1989 is the 20th anniversary of British troops being sent to the north of Ireland in a vain attempt to contain the resistance to sectarianism and (eventually) British rule. It also sees the second phase of the Year of Action in the Irish community and the left in Britain to mark this anniversary - culminating, hopefully, in a major demonstration for British withdrawal in August. Socialist Outlook has actively participated in this Year with the aim of building unity in action on broad and open basis of all who support withdrawal. We hope this can lay the ground work for a mass movement that will help get Britain out of Ireland and enable the Irish people to determine their own future.
It is not the purpose of this pamphlet to comment on the ongoing tactical debates on the building of such a movement. Readers are refered to the pages of Socialist Outlook and Labour Briefing, which both regularly cover the issue. However another aspect of both the Year of Action and, on the other side, the whole British offensive since the mid 1980s (following the mass upsurge around the hunger strike and electoral rise of Sinn Fein) has been the pervasive importance of the "ideological struggle". There is need for political clarity on a wide range of issues thrown up by the nature of the fight, to get Britain out and for the Irish self-determination, confronting, as this does, the fundamental interests of the British capitalist state.
These questions arise in the building of a withdrawal movement: what sort of alliances should be made?, what does withdrawal mean?, is it true that the argument for withdrawal has been won?, what are Britains interests in Ireland?, what attitude should be taken to Irish nationalism?, and so on. These deeper political issues need to inform the discussions and decisions on tactics. Regrettably they are also they are also on the agenda because imperialism (and it's camp followers in Ireland) has been taking the ideological initiative of late. Linked to the Hillsborough Accord, there has been a renewed and determined revisionist effort to distort, divide and otherwise derail the antiimperialist movement in a far more sophisticated manner that the crude 'psyops' propoganda campaigns of the 1970s. This has been coupled with a major drive to co-opt constitutional nationalism and re-package the British occupation in reformist and even 'progressive' gart.
In this drive the British ruling class has been ably helped by the Labour leadership playing the role of it's 'green' wing. This Labour has done by conterpos ing economic reflation against 'backward nationalism'; and the 'harmonisation' of the socio- economic strutures north and south against any outright challenge to the loyalists veto or commitment to withdraw. Tory and Labour have thus been able to unite in their support for the Accord, British 'law and order' and a vision of moving towards post-1992 Anglo-Irish capitalist economic unity in the EEC.
Even on the issue of the British state repression-against a backcloth of growing international criticism from human rights agencies and other states-Labours differences over the precise techniques of repression used rank second to it's
firm commitment to the primacy of 'security' considerations.
All this points to the need for a renewed fight against bipartisanship in the labour movement; against illusions in the labour and trade union bureaucracy moving to the left on Ireland or in the idea that the fight for withdrawal has been won and that attention can largely be turned to the mechanisms for its implementation. sit also points to the need for the left and the solidarity movement to clarify its political stance and develop an ideological counter-blast, if it is to take advantage of the obvious potential to build a new movement for withdrawal.
Firstly, this will require an understanding of why Ireland is important for the British left. Moralism, appeals to tradition and references to death tolls and sacrifices are not sufficient. Ireland's importance to the struggles of the English, Scottish and Welsh working class must be explained; so must Ireland's relationShip with Britain and the role of the Irish struggle on an international plane. A political explanation is needed, in other words, and not just answering "because it is there" when the question "why Ireland?" is posed.
Secondly, the left must fight in the labour movement for an understanding of the strategic importance of an alliance with the Irish community in this country. Its presence here is a product of Britain's imperialist relationship with Ireland; it has been an historically significant component of the working class and remains so; and its involvement will necessarily be central to any mass withdrawal movement. Support for its struggles is essential to any movement in defence of democratic rights as is defence of the rights of the black community and the other oppressed sections of society.
Thirdly, in making alliances, building campaigns and formulating slogans we have to know what it is that we are fighting for. Although unity on the broadest basis must be around the fight to get Britain out of Ireland-essentially for withdrawal-this can mean many things to many people. Our goal must be for the Irish people to secure their historic right to self-determination. Of course, the immediate campaigns and specific initiatives will be around other "single issue" demands- chief of which is withdrawal. But these other demands must be politically subordinate to the goal of self-determination and judged in the light of whether they help to advance it or not.
This means confronting right (and left) wing manouevres to derail the withdrawal current by trying to tie it to pre-conditions that effectively deny selfdetermination- by calling for a British imposed settlement prior to withdrawal; by requiring a "reconciliation" first of all; or by accomodating to the loyalist veto. A successful broad movement must certainly contain and reach out to those who are confused or don't agree with this. But socialist must ensure that the "withdrawal" demand is given a content that is unconditional and that this is reflected in the activity and direction of the movement. Without such clarity no movement will be built, as a confrontation with British interests is an inevitable component of any campaign to get Britain out.
The articles in this pamphlet are three individual contributions that aim to develop different aspects of a discussion on these issues within the left.