Devlin crisis fr SDLP the decent royal visit to fart tean!
Socialist Press1977 1977-08-31Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 4 →
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The report of the labour movement enquiry into police brutality and the position of black youth in Islington has now been published.
SELF-HELP
and the CURRENT AFFAIRS ASSOCIATION lers of the only newspaper printing works in the country ins ines and trade unions. The works is equipped with its own ! nds ready day and night to publish a daily newspaper if thi press goes on strike.
Official Organ: The British Gazetre 39, KESLAKE ROAD, LONDON, NW6 In the last issue of Socialist Press we drew attention to the fact that Ireland was part of a deal arranged | between Michael Foot and the Ulster Unionist MPs at Westminster.
These concessions to the Unionists have so far not been publicly revealed, but they are no less tangible for all that.
One party in particular, the Catholic SDLP, has sensed these changes and is now frantically trying to resist them.
Shortly after the Queen's visit, the Executive Committee of the SDLP announced that it had accepted in principle a policy committee report recommending greater party emphasis on the so-called "Irish dimension"
The present report, to be discussed by the party's general committee on September criticises the Unionists for failing to respond to SDLP initiatives, it criticises the British government for its do-nothing, "let-things-drift" policy-a policy which the SDLP sees as leading to full integration with Britain; and it finally decides to relaunch the notion of the legitimacy of aspirations to a united Ireland--the so-called "Irish dimension"
Prominent SDLP leader Paddy Devlin has rejected the adoption of the new policy, thus precipitating a minor crisis within the party.
Devlin's action is not motivated by consideration of principle or concern for the Irish working class.
Instead he is acting out of personal interest alone, for he now sees the SDLP evolving into a rump party like the old nationalistsdeclaring itself committed to a united Ireland while objectively preserving the partition of the country. He is thus getting out before the rot sets in much further.
The new policy signifies no fundamental change at all; it instead confirms that the SDLP's appetite for administering the imperialist garrison in the north is as sharp as ever.