Official Republicans Meet in Dublin: A Step Forward for the Irish Vanguard
| Date: | 1973 |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Intercontinental Press |
| Issue: | January 22nd 1973 |
| Author: | Gerry Foley |
| Type: | Article |
| View: | View Document |
| Discuss: | Comments on this document |
| Subjects: | Sinn Féin [Official] |
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Commentary From The Cedar Lounge Revolution
25th November 2019
Thanks to Jim Monaghan for forwarding this to the Archive.
This short piece adds to the collection of articles and publications written by Gerry Foley. In this one he discusses the Official Republican convention in December 1972 in Dublin. He writes:
Irish republicanism is unique. It is a traditional movement that continues the age-old struggle against the social relations introduced by the conquest of Ireland, a fight so ancient that its motivations are more instinctive than conscious. It combines bits and pieces of contradictory philosophies and outlooks whose implications have never been developed in a consistent way.
And he notes the 800 delegates and visitors at the convention in the Mansion House. He suggests that the outlook was more ‘international’ and the ‘sale of political literature… seemed to have been expanded’ with books by American Trotskyists, including his own.
This snapshot of a movement at a time of expansion and optimism is striking. He quotes the treasurers report mentioning, ‘plans for the building [Dublin HQ] includ[ing] a modern walk-around bookshop, new offices for the United Irishman and SF Secretariat. A Library room… a room for press conferences, and Cumainn meetings’.
He also suggests that ‘in the area of political analysis important progress has been registered in breaking with conceptions that proved one-sided or overly rigid in the past’.
He notes that ‘condemnations of the ‘Provisional Alliance’ have ‘become almost a ritual in OSF’ and ‘serve no rational purpose’. And he points to this being ‘essentially moralistic, metaphysical absolutism’ which ‘weakens the militant nationalist current in general’ and ‘poison discussions and introduced an atmosphere of dogmatism and suspicion. In particular, blaming all the defeats of the past year on the Provisionals is unpleasantly reminiscent of the Stalinist practices of looking for traitors when things go wrong. A more materialistic analysis would be to analyse objectively the factors that enabled the Provisionals to grow and to play the ‘disastrous’ role Mac Giolla ascribes to them, especially the errors of the Official movement that contributed to the growth of the rival grouping’.
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By: roddy Tue, 26 Nov 2019 16:34:34
Ceasefire restored!
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By: Alibaba Tue, 26 Nov 2019 17:14:13
In reply to roddy.
Hallelujah!
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By: Colm B Tue, 26 Nov 2019 17:54:02
IMO two things turned the OSF attitude to the provos from the rivalry that John describes into something else – the rise of the Harris faction and their influence on the leadership but also the 1975 feud. by trying to wipe out the Officials the provos contributed significantly to the mistaken direction taken. I’m not trying to put all the blame on the Provos but things might have turned out differently if that and other feuds hadn’t happened.
But then we’re in the realm of alternative history: what if McMillen or McCann hadn’t been killed? What if Harris had been kicked out early? “Men make their own history but not as they chose….”
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By: WorldbyStorm Tue, 26 Nov 2019 17:54:28
In reply to Joe.
There are others who might think that description you offer in your third para also applies to what happened to another group again! Now I think there was fault on both sides but… when alternative views were expressed it all got pretty grim.
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By: WorldbyStorm Tue, 26 Nov 2019 17:57:46
In reply to Colm B.
Yes, I’d agree with those as key events. Although I also think that the OIRA/INLA feud was central too to the later trajectory of the Officials. As noted above, there was fault on both sides, to put it mildly. But perhaps the reality that there were now two separate groups that the Officials were in opposition to both military and ideologically began to shut down the conceptual room that they could function in as well and started to dictate how they defined themselves not os much as themselves but what they were in opposition to.
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By: WorldbyStorm Tue, 26 Nov 2019 18:03:57
In reply to WorldbyStorm.
But it strikes me that we need to get the chronology down. The military conflict between Officials and Provisionals after the initial split was not a huge feature as I understand it until later, so that was a good five years or so before it flared up to the level seen in Oct 75. And is it entirely fair to say that it was about suppressing alternatives, as much as suppressing armed rivals (which is not to justify it but to say that it’s not quite a freedom of speech or democratic activity issue so much as something different). After all the SDLP and other nationalists did manage to function freely throughout the period offering starkly different views to PSF (albeit with harassment and intimidation etc).
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By: roddy Tue, 26 Nov 2019 18:49:52
What isn’t widely known is that no two Belfast republicans were closer prior to the split than Joe McCann and Gerry Adams.When a monument to McCann was unveiled a few years ago,the event was attended by all Republican factions and Adams was prominent.
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