15.02.1996

Important steps

Kevin McQuillan, leader of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, spoke to the Weekly Worker

Did you have any hint before last Friday that the IRA ceasefire might be abandoned?

There had been ongoing speculation for some time that, because of British intransigence, the ceasefire might be ended, but this had begun to take on a ‘crying wolf’ character. People felt they had been relegated to the status of onlookers: there was no forum for briefing them at a community level. The feeling was everything was going down the tube, that the republicans were on the run.

Last November comrade Gino Gallagher took part in a debate with the Workers Party, the Democratic Left and the SDLP, where they continually stressed the need to “be aware of the sensitivities of the unionists”, almost as if the unionists were themselves an oppressed minority. Our view is that we must take the side of the most oppressed, and comrade Gallagher warned the other parties: “Do not be surprised if the situation moves beyond you.”

While we believed that the Provos were wrong to drop the armed struggle in favour of the so-called ‘peace’ process in the way they did, we also feel that they are wrong in the way they have recommenced it - using it as a bargaining chip to force the British to the negotiating table, rather than an attempt to launch a genuinely revolutionary campaign.

What is your view regarding the speculation of a split within the IRA, or between the IRA and Sinn Fein?

The frustration caused by the British intransigence has certainly produced tensions and the possibility of schisms in the republican movement. It seems that it is factually correct to say that the Sinn Fein leadership were genuinely taken by surprise by the Docklands bomb.

We ourselves have always said “when”, not “if”, the ceasefire breaks down.

How do you view the overall situation now?

It could be that we will see a rolling resumption of the armed struggle, in which case the loyalists, ably assisted by the British state, would also resume their operations. They would not confine their activities to the Twenty-Six Counties.

If this is a one-off, the aim would be to bounce the USA back into the ‘peace’ process. If, as a result of a bomb (or bombs), the USA gets back in, the Provos would have to work on the basis of accepting the Mitchell recommendations.

The indications are that the Irish National Liberation Army will not take any precipitate action, but will respond in a measured way.

The IRSP would have no problem with the “proximity talks” of Dick Spring, which would allow for all parties to enter discussions without any preconditions.

How will the IRSP move forward from here?

We have not compromised ourselves by cooperating with the Mitchell Commission. We have concentrated on rebuilding our party by working within the community with the aim of establishing a genuine communist party.

Our priority must be the relaunch of our paper, The Starry Plough. The first edition is aimed for Easter. This will be an important step along that road.

I would like to turn now to the murder of Gino Gallagher. Do you have any idea of the motives of those responsible?

The murder of our comrade should be put in the context of the assassination of a number of our leaders, most notably Seamus Costello in October 1977. The green nationalists detest our policies and will do anything to prevent the raising of the communist banner. Whoever pulled the trigger, it is British imperialism and international capital who have gained from this devastating loss.

While this has been a serious blow to our organisation, the reverse side is that many former comrades have pledged themselves once again to our cause, and many previously unaligned comrades have been drawn towards us.

In the last issue of our paper (Weekly Worker 129) we made several criticisms, particularly of the IRSP’s attempts to engage the Progressive Unionist Party in dialogue. Do you have any thoughts on that?

We are in the process of drafting a reply to the article, which will also include a wider statement of our position.