By SEAN REED. Second in a series which will also include articles on the Provisional Republicans and P.D.
s2N2 members Joker Hume recond from left, Zan Cooper behind him and, right. Austin Currie after talks with the Whitelaw administration. A major difficulty nanalysing the politics of the Social Democratic and Lahour Party 1s that it's not so much a political party. more a was of life for its sex M. P.s. each of whom has his own programme, cach his own time. table for his own social advancement. The SDLP. therefore, is a coalition of diverse clements, representing different political positions and indisidual political hents. These are hest explamed hy des crihing individually the party's leading the six SDL M.P.s were cheted in carly '69. All of them stood on a different programme from that on which they nos Cooper, all of their programmes differed from one another. John Hume and Isan Cooper were elected as Independents on the basis of their press-constructed record as young, hright, moderate ful Rights leaders. Austin Cure was cloted n a Nationalist M.P., making desperate overtures to Repubbeans, and sung a statement "approving of the People + Demicracy manifesto, Paddy & Hanion was a memher of an autonomous organisation called Newry People's Dencracy, and never in lus election propaganda did he drassocate himselt trom the clection Gerry Fitt was elected as a membet on the Kepublican Lahour Party. on a programme calling for the immediate teuntkation of Ireland in a Socialist Workers Kepublic. Paddy Devin was clected as a member of the pro-British Northern Ireland Lahour Party, although he himselt has a record a support for one toca most me ant sections of the Civil Rights mesement.
The clection took place at the heginning of the muss upurge of the Cavil Rights movement, and it was a reflection of the political level prevaing at that time Even then, the total sote the SPEP collected was less than that polled by PD. Despite this, and despite the Party's lack of a coherent programme, the SILP is projected as the main spokesman for the Catholic to them hy the British and lesh hourHowever. as Bob Purdie has pointed nut in his pamphlet Ireland Unfree. they do not "comply with the Marxist definition represent any section of the working class. If they reflect any social milieu at all it is a very small section of the catholic over the leadership of the catholic workers."
Having put them in their common setting.
it is now necessary to esamine each M.P.
As explained ahove, Hume was clected on carly Civil Rights agitation. In the week before the famous October Sth demonstration in 196% which sparked off the present upsurge in Ireland. the organisers of the march, in order to comply with the law, had to find twer signatories to an application form to hold the procession. Hume was approached by the In spite of this, he was projected, mainly by the Irish Times, as the man who hit the spark of the Civil Rights movement.
John Hume represents a synthesis of the policy of the Cathole Hierarchy and the newer scelions or ine t arnone modic class in the Six-Counties, and the programme of the Southern government for the Six Counties. He has no faith in the ability of the Irish people to carry out a successful armed social revolution he sees the way forward as a series of manoeuvies between the IRA and the British on the one hand, and between the British Government and the local U'nionist establishment on the other, and inside the Unionist camp. between the muinstream unionists, and the moderate For his manoeuvres, he needs a Catholic The Red Mole 30 October 1972 Page 4 now musement, withat he can present humselt as the Fire Brigade Man, extinguishing this upsurge hete and another there, aceording to the tactics of the manoeuvre. This During the bilateral cease-fire between the Kepublican Army and the Batish in the summer of this year, Hume was preparing to ditch the SIP and the himself to one wing and shortly afterwards when he jumped off the bandwagon, makes it extremely difficult to write "Tines" to Hume's political career. His recent description of Conor Crunc O'Bren's politics as being "a more subtle and effective defence of Unionism than any that has come from any U'nionist quarter" has undouhtedly driven a nail into (ruise O'Bnen's political coffin, But his disagreement with 'Buca a aul, as be homocil las and, one of principle. sand. editorally. on 16 October. 19°: lying the same things*. 2. Ivan Cooper. M.P. for Mid Derry Ivan Cooper has in turn heen memher of the Young I monists, the & monists, the Liberals and the Lahour Party. He was elected as an Farly this yrar, Cooper was ur Brussels for was cancelled tor lack of attendance, and so. in the company of Famonn Of Toole. the Free State I mhasy Press Oftscer in Brusseh, he sat in on a press conference on Ireland given by the Belgian section of the Fourth International. That same day. Cooper also ohserved a student demonstration and a mass meeting attended by over 1,500 people, against British imperialism That night. Cooper flew back to Ireland. announeing that "we (the Irish) had lost the propaganda war in Brussels?. Bernadette Devlin has sad of Ivan Cooper that an politics. "Ivan will go anywhere John (Hume) can drag him" 3. Gerry Fitt. Stormont M. P. for Belfast Dock, Westminster M. P. for West Belfast. When Fitt was first clected. to Westnunster. he was asked during a long horing car journey from Duhln to Belfast whether he would sell his principles for a seat in parliament. He replied. "If I ever get any. TIl Basically a Ward-Wheeler, his election in the first place represents the listorte situation of a large section of the Catholic working class of Helfast, which has become a lumpen proletariat through 50 years of unemploy.
ment, squalor and lack of political and social rights. Filt himself is a lumpen politecian, who, when suber, is able to articulate the desires and aspirations of the most deprived section of the Beltast population.
When the Sunday Times Insight Team wrote their book on Uster, they mentioned a leading Opposition M. P." who asked Chichester Clark, then the Six Counties Prime Minister, to introduce internmett in 1970. Mystery has surrounded the identity of this leading Opposition M. P." but a hook to he published in the New Year Fitt's whole history of small town, small time, small talk politics differentiates him from the "new professionalism of Hume ..that he would sell 4. Paddy O'Hanlon, M. P. for South Armagh O'Hanlon was on the dole when he was elected in "69. His main political ambition is never to go back on it. He had acted as election agent for the sitting M. P. Richardson in the previous election. Until the last couple of days hefore the 69 election. Richardson was assuming that O'Hanion was to act as his agent in this election, and take When nomination day came. Paddy had taken care on everything O nanomynam 5. Paddy Devlin, M. P. for Falls Paddy Devlin is an ex-member of the IRA, and an ex-internee. Today he represents a sort of "Parhamentary Connollyism", which emhraces the Catholics who are not in principle opposed to the armed struggle, but don't believe it to he necessarily the most fa vourable mad. He works closely with the Offictals as shown by his part in the anti-EEC Devlin now spends most of his time watching Gerry Fitt and the others, and stopping them from completely hreaking their pledge not to enter into a conference until internment is His experience with right wing Republicans while interned has given him an almost puranoic hatred of the Provos, which makes hem easily led into a stampede whenever Fitt and Hume can agree on a direction. In such a situation. Devlin acts as a left cover for 6. Austin Currie. M. P. for East Tyrone Currie was elected as a Nationalist with, as of the Civil Rights movement, he acquired second day of the Burntollet march he turned up outside a Republican Hall where the marchers were heing fed by local Republicans, and presented a chicken to one of the marchers, in front of a hattery of The only times Curre seems to make the news these days is when mysterious shots are fired at his home at regular intervals Thus provokes the current Fast Tyrone joke that shots at Curre's home means that the SDLP must he going to sell someone else In fact the reason for turnic's absence from the headlines is the faction fighting within the SDIP. Curne is able and waiting in the hackground. He is hacking Gerry Fitt for the leadership hecause he knows that if Fitt goes, Hume will replace him, thus ending for the foresceable future Austin's hopes of gaining the leadership for himself.
RECENT PLAN The SDIP recently brought out a plan which called for a British declaration in favour of Irish unity, and meanwhile a Condominium of the British and Free State governments over the Six Counties. Basically the plan calls for the joint running of Northern Ireland by Britain and the Free State. This is seen by John Hume as the next great manoeuvre. You get a declaration from Britain that she wants to pull out whenever possible, thus putting a time-limit on the existence of a separate Northern State. Meanwhile security, ete., is jointly shared by the forces which can guarantee bourgeois stability and reform. Under this umbrella. it is presumed that there will be an end to discrimination, and therefore a disinteg In such a situation the forces of moderation would emerge in the Catholic community, forming a governmental alliance most likely with the Alliance Party, the Northern Ireland Labour Party and possibly the O'Neillites. Thus there is a gradual withering away of The plan is neat. It recalls to mind a verse "Irishmen forget the past, And think of the day that's coming fast, Neat and clean and well advised, Oh won't Mother England be surprised." It's too neat. It comes up with the wrong answers, because it starts with the wrong analysis. It acts throughout on the assumption that what has heen happening for the last few years is that the Catholics want the Free State to control the Six Counties, and that the Protestants want to maintain the As the Derry Officials' paper, Sturry Plough. says, "the SDLP's 'solution' is to declare the fight a draw and give each side equal share The two hasie things which the plan leaves out are: firstly, the true role of British imperialism in Ireland: and secondly. that what Republicans and socialists have been Orange State, not just British imperialism.
In other words. the plan is founded on the assumption that Britain will first have defeated the IRA, and this fact alone tells us the most important thing about the Although it is wrong to describe them simply as Green Tories, and therefore hy impheation to equate them with the Unionists, they are opponents of the revolutionary struggle which is taking place in Ireland toTheir importance lies in the fact that in the event of a defeat for the IRA. they would aet as the Party of Surrender for In the event of a drawn hattle, they would derving their huse from the wur-weariness of the Catholic population, act as the new The song quoted ahove was a satire, the
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