A few years ago I called into a public meeting in Dublin on the future of Republicanism. It seemed to me, listening to the proceedings, that the prospects weren't good. The world's oldest anti-colonial tradition wasn't showing much fresh thinking. Des Dalton, the vice president of Republican Sinn Féin, spent most of his time on the platform reading passages from Eire Nua, a programme drafted by the Provos in the early 1970s. There was no attempt to explain how that document (a rather charming vision of an all-Ireland state divided into four provinces, each with its own parliament) might be translated into reality. When the question of armed struggle came up - as it always does on these occasions - Dalton had his answer ready: he wouldn't recommend that approach himself, but if the next generation of Irish patriots chose to take up arms against the British occupation, he wouldn't be the man to stand in their way.

LRB 30 April 2009 | PDF Download