Let me in this speech lay out to you the basic philosophy of the IRSP. I wish to deal with our beliefs under a number of headings, including militarism, Republican unity, the peace process, working class unity and our political direction.

Regardless of the public image, regardless of the lurid headlines, regardless of the spin doctoring from both British intelligence and the provisional movement, the IRSP and its supporting organisations are genuine working class organisations with a Marxist orientation and totally opposed to mindless militarism.

We oppose terrorism. No genuine revolutionary movement can hope to survive by divorcing itself from the working class - and individual terroristic actions do exactly that. Our perspective is that armed action by any revolutionary movement should be in support of the working class, not in spite of it or in substitution for it.

A revolutionary army in the context of today's Europe and the enormous changes taking place in the composition of the working class must of its very nature truly be an army from and of the people.

Recently I had the privilege of attending a very moving ceremony celebrating the 25th anniversary of the murder of Staff Captain, Joe Mc Cann, Official IRA. I use the word "celebrate" for it was indeed a celebration, a celebration of Joe's socialism, revolutionary fervour and commitment to Republican Socialism. Like Che Guevara, Joe was both larger than life and an icon.

In saying this I do not try to claim Joe Mc Cann on behalf of the IRSP. But we do honour him. Some of those who stood with him in defence of the working class Markets area of Belfast against the might of the British Army in August 1971, later went on to found the IRSP. Other comrades went in a different direction. Bitterness developed, guns were used, comrades died, and British imperialism benefited. We have had a long period of both political advance and set-back. Some allowed themselves to be manipulated by foreign intelligence services. History will judge them harshly.

But as I stood there in Hamilton Street while a comrade in arms of Joe's from more than 30 years ago delivered a moving eulogy, I could not but look around at the audience and think," what if". There they all were: IRSP, Provos, Sticks, Officials, the militant working class from the Markets and the rest of Belfast honouring a Republican Socialist, and yet hard-put to exchange a civil word with each other.

What if they agreed to work on the basis of a broad front that had as its goal, "the Republic"? After all, we started out as Republicans, as comrades believing that the interests of the people of all Ireland were best served by a unified Republic freed from Imperialism.

Was that such an ignoble goal? Were we wrong? Are we now wrong to still have that as our goal? Although, in our case, it is a socialist republic we seek and struggle for.

The IRSP have advocated and continue to advocate a Republican Forum where the varying shades of Irish Republicanism could sit down together and discuss our differences and also on what basis we could have unified activity.

It is clear to us that the "pacification process" is having a profound effect on all shades of opinion. The 'peace process' has tapped into and cynically manipulates the genuine yearning for the absence of violence by many Irish people. We share that yearning. But the IRSP have chosen to be critical of the politics of the 'peace process.' Not because we are opposed to peace. We reject this process because it is based on a false premise, one which is exclusive and is predetermined in favour of a pro-imperialist internal six-county settlement.

It has been managed in an elitist, arrogant manner, by those who seem to believe they are the only republicans on the Island of Ireland. In the manner in which they have managed the peace process the Provos have confirmed our opinion of their movement as no more than the militant wing of northern nationalism.

We called in the recent elections for a vote for Sinn Fein on the basis that they were the only party still formally committed to a Republic and that in the light of the right-wing backlash represented by Drumcree 1996 there was a responsibility on all to call for anti-unionist unity in the short term.

This electoral support must be viewed on many issues. We have disagreements with them. But the way forward for our movement is not to rely on the mistakes of our opponents but on the positive strengths of our own policies. As a revolutionary movement we have had a bumpy ride. We have made mistakes and indeed had failed to learn from our own history in the past. But we now can no longer offer excuses. Our movement will learn not only from Irish History but from the history of the revolutionary Marxist movements from 1917.

The major item on their political agenda is equality. Is that what the struggle from 1968 was all about?

For our part we believe that regardless of whatever settlement is reached in the coming period it will be an interim settlement. We will continue to advocate, propagandise and struggle for the Republic of Connolly and Mellowes, for a country where the wealth of the nation is the wealth of the people, Socialism.

As in any other country, the struggle for socialism in Ireland requires the unity of the working class. As socialists we want to see a unification of the working class in common struggle against capitalism. Naturally we want to see large sections of the Protestant working class break from the deadwood of loyalist ideology and join in common struggle With their fellow workers. Realistically there is little chance of that happening so long as the sectarian six-county state exists. Parties whose main political platform has been pandering to loyalist prejudice like the Workers Party have been decimated both in terms of personnel and at the polls. Their strategy has failed abysmally.

It is our historic task to build a revolutionary internationalist party in Ireland that will neither elevate any method of revolutionary struggle to that of an untouchable principle, nor rule out of the equation methods that may offend some susceptibilities. Such a party will be principled and flexible and will serve the long term interests of the class. In the coming period the IRSP has set itself a task of articulating and representing the aspirations of those groups in society who have been marginalised, demonised and discriminated against.