The limits of activism: Sinn Féin, Independents, Socialism, Community Activism and Party.

One of the perennial jibes cast against Independent politicians is that they are effectively little more than ‘parish pump’ politicians, adrift to some extent upon the whim of their constituents and with no responsibility or obligation to the wider political system. And the problem is there is a considerable element of truth in this. The current polls have registered a slight shift upwards in their share of the vote, so we’ll see how that impacts next year during the Election.

But I think that while such a dynamic is manifested in many Independents at council and national level, a contrary dynamic is also evident. That of political parties or machines which seek to remove the messy business of the voter, particularly the micro-level concerns of voters, from the political equation and replace that with ‘national’ issues. It’s the old technocratic solution, one which prefers list elections over constituency based elections or some element thereof, and it is a tendency that appeals to those on left and right who believe there is a purely rational way to run a society.

For myself having come from strongly ideological parties (which I agreed with more or less - and as time went on generally less) to the much less ideologically constricted shores of the broad ‘Left’ with no responsibility to accept policies which I disagree with and the peculiar luxury of being truly able to pick and choose between candidates or combinations of candidates from different parties - even from entirely different standpoints - I appreciate the dynamics of this process more keenly than I used to and strongly doubt in pure rationalism, or at least those who suggest such solutions.

Politics is a messy business which demands that representatives represent, not simply their parties (although that too is necessary) but also their constituents. An example of where disconnect can occur is in the Seanad, where Senators are elected (those who are elected - but that’s a whole different story) by certain constituencies. These constituencies are to some degree ‘imagined’ in the same sense as Benedict Arnold uses the term with reference to ‘nations’ and are somewhat opaque to true representation. That’s not necessarily a problem. Certain gestures in politics are necessary, they have a symbolic importance which can transcend their implicit limitation. I think in particular of how the Senate was utilised as a means of representing the Anglo-Irish and Protestant elements of the nation post-Independence. Was it feasible that individual Senators drawn from that tradition could directly represent all those from the tradition - of course not, but the simple gesture indicated that at some level (and it has to be said in retrospect that it was sadly limited) the nation recognised the necessity for such representation if only on the practical grounds that it damped down societal tension.

In any case the Senate, as the second chamber of the Oireachtas has a function, that while contested by many, at least is readily comprehensible.

As for the Independents, we know their faults, soaking up the left vote (in those instances where the Independent tends to be more of the left than right), generally unwilling to work in concert with other parties (bar through that most exotic of political creatures the Technical Group), populist to a fault and so on. What is interesting is that while all these charges are entirely true, I’m not as antagonistic as I once was. In part because I’ve seen how the left to the left of Labour has fractured, in part because there is now a more ideologically coherent group of Independents in the Dáil who, like them or loathe them, have tended to speak if not with one voice - at least with a broadly similar outlook. Often this translate into pure protest, but sometimes it can be an effective counterpoint to more mainstream opinion and it has the useful effect of pointing up how similar the larger parties are on policy grounds. But it remains true that Independents are essentially independent and the scope for action at a national remains limited - whatever about Finian McGrath’s repeated calls for an Independent Alliance prior to the next election. Truth is that once the election is called such an Alliance, lovely idea that it may be (at least in terms of seeing it work itself out), is going to be lost amidst the hard grind on the doorstep. So, good for the Independents, but we’ll see.

Which leads us neatly to community, the bedrock of our democratic processes. Well having been involved over the years in party and non-party based community campaigns, or the more grandly titled ‘activism’ I’m not so sure. As I’ve already noted I’m leery of the technocratic approach which argues that the link with community should be broken and replaced by that with party (for community read constituency here - not that the two terms are precisely synonymous). But communities have their own dynamics, which often are entirely different to those of political activities. They are localised, partisan and often short termist. Interesting ethical quandries arise more regularly than might be imagined. I’m thinking of litigation over disruption by utilities, and the awarding of compensation. Simultaneously they are the represented, or at least purport to be, the essential link between the electorate on a day to day basis and the representatives. It’s struck me very strongly in recent years how few TDs, bar the obvious examples, have really managed to link into community activism. But there is an obvious answer there. Only Independents are able to project themselves as sufficiently independent so that they can represent people from a wide variety of political backgrounds and none. Party candidates, while occasionally able to slip the leash are always anchored to the Party name for better or for worse. But Independents are few and far between. The numbers in the Dáil and Seanád speak for themselves as to the difficulties that particular route to political success throws up.

There’s an interesting debate in Sinn Féin at the moment around the limits of activism in a political party context which touches on the above and is worth reading at Politics.ie. Again I’d argue, from experience in community activism that it’s self-limiting and to believe that it can be the most serious part of any political expression is somewhat deluding. But, perhaps I’m wrong in that analysis and the future will demonstrate the validity of that route. I wonder though. In an increasingly consumerist society it seems to me to be retrogressive to shift completely into community activism (as with the SF split Éirigi) when state power remains the focal point of political endeavour. Seamus Costello, a key person in the shift in Official Sinn Féin towards the political from the military and later one of the founders of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, was an early cheerleader of such activity. Yet he saw the crucial need to also link that into national campaigns and to attempt to project power at a national level as represented by a speech reproduced here.

It’s like the old saw ‘you need a right and a left wing for a plane to fly’. The same is true of the balance between national and local. Those parties and organisations which have ignored the former to concentrate on the latter have remained peripheral and marginal.

And the contemporary rush by certain sections of the left and some Republican Socialists doesn’t ring entirely true and I wonder whether we’ll see yet more examples of enthusiasm and activity dissipated…