Socialist Republic: Vol. 5 no. 2, March 1982

POBLACHT SHOISIALACH

=| SOCIALIST REPUBLIC

Vol. 5 No. 2 March 1982 Paper of PEOPLES DEMUCRALCY CLONDALKIN, De LOREAN, CLOVER MEATS, TUAM

EXPLOITATION, REPRESSION, PARTITION

HBLOCK-ARMAGH, EMBASSY 20, BELFAST 34

wee . ts LOCAL

PAGE 2 SOCIALIST REPUBLIC

By MAURICE COAKLEY THE ELECTORAL success of SF WP coming less than a year after they suffered a shattering defeat on the northern local elections underlines the unevenness of political development between North and South. But though trends in the North do not automatically make their presence felt in the South, it would be a mistake to assume that they are of no relevance. The SFWP hopes that its three deputies in Leinster House will serve as a bridgehead enabling them to eclipse the Labour Party and become the dominant political force within the Irish labour movement. Their plan is by no means a completely unrealistic one. A decade of being in coalition with Fine Gael has stripped away whatever identity the Labour Party once had. Most of their urban working class support has tallen away and they are now very vulnerable to left candidates campaigning on social questions. The longer Labour remains tied to Fine Gael the more likely they are to be completely marginalised.

The SFWP has begun to play a significant role in many areas of Irish society. Their vitriolic rejection of nationalism tallies with the anti-republican prejudices of young professionals and amongst this grouping they command a great influence which expresses itself most strikingly in RTE.

They have also firmly entrenched themselves in the bureaucracy of the largest union, the ITGWU. (They have recently suffered a setback with the defeat of SFWP member Des Geraghty for the position of vice president of the union however). Whether they succeed in consolidating themselves and ousting the Labour Party as the largest party on the ‘left’ in Ireland will depend largely on how their TDs perform in Leinster House.

By examining their evolution over the last decade we can hope to assess their likely role in future political events. In particular it is worth noting how their changed approach towards the national question has affected their social policies. ITGWU Election A Sticky Problem THE CAMPAIGN for the position of vice president of the ITGWU was marred by allegations of a smear campaign by one of the candidates, Des Geraghty. Geraghty is a National Group Secretary of the ITGWU and a member of Sinn Fein — the Workers Party, He ciaimed that an unsigned document was circulating in the union which was aimed at his campaign for the vice presidency. The fact that this document was circulated during the campaign seems to back up this claim. Although the document does not mention Geraghty’s vice presidential bid it is well known in the union that he is an SFWP member, although Geraghty used to keep his membership quiet prior to the appearance of the document.

In the event, Geraghty failed in his attempt to secure the vice presidency and will no doubt claim that the document had a detrimental effect on that brat While PD is opposed to the circulation of unsigned statements in the trade unions it is only ‘fairto state that the methods of the authors of this particular document are no different from those of the SFWP itself. For a number of years SF WP has been gradually inserting itself into the bureaucracy of the [TGWU without its members declaring themselves. SFWP’s policies in the trade unions are such that they do not challenge the conservative stance of the the resistable rise of SINN FEIN the WORKERS PARTY implemented practically no one has ever been told, The central tenet of Official Sinn Fein — as SFWP used to be known — was the need to fuse republicanism and socialism. Against both those on the left who condemned republicanism as narrow and obsolete and those in the republican camp who dismissed socialism as alien and irrelevant, the Officials insisted upon the compatibility of the two ideologies. Imperialism they argued, dominated the whole of Ireland, even though it was only in the North that it took a direct politicomilitary form. Following the suspension of Stormont in 1972, and the rise of the loyalist paramilitary organisations, the Officials became disorientated, with different sections moving in opposite directions. Many members argued for the stepping up of the armed campaign in the North while most of the leadership came to see the national question as a cul de sac.

union on such matters as multinational industry, unofficial strikes and discrimination against catholic: workers in the North of Ireland.

SFWP hope to quietly insinuate themselves into a position of dominance over the other factions and groups in the bureaucracy. They have been known to make unprincipled agreements with members of the trade union bureaucracy,in order to further their own political careers. In the undemocratic system of elections in the unions they wheel and deal with the worst of them, trading votes with people whose views are neither socialist nor democratic. They have also stooped to using the exact same scare tactics they are complaining about in this case: starting whispering campaigns among the right wing sections of the union movement about candidates being “IRA stooges”’.

When these points are taken into account their self-righteous indignation seems less than credible.

While no one knows who the authors of the document are it is clear that other sectors in the trade union bureaucracy such as the Labour Party and the Communist Party feel under threat from SFWP. It is also possible that there are others genuinely concerned about the anti-Republican and anti-working class policies of SFWP behind the document.

The document combines a criticism of SFWP policies with allegations which could, in some circumstances, lead to a witchhunt against the left in general. It makes the point that SFWP’s policies are wholly at variance with those of the founder of the union, James Connolly.

While it is correct and even desirable that a debate open up on the various policies put forward by sections of the union and by political parties in the workers movement generally, this particular document skirts around the issues in order to make anonymous allegations. Whether the alle sations are true or not is irrelevant if those behind it are secretive avout their own background, policies ancl material interests. The Irish working class needs a completely open, democratic and responsive trade union movement. To force that change we must be open and democratic ourselves. The leading group around Garland, Goulding and Mc Giolla still held that imperialism dominated the whole of Ireland but argued that British military control of the six counties was of little relevance. “What did it matter to Irish workers which state ensured their exploitation? Surely workers should unite around immediate economic questions rather than combatting British presence,” they said, With the 1974 split that led to the formation of the IRSP, the positions of the Official leadership became more extreme. On the North, from arguing in favour of reforming Stormont they ended up calling for a return to “majority rule’ in the 6 Counties as the only means of allaying the fears of loyalist workers. The rights of catholic workers would be secured by a Bill of Rights although how this could be

KINCORA: EX

UNIONIST CO

WILLIAM McGRATH No Anti Gay Witch Hunt By John McGee THE ANNUAL conference of the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) is to be asked to resist any attempt at turning public concern over the Kincora affair into a witch-hunt against gay social workers.

NIPSA is the largest white collar union in the North and numbers amongst its 34,000 members most of the-social workers employed by the four Health and Social Services Board who share responsibility for the supervision of residential childrens homes. The union conference will be debating a resolution from Branch 705 which represents social service workers in North and West Belfast. The branch has called for the immediate convening of a public inquiry to uncover the role of politicians, government agencies and the RUC in obstructing investigation of child abuse allegations over the past 20 years.

It believes that the major issue which is raised by the mushrooming Kincora scandal is the corruption of the Northern establishment.

Their attitude towards economic questions underwent a parallel evolution. From seeing economic imperialism as Enemy Number 1, they came to view it in a more positive light.

‘After all, if foreign companies create employment in Ireland aren’t they operating a service here? What does it matter to Irish workers who employs them so long as somebody does?” The word “imperialism”’ dropped out of their vocabulary and “Workers Party’’ made.its appearance behind “Sinn Fein’ . Within no time they were hailing multinationals like De Lorean as the saviours of the lrish people and praising nuclear power as God’s gift to humanity. What unites the bright sparks of RTE with the likes of McGiolla and Smullen is a simple pragmatism..1f it works, buy it. If it shows any sign of complications, dont’t touch it!

POSE THE

VER UP!

Since the original lrish Independent story revealing that the RUC had sat on evidence regarding Orange Order and Loyalist paramilitary leader, William McGrath’s abuse of his position as a houseparent at Kincora Children’s Home, the almost daily revelations have touched almost every section of the Unionist community. The central parties in this corruption scandal are the British administration and Military Intelligence, Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party and the RUC. British Secretary, Jim Prior, from the outset refused to allow a full judicial inquiry for fear of it detailing the involvement of administration officials both in the events for which McGrath was convicted and in the 20 year cover-up. Only with the collapse of the private McGonagle inquiry did Prior agree to establish a limited public inquiry which will only sit after RUC investigations and any resulting court cases have been concluded. That could mean that the report of the inquiry may not be published until 1986. In the meantime instructions have been given to the four Health and Social Services’ Boards to get rid of all staff members where there is the slightest suspicion of a homosexual orientation. This, despite the fact that homosexual acts between consenting adults have now been legalised following the Geoff Dudgeon case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The number of suspensions that have already taken place are a Clear indication that the fears of a witchhunt are well founded. For the British and Unionist establishment alike sensationalist scares about children at risk of homosexual @buse Is a welcome diversion of public attention away from official corruption.

The trades union movement, while condemning any case involving the exploitation of children, must come out into the open in defence of their gay members and thus make sure that those behind the corruption cover-up are justly indicted.

The problem with SFWP’s pragmatisin is that it prevents them identifying the real obstacles which confront the Irish working class movement and leads them to seek short term solutions which aren’t viable. In the case of the North one may extol the virtues of workers’ unity seven times every hour and before and after meals, but at the end of the day the protestant working class are as firmly wedded to orangism and reaction as ever. Pious words cannot dislodge them.

SFWP’s dismissal of the importance of foreign capital in Ireland is equally superficial. No republican socialist is seriously suggesting that Irish capitalists are preferable to foreign ones. The point is that the domination of the Irish economy by foreign capital acts as a fundamental block to economic development. Only by decisively breaking the hold of foreign capital and introducing socialist economic measures will it be possible to initiate sustained economic growth which could substantially raise living standards of working people and generate full employment. It is certainly important for socialists \.

to fight for immediate reforms but unless these are linked to a project of transforming society, then SFWP can easily end up in the same boat as the Labour Party. The Labour Party used its seats in Leinster House to manoeuvre for social reforms while transferring the goal of socialist change to the next world. At this stage they have stopped manoeuvring for reforms and merely seek seats in the Cabinet. SFWP can only escape that trap by using its seats not to manoeuvre for reforms but to mobilise large numbers of people in favour of such reforms. There is, however, very little indication that SFWP will attempt to mobilise support for reforms or in opposition to cuts in public expenditure. The SFWP is a highly authoritarian and elitist organisation. They share with the Labour Party a disdain for popular mass action which pushes them irrevocably along the same road that O’Leary, Keating and Cluskey have already travelled. Fifth Column

MILITANT “DEMOCRACY”

During the pre-election period, Tony Benn paid a visit to Dublin. At the meeting PD issued a leaflet which stated why it would be natural for Tony Benn to support Bernadette McAliskey’s candidature since they were agreed on the central issues of getting the Brits out of treland, of nationalising major industries and of non-participation in government with capitalist parties. Joe Higgins of the Militant tendency denounced the leaflet from the platform as “scurrilous” and a ‘cheap vote getting gimmick”. But the fun really began when Niall Meehan of Peoples Democracy tried to speak in the ‘open discussion” section of the meeting.

He was systematically ignored and John Throne (Militant) directed the chair from the back of the hall as to who to allow to speak and who to ignore. Despite attempts by Michael D Higgins to show where Meehan was indicating he was repeatedly ignored, while Militant speakers were given the freedom of the meeting. Really, comrades is this any way to conduct debate in the workers movement.

SHERLOCK STUCK BY BLUESHIRT

STICK

Avid Today Tonight watchers will have been interested by the unusually hard time given to J oe Sherlock by (ex B Special) Barry Cowan on the night of March 9th.

Two factors influenced the heavy line of questioning (which poor Joe was totally unable for, suggesting he hadn’t been warned?). Firstly SFWP fellow travellers in the Today Tonight team were opposed to the decision to back Haughey rather than FitzGerald as Taoiseach. Secondly, sounds have been made to high bodies in RTE about the repeated and obvious bias of Today Tonight towards SFWP. The team waited till the votes were counted after the election before attempting to ‘balance’ things. OBVIOUSLY A good number of the protestant community in the 6 counties are having their illusions in the ‘morality’ of their political and religious leaders shattered. In the recent South Belfast by-election hundreds of spoilt Ballot papers had !‘Kincora’ scrawled across them. Both | Rev. Martin Smyth, the successful Official Unionist candidate and lan Paisley, leader of the Free Presbyterian Church and the Democratic Unionist Party are implicated in the Kincora scandal. oe aes

‘6% VAT in Republic of roland) ot ne’s M leading Browne bY ting austerity Vincent Brow economists are ing class into accep with his -csent crew back to anti-Imperialis Ireland’s foreign debt now totals £4 billion. Fianna Fail and the Coalition agree that this debt arose because the nation is living beyond its means. By this they mean that: the country cannot afford to employ 300,000 workers — a quarter of the entire workforce — to look after educational, health and social welfare needs. So the major parties want to reduce the need to borrow from abroad by cutting back expenditure on public services and by increasing taxation on wages and consumption.

The argument that a state with a small population is overdoing it by 32 Co Alternative to Labour Need

BY NIALL MEEHAN

FOR THE fourth General Election in a row the vote of the Irish Labour Party has dropped. The main aim of the the party’s leader, Michael O'Leary, during the campaign was to hold on to his seat. This he managed with a great deal of effort, money and without ‘ reaching the quota. The party is ina coimplete shambles, politically, financially and organisationally.

Labour’s Administrative Council is split down the middle on the issue of Coalition. Michael O’Leary and the chairperson of the party, Michael D. Higgins spent most of the election campaign issuing contradictory statements on whether Labour was standing on its own programme or whether it was running second fiddle to to Fine Gael. Of course this hasn’t prevented O'Leary from attempting to maintain a brave face. The usual rhetoric about how “until the day Labour is in a majority and can form a government” it will have to cast about in order to decide which capitalist party to hang on to the coattails of has been bandied about as a justification for Labour’s performance. That this strategy is responsible for the steady decline in Labour support is blithely ignored by O'Leary. !nstead of appearing as a socialist party, Labour now gives the impression of an imitation capitalist party. When confronted by this masquerade it is i rge against sq agill has led ae? charg! and unemployment. Ss of Thatcherites m Vincent, itp » A bunch of the workwandermania ant to railroa leone ince Browne ha: Ls ictions Wrong. otten most predic . pedis dividends In the long ru Go MANY MYTHS HAVE been expounded in the media about public money “Squandered” on health, education, and capital projects with a resulting huge foreign debt. Right-wing economists have attempted to use workers’ justified anger at crippling PAYE taxes to call for cuts in government spending. The following article by BRENDAN KELLY explodes those myths and shows how public money needs to be redirected away from filling the pockets of big farmers, speculators and foreign capitalists.employing 300,000 workers to service public needs might seem reasonable at first sight. But it misses the real point. Southern Ireland has a million people — a quarter of the population — living on or below the poverty line. Without proper state aid and services this section of the population would suffer severe distress. In addition to our poor, even those not caught directly in the “poverty trap” also need State services. Ireland has a high rate of dependancy.

Since 41% of the population is either under 14 or over 65 years of age, it cannot fend for itself.

not surprising that voters plump for the real capitalists rather than the Labour imitation. If this spectacle were not so serious it would be simply pathetic. The need for a socialist alternative to the parties that sell out to international capital and British imperialism has never been greater. So why has the Labour Party failed this test and what are the chances for it being squarely confronted by the other socialist and anti-imperialist forces in this country? Put simply, the Labour Party thinks the same conditions apply in Ireland as apply in the major capitalist countries in Europe where there are large social democratic parties with, in the main, majority working class support. We will put aside the question of whether even these European parties are capable of solving the needs of European workers and concentrate solely on the Irish Labour Party. In the 1960s the southern economy experienced a significant period of industrialisation, increase in living standards and steady economic growth.

For the layer of intellectuals and skilled workers that were attracted to the Labour Party this economic growth was seen as unending. For them it meant an end to what they saw as divisive and irrelevant “civil war politics’’ between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael and a beginning of “real’’ class politics. By concentrating simply on the obvious social and economic backwardness of Irish s taken Up ~ Make The Rich P

AN ALTERNATIVE WORKERS’ BUDGET

The £2 billion a year spent by the State, therefore, is not just wasted on expendable luxuries. It is really a small but vitally essential cushion against the ravages of an impoverished and underdeveloped economy. Any serious reduction in public service employment would simply tighten the screws on the poorer and more helpless sections of society. For example, with over-crowded schools and hospitals, how many of our 40,000 teachers or 60,000 nurses and health workers can we afford to sack? After health and social welfare the southern. state spends more on education than on anything else. Yet this spending is the lowest per head of population in Europe. In the national school sector an additional 4,000 teachers would be needed to bring us up to British standards.

This is just one small indication that state services far from being overabundant, are in fact far too meagre.

TAXATION AND WORKERS

In addition to cutting state services the major parties also want to make workers pay more for them, through higher taxation. After all, the argument goes, workers benefit most from state spending so they should pay most. This argument is also misleading.

State spending on social needs is as much in the interests of employers as workers. An educated, healthy, properly housed labour force is as important to the profits of the employers as to the well-being of workers. Yet the contribution to State finances by the wealthy profitearners is practically non-existent.

Of direct taxation on all income, workers pay £87 out of ever £100 while the employers pay only £7.

Direct taxation on income (PAYE) accounts for just under half of all taxation. But the rest of taxation falls mainly on items which affect workers most — VAT on purchases, excise duties, import taxes. George --Colley,. former Minister for Finance, estimated that 30% of what remained of a worker’s income after PAYE was taken in other forms of taxes.

Tax discrimination against workers is added to not only by the fact that they carry an unfair share of society the working class would come to them. The inadequacies of Irish society could be reformed away and paid for by the increasing wealth and affluence of the Irish economy, the most important parts of which could be nationalised by a majority Labour government. The reactionary social power of the Church would simply wither away, swept carelessly aside by the forward march of the better educated and aware masses.

By the 1969 General Election, Labour had a very left sounding programme and had attracted a significant number of youth and intellectual support. Labour stood on its own and proclaimed “‘the seventies will be socialist” as their rallying cry. The election outcome was bound to be a victory for Labour, no other possibility could be imagined.

The right wing in the party stayed silent in the face of this sustained euphoria. It was obvious to them that they should bide their time and await the inevitable crash before they could return things to the normal round of electing a few TDs and joining a government as a junior partner when the opportunity arose.

When the results of the 1969 election were announced, Labour had got its highest ever number of votes but, ominiously, lost seats. The left consensus began to crumble, the infighting and expulsions began.

Despair, disillusionment and an opportunity for those with an eye to the main chance was the end result.

A sustained assault on the left began the burden but also by the fact that their share is getting disproportionately heavier all the time. From 1972 to 1982 taxes on capital and profit declined from 1.66% of the total to less than 0.5%; at the same time the share of the PAYE sector (workers) rose from 25% to 40% of all taxes.

The major tax demonstrations and strikes of the past few years indicate that the point has been reached where workers not alone do not want, but simply can’t shoulder a heavier tax burden. The present level of taxation cannot be maintained, never mind increased, without altering the tax structure.

So how can the present level of state spending on social needs be maintained and increased without incurring more foreign debt or placing the burden an workers?

AN ALTERNATIVE

WORKERS’ BUDGET

There are three main ways in which this can be achieved: basic changes in the nature of existing state spending; increased productive investment by the state; shifting the tax burden decisively onto the wealthy. i) Changes in State Spending Not all state spending goes towards social needs or productive activity.

For example nearly £500m is spent on ‘Law and Order’. That is to say millions of pounds are spent propping ‘up a border which nobody wants and fighting a ‘crime wave’ which is fueled by extreme social deprivation.

The absurdity of this kind of state expenditure can be seen by any thinking person. For example the “Youth and Justice” report found that 48 out of 50 young offenders come from jobless homes. At the same time experts estimate that the £500 million spent on Law and Order could produce 25,000 product- . ive jobs which would be no burden to the taxpayer. Surely this would be a more positive way to eliminate crime and give real justice?

ii) Productive Investment Productive investment by the state comes under the Capital Budget which this year amounted to £2000m.

But most of this investment is “productive” in name only. A total of and coalition was put forward as the only alternative. The youth of the party were the first to get out, Most of the supposedly new left TDs like Connor Cruise O’Brien, Michael O’Leary, Barry Desmond and Frank Cluskey ran to Fine Gael with offers of a Labour alliance. A caucus of left -independents on the Administrative Council, the ‘‘Left Liaison Committee”’, were rendered ineffectual. They devoted themselves to party infighting until they left or were expelled in 1977 to form the SLP. The seventies turned rather sour instead of socialist for Labour. Upon entering coalition with Fine Gael in 1973 they were to become known as the party of rising prices, unemployment, capitulation to Britain and to repression - the very opposite to what most socialists would consider socialist policies. Of course this is to explain what happened rather than why. If socialists and anti-imperialists want to avoid these mistakes in the future we must start to understand Labour’s basic political failure rather than just reduce it to the dishonesty of Labour TDs or the party’s failure of nerve.

If in the sixties Labour thought that economic growth would be untroubled then basically they thought that British imperialism no longer played’a role in Ireland, and that the national question was n4t the major question holding back social progress in Ireland.

Of course the strategy collapsed under the weight of events. The capitalist economic boom, whose crumbs the

SOCIALIS1

ER £1,281 — 64% — will be spent state-funded construction.

far below what is needed for hous hospitals, schools, roads, etc. But | main point is that most of to private construction compan!

This will mean a) very litte vain: for money since the construction companies are a by-word fay Pott <« t revenue to ease the tax burd One of the most cbyiou turn the Capital Budgci productive money spinni can raise State money for sa needs, is to. nationalise ihe | Industry and create a Stat tion Company. In general ment under the Capital Budve be througn state companies. W necessary private compan!

sector should be nationalised ¢ accomplish this.

RANCHERS

iii) Tax the Rich Immediate steps to rais State spending: + a) Tax the Multinatic firms receive huge grants | ment institutions. Yet their pre — which.are amongst ine highest the world — are almost entire free. Increasingly these pi!

repatriated without any the Irish economy or p b) Tax the Big Farmers — ¢ of the income which arises culture comes from These subsidies, in acc Ne government policy go largely 1 big farmers. Yet the “rari only 14% of the entire ingo bill. It is true that the avere Ta income is well below ih agricultural sector and (hal man farmers are too poor ic | t a small clique of dig fabulously wealthy. ! last year while average [arin in declined, ‘cattle: prices yose by Uy) 30%. It is obvious that the big farmers engaged in this oll @ ~trade-have. thrived wiijle L165 farmersHavesgone to Wig wan big farmers must be made iy py through the nose by a mich tisher rate of income tax. a =x southern economy fe The rotten northern st exposed worldwide by 1 rights movement and By! dirty deeds became the res for attention. In answer tu 1 problems Labour had 1: than its left sounding \ troubled conscience. A gramme was found to bs without a left wing st mobilises those that ar and gives them the be tunity to defeat thet Having no faith in the rev potential of the working | reformist outlook retreats | bd prevailing Free State cc Britain’s political conti through its military grip c Counties is the key to | wardness, politically, soci economically. This is the «i between Ireland and the ist economies of Europ years of repression it ous!

obvious to even the mos Labour social democrat. The Irish working class pr County fighting p 32 County workers anti-imperialist perspect!

The Labour Party is cle vehicle for that strateg major anti—imperialis their history and traci: ing imperialism are th that process. Principled | sectarian preconditions major political problen inequality and austerity

PAGE 4 SOCIALIST REPUBLIC

By Niall Meehan IN THE recent southern General Election, Peoples Democracy organised campaigns in two constituencies.

In Dublin North Central PD sponsored Bernadette McAliskey and in Limerick East the Limerick branch of PD stood Joe Harrington. PD also issued a call for electoral unity between the major anti-imperialist organisations. The programme put forward by our organisation called for: *Complete British Withdrawal — For a United Independent Ireland *Defence of Workers’ Living Standards — Against Austerity *Defence of Democratic and Civil Rights *Complete Opposition to Imerialist Alliances — Out of the EEC; No to NATO. When the election was called we approached Bernadette and asked her to stand in Dublin North Central where Vincent Doherty of PD polled 1,500 votes in the last General Election and where there was the basis for a large campaign.

Bernadette met with the National Committee and agreed the basis of her standing as a PD sponsored candidate. Joe Harrington was put forward as our candidate in Limerick East. We also agreed to approach the IRSP and Sinn Fein with a view to getting unity among the antiimperialist and socialist forces in the election. Unfortunately neither Sinn Fein nor the IRSP were interested in any form of unity. Sinn Fein were prepared only to agree to an informalal non-aggression pact. The IRSP claimed that the programme we suggested ‘pre-empted’ the IRSP’s own campaign. Both of these positions effectively neutralised the unity of purpose that had been built up by the anti-imperialist movement in the H Block/Armagh campaign.

They represented a severe setback when the southern government was persuing a campaign of naked coilabdoration with Britain and marginali sation of the anti-imperialist movement. Effectively the IRSP and Sinn Fein were saying to all the H Block/ Armagh militants “support the separate campaigns of our small organisations’”’ when the achievement of unity on a principled basis was our most important task and could have attracted numbers bigger than the aggregate size of PD, the IRSP and Sinn Fein. There was a ludicrous situation in Clare where there was one Sinn Fein and one IRSP candidate and in Limerick East where the IRSP stood John Although PD and the IRSP in Limerick called for 2nd preferences to be given to each other’s candidates Sinn Fein refused to call for votes for other anti-imperialist candidates on the basis that they do not support non-abstentionist candidates.

This sort of posturing demoralises the many thousands of activists — in the anti-imperialist movement who do not belong to any party.

It also prevents a united and ongoing fightback from developing after the election is over. A welcome development during the campaign was the approach made by-Matt Merrigan and Des Bonass, national cfiairperson and treasurer respectively of the Socialist Labour Party, to PD to give their support to Bernadette in North Central. The SLP did not contest the elections because of lack of resources and the memory of the SLP’s bad results in the previous General Election which resulted in a crisis of direction for the party. The SLP is essentially divided into an anti-Republican wing and those like Matt Merrigan and Des Bonass who want to bring the lessons of the anti-imperialist struggle Gilligan alongside PD’s Joe Harrington.

PD ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Shows the Way into the life of the workers’ movement. The need to take up the economic struggle of Irish workers in the context of imperialism in a concrete way is now obvious. PD hopes to develop the discussion with militants involved in the election campaign with a view to planning future joint work. The unity generated by the campaign in North Central attracted over 200 supporters as well as contingents from the Socialist Workers Movement and the League for a Workers Republic.

Weekly meetings for campaign workers were held during the campaign and discussed progress on the ground and the political issues being thrown up on the doorsteps and in the media.

The point was continually made by PD and Bernadette that this campaign was only the start and that we had to lay the basis for an ongoing stuggle against the capitalist parties and their “socialist” hangers-on. Elections are a vital part of any socialist strategy but they are finally to be judged as an indicator of the state of the mass struggle. They show the degree of politicisation of the working class and the distance that has to be bridged between their consciousness and that of activists. So the results in North Central and Limerick East have to be seen in that light. Bernadette got 2,085 first preference votes. While the vote of the Sinn Fein candidates was generally half that achieved by the H Block candidates the vote for Bernadette was an increase of 500 on that achieved by Vincent Doherty in the previous election. However most of the activists hdped that Bernadette would be in contention for a seat.

It was hoped that she would pick up the votes of Noel Browne TD, who was not standing. It turned out that most of these votes went to Fine Gael! Another thought put forward was that the smear campaign carried out by the virulently rightwing anti-abortionists, the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) who handed out 40,000 anti-Bernadette leaflets, lost over 1,000 votes. This does not seem tenable since the same campaign was carried out against Labour’s Michael D Higgins TD in Galway without any appreciable effect. It does show however that SPUC are a dangerous anti-woman organisation which has successfully mobilised the prejudices of a large section of the middle class and the three main parties including the disgraceful Labour Party. The proposed libel case against SPUC being taken by Bernadette will be a good way to begin to combat them. We should not be under any illustions however, that this will be an easy task.

In Limerick the combined antiimperialist vote fell somewhat with Joe Harrington of PD receiving 215 votes. The large vote which Kemmy received is a salutary lesson to the anti-imperialist movement on the teed for unity against our opponents.

In Dublin North Central a constituency committee hasbeen set up which will lay the basis for an ongoing fightback and will maintain the forces assembled during the campaign.

THROUGH THE course of the H Block/Armagh campaign and the two recent southern General Elections, members of Peoples Democracy have come into contact and worked with other socialist militants who expressed a desire to know more about PD.

What is the basis of our organisation, our history, tradition and future plansWhat are the differences and similarities between PD and other socialist and republican organisations?

PD was founded nearly fourteen years ago in Queens University, Belfast, by students from mainly catholic working class backgrounds who were among the first catholics to take advantage of the British welfare state education provision. Those who founded PD, like Michael Farrell and Bernadette McAliskey, were acutely aware from personal experience of the sectarian disadvantages imposed on the catholic population by the northern state. PD through the civil rights movement and the catholic population’s clashes with the tottering, corrupt Stormont regime and its armed wing, the RUC and the B Specials. Those who made up the ranks of PD were aware of and considered themselves part of a worldwide youth radicalisation, the struggle against US imperialism in Vietnam and the opposition to the Soviet invasion of Chekeslovakia in 1968. PD is best known for its organising of the famous Burntollet march in January 1969 which was attacked by hordes of Paisleyites, and ‘offduty’ RUC men and B Specials, unhindered by the ‘on duty’ RUC’ The blatent sectarianism of the Six County police was exposed before the whole world and hardened the catholic population for the struggles that were to come. In August 1969 PD organised Radio Free Belfast and the journals ‘Barricades Bulletin’ and ‘Free Citizen’.

members of PD were lifted in the initial swoops. PD members who escaped the army raids published the first copy of the newly-named ‘Unfree Citizen’ which was the first paper to PD also played a major role in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). However, when the Communist Party and the Official Republicans (now SFWP) used their dominance of NICRA to oppose mass mobilisations, PD helped to set up the Northern Resistance Movement and later the Political Hostages Release Committee. The need for unity among the major anti-imperialist forces has always been a key note of PD activity.

In 1974 PD members Michael Farrell and Tony Canavan embarked on a hunger strike in Crumlin Road Prison to secure political status for short term political prisoners . Mass mobilisations of the catholic community forced the Brits to concede after 42 days.

Throughout all this period PD was developing its understanding of Irish socialism and the kind of organisation needed to achieve it. PD had discussions with other forces on the left in Ireland, trying to develop a broad socialist and antiimperialist force which could confront the Free State collaborators as well as the easily seen effects of British 1972 to 1976 was a period of retreat and partial demoralisation for antiwas born and gained its initial experience When internment came in August 1971, appear in the ghettoes after internment.

imperialism of the streets of the North.

es amma ae

PEOPLES DEMOGRACY

FOR UNITY AND MASS ACTION!

imperialists. PD suffered a split when a group within PD left to form the (now defunct) Red Republican Party.

Noel Little, brutally assassinated with Ronnie Bunting in 1980 by the UDA, was one of those who left PD at that time. Those who stayed with PD contended that military action should be subservient to the needs of mobilising the masses politically to defeat imperialism. Armed groups, whatever their bravery or audacity, cannot substitute for involving the masses to defeat their oppressors. Military action is not ruled out, far from it, but is seen as a tactic of the struggle, not as an eternal principle. This position is still valid today and was vindicated by the H Block/Armagh campaign. sue socialist internationalism in a real and concrete way. On both these issues they differed from the League for a Workers Republic. Between 1971 and 1978 the MSR built branches in Dublin, Limerick and Belfast, and were involved in the south around issues such as police brutality, opposition to National Wage Agreements and all austerity measures in the trade union movement, in building a strong opposition to the SFWP in USI, the National Students organisation, and in building a mass womens movement (Irish Women United) and a mass campaign for free legal contraception, In all of these issues they adopted the method of involving the broadest number of people and organisations in support of the demands of the oppressed. Both North and South this united work brought together in joint activity the comrades of MSR and PD and in the early days of the H Block campaign we had a common perspective of broadening the campaign, basing it on mass mobilisation, and exposing the collaboration of PD was not alone in suffering a split during this period. All the major left and republican forces suffered from splits at this period. The CPI, Official Republicans, IRSP and the Labour Party all suffered one or more splits or engaged in undemocratic expulsions in this period of questioning and retreat for the struggle. PD was unique in one major respect in that in 1977 it fused with the Movement for a Socialist Republic which had branches in Dublin, Belfast and Limerick. The MSR emerged in 1971 froma struggle within the Young Socialists on the importance of the national question, and of belonging to the Fourth International in order to pur- By Brendan Kelly strategy therefore is no longer the nakedness of its repression but in fact that it has to resurrect the question of national unity in order to consolidate Partition.

NATIONAL UNITY THE

CENTRAL ISSUE

While it is true that a general fight against repression would provide a minimum basis for uniting antiimperialists it would not confront the central element of Britain’s new approach. For this reason it would also be unlikely to gain a mass audience. The relevance of a purely anti-repression campaign would surely be lost on the huge number of people who are watching the Anglo-lrish talks and FitzGerald’s ‘Crusade’ and who perhaps have illusions in these gambits. It is probable that the majority of people would see a repression campaign by itself as an introverted concern of the anti-imperialist movement arising out of its own weaknesses and mistakes. Against Sinn Fein’s emphasis on repression, Peoples Democracy argued the question of national unity and partition should be put to the fore of the anti-imperialist programme.

ONE OF the major outcomes of the recent H Block/Armagh conference was to continue informal discussion about future strategy for the antiimperialist movement. The end of the hunger strikes has left a vacuum which no one organisation has been able to fill. It is now clear that united front activity continues to be of vital importance for all socialists and republicans. The discussion at the conference indicated there is no common agreement on the issues around which a united campaign could be built or on the organisational form which such a campaign would take. What has become clear however, is the main topics which have to be thrashed out.

Concerning the issues around which a new campaign should be built two distinct positions emerged. Sinn Fein argued that the evolution of the H Block/Armagh campaign should be limited to a general defence against repression North and South. As against this Peoples Democracy argued that this was not enough for the coming period. There were two reasons for this.

Our positions on these are a direct reply to the manoeuvres contained in the Anglo-Irish talks. They have the best possibility of confronting the nub of Britain’s current strategy and of winning a mass audience.

REPRESSION AND BRITISH

STRATEGY

The first reason concerns the nature of imperialist repression at the present time. The success of the hunger-strike protest was due to the fact that it challenged Britain’s strategy right at the heart of its “‘Criminalisation” policy. The protest revealed in black and white that Britain’s presence in Ireland is based on a brutal denial of democratic rights. As such the hunger strike was able to fire national sentiment and mobilise mass support.

The second reason why Peoples Democracy opposed restricting the development of the H Block/ Armagh campaign to repression issues has to do with another important change in the political situation since the hunger-strike. That change is of course the effect of the deepening economic crisis. When evaluating the success of the H Block/Armagh campaign it is important to remember that, precisely because of that success, the

THE IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC

CRISIS

The economic crisis has assumed a overall political situation has changed much sharper form in Ireland than since then. Gaping holes were torn in in European countries because Britain’s ‘Criminalisation’ policy. of neo-colonial domination by Britain Britain and native collaborators now and international imperialism. Socialists have to cloak their repression with a and republicans have an obvious duty pretence of interest in Irish national to intervene in this crisis to ensure unity. The weak flanks of Britain’s that it is resolved at the expense of Southern politicians with Thatcher’s plans. The brave struggle of the H Block prisoners had only begun when the SWP, the American supporters of the Fourth International, organised a tour in order to raise consciousness and funds for the Irish struggle. The speakers were, Bernadette McAliskey, Anne Speed (MSR) and Fergus O’Hare, (PD). During the tour and afterwards plans were made to unite the antiimperialist and working class militants as broadly as possible in defence of their struggles. PD and MSR began to discuss a principled fusion around the central issues of the Irish revolution: 1. An end to repression north & south 2. Complete British withdrawal from the North, and the establishment of a 32 county socialist republic 3. For a working class fightback against all cuts in living standards, and for the nationalisation of industry , financial institutions, building land and large farms 4. To support the rights of all oppressed groups in society and in particular to actively fight for the rights of women (eg contraception, divorce, married women’s right to work etc).

5. For a real internationalism. In this context the importance of the Fourth International as the only truly Marxist party was recognised and the new party pledged itself to defend the revolutions of other countries. Perhaps more important than any other _of these particular points, was the Britain and local and international allies and not at the expense of the Irish people. But does it follow that the economic crisis should form part of a programme for uniting antiimperialists at this point in time?

Peoples Democracy gives an affirmative answer to this question. The severity of economic and social distress will tend to depoliticise rather than radicalise people. If this happens then it will be extremely difficult for the antiimperialist movement to mobilise support for the demands of national unity and indepdendence. A united response by the anti-imperialist movement to the economic crisis which can make maximum impact in the shortest possible time is essential

HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY

On the more positive side the economic crisis needs to be put in historical perspective. Not since the War of Independence has such a deep going crisis of British rule in Ireland combined with such an intractable economic crisis. In other words, for the first time since Partition the conditions which enabled a thorough mass revolt against British rule in the early 1920s are re-emerging. It is a Maura McRory who topped the poll on re-election to the H Block/Armagh Committee agreement on an overall analysis and method by which to analyse Ireland’s position as a neo-colonial society in the imperialist epoch, and a strategic agreement on the basic tasks faced by Irish revolutionaries in putting forward a united and coherent opposition to Britain’s strategy for Ireland.

The first task of the new PD was to create a united movement in defence of the blanket prisoners in H Block by breaking down the opposition to such unity by the major anti-imperialist organisations. This was done through a series of initiatives, the most important of which were the Coalisland Anti-Repression Conference, the Burntollet Commemoration March in January 1979, and Bernadette McAliskey’s candidacy in the European Parliament elections in June 1979. In each of these initiatives the need for united defence of the political prisoners was made the central priority. The eventual formation of the H Block/Armagh Committee brought the first stage of this task to fruition. Since that period the work of PD in calling for the using of elections as a - ‘means of mobilising against imperialism and presenting an alternative to the native collaborators has become fairly well known to socialist republicans.

The one thread of continuity that has run through all our work over the last 14 years has been the need for principled unity against imperialism. The sponsoring and organising of Bernadette’s candidature in Dublin North Central was the latest addition to that continuity. Our organisation is an open, democratic, anti-imperialist and internationalist organisation, which is always looking for new forces to help shift the crushing weight of foreign intervention in Ireland’s affairs. If you agree with us then you should join and find out whether being in PD is an effective way of helping to lead the Irish working class to unity and victory.

H:Block Movement Assesses the Way Forward historic opportunity which will be missed if the lessons of history are not learned. The major lesson of the 1920s as Liam Mellows pointed out was the disregard for the interest of workers and their consequent apathy towards the republican cause. That mistake was partly corrected during the hunger-strike when a specific appeal was made to workers.

Any new united front which wants to build on the gains of the H Block/ Armagh campaign must take this initial approach to workers to its logical conclusion. This will require integrating the demands of workers with other anti-imperialist demands.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ELECTIONS

So far we have argued that since the ending of the hunger-strike the political situation has changed in two important respects, ie with regard to Britain’s strategy and with regard to the economic crisis. The combination of these two changes has produced a further change which will affect the development of any new anti-imperialist unity We are referring here to the ir.stability of government in the South.

This development has brought electoral activity te the fore as an important THE “HUNG DAIL” of June 1981 was caused mainly by the H Block vote; it fell over a budget which was a deliberate and vicious attack on workers, The beginning and the end of the 22nd Dail tells all we need to know about the major issues in Irish politics; an unfinished national revolution and an underdeveloped economy blocked by semi-colonial stagnation.

None of the major parties have any policies which can overcome these problems. Fianna Fail and the Coalition have the same basic strategy: defence of Partition through increased collaboration with Britain and economic “development” within the framework of accepting imperialist domination.

In a situation of international political tension and economic crisis this policy can be summed up in two words: repression and austerity. That is what a growing number of Irish people are beginning to see. And the more they see it the less they like it. The result is popular distrust of the major parties.

Result | Shows Unity Essential increased their share of the poll in this area but in radically different ways.

Fianna Fail gained significant extra support in working class districts while Fine Gael pulled in the middle class vote.

Even more interestingly it was the traditionally “liberal” sections of the middle class (which supported left independents such as Noel Brown and John O’Connell) which gave Fine Gael its biggest boost.

What this reflects is an initial class polarisation. The middle class opted for the most conscious and consistent policy of repression and austerity while workers rejected it. But this is only a tentative development since, while Fine Gael consciously speaks for the middle class, Fianna Fail in no way represents an alternative for workers. This fact was born out by the results of the February 18th election. It was supposed to be the most serious in the history of the state. The media and the politicians agreed that for the first time ever the electorate would vote for policies and not personalities.

In the event the opposite happened. No clear national voting pattern emerged.

Swings were mainly on a local basis and tended to cancel each other out.

People did not vote on central policy issues but on local ones.

But behind the peculiarities of each result there was one clear message: popular confidence in the ability of the major parties to solve fundamental political and economic problems was considerably down. Some of the local swings however could have a national importance in the long run. This is particularly true of the outcome in Dublin for example.

Both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael Despite the depth of political and economic crisis in Ireland it is clear that workers saw no national alternative to the existing party set-up. This ONE OF the side-effects of the Kincora corruption scandal was the implication of the DUP leader, lan Paisley, in the allegations of a coverup. \t is ironic that a man who has spent his entire career in whipping up hatred against catholics and, not satisfied with that, was attempting to mobilise fundamentalist loyalism against gays in his “Save Ulster from Sodomy” campaign, should now himself come under threat from his even more fundamentalist followers.

weapon in the anti-imperialist struggle.

Because of this Peopies Democracy argued at the H Block/Armagh conference that a new united front would have to put the aim of creating an anti-imperialist electoral front at the centre of its perspective.

As distinct from other organisations and individuals in the H Block/Armagh campaign we lay particular emphasis on this suggestion. We feel that because of the depth of the combined political, economic and social crisis a growing number of people are looking for strategic alternatives rather than piecemeal solutions to their problems. The question of who forms the government is uppermost in their minds. At the same time they are increasingly alienated from the major parties which is why there is government instability. The beneficiaries of this situation so far have been mainly the pro-imperialist left. However the temporary embarrassment that Paisley faces over this issue masks a turning point in the fortunes of the DUP and a questionmark over the future development of loyalism. Ulster unionism has always had a substantial loyalist rump. As an armed force it provided the backbone for the frequent anti-catholic pogroms, As a political force it organised the petty-bourgeoisie and If the anti-imperialist movement is d lumpen proletariat. serious about winning a mass audience for its ideas it must be able to present itself as a serious governmental alternative. Moreover it is not just a question of winning an audience for ideas but of actually promoting practical resistance to exploitation and repression. In the present situation this practical resistance has declined In many cases there is an instinctive feeling that individual issues cannot be won while all the major parties in Leinster House are committed to repression and austerity. The promise therefore that there will be a major political alternative in Leinster House will be an important factor in organising a fight back at grass-roots level.

In the disintegration of the unionist monolith that began with the present troubles, Paisley made sure that he held this section, and that after the fall of the power-sharing assembly that he was its sole and undisputed leader. Paisley had nothing to do with the organising of the 1974 loyalist stoppage, but he wasn’t slow to step into the leadership and he attempted to repeat the exercise and force the return of Stormont in 1977. He wasn’t successful, but in the local government elections of that year he got over 30% of the unionist vote and the DUP became the second largest unionist party. The DUP kept up the pressure: the “Save Ulster from Sodomy” campaign disruption of cross-border meetings and attacks on Dublin councillors, a campaign against religious ecumenism, the Carson Trail, and most recently the ‘Day of Action’, the disruption of Council meetings and the attempt to unseat the RUC chief. The policy of activism paid off. %he DUP traditionally a party of “ne rural poor and lower middle class, made inroads into the protestarit working class with the election @f McQuaid The electoral united front which Peoples Democracy advocates therefore will not be electoralist in the usual sense. We see such a front as the spear-head of a campaign to encourage resistance at all levels of society. In the coming months these are some of the ideas that we will be putting to other anti-imperialist organisations and individuals. In the next issue of Socialist Republic we will discuss some more questions such as the nature of an anti-imperialist economic programme and democracy within a united front. i hold in the South. The anti-imperialist

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC PAGE 5

showed up especially in the performance of the anti-imperialist movement. The Sinn Fein vote and the Bernadette McAliskey campaign sponsored by PD confirmed that the anti-imperialist movement has a small but credible footcandidates polled between 5-7% wherever they stood. This was a result similar to that of Sinn Fein—the Workers Party. But there is no room for complacency.

The momentum of the H Block campaign was not maintained. This has certain implications. The hunger strike movement found its greatest support amongst the workers and the poor. Yet at a time when these people were looking for someone to defend them they did not seriously believe that the anti-imperialist movement could play such 2 role. There are a number of lessons in all this. Firstly, the economic and social implications of imperialist domination have to be systematically integrated into the overall programme of anti-imperialism. Anti-imperialists must be able to give detailed answers to the multitude of everyday problems which afflict working people.

Secondly, it is not enough to have a programme it is also necessary to be able to fight for it. This means winning the confidence of workers by consistent work in their areas and their organisations (trade unions etc). Without building support in this way it will be impossible to gain real credibility among workers. Thirdly, the anti-imperialist movement must be able to present itself as a united national alternative to the established parties. Political organisations such as Sinn Fein, Peoples Democracy and the IRSP have a responsibility to come together and develop a national alliance which will be active in every nook and cranny of the country.

BRENDAN KELLY

Paisley Loses Clout and Robinson in Belfast in the last British general election. The local elections of last May saw them emerge as the major unionist party with a slightly larger share of the overall vote than the Official Unionists.

One point should be made however.

The various paisleyite campaigns, while they have attracted support to the DUP, have failed in their object. Stormont has not been restored. Cross-border contacts have not been ended, “Ulster” has not been rendered ungovernable and the mass of protestants have not joined in an armed insurrection. Recent history in the north since 1974 shows that while unionism may be able to veto imperialism’s plans it is not able to advance and force the adoption of its own programme. In fact even this veto may be wearing thin as the British find a receptive audience in the Irish nationalist bourgeoisie for a restructuring of partition.

The less radical tone of official unionism reflects a more realistic assessment of their dependence on Britain. Their most recent conference led to a partial split when they dumped the call for a return to Stormont. This realism has not reached the mass of unionist voters and this partially accounts for the growth of the DUP, but in fact they have no alternative programme. On the ‘Carson Trail” Paisley threatened armed conflict with the British forces. This was hardly meant seriously — the threat has been used frequently to pressure the British, but the important fact is that issuing the threat led to bitter disagreements with other sectors of loyalist opinion. Without a credible threat Paisley finds himself without any real lever to pressure the British.

He has plenty of votes— but in reality the majority of unionists are con/tused and demoralised and unwilling to take to the streets. This doesn’t meam/that the DUP don’t represent a. danger. They are a powerful fearce of the most bigoted and counter—revolutionary elements in the North. Pressure from.them acts to bring more and more British and RUC repression in the ghettoes. They are able to hold armed demonstrations and organise openly while the RUC and UDR fraternise with them.

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PAGE 4 SOCIALIST REPUBLIC

PD ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Shows the Way By Niall Meehan IN THE recent southern General Election, Peoples Democracy organised campaigns in two constituencies.

In Dublin North Central PD sponsored THROUGH THE course of the H Block/Armagh campaign and the two recent southern General Elections, members of Peoples Democracy have come into contact and worked with other socialist militants who expressed a desire to know more about PD.

What is the basis of our organisation, our history, tradition and future plansWhat are the differences and similarities between PD and other socialist and republican organisations?

PD was founded nearly fourteen years ago in Queens University, Belfast, by students from mainly catholic working class backgrounds who were among eee cial:

PEOPLES DEMO

FOR UNITY AND MASS

imperialists. PD suffered a split when a group within PD left to form the (now defunct) Red Republican Party.

Noel Little, brutally assassinated with Ronnie Bunting in 1980 by the UDA, was one of those who left PD at that time. Bernadette McAliskey and in Limerick East the Limerick branch of PD stood Joe Harrington. PD also issued a call for electoral unity between the major anti-imperialist organisations. The programme put forward by our organisation called for: *Complete British Withdrawal — For a United Independent Ireland *Defence of Workers’ Living Standards — Against Austerity *Defence of Democratic and Civil Rights *Complete Opposition to Imerialist Alliances — Out of the EEC; No to NATO. When the election was called we approached Bernadette and asked her to stand in Dublin North Central where Vincent Doherty of PD polled 1,500 votes in the last General Election and where there was the basis for a large campaign.

Bernadette met with the National Committee and agreed the basis of her standing as a PD sponsored candidate. Joe Harrington was put forward as our candidate in Limerick East. We also agreed to approach the IRSP and Sinn Fein with a view to getting unity among the antiimperialist and socialist forces in the election. Unfortunately neither Sinn Fein nor the IRSP were interested in any form of unity. Sinn Fein were prepared only to agree to an informalal non-aggression pact. The IRSP claimed that the programme we suggested ‘pre-empted’ the IRSP’s own campaign. Both of these positions effectively neutralised the unity of purpose that had been built up by the anti-imperialist movement in the H Block/Armagh campaign.

They represented a severe setback when the southern government was persuing a campaign of naked collavoration with Britain and marginali sation of the anti-imperialist movement. Effectively the IRSP and Sinn Fein were saying to all the H Block/ Armagh militants “support the separate campaigns of our small organisations’ when the achievement of unity on a principled basis was our most important task and could have attracted numbers bigger than the aggregate size of PD, the IRSP and Sinn Fein. There was a ludicrous situation in Clare where there was one Sinn Fein and one IRSP candidate and in Limerick East where the IRSP stood John Gilligan alongside PD’s Joe Harrington.

Although PD and the IRSP in Limerick called for 2nd preferences to be given to each other’s candidates Sinn Fein refused to call for votes for other anti-imperialist candidates on the basis that they do not support non-abstentionist candidates.

This sort of posturing demoralises the many thousands of activists — in the anti-imperialist movement who do not belong to any party.

It also prevents a united and ongoing fightback from developing after the election is over. A welcome development during the campaign was the approach made by-Matt Merrigan and Des Bonass, national cfiairperson and treasurer respectively of the Socialist Labour Party, to PD to give their support to Bernadette in North Central. The SLP did not contest the elections because of lack of resources and the memory of the SLP’s bad results in the previous General Election which resulted in a crisis of direction for the party. The SLP is essentially divided into an anti-Republican wing and those like Matt Merrigan and Des Bonass who want to bring the lessons of the anti-imperialist struggle into the life of the workers’ movement. The need to take up the economic struggle of Irish workers in the context of imperialism in a concrete way is now obvious. PD hopes to develop the discussion with militants involved in the election campaign with a view to planning future joint work. The unity generated by the campaign in North Central attracted over 200 supporters as well as contingents from the Socialist Workers Movement and the League for a Workers Republic.

Weekly meetings for campaign workers were held during the campaign and discussed progress on the ground and the political issues being thrown up on the doorsteps and in the media.

The point was continually made by PD and Bernadette that this campaign was only the start and that we had to lay the basis for an ongoing stuggle against the capitalist parties and their “socialist” hangers-on. Elections are a Vital part of any socialist strategy but they are finally to be judged as an indicator of the state of the mass struggle. They show the degree of politicisation of the working class and the distance that has to be bridged between their consciousness and that of activists. So the results in North Central and Limerick East have to be seen in that light. Bernadette got 2,085 first preference votes. While the vote of the Sinn Fein candidates was generally half that achieved by the H Block candidates the vote for Bernadette was an increase of 500 on that achieved by Vincent Doherty in the previous election. However most of the activists hSped that Bernadette would be in contention for a seat.

It was hoped that she would pick up the votes of Noel Browne TD, who was not standing. It turned out that most of these votes went to Fine Gael! Another thought put forward was that the smear campaign carried out by the virulently rightwing anti-abortionists, the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) who handed out 40,000 anti-Bernadette leaflets, lost over 1,000 votes. This does not seem tenable since the same campaign was carried out against Labour’s Michael D Higgins TD in Galway without any appreciable effect. It does show however that SPUC are a dangerous anti-woman organisation which has successfully mobilised the prejudices of a large section of the middle class and the three main parties including the disgraceful Labour Party. The proposed libel case against SPUC being taken by Bernadette will be a good way to begin to combat them. We should not be under any illustions however, that this will be an easy task.

In Limerick the combined antiimperialist vote fell somewhat with Joe Harrington of PD receiving 215 votes. The large vote which Kemmy received is a salutary lesson to the a2nti-imperialist movement on the 1 eed for unity against our opponents.

In Dublin North Central a constituency committee has’ been set up which will lay the basis for 2n ongoing fightback and will maintain the forces assembled during the campaign.

the first catholics to take advantage of the British welfare state education provision. Those who founded PD, like Michael Farrell and Bernadette McAliskey, were acutely aware from personal experience of the sectarian disadvantages imposed on the catholic population by the northern state. PD was born and gained its initial experience through the civil rights movement and the catholic population’s clashes with the tottering, corrupt Stormont regime and its armed wing, the RUC and the B Specials. Those who made up the ranks of PD were aware of and considered themselves part of a worldwide youth radicalisation, the struggle against US imperialism in Vietnam and the opposition to the Soviet invasion of Chekoslovakia in 1968. PD is best known for its organising of the famous Burntollet march in January 1969 which was attacked by hordes of Paisleyites, and ‘offduty’ RUC men and B Specials, unhindered by the ‘on duty’ RUC’ The blatent sectarianism of the Six County police was exposed before the whole world and hardened the catholic population for the struggles that were to come. In August 1969 PD organised Radio Free Belfast and the journals ‘Barricades Bulletin’ and ‘Free Citizen’.

When internment came in August 1971, members of PD were lifted in the initial swoops. PD members who escaped the army raids published the first copy of the newly-named ‘Unfree Citizen’ which was the first paper to appear in the ghettoes after internment.

Those who stayed with PD contended that military action should be subservient to the needs of mobilising the masses politically to defeat imperialism. Armed groups, whatever their bravery or audacity, cannot substitute for involving the masses to defeat their oppressors. Military action is not ruled out, far from it, but is seen as a tactic of the struggle, not as an eternal principle. This position is still valid today and was vindicated by the H Block/Armagh campaign. PD was not alone in suffering a split during this period. All the major left and republican forces suffered from splits at this period. The CPI, Official Republicans, IRSP and the Labour Party all suffered one or more splits or engaged in undemocratic expulsions in this period of questioning and retreat for the struggle. PD was unique in one major respect in that in 1977 it fused with the Movement for a Socialist Republic which had branches in Dublin, Belfast and Limerick. The MSR emerged in 1971 froma struggle within the Young Socialists on the importance of the national question, and of belonging to the Fourth International in order to pur- PD also played a major role in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). However, when the Communist Party and the Official Republicans (now SFWP) used their dominance of NICRA to oppose mass mobilisations, PD helped to set up the Northern Resistance Movement and later the Political Hostages Release Committee. The need for unity among the major anti-imperialist forces has always been a key note of PD activity.

In 1974 PD members Michael Farrell and Tony Canavan embarked ona hunger strike in Crumlin Road Prison to secure political status for short term political prisoners . Mass mobilisations of the catholic community forced the Brits to concede after 42 days.

Throughout all this period PD was developing its understanding of Irish socialism and the kind of organisation needed to achieve it. By Brendan Kelly ONE OF the major outcomes of the recent H Block/Armagh conference was to continue informal discussion about future strategy for the antiimperialist movement. The end of the hunger strikes has left a vacuum which no one organisation has been able to fill. It is now clear that united front activity continues to be of vital importance for all socialists and republicans. The discussion at the conference indicated there is no common agreement on the issues around which a united campaign could be built or on the organisational form which such a campaign would take. What has become clear however, is the main PD had discussions with other forces topics which have to be thrashed out.

on the left in Ireland, trying to develop a broad socialist and antiimperialist force which could confront the Free State collaborators as well as the easily seen effects of British imperialism of the streets of the North.

1972 to 1976 was a period of retreat and partial demoralisation for anti- Concerning the issues around which a new campaign should be built two distinct positions emerged. Sinn Fein argued that the evolution of the H Block/Armagh campaign should be limited to a general defence against repression North and South. As against this Peoples Democracy argued that this was not enough for the coming period. There were two reasons for this.

REPRESSION AND BRITISH

STRATEGY

The first reason concerns the nature of imperialist repression at the present time. The success of the hunger-strike protest was due to the fact that it challenged Britain’s strategy right at the heart of its ‘‘Criminalisation” policy. The protest revealed in black and white that Britain’s presence in Ireland is based on a brutal denial of democratic rights. As such the hunger strike was able to fire national sentiment and mobilise mass support.

When evaluating the success of the H Block/Armagh campaign it is important to remember that, precisely because gf that success, the overall political situation has changed since then. Gaping holes were torn in Britain’s ‘Criminalisation’ policy.

Britain and native collaborators now have to cloak their repression with a pretence of interest in Irish national unity. The weak flanks of Britain’s H:Block Movement sue socialist internationalism in a real and concrete way. On both these issues they differed from the League for a Workers Republic. Between 1971 and 1978 the MSR built branches in Dublin, Limerick and Belfast, and were involved in the south around issues such as police brutality, opposition to National Wage Agreements and all austerity measures in the trade union movement, in building a strong opposition to the SFWP in USI, the National Students organisation, and in building a mass womens movement (Irish Women United) anda mass campaign for free legal contraception.

In all of these issues they adopted the method of involving the broadest number of people and organisations in support of the demands of the oppressed. Both North and South this united work brought together in joint activity the comrades of MSR and PD and in the early days of the H Block campaign we had a common perspective of broadening the campaign, basing it on mass mobilisation, and exposing the collaboration of strategy therefore is no longer the nakedness of its repression but in ' fact that it has to resurrect the question of national unity in order to consolidate Partition.

NATIONAL UNITY THE

CENTRAL ISSUE

While it is true that a general fight against repression would provide a minimum basis for uniting antiimperialists it would not confront the central element of Britain’s new approach. For this reason it would also be unlikely to gain a mass audience. The relevance of a purely anti-repression campaign would surely be lost on the huge number of people who are watching the Anglo-lrish talks and FitzGerald’s ‘Crusade’ and who perhaps have illusions in these gambits. |t is probable that the majority of people would see a repression campaign by itself as an introverted concern of the anti-imperialist movement arising out of its own weaknesses and mistakes. Against Sinn Fein’s emphasis on repression, Peoples Democracy argued the question of national unity and partition should be put to the fore of the anti-imperialist programme.

Our positions on these are a direct reply to the manoeuvres contained in the Anglo-lrish talks. They have the best possibility of confronting the nub of Britain’s current strategy and of winning a mass audience.

The second reason why Peoples Democracy opposed restricting the development of the H Block/ Armagh campaign to repression issues has to do with another important change in the political situation since the hunger-strike. That change is of course the effect of the deepening economic crisis.

THE IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC

CRISIS

The economic crisis has assumed a much sharper form in Ireland than in European countries because of neo-colonial domination by Britain and international imperialism. Socialists and republicans have an obvious duty to intervene in this crisis to ensure that it is resolved at the expense of

CRACY

ACTION:

Southern politicians with Thatcher’s plans. The brave struggle of the H Block prisoners had only begun when the SWP, the American supporters of the Fourth International, organised a tour in order to raise consciousness and funds for the Irish struggle. The speakers were, Bernadette McAliskey, Anne Speed (MSR) and Fergus O’ Hare, (PD). During the tour and afterwards plans were made to unite the antiimperialist and working class militants as broadly as possible in defence of their struggles. PD and MSR began to discuss a principled fusion around the central issues of the Irish revolution: 1. An end to repression north & south 2. Complete British withdrawal from the North, and the establishment of a 32 county socialist republic 3. For a working class fightback against all cuts in living standards, and for the nationalisation of industry , financial institutions, building land and large farms 4. To support the rights of all oppressed groups in society and in particular to actively fight for the rights of women (eg contraception, divorce, married women’s right to work etc).

5. For a real internationalism. In this context the importance of the Fourth International as the only truly Marxist party was recognised and the new party pledged itself to defend the revolutions of other countries. Perhaps more important than any other of these particular points, was the “d Assesses the agreement on an overall analysis and method by which to analyse Ireland’s position as a neo-colonial society in the imperialist epoch, and a strategic agreement on the basic tasks faced by Irish revolutionaries in putting forward a united and coherent opposition to Britain’s strategy for Ireland.

The first task of the new PD was to create a united movement in defence of the blanket prisoners in H Block by breaking down the opposition to such unity by the major anti-imperialist organisations. This was done through a series of initiatives, the most important of which were the Coalisland Anti-Repression Conference, the Burntollet Commemoration March in January 1979, and Bernadette McAliskey’s candidacy in the European Parliament elections in June 1979. In each of these initiatives the need for united defence of the political prisoners was made the central priority. The eventual formation of the H Block/Armagh Committee brought the first stage of this task to fruition. Since that period the work of PD in calling for the using of elections as a - ‘means of mobilising against imperialism and presenting an alternative to the native collaborators has become fairly well known to socialist republicans.

The one thread of continuity that has run through all our work over the fast 14 years has been the need for principled unity against imperialism. The sponsoring and organising of Bernadette’s candidature in Dublin North Central was the latest addition to that continuity. Our organisation is an open, democratic, anti-imperialist and internationalist organisation, which is always looking for new forces to help shift the crushing weight of foreign intervention in lreland’s affairs. If you agree with us then you should join and find out whether being in PD is an effective way of helping to lead the Irish working class to unity and victory.

| i Maura McRory who topped the poll on re-election to the H Block/Armagh Committee Britain and local and international allies and not at the expense of the Irish people. But does it follow that the economic crisis should form part of a programme for uniting antiimperialists at this point in time?

Peoples Democracy gives an affirmative answer to this question. The severity of economic and social distress will tend to depoliticise rather than radicalise people. If this happens then it will be extremely difficult for the antiimperialist movement to mobilise support for the demands of national unity and indepdendence. A united response by the anti-imperialist movement to the economic crisis which can make maximum impact in the shortest possible time is essential

HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY

On the more positive side the economic crisis needs to be put in historical perspective. Not since the War of Independence has such a deep going crisis of British rule in Ireland combined with such an intractable economic crisis. In other words, for the first time since Partition the conditions which enabled a thorough mass revolt against British rule in the early 1920s are re-emerging. It is a historic opportunity which will be missed if the lessons of history are not learned. The major lesson of the 1920s as Liam Mellows pointed out was the disregard for the interest of workers and their consequent apathy towards the republican cause. That mistake was partly corrected during the hunger-strike when a specific appeal was made to workers.

Any new united front which wants to build on the gains of the H Block/ Armagh campaign must take this initial approach to workers to its logical conclusion. This will require integrating the demands of workers with other anti-imperialist demands.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ELECTIONS

So far we have argued that since the ending of the hunger-strike the political situation has changed in two important respects, ie with regard to Britain’s strategy and with regard to the economic crisis. The combination of these two changes has produced a further change which will affect the development of any new anti-imperialist unity We are referring here to the ir,stability of government in the South.

This development has brought electoral activity te the fore as an important THE “HUNG DAIL” of June 1981 was caused mainly by the H Block vote; it fell over a budget which was a deliberate and vicious attack on workers. The beginning and the end of the 22nd Dail tells all we need to know about the major issues in Irish politics; an unfinished national revolution and an underdeveloped economy blocked by semi-colonial stagnation.

None of the major parties have any policies which can overcome these problems. Fianna Fail and the Coalition have the same basic strategy: defence of Partition through increased collaboration with Britain and economic “development” within the framework of accepting imperialist domination.

In a situation of international political tension and economic crisis this policy can be summed up in two words: repression and austerity. That is what a growing number of Irish people are beginning to see. And the more they see it the less they like it. The result is popular distrust of the major parties.

This fact was born out by the results of the February 18th election. It was supposed to be the most serious in the history of the state. The media and the politicians agreed that for the first time ever the electorate would vote for policies and not personalities.

In the event the opposite happened. No clear national voting pattern emerged.

Swings were mainly on a local basis and tended to cancel each other out.

People did not vote on central policy issues but on local ones.

But behind the peculiarities of each result there was one clear message: popular confidence in the ability of the major parties to solve fundamental political and economic problems was considerably down. Some of the local swings however could have a national importance in the long run. Tnis is particularly true of the outcome in Dublin for example.

Both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael Forward weapon in the anti-imperialist struggle.

Because of this Peopies Democracy argued at the H Block/Armagh conference that a new united front would have to put the aim of creating an anti-imperialist electoral front at the centre of its perspective.

As distinct from other organisations and individuals in the H Block/Armagh campaign we lay particular emphasis on this suggestion. We feel that because of the depth of the combined political, economic and social crisis a growing number of people are looking for strategic alternatives rather than piecemeal solutions to their problems. The question of who forms the government is uppermost in their minds. At the same time they are increasingly alienated from the major parties which is why there is government instability. The beneficiaries of this situation so far have been mainly the pro-imperialist left. If the anti-imperialist movement is serious about winning a mass audience for its ideas it must be able to present itself as a serious governmental alternative. Moreover it is not just a question of winning an audience for ideas but of actually promoting practical resistance to exploitation and repression. In the present situation this practical resistance has declined In many cases there is an instinctive feeling that individual issues cannot be won while all the major parties in Leinster House are committed to repression and austerity. The promise therefore that there will be a major political alternative in Leinster House will be an important factor in organising a fight back at grass-roots level.

The electoral united front which Peoples Democracy advocates therefore will not be electoralist in the usual sense. We see such a front as the spear-head of a campaign to encourage resistance at all levels of society. In the coming months these are some of the ideas that we will be putting to other anti-imperialist organisations and individuals. In the next issue of Socialist Republic we will discuss some more questions such as the nature of an anti-imperialist economic programme and democracy within a united front, Result Shows Unity Essential increased their share of the poll in this area but in radically different ways.

Fianna Fail gained significant extra support in working class districts while Fine Gael pulled in the middle class vote.

Even more interestingly it was the traditionally “liberal” sections of the middle class (which supported left independents such as Noel Brown and John O’Connell) which gave Fine Gael its biggest boost.

What this reflects is an initial class polarisation. The middle class opted for the most conscious and consistent policy of repression and austerity while workers rejected it. But this is only a tentative development since, while Fine Gael consciously speaks for the middle class, Fianna Fail in no way represents an alternative for workers. Despite the depth of political and economic Crisis in Ireland it is clear that workers saw no national alternative to the existing party set-up. This

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC PAGE 5

showed up especially in the performance of the anti-imperialist movement. The Sinn Fein vote and the Bernadette McAliskey campaign sponsored by PD confirmed that the anti-imperialist movement has a small but credible foothold in the South. The anti-imperialist candidates polled between 5-7% wherever they stood. This was a result similar to that of Sinn Fein—the Workers Party. But there is no room for complacency.

The momentum of the H Block campaign was not maintained. This has certain implications. The hunger strike movement found its greatest support amongst the workers and the poor. Yet at a time when these people were looking for someone to defend them they did not seriously believe that the anti-imperialist movement could play such 2 role. There are a number of lessons in all this. Firstly, the economic and sdcial implications of imperialist domination have to be systematically integrated into the overall programme of anti-imperialism. Anti-imperialists must be able to give detailed answers to the multitude of everyday problems which afflict working people.

Secondly, it is not enough to have a programme it is also necessary to be able to fight for it. This means winning the confidence of workers by consistent work in their areas and their organisations (trade unions etc). Without building support in this way it will be impossible to gain real credibility among workers. Thirdly, the anti-imperialist movement must be able to present itself as a united national alternative to the established parties. Political organisations such as Sinn Fein, Peoples Democracy and the IRSP have a responsibility to come together and develop a national alliance which will be active in every nook and cranny of the country.

BRENDAN KELLY

Paisley Loses Clout ONE OF the side-effects of the Kincora corruption scandal was the implication of the DUP leader, lan Paisley, in the allegations of a coverup. \t is ironic that a man who has spent his entire career in whipping up hatred against catholics and, not satisfied with that, was attempting to mobilise fundamentalist loyalism against gays in his “Save Ulster from Sodomy”’ campaign, should now himself come under threat from his even more fundamentalist followers.

However the temporary embarrassment that Paisley faces over this issue masks a turning point in the fortunes of the DUP and a questionmark over the future development of loyalism. Ulster unionism has always had a substantial loyalist rump. As an armed force it provided the backbone for the frequent anti-catholic pogroms. As a political force it organised the petty-bourgeoisie and lumpen proletariat. In the disintegration of the unionist monolith that began with the present troubles, Paisley made sure that he held this section, and that after the fall of the power-sharing assembly that he was its sole and undisputed leader. Paistey had nothing to do with the organising of the 1974 loyalist stoppage, but he wasn’t slow to step into the leadership and he attempted to repeat the exercise and force the return of Stormont in 1977. He wasn’t successful, but in the local government elections of that year he got over 30% of the unionist vote and the DUP became the second largest unionist party. The DUP kept up the pressure: the “Save Ulster from Sodomy” campaign disruption of cross-border meetings and attacks on Dublin councillors, a Campaign against religious ecumenism, the Carson Trail, and most recently the ‘Day of Action’, the disruption of Council meetings and the attempt to unseat the RUC chief. The policy of activism paid off. Yhe DUP traditionaliy a party of tine rural poor and lower middle class, made inroads into the protestarit working class with the election @f McQuaid Y and Robinson in Belfast in the last British general election. The local elections of last May saw them emerge as the major unionist party with a slightly larger share of the overall vote than the Official Unionists.

Onc point should be made however.

The various paisleyite campaigns, while they have attracted support to the DUP, have failed in their object. Stormont has not been restored. Cross-border contacts have not been ended, ‘Ulster’ has not been rendered ungovernable and the mass of protestants have not joined in an armed insurrection. Recent history in the north since 1974 shows that while unionism may be able to veto imperialism’s plans it is not able to advance and force the adoption of its own programme. In fact even this veto may be wearing thin as the British find a receptive audience in the Irish nationalist bourgeoisie for a restructuring of partition.

The less radical tone of official unionism reflects a more realistic assessment of their dependence on Britain. Their most recent conference led to a partial split when they ' dumped the call for a return to Stormont. This realism has not reached the mass of unionist voters and this partially accounts for the growth of the DUP, but in fact they have no alternative programme. On the “Carson Trail” Paisley threatened armed conflict with the British forces. This was hardly meant seriously — the threat has been used frequently to pressure the British, but the important fact is that issuing the threat led to bitter disagreements with other sectors of loyalist opinion. Without a credible threat Paisley finds himself without any real lever to pressure the British.

He has plenty of votes— but in reality the majority of unionists are confused and demoralised and unwilling to take to the streets. This doesn’t meanithat the DUP don’t represent a. anger. They are a powerful force of the most bigoted and ~-counter—revolutionary elements in the North, Pressure from.them acts to bring more and more British and RUC repression in the ghettoes. They are able to hold armed demonstrations and organise openly while the RUC and UDR fraternise with them.

PAGE 6 SOCIALIST REPUBLIC

SPEAKS

AS WOMEN in Ireland celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, the struggle for equal opportunities and parity with men in employment and in all social activity still goes on.

For instance, there are no women miners in Ireland (there are few enough male ones either) but in America there are over 3000 women working underground. Mary Zinns, a woman miner from the USA and a member of the US Socialist Workers Party (American supporters of the Fourth International) spoke about the problems working in a ‘‘man’s ’’ job when she was ona tour organised by the Fourth International in Britain recently.

When | got hired there were just about 20 women, now there are over 30 women and 500 men at Bethlehem’s No 58 site. Women at the mine perform all kinds of jobs, from mechanic and roof bolting to shuttle car operators and general labourers. Most of us had to fight management to receive training and get the opportunity to run various kinds of machinery, We found that while at first, some of the men were skeptical the union and our brothers in the union have proved to be our biggest defenders against the company harassment. Over 3,000 women are now working underground in the States. The reason women are going underground is the same reason men do— to make a living.

All kinds of women have jobs in the mines: some are just out of high school and some are grandmothers: there’s married women and single women; women with children and without children; small women who weigh. less than 90 pounds and large women.

It’s a very real cross section of the women who live in the coal fields.

“WE SH

WE SHALL RISE AGAIN

Nora Connolly O’Brien NORA CONNOLLY O’Brien’s forceful life, her political consistency and determination stand out as thoroughly remarkable and courageous against the background of the last sixty five years of Irish history. She records her earliest experience of public speaking as being to the women mill workers in Belfast during their strike in 1911, when she attended the meetings with her father. ‘At the age of 88, she spent the final year of her life travelling, working and speaking publicly in support of the hunger strike in the H Blocks and the women in Armagh Jail. In the intervening years, she experienced through intense personal involvement, not only the hopes and dreams of mass uprising, but also the catalogue of betrayals, disappointments and lost opportunities which have stymied the struggle to end Partition and British imperialist involvement in Ireland.

Her contribution to the struggle in the the H Blocks and Armagh is sufficient evidence in itself of her outstanding political optimism and confidence in the Irish working class and the process of revolution. The real power of this book lies in the fact that it is a written statement of that confidence and that her final words to our generation echo exactly those which James Connolly spoke to her before he was carried to execution. The vook was written from a collection of tapes made by her during the hunger strike in 1980, edited and approved ‘by her before she died. As such, it creates the atmosphere of a conversation, She does not attempt to provide elaborate detail or explanation, she speaks with simplicity and honesty of her experiences and memories. There is a distinct Mary Zinns — US coalminer In those coal fields where the companies have consciously kept out other industry, fewer women have jobs than in other parts of the country.

The only jobs available for women are minimum wage jobs, working in a restaurant, a sewing factory or as a store clerk. Some women fought their way into the coal mines to make a decent wage. The first women were hired in 1973.

Many people at the time said that these women were stealing jobs from men and that they should stay home.

But you don’t get any discount on your rent, gas, food or electricity bill because you’re a woman. It was said that the mines were too dangerous for a woman to work in. But if the mines were too dangerous for women they were too dangerous for men.

Now that women have been working in the mines, we’re establishing ourselves as a legitimate part of the work force, that we can do the work and we need the work to survive just like the men. In 1979 the United Mineworkers of America finally recognised this, and was the first industrial union in the country to hold a national conference of its women members. This conference reflected the fact that women were an important part of the union, and that women were accepted as co-workers by the men in the mines. It also showed that the bosses — who had not wanted to hire women in the first place — continued to harass and discriminate against women on the job and consequently one of the duties of the union assumed was to defend all its members.

Instead of the men against the women, or whites against blacks, we would all fight together against the company.

LL RISE

sense of historic continuity and disregard for personal recognition in what she says. Her account gives personal insight and depth to the events of the Easter Rising, to her experiences in the United States in the years following, and her life as a prisoner during the Civil War. When she speaks of Connolly, it is mainly of her personal knowledge of the man, his encouragement and advice to her.

She destroys the mysticism which hangs over the events of those years, and replaces it with an intimate account of her feelings, reactions and thoughts. The book is filled with stories, conversations and frank interpretations of events. It is a peculiar strength of the book that rather than providing all the answers her chapter on ‘ Socialism in Ireland’ opens up some of the most fundamental questions facing republican socialists at this time. She provokes further reading and discussion, particularly about the emergence and collapse of the Republican Congress of 1934, and the role which was played by the Communist Party in its destruction. It is advisable also to read as background information George Gilmore’s account of the debate which is published by the Cork Workers Club. Her comments throw considerable light on the distrust of “communism” which developed and solidified in the republican movemeht, and the counterpositioning of republicanism and socialism which has remained a feature of the struggle.

Clarification of the questions of “united front” and alternative leadership of the working Class are as urgently necessary today as then, and our ability as socialists to confront these questions will to a great extent determine the course of the struggle.

She sets out a short chapter of the book for the question of women in Ireland’s fight. Of Connolly she writes, THE BRITISH government likes to see itself as a bastion of freedom, fair play and democracy and promotes this image abroad despite its racist immigration laws, and its discriminatory education and employment systems. Suleman Mohammed went to Britain from Pakistan in 1966. He lives in Sparkhill, a working class area in Birmingham where the Pakistani Workers Association has a high propor- / tion of its members. His last job was as a welder in West Bromwich. Since that time, two years ago, he has been unable to find work.

& The Pakistani Workers Association (PWA) has so far concentrated on exposing corruption in the local community. Suleman explains: ‘Leaders,’ self-appointed ones, get a position on?

? a police liaison committee and then * they take bribes to give people information about their rights.

“Black leaders, some of whom are notorious throughout Birmingham, like James Hunt, a black councillor in Handsworth, use the fact that many black people can’t speak English or don’t know their rights, to get grants off government institutions for doing absolutely nothing.

BLACK COMMUNITY

“The PWA is a new organisation in the black community with branches in London, Bradford, Coventry, Tipton and Nottingham. “The Sparkhill Youth Movement, initiated by the PWA, attracted 50 people to its first meeting and will be open to all youth in Sparkhill.

Sports facilities, the treatment of black youth in school and employment opportunities are among the issues that the new youth movement will take up. “What does this system teach our kids?” asked Suleman. ‘Some children come out of school and they can’t read or write. Ethnic minorities go to school for five hours and then they go bome to acompletely different culture and speak a different language.

AGAIN”

“His championship of women is an aspect of his work, which if ignored, makes any picture of him incomplete Her confidehce in the strength of women and her appreciation of the role which they have and will play in the struggle for a new society is evident in all that she writes. There is also a chapter given to songs of revolution, verse and her views on the creation of aculture based on the aspiration for liberation. There are two memorable quotes from the book which for me sum up her strengths and personality. One is where she speaks of her father and says, “He taught me not to be bitter, because bitterness clouds the brain.”

The other is her account of a public meeting during the 1977 struggle in Portlaoise Jail, where the main issue was strip searching. She said to the gathering ‘“‘“My mother always said that old age has its privileges. Well I’m old and I’m taking my privilege and explaining what this search means.”

There is much in her political commentary which we would criticise as Marxists, but then she herself did not accept the relevance of Marxism to the Irish working class today or to its victory over British imperialism.

In the post Republican Congress period her loyalties were thrown back on the Republican organisations and remained there until she died. It is clear from the book that she was always a working class activist rather than a theoretician, and it is for her capacity to remain clear and resolute on the central issue of British involvement through the bleak days of the 40s, 50s and early 60s that she will be remembered, admired and will be a source of inspiration for the future.

A strong and forceful fighter we are thankful to have this short account of her final thoughts. ™, ” . ¥ ee x 4 fees “| want to see more opportunities for the ethnic community to control the education our children are receiving. “I’m not saying that Pakistanis should be fitted into the system. I’m saying that schools in areas like Sparkhill should take our needs as a community into consideration. “The PWA is making youth aware that the conflict between them and their parents often occurs because we come from different cultures and that the unfair economic system — which we hate — is what we have to fight. Suleman has no illusions in the British Tory party. ‘The Tory party says that every individual in society should work for himself. When you breed this sort of person you have a class system where you have rich and poor.

“We come into the poor category.

The Tory party today represents the wealthy in this:country, not the

GUARDS

HARRASS

GAYS

POLICE HARRASSMENT of Gays has stepped up dramatically in recent weeks. Gays all over the country have had their homes raided, been visited at work by Gardai, and been illegally fingerprinted and photographed. The gay community has been slow to respond and has been divided as to exactly how to respond. The Gardai are exploiting the social vulnerability many gay people experience in relation to jobs, families etc. to gather information about hundreds of people, well beyond those who could be considered sycial or political activists.

The self-appointed ‘leadership’ of the gay community has, in its efforts to appear ‘respectable’ and ‘cooperative’ encouraged gay people to accept wholesale violations of their civil rights. It was in this context that Gays Against Imperialism initiated, with civil rights and political organisations, a picket on Pearse Street Garda Station on March 13, and a public meeting was held on March 24 to organise further action.

Below we reprint the leaflet issued by Gays Against Imperialism at the picket.

THE CHARLES SELF MURDER

INVESTIGATION — BACKGROUND

Since the recent murder of Charles Self, at the very least 500 gay people poor. The rich go anywhere they like.

They have no boundaries. “These immigration laws they introduce, they are only aimed at poor black people ... Black people must organise themselves to fight these laws. We agree with the Labour Party that there should be a socialist society based on equality in this country.

When we look at the state of the Parliamentary Labour Party, who are all — perhaps | should say in the majority — self—interested. You can see they are being used by the wealthy of this country.’ ‘Suleman has little time for his own MP. ‘That Roy Hattersley’s a racist bastard. He’s racist and the only contact he has with the Pakistani community is with the corrupt elements. The majority of Pakistanis are not _very well represented by Roy Hattersley in Parliament. He doesn’t even represent white workers in Sparkhill. There s a majority of people unemployed in Sparkhill.

What is he doing about that?

Absolutely nothing.”’ Suleman concluded by refuting the lies of the right wing in their witchhunts in the Labour Party. ‘1 think this label ‘extremist’ the Parliamentary Labour Party put on Tariq Ali, Peter Tatchell and Tony Benn is a load of rubbish. “Peter Tatchell said that extra-parliamentary action should take place.

This parliament only serves the wealthy, all the legislation it is passing is to protect the wealthy.

“People must realise that parliament is not an absolute authority — it’s not a God — it’s run by men and men can be self-interested. “People should tell their MPs that they are supposed to represent their area and not themselves and if they are doing nothing for the people they represent — like Roy Hattersley — they should be removed. “'d rather have Tariq than Roy any day and if he sold out we’d put someone else in to replace him.”

have been questioned by the Gardai and Special Branch. And what have we been asked about? Very little about the murder; a lot more about our personal lives. Some of us have oeen ‘persuaded’ to give our fingerprints and to be photographed.

Some of us have ‘volunteered’ the names and addresses of other gay people we know. We have even ‘been happy’ to sign incriminating statements. What are the Gardai up to? Not protecting us from attack .. But gathering information about us; and what will they use it for?

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO

ABOUT IT?

First, know your rights: If you are stopped you are not obliged to even give your name and address, but it is usually best to do so. You need not go to the garda station unless you are arrested. Even (4 then you should say nothing until you have seen a solicitor. (Irish Gay Rights Movement and National Gay Federation will provide a solicitor for any gay person who needs one).

Do NOT give your fingerprints or allow yourself to be photographed.

If you have already made a statement or been photographed, consult a solicitor immediately. They will advise you of what action to take.

by lan McLean IN RECENT weeks there has been a variety of tell-tale signs indicating that a power struggle has broken out at the top of the Soviet Communist Party involving a serious attempt to oust Brezhnev. Underlying this pewer struggle is a deep structural crisis which threatens to undermine the stability of the USSR. Since the death of Stalin, the Soviet Union has secured the consent of the working class through ensuring rising standards of living made possible by fairly constant economic growth.

This doesn’t mean that the Soviet working class is wildly enthusiastic about the government or the system but they have put up with it none the less. Now that economic growth has come to a standstill with many consumer goods in short supply, the passivity of the working class can no longer be assured. The immediate causes of the USSR’s economic stagnation are the increased spending on defence and a series of bad harvests. The US war drive started by Carter and accelerated by Reagan has forced the Soviet leadership to build up its own military strength. Because the USSR has nothing like the productive capacity of the USA, jf it is just to maintain military parity it has to spend a far greater percentage of its gross national product on defence than America does.

But neither bad weather nor US aggression can explain away the Soviet economic crisis. There are more long term and basic causes, The major problem with the Soviet economy is the enormous wastage that is endemic to every area of it.

This itself is a symptom of the fundamental paradox of the Soviet social system: centralised planning is an economy where all major economic units are owned by the state combined with the rigid exclusion of the actual producers from real decision making.

A planned economy can only function effectively if accurate information about all units of the economy are available and if all those involved in production cooperate to achieve agreed goals. This doesn’t happen in the Soviet Union or in any country of Eastern Europe. An official in the Soviet bureaucracy gains promotion by administering their unit as efficiently as possible. In this situation it simply isn’t in the interest of individual -factory directors to give correct information about the actual capacity of their factory. In making reports to the central planners they constantly overestimate their needs and underestimate: their existing stock and capacity. The planning officials at the centre used | to the wiles of their subordinates, Trouble Brews in the USSR The Third \ international After™ THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL AFTER LENIN by Leon Trotsky shows how the the Soviet Bureaucracy put its own sectional interests above the interests of the world working class. The Third International, founded by Lenin and Trotsky, was transformed from the spearhead of revolutionary advance into a tool of Stalin’s Foreign policy. If you are interested in this or other books on the history of the Marxism write to the address with the SR subcription form and we will send you a list, respond by allocating less resources than requested to each unit. As a result there are constant hold—ujps in production caused by a lack of spare parts and raw materials leading to waste on a massive scale. Basic consumer goods like soap or toothbrushes or foodstuffs like cheese or butter disappear from the shops for weeks on end. Parallel to all this is the problem known in the West as ‘labour indiscipline”’ There is no unemployment in the USSR. The only way you get sacked is for engaging in political agitation.

The Soviet media constantly rails against the abuse of sick leave and against the epidemic of alcoholism amongst the labour force. There is even ajoke in Russia that the only democratic right the worker has is the right to be idle. Despite their exclusion from.central decisionmaking individual workers in the USSR do exercise control over the labour process itself. They determine their own pace of work and how the job is to be done. Like workers in the capitalist countries they generally try to do as little as possible and they obstruct technical innovations because they know that there is very little in it for them as individuals But whereas in the-west-yeu.get sacked for shirking, in the Soviet Union factory directors are relatively powerless. They have little option but to bargain with workers to get anything done at all. During Stalin’s lifetime brute force was used to keep workers in line but that is not acceptable today. Virtually nobody in the USSR wants a return to the reign of terror that characterised that period. It wasn’t only workers peasants and intellectuals who suffered repression then.

Every member of the elite from Krushchev down learnt to fear the knock at the door in the early morning.

Besides even if the elite could restrict the use of mass terror to the working Class, and that is quite unlikely, repression simply cannot solve the problems which presently beset the Soviet economy. Up till now Soviet economic expansion could continue unabated because it could absorb a huge surplus labour force coming from agriculture and by exploiting Russia’s vast mineral resources. Both sources are now virtually dried up. For minerals and oil they are now compelled to undertake the much more costly enterprise of exploiting the frozen expanses of Siberia. Future economic growth depends upon technical innovation which would reduce the time needed to produce goods. The introduction of sophisticated machinery demands a more highly skilled and educated work force. Coercion is quite ineffective in this context. The ruling elite in the Soviet Union is quite aware of these problems and they have searched for years for a solution to them. Brezhnev is for ever talking about the need for an “economic mechanism” to run the economy efficiently. The hope is that they could eliminate waste and rationalise the economy by giving factory directors the power to buy and sell goods with their own income depending on the profitability of their enterprise. This would force managers to operate according to the rules of the market and would pressurise them to rationalise their own factories. Given the huge levels of overmanning in Soviet industries, and the exercise of individual workers’ control of the labour process the implementation of these economic ‘reforms’ in the Soviet Union would inevitably create huge unemployment and would provoke a massive confrontation between the elite and the working class. Previous attempts to introduce factory reforms have encountered sufficient resistance to teach the bureaucracy to desist. During the Seventies the USSR imported a great deal of western technological goods. !t was hoped that detente and closer economic links with the West would enable them to modernise Soviet industry. A sizable increase in the quantity of consumer goods and an improvement in their quality would compensate the working class for displacement from employment and for the imposition of labour discipline. Detente is now a dead letter and the whole idea of modernising Soviet industry through importing western technology is obviouslyunviable. For the Soviet bureaucracy there is no way out. The strains in the system are already apparent. It is only a matter of time before the cracks emerge.

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC PAGE 7

Polish Workers Fight Back SINCE THE military takeover in Poland and the mass arrests that followed, the independent trade union movement Solidarnosc (Solidarity) has begun the task of reforming itself underground. When local union leaders are arrested, new ones are quickly elected. Solidarnosc is now preparing for a major offensive against the regime in a few months’ time. The most common graffitti in Polish workplaces reads, ‘““The winter is yours, the spring is ours, Solidarnosc”’. Anyone who imagines that the Polish working class is going to quietly submit to the regime is mistaken, It is imperative that an international movement of solidarity with Solidarnosc be built and maintained.' We in Ireland are particularly weak in this respect. Despite the support given by Lec Walesa and Solidarnosc to the hunger strikers, the antiimperialist movement has been very reticent about reciprocating. A motion in support of Polish workers was ruled out of order by the standing orders committee at the National H Block/Armagh Committee conference, For the most part the running on Poland has been left to the Church and right wing elements who not surprisingly play down the proletarian character of Solidarnosc and completely ignore its programme which upholds state ownership of industry and demands the institution of democractic workers’ power.

A committee to aid Solidarnosc established by left wing trade unionists has never really got off the ground. A tour of Ireland by exiled Solidarnosc activists should go some way to redress the balance.

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POBLACHT SHOISIALACH

%i SOCIALIST REPUBLIC Paper of PEOPLES’ DEMOCRACY

THE PEOPLES DEMOCRACY

bases itself on the following points: We agree that the central political question for the Irish people is the political, economic and military domination of Ireland by imperialism and that the central task for the Irish revolution is the solution of the national question through the ending of Partition and achievement of political and economic independdence. We are united in our rejection of the claim that any lasting solution to the oppression of the Irish people can be found within a 6 county framework, and in our rejection of any ‘right’ of the Loyalist minority to continue Partition. As Marxists we believe that the capitalist state must be smashed and replaced by a workers’ state and Haughey Scra By BRIDGET MURPHY Charlie Haughey has made it back as Taoiseach. But with some difficulties, not least from within his own party. But are all the shananigans of any real relevance to Irish revolutionaries, or is it a matter of total indifference for us.?

Interestingly, a survey of opinion among businessmen, carried out by Business and Finance magazine during the election campaign, showed the vast majority of them supported Garret Fitzgerald for Taoiseach. In terms of stabilising the southern economy and putting the boot in: with no holds barred to the working class, Fitz- Gerald was just what the Irish ruling class needed. An overall decrease of 600 million pounds in the budget deficit, thus improving the strength of the Irish punt, was his perspective.

At the same time his budget , while adding 5 per cent immediately to the consumer pri ce index (such indirect taxation always hits the poorest members of society most) provided for no wealth or capital gains tax. The Labour Party, for its loyaltywas given the grand sum of 20 million pounds to ‘plough into’ its national development corporation, as a sop to the 146,000 unemployed.

Hardly something to cause fear of the coming red revolution in that only the organised working class can provide the motive force for doing this. We believe that a crucial area of capitalist oppression is women, and this is especially so in Ireland, given the history of clerical power here.

Women are oppressed as a sex and even a successful revolution will not automatically guarantee the elimination of this oppression. For this reason, we unconditionally support the right of women to organise independently to fight for their emancipation. As Marxists, we believe that the working class has the ability to successfully challenge and defeat imperialism. It produces the wealth of society without being able to control or distribute it. It is potentially stronger than any other class because of its ability to organise on a mass base, combining its economic with large new state building programmes. However, his instability as a guarantor of ruling class interests is pointed up by his package with Tony Gregory and his rhetorical remarks about British withdrawal which caused Prior to object. The agreement with Tony Gregory must be seen as foolhardy by bourgeois standards; costing a minimum of 500 million pounds, without any guarantee of a constant pro-government vote. Where Garret Fitzgerald is still hidebound by the strength of the ultra right in Fine Gael, Charlie Haughey made his decision along the lines of pragmatism. Nationalisation was no longer-an ideological anathema, schemes of public works, environmental projects, extension of social services for the poor and the old were all agreed by Haughey within days.

lt has been said by the media that this proves how ‘power crazy‘ Haughey is. For us, it shows what an unstable representative he makes for bourgeois class interests, and already the Cll and FUE have made noises about how unrealistic the package is, in view of Ireland’s massive budget deficit. The SFP have certainly made a gain in getting 3 members elected to the Dail However they are forced to strength and its strength of numbers.

We accept that workers have the right to defend themselves against imperialism. However, we do not accept the ideology of militarism— the belief that armed groups can

TRADE UNIONS OPPOSE

LABOUR POLICIES

LABOUR’S TROUBLES continue.

Relationships have been considerably strained between the leadership of the Labour Party and the Labour Party group of trade unions (the trade unions that are affiliated to the Labour Party and who make a financial contribution to Labour Party funds through a political levy on their membership.)

substitute themselves for the Frasses andiwintreedout ton chen: The Labour group of trade unions who voted against coalition at the special conference of the Labour party in the Gaiety Theatre wrote to Michael O'Leary soon after his becoming Tanaiste expressing concern at his lack of communication with the trade union group.

No reply or acknowledgement came from O’Leary’s office. Further letters from the trade union group to O’Leary concerning the non-implementation of Labour Party policies and a threat on the recommendation of funds to the Labour Party followed. Still no reply from O’Leary. A final letter was sent to O’Leary before the Coalition fell, saying that the trade union group intended to pursue its grievances with the party leadership through the branches and other bodies of the party.

They are still awaiting a reply.

We believe in the building of an organised and experienced leadership, in a Marxist Party based on the Leninist theory of party organisationd the central feature of which is democratic centralism.

Peoples Democracy is an internationalist organisation. We believe that each national struggle is an integral part of a world struggle for socialist liberation.

For that reason PD is the Irish Section of the Fourth International, the World Party of Socialist Revolution founded by Leon Trotsky in 1938. es Back A resolution to the November meeting of the Dublin Trades Council requesting they back a demand that the Labour Party resign from the Coalition government was sent by the EEPTU in reaction to the anti-working class minibudget passed by the coalition. The resolution never got past the executive committee of the Trades Council who ruled it unconstitutional.

The majority of delegates on the executive who voted against the resolution going to the general body of the Trades Council were supporters of THE FIRST election to the new Shannon local government authority, the Town Commission, took place on Wednesday, March 10. This election was unusual for the considerable number of anti-imperialist candidates on the ballot and also in its proximity to the General Election which took place only three weeks before. General election trends came into play but ‘personalities’ played quite a significant role too. The nine seats on the Town Commission were filled as follows: FF—5; FG—1; Lab—1; IRSP—1; Indep—1.

The IRSP will be pleased with the election of Brigid Makowski, a-prominent local activist in Shannon and Co Clare. Brigid Makowski’s election comes after along period of being active around Republican and local Michael O*Leary: the man who follows in FitzGerald's footsteps. the Labour Party and SFWP. The most vehement arguments against allowing the resolution through were put by Fergus Whelan (SFWP) recently appointed to a full-time position in the ITGWU and Sam Nolan (Labour Party) and UCATT who argued that the Trades Council could not comment on the actions of bodies unaffiliated to the Trades Council. When the delegates pointed out that the constitution had not prevented the Trades Council from condemning the taxation and economic policies of previous Fianna Fail governments they cut no ice with the majority and the resolution fell. However at the next full meeting of the Trades Council when delegates heard of the resolution an uproar broke out which dominated the whole meeting, and indicated that had the delegates been given a chance they would have supported the resolution.

IRSP Win Shannon Seat was a personal vote and not an expression of confidence in the Labour Party as a defender of working class interests.

On the positive side anti-imperialists candidates took almost 14% of the poll showing that a sizeable number of people are looking for an alternative to Fianna Fail and the Coalition.

Sinn Fein received 6.8% of the first preferences and the IRSP 8.16%. The election of Brigid Makowski of the IRSP is the immediate result of the anti-imperialist vote. For People’s Democracy, our first electoral intervention in County Clare, with Greg Duff, an active trade unionist as our candidate brought us 1% of the first preferences — 25 votes. While we are disappointed with the size of our vote and would like tt to be higher, we feel that Greg .did show how the Government’s approach to handling the economy Rest of this page missing - if you have a complete copy of this issue of Socialist Republic please email [email protected] and lend your copy for scanning