{"id":13651,"date":"2020-02-04T18:16:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T18:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=13651"},"modified":"2022-12-11T22:34:53","modified_gmt":"2022-12-11T22:34:53","slug":"the-december-12th-general-election-and-independent-socialists-across-these-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/04\/the-december-12th-general-election-and-independent-socialists-across-these-islands\/","title":{"rendered":"FROM ILLUSIONS IN A LEXIT BREXIT TO A DISILLUSIONED LEXIT FROM BREXIT POLITICS – THE DECEMBER 12th GENERAL ELECTION AND INDEPENDENT SOCIALISTS ACROSS THESE ISLANDS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allan Armstrong has published an article entitled From Illusions in a Lexit Brexit to a Disillusioned Lexit from Brexit Politics<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(https:\/\/allanarmstrong831930095.files.wordpress.com\/2020\/06\/socialists-and-december-12th-election.pdf<\/a>) \u00a0The contents of this book are shown below, followed by the last two chapters and conclusion. This \u00a0article follows The Impact of the December 12th General Election across the Constituent Parts of the UK. <\/em><\/strong>(http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2020\/01\/24\/the-impact-of-the-december-12th-general-election-across-the-constituent-parts-of-the-uk\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

FROM ILLUSIONS IN A LEXIT BREXIT TO A DISILLUSIONED LEXIT FROM BREXIT POLITICS\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Telegraph backs Lexiters’ ‘revolution’ and ‘Peoples Brexit!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n

a) \u00a0The 2015 general election provided a warning<\/strong><\/p>\n

b) \u00a0After 2015 – an increasingly floundering Left <\/strong><\/p>\n

c) \u00a0Northern Ireland \u2013 a different pattern <\/strong><\/p>\n

d) \u00a0Reactionary unionism and Europhobic opposition to the EU <\/strong><\/p>\n

e) \u00a0The largest independent Socialist parties walk into the Brexit trap <\/strong><\/p>\n

f) \u00a0The official Remain and Leave campaigns \u2013 two wings of the British ruling class <\/strong><\/p>\n

g) \u00a0The Lexiters\u2019 false arguments <\/strong><\/p>\n

h) \u00a0The political options open in the run-up to the 2016 EU referendum <\/strong><\/p>\n

i) \u00a0From 23<\/strong>rd <\/strong>May, 2016 to 8<\/strong>th <\/strong>June, 2017 \u2013 A victory for the Left or the Right? <\/strong><\/p>\n

j) \u00a0\u2018Independent\u2019 Socialists and \u2018Oh Jeremy Corbyn\u2019! <\/strong><\/p>\n

k) \u00a0Corbyn and the \u2018independent\u2019 Socialists unwittingly help Boris Johnson to victory <\/strong><\/p>\n

l) \u00a0Independent socialists after the December 12<\/strong>th <\/strong>general election <\/strong><\/p>\n

m) Independent socialists in Scotland and Northern Ireland\/Ireland <\/strong><\/p>\n

n) Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

______________________<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

THE DECEMBER 12th GENERAL ELECTION AND INDEPENDENT SOCIALISTS ACROSS THESE ISLANDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Independent socialists after the December 12th<\/sup> general election<\/strong><\/p>\n

On December 12th<\/sup>, Labour\u2019s vote share fell by 7.8% and its number of MPs decreased from 262 to 202. The Tories\u2019 vote share rose 1.2%, but its number of MPs increased from 317 to 365. The gap in the vote share was 11.4%, 32.2% for Labour and 43.6% for the Tories.[1]<\/a> Not surprisingly a shattered Jeremy Corbyn offered his resignation, opening up the prospect of a new leadership campaign.<\/p>\n

Subsequent disillusionment will lead to many one-time Corbynistas to drop out the Labour Party. Others will turn to Sir Keith Starmer, standing as replacement Labour leader. He has adopted a Centre position, to woo both sides, following Labour\u2019s defeat. Starmer had been a Right Eurosceptic Remainer, who wanted to continue David Cameron\u2019s policy of undermining free movement of labour from within the EU.[2]<\/a> His post-election strategy depends upon the British ruling class getting sick enough of the Tories to consider allowing a tame Labour \u2018opposition\u2019 to take office. Meanwhile existing Labour MPs will line their pockets and advance their careers in and out of Westminster. And any workers or others taking action to defend rights will be subjected to official Labour attacks.<\/p>\n

The Right will probably throw its weight behind Starmer, in the leadership election, although Lisa Nandy and Emma Thornberry are there as alternatives. Both the Labour Right and the Left, though, have billed Rebecca Long-Bailey as the \u2018Corbyn continuity\u2019 candidate. This is true in the sense that she is the \u2018Corbyn constant climb-down continuity\u2019 candidate. When pressured by the Tory-led Board of Deputies, she retreated even faster than Corbyn. She has signed up to their \u201910 Pledges\u2019[3]<\/a><\/a>,\u00a0which give support to apartheid Israel, with its oppression and expulsion of Palestinians, Jewish supremacist nationality laws, and its demand for a witch-hunt against those supporting Palestinian rights and self-determination, especially the Jewish Voice of Labour.<\/p>\n

But even more amazingly, Long-Bailey said, \u201cshe\u2019d be prepared to use nuclear weapons\u201d.[4]<\/a> It was clear that even Corbyn was unhappy at being pressured by UNITE general secretary, Len McCluskey, to support Trident renewal. It\u2019s hard to believe, despite his many other retreats, that Corbyn would ever have said he was prepared to use nuclear weapons.\u00a0 So, perhaps, Long-Bailey is more the \u2018McCluskey continuity\u2019 candidate! She received UNITE\u2019s backing on 24th<\/sup> January.[5]<\/a> But McCluskey\u2019s dreams of prosecco and canap\u00e9s at no. 10 had evaporated. Instead his partner, Karie Murphy, one Corbyn\u2019s inner coterie \u00a0and election organiser was put forward for the House of Lords. Presumably she can invite a guest!<\/p>\n

Long-Bailey is the latest \u2018sham Left\u2019 candidate. When asked whether she supported \u00a0the Scottish Parliament\u2019s right to hold to exercise self-determination through a referendum, she said she would not stand in the way of a second Scottish independence referendum; but added that, \u201cI\u2019m fully committed to the union and I don\u2019t think that should be shaken in any way\u201d[6]<\/a> \u2013 truly the voice of the British Left!<\/p>\n

There are no Labour leadership candidates[7]<\/a> who would strengthen the position of Left social democrats, never mind Socialists, within the party, and certainly not within wider society. Those \u2018independent\u2019 Socialists who think that their time should be spent trying to prop up a social democratic party which is most likely to decline, like many of its European counterparts,[8]<\/a> are acting as a barrier to the creation of a genuine socialist republican organisation, on an \u2018internationalism from below\u2019 basis across these islands in the face of Johnson\u2019s Right Populist government. It pursues a top-down reactionary unionist \u2018internationalism from above\u2019 strategy across the UK and against the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2) Independent socialists in Scotland and Northern Ireland\/Ireland<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking to Scotland and Northern Ireland, some independent Socialist parties have adopted other strategies. The SSP had opposed Brexit, and the illusions of the Lexiters, in the 2016 referendum campaign, because it correctly anticipated that these would strengthen the Right. However, the SSP did not look at the deeper issues raised \u2013 the anti-democratic referendum franchise which excluded EU residents and 16-18 year olds; the stepped-up state offensive against migrants shown by the 2016 Immigration Act; the UK-wide strengthening of the state; and the political consequences of the denial of the Scottish people\u2019s opposition to leaving the EU. Nor does the SSP recognise the longer-term purpose of the Right Populists\u2019 Brexit campaign.<\/p>\n

Thus, following the 2016 referendum vote, the SSP accepted Brexit as something that was going to happen, and that the earlier this took place the better. The way would then be clear for a return to good old \u2018bread and butter\u2019 politics. But formally leaving the EU on January 31st<\/sup>, 2020, is only the beginning of the Brexiteers\u2019 planned offensive. In a context of long-term negotiations with the EU (and a tense new deadline on December 31st<\/sup>), Johnson\u2019s government intends to mount a proxy war (invoking World War 2, the White Cliffs of Dover, Spitfires, etc.), in which EU residents and migrant workers become \u00a0\u2018hostages\u2019 and asylum seekers people to be repulsed. The national chauvinist and racist rhetoric will be stepped up even further. At the same time, Johnson is introducing a new Immigration Bill, which intends to create a hierarchy of rights of access and continued residency and will further strengthen the Right. So, unless the Brexiteers\u2019 continuing offensive is opposed politically, any campaign confined to \u2018bread and butter\u2019 issues will have a limited impact.<\/p>\n

A UK, which has little bargaining power against the Germany\/France-dominated EU, has a lot more leverage over the Republic of Ireland. This state is economically much more dependent upon the UK. Leo Varadkar, taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, had already bowed down to Johnson\u2019s \u2018Backstop\u2019 deal in October. \u00a0His government\u2019s decision to include the Royal Irish Constabulary in the Republic of Ireland\u2019s 1920-23 centenary commemorations may have proved \u2018a bridge too far\u2019.[9]<\/a> Perhaps he should have approached Boris Johnson first asking for a quid pro quo – a UK public commemorations of the setting up of the Irish Republic!<\/p>\n

In the December 12th<\/sup> general election, Northern Ireland was the only place where independent Socialists stood candidates. People Before Profit (PBP) won 15% of the vote in West Belfast, a 5.6% improvement on their poor 2017 election result, after they had adopted Brexit\/Irexit. But their vote fell back marginally in Foyle to 2.8%. But, as in the 2015 and 2017 Westminster general elections, PBP\u2019s independent Socialist stance was way in advance of its recent International Socialist Tendency (IST) sponsor – the British SWP. The SWP provided no independent Socialist challenge and backed Labour elsewhere in the UK.<\/p>\n

People Before Profit (PBP) \u00a0stood in the Northern Ireland local elections, earlier in the year. It gained 5 councillors \u2013 3 in West Belfast and 2 in Derry City. PBP did not stand in the EU-election, possibly to avoid any focus in its disastrous Brexit\/Irexit policy, when it was standing in the local elections that month.[10]<\/a> PBP, though, had already backpedalled on its open support for Brexit\/Irexit. It came out instead against a Tory hard border. But this brought it into line with Sinn Fein, Social Democratic & Labour Party (SDLP), Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) and some UUP supporters – so, no more accusations from Sinn Fein of PBP siding with Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) (aligned with the Ulster Volunteer Force) \u00a0and other Loyalists.<\/p>\n

What this political \u2018diplomacy\u2019 amounted to is an effective retreat from constitutional politics in Northern Ireland. PBP opposes \u2018sectarianism\u2019, [11]<\/a> seeing itself standing against the \u2018sectarian\u2019 parties, e.g. the Unionist\/Loyalist DUP, UUP, TUV, PUP and UKIP; and the Nationalist\/Republican Sinn Fein and SDLP. PBP supports trade union action, which can bring together Nationalist\/Republican and Unionists\/Loyalist workers. However, such a stance avoids any recognition of the constitutionally embedded bi-\u2018sectarian\u2019 nature of the UK state\u2019s continued presence in Northern Ireland, or its wider relationship to the UK\u2019s unionist set-up.<\/p>\n

Therefore, PBP did not use the December 12th<\/sup> general election as an opportunity to highlight the continued presence of 5000 non-Northern Irish, British troops, or the role of the MI5\u2019s new purpose-built Northern Ireland HQ in Palace Barracks just outside Belfast. \u00a0\u2018The Brits\u2019 – \u201cthey haven’t gone away you know\u201d! And the trade unions in Northern Ireland, both individually and through the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (NIC-ICTU), are fully committed to upholding the existing constitutional order in Northern Ireland. NIC-ICTU hopes through ‘Fresh Start’ to mitigate the effects of UK-imposed Austerity, by pleading for more money and sharing out the cuts between the constitutionally recognised Nationalist\/Republican and Unionist\/Loyalist communities \u2013 a sure-fire recipe for stoking up \u2018sectarianism.\u2019<\/p>\n

After the earlier setbacks, following its commitment to Brexit\/Irexit, PBP has developed a method of survival. It has largely withdrawn from any attempt to address the major constitutional issues and concentrates on economic and social issues. This has led to a growing tendency to localism. The Socialist Workers Party (Ireland) – SWP(I), which launched PBP, \u00a0has moved away from its British SWP IST affiliate, and from being a party to becoming a network. SWP(I) has become the Socialist Workers Network (SWN) which, in effect, means acting as a \u00a0think-tank for PBP, which it sees as the movement. Even under the IST (in reality British SWP) auspices, SWP(I) and PBP kept politics in Northern Ireland separate from politics in the rest of the UK. This mirrors the UK state\u2019s arms-length constitutional relationship. But in making a necessary break from the politically sectarian British SWP\/IST, a PBP that has internationalist aspirations, would need to develop a socialist republican \u2018internationalism from below\u2019 approach, to avoid a further slide into localism.[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

The Socialist Party (Ireland) – SP(I) front organisation in Northern Ireland, the partitionist, Cross Community Labour Alternative (CCLA), gave its backing to an independent Labour candidate, Caroline Wheeler. The British Labour Party had suspended her for trying to organise the party in Northern Ireland. She stood in Fermanagh and South Tyrone and gained 1.5% of the vote.[13]<\/a> CCLA\u2019s existence has very much been tied up to the rise of Corbyn in the Labour Party. CCLA has pushed itself as the representative of the absent Labour Party in Northern Ireland. Now that the Corbynista project is in decline, the SP(I) could well to retreat to trade unionism, the one arena which is organised on a cross community basis, provided that constitutional politics are kept at arms-length.<\/p>\n

And like the British SWP and SWM, the SP(I) has faced a split, which is reflected in the Socialist Party (England & Wales)-controlled Committee for a Workers International. Paul Murphy, SP(I)\u2019s one-time MEP and TD, has formed new party, RISE[14]<\/a> – Radical. Internationalist, Socialist, Environmentalist, in the Republic of Ireland.[15]<\/a> As with the British SWP and now the Irish SWM\/PBP, such fragmentation could accentuate a localism, which is already a marked characteristic of the SP(I) that is partitionist in practice.<\/p>\n

However, for any independent Socialist organisation committed to Irish reunification, Sinn Fein badly exposed its own strategy. This is dependent on the Republic of Ireland government. In August 2019, Conor Murphy, Sinn Fein MLA for Newry and Armagh, said that \u201cIrish interests will be defended, not by Westminster, they will be defended by the Irish government, by the European Union {and} by the Americans on Capitol Hill\u201d[16]<\/a> \u2013 Leo Varadkar, Donald Tusk and Donald Trump! And despite all the talk of the December 12th<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0 general election in Northern Ireland opening the way for a reunited Ireland, the unionist vote (DUP, UUP, Alliance Party and Northern Ireland Conservative Party) Ireland was 59.5%, whilst the constitutional nationalist (Sinn Fein, SDLP, Aontu and Irish Freedom Party- IFP) pro-Irish unification Left (PBP) only came to 40%.[17]<\/a><\/p>\n

And the share of the vote for party most committed to Irish reunification, Sinn Fein (but without a viable strategy to achieve it) fell back by 6.7%. Two other pro-unification parties, Aontu and IFP are socially reactionary and oppose EU membership, because the EU is too socially liberal! How pleased Ian Paisley would have been! But the growth in the vote for both the liberal unionist Alliance and the moderate constitutional nationalist SDLP is more likely to push Northern Irish politics back into the hands of Stormont and continued behind-the-scenes manipulation by the UK state. And PBP was the party, which made the earliest push for this Stormont orientation,[18]<\/a> so it is unlikely to challenge this.<\/p>\n

The one thing that is clear, though, is that the re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly will not lead to any longer-term improvement for the vast majority. Johnson\u2019s new union-jack flagged funds and infrastructure projects, targeted at Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the North and Midlands of England, are going to be somewhat stretched. They will be blown away in the event of another economic crisis. But whilst they are still being dispensed, they will be diverted away from the devolved parliaments and handed over to shady politicians with their personal business links, ensuring very little gets into the hands of local working-class communities.<\/p>\n

So far, the strongest all-Ireland campaigns, supported in both communities in Northern Ireland, are the widely supported social movements \u2013 over gay rights and abortion \u2013 fighting against socially conservative and reactionary values, both south and north of the borders. Independent Socialists have been prominent in such campaigns. But they will need to take on those reactionary Nationalists who look to changing demographics to bring about a Catholic Nationalist majority in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

The reality is that sections of the Catholic middle class have benefitted from the post-GFA arrangements. The opening up of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to Catholics\/Nationalists, in the absence of many other jobs for workers, will change it into something more like the old pre-partition Royal Irish Constabulary . This acted in the interests of both Unionist and Nationalist industrial owners and landlords against workers and peasants. So, these factors are likely to reinforce support for the existing constitutional set-up amongst sections of Catholic\/Nationalists. However, amongst many of the young, there is a cross community, cross border, appreciation of the need to challenge both traditional Catholic and evangelical Protestant social conservatism.<\/p>\n

Migrants are another group, who have attracted hostility from both traditionalist Catholics and Protestants. And, migrant workers will attract the particular attention of the UK government in the context of the border. Under Johnson\u2019s government this border will be hardened for people, at the slightest hint of \u2018illegal\u2019 cross border migration, even if goods, services (and of course profits) are given a more friction-free border crossing. Therefore, migrants have a particularly strong reason to oppose borders. This is why independent Socialists should be championing their case, particularly in the context of growing anti-migrant and Traveller feeling in Ireland<\/p>\n

And there is also the role of British (especially Scottish-based) banks in the ongoing housing crisis south and north of the border. This is another arena in independent Socialists could make more impact.<\/p>\n

Looking to Stormont or the Dail to bring about Irish reunification represents a political dead-end. These two institutions are locked into a subservient role, the first directly, the second indirectly, within the British imperial set-up. This is supported by the US and will likely soon be backed by the EU as part of any post-Brexit deal. Both the Irish government and the Northern Irish Executive continue to back partition, whatever modifications are found necessary to ameliorate or disguise its negative effects. The British ruing class cannot surrender any UK territory and maintain itself as an imperial (or \u2018America First\u2019\/ \u2018Britain Second\u2019) contender on the world stage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3) Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

The majority of the British ruling class are now backing\u00a0Johnson\u2019s Right Populist strategy, which clearly extends across these islands. Genuine independent socialists need to be able to at least match their territorial extent of organisation. This means adopting an immediate social republican, \u2018internationalism from below\u2019 strategy and organisation.<\/p>\n

After a long internal struggle, the Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) has been reformed at a national level in Scotland. One immediate objective could be to approach \u2018All Under One Banner\u2019 (AUOB), which organises in Scotland and Wales. AUOB\u2019s mobilising skills would be valuable for organising a march in London. This would demand the recognition of the right of self-determination, not only for Scotland, but for Wales and for a divided Ireland. RIC could form the \u2018break-up of the UK\u2019 and Scottish internationalist contingent.<\/p>\n

The British SWP, even if for its own opportunist reasons, took a joint England\/Scotland contingent on the AUOB march in Glasgow on January 11th<\/sup>.\u00a0 An open appeal to the Socialists in England to abandon their Left British unionist practice and join a London demonstration would represent a challenge to the only form of Britishness now sustainable in a crisis-ridden world – \u00a0Johnson\u2019s reactionary Britishness, for the Crown, Union and Empire. Already English Scots for YES are welcome on AUOB matches in Scotland. And perhaps if enough people from the Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English Left could be attracted, RIC could be widened to cover the whole of these islands and given a new name – the Republican Internationalist Coalition.[19]<\/a><\/p>\n

And fortuitously, Glasgow hosts the major COP26 Climate Change summit in November. AUOB is already committed to organising a major demonstration. \u00a0But activists are coming from all over Europe. RIC was formed in the more immediately hopeful days of 2012. Its Scottish internationalism was reflected on its banner, \u2018Another Scotland, Another Europe and Another World are Possible\u2019. The continuing environmental degradation across the world; the rise if the Populist and Far Right in the EU member states; and the political degradation of the UK state with its reactionary unionist politics and alliance with Trump\u2019s USA, has increased the sense of urgency. A key national democratic movement in Catalunya, has already taken the republican road in Europe, but confronts the repression of its own reactionary unionist state the still semi-Francoist, Castilian supremacist Spain. \u2018Another Scotland, Another Europe and Another World are now Necessary\u2019.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

4.2.20<\/strong><\/p>\n

References and Footnotes<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 A full analysis of the vote in each of the constituent units of the UK is made in the first part of this article: http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2020\/01\/24\/the-impact-of-the-december-12th-general-election-across-the-constituent-parts-of-the-uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Keir_Starmer#Shadow_Brexit_secretary\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[3] <\/a>\u00a0http:\/\/www.thejc.com\/news\/uk-news\/board-of-deputies-demands-labour-leadership- conrest-race-candidates-sign-up-to-pledges-antisemitism-1.495274<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/politics\/rebecca-long-bailey-says-shed-21230115<\/a><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/9c164fca-3ed6-11ea-b232-000f4477fbca<\/a><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2020\/jan\/12\/rebecca-long-bailey-wants-to-abolish-the-house-of-lords-scottish-undependence<\/a><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0 In the deputy leadership elections, Richard Burgon has refused to sign the Board of Deputies 10 questions. He is the one candidate who Socialists or Left social democrats within the Labour Party or affiliated trade unions could direct the four suggested questions to. \u00a0If the Right take over though, it is unlikely that Burgon\u2019s party membership will go unquestioned.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Support for the Socialist Party of France in the French Legislative Assembly has declined from 29.4% in 2012 under Francois Hollande (in many ways politically similar to Jeremy Corbyn) to 7.5% in 2017. Support for PASOK in the Greek parliament has declined from 44% under George Papandreou (a slippery populist) in 2009 to 8% in 2019. The Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), under Pedro Sanchez, has been able to retain 28% of the Spanish electorate\u2019s vote and is currently in office. But this is because the Spanish ruling class tolerates the PSOE, because it is prepared to go along with the Spanish semi-Francoist state\u2019s Castilian supremacist basis. The PSOE upholds the legality of, and the draconian sentences imposed upon 12 Catalan political prisoners. The only European social democratic party that has bucked this trend is the Socialist Party of Portugal, currently in government with 36.3% electoral support and 108 out of 230 Assembly of the Republic members (ARMs). But significantly, the PSOE government has only been prevented from moving further Right by the existence of independent Socialist parties \u2013 the Left Bloc (9.5% electoral support and 19ARMs) and the Communist Party (6.3% electoral support and 17ARMs).<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/ireland\/irish-news\/ric-controversy-has-set-back-bid-for-united-ireland-says-varadhar-1.4134165<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[10]<\/a>\u00a0In May 2019, PBP stood candidates both in the Republic of Ireland local elections and the EU elections. It lost 7 of the local councillors it had won in 2014, whilst its EU candidate\u2019s vote share fell from 6.8% to 3.0%.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a>\u00a0 Sectarianism implies a religious struggle to establish a single form of religious practice within a state (a particular variety of ethno-cultural state). Nationality refers to a cultural or ethnic difference. Ethnic states organise themselves on the basis of constitutionally entrenched ethno-cultural differences; civic states on the basis of people who choose to live there and adopt that state\u2019s citizenship. The constitutional divide in Northern Ireland is between the Irish and \u2018Ulster\u2019-British (who do not see themselves as a separate nation, but merely a component part of a British \u2018nation’). Indeed, historically Protestant identities in Ireland have been fluid, with early colonists considering themselves to be English or Scots, then later becoming Anglo-Irish or Scotch-Irish, and some becoming Irish (particularly amongst the United Irishmen). Following the United Irishmen\u2019s defeat most Protestants became Irish-British; then following Partition, \u2019Ulster\u2019-British or Northern-Irish-British in Northern Ireland, and \u00a0just Irish (in the Republic of Ireland).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Certainly, localist Socialist politics can be sustained for a lengthy period. Declan Bree was a founder member of Sligo\/Leitrim Independent Socialist Organisation (SLIS) and became a town and county councillor \u00a0in 1974. He has held these positions ever since, whether under SLIS, Irish Labour , Independent or Independents4Change colours. Similarly, Jim Bollan has been a West Dunbartonshire councillor and was the \u00a0former Labour council leader. But he resigned and has held his seat under Independent, SSP and today West Dunbartonshire Community Party colours. But neither national nor international Socialist organisations have ever been built on a localist basis.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[13]<\/a>\u00a0 This was in the same area where CCLA gained its first local councillor in the May 2019 local council elections. Gaining 1.4% first preference votes, the CCLA candidate benefitted from transfer votes, probably on a cross community basis. This is not something that happens on any significant scale in Belfast, the other place CCLA stood a candidate. Here, after receiving an initial 1.5% of the vote there were very few transfers (not even all the PBP vote, whose support in East Belfast is small)<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a>\u00a0RISE (Ireland) has obviously not looked into the sad fate of RISE (Scotland). It shared the same meaning for the last two initials \u2013 \u2018S\u2019 and \u2018E\u2019. But in Ireland, the politically ambiguous \u2018Radical\u2019 takes the form of the more vacuous \u2018Respect\u2019, and the better \u2018Internationalism\u2019 takes the place of \u2018Independence\u2019. RISE (Scotland) is no more, confined to a magazine and online Conter<\/em>, which has no relationship to any wider political organisation.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a>\u00a0Solidarity, the SP(I)\u2019s renamed electoral front (the former AAA), PBP and RISE have come to an electoral deal for the general election in the Republic of Ireland on February 8th<\/sup> but will be competing against former comrades now in Independents4Change.<\/p>\n

[16] <\/a><\/a>http:\/\/www.theneweuropean.co.uk\/top-stories\/sinn-fein-on-brexit-and-absentionist-policy-1-6240398<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[17] <\/a>http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2020\/01\/24\/the-impact-of-the-december-12th-general-election-across-the-constituent-parts-of-the-uk\/<\/a> – section g)<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[18]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/<\/a>http:\/\/www.socialistdemocracy.org\/RecentArticles\/RecentTheWedeservebetterFantasy.html<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[19]<\/a>\u00a0Well, whilst using the RIC initials of the Radical Independence Campaign would be a fitting tribute to RIC\u2019s republican and Scottish internationalist legacy, perhaps they would need to be extended to AIRIC \u2013 the All Islands Republican and Internationalist Coalition, given the connotations of RIC \u2013 the Royal Irish Constabulary \u2013 in Ireland!<\/p>\n

4.2.20<\/strong><\/p>\n

_____________<\/p>\n

Below are links to articles by Allan Armstrong on Brexit, showing its links first with British reactionary unionism within the UK, then its connection to the global rise of Right Populism, and charing the Left’s response.<\/p>\n

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Other articles on Brexit on the Emancipation & Liberation<\/em> and Intfrobel<\/em> blogs<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

A. ON THE RUN-UP TO AND RESULTS OF THE DECEMBER 12th \u00a0GENERAL ELECTION \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. The End of Short-lived Maybynism and the Victory of Full-blown Right Populism? <\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/allanarmstrong831930095.files.wordpress.com\/2022\/12\/the-end-of-shortlived-maybynism.pdf<\/p>\n

2. The continuing Shift to the Right in the Transition from Neo-liberalism to Right Populism<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/allanarmstrong831930095.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/12\/right-populism-1.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

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B. ON THE RISE OF REACTIONARY UNIONISM<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Making Plans for Nigel<\/em>, 26.6.14<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/26\/making-plans-for-nigel\/<\/a><\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Better Together, UKIP, the Orange Order and the UK State<\/em>, 12.9.14<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2014\/09\/12\/better-together-ukip-the-orange-order-and-the-uk-state-what-they-have-in-common\/<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Introduction to The Impact of Reactionary Unionism on UK Politics<\/em>, 1.9.15<\/strong><\/p>\n

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THE IMPACT OF REACTIONARY UNIONISM ON UK POLITICS<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n