I
was recently told that my refusal to recognize that
Sinn Fein's days as a progressive political party
are long gone is on a par with the way a child sucks
on a comfort blanket. Amusing for sure, and I can
well understand the anger and contempt certain veteran
Republicans feel towards a section of the current
SF leadership. However, I do not see this as an
either/or question. Indeed, I would go as far as
to say to pose such a question and answer it in
the affirmative, either reduces one to impotency
or back to supporting a rerun of what became a hopeless
war.
Whilst
admittedly in reality it is an impossible task,
it might help if one momentarily divorces SF from
its history as the political wing of Oglaigh nh
Eireann [PIRA] and attempt to draw a comparison
between SF and the type of post USSR, left wing
reformist parties that exist on the continent of
Europe and beyond.
Take
a look at the Sinn Fein's recent 2006 Ard Fheis.
No matter what the likes of Jude Collins may imply
in the pages of the Daily Ireland, one only
had to look at the overwhelming majority of the
delegates to understand that SF is a party staffed
by members of the Irish working classes. Whilst
the SF suits may like to flounce around in their
Italian two pieces and silk ties, in the mistaken
belief this will entice members of the middle classes
to align with the party, the rank and file's dress
sense at the Ard Fheis would make them indistinguishable
from workers throughout western Europe. Neat, tidy
and causal was the dress rigour of these comrades.
Indeed, if one were to attend any of the party conferences
of those organizations with whom SF is affiliated
within the European Parliament, [GUE/NGL], then
their memberships would be much of a muchness with
the Shinners, both sartorially and intellectually.
If one looks at the resolutions which were submitted
to the recent Ard Fheis by local Sinn Fein cumainn,
the overwhelming majority were of a progressive
bent and concerned issues which are dear to the
hearts of progressive political activists the world
over. Workers and TU Rights, the Environment, Social
Justice [social welfare and benefits], Policing
and Community, Housing, Equality and Human Rights,
Anti Racism, The Rights of People with Disabilities,
Abortion and a Woman's Right to Choose, Support
for Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, the sex industry,
Gender Equality and Violence against Women, Civil
and Political Liberties, Challenging the Democratic
Deficit, Democratizing the European Union, International
Solidarity, [with among others the Basque and Cypriot
people, plus also the Kurds, Cuban, Venezuelan and
Columbian, The Iraq war and Irish Neutrality. Local
Government, Mental Health and the Rise of Suicide
amongst Young People, HIV, Illegal Drugs, Healthcare,
Education, Culture agus Teanga. [language]
This
list of proposed resolutions put to the Party Conference
would make many mouths on the left within the British
Labour Party or French Socialists [Parti Socialiste
or PS] water with envy if not admiration, and they
clearly highlight that SF is far more than an automatic
shoe-in as Fianna Fail Mark 2. Members of European
progressive political parties such as Partito della
Rifondazione Comunista (PRC) or the newly established
Left Party [Die Linkspartei] in Germany, which took
54 seats at the last German general election would
feel completely at home politically with SF's program.
Although, having said this and given the historical
trajectory former physical force Irish Republican
organizations have taken in the past, the SF rank
and file would be wise to be vigilant and continuously
demand of their leadership ever more democratic
control and accountability.
Lenin
demanded that the core leadership committee of a
revolutionary political party should in practice
be the equivalent of a General Staff in the Military,
always ready to oversee and control the Party whilst
waging the class war. Tragically by so doing he
incorporated into both his party and the state it
created the democratic deficit which has brought
socialism into disrepute amongst many within its
natural constituency.
Irish
Republicanism prior to the 2005 PIRA statement made
no such pretense, as it had an Army Council as the
sole authority whose word was absolute. This has
been both a strength and Achilles Heel for Republicans.
Although it enabled the movement to wage a military
campaign against the British State for decades and
in the process sustain internal discipline often
against great odds, it also created what can only
be described as a leadership psychosis amongst both
the party's rank and file and their leaders, not
dissimilar to that which existed in the Bolshevik
Party/CPSU.
Like
the Leninists before them and their malignant mutation
the Stalinists, senior Republicans if in office
for any length of time, came to equate dissent with
disloyalty. Hence Republicanism propensity for walk
outs, splits and expulsions, as when political differences
arose which could not be contained by the leadership,
activists had only three alternatives, bend the
knee to the leadership by suppressing their differences
internally, head for the door, or await their inevitable
expulsion or sidelining from the organization. One
only has to read the issue of Republican News
which followed the 2006 Ard Fheis to understand
that this leadership psychosis is still in place.
Almost the entire copy of the paper is given over
to reporting the speeches made to the Ard Fheis
by various members of the Adams leadership cadre,
who also belong to the party's governing body the
Ard Chomhairle.
This
is not mere semantics on my part for the Ard Fheis
like the annual conference of any progressive organization
is held up as, and in reality must be the party's
foremost democratic forum and an embryo of the type
of state the Party wishes to create if it attains
governmental office. Thus for the party's main publication
to treat it as little more than a propaganda opportunity
on behalf of the leaderships is to misunderstand
the very essence of what the Ard Fheis should be
in a progressive democratic organization.
It
should not only be the exclusive property of the
membership, and not yet another vehicle of the leadership,
it must also be an example of the party in action
in all its democratic glory, which will filter down
as a living example of democratic accountability
throughout the organization and ultimately the society
the party membership wish to serve.
To
conclude we can say that in its current incarnation
Sinn Fein is a left of centre reformist party with
a leadership which unless checked has a dictatorial
inclination and a liking for populist politics.
Despite the latter weaknesses, for me this makes
it a thing of value for the simple fact is bar the
odd party such as the Greens or miniscule organizations
like the Socialist Party, there is no political
party with a progressive platform bar SF that claims
the allegiance of the Irish working classes.
This
is of some importance both to the Irish working
classes and Society as a whole. For we are living
in times where reactionary and oppressive political
ideas are the norm. The media has created the misconception
that we life in a society where wealth and power
is distributed fairly. Thus this being so it is
vital that there is a progressive voice within the
political corridors and debating chambers of the
nation which can offer an alternative form of politics.
One only has to look across the seas to Westminster
and Capitol Hill to see the dangers when no such
party exists, as it gives the hawks of Capital a
free reign to sell their filthy wares to the people
without being challenged.
Neo-Liberal
economics is the order of the day and at its very
heart is the exploitation for profit of the many
by the few. In practice this means the top ten percent
of earners pay a lesser proportion of their income
in tax than the bottom ten percent. In other words
the economically poorest people pay proportional
more than the economically richest for the infrastructure
of the state we all live in, yet the rich receive
far more of the benefits and advantages of that
same State...
Under
ten percent of the population own the vast majority
of the wealth in the ROI and UK, the same goes for
the land within the UK. This being so, a leading
politician like Gerry Adams can be ridiculed in
the media for saying it is imperative to build for
future generations an Ireland of equals. To understand
the arm-lock Neo-liberal economics hold on the societies
here, one need only remember that such a statement
in the recent past would have been the norm for
any major political player in either the UK or ROI,
yet today to suggest such a thing is regarded as
being preposterous.
Thus
it is not scare-mongering to say without a political
party whose first interest is representing politically
the working classes of Ireland, then that class
has a very grim future indeed. History has taught
us how an unfettered capitalist system operated
and the number of victims it produced, both at home
and abroad. Every political party bar those I have
mentioned supports, either intentionally or by default,
a return to those dark days. Thus the very few who
do not must be cherished by all progressive people.
That is not to say they are beyond criticism, far
from it. Indeed it is the duty of all progressives
to demand from SF the very highest standards and
when they fail to attain these standards, they should
be vigorously challenged, nudged and coaxed back
onto the progressive road.
