With
the standing down of the PIRA, Irish Republicanism
is now going to have to face the same thorny problem
that revolutionaries though-out the western world
have faced before them. If revolutionary change
is not on the immediate or medium term agenda, where
does that leave revolutionaries? Do they keep the
flame of revolution burning to await better days,
by huddling together in tiny groups on the edge
of society and the fringe of the political life
of the nation? Or accept the fact that a revolutionary
situation is unlikely to erupt within their lifetimes
and cut their political cloth accordingly, in the
process accepting, if reluctantly, some of the institutions
of the very state they had previously pledged to
destroy?
There
is of course a third option open to them and it
is one which has been trod by generations of Irish
Republicans down the years; it is commonly known
as 'returning the pike to the thatch'. Those who
having failed to achieve their aim of removing the
oppressive British yoke from Ireland, despite having
given it their all, simply could not face entering
the daily grind of bourgeois politics, let alone
help administer what they regard as their oppressors
political institutions, believing were they to do
so it would be a betrayal of all they and their
fallen comrades had stood for. Thus
they withdraw from all political activity, returning
to private life, hoping that a future generation
will take up the struggle where they left it and
succeed where they failed.
However,
after the titanic struggle conducted by the Provisional
Republican Movement's volunteers and supporters
over the last thirty odd years, is it really likely
any future generation, sword in hand, could even
emulate, let alone surpass the self sacrifice, dedication
and stamina the volunteers of Oglaigh na hEireann
have shown during the 1969-97 campaign?*
If not, then it is difficult not to conclude the
days of Republicanism's armed struggle are all but
over (unless some unforeseen but advantageous event
intervenes).
I realize this suggestion will be difficult if not
impossible for many physical force republicans to
digest, preferring to believe the 69-97 campaign
failed because of a corrupt and venal leadership
as epitomized by Gerry Adams, and all that is needed
is a new leadership with the correct/traditional
policies and strategy and all will be to play for.
As time goes by, the manner in which the Adams leadership
have been economical with the truth** and
cleverly manipulated and bureaucratically maneuvered
their membership will increasingly come to the fore,
making the 'one more heave' variety of Republicanism
as practiced by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement
and RSF attractive to some. However, I doubt these
groups will be able to draw more than a minority
of Republicans to their banners.
Although
the physical force Republicans will continue to
exist as they have always done, they will in all
probability bed down as a minority group, much like
the Trotskyists have elsewhere, stuck in a time
warp. Armed Republicanism will act as a propaganda
outfit, whose raison d'être is merely the
means of carrying on the tradition of a minority
of each generation, by force of arms demonstrating
their refusal to accept the writ of the British
State in the north of Ireland. In other words, it
is propaganda by deed which in itself has little
to do with militarily removing the British presence
from the six counties.
As
to Sinn Fein, it is clear the current leadership
have mapped out a Social Democratic if not Christian
Democratic future for the party, which will they
hope make them fully acceptable in the Chancelleries
of the world's political elite. If anyone still
doubts this they only have to read the articles
that have begun to appear of late in the PRM press,
which are designed to acclimatize the SF membership
before a move to the right. How else can one read
the following sentence which was taken from an article
in Daily Ireland: "Radical
politics is for
losers"?
This
rightward shift will inevitably bring them into
conflict with their membership, a sizable section
of which is well to the left of its leadership and,
as important, with its core support base, the Irish
working classes, whose needs are the opposite of
the middle classes political wish-list Gerry Adams'
rightward drift is designed to attract.
Clearly
the Adams leadership is staking all on SF being
able to expand its support base into the middle
classes. In the north, with the decline of the SDLP
this may be a possibility, but it is far from a
certainty in the south as the political landscape
to the right is already very crowded, with Fianna
Fail, the Labour Party, the Greens and the two Irish
Conservative parties Fine Gael and the PDs vying
for the votes of this section of the electorate.
The
Shinners also have the added problem in the north
of the PSNI police committees etc., a rubicon the
nationalist middle classes in the north expect them
to cross. It is hard to see how any revolutionary
Republican could square this particular circle,
for in any State the police are the sharp elbows
of power. By placing a few Republicans in the uniforms
of the PSNI, far from making that force acceptable,
will simply turn these poor unfortunates into ex-Republicans
and Broy Harriers to boot.
Having
said this there is absolutely no reason why SF need
accept the legitimacy of the PSNI; it can simply
cherry pick what aspects of the police 'service'
they feel are acceptable and of use to the nationalist
community and oppose those that are not, i. e.,
Special Branch etc. Indeed, this is the attitude
revolutionaries in most western countries take towards
the police. For example if a child goes missing
or a neighbour's home is burgled, they would support
the police, whereas when the police are used to
crush a strike or force a Nazi march through a multi-racial
area, they oppose the police with all their vigor.
As to sitting on police committees, the experience
of these committees elsewhere in the UK shows they
are nothing but window dressing, as operational
control remains with the Chief Constables and Home
Office.
To
conclude, perhaps what is needed from Republicans
in the coming months is a period of reflection about
the future of Irish Republicanism in which all options
are considered, and all factions and currents are
included. The fixed positions which have emerged
out of the last thirty years of intense struggle
need to be re-assessed as to their viability in
the current situation.
One
can only hope the standing down of the PIRA will
have helped to facilitate a democratic dialogue
between all Republicans, something that has been
somewhat absent in some quarters of late. A dialogue
where if comrades enter into blue sky thinking over
the PSNI, the inadequacies and reactionary nature
of vanguard politics, whether it be Adamite or Leninist,
or indeed any other matter, they are not condemned
as traitors, sell out merchants, or lickspittles,
but are challenged in a civilized and democratic
manner to justify their thought process. Most of
all, Republicans must not simply repeat what they
wish for, as this is self evident (a thirty two
county Socialist Republic), but consider what the
Irish working classes need and are prepared to fight
for at this period in history.
If
Irish Republicanism has one core eternal thread,
it is being in the same trench as the dispossessed,
the men and women of no property, and the wretched
of the earth.
* Although prior to 1969,
few could have imagined the corner and plough boys
and girls who made up the PIRA would have had the
determination, dedication and stamina to take on
the armed might of the British State for thirty
years, thus as far as Irish Republicanism is concerned
it is wise never to say never.
**
Not a single bullet, not an ounce [of semtex].
