TONY BENN, who 18 ago helped up the Irish debate in the Labour Party by advocating withdrawal 'the sooner the better, substantially modified his position at a press conference given in Dublin during the Irish elections.
Calling for the formation of a Labour Party in the north said tha British withdrawal 'should be placed in this context' In effect this is the position of the Militant and was adopted against strong constituency opposition by the 1981 Labour Party conference.
ago Benn attacked CURe idea of a Labour Party confined to the north during a fringe meeting at the 1980 conference. But in Dublir he insisted that the way forward was to call a conTerence of trade unions in By Geoff Bell in Dublin the north build labour representation in the no th, and from there 'build unity around the problems people experience In listing these pro blems, Benn featured unemployment and monetarism - but not the repression of the Catholic repression north has repression previously condemned.
Also in contrast with previous occasions when he spoke out on Ireland Benn TErUSE TO criticise the Irish policy of the last Labour despite prompting journalists. His criticism o British troops was also muted sayıng this issue was now 'full o complexities He was equaily evasive onwaeme me unionists in the north had the right SOOTH CAL CEVEOD ment in the north. He said he against the LOTOVEE to Unionists but paradoxically said Irish unity could only be endorsed with 'the consent of the north.
This amounted to a paragraph by paragraph endorsement of the am biguities contained in the document passed by the Labour Party conterence Tony Benn has previously publicly reserved the right to advocate . policies different 'those agreed by con Terence, and indeed did so specifically with regards to Ireland during the deputy leadership campaign. Conditions He shows no such in clination now. He defend ed the conference policy in Ireland and claimed it was greeted with enthusiasm by conference delegates even though a large majority of CLPs ference voted for a more left wing pro-British withdrawal position.
For Tony Benn that withdrawal must now be conditional on what he called GESS unity and 'consent' in the north. As Vincent Browne, editor of the Irish news magazine Magil commented, CHIN Mr Benn, how can you talk about class unity and con sent when the north state was set up and exists to such oossibilities?
Socialist Challenge 25 February 1982
By D. Ellis, NUR member
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Unions Only eighteen months