Sinn Fein Are Without Ideology

I have no problem with Sinn Féin. Well not in the relation to the war in Northern Ireland anyhow. In fact I have great respect for their will—in the face of constant propaganda from the safety of middle Ireland. The right wing government controlled media have accused them of all sorts of wrong doings. From abduction and murder to a stealth like agenda to unite Ireland.


Martin Mc Guinness and Gerry Adams were both victims of the ranting middle Ireland during recent elections. I admire the way they stood their ground—and refused to cave in, under the relentless lies and dubious accusations thrown at them.
Sinn Féin have assembled some smart performers,with the likes of Mary Lou Mc Donald—and Pearse Doherty—leading the charge against the government.


Of course the Shinners are nothing if not pragmatic—in a valiant effort to deflect from the frowns of the middle-classes they have positioned themselves left of centre. Well left of centre-ish. In doing this they have stolen some of the Labour party—trade union ground, by adopting positions against stealth taxes etc.
Thus their activists are very visible against the household charge.



All well and good. The frightened safe players of middle-Ireland probably see them as dangerous and radical. I can now reassure the people who get out of bed and work very hard for their comforts—that they have nothing to worry about.
The pragmatic Sinn Féin is capable of aligning itself to any ideology. So don’t be surprised if they end up in coalition with FF or FG—down the line.


The problem I have with Sinn Féin is in they don’t have a position. I have often accused FF and FG of hiding their ideology. In Sinn Féin’s case they just don’t have an ideology—outside of some vague notion of a politically correct united Ireland.
The Shinners are about as left as the Labour party. They buy into capitalism and our undemocratic systems. Their vision of a New Ireland is as flawed as the centre-right wing parties they squabble with.


For a party that waves the republican flag—where did they inherit their mandate. Was it from Pádraig Pearse? Or Michael Collins? It wasn’t from James Connolly that’s a certainty. Connolly was a Marxist not a republican. There are no Marxists in Sinn Fein or even interpreters of socialism to suit modern culture. So who are they really then and what are they looking for?



Recent history and the bitter war in the north—show’s us that the Republican movement split into different factions. We had the INLA, and their political wing the IRSP. Also now there are dissident Republicans! The IRSP are still active on community issues—their ideology is inherited from James Connolly. Their aim is for a 32 county socialist Republic.


Sinn Féin however after the Good Friday agreement was a party with a mandate—but without any sense of ideology. So they came south and found that none of parties in Dail Eireann had an ideology either. If they had any inkling of ideology, they didn’t want the electorate to know. This left a common shared ideology, enslavement to capitalism.


When Mary Lou—or Pearse Doherty go on television—they will complain about the bond holders, household charges etc—but they never mention ideology. Sinn Féin do capitalism they may advocate a softer version of it—but like the Labour party when in power you grip it tightly with both hands.



So watch this space, for all those who yearn for social justice, don’t expect the Shinners to provide it. The people with ideology like Clare Daly—Joe Higgins, you know them the cloud Cuckoo crowd, are not there in sufficient numbers to save the poor and disabled. Maybe we should give the IRSP a call?