In this issue

DECEMBER 1988 "SOp-

Release Irish political prisoners

say Russians DAVID Mellor Minister of Health of the Tory Goverment has recently been to Czechoslovkia where be was. reprimanding the Czechs for their "Human Rights' record. Before that Mr Mellor was lecturing the Israelis for doing on the West Bank what British has been doing in Northern Ireland for twenty years.

Mrs Thatcher the most reactionary head of state in Europe has been opposing the Soviet proposal to hold the next Human Rights Conference in Moscow, in 1991. She says that the Russians must conform to the Helsinki principles on Human Rights which she claims they have not yet done. The Russians have replied by drawing attention to the lack of "Human Rights" in Northern Ireland.

Gennady Gerasimov the Foreign Ministry spokesman has demanded the

the six counties. - He says urgent measures are required in Northern frefaud to ro-establjsh legality and constitutional law there, in keeping Witt the 1975 Helsinki Final A c t

Expressions of Soviet concern, it maintained, were not an interference in the UK internal affairs: they were prompted merely "by the hope that Britain's policy in Ulster will correspond to the high-sounding statements being voiced in London in favour of basic hnman rights and freedoms in other countr ies ." Unfortunately claimed Mr Gerasimov, there had been little sign of that so far.

The statement accused the British authorities of holding more than 400 political prisoners in Ulster — a figure roughly twice standard western estimates of the number of prisoners of

hi prisons and psychiatric I in the Soviet Union.

: British troops went to Ulster nearly 20 years ago, Mr Gerasimov said, 3,000 people have been killed there, a further 30,000 Vounded or crippled" and about 7,000 detained under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1974. The Soviet public had "serious doubts" about the fairness of sentences in the province and the way prisoners were treated.

Mr Gerasimov insisted the tatement was not a lecture. Instead he linked it to Mr Gorbachev's current doctrine of

i European home."

Page 2 - HILLSBOROUGH Page 3 - IRISH STEREOTYPES Page 4 - DONAL McGRATH Page 5 - TABLE TALK Page 6 - IRISH SONGS Page 7 - BOOK REVIEWS Page 8 - DONAL MacAMHLAIGH

BEAUTIFUL IRELAND

CALENDARS 1989

M W AVAILABLE AT £1 JO (Post £2.25)

From:

FOUR PROVINCES BOOKSHOP 244/246 QRAVS INN ROAD,

WC1XBJR (Wkoi: 833 9022)

BANKS BLAMED FOR EMIGRATION WHILE Mr Hume MEP has been ranting and railing about the advantages of 1992 and Mr Taylor Unionist and MEP has been making hysterical attacks on the 26, Counties Bishop Murphy of Cork and Ross has been taking a sober look at realities behind the Common Market ballyhoo.

"Is our country to become merely the retiremept home for burnt-out capitalists from Europe?" the Bishop aSked. "What I want in 1992 is work for Cork, for the people of Cork. I ask the M E P s now to tell us what jobs 1992 will hring to Cork. What consideration will be given to moral values in this new Europe? How will the dignity of We person be protected?"

The Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr Michael Muiphy attacked the financial institutions for investing abroad when anyone with the m o s t " m i n i m a l p a t r i o t i c sentiment" would spend the money at home where it would give young people a chance to stay in Ireland. The banks, he said, failed to react to the spiralling emigration crisis.

He also fixed the blame on successive governments for "bad management" and described emigration as a horror story for Irish people. "Governments come and go and the people responsible are forgotten and never asked questions/' he added. "Banks are loaded and are buying into other countries. Banks are a power in this land. Money is power and if you haven't money you haven't power." Bishop Michael Murphy, never one to shirk when it comes to speaking out for the poor and the oppressed, articulated the kind of fears, m$ny people have about the Single European Act.

Benefits for better-off The arguments put forward in

favour of the Single European Market relate to such things as cheaper cars, lower tax, abolition of custom control etc. Bishop Murphy commented. "These so-called advantages seem to me to be of benefit only to the better-off among us. None of these are likely to bring benefits to the weaker sector." He went on to say that his fear of the Single European Market was that it would lead to cutbacks and greater hardships for the weaker sector of the community. "In a healthy family the strong usually rally round the weak member. I cannot see a lot of evidence that this principle has

been operative in the European Community to date."

"What has been happening" he went on, "is that those with economic power (eg Margaret Thatcher) get their own way while handouts are given to the weak to pacify them." The bishop is deeply concerned as he is perfectly entitled to be, about the fact that we are being robbed of our main resource, our young people. "If o u r y o u n g peop le a r e be ing encouraged and forced to go to Europe where does that leave us?" he asked indignantly.

I FROM JIM SAVAGE

Bishop Murphy, and he was speaking for many, said that even with the build-up of food mountains Europe is unable to do anything about the needs of the Third World. "It is a fact of life that thousands of Cork families go hungry each day in pockets of dire poverty in the northside and southside of the city. Worst hit are households headed by an unemployed person and families with children. , '

Blackest of black spots Now we have the new poor who

worked in factories such as Ford and Dunlop for most of their lives now hit by unemployment and unable to maintain even a reasonable standard of living, unable to pay mortgages, unable to provide the basic necessities for their families. Even Euro-MP, T. J. Maher had to describe the northside of Cork City as the "blackest of black spots in Europe" in relation to unemployment and stated that the

unemployment rate there is as high as 79 per cent.

So the Christmas season has little c h e e r f o r t h e t h o u s a n d s o f unemployed as poverty is taking its toll. This year was the worst on record as voluntary help organisations are unable to cope with the plight of the underpriviledged, especially the aged who are bearing the brunt of the deprivation. Against this sort of background with real biting chilling poverty which is the most damning indictment of this society for many years.

It is a fact that local authorities are being so starved of cash by the Government that they are unable to provide even the ordinary basic services essential to the day-to-day r u n n i n g of t h e i r a r e a s of responsibility. Cork Corporation has had to cut back very seriously on its traditional Christmas relief work scheme because it can no longer a f ford to fund a little annual project which was of enormous benefit to the unemployed and their families in the weeks running up t o Christmas when deprivation is most felt.

By national standards this is a very small scheme, yet one which is very important locally, but above all, it is an unwelcome indicator of the sort of thing that is happening because insufficient funding is being ploughed back into this area. The Cork area is not looking for anything in the way of special treatment. What it is looking fo r and what it is entitled to get, is some level of assistance in emergency situations such as that which pertains at the moment and which cannot be coped with by an area so deprived of ordinary funding that even its smallest schemes must be chopped. We are on the threshold of a New Year which doe's not hold out a great deal of hope for the deprived.

HELP END THE MISERY

THE money spent in Northern Ireland by the British Government is wasted. The way it is spent is causing more misery, deaths and destruction every year. It causes young people to do desperate deeds in seeking remedies. Money spent in promoting Connolly Association policy will save lives and end the misery. We want to create a situation in the whole of Ireland where the young can lead normal happy lives without violence and without having to emigrate.

The policy resolution published on page four is the fruit of fifty years experience. You can tell by reading it, that we have the political expertise. We have the knowledge, you have the money. Our policy will help to end the yea is of misery. Help us by sending in donations.

A Dublin man, Bob Geldof raised two billion pounds in a short time to help starving Africans. They needed and deserved help. So do our own kith and kin in Ireland. We don't want two billion right away. We do want £25,000 to help to end the misery being inflicted -on oMr own people in England and Ireland. We want it quickly. Part of our policy is to get all the innocent Irish prisoners released from British gaols and get an amnesty for those who rightly claim to be political prisoners. We Want £25,000 because that will pay for an organiser for a year.

This Appeal was launched at the London Desmond Greaves Memorial Meeting on 18th October where £350 was collected. Over a hundred people heard tributes to Desmond Greaves, who gave his life in the cause of Irish freedom. We don't expect you to make the same sacrifice. All we expect is that you gjive something financially towards achieving the things he died for. Our cause is a worthy one. We need your help NOW.

SPECIAL FUND OUR thanks to: B. Riordan £19, J. Mayiard £3, P. Greene £1.20, K.

It £>.20, R. M. Walker £10, P. ) £10, J. Morrksey £9, R. J. M. ilrst £19, G. Flndlay £19, J. A D. Ian £199, C. MeLiam £17.29, F. 1 £8. Total: £293.60.

A U S Navy ballistic missile submarine: 400ft long and as high as a three-storey building.

the British Ministry of Defence Apply t o F o u r P r o v i n c e s admit the p r o b l e m and do Bookshop, for a copy o f the something is George Foulkes, pamphlet which deals with "the Labour MP for Garrick, Cummock polution and militarisation of the and Doon Valley. Irish Sea ," price £1, post 14p.

Jump in radiation levels Leak from Irish sea fsub'?

News first heard on Irish radio

December 1988

Spring shocks rank and file

THERE is amazement in the Irish Labour Party that its leader Dick Spring should have accepted and endorsed the goal of 'European Union' as the next thing to aim for on top of the EEC.

European Union, according to German Chancellor Hans Kohl in a recent speech, means a common European Army, a European federal police force and common European defence. It is the European NATO pillar under another name. In a European Union Ireland would lose whatever independence and neutrality it has and be ruled in effect by a European Government in a quasi-federal European Superstate.

Spring endorsed European Union in a statement of leaders of West European socialist parties held in Berlin. Amazingly the Irish Labour Party conference or Administrative Council have never discussed the matter. He refused to associate himself with an explicit reservation about the reference to European Union which British Labour leader Neil Kinnock insisted should be attached to the declaration.

It reminds one that the extension of the EEC by the Single European Act was never discussed by the Irish Labour Party either. The Labour leaders in the FitzGerald Coalition Government went ahead and signed the SEA Treaty in 1986 without consulting their party. When it looked as if they would be repudiated by that year's annual conference, an excuse was found for not holding the conference.

But with Irish Labour out of government and the Left so much stronger, it is unlikely tha t Dtck Spring's embracing of European Union will be let go by so easily.

SUSTENTATION FUND

OUR thanks to: J. Watson £5, M. Brennan £3, A. Barr £10.10, M. Burkin £4.30, J. WyBe £1.20, P. Byrne £3.99, K. Doody £1, R. & M. Walter £ t t , M. Brennan £6, B. J. Muiphy £2, B. Want £5.50, J. Watson £5, M Whan 12. supporters in Central London £1.63) in South London £11.06, In Birmiagham £2.55. Total £75.64.

THE Irish Goverment is being u r g e d t o s e e k i m m e d i a t e information on the cause of t he sudden rise in radiation levels on the West coast of Britain on October 29th.

The i n c r e a s e d levels w e r e

H0RTH CHANNEL

Loch (US)

Faslane (RN)

INCIDENT

CELTIC StA

detected in Southport and Wigan according to a spokeswoman for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarm-ament.

"The wind was coming from the west and all indications are that the radiation came from an accident on a nuclear submarine" she said.

She pointed out that an American nuclear submarine the U S S Phoenix, had gone into the British nuclear submarine port at Faslane three days later, and said it was unusual for an American sub to go there, as they usually docked at the nearby U S base.

The readings peaked at about four times the normal background and the C N D spokeswoman said they were not dangerous. We are not just trying to raise a scare here — we just want to know what caused it," she said. The Liverpool MP, Mr Alan Hughes has put down a parliamentary question seeking information on the incident.

The Independent newspaper recently drew attention to the fact that more than 30 people have died and upwards of 40 small boats have been damaged in the Irish S e a in the past six years. Despite the

HILLSBOROUGH: THREE YEARS ON

publicity in a Connolly Association pamphle t Ir i sh S e a Nuc lear Cesspool, published in 1985, these vessels which apparently cannot see where they are going continue to cause deaths to fishermen and destruction to their boats.

"What has caused these disap-pearances (of boats) is threatening to become a major issue for the Ministry of Defence ," says the Independent.

Eye witnesses describe fishing boats being dragged backwards at high speed, some being swamped by huge waves in calm seas , and others being holed and sunk in unexplained circumstances.

M o r e than 4 0 i n c i d e n t s , covering everything from nets being snagged to ships and men being lost have been logged by the Celtic League.

The British Navy refuses to discuss the League's accusations and denies any of its submarines have caused loss of life. Recently, in an apparent effort to silence angry fishermen, officials have reportedly p a i d " s u b s t a n t i a l d a m a g e s " without admitting legal liability.

A persistent campaigner to make

THREE years after the launching of the Anglo-Irish Agreement with oodles of publicity 'hype", there is massive disillusionment with the result. The L'nionists still moan and beef about the Maryfield secretariat. While after the Stalker affair, Gibraltar, the Private Thane case, the MacAnespey case and all the other dismal 'cases' like them, there is not much sign of the end to the 'nationalist nightmare' promised at the time by Dublin's Peter Barry.

It does not look as if the 'review' of Hillsborough will amount to much. Most likely more chats between the two governments about 'security'.

C". J. Haughey warned when it was signed that Hillsborough would draw the Dublin Government deeper and deeper into a semi-policing role in the Six Counties, without Britain shifting one bit in her hold on the place. And that is more or less what has happened since.

People like the SDLP and Fine Gael said the Agreement showed that Britain was 'neutral' over Partition. They were once more given their answer last month when Nor thern I r e l a n d Secretary Tom King said he foresaw no circumstances in which there would be a change in the North's place in the United Kingdom. King re fe r red approvingly to those Irish politicians — ie Charles Haughey et al —who said at the time that the Hillsborough Agreement in fact 'copperfastened' partition. They were quite right, implied King, who is himself about as unionst as they come.

The I r i s h Democrat never encouraged such illusions. It always said the British Goverment positively desires to maintain the union, mainly for strategic reasons. In Mrs Thatcher's case also for sentiment. That is the burden of the evidence.

Compromise or find allies

But if British policy is to maintain the union, what can people do xhc want to change that policy? As the weaker party the Irish Nationalist side must either compromise or find allies. The most obvious potential allies arc, firstly, organised political opinio* within Britain itself, especially in

By a Special Labour and trade union and liberal circles, where there is already support for Irish aspirations. That is where Time to Go comes in. And the Connolly Association, the Labour Committee on Ireland, Troops Out, the IBRG and other such bodies.

Britain is where the most urgent work for a united Ireland is needed. For that is where the political fulcrum is. Only organised opinion is this country — not that it must be organised — is strong enough on its own to determine British Government policy and turn the widespread popular sentiment for a withdrawal from Ireland into a powerful political force. Nothing which is done inside Ireland itself can do this, though of course events there can either help or hinder. Even if one had the best possible government in Dublin, or the Dest p o s s i b l e c o n j u n c t i o n of circumstances in the North, it would not be enough. Political action in Britain is the indispensible condition for doing the job.

The second possible ally for the Irish cause is international opinion. An Irish Government worth its salt would be wooing that. And thirdly, as the Northern Unionist population becomes more disillusioned with the experience of direct rule from London and repeated failed experiements at 'power-sharing', there should in time emerge potential allies among them who will begin seriously to consider the advantages of Irish unity. Every tiniest seed of such developments should be encouraged.

Unionists annoyed For Nationalists, the most positive

thing a b o u t the H i l l s b o r o u g h Agreement was the annoyance it caused Unionists.

For Unionists the Agreement underlined what should have been obvious since 1971 — that there could be BO going back to the old days of a Unionist-dominated Stormont. The M a r y f i e l d In ter -governmenta l conference seemed to symbolise that Dnbtta was a t last getting afoot inside the door North of the Bonier. But it would be unwise to think that any

Correspondent fundamental change in Unionist attitudes is likely until they have suffered a really decisive political defeat, as compared with which the 'defeat' of Hillsborough is merely symbolic. That decisive blow would be a British Goverment change of policy towards supporting the rights of the Irish majority rather than the minority, a clear intimation of Britain's intention to bring the union with the Six Counties to an end.

Article 1 of the Hillsborough Agreement is a statement by the British and Irish Governments that there will be no change in the North's constitutional position without the consent of a majority there. There is the nonsensical implication that Britain does not have any positive policy of its own on maintaining Partition. Also that there is such a thing as a unilateral right to union, such as to justify the Unionist position, when of course there can only be rights or separation.

Veto out of order A Six County majority has no right

to a veto on a United Ireland as a goal and policy end. Both the British and the Irish people havt the right, indeed the duty, to insist in their own interests that Ireland be reunited. At the same time it is undeniably desirable and expedient to seek to win majority consent to the means to that end — that is to the political, constitutional and financial steps needed for reuniting Ireland, once that had become the policy goal of both Governments, and especially the British one.

It only needs one-quarter of the Unionists to be added to the Nationalists to give an anti-Partition majority in the North. Half the adult Six County- population — counting those in public employment and those dependent on social security together — depend on the British Goverment for their incomes. Can anyone seriously imagine that the two governments could not win majority consent to the means to a United Ireland if they set about it with the resources governments can command, using an appropriate mix of carrots and atteki?

In this period of review of the Anglo-

Connolly Jubillee Mugs a s a Christmas present, Price £2:50 from Four Provinces Bookshop, 2 4 4 / 6 Grays Inn Road, London WC1.

Irish Agreement it is open to Dublin to put the British Government on the spot by inviting it to co-operate with the Irish Government in winning Unionist consent to the means to Irish unity. Dublin could say to London: let us talk about what is needed to win majority consent, discuss the steps which could be taken to encourage it. That should flush out the British Government on whether they would really like the Northern Unionists to agree to reunification or not. We believe they do not. But it might be embarrassing before international opinion to say so.

In Britain the Government should be urged to take the practical steps necessary to win majority consent in the North to the means to end Partition, that is, to the political, constitutional and financial measures necessary. The first of those steps is of course for London to make Irish reunification its policy goal. Which brings us back to the organising and education work vis-a-vis the people of this country that is the most crucial task needing to be done.

December 1988 THJE IRISH DEMOCRAT Page Thr«e„

Anoni Anall By Peter B e r r e s f o r d Ellis

Head and shoulders above the rest Rug-headed Kerns

A YEAR ago, November, 1987 to be precise, I argued in this column for studies to be made in the way the Irish Republican is presented in populai English fiction. Subsequently, I was delighted to hear f rom Alan Titley the Cork-born author and lecturer in Irish language and literature at Dramcondra 's St Patrick's College. Titley is one of the 'heavyweights' of contemporary Irish literature. His Meirscri na Treibhe, a novel set in a newly independent African state, took the major award for fiction in the 1977 Oireachtras. In 1979 he caused an impact with a Gothic novel set in contemporary Dublin dealing with cannibalism and human sacrifice entitled Stiall Fial Feola. Titley alsc wrote a volume of short stories entitled Eiriceachtai agus Scealta Eile which Sean O Tuama has described as the most revolutionary book of Irish prose since Cre na Cille.

Titley had attempted his first novel in English. He sent me the typescript. The Scarlet Mushroom was built around the war in the north but was head and shoulders above the normal sludge associated with that theme. The plot, fascinatingly enough, turned on an attempt by Western Bloc countries to coerce the 26 county state into joining NATO, on the basis that

if Ireland dropped its neutrality, there would be no problem for the Tories, forgetting the 'loyalism' of the Unionists and withdrawing f rom Ireland.

LETTER W O U L D you be interested in putting this piece into your forum section. This is something I feel very strongly about but if you cannot print it, I will understand, thank you.

Mrs Thatcher does not give rights to disabled people so how does anyone else stand a chance. As a disabled person and a second generation Irishman, I feel that I am involved in two fights for freedom. On the 28th of July I took part in a march with five hundred other disabled people. The slogan on the banner that headed our march read "Rights not charity."

The media coverage that we got was near enough nil. I supposed it showed up this government's policy on d i sab led people and the dis-crimination and cuts in benefits that we suffer under the regime. But we disabled people will fight on until the media will have to report ourprotests.

I am a second generation Irishman, who feels strongly about the "troubles in Northern Ireland and the injustice of the Birmingham and Guildford Four cases, not to mention other atrocities committed by the British Government on behalf of the British people. Mrs Thatcher, the woman who will make no ' IP turn but will let men die on hunger strike, leave old people. Mrs Thatcher is the woman pension, cut disabled benefits, and order public execution of Irishmen and women.

So as a second generation Irishman, I will also join in any march that p r o t e s t s a g a i n s t t h e B r i t i s h occupation of Northern Ireland. Because of the minority there will be no rights while the occupation lasts.

C. O'Sullivan Chairman of the Slough and District Disabled Action Group and Connolly Association Member.

The scenario is not far-fetched at all. Back in August, 1984, I was the main speaker in an LBC Radio debate proposing British withdrawal f rom Ireland. My opponent was T. E. Utley, former Official Unionist Parliamentary candidate and deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph. Utley was highly placed to accurately reflect the views of the Tory leadership. He confessed, after some gentle prodding from me, that it was Irish neutrality that was the stumbling block. The Tories did not want to see an hostile state on England's western flank. If Ireland became a NATO ally... well, that would be a different story!

Unfortunately, as well written as The Scarlett Mushroom was, and, admitting that a few revisions might have 'tightened' the work, which Alan Titley accepted, the work had little chance of surfacing from a London publisher. This was not my opinion alone, it was the opinion of people consulted within the business. The fact is that British publishers in general do not wish to touch anything to do with Ireland unless it be bland or takes the correct official view.

Irish Republicans must be painted as semi-barbaric, crazed criminals. The British troops are to be depicted as heroic, peace-keepers, without whom Ireland would sink into a medley of waring gangsters.

I sincerely hope The Scarlet Mushroom will surface from a

' p u b l i s h e r , t h o u g h it m a y , unfortunately, stand a better chance of publication in another country which still maintains some semblance of freedom of speech. Since October 19, as readers will know, the Government of this country can prevent elected representatives of lawful, democratic political parties from giving their views on radio or television. Not only that, but any individual or group may be similarly banned even if they are not a member of that political party, or certain

prescribed organisations, but if their views coincide with the political aims of those groups. Such individuals would be seen as inviting support for that party or groups.

For example, if an individual spoke in favour of a united 32 county Irish socialist Republic, it could be deemed as seeking support for Sinn Fein because that aim is one of their declared political objectives. It does not matter if one disagrees with Sinn Fein on other aims and methods.

The Tories are still trying to pretend that this country is a democracy!

However, to return to Alan Titley. It appears that we have a concern in common as to how the Irish have been p r e s e n t e d in E n g l i s h p o p u l a r literature. Unbeknown to me, he had written a lengthy paper entitled 'Rough Rug-Headed Kerns: The Irish Gunman in the Popular Novel'which was published in the Winter, 1980, edition of Eire-Ireland, the journal of the Irish-American Cultural Institute. I was delighted to be able to catch up on some essential reading, for 'essential' is what this study is.

I have always maintained, and here my views coincide with those of Claud Cockburn (Bestseller, 1975) that 'bestsellers' (I would use the term 'popular literature') 'probably rate higher in terms of the light they shed on what people thought and why, than official archives and even the diaries of individuals'.

I recall, as a child, I was somewhat shocked to come across a passage in Charles Kingsley ( the English Victorian moralist, author of The Water Babies, Westward Ho! and other 'stirring tales' for the young) which described the poor country folk of Co. Mayo and Conemara as 'white chimpanzees'! But, unfortunately, examining the English popular novel through the ages, the image of the Irish which emerges hardly varies. Reading the descriptions of the perception of the Irish in English literature, of 'the rough, rug-headed kerns' of William Shakespeare onwards, it is no wonder that the Irish racist joke is so prevalent in English society.

Alan, Titley's study is on the northern situation perceived in English popular novels of 1970-80. One essential aim of these novels is the d e - h u m a n i z i n g of the I r i s h , particularly the Irish Republicans. One way of doing this is the derision of Irish speech. This is done by an uncouth, mawkish distortion of standard English. Take Chapman Pincher's book The Eye of the Tornado, Sphere, 1978.

'I t 's not tay we'll be wantin', 'he said in a strong Southern Irish accent.' ( p . 9 ) . Aga in : ' N o w , C a p t a i n whatever-yer-name is,' McNally said, 'I want yer to be afther showin' Pat exactly where these warheads are.' (p. II). And yet again: 'Didn't feel a ting. It's aisier when you don't know them... Jaysus. I could do wit' drink.' (p.77). Similar examples of this can be found in many other works. Andrew Lane's Forgive the Executioner, NEL, 1978): 'Know where a Limerick man could be after sleepin' this night?' (p.42). And Harry Patterson, Cry of the Hunter (Arrow, 1979): 'Ah now, is it a drop of the right stuff you're going to offer us?' (p. 10).

Language is brought into play in the service of politics by denigrating the Irish. It does not matter that such 'language' and syntax has no basis either in Irish nor in the dialect form of English that replaced it in some parts of the country.

The Irish Republican is presented in this novel almost as a stereotype, hardly varying between the authors. He is inevitably 'ferret-faced' or has a 'wary, ferrety look'. He is 'drab', ' c o a r s e ' , ' co ld , c r u e l , pa l l id , expressionless'. Sometimes: 'He had pitiless eyes, wide apart above his ferret nose, and a thin bloodless mouth ' . Or: 'the other man was lean, tall, sharp-faced. There was no humour in his lines... The roving eyes were peculiarly lifeless, the eyes of an executioner'. Again: 'His f a c e -looked particularly brutal with its coarsely textured skin and growth of black stubble'. Then: 'Delaney laughed, displaying several decaying t e e t h ' . O r : ' O ' K a n e s m i l e d unpleasantly, showing a IOW of bad teeth*.

Irish people can be 'racially recognised' in these books. 'In a crowd of a thousand, he would easily be marked as 'Irish'. The ruddy complexion, the fair hair, the blue eyes, the uneven teeth'. English writers have, as you may have noticed, a "thing' about the bad teeth of the Irish. 'Branco Kane had a broken tooth. It showed jagged when he grinned, as he was grinning now'. Indeed, the Irish Republican must wear ill-fitting clothes, be 'booz- fat ' , have fleshy hands, rough nails and, not surprisingly, have a 'strong sweat-smell' also referred to as a 'zoo smell'.

In view of these descriptions being remorselessly hammered into the psyche of the English people, colouring their views and attitudes towards the Irish, is it any wonder why there was a furore by a certain group or Tories when newspapers published a photograph of Mairead Farrell, who was publicly executed by the SAS, along with Danny McCann and Sean Savage, on March 6, this year in Gibralter?

There was criticism that the photograph of Mairead showed her as 'too human' and 'too sympathetic'. Indeed, the photograph of an attractive, intelligent young woman, hardly fitted in with the stereotype crazed, inhuman criminal. Usually, the only 'mug- sho t s ' ol Irish Republicans the public are allowed to s e e a r e t o u c h e d - u p p o l i c e photographs. The enemy must always be de-humanized.

As Alan Titley rightly observes, the intersection of literature and politics is unavoidable. The sadness is that the bald bleat of Tory propaganda which permeates the thrillers set in the north, demeans and brutalizes the soul of the reader. That is why I make no apology for repeating what I said in November, 1987: we cannot afford to ignore popular literature with its prejudice-forming process.

BUILDING SAFETY CAMPAIGN THE Construction Safety-Campaign is committed to working for an end to

•death and serious injury in the construction industry, private and public sector.

We Cafl For 1) Death and serious injury in the construction industry to be made into a major political issue and dealt with in general and local elections. 2) The Labour Movement to make the matter of safety in construction a major political issue. 3) All concerned M.Ps to unite and raise the issue vigorously and consistently in the Houses of Parliament. 4) All Labour controlled Councils to refuse to employ all contractors and sub contractors who have a proven record of wilful and serious neglect in the matter of safety in construction.

1) L e g a t i o n must be toughened to ensure that where gross negligence is proven an employer can and does suffer a term of imprisonment.

2) In the event of death and serious injury a prison sentence on the obployer should be mandatory. 3) No sacking or blacklisting of workers who raise issues and complain of lack of safety at work.

4) Where a worker has been sacked for raising a matter of safety he has the statutory right in law of immediate reinstatement.

5) Health and Safety Executives to employ building inspectors with specific responsibility and authority for the construction industry alone. 1) All construction unions to campaign and intervene much more vigorously, seriously and consistently on the issue of safety in construction. 2) All construction workers to make the issue of safety at work a priority, and to raise the issue continually at their place of work. 3) A one day strike in the public and private sector of construction in protest against the appalling and ever increasing death and serious injury figures in construction. Labour Councils and Construction Trades Unions must fight to defend and expand D.L.Os and reinstate contract compliance, uniting all Council workere and users against the cuts.

:

4) Trades Unions to be much better represented by safety reps and make full use of their legal powers. 1) Canvass support of people in the medical profession.

will be a broad front of people and groups united,around, and committed to, an agreed policy platform and-methods of organisation for safety in construction. The C.S.C. will be organisationally independent of other groups and organisations but will campaign within the building industry and unions, the Trade Union and Labour Movement, the legal and medica? professions in particular and the working class in general for support of the organisation and its policies. 1)A committee will be formed in London to co-ordinate and oversee activities of initial C.S.C.

2)C.S.C. Committees should be formed where and when achievable in all possible localities.

3) The localities will elect delegates and send them to a national meeting. The national meeting is the only body where all policy and major organisational matters are decided.

4)Jhe London committee will initially produce campaign Htorature for site, workplace and general distribution.

n. j "' • . - •.

Activities ' Raising of finances. Regular production

national delegate conferences, H Q of BEC. Parliament Labour Party. Conference and TUC. Demonstrations where and when necessary. Pickets of sites and workplaces where there has been serious and wilful neglect of safety, particularly where death or serious injury has occurred-Coroners Courts.

Keep death off the building sites

Organisation WE i t of liters Lobbies

The Construction Safety Committees-

t of U.C.A.I.T. A T.G.W.U. national officcs awl meetings, local and national, including and especially

Page Four THE IRISH DEMOCRAT December 1988

London Scene By DONAL MacCRAITH

MORE IRISH 'SEEKING' HELP T H F : n u m b e r o f p e o p l e approach ing Brent Irish Advisory Service for help has increased dramatical ly since the o rgan-isation opened a new centre in VYillesden Green , according to its housing worker , Belfast-born T G W l member J i m Glackin.

" W e are not surpr ised by this, as we are now more centrally located for people in Brent, with easier access by public t ranspor t f r o m all par ts of the borough , e s p e c i a l l y C r i c k l e w o o d , Harlesden and Wil lesden"

Band

J A C K E T Pota toes , popular with Irish audiences t h r o u g h o u t nor th-west London , a re showing jus t how popular they are with their gig schedule fil l ing up as new audiences take to their brand of t lowery folk music .

The band , f o r m e d less than two years ago, have got a cohesive sound - fiddle, gu i t a r , melodeon and whistles c o m b i n e with three voices to e n c o m p a s s the range of t radi t ional and con tempora ry Irish music.

The Jacket Pota toes have played n u m e r o u s fund-rais ing events for Irish related and worthy causes, and have produced a twelve track casset te . They are also writing original songs and tunes for a second recording. And true to their roo t s , they place a s t rong emphasis on the songs of I r e l a n d ' s h i s t o r i c f i g h t f o r nat ional independence .

Emigration

M A N Y young Irish immigrants to L o n d o n arc ending up in a "booze c u l t u r e " because the p u b is their point of social a n d leisure con tac t .

accord ing t o a n Irish priest in the field of e m i g r a n t s ' welfare.

L o n d o n - b a s e d Fa the r J o h n ' B o b b y ' G i l m o r e , d i rec tor of the Irish C h a p l a i n c y Scheme in Britain — which sends priests a n d n u n s to assist Irish c o m m u n i t i e s here — was speaking a t the Patr ick MacGi l l S u m m e r School in Co. D o n e g a l .

Fr . G i l m o r e told the schoo l , which was d iscuss ing emig ra t i on , t h a t m a n y of these young Irish people are finding emigra t ion to Britain a ' t r a u m a t i c exper ience ' b e c a u s e o f t h e i r l a c k o f p repa redness f o r life in a new coun t ry .

T h e s h o r t a g e of a c c o m -m o d a t i o n , with 60,000 on the hous ing list in L o n d o n a n d the h igh cost of l iving n the cap i ta l , es t imated a t £93 a week, were caus ing stress a m o n g s t y o u n g I r i s h i m m i g r a n t s , he s a i d , r e s u l t i n g in h i g h r a t e s of a lcohol ism a n d menta l hospi ta l admiss ions .

Fr . G i lmore a d d e d tha t there were false expec ta t ions a b o u t wages in L o n d o n , that m a n y of the jobs in the service a n d unskilled sec tors paid low wages a n d that the re were 40,000 unemployed in the capi tal .

Recent surveys had shown tha t m a n y Irish i m m i g r a n t s had less t h a n £100 on a r r iva l ; 57 per cen t h a d made n o def ini te a r r a n g e -men t s fo r a c c o m m o d a t i o n a n d 17.5 per cent h a d spent their first n ight sleeping r o u g h .

Fr G i lmore ' s concerns a b o u t a lcohol abuse a n d menta l ill- , heal th ring ho l l ow when in a l m o s t every Irish c o m m u n i t y in Bri ta in conta ins a c h u r c h social c l u b , more often t h a n n o t cont ro l led by the parish pr ies t , of fer ing little more than a ' b o o z e cu l tu re ' t o local youth.

Patrick Bond A RECENT trip home enabled me to renew the old roots and note just a few significant events and developments.

Many of the thousands who have heard Mary White singing The Irish Rebel and other Irish songs will be glad to know that she and her husband John are now happy as larks living in Bettystown in Mary's native County Meath.

Pat O'Doherty (formerly White) and husband Cahir are battling away in their plant and shrub nursery near Carrickmacross. The rains in July and August spoiled June's good business, but they have great stocks ready for next year, mud permitting.

Passing through Ballybay I was suddenly confronted by some ten young girls in silvery space-invader un i fo rms who f a n n e d out in disciplined fashion across the road with a placard saying 'Please Stop 'as their schoolfellows came out of school in the afternoon. I was most impressed! I understand they have competitions with other schools!

In Sligo the Unemployed Workers Movement, based approporiatdy in Countess Markievicz House, has s t a r t e d its own l i t t le p a p e r . Unemployment is an appalling scourge all over the country, causing the high rate of emigration.

In Mayo local Republicans are being repeatedly harassed — to no great effect — by the Special Branch.

Directory A N urgen t call fo r i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m Irish groups a c r o s s Britain has been put ou t b y Ki lburn T G W U member G e r a l d i n e Vesey, ed i to r of the Irish in Britain Di rec to ry which is pub l i shed and pr in ted in Brent, nor th-wes t L o n d o n .

T h e D i r e c t o r y i s b e i n g compl i l ed for H . p e o p l e visiting or res ident in Bri ta in , a n d for those w h o wish to m a k e contact with Irish c o m m u n i t y , cul tural a n d business o rgan i sa t i ons in Bri tain.

" I n f o r m a t i o n r e l e v a n t t o people ac ross the age range — f> f r o m under-f ive g r o u p s wi th Irish m e m b e r s to pens ioners ' l uncheon c lubs — will be inc luded in this, the m o s t comprehens ive gu ide for Irish people across B r i t a i n " , says Gera ld ine , who was b o r n in Manches t e r of Irish p a r e n t s .

F o r f u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n c o n t a c t Gera ld ine Vesey a t BIAS, 296 Willesden L a n e , L o n d o n N W 2 5 H W (459 6286).

RTE B O T H Sides N o w , the R T E R a d i o ' s hour- long p r o g r a m m e a i m e d a t Irish you th in Britain — b r o a d c a s t live f r o m Dub l in each w e e k d a y evening a t 10pm — came t o nor th-west L o n d o n recently.

T h e radio p r o g r a m m e reflects the interests of the younge r Irish m i g r a n t s , par t icular ly in the L o n d o n area, and dea l s with the i ssues affecting t h e m .

Presenter A o n g h u s McAnal ly a n d p roducer Peter Browne met wi th t w o local T G W U members — Clare-born L o n d o n Irish a r t s fes t ival director B r e n d a n Mulkere a n d G a l w a y - b o r n h o u s i n g assoc ia t ion secre tary Padra ic K e n n a .

T h e y interviewed the residents of Cather ine C o l e m a n House , a hos te l fo r single Irish people in Cr ick lewood n a m e d a f t e r a W a t e r f o r d - b o r n L a b o u r activist w h o h a d been a t t he f o r e f r o n t of local working-class s t ruggles f o r fifty years before h e r d e a t h some yea r s a g o .

GLASGOW: TIME TO GO

MEETING "MARXISM To-day's "Wha t ' s

left?" meeting on Ireland in Glasgow on November 4th was a long discussion in which little was said.

About 80 people listened to J immy Stewart ( C o m m u n i s t Pa r ty of Ireland), Dessie O'Hagan (Workers ' Party), Jimmy Wray M.P., George Galloway M.P., Fergal Doherty (Campaign for Democratic Rights in Northern Ireland) and local church people.

Using a "Question Time" format the meeting opened up with the question. "What is your estimation of the political strategy of Sinn Fein and their view of the armed struggle?" As the meeting's organisers had not invited Sinn Fein for fear of Sectarian protests, this question began the disintegration of the discussion. The, Workers Party representative excited the numerous ultra-lefts in the audience. From then on contributions were applauded, interupted, and denounced as the platform disagreed with each other and George Galloway attacked Marxism to-day.

No mention was made of the Gibralter Inquest, the Birmingham Six, Guildford Four or Winchester Three, Strip Searching, Plastic bullets, Irish Neutrality or the Single European Act. There were some high

(Continued on Page Six)

THE MANIFESTO THAT WILL NOT BE AMENDED

THE policy resolution passed at the Jubilee Conference of the Connolly Association printed below. The delay in publication was due to urgent news items taking precedence.

Seen and heard in Ireland

On one recent flight to Luton, an Irish nun was the only person stopped and searched — could it just be that she had visited her brother, a well-known Republican, in Mayo?

In Galway I met a charming lady poet, Rita Ann Higgins, who recently visited England on a poetry reading tour. Alas, the book published by her and her colleagues, 'God Is On The Mervue Bus!' had just sold out. I look forward to their next.

Galway Action on Poverty are busy leafleting the privately rented estates with leaflets exposing the activities of local landlords, demanding that the Government and Corporation use the powers they have to curb the rent i n c r e a s e s a n d e n s u r e d e c e n t standards.

In Dublin I heard newsofEuroalert, who are busily campaigning to warn people of the dangers of 1991 and the unified Common Market. And of the Sixtyeight Committee, who are seeking to remind peoi .e of the start of the Civil Rights Ca.npaign and the lessons for the Irish people today.

But the real Sickener for me was to see in the Irish People, organ of the Workers Party, the headline 'Provos Jail Three More', referring to the Winchester Three, implying that the Provisionals, and not the British State, had railroaded these three young people into jail for 25 years. And this at a time when the case is awaiting appeal.

Whereas the claim of successive British governments to sovereignty over six counties in the north-east of Ireland, and the consequent maintenance of the enforced partition of the country by means of authoritarian regimes wielding emergency powers and engaging in repressive practices has:

1. hindered healthy economic development in the island as a whole. 2. weakened the ability of the Irish nation to resist attacks on its independence and neutrality, 3. fostered divisions among Irish citizens by favouring some and discriminating against others, 4. led to many years of continued violence and the destruction of life, health and property, 5. given comfort to all reactionary forces and weakened those of democracy,

6. maintained misunderstanding and antagonism between the British and Irish peoples , and introduced discriminatory legal practices against the Irish in Britain, and Whereas the British government is now using its foothold in the six counties to entoil the Republic in the economic and military plans of transnational monopoly capital through the machinery of the Single European Act, a process which is being spiritedly resisted by such Irish national organisations as the Irish Sovereignty Movement and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (among others) which have conducted campaigns on this issue, on which the Connolly Association has congrat-ulated them, and Whereas the Anglo-Irish Agreement, as much a military as a political strategy, has sought not to bring peace in Ireland but to ensnare the Dublin government in the military control of Northern Ireland through: 1. co-ordination of the policing oi the border, 2. extradition of citizens of the Republic to British or British-occupied territory, 3. Joint 32-county military operations against all opposition to British domination of Ireland, and

Whereas British government and European Community agencies have sought to undermine support for national independence and national culture, not in o r d e r to f o s t e r genu ine internationalism, but to attenuate the public perception that democracy is based on community, and Whereas those behind the European Community are seeking to turn it into a political and military union - in effect, a West European federation — with, as the European Commission president recently stated, 80 percent of economic decision-making taken at the European rather than the national level within 10 years — so turning the nation states affected into mere provinces and destroying much of what is left of p o p u l a r d e m o c r a c y , n a t i o n a l independence and the ability to impose social controls on transnational capital, and Whereas embryonic structures of a single Western European state cannot end the rivalries between the dominant national imperialisms of Britain, France and West Germany and indeed heighten the possibility of trade wars and armed conflicts between the US, Japanese and Western European blocs, and intensify the exploitation of the majority of humanity in the developing countries, and Whereas perestroika in the Soviet Union has brought about a relaxation in world tension and the Cold War, a quest for ridding the world of nuclear weapons presents an opportunity to end the occupation of Northern Ireland for strategic purposes and for Ireland to retain her neutrality. Whereas two important centennials, that of the French Revolution which inspired Wolfe Tone, and that of the Battle of the Boyne which heralded the penal laws and consolidated landlordism, will shortly fall due, with consequent opportunities for public enlightenment,

Whereas the general sentiment of the majority of the British people is for a policy of withdrawal, and all that implies,

BE IT R E S O L V E D that the Association, meeting on the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation. CONTINUE its work in defence of the right of the Irish people to the reunification of their country and in defence of the interests of the Irish in Britain. SUPPORT Clare Short's Time To go charter, the most significant attempt to articulate the majority sentiment for British withdrawal since the Anti-Partition League of the early post-war years, placing it at the centre of the Association's political work in the coming year, with branches initiating all forms of political activity under the rubric of the charter, and participating in the events planned in the Year of Action associated with the Charter, keeping to the forefront the demand for a British declaration of intent to withdraw. DO ALL IT CAN in the coming period to win the British trade union movement to a policy of supporting the ending of partition and British disengagement from Ireland, as the key to winning the labour movement as a whole for this end and in time of making it policy of a progressive British government, SUPPORT all efforts to obtain the release of the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four, GIVE SPECIAL ATTENTION TO the work of organising the many young Irish immigrants coming to Britain today by showing them the importance of joining their appropriate trade unions to defend their economic interests, and of joining the Connolly A s s o c i a t i o n and the p o l i t i c a l organisations of the Labour and democratic movements in this country to advance those of their interests which are political, SEEK to inculcate a progressive political content into Irish Studies in Britain and to counter the attempt being made by conservative British and Irish interests to turn these into a form of anti-n*' nal brainwashing, subversive ol the Irish people's most progressive traditions, and SEEK all ways and means to de>eion solidarity further at local and national levels, with organisations working for peace and those who oi MOM the drive to European Union by defending democracy and the nation state.

••ember 19Ba THE IRISH DEMOCRAT Page Five

TABLE TALK The Desmond Greaves Column

Excerpts from the table-talk of our late Editor, C. Desmond Greaves (1913-1988). Dates are added where helpful in giving the context.

' The claim that common law is one of the prides of England. But on balance it strikes me as reactionary; a situation where judges can make up laws as they go along and can overthrow the expressed will of Parliament. Nowhere is this shown more clearly than in labour law, where judges time and again have bent statutes in a reactionary direction. A written constitution is undoubtledly superior, for it puts a straightjacket on the government and the more straightjackets on governments the better.

Last year I gave a talk on "The Irish Tradition" in Blackburn. It was the best received I ever gave. The table could not be seen for the brandies and whiskeys on it afterwards! I began by saying that the most important event in Irish history was the one which never happened — the Romans never came there. So there was nothing of their rotten imperialism from the start. Then there was no aristocracy because of the Flight of the Earls and so on. Mind you I do not blame them for fleeing; but it meant there were no native models for an upper-class left. The landlords were different in language and in religion. So to this day if an Irishman wants to sound 'la-de-dah' he has to pretend to be an Englishman. And then there is the people's respect for the clergy. For the clergy stayed with the people when they were down. So that the Irish tradition is essentially plebian. I do not say Svorking-class', for there are various c lasses , but 'plebian. ' It was tremendously received. (1988). «

Have you noticed how being a non-imperialist country can improve the whole temper of a people? In Dublin I saw a conductor helping an old man off a bus and cross the road with the approbation of all the passengers. Contrast London busmen and the general indifference of people there.

The most reactionary professions are doctors, journalists and univeristy professors. Lawyers, on the other hand, I have always found intelligent and honest — as long as you were no an obvious fool yourself. Have you heard about the so-called 'merit awards' which the National Health Service permits doctors to hand out to themselves? The main advantage doctors have is experience. They have seen so many examples of the same c o n d i t i o n s be fo re . Nurses a re generally more honest and often know more than doctors. I always wear good clothes and a suit when I go to the hospital. For doctors are very class-conscious and it means they treat you better!

I remember in primary school being asked by our teacher — a remarkable woman — to write a few paragraphs on what we would like to be when we grew op. I said I would like to be a great novelist, a scientist and a doctor of music. I had an aunt who was a novelist, an uncle a scientist and my parents were musicians, my mother having a degree inmu '.c, though my father hadn't. So I wanted to do what they did, only better. Doubtless my effort stood out among all the accounts of aspiring train-drivers and policemen. But I remember her comment as she wagged her finger: Jack of all trades and master of none!

When people are young they think other people are interested in them. It takes time to understand that people are only interested in themselves. Youth is such a troublesome time and around .16 . or 17 is the' most troublesome of all. In short I don't

think at all that youth is what it is cracked up to be. I grant that young people are decorative, but the opinions of young people do no count for much until they are 30 at least. For most of the time until they they believe that the most important events in the world are what is going on inside their own heads! Even the best of them only speak on the basis of books. They do not speak from experience.

All around one the spontaneous generation of daft ideas!

History is always a selection. There is no such thing as impartial or objective history. Napoleon said it was 'a fable agreed upon' I would say rather 'a fable disagreed on' History is always from the point of view of standpoint of the person writing it. In the case of biography, as in my life of Connolly, one seeks to look at history from the standpoint of the person being written about.

Desmond Greaves - . §omeone asked me whether there

has been a general failure by the Left to defend democracy and whether this was the explanation of the Left 's collapse before the Right. I would say it was the failure to press the case for socialism. Of course there are many reasons. The underlying reason is economic. T h e long capi ta l i s t prosperity and the deficiencies of the socialist countries. If you tell an unemployed man he would be better off in Russia he won't believe you. Also things like television and the motor car have turned people inwards and helped reduce the sense of their being a communal interest. Another thing is that the working-class m o v e m e n t is w e a k e n e d w h e n capitalism goes into recession. Its bargaining power is strongest when there is a boom. Yet a boom is the time when capitalism is improving things and most workers do not see the need for socialism then. (1986).

The EEC is based on removing all the controls which have been put on capitalism and letting it rip. It seeks to destroy overnight social safeguards which in some cases have taken centuries to build. It will generate resistance, mark you. All things pass, and that will happen with the Common Market too. Where is the British Empire now? Or the Roman Empire?

The basis o f the Connolly Association is internationalism. Not that there should be a jelly-bowl of nations but that each nation should have its place in the world and express itself. Here in Liverpool it's only a few miles from the borders of Wales. But Wales can only express itself through the British Goverment . Inter- /„ nationalism says that she should speak for herself. The CA's view is that the Irish would best solve their problems through organisation. The very first issue of the paper fifty years ago said tnat tne Irish shouldorganise by joining their appropriate trade unions.

Epicureanism is the basis of all sound philosophy. For after all what does it say? That the majority of people should enjoy their lives. What could be more obvious that the good sense of that? Contrast the Stoics and all supposed asceticism. Such views are at bottom imperialist. When I heard this philosophy student say he was against Epicurus, I knew he was a bum philosplier. Of course Lucretius had to be careful. He had to pretend to ascribe his views to Memmius, in case they got at him.

It is nonsense for people to moan about what they cannot do. They should concentrate on what they can do. It is necessary for many people to pass from sentiment to policy in order to make a movement. Depression is a reflex protecting against inactivity. The only sensible thing to do when you are depressed is to find out the reason and act to get rid of it. The best instant remedy for depression is physical activity.

The impossibility of good satire nowadays. There are so may things to criticise. Yet there are libel laws. What would be needed to do justice to the monstrousness of today — the pens of Swift, Voltair and Shaw combined? The principal feature of the human species — and let me tell you that the older I get the less enthusiastic I am for it — is first greed, then fear and then stupidity. Of course the fear modifies the greed and the stupidity exaggerates the fear. And one might throw in laziness as well. The impossibility of man really changing for centuries to come. It took capitalism centuries to develop. Why should we expect socialism to come quickly, or at least so-called 'socialist man'? (1969).

The courtesy and politeness of the high-up bourgeosie. When Betty Sinclair appeared before the Cameron Commision it was "Miss Sinclair this" and "Miss Sinclair that." And "Could we trouble you to come again if we have any further questions?" Of course they employ different people for taking down minutes of evidence • to those who are given the job of banging you on the head!

Revolution is always 'out of date' for the intellectual bourgeois. It is never 'in date.' It is always either in the past or in the future, but never now. For it is they v.ho would be revolted against.

Anyone who thinks there can be a revolution in Ireland without a revolution also occurring in Europe is wishful thinking. In the past all Irish revolutions were accompanied by or preceded by a revolution in Europe. So it must be in the future. (1969).

What always amazes me is the cowardice of the British Left. They abandon their policy on losing an election, instead of holding on to the policy until the people are convinced it is right and elect them. What is happening is the dismantling of the Welfare State and other protections against socialism which the bourgeoise had tolerated for decades. But it will ttiake them more politically vulnerable in doe time.

Protestantism is the progressive religion in England, Catholicism in Ireland. That is one reason the Left in England find Ireland hard to understand. They think Protestants and Catholics stand for the same things as here. Whereas Irishmen can understand this country because so many of them come here to live.

Colm Power FRIENDS of Colm Power, a former staunch Connolly Association member, living back in Ireland for some 15 years, will be sorry to learn he has recently been very ill. He underwent a quadruple heart by-pass operation in October.

Colm is now recovering slowly; we hope he continues to do so and will be fully fit again. Anyone who wishes to write a line to him can do so care of this office.

Photos wanted WE had a request from a reader that we should not repeat the same photographs too often.

According to a commercial photographer photography is the 2nd biggest money making hobby in Britain.

So I know you have all got cameras lying in some corner unused most of the time. Very few people think of taking films of Irish interest. You don't need an expensive camera. Use black and white film because the Democrat cannot afford colour yet.

If you send us your prints then we will not have to repeat the old photographs and we can reduce the size of the ones we publish regularly. What about some pictures of building sites where there have been or are likely to have accidents? Don't let the boss catch you.

LETTER Dear Editor, C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S on the N o v e m b e r issue of the Irish Democrat . I particularly liked the lay-out and headline of the front page. Also there are lots of interesting things in the paper.

Niall Martin

One of the things I have thought about a lot over the years and not yet come to final conclusions on is laughter. I met a young man on a train, a young scentist, who said he was wondering what area of science to concentrate on. I will give you a subject, I said, which will make your reputation and is very important. Study laughter. What is needed is a physiology of laughter, not a psychology. Laughter must indicate a release of tension of some kind. Of course everything causes tensions and hence there has to be continual resolution of tension. Laughter is the only reflex uniquely peculiar to man and this is surely an important fact. It must be a function of the higher part of the brain and possibly played quite a crucial role in evolution. It is a function of communication as well. No one laughs by themselves. And there is the question of the different kinds of laughter. The laugh of a fool is different f rom that of a wise man or a child. There is humouress laughter, hearty laughter, sardonic laughter. I think laughter has a most important function in mental health.

English chauvinism. Have you heard about the 19th century Grand Dame who visited Turkey? The hotel-manager said to her: 'We always take special care with food for foreigners, My Lady. "But my dear good man", she replied. Don't yon understand. It is you who are the foreigners."

IMPORTANT IT is proposed to publish the January issue of the Irish Democrat on December 29th. This means the paper will have to be prepared well before Christmas.

Consequently the last date for the editor to receive copy is Monday,. December 12th.

DESMOND GREAVES ARCHIVE

Dear Editor, MAY I invite any readers of the Irish Democrat who may have received letters from the late C. Desmond Greaves and still have them in their possession to get in touch with me.

I am sorting out Desmond Greaves ' s p a p e r s and l i te rary remains, as he requested, with a view to arranging them for deposit in the National Library of Ireland, which was his wish, and at the same time compiling as much material as possible for prospective biographers. Desmond was a prolific letter-writer throughout his life and corresponded with people all over Britain and Ireland as well as further afield. His letters would be very relevant to understanding his political and historical work, as well as the many-sided character of the man.

I should very much appreciate receiving any such letters, either in the original form or copies. If sent originals I should be happy to photocopy them myself and return them to their owners. All such letters will in due time be deposited in the N a t i o n a l L i b r a r y , a long wi th Desmond Greaves's journal-which covers a span of over fifty years activity in the Irish National and British Labour movements — the research materials on which he based his books on Connolly, Mellows, O'Casey and the ITGWU and various unpublished articles, poems and notes on various subjects.

Also, if any of your readers had interesting personal reminiscences or stories about Desmond which they would be willing to share, I should be very glad to hear them and add a note or record of them to the same archive.

Anthony Coughlan, Social Studies D e p a r t m e n t , T r i n i t v Col lege . Dublin 2. '

LETTER Dear Editor, C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S on t h e . November paper. It was a real gem.

Jim Savage.

Family grave R O S E M A R Y B e l l , B a r n e y M o r g a n , Muriel Saidlear and J o e O ' G r a d y were at the family grave i n B e b i n g t o n C e m e t e r y , B i rkenhead , where the remains of the la te D e s m o n d Greaves were recent ly interred. Fo r those wish ing to visit it , the grave is in the co rne r on the left when o n e -e n t e r s the cemete ry gate. A su i t ab ly inscribed memoria l s lab will be erected in due course.

TIME TO GO CONFERENCE

FIVE hundred and seventy delegates attended the first briefing Conference of the Time to Go campaign in the Camden Centre, King's Cross, London on November 19th.

The speakers were Peter Beresford Ellis, historian. Bob Rowthorn, economist, Kevin McGory, solicitor (Campaign for Democracy), Clare Short MP, Peter Hain, chair, and Ken Livingstone, MP.

There were many speakers from the floor some of whom were critical of the platform. Summing up Clare Short explained the plans for the next year and tne conference ended on a note of optimism and unity. A detailed account o r the Conference will appear in the January issue of the Democrat.

Page Six THE IRISH DEMOCRAT December 1988

ROSES IN HER HAIR BY SEAN HEALY

ABOVE the noise and the dust-filled air, above the sweat and the mid-day glare,

- the crash of shovels on broken stone, the pain in the sinew, the ache in the bone,

above each curse, above each swear, jbove the hell the navvies b e a r

- a gruf f voice sang. -"there was a girl from God knows where, but she wore roses in her h a i r , " Some would laugh at a m a t e ' s coarse joke, the rest too tired hardly ever spoke,

but little by little each one of us thrilled to the words of the song, and our hear ts were filled;

an old man heaved his heart with a sigh, dreaming of lost loves long gone by,

but l was young and my hear t was wild, and love was the play of the adult child;

I thought of a colleen I met at Puck Fa i r , who had wistful brown eyes and the darkest of hair;

I looked at the face of the gange r then, the face of a ra t , a rat amongs t men,

- and forgot my hate for his narrow eyes, as I lifted up mine to the sunlight skies;

we forgot the work and the hea t in our d reams and the sweat that poured down our backs in s treams;

it was all so vague but oh, so sweet the words tha t were sung in the blazing heat .

POOLING SOVEREIGNTY JOHN BOYD

A FRIENDLY sounding phase has been coined — "pooling sovereignty'. Sir Geoffrey Howe, British Foreign Minister, used this phrase several times in a recent debate with the West German elder statesman Helmut Schmidt on BBC Radio. Nodoubt the inventors of this phrase i_an be lound residing in the most pro-Common Market institution in these islands — the British f oreign Office.

This broadcast was part of a w ider propaganda exercise which includes M r s T h a t c h e r ' s speech a b o u t European Union. The exercise has two major aims. To opponents ol forming a European Union or Federal Europe, make out that sovereignty was not being given over to Brussels, but was only being put together and shared in a pool. I he idea conveyed is that sovereignty is under joint control by all member governments and

..Rational parliaments still had the last word. At the same time interested circles were assured Britain was still going along with the plan to form a European Union but would be playing hard to get. It was a question of tactics and who could get most out of the situation.

For all the talk about a Community and Union the EC still consists of bitterly competing interests. Dog eats dog is the rule which still applies. Big t r a n s n a t i o n a l c o r p o r a t i o n s eat smaller corporations in a market place where there are no reigns on capital Big farmers buy up small farms aided by such things as the milk quota system within the Common Agricultural Policy. The City of London wants to be top financial dog in the EC controlling transnational capital movements. Mrs Thatcher and Mr Lawson are its spokesmen.

The key question to ask is, "who controls the pool?" Take steel, shipbuilding and agriculture which are subject to common EC policies. In each case the Commission and Council of Ministers, acting with

•Srommission advice, controls the c o m m o n p o l i c y . R u l e s a n d regulations according to EC wide law are used to see these policies are <. arried out. This is all backed up by a Court of Justice that can and does order national governments what to do. The case of shipyards being clOTed d o w n because subs id i e s were disallowed by EC rules is a very recent instance of how far the EC controls

key areas of economic life in these islands.

In other words there is nothing new about the idea of pooling soverignty which has been in place since the Rome Treaty was signed in 1957 and was extended by the Single European Act. What is new is the discovery by some that national parliaments no longer have the sovereign powers of former years. With the impending Internal Market being assembled by the day, and not at the stroke of midnight at the end of 1992, many things are suddenly becoming crystal clear

The loss of sovereignty is even worrying Conservative MPs at Westminster. One story goes that a Tory MP read an EC publication pointing out the EuroParliament had taken over certain minor powers from the House of Commons. He became very worried and asked the Deputy Speaker if he could raise objections to this state of affairs. The Deputy Speaker advised the MP his best course of action was to write and raise the objection with his own MfcP.

Organisations and political parties in the labour and trade union movement are being seduced into supporting the drive to European U n i o n . P h r a s e s l ike p o o l i n g sovereignty, Europeanisation, and social dimensions are invented for the unwary and those who have no conception of what is entailed. Experience of pooling sovereignty over shipbuilding, steel and capital has shown it Is not in the interests of the economy, jobs or national democracy.

The w h o l e o b j e c t ot t he transnational corporation! and banks is to remove any restrictions to their aims and objectives. This means they want an end to the nation state and any vestige of democracy. Pooling sovereignty is only in the interests of concentrating capital where it makes most profit which must mean fewer jobs. Pooling sovereignty in order to concentrate capital means removing national controls. This in turn means removing any national democratic con'rols exercised through parliament and national government.

It is time to reverse the drive to European Union by defending what national democracy still remains and call a halt to pooling any more sovereignty.

IRISH SONGS

Edited by Patrick Bond

THE OLD BOG ROAD

MY feet are here on Broadway This blessed harvest morn,

But oh, the ache that's in my heart For the spot where I was born.

My weary hands are blistered Through toil in cold and heat

But oh, to swing a scythe again Through a field of Irish wheat.

Had I the chance to wander back, Or own a king's abode

It's soon I'd see the hawthorn tree By the Old Bog Road.

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

Through dreaming of America And the gold beyond the seas.

Oh sorrow take th^ir money! 'Tis hard to find the same

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

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

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

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

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

Snowdrops and primroses Piled up beside her bed

And Ferns church was crowded When the funeral Mass was

said -And here was I on Broadway

A-building bricks per load When they carried out her coffin

Down the Old Bog Road.

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

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

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

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

Each human heart must bear its grief

Though heavy be the load, So God be with you, Ireland

And the Old Bog Road.

THE PARTING GLASS

OH, all the money e'er I had I spent it in good company. And all the harm I've ever done Alas, it was to none but me, And all I've done for want of wit To mem'ry now I can't recall So nil to me the parting glass Good night and God be with you all.

Oh, all the comrades e'er I had, They're sorry for my going away, And all the sweethearts e'er I had, They'd wished me one more day to stay, But since it falls unto my lot That I should rise and you should not, I gently rise and softly call. Goodnight and joy be with you all.

If I had money enough to spend, And leisure time to sit awhile, There is a fair maid in this town, That sorely has my heart beguiled, Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips, I own, she has my heart in thrall, Then fill to me the parting glass, Good night and joy be with you all.

WOODLANDS OF LOUGHLYNN (Tune: My Old Fenian Gun)

T H E summer sun w a s sinking low behind the western sea, The lark's love song was pealing sweet, but it brought no joy to me , For the one I love is far away, he left this tyrant's den, He fought till death, and then he left, the woodlands of Loughlynn.

A noble Irishman was he, John Bergin was his name, He belonged to Tipperary, and from Nenagh town he came; But now thank God that he is gone, he's free from harm and siri, And he let them have his parting shot, in the woodlands of Loughlynn.

McDermott too, was brave and true, from the plains of Barnageer He's missed from many a fireside in the homes both far and near, He's missed at home by all he'd known, by his own dear kith and kin, And his comrades true shall miss him too, in the woodlands of Loughlynn.

When our heroes brave were dying there, they sent for a clergyman, Let none think that they feared to face the English black and tan, The clergy came and were in time, for love they said "Amen," McDermott's soul departing through, the woodlands of Loughlynn.

Take a message to our own brave boys and tell them we are dead, Tell them to be of utmost cheer, and hold no drooping head; To keep their brains a-using and to fight and not give in, And be proud to die, 'neath an Irish sky, in the woodlands of Loughlynn.

AN MAIDRIN RUA AG g'bhall o thualdh dom thar Silabh Luachra 'Gus mise 'cur tuarisc 'mo gheanna Ar mo chasadh a-duaidh sea 'fuair me a dtuarisc Go ralbh maidrin rua a n-aolreacht!

Curfa: An maidrin rua, rua, rua, rua rua An maidrin rua 'ta granna An maufa-in rua 'na lul sa luachalr 'Gus barr a dha chluas in airde.

"Good morrow, fox!" "Good morrow, sir!" "Pray what is that you're ating?" "A fine fat goose I stole from you, And will you come and taste it?"

"Oh, no indeed, nl ail lom I, Nl bhlaisfead ploc di ar aon chor, But I vow and swear you'll dearly pay For my fine fat goose you're ating!"

"Nl bhlaisfead ploc is ni losfad gldb Is nl rachaldh aon smut Lm'bheal de But I vow and swear you'll dearly pay For my fine fat goose you're ating!" Greadh croi craite ort, a mhaidrin ghranna A rug ualm m'al brea geanna Mo choillgh mhora bhreatha's mo chearca 'bhl go halalnn Is mo lachain bheaga ab fhearr a bhl In Eirinn! Curfa dirldh: Tally ho lena bhonn! Tally ho lena bhonn!!

Tally ho lena bhonn a choilealnin! Tally ho lena bhonn! Tally ho lena bhonn! Agus barr a dha chlaas in airde!

RAGLAN ROAD O N Raglan Road of an Autumn day, I saw her first and knew, that her dark hair would weave a snare that I

might one day rue, I saw the danger and I passed, along the enchanted way, And I said let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day.

On Grafton street in November we tripped lightly along the ledge Of a deep ravine where can be seen the worth of passion play. The Queen of Hearts still making tarts, and I not making hay. Oh, I loved too much and by such and such Is happiness thrown away. I gave her gifts of the mind, I gave her the secret signs That's known to the artists who have known the true gods of sound and

stone. And her words and tint without stint, I gave her poems to say. With her own name there and her own dark hair, Like clouds over fields of May.

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet. I see her walking now Away from me so hurriedly, my reason must allow. That I had loved not as I should, a creature made of clay. When the angel woos the clay he'll lose his wings at the dawn of day.

PATRICK KAVANAGH

Time To Go Meeting (Continued From Page Four)

points however. Jimmy Stewart explained the link between Irish self-determination and class struggle and called for full support for "Time To G o " .

All in all the meeting showed that the

British peoples' lack of understanding of Irish politics is an obstacle to developing their knowledge by conventional political forms. In the next years of activity of "Time To Go", we need to "ind new ways of getting our message across.

John Foley, Glasgow.

December 1988 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT Page Seven

VHt TEN YEARS NOW THE POLLS SAY: "GET OUT"

Northern Ireland: The Political Economy of Con-flict. By Bob Rowthorn and Naomi Wayne, Polity Press. Price £8.95 PbK.

FORTY years ago, the British civil service told the Labour government that the Six Counties should remain in British hands as " a m a t t e r of s t r a t e g i c importance."

Aware of opposition to the 1949 Ireland Act on the Labour benches, the servants of the crown warned: "So far as it can be foreseen, it will never be to Great Britain's advantage that Northern Ireland should form a territory outside his majesty's jurisdic-tion."

And they put their own unique gloss on the formula of "unity by consent." According to them, "it would seem unlikely that Great Britain would ever be able to agree to this even if the people of Northern Ireland desired it ."

Forty years on they might have added: "and even if the people of Britain desired it, too."

Opinion polls have been registering majorities for British disengagement for the last 15 years or so and yet successive governments have still refused to negotiate on withdrawal.

They have paid a high price. Partition costs the British exchequer around £20 billion pounds every year, and the Republic another £250 million more. i i

And since British troops were sent back onto the streets of Belfast and Deny 20 years ago next year, over 2,500 people have been killed, almost ten times as

many injured and countless thousand more now bear the mental scars of the conflict — all "acceptable levels" with "a matter of strategic importance".

In economic, let alone human, terms, this "importance" deserves serious examination — and with the growing momentum of the Time To Go initiative, even more so.

Written in clear, dispassionate language, Northern Ireland: The Political Economy of Conflict is an anatomy of the economics of partition versus the economics of withdrawal.

"A central theme Of this book" authors Bob Rowthorn and Naomi Wayne say, "is that Ireland is a British problem. Britain is responsible for the present situation there and only Britain can find a solution."

It's not a thesis that will win them any new friends among leftists on the one hand and two-nationists on the other. But the book has already won golden opinions for its sober engagement with the arguments most often trundled out against withdrawal in Britain.

It's aimed very much at the sort of British audience that the Time To Go movement is trying to reach, some of those strands of the majority sentiment for British withdrawal that are tired of the killings and want to see "their boys" "back home", those who having been told that the British government have tried everything,

"can see ho solution. But Brit ish governments

haven't tried everything. They have tried internment, Diplock courts, plastic bullets, discrim-ination in jobs and housing,

shoot-to-kill — but they haven't tried disengagement.

Rowthorn — a Cambridge University economist — and Wayne — a trade union officer

By Martin Moriarty with a record of work against discrimination in the North itself — argue that withdrawal is a ' desirable and practical use of Britain's economic clout in the North.

persuade a future government to break the connection.

English and Welsh trade unionists won't have the right to remain silent next year when they're picked up on the picket line. Neither will protesters outside nuclear bases, nor demonstrators for a better health service — because the British g o v e r n m e n t is in tent on continuing to prosecute its military campaign against the republican movement.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol. By vscar trade, the Journeyman Press. Price £2.95. pps. 64.

AS it says on the back cover, "this is a h e a r t f e l t cry aga ins t M a n ' s inhumanity to man. The legal violence of the hangman's rope, the denial of everything to the condemned except death, the coldness and terror as the final unspoken act takes place. The starkness of Masereel's woodcuts add a sad and lonely dimension to this famous poem."

The poem, is the first work of Wilde which is about ordinary working class people and also aimed at a popular audience. For that reason it is described as WHde's most remarkable work. WUdb could have just done his

sentence and kept quiet but instead he penned this anti-hanging ballad which describes so well the agony of the man awaiting execution and effect on fellow prisoners. The words and woodcuts show the misery, the loneliness, the claustrophobia of prison life. In the pictures even the bricks in the cell wall seem aware of the regimentation all round.

Brendan Behan in the "Quare Fellow" was obviously influenced by Wilde's ballad. The poem was also a major influence on Bobby Sands. Compare these two verses from Wilde and Sands.

It is sweet to dance to violins When Love and Life are fair: To dance to flutes, to dance to lutes is delicate and rare: But it is not sweet with nimble feet To dance upon the air! * * *

'Sergeant, there seems to be some claim That you forced him to confess, And that you walked upon his spine And beat him up no less?' 'No! No! My Lord, that was his own Self-inflicted mess!' Notice in both there are six lines

and the second, fourth and sixth lines rhyme.

We must show our appreciation to The Journeyman Press by buying a copy of this great ballad.

Martin Moriarty, Peter Mulligan and John Boyd's hand at the Jubilee Connolly Association Conference. Photo Conor Kelly, London Irish News.

In economic and political terms, disengagement makes sense, they say.

And they back up their arguments with an impressive archive of material, from the abuse of civil liberties to the s t a t i s t i c s of e m p l o y m e n t discrimination.

However, they have sacrificed any perspective on why a future progressive British government might declare that its intention is to withdraw and set about negotiating reunification with the Dublin government.

The use of the single word ""Britain" as a sort of shorthand

for the British ruling class blurs the difference between the British civil servants who make the

_ establishment case for occupation and the British working people who will never achieve much of significance until they manage to

Already, this particularly vicious government is trying to shut down popular protest about the British presence by keeping not just republicans off the radio and television but campaigners like Paul Hill's uncle Errol Smalley.

Small wonder the measures were so enthusiastically welcomed in Pretoria: the Botha regime knows just how effective so-called "reporting restrictions" are at keeping the i n t e r n a t i o n a l

spotlight off some very dark deeds of repression.

Reservations apart, in the struggle over the next few months between Time To Go's attempt to open up the debate on the British presence and the Br i t i sh government's attempts to close it down, this book will be a very useful guide.

DUBLIN LIVES Dublin Belles, by Mairin Johnston.

HB £12.95 Punts. PB £5.95. " D U B L I N Be l l e s " is Mai'r'in Johnston in conversation with twenty four women giving their impressions of growing up in Dublin. Within its brightly illustrated cover we meet a Solicitor, four Community Workers, three artists, an entertainer, a Librarian, a Politician, two singers, a Trade Union Activist, and Senator and a comedienne. From June Levine the writer we get a glimpse of childhood from the Jewish point of view.

Between these pages you will get the lovely aroma of Bewleys coffee, see the man patting butter in Findlaters, visit Merrion Square when the big houses were family homes with hoards of servants to haul bath water upstairs several times a day, and see young boys pushing handcarts through the streets in Winter, their bare feet bleeding.

E la ine C r o w l e y , b e s t - s e l l i n g author, says that though she has travelled extensively, nowhere else has the immediacy of Dublin. Where else, she asks, would you meet an assistant in a shoeshop, who — on noticing that her bunion was sore — rushed next door to the chemists where she bought plasters and put one on her foot?

A rich, entertaining, poignant, funny and well illustrated book. Buy it. Joan Sotners

Ireland, Scotland, Sardinia

Irish women's Guide-diary IRISH Women's Guide Book

Diary, 1989. Price £3.95. Published by Attic Press.

BECAUSE of the women's movement in Ireland women now have their own lawyers, doctors, TDs, advice centres, co-operatives, publishers and their own diaries. Soon no doubt, they will have their own priests and bishops. They have sued Mr John Hermon, Chief Constable of the R.U.C. Maybe next they will sue the Reverend Paisley for not letting them preach in his church?

As well as a good space for each day of I9»9 the diary has Information about where women can go for advice, for instance The Well Woman Centre. Another advert directs women to a group called Women Together which is also based in Dublin. Silver Moon, the excknhely women's bookshop is in Charing Cross Road, London. They run a mail order service for their sisters abroad. They have over 7,«M books about and for women, The Four Provinces Bookshop, 224/* Grays Inn Road, London WC1 has * women's section also. Also the diary has a selection of recommended reading for women. The vast majority of Attic Books listed are by Irish women. They

ResMMfcoT

Britain. It Is i

There is a haiMMttae " Daly, Head of

Powrty'-j

Gramsci's Prison Letters: Lettere dal Carcere, translated and edited by Hamish Henderson, Zwan Books, 290pp, £16.50.

- ANTONIO Gramsci (1891-1937) has been described by Eric Hobsbawn as 'an extraordinary philosopher, perhaps a genius, probably the most original communis t th inker of the twentieth century in Western Europe'. Gramsci died as a prisoner of Mussolini, having spent nearly eleven years in jail.

Grainsci's influence on 20th Century Left thinking has been profound. He clashed with the political myopia of those who hero-worshipped Stalin and resisted rigid compartmentalising. He understood the importance of culture and was one of the first Marxist thinkers to understand the importance of studying popular culture in the battle to create a revolutionary con-sciousness.

Gramsci's ideas provide much food for thought for Ireland today. He warned: 'When a 'race' has forgotten its native tongue, it means that it has already lost the major part of its inheritance, of its own original conception of the world, and has absorbed the culture (togetfrer with the language) of a conquering people.' Here, Gramsci was echoing the idea of the Irish revolutionary Thomas Davis in

•No language, no

The letters Gramsci wrote from prison, the only expression of hi^ developing ideas, until the prison regime relaxed to allow him to write his notebooks, are an education. From his political ideas, to his thoughts on his native Sardinia, its folk- l i fe and education, are a testimony to the or finality of his thought.

In this volume Dr Hamish Henderson, the Scottish socialist, republican poet, translates and edits over 200 of the letters and, by doing so throws new light on Gramsci's ideas and thoughts.

Naturally, Hamish Henderson (who describes his own self as 'a Scottish working-class intellectual — a stubborn survivor in Thatcher's Britain') uses the parallel of Scotland's position to England to illustrated that of Gramsci's Sardinia to Italy. But, he admits, 'Sardinia and Scotland might not seem very plausible yoke-fellows — a much closer parallel might seem that between Sardinia and Ireland,both victims, of centennial foreign domination — but a closer examination suggests there are similarities...'

Indeed, in his closely written introduction, Hamish Henderson goes on to explain what those similarities are.

This is an important book. Important for anyone interested in the pol i t ical s i tua t ion developing in the Celtic countries for Gramsci's work is as relevant today as ever if was.

M w r Berresford Ellis.

Page Eight THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

Aware Of The Ir ish — "The fact that they are Irish is, by itself, a perfectly neutral piece of evidence, but when you place it with the evidence in the c a s e , the p i c t u r e a s s u m e s a significance of which you must be aware." Alan Rawley Q.C. for the prosecut ion . Winches te r C r o w n Court . INDEPENDENT. Then And Now — "The election of hunger striker Mr Bobby Sands to Westminster in 1981 came as a shock

» to most of the British media. This newspaper remarked that his death-bed victory had thrown years of myths out of the window — and the biggest myth is that the IRA in its violent phase represents only a tiny minority of the population." Mr Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein said: 'Eight years ago Mrs Thatcher claimed that the Republican movement had no support. Now they are directly censoring a legal political party which has an electoral mandate. If they had an argument to counter the Sinn Fein view then they should be putting it i n s t e a d of c e n s o r i n g u s . ' GUARDIAN. NB the BBC later issued a statement — "We could report Gerry Adams attacking the Government, but not if he says something in support of Sinn Fein. Mr Hurd has invoked powers under section 29 of the Broadcasting Act, which regulates the Independent Broadcasting Authority. The BBC will be restricted under its charter drawn up in 1927.

Censoring Sinn Fein — "We have certain opinions which inclu<Je the belief that the IRA has the rightfo use the armed struggle. We have a'ftght to that opinion. What is being banned here is our right to give that opinion." Gerry Adams M.P. "Sinn Fein with one Westminster M.P., Mr Gerry Adams, who has not taken his seat, 59 District Councillors in Northern Ireland and the support of 10 per cent of the voting population, is seen as the main target of the restriction."

*«. FINANCIAL TIMES. Whatever You S a y , S a y Nothing — Ivan Lawrence QC, chairman of the Tory MPs legal committee, was one of several Conservative backbenchers who made plain they could not support the measure. "Without torture, how can you force a man to speak? There is no way, under the rule of law, that you can force a man to speak and use his speech against him, because of the danger that an innocent man migfh incriminate himself," he said. But Tom King, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, insisted the Order, approved by 274 votes to 210, was necessary to restore the balance of justice in the province. He told MPs of a calculated campaign to frustrate the course of justice and referred to an instruction on resisting interrogation published in the Sinn Fein paper Republican News under the heading "Whatever you say, say nothing. From HANSARD. Co l . ROBIN E V E L E I G H . - "He proposes the border should be fenced, ditched and fortified as the French did along the frontiers of Tunisia and Morocco in the Algerian campaign, with only a few tightly controlled crossing points." DAILY TELE-

— G R A P H . And we know what happened to the French in Algeria. T h e Greedy. — There are now 23 UK directors who receive salaries and dividends in excess of one million pounds. There are an additional 25 who receive over 500,000. The recent Tory budget increased their take home pay by an additional 93,000pa. L A B O U R R E S E A R C H D E P -ARTMENT;

Printed by Ripley Printers Ltd (TU), Nottingham Road, Ripley, Derbys,

l\ jund published by Connolly Publi-; 1 cations Ltd, 244 Grays Inn Road, . London WC1. Telephone: 01433*3022.

TAPED FOR A SERIES - NOW CANCELLED 'KEEPyer hat on, they're sackin' the old 'uns!' — that's what the oldtimers used to say hereabouts, the men who came through the Twenties and Thirties when it wasn't a case of jacking your job in for the hell of it, but a case of being lucky to be able to hold on to a job at all. I knew an old brickie who often told how the gaffers would sometimes sack a good worker — just to put the fear of G o d in the rest! You heard a lot of that kind of talk when I started working on the building and civil engineering in 1952, I think it created something of a bond between Irishmen like myself and the indigenous workers, a class interest in common, most Irishmen you met here if they'd had employment a t home were pretty scathing about their employers, especially if they worked for the farmers. A lot of ordinary English working chaps were more radical, somehow, just af ter the war than they are today, there was a great sense of independence among them and a willingness to be dubious about some of their own institutions; for example you very rarely hear anyone criticising the British Royal Family today, not in my experience anyway, b u t w h e n I w o r k e d a m o n g Englishmen on the railway or on building jobs back in the Fifties there was almost always moaning abou t the Royals and the cost of keeping them all... as an Irishman it surprised and almost embarrassed me at times and I tended to keep my views to myself, it wasn't my place after all to criticise the institutions of the host country!

I'd knock things like capitalism readily enough in the course of a conversation if we had one but I was always conscious of that peculiarly touchy relationship that existed between so many of the English and the Irish — hangups, I suppose you'd call them. For two groups of people sharing the same language I think there is sometimes a surprising lack of understanding, an almost total incomprehension of each others perceptions quite often...

I remember before the last general election, the time when people were saying that Labour's defence policy (or lack of it!) would be the cause of the Tories' victory once more., well I was talking it over with the contractor who was employing me at the time, a very fair and proper man indeed; I made the point that I didn't believe for a moment that the Soviet Union had any designs on Britain, that I thought they had enough on their plate with Afghanistan (as indeed Britain herself had a hundred years ago)... and as tvell as that, I told him, Britain has not

yet been invaded, not since the Nor-mans defeated poor Harold almost a thousand years a g o . . . if, I said, Britain were ever to be invaded the people here would fight like the very devil, they'd never accept defeat. Well, the boss-man seemed quite touched at this and says he to me in all sincerity: 'That 's right, Danny, we've never been invaded — and nor has Ireland! And', says he with great resolution, 'If ever anyone tried to invade Ireland we'd be down on them like a ' ton of bricks!' That man had been dealing in the course of his work with Irishmen on and off for years but he was blissfully unaware that English dominion over Ireland has been the course of friction between the two countries for several hundred years... I would say, though, that there is a degree of acquaintance between the two nat ions now that you hadn' t at all back in the post-war era — there is of course the common pop-culture that the younger people of both countries share t o a degree they didn' t thirty or forty years ago. Television is surely the biggest single cause of that but the volume of Irish emigration to Britain must also have had the effect of m a k i n g us be t t e r a c q u a i n t e d , mutually, though I would claim that the Irish have always understood the English better than vice versa — for obvious reasons.

Britain for centuries loomed large in the Irish consciousness as the conqueror must always loom large in the mind of the conquered. I don't doubt that such terms will seem hurtful — gratuitiously so, perhaps — to many Britons who do not see things like t ha i a t all, who percieve the Irish as a pa r t ojra family of Four nations, British in all but name. But that is how we Irish pgrcieve it and I think you'd have to be-stretching things pretty far to d o otherwise . T h e British consciousness, preoccupie$l as it was for centuries with the larger world scene, with interests abroad and with the understandable concern for its own security and territorial integrity — it, natarally enough, saw Ireland and the Iriih as only a small (and often troublesome!) part of a larger whole; we, o n the other hand were all but obsessed with our powerful neighbour though of course the relationship between was far more complex than many Republicans would care tc recognise. 'That is history but there was a great awareness of it — too much some would say — on the Irish part. y

A regujar part of an evening's entertainigent in an Irish pub here in

Britain might be the singing of a ballad that commemorated the execution of the Manchester Martyrs, The Smashing of the Van, some eighty or ninety years before; songs like The Valley of Knockanure and others like it about either the War of Independence or the Irish civil war that followed it, these were a regular thing. Much of it of course was emotional pub patriotism, a surface thing... I remember when poor Sean South died in an ambush in the late 1950's, there was a song called Sein South of Garryowen and you'd see them waltzing to it and singing it enthusiastically in Irish dance halls in London and other places, but there was never any serious thought given — except, among the politically-minded, the very few — to what it was that Sean South and Fergal O'Hanlon and others like them were trying to do — initiate a war against Britain in the Six Counties of Northern Ireland.

By

Bonail MatArnh

No one discussed the feasibility or otherwise of it and when in later years r ep re s s ive l e g i s l a t i o n like t h e Prevention of Terrorism Act came to inhibit political discussion and the open expression of dissident views the majority of us acted as the majority of people would in any country by keeping our thoughts to ourselves and adopting what is described as the low profile.

But this sense , o f . hig.to%. there and it served to maintain a certain gulf between immigrant Irish and native Briton. Up to a point, a n y w a y : e q u a l l y you had ' t o acknowledge how tolerant and even well-disposed so many Brifons were to the Irish influx, there was always that ambivalence on both sides, going back centuries. You ionly have to read the comments of observers like Carlisle the historian, or Henry Mayhew — people like that.

If the Irish were much maligned in the British Press and particularly in the scurrilous Punch cartoons that consistently portrayed them as ape-like creatures, there were also honest and kindly-disposed people who made fair comment.. . I expect the simple fact of the matter is that it's a shrinking world and we all know a bit more about each other than we did thirty or forty years ago. Curiosity about Ireland has never been a strong

British characteristic . anyway and even today, af ter almost twenty years of fairly intensive television exposure you will find people here in Britain who will ask you in all seriousness whether a town like Wexford is 'North* or 'South ' or as I well know myself, if you tell them that you're going to Kilkenny they may ask you if that's where the trouble is! Not many people in Ireland could display that degree of vagueness about Britain...

English journalists writing about Ireland have long been intrigued or amused maybe by what the regard as the peculiarly Irish capacity for being anti-British in a general way and at the same time in going out of their way to be nice to the visiting Briton: 'Oh but there's nothing personal in it,' they quote their Irish sources as saying with what is generally thought of as typ ica l I r i s h i n c o n s i s t e n c y o r illogicality. But this was precisely what I found about the men I worked with — the local people I mean — when I came here first. They constantly expressed what you might call xenophobic sentiments, they had denigratory nicknames for almost every nation in the world... the French were frogs, th^'Germans 'krauts' and black people were either 'wogs' or 'jungle bunnies'... ex-soldiers who had been to India or the Arab countries a'ways spoke scathingly about the natives in those countries — but for all that, on a personal everyday level they were tolerant and friendly enough towards any such outsiders who might happen to work with them...

I suppose we aU remain partly blind about ourselves, pations rarely have the gift to see themselves as others see them and it is quite a revelation when that happens and you see yourself o r your compatriots through the eyes of another group. By and large the Irish — certainly the rural Irish — did not share the prejudices of the British regarding Blacks and Arabs and Frenchmen and Germans — not the kind of condescending prejudice that is a legacy of colonialism, I suppose, — but in practical terms they could be far more exclusive of such groups than ever the English could. I worked for an Irish firm, a very well-known contracting firm, in the early I9l50's and I can tell you that most of the men in charge of the hiring and firing showed a marked preference, not just for their compatriots, but for men from their own par t of the c o u n t r y -words like 'F rog ' or 'Wog' might not have been pa r t of their vocabulary but a Frenchman or an Indian would have got short shrift.. .

Monopoly backs Fianna Fail By Brett Kibble

CHARLES Haughey, according to the Economist magazine, is the "best hope" Ireland has. Referring to the Haughey government's October budget the Economist of 22-28 October said: "The new budget still neglects much-needed income-tax reform and amtinues to tax labour rather than :apital. But its firm and thoughtful line >n cuts confirmed this government as die best since the 1960V'

This is some change of heart by the mouthpiece of British finance capital. Before the February 1987 general election that brought Haughey's Fianna Fail party to government in Ireland, the Economist had said of a Haughey victory that: "a win by him would scare Ireland's foreign creditors. His ukra-Batioaalism alarms the neighbours in mainland Britain and across the Northern Ireland border." Following the general election the

Economist (greeted the Fianna Fail victory with the comment: "All in all, the Irish hate done nobody a good turn, least of all themselves."

But n o f the Economist likes Haughey, ^be has accepted the Economist's definition that the main issue fat the. 1987 general election was "who is to do the cutting, by how much,

.and where;." Under the Fianna Fail administration, government borrowing has fallen from 13% to 6% of the Gross National product. But these debts to foreign finance capital have been paid for by the workers aid small farmers and not big business. While inflation fals by about a quarter since 1987, pay increases have fallen by over two-think. Eire's finance minister "Mr IVIncShsury Imposed the rooj

has stayed at about 20%. The reason for the continually high unemployment lies in the method of attracting investment.

• J! --V

The structure of foreign investment in Ireland is revealed in the 1987/1988 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Economic Survey for Ireland. Subsidiaries of foreign monopolies produce 80% of Eire's non-food manufactured exports. These monopolies, as the OECD survey notes ". . . .have been attracted by generous capital grants and virtual exemption of profits from taxation." However this influx of foreign capital does not lead to many new Jobs a s . . . "the new, foreign owned, industries do not employ many people." Whereas

companies spend about a quarter on wages and salaries. Over the six years to 1987 repatriated profits per employee in foreign owned companies increased Over four times.

Despite their damage to the economy, Haughey continues to attract foreign finace capital, opening the International Financial Services Centre last September. Sited in the old Custom House docks in Dublin the centre offers 1 0 £ corporation tax, no commercial property tax for tea years and no capital gains tax. But of all the statistics that phase the flasace m p i f K—t DM greatest is ftwt, despite making Irish people suffer to pay foreign flaaace Fiaaaa Fail b still supported by 50% of an Irish Times