“Was
it all worth it? When we bring about the removal
of the British and a democratic socialist thirty-two
county Republic, when the wealth of this country
is handed back to the people, when there is justice,
freedom and equality – then I’ll say it was worth
it” - Brendan Hughes.
The
political context in Ireland has changed since this
short book was published in August 2001. The most
recent phase of resistance to British Imperialist
rule in Ireland is over for now but “Republican
Voices” still has tremendous value for anyone who
wants to understand the politics of the struggle
against British Rule and in the key questions it
raises for the future of the Irish struggle.
The
major strength of this book is that it records the
views of working class men who joined the fight
against British Rule in a very readable format.
The book consists of a series of interviews with
6 Republicans who were directly involved in the
struggle. These men received their political education
at the hands of the British State on the streets
and, above all, in the jails. “You were politicised
as a Republican every three or four weeks when the
Brits would come to your house and beat the shite
out of you” says Tommy Gorman.
The
contributors to this book were all young men who
joined the IRA following the state sponsored assaults
on Catholic areas in 1969 and the defeat of the
reformist Civil Rights movement. Tommy Gorman in
Belfast “witnessed (Loyalist) mobs on the rampage
and cops actually throwing petrol bombs. If the
upholders of the law break the law, then there is
no law.” He joined the IRA in 1970. The contributors
admit their political outlook at this time was limited
to community defence and fighting Loyalist sectarianism.
In
the early days of the Provisional campaign Tommy
McKearney argues that there was an exclusive emphasis
on seeking a military victory and that politics
was seen as an afterthought to the armed campaign.
Later on, many Republicans realised that the military
campaign had to be linked more closely to the needs
of the people. Eamonn McDermott describes the debate
in the prisons “The jail was a place where politics
were developed. The struggle had to make a difference
to people’s lives. It was not just a question of
‘Right the Brits have gone. Now we can all go home.’
There were some traditionalists who were uncomfortable
with Marxism. There were others who took Marxism
seriously and even formed the League of Communist
Republicans.
The
book contains dramatic accounts of the Hunger Strikes
of 1980 and 1981 by some of those who participated.
Tommy McKearney identifies three possible strategies
for the Republican Movement after the defeat of
the Hunger Strikes in 1981. Firstly, the respectable
parliamentary road, secondly, the old tried and
failed militarist option, or thirdly, the building
of a Revolutionary mass movement linking up with
the daily struggles of working class nationalists.
Significantly, this third revolutionary option was
never seriously discussed by the Republican Movement,
let alone attempted. McKearney describes the vast
numbers who joined the mass movement on the streets
at the time of the Hunger strikes but says that
Sinn Fein “were sitting on it like an old hen sitting
on an egg. Sinn Fein smothered some of the spontaneous
social resistance at birth.” Gerry Adams and some
of the Sinn Fein leadership were also hostile to
attempts by prisoners in the H Blocks to develop
a Marxist analysis of their struggle. The second
part of the document “Questions of History” written
by POWs in Long Kesh was suppressed by Sinn Fein
and has never been published.
Brendan
Hughes condemns the new exploitation carried out
by middle class Nationalists, which is an inevitable
part of the so-called Peace Process. He writes of
his own experiences of casual labour in Belfast:
“people (are) working for £20 to £22 a day. These
builders and employers would claim to be Republicans…I
know dozens and dozens of ex-prisoners who have
no alternative but to work for these unscrupulous
people and I’m pretty sure it’s the same on the
(Loyalist) Shankill Road.”
Brendan
Hughes’ analysis of the Peace Process is a sobering
one: “What we hammered into each other time after
time in jail was that a central part of British
Counter Insurgency strategy was to mould leaderships
that they could deal with. I look at South Africa
and I look at the situation here and I see that
the only real change has been in appearances. No
real change has occurred. A few Republicans have
slotted themselves into comfortable positions and
left the rest of us behind. In many ways the nationalist
middle class has been the beneficiary of the struggle.
It has not been Republicans, apart from those Republicans
eager to join that class.” But when nothing has
changed and when former Republicans sit in Stormont
administering anti-working class policies like the
Private Finance Initiative, how long can the new
consensus hold?
Republican
Voices edited by Kevin Bean and Mark Hayes
Published by Seesyu Press. 142 pages.
Available from Republican Voices, PO Box 31, Belfast
BT 12 7EE.
Cost Stg£5 or Irl£7.50 (+P&P £2)
Read
About the Belfast Book Launch of Republican Voices
