Haughey's policies plunge party into crisis Irish politics at the
crossroads
By Mary Godfrey Just a year after its inauguration, the 26 county govemment - a coalition of Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats - is in a state of political crisis. The not only reflects tensions between the coalition partners, but reveals much more fundamental problems within Fianna Fail.
Since this party has played a central role in the construction and maintenance of the institutions of the souther state, its crisis also indicates elements of instability in that state.
At its last Ard Fheis (conference), the ranks of Fianna Fail expressed their unease at the coalition by giving overwhelming support to a resolution demanding that any future moves towards coalition should only take place the widest consultation with the membership. As one of the delegates put it, the events of the previous year and the manner in which decision were made after the General Election had rocked this great party of ours to its foundations" and was a traumatic experience for all of us'. Indeed many of the rank and file still have not recovered, as revealed by the fact that some 400 cumann (local branches) have not bothered to register this year.
The conference also voted against the extradition of Irish citizens to Britain and Northem Ireland in "the present circumstances". Against the leadership, they demanded the repeal of Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act which bans interviews with Sinn Fein on radio and TV.
It is not surprising that coalition, and specifically coalition with the Progressive Democrats (PDs) should cause such heartsearching within the ranks of Fianna Fail. The PDs were formed as a split from Fianna Fail at the end of 1985. Their programme combined neo-liberal economic policies - massive cuts in public expenditure and the wholesale privatisation of state and semi-state bodies -with more liberal social attitudes - and in particular, a diminution of the role of the church in the state. It was on the national question however that the PDs diverged most clearly from their parent:
*We acknowledge that nationalist Ireland, south of the border, has not yet fully come to terms with the implications of what we have known well for some time. Irish unity as tradiSOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
FEATURES Haughey is stealing Fianna Gael's clothes - not least on the Anglo-Irish agreement tionally conceived in the South is simply not achievable by consent either politically Or economically, and all our politics should reflect this reality"
Thus, the PDs have called for the repeal of Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution, which express the aspiration for and commitment to a united Ireland. They have also expressed dismay at Supreme Court decisions on extradition made in recent months. Dermot Finucane and James Clarke, escapees from the Maze prison, won their appeals against extradition to Norther Ireland. The judges decided they should not be returned to the Maze because they were probable targets for ill treatment by prison staff at that jail, if retumed. A few weeks later, Owen Carron, former MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone, also won his appeal against extradition.
The PDs' response to these events has been to call for a review of the Extradition Act, to make it easier for extradition to occur. Not only is this diametrically opposed to the view of the Fianna Fail rank and file, it runs counter to the very deep feeling held by the majority of Irish people that they can not achieve justice in a British court and at the hands of the British law and order establishment. The
release of the Guildford Four and the Winchester Three have not allayed such fears. On the contrary, they provide tangible proof of the basis of such gut feelings, born of the historical experience of imperialist oppression.
Fianna Fail and the crisis of
the state.
The problems within Fianna Fail are considerably deeper than disagreements between co-habiting partners.
The party's whole history has been tied up with the legitimation, construction and consolidation of the institutions of the 26 County state. In the aftermath of the Treaty and the formation of the Southern Irish State, the protreaty govemment of Cumann na nGael was viewed with deep suspicion and mistrust by large sections of the population. This was not just the consequence of the repression unleashed on republican sympathisers, but because it relied for support almost exclusively on the most reactionary elements in the state -the cattle ranchers and big business. Dissent against the government was linked with demoralisation with the free state it spawned.
The decision of de Valera and Fianna Fail
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STATUS THE WOMEN FOR THE IN ARMAGH ACTORS HUNCER STRIKERS Eamonn O'Dwire/Report
Dublin solidarity with Republican struggle in the North, 1990 to enter the Dail, mobilising a wide base of support - small farmers, labourers and urban workers as well as the emerging national bourgeoisie - was a significant factor in securing popular support for the 26-county state. It has successfully maintained this broad level of support through the industrialisation programme of the late 1960s and 1970s and the promotion of welfare. It is only in recent years that its role as an arbiter between different and competing interests has begun to be eroded.
Fianna Fail has always been identified with a particular brand of nationalism - equating national identity with social and economic conservatism, catholicism and acceptance of partition (save for holiday speechifying). However the fight against British imperialism involved a far richer and more radical combination of elements. It included the socialist tradition of Connolly and Larkin formed by the struggles of the emerging working class; those agricultural workers, small farmers and workers who took part in the land sizures and occupations in the tumultous period of 191921; the women organised in Cummann na mBan who strove for independent participation within the nationalist movement.
The defeat of these radical forces by the treaty, and their marginalisation in the subsequent history of the state by de Valera's conservative nationalism, is not irreversible. Whilst it would be premature too much sig nificance to them at this stage, it is noteworthy that the schism within the Fianna Fail consensus and the impact of its Thatcherite policies has led to the development of local, comPage 28
FEATURES MINSTARA H BLOCK ACTION SADUP IMPERICLIS munity-based movements around the health cuts, unemployment, extradition.
As alluded to earlier, the 1987-89 minority Fianna Fail government marked an important shift of direction. Faced with a National Debt of Third World proportions, the Haughey government pursued a policy of austerity, sig nificantly slashing public expenditure, with detrimental effects on the health service in particular. It was able to do this partly because it had taken over the austerity policies of Fianna Gael, who could hardly oppose in opposition what they had proposed in government.
It was also aided by the particpation of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in the *Programme of National Recovery" which disarmed the working class and the poor. Whilst its two years in power saw a decrease of 8 per cent of the National Debt, unemployment and emigration soared.
In the political arena too, Haughey scored another volte face. Having fought against the Anglo-Irish agreement in opposition, he now adopted it as his own. The policy being pursued was one of direct participation with Britain in the policing of the six-county state. He committed himself to upholding the 1987 Extradition Act, brought in to make extradition casier, at the same time as the appeal against the convictions of the Birmingham 6 was taking place, with the British judiciary making it clear that no other verdict than "guilty" would be tolerated.
The effects of Haughey's policies were revealed in the outcome of the 1989 election he called to achieve a majority govemment. Not only did he fail in his objective, he was
forced to form a coalition with the Progressive Democrats. Thus, having gone through a vituperative divorce, the erstwhile partners co-habited again for the "sake of the nation". Significantly however, the election marked a certain haemorrhage of working class support from Fianna Fail, particularly in Dublin. At the same time the outcome created enormous confusion and disillusionment within the ranks of the party. The new government has pursued its policies of retrenchment with a commitment to major programme of privatisation of state and semi-state companies. Any apparent improvement in the jobless figures is primarily as a result of emigration. The Labour Party and the Workers Party. The 1989 election saw a big surge in support for both the Labour Party and the Workers Party. Labour won 9.5 per cent of the vote and increased its representation from 11 to 15 seats. The Workers Party got 5 percent of the vote and saw its number of TDs (Members of Parliament) rise from 4 to 7. Together with a number of independent socialists, the 24 seats gained by the "left" in that election signified a historic high for left representation in terms of seats, although in terms of first preferences Labour and the Workers Party between them did less well that Labour alone during its peak in the 1960s.
Labour's support has been steadily eroding over the last two decades. Particpation in dif ferent coalition govemments has chipped away at its base. The 1982-7 coalition with Fianna Gael saw its ministers preside over the most stringent cuts in public expenditure, leading to a crisis in its relations with key trade unions. Three of its biggest affiliates - the IGTWU, AGTWU and the FWUl (the first and the last have now merged) threatened to break with Labour or cease operating the political fund to any prospective (Labour) candidate who supports coalition with Fianna Gael*. The 1987 election saw its share of the vote plummet to about 6 per cent and 12 seats.
It tems of its political physiognomy, the right wing dominates within the party: the leader - Dick Spring - took a leaf out of Neil Kinnock's book, and succeeded in ousting the Militant Tendency from the youth section and party branches. They, along with the rest of the left, under the leadership of Emmett Stagg (brother of hunger striker Frank Stagg) had grown with the disillusionment with the coalition. Stagg is a leading campaigner in the fight against extradition, although the party as a SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
THE WORKERS PARTY SAYS NO TO MASS UNEMPLOYMENT Workers Party banner in Belfast; stressing 'class line' but igoring the border and the oppression of Catholics
whole is dominated by support for partition.
In recent years the Workers Party has been drawing on Labour's bedrock of support, particularly in Dublin, although failing to make any significant inroads into Fianna Fail's working class base - until the 1989 elections. These proved to be a new element, and a crucial factor in Fianna Fail's crisis: Haughey's party failed to maintain its support amongst the Dublin working class who voted in large numbers for Labour, the Workers Party, and an independent, Tony Gregory, who represents one of the most deprived inner city constituencies. His combination of radical populism - organised through local community associations - and militant nationalism - has won him wide support amongst the unskilled and unemployed especially the young people.
A deep-going debate has now opened up within the Workers Party. The Labour Party has proved rather more resilient in maintaining a base of support than the Workers Party leaders might have hoped. One plank of its policies has been vituperative opposition to nationalist aspirations, equating the struggle of Sinn Fein and the IRA with loyalist sectarianism. Indeed, the response of one of its TDs - Des O'Hagan to the Supreme Court decision on Owen Carron was to condemn it as a 'step backwards to a situation where acts of sectarian terror are whitewashed with the phrase "political offence"
The other strand of its