Weekly Worker 136 Thursday March 28 1996
Politically incorrect
Kevin McQuillan of the IRSP replies to ‘Irish feud wastes revolutionary lives’
The Irish Republican Socialist Party was dismayed by the article which appeared in the Weekly Worker (March 21).
It was far from politically correct, and based on ill-informed reports in the bourgeois press of a ‘feud’ within the Irish National Liberation Army.
Prior to the redefining by Inla of its cessation of hostilities, we sought clarification with them regarding both the general political situation and the attacks on our members. Apart from the assassination of Gino Gallagher in January, these have included the wounding of senior member Jimmy Bradley and shots being fired at four others.
These attacks have resulted in our membership, including prisoners at Portlaoise, Long Kesh and elsewhere, rallying to the party.
An enquiry was set up into the murder of Gino Gallagher and, following the death of John Fennell, established the identity of those responsible. These included two former Inla members, who recruited and paid three individuals, including a Dublin-based drug dealer supplying them with the weapon.
The two former members were expelled from Inla on November 15 1995 after they entered into a self-declared ceasefire without consultation with the leadership or with the IRSP. Their expulsion followed cumulative discussions between June and November last year.
These people kept their heads down, only to re-emerge subsequently as the self-styled ‘GHQ faction’. They were the very same individuals who had overseen the degeneration of the IRSP. They had drifted away from the principle of revolutionary political primacy. Their workrate, commitment, the terminology, style and content of their leadership all demonstrated that they were not serious about building a genuine Communist Party. Yet on questions of tactics and strategy, there appeared to be no fundamental differences here. No wonder people began to question where they were coming from.
Contrast that with the dynamism that our organisation has displayed since May 1995. We have established an expansive network of party organ-isations, refurbished our offices and engaged in discussions with other organisations. There has been a call to bring back our paper, The Starry Plough.
These latest attacks have followed a familiar pattern: every time we have gained support, have begun to re-establish a firm base, sinister campaigns have been waged against us, resulting in the assassination of senior members. The aim has always been to deter other members and politically stunt our revolutionary tradition. Revolutionary socialists are different from nationalists - we have to be neutralised.
We agree that differences have to be argued out openly - they must be articulated. And dialogue must take place through democratic centralism.
But we will not stand for three drug dealers putting us under the hammer. We will defend ourselves against external counter-revolutionary forces. On the simplest level they can appear as questions of ego and power. But on a more sinister level they are directed by British intelligence. On this occasion the finger is pointing in that direction.
Inla statement
In light of recent political developments and the direct threat posed against our membership and supporters, the leadership of the Inla have reviewed our previous position in regards to our cessation of military operations.
We cannot look on idly as the British cynically draw out and fudge attempts at a negotiated settlement - while the full oppressive apparatus of the state is employed against the nationalist working class ... As and from mid-day today Friday March 22 our movement will operate from a position of ‘defence and retaliation’. Accordingly, all units of the Inla have been placed on stand-by.
... In conclusion we re-affirm our total and unconditional support to our comrades in the IRSP. We fully endorse the political direction they have taken in response to recent developments. We also recognise the danger under which they live and pledge ourselves to defend their right to organise politically free from the threat of attack.
The following is the text of a joint communiqué issued by republican socialist prisoners
The Republican Socialist POWs in Long Kesh and Portlaoise affirm their total support for the Republican Socialist Movement in these trying times ... We refute totally any suggestion of a feud within our Movement. Those who lead the present attacks against us are not members of the RSM ... Those who attack us do the work of British imperialism.
... It is important to note that no other political party or group in Ireland has defended the right of the IRSP to organise free from armed attack.
Indeed it is to the shame of Provisional Sinn Fein that they have exploited the climate surrounding Gino Gallagher and our Movement. Furthermore, in a cynical act of selective amnesia they have used the death of a child to call for the disbandment of the RSM.
Such an act of opportunism betrays a failure of thorough political analysis which in the long run could come home to haunt Sinn Fein.
... We now have an armed drug gang, working to a sinister agenda, attacking Republican Socialists. If encouraged by the results who might be next? It is in all our interests that these people are stopped.
