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The over whelming majority of the UK and RoI media pundits, plus websites
like Slugger O'Toole, have proclaimed to the high heavens that SF suffered a
major defeat in the recent general election in the south of Ireland. Whilst
undoubtedly the SF leadership's electoral strategy suffered a major setback,
it would be a mistake to see what occurred as a major 'defeat' for SF the
party.
True, SF lost a single TD, and a pretty good one at that, with Sean Crowe's
failure to be re-elected in Dublin south west. But over all their vote held
up, indeed it increased slightly, with SF coming out of the count with 6.9%.
Unfortunately for SF, what one newspaper called prior to the poll, 'the
agile and effective SF vote getting machine' failed to manage their vote,
the leadership having decided to tilt at windmills. If one looks at the fact
that the Greens managed to attain six seats in the Dáil on a vote of
4.7%, this failure becomes clear.. Nevertheless, the fact is that SF's
core
electoral support held up and thus in no way can it be said that they
deserted the party in great numbers.
As far as SF are concerned, the real story of the election was that the
electoral strategy of Gerry Adams failed to produce what he promised to the
party and its supporters. This was made worse by his boastful behavior in
the media when he and other SF leaders claimed the party was on course to
double their number of TDs, something which Mr Adams predicted would make
FF's Bertie Ahern beat a path to his door, to offer SF ministerial
positions in a FF led coalition. There can be little doubt that Mr Adams
believed such nonsense, and failed to see that the barrage of media hype
that SF were treated to by their political opponents in the media was
designed to lull them into complacency. It has to be said, given the enormous
hostility he and his party has suffered from the media in the past, it was
startling that Mr Adams never seemed to wonder why he and SF had suddenly
become media darlings.
Mr Adams and his immediate coterie were unwilling to listen to the warnings
from history that friends of the SF party whispered in their ears, let alone
those dissident republicans who had forwarded about the perilous road that
SF had embarked upon. Perhaps Gerry Adams will revisit the experiences of
Yasser Arafat and the PLO when they agreed to sign up to the Oslo Peace
Accords. Yasser Arafat was lauded in the media, welcomed on the White House
lawn and to the world's political chancellories, only to end his career a
short while after, holed up in his Presidential office in the West Bank city
of Ramallah, a large part of which had already been destroyed by the Israeli
army who had been green-lighted by the US administration to do so. Arafat,
deserted by the powerful who such a short time before had courted him and
his movement the PLO, cut a very lonely and helpless figure.
Having said the above, all is still to play for as far as SF and the southern
electorate is concerned. The fact is, SF, if they are to maintain their
support and grow electorally in the RoI, must go back to basics and
once again build from the bottom up. This will mean showing their core
support base far more respect. By all means continue to groom bright
ambitious young activists for national leadership, but do so from the Cumann
and constituency up, and cease trying to ape the capitalist parties by
parachuting favored middle class individuals into constituencies against the
wishes of local activists.
It also is imperative that SF move its leadership apparatus, lock, stock and
Gerry Adams, back into the southern State. The leadership move north proved
to be the achilles heel for the PIRA, and unless changes are made will also
prove so for SF. If Mr Adams wishes to continue as leader of SF, it is
nonsensical for him to continue to abstain from the electoral fray in the
largest political jurisdiction on the island of Ireland. For him to hold a
seat in the Westminister Parliament and not in the Dáil speaks volumes about
his lack of commitment to the people who live in the southern State.
Admittedly this may be unfair to Mr Adams, but I have no doubt that is how
many potential SF voters see the situation and it also increasingly gives
ammunition to the Party's enemies. Besides, it is not the north where SF has
a shortage of able and experienced political activists.
Finally SF need to draw up in fine detail a progressive left of center
political platform that all party members agree upon and to which the SF
leadership gives total loyalty. The fact that certain SF leaders attempted
during the 2007 RoI General Election campaign to pick and mix the SF
manifesto was a disgrace and played a major part in SFs failure to increase
their vote. For SF, like all successful Republican organizations, is a Party
of the men and women of no property. In no way would this exclude homeowners as they do not own 'property' in the capitalist sense, but a home to
live in. People who own more than one home are another matter and perhaps it
is time SF decided whether such people should be party candidates,
especially given the difficulties many young people face in gaining a decent
home these days.
The failure of SF to grow in the 2007 General Election may prove to be a
blessing for the party. It has shown the rank and file that Mr Adams is not
infallible and he alone cannot bring about a United Socialist Republic. In
the future the party's ambition must be realistic and attainable, and the
party leaders must learn to get on top of their briefs before they enter a
TV studio and stick to the fine detail of manifesto commitments.
There is a core southern support base from which to build on, but they must
be shown respect. There is already a centre right democratic republican
party in the south in FF; whether SF members take FF's claim to be
republican with a pinch of salt is not the point, as many within the
electorate do not. There is a space in the south for a left wing republican
party if they are prepared to work in tandem with other sections of the
left. For SF the current slogan should be, Luta Continua, as their struggle
undoubtedly continues.
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