[page 21]
Crisis in Northern Ireland The stormy events in Northern Ireland, involving the mass uprising of the Catholic population of Derry and Belfast a little over a year ago, the deployment of 11,000 British troops, the daily street fighting, armed clashes and bomb incidents, together with the reverberations from these developments South of the border have shaken the position of British imperial- All the carefully laid plans, the deliberate fostering of sectarianism over centuries, the entrenchment of a virtual police state and the guarantee of a political monopoly to their Unionist cohorts have all blown up in the domination in the past now recoil on them in the changed situation North and reads as one of the bloodiest chapters in the very bloody history of British Imperialism. Even a cursory study of its role in Ireland is enough to explode all those myths as to the benevolence, culture and "democracy" incident alone, the mutiny of the officer caste at the Curragh in 1914 against the milk and water scheme for "Home Rule" of the Liberal Government demonstrated the ruthlessness of British capitalism when its interests are threatened. This "treason" was openly and publicly backed by the Tory Party at the time •... "I can imagine no length of resistance to which Ulster can go in which I should not be prepared to support them" (Bonar Law - Tory The British ruling class were able to cleverly utilise the Irish in Britain to diride and weaken the working class •... "The revolutionary fire of the Celtic workers does not harmonise with the restrained force but slowness of the Anglo-Saxons •••• This antagonism between the proletarians in England is artificially cultivated by the bourgeoisie". (Resolution of It was in Ireland also where all those methods were first tried out and perfected which served the British bourgeoisie in carving out its Empire. It served as the drill ground for the British army and its policies of blood ism in Ireland.
face of the British ruling class.
is visited on the heads of the sons.
South of the border.
Ireland is Britain's oldest colony.
leader).
First International).
The Question in Perspective by PAUL JONES and PETER TAAFFE Retribution for the sins of the fathers The very methods which ensured their Its conquest and domination That one 19.
[page 22]
At the same time the country was reduced to a mere appendage of Every independent development of industry and agriculture was crushed by the British ruling class, it being tailored to their Thus, as a consequence of the repeal of the Corn laws, ending the virtual monopoly of Irish corn in the English market, the Anglo-Irish million were driven out of Ireland to the four corners of the world. was at a time when millions of bushels of corn were exported from Ireland evident in the population figures for Ireland today. population of the whole of Ireland stood at 87 million, while today it is It was these brutal conditions in the countryside which prompted the growth of spontaneous resistance organisations of the peasants in the eighteenth century, "Oakboys", "Whiteboys", etc., like the "woodland At the same time the British ruling class found in the division between Protestant and Catholic peasants, in turn a product of the earlier plantation of the northern counties, a convenient tool to hand in order to head off any movement which challenged its position. against the attacks of the Catholic Defenders it was combined with the terra of General lake at the end of the eighteenth century to defeat the United The latter organisation, led by Wolfe Tone, encompassed Protestant and Catholic petit-bourgeois and peasants alike. the establishment of a republic on the lines of the French revolution. It instilled terror into the ranks of the landlords and capitalists and the ruling class took measures to inflame sectarian passions to ward off the "I have arranged to increase the animosity between Orangemen and the United Irish. Upon that animosity depends the safety of the centre onwards this policy obtained the force of a law in the dealings of British reaching across the sectarian divide was defeated in like manner. But neither military might nor the scheming of the British ruling greater strength every time he is thrown to the ground, so too every generaof the United Irishmen there followed the plebain movement, based mainly in then the Fenians, characterised by Marx as having a "socialist tendency", the Irish Republican Brotherhood and in the twentieth century by the most famous of all, the Citizens' Army, the first Red Army in Europe, led by James Connolly• But invariably the national revolt of the Irish fell under and iron.
the British economy• needs.
time the tenant farmers.
in order to fill the pockets of the landlords.
barely 42 million.
produces mushrooms" as Marx pointed out.
DIVIDE AND RULE Orange Order was first used by the State.
Irishmen.
counties of the North"
imperialism with Ireland.
class was able to still the Irish rebellion.
tion witnessed a movement against British rule.
Dublin, and led by Robert Emmet.
20.
landlords went over from tillage to pasture farming, As a result one million perished and another Knox, assistant to General lake)•.
evicting at the same This The consequences are still In 1840, the total It was thus that the Originally formed as a defence Its aim was From that time Any tendency towards the Catholic and Protestant Like Antagus, who regathers In the wake of the defeat This was followed by the Young Irelanders,
[page 23]
the influence of the nascent bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeoisie leadership who attempted to moderate the movement and steer it away fror social issues. Never was this more evident than in the period following the 1916 uprising, the guerrilla war, which tied down 100,000 British troops, and the aside or condemned from the sidelines the 1916 uprising, i.e., the Irish bourgeoisie and their political representatives, were the inheritors of the gains made possible by the sacrifice of Connolly and the 1916 insurgents. Against the execration heaped on them by their "fellow" Irishmen and almost alone in the international Labour Movement, Lenin and the Marxists defended the leaders of the uprising against those to attacked it as a "putsch". Lenin pointed to the massive turnout at the funeral of the Fenian leader O'Donovan Roosa, the suppression of the nationalist press and the clashes with the police to indicate its roots in the Irish people. Nevertheless, none of the necessary steps were taken which could guarantee the success of the uprising, i.e. the calling of a General Strike, out, was that the uprising came before the European proletariat was ready for an outright assault on imperialism. But against the treachery of the Labour leaders of the time, who played first fiddle in the war chorus of the monopolies, and the treachery and cowardice of the German Communist Party and Labour leaders, who allowed Hitler to come to power "without a pane of glass being broke", the action of Connolly, Pearse and company directly led to the mass movement which taxed to the hilt the power of NAVAL IMPORTANCE OF IRELAND FOR BRITAIN Not the least of the factors which determined the defeat of the rising was the position in the Irish countryside. Even in the latter part of the eighteenth century the strategists of capital had realised the summed up its determination to maintain the predominance of its naval power number of land Acts between 1880-1903 which "bought out" the landlords, at farmers, he attempted to break the backbone of the revolt of the Irish. In this way half a million tenants were able to purchase the land, being forced to repay the British Government in the form of land annuities over a period of time. This played a part in keeping the agricultural districts The naval important of Ireland to British imperialism was further demonstrated, both in the Treaty of 1922 and later during the Second World British Government Cabinet papers released only this year show that subsequent partitioning of the country.
and a class appeal to the British troops.
stands out in glorious distinction.
British imperialism.
importance of Ireland as a sea base.
as a prime condition of its world a handsome price to the latter.
quiet in 1916.
War.
The forces which either stood The tragedy, as lenin pointed A tradition was laid down which "Britannia rules the waves" merely Gladstone had initiated a suprema cy.
In giving our their estates to the tenant 21.
[page 24]
Churchill even considered military intervention against the twenty six counties in order to secure the important bases in the South for use against ruling class centred on the social effects of the revolutionary movement In so far as the nationalist movement took on mass form, it fed on the social conditions of the workers and peasants. Connolly understood that the struggle for national freedom was bound up with the struggle for workers' power: "If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain. The class aspects which Connolly and larkin had given to the national struggle had ensured the predominance of the forces of the labour Movement Sinn Fein with its circulation of 5,000, the revolutionary organ of the during larkin's absence in America the epigones who took their place, Thomas Johnson and Cathal O'Shannon abdicated leadership in the struggle against the founder of Sinn Fein (Ourselves Alone) who idealised the strivings of the effete Southern bourgeoisie and to petty-bourgeois nationalists such as The class standpoint of Griffiths was clearly revealed in the 1913 lock out, when he came together with "Home Rule" capitalists like Murphy, clerical reaction and the British Government to smash the Dublin At the time of the 1916 uprising he stood aside from the movement. His economic policies echoed those of the German economists list, of selfsufficiency and tariffs to protect Irish industry. . was prepared to accept Dominion status and even Dual Monarchy. Included "The right of the Irish to political independence never was, is not and never can be devendent upon the admission Ireland a nation and all means lawful to restore her the full free exercise of national liberties thereby no more commits himself to the theory that black equals white .. In order to mobilise the workers and peasants who constituted the fighting personnel and the mass basis of the struggle against the British ruling class, the social programme of the first independent Dail (Parliament) their demands: "the full resources of Ireland for the do the drafting of the main part of the programme. The more specific demands class lead was revealed in the Civil War which followed the signing of the Treaty in 1922 by the bourgeois representatives in the liberation movement. The anti-Treaty forces, although still led by petty-bourgeois nationalists German imperialisn in the U-boat war.
between 1916-23.
rule you.
in this movement before 1916.
Labour Movement Workers' Republic enjoyed circulation of 74,000 in 1911.
the British ruling class.
De Valera.
workers.
in his outlook also were elements of racialism:was forced to reflect people of Ireland, etc."
of the Labour Movement were omitted.
She would rule you through her capitalists".
This meant ceding control to Arthur Griffiths, of equal rights in all other peooles•...
But the main fear of the British England would still Compared to the bourgeois nationalist weekly enormous influence, with a top But following the execution of Connolly and At the outset Griffiths He who holds ."
Johnson, the labour Party Leader, was allowed to That there was abasis for a clear 22.
[page 25]
such as De Valera, at bottom represented the opposition of the small farmers and working class to the acceptance of a deal with British imperialism. best elements within the Republican movement such as Liam Mellowes belatedly understood the class role of Griffiths, Collins and Co. "We are back to Tone - and it is just as well - relying on that great body of men, the men of no property. The stake in the country people The pro-Treaty forces underlined Mellowes' characterisation of them by beginning the short-lived but bloody Civil War with guns borrowed from the British Army and murdering Mellowes as a "reprisal". execution he urged that the social programme of the Republican movement should be made more specific and the workers and farmers mobilised in "Under the Republic all industry will be controlled by the State The partitioning of the country only served to reinforce the divisions within the working class and were ratified by the bloody pogroms unleashed against the Cathloic workers from the outset of the Northern Ireland state. into every aspect of the lives of the Cathloic population. letting was urged on by the Unionist regime as a means of cowering into congratulated the Protestant workers in the Belfast shipyards after a particularly murderous attack on the Catholic workers: "Do I approve of the The Republic). That ruthless apparatus which has made up the "stability" of Unionism for fifty years was then introduced, armed police, Special Powers Act, abolition of proportional representation, the para-military B - Specials and the discrimination against the Catholic population. state itself was completely unviable right from the outset and could only be supported by the inclusion of two overwhelming Catholic counties, Fermanagh and Iyrone, and massive subventions by British imperialism amountperiod, unemployment has fluctuated at two ana unree times the avera trabane Britain as a whole, affecting the Catholic population the worst. possess the highest unemployment per head of population of any town in Militant Nos. 46, 51, 53, 64 and 66 for further details). From these social conditions came the seething discontent of the Catholics has been easier (by Northern Ireland standards) than was the case in the inter-war period. The state was conceived amidst a massive 18% he declared:
were never with the Republic."
action:
for the workers' and farmers' benefit."
PARTITION SPLITS WORKERS In the first two years over 435 were murdered.
of terror and a curfew for four years.
submission the Catholic population.
action you boys have taken?
ing now to over £200 million a year.
endemic from the beginning.
Western Europe:
Catholic population.
.... I say yes". (Quoted in D. McCardle's Even in the reltively "prosperous" post-war in the region of 30% for the male population. (See Yet, if anything, the economic position of the The From his death cell Before his Belfast lived under a reign The terror spread its tentacles The blood The head of the Northern regime, Craig, The Despite this, massive unemployment was 23.
[page 26]
unemployment level and reached 25% a few years later. Even this only occasionally shook the Unionist monolith and it remained in power longer Why then the mass upheavals in the past period which have irretrievfound in the changed conditions within Northern Irish society which have effected all the advanced countries as a consequence of the post-war economic Better though it undoubtedly was than in the past, nevertheless, the new generation of Catholic workers were not prepared to accept the old market in 1966 exacerbated the situation, bringing in its wake the closure of a number of factories. The crisis-ridden shipbuilding and linen by massive bribes, eat up the "surplus" labour. The new jobs created only barely accounted for those lost in the dying industries. In revolt against the system which condemned them to a living death it was the impatience of the youth which fuelled the Civil Rights campaign. The mailed fist of Paisley and Craig only served to inflame the situation. Even sections of the Protestant working and middle classes were initially sympathetic to the demands of the Civil Rights Movement. strated by the overwhelming support for the movement in Queens University (75% Protestant). As part of the middle strata the students reflected the changes unfolding in the ranks of the middle class and the working class. An investigation by Stratholyde University also revealed that at that time a majority of the Catholic workers no longer viewed the Border as So when the 1968 October 5th Civil Rights demonstration was broken up by the clubs and boots of the RUC, to be followed by the vicious attack on the students at Burntollet bridge, this only served to propel into action more and more sections of the Catholic population. The British bourgeoisie and the O'Neill wing of the Unionist Party early on drew the conclusion that the old methods would endanger their position in Northern Ireland and have "dangerous" repercussions South of the Border and in The more far sighted sections understood that to screw down the lid on the social protest behind the Civil Rights campaign would lead to, on the massive damage to property and a seizing up of foreign investments. Already over £40 million of their investments have been destroyed. other side, one consequence of a movement on the streets, even if it began as a religious clash could easily be a turn in the direction of mass class action. In the changed situation in the six counties, the labour Movement, far more powerful than in the past, would be forced to step in. The tendency than any other regime in Europe.
ably shattered the Unionist Party in its old form? upswing.
conditions; industries offered no way out.
an important issue.
Britain itself.
CHANGED CONDITIONS one side, a veiled "religious civil war".
24.
the "cropies would not lie down".
The explanation is to be The downturn in the British Neither did foreign capital, induced there This was demon- This in turn would lead to On the
[page 27]
was already evident in the "peace committees" in East Belfast last year and the action of the shipyard shop-stewards in opposition sectarian divisions. The political connotations of such a movement filled them with dread. is why they attempted to get rid of the more open sectarian abuses against the Catholic population, by exerting pressure on the O'Neill and Chichester- Another factor in the situation is the changed attitude of the British bourgeoisie and their Southern Irish counterparts towards the The organs of Big Business in Britain have openly come out for some kind of unification of the country on a capitalist basis. do they fear the effects of a social revolution emanating from the South. And as if to confirm the British bourgeoisie in their belief, the Fianna Fail regime in the South has held out the olive branch to them: confronting us today has to do with evolution - not revolution" (Irish Press, semi-official organ of Fianna Fail, 21/1/69). Having tried and failed to build up an independent base, in the abortive pre-war tariff war with British Imperialism, the Southern bourgeoisie have hitched their star to that of their British Big Brother.. time a reassessment of the strategic interests of the Southern ruling class is presently taking place in the Irish bourgeois press. Reflecting its premature arterio-sclerosis, one section represented by Dr. Geary has even come out against unification with the North on the basis that the cost of British social services "would cripple their economy". The other favours As a conciliatory gesture to their Unionist "brothers" in the North they have even obtained the support of Cardinal Conway and the Catholic Church to delete from the Constitution Article 44(2) which recognises the Constitution so that divorce and contraception can be allowed. One thing is certain, the economy of the 26 counties has never been more dependent on the British market. 69% of its exports go to Britain in history the Irish economy is a labour reserve, market and field for And even sections of the Unionist tops realise that the worst aspects of discrimination against Catholic workers need to be eliminated in order to ism) do not really believe that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom anyway, they feel that it would be nice to get rid of it soon". Clarke Governments.
Border.
"special position" of the Church.
investment.
(Ulster Times) • a "Federation" and transitional measures to unity. while 51% of its imports come from Britain.
preserve the position of the ruling class:
There is also talk of rewriting the No longer "The task At the same More than at any other time "They (meaning British capital- 25.
[page 28]
Thus, from a policy of division and playing on sectarian strife, the organs of the capitalists are nowhypocritically declaring in favour of "unity" and against the "economic tragedy of a divided Ireland" (Sunday Nourished on a diet of sectarianism and religious hatred the Unionist regime found itself on the horns of a dilemma in August, 1969. To have banned the Apprentice Boys demonstration would have undermined their own position in the eyes of the Protestant population, as the latest prohibition of Protestant parades has demonstrated. To allow it to go ahead only served to enrage the Catholic population of Bogside and ignite a mass explosion of practically the whole of the Catholic population of the area. Having learnt the lesson in the preceding two months, the Bogside were determined to prevent another police and Paisleyite pogrom of the The result was an uprising of the Catholic workers in Derry and their own "law and order", refusing to allow the writ of the Unionists to It represented a social movement for jobs, housing, education and democratic rights, although in the eyes of the Protestant population it took on the form of a "Catholic rebellion". Only the Derry Young Socialists and labour Party attempted to stress the need for a class The "Green Tory" wing of the Citizens' Defence Committee, made up of millionaires and an assortment of businessmen, were the same forces which had opposed any class orientation in the period of the Civil Rights. Their position was echoed by the ultra-left sects both in Northern Ireland and in Britain who characterised the Protestant workers as "colons", support their position they appealed to Irish history. PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC WORKERS COME TOGETHER But in fact this very history speaks against them. It demonstrates that the Protestant population has never been impervious to a class appeal when the Protestant workers of Belfast refused to black on their Dublin brothers, but even earlier in 1906-7 in Belfast, James Iarkin clearly illustrated how to counter the sectarianism of the Unionist capitalists. was able to forge a powerful alliance between Catholic and Protestant workers. His main allies were the leadership of the Independent Orange Order. This beganas a vicious sectarian splinter within the main Orange Order. In defence of "Protestantism" it denounced the Orange Order as CLASS BATTLES BEHIND UPRISING Times).
But history has a way of playing classes.
monster refuses to lie down.
area.
the Falls Road area of Belfast.
run in their area.
appeal to the Protestant population, the Citizens Army, the starry plough.
by the Labour Movement.
26.
• tricks on the shrewdest ruling Ensnared by its own past propaganda the 150,000 workers for two months set up adopting as their emblem the flag of Not only did the 1913 lock-out demonstrate this, larkin
[page 29]
"an instrument of landlordism and class rule .... the majority of the Grand Lodge were well-to-do merchants, justices of the peace, etc." Under the ian programme and linked up with larkin to fight the sweatshop conditions in domination in Belfast was broken" (James larkin by Emmett larkin). The Unionist capitalists learnt their lesson well in the school of Larkin in a negative sense and prepared to recapture their hold over the Protestant workers by inflaming sectarian passions. sectarianism of the Catholic Ancient Order of Hibernians, much as the Catholic bigots today are grist to the mill of the Paisleyite Right. But perhaps the best indication of the possibilities of bridging the sectarian divide was given in an account of an incident in Belfast in 1931 "Discontent in the city (Belfast) rose to revolutionary dimensions and in the great Belfast fitting shops, and He further points out that as a result of street fighting between the unemployed and the police in the Catholic Falls Road area, he went to "I picked a tall athletic young man •... 'Any fighting?' I said. there trouble there?' 'They have been fighting all day and "While we spoke, his eye fell on my lapel button. For at least a half a minute we stared at each other without speaking, and his face clearly showed his changing emotions ancestral dislike for tricolours, and Fenians, slowing changing to friendliness as he realised that this particular Fenian spoke his language, and that we were both in something a bit more important than the religious squabbles of our native city, and attempting to deal with forces not likely 'If that's where the fighting is, that's the place for me' This particular incident illustrates more than anything else the a clear class lead is given, all the prejudices and religious mythology can be burned from the consciousness of the Protestant working class with the guidance of R. Lindsay Crawford Belfast at the time.
by by an IRA veteran Bob Bradshaw:
in the eat the densely populated labour exchanges, Socialist Communist opinions were easy to hear".
obtain support from 'That gutless lot won't fight'.
don't you go to the Falls?' I said, watching him. many people have been shot.' I said.
to respond to placatory speeches.
he said." (Irish Times, 13/3/69).
potential for working class unity.
majority.
this movement began to develop a non-sectar- So successful was the alliance that "in 1906 Orange They were assisted in this and the Protestant unemployed in the Shankhill Road:
This was my chance. Why Why, is Our long eyelock broke.
In the heat of battle, particularly if 27.
[page 30]
This has been further underlined by the developments in Northern stood out as a beacon against the background of sectarian clashes which swept Belfast last August. It is now fashionable in ultra-left circules to question the role of the shop stewards, as indicating "a low level of They point to the appeal to Unionist ministers and the indicate the confusion and even opportunism of some of the leading trade union leaders, nevertheless, the shop stewards' committee demonstrated a sense and understanding than did the so-called 'advanced guard' The stewards at least understood the need to maintain basic class unity in the factories and the shipyards and to fight any manifestation of sectarianism, to prevent a repetition of events similar to the inter-war The mass meeting was called in the face of management opposition and threats by the small Paisleyite section within the yard. of the Belfast shipyard workers re-emphasises the potential for uniting the working class. The possibilities are there within the ranks of the unions. All it needs is to be given a clear direction and a class programme. The action of the Belfast shipyard shop stewards and the "peace committees" in East Belfast could have become the starting point of real united working class action against sectarianism and hooligan attacks from both sides. The British Army was originally welcomes by the overwhelming majority of Catholic workers as a protection against the attacks of the B-specials and Paisleyites, only because no alternative was given by the While one by-product of military intervention was to prevent a full scale pogrom against the Catholics its main purpose was to was to safeguard the position of British Imperialism which was endangered by the possibility of a civil war as was explained earlier. British Army has always been to safeguard the position of British capitalism. and retreated only after a minority, undemocratic constitution had been implemented. In Aden, Malaya and in the former "Empire" they played a similar role. But the only way to have cut across the arguments in favour of military intervention was by the implementation of a Trade Union Defence Force. This could have become the starting point for united class action and as such would be opposed as bitterly by the Southern capitalists, as it It was precisely the possibility of these developments which caused consternation within the ranks of the Fianna Fail regime in the South. Its right wing, Blaney, Haughey and Bolan, deliberately prepared to head off the movement towards the left, North and South, by re-establishaffair had come into the open they conspired behind the scenes to create the Ireland in the past year.
consciousness".
award of the MBE to the leading shop steward, greater class na shreate period.
Labour Movement.
In British Guyana, would be by British Imperialism.
ing the Nationalist and Unionist polarisation.
28.
they "went" into ostensibly prevent racial clashes ATTEMPT TO HEAD-OFF LEFT SWING The actions of the Belfast shipyard shop stewards While these undoubtedly, The actions The role of the Long before the gun-running
[page 31]