The problem of Ulster has been badly neglected by the left in Britain. When this neglect wilted in the light of the struggle in Derry it was replaced by utter confusion as to what line to adopt (among the gems being the statement that the demand "one man, one vote" was to be opposed as petit bourgeois). Any understanding of the question must start from the fact that the present set up is an embarrassment to British imperialism but, on the other hand, all its endeavours to solve the problem tend to make it worse.
A full analysis of this set up is needed: but it is sufficient to say that the problem of Ulster will be with us for a long time and that there are the elements of a permanent crisis. The people of Derry and other centres have completely lost confidence in the authorities and sections of the youth and working class, inspired by France and militant demonstrations in Britain, are determined to struggle until they win elementary rights - such as have been considered as normal in the rest of the United Kingdom for decades.
The basic principles of a socialist attitude towards the problem are straightforward: we are absolutely committed to support the right of self-determination of the Irish people; we are likewise absolutely committed to support all the democratic demands of the Irish people; we have the duty to campaign in solidarity with the Irish workers engaged in struggle. It is on this basis we should campaign in Britain. More concretely we have to demand an end to financial support to the semi-police state of Ulster and other related demands.
We need to explain that the border is a barrier to the social progress of the whole Irish people and that the setup in Northern Ireland enables the Tories to split the working class. For these reasons, too, we stand for a united Ireland.
[We], of course, also stand for the creation of workers' Ireland and will support steps to create a revolutionary socialist party in that country. Irish revolutionaries should struggle inside the civil rights movement for the socialist road. But our support for the democratic demands of the Irish people cannot be conditional on this being achieved.
In fact, the best way we can help the achievement of a socialist Ireland is by campaigning for the removal of the biggest obstacle to the united action of the Irish working class: the imperialist-imposed border.