The Communist Party of Ireland calls for a sovereign, socialist , reunited Ireland. The CPI, in the tradition of Connolly, has always maintained that political independence from Britain would not in itself lead to genuine sovereignty. The history of the 26 county state bears this out. It has all the formal legal attributes which qualify it as an independent liberal bourgeois republic i.e.a parliamentary system, an internally sovereign legal system, diplomatic relations with other states and is represented on various international organisations including the UN, as an independent state.
However, this formal independence masks a relationship of dependence. The Irish state is restricted in its foreign policy and its economic policy is determined not by the needs of Irish society, but by the requirements of international capital. What is the basis of this dependence? The Irish state is dependent because it is a capitalist state. In 1921 when the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty were published, the Communist Party of Ireland stated that it was not a path to independence but the mechanism to satisfy the interests of the section of the “Nationalist” capitalist class most dependent on access to the British market and to keep the country within the sphere of British imperialist control. Over time the interests of the Irish capitalist class has led to the Anglo-Irish Free Trade Agreement, membership of the EU and the opening up of the country to US capital.
The CPI is not the only political force which wants an independent,reunited Ireland. Irish Republicanism has a long tradition of mobilising progressive forces against British imperialism. We share a common view with Republicanism in identifying British imperialism in Ireland as violent, sectarian, repressive and fundamentally undemocratic, based as it is on the continued repression of the democratic wishes of the Irish people. Opposition to or acceptance of colonial power has been and continues to be the defining line between reform and revolution in Irish politics. However, a major weakness of Republicanism has been and is that it has lacked a clear understanding of class struggle as the driver of Irish politics and its centrality to radical social change. Republicanism has been based on class coalition and lacking a clear analysis of the nature of struggle under a capitalistmode of production. It also failed to grasp that separation from Britain will not necessarily be followed by a progressive reorganisation of society. As Communists, we are clear that imperialism is a function of capitalism and we continue to analysise the class nature of struggle and bring forward a scientific and historical analysis of Irish society. We believe in the inter-connectedness of the struggles for socialism and national liberation.
The heroism and sacrifice of generations of Irish Republicans has not been enough to liberate the country. In search of a deeper analysis of the basis and nature of imperialist domination of Ireland, sections pof the Republican movement have always reached for Connolly, Mellows and O’ Donnell which has drawn them closer to the CPI. This co-operation has enriched Irish socialist republican thought. The Irish ruling class and their imperialist overlords have always sought to prevent any coming together of the labour and national struggles. Is it a coincidence that as the influence of the Peadar O’Donnell Socialist Republican Forum within the broader republican movement was at its peak, a right-wing pro-unionist faction tried to split the Communist Party of Ireland?
There has also always been a reaction against Socialist Republicanism from “traditional” republicans, who condemned what they called the focus on “isms” as a distraction from the struggle for national liberation. To that I would say look at the history of the 26 counties and all of the countries which won political freedom from the colonial powers. Without a reorganisation of society on socialist lines the only beneficiaries were a tiny elite whose economic interests were tied up with the former colonial ruler. Colonialism, imperialism and capitalism are the only “isms” with which we should be concerned and they must be uprooted if we are to bring about Connolly’s dream of the reconquest of Ireland.
