[Marxism] A Few Thoughts On The Six Counties

[Jscotlive at aol.com]

Gary:
 
Ah the curse of liberalism which when confronted with the legacy  of
imperialism consciously or unconsciously seeks to see faults on both  sides.
I don't really want to start a shindig about this, but let me say yet  once
again to a British *comrade* that the two communities in Northern  Ireland do
NOT mirror each other. To say that they do or to allow oneself  to
unconsciously fall into that way of thinking is to reduplicate  British
propaganda.

For a start the Republican tradition is explicitly  non-sectarian. It was
after all started by Presbyterians. On the other hand  the Orange Order is
explicitly sectarian.

Reply:
 
Gary, if you knew anything of my political activity, past and present, the  
last thing you could accuse me of is pandering to Brit imperialism on the  
question of the Six Counties. Perhaps the way I wrote the passage you have  
focused on might lead you to that misunderstanding, but that is all it is, a  
misunderstanding. I am fully aware of the differences between both traditions  -one 
reactionary and one progressive. 
 
That said, the influence of Catholicism within the Republican movement  has 
never been fully expunged, despite the best efforts of proponents of various  
strands of republicanism throughout the history of the movement. Given the  
religious sectarianism which has always lain at the root of loyalism, this is  
hardly a surprise, but it is a fact. One only has to look at the struggle which  
took place in the eighties between supporters of an avowed  
Marxist,anti-imperialist orientation, looking to the Soviet Bloc for succour and  support, and 
those who subscribed to a pure Irish nationalism shorn of  secularism. What 
you ended up with were elements of both, with neither  orientation completely 
dominant but each exerting an influence to form something  of a hybrid. 
 
But to reiterate, this particular comrade is far from having  been 
unconsciously or consciously influenced by the curse of  liberalism.
 
In support of this, here's a link to a speech I gave back in 2005 on the  
subject.
 
_http://republicancommunist.org/articles/misc/G8Wight.html_ 
(http://republicancommunist.org/articles/misc/G8Wight.html)