30.05.1996

Historical reality

In past issues of the Weekly Worker we have discussed the splits in the Irish National Liberation Army with Irish Republican Socialist Party members. Here a political prisoner condemns ‘leftwing infantilism’

In 1985, due to internal weaknesses exposed by the supergrass effects on the republican socialist movement, TA Power drafted a ‘guidance for reconstruction’, based on the ideological thinking of S Costello.

It was this that sparked the 1987 internal and violent splits which came down to personal egoism, power bases dominated by individuals and cults of personality. One centralised body of political and ideological control was needed. The phase of reconstruction created one political-militant organisation with ideological and militant action combined. This was a deliberate attempt to get away from the division which previously existed.

It was perceived that only an educated working class using armed action could bring about the total freedom and unification of Ireland. Future advancement necessitated self-direction, not reaction to structural oppressions of any type.

It was recognised at the time that the ‘political reality of British imperialism and all its structures’ are entrenched in Ireland as a whole, and it is this that has enabled Ireland to be fragmented and manipulated by sectionalised interests.

This is an idea not new to Ireland but first embodied in Wolfe Tone and in James Connolly, but it was spearheaded in our movement by Seamus Costello and Thomas Power.

In modern form it recognises the need for a politically educated socialist body, in which the discussion of tactics leads to self-directed armed actions.

To attain this one needed to be ‘independent’ from everybody with a ‘classical structural core’ such as the Irish Citizens’ Army, which was strongly disliked by many outside this movement and cult-seekers within.

History has shown that socialist militants who are socialist republicans in the Irish situation have had their objective lowered to a republican socialist subjective. This is due to cultural egoism and power-mania which breaks through whenever a crisis develops due to external events.

This can be seen throughout the movements of history by looking at various people who echo socialist rhetoric while their actions are the opposite. They have resigned the struggle, disowned and even undermined others who continued to keep the movement going.

This was evidenced after the MI5 agent Patrick Daly was exposed. Many leftwing individuals left the movement using this as an excuse, without saying in reality that they were disillusioned and their revolutionary commitment had gone away. Unlike Seamus Costello and TA Power, such people sit in their armchairs talking about revolutionary struggle, when egoist posing in papers is as far as it gets.

Often those who say they are fighting for political existence are actually defending their hypocritical opportunism.

This is not intended to slander anyone within the republican socialist movement who is genuinely involved at whatever level. In post-ceasefire circumstances long-term activists who kept the movement alive over all these years were left without a long-term strategy. They consequently ended up being set up by the Free State Fine Gael, in collusion with British imperialist forces.

The de facto truce declared by senior members were seen as posturing and a reactionary game by some members. It served British imperialist divisionist attacks. Actions were being carried out for individual subjective, not group objective policy, with senior experienced members being entrapped in this imperialist cul-de-sac.

As a result a convention was called by the skeleton staff to ensure the movement’s positions were at last going to be clear. This was to involve all of the movement’s members, and the vast majority of members voted to make pre-ceasefire activities the only legitimate area for discussion. But after this was agreed a small minority started to undermine the convention by various means.

This culminated in the re-involvement of ex-members and leftwing infantilism reared its ugly head again.

A very important point to note is that John Fennell was the highest staff member in position and one of the original founders of the republican socialist movement with a permanent, legitimate position.

Little time was given for long-term struggle activists to speak.

Once again the principled tradition of Connolly, S Costello and TA Power was cut out, with self-appointed individuals using the media to promote themselves and set themselves up as accusers.

The overall result is that we have a power-based faction which does what it likes. They are attempting to liquidate the republican socialist movement and socialist republican ideological struggle members.

The reasoning behind national liberation can only be true when all imperialist structuralism is replaced by a true democratic socialist republic. This belief is stated in the Easter Proclamation as an ideological state and an ethical society.