See solution Sinn Fein: continues to win support away from Hume's SDLP JOHN Hume of the Social Democratic and Labour Party has played a key role in the current "peace" process. He persuaded Gerry Adams that Unionist consent rather than the British state was the main obstacle to Irish unity.
Hume's solution to the impasse of nationalist politics was to use the European Union to downplay the importance of independence in his concept of a "Europe of Regions". This cleverly linked in with the perception that internal economic borders were being dismantled in Western Europe as European capitalism geared itself to compete with the US and Japanese blocs on a world scale.
In a world of trading blocs, trans-national capitalism and massive international capital flows, " self-determination" appears less relevant Hume's concept of Northern Ireland as a semi-autonomous region within the EU, equidistant from Britain and the South has found some favour with both the British and Irish governments.
But what seems rational from the point of view of the ruling class as a whole may not appeal to some of its key sections.
The right wing of the Tory Party cannot stomach Hume's ideas, especially now they have begun to take an openly anti-EU position. Their current antics show that whatever the interests of European capital as a whole, any quick fix on the issues of state power and self determination is likely to be difficult.
In this sense, the relationship of Ireland to the British State will be crucial to the debate about the future of Europe.
Socialist Outlook 104 • June 29, 1996.