movement. isation of the Protestant ascendency and again.
Recent surveys have revealed that sectarianism, in the form of massive job and housing discrimination against Catholics, is alive and well. The privileges of the Protestant workers in a period of recession may be marginal, but they cerThe "peace process" as offered by Ma- Ireland. jor and Reynolds is now being revealed for what it really is: an operation to tame and integrate the Republican movement, especially to end the armed struggle.
In this new situation Sinn Fein will of course carry on its political campaign for Irish unification. But then that is nothing new. There is a long history of reformist through its strategy of mass direct action broke with the old communalist and clientalist nationalist politicians.
Naive
Evidently, a lot of left-wing people naively welcoming the peace process don't know very much about the history of northern Ireland before the civil rights A regression to the pre-1968 days in nationalist politics would be the waste of 25 years of struggle.
The Republican movement stands at a crossroads. The peace process in the hands of Reynolds and Major is not going to deliver a united Ireland because it leans on the Loyalist veto as sacrosanct. And that veto will be delivered time and The way forward is not to make an "historic compromise" with imperialist domination of Ireland, but to elaborate a new strategy based on mass action, and linking up with the struggles of workers in the South. That means the inter-twining of the national and social struggles in It means a movement which fights for workers unity and a 32-country socialist republic. It means campaigning here and now for the release of all political prisoners; and for self-determination for the Irish people as a whole.
Old style nationalist reformism is not going to deliver it.