Fight for a border poll!

The majority of people in Ireland have been promised a referendum on Irish unity, but no one is doing anything about it. Sinn Féin talks about a border poll in the distant future, but won’t campaign for it. Everyone is expected to wait patiently for the British government to allow for a vote. And when a majority votes yes, as is expected, Britain will supposedly hand the Six Counties back to Ireland, just like that.

This is a dead end. Irish unity is impossible without a struggle against imperialism. And a border poll will not drop from the sky. It will only happen if there is a militant fight for it. All those who want to see a united Ireland within their lifetime must take matters into their own hands. We call for the creation of a militant campaign for a border poll!

The notion that a united Ireland will be achieved without a struggle against imperialism is a liberal fantasy indulged in by Sinn Féin and most of the left in Ireland. Britain has held the Six Counties by force of arms since partition, as they did with the whole of Ireland for centuries before that. History shows that it will take revolutionary struggle against British imperialism—and today against the EU and the US—to reunify Ireland. History also teaches that this task cannot be left to the nationalists, who have betrayed the national struggle by accepting partition, both in the 1921 Treaty and again in the Good Friday Agreement. The unification of Ireland will take a mighty upsurge of the working class, north and south, united in struggle that is anti-sectarian and directed against all the imperialist powers and their lackeys, the Irish ruling elite. Our goal is to build a revolutionary movement in Ireland based on this perspective.

But such a movement does not exist today, and there are many obstacles to be overcome in the course of building one. For starters, most people believe that a referendum is the only route to a united Ireland. We know that Britain will not concede anything unless it is forced to. At the same time, the mass sentiment for a border poll is progressive and we support efforts to achieve this. Fighting for a referendum will prove to be an effective remedy for liberal illusions as people will learn that the “democratic process” will be thrown aside as soon as it threatens the interests of London and the Irish capitalists.

A militant fight for a border poll will also hold Sinn Féin’s feet to the fire. They cannot campaign for a united Ireland because they must be seen as respectable and fit for government. To this end the party has made its peace with the British establishment, including by bending the knee to King Charles III, Colonel-in-Chief of the Parachute Regiment. Sinn Féin has also cosied up to the US and EU by dropping its pledges to withdraw from EU military arrangements and NATO’s Partnership for Peace. Placing our hopes for a united Ireland in these people is a recipe for defeat.

In fighting for a border poll, we’re not talking about a referendum as specified in the Good Friday Agreement. It’s an outrage that the decision to hold a referendum should be left to the British government. Hell will freeze over before Keir Starmer will permit the Irish to vote for an end to British rule in the north. The Starmer government, which backs Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians to the hilt, is ferociously anti-Republican. It brands Kneecap—and Gerry Adams—as terrorist suspects. It’s ridiculous to think that the British establishment will peaceably agree to give back the Six Counties, which would reduce the decrepit “United Kingdom” to a rump, just because that’s what the Irish want.

All of Ireland, north and south, should vote on Irish unity! Protestants should take their rightful place as part of the Irish nation, in the tradition of Wolfe Tone’s United Irishmen. Centuries of acting as lackeys of British imperialism has brought the Protestant working class nothing but exploitation, deindustrialisation and ruin. For the decades of the Troubles, the IRA’s response to British repression included sectarianism, which pushed Protestant working-class communities into the arms of the Loyalist paramilitaries. Protestant workers, join the fight for a better future: break with the rule of the British Crown! Join forces with your Catholic comrades in a mighty struggle to end the rule of imperialism and the Irish capitalist exploiters.

Forward to a militant campaign for a border poll! Forward to a united Irish workers republic!

Get in touch with us to build this campaign.