H:Block Movement

Committee. The need for unity among republicans. to secure political status for short term political prisoners . Mass mobilisations PD had discussions with other forces topics which have to be thrashed out.

imperialist force which could confront imperialism of the streets of the North.

STRATEGY ONE OF the major outcomes of the recent H Block/Armagh conference was to continue informal discussion about future strategy for the anti-imperialist 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 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 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 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 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 anti-imperialists 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

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