       Workers Solidarity Movement

       Statement on IRA cease-fire

                 7/9/94

What follows is the statement by the Irish anarchist group, 
the Workers Solidarity Movement, on the IRA ceasefire 
and its likely effects on Irish politics.  We would like this to 
get maximum circulation so please feel free to re-publish 
it.  The WSM can be contacted at WSM, PO Box 1528, 
Dublin 8, Ireland.

          *************************

We welcome the IRA cease-fire.  Over the last 25 
years over 3,000 people have been killed and 
40,000 injured.  Thousands have been through or 
are in still prison.  The primary blame for these 
deaths and all the associated suffering belongs 
with the British state.  No cease-fire has as yet 
been declared by the British state.  Likewise the 
loyalist paramilitaries have not yet declared a 
cease-fire, and have killed Catholics and bombed 
a Sinn Fein office since the IRA ceased their 
military campaign..  In these circumstances the 
IRA cease-fire alone will not bring peace, much 
less justice.

As we said of the armed struggle in our position 
paper on the National question. 
"10. The current tactic of armed struggle as 
carried out by the republicans is incapable of 
achieving a solution as it is incapable of 
delivering a military victory and defeating the 
British army. In addition the British ruling class 
cares little for the deaths of individual soldiers 
in its army.

11. In addition we believe the armed struggle 
is also faulted as it relies on the actions of a 
few with the masses left in either a totally 
passive role, or one limited to providing 
intelligence and shelter to the few. However it 
has served to maintain the gains made in the 
late 60's and early 70's and to protect the 
nationalist community from some loyalist and 
state terrorism."

The gun was re-introduced in Northern Irish 
politics some 25 years ago by the British state 
and its forces.  It is significant that the first 
death, the first dead solider, the first dead 
policeman, the first dead child and the first 
bombing were all at the hands  of British or 
loyalist forces. These forces have yet to lay down 
their arms.  They took them up 25 years ago to 
smash a peaceful civil rights movement, 
demonstrating for equal rights between Catholics 
and Protestants.  Reforms have been extracted 
from the British state since that time. Some 
aspects of discrimination, most notably around 
housing have been removed or had their legal 
basis undermined.  Further concessions may 
have been won in return for the IRA cease-fire, 
but the legacy of that system of discrimination 
still remains in the fact that a Catholic is 2.4 
times more likely to be unemployed than a 
Protestant.

Some on the left will see the IRA cease-fire as a 
sell-out.  We don't.  The politics of nationalism 
were always going to lead to a compromise with 
imperialism, it was only those with illusions in 
the republican's "left turn" that thought 
otherwise.  It has been clear for a decade, even to 
the republicans,` that the armed struggle was 
going nowhere.  Britain could not be defeated 
militarily, and Sinn Fein could not expand on its 
vote either in the North or South.  With the 
reaching of a compromise in El Salvador, South 
Africa and Palestine it became no longer a 
question of 'if' but one of 'when' such a 
compromise would be reached here.  As such the 
fact, if not the exact terms, of the current 
settlement with world capitalism are an integral 
part of nationalism and the logical conclusion of 
the republican strategy.

Indeed for several years it seemed that the 
British government would, for its own selfish 
reasons, refuse to give an inch, being more 
interested in a propaganda 'victory' than in 
peace.  However it would seem that the massive 
City of London bombs and the mortar attacks on 
Heathrow airport, coming on top of a prolonged 
military campaign, convinced a majority of the 
British government to bring the IRA into talks.  
In the 26 counties Albert Reynolds was eager to 
seize the mantle of the Taoiseach who brought 
peace to Ireland.  On the day of the cease-fire we 
were treated to a nauseous broadcast by him 
telling us how he had made the country safe for 
the little children.  

With the Official Unionist Party begrudgingly 
welcoming of the cease-fire it would seem that 
within a short time there will be no significant 
faction opposing it, with the likely exception of 
Ian Paisley's extreme right wing Democratic 
Unionist Party [This is not to discount the 
possibility of the loyalist death squads murdering 
more Catholics first to show they have not gone 
"soft"].

It is far from clear that the British government 
will fulfil its part of whatever deal has been 
made.  At a minimum these would seem to be 
early release for political prisoners, amending 
the 1920 Government of Ireland Act to allow 
unity if a majority in the 6 counties vote for it 
and allowing of Sinn Fein into direct discussions.  
Britain has destroyed the possibility of peace 
before by refusing to honour commitments.  
Nevertheless a majority of republicans are aware 
that the armed struggle cannot  inflict a military 
defeat on Britain, and has become redundant.

The "peace process" as it is called, will not deliver 
a united socialist Ireland, or significant 
improvements apart from those associated with 
'de-militarisation'.  In addition it represents a 
hardening of traditional nationalism, and the 
goal of getting an alliance of all the nationalists, 
Finna Fail, SDLP, Sinn Fein and the Catholic 
church.  Its appeal to Protestant workers is no 
greater than the military campaign (i.e. none) 
and to date republican statements have focused 
on the need for a De Klerk type figure to lead the 
Protestants to compromise.  It may well be that 
James Molyneux, leader of the O.U.P. will come 
to represent such a figure if the initial days of the 
cease-fire are anything to go by.  This approach 
should come as no surprise to us, it is the 
underlying bedrock of nationalism.  It is the 
reason we are anti-imperialists rather than 
socialist republicans.

The cease-fire will make this argument easier to 
put to activists in the north who to date have put 
their trust in republicanism, both because of its 
left veneer and the need to support 'the boys'.  
Depending on developments it may also become 
easier over the next couple of years to begin a 
more sustained approach to Protestant workers.  
To date this has been almost impossible due to 
the fact that loyalist death squads have targeted, 
attacked and even killed revolutionary socialists 
and anarchists who attempted to work in their 
community while maintaining a principled 
opposition to imperialism.

In this sense the ending of the armed struggle, 
seen as sectarian by one side and  which 
demobilised the other opens up real possibilities 
for revolutionary politics.  At the same time 
however the left in general and the anarchist 
movement in particular, is too weak to make 
significant gains in the immediate future.  If the 
peace holds, the next few years will be a test of 
our ability to build a viable alternative to the 
bosses, north and south.  But we are aware that 
25 years ago the British state smashed 
something much more modest than what we 
propose with armed force.  We are also aware 
that sectarianism was used as the weapon to 
smash any major manifestation of workers unity 
in the north, not to mention revolutionary 
politics.  If we are successful in building a 
revolutionary alternative, then somewhere down 
the road the state will attempt to unleash the 
same forces on us.  Such an attack can only be 
defeated by mass mobilisations of tens of 
thousands and not by the actions of a small 
armed elite.

The ending of the armed struggle cannot simply 
become part of history.  The issue of partition can 
not be quietly dropped in the interests of winning 
over Protestant workers.  In the short term it 
would be possible to build workers unity on day 
to day economic issues without mentioning 
partition but it would be building on sand.  In the 
past we have seen how instances, some involving 
very large numbers, of working class unity have 
been swept away on a tide of bigotry.  What' is 
needed is a revolutionary movement, with 
consistent anti-imperialist policies, that is 
composed of workers from both Protestant and 
Catholic backgrounds.

This will be the real test for the left of the cease-
fire.  It is where the cease-fire assumes its 
international dimension.  All over the world the 
authoritarian left has collapsed due to the 
inadequacies of its politics.  Building 
revolutionary movement(s) in Ireland now 
represents the same challenge faced by 
anarchists everywhere.  Our success or failure 
depends on our ability to convince people of our 
politics, demonstrate the ability to fight and win, 
and give people the confidence to change society.  
This is the process that can lead to a lasting 
peace with justice.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at 
     PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland

or by anonymous e-mail to an64739@anon.penet.fi

Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive

             by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
              or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")
or WWW at http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Jack.Jansen/spunk/Spunk_Home.html

in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM
