The Northern Ireland Social Democratic and Labour Party : Political Opposition in a Divided Society

## List of Abbreviations CRC CSJ EEC GAA IRA NDP NICRA NILP NIO PR RLP RTE RUC SDLP STV TD UDA UPNI uuuc uwc FOREWORD xiii closely related. In this respect, it resembles the far weaker Northern Ireland Labour Party, with support confined to Protestants, because it is committed to British as well as labour and trade union interests. Neither of these parties has been as successful as the Alliance Party in drawing support across the Protestant-Catholic boundary. But the size of Alliance's steady vote-about one-tenth of the electorate-emphasises how limited is the short-run scope for a party that puts a hi-confessional appeal before the issue of national identity. The potential conflict between the SDLP's immediate dependence upon British patronage at Westminster and its long-term aspiration to belong to a united Ireland has been muffled within the party, because of the advantages of maintaining a united party. But the SDLP's orientation to 'the two Souths' has constituted a great barrier to the achievement of power-sharing. When listing their objections to sharing office with the SDLP, loyalist politicians do not refer to its Catholic base of support, but rather to its rejection of British for Irish allegiance. For example, the fact that SDLP party leaders travel on Irish passports and raise party funds in Dublin is cited as proof of disloyalty to Ulster institutions, and as a disqualification from holding office in Ulster in institutions established by the Crown in Parliament at Westminster. Ultimately, the limitations of the SDLP, like those of any political party, are determined by the actions of other parties with which it must compete. In the system of inter-party relations in Northern Ireland,the SDLP controls only part of the action. As long as individuals tend to vote along religious and national identity lines,the pro-British loyalist parties supported by Protestants will command a majority of votes and seats. The single transferable vote system of proportional representation used in Northern Ireland, by allocating seats much more strictly in accord to votes than in Britain, can only register defeat for any party representing a minority. The SDLP is not a normal political party, any more than Northern Ireland is typical of the United Kingdom as a whole. The SDLP is not only a vote-getting party, but also part of a protest movement. It gives electoral voice to the views of the Catholic third of Northern Ireland. The powersharing policy that the SDLP puts forward is not based upon electoral strength, but upon a moral claim to reparation. The party has pointed to the exclusion of Catholics from office in the half-century of Stormont, and asks that they now be guaranteed a share of posts in power as a condition of establishing any future institutions of government in Ulster. In reply, loyalists argue that Catholics excluded themselves from office by refusing to recognise Northern Ireland as a British territory; until they show British loyalty, they have no right to lose elections yet still expect to be given office. The debate about power-sharing between the SDLP and loyalists leads off on the long march backward in time. There is no point in pursuing that controversy here. Moreover, the message that one finds at the end of the xiv THE NORTHERN IRELAND SDLP search in the seventeenth century is the same as today: conflict between the two communities. The value of Ian McAllister's study of the Social Democratic and Labour Party is that it is concerned with the present tense of Ulster politics. As the chief electoral spokesman of one of the two communities in the province, the SDLP must necessarily be involved-as a winner or a loser-in any resolution of the current conflict. An Ulsterman himself, McAllister displays the province's characteristic concern with the complexities of Northern Ireland politics, and with the roots as well as the visible evidence of the party's activities. The story of the SDLP is told clearly, carefully and objectively. The reader can judge from this account how much the SDLP has achieved, and what is left undone. At the end of the day the great political divide in Northern Ireland separates those who wish to settle their differences peacefully by elections, from those who are ready to settle them by force of arms. In this respect, the SDLP and loyalist politicians have a common preference for the ballot, not the bullet, as the ultimate arbiter of political differences. Those who commit themselves to party politics in Northern Ireland do not do so casually, they actively reject the stark and brutal efforts to settle the province's political future by force. Front Matter....Pages i-xxi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Social Mobilisation....Pages 3-12 Political Conditions....Pages 13-24 Opposition Unity and Disunity....Pages 25-35 Front Matter....Pages 37-37 Institutional Structure....Pages 39-54 Policies....Pages 55-65 Personnel....Pages 66-77 Front Matter....Pages 79-79 Constitutional Opposition (August 1970–July 1971)....Pages 81-96 Abstention (August 1971 to March 1972)....Pages 97-113 Office-Seeking (April 1972–June 1973)....Pages 114-127 Power-Sharing (July 1973 to May 1974)....Pages 128-146 Impasse (June 1974–March 1976)....Pages 147-160 Conclusion....Pages 161-167 Back Matter....Pages 168-200