The headlines about Sinn Fein Ard Fheis in Belfast focussed on the shift in the party’s stance on abortion and its instruction that all TDs must vote for its legislation.
The conference supported the position of the Citizens Assembly that abortion should be available on request up to 12 weeks and later in more limited circumstances. This is a welcome, if belated, move as it ensures that legislation will pass through the Dail.
But while Sinn Fein shifted left on abortion, it shifted to the right on joining a Fianna Fail or Fine Gael-led government.
There is concern among the party’s ranks about this move. A resolution from Ogra Sinn Fein warned against ‘the perfidious manner’ in which minority partners in right wing led coalitions ‘abandoned their principles’ Another from a Cumman in Templeogue/Terenure in Dublin proposed that ‘the party’s only objective will be to form a broad left-wing government comprising parties and independents of a similar political ideology.’
But these resolutions were watered down to enable the party leadership enter a government as a minority partner with FF or FG.
This is a big shift compared to the last general election in 2016. Then the party stated that the only coalition it would join was one where Sinn Fein and left allies were the majority partner. They participated in the Right to Change movement to construct a programme for Ireland’s first left led government.
Now, however, Sinn Fein talks of a ‘progressive’ government where it is a minority partner to Fianna Fail or Fine Gael. The use of the word ‘progressive’ makes little sense.
The right wing parties are the main architects of the corruption that is endemic in the Southern Irish state. One has only to think about the number of inquiries and tribunals into payments to politicians, planning and zoning and the police to recognise its scale.
FF and FG also preside over Ireland’s status as tax haven for the global and native rich. They are fundamentally opposed to any major re-distribution of wealth.
As long as these politics dominate, aspirations to create a National Health Service or a decent public service will remain that –just rhetorical aspirations. The right wing parties will never allow any threat to the rich and so resources will never be provided for change.
This explains why every minority party that joins them are crushed.
It does not matter whether you are Joan Burton, John Gormley or Mary Lou McDonald you cannot turn right wing parties into ones which serve working people. The historical experience shows that a party which deploys left wing rhetoric but then joins them in coalition will succumb.
It is not a matter of gentle persuasion on either side. This occurs because the right wing parties articulate interests of the wealthy who will use their economic leverage outside the Dail to prevent fundamental change.
But what is the practical alternative?
It is to enforce change on the political establishment through ‘people power’. We need to march, protest, strike, mobilise and take direct action in big numbers to make the political establishment give concessions. We won on water charges and on abortion because a risen people came off their knees and fought.
These popular movements also help to generate a wider shift in political awareness. When combined with opposition to austerity, they helped break down the two and half party system. The two main right wing parties must now effectively share power
When large numbers of working people mobilise, their self-confidence increases and their political horizons expands. They are less amenable to the fatalistic attitude that ‘sure, nothing can be done’. The left is more likely to expand its support base.
A genuine left wing strategy, therefore, seeks to force the right wing parties into one block – and to mobilise against them. It should offer a programme for government that challenges Ireland’s status as a tax haven for global capitalism. It should seek to root out the corruption that lies at the heart of the Irish state.
The radical left will continue to do that. Sinn Fein is going in a different direction.
