Journal of the Irish Committee for a Marxist

Workers Volume 2 “If the IRA ever chose to go back to violence they would find that circumstances have changed dramatically. They are not going to have the same financial backing from abroad....the same backing from the people on the streets and the Irish government and churches...” [John Major, July Ist} That's the reality of the “Peace Process”. That's why the Bnush were confident enough to release Clegg and capitulate to orange bigots.

Republican leaders promised “marching fect and angn Voices” bul when Britain threw down the gauntlet protests were kept firmly within the ranks of Sinn Fein. used ta release frustration, subordinated to deals with the “nationalist famuly calls for “Adl-Party talks” and more diplomacy There's a lot ol anger at the Brittsh stance and a real opportunity to build a broad democratic protest movement - but to do that we have to face facts. denounce the “peace process” as a sham and break out of the cage of the “nationalist family” towards new alliances with working people and the oppressed For A Workers Republic. Page 1

he reality behind the "Peace Process"

Throwing down the Gauntlet There are very few things to smile about following a whole series of attacks and rebuffs on the Irish people this summer. About the only gain we can point to is that we have seen the future of the “peace process” - and it stinks.

Its a future where Orange bigots continue their triumphalist intimidation of nationalists in the North, where lan Paisley is free to urge right - wing insurrection without a murmur of disapproval. where the RUC feel free to baton nationalists off the streets or intern them in ghettos while applving the “Now boys. Now” theory of crowd contro] to Orange mobs before capitulating to them. It's a future where British forces have a renewed legitimacy for killing by state forces following the Clegg release. Finally its a future where Irish capitalism further cements its new alliance with British imperialism by kissing the backside of Charles Windsor while keeping Sinn Fein impotently locked in the box of the “Nationalist family”.

Despite all this it would be wrong to believe that the British don't want peace. The only problem is that the peace they want is what we see before us. The sectarian little colony in the North is to continue under Orange rule. with some attempts to get the Orangemen to tone it down a bit. The SDLP and the Catholic middle class are to get a few perks and a few crumbs used to buy off community activists and tie Sinn Fein into constitutional politics. There's little more on offer.

### QUESTION

That's why there's the hard chaw about IRA decommissioning. Why fringe Lovalist partys are being pumped up to counterbalance Sinn Fein, why the prisoners issue is to be “resolved” at a snail's pace - a few transfers now, mavbe 50% remission next vear mavbe all the prisoners out by 2005! That's why substantive talks are on the long finger and we face the decommissioning logjam. Fundamentally what is at issue is the status of the large anti-imperialist layer within the Irish working class and oppressed. Has it been finaily defeated after 25 years of struggie? The British need to answer that question in the affirmative now.

Decommissioning needs to be used to publicly signal the defeat of the republicans - because when they finally get to the negotiating table they will find that the cupboard is bare. Peace means business more or less as usual. The twin tracks of British policy - which they hardly even bother to disguise - are one the one hand the minimum change needed stabilise partition and allow the Dublin bourgeoisie and the Catholic middle class to climb on board in support - on the other hand an agreement to stop hitting the republicans over the head and let them take their place at the table as a minor constitutional party in return for unconditional surrender.

The Clegg case and the marching season in the North showed up the central contradiction of republican policy. Unity of the “nationalist family” and the strategy of diplomacy stand in direct contradiction to any policy of mass action or unity with Irish workers in the 26 counties. The conflict was resolved by the republican leadership staying firmly on side with the Irish capitalist class while disguising that fact with a lot of dishonest plavacting designed to achieve nothing but keeping their own supporters busy.

THIRD TIME AS...

Karl Marx once said that history repeats itself. the second time as farce. What word would he have used to describe the third time around? Once we had a mass movement in the North. A burning bus was a barricade separating the masses from the state forces. In later stages the burning buses stood alone, with only the potential threat of IRA attack behind them. In July buses burned with nothing at all behind them. What we had was high-class vandalism with no political object other than keeping militants busy.

For A Workers Republic. Page 2

Early in the struggle we had a mass movement of which the republicans were a component. Later we had periods of mass mobilisation led by the republican movement. In July we had private demonstrations against the Clegg release organised through Sinn Fein cumnan or branches of Saorse. Orange intimidation was countered not by mass mobilisation but by strictly localised residents associations. Now we have angry voices and marching feet - not to mobilise but to release frustration and build more support for diplomacy.

### RETREAT

The volte-face on mass activity was accompanied by political retreat across the board. Sinn Fein was the major force opposed to the visit by Charles Windsor to the 26 counties. It did not publicly lead the campaign which organised around Windors role as honorary leader of the parachute regiment - rather than the substantive issue of the British occupation{supposedly being solved by the “Peace process!.

In the Clegg case the call “one out! - all out!” represented a total misreading of the situation. The Clegg release campaign was organised by the British military establishment on the grounds that soldiers in uniform and on duty have a right to kill. Their victory was a serious setback for workers in both Ireland and Britain. The victory of these reactionary forces makes a general release of republican prisoners less likely. Only total opposition to the Clegg release would have strengthened the case for the release of anti-imperialist prisoners.

Similarly calls for negotiation and compromise over Orange marches make little sense. Republicans and socialists oppose sectarianism. We oppose Orange marches. They are always sectarian no matter where they are held. Calls for compromise leave the way open for the apologists of “Orange culture’. Not only that. calls for compromise leave the way open for ...-well...compromise! A march on Gervahy road with no band. One Orange march down the Ormeau road instead of six. In other words victory for sectarian bigotry.

### CHANGED TIMES

These changed times did not go unnoticed on the Ormeau Road. Interned in their own streets by RUC men in riot gear, residents reflected bitterly on the peace process. “Where's John Bruton and John Hume now?” asked one man. “Where's bloody Gerry Adams?”. replied another.

The Republican leadership had its reward. Cardinal Daly issued a strong statement about the Clegg release. adding. “this is not the time to criticise Sinn Fein’. Later the full nationalist family: Bruton. Spring. Hume and Adams gathered in Dublin and agreed another strong statement.

irish history is full of strong statements by frish capitalism. They are followed by Britain demonstrating that it’s in charge and that they are a lot more worried about the reaction of the Orange mob which rests as a solid base for British rule. They know that strong statements come and go but pigs will fly before a Dublin government turns its back on British capital or encourages For A Workers Republic. Page 3

the forces of revolution in Ireland. So Spring met Mayhew having leaked details of major shifts on prisoners and talks and was sent home with his tail between his legs. So much for the nationalist familv!

### OPPORTUNITY LOST

What word other than tragedy can describe the situation? The British openly insult the vast majority of the Irish people. The opportunities are there for at least the beginning of mass mobilisation. Many sectors. especially the leaderships of the workers movement. no longer have the excuse of the armed struggle to duck issues of democratic rights and sectarianism. Demands on Dublin and the SDLP to break off negotiation with the British would have left Irish capitalism exposed. Instead we get playacting, a major opportunity thrown away - in return for disapproving statements from the nationalist family!

The rationale for the present republican strategy is a weird mixture of reformism and militarism. Alongside a belief that Irish capitalism can deliver. that Britain can play a progressive role. that Orange bigots can see the light. is a belief that “we can always go back” [to the armed struggle].

This ignores the fact that the “peace process” was adopted in the face of the decay of the armed struggle and its clear inability to deliver a defeat of the British. I[t ignores the fact that the republican leadership will find it difficult to extricate itself from the embraces of the nationalist family. That even if they did so they would have to turn their back on their erstwhile partners only to find a dagger firmly embedded there. It ignores the fact that the republican leadership have already demolished part of their support apparatus. [In the US NORAID is replaced by “Friends of Sinn Fein” and in Britain the Irish Post is leading a new federation that wipes out the traditional programme of the Troops Out Movement. Finally it ignores the fact that unless the British are very stupid the republican movement would emerge weaker and armed struggle would be an even less credible strategy than it has been in the past.

NEW REALISM The probiem is that the majority of republican militants are completely disorientated by the peace process and are oscillating between two failed strategies. While they do sothe British are posing a fundamental question to us all. Has mass political resistance to imperialism been defeated? The British need to know because their peace process cannot survive without that defeat. Their recent announcement that the RUC is to stay at full strength for the indefinite future shows that they have no illusions about the sort of peace they can deliver.

On the evidence of this summer the answer is that resistance isn't dead - but it’s being slowly strangled by the dishonest “new realism” of the republican leadership.

The British will deliver plenty more kicks in the teeth - plenty more opportunities to build mass and class action. What's at issue is building an independent organisation of the working class that has the authority to demand that republicans break decisively from alliances with Irish capitalism.

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