The fact that the representatives of republicanism and unionism will at least be under the same roof - though not perhaps at the same table - when the Stormont talks resume next month can be seen as a triumph for the conciliatory approach of the SDLP, founded on this day 27 years ago. We are also approaching the 25th anniversary of the party's seminal political document, Towards a New Ireland, published in 1972. There is a poignancy about the photograph of the party's first press conference which appeared in this newspaper. Senator Paddy Wilson was brutally murdered three years later; Messrs Ivan Cooper, Paddy Devlin, Gerry Fitt and Austin Currie have all moved on. Only John Hume remains, and there is speculation that he, too, may exchange the leadership of Northern constitutional nationalism for the Presidency of Ireland.
The recent successes of Sinn Fein should not obscure the fact that the SDLP is still a formidable electoral force - it secured its highest vote so far in last May's Westminster election. True, the party lost the West Belfast seat, but it was unlucky not to make up for this by winning the new constituency of West Tyrone.
The party is gearing up for the talks, still promoting the same basic philosophy outlined in Towards a New Ireland. According to senior party sources, the document "stands the test of time". Its proposals may have been refined and developed with time, but there is still the same basic thrust of seeking to resolve the conflict by bringing all traditions together in harmony and justice.
If the republican ceasefire holds and the IRA really does go away, it may become difficult to distinguish between the SDLP and Sinn Fein. Already, the leaders of Sinn Fein have become fluent in "Humespeak", the language of moderation and consensus. A permanent peace would open up the prospect of electoral pacts between the main nationalist parties to maximise their seats at Westminster and in a possible Northern assembly. So long as they are singing off the same hymn-sheet, will Northern nationalists care what label their leaders carry any more?
Some party activists believe the SDLP needs to reinvent itself a la New Labour and that the departure of John Hume would facilitate that process. They now feel the party was too timid when it allowed John Hume to take all the risks attendant on the Hume-Adams initiative. True, if the peace moves had failed, there would have been minimal damage to the SDLP, but now, with a ceasefire and the possibility of all-party talks, the credit has gone to the leader rather than to the party.
The main electoral gains have been made by Sinn Fein and its leaders are making high-profile interventions on parity of esteem and equality - issues on which the SDLP has been working quietly for years. Even the "Big Mac" debate between Ken Maginnis and Martin McGuinness constituted a sidelining of the SDLP and turned the media focus on relations between the unionists and Sinn Fein instead of unionists and the main nationalist party.
Others in the party take a more upbeat view of the SDLP's prospects. A strategy team is completing the party's position paper for the Stormont talks. One of the core issues is how to vindicate the rights of both communities in Northern Ireland, since domination of one side by the other is unacceptable.
At the same time, there is a nagging anxiety that the talks are still officially frozen at the decommissioning stage of the agenda, and this will either have to be resolved or sidelined before progress can be made.
There is uncertainty, too, over the format of the talks. If the Ulster Unionists decide to stay away from the round table, but remain in the building, the negotiations may have to be conducted according to what is being called a "variable geometry" of bilaterals and multilaterals.
From a Sinn Fein viewpoint, the departure of John Hume for Aras an Uachtarain would cause major problems, possibly greater than the departure of Albert Reynolds from the office of Taoiseach in 1994. Some SDLP activists take a cynical view of this, asserting that the republicans merely want Hume to hold their hands until they are ready to upstage the SDLP. The battle for the soul of Northern nationalism is not over yet.