ARMAGH REPUBLICANS DEFY BAN ON

DEMOCRAT No. 285 MAY 1968

BARNES & MCCORMACK REMAINS BEING SOUGHT

Committee demands repatriation

y^ BARNES and McCormack 1 Repatriation Committee has been formed in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, with the object of bringing the remains of the two executed Republicans home to Ireland.

J a m e s McCormack (29) and Peter B a r n e s (32), of Banaghe r were h a n g e d a t Winson Green Prison, B i rmingham, on February 7th, 1940, h a v i n g been wrongfully found guil ty of causing a n explosion in Covent ry in which five people lost t he i r lives. They both testified on o a t h a t their trial t h a t they were n o t gui l ty of the charges. Peter B a r n e s protested his innocence to t h e l a s t with these words: "As I a m going before my God and as I a m condemned to death , I must say I a m innocent . Later , I am sure, it will come out t h a t I had nei ther h a n d , a c t nor pa r t i n it."

J i m a q r McCOrmacIc, in his letter t o s is ter i n Miillttigar, wrote: " . . . T h a n k God J a m prepared, a s I know I a m dying in a just cause . I shall walk out in the morn-ing smiling, as I shall be thinking of m y God and of t he good men who went before me in the same cause ." He had known from the beg inn ing t h a t he would be con-demned , in the near hysterical at-mosphe re of the t ime.

T h e families of these two brave m e n h a v e now decided it is time to b r ing their remains home. Hence t h e se t t ing up of t he Committee, which intends to organise sup-po r t i ng committees wherever sym-pa the t i c people can be got to rise t o t h e occasion and help in this work.

Interested persons are asked to contact the secretary. Mrs. Kathleen Monyihan, Oliver P lunket t Street, Mullingar, and dona t ions to help the work will be gratefully re-

ceived.

EASTER MARCH Many arrests next day PROTEST AGAINST STORMONT TYRANNY

^ N V E R four hundred people defied a Stormont ban on the traditional parade in Armagh City

^ on Eastsr Sunday.

The ban had been imposed bccause of a threat by the notorious Mr. Ian Paisley to hold a

counter-demonstration. The authoritities then banned the Republican demonstration under the Public

Order Act of 1951.

SPECIAL ISSUE TWELVE PAGES I/-

commemorating

1868 James GonnoUg 1968

Argentine city honours Ireland

T I 7 H E N St. Patr ick 's Day falls " on a Sunday all the Irish

groups throughout Argentina or-ganise pilgrimages to the city of L u j a n , forty-five miles f rom Buenos Aires.

I n honour of the occasion this year the Lord Mayor of the City of L u j a n has decreed t h a t a square in t he city shall be named Repub-lica de Ir landa.

T h e decree s ta ted t h a t the square was being re-named in view of t he valuable contribution made to the economic life of Argentine by the I r i sh community. T h e Irish Am-bassador was present a t the re-n a m i n g .

I )r orders from the police that the procession was proclaimed, local Republ icans and National is ts formed up, among them the Na-tionalist M.P. Mr. Edward Richard-son.

PEACEFUL The prbcession was quiet, peace-

ful, orderly bu t determined. Mr. R ichardson said; "We a re no t

going to be t rampled on any longer by the author i t ies ."

D«spite the fac t that the re was no dis turbance, next morning t h e R.U.C. were available in force to create one.

Detachments ' moved th rough t he surrounding countryside equipped

. with a r m o u r e d -cars a n d - t h » usua l

IN

James Connolly. An unusual picture taken in America shows the interplay of gravity and humour.

r v N Tuesday, March 16th, t h e Taoi -seach (Pr ime Minister) , Mr.

John Lynch, T.D., announced t h e appo in tments of Mr. Brian Lann i -han, T.D., a s Minister fo r Educa-tion, in suooaasion to t he l a t a Mr. Donogh O'Malley; of Mr. Mlolioal 0 Morain, T . D , a s Minister f o r J u s -tice; a n d of Mr. Patrick Fatr iknor, T.O., as Minister for Lands a n d t h e G a e i t a c h t

Mr. L e n n i h a n was born i n D u n -dalk in 1930. He was a Sena to r f r o m 1959 to 1961, a n d has been a m e m -ber of t he Dail (Irish House of Representat ives) since 1961. P r o m 1961-1964 h e was P a r l i a m e n t a r y Secretary to the Minis ter fo r Lands, a n d was Par l i amenta ry Sec-retary to t h e Minister f o r J u s t i c e for a shor t while before becoming Minister fo r Just ice in 1964.

Mr. 0 Morain was born in Castletoar in 1912. He h a s boon a member of t h e Dail sinoe 19SS. J l e was Minister for the Gae l taoht f r o m 1957 to 1959, a n d f rom 1989 to 1961 he was Minis ter for Lands. Ho has been Minister for Lands a n d t h e Gael taoht since 1961.

Mr. F a u l k n e r was born in 1930 in Dunleer, Co. Louth. He h a s been a member of the Dail s ince 1957 and has been Par l i amenta ry Sec-retary to t he Minister f o r L a n d s and the G a e i t a c h t since 1965.

parapherna l ia of oppression in the six counties. At crack of dawn they swooped on t h e homes of p rominen t Republicans a n d brought t h e m u p before a SDecial court in Armagh , charging t h e m with organis ing a public procession contrary to Sec-tion 2 of t h e Public Order Act.

Among those arrested were: Sea-mus Trainor , Hugh Trainor, Des-Reilly, L iam MacDonaugh, Wil l iam Reilly, L i a m MacDonough, C a t h a l MacQuaide, J a m e s Fields, Ma lachy MacMahon, Benedict Mart in , a n d Patrick McBride.

Only one m a n was remanded in custody. Ho was Daniel Olivor Mc-Call, a 18-year-old' lorry-driver, of First Avenue, Derrybog, Howry*

During the^ police swoop the re was massive Searching of houses.

The p a r a d e was notable f o r t he fact t h a t t h e I r ish tricolour was displayed prominent ly a t i t s head . There was no objection f r o m a n y of the onlookers.

The tr icolour was also ca r r i ed along t he Fal ls Road of Be l fas t where t he t radi t ional ceremony w a s carried ou t a t Milltown cemete ry , the oration being delivered by Mr . Cathal Gould ing of Dublin.

Central London Connolly Aaaoeia-tion sent a resolution of p r o t e s t t o the British Governor In Hor t l iorn Ireland, who on Thursday , April i t t h opened Civil Weak In

DEATH STRIKES ULSTER ROADS

r p H E Eas t e r holiday in t h e six counties was one of t h e black-

est on record. This i l lus t ra tes t he value of t h e

breath ana lyse r introduced a g a i n s t fierce opposi t ion f rom the m o t c c t n g interests, which halved t h e death roll on Br i t i sh roads.

Before Mrs. Castle l e f t t h e Ministry of T r a n s p o r t f o r a jol» where she will not shine so b r igh t ly , it is unders tood she told T e r e n c e CNeill to br ing in the b r e a t h tea t to the six counties.

Opposition to doing so a r i ses f r o m the fact t h a t t h e un ion i s t p a r t y la deeply Involved in the r o a d - b u M i n g and con t r ac t i ng industry i n Whbee favour it closed down mos t of t3h« railways.

T

Trafalgar Sq gyBNPM, U MM

PARADE LEAVES HYDE PAR James Connolly Centenary Rally

Speakers

J A M S MORTIMER ELIZABETH SINCLAIR MICHAEL

J. DEIGHAN, ROBERT ROSSITER Chairman: DE8MOND GREAVES

2 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT M a * 1 9 6 8

C.D.U. PLANS —

few debates go by without our trying some loop-hole. For example, when Government de-velopment g ran t s were de-bated, I proposed t h a t it should be a condition of such help that the firm concerned prac-tice ,no religious discrimina-tion—as Camden's Labour Council has in fac t done, set-ting a lead to the world. / '\N March 14th this year, I

asked the Pr ime Minister at Question Time whether he was aware t ha t the provisions of the Special Powers Act con-travene more t han half the United Nations provisions for Human Rights, and since H.M. Government are responsible for respresenting Northern Ireland at the U.N.. what as-surance had the Prime Minister

had that this Act would be re-pealed?"

Mr. Wilson replied tha t this question "was appropria te for discussion with t h e Northern Ireland Prime Minister in the talks he has wi th him f rom time to time."

IN the fu tu re we will seek to have the Ombudsman's

power extended to Ulster, and also have the new Race Rela-tions Bill ex tended to prohibit religious discr iminat ion and include Nor the rn Ireland.

So far the campaign has brought few results . But the Labour M.P.s will never stop the fight—and a heavy postbag of eloquent le t ters f rom Northern I r e l and shows t h a t our campaign is closely fol-lowed there.

by

Ben Whitaker, M P.

C.D.U. DISCUSSES PARTITION ACT

KEEPING IT UP AT WESTMINSTER T ABOUR M P s continue to

try every means to have injustices in Northern Ireland discussed in Parliament.

Stan Orme, M P., Paul Rose. M.P.. Kevin MacNamara, M.P.. Gerry Fitt , M.P. and myself let no chance go by to try to have wrongs righted.

After the murder in Belfast earlier in this Parliament I proposed t h a t we table a mo-tion protesting about the Ulster si tuation and calling for Government action.

LiHERE are absurd proce-• dural difficulties in our

path, which often lead to a mention of Ulster being ruled "out of order," whereas the Ulster Unionist JVl.P.s continue to speak on internal English affairs, and of course the British taxpayer continues to pay well over £170,000,000 a year towards the running costs of Northern Ireland without being able to have a voice in its internal affairs.

Nevertheless, with ingenuity.

wash her hands of what .she was responsible for.

This last object was the explana-tion for provisions in the Act estab-lishing the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and for the Convention which had been built up round the Act, since its working was not s t rong enough to achieve its object without. Why did those who drafted the Act not mention that it would need a Convention outside the law to back it up?

T h e answer is tha t they would never have been able to get it th rough.

The Act was, however, perfectly clear about one thing. The British Par l iament had power over every person or thing in the six occupied comities. T ) U T the Parl iament was not

allowed to exercise that power. I t voluntarily abstained from that, no mat ter what went on under the Stormont administration.

W h a t was the explanation? T h e reserve powers were intended

to be used if ever the nationalists came to power in the six counties. I t was not Lloyd George's intention to use it against his mates. Nor did it seem was it Harold Wilson's. He gave Terence O'Neill an occa-sional little, taiking-to. (we were led to believe. ^ '-

T h e speaker said he would like to see all the opposition parties in t he six counties joining forces in one anUaatonist f ron t . And if the Westminster Ctorarament then tr ied to use i ts powers to 'prevent t h e m from establishing prosperity, even if tills mean t union with the twenty-six counties, then we would reply: "You have had a convention of non-intervention as long as your f r i ends had power. We are not ' going to allow you to intervene now they have been kicked out."

RACE RELATIONS BILL, CAUTIOUS

N.C.C.I. WELCOME I TP HE National Committee for x Commonwealth immigrants welcomes the new Race Relations Bill in general terms, in particular t he fact tha t it extends to housing and employment as well as to pub-lic places. This extension they be-lieve to be essential if discrimina-tion is to be chicked. They are however c o n c e r n ^ t ha t the Bill may not operate as it is intended unless several changes are made. These are.—

(a) The Bill a t present permits the establishment o f racial quotas in employment.

(b> In the field of housing there is no provision enabling the Courts to give the victim of dis-crimination access to the property in question or an alternative one.

<c> There l s no provision enabling the Race Relations Board to call for-documents and obtain information.

'd) There Is no provision enab-ling aggrieved individuals to take their case to Court.

(e) The local conciliation com-mittees are not empowered to act until the machinery for industrial disputes, where it exists, has failed. By this time, at t i tudes are likely to h ive hardened T h e National Committee hopes

t h a t these and o ther points will be amended in committee

CONVENTION ON

CONVENTION r p H E Campa ign for Democracy in

Uls ter (Secretary Patrick Byrne) h a s announced t h a t it will shortly be sending out invitations to a conference on the subject of the Par l i amenta ry "convention" be-hind which the British Government she l te rs when refusing to discuss its responsibilities In t h e six coun-ties of nor th-eas tern ' I re land.

At i ts conference th is J anua ry it was decided to put this issue in the foref ront .

XHN THE CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION FILL m THIS FORM

Please send me full particulars of how I can jo in the Cwamolly Association.

Wame

Address

Oft out and p»st to 28J Grays Inn Road.

WHAT THE IRISH 1 DEMOCRAT HAS

DONE fcOR 31 years stood out fear- James Connolly's principle that the

le$»ly for AN IRISH RE- working class Is the most important / PUBLIC ONE AND INDIVI- C ,MS , n modern soototy.

SIBLE. Always advocated that the wsrfc-

0 , t T < U Ireland's right to s h o u l d uni t s and a l a n d Mut i t fMy in M a last war, a n d ' together, and n o t be afraid of fight-

; " T > d tka f r i U n n of Irishmen <"8 f*r the i r r i gh t s . ' WrengfuWy eensertpted. f _ Stood out cons tan t ly against ail

^ Dealt with thousands of com- forms of racial or religious dt«-of Injustloes oommitted crlmMsUon, colour bar or sen

a j a i m t Irish people living In equality, • r t t a i h .

«ooured the ra -opanln ; of t h e ftskguard rente to enaMe Ir ishman Ur travel home fo r the i r holidays in comfort a f t e r t h a t war.

it it it

I ED the oampaign for the release <* the Republican prtsawars

TWICE—in 1947 a n d again In 1M«. SriMsh politicians a t las t

aware of the shocking denials of democracy t ha t exist in t he six occupied counties of North-East Ireland.

Fought and defeated o a m p a i p i s of denigration waged against t h e Irish In Britain—for example, on the Issue of tubereuloeia.

Advocated programmes for be t te r living eomMtlone for Immigrant and migratory workers.

ft it it

CONDUCTED its work on behalf e l t * e Irish in the spirit ef

EDUCATED a generat ion of y o u n g c Irish exiles In the flght fo r t h e unity and Independence of our country.

Made the g r e a t Irish RepubNoan and 8«oialiet l e a d e n , such as Wot f e Tone, J ames OomtoHy, James La r -kin better unders tood and b e t t e r respected In Bri ta in than t h e * oould ever h a v e been otherwise, b y a oenflnual s t r e a m of spsotal pub-lications.

Made key aatfjora ef the Br i t i sh Labour and tracts onion movement treat Ireland a n d the Irish quest ion with s new seriousness.

Founded an Irish Bookshop a t 283 Grays Inn Road, London, W.O.1-

SURELY T H I S WORK IB WORTH A SHILLING A MONTH TO YOU.

T h e 1920 Aft was the first Act to contain the provision of parti-tion. al though a t t empts had been m a d e to smuggle this into the 1912 pact when Carson s tar ted his cam-pa ign of lawlessness. r p H E first aim of the 1920 Act

was to ensure the political par-t i t ion of Ireland, thus splitting the I r i sh people geographically.

T h e second aim was to start divi-sions among republicans as to whe the r the Act could be accepted or not, thus spli t t ing the Irish na t iona l movement politically.

T h e third aim was to get the I r i sh question out of British politics so t h a t Britain could pretend to

^ T E may have just lived through one of the great climacterics of history. In April 1968 the cohorts of world imperialism,

for some years mounting their ugly counter-offensive, received some sharp checks. And they were checks which appear to arise from a real shift in the balance of power in favour of the people.

T h e American people, educated to T h e negro people who watch tele-a new wisdom by adversity in Viet- vision a re assured every day in per-nam, indicated plainly t h a t the Pres iden t ' s war is no t to their liking. T h i s was what was meant by S e n a t o r Eugene MacCar thy ' s suc-cesses i n t he presidential primaries. His campa ign brought a new en-thus iasm into American- politics, aod t h e youth of t h e Left , no longer h id ing ine f fec tua l ly behind soruffy beatnikism, began to look for a more acceptable image.

"Keep clean, for t h e sake of Gene" way the cry, a s t h e ha i r and eccentrici ty came off. And behold the new American youth, a dynamo of power foi; progress.

t h e miserable Pres ident decided t » execu te a peace manoevre. Half lachrymose under t h e weight of his deefcrton. he announced h e would n o t g o u p a g a i n as Pres ident .

. T h e incredible oppor tunis t Ken-aetfy, possessor of a million-dollar personal political mach ine and con-fident t h a t this would smash t o pulp t h e puny effor ts of Mac-C f f l t h y s youngsters, r u shed to leap on t h e bandwagon—and b y all ac-oeunts t r ipped and s tumbled . At

of writing it is still versus MacCar thy . with

prowling abou t the Wings. And the grea t peace talks still fire.

TtJST a s the President was board-** tag h i s plane f o r Operation Decept ion in Honolulu, one of the anti-negro fanat ics m u r d e r e d Dr. Mft*$tt L u t h e r King. Hell broke loose. T h e un i ted S ta tes looked like having o n i ts own soil w h a t it was glr tog Vie tnam.

suasivp Jingles t h a t there are cer-t a in jew-jaws without which one cannot be one hundred per cent Amer ican The denizens of the slums asserted the i r r ight to one hundred per cent Americanism in the way they h a d been taught by the mass media.

Oh. The Governmental denuncia-tions of "violence". There mightn ' t have been any violence in Vietnam. And white people s tar ted saying "Excuse me" when they bumped Into negroes in t he subway.

And yet, who did the killing? Nobody to this day knows who killed President Kennedy, though it is clear tha t Johnson and the Ku Klux Klan got t he advantage of it. Had the same sinister forces a hand in the more recent murder? It is said so.

Everybody hopes t ha t the just and proper revolt of the negroes will find organisational forms which minimise the sacrifices tha t have to be made on the road to freedom. But the Important thing to see f rom across the Atlant ic is that they are determined to traverse tha t road. Great struggles do not go to a blueprint. T h e fact of revolt is the determining thing.

* * *

A ND then the s t ruggle spread to Germany. Self-confessedly in-

spired by the scandalous operation in Memphis, a hoodlum shot the leader of the Left-wing students in Berlin.

And what did the upshot reveal? I t revealed tha t ano ther of world

(Continued on Pace t igh t , Cot One)

Breton speaks

to Republicans U PEAKING to the Trinity Col-^ ' lege Dublin Republican Club, Mr. Alan Heussaff, general sec-retary of the Celtic League, told his audience t ha t t he French Gov-ernment was even more opposed to t he teaching of Breton history in

Ithe schools of Br i t tanny t h a n to t h e teaching of the Bre ton language.

The Breton people, he said, re-semble a man who has lost h i s

• memory. He could be manoeuvred around. He had lost his own per-sonality.

" In Brittanny," he went on. " the people do not know their history

' and tha t is what makes Bretons so weak. That is why they fail to s tand up for themselves. There is t he lack of a will to s tand together and defend their com-

Jmuni ty . - *• -

Mr. 8taf Van Velthoven, a - "Flemish • nationalist , said t h a t 'a l though language was the pre-•dominant reason for unrest in Bel-

g i u m there were social and econo-m i c reasons. Chairman, Ron

•Lindsay.

^ " H E R E was a good attendance and a lively discussion at

the London Committee of the Campaign for Democracy in Ulster, when Mr. Desmond Greaves, editor of the "Irish Democrat", read a paper on the origin, content and significance of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920.

Mr. Greaves pointed out t ha t this Act was t he fourth of a series be-ginning with G lads tones Home Rule Act, each one tak ing back a little of tvhat Gladstone had pro-mised.

WORLD COMMENTARY A climacteric of history

EDDIE LEN1HAN, R.I.P. (Obituary Page Ten)

May 1968 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 3

JAMES CONNOLLY AND SOUTH AFRICA J N 1916. when the Easter Rising

lock place in Dublin, two quite contradictory comments were made in The International, organ of the International Socialist League of South Africa. The first had little positive to say. but dog-matically asserted that socialism, not independence, was " the real issue"; and lamented tha t the "misled" workers had marched under t h e green instead cf the red flag.

It is clear tha t the writer was not fami l iar with the writings of Marx and Engels, in which they strongly favoured the cause of Irish independence and defended the Fenians—otherwise he would not have been so eager to assert the "orthodoxy" of his position. In fact he was merely reflecting the* in-correct, philistine positions taken by the Socialist Labour Part ies in

" L e t us p a y ou r h o m a g e to the g a l l a n t m a n w h o h a s fa l len , the first I r i s h patr iot to lay d o w n his lite in the w o r l d w i d e s t rugg l e for w o r k i n g - c l a s s e m a n c i p a t i o n , J a m e s C o n n o l l y . "

— " T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l " ( J o h a n n e s b u r g ( M a y 5th, 1916)

the United ytates and Britain at the time.

The second comment was far more original and profound. It spoke m glowing te rms of the heroism of the revolutionaries, the justice of their cause. I t wrath-fully condemned the savageness with which the imperialists sup-pressed the rising and executed its leaders.

J? V V

i r FHESE two viewpoints were characteristic of t h e ambiva-

lence which characterised the early years of the revolutionary move-ment in South Africa. T h e central issue in our country is, and always

by MICHAEL HARMEL

N.Z. EXILE HOME FOR CONNOLLY CENTENARY

from JIM SAVAGE, Cork City

BACftK

af te r in his native Cork half a century or so

is re t i red New Zealand Trade Union Official Mr. Gerald Griffin.

He will spend several months here a n d during a Continental tour in J u n e h e will represent the New Zealand Federation of Labour, which h a s a membership of some 350,000, a t Edinburgh for the cele-bra t ions honouring the centenary of J a m e s Connolly's birth.

He h a s been associated with the Labour movement in New Zealand all h i s life. After 10 years as a civil servant , in the Accounts Sec-tion of t h e Public Works Depart-ment , h e became secretary-orga-niser of the Wellington Branch of t he New Zealand, Civil . Service Association, which has 11,000 mem-bers, f r o m which position he has rtwsftly retired. His only son. Dr. Ji D. Griffin, is a marine biologist on t h e staff of Sydney University, Austral ia , and hopes to visit Cork next year.

Ge ra ld Griffin has never forgot-ten I re land and had his early les-sons in patriotism f rom his father, who w a s one of the first members of S i n n Fein, and was in fact pro-secuted for "sedition" when he signed a n appeal for f u n d s to aid the imprisoned editor of a Sinn FWn monthly called "The Green Bay." I n 1924 he pioneered the es tabl ishment of the I r i sh Republi-can Association in New Zealand and still treasures 3. let ter _he got f rom t h e late Donal Og ghan, Terence MacSwiney's cessor, in connection assoc ia t ion

A few years ago he drew the at-ten t ion of Ireland's National Library to the existence of original manuscr ip t s and material relating to t h e Young Irelanciers, in Hobart. This was photostated and is now available to Irish historical scholars. I t includes copies of the paper edited by Patrick O 'Donoghue, ex-convict and ticket of which was called Friend " In 1928 he started a hurl-ing club in Wellington and the first sanely of hurleys came out f rom CMtt o n e of his fellow Cork exiles thtre was the Cork Gaelic Leaguer Michael Doody, a personal f r iend of M t h T h o m a s MacCurta in and 1* renoe MacSwiney. Michael D t o d y took a keen in teres t in the M t t c l a t t o n and also in t he hurling cWI» fo r many years.

A F E W years before World War Two, Gerald Griffin figured in

a very interesting law case, in fact , h e m a d e a contribution of some im-por t ance to Austral ia 's constitu-t ional law. He was sent by New Zea land a s a delegate t o a con-fe rence in Melbourne agains t war and Fascism. Austral ia declared h tm a prohibited i m m i g r a n t af ter giving h im a qualifying tes t in t he m o d e r n E u r o p e a n language— DUtch.

T h i s was a device used to keep m t those whom Australia did not like. He later got into Australia by

Zealand, r he got

GCalla-suc-

with the

"illegal" means, however, and spoke at some meetings before giv-ing himself up voluntarily to test the constitutionality of his exclu-sion.

He was fined £1.000 and jailed by the Supreme Court of New South Wales, but the High Court of Aus-tralia quashed h'is conviction and his right of entry was established.

He recalls with some humour tha t a fellow "criminal" was the then European au thor Egon Irwin Kish. who was also given a langu-age test to keep h im out. In Kish's case the language was Scots Gaelic. This had an amazing finish. On appeal, the judges ruled that the test should be ignored, as in their view Scots Gaelic was not a modern European language.

T h e New Zealand Civil Service Association is the largest single workers' organisation in the coun-try a s it includes doctors, archi-tects, clerical staff, tradesmen, etc.-

MR. GRIFFIN h a s a library re-lating to Irish history and

politics of which many an institu-tion would be proud, and his collec-tion includes many . r a r e political pamphlets.

During his visit to Cork he delivered the oration a t t he Annual Tomas Mac Curta in Commemora-tion held by the Republ ican Move-ment, to mark the 48th anniversary of t he tragic dea th of Cork's Republican Mayor, on March 19th, 1920, to a gather ing of several hundred citizens outside the former Mac Curtain home in 40 Thomas Davis Street. He also marched with 200 Cork E.S.B. strikers through the principal streets of the city, in their protest demonstration behind a banner which bore the inscription: "EA.B. worker* wftl fight to the last man , and will not aooept dictatorship."

leave man, "Freedom's

has been, the national liberation of the grea t majori ty—the oppressed African and other non-white masses — from t h a t particularly vicious form of colonialism known to t he world as white domination or apar theid .

Those who sought to evade this reali ty by claiming the "real issue" is "socialism" were in fact victims of opportunism, cowardice or un-conscious white chauvinism. No country governed by foreigners ever has built or will build socialism; for people cannot build any sort of society unless they control their own country. I t was th is profound, if simple-seeming, t r u t h that was divined by the genius of James Connolly.

He showed in hi£ writings and in his life tha t there is no conflict be-tween socialist internationalism on the one hand, and the patriotic nat ional ism of an oppressed people on t h e other. No revolutionary in t he English-speaking world ex-plained this as clearly and put it into practice as passionately as Connolly. That is why his name and h is inspiration have become a banner in far-away South Africa.

it it it

¥ IBERATION was the name of a journal which played quite a

notable par t in South Africa. Like

all progressive journals, it has been silenced by the fascist terror since 1960. but during the 'fifties its fre-quent contributors included such re-doubtable names as Nelson Man-dela, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kath-rada. Moses Kotane, Duma Nokwe. Dan Tloome, Govan Mbeki — all now jailed or forced into unwilling" exile. I t s editorial of October 1955 was entitled "The Last Days of Em-pire" and dealt with the collapse of the imperialist colonial system in Asia and Africa. I t included the following passage:—

On Easter Monday, 1916. cer-tain remarkable events took place in Ireland, England's oldest colony. . . . A group of armed Irishmen, headed by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, marched in and took possession of the Dublin Post Office. The national flag was unfurled and Pearse read out a document pro-claiming the establishment of the Republic of Ireland. - I t was the signal for a general rising. . . . The rising was savagely and rapidly suppressed; but it was the writing on the wall for imperial-ism. a warning forerunner of t he tidal wave of nat ional liberation soon to sweep through the colonial world.

Freedom-loving South Africans will never forget t he name of the great James Connolly, the great Irish patriot and revolutionary socialist whose genius illuminated the problems of many other op-pressed peoples besides his own.

NEW Z E A L A N D LEARNS ABOUT

CONNOLLY '"j^HE Connolly Association of

New Zealand recently passed a resolution condemn-ing the F i a n n a Fail Govern-ment for the out rage of jailing thir ty pickets of the Elec-tricians t rade union during the recent dispute.

As well as taking a lively in-terest in affairs in Ireland it is spreading the teachings of James Connolly through the country, part icularly in this centenary year.

Secretary J ames O'Dea writes tha t "unfor tunately the Irish in New Zealand as a whole do not know much of Connolly."

Those who know most are the older Labour stalwarts among whom t h e r e are many Irish who remember the olden days. Likewise it is among the older generat ion of Irish t ha t memories are greenest.

Nevertheless the centenary has caused interest and a number of newspapers have approached t h e N.Z. Connolly Association to provide material for articles on Connolly.

There has been full employ-ment in New Zealand for 27 years and m a n y of the Irish own their own small busi-nesses. But t h e r e has been a recent spate of American take-overs and conditions are changing rapidly. People a re beginning to wake up.

Australian C.A. sends its greetings I N a message of greetings to

the Connolly Association in London, the Australian Con-nolly Association sends the m e s s a g e : '

"We will to foUowln« with great interact in tMs centen-a ry y w r <rf Hm Mrtti ef the noble James Connolly, the always Inspiring effort* of the ConmXIy Association in EMgta#f, Wales and Seot-lantf, to MftMt in removing the HiW fetters on Irish N a t i o n a l F r e e d o m . " Secretary Frank Kearney, an-

nouncing a combined concert and public meetlBg a t Unity Hall, Mel-bourne on Friday, May 31st, remarks t h a t "This ls as far a s we know the f i rs t public recognition of James CotttKflty fid Australia."

T h e Association recently com-bined with t h e Connolly Associa-t ion of New Zealand In protesting aga ins t the ant i - t rade union laws a n d practices now being operated i n t he twenty-six counties.

They marched with the League for a n Undivided Ireland on St.

Patr ick 's Day, and arranged to part icipate in t h e Easter week Commemoration a t Melbourne General Cemetery. They will a lso walk in the annua l May Day paTade.

it it it

MR KEARNEY tells us of h i s conclusion t h a t it is t ime

research was done on the inf luence of James Connolly in Australia.

So f a r all t h a t is known is that , a number of impor tan t figures i n t he Australian Labour movement used constantly to refer t o t h e Easter Rising and to say Connolly must never be forgotten.

Among these was M.P. Considine who represented Broken Hill a s a n Independent Socialist Member of Parliament. Like J o h n MacLeaa in Glasgow h e was a Soviet Consul in Australia in t he very early days. Another enthusiast ic admirer of Connolly was J. J. Holland. &LP. in t he Victorian Parliament. His remarkable l ibrary contained t h e works of Connolly. J im Berg in. Secretary of the Tramways Union concluded many a speech wi th "Cherish t he memory of t h e

Connolly art the United States "As long as I live 1 will have no

rest, only working, educating, organ-ising and fighting to destroy the forces that produce poverty. . . . "

I AMES CONNOLLY, Irish Pa-' ' triot, and citizen of the world, expressed the credo by which he lived and for which he was subsequently put to death, in the above words. The inter-relationship of man's world-wide struggle for economic, social and political emancipation is drama-tically demonstrated by the life of this man, whose basic think-ing had a far reaching influence on the struggles of working men and women to achieve self-real-isation on 'other continents, as wel l ! T.W.U. in particular, proudly acknowledges its spirit-ual debt to Connolly, laying spe-cial emphasis on his early and—

by GERALD O'REILLY

(Transport Workers' Union Local t«0, W.Y.C.)

at the period in which he lived— new and revolutionary concepts of industrial unionism.

With the expansion of the American economy in the 1800s, the opening of the minee and mills, the construction of waterways and rail-roads spanning t h e length and breadth of the continent, men of all races and nationalit ies compris-ing the American labour force, began to combine in organisations of self-defence agaihst the brutal exploitation of thetf labour power The first steps toward unionisation were made along craf t lines. Pr inters and shoemakers, carpenters and tailors, shipwrights and rail-road workers, began the still-con-

tinuing struggles for organisat ion in the face of blacklists, b lackjacks and bayonets and. In many in-stances. the gallows.

By the time J a m e s Connolly came to America (1903-1910). . c r a f t unionism was an established f ac t in the United States, based o n t h e impressive history and ear ly struggles of organisations like t h e Mtelly Magufres and the K n i g h t s of Labour, which made a t t empts to affiliate c ra f t unions on a na t ional scale.

* MAN of action as well a s a ^ profound thinker, Connolly h*d been busy organising t h e working men and women in I re land, England and Scotland, always see-ing the problems faced by any one craf t or industry as the problems of labour in general; Indeed as the struggle of exploited people any-where in the world. To a question put to him once on the lecture

(Continued on Back P»g»)

immortal Connolly." And we m u s t not forget t h e late J im Healy, secretary of t h e Waterside Wor- • kers' Union who sent many a f ive pound note t o ' t h e Association i n London, and J a m e s Coull, secretary of another t r a d e union. Both of these were outs tanding men:

Then there was t he late Michael O'Brien, Federal Secretary of t h e Australian R a i l w a y WUHcers' Union, whp was a contrilwtor t o the Irish Democrat for m a n y years.

it it it r p O faci l i tate t h e study of Con-

» nolly, a n d t o make avai lable his unique contribution t o a t t t l . imperialist w a i t e r s in AUHWlli^ the Association is building u p a reference l ibrary.

The Austral ian ConnoHy A&Mtto* tion believes t h a t it would h a v e been better if Connolly1* works ha«» • been more widely known d u r i n g the formative period of t h e Aus-tralian socialist movement. TMt* only pamphlet widely c i rcu la te* was Socialism Made Easy, w h i c k is a product of Connolly's syndic-alist period.

There was a certain fatalism which affected movement and derived m a i n l y from De Leon Connolly's c r i t ique of De Leon was no t widely' in Australia. I n its to years the Austra l ian Labour thinkers and Socialist groups for theoretical guidance o n Mann, the Bri t ish Syndical is t , Hyndman (who developed Urn years a dogmat ic form of M a r x -ism and t h e n turned chauVifilst and supported t h e first world w a r ) , De Leon and Th iu tman (of Mw I.W W. in Amertefc). ttc«i\ onwards t h e works of l l t l l ' precedence over those of radical left.

Mr. Kearney th inks tha t d i l i gen t study or Connolly's main work* would have saved the early Aus-tralian movement f r o m m u c b sterile thinking. At the same t i m e he believes t h a t there was a a overall intangible effWct of Con-nolly which i t is the duty of t h * present generat ion of research workers to come to grips with a n d give us the ful l story of t he inf lu-ence of Connolly in Australia.

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT May 1968

RIP-ROAR NOW WITH AN EASY CONSCIENCE! Q N August 3rd, 1967, the

"Guard ian" published a column h e a d e d : "Historians Cannot Spoil An Irish Cen-tenary."

I t did n o t p u r p o r t to be wr i t t en

by a h i s t o r i a n . I t s au thor was Mr.

Rober t B r o w n . I t s m a n n e r w a s

f ami l i a r e n o u g h ; i t was t h a t of t h e

m a s t e r r a c e condescending t o

no t ice t h e l e s se r breeds, a n d find-

ing t h e m s l i g h t l y amusing. B u t n o t

t h e wors t I e v e r saw f r o m a n Eng-

l i sh j o u r n a l i s t on a n I r i sh ques-

t ion.

T h e c e n t e n a r y of J a m e s Con-

nolly 's b i r t h w a s t o be t h e occa-

sion fo r "a p r o p e r pan-Cel t ic cele-

b ra t ion on b o t h s ides of t h e w a t e r . "

"As G l a s g o w and E d i n b u r g h T r a d e s C o u n c i l s see it," wrote Mr. Brown, " p r o m p t e d by las t yea r ' s Sco t t i sh T .U.C. Pres ident , Mr . A. Ki t son , G l a s g o w , Edinburgh , Bel-f a s t a n d D u b l i n Socialists, shou ld m a k e su re of a r ip- roar ing t r i b u t e t o Connolly. G l a s g o w fo r i n s t a n c e h a s in i t ia l t h o u g h t s of us ing t h e ci ty 's U n i t y T h e a t r e a n d o t h e r a r t i s t s f o r a n i g h t of rebel song a n d s to ry i n t h e h e a r t of t h e Gorbals , a p r o f o u n d l y I r i s h q u a r -t e r . "

But Mr. Brown was able to un-earth t h e s n a g s : H e looked u p two

impeccable n o n - I r i s h au tho r i t i e s , " t h e E n c y c l o p a e d i a B r i t a n n i c a a n d Chambers ' s , a n d f o u n d t h e y gave C o a n o O j f c b i r t h d a y taH70, a n d h i s b i r t h p l a c e a s M o n a g h a n . H e c o m m u n i c a t e d t h i s discovery t o Mr. Wypef O t t h e Glasgow Traders Counci l ana r eco rded t h a t , Mi* f V f t p e r was,, "j jfcart led^.by i t :

; T h * . a u t h o r i t i e s m u s t , be i m p e c -cable of course , b e i n g n o n - I r i s h . A n d M r ; B e o w n i s s t r e n g t h e n e d b y h i s j f t d g n l w i t o f I r i s h c h a r a c t e r . to a ' previous p a r a g r a p h h e s p e a k s of "c«relef«(,.Zrl8h ways."

T h e i m p i t e a t i o n i s clear. T h e care less I r i s h h a v e decided o n t h e i r r i p - r o a r i n g panrCel t ic r e v « t y tvyo yea r s b e f o r e t h e p r e f e r d a t e , b e c a m e t h e y h a v e b e e n t o o c a r e l e s s

j J4tfnilt i t t b impeccable n o n -I r i s h a u t h o r i t i e s , b u t i n a n y case , t b e y <*> n o t p r c t f b s e t o al low t h e s e a u t h o r i t i e s t o spo i l t h e f u n . " H o w vary I r i sh , " o n e c a n a lmos t h e a r Mr. B r o w n

c o m m e n t .

Connolly's birthday and the impeccable authorities'

By C. DESMOND GREAVES

wt.s t h e first Li fe of Connol ly ever wr i t t en . R y a n was in h i s ear ly twent ies .

I n t h i s book Connol ly 's b i r th -place is g iven a s n e a r Clones, a n d t h e d a t e i s g iven as J u n e 5th, 1870.

Y e a r s a f t e r w a r d s , a f t e r I h a d succeeded i n es tab l i sh ing t h e cor-r ec t d a t e , R y a n told m e h o w h e go t t h e w r o n g one. O n M a y 18th, 1951, h e w r o t e t o m e f r o m Swords :

" T h e L y n g p a r a g r a p h w a s wri t -t e n a s publ ic i ty f o r Connol ly ' s first U.S.A. S.L.P. t o u r i n 1902, e i t he r w h e n Connolly w e n t t h e r e or j u s t be fo re , before I t h i n k . . . H i s on ly c o m m e n t o n i t w a s a t e r se s a r c a s m about t h e d a t e of h i s b i r t h given a s 1870."*

H e a d d e d t h a t some of h i s con-t e m p o r a r i e s t h o u g h t t h e da t e m i g h t b e 1869.

As f o r t h e place, h e w r o t e :

" I t h i n k you h a v e m a d e your case f o r E d i n b u r g h conclusively enough . "

And, of course, R y a n was a his-to r i an .

T T was be fo re I h a d t h e idea of -1- wr i t ing a L i f e of Connol ly t h a t I w e n t t o E d i n b u r g h t o t r y a n d t r a c e h i s e a r l y connec t ions i n t h a t city. My o b j e c t w a s t o ge t m a t e r i a l f o r . a n a r t i c l e i n t h e I r i s h Demo-c ra t .

O t h e r s h a d m a d e t h e a t t e m p t before me . Wil l iam P a u l spen t days look ing t h r o u g h S c o t t i s h n e w s p a p e r s t r y i n g t o v e r i f y t h a t Connol ly w a s E d i n b u g h ' s first Soc-ia l is t c a n d i d a t e . H e d id n o t find t h e r e f e r e n c e because h e d i d n o t go f a r e n o u g h back.

Be fo re I l e f t f p r E d i n b u r g h I looked t h r o u g h t h e m a t e r i a l a t t h e M a r x R^emorial Library , C le rken-

*,well Green .

S o p e r h a p s i t i s i*> h a r m t o t e l l s to ry of h o w t h e i m p e c c a b l e

* « h o r i U e s w e r e proved w r o n g . Btot i d e a n o t e n t i t l e t h e a r t i c l e "New f a c t s c a n n o t spoil E n g l i s h Journa l i s t ' s complacency . " F o r w e d g p t t h i n k M r . B r o w n is r e a l l y a b f d fel low — b u t f o r h i s excess ively c a r e f u l ways.

•

" g t n W T , w h e r e did t h e -Encyc lo -p a e d i a s g e t t h e i r I n f o r m a t i o n

1? O b v i o u s l y f r o m D e s m o n d s h o r t l i f e <4 Connol ly p u b -

~ a b o u t 46 y e a r s *go. I h a v e a ; e q p y i n m y possess ion t h a t w a s g iven m e by S e a n O'Casey i n 1948 Of 1960.

%

R y a n to ld m e h o w h e c a m e t o w r i t e t h e book. T h e m a t e r i a l w a s col lected by h i s f a t h e r , W. P. R y a n , C h a i r m a n of t h e London G a e l i c League , a n d l a t e r Dubl in c o r r e s p o n -d e n t at t h e D a l l y Hera ld . A f t e r t h e

off t h e Ris ing , Black a n d 1 Civil W a r , Des-Hhad been d e v o t e d

| Hi. A nervous b r e a k -a n d h e h a d t o

o n t h e F r e e m a n ' s fo lded up .

over h i s m a t e r -comple te , i n

s o m e t h i n g A n d a good c o m -

o i t h e m . T h i s

T h e s e c r e t a r y was J o h n M o r g a n , a R u s s i a n i m m i g r a n t w h o h a d lived in S c o t l a n d a s a y o u n g m a n , a n d spoke w i t h a Sco t t i sh accen t , t h o u g h i n o t h e r ways h e w a s a t rue c o n t i n e n t a l , ' w i t h a g i f t f o r s h a r p e p i g r a m m a t i c c o m m e n t . H e could n o t s u f f e r fools.

He advised m e t o m a k e c o n t a c t wi th Len C o t t o n , s e c r e t a r y of t h e Socialist L a b o u r P a r t y . "Su re ly i t doesn ' t st i l l exis t ," sa id I i nc red -ulously. " I t does ," h e repl ied , " a n d h e is i t ."

This w a s ea r ly i n F e b r u a r y 1951.

T W E N T t o Glasgow w h e r e Bob Mc l lhone p l aced a flat a t m y

disposal n e a r t h e Mitchel l L ib ra ry . Snow fel l e a c h n i g h t a n d m e l t e d each day. T h e r e was l i t t l e a b o u t Connolly 's e a r l y l i fe t o be f o u n d in Glasgow.

I went t o E d i n b u r g h s o m e w h a t despondent .

T h e S e c r e t a r y of t h e T r a d e s Council, Mr . Lossen, showed m e t h e m i n u t e s f o r t h e ye a r s 1891-96. T h e r e were m a n y r e f e r ences t o a J . Connolly. B u t w a s - t h i s J a m e s or a bro ther? T h e Ci ty T r e a s u r e r took m e in to t h e Corpo ra t i on s t rong-room and we looked a t t h e Coun-cil minu tes f o r t h e s a m e period. Here it was ind ica ted t h a t a J o h n Connolly h a d been d ismissed for political r e a s o n s f o r h i s Job a s a carter . T h e r e w a s n o t h i n g abou t James . Yet R y a n h a d said clear ly t h a t J a m e s w a s dismissed.

Cot ton lived ou t a t E a s t Shiels. O n the E a s t coas t t h e w e a t h e r was d ry and in tense ly f ros ty . As I sped ou twards a n d u p w a r d s t h r o u g h t h e f ine count ry t h a t leads t o S o u t r a I wondered if t h i s was going to be a wild goose chase .

Cotton lived in thq g a t e h o u s e of wha t h a d been a m a g n i f i c e n t demesne, a n d still was indeed. H e was in his ea r ly seventies, a n d h a d preserved ca re fu l ly all t h e records of the 8.L P. W e looked t h r o u g h t he files of t he "Social is t ," bu t t h e r e was n o t h i n g about Connol ly ' s early life I ment ioned t h e dismis-

( 'Ac tua l ly t he p a r a g r a p h was s igned Deer ing a n d gave t h e da t e 1889.)

sal of J o h n Connolly a n d h e rep-l ied: " I never heard t h a t Connolly h a d a b ro the r . "

ON L Y t h a t morning I h a d missed a n oppor tuni ty to check this.

A m a n named M o n a g h a n , a p a i n t e r , c a m e into t h e T rades Counc i l office. "Here's a m a n who w a n t s t o know about J a m e s Con-nolly," s a id Lossen. " I m i n d h im," said M o n a g h a n . "Well c a n you tell u s a n y t h i n g about h im . " " I mind h i m . " A n d t h a t is all we got. L o s s e n suggested t h a t h e dis-a p p r o v e d of Connolly, r ega rd ing h i m a s someth ing of a f r e e th inke r . L a t e r I f o u n d the n a m e of Mona-g h a n a m o n g the list of a ssen to rs a t Conno l ly ' s election. I never f o u n d o u t if i t was t h e s a m e man.

C o t t o n s e n t me to G e d d e s a t B a r n t o n . He, also, expressed t he view t h a t Connolly h a d n o brother . I s u g g e s t e d t o the City T r e a s u r e r t h a t p e r h a p s the m i n u t e s were i n a c c u r a t e . Labourers m i g h t not h a v e b e e n very careful ly designa-ted by gen t lemen in t h o s e days. B u t h e r i g h t l y insisted t h a t we had n o right t o assume t h a t . I went b a c k t o Glasgow feel ing t h a t t he I r i s h D e m o c r a t was n o t going to ge t i t s a r t i c l e .

T H A D scarcely sa t d o w n when t h e r e w a s a knock a t t h e door.

I t w a s a te legram f r o m Geddes. Conno l ly h a d a brother. I m p o r t a n t c o n t a c t m a d e . Re turn to E d i n b u r g h a t once . I locked up t h e flat, got t h e k e y b a c k t o Bob M c l l h o n e , and took t h e n e x t t ra in back t o Edin-b u r g h .

T h e r e Geddes was w a i t i n g for me. " I w a n t you to m e e t a n old m a n w h o w a s a close f r i e n d of C o n n o l l y ' s b ro ther J o h n . I ' l l come wi th you , a s you may n o t under -

s t a n d h i s accent , or h e yours , n a m e is J o h n Conlon."

His

T I E l ived a t t h e very t o p of a 1 1 s p i r a l s t a i rcase l i t w i t h d i m g a s l i g h t s which h e sa id h a d been ins ta l l ed a s a resul t of o n e of J a m e s Connolly 's c a m p a i g n s . I could of course u n d e r s t a n d h i m qui te eas i ly and wonde red a b o u t Geddes ' hes i ta t ion . H e s p o k e a b o u t J o h n Connolly, who e n l i s t e d a n d wen t t o I n d i a unde r t h e n a m e of J o h n Re id , a n d abou t t h e S c o t t i s h L a n d a n d Labour L e a g u e " t h a t we all c a m e f r o m . " He e x p l a i n e d t h a t Leslie w a s a c o n t e m p o r a r y of J o h n Connol ly a n d closer t o h i m t h a n to J a m e s . H e descr ibed t h e ses-s ions t o s tudy Marx ' s C a p i t a l w h e n t h e Rev . J o h n Glasse t r a n s l a t e d f r o m t h e G e r m a n , a n d m a n y o t h e r even t s n o w long fo rgo t t en .

At a c e r t a i n poin t h e r e f e r r e d to " t h a t fellow t h a t c a m e h e r e years a g o ask ing a b o u t Conno l ly . " "Yoti n e v e r told h i m t h i s ? " sa id Geddes . " W e did no t . W e d i d n ' t like t h e look of h i m so w e to ld h i m n o t h i n g . " W h a t w a s t h e m a t t e r w i th h i m ? " " H e looked to me l ike a Labour f a k e r . "

So G e d d e s h a d gone w i t h m e t o a s s u r e Con lon t h a t I w a s n ' t a " L a b o u r f ake r . " W h e t h e r t h e sus-pec ted "Labour f a k e r " w a s o n e of t h e t w o u n f o r t u n a t e R y a n s or somebody else I did n o t d a r e t o ask. I h a v e my own op in ion .

S U D D E N L Y , ^ m a i n l y to

a f t e r s p e a k i n g Geddes , Con lon

l eaned f o r w a r d , all h i s d o u r n e s s e v a p o r a t e d a n d asked m e w i t h a b r i g h t t w i n k l e in h i s eye. " D i d you ever h e a r where J a m e s Conno l ly was b o r n ? " I replied t h a t some said Clones , o the r s Ba l lybay , b u t I p r e s u m e d i t was s o m e w h e r e

be tween t he two. i n t h e country . ' You never h e a r d it w a s Cork?" I h a d not . t h o u g h l a t e r I l ea rned t h a t a n E d i n b u r g h p a p e r (prob-ably p r o m p t e d by Les l i e who fo r r e a s o n s t h a t seemed good to h i m was doing a bit of mys t i f i ca t ion ) h a d g iven h i m a C o r k b i r thp lace .

C o n l o n t u rned t o Geddes . "He w a s b o r n in t h e Coog ' t . " Where? T h i s t i m e I needed a t r ans l a t ion . T h e Cowga te of E d i n b u r g h . I l e f t wi th G e d d e s a n d to ld h i m I d idn ' t bel ieve it. " I t will o n l y cost you t h r e e a n d six t o find o u t . " I h a d a s e a r c h m a d e a n d t h e b i r t h en t ry w a s f o u n d . L a t e r I w a s p e r m i t t e d t o e x a m i n e t h e o r ig ina l . T h e d a t e w a s J u n e 5th al l r i g h t , but t h e y e a r w a s 1868. A f t e r w a r d s Mr. H. A. Sco t t , a n old f r i e n d of J o h n Les l ie ' s w h o h a d b e e n in t roduced t o m e by Robin P a g e A r n o t w h o w r o t e t h e His to ry of t h e Br i t i sh Mine r s , searched t h e c e n s u s records f o r m e a n d e s t a b l i s h e d beyond a s h a d o w of doub t t h a t t h e en t ry r e f e r r e d t o t h e r i g h t m a n .

As R y a n wro t e t o m e : " T h e d o c u m e n t m u s t be g e n u i n e unless t h e r e w a s a mos t i n c r e d i b l e coin-c idence which seems a b s u r d . " I h a d p u b l i s h e d a f acs imi le i n t h e I r i sh D e m o c r a t of M a r c h 1951.

T A T E R I s t a r t e d r e a d i n g t h e ea r ly h is tory of t h e Scot t i sh

Socia l i s t m o v e m e n t m o r e sys temat -ically, a n d i n t h e B r i t i s h M u s e u m I c a m e across H . M . Lee ' s re fer -ence t o Connol ly ' s b i r t h i n Edin-b u r g h . T h i s h a d a p p a r e n t l y been missed by t h e i m p e c c a b l e au thor i -t ies, t h o u g h in f a i r n e s s t o them, it w a s n o t they t h e m s e l v e s but Mr. B r o w n w h o a d v a n c e d t h e c la im t o impeccabi l i ty on t h e i r beha l f .

T h e u p s h o t t h e r e f o r e i s t h a t t h e pan-Ce l t i c p a n d e m o n i u m c a n revel a n d r ip - roa r w i t h o u t f e a r i n g any r e s t r a i n t f r o m Mr. R o b e r t Brown 's c a r e f u l ways. And, t o s h o w there ' s no i l l-feeling. W h y doesn ' t Mr. B r o w n d r o p in a n d j o i n us?

T> AWSONS, Dundalk, w e r e liquidated by .the share-

holders the other month and T. and C. Martin's, Dublin, this month. Both could have kept going if the shareholders had wished, but they decided to cash their assets and put the workers on the dole.

I n b o t h cases t h e workers , some of t h e m h a d been w i th t h e i r firms f o r 40 years , h a d t o re ly on the s h a r e h o l d e r s ' generosi ty fo r any pens ions . I t was en t i r e ly up to

t he l a t t e r to lay as ide a p r o p o r t i o n of t h e a s se t s to f i nance s o m e com-p e n s a t i o n f o r employees.

S h a r e h o l d e r s ' generos i ty is a s lender reed t o l e a n on. I n t h e R a w s o n s case, p r e s su red by t h e G o v e r n m e n t a n d o u t r a g e d publ ic opinion, t h e y agreed t o p u t f ive pe r cent of t h e assets as ide t o compen-sate t h e workers—about £5,000. Some c o m p e n s a t i o n t h a t i s !

Now t h e t r a d e u n i o n s p o k e s m a n in D u n d a l k , where R a w s o n s h a d thei r f ac to ry , tel ls u s t h a t only £3,000 h a s been paid up, a n d t h e r e

Agreement with Poland \ TRADE agreement

X t w o Polish State with

Com-panies, Centromor and Rybex, of Warsaw, has been signed by

•Bord Iascaigh Mhara, the Irish f i s h e r i e s organisation. The Poles are giving I reland very favourable credit t e rms to enable Irish fishermen to pur-chase steel-hulled t rawlers , and they have a l s o committed themselves to providing educa-tional and technical assistance to the Irish fishing industry.

C e n t r o m o r , the Pol i sh company, also g u a r a n t e e s to give I r i s h ship-y a r d s f a v o u r a b l e c o n s i d e r a t i o n for sh ips t h a t i t will be n e e d i n g , and Rybex h a v e given I r e l a n d a big o r d e r f o r I r i sh h e r a n g t o be c a u g h t d u r i n g t h e 1968/9 Ashing season.

T h e first t rawler t o b e commis-sioned u n d e r the a g r e e m e n t will cost £60,000 and will be delivered to Mr . Michae l Doran, of Wexford . I t will b e named , a p p r o p r i a t e l y , the " F a t h e r M u r p h y " a n d w i th the mos t u p t o date sc ient i f ic equip-m e n t a n d naviga t iona l a ids , the 82-foot, 100-ton vessel will be one of t he m o s t modern t r a w l e r s opera t -

ing f r o m a n I r i sh fishing por t . Mr. D o r a n will ge t a £40,000 l o a n f r o m the P o l e s unde r t h e a g r e e m e n t .

r P H E c h a i r m a n of Bord I a s c a i g h ' M h a r a sa id t h a t t h e a g r e e m e n t

would a c e c l e r a t e f u r t h e r t h e r ap id d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e I r i sh fishing in-dus t ry . H e pa id t r i bu t e t o t h e as-s i s t ance given t h e board by repre -sen t a t i ve s of t he I r i sh S o u t h - E a s t Coast F i s h e r m e n ' s Assoc ia t ion a n d the c h a i r m a n of t h e Donega l F i s h e r m e n ' s Co-operative, w h o were p resen t a t t h e negot ia t ions .

In a n o t h e r p a r t of t h e world a-d i f fe ren t I r i sh 8 t a t e B o a r d h a s scored a big expor t success. T h i s is Bord Ba inne , t h e milk a n d da i ry p roduc t s body, which h a s go t a n order f o r 10,000 t o n s of s k i m milk powder f r o m Mexico. T h i s is t h e biggest s ing le order fo r d a i r y pro-ducts ever received a n d r e p r e s e n t s the equ iva l en t of 25,000,000 ga l lons of sk im milk.

It is equa l to total I r i s h expor t s of sk im milk powder t o t h e Br i t i sh m a r k e t in t h e pas t year , in Itself a record year .

W h i c h j u s t shows t h a t wi th ini-t ia t ive a n d ef for t t h e r e a r e big ga ins t o be m a d e by p l a n n e d s t a t e t r a d i n g w i th count r ies o t h e r t h a n Br i ta in .

is l i t t l e l ikelihood t h a t t h e res t will be f o r t h c o m i n g ; f o r t h e r e is n o lega l ob l iga t ion on a n y sha reho lde r to d o n a t e a penny .

T h e T . a n d C. M a r t i n ' s share-h o l d e r s ag reed t o p u t 7 i per cent of t h e a s se t s as ide w h e n t h e com-p a n y w a s . sold o f f — b u t only f o r employees e a r n i n g £1,200 a year or over, t h a t is, t h e sen io r s ta f f , some 30 peop le in all. T h e r e m a i n i n g 250 get n o t h i n g , ^xcept s o m e small s u m s f r o m t h e S t a t e u n d e r t h e Re-d u n d a n c y P a y m e n t s Act , 1967, w h i c h will he lp t i d e t h e m over whi le t h e y get a n o t h e r job, but w h i c h will be a d r o p i n t h e ocean of n e e d for t h e l o n g - t e r m em-ployees w h o h a v e n o prospec t of o t h e r w o r k a f t e r d e c a d e s of labour fo r t h e benef i t of t h e s h a r e h o l d e r s w h o h a v e now t h r o w n t h e m on the s c r a p - h e a p .

/ t O R K also h a s b e e n shocked by J n e w s of a c l o s u r e — t h a t of t h e

90-year-old Denny ' s B a c o n Fac tory Blackpool .

T h i s w a s one of t h e m o s t efficient b a c o n f ac to r i e s in t h e c o u n t r y but h a s been closed owing t o—wai t fo r i t—ra t iona l i sa t ion . T h e c o m p a n y is c a r r y i n g ou t t h e i n j u n c t i o n of t h e G o v e r n m e n t t o r a t i o n a l i s e t he b a c o n a n d pig m e a t i ndus t r y , say t h e owners . " T h e decis ion to r a t i o n a l i s e is t h e r e f o r e a sound a n d progress ive one w h i c h will en-ab le t h e company t o look t o t h e f u t u r e , e i t he r wi th o r w i t h o u t t he E.E.C. w i t h conf idence ."

E v e n t h e f ac t t h a t D e n n y ' s is right in t h e T a o i s e a c h , J ack L y n c h ' s bailiwick, B lackpoo l , h a s n ' t s aved it. Cork C o r p o r a t i o n called fo r a c o m m i t t e e of e n q u i r y a t t he b e h e s t of t h e Labour a n d F i n e Oael m e m b e r s . As a L a b o u r m a n said . " W h e n a company c loses in th i s m a n n e r i t makes a n e n t i r e Joke of i n d u s t r i a l relat ions. All t h e ta lk a b o u t be t t e r h u m a n r e l a t i o n s in in-d u s t r y is Just pu re cod."

Well , of course is is except fo r a n y o n e so gullible a s t o believe t h e t a lk in t h e first place.

May 1968 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

WITCH-HUNT AGAINST REPUBLICAN STUDENTS J j ' H E Queens University Re-

publican C l u b hit the national press headlines for the second time this year when it iield its second public meeting in Belfast. The Club members organised a symposium on the "Special Powers Act and Inter-national Human Rights Year" in the War Memorial Hall on the 1 3 t h o f l a s t month. Speakers to the motion were Tony Smyth of the British National Council for Civil Liberties and Betty Sinclair, Chairman of the Belfast and District Trades' Union Council.

Whi le Tony S m y t h was speaking t h e R.U.C. en te red t h e hal l and a D i s t r i c t Inspector announced t h a t h e h a d reason t o believe t h a t a bomb, due t o explode in t e n m i n u t e s ' t ime, h a d been planted in t h e hal l . T h e r e a c t i o n of the audi -e n c e to t h e a n n o u n c e m e n t was one of amused incredul i ty . After as-s u r a n c e s t h a t t h e mee t ing would be allowed to r e sume once a search h a d been made , t h e audience c lea red the room u n d e r police sur-veil lance. The s c a r e proving false, t h e mee t ing con t i nued and t he va r ious u n d e m o c r a t i c a t t e m p t s t o c u r b f r e e speech in t h e six count ies by t h e Unionis t P a r t y were dis-

IRISH BOOKS | u | 0 R E and more people are

reading Irish books. Where do they get them ?

At the "Irish Democrat" book-shop at 283 Grays Inn Road, • f course.

Any time during office hours (-9 a.m. • 5 p.m.). or Saturdays between 11 sum. and 2 p.m. And f o r the busy man—Wednesday evenings 7-8 p.m.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of titles we have in •took.

We can post them to you— but please send cash and postage with your order.

C A P T I N B O Y C O T T — the m a n whose name gaved a d readed word

10 t h e English l a n g u a g e in t h s s t o r m y days of t h e Land League, by PhiliJ Rooney (3/6, pos tage «d.)

T H E I N S U R R E C T I O N IN DUB-LIN—« day-by-day account a s seen th rough the eyes of J a m e s S t e p h e n s (6/-, pos t age 6d.).

MY F I G H T FOR I R I S H FREEDOM — a revised a n d enrtarged edition of t h a t well-knokn work by Dan Br«en (3/6, pos t age 9d.).

T H E U N F O R T U N A T E MR. ROB-E R T EMMET—the l ife of Robert E m m e t , by Leon O'Broin (7/6, pos t age 9d.).

F I F T Y YEARS OF L I B E R T Y HAJ-L — t h e golden jubi lee of the Irish T r a n s p o r t and Gene ra l Workers' Union, 1909-1959, a h is tory of t he T.G.W.U. (5/-, pos t age 1/6). Not m a n y l e f t

T H E CLANKING OF CHAIN, a "must" for the p re sen t -day reader

w h o would begin to unde r s t and some of the social background to t he emergence to t h e new Ireland, by Brinsley M a c N a m a r e (3/6, pos t age 9d.).

T H E EASTER REBELLION, by Max Caufield (6/-, pos tage 1/-).

(Cont inued on Page Twelve)

THE QUEENS UNIVERSITY REPUBLICAN CLUB

by A MEMBER

cussed and denounced bv all the speakers f r o m the floor.

Miss Sinclair said t h a t t h e Special Powers Act h a d i n h e r e n t dangers in it for all workers, ir-respective of religion a n d p a r t y alliegiance. as events in 1932 h a d proved.

r r H E appea rance of J o h n Mc-Quaide. Unionis t M.P., in t he

foyer of t he hall , caused t h e second dis turbance of t h e n ight , a s he pro-tested against w h a t h e t e r m e d t he "misuse of t he hal l ." However, as no kindly ea r was t u rned t o h im, Mr. McQuaide, still mumbl ing in-coherently, l e f t t h e hal l say ing t h a t he would t ake the m a t t e r up in Stormont .

I t was proposed f r o m the floor of the hall by Da l ton Kelly, S e c r e t a r y of the T.C.D. Club, t h a t a con-cent ra ted a t t e m p t be m a d e to ag i ta te aga ins t t h e Act. a n d L i a m Mulholland, C h a i r m a n of t h e Bel-f a s t Republ ican Club 's Di rec to ra te , suggested t he f o r m a t i o n of a jo in t

Action C o m m i t t e e . Fol lowing t h e meet ing on t he

13th, p r o t e s t s were made in Stor -mont a b o u t h o w a n d why t he s tu-den t s were a l lowed to proceed in booking a ha l l fo r a n illegal mee t -ing of a b a n n e d c lub and Mr. Cra ig has i n s t r u c t e d t h e R.U.C. to inves-t iga te t h e whole a f f a i r with a view to possible p rosecu t ion of t h e club's off icers by t he At torney Genera l .

p A D D Y M U R P H Y , the c lub sec re ta ry , in a s t a t emen t t o

the B e l f a s t p a p e r s , h a s said t h a t t he room in t h e W a r Memorial Ha l l was booked on h i s behalf by a f r iend, b u t t h a t t he care takers , knowing t h i s p e r s o n to be a m e m -ber of t h e B e l f a s t Wolfe T o n e Society, h a d a s s u m e d wrongly t h a t

PICKETS SENT TO JAIL J^T has been over sixty years

since workers went to jail for taking par t in a strike in either Ireland and Britain, or for picketing in connection with a trade dispute. Yet this is what happened in Dublin when over 30 E.S.B. workers, on unofficial strike because of a wage claim, were packed off to Mountjoy for picketing E.S.B. generating stations under the Electricity (Special Provisions) Act, 1966.

This Act says t h a t electricity is a special industry, of such impor t -ance t h a t t h e workers m u s t be denied t h e right to w i thd raw the i r labour f r o m i t or call for sol idar i ty f r o m other workers in t he o rd ina ry way. T h i s in iqui tous Act makes i t illegal for a n y person to t ake p a r t in, or ass is t or picket in s u p p o r t of a s tr ike in t h e E.S.B., and provides for dras t ic penal t ies , with f ines of up to £5,000.

WHEN t h e f i rs t p ickets were placed, t h e E.S.B. called on

indust ry general ly to swi tch off power, wi th t h e resul t t h a t n e a r l y 100,000 workers in t h e S t a t e lay idle. T h e G o v e r n m e n t t h e n ja i led the picketers, w h e n they r e f u s e d t o pay t h e fines t h e cour t s imposed o n them. T h i s n a t u r a l l y p u t u p t h e backs of all t h e workers. I t b e c a m e clear t h a t t h e s t r ike could not be sett led whi le t h e m e n were in prison, a n d they were released w h e n t he E.S.B. pa id the i r f ines! I t is also likely t h a t they will ge t a favourable s e t t l e m e n t to t he wage claim in t h e n e a r f u tu r e .

But how c a n it be t h a t m e n a r e actual ly impr i soned for p icke t ing? Ls it n o t a n a l a r m i n g s i t ua t ion? I t shows t h e increas ingly ant i -work-ing class c h a r a c t e r of t he p r e s e n t F i anna Pail G o v e r n m e n t a n d i t s readiness t o a d o p t measu re s t h a t a re a direct offensive a g a i n s t t h e r igh t s and g a i n s of t h e t r a d e un ion movement .

T h e men were released f r o m Mount joy , bu t t h e Electr ici ty Act

r ema ins on t h e s t a t u t e book. T h e r e has been t a lk i n F i a n n a Fail circles t h a t o the r i n d u s t r i e s as well a s t h e E.S.B. shou ld b e declared so " im-p o r t a n t " t h a t s t r i k ing and ac t ions in suppo r t of s t r i k e s will be for-bidden in t h e m , too. Legislat ion like t h i s is a good p a r t of the way to to ta l ly s t r a i t - j acke t ing t h e workers. I t s h o w s t he kind of t i m e s we live in in I r e l a n d .

A ND h e r e is a n addendum f r o m Mr. Ch i lde r s , F ianna Fa i l

Minis ter f o r T r a n s p o r t and Power— the m i n i s t e r responsible for t h e E.S.B. At a m e e t i n g calling fo r t h e aboli t ion of P.R. , h e is quoted a s saying t h a t t h e process of moving to comple t e f r e e t r a d e for I r i sh in-dus t ry would necess i t a t e a s t rong, s table G o v e r n m e n t which was com-pletely a g r e e d o n policy pr ior to each g e n e r a l e lect ion. "The s t ron-gest economic control would be essential , involv ing con t inuous disc ipl inary a c t i o n by t h e Govern-ment ." T h i s of course, could only be given by F i a n n a Fail.

T h e e lec t r i c i ty s t r ike shows w h a t t he G o v e r n m e n t u n d e r s t a n d s by "disciplinary ac t i on" !

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DUBLIN IS BLITZED BUT

NOT YET CORK ^ <ORK people have read all

about the "blitz of Dublin" by "developers," take - over merchants and speculators dur-ing the past five years. They are resolved to prevent a sim-ilar "blitz" on Cork.

T o th i s end t h e Cork Preserva-tion Society h a s been formed and it h a s a l r eady scored one victory in p reven t ing t h e demoli t ion of t h e p ic turesque old a lmshouse known as Sk iddy ' s Home.

T h e Bcjard of Managemen t of the Nor th I n f i r m a r y Hospital h a d proposed t w o yea r s ago to knock down t h e 16th Century bui lding under S h a n d o n Tower to make way for a new nu r se s ' home. Now th i s is to be buil t elsewhere and Skiddy 's will become a resident ial hostel for s t u d e n t s dur ing t he winter and for visitors to t h e ctty dur ing the s u m m e r . A p e r m a n e n t p rese rva t ion order will be m a d e to this effect.

I t was a long battle, and shows what e f fo r t s a re needed in t h i s count ry to combat the Phi l is t inism of bureaucracy and private en te r -prise. a lways ready to make a qui rk bit of money a t whatever social cost or loss of general ameni ty .

Cork is a city a s yet relat ively unspoiled by compar ison wi th desolated Dublin. The Skiddy ' s affair h a s awakened many Corko-nian-s to t h e d a n g e r s of "develop-ment" t a k i n g place wi thout con-sul ta t ion wi th t h e people be ing

developed." T h e y intend t o re-main v ig i lant . '

it was in f a c t the Wolfe Tone Society w h o were booking t he hall. Mr. M u r p h y w e n t on t o expla in t h a t t he m e e t i n g was "not t h a t of a pa r t i cu la r poli t ical pa r ty but was simply a s y m p o s i u m by a group of individuals t o discuss the lack of democracy in t h i s Sta te ."

T h e Queen ' s c h a i r m a n . Mr. Br ian Pa t t e r son , h a s a l ready been inter-rogated by t h e Special B r a n c h about t he i nc iden t and it is hoped t h a t if p rosecu t ions a re ins t i tu ted t h a t wide-scale pro tes ts f r o m all I r ish u p h o l d e r s of democracy will be m a d e k n o w n to Mr. Cra ig and his h e n c h m a n , t h e Nor the rn Ire-land At torney Genera l .

MONOPOLY DOESN'T LIKE

TRADE UNIONS CJiHE E.I. C o m p a n y a t S h a n n o n is

one of t h e la rges t companies in I re land, employ ing 1,250 workers. I t is A m e r i c a n owned a n d is a b ranch of one of Amer ican capi ta l -ism's biggest monopolies. I t doesn ' t like its workers to join t r a d e unions, a n d re fuses t o nego t i a t e wi th the I r i sh T r a n s p o r t and Genera l Workers ' U n i o n for t h e 200 or so members t he l a t t e r body h a s in t he factory.

Th i s is a c o n f r o n t a t i o n between one of t he biggest foreign-owned in-dustr ies in I r e l a n d , a t t r a c t ed to the count ry by t h e Dublin Govern -ment ' s g r a n t s a n d tax-rel iefs , a n d I re land ' s b igges t union.

I T mus t be said t h a t the T r a n s -port U n i o n is being t a u g h t a

h a r d lesson, f o r i t h a s woefully mis-hand led t h e a f fa i r . T h e un ion ' s general sec re ta ry , Mr. F i n t a n K e n -nedy, or iginal ly agreed wi th t h e E.I. m a n a g e r s t o have a r e f e r e n -d u m in t h e f a c t o r y on w h e t h e r t h e workers should be represen ted by t he T r a n s p o r t U n i o n or not . T h i s was an unpa ra l l e l ed t h i n g f o r a n I r ish t r ade u n i o n to do, for t h e f ac -tory owners control led t h e condi-t ions of t h e r e f e r e n d u m ; t h e y re -minded t h e workers daily of how they were all " o n e happy f a m i l y , " and implied t h a t if they d i d n ' t see th ings t h a t way, t h e n t h e c o m p a n y might pull ou t of S h a n n o n a l to-ge ther a n d move elsewhere. More-over w h a t r i g h t h a d t h e u n i o n to agree t h a t it would no t o r g a n i s e even a mino r i t y of t he workers if they so wished, a s t hey have a per -fect cons t i t u t iona l r igh t to do.

The union, however, saw i t s mis take a n d pul led out of t h e r e fe rendum, which t h e E.I. wen t ahead with a n d won—not sur-prisingly in t h e c i rcumstances , a n d considering t h a t mos t of t he workers were new to indus t ry , very young, with no prev ious t r a d e union back-ground and c o m i n g f rom all over rura l Clare a n d West Limer ick .

T h e n the un ion brought i t s m e m -bers out on s t r i ke d e m a n d i n g t h a t t h e c o m p a n y recognise t h e I T G W.U. as t h e body responsib le for nego t i a t ing on behalf of i t s members in t h e factory. P i cke t s have been placed and t he c o m p a n y has called u p o n t h e cour ts to give a n i n j u n c t i o n aga ins t p icket ing , which the c o u r t s have genera l ly been only too will ing to do in r e c e n t Irish labour d isputes .

T h e S u p r e m e Cour t r e fused t h e request by a m a j o r i t y of one, but o the r court c a se s a re pending. T h e company is p r e p a r e d to sit it out . I t h a s made t he un ion look foolish and inept, and t he un ion by its c o n d u c t over the r e f e n d u m business h a s al ienated the ma jo r i t y of workers in the factory. E.I. are conf ident they have the workers and the un ion beaten

The i r slick American personnel man says: we a r e only looking a f t e r the liberties of ou r employees; they mus t not be coerced! And he a g a i n reminds the t e e n a g e count ry girls in t he fac to ry of how happy they all a re a n d how g ra t e fu l they should be for t he c o m p a n y bo ther ing to employ t h e m a t all.

British students

protest at 'Fascism'

A N emergency resolut ion was p a s s e d with a la rge m a -

jo r i t y a t t h e Annua l Con-f e r e n c e of t he Nat iona l Union of S t u d e n t s a t Leicester on T u e s d a y , April 9th.

T h e h a r a s s m e n t of s t u d e n t s be long ing to the Repub l i can Club a t Queens Univers i ty , Bel fas t , w a s condemned as "wor thy of t he Fascis t F r a n c o reg ime."

T h e resolut ion sa id t h a t t h r o u g h t h e opera t ion of t he Special Powers Act, " Q u e e n s s t u d e n t s h a v e been humi l i a t ed , e m b a r r a s s e d , a n d have h a d in-h u m a n pressures b r o u g h t upon themse lves a n d t h e i r f ami l i e s f r o m November 1967 o n w a r d a n d du r ing t h e week-end of M a r c h I4 th- I6 th in p a r -t icu lar .

T h e N.U.S. execut ive was u r g e d t o t a k e wha t ac t ion was requ i red a n d to repor t back.

Mr. B. McShane, of Queens , sa id t h a t t h e Club h a d a b o u t 100 members , a n d was demo-cra t ic , peace fu l , property con-s t i t u t ed a n d not in c o n t a c t wi th subversive o rgan i sa t i ons . Yet t h e Gove rnmen t h a d de-m a n d e d t h a t It provide t h e police w i th a list of i ts m e m -bers .

O n e individual pu t u p a weak d e f e n c e of t h e s ix -county t y r a n n y by say ing t h a t t h e Re-pub l i can Club was " k n o w n to con t a in subvers ive e l emeh t s . " His a r g u m e n t t h a t It shou ld be b a n n e d a n d persecuted b ecause t he G o v e r n m e n t a s se r t ed t h a t th i s was t h e oase was t a k e n l i t t le not ice of. By t h e s a m e token Queens Universi ty itself would h a v e a r ight t o be

A nd a n y w a y , t h e mos t sub -versive e l e m e n t in N o r t h e r n I re land Is t h e British Gover -nor -Genera l . , , „ .

DEMOGRAMS " T H E la s t t ro l leybus r u n s on t he

Fa l l s Road ef Be l f a t t o n S u n -day, May 15th. Trol leybuses h a v e been in use since 19S» w h e n they replaced t h e t r ams .

ft ft ft Crux is r epo r t ed over pe rmiss ib le

blood alcohol levels w h e n t h e b r ea th - ana ly se r is i n t r o d u c e d i n t o the six c o u n t i e s and t h e t w e n t y -six coun t i e s short ly . T h e six coun-ties a r e to follow B r i t a i n a n d allow 80 m g m per 100 ml, w h e r e a s the twenty-s ix in tend to al low 125 mgm per 100 ml.

ft ft ft What w a s Mr. Michael O'Leery,

T.D., u p to in Bel fas t? He is re-por ted a s s a y i n g t h a t one of t h e a d v a n t a g e s of the Ir ish Counci l of Labour would be t h a t It p rov ided a link be tween t h e Ir ish Labour Par ty a n d t h e Bri t ish L a b o u r Par ty . W h a t did he m e a n ?

s 1HOULD I r i sh t axpaye r s ' money go to subsidise conce rns l ike

this, which r e f u s e recogn i t ion to a t r ade un ion o rgan i s ing t h e i r workers? Shou ld t h e c o u r t s n o t make q u i t e c lear t h a t a r ecogn i t ion d ispute is a t r a d e d i spu te , giving full legal e n t i t l e m e n t to workers to place p icke t s in order to en fo rce their c l a im? Shou ld fo re ign busi-ness be a t t r a c t e d a n d p e r m i t t e d t o come to I r e l a n d when it i n t e n d s be-h a v i n g in t h i s h i g h - h a n d e d m a n -ne r? S h o u l d t h e T r a n s p o r t Union become no involved in bu reauc ra t i c e n t a n g l e m e n t s ax to place in Jeo-pa rdy t h e r i g h t of its m e m b e r s to get p roper service and r e p r e s e n t a -tion.

These a r e some ques t ions raised by t he E.I. d ispute . It ls to be hoped t h e r i gh t lessons a r e d r a w n f rom It, pa r t i cu la r ly for t h e t r a d e un ion m o v e m e n t .

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT May 1968

THE CITIZEN ARMY THE Citizen Army is out today , and if you wonder why,

Go ask t he lords of t h e t r aml in sd way if the i r cash r e t u r n s be high.

•Tisn't t h e bosses who bear t h e b r u n t , 'Tisn ' t you or I, But t he women and kids whose t ea r s a re hid as t he s t r i ke r s go

s tumbl ing by. The docker loads two h u n d r e d tons in his mas t e r ' s ship per d a y ; At n i g h t t he d o c k e r s d a u g h t e r bends her weary l imbs to p ray . From t h e old North Wall t o Liberty Hall was a reservoir of u n s k i l l e d ; They heaved and hauled w h e n t h e bosses called and s topped w h e n

t he bosses willed. T h e Citizen Army is out t o d a y a n d if you wonde r why J im Larkin cam® this way to nai l t h e bosses' lie, T h a t t h e i ron gyves on t h e i r l imbs and lives would crush t h e m till

they d ie Those women and kids whose t e a r s a r e hid a s t he s t r ikers go m a r c h -

ing by. The docker a n d car te r a n d heave r of coal were only t he b a c k w a s h

t h e n Till Larkin buil t the Union u p a n d t h e bosses f ea red aga in . From t h e old Nor th Wall t o Liber ty Hall c a m e t h a t a r m y of unski l led In a new-born f ight for t h e worker s ' r i gh t s t h a t t he bosses t h o u g h t

they h a d killed.

The Citizen Army is out t o d a y a n d if you wonder why Go ask t h e t roops in t h e m a s t e r s ' pay if t h e blood on the i r g u n s

be d ry ; Ah well, t hey won, and t h e b a t o n and gun have swung w h e r e t h e

dead m e n lie, For t h e w o m e n and kids w h o s e t ea r s a re hid a s t he wounded go

s tumbl ing by. J a m e s Connolly watches s h i p s go out t h r o u g h f lags a t K i n g s t o w n

Pier And s t a rv ing Dublin sen<fs i t s toll of Guard a n d Fusilier, Food for t h e guns t h a t ove r t h e world have thunde red m u r d e r ' s

peal, And Oublin 's broken union m e n die first on F landers ' fields.

The Citizen Army is out t o d a y a n d if you wonde r why, Go ask t h e m e n in the g rey a n d green why t h e Plough and t h e S t a r s

flies h i g h ; Tisn ' t only t h e bosses we c h a l l e n g e now, Connolly has cas t t h e die For t he women and kids whose t ea r s a r e hid as t he soldiers go

m a r c h i n g by. Four h u n d r e d bosses p l a n n e d t o break t h a t a r m y of unskilled Four h u n d r e d bosses d r ink t o n i g h t , for Connolly is killed. But dead or alive, there a r e t hose who s t r ive a glorious t h i n g to do, For Connolly buil t t h a t Un ion u p for t h e likes of me and you.

The Citizen Army is out today , a n d if you wonder why, Go ask t h e lords of t he tanking house if t h e i r prof i ts he low or h i g h ; For t h e y a r e there , and we a r e here, in a f i g h t to t he k n i f e a g a i n — T h e Cit izen Army is out t o d a y ; come, workers , a r e ye m e n ?

WHAT WOULD HE TELL US TODAY By

ANTHONY COUGHLAN

W if HAT would James Con-nolly have to say to us

if he came back to walk the land of Ireland today?

He lived, worked a n d died f o r t w o object ives: t h e f r e e d o m of I r e l a n d a n d the e m a n c i p a t i o n of t h e work -ing class.

Nei ther h a s been achieved. B u t in th i s c e n t e n a r y yea r of C o n n o l l y ' s b i r th there is g rea te r r e s o l u t i o n among polit ically conscious I r i s h people t h a n t h e r e h a s b e e n f o r decades, t h a t t he i r a c h i e v e m e n t is necessary. People a r e r e a d i n g a n d s tudying Connol ly 's w r i t i n g s t o apply his polit ical ph i losophy t o t h e condi t ions of I r e l and today.

T h a t I r e l and is a n i n d e p e n d e n t na t i on is t he G r e a t Lie of m o d e r n I r i sh his tory—a lie widely p r o p a -gated by t h e "gombeen" e l e m e n t s t h a t a t p re sen t ru le t he c o u n t r y in a lmost to ta l subservience t o B r i t i s h imperia l is t in teres ts . T h e f a c t s c ry out to heaven t h a t I r e l and is n o t f ree. I re land is p a r t i t i o n e d i n t o two states, wi th t h e work ing c l a s s of Belfas t sundered f r o m t h a t of Dubl in a n d t h e South . A n e w Ac t of Union is being opera ted i n t h e economic sphere, t h e Ang lo - I r i sh F ree T r a d e Agreement .

' English capi ta l moves i n t o I r e -land. buying u p t h e houses, t h e f a c -tories. the shops a n d t h e l a n d . I r i sh capi ta l s t r e a m s out fo r i nves t -men t in Br i ta in . T h o u s a n d s wa lk t h e s t reets unemployed a t h o m e a n d t h o u s a n d s of o the r s e m i g r a t e to London. B i r m i n g h a m a n d M a n -chester .

AND w h a t of t h e social e m a n c i -pa t ion of Labour? Does t h e

26 County G o v e r n m e n t r e p r e s e n t t h e Ir ish workers a n d sma l l f a r -mers who produce t he real w e a l t h of t h e count ry? Big bus iness o w n s t h e means of producing wea l t h , t h e factories , the mines, t he b a n k s a n d

d e p a r t m e n t s t o r e s — a n d f r e q u e n t l y f o r e i g n bus iness a t t h a t . T h e de-c is ion a s t o w h a t s h a l l b e produced, w h e r e a n d how, a n d h o w m a n y sha l l be employed, is t a k e n solely by r e f e r e n c e t o t h e n e e d s of pr i -va t e p ro f i t .

If Conno l ly c a m e b a c k h e would bend h imse l f t o h i s o ld w o r k a n d would s e t abou t t h e a c h i e v e m e n t of h i s o r ig ina l a i m s i n t h e n e w con-d i t i o n s of today . A n d h e would st i l l find m a n y b r a v e a n d t h i n k i n g I r i s h m e n a n d w o m e n t o fol low h im . B u t even t h o u g h h e will n o t come back , t h e b r a v e r y of M s sp i r i t , t h e acu i ty of h i s i n t e l l i gence a n d t h e d e p t h a n d c o n t e m p o r a r y r e l e v a n c e of h i s w r i t i n g s a r e in-c r e a s i n g l y becoming a n i n s p i r a t i o n a n d g u i d e to t h e m a n y w h o a r e en-g a g e d i n t h a t s a m e w o r k .

T R E L A N D ' S y o u n g p e o p l e a r e ' t u r n i n g t o Conno l ly ! T h e 50th

a n n i v e r s a r y c e l e b r a t i o n s of 1916 t w o y e a r s a g o b r o u g h t h o m e t o m a n y of t h e m t h a t t h e r e w a s m o r e t o 1916 t h a n m a r t y r d o m , r o m a n c e a n d h e r o i c a f f i r m a t i o n s . T h e y rea-l ised t h a t t h e R e p u b l i c t h e 1916 m e n f o u g h t f o r w a s s o m e t h i n g very d i f f e r e n t f r o m t h e s y s t e m we h a v e go t t o d a y . D u r i n g t h e p a s t t w o y e a r s t h e r e h a s b e e n a n ex t r a -o r d i n a r y revival of i n t e r e s t in Con-no l ly ' s works . S e v e r a l of h i s m a j o r a r t i c l e s a n d e s says a r e b e i n g re-p r i n t e d t h i s year . R e p u b l i c a n a n d Soc i a l i s t C lubs in t h e u n i v e r s i t i e s a n d colleges, w o r k i n g c l a s s y o u t h g r o u p s in t h e towns , a r e d i scuss ing w h a t h e wrote , o r g a n i s i n g s tudy g r o u p s a n d r e a d i n g c i rc les , a n d ex-a m i n i n g h o w C o n n o l l y ' s i d e a s c a n be a p p l i e d .

" T h e s t r u g g l e f o r I r i sh f r ee -d o m h a s two a s p e c t s ; it Is n a t i o n a l a n d i t is soc ia l . T h e n a t i o n a l ideal c a n n e v e r be rea-lised un t i l I r e l a n d s t a n d s f o r t h

BE MODEltATE by

James Connolly C O M E m e n , f a i n t - hear ted , ^ ever seek Our p r o g r a m m e to re touch, And will insist , wHene'er we

speak , T h a t we d e m a n d too much . 'Tis pas s ing s t r a n g e , yet I

dec l a re Such s t a t e m e n t s cause me

m i r t h For our d e m a n d s most modest

are , We only w a n t THE EARTH.

Our m a s t e r s all , a godly crew, Whose h e a r t s t h rob for the

poor, T h e i r s y m p a t h i e s a s su re us,

too, If our d e m a n d s were fewer . Most g e n e r o u s souls ! But

please observe, Wha t t h e y en joy f r o m bi r th Is all we ever h a d t h e nerve To ask, t h a t is, T H E EARTH.

The " L a b o u r Fakir ," full of guile

Base doc t r i ne ever teaches , And whi le he bleeds t he rank

a n d file Tame m o d e r a t i o n teaches . Yet in his desp i t e we'll see the

r day When a r m e d with sword in

gir th Labour shal l m a r c h in war

a r r ay To seize its own, THE EARTH

For Labour long, with s ighs a n d t ea r s ,

To its oppressors knel t , But never yet , to a u g h t save

f ea r s . Did h e a r t of t y r a n t melt . W* need not kneel, our cause

Is h igh Of t r u e m e n the re ' s no dea r th And our vic tor ious ra l ly ing cry Shall be : "WE WANT THE

EARTH."

EDINBURGH HONOURS CONNOLLY J U N E 5th, 1968, will be the

100th anniversary of the birth of James Connolly. To mark this centenary the Edin-burgh and District Trades Council have drawn up a pro-gramme which will indeed do justice to this son of Edinburgh, whose entire life was spent in service to the working class.

The p r o g r a m m e will i nc lude a n I r ish Ceil idh in t he T r a d e s Counci l Social Club, two public lec tures , o n e by Mr. C. Desmond Greaves , a u t h o r of t he "Life a n d T i m e s of J a m e s Connolly," and one by Mr. G. Fi t t , M.P. for Be l fa s t Wes t , a lso a n I r ish Play will be r u n fo r t h e full week in the T r a v e r s e T h e a t r e . The cu lmina t ing point in t h e week f rom J u n e 3rd-9th will be t h e un-veiling Qf a plaque n e a r t h e si te of Connol ly 's b i r thplace a t 107 Cow-gate.

U n f o r t u n a t e l y , or p e r h a p s we should say fo r tuna t e ly—the Cow-gate is seeing changes f r o m those days of 1868 and the demol i t ion of the type of property in which Connolly was torn m e a n s t h a t the ac tua l house has been demol i shed and t he ac tual site is now occupied by t he Her io t W a t t Univers i ty . Re-gre t tab ly t he Board of G o v e r n o r s of th i s f a m o u s educa t iona l inst i -tut ion could not see t h e need for a commemora t ion to J a m e s Con-nolly because when t he E d i n b u r g h T rades Council made r e p r e s e n t a -t ions to t h e m the app l i ca t ion f o r permiss ion to erect a p l aque was rejected. Undaun ted , a n appl ica-tion was made to the owners of the proper ty across the s t ree t , t h e Na-t ional Library of Scot land . Again a f t e r m o n t h s of cons idera t ion the appl ica t ion was re jected.

F u r t h e r sites were proposed and eventua l ly the local a u t h o r i t y was app roached as they " o w n e d " George IV Br idge which crosses t h e Cow-ga t e some 30 ya rds f r o m t h e si te of Connolly 's bir thplace. S o m e years ago they too had re j ec ted a n ap-pl icat ion to have »ome recogni t ion

By

JOHN HENRY

given to J a m e s Connolly bu t t h e a p p r o a c h e s made in J a n u a r y of 1968 saw an acceptance of t h e ap -pl icat ion and permission w a s g r a n t e d a f t e r a depu t a t i on h a d been received f rom the T r a d e s Council to the Lord Provost C o m -mi t t ee of t he Town Council ou t -l ining t h e proposals and a l e t t e r of suppo r t f rom the S.T.U.C. c l inched t he mat te r . T h u s a f t e r m o n t h s of sheer perseverance t h e object ive h a d been achieved.

An inv i t a t ion has been s e n t to t he I r i s h Gove rnmen t to send over a r ep re sen t a t i ve to unvei l t h e plaque a n d on Saturday, J u n e 8 th a t 2.30 p.m. when the ce r emony is p e r f o r m e d , there will be, i n t h e Cowfeate, a pe rmanen t t r i b u t e to J a m e s Connolly. The insc r ip t ion reads a s follows:

" T h i s plaque is erected to t he m e m o r y of J ames Connolly, born

5 t h J u n e , 1868 a t 107 Cowgate . R e n o w n e d i n t e r n a t i o n a l T r a d e U n i o n a n d W o r k i n g C l a s s Leader . F o u n d e r of t h e I r i s h Socia l i s t R e p u b l i c a n P a r t y . M e m b e r of t h e p rov i s iona l G o v e r n m e n t of I r i sh Republ ic . Execu ted 12 th May,

a t K i l m a i n h a m J a i l , Dubl in ."

I t i s s ign i f i can t t h a t a t t e n d i n g t h i s unve i l ing c e r e m o n y will be r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o m N e w Z e a l a n d , U.S.A., official r e p r e s e n t a t i o n f r o m t h e I r i s h T.U.C. a n d t h e S c o t t i s h T.U.C. a n d f r o m a h o s t of T r a d e s Counc i l s wh ich i n c l u d e Glasgow, Aberdeen , Dundee , K i r k c a l d y . T h e y will c o m e to be a s s o c i a t e d with Connolly and all the noble things Conno l ly stood, f o u g h t , a n d died for . F o r t h e p a r t t h a t E d i n b u r g h T r a d e s Counci l h a s p l a y e d in t h e p r e p a r a t i o n for t h e c e r e m o n y on J u n e 8 th , we c a n on ly s ay i t h a s been o u r g r e a t pr iv i lege t o h a v e h a d t h i s o p p o r t u n i t y .

[Ed i to r ' s Note: C o n t r i b u t i o n s to-w a r d s t h e expense of e r e o t l n g t h e c o m m e m o r a t i v e p l a q u e , w h i c h is heavy , should b e s e n t t o Mr. Henry , c / o E d i n b u r g h T r a d e s Council , 11 Albany 8 t r e e t , Edin-b u r g h 2.]

CONNOLLY CENTENARY CALENDAR y H E Irish Workers' P a r t y a r e

b r i n g i n g out a new edi t ion of Connolly 's Reconquest of I r e l and . A n n o u n c e m e n t shortly.

M a r x i s m Today" (ob ta inab le 37 G r a y s I n n Road, or t h r o u g h t he Connolly Association bookshop. 283 Grays I n n Road i are br inging out a special Connolly cen tena ry ed,-tion. c o n t a i n i n g articles by Eliza-beth S inc la i r , Alasdair R a f t e r y (Editor , " I r i sh Socialist"i a n d Des-mond Greaves . Price 2 -

May 15th. O ' R i o r d a n m e n t s .

Socia l i sm already been

Made EasV republished

has

a s a n a t i o n , f r e e a n d indepen-d e n t . It is social a n d economic b e c a u s e n o m a t t e r w h a t fo rm t h e G o v e r n m e n t m a y be, a s long a s o n e c lass o w n s a s p r iva te p r o p e r t y t h e l and a n d ins t ru-m e n t s of l abou r f r o m which m a n k i n d de r ive t h e i r subs tance , t h a t c l a s s will a l w a y s h a v e it in t h e i r power to p l u n d e r a n d en-s lave t h e i r fellow c r e a t u r e s . "

T o d a y in I r e l a n d soc i a l i s t s and r e p u b l i c a n s a r e o r i e n t a t i n g t h e i r day t o d a y work a n d l o n g - t e r m poli t ical s t r a t e g y i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h Con-no l ly ' s p r o p o s i t i o n t h a t . . .

" T h e two c u r r e n t s of revolu-t i o n a r y t h o u g h t In I r e l a n d , the soc ia l i s t a n d t h e n a t i o n a l , are n o t a n t a g o n i s t i c b u t c o m p l e m e n -t a r y , a n d t h a t t h e I r i s h socialist is in r ea l i t y t h e b e s t p a t r i o t . But in o r d e r t o conv ince t h e Irish peop le of t h i s f a c t h e m u s t f irst l e a r n t o look i n w a r d on I re land f o r h i s j u s t i f i c a t i o n , r e s t his a r g u m e n t s on t h e f a c t s of Irish h i s t o ry , a n d be a c h a m p i o n a g a i n s t t h e s u b j e c t i o n of Ire-l a n d a n d all t h a t i t i m p l i e s . . . T h a t t h e I r ish q u e s t i o n is at b o t t o m a n e c o n o m i c quest ion, a n d t h a t t h e e c o n o m i c s t rugg le m u s t f i r s t of all be a b l e t o func-t i o n n a t i o n a l l y b e f o r e i t can f u n c t i o n i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y , a n d as soc ia l i s t s a r e opposed t o all op-p re s s ion , so t h e y s h o u l d ever be f o r e m o s t in t h e d a l l y ba t t le a g a i n s t all Its m a n i f e s t a t i o n s , soc ia l a n d pol i t ica l . "

I r i s h R e p u b l i c a n s t o d a y organise t h e m s e l v e s a g a i n s t al l t h e man i f e s -t a t i o n s of imper i a l i sm, i n t h e social a n d po l i t i ca l field a s wel l a s in t he m i l i t a r y . I r i s h S o c i a l i s t s also rea l i se t h a t t h e w i n n i n g of real n a t i o n a l i n d e p e n d e n c e a n d uni ty is e s sen t i a l f o r t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t 6f soc ia l i sm. Conno l ly ' s t h e o r i e s a n d i d e a s b e c o m e l inked t o t h e day- to-d a y p r a c t i c e of b o t h . T h e I r i sh L a b o u r a n d t r a d e u n i o n m o v e m e n t g r o w s i n size a n d po l i t i c a l weight . T h e p a r t i e s of t h e I r i s h cap i t a l i s t s e x p o s e t h e m s e l v e s b e f o r e t h e people w i t h t h e i r pol icies of i n t e g r a t i o n w i t h B r i t a i n a n d c o m p r o m i s e with i m p e r i a l i s m . T h e c o n d i t i o n s a re to-d a y b e i n g l a id f o r t h e successfu l c o m p l e t i o n of t h e t a s k s J a m e s C o n n o l l y se t ou t t o a t t a i n a n d for w h i c h h e g a v e h i s l i fe .

JAMES CONNOLLY Born 1868. Murdered 1916

The CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION By

SEAN REDMOND

J OOKING back over the past ten years I can remember

the big campaign connected with the Mallon and Talbot trial in 1958. Two young Tyronemen were charged with murdering a police sergeant. The only evidence against them were confessions, which they alleged had been extrac-ted under duress. The jury believed them and they were found not guilty.

T h e Assoc ia t ion held m e e t i n g s

in Br i t a in d e m a n d i n g the i r r e l ea se

a n d fol lowing t h e acqui t t a l a c a m -

pa ign was o r g a n i s e d d e m a n d i n g a n

enqui ry in to t h e m e t h o d s of t h e

Royal U l s t e r Cons tabu la ry .

i | i H I S w a s t h e beginning of ou r a t t e m p t to " p u t t h e I r i s h

ques t ion back i n t o Br i t i sh poli t ics ," by a rous ing pub l i c feel ing a n d t h e educa t ion of t h e Labour Movemen t We saw t h a t p a r t i t i o n could n o t be

CORK MAN V y H E N a few years before

1916, James Connolly visi-ted Cork to set up branches of the Socialist Par ty of Ireland, there was some difficulty about finding him accommodation.

He w a s t o s t a y in the city fo r s o m e t ime . A nd i n those days any-body gui l ty of t h e cr ime of "pu t -t i ng u p " Connol ly would be liable t o v ic t imisa t ion .

T h e local Soc ia l i s t s decided to a p p r o a c h L i a m O ' S h e a , who had a job a s a t r a v e l l e r for a M a n -c h e s t e r p a i n t f i r m , a n d also owned a publ ic house on George's Quay. A n d t h o u g h n o t a socialist h im-self, L i am agreed .

Every n i g h t Connol ly had meet-

WHO SHELTERED CONNOLLY

By JAMES O'REGAN

ings with workers f rom different industr ies ,*and. I heard"&iam speak abou t groups c o m i n g f rom as f a r away as Haulbowline. There were a lso Post Office workers.

Who was t h i s L i a m O'Shea?

His hobby w a s bill iard playing. In th is f ield h e was M u n s t e r c h a m p i o n severa l t imes a n d held n u m e r o u s meda l s .

I I E was a * character .

M a n c h e s t e r . Michae l 8ee loca l a n n o u n c e -

May 16th. Liverpool. M i c h a e l O 'R io r -d a n . See local a n n o u n c e m e n t s .

May 26th. 3 p.m. L ive rpoo l . G e r r y P i t t , Tony C o u g h l a n , E r i c Heffer , M P., Desmond G r e a v e s . 7.30 p.m. M a n c h e s t e r . P r a n k Al-l aun , M P . , G e r r y P i t t , M.P., D e s m o n d Greaves .

J u n e 7th. Connol ly C e n t e n a r y Lec-ture , D u n d e e

Connol ly C e n t e n a r y .

M E E T I N G S May 12th. London. T r a f a l g a r S q u a r e

Ral ly See p ^ e o n e

May 14lh. Not t ingham. See th i s page, col 7 O'Riordan, Redmond .

J u n e 2nd-9th. E d i n b u r g h .

J u n e 10th. I r ish W o r k e r s ' P a r t y c o m m e m o r a t i o n , D u b l i n .

J u n e 23rd. M a r x M e m o r i a l L ib ra ry con fe r ence on S o c i a l i s m a n d Nat iona l i sm.

A MAN LIKE THAT i

By Liam MacGabhain (The speaker is a memker of the firing party

after Connolly's execution.)

T H E man was all shot-through that came today • Into the barrack square;

A soldier I—I am not proud to say We killed him there ;|

They brovght HHn from the prison hospital— To see Mm In that chair

I thought hl» smile would far more quickly call A man to prayer.

Maybe we oannot unders That makes these re

And yet all things love f Clear in the sky!

I think I would not do th|« deed again

this thing Is die;

om and the Spring

For all that I hold bji— I U Gaze down my rifle at hi

A soldier I! breast—but then,

different, too, They say that he was km Apart from all the rd

A lover ef the poor-and!all shot-through, His wounds ill-drestj

He w n e before us, face*}us like a man Who knew a deeper M "

Than blows or bullets, e'ir the world began : Did he die In vain ?

Ready ! Present ! -and hB just smiling, God ! I felt my rifle shake.

His wounds were operred out and round that cha,r Was one red lake;

I . w a r h i . lips said "Flrp I- when all was si... Before my rifle spat

It. owned load-and I wis picked to kill A man like that

very remarkable Born in Ballincol-

lig, five miles ou t of the city, a round 1860. h e jo ined the I.R.B. a t a n early age a n d remained a mem-ber all his life. He met a n d worked wi th near ly all t he prominent F e n i a n s , S tephens . O'Donovan Rossa , Underwood O'Connell, a n d so on.

He was a l ead ing member of t he '98 centenary commemora t ion in Cork. Indeed I h a v e in my posses-sion a f ramed p h o t o g r a p h of h i s membersh ip card . Incidenta l ly the des ign of t ha t c a r d was put up to competit ion, a n d was won by Connolly's suppo r t e r Con O'Lyhane. a leading socialist of the period but also a m e m b e r of_ the I.R.B.

Every year t h e r e was a proces-sion in Cork in memory of the Manches ter m a r t y r s . Liam O'Shea was cha i rman of the commit tee for forty-five years .

In his first publ ic house, t he Sh ip in I 'aniel l P lace , he sheltered Tom Clarke a n d h i s comrades on the i r release f r o m jail, before they went to America.

I I E joined S i n n Fein shor t ly a f te r it was formed, and knew

all the leading 1916 men, Pearse . Connolly. M a c D i a r m a d a , and Case-ment

He kept L i a m Mellows w h e n h e was V o n t h e runS # n d j t a .deed . played a s u b s t a n t i a l p a r t in a r r a n g -ing h i s e s c a p e to America a f t e r t he Ris ing.

Dur ing t h e t a n war h e was a Repub l i can j u d g e , a n d h i s house was c o n s t a n t l y beihg ra ided by t h e police a n d mi l i t a ry , all t h e t ime f r o m 1916 t o 1921. I n t h e per iod j u s t before t h e t r u c e it was being ra ided a s m u c h fes th ree t imes a day.

DU R I N G t h e Civil W a r he was on t h e R e p u b l i c a n side, a n d

once m o r e h e l p e d a n d she l te red wan ted men . B u t a t t h e incept ion of F i a n n a F a i l h e went in to t h e b r eakaway p a r t y ou t of a deep re-spec t fo r D e Valera which was c o m m o n in h i s genera t ion . Desp i te h i s a d v a n c e d y e a r s h e insisted o n c a n v a s s i n g d u r i n g t he winter of 1931-32 a n d fe l l ill a n d died jus t a s t h e final r e s u l t s of De Valera s vic-tory were c o m i n g in.

His f u n e r a l w a s one of t he larges t seen in Cork. T h e remain ing sur-vivors of t h e old I .RB.—the re were only a b o u t twelve of t h e m — a r -r anged t h e obseqies. They re fused to car ry t h e t r icolour , but covered t he coffin w i t h t h e old Fen ian flag, t he golden s u n b u r s t on a blue background .

He is bu r i ed in S t J o s e p h s cemetery , b e t t e r known in Cork as t h e " B o t a n i c G a r d e n s , " and t h e g rave is a t t h e r igh t -hand side of t h e m o r t u a r y chapel . I t is covered by a c ross o n which there is in-scribed on o n e side, in Irish "L iam O'Shea , R e p u b l i c a n judge "

M A N C H E S T E R REGISTRAR'S OFFICE, ALL SAINTS'

7.30-9.30 p.m. SUNDAY, MAY 26th

SPEAKERS :

GERARD F i n , M P.

ANTHONY COUGHLAN

FRANK ALLAUN, M P.

DESMOND GREAVES

JAMES CONNOLLY CENTENARY

ended with o n e blow. T h e r e f o r e the first t a s k was to expose t h e undemocra t ic pract ices of t h e Unionists a n d t h e whole imper ia l i s t s t ructure in I re land would be weakened. T h e Association led t h e light in t h i s coun t ry for t he re-lease of t h e Repub l i cans f r o m Bel-last and B r i t i s h jails. I t m a d e a big con t r ibu t ion to get t ing t h e m e n out and in t h e process t h o u s a n d s of Bri t ish d e m o c r a t s were m a d e aware of t h e s i tua t ion in t h e six counties.

The six c o u n t y regime h a s n o t been b rough t down, but it ' h a s been weakened. Harold Wilson h a s been compelled to bring O'Neill to London fo r ta lks . And while t he Tories h a v e w a r n e d t h a t n o t h i n g must be d o n e to e n d a n g e r ' t h e Unionists, t h e Br i t i sh G o v e r n m e n t ha s been fo rced to t ake ac t ion . I n recent yea r s t h e House of Com-mons has s een s tormy deba te s over "Nor thern I r e l a n d , " and reso lu t ions have been del ibera te ly kept off t h e floor of L a b o u r Pa r ty conferences . The r igh t -wing leaders know t h e feelings of t h e r ank and file. T h u s the I r i sh ques t ion is back in British poli t ics, despite t h e ef for t s of successive Br i t i sh G o v e r n m e n t s to play it down.

11HROUGHOUT our exis tence we have endeavoured to keep

alive a n d d i s s emina t e a knowledge of J a m e s Connol ly and w h a t h e stood for. P e r h a p s in yea r s to come th is will be assessed as ou r greates t a ch i evemen t . T h e Asso-ciation's work m u s t be con t inued . Th is is t h e message of t h e Con-nolly C e n t e n a r y year. T h e t ide is now flowing wi th us. Impe r i a l i sm s taggers f r o m o n e crisis to a n o t h e r . T h e Un ion i s t s will never recover theij1 f o r m e r position. Too many-people a r e n o w aware of the i r shady deals . T h e Connolly As-sociation h a s done much in t h e past. Bu t i t can make a g r e a t e r contr ibut ion in the fu tu r e . Will you join wi th us in th is work?

A REBEL SONG by

James Connollyj ^"•OME, workers , s ing a rebel

song, A song of love a n d ha t e— Of love u n t o t h e lowly And of h a t r e d t o t he g r e a t ; The grea t w h o t rod our f a t h e r s

down, Who steal our ch i ld ren ' s bread , Whose g r e e d y h a n d s a re

s t r e t ched to rob The living a n d t he dead .

C h o r u s : Then s ing ou r rebel song As we p roud ly m a r c h a long To end t h e age- long t y r a n n y T h a t m a k e s for h u m a n t e a r s ; Our t a s k is n e a r e r done With t h e s e t t i n g of each sun , And t h e t y r a n t ' s m i g h t is

pass ing With t h e pass ing of the

years.

We sing no more of wai l ing And no songs of s i ghs or tears , High a r e ou r hopes a n d s tout

our h e a r t s And ban i shed all our fea rs . Our flag is ra ised above us So t h a t all t h e world m a y sea, 'Tis Labour ' s f a i t h and

Labour 's a r m Alone can Labour f ree .

Out of t h e d e p t h s of misery Ws m a r c h wi th h e a r t s a f l ame With w r a t h aga in s t t h e ru lers

false Who wreck our m a n h o o d ' s

n a m e . The serf w h o licks t he t y r a n t ' s

rod May bend forgiv ing knee ; The s lave who breaks his

s lav ' ry 's cha in A. w r a t h f u l m a n mus t be.

Our a r m y m a r c h e s onward With i ts f ace towards t he

dawn In t r u s t secure in t h a t one

A K T h e Arire m a y lean upon— TIM m i g h t wi th in t he a r m of h i m Who knowing f r eedom's wor th , S t r i ke s h a r d to banish t y r a n n y From off t h e face of e a r t h .

FREEDOM'S PIONEERS (Air: The Boys of Wexford. This song was written by Connolly during the foundryworkers' strike in Wexford

in 1912.)

Q U R feet upon the upward path Are set where none may tread,

<Save those who to the rich man's wrath Dare turn rebellious head, And hearts as brave, no cringing slave In all our ranks appears; Our proudest boast, in Labour's host: We're Freedom's Pioneers.

Chorus: Oh, slaves may beg and cowards whine, We scorn their foolish fears; Be this our plan, to lead the van With Freedom's Pioneers.

Too long upon our toil were )>uilt The palaces of power, When at a touch these forts of guilt Would crumble in an hour ; Now each day brings on swiftest wings To their unwilling ears The shouts that greet our marching feet, "'Tis Freedom's Pioneers."

The rich man's hate, the rich man's pride Have held us long in awe, Our right to life is still denied, And wealth still rules the law. But man shall bow no longer now, But welcome with his cheers The ringing stroke, to break our yoke, Of Freedom's Pioneers.

8 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT May t968

OUR I IRISH SEAMEM DISTINGUISHED UNDER MANY FLAGS

T^HE curse of emigration has. as has been repeatedly

stressed in this series, deprived our country of thousands of seamen of proved ability. The. alarming thing is that this is being allowed to go on, and the lesson that we must put an end to it is made sharper by realisa-tion of the equality of our past losses.

If t h e F r e n c h a n d Br i t i sh mer-c h a n t a n d n a v a l fleets drew the m a j o r i t y of o u r sea fa re r s , a n d of t h e s ea f a r i ng s o n s a n d g randsons of ou r exiles, y e t t h e r e were many o t h e r flags u n d e r wh ich I r i sh sea-m e n buil t t h e m s e l v e s g rea t a n d de-served r e p u t a t i o n s .

O n e of t h e m o s t va luab le a n d a t t h e s a m e t ime m o s t exci t ing books e n a mode rn n a v a l h is tor ica l event is " T s u s h i m a " , by A. NovikofT-Priboi (Allen & Unwin , 1936). Th i s is a deta i led accoun t , by a s e a m a n who pa r t i c ipa ted , of t h e disastrously m i s m a n a g e d voyage of a n imperia l R u s s i a n fleet f r o m Europe to break t h e enemy b lockade of Po r t A r t h u r i n t h e R u s s o - J a p a n e s e War . (Reali-sa t ion of how t h e imper ia l govern-m e n t h a d cal lously s en t t h o u s a n d s of fine s e a m e n t o t h e i r d e a t h s on a n impossible e r r a n d e rup ted in Rfiss ia in to t h e g r e a t 1905 revolu-t ion, t h e p r e lude t o 1917).

I n h i s book Novikofl-Pr iboi writes of t h e R u s s i a n commander - in -ch ie f ' s aide, L i e u t e n a n t O'Brien, "who boosted he w a s descended f rom K i n g s of I r e l a n d " .

TH I S O 'Br i en w a s a m e m b e r of one of seve ra l f a m o u s Ir ish-

Rt iss ian n a v a l f a m i l i e s w h i c h estab-l i shed themse lves i n R u s s i a i n t he exci t ing ear ly y e a r s of t h e 18th c e n t u r y w h e n P e t e r t h e G r e a t and h i s i m m e d i a t e successor's were modern i s ing t h a t g r e a t a n d h i t h e r t o d o r m a n t coun t ry . Se rv i ce wi th t h e y o u n g R u s s i a n fleets was clearly p r e f e r ab l e f o r m a n y I r i s h m e n to-' service on t h e d e c k s of E n g l i s h s h i p s o r s t a g n a t i o n l a t h e i r con-que red h o m e l a n d .

by JOHN DE COURCY IRELAND

I n fac t , a s ear ly a s 1665 a n I r i sh -m a n , Dav id But le r , h a d h a d t h e d i s t i nc t i on of being p u t by P e t e r ' s f a t h e r , T s a r Alexis, in c o m m a n d of t h e f i r s t decked wa r sh ip R u s s i a ever h a d . t h e Orel , which w a s bui l t on t h e River Volga a n d showed t h e R u s s i a n flag on t he C a s p i a n S e a fo r t h e first t ime.

Severa l I r i s h officers were p r e s e n t a t t h e decisive R u s s i a n n a v a l vic-t o ry of Tches ine , in t h e R u s s o -T u r k i s h W a r of 1768-74. A t t h e o u t b r e a k of t h a t war K e r r y - m a n J o h n D e l a p was c a p t a i n of o n e of t h e finest sh ips in t h e R u s s i a n fleet, t h e 64-gun Schl i isselburg.

O n e well-known I r i s h - R u s s i a n fami ly , t h e Cronins , p roduced t h a t A d m i r a l "Crowne" wi th w h o m F e n i a n a g e n t s discussed v a r i o u s possibil i t ies of jo in t a n t i - B r i t i s h a c t i o n in t he even t of t h e Anglo-R u s s i a n t ens ion of t h e l a t e 1870s l e a d ing to war.

T J R O B A B L Y t h e mos t succes s fu l • of al l I r i sh -Russ i an n a v a l offi-

ce r s was Baill ie, a C a v a n m a n , whose exploi ts in t h e Adr i a t i c a n d E a s t e r n M e d i t e r r a n e a n in t h e clos-i ng s t ages of t h e F r e n c h R e v o l u -t i ona ry w a r m a r k h i m as o n e of t h e g r e a t f r i g a t e c a p t a i n s of t h e age.

T h e mos t s a t i s f ac to ry a c t of h i s c a r e e r was p e r h a p s when h e a r r i v e d a t Naples in 1798 t o co -opera te w i t h t h e b loodth i r s ty Nelson a g a i n s t t h e F rench -backed R e p u b l i c a n r e g i m e in t h a t city. Nelson, w h o h a d b e e n a sked by t h e expelled q u e e n of Naples , a s i s te r of M a r i e A n t i o n e t t e —of cake i n s t e a d of b r e a d n o t o r i e t y —to t r e a t h e r cap i t a l l ike a n I r i s h rebel town.

He did, b r ing ing his r e i g n of . t e r ro r J o a c l i m a x by h a v i n g t h e 1 Neapo l i t an R e p u b l i c a n a d m i r a l

Caracciolo h a n g e d f r o m t h e y a r d -a rm, a n d l a t e r wa tch ing , w i t h h i s lady-love, E m m a Hami l t on , h i s

u n f o r t u n a t e victim's body floating in N a p l e s harbour . Bail l ie 's ener-getic p r o t e s t s aga ins t h i s ally's b a r b a r i t y r e m a i n on record .

B a r r y of Wexford, w h o was t he first c a p t a i n in the U n i t e d S t a t e s Navy, e n t e r e d the s t rugg le a g a i n s t George ' s I l l ' s Eng land in t he s a m e d e m o c r a t i c spirit a s t he Uni t ed I r i s h m e n a genera t ion la ter .

I n c o m m a n d of t h e f r i g a t e All iance h e fought on M a r c h 10th, 1783, a g a i n s t H.M.S. Sibylle t he last n a v a l ac t ion of t he A m e r i c a n Revolu t ion . The year be fo re h e had c a p t u r e d nine r ich Br i t i sh prizes, a n d was able to sell t he cargoes of f ou r of t h e m in F r a n c e for 620,610 (un-devalued!) pounds .

Less well known, a n o t h e r I r i sh s eaman , Gus tavus C o n y n g h a m , c o m m a n d i n g the 10-gun lugger Surpr ise , opera t ing f r o m F r e n c h ports, c a p t u r e d the Harwich to Hol-land m a i l b o a t in 1777, th i s ac t ion h a s t e n i n g t h e day when F r a n c e came o p e n l y to the he lp of t he Nor th A m e r i c a n rebels.

La te r , i n t h e Revenge, h e played havoc w i t h Brit ish sh ipping in t he Nor th S e a . Captured in 1779, h e bur rowed h i s way out of pr ison a t P l y m o u t h a n d escaped to F rance . He sa id of th i s tha t he h a d com-mi t ted t r e a s o n through His Ma-jesty's e a r t h . " " D R O W N of Foxford, t he Argen-

t i n e revolu t ionary who in la te r life s e n t m o n e y to assist t he fight to r epea l t h e Act of Union, was one of t h e m o s t versatile admira l s in all n a v a l h i s to ry . His ac t ions took place f a r o u t a t sea, in t idal wa te r s near t h e U r u g u a y a n coast, in t he es tuar ia l w a t e r s of the Plate, a n d far i n l a n d u p the grea t r ivers of the P a n a m a , system. He was dis-t i ngu i shed .equally a s blockade-r u n n e r a n d ' blockade-organiser, a s commerce r a ide f , as commande r in a ' classic sa i l ing fleet act ion, a n d as a n e x p e r t in amphibious war fa re .

WORLD COMMENTARY ( C o n t i n u e d f r o m Page Two)

imper ia l i sm's t r u s t y g e n d a r m e s h a d gone wobWsr a t t h e knees.

F o r t w o - g e n e r a t i o n s G e r m a n y h a d teen sa fe l o r r eac t i on , i ts people seemingly i n d o c t r i n a t e d bl ind, deaf a n d dumb . ' N o t h i n g could pene-t r a t e the i r skul ls .

B u t now? ^ I t h a s been shown t h a t a ma jo r i ty of t h e s t u d e n t s a r e e n t h e Lef t : N i n e t y pe r cen t of a l l G e r m a n n e w s p a p e r s a r e owned h j t t h e vast S p r i n g e r monopoly. T h e I t u d e n t s accuse t h i s g roup of work-i n g u p pass ions a g a i n s t them, a n d t h u s indirect ly c o n t r i b u t i n g to t h e a t t e m p t e d m u r d e r .

T h e G o v e r n m e n t d i d n o t h i n g to c u r b t h e provocat ions . So they wen t o u t ( themselves) t o p r e v e n t t he dis-t r ibu t ion of t h e pub l i ca t ions of t he monopoly.

Again u p w e n t t h e h a n d s in hor-ro r . W h a t a wicked a n i m a l it is— w h e n it is a t t a c k e d i t d e f e n d s It-sel f . T h e s h o o t i n g of t he s t u d e n t leader was n o t violence, of course. T t w t was violence by R i g h t a g a i n s t L e f t , so if i t was violence it was good violence, l ike f r y i n g long-pig i n Asia wi th t h e a id of Dow n a p a l m .

. Of course t h e r e were crudi t ies . W e don ' t like c rud i t ies . B u t to ex-pect t h e ch i ld ren of t h e Nazis to m a k e a decisive t u r n to t h e Lef t w i thou t crudi t ies would be ask ing f o r t h e moon. T h e i m p o r t a n t t h ing is t h a t t he new gene ra t ion of young G e r m a n s recognises its real enemy —monopoly capi ta l i sm. T h i s m e a n s t h a t wi thin a few yea r s t he Ger-m a n na t i on will h a v e reconquered t h e he r i t age of Schil ler , Goe the . He ine a n d Marx .

•Ct it it A ND in Eng l and , too, youth was

on t h e m a r c h . For the f i rs t t i m e for severa l y e a r s t h o u s a n d s comple ted t he f a m o u s trek f rom Alde rmas ton t o T r a f a l g a r Squa re An a r m y of police w a s assembled t o p reven t a n y repercuss ions f r o m t h e G e r m a n a f fa i r .

T h e procession w a s fo r tuna te ly

entirely peacefu l . T h e police h a d ho doubt h a d orders riot t o be provocative, t h o u g h w h e n o n e y o u n g m a n s tepped s l igh t ly out of l ine a s traff ic s w u n g round a c o r n e r I hea rd a po l i ceman o n t raff ic c o n t r o l give a hys te r ica l screech of s h e e r an imal h a t r e d . His nerves m u s t have been f r ayed .

The gui l ty conscience of a gov-e r n m e n t t h a t is no t doing i ts d u t y had c o m m u n i c a t e d itself even to i ts lowest minions .

And, of course, t h e r e were c r u d i -ties on t he o t h e r side. I t was a p i ty t ha t a decen t w o m a n like Mrs . K e r r should be p r even t ed f r o m s p e a k i n g because of G o v e r n m e n t policies she has so o f t e n crit icised.

T h e r e were some c lashes wi th t h e police nea r S p r i n g e r s office in t h e "Daily Mir ror" building. I w a s n o t there a n d c a n offer no ev idence as to who was to blame.

It was regre t tab le , of course, b u t pillars of society would find i t f a r easier to advoca t e sweetness a n d l ight a t home if they s topped m a k -ing hydrogen bombs, and got o u t of "other peoples ' countr ies . T h e y could also lessen t h e n u m b e r of pub-lic d e m o n s t r a t i o n s by al lowing dis-sidents fa i r t ime on television a n d radio and no t hogg ing t h e lot fo r the par t ies of t he e s t a b l i s h m e n t s -Tory. Liberal a n d Labour.

A A A r p n i S is a n old issue in t he six

counties. Here a g o v e r n m e n t ha s stopped up every a v e n u e of progress for a sect ion of t he com-munity.

Sys temat ica l ly it lias poisoned t h e spr ings of political life unt i l reli-gious g roup ings g l a re a t each o t h e r over the fires of emot ional a r m e d camps.

T h e power of p r o p a g a n d a is re-served to those w h o believe in t h e present system. Those who say n o have thei r p a p e r s «nd p a m p h l e t s confiscated. T h e electoral sys tem is devised to give t h e Unionis ts a pe r -

m a n e n t m a j o r i t y . T h e na t iona l i s t popula t ion is the victim of fierce economic d iscr iminat ion , which is as va r ious a n d in tense as t h a t of the A m e r i c a n negroes. And the de-pression of t h e Cathol ics into t he position of second-class citizens is then used t o hoM down the general s t anda rd , so t h a t P ro te s t an t work-ers su f f e r because of the repression of the i r Ca tho l i c fellows.

If a R e p u b l i c a n flag is shown, ei ther t h e au thor i t i e s seize it, or hoodlums a r e organised to a t tack it. F r o m t h e Governmenta l point of view t h e r e is absolutely no vio-lence u p to th i s point, though armed police s t r u t the s t ree ts many of t h e m h a v i n g shown themselves t r igge r -happy in the past . Bu t when Ca tho l i cs , Nat ional is ts or Re-publ icans defend themselves f rom at tack, t h e n t h a t Is violence, and the t e a r s of hypocrisy glisten on the O r a n g e lilies.

A A A r P H E i m p o r t a n c e of the events of ' M a r c h a n d April, 1968 lie in

the u p s u r g e of popular feeling. Not only t h e Vie tnamese bu t t h e American people gave check to Johnson. T h e Germfen you th sepa-rated t hemse lves off f rom Nazism. G e r m a n y begins i ts r egene ra t i on a t the h a n d s of G e r m a n s , a s it should do. T h e o r d i n a r y people of Br i t a in chal lenged t h e policy of a govern-ment everybody knows is no t doing its duty. In I re land also t he popu-lar b a n n e r was held a lof t aga in .

The peoples of the world a re tired and sick of monopoly r ap i t a l i sm and imper ia l i sm, where they have no control of the i r own des t in ies and a re used to d ic ta te t he desti-nies of o t h e r s .

The g o v e r n m e n t s would be be t te r engaged a c c o m m o d a t i n g themse lves to the will of the people t h a n pick-ing on occasional crudi t ies a n d ex-cesses in t h e m a n n e r of express ing this will in a fu t i l e a t t e m p t to deny it essential Tightness.

C.D.G.

He was equally ce lebra ted for his c a r e f u l a t t e n t i o n to h i s c r e w s comfor t s a n d fo r h i s pe r sona l super-vision of the smal les t de t a i l s of sea-m a n s h i p in his sh ips His victory over t he S p a n i a r d s off Montevideo, wh ich finally f r eed A r g e n t i n a f r o m the imperial yoke of S p a i n , was a model of tac t ica l excel lence. His improvisat ion, in cond i t i ons of blockade and enemy occupa t ion , of a revolut ionary sma l l - c r a f t fleet in t he early days of t h e s t r u g g l e was never equalled in nava l h i s to ry till Yugoslav s e a m e n c rea t ed a revolu-t iona ry fleet ou t of a r m e d fishing c r a f t in 1943 in t h e Adr ia t ic i s lands a n d has t ened t h e victory of Ti to 's p a r t i s a n s over t h e Nazi invader s . X l ^ " R I G H T of Drogheda , w h o died

a cen tu ry ago t h i s coming December , is wor thy to be h o n o u r e d a longs ide Brown. A f o r m e r Br i t i sh nava l officer, h e f o u g h t o n l and wi th t he a r m y of t h e r evo lu t iona ry h e r o Bolivar in n o r t h e r n Sou th America, a n d t h e n improv i sed a n d c o m m a n d e d for h i m a s m a l l but mos t effective fleet t h a t h e l p e d to Bring Span i sh r u l e to a n e n d in Peru .

Se t t l ing in Ecuador , h e became the first c o m m a n d e r „ of t h a t coun-t ry ' s navy, a n d i n Guayoqu i l , i ts chief port , t h e n a u t i c a l col lege long was a n d m a y well still be called aifter h im.

Dr iven f r o m h i s adop ted c o u n t r y for h i s liberal views, h e s p e n t 15 yea r s in exile in n e a r b y Chile, whose own l ibe ra t ion owed m u c h to t h e nava l sense of h e r l ibe ra to r , O 'Higgins , a n d to t h e g a l l a n t r y of a n o t h e r O'Brien, c a p t a i n of h e r first warsh ip . R e t u r n i n g a t l e n g t h to Ecuador , W r i g h t he lped t o re-es tabl i sh p a r l i a m e n t a r y g o v e r n m e n t t h e r e a n d to t h w a r t t h e impe r i a l i s t des igns in the a r e a of Napo leon I I I .

1 ATER in the l a s t c e n t u r y I r i sh--®-J descended s e a m e n won celebr i ty on bo th sides of t h e sad f r a t r i c i d a l w a r between P e r u a n d Chile, whose navy consequent ly a lways boas t s sh ips called A l m i r a n t e L y n c h a n d Almi ran t e Condell . Nor shou ld we fo rge t t he g u n - r u n n i n g e f for t s of " W a s h i n g t o n " R y a n in t h e Virgi-n ius to help t h e C u b a n rebels a g a i n s t Spanish imper i a l i sm in t he 1870s, for which h e pa id with h i s lite before a S p a n i s h firing squad.

I n Spain i tself , too, I r i s h m e n won nava l r epu ta t ions . Mul len , or Mull lns, was t h e l ead ing S p a n i s h nava l a rch i tec t of t h e l a t e r 18th cen tury , and a t T r a f a l g a r t h e Spa-n i sh ba t t l e sh ip R a y o was com-m a n d e d by a Macdonnel .

The people not the gun

^ P E A K I N G at the Celtic Youth Congress in Bangor on

"James Connolly .and the Celtic Peoples", Mr. Desmond Greaves, editor of the "Irish Democrat", warned against at-tempts to transfer mechanically the experience of Ireland to Wales, Scotland and elsewhere.

I t was first necessary, he said, to get a Arm g rasp of w h a t t h a t ex-per ience consisted of, and nowhere could th is bet ter be done t h a n in t h e works of J a m e s Connolly.

T h e most i m p o r t a n t event in I r i sh history, the l ec tu re r suggested , m i g h t well be t h e F l igh t of t he Earls , a n d the subsequen t d e p a r t u r e of t he "Wild Geese ' . T h i s m e a n t I r e l and was t h e n c e f o r t h a land wi thou t a he red i t a ry a r i s toc racy of its own. Quite a p a r t f rom vest iges of t he clan system, in I r e l and aris-tocracy was for h u n d r e d s of years seen as a foreign th ing . Democracy was n a t u r a l to t he I r i sh people, and I r e l and was really t h e mos t "Lef t -wing" country in Europe. A t t e m p t s to make it o therwise h a d a lways fai led despite t e m p o r a r y a p p a r e n t success and he was h a p p y to h a v e lived to see the g r e a t r e su rgence of radical ideas a m o n g the youth of I r e l and today.

I > E F E R R I N G to Connolly 's g r e a t classic, "Labour in I r i sh His-

tory", he men t ioned Connol ly ' s ana lys i s of the I r i sh popu la r move-m e n t s th rough t h e ages, a n d h i s conclusion t h a t t hose w h o compro-

CELTIC YOUTH

CONGRESS r P H E Celtic Youth Congress

was founded about four years ago to provide a lorum for the discussion of matters of common interest among the young people of Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Man, Cornwall and Brittany.

P r o m i n e n t a m o n g i t s founders was Mr . Tecwyn E v a n s , a member of t h e Liverpool b r a n c h of t h e Conno l ly Association.

I t s f o u r t h Congress w a s held in B a n g o r , Cae rna rvon , i tself as t he n a m e indicates , a c i ty founded by t he I r i s h , a n d was well a t t e n d e d by d e l e g a t e s f r o m I r e l a n d , Scot land a n d W a l e s .

T h e Bre tons , who w e r e to have come, d i d no t arr ive, probably as a r e s u l t of t h e vicious persecu t ion t h a t e x i s t s in F rance .

was a d e b a t e on t h e C o m m o n Marke t , o n e in which

the I r i s h led t he a r g u m e n t for to ta l oppos i t ion , while t h e Welsh a n d Scots w e r e divided. I t i s of course n a t u r a l e n o u g h t h a t t h e people of a c o u n t r y which h a s s o m e kind of s e l f - g o v e r n m e n t would b e less likely to w i sh t o r isk losing it, t h a n those who h a v e none, a n d t o w h o m any c h a n g e m i g h t seem a n improve-men t .

S C H O L A R L Y p a p e r s were deli-^ ve red in the d e b a t e on the l a n g u a g e q u e s t i o n Mrs . T r e f o r Mor-gan i C y m d e i t h a s yr i a i t h G y m r a e g ) spoke f o r t h e Welsh, a n d Mr. Wil-l iam Neil ( a n c o m u n n G a e d h a l a c h ) for t h e Scots . T h e r e w e r e cr i t ic isms of P l a i d C y m r u a n d t h e S.N.P. who it was s a i d were c o m p r o m i s i n g on t he l a n g u a g e quest ion in t h e i r quest for votes . B u t c r i t i c i sms of these were f a i n t i n compar i son w i t h I r ish c r i t i c i sms of Fi&nna F a i l

A l e c t u r e on " J a m e s Connol ly a n d the Ce l t i c

w a s de l ivered by Mr. D e s m o n d G r e a v e s hi ' t h e capa-city of g u e s t speaker f r o m t h e I r i sh de l ega t ion . T N g e n e r a l t h e I r i sh d e l e g a t e s pre-

g a t e s p r e s e n t e d t h e socialist poin t of view, w h i c h t h e young W e l s h m e n , m a n y of t h e m local stu-den t s , l a p p e d it up l ike c a t s d r i nk ing milk. T h e Scots cour t eous ly fore-bore f r o m polemics, b u t h a d t he a p p e a r a n c e of men w h o were not en t i re ly c o n v i n c e d

D u b l i n was r e p r e s e n t e d by two of the n e w g e n e r a t i o n of l e a d e r s of t he Gael ic L e a g u e . They e x p l a i n e d t h a t t he o l d o rgan i sa t i on is n o w re ju-vena ted , a n d is going t o pu r sue a vigorous policy of rev iva l of I r i sh u n h a m p e r e d by "official" res t r ic t ive-ness a n d respectabi l i ty .

mised o r be t rayed were a l w a y s t he p rope r t i ed elements . O n l y t h e work-ing c l a s s could be t r u s t e d to carry, t h r o u g h t h e s t rugg le f o r na t iona l i n d e p e n d e n c e to t he e n d .

He bei ieved t h a t t h i s was the lesson t h e o ther Cel t ic peoples should l e a r n f rom I r e l a n d . It was not a m a t t e r of t he use of the gun, which w a s a question of m e a n s , and was f a r f r o m the only t h i n g t h a t had been used in I re land . T h e issue of s u b s t a n c e was t h a t t h e social con ten t of any g e n u i n e na t iona l m o v e m e n t .should be f u n d a m e n t a l l y plebeian. I t s p lebeian c h a r a c t e r was the s u p r e m e s t r eng th of t h e Irish m o v e m e n t .

1 T E h a z a r d e d the g u e s s that if a n e n q u i r y was m a d e it would

be tound t h a t t he s t r e n g t h of Welsh na t iona l s e n t i m e n t a n d language would be f o u n d a m o n g t h e workers and s m a l l f a r m e r s w h o m Mr. Wil-son's G o v e r n m e n t was working so hard to ge t off the l a n d so t ha t he could give it to the big business monopolies . T h e r e was a case, some-times p u t t h a t had Wales a n d Scot-land been i n d e w n d e n t t h e y would have been well on t h e wav to socialism now. He did n o t possess the knowledge to p r o n o u n c e judg-men t on t h a t case, but h e t h o u g h t there m i g h t be .something in it

Connol ly saw the s t r u g g l e for na t i ona l independence a s p a r t of the g r e a t democra t i c t r a n s f o r m a t i o n of .society t he end poin t of which was social ism. He t h o u g h t t h a t this was a lesson which t h e peoples of o ther countries could wi th advan-tage bring into consideration when

they had t h e i r de l ibera t ions

May 1968 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 9

WOMEN IN THE IRISH STRUGGLE T W I C E in the last century

Irishwomen got, and used, a chance to serve their coun-try dangerously. Constance Markievicz, whose 100th birth-day we celebrate, lived through both periods.

I n 1880, a n d a g a i n in 1916, p rac-

t i ca l ly all t h e m a l e leaders of t h e

I r i s h n a t i o n were i n prison.

W h e n Parne l l a n d t h e leaders of t h e L a n d League were removed t h e Lad ie s ' L a n d L e a g u e h a d to t ake over t h e whole admin i s t r a t i on of a l a r g e a n d complex organisa t ion w h o s e ac t ions h a d a l ready affected t h e l ives of every f ami ly in t h e r u r a l communi ty . T h e i r only asset , t h o u g h a good one, was t h e L a n d L e a g u e ' s cheque book. As best t h e y could they h a d t o answer t h e q u e s t i o n p u t by t h e evicted. " W h a t d o you do w h e n you have spen t a week i n a d i t ch a n d n o one comes n e a r you?" Has t i ly they t r a ined y o u n g w o m e n on po in t s of t he law c o n c e r n i n g r igh t s , r e n t s and t e n -a n c i e s a n d sen t t h e m th roughou t t h e l and . T h e y a r r a n g e d for t h e b u i l d i n g of " l and league houses." S o m e h o w they m a n a g e d to keep " U n i t e d I r e l and , " t h e Land League p a p e r , alive, p r i n t i n g it in Eng -l a n d , or F rance , because t h e i r o w n p r i n t e r s h a d been arrested.

T N 1916 t h e women of t h e I r i sh Ci t i zen Army a n d C u m a n n n a

m B a n took t h e i r p a r t in t h e R i s i n g . One was sentenced to d e a t h , a few got pena l servitude, a n d a b o u t 80 i n all were ar res ted . F r o m t h e i r cells in t h e same wing a s t h e l eade r s t h e y prayed every m o r n i n g whi le t h e y l is tened for t h e vol leys w h i c h p e r f o r m e d t h e execu-t i o n s . W i t h i n a f o r t n i g h t of t h e e x e c u t i o n s t h e widows a n d s is ters of t h e dead m e n m e t t o s t a r t t h e w o r k of relief a n d re-organisat ion, u n d e r t h e l eade r sh ip of Mrs. T o m C l a r k e . I n t h i s work they, a n d o t h e r s were so successful t h a t w h e n t h e pena l servi tude m e n w e r e re leased t h e count ry was r e a d y t o elect t h e m to the F i r s t Da i l E i r e a n n

O n t h e very day of h i s a r res t in 1881 Michae l Dav i t t h a d pu t Anna P a r n e l l in c h a r g e of t h e Ladies ' L a n d League. And h e laughed in t h e t r a i n ca r ry ing h i m to pena l s e r v i t u d e when h e t h o u g h t of t h e t r o u b l e which A n n a would make f o r Mr . Fos te r—"Buckshot Fos te r" — t h e Chief Secre tary .

T h a t w a s a t ime of suffer ing and d i s t r e s s in I re land . Mr. W. L. Micks, s e c r e t a r y t o t h e Congested Dis-t r i c t Board , in 1892 es t imated t h a t £ 5 p e r f ami ly "would be f a r too m u c h t o allow a s ca sh received a n n u a l l y . . . " in t h e counties of Donega l , Mayo a n d Galway. If S l igo was a n y be t t e r i t was b e c a u s e t h e landlords , including t h e G o r e Booths, h a d exported

peop le "for the i r o w n good" — a p rocess no t to ta l ly d i f fe rent f rom w h a t t h e E s t a b l i s h m e n t in Dubl in does today, except t h a t the e m i g r a n t s have to pay the i r owr fa res .

IT w a s f r o m t h e r en t s received f r o m these oppressed people

t h a t I r i s h l and lo rds of t he pas t bui l t t h e i r m a n s i o n s in Pa rk Lane, to a t t e n d Queen Victoria 's court , a n d k i s s her h a n d .

T h e s e were t h e representa t ives of B r i t i s h g o v e r n m e n t in I r e l a n d -p rov id ing all t h e magis t ra tes— un t i l t h e L a n d League , and t he Ladies ' L a n d L e a g u e chal lenged t h e m t h r o u g h t h e l eng th and b r e a d t h of t h e l and , I t was a clash in w h i c h t h e braves t of t he people s u f f e r e d t h e mos t heavi ly because P a r n e l l ' s c h a n g e of policy in Kil-m a i n h a m le f t t h o u s a n d s on the roads ide , a n d a l m o s t equal num-b e r s of l a n d g r a b b e r s In possession. No wonde r A n n a Pa rne l l called h e r unpub l i shed book " T h e Tale of a G r e a t S h a m . " S h e h a d had to t ry a n d clean up t h e mess.

An arti cle based on her speech at the Conway Hall at the

Countess Mankievitz Centenary Commemoration

By MARIE COMERFORD

The scat ter ing of t he landless men, with the i r famil ies , b rough t t h e finest revolu t ionary manpower t o Dublin, to America , and to t h e Engl ish cities. W h a t ru ra l I re land lost was not lost t o t h e struggle of t h e peoples for na t i ona l , social, a n d economic f reedom. I t was pa r t of t h e reason why Dub l in proved itself in 1916.

/ tONSTANCE G O R E BOOTH took p a r t in t h e privileged l ife

of t he landlord society for t he first 40 years of he r life. Some of t h e landlords , for al l t h e i r greed a n d crue l ty on t h e human/poli i r lcal level, loved a r t a n d poetry, bui l t beau t i fu l houses a n d collected won-d e r f u l libraries. T h e Gore Booths were such as these , in addi t ion t o w h i c h Constance ' s p a r e n t s m a d e pe r sona l sacrifices i n t ime of ex-cept ional famine , a n d they worked h a r d to fo rward t h e co-operative movement , and t h e Fe is Ceoil.

I t can, I th ink , be sa id t h a t Con-s t a n c e was a w a r e of, and m i g h t h a v e helped in a l l t he cur ren t char i t ab le and cu l tu ra l efforts of t h e period—including t h a t of Lady Aberdeen to abol ish tuberculosis— before she ever m e t He lena Molony or J i m Larkin, o r J a m e s Connolly.

I n wha t measure , she mus t h a v e a sked herself were t h e demands f o r just ice p u t f o r w a r d by these people, likely t o be met by t h e author i t ies?

Issues were h e r e wh ich she could unde r s t and out of h e r own pr iva te l i fe f r o m childhood. S h e told May Cough lan la te ^ n l i fe a f te rwards , how h e r Revolt ' a g a i n s t home dis-cipline s ta r ted f r o m t h e day when h e r f a t h e r locked h e r in a cupboard fo r some offence. F r o m t h a t day, al l h e r l i fe she h a d m a d e her own decisions about t h e au thor i ty she would accept, a n d t h a t which she would re ject . W h e n she carr ied a g u n a f t e rwards , a n d used it, t h a t was t h e mas t effect ive method i n h e r power a g a i n s t a n au tho r i t y wh ich she did n o t accept, a n d m e a n t t o over throw. No o the r m e t h o d would h e l p except t h e m e t h o d of revolt.

' r p H A T th i s a t t i t u d e was governed by convict ion a n d a lways con-

t ro l led by reason c a n be established wi thou t difficulty. S h e was a n easy person to live wi th , even tempered a n d generous, comple te ly wi thout selfishness. Anybody who was ever in pr ison k n o w s a s well as I do how difficult i t is t o sett le down there. How m a n y of us succeeded in l ea rn ing I r i sh i n pr i son? Or in _ doing any w o r t h w h i l e a m o u n t of s tudy, or a n y t h i n g a t all to im-prove our minds? T h e wild, swag-ger ing w o m a n dep ic ted by h e r enemies would neve r h a v e sett led down t o I r i sh a n d pa in t ing and ga rden ing a n d poe t ry , or even scrubbing floors i n jail , as Con-s t a n c e Markievicz did.

T h e ca ree rs of M a u d e Gonne McBride, C o n s t a n c e Markievicz, J e n n y Wyse Power , He lena Mplony, A n n a Parnel l , c a m e together briefly before A n n a ' s d e a t h in 1909.

Be tween t h e m t h e s e women could pool a vas t exper ience of ag i ta ted l i fe f r o m which t o s tudy tac t ics for t h e fu tu re . Mrs . Power was only one of those w h o carr ied t h e t r ad i t i on of t h e Ladies Land League in to S i n n F e i n a n d C u m a n n n a m B a n . U n f o r t u n a t e l y she seems to have become a conservat ive a n d followed of Griff in in la te r life.

Cons tance m a r r i e d Coun t Mar-kievicz in 1900 a n d c a m e t o live in Dublin t h r e e yea r s la ter . She and t he Coun t a t t e n d e d t h e Castle and Look p a r t in t h e l i te rary a n d d r a m a t i c m o v e m e n t s of t he t ime. By 1909 she h a d moved f a r to t he lef t of he r origins. She was a founder member of a n d benefac-t ress of Na F i a n n a Ei reann and

used these words i n a n address to t h e S t u d e n t s ' N a t i o n a l Li terary Society of D u b l i n : —

"A f r e e I r e l a n d wi th no sex disabil i t ies s h o u l d be the m o t t o fo r all n a t i o n a l i s t women.

"Arm yourse lves wi th weapons to fight your n a t i o n ' s cause. Arm your sou l s w i t h noble a n d f r e e ideas. A n d if , in your day t h e cal l s h o u l d come for your body t o a r m , d o n o t shr ink f r o m t h a t e i ther . M a y t h e asp i ra t ion t o l i fe a n d f r e e d o m a m o n g t h e w o m e n of I r e l and br ing f o r t h a J o a n of Arc t o f ree our na t ion . "

W i t h H e l e n a Molony and m e m -bers of I n g h i n i d h e n a h E i r e a n n s h e m e t a g r o u p w h e r e for the first t i m e in h e r l i f e s h e w a s t rea ted a s a n equal by w o r k i n g class people.

W i t h Her exper ience , and h e r well f u r n i s h e d m i n d , ar t is t ic t a len t , love of people, a n d above all h e r en thus i a sm, s h e f e l l in beh ind Connol ly a n d L a r k i n , helping t h e m i n every t a s k w i t h i n h e r power.

T o enemies , a n d t h e r e were thou-s a n d s of t h e m , s h e was " t h a t d r e a d f u l w o m a n leading young people t o t h e i r des t ruc t ion ."

T N t h e enqu i ry a f t e r the Rising, t he police r evea led t h a t t h e y

h a d been w a t c h i n g h e r since 1910. "Coun tess Mark iev icz came in to p rominence w i t h t h e es tabl i shment of t h e boy scouts ."

B u t S u p e r i n t e n d e n t Dunne, i n a po l i ce c i rcu la r a b o u t t he n i g h t m a n o e u v r e s of t h e Cit izen Army ifi 1915, .wrote t h a t i t was "a ser ious s t a t e of a f f a i r s t o h a v e t he peace of t h e c i ty e n d a n g e r e d by a g roup of r o u g h s a r m e d wi th rifles a n d w i t h a f e m a l e l ike Countess Mar -kievicz i n c h a r g e . "

O t h e r pol ice d o c u m e n t s called h e r "A f o r m i d a b l e woman," or sa id " T h e w o m a n k n o w n as Countess Markievicz h a s a l so been seen."

A c i r c u l a r - d a t e d J a n u a r y l l t h , 1920, s t ressed " " t h e grave impor t -a n c e of s ecu r ing t h i s woman ' s a r -r e s t " a n d u r g e d t h e police " to ac t f i rmly a n d p r o m p t l y " if they could p e n e t r a t e h e r disguise. At t h a t t i m e a special pol ice van was held r e a d y In D u b l i n Cas t l e to respond immed ia t e ly t o a n y te lephone call r epo r t i ng h e r presence . And in eve ry police a r e a t w o cyclists were to be kep t o n d u t y to follow up r epo r t s conce rn ing h e r a n d t ry t o keep h e r i n s i gh t un t i l t h e arr ival of re in-fo rcemen t s . C o n s t a n c e kept h e r f r e e d o m a n d w e n t on with he r work a s Min i s t e r un t i l t h e following Sep-tember , w h e n she was caught .

B u t t h e C o u n t e s s was a t all t imes very sensi t ive t o t h e suffer ings of t h e people, pa r t i cu la r ly in r ega rd t o bad hous ing a n d extensive un-employmen t . O n these m a t t e r s h e r h e a r t could c o n t e n d with her h e a d on ques t ions of na t iona l principle. Scellg descr ibed th i s conflict in h e r m i n d a t a Cab ine t meet ing in t h e Dub l in M a n s i o n House when t he Va le ra r e t u r n e d f r o m London in August , 1921, wi th Lloyd George 's of fer of Domin ion s ta tus .

i r p H E s a m e agony of decision con-f ron t ed he r a t the incept ion of

F i a n n a Fail . H e r appeal to C u m a n n n a m B a n , t h a t they would endorse t h e new d e p a r t u r e was based on h e r hope t h a t control of the Free S t a t e P a r l i a m e n t — misnamed Dail E i reann—could be won. and if won m u c h could be done for employ-m e n t a n d re-housing. C u m a n n na m B a n defea ted her . and she par-ted f r o m us, with .sorrow on bo th sides.

B u t en t ry to Leinster House was ba r r ed to anyone not p repared t o t a k e t he o a t h of a l legiance imposed by t h e Trea ty . Cons tance presided a t F i a n n a Fai l meet ings, bu t to t h e clay of her d e a t h declared she would

never t ake t h a t oath. S h e died before t h e F i a n n a Fail P a r t y took their seats .

I n h i s o r a t i o n a t her graves ide in Glasnevin, Mr . de Valera sa id t h a t she h a d b e e n t h e advocate of Con-nolly's p r i n c i p l e s within t h e S i n n Fein m o v e m e n t . I t was a n ad-mission of t h e g r e a t fa i lure i n h i s leadership — t h e fai lure to imple-men t t h e p r inc ip les ensh r ined in t he P r o c l a m a t i o n of the Republ ic .

T I E R p a r t i n t h e Rising is well ' ^ known, a n d her bea r ing a t

t h e c o u r t - m a r t i a l which s e n t e n c e d he r t o d e a t h , a n d a f t e rwards , a r e not t h e l e a s t noble p a r t of t h e saga of E a s t e r week. T h e p o e m s and le t t e r s t h a t passed be tween h e r a n d he r s i s t e r belong now t o t h e l i terary h i s t o r y of Ireland.

Whi le s h e w a s serving m o r e t h a n a year in ja i l h e r comrades, m a i n l y among t h e w o m e n of t he C i t i zen Army, led by Helena Molony, g a t h e r e d u p t h e type f r o m w h i c h t he P r o c l a m a t i o n of t he R e p u b l i c was p r in ted , a n d organised a re-pr int ing, a s p a r t of the ce l eb ra t i on of t he first ann ive r sa ry of t h e Ris -ing.

T h e e n t h u s i a s m with w h i c h t h e Flag was g r e e t e d when P a d d y Mor -rin, f r o m Der ry , raised it o n t h e ru ins of t h e G.P.O., a t Eas te r , 1917, was a n i n s p i r a t i o n and s ign of t h e t imes w h i c h h a d its effect over t h e whole coun t ry .

Before C h r i s t m a s 1918, C o n s t a n c e was r e t u r n e d i n t h e St. P a t r i c k s Division of D u b l i n — t h e first w o m a n M.P. S h e w a s in prison, h a v i n g been a r r e s t e d w i th most of t h e na t iona l l e a d e r s a t t h e t i m e of t h e t rumped-up G e r m a n Plot. W h e n she took h e r sea t i t was i n D a i l Eireann, t h e fol lowing April.

She seconded a mot ion—proposed by Alec M c C a b e :

" T h a t t h i s assembly p l e d g e s itself t o a f a i r and fu l l r e d i s -t r ibu t ion of t h e vacant l a n d s arid r a n c h e s of I re land a m o n g the u n e c o n o m i c holders a n d landless m e n "

This was w i t h d r a w n a n d a c o m -mi t tee t o c o n s i d e r the sub jec t w a s appointed. T h e counte r - revo lu t ion was beg inn ing t o r u n and t h e f i r s t Dail m a d e l i t t l e progress o n t h i s m a t t e r of t h e land.

Cons tance w a s m a d e Min i s t e r f o r Labour a n d s h e inst i tuted L a b o u r Cour t s t o i nves t i ga t e and t r y t o settle d i spu te s i n any pa r t of t h e country. Mrs . Eamon C e a n n t , widow of t h e 1916 leader, w a S a member of t h e Labour Court .

DU R I N G t h e worst t imes of t h e Black a n d T a n war, t h e w o r k

of the g o v e r n m e n t of Dail E i r e a n n was done w i t h all Ministers a t t e n d -ing Cabinet mee t ings . T h i s s i t u a -t ion c h a n g e d a f t e r the r e t u r n of Pres ident de V a l e r a f rom A m e r i c a , because h e p r e f e r r e d to work w i t h a n " i n n e r " C a b i n e t f rom w h i c h people like Cons t ance , Count P l u n -kett , J . J . O"Kelly (Sceilg), S e a n E tch ingham, J o s e p h M a c D o n a g h , and o thers w e r e excluded.

I t is on record , however, t h a t Cons tance Markievicz took a n i m -p o r t a n t s t a n d a t one critical p o i n t .

The occas ion is described by D r . McCar tan , w h o w a s sent f r o m t h e United S t a t e s t o explain t o t h e Cabinet t h e P r e s i d e n t ' s r easons f o r making h i s f a m o u s s t a t e m e n t i n which he sugges t ed t ha t B r i t a i n might in f u t u r e have r e l a t i o n s with I re land t o provide for h e r de -fence on s i m i l a r m a n n e r t o t h e re la t ionship be tween the U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d C u b a . While O r i f f l t h and Coll ins accep ted t he P r e s i -dent ' s e x p l a n a t i o n Countess M a r -kievicz a n d C o u n t P lunke t t ob-jected to it very strongly.

Miss C o m e r f o r d c h a t t i n g with-Republ ican ve teran J o s e p h Clarke.

(Acknowledgement to ' I r ish Times')

DEFEND P. R. SAYS COUNCIL

r j i H E D u b l i n Council of Trad©

U n i o n s h a s cal led u p o n i t s

members a n d t h e I r i sh Congres s of

T r a d e U n i o n s to t h row themse lves

into t h e c a m p a i g n of oppos i t ion to

t h e G o v e r n m e n t ' s p roposa l s t o

abolish P . R . I n i ts day t h e Coun-

cil w a s t h e m a i n co-ord ina t ing body

of t h e D u b l i n working class, t h o u g h

in r e c e n t y e a r s t h e I.C.T.U. h a s been

more t o t h e fore.

D e l e g a t e s t o t h e Counci l a r e

again b e c o m i n g more pol i t ical ly

conscious, however , a n d b r o a d issues

a f fec t ing t r a d e un ion is t s a r e a g a i n

being d iscussed in t h e T r a d e s

Council a f t e r years of pol i t ical

torpor.

Ano the r resolut ion, p roposed t o the m e e t i n g by t h e Execut ive Coun-cil, cal led f o r t h e h a n d i n g over of t he v a r i o u s mi l i tary b a r r a c k s a round D u b l i n t o t he C o r p o r a t i o n for conver s ion Into flats. H i e present b a r r a c k accommoda t ion w a s f a r m o r e t h a n t h e a r m y needed , s a id Mr. T. M c P a r t l a n , P res iden t of t h e Council, a n d t h e valuable s i t es cou ld be used f o r hous ing h u n d r e d s of families w i t h i n t h e city b o u n d a r i e s r a the r t h a n moving t h e m mi les away t o t h e f a r -d i s t an t s u b u r b ^ A good idea surely, and • n o t t h e l a s t on this t o p i c likely to c o m e f r o m t h e Council.

IRELAND RATIFIES

ADOPTION CONVENTION

^ JN F e b r u a r y 25th, 1968, I r e l a n d b e c a m e the t h i r d c o u n t r y

(af ter B r i t a i n a n d Ma l t a ) t o r a t i f y the E u r o p e a n Conven t ion o n t h e Adoption of C h i l d r e n

The Conven t ion , which is d e s i g n e d

to f ac i l i t a t e i n t e r - coun t ry a d o p t k m

and seeks t o b r ing n a t i o n a l legis-

lation on a d o p t i o n u p t o d a t e a n d

a t the s a m e t i m e t o h a r m o n i s e i t

a t a E u r o p e a n level, will come i n t o

force on Apr i l 26th, 1968.

The p r i n c i p a l a im of t h e Conven-tion is to f u r t h e r t he w e l f a r e of adopted c h i l d r e n a n d t o p rov ide tha t a d o p t e d ch i l d r en sha l l h a v e t h e same s t a t u s a s chi ldren b o r n in wedlock. I t s purpose is t o p rov ide a p a t t e r n a n d incent ive f o r t h e pro-vision in e a c h count ry of a n adop-tion code bused o n mode rn t h i n k i n g .

•Jm

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT May 1968

i i iml l i i lmt r

i i ifiii i b Hill fill J

THE IRISH REBEL A GREAT crowd had gathered outside of Kiimainham,

With their heads all uncovered they knelt on the ground, For inside that prison lay a brave Irish soldier

His life for his country about to lay down.

He went to his death like a true son of Ireland The firing party he bravely did face ;

Then the order rang out: "Present Arms, Fire," James Connolly fell into a ready-made grave.

The black flag they hoisted, the cruel deed was over Gene was the man who loved Ireland so well.

There was many a sad heart in Dublin that morning, When they murdered James Connolly, the Irish Rebel.

God's curse on you, England, you black-hearted monster, Your deeds they would shame all the devils in Helt.

There are no flowers blooming; but the shamrock is growing O'er the grave of James Connolly, the Irish Rebel.

Many years have gone by since that Irish rebellion, When the guns of Britannia they loudly did speak.

The bold I.R.A. ttiey stood shoulder to shoulder And the blood from their bodies flowed down

Sackville Street.

The Four Courts of Dublin the English bombarded The spirit of Freedom they tried hard to quell,

But above all the din rose the a w "No Surrender"— . Twas the voice of James' Connolly, the Irish Rebel.

A N CLAR BOG DEIL DO gMaofoinn tu gan ba, gan pufnt , gan aireamh spre,

A c h u W . t s a o i , la toil d» mHutnntr*, da nib-all teat me. •Se m o g h a f e r duett gan roe 'gus tu a dhian-ghra mo etiMbti, » g f a l i w U MiaMUaiHa'UW*'«*» Iwbaieb M M ach an clar dog deil!

Stnit, a otwgvtr, is t a r a Miodla Ham fain don ghleann, t h e f t t u f w c a , Webaldti fMeoais it aer cois abhann ; BsMh n a srotha a 'gabtoail thorainn faoi gheagaibh crann, Beidh an londuMi I iHnf bfhochair is an efieiraearoh ann.

S M K m o chMMi do t h u s rH» tfito duiU agus gra t re run, Da M a s e i H i s a d o ehor s a ' tsaot go mfceinn fain Is tu, c aauca i cleiraach aadra inn a raon , 's an (a inne dluth— Is d * bfhefchtn M n m o shearc ag aon fhaa r gheolnn bas le c u m h a !

nua i r a chirm a g an dteampoll I is riWn ualtt ine uirthi a m m mar ghnaof,

n a f H a n n t a fraoich,

do hiadh liom n-a maighdin i ! (i, is a braid mar aol, a ' f a s go f ea r ; • an uir sios do fagadh me

i k i m ghra thar m'eisl

the t i t l e "Donal CWReffl̂ ; a valiant man"

the current issue of the "Irish' Socialist" publishes an obituary over the name of Mr. Michael CRiordan, of*one of the most interesting characters of the generation that is now passing.

He was buried at Olasnevin on Wednesday April IStb, t he fune ra l procession containing members of the Irish Worker* Par ty , leaders of the lAbour Party, P i anna Pail, Dublin T r a d e s Council, Plasterers '

-VBkto a n d W a r of Independence veterans.

Mr. P e a d a r O'Donnell delivered the oration.

He was bo rn in 1903. His fa ther was au thor of "Wrap the Green Plug Round Me." and with his three b ro thers he was present a t the founda t ion meeting of the I r t th Volunteers in the Rotunda

Though only 14, on t h e second of the fighting DonsL made his

WKf in to t h e G.P.O. Tom Clarke g u t h ta l home, but he returned

4 4 f t

l i t was a n active member c>f the F i f th Battalion. Dublin Brig-dur ing t h e t an war He took

I Republ i ran side in the Civil ftnd with his life-long com-

rade Bill Gannon, he was par t of the garrison of the Pour Courts.

being particularly fr iendly with Rory O'Connor and Liam Mellows.

Subsequently he joined t h e Com-munist Par ty of Ireland, founded by Roderic Connolly, studied in Moscow and re turned to become a member of the Workers' Revolu-tionary Groups and a foundat ion member of the Irish Workers' Party.

In his re turn he was associated with Hanna Sheehy Slceffington in establishing the "Irish Fr iends of Soviet Russia" and in September 1934 participated in the founding of the Republican Congress in Rathmines Town Hall.

ft ft 3

SUBSEQUENTLY he fought on the Republican side in Spain,

becoming Political Commissar of the James Connolly unit of the International Brigade. He 8 was wounded in the battle of Cordova.

After the Spanish struggle was over he returned to his t rade as a plasterer in Dublin. Two days before he died he had been returned in his Trade Union elec-tions a t the head of t he poll, to begin his 24t,h year as an Execu-tive Member.

A few copies of the Irish Socialist are available a t the Connolly Association bookshop. 283 Grays Inn Road, or from the publishers at 10a Pearse Street Dublin 2.

EILEEN OGRADY NOW Eileen 0 Grady's a real Irish lady,

I'm longing to call her my own, I'll not be contented till she has consented

To be Mistress Barney Malone. I met this fair treasure while walking for pleasure,

She looked up at me, then she cried Without any warning, "The top of the morning"—

And then up to her I replied:

CHORUS

Come, come, beautiful Eileen, come for a drive with me, Over the mountain and down by the fountain, Over the high road and down by the low road,

Make u p your mind, don' t be unkind, and we'll drive to Castlebar. To the road I'm no stranger , for you there 's no danger, So up like a bird on my old jaunt ing car.

Now Eileen said: "No sir, with you I won' t go, sir, Don' t think it ungra teful of me:

I'd r a t h e r go walking t h a n have people talking, You know what the story would be."

"Now, Eileen, my jewel, don't t reat me so cruel, T o treat me this way is a shame,

Give over your blarney and say I'm your Barney, And don't keep me waiting in vain."

THE HILLS OF CLARE 1WHERE. wild and free, the little winds are sighing,

And foam-flecked billows rush to meet the blue, Where wisps of cloud in azure deeps are flying,

And stars peep out when night comes on anew, Where limpid-clear the lakes, so pure and tender,

Spread out their arms to greet the sunshafts fair, 'Tie there my thoughts abide and homage render

To changeless bliss upon the Hills of Clare.

Hills old with years, yet fresh with vernal glory That brightens earth and ocean, air and sod,

HHis that enshrine both canticle and story, >A«d lift sweet eyes to glimpse the throne of God.

How oft when youth was mine and hopes were golden, I trod the rugged heath your summits wear,

And found thereon the peace both new and olden That gilds with loveliness the HHIs of Glare.

0 Hills that watched a youth to manhood travel— Who looked with eyes untroubled, thro* the years—

Who qjuietly stood and saw time's hand swift ravel A tangled w«b of exile and of tears.

A youth no more, I wander o'er the billow, Like pilgrim-soul a-roving here and there,

Yet air the time the bliss I longed to pillow Shone, glad, pellucidy on the Hills of Clare.

Across the years, like lamp of mercy streaming, Today your grandeur calls and I can see

That exile-paths, though with rose-petals gleaming, Will ne'er bring peace or happiness to me*

And 9« I turn to where the sun desaemUng Showers molten radiance, like a blessing rare,

And fondly vow the roadway I am wending Will yet lead home unto the Hills of Clare.

GLEN SWILLY

men, and h e a r my mournfu l / <OME. listen awhi le my country-* mei

news. Although my song is sorrowful, I

hope you'll me excuse. I lef t my peaceful happy home

some foreign l a n d s to see. And I bid farewell to Donegal,

likewise to Glen Swilly.

Brave stood true.

And as h a n d

I said, hope

And we flag, Swilly.

stalwart m e n around me each comrade kind a n d

I grasped each well known to bid t h e m fond adieu, "My fellow countrymen, I we'll soon be free, '11 proudly raise the green over t h e hills of Glen

No more amongst t h e sycamore, I'll h e a r the blackbird sing; No more to me t h e blithe cuckoo

will welcome back the spring; No more I'll roam t h e fertile fields,

acush la gal machree , O n a foreign soil I have to toil,

f a r , fa r f rom Glen Swilly.

God bless you, d a r k old Donegal, m y own dear n a t i v e land.

I n dreams I o f t - t imes see your hills, and lovely mountaing g r a n d ;

T h r e e thousand miles there lie* between those I r i sh hills and me;

A poor forlorn exile boy far, f a r f r o m Glen Swilly.

May peace and p lenty reign sup-reme upon Lough Swilly's shore;

And may tha t p lent iness abound u p o n your hills once more;

And may the t i m e soon come along, when I'll ^ t u r n to thee,

And I'll live as ? i y forefa thers lived, and die in Glen Swilly.

DEAR land1 of love and beauty To you our hearts are wed,

To you in loving duty Do We ever fa* our h«ad.

Oh perfect loving mother) Your exit* children >11

Across the thundering seas to you In fond devotion call.

CHORUS: When you sigh, we hear youl

When you weep, we weep. In your hour* of gladness

HOW our putoM Imp I Ireland, Mother Ireland,

Let what may befall, Ever shall we hoM you

Dearest, best of all.

Dear land far o'er the ocean. Beloved land of ours.

May your days to sunny And your way a Way of l ov*

Meanwhile, though We are s c a b

O'er alien vale a n d hill, All the love you g a v e to us

we'll Keep and cherish still. C H 0 R U 8 c

EDDIE LENIHAN, R I P. DIES IN MANCHESTER rJ^HE death of Edfeie Lenihan,

a foundation member of the Connolly Association, re-moves from the scene one of the most likeable and colourful members of the Irish commun-ity in Manchester.

He was buried a t Moston Ceme-tery on Saturday, April 7th, and the Connolly Association executive committee was represented by Messrs Desmond Greaves (Editor, Irish Democrat) , Michael Crowe and Thomas Redmond. Many mem-bers of the Manchester branch were also present, including his lifelong fr iend Mr. James McGill, Mrs Branney, Mrs. Byrne and members of their families.

Eddie Lenihan was a na t ive of Co. Cork He was brought to Manchester as a small child. His father, who wa.s in the gas indus-try. joined the British army In the First World War, which he did not survive. The mother and girls held on in Manchester, but Eddie and his brothers were brought up

by the g randparen ts in North Cork. T T E joined the I.R.A. a t the age - " - o f sixteen and fough t in the borderland of Tipperary and North Cork dur ing the civil war. He was involved in the famous capture of General Lucas. Captured and im-prisoned under t rying and insan-i tary conditions he contracted a weakness of the chest which while it did no t tell on h i m during the vigour of his manhood, of late years took a heavy toll of his vitality.

After release he came to Man-chester a second time, and was one of t he group round Seamus Bar-ret t who kept knowledge of the old country green and the Repub-lican movement alive.

When the first Manchester Branch of the Association was formed, enrly in 1939. he Joined it, with Harry Allen. J immy McGill and a few others. T h e war deple-ted its ranks, but it was revived in 1945 when Pat Dooley moved to Manchester. ;ind once more Eddie

L e n i h a n was ac t ive in its ranks. At one time he used to sell 2,00* copies of the I r ish Democrat .

•A it It T T E was also a founda t ion mem-1 1 ber of t h e Anti-Parti t ion League, of which h e became Lancash i re Area Organiser, a n d w a s prominent in t h e Manchester M a r t y r s Committee, which how-ever he retired . f r o m when t h e commi t tee abandoned its original policy of trying t o represent all c u r r e n t s of I r i s h nationalist opinion.

H e was a fine music ian No» surprisingly one of his favourite •songs was The Boys Who Bea* t h e Black and T a n s Were t h e Boys Prom Co. Cork." But he wae be t te r as an executan t on the fiddle. He was a grea t judge of fiddles, and was known on more t h a n one occasion to discover a

f ind" in some neglected junk shop, t h e maker s mark a t t rac t ing hie knowledgeable eye.

The Irish Democrat extends sym-pathy to ill his family and friends.

/

May 3 968 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

BOOKS edited by

GERARD CURRAN

More light on Joyce

" J a m e s J o y c e a n d his W o r l d " ,

by Chester G. Anderson i Thames & Hudson Ltd.. 30/-).

i ^ H I S is a book to treasure and enjoy. It makes a wonderful

introduction to James Joyce and for anyone just beginning to read his work it will be both helpful and fascinating. T h e photographs of Dublin, and of Joyce and his family, bring to life all the detailed rich-ness of his background material and the connection between a writer 's a r t and his own life is clearly and concretely shown. The photograph of sombre Clongovves College makes t h e early part of "Portrait of the Artist" unforgettably real; the text reminds us that it was here, a t t he tender age of six, that Joyce began his education at the hands of the Jesuits.

All through the book, text and illustrations are carefully woven together to make the story of Joyce's l i fe both moving and interesting. W e are shown pictures of the various terraced houses inhabited by the Joyce family as they pro-gressed from gentility to poverty, a n d a t once we, realise tha t Joyce understood being poor from his very bones. The photographs are largely those of the early l90Qs—the t ime of "Ulysses." The streets were Bloom and Stephen wandered are al l here; the t rams; the public houses; the National Library; all these evoke the Dublin ef Blooms-day.

But Joyce decided that one of his m a i n weapons was to be exile and once Nora Barnacle agreed to go wi th him to Europe there was no th ing to hold him to his native city. But, a l though he chose to live away from it, Dublin and its Dubliners were the essence of his a r t .

A few brief visits followed and included one in 1909, during which Joyce opened the Volta Cinema in Dublin. But, its success was short lived and af ter 1912 the visits ceased al together; Joyce had failed to get "Dubliners" published in his native city. After this, Trieste, Zurich, Paris , these were to be his homes fo r the rest of his life and his children's upbringing was far f rom set t led. Professor Anderson Illus-t r a t e s these years of life and work in Europe, and quotations from Joyce's letters and books tie up the various strands of his own Odyssey.

"Finnegans Wake" occupied him for the 16 years from 1923-39, and t h e last period of his life was greatly saddened by the growing menta l instability of his daughter, Lucia. He deeply felt himself re-sponsible as a fa ther and Judged himself guilty because of his child 's deficiency. Even before the outbreak of war, he helped Jewish fr iends to escape Nazism, and later, he and his family fled to Zurich f r o m Hitler-occupied Prance. Here h e died in 1941. and he and Nora a re both buried in the Fluntern Cemeterv outside the town This is t h e story of a life that was full of conflict and struggle and of a wri ter whose books were written wi th great dedication and Integrity. He worked in no ivory tower, but a s this book .so wonderfully shows, wa.s a man who lived richly and fully, giving himself and his life ut ter ly to his ar t

SYLVIA BURCH.

11

A CENTURY OF ANGLO-IRISH POETRY ^'EATS, who wrote of his am-

bition to be accounted: -

rnic brother of that company Who sang to sweeten Ireland's wrong.

remained, through all the changes of fifty years' intense poetic labour assuredly the heir of the Gaelic bards. His feeling for style, his quest for perfection of technique, above all his pride in the aristo-cratic profession of letters, marked him as of tha t exalted mystery.

True, he had little Irish, he studied the mythology in Standish James O'Grady's emasculated, flamboyant versions, his mind was formed by many other in-fluences besides the Gaelic. The fact remains tha t his symbolism is freely drawn from Celtic sources, he has the native taste for sharp epigram, and, as for example in his best-known poem, "The Lake Isle of Inisfree," he reproduces t h e chanting rhy thm of the old sylla-bic verse.

Patrick c . Power examines the work of every notable Irish poet who wrote in English in the years between Union and Treaty. Pew are without some trace of Gaelic influence, whether, like Thomas

WOMAN OF GENIUS "Teresa of Avila", by Kate

O'Brien (Mercier Paperback, 5/-).

17" ATE O'BRIEN, whose work has so of ten led her into the field

of Spanish history and literature— her best-known novel, "That Lady," deals with the love-life of Philip I I —was bound to be fascinated by Spain's greatest woman writer. That Teresa of Avila has undisputed claim to this title—which would certainly have amused, or perhaps puzzled her—is made clear in this book.

For we are dealing here with the woman of genius, not the saint; not with the Teresa who is the least pretentious and ' most sympathetic of Christian mystics, but with the writer of gay, observant, ironic, affectionate, self-revealing letters, and of a n autobiography, written uflder obedience, which records a life plagued with ill-health and be-set with danger both temporal and spiritual, much of it tormented by conflict with the most formidable forces in the land, civil as well as ecclesiastic—but a life mysteriously enlarged by unimaginable ex-periences.

Teresa is here admitted to the rank of genius, sharing the honour with only two other women, Sappho and Emily Bronte. The paramount title is conferred, not for the ele-gance or subtlety of her prose, which is o f t en careless and never as polished as tha t of Jane Austen or of Madame de Sevign£, but be-cause. whether in intimate letters or in her great apologiae, "The Way of Perfection" and "The Interior Castle," it expresses an astonishing personality occupied with momen-tous thoughts and events of high importance.

The outl ines of this strange, exalted personality are inferred from her writings, with no a t t empt to fathom the mystery of her saint-hood. We a re shown the early tur-bulence of spirit, the incompati-bility of a passionate nature with the Rule of the Relaxed Carmelites, the young nun ' s struggle to con-form. and the heroic labours of her last decide, which produced per-haps the most remarkable achieve-ment of the Counter-Reformation, the restoration of the Primitive Rule In convents and monasteries of Discalced Carmelites throughout Castile. T h e awful experiences t ha t dominated the whole of Teresa 's lile—the daily personal contact with God, the levitations and trans-fusions are no more than men-tioned.

Small faul ts and vanities are in-cluded in the picture, which is free of any ta in t of heroine-worship. Miss O'Brien has found a congenial subject for her study—a woman of (rreat social gifts, a sparkling sense of comedy, fluent irony and warmth of heart, one who wrote with sanity, beauty and modesty of high and dangerous mat te r s

S.T.

"The Story of Anglo-Irish Poetry, 1800-1922", by Patrick C Power ( M e r c i e r Original Paperback , 10/-).

By SEAMUS TREACY

Moore, they received it from the tradit ional music, or, like Samuel Ferguson, f r o m the ancient sagas, or again f r o m the Connacht love-songs t r ans la ted by Douglas Hyde.

Closest to t h e nat ive mode were Padraic Colum and Joseph Camp-bell with the i r multiple rhyme, "vowelling," dialect and occasional Irish syntax. I n others — anony-Apus balladeers reproducing the long, wavering line of fourteen syl-lables, William Larminie who ad-vocated the use of assonance to re-place rhyme, J o h n Todhunter, con-verted f rom I t a l i ana te to Gaelic themes by O 'Grady ' s "History of Ireland," and many whose work has been forgot ten—in these the Gaelic element is o f t e n a minor one.

Apart f r om Yeats, it is strongest in the work of J . M. Synge and James Clarence Mangan. In Man-gan it takes t h e form of brilliant metrical virtuosity combined with exuberant, somet imes extravagant, power of expression. In "Prince Alfred's I t i ne ra ry Through Ireland" he a t t empts — unsuccessfully — the bardic syllabic quatrain, in "The Expedition of King Daithi," the rapid al l i terat ive lines of Gaelic "rosg." "My Dark Rosaleen," for all tha t it is based on a para-phrase by Ferguson, recaptures the

spirit of both the words and the haunt ingiy - lovely air of the original. / 1LOSE study and crit ical insight

make this an interesting book, from the point of view of political as well as literary history. The wide gulf separating the old and the new cultures shows up in the complete absence of religious poetry in the work of the nineteenth-cen-tur.v writers in English, and also in their selective t r e a t m e n t of the mythology, the adapta t ion of the earthy, pagan legends to con-formity with Victorian inhibitions.

Throughout a century in which the concept of separa t i sm was steadily progressing, t h e poets, nearly all of whom were of the Protes tant middle class, looked back and seemed to ident i fy their class with a heroic t radi t ion, an aristocratic ruling caste like that of the Cuchullan stories, neglecting the more popular, post-Norman Fionn cycle.

I noted 29 misprints or omissions in the text and a few s tar t l ing in-felicities, such as, "never tried to try" (p.90> and "banally jocose" (p.92), suggesting hasty editing.

S tudents of the poetry of either language will welcome th i s inten-sive research into a phenomenon first commented on by Thomas MacDonagh in "Literature in Ire-land" (1916), and part ial ly investi-gated in Robert Fa r r en ' s "The Course of Irish Verse" (1948)

UNEMPLOYED ARISE By

SAM NOLAN "Never on our knees," by Wal

Hannington (Lawrence and Wishart, 45/-).

FN the spring of 1957 some thousands of •>•-unemployed

men and women marched through Dublin city. The march was headed by a black coffin with the inscription "90,000 Unemployed".

Someone on the footpath asked : "Why the black coffin ?" Someone else ans^pred, "Sure, the unemployed in England used to carry black coffins before the war."

The story of the famous black coffin which became a symbol of London's unemployed struggles in 1939 is but one interesting section of this book, which tells of the un-employed s truggles in the inter-war years.

Wal Hanning ton , who died in 1966—he never finished the last chapter of the book—has left us a work which records all that is best in the mil i tant traditions of the British a n d Belfast working class.

Many of us of a younger genera-tion have o f t en asked the question why did the Bri t ish workers accept and endure the misery and degrada-tion of mass unemployment from the end of the first world war to the s tar t of the second?

I ) EADINO this book one is * amazed a t the scope and Inten-

sity of the struggles in those years, struggles t ha t could well have cul-minated in a socialist revolution, but for the treachery of the then Labour and t rade union leadership

The record and policies of two Labour governments in the period provides a historic precedent for the actions of the present Wilson Government, the only surprising fact Is the short memories of the British workers.*

Lloyd George, Prime Minister during the 1914 war. in bursts of persuasive oratory promised the .soldiers t ha t when victory was achieved they would return to "a land flowing with milk and honey", "a heaven on earth", "a land fit for heroes to live In' Yet two years af ter victory Britain had nearly 2! millions unemployed where a family had to exist on 15 - i>er week.

By 1921 there was in existence a National Unemployed Movement, with demonstrat ions taking place

for increased benefits or work at trade union rates. I n t h e late 'twenties and the hungry 'thirties the National Unemployed Workers' Movement organised the famous hunger marches, sometimes in the teeth of fierce opposition f rom the official Labour Party and T.U.C. leadership. r p H E year 1932 is regarded as the

high-water mark of unemploy-ment resulting from the great slump in the capitalist world. Close on three million people were out of work in Britain and the six counties. The N.U.M. decided to hold a hunger march in t he au tumn of tha t year, to be preceded "by mass rallies in all the m a j o r centres of unemployment.

Police violence against the unem-ployed reached its peak a t this period T h e situation In Belfast reached near civil war proportions.

On October 11th, 1932, a mass demonstration was a t t acked by armed police supported by armoured cars. Running battles took place and eventually the workers erected barricades in both the Pal ls and Shanklll Road areas. They drove the police back with stones, bottles and pick-handles, to shouts of "We must have bread." / iN the Falls Road many Republi-" can workers were a rmed . A curfew was imposed tha t n i g h t and the Royal Inniskillen Fusil iers were drafted into the city nex t da*,-. Battles continued th roughout the day and night and two workers were shot dead and about fifty were seriously wounded. T h e Belfast Trades Council called for a general strike. T h e following day many thousands walked in the funera l procession of their dead comrades.

On the day of the fune ra l the Northern Ireland Government de-cided to raise relief scales for a man and his wife from 8 1 to 20 -with increases for children to a maximum'of 32 - per week. Brute force failed to cow the workers and the government was forced to g ran t concessions The story Is told in detail in this book.

The last chapter of the book tells some amusing incidents when national organiser of the A.E.U. in Wal Hannington visited I re land as the 1950s

The book Is essential reading for all who see the struggle of the British and Irish workers as par t of the common struggle aga ins t a common enemy, monopoly capital-ism

FREEDOM OF CORK "Jonathan Swift and Contem-

porary Cork", by Gerald Y Goldberg (Mercier Press, hard cover, illustrated, 21/-).

f l i H I S book should be of wider interest than the ti t le sug-

gests. for two reasons. T h e first is t ha t like all works of real scholar-ship. Mr. Goldberg's book though of only minor importance in the field of Swift studies on account of t h e small area it covers, suc-ceeds so well in establ ishing the context of its theme t h a t we are given a more au thent ic feel of eighteenth-century I re land and in its l i terary aspect anyway, England, t han is o f t en the case even in broad historical surveys.

T h e second reason for the book's consideration as of more t h a n spe-cialist interest is the six line draw-ings by the author's son Szymon These a re more than visual accom-pan imen t s to the written texts. T h e / show buildings and scenes in and around Cork, but they transcend their purely illustrative l imitat ions and have to be regarded as worthy of very high consideration in their own r ight .

T h e two main themes of this shor t study are the c i rcumstances surrounding the presentat ion of the Freedom of Cork to Swif t and his feud with a lawyer, R ichard Bet-tesworth, who for various reasons objected to this and also appears to have been mainly responsible for s l ight ing the Dean by having the presenta t ion delivered in a silver instead of a gold box, and omitting to give t he reasons for t he presenta-tion, as was customary. T h e Free-dom of the City was bestowed on Swif t by the business communi ty in appreciation of his p a r t in the successful campaign to prevent de-valuat ion of the gold guinea and t h e importa t ion of a large quant i ty of copper coin from England, proposed by Archbishop Barlter in 1736.

In this affair Swift seems to have been motivated more by patriotic reasons t han for any love of t h e Cork merchants, whom he ha4 affronted by describing t hem as "peddlers and cheats" instead of dealers.

By VINCENT MAHON

O 1 F equal interest a r e Uic h i ther to little-known f ac t e

concerning Swift's association with Cork over a considerable period. In 1709, a f te r the dea th of tttt Bishop of Cork and Ross, D i t * Downam, Swift had some hope t € succeeding him and solicited hot* ' Halifax's support to this end . Af te r being passed over in favour of D*. Peter Brown he was aga in disap-pointed in his hopes fo r t h e bishopric of Cloyne. He well knew that in these matters, a s well as. others, the main considerat ions were political. He wrote bi t ter ly :—

" . . . there is no t a n o t t u r kingdom in Europe where t h e natives (even those descended, from the conquerors) h a v e boa*, treated as if they were a l m w t unqualified for any Employment either in Church or S t a t e . " Mr. Goldberg does no t p r e t en l i

that Swi f t would not h a r e p re fe i iw l an English rectory to his re la t ive obscurity as Dean of St. Pa t r ick ' s in his native Dublin, but h e does provide enough evidence to support the view tha t once Swift realised h e oeeld not better his posi t ion by honourable means he resigned h im-self to his fate and did more t h h n enough on behalf of h i s count ry-men to ea rn himself ah honoured and a proud place in t he history of Ireland.

Mr Goldberg's study is t h e first of a series of monographs in which he aims to convey as m u c h in-formation as possible abou t h i s native Cork pnd its county. T h e r e is every reason to trust t h a t h e WfB mainta in the same high s t a n d a r d * of scholarship that are evidenced In this work, and all lovers of Ooct: will awai t with eagerness t h e book in th is aeries.

c ALLED back t o I re land by t h e current of t h e deepening

struggles for f r e e d o m o n a na t iona l a s well as economic and social aprie, h e r e t u r n e d t o h i s nat ive l and , i a d helped f o u n d t h e I r ish T r a n s -por t aqd G e n e r a l Workers ' Union ,

.afcttMer to shou lde r with m e n l ike Ja tnes Larkin, F r a n k Bobbins a n d William O'Brien.

.- I n 1913, a s a resu l t of s t a r -vat ion wage scales , impossible work-tag conditions a n d outrageous pro-vocation i n * c o n c e r t e d a t t e m p t t o wredc t h e u n i o n , a t r a m w a y s t r i k e of Dublin's t r a n s p o r t workers was

The J u g g l e w a s one of t h e bloodiest a n d m o s t bruta l i n I r i s h history. B u i l B a n d boss, o n a n a -t ional a n d ^ n t e r n a t i o n a l scale com-bined to h a r a t o . wreck a n d s m a s h forever t h e u n i t y of t h e Dubl in t ranspor t worke r s . T h e concen-t ra ted t e r ro r p r o v e d to be a two-tr iBtf weapon. I n self-defence, t h e iMdt t s , chief a m o n g t h e m C o n -nolly, o rgan i sed t a b I r i sh Ci t i zen Army, which « u l a t e r to become t h e backbone of t h e Eas te r Rebel -lion. « . , " % /

Connolly w a s m o t alone in his be-t h a t t h e c a u s e of labour a n y -

i Is t he c a u s e of labour every-H t f p e , 1 M g r e a t American l a b o u r leader, Bill -HajWood, cancelled a t r ip to P a r i s t o b e w i t h t h e t r a n s i t

addres sed t h e m a t m a n y meeting*, a n d p r e s e n t e d t he s t r i k e committee a t l i b e r t y Ba l l in D u b l i n wi th a cheque

f a r . several t h o u s a n d francs—a n o t Incons iderab le stem i n those d a y s - s e b t by the, t h e m -selves Impover ished, * r e n c h workers .

The t e m p t a t i o * to glorify m a r t y r s ou t of all h u m a n exis tence a n d so forget the i r flesh a n d Mood ident i -fication wi th t h e l iv ing s t ruggles of t h e present, w a s ironically com-mented on b y Connolly, h imse l f , w i t h p rophe t ic ins igh t . "Apost les aft freedom," b e commented once , " a r e ever idolised w h e n dead, b u t c roe i f lM w h e n l iv ing."

I b i s all t oo h u m a n hero of t h e I r i s h revolution w a s n o t above us ing b f e csust ic wi t t o p u t a heckler in p l a M dur ing a ques t ion and answer period a f t e r o n e of his l e c t u r e s

r . .

P r in te rs L td . Bd„ Ripley,

publ i shed by Oon-Ltd., a t 383

Grays I n n R o a d , London, W.O.l.

"Who will win t h e Derby?" inqui red t h e heckler d u r i n g a serious discus-sion. "A horse , " Connolly shot back, "and I a m surprised a t a n ass inquiring."

IT was m e n such as these , Thomas Clarke, Seail Mac-

irmada, P a t r i c k Pearse, J a m e s lonnolly, T h o m a s MacDonaugh ,

Eamon Cean t t a n d Joseph P lunke t t , who draf ted a n d signed a Declara-tion of Independence for I r e l and , with full knowledge of t h e conse-quences to themselves in t h e case of the consequences to themselves in the case of t h e fa i lure of t h e im-mediate s truggle. Having no doubt whatever as t o t h e final outcome, they were r eady to lay down the i r lives a t any po in t on the road .

On April 24th, 1916, on t h e morn -ing of Eas ter Monday, t h e insur rec-tion began i n t h e city of Dubl in . For six days a n d six nights , a n ill-equipped force of 2,000 men c a p t u r e d the principal bui ldings and he ld t h e city agains t 40,000 crack t roops of the war-mobilised Brit ish empire . The unequal s t ruggle ended wi th the surrender of t h e Republican garri-sons on April 29th.

The dreary, age-old and u l t imate ly useless me thods of repression were immediately called into ac t ion de-spite worldwide protest, including the protest of t h e British workers themselves. Sympa th i se r s as well as par t ic ipants were deported t o fill the jails a n d de ten t ion cen t res in England.

All the s ignator ies of t he Eas te r Week Proc lamat ion were executed. James Connolly, who h a d been severely wounded twice du r ing t he fighting, was carried before the firing squad in a s t re tcher . No bullet, however, ha s yet been de-vised capable of obli terat ing words such as h is : —

" . . . For t h e fu turo of labour is the fu ture of civilisation."

IRISH BOOKS (Con t inued from page Five)

THE O'RAHIiiLY—he fough t and died in a rising he opposed ; the only book available on th i s man who took His place in t he G.P.O., by Mare t t t Bourke (5/-, postage 9d.).

OE VALERA: the revolutionary who b e c a m e President of parti-t ioned I re land, by Mary C. Brom-age (5/-, postage 9d.).

ARMY W I T H O U T BANNERS (bet-ter k n o w n as On Another Man's Wound) by Ernie 0'Malley. The d r a m a t i c story of the Easter Ris-ing by t h e COmmdt.-Ge. of the I.RA- (6/-, postage 9d.).

BLOODY SUHDAY—the day on which Ir ish patriots practically wiped o u t British secret agents in Dublin, by James Gleeson (3/6, postage 6d.).

MICHAEL vCOLLINS — the big fellow, he gave his life in the s t ruggle fjw Irish independence, by Rex Taylor (3/6, postage 9d.).

TERENCE MaoSWINEY—his life and t h e tDnes in which he lived, by Motrin Chavasse (7/6, post-age 1/3) .

REBEL IRISHWOMEN — Irish women w h o were born leaders, by R. M. Fojc (6/-, postage 9d.).

HIGH UPON THE GALL0W8 T R E E — t h * « t o r y of the Manches-ter Fen i an rescue of 1867 and of Allen, Larkin and O'Brien, ' by Anthony d l y n n (5/-, postage 9d.).

LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD— his life, b f Patrick Byrne (hard-baok, 5/-, pot tage 1/-).

LOUIE BENNETT, HER LIFE AND TIMES—one of I reland 's great woman t r a d e union leaders, by R. M. Fox (hardback, 7/6, post 1/-).

EAMON M VALERA—a biography by M. J . MacManus (hardback, 12/6, pos tage i/dV

LABOUR ANO THE REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT, by George GHmore (1/6, postage 6d.).

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT Monthly 1/- Postal subscription 15/- a year.

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Editorial : C. Desmond Greaves, S. Redmond, G. Curran. Administration : A. Curran, P. Mulligan, J. Kelly,

C. Cunningham, P. O'Sullivan, D. Deighan. All correspondence to 283 GRAYS INN ROAD, W.C.I.

WHY WE HAVE TO RAISE OUR PRICE

pROM May 1968 the "Irish Democrat" costs a shilling.

A high price do you think ?

Well remember this: the "Irish Democrat" is not a commercial paper run for the profit of its owners. It is a political .paper, the organ of a movement which is trying to help the Irish people, at home and in exile, to win a better life.

As such we are boycotted by the wholesalers. We cannot get the advertisement revenue which commercial newspapers have, but which makes them nothing but cringing dependents of big business.

Even so if we could produce a paper for ninepence we would go on doing i t We could do it, thanks to donations by good friends of Ireland until now.

With devaluation, paper has gone up. With the printers' wage settlement, which we do not grudge them, printing has gone up. Now phones, postage, freight and all forms of taxation have gone up. We must either put up our price or close down.

The first shilling number will be a twelve-page special. For the centenary of James Connolly we must have that.

We appeal to all our readers when we go back to eight pages for a shilling, to continue to give their support. For we need that, just as (we believe) they need us.

you, send this cut-out with your subscription to :

The "IRISH DEMOCRAT," 283 Grays Inn Road, London, W.C.1 with 15/- for a year; 7/6 for six months.

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Irish workers are-refusing to lie down under the ever-increasing impositions of the Fianna Fail Government. Jack Lynch may have been a grand hurler, but he's a Civil Servants' Taoiseach. Here is Gerald Griffin of New

Zealand among his fellow Corkmen who risked jail to man the picket line.

CONNOLLY AND THE UNITED STATES (Continued f r o m Page Three)

platform, a s t o w h a t troubles in Hong Kong h a d t o do with I re land, Connolly's answer was classic in i ts simplicity

"We are jus t one big family, and whenever a m e m b e r is abused a n d insulted today, a n d there is no ob-jection regis tered agains t such con-duct , we will all suffer the same t rea tment tomorrow. We cannot close our eyes t o w h a t is happening to any fellow-worker, no m a t t e r where he comes f rom, nor what may be the colour of h i s skin. We a re all members of t h e working class."

True to h i s n a t u r e , he plunged in to organisa t ional activities in t h e United States . I n addition to lec-tur ing on l abour problems a n d

•~< goals, he t r ied t o organise t h e Singer Sewing M a c h i n e Co., one of America's mos t r u th l e s s employers, and early ident i f ied himself wi th t he then newly-formed Industr ia l Workers of t h e World. The sum total of h i s organisat ional ex-periences led h i m finally to t he ad-vocacy of i ndus t r i a l unionism. I n 1910, in words t h a t were to pro-foundly affect t h e th inking of t he little band of m e n who later were t o found t he T r a n s p o r t Workers Union, he m a d e t he following analysis of t h e f a i l u r e of a t r a n s i t strike of New York subway a n d street car workers :—

"It was no t t h e scabs, however, who turned t h e scale against t h e strikers in f a v o u r of t he masters . T h a t service t o capi ta l was per-formed by good un ion men wi th union cards in t h e i r pockets."