United H-BLOCK Candidate Needed
Socialist Republic1981Elections and electoral tacticsPrisoners and the hunger strikesLabour, the left and left unityHugh FlynnElections and electoral tacticsPrisoners and the hunger strikesLabour, the left and left unity
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There is only one question anti imperialists need to ask about the Fermanagh-South Tyrone by-election. How can it help us to win ? The intervention of the SDLP and Alliance make it more difficult to repeat Bobby Sands’ election victory. So also will the fact that there will be no DUP boycott this time. But in fact the campaign needs to do more than this. It needs to turn Passive support into direct There is only one candidate standing on the demands of the prisoners and that is Owen Carron. The SDLP are asking for support for a policy of inaction and betrayal of the prisoners. Owen Carron needs to get an even greater vote than Bobby Sands. He needs to expose and totally humiliate the SDLP. His election should serve as the focus for a new burst of action by the campaign to draw new forces in and to transform parts of Fermanagh into no go areas for the British.
This is an enormous task and we believe that some tactical mistakes have been made and should be corrected. If Owen Carron is to succeed he must be a direct representative of the campaign. Saying that his campaign is being directed by the prisoners will only create suspicion and confusion. It is also a mistake to stand on the traditional abstentionist platform. Abstention as a principle is not part of the policy of the broad campaign and we believe that this should be reviewed.
This said, victory in this election will require a national mobilisation by the campaign. Owen Carron is standing as a representative of the vast number of Irish people who oppose Thatcher’s intransigence and support the prisoners’ demands. This must be demonstrated by building around him the broadest possible support. Representatives from every part of the country, from all the anti-imperialist parties and from cultural and trade union groups must be brought in to support the campaign, and this must be followed up by a massive campaign on the ground not just to collect votes but to win massive support for civil disobedience and a campaign of harrassment of the British. The British ignored mass sympathy - they won't be able to ignore an active MP organising a mass movement.
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SOCIALIST REPUBLIC Pace6 ot those classes who believes in the righteousness of his own class pesition.” (emphasis in original)