A future of sectarianism and poverty: Working class needs its own party
First published by Socialist Party 27th July 2010
Working class people in Northern Ireland face a future of sectarian conflict, unemployment and poverty. The North has now been in recession since November 2007, almost three years. The anaemic economic upturn in Britain has entirely passed us by.
Officially, unemployment in Northern Ireland rose to 56,100 in June, an increase of 600 on the previous month, and of 6,700 on a year ago. The rate of “economic inactivity” (the real measure of unemployment) is higher than in England, Scotland or Wales. The projected £1.5 billion of public expenditure cuts planned for the next four years will put thousands more on the dole. It is predicted that 14,000 more jobs will go in the next two years, meaning that unemployment will treble over the five years between 2007 and 2012. The unemployment rate for 18–24 year olds is already 17.4%.
None of the Assembly parties represent the interests of working class people. At times, these parties voice their opposition to public spending cuts — but this is nothing more than a cheap confidence trick. The sectarian parties consistently unite in the Assembly by supporting a programme of draconian cuts. This is one area they all agree on — that the working class must pay for the economic crisis.
Workers on strike, communities campaigning against the cuts, people opposed to water charges, public sector workers facing a Tsunami of attacks, anyone who rejects sectarianism — none of these people have a major political party that truly represents their interests.
First published in Socialist Voice, paper of the Socialist Party, June 2003
A RECENT opinion poll demonstrates that a significant minority of voters in Northern Ireland are sick of the sectarian parties and are looking for an alternative. Up to seventeen per cent declared their intention to vote for smaller parties outside the sectarian circus.
Many trade union and community activists have been stunned by the anti-working-class policies of the Assembly and the Executive. Many young people reject sectarianism, and because of their experiences of opposing the war in Iraq and globalisation are beginning to question the entire system.
Bill Webster, Chair of the Labour and Trade Union Group, speaking at the Stop the Tories Conference, Belfast, Europa Hotel, 1983. Ciaran Crossey in chair.
In 1979 the Tories returned to power and under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher began to implement a programme of privatisation and deregulation which was to have a major impact on the lives of working-class people.
From the start there was resistance and a magnificent half-day general strike in April 1980 brought out both public and private sector workers across the North. The ruling class were on the offensive however, and sought conflict, determined to defeat the strongest trade unions, one by one. In 1979, they took on and defeated the steelworkers in a major dispute. Behind the scenes they were preparing for a battle with the National Union of Mineworkers and in the great miners’ strike of 1984-1985 they threw the full weight of the state against organised labour.
Peter Hadden speaking at 1983 Stop the Tories Conference, Europa Hotel, Belfast. Bill Webster on right.
The workers’ movement in Northern Ireland were without a political voice, as we still are. There has been no mass independent working-class political party in the North since the demise of the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) in the early 1970s. It is largely forgotten now just how successful the NILP was. In 1962, it gained 62,175 votes in Belfast compared to 67,350 for the Unionist candidates. This vote represented 26% of the votes cast. The total left vote was 32.8% if other left parties are added. It won 105,759 votes across Northern Ireland in the 1970 general election. However, this base was squandered as the NILP adopted a one-sided unionist position, and it gained only 18,675 votes in the 1973 Assembly election.
In the early 1970s Militant supporters worked to push the NILP to the left and argued that it should take up issues of repression and discrimination. Furthermore, we argued that the NILP could not deal with the national question by ignoring it but instead must pose a class-based alternative to the sectarian parties on either side. Militant and others on the left, formed the Labour and Trade Union Coordinating Committee (later the Labour and Trade Union Group) to keep alive the idea of a mass party.
In the late 1970’s and into the 1980s we campaigned vigorously for a Conference of Labour, to bring together trade unions, trade union branches, trades councils, other workers organisations such as tenants’ groups, and left political parties with an anti-sectarian position. Such a conference would provide a springboard for the creation of a new working-class party.
We called upon the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to act, or sections of the movement to act if the umbrella would not. By 1982 the call for a conference of labour was backed by the National Union of Mineworkers and the Furniture, Timber and Allied Trades Union. Executive members of the FBU, SOGAT, the Boilermakers, NUPE and the Bakers Union had given individual support.
The 1981 British Labour Party Conference (with almost every trade union delegation in favour) overwhelmingly endorsed the call for a Conference of Labour. The Irish Labour Party, also by Conference decision, came out for a Conference of Labour. Derry, Ballymena and Meath Trades Councils were in support. In Derry significant union branches, from NIPSA to the AUEW, backed the call. In Belfast it was also the policy of many union branches.
We didn’t wait on developments but sought to create momentum and to show by example. In 1979 comrades worked in Paddy Devlin’s “Give a Straight Left to Europe” campaign when he stood in the first European election campaign (winning over 6000 votes). In the 1981 local elections we supported several candidates standing on a ticket of workers unity and socialist politics, including the Derry Labour Party and the Antrim Labour League.
As the 1983 general election approached, discussions around the idea of an alternative to the Tories and the sectarian parties intensified. In the spring of 1983, the LTUG convened the “Stop the Tories” conference. This event, held in the Europa Hotel in Belfast, provided a platform for the arguments for a new party our movement to unite working people. We argued for a slate of candidates standing on a common programme. Unfortunately, whist the conference was a success on the day, the desired result of a united party or movement, did not emerge. The LTUG stood one candidate only in the election, Muriel Tang in East Belfast.
The Stop the Tories conference, an open forum for those committed to the idea of change is an illustration of the initiatives that are necessary if we are to build a new party of movement for the working class. In the coming weeks all activists should consider whether the time is now for a new initiative.
First published by on Internationalist Standpoint Website, December 18th 2023
Striking nurses on picket line during recent strike wave
Speculation is building in Northern Ireland that devolved government will be reestablished in the coming days. The five largest political parties have been engaged in talks with the British government over the last week. A sum of £2.5 billion is reportedly on the table as part of any deal though all the parties have rejected this initial offer as too low. The money on offer is not the real deal breaker, however. The devolved Executive will only be restored if there is a resolution to the impasse which brought it down nearly two years ago.
First published June 3rd, 2023 on Internationalist Standpoint website
Parties based on sectarian division were the clear winners of the elections to Northern Ireland’s eleven district councils on May 18th. Sinn Fein are now the largest single party: it increased its share of the vote to 31% (up 8% on the last council election in 2019) and won 144 seats (up 39). The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), until last year the biggest party in both the councils and in the regional Assembly, held steady on 122 seats with 23% of the vote.
First published on Militant Left website, January 2nd, 2023
As 2023 opens hundreds of thousands of public and private sector workers are taking strike action, standing together on cold picket lines. There are so many disputes that it has become difficult to keep up to date.
First published on Militant Left Website, November 27th 2022
Our health service is in a state of crisis. One after another emergency departments have had to close their doors to patients in recent weeks and months. Northern Ireland has the longest waiting lists in the National Health Service. It is not easy to make comparisons between European countries, but it is possible that we have the longest waiting lists in Europe.
First published on Internationalist Standpoint Website, May 29 2022
The results of the Northern Ireland Assembly election on May 5th mark a significant political turning point. For the first time since Ireland was partitioned and Northern Ireland was created in 1921, a nationalist party (based in the Catholic community) has won and emerged with the greatest number of seats. This means that Sinn Fein Vice-President Michelle O’Neill will become the First Minister (FM), in the new power-sharing Executive when it is formed. The positions of FM and Deputy First Minister (DFM) are equal in terms of legal powers, but the FM is widely accepted to be the senior role. Sinn Fein winning the FM position is a hugely symbolic moment both for Catholics and Protestants. Most Catholics are in a celebratory mood whilst most Protestants are fearful for the future.
The outcome of this election is undoubtedly a watershed moment, but it is important to note that it resulted from a small increase in the Sinn Fein vote. Sinn Fein’s vote only went up by 1%, from 28% to 29%, and it returned exactly the same number of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) as before (27). There was significant fall in the vote of the major Unionist (Protestant-supported) party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which dropped from 29% to 24% and lost four seats, falling to 25. The DUP lost some votes to the more moderate Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), but mostly to the hard-line, right-wing Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV). It also lost the votes of many working-class Protestants who abstained, angry at the lack of delivery on economic and social issues.
First published on Militant Left Website, April 14th 2022
Councillor Donal O’Cofaigh is standing as a Cross-Community Labour Alternative (CCLA) candidate in the 2022 Assembly election in Fermanagh and South Tyrone (FST). Donal’s election to Fermanagh and Omagh Council in 2019, and his record of opposition to the main parties is a powerful demonstration that an alternative can be built. The Assembly election is the next step in the journey to build the type of new mass party we need. All genuine Left, and anti-sectarian, community and trade union activists should come behind Donal’s campaign, but also look to the future and consider what can and must be done in their area at the next local elections in 2024.
