist crisis Whether the Bank of England likes it had made contact on Saturday but spiralling bust years. in general, when major upheav- or not, Barings, the oldest merchant that there had been no conversation. As the worldwide slump and als and realignments, not stop- bank in London, was an integral They said that the White House had bankruptcy devastation sets in, ping at inter-imperialist war part of the credit of the City. That been told that Mr Major was busy all of the imperialist ‘allies’ can itself, have been in the offing. credit has already been undermined preparing for his trip. They sug- no longer afford to do anything Bosnia and Ireland are, to a gested it had been arranged that the with each other except squabble certain extent, just the super- two leaders would get in touch after about every issue under the sun, his return. Government sources also ficial details of scaring inter- confirmed that the White House had and watch each other like hawks imperialist rivalry, the places again been in touch with Mr Major’s to find out who is ganging up on where underlying contradictory travelling party on Monday while who, and which state is going agendas break to the surface. he was in Jerusalem. to stab its ‘oldest friend’ in the Deeper down, serious eco- Throughout yesterday the expla- back next. nomic problems and conflicting nation given by Mr Major and his The feuding is rampant in trade-war policies are what is officials was that a conversation had between the imperialist powers, giving rise to the real anxiety. been difficult to arrange because of and even more sour and aggres- In general, the British the differing schedules of the two sive (at this stage) within each monopoly-capitalist ruling class leaders and the need to have secure 51 telephone lines. ruling class as the policy costs are now lagging disastrously be- The President’s inability to make of getting the general line or hind the rest of the imperialist contact with Mr Major was consid- perspective wrong mount higher world leaders. One of the oldest ered extraordinary in diplomatic and higher. bourgeoisies, one which grew EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 by the mismanagement and vast future earning power. The Bank When the fool turns disingenuous leader, John English, and hardline debts of the Lloyd’s insurance mar- of England exists to protect British we must look sharp, and more than loyalist Garry McMichael — neither ket. When Barings is not supported credit. In this instance, it has failed sharp. Again, I make plain that eve- of whom greeted Adams. in meeting its obligations, the credit in its prime duty. ryone at Barings was scrupulously But queues of other guests had of all British banks, without excep- honest as far as I know. But I do not formed to greet him. ‘There were tion, is damaged. Foreigners do Such forceful arguing about like people who, when they have more flash cameras pointing at him not make fine distinctions in cred- what is needed for a ‘strong’ made colossal and indeed terrible than at Paul Newman,’ said one. itworthiness; they transact their Britain is very close in spirit mistakes, assert that the disaster Adams emerged late to say that he business with banks they trust im- to those circles which at some was nothing to do with them, and had had ‘a very nice evening’, and plicitly and totally. They will think stage will be recriminating that that still less did they cause it. That to insist in the face of denials from that if Barings can go, no British Major took too strong a stand is what the company said and I say Westminster that ‘our people are bank would certainly be saved — against the USA over Ireland, or — come all the lawyers in the land talking to the British Government not even the largest. The system of not strong a stand enough, or — that they did it for greed. about an agenda for direct discus- confidence has been very seriously too strong a stand against Com- The culture of running away from sions at a ministerial level — that damaged. trouble has taken root, deep root in cannot be denied’. The “unquantified liability” argu- mon Market federalism, or not this country. Every one dealing with Every warm embrace makes it ment is almost equally unconvinc- strong a stand enough, etc. this midden, from the head of the that much harder for Adams to re- ing. The Bank of England has long From a similar bourgeois family firm to the youngest recruit, turn to the streets from whence he functioned as the “lender of last re- stable, somewhat surprising knows perfectly well that their cata- rose to wage the war of telescopic sort”. That almost always involves a personalised onslaughts have clysm was caused from the top, not sights. Conversely, the Clinton ad- risk which cannot be quantified: if already begun against the the bottom. ministration, the pillars of Irish- the risk were quantifiable, and could particular class characteristics The Barings disaster is fascinat- American society and the capital be matched against assets, there of the Establishment bluebloods ing to me, because it shows not only that has taken on the task of broker- would be no need for a lender of last who are now seen as ‘letting the that the clever are very often stu- ing peace in the Middle East have resort. Since the nationalisation of pid, but also that it is not very dif- taken Adams — and all he stands for the Bank of England in 1946, the role side down’, etc: ficult to avoid being stupid, and that — to their bosom, and crowned him of lender of last resort has always in- The truth is plain to see, however it most people manage it with ease. I as an essential and equal partner in volved the use of public funds, since is fudged. Whoever made the mis- wouldn’t go so far as to say that the the Irish peace process. the Bank itself has no private capi- take, the head of the business is a simple are cleverer than the great As Clinton himself said — punch- tal. In this case, Barings owed some- Baring, and it is he who must take brains, but sometimes it is plain to ing his fist in the air — after the first thing between £500 million and £1 the blame, just as he would have see. conversation at Thursday’s lunch- billion, and was worth somewhere stuffed his face with more millions Which is, of course, exactly the eon: ‘This is going to work.’ between £750 million and £1 billion if the wind hadn’t turned. At every port of call, Adams as a going concern. A rescue did in- What else? Well, apart from the same exasperated contempt on said with his new turn of political volve risks, but the Bank of England greed, come to think of it there is the domestic front as is being phrase: ‘John Major talks a lot about might well have made a profit if it also stupidity. Who says that the expressed internationally, Sinn Féin. Why can’t he talk to Sinn had taken them. halls of Baring ring with financial marking the depths of bourgeois Féin?’ This weekend there is hardly Nor does the argument that bank- genius? Certainly, they were once despair and fears as the crisis anyone left in Washington who has rupting Barings will inspire greater upon a time very clever — in the relentlessly deepens. not, at least implicitly, endorsed his prudence in other banks carry 18th century — but I have just seen Even the British capital- view. weight. It is the argument for the a headline that encompasses practi- ist press coverage of Adams’s Each time Adams is introduced on execution of Admiral Byng — shot, cally all I have been saying. It runs: triumphant American tour, the podium with another accolade, as Voltaire said, “pour encourager les “Three audits failed to detect £17 billion you get the strong feeling he will autres”. No bank wants to lose all scam in Singapore.” Let’s inquire fur- while still kidding itself to some have the last laugh — his admirers its equity because of the follies of ther about these three audits, shall extent that London’s negotiat- at his feet, the British Government one dealer. Losing £600 million is we? ing position is not a completely floundering, now laps behind. He not a deliberate policy from which During the two-year period when bankrupt farce trying to close is the one who knows where he has Warburgs or Lazards needs to be the fraud is suspected to have been the stable door after the horse come from, and who knows exactly deterred. carried out, there were no fewer of Ireland’s reunification (fol- where he is going, in deadly earnest. What the Governor seems not to than three audits of the Singapore lowing the IRA’s national-libera- A decade ago, in Belfast, Irish understand is how credit actually office. Two were internal inquiries tion struggle) has already bolted Republicans of various hues talked develops. It takes a generation, a and one an external review. But the home, – can scarcely conceal publicly for the first time about the century or several centuries to build fraud was not detected. “He covered schooling that Adams has always world confidence in a financial cen- his tracks very well,” the source the derision steadily piling up denied and which the American es- tre. International clients must be- said. against Britain’s representatives tablishment has chosen either to ig- lieve in the City’s integrity, in its To which Mr Eddie George, the over their long-hopeless posi- nore or forgive. professionalism and in its reliability Governor of the Bank of England, tion on the Irish question: Working then for World in Action, in all circumstances, particularly in said: “There must have been some Last week was one long, sump- I sat for evening after evening lis- times of difficulty. This confidence kind of collusion or relationship tuous, rolling lunch-cum-dinner tening to people talk about Adams, can be damaged by a single failure: between the trader and back-office for Gerry Adams, through marble the backstreet commander of the in that sense all major failures are staff.” My word! Well never! Coo! hallways, at the finest hotels, at Provos’ second battalion, Belfast systemic. When foreign customers The Bank of England is in good the epicentres of power, and sur- Brigade; about the ‘economic’ bomb- have their doubts — as they now hands when the Governor can de- rounded by throngs of celebrities, ing campaign; about his secret talks do — they transact their business duce from a huge scam that there tycoons and political heavyweights in London as the youngest of an IRA somewhere else. The City has no must have been some kind of collu- who would have shuddered at the team flown over in 1972, deadliest of shortage of competitors in countries sion. He really does earn his wages. very thought of his handshake only all years for Northern Ireland. which would not turn their backs on But we must not lose sight of those months ago. We browsed the newspaper col- a great bank in a day of trouble. three audits and other financial con- Next evening the final conquest umns Adams wrote from inside It is not, therefore, sentimentality trols. Whose job was it to exercise of the American establishment was Long Kesh, under the codename or a desire to protect the particular control, and why did nobody see sealed by a two-minute chat with ‘Brownie’, in which he first ex- interest of particular people which that anything was wrong? Possibly Bill Clinton under the White House pounded what became the ‘Armalite makes one regret the failure of he was just about to nail the lie when chandeliers. and ballot box’ project to blend Barings and the grotesque timidity the dinner bell rang. The evening climaxed with a armed struggle and political agita- of the Bank of England. It is concern I like money, or more precisely, grand finale in which Adams and tion. That strategy, which has culmi- for the credit of London, one of the what money can do for me. I am not John Hume, leader of the mainly nated in a handshake and sing-song world’s greatest financial centres, so stupid as to have put my money Catholic Social Democratic and at the White House, originally set and one of the most important of into Barings — not, of course, that Labour Party, led the distinguished out to build ‘an alternative to the Brit Britain’s dwindling stock of world a crook might be able to steal it, company in singing ‘The Town I system...spearheaded by the IRA’. assets. The policy which allows such nor because I would have to put up Loved So Well’, a lament for the rav- ‘Sinn Féin,’ decreed Adams’s a valuable asset to be endangered not less than £10,000 for the honour aged city of Derry. Guests said the prison blueprint, ‘must come un- seems absolutely idiotic. The failure of having my moneys treated by song provoked ‘tears, clapping, the der army leadership at all lev- of the Bank of England has avoided Baring — but because I have always lot ’. els.’ We heard how, once out of risking at most a few hundred mil- treated fancy banks like Barings as Also at the reception (menu: prison in 1977, Adams brilliantly 52lion pounds; the credit of London, perfectly honest in every way, but smoked Irish salmon and trout, remoulded the clumsy IRA into a which has been put in jeopardy, likely to make fools of themselves Dublin Bay prawns, West Cork crab, streamlined guerrilla organisation may be an unquantifiable asset, but sooner or later. And wasn’t I right? Limerick ham with asparagus rou- that the British military admitted it it must be measured in hundreds Yes, I was: but to make a fool of lade and Bailey’s Irish cream mousse) could never defeat. We heard about of billions of pounds of Britain’s oneself is common to all mankind. were the Ulster Defence Association Adam’s calm, guiding hand in turn- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 ing the 1981 hunger strike into a ‘I’m not that kind of guy. But there’s less of the so-called ‘stabilisa- ist state with the injection of propaganda landslide and turning business to be done in all this. It’s all tion’ measures imposed on some free-market anarchy and point for Sinn Féin. about money now. Mexico by Washington and the a complete abandonment of the Adams is, dare one say it, sparsely IMF confirms how inextricably dictatorship of the proletariat. protestant in the way his ascetic se- It’s about liberating Ireland’s verity of purpose underpins even nationalist aspirations to be linked together now, to some Some of these sad failures the most pompous of occasions. more precise, – capitalist for extent, are the fate of American are still trying to justify their The coda was a tribute to ‘My friend now, obviously, but never imperialism and the fate of US colossal stupidity and bumbling Bobby Sands’. Describing his prison with the chance of becoming imperialism’s stooges. incompetence out of the most cell, he said, to the clink of espresso anything else until an end had Over Ireland too, it may turn pathetic personal vanity. But coffee cups across the debris of finally been put to the colonisa- out that eventually the US the real people of the Soviet luncheon: ‘Imagine your bathroom, tion Partition of Ireland by Brit- ruling class did not at all have Union who actually made that smaller than your bathroom. No ish imperialist armed aggres- the last laugh over its British society work, and work well, will window, artificial light, day and counterparts but that all the reach very different conclusions night. The walls smeared with hu- sion, which had to be defeated man waste. And this is what Bobby by the Sinn Féin/IRA armed imperialist camp turned out once the shattering calamity of Sands wrote on a piece of cigarette national-liberation struggle. to be the losers, challenged by such grotesque misleadership paper, with the refill of a ballpoint Inter-imperialist conflict is growing national-liberation in human affairs has been recov- pen: “Our revenge will be the laughter reaching the stage where rival struggle everywhere.[...] ered from. of our children.” Let us be part, as the monopoly-capitalist powers are The long-predicted humiliat- Clear evidence of the end of the millennium approaches, not averse to taking advantage ing defeat for imperialism in superiority of what the USSR of contributing to our children’s of each other by surreptitiously Ireland proves that the fun- was achieving under social- laughter.’ ‘interfering’ in a rival’s prob- damental pattern of the 20th ism compared to what is being They had strewn the trees with a century, – the triumph of mass achieved there under capitalism thousand lights on the patio of the lems to achieve ‘democratic’ and glitzy Tavern on the Green for the ‘just’ and ‘peaceful’ solutions struggle against imperialist is eventually going to sweep Top 100 Irish Americans dinner but not minding if that rival crisis, – is as unassailable as aside the influence of the quite that evening, hosted by the maga- power gets more egg on its face ever. Imperialist crisis will be trivial phenomenon of a bunch zine Irish America. The editor of Irish as a result. overthrown. of socialist-state bureaucrats be- America, Niall O’Dowd, who was at There is nothing particularly And while the 20th century ing ideologically dominated and the hub of Clinton’s discreet diplo- new in American sympathy in also demonstrates that there subverted over a long period of macy before Adams’s series of vis- general with Irish nationalist will be some regressions in this time by the continuing power of its to the US, scurried between the aspirations in general, nor even general advance of civilisation bourgeois thinking from a con- various factions of Irish America, be- towards a world of planned tinuing powerful imperialist- tween businessmen and activists, with a solution, long mooted, between the White House, the gov- which basically gets rid of the socialist enlightenment and dominated world. ernment in Dublin and Sinn Féin in bastard artificial statelet of rationalism, such as is tempo- In the end, the confused Belfast. ‘Northern Ireland’ whatever rarily clouding the picture for brain of a small-minded twerp ‘Unthinkable two years ago,’ he else happens. the countries of the former like Gorbachev is going to be said. ‘We’ve got businessmen in- The real sting for Britain’ s Soviet Union, the world’s first of no interest to anyone. What volved who would not have gone decrepit establishment is that workers state which developed matters is how the best that near Sinn Féin, and the other way it was bound to be in the USA successfully for 70 years without Russia can do for itself under round. The Irish-American commu- that the triumph of the Irish capitalists and without the capitalism compares to the nity has never been so homogene- crime and social disintegration best it could do for itself under ous.’ national-liberation struggle Thursday was the day that brought would be most painfully and and degeneracy that goes with planned socialism. the fruit of O’Dowd’s efforts: the suddenly established as the capitalism, – the overall view re- Even under the bilious distor- handshake between Adams and international reality, – whether mains that it is the ‘free world’ tions of the Western media, Clinton. Adams remained behind in the Washington regime really which is sick, not communism, the even worse problems of the banqueting room and went into minded its imperialist partner’s as Cuba still cheerfully proves the crappy capitalism Russia conclave at a secluded table with embarrassment or not. (see rest of Bulletin). has now got compared to the Nancy Soderberg, Chief of Staff to It is not anti-British machi- The imperialist propaganda crappy socialism which was all Clinton’s National Security Council, nations as such that can be agencies compiling shows like its small-minded revisionist and a big influence in securing the the BBC’s ‘Messengers from Mos- bureaucrats could manage, - are visas. Adams took notes of the con- read into Adams’s triumphant versation. reception in the USA, so much cow’, reburying communism, are coming across: Among the guests was Peter as the inevitable damage from becoming increasingly desper- Soviet socialism was deliber- Westmacott, political counsellor at inter-imperialist rivalry in ately dependant on the peculiar ately sabotaged. the British embassy in Washington. general now that the monopoly- breed of revisionist bureaucrats It was a catastrophic mistake Spotting Soderberg, he made to- capitalist crisis has reached the who lost their way and took which can easily be put right. wards the table, but retreated, with a proportions of serious economic the decisions to ‘improve’ the Build Leninism. start and a smile, on recognising her and political damage for the workings of the planned social- JH company. Instead, he was promptly weaker powers. introduced to Kieran Staunton of Despair and confusion grow as ‘New American Sinn Féin, whose hand he American imperialist inter- clasped warmly. ference is obviously unavoidably World Order’ plunges deeper into pre- Sums of money even heftier than universal, trying to gain some those commanded by the American superpower advantage for itself dictable warmongering chaos. Labour Ireland Fund are the undercurrent out of every conflict on earth, of this peace process. And among already pulling all of the strings & ‘lefts’ sicker than ever. the guests was Lisa Mitchell, or- in many capitalist-world con- ganiser with her husband George tradictions, so much so that the [EPSR No 800 02-05-95] Mitchell — former Democrat leader point easily can be made that [...]The brilliant Southwest Bul- much-vaunted ‘official’ affiliate of the Senate — of what she called the ‘peace dividend’ of investment the fate of American imperial- letin article this week further to the ‘only world communist and business incentive funds for ism is itself inseparable from demonstrates how pathetically movement’, etc (i.e. the one Ireland. the disputes it tries to arbitrate remote from the real world are stifling under Stalinist revision- One of those attending the $200 upon. these fake-‘left’ anti-communist ist ideology).) Sinn Féin lunch, and later the Irish The classic case is Mexico circles. The way in which their Their crass misunderstand- America beanfeast in New York on where many of the popular philistine ignorance of basic ing of what is happening in the Wednesday, was a debonair Wall demonstrations against govern- Marxist-Leninist philosophy world springs from an inability Street sage called Jay Connolly. A ment belt-tightening plans have pollutes their opportunist to even remotely understand successful banker and broker, he has in fact railed against decisions mentality is well brought out, that it is imperialist crisis which bought one of Ireland’s most pleas- 53 ant golf courses, in Kerry, where he taken in Washington as much as for example, by such epics as is the chief motor of world his- hopes to host the next Ireland Open. those taken in Mexico City. the 1995 perspectives of the tory still. ‘I went to the Sinn Féin lunch And the dismal continuing CPGB (the ‘Leninist’ rump which Instead, the ‘victory of capi- mostly out of curiosity,’ he said. collapse of the US dollar regard- captured the corpse of their old talism’ is taken at face value, EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 they moan on. revival of the Labour Party” The essence of the fake-‘left’ and as producing “a viable is simply to get sucked into the alternative bourgeois party of prevalent bourgeois-ideological government”. Blair will prob- bog. Throughout the Cold War ably send them a donation for (and beyond), for example, the such favourable publicity. More ‘left’ swamp (at first the Trots, thoughtful workers will be more anarchists and centrists, and sceptical. Labourism was part then the Stalinist revisionists of the successful imperialist themselves as ‘Eurocommu- epoch, its permanent shadow. nists’) echoed the relentless With British imperialism at anti-communist crusade of death’s door, certain to have monstrous imperialist reac- the international position of its tion but with some phony class standing utterly destroyed ‘progressive’ pretence added in the coming maelstrom of on of the ‘neither Moscow nor warmongering trade-war cri- Washington’ variety, or “for the sis, – the position of its bogus Soviet workers state but with a ‘parliamentary-democracy ‘political revolution’”, etc, - the Opposition’ is bound to be un- agenda only set by international dermined too. springing from the ‘defeat of all that, forcing the ending for counter-revolution which mean- Far from “the revival of the bureaucratic socialism’. ever of the ‘Northern Ireland’ while got on with butchering Labour Party”, Blairism surely And sticking on all this a hated Partition nonsense, - is real anti-imperialist movements represents a desperate petty- headline label of “the world pe- some ‘defeat’! wholesale, from Indonesia to bourgeois dash towards the triv- riod of profound political reac- In the same vein of hopeless Guatemala, with impunity ial froth of ‘new politics’ as the tion” fails even more thoroughly defeatism, the petty-bourgeois because of the paralysis spread old imperialist two-party racket to even faintly grasp that it is CPGB liken Sinn Féin’s ‘ca- by the ‘left’ swamp’s own anti- becomes thoroughly discred- a towering world imperialist pitulation’ to another “negative communist poison. ited. It is a contemporary twitch crisis which is dominating all resolution” in South Africa, i.e. These CPGBers, for example, echoing Labour leader Mosley’s developments and directing another ‘defeat’. Which planet then posturing as the ‘Leninists’ turn to the ‘New Movement’ in them slowly but surely in the are these people living on? no less, did not fully join the the equally-troubled 1930s crisis direction of an unavoidable Just as British imperialism rest of the ‘left’ swamp in falling for imperialism, but abandoning explosion of new revolutionary was inevitably on the slide for for the CIA/Vatican depraved Old Labour far more compre- understanding everywhere. 25 years, losing its last colony reactionary stunt called ‘Soli- hensively than did Mosleyism or Every sign of this the CPGB because of losing its place in the darnosc’, posing as ‘rank-and- Ramsay MacDonald’s desertion read wrongly. They declare: world imperialist pecking order file socialism’ but eventually to the National Government, – “Nevertheless, the counter-revolutions (in under steady economic and revealing its true capitalist-res- because now the game really is East Europe) were a world historic defeat for political decline, – so the South torationist/fascist colours under up totally for British imperial- the international proletariat. African white colonial dictator- the reactionary little dictator ism, and not a trace of petty- The period remains one where progres- ship was always facing defeat sive politics in general are at a low ebb. Walesa, – but equally refused bourgeois ‘socialist’ posturing “The recent events in Ireland confirm this from the armed revolutionary to back the Polish workers state (like Clause 4) is safe to be left overall picture. While Sinn Féin has not been national liberation struggle, and the Red Army as the only in place any more. defeated militarily, the fact is that it has just like fading British, impe- ultimate rebuff to Washington- Blairism might win an elec- been forced to sue for peace on imperial- rialism in Ireland, – in spite of financed-and-run counter-rev- tion or two, but the last thing ism’s terms.” much comparable defeatism by olution. These bogus ‘Leninists’ it could become is a “viable That is what bourgeois propa- petty-bourgeois fake-‘lefts’ and have always squirmed over the alternative bourgeois party of ganda would have the gullible pseudo ‘revolutionary’ middle- fundamental Leninist un- government”. British imperial- believe, and it seems that a tiny class sects everywhere. derstanding that proletarian ism has no such future stable proportion of the more reaction- Of course these are not yet so- dictatorship is the only true test life remaining to it, - under any ary gullibles do believe it. More cialist revolutions in the OZ or of a serious Marxist approach to government. The next govern- healthy-minded workers world- South Africa, – they were never anti-imperialist struggle. ment, whatever it is, is going to wide, however, have grasped declared to be such; but such The latest trailing behind be a government of even greater that it is British imperialism revolutionary defeats, arms in bourgeois ideology by these chaos and crisis than Major’s which has been humiliated by hand, for imperialism can nev- poseurs concerns Blair’s ‘New present bedraggled crew, over- having to accept that its outra- ertheless, properly understood, Labour’ charlatanism, which whelmed by the enormity of the geous colonial outpost of non- be just as powerful a stimulus one might have thought could catastrophe overtaking British existent ‘Northern Ireland’ can- to the general anti-imperialist hardly bamboozle a newborn imperialism at long last.[...] not be propped up any longer, movement worldwide. infant. Build real Leninism JH in spite of 25 years of the most But all that this middle-class They describe Blairism as “the savage counter-revolutionary CPGB posturing can see is ‘nega- dictatorship over the Occupied tive resolution’ everywhere, – Jingoist propaganda blows up in the Zone and over Irishmen in because their subjective-idealist Britain, including Army and RUC philosophy cannot even compre- establishment’ s face (Ireland, Church- death squads; concentration hend the notion of what epoch ill, etc). camps (detention without trial); the world is now living in, – let torture barracks; judicial frame- alone get it right, – the epoch of [EPSR No 803 23-05-95 (SouthWest Bulletin No 120)] ups; endless midnight terror terminal imperialist crisis. [...]All the wartime Churchillian grabbing imperialist reality of raids on Irish communities These petty-bourgeois even ‘bulldog’ spirit and two finger capitalist Britain’s war aims, in the Zone; ceaseless vicious ladle their doomed class misery salute ever really amounted to preferring to share the comfort- racist propaganda; several near- all over the heroic Cuban Revo- was a lot of overblown rhetoric able myth of Churchill having massacres like Bloody Sunday; lution, phenomenally holding about the defence of ‘free- led a ‘war for democracy’, a ‘war the starvation to death of the out for the planned socialist dom’, ‘democracy’ and ‘British against fascism’, even a ‘war to Ten Hunger Strikers; the brutal- civilisation of the future against decency’, covering over the real save the Jews’, rather than a ising of the elderly, women, and demented US imperialist sub- greedy battle for colonies and war to defend the status quo of children with rubber bullets; version and sabotage. market share in desperate pur- anglo-saxon imperialist domi- 54 the Prevention of Terrorism Act “Similarly the intense problems faced by suit of the bourgeois imperialist nation of world markets against tyranny; etc, etc. bureaucratic socialism in Cuba indicate that class interest at whatever cost. imperialist rivals. For Sinn Féin and the IRA to the general tenor of the period remains one Admitting to the predatory of defeat, disintegration, and decline of None of the parliamentary have struggled and won against working-class politics,” reptiles will admit to the sordid, and anti-communist character EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 of Britain’s war aims (wanting to It took the whole expensive the pan, was supposed to be a ONLY turned against the axis shore up its monopoly capitalist edifice of welfare capitalism to permanent reward for loyal ser- powers at the point where their positions against imperialist drown out workers’ suspicions vices rendered to an Empire on usefulness (as counter-revolu- rivals by hanging on to the co- about the real imperialist aims which the sun would never set, tionary suppressors of revolu- lonial and annexationist fruits of the bourgeois running the can only increase the impotent tion in the West and of unim- of earlier bloodletting, and like war and their memories of despair of imperialism’s redun- peded socialist development a dog with two tails at the idea the kind of roused class-con- dant stooges. in the Soviet Union) started to that with a bit of luck the prole- sciousness which for example Small wonder that the Derry be seriously overtaken by the tarian dictatorship authority of prompted the Communist- visit was the occasion for the imperialist threat they posed the Soviet Union might also be tending discussions around the frustrated RUC rabble to fly as rivals to their own monopoly fatally wounded by the ordeal) soldiers’ ‘Cairo parliament’. off the handle and wade into domination of the planet. would also mean owning up to Not for nothing did the es- a peaceable and well con- The current misfiring of all the failure of those aims post- tablishment consent to bundle ducted Sinn Féin demonstra- these attempts to take people’s war, without any compensating Churchill into a corner and let tion, thereby earning further minds off the news in 1995 by sense of ‘at least standing on the the Labour party get on with the street-fighting humiliations for retelling a sanitized version of side of democratic civilization in job of rehabilitating capital- themselves at the hands of the the news from 1945 is very bad our period of gentle decline’. ist class rule with a welfarist contemptuous Derry citizenry. for the whole establishment, There is nothing gentle about face. The bullying elitist class And more revealing still was and not just for the electorially the disasters threatening Brit- arrogance which Churchill rep- the much less well publicized stricken Tories. ANY capital- ish monopoly capitalist exist- resented had to be shelved for East Belfast Orange lodge VE ist party that wants to be part ence (Lloyds, Warburgs); and as a time as too provocative. Only parade a few days later which of the next phase of bourgeois for the delights of democratic later did the bourgeoisie feel spontaneously degenerated into political life is going to be rely- civilization, let Churchill speak they could resume the construc- a lumpen orgy of looting and de- ing more and more heavily on for himself: tion of the sick personality cult struction, hospitalizing some of promoting the crassest middle- The P.M. said the Hindus were a around Churchill, as part of the their own RUC gang sent to the class chauvinist prejudices, all foul race “protected by their mere whole effort to take the class scene, and completely trashing the way ultimately to khaki pullulation from the doom that sting out of memories about the an off-licence. elections. But on present perfor- is their due” and he wished Bert war. British imperialism’s tem- mance, they look to have their Harris could send some of his The Churchill cult commands porary lucky break in staying work cut out for them. surplus bombers to destroy them. all-party devotion because an on the winning side in the As soon as the media were After dinner we saw an amus- attack upon it is simultane- last two imperialist wars was obliged to stop pretending it ing film: Bob Hope in The Princess ously an attack on the bourgeois never a victory for the working was 1945 (and a 1945 that never and the Pirate. Then we sat in the Great Hall and listened to The falsification of the Second World class or ‘democracy’. Nor is the existed at that), all the major Mikado played, much too slowly, War in which all bourgeois par- long-overdue end of this streak news stories breaking at once on the gramophone. The PM said ties have a stake. of luck, as renewed imperialist pointed straight back to the it brought back “the Victorian era, Again, the suicide-bug which crisis exposes geriatric British divisions and paralysis afflicting eighty years which will rank in our inspired Major to win electoral imperialist positions to more all attempts at imposing imperi- island history with the Antonine prestige by going to Derry to and more ruthless competitive alist order on the growing crisis. age”. Now, however, “the shadows commemorate the Irish dimen- rivalry, a defeat for workers. In addition to the City’s night- of victory” were upon us. In 1940 sion of WWII equally infects the The rise of fascism in Ger- mares about a run on sterling, the issue was clear and he could rest of imperialist Westminster. many and elsewhere in the ‘20s the declining dollar is faced see distinctly what was to be done. But when Harris had finished his It was Callaghan’s Labour and ‘30s, which set in train a with new shocks as Washington destruction of Germany, “What party that sent in the troops counter-revolutionary CLASS knocks the Vancouver trade will lie between the white snows 25 years ago which are getting war waged by the bourgeois talks on the head and reverts of Russia and the white cliffs of ready to throw in the towel ruling class against its own to open trade-war bullying Dover?” against Irish national liberation proletariat, was BACKED by threats against Japan’s superior After this war, continued the PM, now, and the imperialist humili- imperialism internationally as monopoly performance. we should be weak, we should have ation of this retreat undermines a “bulwark against Bolshevism”. Build the ILWP. no money and no strength and we Blair and Ashdown quite as The Western ‘democracies’ DH [Dominic Hull] should be between the two great much as it does Major. powers of the USA and the USSR. British imperialism is Tories hack each other apart as capi- Renewed imperialist crisis has now universally despised the wound up the phony Cold War length and breadth of Ireland. talist trade-war looms worldwide, and equilibrium and exposed as Everyone knows that it is fiction all the barmy ‘Soviet British imperialist decline and the Clegg stunt backfires on Major’s expansionism’ paranoia. But the Irish national revolutionary sordid game with the peace process underlying fear of revolution success which are forcing the was not barmy at all, and this ‘peacemaking’ hat onto Major. in Ireland, in British Imperialism’s last gloomy tabletalk from February The timewasting obstacles to 1945 speaks volumes about how reunification which Britain half- dying colony. the British ruling class really heartedly continues to erect [EPSR No 809 04-07 -95] felt about the imminent loss of can only increase the contempt empire and the dawning of ‘Pax with which the humiliated and Whatever interpretation is put and difficult international and Americana’. retreating bourgeois state is on the results of the voting in domestic economic and political Despite the imperialist regarded. the Tory leadership contest, conditions, that Major himself character of the war so far Reminding the Irish of the fact remains that the head felt inadequate to do anything as Britain’s involvement was the two imperialist wars this of the government party did about it, and that he was look- concerned, many workers who century in which their fathers declare, halfway between gen- ing round for someone else to saw the counter-revolutionary and grandfathers died (to be eral elections, that he could no blame. imperialist ideology of fascism rewarded by Partition after the longer cope. The result of his piece of getting routed by the Red Army, first, and counter-revolutionary There were, Major announced, ludicrous foot-stamping pique, and felt that they themselves war for the last 25 years) can a few ‘bastards’ who were mak- demanding at first an unop- had a class-stake in this defeat only increase their contempt for ing it impossible for him to run posed vote of confidence, and of fascism, started to draw les- imperialism. things properly. then a near-unanimous vote sons from the experience which And reminding the Orange The entire world correctly of confidence after his chal- temporary cynical bourgeois fascist ascendency that their interpreted this as simply lenge was taken up, – is that the 55 war propaganda about ‘gallant privileged existence as colonial meaning that Tory policies were ‘bastards’ who do not have obvi- Russian allies’ had not at all gauleiters in the occupied zone proving increasingly useless for ously unstinting affection for intended. of Ireland, now going down dealing with ever more complex Major’s leadership, now number EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 in the dozens. vive the increasingly cut-throat Britain’s reluctant climb- of the more reactionary capital- What is more, the whole competition. down has visibly slowed in the ist press off his back who dislike world now knows this is the The British monopoly past few months because Tory him for his lack of aggressive reality [...] imperialist bourgeoisie was leadership has been so chal- imperialist confidence. This As the previous Bulletin ana- long ago already squeezed out lenged. The deliberate under- stunt was trailered by Mayhew’s lysed, the Tory leadership crisis of it in such key matters as mining of the peace process is bizarre outburst to the Times, sums up the whole historic domestically-owned volume car not yet a new policy from Lon- before Major’s resignation was crisis of the British monopoly production, or shipping produc- don, merely a piece of incom- announced, that the PM was imperialist bourgeoisie which tion, or production of scores petent stagnation, wiping the crucial to a ‘just settlement’, – flourished worldwide for a long of other items crucial to being illegal murder of Karen Reilly all things to all Tory factions. It while in the past, but degener- a serious world power, – espe- off the slate but keeping thou- has gone wrong. Is Clegg’s army ated badly, became sclerotic cially in times of approaching sands of national-liberation murder gun to be decommis- and overtaken by newer more all-out trade war which will prisoners-of-war behind bars sioned? Own goal! powerful thrusting imperialist see some ferocious dirty tricks still, even though victory for Now let London’s devious rivals (the USA, Germany, Ja- played soon against those rivals Ireland’s reunification struggle Clegg campaign meet its real pan, etc), and is now completely vulnerable to selected goods has all but been conceded to the aim of an excuse to free all the outclassed and hopelessly out of embargoes, etc. heroic Republican movement. war’s gaoled. its depth in terms of the heavy- Now this ruling class cannot But a paralysed ruling class like It still remains the epoch of weight monopoly-capitalist even manage the affairs of its the British bourgeoisie could yet destructive imperialist crisis competitiveness now required own leading political party stumble into a renewed bloody and defeat; and Ireland’s reuni- for world leadership. adequately. They will now look a mess at the end of its disgrace- fication is guaranteed sooner or As a result, the British more ludicrous sight than ever ful 800-year history of colonial later. But present Tory paralysis bourgeoisie has become increas- in the eyes of world imperialist repression in Ireland. is a reminder of how important ingly crotchety, hidebound, and rivalry. [...] It is an obvious Major re-elec- it is to press on for Leninist ill-at-ease with itself. It seems It is what free-market politics tion stunt to have let Pte Clegg revolutionary consciousness to be fast approaching the posi- cannot cope with that is alone out this week to appease the far everywhere as soon as possible. tion of being totally lacking in worth deeply examining, not right of the Tory Establishment, JH confidence internationally, and the inadequacy of the various hoping thereby to have got some therefore eventually internally posturing leadership contenders as well. none of whom could have the Major’s ‘win’ leaves bourgeois class It is a malignant condition af- slightest significant influence fecting the entire British bour- now on the fate of decadent leadership in a worse hole than ever - geoisie. Against all the evidence, British imperialism as the great- ever-more-desperate cries are est slump in history approaches. the Ireland Clegg issue included still occasionally heard sadly It is the problems which 16 [EPSR No 810 11-07-95 (SouthWest Bulletin No 128)] insisting that ‘Britain is still the years of Tory government have best’ at this or that, – only usu- not remotely come close to [...]The humiliating snail’s pace been able in some measure to ally to be quickly humiliatingly solving which matter, especially retreat from Ireland continues help ease the shock to bourgeois shown up by new international as they will also be the same to be a crucial index of the Brit- imperialist prestige of Britain’s evidence to the contrary, – not problems which would devastate ish bourgeoisie’s wider failures, forced decolonization: only on the sporting field but in any incoming Labour adminis- with the farce over the Clegg Within hours of the decision by research, science, technology, tration just as they have devas- release putting fresh nails in the Northern Ireland Secretary, Sir industry, the arts, social organi- tated the Tory government.[...] colonial rule. Patrick Mayhew, to free Clegg on sation, etc, etc. To add to the woes of the Brit- The carefully orchestrated licence after four years in jail for The problem, of course, is ish middle class and its seething campaign (to add another shooting dead Karen Reilly, a pas- not with ‘Britain’ but with the back-stabbing confused Tory convicted army murderer to the senger in a stolen vehicle in west Belfast, more than 100 cars had British ruling class, which must Establishment, the problem is long list of those exempt from the usual processes of criminal been hijacked and set alight. There now be not far away from total not just one for weaker econo- was unrest in Londonderry and historical political extinction mies which have fallen on hard ‘justice’) began long before the Lurgan, Co Armagh. at the hands of a frustrated and times, or made a wrong decision latest leadership crisis, and Police put on flak jackets and riot contemptuous British people. or two, or just suffered some needs to be understood in the helmets which had been stowed Similarly totally riddled temporary leadership problems. context of London’s need for over the last four months when they with this bourgeois disease The problem is endemic for the face-saving devices to minimize confronted a 1,000-strong march and of inadequacy, Major likewise whole free-market system. It the humiliation of its snail’s prevented it leaving west Belfast for could only pathetically keep on is just that the weaker powers pace withdrawal from the Oc- the City Hall. All afternoon, long plumes of insisting ‘I am still the best’, etc, might suffer the worst. cupied Zone of Ireland. Specifi- cally, it is likely that this latest oily smoke billowed up from the when his own weak actions have But there again, they might Lower Falls and Ballymurphy. The themselves in fact made it obvi- just not. Maybe a few stronger grossly partial example of colo- main roads into west Belfast were ous that he is either nowhere but more heavily export-ori- nial ‘justice’ was intended as a blocked by lines of slate-grey RUC near ‘the best’, or else that ‘the ented powers might suffer even tactical sop to enflamed colonial Land-Rovers. It was the most exten- best’ that the Tories can do is greater relative catastrophes, – bigotry, in anxious preparation sive rioting in republican areas since hopelessly inadequate. Japan for example. The capital- for the eventual liberation of August 9, 1994, when disturbances But, the ruling class obviously ist press is finally catching up Irish POWs held in gaols across marked the anniversary of intern- simply cannot just stop being with the realisation that the the OZ and in England itself. ment. At least 100 cars and lorries were the ruling class. This has never bust which follows the credit Trying to milk a little extra specific electoral advantage out set alight in Belfast and in the happened to a ruling class in boom could hurt the most suc- Creggan, Bogside and Shantallow history, and it will not happen cessful economies the most:[...] of the plan (by having Mayhew estates in Londonderry. this time either. The ‘leader- No wonder the dithering Brit- time the release for the eve of “People have to remember that ship’ posturing will continue, ish ruling class feel so confused the leadership election) may this is how it started out more than even as what is being ‘led’ looks and ill-at-ease, squabbling over have soothed a few gullible 25 years ago,” a young man said, increasingly unappetising, a worthless pecking order, and reactionary votes back behind picking his way between charred sickly, and unsuccessful, – like, making a paralysed banjax of Major, - but only at the expense cars. “Do you want to go back to it for example, the British capital- their own lone achievement in of further compromising the again? Let the prisoners out then.” Clearly angered, the Irish prime ist economy’s ability to compete realistic rational politics, – the whole strategy of damage limi- tation, needlessly turning up minister, John Bruton, said he ex- well or at all in the colossal snail’s-pace withdrawal from pected the British Government to 56 trade-war conflicts soon to the Occupied Zone of Ireland, the heat in Derry and Belfast, apply the approach used in the break over the planet, driving (burying for ever, at long last, and stupidly alienating sections Clegg case to all similar prisoner to the wall vast intern-national the nonexistent bastard colonial of bourgeois opinion which, if cases, republican and loyalist. companies which could not sur- statelet of Northern Ireland). better handled, might still have Labour and supporters of John EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Redwood complained that the of British capitalist fortunes, Citing Verdi and Havel in the aims motivating all bourgeois timing of the announcement had now shunted on to the edge of a same breath only succeeds participation in WW2, Brit- been arranged to help the Prime REAL “abyss” (a lot bigger than in emphasizing what a long ain’s included, have in the Minister’s leadership campaign. the “abyss” of a few hundred downhill road capitalism has propaganda of recent years Evidently irritated by London’s tactics, the Irish foreign minister, MPs losing their precious seats travelled from its bourgeois been compromised beyond Dick Spring, fuelled the flames by at Westminster with which nationalist heyday to the repair, – over Libya, over calling the speculation reasonable. Major sought to scare his back- squalid warmongering nihilism Argentina, over Panama etc., Downing St denounced the charge benchers) by the world crisis of of its imperialist twilight - aptly and now in the Balkans (with as “utter rubbish”. imperialism. represented culturally by the the truly Goebbelsian attempts Mr Redwood said Clegg’s release The Labour party has on light-minded playwright-cum- to slander those upholding the “didn’t come a moment too soon for current showing even less real president who helped end social- partisan tradition of resistance me.” But he avoided comment on sense of purpose and direction ism in Czechoslovakia. to imperialist intervention as the charge of media manipulation than the Tories. At least behind And this yearning for a themselves ‘fascist’). — implicitly that John Major’s ally, Sir Patrick Mayhew, had decided the the Tories lie centuries of ‘patriotic’ agenda underwrit- And as the real consequences soldier’s fate on Friday (as Downing genuine rancid exploiting class ten by the pretend ‘anti-fascist’ of walking AWAY from proletar- Street confirmed) but delayed re- instinct. With the last lights WW2 bourgeoisie and its equally ian dictatorship in the Soviet vealing it until eve of poll. going out for welfare capital- pretend ‘socialist’ hangers-on Union are rubbed home worse Downing Street said Sir Patrick ist class-collaboration, what from the anti-Soviet middle every day, the anti-Soviet claims acted alone in a “quasijudicial ca- has the second-hand Toryism class intelligentsia is even more of ‘democratic socialism’ Or- pacity” on the advice of the board, of Blair to recommend it over revealing of the difficulties well-style look less and less like the trial judge and the province’s the original article, beyond the capitalism faces in pushing such ‘socialism’ of any description, Lord Chief Justice. He had told Mr novelty of the first few weeks in chauvinist dope down people’s and more and more like nause- Major, not consulted him. Northern Ireland’s chief proba- office? throats at this late stage of the ating toadying to imperialism. tion officer, Breidge Gadd, yesterday Sooner or later, the kind 20th century, with or without Fight for Leninist proletarian, revealed that she has resigned her of ‘foreigner’-baiting right- Blair’s syrup to help it along. dictatorship science. Build the position on the province’s life sen- wing hate-politics gestured The ‘anti-fascist’ alibis which ILWP. tence review board over the case. towards by the Redwoods, obscured the imperialist war DH (D Hull) Mrs Gadd said: “The reviewing of a Lilleys and Portillos will have case at the June meeting was a ma- to be attempted by the ruling British capitalist rule is weaker after jor deviation from the principles of class, behind whatever po- practice and procedure used previ- litical grouping (or ‘National Major’s leadership gamble, not strong- ously.” Party’ chauvinist coalition of Like Major’s daft VE day ‘man groupings, as is already being er. (Ireland - Clegg not helping) of peace’ posturing in Derry, predicted/prompted by right- [EPSR No 811 18-07-95 (SouthWest Bulletin No 129)] and subsequent half-hearted wingers like Norman Stone) is [...]It is against the background on both sides’ and doing its best stunts to put off the inevitable around when trade war push of that same crisis that the to bury the historic significance negotiations towards Ireland’s comes to shove. Thatcherism colonial oppression of Ireland of the latter stages of the fight reunification with a lot of flan- was not a ‘digression from is finally being retreated from against national oppression nel about ‘decommissioning’ sensible politics’, but a falter- at a snail’s pace, so eventually under mechanical repetition of preconditions, this panicky ing early attempt at the only clearing away a major obstacle reformist formulae) only ever attempt to turn public relief at kind of politics which can to conscious revolutionary com- had one effect: to get under the the Irish ‘peace process’ into possibly accompany any serious munist development in both the feet of the anti-imperialist fight, short-term brownie points for crusade to keep Britain’s rotten British and the Irish working and sow confusion amongst Major has ended up with the monopoly capitalist rule afloat class. workers. worst of both worlds for the in the trade-war, shooting-war Contrary to the nonsense But the last laugh is on the bourgeoisie. storms ahead. spouted by the SWP and Militant Trots. Now that this great It shows up the cynical Bourgeois ideology can’t (and now the RCP too, insanely obstacle to Bolshevik progress opportunism underlying all ever let go of chauvinism’s tail, claiming that the Irish national is at last being shoved aside, it Major’s ‘man of peace’ postur- however transnational become struggle has been ‘defeated’, is becoming clear that it is the ing from the start. And, much capitalism’s aspirations, and with Ireland ‘a nation never SUCCESS of anti-imperialism more seriously for imperial- however crass Wisden-style again’), the fact is that it was the and the demoralized FAILURE ism, it compromises the crucial racial bigotry sounds to modern revolutionary fight against Brit- of Orange politics which is strategic efforts the imperialist ears, – or however hollow ring ish imperialism, waged behind opening up the opportunities bourgeoisie is painfully making the ‘more sophisticated’, ‘lib- the non-communist leadership for conscious class struggle. to extricate itself, at this dan- eral’ alternatives: of Sinn Féin/IRA, which has Before the Portadown events gerously late stage and under Fire can only be fought with fire: opened up new possibilities of started up, the capitalist press these ever less propitious crisis emotion with emotion: mean and class-struggle advance, not all was already reflecting some conditions, from its stupidly miserable xenophobic national- that pretend-socialist advice interesting pre-marching season hung-on-to Orange fag-end of ism with a generous, pluralist and from the wings. tensions: outward-looking alternative. Such empire. Any temporary advan- All the time that Trot ideal- In Dublin there is an expectation nationalisms have existed, and still tage that might have secured for ism was excusing itself from that the government will shortly exist. Verdi was the hymnodist of Major in his pathetic leader- move to soothe the crisis by trans- the Italian Risorgimento, and also defending the national libera- ship charade hardly makes up ferring the remaining republican of European liberalism. Vaclav tion struggle unfolding on its for the new high water mark prisoners held in English jails back Havel is a Czech patriot, and a citi- own doorstep by whining that to Northern Ireland and by increas- in the contempt which British zen of the world. George Orwell the IRA were not communists ing remission rates to 50 per cent, imperialism now attracts in was both an English nationalist (unlike the SWP fakers, they which could result in the immedi- Ireland (and most other places and a socialist internationalist. never claimed to be), that strug- ate release of some prisoners. The too), let alone the impetus Winston Churchill — significantly, gle continued to sacrifice and Ormeau’s Ballynafeigh is the small- a bogy to Europhobic revisionist which such clumsiness might struggle heroically against eve- est of Belfast’s Orange Lodges, historians — combined in his own offer the national struggle, rything the state could throw with just 259 members out of a total person a generous British national- already fought through to its membership in Northern Ireland of ism with Whig cosmopolitanism. I at it – PTA, internment, no-jury current advance in revolution- 100,000. Every Twelfth for the last doubt if any Conservative can now courts, torture barracks, shoot- ary fashion, to move beyond the 96 years it has paraded down the find the right idiom for the com- to-kill policy – until the long Ormeau Road into the city centre narrow nationalist constraints bination of Orwell and Churchill retreat was forced on London. and joined the annual march to the of its politics. that the times demand. The cru- All those simple-minded calls Field. For the Catholic population As Irish developments help cial question for the next decade is 57 for ‘protestants and Catholics to it means being penned inside your clarify, what underlies the whether Tony Blair can do so. For unite and fight for a living wage’ home all day, listening to the rising all our sakes, he had better start Tories’ leadership weakness is etc. (blindly accepting the bour- beat of the drums, fearful of roused soon. the long-term historical decline geois story about ‘sectarianism sectarian passions, enduring the EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 annual coat-trailing spectacle of ‘British-Irish’ privilege eroded a hollow echo of a wider empire come, will owe everything to the Protestant ascendancy. by slump (no more guaranteed lost, can never be stood back the ferocity with which ‘British Those who can afford it go away Unionist ticket to a ship-build- upon its feet now that Paisley’s Irish’ colonial pretensions have on holiday to Spain or Donegal. ing job for life) and fought to a endless ‘sell-out’ warnings now been fought to the wall, and But this Twelfth the Orangemen of Ballynafeigh will find their route standstill by armed national- self-evidently correspond with ‘nothing at all to the ‘protes- down the Ormeau Road blocked by ist resistance (all the way back simple fact. tants and Catholics, unite and RUC officers in riot gear, as it has been to its roots in Downing Street With the unfinished national fight’ disruptive cretinism of five times already this year during and the City of London), the business on the way to being the SWP and the rest. the marching season’s warm-up pa- demoralization of all the cocky sorted, the deck is being cleared As for workers in Britain, it is rades. second-hand imperialist arro- for Irish workers to extend their hard to say where the richest po- THE ROAD glistened after the gance is nearing completion. recent revolutionary anti-impe- litical lesson lies: in the demise hour-long battle, broken bottles The whisky-tippler’s response rialist tradition into a profound- of the colonial oppression of ground to powder by the wheels of to Clegg’s release is instructive. er challenge to the class basis of Ireland which played such a key police Land-Rovers, the familiar de- tritus of rioting. Back in Ballynafeigh So far from giving ‘British Irish- all imperialist rule. role in the imposition of reform- Orange Hall some of the older men ness’ the fillip that might have Nor can it even be guar- ist class-collaboration on British sat drinking whiskey in the up- been anticipated, what at once anteed, in the absence of a confi- workers’ political consciousness stairs bar where a large photograph surfaces instead is the fear that dent and clear lead from the (especially after losing India, of a young Queen Elizabeth hung, London’s latest blundering will rotten bourgeois of the Orange Suez etc.); or in the spectacular shaking their heads resignedly. only make things even worse. ascendency, that even the poor self-exposures of its brutality, “Hooligans, they messed it up for And the self-destructive bloody Orange infantry will for- cynicism and incompetence us. It wasn’t Orangemen doing that,” fury which drives some ‘British ever let their love of ‘King Billy’ which the capitalist state is lay- said one. “The police over-reacted, it Irish’ blowhards into a hail of block out everything that the ing on for workers in the course was no worse than your average soc- cer match,” opined another. “What plastic bullets from the guns reality of their class existence of its slow-motion scramble for were they doing releasing Clegg of their fellow bigots in the within imperialist crisis keeps the colonial exit. this week of all weeks?” demanded RUC can only, as the tippler’s trying to tell them. But such Fight for Leninism. Build the one of his drinking companions. gloomy prophecy made clear, developments, if and when they ILWP. Dominic Hull “Couldn’t they have at least waited bring closer the day when such until the Twelfth was out of the way? counter-revolutionary displays Divided trade-war imperialists have What would another few days have of colonial arrogance are banned mattered?” The conversation dried from going down any road in no wish to bury the hatchet, – except up after someone concluded: “Well Ireland at all. The hundreds of that’s that, there’s no way we’ll get in each other. Blitzing the Serbs’ small- down that road on the Twelfth now, Irish in Portadown who gath- not after that.” ered in the road at 4 o’clock this scale independence fight would just morning to block any idea of The showdown between unrec- scuttling through under cover of be the criminal violence of the despic- onciled sections of Orange fas- darkness made this point very cism and their fellow Orange- clearly. (Latest reports suggest- able inter-imperialist supremacy con- men in RUC uniforms is rubbing ing that the marchers will pass home the real extent both of through today under conditions flict. But the Balkans and Ireland show that resentful whipped demor- imposed by the nationalist alization and of just how badly community would make the that defeat for imperialism is the real the stricken British establish- triumphalism of this year’s perspective. ment need to be done with the ‘Glorious Twelfth’ even more Irish war for good. hollow.) [EPSR No 812 25-07-95] With the material basis of Orange triumphalism, long Continued imperialist big- little Serbia’s national self- Bloody Sunday slaughter of unarmed demonstrators by British paratroopers power attempts to bully tiny determination struggle might

58 EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 give the appearance that the Germany is paying the piper the development of German and The final phase of the last 25 years is de- monopoly capitalist system is and so Germany is calling the Japanese imperialist might in scending into low farce. It is a truly pitiful end to a once powerful movement, and a further from serious overthrow tune on what should happen this way.[...] poor tribute to those who fought and gave challenge than ever before in around Europe. But French im- [...]Once again, the deep their lives for Irish freedom. modern history, – but such perialism is speculatively won- splits which have paralysed the conclusions would be completely dering, with a sneer, whether British ruling class party (which This is the most obscene misleading. the Germans could go it alone came so close to toppling John nonsense from emotionally- Events in the Balkans and if they have to, bearing in mind Major and forced power-sharing retarded Trotskyite dilettantes Ireland demonstrate some hostile European memories of on him with Michael Heseltine) of the most diseased kind. crucial philosophical truths of past German militarism, and over whether to get deeper into Deviously, these demented historical-materialist science asking itself how much more Eu- European Union or encour- buggers also admit that the which, fully understood, will ropean Union cover it dare lend age the American alliance great aim of the Sinn Féin give unbeatable strength to the the Germans. more, are making themselves national-liberation struggle, – international anti-imperialist At the same time, the French felt throughout the industrial the downfall of the hated fiction movement among workers. imperialist bourgeoisie are bourgeoisie as well. No wonder ‘Northern Ireland’, – has also In former Yugoslavia, the 10 prepared to stir everybody up British imperialist policy on been achieved. million Serbs’ refusal to accept in order to remind the world the Balkans quagmire has been But their dishonest tortured the Balkanisation of their coun- once again of France’s nuclear even more constipated than the way of accepting this in order to try into artificial mini-statelets muscles, while simultaneously paralysed-enough manoeuvres conceal their own past incor- dominated by reactionary playing the European card once of the rest of the imperialist rectness about the conflict middle-class religious ma- more against British imperial- gangsters. in Ireland is to provocatively fias who would be nothing but ism, hoping to keep London dis- That paralysis in London has declare: stooges for Western imperialist trusted as just a US imperialist extended to what was already “Now that Irish nationalism is dead, the nui- influence, and which would de- stooge, and at the same time to an arthritic-enough programme sance of partition can finally be removed”. stroy the one genuine regional exacerbate the known divisions for the snail’s-pace withdrawal The pretence is that the British nationalism by forcing nearly within the British bourgeoisie from the Occupied Zone of Ire- imperialists have long wanted half of all Serbs to become over whether to try for a Euro- land, – the elimination of one of to get rid of their bankrupt discriminated-against minori- pean alliance or an American British imperialism’s final colo- Orange-Unionist colony as too ties inside fanatical confessional alliance in the coming inter- nies, the non-existent bastard unwieldy, preferring more sub- hell-holes (like Muslim Bosnia bloc trade-war holocaust, (it is colonial statelet of ‘Northern tle methods of control. or Catholic Croatia), – has laid interesting to note in passing Ireland’, a survival of an earlier Certainly, world and British bare a vital perception for the how it is another old Trotskyite divide-and-rule creation of an imperialist influences will still fight against the degeneracy of ‘left’ fraud, Cohn-Bendit, who is imperialist-stooge confessional pollute the politics of Ireland monopoly-capitalist crisis. leading the clamour in Germany hellhole (under the Orange- for some time to come, no one is In the long run, the impe- for the imperialist Wehrmacht lodge fanatics). denying it. rialist powers cannot avoid to renew throwing its weight But despite the enormous But all of this misses the being split irreconcilably, – on about).[...] confusion generated by the ex- point entirely that British impe- everything, – and this simple Anyone with half a brain treme sclerotic condition of the rialism, – aided for a long while understanding, fully and well would bet that German and collapsing British imperialist by the condoning complacency grasped by workers, will be of Japanese imperialism has been ruling class in recent weeks, lat- of world imperialism, fought colossal significance for the secretly working for decades on est developments have indicated ferociously with every dirty eventual socialist revolution. perfecting all the nuclear know- that the snail’s-pace withdraw- means in the book in order to The fake-‘left’, – (bogus petty- how that their international al, the ILWP’s unique analysis of try to avoid being defeated (by bourgeois ‘revolutionaries’ like trade-war rivals possess, includ- the conflict in Ireland (see ILWP armed revolutionary struggle, the SWP, RCP, WRP and Eurocom- ing, of course, nuclear weapons Books vol 8,15 & 22 (in progress) with all the terrifying signifi- munists), – have always kept know-how. on Ireland), remains on course. cance that would have for the workers divided for the most But the time was always likely The desperate British cover- international bourgeois system), part throughout history by their to arrive when it would have up of its retreat plus the chaos – in order to ‘defeat terrorism’. theoretical confusion. Only to become a matter of public of last month’s leadership resig- And British imperialism failed briefly have genuine Leninist knowledge (and concern) that nation and electoral challenge, catastrophically. parties like the Bolsheviks German and Japanese imperial- have conspired to continue The triumph of the Irish managed to build enough sup- ism are fully back in the picture fooling everyone (i.e. those who national-liberation struggle is port for relentlessly-disciplined again for world domination once want to be fooled like some to be seen precisely in the wind- parties of revolutionary-theory more. That moment looks like it middle-class diehard reaction- ing up of the despised colonial leadership to set up proletarian might have come already. aries and their close cousins in statelet and Partition. Only dictatorships, the only way state In a routine cover-up to the fake-‘left’ Trotskyite groups) the most deranged subjective- power will ever be conquered by continue avoiding alerting the that it is Irish Republican Army/ idealist political posturing the working class. world’s masses to the really seri- Sinn Féin struggle which has could pretend to conclude that Not only does the ‘left’ fail to ous threat to “human rights” of capitulated, and British imperi- Partition is dead, but that Irish see the splits in the warmonger forthcoming inter-imperialist alism which has ‘won’. nationhood is also now dead. It Western powers as a great anti- conflict (aided by Trot muddle- That very queer outfit Living is a nonsense not worth arguing imperialist victory in Bosnia; headed reactionaries who Marxism has been one of the against. most of these anti-Leninist want to convince people that latest to sneer at the guns-in- The diverse identities and dilettantes are busy cheering on the national-liberation strug- hand Irish national-liberation traditions in Ireland do not and the incipient monopoly-capital- gle of 10 million Serbs is the struggle for ‘bottling out’: could not remotely stop Ireland ist blitzkrieg on the Serbs[...] real threat to mankind), – this Every assumption of the Framework from being Ireland, however [...]Various imperialist report uses polite euphemisms Document is anti-nationalist. There is no dubious they were and however government speculations and about ‘non-proliferation’ of concession to Ireland’s right to form one in- much begrudged ‘recognition’ propaganda ambushes are ‘highly enriched uranium’ with dependent nation state. they receive. One trip to Ireland detectable in the off-the-record the ‘high neutron-flux’ when the Under the terms of the Framework Document British dominion will remain over would suffice to prove this, if it briefings which inspired the real issue is weapons-grade ura- Irish affairs. was not spent hanging around above report, supposed to be nium which should be banned, The acceptance by the Irish government men’s public lavatories the about the Lancaster House dis- say the West, to on no account and even more importantly by Sinn Féin whole time. It has always been cussions on what military action give their German imperialist of the legitimacy of diverse ‘identities’ and obvious that the 350-year Brit- to take next over Bosnia. The rivals any access to the atomic ‘traditions’ in Ireland marks the end of Irish ish colonial plantation should nationalism. Ireland will never be a nation. 59 imperialist powers’ real worries bomb. Previous outbreaks of republican resist- be given the choice to become are about what trade-war action, The NATO imperialist ‘allies’ ance ended in heroic defeat, but always really Irish, under Irish sover- and worse, they may soon have are almost certainly wasting with the pledge to try again in more auspi- eignty, or to remain as foreign to take against each other. their time in trying to restrict cious circumstances. visitors, or to emigrate to South EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Africa as the Orangemen used remnants of the British colonial Mr Adams said he had informed Sir revolutionary fight should have to do (a less viable option for community can only foam at Patrick “that the IRA... were not go- the unconditional, if critical, racial bigotry now). Most, of the mouth in wounded disgust ing to decommission unilaterally support of all revolutionaries course, will stay. But Ireland will at their total betrayal. Paisley at this time or as part of a precon- everywhere as being the likeli- dition.” Usually reliable Unionist still be Ireland. may be only a joke now, but he is sources yesterday said they be- est route to the defeat of British These fake-‘lefts’ wrote off not joking in his bilious hatred lieved Northern Ireland Office - of imperialism in Ireland. Sinn Féin because they could for the ending of Partition and ficials were working on a form Only such a defeat, it was re- not grasp that imperialism his apoplectic outrage at being of words which would fudge Sir peatedly explained, could at last could be defeated, and defeated sold out, and he has only been Patrick’s insistence on substantial release the so-called ‘Protestant at the hands of revolutionary made a joke by the triumphant arms progress and which would working-class’ (really only prole- struggle, without it necessarily struggle of the Irish national- pave the way for all-party talks as tarian colonists until the defeat being at the hands of these self- liberation movement. soon as September. But Ian Paisley’s of Britain) from being stooges aggrandising Trotskyites, full The British media also reveal Democratic Unionists have made it for their own British ruling clear that they would not attend such of the most insane subjective that as well as the start to talks, while the Ulster Unionists class. And only then could the conceit. fullscale negotiations between are facing a leadership change and fight for the socialist revolution They also could not remotely the Government and Sinn Féin, would be incapable of approaching in Ireland, based on the entire grasp the crucial lesson of there are other snail’s-pace the table. working class, really begin. Marxist historical-materialist concessions in the pipeline, ex- Earlier Sir Patrick, defending his And so it has proved. science that a defeat for impe- actly as the ILWP has long been secret meeting last week with Mr It is the defeat and humili- rialism, at whoever’s hands, explaining would happen: Adams and Martin McGuinness in ation for British imperialism Londonderry, said the Government would be the only key to unlock- There is an expectation in security in the guerrilla war which has ing the door to future social- was asking only for a start to be finally given colonist workers circles that the Government will made on the decommissioning of ist progress in Ireland (and in announce the reintroduction of 50 weapons and there was a “fair hope” the chance to see their own Britain too). per cent remission for paramilitary this could happen soon. exploitation at the hands of the These lunatic Trotskyite sec- prisoners. Legislation brought for- But Mr Adams rejected this in Orange bourgeoisie, and the ut- tarians have been vilifying and ward in November would mean a separate radio interview later. terly futile perspective of tying undermining anti-imperialist the release of about 100 prisoners “I told Sir Patrick Mayhew very their fate to that of the British struggle after anti-imperialist by Christmas. frankly that as the leader of Sinn colonial ruling class any longer. More transfers of republican pris- struggle for decades on the idiot Féin, I accepted no preconditions be- This process is still in its very oners from English jails are in the ing placed upon our party,” he said. grounds that the anti-imperi- pipeline, as are proposals to fur- early stages, but the evidence alist fighters were not ‘perfect However, there are some signs that for it is provided by the capital- ther disarm the RUC. At a Sinn Féin London is warming to the idea of an revolutionaries’ like these demonstration in Belfast on Friday, independent commission to oversee ist press itself: armchair-socialist dilettante many police officers were not carry- the disposal of paramilitary weap- In the ten months since the Trots puff themselves up to be. ing even standard issue revolvers. ons. The Northern Ireland Secretary, Nationalist and Loyalist ceasefire, The real condemnation of There is speculation that Sir Patrick Sir Patrick Mayhew, said the idea old enmities have begun to fade Sinn Féin and the IRA of course, is considering a compromise on po- had been discussed and not ruled and in spite of the painfully slow was in practice nothing but a litical talks, which would fudge the out during the three-hour meeting progress of peace negotiations at issue of “substantive” and “explora- gift to imperialism’s counter- with the Irish Foreign Minister, Dick Westminster level, new allegiances tory” negotiations with Sinn Féin. Spring. are being forged on the streets of revolutionary efforts. It is only An informed source speculated this the Trots, of course, who have In a further move, up to 20 high- Belfast. There will be some ele- might take the form of an open ta- profile Irish terrorist prisoners are ments of the ancien regime out never done anything but ‘betray ble at which the Northern Ireland to be repatriated to the Republic in there today attempting to stir up the revolution’, – 100% in every Secretary would be prepared to an attempt to ease severe tensions in traditional hatreds, but they are situation in history. meet any of the parties. It would be the Anglo-Irish peace process. outnumbered by those who see But despite all this fake-‘left’ up to them to choose when and with In a separate move, a further that a chapter of Northern Ireland’s subjective denigration from whom they would convene. three IRA prisoners who are on bloody history has closed. the petty-bourgeoisie, despite At the same time, British and Irish a ‘dirty protest’ at Whitemoor The ceasefire and the publication civil servants are said to be casting all the British big bourgeoisie’s jail in Cambridgeshire — Feilim of the Framework Document left the around for a suitable candidate to O’Adhmaill, Liam Heffeman and old Unionist parties of Molyneaux delaying tactics and cover-up head an independent commission confusion-mongering, – the Martin McMonagle — are to be sent and Paisley either raging in im- which would oversee the practicali- back to Northern Ireland. potent silence or standing on the defeat for imperialism is clear. ties of disarming the paramilitaries. sidelines unsure of what to do next. The latest alarms about the Sinn Fein’s view is that the release Being repatriated to Ireland was Molyneaux’s Ulster Unionists took a peace process have been settled of prisoners is a distraction and that a main aim of the ‘dirty protest’. battering in last week’s by-election by capitalist press admissions only the setting of a date for all- The British imperialist retreat in well-to-do North Down. that the imperialist bourgeoi- party talks — sometime within the is the key to another vital Meanwhile, a further two new sie has now begun full talks next six months — will avert the im- revolutionary understanding. Loyalist parties have emerged on pending crisis. For decades, the Trot sectarians an increasingly fragmented political with the ‘unspeakable terror- In a radio interview before the ists’ who at one time were to have been screaming abuse at scene. In the same way that much of talks between Sir Patrick and Mr Sinn Fein’s clout stems from it being be ‘only totally destroyed’. The Spring at Hillsborough, Co Down, the national-liberation strug- gle for ‘dividing the proletariat’ the political wing of the IRA, Garry McMichael’s Ulster Democratic in the Occupied Zone, (which Party and Billy Hutchinson’s the Trots have always been Progressive Ulster Party have won willing treacherously to call respect because they represent the ‘Northern Ireland’ as if it were former gunmen of the UDA and the a real country, and regarding UVF respectively. the working-class colonists In the PR war that has replaced there as the normal proletariat the shooting war, Gerry Adams and of a regular capitalist country). Sinn Féin have so far won hands The Irish national-liberation down. Once demonised, he is now lionised. So where are the province’s struggle was denounced for Protestant standardbearers in the encouraging ‘Catholic sectarian- new struggle for hearts and minds? ism’ and for driving ‘Protestant Where the once ubiquitous Dr workers’ into the arms of British Paisley, last seen being unceremoni- imperialism. ously ejected from Downing Street? The ILWP has alone long Where the prim and grim James explained that the only front Molyneaux, leader of Ulster’s larg- 60 line in the anti-imperialist est Unionist party? It’s as if 25 years struggle was the national- of bluster and defiance of the South and of British perfidy have simply liberation struggle led by Sinn evaporated. Féin and the IRA and that such a David Adams of the new Ulster EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Democratic Party, the political voice for the last 25 years?” the Shankill able to deliver A-levels. of the proscribed Ulster Defence FAR more remarkable than David Only 20 per cent of Protestant chil- Association. Adams has, as he puts Adams’s change of heart is the shift dren from these areas stay on at it “been active in the Loyalist cause” in attitudes of the hard men who school after 16 as compared with 77 since his teens. He seemed not en- cannot hope to have any public per cent of Catholics from similar tirely at home in the neat suit, shirt or legitimate role in the changing backgrounds. and tie. Unlike some of the slick landscape of Ulster politics. Sam Robert is a nervous shy youth. In performers brought to the fore by is in his thirties and immediately different circumstances, you might the peace process, he seems sin- recognisable as a type I would not have encountered him with a jit- cere. “The crucial mistake made by like to have met along the border tery finger on the trigger. He is 25 the Protestant working class was 25 on a dark night in the not too dis- but seems about 18 and still lives years ago when the civil rights cam- tant past. He has served two prison at home with his parents. Like his paign started and we didn’t get up sentences for his paramilitary activi- peers he has no basic qualifica- and nail our banners on to sticks ties. For almost all his life, the trou- tions and joined the paramilitaries and walk with those people. For we bles and the part he played in them straight from school. He talked for were as disadvantaged and didn’t have been the main focus of his life. hours and told me afterwards he realise it.” “My father can go in anywhere and had never examined his motives or David Adams comes from a fam- mix with Catholics. He worked with aspirations or spoken about them ily of ten where only his father was them and he went to their dances. I before. “I changed when I real- entitled to a local council vote. Like can’t I haven’t it in me. I never knew ised no matter how much I want to many of his contemporaries, he them. My only contact was in street be British the British Government dropped out of grammar school be- warfare. I don’t know, even if peace doesn’t think I’m British. I don’t see cause he felt out of place among the holds, if I ever will be able to, after the sense in being loyal to a govern- middle-class and well-off children. all that has happened here. ment that has no loyalty to us. They “Northern Ireland is a very snobby ‘But I’d like to see my son know are looking for a way out. In the long society, I found school a complete them. Who knows he might even term I see a united Ireland and that nightmare.” He sees the stance of play Gaelic games like hurling? doesn’t bother me so long as it comes the new parties, his own and Billy “We have lot in common with Sinn about democratically. Hutchinson’s Progressive Ulster Féin. The working class problem is “We have a lot in common with Party, as “far more realistic and with feeding and looking after your people in the [Catholic] Falls Road moderate than those politicians not family. and we should get together. None of personally involved in the armed “We’re learning from Sinn Féin. the two sets of people is gaining an- with. On social issues I’d say we’ll struggle. We know the outcome of They’ve had the greatest publicity ything and people who deep down be working together in three years setting people on a certain course of machine since Goebbels and the are not bigots are making bigoted time. In prison, you learned to lis- action. We know the communities work they’ve done for their com- statements.” ten to the other side. I didn’t have to that are going to suffer for it” munities gets the vote. It’s hard His only means of learning about agree but you began to understand He thinks the new wave of politi- them is by reading Irish history. what they thought. I have faith in cians has much to learn from Sinn to go into a Catholic area and not His conversation is peppered with the future. You can speak to some- Féin and that the mistake they made see community centres, shopping references to 18th and 19th century one when you know their point of was in leaving politics in the hands complexes. Here it’s the opposite. Irish leaders, particularly the United view.” But like his wife he’s a little of the mainstream Unionists. “The The area where I grew up is a pitiful Irishmen who in the spirit of the alarmed at the speed of change Sinn Loyalist paras left politics to the pol- sight, run-down, boarded up. We French Revolution united Catholics Fein’s political agenda seems to em- iticians and then realised the politi- had shops, bars, a club. Now there’s and Presbyterians in a doomed body. “They should leave a united cians were not doing much of a job. nowhere for people to go.” revolution to throw off the English Ireland out of it for the moment. The Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party He sees the exploitation of the Establishment in 1798. weapons should be given in on both is just a bit right of Ghengis Khan. Protestant working classes as differ- “They wanted to replace the sides. They should be discussing They are a protest party and if we ent only in degree from that of their terms Catholic and Protestant with jobs and the release of prisoners and can get some settlement here there Catholic neighbours and thinks for Irishman.” getting people to trust each other.” will be nothing for them to protest too long they were misled by the For most of her adult life Doreen’s PRISON also provided Aubrey about I think they’ll vanish like Unionists into acting against their energies went into day to day sur- Tarr with a different perspective on snow off a ditch. own best interests by giving auto- vival and she didn’t give much another of the bogeymen that has so “The UUP [Molyneaux’s party] matic uncritical support to the rul- thought to the causes of the trou- stultified political progress between is a catch-all party which doesn’t ing class. bles. “The ceasefire has made me the two communities — the Catholic represent the interests of its voters. “The history of this province is, more politically aware. All the old priest. Protestants are taught from They’ve had 25 years in which to Mr So-and-so comes along, sets up politicians are living in the past. childhood to see priests as danger- come to some arrangement with the a factory, builds a row of wee houses Paisley wants the troubles back. We ous agents of Rome, seeking to de- Nationalists and have failed com- says, ‘Here’s a job. Here’s a house. need new people. We must look for- stroy the Protestant church and pletely. If the constitutional question You vote for me.’ “ In the outcry that ward from now.” Despite a quarter state, and what he learned inside is taken out of politics it will lead to followed the signing of the Anglo- of a century of segregation she has proved something of an eye-opener. a complete realignment. People will Irish Agreement, Sam supported managed to maintain contact with “Their priests didn’t make any be elected on bread-and-butter is- the Unionist call for strikes and pro- the friends of her youth. “I still see difference what side you were. The sues.” He believes the way forward test. “Everyone was behind them. some of my Catholic friends but we Protestant clergy, with the excep- is in a new devolved form of provin- But as time went on they said. ‘Hold had to meet in town. I’d really love tion of Dr Eames, [Church of Ireland cial government far removed from on, what are we doing this for them to go to their homes and for them to Primate of Ireland] did nothing for the old Stormont “I’d like to see an ones (Unionists) for?’ They owned come to me, the friends I grew up the prisoners. They’d say ‘Yes’ to assembly, fair, power-sharing from the factories. They owned the laws. with. We should all work together. If everything and then do nothing. top to bottom, that has friendly links The working class have started to you want something done, you’d be Whatever you asked the Catholic with the Republic.” catch themselves on and it’s great to better off going on to the Falls Road. priests, contact your family or what- A major stumbling block to peace see it. I (now) hate Ian Paisley. He’s a Their councillors work for them. ever, they said they would do it and is the British Government’s intran- cancer in Northern Ireland. Our councillors do nothing for us. they always did. sigence in refusing to consider an “We must talk. In 1985, John All they want is money and to go on “I have hope now for the future, amnesty for prisoners. This point McMichael (killed by the IRA in fancy trips. We need jobs and houses if only we had work. I have faith in was reiterated by almost everyone I 1987 — his son Gary McMichael and then people can mix again. I’d the new politicians — Progressive spoke to. now leads the UDP) published his love to see this area mixed if peace Unionist Party, Ulster Democratic “There is not a hope in hell of a Common Sense document which said were permanent.” Doreen’s hus- Party. They can speak for us. Until peaceful settlement without a set- Loyalists would have to sit down band, Aubrey, is now out of prison, now we had nobody to articulate tlement for all the prisoners “ said with Sinn Féin and talk. It’s taken and it’s one of the many surprises our case. All the Unionist platform Adams. “Only for the troubles, most the Unionists ten more years to real- in Ulster to find activists, who have ever said was, ‘Keep Taigue out. would never have seen the inside of ise that they will.” killed and spent long periods in Get me in.’ Once elected, they did a police station let alone prison. In a province which has the best prison, changed men because of the nothing for us.” Anne (she did not “All political representatives must education in the UK, the Protestant experience. wish to be identified) is the voice of get together with the serious intent working class gets the worst. In 1993, Aubrey served 20 years for mur- a new woman not heard in Loyalist of working something out. John three children passed the 11-plus der and is, according to his wife, a circles before. She spoke with great Hume mustn’t think he can have from the ten primary schools in the much kinder and better person now. vehemence in a small but spotlessly 61 everything he wants, and if there’s whole of the Shankill. Last year, the He agrees. neat house. “As prisoners’ families, any Unionist leader who still thinks number rose to 11 but most opted “Prison changed 90 per cent of we had just the same treatment as he can get everything he wants, not to go to grammar school two people. I can walk into town and the Catholic women and I can tell what planet has he been living on bus rides away. There is no school in meet Republicans I was inside you, if the women in Paisley and EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Molyneaux’s families had to come the control of the politicians who prejudices on China’s workers tive talks on February’s framework through what we came through they regard the votes of their working state instead: documents — plans for an Ulster wouldn’t have such big mouths on classes as their lawful due. assembly and cross-border bodies them about defending the Protestant A community looking to a new fu- Those who argue — as do Glenys — ‘until there has been substantial cause. You had to get the money ture without them could prove, for Kinnock, and the World Council progress on the decommissioning of and time for the prison visits and the old-style Unionist politicians, of Churches — that the confer- ar ms’. then they kept changing times and the greatest betrayal of all. G ence* should be boycotted because He also cited the increase in ‘the days after you’d arranged it all. And China is just such an authoritarian loathsome practice of punishment the strip searches. It’s not just your Far from hating Sinn Féin for state can cite abundant evidence beatings’ as evidence that Sinn Féin clothes they go through. Imagine their supposedly ‘despised for their case. Yet the Chinese may had not turned its back on violence. what you feel like. You want to see Catholic sectarianism’, these have opened the door to a tigress But figures to be released by the RUC him but you dread what you might ‘Protestant’ workers are clearly they cannot easily ride. What better later this week will show a dramatic have to go through.” full of admiration for the tena- place than Beijing in which to de- increase in paramilitary ‘punish- “I was good at school and I could cious anti-imperialist struggle nounce man’s inhumanity to man ment beatings’, with 114 republican have gone to university but girls put up by the Irish masses. — and woman? [*UN Women’s and 67 loyalist attacks. like me weren’t encouraged. I can At the same time, it is their Conference in Beijing - ed] Sir Patrick will hold a further tell you, the minute I get this crowd sense of the British-Orange But these snivelling degenerates meeting with the Sinn Féin presi- off my hands I’ll be down to Queens dent, Gerry Adams, tomorrow, even University. You ask me why the colonist community decaying are living in the wrong age. On though the IRA reiterated yesterday Protestant women were invisible for and disintegrating from its the broadest worldwide scale, it that it was not prepared to hand in so long. Well, we won’t be invisible ruling-class head downwards is Western imperialism which any of its weapons by the front door for much longer. If we get an educa- which is beginning to convince needs to be wiped out before or ‘by the back door’, a reference to tion we’ll be able to hold our own them that their future does not progress can be made, – as has the arms commission, which is to with them. Women on both sides lie with imperialism. been proved by the heroic Cuban be chaired by a former US senator, can all work together. They can keep Once again, it is the defeat of workers state (see subsequent George Mitchell. their slogans and their war cries. imperialism which has been the article). Yesterday Sinn Féin said: ‘No The people want a life. Up to now we decisive historical lesson. And once again, the blitzkrieg such formula has been agreed and had no life. Peace has given us great the two governments would be ex- heart for the future.” For the moment, attempts to bombing of the Serb nation- tremely foolish if they thought they WHEN the IRA and Loyalist cease- revive Orange colonist reac- alists is obviously the dying could bounce the IRA into handing fires were declared at the end of tion via the summer marching gesture of a decaying order. over weapons.’ August it was largely seen as a season have failed. A majority Imperialism can get nowhere But Ken Maginnis, an Ulster Nationalist initiative. The IRA had of voices have been raised for with such a bullying colonial ap- Unionist leadership contender said given up the armed struggle only compromise with Irish nation- proach to Cuba, and never will, that if the commission defined a to let Sinn Féin politicians strive alist sentiments. Anti-Major all the time the Cubans keep properly structured strategy, the for the same goals in the constitu- moves inside the Tory Cabinet their proletarian dictatorship Government might get increased co- tional arena. It seemed Unionists with the same reactionary regime in firm health and good operation from his party. like Paisley and Molyneaux had In recent days Ministers have been wrong-footed. Their only aim have similarly failed, it order. adopted a more conciliatory line on cry is the old one of “betrayal” by seems, with Mayhew playing an Over Ireland too, imperialist decommissioning. In an interview Westminster. After days spent talk- important extraordinary role in bluster still looks as if it will coinciding with the anniversary of ing to the Loyalist underclass I think rescuing current policy from a come to grief at the hands of the ceasefire, Michael Ancram, the there may be another “betrayal” the rightwing backlash by his open not even proletarian revolution Northern Ireland Political Minister, Unionist hierarchy will now have to letter to the Times even before but simply a good old-fashioned said: ‘Nobody is talking about the address. Major had resigned the party national-liberation struggle. surrender of weapons... We’re talk- There are the younger politicians, leadership. And if Molyneaux is The bourgeois propaganda ing about creating the environment far closer to the gut instinct of the ousted from the UUP leadership, machinery is itself now predict- and the atmosphere within which paramilitaries than the old guard constructive democratic dialogue ever were, who aren’t afraid to talk die-hardism may even start ing a complete British imperi- can take place.’ to Sinn Féin. There are once disaf- dying at slightly faster than alist capitulation towards the The formula for moving towards fected diehards who feel the main- snail’s-pace; and the provoca- completion of Irish national- all-party talks will be that the two stream parties have neglected them tive Clegg release may yet be liberation, holding talks with governments jointly call a series of and want nothing more than jobs. seen with hindsight as just a the ‘terrorist enemy’ about a ‘triangular’ meetings with the par- There are the ex-paramilitaries who ruse to quieten British die-hard new structure for Ireland which ties in Northern Ireland, with the are turning to Irish history to make reaction against IRA prisoner will finally bury the despicable expressed intention that these will, sense of their present predicament. releases, a key part of accepting colonial statelet of bogus ‘north- develop into all-party discussions And there are the women who want the abandonment at last of that ern Ireland’ and the barbaric by Christmas. a say in the running of their own A powerful pressure on all sides communities. outrageous colonial folly, the partition of the country: is the visit at the end of November While the media focus on Stormont non-existent bastard statelet of John Major will this week sanc- by President Bill Clinton, who has and Westminster, the biggest shift ‘Northern Ireland’, an endless tion substantive political talks with already said that he hopes the talks in attitudes and expectations may recipe for troubles. Build Lenin- Sinn Féin, despite the IRA’s refusal will be under way when he arrives. well be taking place off-stage in the ism. to make any move on giving up And even next day’s immediate Protestant heartland, well beyond DB weapons or explosives. A formula to break the deadlock Downing Street denial could NATO warplanes bombing Serb villag- in the peace process is expected to only produce the following capi- be agreed at a Chequers summit talist press conclusion: ers can only deepen the ‘free world’ with the Irish Prime Minister, John Instead, it appears London will in- Bruton, on Wednesday. vite Sinn Féin to enter a new phase fascist-slump crisis. Elsewhere, the It marks yet another retreat in the of talks on an agenda for future face of Sinn Féin-IRA intransigence substantive negotiations between imperialist system continues falling and will anger Ulster Unionists, both governments and all parties, who elect a new leader on Friday. if it agrees to work with a commis- apart. But British sources now accept sion on the dismantling of paramil- that there has to be movement if the itary arsenals. [EPSR No 818 05-09-95] peace process is to stay alive. The commission — expected to be Wednesday’s summit will also set led by George Mitchell, President Once again, the essentially [...]But still the ‘reformist’ up an international commission, in- Clinton’s special envoy — will be- warmongering bullying atti- petty bourgeoisie choose to ig- cluding military experts, to consider gin work at the same time as the tude of the leading Western nore the capitalist system’s re- how to de-commission terrorist new talks, which would involve powers towards ‘upstart’ com- sponsibility for an unbreakable weapons. The British will use that as representatives of the British and munities such as China, Cuba, worldwide regime of anarchic a pretext to start political talks while Irish governments, Sinn Féin and Serbian nationalism, and the exploitation and warmongering sidestepping their previous precon- Northern Ireland’s other parties. dition on weapons. 62 IRA/Sinn Féin which have chal- arms race, which the social- Sinn Féin would progress to the Only last March the Northern next stage without the IRA be- lenged ‘free world’ domination, ist camp wiped out internally Ireland Secretary, Sir Patrick - has had to cautiously vary its from Cuba to China, and vent ginning to disarm, allowing the Mayhew, told MPs there could be no Government to claim no principle response.[....] their pathetic anti-communist Sinn Féin participation in substan- was at stake as those new talks were EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 not “substantive”. lence. It described the new strategy obvious examples. decrepit procrastination by the as risky and said the IRA had the But the practice which will decadent British ruling class, And quietly in the background, ability to “carry on indefinitely”. bourgeois ideology is mean- matter is what precise historical the tame Green-Tory stooges of The ceasefire’s success will hinge period the world is now moving the ‘free world’ in Dublin them- while slowly changing its tune on whether the republican move- about what the IRA ceasefire ment is willing to accept political into. Singapore, Taiwan, Hong selves felt bold enough to pub- really meant, – not any surren- changes that fall short of its core de- Kong, & Co flourished as the licly cancel a summit meeting der at all, but a further clever mands. There is conflicting evidence postwar international trade with London, – on the grounds, outmanoeuvring of imperialism as to whether the IRA has softened boom, financed by deliberate it can be guessed, that the by the forces of national-libera- its political demands or whether imperialist credit creation, willingness to keep on backing tion, as the Bulletin has always the ceasefire represents a lethal new surged on for an unbelievably London’s pretence of ‘no retreat pragmatism that includes a mixture explained: long time. If that epoch is now in the face of terrorism’ (i.e. the of violence and peace. finally at an end, however, - national-liberation struggle) is THE IRA ceasefire, which aston- Some observers believe the cease- as all the signs increasingly at last wearing thin. ished the Government when it was fire was designed to test how much declared on August 31 last year, Britain would concede in a peace- indicate, such as the Japanese The speculation must be that has ushered in the most hopeful ful environment. Many republicans stagnation, the dollar’s collapse, there was agreement last week period in the history of Northern now believe Britain will concede the ferociously sharpening to announce the timetable for Ireland. nothing of substance and that the trade war, etc, etc,– then casting fullscale international negotia- Remarkable transformations in- “just and lasting settlement”, which new little nation states adrift tions over the future for Ireland clude regular meetings between was outlined in the IRA’s ceasefire into such a potential worldwide with a simultaneous fudging government ministers and Sinn statement, is as remote as ever. warmongering slump of un- of the bogus ‘issue’ of decom- Féin, while loyalists have ven- Nobody, except a small group of precedented proportions is the missioning the IRA’s weapons tured for the first time into Roman senior republicans, knows what de- most cynical abandonment and (which the national-liberation Catholic areas of the Province to cisions the IRA will make in coming meet nationalists. The Army has all months. However, one senior Sinn callous exploitation. movement has made clear will but disappeared from sight in the Féin source indicated the grow- It is these national and class not be unilaterally surrendered), Province’s main towns and RUC offic- ing sense of unease within republi- anti-imperialist considerations – but that London again stalled ers patrol republican areas without can ranks by describing the cease- which are prompting the feeble at the last minute, – possibly flak jackets. fire as tactical. The source added it Russian bourgeois regime to trying to avoid helping to get a The slow pace of the peace process would be broken if the IRA decides, utter weak threats of increased total reactionary elected as the has led to warnings almost daily after lengthy deliberations, that the aid to the Serbs if the NATO new leader of the Ulster Union- from Sinn Féin of the dangers of Government has failed to respond blitzkrieg aggression goes any ist Party like Trimble, who slipping back into violence. There positively to the new climate, most further. eventually did actually get the is little doubt that senior republi- notably by convening all-party cans remain deeply committed to talks. The propaganda hype and the vote anyway. the ceasefire, at least for the mo- The security forces, who publicly initial impression is that impe- Surrounding London’s fur- ment. Sinn Féin knows it has won sound optimistic about the cease- rialist aggression has at last got ther delaying tactics, coming substantial concessions from the fire, believe the IRA will review it in at least a bit of an act together on the anniversary of the IRA’s Government. the autumn. There are now growing in the savaging of the former ceasefire initiative, were several The republicans’ commitment to fears that the slow pace of the peace Yugoslav socialist federation. admissions by police, military, peace was underlined in an IRA brief- process will strengthen the hand of But on reflection and closer and security chiefs that all talk ing paper of April 1994 that argued hardliners who are deeply sceptical examination, it is still imperial- of the national-liberation strug- in favour of a ceasefire. It attempted of the strategy. ism’s own crisis which is the gle being incapable of returning to convince hardliners of the merits of the unarmed struggle by pointing Only dialectical materialism only real story. Serb nationalist to the armed conflict after such out that the strategy represented a provides the possibility of a cor- resistance to foreign imperial- a lengthy ceasefire, was foolishly new front in the fight for Irish unity. rect understanding of the world. ist diktat still shows no signs misleading. However, the same document con- Build Marxism-Leninism. of crumbling completely. The And yet more pressure for tained the threat of a return to vio- JH Western trade-war rivals have the London political establish- not been, and will never be, able ment to get on with the fullscale Outright lies excuse ‘free world’ to stop stabbing each other in international negotiations on the back on every occasion. And a new future for Ireland and a barbarism [but] the sick and paralysed now the traditional weak link in definitive end to the discredited the imperialist chain, - the vast and defeated old nonsense of crisis of the monopoly-capitalist ruling re-established semi-asiatic Rus- the bastard bogus ‘Northern sian empire, is buckling again. Ireland’ colonial statelet and the class and its ‘reformist’ shadows is the Meanwhile, the other very despicable partition of Ireland, only real story, – in Ireland, around sick imperialist decadence in is coming from the projected Europe, – British imperial- end-of-year electoral propa- ‘New Labour’, etc. ism, – is continuing to provide ganda visit to the island by US [EPSR No 819 12-09-95] nothing but inspiration to the President Clinton. anti-imperialist movement over All of which resulted, in yet In a campaign of total brain- coming great trade war, weaker Ireland. further bourgeois press specula- washing of which Goebbels powers which refuse to become The ludicrous long-running tion about renewed British would have been proud (how stooges of monopoly imperialist bluff by London to pretend that imperialist retreats in the form long before his rehabilitation?), domination are hypocritically nothing was being conceded of hints that Mayhew might the anaesthetised Western tele- broken up into ever weaker at all to the heroic 25-years resign as the British supremo, vision audience must be made to units, – the notorious policy of national-liberation struggle by presumably as some kind of feel that nothing good whatso- Balkanisation which took its Sinn Féin and the IRA, – was obscure gesture for any London ever was lost from the collapse name from this very region of beginning to look as if it might miscalculation over the aborted of the Yugoslav socialist federa- past Western-colonial atomisa- at last be called. summit with Dublin, and over tion, and that nothing but good tion for the purposes of general Earlier bourgeois press specu- Trimble getting elected anyway. can come from the destruction ‘pacification’ (meaning subju- lation that full-scale interna- Such a gesture might give of the Serb nationalist demons gation and better preparation tional political negotiations London, it would be hoped, the who wanted to keep Yugoslavia conditions for expanded West- were at last to begin for finally possibility of pretending that its together in the name of that ern warmongering in that area ending formally the existence latest diplomatic disasters were federation. should it be necessary later on). of the old discredited colony of all the fault of one discredited The philistinism, of such In abstract theory, the ‘free the ‘Northern Ireland’ fiction, politician rather than more obscene fake ‘history’ is appall- market’ can give emerging artificially created solely by the evidence that British imperial- ing. At the same time as the small nation-states remarkable vicious reactionary stunt of the ism itself was no longer up to 63 leading imperialist powers seek opportunities for outstanding 1921 Partition, proved prema- keeping control of and disman- ever-greater consolidation for economic and political develop- ture. tling this last discredited piece self-defence purposes in the ment. Singapore and others are But as a result of this further of empire. EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Over-concern about Trimble’s ogy has become. The essential end of empire, and has contin- dwindling band of diehard election could only confirm how point about Ulster Unionism is ued steadily disintegrating ever obscurantists, and even if he re- hopelessly paralysed and out-of- that the British colonist com- since. united the Ulster Unionist Party touch British imperialist ideol- munity has split apart over the Trimble has only united a (currently split at least five or six ways, forming separate parties in most cases), it would still remain a moribund political phenomenon not remotely to be compared to the imperialist power, influence, and signifi- cance of the single united Ulster Unionist Party leadership of 30 years ago. Either out of stupidity, incom- petence, or paralysed perversity, – dying British imperialism is once again grotesquely missing the point that the system of monopoly capitalist colonial- ism is dead as far as the British ruling class is concerned, and will no longer be tolerated as far as national-independence senti- ment in Ireland is concerned, or in the world at large. Those ludi- crously out-of-date die-hard ‘no surrender’ colonial mentalities must simply be forcefully told at last that their days of artificial- ly-partitioned domineering over parts of a foreign country are over for good, and that however lengthy the perspective, Ireland must slowly, steadily, and surely be reunited as a single country once again. Any further armed resistance to such a rational and inevitable perspective should be ruthlessly dealt with, and would certainly be a very short-lived phenomenon, as it proved to be in Rhodesia once Zimbabwe was declared, and as it is proving to be even in South Africa where a very genuinely successful colonialist imperialism was still in full flower only a decade ago, or less, – (unlike the longtime tacky and discredited doomed colonial racket in the Occupied Zone of Ireland). Trust the cretinous Labour Party stooges of British imperi- alism to be among the very last to see the point and abandon their colonial blinkers: • Tony Blair has refused to meet representatives of Sinn Féin dur- ing his three-day visit to Ireland, which started last night. Mitchel McLaughlin, Sinn Féin chairman, said the decision was disappoint- ing and unhelpful and showed “lit- tle imagination or leadership or un- derstanding”. The Labour leader said he would keep open the question of a meet- ing with the republicans and would meet “when I consider it helpful to do so”. What a crass arrogant imperial- ist insensitivity to the nation- alism of the Irish by these sad petty-bourgeois Little Englan- ders. Not one whit abashed at 64 the torment inflicted for 800 years by English colonialism on Ireland, – and still astonishingly continuing to this day, to the horrified amazement of even EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 British imperialism’s ‘friends and allies’ at the clumsy outdatedness Government’s demand for a hando- national-liberation struggle has of it all, – these wretched Labourite parliamentary opportunists not ver of weapons was ludicrous. insisted, will be coming soon only cannot see even as far as the benighted Tories about the need “The entire decommissioning is- from the USA: to talk to Sinn Féin, but feel obliged to dismissively insult the heroic sue is a deliberate distraction and stalling tactic by a British govern- Gerry Adams told the Observer: Irish nationalists as well. ment acting in bad faith,” said the ‘Sinn Fein — and I personally — It is all of a piece with much else of Labour’s recent ignorant statement. “John Major’s govern- remain wholly committed to our outpourings, such as on education, and what to do about society’s ment knows enough of Anglo-Irish strategy for peace ... however long casualties and their ‘aggressive begging’, etc. history to understand that there is it takes, there will have to be a ne- There would appear to be no limits to the class-collaborating grov- no possibility of disarmament ex- gotiated settlement arrived at with elling Labourism will do in order to ingratiate itself, as it thinks, cept as part of a negotiated settle- the consent of all our people.’ with the petty-bourgeois majority of the British electorate. JH ment. He then added: But the hard real- “Given that history and the real- ity is that the present peace process, Blair’s embarrassing ‘national partner- ity that they and their loyalist death which brought about the IRA cease- squad allies hold the largest stock of fire, has to move forward. Otherwise ship’ waffle for a ‘new, young, dynamic licensed and unlicensed weapons, it is inevitable that it will go into re- the demands for an IRA handover verse and break down.’ Great Britain’ avoids every question of weapons is ludicrous. There is no Mr Adams’s plea was already be- possibility of the IRA meeting these ing heeded in Washington last week, of the real imperialist economic and demands.” with a flurry of telephone calls out of Emerging from the Sinn Fein con- Washington to Dublin, Belfast and political crisis of sharpening class ference, which was being held at the London as the US tried to kick-start splendid headquarters of the Royal proceedings. war and trade war. What an appalling Dublin Society at Ballsbridge, Mr Because of the current sensitivity Adams acknowledged: ‘At the mo- among all the parties, the negotia- demagogue. But the real message of ment anger at the lack of progress tions are being kept at a level which is directed mainly at the British one insider called ‘subterranean’. this class-collaborating religious nut Government. But obviously if we The White House has suspended all don’t get movement soon, people press briefings on the subject. will be ‘discipline’, especially for the will begin to ask questions about the On Friday President Bill Clinton [Sinn Fein] leadership and why our ‘dropped by’ a meeting in working class. strategy hasn’t worked.’ Washington between Dick Spring, The meeting was in private, but the Irish Deputy Prime Minister, [EPSR No 822 03-10-95] delegates said three themes were and Al Gore, the US Vice-President. repeatedly expressed from the floor. US presidents do not normally ‘drop [...]The only thing more creep- On Ireland, for example, Blair by’; Bill Clinton was displaying his ily opportunistic than Blair’s even outdoes the reactionary These were frustration at the lack of progress on the release of IRA pris- increasing concern at the stalemate martinet posturing to appeal to British establishment in their oners, the failure to move towards in the peace process. He made it the prejudices of the capital- paralysed refusal/inability to political talks and the questioning clear that he wanted to see a break- ist press, is the fact that this get on with the peace process of the British Government s failure through in negotiations before he supposedly ‘intelligent’ and for fear of losing face, parrot- to respond more positively to the travels to Ireland in November. ‘progressive’ candidate MP and ing Major’s idiot repetition of ceasefire. The US is attempting to bring all her supporters are in the a quite pointless demand for Feelings were summed up by one Sinn Fein back to the idea of Labour Party to start with. some token decommissioning veteran of IRA encounters with the an International Disarmament security forces, who said: ‘I now Commission which the IRA dis- It has been securely domi- gesture by the IRA, and declin- missed last month. nated by rightwing middle class ing to open talks between Sinn believe we must take the political route. But the Brits are playing with Critically, to give Sinn Fein the authoritarianism since its very Féin and the Labour Party in the fire if they let this opportunity go. opening it requires, the Americans foundation at the start of the meantime. There’s a younger generation out have asked Britain to broaden the re- century. Only the most dreadful This cowardly echo of the there and if they decide to take up mit of the commission beyond that careerists and hypocrites them- appalling old colonial men- arms they will be more determined of just decommissioning. Mr Adams selves would last more than five tality which cannot grasp and ruthless than we ever were.’ has indicated that he might agree, minutes inside such a vicious how hopelessly humiliated it The Irish police believe, from in- but it is not yet known how the US racket of class-collaborating has been by the unbeatable telligence reports, that support for is proposing to get both sides off the the ceasefire remains relatively solid hook. treachery and corruption as national-liberation struggle to Because of its sensitivity, it seems the Labour Party, among whom end Britain’s Occupied Zone of within the IRA. But they have also struck a warning note about a grow- certain that no agreement will the fake-’lefts’ like the ditched Ireland (‘Northern Ireland’ of ing feeling among activists in the be declared before next week’s Leeds North East candidate modern imperialist fiction), and border areas of South Armagh and Conservative Party conference in are the very worst. The Labour how close is the formal interna- Fermanagh that the peace process Blackpool. Party exists for one purpose tional recognition of the end of has failed to yield tangible results. American imperialism is helping only, – to never-endingly act as that colony and agreed progress Ironically, the task facing Mr British imperialism to save face, Adams in maintaining unity has a safe diversion for all would-be towards Ireland’s reunification obviously. But it is also continu- socialist minded workers, to (and the end of the hated Parti- been made easier by last week’s European Court of Human Rights ing the longstanding pressure, draw them off for ever into per- tion), – could be put to shame dating from the Cold War era, manent opportunism of every much sooner than the idiot Blair judgment on the killing of three IRA activists in Gibraltar. for the troublesome British col- kind and away from a principled thinks. But last week’s decision of the ony to be dismantled because of scientific commitment to a class The national-liberation strug- High Court in London on the treat- the monstrous stain it has been socialist challenge to ruling- gle could not have warned the ment of long-term prisoners in on the supposedly ‘free Western class capitalist power. incipient anti-Irish jingoism of Britain may turn out to be a more world’, and the open invitation But Blairism, while seeming Labour (both fake-‘left’ Trot- important ruling. it has always been for renewed The belief that the conditions of to skate away with all the prizes, skyites and reactionary right revolutionary struggle to move is in fact travelling on very thin Blairites) more clearly about long-term prisoners has deterio- rated since the ceasefire is a source ever closer towards communist ice. This stooge for ruling-class how wrong is their arrogant revolutionary struggle again. ideology thinks he is being so assumption of an IRA/Sinn Féin of grievance at grass-roots level. If the Home Office were to bring some The American ruling class has smart with his servile backing ‘defeat’: judicious mercy into its treatment of never minded stripping its old for most chauvinist stances of THE IRA last night gave its bluntest IRA prisoners, it would do much to ‘ally’ and rival of power while the British imperialist state, to warning yet that the Government restore confidence in the peace pro- ‘helping’ the British Empire must drop its pre-condition of guarantee him against losing cess. through various difficult peri- votes for being ‘unpatriotic’, etc. a token surrender of arms be- But reading between the lines of ods, and the monopoly-imperi- Yet a look at some of the fore admitting its political wing other capitalist press reports, it alist forces behind the Clinton issues shows how disastrously to all-party talks on the future of 65 Northern Ireland. seems that even a far weightier regime, keen to recapture the out-of-date and a liability these The IRA said, in a statement that and more decisive push towards power of the presidency, have nationalist attitudes will even- drained away yesterday’s grow- a negotiated settlement for identified startling foreign tually be. ing optimism in Dublin, that the ending the British colony, as the policy successes as one way of EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 getting their appalling crook of that we are engaged now in a pro- and buildings could have been of much vox-pop tasting. There a candidate re-elected next No- cess of discussion,” the Taoiseach cleared in that time. may well be many more middle- vember, especially somewhere said. Movement towards all-party [See page 19 also - ed] class individual members of so crucial as Ireland to which talks was now inexorable. But not one Labourite had the the Labour Party than before. “What I think we are seeing is tens of millions of Americans steady progression in the scale of di- guts or gumption to ask. But that only confirms the ter- sentimentally look for their alogue. There’s a calmer atmosphere And yet Blair & Co are appar- rible opportunism of the petty descendancy. now, a much more constructive ap- ently very popular. bourgeoisie as a class, and the Clinton’s planned visit to proach by everybody.” The verdict of the public lemming-like conformism and Ireland before the end of this Nobody from the Ulster Unionist opinion polls, apparently superficiality of the consumer- year may finally force a halt to camp looked unhappy about that. overwhelmingly in favour of the ist mentality. Blair is welcome London’s embarrassed delaying The IRA offered the ceasefire on changes Blair has imposed on to his supporters, and they to tactics holding up its long- the obvious understanding that the Labour Party, can only re- him[...] agreed acceptance that a snail’s- talks towards a negotiated end flect the philistine shallowness Build Leninism. JH pace withdrawal from Ireland is to Ireland’s partition problems the only sensible future: had finally been accepted in Pathetic Portillo wardrums only THE warmth of the handshake principle by London. So the between David Trimble and the ceasefire was in order to allow remind Tory imperialism how far it has Irish prime minister, John Bruton, the peace process talks to get in Dublin yesterday indicated that under way, not to make time for fallen and how bleak is the prospect something calm and deliberate pointless and totally inappropri- may be going on behind all the talk in all directions. All imperialism faces of crisis in the Irish peace process. ate decommissioning gestures Forget sightings of UFOs over by the national-liberation strug- civil war eventually and the Farrakhan Ian Paisley’s Ballymena — stran- gle. Blair is following Major ger visions are becoming a com- down a blind alley too stupid for nationalist diversion will not spare monplace in the capital of the Irish words as well as reeking of the republic. Not since 1965 has an most horribly unreconstructed the USA. Ulster Unionist leader met an Irish colonialist conceit. [EPSR No 824 17-10-95] Taoiseach in Dublin. The same blindness cowed Throughout yesterday’s meetings Labour’s response to the [...]But the greatest difficulty era of slump and fascist-war- with a host of Irish politicians of all humiliating European Court of all for the many varieties of mongering now unfolding. shades of green, Mr Trimble was ac- chauvinist opportunism cur- But first of all this means war, companied by his new deputy, John verdict which declared the Tory Government’s use of force ille- rently vying to “lead Britain obviously, (as Portillo’s blood- Taylor, the man whom Dublin and back to glory”, etc, is the fact curdling histrionics indicated). London wanted to see slipping into gal in the gunning down in cold Mr Molyneaux’s shoes. Mr Taylor blood of three IRA suspects in that the British imperialist It may have been one thing to cheerfully admitted last week that Gibraltar. Last week’s capitalist economy truly is now just an warn of the threat of war (and not only did he enjoy his regular vis- press rehash of events could not also-ran, a position it has been of the need to be fully prepared its to the republic, he was actually a conceal that this was deliberate heading towards for a very long for national defence and self- friend of the Taoiseach. criminal slaughter: time. assertion in the event of war) Mr Taylor went on to say that Portillo’s aggressive national- in previous eras before the long Unionists had to accept that the IRA Farrell and McCann were seen en- ism is, of course, the only an- slow decline of British imperial- was not beaten, which must have tering on foot at 2.30pm. The three ticipatable effective reply to the ism had become so plain. But met by the car 20 minutes later. turned Mr Paisley’s face several ever-more-threatening inter- the talk of war in today’s world, shades of green. The Democratic When they moved away a soldier Unionist leader yesterday warned gave the car a cursory external ex- imperialist trade war via which after the West’s non-stop Cold Mr Trimble that he could not speak amination and concluded that it was British monopoly-capitalism War propaganda about “freedom to Dublin “with impunity” and de- a “suspect car bomb”. Soldier A, who might hope to come through the and democracy” versus “the evil scribed the Irish government as sur- shot Farrell and McCann, said he rogates for Sinn Fein and the IRA. was 100 per cent sure it was a bomb Mr Trimble decided to treat Mr and that the terrorists had remote Paisley in the same way as Downing control devices and weapons. Street — he ignored him, pointedly He was sure because that was refusing to comment on the attack. what he was told over his radio. (In After lunch with Mr Bruton, he held fact the car did not contain a bomb). a brief press conference. The talks At 3.40, as the three began to had been a lot more constructive move back towards the border, than in 1992, he said. Commissioner Canepa signed a Their purpose was “to make sure form requesting the military to ar- there’s no opportunity for misun- rest the suspects. Curiously no at- derstanding with regard to what we tempt was made to evacuate the area see as possible.” around the car. Pressed on the issue of IRA weap- As Heseltine and the State blus- ons, Mr Trimble studiously avoided signing up to Sir Patrick Mayhew’s tered, not one Labourite had the so-called Washington Three test — guts to use the European Court’s the handing over of some weapons authority to bring out the obvi- before talks begin. Instead, he said: ous deception:– If there was a “They’ve got to prove they are com- bomb in the town centre car mitted. If they are so committed, park where the military band then it will be easy for them to pro- assembled (the intended target) duce the necessary evidence.” necessitating the three to be That still left plenty of room for shot miles away, cold, without manoeuvre in Mr Bruton’s direction, namely his preferred option of get- even a warning at 4.00 pm ‘in ting a commitment from the repub- case their fingers strayed to a licans that they will never return to detonation button’ etc, – then violence. why was not the slightest effort Mr Trimble said that a channel of made to clear the area around communication had been opened. the car park from 2.50 onwards, Mr Bruton said it had been a very an hour and ten minutes of fur- 66constructive meeting. “Obviously ther preparations by the entire there were areas where we agreed police and military headquar- and there were also areas where there was less agreement. ters in Gibraltar on full alert for “But what’s important is the fact this event? A score of streets EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 empire”, presenting capitalism of paid informers throughout as solely a “peace-loving” sys- the nationalist population to tem, etc, – and after the virtual spy on republicans; etc, etc. total demise of all British im- Portillo even had the sick perialism’s historic might, – is gall to brag about the SAS’s another thing entirely. cold-blooded murder of three Secondly, even if it is very unarmed republicans in Gi- vaguely (and painfully) accepted braltar, newly condemned by that in general there may yet be the European Court of Human more wars, and that it is only Rights. “Don’t give succour sensible to maintain adequate to terrorists” snarled a senior ‘defence’ forces, - there is then Cabinet minister for the great the question of specifically British democracy. No wonder which enemies Britain’s impe- even so many Tories nearly rialist state might be fighting choked on this disturbed and against, where, and how. disturbing rant. Portillo only brought embar- And yet still the really big rassed barely-stifled groans questions remained totally when as Defence Minister he unanswered by this unseemly made the obligatory reference performance. Portillo jeered to where British forces are cur- disgracefully and racistly at the upheavals. colonial outrage (bogusly called rently in action,– “doing a heroic supposed bureaucratic effemi- On top of all this, it is Ameri- ‘Northern Ireland’) which for 10 and effective life-saving and nate inefficiency of the fighting can sympathetic intervention years has always remained the peace-keeping job in Bosnia”. forces from the European Com- on the Republican side in the basic significance of the Anglo- Even the crazed jingoist Portillo munity, – British imperialism’s Irish national liberation strug- Irish Treaty and the subsequent did not seem to believe it. so-called closest ‘ allies’. And at gle which has been, and is going Downing Street Declaration, His next effort to provoke the same time, he drew cheers to be even more so in the near and even more clearly of the blood-tingling belligerence to for some quite empty boasts future, such a punishing blow current ‘Framework Document’. get the nation rallying enthu- about how closely he pretended to British imperialist prestige And the reason that British siastically around the flag was that US imperialism would al- as it squirms on the hook of its imperialism has been laid lower even more ludicrous, – British ways stay close to Britain’s side. own colonial intransigence over than ever by such civil-war imperialism’s “great military Not if Washington can help it, it Ireland.[...] strife is precisely identical to achievements against the IRA”. won’t. The United States might [...]The other daft ingredient what is economically under- Now the “professional well choose to back countries in Portillo’s diatribe was the mining imperialism in gen- performance” of any individual other than the UK if Europe cocky assumption that the USA, eral as the 20th century draws units of the British forces in should ever split apart again – along with Britain, of course, towards its close of an unprec- the Occupied Zone of Ireland in war, – as seems more than – would largely remain free of edented eruption of communist or elsewhere in the war against likely even if the main inter-im- any internal civil-war turmoil of revolution worldwide. The huge the Irish national-liberation perialist warmongering on the its own, thus leaving the “great monopoly-capitalist financial struggle is not the issue. Many horizon seems at the moment to alliance” entirely at liberty to bastions of empire (with or behaved with “very effective be a three way struggle between profitably militarily intervene to without formal colonies) are the aggression” indeed, – for all the USA, Japan, and the whole of their own advantage and at the dinosaurs of contemporary so- that it was in such a depraved West Europe together. expense of others weighed down ciety, doomed to die out because and reactionary cause as the American imperialist inter- by strife. they no longer suit or can cope maintenance of British colo- ests have only ever coincided This is insane complacency, with the changing conditions nial dictatorship over part of with British interests at the even more dangerously juvenile in the world of international Ireland, which makes the boast expense of Britain’s imperialist than the silly playground “Want proletarian emancipation. seem in very dubious taste, to positions which have had to be a fight” parading that Portillo The Irish national-liberation say the least. yielded up to the USA, as well as has been widely disowned for, struggle took the form of a The trouble with this glowing much imperialist wealth in re- even by Tories. Such die-hard nationalist independence move- reference for British military turn for the ‘aid’. And since the imperialists around the Defence ment because of the strong prowess is that overall, it is fortuitous US entry into World Ministry are living in a fool’s influence of cultural traditions entirely a false claim as far as War II as a result of the Japa- paradise. and the appalling weakness the 25 years of British war effort nese attack on Pearl Harbour The Irish national-liberation of Marxist-Leninist science against the tiny forces of the IRA late in 1941, the Americans have struggle has precisely been in after decades of revisionist idi- is concerned. not only disagreed with British a civil-war setting, and for 25 ocy from the leadership of the It was, after all, the heroic ambitions on many occasions years it has slowly but surely workers states and the social- national-liberation struggle of but have occasionally con- proved a deadly cancer to any re- ist camp. But the evidence of a a thousand or so irregular vol- fronted them directly, – most maining British empire illusions powerful class content against unteers frequently using largely famously in British imperial- within the UK’s ruling-class ruling-class economic and social home-made weapons who won ism’s greatest humiliation over establishment. domination is overwhelming the 25-year war against the full Egypt’s nationalisation of the The new round of banging in the detailed development in might of the British imperialist Suez Canal, when the subse- heads together in Britain and this latest explosion of Ireland’s forces by refusing to be beaten quent sneak British-French- Ireland by Washington’s special colonial troubles. by that military dictatorship. Zionist imperialist onslaught on envoys Lake and Soderberg this The class content of this This was in spite of the Long defenceless Egypt was ignomini- week will almost certainly see anti-imperialist revolt will Kesh concentration camp for ously called to a halt following British imperialism’s enforced remain to torment the decadent detention without trial for Washington’ s threats to inter- snail’s-pace withdrawal from British ruling class even after all republican militants; the vene against the ‘allies’ because its remaining piece of colonial the embarrassment over Ireland notorious torture regimes for of the Soviet Union’s threat to mismanagement of Ireland, is shuffled off with the help of information at Gough Barracks do likewise. lurch forward another step some US imperialist cajoling, and elsewhere; the shoot-to-kill More recently, the British or two, obliging the sclerotic arm-twisting and handouts, murder squads sent to stalk re- refused direct support to the and paralysed British ruling plus some middle-class nation- publicans by the Special Branch, USA over its infamous colonial class to ditch some more of alist delusions. the SAS and MI5; the endless war against Vietnam and Indo- its stupid “we never surrender And while this class content midnight terror raids by armed China generally, and history’ s to terrorism” conceit, – mere may yet take other ethnic forms 67 police and troops to bust up supposedly greatest ‘allies’ have word posturing, – and get on inside the UK before full-scale republican homes; the very ex- also partly pursued different faster with the dismantlement communist revolution finally pensive and sinister infiltration agendas in the Balkans current in practice of the monstrous challenges dying British imperi- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 alism, the proletarian emanci- inter-imperialist war suffering Unionist’ community, with one negotiating rights” at the defini- pation element, - incompatible or colonial devastation, much united UUP party in which the tive Ireland reunification and with the survival of capitalism as happened to the USA after Orange Order fanatics were peace settlement. as the ruling system, - will the Vietnam war fiasco, only a securely bedded. Now there are Not that US imperialism, increasingly predominate. thousand times worse. Portillo, at least six ‘Unionist’ parties or pulling the rug from under its The US bourgeois-imperialist incidentally, also completely factions, endlessly squabbling oldest rival (“ally”), is smoothly state is possibly in even worse forgot, of course, that the impe- with each other over the decline in control of the ‘free world’ a plight than British monopoly rialist system has been suffering of their colonial fate and their system as might appear. No capitalism, - and certainly ulti- increasingly spectacular defeats ‘No surrender forever’ British one is. The system is soon to be mately, its supreme challenge in the modern era, not gaining community; relegation of the totally out of any control as the will be civil-war strife (although effortless automatic victories at Orange Order fanatics to the relentless money-market chaos possibly as a result of previous all). [...] Build Leninism. JH background; and endless accusa- and currency crises eventually tions against each other of even culminate in the complete col- British Establishment goes catatonic. further retreats in the pipeline. lapse of the dollar or some other At any time now, fresh vital currency. (On Ireland and everything else) negotiating concessions will Capitalism’s fundamental [EPSR No 826 31-10-95] quietly be slipped out by British contradiction keeps on inevi- [...]Even on Ireland, on its own another important piece in the imperialism, – under con- tably worsening, – bank-debt doorstep, British imperial- jigsaw puzzle being assembled tinuing US and Irish nationalist based monopoly-imperialist ism’s word is no longer the one by British imperialist weakness pressure, and with just a few expansion building up huge, which counts as far as the final and defeat, Irish nationalist timid squeaks from remaining relatively-‘surplus’ trade-war colonial surrender to the Irish intransigence, and concerned ‘Ulster Unionist’ intransigence, rivalry positions, which must national-liberation struggle is holding of the ring by the USA – towards dropping London’s put the leading powers at each concerned. Washington is doing in order to save imperialism empty propaganda posturing others throats and drive the the real negotiating with Dublin from more damaging publicity about “the need for IRA weapons super-exploited and slump-hit and Sinn Féin. about rotten colonialism, and decommissioning before Sinn masses towards revolution all London’s latest capitula- to suit huge financial lobbying Féin can be granted fullscale over the world[...] JH tion to the inevitable ultimate interests around the Clinton withdrawal from colonial presidency to try to ensure British imperialism continues to go control and the dismantling re-election next year by assur- formally at last of the non- ing Irish-extraction voters of bankrupt. existent monstrous bastard a Washington-brokered peace [EPSR No 830 128-11-95] statelet of ‘Northern Ireland’ treaty for Ireland. and the hated Partition, has At the same time, and in the [...]British imperialism will great boom-expansion has long been Mayhew’s rushed legisla- same direction, the require- remain as sick as ever, – and been with other parts of the tion virtually giving a timetable ment for would-be barristers in it will continue just as mori- planet, but the triumphant pow- for all further prisoner-of-war ‘Northern Ireland’ to swear an bund if and when the cretinous ers there, – the USA, Germany, releases (“convicted terrorists”) oath of allegiance to the Queen Labour opportunists get back Japan, etc, – are eventually over the coming few years. is being quietly discontinued into office, – which is when the just as doomed as dying British Once again, this is the long- in line with Ireland’s eventual crashing collapse of monopoly- imperialism when the boom standing snail’s-pace withdraw- reunification. capitalism’s whole rickety house shortly turns into the most al at work, concealing at all costs The disintegration of the old of cards might set in. Blair & appalling trade-war warmonger- any victory for IRA/Sinn Féin in ‘Ulster Unionist’ camp contin- Co are toying with exactly the ing slump in all human history. the national-liberation struggle ues apace, meanwhile, the latest same seedy gimmicks, covering Meanwhile the limping in order to try to appease any re- break-up being the disenfran- up a terrifying imperialist-crisis British economy has so totally maining fascist-colonial resist- chisement of the Orange Order reality, as the Tories are. British undermined the last vestiges ance among the diehard British colonial-religious freemasonry imperialism can only afford of the British colonial spirit in colonist community (“Ulster from automatic participation in more and more cuts in public Ireland that the final stages of Unionists”) to the reunification UUP decision-making, against spending, no expansion. And retreat are now imminent, – and of Ireland.(See ILWP Books vol 8 the bitter resistance of the noto- no ‘clever’ mix whatever of tax the reunification of Ireland, & 15 – Ireland). rious Orange sash-wearers. changes or monetary measures – and the burial of the abomi- The timetable for prisoner Thirty years ago, before (bank-rate cuts, etc) is going nable Partition, – are now about release is not quite the tri- the latest upsurge of the Irish to help the British colonialist to enter their last snail’s-pace umphant immediate release national-liberation struggle mentality start to win the phase (see ILWP Books vol 8,15 of all political prisoners that began to put renewed pressure international trade war again, – and 22 – Ireland). the nationalists would have on the doomed British colony, ever. The historical momentum The shoddy amateur theat- wanted, but it does look like yet there was just one ‘Ulster of the capitalist system’s last ricals of the past 15 months by London, – threatening to let the peace process be aborted, – have all been about trying to save face for the British ruling- class, hide the IRA victory, and made sure the Orange-colonist diehards do not cause too much trouble as the bastard colonial statelet of non-existent ‘North- ern Ireland’ is put to rest. A massive amount of tedi- ously detailed processes yet remain to be drawn up, agreed, and then lived through, but the essential business of complet- ing Ireland’s national-liberation struggle, – by re-establishing Dublin’s key role in the affairs of 68 all Ireland over the past year, – has already been achieved. Ten years ago, before the Anglo-Irish Treaty, such a position for Dub- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 lin in the affairs of all-Ireland West Europe), marks a colossal complete the peace process once tlement. was unthinkable. vindication for all anti-impe- negotiating agreement has been It is this demise of the old The victory for the IRA/ rialist struggle, and a triumph reached, with the Sinn Féin/ ‘Northern Ireland’ which will Sinn Féin national liberation for the dialectical-materialist IRA, – the other nationalists, be the greatest signal of the struggle, backed by anti-British understanding of history. Build and the Dublin government as triumph of the Sinn Féin/IRA rival international imperialist Leninism. full participants in the consti- struggle, whatever remnants of influence (mainly the USA & DB tution-making procedures and bogus ‘Northern Irish’ tokens debates. It was a fitting cause might remain in the complex The mixture of real festivities and for great celebration, not only constitutional frameworks for the Irish, and not only for all afterwards. But dead and buried self-congratulatory posturing reflect the international supporters of for ever will be the monstrous a genuine turning point in the history their heroic national-liberation creation of 1921 which declared struggle, but also for the people to the world on the savage of Ireland and Britain. The ending of of Britain whose politics have authority of British imperialist long been poisoned by the vile military might and ferocious re- colonial occupation is a triumph for colonial role in Ireland, not to colonisation threats to the rest mention the actual pain and of Ireland, – that the ripped-out revolutionary struggle, and useful damage suffered from the guer- bits of six of Ulster’s counties rilla war. would henceforth and for ever deck-clearing for the class-war battles The widespread jubilant be part of Britain, - permanent to come in imperialism’s general eco- feelings were probably little and unchallengeable, lost to conscious of all these political Ireland for eternity. nomic crisis. implications, but they did clear- Little or none of this has ly sense that the sheer unusual yet been officially expressed, [EPSR No 831 05-12-95] novelty of the whole occasion, of course. The bourgeois world The enormous celebratory mood out bits of six of Ulster’s nine must have reflected something is, after all, in the process of in Ireland over Clinton’s visit counties which the defeated significant, even if it was not accepting and rewarding a tri- was a sign of the triumph Irish British Empire manipulated in entirely obvious what. umph of revolutionary guerrilla nationalism feels at the immi- 1921 out of the bitterly divided, This was plainly a very war, not something that capital- nent prospects of reunification, exhausted, and confused Irish meaningful American interven- ism does every day of the week, an end to the troubles, and full national-liberation struggle of tion, clearly not tied in detail to – or ever at all willingly. final independence after 800 that time which foolishly settled Clinton and his visit because the But the tremendous signifi- years of British domination. for independence for just 26 of crucial communiqué was finally cance of this latest climb-down Commentaries in the Brit- Ireland’s 32 counties. agreed, signed, and issued be- by British imperialism is nev- ish capitalist press have once Clinton’s arrival coincided fore he arrived, – but obviously ertheless not hard to unravel, again hopelessly missed the with the withering away of clos- linked to some much longer- even within the pages and significance of the latest London ing gestures of British ruling- term influence (on such interna- between the lines of the capital- capitulation to the national- class intransigence as it has tional struggles as the one over ist press itself. Even bourgeois liberation struggle, foolishly sought to spin things out to save Ireland), most closely identified ideology has to make some at- inventing all sorts of wrong face for the London Establish- with the all-powerful American tempts occasionally to come to alternative explanations, and ment, to muddle the clarity imperialist dominance, but also terms with inevitable historical even more stupidly ascribing the of the IRA/Sinn Féin triumph, representing the far wider world reality: euphoria to Clinton’s cloyingly and to leave the “no surrender” sympathy that the Irish struggle SLEIGHT of hand and a deft use naff speeches. pockets of colonial resistance in has won. of ambiguous words are the main- The Arkansas arsehole was, the Occupied Zone even more The symbolism was unmis- stays of progress in the Anglo-Irish of course, completely irrelevant paralysed than ever, to avoid takable, – the world was now peace process. Private stealth is to the jubilation. The USA could any attempted reactionary openly on the side of the Irish buried under public protestations have sent President Donald backlash. national-liberation struggle. of innocence; bombast masks re- Duck, literally talking gibber- The latest Downing Street And it coincided with London treat. at last being forced to move the Last week’s Downing Street com- ish, and he would still have been communiqué, in the names of muniqué was no different. The ecstatically received. the London and Dublin govern- peace process on, – the most means were yet again eclipsed by The American presence repre- ments, was issued just hours open capitulation yet to the the end. Once more, precious time sented the verdict of world opin- before the American presiden- forces of history which have was bought; the process was inched ion on the grotesque injustice tial visit got under way. long had the writing on the wall forward. of British colonialism’s police- This does not quite express a for the doomed bastard colonial Sinn Fein has said demands for military dictatorship repressing full open retreat by the Tories statelet mischievously entitled the delivery of a token gun is tanta- any longer the Irish nationalist from their previous face-saving ‘Northern Ireland’, a country mount to a call for surrender; there freedom fighters. stance of demanding some which obviously does not exist, will be no surrender. Mr Major and invented by the colonists. the Unionists say there can be no ne- The IRA’s armed guerrilla token surrender of weapons by gotiation while Sinn Fein-IRA retain warfare proved unbeatable, and the IRA before Sinn Féin could For the one thing which is a gun under the round table. British imperialism was finally be included as a partner in the certain out of all this enor- Last week’s communiqué negoti- forced to accept the need to end multi-party negotiations for a mously complicated turmoil ated that gridlock by creating a sid- the colonisation of Ireland’s new deal for the Occupied Zone, over the Irish question, – is that ing into which the difficulty could northeast corner, and introduce but it avoids the issue, – leav- there will be no continuation of be shunted; the international body measures towards expanded ing it to the new International ‘Northern Ireland’ as it used to that will now give advice on decom- Irish unity and independ- Commission on disarmament, exist. Plainly, however long it missioning. ence, beginning with the 1985 thereby getting Major & Co off a takes and by whatever convo- London then insisted that it was luted and devious mechanisms no part of the remit of the body, to be Anglo-Irish Treaty which first hook of their own making. chaired by former US senator George acknowledged Dublin’s rights in Last week’s events repre- are imposed by continuing Brit- Mitchell, one of the President’s men, the affairs of the north, simulta- sented the collapse of British ish imperialist intransigence, to question the British precondition neously marking the beginning imperialism’s final obstacles to – those ripped-out parts of six for talks. of the end for Orange-fascist an openly-acknowledged full of Ulster’s counties will be more Dublin insisted, in turn, that that “Ulster Unionist” diehard colo- constitutional conference for a clearly a part of Ireland again was nonsense; the Mitchell body nialism. completely new status for the than they have remotely been was free to question and consider The long snail’s-pace British- Occupied Zone, internationally constitutionally since the foul anything it wished in the context of imperialist withdrawal from recognised and approved, and evil of Partition was imposed decommissioning. 69 by vengeful British imperialism London said that each and every Ireland is at last coming towards partly administered also, via the one of its objectives, including the a climax of a new constitutional commission for recommending on the much abused people of exclusion of the precondition from arrangement for the ripped- how to disarm and physically Ireland by the vicious 1921 set- the remit of the Mitchell body, had EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 been achieved. Dublin urged people call on powerful allies if it called off reached. The impasse is solely will exert: crudely put, from pres- to examine the text of the communi- the violence. the political one of the diehard sure on the British Government to qué; to ignore the British spin and Inevitably, this has increased the Orange colonists, and their pressure on Sinn Fein/IRA. It begins read the words. deep suspicion in the Unionist com- political proxies the British to turn a dismal segment of his- On that basis, the Irish appear to munity that President Clinton is tory round. The shift of perspec- have made some headway, and as sympathetic to the IRA/Sinn Fein. government, feeling incapable tive began in late September, when Mr Major said in his Downing Street Sinn Fein has been given its own of publicly accepting in formal Nancy Soderberg, the lead White press conference with President little gold mine by Washington. It political and constitutional ar- House official on Ireland, paid an Clinton on Wednesday: ‘I think the has been fundraising (and legally rangements what they have long unpublicised visit to London, fol- fact that the President was coming now) with a vengeance in America, been forced to accept on the lowed shortly by her boss, Tony concentrated the mind.’ and donations are expected to top ground, – namely that British Lake, head of the National Security Take, as an example of British vul- $1 million in its first year. But the imperialism cannot beat the Council. Between them, Lake and nerability, Mr Major’s careful use money is dwarfed by the amounts Irish national-liberation strug- Ms Soderberg were exposed to of words on the precondition. ‘We being poured into Ireland by the gle, and that it would eventually more British and Unionist opin- won’t be asking the international US government, which is backing ion than Washington had ever lis- body to question our position,’ he up its political pressure with eco- totally wreck the north-east tened to before. An official close said on Tuesday night. nomic aid. Not only has the Clinton and its whole community (and to their talks said they had their When it was put to British sources administration committed $20m to had begun to wreck the City of eyes opened to the political reality that there was a difference between the International Fund for Ireland London as well) if the police- of Ulster Unionism under its new not asking the Mitchell body to ex- in 1995, but has promised a further military dictatorship repression and more formidable leader, David amine the issue, and asking them $60m over the next two years. was continued with. Trimble. It was a triumph, in par- not to examine the issue, one source The first signal will come in the Because of their own congeni- ticular, for the American embassy complained about semantics and response of the party leaders in tal lack of any sense of historical in London, whose analyses were the absurdity of attempting to count Northern Ireland to the invitations continuity or purposefulness customarily regarded as a case of the number of angels who could be issued on Friday by the Northern ambassadors going native, mere found on a pin-head. ‘We cannot Ireland Secretary, and by Dick which rises above the latest im- mouthpieces for British prejudice. see a way of securing the necessary Spring, the Irish foreign minister, mediate squabbling opportunist The deal prompted by Clinton’s confidence to bring all parties to the to take part in groundwork talks to concerns and grand delusions visit involves a concession by John negotiating table without a start be- discuss the possibility of wider ne- of the bourgeoisie itself, the Major but puts pressure on Gerry ing made to the decommissioning of gotiations early next year. bourgeois ideological scribblers Adams. Major has agreed to a form illegal arms.’ Already the Reverend Ian Paisley rarely take up (Private Eye’s of all-party talking, without a smell He then added: ‘If there is an alter- has denounced these invitations well-developed cynical philoso- of the prior de-commissioning of native, it has not yet been produced. as an outrage and has accused the phy excepted) the issues of last weapons. But by doing it now, he in- If it is produced, of course any sen- Government of abandoning its role week’s failed predictions. vites Clinton to put the squeeze on sible person would look at it. But it as the sovereign power in Northern the man who’s the nearest thing to has not yet been produced and we Ireland. For weeks, the Clinton visit Washington’s client rather than lis- have not been able to conceive what was never going to take place ten to his bleatings about London’s it might be.’ This gives a begrudging bour- because it would be pointless; destructive inertia. Let’s hope he It is possible that the Mitchell body geois ideological view on some the IRA was about to break off does so. The next move is certainly will report by the middle of January of the harsh facts; but all of the all talks, defeated; Sinn Féin up to Sinn Fein, in this long process bearing exactly such an inconceiv- capitalist press reports muddle was about to capitulate; or Dub- for which the Major-Bruton pact has able alternative — putting London any number of questions at any lin was; etc, etc. bought the priceless commodity of and the Unionists on the spot. time, never take up the bour- The posturing ‘liberal’ Guard- time. Internationalising the arms London could then say that it was ian has particular difficulty issue is the best way of releasing it never hung up on the precondition geois media’s general embar- from sterilities in which it has been of disarmament, any more than rassing failure to get anything in coming to terms with the locked for more than a year. But in Mr Major had once said it would right on occasions, and least triumph of the revolution- the end, it cannot replace the choices turn his stomach to consider any of all will they ever offer the ary armed struggle. Take the that have to be made by the parties kind of talks with Sinn Fein. Just slightest explanation in broad following, which could qualify to the argument. three weeks ago, Mr Bruton went to historical terms of why this is for quote of the year in Pseuds I prefer to think that Major has got London to deliver a speech designed all happening the way it is. Corner, bum-lickers corner, his timing right. The unscrambling to kick some life back into the dor- The 60% of the contents ed- racist-prejudice corner, and pure of 25 years’ bloody disaster is bound mant peace process, saying that the ited out of the above report, for idiots corner: to take a very long time. The weight ‘obstacles in the way of all-party of culture and history that has to be talks were comparatively minor in example, only serve to totally YOU ARE the past, Bill Clinton told overcome, if a lasting peace is to be historical terms... insignificant ... confuse everyone about the the IRA in Belfast on Thursday. And made, ordains an attention-span of small contentions’. issues. in those four simple words one matching solemnity, which survives British spokesman said: ‘This The supposed deliberate even- heard at once the authentic voice all manner of delays and cogitations is an extraordinary speech, at an handedness of the American of the moderniser, the politician and threats and even outright viola- extraordinary time, the eve of intervention, for instance, who is simply not interested in the tions. Any leader who gets involved Remembrance Sunday and deliv- cannot possibly be even-handed. agenda of the past, the leader who in re-ordering this history, and ered in Britain through a mega- believes that the old maps offer no comes face-to-face with Ireland’s The British bourgeois press meaningful guidance to the new phone.’ cannot say it, (and the foreign endless fascination with obstruc- Last weekend, a British source said political world, the kind of public tive minutiae, has to be ready for that following progress in Anglo- bourgeois press are a bit reluc- figure that in this country Tony the long haul. Mr Blair needs to be Irish talks on Friday, there had been tant too, because they do not Blair aspires to be. schooling himself for it as well, for Irish backsliding in further talks like revolutionary struggle), but Le tout Londres flocked to the what Major has started Major will on Saturday. An Irish source said: one side is winning in the Irish presidential presence this week. A not live to finish. Meanwhile, to in- ‘Bollocks. That is untrue and with- question, and one side is losing. Clinton invite was the hottest ticket stitute a new twin-track process, out foundation.’ In this advanced epoch of anti- in town. But it was Labour politi- with another deadline, is the right THE Clinton Administration’s ac- imperialist struggle, it is impos- cians rather than Conservatives way to make use of time’s ally: the tive involvement in the peace pro- who were the more entranced by steady experience of peace which sible for international public the visitor from the White House. cess has, on occasion, been deeply opinion not to support the Irish makes it ever less acceptable to be offensive to the British Government, For Clinton is what they themselves the party responsible for destroy- which has been accustomed to re- national-liberation struggle. At would like to be, progressive, effec- ing it. lying on the co-operation of the the right moment, that means tive and powerful. In the next batch of time, between that populist US political leader- State Department. The Government That catalogue of affecta- now and the end of February, the ships do not wish to be seen not was infuriated by the granting of tion, crass misunderstanding, biggest service the international an American visa to Gerry Adams supporting the Irish national- commission can perform is to find a and hopelessly naïve wishful while the IRA was still involved in liberation struggle either. way of indicating to Sinn Fein/ IRA thinking, was from one of the violence. And, for instance, there that its stance on arms is unaccep- senior columnists and editorial But there is no doubt that allow- simply is no impasse on the table. writers. Could anything be more ing Mr Adams to visit the United arms decommissioning ques- Now that Major has made his States, and the enormous media fatuous? Yes. The chief column- move, and been denounced by most 70 tion. There is no problem of boost given to the Sinn Fein leader, ist and leader writer, obviously, Unionists for nothing worse than a decommissioning as many arms was crucial in convincing the IRA saying of Clinton’s intervention: fudge, it’s plain enough where the that there was a viable alternative as all sides want once political next obligation lies. It changes the angle of pressure he strategy, and that it would be able to constitutional agreement is The bourgeois ideological guard- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 ians on Radio 4’s Moral Maze directly, with no ‘collateral ters which the nationalists widely. tried even harder to confuse all damage’ to intermediaries at all. properly consistently frown A fine tooth comb would be the issues, bringing on some It is ruling-class cowardice, not upon as verging too closely back needed to tease out all the nuances victim-support type moaning doing their own dirty work in towards an “internal solution” of the communiqué, but buried in it is an acceptance by the Government from families of those who had the administration of imperial- which is plainly not on the of a symbolically important issue to got in the bad books of local DIY ist super-profiteering, which cards. The British colony has Sinn Fein — the removal of all weap- punishment squads, wallow- has created history’s ‘innocent failed utterly. It is politically ons from Northern Ireland politics, ing in shock-horror at such victims of ‘terrorism’, nothing and ideologically bankrupt, and not just the IRA’s. ‘violence’, and then failing to else. If the bourgeois leadership militarily fought to a stalemate. This is the communiqué issued by nail down the simple political would stop hiding behind secret In international propaganda 10 Downing Street last night: conundrum of “what right do servicemen, the ‘innocent dead’ terms, it is a complete loser. End THE Prime Minister and the the British imperialists have could never become casualties, it, and don’t try partially reviv- Taoiseach met tonight. After inten- to call their use of guns ‘legal’, in the first place. ing it with new try-on ‘elected sive efforts by both governments, and with the benefit of consultations and at what point in history But the ‘new’ bourgeois Assemblies’ and the like which with parties in Northern Ireland, did they become so, 1169 the ideological opportunism is only seek to exploit the inbuilt the two governments have agreed first invasion? 1541 the total very selective. Before the whole gerrymandered advantage to to launch a “twin track” process to annexation? 1653, the ‘final nation on Radio 4’s Today last the colonists of the rotten Parti- make progress in parallel on the solution’, taking the land off the week, Trimble, the ‘formida- tion in the first place. decommissioning issue and on all- Irish in their most rebellious ble’ one, lost his temper and But some of the truth has to party negotiations. province Ulster, and implanting hissed that John Major was Bill come out as well. The bourgeois Both governments reaffirmed Scottish Protestant colonists Clinton’s “poodle”. Did he mean ideology of critical realism, al- their commitment to securing the in their place, an act of diaboli- that? “Yes, he follows him like beit a subjective-idealist reason, early launch of all-party negotia- tions. By way of the twin tracks, cal genocide, never forgiven to a dog”. Quite a story to follow would seize up completely on an the two governments have the firm this day? 1690,the renewed up, probing the depths of hatred undiluted diet of delusion, false- aim of achieving this by the end of pacification? 1798, the slaughter and misery between the former hood, and evasion. So the com- February 1996. It is the two govern- of the United Irishmen bour- great imperialist partners, the muniqué had to be published, ments’ considered view that, with some of its more undigestible co-operation from all the relevant parts had to be noted, and the parties in both tracks, that objec- soundest bourgeois advice of all tive should prove achievable. Both (admittedly from Dublin) had governments commit themselves to to be repeated,– namely, study working, with others, to achieve it. To this end, the two governments the text: have agreed to invite the parties to The final breakthrough was made intensive preparatory talks with a when Mr Major agreed at least “to remit to reach widespread agree- reserve your position until after ment on the basis, participation, the International Body has done structure, format and agenda to its work. “Perhaps it will come up bring all parties together for sub- with another means of establish- stantive negotiations aimed at a ing the confidence required by political settlement based on con- Unionists that Sinn Fein is for real. sent. These talks will have an open If it doesn’t, what have you lost?’’ agenda, allowing any party to raise Privately, Dublin believes he will any relevant matters. find it “morally difficult” to reject These matters would include how the findings of an international best the structure and format of geois revolution, leading to the ‘Conservative and Ulster Union- panel of experts. all-party negotiations, involving in imposed Act of Union? 1845, the ist Party’. And quite a good Given that the RUC was by now pri- appropriate strands both govern- imposition of the Great Famine? tabloidy issue to exploit too, try- vately concerned that the IRA cease- ments and all the relevant Northern 1916, the butchery of the Easter ing to provoke Trimble or some fire was looking dangerously rocky, Ireland parties, directed to address- Mr Major bit the bullet. He softened ing in a comprehensive manner all Rising? 1920, the blitzkrieg by other hopelessly reactionary too on the setting of a date for all- the relevant relationships in an in- the Black & Tans, the burning die-hard to throw up something party talks. Previously no more than terlocking three-stranded process, of Cork, and the partitioning of even more bilious than ‘dog’ or an aspiration, the two Governments can properly take account of demo- Ireland?” ‘poodle’. upgraded the target date of late cratic mandates and principles, in- The concern for the ‘inno- But little or no follow up at February to a “firm aim”. And the cluding whether and how an elected cent dead’ by the masturbatory all. Just imagine if Adams, or remit of the International Body was body could play a part. Moral Maze-rs meant no chance, Mc-Guinness, or Morrison, or widened, allowing it to determine These preparatory talks may also therefore, of a dialectical view McClaughlin had spewed up its own procedures and to consult extend to all steps required to es- of unfortunate civil-war casual- some similar ‘violent’ language? ties, realising that they are the The capitalist press would still consequence of the ‘cowardice’ be making a meal of it even now. of the official establishment, not The Guardian even went to the of the terrorists. extent of cleaning up Trimble’s If the British ruling-class language for him. How ‘free’ can would itself go on the front the ‘free press’ get? line in its repression of Irish He accused Mr Major of behaving nationalism, then there need in a distasteful and shameful man- never have been any innocent ner. “We have had all this rush- casualties of civil war, ever. If ing about and a press conference the Queen, John Major, the at 11pm last night, all so that John great British landowners, the Major could meet Bill Clinton this morning and say ‘What a good boy bankers, the British generals, I am, I’ve done what you told me’. the heads of MI5, MI6, the Spe- “Isn’t that a rather shameful posi- cial Branch, etc, all went person- tion for a British Prime Minister to ally onto the front line to kick be reduced to, rushing around late the Fenian heads in, instead at night, scurrying desperately to of leaving it to rank-and-file meet deadlines that other people soldiers, policemen, their back- have set?” up civilian support in the public Other blind spots for the ‘free’ 71 services, petty loyalist gang- press are such issues as a new sters, etc, etc, etc, – then the IRA ‘Northern Ireland Assembly’ could attack their real targets election, and comparable mat- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 person shouting ‘never’ in Northern Ireland is a miracle,” he said. Then the president left for a match- ing walkabout in the Catholic Falls Road. The welcome was larger, more excited, more enthusiastic. Here he met Gerry Adams, and the White House choreography was almost but not quite perfect — the first pub- lic handshake between the two men had been shielded from the TV cam- eras by the motorcade. But an ama- teur video showed the handclasp was warm and even prolonged. There were many theatrical aspects to the Clinton visit, and not all of them were to do with the boring business of his presidential backers trying to drum up good re-election material when his 4-year stint ends next November. Some of the drama seemed engineered by London to provide some diversionary cover for their lat- est retreats, and to help bemuse the Orange colonist diehards a bit further,– in keeping with the whole nature of the snail’s-pace British imperialist withdrawal which began as long ago as 1985, or even earlier, (see ILWP Books vol 8,15 & 22 - Ireland)). This odd history has been partly set up by the reality of the Orange colonist community, slowly dying as British impe- rialism has faded as a world force. These frontline fascist imperialists have been losing their aggressive invincibility for a long time, slowly. There is no- where for this Orange colonist community to go with the death tablish the necessary circumstances on the part of those in possession of Quite obviously, “arms silenced of imperialism. It can only now to bring the parties together at the such arms to work constructively to by the welcome decisions” etc, merge in with local nationalism negotiating table in accordance achieve that. (i.e. the ceasefires), can only (as the white colonists have ulti- with paragraph 10 of the Downing It will be for the international body mean all the arms in the Occu- mately had to do first in Rhode- Street Declaration. In managing the to determine its own procedures. sia, and now in South Africa), or process of preparatory talks, each The two governments expect it to pied Zone, which is precisely government will build on existing consult widely, to invite relevant what Sinn Féin has been insist- it can leave, returning to Britain exchanges and bilateral contacts, parties to submit their analysis of ing on from the start. to join the National Front, or try treating each party on am equal ba- matters relevant to the decommis- Not surprisingly, there was to find, an outpost of diehard sis; they will encourage other for- sioning issue and, in reaching its widespread enthusiasm last reaction abroad, as has equally mats for meetings with the parties conclusions within its remit, to con- week for a spot of dancing on been happening with many of and among the parties, including sider such evidence on its merits. the grave of “Never” and “No the white colonists from south- meetings between the two govern- In establishing the body, the Surrender”. Throughout the ern Africa. ments together and one or more par- British and Irish governments reaf- entire presidential visit, no It is only the sclerotic imperi- ties, with their agreement, where firm their willingness to continue to alist intransigence of the British these might further the objective of take responsive measures, advised more than one shout of “Never” the preparatory talks. by their respective security authori- was widely reported. Appropri- ruling class itself, telling lies In parallel, the two governments ties, as the threat reduces. ately, if unwittingly, the comedy about its own decay and that have agreed to establish an interna- The two governments have invited sketch writers did this best: of its empire spirit, which has tional body to provide an independ- Senator George Mitchell to chair the He said that violence had no place prevented this colonist commu- ent assessment of the decommis- body, and will invite two other emi- at the table of democracy — but nity in Occupied Ireland from sioning issue. nent persons to serve as the other significantly said nothing about falling apart even more rapidly Recognising the widely expressed members of the body. the threat of violence. He endorsed than it has done, refusing to tell desire to see all arms removed from The two governments have asked the IRA’s role in future talks: “Those the Orangemen as long ago as Irish politics, the two governments the body to submit its report to the who renounce violence and take it became obvious to the rest of will ask the international body to re- two governments by mid-January their own risks for peace are enti- the world (with the exception of port on the arrangements necessary 1996. Neither government, nor any tled to be full participants in the for the removal from the political other party co-operating with the the Tories and the Trotskyites) democratic process.” that their number was up, – and equation of arms silenced by the vir- work of the Body, is bound in ad- “Never!” shouted a voice belong- tue of the welcome decisions taken vance to accept its recommenda- ing to a former DUP councillor, refusing to threaten the stern- last summer and autumn by those tions, which will be advisory. The Cedric Wilson, the poor man’s Ian est policing to prevent any last- organisations that previously sup- two governments will consider care- Paisley. minute UDI recalcitrance such as ported the use of arms for political fully any recommendations it makes Anthony Lake, Clinton’s national Paisley has always been emptily purposes. and give them due weight on their security adviser, looked anxious. boasting about, and such as In particular, the two govern- merits. “Oh no,” he said. People are not the degenerate British ruling ments will ask the body to: identify To that end, and to review progress 72 supposed to shout “never” at the class let Ian Smith’s disgusting and advise on a suitable and ac- in preparatory talks for all-party president, except perhaps in the US ceptable method for full and verifi- negotiations, the two governments empire relics get away with in Congress. Rhodesia. able decommissioning; and report plan to meet again by mid-February Michael Ancram, the British No. whether there is a clear commitment 1996. 2, reassured him. “To get only one The absurd theatre of this EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 show of British ‘fairness and into the axis” says Mr O’Dowd. opponent of progress in reality just as has gradually been happening statesmanship’, – getting out of The Massachusetts senator, then in to Paisley, Robinson, Molyneaux, the paramilitary loyalists, et al. Ireland at last before being liter- need of an Irish cause to champion They have not changed. But the historical circumstances have simply ally finally forced to get out, – is as increasing prosperity had turned passed them by. They are just out of date and pointless now as die- his traditional constituency towards now nearly over. Helping push the Republican Party, first secured hard colonists. National-liberation struggle rules. A triumph for the it to the final curtain has been the Dublin ambassadorship for his IRA and Sinn Féin. British imperialism is a dying nonsense facing a some interesting inter-imperi- sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, who terminal trade-war slump crisis of world imperialism. alist rivalry from the USA which conducted her own crucial negotia- Build Leninism. was not just limited to playing a tions. The dealing was still so secret Douglas Bell last-minute ostentatious role for that the pair had code names in re- the benefit of a London cover-up publican and loyalist paramilitary One mighty guerrilla-war push, and all and next year’s American presi- circles; The Big Brother and Strong- dential election. Lady. kinds of negotiating channels sudden- The former took Washington, The capitalist press has been along with the golfing Senator ly get put on offer. The Irish national- half revealing how some of Dodd, and the latter took Dublin the old anti-empire strains in and Belfast. Together they brokered liberation struggle wins again. Will American monopoly-bourgeois the dialogue. America had thus be- politics have helped US impe- come the prime mover. the academic ‘lefts’ who pronounced rialism to undermine its oldest “The British could not accept they rival while equally pretending to were not controlling the pace of it ‘defeated’ or ‘irrelevant’ now admit just be helping reason, states- events. The peace process had be- manship and justice to flour- come like riding a bicycle, you had that their Trot ‘Marxism’ is a hoax? to keep going, or else you’d fall ish,– with just the possibilities over,” says Mr O’Dowd. [EPSR No 840 20-02-96] of a bit of business interest on Then, 17 months after the “horse- the side: men’s” first trip to Ireland, Senator No one can argue that the IRA’s been no negotiations yet. That Steering the group were the “Four Dodd played golf with the president. ‘shot across the bows’ of British is the whole problem. The IRA’s New Horsemen” of Irish America; Eighteen months after that trip, on imperialist foot-dragging has creative offer of a ceasefire had Niall O’Dowd, publisher of Irish March 17 this year, Mr Adams and not had a startling wake-up hitherto been treated contemp- Voice magazine; Bruce Morrison, a loyalist leaders toasted St Patrick’s effect on the whole world of tuously. The South Quay Plaza former congressman; and two emi- Day at the White House. And two years later, President decadent bourgeois-‘democratic’ events have already changed all nent Irish-American businessmen, political posturing. that. Everyone is now pleading William Flynn and Charles Feeney. Clinton walked down the Lower After the election, the group Falls Road. With a single blow, it has de- for a new ceasefire and to get changed its name to Americans for a The whole story of the modern molished the idiots who claimed talks going again. New Irish Agenda — directly antag- Irish question needs a vastly Sinn Féin’s ceasefire negotia- It is insanity trying to present onistic to the “special relationship” different emphasis, of course, tions had been proposed out of the post-bomb situation as with Britain and the pro-British – in particular the fundamental defeated weakness, and has got Sinn Féin and the IRA needing state department. “We were taking triumph of the unbeatable Irish the entire capitalist establish- ‘another chance’ to ‘go straight’. on 45 years of Anglo-American rela- ment in Britain and Ireland It is the shaky imperialist status tions,” says Mr O’Dowd. national-liberation struggle, revolutionary arms in hand. scurrying around like headless quo which needs to be given The four started taking “holidays” chickens. another chance of a ceasefire to in Ireland, and although the presi- Without that, all the rest of the dent was informed of their activities manoeuvring would have been Pathetic attempts (examined see if it can make more sensible their itineraries were clandestine. utterly meaningless. Paralysed subsequently) have been made use of a new negotiating truce In fact what they did, on behalf of sclerosis rules British imperial- by the servile bourgeois media period than it made of the first the White House, was to prepare ism. Nothing will change until to pretend that it is still the one. the ground for all-party peace talks new class forces on the scene (or Irish national-liberation move- Another piece of hopeless in meetings with John Bruton, the national forces) make it change. ment which is in the dock for its bourgeois media hysteria has Taoiseach, SDLP leader John Hume, ‘violent breach of trust’, etc. been the attempt to refuse and Mr Adams — with the IRA en- With the end of the phony- war period of threats, postur- But no sane person believes a discussion of why the ceasefire forcing an undeclared, week-long word of this. Even the capitalist broke down on the grounds that ceasefire to honour the occasion. ing, and gestures, pressure The “horsemen” also met loyalist now obviously moves on to the press and television have admit- British Government weakness paramilitaries — including the UVF’s diehard ‘unionist’ politicians. In ted (quotes follow) that the and folly could in no way be Gusty Spence and Gary McMichael, 12 weeks time, they finally have Major Government’s self-delu- considered on the same plane son of a UDA commander killed by to creep into negotiations with sion and feebleness had created as ‘deliberate IRA murder’. But the Provos — and one element in Sinn Féin/IRA, Dublin, the other a hopeless impasse for serious there was no aim to murder last their package had particular appeal: nationalists, and other par- peace talks for a new set-up in Friday, or in any IRA urban- money. Ireland. terror bombing. A whole 1½ The team had been licensed by ties, about a new constitutional arrangement for the Occupied London’s silly play-acting has hour warning was given of the Mr Clinton to offer American funds not stopped, – hinting that Sinn bomb at South Quay, plenty of designated for investment in jobs, Zone which cannot be a continu- North and South, conditional on ation of the corrupt racket of Féin’s participation in future time to clear the whole area and peace. The loyalist ceasefire fol- ‘Northern Ireland’ in any way, negotiations might not be cred- let British imperialist property lowed soon after these consulta- shape, or form. ible in the light of last Friday’s take the damage, as was the tions; before long, Messrs Spence Right on cue, the immedi- destruction of the ceasefire by IRA’s intention. Let the British and McMichael were guests of the ate focus is on Trimble for his the IRA. authorities explain why they new Irish American leadership in apparently clumsy attempts to But the idea is fatuous that failed to clear the area, as they New York. the peace process could resume have refused to do on many But the fund was also pivotal in hastily and nervously start ma- nipulating his fellow ‘unionists’ without Sinn Féin, and no previous occasions also. the USA, to enlist the business com- British minister, when pressed, Another unreal pose is in munity in the process with the lure (to cope with the appalling trau- of tax breaks and profits through ma of publicly abandoning “No would put his name to such a pretending that any negotiated peace by putting their money where Surrender” in 12 weeks time) via daft perspective. It is the 25 longterm settlement for Ireland their hearts were. some unilateral decommission- years of national-liberation might get blasted away by the Already promoting this notion ing-of-arms gesture as a stunt war which has to be negotiated IRA just as the present ceasefire (on Mr Clinton’s orders) was Beryl to try wrongfooting Sinn Fein/ away, and everyone knows it. was at Canary Wharf. But that Mitchell, wife of George Mitchell, IRA, a hopeless ambition and a Implying that might happen could only be true if it was 1921 the senator now chairing the arms without the full involvement of all over again, the original Brit- decommissioning panel. fatuous ploy. It will be no surprise if the Sinn Féin and the IRA is pure ish colonial tyranny imposed To convince the president, the imbecility. In any case, there has by superior military might (see 73 “horsemen” needed to bring in two possibly truly ‘formidable’ Trim- match-winning players. ble, with his untarnished hard- been no breach of the negotiat- below) which made it inevitable “Our greatest achievement of all line reputation, begins appear- ing mode by the national-libera- that the Irish troubles could was to bring Senator Kennedy back ing as a much less formidable tion struggle because there have only go on resuming perpetu- EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2

ally. ites) cockily revelled in their self-serving. The Orange-fascist acceptance that the fiction of Finally agree to a perspective prejudiced speculation that the remnants must either get out ‘Northern Ireland’ could no for full Irish independence and nationalists had been ‘forced’ when British imperialism goes, longer be maintained, and was reunification, – the right of any into the ceasefire because of the or else must finally accept them- no longer worth maintaining, – nation but the right of the Irish ‘futility’ of their aims, and their selves as being properly Irish but have recoiled in horror from more than any other nation af- ‘defeat’ by British imperialist and subject to the sovereignty any recognition that a revo- ter 800 years of fighting against military might, etc. Such closed of Ireland, a 32-county republic lutionary national-liberation British imperialist domination, minds! governed from Dublin. struggle, with tiny forces, has – and there will never be any The ‘left’ petty-bourgeois Socialist revolution is obvi- won a sensational victory, arms question of renewed Irish trou- sectarians enjoyed sneering at ously eventually inevitable, in hand, against the second bles of this nature ever again. the Irish national struggle for but the completion of Ireland’s most important NATO imperial- When it called its ceasefire 18 Sinn Féin and the IRA’s allegedly independence from great-impe- ist power on its ‘own’ territory, months ago, the Irish national- ‘hopeless mistake’ of not leading rialist colonisation is the first using urban guerrilla warfare. liberation struggle offered Brit- a fullscale ‘socialist revolution’ obvious historical process to be Hence all the farce of trying ish colonialism a clear choice: by workers in both north and completed in the conditions as to force Sinn Féin/IRA to say “Instead of our armed resist- south to overthrow both their they are in reality. that their ceasefire was ‘perma- ance to your unjust and illegal respective governments, as the What is more, that legitimate nent’, i.e. that this ‘dreadful’ rule over part of our country, Trots pretended ‘they would do’. national-liberation struggle revolutionary fighting would we offer you serious negotia- This infantile sectarian has been completed in a fully never even be contemplated tions about a completely new posturing was just the most revolutionary manner, arms in again under any circumstances. settlement for Ireland, replacing grotesque middle-class philis- hand, – a colossal blow against Hence all the farce of then try- the despised and utterly failed tinism. As has been consistently imperialism not just in Ireland ing to bamboozle Sinn Féin/IRA Partition, imposed by imperial- analysed in EPSR, the anti-impe- but on behalf of the interests of into ‘surrendering’ or ‘decom- ist diktat in 1921.” rialist struggle in the Occupied the proletarian masses all over missioning’ some weapons in British colonialism has only Zone of Ireland has been led, the world. If this was not obvi- advance of any new deal for made an endless ridiculous whether one likes it or not, by ous from a study of the actual Ireland offered through peace nonsense of this ‘peace process’, nationalist forces, – (bourgeois- conflict in the Occupied Zone negotiations, – just so that a – as bourgeois ideology itself nationalist forces, to give them and further afield against im- doubt could be thrown over (see below) is admitting (even their full scientific description), perialism, or from the complex whether or not it had been though it also hates the revolu- – not just a legitimate historical history of the present tortured the armed struggle which had tionary challenge from the IRA process from Marxism-Lenin- situation domestically and finally forced London into and Sinn Féin). ism’s point of view, but one to internationally, – it should have negotiating an end to the old The ending of the ceasefire be wholeheartedly approved of, been obvious from the start ‘Northern Ireland’. by the liberation struggle will and even supported, in the ap- judging just by the scalded reac- Now all of this decrepit cause even more embarrassment propriate circumstances of the tions of the British imperialist face-saving manoeuvring by to decadent British imperialist international balance of class establishment to the means by humiliated British imperialism, interests than did its calling forces. which the national-liberation and all of this sectarian ‘Little in the first place, which was Dying British imperialism, struggle was achieving its aim Englander’ petty-bourgeois humiliating enough for the dull- in the epoch of worldwide (of making the bastard colonial ignorance by fake-‘left’ detrac- witted and incompetent London imperialist terminal crisis, has statelet ungovernable and forc- tors of the national-liberation establishment. been exposed for all its colonial ing a completely new settlement struggle, – has literally been When not trying to justify decadence in the moribund of the whole Irish question, blasted to pieces. 74 Westminster’s endless obstacles bogus statelet insultingly called ending the hated and disastrous The fight to complete Ire- to starting proper peace nego- ‘Northern Ireland’, – a gerry- Partition). land’s independence and correct tiations, middle-class thinking mandered cesspit of outdated From the beginning, London at last the infamous injustice from both the extreme right and perspectiveless British im- and its imperialist allies have of 1921, has been re-spelled out and the fake-‘left’ (Trotsky- perialist strategic and economic indicated their increasing to the whole world: either it is EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 serious talks, or serious bombs, ing in from the cold, putting down what we are involved in, we will all etc, — are in reality saying ‘no – one or the other. their weapons and saying: “Talk to fail. We must talk to the Irish gov- serious further talks ever with This recommencement of us about peace.” ernment; establish an agreed and the legitimate Irish national guerrilla war operations has There also could be no question of hopefully common agenda; we must reunification aspirations’. surrender, which is where decom- then sell that agenda to the parties already had the most astonish- missioning comes in. In the context and where necessary try to per- And the only way that such an ing nonsense written or spoken of the ceasefire, there was no scope suade them. ostrich-like stance can be adopt- about it (analysed below) by the for decommissioning before talks ed, in the face of all the histori- still-deluded British bour- and no way that Sinn Féin could get It seems inevitable that even- cal evidence that Ireland’s total geois media in their desperate the IRA to deliver it. We were only tually, pressure must build independence will one day attempts to still cover up the dealing with a ceasefire. We then on all sides against the total become irresistible, – is through reality of British colonialism’s knowingly and quite rightly took up intransigence of the ‘Union- being incurably addicted to the humiliation and the triumph of the process. ist’ colonist diehards, who are violence which gave Britain any revolutionary struggle. The point is that if you know- obviously the sole obstacle now sovereignty over any part of ingly accept to be part of a process But it will be plain to any se- of talks following a ceasefire, then to a completely new settlement Ireland in the first place. rious-minded workers that only you should talk. For 18 months not of the Irish question, (in spite The entire ‘British-Irish’ one thing is proved, – namely a word has been spoken in the con- of all-party British imperial- mentality has been based that the IRA is more capable text of the IRA’s expectations of and ist hypocrisy in the Commons on an assumption of British than ever of carrying out the reasons for the ceasefire. The in- yesterday putting the boot into imperialist military domina- most audacious and damaging tense and historical distrust of the Sinn Féin to deny it ‘any rewards tion from the very start. Such attacks on British establishment British by the republicans has stead- from violence which it has failed a mentality could not survive bastions at any time; that the ily mounted until violence has re- to obtain by democratic means’, without a deeply embedded time really has come for serious sumed. — with Sinn Féin’s total elec- and incorrigible ‘no surrender’ The two governments’ agendas talks with an unbeatable enemy; have not been close enough, par- tion victory all over Ireland in arrogance which believes British and that all the poisonous Trot ticularly since July 1995, to make 1918 for independence conveni- rule should continue by divine garbage about the IRA and Sinn the process work. The Irish see it ently forgotten, a ‘democratic’ right no matter how rebellious Féin having “given in” to the as involving constitutional change development British imperial- the natives become, or by what Tory Government 18 months in the North and in the island-of- ism chose to ignore). majority numbers they de- ago was utter horse manure. Ireland context, with equality of es- All of the nauseating vox-pop nounce remaining under British It has also been proved be- teem for the nationalists, and with humbug being laid on by televi- sovereignty. The essence of this yond doubt that it is only dying any development towards a united sion reports from the Occupied arrogance is that no matter how British imperialist truculence, Ireland being evolutionary and sub- Zone, saying how everyone outnumbered, British bayonets ject to the principle of consent. The weakness, and muddle-head- British tend to view matters much still yearned for peace, unwit- will keep the British flag flying edness which has wilfully been more from the status quo point of tingly increasingly clashes with at the end of the day. obstructing all progress towards view, with the prolongation of the the balefulness of the colonist This was exactly the attitude a permanent new settlement. peace and its effect on the people of diehards, no longer able to enjoy of the defeated British colony in For having delayed things Northern Ireland providing its own the British imperialist plunder 1921 in imposing, at gunpoint, for 18 months by a stream of strategy. We are not “persuaders”; from oppressing Ireland for 300 the hated Partition in order to provocative rhetoric, asking we have chosen not to pressure the years but unwilling to accept disrupt the results of the 1918 ‘How can we talk if you won’t unionists — and therefore, by defi- their defeat and get off Ireland’s all-Ireland elections (British- guarantee that your ceasefire is nition, change as part of the process back either. run) which gave a huge majority will be slow. Sadly, recent events permanent? How can we start have indicated that it could be too This real dog-in-the-manger for Sinn Féin’s immediate-inde- negotiations if you won’t help slow. nastiness of ‘Unionism’, end- pendence platform, and to dis- build confidence by surrender- Since July 1995, when much con- lessly spitting out its hatred of rupt the results of the equally ing your weapons? How can we cern was expressed behind the the national liberation struggle, triumphant national-liberation let you participate fully if your scenes, the two governments have jars hopelessly with the ordi- war fought by Sinn Féin from dubious democratic mandate drifted apart, mainly over the de- nary opinion of the Occupied 1919-1921 to unilaterally give can be overridden by renewed commissioning issue. The Irish Zone which wants immediate empowerment to the 1918 elec- bombs if you don’t like the nego- formed the firm view, later endorsed endless negotiations with all tion result. tiated outcome?’ etc, – London, by Senator George Mitchell, that the parties until all-sided conces- The slimy ‘Unionist academ- IRA would not deliver on prelimi- and even some Unionists, are nary conditional decommissioning. sions make a new settlement ics’ from Queens, Belfast, and now accepting that despite the The British held rock-solid to this possible. other Occupied Zone universi- renewed bombing, progress condition. The ‘Unionist’ venom against ties, invariably squat grotesque- towards talks is more urgent The twin-track approach was on Sinn Féin as merely the ‘unac- ly on this reality, smothering than ever. the table from early September un- ceptable front for violence’, – a it, when making their sly verbal However Major wriggles on til finally agreed only on the eve disgustingly hypocritical and denunciations of Sinn Féin. the question of not daring to of President Clinton’s visit. The reactionary piece of nonsense Here is how one such be seen to be revitalising the Mitchell Report came out of that, and which the sad British parlia- clever-clever slimeball tried to peace-process as a result of IRA effectively kept the show just on the ment (especially the Labour and put down the Irish national- road. Once we decided not to oper- bombing pressure, – that is ex- ate within the Mitchell Report but Liberal parties) does nothing liberation struggle yesterday, in- actly what will happen, and that outside it, and without the prior to disrupt, – ends up inevitably corporating at the heart of this is exactly what everyone will agreement of the Irish government, demonstrating that it is ‘Union- conceited contempt, the huge eventually grasp has happened. the scene was set for a possible re- ism’ itself which is inseparably lying hypocrisy about the 1918 Even Tory MPs are now tell- sumption of violence. There was no wedded to violence. election results, conveniently ing their government to wake time to get agreement for an elective Disregarding all the deliber- forgetting all about them: process towards negotiations. up to its responsibilities or face ately misleading bureaucratic Republicans operated on the prin- The future is difficult, if not bleak, further shame: smokescreens about ‘mandates’, ciple that the end (Irish unity) jus- because it involves going round the etc, – every sane person knows tified the means — murder intimi- Peter Temple-Morris is same route again. More give has to dation, extortion. They were being Conservative MP for Leominster come from those moving away from that Sinn Féin speaks for the asked to accept the principle that the status quo, which means the Irish national-liberation strug- THE IRA ceasefire of August 1994 the means (democratic procedures) British and the unionists. gle, all 300 years of it, and can represented a historic opportu- defined the end — a political settle- The IRA delivered an 18-month- never do anything else, and it is nity to deliver peace to the island ment based on consent. of Ireland and the British Isles as a long ceasefire and could deliver an- doubtful it will ever want to. whole. The opportunity has not yet other one if they thought it would So all the silly obstacles So where were the means defin- been taken, but it still exists — just. work. We have to react by show- raised by ‘unionism’ and its ing the end when the British- It was only a ceasefire. The British ing sufficient willingness, having entire cretinous fellow-member- run 1918 election gave Sinn reaction was to go on for months entered a process, to be prepared ship of the Westminster parlia- Féin an overwhelming victory 75 questioning whether it was perma- to move away from the status quo and to contemplate real change in ment, saying ‘no talks with Sinn over all Ireland for immediate nent or not. It was never intended or Féin until it utterly denounces independence? The means, – meant to be permanent. It was the Northern Ireland. IRA, or terrorists if you like, com- If we do not accept the realities of violence, and renounces it,’ etc, full democracy, – were totally EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 ignored. The end, – for British national liberation struggle has did not like to be seen talking complaining Sinn Féin had been imperialism to hang onto its greater historical legitimacy at all to Sinn Féin, even after promised all-party talks within colonial territory in Ireland at than most other phenomena in the initial ceasefire. And so it is three months of the ceasefire and “in whatever cost, – was preset and modern world politics. obvious, to answer some of the reality there has not been one word of negotiation” between the parties. paramount. No, the benefits of the ridiculous press speculation of “We took the greatest risks of And it is the most criminal ceasefire were deliberately and recent days, that the national- all. We put our lives on the line to kind of dishonest idiocy to say, consciously created by the IRA liberation struggle has gained bring peace to this country and at such a point, that ‘all that to further everyone’s under- enormously from its ceasefire that was not reciprocated by John stuff from the past had better standing and sense of well- initiative of 18 months ago, and Major. We did not have one major be forgotten or we’ll never get being concerning a completely enhanced rather than dimin- statement from any senior figure in anywhere’, etc, as philistines different and better future for ished by now ending it tempo- the British government urging the of every description do when the whole of Ireland. rarily. Unionists to come to the negotiat- something does not suit their It was a unilateral contribu- And this is richly confirmed ing table. The British prime minis- ter wants no change at Westminster prejudices. tion to which British imperial- by much of the comment in the and the Unionists want no change in When the question is the ism should have been required capitalist press itself, which it is Northern Ireland.” complete self-determination to add just as much in terms of well worth putting on lengthy Mitchell McClaughlin, chairman of a nation, especially one with diminished colonial injustice be- record at this historical turning of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland, as proud and glorious a history fore having the gall to denounce moment which will further was equally angry. “The Irish side as Ireland, then it is precisely the national-liberation struggle damn British imperialism and had already delivered all sides to the un-righted wrongs of the for ending its ceasefire. favour the Irish national-libera- the negotiating table. The British past which will never cease to Fighting for justice is the tion struggle: had promised they could deliver disrupt the future until justice greatest reality of all history, the pro-British elements to the ne- The New York Times gotiating table and they had failed, is finally achieved. The long-run the permanent condition of civi- Mr Major “should reconsider his ap- and we were looking at a further 15 historical record is that by hook lisation’s advance. The human proach to arranging all-party peace months of paralysis because of the or by crook, British imperialism and political considerations of talks. He has been playing a dan- arithmetic at Westminster”. has tried to hold onto a bit of the specific military tactics and gerous game of brinkmanship with ************* Ireland. This disgraceful crime the broader campaign strategy the paramilitaries, gambling that Albert Reynolds TD was Taoiseach must be brought to an end. of the nationalists are there to they would not return to violence and insisting unrealistically that 1992-94 It is offensive imbecility be disagreed with or regretted WHEN John Major and I started for anyone now to insist that by anyone. But the IRA’s right to the IRA hand over some of its weap- ons before such talks could begin. on the peace process over three righting this wrong should only fight for its country’s independ- He seemed not to understand that years ago, most people thought a go ahead ‘with the consent of ence against outrageous past Mr Adams offered a hope for peace ceasefire could not be achieved and the majority of the people in and present British imperialist and needed to be able to show his would not last more than a month Northern Ireland’, as most of injustice is unassailable. followers some concrete advantage or two if it were. The peace process the belated ‘nationalist’ Green The most foul disservice of in putting down their guns.” was always fragile, and needed Tories in Dublin say, all without the utterly supine bourgeois The post-mortem on whether Mr injections of life-blood to keep it exception the cowardly ideo- media in Britain has been in Major made serious misjudgments moving. It was never going to be is likely to determine his long-term easy but everybody had to get in- logical stooges of lying Western failing to ask those responsible volved. If we had done nothing, ‘free world’ imperialist ortho- for driving the national-liber- political reputation. Inevitably, the strongest criticism hundreds more would have died. doxy. It is a weakness that Sinn ation struggle back to its war of Mr Major’s cautious negotiating In all the dealings I had with the Féin latterly has not been more strategy (because of the refusal tactics came yesterday from Sinn republican leadership and the loy- insistent about the long-term to seriously negotiate), whether Féin, but even some Conservative alist paramilitaries, they were hon- unacceptability of the non- they are now happy with the backbenchers were expressing fury ourable and kept their word. Now existent ‘Northern Ireland’ and ‘told you so’ outcome of their at what they privately described as they have a very strong sense of be- the conveniently partial British intransigence? Mr Major’s decision to opt out of the trayal. Commitments were made in farce about ‘majority wishes’ Only Paisley could be happy, peace process. the Downing Street Declaration which John Hume, leader of the SDLP, were not kept. New preconditions when the 1918 election results because only Paisley is deranged were introduced as delaying tactics. are still being ignored. enough to have a contented claimed that if the British gov- ernment had been stronger at Republican leaders such as Gerry The answer to London’s sly answer to the obvious follow- Westminster, with a clear majority, Adams and Martin McGuinness, ‘elections’ proposal now, to up question: What will happen all-party talks would have been un- who courageously led their com- further obstruct any meaning- next, then? der way a year ago. munity into political involvement, ful negotiations, is to say “Yes, The reply, ‘We will now Albert Reynolds, the former Irish should have received more support all-Ireland elections, taken up pursue these dastardly crimi- prime minister and an architect of by true political activity, but did not. from where the ‘democratic’ nals to the ends of the earth’, the ceasefire, attacked Mr Major for Decommissioning was never a process which British hypocrisy etc, could even make a block of imposing a precondition of a start to precondition of the Downing Street IRA decommissioning before allow- Declaration and the insistence on so pretends to be in love with, wood frown. It was in failing to it created serious problems. It was was last broken off”. achieve any success against the ing Sinn Féin into all-party talks. He said the precondition had never made clear from early on that it was Thanks to the cowardliness national-liberation struggle in been included in the initial Downing unacceptable and unachievable. The of the British parliament, the 25 years that the IRA’s ceasefire Street Declaration. response on prison policy was, if an- British bourgeois media, and became such a welcome relief John Bruton, the Irish Prime ything, more hardline than before the Green Tory cretins in Dub- for imperialism in general. Minister, focussed his regrets on the the ceasefire. That began to raise lin, — London has been getting It is the prospect of another British government’s response to the questions about the commitment of away with just as much humbug 25 years of the same humiliation Mitchell Commission. the British to the process. on the question of ceasefires as and devastation that is forcing He also blamed the Unionists. “We Initially the delays were seen by regret deeply the lack of generosity Sinn Féin and others in the Republic well. London, between the lines, to as a way for John Major to get over Every worm imaginable has be so cautious in how it tries to of the Unionist community over the past 16 months that they would not his domestic problems and to allow been trying to claim credit for score propaganda points against even talk to the Irish government in unionists time to elect a new leader. “what has been achieved since Sinn Féin over the bombing. De- a twin track process agreed by their But after that, people expected the ceasefire”, with all the spite his obnoxiously arrogant government.” movement. When it didn’t come, the emphasis ludicrously on the tone, the crafty Major care- His foreign secretary, Dick Spring, whole process began to run out of supposed magical divinity and fully insisted several times that also complained. “We could have steam. creativity of the ‘democratic negotiations with the national- used the Mitchell Report to far better But the perception now is that John process’, etc. liberation struggle must on no purpose.” Major has given in totally to union- The Labour Party, wedded to a ist demands. The British govern- But who gave the world the account be written off entirely. ment appears to have made a foolish creativity of this ceasefire? It Another ceasefire would do bipartisan approach, will not re- 76 proach Mr Major for failing to bring miscalculation that the ceasefire had was the IRA, and no one else. nicely to get talks going again, about all-party talks more speedily. lasted so long there was no question And not in some silly-sense of he made clear. Martin McGuiness, the leading of a return to violence, so it therefore some nuisance-causers no long- This is quite a different tune Sinn Féin member, was one of Mr did not have to do anything. er causing a nuisance. The Irish from the days when London Major’s most bitter critics yesterday, The principles of the Mitchell EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 Commission got to the core of the them, largely on the strength of Dublin officials complain: “How the IRA called its ceasefire, since the issue. The recommendations would his own track record, that violence can the two governments run a outcome of talks will inevitably in- not have been easy for the republi- could not take them any further and peace process on the basis that volve constitutional concessions can leadership to accept, but if all that it was time to give politics — Trimble has to give it the okay? It’s for them. It is far better, this line else was going well and they had the alternative, unarmed strategy — not on.” The reality is that Trimble of thinking runs, to play the long cleared the way to all-party talks a chance. has the ball at his feet and if he game, giving as little as possible and they would probably have accepted But, from their perspective, the po- doesn’t like the rules of the game only when forced. With any luck the them. Those principles would also litical process has failed to deliver then he will most likely stalk off IRA ceasefire will be called off, which have given the unionists assurances progress on a whole range of issues, the pitch. Unionists have not been will only go to show that Unionists they were justifiably seeking. from the release of prisoners to all- in such a powerful position in more were right all along not to sit down In Northern Ireland it is danger- party talks. than a decade, years which have with its political wing Sinn Féin. ous to come down on one side or the Over and over again, when you seen retreat and defeat for their Currently Trimble appears to other. You have to be seen to be even- talk to Sinn Féin supporters, the cause. From the 1985 Anglo-Irish hold all the cards. John Major is handed. John Major was seen to same points are made. The IRA deliv- Agreement, which for the first time certainly not going to do anything have sidelined the Mitchell Report in ered, they say, on what it was asked gave Dublin a say in the running which might influence the Ulster favour of a unionist proposal. From to do, which was to bring the vio- of Northern Ireland and which Unionists’ Commons votes. What the Irish perspective, it seemed that lence to an end. It was promised that one senior official described as troubles Dublin most is that his re- there was an attempt being made Sinn Féin would be brought fully “not joint authority but more than fusal to negotiate decodes as a re- to humiliate people. Strong politi- into the political process. consultation”, through to the joint fusal to accept there is a problem cal leadership is about doing things The peace held, more or less, until British and Irish governments’ in the first place. As an official said: you don’t like doing. And the British Friday. But the British Government Framework Document last year — “If it’s down to the old psychology government had already spoken to has found excuse after excuse to de- which to the horror of Unionists of contempt for the other side then Sinn Féin over a long period in se- lay progress, placing one obstacle only served to increase the South’s the peace process is not going to sur- cret without preconditions while after another on the path to full ne- role in their affairs — the pattern of vive.” bombing continued. gotiations. Northern Ireland policy runs in a ************* No democrat has a problem with direction counter to Trimble’s am- ************* PRESIDENT Clinton refused to elections, but I do not see them in bitions. The Government has made tough turn his back on Gerry Adams and the short term as solving the prob- WHEN he pledged last year before political concessions, but all too Sinn Féin yesterday, insisting that lem. Everyone knows what the re- the people who elected him leader often these have appeared to be the peace process was not dead and sults will be. They are not really that the Union with Britain would granted grudgingly and under du- rejecting the Ulster Unionists’ plea intended as a way of getting into be stronger by the millennium, the ress, rather than as part of an im- that “a political price” be exacted all-party talks immediately. By the wishful thinkers in Dublin hoped he aginative and generous response to from Sinn Féin for the IRA’s return time we got into elections, we would still meant to make a historic com- the ceasefire. to bombing. be approaching a general election in promise with Irish nationalism. But The improvement in the quality of “Adams has been an important Britain anyway. a recent contribution which he made life for ordinary people in Northern contributor to the discussions that ************* Ireland has been so powerful that it to a collection of pro-Union essays reveal him to be another integra- have occurred to date and we hope Irish Times had become almost unthinkable that , Dublin tionist. This week he made his terms he will remain so,” said the White ..The best assessment of [Friday] there could be a return to violence. House spokesman, Mike McCurry. But in recent months it was becom- of engagement with Dublin clear: night’s events must be that they he will not discuss anything which “Mr Adams is an important leader represent a single crude and im- ing clear that there was growing in this process because he speaks pressure on Adams from many of touches on the internal affairs of his perative demand for negotiations. corner of the United Kingdom. for Sinn Féin. It is hard to imagine The effectiveness of that demand his own supporters in IRA/Sinn Féin. a process making progress towards Other Sinn Féin leaders expressed This position is irreconcilable requires that the possibility of rep- with the British and Irish govern- peace without the active involve- etition is left...open. It invites John growing concern that their own ment of Sinn Féin.” supporters, particularly IRA men ments’ “three-stranded approach” Major to take, in the IRA’s terms, af- in which relations within Northern The White House is in the ex- firmative and positive political ac- who had been prepared to back the traordinary position of being more Adams strategy, were losing faith in Ireland, between the two parts of tion — or to call their bluff.’ Ireland and between Britain and the conciliatory to Sinn Féin than the ************* the ability of the peace process to de- Dublin government, which has liver tangible results. Republic are all seen as inextricably linked elements of an abiding solu- blocked further meetings with Mr BBC in Northern Ireland sent Adams himself issued warnings, Adams until the announcement of one of its reporters to talk to men over and over again, that the peace tion. Trimble wants to get the inter- nal settlement before addressing the a permanent ceasefire. “We are not and women on the streets of West would unravel unless progress was willing at this point to say that there Belfast about their reaction to the made towards all-party talks. Sinn subject of “friendly relations” with the southern neighbour. is any kind of collapse of a peace IRA’s announcement that the cease- Féin was becoming increasingly process.” Mr McCurry added yester- fire was over. desperate for full political recogni- There is a private view expressed by some Unionists that there is noth- day. “Our most urgent task is to get Most people seemed, quite sim- tion. all parties to again honour the cease- ply, shellshocked, and fearful about ing to be gained from reaching the ************* comprehensive settlement for which fire. We believe that is not without what may now lie ahead. But one some possibility.” young man, freshfaced and articu- late, said: ‘It’s brilliant. We never got a thing from the Brits.’ He gestured towards a green ribbon pinned to his lapel: ‘What has the peace pro- cess done for them?’ The strip of green silk, modelled on the red Aids ribbon, is the symbol of a group which campaigns for IRA prisoners in British and Irish jails. This young man was almost cer- tainly not a member of the IRA. If he had been, he would have known better than to draw attention to him- self in this way so soon after the Docklands bomb. But his reaction reflects what very many nationalists in Northern Ireland feel about the peace process, and explains some of the pressures that have been growing on Gerry Adams in recent months. These people are dismissive of the Byzantine manoeuvres of politicians on both sides of the Irish Sea. Many of them believe that the changes 77 which have occurred in Northern Ireland during the past 25 years have been achieved by the bomb and the bullet. Adams persuaded EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 faced with another catastrophic political and intelligence blun- der. Where were MI5 and the RUC’s Special Branch, whose lavish sala- ries are paid by the British taxpayer, last night? It was MI5’s task to assess the internal machinations of the IRA. Did they not see that the political prevarications and the endless talk of elections and new Stormont-style assemblies was tearing the carefully balanced unity within the IRA’s lead- ership apart? Last night’s bombing signals the loss of one of the greatest historic opportunities to bring peace to Ireland. John Major’s government has blown it. ************* The expectation is that if any cam- paign does continue, it will be against spectacularly high-profile mainland targets. The element of difficulty, it’s understood, will - at tract rather than repel the IRA, as they want, here to make a sim- ple point: we’re still good, and we haven’t gone away. Their last mainland attack, the mortaring of Heathrow late in 1994, was purely to demonstrate their capability. The Ulster Unionist leader, David nothing significant would have to withdraw; but as civil servants So did John Major make a mis- Trimble MP, yesterday challenged been surrendered to Adams. We talked peace the army dug in for a judgment? Blame was certainly be- President Clinton in a brief White may soon see the tragedy of that not long war. The ceasefire was over- ing piled upon him, by the usual House meeting to back up his con- happening. As it is, the idea of nego- thrown by rising Republican lead- suspects, one of the most important demnation of the IRA bombing by tiators working to an elective man- ers like McGuinness and o Bradaigh of which is Niall O’Dowd, editor putting the controls back on US vi- date looked (to people well beyond lost his power base. The 1975 cease- and publisher of the Irish Voice, New sas and fund raising for Sinn Féin. the IRA) like just another British ob- fire has been a formative lesson in York’s leading Irish-American news- Evidently not expecting this to be struction. McGuinness’s political life. “This paper, and a member of the group taken very seriously, Mr Trimble Adams is a republican with blood generation of Republicans is not that played a role in ensuring that then urged the US to back John on his hands, who has devoted his going to be fooled by the Brits’ the Clinton administration granted Major’s proposal for early elections life to a united, republican Ireland. fancy language,” McGuinness was Adams a visa to the US in 1993. to a body which could begin all- But he’s also an operator. He showed fond of telling his interviewers. Whoever made this decision was party talks. signs of knowing the limits of the FOR many months the 1995 cease- focusing on the wide discontent in Mr Trimble did not rule out all- possible, However much he shouted, fire has in Republican eyes taken on Northern Ireland over the pace of the party talks, including Sinn Féin and he came back to talk, and would the ominous shape of the 1975 deba- peace process, he told the Observer the IRA “as and when they bring want to go on doing so. He was and cle. The endless prevarication by the yesterday. He laid the blame for the about a credible cessation of vio- is an exponent of peace as much as British Government over decommis- breakdown firmly on the British lence”. war, however impossible it was for sioning, the insistence on what the Government, saying: ‘The man But President Clinton had told him to surrender to a forced de-com- IRA viewed as impossible demands who should be embarrassed is John leading Irish-Americans that he missioning of weapons he didn’t to surrender weapons, confirmed Major, who by his lack of action after plans to stay “actively engaged with control. their scepticism about British good 17 months of ceasefire has the most Adams”. faith and they viewed these ma- to answer for. The Mitchell Report, There was no sign yesterday that Sillier bourgeois commentar- noeuvres as deliberate attempts to with its six points that Sinn Féin the White House would reverse its ies have tried posing the daft delay the peace process. would have had to agree to before previous concessions for Sinn Féin question of whether Adams is The final straw was the British sei- they got to all-party talks, was fair leaders to visit the US freely and to not finished on the grounds zure in the Mitchell commission on and excellent, but John Major went raise funds. that if he did know the bomb the throw-away remark about elec- outside the confines of that report and sided with the Unionists—he ************* was coming, that makes him tions in the 56th paragraph. Once an untrustworthy hypocrite as the decommissioning hurdle was has been playing to the peanut gal- lery for too long.’ For John Major, the bomb was al- a negotiator, and if he did not over the British erected an election ways a calamity waiting to hap- ‘If Clinton took risks for peace and know, then he is not worth talk- hurdle in its stead. To Republicans it pen. The Westminster consensus was the final signal that the British failed, that’s unfortunate but I can never guaranteed his position for ing to anyway because he is not were not serious about a deal and guarantee you that Irish Americans the duration, and his weak major- the real person in charge of the there would be no historic hand- appreciate his efforts. The only ity thrust him ever deeper into the national-liberation movement. shake. problem has been that Major didn’t arms of Ulster Unionists. His gam- But even other sectors of the At this stage it is impossible to say match Bill Clinton’s courage,’ he ble after the Mitchell Report now capitalist press grasp full well what has precipitated the end of the added. looks as though it failed. Going that Adams clearly speaks for ceasefire. On Capitol Hill, James Walsh, a for elections drowned out the rest the whole Irish nationalist com- But in one sense it does not mat- Republican who chairs the Friends of Ireland Group, said: ‘We all con- of what Mitchell had to say and, munity in the Occupied Zone, ter if it is a dissident faction or not. as London perfectly well knew, re- demn the violence, but there was and for the political movement Whoever bombed Canary Wharf called bitter images of Protestant was resourceful enough to slip men a real sense of frustration that left Stormont in all but the sophisti- in all Ireland which parallels the and explosives into London, blow only two inevitables — violence or cated nationalist breast. The hard secret Irish Republican Army: up office blocks and prepare a press peace talks. Unfortunately we got men gave their answer last night. Adams and McGuinness came to release in Dublin. The guns are back the wrong one first.’ With a larger majority, the Tories power through recrimination in in Irish politics. Away from the land of black and could probably have lived with a the IRA over the previous leaders’ The IRA’s statement predictably white, however, Mr Major will per- formula that allowed de-commis- handling of the 1975 ceasefire. In blamed British intransigence. In haps be seen as having erred not in sioning to accompany rather than 1975 Ruari o Bradaigh and Daniel truth, many in Nationalist Ireland courage but in subtlety of judgement. precede all-party talks. There was O’Connell believed they had struck will secretly agree with them. But Ireland is a notoriously complicated always something totemic about a deal with the Labour government it is the only Ulster game of get- game to play, and he had been do- this condition, once the promise of and called a ceasefire. It lasted a ting your retaliation in first. John ing so much better than most, but 78all-party talks, itself a big depar- year but broke down amid internal Major’s government is responsible you can only wind up your boys up ture was countenanced. A stronger IRA rows over British intentions. in a wholly different way. The aim for so long before something snaps. prime minister would have been O Bradaigh thought his negotia- of the British Government should The wilful disregard of the Mitchell able to ride over the Unionists, al- tion with British officials was the have been to win and secure the Report was the last straw; the grasp- ways aware that if the talks failed, precursor to a statement of intent peace in Ireland but instead we are ing of Mr Trimble’s election plan salt EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 in the wound. And his flaunting of reaction and simply straightforward that before Friday night’s events; we There have been many hopeless the idea ‘democracy’ through elec- vilification of those who will smile need it more than ever now. People deadlocks since 1992, and there have tions was a fairly cheap political like Cheshire cats and say “I told in Ireland and Britain want above all been as many deep and significant point, and flawed for two reasons. you so” I say, pull back, take stock to see their governments and politi- shifts in the British position in the Firstly, the Green Book, the written and give people who want to end cal representatives move positively run-up to the ceasefire and beyond. code of Republican membership, ex- this pain an opportunity to do so. and decisively to engage in dialogue By initially opening up covert pressly forbids standing for election Adams himself declared: (the) IRA to resolve our difficulties. lines of communication with the IRA, for any body which openly recog- was undefeated when 18 months by accepting that the terrorist cessa- nises the sovereignty of the British ago it took a very courageous deci- And the IRA added: tion of violence was permanent, by state; Whitehall certainly knows sion to create what was universally “It is with great reluctance that agreeing to drop his previous rigid this, and so must Mr Major. And, recognised to be the greatest oppor- the leadership announces that the insistence on a start to IRA disarma- more importantly, any pre-talk elec- tunity since partition to resolve the complete cessation of military ment as a precondition for all-party tions, as envisaged, would almost conflict and secure a lasting peace operations will end at 6pm on Feb- talks, Major has shown adaptability. by definition have been ludicrously settlement. But the British govern- But if elections are held, and all- partisan, negating any chance of re- ment and the unionists erected one ruary 9. party talks are subsequently of- alistic dialogue. obstacle after another to frustrate “As we stated on August 31, fered, it is equally possible that the Each side would elect the inevi- every attempt to sit down around 1994; the basis for cessation was Unionists would still refuse to talk tably biased candidate, and the the negotiating table. to enhance the democratic peace to Sinn Féin because the IRA had not chance of honest debate and move- Inclusive negotiations, without process and to underline our started to decommission its weap- ment would be lost. Major may have preconditions or vetoes, is the key definitive commitment to its suc- ons. Unionist leader David Trimble appeared to gain the moral high to advancing the peace process to a cess. We also made it clear that we told David Frost in November that, ground by suggesting such elec- peace settlement. This was the com- believed an opportunity to create even if decommissioning was put to tions, clinging to the sacred cow of mitment given by the two govern- a just and lasting settlement had one side, elections could lead to ne- democracy, but the intentions were ments, publicly and repeatedly in gotiation only ‘at a later stage when not seen as honourable. the run-up to the IRA cessation. This been created. we solve the weapons issue’. Dublin Seamus Mallon, deputy leader of was the context in which the IRA in “The cessation presented an his- puts mild pressure on London; the SDLP, alluded to just this situation August 1994 made their historic an- toric challenge for everyone, and Washington exerts powerful po- yesterday when he said: ‘Making nouncement. Since that time there the IRA commended the leader- litical and economic clout on both peace is not just a platitude. You has not been one word of real nego- ships of nationalist Ireland at home Dublin and London, and even Sinn don’t make peace with your friends, tiations. Nor is there even the pros- and abroad. They rose to the chal- Féin/IRA; but the Unionists are far you make peace with whom you dis- pect of negotiations beginning. lenge. The British prime minister and away the most intractable force agree and with those who are your For 18 months Sinn Féin and oth- did not. because they appear impervious to enemies. ers have been standing at the nego- “Instead of embracing the peace pressure. “There can be no other route. If tiating table waiting for the British They also know full well that as peace is lost, everybody loses. If government and the unionists to sit process, the British government Major’s Commons majority slips to peace can be won, then we can only down with the rest of us to agree a acted in bad faith, with Mr Major four and then to three over the com- win peace by dealing with our en- new and peaceful future. The cumu- and the Unionist leaders squander- ing months, Unionist MPs’ votes emies.’ lative evidence points damningly ing this opportunity to resolve the could be required to save the Tories Mr Major’s brokering, then, may to a British-government strategy conflict. from an early election and near-cer- have worked had the faint, early stir- locked into a psychology of war; a “Time and again over the last 18 tain defeat. They also have the po- rings of good intentions continued. mindset which demands victory months, selfish party political and tential backing of some Conservative But efforts to bamboozle the Irish over republicans rather than agree- sectional interests in the London backbench Eurosceptics, which through civil service casuistry and ment and compromise. We have parliament have been placed before makes them doubly dangerous. Westminster manoeuvrings must be witnessed bad faith and dishonesty, ************* seen to have blown up in his face. new preconditions, stalling, nega- the rights of the people of Ireland. “We take the opportunity to THE Irish government launched ************* tivity and provocation. British bad a furious attack yesterday on Peace or War? Britain must decide’ faith and dishonesty which con- reiterate our total commitment Britain’s strategy for peace in reads a slogan inscribed in huge founded those who believed that the to our republican objectives. The Northern Ireland in the wake letters on the historic Derry Walls British would approach the peace resolution of the conflict in our of Friday night’s London bomb- standing over the city’s nationalist process positively; bad faith and dis- country demands justice. ing, describing it as like “throw- Bogside district. honesty which was so barefaced that “It demands an inclusive negoti- ing petrol on to a fire”. Irish prime Yet the Derry graffiti had still ac- it surprised even those of us with a ated settlement. That is not pos- minister said Britain’s insistence quired a sharp new relevance in the healthy cynicism about British in- sible unless and until the British on elections to a Northern Ireland hours since Friday’s bomb. In lo- tentions. assembly as the best way forward We watched as Private Lee Clegg government faces up to its respon- cal streets yesterday, people in dis- sibilities. The blame for the failure was a ‘serious mistake”. mayed huddles tried to assure one was released and then promoted, as In the home of the dead man’s sis- another that the London bomb was David Trimble marched through the thus far of the Irish peace process ter, Eilish McCabe, they don’t have a shot across the bows of the British nationalist community in Garvaghy lies squarely with John Major and much time for the institutions of the Government, not the opening blast Road, as Irish prisoners were mis- his government.” British crown. So, yesterday their of an all-out campaign. treated in English jails, as plastic front room was dark and tense as bullets were fired at peaceful dem- All the signs are that the shot ‘Nobody wants this,’ said one across the bows has worked, they sat in silence for almost half- Bogsider. ‘But the only time the Brits onstrators, as RUC raids wrecked an-hour listening to John Major’s have ever listened to us is when nationalist homes. We pointed out, even in the dim understanding speech. we’ve been giving them grief. If the with growing desperation, that of some of the British bourgeois Paul McCabe sat glumly on the IRA can keep up the war across the there could be no negotiated peace press: sofa under the framed photograph water there’ll be plenty like me who without peace negotiations. That If anything summed up the British of his sociology degree from the mightn’t say it in public but who’ll without peace talks there was no position, it was an interview with Open University as John Major be thinking, “Good on you, slap it peace process. Sir Patrick Mayhew, Secretary proclaimed his way forward from up t hem”.’ Yet Sinn Féin maintained its posi- of State for Northern Ireland, on the familiar lectern. “If he calls for There is still hope. Forget the knee- tive approach to the peace process. Radio 4’s Today programme yes- a clampdown on security and in- jerk reactions of the Republicans’ se- Last November, the two govern- terday, in which he said he would sists on elections that will be it for cret PR weapon, the Rev Ian Paisley, ments established the twin-track first be asking Sinn Féin leader, another 30 years,” he said. After 22 and listen instead to David Ervine, approach. The Irish Taoiseach, John Gerry Adams, if he condoned the years living with the green corru- spokesman for the Progressive Bruton, described it as the means to bombing, and then, whether he gated army garrison they have few Unionist Party, who yesterday tried remove preconditions to all-party condemned it. Pursuing the logic expectations. As Eilish and Paul to echo the words of peace and rec- talks. But when Senator George of the argument, it was put to Sir watched Mr Major’s performance, onciliation that Mr Adams had ut- Mitchell’s international body issued Patrick: Unless he condemns it, you their mood lifted rapidly. “He keeps tered on Friday. its report, the British government will not deal with him?’. Without talking about options and all op- This might sound strange coming dumped it, reneging again on its hesitation, he replied: ‘I’m not go- tions being on the table. There a new from me,’ said Mr Ervine, ‘because commitment to begin all-party talks. ing to be put into a corner in that tone in his voice, something I don”t there is little love lost between me While the IRA must bear the respon- way...’ think I’ve ever heard before,” said and Gerry Adams — but I think we sibility for its actions in London, the Put most crudely, terrorist violence Paul McCabe. have to give him the benefit of the British government must bear its to- can be a force for political progress, Every nuance in Mr Major’s voice doubt. We have got to hope that he tal responsibility for the collapse of just as the most hopeless stalemate was commented on — every seman- 79 and elements within the IRA leader- the peace process. It has been guilty between the Unionists and the re- tic twist noted. “War, now he’s call- ship can retrieve the situation. We of criminal neglect. publicans can generate the most ing it a war in Northern Ireland — are looking into the abyss again af- What is clearly needed is a nego- remarkable agility in British policy that’s a first.” ter 18 months. Rather than knee-jerk tiated peace settlement. We needed positions. As Tony Blair and Paddy Ashdown EPSR Books Vol 15 Ireland pt2 rose to speak, then conviction that or Derry there wouldn’t be this kind justify. He will lead many people tutional reforms to which the leader there were new noises coming from of panic, but you ran see that it’s re- to doubt not only whether present reaffirmed his commitment yester- the House of Commons gained ally shook them in London.” ministers were honest but whether day. strength. It is British imperialism which is the system, behind the screen of ex- London’s ‘democratic’ condem- “They’re all talking the same way. ecutive power, is any longer capa- nation of Sinn Féin and the IRA Major’s not even throwing out the in crisis, not Sinn Féin and the ble of integrity. Mitchell report. Last month he rub- peace process, – as the capitalist Whether Labour ministers, once are not worth the 1,800 paper bished it – now his attitude is as dif- press itself is obliged to admit grizzled by power, would be any pages the Scott Report is writ- ferent as night and day.” in another context, just about to more open and honest than Tories in ten on, denouncing Whitehall As Mr Major’s statement drew to humiliate London even further: supervising an arms industry that lies and corruption. Can’t trust a close, Eilish McCabe turned to her Whatever else Scott achieves, he makes £5,000 million a year from ex- Sinn Féin to keep its word even husband and said: “There’s hope.” will supply a unique public guide ports is a question to which affirma- if a new deal is negotiated? She says she is against violence: “If to the private, secretive, double- tive answers can’t be guaranteed. London should consider itself you’ve lost someone you love then dealing world of unaccountable But Scott will reveal a rotten bu- honoured if the IRA does give you know what that kind of pain is power which Whitehall created for reaucracy, a corrupt political cul- clapped-out British imperialism like. I am opposed to violence but it the purpose of selling weaponry to ture, a system so lacking in curbs sounds like they’ve been doing a lot on the arrogance of executive power a second negotiating chance. Iraq. He will show just what min- Read Lenin. of talking in London this weekend. isters and officials are prepared to that just about the entire Labour “If that bomb was in Aughnacloy get up to and then either conceal or Party will line up behind the consti- Douglas Bell.

P&P Economic & Philosophic Science Review EPSR Bulletin Publications PO Box 76261, London SW17 1GW Contact email: [email protected] Website: www.epsr.org.uk May 2021

This volume is the third on Ireland from the EPSR. Volume One covers the years 1979 – mid- 1988; Volume Two covers June 1988 – January 1994; Volume Three 1994 - February 1996. Volume Four on the Irish national-libera- tion struggle up to, and beyond, the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the 2006 St Andrews accord, is in preparation

A full list of EPSR books can be found on the website

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