The following notes date from 1964-66, and relate to the early days of my association with the Dublin Wolfe Tone Society and its predecessor. There is a 'draft set of objectives for the WTD ("Wolfe Tone Directory") in Dublin' dated 18/01/64, a draft of an article 'A Republican Programme for the 1960s' outlining the 'economic resistance' concept, also dated January 1964, with some comments from Ciaran mac an Aili. There are draft notes for various lectures and debates towards the end of the year, with Clann na Poblachta, and the City Group of Fine Gael; also a lecture delivered to a meeting of Sceim na gCeardcumann. There is also a more comprehensive outline of political thinking which was published in Issue 7 of the Wolfe Tone Society newsletter 'Tuairisc', dated August 31 1966. Between them all, they add up to what amounts to a snapshot of the then current thinking regarding the question of how to develop a democratic Marxist approach to the development of a political republican movement with social objectives.

The January 1964 'WTD Agenda'

The complication of the issue by Partition needed close analysis; the groupings damaged by 'the connection' in the two parts of the country were distinct and needed help towards mutual recognition and unification. Can the differing needs of town and country, in north and south, be combined in one programme? Can short-term objectives of campaigning groups for partial local solutions be made part of a long-term strategy of national unification?

There was a concept of a transitional government in the 26 counties which was willing to exert diplomatic pressure via the UN, and economic pressure via investment, towards national unification. Any concept involving military action would require Britain to be neutralised by 'some external or internal means'; this although nominally contemplated was effectively discounted.

In what follows I dispense with italics when the material is contemporary though summarised. Some related notes by Uinsean Mac Eoin are associated with these notes; it would appear that I was trying to build on the Wolfe Tone historical tradition as a means of making intellectual contact.

The 'Sixties Programme' or 'Economic Resistance' paper

I went on to list the discontented groups: workers and farmers, for differing reasons, in the 26 counties, Catholics in the 6 counties suffering from discrimination, and Protestant workers, once a skilled elite, becoming redundant due to structural changes in the industrial economy; the latter had been marching to Westminster with trade union-type demands; emigrants, mostly ex-small farmers; republican-minded people retaining the national vision. The problem is to unite these 6 groupings of disparate people in a struggle against three governments, with a single unifying programme. In what followed I attempted to come up with the outline of such a programme, based on a credible theoretical model which indicated that all the disparate aims of the discontented groups could be achieved within the framework of the united republic. Key steps would be for the Dublin Government to get control over the financial system, take a broad-based interest in the North, including the encouragement of the adaptation of the Belfast engineering industry towards the support of the industrialisation of the rest of the country; also to ensure that the Irish in Britain became politically influential in the Irish interest, the classical Connolly Association objective.

The limited objectives of the various sectional interests needed to be placed in the context of an all-Ireland vision, and seen as steps towards this end, projected as desirable. I went on to identify factors which would tend to make national unity more desirable to Northern Protestant workers, leaning on the Isles and Cuthbert Report, which had identified their industries as being too specialised, and indicated that their economic problems would be more soluble under an independent government, rather than by abject dependence on the British treasury. Minister Childers had offered to extend the role of Bord Failte to Ireland as a whole, but this offer had been rejected by Terence O'Neill, as a 'danger to the Constitution', from a outdated position of perceived economic strength.

I identified Lemass's co-operationist gestures towards the North as being part of an agenda for converting the 'shadowy independence' of the 26 counties into a 'shadowy unity' in the context of the 'greater Union' of the Common Market. The ingredients were however all there for a settlement of the Irish question, but it required a 'well-directed current of national-minded opinion' to ensure that the situation crystallised out into an all-Ireland government with 'real independence' ie control over the financial system and influence over capital investment policy.

I went on to outline areas where a Dublin government thinking in 32 county terms could develop economic initiatives in such a way as to be seen by Northern people as progressive: to extend the activities of Irish Sugar, the ESB rural electrification scheme and Bord na Mona northwards, and to open the services of Coras Tractala (the export promotional service) to Northern industry. I gave as an example the possibility of helping to promote the sales of the Shorts 'Belfast' workhorse aircraft in third-world markets, as well as Aer Lingus helping to develop their use for minor routes. '..This 'economic penetration' strategy would be an ironical turn of one of the strongest and subtlest imperialist weapons against imperialism itself: the free movement of capital. Captain O'Neill can hardly object; is he not screaming for more foreign investment? Heretofore investment of Irish capital in the UK has been a drain on our economy and a brake on internal investment... the beet contract and the vegetable contract would replace the UK food subsidy and the B-Special salary as the economic backbone of the Northern countryside..'.

I went on then to outline how a progressive government in Dublin could adapt its taxation policy to encourage this process, mobilising the externally-held assets, including the Note Fund (then giving 100% cover for the Irish pound, where 20% would be quite adequate) in the interests of a capital investment programme. I estimated that some £330M would be available by this means.

I was unaware at the time that my father JJ had proposed something similar in 1934 as the alternative to de Valera's ultra-protectionism.

I concluded by identifying the need to develop organisations of workers and working farmers to the necessary level of mutual comprehension, and joint political recognition of the advantages of an all-Ireland development programme along the lines suggested.

The final paragraphs I quote in full:

The economic strategy outlined above differs from that of Mr Lemass basically in its attitude to Europe and the underdeveloped countries. Mr Lemass wants us to participate with Europe in the exploitation of Africa, to return Ireland into a rentier-hotelier economy with minimal population. The republican alternative is to throw in our lot with Africa and jointly to achieve independence from imperialism by building up mutually beneficial trade links outside the imperialist framework. Ireland can be a sturdy, skilled, diversified and healthy economy, supplying the underdeveloped countries with basic agricultural and industrial equipment (in exchange for) their tropical produce. For needs in the sphere of more sophisticated equipment it will always be possible for us to find ample agricultural markets on our doorstep in the UK and Europe sufficient to pay for our imports.

There are two camps today in the world: the rich nations and the poor nations. By tradition and inclination Ireland is the senior member of the latter. Mr Lemass is knocking at the door of the rich men's club. The good sense of the Irish people will show him his mistake.

I had submitted this draft paper to Ciaran Mac an Aili in November 1963; the latter was a contact steeped in republican thinking whom I had picked up in the 1950s, when he was a seeker for peaceful resolution of issues during the then armed campaign. I had tended initially to turn to him on my return from London; he was also in contact with the Wolfe Tone Directories. He replied with the following comments: 1) Irish votes in Britain are devalued by their electoral system, and the concentration of Irish in relatively few areas. 2) Most Northern industries are currently geared to serve wide markets in specialist mode, a fact which had indeed been pointed out by Isles and Cuthbert. 3) He failed to see the connection between partition and lack of control over the banking system. 4) The Commonwealth Sugar Agreement would prevent sugar being manufactured in the North. 5) There were technical objections to Aer Lingus buying the 'Belfast'. The foregoing underlined the difficulty of the task we had set ourselves.

The Future of Republicanism

This is an exact echo of my father's 1917 position.

I was prepared to give credit to Fianna Fail for the return of the ports and laying the basis for neutrality in the war, but the Control of Manufactures Act, while limiting foreign investment, had not been matched by any control of the export of capital, which was the dominant factor. Any attempt to control this would have been negatived by the all-Ireland banking system integrated totally with Sterling; to partition the banking system, and to make the border into a hard reality like a European frontier, would have been politically very difficult. The republican movement, primarily the IRA, in effect left the leadership of the more radical social forces to Fianna Fail, the 1934 Republican Congress attempt to 'go political' having failed. Sean Russell's 1938 IRA thought in purely military anti-British terms, and had no concept of the political potential of the 26 counties as a 'semi-liberated area'.

The attempt made by the Clann to present a radical republican programme in 1948 also failed, because of the concentration on opposition to Fianna Fail, which drove them into the arms of Fine Gael and helped rebuild the latter party, representing as it did the 'strong farmers' and commercial and industrial interests which had thrived under the British. There remain two main parties, each of which is financed by, and depends on, business interests representative of different aspects of British rule.

I went on to list the various forms of alien rule:

Direct occupation by troops; administration of patronage to Protestants; ownership of the 'commanding heights' by the British; orientation of industry having Irish roots primarily to the British market, investment abroad, open house for foreign capital; integration of the financial system with Britain. The consequences of these forms of alien rule are: second-class citizenship in the North; a mass basis for Unionism; restriction of opportunities for Irish people with technical qualification; slow expansion due to capital leakage; balance of payments regulation by differential unemployment.

In this context, Civil Rights in the North are a key issue; but small-farm economics, rural-town industrial and commercial decline, worker insecurity in unstable export-oriented industries under foreign ownership, and Northern decline of plum engineering jobs once a Protestant preserve are all issues; there are many disaffected youth with university qualification working below their capacities in misfit jobs, and these constitute the raw material with which a movement can be built.

I concluded by suggesting that a Dublin government motivated by progressive all-Ireland thinking could undermine the mass political support for Unionism in the North by a progressive all-Ireland industrial policy, with an expanded diversified trade with countries other than the Britain.

The 'Co-operative Congress' concept (November 1964)

1. To obtain reform of the rural grant and subsidy system in such a way as to increase production, whether by cooperative or individual methods, the fruits of the increased production to go to the producer.

This was primarily aimed at the rural dole, which acted as a positive disincentive.

2. To make available information regarding success-stories, as a means of promotion of co-operative principles.

3. To help returned emigrants into productive co-operative enterprise.

4. To encourage the development of co-operative principles in wholesale marketing and foreign trade (outline of marketing organisation appended).

6. To encourage the development of co-operative industrial production, either ab initio or by take-over of firms due for closure.

Individual and organisational membership was specified, and organisation procedures were outlined.

The appended 'marketing' document outlined an approach to membership, voting rights etc in a complex situation involving workers, consumers and suppliers, and suggested steps towards the development of co-operative banking.

This document itself was never published, but its ideas certainly surfaced one way or another in the subsequent 'economic resistance' work, and I tried to retain the all-Ireland flavour in all situations where the ideas were discussed.

The Sceim na gCeardcumann paper, also circa November 1964

Original Title, draft A: The Trade Unions, the Nation and the Language

Revised Title, draft B: The Irish Nation and the Irish People

This diversity of effort however is so separated by gulfs of mutual incomprehension that an outside observer might be forgiven for questioning the existence of any unifying element in Irish nationality.

Let us look at those element of Irish society which are consciously trying to make things better than they are; that is, we leave out the official Establishment that is quite happy as it is.

Beginning with what might be called the 'economic pressure group organisations', whose main objectives are the betterment of the deal between their members and society, there is of course the Trade Union Movement. This is a 32 county body with a total membership of (some 100s of thousands). Some of the individual unions have secondary objectives in politics and are affiliated to the Labour Party. Conscious participation in national politics is therefore within the scope of the Trade Union Movement. There is also the National Farmers Association. This has been likened to a sort of Farmers Trade Union, but there is no analogy. It is rather as if most of the the personnel of the textile industry, from linen lords to cottage weavers, but excluding the wage-workers in the factories, were organised in one association. Clearly the NFA Is likely to have strong views on matters pertaining to farmers in general, but when it comes to issues between small and large farmers, the large farmers' view is likely to prevail, as they are the one with motor-cars who are able to get to the meetings.

There is also an incipient co-operative movement among some of the smaller farmers in the depressed areas in the West, Northwest and South. This is largely composed of elements untouched by the NFA, is distinct from the older-established creamery-type co-operative, and is consciously concerned with the problem of survival of the population in the face of the economic forces giving rise to emigration. Father McDyer of Glencolumcille has caught the public eye in this; there is also an organisation known as the Charlestown Committee (now 'Defence of the West') with which Peadar O'Donnell is associated. A similar but unconnected movement exists in the Six Counties, at Swartragh, Co Derry. This similarly is distinct from the Ulster Farmers Association, which is consciously a Unionist body. The UFA and the NFA talk to each other; that is to say, they (o to speak) recognise Partition.

There are various socio-cultural organisations whose objects are to enrich the national life in one way or another, such as the Gaelic League and Muintir na Tire. The former is concerned with the language in isolation, the latter with the enlivening of rural existence in general. One organisation, Gael Linn, has consciously attempted to develop an economic basis for survival of the Gaeltacht.

Politically in the Republic there is the Labour Party. This has the possibility of becoming the political voice of Trade Unionism; however it is at present devoid of any theoretical understanding of the situation it is in; expediency is the rule; it is divided in its councils between those who look back with nostalgia to the halcyon days of office in the Inter-Party Government and those genuine radical-minded people who see it as an instrument for the social betterment of the working people. The former element is apparently able to swallow with unconcern association with the social forces responsible for the most dangerous threat ever to attack working people's rights: the blueshirt movement of the thirties, while regarding the Republican movement as being Fascist and not to be touched.

There is also the Republican Movement. This in terms of organised strength could probably count as many heads as the Labour Party, or more, but it has not bent its energies to the achieving of parliamentary representation. It regards the Dail as essentially a British-imposed structure; it declares its intention, in the event of its getting an overall majority, of changing the structure. Its main concern is the ending of Partition and the achieving of complete national independence; its main method to date has been that of attempting to render British rule in the North impracticable, on the lines pioneered by Michael Collins in 1921.

Thus we have the Labour Party, with some concern for social and economic questions but no theoretical grasp of the basic problem, and the Republican Movement with some theoretical understanding but as yet little or no practical concern for social and economic questions, although there is some evidence of increasing theoretical concern.

Perhaps a short digression here is necessary: what is meant by theoretical? In the English language this implies a contrast with practice; a theoretical solution is a solution that is no good, it is 'only' theoretical. This implication is quite unjust.

It is a peculiarity of the English national character that this sense has emerged; it fits in with the English tradition of muddling through without much idea what is going on.

What I mean by 'theory' is the ability to understand what is going on to the extent of being able to predict to some extent the consequences of an action. In this sense the first theoreticians of the Irish national movement were Swift and Molyneux, who first attributed Ireland's difficulties to the economic effects of the connection with Britain. Wolfe Tone developed this idea and went further in that he predicted the nature of the alliance or social forces that would be able to break the connection; he then proceeded to test the theory and proved it correct, in that it was only by Act of God that he failed (by this I meant the failure of the French to land at Bantry Bay). Fintan Lalor produced a theoretical solution to the problem of the Famine: that the farmers should withhold the rent and live on it, thereby initiating agrarian revolution, Unfortunately he fell down on the question of practical implementation, although his theory was correct.

Thus Irish history is full of theoretical solutions, some of which were more successful in the implementation than others. So there is nothing wrong in attempting to work out a theoretical solution to the present problem, and then to look around for possibilities for testing and implementing it.

To return to the theme: thus far I have enumerated some of the forces at work in Ireland which have as objectives the bettering of Irish life one way or another. I would like now to make the assertion that all these bodies are concerned with one or another aspect of one comprehensive question which I call the National Question.

The Nature of Nationalism

Historically a territory and a people living on it can be said to develop into a nation when a common economic life emerges, which imposes its unifying influence on language, customs and institutions. This process first took place in England under the Tudor monarchy, in France and Russia in the 18th century, in Germany and Italy in the 19th.

The social structure associated with this process is basically that of capitalism. In some cases social revolutions had to be fought in order to sweep aside feudal relics (England, France) and in other cases feudal society was absorbed into the leadership (Germany, Italy). In all cases the first act of the new nation was to prey on its neighbours, a logical development of the capita;list practice at home of preying on its own people. Wales, Ireland and Scotland were the first victims of English nationalism......

At this point, due to scanning problems with the quality of the source, I resort to summarising this paper, in the transitional draft form in which it is available. I go on to say that the this predatory type of nationalism is that to which the Labour movement is opposed; wars never are in the interest of working people. Irish nationalism however is similar to the nationalism of those emergent nations with which the earlier predatory nations build their empires, often imposing an alien land-owning ruling class. Irish nationalism is the prototype for the anti-imperial struggles of the present day.

In Ireland there was enough of a unified economy, territory and culture pre-Partition to have enabled an independent nation-State to emerge, had Home Rule been adopted in its unpartitioned form. Splitting this up however rendered the achievement of independent nation-statehood in the 26 Counties much more difficult; it would be necessary to partition the financial system to decouple it from the British; sterling parity and free movement of capital led to its export. The border, in addition, is a smuggler's delight....

I return to direct quotation, after the foregoing summary:

'..The nature of the relationship between the sectional problems and the national question however is obscure to most people; some even go so far as to deny the existence of the latter altogether. This is at least partly a semantic question: when socialists decry nationalism, counter-posing working-class internationalism, and when imperialists with equal vehemence denigrate emergent African nationalism, are these two opposed camps talking about the same thing? Both groups are inclined to think in terms of European politics...'.

I continue in summary:

I then went on to look into how 'alien ownership' had become more complicated since Wolfe Tone's day, and I gave an outline of how firms north and south might be classified by mode of ownership. In the North '..One has to go to quite small size before one finds any genuine 'Ulster' ownership...' while in the South there was an Ascendancy group, with historical roots in the direct rule epoch, which had usually expanded into the UK, and a British group which had set up under tariff protection, and the State sector. The effect of the UK-unified financial system was to facilitate the export of capital. The only way left, apart from tariffs, was for the State to go into business itself. The limits of this were reached in the 1950s, and the response of the State was to open the flood gates for foreign capital, with grants and tax-concessions. Native Irish capitalism is in rapid decline and the trend is into a small number of large foreign firms dominating the economy, concentrating in the east coast area, oriented towards exports, with pressure on the State to get rid of the profitable elements of the State sector

Agriculture remains dominated by the live cattle trade, imposed by Britain by deliberate design. Small farms have the trouble and risk of rearing the calves, which the ranchers buy for export unfinished as stores. The small farmer is giving up and emigrating. I went on to consider the analogy with Scotland which was destroyed by deliberate depopulation, turning the Highlands into a gentry playground. Stormont policy is to concentrate all development east of the Bann. I noted that the resignation of Geoffrey Copcutt, who had helped plan Craigavon, was on this issue, and that the cutting of the direct Dublin-Derry rail link was related.

In conclusion, I urged to think not 6 vs 26, but 6+26 vs 32; the existing 26 county State being not a good model or a blueprint for independence. The Northern Protestants would prefer a sturdy independence role rather than being reduced to a body of 'loyalists' depending on British handouts. I called for voices in the North to call for the extension of the then current Labour anti-discrimination Bill to be extended to Northern Ireland. '...This would weaken the strongest Unionist weapon: patronage in giving employment...... Once the people start to move in the direction suggested by their real social interest, the old religious shibboleths become a thing of the past, and Unionism as such is dead..'.

The Sinn Fein Social and Economic Programme

Tuairisc August 1966: 'Our Ideas'

1. There is nothing stronger than an idea whose time has come. It will then root itself in the minds of the people, burgeon into fruitful action, change the old ways of looking at social reality, act as an organising force. Superior ideas are more effective than armies in that the changes they bring about are more permanent. Efficiency of organisation, strength of numbers, dedication of personnel, can never serve to bring about a revolution unless our movement's ideas - as embodied in its aims programme and policy - are superior to those of our opponents. If we are not superior in our ideas we inevitably court defeat.

2. Our idea is the achievement of an All-Ireland Republic - politically and economically - in control of its own destiny, the home of a nation of free and educated citizens, in which the exploitation of man by man has been abolished.

3. Many Irish people subscribe to this idea, but they do not know how to achieve it in the conditions of today. This bulletin is envisaged as a contribution to the working out of those political, economic and cultural ideas which will equip our movement, the movement for an All-Ireland Republic and the several organisations and elements composing it in the broadest sense, with the intellectual equipment and ideology, effective enough to defeat the ideas of our opponents and convince the mass of the Irish people that our way is the right way and that it is we who deserve their political trust and the leadership of the nation.

The Irish Revolution

5. We emphasise "contribute". Those who edit and write for this bulletin presume to no monopoly of political truth. We welcome discussion and disagreement, so long as it is constructive, that is, based on a genuine desire to develop an effective programme for the progressive movement in Ireland, republican and labour.

6. The achievement of an All-Ireland Republic such as is envisaged above cannot come about without much changes in the country, north and south of the Border, as would amount to a reversal of the present dominant political and social trends in Ireland and the defeat of the interests bound up with them. In other words it entails a revolution.

7. We are realists, social and intellectual. We realise that the Republic will not be achieved at one blow. The first stages of the Irish revolution, which culminated in the 1916 and the Anglo-Trish War, took decades to prepare and it was incomplete.and unsuccessful. The second stage may take as long or longer. We emphasise "may". We are not prophets. There are times when the changes of a decade are compressed into a day and times when the changes of a day are spread out over years. We cannot foretell the future. But as realists we must recognise that we are at the beginning of a task which may take years. It is not the possible length of time that counts, but our patience, perseverance and dedication. This, after all, is true of any significant achievement.

8. As republicans we recognise and welcome every partial effort of Irish people which helps to strengthen some element of the nation's being - we welcome independent thought in whatever sphere - we support every organisation which fosters democratic initiative among citizens, which defends popular interests and opposes the domination of our national political, economic, social or cultural life by British imperialism and those of its agencies in Ireland which facilitate and carry out its work. We are opposed to all manifestations of that sectarian spirit which would seek to win for a tiny few the credit of being the organisers of victory, which is jealous of the work of others in the national cause. Such small-mindedness leads to a waste of effort and an expense of revolutionary spirit we cannot afford in the present critical stage of our national life.

This Bulletin

10. TUAIRISC is small and select in its circulation. No more than a few hundred copies are regularly sent and it depends for its success to a great extent on eliciting a response from those who receive it. The editors warmly request such a response, in the form of letters or contributions relevant to the topics that are discussed from time to time. Letters are printed when requested if they are relevant; these make a useful contribution to ideas. Their contents and the opinions and reactions of readers are always taken into account in the writing of these Notes.

11 We also ask for regular financial contributions towards the expenses of TUAIRISC. A project such as this, entailing stencilling and posting of several hundred copies of a bulletin for which no direct charge is made, inevitably requires regular and substantial donations, particularly in view of the high cost of postage. We are confident that people who realise the valuable function such a bulletin as this can perform will appreciate also the need for adequate financial support and will not grudge being asked to contribute to the expenses of its production.

The Need for Theory

13. We may ask where has the republican movement put forward an authoritative criticism of the Second Programme of Economic Expansion of the Fianna Fail Party as it leads Ireland back towards economic union with Britain? Or of the reasons for the failure of the Irish cultural and language movement to achieve more success in the past forty years than it has in fact done? Where is the ruthless analysis of the failure of either republicanism or labour significantly to influence government policy in the twenty six counties since the southern State was founded?

14. The republican movement does not lack people of brains and ability enough to undertake these tasks. Particularly in the recent period some of the finest minds in Ireland have placed themselves at the disposal of the movement for the Republic. To a certain extent an outline criticism of the prevailing anti-national theories has been worked out. But the main tasks, still remain to be done.

15. Let us have no stupid counter-posing of the "practical" men and the "intellectuals"', the men of theory. So-called "practical" men are usually the unconscious slaves of some defunct theoretician. They disdain theory but their minds are in fact rag-bags, stuffed with dead men's theories, old saws, conventional wisdom, scraps of opinion and prejudice which in fact are only debased and outworn pieces of no longer effective theory, if only they knew it. Revolutionary theory is the essential guide effective political action - without it action is blind and the consequences of such action fruitless, as it cannot be integrated into a body of ideas which sums up and generalises experience, enables the lessons of past mistakes to be grasped and serve as guide for the future. The major Irish revolutionaries of the past all produced a substantial body of theoretical writing, which is still of enormous value to us today, but which needs to be adapted and added to in the light of present day needs and the changed conditions of our time. Tone, Davis, Lalor, Pearse and Connolly all left a corpus of theoretical work. Where is such work being done in Ireland today?

16. If ideas are needed to counter the ideas of Ireland's "Establishment", they are also needed to counter the false and confusing theories which various dubious elements have been seeking to propagate among people in the republican movement in the recent period. Taking advantage of our own slowness, various enemies of the movement, who are fully aware of the importance of theory, have been seeking to spread false and confusing ideas with the palpable aim of causing confusion and dissension. Various news-sheets and bulletins have appeared of late, usually anonymous and sent through the post to individuals in the republican and labour movement in some parts of the country. These have been crammed with pseudo-revolutionary rhetoric and phraseology such as to gull the politically innocent, but concentrate their main fire not on imperialism or its manifestations in Ireland, but on the elements in the republican movement who are seeking to organise a more vigorous fight against imperialism. Unimportant in themselves, we mention these publications here because their appearance at this juncture in the development of the movement in Ireland serves to emphasise again the vital importance of evolving a genuine revolutionary republican theory to guide and integrate our actions and to expose the enemies of the nation in the manifold and clever guises they are capable of assuming today. We do not hesitate to say that the development of such a republican theory is probably the most important work in the progressive movement at the present time, and those engaged in it are making an indispensable and powerful contribution to the movement for a free and independent republic.

Tactics

18. The small farmers of Ireland are property owners. In general they own their own land, but because they are small they are continually being squeezed out by the bigger farmer and, more importantly, by the industrial monopolists - in the main British based or linked - who charge high prices for the goods the farmer must buy, but offer low prices for the goods the farmer must sell. The temporary solution for the small farmer is co-operation, to enable him by combining with his fellows to secure some of the advantages in buying and selling possessed by the big farmer. Republicans therefore should be to the fore in organising and spreading the co-operative movement in all its forms in the countryside. The long-term solution for the small farmer is the achievement of the Republic, in which State power will be used to curb the power of the monopolists that at present exploit him, secure and confirm him in direct ownership of his land and help him in his co-operative organisations.

19. But a co-operative is not a political organisation as such, though its members can be led, on the basis of their experience in organising and running a cooperative, to draw political conclusions and formulate political aims. The republican movement needs to work out the means whereby the work put into organising small farmers into cooperatives in defence of their interests yields political results, so that the people of the countryside do not stop short with the achievement of short-term improvements, but press forward with the demand tor full independence and the Republic.

20. The workers of Ireland, mainly living in the cities and towns, are the "men of no property". They may, of course, have personal property, but they have no capital and depend on selling their labour to obtain an income. Their main problems are threefold: (1) inadequate wages, (2) insecurity of employment - they are liable to be employed or dismissed by people over whom they have no control, frequently.as a result of decisions taken abroad, and (3) insufficient job opportunities because of the inadequate level of capital investment in the country, that is, not enough factories and businesses are being established. One of the main reasons for this is that huge sums of Irish capital are invested abroad, by the Irish banks, insurance companies and by individual investors, where it may earn a higher rate of interest than in Ireland and bring a greater return to its owners, though it is of little benefit to the country as a whole. No Irish Government has dared to interfere with this "freedom" of private owners of capital to invest their money abroad. Only a government determined to overcome the inevitable resistance of such interests would do so and would use this capital to create more jobs in Ireland. With more job opportunities in Ireland and a consequent high demand for labour the basis would be laid for dealing with the problems of inadequate wages and insecurity of employment.

Trade Unions - a return to Connolly

22. But one of the most striking aspects of Irish Trade Unionism is the fact that the unions have in general confined themselves to short-term attempts at betterment of the wages and conditions of their members within the existing political structure, and have ignored the more fundamental job, the political task of altering the structure itself so as to make possible a real expansion of employment and the achievement of control over employment-making opportunities for Irish rather than British hands which is the original Connolly concept. The unions in this country are notoriously non-political; or rather, since every organisation is political in some sense, by their very conservatism as regards political action they have facilitated the domination of political life in the Twenty Six Counties by the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael parties.

23. A striking current example of this is the failure of the Trade Unions seriously to oppose the Free Trade Agreement with Britain. This Agreement will fundamentally alter the conditions in which Irish workers sell their labour - for the worse. It is likely to cause severe unemployment in Ireland in three to five years time. It will throw open the Irish home market to the competition of British industrial monopolies vastly stronger than any Irish businesses, even the State concerns. Yet the recent annual conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions at Galway did not have a single resolution expressing opposition or even alarm at this step from any affiliated trade union. There was no hint whatever of any counter-attack on the Fianna Fail Government's policy of economic capitulation.

24. There are many reasons for this political defencelessness on the part of the main organisations of the Irish workers, and an examination of them and the means whereby they may be overcome is one of the functions of this bulletin. For the establishment of a militant trade union movement with a national-consciousness is an essential aspect of the struggle for the Republic. Such a task has not been seriously undertaken since James Connolly's day.

The Six Counties

26. For the Irish republican such adaptability and mental acuteness is particularly called for in relation to the situation in the Six Counties at the present time. In the Twenty Six Counties things are relatively stable at present. There the republican seeks to enlighten the people about the various manifestations of British neo-colonialism and economic domination on the lines sketched previously.

27. But in the North things are changing rapidly today. The iceberg of political life in that part of the nation, seemingly frozen solid for half a century, is beginning to melt and to drift into new and strange waters. The North can no longer be looked on as of old. The situation there poses new questions and demands new answers. And the answers we give today may be outdated in a year's time or less. Republicans, and particularly those living in the North, need to develop the utmost flexibility and political astuteness and to strive to free their minds from outdated forms of thought that were appropriate enough perhaps yesterday, but are no longer so today. Republicans must give their full and detailed attention to what is happening in the North at the present time, so that they will be able to utilise whatever opportunities present themselves to advance the cause of the Republic, even one tiny step, and not be caught napping by their British and Unionist opponents who will in turn be trying to turn the situation there to their advantage,.

Britain's Changing Strategy towards Ireland

29. But whereas De Valera's efforts at economic independence were half-hearted - as they were inevitably bound to be considering the interests his Party re resented - as least some effort was made during the 1930s and 1940s to weaken some of the links with Britain. But Lemass has given up the effort entirely. And between De Valera's compromise and Lemass's capitulation there is difference enough to justify Britain in turn changing its tactics.

30. Britain now hopes to snare Lemass back into the United Kingdom. The Free Trade Agreement will do the trick - the symbols of sovereignty, the Dail, the tricolour and the domination of the south, a situation in which the old fashioned Unionist intransigence which served Britain so well in the past will also-be outdated and no longer so convenient to imperialism.

31. British imperialism can nowadays look on complacently while the leaders of her two client states shake hands across the Border. It was, after all, always open to the Irish people to end Partition effectively by agreeing to return to the United Kingdom. This is the basic cause of the present crisis in the North -a change in Britain's policy towards Ireland as a whole following the capitulation of the Lemass Government and the abandonment since 1957 of any attempts to build the basis of an independent economy in the south.

32. There are, of course, other factors at work, factors not so amenable to control in the interests of imperialism. An important one is the realisation among influential sections of British public opinion, particularly in the trade union and labour movement in that country, of the unsavoury character of Northern Unionism. The Orangemen have been getting a bad press in Britain - too bad from the point of view of their usefulness to their masters. Even in the last years of the Tory administration the Northern Unionists were becoming a dwindling political asset to England. The bigotry in the Six Counties was being spoken about too much in the working class and democratic organizations of Britain that were not tainted with the imperialism of Britain's Tory rulers and the imperialist elements in the leadership of the Labour Party. The far-seeing leaders of British imperialism saw that the bright young men of Fianna Fail might prove a better bet for preserving British influence in Ireland in the long run than the bigoted fanatics of the North. Hence O'Neill has been given his orders to play down discrimination and brush the corruption of his regime under the carpet while Britain snares Lemass into the United Kingdom.

33. The resulting tensions have caused a new development, and one pregnant with possibilities. Under this stress Unionism, the most reactionary political force in Ireland, is divided. The conflict between Paisley and O'Neill expresses this division in personal terms but, as with most important divisions, it is basically a political one, a division over policy in the Unionist camp.

34. Other factors also, such as the ecumenical movement and the emergence of a more educated and less fanatical generation of younger Protestants in the North, have helped on the crisis of Unionism.

The Crisis of Unionism

36. This is the most progressive outcome to the present situation, without a doubt. It is the outcome republicans, nationalists and genuine labour men, who live north of the Border, should do their utmost to bring about - the destruction of the machinery of discrimination to the maximum, the unfreezing of bigotry to the greatest degree, the achievement of the utmost degree of civil liberties possible, freedom of political action, an end to the bitterness in social life and the divisions among the people fostered by the Unionists. These would be substantial gains for the progressive movement in the North and would be an immense asset to it in the years to come. They would permanently weaken the basis of Unionism, and towards these objectives all the energies of the progressive people in the North should be bent in the coming months.

The Struggle for Democratic Rights

38. There can be no doubt that the policy of republicans must be to ensure that everything is done to make this demand strong, vigorously organised, widespread, well-expressed and heard not only in the North itself, but in Britain and throughout_the world. Force O'Neill to CONCEDE MORE THAN HE WANTS TO DO OR THAN HE THINKS HE CAN DARE GIVE without risking overthrow by the more reactionary elements among the Unionists. Demand more than may be demanded by the compromising elements that exist among the Catholic leadership. Seek to associate as wide a section of the community as possible with these demands, in particular the well-intentioned people in the Protestant population and the trade union movement.

39. Civil rights, electoral reform, an end to gerrymandering and to discrimination in housing, jobs and appointments, the legal banning of incitement to religious discrimination. These are the essential demands for the present time. Republicans must be to the fore in making them and in seeking to get every other element that can be got in the community to associate with them.

40. To this end local committees and groups should be organised on the widest possible basis throughout the towns and villages of the North, wherever there are people active in the progressive movement. Civil Rights committees, electoral reform groups, community development associations, friendship clubs - it matters not what they are called, or how diverse they are in structure and organisation. They should seek to organise the maximum number of people at a local level to bring pressure on local authorities, on Stormont, but particularly on Westminster, to wrest so many concessions from O'Neill that he begins to sweat political blood.

Means of Organisation

42. But we repeat that it is vital that whatever is done full attention should be paid to securing the maximum and broadest unity of action among the participants. Old feuds between Protestants and Catholics or between republicans and nationalists should not be allowed to stand in the way of this work. People should learn to give way to others for the sake of unity where that is necessary, and it is important that the leading personnel in the public eye should be such as to facilitate the broadest possible action rather than likely to narrow the possible boundaries of support. Above all support must be sought in the trade unions, particularly at the level of trades council and local union branch, for these are the main organisations which bring Protestant and Catholic together in defence of their common interests, and it may be possible in time to extend the range of common interests that already exist.

43. An indication has already been given for what can be achieved by one small local group in the Campaign for Social Justice at Dungannon, led by Mrs M McCluskey. This body has for several years done work in highlighting discrimination in that area and has been responsible, though few in numbers, for educating some of the sharpest critics of 0'Neill and Wilson in England - inside and outside Westminster - on the true nature of Unionism and the Irish question generally.

44. In this task the movement in the North should begin at a local level, for there can take place the widest link-up with various community organisations. Later there can be organisational links with local bodies on a wide scale if that is desired and practicable. This course of action is, moreover, the way - and the only way at present - for republicans to break out of their present isolation and impotence in the North, and in doing so help all nationally minded people in the area to break out of the political and social ghetto they have been imprisoned in for decades.

A Warning

46. Republicans and nationally minded people should therefore be on their guard against provocateurs, people sent into their ranks mouthing pseudo-revolutionary phrases, pretending to act as firebrands, out to precipitate some incident which would give the Unionists an excuse for a pogrom. Let us be on our guard!

47. The present fluid situation holds many possibilities for the North. Paisley may overthrow O'Neill. The emergence of the new Orange organisation, the Orange Voice of Freedom, shows that the Orange Order, the bulwark of Unionism, the hidden force which has directed the bigotry and hatred at local and national level, is deeply divided. If Paisley captures the Unionist Party, what then? Would Wilson deal with him as he is dealing with Ian Smith or as Asquith dealt with Carson? What would the army generals say if they were told to put down a pogrom-instituting, virulently bigoted 'Protestant' government led by a Faulkner or a Paisley? Would there be another Curragh mutiny situation? These are not wild fantasies. They are real and dangerous possibilities inherent in the present situation, and they will need to be dealt with by the progressive movement as and if they arise.

48. Opposed by both the British Government and the main Unionist leadership, who have switched their policy, how can he (ie Paisley) possibly win? Britain has changed its tactics relating to Ireland as a whole, consequent on the Dublin Government's capitulation. The 'Orange card' is no longer as useful as it was. At present the Orange rank and file in the North don't know what has happened. They are in a state of deep doubt and confusion and Paisley is the only one who has come forward as a guide. But the old certainties of anti-Catholicism and bigotry peddled by Paisley no longer suit imperialism as well as they did in the past. The Orangemen are being sold down the river and they do not know it. For years the basic fundamental of their faith has been their trust in Britain. Whatever they did, Britain would stand by them and back them up. But if this rock of faith is removed; if Britain betrays them -- what then? Who will explain to the mass of the Orange Protestants what is happening? Will anyone come forward to tell them what is really happening, or will Paisley for his own interests be allowed to batten all their illusions?

49. A long-term possibility is therefore opening up within the present situation for getting in touch with the unionist Orange masses in the North, explaining the real nature of Britain's imperialist policy towards Ireland, enlightening them as to the reasons for the current changes and winning them to support a movement for independence. Such work can only be done, however, by a movement which is completely divorced from any elements of Catholic sectarianism, which is completely free of any suspicion of clericalism or of 'taking orders from Rome', by a movement animated by the non-sectarianism and democracy of the traditional republican movement, in other words.

50. The problems and possibilities of developing the appropriate organisational forms to meet the present situation in the North will need to be intensively studied by people in the progressive movement during the coming period.

51. But for the immediate present the tasks remain as defined above in discussing civil liberties in the North, planning, meticulous organisation and intelligent guidance by progressive and nationally minded people will be necessary. Let us be at them!

The Tasks of the Day

1. The development of a body of theory and ideas to counter the ideas of the intellectual "Establishment" and guide the activities of the progressive movement in its work towards the achievement of the Republic.

2. The organisation of a virile co-operative movement among the small farmers, a movement which has the political perspective of the Republic at least among its leadership.

3. The development of a militant Trade Union movement with a national consciousness.

4. The political education of republicans so that they can take the leadership in whatever organization of which they are members.

5 The development of a widespread and vigorous civil rights movement in the Six Counties putting the maximum pressure on O'Neill and on the Westminster Government and Members of Parliament to secure greater democracy for the area.

6. The maximum support for the defence of civil rights in the twenty six counties, with renewed efforts to secure the abolition of the Offences Against the State Act.

This bulletin hopes to make a worthy contribution to those aims in the period ahead.

The 'Ideas' paper in Tuairisc was unsigned at the time, but the WTS archive copy is signed in pen by Anthony Coughlan. He was editor of Tuairisc at the time.

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Some navigational notes:

Copyright Dr Roy Johnston 1999