💾 Archived View for gemini.spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › politics › SPUNK › sp000416.txt captured on 2022-03-01 at 16:22:06.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Workers Solidarity Movement
Statement on IRA cease-fire
7/9/94
What follows is the statement by the Irish anarchist group,
the Workers Solidarity Movement, on the IRA ceasefire
and its likely effects on Irish politics. We would like this to
get maximum circulation so please feel free to re-publish
it. The WSM can be contacted at WSM, PO Box 1528,
Dublin 8, Ireland.
*************************
We welcome the IRA cease-fire. Over the last 25
years over 3,000 people have been killed and
40,000 injured. Thousands have been through or
are in still prison. The primary blame for these
deaths and all the associated suffering belongs
with the British state. No cease-fire has as yet
been declared by the British state. Likewise the
loyalist paramilitaries have not yet declared a
cease-fire, and have killed Catholics and bombed
a Sinn Fein office since the IRA ceased their
military campaign.. In these circumstances the
IRA cease-fire alone will not bring peace, much
less justice.
As we said of the armed struggle in our position
paper on the National question.
"10. The current tactic of armed struggle as
carried out by the republicans is incapable of
achieving a solution as it is incapable of
delivering a military victory and defeating the
British army. In addition the British ruling class
cares little for the deaths of individual soldiers
in its army.
11. In addition we believe the armed struggle
is also faulted as it relies on the actions of a
few with the masses left in either a totally
passive role, or one limited to providing
intelligence and shelter to the few. However it
has served to maintain the gains made in the
late 60's and early 70's and to protect the
nationalist community from some loyalist and
state terrorism."
The gun was re-introduced in Northern Irish
politics some 25 years ago by the British state
and its forces. It is significant that the first
death, the first dead solider, the first dead
policeman, the first dead child and the first
bombing were all at the hands of British or
loyalist forces. These forces have yet to lay down
their arms. They took them up 25 years ago to
smash a peaceful civil rights movement,
demonstrating for equal rights between Catholics
and Protestants. Reforms have been extracted
from the British state since that time. Some
aspects of discrimination, most notably around
housing have been removed or had their legal
basis undermined. Further concessions may
have been won in return for the IRA cease-fire,
but the legacy of that system of discrimination
still remains in the fact that a Catholic is 2.4
times more likely to be unemployed than a
Protestant.
Some on the left will see the IRA cease-fire as a
sell-out. We don't. The politics of nationalism
were always going to lead to a compromise with
imperialism, it was only those with illusions in
the republican's "left turn" that thought
otherwise. It has been clear for a decade, even to
the republicans,` that the armed struggle was
going nowhere. Britain could not be defeated
militarily, and Sinn Fein could not expand on its
vote either in the North or South. With the
reaching of a compromise in El Salvador, South
Africa and Palestine it became no longer a
question of 'if' but one of 'when' such a
compromise would be reached here. As such the
fact, if not the exact terms, of the current
settlement with world capitalism are an integral
part of nationalism and the logical conclusion of
the republican strategy.
Indeed for several years it seemed that the
British government would, for its own selfish
reasons, refuse to give an inch, being more
interested in a propaganda 'victory' than in
peace. However it would seem that the massive
City of London bombs and the mortar attacks on
Heathrow airport, coming on top of a prolonged
military campaign, convinced a majority of the
British government to bring the IRA into talks.
In the 26 counties Albert Reynolds was eager to
seize the mantle of the Taoiseach who brought
peace to Ireland. On the day of the cease-fire we
were treated to a nauseous broadcast by him
telling us how he had made the country safe for
the little children.
With the Official Unionist Party begrudgingly
welcoming of the cease-fire it would seem that
within a short time there will be no significant
faction opposing it, with the likely exception of
Ian Paisley's extreme right wing Democratic
Unionist Party [This is not to discount the
possibility of the loyalist death squads murdering
more Catholics first to show they have not gone
"soft"].
It is far from clear that the British government
will fulfil its part of whatever deal has been
made. At a minimum these would seem to be
early release for political prisoners, amending
the 1920 Government of Ireland Act to allow
unity if a majority in the 6 counties vote for it
and allowing of Sinn Fein into direct discussions.
Britain has destroyed the possibility of peace
before by refusing to honour commitments.
Nevertheless a majority of republicans are aware
that the armed struggle cannot inflict a military
defeat on Britain, and has become redundant.
The "peace process" as it is called, will not deliver
a united socialist Ireland, or significant
improvements apart from those associated with
'de-militarisation'. In addition it represents a
hardening of traditional nationalism, and the
goal of getting an alliance of all the nationalists,
Finna Fail, SDLP, Sinn Fein and the Catholic
church. Its appeal to Protestant workers is no
greater than the military campaign (i.e. none)
and to date republican statements have focused
on the need for a De Klerk type figure to lead the
Protestants to compromise. It may well be that
James Molyneux, leader of the O.U.P. will come
to represent such a figure if the initial days of the
cease-fire are anything to go by. This approach
should come as no surprise to us, it is the
underlying bedrock of nationalism. It is the
reason we are anti-imperialists rather than
socialist republicans.
The cease-fire will make this argument easier to
put to activists in the north who to date have put
their trust in republicanism, both because of its
left veneer and the need to support 'the boys'.
Depending on developments it may also become
easier over the next couple of years to begin a
more sustained approach to Protestant workers.
To date this has been almost impossible due to
the fact that loyalist death squads have targeted,
attacked and even killed revolutionary socialists
and anarchists who attempted to work in their
community while maintaining a principled
opposition to imperialism.
In this sense the ending of the armed struggle,
seen as sectarian by one side and which
demobilised the other opens up real possibilities
for revolutionary politics. At the same time
however the left in general and the anarchist
movement in particular, is too weak to make
significant gains in the immediate future. If the
peace holds, the next few years will be a test of
our ability to build a viable alternative to the
bosses, north and south. But we are aware that
25 years ago the British state smashed
something much more modest than what we
propose with armed force. We are also aware
that sectarianism was used as the weapon to
smash any major manifestation of workers unity
in the north, not to mention revolutionary
politics. If we are successful in building a
revolutionary alternative, then somewhere down
the road the state will attempt to unleash the
same forces on us. Such an attack can only be
defeated by mass mobilisations of tens of
thousands and not by the actions of a small
armed elite.
The ending of the armed struggle cannot simply
become part of history. The issue of partition can
not be quietly dropped in the interests of winning
over Protestant workers. In the short term it
would be possible to build workers unity on day
to day economic issues without mentioning
partition but it would be building on sand. In the
past we have seen how instances, some involving
very large numbers, of working class unity have
been swept away on a tide of bigotry. What' is
needed is a revolutionary movement, with
consistent anti-imperialist policies, that is
composed of workers from both Protestant and
Catholic backgrounds.
This will be the real test for the left of the cease-
fire. It is where the cease-fire assumes its
international dimension. All over the world the
authoritarian left has collapsed due to the
inadequacies of its politics. Building
revolutionary movement(s) in Ireland now
represents the same challenge faced by
anarchists everywhere. Our success or failure
depends on our ability to convince people of our
politics, demonstrate the ability to fight and win,
and give people the confidence to change society.
This is the process that can lead to a lasting
peace with justice.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at
PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland
or by anonymous e-mail to an64739@anon.penet.fi
Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive
by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")
or WWW at http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Jack.Jansen/spunk/Spunk_Home.html
in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM