| Republican News · Thursday 24 July 2003
Just as the twists and turns of political initiatives can occasionally blur the basics, so some aspects of ideological discussion can throw up enough dust that the fundamentals are obscured. Every now and again, just like the good Catholic, we need to renew our faith and remind ourselves of what we are about. In essence, Sinn Féin is about the reconquest of Ireland by the Irish people. We have our own ideology, which guides us as a party, but we also have strategies, tactics, policy platforms, and we engage in strategic alliances. In other words, we have a vision but we also live in the real world. important characteristic of republican revolutionaries such as Tone, Connolly and others was that they were people of their time who were not content merely to follow a political 'tradition' but who took republican philosophy and shaped it to tackle objective conditions. A major high point in the evolution of Irish political thought over the past 200 years was James Connolly's marriage of socialism to democratic republican philosophy. But in reality, Connolly was a successor to other 'proto-socialists' within Irish republicanism, who had never used the word 'socialist' but who nevertheless represented that class who had always been to the fore in the struggle for freedom - the men and women of 'no property'. They were part of a long egalitarian political tradition in Ireland that combined the fight for national freedom with the struggle of the masses to overcome dispossession, poverty and emigration, a tradition reflected in the writings of Tone, Lawlor and Davitt. This is the important point. It is when we have found the ability to shape our ideology to suit the objective conditions that republicans have moved forward in Ireland. Any time republicans attempted to follow dogma without regard to objective conditions resulted in isolation, stagnation and defeat. Significantly for politics on this island, this was allowed to happen in the late 1920s. The result was that Fianna Fáil was formed, stole our political clothes and appealed to the people on a republican-labour platform. They eventually swept to victory and remain the biggest, most successful political force on the island.
Sinn Féin has promoted a 'republican-labour' platform in campaigning and in elections. This platform of 'an Ireland of Equals' is guided by a socialist republican ideology but it speaks to the people in their 'own language'. It is designed to build political strength so that we can achieve our ultimate objective of a 32-county socialist republic. Obsession with ideological purity and the following of dogmas that don't suit objective conditions is a recipe for disaster. Successful revolutionaries combine pragmatism with determination and vision. Sinn Féin must always use the language that makes sense to people in their day-to-day lives, not that which makes some activists feel 'right on'. That being said, I do think there has been a certain amount of complacency in some of the recent contributions to these pages regarding the need to raise our profile on what are, by any other name, class issues. I say this for two reasons. One is that the people of the 26 Counties have their own parliament and government, which already has the power to legislate for social and economic change. They rightly see no need to wait for a united Ireland to demand equality of opportunity. Sinn Féin has the ideology and the instinct to represent their interests. It needs to get down to developing the policies, including policies, which will draw criticism from political opponents. For starters we need a detailed tax policy, which is one of the primary means of addressing inequality. In regard to policy development, the small, dedicated team in Leinster House has already carried out a lot of good work. But such important work should not be left to these comrades alone. The second reason I feel there is a need to guard against complacency is that there seems to be some within our ranks, a tiny minority admittedly, who are deluded as to the reality of what we are about. Some of these would challenge the very validity of socialism and the concept of an Ireland of Equals. This is a problem that needs to be tackled through the party's internal political education process. As a start, somebody should point out to these members that a commitment to a socialist republic has been part of the Sinn Féin constitution for some considerable time. No motion to any Ard Fheis that I can recall has ever suggested removing it. The are two compelling arguments for Sinn Féin to position itself very clearly on the broad left and as the party of the ordinary, working people of urban and rural Ireland. Firstly, because these are the people for whom the struggle has been fought. Secondly, it is among this constituency that Sinn Féin is making all its electoral headway. Fianna Fáil has long ago abandoned any pretence at representing the interests of working class people and struggling rural communities. They are now firmly right of centre and more and more are being led by the nose by right-wing ideologues from the PDs. The leadership of the Irish Labour Party has, more recently, clearly made its choices as to where of two directions its wants to go. Faced with the choice of attempting to building a real a left opposition with other parties in Leinster House or cosying up to Fine Gael as an alternative government, they have chosen the latter. So, the centre ground is overcrowded, to such an extent that it is clearly having a terminal effect on Fine Gael. Ordinary working men and women are being abandoned and are not represented by the other parties. People are voting for Sinn Féin in greater and greater number across the 26 Counties, and a new generation of Irish youth is expressing its dissatisfaction with neo-liberalism and the political establishment through involvement in burgeoning anti-globalisation activity. The way forward is clear - be true to our roots and speak to the people in their own language; Avoid ultra-leftism. Make alliances with other progressive forces and build Sinn Féin as the credible political alternative to conservatism. Let's continue to pursue the vision while living in the real world.
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