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Tories while retaining the cloak of legality for his extremist actions. This latest initiative displays the same ambivalence ~- a clear threat of armed violence but technically within the law.

Paisley has adopted the mantle of Carson with meticulous detail. Carson's UVF trained ond recruited without ever firing a shot against the British forces. The threat of force and a promise of mutiny within the British army was sufficient to cower the British Governmenr of the day. The haste with which Thatcher ond Atkins rushed to reassure Paisley that the "constitutional" position of the North within the UK would remain unchanged is an indication that the British Tories are taking Paisley's threats seriously .

So too should the anti-unionist people in the North. At the first of the "CARSON TRAIL" rallies held in Omagh on February 13 Paisley issued the following warning: "You will never get your hands on the the Protestants of Northern Ireland because every last drop of Ulster republic".

real threat is to the nationalist people of the 6 counties. It is their lives which will be at stake in the coming months.

The pretence for Paisley 's campaign is the Thatcher—Haughey summit. Paisley ‘s message to the North's unionists is that they are being betrayed by the British Tories. Paisley knows that there is no donger of Thatcher and Haughey agreeing to end partition and herald in a United over the sectorion features that mark the Northern statelet.

Paisley knows that sectarianism is the bedrock on which the North, an artificial creation, survives. He knows that any genuine reform in the North would lead inevitably to the collapse of the statelet. Paisley is quite prepared to see civil war, if necessary, to block any such ever tuality.

lt has to be said that there is a receptive audience for Paisley's ideas. Protes tant workers. today find themselves in the midst of uncertainperialism is hitting them hard and for the first time,at least since the thirties, Protestant workers ore facing mass unemployment. The collapse of traditional industries like shipbuilding and engineering coupled with the cuts in the public service have ended job security. It isa most appropriate time to play the "Orange card', which offers certainty to Protestant workers amongst all the insecurities.

There are of course differences between 1912 ond 1981. Unlike Carson, Paisley cannot confidently rely on the unqualified support of the British Tories. It is their govemment which he threatens with treas"There's just one possibility they knew it was going to happen and at the beginning of this article. As we reported in the last issue of SOCIALIST REPUBLIC PAGE 3