Building the Solidarity Movement: Monn Epee Ene Es

claiming to support the demand "Troops Out Now".The UTOM has brought A decade into the current stage of the Irish Revolution.while the : movement in Ireland is recovering its fortunes there is also a ! growth of support for it in Britain,the imperialist heartland.The ' United Treops Out Movement which in July last year had only seven i \ branches and was supported by only two of the major organisations of the British Far Left,Big Flame and the International Marxist Group (British Section of the Fourth International) now has more i | than 25 branches and has become a pole of attraction for everyone the majority of people on recent marches defending Irish political prisoners,.the biggest demonstrations in support of Irish freedom for more than four years and has played a leading role in forging united solidarity action between organisations and individuals who have important disagreements on other questions.

The comparison that can be made between the level of mass activity in Britain and that in ireland is not merely coincideniai.There is a definite link.

when the mass movement in the Six Counties was at its height between 1969 and 1972,marches of between twenty and forty thousand veu = were a regular feature of che su.idarity work in Britain.

the steepest decline in Britain was in 19/4 to 1977.This was at a time when mass activity feil away sharply in Ireland after _ coe Pirst reactionary Loyalist oppages.Now,once again,the setions of the Relatives Action Committees and events like the Coulisland conference in January - have provoked a similar upturn . in Britain. In other words ,the /.esson of the last ten years is chat it is the level of mass activity in Ireland which determines what the solidarity move'ment in the oppressor nation is | capable of at any point in time.

The reason for this is that iwhile it is true that the British ‘Labour Movement and its allies in | the womens and student movement ‘have no interest in maintaining ‘the oppression of Ireland as a ‘nation,the traditions of working | class struggle in Britain prevent imoet workers at most times from iseeing why they need to link up jwith the Trish struggle.

The victorfes won by the class jatruggle over the last. hundred lyears and more, in Britsin, have ‘heen mainly economic ones won by ‘rade untons.Because of the super lprofite Imperialism makes, the ruling class has been able to no g ?' to concede some ground, bys vugh things are changing, ed -ish workers therefore have a history of successes won without confronting the state,something only possible in an Imperialist nation.Looking at Ireland therefore ,they see no reason why economic struggles through trade unions cannot alleviate the oppression of the Irish people. That is why campaigns like the "Better Life for All" can inits ially seem so attractive.Military struggle on the other hand is alien to their experience and so they become suseptible to the lies of the State propaganda machine which portrays all Republicans and anti-imperialist fighters in Ireland (not just the Provisional IRA) as isolated gangsters.

These lies are exposed by mass action.How can the fact of thousands of ordinary Irish people supporting in action the call for a United Socialist Ireland and the immediate withdrawal of the British Army be reconciled with the idea of IRA supporters being on the lunatic fringe ?.Every mass action in Ireland raises a new doubt in the mind of the British workers about “her” or "his" governments role in Irish affairs.Similarly in periods where there is a low level of street activity,the lies of the British ruling class gain strength.

The tyne of consciousness described above ("Labourism") is not so strong in the womens movement,the student movement and among immigrants es it is in the Laoour movement..Tha: is wh, up to few Une CacKbune La nate ,however waged,is much easier inside the movements of the most oppressed in Britain than it is inside the workers organisations.

Be The questions raised through mass action in lreland,however, allow the solidarity srgu nents to be taken deeper into the Labour movement itseif.This is whet is being done by the UTOM today.The RAC's have made repression an issue,but the “Better Life" campaign has no answers to issues like ‘political status' and so on.The initiative of the International Tribunal on Britains Presence in Ireland has allowed the UTOM to force wider layers in the Labour Movement into united action with "troops outsupporters on the questions of repression. '- The impact of the Tribunal will not only itself cause immediate problems for the British Government if successful,but will be a bridge by which the UTOM can cross to penetrate the British workers movement with its ideas.

Use The state of the movement in Britain in solidarity with the Irish revolution,is therefore healthier than it has been for many years ,and it will undoubtedly grow in the next period. However, activists in Ireland must not be over-optimistic.Labourism is not about to end its dominance over the vast majority of British workers.A mass movement of hundreds of thousands led by the organised workers movement will not appear tomorrow.It cannot appear until the Irish Revolution itself has built a more powerful movement than f even now exists. Nevertheless,in , the fight to construct that movement against British oppression the Irish revolutionaries can already count on an important force giving support from within the belly of the : Imperialist monster.