M O C R A T FOUNDED in 1939 THE PAPER THAT SHOWS THE W A Y FORWARD

No. 341 NOVEMBER, 1972 7P

TORY CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST

Build up of extreme unionism T unfonk , ^ ! ! ? , f T p a m ? e e " t 6 ! C T e 0 f V , 0 l e n t r i o t s - w i t h , i v e s b e i "9 l o s t a " d m«ny injured. This time, however, the clashes were in the

Unionist areas east of the River Lagan and the Shankill Road. Why ? Who can tell what particular incident sparks off a specific riot? - but we d^s ionWof Jendr bv r t r a , d ' C t , 0 n t H a t t h G "!!?" P 0 ' i C y ° f t h G B H t i s h G o v e r ™ t i s <he - o * o f f e trouble. Having instituted andmaintained the artificial division of Ireland by promoting sectarian conflict, they imagine that they can turn that sectarianism on and off at will.

SHOT DEAD FOR DANGEROUS DRIVING

^ tN September 29th in Belfast, William Patr ick Davidson, aged

31, was jailed for eight months w hen he pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving. Margaret Florence O'Riordan < 36 >, was jailed lor one month , charged with aid-ing and abett ing him.

They were lucky, they might • asily have been killed, as were the other two occupants of the car. Mrs. Maura Meelian and Miss Doro-thy Maguire.

T h e dreadful "crime" was com-mit ted last year, on October 23rd, in I he Palls Road area of Belfast. The Bri t ish Army were engaged in a search and in order to warn the people, Davidson and the three women drove th rough the streets, in and out of Army barricades, sound-ing the horn.

; he Army alleged that tin y were fin '.] on f rom the car. and y»\v re-turned the fire, killing Mrs. Median and Miss Maguire. They al-u claimed t h a t both were dressed ir, military-style uniforms. Photo-graphs taken of the dead women m the car and subsequently published di-pruved this statement.

.it uu t ocassc, William Da".;.:;.,: and Mrs. O'Riordan were charged with a t tempt ing to murder troops and possessing a firearm. THEY WERE FOUND NOT GUILTY. Forensic experts testified that they could find no evidence of a gun hav-ing been fired from the car. All they were guilty of was dangerous driv-ing!

Will there now be an enquiiv into 'he shooting? We doubt it.

For make no mistake about it, there is now clear evidence that the British Army authori-ties have connived at the build-ing up of the most extreme force of armed and organised Orange Unionism, the Ulster Defence Association. This could only have been done with the appro-val of Wil l iam Whitelaw, and his master, Edward Heath. The U.D.A. can declare, as they did recently, "to Hel l with the Bri-tish Army. To Hell with the Whitelaw administration. The British Army and the British Government are now our enemies." H o w t , ^ - , it is not so long ago that we witnessed joint British Army and U.D.A. pat-rols. A photograph of one such patrol was published in the August "Irish Democrat."

Six months ago the Ulster De-fence Association did not exist. Today they parade in their

thousands with masks on their faces th rough Belfast. They wear para-mili tary uniforms, although uniforms are supposed to be illegal. They question pedestr ians and flag down motor cars on t h e highway without any interference f rom the legal authorit ies. They engage in anti - Catholic int imidat ion and threa ten civil war if t h e Unionist ascendancy is not restored in the six counties. Their core is the dis-banded B-Specials, t h e gun-clubs and the Tar tan gangs, as well as many lodges of the Orange Order. They have easy access to massive stores of arms. They act openly and with complete impunity.

ARRESTED Signed and witnessed s ta tements

from three youths, Messrs. Murray, Austin and Armstrong, a re now in the hands of the Association for Legal Just ice to the effect that having been arrested and questioned by British Army personnel in Broadway Barracks they were

ELECTION MUST ENGLAND'S IRELAND BE HELD

i NTI-Iris'h p ropaganda in Britain ' over the pas t year or so has passed its peak of effectiveness, be-coming as thev say, counter-produc-tive. This occurred also in 1921 when official "explanations" of Black and Tan outrages were de-rided bv all but t he most simple-minded. The dramat isa t ion staged by the players of the Portable thea t re a t the Round House, Chalk Fa rm Road, during the week ending October 14th, is a protest by a group of intelligent observers against the mis informat ion being fed to the public about the army's war against Catholics in the six counties.

Inevitably, the seven authors have missed or misunderstood some sig-nif icant facts, but they go straight to the hear t of the ma t t e r bv then-unequivocal t r ea tmen t of the alliance between the B.A. and the U.D.A., an alliance based on the recommendat ions of Brigadier Kit-son in his book on the repression of minorities.

T h e exposition relies on a com-binat ion of realism and irony. Har-rowing details of tor ture inflicted b.\ •soldiers of abnormal mentality are f a i th fu l to the revelations of the Compton report. There is a long period of about half a minute in which the audience participates in an experience calculated to induce •sensory deprivation. The audience was perceptibly stunned and shamed by the experience.

Irony of the most telling kind is achieved by the device of biblical parody, underlining the grotesque •luality of the quasi-religious fanati-cism in which Faulknerism and other varieties of Orange gangster-

ism have their mots The authois indulge themselves in an uproariou.-mise en scene of the absurdities ol Orangeism. though never failing <n emphasise its sinister side.

Instead of a denouement i for tni> i not a play in any traditional i-n.sei the action ends with a series

nf chorused queries, the most urgent lit these being, Is Whitelaw normal?

There is some i;ing of quality and «il cent.

ri

h

lot of good acting in spite difficulties with the Belfast ac-

A take-off of Heath lingers m the memory along with a bruising caricature of a canting, brutal, cunning preacher of large tature.

The actress entrusted with Ihi character of Bernadette Devlin car-

cnppl ing handicap in tha t no liKtnonic version can be as theatri-cal as t ha t young lady's own per-Ini'inanccs. To make the Member tor Mid-Ulster a suitable subject for drama it would be necessary to burn

it the stake. is not possible to allocah praise

among the performers as each plays a number of parts, none of

is assigned to an actor ^ on the programme. The same who is an Orange shiflfard

at one point reappears later risen Christ; equally starl-

l.s Paisley's descent from his heavenly throne to serve as a leader of the Officials.

With t ru th now completely banished f rom newspapers and the other media as far as most people are concerned, at least in respect of events in the six counties, one can-not too highly praise this wry, ob-jective presentation of the facts.

4 vNE man one vote" was one of ' the main demands of the Civil

Rights movement. O'Neill promised it, m his "reform" programme of November 1968. The only trouble is t h a t they delayed the elections!

Now it has been announced tha t local government elections will be held throughout the six counties on December 6th. They will be under i he system of proportional repre-sentation, which allows the voice of minority parties and groups to be heard. But the Ulster Defence As-sociation has threa tened massive disruption of the elections.

Mr. William Hull, chairman of the Loyalist Association of Workers, is reported as having said that voters would not be allowed to go to the polls and there is little doubt t ha t Unionist opposition to elections under P R . is one of the reasons

for recent clashes between the U.D.A. and the British Army.

It ha.s been reported t h a t some anti-Unionist groups have also ex-pressed opposition to the elections. Surely this is a mis taken policy? They may feel that the Republicans are not free to contest them be-cause of t he repressive laws. If so, i lie answer is not to oppose the elections, but to demand their fur-ther democratisation.

In the face of Unionis t pressure, Whitelaw may well seize on oppo-sition f rom the other side to get him off the hook.

The British Government must ensure int imidation-free elections. Whitelaw and Members of Parlia-ment should be flooded with letters and resolutions to this effect as a matter of extreme urgency. LET WHITELAW PUT HIS MONEY WHERE HIS MOUTH IS.

ALDERSHOT TRIAL ii

which name actor workei as the lint

4 T the time of going to press we - * cannot comment in detail on ihe Aldersbot trial. It is sub judice. Until they have been proven guilty, ihe three defendants are innocent.

However the opening remarks of the Attorney-General, Sir Peter Hawlinson, cannot go without com-ment, He referred to the events in D e n y on Bloody Sunday and stated tha t the paratroopers returned fire following firing from gunmen and "inevitably in such cases people died m the streets."

Sir Peter knows only too well tha t the Government's Widgery enquiry did not prove tha t the troops had

been fired on. It Wits Widgery's opinion and nothing else. There was ano the r opinion. T h e New York based In ternat ional League for the Rights of Man. using the same evidence as Widgery, reported tha t the question of who fired first, is unresolvable on the basis of the evidence available to Widgery.

The Aldcrshot incident has re-sulted in a trial. How m a n y para-troops have been called to account for their ac tions? What about the hundreds of murders of Catholics for which nobody has been arrested at all?

handed over to a U.D.A. uni t tor fu r the r quest ioning and a beat ing up. The repor t is reliable a n d is only one of numerous s imilar incidents of co-operation between the British Army and the U.D.A.

This local co-operation on the ground reflects the more importarrt political tolerance of the growth c« the U.D.A. by those in authori ty m the North and in Britain. One must ask, wha t were Whitelaw ami! Heath really up to?

Did they build up the U.D.A. to intimidate and terrify the Catholic population so tha t they would gratefully sett le for whatever politi-cal proposals the British Govern-ment came fo r th with in time? Or did they deliberately encourage the build-up of a civil war type s i tua-tion to make sure that the extremist Unionist forces were in a position to create m a x i m u m havoc? Or dirt they unwit t ingly create the Fran-kenstein Monster of armed and o r g a n i s e d extreme Unionism through fear of taking on the ta«jk of disarming all armed c iv i ! ian | who threaten civil war.

In 1912 t h e British said Ulster Must Not be Coerced a n i they built up Carson to br ing about Part i t ion. Is the modern version of this oW refrain tha t today 's extremists mus t not be coerced either, perhaps to bring about ano ther civil war a n d maybe ano ther Partition?

For simultaneously with the offi-cial tolerance of para-military Unionism, is a huge increase in military and police activity in Nationalist a reas that has no rational justification apart f rom provocation.. Ever since late July the Nationalist population of Bel-fast has been beset by countless searches, calls in the middle of t he night, continual military patroll ing and frequent ac t s of bully and intimidation which are too numerous and too universal to be due just to indiscipline by indi-vidual soldiers or units.

Is the British Government deli-berately t rying to set the f rame-work for a civil war, is the question many are now asking. Mr. Harold Wilson has aga in called on the Government to disarm all civilians and call in the 100,000 gun licences. Has the Labour leader got wind ot what may be happening and Is he put t ing It up to the Governmeni tha t the impart ia l disarming of all those who should not have arrrn is the essential tes t of the Govern-ment 's good f a i t h7

It is essential tha t the British Government d i sa rms the Unionist extremists, and calls in all so-called

licenced" a rms . Simultaneously they must press ahead with a full civil rights programme, the flrtt essential of which Is to ensure that tho local government election* are not prevented f r o m being held by Unionist thuggery. There mutt also be an end to Internment and the har rasament by the Army oi the anti-Unionist population.

2 T H E I R I S H D E M O C R A T November 1972

BUILDING WORKERS MARCH F ORWARD lici-ci bivan.-1 • • •

:'..•• Pit: t of lilr !•:;.. • ': • '\vu mt ii. I'he i- > I'- • K '• .<::-

it in i Brian A:. ... . -' •• -d oil •;;>• .-• He, but v1 ! Ur -fcfiwd i ii'-'. were well k: '»v:. ' :l ...:.:'-.•:'.! ' rude uniuin

Thei r follow v. a: 1: • - d a rl'iii ' c a r .r va ; ;in:-a" kill

ai;d 4a m m art' nov. on strike. ai-niu-i t he entire labour iorce. While the site is still open, no work 1.-j o m g on. It has been mad.- official by the Transport and General Workers ' Union, and official sup-port f r om U.C.A.T.T. is expected

We asked George about the re-cent. nat ional dispute. What had been achieved? With effect f rom September , the weekly ra te for c r a f t s m e n had been raised to £26. with £22.20 for labourers. There will be a fu r the r increase to £27 and £25 respectively next June, with a gua ran t eed minimum bonus of £2.60 and £2.20. The present agree-men t allows for another increase in J u n e 1974, which would brine the s t a n d a r d basic weekly wage to £29 (c ra f t smen) and £24.60 < labourers i.

F r o m October 1973 there will also be a threshold (cost ot living > ad-jus tmen t . There shall be an extra 20)i a week for each increase of 0.75 per cent in the Retail Price Index above 84 per cent. The settle-men t also includes an extra holiday of one day in the winter of 1972-73, and the sick pay, at present 50p a day, will be increased to 75p.

Was th is not a good set t lement, was the next question we put to Mr.

o n . ; i a.; !!• implied b> .•;. —4 .iVi.11r• it v its ;t good :•.-..-.•

.t -•;!! l ' \ t \ " building ' >'-: baoi. oil compared with o::;er-v.inch show- how much behir. i ••.{••.

, : • beiore the strike. 1'ii.'ir b a p a y is still uni; t^'i.

which niu-i be le.-s t han the na'.ioniil average, in an nstiu-;:;. which l much more hardworking and hazardous t h a n most. And re-member. he added, it took three months' strike, without strike pay. to win this. There ha s been no re-duction in the working hours, and no major increase in the holiday entitlement, except one extra day in the winter.

George O'Driscoll was quick to emphasise t h a t th is could not have been won without the determinat ion and organisation of the workers. Negotiations a re due to reopen in November 1974, bu t he and his col-leagues believe t h a t they should be opened much before then. They would like to see negotiat ions begin by June 1973, to achieve the full claitti. but especially a reduction in the working week. The aim o: all building workers is £30 a week guaranteed basic minimum, a 35-hour week and an extra week's holiday.

We then asked George O'Driscoll about the s ta te of organisation on the sites. He was able to relate healthy developments. More sites are now organised, the number of stewards has increased, and thou-sands more have joined the unions. The display of mil i tancy during the

•.i,-piiU' certainly helped There ha- been some reduction :.'.

number of " lump ' workers, but :i .-till a m a j o r problem. T h ? change- in the law. which came into effect m April, have made the "lump" more difficult, but not im-po--ible. It would seem tha t ex-emption certificates are much tO-> easy to come by.

When asked wha t could be done, iie told us t h a t steps are being' taken to discuss the s t rengthening of the law. T h e unions are also* being urged to s top work on s i te ; which employ " lump" labour. Re-cently the London Boroughs' Asso-ciation promised t h a t there would be no more labour-only sub-contract ing on the i r sites. He was confident t ha t increasingly " lump" workers would realise t ha t the dis-organisat ion to which they were contr ibuting was h a r m f u l to them-selves as much as to other building workers.

Finally, we asked George if our readers could help those involved in the Lovell's Guildford Street dis-pute. He told us t h a t they had re-ceived considerable publicity when Peter Kavanagh had a "sit-in" up the crane, but t h e national dispute had overshadowed the i r fight. They still need f inancial assistance, Donations can be sent to George O'Driscoll, at the "Irish Democrat" Office, 283 Grays Inn Road, Lon-don, W.C.1. They should be clearly marked "Lovell's Site Dispute Fund."

TH E bui ld ing industry has just come through a thrse-month strike. W e discuss that dispute, its outcome and

consequences wi th a leading bui ld ing t rade worker , George O'Dr iscol l . A member of U C A T T ( U n i o n of Construct ional , Allied Trades and Technic ians) , George O'Dr iscoM is a Oubliner, who has worked in the bui ld ing t rade in England for eleven years. H e is well known and respected in the industry for his s tand for t rade unionism.

I. Loveli -. been on

strike C'oni-

The Lovell site strike leaders, from left of the tape rgB&fder: George O'Driscoll, Peter Kavanagh, Brian Anthony and

Tommy Blennerhassett.

REPRESSION IN THE SIX COUNTIES STATEMENT FROM CIVIL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION

'I > RITISH prop: ganda agair. makes * it necessary for u.s to .send out up to date informat ion on the -ituation in the North of Ireland.

Direct rule has not brought any democratic advances here; repres-sion by the Sta le forces has in-creased and the fears of ordinary people have deepened. Our main demands remain for :

(1) The immediate end of intern-ment and detention without trial.

(2) Repeal of the Special Powers Act and other repressive legislation.

(3) Withdrawal of the British Army to barracks, pending its ulti-mate withdrawal, and only to be used to prevent sectar ian outbreaks, to protect cities and towns from bomb attacks.

(4) Immediate passing of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland by Westminster Par l iament to guaran-tee fair elections, the end of dis-crimination and repressive legisla-tion.

We ask support for these de-mands, which would allow a mean-ingful conference to be held of all sections of our peope, to work out a .peaceful and democratic solution to our problems.

B R I T I S H A R M Y H A R A S S M E N T

During recent months , the British Army has been harassing ex-r.uernees and civilians severely. They cordon off an area ;md arrest

'.1 men and boys m the vicinity. They are taken off to be screened.

nd the majori ty released, many using a day's pay. and, of course, deep distress is felt by the whole

tea. Some are detained for fur ther ,'jestioning, and may be charged.

d-Hained without tr ial or released. While the area is cordoned off

.searches are made. Of ten a great leal of damage is done to homes,

even to the extent of making them uninhabitable. I t is a long and dif-ficult legal process to get compen-sation for this damage. Many people with minor damage such as slashed mattresses, or broken televisions, do not claim.

When soldiers commit blatant act-s of vandalism and destruction, such as In the Bryson home in Bally-murphy, where nothing was left whole, either furniture or structur-ally, the Army Public Relations men blame it on local inhabitants.

Released Internees and detainees, and their relatives and friends, are

m many case.s subjected to repeat arrests, searchings and beating up. T h e following is typical of wha t is happening to these men. There is evidence that such cases may run into hundreds.

Four young men were walking home from a party in their youth leader's house. They were arrested by the British Army and taken to an Army post. This was no new experience for them. They have been constantly arrested, harassed and beaten up by the British Army. One boy, aged 16, the brother of a re-leased internee, was arrested seven times in two weeks, and beaten up three times. John McNally tells hi-story of what happened to him:

"Since being released from Long Kesh in April. I have been harassed constantly by the British Army. Two weeks ago my head was split by the butt ol a Sterling. Two nights before t ha t I was dragged from the house and beaten in the garden.

"Last night I was stopped—put against a van. my head banged against tlie van. causing a small cut I was pulled :>0 yards along the ground by my hai r and kicked in the stomach. 1 was then put in the Saracen to St. Genevieve.-. Beating continued in the Saracen. At St. Genevieve's I was beaten in front of Captain Bibby. and he him-self hit me a few times, and made me call myself a rot ten snivelling Irish bastard. I was put back in the Saracen, and beating started again. A soldier tried to strangle me. I blacked out twice. I have marks on my throat . He wa.s bend-ing my lingers back. He lay on top of my face and rabbit-punched my neck. A soldier said. 'Lay off. We are at Black's Road.

The Civil Rights Association made a complaint about this to the authorities, and arranged for Press publicity. One of the young men, Michael Poland, was arrested three times af te r the complaint was made, but the most serious intimidation was again experienced by John McNally. The story in his own words:

"I was leaving the Youth Leader's home on Tuesday night, September 12th, when two soldiers jumped out from behind the block of flats nearby and pulled me around the back. There were about 10 soldiers there and they put me against the wall The offlrer in charge said

Phone through and ask if Sun-flower wants to see McNally.

"I h e a r d a Sararen draw up on the Glen Road, which was close by. They t h e n ran me on to the Glen Road a n d took me behind a hedge, where Capta in Bibby was waiting. He told me that he was very angry at the s ta tement I had made against him, a n d asked me if I would accompany him to Black's Road. I asked h i m if I had any choice in the ma t t e r , and he said no.' They put me in the back of the Saracen and drove me to Black's Road, where they took me into a room.

"Capta in Bibby and another officer were present . They told me tha t if I did no t make a s ta tement saying tha t Cap ta in Bibby had not hit me on the previous time tha t I was lifted t h a t I would be held under the Special Powers Act, until I did. They then typed out a s t a t ement between themselves and asked me to sign it. I did. They then held me for about ano the r hour or so and then took me back to the Glen Road.' '

Legal redress is again hard to get in complaints against the Army, as olten the only witnesses are soldiers.

A part icularly shocking affair is the harassment of some of the fami-

lies of the seven men who have taken the British Government to the European Court, a t ' Strasbourg, accusing them of torture. The Brad-ley lanuly have been the worst vic-tims. T h e house is constantly raided and searched, at least every day for the pas t number of weeks.

There have been .so many th rea t s against Gerry Bradley, t ha t he will be -hot t h a t none of the male mem-bers of the family dare to sleep a t home. I n fact, the teenage daughte r of the house was so terrified during a raid by plain clothes men, when she was alone in the house with a young fr iend, that she has had to be sent to her grandmother 's home in the country.

After t h e seven cases of torture were t aken to the Council of Europe, torture ceased for a time However, in recent weeks the Special Branch of the R.U.C. have again used tor-ture in a form more difficult to prove.

Mr. J i m m y Brady claims that on Sunday, September 10th, he was taken to Glenravel Street Police Station and questioned In a special chair from which he was given elec-

tric shocks, when lie was unable to answer questions about members of the I.R.A.

This form of interrogat ion con-tinued for about 20 minutes.

Action is urgent ly needed to ensure that tor ture does not again become s t anda rd procedure with suspects.

I N T E R N M E N T A N D D E T E N T I O N

Mr. Whitelaw is making great play of the fact t h a t a large number of internees have been released and tha t he is not in tern ing any more men. There are still 171 mer. in-terned without t r ia l in Long Kesli Camp. Mr. Whitelaw has not signed any in ternment orders, but since coming to power in Nor thern Ireland he has signed 59 detent ion orders.

There are legal differences be-tween in ternment and detention. To the men now deta ined without trial and their families, i t is still im-prisonment wi thout charge or trial in Long Kesh Camp. The world must show the Bri t ish Government tha t imprisonment without trial is equally repugnant whatever name it goes by.

R E M A N D I N C U S T O D Y The procedure of remanding a

prisoner in custody for up to nine months on the flimsiest of evidence until he is eventually acquitted in court, when he eventually gets there, is also an insidious form of intern-ment, still being practised.

Because there ha s been such a great outcry aga ins t imprisonment without trial, t he Brit ish Govern-ment is trying to find a way to lock away large numbers of their politi-cal opponents, a f t e r a parody of a trial. Details are still very vague, but it seems t h a t for certain offences the prisoner will be tried before a special court of three judges.

This, of course, takes away the man's right to trial by jury. It is feared that evidence that has been or would be rejected In a normal court, will be admitted in these special courts. Will a confession, ex-tracted by torture, or under duress, be admissible? Will perjured evi-dence by the security forces be ad-mitted as evidence? Will these courts be allowed to sentence men to long terms of imprisonment?

A very serious feature of these courts is that they will be used to

try people aiding illegal organisa-tions. In Nor thern Ireland, Sinn Fein and the Republican Clubs are illegal organisat ions, along wi th their publications. Will people sell-ing or buying the "Uni ted I r i shman" or "Republican News," or s tanding as Sinn Fein candida tes in elections be liable for trial.

T h e whole concept of Special Courts is a r epugnan t one, and t h? use to which they could be put to silence all opposition is a very f r igh ten ing one.

The whole Special Powers Act must go, lock, stock and barrel, be-fore we can have normal politics in this area.

O C C U P A T I O N OF SCHOOLS During the summer holidays the

British Army occupied a number or schools as billets under the Special Powers Act. They are still in par-tial occupation of th ree schools in ant i-Unionist areas. Paren ts have natural ly refused to allow then-children to re turn to these schools, for their own safety, and the educa-tion of thousands of children is being disrupted. Please demand tha t the British Army is immediately wi thdrawn from all schools.

Casement Park, the most import-an t s tadium for Gaelic sports and games in Northern I re land, has also been occupied by the Brit ish Army, and Gaelic sport for Co. Antrim has been disrupted, and seriously im-peded for the rest of Ulster. Please demand the removal of the British. Army f rom this impor t an t sporting centre.

By the time you read this, Mr. Whitelaw s Conference of a very few of the Ir ish people will be over. T h e new form of Government is going to be decided a t Whi teha l l anyway We say to Mr. Whitelaw, whatever system of government he decides for this area must be bound by the clauses of a real and meaningfu l Bill of Rights if there is to be any opportuni ty for peaceful and demo-cratic advance.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Our people can now clearly see t ha t Direct Rule has brought more repression and less democracy. The movement Is girding Its loins for a hard struggle this winter, u»ln* every available non-violent method We know we can expoct full sup-port from our friends abroad

November 1972 T H E I R I S H D E M O C R A T

FOREIGN DESK by Paf Devine "TRICKY DICKY NIXON hope, p,

bt re-elected President nf rin :;f'(1 S;ate.- th is month.

This must surprise million.- ot pe ople who know his anti-working-:•!..-= record, his anti-democratic

a v,point arid hi- war record

That Nixon should have had such a successful political career to date is almost unbelievable.

I say t ha t because the American people in mine, mill, factory, office

• and university, by and large, have fought aga ins t Nixon's policies, all during his period of office.

Main responsibility for Nixon's continued grip on the people must be due to t h e power of the press and radio, which gives added point to Mr. Wedgwood Benn's, late Chairman of t h e Labour Party, denunciation of the press of Britain for its vicious at tack upon Socialism, Labour, the trade union movement and freedom fighters.

The Pres ident ia l Election in America and the Lincoln by-election,

• -a toinm.il. M.,rkt ' ,ht - ->•<. will give added .ii-

" '•n t•:. the power of the n:. ' r - ••< press and radio.

"•' American e!eet;oii elate t.hc-s. the attempt •<, tit

.cent Nixon with 'he peace po--••'••-••'•••«'- intensifies.

The Pentagon U.S. war centre had '•"'• :intensifying its attacks upon the Vietnamese people: poisonous -praying- of forest and agricultural ar t . :- and the destruction of dams and bridges has been intensified.

_A- the North Vietnamese release U.S. Air Force prisoners, we learn from Fire Brigade Union President, Enoch Humphries, recently returned from Vietnam to at tend the Labour Par ty Conference, t h a t :

The Americans in their obscene war against the people of Vietnam are now dropping caterpillars to destroy the crops, to take away the food and rice which the people of Vietnam require to live. I ex-perienced the most horrific bomb-

WILL NIXON WIN?

THE VOICE OF THE

SMALL FARMER " y y E are pleased to receive the

latest issue of "S.F.D.A. News," journal of the Small Farmers ' De-fence Association. It contains

articles on the ownership of Done-i

gal, Monaghan. land agitation, the acreages of holding belonging to members of the IF.A. leadership and many other articles of interest to small and medium-size farmers.

The leading art icle states:—

Rarely if ever has any recom-mendation been so contemptuous of majority opinion and need as the recent Devlin report proposing higher incomes for top civil ser-vants and government .

Th is is filling a need for Irish activities in this impor tan t area.

Activities a re also reported from Sunderland, Manchester , Birming-h a m and Liverpool. The Oxford members have also held a meeting recently to p lan f u t u r e activities.

"The rewards for 'services ren-dered' to the European idea are lavish in the extreme. In com-mercial life proper ty transactions can be very lucrative to the auctioneer. In government life too, we see the successful salesman duly

lewarded. The> walk shamefully in tht- footsteps of the landed gentry o: 1801 who said they were very thankful to have a country to sell.

"So ' a r no condemnation of the propo-eii increases have come from Mr. Gibbons. Minister for Agrieul-t ' i i ' . who recently informed the S F D A . that to extend the Beef h . i e n u v e Scheme to small herd • .v:.ir- would be more than the country could afford. Priorities cer-tainly get a bit mixed up ill this free-for-all economy.

Lower-paid workers in industry can look equally askance, the T.U.C. will now see more clearly what a wage restraint policy' means. We,

as small farmers realise tha t we have a common problem with our industrial brothers.

Let us hope tha t the Trade Union movement will now see their real allies and join forces with u.s in what must be a mili-tan t stand against monopoly interests."

The newsletter has been in-creased to six pages and can be ob-tained free of charge by sending a stamped addressed envelope to the General Secretary, Small Farmers ' Defence Association, Kilt imagh. Co. Mavo.

COME AND JOIN US! Did you ewer think of taking that pen from your pocket and using

it to fill in the form below? You cannot say that you newer saw the form before. It is in the "Democrat" each month .

It is widely acknowledged on all s.des tha t the Connolly Association has done a t remendous amount of work to help achieve freedom in Ire-land. But we know that with more members the work could be vastly increased.

You can join by completing the form. Or you can write and we w.ll send you a copy of our Constitution and details of meetings.

JOIN THE CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION F I L L IN THIS F O R M

1 a g u e '.villi t lie a m i s and ]-<.n< a ,a ] oni In-.- <' I f»0 lor a yea! - t: <

. r „ : : , . , . ] | v A • l a t i cn • I ,ap 1(H r n a o t h

N a m e

A d d r r -

C u t c u t a n d pos t to 283 Grays Inn R o a d . L o n d o n , W d

•nditicn- that I h. , \ i

A:;ho.,uh Nixon is considered u.-otat,,bie. so far a.- public opinion poll- go, we should remember that Republican candidate Dewey was similarly considered unbeatable when opposing Trueman.

But T r u m a n won. It could hap-pen again, improbable though it seems. McGovern still has a chance.

ISRAEL ATTACKS

The killing of Jewish athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich—a stupid dastardly act—has been used by the Zionist organisation as a justification for attacks on the territories of Syria and Lebanon, spilling the 'blood of hundreds of civilians, women, children and aged people.

Tanks and mechanised uni ts of the Israeli army with air support invaded the south of Lebanon and continued to move deeply into Lebanese territory.

Lebanese villages are again being strafed and bombed with napa lm and people are dying. A s ta te of emergency existed in the Lebanon.

Neither Lebanon nor Syria bear any responsibility for Munich.

Acting most cynically and in de-

:.> i • : ' la .iii-tr i>l public P.na'11. :1a 1 - r a e l i r u l e r s a r e vio-

1 . t i n s b n t f t n l j t h e C h a r t e r a n d d f -: - :o : i - of t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s , t h e

Ari i i i - t .ce A g r e e m e n t a n d t h e n e n t i ' a l h . . ecep ted - t a i n l a r d - oi international law

One cannot fail to note that the actions of the Israeli expansionists are encouraged by Britain and America, who are pursuing their own selfish aims and are dangerously playing with fire in the Middle East.

The Israeli Government bears the entire responsibility for the actions against the Arab countries and for the lives of peaceful residents of the Lebanon, including the Pales-t inian refugees in its territory.

I am indebted to a few significant quotations provided by Solly Kaye, well-known ex-councillor of Tower Hamlets (Stepney, Londont :

"The thesis t ha t in June 1967 danger threatened Israel with the danger of annihilat ion and t h a t the S ta te of Israel fought for its phy-sical existence is a bluff which was engendered and was developed a f te r the war. . . . In May 1967 no dan-ger whatever of exterminat ion threatened Israel or Israelis in its entirety or as individuals. The Egyptians concentrated 80,000 sol-diers in Sinai and we mobilised hun-dreds of thousands of men against

:!.• : M. t.:)' :'.'. . . iia r M io: (it ncral tla I ; • Arm;. :>. H..-Arret/. M n 1: 3rd. h'~-

Dr P t a d wa- q- . r , .-mivaa-that :la "State of I rat-l v. a • threat! .it d b\ .n:'. danger oi terminal ion."

It : not siirpri.-.ing tin retort- ::.. ill tilt light of these and other n \ < -lation-. more in-peoplc in Israel .. t losing fa i th in the claims of th t . . leaders, beginning to question •;.c policy of the occupation colonisation of Arab lands.

On March 16th, 1972 the Israt : Par l iament passed a resolution which said: —

"The historical r ight of the Jewish people over the land ' Israel (Palestine) is indisputable '

General Dyan expressed the same idea at a Youth Conference on Jn. 1968: —

"God forbid that you say this .-the end, up to here, up to Degan> ... up to Mefalsim and Nahal-C>/ (names of Kibbutzim on t'r.f borders i and no more. This pro-cess is going on for a 100 year : \ You have to play your pa r t in ::. Today we are sitting on the Sue.? and the Golan Heights, we are ad-vancing stage by stage from the so:'.1

of reality to the implementation the chosen targets."

It is this policy of aggression tii. ' must be opposed.

CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION ACTIVITIES i N enthusiast ic meeting of South

' 1 London Branch, Connolly As-sociation, on October 5th heard Fa ther Sean O'Riordan speaking on Community Development in the "Third World" today.

Fa the r Sean gave examples from South Africa, where he has been on the Missions for many years, and from South America, to show t h a t much of t h e vaunted aid is used more for the benefit of big business in the imperial countries t h a n for the poor people it is intended for. Of American aid to South America, for example, 87 per cent is spent in the U.S.A. itself, mostly on con-ferences. publicity, business trips, etc.

In many cases such aid as does reach the colonial countries is given in such a way as to destroy the spirit and reason for living of the people, turn ing them into listless, apathet ic beggars in a material is t society, losing their own culture in the process.

Whether in Ireland, Africa, South America, rural Canada, or elsewhere, said Fa ther Sean, it was essential to keep alive and foster the self-respect of the people, both as indi-viduals and as a community, enabling them to give as well as receive, to make their own contribu-tion.

To achieve this aim meant con-s tant ad jus tmen t of the balance to avoid the dangers of too much or too little, too fas t or too slow. The people involved in bringing help must try all the time to improve conditions while preserving the structure of rural society.

Father O'Riordan comes from a well-known family in Coolea, the heart of the West Cork Gaeltacht . His sister, Mi's. Siobhan O'Neill, is a leading member of South London Connolly Association. He has been in conflict many times with the South African authorities as a result of s tanding up for the black penpli m the "Bantustan" are: where he ha helped the people to build dam , etc , shovelling muck along with them. He once spent a week "working for Murphy" m Lor, don dsnmnu trenches.

He p e a k ten languages, and lor tin last nine months has been stud' mu oid lecturing on Co-operatives and Community development in C a n a d a , U S A . Mexico, G e r m a n y , F r a i a ' . Sweden and at Mavnooth

He has just '-pent a week in Bel-fast talking with liberal Presby-ter ian clergy in Belfast- -and reports he found there a growing com-munity spirit despite all the bombs and shootings. The people are relying more on themselves and less on Governments in Dublin or London!

COACH TRIP On Sunday. September 17th,

South London Connolly Association held its usual Coach Trip, this year to Brighton. The weather was fine and a good day out was enjoyed by all. On the re tu rn journey we stopped for tea and two hours ' ceili a t Plaw Hatch Trade Union Country Club, a beautiful old house in the country near Eas t Grinstead.

T h e best of Ir ish t radi t ional music was provided by Ken Keable (accordion), John Hynes (flute), Kevin Boyle (piano* and P a t Mc-Menamin (fiddle), and songs by our stalwart supporters Mary Whi te and Eamonn Clarke.

it it it

SOUTH LONDON South London Branch, Connolly

Association, at its meeting on Thursday, September 28th, passed unanimously a resolution deploring the press reports than an Ir ish publican in Coventry has been t ry^ ing to keep out black customers by-charging them double price (30p> a pint for beer.

The Branch calls on all Irish people, who have so often been the victim', of discrimination them-felves, and can easily be so again, to take as resolute a stand against, racial discrimination ill Britain as they do against religious discrimina-tion in Northern Ireland.

CENTRAL LONDON Central J,notion Br. ,nth ol the

( ' "nnolh A oelatlon held it.- An 11 •:..! Gi 11' I il Mt t '•!:•• oil ()etob( r Hi) Report wi re read on all 1 he

a : a ni | la \ |,:i r • work . >id. .. ,u\\ •'. . u • were surprised -,'.!'< 11 'A i • I I. :i-k .,:,<: looked at It it. r«.-h < i t how much had been

t it eti (i to I)- tin i I,airmail and ( 'harle Cunnintrham was re-

S' , n Ki tin,mid to lie our secretary. :h' latter . .'i l>i h< lpetl b\ Maureen

Heath, who has agreed also to c our treasurer.

Brian Crowley will continue ..: charge of Central London Socia.s as well as looking af ter the Guaran-tor Fund, which he has got on its feet again in a mat ter of week-. Pegeen O'Flaherty retains responsi-bility for membership. Tor.y Donaghey and Geraldine Joyce-have agreed to serve on the com-mittee.

We very much look forward :e 1973 when we hope to have another full-time worker on the road know-ing as we do tha t this will give ail the Branch members far greater scope for extending our work.

Visitors to our Bookroom will have noticed tha t Peter Mulligan is now being ably assisted by a young lady who was, until recently, called Miss Golnar Samidani but is now none other than Mrs. Peter Mulli-gan. We wish them both long years of happiness together.

it it it

WEST LONDON The West London Branch meets

every second Thursday a t the Han-well Library. A successful mee tmc was held recently when Seamus Treacy lectured on "The Yount: Irelanders." Next meeting will be on November 9th,

it it it

NEWPORT Sean Redmond was the euc-t

speaker at a meeting of the New-port Connolly Association, held re-cently. He spoke on the curie,ir situation in Northern Ireland. Fui-ther meetings are planned for Sm. day. November 11th. and Su tn ia ' , December 3rd. They ale held at 11.« Students ' Union. Stow Hill

WILLESDEN k e n ii' cllorls at starting a gro .;'

ill W I J 1 C . M 1 I n were .successful A we.. :i t: cn< i« 11 meeting was held la-' month The next one is planned . Mm id,.,. Ot tobcr 301 h. at the Crow :i Hotel. High Street. Ilarlesden. Th. -is near Willesden Junction. As o> -fore, there will be a discussion ra-the laics! situation. Plans are beir.i. made ior work 111 relation to I f local Hade union movement.

Following a recent sucees-: '.,.-meeting, another meeting is beint organr-ed on Monday, November 20th, at the C o o p Hall. Tlford I a n f .

4 T H E I R I S H D E M O C R A T November 1972

S I X € O I A T I H V b : \ E

HERE TWO CONTRIBUTORS DISCUSS SOME OF THE PROPOSALS IN CONNECTION WITH THE RECENT DARLINGTON CONFERENCE POLITICAL FORUM-

MASS STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS I ) N i : H ' s u h „r Mr. W h n c i i . w V

;; ii:11 i\ e D a r l i n g t o n coii-••fill • •" w a s tha t e v e n I huso

.i,ii'ttf> w h i c h wo i f a c t u a l l y iti-icd ( a n d could not a t t e n d ) iTf p r o m p t e d to p r o d u c t ' t h e i r

i , i l i t i fu 1 p r o g r a m m e s . P r i o r t o • hat , Lieneral a t t i t u d e s h a d b e e n r-.tiown. But it w a s n o h a r m t o '; ;.\-f t h e m m o r e c o n c i s e l y -' i t f d

I'he Northern Ireland Labour Party and the Alliance Party were juick off the mark since, having 110

oroad-based support, any political Gimmick is welcome to them which i- likely to produce headline-grab-umg opportunit ies for a time.

Therefore . these infinitesimal ;uirtie~ lost 110 time in issuing their blueprints ' and in snatching a

chair at Darlington, even though it, was perfectly obvious to everyone >lse . including the U.D.A. and • Paisley . . that the sa t rap Secre-tary of S ta te was merely humouring ; hem

With the other Unionist Party, the official one. they revealed them-selves to have much in common. They were unanimous in the Tory/ Unionist opinion tha t the political border 111 Ireland should stay . . . full stop. This was what was meant by their adherence to the non-sensical proposition t h a t the N. Ireland "Constitution". . . a S ta tu te ut t he British Par l iament . . . should not be altered without the consent of " the majori ty" within the gerrymandered six counties, e.g. ol themselves.

In a mat te r affecting the boun-daries of the United Kingdom, the majority of the people of the U.K.— according to these "moderates -are to play an effaced role. T h e majori ty consists, of course, of t he peoples of England, Scotland and Wales. But the issue of a par t i t ion set-up in Ireland is of concern to more people than tha t .

There is the "small" ma t t e r of what the Irish people as a whole have to say. Like it or not, there will be 110 firmly-grounded peace or improvement in Anglo-Irish relation-ships while the views and senti-ments of t he rest of the Ir ish people continue to be ridden over rough-s h o d . And, even though the self-styled "moderates" of Northern Ire-land politics would wish it to be otherwise, the Irish nat ion does not teel inclined to relinquish terri torial rights which have been f rus t r a t ed by the Imperial politics of a neigh-bouring Sta te .

The people of both Ireland and Britain a re intimately affected by what happens in that sector of the British political state which lies in Ireland and the "moderates '" claims to exclusiveness will be given, as they were at the Labour Party Conference, the shor t - shr i f t to which they are entitled. Some people a re seeking genuine solutions.

That part icular point disposed of. 1 he three Unionist parties which met Mr Whitelaw at Darl ington then did an incredible th ing: they

fell out." T h e quarrel was over t h e vexed question as to what powers ought to be possessed by any resus-citated local assembly in r t a - thern Ireland T h e official U m o n i M P a r t y or what remains of iti was^Incor-

iigible as ever, seeking pie in the sky a Stormont with the same destructive potential as before.

Therefore, the p.vgmy Ohengis Khan who was their spokesman at the "conference" demanded a RETURN of control over security.

The o thers disagreed with him 011 this [>oint. They, too. favoured a revived local assembly (not as an interim tact ic either) with, believe u or not, 100 representatives. P ro 1 nta in t e rms of population, this means t ha t Westminster is hope-lessly under-manned.

Tile! i should be 4.000 M.P.s in tlii Bi.iish House nt Commons. But to m.ike ma t t e r s even more curious, the N.I.LP. and the Alliance advo-cate.- of everyone having a relation 111 Parl iament, do not wish that assemble to possess any real powers not even the limited ones, involving local police powers, for which the Unionists called.

Indeed, the N. I .LP specifically regards the local people to be con-genita lly incapable of being trusted to novem themselves, or to deter-mine their own destinies.

Such powers must be preserved 111 Westminster 's hands (where, in-deed. they have always resided' so that , we are asked illogically to be-lieve. those who have created the mess can be allowed to clear it up for u> by muddl ing 011 and. in-evitably. mak ing mat te r s much worse. In sum, what these parties appear to be seeking is a sophisti-cated kind of relief scheme, to re-duce Northern Ireland's unemploy-ment figures, or a greatly inflated gas chamber with the function of a "county council."

Believing in the PRESENT union with Bri ta in—the Imperial link—the N.I.L.P., unless it were to opt for full sovereignty for the people of Northern Ire land, tha t is . . . Craig's U.D.I. . . . cannot hope to escape from a n equally undemocra-tic stance. Reject ing Craig, it is forced into out-Paisleying Paisley, who also believes in a concept of "total integration."

BY

ROBERT HEATLEY The people of Northern Ireland

are to possess 110 real power.- to create their own fu ture and the people of Britain are to have the • Ulster crises shoved more forcibly down their throats: and they are not to be allowed to reject such an in-trusion. The rather oddly defined "majori ty"—those of a Tory Unionist outlook in Northern Ireland—are to decide these matters for everyone.

After havinu to listen to drivel such as must have assaulted his ears a t Darlington, it is not a bit of wonder that Mr. Whitelaw who is, a f t e r all. the gent leman (hot the gent leman's gentleman >. told his assembled servitors tha t he would produce for them a green paper to let t hem know what "options" he would let them choose to swallow.

Much more interesting, and original, proposals emerged from the S.D.L.P. which, because of the continuation of in ternment and the Special Powers Act, decided it would not be politic to be seen f ra te rn is ing with the deadwood political tias-beens and char la tans who were looking upon Darlington as godsend.

Unfortunately the Social Demo-cratic Labour Party programme, whatever the intentions of some of its au thors , could tu rn out to be a nut with a healthy enough looking

shell whose kernel had rotted. This is because it accepts as a fait accompli something upon which the people as a whole, in Northern Ire-land or in Britain, have not had a say . . • entry into the E.E.C.

The essence of real democratic choice, as it affects Northern Ire-land. is tha t the people should have all the options made available to them. The crises exists precisely be-cause such a position has been c on-tinually denied to them by succes-sive British Governments, Tory and Labour. Indeed, Mr. Whitela.vv's stubbornness in refusing to take the steps which would have made it possible for Darlington to be really representative, with the inclusion at. least of the Republicans, was a con-tinuation of thin ploy of ruling out options which are not pleasing to British Toryism.

No one is really fooled by all tha t hypocritical gabble about not being able to talk to "gunmen." Mr. Whitelaw and his colleagues of the British colonial service do it all the time.

The aim was to rule out an option which many people wish to exer-cise and which inadvertently, the S.D.L.P. p rogramme also under-emphasises. In Northern I re land many people wish to be able to choose a united Ireland INDEPEND-ENT of E ITHER the U.K. or the E.E.C.. and. of course, the purpose of the Direct Rule administrat ion is to ensure t h a t they get the opposite.

In this context, the S.D.L.P. pro-gramme poses no t h r e a t to the master-strategy of Br i t i sh Toryism and. therefore, to the E.E.C. ambi-tions of Mr. William Whitelaw. T h e UNITY of Ireland is not , for him, the worst spectre and , indeed, the British ruling class a re now quit© prepared to coun tenance it . . PROVIDED THAT I T TAKES PLACE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THEIR PRE-CONDITION.

This is that re-unif icat ion should not lead to genuine independence and. with a new Anglo /Irish Act of Union, entailed in joint-membership of E.E.C., t h a t c i rcumstance would have been abundant ly t aken care of. If one part of I re land had not in-sisted on striving to be politically independent, there would have been no original compulsion, on. the pa r t of imperialism, to devise a border.

The Tories now consider t h a t par-ticular threat to have been cur-tailed. and they are capable of tak-ing a new look a t the i r Ir ish prob-lem . . . the instabili ty of t he old Orange Tory system in the North, under the blows of t h e civil rights movement, demands it.

Because of its blind spot in regard to these matters, the other detailed points in the S.D.L.P.'s programme, the sharing of power th rough joint British and I r ish Commissioners and the according of equal status within Nor thern I re land to . . . "Flags of both Sovereign States" . . . are likely to be a painting of the pillar boxes green exercise. The

(Continued on Page 5, Col. 1)

THE RADICAL S.D.L.P. PLAN \ W H I L E White law was hold-

ing his farcical Darlington conference Messrs. Gerry Fitt, John Hume, Paddy Devlin and their colleagues of the Social Democratic Labour Party pub-lished their own proposals for a solution to the Irish crisis. These are undoubtedly the most radical and far-seeing to come from any group of Northern parliamentarians to date.

Paddy Devlin was acclaimed when he spoke 011 them before a thousand people at the "Tribune" rally at the Labour Party Con-ference 111 Blackpool. Following discussions between the S.D.L.P. and the Irish Government Jack Lynch has s tated that he fully sup-ports the principles on Which the S.D.L.P. proposals are based, and Fine Gael has said the same.

At the time of writing the Ad-ministrative Council of the Irish Labour Party has indicated support for the S.D.L.P. plan, but those organs of Brit ish big business and Toryism, the "Financial Times,' "Economist" and "Telegraph" have

been bitterly hostile because of its emphasis 011 a united Ireland* The more liberal "Sunday Times" and 'Observer'' have taken the same view. With critics such as these the proposals must clcarh have good points for Ir ish people

Onr does not have to endorse the -111.ill print of the S.D.L.P. plan to recognise that it is based on the principles which democrats and civil r i g h t s people have been urging lor a long time in the North and contain many valuable ideas which need to be carefully studied by Irish nationali-ts and English labour men

Tin s n.L.p. plan consists of four b.isic elements, which are sum-marise!; here

Tin first element is the demand that Britain adopt a new policy to-ward Ireland based on working to-wards ending Part i t ion ra ther than on the main tenance of the Union, with all its inevitable ap-paratus of "bigotry, discrimination and denial of civil rights. This re-quirf a genuine declaration of in-

B Y

A N T H O N Y C O U G H L A N

tent by Britain to do the right thing by the Irish people The S.D.L.P. puts it like th i s :

"Britain should make an im-mediate declaration tha t she be-lieves t ha t it would be in the best interests of all sections of the com-munities in both islands, if Ire-land were to become united on terms which would be acceptable to all the people of Ireland. Such a declaration would contain 110 hint of coercion but should make it abundant ly clear t h a t this is Britain's view and it is the one that she will positively encourage. No one in Ireland has demanded that such a declaration be trans-lated into immediate Ir ish unity. There are too many problems in-herent in its implementation which will take time to resolve and which will require the set t ing up of democratic machinery for their resolution

The second element is tha t .111 the meant ime an interim

system of government for Northern Ireland should be set up which is fair to all sections of the people of Northern Ireland This interim system of government would con-sist of an assembly, an executive and a court and it would in fact have greater powers of economic development and financial control than the former Stormont Parlia-ment

There should be guarantees of the civil liberties of all citizens and complete freedom of political ex-pression embodied in a Bill of Rights Presumably because this new Northern assembly would have greater powers 111 some respects than the former S tormont Parlia-ment and in order to encourage Northern Unionists and Nationalists to come together in tackling their own problems and developing their own common interests in the per-spective of an ultimately united Ireland, the plan suggests tha t while the interim system of gov-ernment is in being there should be no representation from the

North in ei ther the London or Dub-lin parl iaments.

The third element of the p lan is tha t this interim system of Northern I r e 1 a n d government should be under the "joint sovereignty" of London and Dublin. The details of the joint sovereignty would be laid down in a treaty be-tween the British Government and the Government of the Republic. The joint sovereigns, acting through two commissioners in the North who would have to approve all t h e legislation of the new Northern assembly, would reserve to them-selves powers relating to the foreign affairs, defence, security and financial subsidisation of n o r t h e r n Ireland.

In effect th is would mean t h a t the British Parliament, which is a t present the sole sovereign authori ty over Northern Ireland, would be sharing its powers over the North with the Dublin Government for the interim period and pending the eventual hand ing over of nil the powers of sovereignty to an Irish Parl iament in a united Ireland.

The idea of a "joint sovereignty" or condominium for an interim period is a novel one. It stops short of an immediate complete surrender of sovereignty by Bri tain over Irish soil, but only for a while, for it is embodied In a t reaty which clearly envisages total British withdrawal in due course. Dublin therefore gains political powers in relation to the North which at present it does not have, and Britain gains no powers in re-lation to Dublin. It is therefore a political advance for the Irish side and should be welcome to Irish nationalists if Britain were willing to conccde it.

The fourth element of the S.D.L.P plan is the creation in the treaty between Ireland and Britain of a national senate, consisting of equal representation from the Dublin Par-liament and the new Northern Ire-land Assembly, which would have

the job of making proposals for har -monising the s tructures, laws and services of both p a r t s of Ireland and for working out a n acceptable constitution for a uni ted Ireland.

This would be a sena te of Irish-men only, containing a solid body of Northern Pro tes tan ts and could be a very useful forum within which leading figures f rom both parts of the country would work out the best pa th towards the united Ireland ac-cepted as the basic a im of the new Anglo-Irish Treaty.

These proposals are novel and un-usual in some respects, but there is no doubt tha t if t he Bri t ish Govern-ment were sincere about wanting to get out of Ireland and decided to work them along with the Irish Government, t hen worked they could be. The S.D.L.P. have also stressed tha t the various elements of their plan are in terdependent and when the implications of the various parts are examined, it can be seen that this indeed is so. The plan represents a genuine attempt to accommodate the real interests of the Northern Unionis t population within a s t ruc ture which is orientated towards an eventual united Ireland.

In the coming period the S.D.L.P. a re anxious to have these proposals debated in both I re land and Britain. In this process many questions will be raised and snags will be pointed out. But the fact of their having produced such a constructive and well thought out document is already a minor t r i umph for the S.D.LP. There are clearly men of intellect among them who are capable of rising to g rea t issues.

The main text of the proposals is accompanied by a remarkable legal appendix which outl ines the com-plicated constitutional and legal steps which would need to be taken to implement them. A study of this will answer some of the doubts and questions which people may have as a result of hear ing jus t a bare outline of the proposals.

All in all it is a r e m a r k a b l e docu-ment , which should be carefully read by all concerned Ir ish and British democrnts. I t is entitled "Towards a New Ire land."

November 1972 T H E I R I S H D E M O C R A T

S i x < O l M l N C E X K

BELFAST IN EARL Y OCTOBER ^ G O L D E N O c t o b e r has

b r o u g h t b e a u t y too to Bel-last a n d t h e t r e e s on C a v e Hill a r e r i o t o u s l y c o l o u r f u l , b u t du l l d e s p o n d e n c y is in t h e h e a r t s ol' t h e c i t i z e n s as t h e y face t h e i r first w i n t e r of D i r ec t R u l e .

The city these days is an e n c a m p m e n t wi th soldiers on patrol eve ry f ew blocks along the streets. You cannot now enter the side lanes off Royal Avenue or College Square with-out being searched by gun-tot-ing troopers. It is a pedest r ians only rule, as vehicles keep out, and in going about one's shop-ping it is common to be asked to open a n y bags or parcels one is carrying.

At the same time it is illegal to leave any vehicle un-a t tended in the city centre. A motorist luckless enough to do so may find it r iddled wi th a rmy bullets on r e t u r n as the soldiers t r y for suspected explosive charges.

These are all measures being taken aga ins t the, bombers and their thoroughness"" has cut down the explosions in the centre of Bel-fast , But f ea r of the bomber ha s been replaced by terror of the assassin and t h e increase in sec-ta r ian murders adds a new dimen-sion to life in a city which has had its fill of horrors.

There a re over 70 murders un-accounted for in the past six months. Each night, usually be-tween the "murder hours" of 12 and 3 a.m. someone is accosted, either walking in the open or called to their own doors, brought away by the unknown killers, hooded with a rms t ightly pinioned and then head blown off in some alley-way or waste space. T h e majori ty of those murdered have been Catholics, or Pro tes tan ts who were too friendly with Catholics, but Protes tants too have died qui te arbitrarily and there is a clearly sectarian motive on both sides. Life has become cheap, communi ty s tandards have been lowered and deeds are a com-monplace these days which would have outraged the country two years ago. Fea r lies heavily 011 the whole community.

'Hie BIT :-H Army S p i n a l An Services are undoubtedly at work, uismused a.s civilians and engaged m black propaganda and espionage in both Protestant and Catholic areas. It has been widely suggested and is widely believed that the S-A.S. and British Army personnel •"'e responsible for many of the assassinations m an a t tempt to stir up sectarian strife fu r ther between Catholics and Protestants . Reliable observers discount the likelihood of this, however. There may be occa-sional British Army involvement by individual units or groups of soldiers trying to avenge deaths among their comrades in private enterprise fashion, but it would be a mistake to see the murders as resulting from a definite political policy by the British authorities. Sectarianism is already bad enough and needs 110 fu r ther spurs of this kind.

In the Unionist a reas the U.D.A.• and its outriders seem to hold untrammeled sway. They patrol the streets and search civilians with impunity; masked U.D.A. men go weekly from house to house making-collections, and hardy indeed would be the householder refusing to pay up. In the Catholic areas the British Army is part icularly in evidence. Householders are woken in the middle of the night by Army men taking a "census"; innocent young people are arrested, ques-tioned, and frequently manhandled before release. The soldiers are anything but popular with the people as a result. The eyes of the people are full of gloomy hate.

The mood of the ordinary man and woman on both nationalist and unionist side is to live doggedly f rom day to day, not greatly interested -in the gyrations of the politicians, only hoping for an end to bombs and assassinations and Army searches and some re turn to normali ty. Nerves are highly-tensed and the women find life particularly difficult,

UNIONISTS D I S U N I T E D

In the Press and on TV. the politicians go through their mo-tions. Few people on either side pu t t rus t in William Whitelaw. His honeymoon with the public is over and it is rumoured nowadays he

by ''Observer

wants to get out of the North a.-soon as he can and back to a safer job in t h e British Government, except t h a t Edward Heath does not want him. Lei the cleverest man in the Cabinet wreck his career 111 Ulster m a y well be what Heath thinks of his potential rival.

The Unionis t s gel more and more divided a n d people like Faulkner and Pais ley have lost massive working class support. Faulkner still speaks for the Unionist small middle class and the people of the country, but. the Shankhil l Roaders chased h i m in to his car in fury the other week. Mr. Paisley's full-inte-gration-with-Britain policy is any-thing but popular with the Unionist population, but it preserves his repu ta t ion as a Unionist while keeping h i m independent of the madmen on the Right.

There, m e n like Craig and Billy Hull, relatively unknown people like Anderson and Herron of the U.D.A., a n d behind them other com-pletely unknown caudillos of the ghettoes hold sway in the back-streets and the little entries. Some-times they spew out. sectarian hymns of h a t e in small news-sheets: at other t imes they make state-ments of radical protest against the Unionis t businessmen and landowners whom, they blame for overturning- their political world. They love a n d hate Bri tain simul-taneously. They love and ha te the British Army and the soldiers at one and t h e same time. Slowly, it seems, t h e h a t e is coming to pre-dominate over the love. Romantic spirits a m o n g the Republicans dream of a joint alliance with the U.D.A. aga ins t the British Army.

From the Officials tenuous feelers are put ou t and slender contacts cultivated, bu t it is no more than a dream unt i l the Bri t ish finally grasp t h e nettle of "coercing" Ulster and the Unionist working class gets a deeper insight into the reality of t he imperialism which has led t hem to their present pass.

P O L I T I C A L O R G A N I S E R S

On the nat ional is t side the S.D.L.P. now occupies the premier position. The i r policy is clear:

Mass struggle for democratic rights S.D.L.P. is quite specific on where it s t ands : " . . . the Senate <111 N. Ireland, set up by a new Anglo Ir ish Trea ty) would plan and pro-pose the harmonisat ion of (policies in areas of common interest!' such as regional p lanning 111 the context of E.E.C., electricity and power, tourism and certain aspect; ol social and economic policy

There is a serious flaw too 111 the S.D.L.P.'s proposals for ensuring tha t , out of the present struggle, should emerge a "guarantee ot "normal civil liberties to all citizens and complete freedom ol political expression."

The Civil Rights Association for instance, among others, recognises tha t security powers (and, indeed, every other power) reside in the Government at Westminster. For tha t reason, it has called upon suc-cessive British Governments to amend the bad law, the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, under which

human r ights have been infringed in Northern Ireland. This was the object behind the suggested Bill of Rights.

I n this w a y a n y future Bri t ish government would have at least a formidable legal impediment which barred It—or any of its local agencies, such as a resuscitated local assembly—from transgressing upon the civil r ights and democratic free-doms of the people of Northern Ire-land, Protes tant or Catholic.

(Continued from Page Four)

Within this framework, a re-consti tuted local assembly, if such were to be set up, could be utilised to serve the interests of equality and unity between Irish people; full and extensive powers could be, indeed should be, demanded for it. This would be a democratic answer to the N.I.L.P.'s Imperialist echo-chamber or, indeed, to the justified reservations of those who fear tha t a locally-based assembly, within the gerrymandered area, could not be ever again entrusted with the powers of internal security.

These, in the absence of firm guarantees , would lead to a re-crudescence of sectarian Orange excesses.

Therefore the indispensible pre-condit ion for the success of such an inter im arrangement would be that the predominant power in the area, the Parliament at Westminster, should be bound by the only thing which can bind it . . for the time being a t least . . . one of its own Sta tu tes .

T h e S.D.L.P. proposals would tend to let Britain off the hook since, it. would appear, their democratic guaran tees would be an obligation of the subordinate insti tutions which would be set up b.v the new Anglo ' I r i sh Treaty. It is hard to see how even the presence of the Irish Government in those institu-tions. as a de facto junior partner , would be sufficient justification for removing the responsibility to answer from where it belongs . . .

011 the floor of Clie British House of Commons.

Unlike the N.I.I. P. s proposals, this step would effectively deprive the British people of any direct say. and chance of enl ightenment , - b.v something such as the "convention which kept the question of "Ulster off the tloor of the House of Com-mons for the best part of SO years.

That was an error lor which we are now paying the price. At least 700 Irish people, men, women and children, and 150 British soldiers have lost the i r lives to date. It is to be hoped t h a t the mere presentation of the S.D.L.P.'s proposals will high-light. some of their weaknesses and result in a decision b.v the party to return to the sole method which .still remains for improving the con dition of the people: mass struggle for democratic rights.

The detailed forms b.v which those r ights will be eventually im-plemented arc not the immediate concern . • • indeed. these will emerge f rom the dynamics of the actual struggle. Meanwhile we have to make our demands within the framework which exists and that means extort ing our r ights from an intransigent Establishment at West-minster.

At the risk of being proved wrong we will prophesy that ll the S.D.L.P fails to take this course it will ultimately sha re the fa te of the other "moderates" in Northern Ire-land who find the political an rarefied.

thev speak torcctlilh ami Willi .111 ever more united voice, The\ arc 110 longer a pa r ty of six component parts . They speak man to man with Edward Heath and Jack Lynch. They were bitterly angry at the way in which Lynch tried to use them for his own political purposes in the mid-Cork by-elec-t ion (the t ime of the helicopter trip to Dublin 1 but they recognise that he is head of the Irish Government and as such tha t his involvement is essential for a political settle-men t in the North .

T h e S.D.L.P. is now building a grass-roots organisation through-out the six counties 111 preparation for the local elections at the end of the year. They have a full- t ime organiser in Mr. J. Jacottet. for-merly of "The Times" and the B BC., and h a v e just inaugurated a monthly paper , "S.D.L.P. News." They have the financial where-withal to make a bigger organisa-tional impact t h a n any other non-unionist group and have increas-ingly cordial relat ions with Mr. Wilson and the British Labour Par ty .

Indeed the Bri t ish Labour leader-ship, whose peripatet ic representa-tive seems to be Mr. Maurice Foley, M.P.. looks nowadays with f a r more favour on the S.D.L.P. than 011 its formal ly f r a t e r n a l party. the Nor thern I re land Labour Par ty . T h e lat ter body h a s only one M.P., Mr. Vivian Simpson, who turned up a t Mr. White law's Darlington con-ference, but it h a s recently acquired a full-time organiser also in the person of Mr. Erskine Holmes. I t is said tha t th i s has been made possible by m e a n s of a g ran t of £1,500 f rom the Rowntree Trust , to whose for tunes perhaps people ul t imately contr ibute whenever they buy chocolate! Mr. Wilson is said to be anxious fo r better relat ions between the S.D.L.P. and N.I.L.P.

R E P U B L I C A N S The Republicans, both Official

and Provisional, have considered contesting the local elections also. I t is possible t h a t they will do this in a few areas, but it is unlikely t h a t there will be any widespread a t t empt by e i ther Sinn Feins to test their popularity a t the polls, and in the local elections, when they come, the S.D.L.P. should undoubtedly do best on the non-unionist side.

The Provisional bombing cam-paign seems to be easing off. Some people ascribe th i s to shortage of garden fertiliser, which was widely used to make bombs over the summer-time. On the other h a n d the bombings were becoming ever more politically counter-productive for the Provisionals amongst t he Catholic population. The Falls Road is now a shambles, with half

of lis illllt' shop 1 '.lied (iowll t h r o u g h bombing and n o u n - . One of t h e ironic side d i n s of the bombing campaign seen, :<> be that weal thy property spccui..: Irish and foreign, are buy inn tip -nes 111 the cent ra l areas of Belfast ai roek-bol tom prices 111 the expectat ion 01 mak ing a packet when i they hope ' the troubles will have blown over in a few years' time

T h e Provisionals instead are moving over to killing Bri t ish soldiers with highly accura te marks-m a n s h i p from snipers. Three 01 four a week have been killed in this way for the past months , which m u s t tell on the morale of tlis soldiers and makes them very jumpy. This kind of activity presumably be kept up indefinitely and there seems no reason -apar t f r o m the achievement of a sensible polit ical settlement—why the Pro-visionals should not keep at it. If they stop the bombings and the shoot ing they Hive no effective polit ical presence and could hardly br ing one into existence overnight, except perhaps in the Bogside and one or two estates in Belfast . If t h e Provisionals call a hal t , the S.D.L.P. comes even m o i ^ T o " fore as the political yelce of the minor i ty . The Provisionals can h a r d l y welcome this f rom their point of view unless the S.D.L.P speaks with a markedly Republican voice.

C I V I L R I G H T S T h e Civil Rights Association

bravely continues its work on civil r igh t s in near impossible conditions. I t t a k e s up legal cases, engages on relief work and has developed a wide network of Press and political con tac t s abroad to which it sends ma te r i a l on the Nor the rn si tuation. T h e mass activity, embracing every section of minority opinion, which followed internment last year, has petered out, though the rent and ra tes strike cont inues on many minor i ty housing estates. T h e Cathol ic middle classes, however, look to the S.D.L.P. r a the r t h a n the C.R.A. for a lead and only close liaison between the C.R.A. and S.D.L.P. has a prospect of res tor ing the heady unity of t he post- intern-ment period. The weekly C.R.A. bulletin, "Civil Rights ," preaches continually the message of unity a round the basic civil r igh t s de-m a n d s and its sale of 5.000 copies— which is a miracle considering the difficulties of production and distri-bution—testifies t ha t there a re still many people to whom tha t message makes sense.

It is a brave beacon a.s a worried North faces the winter and waits for t he next scene in its drama to unfold.

WEAR AN ANTI-INTERNMENT BADGE Tlired hand <>) Gaelic Ulster surrounded by Die harhed wire

0/ English imperialism

i i i

RED, BLACK on W H I T E Singles - lOp each

p lus 2£p p o s t a g e

I N TENS - 9p each plus p o s t a g e

I N H U N D R E D S - 7p each plus p o s t a g e

Please send cash with order.

Order from IRISH DEMOCRAT, 283 Grays Inn Road, London, W.C.I

P l e a s e send me . .. A n t i - I n t e r n m e n t Radges

I e n c l o s e ( S e e a b o v e for r a t e s )

N a m e

Add i ess

C U T o u r AND USE T H I S COUPON

6 T H E I R I S H D E M O C R A T November 1972

1 K V N H N O X U N

THE CROPPY BOY ^•>001) men ..ml true! in this house who dwell, ^ To a stranK'.-f iiuiichal I pray you tell,

Is the priest at home? Or may he be seen? I would speak a word with Father Green. The priest's at home. boy. and may be seen; Tis easy speaking with Fa ther Green;. But you must wait till I go and see if the holy lather alone may be."

The youth lias entered an empty hall What a lonely sound has his light foot-fall! And the gloomy chamber 's chili and bare, With a vested priest in a lonely chair. The youth has knelt to tell his sins, "Nomine Dei," the youth begins At "Mea culpa," he beats his breast, And in broken murmurs he speaks the rest.

"At the siege of Ross did my fa ther fall, And at Gorey my loving brothers al l ; I alone am left of my name and race, I will go to Wexford and take their place, "I cursed three times since last Easter day— At Mass-time once I went to play; I passed the churchyard one day in has te A^d forgot to pray for my mother's rest.

"I bear no hate against living thing, But I love my country above my King, Now, Fa ther ! bless me and let me go, To die, if God has ordained it so." The priest said naught, but a rustling noise Made the youth look up in wild surprise: The robes were off, and in scarlet there Sat a Yeoman captain with fiery glare.

With fiery glare and with fury hoarse, Instead of a blessing, he breathed a curse:— " 'Twas a good thought, boy, to come here and shrive, For one short hour is your time to live." "Upon yon river three tenders float, The priest's in one if he isn't shot— We hold this house for our lord and King, And, amen, say I, may alt traitors swing!

At Geneva Barracks that young man died, And at Passage they have his body laid, Good people, who live in peace and joy, Breathe a prayer, shed a tear for the Croppy Boy.

TREAT MY DAUGHTER KINDLY ONCE there was a farmer , a good old soul was he,

I used to work upon his f a rm down in the country, He had one only daughter and her I chanced to win, And when I asked him for her hand these words he did begin:

CHORUS: Oh treat my daughter kindly and shade her from all harm, Before I die I'll will to you my little house and fa rm, My horse, my dog, my cow, my bonny sheep and barn And all the little chickens in the garden.

Oh, I loved this pretty girl and she loved me just the same, And when my daily work was done, with her I would remain, To watch her milk her father 's cow, and shade her f rom all harm, And many's the glass of milk I had before I left the fa rm.

Now tha t we arc married and settled down for life I o f ten think of her old man and of his good advice To treat his daughter kindly and shade her from all harm, And now I am the owner of that little house and farm.

THE FREEDOM WALK /••OLD and dark the morning just before the sun, ^ A new day is breaking, our struggle has begun; The people are together, we shall be free, In this land, our homeland, our own democracy.

Chorus: Come all you lads and lasses, rally to our cause, And sock the abolition of those old-fashioned laws, Let us open every eye, let the people see, What this land, our homeland, means to you and me.

On the road together, march hand in hand, Ring the bell ol justice over all the land. All the world is waiting, watching you and me, In this land, our homeland, our own democracy.

How far must we travel before our journey's done? How long must we struggle before the fight is won? May we live in peace again, may we live to see This land ol ours, our homeland, a true democracy.

Edited by Patrick Bond

Nora Bheag A NORA bheag. ca, raibh tu

reir?" 'Se duir mo mhamai liomsa;

t gcul a'ti ag tobar an uisce Foghlaim coisceim damhsa ."

Curta: Gus ioma Nora, Nora, Nora, 'Gus iomba s tu mo ghra geal, "Gus iomba Nora is tu mo stoirin, Ta mise dunta i ngra leat.

B'aite le Nora pis agits ponair ' B'aite le Nora brandy,

B> a i te le Nora pratai rosta, Is d'iosfadh Nora an t-im leo.

Da mbiodh agam ciste, nil ach tuistiun,

Chuirfinn ort guna a l a inn ; frhearfainn fuisci. tae agus brioscai,

s bheinn ag gabhail cheoil go la leat.

""S a Nora bheag ca raibh tu ' reir?" •Bhj me 'gcul a' ghar ra i . "

"Ce bhi agat fein ans in?" An piobaire beag 's a mhalai ."

THE MOUNTAINS OF POMEROY

T H E morn was breaking bright and fair

The lark sang in the sky, When the maid she bound her

golden hair Wi th a blithe glance in her

eye, For who, beyond the gay green

wood Was awaiting her wi th joy ?

©h, was but her gallant Renar-dine

O n the mountains of Pomeroy. C H O R U S :

An- outlawed man in a land for-lorn

He scorned to turn and fly But kept the cause of freedom

safe Up on the mountain high.

"Dear love," she said, " I 'm sore afraid

For the foeman's force and you!

They've tracked you in the low-land plain

And ail the valley through. M y kinsmen • f rown when you

are named, Your life they would destroy ;

"Beware,' they say, 'of Renar-dine

On the mountains of Pome-roy'.

"Fear not, fear not, sweetheart," he cried,

"Fear not the foe for me ! Ho chain shall fal l , whate'er

betide O n the arm which w i l l be

f ree! Oh leave your cruel kin and

come, When the lark is in the sky,

And it's with my gun I'll guard you,

On the mountains of Pome-roy."

The morn has come, she up and fled

From her cruel kin and home ; Arid bright the wood, and rosy

red, And the tumbling torrent's

foam. But the mist came down, and

the tempest roared And did all around destroy;

And a pale drowned bride met Renardine

On the mountains of Pomeroy GEORGE S I G E R S O N .

IR ISH SONG BOOKS Available from "Irish

I ' mortal," Book hop. 2M Grays Inn Road, London, W.C.I.

Open on Saturday, midday • " 3 p.m., and Wednesday. 6 p.m. to H p.m. Full list on request.

THE BOYS OF THE OLD BRIGADE " Q H , father, why are you so sad

On this fine Easter morn, When Irishmen are proud and glad Of the land where they were born "Oh, son, I see a memory's view Of a far distant day When being just a boy like you I joined the I.R.A."

C H O R U S :

Where are the lads who stood w i t h mi When history was made, Oh, Gra Macree, I long to see The Boys of the Old Brigade.

"From hill and glen the call to arms Was heard by one and all, And from the glen came brave young- m w To answer Ireland's call. 'Twas long ago we faced the foe, The Old Brigade and me, And by my side they fought and died That Ireland might be free."

"And now, my boy, I've told you why On Easter morn I sigh, For I recall my country's thrall From dark old days gone by. I think of men who fought in glen Wi th rifles and grenade, May heaven keep the men who sleep From the ranks of the Old Brigade."

THE OULD LAMMAS FAIR A T the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle long ago,

I met a little colleen, who set my heart aglow ; She was smiling at her daddy buying lambs f rom Paddy Roe, At the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle 0 ! I saw her home that night when the moon was s-Mmng bright, From the Ould Lammas Fair at Ballycastle 0 !

C H O R U S : At the Ould Lammas Fair, boys, were you ewer there, Were you ever at the fair in Ballycastle € ? Did you treat your Mary Ann to dulse and yet Dow man, At the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle 0 !

In Flanders fields, afar while resting from the war , tye (frank Bon-Sante to the Flemish lassies O ! But the scene that haunts my memory is kissing Miary Ann, Her pouting lips all sticky from eating yellow man. As we crossed the silver Morgey, and strolled acrets the strand, From the Ouid Lammas Fair at Ballycastle O !

There's a neat little cabin on the slope of ould Knockload, It's lit by love and sunshine where the heather honey's made, By the bees ever humming, and our childer's Joyous oall, Resounds across the valley when the shadows fai l , I take my fiddle, and my Mary smiling there Brings back a happy memory of the Ould Lammas Fair.

THE SPINNING WHEEL L 4 E L L 0 W the moonlight to shine is begintnmg.

Close by the window young Eileen is spinning, Bent o'er the fire her blind grandmother sitting, Is crooning and moaning, and drowsily kni t t ing .

Chorus: Merrily, cheerily, noiselessly whirring, Swings the wheel, spins the wheel, while the foct 's s t i rr ing; Sprightly, and brightly and airily ringing, Thrills the sweet voice of the young maiden Einfrtn?.

Eileen, a chara. I hear someone tapping," 'Tis the ivy, dear mother, against the glass flapping." Eily, I surely hear somebody sighing.'

'"Tis the sound, mother dear, of the autumn M>nii< Hying."

There's a form at the casement the form of her true levc And he whispers with face bent: "I 'm waiting for you, love. Get up on the stool, through the lattice step lightly, Wc II rove in the grove while tha moon's shining birightly.

Lazily, easily, swings now the wheel round, Slowly and lowly is heard now the reel's sound; Noiseless and light to the lattice above her The maid steps then leaps to the arms of her le ver.

Slower and slower and slower the wheel swings; Lower and lower—and lower the reel r ings; Ere the reel and the wheel stop their ringing and moving. Through the grove the young lovers by moonltgM are roving.

November 1 3 7 2

Indifferent entertainment

: here .Arc V • -. Wk/v Con • • .Movement i

\ j AY BE the re .«• ' ' even if B r : . . . .lined to have ; > iiiuisami of the tu .

Si ill. there's Faulk:-, .-oldiers who destr-v •.heir prisoners, a t i i :n .Terence O'Neill i Whiteluw with h n )•-. red Heath, t he • Minister since H . t r j l j ". •nemies like the-;-need of evil m e n

New Ireland most praise-

hey are com-

The leaders of Movement have worthy intent ion: tmtted to t h e creat ion of a new nation, someth ing "hat has never »een done since Ad-am begat his ,-ons. They propose :o do it by methods t ha t a iv turn-political and non-sectarian, even chough they recognise t h a t I re land 5 problems are precisely political and. sectarian.

First they will persuade Westmin-ster to amend t h e 1920 act. Those of u.- who pin our hop?- on a Bill of Rights will w a t c h closely their non-political technique i t th is first hurdle. Next they will have a 32-rounty state and a six county one, both supervised- by some such agency as the U . ^ f Over-riding the governments of t h e T O states will be a council set up by our benefi-cient mother E n g l a n i

After a lapse of abou> 15 years an unspecified a lchemy will have neutralised the rancour* generated by British rule and the people, normal at last, will be amicably planning to take their New Ireland into the British Commonweal th .

I admire men and women with a millennial perspective, and I wish the movement well But batt les have to be fought with weapons and rrom prepared positions. This pamphlet never ment ions imperial-ism. When the N I M is told of it :he shock could be fatal .

EMER OOHERTY.

Exciting theatre

"The Ballygombeen Bequest", by John Arden and Margar-etta D'Arcy (Bush Theatre, Shepherd's Bu.ih).

I HAD never before seen a House Full notice outride a pub. It

applied only to the fheat re in the upsta i rs room, but for tunately the management were -ust able to squeeze us in, otherwise I would tiave missed one oi the most excit-ing theatrical evening- I have had tor years.

Billed as an An^.o-Insh melo-drama , the play has . theme which connects the th rea tened eviction of d Connemara family from their cot tage by an Engl ish owner with the army's reign of terror in the six counties. If the t h e m e is up-to-thc-minu te topical, the d ramaturgy is a t r iumphal exploitation o[ the con-temporary scene. Doggerel, parody, dancing, patriotic songs and the ora tory of the demo help to carry the action at a fu r iou- pace, though i lie burden of "character-act ing is borne, and with di-Tinction, by Valerie Lillie as Mrs O'Lear.v, by Stephen Rea as he r husband, and then her son, and by Gavin Rich-ards as Hagan and also Narrator .

The re was a zest and an abandon about the whole affair that could possibly be described as Elizabethan. It is a play with an obvious political commitment, Its particular objective being to explore and expose the ramifications of corruption and its necessary corollary of violence.

The authors are as serious as Ibsen or Shaw. The cast of Theatre 7:84 plays it with sincerity, giv-ing due value to its many bitter ironies. The company are taking the play round the provinces thla autumn. No flppwtunlty should be missed to ae» tfcU brilliant, superbly acted, historically £tf«nlflcant drama.

8.T.

WHO FEARS TO SPEAK len\ by

I rrhw.il

. > evil men, F • uikner has '".led over it l o n g Kesh. himself, and

ie genitals of loderates like

wily Willie U.D.A., and

- ipine Prime Wilson. With

a .and has no

P! il -~j<)n, edit'' Aor,h Rea ti i 70p]

-- beity", by Tho-f.-n::am (Panther,

Best of lone,' Proinsias Mac "d Liam O'

Merrier Press. Cork,

J ^ O T H -.ho-:- )X);... are about the same period, the story of the

United Irishmen and the "Irish Rebellion o: -r.e a t tempt to break once and Ireland's connec-tion with EngL.nd in 1798. Depend-ing on which book you read you end up wi th either the view tha t the Ir ish people were evil, ignorant rebels who did not know a good thing, English imperialism, when they had it, or that the Irish people had stood on their feet and at-tempted 10 rid themselves of domi-n a n t England

"The Year o: Liberty" is claimed by the author to have been writ ten f rom the point of view of being " fa i r" to the United Irishmen's cause. The book has obviously in-volved much industry in collecting countless facts and sources but alas there has been no real a t tempt at an overall interpretation of what the au thor call? a "revolt".

This work is meant for English consumption and in addition it pan-ders to a low taste in reading by having numerous countdowns of whippings, hangings, pitch cappings and o ther events. The end result is only the same old myths churned out, my ths which have been thrown into the historic wane-paper bin.

The idea is con-tantly given tha t the s t ruggle wa- a Popish rebellion. Even the wind that blew apart the fleet f rom France is alleged to have been a "Protestant wind". But, as Madden pointed out one and a half centuries ago. ". . . the movement was pre-eminently a Protestant one.'

There is -ome subtle "mickey-taking" out oi the United Irish-men's Army and the Irish people

by playing on the tar, ' ii.e leaders did not apparently have real idea how to organise communi-cation-. tactics, or military tegy. Two major points oi mtt-i-pretation are therefore convenientlv avoided. They are that the "revoh was goaded on by the government as they knew full well one wa-connng, and tha t there was a move-ment, or social force, of the people who knew tha t the time had come to end English rule.

Another impression is given, par-ticularly a t the start of the book, that nearly every other important cadre of the United I r ishmen was a spy for the Government. In reali ty these "spies" were Irish t ra i tor -who come f rom the monied and pro-pertied classes anyway. They sold out their own country for a pit-tance and in the end were, as hap-pens to trai tors, treated with con-tempt by both sides.

It. is a fact well known to s tudent -of that period tha t the "revolt" in Ireland did not coincide with the help t h a t eventually came f rom France, th is much needed assist-ance which was being a r ranged by Tone, required a great deal of persuasion and organisation in a France which had just gone through a revolution which gave hope to many people, especially ordinary working people.

At this t ime England was at log-gerheads with France for several reasons which included the com-bating of revolutionary ideas. Ire-land had the opportunity to win assistance f rom France to beat the i r common enemy, England. All this is missed or remains completely obscure in Pakenham's work.

As an Engl ishman I needed "The Best of Tone" as an antidote to Pakenham's work and find out what the Irish really thought at th is time, what were the real objects of t he United I r ishmen, and how did they go about leading and organising the

i!-•!'• peoplr. ! :..• jOO.C it<>\ •! Tone's .-lion in.- ;i.ml hi- Prot«' t:mt birth to an enlorced emigration o the U.S.A. where he sought help

and support lor Ireland. ;<> his work in France where he ro-i- to the rank of Adjutant-General in the French A: my.

There, in France, he was able to obtain military assistance to "break the connection with England " which the Irish obviously could not do alone against superior well-equipped English or "loyalist" force-.

The first a t t empt at landing this force in Ireland in 1797 was aborted. The second a t tempt came a f te r the rebellion had died down and was not landed in the best place to re-energise the Ir ish people. At the end of the struggle tha t ensued, where this fr iendly force was de-feated, Tone was captured. He was then illegally tried and then it is alleged he a t tempted to commit suicide. My own contention is tha t his suicide was, and still is, purely wishful th inking on the par t of those who contest Tone's philosophy and patriotism. They hope tha t in propagating the suicide of Tone they obliterate his ideas.

This volume has come at an op-portune time to combat the latest anti-Tone, anti-Irish, pro-Common Market brigade when Ireland will not only be dominated by England but bjr the supra-nat ional monopo-lies controlling the Common Market as well. Currently there is a drive to discredit the works of Tone on other Irish patr iots to dissipate any feelings of nat ional aspirations for independence.

A great deal of the best Irish political thinking has been based on Tone's writings and philosophy which is now readily available in this collection which will make a useful weapon in the current battle over which direction Ireland must follow.

J O H N B O Y D

SYNGE CENTENARY UTOPIA "Sunshine and the Moon's Delight", edited by S. B. Bushrui (Colin

Smythe and the American University of Beirut, £4.75).

J . M. S Y N G E S excellence as an original creative writer does

not rest solely on the inimitable quality of the dialogue in his six plays. Yea ts and Lady Gregory, O'Casey, M. J. Molloy, Behan, Beckett a n d others in the long list of great Ir ish playwrights between Farquhar and Friel have put fine speeches on the lips of their charac-ters. I t l ias even been argued tha t the natural is t ic language in O'Casey early play- is more drama-tic t h a n Synge Western dialect, priest, a n d t ramp.

undifferentiated spoken alike by

With Synge the choice of language was secondary to hi- purpose of de-vising a n artistic form which would realise a n d preserve modes of life peculiar to Irish country people at the tu rn of the century. His con-cern was with the whole of t ha t life, physical, emotional and spiritual.

Through it hLs vision enabled him to project t ru ths that hold good for human life universally, unrestricted by time or place Maurya 's resigna-tion in "Riders to the Sea" when the last of her sons ha s been drowned expresses the awe with which men and women have always regarded t h e sea

The power of imagination over crippling reality is demonstrated by Christy Mahon 's victory over his fears, a victory which transforms him from a cringing braggart Into a defiant rebel. Nora's departure with the tramp at the end of "The Shadow of the Glen" shows instinct asserting itself against the Intoler-able restraints of civilisation.

Early In life Synge became aware that the fears, aspirations, memo-ries and dim longings of the people

he knew best, peasants and t inkers, could most suitably be expressed in the imaginative, rhythmical speech which had been fashioned historic-ally to meet precisely such demands. The vocabulary, syntax, idioms and tonalities of t ha t speech had al-ready been adapted to literary use by Lady Gregory, but Synge's con-trol over them had been acquired through daily converse in Wicklow, the Aran Is lands and West Kerry, and s t rengthened by his knowledge of Irish.

This marr iage of real, total ex-perience with beautiful language l-the theme of most oi the 25 essay-brought together in this volume to commemorate the centenary of the playwright's birth. Five of the plays have been t rans la ted into Arabic in the past decade and performed in Lebanon, Egypt and Syria.

Ghassan Maleh writes of the dif-ficulties arising f rom Synge's use of dialect, compounded by the dis-crepancies between the tongues spoken in the various Arab coun-tries and the wri t ten Arabic of the translations. He believes neverthe-less tha t Arab interest in Synge's work will increase because Ireland's dilemma vis-a-vis imperialism re-sembles tha t of the Arab countries.

A Japanese scholar acknowledge* Synge as the most powerful single influence on modern Japanese drama. Other articles deal with his impact on French and German dramatists.

Each of the plays has its essay, while others discuss general themes such as the chain of Influence link-ing Synge with Ben Jonson in his-tory and J. B. Keane in the pre-sent: there is also critical appraisal of his unequal poetry and of the miscellaneous prose now assembled

in the Oxford collected works. T h e book includes a copious bibliography and a glossary for non-Irish stu-dents—the only ones, according to the late Alan Price in his otherwise admirable contribution, capable of appreciating an Irish Protes tant writer.

This judgment by an Engl ishman is fa r from being the only question-able one in a generally first-rate book, but it is the most staggering, considering tha t since 1971 hardly a single competent scholar or critic in Ireland has failed to express himself in print or on the air in praise of Synge's genius.

CI ARAN DESMOND,

BUTCHERS IN DERRY

"linlchrt'. Dozen", hv TIlornt-K ' i r , . ' / / « (Dolmen. 10p).

( jN > i ' " ' i i i . radio programme newspaper editor and soui?

dons wei': discussing modern dis-respect for the law. One lady * professor in Belfast, quoted f rom the Widgcr.y Report to the ef fec t ha t tile tiring by the paratrooper.* in D e n y on J a n u a r y 30tli las' "bordered on the reckless," and. went on to say t h a t the Govern-m e n t s P ' lu .a i to discipline thes? over-enthusiastic killers must con-ir ibute to a contempt for the law.

To which another part icipant , wh» had hi ther to been whinnying nasally about his concern for British public virtue, riposted tha t people wh» "take part, in a m a d riot" mustn't) expect soldiers to be careful of their-lives.

On the personal level one merely despises the man who can make such a .statement while performing in the paid role of someone who is solicitous about the quality of life But there is more t h a n persona; hypocrisy here. I t is a remarkable example of the unt i r ing subliminal p ropaganda about Nor thern I re land tha t is woven into news bulletins, editorials and religious talks, of t h e ins inuat ion of u n t r u t h into all sorts of purportedly uncontroversial com-ment .

The intent ol all this is quit? plain, to implant the idea t ha t Br i ta in is not responsible for t h j consequences of her vicious system in Nor thern Ireland. The politicians incanta t ion, Ulster is British, has never precluded the contradictory p ropaganda tha t Ulster 's problems are Ir ish problems.

Thomas Kinsella's angry poem, hands the problems back to Britain, saying in effect: You have killed 13 una rmed people—a later death has added a fu r the r notch to the para-troopers' tally—as proof t h a t you are masters in the six counties. Wha t are you going to do now?

Of the quality of the poetry it may be said t h a t language and imagery are appropriate to the cold fury evoked by the memory oi Bloody Sunday and of the insulting Widgery Tribunal. The futility of propaganda once the lines of struggle arc defined is stressed—

Does it need recourse to law To tell ton thousand what they

saw?-And the hopelessness of Britain's

case -You came, you saw, you conquered

. . . Sb. You gorged and it was time to-

go. Good riddance. We'd forget —

released But for the rubbish of your feast. The s lop. ;md scraps t ha t fell to

ear th And sprang io a rms in dragon

birth. C.D.

Hare you read

WOLFE TONE AND THE IRISH NATION

by

C. DESMOND GREAVES ?

The l i fe of W o l f e Tone, f o u n d e r of I r i s h R e p u b l i c a n i s m

and the s t o r y of h i s s t r u g g l e to U N I T E I r i sh p e o p l e ,

i r respective o f r e l i g i o n .

15p post free, or 12£p by calling at I R I S H D E M O C R A T BOOK S E R V I C E

283 Qrayt Inn Ro«d, London, W.G.1

T H E I R I S H D E M O C R A T November 1972

New group formed in Dublin

LABOUR CONFERENCE DEBATES IRELAND

| ' i !! . V ! ;nli;c I Sua : < ma • :ia-ill-. tormed a a Nin1,- or 10

11:i• Common M a r k n SI i«i\ Group u inch played Mich an acl ive pari <i:i! i:i•: the recent F.K C rehTcndum. I lie members of I lie ( i roup in tend to eonunuc producing material on the impact of the E E C on Ireland., and al>o to widen the -cope ol their re-searches to include other ma t t e r s of II .tioiial concern, particularly the North of Ireland problem, and the new title lias been chosen to reflect i he.-e wider terms of reference.

Mr. Michael O Loingsigh is con-venor of the study group.

T h e statement on the Nor thern cri.-is has been draf ted by the Study Group as an initial contr ibu-tion to debate on the eve of the Whitelaw conference and because it believes that the classic aspirat ions of the Irish people to national uni ty and independence should be re-s ta ted in such a way as to foster r a t h e r than hinder unity of thought a n d action among Irish people.

T h e Study Group believes that the principles outlined in the state-ment . and in part icular its empha-sis on Britain's prime responsibility for a democratic outcome of the Northern cri is. constitute ground on which a wide cross-section of Ir ish public opinion can agree. T h e endorsement of the s ta tement by DVT 2« prominent l i fures in Irish public life is evidence of this. Even \vider endorsement is expected in due course.

"We. the undersigned, while not necoss'.u'ilv endorsing every detail of tl. statement, d raf ted by the Nciti'.'.a: Study Group, subscribe in our ; -.'i . "i.al capacities to the basic print ip'cs which it sets fo r th and pa i: • • n.a rlv welcome its emphas is on he prune rt sponsibility ol Bri t ish Government policy for the present unhappy si tuation in the Northern p..i". of our country. We believe that the Bii t ish Govern-men t must adopt the measures out-lined in the s ta tement it a way is to bi found towards stable peace in the North and the obtaining by the Irish people of their legi t imate democratic right to unity a n d in-dependence. '

Kevin Boland. .John P. Carroll , Maire Comerford, Paddy Devlin, M P . H. F. Gogan, T D . F r a n k Gogarty. Capt. J ames Kelly, Sena tor F i n t a n Kennedy, Paddy Kennedy, M P . , .inn Killean, Mat t Larkin, Eddie MeAteer. Stephen McGonagle. F r ank McMantis, MP. , Mat t Merri-gan. Michael Mullen, Maolsheaeh-lamn O Caollai. Peadar ODonne l l , Dr. .John O'Donovan. T. I ) , Pad ra ig O Fainin, Paddy O'Hanlon, M P., J a m e s O'Keelfe, Aodogan O'Rahil ly. David I ornley. T.D.. Sean Treacy. T D.

A special occasion

THIS issue of the Irish Demo-crat" is edited by Sean Red-

mond. The Editor, Desmond Greaves, is on holiday.

The "Democrat" shortly cele-bra tes a special occasion. It has been in existence for over 30 years, but January 1973 marks the 25th year of continuous editorship by Desmond Greaves. It has not missed a single issue in this time. Surely a unique achievement for a paper of its kind.

By way ol celebrating, a dinner pa r ty is being organised in London. T h e tentative date is J a n u a r y 23rd. Fur the r details can be obtained f rom the "Domocrat" offioe, 283 Grays Inn Roafl, London, W.C.I.

Printed by Ripley Printers Ltd., (T.U.), Not t ingham Road, Ripley, Derbyshire, and published by Connolly Publications Ltd., at 283 Grays Inn Rd , London, W.C.I.

HAM MELLOWS

PEADAR O'DONNELL FOR LONDON MEETING THE veteran Republican, Peadar O'Donnell, will be the main speaker

at a Liam Mellows Commemoration meeting in London, on Sunday, December 10th.

December 8th marks the 50th anniversary of t he shooting of Liam Mellows and three companions dur ing the civil war in Ireland. Mellows is considered by historians to be foremost amongst those who followed Connolly in unders tanding the class n a t u r e of the anti-imperialist struggle in Ireland.

The meet ing will be held at 3 p.m. at Unity House, Euston Road, N.W.1. This is the headquarters of t he Railwaymen's Union.

Peadar O'Donnell knew Mellows well. He was with him in the Four Courts garr ison, one of the most d ramat ic episodes of the civil war. A Donegalman, Mr. O'Donnell has been particularly associated with the s/ruggle of the small farmers. He is t he author of many well-known books.

Also on the pla t form will be Desmond Greaves, who published last year the first lull-length biography of Mellows, Liam Mellows and the Irish Revolution."

Unity House is almost lacing Euston Square Sta t ion. It is also near Euston and Warren Street Station. Buses 14, 18, 30 and 73 pass the door.

DAYLIGHT ROBBERY I T is dayl ight robbery, said the ' Irish Democrat ' ' reader m the

Holloway Road. a.s he handed over his seven pence. Despite his com-ment. . he did not want to miss the paper. T h e n there was the man m laverpool who asked for a receipt.

We know tha t the "Democrat" cost.-, more than other papers. But it is not, like other papers. It is a political paper with a definite point of view. If does not search for circulation boosting gimmicks. "The Sun'' cap tu red a million and a half readers f rom the "Mirror" by pre-senting the girls adorning its pages one s tage fu r the r undressed t h a n its rival. Yet recently it promised to support the campaign against pornography!

The "Democra t" represents t rue free Press ." It, has no advertisers

to keep it going. Without advertise-ments most daily papers would cost three t imes as much. In return they dare not offend the advertisers. Thus editorial policy is decided by slick advert ising agencies and high-pressure public relations men. We spurn them. You, the readers, are our only consideration.

With your help the "Democrat"

has continued to exist. With your help it can expand. In addition to buying your copy regularly, please purchase an ex t ra one or two for a friend or workmate . And. of course, we need your financial support .

Look at it this way. You prob-ably bought a paper this morning. What did it say about Ireland? Did it expose the role of the British Army? Did it speak up for the lads on the job? It gave you more "news" than tiic "Democrat," but tha t is not our job. We exist to pr in t the t ru th behind the news. With your help we can do it more effectively m the future.

M E E T I N G in ILFORD

"The present stage in the struggle for freedom in

Northern Ireland." , S p e a k e r : S E A N R E D M O N D

(Vice-President, Connolly Assn.) M O N D A Y , NOV. 20th

at 8 p.m. I L F O R D CO-OP H A L L ,

l l ford Lane.

IRELAND provided one of the ma in debates a t the Labour

Par ty Conference held last month in Blackpool. However, the Party leaders managed to steer the con-ference away f rom any definite commi tment to a united Ireland.

Delegates were as tonished to find t h a t no resolution on Ireland ap-peared on the agenda, and conse-quently, an emergency resolution was tabled by the delegate f rom Southend-on-Sea const i tuency party, Anna Broad. When it came to a vote, th is resolution was remitted to t h e National Executive, on their advice, and instead an Executive S t a t e m e n t was adopted.

T h e emergency resolut ion deplored the continued fa i lure of the Gov-e r n m e n t to publish its proposals, which was contr ibut ing to the in-stabil i ty of the area. I t called on the Labour Executive to publish a Labour programme for I re land, which would include the ending of i n t e rnmen t , the e n a c t m e n t a t West-m i n s t e r of a Nor thern I r e l and Bill of Rights , the b a n n i n g of the Unionis t gun clubs and a declara-tion of support in principle for a uni ted Ireland.

I t was this la t ter demand t h a t Messrs. Wilson & Co found part icu-larly h a r d to swallow. I t was op-posed by, among others , Shirley Will iams, Merlyn Rees and S tan Grrne. The basis of the i r opposition was t ha t the resolution made no men t ion of consent. Shirley Wil-l iams believed "that, eventually a un i t ed Ireland L the best f rame-work lor the future. ' ' Bu t any sug-gest ion that a Labour Government would force the Unionists into union with the South would be dis-as t rous .

This , of course, was to completely miss the point. The resolution did not propose that anyone was to be coerced. A backward glance by Lab-our a t the fact t h a t in 1920 the ma jo r i ty of the h a h people were coerced into a par t i t ion set-uu might not be amiss. The Bri t ish Labour P a r t y opposed this a t the time. However, the major i ty of the Ir ish people are now prepared to work to seek the maximum agreement all round . But the resolution at Black-pool called on Bri t ish Labour to m a k e up its mind where it s tands on principle.

Does it favour a uni ted Ireland or no t? Once that is decided the ques-tion of consent tor otherwise) can t h e n be debated. One wonders if Messrs. Rees and Orme would deny

the right of the Ann lean people to pull out of Vietnam even if the Government in Saigon wi-hcd other-wise? Of course not.

Sooner or later Labour must de-cide what is t he best Irish policy lor the Bri t ish people and then make their approach to the Ir ish. We believe such a policy to be Ir ish unity.

In opposition to the emergency resolution f rom Southend, the Party Nat ional Executive brought forth its own s ta tement . Th is was approved by the conference. I t de-plored t h e Government ' s lack of initiative a n d demanded an urgent fresh initiative. I t declared t h a t the Special Powers Acts mus t end SO tha t i n t e r n m e n t could end. I t also stated t h a t there should be further all-party talks, which would lead to talks wi th Dublin, which should con-sider the 15-point p rogramme put forward by Harold Wilson last Nov-ember.

The s t a t emen t certainly represents a step forward . During the confer-ence Merlyn Rees also s ta ted t h a t the introduct ion of a Bill of Rights was a m a t t e r ol urgency. Regard-ing in te rnment , can one now expect tha t when Par l iament re tu rns the Labour front, bench will table a motion demanding its end? Labour 's position on t h e Special Powers Act remains somewhat ambiguous. There has been ta lk of replacing ,t. By what? Different forms of repressive legislation? Th i s point needs to be cleared up for thwi th .

Talks involving Dublin would be welcome. Bu t the Irish answer to the Wilson 15-poinl, p rogramme mus t be—thanks for no th ing! This pro-posed a commission to consider draf t ing a const i tu t ion for one Ire-land, which would come into effect 15 years a f t e r the commission re-ported, wi th t h e Unionists still to have a vote. Th is p rogramme was as nice a piece of fence-sit t ing a> Har-old Wilson ever indulged in, and he has medals for it.

Labour a t Blackpool on Ireland were muddled and inconclusive. But there was a great deal of sympathy tor Ireland and the desire of the Irish people to be free to run their country. The position taken repre-sented an advance on last year, and the conference was in sharp con-trast to the Tory one tha t followed. The tide within the Labour Par ty and Labour Movement as a whole is flowing our way. It is obvious t h a t if the effort is made in the coming year Labour can be won to a new socialist policy on Ireland.

ACTION BY BELFAST TRADE UNIONISTS

4 T a recent meet ing of the Bel-- ' fas t Trades Council, the follow-ing s ta tement was adopted:

T h e Belfast and District Trades Union Council, represent ing 70,000 workers in Belfast, in an a t t empt to br ing about the c e ^ a t i o n of hostili-ties and the resulting violence, is to ask the Northern Committee of the I r i sh Congress of Trade Unions and the Churches ' Industr ia l Council to join with them m appoint ing a deputa t ion to meet Mr. William Whitelaw, Secretary of S ta te for Nor the rn Ireland.

If peace is to prevail, the Coun-cil recognises that an approach above all political part ies is neces-sary to give the ordinary people leadership.

T h e current campaign of violence, int imidation, torture, brutalities, assassinations, and the dangers which stalk our streets has resulted in bringing ever increasing hardship and suffering to the working class. I t h a s disrupted the normal activi-ties of the trade union and labour movement ; it places obstacles in the way of members of the community ge t t ing together to discuss what needs to be done in the best Inter-ests of all. The social, family and cul tura l life of (lie community has

been shat tered because of the ever present fear of violent death or in-jury.

In the n a m e of the working class people who form the major i ty of t he population of Belfast, the Trades Union Council demands an end to the bombing and murder campaign. The Council condemns all those whose policies and actions obstruct a just and democratic solution.

DO NOT LOSE YOUR VOICE

A T present a new electoral regis-* * ter is being compiled. Forms were distributed last month . How-ever, if you were missed out, it Is still not too late.

The prel iminary register will be on display f rom November 28th and can be seen at Council offices (town halls), some post offices and lib-raries.

Claims in respect of names not in-cluded can then be submitted but they must be received by December 12th. A form can be obtained f rom the local town hall.