13.06.1996

Ireland: rearm for new struggles

First it was talks about talks; now it is ‘all-party’ talks without the most important party. What does the ‘peace process’ mean for revolutionaries in the Six Counties?

The Irish ‘peace process’ took a further step forward this week in Castle Buildings in Belfast. There was of course one party which was notable by its absence inside, but very noticeable outside, by virtue of the huge media coverage: Sinn Fein was making as much propaganda as it could from the government’s refusal - despite its 15.47% vote in the recent elections - to admit it without a renewed IRA ceasefire.

This exclusion is certain to be a very temporary one. A ceasefire exists in all but name, so it is just a question of a few well timed IRA words, which in fact will change nothing. Indeed even an agreement to ‘decommission arms’ would not necessarily mean a final end to resistance to British imperialist occupation. New arms can be acquired and new leaders - political and military - will always be thrown up.

However, this should not lead anyone to the conclusion that the IRA and Sinn Fein are somehow on the brink of victory. They have clearly signalled their intention to accept continued imperialist domination, epitomised by their support for George Mitchell as chairman of the main talks sessions.

Mitchell has been described by Ian Paisley as a “catholic Irish-American” who is bound to be biased in favour of republicans. But people who inhabit the real world know that he is a loyal servant of imperialism, in particular the US variety, and a new imperialist stability is what he intends to secure.

Nevertheless he is useful to bring the republicans on board since the British state has been unable to defeat them in this war.

The IRA has declared: “We will never leave nationalist areas undefended this side of a final settlement.” But a “final settlement” - one which “recognises both traditions” in the Six Counties - can be nothing but a continuation in modified form of the status quo. Imperialist forces will not be required to ‘decommission’ a single weapon and will be free to use them whenever necessary.

David McKittrick, writing in The Independent (June 5), intoned: “The peace process, which has so often seemed defunct, somehow moves mysteriously on, in a way which no one really understands...”

For us there is no mystery. Despite the push and pull of all the minor players, the ‘new world order’ of uncontested imperialist domination since the collapse of the Soviet Union means that anti-imperialist forces are on the retreat. Most are now trying to negotiate the best deal they can get. Some have been drawn into their ‘peace processes’ so closely that they have become - unwittingly perhaps - an integral part of the new imperialist order.

A period of Irish nationalist resistance is coming to an end. But the heroism of the past need not be wasted. Revolutionaries on both sides of the Irish Sea must unite their strength in a new, class-based force, capable of mounting an even stronger challenge to the British state.

Alan Fox