Re: On the Loyalist Problem was Re: Prods

[Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> You still didn't answer whether Republicans who wore
> swastika pins in the 30's/40's where unconsciously,
> implicitly or instinctively pro-fascist at that time.
Paul,

I missed this question. The answer is that it is impossible to say.  What
can be said though is that they should never, ever have worn the swastika.
I should add though that by and large the Irish Republican movement played
an honorable role when it came to fighting fascism. Though I am aware of
the chief of staff who died of peritonitis on board a German submarine.

But these are not the real issues between us. Not at all.  What we are
grappling with is the nature of Loyalism.  Here the key to make a
distinction between the Protestant community and Loyalism.  To what extent
are they one and the same thing.  In other words are Protestants
principally 'loyal' to British imperialism?  There can be no doubt on this
question and it is asking a lot but O'Neill and yourself would have to
admit yes- Protestants are mainly loyal.  Of course there is an ironic
humour here to watch Marxists having to squeeze out the truth when down in
the real world the Protestants are running around bedecked with the symbols
of loyalism.

Now having established that Ulster's Protestant are loyal, the question
arises - what to do about loyalism?  Why one fights it of course with all
one's strength. As Danielle points out there can be no compromise with
loyalism.

There remains though the real issue.  How to break the Protestant community
from loyalism? In many ways I believe this question is being resolved for
us by the forces of capital. The revolutionary nature of Capital has never
been more apparent.   All that is solid is truly melting into air and the
venerable prejudices of the ulster Loyalists are now being spurned by their
former masters.

What will be the upshot of all this?  Impossible to say with any confidence
- but an Ireland united by capital is still a united Ireland and possibly
it will take us beyond the present impasse.  In the mean time the forces at
work on the Protestant community are tremendous.  There is the economic
decay of the old economy industries. Then there is the slow poison of
demography - they are being outbred by Catholics and soon will be a
minority within Ulster. (BTW one should look up Ha'aretz to see similar
demographic concerns among the Zionists when they contemplate Arab birth
rates.) Thirdly the political forces at work include the unification of
Europe.  What sense does a divided Ireland make inside a united Europe?

The only hope for Loyalism is that somehow it can hold on for a revival of
nationalistic fascism where it will find its true soul mate.  Such an
outcome is thankfully unlikely.  In the mean time I cheer on the dialectics
of modernity - even capitalist modernity.  These same dialectics will
transform the Irish political landscape to such an extent that the old
political concerns will die out.

regards

Gary


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