ABSTRACT
This chapter examines revisionist nationalist attitudes towards partition, Northern Ireland and Ulster unionism. It looks at the party most associated with constitutional nationalism in Northern Ireland, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The chapter examines the movement most identified with extremist nationalism, namely the Provisional Republican movement. It considers the battle between democratic republicanism/constitutional nationalism and fundamental republicanism/extremist nationalism for the hearts and minds of Irish nationalism. The moderate nationalist position is represented by the SDLP, the SDLP was founded in 1970 its first leader was Gerry Fitt. Sinn Fein has grown from a pariah party on the fringe of the political spectrum to being a political force on both sides of the Irish border. Sinn Fein's new, sanitized vocabulary has outraged many in the SDLP. On revisionism in Irish historiography, Attwood believes that it is not a valid approach to conduct ones political affairs or view of history in absolutist terms.
