1970. Issue 65 will be the last. Why? Because the IMG is producing a new weekly newspaper, Red Weekly will appear in a changed format, and will provide on the spot coverage and analysis of the class struggle nationally and internationally. We are in a special position to do this since Red Weekly will be part of a growing network which constitutes the press of the Fourth International. It will join The Militant (USA), Rouge (France), La Gauche and Rood (Belgium) as a weekly agitator and organiser. It will encourage La Breche (Switzerland), Was Tun (Germany). Bandiera Rossa (Italy), World Revolution (Japan), The Plough (Ireland) and the many others to begin the transition to a weekly.
Red Weekly will be unashamedly and openly biased in its approach. Yes, we will be on the side of the working class in its struggle against capitalism, for the struggle of the oppressed minority in the North of Ireland for national self-determination, on the side of the immigrant workers against racism. We will support all struggles for national liberation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America against American and allied imperialisms. We. will support the young workers and intellectuals in the USSR and Eastern Europe and increasingly in China in their struggle against bureaucratic rule in their countries. For us, "Workers of the world Unite" will not be an empty phrase used on special occasions, but will be embedded in the very heart of the new weekly.
You can support us in this task by helping us to reach a bigger audience, by getting your local library to order a copy, by introducing the paper to your mates on the shop floor or agitating on its behalf in schools, polytechnics and universities.
THAT YOU MUST SUBSCRIBE TO THE PAPER: Turn to back page for subscription form. BUT BEFORE YOU CAN DO ALL
Below: Derry housewife (right) crouches in doorway while Old Age Pensioner (left) takes cover as English gunmen enforce White Paper policies. Disraeli once said that every time Britain finds an answer to the Irish question, the Irish change the question.
This is just a clever way of saying that British diplomacy in Ireland has always covered its nakedness by avoiding the issues and discussing irrelevancies. The Whitelaw White Paper is just the latest example of the grand old tradition. The key feature of Britain's latest plans for Ireland is their failure to graple with the needs of the Irish people (which was to be expected) but also their failure to satisfy the needs of British imperialism itself.
THE GREEN PAPER - FIRST STEP TOWARDS FEDERALISM It is now commonplace knowledge among socialists, republicans and political commontators in general that Britain and its native clients desire a federal solution' to the Irish problem. There is no need to elaborate on this, merely to mentiort that the general forms of this solution were outlined last October in the Westminster Green Paper, The Future of Northern The Green Paper constituted a besic reappraisal of British imperialism's strategy in Ireland. The central revision concerned what is known as the "constitutional position of the Six Counties. The Six Counties were considered to be an integral part of the United Kingdom, and its status was held to be inviolable except by the will of the Protestant majority, i.e. the Unionist bourgeoisie.
This tenet of British policy was deleted by the Green Paper which stated that the constitutional position of the North "must not preclude the necessary taking into account of .. the irish amension In OLI words the future of the Orange statelet was no longer to be considered purely in terms of the Protestant majority but in terms of the whole people of Ireland. Moreover Britain's confidence at this point was highlighted by its desire to give its change of policy as wide a currency as possible as is evidenced by the statement (contrary to the wishes of Conor Collaborator O'Brien) that a refusal to speak now of Irish unity would be "a prescription for confusion".
The Green Paper not only insisted on placing the question of partition in the context of Irish unity.
but it also spelt out in a general way what this would mean for the basic structures of the Six County statelet.
For the first time it was openly admitted that the conflict rending the North apart over the pest fifty years, arose not merely from the existence of two "political viewpoints", but from the existance of "two whole communities".
The reformulation of the problem in this manner, pointed the finger logically at other features of the Orange statelet, It was admitted, albeit in an indirect way lusing such euphemistic terms as "permanent majority" and "permanent minority'") that this situation had resulted in institutionalised sectarianism painst the Catholic minority.
Ana the problems the need to radically after the structures of power in the North was deliberately posed. Thus the need "to seek a much wider concensus than has hitherto existed"" was inusted upon, It was openly acknowledged that *minority groups should be assured of an effective voice and a real influence". And it was stressed that this would have to be done by "giving minority interests a share in the exercise of executive power".
The Green Paper undoubtedly marked a major shift in the historic orientation of British imperialism in the sense that it posed the need for some formal unity be.
tween North and South and the need for a definite sharing of executive power between the Catholic and Protestant communities in the North.
Arising from the new orientation two important practical proposals were made. Firstiy, that a Council of Ireland should be set up which would take account of the Irish dimension by giving the Southern bourgeoisie a significant say in the affairs of the Six Counties. Put simply, it was intended to end the sovreignity of the Unionists. Secondly, that a community government be set up in which representatives of the Catholic minority (i.e. the Catholic middle class) would weild ministerial power. RESISTANCE FROM THE SOUTH Although British imperialism wishes to introduce these reforms and alterations, it is caught in the web of its past policies. Now that it has altered its course, the material results of its past interventions have produced autonomous tendencies which are cutting across her path at this point.
In the South these tendencies assert themselves in two important ways.
Firstly, in the economic sphere: one of the fundamental reasons behind the federal proposals, has been the significant increase of control gained by British capital over the Southern economy during the sixties. But this is not only the reason for federalism; it is supposed to be a means to achieving it. The influx of capital, the expansion of industry, the creation of jobs, was supposed to show in a practical way the desirability of integration with Britain. In the short run this may in fact have had some effect.
But the way in which British capital created and organised industry was guaranteed to defeat such a purpose. British capital, to use a Marxist expression, tended to increase the organic composition of capital invested in industry, i.e., it increased the ratio between capital invested in piant and machinery, and capital invested in labour power. Since surplus value and profit are created on the capital invested in labour, a decline was produced in the rate of profit. To offset this decline the rate of exploitation of labour had to be increased. (This increased rate of exploitation, has already received a practical manifestation in the huge strike wave which marked the sixties.)
In addition to this central feature, there is a whole galaxy of secondary problems - intensified inflation, worsening balance of payments, run down of external reserves, etc., which eat away any surplus social product that might have been used to provide decent social services or create a welfare state.
In the long term, the intervention of British imperialism was bound to propel the Irish working class into struggle against its designs, rather than integrating the class into its overall system. Secondly, in the cultural sphere the hopes of British imperialism have proved equally vain.
During the 30's, 40's, 50's, for reasons we will not discuss here, Fianna Fail seized on the Republican traditions of the working class and small farmers and used them in a demagogic way to consolidate its position of power. Now the process of integration with Britain demands that these traditions be liquidated. But the fruits of theiry years hard work cannot be obliterated over night. The "ideological reformation" had to begin gradually. The first changes naturally began within the intelligensia and were slowly transmitted to the general public. But the unexpected explosion of the struggle in the North reactivated the traditional instincts. It came as a timely shot in the arm to the Republican ethos which was about to expire helplessly.
The interaction of these economic and cultural fac tors have prevented the ripening of conditions and the preparation of public opinion quickly enough to permit any attempt at laying the prerequisite foundations for the implementation of the proposals of the Green Paper.
OBSTACLES IN THE NORTH Of course the more important and profound stumbling blocks to any meaningful implementation of the line elaborated in the Green Paper, came primarily from the North. These obstacles to the policy of the British are traceable largely to the heterogeneity of Unionism and the peculiar position occupied by the Protestant working class in the production process. The heterogeneity of Unionism stems from the deformed nature of the Irish market and the consequently deformed nature of the Northern market. Because the Northern market is a fragmented piece of the entire Irish market, it succeeded in producing only an unstable and unbalanced economy. In particular it created two distinct layers within the Unionist ruling class, who's interests do not immediately coincide.
The smallness of this market, resulting in high risk and low profitability on capital, causes an outflow of capital to Britain and keeps the size of industrial enterprises limited. Hence the widespread existance of the Victorian type family firm, which of course is Digger than a petty bourgeois concern but not quite the norm of 20th centurary capitalism. This type of firm continues to play a vital and vigorous role in the North of Ireland economy.
By contrast to the effusion of capital there is a continuous influx of capital from Britain which arises from the lower rate of profit due to greater technical advancement and a higher organic composition of capital in Britain. This influx of capital has created an alternative and distinct layer within Unionism.
which is much more closely indentified with the interests of British imperialism.
While both these wings of Unionism are heavily dependent on British imperialism, they are so, in different and even contradictory ways.
The second, wing of Unionism, the "moderates" in the present struggle, while it may have some degree of independence has no real or substantial interests apart from those of British imperialism. The first wing, the "extremists", is much different however. The family firm, in the course of such a long and prosperous existance has become not only an economic unit, but a social and political unit as well. As such, it is much more deeply rotted and interested in the Protestant community. This situation has created, along with a variety of other factors, a strong paternalism which has reinforced and further spawned a web of tavouritism, discrimination, graft, power and privilege. Accordingly the extreme wing is hostile to any attempt to infringe on its sovreignty and more particularly to sharing state power with the Catholic minority. So, while this wing depends on Britain for profitable outlets for its surplus capital, it has a firm base of its own which can create friction with the interests of British capital.
As Britain proceeded with the plans of reform, it did not consider seriously the signficance of the growing schism within the Unionist camp. he matera oasis of the split was not understood and a naive belief per sisted that it would heal itself once the gravity of the situation became apparent. As it turned out, no assumption could have been more ill-founded. It is in fact the resistance of the extreme wing of Unionism which today constitutes one of the most dangerous elements in the grave situation which exists. The second obstacle we mentioned, the position of the Protestant working class, is of course an extension of the problem of heterogeneity in the Unionist camp but it is best dealt with as a seperate category. The Protestant working class cannot be understood solely in terms of the labour-capital conflict which characterises any segment of capitalist society. It must be analysed in the context of the evolution of the entire Protestant community. Only in this way can the importance of its role be put in proper perspective.
Two aspects of this evolution must be taken into consideration. To begin with, the elementary histori cal fact that the Protestant community was planted in İreland as a bridgehead of nascent British capitalis meant that the lower ranks had to be granted special concessions in order to encourage loyalty and bind them to the aristocracy. The principle concession was security of tenure, which allowed an improveme and expansion of holdings and the emergence of line weaving and spinning as a "cottage industry". By co trast, the native Catholic population was forbidden any security of holdings and consequently was not in a position to develop any skills or techniques.
By the time of the industrialisation of the North dur ing the middle of the last century, it was only the
since the resistance of the minority tends to grow over into offence against imperialism. Such a fiaht they are not capable of winning except at enormous expense to the alread y over-stretched reso urces of British imperialism.
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NORTHERN IRELAND CONSTITUTIONAL PROPOSA
NORTHERNIRE CONSTITUTIONAL PE