H-BLOCK: Unity-disipline-clarity

In the last issue of Socialist Republic we asked ‘Can we break Thatcher?’ It is quite evident that in the period since then that we have failed to do so. The prisoners have declared their determination to continue the struggle and we have been warned by campaign leaders Like Gerry Adams and Jim Gibney that we are now facing a period of ‘Indefinite hungerstrike’. The great danger now is that the camnaign will become demoralised and that militants will lose faith in what has been achieved already and in the ability of the campaign to move forward with a clear strategy for victory.

The campaign leadership has said that we must begin again, especially in the South, the patient work of explanation both to militants in the campaign and to the generally sympathetic mass of the Irish people and that especially we must work to broaden the campaign and to bring into action supporters of Fianna Fail, the Coalition and the SDLP.

We in Peoples Democracy agree with this. In fact it was our organisation that first agreed these as tasks for the campaign. However, we are very far from agreeing that they represent a strategy for victory.

The campaign has won many victories, It has built mass mobilisations of tens of thousands of Irish people. It has demonstrated in elections the mass sympathy of the Irish people and it has been responsible for massive pressure on the Irish Government and the main political parties. If it is to move forward now it must see the limitations of these forms of action, and understand the balance between imperialist and anti-imperialist forces that prevent victory for the hunger strikers, One central element in this balance of forces is the role of the Irish Government and the major political <n eS The leadership of the campaign is, of course, the Republican Movement; It is one of the ironies of history that the Republicans, who have for so many years been arguing against PD in a debate about ‘Mass Action versus Militarism’ should now find themselves at the head of a mass campaign based loosely on the PD model.

The fact that an organisation based on belief in the supremacy of military struggle should lead a mass campaign is. of course, a source of problems.

parties. PD must accept some criticism for confusion about this for not arguing more sharply and clearly at earlier points in the campaign. The simple point is that they are all pro Imperialist. They are the enemies both of the prisoners and the general struggle against British repression. This does not mean that pressure cannot be put on them . It was successful pressure by the campaign that made Garret FitzGerald move from all out attacks on the prisoners to announcing that a solution is his ‘most urgent task’ and which has forced all the major nationalist parties to point the finger at Britain and denounce her as responsible for the deaths. However, this does not mean that they can be relied on in a conflict with Britain and it was this mistake by the campaign that led to an absence of an overall strategy. While the British used the negotiations to confuse and demoralise the mass of the people.

PD has argued consistently that action by the mass of the Irish people is the only guarantee for victory in the campaign. Pressure on the capitalist parties is a way to challenge and expose them and win their supporters to action.

The recent revolt against the GAA leadership is a good example of this.

The focus must move to the demands that the campaign has made on the nationalist parties and to exposing their hypocrisy and betrayal of the prisoners — the Irish Ambassaor’s attendence at the British royal wedding, the SDLP’s refusal to withdraw from the councils. It should now set itself the task of implementing these demands:

mass pickets of council meetings in the North, the blacking of British goods in the South and a campaign of mass pickets to prevent Irish Army movements to the border. The standing of activists from the campaign in Cavan-Monaghan and the possibility of Paddy Agnew resigning to force a contest in Louth would help to give the movement an increasingly insurrectionary character and give it power in the Dail, on the streets and in the factories to bring down any government committed to a policy of collaboration with imperialism.

REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT JOE MS DONNELL MURDERED Way THATCHER As the deaths in the H Blocks continue the H Block Armagh Campaign is going through a period of crisis. It has accomplished a great deal but it is now evident that it has not been enough to break Thatcher. The leadership faces a major test. Can it hammer out a new strategy and unite the mass of the campaign around it at atime when the major parties, the Church and the Irish Government are going on the offensive to isolate and divide the campaign?

For most of the history of the H Block Armagh struggle the majority of Republican resources were diverted into the search for a military solution.

It was only with the foundation of the National Smash H Block Armagh Committee that the Republican Movement as a whole moved behind the strategy of mass action; The failure of the first hungerstrike shook their confidence and since then there has been.a certain amount of vacillation with a military and political campaign running simultaneously. All this will only be possible if the campaign gives a great deal more in the way of resources to challenging ing working class action. Workers groups and all the other political, sporting and cultural organisations must be represented at every level of the campaign. It is they who can it is they who can most effectively can speak directly to the new democratic forces organising in the rank-and-file of the British Labour party.

Recent actions by the Guards since Bernadette MacAliskey addressing the rally after the march in Dublin the trade union leadership and developto do this.

really begin to hurt Britain’s economic interest in Ireland. It is they who can cut off supplies to the Irish Army and organise international support. They KIERAN DOHERTY ad wo Of & CRRIGAVON the Embassy battle show that the Irish Government intends to try to harrass and intimidate the movement. One important defence is to make ment. the movement as broad as possible and workers representation will help The horrifying and painful deaths of the prisoners can lead to demoralisation in the campaign. They can lead to despair and the belief that no further action is possible or to explosions of rage and frustration which would fragment the campaign. The only way to prevent this is for the present leadership of the campaign to adopt a clear and agressive strategy, unify the militants around it at a recall conference , and bring all the new structures that have been formed into a revitalised and broader moveThe courage of the prisoners should encourage us all to the same courage and steadfastness. We should remember the many shocks and defeats that the campaign has inflicted on imperialism and that many of the international effects have not yet been fully felt by them. Each death has been a terrible blow for us, but it has also raised the stakes. Our unity, clarity and discipline can win the five demands, and in the process we will be preparing the gravestone of partition and continued imperialist rule in our country.