( I am NOT Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey NOR am I connected to her in any way. I discuss naming it after her in the "notes" post)
(In the 1980s, when SF was more solidly leftist, and the armed struggle was happening (the IRA was certainly associated with SF then), SF definitely WAS revolutionary)
(In the 1980s, when SF was more solidly leftist, and the armed struggle was happening (the IRA was certainly associated with SF then), SF definitely WAS revolutionary)
I have frequently referred to Sinn Fein and/or republicanism in general as being revolutionary. This is based on the combination of the following:
1. I might have exaggerated a bit how left-wing SF is earlier in the post “The Spirit of Malcolm X” but there is probably a large majority between the socialists and those who might be called progressives in the American context. Certainly Sinn Fein Youth, whose politics today I’m fairly familiar with since I read many posts on their blog, is a left-wing organization.
In the 2002 General Election in the South, something like a third of SF candidates were either members, leaders, or staff of trade unions. In the European Parliament SF is a member of European Parliamentary Group “European United Left/Nordic Green Left.” In elections to the South’s Senate in 2007, SF and Labour had a voting pact.
If you say that SF is actually NATIONAL socialist, read this.
2. SF is very much in favor of gay liberation. There are details on that in the top third of this post.
3. SF is very anti-White Supremacist. There are details on that in this post.
4. When it comes to international relations, SF is generally very progressive, supporting the Palestinians, opposing the Iraq War, supporting trade-unionists in danger in Columbia, etc.
5. SF is very feminist. As far as I can tell, looking over the last 14 years between the 1998 Assembly elections and today, and giving weight to the more senior positions and offices, some large minority of SF officers and elected politicians are women, and no more than a very large minority of the membership is female, so although there is room for improvement (why is SF not around 50% female?), it’s better than most political parties.
SF has often campaigned in support of free child care.
Probably the best evidence that some very large majority of SF members are feminist is their position(s) on abortion (bear in mind, there would be a lot of SF members who are pro-life but nonetheless feminist).
1) In 1985, although it was apparently a very unrepresentative vote, SF did, for one year, adopt a pro-choice position.
2) Although Sinn Fein MLAs did vote for a Democratic Unionist Party motion, which opposed the extension of the Abortion Act to N. Ireland (abortion is almost completely illegal there). It’s not that simple. A member of the Women's Coalition proposed an amendment that radically changed the resolution so that it simply referred the issue to the Health-Care Committee for further research, discussion, and debate. SF members spoke (starts half-way through, you'll want to look at this to see who's who) and voted in favor of this, and when they spoke, they made it clear their party is not fully committed to the pro-life position.
3) In 2004 (possibly 2003, but I'm pretty sure 2004) SF Youth came within one vote of adopting a pro-choice position.
4) SF's current abortion position is that they support abortion when the life or health of the mother (I think that might also apply to the fetus as well) is at risk, in cases of rape or incest (in the 2002 Abortion referendum in the South, SF also were okay with abortion when the woman is suicidal). They also feel very strongly about not criminalizing women who have abortions.
5) They support “comprehensive sex education, full access to child-care and comprehensive support services, including financial support for single parents.”
That’s about it for describing SF’s radical politics on the “normal” political issues (or at least, with abortion in the Irish context, relatively radical). The next part is about the republican goal of a United Ireland that SF pursues, (often pursued in a way that si intertwined with the other goals mentioned above).
The unification of Ireland will in several ways be revolutionary (that is, if you add up everything, it would be considered revolutionary).
1) It will probably mean the complete end of “Civil-War politics.” That is, the two main parties in the South are politically descended from the two different sides in Ireland’s Civil War, and the unresolved nature of the Anglo-Irish conflict has contributed to them not getting along. Fianna Fail, the largest party in the Republic receives a lot of working-class votes that would normally go to the Labour Party, partly (or perhaps entirely) because they are seen as being more nationalist on the border issue than the second largest party, Fine Gael and also Labour. I wouldn’t be surprised if abortion is also an issue that helps send working-class votes to FF that would otherwise go to Labour. But the fewer reasons such voters have for voting FF instead of Labour, the better- some will say “I don’t like Labour on abortion, but that’s only one issue, so I’ll vote for them.”
2) As I explain in most of the last half of this it’s very unlikely that Protestants in a United Ireland will experience more than a small fraction of the nightmare that Catholics have experienced in N. Ireland. Today, there is about 5% of the Northern Protestants who already know that there will be very little anti-Protestant bigotry. Over a period of time, probably one to ten decades, that figure will rise to something like 95%. As they realize they have nothing to fear, currently sectarian Protestants will become less so. The decline of that bigotry will eliminate divisions that weaken the working-class, the labor movement, and the Left. Normal politics will develop and you’ll see huge numbers of people stop voting for the more or less center-right Unionist parties, and start voting for Labour and/or left-wing parties.
1. I might have exaggerated a bit how left-wing SF is earlier in the post “The Spirit of Malcolm X” but there is probably a large majority between the socialists and those who might be called progressives in the American context. Certainly Sinn Fein Youth, whose politics today I’m fairly familiar with since I read many posts on their blog, is a left-wing organization.
In the 2002 General Election in the South, something like a third of SF candidates were either members, leaders, or staff of trade unions. In the European Parliament SF is a member of European Parliamentary Group “European United Left/Nordic Green Left.” In elections to the South’s Senate in 2007, SF and Labour had a voting pact.
If you say that SF is actually NATIONAL socialist, read this.
2. SF is very much in favor of gay liberation. There are details on that in the top third of this post.
3. SF is very anti-White Supremacist. There are details on that in this post.
4. When it comes to international relations, SF is generally very progressive, supporting the Palestinians, opposing the Iraq War, supporting trade-unionists in danger in Columbia, etc.
5. SF is very feminist. As far as I can tell, looking over the last 14 years between the 1998 Assembly elections and today, and giving weight to the more senior positions and offices, some large minority of SF officers and elected politicians are women, and no more than a very large minority of the membership is female, so although there is room for improvement (why is SF not around 50% female?), it’s better than most political parties.
SF has often campaigned in support of free child care.
Probably the best evidence that some very large majority of SF members are feminist is their position(s) on abortion (bear in mind, there would be a lot of SF members who are pro-life but nonetheless feminist).
1) In 1985, although it was apparently a very unrepresentative vote, SF did, for one year, adopt a pro-choice position.
2) Although Sinn Fein MLAs did vote for a Democratic Unionist Party motion, which opposed the extension of the Abortion Act to N. Ireland (abortion is almost completely illegal there). It’s not that simple. A member of the Women's Coalition proposed an amendment that radically changed the resolution so that it simply referred the issue to the Health-Care Committee for further research, discussion, and debate. SF members spoke (starts half-way through, you'll want to look at this to see who's who) and voted in favor of this, and when they spoke, they made it clear their party is not fully committed to the pro-life position.
3) In 2004 (possibly 2003, but I'm pretty sure 2004) SF Youth came within one vote of adopting a pro-choice position.
4) SF's current abortion position is that they support abortion when the life or health of the mother (I think that might also apply to the fetus as well) is at risk, in cases of rape or incest (in the 2002 Abortion referendum in the South, SF also were okay with abortion when the woman is suicidal). They also feel very strongly about not criminalizing women who have abortions.
5) They support “comprehensive sex education, full access to child-care and comprehensive support services, including financial support for single parents.”
That’s about it for describing SF’s radical politics on the “normal” political issues (or at least, with abortion in the Irish context, relatively radical). The next part is about the republican goal of a United Ireland that SF pursues, (often pursued in a way that si intertwined with the other goals mentioned above).
The unification of Ireland will in several ways be revolutionary (that is, if you add up everything, it would be considered revolutionary).
1) It will probably mean the complete end of “Civil-War politics.” That is, the two main parties in the South are politically descended from the two different sides in Ireland’s Civil War, and the unresolved nature of the Anglo-Irish conflict has contributed to them not getting along. Fianna Fail, the largest party in the Republic receives a lot of working-class votes that would normally go to the Labour Party, partly (or perhaps entirely) because they are seen as being more nationalist on the border issue than the second largest party, Fine Gael and also Labour. I wouldn’t be surprised if abortion is also an issue that helps send working-class votes to FF that would otherwise go to Labour. But the fewer reasons such voters have for voting FF instead of Labour, the better- some will say “I don’t like Labour on abortion, but that’s only one issue, so I’ll vote for them.”
2) As I explain in most of the last half of this it’s very unlikely that Protestants in a United Ireland will experience more than a small fraction of the nightmare that Catholics have experienced in N. Ireland. Today, there is about 5% of the Northern Protestants who already know that there will be very little anti-Protestant bigotry. Over a period of time, probably one to ten decades, that figure will rise to something like 95%. As they realize they have nothing to fear, currently sectarian Protestants will become less so. The decline of that bigotry will eliminate divisions that weaken the working-class, the labor movement, and the Left. Normal politics will develop and you’ll see huge numbers of people stop voting for the more or less center-right Unionist parties, and start voting for Labour and/or left-wing parties.
So, all of this adds up to revolution, probably a very non-violent one (it’s VERY unlikely republicans would try to seize power, but there probably will be a fair amount of violence in the North for a while before and maybe a little bit briefly after partition ends). I should also link to another post where I propose a plan to end the conflict that will unite Ireland in a way that will probably minimize violence from Unionists.
(UPDATE 1/7/12 In at least one poem on my blog, I kind of had to use the word "revolution" to refer to the republican family's agenda. I just realized that my idea of how partition should be ended gradually erodes the point I was making in this post. Besides that, I'm now not 100% sure about using the word "revolutionary," but it's a LOT more accurate than "reformist.")
UPDATE 2/28/12 Three more reasons to use the word "revolutionary." 1) Although I doubt more than a small minority of armed republicans wanted to seize power through violence, the use of violence in recent decades by the IRA (a group associated with SF) to unite Ireland is a reason; and 2) In the past SF has spoken about Ireland having a constitutional convention when the island has been united; and 3) the use of mass struggle by SF members and supporters, also contributes to this, and I would say the same thing about something that's kind of mass struggle- rioting by nationalist youth.
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