The founding of the People's Commonwealth of Ulster

Morty Vicar

Banned
GRRR I just wrote out a whole essay, went to submit, had to re-login, and lost it all! :mad: :mad:

Aaaanyway (deep breath, mental note to self to copy and paste everything this time!) :D

28 May 1974

We, the Ulster Workers Council, regret to announce that the talks over the Sunningdale Agreement have broken down. Power-sharing is unacceptable, and the British Government have proved themselves untrustworthy, and we are left with no alternative but to declare a state of emergency and break all ties with the Union until the matter is fully resolved. The new state, to be provisionally named the People's Commonwealth of Ulster (suggestions including the People's Republic of Ulster, and the Workers State of Ulster were vetoed by the Council) rejects all current claims of sovereignty, and is armed and prepared to defend itself from attack. The border will be enforced and all intrusions will be considered hostile. The security forces have been sacked and the Army Council have been granted special license to administer law and order. The transitional Government will be headed by the Ulster Workers Council, with the full support of the Ulster Army Council. We hope that this matter will be resolved quickly and painlessly, however we are also prepared to defend our people with any and all means at our disposal. We hereby sign the Ulster Covenant as our founding constitution, and rais eour flag over Stormont and Belfast city Hall..

16if608.jpg


This much is canon. However many questions remain open, it is highly likely rioting will ensue throughout Northern Ireland, some nationalist areas will no doubt hold out against the pogroms but its also possible they will take advantage of safe passage offers from the loyalists to fight from the border, essentially a continuation of the previous unsuccesful IRA border campaign. Some Unionist elements (for example Enoch Powell) are very likely to oppose the new statelet vehemently, there may even be some element of Unionists in favour of power-sharing colluding with nationalist groups, politically at least. With that in mind I made this possible flag of the opposition..

rt0qwm.jpg


..but thats probably taking it too far! :D Other questions, such as the embarrasment caused to the British by the failure of the talks, mean they either have to negotiate with the junta (thereby giving it de facto recognition) or send in the army. Although much of the military is sympathetic to the loyalists, this itself still causes ripples of unrest on the mainland. Despite the outwardly leftist appearance of the movement, global communist reactions are mixed. Some mainland Trade Unions strike in solidarity, some members of the communist party express their support but reiterate the need for an anti-sectarian unilateral socialist movement in NI. However the Labour Party remain silent on the issue. The new statelet expresses its support of Vietnam, although critics suggest this has more to do with prejudice against catholics than any shared leftist ideology. Israel almost immediately recognises the new state, although they greatly risked alienating their US supporters.

*PS I know this is still a controversial topic, I don't intend to cause offense to anyone.
 
Last edited:
Ulster under a UDI format simply could not survive! The IRA in the 1920s post partition tried to create a highly unstable Ulster-N.Ireland, without Tyrone, Fermanagh, Derry or Armagh all of which had or were very close to having catholic majorities, leaving only Down and Antrim, which of course includes Belfast, such a statelette would be unworkable, even at 6 counties without substantial British money propping it up!
 

Morty Vicar

Banned
I know what you're saying, but we could also factor in some support from the west of scotland (although that said supporters would arrive from both sides!) the RUC, who lets face it are mainly loyalist anyway, would probably join the rebellion, possibly bringing some of their firepower with them. Even without any peacekeeping force I suspect the loyalists would hold their own to some extent, unless they were entirely wiped out. Although as you say they would be unable to control the six counties in their entirety. Its possible the residents of Londonderry and Portadown might hold out under siege conditions for a while, or take off to Belfast. Actually it would be interesting if Belfast became the first modern city state!

EDIT: sorry newbie here, whats UDI?
 
I would think with significant Republican involvement, a mini-civil war already, and Britain merely keeping the Irish government out of it rather than stepping in to help, that you won't have any significant unionist faction trying to undermine Ulster. They'll naturally unite against the Republicans, won't they?
 

Morty Vicar

Banned
Its more likely, yes. But the diehard Unionists wouldn't be too happy about the notion of Independence from the UK, regardless of the situation, especially by a bunch of (to quote harold wilson at the time) 'spongers'. Ultra-conservative characters like Enoch Powell, then leader of the Ulster Unionist party, who were largely hostile even to the devolution of NI, would not imo support the new government.
 
UDI = Unilateral Declaration of Independence. ;)

It's an interesting idea, there were some Loyalists who thought of taking such a step, most notably Bill Craig during the final days of Stormont, Paisley also flirted with supporting Ulster Independence at several points and some Loyalists saw their situation as comparable with Rhodesia.

However as mentioned above, NI was totally dependent on British money and in the event of a UDI the economy would have collapsed within weeks. Rhodesia had large reserves of chromite and other minerals to bankroll it's UDI but NI doesn't have those resources. In order to make your scenario a reality you need to increase support for an independent Ulster dramatically and even then the chances are it's going to fail relatively quickly.
 

Morty Vicar

Banned
Oh right thanks! Yes the local economy was nowhere near self-sufficiency, the main industry was shipbuilding (hence the anchor symbol in the above flag) but that was already in a state of decline by the 70's I believe. The only way for an independent NI to survive is some sort of agrarian communist model, as in Cambodia for example, but even then I'm not sure there is sufficient farmland to sustain its population, particularly when that population is probably going to be heavily defending its borders at least, quite possibly the interior too.
 
Top