The fact that the Official I.R.A. has refused to call off its cease-fire, despite previous statements that in the event of an army invasion of the cathol ic no go areas it would resume armed actions, is a result of its political analysis over the past few months.
The decision must be seen in the context of the assessment of the situation which led them to call their cease-fire in May. This was based on two main arguments: firstly, that it was necessary to cease military activity in order not to intensify the danger of sectarian civil war; and secondly, that if a socialist solution was to be achieved in Ireland, it was necessary at this stage to unite protestant and catholic MEETING It is in the light of these arguments that we must view also the meeting which took place last Saturday in Derry between representatives of the Official I.R.A. and the U.D.A. The Irish Press (31 July), reporting the meeting, said that it had led to an agreement to help each other's members if they were caught in the wrong areas and also that a senior officer of the Official I.R.A. was believed to have proposed a future political arrangement between the two organisations. Their analysis explains both why the Officials are keen to hold discussions with what they regard as the most important organisation of the protestant working class, and, on the other hand, why they are not ending their ceasefire, proposing instead a campaign of 'ostracising" the soldiers.
Both events have occurred because they counterpose catholic and protestant working class unity, as an immediate priority, to one of the fundamental tasks of the national struggle in Ireland: the smashing of the sectarian Orange state. Not only are the protestant workers unwilling to struggle to achieve this task, which is an essential precondition for the success of the Irish revolution, they have, in fact, at all times sought to preserve the state. The sectarian state and its institutions have served to maintain the grip of the reactionary Orange ideology on the protestant working class, and only when it has been smashed and the protestant workers see no hope of returning to their former position will they come over in significant numbers to the side of the revolution. The failure to understand this has been coupled also with a failure to see that in a state founded on sectarian violence, even the fight for civil rights would inevitably polarise the two communities; that, in fact, the Orange state cannot be peacefully reformed and its sectarian institutions gradually dismantled.
PROVISIONALS Another result of this analysis is that the Officials have seemed incapable of understanding the significance of the Provisional Republican Movement and its mass support amongst the catholic minority. The Official Republican press has represented the Provisional bombing campaign as responsible for the increase in sectarian violence and the threat to the catholic minority in the form of extreme protestant para-military formations. They have seen this latter development as a strengthening of the forces of reaction in the north and not as a sign of the weakening and fragmentation of the Orange monolith, for which the Provisional 1. R.A, can claim no small credit. However, the statement issued last week by the Long Kesh Co-ordinating Committee of Republican Clubs showed signs of a positive shift in attitude towards the Provisionals and of a clearer understanding of the real situation in the north. The statement did condemn the bombings of Friday, 21 July, in Belfast and criticised the Provisionals for attempting to gain a seat at the conference table before the minority's demands had been met. But it also stated in relation to their opposition to the bombings that: "At the same time, we wish to point out that this has always been our position and that we are not now climbing on the new antiProvisional bombing band wagon." It proceeded to place the blame for the increase in sectarian violence on the U.D.A. murder gangs and on British imperialism, which has at every juncture capitulated to the Orange extremists. It strongly reaffirmed the importance of Republicanism as a tradition in Ireland, stating: "It is an honourable tradition which cannot be exterminated and which represents the major force for freedom in this island." Directing itself to the catholic minority, the statement called on them not to allow themselves to be diverted from struggle by the use imperialist propaganda makes of the bombing campaign, but to maintain the civil resistance with the maximum unity of forces.
CONCRETE TASKS This statement is a welcome inprovement in attitude towards the Provisional I.R.A., but nevertheless still reflects the deep political differences which divide the two Republican organisations. These differences are important, but in the present situation they must not be placed above certain concrete tasks which must be undertaken; the necessary defence of the catholic community in the north against the British army and the organisation of civil resistance to the army of occupation. The Official I.R.A. has shown, in the past, its capacity to take on both these tasks. British imperialism is ruthlessly determined to use its military might to grind the catholic minority into submission and passivity; to separate it from its armed defenders, and thus achieve a temporary stability in the North from which it can pursue its long term political aims. No differences within the Republican ranks, however genuinely held, are more important than the necessity to undertake the immediate tasks which are essential if British imperialism is to be prevented from succeeding in its strategy The Red Male 7 August 1972 Pace 5