Gan Owain Ab Owain

A few months ago Y Seren Goch published a piece titled ‘Who Fears to Speak of Ireland’ which laid out an argument to suggest that the broader British communist movement, with notable exception, had neglected the discussion of Ireland and were all-the-poorer for it. This piece received several thought-provoking responses from a variety of sources, but particularly of note were several responses from authors within the communist current in Britain countering this argument. These responses made the case that prominent British communist organisations had concerned themselves with Ireland to the appropriate degree, and that this fact was being overlooked by the author in Y Seren Goch.  It was thought that it would be informative for the readers of Y Seren Goch to read a more developed piece outlining why we believe that Irish national liberation should feature so centrally in communist organising in Britain. This piece was written not necessarily to counter the argument that British communist organisations had concerned themselves with Ireland to some extent, but rather to argue that rather than being an issue communists in Britain should concern themselves with, rather Ireland should be the issue communists in Britain concern themselves with. In short, to explain why, for the communist movement in Britain, the road to socialism runs through Ireland.

There is a narrative that is popular on the British left and the constitutional republican movement; that the British state wants to sever ties with Ulster and allow reunification of the island, but is unable to. This is a folktale, and like all good folktales the details change from teller to teller. There appears to be no consensus reason why, if Britain desperately wants to leave Ireland, it doesn’t do so. Sometimes it’s asserted that Britain is somehow held politically hostage by the Unionist population. Sometimes it’s suggested that Britain is waiting for a border poll, that in a sudden change of heart the architects of the gerrymandered state for some reason now care about the will of the majority. This story is used to justify passivity in the “constitutional nationalist” movement in Ireland and the anti-imperialist movement in Britain. It acts as a convenient lie to excuse a lack of action, with its believers waiting patiently for Sinn Féin to achieve reunification; an event they regularly speak about but appear to keep postponing. To our knowledge the date a reunified Ireland will be achieved has been predicted by Sinn Féin four times since the Good Friday Agreement was signed. These regular, erroneous predictions are themselves part of the mythology of constitutional republicanism; an opiate for the section of the Irish masses who still wait for Sinn Féin to deliver the future they have been promising since their backsliding on the issue of abstentionism. Despite the apparent lack of British will to continue the occupation of the six counties, and promises by Sinn Féin that reunification is coming so long as we close our eyes tight and vote hard enough, Ulster remains occupied.

If the British state doesn’t care about the position of Ireland, and would rather wash their hands of the problem, why does it maintain its military occupation of Ulster? Why does it maintain its colonial police force in Ulster? Why does it continue to fund and supply its paramilitaries in Ulster? Because the British state does care about the position of Ireland. The British state is a weapon under the command of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, with the monopoly capitalist class in the dominant position. This class benefits massively from the previously mentioned cheap labour, devalued agriproduce and opportunities for capital-export that the subjugation of  Ireland offers. The continued occupation of Ulster, the presence of US military personnel in Shannon, the disproportionate use of state violence against genuine republicans, all serve to keep a valuable but potentially volatile asset firmly pacified. The British state has as little interest in Ireland as a slave-owner does in their slave, and as much to gain from their liberation. The current position of Britain in the imperialist world system could not be maintained if Ireland were united, gaelic and free, which is why the British state, and the monopoly capitalist class in whose interests it operates, cannot allow that to happen. It is why we, as communists living within Great Britain, should make it impossible for the British state to continue its subjugation of Ireland.

We do not argue for an increased focus on Ireland  due to the moralistic notion that Ireland deserves its self-determination and that the abuses its population suffers are entirely unjust. We do hold this view of course, but it is not, and must not be our primary motivation. As communists, we must recognise as our primary goal the disintegration of the imperialist world system and the raising of the workers to the position of command. We are not guided by moralism and do-goodery, but by the material fact that our oppressed siblings in Ireland will not be free unless the British state is hamstrung in its attempts to keep them subjugated. The fact that the liberation of the Irish working class would create an environment in which the British state could not persist in its current form. The fact that with the severing of the bonds by which Britain continues to leech off Ireland, the position of the British state will be made increasingly precarious. It is our prerogative that monopoly capitalism is defeated the world over. The chains of global imperialism circle the world, but they are not without their weak points. Ireland is one of their weak points, where the memory of popular resistance is alive and well and the contradictions of capitalist-imperialism is plain to see.

The communist movement in Britain shouldn’t merely write articles about the position of Ireland, though that is good agitational work. Study should be undertaken of Irish conditions. Bonds should be built across the Irish sea. Tactics and information shared between organisations and material support afforded in whatever way possible. Money should be raised for Irish liberation. The class-conscious section of the British working class must give as much as is possible in support of our struggling comrades in Ireland, so that when the time comes the monopoly capitalist is not able to reassert their dominance in that country as they have before.  The struggle for Ireland has known advance and retreat, but the British state could not persist in their occupation while fighting active resistance at home as well as across the Irish Sea. Ireland is not an issue for the advanced working class of this island, it is the issue.

The chain of global imperialism wraps around the world, and we happen to be standing beside one of its weakest points. It is our duty as communists to take up the cause of Irish liberation, not simply wait for the Irish to break the chains that bind them. Irish liberation must become an article of faith for the communist movement in Britain, for the foundations of the British state are built on the exploitation of that nation. If we wish to do harm to the British state, and the monopoly capitalist class that controls it, we must strike a blow for Ireland.