Sinn Fein's sucess at the polls in Northern Ireland combined vith Labour's victory in Britprocess' is back on track and that Sinn Fein will be part ofit.
The price of inclusion however unconditional military and politi. cal surrenact oy the republican Icadership.
The goal of the process itself re mains the same - a revamped parti. tion which amends cosmetic aspects of sectarianism in order to buy off a section of the nationalist middle class.
The main features of discrimination and unionist power that make the North of Ireland a sectarian hellhole will be retained. The retention of partition is a brutal denial of the rights of the whole Irish people.
The British and unionists hoped to sce a weakened Sinn Fein emerge on May 2. At the last general election Sinn Fein got 10 per cent of the total vote. In the forum election last year they got 15 per cent.
This time they achieved 16 per cent and the clection of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness as MPs.
The theory was that they had "borrowed votes from the capitalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and that these would return with the ending of the cease fire.
Instead we see Sinn Fein with a stable base creeping towards 50 per cent of the nationalist vote. The British government will take comfort however from the fact that Sinn Fein fought the clection on policies indistinguishable from chose of the SDLP and that the SDIP itself held its vote and remains the senior partner.
They will be even more pleased that the real loser was ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Martin McGuiness unseated arch-bigot William McCrea who had carned the hatred of naLosing out: Paisley's party tionalists for his open alliance with the most extreme elements of the loyalist death squads.
The DUP were left with Paisley himself and his deputy Peter Rob. inson, while the Official Unionists won an extra scat - re-establishing themselves as the senior unionist partner.
Split strategy
British strategy since the begining of the peace process has involved a willingness to split ists in order to do a deal with the moderates. The problem is that "moderation' here means David Trimble - the hero of Drumcree, who has already led a revolt against the British in order to preserve the sectarian privilege of unionism.
But the most significant element of the clection in the North of Ire. land has nothing to do with local figures. The landslide clection of a Labour adminstration in Britain is the most important lactor The theory peddled by the SDLP and accepted by the repu!.. can leadership is that the :::L.ure of the peace process:. .:..: anything at all was teal. 52:: was in hock wite me The election of a iait.: govers. ment will therefore enable the real peace process to start.
Of course this ignores the fact that Labour could at any time have denounced Major for putting party interests before the strategic inter. ests of the British ruling class as a whole.
Not only did they not do this, they backed the Tories all the way and stood in the election on a platform of support for the sectarian state and for the unionist veto against progress in Ireland.
Labour will however have a lot more frecdom of action now. Logic dictates that they will want to use it to squeeze the unionists. because otherwise there will be no settleThey won't squeeze too hard, but because it is weak, fragmented needs that mass base that unionism proviacs to maintain 10s oscopa tion of Ireland.
That means that the terms of the settlement will be whatever David Trimble can be persuaded to acOnly a demoralised and neutered Sinn Fein could live which such a deal, so a tight British souceze on republicanism will remain a feature of the coming peri.
It will however be much easier under Labour than the Tories to campaign on issues of democratic rights. Labour will have less space to subordinate these issues to the The first test for Mo Mowlam wil he the recent Torv law increasing the notice period for marches effee: or the traditional sectarian What they are is a denial of free*= c: assembly to those who opWill Ldbour repeal this? Not without a Labour morement.