Suggestion of how the anti-Unionist population is to defend itagainst the Loyalist assassination squads that have already claimed scores of victims in County Armagh.
The response of the British Labour Government has been even more predictable. Along with an extra 600 troops and hundreds of Royal Ulster Constabulary and Ulster Defence Regiment men (Loyalists in Crown uniform), the Government has sent in British imperialism's own specialist murder gang, the Special Air Services (SAS). The reason for this is clear: it is not the assassinations which concern the British ruling class and its Loyalist allies, but rather the dogged resistance or te панопань communy in South Armagh.
BLOCK Since the collapse of the Sunningdale power-sharing Executive, the Labour Government has pursued a policy of breaking the resistance of the nationalist minority in the North of Ireland, which remains the major block to imperialism's plans. The truce with the Provisionals: the strengthening of the RUC and UDR; the ending of internment and the removal of special category (political prisoner) status; the limited reduction in the number of troops; and the dropping of the Irish dimension' - all these formed part of imperialism's plans to disorientate the Catholic population, isolate the armed vanguard, and thus allow the Social Democratic & Labour Party to reach an accommodation acceptable to a section of the Loyalists.
Whether Britain can succeed with this policy depends on its ability to depoliticise the conflict, and it is to this end especially that Rees has directed his energies over the last few months. The Government's But all these statements contain not one decision to abolish political prisoner status was accompanied by the launching of a major propaganda campaign in the press, radio and television aimed at presenting the resistance tighters as gangsters and their objectives as criminal.
FEUD The feud between the Provisional and Official IRA was of immense assistance to the Labour Government in this respect. While the antiUnionist population was faced with increased repression by the security forces and the threat of Loyalist pogroms, its defence forces were seen to be pre-occupied with internal squabbling. They were apparently intent on each other's annihilation. The collaborationist politicians were thus able to insinuate that the RUC in the ghettoes was perhaps preferable to this.
The actions of the South Armagh Republican Action Force are of a similar though even more dangerous character. While on the one hand they represent the desperation of militants under threat and bereft of any clear leadership, they are also a clear indication of the petty bourgeois nature of Irish Republicanism, which insists on the primacy of an armed elite and relegates the mass of workers to the role of passive witnesses in the struggle.
This has always been particularly evident in South Armagh, where the conspiratorial tradition is strong and the legend of daring exploits by IRA Active Service Units has a clear basis in fact.
Such a situation could not be tolerated by the Loyalists, and they Loyalists who have backed the murder squads and the Republican groups as the way to end sectarian murders. The Provisionals' answer has been to try and get talks with the Feakle churchmen, an approach snubbed by the clergymen and thrown back in the Provisionals' faces.
Neither wing of the Republican movement is providing any leadership for the nationalists in South Armagh, presently suffering under the scourge of the SAS. This is a critical time for the anti-Unionist forces in the Six Counties.
SUCCESS The nature of this border territory, along with the total disaffec tion of the local population from the Northern Ireland statelet, has permitted the waging of a guerilla struggle in South Armagh over the last three years with a great deal of success. Such success not only served to boost the morale of antiUnionists in other parts of the North: it also made the isolation and defeat of the militants in South Armagh crucial for the British Government.
Up until now the British Army has made little headway in attaining this objective. Every attempt the Army has made to assert its strength was beaten back. Some months ago it had to retreat with its tail between its legs when the sending out of patrols into the area became an unacceptable risk.
DECISIVE
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into the South Armagh area, where 15 people died in a period ess violence, and appeals for 'peace' from churchmen, politic- ans and journalists.
The New Year in the Six Counties has seen all attention directed of 24 hours as the result of sectarian assassinations and reprisals. nevitably there has been a chorus of denunciations of the mind-