In war and peace, Martin McGuinness’s commitment was total and pivotal

Martin McGuinness was the most significant player in Northern Irish politics, for bad and then good, over the course of the past half-century. The scale and duration of his career means there are few commentators or politicians North or South who have not met him or had some dealings with him, who had to reflect on – and in many instances alter – their views of him.

McGuinness was a hero to his own generation of Republicans as well as an iconic figure for a newer generation of Sinn Féin politicians. The later are particularly sensitive to any criticism of McGuinness. Such is their fervour that they take any attack on his legacy personally.

The rapid onset of his illness, along with those decent Irish tendencies to not speak ill of the dead and to be sensitive to the recently bereaved, has, with some nasty exceptions, imposed a restraint on the assessment of McGuinness, even from his enemies.

So it has not been surprising to see even some of the most seasoned commentators struggle to offer their definitive view of Martin McGuinness. Such was his complexity that a true assessment cannot be done in 140-characters tweets, one-minute soundbites or newspaper columns of less than 1,000 words.

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To and from

It is interesting to note that the two most prominent words in the headlines on the hundreds of pieces about McGuinness were “to’ and “from”. As in “from gunman to statesman”, “from prisoner to peace maker”, “from IRA chief to Sinn Féin minister”.

To that extent, the coverage of his passing echoes those of Ian Paisley’s, when headlines included variations of “from dangerous demagogue to first minister” and “from protestor in chief to chief minister”.

Yet, of course, characterising McGuinness career in this way, as a Pauline journey, is in itself a qualified assessment.

When we come, ultimately, to assess the life's work of John Hume, for example, there will be no need for such qualification. Notwithstanding many of the same provocations, Hume opted from the start to pursue purely peaceful means. He spent the brutal decades of the Troubles championing the cause of peace and was the key architect of a peaceful pathway out of the conflict.

When McGuinness and others concluded that violence could not work and found the courage to lead others away from it, Hume was there. Hume walked them down that peaceful path and persuaded the British and Irish governments and various US administrations to talk to and walk with them.

The reward for McGuinness and his colleagues was success at the ballot box at the expense of Hume’s own party. But Hume saw those consequences as worth the hundreds of lives saved – and the hundreds or thousands of lives transformed.

Insult to memories

At this time, many people cannot bring themselves to forgive McGuinness because they still hurt so much. To them, the acreage of coverage at his passing is an insult to the memories of their own loved ones killed by the IRA, victims who receive only fleeting mentions and have seldom been given coverage over the years.

For some there is a striking irony – and for the rest of us a complexity – in the fact that on the day London again recovers from terror on its streets, thousands gather in Derry to mourn the passing of man who led an organisation that brought terror to London and other cities in earlier decades.

Of course, there will always be some who are so implacable and ideologically opposed to McGuinness they can’t acknowledge the British role in creating and enabling the terrors and injustices that led hundreds of men of McGuinness generation in Derry and elsewhere to join the IRA.

In his final interviews, McGuinness professed himself to be uninterested in history’s judgment on him. Historians, he noted, usually come with their own political perspectives. But history’s perspective on significant figures is also shaped by the timing at which those assessments are offered. As time passes, historians usually learn more of the truth about what occurred.

Many secrets

There is much about the early adult decades of Martin McGuinness’s life which is not known, or which is very contested. He himself, for obvious reasons, never furnished a truthful account. McGuinness brings many dark secrets with him to the grave. In the decades to come, some of those secrets may be revealed publicly by others or emerge through forensic historical research.

For now, we know more of McGuinness role in the peace process then we do of his role in the IRA’s violent campaign. Almost all involved in the former say his commitment to peace was genuine, total and pivotal. For that, he deserves our national gratitude.