Sinn Feinn alderdiak 2007 urtean, ezohiko Ard Fheis's delakoaren baten bidez, erabaki zuen PSNI (Erresuma Batuaren mende oraindik dauden sei konderrietako polizia) babestea. Erabaki honen ondorioz, gerra preso errepublikano (POW deritzenak, Prissioners of War) ohiek eta beste militante errepublikano batzuk osatutako talde bat eratu zen: “Ex-POWs and Concerned Republicans against RUC/PSNI & MI5” Mugimendu errepublikanoaren adar nagusiak hartzen ari zen bidea zuzentzeko asmoz. Handik urte batera eta zuzenketa hura ezinezkotzat joz erakunde politiko bat eratzea erabaki zuten, Mugimendu Errepublikano Probisional delakotik at. RNU (Republican Network for Unity) da erakunde hura.
Oraindik
talde txikia bada ere, haren militanteak nabarmendu dira Sei
Konderrietako borroka sozial eta politiko gehienetan: murrizketen
aurkako kanpainetan, Maghaberry Espetxeko gerra presoen eskubideen
aldeko borrokan, Rathlin uhartean petrolioa ateratzeko
egitasmoaren aurka, etxebizitza eskubidea defendatzen,
Palestinarekiko elkartasunean etab. Hala ere, ez da hau izan nire
arrazoi nagusia talde errepublikano irlandar honi buruzko zerbait
idazteko. Daraman gogoeta teoriko eta estrategikoa baizik. Biziki
interesgarria delakoan nago eta.
Hona helduta ingelesez
irakurtzeko gauza bazara, irakurle maitea, eta esandakoari
interesgarria baderitzozu zera esan behar dizut: ez galdu denbora
gehiago sarrera hau irakurtzen. Zoaz zuzenean RNUren
WEBera eta irakurri euren dokumentuak. Gomendatzen dizut
bereziki honako hau: Revolutionary
Republicanism. The Core Principles.
Bestela hemen duzun laburpen xumearekin konformatu beharko zara.
Bestela hemen duzun laburpen xumearekin konformatu beharko zara.
Aupa, Jakue, Fermintxo naiz!
ErantzunEzabatuBarkatu, baina zure artikulua maketatzean, paragrafo oso bat ezabatu dut ustekabean eta nahigabe. Mesedez, jartzen hal duzu berriz?
Milesker, eta barkatu!
ErantzunEzabatuRevolutionary Republicanism
National Liberation, Socialism, International Solidarity
RNU believe
1.That the right of Ireland to self-determination is absolute and is recognised
within the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514.
2.That in the struggle for National Liberation, territorial freedom, social freedom and economic freedom are elements of equal importance.
3.Therefore,the National & Class questions are intertwined and inseparable.
4.That our struggle is International. Wemustact in solidarity with other Anti-imperialist and Socialist struggles worldwide.
5.That the duty of a Republic is to provide for Social justice, Solidarity, Co-
operation and care, from the cradle to the grave.
6.That we must participate in the everyday struggles of the working class,
regardless of ethnic, cultural or religious differences.
7.That fundamental to our struggle is the Liberation of the working class by the working class, and that the
key to that process is self-empowerment through struggle.
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
ErantzunEzabatuThe three founding principles of Republicanism worldwide, which today more than ever have the
potential (if adopted) to break the vicious cycle of misery, war, poverty and chaos, that Imperialism and world capitalism has visited upon Nations the world over, including our own.
At our 2012 Ard Fheis it was agreed that we consciously embrace ‘National Liberation, Socialism, and International solidarity’ as the core elements in the modern struggle for Irish freedom. It was further agreed that these three
elements together would in the future be referred to as 'Revolutionary Republicanism', Irish Republi canism, in line
with the principles of the 1916 proclamation yet manifest in its most precise, progressive and visionary form.
This was a decision of great importance for RNU as up until this point our direction had largely been limited to debates solely around the 'National Question', i.e.: by our demands
for a British withdrawal from Ireland and an end to the partition of our country.
Although these demands are and will always remain central to our thinking, it had become clear to our activists and supporters that patriotism alone, (albeit with a steadfast refusal to accept British rule) would never be enough to actually secure the change we were looking for.
Today, we believe that it is not enough to call just for National Freedom and ignore the Socio-
Economic factors which led to both the modern conquest of Ireland and the current material
suffering of our people. We must also place the struggle for Socialism at the heart of our fight for Independence. This sets us apart from traditional Irish Nationalism and opens up to us manyavenues of resistance which would have been neglected had we remained focused solely on theissue of Britishwithdrawal.
There are two basic reasons why calls for Irish Freedom alone have not been and will not be sufficient to achieve the change we seek to create, explaining why we must incorporate Socialism into our world view.
ErantzunEzabatuFirstly it is clear that the bulk of Irish people have not been significantly motivated by simple Nationalist or Fenian style sentiments, certainly not to the extent required to convince Britain to relinquish its hold on Ireland. Republicans should ask themselves why National Freedom alone is not an issue which motivates the people of this country. And if Nationalism alone will not motivate the masses to work for Irish Freedom, what will?
Secondly it is important to remember that if a 'United Ireland' was to recognise the current Capitalist system as legitimate; we would be free in name only. Under Capitalism all factors which control the real lives of
people and all decisions made on their behalf are in the hands of a minority of wealthy people, many of whom reside outside Ireland yet control property, wealth and resources here; land, factories, energy sources & homesteads.
Like James Connolly, we understand that
only the Irish working class are the true heirs of Ireland. The Irish capitalist class is foreign-dependent and incapable of either bringing about an independent country or of keeping it independent.As such, Irish
Freedom without Socialism would not be freedom at all. We cannot ask the Irish people to fight for National Sovereignty only to then hand their countries wealth and resources over to a business class after that fight is won. We believe that our current and future activists possess- and will continue to posses-the foresight, motivation and courage needed to play a significant part in the Irish freedom struggle. We ask all those who read this booklet to consider carefully how our principles would impact on their lives if practiced on a significant widespread scale.
If you agree with the principals contained within this booklet we strongly encourage you to do something about it, which means getting involved with the Revolutionary Struggle and pursuing the fight for Self-Determination and Socialism in Ireland.
‘We have a world to win’
ErantzunEzabatu‘Tiocfaidh lá éigin nuair a bheidh an fonn saoirse seo le taispe áint ag daoine go léir na hEireann’...
Bobby Sands
The term ‘Revolutionary’ can mean many things to
many people, but in this booklet we use the term
to mean those who want to bring about a total positive overhaul in society. That is a Revolution, a series of events which turn the nature of the state around, reverse injustices, redesign socio-political relations and economic priorities and replace the current system with one which should permanently provide for a better standard of living for as many people as possible and in as many ways as
possible. The true meaning of freedom!
We propose that such change could take place in Ireland through a chain of
social, political and cultural shifts including future‘revolutionary encounters’ which would aim to seize back for the Irish working class all Irish territory, resources,means of production and politicalpower, and putting
these elements to work for the good of all the people.
‘Electoral-politics' alone could not
deliver such change, certainly not on a permanent basis. Because the very tools available for change through that
process; elections, government, taxation and
legislation do not sufficiently influence either
the state or financial set ups in a way which would permanently serve the Irish people.
And this is quite deliberate.
The state has and does,
deliberately design their 'constitutional' process in such a way as to place even basic
revolutionary demands beyond reach. For example by introducing partition on a Gerry-Mandered basis - as occurred in 1922-
and through follow up mechanisms such as the 'triple lock' principle of the Good F riday Agreement. Aspects designed to prevent National Liberation from occurring through passive elected methods.
Revolutionaries understand that their world view (although currently in the minority), is one which desires change above and beyond what many people believe to be possible. It is almost comparable to faith, albeit faith in the human spirit, the potential of the collective, and in methods of solidarity. For this reason activists are often prepared to sacrifice, suffer, inflict and die for the g reater good.
ErantzunEzabatuYet they can be people of Great Spirit, unique creativity and kindness, this is because most sincere Revolutionaries have often rejected the values of greed, self aggrandisement and individualism which the invader and Capitalism has long taught our people to accept as normal and correct. Revolutionaries also understand that in a Colonised or Occupied society-
such as Ireland-there are two aspects to our political situation; the 'National Question' and the 'Class Question', we are concerned
with both and in equal measure. We do not believe that either aspect can be compromised on if we wish to establish permanent change in Ireland.
The 1916 proclamation was also quite open about its ‘Revolutionary’ intent and its authors deliberately used the term to set themselves apart from the many reformist nationalist projects of the time. Like them, we are concerned with the National Question because freedom and justice cannot exist in a country which has undergone invasion, occupation
and colonisation, unless that process is reversed. The very fact that the people of a country have been denied the right to Self-Determine their own past, present and future makes it wrong to suggest that real freedom could exist in such a situation, even if the economy of that country provided for some material equality. Humans cannot be said to exercise their full potential, if com
munities or nations are not allowed to
self determine, i.e.have the right to make decisions, even if at times they are the wrong decisions. The only powers that have benefited from the denial of self-determination have been
Imperialist/Capitalist powers; there is no real benefit for people who live under occupation or
colonisation of any degree. This is why 'National Liberation', our struggle for Irish freedom is an essential task, and why we challenge others on the Left who relegate to Republicanism to 'sectarian politics'. Many such parties simply lack the back bone
or the serious revolutionary intent required to
face up to Imperialism at home, while condemning it the world over. However it would also be wrong to suggest that the struggle for 'Brits Out' alone represents the sole
aspect of Revolutionary politics in Ireland. We recognise that the capitalist system which we
currently live under (north and south) restricts our people’s freedom, just as much as the infrastructure of British occupation has d
one. In fact British rule and the capitalist economic model have shown themselves to be related and interlinked aspects of a tragic Irish history, and so we also strive to replace this unequal economic system with a Socialist model. It was the combination
of these two elements, the National Question and the Class Question (in reference to the struggle of the Working Class) which motivated one of the most admirable fighting forces in Irish history, the 'Irish Citizens Army' which was led by committed Marxist, JamesConnolly.
Connolly was a principal author of the 1916 Proclamation and led the ICA into the Easter Rising of that year. An insurrection which challenged both the Imperial logic behind the slaughter of the First World War; and stamped on history Ireland’s claim to Self-Determination and the equality of itscitizens.What motivates an activist can vary from person to person, many wish to challenge the inequalities and oppression which they themselves experience daily, some are following doctrines such as the writings of Connolly, Lenin or Mellows, which they believe to be a correct analysis on the world.
ErantzunEzabatuMany revolutionary activists find that their own personal experiences and reflections up on them challenge the general theories they had been given throughout their lives.
But most are motivated by personal experience and political ideals combined, as well as the belief that if human beings put their mind to it, act and struggle together, the course of history can be changed and a truly eq
ual and free society created, allowing man kind to live life to its full potential.
Revolutions have been launched over many generations and throughout the world, yet it would be wrong to say that we agree or celebrate all examples without question.
For a range of reasons there were many unsuccessful Revolutionary projects, the most obvious being the Russian Revolution and its later equivalent in
China. While we recognise that under Soviet
rule,universal education & literacy, a highdegree of gender equality and universal access to medical care
were made available, both the USSR and China
committed dreadful acts such as invading
smaller vulnerable nations; they often failed to
end poverty and denied basic democratic rights
to most of its citizens. Yet these types of examples should not put us off, as their failure was not based on the ideas which drove the first visionaries, but by attacks
from both outside and from within. All Revolutionary experiments of the 19th & 20th centuries came under ferocious attack from the
Imperialist countries such as Britain, America, France and Germany. The Paris Commune of 1871,
the first successful capture of a major city by workers, was attacked by Prussia in alliance with French Royalty and bourgeoisie.
Soviet Russia was immediately attacked by
ErantzunEzabatuno less than nineteen capitalist powers. The revolutionary Irish republic
came under immediate attack as did Vietnam, Korea and Cuba. America has also used mercenaries, economic blockades and sanctions, to attack and undermine Revolutionary experiments all across South America and beyond and has been successful in restricting the success of most if not all of these examples. These attacks often created overt militarism in Revolutionary countries, which paved the way for the curbing of individual freedoms and democracy. In this environment corrupt individuals rose quickly to positions of authority and reversed the very ideals which launched the Revolution in the first place.
However, sincere activists do not give up at the mention of such unsuccessful examples. Instead we study, discover and learn from both positive and negative examples of past experiments, putting our knowledge to work for the future Revolutionary Irish Republic.
We make no apologies for separating good historical examples from bad historical examples, even ifboth were practiced by the same person. By this method we can learn both how 'to do' and 'not to do' things. We may quote the ideas of, and refer to t he actions of Wolfe Tone, Padraig Pearse, and Michael Collins, and later right up to Seamus Costello, Gerry Adams or Cathal Goulding. This does
not mean we agree with the entire life’s work of any of these individuals. But we can and do learn from many people’s examples and apply their lessons to the current Republican experiment as we see it.
No Irish Republican organisation can claim to possess a step by step blueprint predicting where, how and when Revolution will
take place in Ireland, howeverit is the belief of RNU that to convince ordinary
people to join in that struggle, we must first stand by them in their widespread demands for reform, before they will join us in the struggle for Revolution. This means we do not ignore everyday ‘bread & butter’ struggles and focus only on the end goals of Irish Freedom and Socialism. Instead we view
participation in the everyday issues and campaigning for temporary reform of the economic system as a means to gaining the trust of the working class and in time convincing them of the need for a more permanent change.
There is no typical type of Revolutionary activist. In the past as in the present they have come from every race and religion. All ages, sexes and classes have dedicated, and at times giventheir lives to the pursuit of abetter society. People may become Revolutionaries at different times and ages, some may be spurred on by a life event to apply
alternative theory to their world view and adopt values which perhaps were alien to them before.
ErantzunEzabatu‘Revolutionary Republicanism’ represents the core principles, political objectives and general worldview of Republican Network for Unity. Within this booklet, we explain how through the mobilisation and subsequent rejuvenation of the Irish Working Class, a new universal spirit can be found here, one with the power to transform Ireland into a country fit for a free people. We seek to create an Ireland in which our National territory, our resources, decision making bodies and means of production are taken back into the cont rol of the entire Irish Nation and put to work only for the benefit of this and future generations. For many years now, principled republicans have been asked to ‘show their alternative’ to the failed politics of Stormont, to put into black and white just how they intend to achieve Irish Freedom, the seemingly unattainable 32 County Socialist Republic. Without apology we declare that this is our alternative. To prepare for future change, we must assist the Working Class today. Both in their struggles against injustice, and in their everyday¡ demands forbetter living standards. It is our belief, that within a continuous process of-struggle and success- the political awareness, social confidence and grassroots talents needed to peruse successful revolutionary change can be found. We openly propose Revolution as a means to create a truly free Ireland, this booklet explains why.
ErantzunEzabatuThe true meaning of Freedom‘We the oppressed people of Belfast, Derry and
Ballymun, of Wexford, Cork, Limerick and Galway, we the
nationally dispossessed, the country rebels of Crossmaglen and Tyrone, the poor, the unemployed and the underpaid are in the business of achieving power and establishing a real democracy.’... An PhoblachtEditorial (January 1979)
We stand for National liberation in Ireland, this means we seek to reverse the process by which the British state came to hold political control over our lives and instead establish political Self Determination in a
free socialist Ireland with Sovereignty over all 32 counties. By either mass revolutionary encounter -in conjunction with the wider struggle for Irish Freedom & Socialism- or by any realistic means not contradictory to that struggle , we passionately seek and encourage the Irish people to work towards the securing of the occupied Six Counties of Ireland, bringing them back into National control and within the Sovereignty of the revolutionary Republic. The pursuit of National Liberation also means resisting and
preventing other current or future threats to Self-Determination, be it via the foreign policies of the USA, NATO, IMF, the European Union or any institution which compromises the Irish Working class's ability to control its own affairs or resources. British rule in Ireland was the result of a long process of historical wrong doings, from the earliest selfish ambitions of English and Norman kings -who sought to expand their territory and power- to
the later Imperialist ambitions of English/British parliaments who used military power and draconian laws to seize for their landlord and merchant class, Irish land, livestock and resources. British control in Ireland today relies both on a subservient domestic parliament in Stormont and on military control of the six county areas -using the British PSNI, backed up by British army intelligence and covert military ground units. As well as this, layers of governmental and economic structures loyal to the status quo combine in a
conscious effort to prevent Self Determination Ireland, one example of this dynamic is press support for the British PSNI, the press being financially supported by the business class and subsequently briefed by governmental departments. This pattern is repeated in many arenas and across the country.
This situation is made possible by the acquiescence of successive Southern governments; the Irish Capitalist class and Northern Unionist/Loyalist, forces whose leading figures decided to recognise and work within the status quo and against Revolutionary progress. History shows us that economic gain, personal political power and the survival of the business class was what motivated these
ErantzunEzabatuenemies of the Irish freedom struggle. As advocates of National Liberation therefore, we look upon the above mentioned institutions and relationships with great mistrust and seek instead to create new mechanism and relationships of our own, compatible with the cause of Irish Freedom. Following the Good Friday Agreement, a great deal of effort was
made to demoralise and depoliticise the republican base and drag people away from principles of Irish Freedom. At the time of writing it is important to simply reinstall in our people the belief that full Irish Freedom from foreign political influence is the proper, correct and healthiest state in which we could organise as a people with dignity. We have a long and bitter history of English conquest which is too eventful to fully address here, however during all phases of invasion what gave Britain the confidence to steal our freedom
was a genuine belief that the Irish as a people, their traditions, language and culture were less worthy of human respect than their English equivalents. For these reasons it is important that we embrace as our own, all positive aspects of Irish culture, Gaelic or otherwise and refuse to conform to Britain’s preferred role for us in our own country. Britain always has and still seeks to normalise its conquest of Ireland and make it appear like a natural state of affairs, it often does this through public displays on Irish soil such as Royal visits or British Army recruiting stalls.I
t is important that Revolutionary Republicans are to the forefront of opposing such displays, thus promoting the truthful fact that the only natural state of affairs here is one in which Irish self determination is not compromised.
When we speak of the 'Irish Nation', we do not d
o so in a racist or jingoistic sense. Our concern is for all Citizens of Ireland regardless of perceived racial, religious or cultural make up. This thinking again is in line with the 1916 proclamation which states [The Republic] “declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts”. We merely recognise that Britain singled out the 32 counties of Ireland as a country for conquest,
that that conquest is still evident and affects the territory of the whole Isl and of Ireland, its Islands and territorial waters. This is the territory which we consider to be our naturally defined home, in which Britain should have no jurisdiction, the logically defined area which we intend to liberate, creating a free socialis tsociety through the process of education, agitation and revolution.
Why we are Socialist
ErantzunEzabatu“The employers cannot carry on industry nor accumulate profits if they have not got the good will of the workers or their acquiescence in carrying on such industry.”...Jim Larkin
Socialism occurs when the wealth of a country is taken back from the rich and placed in control of the Working Class, to be used for the betterment of society as a whole. This is the opposite of the current capitalist/neo-liberal system, in which a selfish privileged class control the world’s resources and force the rest of us to work for very little, creating for them untold profit margins at our expense. All credible studies show that there are enough resources in the world to provide for the needs of all people, but that because a minority of wealthy people monopolise these resources, they are withheld from the rest of us, creating endless suffering worldwide. “ The income of the world’s richest 1,75% matches the income of the poorest 77% . (Milanovic, Branko (2011), The Haves and the Have-Nots).
We believe that Socialism is necessary for a number of reasons, firstly to reverse the Capitalist system mentioned above and in doing so; help to end the widespread suffering that system has created. A socialist
society has the power to end needless scourges like poverty, pollution, exploitation and war, and in turn provide sufficient food, water, healthcare and homes for all people. Under the current system these things are deliberately kept from working class people creating epic levels of starvation, poverty and suffering the world over. Ireland has suffered its fair share of this Capitalist nightmare, from the so called 'famine' (the proven deliberate theft of Irish food from these shores) the horrors of slum tenement dwelling, mass emigration of whole generations and right up to today wherein hundreds of thousands of our people face hopeless lives of unemployment, poverty, renewed emigration, eviction and the absence of basic resources’ and services needed to live a decent life. We believe our people deserve better than this, but that a permanently better life for all can only be guaranteed by seizing wealth back from the business class and putting it to use for the public good. Under Capitalism, our futures are decided not so much by our ‘free will’ but significantly by market forces and the monopolisation of resources by the wealthy. German Revolutionary Karl Marx correctly observed that as a result capitalism created 'Wage slaves', because while wealth is in the hands of the rich, the rest of us are forced to labour for them in order to get a wage and thus survive.
This effectively means that our lives are controlled –in no small way- by the wishes of the capitalist class. Marx believed correctly that free people cannot live under such circumstances and so while capitalism exists ' The Worker has no country', Revolutionary Republicanism agrees with this analysis, and states that until Ireland is Socialist, true freedom cannot exist for anyone here but the rich. It also makes tactical and logistical sense for Republicans in Ireland to embrace Socialism. The future class and national struggle, a fight to take control of the country’s wealth and put it in the hands of
ErantzunEzabatuthe people would give the Irish Working
Class a real and concrete reason to fight, struggle and suffer for Irish freedom. Under capitalism no such motivation exists.
Nationalism offers people only feelings of patriotic satisfaction in struggling for their nation’s parliamentary independence. We have seen how such patriotism (though well meaning) is not enough to sustain revolutionary struggle to the extent where upon a British withdrawal from Ireland can be secured. We believe that the struggle for Socialism is perfectly compatible with the principles of the 1916 proclamation, which declared “ We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland” and which resolved to
“Cherish all the children of the Nation equally”. Both lines, when considered alongside the closing comments of Padraig Pearse in his final pamphlet (the Sovereign Nation) which states that “no private right to property holds good against the public right of the nation”
and that the nation must “exercise its public right so as to secure strictly equal rights and liberties to every man and woman within the
nation” clearly indicates that the authors ofthe proclamation had more than patriotic sentiment
in mind when they spoke of ownership of Ireland.
Nowhere within the 1916 proclamation did it specify that ownership of Ireland and its resources could be monopolised by a minority of Irish people within the privileged business class. We hold that it is unlikely that the Irish People across the 32 Counties will ever rally for a United Ireland if they hear only Nationalist or Patriotic arguments; Republican Socialist struggle on the other hand will give them a concrete reason to fight and liberate their country. Historical experience (with some honourable exceptions) also teaches us, that within the Irish Freedom struggle, those with an Anti-Working Class sentiment, the same people who have business interests at heart are often the very people who give up on National Independence when they see the disabling effect their struggle is having on commercial interests. The Nationalist capitalist
class -by and large- historically abandons the Irish Freedom struggle the moment it affects their profits or long term stability, Socialists or Working Class Republicans have no such interests and as such are less likely to sell out in the face of compromise.
Thus for both tactical and humanistic reasons, Revolutionary Republicans seek to co
ErantzunEzabatumbine the struggle for National Liberation and Socialism into one fight for greater Irish Freedom.
Internationalism
'I am an ordinary republican socialist who is determined to strive for a free socialist Ireland. I am also aninternational ist as all true Socialists are' ...Dominic McGlinchey
Revolutionary Republicans oppose imperialism everywhere -the division of the globe based on the subjugation of weaker nations by stronger ones— we support the right of self-determination for alloppressed nations and offer whatever assistance we can, bearing in mind that the Irish struggle also
received admiration and support from all corners of the globe. We recognise that Imperialism is actually an acceleration of International Capitalism; whenthe pursuit of ever increasing capital drives profit minded people in one country to invade another, in the pursuit of new markets and resources,
ultimately in the defence of profits.
All the world’s most notorious Imperial powers - France, Germany, Japan, Britain & USA- sought
the appropriation of other countries resources, minerals and markets in their pursuit of profit for a few, this is the guiding force of Imperialism, despite claims that invading powers are in fact 'civilizing', 'liberating' 'bringing faith & culture' etc. The roots of English rule in Ireland lie in the feudal colonial system; however Britain later developed
into an Imperial power via the development of monopoly Capitalism. And it was through this process that modern British rule and it s characteristics in Ireland were
defined. Our original oppressors were usurped by the capitalist class, who developed Britain into an Imperial power through the monopolisation of Capitalism, which now occurs everywhere. Therefore wherever Capitalism exis
ts, there also exist the potential roots of Imperialism, and danger
for small nations like our own. As such we show solidarity with other freedom struggles overseas, viewing international struggles against capitalism and Imperialism, ultimately as our struggle also, and recognising that comrades worldwide view us in a similar light. This is a matter of common sense, a common struggle for a common goal. The dual goals of
International Solidarity seek not only to bring about but also to secure the Revolution.