TAOISEACH Albert Reynolds must have been disappointed when Santa didn't deliver his pipe dream of 'peace by Christmas'.. It is now obvious that the process opened by the Hume-Adams talks and the London-Dublin declaration will only unravel slowly.
Despite the Republican leadership's desire to deliver an Arafat-Mandela style sell-out, the British government seems uninterested for the moment. Together with its Unionist allies it is holding out for a defeat and capitulation of the Republicans.
If the British were seriously interested in a negotiated settlement, they could easily offer Adams the 'clarification' he is seeking.
Major can afford to hang tough because the Republicans are trapped by the contradiction which their brand of reformism with guns' has created.
By seeking alliances and deals with bourgeois parties, by trying to put themselves in the same political framework, they end up playing in hostile territory where their opponents set the rules.
Not questioned It is the parties of the Irish and British ruling classes which are setting the agenda. The problem is reduced to the validity of republican rule. Britain's right to rule Ireland is no longer questioned.
It is disingenuous for Adams Despite the rhetoric, not much has changed on the streets of Belfast to seek 'clarification'. A document which allows Reynolds to say that the joint declaration allows for the possibility of a united Ireland, and for Major to reassure the Unionists at the same time, should set alarm bells ringing.
It does not need to be clarified, only rejected. There is little difference between the declaration and the Labour Party policy of 'unity by consent'. The Irish Post was right to observe: 'There is little which now separates Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein and the SDLP'. Councillors fined for It is not clear that British imperialism will allow the republicans the clarification they want. But if a deal on British terms were done, it would be a major setback.
In one sense however. it would change little for British socialists. Our task is not to demand that Major talks to Adams or to advise Sinn Fein on negotiating tactics.
Our task is to demand that Britain quits Ireland.
Unconditional and immediate British withdrawal remains our slogan.