Sean Farren has written a comprehensive and interesting history of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from its foundation on 21st August 1970 to the Belfast Agreement in April 1998. He is well placed to write such an account, having been a key player in the Party, and a Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive.
At a time when the history of the past 40 years is beginning to be documented, it is fitting that the SDLP contribution should be recorded. It is easy to forget that, while Sinn Féin and the IRA were at war, the SDLP was the voice of constitutional nationalism in trying to find a peaceful solution to the 'national question'. Having overtaken the SDLP politically during recent years, Sinn Féin is keen to have its version of events as the official record, so Sean Farren's book is a timely reminder of the substantial contribution made by his Party.
However, whilst the book details the development of the Party and its political thinking, there is a strong impression that at least part of its purpose is to confirm the wisdom of SDLP ideology. Too often, when developing the story, the author references political theories as having been justified by subsequent events. The gift of 20:20 hindsight is wondrous, but I doubt that outcomes were so clear at the time!
The narrative has a strong sense of 'official history' about it and has only the occasional twirl of the skirt to reveal an SDLP ankle. It would have been interesting to see more detail on the tension between the Gerry Fitt / Paddy Devlin 'labour wing' and the John Hume / Seamus Mallon 'nationalist wing'. Farren writes:
Fitt's own explanation for his resignation was that the party was becoming too 'green' and, echoing Paddy Devlin, claimed that it had lost its socialist soul. At the press conference to announce his resignation, he complained: "I thought I was going to form a party that would have links with the trade union movement and that would talk to Protestants to try to bring about a Northern Ireland situation where we would work at some internal arrangement. The others (co-founders) were Nationalists. While it was in my blood to be a labour man, it was in their blood to be Nationalists".
Neither is there much detail on the close relationship with the Irish Government. Eamon Delaney's book 'The Accidental Diplomat', covering his life in the Department of Foreign Affairs, gives a taste of what the author might have covered:
"On a day-to-day basis, however, the relationship was an intimate one. Many officers would talk to their SDLP contacts almost daily…"
Delaney goes on to describe the DFA writing documents for the SDLP:
"Once drafted, the submission now had to be 'de-jargonised' and cleaned of any DFA phrasing. A few local colloquialisms would make it look home-grown. Completed, it was passed to the SDLP who presented it as their own".
Farren's book describes the complex journey made by the SDLP from 1970, and covers interesting battles within the Party - some urged British withdrawal while others advocated power-sharing; some in the Party also toyed with a Federal solution and, indeed, an independent Northern Ireland.
Perhaps the greatest sadness in the SDLP story is what might have been. The Sunningdale Agreement produced a power-sharing executive, but included a Council of Ireland - as Hugh Logue said - "the vehicle that would trundle unionists into a United Ireland". Farren describes an SDLP 1974 Conference motion which urged that:
'in view of the ever increasing bitterness and hostility among people, the party must face up to the reality of the present situation, that there is no prospect of peace until more emphasis is placed on local co-operation and less on the Irish dimension'.
The proposed motion to drop the Council of Ireland was heavily defeated, with Hume, Currie and Mallon speaking against. Seamus Mallon was credited with describing the 1998 Belfast Agreement as 'Sunningdale for slow learners'. Ah! What might have been….!
It is unfortunate that both the SDLP and the UUP, who carried on politics during the years when it was both fruitless and dangerous, and who in the end set up the institutions, saw their courage rewarded by being overtaken by their political enemies. However, in time, history may truly reflect their heroic efforts, and Sean Farren's book makes a useful contribution to that process.
