What Now For The SDLP?

From its founding in 1970 to the end of the 20th century, the SDLP had been the main voice of Irish nationalism in the north. Sinn Fein's share of the nationalist vote increased at the SDLP’s expense after the Good Friday Agreement took effect and Sinn Fein put more distance between itself and the Provisional IRA's armed campaign. Some unionist commentators are fond of making the preposterous suggestion that nationalist voters are inclined to support violence but unionist voters are not, an allegation that is refuted by the very fact that Sinn Fein did not become the potent political force it is until long after the violence stopped.

Today the SDLP comes across as a solution in search of a problem. John Hume successfully bridged the gap between the IRA and constitutional politics long ago. The war is over and there is no longer any need to persuade mainstream republicans of the value of reforming the political system from within as opposed to applying violent pressure on it from the outside.

Some lay blame for the SDLP's decline over the last decade on the absence of John Hume and Seamus Mallon at the head of the party. Margaret Ritchie's leadership has certainly been questionable. Leaked cables posted on Wikileaks famously highlighted US diplomats describing her as a "wooden" leader with an unpleasant public speaking voice and lacking the business or political acumen necessary to rebuild the party. However her predecessor Mark Durkan was a capable leader and was every bit as good a public performer as Hume. The party's decline certainly did not begin on Mrs Ritchie's watch. Indeed it is to her credit that she resisted calls for a merger with Fianna Fail, a brand that is now heavily damaged and has become synonymous with corruption and incompetence. Any merger with a southern party would have blunted Sinn Fein's boast that it is the only true all-Ireland party but achieved little else.

The rot started to set in towards the end of John Hume's leadership. Hume was certainly a visionary who steered his party through the troubles and into the peace process. However he eventually started referring to something called "post nationalism," claiming that the old nationalist mindset of "this is our land and [unionists] are a minority in it" had all changed. Really? Where did that come from?

Mr Hume had been spending considerable time at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He spoke of the emotional experience of being in a location that had changed hands many times over the centuries in violent and destructive military struggles between various European powers, but in the modern era had become the site of an institution that aimed to make international borders irrelevant in Europe and hence render war obsolete. It would have been easy to get carried away with the grandeur of the exciting European project that was taking shape at the time, and in the process lose touch with what grass roots nationalists were thinking.

As younger nationalists crossed the age of 18 and acquired the right to vote, fewer of them found anything in the SDLP's message that resonated. The unapologetic nationalism of Sinn Fein was much more compelling, and belated attempts by the SDLP to repair its nationalist credentials came too late and appeared as a desperate and unconvincing effort to emulate Sinn Fein.

So what now for the party? If it moves closer to Sinn Fein's position then northern nationalist politics would resemble southern politics where Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are essentially identical parties which are run like family businesses. It would also undermine any support that the party might have among moderate unionists who may be willing to give it their transfers in elections.

This writer was once told that you vote Sinn Fein if you want a united Ireland, but you vote SDLP if you want a few street lights put up on your road. If the SDLP chooses to differentiate itself from Sinn Fein then it has to do so on the national question and not just bread-and-butter issues. Whether we like it or not, voters in the north still treat every election, including local council elections, as if they were a border poll. The party has to come up with a more compelling case for a united Ireland and a more convincing explanation for how it plans to make it happen. To that end it could play a vital role in bridging the divide. Indeed Margaret Ritchie has worn a poppy and party representatives have attended Remembrance Day ceremonies. Such actions may draw scorn from some in republican circles, but they are vital steps in assuring northern protestants that their customs and concerns will not be obliterated in a united Ireland. Taking seats in Westminster may also attract derisory comments from republicans who point to them swearing allegiance, but the same criticism could be made of O’Connell and Parnell, two figures who took their seats in Parliament and are still revered in nationalist lore to this day.

Parties have come and gone over time from Parnell’s Irish Parliamentary Party to the Nationalist Party at Stormont to the modern SDLP and Sinn Fein. But the cause of Irish nationalism goes on because it is bigger than any one party. The SDLP needs to find a role that it can play in that cause if it is not to go the way of its predecessors, and whoever emerges as the winner of the current leadership contest will have their work cut out.