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There
are those within the Irish left who argue that the
struggle for national liberation is not only anti-working
class but also anti-socialist. On the extreme there
are those whose slogan is "internationalism",
whereas on the other extreme there are those who contend
that socialism can evolve peacefully, both within
the 6 county and 26 county statelets. Some of the
latter believe that progressive industrial nationalisation
within both states will develop into a multinational
gestation, the end result being two socialist societies.
Such logic however is uninfluenced by the history
of working class struggles throughout the world, and
its formulators have ignored the Chilean-lesson.
The
latter example sounded the death knell of those who
believe in the peaceful road to socialism. On the
other hand the "internationalists" appear
to be ignorant of the Latin origins of the term "inter".
An accurate definition reveals that the term means
'between', in other words "internationalism"
implies 'between nations'. Thus, by implication, to
be truly international one must be initially truly
national. Therefore in order to establish an international
socialist community we must not neglect the national
factor i.e. we must work for socialism within our
own countries.
This
does not imply however that socialists should not
be alert to certain forms of
"nationalism". That is, bastard forms of
nationalism exhibited by parties such as the British
National Front and the Social Democratic and Labour
Party. And of course the so called 'nationalism' of
Provisional Sinn Fein which is really a form of republican
unionism. The latter is the negation of true nationalism
and an obstacle to the development of real internationalism.
It is, perhaps, the wrong conception of what nationalism
really is and by association what is meant by national
liberation that has led these representatives of the
Irish left to take such a reactionary stand. The futility
of their position is further illustrated when we hear
them acknowledging the importance of Connolly to the
potential socialist revolution. Such an acknowledgement
reflects their lack of knowledge of Connolly himself.
For
James Connolly participated and died in a national
liberation struggle. On the eve of the 1916 Rising
Connolly stated that his participation would be misinterpreted
by his fellow socialists. That they would not understand
his motives. Even the so-called official world of
"socialism", that is the leaders of the
Second International condemned him. Also, the English
Independent Labour Party said that:
"Connolly
was terribly and criminally mistaken."
There
was one socialist who understood Connolly, however,
and that was Lenin. Lenin declared his approval of
the Rising and attacked those who attacked this aspect
of the struggle for Irish national liberation.
As
the leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution Lenin was
perhaps the greatest socialist thinker of the 20th
century. As a Marxist he did not treat Marxism as
a dogma, for to do so would be to strip it of its
revolutionary message. In fact Lenin developed and
expounded the theories of Marx. He had a logical approach
to political questions and when he defended the 1916
fight for Irish national liberation he stated:
"It
expressed itself in street fighting conducted by
a section of the urban petty bourgeoisie and a section
of the workers after a long period of mass agitation
and demonstration.
"For
to imagine that social revolution is conceivable
without revolts by small nations in the colonies
and in Europe, without the revolutionary outbursts
of a section of the petty bourgeoisie with all its
prejudices without a movement of politically non-conscious
proletarian and semi-proletarian masses against
landlord, church, monarchal national and other oppression
- to imagine that means repudiating social revolution
- whoever expects a "pure" social revolution
will never lives to see it. Such a person pays his
service to a revolution without understanding what
revolution really is."
This
an apt description of those Irish socialists who do
not see the need for national liberation; of those
who are opposed to the present struggle; of those
who are indifferent and who concentrate on purely
economic and democratic objectives. Yet those same
individuals and parties would claim that they are
part of the Leninist tradition. To paraphrase Pearse:
"The
fools, the fools, the fools."
True
national liberation means revolution - a process in
which the democratic principle is extended to all
aspects of Irish society. Democracy permeating the
whole fabric of the lives of our people and not the
false form which we experience now and again at the
ballot box. In fact true democracy is revolution in
practice - the Irish working and small farming classes
controlling the means of production, distribution
and 'exchange.
In
this sense 'democracy'. 'national liberation', 'revolution'
and 'socialism' are but aspects of the same phenomenon.
Due to the prevailing influence of capitalist and
colonial hegemony, however, and for reasons of political
discourse we tend to make a distinction between the
latter concepts. Perhaps that is another reason for
the lack of support for the national struggle by the
reactionary Irish left.
As
the history of Ireland illustrates it is the workers
and the small farmers who alone remain interested
in solving the national question. They are the only
truly revolutionary bloc. It remains the task of authentic
socialist revolutionaries to direct these forces in
the job of dismantling the colonial and neo-colonial
statelets in this country. Self-determination for
the Irish people is a necessary pre-requisite--if
the land of Ireland is to belong to its people. To
those of the Irish left who do not see the revolutionary
importance of the national struggle we leave them,
with the thoughts of Liam Mellows from his prison
cell:
"The
people with a stake in the country were never with
the revolution. The issue is - Capitalism and Empire
versus national independence and the industrial
workers and poor farmers."
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