Loyalists - a tool of imperialism

Scan page 12

SOCIALIST Organiser readers have recently been served a mass of different confused ideas about the Loyalist working class. Two long articles by John O'Mahony formed the centre-piece of debate.

His line is a development of the position he held last year, when he issued the familiar radical left calls for working class unity in the six Counties. Now he har found a barrier to this unity.

The Protestants are a distinct community. (SO 118).

O'Mahony's response to this discovery is to advocate 'autonomy' for the Loyalists 'within the framework of a united Ireland' '. Looking into the future, he brings up a point held dear by those who justify the continued partition of Ireland.

•The Protestants of Northern Ireland would be oppressed within a united Ireland which bore any resemblance to the Southern state." (SO119).

Backward

O'Mahony expresses little concern for the Irish nationalists who are suffering today at the hands of British oppression. Nor does he see the contradiction in presuming that a united Ireland could resemble the Southern state. The Twenty-Six Counties set-up is as much a creation of partition as the Six Counties. The backward nature of the society is primarily caused by Loyalist working class is the creation of British imperialism in Ireland... Britain's defeat would remove the basis for O 'Mahony's problem Protestants"

Britain's oppression of Ireland.

As a 'consistent democrat' , O'Mahony follows through the logic of his position. He wants a new form of partition.

"I think that the best unit for federalism would be the four counties where very big majority is Protestant." (SO 118).

How this plan can be 'compatible with the democratic rights of the majority the Irish people', O'Mahony fails to explain. His conclusions stem from a failure to understand the position of Loyalist workers. He argues that Britain stays in Ireland . only because the Protestants want them to, and denies that the Loyalists are a tool of British imperialism.

It is true that Loyalists act as they see it will best detend their own interests - not because they are pro-British for its own sake. But this is the limit of O'Mahony's understanding. He treats Loyalist behaviour as comprehensible in its own terms - the Protestants are different -that's al!

O'Mahony fails to see the material basis for Loyalism. The Loyalist working class is the creation of British imperialism in Ireland - a community built up and sustained on the distorted labour market which operates in the Six Counties.

'Socialists' who advocate class unity or autonomy as solutions to the problem of the Protestants are at the same time declaring their refusal to oppose British imperialism consistently:

The defeat of Britain is a precondition for any form of unity or co-operation between all workers in Ireland. Britain's defeat would remove the basis for O'Mahony's problem Protestants.

O'Mahony denies that Irish freedom would be a massive defeat for Britain. For him, Britain stays in Ireland because the Protestants want it to. But for Britain to pull out of the Six Counties would be like pulling out of Yorkshire or Kent. Impossible! Britain's oppression of Ireland is no accidental policy. It is a central feature of the very existence of British imperialism.

Britain uses the Loyalists to justify its oppression. The interests of the Loyalists coincide with British imperialism. Britain holds onto Ireland. The Loyalists keep their privileged social position.

Loyalism

This combination of interests is the key to understanding Loyalist 'opposition' to Britain. The UDA once briefly declared war on the British Army. But this was the opposite of an anti-imperialist action. Like the UWC strike, it was an attempt to strengthen British rule by reacting to situations where Britain wasn't doing quite énough to keep the nationalists down.

Loyalism is a product of Britain's rule in Ireland. Britain stays to survive -not because of sympathy for Orangemen and DUP voters.

At the end of his articles, after several thousand words, O'Mahony adds a touchingly 'non-sectarian' after-thought.

"Of course, none of this proves I am right about anything." (SO 119).

Baulked

This is, O'Mahony's only statement that some SO supporters agree with. Many have opposed his views. Some have baulked at 'autonomy' and have wanted to retain a belief in class ynity. Others have emphasised the need to support Irish unity and the rights of the nationalists -without confronting O'Mahony's views on the Protestants.

But only a few SO supporters are beginning to realise why O'Mahony is promoting his reactionary arguments. The signifieance of the debate is that it shows SO making its peace with the labour bureaucracy. - a process which can be seen right through the pages of SO.

As the leading lights of SO adapt more and more to the British state, the need arises to destroy what remnants of principled support for Irish freedom remain within the grouping. O'Mahony's concern with the imagined rights of the Loyalist working class is only an attempt to paint a socialist gloss on a theory which is pro-imperialist through and through.

MIKE WALL Coventry Irish Freedom Movement