R E A D E R S m a y h a v e n o t i c e d t h a t t h e J u : i e issue ot t he I r i sh D e m o c r a t c o n t a i n e d 12 p a g e s

T h e r e a s o n • S o m u c h w a s h a p p e n i n g , so m a n y p e o p l e w e r e a n x i o u s to use our c o l u m n s t h e r e was n o t h i n g fo r it. T h e m a t e r i a l j u s t c o u l d no t be g o t i n t o e igh t p a g e s .

T h i s m o n t h it is a lmos t t h e s a m e But c a n w e m a n a g e t w e l v e p a g e s 7 W e c o u l d if it d i d n ' t p u t up our p r i n t i n g c o s t s b y 50

S o th is m o n t h we are b a c k to e i g h t , and p e o p l e m a y s e e t he i r c o n t r i b u t i o n s m a u l e d a n d c u t ra the r t h a n l e a v e i m p o r t a n t t h i n g s o u t a l t o g e t h e r .

We II h a v e to have t w e l v e p a g e s . Bu t t h e r e ' s o n l y o n e w a y of f i n a n c i n g it We n e e d a b i g g e r c i r c u l a t i o n . W e n e e d m c , e a n n u a l s u b s c r i b e r s . A b o v e a l l Vve want m o r e se l le rs of t h e p a p e r

If y o u fee i i i ke v o l u n t e e r i n g r i n g up the Four P r o v i n c e s B o o k s h o p (244 G r a y s Inn R o a d . W C 1 ) on 0 1 - 8 3 3 - 3 0 2 2 ) .

FOUNDED 1939 >

Organ of the -y Connolly Association Ifi

It was most important that Irish Republicans should understand the nature of the new financial feudalism that it was intended to impose.

If European foreign policy and security were to be fused, then Irish neutrality would go by the board. A Labour government would not be allowed to make a declaration of intent to get out of Ireland without clearing the decision with Brussels.

On the other hand, at a later stage, when the twenty-six counties had been completely assimilated it would be possible to concede a united Ireland as an administrative region of the European super-state. But such a united Ireland would lack the one essential which would make the republic worth fighting for — the power to make its own national decisions.

Christine Crawley listed ten items which formed part of the

(Continued on page 2)

had sold out British national independence to the United States in return for being made the American-controlled financial centre of Europe.

be a major industrial nation, in return for this parasitic role. For the accommodation of the immense American and Japanese investment that was expected to follow the "big bang" this autumn, vast office blocks were being erected in London's dockland, not least in the notorious district of Wapping.

I MEMBERS of Tower Hamlets ! branch of UCATT, together with members of the TGWU, took the Trades Council banner to free Trade Wharf, site of a £30 million Cubitt/Tarmac contract, to

' protest against the use and abuse of sub-contracting in the industry.

| The building of the new "City" which is to house international

finance following the "big btmg" due this autumn, has provtiCShtiHt^ biggest building job in Europe.

I But no attempt is being num^ 'recruit the workerr into Trade j Unions, and the picketers were very disappointed when they learned

| that their Union had dissociated ! itself from their actions. k Vast new projects are scheduled ' far Canary Wharf and Poplar, as part of the 'big bang" complex, mid the Tower Hamlets builders were picketing, as they said, out of Sheer frustration."

When their union disowned them they discontinued in order notto be teemed of unconstitutional action. < Following this they have sent a letter to the London Regional Council of UCA TT, urging them to launch a major campaign to

V • ^ (Continued on page 2, column I)

Group includes Peter Walsh, George O'Dris-coll, Sean Kettle, Joe Howard, Tom Finn and

Dave Mooney. - - .. • • • *.' wj ..: < s - . . . •...

Page Two July 1986

GtfwU O'Reilly, John McGahm, Patrick Crthon.

Gerald O'Reilly writes:— MY personal memories of Peadar O'Donnel l span over 60 years. Although we had met casually earlier, l recall best his visit to my home in Co. Meath just before the 1924 Sinn Fein Ard Feis. He had a resolution that he wanted me, as a delegate f rom Co. Meath , to introduce. It would have a better chance for adoption coming f rom a Meath delegate he said than f rom a delegate from Donegal , a county of small impoverished farms.

T he resolution would establish the principle that no small farmers or shopkeepers should be evicted from being too poor to pay the r e n t . C o u n t PI u n k e 11, a s Cha i rman , immediately ruled it out of order , asserting that it would be inadvisable to suppor t such a principle which could be used later when we achieved the Republic, for people to evade their obligations.

Peadar never changed. As that

incident showed he was of the same mould of Irish revolutionary leaders as Tone, Lalor, Davitt , Connolly, Gilmore and Mellows — men who saw that a rigid nationalism, without social and economic goals, would be mostly an illusion.

On a date in October I925, I received orders from G H Q IRA to have a car and stay the night in Peadar's home on Drumcondra Road. O'Donnel l had helped plan the f a m o u s j a i l b r e a k f r o m M o u n t j o y . Next a f t e r n o o n George Gilmore drove up to Mountjoy jail in a van with a small group inside. They were all dressed in Civic Guard uniforms which misled the prison guards in allowing them to go inside. But once inside they drew their guns and led out the 19 [RA leaders, including Sean Russell, who were held there.

The prisoners were immediately assigned to 13 separate cars that were in readiness so as to reduce the risk of recapture. I had been

LETTER I T H O U G H T you might be interested in knowing about the for thcoming play about the Countess Markeiwicz at the Oval House Theatre , for two weeks in July. The play has already been presented in East Anglia, and at the Arts Centre, University of

Gag Acts — From page 1

Labour Party programme. Six of them would be illegal under EEC law.

Anthony Coughlan des-cribed the process by which Ireland would be assimilated into the war-game while remaining nominally neutral, as Kissinger put It, the sort of neutral you could take home to mother.

John Boyd gave a devastat-ing review of the de-industrialisation of Britain thanks to the EEC. The Thatcher government was actively promoting It (in return for the City deal) and the Labour leaders were afraid to resist and deceiving their followers that there was no danger.

Following a useful discus-sion it was announced that the relevant papers would be published.

Sussex, where the author, Sandra Freeman, lectures in French and drama.

It was an excellent production and constructed in such a way as to reopen many questions for serious debate rather than to sew up and close a " l i fe" in a historically dead manner.

I am sure some of your readers will want to see this production, which is entertaining as well as t h o u g h - p r o v o k i n g . F u r t h e r information can be obtained f rom the author at Brighton (0273) 681268.

Vincent Mahon Hove.

The Lump — From page 1

challenge the evils of the sub-contracting system and to make every possible effort to organise the construction industry.

They do not make the following point, bat we make it. If the building trade unions had not been so tender towards the six county economists nationalist Irish workers would have flooded into their ranks and there would have been no such thing as the lump. The poison of Belfast unionism infects the whole body politic!

assigned to drive one of the cars and I took J im Killeen, Dave Fitzgerald and Michael Clerkin with me to my home.

1 have never lost touch with Peadar over the intervening 60 years and my last visit to him was on May 5th just seven days before he died. His eyesight, failing for years, was almost completely gone; a series of strokes had left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak clearly. But mentally

• he was as alert as ever. I had just come from the dedication

of a memorial in Co. Leitrim to the memory of James Gralton. Peadar was very happy to learn of the huge crowd that had participated in the dedication. He was a great admirer of' Gralton and we both talked over the grave injustive inflicted upon him by his summary deportation without even a hearing. Peadar assured me that the deportation was the work of Minister of Justice Ruttledge.

Peadar was one of the great men in the history of Ireland over the past 70 years. 1 only hope that Ireland will develop more like him.

SUSTENTATION FUND

T H E R E ' S a slight recovery in the level o f our fund, but it is still badly on the low side for what we have to do with it. And now the holiday period is upon us, with all our enthusiastic supporters sunning themselves on the beaches of Bermuda, or having a pint in O'Ne i l l s or McDades .

S o remember when you stop the milk and cancel the papers, t h e r e ' s a n o t h e r i t e m t o remember. S e n d your donation to the Irish Democrat before you go.

Our thanks to: J. Harmon £2, O. and B. Farrington £5, K. Doody £2, J. Kavanagh £3.20, N . Kecgan £5, C. Moloney £2, Anon £3.80, W. Burke £25, R. Smith £5, S. R. S. Farrelly £5, R. Chambers £S, D. Anderson £5, D. Burke 50p, M. Brennan £5, T. Egan £2 , R. SeUors £1, E. O'Dowling £10, P. Boyd £1.50, J. Wilson £2, H. and E. Goulding £5, P. Walsh £1, A. G. Morton £20, R. Doyle £2, L. Wrixon £2.63, N . Brycc 50p, M. Morrison £14, L. Daly £2, in memory of Robin Page-Arnot from G. and C. Findlay £5, supporters in South London £15.46, in Central London £1.30, in Paris £6.7$.

Total: £160.64.

JAMES GRALTON DEEP FEAR IN COMMEMORATION WEST CORK

A FRIEND'S TRIBUTE TO PEADAR O'DONNELL

MR GERALD O'REILLY (left) was in Ireland to attend the James Gralton commemoration when he saw Peadar O'Donnell for the last time. Now aged 82 (pictured on left) he is one of the most respected of James Connolly's followers in the United States.

James Gralton, who was born in Drumsna, Co. Leitrim in 1886, and was thus some seven years older than Peadar O'Donnell, emigrated to the USA, took out American citizenship, but then decided to come home.

The powers that be objected to his socialist republican principles, and he was the victim of a campaign of opposition that ended in his deportation, almost certainly illegally, to the USA.

Now the wheel has come full cycle. The right hand picture shows James Gralton's cousin, Patrick Gralton, presenting a copy of the newly published book (obtainable at the Four Provinces Bookshop, 244/246 Grays Inn Road, London) to author John McGahern, during the commemoration Mr O'Reilly refers to.

Paisley - From page I

Edward Carson, whose words uttered in the bitterness of betrayal and defeat, would seem highly appropriate now, "What a fool I was? I was only a tool, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland. We were only tools in the dirty game that was to get the Conservative Party back into office."

And Paisley has been a tool in another even dirtier game, the undermining of. the independence and neutralitiy of the twenty six counties, a game so filthy and contemptible that ail those who played along with it will stink in history for quite a few hundred years. We will not name them all -yet.

The complete inability of the Unionists to halt the progress of British imperial policy carries an important lesson. If at any time during the past eighteen years the British government had declared for civil rights, or had made a declaration of intent to get out of Ireland, Mr Paisley would have been as powerless as he is today.

But he had his value. He coidd threaten the nationalist hostages the imperialists were holding against the good behaviour of Dublin. Today he is not totally without value. His histrionics can be used to keep Dublin's demands down to their irreducible minimum. But England intends, to stand no nonsense from him. Mrs Thatcher has her orders from her toss President Reagan, and, as gutless as she is obstinate, she will not rebel.

The republican movement will have readjustments to make in this new situation. It is not possible to be indifferent to events in Hail Eireann as Euro-cosmopolitan forces threaten to extinguish the l a s t t r a c e s o f the s e m i -independence won in 1921. Nanrfl l it do to be insensitive to s t M n g s amongst the Protestant middle-classes who have something to lose a n d w i l l s o m e o f t h e m accommodate to the new medus of English control, others react like Carson and realise what focAs they have been.

It is a situation in which one might wish for a new Wolfe Tone.

by JIM SAVAGE

WE HAVE been hearing much about Chernobyl, which should illustrate the follies and dangers of the arms race. But what if there were a major submarine accident in the Irish Sea or off our South-west coasts?

The influential Irish Fishermen's Organisation is very concerned over the movement of US submarines off West Cork.

Apparently a US nuclear submarine, the Nathaniel Green, hit the sea bed while carrying sixteen Poseidon nuclear missiles, and was damaged. IFO General Secretary Frank Doyle commented on the possibility of pollution that would affect the sea for many years. Close encounters had been legion, and the odds were getting shorter.

The Irish Government was not informed of the incident, and learned about it from a report in the Washington Post. The American

• savages did not iitform the Irish Government when Irish territorial waters were brazenly violated.

But this goes on all the time. Mr Doyle revealed that some time ago a trawler from Clogherheadpicked up a cylindrical object "about the size of a fire extinguisher", marked "US navy - highly dangerous." It was taken into port and dealt with by an army bomb disposal squad.

The United States has a submarine monitoring system located 100 miles off the Cork coast. It spies on all ships coming in and out of the area, and particularly the Wexford Coast. It is in this area, the notorious "Tuskar triangle" that the £750,900 trawler Sharelgal wast sunk in April 1982. And recently West Cork fishermen had their nets torn by some unknown force.

FISH have been taken that could not be sold to traders because of their deformed condition. There is a widespread feeling that the Irish public are not being told the truth about what is getting into the sea and the consequences of pollution. We read reports of radiation being 25% above some mysterious and probably mythical "safe level". Is there any such thing f We read about radiation levels being 400% above normal. This was in Cork.

Huge consignments of Poseidon missiles pass almost daily wUhin hailing distance of the Batty Light at Howth, in transit to the HMy I*ch on the Clyde. Some of hose contain as much explosive power as rM the bombs put together that went off in the last world war.

If we are still being showered with radio-activity from an accident a couple ef thousand miles away, what would be the result If ione of these deadly consignments blew up?

No wonder Ike people of West Cork art worried.

: ' i s ,

July 1986 IRISH DEMOCRAT Page Three

ATTACK ON NEUTRALITY London plotting internment? THE latest attack on Irish neutrality comes from the London based think-tank, the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies. This is the British affiliate of the United States Heritage F o u n d a t i o n whose thinking underpins much of the work of the Reagan administration and the New Right in America and which is financed by the Chase Manhatten Bank, Gulf Oil, Mobil Oil and the Readers Dipest Corporation.

In its latest report Irish neutrality is described as "an essentially nationalistic symbol with a persistently anti-British flavour arising from its irredentist claims to be a United Ireland."

The author of the report is pleased to note that neutrality has ne ver acquired the status of a stable doctrine, but is annoyed with the Irish for clinging to a nostalgically based consensus in its favour, not appreciating the ambiguities and anomalies in it which are so obvious to NATO "experts".

Rather menacingly the report states that Ulster Unionism's fidelity to the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) would have to be taken

into account in any future solution to the Irish question.

Recognising the strength of support for neutrality amongst Irish people, the Report argues for a subtler approach: "To exert direct pressure upon them to develop a closer relationship with N A T O and the E u r o p e a n Community in military affairs c o u l d w e l l prove c o u n t e r -productive. "The report thinks that there is no immediate scope for changes of a major kind in Ireland's position, as domestic acceptance of neutrality is too strong.

Things point therefore to a continuation of the present campaign which has been led by Fine Gael for a series of small changes and the gradual erosion of an independent policy in favour of a vaguely defined co-operation with the EEC in matters of common security. Eventually it is hoped that the democratic consensus in favour of a meaningful neutrality can be broken down when the process has gone so far that NATO-EEC agents can say that Ireland is neutral in name only.

From a Dublin correspondent

SERMONS IN STONES " M Y F I R S T N I G H T IN T H E T R E N C H E S " , said my late uncle, an old Dubl in Fusilier, " I ' d peep over the parapet , duck, then peep over aga in . " Yours truly, a less couth, Christ ian, and courageous man than he, would have substi tuted • another verb for "b less ," in the same predicament, I've just come back f rom a short tour of the killing fields of , Flanders where he served during the First World War. Many of the trenches, and the shell-holes, still survive, and you could toss a fag-end across opposing trenches. Cemeteries abound, big and small, where identified corpses lie in egali tarian portions of earth, separated only by the Colours they served. Others, unidentified, and unidentifiable as individual c o r p s e s , a r e g a t h e r e d a n d en tombed in ossuaries. One such ossuary is said to contain 16,000 bodies. They must have computed that n u m b e r by weight.

Near Arras , in the British Cemetery at Cabaret Rouge, the first s tone , to the left by the gate, covers J . Connelly, a Private in the Lincoins, killed May 1917, and n e a r b y a n o t h e r c o v e r s J . Connol ly , a Sergeant in the Munsters . At the arrogant and ugly t r iumphal arch at Thiepval, dedicated in the 1920s by the genius of the Somme offensive, Earl Haig , a register of 74,000 whose b o d i w e r e never found, contains three p ges of Kennedys.

At the site of the beginning of the bat t le , on July 1st, 1916, lie row u p o n row of Inniskillings and Royal Irish, mainly recruited from Carson ' s an t i -Home Rule UVF, killed on that day, when the B r i t i s h s u s t a i n e d 6 4 , 0 0 0 casualties, 16,000 fatal. With them lie Dubl in Fusiliers, of mainly Nationalist sympathies, killed the following November , in the same spot, fo r , when the brasshats ' plan of a quick breakthrough failed, they persisted in their original

'' tactic until they had lost half a „ million men. The Ulster Division

has an imposing memorial , whilst the o ther provinces, whose sons died as bravely and needlessly, are

by DONAL KENNEDY

cpmrnemorated by a modest Celtic Cross.

T H E scale of the slaughter, there evident, overwhelms any part icular feeling for family, province, or nation. The tragedy is universal.

The British have uniform h e a d s t o n e s , wi th e m b o s s e d regimental insignia. F r o m a distance you cannot distinguish Christian or Jew, Hindu , Moslem or non-believer, a l though all are well r e p r e s e n t e d . B u t the Germans and French are mainly covered with crosses, liberally i n t e r s p e r s e d w i t h t a b l e t s invariably inscribed with the Star of David , in the case of the Germans , whilst the French e x c e p t i o n s , aga in n u m e r o u s , g e n e r a l l y h a v e K o r a n i c inscriptions, for North Africans "mor t pour La F r a n c e . " The record of Germany and France towards Jews and Nor th Africans needs no elaboration, nor that of Britain either, towards the lesser breeds.

I s tar ted my tour at Arras, where I had meant to research for a piece on its defence, by a garrison of 1500, against a siege army building up f rom 30,000 to 100,000 Frenchmen, in the year 1640. The siege lasted three months , and the garr ison, 400 of whom were Irish, were in the Spanish service. Not until the King of Spain ordered him to surrender, did his C o m m a n d e r , Eoghan Ruadh O'Neill, d o so, to be complimented by the French C o m m a n d e r , with the r emark that he (O'Neil l) had beaten him in all but for tune . The garr ison was allowed leave, carrying its banners and all its arms, and Spanish rule in F l a n d e r s e n d e d a f t e r a period of 150 years.

The French today, an odd lot, are not t o o disposed to remember kindly, soldiers, however gallant, who occupied their terr i tory for a foreign power , so I a b a n d o n e d my researches of that siege, f o r battles of more recent times.

A NASTY plot may now be brewing between London and Dublin. Rumours are circulating in Irish political circles that the Thatcher Government is pressing the Coalition through the Inter-governmental Coherence to agree to the simultaneous introduction of internment both North and South. The British would intern republicans in the Six Counties, throwing in some hard-line Loyalists for good measure to show impartiality, while Dublin would arrest the leaders of Sinn Fein in the Twenty-Six Counties. Selective internment would politically decapitate Sinn Fein. It could also be used to put pressure on Fianna Fail to support the Hillsborough policy.

At the time of the Jldey kidnapping two years ago Dublin was said to be quite willing to introduce internment, taking advantage of public indignation over that episode. But the British are thought to have urged restraint and counselled waiting for a better opportunity. Now it is the British who are said to be doing the urging while Dublin, with an election due within a year, is naturally not over-enthusiastic.

WHA T has happened in between of course is that Britain has got the Anglo-Irish Agreement in the bag, and with it Dublin's recognition of Partition. With that in hand it can plead the shenanigans of the Unionists as reason for not making any concessions on the ground to Northern nationalists. Paisley is doing Thatcher's work for her there. And what better way to

complete the reactionary scenario, simultaneously pleasing the Unionists and putting pressure on Fianna Fail, than a round-up of Republicans, the most persistent and intransigent opponents of British policy ?

The Libyan connection may be the way to get at Fianna Fail. Several Irish businessmen with Fianna Fail connections are engaged in trade with Libya. It would be the easiest thing in the world for Press smears to suggest that they are encouraging Colonel Ghadaffi to give support to the IRA. And how curious it is that it should be German politicians who were allegedly told that the Colonel wants to get at Mrs Thatcher by helping out the IRA - a report which led the Irish Foreign Minister to protest to Libya, threatening German and other EEC sanctions if the rumours should have substance? The Germans with the British are America's closest allies, and it is easy to invent substance for such rumours even if there is none originally there. Remember the disco-bombing of Berlin, used to "justify" Reagan's night-time bombing of Libya? It is clearly in the interest of the CIA, MI5andall the rest of the security "spooks" of the EEC countries to "discover" links between Ghadaffi and the IRA. Peter Barry and the Iveagh House people could then become the frontmen for another American and EEC - supported attack on Libya. Interning Republicans in Ireland could be plausibly enough justified behind the brouhaha and if

Charles Haughey expressed scepticism he and Fianna Fail could find themselves execrated around the Western World - which might help the Coalition in the next election and make Fianna Fail anyway more co-operative with the British on Partition.

A SCENARIO like this might well be in the making. Other provocations may also be being planned. The best way of getting Irish public opinion to tolerate the introduction of internment for Republicans would be to associate them with some quite horrific incident - like an assassination attempt on, say, a twenty-six county or SD LP politician or some horrendous bomb-planting or kidnapping incident. It should always be remembered that the first-ever bombs to go off in the six counties at the start of the present troubles were planted by the UVF to have them blamed on the IRA and develop pressures which brought down Terence O'Neill. They proved brilliantly successful. So too later did the car-bombs in Dublin in forcing through emergency legislation in the Dail.

Whatever about the current rumours there need be no doubt that the directors of intelligence services in America and Britain, the co-ordinators of security and "national handlers" of one kind or another are thinking of things like this these days as they look for a way of keeping Fianna Fail out of office and simultaneously striking a blow at the Republicans.

Tribute to Frank Short WE ARE happy to publish the following extracts from a tribute by Maurice Roche (Huddersfield).

I was the youngest of the "senior citizens" who signed the last public statement of the United Ireland Association in Man-chester on 31st January , 1981. Frank Short was our national treasurer, Alf Havek'n Secretary, Sean H o g a n Vice-Chairman, and myself Chairman. The other three have now gone to their eternal reward.

F rank made his way by train from Birmingham to Manchester that day. It was not a good day w e a t h e r w i s e , a n d t h o u g h "ches ty" as he put it, Frank ' s tall upright bearing belied his 76 years.

In the mid 1940s, after World War I I , Alf Havekin, F rank Short , Sean McGrath and others drafted rules that created a national organisation out of pre-existing groups. Frank Short was first national secretary, Hugh Delargy, M P (Miles Platting) was c h a i r m a n , A l f H a v e k i n (Manchester) was Vice-chairman, and B. J . Early (Barney to his friends) f rom Bootle, Liverpool, was treasurer.

For a start there were sixteen elected representatives f rom the differer areas, mostly f r o m L a n c a s m r e , Y o r k s h i r e , t h e Midlands and .ondon. The four national officers, plus Sean McGra th , elected "Life m e m b e r " as a t r ibute to his work for Ireland over the years formed the Standing Committee.

The "League" as it was generally know to its membership,

spread rapidly to many places. You can visualise the flow of correspondence that must have come through Frank and J o a n ' s letterbox at Charleville Road, Birmingham. Later, however, a general secretary and national organiser were appointed, namely Jasper Tully and Tadg Feehan, with a central office at Chester Square, London. There were approximately 150 branches with many areas, each having its own officers and committee. Scotland a n d W a l e s h a d t he i r own organised structures, as had the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania , etc. Frank Short was in the thick of it.

L A T E R the title of the o r g a n i s a t i o n " A n t i - p a r t i t i o n League" was thought too negative and an A G M voted to change the n a m e to " U n i t e d I r e l a n d Associat ion."

Much literature was issued f rom headquarters, areas and branches. I considered David O'Neill 's booklet the "Par t i t ion of I re land" to be tl : average member ' s condensed "b ib le" or reference guidebook. I bought a copy in Shrewsbury in 1946. It cost me 6d then, and I still have it.

I write the foregoing very much abridged facts to help people u n d e r s t a n d wha t m o t i v a t e d Frank Short and people like him. It was not 'kudos ' or financial gain. They were always " o u t of pocke t . " They often had to bear the taunts , sneers and whisperings of those who should have joined them. They incurred the wrath of " au tho r i t y " and probably denied themselves, their spouses and

families many material things as a result.

Frank was an Ulsterman in the broadest historical sense. At a party or social gathering if pressed for a contr ibut ion, his favourite was "The m a n f rom God knows where", Will iam Russell f r o m mid-Cork, the man with the "strange up-country ta lk" who was hanged outside Downpatr ick jail for his par t in organising the United Ir ishmen. Frank wanted an Ulster in the context of a united Ireland. It would care for all its people, no mat ter from whence they came, provided they were prepared to learn about and give their allegiance to Ireland.

HE was par t of the national machinery of our organisation, supplying speakers and officials, at meetings and functions, indoor and outdoor , in good weather and bad, th roughout the country. That included Trafalgar Square , London, on Easter Sundays for many years, to honour the memory of the men and women of the 1916 Easter Rising, and other patriots, until the Square was denied us under the Prevention of Terrorism Act .

Like Cuchulann of old, in the field of games, other situations or endeavours, he was not afraid to stand up, to man the Bearne Baoighal. He should have his reward in Heaven. He will be greatly missed by Joan, his wife and life-long partner, and their family, to whom go our deepest sympathies. H e will also be missed by a host of friends and acquaintances. I knew him for nearly half a century.

Page Four IRISH DEMOCRAT July I f f t

GARDA ACTION IN MOORE STREET

(Acknowledgments - An Phobtacht)

Irish Studies in East Germany

LOW PAID WORKERS WIN VICTORY PUBLIC opinion was with the Dublin Corporat ion workers when ihey went on strike for better wages in May and June. Even though rubbish piled in the streets and bins outs ide houses went uncollected, everyone knew that the Government was trying to break the lowest grades of workers in the Corpora t ion just because they were low and could seemingly be easily beaten.

But the Corpo men won. Sean R e d m o n d , f o r m e r C o n n o l l y Association general secretary, whose Municipal Employees Trade union organises half the men. was able to claim a famous victory. So too were Eddie Glackin of the F W U l and the ITGWU's Des Geraghty, whose unions organised the rest of the 4.0(H) plus Corporat ion manual workers.

The Government bent over backwards to negotiate with the teachers, the health inspectors and others. Seven per cent and no more, the\ told the Corporat ion men, the same as better paid white-collar workers, even though the m a n u a l w o r k e r s w e r e no t represented in the negotiations for the latter.

SEVEN percent is not bad if you are on a decent salary. But if you are on the average Corpo man's i I3()a week it does not help much. The manual workers wanted a llat-rate sum, the same for everybody, plus a percentage. I his would be more advantageous

to poorly paid men. And in the event they got it.

B u t n o t b e f o r e s o m e e x t r a o r d i n a r y s c e n e s h a d occurred. The Army was called out in the strike's second week to remove the piles of rubbish in Moore Street. Hundreds of st rikers blocked the streets and sat on the ground before the army lorries. The police used their batons and three strikers were taken to hospital. A woman said to her husband, " L o o k at what they are up to in South Africa," pointing to a policeman battoning a striker in a picture on the "Irish T i m e s " f r o n t p a g e . " G o o d heavens, it is down in Moore Stieet ," she said when she realised.

THE incident strengthened the solidarity of the workers. They marched on the Dail. "Support the C o r p o w o r k e r n o t i c e s appeared all over Dublin. The Labour members of the Coalition were exceedingly embarrassed. The M o o r e S t r ee t inc iden t occurred while the Labour Party Minister for Labour , Ruairi Quinn, was out of the country. On his return he put pressure on his colleagues to settle the strike, essentially on the workers ' terms.

"•We're pleased and we regard it a> a victory," said Sean Redmond. "The amount of extra money is not all that large, but we have e s t a b l i s h e d th ree i m p o r t a n t principles. Firstly, the right to negotiate for our members when the Government has tried to include us in a package for other groups of workers. Secondly, the Government acknowledged the special circumstances of our members as low-paid, something we hope to build on in the future, and thirdly we obtained an increase in the flat-rate rather than on percentage terms."

The workers also got £250 per man as a lump sum for cleaning up the backlog of rubbish a round the city. Within a week O 'Connell Stieet looked no dirtier than usual. And the binmen going round the garbage runs walked with a jauntier tread and with their heads held higher.

STUDENTS of the English Department performed Synge's "Shadow of the Glen" and a Town Hall audience heard the premier of a work on Irish musical themes by local composer Thomas Reuther, during a conference on Irish Society and Culture in Halle, East Germany, this May.

Over the past decade the Halle conferences have become the prinicpal East European venue for critical and scholarly exchanges on Ireland and things Irish. People come from Ireland, Britain. West and East Germany, Austria, Czechoslo-vakia, Hungary and Poland, drawn by interest in the politics, history, literature, language and sociology of Ireland. It is a tribute to this small country that it can stimulate such interest among people in much bigger countries. It is a tribute also to Professor Dorothea Siegmund-Schultze of the Martin Luther University, who single-handedly got the Halle conference off the ground and has kept them going for a decade now. And perhaps it is a tribute to the presiding cultural genius of this attractive Saxon town, George Frederick Handel, whose statue stands in the town square of his birthplace, and whose most famous work, "Messiah", as every Irish person knows, had its first performance in Dublin.

The conference proceedings are published and available to those interested through libraries. Here are some of the subjects on which papers were read this year.

Irish neutrality during World War 2, Eamon de Valera, the British Army and 1916, Ter-rorism and 'the Fenian Move-ment, the political evolution of the Provisionals, Chartism and the Irish, James Connolly and World War I, Brian Friel, Images of peace in the poetry of Yeats, Jonathan Swift's atti-tude to Irish "brogue", Gulli-ver's Travels as presented in

HALLE, HANDEL A N D DE V A L E R A

children's books, Sean O'Casey and the Spanish Civil War, Seamus Heaney's poetry and the Northern troubles, and several other topics. The Martin Luther University at

Halle has a long tradition of linguistic-philological studies and Doctors Kirsten and Schneider of the English Department are continuing it by developing a special interest in Hiberno-English, that is the special way we have of speaking English in Ireland. This is all the more moving in that the scholars concerned have never been to Ireland and have to work entirely on the basis of patient study of written texts. Dr Kirsten is of the view that even though the rich imagery of Hiberno-English, based originally on Irish, is dying out in face of the modern mass media, certain basic syntactical forms will survive indefinitely, enriching the kind of English people speak in Ireland. In this he is surely right and it would be foolish pedantry not to welcome it. For instance we would say, "He had drink taken," putting the verb at the end as the Germans would. But that is not standard English, they would say in England. That would be, "He had taken drink."

Belfastwoman Priscilla Metscher was at Halle. She teaches at the university of Oldenburg, West Germany, and brought with her a big tome she has written on Republicanism and Socialism in Ireland. It traces the ideological roots of radical Irish nationalism back to the United Irishmen and will run rings round the pro-British imperialist, so-called revisionist historians. Margarita Orlova came from Moscow and got new ideas for the book she was writing in Russian

on the history of Irish republicanism. And Hanna Masova from Prague is writing a popular book on Ireland for publication in her country. She is learning Irish but her greatest difficulty is finding decent Irish dictionaries. There is work here surely for the Cultural Relations Committee of the Irish Foreign Affairs Department.

The Cultural Relations Committee is to be complimented

for sponsoring well-known writer and broadcaster Proinnsias MacAonghusa and enabling him to attend. He was a hit with everyone and it is easy to see why he is one of the most popular men in Ireland. His lecture on De Valera was a remarkable contribution. Two quotations from De Valera's speeches were particularly interesting. They can bear constant repetition nearer home over the next few years.

One is from an address De Valera gave as President to a joint meeting of the Dail and Seanad in 1969, on the 50th anniversary of the

first meeting of the revolutionary Dail Eireann. He spoke about small nations and internationalism:

"Nowadays there are some people who think that the ideals of nationhood which inspired the leaders of fifty years ago have become old-fashioned and out of date. A great deal is said about internationalism and so on, and some people think that the small nations have nothing to look forward to except to be brushed aside or absorbed by great powers. I do not at all agree with that opinion. We ought to be more confident than the people of fifty years ago that the nation will live. The leaders of Easter Week believed that the Rising would ensure that this nation would live I do not think they are many, those people who think that our nationhood will be set aside. In

my opinion, they are not right. The old nations will not lose their old qualities and culture; they will not set them aside. But they can - and they are doing this -enter into co-operation with the other nations for the good of all... That is the best way, and that in my opinion is how it will be. At any rate we are strong in our resolve that we will not fail those who have gone before us to keep this ancient Gaelic nation alive." The other statement was made by

De Valera shortly after he became Taoiseach in the first Fianna Fail Government in 1932, when he told Dail Eireann what his social attitude was:

"I am quite willing to admit that during my whole time in struggling for the freedom of this country I had only one object and that was to get free so as to be able to order our life for the benefit of our own people. I never regarded freedom as an end in itself, but if I were asked what statement of Irish policy was most in accord with my view as to what human beings should struggle for, I would stand side by side with James Connolly. The thing that was most heart-breaking in this Dail since I came into it was to find the two parties who should have stood side by side trying to secure freedom in order that they might have power to order their own policy, divided. I am speaking of Fianna Fail and the Labour Party. These two parties had naturally, the same pro-gramme, and when I differed from the Labour Party after the Treaty it was because I thought that t&at party was making a mistake and that they did not see what James Connolly saw, and what he told me he saw, that to secure national freedom was the first step in order to get the workers of Ireland the living they were entitled to in their own country. Because he said, 'As long as a foreign imperial power holds this country, the workers are the people who will be principally exploited.' We wanted our freedom to put an end to that."

CONFINE TROOPS TO BARRACKS

T H E ITGWU, Ireland's largest un ion , with some 140,000 paid-up members , voted a t its recent annua l conference to call on the British Government to conf ine to bar racks all military personnel s tat ioned in the Nor th .

They also called on the Irish and British Governments to n e g o t i a t e f o r t h e o r d e r l y withdrawal of the British presence in Ireland. The Conference also expressed its continual opposit ion to s t r ip searching and the Diplock courts , but shelved a motion which would have condemned the Anglo-Irish Agreement, calling instead for the Irish Government to withdraw from it.

Mr John Carroll, the union'? g e n e r a l p r e s i d e n t a n d the incoming president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions , urged the annual conference no t to pass judgement on the agreement at this stage.

July 1966 IRISH DEMOCRAT Page Five

LETTER 1 "SAOIRSE" FROM THE IRISH I HA VE long been a reader and supporter of the Irish Democrat and have always been impressed by its steadfast stand on the cause of Ireland and the clarity of argument that is its main characteristic. Imagine my amazement then when confronted with your editor's reply to the letter from Ivor Pearce. The reply is unclear and makes a very worrying mistake. I sincerely hope that you will not be offended by my saying this but I do feel that a reply is necessary.

The question at issue is the class content of the struggle for national liberation. Before addressing the problem the editor gives a preamble and it is here that I think one of the problems emerges. You say that on one hand there are economic issues and on the other there are democratic issues. Surely this is quite wrong. Firstly there are economic issues. The way, or one of the ways in which the class struggle is conducted is through politics but politics (ie 'democratic issues') are no more than the expression of the irreconcilable economic conflict that characterises our society. To pose the two as having no link is quite wrong.

This leads us to the central problem, you say "... There is the Connolly tradition which (gives) due importance to economic issues (but) gives precedence to democratic interests. This I find unaccountable. Again democratic interests are no more than the expression of class (ie economic interests). In the particular case of Ireland the struggle for National Independence is at heart an expression• of an economic argument. The struggle for a united Ireland is an indispensable part of the struggle for socialism, it is this that gives this struggle its legitimacy. This is not to say that non socialist forces cannot be interested in the achievement of a United Ireland they can. But the central point is that at heart it is a struggle for socialism and this is why it should be supported, anything else is petty bourgeouis nationalism.

I sincerely hope that you will not be offended by my putting forward these arguments and you can be sure that I will continue to read your worthwhile publication.

GERRY MYERS London NW5

(Mr Myers mistakes us when he identifies "democratic issues" with politics. The demand for a legislative eight hour day is economic, though it is sought by political means. This was the great classical issue that divided the socialist movement at the end of the last century. On the other hand the demand for proportional representation is a democratic issue, though it is likewise sought by political means. The discussion arose from Mr Pearce's enquiring about the status of the demand for national unity and independence for Ireland. Our reply, which we standby, is that it is a democratic issue. It tends to the end-point of a democratic republic. It is classical socialist doctrine that the best starting off point for a transition to socialism is a democratic republic. Therefore "socialists" who confine themselves to

Number 6 Summer Edition Price 70p

THE current issue of the magazine "Saoirse" in ihe Irish language keeps to the same high standard in printing and presentation as the previous issues. It is a bright and lively production which comes from the S i n n Fe in p u b l i s h i n g department about every quarter. It is lavishly illustrated in black and white with an attractive cover in colour. The content is made up of a r t i c l e s on current a f f a i r s , republican history and a literary section with poems by Greagoir O Duill and Michael O Ruairc on the death of the hunger-strikers in 1961. There is an informative account by Nollaig O Gadhra of the m a n n e r in w h i c h R . T . E hypocritically operates Article 31

REVIEW to censor Sinn Fein. The editorial item on the Anglo-Irish Agreement is sound in its anti-imperialist stance but somewhat blunted by over-emphasis on the political sins of Sinn Fein's electoral rival the S.D.L.P.

FEAR DOCHLOITE Ta alt suimiuil dar teideal

"Eochair na Fuasca i l te" o scribhneoir darbh ainm Eoghan Mac Cormaic. Ta an fear seo faoi ghlas I mBloc-H na Ceise Fada agus e daoratha at feadh tearma a shaoil. Ciorann se an staid ina bhfuil athbheochan na Gaeilge i l a t h a i r na huaire a g u s na fadhbanna a ghabhas lei. Is i an bharuil dhaingean ata aige gur rud no cuis pholaitiuil i an Gaeilge. T o g a n n se abhar a chuid smaointeacha ar an bhundamhna sin agus eascraionn trachtas abalta as gur flu go mor staidear a dheanamh air. San am ceanna is

gcaillean se faobhar amhain den sceal a dhaingneodh go mor achuid fealsunachta. Is e sin an comhcheangail idir chuis na Gaeilge agus cogadh na n-aicme. Ach cibe ar bith fa sin nach abhar dushlain duinne uilig fear croga mar seo i ngeibheann agus e ag troid ar aghaidh leis gan aon gheilleadh ann. S. O'D.

LETTER T H E PUBLICATION of the letter f rom Erna Bennett in the J u n e i s sue of t h e " I r i s h D e m o c r a t " could not have occurred a t a more appropr ia te time. Her questioning of the motives and actual benefit to the A f r i c a n s of B o b G e l d o f ' s " f a m i n e " campaign, have been answered by the conferring of the order of Knight C o m m a n d e r of the British Empire by the Thatcher government. Miners will note that in this he is rubbing s h o u l d e r s w i t h M r I a n MacGregor .

His claim that he d idn ' t accept the KBE for himself but on behalf of all who took par t in his campaign does not impress. Did these want to be honoured in the name of the exploiters of much of Africa? One wonders when he makes his next visit to the Sudan and Somalia will he want to flash his medal at them? It shows where his deepest loyalties must be.

Brian Wilkinson Aberdeenshire.

economic issues ("economists") do not see the importance of reaching the point from which socialism can "take o f f . And who are these? No prizes. We have in mind the Irish Labour Party. - Editor).

"Island Cross-Talk", by Tomds O'Crohan. Translated by Tim Enright. Oxford University Press. £3.95 stg.

AS I R E A D this book my mind bounded back thirty or forty years. I recalled reading references in the Irish Democrat in the fifties to meetings in Britain at which Tim Enright spoke in Irish f rom Connolly Club platforms.

I knew Enright, a dynamic young Kerry republican and socialist who was destined to work in England — like his fr iend, George Thomson, a student and teacher of the classics of Greece and Rome and, like him, a great lover of the Irish language.

Now retired, Mr Enright has been spending part of his time making available to readers of English translations of some of the Gaelic writing which we have seen emerge in western Kerry, at the tip of the Dingle peninsula, in this century.

The Oxford University. Press had already issued English versions from Dr Robin Flower, P rofessor T h o m s o n and Seamus Ennis respectively of three books which are well-known to readers of Irish, An toileanach ("The Islandman"), Fiche Blian ag Fas ("Twenty Years A-G r o w i n g " ) and Machtnamh

- By -RISTEARD 0 GLAISNE

Seana-Mhna ("An Old Woman's Reflections") by Tomas O Cri'th'in, Muiris O Suilleabhain and Peig Sayers. In 1982 the OUR^sued Tim Enright's English translation of Is Truag na Fanann an Oige ("A pity youth does not last") by Peig Sayer's son, Michael 6 Gaoithin, finishing it up with selections of verse from the poet's 1968 collection, Coinnle Corra ("Wild Hyacinths").

This new translation'of Allagar na hlnise, pages from the diary of the author of An tOileanadi, is based upon the original 1928 edition. Padraig Ua Maoileoin's edition, published by An Gum in 1977, was more comprehensive, but evidently still did not use all the material available from that diary. For the general reader the 1928 edition will certainly suffice. It has its own unity and strength.

It has long seemed to me that Allagar na hlnise received less attention than it deserved. In part I am referring to the sprightliness and drive of its language, in part to the acuity and fun of so many of its observations Mr Enright has here rendered the Irish original with something of its classic restraint and power. As he did with A pity youth does not last, he introduces and annotates it with knowledge and skill. It is a social document of considerable interest, but any reader (particularly one with an interest in Irish life) will, I think, be entertained and intrigued by it.

Riste^Fd O Glaisne

LETTER T H E R E is certainly plenty to read in this mon th ' s issue of the "Irish Democra t " . May I draw attention to two points? First the reference to Mr King as "Ulster Minister". I am sure it was a slip. Second, the article " I s Geldof a wash-out?" Whilst agreeing with a lot of what is in the article, I must ask why be so negative? What about such agencies as UNICEF, Gor t a , Oxfam, etc?

D o people really have to wait for a revolution until something happens to better their lot? The above-mentioned make sure that their f unds do not go to cor rupt governments , but for specific projects designed to help the people improve their situation. What a re we to make of " I t is the rich w h o rule the countries in which the p o o r die of f a m i n e . : . ? "

LAGAN LIGHTS BY S. O DIOCHON

VEIL OF SECRECY T H E S I X T H A n g l o - I r i s h Ministerial conference, since the signing of the Agreement last November , was held in Belfast on the 17th June. The sparse and f l a c c i d s t a t e m e n t i s s u e d af terwards indicated either a bureaucrat ic contempt of public opinion or insecurity on the part of both governments for the future of the Agreement. The communique was made up of eight short paragraphs stating what had been discussed. Six of these items were on the law and order issues — military and police co-operat ion, how to get the Nationalists to love the R U C , the d e f e a t of " t e r r o r i s m " , and extradit ion. Apart f r o m these repressive plans two proposals were discussed that the British G o v e r n m e n t s h o u l d g i v e recognition and support to the Irish language and its cul ture and that citizens of the Twenty-six Counties, residing in the North should be allowed to vote in the local elections. In this regard Ian Paisley could be accused of some exaggeration when he said "we can' t a f fo rd to have our electoral lists swamped by people f r o m the S o u t h . " In the final pa rag raph of the statement the Ministers made the pathetic promise that they will discuss, at the next conference, international support fo r the p r o m o t i o n o f e c o n o m i c development in both par t s of Ireland. That presumably means money f rom America — a promise of live horse and you'll eat grass.

A R E W E supposed to believe that T o m King and Nicholas Scott on the one hand and Peter Barry and Alan Dukes on the other talked for five hours and never ment ioned the problem of police chief J o h n Stalker ? J o h n Stalker, Deputy Chief Constable of G r e a t e r M a n c h e s t e r , w a s appointed with a team of six detectives f rom Manchester to investigate the killing of six men in County Armagh where it was alleged they operated a shoot-to-kill policy. Stalker and his team had been gathering evidence and facts for overf i f teen months . They got their hands on some MI5 material in London a b o u t the activities of that depar tment ' s under-cover men in Armagh . This led them to enquiries a b o u t the involvement of some of the top men in the RUC. It was at this point that John Stalker was obstructed and stopped in his tracks. The "obstacle was a peculiar one. Tenuous allegations were made in Manchester that , in his social life, he was mixing in " b a d " c o m p a n y . H e w a s suspended f rom his post. It would seem tha t whoever selected Stalker to head the investigation

Ethiopia had its revolution; nevertheless there was famine in the Ethiopia of Selassie and also in that of Mengiston. So I would respectfully suggest that a more serious analysis is called f o r than that p roposed by Erna Bennett .

> Larry Wrixon Paris.

had made a bad choice f r o m the establishment 's point of view. He was digging too deeply or perhaps aiming too high. They had picked the wrong man. The R U C chief. Sir J o h n Hermon, his officers and men are a crucial element in the carrying-out of the strategy of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Any revelations at this stage in an official report confirming the shoot-to-kill policy would be a major set-back for the London and Dubl in governments. J o h n Stalker was heading in that direction and so he had to be stopped.

M E A N T I M E the B r i t i s h Government has dissolved the Northern Ireland Assembly which was set up by the previous consul to this colony, James Prior. His successor, Tom King, now puts the b lame for the collapse of the Assembly on the intransigence of the local politicians. That is a superficial and opportunist ic excuse to take the responsibility off the British Government . Basically the failure of the Assembly is but another defeat for the British in their cont inuing struggle to keep a foothold in Ireland.

W I T H T H E winding-up of the Assembly the die-hard " loyal is ts" have now taken themselves to the streets in a welter of confus ion. Some of them call for complete integration with Britain, some propose yet another a t tempt to revive the Stormont parl iament and others want to take the road to UDI . They feel they are surrounded by enemies — the British government, the Dublin government and the Nationalists w i t h i n t h e Six C o u n t i e s . Unfor tunate ly for the Catholics they are the softest and most easily available target on which this frustrat ion can be vented. Broken windows, petrol bombs and the burning of houses and small business premises in the fringe Catholic areas are now c o m m o n occurrences. In this situation the jibe is frequently made that the Nationalist people delight in seeing the Protestants " faced down" by British Government forces. This is not true. Th< Nationalists have gone through too much of that to wish it upon their fellow Protestant Ir ishmen. They know that the unity of C a t h o l i c , P r o t e s t a n t a n d Dissenter cannot be p romoted along that road. But that being said the ultra bigoted elements now being led by Alan Wright of Portadown Peter Robinson and that wild man from Glasgow, George Seawright, will have to be "faced d o w n " if any progress is to be made to a more democrat ic system.

Page Six IRISH DEMOCRAT July 1986

THE JACKETS GREEN IRISH HENRY JOY McCRACKEN \ \ HKN I « a s a maiden fair and young on the pleasant banks of Lee, No bird that in the greenwood sung was half so blithe and free, M\ heart ne'er beat with flying feet, no love sang me his queen I ill down the glen rode Narsfield's men, and they wore the jackets green.

\ tiung Donal sat on his gallant grey like a king on a royal seat, And m> heart leaped out on his regal way to worship at his feel. Oh! I o u , had >ou t o m e in those colours dressed and wooed with a

soldier's mien I'd hau' laid m\ head on \our throbbing breast for the sake of your jacket

green. No hoarded wealth did m> lo\e own, save the good sword that he bore; Hut I l o u d him for himself alone and the colour that he wore. I or had he come in I ngland's red, to make me England's queen. I d rove the high green hills, instead for the sake of the Irish green.

When William stormed with shot and shell at the walls of Garryowen I n tlu breach of death my Donal fell and he sleeps near the Treaty Stone. I hat breath the loemen ne\er erossed when he swung his broad-sword

keen, \nd I do not weep m> darling lost, for he fell in his jacket green.

When Sarslield sailed awa\ I wept as I heard the wild ochone, I felt, then, dead as the men who slept 'neath the fields of Garryowen, While Ireland held my l)on;il blessed, no wild sea rolled between, I ill I would fold him to my breast all robed in his jacket green.

M\ soul has sobbed like the waves of woe that sad o'er tombstones break, l o r I buried my heart in his grave below for his and Ireland's sake. And I cr\: "Make way for the soldier's bride in your halls of death, sad

queen," l o r I long to rest by m> true love's side, and wrapped in the folds of green.

I saw the Shannon's purple tide roll down by the Irish Town As I stood in the breach by Donal's side when England's flag went down; And now it glowers as it seeks the skies like a blood-red curse between -I weep, but 'tis not women's sighs will raise the Irish Green.

Oh Ireland, sad is thy lonely soul, and loud beats the winter sea, IHut sadder and higher the wild waves roll from the hearts that break for

thee; \ et grief shall come to our heartless foes, and (heir 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 O N

KELLY THE BOY FROM KILLANE

W H AT'S the news, what's the news, O my bold Shemalier, With your long-barrelled gun from the sea? Say what wind from the South blows his messe lger here With a hymn of the dawn for the free? "Goodly news, goodly news, shall I hear, youth of Eorth, Goodly news shall you hear, Bargy man; I or the boys march at dawn from the South to the North, Led by Kelly, the boy from Killane."

"Tell me who is that giant with the gold curling hair -He who rides at the head of your band? Seven feet is his height, with some inches to spare. And he looks like a king in command." "Ah, my lads, that's the pride of the bold Shemaliers 'Mong our greatest of heroes, a Man; I ling your beavers aloft and give three ringing cheers For John Kellv, the boy from Killane."

Enniscorthy's in flames, and old Wexford is won. And the Barrow tomorrow we cross. On a hill o'er the town they have planted a gun That will batter the gateway to Ross; All the Forth men and Bargy men march o'er the heath; With brave Harvey to lead on the van. But the foremost of all in the grim Cap of Death Will be Kelly, the boy from Killane.

But the gold sun of Freedom grew darkened at Ross, And it set on the Slaney's red waves; And poor Wexford, stript naked, hung high on the cross. And iier heart pierced by traitors and slaves. Glory O; glory O; to the brave sons who died For the cause of long down-trodden man; Glory O; to Mount I.einster's own darling and pride -Dauntless Kelly, the boy from Killane.

SONGS

Edited by PATRICK BOND

THE OLD BOG ROAD MY feet are here on Broadway

This blessed harvest morn, But oh, the ache that's in my heart

For the spot where 1 was born. My weary hands are blistered

Through toil in cold and heat But oh, to swing a scythe again

Through a field of Irish wheat. Had I the chance to wander back,

Or own a king's abode It's soon I'd see the hawthorn tree

By the Old Bog Road.

When I was young and restless My mind was ill at ease

Through dreaming of America And the gold beyond the seas.

Oh sorrow take their money! 'Tis hard to find the same

And what's the world to any man Where no one speaks his name?

I've had my day and here I am A-building bricks per load

A long three thousand miles away From the old Bog Road.

My mother died last springtime When Ireland's fields are green

And the neighbours said her waking Was the finest ever seen.

Snowdrops and primroses Piled up beside her bed

And Ferns church was crowded When the funeral Mass was said -

And here was 1 on Broadway A-building bricks per load

W hen they carried out her coffin Down the Old Bog Road.

Ah, life's a weary puzzle Past finding out by man,

I'll take each day for what it's worth And do the best I can;

Since no one cares a rush for me What point is there to moan?

I'll go my way and draw my pay And smoke my pipe alone.

Kach human heart must bear its grief. Though heavy be the load.

So God be with you, Ireland And the old Bog Road.

^m^ \ TAIRSE ABHAILE,

A MHAIRIN 0 Ta dha bholn bhainne agam (3) Is tarbh i dTa LI.

Loinneog (chorus) Iairse abhaile. a Mhairin O (3) A chail'in 6gV mo chro'i.

Ta dha ghadhar is meannan agam Is pocan ceanann but'

Ta dha chaora is uan agam. Is reithe maorga. grof

Ta dha mhuic ar salann agam Agus banbh i dt6in an ti.

Ta dha chearc is coileach agam, Is cearc le ligint slos

Ta dha ghe is goislin agam. Is gandal laidir grof.

( H a n g e d July 17th. 1798)

Air : T h e Lincolnsh i re Poacher (in slow t empo)

'TWAS on the Belfast mountains I heard a maid complain, And she vexed the sweet June evening with her heartbroken s t ra in . Saying, " W o e is me! L i fe ' s anguish is more than 1 can dree Since Henry Joy M c C r a c k e n died on the gallows tree.

"At Donegore he proudly rode and wore a suit of green, And brave though vain a t Antrim his sword f lashing lightning keen And when by spies surrounded his band to Slemish fled, He came on to the Cave Hill for to rest a wearv head.

" I watched for him each night as in our cot he slept, At daybreak to the hea ther , to MacArt ' s For t , we crept. When the news came f rom Greencast le of a good ship standing by And down by yon wee founta in we met to say goodbye.

Saying, "Death shall never part us, my love, for evermore. ' " H e says, 'My love be cheerful , for tears and f ea r s are vain.' He says, "My love, be hopeful , our land shall rise again. ' H e kissed me over fondly, he kissed me three t imes o 'er .

"Tha t night I climbed the Cave Hill, and watched till morning b lazed , And when its f ires had kindled across the lough I pazed -1 saw an English tender a t anchor off Garmoyle , But alas! N o good ship bore him away - to F rance ' s soil.

"And twice that night a t rampling came f rom the Old Shore R o a d , 'Twas Ellis and his yeoman , false Niblock with them strode. My fa ther home returning the doleful story told -'Alas!' he says, 'young H a r r y Joy for fifty pounds is sold ' ."

"And is it t rue?" 1 asked her . "Yes it is t r u e , " she said. 'For to this heart that loved him I pressed his gory head. And every night, pale, bleeding, his ghost comes to my side -My H a r r y , my dead H a r r y , comes to his promised br ide ."

Now on the Belfast mounta ins this fair maid ' s voice is still, For in a grave they laid her on high Carnmoney hill; The sad waves beneath a requiem for the dead , But a rebel wind shrieks f reedom above her wearv head.

CONNOLLY By L i a m M a c G a b h a n n

T H E man was all shot th rough that came today into the prison square;

A soldier 1 - I am not proud to say We killed him there. They brought him f rom the prison hospital. To see him in that chair I thought his smile would f a r more quickly .call

a man to prayer .

Maybe we cannot unders tand this thing that makes these rebels die; And yet all things love f r eedom and the spring Clear in the sky! 1 think I would not do this deed again For all that I hold by; Gaze down my rifle at his breast - but then, A soldier I.

They say tha t he was kindly - different too, Apart f rom all the rest; A lover of the poor, and all shot through, His wounds ill dressed, H e came before us, faced us like a man, Who knew a deeper pain Than blows or bullets - e re the world began; Died he in vain?

Ready, Present! And he jus t smiling - God! I felt my rifle shake. His wounds were opened out - and round tha t chair Was one red lake; I swear his lips said: " F i r e ! " when all was still , Before my rifle spat That carsed lead - and 1 was picked to kill A man like that .

u

f

July 1986 IRISH DEMOCRAT Page Seven

irgeyou to buy it to do the samel

excitini and tel

Peter Mulligan's peep show THATCHER — FITZGERALD

PACT TAKEN APART Fooled Again? The Anglo-

Irish Agreement and After, by Anthony Coughlan. The Mercier Press. 88 pp. £4.95.

EMPIRE O F T H E M I N D - "Six foot four Sergeant 'Tiny' G * t * r * r , D C M , was perhaps the bravest man his Colonel ever knew. But now, after seeing service in Aden, after being booby-trapped and ambushed in Northern Ireland, Sergeant 'Tiny' cannot bear to turn a corner. For fear of what is on the other side." Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society.

P R I C E O F E M P I R E — A Brit ish a r m y m a j o r a n d t w o o f f i ce r s of the Royal Uls te r C o n s t a b u l a r y were killed b y a l a n d m i n e nea r Cros smag len . Since 1969 when a d d i t i o n a l " p e a c e k e e p i n g " t roops were sent in , ove r 466 British soldiers have been killed d e f e n d i n g this f a g e n d of empi re . A to ta l of 151 R o y a l Uls ter C o n s t a b u l a r y of f icers a n d 80 reservists , as well a s 1,225 civil ians h a v e been killed.

T H E T O R Y S T A T E — As u n e m p l o y m e n t con t inues t o rise the police a r m themselves f o r ba t t l e . T h e off icial job less ra te s t a n d s a t 13.7 per cent o r 3.3 mil l ion regis tered. An ex t ra 3,500 a re to be laid off by Brit ish S h i p b u i l d e r s a n d B r i t i s h C a l e d o n i a n Ai rways are to lay off 1,000. British Rail a re to cu t 4 ,000 j o b s next m o n t h . Howeve r , t h e Tor ies have c la imed a v ic tory by, a n n o u n c i n g t h a t the n u m b e r j r f Br i tons w h o o w n sha re s roft d o u b l e d to 14 per cent .

T H E T O R Y / U N I O N I S T STATE - Nearly 2,000 extra have joined the ranks of the unemployed in Northern Ireland making a total of 126,189 people jobless or 22 per cent. The nationalists areas are the worst hit. Cookstown 47.7 per cent, Newry 33 per cent, Enniskillen 27 per cent. Followed b y Derry, Magherfelt and Dungannon with an average of 30 per cent. Unemployment in the North has risen by 10,000 during the last year. Meanwhile U D R and R U C , auxiliaries hold down two jobs. " T H E BRITISH G O V E R N -M E N T h a s o p p r e s s e d a n d d e g r a d e d o u r people , set t h e m a t each o t h e r ' s t h roa t s , o f f e r ed the P ro t e s t an t s of N o r t h e r n smal l gifts a n d the Ca tho l i c s k icks , bu t by d o i n g these things con t ro l l ed t hem b o t h . It ha s been a n u n j u s t regime a n d if it ceased t o b e s o it wou ld cease t o ru le . " — F r o m " A n E n d to Si lence", by F r D e s m o n d Wi l son .

D I S S I D E N T C O N T R O L - The state is preparing to react to civil opposition. O f the 43 police forces in the country 14 have purchased a large stock of plastic bullets and 32 forces hold stocks of C S gas cannisters. The Home Secretary Mr D . Hurd said arms can now be ordered from the central store without the permission of die local po l i ce a u t h o r i t y . " T h e new arrangements for the provision of this equipment ensures that all chief officers with a requirement f o r plastic bullets and C S equipment will be able to obtain supplies," In his speech Mr Curtis, Chairman of the Police Federation, said that, "all police could be armed by the end of the century if present trends continue. Firearms now played a very significant role with ID per cent of all off icers trained to ««• them - "Guardian".

PRESUMABLY most of the real democrats in Britain, as distinct from the lip-servers, are to be found in the Trades Union and Labour movement and in organisations such as the CND. Activists in these fields of struggle are resisting onslaughts from Govern-ment and big business to restrict the democratic rights of citizens to organise, assemble and demonstrate against laws and policies with which they disagree. So far the authorities have contained this challenge to their methods of ruling by dealing with each manifestation of resistance as a separate issue be it Trade Union, CND, racial disturbance or whatever. The ruling class always has the fear that these disparate elements of dissatisfaction could coalesce into a mass movement demanding a more

<e*Rocratic society than exists at this ' present time.

This, in fact, is what happened in that part of Ireland which is under British rule when the mass movement of the Civil Rights Campaign upset Britain's undemocratic system there. Seventeen years later we see that the British government has not been able as yet to deal with the consequences or control the situation which arose from that mass movement. Anthony Coughlan deals competently with these issues and problems in his book on the Anglo-Irish Agreement. But let no British democrat be under the illusion that this is just another addition to the plethora of books that have poured f rom the printing presses on the perennial "Irish Question". It is an important statement to the Irish but it could be even more worthwhile to those British democrats who would read and think about it.

"The Life and Times of James Connolly" by C. D. Greaves was published in 1961. At that time the struggle for democracy and Irish independence was at a very low ebb. In the final chapter of his book the author referred to Karl Marx's opinion that the Irish Question was vital to the class struggle in Britain and he wrote " I n 1919-1921 Irish resistance rocked the whole British system, the prospect of a junction between the democratic forces of the two countries filling British reaction with terror. There may even now be more content in Marx's principle than is widely believed." One of the conclusions that could be drawn from Coughlan's analysis of the Anglo-Irish Agreement is that conditions are now maturing where there could be a junction of democratic forces on both sides of the Irish Sea. This solidarity could come about because the system of transnational capital is increasingly w h i t t l i n g a w a y the p e o p l e ' s democratic rights and the sovereign lights of nations.

Anthony Coughlan is chairman of the Irish Sovereignty Movement. His outlook is based on his conviction that the modern state is neoessary to defend democracy against the dictatorship of transnational capital. He pats it thus "the nation state.

w h a t e v e r i ts l i m i t a t i o n s and problems, is the only possible locus of political democracy in the modern world. It is the nation state alone which can impose controls on capital in the social interest. Not only socialists, but enlightened capitalists, see the need for such controls. Yet the whole thrust of the EEC is to abolish them for transnational firms, most of which are run from a handful of big companies and see the nation states, where there subsidiaries operate, and the attachment of their peoples to national sovereignty as the principle obstacle of the unimpeded search for maximum growth and profit ."

It is this ability of the author to focus current Irish politics (and Britain's role in them) within the context of a world-wide view that makes this book an exceptional contribution to help vs to understand the ex t r ao rd ina ry in teres t and involvement of powerful external forces in the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Gone now are the days when the British could present the conflict in the Six Counties of north-east Ireland as a mere parochial squabble between Protestant and Catholic tribes with their Government as the fair-minded referee. In the chapter titled "The Snow Job" we have a graphic d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e e n o r m o u s brouhaha publicity campaign which was mounted to sell the Agreement to the world. It involved all the EEC and NATO countries and with the USA playing a leading role. To a large extent this role was carried out through USA funded organisations.

Coughian cites the following bodies — the Bilderberg group, the Trilateral Commission, the Endowment for Deomcracy, the National Democratic Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies. Of

W'^ifpfe

THE LIVELY THIRTIES

Memories of The Republican Congress. By Patrick Byrne, published by The Connolly Association. Price £1.00,16 pp.

A REAL gem of a new pamphlet is MEMORIES O F THE REPUB-LICAN CONGRESS by Patrick B y r n e ( f r o m F o u r P r o v i n c e s Bookshop, 244/246 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8JR). Price: £1.00, or £1.20 post free.

Paddy Byrne, a Dublin man, who was Joint Secretary of the Republican Congress with Frank Ryan, tells in gripping words the whole background — the world slump, the desperate social conditions, the annuities agitation, the rising threat of fascism, the demand for the Republicans to join with socialists to unite the whole of the Irish people, south and north, against it.

He tells not only of the moves and the people at the top, but of the activity at the bottom, in the slum tenements and mean streets of Dublin, with bricks flying and guns ready at hand; of Frank Ryan, Peadar O'Donnell, George Gilmore, Cora Hughes, of barricading Connolly House and escape over roofs when it was burnt down, of the Belfast protestants barred f rom carrying their b a n n e r t o T o n e ' s g r a v e a t Bodenstown, of the recruiting for the International Brigade, the collection for the food ship, of the IRA's blindness to the chances open to them if they had joined the movement.

Peadar O'Donnell is dead this year, George Gilmore last year. Thanks be to goodness that Paddy Byrne is still alive, flourishing and able to write

course these groups, as elsewhere in the world, also interfere in British internal politics. This increasing dependence and loss of sovereignty by Britain to the USA is a particular feature to be noticed in the prioi negotiations to the Anglo-Irish treaty.

It is well-known that knowledge of Irish histoiy and politics within the Trades Union and Labour movement in Britain is not of a very high order. In this book Anthony Coughlan takes each political party and gives its reaction to the Agreement. In discussing this he relates the class position of these parties to Irish society. He is particularly perceptive on the Labour movement. Thus apart from the immediate issue of the

ANGLO-IRISH AGREEMENT ANALYSED

Treaty the reader is given a definitive and useful picture of the trends in current Irish politics. The author's style is trenchant and earthy, indicative of the fact that he himself is right in there in the middle of the struggle he is describing. His justifiably satirical comments on the banal excesses of sectarian politicians and the slavishness of the hack media are at once sharp and entertaining. " F o o l e d Again?' was written immediately after the signing of the A n g l o - I r i s h A g r e e m e n t l a s t November. So far the events and consequences that have arisen out of that treaty over the past eight months indicate that the author's analysis of the situation is true and valid.

S. O D.

The Struggle for Freedom on Picture Post Cards

John Bull's Famous Circus. By John KUlen. Published by The O'Brien Press. Price £11.95. pp 160.

THIS is a remarkable collection of picture postcards with a brief history of events which inspired the pictures, from 1905 to 1985. About half the cards were photographs and the other half the work of artists. The book was inspired by an exhibition of Ulster postcards held in the Linen Hall Library in June 1979. The term Ulster is misleading as many of the cards were produced in Dublin and in cities in England as well as in Belfast. The majority of the cards are about the rival claims of Unionists, Home Rulers, and Republicans.

The pro-unionists material tends on the whole to originate from commerical firms in Belfast -and England. The Home Rale cards have a commercial connection while the republican cards tend to come from amateur political groups both republican and some come from socialist and labour groups in

E « t l e of the book is misleading until you discover that it comes from a card designed by Robert Lynd - a Belfast artist and writer who was sympathetic to republicanism. He wrote a book on Irish nationalism.

The Dungannon Club founded by Buhner Hobson published a number of cartoons by the Morrow brothers exposing the smugness and hypocrisy of England's colonial tradition. At first they appeared In the Club's newspaper, The Republic and later as picture postcards. A good example is the "Stranger in the House". The fat, gross figure in the chair is John Bull. He is occupying a seat uninvited in the home of poor widow (Ireland).

There are picture photo cards about every phase of the carters and dockers strike In 1907, Belfast. These pictures include one of the leader of the Police mutiny and one of the funeral of the catholics killed by troops in the Falls Road. The photographs are of very good quality. Most were published commercially. The one of Larldn on his own was anonymous, obviously by someone who greatly admired him.

The mischievious humour, which was always more to the fore in nationalist propaganda, is particularly evident in the work of Donald McGiU. One of his cartoons shows that an Orangeman under Home Rule has been transformed into a seller of organges. One feels that this is a much more sensible activity than ranting and raving about "Home Rule". McGill later became famous for his saucy seaside postcards, still on display in English seaside resorts.

Another very talented artist who contributed to the cards was John P. Campbell, brother of the poet, Joseph Campell. One of the best is "Devolution Pie." The one labelled 'The Wild Geese" by Robert Lynd showed that Irishmen who attended the British parliament in 1907 were not held in very high regard.

The was little publicity material of the postcard type produced by either side between 1912 and tfie late 1960's. Most of the picture cards and other publicity material beginning in the late sixties are nationalist or republican in origin.

Of outstanding merit were photo cards. "Sensory Deprivation, Palace Barracks, Belfast" published by Peter Kennard is a set of six photographs using the technique of photo-montage. The work of free-lance woman photographer Spengler is shown. The trigger happy soldiers and the smiling children appear close together. The shock to the viewer is caused by the reality. The famous surrealist "mouth" and "ear" owes much to Dali. The "ear" in Britain with the cork struck in it is very effective in showing the complacency of many in Britain to what is happening in north-east Ireland.

Of the later cards, the prize for humour goes to the one where about 25 youngsters have overturned a van and the caption, the reverse side of the card reads: "Afternoon class in motor maintenance: Week 3 - "The Exhaust System".

Taking into account the amount of artistic and photographic material in the book £11.95 is a very reasonable price to pay for such an interesting

'collection. C . C

I your friends P.B.

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Page Eight

Festive! > go leor

T H E R E must be more Irish activity in Britain than ever in history, though the misfortune is that u has come a generation too late. Thirty years ago when the emigrants came swarming into Manchester and Birmingham the Irish could have become a formidable political force for progress, but the British left were blind to their potentialities and now their children try to make up foi their loss with cultural activities.

And good on them, too. Pictured here is the Mayor ol

Bolton opening what proved to be a most successful event inglorious summer weather. Tribute was paid lo the dedicated work ol organiser .loc Mullarky (right). Mr Donall MacAnihlaigh gave a lecture on Patrick McGill.

LONDON is almost crowded out with festivals. The Connolly Association "Connol ly fes t iva l" began with a concert in south London where the star attraction was singer Nick Gaughan from Glasgow, a member of the Association.

A week later there was a musical and d ramat ic representa-tion of the life of James Connolly, directed by Leitrim-born Doris Daly to a script written by Patrick B o n d , p r o d u c e d by P a u l Gilhooly. Alex Parrel played Connolly, Sarah Mahon his wife, Lillie, and o ther performers included Dennis O'Dwyer as Padraig Pearse and Terry O'Brien stepping in at the last moment . Stage direction was bv Tone Daly. A r e p e a t p e r f o r m a n c e .is promised.

A series of lectures on the significance of Connolly today was arranged, with John H o f f m a n in West L o n d o n , A n t h o n y Coughlan in Breni (with Tom Durkin, president of local Trades Council) in the chair) and Desmond Greaves in Hackney.

On June 22nd. Mr Chris Maguire organised the second annual commemora t ion of the great Irish chartist Bronterre O'Brien. The proceedings were opened by the Mayor , Councillor J im Holland, and the oration was given by Desmond Greaves. O t h e r s p e a k e r s i n c l u d e d Councillor Gery Lawless who has been active with Chris Maguire in planning the commemora t ion and r e n o v a t i n g t h e m e m o r i a l gravestone, local MP Ernie Roberts and historian Stan Shipley who has unearthed records of an O'Brienite pantiso-cracy in the state of Kansas, USA. Among those present were Messrs Andy Higgins. Peter Walsh, Jack Kennedy, and Patrick Bond.

1 AMONG for thcoming events Irish people will be interested in ihe 50th anniversary commemo-rat ion of the Spanish civil war , to be held from August 9th to 15th at Wedgwood Memorial College, Barlaston, near Stoke-on-Trent .

This takes the form of a W E A s u m m e r s c h o o l , a n d t h e programme includes a visit to the nat ional garden festival. Tutors i n c l u d e Mr Bill A l e x a n d e r , c o m m a n d e r of t h e B r i t i s h Battalion of the International Brigade, and Dave G o o d m a n , an International Brigader who was captured with Frank Ryan. The Irish contribution will not be forgot ten. . Details can be obtained f r o m . t h e S e c r e t a r y , W e d g w o o d Memorial College, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, telephone 078-139-2105.

IRISH DEMOCRAT July 1986

HEARING THE THERE is an old story lhai runs something like this: clergyman meets a down-at-heel tramp one snowy winter's day; tramp taps clergyman for the price of a feed and in distaste clergyman asks tramp, "My good man don't you wish you could hear the word of God?" To which tramp replies, "1 wish to God 1 could hear the cuckoo!"

The settled and the itinerant communities (or individuals) have always stood in a peculiar relationship to each other. The Jootloose tramp may be despised by the settled community but he (or she) is also secretly envied; rank and possessions can a prison make to paraphrase the poet and though it is indisputably a very desirable commodity, money is no guarantor of happiness - if it was then all the monied people would be leaping about ecstatically all day and every day, would they not?But as anyone who has ever come across them, especially in a menial capacity, will know, monied folk can be the most miserable buggers alive. A friend of mine is engaged in an enterprise that brings him in touch with a wide range of monied people, from the very rich by most standards to the rich enough - he builds swimming pools and since the cheapest of these sets you back something in the region of ten grand then it may

By DONALL MacAMHLAIGH

well be imagined that a lot of the folk for whom he instals these little luxuries have lots of bread indeed. Some of them as the famed Damon Runyon might have put it, have all the bread in the world with just enough left over tofeed the starving millions in Africa or where have you . . .

Now me man is something of an amateur philosopher (his professionalism is admittedly confined to his swimming pools) and he tells me that it almost a sure cert (his words!) that the richer the man the more miserable and the more illiberal in his views. Some of the very rich, he tells me, can only be compared to an extraordinarily grudging dog with a bone - they seem to think that there is a wide world of scroungers out there, totally dedicated to getting all they can for nothing and succeeding, too. All their money, in short, hasn't contributed much to their happiness and with all the recent hysteria about the hippies I wonder if the rich don't secretly envy the merry band of 'brigands' most of whom, for all the alleged squalor of their living conditions, seem happier than the rich.

Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Poulson, opening the 3rd Annual Irish Festival, with Jim King (IBRG) and Irish Cultural

Attache Justin Hirman.

LATE NEWS AND COMMENT T H E Irish electorate by a three to two majority in a 50% poll rejected the coalition proposal to introduce divorce into Ireland.

It was an open secret that this was part of the Bilderberg plot (Fitzgerald and Thatcher met at Gleneagles) to "Europeanise" Ireland as quickly as possible. Fitzgerald cared nothing for the unfor tunate people who found themselves in "holy deadlock," but was anxious to follow up with a referendum deleting articles two and three of the consti tution, thus giving up the last claim to the six. counties, the basis of Irish' neutrality. |

If divorce had been introduced as par t of a na t ional resurgence people would have voted for it. As par t of a react ionary anti-national

sell-out people refused. Nothing that came f rom Fitzgerald could be good. And as for the talk that the Unionists wouldn ' t come into a United Ireland without it, if they had come in and voted in this referendum they would have carried the day. The Unionists themselves prevented divorce and then moaned about it.

* » *

T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l B r i g a d e Association announce a ceremony by the memorial in Jubilee Gardens , London, at 12 noon on July 19th' to commemora t e to Spanish Civil War.

* i/jf;*' * * At the memorial meeting to the

Labour veteran Robin Page Amot , the Connolly Association was represented by Miss Jane Tate.

The full power of state and wealth would seem to be drawn up against the hippies as indeed it was against the miners during their heroic strike, but the depressing thing is that it is not just the landowners or even the unfortunate small farmers like Leslie Atwell whose hay crop was ruined by the itinerants who are so vocal in condemnation of the 'brigands' -ordinary working men, too, with nothing between them and penury but a precariously-held job seem to be venting their outrage on the hippies. I work for a smallfirm and my fellow workers, as men of little substance (materially I mean - they are fine blokes in many ways!) might be thought to be fairly neutral - if not slightly supportive -as regards the hippies. But not a bit of it, quite the reverse in fact: they are as one in condemning them and in believing that they should be subjected to a variety of punishments ranging in severity from castration or imprisonment to withholding of whatever social security benefits they enjoy. The illiberality of so many working folk is something that has depressed me for long - you can accept it and expect it from the rich - but when bricklayers and labourers who themselves could become unemployed and near- _ any moment the way thingfare today, regularly give vent to sentiments that would not have been out of place in a Hitler youth camp you begin to realise how successful the British establishment and media have been in fostering and perpetuating intolerance. It would be so refreshing to hear just one voice occasionally say, apropos the hippies or any other such non-conforming group, "Aw, leave the poor bastards alone!"

UP THE FALLS! A recent BBC 2 (or was it

Channel 4?) programme about the people of the Falls Road in Belfast set me thinking about cultural values. The Falls like most working class areas would seem to have been a model of neighbourliness and friendliness until the present conflict in Northern Ireland did much to make people withdraw into themselves. The Falls, its inhabitants seem to agree, is still a friendlier place than most but it was the interest in their cultural identity that struck me in the course of the programme, so many people taking the trouble to learn Irish in order that they might be able to appreciate what true Irishness is. One man made the point that without the Irish language you could not even understand the origins of your local place names ... the Falls Road, he mused-there are no fa lis anywhere near the place as the name might lead one to think; it is of course merely a corruption of the original meaningful Irish name "Bothar na bhFdl, the Road of the Hedges. There are myriad examples of this sort of thing -Killamcy is meaningless as i f stands though it has universally supplanted the meaningful, original-. Gil Airne, the Church of the Sloe Bushes. But of course a knowledge

of Irish opens up all sorts of avenues of understanding to us and the people of the Falls, attending their Irish classes three times a week seemed to understand this very well. Those attending the classes, you gathered, would give an awful lot to be fully conversant with the Gaeilge as indeed I know would a lot of people all over Ireland.

But there are an awful lot of the Irish, too, who wouldn't give a dud penny for their ancestral language - who are actively and sometimes bitterly opposed to it, infact! There are young fathers and mothersin all the Gaeltacht areas, native Irish speakers themselves, who are not speaking Irish to their children anymore. Why, you may ask: is it because they are anti-national, would it even possibly be because they would like to be back in the UK as an integral part of a British family of nations (a status which 1 feel would instinctively appeal to some members of Dail Eireann as long as they still held their seats, that it is!)... No, I don't think it's that at all, in fact I am sure that those native Irish speakers who are failing to pass along their heritage to their families are in the main totally disinterested in politics; 1 think it is a combination of things, the obvious contradiction between a stated policy of support for the language and the pathetic record of successive governments - all that and an understandable feeling that

in the 26 qovnty Irish Republic we have today; there is, too, the total immersion in non-Irish culture beamed into every Irish home now in Gaeltacht and Galltacht. There is no longer even the excuse that native Irish speakers must arm themselves with a knowledge of English (which seems to imply losing their Irish) - no one in any part of Ireland today can fail to be conversant with the English tongue and there is no reason at all why everyone in the Gaeltacht should not be fully conversant with both languages.

So why are people in places like the Falls Road striving to learn what others in an independent Irish state are only too willing to throw away? Is it just a reaction against occupation, against the hostility of Unionists? If we had a 32 county republic in Ireland tomorrow and there was no longer any discrimination in any part of the country (there still is in the Republic, against Irish and Irish speakers) against the Gaeilge would the 'language enthusiasts' of the Six Counties gradually cool in their ardour as so many in the 26 have done?

The Irish Democrat is not the proper place, I know, for the dissemination of pessimistic views but I sometimes can't help feeling that Sedn 6 Faoldin was right many years ago when he said that Irish independence had come a couple of hundred years too late for it to achieve that fulfilment it might then have been capable of, had it come earlier.

Donall Mac Amhlaigh

Printed by Ripley Printers Ltd (TU), Nottingham Road, Ripley, Derbys, and published by Connolly Publi-cations Ltd, 244 Grays Inn Road, London WC1. Telephone: 01-833-3022.