new year greetings irish people laugh of special powers act. the irish petition will be presented...

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SPECIAL ENLARGED 21*t BIRTHDAY NUMBER New Year Greetings to all our Readers Irish people laugh IRISH 6 D DEM C O A T No. 18 i JANUARY 1960 POLICE STOP ATHLETES RUNNING YOU can't even hold a harmless cross-country race Six Counties today. That <s w h a t L i m a v a d y non- politicyl, non-sectai ian Athletic Club i'ound when they invited clubs j i o m other parts of Ul- ster (including Cavan and Mona^han) to race with them in Derry. Ove; ' t o hundred police entered the toy.: 1 to enforce a ban on rac- ing. A';d to show they meant busine: s rnanv ol lhem had sub- niachir.e-guns! On!' ' ur of the eleven clubs tnanat!' 1 to act to LimavtAiy a? all. T" m' came from Derry City (Oak leaf Club'. Armagh City and N'v.ry < Shamrocks». All the Bellas: < lubs were held tin bv the police prevented from reach- ing thei: destination. 'I h e same happen',' to the Cavan and Monaghan clubs. MADHOUSE The reason for this latest act ol lunacy iiom the Six-County mad- house? It coincides with the fall of Mr. Topping and the instatement of "stout Orange blade" Brian Faulk- ner a> Home Secretary following Mr. R A. Butler's "give 'em sanc- tions'' visit to Lord Brookeborough. Mr. 'I (ping had banned the Boveva(-,n Orange band from parading its sectarianism through Catholi Dungivcn. Now the ath- letes are being forbidden to run not because they are Catholic, but because ihey are tolerant, because they ('; r.'t care whether you are •rotestant or Catholic as long as •r want to run! Like the apart- i b r !s of South Africa the County Billy-boys can't toler- loleiation It's bad for Union- - 1:1 i( s. A compromise to the effect that the all. ews should strip, have their photog: nphs taken and then go awa\ was refused by the police. in the at sanction talk But he wouldn't mind doing it OBODY in Ireland seriously expects British Home Secretary R. A. • ^ to advocate sanctions against the Republic of Ireland. STORY ON PACE NINE Butler against the Republic Visiting Belfast in mid-December, he let drop the hint of sanctions to newspaper men, who were talking simultaneously of three other issues, namely the forthcoming Anglo-Irish trade talks, the alleged border raids, and Lemass's proposal for more trade between the two parts of Ireland. People were inclined to laugh at cute Mr. Butler's ability to be the right things to the right people. Despite all talk to the contrary intimidate anybody in Ireland, he admitted that as HOME SEC- The way out? Very simple. Al- RETARY he is responsible for though he'd love to be in a posi- MISS BRIDIE O'NEILL IN ARMAGH JAIL WITHOUT CHARGE OR TRIAL. IRISH NATIONAL LOBBY House of Commons, Westminster from 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 3rd February, 1960 TO DEMAND 1. Extension of Police Enquiry to Six Counties. 2. Release of Republican Prisoners. 3. Repudiation of Butler's "Sanctions." 4. Repeal of Special Powers Act. THE IRISH PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED the security of North Eastern Ireland. And he wants the Twenty-Six- County Government to jail the I.R.A. or give them longer sen- tences. But he knows that a direct threat of sanctions would not BEGGING SEATS S URELY political prostitution reached Its most contempt- ible possible in the latest state- ment of the Northern Ireland so- callcd Labour Party. How any serious observer can cod himself into regarding this body as anything but a Unionist agency after this is incredible. It has urged the return of North- ern Ireland Labour members to Westminster. Why? To expose the six-county police state? To de- mand abolition of Special Pow- ers? To call for recognition of the Trade Unions whose T.U.C. is disregarded and ignored? No. Here are its own words, "Ulster needs friends on both sides of the house." In other words the 100 per cent. Tory re- presentation of the six-counties at Westminster shows up the character of the State too clearly. Labour Members are challenging the Tory rulers. But a few "North- ern Ireland Labour Party" men could stab this movement in the back And so they sit up and beg for seats they can't win. tion to "give 'em sanctions and be damned." he has to be more diplomatic. So he merely talks about sanctions, and then denies any intention of applying them. Mr. Lemass is then supposed to take the hint that there will be better terms in the trade talks if a few more republicans were put in jail first. After all, says Butler, Mr. Lemass doesn't appreciate how serious things are. His opinions are revealed strik- ingly in his reason for not speak- ing of specific sanctions—he has his doubts whether they could be made effective! As the 'Irish Press' commented, sanctions would lose Britain as much money as they would lose Ireland. Mr. Driberg and other M.P.s tried to get out of him a definite statement that he would NOT use sanctions. But he wouldn't pro- mise that either. A capable horse- trader, the trade talks should be put under him at once. HIS PURPOSE But what was he doing in the Six Counties? The following purposes have been tipped: (1) To find out if it was safe to extend the "whitewash the police" commission to North- ern Ireland. He evidently de- cided it was not. Although he had announced the enquiry as for the "United Kingdom" on his return he restricted it to "Great Britain" and told as much to Railwayman Mr. Popplewell, M P. (2) To reassure the Northern Ire- land Government that there would be no sell-out when Mr. Lemass talked trade in Feb- ruary. (3) To cod the Northern Ireland people into doing nothing about the abandonment of their industries and the cer- tainty of rising unemploy- ment. (4) To restore some semblance of unity to the Unionist Party which has not the semblance of a capable man within its ranks. The result was Lord Brookeborough's rebuke to those who suggested Catho- lics could become Unionists, reports of a "tough policy" to- wards the Republic, and the replacement of Mr. Topping by a more vigorous exponent of militant unionism. Mr. Topping becomes a judge and will be faced with the diffi- cult task of putting out of his mind all the political persuasions which possessed him a s a minis- ter.

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Page 1: New Year Greetings Irish people laugh of Special Powers Act. THE IRISH PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED the security of North Eastern Ireland. And he wants the Twenty-Six-County Government

SPECIAL ENLARGED 21*t BIRTHDAY NUMBER New Year Greetings to all our Readers

Irish people laugh IRISH 6 D

DEM COAT No. 18 i JANUARY 1960

POLICE STOP ATHLETES RUNNING

Y O U can't even hold a harmless cross-country race Six Counties today.

T h a t <s w h a t L i m a v a d y n o n -po l i t i cy l , n o n - s e c t a i i an A t h l e t i c C l u b i ' o u n d w h e n t h e y i n v i t e d c l u b s j i o m o t h e r p a r t s of U l -s t e r ( i n c l u d i n g C a v a n a n d M o n a ^ h a n ) to r a c e w i t h t h e m in D e r r y .

Ove; ' t o hundred police en te red the toy.:1 to enforce a ban on rac-ing. A';d to show they m e a n t busine: s rnanv ol lhem h a d sub-niachir .e-guns!

On!' ' ur of the eleven clubs t n a n a t ! ' 1 to act to LimavtAiy a ? all. T " m' came from Der ry City (Oak l e a f Club ' . A r m a g h City and N 'v . ry < Shamrocks». All the Bellas: < lubs were held tin bv the police prevented f rom reach-ing thei : destination. 'I h e same h a p p e n ' , ' to the C a v a n and M o n a g h a n clubs.

M A D H O U S E The reason for this la tes t act ol

lunacy i i o m the Six-County mad-house?

It coincides with the fall of Mr. Topping a n d the i n s t a t emen t of "stout O r a n g e blade" Br ian Faulk-ner a> H o m e S e c r e t a r y following Mr. R A. But ler ' s "give 'em sanc-tions' ' visit to Lord Brookeborough. Mr. 'I ( p i n g had banned the Boveva(-,n Orange band f rom parading i ts sectarianism t h r o u g h Catholi Dungivcn. Now t h e a th-letes a r e being forbidden to run not because they are Cathol ic , but because ihey are tolerant, because they ('; r. 't care whether you are •rotestant or Catholic as long as •r wan t to run! Like t h e apar t -

i b r !s of South Af r i ca the County Billy-boys c a n ' t toler-lo le ia t ion It's bad for Union-- 1:1 i( s.

A compromise to the effect t h a t the all . e w s should strip, have their photog: n p h s taken and t h e n go awa\ was refused by the police.

in the

at sanction talk

But he wouldn't mind doing it OBODY in Ireland seriously expects British Home Secretary R. A.

• ^ to advocate sanctions against the Republic of Ireland.

STORY ON PACE NINE

Butler against the Republic

Visiting Belfast in mid-December, he let drop the hint of sanctions to newspaper men, who were ta lk ing simultaneously of three other issues, namely the forthcoming Anglo-Ir ish trade talks, the alleged border raids, and Lemass's proposal for more trade between the two parts of I reland.

P e o p l e w e r e i n c l i n e d t o l a u g h a t c u t e Mr . B u t l e r ' s a b i l i t y t o be t h e r i g h t t h i n g s t o t h e r i g h t p e o p l e .

Despite all talk to the con t ra ry in t imidate anybody in I re land, he admit ted t h a t as HOME SEC- The way out? Very simple. Al-RETARY he is responsible for though he 'd love to be in a posi-

MISS B R I D I E O ' N E I L L I N A R M A G H J A I L W I T H O U T C H A R G E OR T R I A L .

IRISH NATIONAL LOBBY House of Commons, Westminster

from 5.30 p.m. on

Wednesday, 3rd February, 1960 TO DEMAND

1. Extension of Police Enquiry to Six Counties. 2. Release of Republican Prisoners. 3. Repudiation of Butler's "Sanctions." 4. Repeal of Special Powers Act.

THE IRISH PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED

the security of North Eas tern Ireland.

And he w a n t s the Twenty-Six-County Government to jail t he I.R.A. or give them longer sen-tences.

But he knows that a direct threa t of sanctions would not

BEGGING SEATS SURELY political pros t i tu t ion

reached Its most con tempt -ible possible in the latest s tate-ment of the Northern I re land so-callcd Labour Party.

How any serious observer can cod himself into regard ing this body as any th ing but a Unionis t agency a f t e r this is incredible.

It has urged the re turn of North-ern I re land Labour m e m b e r s to Westminster . Why? To expose the six-county police s ta te? T o de-mand abolition of Special Pow-ers? To call for recogni t ion of the T rade Unions whose T.U.C. is disregarded and ignored?

No. Here are its own words, "Ulster needs f r iends on both sides of t he house." I n other words the 100 per cent . Tory re-presenta t ion of the six-counties at Wes tmins te r shows up the charac te r of the S ta te too clearly. Labour Members are chal lenging the Tory rulers. But a few "North-ern I re land Labour P a r t y " men could s t ab this movement in the back

And so they sit up a n d beg for seats they can ' t win.

tion to "give 'em sanct ions and be damned ." he has to be more diplomatic. So he merely ta lks about sanctions, and t h e n denies any in tent ion of applying them. Mr. Lemass is then supposed to take the h in t t ha t t he re will be better t e rms in the t r ade ta lks if a few more republicans were put in jail first. After all, says Butler, Mr. Lemass doesn't apprec ia te how serious th ings are.

His opinions are revealed str ik-ingly in his reason for no t speak-ing of specific sanct ions—he has his doubts whether they could be made effective!

As the ' I r i sh Press' commented , sanctions would lose Br i ta in a s much money as they would lose Ireland.

Mr. Dr iberg and o t h e r M.P.s tried to get out of h im a def ini te s t a t ement t h a t he would N O T use sanctions. Bu t he wouldn ' t pro-mise t h a t ei ther. A capable horse-trader, t h e t rade talks should be put under h im a t once.

HIS PURPOSE But w h a t was he doing in the

Six Count ies? The following purposes have

been t ipped : (1) To f ind out if it was sa fe to

extend t h e "wh i t ewash t h e police" commission t o Nor th-ern I r e l and . He evidently de-cided it was not. A l though h e had announced t h e enquiry as for t h e "United K i n g d o m " on h is r e t u rn he res t r i c ted it to " G r e a t B r i t a i n " a n d told as m u c h to R a i l w a y m a n Mr. Popplewell, M P.

(2) To r eas su re t h e N o r t h e r n I re-land G o v e r n m e n t t h a t t he re would be no sell-out when Mr. L e m a s s talked t r a d e in Feb-r u a r y .

(3) To cod the N o r t h e r n I re land people into doing no th ing abou t the a b a n d o n m e n t of the i r industr ies a n d the cer-t a in ty of rising unemploy-m e n t .

(4) To res tore some semblance of un i ty to the Unionis t Pa r ty which has not t h e semblance of a capable m a n within its r anks . T h e resul t was Lord Brookeborough 's rebuke to those who suggested Catho-lics could become Unionists, r epor t s of a " tough policy" to-wards the Republic, and the rep lacement of Mr. Topping by a more vigorous exponent of mi l i t an t unionism.

Mr. Topp ing becomes a judge and will be faced wi th t h e diffi-cult t a sk of pu t t ing ou t of his mind all t he political persuas ions which possessed h im a s a minis-ter.

Page 2: New Year Greetings Irish people laugh of Special Powers Act. THE IRISH PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED the security of North Eastern Ireland. And he wants the Twenty-Six-County Government

T H E IRISH D E M O C R A T January 1960

C€1 NTIES • i IC IDAVT A N D TC/HURIC-rW

| N or t ler io eradicate ihc evil of sec-t a r i an i sm in po l i t i cs it Is necessary

to e x a m i n e it to find has it any basis.

Unlike »>; he: e. i! pi>s in t: :«• .-.s O n i n U o . In ;i cribe religion

11 l- yi least possible ' otest ant and Cat::"!: ut I and I 'reshvteria

about 95 per a'i:> s becomes loo net c '!

their

i in- na.ii',-. ::-t\u».-!l I' between C cer ta in! v 1 i .ame 'l'ii

•:n- )\\ u:.: : dei'Klt

11 Iii'I .. Ti.t

Willi nal

iiilj' IJ In del I:i>ii :

Tin -:ids. tl ned n

mt a

-; 11 a 11 K-. 'e a ,-ense " iik Willi tlie as tended !• 1 advantage-:n a uni te" JIlit 1 c a p i t a l

a board ul directors.

The tact is that above £100,000 one f inds no Catholics. One f inds 5 per cent, in the group £30,000-£100-000 and 10 per cent , in £10,000-£30,000.

T h e capital ist ic cfiss. is niainl; Protes-t an t . But it does not necessani;. benefit Irom the Brit ish connection. The Bri t ish market is la: awav: to exoand businesses have to go to London tor capita! Th i s class would seem likely to benefit irom a united independent Thirty-Two-County economy, freed f rom the imperialist s t ranglehold , expanding rapidly and pro-viding a prosperous home market.

Why then are thev unionist '1 Why do they vote against the i r nun interests, which are. in reality, na t ional?

The re is no doubt that a m nnit ter ings f)iv>nt Hip desirabilitv of "Commonwealth

f:. a si. o n a f j i' r :

on;

f i: t he

T € h OPPiNi

A : t j. >•• x.-.ti v t r u l -is t o . . f r i ' J e c h i ' . ' t s

of jails, police and B Specials in the Six Counties.

Named as successor to the post of Min-ister of Home Affairs is Mr. Brian Faulk-ner. unt i l now Unionis t Chief Whip, notor ious as one of the most intransigent , not -an- inch ext remis ts among the Stor-mont clique.

A r a n t i n g speaker who can scarcely open his mouth wi thou t a t tacking the Nat ional is t people of Ulster, whom he contemptuous ly describes as "the minor-ity." he will have u n d e r his tender care as Minis ter the fa te of t he 160-odd politi-cal pr i soners in Bel fas t jail .

"We have been over-generous in our deal ings with the minor i ty ," he com-plained in a speech. "Most local Nation-alists a r e emoloved by Unionists." he t h rea t ened them, wa rn ing tha t they MIWU'.U expect "grave resul ts" if they failed to join the " te r ror i s t" -hunt . * * *

l S T R I C T advocate of rigid and doc-• * t n n a i r e sec tar ian ism, he declared last m o n t h in D u n g a n n o n : "The funda -mental issue will r e m a i n the cleavage between the P ro te s t an t and Roman Cath-olic communi t ies ." On Ju ly 12th this year he procla imed: "Politics and religion a re inseparably mingled. T h e Unionist Pa r ty relies on the Orange Order . "

He has never made a secret of his vi$w t h a t the S tormont Government is for the "Pro tes tan t people" and that t he minori ty had better just lie quiet He has made f r equen t and pre judiced at tacks on the Cathol ic Church in public, and re-signed f rom the B B C . Advisory Council over the Siobhan M c K e n n a "incident

He forecas ts t h a t pa r t i t ion will last for ever, and tha t it will have to exist for ever in a "perpetual s t a t e of siege "

CAMPAIGN NOTES A / f R . ANDREW TIERNEY, Secretary of

the Hucknall (Not t ingham) Branch of the Connolly Association addressed the Hucknall Branch of t h e National Society of Pa in t e r s on Friday, October 23rd, 1959, and the following resolution was passed:

" T h a t we, the m e m b e r s of the HucU-nall Branch of the National Society of Pain ters , deplore the fact that at the p resen t t ime there a re 167 men interned In Belfas t prison wi thout charge or trial, a n d ask the Home Secretary for the immedia t e release of these men." * * *

At an election meet ing in Islington, N.W.-London C.A. member Eddy Donovan asked Mr. Fletcher (Labour candidate) about par t i t ion , but Mr. Fletcher gave the unsa t i s f ac to ry answer which no doubt he genuinely believed was true, that no th ing could be done until t he nor thern people wanted uni ty with the south. Quis cus-todiet ipsos custodies?

F I N A N C I A L S T R U C T U R E Although the I r ish banking system i>

32-Coimt.V. the main 2(>-County banks ' B a n k of I re land. National. Minister and Lemstei '1 are not the main Six-County banks, a l though they do business there. In Belfast the "big th ree" are the Bel-fast Banking Co.. t he Northern and the Ulster 11958 asse ts £41.7m.. t53.tim.. and £01.0m. respectively i.

The Nor the rn is the only true Six-County bank in t ha t there are no large shareholdings a n d the directors have no o ther interests .

However, in the present c ircumstances it forms part of t he general British-domi-nated s t ruc ture , holding the maximum possible assets in the form of British securities to be used for purposes of t rade in goods and stocks and shares on the London marke t .

The Belfast is owned by the Midland Bank : its c h a i r m a n is Viscount Alan-brooke. It includes on its board Sir W. A. Edmenson. whose o ther interests include Har land and Wool!' and the Ulster Steam-ship Co.

The Ulster is a subsidiary of the West-minster ; its directors are nominees of the parent f irm.

Most of the insurance business is in the hands of firms based in Britain. The Commercial I n s u r a n c e Co. of Ireland is a subsidiary of the Yorkshire Insur-ance Co. I ts d i rectors include Sir C. N. I., St rouge. M P . . Speaker in the Stor-mont House of Commons, also Lord Glen-toran. M.P., and Lt. Col. J. O. Cunning-ham. O.B.E.. of the Nor thern Whig.

This, however, is chickenfeed in the in-surance business. To compare the 26-Counties. the two main nat ional-based in-surance companies t Ir ish and New Ire-land i have asse ts worth about £30m. or so. This corresponds to r a t h e r a small -f ract ion iprobablv less than 30 ner cent.) of the insurance business carried on in the South. Yet with only this fract ion of the insurance business national-based it has been possible in the 2(5 Counties to finance industr ia l expansion so much tha t the new firms a r e now comparable to the old ones.

Thus in the Six Counties the "insur-ance" method of pu t t ing people's sav-ings to work is an untapped reserve: it is devoted to Br i t i sh or Empire economic development r a t h e r than to tha t of the Six Counties.

DR. R. H. W. JOHNSTON puts out some more important

ideas for public discussion WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

This is Part Two T h e Industr ial F inance Co i N.I > is

owned by the I r i sh banks, mainly by the Ulster big three . It is a caut ious body, described by I and C. as prepared to lend on a mor tgage on fixed assets r a t h e r than on expecta t ion of f u t u r e pro-fit. I. and C compare this f irm un-favourably with the corresponding 20-County firms ( Indus t r i a l Credit Co, etc o. t he latter being more go-ahead and ex-pansionist .

LINK AND DOLE Isles and Cu thbe r t give the following

a rgument : Given a fixed rate of exchange between the I r ish and British pound, the only mechanism available to capi ta l ism to regulate the ba lance of p a y m e n t s be-tween the Six Count ies and Br i ta in is differential unemployment . Th is takes place simply by allowing the f ree capital marke t to operate .

However, in a f r ee independent eco-nomy. they [joint out lull employment is possible but then the balance of p a y m e n t s must be regulated by the ra te of exchange.

Thus , in a uni ted, f ree Ireland, would the Irish pound have to sutler devalua-t ion? This is held up as a snectre by the spokesmen of the es tabl ishment , so na tura l ly one asks would it necessarily be any ha rm?

Th i s is a quest ion sooner or la ter re-quiring an answer in detail. Suffice it is to say here: wha t use are cheap motor-cars to our 150.000 unemployed?

If we did have to buy dear and sell cheap, we would have to buy as raw as possible and sell as finished as possible. We would have to choose carefully our REAL import needs and make as much as possible here. In proport ion as we be-come a m a n u f a c t u r i n g ra ther t h a n a t rad ing nation and I r i sh labour and skill is brought into production, we would have increased nat ional prosperity. ' " T f i u s , devaluation may turn out to be a bogey-man for f r ightening two-year-olds. Isles & Cu thbe r t . all credit to them, have started the good work of laying the bogev by talking about it ra t ional ly .

UNITED ECONOMY Without going into detail, it is possible

to get an idea of how a united I re land would look, under a progressive govern-ment . Banking a n d insurance would be nationalised. Br i t i sh controlling in teres ts in the larger f i rms would be bought out. We have enough Brit ish securit ies ill London to be able to do this and still leave ample for t rad ing purposes. The

present 20-Cotmty Note fund i £90m. or sin would no longer be needed m full, 10 per cent, cover for our currency would be sufficient to meet all reasonable de-mands. Banking assets would be put in Dublin government securities, t h u s mak-ing capi tal available to the governmen t for expansion of the s ta te sector.

T h e accumula ted profit ol the ex-British indust r ies < in which the govern-ment would now own the m a j o r inter-ests i would be used to finance expans ion inside the nat ion in accordance with a plan.

The mach ine -making sector of the Ul-ster economy would work at full speed on orders for the industrial development of the whole country. Ulster engineer ing would be the main asset of our na t iona l economy.

As regards ships and a i rc ra f t : ' 1 j t he re is a world marke t for such commodit ies ; (2i Engineer ing works are versatile, thev can make any th ing . Some re-direct ion of effort would be no hardship.

CONCLUSION T h e main sufferers under the exist ing

system a re the ordinary working people who draw the dole and fill the e m i g r a n t ship. T h e main force for change mus t therefore come f rom them. They can form par t ies and establish as the i r ulti-mate political objective their own econo-mic emancipa t ion , i.e.. socialism. Six-County socialism however is an impossible concept. Wes tmins t e r could and would veto any progressive Stormont legislation

Far wider classes of people may be ex-pected to be in teres ted in this first s tep, a l though they would reject socialism, e.g., f a r m e r s and small industrialists. T h u s one arr ives at the need for a political alli&gce ju> achieve the first step. But people must be appealed to in concrete terms. One the re fo re needs to sketch a picture of what kind of 32-county repub-lic we want . We have begun to do this in economic terms.

Politically, it would need to be demo-cratic enough to make room for every-body, a federal s t ruc ture to take care of minority in teres ts being a possibility.

More work will have to go into filling in the detai ls of this picture, but th is work will have to be done. A united, progressive republic with a rapidly ex-panding economy is possible.

THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY VVfORLD peace or war will be ** decided in 1960. The meetings

in October between the President of the United S ta tes of America and the Premier of the Union of Social-ist Soviet Republics in Washington and Moscow marked a new stage in world re la t ions and greatly im-proved the prospects of peace.

America emerged in all her glory as the leading capitalist nat ion in the world at the end of the 1914-18 world war.

In the same war Russia too emerged f rom her age long slumber to become the first Socialist country in the world.

Since then both countries have torged ahead indeed, going f rom s t rength to s t rength , but always, metaphorical ly speaking, at each others th roa t s .

Almost continuously since the war the "two worlds" so-called, have been in constant conflict, at times b l a / ing into mili tary action, as in Korea and Indonesia.

On the questions of Berlin, a united Germany , d i sa rmament , the Atom and H-bomb tests there have been s h a r p differences, result ing in or known as, the "cold war."

Up to 25 per cent of the budgets of the various nat ions was spent on a rmamen t s , considered to be neces-sary for detence. As a result, much-needed and possible advances in the s tand of living of the people were sacrificed to the Moloch of war p repara t ions .

We all of us desire a favourable outcome f rom the talks. Indeed the demands of the people tor negotia-tion r a t n e r t h a n war, have played a

powerful and decisive part in bring-ing about the talks.

R E A S O N M U S T P R E V A I L America and Russia both claim to

possess sufficient H-Bombs to totally wipe out the o ther . I think they are correct.

In the c i rcumstances of the world line-up of powers today, this m e a n s no one would escape the con-sequences of war between these two giants.

Hence the urgency of agreement between them. Certainly, the nego-tiations now s ta r t ed on such a high level should not be stopped.

It would be foolish to expect unanimity on the question ol the talks.

Indeed the stock exchanges in London and New York have ex-perienced a slight panic at the pros-pect. Millions of dollars have been lopped off the value of stocks asso-ciated with a rmamen t s , steel and aviation.

T E R R O R IN A F R I C A The terror against the African

people in Kenya, Nyasaland and South Alrioa is now a tact . No whitewashing of Swart, the South African Fascist now made Governor General, can cover it up.

The report on the Hola detent ion camp clearly placed the responsi-bility, for at least eleven deaths , on the adminis t ra t ion .

Nothing can erase the responsi-bility of Ihc Colonial Secretary and his assistant Mr. Julian Amery. Every delence put up in Par l iament has been shown to be th readba re and without founda t ion . . . . bare-faced lying in fact aimed at h iding the terror t ha t Is being applied.

And if f u r t h e r proof were required

WORLD COMMENTARY by PAT DEVINR

of the vicious repressive charac te r ot British Imperialism, the Devlin Commission Report from a 100 per cent Tory membersh ip provides it.

This report covered Nyasaland, where 51 Afr icans were foully mur-dered, and hundreds of African Con-gress members , including Dr. Banda their leader, were arrested and im-prisoned without trial or charge.

The Government alibi tha t the African Congress was prepar ing a massacre of whites, was proved to be completely false.

Indeed, the Devlin (Tory) Com-mission declared;

(a) there was no massacre plot; (b) tha t Dr. Banda had never

personally associated with violence;

(c) t h a t N y a s a l a n d was a police s ta te ;

(tl) tha t the African people were v i r t u a l l y unanimously agains t the proposal for a Federat ion of the Rhodesias with Nyasaland.

It is Ironical tha t Mr. Butler, Tory Home Secretary , should, at th is moment when imperialism is dis-credited and under fire everywhere, make his th rea t of economic sanc-tions against the Government ol Eire "if more s t r ingent action is not taken aga ins t the I.R.A. terror-ists."

Butler conveniently forgets the innocent men incarcerated in Crum-lin Jail , Belfast , and the au then t i -cated charges ot torture made against the Royal Ulster Constabu-lary.

But 1960 is not 1932. The s t r eng th ot the world forces against imperial-ism (shown at Sue/) make it in-advisable for Butler to a t t empt a second t rade war.

January 1960 T H E IRISH D E M O C R A T 3

TWENTY-ONE YEARS Or IRISH LIFE T H E I R I S H

ID IE/HOC IK/OT 3 7 4 G R A Y S INN R O A D

LONDON, W.C.I S u b s c r i p t i o n : 8 - | jcr y e a r

e d i t o r : D E S M O N D O K E A V E S

To open this "Irish Democrat" supplement

which m a r k s our twenty-first birthday, we talk first

ABOUT OURSELVES | A S T months the " I r i s h D e m o c r a t "

completed twr .n ty -onc years of con t inuous pub l i ca t ion as a p r i n ted m o n t h l y . When we look at the first amateur i sh sheets t u r n e d out in 1939, w h i c h are st i l l in our office in Grays Inn Road, and t h u m b t h r o u g h the files up to the present day, we can j us t i f i ab l y c la im tha t w i t h con t inu-ous pub l i ca t ion has gone cont inuous deve lopmen t and i m p r o v e m e n t .

T h e files of t h e " I r i s h D e m o c r a t " g i v e a n u n s u r p a s s a b l e p i c t u r e n o t o n l y of t h e l i ves a n d s t r u g g l e s of t h e I r i s h in B r i t a i n , b u t m u c h i n s i g h t i n to d e v e l o p m e n t s w i t h i n I r e l a n d t h a t is u n o b t a i n a b l e e l s e w h e r e , a n d t h e r e is n o d o u b t t h a t t h e f u t u r e h i s t o r i a n of I r i s h a f f a i r s w i l l c o n s u l t t h e m r e g u -l a r l y . s i nce f o r m u c h of t h i s p e r i o d t h e " I r i s h D e m o c r a t " h a s b e e n The

f l i t : ;u lOCt. i l

is ucs had

<: allowances and At that tune the

t h r e e sho r thand

o n l y I r i s h w o r k i n g c l a s s p a p e r in t h e There is no doubt t ha t it was correct in w o r l d .

TV HEN it was founded the Spanish Civil War was still in progress. A

g rea t campaign for the release of Frank. R y a n was being waged, as the shadows of the approaching European s laughter l engthened over the west.

The Connolly Clubs had been formed by the amalgamat ion of the London Branch of the Republican Congress (af te r t h e demise of the pa ren t body) with the i r ish section of the League^ Against Im-perial ism. Much of the ult 'ra-reftism and political exhibitionism of the fearly days was a hangover f rom the Republican Congress

T h e League Against Imperial ism was a sounder conception for an Irish movement in Britain, provided there was conjoined the defence of the interes ts of the Irish in Bri tain.

Wi th the outbreak of war t h e lat ter aspect assumed g rea t importance. Then began the influx of I r i sh workers into Br i ta in , which m u s t have amounted to three-quar ters of a million f rom the t ime t h e "Democrat" was s ta r ted . Many of the new arrivals did not know their r ights and

NEW DEPARTURE Br N E A T H the glit ter cf the nearest

th ing to a boom in I re land 's history, g rave dangers ga ther .

Brit ish Imperial ism is trying to use its ill-KOtten gains, accumulated by the p lunder of Africa, to BUY BACK IRE-LAND into the Empire.

A crescendo of p ropaganda is being worked up. No channe l for Jhe communi-ca t ion of an t i -na t ional ideas is being overlooked.

Brit ish Imperial ism calculates on the f ac t t ha t apa r t f rom Imperial-owned bus iness in Ireland, there now also exists a ciosely related section of Irish big busi-nessmen who feel their indus t r ies are s t u r d y enough to compete in the free-for-all of Europe and the Commonweal th . P lay ing on the cupidity of th is section it keeps suggest ing in its press tha t an Ir ish-Bri t ish f ree t rade area should be c rea ted . Within this area big Irish busi-ness would be f ree to take smacks at smal l British business. In r e tu rn big Bri-t ish business would be at liberty to com-ple te the elimination of small Irish busi-nesses, thus re-making Ire land in Eng-land ' s image.

T h e political counterpar t of this plan is t he "new th ink ing" which proposes to recognise the Six-County Government , a n d thus abandon all hope of ending par-t i t ion.

W h a t will happen if this is forced upon Mr. Lemass in the fo r thcoming trade t a lks in London? A few Irish industries will get marke t s in Britain. But small f a r m s will pack up even quicker than a p resen t . Wee shops will put up the sh' ters . Little workshops will fai l . They will be replaced by ranches , chain-s tores and impor ters ' depots. The men put out of work will get on the boat to Britain and t h e population of the twenty-six counties will fal l to two-and-a-half million. And w h e n the inevitable recession comes? Conf ron ted with the full b las t of com-pet i t ion the Irish Government will re-s u m e the policy of protection—with an i n t e r n a l market a few hundred thousand people smaller.

Some cannot see this. Others refuse to see it. Yet it is there in h u m a n terms. I re land is being squeezed like a ripe lemon by British rings and monopolies. T h o u g h with full control of her desti-nies Dublin and Belfast could be cities of a million inhab i t an t s apiece and na t ive industr ies could absorb all those who (inevitably) leave the land.

Fur ther depopulat ion is the most seri-ous th rea t t ha t could possibly confront t h e country, and ul t imately the Irish people can only defend themselves against it th rough S ta te action, th rough the act ion of their own all-Ireland State. The division of Ireland is t hus the greatest s ingle cause weakening the Irish people in their unequal contest with an Imper-ialism gorged with prey.

For tha t reason the issue of part i t ion is sha rper than ever, and the need for a uni ted struggle to complete the liberation of the country at its most imperative.

Where are we to look for uni ty? The S inn Fein Par ty at present consti tutes t h e most impor tan t ant i - Imperia l is t force, not only because it has won the best of t h e rebel youth, but more because its main political demand, the wi thdrawal of Bri-t ish troops f rom the six counties, is in f ac t the vital one. Without t h a t demand all talk of ant i - imperia l ism, democracy, or socialism is sheer humbug .

But other groupsing have good ideas. Lia th Fail is dedicated to the breaking-up of ranches . Dr. Browne's group re-popular ises P lunket t ' s ideas of agricul-tu ra l co-operation. The Trade Union movement shows the vital role of in-creased wages In expanding the home marke t and reducing emigrat ion. The Ir ish Workers ' League emphasises the impor tance of STATE ACTION. Fianna Fall and the Irish Campaign for nuclear Whether the t ime ,s ripe for such a d i s a r m a m e n t have between them indi- development in I re land must b e . J u d g e d cated the lines of an independent Irish by those resident there, but it is a cer

I n pol a n d Its popular backing. t a in ty that In Bri tain united action of a w h a t nmBraes Is tha t t he par t icular Ir ish organisat ions is long overdue. It is

s logans T these separa te movements overdue because imperialist policy is made ADD UP TO A POLICY THAT CAN in Britain. If Mr. Macmlllan is a lowed to SAVE IRELAND d ' e t r e to Mr. Lemass the result will be

The question ihen aris ing, is whether blazoned for th as a great victory for some kind of new depa r tu re is not pos- moderat ion, and Labour « • sible which will pull all of them together awakening conscience in rlsh mat te rs f n t o * single nat ional f ron t against Bri- will be dulled for a long time to come.

h° imperlal is t policy and its con- For that reason the Manifesto printed on sequences. P««° , e n i s , i m e , y a n d , m P o r , ' n t -

u other v,• >rk:>ifa present edifs typisis engaged in deal ing with this correspondence find ma t t e r s arising ti'oni it. In addition there was the question of conscript ion. The "Irish Democra t" has always been opposed to the conscription ot Ir ishmen, and there were numerous cases not only when the organisa t ion foiled a t t empts by the authori t ies to conscript men into the uuny when they were en-titled to go home, but even where men were released from the a r m y following our representat ions. These were cases where men had not been informed of their alter-native of going home.

* * *

[ N the general disorientat ion of the ini--* media te postwar years the "Ir ish Democrat" reached its highest circulation (since equalled only for a brief spell in 1955) and then met its severest setbacks.

it u it stood :. didn' t care what

Despite the ok

st igmatising the motives of the Anti-part i t ion League leaders as based on cold-war calculations, a policy doomed to de-feat. But unfortunately t h e soundness of their r ank and file was insufficiently ap-preciated. At this period the "Democrat ' ' was inclined to swing a lit t le too fa r to the Lef t .

Looking back on t h e period most of those active at the t ime will agree t ha t there was a sporting chance t h a t the Anti-par t i t ion League might h a v e been saved, and the debacle which ul t imately overtook it averted, if its left cr i t ics had made a clearer dist inction between leaders and led and made a stronger appea l to the rank t h e past and ready to try science. Around

- Ir ish indepencic:..'. :.e it was. s tatesman' .- v i se relus.il

to toliow s e n a t o r McCarthy. Dillon's privi-leged slander was put about secretly, touted round by English renegade social-ists. and finally gangs of hoodlums were brought out aga ins t Connolly Association meetings, so t ha t the re would be f u r t h e r excuse for s landerous publicity.

The "Irish Democra t ' s " own columns answered the s landerers . T h e work done for the release of the prisoners in 1948: a n d the long effort of p ropaganda and publicity for t h e ending of par t i t ion: each told its story. Nobody was ever able to lind a single l ine in the "Ir ish Democrat" telling the readers they should be Com-munists . But by the same token if a man did something for Ireland, the "Democra t" had sufficient integri ty to refuse to suppress it, if h e happened to be a Com-munis t .

Always and a t all t imes the "Democrat ' ' stood for religious tolerat ion and against sectarianism, uphold ing the principle t h a t every man h a s an inalienable r ight to practise his religion, and t h a t religion and politics do not mix. All th is told, and in mid-1952 the circulat ion began to creep up again f rom the lowest point in 1948 a n d finally touched the highest ever once more in 1955, a f t e r which it has fal len but not seriously, largely because of a fall-oil of sellers in the provinces.

* * *

q i H E "Ir ish Democra t" presents i ts J- twenty-first bir thday number in full

consciousness of its responsibilities. T h e lowest ebb of the Ir ish movement has now passed. A new generat ion is enter ing political life, impat ien t of the humbugs of

and file. T h a t our position was fundamenta l ly

r ight the re is of course no doubt. But f u n d a m e n t a l Tightness requires embodi-ment in tactics appropr ia te to the moment . It was dur ing the t ime t h a t the "Demo-cra t" stood alone as t h e only Irish work-ing-class paper, tha t t h e at tacks of re-action gathered.

Pro-Brit ish James Dillon asked De Valera in the privileged protection of t h e Dail if he didn't th ink t h e Connolly Asso-ciation was Communist a n d would he con-demn it. De Valera said he didn' t th ink it

le t te rs flowed into t h e office by hundreds was Communist , and as fo r condemning

the paper in t h e last two years has gathered a veri table galaxy of youthful talent , symptomat ic of a process going on throughout I re land .

This younger generation is the one which will se t t le the Irish question once and for all. For tha t very reason its re-sponsibilities exceed those of any previous generation. Every a t t empt witl be made to divert and corrupt . But those who are s t rong enough to avoid ge t t ing swelled heads (the utterly fa ta l and destructive error for the reformer is vanity) and to learn, and learn again, have the oppor-tunity of going f u r t h e r t h a n has ever been gone before—to the end of the road of Ireland's emancipat ion.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I A M glad to congratulate the "Irish ' Democrat" on reaching its major-ity. It is difficult to believe that 21 years have passed since you were established. You have done very much to create f r iendly relations be-tween the peoples of our two coun-tries and to integrate workers f rom Ire land into our Labour Movement, part icularly the trade unions of this country.

I wish you long life—as long at least as the need continues.

Sincerely yours, F E N N E R B R O C K W A Y .

T H E S E S E N D U S 1 1 I I I I

Greetings «$( tjc jfc vjc tjc sjc * ifc «jc yfc ^

readers in the sent iments ."

U.S.A. join us in these

CEDRIC BELFRAGE.

an achievement to be proud of. I corv gratulate you.

Yours sincerely, JOHN KEATING.

Dublin.

O " , your 21st anniversary the editors

and staff of the National Guardian ' send warmest f r a t e r n a l congratula t ions and best wishes for a long life ahead . As a paper which has only been f ight ing for 11 years the press cur ta in and blackout of fac t s to fight with, we unders tand as few others can what this achievement of yours means.

Please cont inue to bo an inspirat ion to us and others a round the world by main-ta in ing and in tens i fy ing your efforts. We know that all of our progressive Irish

* * *

I note with interest t h a t the " I r i sh Democrat" has a t t a ined its major i ty . While I do not agree1 wi th many of t h e policies which it advocates, I applaud t h e fact t h a t it appeals to a r g u m e n t and per-suasion as a means of solving our I r i sh problems, and does its best to discourage a deplorable tendency in certain qua r t e r s to resort to violence.

Though socialism as such is a d i m -word in this part of I re land some of out-most successful contr ibut ions to the eco-nomic welfare of our people have had a distinctly socialist cha rac te r . It is difficult in a partitioned Ire land to get the maxi-mum results from public enterprise, bu t if, with all our handicaps , we in t h e south could, by a combinat ion of public and private enterprise, raise the social and economic s t anda rds of our people to an equal or higher level than t h a t pre-vailing in the north we would have made a positive contribution to the solution of our ma jo r national problem.

May the "Irish D e m o c r a t " continue to play a worthwhile p a r t in such an en te r -prise.

J O S E P H JOHNSTON. Tipperary.

* * *

I DO not always agree with your opinions as expressed in the " I r i sh

Democrat ." but in so f a r as I a d m i r e courage and persistency -and because I believe t ha t democracy without f r eedom of speech cannot ex i s t I consider t h a t your '21 years of survival and s t ruggle is

I WISH to be associated with the greet-ings and congratula t ions on the occa-

sion of the 21st b i r thday of your ga l lan t and informative paper, "The Irish Demo-crat. ' '

To complete 21 years ' continuous pub-lication in spite of boycotts, etc., is a f ea t worthy of the cause which the paper is espoused : the complete and uncon-ditional independence of the 32 counties of Ireland f rom British Imperialism.

I would appeal to all I r ishmen a n d women and par t icular ly those f r o m Waterford who are exiles ( temporary, I hope) in England, if they want to help to bring nearer the day of an al l-Ireland Republic the re is no bet ter way than by joining and tak ing pa r t in the work of the Connolly Association, joining your appropriate t r ade union, and spread ing the sales of t he "Ir ish Democrat ."

PETER O'CONNOR (ex-Councillor) Waterford.

• * *

GREETINGS on your 21st b i r t h d a y issue.

Every r eade r and indeed every Ir ish worker in England now has the key to open uni ty t h r o u g h his or her appropri-ate union. T h e doors of our unions, which are open to all Irrespective of rmoe, colour or creed, will in par t icular hav« a "very welcome" sign for those forced to leave the i r home town and village* to work here.

The forces t ha t drive you f rom horn® are also to be found in our Pa r l i ament . In unity we can beat t h e m ; in unity ou r two countries can be won for Socialism and true democracy.

Good luck for 1960 and to the " I r i sh Democrat."

JACK RUSCA (A.S.W., London) .

Page 3: New Year Greetings Irish people laugh of Special Powers Act. THE IRISH PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED the security of North Eastern Ireland. And he wants the Twenty-Six-County Government

4 T H E IRISH D E M O C R A T January 1960

m i n i | i n i i | |

(III

r J , I I F sky a n d h i l l s r e m a i n tin > a m r , a n d niaybfe* l o r t h a t r e a s o n

;«:»• ncliiK'd to u n d e r e s t i m a t e t h e i au • .'1 charv-if in t h e h a s h r u t m t r y -s i d r .

K v e r y w h e r o a n d p a r t i c u l a r l y in t h e w e s t , t h e l a n d h a s been e m p t y -i n g f r o m y e a r to y e a r . L e i t r i m lost cine p e r s o n in t e n in t h e live y e a r s 1951-19.%, a n d w h i l e t h i s is a n e x -t r e m e case , in 21 y e a r s its p o p u l a t i o n h a s d r o p p e d by o n e - t h i r d .

Wliile agr icul tura l output has been r is ing slightly the number employed has been dropping continuously, from about half t he working populat ion before the war to a little over one-third now. Elec-tr ic power and t r ac to r s have replaced h u m a n hands and horses. At the end of the war there were about 3.000 t rac tors in t h e country, while sales m 1959 alone were almost twice t h a i number.

T h e r e are more cat t le in Ireland now t h a n there have been during the life-t ime of most of us. A total of about four mill ion at the beginning of the war showed little var ia t ion during the follow-ing ten years, but recently has risen to well over the 4i million mark, while in da i ry ing areas the black and whi te F r i e s i an has been ranidU increasing.

S h e e p are tin by 50 per cent, from three mill ion in 1939 to a lmos t 4J, million now. but t he recent s l u m p in prices will re-duce this in the nea r future.

Pigs are down to four-f if ths of then-pre-war numbers , while poultry, with whose eggs Mr. Dillon was going to d rown Bri ta in w h e n he was Coalit ion Min is te r of Agricul ture , are down f rom 20 million in 1939 to 13 million now.

W h e a t acreage rose enormously dur ing

OUR LAND? CATTLE DEALERS A DYING RACE

G R E E T I N G S T O I R I S H W O R K E R S

E V E R Y W H E R E

from 7,000 T rade Unionists in

Fulham and Chelsea

Go Raibh Maith Agaihh

w e announced the special anni-" versary n u m b e r we told our f r iends

t h a t they would have to finance it. Very well, they said, and then came the re-sponse, AND also some very welcome ad-vice as to what to publish in it.

While keeping to our intended theme of "Twenty-one years of Irish Life," we have yielded tt> the wishes of friends who have wri t ten in asking for the rest of the article on North-east Irish economy (page two), t he vindication of Casement (page ten) a n d the songs (page twelve). We have only got these t h i n g s in by pu t t ing most of our intended pictures OUT. But the readers know wha t they want. However, we think you would like to see the pictures we have got, so we will publish them N E X T MONTH. . . . Thanks to:

P Mallon 2 6. H McGovern 2 6. 1

K e r r y m a n £1, J . Collins £1. Mary Reeve | 5 -. R.B. 2/-. M. Higgins 2 6. P. Reeve 5 -, Anon 21-. W Eger ton 2 -. J. Nash 1 fi. Ki lburn Readers 2 -. Ann Waddell 10 -. L F. £2 2s., J Nicholson 2 T>, Glasgow Reader 2 -. P. O 'Connor 5 -. S F isher 12,-. J P. McGill £6. .J. Nernev 5 -. T. W a t t e r s 5 -. A Walters 2<G. M. Rabbitt !i -, T. Coyle 2 - J Gilmour 1 . M B. 10 -. ,J. Boyle 2 -. F Linehan 5 - F B. Needham 1,-, K Houlihan 2 0. per F McLaughlin 6d . T. Connolly 6 R Heal ley 10,-. Mr, Hamil-ton 5 -. Mr. McLaughl in 2 6. J Reegan 2 -. per J.W. 1 Ki lburn Reader 2 -. per C. O Herliliv .If,. C Sullivan 7 -, per Dit to 2 -. J Nicholson £4. W Lenihan (i -. Cam-den Town (id. R R Wilson 10 -. Mrs r. Connolly :> - Ki lburn Readers 7 6. Rev H Johns ton £2 Hucknal l Branch Connollv Association £1 l is . . F. Skeggs 7 (>. Mrs. H B. Blake £1 15s 5d.. J. Gui l loyle £1. .1 .1 McNallv 5 -. .1. T a t e 2,-. J Yiannikos 10/-. F H O . £1. P Powell 10/-. F Pu rdue 10 -. C Sullivan 4 0. Kilburn Readers 10 , T Walsbe £1. S t epney 2 6. T Henry £1. Australia £3 l&s 8(1.. May Malone 10 Molly Dowries £2. T. WaLshe £1. P. O Connor 10 -, per R Heatlev £ 2 10s , K Savage £1. J Murphy £1. Tota l : £47 8s 7d

Owing to pressure of space we must hold over till next month many greetings dona-tions. their grand total being £06-11-0 The grand total for December Is £113-19-7—the highest ever.

tin- w.ir. but is back now to approxi-mately where n was m 1939 at a qua r t e r million acres: while in line with the horse decline has been a less spectacular iall of about one qua r t e r in oats acreage.

Barley on the other h a n d has jumped irom 74.000 acres in 1939 to one-third ot a million acres in 1959. though the majo-rity of this is feeding barley. Potatoes, on the other hand, a f t e r a war-time rise are down by about one-sixth compared with 1939.

Prices of course have risen enormously, but not uniformly, and th is has had an impor tan t effect on our basic agr icul tura l pa t t e rn . During the war, from 1939 to 1945 livestock prices rose bj half while crop prices increased by two-thirds, but since the war this t r e n d lias been very markedly' reversed. Livestock prices be-tween 1945 and 1959 have more t h a n doubled, f r om 52 to 115 t taking 1953 : 1001. while crop prices have risen by less t h a n half in the s ame period. Livestock product prices have not shared the rise of livestock prices, so tha t the inter-na t ional price s t ruc tu re since the war has ma in ta ined our t radi t ional cat t le agr icul ture and has been exceptionally favourable to our agr icu l ture in compari-son with say Denmark , though this ad-van tage has been f a r from uniformly shared. Even with the growth ot indus-try and food processing in recent years live an imals still accounted tor not f a r shor t of half our total exports.

I T was only in 1948 tha t rural electri-* fication was tackled seriously, while

in 1957 almost 200.000 rural consumers were connected, and the job is now prac-tically complete. As well as light, heat and cooking facilities th is provides power for pumping water and mechanising a large amount of f a r m work. So while the effect has been to improve the lot of those remaining on the land, it has also made possible the rise in productivity which is one of the reasons, lacking a

la.: lump m consumption a n a exports, why so many must emigrate.

In 1939 in Connach t there was one wireless licence for every 3ti people, while by 195G it was one to ever;, e ight . By now there is a wireless m the vast majo-rity ot homes, and with the growing sales of journals and women's maga-zines and with TV looming over the horizon the country is catching up with the town in regard to current news.

And of course it is much easier to get to town. Jus t a f t e r the war t h e r e were 8,000 cars in the country whereas now there are a round a quarter of a million.

Th ings like land dra inage projects , ground l imestone schemes, access to soil analysis, and to a variety of art i f icial fer-tilisers unavai lable during the war. have resulted in a fair ly marked increase m soil fertility, while the network of scien-tific f a r m advisory services h a s grown enormously.

If we take agr icul ture as a whole the period of the war was one of restric-tions. but of a good market. Since the war Western Europe has, with a tew set-backs been living through a period of boom, and livestock prices have risen more rapidly t h a n crop and livestock-product prices. For these reasons the last 21 years should have been a period of great prosperi ty for Irish agr icul ture . While the re have been many changes, some improvements and prosperi ty, and nothing like the slump of the '30s. our progress h a s been dearly bought .

IN spite of Government policy and the

work of the Land Commission the period lias been one where middle and large f a rms increased at the expense of the small ones, to an extent even grea ter t han is revealed by the figures. Between 1944 and 1955 for example, t he n u m b e r of fa rms in the four groups between 1 and 30 acres dropped in each case, while the number of f a r m s in the three groups be-tween 30 a n d 200 acres rose in every case.

Six-County industries shrink / N N E of Derry's biggest new indus-* * tries — the pride of Unionist speech-makers—is practically to close down.

One thousand of the 1.700 employed a t the factory of B i rmingham Sound Re-producers are to be paid off in the new year.

The biggest workers ' demons t ra t ion tha t Derry has seen for years took place on Sa turday . December 19th, when al-most the entire work force of B.S.R. paraded through the s t reets and held a mass protest meet ing at the fac tory .

"If the pay-off t akes place," declared a member of the workers ' action com-mittee, "The unemployment position in Derry will be even more serious t h a n

it was before the arrival of the new Maydown industr ies ." v

At nearby Maydown the new huge Du Pont fac tory is near ing complet ion and thousands face a big pav-off t he re . When finished t h e fac tory will employ only a few hundred . By next spr ing it seems probable t h a t Derry will be without a single indus t ry to employ labour on a large scale.

And meanwhi l e the Unionist Govern-ment is ge t t ing increasingly nervous at the prospects for the Belfast a i rc ra f t factory. T h e order for 10 Bri tannic f re igh te r planes, which enabled it to keep going a couple of months ago, is now known to have been nothing more than a sop, and there are unlikely to be any fu r the r orders.

Hidden urban ownership of a n u m b e r of f a rms Pas increased and the 11-month system is still a pernicious f e a t u r e of our agricul ture .

T h e bus inessman ' s "hobby" f a r m (to help him fiddle t h e income tax i is now-more common a n d partly in consequence the professions of f a rm m a n a g e r and til-lage contrac tor have taken firmer root

Rura l emigra t ion hit f a rmworke r s and small la rmers ' famil ies worst, a n d con-sequently the most marked de-populat ion was in the mainly Wes: coast smal l f a rm-ing areas, which incidentally gravely weakened the Gae l tach t .

An extremely active a n d s trong National F a r m e r s ' Organisat ion emerged in the early Til ties and is now a major power in the land. It is a n excellent source of new techniques a n d ideas tor the countryside and a fo rmidab le pres-sure group for r u r a l interests. Inevitably, however, it fights more for t he big and middle f a r m e r s who have t ime to run it t h a n for the fami ly fa rm.

T H E South i milk producing i and the West icalf producing! a re still rela-

tively worse off. a n d are exploited by the ca t t l emen of the East and by the cattle dealers. In t lie recent p a s t however, these la t ter h a v e had the i r power crippled by t h e growth of the cattle m a r t s and in pursh ing th is development the N.F.A. h a s done a good job. The ca t t le dealers were the poorest , meanest and worst r ewarded of the hangers-on of imperial ism in Ireland, but they did Br i tann ia ' s work none the less, and are good r iddance.

Wi th in the last year or so it has be-come much eas ier for f a r m e r s to raise loans, with the result t h a t t he amoun t of their indebtedness has gone up by about 10 million pounds. While sorely needed in the p a s t this eas ing of credit is coinciding wi th the end ing of the boom—(present s t a t e of cat t le and sheep prices)—and may put the squeeze on the small men still fu r the r .

Since the war the strong f a r m e r s have grown s t ronger , t he middle f a r m e r s have held their position, and the small fa rm-ers, while ac tual ly better off have lost out in compar i son to their r i cher neigh-bours.

Cat t le r emain dominant . We have not diversified: we have broken into no new-marke ts ; and we have increased our out-put in quant i ty a little and in quality not at all. The re la t ive poverty of the West, and the small fa rming a r e a s has in-creased. Product ivi ty has r isen - a t the expense of depopulat ion. T h e British-im-posed pa t t e rn of production remains , and the dependence ol our agr icu l tu re on im-perialism is if anything grea te r .

So ll this is the bourn, heaven help u-when the s lump comes

J . K .

IRISH ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL - by SEAN REDMOND

TWENTY-ONE yea r s has seen an in-crease in soccer in Ireland, and a sig-

nif icant development in the a t t i t ude of people to the sport . Introduced to Ireland by Brit ish trodps, it was for years con-sidered a foreign game . But nowadays, as an in te rna t iona l g a m e (the F.I.F.A. covers the five con t inen ts ) , the Irish people have ceased to look upon it as only British.

But it is unden iab le that the sport would have developed more rapidly had it not been for Par t i t ion , the source of se m a n y of our troubles.

T h e division of the country has also m e a n t a division in the football life. Fol-lowers of the game in the North had to s ta r t their own leagues and tournaments , build up an in ternat ional team, and set up a governing body independent of the rest of the country. But both North and South arc loo small to develop on their own. To main ta in a high s tandard of play a relegat ion-promotion system is needed. Thus the better clubs are grouped to-ge ther . But ne i ther In North or South arfc there enough senior clubs and it is possible to have only one division with bad and good clubs in it. People won't pay to see a game the result of which Is a foregone conclusion.

I F all the clubs in Ireland were in one Association t h e n there would be

enough to have two or even more divisions with a reasonably equal s t a n d a r d in each. The level of football would improve and the ma tches would be more keenly fought and much more exciting. As a result there would be more spectators and bigger gates, which would mean more money at the dis-posal of the governing body to help develop the sport in the countryside. Grounds could be bet ter equipped with more s t ands and floodlights. Players could receive bigger salaries . All these th ings would lead to a more rapid development of a fine sport.

On the in ternat ional field the position is ridiculous. How the poor fore igner must shake his head with bewilderment when he encounte r s two Irish t eams . In the recent a m a t e u r in ternat ional between Ire-land and Great Britain, the m a n who won the match for Brtain was Paddy Hasty, who comes f rom North-east I re land. In-stead of hav ing two in te rna t iona l t eams we should have one, and w h a t a team it could be with Blanchflower, Cantwell, Bingham, McPar land, Saward and Hurley playing together .

In 1939 Ireland played three inter-nat ional matches , agains t Hungary a t Budapest a n d Cork (the last t ime tha t a home In te rna t iona l was played outside Dubtin) a n d aga ins t Germany a t Bremen.

The war in te r rup ted the series and the next match was played in 1946. During the last twenty-one years Ireland played Portugal 4 t imes, Spain G, England 4, Switzerland 1. Sweden 3, Belgium 2, Fin-land 2, Norway 4, Argentina 1, Germany 4, Austria 3, France 3, Luxembourg 2. Yugoslavia 1, Denmark 2, Nether lands 2, Rumania "B" 1, Poland 2. In all 52 matches were played; 11 were drawn, 22 wero lost and we won 19.

Of all those matches some are worth recalling. In 1949 at Liverpool we achieved our only defeat of England. The score was 2-0. Our t eam on this occasion was God-win (Shamrock Rovers); Carey (Man-chester Uni ted) , Ahearne (Luton; W. Walsh (Manches te r City), Mart in (Aston Villa), Moroney (West H a m ) ; Corr (Everton) , Farrell (Ever ton) , Walsh (W.B.A.), Desmond (Middlesbrough), O'Connor (Shamrock Rovers) . Martin and Farrell scored our goals.

And in October last year we had our greatest victory when we beat Sweden, the World Cup runners-up, 3-2. Our team was: Dwyer (West H a m ) ; Carolan (Manchester United), Cantwell (West H a m ) ; McGrath (Blackburn Rovers), Hurley (Sunder land) , Saward (Aston Villa); Fagan (Manchester City), GHes (Manches ter Uni ted) , Curtis (Ipswich), Cummins (Lu ton) , Haverty (Arsenal) . Cur t i s (2) a n d Giles (1) were the scorers.

January 1960 T H E IRISH DEMOCRAT 5

HOW ULSTER DEFEATED (.'.KIM a m i hollu-ost- C h u r c h i l l a r o s e in tin.1 ( '< i i j imuns on t h e et' M a y . !!)41. a n d .u ' lowcnng

a c r o s s t h e I r i s h Sea . w a s c o n s i d e r i n g tlit

c o n s c r i p t i o n m t h e Six

> i h : h i v a t e m i m l y . a m o u n c e d h i m p o s i t i o n ol (.'< Hint ies.

It turned 0:1 < Inilian bull-In

I ike a flash : h " reaction f rom quickly Churchi l l in

CONSCRIPTION to ne ills! a n o t h e r Chur-

ided blunder. f rom a powder key came

the North . And very was forced to correct

miscalculat ion about the anti-mili tar-ist temper of the Irish people.

Exactlv one week later, on Tuesday, the 27th. a sour Churchill a rose again, with his bulldog tail between his leys, and with a ges ture of impat ience was forced to confess that conscript ion in Ul-ster "wouldn't be worth the trouble."

The experience of one week made him a wiser mail. We thought it be t te r not to pursue the mat te r f u r t h e r . " he told the angry brigadiers and c a p t a i n s of the Unionist Pa r ty .

It was Br i t a in ' s last ser ines a t tempt to impose conscript ion 111 I re land . Ever since then, Ulster, t h a t " integral par t ol the United Kingdom, has been classed as a "place a b r o a d " in United Kingdom National Service Acts. '[•"HE political significance of the power-

* ful ant i-conscript ion c a m p a i g n which defeated Churchill c u l m i n a t i n g in the great. "Anti-Conseription Sunday" of May "51 h was much wider t h a n the immediate issue of mil i tary service in the British- forces.

It was above all a moral defeat for the Brit ish Government in its claim :u hold tile Six Counties as a "loyal" p a n ef the United Kingdom.„

Re.V cted b\ represent i-n

eommitu had

i he people they claimed to a mat te r m which they

-d themselves with loud mouthed boastlulness. ex-posed as outright liars, and made to look ridiculous m the eyes of both the Irish and British peoples, the Stormont dictators hung on and crammed their jails fuller, establish-ing a prison ship in Belfast Lough to ac-commodate the overflow.

Almost the entire S tormont Cabinet went to London with their police chiel Wiekham to try and get conscription.

"We are the most united Cabinet in the world." boasted Premier Andrews. "In Ulster there is an intense feeling of

ired J. F. Gordon. We're :et conscripted, they told

e-pl.v l. Not <>:IUcal CI rr<

This bland Is poll la-he storm >nser t aiitec

vere N. n»n. I "I

di

1 hie-

ogether with shat tered m

the threat of

conscription Republicans. I .abour

Democrats and the lhe public. A state-

condemned the

pat r io t i sm." deck all yearning to s. the newspapers.

"What a joke

For he-, lined th

c o u l d U l s t '

w I " he troun!-' to to: v el to meet the n.iti ' nal • ervice ?

How could it i)t S x Counties were of the people" \yh' people ea ipha t ical .>art of t he Br i t r

the pre •r folk v> en "it W' oi'ce the!

'si if 1

:ee be main-v "loyal Bri-dn't be worth aga ins t their uuional i tv —

• ma in ta ined tha t the occupied by "the will

"•11 the real will of the ly denied they were li na t ion or liable to

serve ;n the Brit ish forces? For the clique of Tor;,- poli t icians who

ruled at S to rmont . t he defea t was of such a sha t t e r ing n a t u r e tha t it would have forced any democrat ic government to resign.

was Churchil l ' s even-tual reply when he felt the real reactions of the Ulster patr iots . "It wouldn' t be wor th th<> trouble" to force these so wil-ling people to serve.

* * *

T H E political action which defeated conscription was. more t h a n any-

th ing. a lasting re fu ta t ion of the "United Kingdom" lie; a demons t ra t ion that even if the Six Counties was legally part of the United Kingdom, it ought not to be. and that the people of the North cer-tainly do not feel themselves to be a united part of the Bri t ish nat ion.

When war was approaching in 1930 it was automatical ly assumed tha t conscrip-tion would apply in natural ly , as a m a t t '

wasn't it j m i the par t of tile Kingdom Cornwall?

"Natural ly ." s a i d

mier. "we. as n a n clem, will fail into the country."

"Uls ter" was iiM the count)'.'.'." and a rden t desire to be he declared.

"It is assumed t h a t as d e f e n d ma t t e r for the Government at W< sier the military service

'•I'll ll'el.Mid.' undent.-, ssumpiien ii Us: ins was otesi winch

up. opposition to l i s t s ,

test a in (lest sections of ".it by the Hierarchy

sals First .shook for the Unionist political

illusionists came when the Brit ish Gov-ernment decided for the t ime being to exclude the Six Counties f rom conscrip-tion, but to retain the right to impose it in the future.

The r viewed threat came with Chur-chill's s tatement m the Commons in May. 1941, and following tha t , the final word f rom the Ulster people that even if Ulster was "Brit ish" its people were Irish and would never be forced to serve in the British Army.

So a rden t was their "desire to serve" that a preliminary meeting, held m Bel-fast on Saturday, .May 24th. merely to discuss plans for organising an anti-con-scription campaign, was itself turned into a mass public anti-conscript ion demon-si rat ion by thousands who turned up de-manding immediate action.

Once again the broadest sections of opinion were swept into the general pro-test movement.

the Six Counties. :' of course, because same as any other

ii. like Yorkshire and

Ci'.iigavon, t hen Pre-oi ihe United Kmg-ime with the re

s < PEAKING for

ot

pari of the "rest of its people had "an

called upon to serve,"

is a stimu-

li! easure wiil

the Labour movement. J ack Beat! le. Labour M P. for Pot-

tmger . declared "conscription has never been accepted by I r i shmen and never will be . "

Giving the 1'• 1,, the Unionist boasts, he said. "There has been no outcry here for eomnulsoi'.v mi-.tary service. The ordinary Unionist does not want it. the Orange Order has passed no resolutions ill its favour, the Nat ional is ts are bitterly opposed io it. and Labour is dead aga ins t it."

One I,abour leader who later revealed his t rue colours by becoming a Tory Min-ister and Orangeman. Har ry Midgley. made a desperate effort to get Labour

HIIIJ »

i i i h i Ti n i h i l

Hjjpii

lllllll

Hi 3 Hill nlHii

IIHUH

(III l iHi i i i

m i l l II*

..UK CORK City today con ta ins unemploy-

ment still, but in ou tward appear-ance it is a ttoom town. It seems well on the way to becoming I re land ' s most in-dustrial city—its populat ion is now 115,000 and as Belfast s t agna tes a n d decays, the Southern Capital has possibly already a population which conta ins more work-ers proport ionately than any other City in Ireland.

This is all to the good. Cork has al-ways had the rebel t rad i t ion , and was never poisoned by the political scabbery and sycoDhantism which h a s reduced the huge Belfas t movement to ut ter powerlessness, despite i ts economic s t rength .

Here a re some of the t h i n g s which are going on:

(1) A £12,000,000 oil ref inery, with two factor ies at present m a k i n g commer-cial gases f rom by-products .

(2) The Lee hydro-electric scneme has two huge dams completed this year. The Marina Power s ta t ion burns 90,000 tons of oil each year .

(3) The Harbour rec lamat ion scheme (£1 j million) has already made available at Tlvoli no less than 40 acres for industr ial development. It will provide a deep water harbour for big ships.

(4) Irish Steel at Haulbowline has a de-velopment schcmc cost ing £2 mil-lion, which will lead to the manufac-ture of sheet metal f rom bars, and ul t imately pig iron m a n u f a c t u r e is hopod for.

(5) The Verolmc United shipyards pro-pose to build dry docks at Rush-brooke and Haulbowline, to take ves-sels ol 50,000 tons and the scheme will cost £5 million.

((i) Gouldings fertil isers a re expanding. (7) Last year Fords produced the

150,000th Irish-built motor oar. There Is a steadily expanding t rade in cars, t rucks and vans to the U.S.A. and the Continent .

(8) There has been no fall-ofT in the high d e m a n d for tyres m a d e by the Dun-lop Co. Cork factory.

A mar t i an landing f rom the sky in Cork could be excused for th inking he was in Glasgow silos, cranes, chimneys everywhere, and a great new dual-car-n a g e highway leading out of the town towards Dublin.

* * * r P H E growth and development of Cork 1 should leave little doubt t h a t here

is the rival to Bel fas t as I re land ' s second City. While Bel fas t Unionists bleat about a t t r ac t ing industry to the decaying six-counties. Cork has done it.

I t is t ime the six-county workers awak-ened f rom their unionist- inspired opiates, and got the real isat ion into their heads t h a t the Republic has over taken them and is surpass ing t h e m - maybe a t ter-rible sacrifices, but it is being done!

I t is one of the most hopeful signs in modern I re land.

* * *

A* THEN a place expands industrially it expands every other way; there is

more militancy, less cynicism, greater cul-tu ra l life and bet ter facilities for every-th ing.

In the last twenty-one years Cork has been industr ial ised at a fas te r ra te than any other oart of Ireland T h e Trade Union membershin has gone up every year. T h e Sarst ield 's Court sanator ium is t h e largest and most modern in Ire-land, while the matern i ty hospital is one of the most modern in all Europe. * * *

1TIE annual In te rna t iona l Film Festival Week was established lour years ago.

and has become internat ional ly known For those who imagine I re land is a kind of backwater let it be known that films f rom ALL over the world have been shown there Then there is the annual ( 'ork music festival Huddersfield is big-ger than Cork Did anybody ever hear of a Huddersfield festival? Or Burnley? Or even Leicester?

Then there is the Feis na Mumhan in which one whole day is given to en t ran ts f rom the Trade Unions m music, drama, and dancing competit ions. One Trade Union runs a special Irish class for its members, and Gael Linn has opened an office on the G r a n d Parade The Library service Is such t h a t no book airy reason-

able person could possibly desire is in-accessible.

HOUSING has always been a black side of Cork life. But the s lums of

the old city have been steadily cleared and are now almost gone. T h e Housing Depa r tmen t told the "Ir ish Democra t " repor ter tha t in the last 13 years over 4.000 families have been re-housed, and over 1,200 are scheduled in the next th ree years.

T h e City has spread itself over the he igh t s of Gur ranab rahe r and Spangle Hill—perhaps the building could have been a little more archi tectural ly imagi-nat ive; the centre and immediate sur-roundings of the city a re too beaut i ful to be spoiled by sprawl—and the Corpora-tion has built what looks like a new town m i 'self at Bal lyphehane

During the last twenty-one years the re have been built the Museum in Fitz-gerald Park, a splendid new premises for the Municipal School of Music, and the rebuilding of the Opera House which was destroyed by fire is to commence this year.

How many English cities so much as possess a humble thea t re , let alone an Opera House?

A.C.

G.A.A PROGRESS SINCE 1939 the growth of the Gaelic

Athletic Association in Britain which counts as the "f i f th province" has been striking. In 1939 there were 40 Clubs of which 15 were in London; now there are 155 Clubs, with 70 in London.

In 1939 there were three County Boards London, Lancashire and Warwickshire.

To these have now been added Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Derby.

In 194H the G A A bought New El tham Stad ium for £8.000 It is now worth con-siderably more than twice I hat figure, having been completely re equipped In Manchester the Harr is S tad ium is rented every Sunday.

London remains the strongest centre indeed in 195!) London won the All

I re land Junior Hurl ing by defeat ing An-tr im. and were f inalists in the junior football by defeat ing Fe rmanagh .

to pronounce m favour of conscription. As cha i rman , he called a .special meet-ing ot the executive but failed to get tha t support which he assured the British Labour Par ty existed.

C a l m Healy. the Nationalist leader, de-nounced the conspiracy of the Stormont Tories to conscript the Nationalist people, while keeping their own political .-a ,-porters "sale and sound" in "hon. • • : V i c e s " like the police and B Special.

On the Sunday mass demons t ra t ions against conscription took place in every part of "loyal" Ulster in Belfast , D e n y , Armagh. Newry. Omagh. D u n g a n n o n and Enniskillen.

In small Dungannon a crowd of sev-eral t housands ga thered and a f t e r speeches they solemnly chan ted in uni-son the anti-conscription pledge:

"Denying the right of t h e British Gov-e r n m e n t to enforce compulsory s en ice in Ireland, we pledge ourselves solemnly to one ano the r to resist conscription by the most effective means a t our disposal consonant with the law of God."

And m Belfast t he second mass dem-onst ra t ion in two days took place at Cor-n g a n Park. There again, crowds of sev-eral thousands recited the pledge and cheered the dispatch of messages to the British Labour Party, the Liberal Par ty , the National Council for Civil Liberties.

Tile Ulster people powerful voice, and feated.

Two days later lie u t tered the historic words which, by implication, condemned the part i t ion of I re land and condemned tiie cynical politicians of S tormont who continue to rule aga ins t the wishes of the I r ish people: "It would be more trouble t h a n it is worth to enforce such a policy."

T h e effect of mass popular action on a burning political issue was to discredit the S tormont clique as a bunch of usur-pers and cheats; the value of mass poli-tical action was to reassert and keep alive in the most undeniable way the Ir ish people's r ight to unity and inde-pendence.

T h e lesson of organised, mass action a t a t ime when there a re again burn ing issues of democratic f reedoms to be fough t should not be lost on the present generat ion.

J.B.

had spoken with a Churchi l l was de-

THESE WERE WINNERS!

All-Ireland Champions

1939-1959

HURLING FOOTBALL 1939 Kilkenny Kerry 1940 Limerick Kerry 1941 Cork Kerry 1942 Cork Dublin 1943 Cork Roscommon 1944 Cork Roscommon 1945 Tipperary Cork 1946 Cork Kerry 1947 Kilkenny Cavan 1948 Waterford Cavan 1949 Tipperary Meath 1950 Tipparary Mayo 1951 Tipperary Mayo 1952 Cork Cavan 1953 Cork Kerry 1954 Cork Meath 1955 Wexford Kerry 1956 Wexford Galway 1957 Kilkenny Louth 1958 Tipperary Dublin 1959 Waterford Kerry

ATI ON A L LEAGUE CHAMPIONS HURLING FOOTBALL

1939 Dublin Mayo 1940 Cork Galway 1941 Cork Mayo 1946 Clare Meath 1947 Limerick Derry 1948 Cork Mayo 1949 Tipperary Mayo 1950 Tipperary New York 1951 Galway Meath 1952 Tipperary Cork 1953 Cork Dublin 1954 Tipperary Mayo 1955 Tipperary Dublin 1956 Wexford Cork 1957 Tipporary Galway 1958 Wexford Dublin 1959 ... Tipperary Kerry

Page 4: New Year Greetings Irish people laugh of Special Powers Act. THE IRISH PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED the security of North Eastern Ireland. And he wants the Twenty-Six-County Government

6 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT January 1960

I )()! ITICAI.I.Y speaking lh< year.- 1!»3!»-l'.'fiO have seen in the twenty-six

counties tli" unshaken supremacy ol t ha t class known as tiio "national bourgeoisie" - that is to say of those private enter-prise interests whose sources ol wealth .ire mainly rooted in Irish soil

What this means m practice, who might conceivably challenge them, and on what basis, we may consider later. 1 et us ask first, how did they manage to main ta in themselves so successfully? For tiie Irish S t a t e is the most stable in Western Europe, the ONLY one with an independent foreign policy, and despite imperfect ions we all know of, lias a h igher degree of formal political demo-cracy than any other Sta te in this par t of the world. It is not something to apo-logise for, t h a t is certain

This ex t raord inary stability has been favoured by world conditions, the absence of any severe worldwide t rade depression (with its specially catastrophic effect oil agricul tural exporters) being the main one. Prices have shown a stability con-t ras t ing sha rp ly with the fluctuation of the previous two decades. The long Ind ian summer of Br i t i sh imperialism, dragging on like a v in tage September, has provided an influx of tour is ts whose contribution h a s become a most important item in the inward balance of payments, and a place fo r the Irish unemployed to go to.

Under these conditions the ruling class of the Twenty-Six Counties has been able to come to a "modus vivendi" with British imperialism, very different f rom the un-concealed an t agon i sm of the 'thirties, and to expand I r i sh national capital without making serious inroads on imperial in-terests indeed while allowing them a cer-ta in, though not unlimited, expansion. They have played a complex game with considerable skill.

T H E C O M P R O M I S E The compromise of the last 21 years is

no t the compromise of 1921. From 1916 to 1921 the I r i sh nat ional movement was revolutionary. It was powered by the dis-content of have-not classes, workers, work-ing fa rmers and intellectuals. T h e big bourgeoisie h a d grown up under the um-brella of Br i t i sh expansion and stood lor "Home Rule." a reform which would have certified t hem as well-paid agen t s in t h e exploitation of Ireland.

The revolution of 1916-21 sha t te red t h e political organisa t ion ol th is class and it has never recovered it to this dav. Ins tead , i t has expressed itself th rough a Split in the national-bourgeois par ty which re-placed it, namely the old Sinn Fein. It was able to do so because economically it re-mained s t rong. When in 1919-20 Sinn Fein began to relax measures aga ins t landlords, ranchers a n d non-nat ional businessmen (who were prepared to express support for national independence once it seemed to be getting on top) the workers a n d work-ing fa rmers grew disillusioned. T h a t is why they fai led to respond in 1922. T h e Treaty expressed essentially "Home Rule" interests ( in teres ts of the Bri t ish-l inked Ir ish capi tal is ts) but dressed them in t h e t rappings of t h e Republic.

But the land annuit ies, t he oath of allegiance, the Governor-General , t h e bases at Berehaven and Lough Swilly, to say nothing ol parti t ion, reminded con-stant ly t h a t Ireland was not free. T h e historic impor tance of Liam Mellows is t h a t he was prepared to anneal to and set in motion once more the workers a n d working f a r m e r s (whether this was pos-sible at the t ime need not concern us t h a t was his greatness , t ha t he t hough t of doing it). Bu t not till De Valera en te red the Dail with a p rogramme of removing the worst f ea tu re s of and t r ans fo rming t h e 1921 compromise, did the nat ional bour-geoisie have a policy whose dangers they did not lear . and a party they could sup-port

C L A S S P O W E R T h a t the re was a real sh i f t in class

power and not merely an appa ren t one 111 1932 is shown by one simnle c i rcumstance The sca t t e red remnants ol the old Red-mondite pa r ty linked with the C u m a n n n a nGael under O Duff y, u i t h a pro-g r a m m e of restoring the treaty posi t ion by force. These were the blueshirts . They were prepared to suspend the cons t i tu t ion and in t roduce Fascism ra the r than De Valera should carry out the na t ional -bourgeois desire to change it,.

What was De Valera doing? He was abolishing the oath of allegiance, r e t a in ing the land annui t ies , and releasing f r o m prison the leaders of the republican middle class who had a big proport ion of the workers a n d working f a rmer s beh ind them Br i t i sh Imperialism struck as h a r d and as foolishly as ever. T h e t rade war began. Conf ron ted with enemies at h o m e and abroad, and depending for his support, on allies who would replace him if he drew back. De Valera was compelled to set In motion once again, and Increasingly for a spell of some three years, those basic

l . ' iccs 'it the I r i sh i o\ > . ;' •.<•:; which the preceding regime had 'r.t-i: !< repress The natlonal-botirgciusie '. hus ;n deadlv peril. It had helped to rail up forces it mifcht not be ab le p. cm.trnl.

Vet by 1939 it was seated safely and - undly m the saddle, never even to suffer a serious wobble. How was it done?

T H E G R E A T B L U N D E R The correct tac t ic for those who wanted

to rid Ireland completely of Br i t i sh im-perialism a t t h i s time must surely have been to give F i a n n a Fail the kind of sup-port that m a d e it impossible lor them to draw back. T h e national-bourgeoisie who were behind t h e m would of course accept it up to a point , but beyond tha t point they would try to d isembarrass themselves of the i r allies a n d t ry to rule independently. Indeed for a t i m e they ruled wi th the sup-por t of Labour, but threw t h e m aside at t he first oppor tun i ty .

Wisdom for anti- imperial is ts lay not in breaking with t h e national-bourgeois party but in forcing it to submit to t h e alliance, refusing to allow it to break up the alliance when it had achieved its own im-mediate object ives. This was possible be-cause a capi ta l i s t party can never consist exclusively of capitalists, and th rough its policy on l and annui t ies F i a n n a Fail had won the smal l a n d medium f a r m e r s and depended on keeping their suppor t .

Why was t h i s n o t done? It w a s not neces-sarily tha t nobody thought of it. I t may be tha t condi t ions iust did no t work out r ight . Oppor tun i t ies may have been missed. W r o n g advice may have been heeded. T h e r i g h t people m a y not have been there. T h a t ' s an old story. We can say what we l ike about the pas t and it can ' t reply. B u t of the re levant factors some can be disentangled.

T h e long experience of revolution, civil war. counter-revolution a n d oppression had kept t h e republican l eaders out of politics for m a n y years. T h o s e of them (such as Mellows and Chi lders) who grasped the decisiveness of politics at the close of t he civil war had been ruthlessly executed. T h e generation of republican leaders which now came to t h e lore had a n exclusively military experience and out-look. The u p s u r g e of 1932, coming in the midst of a world economic crisis, threw politics at t h e m . They could no t escape.

But politics is something where experi-ence counts terribly. There is so much to be learned. If the Republican demand could have in some way been wedded to the working class movement, then the national f r o n t would have been secure and De Valera d a r e not split it. Slowly the republican leaders turned t he i r faces to-wards political action, towards co-opera-tion with o t h e r parties. One a f t e r another confessed t h i s need. Meanwhi le Labour was breaking out lrom the n a r r o w confines of trade un ion routine a n d making far-reaching d e m a n d s . Nineteen-thir tv-four could have been Ireland's year of destiny.

What h a p p e n e d ? The m o s t advanced elements g rew impatient. They accused the anti-poli t ical republicans of wanting an accommodat ion with F i a n n a Fail i which was n o t necessarily a n error if they didi and es tab l i shed a new organisa t ion in which Labour and Republican supporters both combined. This was t h e ill-starred Republican Congress, the mos t terrible mistake of 20th-century I re land .

It was wrong on so many counts that it needs to be insisted that in t h e conditions ol those d a y s ( turbulent quick-changing days, no th ing like the present , and more-over days before people we now under-stand per fec t ly well had revealed their true na tu re i very fine hones t intelligent people believed it was a good thing. It split, the Republ ican movement from top to bottom.

The r e s e n t m e n t which was created led to the appa l l ing scenes at Bodenstown in 1936. Labour lost faith in t h e Republican alliance and dr i f ted swiftly down the path ol oppor tunism. And m a n y of the best elements of I r ish Republicanism lost then-lives nobly a n d gloriously, bu t fighting for a republic in Spain.

It was t h i s general s i tua t ion which gave De Valera h i s opportunity to make the national bourgeoisie the sole ruler of Ire-land. Some Republicans were mollified with pensions. Not of course that they were not en t i t l ed to pensions. But many refused t h e m . Others were put back in jail. T h e Republican organisa t ion was penetrated a n d broken u p f rom within.

The movemen t of the nineteen- thir t ies linked with t h e democratic movement of all Europe

In those days at Tone's g r ave at Bodens-town representa t ives of many nat ions would come to pay their respects to the father of Republicanism m the first coun-try to give it a nationally l iberating form. Tins g r and movement lay m ruins within a lew years .

S T A B I L I S A T I O N The n a t i o n a l bourgeoisie were fur ther

helped to secure themselves by the gather-ing war crisis. Mr. Chamber la in gave back the Irish po r t s so as to he lp I>e Valera in

his efforts IN destrny republicanism MKH from love ol Ireland as - >me have ima-g ined ' . At the outbreak of war. when a l t e r some hesi tancy he declared lur and ably main ta ined the policy ol neutral)!;. , he and his da-.- represented what seemed In be the in teres ts ol the whole Irish nat a 'ii

Ano. her fac tor favourable to the stabili-sat ion ol ' h e F i a n n a Fail comoromise was the si tuation m the Six Counties. Up to the late ' thir t ies it was taken for gran ted t h a i anv genuine socialist came out openiy against part i t ion. It is a pity it cannot be taken for g r an t ed today. T h e change took place during the war, when there were obvious difficulties in the way ol co-ordinat ing policies lor the two p a r t s of a country when one of them was a t wa r and the other was neut ra l .

T h e Fianna Fail compromise was tha t while the na t iona l bourgeoisie was to be supreme within t h e Twenty-Six Counties, it would tolerate the Six Count ies on a provisional basis, awaiting an o o p o r t u n t y to recover it salelv, and meanwhi le pro-imperialist groupings might opera te safely so long as thev behaved themselves and did nothing out rageous enough to recreate the mass upsurge of the previous decade.

It was paid a very peculiar compliment . It was given its logical completion .by the MacBride-Costello coalition which with-drew the Twenty-Six Counties f r o m the Commonweal th politically, in order to con-ceal the purpose of bringing it nea re r mili-ta r i ly and economically. And he re also. De Valera's policy worked tin Costello's hands ) and h is own didn't.

T H E R E S U L T How has the na t ional bourgeoisie used

its power? T h a t question cer ta inly needs answer ing before we can ask w h a t next.

I t was f rom 1939 onwards t h a t the special stabil ising factors in the world position came into play, and t h a t must be remembered, since the Labour and Re-publ ican movements would have recovered wi th in a year or two in their absence. Labour did indeed make a spec tacu la r re-covery f rom 1944 onwards, which was sac-rificed in the incredible folly of t h e 1948 coalition.

T h e nineteen- thi r t ies contain t h e politi-cal lessons. But the 'forties a n d 'fifties above all teach economic lessons. To learn t h e m it is necessary to see w h a t h a s hap-pened in I re land since 1939.

Leaving aside t h e s t agnan t Six Counties where the main picture is t he g radua l en-c roachment of Bri t ish financial capital replacing independent firms with branches, indust r ies for the local market by imperial industr ies , separa te shops by cha in stores, without material ly al tering t h e economic s t r eng th of the place, in the Twenty-six Count ies there h a s been a development of industry very spectacular considering the difficulties.

These difficulties may be summar i sed as follows: to develon new indus t ry rapidly you must have industry to s t a r t with. Par-ti t ion cut off t he most industr ial ised part of Ireland and doomed it to chronic stag-nat ion . Means of production had therefore to be purchased outside the S t a t e through ca t t le exports. Cat t le exports m e a n t pre-serv ing t h e ranches. Preserving the r anches m e a n t diminishing agr icul tural ou tpu t for t he most productive purposes, and grass ins tead of tillage reduced em-ployment while also demanding feeding stuff imports, aga in to be paid for in cat t le .

Wha t has happened in these two decades is t ha t Ir ish capital ism has developed as it could be exnected to develop under the government of t he native capi ta l i s t class. I t has developed under difficulties imposed by British imperialism. But it h a s been largely successful in get t ing those diffi-culties carr ied by other classes.

I t s most spectacular successes have been in sugar, turf and electricity. I re land is self-sufficient in sugar, and was adequately supplied t h r o u g h o u t the war. T h e repub-lic is an exporter of electricity to the Six Counties. Bord na Mona has t r ans fo rmed the fuel s i tuat ion. These t h r e e industr ies lire state-owned, like t ranspor t . The sig-nificance of th is is t ha t the Brit ish-l inked capi tal is ts have been left f ree to invest abroad ' a s par t of the modus vivendi) and t h e only way to rai.se the necessary capi-tal has been through s ta te loans and taxat ion. T h u s the burden of creating these en te rpr i ses tha t serve the capital ist c lass has been borne by the workers and working f a rmers , who do. of course, derive some benefit f rom them

Its failures, if so they may be termed, have also derived from the development of capital ism. It is widely known tha t the population of the Twenty-Six Counties has fallen th roughout the past twenty-one years. It is also known t h a t while the h u m a n populat ion is the lowest on record, t he cattle population is the highest .

De|»opulation is not bv any means in-compatible with capitalist progress. It us impor tan t to know who has lef t the coun-try. And unfor tuna te ly It is only too clear, as the figures show. Between 1051 and 1956 Co. I/eitrim lost 10 1 per cent, of its population. Co Waterford 2 ,r» per rent, but Co. Meath gained 0 6 j>er cent. Towns with less than 1.500 inhab i tan t s lest then-population, while towns with over 1.500 inhab i t an t s grew in size.

T h e high emigrat ion was f rom the dis-tr icts populated by working farmers , both f rom the f a r m s themselves, and because of the smaller population to be fed. clothed and served, f r om the small marke t towns which ca tered for the fa rms , l ive emi-

grant- averaged some 50.000 a year. Oo-viiius:;.- ;i they had not emigra ted t h e : -w; a.;: be a social explosion. They were j j.*t tj-.e cias.-es wlucii had formed the r ank and hie of the republican movement . T:>--.-cum:ra ted becau.-e the prices obtained i young ca t t le were not sufficient to prov ie the th ings that must be bought to breed them, without recourse to absolutely tolerable labour.

Basically, tins very condit ion arise-f rom imperial! m in its economic aspe- t . Indus t r i a l goo-f.. feeding - tuf fs and fer-tilisers a i e sold at monopoly prices, while small f a r m e r s are so n u m e r o u s that tn \v face virtually infinite competi t ion. T h e way to protect them is lor t he s ta te to up its own fertiliser and foodstuff indus-tries. and to organise co-operation begin-ning wi th marketing. These measures, however, s tep beyond exist ing na t ioaa l -bourgeois compromise. It becomes neces-sary to bring in other classes to press t h e m en.

F igures show the m a g n i t u d e of the pr ;.). Iem I n 1938 there were 186.281 holdings of between one and f i f ty acres; m 1935 there were only 169,835.. T h e number of holdings between 50 and 200 acres had risen i rom 132,880 to 137.280, t ha t is by 4.100. In 1933 there were 45.888 shops in the Republic. In 1955 t h e r e were only 37.628 But Irish agr icu l ture is not s tag-na t ing . It is developing. Mechanisa t ion of the bigger farms goes parallel with the squeezing out of the smaller ones. Tiie n u m b e r of horses fell f r o m 459.176 in 1941 to 276.400 and the Belgians a re still ea t ing them. T h e number of t r ac to r s has risen f rom 295 in 1933 to 27.887 in 1956.

W h a t t h e n is t he essence of I re land ' s problem as illustrated in the full a n d ex-cellent figures published in the Republic? I t is th is . Industry is developing. Agri-cul ture is showing a technical advance, which reduces the n u m b e r employed on the land. But the growth of industry is not rapid enough to absorb those who are disemployed f rom the land. And the con-di t ions of production for the smal ler f a r m e r s a re driving off t he land people who should not really be leaving it.

T h e s i tuat ion in t h e Republic seems to be t h a t the re is only one th ing worse t h a n capi ta l i s t development, and t h a t is no t having enough capital ist development. And why is the re not e n o u g h ? Because the leading section of t h e capi ta l i s t class, t he na t iona l bourgeoisie, f ea r s to make a rapid ons l augh t on imperialism in I re land on its own. a n d is unwilling to share i t s re-sponsibil t ies with classes which migh t have less respect for proper ty than itself. While it is in two minds , and keeps an uneasy peace, the populat ion declines and its ow;n internal marke t diminishes.

W H A T N O W ? It is clear tha t a s i tua t ion like this can-

not go on for ever. T h e logical end-point of t h e process is the extinction of t h e working fa rmer and the re-es tabl ishment of large landed property worked now not by t e n a n t s but bv employees. Certainly this prospect , d is tant as it may be. of a completely capitalist a g r a r i a n system will be cold comfor t for imperial is t or nat ional bourgeois—the sense of private property and i ts sacredness will d isappear f rom the countryside.

But, of course, a l ready the nat ional-bourgeoisie are compelled to try and meet the problem, if only f r o m the point of view of t h e marke t . This is t h e significance of the grea t efforts to br ing in foreign capi-tal where its only obvious service to Ire-land is to give employment . But this does not help the agra r ian problem, where in-deed, t he present sys tem has no solution.

If t h e population falls, produce goods for expor t is the cry. But th is involves the quest ion of entry into outside markets , which again raises the question of foreign en t ry into Irish marke t s with the prospect tha t for every export indust ry successfully es tabl ished a native one falls by the way-side. This is exactly the plight of the Six Counties, and an Anglo-Irish f ree t r ade area is simply to place the Republic economically where the Six Counties is today.

Added to this comes the efforts of the " a t t r a c t ed" industr ies to increase then-share in the Irish economy Anybody who has followed the Petrol Commission can see how the big oil companies are at war with each other and simultaneously are subjec t ing to themselves the small garage proprietors. They may next declare war on turf - fuel as they have declared war on coal in Britain. T h e F ianna Full com-promise is therefore not tor all tune, and the sudden emergence of so much con-t rad ic tory and mostly speculat ive "new t h i n k i n g " shows t h a t even in the height of a t r ade boom it is runn ing into CTLSIS.

This does not mean tha t a sensible man will a t once declare F ianna Fail the enemy On the con t ra ry it is even more clear t h a n ever t ha t Brit ish Imperialism in its economic aspect, is the enemy of I r ish prosperity, but tha t it cannot l>e de. fea ted in this aspect unless an all iance of the progressive forces of the Irish peop;e is pulled together to fight and defea t it, m its political as|>ect T h e real " re - thmking" that is required is upon how to create

ueh a national front or all iance and what its p rogramme should be. That , as s ta ted in our editorial, can only be done finally bv people resident In Ireland. But the Irish m Britain and t h e British Labour movement are in th i s too. and on the side that fights imperial is t policy here in Br i ta in .

C.D.G.

January 1960 rHE IRISH DEMOCRAT 7

FAMOUS IRISHWOMEN by

ROSAMUND JACOB I' H E oldest known n a m e for the coun-

try now called I r e l and , and still the Irish n a m e for I re land is that of a .,,„.,. f a m o u s I r i shwoman, a queen called Eire. I n fact there were three queens ivhoso names were all used for the i r country Eire, Banba. a n d Fodhla. We -nil o f t e n hear of I r e l and as Banba. and the n a m e Fodhla survived in the wri t ings of poets until nearly modern times.

All t h r e e queens were killed, we are told, f ight ing m a ba t t l e against the Milesian invaders. They may be counted as the first famous I r i shwomen. In those t imes women were f ree and powerful, at least as much so as men, in many coun-tries. I r e l and included. T h e Milesians also had a queen who fell in battle in the i r invasion - Scota. a f t e r whom the I r i sh m t h e Middle Ages were of ten called by fore igners "Scots," and f rom whom Scot-land la ter took its n a m e .

T h e nex t famous I r i shwoman we hear of is a n o t h e r war-leader, Maedhbh, Queen of C o n n a c h t about t h e beginning of the C h r i s t i a n era, a person of whom many tales a re told, most of t hem as discredit-able a s those we hea r of many royal male bullies who would sacrif ice other people wholesale for their own mili tary glory. It was Maedhbh who went to war with Ulster to possess herself of a bull equal to a sp lendid bull her h u s b a n d owned.

Ano the r famous queen was red-haired M a c h a of Ulster, f rom whom Ard Macha , M a d i a ' s high g round (Armagh) was n a m e d . f DOMING to later t imes, one of our ' g rea tes t women was the i l legitimate d a u g h t e r of a Leinster lord, born in the middle of the fifth cen tu ry A.D.—Brighid, who became a Chr i s t i an and was one of the g r e a t saints known as the th ree P a t r o n s of I re land—Patr ick. Brighid, and Colm Cilie. A good deal seems to be known abou t he r life as a travell ing missioner and t h e n as the founde r and organiser of t he great Kildare convent which flourished t h r o u g h the Middle Ages as a sort of Chr i s t i an successor to t h e worship of t he old goddess Brigis. n a t r o n of fire, poetry, a n d iron. The fire a lways kept lighted by St. Br ighid ' s nuns began as a fire belong-ing to t h a t goddess.

Br ighid ' s successors were long powerful m t h e Ir ish Church She herself seems to have been one of t h e noblest and most a t t r ac t ive characters t h a t Ireland ever produced. She had t h e kindest h e a r t in the world, and no service to those in w a n t was ever too hard or too humble for her. Like several other I r i sh saints, she loved an imals , and would a lways help a beast in need or in trouble.

G o b n a i t of Kerry, some time later, was a n o t h e r famous saint .

T h e r e were women poets in old I re land one famous poet was the Princess Gor-

m l h l a i t h . who in the t en th century was mar r i ed first to Cormac King of Munster , and on his retiring into the Church was marr ied to the King of Leinster. On his dea th she, of her own accord a t last, mar r ied Niall King of Ulster.

In 932 one Uallach died, who was re-corded by the Four Masters as the chief poetess of Ireland. Apparently women were trained as poets as well as men. I N t h e fifteenth cen tu ry we find Mar-1 gare t O'CarrolI of the O'Carrolls of

File, a woman of h igh s tand ing whose f a t h e r had been a p a t r o n of learned men, and she was famous for her generosity, hospi ta l i ty and genera l social service. She was a great p a t r o n of commerce, she repa i red high roads, built bridges and churches , and the Four Masters say t ha t

RAILWAYS from

Page Eight cent f rom service a n d announced tha t most of the others would be wi thdrawn as soon as they needed heavy repairs. Exis t ing locomotives which had been in use or m store on o t h e r sections of U.'l'.A were d ra f ted to the G N R. line as replace-men t s . I I AVINC. got control ol both the Be 1 fast-

Derrv routes, t h e U T A . announced t h a t a l t e r a twelve-months ' trial to com-pare the two. one of t h e m would be closed. It is almost certain tha t the one to close will be the ex-G.N R route, and so towns such as Omagh. D u n g u n n o n and S t rabane , which were once busy junctions, will be without rail facilities.

T h e latest line to close is the County Donegal Railway, which shut down com-pletely Irom J a n u a r y 1st. 1960.

If the present ant i - ra i lway outlook of the Stormont G o v e r n m e n t (not confined only to Unionists! Is not altered, it is quite possible tha t In four or five years' t ime the "lily railways o p e r a t i n g in the Six Coun-ties will be the Belfast-Dublin main line and the branch lines f rom Belfast to Larne and Bangor, and tha t Derry City, which I'tilv a decade ago had its four terminal

t a t ions In regular use, will be completely (let oid of railways.

Bridie O'Neill's mother in her Belfast home. The harp was made of matchsticks by her son in Crumlin Road Jail.

BRIDIE O'NEILL I N a new intimidation offensive

against the Nationalist people of Belfast, the R.U.C. last month seized thirteen girls in early morning raids on their homes and detained them under the Special Powers Act.

Some of them were subjected to a whole day's gr i l l ing and insults f r o m de-tectives before be ing released.

One object of th i s police bullying of young girls is believed to be to secure the victimisation of republican sympa th i se r s by employers. T h e same persecution tac-tics have long been used by the police in Co. Tyrone a n d Derry. Many have al-ready lost their j obs as a result.

Meanwhile in soli tary conf inement in Armagh jail is Bridie O'Neill, who was seized before d a w n from her home in Norfolk Street, Bel fas t .

Armed police surrounded her house, and as Bridie a t t e m p t e d to leave by the back door, police with sten guns jumped over the backyard wall. Ths barre l of a sten gun was t h r u s t in Bridie's s tomach and she was forced into the waiting police car.

(Picture on Page One)

Labour and the Irish vote "while the world lasts, h e r many gifts to the Irish ?ncl Scottish na t ions shall ever be numbered. ' '

In 1433 there was a f amine in Offaly, and twice in tha t year Margare t O'CarrolI proclaimed a great f ea s t to w h i c h thousands of people, mostly the poor, were invited, and the feasts were held at t h e church in Killeigh (a l i t t le south of Tul-lamorei . Margaret receiving the guests with her clergy and judges around her and her husband, Calvach O'Connor seeing tha t all was properly done and each person served in turn.

I r ishwomen have been famous in many-lines, in war, piracy, on the stage, in l i terature, in religion, a n d latterly in poli-tics. G r a i n n e Ni Mhai l le (or O'Malleyi was a famous pirate leader, though not a thorough criminal, for she did some good work aga ins t English despoilers of Con-nacht .

We have had heroines like Mary M'Crecken and Mary Doyle of New Ross, we have had great ac t resses in the first half of the n ineteenth century. Eliza O'Neill for ins tance—and at least one famous singer. Cather ine Hayes.

Famous names in l i terature include Maria Edgeworth (a really remarkable charac ter and writer) and Lady Morgan. Unfortunately, they l.ved in a class who found it the natural t h i n g to write for an English public, but we also had famous writers like L a d y Wilde, otherwise "Speranza." whose poetry was for her own people, and who. besides her poetry, wrote an invaluable book on "Ancient Charms , Cures, and Usages of I re land." Her own name was Elgee, a n d she became a Nationalist a f te r seeing the huge fune ra l of T h o m a s Davis pass her window in Dublin in 1845, when she was only n ine-teen years old. ' F H E R E was one I r i shwoman of the JL nineteenth century who ought to

have been famous as a uolitician if t h e men had given her a chance Anna Pa r -nell. Andrew Kettle, in his account of his life, writes of her thus : "I found Anna Parnell had a bet ter knowledge of the l ights and shades of Irish peasant life, of the real economic conditions of the country, and of the social and poli-tical forces which had to be acted upon to work out the f reedom of I re land, t han any person, man or woman I have ever met. It was a knowledge that re-minded me of tha t of my own mother

it. was simple, mas te r fu l and pro-found

Anna Parnell would have worked the Land League revolution '•> a much bet-ter conclusion than her great brother."

In our own time we have seen eminent poets like Alice Milligan. Ethna Carbery. and Maeve Kavanagh. a great playwright like Lady Gregory, a distinguished his-torian like Alice Stop ford Green, and r famous revolutionary leader like Con-s tance Gore-Booth —the Countess Markie-wicz bv marriage

I th ink killing Is not the best method of revolution, but all of us who admire . lames Connolly and Padra ig IVarse must admi re Constance de Markiewtr/. and she. unlike them, left her own social and political class to .join in the democratic nat ional rebellion Women like Mrs Des-pard and Hanna Sheehy-Skefflngton used bet ter methods in their revolutionary-work for various sorts of freedom, and their f ame will grow, I hope, with the

passing of time.

WEST LONDON Connolly Association held its own privatir inquest into

Labour's election defeat a t w h a t proved one of the largest meetings in its history, on Thursday, December 3rd, 1959.

Assisting the Branch to d raw its con-clusions were Mr. Ben Park in , Member of Par l iament for Paddington (in whose constituency the Branch meets) , Mr. Maurice Orbach. formerly M.P. for East Willesden who lost his seat in the elec-tion, Mr. Ber t Edwards, t he nat ional or-ganiser of t h e Vehicle Builders ' Union, who (many people think) ha s proved him-self too outspoken to get adopted as a Labour candidate, and Dr. Urbanski, the chairman of the Islington Co-operative Party.

Mr. Orbach and Dr. Urbanski are pro-minent in the Movement for Colonial Freedom; Mr. Edwards is the son-in-law of the Irish patr iot James Connolly.

Chairman Colm Power (North Kensing-ton Labou^ Par ty i said the problem was tha t most of the Irish did no t vote.

/ \PENING the discussion, Mr. Bert Ed-" ' wards sketched the historical back-ground of par t i t ion and placed the blame fairly and squarely where it belonged, on Lloyd George < who said par t i t ion must be eternal) and successive Bri t ish Gov-ernments. Their experience had made the Ir ish suspicious of British politics.

Mr. Maurice Orbach refer red to his long support of the Irish case, and re-called how he and Mr. Park in were among the Labour M.P.s who abstained from voting for Mr. Herbert Morrison's ill-starred Ire land Act. He expressed ap-preciation of the work of the Connolly Association and noted t h a t many land-ladies failed in their duty of ensuring tha t Irish lodgers were on the electoral register. A great proportion of the Irish in East Willesden were not registered for voting purposes. There was a need for

NEW NATIONALIST ORGANISATION

T W E N T Y - SIX - YEAR-OLD secondary * school teacher Michael McKeown

has invited "all nationally minded people" to unite ( f rom Irish Labour Party to Anti-Partition League, but NOT Sinn Fein i in the newly established "National Unity Movement" just set up m Belfast.

Many years ago the "Ir ish Democrat" urged the Labour Movement to under-take the task now proposed, namely the winning of majori ty consent in the North to the policy of national unity.

All kinds of specious a r g u m e n t s were advanced agains t it.

It is too early to judge the new move-ment The "Irish Times" describes its leaders as "possessing the courage and idealism of youth " But that will impress nobody I ts reporters are hardbi t ten and cynical enough to regard a lmost anybody as unspoiled.

The real test is not the admission of Sinn Fein. In the North the position Is abnormal. The real test is, since they aim at a major i ty of the residents of the six counties, will they admit protos tants? If they will not. disregard them, they a re only one more humbug.

educative work to persuade t h e m to make use of their r igh t s .

Mr. Ben Park in , M.P. hoped t h a t the Irish would increase the par t they played in the Trade Unions. He praised the work of the Connolly Association a n d recalled how he himself opposed the I re land Act. He did not th ink in terms of t ry ing vote-catching among the Irish. He believed the Labour P a r t y should act on prin-ciple. He felt a lso tha t speakers had im-plied that the I r ish vote was numerically decisive.

Dr. Urbanski a n d Mr. lltyd Harr ington both stressed t h a t the struggle to empty the concentrat ion camps in Nor the rn Ire-land was par t of a world s t rugg le for democracy. W h a t happened in Northern Ireland could happen in Bri ta in if the people allowed it.

Mr. Sean Redmond, for t he Connolly Association S t a n d i n g Committee, said La-bour lost the election by 600,000 votes. The Irish vote (of Irish-born electors) was almost exactly a million. The Ir ish held the balance of power as they did in the days of Parnell. But even if they got no votes for it, Labour should end the parti-tion of Ireland in the in te res t s of the British workers themselves. If they felt uncer ta in about tha t , then in t h e mean-time, while Br i t a in was t ak ing respon-sibility for nor th-eas te rn Ireland, she had a duty to ensu re tha t out rages against democracy did not take place there .

M.C.F. Conference / \ N November 22nd, 1959, t h e Movement

for Colonial Freedom held a n impor-t a n t conference in Denison House, Lon-don, on the sub jec t of "Together against Imperial ism."

Chai rman was Dr. Urbanski , of the London Co-operative Party, who was jailed by Hit ler and held in t h r e e con-centrat ion c a m p s before e scap ing and joining the F r e n c h Foreign Legion — which he also l e f t when t h e oppression of Algeria began.

Connolly Association sent delegates re-presenting the Executive Council, and the West, North-West and East London branches.

Mr Desmond Greaves, vice-president, paid a warm t r ibu te to the power fu l work for colonial l iberation which had been initiated and carr ied th rough by Mr. Fenner Brockway, M.P. He s t ressed tha t Labour's de fea t in the election was only possible aga ins t t he background of Tory-ism drawing reserves of s t r e n g t h from its placing addi t ional burdens on the colonial peoples.

Modern prosper i ty was the prosperity of the despoliat ion of Africa Did anyone imagine the Afr icans would s t a ^ i for it indefinitely? When they did not, what t hen? Obviously it was in t h e interests of the people of Britain to find an alter-nat ive way of life. They should get out of the countr ies they had occupied in-cluding I re land.

Mr. Anthony Coughlin (West London) gave a s u m m a r y of the s i tua t ion in the Six Counties of North-East I re land, and Mr. Sean Redmond (North-West London) explained how part i t ion was t h e concern of the British people as well a s the Irish.

Page 5: New Year Greetings Irish people laugh of Special Powers Act. THE IRISH PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED the security of North Eastern Ireland. And he wants the Twenty-Six-County Government

8 THE IRISH D E M O C R A T January 1960

Destroy Special Powers Act l l / H E N M r . M a c m i l l a n i n t r o d u c e d

the R o y a l Commiss ion o n the po l i ce in the H o u s e of C o m m o n s he sa id i ts t e rms of re ference w o u l d not c o v e r N o r t h e r n I r e l a n d w h i c h " h a s a sepa ra te po l i ce system." H e then a d d e d m y s t e r i o u s l y there w e r e " o t h e r reasons as w e l l " w h y i t w o u l d n o t be s u i t a b l e f o r N o r t h e r n I r e l a n d to be deal t w i t h in the same w a y .

P e r h a p s wo s h o u l d clear up t h i s "mys-t e r y " winch m a y be puzzling sumi ' people.

Re la t ions b e t w e e n the police a n d the pub l i c are no to r ious ly bad in Br i t a in . T h a t is why a Commiss ion h a s been ap-po in t ed . In 1 he r e m a i n d e r of t h e "Uni t ed K i n g d o m . " t h a t is. in N o r t h e r n I r e l and r e l a t i o n s are e v e n worse.

F a r worse. T h e police are a r m e d and t h e y a re f ea red . W h a t is more t h e y have day- to-day p o w e r s that far exceed the p o w e r s of the pol ice m Bri tain.

T h e s e s tem f r o m the Snecial Powers Ac t s and R e t a l i a t i o n s and they h a v e been fu l ly set otit m ureviotis issues of the " I r i s h D e m o c r a t . " It is under t h e s e Acts a n d Re ta l i a t ions t h a t C'rumlm R o a d j a i l , in Be l fas t h o l d s within u r i m walls j over 160 d e t a i n e e s without c h a r g e or trial. I A .situation t h a t even the Conse rva t i ve j L o n d o n " E c o n o m i c . " lias said s h o u l d be broti .h i to tut e n d

No police f o r c e least of all t i le a rmed R.lj.C". should h a v e tin p, v e r s . And | if it be said t h a t the Stotva Par l ia -m e n has dec ided on the ba.-is of pre-cise f ac t s atid a f t e r due care a n d consid-eration that t h e police should have these powers let t h e Commissi"!! c o n s i d e r the follow!!]1.:.

Specia l P o w e r s Retal ia t ions a r e by law to be laid b e f o r e Paliiat&fflH ' a s soon as

THE ONLY SOLUTION by

JOHN HOSTETTLER

m •fl a H e -police to ••nerai s

u n c o n n ..rt i v 11 >

tltat K .n de t a in

•use ol !'Cted

thi ' <' m i i . i t t r " wei-extendiii1. powers of

i su spec t s because of 1 ind isc ip l ine m Bel-•Mtll any specific llle-

1(1 re-

ts comple te ly ineffec t ive , bo th in sub-s t a n c e a n d in its s e c o n d a r y fo rm of en-s u r i n g t h r o u g h d e b a t e t h a t t he powers d e m a n d e d at any t i m e a r e not exces-s ive." S i m i l a r l y t he w r i t e r shows tha t pro-

c e e d i n g s oil the R e g u l a t i o n s m t h e Jo in t Select C o m m i t t e e on S t a t u t o r y Rules . Or-ders a n d Regula t ions a r c cursory.

F o r e x a m p l e S R . & O No. 199 of 1956 i c o m p r i s i n g 11 R e t a l i a t i o n s ' was in t ro-duced i n t o the Select C o m m i t t e e by an a s s i s t a n t secretary ' of t h e Min i s t ry of H o m e Affairs , who e x p l a i n e d t h a t "I t gives p o w e r s to lniuoso a cur few, requ i res p e r s o n s coming into N o r t h e r n I r e l a n d to s a t i s f y t h e police a s to why they a r e here , a u t h o r i s e s the pol ice or H.M. Fo rces to .net i n fo rma t ion a n d d o c u m e n t s or a r t i c l e s t h a t the civil a u t h o r i t y t h i n k s it d e s i r a b l e to obtain a n d examine , a n d pro-

hibits p e r s o n s collecting a n d d i s t r ibu t ing i n f o r m a t i o n regard ing t h e s t r eng th ol the pol ice force or i ts d i s t r ibu t ion .

We h a v e also added t o t h e list of u n -lawful a s soc ia t ions S i n n F e i n and F i a n n a Uladh. a n d we have m a d e it an o f fence for p e o p l e m ce r ta in c i r c u m s t a n c e s t o send w i r e l e s s or t e l e g r a p h i c messages oi to t a p o r intercept m e s s a g e s sent In wireless t e l eg raphy . "

I' H I S c o m p e n d i u m p r o d u c e d only t w o q u e s t i o n s by the c h a i r m a n , both con-

ce rn ing de lay in b r i n g i n g t h e S R . & O. before t h e Select C o m m i t t e e , the c h a i r -m a n t h e n closing t h e proceedings w i t h the br ief commen t . " I t s eems to be very s a t i s f a c t o r y . " On a n o t h e r occasion t h e C o m m i t t e e made no d e m u r to an a d m i s -sion by t h e Minis t ry ' s wi tness tha t , re -garding; a pa r t i cu la r R e g u l a t i o n . "I c a n -not say t h e r e is any suec i f ic incident, but it s e e m s a desirable p o w e r to h a v e " ;

iccasion. Mr. Walk lanc Unionist m e m b e r of t he

lared himself "absolutely all these Soec ia l Pir.vCfS

On anot ne r alls that one

c 'omr .u t iee (a'< .11 favour of Remittal tons ."

Mr. W a l k l a n d wan t s b e t t e r P a r l i a m e n -t a r y control over Special Power s . T h e r e is only one rea l solution, however , a n d t h a t is to de s t roy lite Specia l Powers com-pletely. T h e m a t t e r s de sc r i bed above show how li t t le reason t h e r e i- for the i r exis tence.

T h e Specia l Powers a n d w h a t is done by the t rouble Let t he Special police.

Let it c o n s i d e r too t h e a l l ega t ions of t o r t u r e by t h e nolice m a d e in the t r i a l of Million a n d Talbot .

Such a C o m m i s s i o n is loin: overdue to inves t iga te s u c h m a t t e r s a s t he se wh ich cause g r ea t d isquiet in B r i t a i n .

R.U.C. a rmed wi th t h e m cause t h a t would o t h e r w i s e not ar ise . Roya l Commiss ion consider t h e

P o w e r s and the i r exerc i se by t h e

Dismantling

m a v b e " lor 12H d a y s d u n ah ieh t i le

T H A T par t i t ion h a d ' of dis locat inc t h e

land c a n n o t seriously elfect on one indus t ry , p a r t i c u l a r l y d isas t rous , lory of t in ' I r ish railw

I n La lT Ire land Was ;ai!wa;, s m proDori ioa popti'ntt ion as : as C5: ea 1

at a pi e.-.nt-da;, iniiv. : Olllltl ie. << til oou j: :.-* h a s been deprived ( ; | i

annu lment m a y be ill the Ret : i l la t ions l'e-and !!'")" const i tute a

with f r e e d o m and no n raye r v. a s ever

of t h e m a n d they law without a s i n g l e colli- j a n c e ol anv k ind f r o m Par-

p r a y e r for t h e i r moved . Yet a t t l i o u in t roduced m 1956 gross i n t e r f e r e n c e r i g h t s of p rope i ' t v moved Oioiinst a n y p a s s e d into ment . or u ' t l i a m e n t . V O wonder M r . S. A W a l k l a n d . writing

on " P a r l i a m e n t a r y C o n t r o l of Dele-g a t e d Legis la t ion in Nor the rn I r e l a n d " m t h e journal , ' P u b l i c A d m i n i s t r a t i o n . ' com-m e n t s :

" In th is p a r t i c u l a r l y s e n s i t i v e sphe re , ii.e. the Spec ia l P o w e r s - J .H. i t h e com-bina t ion of t i ie 'negat ive ' p rocedure . wi th a p e r m a n e n t G o v e r n m e n t major- I itv m e a n s t h a t P a r l i a m e n t a r y control

I a .

e l l i c So-c:

a y . . • •I s ; ;o i t -'ep:

e n ! form m o

iiici

's des i red effect •conomy of I re -• con tes t ed . I t s ilways, h a s been s th is brief his-vs will show. S well served by to its , . i /e a n d

»?r.i1 'ii vi'i a look 1 t h e iwo

a n d em.

villi ia(i-T . a t ami t h e

Irish by

Railway: but Mime of i t s

b o r d e r a n u m b e r iort journey took f a n e due to two, ust c m s stops en

i t :an. m a p i

a:-,y lilt! railw deal

upon I br

e-i mol

At le ' ' i lie g o v e r n m e n t a',! t ! i" ra i l ' Itrei'..' Ill til!

d c

i'.- l o a d ills' to hot i ld i a \ e t'

i-11i ir rail nori arc l ran

t h e me thods i be l rme i i i bc r rn nay to: all t i ie

ft

!l l i e

IlllV I lie r ieve ncal

a n d be m a d e

v line is replaced nly pape r f igure -

cost ing. etc. (It l i i ' t tiie ra i lways

, ck. s igna l l ing , t lie u p k e e p ol

iv"eminent

ami pan-M i d i and a m

fo rmat ion of i' a s dec idc i :a. r ampanie . ' i 'wentv-s ix C

a i!.L'a t i n s v.a s a; in h e r n

ail: .,11) a r

:e :110a ".Ulspo .iiied

l)(ll (t ' l ie- :

•. e- e of

i" 11 i: Ic

a n d f ences , bridges. e t c . t he l o a d s Colli'."- out i loca i a t;t ho; it ic I u n o . >

At t h e outbreak of ' l i e First Wor ld W a r . t h e r a i l w a y s in I r e l a n d h a d r e a c h e d w h a t was to p a n e to be t h e i r zen i th . D u r i n g the w a r , tlie.v su f fe red i r o m lack of m a i n -t e n a n c e and a s h o r t a g e oj r ep l acemen t s , a n d t h e s e condi t ions w e r e lo c o n t i n u e un-til p a r t i t i o n had b e c o m e an e s t ab l i shed fac t .

t h e Free s t a t e to a m a l g a m a t e opera t ing e n -

>un! ies in to i mi ' • pan into e f f e c t .

lie d e a l n ' l i e n i Rai lways C o m -a a lormed, w h i c h incorpora ted t h e .(1 (i .''aai \\ e : ei n : Grea t S o u t h e r n

S o u t h Eastern-: a n d ci unpan ' .e ', i n c h crossed t h e t. T h e pr incipal ol' t h e Grea t N o r ' h e r n be ing the D u n d a l k ,

Sl igo. I.eiirim a n d Londonde r ry a n d

" C o u n t y Donegal 11iii-g solely m t h e

Six C.'otinti"'. r ema ined independen t , t h e s e being t h e Nor thern C o u n t i e s C o m m i t t e e i owned bv the L o n d o n , Midland a n d Sco t t i sh Rai lwayi a n d t h e Belfast a n d Coun ty Down.

IT w a s obvious I rom t h e beginning t h a t t h e G r e a t N o r t h e r n h a d been put in a

verv d i f l i m i t posit ion. Not only did i ts ma in D u b h n - B e l f a s t l ine cross the b o r d e r and t h e r e f o r e necessi t i te customs d e l a y s

tn

all its expres s t ra ins , i nch lmea crossed the t ime . a n d m a n y a si e n o r m o u s l eng th ol

e a or e v e n more ci tie. V. thoira! a n u m b e r of C " s i : : e s of m i n o r es o c c u r r e d between the " ars , the ]X)«i-ii of t h e Tri-h railway- in Haiti was l i t t l e

Meruit f r o m what it h a d been in 192"). T h e Second World War f o u n d the ra i l -

: \\ l)u 111 , 0

mes a! intai coar: e

Rail.'. a a 1 lie o the r s New ry a n d Greenore N o r t h e r n C.'ountii's: Loi> -h S " illy: and tli

T h e r a i lways oper

•e

n

more and m great deal of In that y e a r nmen t a m a l -R a J w a y s a n d : C o r p o r a t i o n

C ' t a s I o m p a i r •.." v e r n n i e n t ' i i t a ran-

debi ' iuui ' i ' stock a n d i a p p o i n t the c h a i r -

Unionists want all Ireland T H E big g u n s of the Un ion is t Party

have not been knocked out by the uproar f r o m the " O r a n g e Ex-tremists" w h i c h greeted the i r current l ine of conci l ia t ion towards Catholics, expounded b y Sir Clarence Graham at the recent Young Un ion is t Con-ference held att Por ts tewar t .

Sir C G r a h a m . C h a i r m a n of t h e Stand-ing C o m m i t t e e of the U n i o n i s t Council, u sed the o c c a s i o n to fly a n o t h e r kite for t h e official l e a d e r s h i p and u r g e d the ad-miss ion of C a t h o l i c s into m e m b e r s h i p ot t h e Par ty T h e only cond i t ion was. of course , t h a t t h e y mus t be " g o o d " Catho-lics and a c c e p t t h e " c o n s t i t u t i o n a l posi-t i on . "

At, once, d i v i s i o n s in the U n i o n i s t ranks were exposed. S i r Edmund W a r n o c k , an ex-At torney G e n e r a l , r u shed i n t o pr int t o r a p 8 i r C l a r e n c e ; and f o r a t ime it looked as if t h e leadership f e a r i n g the e l e m e n t s Sir E d m u n d spoke f o r had dip lomat ical ly w i t h d r a w n its h o r n s

However, e i t h e r the Union i s t leaders feel conf iden t e n o u g h of s u n n o r t for their policy, or look u p o n it as a c a r d i n a l poll

v. Inch iiiii.->t be a< hieva d fo r Ih<>y t h r e w Si r O a r t he frav to re af f i rm the

t ical objec t ive a t th is s tage , enee back ititi o r ig ina l , t and

OLTTK by acc iden t ' In Mr B r i a n Maaiiui

Gene ra l , Ijad been

.aid it htm: . t h e Atti ing a long th

s a m e lines a s S i r C G r a h a m al thoi iah h e offered a s s u r a n c e s that it d id not re present a c o n c e r t e d line and '.vent out of h i s way to d e n v collusion, tie lost no tune in th rowing h i s colleague a r o p e

He said W h e n I read S i r Clarence ' s speech on t h e Mondav m o r n i n e . I found tha t . I was in complete a g r e e m e n t with it Nothing w a s m it which h a d not been said forty y e a r s before by S i r Edward Ca r son . " C a r s o n , he avowed, " h a d looked u p o n t o l e r a n c e a s a sign of s t r e n g t h and t h e words w e r e his last will a n d testa-m e n t . "

T h e c o n t i n u e d wrangl ing a m o n g the Union i s t s is obviously a f a c t of key im-

p o r t a n c e for a l l Republ ican, Soc ia l i s t and

The Imperialist plot exposed by

ROBERT HEATLEY d e m o c r a t i c I r i s h m e n w h o wish to end i m p e r i a l i s t i n t e r f e r e n c e in our c o u n t r y ' s a f f a i r s . Abolishing t h e S t o r m o n t To ry re-g i m e is patent ly t h e f i rs t s tep a n d it is i m p e r a t i v e to be c l e a r on the m e a n i n g of po l i t i ca l t r ends t h e r e .

I n a recent " I r i s h D e m o c r a t " ar t ic le on t h e PaisH^'ites, I t en ta t ive ly offered a f e w suggest ions , w h i c h I now e x p a n d fo r p u r p o s e s of d i s cus s ion .

F i r s t l y , wha t was M a g i n n e s g e t t i n g a t by h i s allusion to C a r s o n - f a t h e r of U n i o n i s m ? Simply th i s , t h a t Un ion i sm n e v e r accepted t h e p a r t i a l d e f e a t suf fe red by B r i t i s h imper ia l i sm in 1922 a n d it h a s r e m a i n e d their o b j e c t i v e ever s ince to re-v e r s e t h e gains m a d e by t h e Na t iona l s t r u g g l e In this, a n d at th is s t age , they a r e a b e t t e d by two f a c t o r s il> T h a t they ar i ' a n a l l - I re land c l a s s ' r e p r e s e n t i n g the B r i t i s h monopoly in te res t s . i n t e r e s t s w h i c h domina t e t h e whole e c o n o m y ' and 1 J > Bv t lie difficult ie f ac ing the Republ ic d u e to the Kuropean -ajuabble lor m a r k e t s a n d t r a d e

W h e n Dillon m a d e I l l s speech ill the Da 11 advoca t ing c o m p l e t e i n t e g r a t i o n of t h e economy with B r i t a i n , and a t t a c k i n g A i k e n ' s independent lon-i; n policy, n wa> I II it because lie h a d II ist ol". book 700 '. e h e m - f i t t e d Us b',11 I

ts ' "(> C o u n t y c o u n t e r p a r t s i m p e r i a l i s m , the Six County

e a t h e r only a n d it could o n l y c r ea t e it on a spur ious basis T h e U n i o n i s t movement is a s h o t g u n wedding of i r reconci lable c l a s se s and in teres ts , s i nce imper ia l i sm h a d to a t t a c h to itself b r o a d sections of P r o t e s t a n t bus ine s smen , w o r k e r s and f a r m e r s , w h o in real i ty , suf-f e r f r o m the v a u n t e d Br i t i sh link, and t h e only way of d e f e n d i n g , or br ib ing t h e m , was to work u p rel igious f a n a t i c -I s m .

never read a u Irish r ,' in tegra l ion never nly tha t he speak:

HU T t h i s type of s u p p o r t was the n e g a -t i o n of their l o n g - t e r m s t ra tegy f o r

I r e l a n d is a Ca tho l ic p a r l o u r and t h e y could n e v e r be r e a d m i t t e d wearing t h e i r d a g g e r s . I n fact, in f a c e of hostility f r o m the C a t h o l i c H i e r a r c h y , t he S ix -Coun ty r e g i m e could not a n d would not l as t s ix weeks a n d it res t s on a tacit a g r e e -m e n t " w i t h the C h u r c h t h e O r a n g e m e n never t i r e of l ambegg ing .

T h e m o s t obvious f e a t u r e of this is t h e i n d e p e n d e n c e of C a t h o l i c schools a n d t h e 40 p e r c e n t S t a t e s u b s i d y of t h e m . As well, f o r historical r e a s o n s , the C a t h o l i c people a r e likely to be responsive to a n t i -i m p e r i a l i s t forms of s t r u g g l e and a w e d g e h a s t o be driven b e t w e e n them a n d t h e R e p u b l i c a n m o v e m e n t .

T h e s e , pu t briefly, a r e possibly s o m e of t he m a m c o n s i d e r a t i o n s in the m i n d s of B r o o k e b o r o u g h , and h i s Bri t ish imper i a l -ist a d v i s o r s , when f r a m i n g their a t t i t u d e t o w a r d s t he Ca tho l i c people of t h e Six C o u n t i e s . T h e old a d a g e is driven h o m e a g a i n t o imper ia l i sm religion is a poli-tical g a m b i t to lie used by rogues w h e n it s u i t s t h e m

N e e d l e s s to say, Brookeboroi lgh 's f i r s t - j born ch i ld , " O r a n g e bigotry," is jea lous and g rowing t roub le some At a t i m e of | e c o n o m i c crosswinds. with the a i r c r a f t i n d u s t r y on its way out . a rapid d e c l i n e in t h e linen t rade a n d a depress ion in | s h i p p i n g i t h r e a t e n i n g to affect the o r d e r books of Hai iand a n d Woltfi and s ack Unas a n d rumours of sacking's, hov. f a r v. ill t h e w oomg of ( ' a I holies go?

T h i s is the fear at b o t t o m of those w ho

w i v s bent / n e g l e c f d on, 194 > it wa - obviott tha t e u i e n d i t 111 a w a s lie'.1' . ai the Twen ty - s ix County •-•< aa ina t ed t h e f h e a t Sou! lie : 1 aa l ) i , a i m I i t t ' e i l T r a m w mio a new company . Ki: eaiiti. m •• inch ! he 11 e(i t he in te res t on l r - c rved t h e right. I m a n of t h e board ol d i r e c t o r s .

•jni 1047 T ia i i snor t Act p a s s e d at YVc-'-iiuii '-ter i nc luded those rai lways operating; ent i re ly in t h e Six C o l o n i c s , and so t h e N C O a n d B >V- C D c a m e under t h e uirwdict mn of the Ulster T ranspor t ; Author i ty . T h e cro.s b o r d e r lines w e r e still lelt in p r i v a t e hands , ail hough M pe r cent of t h e s h a r e s of the C o u n t y Donega l Ra i lways were now held by the Brit M l i r anspor t Commiss ion , w h o took over t h e L.M.S.R .'s s h a r e . (The o t h e r 50 per cent, were owned by t h e fi.NR i

In 194!). t h e Dunda lk . Newr.v and G r e ^ n -ore R a i l w a y gave up the s t r u g g l e and i t s lines were closed.

In 1950. t h e Londonder i v a n d L o u g h .Suilly R a i l w a y found t h e b o r d e r too m u c h to c o n t e n d with , and its h o t r e m a i n i n g s t r e t ch of l ine ( D e n y to I . e t t e rkcnny) ceased to o p e r a t e .

T h e G . N . R s t ruggled a long a g a i n s t heavy odds , bu t in 1953 t h e comoany in-fo rmed t h e two g o v e r n m e n t s t h a t it w a s only able to lay its h a n d s on £1,000, a n d t ha t if t h e y were not wi l l ing to assist i n some way. t h e whole of t h e sys tem would close down T h i s would h a v e meant t h a t Dublin would have had n o direct rail c o n -tact wi th B e l f a s t Faced with this u l t i -m a t u m . t h e two g o v e r n m e n t s were f o r c e d to get t o g e t h e r , and the o u t c o m e was t h e f o r m a t i o n of t h e G r e a t N o r t h e r n Ra i lway Board, w h i c h a d m i n i s t e r e d t h e l ine o a the i r beha l f

nUE to t h e lack of wi l l ingness on t h e p a r t of S tormont to e n g a g e In a n y

form ol e c o n o m i c co -ope ra t i on with D u b -lin. th i s a r r a n g e m e n t w a s doomed to a n early d e a t h f r o m the o u t s e t .

In 1957. .Stormont closed all the G.N R. c ross -border b r anch l ines wi t h e S r . C o u n -ties. a n d as th i s left i so la t ed s t re tches of line on t l u o the r side of t h e border, t h e Twenty-s ix Coun ty G o v e r n m e n t was eon i -IK'lled to close its po r t i on as well As these c losures included t h e O m a g h - O o n e s line I ' l l ' N o r !

t lii< l ied I''

ilid s la •opipair .

Count a ie and Bell in t

Mil t h e f ' at til'

a cell A ' i

f o r t h e T o Bri t ish

r e g i m e was a

p o i n t . it is

'f u n

and tin '(• grasped. , sympton h. Sir C l a r e n c e will not be " la id secured by eve ry and over in t h e

follow t h e " e x t r e m i s t s " in p a r t i c u l a r , shou ld I l a rge ly a working l i a s , e a s i n e s s liri iiikebi >l"( >lla G r a h a m and c o m p a n y o f f " T h e i r position is f i rm of £30.000 c a p i t a l Six C o u n t i e s , most of which fall i n t o t h e c a t e g o r y of Bri t ish imper ia l i s t i n t e r e s t -a n d t h e i r a t t i t ude will be d e t e r m i n e d by t h e a i m s previously ou t l ined I ts ef fect in s u p p r e s s i n g the an t i - imper i a l i s t s t r u g g l e a n d t h e Republ ican m o v e m e n t Is a p re -c o n d i t i o n for s t e p p i n g u p their a s s a u l t on I r e l a n d ' s i ndependence .

to it

n o t V R

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d of t in

t r e m a i n i n g independen t the s h o o Le' tr i ln a n d

w hose man,"'pa | 11 a flic m e r c h a n d i s e lor expor t din ks ind v.Inch c >n-; N R a ' Fl int ' allien la t,

Fastei n end. and v. a ; iwn

ioht .inin unre(;j tha t , i i I ' l i rn its si: r id , I o I mi October 1958 t h e

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la 11 a S'OI ill p ' ap ' led to

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ie lot me C I F a n d U T A .

a n d roll ing-stock luan t he two eoneei n on a

I he G 1 G N R 111 line' | 'Ol a led motives a n d roll ing-stock being divider! between t h e two e o n e e i n ' on a lilt', f i f t y ba is.

An i n t e r e s t i n g ,v peet of th is v .c t h a t the f o r m e r G N R works at Dundiilk w e r e taken over by the D u n d a l k E n g i n e e r i n g C o m p a n y who were g iven t h e cont rac t t o repa i r all f o r m e r G N R locomotives. O n t ak ing over t he cx-G N R locomotives, t h e U T A i m m e d i a t e l y w i t h d r e w over T>0 p e r

( C o n t i n u e d on P a g e Sev«n)

January 1960 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 9

The changing face of Dublin Y 0 U can t a k e y o u r cho ice of r h y m e s

tor I r e l a n d today . T a k e for in-- tnnce Yeats 's r e g r e t f u l :

" R o m a n t i c I r e l a n d ' s d e a d a n d a I t ' s wi th . O ' L t a t y in t h e . g r a v e " You will be t e m p t e d to say " a n d how :

, you wait i n t e r m i n a b l y to get a c r o -Wevtmor l and S t r e e t a s t h e m o t o r car-

•or round f r o m College G r e e n m a dense • • -,dless c u r r e n t .

Yet go a n d s ee t h e jos t l ing marke t in Moore S t ree t , e n t e r some of t h e older bars, l isten to t h e good h u m o u r e d b a n t e r ot •-•hopmen. bus -dr ive rs , b a r t e n d e r s , and

"ail wonder if t h e essen t ia l I r e l a n d was s i t t r all I r e l a n d

"Not s i nce E n g l a n d was a p u p . . And I r e l a n d will st i l l be I r e l a n d W h e n E n g l a n d ' s

( censored by t h e Ed i to r ! >

nUBLIN t o d a y is alive w i t h scooters witli d a n g e r o u s young peop le career-

aig round o n t h e m . I ts po l ice a r e con-. l i n e d with t h e wild b e h a v i o u r of "young i.'ifti in a c e r t a i n type of d r e s s . " Cheese i- cut in to p ieces in G r a f t o n S t r e e t s tores a n d wrapped in ce l lophane a s in London s u p e r m a r k e t s , of which t h e r e a r e a few in Dubl in too. A n d to be s u r e s o m e of it is I r i sh c h e e s e ( and no t t h e processed stuff e i ther t h a t anybody c a n make . i

In 1939 t h e r e was an e l e m e n t of restl 'ul-n t s s m O ' C o n n e l l S t r ee t . T h e green 11 a ins sa t bes ide t he t rees a n d seemed in no hur ry to d e p a r t . T h e r e w a s no mass >:-ray unit t h e r e then , b l a r i ng at everyone ::> be tes ted fo r tuberculos is . T h e r e was no smell of t u r f in the a i r -Dub l in smelt li e a c o u n t r y town two y e a r s later , but

was t hen a coa l -bu rn ing ci ty . Now she is h a l f - a n d - h a l f . Bord na M o n a . which has a bri l l iant s h o w r o o m on S t e p h e n ' s Green, h a s p e r f o r m e d t h e s eeming ly impossible t a sk of m a k i n g I r e l and all but seif-si ' f l ieient in fue l . So Dub l in today looks less I r ish a n d smel l s m o r e I r i sh , tha t is U tu i i is c o n s i d e r e d as a m e a s u r e . Cer-t a i n h when you see the m o d e r n br iquet tes

( )

Nuclear disarmament

campaign in Ireland

\NEVV b r a n c h of t h e I r i s h C a m p a i g n

for N u c l e a r D i s a r m a m e n t has been s t a r t e d m T r i n i t y College. Dubl in , spon-sored by P r o f e s s o r David Greene . Dr. Leven tha l . P r o f e s s o r s Moody a n d S t a n -lord , Dr. S k e t f i n g t o n . Dr. S i m m s . Dr. H a u g h t o n . Dr. M a c M a n u s , Dr. Hvnes. Dr. O'Reil ly, Dr . T h o m a s a n d Miss Helen Wat son .

!t will be l inked with t he p a r e n t b r anch whose m o v i n g spirit is Miss Helen Chenevix of t h e Women Worker s Union 1

o: Ireland, Mrs. Betty I re land being secre- j t. -y and Dr. A. Fa r r i ng ton c h a i r m a n .

I be C a m p a i g n has recen t ly pro tes ted to i F r e n c h Embassy about De Gaul le ' s

i i i p o ed new c r ime m t h e S a h a r a a u d i c i .ed back an insul t ing le t t e r . They a r e J

• w ge t t ing in touch w i t h t h e Dublin i r a d e . . Counci l and I r i sh Congress of L a d e Unions to ensure t h a t the Ir ish point of view i put m a f o r t h c o m i n g Ret I Cio.ss c o n f e r e n c e in Geneva .

It is i nc reas ing ly felt in I r e l and t h a t world powers h a v e no r igh t wha t soeve r to poison the a t m o s p h e r e wh ich was crea ted tor all of us j u s t because they c a n n o t agree a m o n g themselves .

I ) O l ' N I ) Dublin h u g e new es t a t e s have grown up n is no tewor thy t ha t in

C a b r a ,tot i n s t a n c e , there i- t h e s a m e lores t oi television aer ia l s you would see in Lu ton or Bex lev Heath . H o u s i n g m t h e cen t ra l part of t h e city is improved too. In 1939 the a r i s toc ra t i c m a n s i o n s in G a r d i n e r Street a n d up to M o u n t j o y S q u a r e had d e g e n e r a t e d into u n s p e a k a b l e s l u m s . Tha t is d o n e away with now. Half of G a r d i n e r S t ree t h a s been rebui l t , a n d b locks ol f lats a r e sp r ing ing up in o t h e r p a r t s of the city, t h e Corpora t ion being e n l i g h t e n e d e n o u g h to know t h a t provid-ing they have civi l ised faci l i t ies people p r e f e r to live t o g e t h e r in c o m m u n i t i e s in-s t e a d of being c o n d e m n e d to t h e idiocy ol t h e suburbs .

T h e oldest i n h a b i t a n t might r e m a r k t h a t p e o p l e dress b e t t e r but eat worse. In t he old days a m a n m i g h t dress like a t r a m p a n d keep table l ike a lord. But mos t of t h o s e who d res sed like t r a m p s a t e like t h e m too. Look in t h e shops todav . T h e w h i s k v - g i n - a n d - b r a n d y - o h is less m sole ev idence . Bot t les of d inne r wine impor t ed f r o m F r a n c e d i rec t a r e on sale as cheap ly a s in London, a n d grocers a r e s tock ing t h e m as the m a i n t r ade ot t h e i r off-l icences.

Not only well- to-do people a r e d r i n k i n g t h e m . T h e u p p e r c lasses have m o v e d out to M o u n t M e r r i o n . a n d Kill iney or even f a r t h e r south. T h e former ly r e f ined dist-r i c t s of R a t h m i n e s a n d the l i t t le E n g l a n d of R a t h g a r a r e n o w cosmopol i tan a n d bo-h e m i a n . housing s t u d e n t s of all n a t i o n a l i -t ies . a n d misch ievous people on i happi ly o n e soli tary i occa s ion c rea ted colour-consc iousness fo r t h e f i rs t t ime in Dubl in h i s t o r y in a c o r r e s p o n d e n c e in t h e "Even-ing Mail."

T h e "Evening M a i l " of course r e m a i n s a n unchangeab l e ins t i tu t ion . It still de-vo tes its f ron t p a g e to a d v e r t i s e m e n t s . Peop le buy it b e c a u s e t h o u g h t h e y know t h e r e will be n o t h i n g in t he l e t t e r s it publ ishes , they c a n never be s u r e w h a t n o t h i n g it will be.

Bu t r e tu rn ing to d r ink and social hab i t s . T h e men in the b a r s a re mostly over for ty . The younger people pe rhaps t a k e a bot t ie h o m e , but they save up to t ake t h e wife a n d family away f o r a holiday ( u n h e a r d ol in t h e old davs i or. if they a r e younger s t i l l , get a scooter a n d terror ise t h e conti-n e n t a l s .

V J O M E p ic tu resque t h ings h a v e gone. For > ' example t h e c h a r a b a n c s t a k i n g people ou t on "mys te ry tours . " And t h e i r ' ra ison d ' e t r e ' is going too. T h e a l l -conquer ing a u t o m o b i l e wh ich h a s murde red t h e rail-w a y s and is now s t a r t i n g on t h e buses, h a s made n o n s e n s e of the sys tem by which b o n a fide t r ave l l e r s could have a d r i n k out ol h o u r s p rov id ing they were l a r enough ou t of the city. A travel ler could get the necessa ry d i s t a n c e in live minu te s , t ha t is: it t h e other " t r a v e l l e r s " d idn ' t block his wav. So t h a t is to go very soon, and Dub l in pubs will be open till 11 p ill. as t h e y a re ill L o n d o n .

T h i s will he lp tour i sm. Dubl in is alive w i t h it. T h e r e a r e coffee-bars, wimpey-ba r s . ice-cream sa loons , all d e c o r a t e d with t h e latest c h r o m i u m - p l a t e — s y m b o l oi m o d e r n cosmopo l i t an i sm . No doubt they h a v e Espresso m a c h i n e s at t h e S o u t h Pole base . The re a r e even Chinese r e s t a u r a n t s a n d Indian r e s t a u r a n t s , t h o u g h t h e s e a re n o t very C h i n e s e or vary I n d i a n ( aga in because of t he t o u n s t s i . T h e s e se rve wine w i t h your l u n c h i yes, with a five-bob l u n c h t and t h e K i l d a r e S t r ee t C l u b is gone , gone, gone , a n d forgo t ten all about

a - i \ i'

1:1111''. C o l l i s i 'v Nat a 'li

: aa I- ai e a h a anuuMis : aa e '•'- ::e: e 1 he re t lie m a m -I'a'hect ua i pai tit ion" bet a eon •e a n d the Nat iona l Univei '-i shor t ly to mi>ve out to a

i i iagniticent site a lew miles out. with g a m to the teacher.- and lo-s to the city Yet if T r in i t y put it- playing fields t h e r e a n d built a new universi ty on its present p a r k . Dublin could boast a s ingle universi ty c i tv sen Hid to in >ne

JfPlOK

T h e r e i> stiil t he absurd i ty ol T r i n i t y College hogging the copyr ight books f r o m E n g l a n d a n d not le t t ing anybody see t h e m , while t h e Nat ional L ibrary tha t doesn ' t get t hem is t h e most obliging ins t i tu t ion in t h e world. Wouldn ' t one l ibrary in a new cen-tral bu i ld ing be best a n d h a n d t h e old places over for t e a c h i n g ?

Ol course much ol the new is appa l l ing ly ugly. T h e r e will soon be an an t i -ug ly m o v e m e n t in Dublin as well as L o n d o n , t h o u g h t h e process of degenera t ion h a s no t gone so far . ' t h e u t i l i t a r i an Store S t r e e t tins depot a n d the serenely o rna te C u s t o m House look at each o the r with wha t can only be called m u t u a l disbelief.

But . c redi t where it is due. it is not t h e c h r o m i u m pla te m e r c h a n t s whose q u a r r e l s a re c r ipp l ing educa t ion and delaying t h e inevi tab le cons t ruc t ion of a single c e n t r e for sc ient i f ic educa t ion . They a re g e t t i n g on wi th t h e job a s they see it.

I r i sh l i fe is not w h a t It was. but t h e r e is no need to doubt i ts being lor m a n y apprec iab ly be t te r t h a n it was. B u t j u s t to wipe t h e s u n s h i n e smile off the r e a d e r ' s lace b e f o r e he pu t s t h e paper down, we m u s t n o t judge I r i sh ex i s tence by w h a t it was. W e must j u d g e it by wha t it could be.

NOTES AND NEWS RE A D E R S who t u r n to Page Four will

see t h a t for only the second t i m e in the h i s to ry of t he " I r i sh Democra t " o u r f u n d wh ich keeps t h e pape r go ing h a s topped t h e £100 m a r k . T h e last occas ion was in 1946, but th i s m o n t h ' s f i g u r e is the h i g h e s t ever. T h i s is how we have m a n a g e d the twelve-page issue. S ince m a n y col lectors h a v e no t yet sen t in t h e i r c o n t r i b u t i o n s we a r e going to keep t h e f u n d open unti l N E X T MONTH, a n d it closes def in i te ly on J a n u a r y 30th w h e n the p o s t p o n e d b i r t h d a y p a r t y will be he ld . Try a n d m a k e it £100 a g a i n !

Belfast, viewers h a v e expressed m u c h i nd igna t i on on l e a r n i n g t h a t t h e • p r i s o n e r s " they saw kow-towing a n d s ay -ing " H a p p y C h r i s t m a s ' ' to the g o v e r n o r of t h e pr i son weren ' t p r i soners a t all bu t w a r d e r s dressed up for t he act .

Connol ly Association b r anch s e c r e t a r i e s and officials as well as o the r act ive m e m -bers a r e reminded t h a t the Assoc ia t ion ' s "C i rcu la r Letter No. 1" of 1960, d a t e d 1st J a n u a r y , h a s now gone out . They c a n h a v e th is app rox ima te ly fo r tn igh t ly keep-you-up- to-da te-shee t posted to t hem for 10 - a year , which is not a f a r t h i n g more t h a n it cos t s to print a n d send it.

* * * T h e London Connol ly Associa t ion 's New-

Year ' s Eve par tv at t he King a n d Q u e e n . I ' a d d i n g t o n Green was wel l -a t tended a n d en joyed . It was one of a series of i n f o r m a l ge t - t oge the r tor m e m b e r s and f r i e n d s . Note Wes t London B r a n c h meets a t t he K i n g a n d Queen every T h u r s d a y , a n d N o r t h w e s t London at 374 G r a y s I n n R o a d N O T Wednesdays but MONDAYS. Sec-r e t a ry is Tom R e d m o n d At West L o n d o n on T h u r s d a y 14th. Desmond G r e a v e s si>eaks on "The c h a n g i n g face of I r e l a n d . "

Spaitd {Review by Patrick McDonnell \ | Y co lumn th i s m o n t h is main ly con-

® corned wi th p ro fe s s iona l boxing, a n d while I will be te l l ing you s o m e t h i n g about our Irish g l ad i a to r s , I f irst m u s t try and answer t h e ques t ion f o r e m o s t in your n a n d s . . . how crooked is t h e fight g a m e in Amer ica?

Well, b r o t h e r , it 's t h a t c rooked tha t it m?kes B r i g h t o n look like Mecca. Bribes, double d e a l i n g , and all t he t r i cks of a d i r ty shuff le p l ayed by c u n n i n g t r i cks te r s h a s brought t n e g a m e down in to the r u n n i n g sewers.

U.S. S e n a t e i n v e s t i g a t o r s have now received t h e O.K. I rom t h e Whi te House at W a s h i n g t o n to i n v e s t i g a t e 1945-59 tn-ccme tax r e t u r n s in t he i r p robe into the game. I n f a m o u s c o n t r a c t c lauses have taken the e a r n i n g s of w i n n i n g boxers in to the a c c o u n t s of shady m a n a g e r s , and out-going vo te rn e x - c h a m p i o n s ! Inc luding l a s t - t a lk ing lawyers s ty led boxers' ad-visers. So box ing ' s h»ll of i n f a m y may V«t be In S a n Q u e n t l n , w h e n the Feds arc fmi s twd b r e a k i n g u p t h e r a c k e t s of the

musc l e c rushe r s who have a lmos t ru ined profess iona l b o x i n g in the U.S.A.

Mick Leahy, t h e well known Midland p e r f o r m e r , ani l I r i sh middleweigh t has h a d a most s u c c e s s f u l tour of Aust ra l ia a n d New Zea l and . Leahy scored two wins over the A u s t r a l i a n middles c h a m p i o n , Clive Stewart .

Before Davy Moore, world 's f ea the r -weight c h a m p c a m e to England to t ake on Bobby Ncill, ho h a d a lot to d i s cus s with Galway ' s Pat McCoy about the g a m e here. McCoy is now in San Franc isco a f t e r a successful C a n a d i a n c a m p a i g n .

Here 's to tho New Year and t h e mee t ing of Scot land 's F r a n k i e Jones a n d I re land ' s J o h n n y Caldwell at las t !

Freddie Gilroy will defend his European t i t le against S c o t l a n d ' s Billy R a f f e r t y also in t h e New Year . A bat t le ol m i t t s nay, wits , provided t h e pu r se sui ts tho Belfast -m a n ' s camp.

Mar t in Molony, the former I r ish cham-p ion s teep lechase jockey has bccome en-g a g e d to Miss J u l i a Creen ol A d a r e , Co. Limerick.

J o h n n y Gavin, Crys ta l Palace a n d I r ish i n t e r n a t i o n a l winger is on the P a l a c e t r a n s f e r list at his own request .

G r e y h o u n d r a c i n g f a n s in J a n u a r y should note the fol lowing select ions, who a re r u n n i n g into f o r m :

L o n d o n : White City Apache Rebel a n d

Stedbyn Ford. Wa l thams tow R a t a Quicks tep . Wimbledon Simple S a m a n d Bally-

nunne ry Char io t . B i r m i n g h a m

Per ry Barr Fresh Barrel . King ' s Hea th Little Venture .

M a n c h e s t e r Belle Vue Wes tpa rk Corona Whi te City Coradun

D a g e n h a m Odaile 's Lapwing.

T h e Boxing Wri te r s ' Club h a s n a m e d Fredd ie Gilroy as the best y o u n g boxer of t h e year, artd Fredd ie will be p r e s e n t e d with t he Geoffrey S impson a w a r d a t the a n n u a l d inne r on J a n u a r y 13th.

T . M a c l o n n r a c h t a i g h

TA an p a i p e a r seo t a g a i t h e c h u n aoise agus ta eochar an d o r a i s i ndan do

an d o r a s i s t each go c r o i t h e Gael go bhfui l conai o r t h a sa tir seo. Agus n a c h mai th a t a a n eochair sin tu i l t e aige t a r -eis na s a r o i b r e a t a d e a n t a a ige le bl iain is fiche a n u a s ar son na h E i r e a n n . Is feidir le l u c h t e a g r a i t h e a n p h a i p e i r bheith m o r a l a c h as an b p a i r t a t a t o g t h a ag an " I r i s h D e m o c r a t " sa t ro id i gco inne na h l m p i r e a c h t a ; pa i r t b h e a g dar ndo nuair a c h u i r i m i d an t ro id go leir a r fuaid an d o m h a i n i gco inne a n impir iu l -achais i s t e a c h san a i r e a m h ach p a i r t m h a i t h m a r s in fein. T a se t h a r am do Ghaela ibh , go bhfu i l c o n a i o r t h a sa Bhrea ta in Mhor , speis n ios m o a thog-aint in oba i r a n " D e m o c r a t . "

FEACHAINT SIAR Timpeal l a m a m a r seo is g n a t h a c h f ea -

chaint s i a r a r an m b o t h a r a t a s iu l t a againn le b l i a in is fiche a n u a s . Se an pr i -omh rud a ch imid na a n cu lu mor a t a deanta a g a n i m p i r i u l a c h a s a r f u a i d a n domhain . T h o s n a i g h a n c u l u sin leis a n mbuaidh a r u g a d h a r a n b h f a i s i s t e a c h a s sa C h o g a d h Mhor . Inn iu t a a n Ind, a n Indoneis, a n Tiuineis a g u s t i o r t h a eile saor o g h r e i m na n i m p i r i u l a i t h e abh i a gcimead s i a r agus ta an t r o i d a g la idr iu i n a g h a i d h a n lae.

N A I S I U N T A C H T Ta d h a s h o r t n a i s i u n t a c h t a a n n : a n

n a i s i u n t a c h t Chung, f h r i t h g h n i o m h a c h a bhi ag Hi t l e r agus an n a i s i u n t a c h t lea-than, f h o r a s a c h a bhi a g S e a m a s 0 Con-ghaile. Nil a c h ia rsmai d e n n a i s i u n t a c h t f ha i s i s t e ach f a g t h a sa d o m h a n inniu a c h ta n a i s i u n t a c h t Ui C h o n g h a i l i g h ag l ea th -nu agus a g laidriu d ia idh a r nd ia idh . In aigne an Chongha i l igh cu id den troid i gcoinne a n impi r iu lacha i s i gcoi t inne a b ea an t ro id a r son sao i rse na h E i r e a n n . Tareis t e a g a i s c an C h o n g h a i l i g h tuigi-midne Gaei l go bhfu i l c o m r a i d i t h e a r gach t a o b h d inn , dubh , d o n n a g u s b a n , agus go b h f u i l siad go leir s a i t e sa t ro id c h e a n n a . Ni near t go cu r le cheile a d e i r an s e a n - f h o c a l agus nil a c h a l t a m h a i n inar f e f d f r l inn an cur le cheile sin a bha in t a m a c h ; si sin g l u a i s e a c h t a n Lucht Oibre.

AN GHAEILOE Cuid de gh lua i seach t l e a t h a n na nais i -

u n t a c h t a is ea a l t h b h e o c h a n na t e a n g a n . Gan a r d t e a n g a fein a b h e i t h a g a i n n ni feidir n a i s i u n a t h a b h a i r t a r Elr inn, d a m b e a d h fiu a m h a i n an t sao i r se b a i n t e a m a c h a g a i n n . Mar a d u b h a i r t T o m a s D a b h u s :

"A n a t i o n should g u a r d i ts l a n g u a g e more t h a n its t e r r i to r ies—' t i s a s u r e r bar r ie r , a n d more i m p o r t a n t f r o n t i e r , t h a n f o r t r e s s or r iver." Ni s h e a s a n n an t e a n g a n a h a o n a r . F i t e

fua i t e leiti ta gach gne eile de c h o l t u r na h E i r e a n n . Ma i m t h i o n n a n t e a n g a c a d ta de b h a c o ra inn b h e i t h n a r b P u n c a n -aigh a m a c h is amach t a r e i s t ama i l l b h i g ? Einne a e i s t e ann le R a d i o E i r eann ch i -onn se go bhfu i l c l a o n a d h laidir c h u n an P h u n c a n a c h a i s c h e a n a fe in sa s t a i s -iun san . Is c in te go m b e i d h a n c l a o n a d h ceanna sa teilifis nuair a c u i r t e a r a r b u n i i g c e a n n b l iana eile no m a r sin. Ni hio-nadh go b h f u i l imni ar l u c h t na h a i t h -b h e o c h a n a i d taobh po l a sa i a n R ia l t a i s i gcas n a teilifise.

AN DEORAI Ach ta c o m h a r t h a i l a l d r e a n n go gcu i r -

eann na deo ra i t he speis m h o r i d t e a n -gain, i l i t r ioch t a g u r i gceol n a h E i r e a n n . Leirigh a n ceannach m o r sa B h r e a t a i n ar fhoc lo l r De Bha l r a i t he , a n focloir n u a Gae i lge -Bhear l a , sin go m a i t h d h u i n n . Agus e i n n e go bh fu i l c l u a s a i r t u i g f i d h se go b h f u i l na s lua i te Gael a t a s a i t e is teach i mba i l t e m o r a n a B r e a t a i n e i gconai a g c u i m h n e a m h a r a n s e a n - t i r . Ta an m a o i t h n e a c h a s le c lo is in t i m b e a g -nach g a c h a m h r a n a c h a n a n n siad.

Nuai r a sha i th f idh n a s lua i t e c e a n n a i s teach in obair C h u m a n n Ui C h o n g h a i l -igh be idh a n la l inn!

BLIAIN NUA FE S H E A N A G U S FE MHAISE DO G H A E L G O I R I NA BREA-TAINNE.

COMMEMORATION AT CASTLETOWN

r p H E a n n u a l c o m m e m o r a t i o n of L iam ' Mel lows was held on S u n d a y , Decem-

ber 12th beside his g r a v e in Cas t l e town cemete ry , n e a r Inch in t h e Co. W e x f o r d .

T h o u g h the g a t h e r i n g is no longer of the m a g n i t u d e of twon ty y e a r s ago t h e r e was a l a rge r e p r e s e n t a t i o n f r o m Dubl in and Cork, toge ther wi th local people In-c luding re la t ives . T h e E d i t o r of t he " I r i s h D e m o c r a t " was presen t t o g e t h e r w i t h * r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of the " P l o u g h , " Dubl in .

Page 6: New Year Greetings Irish people laugh of Special Powers Act. THE IRISH PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED the security of North Eastern Ireland. And he wants the Twenty-Six-County Government

10 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT January 1960

THE CASEMENT FORGERIES

M

of l i 'e I:'." iriiiber !!M>

' iu . r t h (' I' : i i', i.1!

' p H E m a t e r i a l n o w lodged i n t h e Pub l i c ® Records O f f i ce in L o n d o n w h i c h pu r -

p o r t s to be p o r t i o n ot the d o c u m e n t s , p r i -va te papers a n d d ia r ies of R o g e r Case-m e n t w h i c h , so thi» B r i t i s h a u t h o r i t i e s say , was se ized i n his o ld l o d g i n g s in L o n d o n s o m e t i m e between N o v e m b e r , 1914, a n d A p r i l 23 rd , 1916. T h e y m a k e m a n y s t a t e m e n t s as to how, wh-: re a n d vCien t h e y were a c q u i r e d , a l l d i t f o r a n i , r.r. i l a l l equa l l y u n t r u e .

Dlirmg . ' • : ; • ', I - : ! lit.- III I h f P l l i . l . •• ! '• nil ait: :s ul August and Alter a c'.o-e and thorn these pape: a. I luu l' com: f.i isnm ilia! tiH> passages imputing moral delinquenc. ; > ;::«• :>••' . are. m iart t h e v.oik ot aim: her penman and are not m the hand v. fit.uig of Roger C'ascin.nt.

In the course of tins examinat ion I noted many instances of words having Ix-en changed by the mean of erasure of some letters and substit.utinn of others. In other cases a complete word was erased or bleached out and a different word put in its place.

The e f fec t of t h e s e a l t e r a t i o n s i- to c h a n g e p e r f e c t l y i n n o c e n t e n t r i e s i n t o o n e s w h i c h a r e h i g h l y s u g g e s t i v e . w h e r e n o t f r a n k l y l e w d . E l s e w h e r e , w h o l e p a s s a g e s w e r e r e m o v e d a n d a n o t h e r s e t ot w o r d s w r i t t e n in i n s t e a d w i t h the s a m e o b j e c t .

Many short sentences, consisting of five, four or three words were added here and there, at the end of the existing entries. Sometimes longer sentences were put in where space allowed; This course was fol-lowed where the re was room at the end of the diar is t ' s entry for the day. Here as elsewhere, t h e words written in are quite at variance wTith the preceding text and usually m t h e language of the gutter .

Occasionally, in the diary space for a day's entry, tiie diarist has wr i t ten one or two words indicating the place or town in which he is for tha t day. T h e remain-ing space is frequently filled in by the pen-man with an entry which, a l though correct as to t i m e and circumstance, con-tains mat te r of an objectionable or sug-gestive na tu re .

A NOTHER device used by the person -t » responsible for the a l te ra t ions is t h a t of the m a r g i n a l entry. Th i s is most evi-dent in the ledger-book which has a ruled margin. In t h e margin, a t intervals, an adjective followed by a note of exclama-tion is wr i t t en in. and here a n d there a few words, all with a suggestive meaning. T h e place chosen for these entries, usually, is opposi te a position on the page where some person 's name is mentioned in the text. It is remarkable t h a t t he ledger ends in October, 1911. W h e r e are the entries for t h e remaining m o n t h s of t h a t year?

In the 1910 diary, and more par t icular ly in that of 1911, where near ly six mon ths out of the twelve is. even now. completely blank there can be no doubt that the opportunity was not missed to make suit-able addi t ions. Indeed, such work is much in evidence.

Regarding t h e 1911 diary even a super-ficial sc ru t iny of the mater ia l , in the i latter half of th is book, forces one to the I conclusion t h a t the person responsible for the a l terat ions had super-saturated the text with indecencies. To the medical mind. [ at any ra te , it would lie fantas t ic t o ! suppose that any human being even with ! the most herculean powers, let alone a 1

person m the s ta le of heal th we know the 1

diarist to have been at the time, cou ld ' physically a t t empt the enormit le recorded there.

There is good reason to belie'.,' that this series of en t r i e s was first con Uucted roughly by the counterfei ter from the diarist's many other notebook:, and memo-randum hooka dealing with the period winch gave t h e correct t ime and place: and tiiat t he whole was then transcribed on to what has all the appearance of a 1

diarv-book which was used for the begin-ning of that year only and then a b a n - j doned. Many month of this diarv are. even now, completely blank

OW that forgery and there is no •* ' other word for it bu t forgery is aoparenl throughout these documents , certain comments must be made, and I shall list ttie.se m a series of accusa t ions against the persons and D e p a r t m e n t s of State responsible for the falsif icat ion a n d dissemination of the r documents . T h e s e documents were circulated for no o ther purpose but to blacken the cha rac te r of the helpless- prisoner, prevent a reprieve, and ensure his death by h a n g i n g

I accuse Basil Thomson. Chief of t h e Secret Service, and founder of the "Special Branch" who produced these documents , with having performed a devilish trick to defeat the ends of justic e and that he de fended his nefar ious work by u n d e r h a n d and culpable means

I accufi® Oapt R Hall Chief of the Naval Secret Service, of being Thomson ' accomplice in one of the great iniquities of the cen tu ry A competent forger in his own right, h e organised the distr ibution of the copies in the U S A . and elsewhere

EXCERPTS FROM THE PAMPHLET

I a M s r . K F ."• h r ; V • ..••

L . . . i • i I ! • ; • p i I - I . S H T s U N A :• ••

-S" ...•.•'••; Ill l, i : r .-tilled : sc

r. Bv : lit? in'1 :oh, s u m h ; .•;. .;"• ed ihe , . 1 1 : , ;sf ice a n d disgraced i lie bar ot j :•: :!. : d III at tempted • .iusion Willi .- : ;liv, :: Wiii not ha . [gotten and his i! >: :;: t< nying to tiie pri.-oner his right i . ..,. . : 11 the House oi holds, to which j.. v.'.- • :e , i ) |y ent i t led is a f u r t h e r charge against hi - conduct .

I accuse Sir Enilev Blackweii. Per-manent Under-Secretary of S t a t e for Home Allans a n d Legal Adviser to the Cabinet, with hav ing made himself a n ac-complice with Thomson and Hal l in the same crime: p e r h a p s by reason of esprit-d,'-corps and t h u s made the D e p a r t m e n t oi the Secretary of S ta te for Home Affairs unattackable. His notorious c i rcu la r to the Cabinet, u r g i n g that copies of the lorged diaries should be circulated f a r and wide to ruin the prisoner 's c h a r a c t e r and secure a hanging, is a fu r ther scanda l for which he was personally responsible.

I accuse t h e Depar tment of Home Affairs lor hav ing made a "control led" en-quiry and for engag ing only its own em-ployee to examine and report on t h e docu-ments. This mons t rous par t ia l i ty is an imperishable m o n u m e n t of naive audacity and is positive proof tha t they da re not submit the documen t s for examina t ion by an independent tr ibunal .

I accuse t h e Foreign Office of having mainta ined in t h e Press, home and foreign, an abominab le campa ign to in-fluence public opinion and to cover up their misdeed; a n d for sending to the ends of the ear th for distribution copies of the forged documents to prevent reprieve and to ruin the pr i soner ' s character .

I accuse t h e Department of Home Affairs of hav ing covered up the i r illegal-ity by an order confiscating these docu-ments which a re in fact the legal property of the executed man 's relatives, to whom they were demised m his last will and testament. By this illegal act , and by suppressing for over 40 years t h e examin-ation of these documents, this Depar tment of State has also, in its turn, commit ted the juridicial c r ime of acqui t t ing, know-ingly. the culprit in this whole nefarious deed.

I accusa the Pr ime Minister. Mr. H. H. Asqmth. lor having violated r igh t and. by his action, ensured the d e a t h of an accused man on a piece of secret writ ten material now known to have been falsified —furthermore his recorded conversat ion with U.S. Ambassador Page in 10 Down-ing Street two days belore t h e execution is proof that his aim was to blacken the

s i?ii v cha: or' er in otder that !;e • .Id be more conveniently and more ,v. iam:v 1 lailiiCd.

i a c c u s e I lie B r i t i s h G o v e r n m e n t w i t h t i r i n g circulated throughout the world ,-oi)as of t ins diary and . consequently, per-petrated a monstrous f r aud that deceived two coin :n ills. T h e circulation of this diary v. a. aimed to prevent a repr ieve lor the prisoner tint' to ensure t h a t he would be hanged. Fur thermore , the ven-geance of the Bri t ish Government , f r o m tiiat d a t e up to the present time, ha s pur-sued Roger Casement beyond his d e a t h on the gallows.

I n violation of establ ished law they re-jected the legit imate request ot t he legal representa t ive of the relat ions oi t h e dead man t h a t the body should be handed over to t h e m for Chr is t ian burial. Ins tead , the Government illegally withheld his body and buried it in quick-hme m the pr ison yard where it still lies.

If t h e English Government really had the will to prosecute Casement for "murder . " it was open to them to do so. They knew, however, tha t in this c h a r g e they would tail, because Casement was no murderer . I n s t e id . they charged him with " t reason" and secured the dea th penal ty . But, having done so. they should have conformed to established Engl ish law and given the body to tlie relat ives for Chr i s t i an burial as the law requi res in cases of treason. As a piece of hypocrisy, this conduct must be almost wi thout parallel . The action of the English Gov-e r n m e n t in the m a t t e r can find no credi t l rom men of sense and can only be con-sidered as a most atrocious pervers ion of justice.

A CRIMINAL COMMUNICATION We know tha t a criminal communica -

tion ot part of wha t was described as a secret document was made by a n em-ployee of the Depa r tmen t of Home Affairs now dead. This por t ion of the ma te r i a l which is now published is known to have passed through the h a n d s of a fo rge r of documents and. consequently, was bound to be disfigured.

For all honest people, the comple te col-lection of the pr isoner ' s diaries a n d docu-ments . or. at least, t he portion of them which did not pass through t h e forger ' s h a n d s should now be made public in a just ef for t to throw a little light in to the s h a m e f u l shadows of this in famous crime commi t t ed aga ins t the c h a r a c t e r and memory of a great and noble m a n .

Cer ta in ly secret documents a re secret, but can we not see the other documents , i.e. t h e remainder t h a t were not m a d e use of for the d e f a m a t i o n of the pr i soner in 1916. These a re t h e other documen t s in the collection of the prisoner's p a p e r s and diar ies which a re purely personal to him and which. I believe, are now being sup-pressed in an effort to conceal t h e t ru th .

by Dr. Herbert 0. Mackey

' I t s ' publ:-!icd portions were snpp.it u t. the p r immer : adversaries.

A c r ime tut mis! the law lias been m a d e public bv the Minister tor the Depar tment of Home Affairs. Why does lie keep in lr.s h a n d s the other pieces of the dossier ' I d e m a n d that this should be also m.ide public, m simple justice, not to speak of lair play.

An except ion il s i tuat ion calls for an ex-ceptional solution.

It i-t impossible lor an assembly of wi.-e and hones t souls to r e f u s e the means o: defence for the memory of a pr isoner executed for a different crime.

I now pass to the considerat ion of two grave breaches of s t a t u t e law by the British Government .

T h e l i rs t is in regard to the possession of tiie documents now placed in the Publ ic Records Office as well as all, the deceased man 's documents and diaries.

All t he se documents, d iar ies and pape r s are held illegally by t h e British Govern-ment which refuses to h a n d them over to the legal owners. In proof of this I r e f e r to the S t a t u t e which is ent i t led:—"An Act to Abolish Forfei tures for Treason a n d Felony 1870: 33 and 34 Vict." Chap te r 23. section 18. Tha t section provides in c lear te rms t h a t on the complet ion by the con-vict of his sentence or on his receiving a pa rdon or on his dea th all his pe r sona l proper ty shall revert e i ther to himself if he is al ive or to his he i r s or to his legal personal representat ive if he is dead.

The second case is in regard to t h e burial of the body of Roger Casement in the murde re r s ' plot in t h e prison ya rd a t Pentonvil le . This bur ia l was an illegal act a n d the present Br i t i sh G o v e r n m e n t by r e f u s i n g to release t h e body f rom the prison ground is persever ing in this il legal act.

T h e s t a tu t e which def ines the legal posi-tion m th is case is " T h e Capital P u n i s h -ment Amendment Act. 1870"; Sect ions 2 and 6. By this S t a t u t e t h e burial by t h e Prison Governor of t h e body of the executed man, Roger Casement , in t h e prison grounds was illegal. In cases of m u r d e r and no o ther is the body to be buried in the prison grounds .

A grievous wrong was done to t h e rela-tives of the deceased in 1916 when the body was refused to t h e m and ins t ead buried with British m u r d e r e r s : such ac t ion is in di rect cont ravent ion of the cor rec t and recognised in te rp re ta t ion of the s t a t u t e law of the land.

We hear much of British law a n d Bri t ish justice. When will the Bri t ish Gov-e r n m e n t take stens to vindicate the p roper admin is t ra t ion of law a n d justice in these two specific cases?

We do not ask for favours . We ask for just ice the much vaun t ed British just ice.

MANIFESTO Issued by the Manchester Branch of the Connolly Association on the occasion of the 92nd Commemoration of the Manchester

Martyrs who died for an independent Ireland in 1867.

ON Sunday, November 29th, we com-memorate the Manchestsr Martyrs

who died for a n independent Ireland 'n 1817. This occasion demands the support of every nat ional ly-minded Irish man or woman, as the number a t t e n d i n g Moston cemetery is u s i d by the Brit ish public as a measure of the strength of national feeling a m o n g us.

Why should we show na t iona l feeling? Because w e a r e p r o u d to b e I r i s h fo r o n e thing, but, more than that, because nearly a century a f t e r the execution of Allen, Larkin and 0'B->"n our count ry has not yet a t ta ined full i-uJepcndence. Six north-eastern counties , containing our most im-portant industr ies , are still occupied by British troops. But more insidious forces are at work. British imperial ism has dis-covered a way to drain all I re land of her wealth and manpower th rough the London-controllcd financial system which oporates t h roughou t the ent i re country, blocks the growth of Irish industry and drives us all across the sea.

It is Brit ish imperialism t h a t is operat-ing even in the Twenty-Six Counties, find-ing ways to rob us even under our own flag. Everything tha t is good in I re land is Irish. Everything t h a t is evil s t em s from im-perialism and those it has been successful in buying or intimidating. T h i s is why we should show national feeling and rally to Moston.

U N I T E D F R O N T IN I R E L A N D But now may wc ask, why do we put up

with unemployment at home and emigra-tion to Bri ta in ? Some people say because we have no choice. Certainly we have no choice while we all act as separa te indi-

viduals. Without organisation we can never hope to defend our country or our interests . What is wrong is t h a t a s well as the criminal enforced part i t ion imposed by Britain, we have allowed divisions to grow up among ourselves over how that par t i t ion is to be dealt with. What is wanted in Ireland is a nat ional f ron t of all genuine Irish people, irrespective of age, sex, religion, and based on the simple principles of the proclamation of 1916— equal r ights and equal opportunit ies . This would mean tha t separate par t ies would cont inue to exist. Wo must never aban-don freedom of speech and opinion in Ire-land. But the separa te parties would pull together , act together, for the f reedom of th s country.

U N I T E D F R O N T IN B R I T A I N Among the Irish in Britain someth ing

similar is needed, and is moreover a t ta in-able now. Just th ink over the position of us Irish people living in Br i ta in ' s big cities. What divides us? Are we not all I r i sh? Are we not all living outs ide our own country when we would p r e f e r to be at home if there were only oppor tuni t ies for us? Do wc not all work for a living in some way? Where do we differ among ourselves? Why be divided t h e n ?

Even if you take our organisat ions , they agree on much more than they differ on. T h e Connolly Association, the S inn Fein and the Anti -Par t i t ion League all s tand for the withdrawal of Britlsti t roops f rom North-Eastern Ireland, and the ending of par t i t ion . Of course the three organisa-t ions stand for different social classes. The Connolly Association s tands for t he work-ing class; the Sinn Fein more for the working middle class; the Anti-Part i t ion

League for the professional class. But is tha t any reason why we should bear each other malice in exile? Are we not ashamed to be commemora t ing I re land ' s martyrs while we refuse to co-opera te among ourselves, s tanding before the cenotaph with ha t r ed and jealousy of our fellow-Irishmen in our hear ts? Isn't it t ime we heeded the teachings of ALL great Irish republicans from Tone on-wards, and learned their lesson, to UNITE?

T h e Connolly Association has got a special contribution to mako to the Irish cause. It is because of our working-class c h a r a c t e r we can enlist the support of all t ha t is best in the British labour move-ment . We possess a monthly newspaper which goes all over the world. Wc have an organisat ion covering all tho main cities, and thousands of loyal suppor ters . We a r e proud of the fact that the mem-bers of our Executive Committee are mostly carpenters, rai lwaymen and labourers . We claim the right of the worker , skilled or unskilled, to his place in t h e councils of the nation.

U N I T Y IS S T R E N G T H To a t tempt to leave the working class

out of tho national f ron t merely destroys It. T h a t Is why Pearse Joined forces with Connolly. The reason why the Manches te r Mar ty r s Commemorat ion has fallen off of late years is that t he committee h a s not d r a w n on the great reservoir of s t r eng th t h a t lies in the Irish working people.

S e a m u s Barrat t , i ts founder, called to-ge the r all Iristi organisa t ions when tho commi t t ee was founded at the tu rn of the cen tu ry . As the older members died off the committee has narrowod, a n d while

(Continued on Page Eleven)

I

January 1960 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 11

BOOKS, EDITED BY SEAN REDMOND

A MEMORABLE ANTHOLOGY A B O O K OF I R E L A N D , " edited by

F rank O'Connor ; w i t h 52 photo-graphs (Col l ins, 8 6 ne t ) .

v H A N K O ' C O N N O R h a s r e n d e r e d a .meat s e r v i c e to I r e l a n d by c o m p i l -

ing 'mis a n t h o l o g y of p r o s e a n d ve r se , a r d s t i l l g r e a t e r o n e by d o i n g it as v.i 'd as s u c h w o r k is e v e r l ike ly to i-e d ;ne. It is no e a s y t a s k to m a k e an a n t h o l o g y w h i c h w i l l s a t i s f y not i dy t h e g e n e r a l r e a d e r w h o l ikes t o b,.v< a g o o d b e d s i d e b o o k , o r a book v. h i , h h e c a n open in m o m e n t s of I ' c t c i o m . I n n one w h i c h c o n t a i n s i t r r r - d i f f i c u l t to f ind e l s e w h e r e a n d i ' r a : i y t h e s o r t of i t e m s w h i c h o u g h t to be in a n y " B o o k of I r e l a n d " w o r t h y r.i' t h? n a m e . T o say t h a t t h i s is a good a n t h o l o g y is n o t s a y i n g e n o u g h . It is invoi te , f o r it c o n t a i n s i t e m s f r o m t h e CaeL'c t r a n s l a t e d by F r a n k O ' C o n n o r h i m s d i ' , m o s t of w h i c h w i l l not b e f o u n d e l s e w h e r e .

Ti " "Book of Ireland" is a r ranged in K : i r.s which deal with "Places." "His-ti t ," "Pastoral and Town Lite," "Humour, K '. r n c e a n d Sent iment ," "Customs and I-> !,<'-." "Poems. Songs and Ballads." "Re-tjj;in:s and Philosophical": and there are s;.p?:b pho tographs which i l lustrate places :r d '•vents not necessarily mentioned in the :ext. T h e r e are in it th ings to please narc-rs ot all kinds.

The in IlIHI

fits t h e pocket and has in all 384 I-riff inc luding a good index. As books en I ray . a n d considering the excellent I'M;,:, paper and binding, it is quite re-isn.'riable value for eight shi l l ings and six-11 vre. T h e publishers a rc to be con^ra-ti.la-'-d.

"Ire la te Quiller-Couch. who compiled "The Oxford Book of English Prose," I '«(i out t ha t no honest scholar can p i t t en to a n acquaintance with the whole <•!' English prose, or even with the whole Mr.: may yield good selections. All he I:I - ;'u is to spread his ne t and produce ti v test t h a t he ran find.

T. '• s a m e applies to English verse. I' ".ii Engl ish prose and verse have been i ver aga in and again by patient and

• ning scholars and the beaten tracks r! t ii a r e well-known, yet not a year I t - tha t new volumes of selections do i ' anpear on the market.

re 1 r d In l:i !: >> "• «'>' •• unite iiitl -i ;'in. am; tor w e r a l I I i> IN-- she M I I • I I I I D O I taiii : v. I aril I.N iiistori; a!. Frank O'Connor jwinst.- mil. Ireland has her own verilaniI.ir and vers1

old tradition. In addition m the alien tradit ion acquired from tin- Anglo-Normans and English in the centuries dat-ing troin Ilenr.v l l ' s invasion m 1171, we have a whole corpus of l i terature, laws, history, customs and poetry in Gaelic, M I N E ! ) ol which lias not yet been catalogued let alone t rans la ted or even explored!

Then again, there e r e the 75(1 years ot up-and-down struggle against invaders, occupiers and exploiters: a long phase ot turbulent and at times shocking history, of which Charles Gavan Duffy wrote: "Many people re t ra in lrom reading Irish history as sensitive and sensible persons re f ra in from witnessing h u m a n suffering. But it is a branch of knowledge as indis-pensable to the s t a tesman or publicist as morbid anatomy is to the surgeon."

And Duffy adds : "For I r i shmen there is no portion of the annals of mankind so profitable a study. It will leach them to unders tand themselves and their country: a knowledge essential to na t ional pros-perity, but which is tar f rom common among us."

Frank O'Connor is very conscious of all this. His section of extracts under the heading of "History" runs to 60 pages and contains many memorable pieces: from Keat ing 's "Origin of the Bat t le of Clon-ta r f . " to an ext ract from J o h n Mitchell on "The Famine." the immorta l proclama-tion by the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic to the people of Ireland on Easter Monday. 1916. Yeats 's magnifi-cent poem. "Easter 1916 ' and "The Death ol Collins from O'Connor 's own book. "The Big Fellow." The great value of this section of history to readers ol "Irish Democrat" is t ha t the major i ty of the ex-t rac ts are now difficult to find. The book is worth its price for them alone.

I^HE section ol "Poems. Songs and Bal-lads" is del ightful and. if it contains

many pieces we have known from child-hood. it also contains a generous portion ol poems written bv anonymous Gaelic poets, t ranslated bv Frank O'Connor him-self as well as by Padraic Colum and other hands . For those unacquainted with Gaelic poetry it is an enlightening introduction, a valuable and at times original contribu-tion. Recently I was asked bv a well-

t.'M' Gaelic . e r a " . , . y .ol which yiui s w i I" th ink \ei In;;.. '• • at all e aiinarab'." m quaiii \ y nil the u irk <it «n:r best En_iiish poet-"•" urn- become- accustomed to snni-iny ;u such ignorance and in such quar-ters. M\ renlv was: "No. there isn't. Manv of the Irish poets a re ver\ much be t te r than their English counterpar ts . But . ot course, the Irish had oroduced much poetry in Gaelic before the English lan-guage had begun to evolve." And I s t rongly advised mv English f r iend to buy this book and see for hunselt.

T h e book is not ail solemn in tone. 1 here are some very tunny pieces, of which James Steven.-' account of In* first meet ing with George Moore is a good example. Also Stevens' account ol a job he once had oir did he? i: - -

T h e place I was working at was. among other things, a theatrical agency. I used to be si t t ing in a corner of the office floor, waiting to be told to run somewhere and back. A lady would come in—a music-hall lady, that is—and. in about five minutes, howls of ioy would s t a r t coming f rom the inner office. Then , peacefully enough, t he lady and my two bosses would come out, and the lady al-ways said. "Splits! I can do the spli ts like no one." And one of my bosses would say, "I 'm keeping your splits in mind ." And the o ther would add gal-lantly, "No-one who ever saw your spl i ts could ever lorget 'em."

One ot my bosses was thin, and the the other was tat . My fat boss was composed entirely of stomachs. . . . He was the fattest th ing I had ever seen, except a baby rhinoceros that I had met a t t h e Zoo the Sunday bet ore I got the job. Tha t rhino was very fat. and it had a smell like twenty-five nigs. I was s t and ing outside its palisade, wondering wha t it could possibly feel like to be a rhinoceros, when two larger boys passed by. Suddenly they caught hold of me and pushed me through the bars of t he palisade. I was very skinny, and in about two seconds I was right inside, and the rhinoceros was looking at me . . .

Stevens duly escaped from the rhino-ceros and soon r a n into the two boys again .

They asked me what I had done to the rhinoceros I answered, a bit grandly perhaps , that I had seized it in both hands , rmued it l imb from limb and

i ..ul itt..; una (it-; ed a : i o ir \ lie. !- 1 <.; I dulu ested and hanged lor

that 1 hadn ' t committed. This gives the flavour ol a grand pie

of Irish ex t ravaganza , all ol which inn-be read to be disbelieved.

Then there ' s the lull text ot tha" characterist ical ly Irish piece ol grim ballad humour called "The Night before L a n was s t r e t ched" and. not gr im but equal!" humorous to many, will be the full tex ol "The Old Orange F l u t e " - a s Ulster-Orange a n d "ant i -papish" as even a: Orangeman could wish, and capable o. making anybody either laugh or cry.

The book conta ins ex t rac t s lrom o t h e than I r ish writers when they have wri t ten something notable about Ireland or t h e Irish. In a class by itself is the English-man Eric Cross's most en te r ta in ing a n d sympathet ic book "The Tai lor and Ansty." lrom which F rank O 'Connor has selected a piece which exemplifies t h e two charac ter at their best—in the sort of conversat ions storv-telling by the Tailor, with challeng-ing in te r rupt ions by his wife Anstv, su< h as one can never find outside an I r i sh ambient.

Then the re are generous extracts f r o m "A.E." (George Russell) . Yeats, Berkele . Thomas Carlyle ( f rom a long-lorgotte . book of his, "Reminiscences of my I r i s h Journey" >; J o h n Philpot Curran , Jona tha -Swift, Rober t Emmet ' s Last Words i masterpiece of human dignity, spoken 1; him at his trial; O'Faolain . O 'F laher t . Bernard Shaw, George Moore: gre • . names alongside others less well known r not known at all to this generation. O ' songs, f amous ballads: f rom the dead ' earnest to great rollickings. One could • on for ever about th is truly admira '- ' book, by f a r the best of its kind tha t h ' -ever appeared about I reland.

If F rank O'Connor ha s d e m o n s t r f one thing it is this. I r i sh history p- •' Irish wri t ing is a very deep well f r which much remains to be drawn. T

book is one which should be on the sh of every Derson who is in the least in ested in I re land; and happily the onf-low-. T h e value is incalculable. It : -book to make us feel proud of a reli-able her i tage, not wi ths tanding al' 1 '•- ' sufferings of the Old Country.

C A T H A L 0 D U B T

tossed its carcase the crows. B u t

TORTURE-WEAPON OF IMPERIALISM

" G A N G R E N E " (John Calder Ltd., 7 6).

" p A N G R E N E " is a book about tor-^ ture. Not tortue in wart ime, nor

by the Gestapo. Torture today, in teiritories colonised by British and Fiench imperialism.

It is not a pleasant book to read. But it is vital reading to dispel the widespread illusion that torture went out with Hi t ler and to help create the conditions for stamping it out once and for all.

Torture is a weapon of imperialism whether it be in Ireland or, as de-rctibed by this book, in the British and Ftench colonics of Kenya and Algeria.

if is t rue that history records no tor-hue on the scale practised by the Nazis

a scale so vast and horr i fying that the n r rd "Ges t apo" will r emain in our lan-t'..age so long as there are brutalities a i d to r tu res to describe. Yet the tortures su tered by the brave and intelligent prcple of Kenya and Algeria whose

'.rries m a k e up this hook defy the imagi-r a: i o n.

" h'-ir accounts of tor ture by i-lectricit v I I he spit " have received ever grow

puljheit ' . II) the 1'1 I'M a' t he evidence •o' no t ed l!ul lead again and again rj. - m p t ion Ir. a 4.! year-old Aleeriaii

' :lie appal l ing results (it such torture At the same time as I was (l imb

n the s tairs \1 Khebail i was our-'.'. n. and lie was going flown si, -]n\.. l\

r.it I had time enmigh tc make mil

the form or more exactly the formless appearance of his face: it was like a vast, wound, and only the eyes pro-truding. haggard eyes showed that it was a human being's face. Instead of hps \1 Khebaili had two bulky gro-tesque pieces of cracked reddish flesh: instead of his nose a car icature of a hideous appendage, huge, swollen m places, crushed m others His face which was swollen to the point of burst-ing had a n ightmar ish appearance When 1 passed him. I guessed by his glance lost m spare how atrocious Ills passion must have been." Then there is the story of Captain

Ernest Law which was brought to light by John Stonehousc, M.P. and is now retold in full in this book. A story de-scribing experiences at the hands of the Kenya Government that John Stonehouse describes as being so horr i fying I found them difficult to believe."

Consider in contrast the a t t i tude ol the Tory Government on having the case brought to its notice

When John Stoliehouse put on the Order Paper ol the House ol Commons a motion asking for an independent and public enquiry il had within an hour or .. over hit) l abour and Liberal support

e A d e b a t e wa forced, a: the end of which Mr Jul ian Amerv. the Colonial Unde r sec re t a ry , replu-cl fur the (iovern-nieni

He ' aid The fl. ivernn.ent ot Kenva and the

Prison Service in Kenva is perferttv capable of keeping its own house in order and r dnine so Our contention

is t h a t the organisation of the Prison Service is right and is what it should be and that sa feguards against abuse a re effective " Tha t was at 9 30 p.m. on Tuesday "Mth

February . 11)59 On the following '! r-s-day. at 9.30 a m. eleven Africans were beaten to death by warders at H« a De-tent ion Camp. Kenya

Hola is a name w hich v, .11 for all time s h a m e Britain and damn imperialism T h e full details a re .set out in this book

T h e fact of the mat ter is. however, t ha t the Tory Government blandly con-t inues eiihei to refuse independent en-quiries where the fac ts justify them or if an enquiry is held they ignore its find-ings as m the case of the Devlin Com-mission. i Although they learned f rom the Devlin Commission the lesson tha t fu tu re Commissions should be packed not only with "Top People" but with top people who have their minds a l ready made up on the mat te r they are to in-vestigate i

The attitude ol the Government to the rase ol Alallnn and Talbot in Belfas t in winch torture wa- alleged against the K t ' c IS an example of their desire to avoid anv enqui r al though the demand still grows for an independent enquiry into those allegations and the conduct of the It f C

Such demand; brutal i ty and ti sera ills IV a l l e g e d

as part of the and an end to the world

must be made wherever il l ure are used or are and t h e y should lie seen struggle for democracy imperialism throughout

J O H N H O S T E T T L E R .

MANIFESTO-—Continued f rom Page

nobody would deny the loyalty and • verance of those who have kept t^ going, yet it is true tha t the annual r- — memorat ion in Moston has not d impressed itself on the Irish who ' recently come from Ireland. But precisely these of which the Con-Association's following is composed ~ Connolly Association is the organi?-of t h i youth. Two-thirds of its exe~ council a re under 30, only two out c are over 35.

So isn't it obvious tha t the C o - -Association should be represented o -Martyrs Committee—along with all ' Irish organisat ions who are prepar-help to keep this historic nationa' -m-mora t ion going year by year. Oir - -ticipation would completely rejuvenar event, increase the a t t endance bv dreds and not alter its fundar - ~ character to the slightest deg ree -wc would get back to what Se i Barrat t and the original committee r

for, not the affair of some of the r " but the affair of ALL the Irish.

Wc feel the inclusion of Connollv r

ciation representat ives on the corr — would s t rengthen and help it. W believe it would be a beginning fe REUNION of all the Irish in Wane1-The need for presenting a united n* ' front was never so great . Every Iris'-and woman should continually sprear' • • idea of Irish unity.

In the meant ime let the re be the h possible turnout at Moston on Su-November ?9th. Mass will be said ' Patrick's at 11 a.m. Many Irish p who arc Catholics will wish to attr-But Catholic and Pro tes tan t alike s ' march in the procession f rom Hen Bri~ ' at 3 p.m.

Signed on behalf of tho Manc> -Branch of the Connolly Associatio-

D. KILCOMMINS, Cha t ' I J. DEIGHAN, Secretary B. WATTERS, Treasurer .

94 96 Grosvonor Street , All Saints ,

Manchester .

Page 7: New Year Greetings Irish people laugh of Special Powers Act. THE IRISH PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED the security of North Eastern Ireland. And he wants the Twenty-Six-County Government

12 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT January 1960

aooooaoooooooaooooooo Old Songs for the YEAR

aoooaaoaaaaaoooaaaoaa

THE JACKETS GREEN 1 W H E N I was a maiden young and fair on the pleasant banks of Lee, * * No bird that in the greenwood sang was half so blithe and free,

No heart e'er leaped to flying feet, no love sang me his queen-T i l l down the glen rode Sarsfield's men, and they wore their jackets green.

Young Donal sat on his gallant grey like a king on a royal seat, And my heart leapt out on its regal way to worship at his f ee t ; 0 love had you come in those colours dressed and wooed with a soldier 's

mien I'd have laid my head on your throbbing breast for the sake of your jacket

green.

No hoarded wealth did my true love own save the good sword that he bore, But I loved him for himself alone and the colours that he wore. For had he come in England's red to make me England's queen I'd have roved the high green hills instead for the sake of his jacket green.

When Wi l l i am stormed w i th shot and shell at the wal ls of Garryowen In the breach of death my Donal fell and he sleeps near the Treaty Stone, That breach the foeman never crossed w h i l e he swung his broadsword keen But I do not weep my dar l ing lost for he fell 'neath the Flag of Green.

When Sarsfield sailed away I wept as I heard the wi ld ochone 1 felt then dead as the men who slept 'neath the wall's of Garryowen, Whi le Ireland held my Donal blest no w i l d seas rolled between, I still could hold him to my breast all robed in his jacket green.

0 Ireland, sad on thy lonely soul there breaks the winter sea But sadder and higher the wi ld waves roll from the hearts that break for

thee, Yet grief shall come to thy heartless foes, and their thrones in the dust

be seen, So Irish maids love none but those who wear the jackets green.

— M I C H A E L S C A N L A N .

THE BOLD RAPPAREE L I E came o'er the hills at the dawning of day,

W i t h his trooopers and clansmen in battle array 'Mong his clansmen the proudest and bravest was he— Oh ! the chief of them all was the bold Rapparee !

I saw him at eve, when the battle was o'er, And the sheen of his green was all ruddy with gore ; But I knew by his bearing unconquered was he In the cause of his country—the bold Rapparee.

Oh sweet was the promise he whispered me when We mournfu l ly parted adown in the glen ; He vowed he'd come back when the old land was free, And claim me his bride, did the bold Rapparee.

My mother she chides when I mention his name And tells me to wed, for his riches and fame A soft Saxon lordling of noble degree But my heart's o'er the hills with my own Rapparee.

Oh I wish I was back once again in my home Among the green woodlands of sunny Tyrone To roam through the meadows light-hearted and free And bask in the smile of my bold Rapparee.

God bless his bright banner, where'er 'tis unrolled ! May victory smile on his flag as of old, Ti l l the false-hearted foemen are sunk in the sea, And freedom and love bless my bold Rapparee!

— W I L L I A M C O L L I N S .

BANTRY BAY AS I'm si t t ing all alone in the gloaming

It might have been but yesterday, T h a t we watched the f isher sails all

homing Till the little herring fleet a t anchor

lay; T h e n the fisher girls with baske ts swing-

ing Came runn ing down the old s tone way, Every lassie to her sailor lad was singing A welcome back to Bantry Bay.

Then we heard the piper 's sweet note tuning,

And all the lassies turned to hear , As they mingled with a soft voice croon-

ing Till the music floated down the wooden

pier. ' Save you kindly, colleens all,' said the

piper, ' Hands across and trip it while I play," And a joyous sound of song and merry

dancing Stole softly over Bantry Bay.

Now I'm si t t ing all alone in the gloaming The shadows of the past d raw near, And I see the loving faces all around me Tha t used to glad the old brownpier; Some are gone upon their last long

homing Some are left but we are old and grey, And we're wait ing for the tide in the

gloaming To sail upon the Great Highway, To a land above of peace and rest un-

ending All peaceful over Bantry Bay.

JAMES L. MOLLOY.

B O O L A V O C U E AT Boolavogue as the sun was set t ing

O'er the bright May meadows of Shel-malier,

A rebel hand set the heather blazing And brought the neighbours from far and

near. Then Father Murphy from Old Kilcor-

mack Spurred up the r anks with a rousing cry: " A r m ! Arm!" he cried, "for I've come

to lead you, For Ireland's f reedom we live or die."

He led us on 'gainst the coming soldiers, And the cowardly yeomen we out to flight 'Twas at the Harrow the boys of Wexford Showed Bookey's regiment how men

could fight Look out for hirelings, King George of

England, Search every kingdom where b rea thes a

slave For Father Murphy f rom County Wex-

ford Sweeps o'er the land like a mighty wave.

We took Camolin and Enniscorthy, And Wexford s torming drove out our foes 'Twas at Sliabh Coilite our pikes were

reeking With the crimson gore of the beaten

Yeos; At Tubberneer ing and Ballyellis Full many a Hessian lay in his gore; Ah Fa the r Murphy, had aid come over, The green flag floated from shore to

shore!

At Vinegar Hill, o'er the pleasant Slaney, Our heroes vainly stood back to back And the Yeos at Tullow took Fa the r

Murphy And burned his body upon the rack. God gran t you glory, brave Fa ther

Murphy, And open Heaven to all your men! The cause that called you may call to-

morrow In ano the r fight for the green again.

^ P . J. McCALL.

THE UCKERS ARE SNUBBED A i f H E N tho Central Branch of Fine Gael,

following up their newly-launched suck-up-to-Britain campaign , asked the Ulster Young Unionists to debate with them, they got the snubbing they deserved.

They were told t h a t if they wanted to talk to Britain's s tooges they must do a bit more stooging themselves. They were told about the release of the de ta ine r s f rom the Curragh Camp, and given a fine lecture of the need to suppress the Re-publ icans who were showing the world

tha t tl>2 Six Counties was not held by the consent of the Irish people. They were told they were just as bad as Fianna Fail.

With Mr. Dillon at its head the Fine Gael par ty is said to be contemplat ing a great "get pally with t h e Unionists" s tun t

but the first act of t he drama seems to have misfired. When will Irishmen realise tha t they can expect NOTHING f rom kow-towing to British Imperialism and its agen ts?

NOTES & NEWS ' p H E Principal of Cork City Boys Voca-

tional School was taken to court tor refusing to pay rates. He would not pay until he had the ra te form delivered to him in Irish. When he received a d e m a n d note in Irish he paid up, but refused to pay the costs of the summons and was taken up in court again. The r a t i n g authori t ies promised to send an Irish t ranslat ion with next year 's form.

Aisteoiri Ghao th-dobha i r have received £1,000 f rom Gael Linn towards the erec-tion o! the new Gaelic thea t re in Gwee-done, County Donegal. It is hoped t h a t the t hea t r e will be ready next summer.

Three s tuden t s draped in black mourn-ing headed a march f rom Queens Uni-versity Belfast to the City Hall in silent protest aga ins t apar the id in South African colleges which came into force on J a n u -ary ist, 1960. It is a good sign tha t a little intellectual life is awakening in the most backward university in Europe. But it is an amazing t l r n g tha t people who are citizens oj a country oppressed by Im-perialism cannot spare a thought for the i r own count rymen in Crumlin Road jail , and imagine themselves great human i t a r -ians when they protest against what the same Imperial ism is doing elsewhere!

Plans are on foot to establish a uni-versity m Water ford . Tlu.s ancient and impor tant city well deserves the honour.

FOUNDRY WORKERS PROTEST COLM POWER, currently leading the

foundry workers' s tr ike In his fac-tory, writes in part iculars of a resolution passed at the Southall Branch of his Union:

"In view of the fact t h a t a resolution was passed a t this year's A D M of oui Union demanding the release of ;i11 political prisoners held wi thout trial, t h a t this branch urges our N E C In demand t h a t 1 r>7 prisoners being held in jail, m Northern I re land, without trial, be released or have specified

Pr in ted by Ripley Pr inters Ltd (T.U ) Not t ingham Road. Rlplev, Derbys , and published bv the Editor at 374 ( . r ays Inn Road, London, VVC1.

charges brought aga ins t them This b r anch is of t he opinion tha t the Im-perial Par l iament at Westminster has a responsibility m this case under Sec-tion 75 of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 " Resolution will be considered by Dis-

trict Committee No 7a i London and Home Counties North ot the T h a m e s 1

\ S a result of resolutions passed by West, Kulin;: No 2 N C R and the

consequent Annual Conference decisions. Mr Popplewell, one ol 111-- Railway M P s . put Butler on t h e spot bv invit ing him [

| to extend the police enquiry to North | East Ireland Since then he ha s been

tail ing Disarmament f ighters who have i commi t t ed no of lence

See how it sp reads to Britain if it is | to lerated m Ire land. j

GREETINGS Con,nued from Tlirce

l ^ T T T H hear t fe l t greet ings for your ' » efforts in r each ing the 21st ann i -

versary of the "I r i sh Democrat ." T h e continuous s t rugg le against Bri-

tish imperialism by t h e Irish people for the uni ty of Ireland, for which the "I r i sh Democra t" has so successfully stood in these past years, ha s inspired its r eaders and will continue to do so in the ef for ts towards peace and t h e unity of our count ry

New Year greetings to all. J. MURPHY (ex-Alderman).

Colerame, Co. Dcrry.

FOR 21 years the "I r i sh Democrat" ha s stood as the unwaver ing champion of

the r ights of the Irish people.

In present ing the Irish scene to the public in Britain it has succeeded dur ing this period in winning the support a n d respect of thousands of progressive Bri-tish people. It is also held in the highest esteem by people f rom the Common-wealth and Empire resident in Bri tain since the cause for which the "Demo-cra t" f ights Is so close to their own.

In its s teadfas t devotion to the f reedom of the Irish people in the Republic, t he Six Counties and, indeed, everywhere, t he "Irish Democrat" has proved a consist-ently ou t s tand ing organ of Irish pat r io t -ism and democracy.

Long may it flourish and continue to serve the cause of Ireland, of Socialism, and of peace and f r iendship among the peoples of tho world.

DESMOND BUCKLE.