Gerry Adams
a man you can do business with
The latest meeting between the Confederation of British Industry
(CBI) and the Sinn Féin leadership took place on March 25th.
The CBI represents Britain's industrial parasites. Following the
meeting, Bill Tosh of the Northern Ireland section of the CBI had
this to say: "It (Sinn Féin) had a constructive role to play
in economic regeneration." [1]
Sinn Féin's Mitchell McLoughlin described the meeting as a
"useful and constructive exchange" and added "Our discussions centred
on a number of issues including the growth challenge, inward
investment and unemployment" [2]
Strange bedfellows for a party of, and which
claims to represent, the working class. Does this mean that Sinn
Féin now sees it's function as the attraction of multinational
investment? Does the radical rhetoric of 'An Phoblacht/Republican
News' mask a conservative reality? It would seem that so far this has
nothing to do with the political expediency of the peace strategy.
Whatever the Sinn Féin leadership and the CBI are constructing
together it's not part of a path which leads to a united socialist
Ireland.
United Ireland ?
The shaky alliances formed between Sinn
Féin and American imperialists, green Tories and religious
bigots under the banner of pan-nationalist consensus are justified by
left-wing republicans on the basis that only after the birth of a
united Ireland could working class solidarity across the sectarian
divide develop. Why?
It is not as if the Protestant section of
the working class constitute a privileged labour aristocracy sitting
on top of the Catholics - material differences between Catholic and
Protestant workers are marginal. Workers from both sides of the
bosses' divide have come together around issues of common concern on
countless occasions in the past; the 1919 Belfast engineering strike,
the 1932 Belfast Unemployed riots, the 1980 half day general strike
against cutbacks and unemployment, etc. Why should this not happen
again in the future?
Furthermore there is no reason to suppose
that Protestant workers subjected to a Catholic capitalist government
from Dublin will have a sudden 'road to Damascus' style conversion to
socialism. It is possible that Irish unity (on this basis) would only
serve to entrench loyalism or even to launch a bloody civil
war.
But, of course, a united Ireland is not even
on the agenda, with every single Dáil party in support of the
unionist veto. It seems that the pan nationalist consensus includes
many who aren't even Nationalists. Truth is, the Southern
establishment wets itself at the thought of having to govern "the six
counties".
What will be on the agenda if Adams and Co.
finally make it to the talks table is a few meaningless reforms -
Irish street names, a cross border body in charge of tourism and
another in charge of investment attraction; and, maybe, a devolved
government with a power sharing agreement: Sunningdale MK II.
If peace is delivered Unionist and
Nationalist politicians will be in competition over where the
American or Japanese corporation builds its factory. If anything more
substantial then a few crumbs off the master's table and the
exploitation we're supposed to be thankful for are to be won, an
anti-sectarian working class movement which unites Protestant and
Catholics must be created. This is a task measured in years rather
than months but then building with stone always took longer than
building with sand.
Job Seekers Allowance
The strength of Unionism is testament to
nothing more then the lack of a political challenge to it. If
mainstream Sinn Féin had any commitment to the working class
then it would not address itself exclusively to the concerns of the
"nationalist community". For instance, one issue of common concern to
both Protestant and Catholic workers is the Job Seekers Allowance
(JSA).
The JSA is the British government's new
benefit scheme, in effect since October 1996, under which they plan
to cut £410 million from their social security bill within two
years. Under the JSA, the unemployed must prove that they are looking
for work or accept a place on a training scheme, or they will lose
their benefit. Benefit is also now means tested after 6 months rather
than a year. The JSA is a general tightening of the screws aimed at
pushing the unemployed into low wage employment and thereby reducing
workers' wages.
Sinn Féin's contribution to the
campaign against it has been a two page article in AP/RN and
complaints to the Derry Social Security Agency over the wording of
one of their JSA information leaflets! Given that the JSA aims at
cheap labour and given that sectarian divisions weaken the working
class and result in lower wages, and finally given that the Sinn
Féin leadership's new pals include American bosses and the CBI
whose only interest in Northern Ireland is cheap labour, should we be
surprised when Sinn Féin do nothing about it?
Terry Dunne
1 The Guardian, March 26th. Page 9
2 Ibid.
