03.11.2005

Long road to social democracy

Against the backdrop of US charges against Sean Garland of the Workers Party, Liam O Ruairc, a leading member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, looks at the demise of Official republicanism

After a three-year investigation involving officials from the CIA, FBI, Pentagon and state department, the US government is seeking the extradition of Sean Garland, the 71-year-old president of the Workers Party of Ireland and alleged chief of staff of the Official IRA, on counterfeiting charges. The US government alleges that since the 1990s Garland and other members of the Official IRA have "engaged in buying, transporting and either passing as genuine or reselling large quantities of high-quality counterfeit $100 notes", known as 'superdollars'. The justice department claims that the superdollars were "manufactured in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea under the auspices of the government and transported worldwide by North Korean individuals acting as ostensible government officials". It will be the first time the US has officially charged North Korea with an illegal activity in court. Garland denies the charges. However, the allegations will not surprise anybody familiar with the history of the Workers Party and its armed wing, whose existence is publicly denied. The Workers Party of Ireland traces its origins to the Official IRA/Official Sinn Féin, from which Provisional IRA/Provisional Sinn Féin had split in 1969, following the Officials' decision to recognise Leinster House, Stormont and Westminster. Despite its 'socialist' rhetoric, the organisation was essentially reformist. While a war of national liberation was developing, the organisation was still pursuing a civil rights agenda. In September 1971 the Officials declared that "the foremost issue for people in the north is not the national question, but a democratic question of peace, justice and security" (United Irishman September 1971). As late as July 1972, their paper, the United Irishman, was still claiming that "the main issue at the moment in the north is still, as it has been for the last few years, the civil rights issue" (United Irishman July 1972). The civil rights agenda went hand in hand with the objective of reforming - not destroying - Stormont. So, when the Provisional IRA brought down Stormont in March 1972, the Officials saw this as a step backwards rather than an advance (see 'Direct rule is not a victory' United Irishman April 1972). Civil rights and the reform of Stormont were supposed to be issues around which workers could unite. For the Officials, the unity of catholic and protestant workers in the north was paramount - they argued that there could only be Irish unification after workers in the North unite. The Official IRA had to reluctantly get involved in military operations under the pressure of the nationalist working class. While the Provisionals were on a full offensive, the Officials were stating that they were only involved in "defence and retaliation" (Repsol In the 70s the IRA speaks Dublin 1972, pp24-26). However, as this would alienate the protestants and therefore divide the working class as well as alienate some of the electorate in the south, the army council declared a cessation in May 1972. Those who pursued the armed struggle were denounced by the Officials as "fascists" and "sectarians". The Officials were out of step with the struggle of the people, so they were quickly marginalised. After the more militant elements of the Officials left to form the Irish Republican Socialist Party in 1974, the political policy and strategy of the party was adopted at the 1976 ard fheis (conference) as "Peace, work and class politics". According to party president Tomas MacGiolla, "the most progressive and revolutionary demand at this time is peace "¦ All the progressive forces in the country demand peace, all the fascist and sectarian bigots are opposed to it" (Repsol The struggle for democracy, peace and freedom Dublin 1975, p6). From this flowed a virulent denunciation of "terrorism". The Officials rejected "terror and violence as means to achieve state power" (Irish Times April 13 1979). The movement also opposed the H-Block protests and the campaign for political status for prisoners of war, arguing that "such killers are not entitled to any special POW status when captured" (editorial United Irishman December 1978). The Officials demanded a bill of rights for Northern Ireland and the establishment by Westminster of "democratic rights, just laws, civilianised police and impartial judiciary" (ibid p8). They supported the return of Stormont, albeit with a bill of rights, on the basis that it was the most democratic form of government for Northern Ireland. (see, for example, Workers Party Republican Clubs The case for democratic devolved government in Northern Ireland). The Officials also recognised the legitimacy of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (see Des O Hagan, 'Northern Ireland: prospects for political progress' Workers Life April 1981). By the 1980s, the party was defending strip-searches and the supergrass system. Parallel to this, in early 1974, Eoghan Harris, the dominant ideologue in the party (a kind of Irish Martin Jacques), delivered a paper entitled From civil rights to class politics. This argued that civil rights had been achieved in the north and that the priority should now be to unite workers on economic issues. This economist turn was reinforced in 1977, when the party adopted a policy document entitled The Irish industrial revolution. Written by Eoghan Harris and Eamon Smullen, the document blamed Ireland's problems not on imperialism, but on its "lazy and greedy" native bourgeoisie (Repsol The Irish industrial revolution Dublin 1977, pp7-9). Imperialism is a progressive and modernising force, and consequently the party became a fervent advocate of foreign multinationals. As to the crisis in the north, it was "distracting working class attention from the class struggle to a mythical national question" (ibid pp148-149). Such positions put the Officials not just in the camp of reformism, but right on the other side of the barricade. These ideological changes were also reflected organisationally. From 1976, the Official IRA ceased to issue public statements, was no longer mentioned in party publications, the party hinting that it had withered away. The same year, the youth movement of the Official IRA was disbanded and replaced by the Irish Democratic Youth Movement. In 1977, the party renamed itself Sinn Féin, the Workers Party (SFWP), and in 1982 changed this simply to the Workers Party (in 1980, the organisation's newspaper, the United Irishman, had been replaced by Workers Life). This reflected the fact that by then it had abandoned any pretence of republicanism and was orientated towards Eurocommunism (see, for example, editorial Workers Life March 1982). As Vincent Browne pointed out, all this represented nothing short of a "political lobotomy": "From being a republican, anti-partitionist organisation, the party is now virtually unionist "¦ From a position of being the foremost opponent of EEC membership "¦ the party is now in favour of membership. Having opposed foreign industrialisation, the Workers Party is now the foremost advocate of foreign investment. Ten years ago the party was advocating trade union militancy, including the rejection of national wage agreements; now the party is a deeply conservative influence within the trade union movement and in favour of national wage agreement. From being open advocates of violence for both national and social objectives in 1972, the party is now rhetorically the shrillest opponent of violence in the country" (V Browne 'The secret world of SFWP', part 2, Magill 1982, pp4-19). The Workers Party's promotion of state intervention and public sector workers' interests won it significant support in the trade unions and brought the party some sizeable electoral successes in the south. In 1982, it had three TDs (Irish MPs) elected. In 1987, this rose to four (with 3.8% of the total vote); and in 1989 to seven (4.3%), as well as one MEP (7% in the EU elections) and the post of lord mayor of Dublin. In the north, however, support for the party was marginal. It fell from a high of six council seats in the May 1977 local elections and 14,277 votes (2.6%) to one seat and 1.6% of the vote in 1985, to no seats and 0.1% of the vote a few years later. The party's reliance on the trade union bureaucracy meant that it was willing to accept anti-working class budgets. As the 1980s progressed, the Workers Party embraced the 'New Times' agenda and shifted more and more towards rightwing social democracy. (see, for example, Proinsias De Rossa, 'Challenging sacred cows' Making Sense April 1989). This was accentuated by the crisis of actually existing socialism. By the end of the 1980s, Eoghan Harris was arguing that "socialism is dead, the Workers Party should bury it and nail its colours to the mast of social-democracy" (E Harris, 'The necessity of social democracy' Making Sense March-April 1990). This was to lead to a serious split in the party, but what formally brought it about was the 'revelation' that the Official IRA was still in existence and was involved in criminal activity. The Official IRA's purpose was illegal fundraising, keeping in order the movement's drinking clubs, maintaining discipline through intimidation, beatings and shootings, self-defence and occasionally murder of opponents. The group is very well armed, with AK47s and Magnum 357 pistols. They received at least two containers of weapons from eastern Europe during the 1980s. According to a former member of its army council, the Official IRA collected £2 million through robberies between 1972 and 1982 (V Browne 'The secret world of SFWP', part 1, Magill 1982, pp6-16). Throughout the 1980s and 90s, alleged Official IRA activity was sporadically reported in the news (for example, the BBC Spotlight programme, 'Sticking to their guns', June 1991). Allegations of counterfeiting are not new. In 1983, the Irish police launched an investigation into the alleged forgery of $5 notes at the Workers Party's publishing company, Repsol (of which Sean Garland is manager). The main suspect, Brian Lynch, subsequently fled to East Germany. Anthony McDonagh (allegedly the Belfast commander of the Officials) and Billie Holden were convicted of robbing the Larne-Cairnryan ferry in 1986. Terence McGeown received a four year sentence in 1992 for admitting handling stolen drink on behalf of the Official IRA. The Workers Party stridently denied all this, and publicly denied having any prisoners. The Workers Party/Official IRA also had a number of secret branches and committees whose task was to infiltrate the media (they were very successful in their infiltration of the Irish state broadcasting company, RTE, and controlled influential programmes such as Today Tonight, while the industrial relations correspondent of the Irish Times was a Workers Party plant) and the trade union movement. More generally, a bureaucratic culture of secrecy and conspiracy prevailed within the movement. In 1992, six out of seven Workers Party TDs, as well as its MEP, left to form New Agenda, which became Democratic Left on March 28 (see Proinsias De Rossa, 'The case for a new departure Making Sense March-April 1992). In January 1999, Democratic Left finally merged with the Irish Labour Party. The old Official guard remained within the Workers Party and denounced the social democratic "liquidators" (Sean Garland, 'Beware of hidden agendas' Making Sense March-April 1992). The November 1992 elections saw four TDs returned for the Democratic Left, and none for the Workers Party, which got 0.7% of vote, against 4.3% in 1989. The Workers Party has not been able to make a significant electoral impact since (it has only two local councillors). WP suffered another two splits in the 1990s. The first one was political, when a number of members left to form the independent Irish Socialist Network. The second one was military, when a significant portion of Official IRA members in Belfast and Newry left to form the Official Republican Movement (ORM - colloquially known as the 'supersticks') in 1998. They were not happy about how they were being treated by the rest of the organisation. They took with them most of the Official IRA's weaponry and tried to take over the drinking clubs (in Belfast today the Officials control four drinking clubs; the Supersticks at least one). This led to a number of violent clashes between the two groups. The public face of the ORM is An Eochair, an Official IRA ex-prisoners support group, funded by peace money. The ORM holds its own Easter commemoration event and releases occasional statements. Over two decades after its public break with 'paramilitarism' and its adoption of Eurocommunism and social democracy, the Workers Party is still facing accusations of being engaged in criminal activity. One can only wonder if the same scenario will one day also apply to the Provisionals.