Document Introduction This article begins with a brief sketch of the working class in Northern Ireland.

It argues that the working class is massive and that a Workers Party which makes determined efforts to engage with the most politically conscious workers in their communities will almost inevitably grow. ut because of what the Provos have done over the past !" years# workers from Protestant backgrounds are e$tremely unlikely to vote for any self% proclaimed republican party. This has serious implications for our future as a Party. We grow or die. What is the Working Class in NI? A very brief sketch. &s in every developed capitalist economy# the working class in Northern Ireland is made up of those households which earn most of their living by working for a business that they don't own or in the state sector. Public sector workers are in very similar situation to those who work for the private sector because the state in capitalist societies works primarily in the interests of the capitalist class# &s a result # as with most workers# most public sector workers are low%paid and vulnerable to (ob losses. We might also include small business owners in the working class because# although they are the )bosses' of their own companies# and may employ some workers #they are at the mercy of economic forces which could very *uickly reduce them to unemployment and destitution. +owever# because they may employ other workers# some small business owners often identify with the capitalist class and policies such as low% ta$ation. ,any people in the managerial and professional )class' earn most of their living through wages but have a direct material stake in the companies they work for and could afford to be without work for some time. They also control the activities of other workers in the workplace. &lthough wage workers# managers -in both the public and private sectors. and most professionals tend to have interests contrary to those of the workers they control. &s well as the working class# there are large numbers of people who are# have been or will be unemployed# /ear of (oining this reserve army of the unemployed on the part of workers enables capitalists and the state to cut back on workers' wages# to undermine welfare provision. & certain level of unemployment is good for

capitalists and is a deliberate government policy. There is also a large number of )economically inactive' adults in Northern Ireland#most of whom receive the ma(ority of their meagre income from the state. This group includes full%time students# the elderly# the disabled and people who have given up actively seeking employment. &lthough they aren't workers at the point of production# most of the economically inactive are severely restricted by poverty and live in working class areas and households. 1tudents from the middle class# who may view their restricted economic situation a a temporary stepping stone on the road to a managerial position# may constitute an e$ception. None of these relationships are set in stone. &n individual manager may be )downsi2ed' and find herself suddenly in the ranks of the workers or the economically inactive. 1imilarly# a small business might take off # thus raising its owner to the capitalist class. 1ome workers may do relatively well in economic terms even though they continue to sell their labour to others. 3onstruction workers in the recent building boom did very well but when the bottom fell out of the boom thousands of them were made unemployed overnight. The Working Class and The Workers Party If this brief schematic is in any way a reflection of class realities in Northern Ireland# it has important implications for The Workers' Party. The ma(ority of adults in Northern Ireland are from the ranks of workers# small business people and the economically inactive. We are talking about a working class in the many hundreds of thousands. &s a Workers' Party we seek to reflect this working class ma(ority in the political sphere. In the medium term we want to represent the most politically advanced members of this class# ie those who recognise the structural contradictions between labour and capital. We can assume that at this time the number of politically conscious workers is much smaller than the class itself. +owever# we can also assume that it is much, much greater than the support we receive in various elections. This document assumes that there is a percentage among the working class in Northern Ireland which will vote for a Workers' Party but only if that Party is active in the areas where these people live. 4ven politically conscious workers will only support a Workers Party that is organically connected with the areas where they live. We need to develop and if our Party is to grow it must move out in a highly%organised way into new areas. If we do this# it is my contention that modest success among the politically conscious working class is bound to result. We will earn the support of tens of thousands of workers and hundreds will go so far as to

(oin us. If this is the case# then as a Workers Party we have no other choice but to set about working among the hundreds of thousands of workers in Northern Ireland who we would seek to represent. This is *uite a (ob of work but as members of the WP# we must take it on.This will involve a strategy to make ourselves known in large areas of Northern Ireland where we currently have no presence# to develop a membership in new areas# to build branches and to make ourselves a relevant workers voice in all working class areas. &nd here is the rub6 to be able to represent all workers we must be able to work and grow in all working class areas of Northern Ireland# regardless of the religion or national identification of those workers. We have to live our anti%sectarianism. We must also e$pect that in a divided country# there will be workers who support our political and economic outlook but will hold fast to their flags# emblems songs# marches and lore. This writer thinks its all bullshit but my view cuts no mustard6 when we stand at the doorsteps in working class areas we must be neutral with respect to this cultural baggage and present a clear socialist position on the social and economic concerns of the day. To put this at its starkest# workers form Protestant backgrounds associate republicanism not with 7emmy +ope or Thomas 8ussell or with illy ,c,illen or 3athal 9oulding. 8epublicanism is associated with the murder campaign of the Provos and# in its current manifestation in 1inn /:in and the )dissident' republicans. In the 1;<"s and even into the 1;="s there was some possibility that socialist civic republicanism might find a receptive ear among Protestants and 3atholics. The Provos have consigned that to the wastebin. We might want it some other way but it's not likely to change any time soon. /or all the Provos' talk of getting Prod votes# the recent NI >ife and Times 1urvey -0"10. indicates that "? of Protestants support 1inn /:in.

It is my contention that the sectarian campaign of violence followed by 1inn /:in's development as the biggest )3atholic' party mean that into the far future Protestant workers will never give

their support to a self%proclaimed reublican party of an kind. I would like it to be otherwise but it (ust isn't. In personal terms I have been a proud socialist republican all my life6 but the Party and the working class are more important than my emotional leanings. The implications for the Workers' Party are clear6 we either remain a small party with a socialist anti% sectarian ideology but rooted in a tiny section of the )3atholic' working class or we actively live our anti% sectarianism# face the future and enable ourselves to represent workers in all parts of this island regardless of their cultural background. If this is accepted# there will be practical conse*uences. ut unless we want to turn into an historical club or society we have to change in steadfast pursuit of our political goal as we have had to change in the past. If we move out into the working class in an organised fashion# we will grow and the working class will find a representative voice and an independent direction among all the reactionary sectarian voices in Northern Ireland. -The alternative is a slow death# as our membership ages and our organisation withers..