train either complete prostration of the Catholic masses or civil war. At the same time the collaboration of the southern ruling class in increas ed repression against the Republicans It is clear what is needed; prep aration of the masses north and south for the hand-over to the loy alists and, in the course of this mobilisation of the southern working class against the collaboration of the southern Government with The Catholic working class in the northern ghettos is not beaten. Its resistance must be orpanised and developed lowards the goal of alternative institutions of power for the masses north and southin opposition both to any return to Stormont in the north and the existing Dail (Parliament) in the The self-defence of the minority in the north is vital, This cannot be done for the Catbolies by the Provisional IRA, but must be unass self-defence. The powerlessness of the Provos in the face of the pres ent sectarian murders is testimony to that. This means organising at the base in the ghettos and building resistance committees which This defence necessitates the reroval of the British troops and In the vacaum left by the Provisional leadership during the antiinterament upsurge. a now group emerged the United Workers Group based on the building sites and small factories in West Belfast. Rank-and-file Provos up crate in this committee alongside rank-and-file supporters of the Official IRA. This proup organised the most militant densonstrations, and has managed to hold a large rally in Belfast city ball.
Such a development illustrates the desire of the rank-and-file for unity and for mass involvement. Those moves, together with the debate that is opening up inside the Provisionals, can lead to major leaps forward, In His task, the revolutionary marxist groups in Ireland -like the RMG (trich sec tion of the Fourth International) and Peoples Democracy - have a big role to play.
Brian Grogan,
war on the horizon THE OUTCOME OF LABOUR'S POLICIES The Uster Worken Council strike in May disrupted the British strategy centred around power sharing. How do you see the situation developing now?
The British Government has little confidence in its current position of formally backing power sharing. Rees has admitted there will inevitably be a loyalist majority in the forthcoming convention clections.
Even bourgeois commentators have recognised that the politicians' aim of breaking away support from the loyalists does not match up with reality. With the increasing demand within Britain for withdrawal from the North of Ireland, the Government is faced with the task of disengagement while retaining imperialist domination over the groups, despite the increase of sect arian violence from this quarter.
Paradoxically, some in the lead ership seem to be turning away Irom the national question. They fail to understand the nature of the Northern state -a sectarian