FOUNDED 1939

Organ of the Connolly Association

M OCR AT Page 2 PAGE OF OPINION

Page 3 STINKING FISH SCIENCE

Page 4 THE WORKERS' PARTY

No. 463 SEPTEMBER 1982 20p Page 5 FINE GAEL WANTS POWER

THATCHERS Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

IRISH SONGS

BOOK REVIEWS

DONALL MacAMHLAIGH

HIROSHIMA REMEMBERED IN IRELAND

DURING the weekend of August 6th to 9th, those slaughtered

at Hiroshima In 1945 were re-membered throughout Ireland, the numerous CND branches taking the Initiative.

The first atom bomb was dropped at 8.15 in the morning. At that time central Dublin churches tolled their bells. This was the opening of three days of peace ac-tivity.

At 11 a.m. a plaque was un-veiled by Mr Niall Andrews, TD at the cherry tree In Merrlon Square and a poem in Japanese was read by Or Taro Matsuo, former high school student in Nagasaki and now a lecturer in Tokyo.

EXHIBIT ION An exhibition of photographs *of

Hiroshima after the bombing was opened by Mr Tony Gregory, TD. At lunch time the CND street theatre group performed at the corner of Stephens Green and Grafton Street, enacting a simula-tion of the effects of a Hiroshima sized bomb on Dublin.

Some of the Dublin CND branches organized events In localities. Dublin North-east planted a cherry tree in St Anne's Park, Raheny. Tallaght branch led by its able secretary Catherine Lewis organized a twelve-hour fast In which many young people from the district participated. Petitions of condolence were taken from door to door and many signed them.

On Saturday August 7th Dun Laoire branch planted a cherry tree in the People's Park. Coun-cillor Jack Loughran officiated on behalf of the Dun Laoire Corpora-tion. Among other local represen-tatives present were Sean Bar-rett TD and Councillors John O'Sullivan and Anne Brady.

JAPANESE CAGEY Representatives of the Japanese

Embassy, despite pressing invita-tions, were conspicuous by their absence. When members of Tall-aght CND visited a factory with a view to enlisting the support of its Japanese management they didn't want to know. It would seem that official Japanese policy is to get 1945 forgotten as quickly as pos-sible. It is an unwelcome warning about what militarism leads to, and what It might lead to again.

COLD WAR ON IRELAND PLASTIC

• n h k n i l l / BULLETS PLANS FOR ENDING NEUTRALITY s c a n d a l RELATIONS between Ireland and England are reportedly strained,

way is a sordid story of intrigue and treachery. How they got that

When in M a y 1980 Mr . Haughey came to London to see Mrs. Thatcher and gave her a teapot for her thoughts, I an Paisley thought he was being sold out and behaved more l ike a big kid than usual w i t h his mountainy parades and vociferation parties.

Some people took h im seriously. But the re w a s no need to. Mrs Tha t che r w a s no t let t ing him down, and he could do no th ing if she-did.

MICROWAVE W h a t now t r ansp i r e s is t ha t Mr

Haughey was being urged to give away an i m p o r t a n t element of Ir ish neutrali ty. T h e cha rming lady ex-plained t h a t a r a d a r stat ion in Co. Down reached ou t a third of the way to Ice land , a n d the rest of the Ice land g a p was filled by an American s t a t i on a t Reykavik.

But w h a t if t he Russians flew four miles h i g h unt i l they were opposite t h e coas t of Kerry, and then swooped in low. T h e first England would know about them was when they s t ruck South Wales. Wouldn ' t . M r H a u g h e y put a micro-wave s ta t ion In West Cork—only a little one—and h e could be sure of the bless ing of a grateful England.

Well, he fell fo r it. The stat ion is now open a t Ballydehob. Mes-sages a re s e n t via Youghal, Dun-garvan, W a t e r f o r d , Wexford, En-niscorthy, Arklow, Three Rock Mountain a n d Holyhead. What ' s more if a n y t h i n g goes wrong with t he Bishopscour t (Co. Down) t rans-mit ter which l inks to Por tpat r ick in Galloway, t h e message is beamed to Holyhead v ia t h e huge micro-wave dome between G t Georges Street and G r a f t o n Street, Dublin.

M r s T h a t c h e r t r ied to persuade M r Haughey to give u p the I r i sh c la im to the six counties . When he declined she urged h i m to give Br i t i sh res idents a vote in Ir ish elections. Th i s would be a big s t e p towards a n overall Pine Gael m a j o r i t y which is t h e object of Br i t i sh policy. Mr Haughey is said t o have foolishly agreed to this. Legislat ion is said to have been d r a f t e d .

NO C O N S U L T A T I O N W h e n the F a l k l a n d s crisis came

the I r i sh government was surprised to ^ . J t h a t Mrs T h a t c h e r inter-p re ted the accord to involve the complete subordinat ion of I r ish fore ign policy t o Bri t ish . F ianna Fai l did not see it t h a t way. So t h e cold war agains t I re land began, a n d the Prior ini t iat ive in the six count ies was t aken without con-sul ta t ion with Dublin, though Eng-l and continued to claim telecom-munica t ions privileges.

T h e result was a dry ing up of en thus i a sm for giving Englishmen t h e vote in I re land. The next move in London was a campaign of t h r e a t s to deprive t h e Ir ish in B r i t a i n of their vote If the Ir ish government did no t comply.

Meanwhile discussions were held wi th t he Fine Gae l leader who promised to do wha teve r England wanted .

T h i s would have happened with-

out t he I R A bomb. But i t is h a r d to avoid t h e conclusion t h a t t h e bomb m a d e it easier, t h o u g h * t h a t was no t t h e intention.

I t m a y well come out be fore all is finished t h a t there is more to t he Connolly affair t h a n appea r s a t f i rs t s ight .

B r e n d a n Munnelly in "Dubl in Now" suggests t ha t Eng l and now no longer resents Ir ish neu t ra l i ty , a s t he r a d a r gap has now been plugged. If one assumes a defen-sive war agains t a Soviet a t tack , t h a t m a y be true, and Mr H a u g h e y may have fel t he was w inn ing pro-gress on t h e North at t he expense of a purely defensive facil i ty.

But s 'nce then t h i n g s have changed. President R e a g a n h a s s ta ted f r a n k l y tha t he i n t e n d s an offensive war in which the killing of twenty million Americans would be ' acceptable '. Can we be sure he would not like to have t h e use of I r i sh terr i tory for t h a t ?

Pressure is being constant ly step-ped up. Br i t i sh soldiers fired across the bows of an Irish yacht in Car-h n g f o r d Lough and t roops de-manded to be allowed on board, but did no t persist when it was pointed ou t t h a t the yacht ( and the soldiers) were in Ir ish te r r i to r ia l waters .

T h e a i m of Tory policy, as t h e cons tan t sn ip ing over t he Connol ly res ignat ion shows, is to topple Charles Haughey and ins ta l G a r r e t Fi tzgerald who would t hen a b a n d o n the claim to uni ty of I r e land and abandon neutra l i ty .

/ * R E A T indignat ion has been ^ aroused in t he nat ional is t com-munity in the six counties at t he decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions not to charge the British soldier responsible for t h e death of the 11-year-old Stephen McConomy last April in Derry.

Sixteen witnesses had been avail-able but t h e au thor i t i es did not in-terview a single one of them. Mrs McConomy is ta lk ing about going on hunger s tr ike to see if she can a t t rac t a t t en t ion to t h e scandal of these murderous weapons.

At the t ime the cynical decision to take no action was announced, a young man Conor Campbell was f ight ing for his lite in hospital. He had been present when plastic bullets were firod a t demonstra-tors in Lurgan.

T H E se t t ing up of an enquiry in-to d e a t h s caused by plastic

bullets is being demanded, and it is being asked, very pert inently, why the vote of t he European As-sembly condemning these weapons has been t rea ted with such arro-gant con tempt .

Although it is widely appreciated tha t plastic bullets are unsuitable weapons for so-called "riot control" the T h a t c h e r government is deter-mined to cont inue the i r use. This Is part ly f rom a desire to bolster Unionism in t he six counties. It is also f r o m the desire to create a precedent for using them in Britain, and hav ing available a force t ra ined in th i s dubious art .

BEAUTIFUL IRELAND CALENDAR _ 1983

SHORTLY AVAILABLE AT: 177 LAVENDER HILL, SWl 1 PERSONAL CALLERS, £1.40

SEX SHOP PROTEST BY BOTH COMMUNITIES r p H E first sex shop in Ireland

h a s been opened in the "Bible bel t" of East Belfast .

T h e owners a re an English c h a i n operat ing a n u m b e r of such emporia , and the m a n a g e r is an Eng l i shman Mr G r a h a m Bacon, of w h o m East Belfast M.P. Mr. Peter Robinson declares "He Is going to get his bacon cooked on th i s one."

Apparent ly t he aim is to es tab-lish a number of such ou t l e t s th roughout Belfast, t h o u g h whether they ^et in to t h e na t iona l -ist a r e a s is very doubtful .

T h e u n f o r t u n a t e P r o t e s t a n t populat ion, who have so m a n y good points, c a n n o t yet realise t h a t u n -til they join t h e Republic t h e y

will have n o protect ion against t h e impor ta t ion of unemploy-ment, mi l i ta r i sm a n d perversion.

The prol i ferat ion of these estab-l ishments "is a s y m p t o m of a sick society remin iscen t of ancient Rome where hyper t rophied sex stood aga in s t a background of bread and circuses — today d rugs and television.

2 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT September 1982

I I I I I 1 %

r* \URiNG the war years in Bri tain I read the DEMOCRAT. That

wa> the time when the Soviet Un.on was saving our skins in its decisive contr ibut ion tc the rout o! Fascism. Nor were you coy, at tha t time, in g i v i n g the Workers State its ccrrect name. I 've recently taken the paper and ft no you 're not ref lect ing the world as it is How among al l the 15C-odd statas in the U .N.. you can t see the Soviet Union beats ms

Uv.

VI! till ( . I f

i>

THE KELPERS . . . . . v.e :i:v li« h a v - • -?as-• i'- 01 ' l ie iaiiio is Ku . ,i:ds

vie t o . / ' At le.ist D: Gv-b'oeL iit-v had those, with whs I; '-, • ! • •:»,• G e r m a n pttb'.ir ' . to i;!.i:. i i. the F a t h e r l a n d s •.::..> :ti ,S(n :n p repar ing t;:r:s! r '.he ; i . . . - woild w.ir

O. • 31 the cassette-. IS ' i'• • '!•• t i t , j " Iv i l ldands- - the Fl?h; .nr r'i••••• "i ' It reminds me t h a t Mr T-: V. Wilson I.old N hffe's <-lu •: war correspondent v. • • a Ikhjic a l ter the Ku.sso-.lapsn-M? v.ar ciil. • i " J apan ' s tight, for t r- i- iom By : both Russia a : i i ' . .pan vvt'i'. for the good Mr \V:N ::: and ins r-veptive audience T . * ' : : - : : t o r f i e d o m '

1'., .s. me of the news;).-.• :me pii, . a e read t h a t accora.n^ ••. Mr itex H lit. now Civil C o i n ! : ; . o i l e r in t'.i- Fa lk lands i not Governor: the Fa lk lands a re not a r .! .:.'. t he kelp--:-, are not "color.i.i: : ;-ky gauchos. ' ' They are t-> !:.* dis-tanced still f u r t h e r from t.iose bea.s'!} Argies.

F.e: . i » h a t the i r fr;e:i '-, have bee:, say.ng of those oM k-Ipers over t he last lew months , it a o i l d seem tha t , had the National Front started a b r anch on the isi.tnd - be-fore ' h e war. it would ha . • had KK) I:*-, r en t membersh ip

R. TOLHURST, Chelmsford.

SMALL NATION IT is surpis ing t h a t Mr Bert Ward

(IRISH DEMOCRAT, August) should compare Mr Charles Haughey with Mrs Thatcher and question his s t a t u s as spokesman lor the Irish people on the grounds tha t his pa r ty took only 47.2 of the votes cast and 81 of 166 seats. How many Brit ish Governments in the last hal l cen tury were elec-ted on 47.2 per cent ol the votes cast? The result Is an advertise-ment lor the single t ransferab le vote. Its effect was to raise F lanna Fail represen ta t ion from 78 deputies (based on first preference votes- to 81. Mr Haughey was

S E A N 0 C E A L L A I G H .

." . the war the political s i r •' ...as duleren' . a:.d the i-d". > different a" a-.i-st lor m ••• •: t ime At present our at: • . : the U S S R i< ' h a t its p.- a i r enti t led to r.m then Co . they wish, we de-ti-:r .•••ween Fast and West: and a ; ,. iii in' do not wan : v.ar Al-io. . Ae cannot take m> the . b-

:v>::ain that everv'.hir.Jf the :;- do is r ieht . we neve: at-•i:em l;ecanse. a pa it f rom

i i i i r . ; ; : : : else, tha t is r,, oring s;!.. ' I ' lesideni H e a . . " ' s mill ,.: • ; to cut our o 1 n t h roa t s

w!u n we r ad i Man-el' •• Coi.inl:an. 17 Au.u<t . tha t J»i. .. u ; : ' Heasan finds tiv* ri-ath

; «•:•.'v million Americans ac-ll l l ' - result is post-

i. • ea l order eompV'. > with •,'.c :: values", we know who :s t he . .. • •-- : But a f t e r all the paper - lbout Ireland and the Irish, not

ire. :*. inn! af fa i rs a whole V >• ' tveil a nre t tv I '.-r m.rrer to i • :i>o world o - is I-;: • ' •.' •

| . ) HI IAIN'S war for tiie lecoti-quest j : Ireland is not a mili-

tary "lie a l thovgh the s takes are military It i- political and ideo-logical and a new (actor is the at-tempt to use the Irish communi ty in Britain as t pawn in t he game

Various organiza t ions con-cerned with Irish s tudies ' have blossomed in the past few years Propagandis t histories have ap-peal ed on television. W h a t are the change* t ln r a :e being t aken note

T h e Gua : ilian newspaper has published two articles on the Irish in Britain. Before they were written the p a p e r s correspondent spoke for twenty minu tes wi th Noel Gordon, organiser of t he Connolly Association. All the o the r organiz-ations had mentioned the C A

He spent twenty minu te s try-ing to go; me to say what I didn't, want to say" was Gor-don's reaction.

T h e Association by f a r the old-est political I r ish organiza t ion in Britain was not ment ioned

U ' H A T has seized the political ' prospectors is t h a t now two-

th i rds o: the people in Br i ta in who regard themselves as I r i sh were born in Bri tain They don ' t know Irish history They a re not abso-lutely cer ta in of their identi ty.

Would it ho possible to use the Irish in Bri tain as a lever to br ing bacri the Republic into tlie United Kingdom.'

» I Even ten years ago if t h e r e was

a proposal to . .the major i ty them get on born major i t ' . the idea that should have s t r a ined c a t those who ha

< >f kN t h e ir. • t h i s Ques'.

fore, t he Cor.: advised t h e : . : f r anch i se th : o movement . V... newspape r rar. priving the I; .- : real f r i end Colonel Mar kind of half-.', to it, we tack'. : ted on o u r press, a n d r.: • a s t a t e m e n t t'.. titled to the v

f r a n c h i s e the Irish, elmg would be "let ::h n T h e I n s h -

. .Id have ha t ed ue people at home ue.r policy con-considerat ion for left t he country.

occasions when •r. has come up be-

Association h a s u to defend the i r

u | h t h e Labour -a a Sou th London

campa ign for de-. of the vote, and a

Ireland, the la te , Lipton. gave some u ' e d coun tenance the Colonel, insis-

lo reply in t he won f rom h i m

: -!:e I r ish were en-

B r t some have all wed t imida ted . T H a u g h e y sugg be nice to Bli -t he Tor i e s v :• c o m m u n i t y i;t H of folly. It is hostages . N'e . be t u r n e d t ig : r will be e \ p e " • . bet ter to form • o rgan iza t ion : fence.

today's genera t ion .-.eii'.selves to be in-

•.'. rite to Mr -'.::_ t h a t he should - r. for f ea r of what .1: do to t h e I r i sh

r::a:!i is t he he igh t . orter ourselves as time the screw will .- and Mr Haughey • 'oe the line F a r smgle uni ted I r ish

1 :ie common de-

Likewise t -.rue and try to reason with s : ha t che r is also politically r.ai'.e T h e Bri t ish gove rnmen t v. .11 a u, in th is m a t t e r with jt be'r .:•'._" '.. lion. They will ca lcu la te tha t t d i s f ranchise t he Ir ish is to ties'roy Labour votes. So they e - a expect Labour to op-pose it. I'.. • can ha rd ly get it

through before t he next election and they would be hand ing Labo. : a plank and invi t ing all the Irish who deserted Labour t h a n k s to the record of t he Ca l l aghan govern-ment to come back. And in a m case they can only d i s f ranch ise one thi rd of the Ir ish communi ty while simultaneously making implacable enemies of the o the r two thirds . So they'll hardly do it. To panic and appeal to Dublin to give in is a mug's game.

I / 'OR these reasons it was re-* giettable t h a t Mr Kevin Mc-

Namara whose motives of course are entirely worthy, should invite the Irish to preserve the i r vote (which we do not believe is in danger, and can be defended if and when it is in d a n g e n by writ ing to Mr Haughey asking h im to give the British in I re land a vote.

Ireland is a smal l country I: can be swamped by immigrat ion. I t is all very well to be very inter-national and t u r n Bri ta in ' s inner-cities into a local version of the United Nations. England has no trouble in ma in t a in ing herself as a nation, a n a all those who settle here can be accommodated in a large population

I t is d i f fe ren ' with a country which has spent eight hundred years defending i ts ident i ty and still has to f ight to just i fy it.

If the Tories should take practi-cal steps to d i s f ranch i se the Irish then Irish organiza t ions should call an immedia te na t ional con-ference and elect a campaign com-mittee to lobby for the re tent ion of the Irish vote. T h e need is not yet in sight, and we hope there will be no more j umping t h e gun.

TROLLOPE IN IRELAND ^ ^ F all the l i terary centenar ies

t ha t take place this year, the d e a t h of Anthony Trollope in 188'J should be marked in Ireland, for his Irish e\-perience was the catalyst t ha t s tar ted his l i terary career, and the Oxford University Press have repr inted the second of his Irish novels — the Kellys and the O'Kellys i Oxford Paperback . O.U.P. £'^.!I01. to mark the occasion. Trollope came to Ireland in 1841. when he was twenty-six and for 15 years he worked as a post office supervisor in d:fferent pa r t s of the country.

In all he vviote five novels on Ir ish themes; the first two novels he had published were wri t ten in I re land, and his last novel, un-finished at his death, was The Landleaguers ' . a story promoted by the Phoenix Park murders . "I t was a l together a very jolly l ife t h a t I

elected and formed a government In accordance with the Irish con-stitution and Is accepted for that reason.

Since then he has suffered con-stant vilification by the English Tories for daring to assert Ire-land's right to an Independent foreign policy. He is the leader of a small nation desperately striving to preserve its neutrality In the face of constant bullying from across the channel, a bullying which has reachcd such a pitch that the Irish community In Britain is being threatened with the loss ol its voting rights.

This is surely the time for all anti-imperialists to soring to that small nation's defence, as I am confident Mr Ward will do.

G. CURRAN, London, W.13.

BY MARY CAMPBELL

led in Ire. t i l l ." he wrote in his Autobiography: "the I r ish people did not, murder me. nor did they break m h j a l . " He most firmly asse r t s t i n t soing to Ireland was the first Ko-.d for tune of his life, a f t e r a vcu'.a and a childhood of appal l ing genteel miserv and de-pr iva t ion His f a the r ' s menta l de-cline and financial ru in , and his mother ' s neglect of h im while she tried to m e t . i the fami ly fo r tunes In A m e n - a made h im a very in-secure vcuru man. glad to hang on to a c l e r k - u p in the English post office se: v e. He was actually going t o dismissed f rom th i s poorly-paid position when he ap-plied fo r a oost office surveyership in I re land, which nobody else would aC' ' , : t .

r i R O M this t ime all went well wi th him. and like the mis ts

on the Shannon a t Banagher . where he was posted, the feelings of inadequacy and degrada t ion faded away "From the dav I set foot in Ireland all these evils went away f rom me," he wrote. "Since t h a t t ime who has had a happier l ife t h a n mine?" T h e open air l i fe and extensive journeys incidental to t h e ne,v duties sui ted him per-fectly. H " rode all over the coun-tryside, got himself in to all so r t s of houses, humble a n d grand, a n d read everyth ing he could find on the lus torv and society of his new-home And in 1343 he s tar ted h i s first novel.

"The Macdermots of Bally Cloran", h is ftr.'t novel, is out of pr in t , a n d it is to ho hoped t h a t some enterpr is ing publ isher will set it u p aea in , for it is a powerful s tudy of a Cathol ic family, small land-

owners, caught , like Ireland itself was caught, in the grip of debt and oppression so t h a t ruin must be in-evitable. A m o d e m critic of Trol-lope says tha t the "Macdermots" is one of the most powerful indict-ments of colonialism written in the nineteenth century . Not surprising, it was not successful with the English reading public - a n d Trol-lope was cas t iga ted for writing "miserable I r i sh stories". So. in his next novel. "The Kellys and the O'Kellys" he t r i e r to str ike a more popular note. This is a much more l ight-hear ted story about two marriages and the part played in both by money. I t s tar t s as an his-torical novel, in t he manner of Scott, with a n account of Dan O'Connell 's t r ia l in 1844 and its rousing effect upon the Irish. But Trollope soon drops historical reality and le ts the double love s tory take over — "The Kellys" has none of the t ragic power of the first novel, but it c rea tes an authent ic-ally Irish world of country life, with plenty of t he hunt ing and racing which Trollope loved so much in its I r ish context.

But in spi te of this lighter touch, again the novel made him no money a t all. and his publisher told him tha t he obviously had no fu tu re as a novelist. In his cen-tenary year th is mus t raise a wry smile, for Trollope continued to write on I r i sh themes. Out of his total output or more t h a n forty novels, as well as the five Ir ish" novels there are short stories and I r i sh charac ters such as Ph ineas Finn. In t he full flood of all his major work. I re land d d not leave his mind. He wrote Castle Rich-mond in 1860: An Eye for an Eye— a stark and h a u n t i n g story of seduc-tion and revenge set in Clare, in 1879, and the last novel of all The Landleaguers, unf inished bu t pub-lished a year a f t e r his dea th .

ABORTION I WOULD like to reply to your ' art icle iAugust issuei opposing

the proposed Pro-Life Amendmen t to tin Consti tut ion of t h e twenty six counties.

You s t ress tha t the a m e n d m e n t is being opposed by both Cathol ic and Pro tes t an t clergymen. Since when did t he Irish Democrat s t a r t to take its position on political ma t t e r s f rom priests of whatever creed? I can unders tand Michael O'Leary doing that , but the Irish Democrat never. You have a t rad i tion of supporting democrat ic r ights yet you wish to deny the major i ty of the people of the twenty-six counties the i r consti tu-tional r i gh t s to express the i r wishes on a m a j o r political issue. Surely it cannot be t ha t you only suppor t democracy wher. you a r e confident of ge t t i ng the r ight resul t?

seek to play down the im-' po r t ance of the pro-life move-

ment by your re ference to "a small well-organised lobby." If they were t h a t small would Fitzgerald and H a u g h e y have conceded their demands for a r e fe rendum or would Michael O'Leary (w hatevei else he is a shrewd political mover) have s tayed silent unt i l a f t e r the result of the Galvvay by-election was known ' ' Anyway what is wrong with small well-organised groups 0 Are not we in the Con-nollv Association one such group? Since t h e Irish Democrat is a s s t rong on history as it is on democ-

L E T T E R

racy maybe you can tell me t h a t efforts to establish votes for t he masses, to support early t rade unionism, to end slavery to name but a few great r e fo rms in th is country had massive public sup-port. I always understood t h a t such great r e f o r m s were brought about initially by the work of a relatively few brave but well-organised people. However if you say t ha t I am wrong I will concede your grea ter knowledge.

In cal l ing the newly-conceived baby a fertilised embryo you are like all pro-abortionists denying its human i ty . In this you are no be t te r t h a n the popular Bri t ish press who called the Argent inian

-soldiers "Argies". Kil l ing Argen-t in ian soldiers or unborn babies would be very unpopular . However, re legate them to the s ta tus of "Argies ' ' or "embryos" or " foe tuses" and everybody is happy to allow the slaying to go on. An "Argie" or an embryo" or a "foetus" can ' t really have any r ights or certainly not t he r ight to life T N a lmost twenty years of read-

ing your newspaper th is is the first t ime tha t I have read a n article t h a t saddened and angered me. I t is the duty of every socialist to fight fo r basic h u m a n rights . Since it is a scientific fact t h a t all our lives begin a t conception it is our duty to f ight for the r igh t s of our unborn bro thers and sisters. Abor-tion is seen by many polit icians a* the easy answer to all our social ills. I t is an a t t rac t ive proposition in t imes of recession and h igh un-employment as present government policies show. I t is n o t h i n g less t h a n a t ragedy t h a t the Irish Democrat can offer no th ing more positive.

P. J. C U N N I N G H A M . S o u t h L o n d o n .

OUR REPLY T17*ELL, P.J., decent m a n you

are. you can' t say we didn't pr in t every word of your letter.

T h e i tem complained of was not edi torial opinion but a news item f rom our Dublin correspondent who is now unfor tunate ly abromd on hol iday and canno t be con-tac ted .

T h e i tem is headed "a mat te r of policy." What is the policy issue Involved? It is whether abortion, a t p resen t illegal in t he twenty-six count ies under an old pre-1922 Ar.t of t h e Brit ish Par l iament , should be prohibi ted under t he constitu-tion. I n other words, g ran ted the door is bolted, should it be pad locked?

T h e news item said not a wotd (Continued on Page Three)

\ \

• f l

September 1982

Science

TIMONEYS CERAMIC ENGINE'

1 T is becoming increasingly evi-* dent t h a t t h e most difficult as-

pect of t he act iv i t ies covered ay the title of t h i s ar t icle is the rela-t ionship be tween science and tech-nology. How do you convert a scientific pr inciple in to a useful technology? Most science lies on the shelf . Most technology is ei ther developed by craf t r a t he r t h a n by science; much depends on t h e science of a century ago. I t is ra re to f ind a good case of science t r a n s f o r m i n g into tech-nology in t h e I r i s h environment. When it does happen, usually there is fo re ign capi ta l involved; t h e process costs money and there is usually m o r e risk t h a n the aver-age Ir ish cap i t a l i s t is prepared to take.

Despite t h e involvement of foreign capital , it is necessary to welcome successful t r ans fo rma t ions when they occur. F o r t he process in this mode is inf ini te ly bet ter t h a n the t r ad i t iona l process, which is fo r I r ish science to contr ibute i ts mite to t h e global pool of know-ledge. a m i n u t e f r ac t i on of which is t r an s fo rmed in to technology profitable t o t h e mul t ina t iona ls in the US. J a p a n or wherever, and t hen I r ish produc t ive industry buys in t he technology in the form of equipment, a l e n g t h y loop which leaves t he I r i sh scientist isolated and f rus t r a t ed .

i r p W O examples have come to * hand involving the direct

t r ans fo rma t ion of science in to technology on I r i sh soil, but in both cases wi th U S capital .

The first o r ig ina tes in the mech-anical eng inee r ing depar tmen t of UCD. where Pro fessor Seamus Timonev h a s p roduced a ceramic engine, which r u n s a t very high t empera tu re a n d doesn ' t require a liquid cooling circuit , improving greatly t h e t h e r m o d y n a m i c effi-ciency; problems caused by the bri t t le n a t u r e of t h e ceramic mater ia l (silicon carbide, or carbo-r u n d u m ) have been overcome by a device for d a m p i n g t h e peak pres-sures. No doubt lubricat ion and wear problems have also been taken care of; o the rwi se the inven-tion would ha rd ly have been an-nounced a t a p re s s conference in Detroit by t h e sponsors of the UCD researches, t h e C a r b o r u n d u m Cor-

ABORTION (Continued from Page Two)

in favour of abor t ion , and for our part, we do not t h i n k it is for people in Eng l and to say whether there should be abor t ion in Ire-land or not. Bu t it did report some of the objec t ions being made against e n s h r i n i n g what some people th ink a m o r a l question in t he const i tut ion. You may think these object ions invalid. And you are entit led to your sav. But so are the others.

People can get very emotional about issues they feel strongly about. About a year ago Donall Mac Amhlaigh in one of his art icles drooped, qu i t e by the way. the h in t t h a t h e was opposed to abortion. T h e poor ed i tor got the blame for t h a t too. "He should

.not have publ ished a n article ex-pressing such an opinion." In this ca se "a lady in S o u t h London, a s trong feminist , did more than s ta te her views, she refused to read the paper or a t t e n d Connolly Association meet ings . I t would be possible to show t h a t t h i s question has complex a n d f a r - reaching ramifications. B u t we d o no t think

. i t is the duty of t h e Irish Demo-crat to develop t h e m . However t he people of I re land resolve th is ques-t ion , i t is the i r r i g h t to resolve it without in te r fe rence f r o m without..

. EDITOR.

science-technology t r ans i t ion : Dr Val Rossi ter used to lecture in engineer ing in TCD. He specialised in advanced ins t rumenta t ion , i n t h e course of his researches h e developed a device for l inking gas ch romatography with i n f r a - r e d spectrometry: th is t r a n s f o r m s the former f r o m something of a "black art ' , wi th p e a k s on a curve identi-fied by a comparat ive method , in to a precision ins t rument , wi th the quali t ies of the subs tances re-sponsible for the peaks identified positively by their in f ra - red spectra.

Val Rossi ter got some money from the IDA and went in to busi-ness producing this. Now he em-ploys 21 people in Ireland, one ;n the UK and five in the US. A recent ar t ic le in a Sunday financial page gave the news tha t he is now floating a US subsidiary, so as to expand with t he aid of t h e US capita] market .

To quote t he Sunday Tr ibune financial wri ter . Des Crowley: "If the capi tal-rais ing venture suc-ceeds. Dr Rossiter may unleash a host of I r ish boffins f rom thei r backrooms t o launch new busi-nesses wi th a high ra te of gradu-a t e employees."

One or even two swallows don ' t make a summer . But a t least some-th ing is happening . T h e problem remains, however, of decoupling ' h e process f rom dominat ion by the US mil i tary research and development system.

A MOUNTAIN OF STINKING FISH ? More EEC

R. H. W. Johnston

poration. a subsidiary of S t anda rd Oil.

T h e init ial market fo r t h e car borundum engine, needless to say, will be in mil i tary vehicles. Profes-sor Timoney's company. Adtec Teo a t Gibbstown. near Navan , is a l ready producing a rmoured per-sonnel carr iers for the I r i sh and Belgian armies. The ma in ou tpu t of the Gibbstown factory is specia-list vehicles like a i rpor t fire tenders. T h e principal input f rom UCD research effort here tofore h a s been the design of the suspensions. How the Timoney engine will re la te to the family of Timoney specialist vehicles r emains to be seen. To tool up to produce it will require heavy inves tment : the most likely route to t he market is via a licen-cing agreement with a US mil i tary supplier.

T h e UCD team which did the development consisted of th ree Ir ish engineers and one Algerian. Th i s i l lustrates a posit ive role which the I r ish educat ion sys tem is unde r t ak ing with respect to t he developing countries. For example, there is a m a j o r project going on a t the moment , led by Professor J. J . Kelly, the UCD Dean of En-gineering, whereby an engineer ing faculty in a new University of Jo rdan is being set up and staffed.

r ̂ U R N I N G now to t he second

by JOHN BOYD

BLUE SHIRTS? IN an extraordinary interview on

RTE Mr Oliver Flanagan of Fine Gael declared tha t today the Dail was "irrelevant." He anticipated tha t the constitution would be suspended and there would be a military take-over.

He warned that there were many "powerful and well-financed groups" ready to do this, though he was un-willing to name even one.

He spoke of the ruins of Irish soc-iety and said democracy had failed to meet the needs of the people who were disillusioned. He said the Dail must refuse to deal with pressure groups.

Some members of Fine Gael evi-dently long for the blue shirts of the thirties.

p i m • i H

l i M

WMim

Y R G U M E N T S , s u s p i c i o n s , s e l l -o u t s a n d h o r s e t r a d i n g c l u t t e r

t h e t r a i l of t h e C o m m o n F i s h -i n g P o l i c y ( C F P ) . T h e C F P w o u l d b e t h e s e c o n d c o m m o n p o l i c y of t h e E E C . T h e f i r s t is t h e C o m m o n A g r i c u l t u r a l P o l i c y w h i c h h a s c a u s e d a m o u n t a i n of a r g u m e n t s a n d c o s t s t h e c o n s u m e r d e a r l y . W h a t is t h e a r g u i n g a b o u t ?

T h e basic s t ruc ture el the EEC was fixed before t he en t ry of Bri ta in, Denmark and Ireland. The basis of t h e CFP in par t icular was a r r anged twelve v t a r s ago. The th ree new en t r an i s then had thr iv ing fishina industr ies in grounds under nat ional control. In 1978 the total weight landed ;n Br i ta in was 94S.000 tonnes worth £250 millions. Today it is a very sad and di f ferent s torv for fishermen and fishing grounds around these islands.

In 1973 when liie th ree joined,

the Commission proposa ls included a 12-mile limit. Br i t a in wanted a 5C-mile limit. (It is ironical tha t the year before Br i t a in had rejected the extension of Ice land ' s fishing limit to 50 mi l e sc Soon a f t e r this, 200-mile l imits were agreed mier-nationally. r r H E a rgumen t over the CFP

centres on where most iish are to be found — name ly around the "Britsh Isles" and especially in the

North Sea. At ten t ion is centred here be,-u se o the r member states have over-fished a n d destroyed many of the i r own grounds. Also non-EEC member s Norway and Iceland have ful l sovereignty over their own i m p o r t a n t g rounds and look a f te r t hem.

The latest Commission proposals, tabled on J u n e 15th. but still not yet agreed, are fo r a six-mile exclusive limit, with bigger "boxes" off Scotland to be re ta ined by Britain. T h e 6-12 mile /.one will be for selected boats and quo ta s based on t radi t ional rights. However fu r the r loss of sovereignty would occur in these wa te r s because policing would be ca r r i ed out by EEC inspectors r a t h e r t h a n nat -ional inspectors. In addi t ion "con-servation" would be in t h e hands of the Commission. If t h e CAP is anything to go by t h e r e will be either piles of h igh priced fish rot-t ing on the quayside, or. wha t is more likely, no f i sh ing g rounds left a t all.

Despite the fac t t h a t the largest quanti t ies of valuable fish are around the "Bri t i sh Isles", includ-ing 70 per cen t of t he herring, Bri ta in is only to be g ran ted a quota of 35.5 per cent of the Total Allowable Ca tch i TAC i f r o m the North Sea. T h e table of figures in-dicates the proposed carve-up. V I 7 HILE t h e p ro t rac ted arguing

' ' and uncer ta in ty continues, serious and i r reparab le damage is inflicted on Br i t a in ' s f ishing in-dustry. Th i s is c learly i l lustrated by the sailing of t he two largest factory fishing ships f r o m Hull to the other side of the world. One in four workers in t he indus t ry is out of work.

1: no agreement is reached on a CFP by the t ime current regula-tions run out at the end of 1982. in theory, everyone with a f ishing boat will be able to fish l ight i . p io the beaches and even into the T h a m e s Estuary. To add insult to injury Spam is soon expected t o enter the EEC bringing m the largest fishing licet m Western Europe.

The fundamenta l political prin-ciple involved in turning the Nor th Sea :n to a common fishing lake has already been extended, in un-heralded discussion to the oil a n d gas lields. The aim is a 'Common Energy Policy,"

Cur ren t EEC manoeuvres on the C F P include dividing D e n m a r k and Bri ta in by taking a quota f rom one and giving it to the other . Denmark occupies the cha i r at these meetinu and is delaying the taking ol a decision. The switch to major i ty voting f rom the \ e t o system, pu t s Bri tain in a very weak position. Inside the EEC Bri ta in is in a cleft stick and has to accent nearly any policy, as. without one the tisli a r e in practice common property. The one policy with any sense is t h a t the mar i t ime coun-tr ies should leave t h e EEC a n d regain sovereign r ights to a 200-mile l imit and control over con-servation and catches. This would mean a fully-employed workforce

Priest reports UN session

1973 1982 proposals 1,000 t onnes catch

Member State landed I.OOO tonnes quota Br i ta in 670 444 35.5 Denmark 1.254 293 23.4 W. Germany 134.7 187 14.9 F r a n c e 434 163 13 Holland 214 93 7.4 I re land 80 47 3K Belgium 41.3 25 2

Totals 2,828 1,252 100

DUBIOUS RESOLUTION "117"E have received the text of

' ' a resolution which was passed a t a Nat ional Commit tee meet ing of I r ish CND held in Belfas t and passed by 16 votes to 7. We would not comment on it but for the f ac t t h a t it is apparent ly being submit ted to t he Bri t ish CND conference. It runs as follows:

"Th i s conference, realising t h a t a political crisis leading to increasing tensions and t roop mobilisations could spark off a nuclear war. believing t ha t in such a si tuation the peace movement will face its biggest test. Cal ls upon CND. with o ther disarmament , organisat ions to give serious consideration to pre-planning action which would seek to disrupt such mobilisa-t ions and or aim t o de-escalate the s i tuat ion by a mass demon-s t ra t ion a t the very hea r t of t he conflict, and work to de-stabilise those governments engaging in war or t h r e a t s of war by wide-spread civilian diobedience."

\ PPARENTLY the resolution " * was proposed by Belfast , not

a city renowned for universal poli-t ical realism—small blame to its i n h a b i t a n t s in view of wha t they have to pu t up with.

Here are some of the t h ings wrong with it. Nobody can forsee how a nuclear war cris is would arise or where its "very h e a r t " would be For example would Br i t i sh CND be asked to hold a demons t ra t ion in Lebanon or I r a n ? Anybody who read in t he New S ta t e sman British government war contin-gency plans, which i iKjude shoot-ing dissidents ou t of hand , would th ink carefully before a t t e m p t i n g to disrupt troop mobilisations.

Again, it is defea t i s t . It as-sumes the fa i lure of e f for t s to se-cure detente and the abandonmen t of nuclear weapons. And it plays into the hands of those who want to represent CND as a law-break-ing organisation. At. present Schinidt in G e r m a n y is t ry ing to b rand the "green" par ty as a pa r ty of violence. And recent ly the BBC publicised a film sho t to boost the SAS (which would probably ha". ? t h e shoot ing of dis-s idents in rase of wa r ! who are mobilised to rescue f rom the American Embassy In London hos-tages seized by the Ant i -nuclear" movement.

T h e commit tee c a n n o t have realised what, they were passing

1 RATHER .1. COLLINS, ol Pax * Chris t i . Catholic world peace

organisa t ion , on August Ut.h addressed "Merseyside Action for Peace" (Secretary, George S l r a t -t an i on the subject of his visit to New York a t the t ime of the United Nat ions special session on d i sa rmamen t . He represented the Sef ton Borough Council.

F a t h e r Collins, whose paren ts came f r o m Co Cork, described t h e work of "non-governmental organ-isa t ions" which operated f rom, a m o n g o ther places, the famous Cooper Union, centre of American liberalism, where J a m e s Connolly addressed his first meet ing in the U.S.A. e ighty years ago.

I I AVING secured a pass to en ter * t h e uncomfortable glass and

ch romium U.N. building the un-official delegates set about way-lay-ing gove rnmen t representa t ives in corr idors and cafeterias. When th i s would no t work they visited embass ies where diplomats ex-plained t h a t they were t h e ser-vants no t the mas te r s ol the i r governments . They distr ibuted hand-outs . These plus t he texts of speeches amounted to such an a l a rming avoirdupois t h a t Fa the r Collins d a r e not take it all on the plane.

Asked why the session whs f.iilure lie said that the session was the world situation in microcosm Each delega-tion concentrated on its own griev-ances; tile Iranians attacked Iraq; the P.L.O. attacked Isiael. In his opinion at the present lime the U.N. docs not present a loruni for muJti-siteral disarmament. I'nilaten.il must come first. He stressed that the cCo-nnmic crisis. e\pi'essir.'j ilselj in Bri-tnin and elsewhere in uni mplovment. .ind in the ex-colonial world in mass starvation, was directly due to the -ijuimderins of cconnm c remmcis m war preparations.

DEMOGRAMS THE Association ol Chiel Con-

s tables has told newsmedia tha t " t h e r e should be one ant i-ter ror is t law tha t applies to all situ-ations." Beware of this as a substi-tute lor t he PTA.

In t he Falklands campaign Britain lost 2.">4 men and over t en million pounds were collected lor their dependents . Each widow will get £10.000. T h e dependents of t h e 430 m e n lost in t he six counties are still dependent on a rmy chari t ies.

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT September 1982

THE WORKERS' ^ m PARTY I A S T m o n t h the " I r i s h D e m o c r a t " d i s c u s s e d t h e p r o s p e c t s o f

t h e I r i s h L a b o u r P a r t y . Th is m o n t h w e p u b l i s h an a s s e s s -

m e n t o f t h e n e w l y - n a m e d , d y n a m i c , c o n t r o v e r s i a l , W o r k e r s

P a r t y , f o r m e r l y o f f i c i a l S i n n F e i n . T h a t i ts l e a d e r s w o u l d

l i k e i t to r e p l a c e L a b o u r as the t h i r d f o r c e one n e e d n o t d o u b t ,

b u t w h a t is i t ? A n d w h a t are i t s c h a n c e s ?

•Uf were right to set up the I?c|>ublii Mil Congress, but I be-lieve now — though I did not at , l ,e tunc — that Saor Eire was a mi-take. It was an attempt to lead and uwuld the Labour Movement from outside and bring it under the control of the Re-publicans — rather like what the -o called Workers' Party people are up to toda>."

' T H I S r e m a r k w a s m a d e r e -cent ' ly b y G e o r g e G i l m o r e ,

t h e f a m o u s P r o t e s t a n t r e p u b l i -c a n and soc ia l i s t , w h o w i t h P e a -tk i r O D o n n e i l . S e a n M u r r a y a n d F r a n k R y a n in t h e 1930s t r i e d to p u s h I r i s h L a b o u r i n t o t a k i n g t h e l e a d e r s h i p of n a t i o n -a l l y m i n d e d p e o p l e a w a y f r o m D e V a l e r a .

T h e j u d g m e n t of s u c h a r e -s p e c t e d soc ia l i s t r e p u b l i c a n o n t h e W o r k e r s ' P a r t y — f o r m e r l y O f f i c i a l S i n n . S i n n F e i n G a r d i -n e r P l a c e a n d S i n n F e i n W o r k e r s ' P a r t y — is w o r t h n o t i n g . e s p e c i a l l y at a t i m e w h e n t h e r e is m u c h s p e c u l a t i o n <>•: i ts p l jCv :n I r i s h po l i t i cs , n o w t h a t it h a s t h r e e m e m b e r s i n

A q u a s i - m i l i t a r y f o r m a t i o n c a n h o l d t o g e t h e r t h e c o n t r a c t o r a n d the c l e r k .

P a i l E i r e a r . n a n d is a g r o w i n g i. = rce or. tr .e I r i sh L e f t . T h e a r t i c l e s or. t h e W o r k e r s ' P a r t y i n t h e A p r i l a n d M a y i s s u e s of t h e D u b l i n m a g a z i n e " M a g i l l " h a v e a lso a t t r a c t e d i n t e r e s t , e s p e c i a l l y in t h e i d e o l o g i c a l e v o l u t i o n of t h e p a r t y in t h e p a s t d e c a d e , t h e role , if a n y , of t h e Off ic ia l I R A . a n d t h e p a r t y ' s i n f l u e n c e m t h e T r a d e U n i o n M o v e m e n t .

Like all part ies with roots in ohysical- loice republicanism — Provos and IRSPs as well a s Offi-c ia ls — the social base ol the Wor-kers ' Par ty has been the small bourgeois class, the self-employed, t r aders , small f a rmer s and contrac-tors. or employees such as clerks a n d cer ta in office and intel lectual workers in olaied employments removed from group discipline and wi th slender links to organised ti > unionism

T i n s small bourgeoisie used to bo numerically the largest class in I re land . Physical f ace republican-ism was its mili tant expression, and like the unstable class which was i ts base republicanism always h a d i e i t w . r d and ngh tward t rends . T i n s no: to say that working-class people 'ver, not involved in such movements, bat their leaders, those who r a n the various Sinn F e i n s and IRAs over the years, had 110 real roots in Labour or t r a d e union bodies, even though a t t i m e s they could use a s t rongly lef t -sounding rhetoric. Above all. t h e policies they adopted showed t h e individualism and or ienta t ion to conspi racy of the classical smal l bourgeoisie.

Indeed the military style and organ isa t iona l discipline of the t rad i t iona l IRA was the counter-p u t of t ins psychological and poli-

tical individualism. For only t h e t ight f r amework of a mil i tary or quasi-tnilitary format ion could hold together t he contractor and the clerk, t he small f a rmer and the art isan, whose economic in teres ts would otherwise have divided them, as they were pulled between the working-class on the one hand and the r a n k s of middle and large busi-nesses on the other.

The split between Sinn Fein a n d F i anna Fai l in t he 1920s, between Republ ican Congress and IRA in the 1930s. t he rise of C lann n a Poblachta in t he 1940s, the divi-sion of Officials I rom Provisionals in the 1960s and early 1970s and the subsequent splits within these various groups, show a common tendency fo r t he political organisa-tions of t h e small bourgeoisie to f r agmen t in face of social pres-sures.

In t he 1960s the Republicans, following t h e fai lure of t he 1956-62 Border campaign , decided to go political. They dumped thei r arms, supported housing, unemployment and land agi ta t ions in the South and, in t he North, advocated civil r ights . T h e y opposed Lemass s policies of economic in tegra t ion with B r i t a i n and later on fough t aga ins t fu l l membersh ip of t h e EEC. T h e Republicans ' going poli-tical was one of the more hopefu l developments of a hopeful decade and t h e influence of the move-ment inevitably grew. At the be-hest of t he late Seamus Costello they inse r ted the aim of socialism in t h e Cons t i tu t ion of Sinn Fein, a l t hough w h a t exactly "socialism'' mean t was le f t undefined.

I t was a move to the Left , t hough it did not make the IRA or Sinn Fe in par t of t he Labour Movement. Though mil i tar ism was in abeyance, t he Army Council still r an t h e Republ ican show and policy was handed down by a small group of leaders and advisers. To-day t h e policies are dufe ren t bu t on both sides, whether Provisional or Official, t he method of deciding them r e m a i n s in essence the same with all t he s t reng ths and weak-nesses of t h a t way of doing things. Neither of t he republican organisa-tions fo rm policy on the same open basis a s t h e organisat ions of the

2. P h y s i c a l f o r ce r e p u b l i c a n -i s m g o e s b a c k to t he " h i l l s i d e m e n " of F e n i a n t r a d i t i o n .

Labour Movement , the t rade un ions for example, or even political par-ties like t h e Labour Par ty or CP.

TH E disas t rous split of 1970 under t lie s t r a in of the Nor thern

troubles sen t Provisionals and Offi-cials on the i r different courscs, but they r e m a i n in many ways mir ror images of one another . No con-flicts a re more bit ter t h a n when families fa l l out, and when good men on bo th sides get killed, it creates unbridgeable anger and re-sen tment . T h i s gulf of b i t terness now lies between the Provos and the Workers ' Par ty , as well as Sea-mus Costello 's followers now grouped in the I R S P and INLA.

T h e Provos continue the t radi t ion

AN ASSESSMENT by

ANTHONY COUGHLAN of physical force republicanism, going back to t h e "hillside men" of F e n i a n times. They t h ink they c a n uni te Ireland by these 19th cen-tu ry methods, some th ing in which I believe they a r e mis taken . But t h e r e is no doub t ing t h e label on t h a t par t icular polit ical bottle. I t is physical - fo rce republicanism, classical vintage.

T h e Officials h a d a problem in f inding a role for themselves a f te r t h e split. T h e y could have dis-banded and jo ined t h e organisa-t ions of t he Labour Movement. Or t hey could have a t t e m p t e d to con-t i nue to uphold polit ical republican-i sm at a t ime w h e n the Provos were making all t h e running , which would have been a lonely task in unpropit ious c i rcumstances . Or they could counterpose their

3 . O n b a l a n c e a s o u r c e of w e a k n e s s , c o n f u s i o n a n d d i s u n i t y in t h e I r i s h le f t .

newly-found "socia l ism" to the "nat ional ism" of t h e Provisionals a n d use their t i gh t ly disciplined organisat ion to s u p p l a n t or take-over the existing o rgan i sa t ions of t h e Labour Movemen t — the La-bour Party, the CP , t he t rade un ions and var ious progressive organisat ions on t h e Lef t .

They chose t h i s t h i r d course, which is wha t p r o m p t e d the com-m e n t of George Gi lmore already quoted.

I t is not surpr is ing t h a t th i s de-velopment of t h e Workers ' Pa r ty caused alarm elsewhere on the Left . T h e Labour P a r t y is electorally th rea tened by it . T h e Communis t P a r t y is i r r i ta ted by t h e pretensions of t he quondam S i n n Fe iners who would have b lushed t o be called Marxis t s in the ear ly 1960s but who now put themselves fo rward as t h e authent ic r ep resen ta t ives of the I r i sh working-class vis-a-vis com-munis t part ies a n d n a t i o n a l libera-t ion movements a r o u n d the world.

Tensions are a g g r a v a t e d by the unwillingness of t h e Workers ' P a r t y to work const ruct ive ly with o the r s on the Lef t . T h e r e are bit-t e r memories of how t h e Resources Protection Campaign , for instance, an organisation wh ich pioneered t h e demand for S t a t e development of Ireland's m i n e r a l wealth, was t aken over and l e f t to die. If it c anno t dominate i t will not co-op-era te , p, pie say of t h e Workers ' Par ty .

T h a t may be a n in jus t ice , but it is how the P a r t y is widely seen by those who should be its na tu ra l allies in progressive causes. For those interested t h e r e a rc details of t h e Workers' P a r t y ' s re la t ions with o the r groups in t h e Feb rua ry and M a r c h issues of Magi l l already re-f e r r ed to.

A LL social m o v e m e n t s are com-plex of course. All parties,

even the best of t h e m , have faul ts

a swell as virtues. But looking back on t h e pas t decade, it is difficult no t t o conclude t h a t t h e Official Republicans, now t h e Workers ' Par ty , h a s o n balance been a source of weakness, confus ion and disuni ty on t h e I r i sh Lef t . Which is no t to say it h a s not done good things , or t h a t it does no t con ta in in i ts r a n k s people of g r ea t ideal-i sm a n d h i g h h u m a n calibre. T h e same poin t can be m a d e of t h e Provis ionals indeed — t h o u g h any d a m a g e t hey have done a n d are doing to t h e cause they believe in is of a d i f fe ren t n a t u r e to t h a t of the i r ers twhile comrades.

T h a t those who fo rmed the Workers ' P a r t y took t h e course they did since t h e early 1970s is to a degree a m a t t e r of accident . I t was m u c h influenced by some personnel changes in Official S inn Fe in and t h e IRA. A group of young inte l lectuals in R T E played a key p a r t in working out t h e ideological unde rp inn ings of the new d e p a r t u r e and these were pub-lished in a document , "The I r i sh Indus t r i a l Revolution", a few years ago.

To a n outsider, though, it seems t h a t it did no t m a t t e r very much how in te rna l ly coherent or re levant to t h e problems of I r ish society the new policies were. Almost any ideological concoction might have served, so long as it proved ac-ceptable t o t h e leadership of the t ight ly disciplined organisat ion, rooted in a mi l i ta ry past, which the Officials r emained . There h a s been surpr ise nonethe less a t how exotic some of t h e new policies were, for in effect t hey th rew out the win-dow mos t t rad i t iona l republican positions.

T N th i s wr i ter ' s judgment , the J - psychological process a t work t h r o u g h o u t a m o n g the principal individuals involved has essentially

4. The m o t i v a t i o n of h o s t i l i t y a n d b i t t e r n e s s a g a i n s t t h e i r f o r m e r c o m r a d e s .

been hosti l i ty to and bit terness to-wards t he Provisionals — feelings completely unders tandable in the circumstances. T h e sad th ing is, though, t h a t t he leaders of t he Workers ' Par ty , in their anxiety to d i f ferent ia te themselves f rom thei r former comrades, have thrown out the baby of republicanism with t h e physical force bathwater .

The i r s t a t emen t s now counter-pose socialism and republ icanism in a way which would have been r epugnan t to Connolly and is reminiscent of economistic I i i sh labourism at i ts most bar ren . Ins tead of defending political re-publicanism aga ins t t he advocates of physical force, the Workers ' Par ty h a s d r i f t ed gradually in to a position of seeing any advocacy of Ir ish uni ty as "green na t iona l i sm" and crypto-Provisionalism — whe-

TOMAS MacGI0LLA (President)

ther it comes f r o - i political pa r t i e s like F i a n n a Fai l or the SDLP or even bodies like t he CP or I r i s h Sovereignty Movement. I t is not a far s tep f r o m t h a t to incipient • two-nat ionism" of t he Cruise O'Brien var ie ty and to ou t r igh t apology for unionism and Br i t i sh policy in I re land. T h e irony ia tha t it is no t too long since t h e leadership of t h e Workers ' P a r t y were themselves doing t h e t h i n g s they now crit icise t h e Provos for.

5. The b a b y o f R e p u b l i c a n -

i sm t i p p e d o u t a l o n g w i t h

t he p h y s i c a l f o r c e b a t h -

w a t e r .

Having largely abandoned re-publicanism — the l i tmus test o l progressive politics in I re land — it is not surpr i s ing t h a t t h e Workers' Par ty should m a k e other political U-turns. I t s ideologues now def ine the main reac t ionary force in the country a s being nat ive Irish capital ism — w h a t they call "gom-been capital ism". Th i s is also ironic considering the small bour-geois or igins of so m a n y of the Workers' Pa r ty ' s own leaders and advisers.

Mul t inat ional big business is seen as being "objectively" progressive, for it des t roys small business a n d brings in to being a proletar iat . Hence t h e Workers ' Par ty ' s u n -critical suppor t of foreign invest-men t as t he principal motor of I r ish economic development. T h e y have dropped the i r opposition t o t h e EEC, t h e political i n s t rumen t of the European mul t ina t ionals a n d they suppor t social contract- type na t iona l wage agreements which are also congenial to large busi-ness.

Although presumably the "gom-been capi ta l is ts" run the I r i sh State, t he Workers ' Par ty are un -critically in favour of public enter -prise. Any th ing is good so long a s the S ta te r u n s it, but they do no t pause to ask who runs the Sta te .

6. If L a b o u r f a i l s t o r e - t h i n k t h e W o r k e r s ' P a r t y w i l l i n e v i t a b l y g r o w in i n f l u e n c e .

These views are diametrical ly opposed to those the Official Re-publicans held a decade or so ago. They have been largely foisted o n them by the i r ideological advisers and it is h a r d to believe they ca r ry conviction to t h e many good m e n in the leadership of the Workers ' Pa r ty or to t h e dedicated and ha rd -working representa t ives they now have in Dail Ei reann.

Does t he Official IRA still exist? I t is cer ta in t h a t some leading people now runn ing the Workers ' Pa r ty were runn ing the Official IRA less t h a n a decade ago. As there h a s been no announcement of the Official IRA dissolving itself, one mus t assume t h a t in some fo rm or ano the r it is still in being.

Magill claims t h a t this body was used to car ry out assassinations, bank robberies and disciplinary actions well in to the la te 1970s. T h e Workers ' P a r t y leaders deny knowledge of i ts existence. They are a d a m a n t t h a t so f a r as they a re concerned politics has definitely taken over f rom the gun and the re

(Continued on Page Eight)

« r

— — — — — — V P

September 1982 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

FINE GAEL BIDS FOR POWER PSEPHOLOGISTS — fel-

• lows who fiddle about with election results — claim that if the Galway by-election spoke for the country as a whole, Fine Gael might well have an overall majority at the next general election.

If this happened it would be the work of the coalitionists in the Labour Party. They have helped Fine Gael to create a new image, liberal and "caring".

Instead of grim old Cosgrave in his top-hat, glaring down balefully from his horse or directing gravelly-voiced pro-nouncements to the populace, Fine Gael's present leader is said to personify the new spirit, that of "Garret the Good", the plain man's friend, unaffected, decent, modest, "with it" and honest. Yes. above all honest — quite different from that thuggish Fianna Fail crowd. And moderate, too; y o u n e v e r h e a r d of h i m playing with guns !

THIS image of the "people's" Fine Gael thought up and

marketed by the media men with all the expertise of modern mind-bending techniques, was badly needed to appeal to the young and sophisticated Ireland of the eighties.

But pure image-making it re-mains. F o r F i n e Gael is still the most conservative party

* f u t u r e Events *

NO R T H A M P T O N Connolly As-sociation has been Instrumen-

tal in bringing In the Department of Adult Education of Leicester University to hold twelve ireetlngs under the title of "The Troubles"— a political analysis of Irish history.

Lest readers fear once more to hear Robert Kee's portentous voice booming out the message that nothing can be done, they are sen(ding Dr John Hoffman, a mem-ber of the Connolly Association, who Is a lecturer In their depart-ment of politics.

The meetings will be enlivened by the showing of the Thames TV series. The fee Is £9 for the lot and the first meeting Is on Wednesday, September 22nd.

•k it Tflr Inc identa l ly we have hea rd f r o m

Dr Hoffman. He tells us t h a t Mr Michael O 'Rioidan, Secretary of t h e CPI is coming f rom Dublin to de-liver t h e K a t h Westacott memor ia l lecture on Sunday September 26th a t 2.15 p.m. a t t he Derbyshi re Miners ' C h a m b e r s in Sa l te rga te , Chesterf ield. Admission cha rge is 50p (OAPs 15p) and his subject is "Towards a Uni ted Ireland." K a t h Westacot t was t he daughte r of a Welsh miner , very active in all f o r m s of Labour politics and a sup-por te r of t h e unity and indepen-dence of I re land.

•b -ir £ Turn to the back page for par-

ticulars of the one day school on the P ro tes t an t contribution to Irish Republicanism, which takes place on Saturday, September 4th at the Community Centre, March-mont Street W.C.I. A subject not taokled before.

ft ft & T h e r e is also a conference being

organized by the Glasgow B r a n c h of t he Connolly Association. Owing to t he holidays we have not been able to get full particulars. B u t the da te is Sa tu rday October 30th a n d the subject is "Irish neu t ra l -1 y "

south of the border. And a few key facts will prove it.

In the general election earlier this year Fine Gael candidates included II company directors, 15 strong farmers, 10 practising lawyers, five publicans and shopkeepers and four auction-eers.

In the EEC Assembly (mis-called "Parliament", which it is not) Fine Gael teams up with the Christian Democrats and British Conservatives, on the far right of the political spectrum.

Fianna Fail used to have its TACA and big-business backers, but Fine Gael hardly collected its million pound plus election fund in hand-outs from the un-employed.

And the bold Garret is also very much England's man. Didn't he get patted on the head by Humphrey Atkins for trying to get the claim to a united Ire-land cut out of the constitution ? He criticised Fianna Fail for not supporting England over the Falklands and urged the SDLP to back Prior's "rolling devolu-tion" in the six counties He is all for Ireland's going along with the war - oriented NATO-EEC foreign policy and has said "there is no such thing as neu-trality today".

f I N E GAEL is* opposed to a wealth tax, but favours

dishing out public money to rescue big farmers who are in trouble with the banks. When farmers refused to pay the re-source tax, a form of land tax, and a levy on farm sales, Fine Gael not only praised this act of defiance, but later refunded their payments to those who had complied.

Fine Gael loudly decries fund-ing public spending by borrow-ing, and accuses Fianna Fail of "squandermania" which has put the country in pawn to foreign bankers. There may be a point in this, but unfortunately it was the 1973-77 coalition govern-ment, dominated by Fine Gael, that started the process of bor-rowing abroad to meet the day-to-day expenses of running the country. If Fianna Fail kept the bad practice up, it was their opponents who threw "sound finance" to the winds for the sake of electoral prospects. The taxpayers of the future will have to stump up.

THE new Fine Gael is a mix-ture of trendy careerists

and old-fashioned dyed-in-the-wool conservatives. Indeed its social ingredients resemble those of the Tory party in the British House of Commons, *a cookie in which an odd Liberal or SDLP type appears like a current in a bun. Fine Gael's leader is an Irish edition of Roy Jenkins, a sign that even con-servatives must adapt to the times.

The adaptation is working well. The near 40% first preference votes in the last election are an ominous augury. This chameleon party, resusci-tated from its death-bed by the Labour coalition of 1948, pro-vided with a new set of clothes by Garret Fitzgerald in 1977, is now making a bid to become the largest party in the state and the "natural" party of Irish conservatism. Labour and Fianna Fail should recognise a dangerous enemy.

IRELAND BEGAN IN THE WEST C 1 T A R T U N G new l ight is th rown ' on t h e prehis tor ic I r i sh by re-search work on the g rea t cemetery of passage graves a t Carrowmore, Co. Sligo.

Previously it was t h o u g h t t h a t our ancestors came to I re land f rom Europe by moving u p the I r ish Sea to t h e Boyne Valley, where they built t h e huge passage graves at Newgrange, K n o w t h and Dowth between 3,000 and 2,000 B.C. It was thought t h a t they t h e n moved in-land a n d wes twards th rough Loughcrew in t he west of Co. Meath and t h e n to Car rowmore near Sligo Town.

Now Swedish and I r i sh archae-ologists say th ings happened the other way round. T h e early settlers c a m e along the west coast, not the east . T h e Sligo passage graves can be dated to well before 4,000 B.C., which requi res a com-plete revaluat ion of t h e ' neolithic or stone-age period.

T T has now been shown t h a t some ' of the tombs a t Sligo mus t have

been built before agr icu l ture and pot tery-making were known in Ireland by a people who lived by hunt ing and fishing a n d the gath-ering of edible f ru i t s , berr ies and plants. These people a t different times of t h e year moved about the area to t ake advan tage of t h e sev-eral food resources—sea food like oysters and n^assels on t h e shore of Ballysodare Bay; a t o ther times hunt ing in t he fo res t s on the mounta in sides; in t he a u t u m n col-

lect ing the r ipening f ru i t s a n d nuts . T h e monument s of t he cemetery were their cent ra l fixed point a round which they gathered for r i tuals , ceremonies and festivities.

"Population expansion began ; fami ly groups moved o u t w a r d s in di f ferent direct ions; agr icu l tu ra l knowledge came somehow and eventually, 1,000 years l a te r , a h ighly organised f a r m i n g com-muni ty , descendants of t he or iginal se t t lers in Sligo, were able t o de-vote themselves to the bui ld ing of t h e great ca thedra l tombs of t h e Boyne Valley", say the archaeol -ogists.

GETTING OUT OF THE NORTH

/ •NNE-ten th of the Six County ^ populat ion emigrated between 1971 a n d 1981, according to the pre-l iminary report of the Northern Ireland Census, just published.

There has always been emigra-tion from the North of course, go-ing back to the 18th century Ulster Presbyterians who settled in Cana-da and the USA and who provided the genetic stock, as local lore has it, of 10 American Presidents.

But the net loss of population be-tween 1971 and 1981 was greater than at any time since the 1860s. It averaged 13,000 a year compared with 6,000 a year between 1961 and 1971 and 9,000 a year between 1951 and 1961. In part this reflects the troubles; In part the availability of jobs in Britain until the early and mid-1970s.

The Six County population, at just less than H million, has re-mained very stable over the past century. Britain's population doubled In that time, while that of the Twenty Six Counties de-clined, although It is now growing rapidly.

There is no Information yet on whether the recent high emi-gration affected Protestants and Catholics differently. In 1926 Catholics were just over one-third of the Six County population and by 1961 were nearly 40 per cent. In the past the higher birth rates among Catholics, reflecting their higher average family size, was counterbalanced by higher rates of emigration. But It has been sug-gested that recent years have seen a rise In the exodus of skilled Protestants, as well as of young people who have got their higher education in the North.

THE North's latest unemploy-ment figure, at 121,000 or 21

per cent of employees, should be set beside the emigration figures. This combines a male unemploy-ment figure of 25 per cent, with a female f)gure of 15 per cent.

The North's 21 per cent jobless rate compares with a British average of 13 per cent. The worst-hit spot In the Six Counties is Strabane, with 3,500 or 37 per cent out of work. Dungannon has 3,800 or 35 per cent; Newry 6,000 or 33 per cent; Derry 12,000 or 29 per cent and Belfast 55,000 or 18 per cent. The overall figure includes 11,000 school leavers on the dole.

Small wonder that with statis-tics of waste and misery like that, largely the result of Mrs Thatcher's lunatic economics, there should be fertile ground for recruiting to the IRA and the Loyalist paramilitary gangs.

Y O U MUST HAVE IT * • Clf cauxae y,au mu&t!

Have the IRISH DEMOCRAT posted each* month to your home. Fill in the coupon below and send to: 177 Lavender Hill, London, SW11 with the appropriate

sum. Tick the period required.

One year • Six months • (enclose £3.90) (enclose £1.95)

Name

Address

Irishman dies on

m o t o r w a y K J I D N I G H T on the motorway,

July 18th. A hitch - hiker, knocked down and killed sixteen miles from his home in Birming-ham.

Such was the tragic end of J a m e s Nelson Lindsay, 34-year-old nat ive of Belfast. He had accepted a lift from London and got as f a r as the Hilton Service Stat ion on the M6.

Born in the Shanklll Road area he used to tell me about his early life as we walked round Birming-ham selling the IRISH DEMO-CRAT.

He has been "led by the nose" into the Orange Order as a boy, when the chief amusement of the youngsters was to "chase damned Fenians" out of Protestant terri-tory.

" T H E great shock came when with his wife and children he emi-

grated to Britain and discovered on building sites and in public houses that here a loyalist was just another "Paddy."

"A veil was lifted from In front of my eyes," he told me once, "and I saw clearly for the first time in my life. How I wish every other man and woman on the Shankiil Road could have my experience and learn what fools have been made of us all these years." Within a year Jimmy was In

UCATT, a member of Aston branch where Pete Carter was secretary. This branch specialised in political education. Jimmy became an acti-vist and a speaker, later Joining the Connolly Association where for the first time he learned something about Irish history. He saw the place of the national independence movement as part of the struggle for a new society. He realised that he was an Irishman.

n E T U R N I N G from his father's funeral in 1975 he was arrested

in Liverpool under the so-called "Prevention of Terrorism Act." His union and the C.A. effected his re-lease within two days.

He was always among the first to answer the call to the picket line even when the batons were being wielded. He had dauntless physical courage. During the Grun-wick dispute he received a club stroke on the head which he be-lieved made him deaf in one ear.

The details of how he met his death will probably never be known, but all who knew him will remem-ber his generous idiosyncrasies and extend sympathy to his wife, Lily, his daughter Donna and three young sons.

MARK CLINTON.

JACK BEIRNE RIP

• J A R D on the tragic death of • • John Roy in July, London's building workers lost another doughty champion with the sad departure at the age of 68 of Jack Beirne, known universally as "The Parson".

Jack came from near Drum-shanbo in County Leitrim, and was an active Republican in the thir-ties and forties. When he even-tually settled in London he was a stalwart of the old Lambeth Wood-workers' Branch of the old A.S.W. He later became Secretary of Step-ney UCATT, but was ai.-ays asso-ciated with the Lambeth area. In the famous Horseferry Road strike on Sunley's site, subject of the Cameron Enquiry, Jack stood for thirteen months on the picketline with Jack Henry and others and never missed a day. He was also a leading steward In the 1972 na-tional builders' wages claim strike.

Jack was a good friend to and seller of the "Irish Democrat" and was widely respected. We extend sincere sympathy to his family.

6 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT September 1882

OLD IRELAND FREE ONCE MORE THANKYOU MA'AM SAYS

DAN I AST myht I had a happy dream, though restless where I be :

I thought aga n brave Irishmen had set old Ireland free. And how exc i ted I became when I heard the cannon's roar, 0 graclh mo chroidhe, I long to see Old Ireland free once more.

It's t rue w c had brave Irishmen as everyone must own. O 'Ne i l l . O 'Donne l l , Sarsheld t rue Lord Edward and Wolfe Tone, And also Robert Emmet who t i l l death did not give o'er— 0 sradh mo enroidhe. I long to see Old Ireland f ree once more.

Now we can't forget the former years, they're kep t in memory still, Of the Wexford men of '98 who (ought on Vinegar Hill , With Father Murphy by their side and the green flag waving o'er, 0 gradh mo chroidhe, I long to see Old Ireland free once more.

Allen, O'Brien and Lark in died their country to set free, And some day yet brave Irishmen wil l make the Saxon flee : Both day and n ght they'l l always fight, until death they'll ne'er

give o'er— 0 grarih mo chrotdhe, I long to see Old Ireland free once more.

DOWN BY THE GLENSIDE T W A S down by the glenside I met an old woman, ' A'plucking young nettles, she ne'er heard me coming,

And I listened awhile to the song she was humming— Glory-o. glory-o to the bold Fenian men !

T i s fifty long years since I saw the moon beaming, On strong manly forms and on eyes wi th hope gleaming, ! see them again, sure, through all my day-dreaming,

Glory-o, glory-o to the bold Fenian men !

Some died by the wayside, some died 'mid the stranger, A n d wise men have told us. their cause was a failure, But they stood by old Ireland, and they never feared danger,

Glory-o, glory-o to the bold Fenian men !

J passed on my way, God be praised that I met her, Be l i fe long or short, I wi l l never forget her, We may have good men, but we 'll never have be i ter .

Glory-o, glory-o to the bold Fenian men 1

IF ALL WE YOUNG MAIDENS EF a l l the young maidens were blackbirds a n d thrushes, ' A -making sweel music in white flowering bushes,

No work I'd be doing. I'd sit and be strewing The grains of my barn for the sake of their song !

if all the young maidens were cowslips and daisies Ti l ! filled was the meadow with sweet pretty faces,

I d scratch my head over, and chew a red clover, The sorrow a scyihe would I sweep through the throng!

if all the young maidens were stars up in heaven Out-peeping like mice through the chinks of (he even i

No sleep I'd be getting, but sighing and frett ing, Ti l l dawn's whiskered cat stretches out her long tongue!

!f all the young maidens were mealy potatoes A-laughing and smiling "Young men, come and eat us!"

I'd die of starvation, a sight for the Nation— And lie in my grave, 'ere I'd put in a prong.

Do you see. Molly'O. I've a heart soft and tender, So don't you stand out, but just make your surrender;

If you're bold like these thrushes that fight in the bushes. I'll turn to some blackbird and sing her my song.

MARY FROM DUNGLOE T H E N fare thee well, sweet Donegal, the Rosses and Gweedore, I'm crossing the main ocean where the foaming billows roar

Et breaks my heart from you to part, where I spent many happy days—

Farewell to kind relations, for I 'm bound for Americay.

Oh, my love is tall and handsome and her age is scarce eighteen, She far excels all other fair maids when she trips o'er the green ; Her lovely neck and shoulders are fairer than the snow— Ti l l the day I die I'll ne'er dony my Mary from Dungloe.

If I was at home in sweet Dungloe a letter I would wr i te , Kind thoughts would fill my bosom for Mary me delight ; 'Tis in her father's garden the fairest violets grow, And 'twas there I came to court the maid, my M a r y f rom Dungloe.

Ah then, M a r y , you're my heart's delight, my pride and only care, It was your cruel father would not let me stray there, But absence makes the heart grow fond and when I 'm o'er the main May the Lord protect my darl ing girl till I return again.

And I wish I was in sweet Dungloe and seated on the grass, And by my side a bottle of wine and on my knee a lass, I'd call for liquor of the best and I'd pay before I'd go, And I'd roll my M a r y in my arms in the town of sweet Dungloe.

W H A T brought you into my " house, To my house, to my house.

What brought you into my house ?"

Said the mistress unto Dan. " I came here to court your

daughter, ma'am, I thought it no great harm,

ma'ati. ' ' 'Oh, Dan, me dear, you're

welcome here." ' T h a n k you, ma'am," says Dan.

"How came you to know my daughter,

M y daughter, my daughter, How came you to know my

daughter ?" Said the mistress unto Dan.

"Going to the well for water , ma'am,

To raise the can I taught her, ma'am."

"Oh, Dan, tis you're the handy m a n , "

"Thank you. ma'am," says Dan.

"She's a bonny girl, your daughter,

Your daughter, your daughter She's a bonny girl your

daughter, And I like her well," said Dan

"She's a girl that's fit for any man

And has a gradh for you, dear Dan.

Oh, Dan, me clear, you're welcome here."

' Thank you, ma'am," says Dan.

"Oh, you can have my daughter my daughter, my daughter,

Yes you can have my daughter," Says the mistress unto Dan.

But when you take my daughter, Dan,

Of course, you'll take me also, Dan.

OS, D a n me dear, you're welcome here,"

' • T h a n k you, ma'am," says Dan.

This c&upie, they got married, got married, got married,

This couple, they got married, Miss Elizabeth and Dan.

And now he keeps her mother, And her father and her

brother and, Oh, Dan, 'tis you're the lucky

man," "Go to Hell," says Dan.

Bhios-sa la i bPortlairge

Q BHIOS-SA la i bPortlairge V Fol do, fol di, fol deir iom, Bhi Son agus punch ar clilar

ann Fol do . . .

Bhi Ir-n an tighe de mhna ann Fol do . . .

Agus mise ag ol a slainte

Fol do . . . Agus d'ealuigh bean on Rath

liom Fol do . . .

Agus tr iur o Thiobrad Aran Fol do . . .

Ni raibh a muinntir sasta Fol do . . .

Ni raibhadar na leath-shtasta !

Fol do . . . 0 . rachad-sa go Charaic

amaireach Fol d o . . .

Agus bearfad eailin breagh liom Fol do . . .

Gheobhaimid trid an mbearna

Fol do . . . Cuir f.os ar sagart laithreasch !

THE POOL SONG y O U Lords upon high, who rule from the sky

Look down on our pubs and bars For the people within, both women and men Are neglecting their pints and their j a r s ; The crack it is bad and the atmosphere sad, Every man has a face like a mule; For all he can do is to grab an ould cue And start playing that game called Pool.

When I was a boy it was always my joy To go to the pub each night, We had arguments, scraps—the odd ki l l ing perhaps, And everyone thought it was right; We had badgers and dogs and men from the bogs And young fellows acting the fool— Ah but now there's no crack, for every man-jack Has his arse in the air playing Pool.

To the rural alehouse, after milking his cows Every customer made his way And it's there he would dwell and drink t i l l he fell While the fiddles and pipes they did play While the jigs and the reels and the ratt l ing of heels And the polkas and slides were the rule— Ah but now there's no chance of a tune or a dance For everyone's playing at Pool.

Now this Pool, you wil l find, 'tis a game that's designed For a foolish illiterate lout You put in four bob; then you press an auld knob And a big shower of balls they come out ; They're placed on the table and then, if you're able To stick them all into a hole, More money goes in—then you start off again T i l l you've spent every bob of your dole.

In the Irish Free State, all the people are bate From watching and playing this game Their necks they have cricks that no doctor can fix And their shoulders and backs they are maimed. Their arses protrude in a manner most fewd, From being hoisted aloft in the air And their eyeballs are sore and dripping w i th gore And they act in a manner most quare.

So, if you meet a young man and his face it is wan And his eyes have a vacant stare, If his jaw-bone is slack and his head is thrown back And he can't tell a cob f rom a mare, His nostrils dilated, his hands corrugated, His manners like those of a f o o l -Then your shirt you can bet, that you have just met A man who's been playing at Pool.

- C O N O ' B R I S C O L L . (This i.ni• .-ong is r<corded on .Jimmy Crowley's record, -The B'ivs „.• Frur Hill on the Mulligan label i.

LAY H I M A W A Y O N THE HILLSIDE

T H E grey dawn had crept o'er the stillness ot morning, The dewdrops they gl i t tered with icicled breath,

The notes of the bugle sounded its warning, A young Irish soldier lay sentenced to death.

"No cold-blooded murder has stained my pure conscience," He called as a witness his Maker on high,

He'd simply been fighting for Ireland's loved freedom, Arrested and tried, he was sentenced to die.

Lay him away on the hillside, Along with brave and the bold ;

Inscribe his name on the scroll of fame, In letters of purest gold.

"My conscience shall never convict me," He said with his last dying breath ;

' May God bless the cause of old Ireland, For which I am sentenced to death."

He thought on the love of his feeble old mother, He thought of the colleen so dear to his hear t ;

W i t h words of affection he scarcely could utter, Well knowing from both how soon he must part,

He feared not to di:, though his heart was nigh broken, It was simply remembrance of those he loved w e l l ;

The Bible he pressed to his heart as a token, And its words cheered his soul in a felon's cold cell.

To the old barrack square they marched the young hero, The bandage he wore f rom his eyes in disdain,

"Do you think I 'm afraid o f a crime-sodden Nero ? I'd die for my country again and again.

I blame not my comrades f o r doing their duty, Aim straight at my heart ," were the last words he said,

Exposing his breast to the point of the rifles, The smoke cleared away , the young soldier was dead.

(This song commemorates James Daly of the ConnaiiL'ht Rangers, .shot for mutiny In India, 1920).

September 1982 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 7

PROMETHEUS RE-BOUND 'The Rise of the Irish Working Class. The Dublin Trade Union Movement and Labour Leader-

ship 1890-1914". Dermot Keogh. Appletree Press, 7 James Street South, Belfast BT2 SDL. 288pp, £12 (£IR 15).

BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN

"The Pupil", by Monk Gibbon. Published by Wolfhound Press.

"jl/TONK GIBBON, born In 1896, is one of I re land ' s foremost

l i te rary figures. A cousin of W. B. Yeats, he is a l ink wi th the I r i sh Li te ra ry revival, and is renowned f o r his poetry, criticism, t ravel books, and autobiographical writ-ings.

Much of his wri t ing is based on personal experience; even h is novels are thinly disguised auto-biography. His memoi rs of the f i rs t world war and i ts impact on a sensit ive young m a n , a re told wi th a n honesty t h a t is almost p a i n f u l t o t h e reader. T h e same somewhat discomfort ing candour is displayed in th is short volume.

I t is the story of a teacher ' s love fo r his pupil. T h e teacher is a m a n in his th i r t ies , the pupil, a gir l of fourteen. I t is not an un-usua l theme in l i tera ture , but th i s pupi l was no Lolita. As the a u t h o r explains in his preface , the s tory is not a por t ra i t of the pupil, r a t h e r is it an account of the im-pac t she had on h im. " I t was no t a love tha t needed any response be-yond acceptance of his admira t ion ."

I t is with regret t h a t I must ad-m i t t ha t I was unmoved by t h e story. So concerned is the au tho r With analysing a n d explaining h is emot ions and act ions t h a t he fai ls t o convey the pupil ' s a t t rac t ion. S h e remains th roughout , for th i s r eade r at any ra te , a pretty, but r a t h e r dull and ord inary school-girl.

T h e magic t h a t s t i r red her tea-cher, and cont inued to excite his imagina t ion over a g a p of some fifty years, r e m a i n s an unex-pla ined mystery. As always with •Monk Gibbon, it is a beautiful ly wr i t ten work.

N O R A H D I L L O N

ENERGY "Eclipse of the Sun ?" C. Con-

way, M. Flood & D. Gordon. Friends of the Earth Energy Paper no 5. £1.95.

r p H L S booklet ( r a t h e r l ightweight for the price) is a response to

t h e Government cuts in renewable energy research a n d development budge ts (£14M to £1 IM) , a t a t ime when the nuclear energy R & D budget is being raised to £221M. T h e comparat ive f igure for renew-ables in Prance is £60M.

It outlines the n a t u r e of t he Cinderella - s ta tus of renewable energy in the U K : unreasonable cost targets , lack of common ap-proach to energy sys tems costings in compet ing technologies, lack of a n agency to take cen t ra l respon-sibility (analogous to CEGB, NCB etc).

I t pinpoints deficiencies in t he overall programme, eg the assump-t ion t h a t electricity is t h e pr incipal t ransmiss ion system fo r all energy r a t h e r t h a n gas or liquid fuel.

I t goes on to deal specifically wi th t he various renewable energy sources: solar (passive, active, water, space etc), geothermal , bio-fuels , wind, wave a n d tide. I t is par t icular ly embi t tered about t he way t h a t promising wave work in Which Br i ta in" i s in t he lead (re-por ted in t he " I r i sh Democrat" some m o n t h s back) is being s t rang led by Gove rnmen t R & D commit tees domina ted by t radi-t ional a n d nuclear energy interests.

This is a political r a t h e r than a technical booklet and is a imed at a lay public. R J .

I IKE a blunt knife th i s book is ' J serviceable but no t satisfac-

tory. The somewhat pre tent ious title is ui validated by two limita-tions. As the subtit le indicates it confines itself to Dublin, apar t f r om occasional forays in to the country. More regret tably it stops a t 1914 though the apex of Irish Labour development was not reached unti l 1919. T h e story breaks off before the denouement .

T h e publ ishers c la im t h a t Dr Keogh dispels m y t h s which give Larkin and Connolly u n d u e prom-inence. I t is said t h a t "by 1907, the Dublin Labour movement had al-ready come to accept t h e need for comprehensive t rade-union, social and political re form." O n e cannot see where th i s is m a d e out. To establish it would require a close historical s tudy of t h e his tory of t h a t central organis ing body the Dublin Trades Council. Ins tead the assertion is res ted on the ad-mittedly s ignif icant s t ruggles of t h e Drapers ' Assistants . T h e whole story should have been cen t red on

THE QUESTOR'S THEATRE

t he T r a d e s Council All the ma t -erial is available,

f j ^ H E book is of course an intra-

1 ^ OR those of us who remember

the Sugawn Ki tchen , tha t glorious hea r t h of I r i sh life and t hea t r e tha t glowed in t h e Duke of Wellington pub on t h e Balls Pond Road for as long as Jerry O'Neill was governor, it was great t o find t h a t the Questors Thea t r e were put t ing on "Now you see him. now you don ' t " by the same J. M. O'Neill.

T h e play deals with an old Ir ish Canon in an Eas t E n d Catholic parish. He, t rue disciple of t he God tha t hides Himself, is c rea t ing scandal by levi tat ing a n d appear-ing and disappear ing aga ins t the use of na ture . The re is another , younger Ir ish priest, a post Vati-c a n II model, who h a s been put in to edge the old one out . In th is questionable endeavour he is assisted by a l ayman wi th a shadowy pas t and a devious present. T h e cas t is completed by a gently dot ty school mis t ress who is the Canon ' s most devoted fol-lower and two pragmat ic cockney chu rch c leaners who provide a yard stick of gradual ly decreasing san i ty and joyous comedy.

I t is a play full of s t r a n g e fore-boding. of t ender commisera t ion fo r poor humank ind , by t u r n har -r ied and neglected by incompre-hensible forces. A h u m a n k i n d t h a t for all t h a t is immensely res-ilient and, t h a n k God, endlessly funny .

P. O F.

OUR FUND HOLIDAYS have hi t our fund badly this mon th , but a las! ex-penses are no less in a holiday mon th . May we ask all our good f r i ends to give a bit «xtra th is m o n t h to overcome the ser ious de-ficit. There a r e so m a n y issues t h a t we must cover and t a k e action on and without money we just c an ' t do it. We may be super-men and women, but un fo r tuna te ly w e r e not that super!

Our sincere t h a n k s to: K.C. £10: C.O's £35; Anon £10: J. Bi rd £2: T. O'Plynn £2 ; T. L a n n o n £2.50; C. Hall £2; R. do S. £4 ; Sou th London C.A. £65; F.H.O. £10; E. Ayres £2.60; L. Har r i s £ 1 ; K. Manga-" £1; Anon £ 1 ; J . Pick-ing £0.50: S. Clarke £1; Readers in Cen t ra l London £0.88; Readers in Sou th London £15.55; I. L inehan 40p; D. Dal-ton 30p; J. Dorr ington 30p; TOTAL: £167.03.

duc t ion to an impor tan t sub-ject. But the issues are touched upon r a t h e r t h a n analysed in ,t t ho roughgo ing fashion. There are ind ica t ions of the importance of 1890 a s a climacteric. Dr Keogh does a service in rescuing Adol-p h u s Shields ( fa ther of the actor B a r r y Fi tzgerald) f rom undeserved obscuri ty. He acknowledges t he i m p o r t a n c e of the early socialists in p romot ing industr ial organisa-t ion. He t races the increasing power of t he in f ras t ruc tu re wor-kers un t i l they won hegemony in 1913. T h e r e is an interest ing ac-count of t he struggles of the Drape r s ' Assistants though they a re given a centra l position they a re ha rd ly entit led to. These t h i n g s a re worth a few bob and r e a d e r s and l ibrarians should be p r epa red to pay them.

At t h e same t ime this book seems to h a v e been produced in a hur ry a n d should not be regarded as more au thor i ta t ive tliar. it is. It s eems to have begun life as a uni-versi ty thesis. The author will t h u s h a v e fal len victim to cur ren t f a s h i o n which is to regard his tory as a series of documents f rom which selections are a r ranged in a row. T h e classical his tor ian docu-m e n t e d in order to "live" his period Dr K e o g h is less t h a n steeped in t he lore of t he Labour movement, whe the r t h a t is an advan tage or not . A n d some trade unionists may

present t h e academic pseudo-de-t a c h m e n t which sometimes pa t ron-ises, somet imes implies a sneer, and some t imes plunges invo banali ty.

r p H I N G S are not helped by the n u m e r o u s inaccuracies. W h y

give ra i lways wrong n a m e s ? I suppose t ime has gone by. In my young days t h e names of rai lways were a s f ami l i a r as those of foot-ball t e ams . More documentat ion is requi red t o establish tha t "Maurice" and Michael Canty were not t he same person. The n a m e of the au tho r of t h e Red Flag is given as J i m Connor . References to "shop s t ewards" a n d "the lump" have a smack of anachronism. Mr Jus -tice E. G . Swif te is referred to as a " J u d g e " (9.7) and is found s i t t ing in a cour t of first instance. Of Lark in it is t rue tha t he was born in Liverpool, but the year was not 1876 bu t 1874. The connection with Killeavy is t aken on trust .

A n o t h e r misleading s t a t e m e n t (141) is t h a t P. J. Mcln tyre and Lark in were "both members of t he I .L.P in Dublin". True, but Larkin founded i t and Mclntyre joined it, as he h a d joined t h e ' p a r t y founded by Connol ly a few years previously, being expelled a f t e r a few weeks. To c o m p a r e Larkin and M c l n t y r e is absurd . If Mclntyre is men-t ioned a t all something of his chequered career should be given. I

have only c i rcumstan t ia l evidence, backed up by half a century 's ex-perience of Labour politics, but there is no doubt in my mind tha t Mcln tyre was a police tout. I do not expect Dr Keogh to risk say-ing this—but some of the remark-able coincidences involving Mcln-tyre could well be recorded.

J \ N E of the difficulties one o f t e n experiences wi th academics

works is the i r re luc tance crit ically to evaluate sources. Any references will do. But most i r r i ta t ing is the tendency to a n n o t a t e profusely th ings t h a t are common knowledge, while offering the improbable on bald assertion.

For example, how does Dr Keogh know tha t "Shel lback ", who wrote in Larkin 's " I r i sh Worker", was none other t h a n Sean O'Casey (238). I never heard for ce r ta in who "Shellback" was, but always understood he was a Liverpool doc-ker and t h e pseudonym suggests tha t .

Y \ N E mus t sympath ise with an author when his proof-readers

serve h im badly. "Affect" for effect (17) and "appren t iced" for appren-tised are i r r i ta t ing , but easily hap-pen. But w h a t a pity t h a t the Ant ien t Concert Rooms have be-come "anc ien t" ! T h e sign was the re in Pearse St reet until qui te recently. And somebody should have spot ted Keir Hardie 's fore-n a m e which is twice spelled Kier.

All this is evidence of haste , as is also some of t he writing. T h e sentence (2) "By personalising the reasons for t he growth of t he t rade union movement , as Clarkson does, a number of d i s turb ing conclusions follow" narrowly escapes anaeolu-thon. And Clarkson didn' t . A theory is cons t ruc ted f rom one example. But t he mixed me taphor on page 163 is magnif icent . Wri t ing of the "Ir ish Worker" Dr Keogh ex-pla ins "The overall tone of tiie paper was in t empera t e and inflam-matory . I t pursued a policy of pour-ing oil on t roubled waters." Ei ther water is confused with flames, o: oil with potass ium!

r i i H O U G H not too obtrusive Dr Keogh 's commi tmen t appears

to be to the outlook of the present-day establ is lunent whose his tor ians have been described by a writer in t he "Sunday Times" as "revisionist". Of the efforts of t h e Dublin Trades to discourage impor ta t ions he writes (40) "Workmen were seeking a con-cealed subsidy for t he luxury of hav ing art icles m a d e by c r a f t unions, an app roach t aken to ex-t r eme leng ths by t h e p r in te r s in t h e 1860's." T h a t is not a historical j udgmen t but the neares t th ing to EEC p ropaganda — at a t ime when I r i sh tomatoes, produced more cheaply t h a n fore ign ones, can ' t be got into t he shops because of the "concealed subsidy" of more fav-

Ireland condemns Israel ^ T t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s the

U . S . A . used the v e t o a g a i n s t a S o v i e t reso lut ion ca l l ing f o r a ban o n t h e s u p p l y of a r m s to the I s rae l i murderers w h o are s y s t e m a t i c a l l y reduc ing Wes t B e i r u t to rubble a n d s l a u g h t e r -ing i n n o c e n t m e n , w o m e n and c h i l d r e n .

P e r h a p s it is not surprising. T h e United S t a t e s is Israel 's ma in sup-plier. T h e more murder the more orders f o r t he arms manufac tu re r s . I t w a s admi t t ed on the "World a t One" (BBC) on Sunday, August 8th, that the U.S. was very glad to have i t s a r m s tried out In a limited w a r against comparable Russian hardware. Israel can com-mit what barbari t ies she likes, secure in the guarantee that how-

ever much weaponry she uses she can always depend on get t ing f r e sh supplies.

r p w o countr ies t h a t voted with the Russ ians were F rance and

t h e I r i sh Republic. Expla in ing Ire-l and ' s policy Mr Noel Dorr, who is cur rent ly c h a i r m a n of the U.N. Securi ty Council, no ted t h a t Israel h a d bla tant ly flouted resolutions 516 and 517 cal l ing on their gov-e r n m e n t to cease its ou t rages in t h e Lebanon. He said t he autho-r i ty of t he Council could not be ignored.

Mrs Tha tche r ' s Br i ta in inglori-ously abstained. O n e does not need to be a suppor te r of violence to n o t e t h a t t h e m o n s t e r Begin has done a trifle more damage t h a n t h e I.R.A.

ourable t ranspor t t e rms for the latter. There are always subsidies. The question is^who is to get them.

It is in accordance wi th this generally es tab l i shmentar ian out-look tha t Dr Keogh concludes his book with tile following profound reflection. "Yet despite t he popu-lar romant ic and nostalgic a t tach-ment to the p romethean figure of 'Big Jim', the philosophy of Wil-l iam Mar t in Murphy h a s been the more enduring and inf luent ia l in the shaping of modern I re land."

If Dr Keogh were a cook, t he ver-dict would be "good food spoiled.'

C.O.G.

Well-balanced "Nuclear War: the Facts on our

Survival". Peter Goodwin. Ash and Grant. £'5.95.

I JETER GOODWIN is a physicist who works as a journal i s t for

the BBC and as a p resen te r of science programmes. T h e r e is an "af te rword" by Greg Treverton, who is Assistant Director of the In te rna t iona l Ins t i tu te for S t ra te gic Studies, London.

T h e above would suggest t h a t wa are deal ing with a book of the calibre and s ta tus of t he ' Civil Defence" publication "Protect ami Survive": ie a p ropaganda docu-men t for Establ ishment mythology. We are not. It is well-balanced and accurate . Goodwin gives the facts, without a t t empt ing to sugar t he pill.

He admi t s the existence of new de-stabilising factors in tha "balance of te r ror" t ha t give a per-ceived advan tage to a superpower which decides on a "pre-emptive strike". Th i s is of course t h e basis for t he revival of the CND and the expanding movement in Europe and the US. Th i s book could become the handbook of this movement , wi th t h e added force t h a t its Es tab l i shment credentials a re im-peccable.

( j OODWIN goes on in reasonable dep th to explore the various

mil i tary technologies; he recognises the prol i fera t ion problem and links it wi th t he spread of nuclear power generat ion, of which p lu ton ium is an unavoidable by-product. He dis-cusses " thea t r e wars" and suggests t h a t t he r e is one such which could take place without global escala tion, namely India vs Pakistan, hinting t h a t the superpower mili t a ry lobbies might welcome it a s a test-bed (as the Spanish Civil War was for WWII ) , or even ins t iga te it O the r thea t res suggested are Europe, t he Middle East, t h e Sine-Soviet a rea and South Afr ica ; all these would have clear escalation potential .

He goes into "sifrvivalism" in some depth , for what it is worth , however he doesn't suggest t h a t It. would increase the survival proba-bility of i ts pract i t ioners to any s ignif icant extent. He goes in to the impossibility of civilised life for those few who might r e m a i n alive in t he a f t e r m a t h .

The message is clear: nuclear war must be prevented, and some alter-native to "nuclear deterrence" must be found.

R.J.

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT September 1082

EMERALD TROPHY RETURNS

TO LONDON

[ HE Emerald Meager (horse-*• shoe-pitching) Club is based

1 • t :ie Stoekwell area of South London and is centred on the Dor-a t Arms, Clapham Road, where

genial Kildareman Bob Porter is th< landlord and driving force o; the team. Consisting almost en-tn'cly o! Irishmen, the Club went to Ashy. Co. Kildarc in July 10 compete m tin All-Ireland C'ham p. unships of this growing sport. They didn't make The headlines in these, but in a private match with C: stlc Mitchell, Laois. club they won back the Emerald Trophy \\nu ll the Laois men had taken oft them in London the year belore.

Six players compete in any one match, pitching a 2 lb horseshoe some :33 feet. It doesn't sound much but a l ter a few hours, as one player remarked. "You feel as if you were throwing the bloody horse."

The players who went to Ireland were Bob Porter. Charlie Nolan. Eddie Murphy, Arthur Burke. Jimmy Connors. Tom Mulhall. Jimmy Quinn and Tony Marrin-an. The Club has been invited to give an exhibition at the forth-coming G.A.A. Gala Day at Ruislip.

T W O IRISH REGIONS

JOIN HANDS | RETAILS h a v e r ecen t ly

r e a c h e d us ot a most in-t e r e s t i n g a n d encourag ing e v e n t he ld last M a r c h by the t w o I r i sh R e g i o n s of UCATT.

This was a joint weekend semi-liar on Safety, Health and Wel-fare held in Malahide, Co. Dublin, with SO delegates from all parts of Ireland, North and South, both men and women.

Besides the platform speakers, there were numerous discussions among rank and file delegates in comparison of wages, conditions, safety measures, pension and sick-pay schemes, etc.

On the Saturday night there was a general get-together and singsong tha t lasted well into the night, with harmony (if not always musical!) and friendship prevailing throughout. A good omen for the growth of further unity of the Irish Working Class!

BOMBS-AND BACKLASH

WORKERS PARTY (Continued from Page Four)

Is no reason to doubt their sin-cerity in this. At the same time no organisation is uninfluenced by its historical origins and the leadership style as well as the or-ganisational and ideological disci-pline of the Party show clearly its indebtedness to its military back-ground.

How will the Workers' Party fare in the period ahead? This largely depends on whether Labour aban-dons its support for Pine Gael and reverts to the politics of Connolly. If Labour can rehabilitate itself and it will be difficult it can pro-vide the focus for the discontent and political aspirations of Ire-land's hordes of young people in the 1980s. If Labour fails, the Workers' Party will grow in in-fluence. Whether that would help to lead Ireland to a better future, considering the way the Party has evolved, is however another matter.

IJEAR JOHNNY.—Thanks for yours of last month and

please excuse delay in answer-ing—the usual excuses, of '.ourse, you know the crack! Things move so fast nowadays it's hardly worth replying to so me of the points you raised. As you will know from the papers and the RTE, there was no backlash of the kind you feared, not significantly at any rate though no doubt there are h u n d r e d s of Irish here in Britain who will have felt something, mure or less — I'll come to that it. a moment. You lived here yurself, John boy. in happier times, so you should know what m o o f the people are like —

enough going and as long <;-. they have the few shillings !o spend, and a bit of grub on the table they won't get into a lather of sweat. Not like at the end of the 'thirties when there was a real anti-Irish backlash,

rthe time they topped McCor-mack and Barnes for the Coven-try bombs.

But there has been a lot of education, willy-nilly, of the British people since then—the best part of a million of us Irish living here must have taught them something—and the vast majority today can dis-tinguish between your ordinary run-of-the-mill Irishman (or woman) here, trying to make ends meet and maybe manage the annual holiday in that most expensive of all holiday resorts, Mary Horan 's Land, and your determined activist w h o will risk a lifetime in t h e nick to nlant his few pounds of explo-sives. I can see y o u r point, though, because like the majo-rity of our compatriots here, I have experienced .that atavistic (nice word, Johnny boy !) dread of a general backlash. The fact of the matter is that the emi-grant/exile—call him what you will, 1 mean the man or the woman who lives a n d works in a country that is not, strictly speaking, his own—is very vul-nerable when it c o m e s to some-thing like this; they fear the displeasure of friends, neigh-bours and workmates. Rela-tives, too, since of course a lot of the Irish here are related by marriage and blood to the people of this country where so many of us have had to come to get a decent going on over the years : there was a tragic/funny incident here some time back when an Irishman couldn't stand his English wife boasting about the glorious Fcilklands victory and gave her a slap in the puss (costly, as it turned out when she took him to court!).

BY DONALL MacAMHLAIGH

I N times of war they say the first casualty is truth and

that is so, no doubt (well, look at the way the ,Task Force authorities muzzled the P r e s s ! ) but there is the perhaps even sadder business of how human relationships suffer . . . which brings me to the bombs, at Regents Park and Knightsbridge, that is, because by the time you read this there may well be more, that is if Dathi O C. was making a reliable forecast and not fust voicing an opinion. To unswer your query, on the whole there was no backlash at the ordinary level I'm thankful to say, because a man has enough to contend with these days and not to be set upon by his work-mates and beaten up for some-thing he didn't know was even going to happen—and would prevent if he did know, if only to make life that bit more toler-able for himself! Oh yes, no doubt there are lots of-Irishmen and women who would contra-dict me and point out that THEY had been variously in-sulted, offended, even physically assaulted because of the IRA bombs, but by and large, as any fair-minded man will admit, there wasn't a lot.

In fact not one British person even mentioned the matter to me and fro#i the feelers I put out I k n o w th i s to be the case with a majority of Irishmen working on whatever few build-ing jobs there are left here today under Maggie's wonderful government; most British folk can distinguish between us ordi-nary non-bomb-planting Paddies and the bombing variety and see no point in taking their anger or frustration out on us which is no more than fair, Johnny, because neither do WE seek to take OUR anger and frustration out on the ordinary working-class Britisher when a ten-year-old has his brains smashed in by a plastic bullet (too lethal for use on what is quaintly termed the British Mainland these days) or when a young man is taken out from his tea in a Co. Tyrone farm-house and shot in the middle of his own hay-field by the oddly-named security forces.

I think we may pay ourselves the compliment that we will-ingly pay to the ordinary people

of Britain (and to the ordinary people of England in particular) that we do not hold them re-sponsible for the atrocities committed in Northern Ireland by their forces any more than they blame the bulk of us for putting a bomb under the band-stand where a bunch of non-combatants are entertaining the public (wouldn't it have been nice if some curly-haired two-year old had been ripped asun-der by that particular bit of whatever-it-was,- gelignite or whatever the hell it is they use to make a bang ?). ' I'll go on for a minute, and please nobody that might hear me express this view when I'll say that there would have been olagoning, more lamentation, here than there was when little Majella O'Hare and many other children were murdered by sol-diers in the North. For, Johnny boy, and this is what I'm trying to come at, incidents like the London bombs show up very clearly what that unfortunate man in Derry said some years ago when he was dragged from church: "Ordinary people are bastards!" And so we ARE because we can happily close our eyes to the most horrific things if we are not affected by them and a Tory M.P. whose name I just can't recall, ex-pressed this perfectly some years back when he asked his "Sunday Express" readers if they really give a damn about what happened abroad.

fjUMAN nature being what it is nine out of ten folk don't

give a damn and it's no use in pretending they do: how many ordinary folk cared here when the 13 civil rights protestors were shot dead in Derry that Bloody Sunday ? Not many and I was here, I know. . . . No more, Johnny, than a lot of Irish — never mind British — people here care very much how many die in the North as long as it doesn't affect themselves. That's hard fact and there's no use not facing it. . . .

And to the response to the London carnage . . . I've lost count of the number of Irish people, who live in Ireland I mean, who had holidays booked here in Britain and were afraid to come across because of the bombing and how it might

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affect them. Would they be in-sulted / offended / beaten up — that was THEIR worry and they were no different from the many thousands of British people who would like to go to Ireland (if the prices were half-reasonable there, anyway!) but who imag-ine that they too will be insul-ted / offended / beaten up . . . we are victims alike of the times and the things that are happen-ing.

Before I finish I want to say a word or two about the breast-beaters, that sizeable proportion of Irish (most of them living in Ireland) who say to the British people: "We are sorry, we are ashamed, we do NOT go along with this." OK John, impeccable sentiments, good ordinary hu-man feelings of shock and re-morse surfacing, hope for the human race yet while people express such feelings (the Ger-mans asking pardons from the Jews and maybe some day the Jews and the Palestinians asking each other's pardon) . . . but the thing that is missing, Johnny — the LUB AR LAR as they say in Irish — is this : that a lot of those breast-beaters felt no grief when kiddies' heads were smashed in by rubber or by plastic bullets . . .

The hoteliers of Kinsale have published a statement to say how much they abhor what has happened in London and if there is no other motive than genuine sorrow for what happened then let us honour them. But how many of them with his/her hand on his/her heart can say that

• LLcy were not in the least in-fluenced by the resultant can-cellations, the drop in the num-ber of British visitors and the consequent loss of business ? I may be doing them an injustice and if so I would happily ask THEIR pardon, but I can't help reflecting — a mite cynically, perhaps — that they didn't have a lot to say on a number of oc-casions when they might have opened their mouths. JN conclusion, Johnny, let me

say that I hope there won't be any more such explosions, though I'm not very optimistic. You will have noted that my let-ter has been strangely non-poli-tical and THAT comes from a despair of politics: a friend of mine, a journalist, said in an Irish Sunday paper recently that he believed the majority of Irish people felt that the Northern situation was insoluble — FAL GO HAER was how he put it in the old tongue — and I must confess that that is how I feel, too. I don't know if there's one nation or two nations in Ire-land ; I don't know if under any conceivable situation the Loyal-ists would join with the rest of us in a one-country state, but what I do believe is that, what-ever Britain does, we are not go ing to get the Loyalists to join with us in any sort of meaningful union against their wishes. Knowing the way you think, Johnny, this will be a sort of heresy and so I'll say no more for now. Maybe next month we can talk about hap-pier things.

Your old mate, t. PADDY.

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