The conflict in Northern Ireland: Marxist interpretations

Abstract

Two major schools of thought within Marxist analyses of Northern Ireland are identified: the ‘anti-imperialist’, which argues that imperialism is responsible for sectarian division and conflict in Northern Ireland, and thus sees national independence as a necessary precondition for socialism; and the ‘revisionist’, which emphasizes internal factors in the development of the ‘Northern Ireland problem’ and views imperialism and the British presence as largely progressive. The relative strengths and weaknesses of these two approaches are assessed. It is argued that in spite of several serious shortcomings, the ‘anti-imperialist’ approach is the more satisfactory of the two, in that, by directly challenging existing social relations in Northern Ireland it proposes a meaningful strategy for the advancement of socialism in Ireland.