Post by ulstersocialist on Jul 8, 2007 22:45:02 GMT
Greetings,
I started communication with Redflag32 through the Revolutionary left forum , whom last year we started a cross community debate forum which unfortunatley died because of the low traffic. He invited me to join this forum because firstly, I have views which are consistent with the objectives of Irish republicanism and also because I am something of a rarity in that I come from the Unionist community.
I believe that the British administration in Ireland is wrong, i acknowledge that throughout history it has used violence and oppression in its defence of the status quo and has been hypocritical in preaching democracy and peace to other nations while utilising violence to defend its interests, including against the Irish working class.
While I believe that the 1919 Easter Rising was a victory against imperialism, I also have come to regard it as a 'failed revolution' because it did not go far enough in that it did not remove capitalism from this Island. In the dail we now have an elite pro capitalist right wing ruling party, that is the gate keeper of british imperialism and at every turn pays lip service to the interests of the European free market.
'The celtic tiger' phenomenon as its referred to has perhaps been used by the Irish beourgiouse as a shock absorber to revolutionary sentiment, hence the prominence of the right wing in the republic. Despite their best intentions, the price of Sinn Fein's campaign of a 'united ireland at any cost' could be the absorption of the 6 counties into Fianna Fail's €uroland capitalist playground.
As much as I despise the British occupation, I sometimes struggle to see which is the lesser of 2 evils between the 2. One one hand, putting the onus on obtaining Irish unity first would remove the British hegemony, but it wouldnt change anything in the class context which has been correctly pointed out on this forum which I have noticed.
This brings me neatly onto the point which may put me at loggerheads with some comrades here. My question is would a Socialist United Ireland have the means to protect it's interests? In a world where the Marxist league of nations is crumbling, it seems it would put us in an invidious position at best. We would quickly become 'Britain's Cuba' and a capitalist Britain would stop at nothing to discredit and undermine a socialist nation so close to its own shores, possibly through the threat of more military intervention, as though we needed it. In addition to this, We would have the added threat of economic boycotts by our less immediate neighbours, particularly Capitalist Europe and USA, who again would stop at nothing to destroy such a threat to their interests within the developed world.
So what is the solution? Rather than viewing the Irish partition as a stumbling block to social justice, I have come to the idea that it is precisely the noose which the british beourgiouse would hang itself with. It has created an environment of politicisation unparalelled anywhere else on the island. While residents in the 26 counties are satisfied with their own lot, People in the North are angry. They genuinely want change to the status quo and they are asking questions. It is just unfortunate that in the past, they have turned to orange-ism and its reactionary implications.
The way in which the British beourgiouse have set up their enterprise interests here could turn out to be their downfall. With the same union apparatus as here in the mainland, those workers within the same companies are more likely to strike and mobilise in solidarity. Not just in the 6 counties, but across the british mainland. It is in our interests that this happens, because the death of the British beourgiouse will herald the death of the occupation, as well as any threat to the survival of proletarian control after the Irish revolution.
I started communication with Redflag32 through the Revolutionary left forum , whom last year we started a cross community debate forum which unfortunatley died because of the low traffic. He invited me to join this forum because firstly, I have views which are consistent with the objectives of Irish republicanism and also because I am something of a rarity in that I come from the Unionist community.
I believe that the British administration in Ireland is wrong, i acknowledge that throughout history it has used violence and oppression in its defence of the status quo and has been hypocritical in preaching democracy and peace to other nations while utilising violence to defend its interests, including against the Irish working class.
While I believe that the 1919 Easter Rising was a victory against imperialism, I also have come to regard it as a 'failed revolution' because it did not go far enough in that it did not remove capitalism from this Island. In the dail we now have an elite pro capitalist right wing ruling party, that is the gate keeper of british imperialism and at every turn pays lip service to the interests of the European free market.
'The celtic tiger' phenomenon as its referred to has perhaps been used by the Irish beourgiouse as a shock absorber to revolutionary sentiment, hence the prominence of the right wing in the republic. Despite their best intentions, the price of Sinn Fein's campaign of a 'united ireland at any cost' could be the absorption of the 6 counties into Fianna Fail's €uroland capitalist playground.
As much as I despise the British occupation, I sometimes struggle to see which is the lesser of 2 evils between the 2. One one hand, putting the onus on obtaining Irish unity first would remove the British hegemony, but it wouldnt change anything in the class context which has been correctly pointed out on this forum which I have noticed.
This brings me neatly onto the point which may put me at loggerheads with some comrades here. My question is would a Socialist United Ireland have the means to protect it's interests? In a world where the Marxist league of nations is crumbling, it seems it would put us in an invidious position at best. We would quickly become 'Britain's Cuba' and a capitalist Britain would stop at nothing to discredit and undermine a socialist nation so close to its own shores, possibly through the threat of more military intervention, as though we needed it. In addition to this, We would have the added threat of economic boycotts by our less immediate neighbours, particularly Capitalist Europe and USA, who again would stop at nothing to destroy such a threat to their interests within the developed world.
So what is the solution? Rather than viewing the Irish partition as a stumbling block to social justice, I have come to the idea that it is precisely the noose which the british beourgiouse would hang itself with. It has created an environment of politicisation unparalelled anywhere else on the island. While residents in the 26 counties are satisfied with their own lot, People in the North are angry. They genuinely want change to the status quo and they are asking questions. It is just unfortunate that in the past, they have turned to orange-ism and its reactionary implications.
The way in which the British beourgiouse have set up their enterprise interests here could turn out to be their downfall. With the same union apparatus as here in the mainland, those workers within the same companies are more likely to strike and mobilise in solidarity. Not just in the 6 counties, but across the british mainland. It is in our interests that this happens, because the death of the British beourgiouse will herald the death of the occupation, as well as any threat to the survival of proletarian control after the Irish revolution.
;D
