20.03.1997

Ireland

From The Call, paper of the British Socialist Party, March 15 1917

We are profoundly convinced that whatever truth there may be in the government’s respected assertions that they have the backing of the nation in carrying on the war - and we seriously challenge this - they are flagrantly outraging the feeling of the mass of the population in their treatment of Ireland.

Now, as ever, the story of Ireland is a story of a rule rejected by the Irish people, a story of broken promises by Liberal statesmen, a story of a small but powerful minority overriding the great majority of the Irish race.

The debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday of last week showed once again the utter insincerity of any undertaking short of actual legislation. It showed also that the one-time home-ruler, Mr Lloyd George, by his inclusion of Sir Edward Carson in his cabinet, has considered this implacable foe of home rule before the representatives of nine-tenths of Irishmen ...

It is an outrage on all democratic feeling that the man who was prepared to lead an insurrection of Ulster against the crown rather than agree to a measure of home rule becoming law should be honoured and given the power to crush the feelings of the rest of the country.

It is not as though Ulster was being denied her fair share of representation ... But we oppose a piecemeal home rule, and heartily support the Irish members of parliament in their opposition to dismembering the country just to placate a few people who are opposed to all democracy. That is the secret. Carson and his gang are reactionaries - absolutely every device is seized upon by them to thwart the progress of democracy.

The Act of Union was a fraud; it should at once come to an end. We say deliberately that, whatever consequences now ensue, the government will have only themselves to blame. There is no valid reason why Ireland should wait until after the war.