Liam O Ruairc reviews Good Friday: The Death of Irish Republicanism for The Sovereign Nation."[...] what can be done? For McIntyre, repeating Vaclav Havel's call to speak truth to power and Milan Kundera's point that 'the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting'. The articles contained in this book are an excellent instance of speaking truth to power and a poignant example of “the awesome power of Republican memory to triumph over those who wish to forget what they inflicted and those who conveniently want us to forget what it was all about.”"
"Speaking Truth to Power"
Liam O Ruairc,
The Sovereign Nation,
May, 2009
For Ed Moloney, former IRA lifer turned writer Anthony McIntyre is “the most persistent, thoughtful, incisive, troublesome and penetrating” critic of the peace process. The vast majority of the articles contained in this book first appeared on the now defunct The Blanket website. As the backcover description of the book accurately and succinctly puts it:
“It is a contemporaneous commentary on the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement, before the spin masters could have their version of history received as the established wisdom. (It) challenges the standard (Provisional) Republican narrative and is a much needed historical document for anyone wanting to understand the Irish peace process from an Irish republican perspective.”
As McIntyre makes it clear on a number of occasions, it is not the 'peace' he is opposed to, but the 'process'. The peace process might include republicans but from the very beginning excluded republicanism. The Belfast Agreement does not represent some 'stepping stone' to a united Ireland, “on the contrary, it is a stumbling block to the unification of the country”, as Provisional republicans now officially accept that there will be no change in the constitutional position of the six counties without the consent of a majority there. The whole thing is less a case of chickens coming home to roost and more one of Turkeys celebrating Christmas, and therefore McIntyre is adamant that “Turkeys should not be celebrating Christmas”.
For McIntyre the difference between what Good Friday Republicanism achieved and the objectives Easter Sunday Republicans died to secure is the difference between the politics of a Free Ireland and the politics of Free Presbyterianism. “We are all Sticks now,” concluded the late John Kelly, as republicans without republicanism simply are constitutional nationalists. In the 26 counties, the choice is between Provisional Fianna Fail and Real Fianna Fail, and people in the 6 counties can now choose at Easter between two sticky parades shouting 'Up Stormont !' at each other.
That does not mean that McIntyre is advocating the continuation of armed struggle.
“Genuinely taking the gun out of Irish politics would be a step forward. Taking the dignity and defiance out of Irish republicanism is a step too far.”
That step too far is analysed at length throughout the book.
“A revolutionary body that settles for and then seeks to legitimise the very terms it fought against simultaneously delegitimises and arguably criminalises its own existence.”
By accepting the Good Friday Agreement, the Provisional movement settled for less than what had been offered to Nationalists at Sunningdale in 1973, an offer Republicans had rejected then.
Therefore not only has the Provisional campaign ended in strategic failure, but it raises the question of what has it all been for.
“Not only will Republicans be consigned to administer British rule for the foreseeable future, the acceptance by them of the principle of decommissioning has served to delegitimise and criminalise the previous Republican resistance to that rule. It also elevates to a higher moral plateau British state weaponry. Basically Republicans are being told that the weapons used by Francis Hughes, the deceased hunger striker, to kill a member of the British SAS death squad are contaminated in a manner which the weapons used to slaughter the innocent of Bloody Sunday and the victims of shoot to kill are not. Replacing the slogan 'SS RUC' by 'Yes, Yes, RUC - It's the force to set us free!'”
is the humiliating consequence of the Provisional's acceptance of British policing.
“Things have been inverted so much that those who once called Pearse Jordan 'comrade' have no destination but that certain day when they shall address those who killed him as 'colleague'.”
This was inevitable given that the Provos could not have ministers making laws while at the same time refusing to recognise the force supposed to implement them.
That also means that the Provisionals will have to support the repression and criminalisation of Republicans still engaged in physical force resistance against the British state.
“Activities Sinn Fein previously demanded be rewarded with political status will now have to be termed criminal in order to maintain the fiction of the PSNI as a service engaged exclusively in civic policing. From shouting 'Up the Ra! Jail Paisley!' the Provos are now shouting 'Up Paisley! Jail the Ra!”
As all the above illustrates,
“no informer throughout the course of the conflict has been able to deal such a blow to the military capacity of the IRA as its own leadership has: At the risk of oversimplifying, the minister's job is to shaft republicanism; that of the agent is to shaft republicans. While few outside the ranks of the purists would call McGuinness a rat on this basis, there is no clear blue ideological sea between minister and agent.”
Republicanism has been destroyed from within. How was this possible? The leadership of the Provisional movement has been very skilled at managing its base. As Ed Moloney reminds us in his foreword, it was through “secrecy, lies and duplicity” that Adams was able to manoeuvre his base.
Brendan Hughes bitterly remarked in his interview with McIntyre: “The political process has created a class of professional liars and unfortunately it contains many Republicans.”
Before it was about dying for Ireland, now it is about lying for Ireland. In this context, McIntyre emphasises that “it is important that we continue to reassert what we believe to be the truth”.
But if grassroots Republicans are 'the most politicised community in Europe' as they allege, how were they not able to see through the lies and duplicity?
Secrecy, lies and duplicity have been facilitated by the fact that people are more loyal to the movement than to the aims of the movement. (“The Republican leadership has always exploited our loyalty,” remarked Brendan Hughes); therefore republicanism is whatever the leadership says it is. 'Loyalty to the Big Lad' is stronger than ideology and political consciousness. It is an instance of the old social democrat maxim that 'the movement is everything and the principles nothing'.
McIntyre is very angry at what Ed Moloney calls “the bovine complacence” of the Provo rank and file for staying silent in the face of such outrageous and obvious deception. McIntyre proposes that the IRA rename itself the IBA - 'I Believe Anything'.
As for those who do not believe anything but remain silent, McIntyre notes: “We live in a world where many are more afraid of being isolated than they are of being wrong. Consequently, they take the easy option and are content to be wrong.”
Critical questions will lead to social ostracism, as Richard O Rawe can testify after he challenged the Provo's version of the 1981 hunger strikes. “To his credit, being wrong was more repulsive to him than being isolated.”
The same goes for McIntyre and his partner: for speaking out and defending critical thought, they were vilified, shunned by the community and a mob of Provos picketed their home. He documents at length cases which show that when isolation and ostracism by the community are not sufficient, it is suppression and intimidation that the Provisionals will use against those opposed to their political project.
“Rite of passage from a position of radical critique to one of conservative entrenchement involves undergoing a certain ritual. Stamping out former comrades is like a symbolic public act if circumcision whereby the radical boy becomes a conservative man -- the bloody and sharpened knife has to be brandished in order to demonstrate that the snip is complete.”
The book is strong when challenging some of the dominant interpretations of the political developments of the last ten years and offering an alternative perspective informed by what the author believes are the core values of Provisional republicanisn: “defence, defiance and dissent”.
However McIntyre's contention that republicanism is a spent force is more debatable. For McIntyre, it was particular British policies, not the British presence in itself which fuelled the development of provisional republicanism. While the book is a clear product of “defeat, decommissioning and disbandment”, it is much too early to say that it is the “death of Irish Republicanism”. There is still political space for Republicanism, even if it is reduced from what it once was.
Viewed from a longer historical perspective, it is possible to make the case that it could grow if the conditions are right. Until that moment what can be done? For McIntyre, repeating Vaclav Havel's call to speak truth to power and Milan Kundera's point that 'the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting'. The articles contained in this book are an excellent instance of speaking truth to power and a poignant example of “the awesome power of Republican memory to triumph over those who wish to forget what they inflicted and those who conveniently want us to forget what it was all about.”
Good Friday, The Death of Irish Republicanism
is available at these online outlets:
Ausubo Press; Online Bookshop at Queens, Small Press Distribution.
You can also order directly from Gill & Macmillan:
Email sales@gillmacmillan.ie
Are you a bookseller looking to stock Good Friday?
Call or Fax your order to: Tel: +353 1 500 9500 or Fax: +353 1 500 9599
Gill & Macmillan is now the exclusive distributor in Ireland and the UK If the book is not on the shelves of your local bookstore,
ask them to order it for you!
is available at these online outlets:
Ausubo Press; Online Bookshop at Queens, Small Press Distribution.
You can also order directly from Gill & Macmillan:
Email sales@gillmacmillan.ie
Are you a bookseller looking to stock Good Friday?
Call or Fax your order to: Tel: +353 1 500 9500 or Fax: +353 1 500 9599
Gill & Macmillan is now the exclusive distributor in Ireland and the UK If the book is not on the shelves of your local bookstore,
ask them to order it for you!
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However McIntyre's contention that republicanism is a spent force is more debatable. For McIntyre, it was particular British policies, not the British presence in itself which fuelled the development of provisional republicanism. While the book is a clear product of “defeat, decommissioning and disbandment”, it is much too early to say that it is the “death of Irish Republicanism”. There is still political space for Republicanism, even if it is reduced from what it once was.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the review though found the last line of the above paragraph a little incoherent. Would it be fair to state, republicanism has not been reduced but completely transformed? With the main body claiming to be a more progresive party and the mutation of republicanism has spawned once again different forms of republicanism's. Would it be fair to state we are now following a political party and not republican ideology?
Reduced:
(transitive and intransitive verb to become smaller in size, number, extent, degree, or intensity, or make something smaller in this way)
Would that not qualify as defeatist?
"I...enjoyed reading the review though found the last line of the above paragraph a little incoherent. "
ReplyDeleteI hope to clarify it by using a historical analogy.
In 1922, the 26 cos. state suffered from massive legitimacy deficit, as it was the product of a civil war etc.
There was substantial republican opposition to it.
De Valera went into the state with the intent to overthrow it from within. In the process he became part of the institutions he sought to destroy; but Fianna Fail nevertheless managed to introduce reforms which satisfied the bulk of the population and thus created sufficient legitimacy.
The consequence of this is that the political space for the likes of RSF and O Bradaigh has become more and more restricted and explains why republican opposition is so marginal today.
In the 6 cos, a similar process is at work today. The 6 cos was the 'Orange state' from which nationalists were alienated. The Belfast Agreement was a defeat for republicanism, however the Provos have gone into the state with the intent of overthrowing it from within, became part of the system, but like Fianna Fail managed to introduce reforms (equality agenda) which create legitimacy of state institutions ("It's our Stormont too") for a sufficient majority of nationalists. That means that the space for republican politics is getting smaller.
"Would that not qualify as defeatist?"
My own position is "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" (Gramsci)
That said to argue that the post Belfast Agreement NI is "more stable" and "more legitimate" is not the same thing as suggesting that it is ether "stabilised" or "legitimised" (Robbie McVeigh, Racism and Sectarianism in Northern Ireland, in Sara O Sullivan (ed) Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, Dublin: UCD Press, 2007, p.416) The space for republicanism is thus still there.
"Would it be fair to state, republicanism has not been reduced but completely transformed?"
The Provisional Movement has been "completely transformed" but not republicanism.
"Would it be fair to state we are now following a political party and not republican ideology?"
As I pointed in the review, for the Provos the movement is everything and the principles nothing.
Thanks for the reply Liam. I will have to sit and think a fitting reply.
ReplyDeleteI still have to agree that the books title is fitting and more than reasonable.
ReplyDeleteThe republican family is now more dysfunctional than at anytime over the past forty years. There was never a great cohesion that held republicans together apart from the mantra of “Brits Out.”
The notion of cautious optimism could be implied, there is hope not for republicanism but an alternative republicanism.
Though giving the disagreement within the anti treaty republicans it would not be unreasonable to say republicanism is now republicanism’s?
That is not to say a new form of republican thought cannot arise, though at the same time it cannot be equated with that we understood as republicanism.
With the rise of PSF and the death of the Provos the main force is now reduced to a political party. The anti treaties republicans are split amongst themselves and offer no political voice or any opposition to PSF and their dominance, and they effectively dictate what a republican is.
The only optimism I could see is if PSF begin to crumble until such a time they shall push their brand of republicanism and it is their political dominance that effectively killed the republican movement. They took a calculated gamble under the guise of peace and won, tough call for anti treaty republicans to argue against.