THE ARD-PHEIS conference) of Sinn Fein held in Dublin over the weekend of 19-20 January was dominated by discussion of a proposed social programme for the Republican movement, entitled "The Dimension', This was put forward as a new introduction to Eire Nua (New Ireland), the programmatic reference document of the Republican movement.
In fact, the 15 point 'Social Dimension' constituted fairly rounded programme. It took as its starting point the most radical statements of Patrick Pearse; the president of the provisional republic proclaimed in 1916, from the programme adopted revolutionary Irish parliament during the war of independence:
'We declare that the nation's sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the nation, but to all its material possessions: the nation's soil and all its resources, all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the nation, and with Pearse we re-affirm that all rights to private property must be subordinate to the public right and welfare.' this, the document went on opened the way for advocating the carrying out a socialist revolution. stated among other things:
•We deny the right to personal ownership of productive property such as a large farm or a arge factory. This type of ownership involves the exploitation of other people's labour for . Dersonal gain and is alien to Republican principles. Co-operative Point 9 stated: 'Private enterprise will have no place in key industries and state incentives will favour co-operative projects as the most socially desirable.
However, such proposals remained mixed up will ine popunst notons incompatible with a collective, planned economy. poin: 8 included the statement: 'Each individual worker will own an economic unit of the means =i production The report of 27 January's Bloody Sunday commemoration demonstration was inadvertently omitted from last week's Socialist Challenge. The 2,000 strong Birmingham march, called by (national foreign policy.
Provisional Republican:
general citing a paragraph that would by the Marxism towards alternative Dimension' to make proposals that prisoners, which session, For example, point 7.
Jimmy.
the movement's Bernadette La couple of months later.
For example, amune the rariors annie: internationalist perspective, without which the establishment of a socialist economy in Ireland is inconceivable. It called only for "neutral"
and for expanded trade and contacts with the 'third world'.
The debate over the document was sharp, and a cera poncal tension was obvious. Republican News, the weekly paper of the • movement, took note of this conflict in its account of the Ard-Fheis in its 26 January issue. It quoted one delegate, George. Stagg, who was elected to the eight member national executive, as saying that he opposed the document because it could be the "thin edge of the wedge' in a 'trend of left-wing socialism' 'alienate us from the people'.
Republican News pointed out that this view received some support, but that the document was nonetheless adopted overwhelmingly.
A number of delegates, mainly from rural areas, did voice suspicion of a supposed trend "Marxism'. But they proposed no programme and did not wage. a concerted fight against the adoption of the 'Social Dimension' document The discussion on the defence of Republican was conducted in was marked by very sharp conflict. Drumm, one of the most prominent older Republicans, raised strong objections to.
attitude to the National n-block commutee -'ne main organisation trying to mobilise broad support for the most •persecuted section of Republican prisoners.
Drumm said that the Republican movement had been 'inconsistent" in its attitude to the H-Block Committee, He complained that the Republicans had waged a campaign • against Devlin McAliskey the only candidate in the EEC elections to defend the H-Block prisoners; that it had accused her of trving to rise to power on the backs or elic prisoners', and had then allowed her to play a prominent role in the H-Block Committee only As in previous national conferences of Sinn Fein, it was the president. Ruairi O Bradaigh. whe served ai the centre-teight in the balane screaming abuse at 'troops out' supporters.
In his presidential address, defended the National H-Block Committee, 'Sinn Fein is gratified at the establishment of the broad-based National Committee' on the simple platform of the five demands by the prisoners themselves for the restoration of prisoner-of-war status. We urge our members to redouble their efforts with the assistance of non-members on this great issue of human rights.' Much of the presidential deyoted to answering movement was undergoing a major political change. O Bradaigh said, for instance:
"It has been suggested that those who reorganised the Republican movement at the time the present phase of 1969-70 must now be disappointed and that the Irish Republican different from that which took up the challeng in 1969. ' O Bradaigh replied to these accusations by saying that in every generation conservatives had tried to attack Republicans by claiming that they had become something different from, and alien to, their predecessors. He said: "The only difference between the current phase of the age-old Irish Republican struggle and any other former generation is that it has gone on longer, has achieved more, success than anything in the past.' The statement made at this conference by vice-president Gerry Adams military victory was not possible did seem promise a move toward greater realism. The main policy resolution leadership is the logical conclusion of this realisation:
"That this Ard-Fheis endorses the need to build a diversified struggle on many fronts in pursuance of these objectives and, therefore, supports the proposal to build an economic resistance campaign.' Revolution The adoption document will not be a step forward for the Republican movement unless it opens up the way for a more concrete and realistic discussion within that movement of how to achieve a social revolution in Ireland. If this does not happen it could have the actual effect of holding back the progress of the meramer The demand for i gaze it Sion Fein was a considerable success. The counter demonstration attracted only a few fascists -including one in the British Army who was later 'disciplined' after he appeared on television •O Bradaigh *Smash H-Block formulae in revolutionary programme Mass address was accusations that the conference the struggle began in On the other quite people.
and is nearer ultimate that a purely Marxists -proposed by the 1916 rising?
Split
charges that of the 'Social Dimension' develo!
discussion A more open.
SE COCTE
in the movement who have learned by harsh experience who the enemies are and what 1s needed to achieve real victory. But it would be an illusion for them to think that the formal adoption of the often vague and contradictory this document means. that the has the elements of a rea Such a programme has to be concrete and to be fought for by specific policies and means of action that flow from these concrete objectives. There was no discussion of a concrete campaign of social action and mass mobilisation at the hand, •the adoption of a number of radical general propositions is going to provide more of a focus for fire from the right. If this pressure is not effectively resisted and concrete campaigns of social and political action are not advanced, the result could be political paralysis and greater isolation from the masses of the oppressed and exploited Irish The fact that leaders of the Republican movement have felt it necessary to make public assurances that there are no Marxists in the movement is not very promising in this regard. Such statements create a glaring contradiction and political incoherence. In particular, would it mean if there were no Marxists in the Republican movement now, since there were most notably Connolly - in the In his address; O Bradaigh tried to answer left-wing politics were being smuggled into the organisation by saying that the Provisional leaders had carried out a split in 1969 to stop this sort of thing. But those who led the Republican movement before 1969, and the Official Republican faction afterwards, did not and frank political and decision-making in the organisations they controlled. Eventually the organisation degenerated and broke with the revolutionary traditions of Republicanism . frank and concrete debate at this Provisimal 4rd Fres at have been a
BRITISH warships are those bombing a small Caribbean island and livelihood of its inhabitants in a massive NATO Operation Springboard.
The exercise has taken place every year since 1959 and centres on the island of Vieques, part colony of Puerto Rico. Seventy per cent of the island is occupied by the US military; it was from Vieques that invasion Dominican Republic was laurched in This year, however, the exercise has been extended to Caribbean area in line with Carter's •Wal threats against imperialist fears that the revolution in Nicaragua could spread to neighbouring states. Royal Navy participation has accordingly been increased with the despatch of the destroyer HMS Birmingham to join the two British warships which normally take part.
But it is Vieques which is (literally) in the direct line of fire.
Springboard means two months of ship-to-shore shelling bombardment effects on the local population (now reduced to 7,000) can be imagined. Their main livelihood is fishing — but the best fishing waters are occupied by the manoeuvres.
Zone Not that the local fishermen's association is taking this lying down. Ten days ago Operation Springboard was halted for five hours when the local fishing fleet sailed deliberately into association president Carlos Zenon the firing LUnC among destroying exercise called of the US the the entire Cuba and Operation and aerial year, exercises defiance.
'trespassing' Fishermen's Caribbean island VIEQUES islanders demonstrate against NATO war has been arrested for this act of serve their sentences.
Last year military police in riot gear broke up a religious service in the restricted zone and arrested 21 people including Roman Catholic bishop. Many of the 21 were given prison terms and hauled off to separate jails in the USA to - British warships bombard One of them, Angel Rodrigues Cristobal, is no longer alive to tell the tale. On 11 November he was found dead in his cell in Tallahassee, Florida. The authorities claim it was suicide; but the islanders accuse them of murder, and point to the fact that his head was extensively bruised. US imperialism, which seized Puerto Rico in 1898 and turned it into a supercolony. The economy has been totally distorted to serve US needs: 95 per ent of production in Puerto Rico i exported to the US, and 98 per cen of all from the US.
healthy Fertility through programme. the Atlantic which Atlantic areas of the Oceans, headquarters denies Such methods are nothing new for independence British backing goods consumed there came Committee Eighty-eight per cent of Puerto WCIV 6XX Ricans receive less than the minimum income set by the US Department of Health for a family to live under conditions. The real unemployment rate is 46 per COLE forcing two million Puerto Rican (out of a nation of only five million) to migrate to the USA.
The population is also kept down massive sterilisation Thirty-five per cent of Puerto Rican women of reproductive age have been permanently sterilised; only around 300,000 women in the country still possess their fertility.
But the US maintains an iron grip on Puerto Rico for one reason above all others: its importance as a strategic military fortress. Puerto Rico houses headquarters of the South Force (COMSOLANT)
US "military activities in the Caribbean and South America and out Africa are including South Indian and Australia and Zealand. Also in Puerto Rico are the OI the Naval District, the Caribbean Air Fleet, and the Antilles Defence Command.
It is for this reason that the US Puerto Rico the right to and claims that it is 'internal affair'. And then they have the nerve to create a hue and cry about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan!
* For further information contact for Puerto Rico Independence, BM-CPRI, London
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H-BLOLK ONe KAL ORITAINS ONDENT S