OPINION:HOW STUPID is the Labour Party? The question arises following last weekend's call by Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams for Labour to do its "duty" and form a left-leaning alliance with Sinn Féin "and others" in opposition to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
If Labour responds positively to Adams’s suggestion, then the answer is, very stupid indeed. As its name suggests, the Ourselves Alone Party does not do friendly, reciprocal relationships with anyone, most especially rivals for votes. Doubtless, there are Labour members who have been courted relentlessly by Sinn Féin prior to last weekend, and as a result may be tempted by what Adams is proposing.
If so, they would be well advised to study the recent history of their sister party in the North (not to mention that of the Ulster Unionist Party) before making any rash decisions.
Although it remains debatable whether the SDLP was sacrificed to the peace process or to John Hume’s ego, what is not in question is the nature of the sacrifice itself. The SDLP got too close to Sinn Féin (who, if nothing else, are masters of media manipulation), and was almost destroyed as a result.
Its policies were hijacked and presented by Sinn Féin as its own. Every setback for nationalism, both inside and outside political negotiations, was attributed to the SDLP; and every victory claimed by Sinn Féin.
In a classic divide and conquer tactic, employed recently against the Rev Ian Paisley and First Minister Peter Robinson in an unsuccessful attempt to split the DUP, care was taken to separate in the public mind “good” SDLP members from “bad”. Good constituted those who wholeheartedly supported the alliance, whereas bad would have been those like Séamus Mallon, who never hid his contempt for Sinn Féin or his suspicions about the party’s true intentions.
At the finish, the once largest and by far the most capable nationalist party in the North was almost completely hollowed out.
It was left not so much with a crisis of identity, but with the task of trying to convince a by then former electorate that it still had any identity (and purpose) of its own left.
As those struggling to breathe life back into the SDLP know to their cost, given half a chance Sinn Féin will piggyback and colonise. It will suck dry and take whatever it needs, and leave only an empty husk.
Never mind Adams’s high-blown rhetoric about there being an obligation to form an alliance against two “conservative monoliths”. The bottom line is that resurgent Labour has votes that Sinn Féin craves.
You have to wonder why on earth a party climbing in the opinion polls would even consider tying itself to an outfit so obviously marooned and going nowhere.
Yet, for precisely that reason, you have to wonder why Labour didn’t immediately rebuff Adams’s approach.
Make no mistake about it Sinn Féin is marooned.
Long outdated revolutionary rhetoric and a portfolio of policies which constitute little more than clichés and soundbites, has the party stuck on low percentage points in the polls. Moreover, it is incapable of moving beyond that position without help.
And that, of course, is where the Labour Party would come in useful.
Leaving aside for a moment the obvious dangers to Labour, one is at a loss to imagine how such an alliance would hold any attraction for the electorate.
Although Adams didn’t say as much in his address last Saturday, Sinn Féin spokespeople made it clear in media interviews afterwards that there is a condition that must be met by potential partners.
That is, they have to make clear their position on Irish unity.
Yes, I know. It’s a bit like a drowning man dictating terms to those he’s trying to coax into throwing him a lifebelt, but you have to admire the brass neck nonetheless.
As every party in the Republic supports the Belfast Agreement, and therefore already holds a clear position on the only possible resolution to the “national question”, Sinn Féin must be looking for something that goes beyond that from future partners.
Will they be expected to commit to a more aggressive pursuit of Irish unity? It certainly appears so, especially when you consider that Sinn Féin spokespeople were also at pains to stress, irrespective of what economic state the country is in, their party’s primary objective remains the reunification of Ireland.
Imagine trying to sell that as your main priority on the doorsteps during an election.
There was little enough appetite for uniting with the North (or, rather, with its people) when the Celtic Tiger was roaring, and money seemed to be growing on trees.
What possible popular support can there be now, in the depths of a depression, for joining with a people that annually draws down £8 billion (€9 billion) in subventions from Britain, and will fully expect to be kept in the fashion to which it has become accustomed? All things considered, I suppose it’s really a question of how stupid Gerry Adams must think Labour is.
“Not stupid enough to get into bed with you lot, Gerry,” should be the Labour Party’s answer.
That way, it really would be doing its duty: to the country, to its electorate, and to itself.