A Peace Process in Northern Ireland; in London and Washington’s interest

Marx and Engels studied the history and oppression of the Irish people by England in great depth. Their conclusions can be shown in the letter from Marx to Meyer & Vogt in New York, dated April 9, 1870:

‘Ireland is the bulwark of the English landed aristocracy. The exploitation of that country is not only one of the main sources of their material wealth; it is their greatest moral strength. They, in fact, represent the domination of England over Ireland. Ireland is therefore the cardinal means by which the English aristocracy maintain their domination in England itself.

If, on the other hand, the English army and police were to be withdrawn from Ireland tomorrow, you would at once have an agrarian revolution in Ireland. But the downfall of the English aristocracy in Ireland implies and has as a necessary consequence its downfall in England. And this would provide the preliminary condition for the proletarian revolution in England. The destruction of the English landed aristocracy in Ireland is an infinitely easier operation than in England herself, because in Ireland the land question has been up to now the exclusive form of the social question because it is a question of existence, of life and death, for the immense majority of the Irish people, and because it is at the same time inseparable from the national question. Quite apart from the fact that the Irish character is more passionate and revolutionary than that of the English.

As for the English bourgeoisie, it has in the first place a common interest with the English aristocracy in turning Ireland into mere pasture land which provides the English market with meat and wool at the cheapest possible prices. It is likewise interested in reducing the Irish population by eviction and forcible emigration, to such a small number that English capital (capital invested in land leased for farming) can function there with “security”. It has the same interest in clearing the estates of Ireland as it had in the clearing of the agricultural districts of England and Scotland. The £6,000-10,000 absentee-landlord and other Irish revenues which at present flow annually to London have also to be taken into account.

But the English bourgeoisie has also much more important interests in the present economy of Ireland. Owing to the constantly increasing concentration of leaseholds, Ireland constantly sends her own surplus to the English labour market, and thus forces down wages and lowers the material and moral position of the English working class’.

Marx then goes on to show how the great Irish emigration was used to divide English and Irish proletarians into two hostile camps, a strategy the British ruling class used to ruthless effect.

‘But the evil does not stop here. It continues across the ocean. The antagonism between Englishmen and Irishmen is the hidden basis of the conflict between the United States and England. It makes an honest and serious co-operation between the working classes of the two countries impossible. It enables the governments of both countries, whenever they think fit, to break the edge off the social conflict by their mutual bullying, and, in case of need, by war between the two countries.

England, the metropolis of capital, the power which has up to now ruled the world market, is at present the most important country for the workers’ revolution, and moreover the only country in which the material conditions for this revolution have reached a certain degree of maturity. It is consequently the most important object of the International Working Men’s Association to hasten the social revolution in England. The sole means of hastening it is to make Ireland independent. Hence it is the task of the International everywhere to put the conflict between England and Ireland in the foreground, and everywhere to side openly with Ireland. It is the special task of the Central Council in London to make the English workers realise that for them the national emancipation of Ireland is not a question of abstract justice or humanitarian sentiment but the first condition of their own social emancipation‘.

Here we see clearly the unfolding strategy of Marx and Engels with regards to trying to push forward the proletarian revolution in the only country then ripe for socialism. Whatever could be done to weaken the ruling class in Britain and open the road for a workers’ revolution should be done. Marx and Engels saw Ireland like a dagger pointed at the heart of the English ruling order. It would have been remiss of them not to have pursued such a strategy. As Marx pointed out in the quotation above, the object of gaining independence for Ireland was not for its own sake, but as part of the process of overcoming capitalism as a social system.

For all the endeavours of Marx and Engels with regards to Ireland, the workers’ movement was not capable of challenging British capitalism’s grip over that country. What sealed Ireland’s fate was that there was not a sufficiently developed Irish capitalist class capable of leading the struggle for national Independence. So much of the bourgeoisie in Ireland was either part of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy, or so much in the pockets of the British ruling class that it was not in their interests to struggle for national independence.

The Act of Union in 1801 had removed the protectionist measures Irish agriculture and trade had hitherto enjoyed, and those who survived were effectively integrated into the British market. This explains the U-turn of the Protestant bourgeoisie, which changed from being prime movers in the United Irishmen revolt at the end of the 18th century, to bastions of English rule over Ireland. This left only the land question, and the mass of poor farmers who would be the basis for revolts against English rule. And they were effectively on their own as far as the Irish catholic bourgeoisie was concerned. That is why Ireland was not able to progress at that time forward to a national bourgeois revolution, and it is the root cause of the historical impotence of the Irish bourgeoisie.

Not only was Ireland not able to conduct its own national bourgeois revolution but, due to the grip Britain had on its development, it got left behind. The profits extracted from agriculture and trade passed directly into the pockets of the British ruling class, helping to fuel the industrial revolution and the expansion of the British Empire. Ireland, And specifically its labouring population, was being sucked dry.

However the industrial revolution in Britain was a historically important event: it may have doomed the prospect of Irish national sovereign independence, but it also created a working class in Ireland, and so opened the prospect for socialism for the workers of Ireland, as in every other country.

Nationalism, is part of the programme of the bourgeoisie in its fight against the localism of feudalism, and in a general sense is important insofar as an internal market is created, and a framework created within which it can organise its affairs and effectively exploit the proletariat. Historically, the proletariat supports this battle, insofar as it was also in its interest to combat feudalism.

The question is, how does one view Irish nationalism, in its various phases, leading up to, and after, this historic goal was accomplished. When, for instance, the English proletariat went behind the industrial bourgeoisie to fight for reform in 1832, it wasn’t in the name of nationalism, but of supporting its own interests in alliance with the industrial bourgeoisie against the landed bourgeoisie.

In Ireland, in 1916, were there really feudal interests to overthrow, or was it this same battle between the landed and industrial bourgeoisie being fought out? Or was it a case of an indigenous Irish bourgeoisie, with capitalism already established, not wishing to share its ‘zone of plunder’ with its English counterparts? In this case, the position communists have to take is as follows: outside Ireland, no support from communists to ‘their own’ bourgeoisie against the independence movement of the Irish bourgeoisie. Inside Ireland, on the other hand, where capitalist forms predominate, Communists have the duty to urge the Irish proletariat not to allow itself be diverted into supporting the aims of its enemy class, of its indigenous bourgeoisie, but instead to fight its own battle, against its own, and every other bourgeoisie.

The key questions to ask, therefore, are: at what stage is capitalism during the various phases of the independence movement, and what were the prospects for the proletariat, in its various component parts and various relationships with different sections of the rural population, namely, the agricultural labourer living by wages alone; the small peasant; the middle peasant; and the large landlord, the latter class composed of both indigenous but largely ‘foreign’ (English) elements.

In Ireland the crucial question is when could the Irish proletariat have hoped to benefit from supporting its national bourgeoisie (although, as Marx argued, even during these phases, it is important for the proletariat to maintain its own political identity, by way of its class party) and at what point were its interests best served by withdrawing its support altogether?

Whatever conclusions one reaches on that score, one can safely say that the working class in Northern Ireland in recent history has had nothing to gain from supporting a nationalist cause. In Northern Ireland there is a working class that has been split into two factions to defend the rival claims of the Irish and English bourgeoisies to be the dominant exploiters there. All class anger there has been misdirected into either defending Irish nationalism or into the most sickening patriotic defence of ‘the right to remain English’; the material basis for which is that one section of the working class, the protestant, defends certain privileges, due to its historical connections with the English nation, against another, the catholic.

If Ulster does eventually become independent, or at least develop some form of clear State administration, even if through some complicated power sharing arrangement between the two nations, it will be a step forwards in terms of healing the division in the Northern Irish working class. And the more a sense of working class identity is developed, the more the goal of working class emancipation will loom, in all its international complexity. But this, of course, has been ignored by many so-called Irish socialists, who cannot see much further than the national question, since they tend to see national independence ahistorically. Since they fail to distinguish between when it is a historically progressive demand, as it was in the period of capitalism’s ascent, and when it serves merely as cover for rival bourgeois interests, they persist in continuing to put it forward as an aim which the proletariat must support because it is allegedly ‘a pre-requisite for historical development’. This was a dilemma that James Connolly came to so much grief over.

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Modern history can be characterised as a rather complex matter, which defies simplified categorisation. Civilisations, emerging out of pre-history, record the progress of societies, some being quicker than others in the development and decline. They are relatively easy to imagine, with homogenous ruling elites (which from time to time absorb rising economic strata, or migrating communities) who lord it over the slaves / peasants who do all the work.

The rising stars of societies, who make it because of inherited wealth, trade and/or plunder, take up their places within the ruling elites and thereby strengthen the ruling order. That is not to deny the fierce rivalries, hacking and butchery, as well as bile and denunciation dispensed by the bucket-load, which is what passed for politics within the various ancient property owning-classes in history. That is in fact the way all property-owning classes function.

‘Modern’ society is rather different, in that the continuing development of the economy in the last millennium or so has been through a series of progressions, from feudalism, through mercantile society to the latest (according to Marxism, the last) industrial capitalism (a real night-mare). The various forms of property have been converted into landed, commercial, financial and industrial capital, all readily converted from one to the other through that wonderful lubricant, money! But the economy just does function on its own – it needs the state to protect and ensure its continuous development, including its future.

Because there are conflicting interests within and between the different forms of capital so there are fundamental divisions between and within political parties over proposed changes to capitalist society. What at one time would appear to be extremely radical, capable of ‘shaking the foundations of society’, a few decades/generation afterwards may seem more acceptable, even advisable, while later still can appear to be old hat. The needs of capitalist society change, through that hallowed procedure called reform. However necessary reforms are needed long-term for the future of capitalism, in the immediate situation the most vicious fights will take place, threatening to tear society apart. Reforms are often left until their time has come, or pushed through in violent conflict, the conservative forces either being roundly defeated, or carried off to the sanatorium (for their own, and society’s, sake). As with all the bally-ho over bourgeois political fights the actors take to the stage, strut about making a noise, and are bundled off with the discarded props. Thus it was with the various British proposals for Home Rule in Ireland.