The Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil/Green Party government has been characterised by an increasing shift towards NATO, an intensification of moves that occurred under previous governments, introducing new levels of entanglement with PESCO and other “common defence” initiatives. This is happening in tandem with the increased militarisation of the EU the ever-greater sabre-rattling of NATO, and British/Australian governments’ pathetic grasp at relevance with AUKUS.
The idea that any of these moves involve “defence” of the Republic of Ireland is laughable, evidenced through the types of measures these increased ties involve. Rather than being tailored to the features of a neutral island, isolated and off the coast of a large militarised continent, defence hawks propose the Irish military become a modular component of a larger whole. By contributing towards joint equipment, standards and training, they foresee a situation where Irish forces can slot into wider military adventurism. Defence spending would involve focusing on the advantages of asymmetric warfare, attempting to level the playing field in the event of invasion by a larger enemy. Reading the mainstream papers, one would forget that one-quarter of our island is currently occupied by our nearest neighbour!
Consumer FPV drones from China, USSR-era missiles and anti-air batteries (as well as shoulder-mounted rocket-propelled grenades from NATO) were highly effective in slowing the Russian advances in Ukraine. This is notably not what the Irish government is being pushed to invest in. When we are pushed to buy warships, fighter planes, small arms and other NATO standard issue equipment it means only one thing.
Buying equipment to allow Irish soldiers to compete in conventional warfare only makes sense when those forces are intended to be deployed in conventional warfare. So then, the plan is to embroil Ireland in the wider western imperialist project, to take part in an attempt to reassert hegemony over the rest.
War seems to be returning to the Western world, after being banished to less developed countries by Cold War and post-Soviet world order. Just like domestic currency is enforced by a state backed by legal and military might, the dollar — and its complimentary sanctions regime — has been enforced by US military and economic might. As this starts to be challenged, we are only more likely to see combat, even potentially on these shores, as our bourgeoisie ties our fates to fates of the imperialist project.
To my mind, principled communists must do two things: first, we must fight to assert sovereignty, and continued neutrality as an important component of that. Second, we must explain loudly the doctrine of revolutionary defeatism, which Lenin outlined so eloquently.
“During a reactionary war a revolutionary class cannot but desire the defeat of its government.”
It is incumbent on Irish communists to continue to build power, so if the time arises it is possible to convert inter-imperialist war into national civil war. But this will be challenging. You only need to look at the response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine to see how the so-called European left retreated to social chauvinism and NATO hawkery the instant they were required to actually stand by their principles. The break-up of the Second International happened again, this time as farce.
If we look to history, and specifically the history of Trotskyist “social patriotism”, it is likely principled opposition to war will be a lonely path — if the Irish left ever has to actually walk it. But that makes it even more essential.
