Editorial

Rebuilding after New Sinn Fein

For a number of years now it has been the received wisdom in many quarters that the Sinn Fein vote in the 26-Counties was a protest vote confined largely to the marginalised. This view must now be revised in light of the most recent local and European elections in the South. There was no statistical anomaly involved in the Sinn Fein performance. The party recorded very significant results across the state, especially in large urban areas and in traditional republican counties. Most significantly, Sinn Fein profited not at the expense of the Labour Party – which did very well - but at a cost to Fianna Fail.

There are many reasons for the decline in the Fianna Fail vote: mid-term disappointment with the Government, anger at its handling of health care, the unending stream of scandals involving the party or a rebuke for the arrogant presumptions of an organisation that has lorded over southern Irish politics for 70 years. All of these difficulties may be addressed by Fianna Fail in the short to medium term but one factors that is often overlooked – disenchantment with Fianna Fail for its appeasement of Britain during the 25-year long Northern Irish conflict – may not be repaired in the near future. Many in the grass roots of Fianna Fail felt guilty about the party leadership’s treatment of the North over the period of the conflict but their fear of involvement in a bloody struggle kept them mute. With the IRA on cease-fire and unlikely to return to war, it is now deemed safe to again vote for a more overtly republican party such as Sinn Fein.

The ease with which voters have switched from Bertie Ahern’s party to Sinn Fein does not, however, herald a revival of radical, much less revolutionary, Irish republicanism. On the contrary, the arrival of New Sinn Fein resembles in many ways that of Fianna Fail in the 1930’s. Just as with Dev’s Soldiers of Destiny then, New Sinn Fein is very much a populist party of the grass-roots. Unlike contemporary Fianna Fail, Adams’ supporters live and socialise among the people and they exude ‘ordinariness’ - just as the Bolands and Aikens did fifty years ago. To a great number of Southern Ireland’s working people, New Sinn Fein appears, dedicated, energetic, patriotic and approachable. Most important – the party is now viewed by many traditional Fianna Fail voters as an acceptable alternative to the Sad Old Buffers in the Dail. Sooner or later the two parties will combine in either a coalition or the smaller party agree to support the other in government. New Sinn Fein will then have completed its journey from insurrectionary movement to guardian of the status quo.

For those who still believe in the radical and indeed revolutionary potential within Irish republicanism, the progress of New Sinn Fein poses a real challenge. The challenge is not, as some believe, to reorganise the old machine that once was the Provisionals but to reinvest the philosophy with an appropriate dynamic. Political movements are built from the social, economic and political needs of people and radical Irish republicanism must never lose sight of this fact. Moreover, since the doctrine was first introduced in the late 18th century, the progressive element within republicanism has always recognised that a sine qua non of the struggle is a commitment to democracy and adherence to the principle that the people is sovereign. There is no room for those who ape the worst aspects of absolutist monarchy and decide that they are able to decide unilaterally what is in the best interests of a people. Legitimate power comes, to paraphrase Tom Payne, only from the people and those who usurp this right are guilty of, at best holding the people in contempt and at worst of attempting dictatorship.

Regrouping around any standard other than that of democratic socialism is futile, and attempting to build with those not imbued with this ethos will lead to failure. It is time to consider a new departure but it has to be one that understands the requirements and how to go about attaining them. This can only be done in the full light of day and with the approval of the people we wish to work for. Conspiracies and conspirators must be seen for the unrepublican element that they are and then left strictly alone.

FOURTHWRITE, PO BOX 31, Belfast BT127EE