1 The Civil Rights Era in Northern Ireland Prof Peter Gray, Director, Institute of Irish Studies, QUB
2 Northern Ireland as a Discriminatory StateNI established as consequence of partition of Ireland NI given self-government within the UK with own parliament and government Dominated by Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) with support of Protestant majority Legitimacy of state rejected by Catholic minority in NI (c.30% of population) and by Irish Free State/ Republic of Ireland
3 Northern Ireland as a Discriminatory StateWhy discriminate against the minority? NI born in conflict – ‘First Troubles’ – leaves hundreds dead in Belfast and border counties; IRA campaign Distrust of ‘internal subversion’ and ‘disloyalists’ – sectarian rioting common Need to consolidate the new state in early 1920s Religious prejudice Punch cartoon, 1922
4 B-Special greetings card, 1924Security Policy Ulster Special Constabulary (B- Specials) formed late 1920 as state security force for NI – an exclusively Protestant armed militia Special Powers Act (NI) introduced 1922 giving coercive powers to NI govt (retained to 1970s) Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) introduced 1922, based on old RIC (some RC officers but mostly southerners) B-Specials c.1922 B-Special greetings card, 1924
5 Local Government NI Local Govt Act 1922 abolishes Proportional Representation (PR) in local govt and redraws electoral boundaries (‘gerrymandering’) Restores County Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry city councils to UUP control (previously suspended due to nationalist councils elected 1920) PR abolished for NI Parliament elections 1929 PR only restored in local and NI government elections 1973 Local govt controls significant employment; allocation of public housing ‘Proportional Representation, laddie, means confusion to ‘Ulster’. Cut out such new-fangled stuff. Every Orangeman knows how many beans make five!’ ‘“Ulster” Arithmetic’ – Shemus, Weekly Freeman, 22 Sept. 1922
6 Education 1923 Education Act prepared by Lord Londonderry: seeks equitable treatment of Catholic education in a non-denominational system Opposed by churches (Protestant and Catholic) and by Orange Order Londonderry resigns 1926 Legislation amended to favour Protestant schools and guarantee interests of Protestant churches 1925, 1930 7th Marquis of Londonderry, NI Education minister
7 A discriminatory state?Richard Dawson Bates at Home Affairs: had ‘Such a prejudice against Catholics that he made it clear to his permanent Secretary that he did not want his most juvenile clerk or typist, if a Papist, assigned for duty to his ministry.’ Bates lifts ban on RUC membership of Orange Order 1923 Close relationship of Orange Order and the Ulster Unionist Party – a cross-class vertical alignment Unionist hegemony dependent on continuity of internal and external threats? Continuing Catholic (Nationalist Party and Sinn Fein) boycott of state institutions until and again after 1932 Richard Dawson Bates, NI Home Affairs Minister, William Conor, Orange March
8 The two James Craigs The Prime Minister: The Orangeman:The NI Parliament pledged itself ‘to look after the people as a whole, to set ourselves to probe the bottom of those problems that have retarded progress in the past, to do everything that lies in our power to help forward developments in town and country ... we will be absolutely honest and fair in administering the law’. [NI HCs June 1921] The Orangeman: ‘I am very proud to be indeed to be the Grand Master of the loyal county of Down. I have filled that office for many years and I prize that far more than I do being Prime Minister. I have always said I am an Orangeman first and a politician and MP afterwards … the hon. Member must remember that in the South they boasted of a Catholic State. … All I boast of is that we are a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State.’ [NI HCs 24 April 1934]
9 Stormont Parliament Buildings, Stormont, opened as permanent home of NI Parliament, 1932 Sir Arnold Thornley, architect Funded by UK Treasury Statue of Edward Carson added, 1932 Opening of Stormont, 1932 Carson statue, detail
10 Economic crisis Structural problems in NI heavy industries from 1922 Damaged by ‘economic war’ with South in 1930s Crisis in heavy industries – shipbuilding, textiles, engineering following Wall St Crash High unemployment in NI to 1939 Greater class tensions: 1932 outdoor relief riots against cuts to welfare benefits Serious sectarian rioting in Belfast 1935: 13 killed UUP stresses need for Protestant unity and danger from Catholic and southern Irish threats
11 Legacy of WW2 A ‘good war’ Revival in heavy industry 1940s-50sEconomic restructuring Revived sense of common ‘Britishness’ with GB due to shared war experience (Belfast Blitz 1941) War reduces anti-Unionism in UK Labour Party Political rewards for war effort 1949 Ireland Act guarantees NI’s constitutional status
12 ‘Creeping socialism’? 1945-51Sir Basil Brooke (Lord Brookeborough) UUP leader and PM of NI Clement Attlee: leader of UK Labour government
13 The Welfare State comes to NI‘Step by Step’ policy – Stormont follows Labour measures Financed by agreement with UK Treasury National Assistance, Family Allowances, Non-contributory Pensions Poor Law abolished 1948 National Health Service introduced 1948 NI Education Act 1947 NI Housing Trust established 1945
14 Social consequences of welfarismPopular with Protestant and Catholic working classes Raises social expectations Promotes development of Catholic professional middle class (access to higher education) Sharpens social differences between north and south of Ireland Slows emigration from NI – encourages growth in Catholic share of population (37% by 1971) Ties Stormont financially more firmly to Westminster
15 Failure to adopt political reformStormont refuses to adopt Labour’s local govt reforms in GB; multiple property votes retained Local govt controlled services (esp. housing) - highly politicised with overt discrimination in west Brooke remains hostile to Catholics joining UUP A lost opportunity for reconciliation? Context of southern anti- partitionist campaign late 1940s-50s (De Valera)
16 Captain Terence O’NeillNI Finance Minister UUP leader and Prime Minister Landed family (O’Neills of Shane’s Castle, Co. Antrim) English educated; Captain in Irish Guards in WW2 Unionist MP from 1946 Member of Orange Order and Apprentice Boys of Derry
17 O’Neill’s ‘Liberal Unionism’ 1963-9Technocratic approach to socio- economic development 1964 Wilson Report on NI economy Seeks multinational investment Rapprochement with Sean Lemass (PM of Republic of Ireland) 1965 Liberal Unionist attitude towards Catholic institutions Sought working relationship with Harold Wilson’s Labour govt in GB ( ) Sean Lemass and Terence O’Neill meet at Stormont, 1965
18 Limitations of O’Neillism (1)Political success – Stormont elections: UUP vote rises to 60%; NI Labour slips Limits of planned economy (Craigavon new city) Disproportionate development in East Ulster Continued decline of textiles and shipbuilding Catholic political and social expectations not met New University controversy 1968
19 Limitations of O’Neillism (2)No political/security reforms before 1969 Polarisation over commemorations in / UVF paramilitary revival and violence Unhappiness of UUP colleagues (William Craig) and Orange Order towards reforms – anti- O’Neill feeling grows Protesters confront O’Neill, c. 1968 William Craig and Vanguard Unionist Party leaders, 1972
20 The rise of Ian Paisley: Protestant backlashFounds Free Presbyterian Church 1950s Opposed ‘ecumenism’ in religion and politics Member of ‘Ulster Protestant Action’ from late 1950s Published Protestant Telegraph Provokes riots over display of tricolour on Divis St,1964; and demonstrates vs Presbyterian General Assembly, 1966 Protests against Lemass visit 1965 Imprisoned for public order offences 1966, 1969 Paisley electioneering for the Protestant Unionist Party, 1970 Leads ‘O’Neill must go’ campaign Nearly defeats O’Neill in Bannside election 1969 Founds Democratic Unionist Party 1972
21 The rise of the Civil Rights MovementDungannon Homeless Citizens’ League 1963 Campaign for Social Justice 1964 (C. and P. McCluskey) Initial focus west of River Bann On housing and local govt employment and franchise Initially a lobbying body Support from Campaign for Democracy in Ulster (British Labour Party group) Support from Gerry Fitt, Republican Labour/SDLP MP for W. Belfast Fails to get NI issues debated at Westminster Failure of Sheelagh Murnaghan’s Human Rights Bills in Stormont, 1960s
22 NICRA NI Civil Rights Association formed Feb. 1967Loose coalition of CSJ, Liberals, Republicans, NILP, TUs, NI Communist Party, NDP Support from IRA under leftist leadership of Cathal Goulding Aims: universal adult suffrage in local government elections (‘one man one vote’) the end to 'gerrymandered' electoral boundaries the allocation of public housing on the basis of need (points system) repeal of the Special Powers Act; the disbanding of the B-Specials (USC) the end to religious discrimination in employment a system to deal with complaints of discrimination.
23 NICRA activities NICRA modelled (loosely) on M.L. King’s US Black Civil Rights movement But no training in peaceful direct action Student activism – ‘People’s Democracy’ (QUB) Housing occupations – Caledon June 1968 Demonstrations: Coalisland-Dungannon march Aug. 1968 Provokes Loyalist counter-marches and confrontation Civil Rights a ‘Communist-Republican Conspiracy’ QUB students in Civil Rights protest, 1968
24 Derry 1968 Londonderry Corporation under minority UUP control from 1923 Some of worst housing and unemployment in Europe Anger at limits of economic development and location of NUU at Coleraine 1965 Derry Housing Action Committee active 1968 Local leadership of John Hume, Ivan Cooper, Eamonn McCann Gerrymandered 3-ward system in Derry ensured UUP control of Corporation
25 Derry, 5 October 1968 NICRA protest march from Waterside to Diamond in Derry 3 UK Labour MPs and Gerry Fitt present; c.400 marchers Banned by William Craig as loyalists threatened counter-parade NICRA Protestors batoned by RUC Filmed and broadcast by RTE tv crew Followed by rioting in Bogside Sparks political crisis Still from RTE coverage of 5 October riot
26 ‘We Shall Overcome: The Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland 1968 – 1969’ (2014)https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=_7rRq c1rV4Y
27 Consequences 15,000 in demonstration in Derry Nov. 1968UK, Irish and World attention focused on NI O’Neill comes under external pressure to introduce reforms Growing tensions between moderates (John Hume, Ivan Cooper) and radicals (PD/Republicans – Eamonn McCann, Bernadette Devlin) in NICRA
28 The crisis of O’Neillism22 Nov O’Neill offers reform package: a nine member 'Development Commission' to take over the powers of the Londonderry Corporation; an ombudsman to investigate complaints against government departments; the allocation of houses by local authorities to be based on need; Special Powers Act to be abolished ‘as soon as it was safe to do so’; some reform of the local government franchise NICRA leadership announce temporary halt to demonstrations (broken by PD January 1969) 9 Dec O’Neill makes ‘Ulster stands at the Crossroads’ speech 11 Dec O’Neill sacks William Craig as Home Affairs Minister Growing Unionist/Loyalist backlash but Catholic/Nationalist dissatisfaction with limits of reform Increasing pressure for reform from UK and ROI governments
29 1969: Outbreak of the TroublesJan – People’s Democracy march attacked at Burntollet O’Neill forced to resign by Loyalist backlash May 1969 ‘Marching Season’ marked by high tensions ‘Battle of the Bogside’ August following ABD March – B-Specials and RUC forced out by rioters Spreads to Belfast – burning of Bombay St – mass sectarian rioting British Army deployed as peacekeepers, 15 Aug. 1969 British Army deployed in Derry August 1969
30 O’Neill’s failure ‘It is frightfully hard to explain to Protestants that if you give Roman Catholics a good job and a good house, they will live like Protestants ... they will refuse to have 18 children, but if the Roman Catholic is jobless and lives in a ghastly hovel he will rear 18 children on national assistance. It is impossible to explain this to a militant Protestant … He cannot understand, in fact, that if you treat Roman Catholics with due consideration and kindness, they will live like Protestants in spite of the authoritative nature of their Church.’ (Interview in Belfast Telegraph, 10 May 1969)
31 Outcomes Most NICRA demands met (voting, housing, education); Fair Employment Act 1976 B-Specials abolished and RUC disarmed 1970 BUT Escalation of sectarian violence from 1969 Revival of IRA from 1970; Loyalist Paramilitaries British Army takes hard-line security stance from 1970: Falls Curfew, Internment (1971), Bloody Sunday (1972) – creation of security state Collapse of NI into civil war by 1972 Suspension of Stormont government May 1972
32 Some questions Was religious/ethnic discrimination inevitable in a self-governing NI? Was self-governing NI effective in addressing any of its internal problems and problem of state legitimacy? Was NI capable of reform in the 1960s? Why did the peaceful protest of NICRA fail? Were the ‘Troubles’ that broke out in summer 1969 inevitable?