SOCIALIST debated Militant Labour and Workers' Liberty in Leicester earlier this month. Arthur Haynes looks at Ireland and the British left. BRITAIN'S far left lacks internationalism, most starkly when Ireland is at issue. While Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky understood that socialists had a ceasefire lead the IRA to bourduty to oppose the British geois politics. While the IRA's ruling class in Ireland some armed struggle led nowhere, British 'marxist' groups to- our alternative was mass struggle for social and demoday fail to back the struggle cratic demands, including for a united workers' rewithdrawal of British troops. Militant Labour has also reThe Socialist Workers vised its thinking on Ireland Party, and its Irish satellite - the [see Feedback, page 14] after Socialist Workers Movement - the experience of the campaign welcomed the IRA ceasefire as against the Poll Tax in Britain. an opportunity to forget the national struggle. They seize on No left turn basic economic and workplace-related demands in Ire- Here it has questioned its land, as if these struggles orientation to the Labour alone can bring unity and so- Party, standing candidates cialism. against the Labour Party and They failed to see that the * launching Militant Labour as an open party. Because of the lack of democratic rights, this debate led to many explusions, including the minority around Militant's founder, Ted Grant.
But neither Militant Labour nor Grant's Socialist Appeal has moved to the left on the question of Ireland.
Militant Labour has partitioned its Irish branch: two organisations divided by the British border have different papers and programmes. Neither agitates for British withdrawal.
In the Leicester debate, Militant Labour argued that the national question can be solved by arguing for socialism and against sectarianism.
While Socialist Outlook supported strikes against sectarianism, we noted that few had been held against killings by the British Army, RUC, UDR or RIR. For Militant Labour, Irish unity involves the right of the Protestants to secede. even from a socialist Ireland.
Militant Labour welcomed a leader of the Progressive Unionist Party [political wing of the UVF loyalist death squads] as a 'socialist' at a May Belfast rally, and asked the PUP to help build a "democratic socialist party" in the North.
ULSTER Unionists have no right to oppress Catholics From killing random Catholics and nationalists it is an unlikely transformation to building a genuine socialist party. Catholic and Protestant workers could not enter into such a coalition. We advise all socialists to oppose it and its Militant Labour sponsors.
Discovery Workers' Liberty 'discovered' the separateness of Protestants from Catholics in the early 1980s.
WL guru Sean Matgamna explained in the debate that Trotsky and Lenin were out of date: there was now a 26 county republic in Ireland that ON LADV 14 WILL MEL had resolved the democratic questions for most of the Irish people.
He welcomed the ceasefire, defending the Protestant veto and arguing that the British ruling class wants to withdraw from Ireland.
WL mistakenly argued that. the Protestants are a separate nation. Socialist Outlook explained that the Protestants are not oppressed as a community.
They have no right to oppress Catholics in a separate state. In Ireland we continue to oppose the sectarian and Unionist privileges which remain in Northern Ireland.