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Preaching Ulster's Eternal VeritiesIan Paisley: Voice of Protestant Ulster by Clifford SmythReview by: Steve BruceFortnight, No. 262 (May, 1988), p. 21Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25551554 .

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BOOKS

Preaching Ulster's

eternal verities Steve Bruce

Clifford Smyth Ian Paisley:

voice of Protestant Ulster

Scottish Academic Press, ?7.50

Eighteen months ago there were no serious books about Ian Paisley; now

there are three. Andy Pollak and Ed Moloney wrote the fat sexy thriller

version and I wrote the dull but worthy explanation of Paisley's success.

Clifford Smyth's book comes somewhere between the two styles. It is a

carefully documented assessment of Paisley's motives and actions but it

also benefits from some personal touches. Smyth was a rising young star

of the DUP and secretary of the United Ulster Unionist Council until

Paisley and his lieutenants turned on him (he's still coy about the reasons) and he is able to describe the early history of the party from the position of an insider.

Although one might expect the expellee to be in the axe-grinding business, Smyth's assessments are more balanced than those of Pollak

and Moloney?probably because, although like them he relies a lot on the

accounts of ex-Paisleyites, his own knowledge acts as a test of plausibil

ity. Thus he rejects the attempts to link Paisley closely with Gusty

Spence's UVF in the early 60s, or the argument that Paisley deliberately

destroyed the UUUC coalition with Vanguard and the Official Unionists to further the interests of the DUP.

This is not to say that Paisley did not take advantage of every

opportunity to further his party; it is just to get away from the simplistic notion that Paisley is a massively cunning and Machiavellian manipula tor. What comes across strongly is Paisley as a man driven by a few simple

imperatives?saving the last stronghold of the evangelical faith, Protes

tant Ulster, from the clutches of Rome aka the Republic aka the IRA?

rather than an elaborated political ideology. A man reacting, often with

little deliberation, to the circumstances which arose around him.

For readers with a general interest in the history of Ulster politics, this

is a satisfying and informative book. For scholars with a deeper interest

in explaining Paisley's success, there is a problem. Smyth draws briefly on Max Weber's famous description of three types of authority. 'Ra

tional-legal' authority follows from a set of rules. It is the sort of authority senior figures in bureaucracies possess, or which is invoked when people are persuaded to act in one way rather than another because 'the rules say so' or 'that is the most efficient thing to do'. Modern societies are knee

deep in rational-legal authority. Then there is 'traditional' authority: we

act in this way because that is how we have always done things. Finally, there is the 'charismatic' authority of the leader who claims no grounds for his leadership other than that he possesses supernatural or other

extraordinary qualities. The charismatic leader sets himself against the

tradition: 'It was written... and you have been taught... but I say unto you

Smyth rightly appreciates that Paisley is not a rational-legal authority

figure. He has always been a maverick, outside bureaucratic structures,

and he is never judged on the likelihood of his politics working. The author

makes the point neatly in his discussion of the 1977 loyalist strike.

Following the success of the 1974 Ulster Workers' Council stoppage in

destroying the power-sharing executive, Paisley tried it again three years later and failed miserably. This time the government stood firm, the power

workers stayed at work and the effort to force the government to return

devolved government to Northern Ireland fizzled out. But, far from losing

support, the DUP increased its vote at the subsequent local government elections. The explanation is that, although the strike achieved nothing, unionists could see that 'the Big Man tried to do something', that his heart

was in the right place. Where Smyth is misleading is in explaining Paisley's success by

describing him as a charismatic figure. Paisley is certainly a good orator,

works tremendously hard and has a striking personality which commands

great loyalty, but these are qualities of successful representatives of each

of the three types of authority. He owes his political and religious success

not to any innovation but to his clear articulation of what his followers

believe to be the tradition of Ulster Protestant unionism.

Paisley sells his audience a version of the past: a history of great successes when the people were true to the faith, and disasters when they turned away from God?usually misled by treacherous leaders. After

listing the trials of the past, he describes the dangers of the present and tells

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From generation to generation?Paisley's

granddaughter receives the political faith

his audience to pray that God raise up a great leader for this time of crisis.

He doesn't need to send in his application for the job: if they have bought the history they also endorse Paisley as the man for the hour. Paisley's

appeal is traditional. Unlike the O'Neillites, he does not say 'Our fathers

said ... but I think we should do something different.' Paisley says 'Our

fathers said ... and I say exactly the same thing, so support me as you

supported them.'

Although Smyth wants to explain Paisley's success as resulting from

something other than just an articulation of a popular tradition, he is too

well acquainted with DUP supporters to make the error of Pollak and

Moloney of blaming Ian Paisley for the Ulster crisis. Pollak and Moloney want to believe that things could have been very different and that, had

Paisley shown more Christian courage and virtue, he could have led his

people in a very different direction. They want a villain. Although he

wants to criticise Paisley, Smyth realises that the Big Man is not so much

a leader as a representative?someone who has come to the fore because

he embodies and exemplifies a set of beliefs which are widely shared

amongst Protestants in Ulster. On the odd occasions when he has seemed

to depart from the narrow ground, his followers have called him back.

Other candidates for the voice of Ulster who have failed to heed such

calls?Bill Craig being the most obvious example?have been ditched.

Overall, what is most satisfying about Smyth's book is that, although he has moved some way in both politics and religion from his Paisleyite days, he does not take cheap shots. He is prepared to accept that Paisley does actually believe his evangelical preaching, that he does feel driven to political action by that faith, and that a lot of his support comes from

people who really do believe these things.

Understanding will not of itself produce political progress. It may well

be that nothing which would be counted as progress by all sides is

possible. But the conspicuous failure to understand Paisley and his people shown by British politicians over the last 20 years will not help anybody.

For that reason Smyth's book should be compulsory reading for the

British and Dublin governments and for the British civil service.

Fortnight May 21

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