Coupled with the attendance at the event of Conservative Party heavyweights—the chancellor of the exchequer, Philip Hammond, and the barnstorming Boris Johnson—it appeared that the spirit of James Craig was smiling benevolently on the DUP and its assembled delegates.

Yet for all the self-congratulatory backslapping there were more sombre assessments emanating from influential voices elsewhere within unionism. Arlene Foster’s party was suffering setbacks, they said, and the future of the Union was problematic.

While speaking at Knock Methodist Church in Co. Down on the eve of the conference, a former leader of the DUP, Peter Robinson, informed those in attendance that in his opinion the union with Great Britain is not secure and that unionists must actively engage with their adversaries.¹ At the same time Robin Swann, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, told the News Letter that unionism needs to win converts rather than push people further away, saying that this is “what the DUP seem determined to do . . .”

The very same week Alex Kane, a former adviser to David Trimble, was saying not only that the DUP had been “deliberately, unambiguously shafted by May and a majority of her Cabinet” but that “only a fool would assume that the Withdrawal Agreement* couldn’t, albeit incrementally, lead to Irish unity.”

Powerful stuff, and offering little comfort to unionism.

However, conditioned from its foundation, and by its founder, to speak loudly rather than to listen or seek accommodation, the DUP has traditionally resisted meaningful engagement with other political parties in the Six Counties or the Republic. Its electoral support was based largely on containing and resisting the political agenda of Sinn Féin, regardless of what that party or its voters asked for. In the North this negative programme has proved to be a winning formula for hard-line unionism, in the electoral arena at least. “No surrender” and “Not an inch” worked out fine for them, so long as little else was required, as all the while the DUP sought the return of an idealised status quo.

The durability of such a strategy depended, among other conditions, on the British government being tolerant of, if not indifferent to, deadlocked inter-party politicking in Stormont. In the absence of an armed conflict, the political elite in London believed that the Irish in Belfast could be allowed to disagree for as long as they wished.

This situation changed for the DUP when, after the last general election, they entered into a “confidence and supply” arrangement with Theresa May’s Conservatives. While gaining a limited measure of influence over decision-making in London, Arlene Foster’s party has inevitably been drawn into the bitter infighting over Brexit that is engulfing the Tory party.

Not since the demise of the Irish Parliamentary Party at the beginning of the twentieth century has a political party from Ireland occupied such a pivotal position in English politics. Yet that is a two-edged sword. Long used to the stifling world of northern Irish politics, with its virtual absence of accountability, the DUP is now finding itself answerable for choices it makes in the more challenging atmosphere of an internecine Conservative Party feud. Whichever Tory camp they side with will inevitably alienate the other.

The Tory party is a coalition of the British ruling class, and all within it are not necessarily in favour of Brexit. As an editorial in the Morning Star recently stated, divisions among the Tories reveal divisions in Britain’s ruling class, and woe betide those who back the losing horse in this contest!² For all those who come courting the DUP’s ten MPs there are others who see them as a threat, to be removed when necessary.

The next general election may alter the balance of power through different parliamentary arithmetic; but there are other options in the undergrowth.

Ominous for Foster and her colleagues is the option of ending partition. Obviously, if Northern Ireland were to leave the United Kingdom there would be no DUP voting in the House of Commons. Moreover, such a constitutional realignment would also, for some, temptingly negate the need for a “backstop” involving the border.

Both scenarios are, for the time being, hypothetical. Nevertheless, the certainty of alienating at least one significant section of the Tory party while offering temptation to elements in both camps must make uncomfortable reading for Ulster unionism.

Compounding their distress is the spectacle of divisions opening between the DUP and Northern Ireland’s business and farming sectors. For long, unionism has viewed the business class as a solid and dependable constituency, generally supporting the status quo but never openly critical of the dominant political party’s economic stance. This changed dramatically when Theresa May offered the Six Counties a deal promising access to both EU and British markets. The list of farming and business groups siding with the prime minister was impressive; among them were the Ulster Farmers’ Union, the Confederation of British Industry in Belfast, “Hospitality Ulster” (the tourist authority), NI Retail Consortium, and Manufacturing NI.

This is a powerful lobby offering support for a deal that means (according to Nigel Dodds MP, writing in the Irish Independent) “Brexit in name only or the break-up of the United Kingdom.”

Although Sammy Wilson angrily described the business spokespersons as mouthpieces for the Northern Ireland Office, his party leader knew better than to gratuitously insult them. Foster moved quickly. Firstly, she blamed the media for causing the divide, presumably for reporting the issue, and thereafter established a dialogue with this wealthy section of society.

Nevertheless, unionist confidence has been damaged. An influential element within northern society, many of whom are instinctively pro-British, has indicated that its fundamental loyalty is to its own prosperity rather than to the Crown.

None of which means that the Six-County political entity is about to collapse in the near future. However, when taken in consideration with other factors, such as rapidly changing demographics, Britain’s altered security requirements, and the failed political institution that is Stormont, the prognosis appears terminal. We can at least hold on to a reasonable hope that the structure that paved the way for our long carnival of reaction—south as well as north—is coming to an end.

A century after the publication of the Democratic Programme of Dáil Éireann, the challenge for socialists is not to wait passively for events, or to entertain any sense of triumphalism. There is work to be done to ensure that we don’t endure another century of reaction emanating from a different source within the EU and supported by a native bourgeoisie with its headquarters in Dublin.

James Connolly showed us the way, and his message remains as relevant today as when he sat writing at his desk in Liberty Hall. We must build a workers’ republic that guarantees the well-being of all working people living on this island; and, as always, that struggle begins today.

Sam McBride, “Peter Robinson in eve of conference warning to DUP on state of the Union,” News Letter (Belfast), 24 November 2018.
Morning Star, Wednesday 21 November 2018.

Tommy McKearney is a trade union activist and  author of The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection To Parliament.

Progressive secularists prevent Catholic indoctrination

The fallout from the resignation of Peadar Tóibin, and the indications that he has substantial support among republicans for a new party, obscured another rare event within a party that prides itself on its adherence to Omertá.

On Wednesday November 7, just before she jetted off to New York for the ceremonial presenting of more envelopes from the east coast families, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald had to sit through a meeting that lasted several hours in which TDs vented their frustrations at the current crisis afflicting the party.

Among the issues raised were the disastrous showing of Liadh ní Riada in the Presidential elections, and the complaint made by some TDs that they had not been consulted on the decision to run the party newcomer. In any event, the Sinn Féin support base had its own say and mostly voted for Higgins or Casey. The TDs who were annoyed over the choice had their say by basically standing down their local organisations for the campaign.

Another issue that led to heated discussion was the revelation by Ní Riada that she had not exactly been truthful about her take home pay. Not that in any normal set of circumstances that ought to be anyone’s business.

This followed on from the revelation earlier in the year that Dublin North West TD Dessie Ellis had been similarly exempted from the alleged universal obligation on all party elected representatives and staff members to hand over anything above the Average Industrial Wage. On the reasonable grounds that to have done so would have prevented him looking after his responsibilities. Dessie in fairness is not responsible for the hypocritical nonsense that underlies the excuse to extract public funds.

When I had refused for years to pony up at the possible cost of losing my house, I had been told every so often that everyone “from Gerry’s driver to Gerry himself” takes home the same wage. Well, we were not all on British Military Intelligence nixers like Roy the driver. “Roy the Rat”, as he is affectionately known, seems to have shared in the same amnesty which has been granted to some other privileged touts. Perhaps he handed over his moonlighting money.

But back to the meeting. One long standing TD was particularly irate because he had for years been harassed over money which he could ill afford while attempting to put his family through college, and of course not being eligible for grants which his actual income would have entitled him to because of his having to contribute to “the party.” Partaay in more senses than one, depending on who you are.

Of course it was all for our own good to be freed of the corrupting temptations of our wages. Like E.L Doctorow’s Prophet, Walter John Harmon, the Party “took our evil unto himself, we had emerged reborn, with our addictions, our concupiscence, and our depthless greed lifted from us.” Praise the Lord.

The fallout from the referendum to repeal the 8th amendment on abortion has also continued to cause internal frictions. The only thing that the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis ratified was support to repeal the legislation. It gave no mandate beyond that even though some had already ignored whatever decision was going to be made by coming out in support of the 12 weeks limit.

Those of us who pointed out that that was irrelevant as they would take the Ard Fheis vote as a rubber stamp to approve legislation that will provide for one of the most liberal abortion regimes in the world. Which is exactly what they have done. Would the electorate, let alone the Sinn Féin membership, have voted in favour of a law that will basically allow people to abort the “eugenically unsound.”? Are those voting for this, thinking that it makes them “radical,” even familiar with the ideological roots of such anti humanism?

So now, life long republicans have to listen to a TD who joined the party weeks before being selected as a candidate – having presumably left the party she was previously a member of – lecture them on being “right wing” and “reactionary.” The same people used exactly the same language to condemn the IRA in the 1970s and 1980s. Some might do well to recall. And then there are those who swore blind that they would “never” support abortion on demand voting now on the most extreme proposals of the ultra left.

No-one joined the republican movement to introduce abortion on demand. And the things that we did join for have been abandoned or put on some never never bucket list as part of a “totality of relationships” subservient to external forces which deny Irish sovereignty. That is as it is.

It would be tempting to suggest that the Emperor has no clothes, but that would perhaps not be an apt analogy. It would be like saying that the Emperor only has one house, or no property in Florida.

Matt Treacy’s book A Tunnel to the Moon: The End of the Irish

Republican Army is also available @ Amazon.