The partition of Ireland - amended WSM position paper
ireland / britain |
imperialism / war |
policy statement
Tuesday November 08, 2005 19:35 by National Conference - WSM
The recent WSM conference passed 24 motions amending our position paper on the Partition of Ireland. Below is the full text of the new paper.
The Partition of Ireland
1.1 As anarchists, we oppose imperialism (see our position paper
Capitalist globalisation and
imperialism) and believe it cannot play a progressive role . The
role of the British state in Ireland is a particular case of
imperialism which we have always opposed. The relationship of the
British state with Ireland is imperialist because the decisions it
has imposed have always been autonomous of the wishes of the people
of the island and any section of the people. That is British state
policy follows the perceived needs of the British state and not the
wishes of the 'Irish people', those who are 'loyal to the crown' or
even the local ruling class.
1.2 However in opposing imperialism we see no form of nationalism
as offering a definitive solution to either the working class in
Ireland or the working class across the globe. In the final analysis
nationalism argues for a common interest between workers and bosses
of one 'nation' against the workers and bosses of another. As
anarchists we stand for international working class solidarity
against all bosses.
Communal identity
2. However as anarchists living on the island of Ireland we have
to deal with rather than ignore the divisions in the working class
that exist based on communal identity in the north and the issues of
state repression that continue around them. When we talk about
"communal identity" we acknowledge that not all Catholic are
nationalists, not all Protestants are unionists, and not all
nationalists and unionists are religious believers. There are,
however, two main communal identities, which can be summarised as
Catholic/nationalist on one hand and Protestant/unionist on the
other. In this paper the terms 'communal identity" and 'religion are
used interchangeably
3. We reject the idea that there are any differences between
workers from different religions on the island that make partition
either desirable or inevitable. Rather we see partition as the main
reason why conflicts based on religious divisions continue to exist.
4. All sections of the working class have lost out as a result of
these religious divisions. In the north the divisions in the working
class make it more difficult but not impossible to unite against the
bosses. In the north the divisions have historically meant that
workers from a catholic background suffered state discrimination and
were often the targets of loyalist and Orange attacks. In the south,
the birth of mass socialist politics in the working class has been
delayed for decades, Southern workers were subject to a theocratic
state regime which not only denied abortion rights but also subjected
the vulnerable, in particular children, to brutal regimes of
'discipline' based on physical and all to often sexual abuse.
Historical roots
5. Partition is not a historic accident but rather the result of
centuries of imperialism and struggles against imperialism. From the
reformation onwards the British State encouraged religious conflict
in Ireland in order to divide and rule.
6.1. The radical republican rebellion of 1798 offered the
opportunity to simultaneously remove the rule of the British state
and to end sectarian conflict as a major political force. The defeat
of the rebellion in part through the deliberate deepening of
sectarian divisions enabled the British state to not only preserve
its rule but entrench and extend the sectarian divisions that existed
prior to the rebellion.
6.2 Of particular significance was the encouragement of the Orange
Order as an instrument of counter-revolution open to 'Dissenters' as
well as Anglicans with the common purpose of physically suppressing
Catholics and radical Protestants alike. The creation of the founding
nationalist and loyalist mythologies towards the end of the 19th
century saw even that rebellion presented as part of a seamless
history of catholic Irish versus the British state and its loyal
defenders / local dupes.
6.3 Thus the period of the Home Rule crises and the War of
Independence saw the creation of two distinct nationalist identities
that were to be cemented by partition and the carnival of reaction -
north and south - that followed it. The class politics that emerged -
north and south - in the opening years of the 20th century was to
vanish to be replaced by the Catholic Irish and the Ulster Protestant
- each with their own statelet containing unhappy minorities.
6.4 These myths of separate national identities continue to be
built by reactionaries north and south to bolster their agendas.
7.1 The truce of July 1921 happened at what we now know to be the
closing of the period of intense class struggle in Ireland that
opened with the 1907 dockers strike. 1919 had seen saw large scale
land and workplace occupations as well as the 'Limerick Soviet' when
the trades council ran the city for 14 days during a general strike.
In Belfast in 1919 40,000 engineering workers struck. All this in the
context of the revolution in Russia and the attempted revolution in
Germany.
7.2 With the ruling class of Britain and Ireland - including many
of the nationalists - worried about revolution partition represented
a compromise that could offer stability. The economic differences
between the agricultural south and the industrial north meant that
most of the rulers north and south could accept partition as an
unavoidable tragedy. British imperialism was guranteed the military
bases it needed to patrol the north Atlantic because it kept the
north and the five treaty ports in the south. And instead of the
threat of a working class united by a struggle for better wages and
conditions partition held the promise of deepening the sectarian
divide in the working class and strengthening national identity over
class.
Unionism and Loyalism
8.1 The 6 counties of the north was separated out of the 9
counties in Ulster so as to ensure a permanent unionist rule based on
tying Protestant workers to their bosses in return for marginal
privilege. This was not a secretive project but openly talked of by
Northern Prime Ministers (e.g. Brookborough's famous statement about
employing 'good Protestant lads') in particular when workers did
start to unite around shared economic issues.
8.2 Sharp sectarian divisions around the issues of access to jobs
and housing already existed, particularly in Belfast. But the
rhetoric of those who ran the northern state helped further build a
sense amongst a layer of protestant workers that they had to actively
defend 'their jobs and houses' against the demands of catholic
workers for an equal share. This layer could be mobilised not only
against catholic workers but also against protestant workers who
either identified with the call for a fair redivision on humanitarian
grounds or who saw the possibility of more being won for all workers
through a united struggle.
8.3 This layer represents a minority of protestant workers but it
has been and remains a sizeable minority. When its interests have
coincided with the unionist ruling class tens of thousands have been
mobilised on the streets, in 1969 in response to a peaceful civil
rights movement demanding basic democratic rights, in 1974 in the
strike against power sharing that brought down Stormont, in the
1980's in the mass demonstrations against the Anglo Irish agreement
and in the 1990's at Drumcree. But as the examples from the 80's and
90's show its power is dependant on its demands corresponding with a
significant section of the British ruling class. Where such support
is not forthcoming this movement fractures and retreats into an
abstract loyality to the more reactionary symbols of the British
state (the monarchy, the empire and the flag) coupled with a sense it
has been betrayed by the same British state.
8.4. Thus loyalism is a reactionary ideology in all its forms
including those that try to appear socialist. It serves only to
maintain sectarianism and Protestant privilege and protect the
interests of the British and northern ruling classes.
The south
9.1 Not all of the reasons why northern protestant workers support
partition are reactionary. Post partition the southern state followed
a path that did indeed lead to a form of 'Rome rule'. A huge amount
of formal and informal power was handed to the Catholic church. From
1937 to 1972 the Irish constitution even included the statement that
the Catholic church held a 'special position'. Taioseache's would
routinely pledge loyality to the catholic church or even the pope as
with Costelloe 1947 letter pledging "our devotion to your August
person".
9.2 It is not just a question of rhetorical statements - the
catholic church was given de facto control of almost every school,
hospital and orphanage in the country. Until the 1990's it had an
effective if informal veto over government policy. It was also not
subject to the criminal justice system - the Gardai not only ignored
hundreds of reports of physical and sexual abuse of those in church
run institutions but at least up to the 1960's they went so far as to
capture and return even adult women who had fled Magdelene laundries
into the hands of the clerics. There was no equivalent of the
religious pograms of the northern state in the south but all the same
partition was followed by mass migration of the southern protestant
minority and a sharp decline in the percentage of protestants in the
population.
10. The struggle to achieve workers unity in the North can not be
separated from the struggle to build an anarchist workers movement in
the south. Such a movement in the south attacking both capitalism and
the dominance of religious law will be a great spur to winning over
Protestant workers in the North. The Catholic Church's position of
power in the South has been severely weakened over the last decade.
However it still maintains a dominant role in crucial areas such as
education and health. The complete smashing of this dominance will
help in the building of common links between northern and southern
workers.
Republicanism
11. Republicanism seeks to create a society where there will be a
fairer division of power but where capitalism and a ruling class will
continue to exist. Republicanism in Ireland and internationally
contained radical democratic roots but with the development of
autonomous working class politics these were relegated to the fringes
in order to eliminate the threat of the working class seizing the
reins during any upheavel.
12.1 Irish republicanism is now based on a practise which first
seeks to unite Catholic workers with Catholic bosses in a common
struggle for a united Ireland. Republicanism has considerable support
among sections of the catholic working class in the north but it has
no attraction for Protestant workers and has no strategy for
approaching Protestant workers beyond rhetorical appeals.
12.2 However, republicanism unlike loyalism often developed
significant left strands within it because, at least in theory, it
was based on the 'equal rights of all' rather then the 'god given
destiny of the chosen people' or the secular variations on this
theme. After the rise of Leninism however these strands were deeply
contaminated with authoritarian socialist ideas. Still they
sometimes, as with the Republican Congress movement of the 1930's,
could win support from small sections of the northern protestant
working class around the slogan of the workers republic. Although we
and other anarchists have used that slogan as in the past, it is no
longer a useful shorthand for why we have different politics to
republicans, so we prefer to simply say that we are for 'an anarchist
Ireland'
13.1 Left republicans talk of combining the struggle to end
partition and the struggle for socialism into a single struggle. But
the sectarian reality of the conflict meant that whatever the
rhetoric their only audience was amongst catholic workers. And they
also lack any strategy for winning over protestant workers beyond
hoping they will see beyond their 'false consiousness'. This would be
a weak strategy in any case but coming from organisations which
promote Leninist politics and are frequently seen as infested with
sectarian, criminal and thuggish behaviour it is no strategy at all.
Whatever variants of republicanism can be sketched in theory the
history of the last decades means that the language of republicanism
is not a way to initiating a meaningful dialogue with any large
number of protestant workers.
13.2 In any case because of globalisation the period when
republicanism represented a viable strategy is over. The integration
of the world economy means there is no longer space for a small
economy to go it alone without its economy collapsing.
1960's to today
14.1 In common with most of the western world Ireland as a whole
began a process of radical transformation in the 1960's - here as
elsewhere it focused around democratic demands for equality. In the 6
counties however the demand for equality was rightly seen as
undermining the base of the northern state. So as elsewhere in the
world a non-violent movement for democratic rights found itself
confronted with both the physical force of the state and 'popular'
mobilisations of reactionary movements.
14.2 In some areas of the world like the USA the emergence of mass
Civil Rights movements forced capital to modernise the state in order
to achieve stability - a modernisation that only happened on the back
of intense struggle but which nevertheless was to see the federal
government impose reforms on individual states. In others like South
Africa the state was used to violently clamp down on the movement. In
the north meant that both reform and repression were rolled out
alongside each other as divisions within and between the British and
northern state structure were played out without any real resolution.
Significant reforms were won by the civil rights movement but much of
the old structure of unionist power remained in place. And the
violent repression unleashed against the civil rights movement meant
many came to the conclusion that there was no peaceful road to the
reform of the northern state.
15. British troops were not sent into the North in 1969 in order
to keep the peace but rather to provide a breathing space for the
northern security forces and to stabilise in the interests of the
British ruling class what they thought could have became a
revolutionary situation. This remained their role, which is why we
call for "Troops out now". In addition they were used also to break
the back of any mass peaceful reform movement through actions like
Bloody Sunday in 1972.
Armed struggle
16.1 The tactic of armed struggle, as carried out by the
Republicans, was never capable of forcing the withdrawal of the
British state because it was incapable of delivering a military
victory over the British army. The British ruling class cares little
for the deaths of individual soldiers in its army. The 'commercial
bombing campaign' caused civilian casualties and heightened sectarian
tensions.
16.2 The armed struggle was also faulted because it relied on the
actions of a few, with the masses left in either a totally inactive
role, or one limited to providing intelligence and shelter to the
few. It is claimed that it did serve to maintain the gains made in
the 60s and early 70s. The mass campaigns (civil disobedience, rent
& rates strike, street committees, etc.) would have been a far
greater protection for the gains won than the elitist militarism of a
few.
17. The British state is responsible for the long history of armed
conflict in Irealnd. As long as the British state remains in Ireland
there remains the possibility of armed struggle against it,
especially when there is no mass movement to demonstrate an
alternative to militarism. We have opposed the republican armed
struggle because it was an impediment to working class unity. It was
based on wrong politics, it was a wrong strategy and it used wrong
tactics. However we refused to blame the republicans for the
situation in the six counties. Their campaign was the result of a
problem and must not be confused with its cause. In the final
analysis, the cause lies with the continuing occupation by the
British state.
18. The IRA was not responsible for the creation of sectarianism.
Rather it was re-created in 1969 as a response to the sectarian
attacks by the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries on what
had been a peaceful civil rights movement. While individual IRA
actions in the years since heightened sectarian tensions they were
not the underlying reason why it continued to exist. For this reason
the end of the IRA campaign did not result in an end to sectarianism.
The peace process
19. When the 1994 ceasefire was declared we welcomed it because
the ending of the armed struggle opens up new possibilities for class
politics. We did not see the IRA ceasefire as a sell-out. It was the
natural progression of nationalist politics in the circumstances,
which was always going to lead to a compromise with imperialism.
20.1 The Good Friday Agreement came about as the culmination of
Sinn Féin's strategy for over a decade which was aimed at
building various broad fronts around different issues in an attempt
to gain respectability by pulling in Fianna Fáil members and
church figures. This involved dropping all references to socialism to
maintain unity with "the broad nationalist family". This strategy was
never going to deliver a united socialist Ireland, or any other
significant improvements apart from those associated with
"demilitarisation". It represents instead a hardening of traditional
nationalism and the goal of achieving an alliance of all nationalists
- Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil, SDLP, the Catholic Church and
"Irish America". Such an alliance has nothing to offer working class
people, North or South, and we oppose it outright.
20.2 The Good Friday Agreement offered nothing except a sectarian
division of the spoils and in fact copper-fastened sectarian
divisions. We called for an abstention in the referendum on this
deal, refusing to align ourselves with those calling for a 'no' vote,
pointing out that they have no alternative to offer, just more of the
same conflict that has ruined tens of thousands of working class
lives. The republican forces of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee,
the Real IRA, Republican Sinn Fein, Continuity IRA and the Irish
National Liberation Army has nothing but increased communalism and
sectarianism to offer. The loyalist opponents-whose rallies were
attended by vocal supporters of the Loyalist Volunteer Force death
squads -wanted a return to the time when Catholics lived as second
class citizens afraid to be even seen to protest about this status.
21. The Assembly set up under the 'Good Friday Agreement'
demonstrates quite clearly the fact that the net effect of this
agreement is to copper-fasten sectarianism, with elected members
having to declare themselves 'nationalist' or 'unionist' in order for
their votes to count. The political parties have shown that they are
capable of plenty of agreement on economic issues - with no
disagreement over budgets or spending plans, but issues such as what
flowers should be put on display in the lobby or what flags should
fly over Ministerial buildings are used to hype up the divisions
between the two sides
22. The huge vote, North and South, in favour of the agreement
-whatever else it might have indicated - showed quite clearly that
the vast majority of people do not want a return to pre-ceasefire
violence. Any return to armed struggle will deliver only more
hardship and repression for working class people in the six
counties..
Sectarianism in the north today
23.1 Sectarian divisions continue in the north today. We recognise
that many of the protests that take place around these divisions are
intended to inflame them and further divide the working class rather
than solve them. Often this is for the electoral gain of local
politicians or to provide a continuing role for paramilitaries.
23.2 We are not neutral on these issues. We do not support the
right of any group to determine who may or may not live, work or pass
through 'their area'. The one exception we make to this is the
parades of the Orange Order and related institutions because of the
role they continue to play in inflaming sectarian hatred. But we
argue opposition to the Orange Order must be built on a class rather
then religious basis. This means great efforts should be made to
winning workers from a protestant background to opposing the order.
23.3 We generally support all calls for public enquiries and all
attempts to limit police powers even where we disagree with the
politics of those who are the victims of the repression.
23.4 We argue for integrated housing and schooling and the removal
of all religious and nationalist symbols from public buildings and
streets by those who use them. We argue for the ending of any
clerical input into any school or hospital that receives public
funding in the north just as we do in the south.
24. We condemn all sectarian actions (i.e. those carried out
because of religion) including any that are carried out by
republicans. We combat sectarianism not by appeals to the state
forces for protection but by calling for workers to act through
strikes, demonstrations etc against such outrages.
25. We condemn without reservation the 'punishment' beatings and
shootings of people accused of 'anti-social behaviour' or drug
dealing carried out by both republican and loyalist paramilitaries.
These actions are nothing more than a crude attempt by these groups
to maintain control over what they view as 'their communities'. They
are authoritarian thuggery. It is no justification for these groups
to claim that there is a 'policing vacuum' or that the communities
are pressurising them to act. None of these groups have any mandate
to enforce their 'rule of law'. They certainly have no right to set
themselves up as judge, jury and executioner.
Workers unity
24. As anarchists we work for unity both between Catholic and
Protestant workers and between British and Irish workers. The
potential for unity has been demonstrated on a number of occasions in
the history of the north including the 1907 Dockers strike and the
outdoor relief strike of 1932 when the Falls and Shankill rioted in
support of each other. More recently we have seem united actions in
defence of the National Health Service and against sectarian
intimidation. Smaller examples of such unity are constantly thrown up
in workplace struggles in the north.
25. We recognise that although Protestant workers have marginal
advantages over Catholic workers these are far outweighed by the
disadvantages faced by the division of the working class which means
northern workers, both Catholic and Protestant are worse off in terms
of housing, unemployment and wages then any comparable sized area in
England. These are the fruits of partition.
26.1 As everywhere else workers in the north have fought to
improve their lot and have come together to do so. Despite the legacy
of employment discrimination the workplace is the most integrated
part of northern society. There have even been significant strikes
against sectarian intimidation in the workplace.
26.2 However the ideology of loyalism has been used to break and
to undermine workers unity. This is no surprise as demands for
improvements for all run counter to the 'a protestant state for a
protestant people' (Craig, the first PM) basis on which the northern
state was explicitly founded. The Irish nationalism of the Catholic
working class may not have obvious reactionary implications. However,
if one keeps in mind that working class unity implies the
international unity of the working class, whereas national unity
requires unity between the capitalist class and the working class, it
is clear to see that Irish nationalism, like all nationalisms, calls
for the division of the international working class and the
sacrificing of working class interests for the, inherently
capitalist, 'national interest'
27. The interests of workers on the island dictate a need to break
with the ideologies of loyalism and Irish nationalism. If this is
true of day to day economic struggles it is one hundred times the
case in the struggle for libertarian communism.
28. A lasting libertarian movement can only be built on a basis
that openly includes anti- imperialism and opposition to state
repression and sectarianism among its policies. These issues must be
debated within any libertarian movement and should not be rushed over
for the sake of short term growth
39. We should aid British anarchist groups in developing a clear
perspective on the national question committed to breaking British
workers from any support for the Rule of the British State in
Ireland.
An end to partition?
40.1 With the peace process the British state claimed that in the
event of the population of the island voting in separate referenda -
north and south - for unity that it would respect such a decision. It
is no coincidence that this concession was made in a period when the
elected wing of the British state was imposing a program of
modernisation of the overall state structure. All of these changes
faced opposition from other factions of the ruling class and all may
prove to be reversible. The record of Britain and other imperialist
powers in sticking to the terms of verbal or written agreements is
not something to be relied on. But alongside the peace process a
shift has taken place in European politics where increasingly the EU
becomes the guranteeor for capitalist stability. After all global
corporations have little concern with which national government
preserves stability for them.
40.2 This opens up a disturbing new route by which partition could
be ended. Previously anarchists including the WSM thought partition
could only be ended by a revolutionary upsurge that united the
working class and therefore abolished sectarian politics. The removal
of imperialism was an inevitable requirement of such a sceanario. Now
partition could end through a referendum in which a yet to be formed
majority impose a new settlement on a minority but in which
sectarianism remains in place. As anarchists we would welcome the
removal of imperialism even under such circumstances but recognise
that in the short term at least it would probably deepen sectarian
divisions in the northern working class.
Short Term Perspectives
Debate with loyalists
S1. 1The political organisations linked to loyalist paramilitaries
have become more active since the 1994 loyalist ceasefire. While the
Progressive Unionist Party claim to be socialist it is important to
remember where they have come from. They are the public face of the
UVF, which waged a blatantly sectarian war against the nationalist
population of the six counties for two and a half decades. Unless and
until they renounce these actions, they cannot be considered part of
the socialist movement.
S1.2 We do not, however, agree with the position that socialists
should not enter into debate with members of these parties. It is
only through such debate that the ludicrousness of their position of
claiming to be socialist while at the same time pledging loyalty to a
monarchy can be exposed. In order to win Protestant workers in the
six counties to the fight for anarchism we must first convince them
to break with the sectarian ideology of loyalism/unionism.
Reform of the 6 county state.
S2. We previously held that the 6 county state was irreformably
sectarian. However the current peace process may result in a state
apparatus that is divided into feuding sectarian forces on the one
hand and the encouragement by these politicians of communalist
sectarian conflict on the other. It appears that capitalism being
unable to step forwards has stepped side-wards in a manner that does
nothing to resolve grassroots sectarian conflict but overall results
in a 'parity of intervention' by the state in these conflicts.
The role of the British state
S3. It is no longer possible to assign a single motive to the
British state with regards to the north. The transfer of power
to the European union, the end of the cold war and the economic
growth of the south have all tended to do away with the historical
reasons why the British ruling class as a whole wanted to retain the
north. Now the majority faction seem open to power sharing with
the southern government and even eventual unification. The
major priority of the southern and British ruling classes is
maintaining stable conditions for capitalism.
As amended Oct 2005 - subject to ratification by November 2005
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Jump To Comment: 1Ireland and Scotland were the last places in Western Europe to urbanise. The peoples of Ireland and Scotland were only forced to mix, in cosmopolitan towns or cities, relatively recently. The red headed indigenous people of both Scotland and Ireland stayed separate, in close-knit family clans, apart from the black haired immigrants, the so-called “Dubh Gal”, when they arrived from the Middle East as farmers with the great Neolithic wave. Right up to the medieval era, and in parts of the highlands and western Ireland up until the 19th century, the black haired peoples of Ireland, the immigrant population, stayed separate from the indigenous red heads. Even today, the black haired Irishman is the closest to being almost purely Turkic, the most Asian of all western Europeans. The truest descendent of the Neolithic immigrant revolution.
In southern England, villages and towns emerged in the centuries preceding the Roman invasion. Here, the black haired immigrants from Turkey have become much less distinctly Asiatic, when compared to the black haired Irish or Scotsman, as they interbred with the native peoples for a full two millennia longer.
The instinctive desire of Irishmen and Scotsmen to divide into two separate cultures, Protestant and Catholic for example, is indicative of a greater racial divide, a racial schism separating the red haired and black haired people, on the western fringes of Britain.
Want to join my religion, just recite the above backward six times.