e a s i e r n u m b e r C E N T R A L E D I T I O N

DISBAND THE SPECIALS' T H E Y K I L L E D

A R T H U R L E O N A R D

C P E E C H of the day at the " Ir ish D e m o c r a t " conference on the

health and social conditions of Ir ish immigrants was Eamonn Smul len ' s witty description of Northern Scot-land hydro-electric camp-site condi-tions, and " d i g s " in London. A stretch of 36 hours ' continuous work is quite common in Scottish sites, and men refer to it as a " g h o s t e r " — because that's what you look like afterwards.

Irish-born peop'.e living in London have three to four times as much tuberculosis as London-born peool?. said Dr. Mar-Donald, Scottish tuberculosis expert. This was a challenge to the Connolly Association and social service organisa-tions.

Most impor tan t decision of conference came from Mr. Lyons, who deputising for Mr. Logan on behalf of W:\st London Con-nolly Association proposed a " lodgers' charter ." This would bring " digs " effec-tively under the Rent Act by compelling landladies to state how much ol th.'ir bill was for the rent o! the room and how much lor food. It was necessary to lav clown certain minimum s tandards oi room, food and amenitv. and ll it was not possible to make adherence compul-

( C o n t i n u e d on Page Three)

CHARTIST TO BE COMMEMORATED

' P H E initiative of ths Not t ingham " B ranch of the Connolly Association is

restoring Interest In the great I r i sh chartist leader, Feargus O 'Connor, whose statue s tands in their Arboretum. He was Not t i ngham ' s first M.P.

Th i s year is the centenary of his doath, and Chr is Magu i re has proposed that the Connolly Associat ion and other working-class organ isat ions commemorate the occasion next August by laying a wreath. The No t t i ngham Trades Council, with whom Mr. Magu i r c raised the question, are now press ing that the statue should be cleaned and restored to a more prominent position in the city.

Sean MacDermott of K i l t i c l o g h e r , Co. L e i t r i m , o n e

of t h e immor ta l s e v e n w h o s i g n e d the p r o c l a m a t i o n .

(See P a g e F i v e ) .

BIRMINGHAM TRADES COUNCIL DISCUSSES PARTITION

Editor criticises Councillor's challenge I R I S H D E M O C R A T R E P O R T E R

NEVER saw a finer body of men in one room," commented Eamonn Lyons after attending the Birmingham Trades

Council meeting as a visitor when Desmond Greaves, Editor of the Irish Democrat, addressed the Council on the subject of the partition of Ireland.

. . . . . . . . . . time, and was imposed by trickery and Mr„ L yon s considered the level of ' , , T - J . ,, .

. . . . , „ maintained by force. I t has meant tha t debate well above that of the House I r e ] a n d h a d f o r m a , i n d c p e n d e n c e i n

of Commons, whose visitors ' gallery T w e n t y - S i x Counties, but the economic is no strange place to him. advantages of independence were denied

The " Irish Democrat " Editor's case was by the exclusion of the industrial a reas of that part i t ion was contrary to the wishes the North. To make things worse, part i-of both the Irish and British people at the tion had been cleverly followed up, and

the one hope of reunification of the

GENERAL ELECTION ASK THE CANDIDATE QUESTIONS

\ 1 T H I L E it looked as if Labour would be at s ixes and sevens over tho r ight

w i n g s efforts to expel Mr. Bevan, young Tories decided here was the chance to get rfd o? W in s ton Churchill.

The old guard of Toryism had wanted to say nothing and let the split In l abour ' s ranks grow wider The young pups did the Labour movement, a service by warn-ing it 111 time of where ffce' policy of heresy-limiting leads to

But whenever the election is, May, June or October the election fever is now on.

II i:, of the greatest interest to Irish people not only which government has p'lWT in Britain, but what policy tha t "ll-, •rnmrnl is elected on.

The prospective M.P. is even more cap-able of being responsive to public opinion than the clectc.1 one.

Therefore Irish men and women would do worse t h a n a t tend as many election meetings as they can and, while making their points in a calm and persuasive man-ner. leave candidates in no doubt about their views. Ask the candidate s t raight , will he demand the repeal of the Ireland Act. will he insist on the restoring of de mocracy m the Six Counties, will lie work for the end 'ng of partit ion.

The electors are entitled t,o know. Every work ing man, I r i sh or Br it ish,

will gain advantage f rom the return of a Labour Government; but it is of great im-portance that that Labour Government should be pledged to the most forward policy. A numbor of Labour spokesmen have suggested that present policy discus-sions may create a more favourable atmos-pHcre for a Governmant pledged against partition.

country, a united Labour Movement, had been bedevilled by a cunning follow-up of partit ion. The splitting of the Labour Movement was the worst consequence of parti t ion.

I R I S H D E L E G A T E S Many Irish delegates took par t in the

discussion, including the s talwart anti-part i t ionist Mr. Carleton.

" It was a pleasure to see delegates get-ting up and proudly declaring they were Irish,' commented Mr. Lyons.

The Editor criticised Birmingham Cor-poration policy in relation to immigrant workers, saying that in going to London and asking the Government would they pass laws to keep immigrants out of Eng-land, they were laying the basis for racial discrimination against those already here. He believed the correct thing to do was to secure a proper balance between in-dustry and houses If there were 50.000 jobs created, 50,000 workers would come and they would need houses just as much whatever place they came from.

Councillor Allen, Sparkhill, said he was opposed to partition but protested

(Continued on Page Two)

GHOSTS HAUNT CAMP SITES

KEEP UP PROTESTS! «

Connolly Assoc'n call for Unity C O far as is known no disciplinary measures ** have been carried out against the 'B' Specials who were responsible for the death of Arhtur Leonard.

Arthur Leonard was bringing a fr iend home f rom a dance, and gave two young girls a lift jus t before he saw a blockage in the main road. According to one of the girls, shots were fired as he turned into a side road; he brought his van to a stop, and shots continued. Later he was found dead over the steering wheel.

The "B" Specials claim he refused to stop—so they shot, instead of taking their car and pur-suing him. B U T — t h e y admit the van came to a standsti l l

steadily and in a normal manner. A N D — m e d i c a l evidence is that Leonard suffered

injuries which (1) blew away part of his brain; (2) injured the leg he would use to apply the

brake. So a juryman asked the key question: —

" T h e driver had a bullet in his brain! How could a van with such a driver stop in an ordinary w a y ? "

PECULIAR STATE jAWYER Curran demanded a verdict of -J murder. The Specials had deliberately ex-

ceeded their duty. Said the Coroner: " T h e law which Mr. Curran quoted applies only to Eng-land. The law in the Six Counties is in a pecu-liar s tate . . ." He then explained the provisions of the notorious Special Powers Act.

Within three days of the occurrence the Con-nolly Association had printed thousands of leaflets giving the essential facts, and protest meetings were held in London, Manchester, Bi rmingham and Nottingham.

Speakers demanded:— The responsible persons be put on trial. The " B " Specials should be disbanded. Pend ing their disbarvdment, no more patrols. The repeal of the Special Powers Act. The end ing of partition.

RESOLUTIONS Resolutions along these lines were passed in

Manchester, London, Nottingham and Birming-ham; at the Acton repair depot of the London Transport Authority a hundred and fifty workers signed a petition demanding the dis-bandmcnt of the "B" Specials and a thorough enquiry into the whole affair. A deputat ion of workers was elected to visit the House of Com-mons, led by Mr. Eamonn MacLoughlin, Gn Tuesday, March 29th, and make representat ions to friendly M P.s.

West Ealing No. 2 Branch of th? National Union of Ra i lwjymen passed a resolution of protest.

But the Brit ish Government is pretending the issue is an internal one for Northern Ire-land, in which they have no power to inter-vene. The Government of Ireland Act is specific tha t Westminster is the paramount authority.

The Northern Ireland Government not only should never have had any powers, but it is abusing them now it has got them. Bri ta in cannot escape responsibility.

Speaking a t the West London protest meeting held in Paddington and attended by a fa i r sprinkling of English people, Mr. Patr ick Clancy said: —

" The British workers will demand t h a t while the Westminster Government both asserts and main ta ins its paramountcy in Northern Ireland, civil liberties in the a reas should be no less favourable than they are in Britain".

—Cont inued on Page T w o

M I S S N A N C Y O ' G E O G H c G A N , who is engaged to be married to Mr . Jeremiah M u r p h y .

S t o rm of protest rises on a world-wide scale—but the S to rmont Government stonewalls all criticisms, dis-regards all representations. Therefore the protests must be stepped up.

2 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT April 1955

DISBAND THE 'B' SPECIALS |

Cont inued from Page One

HEALTH OF IRISH EXILES Dr. Simon Sevitt's opening speech at the Conference

at the Hoi born Hall, London, W.C.J \ I OST of t h e emigrants f rom the ru ra l areas of I re land

are smal l farmers. the sons ol small farmers a n d agricul tural workers. Prom the towns come in the m a i n unskilled workers. The women are the i r sisters a n d cousins. Al though many of the men cont inue to enter t he building t rade , the catering industry a n d agriculture a n d many of the girls beeome waitresses, nurses or domestic ser-vants. there is now a growing tendency for Ir ish labour to en te r the t r anspo r t industry and to become employed in engineering, textile, tobacco factories a n d the like. M a n y of the problems they face a re not specific to the Irish. They affect not only most other immigrants , but also the mass of Br i t i sh workers to a greater or lesser degree. It should be emphasized t h a t the solution of these problems cannot be a t ta ined by isolated action by the I r i sh but only t h r o u g h joint action by the Irish and the Br i t i sh through t he i r organisat ions.

T h e hea l th problems before us a re not only the develop-ment and prevent ion of specific diseases like tuberculosis, dust diseases, etc.—which mi^h t be t e rmed the negat ive aspects of hea l th—but also the promotion of the max imum degree of posit ive health. We are concerned with illness, t i redness a n d s t ra in associated with overwork, migra tory employment, l a c k o f home life, overcrowded lodgings, i r regu-lar meals, etc. We have to consider the alleged accident-proneness of I r ish workers in industry , to discuss how industr ia l accidents arise and how they can be prevented.

To escape unemployment or under-employment in I re -land, the mig ran t s seek jobs in Bri tain. At present employ-ment of one kind or another is available in most areas, but doubts as to how long this will cont inue helps to produce a s t a t e of economic insecurity. Although the re are jobs for the seeking, it is a different ma t t e r when it comes to decent living condit ions. How many young I r i shmen and women are living in grossly overcrowded lodgings? In Bi rmingham it is not uncommon for four or six men (indeed sometimes eight, ten or more) to share a room and it is not unknown tha t the same bed is slept in by day and n igh t sh i f t workers. These congested conditions a re ideal for t h e spread of cer-tain infectious diseases. Respiratory infect ions like colds and influenza flourish. So too can more serious illnesses like meningit is a n d pulmonary tuberculosis.

Consider the danger to a group of young men or women under such condit ions if one of them h a s a cough which perhaps u n k n o w n to himself, is due to tuberculosis of t he lungs. Not only is the sufferer in danger but his spreading of tuberculosis germs endangers the h e a l t h of those who live with him. T h e problem of tuberculosis among the immi-g ran t Ir ish is accentuated because the ma jo r i ty come f rom rural areas in Ireland where tuberculosis is uncommon.

Because of this, many have never previously been ex-posed to the disease, as a result they have not acquired a n y resis tance to it and are highly susceptible. Exposure to tuber-culosis occurs not only in lodgings but also at work, in crowded factories , kitchens, etc,. I t is now known tha t t h e incidence of tuberculosis among, say the I r ish born in Lon-don is several t imes tha t among the London born. This is partly due to the conditions under which they are forced to live, and par t ly to their lack of acquired resistance.

It is seldom due to their having tuberculosis on leaving Ireland since most ol them come from ru ra l areas where there is little tuberculosis. Congestion a n d overcrowding a t home (and a t work) multiply the oppor tuni t ies for infec-t ion: overwork, tiredness and irregular meals help to reduce whatever res is tance they possess to infect ion. r p H E solut ion to the tuberculosis problem among lmmi-* g ran t s requires social activity on various fronts. Immi-

gran t s who have difficulty in obtaining sat isfactory lodging accommodat ion, should be provided with accommodation in decent, well-kept hostels where well-cooked meals can be obtained at a reasonable cost. This is par t icular ly impor tan t for migran t workers like those in agr icu l tu re and in t h e building t rade . A man or woman is ent i t led to a bedroom without hav ing to share it with others. It is said that ins tead of increasing the number of hostels which exist, the au thor i -ties here a re closing down many, even though immigrat ion is as high as ever.

Secondly, medical facilities need to be provided or ex-tended to seek out the early cases of tuberculosis and to offer prevent ive vaccination for those who may require it This will include the extension of the mass radiography scheme to likely groups of workers on the job for example res taurant , building and railway workers and construct ional sites should be visited. T h e B.C.G. vaccination scheme agains t tuberculosis needs to lie extended to thuse who have not vet required resistance. P ropaganda among doctors needs lo be increased. Irish doctors in Bri ta in should be drawn m.

I-et us nexl consider the question ol accidents at work and the alleged accident proneness of I r i shmen. In my ex penencc ce r ta in types of industr ial accidents are more frequent a m o n g Irishmen t h a n among Bri t i sh workers T i n s is not because the Irish a re less skilful, more cureless or more thought less than others, but merely because so m a n y engage m dangerous work.

Many I r i shmen become building workers and the build-ing indust ry has . al ter mining, the h ighes t incidence ot accidents. In Birmingham, for example, a high proport ion ol the sp idermen, as constructional engineers are known, are Ir ishmen It is not surprising t he r e fo re tha t I r i shmen are involved in the loss of life and limb in a considerable number of building trade accidents Consequently it l.s to be expected t h a t the overall frequency of industr ial accidents in many p a r t s of Britain involves a high proportion of I r i sh-men.

Let me quote an example. F i f t e e n men were digging the founda t ions ot a new building on an old bomb-site. Behind t h e m was a h igh brick skele ton of a wall, former ly par t of a building destroyed by Nazi bombers du r ing the last war. T h e wall was cracked in various places. Dur ing the digging, the wall collapsed on the men, burying ten of them under a pile of bricks. E ight were Engl i shmen and two were I r ish (unfor tuna te ly th ree m e n died). T h e h igh proportion of I r i shmen among the casual t ies was merely due to t h e fact t h a t five of the 15 workers a t risk were Irish. About the accident itself, it should be asked whe ther it was inevi table or avoidable.

I t is no t only in the bui lding indus t ry t ha t I r i sh and British workers are exposed to loss of life and limb. Acci-dents occur in many factories . For example, a B e l f a s t m a n was working in a well-known B i r m i n g h a m factory in a n electroplat ing plant . P a r t of t h e job was to empty a large vat of s t r o n g acid every day or two so t h a t the bot tom could be cleaned. T h e vat was emptied by s iphonage and to inser t the s iphon tube into th& acid, t h e worker had to walk or crawl a long a narrow plank over t h e vat. Th is was cal led the "ca twalk" by the men. One day t h e m a n or t h e plank, or both, slipped and t h e poor c h a p fell i n to the acid, suf fered extensive burns f rom which he died. C a n any th ing be done to avoid these accidents? At the inquest ," the deceased 's bro-ther said t h a t everyone knew the job was dangerous and tha t t h e p lank was too narrow.

We have to ask whether the m a n a g e m e n t paid enough a t ten t ion to the technique of emp ty ing a vat of acid and whether automatic , mechanical m e a n s was not possible?

T N genera l t he prevention of acc idents involves the exami-* na t ion of the hazards of every process and of every job.

This is t h e managemen t ' s responsibil i ty. Many employers do play the i r par t in upgrad ing sa fe ty measures, but t he re are o t h e r j who are not so concerned. In my opinion workers should insist on effective hea l th a n d safety commit tees on which they are fully represented. Some factories a l ready have such committees. Probably workers ' representa t ives on these commit tees should be linked wi th the shop s tewards ' organisat ion working closely with the appropr ia te t r ade unions. Such collective organisa t ion could do much t o point out haza rds of jobs and processes a n d increase sa fe ty a t a factory level.

Every worker should know t h a t lie lias the r ight to see the factory inspector and complain to him about lack of safety or hygiene, etc. Unfo r tuna te ly the inspectors' visits are in f r equen t due to the ridiculously small number of factory inspectors who are quite unable to cope wi th a fract ion of the work they are expected to do.

Ir ish workers wili work toge ther with their Br i t i sh colleagues for increased safe ty measu res and e l iminat ion of risks. Pressure by t rade unions and political o rganisa t ions needs to be applied in order to mult iply the number of fac-tory inspectors and see t h a t safe ty precaut ions a re rigidly enforced.

Accidents are not t he only haza rds of industry. Dust diseases like silicosis affect h u n d r e d s of thousands of workers. T h e ent ry of more and more Ir ishmen in to the mining indus t ry will produce the s a m e effect on the i r lungs as it ha s on their Welsh, English a n d Scottish co-workers. These I r i shmen need to be told how silicosis arises, how frequent it is. what incapaci ty results.

I r ish immigran ts who propose to enter min ing and foundries and other indust r ies in which dust is a hazard , should know the facilities t ha t a re provided for the i r pro-tection. t he medical organisa t ion which is available for t he early diagnosis of dust diseases and should use t h e m Only then can they take an intel l igent in te res t in their own pro-tection, a n d if the underground, p i t head or medical facili-ties are insufficient, they will not be backward in joining their Br i t i sh colleagues in pressing for better condit ions.

I ET us next consider briefly t h e social evils which face * J the young immigran t I r i shman and woman. These arise from overcrowded living conditions, lack of a home life and paren ta l control, lack of economic securi ty and are aggra-vated by migrat ion f rom place to place.

The lure of false adventure or easy money is an outlet for the f rus t ra ted creative ability and heal thy activity of the young adult , it is an a l t e rna t ive to long hours of work and an escape f rom drab lodgings and possibly a nagging land-lady. I do not wish to imply tha t m a n y young Irish girls a re slreet walkers or many Ir ishmen become criminals, but it there is only one he or she is one too many. And unfor tu -nately the newspapers make the most of it.

We canno t wait for long-term social reforms to abolish these evils. A lead in the r ight direct ion has been given by Betty Harr ison. National Organiser of the Tobacco Workers-Union who. dealing with this problem at the r e ren t T U Conference organised by the Connolly Association said I sometimes think we do not have sufficient ameni t ies for young people in the t r ade unions. If we can get over the first two years or so these girls do become integrated in the

I'.U ) movement and meet the right sort of f r iends and go and lodge with decent families. But it is the first, coming over which is the problem and if someth ing could be done with the authori t ies to see that t he se girls are not ad r i f t we should save a lot ol trouble."

In conclusion, the outline which I have presented about the social and health problems which face Irish i m m i g r a n t s is by no means exhaustive. Those who follow will no doubt lill in m a n y of the gaps, and give concrete examples f rom their own experience. Some of the problems will be easier to solve t h a n others It is our du ty and privilege here to raise t hem and then do what we can to help solve them

S. SEVITT.

CAMDEN TOWN LODGERS' PROTEST IR ISH D E M O C R A T REPORTER

ELECTIONS Mr. Desmond Greaves urged t h a t the

question of the "B" Specials'5 and Special Powers should be brought into the for th-coming election campaign. T h e Ir ish inf luence was s t rong in many West Lon-don const i tuencies ; Irish people should a t t e n d the polit ical meetings ol the various par t ies a n d judge for them-selves who gave s t ra igh t answers and who prevar ica ted on this question. T h e Labour Movement was in the midst of great policy upheavals . Ir ish influence should be cast in two direct ions—main-ta in ing its unity, restor ing its t r ad i t iona l ant i - imperia l is t policy.

If only the I r i sh _ people were uni ted now. th i s was the t ime to influence public opinion.

Speaking a t B i rmingham, Mr. E. Mac-Laughl in said the I r ish must organise.

T h e Connolly Association had addressed a n appeal to the Anti-Part i t ion League tha t they should break f r e e f rom the dea th-c lasp of the Knights , and join the Association in a s t rugg le aga ins t Six-County oppression a n d the par t i t ion of the country. Mr. Lyons had hoped t h a t this t ime there would be a response.

COURTESY Mr. T a d h g Feehan , once again, had not

even offered the courtesy of a reply. It is general ly known t h a t the Ant i -Par t i t ion League is in a s t a t e of profound crisis. It is all but powerless to do any th ing itself —despite its r ema in ing generous and genuine membersh ip in a number of cent res—and a section of its • leaders is de termined t h a t it shall not accept a lead f rom those who can and will do some-thing.

" I t is a tragic position." said Mr. Lyons, "and arises f rom the fact tha t t hough the members of t he League are g r a n d ant i-Imperial is ts , the leaders have pursued the f a t a l Redmond policy of trying to come to a compromise with imperialism."

In con t ras t to the Ant i -Par t i t ion League's inact ivi ty, meet ings were held in Dublin and elsewhere, principally by the Sinn Fein organisat ion, which many t h o u s a n d s a t t ended . County councils passed resolut ions condemning the "B" Specials. T h e S i n n Fein "United Irish-m a n " made t h e demand. "Disband the B' Specials" i ts principal slogan, inde-

pendent ly adopt ing exactly the s ame s t andpo in t as the leaflets published by the ' I r ish Democrat ."

Mr. J e remiah Murphy, Plumbers ' Union branch secretary, a t one of the London meetings, urged all t rade unionis ts to en-sure resolutions were passed in their branches ; he made a n appeal to I r i shmen of different s t andpo in t s to uni te on th is Issue.

BIRMINGHAM —Continued from Page One

strongly aga ins t th is point of view. He defended the policy of restr ict ing immi-gration. He chal lenged the Editor of t he "Ir ish Democra t" to say where the Cor-porat ion was to build houses for t he occu-pat ion of i m m i g r a n t workers.

In reply. Mr. Desmond Greaves said two quest ions t ha t were unrelated were being confused.

Councillor Allen seemed to th ink the way to avoid overcrowding was to keep people f rom coming into B i rmingham to live. In t ha t case industry m Birming-ham was going to be unde rmanned and its f u r t h e r development would have to be re-str icted. But when the ma t t e r was more closely examined, it was found t h a t Coun-cillor Allen had no objection to Welshmen or Lancashi re men coming into Birming-ham. but every objection to those who came across the sea What made him th ink t h a t lie could prevent overcrowding by keeping some people out, and not o thers? The problem of housing was quite d i f ferent f rom the problem of immigra-tion.

IN reply Lo a let ter lrom Mr. G'aliir Healy, who took up t h e mat te r at the request

of "Ir ish Democra t . " the Lord Mayor of B i rmingham wrote;

"Discrimination is neither likely nor possible . . . and you may rest assured that there is no intention or desire on th« part of the Council of this City to attempt to discriminate in any way in respect of Irish persons living in this City." While no doubt this Is a genuine expres-

sion of desire, t h e fact remains t h a t on J a n u a r y 20th a deputa t ion f rom Birming-h a m requested t h e Government to restr ict immigra t ion f rom Ireland and Jama ica , a n d all e f for ts by the "Irish Democrnt" t o p o i n t ou t t h e seriousness of such a s tep haVe fjnen b r u s h e d aside

In • M ( l f t» th« Lord Mayor, the "Irish O w n a e r a r pointed out that if the Gov-• f n m o n t took the aJvtee of the City Council It would bo bound to lead to dls-ortmtnatton. II would also tend to por-p«tl«Ato partition, sMoa Northern Ireland worfcora oowldnot bo kapt out, but workers from the Republic oould.

I

A NUMBER of Irish lodgers left their ' ' "digs" in Camden Town in protest, agains t condi t ions

This is why: — In the dep th of winter beds had only

two blankets , two sheets and NO pillow-slips;

Breakfas t consisted of one egg, th ree slices of toast , one cup of tea without sugar (sugar was "in" i t ) ;

Dinner: one small spoonful of mince with a little g ravy ; one cup of tea with-out sugar.

Yet most of t he men were working on heavy jobs and had to travel considerable dis tances to work Those who left before 7 a m got only tea from a flask (made the n igh t before) a n d two tiny sandwiches There was no r eba t e for meals missed

T h e gas fire, for which the lodgers paid.

was somet imes turned off at t he mains . Several men slept in one room

How much for the.se luxurious "digs" ' ' £2 10s.

St. Pancras Borough Council told the " Irish D e m o c r a t " that men could t ake such oases to the rent t r ibunal , but land-ladies In such cases usually claimed the main charge was for food.

"Ir ish Democra t " conference heard pro-posals to secure control of lodgings com-parable with control of ordinary houses.

April 1955 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 3

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BEVANISM IN THE ANTI-PARTITION

THE MEN OF EASTER WEEK

LEAGUE? T ^ K E crisis in the Anti-Partition League, | ' which kept its councillors eight hours

taEking in Manchester, is at bottom the same as that wnich affects the British Labour Party.

The di lemma before the two organisa-tions, one I r i sh nationalist, the other British work ing -c la s s , is very simply stated. It is " C a n we achieve our objects by collaborating politically with British imperia l i sm?"

it is because the leaders of each have believed they could answer this question by " Ye s " that all their problems are here to-day.

Ask the a v e r a g e I r i shman his opinion of Labour a n d h e will tell you who passed the Ireland Act—making pa r t i t i on perma-nent . More occasionally he will see tha t t he passage of th i s act was ju s t t h e parti-cular appl ica t ion to Ireland of a world-wide policy of working with instead of aga ins t imper ia l i sm—the o t h e r aspects were visible in Malaya, Kenya, and in re-lation to E u r o p e a n questions.

Because it offered only a pale imitation of conse rva t i sm Labour lost its magnifi-cent post-war ma jo r i ty , and t h e Bevanites and thosa f u r t h e r to t h e l e f t of them hope to get it back by r e t u r n i n g to origi-nal Labour pr inciples in a number of th ings .

Ir ishmen should therefore take consi-derable in te res t in cur ren t discussions within the Labour ranks. If there was now a un i t ed Ir ish f ront , ab le to address itself with o n e voice to Bri t ish Labour, t hen the u n i t y of Ireland could be in-cluded a m o n g t h e "Bevani te" slogans, and since t h e " le f t " are go ing to win, among the s logans of a f u t u r e Labour government .

Why is t h e r e no united f r o n t of Irish people in B r i t a i n ? Here we come to the Anti -Par t i t ion League. Wha t a bang that organisat ion s t a r t ed wi th! T h e grand meet ings! T h e en thus i a sm! Where is it all to-day?

It has been killed by the Anti -Par t i t ion Leaders' r igh t -wing policy. They have consis tent ly associated Ir ish uni ty with the idea of a war by the " W e s t " against t he "Eas t "—sta t emen t a f t e r s t a tement made on t he i r p la t fo rms proves It. And since this would be a typical British im-perialist war , they find they canno t make any headway.

Unfor tuna te ly the leaders represent ing th is policy were more successful with their expulsions t h a n r ight-wing Labour has been, and t h e Anti -Par t i t ion League has for some t ime been known to be moribund and ineffective.

But it Is no t yet quite a corpse; the same cri t icism tha t affects right-wing Labour a f fec t s its own leadersh ip also. So now it h a s been announced t h a t " t rade unionists of no ma t t e r which party" are to be encouraged to par t ic ipate .

This is a belated admiss ion tha t the Connolly Association was r igh t in pointing to the Brit ish Labour movement as the vital force. But did they need to wreck their o rgan i sa t ion to find it ou t?

The confe rence in Liverpool in May should give occasion lor much soul-search-ing. But tf t he League is going to pay a t tent ion to the working class, it must at least be ce r t a in there iS noth ing anti-working class in its policy. Let it, above all, avoid associat ion with any sectarian groupings wi th in the Labour movement which have b rough t such t ragedy In Aus-tralia. Let it remember t h a t Irish inde-pendence is in the interes ts of the whole British work ing class, and not only of a part .

If this is seen, then p e r h a p s the day might come when the repea ted invitations made by t h e Connolly Association (now considerably the stronger body) will be accepted. T h a t might , paradoxically enough, res tore the League to its former posi t ion its f irst const i tu t ion was drawn up by the c h a i r m a n of the Connolly Asso-ciat ion!

Join the \

CONNOLLY

ASSOCIATION | •MivnaiMaacntniMMaMMM****'"""***'"'**"

THE GENIUS OF CONNOLLY

by

PAT D E V I N E

AT th is t ime of the year men ' s minds turn to many th ings—spr ing , Good

Friday, Eas te r Week etc .—from each of which they gain different sor t s of inspira-tion, guidance and confidence.

My mind t u r n s to t ha t g r a n d e s t of Irish-men, J a m e s Connolly, a n d all t ha t he stood and died for.

Connolly's greatness rested in the simple fact t ha t h e was one of t h e very few pre-1914 socialists who fully g rasped the need of Labour Republican uni ty in t h e struggle for na t iona l independence a n d social ad-vance.

Connolly lived and died in a period when the ent i re world was in t h e hands of imper ia l ism; when Bri t ish Toryism could boast t h a t " the sun never set on the British Empire"; when mil l ions of colonial peoples were ground down in virtual slavery in t h e interests ot t h e profiteers.

He dedicated his life to reversing this s ta te of affairs .

Just and Unjust Wars Over forty years a go - A u g u s t 22nd, 1914

to be precise as the first world war was gett ing into its stride, Connolly wrote:—

"The war of a subject na t ion for inde-pendence, for its r ight to live its own life in its own wav. may and can be justified as holy and r ighteous , the war of a subject class to f ree itself from the debasing conditions of economic and

GHOSTS HAUNT CAMP SITES — C o n t i n u e d f r o m P a g e O n e

s o n , it might be possible to persuade local au thor i t ies to compile a list of land-ladies who voluntarily agreed to observe the minimum. T h u s u new arrival coming into a city could go to the town hall and consult the list. I t would be a beginning. Other speakers urged the speedy provision of hostels, as migratory labour was a feature of modern industry under p resen t conditions.

Conference was opened by Dr. Simon Sevitt, whose speech a p p e a r s on Page 2.

cosmopolitan brigands is an accursed

political slavery, should a t all t imes choose its own weapons and es teem all as sacred in s t rumen t s of r ighteousness , but t he war of nat ion aga ins t na t ion in the interes ts of royal f reebooters and cosmolopolitan brigands is an accursed th ing." He acted too, by opposing the 1914 war

as being only in the interests of t h e free-booters a n d cosmopolitan b r igands ; and by playing his full pa r t in the Eas te r Re-bellion and the proclamation of t h e Re-public he not only struck a blow for I r i sh sovereignty, but set an example a n d gave a lead to subject peoples the world over.

National Upsurge Since Connolly's dea th colonial peoples

and oppressed nat ions the world over have risen in revolt agains t the imperial is t cos-mopoli tan brigands.

In country a f t e r country. Kings, Czars and Kaisers who wallowed in luxury at t he expense of the well-being of their peoples, have been replaced by men of no property.

T h e hundreds of millions of I n d i a n s for genera t ions oppressed by British imperial-ism have made great progress towards na t ional liberation.

In C h i n a 600 millions have th rown off t he yoke of foreign oppression a n d plun-der. and are joyfully building u p t h e type of society Connolly believed in.

The idea of nat ional independence and social advance personified by Connolly over forty years ago and decried by Im-perialism and its t ime servers as an im-possible dream, has become a powerfu l mater ia l force inspiring oppressed peoples the world over.

I r i shmen should be proud of the i r grea t compatr io t . They should join the Connolly Association which is dedicated to popu-larising and f ighting for the th ings for which he gave his life.

Imperialism on defensive Although imperialism has suffered

serious reverses since they murdered Con-nolly. or maybe because of these reveress, it is l ighting back more ruthlessly than ever before.

I R E L A N D

In the Six Counties the t r igger-happy "B" Specials have re-started the i r mur-derous activities and young Ar thu r Leonard is the most recent victim.

A F R I C A

In Kenya, where the people wan t ele-men ta ry democracy and na t iona l r ights in their own country, imperial ist bruta l i ty and murder has reached new h e i s t s . Hundreds of thousands of na t ive Afr icans have been herded into concen t ra t ion

camps, scores of thousands have been in-discr iminately shot a n d killed by t h e Home G u a r d (or "B" Specials!) .

As f a r back a s 1905 Sir Cha r l e s Eliot, Commissioner for t he Eas t A f r i c a n Pro-tectorate , boasted t h a t —

"Eas t Africa will probably become in a sho r t t ime a whi te man ' s country , in which nat ive quest ions will p resen t but lit t le interest ." Bu t t h e African people, like t h e people

of I r e l and and oppressed peoples t h e world . over, a r e on. the move. And, a s Connolly said, t he i r efforts "to f ree themselves f rom t h e debasing condit ions of economic and political slavery . . . a re r igh teous" and should be supported.

MALAYA Since 1948 Brit ish imperial ism h a s con-

ducted a bitter, unre len t ing s t ruggle -aga ins t t h e na t iona l l iberation movement , All t h e devices used aga ins t t h e Ir ish movemen t in t h e 1920's and m a n y more have been tried in a forlorn- hope of s m a s h i n g the movement . P r i soners have been beheaded a f t e r tor ture ; vil lages have been blown up and the i n h a b i t a n t s pu t in concent ra t ion camps, fabu lous bribes have been offered to informers fo r infor-mat ion likely to lead to the c a p t u r e of the l iberat ion leaders, crops have been sprayed A with poisonous chemicals, n a p a l m bombs have been dropped on villages, rat ions have been cut to s tarvat ion levels.

B u t all in vain, t he na t ional l iberation movement lives and grows s t ronger .

Since 1949 the Press has regular ly re-por ted t h a t " the bandi t s and ter ror is ts" " have been defea ted and the t roops will soon be home.

Alas, t he tfwops a re still t h e r e and will r emain the re unt i l t h e people of Bri tain d e m a n d the i r r e t u r n or t h e liberation movement drives t h e m out in defea t .

Britain's Dilemma In every part of the Empi r e the im- ,

per ia l is t fist is being chal lenged. National l iberat ion and social advance a s pu t for-ward by James Connolly is t h e a im for which the colonial people a re f ight ing.

It is ironical t h a t in this t i m e of crisis imperial ism should call upon a Nor thern , I r i s h m a n to try and stem t h e t ide.

G e n e r a l Templar , t he des igna ted Chief of t he Imperial Genera l Staff , notorious for his act ions in Malaya, h a s been called in t o apply to t h e rest of t he colonial ter-r i tor ies his terror is t ic experiences f rom Malaya where he was In c h a r g e for a period.

W h o .shall win? The te r ror i sm of General Templar, or the national libera-tion and social advance of QooooUy?

On this Easter 1865 we oonfidfntly say James Connolly's ideas will win,

We should do ail we c a n t o gua ran tee t h a t th i s is so.

E A M O N N CEANNT T H O M A S M A G D O N A G H

The Seven Signatories of the Proclamation

1916 James Connolly Page 5 Sean MacDiarmada Page 1

Joseph Plunkett

PATRICK PEARSE

TOM C L A R K E

4 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 5

FACTS ABOUT IMPERIAL OPPRESSION

IN OCCUPIED IRELAND

I

'NORTHERN IRELAND' - POLICE STATE By EAMONN MACLAUGHLIN N 1920 the Bri t ish Government was

laced with the demand ol Ireland for independence. Lloyd George orga-nised three forces of suppression: t h e Black and Tans , the Auxiliaries and the Special Constabulary . The Tans and the Auxiliaries were long ago dis-banded. But t h e Special Constabulary were taken over by the Nor thern Ire-land Gove rnmen t and cont inue to func-tion as Br i t i sh Imperial ism's strong-arm boys in I re land. The re arc over 10.000 of t hem.

Thev are a r m e d with rifles and Sten

TRADES DISPUTES ACT 'NORTHERN IRELAND'

IN

was £ J U R I N G t h e twenties there great d i scontent in the coalmining

areas in Br i t a in . The miners ' ag i ta t ion for more pay and better condi t ions won the support of the peopia generally. In 1925, t he Bri t ish Government paid a subsidy to t h e coalmining industry and miners' wages were sl ightly increased in some a r e a s and ma in ta ined in o ther areas.

The G o v e r n m e n t subsidy was with-drawn in 1926 and th is was followed immedia te ly by action on t h e pa r t of t h e mine owners to reduce wages a n d lengthen h o u r s of work. In their de-t e rmina t ion t o break t h e miners ' oppo-sition to t h e cuts, the owners declared a lock-out.

The G e n e r a l Council of the Trades Union Congre s s called a general s t r ike in suppor t of the locked-out miners. Some 1,500,000 workers responded to t h e call. (A l though called a "general s t r ike" many la rge categories of workers were not called upon to strike, for example, the Civil Service, hospi ta l employees, essential food services, water supply

A and sewage disposal workers) .

The s t r i ke lasted n ine days. T h e miners ' lock-out, however, continued for a n o t h e r seven mopths . When a se t t l ement h a d been reached, t he Bri t ish Conserva t ive Government in-troduced a T r a d e Disputes and T r a d e Unions Bill. The Bill was amended in certain i m p o r t a n t respects and became law on J u l y 29th, 1927.

It Is i m p o r t a n t to no te t h a t th is Bill was not ih t roduoad to deal with t h e si tuation t h a t arose du r ing t h e "General Str ike ." It was brought be-fore the House of Commons long a f t e r the strike h a d ended and indeed a f t e r the dispute in the coal mines«liad con-cluded.

A s imilar T r a d e Disputes and T rade Unions Bill was introduced in t h e Nor thern I r e l a n d House of Commons by the At to rney-Genera l ( the then Rt . Hon. A n t h o n y Bru tus Babington) on October 12th, 1927. T h e Bill was finally passed by t h e House of Commons on November 29th and became law on December 21st, 1927. T h i s Act was for all p rac t ica l purposes identical with the Bri t ish Act.

T h e T r a d e s Union Congress and t h e entire L a b o u r movement in Bri tain bit-terly opposed the Bri t ish Act and per-sistently ca l led for its repeal. The Act was even tua l ly repealed by the Br i t i sh P a r l i a m e n t in 1946. T h e corresponding Nor thern I r e l and Act, however, re-mains on t h e S t a t u t e Book.

By 1926 t h e t r ade un ions had com-pleted over one hundred years of sus-tained a n d remarkab le growth, du r ing which t i m e the various legal restr ic-tions on t h e i r f reedom had been gradu-ally removed. T h e 1927 Act, however, made ex tens ive inroads into the liber-ties secured by the t r a d e unions.

T h e G e n e r a l Str ike was largely a pretext for t h e Aot passed In Br i ta in ; but even t h i s pretext did not hold for t h e N o r t h e r n I re land Aot, as Nor thern Ireland w a s not af fected by the str ike. The pu rpose of t he Act was to f e t t e r the t r a d e un ion movement both In its Indust r ia l a n d political activities.

The Ac t imposes res t r ic t ions upon t h e f r e e d o m of t r ade unions and par t i -cular ly Civi l Service unions, upon es tabl i shed civil servants , and upon local a n d o t h e r public author i t ies a n d t he i r employees . T h e r e a re e ight ma in pections.

Sec t ions one , two and seven def ine and deal with illegal strikes and lock-outs; section three deals with strike picket ing a n d " in t imida t ion" ; sect ion four deals with the political funds of trade unions; section five deals with the Civil Service and sec t ion six wi th Jocal and other public authorities and

their employees. Section eight deals with the f u r n i s h i n g of r e tu rns , etc., to the Reg i s t r a r of Friendly Societies in Nor thern I re land .

ILLEGAL STRIKE The sect ions dealing wi th illegal

str ikes (sections one, two and seven) lay down penal t ies for acts done in fu r -therance of such str ikes; they prevent t h e penal i sa t ion of t rade unionis t s who refuse to t ake par t in such str ikes and protect t h e m f rom fines or o ther penal-ties; they deprive persons ac t ing in contempla t ion or f u r t h e r a n c e of such strikes of t h e normal immuni ty f r o m the ord inary law of civil conspiracy conferred bv the Trade Disputes Act of 1906.

In the event of such strikes, the t rade un ions involved are not immune f rom being held responsible in civil courts for ac t s done by the i r officials and their f u n d s can be t aken to meet damages awarded to employers in such civil actions.

Finally, section seven of the Act em-powers t h e Attorney-General , in addi-tion to o the r persons ent i t led to do so, to obtain a n in junct ion in t h e Cour ts to prevent t r a d e union f u n d s f rom being

iplied to a str ike defined as illegal. ' 'he penal provisions a g a i n s t offences

under section one of t h e Act come in to operat ion w h e n the Cour t s have de-

R E P R I N T E D W I T H

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S TO

T H E IR ISH T.U.Q.'s

'Trade Union Information'

cided t h a t a str ike is illegal under the Act. T h e t e s t of illegality is most com-plicated a n d obscure.

T h e sect ion s tates t h a t any s tr ike is illegal if i t

(i) h a s a n y object o ther t h a n or in addi t ion to the f u r t h e r a n c e of a t r ade dispute within the t r ade or indus t ry in which t h e s t r ikers are engaged; and

(ii) is a s t r ike designed or ca lcula ted to coerce the Gove rnmen t e i the r direct ly or by infl ict ing h a r d s h i p upon t h e communi ty .

This def ini t ion of an illegal s t r ike is so vague and indefinite a s to leave t h e law re l a t ing to strikes in so confused a s ta te t h a t no trade union can be sure of Its posit ion.

T h e operat ive words of t h e defini t ion a re obviously open to a n u m b e r of in-t e rp re t a t ions which can only be re-solved in t h e Courts after a s t r ike h a s begun. I n th i s connection t h e comment of Lord Reading, a former Lord Chief Justice, on the identical Bri t ish Act may be quoted. He described t h e Act as "more vague, more indefini te , more lacking in precision . . . t h a n any Bill t h a t I have ever seen or any Act of Pa r l i amen t I have ever had to con-strue."

Both t h e conditions which make a str ike illegal, i.e., t h a t it mus t have some object besides the f u r t h e r a n c e of a t r ade d ispute within t h e t r a d e or in-dustry in which the s t r ikers a re en-gaged and t h a t it must be designed or calculated to coerce the Governmen t , a re so indef in i te and hedged round with qual if icat ions as to make it a lmost im-possible to say whether any large-scale strike, w h e t h e r pr imary or sympathet ic , would be outside the scope of the sec-tion.

On this point, the following ext rac t f rom " T r a d e s Union Law" by Norman Citr ine (1950) with re fe rence to t h e Identical sect ion one of the Bri t ish Act. well sums u p the obscurity of t he legal position re la t ing to s tr ikes.

The r igh t to oall a sympa the t i c strike, which had been clearly acknowledged by thfc s t a t u t o r y definition of " t r ade dis-pu te" In 1906 was imperilled by th is

section. For every sympathe t ic strike in support of persons outside the str ikers ' " t rade or indus t ry" (an ambiguous ex-pression left subs tan t ia l ly undefined by the Act) was cr iminal if likely to coerce the Governmen t . Since the words "hardship" a n d "communi ty" were also undefined it was possible for the Courts to hold a lmos t any large-scale strike to be likely to coerce the government (e.g., to dec la re a s t a t e of emergency under the Emergency Powers Act, 1920). Moreover, the increas ing par t played by the Governmen t in t r ade disputes, ei ther as an employer or as a conciliator or a rb i t ra tor , rendered the expression "calculated to cosrce the government" capable of wide in te rpre ta t ion .

Even the r igh t to call a p r imary s tr ike was to some ex ten t t h rea t ened , for if such a s t r ike had any object in addit ion to the f u r t h e r a n c e of a " t rada dispute" and was likely to coerce the govern-ment , it was illegal. A s t r ike concern-ing condi t ions of labour, but having as one of its ob jec t s t he promotion of legis-lation to e n f o r c e t h e dssired condit ions might , for example , have been held illegal on t h i s ground.

. . . Pena l t i es were imposed upon the r ingleaders a n d their agents , i.e., those "declaring, ins t iga t ing or inviting others to t ake p a r t in" the illegal strike, e.g., by p icket ing . Any person "other-wise ac t ing in f u r t h e r a n c e " of the strike was equal ly liable. Thus , it ap-pears t h a t even those ra is ing f u n d s to relieve dis t ress , or wri t ing articles in defence of the purpose or legality of the strike migh t be held guilty of a crime.

The repeal of section one of the Trade Disputes and T r a d e Unions Act (Nor thern I r e l a n d ) , 1927 would leave the legal posi t ion as regards str ikes as it was prior to 1927, t h a t is, as set out in the Conspi racy and Protection of Property Act, 1875, t he T r a d e Disputes Act, 1906 a n d various judicial rulings. These Acts give legal protection only to s tr ikes which a re in contemplat ion or f u r t h e r a n c e of a t r ade dispute which is concerned wi th employment, non-employment, t e r m s of employment or condit ions of labour.

T h e a r g u m e n t t h a t section one of the 1927 Act is necessary to "protect the communi ty" aga ins t reckless political strikes fal ls s ince the motive or object of a s t r ike will guide the Courts if de te rmin ing w h e t h e r the leaders of a strike a re indic table for seditious or cr iminal conspiracy, or actionable for civil conspiracy. I n addit ion, the Gov-e rnment would still have its very wide powers u n d e r t h e Emergency Powers Act (Nor the rn I re land) , 1926.

Section two of the Act affords "pro-tect ion" to persons re fus ing to take pa r t in illegal str ikes. I t s ta tes:—

"No person re fus ing to take pa r t or to cont inue to take pa r t in any s tr ike or lock-out which is by this Act de-cleared to be illegal, shall be, by reason of such re fusa l . . . subject to expulsion f r o m any t rade union or society, or t o any fine or penalty . . or liable to be placed in any respect ei ther di rect ly or indirectly under any disabil i ty or a t any d isadvantage as compared with o ther members of the union or society, any th ing to the cont rary in the rules of a t rade union or society no twi ths tand ing ."

PICKETING Section th ree of the Art lays down

restr ict ions which go far to endanger the r igh t to picket as recognisrd by the 1875 Act. T h e section, of course, applies to all s tr ikes. I t enlarges the definition of in t imida t ion to an absurd degree, covering any act which might "cause in the mind of a person n reasonable apprehens ion of in ju ry" (including in-jury to his business occupation or any source of income) to himself or his family or any apprehension of "vio-lence or d a m a g e to any person or pro-perty."

It makes illegal the picketing of a person's p lace of work, etc., If it is done "In such n u m b e r s or otherwise in such

guns and wi th powers over life and property which a re practically dicta-torial. Al though mainly par t- t ime, they have these powers whether in or ou t of un i fo rm. They a re s ta te police under the S to rmont Min is te r of Home Affairs, recrui ted exclusively f rom "loyalists."

". . • The re a r e only two classes in Nor thern I r e l and ; the loyal and the disloyal. T h e loyal people are the Orangemen . T h e disloyal people a re the Socialists, Communis ts and Roman Catholics. . . ."

—Mr. Hugh Minford. Tory Member , N.I. Pa r l i amen t .

" In pract ice membersh ip of t h e 'B' Specials is confined to persons pro-fessing the P ro tes t an t fa i th who are

also members of the Orange O r d e r -t h a t is, to supporters of the Unionist (Tory) Party."

—National Council for Civil Liberties.

J^ SSENTIAL t o Stonnunt's repressive J machinery, t hey are protected, ap-

plauded and called "the pick of t h e country" by Unionist-Tory Minis ters .

They are t h e bigger part of a police force which imposes on the Six Coun-ties one pol iceman for every 100 per-sons as compared with one for every 611 in Bri ta in. A force whose n a t u r e and power h a s been condemned as a n

IF THEY GERRYMANDERED

LONDON THIS IS HOW IT MIGHT LOOK

f * s7 LON$ c<v

p AST LONDON votes Labour. Apar t f r o m LewiStiam iwnich

re tu rns Herber t Morrison in General E l e c t i o n s ) all Tory boroughs a re in a fairly compact group in tf>; West.

Suppose Labour s ta r ted pass ing bye-laws, t h e Tories d idn ' t like. Suppose they persuaded a Tory Government to par t i t ion t h e L.C.C. so t h a t those West London boroughs which wanted a Tory L.C.C. could have a special one m a d s fo r t h e m ? Supposing they then took over the in te rvening Labour boroughs of Hammersmi th and F u i h a m and St. P a n c r a s to make t h e m more compact and brought t h e m under the Tory "Western London"? Suppose they left Labour Bat tersea c l inging to "Eas tern London" by a t h r e a d ?

Then they would have done wha t was done to Ireland. Eighty per cent, of t he Irish voters wanted independence. British imperial ism obliged the Tory minori ty (living fairly compact ly as the London Toriss do) by creat ing a s epa ra t e Irish s t a t e for them to control . But, not con t en t with pu t t i ng into it only those who wanted Tory government , they added two whole

counties and two half-counties who were utterly opposed to Tory-Unionism.

If London looked like the m a p above, would Londoners think they had been "done"?

Well, Irish people think they have been "done"—indeed, they know it!

THE A B O V E M A P S A N D FACTS A R E A V A I L A B L E AS A L E A F L E T . We can supply you at the rate of 30/- per

1,000 : 100 for 3/6, post free.

obstacle to democra t ic r ights no t onlv by opponents of t h e regime inside the Six Counties but also by Bri t ish Labour M.P.s and the Br i t i sh Nat ional Council for ' Civil Liberties.

I n 1920 the t h r e e classes of Special Constabulary were organised in Belfast-Class A was whole-t ime for a t leas t six m o n t h s . Class B was on occasional duty, usually one evening a week plus drills, and Class C was a reserve. Or-ganised pogroms, preceded by inf lam-m a t o r y anti-Catholic p ropaganda , took place t h a t year. Pos t -war unemploy-m e n t was beginning and th i s was b lamed on "Catholics tak ing the jobs of Protes tants . ' '

T h e Specials were in the f ron t of t he mobs which a t t acked Catholic houses a n d drove Catholic workers f r o m the sh ipyards . In one y e a r 426 were killed a n d 1,766 wounded. Dur ing this period, in November, 1922, t h e Royal Ulster Constabulary was cons t i tu ted . Con-t i n u i n g the system of the R.I.C., t he R.U.C. became t h e full- t ime profes-s ional police and by agreement reached d u r i n g the Trea ty negot ia t ions was l imi ted to 3,000 members and had to con ta in a certain propor t ion of Catho-lics.

T h e Stormont G o v e r n m e n t solved t h e . p roblem presented by these restr ic t ions by continuing the "B" Section a n d in addi t ion to this gave the police (both R.U.C. and Specials) ex t raord inary powers. The N.I. (Special Powers) Act 1922-23 was invest igated by a Commis-sion se t up by t h e Na t iona l Council for Civil Liberties.

"Under these Acts the Home Mini-s ter of Northern I re land is fu rn i shed with what are pract ical ly d ic ta torship powers, and he m a y delegate these powers to any police officer. T h e Acts give unlimited powers of search and seizure, and the Home Minister may m a k e new regula t ions crea t ing new cr imes a t will. Habeas corpus is sus-pended, persons m a y be arres ted on suspicion only and they may be kept in prison Indefinitely without a tr ial . Persons may also be interned indefi-ni te ly on the recommendat ion of a police officer, and t h e r e is no r ight of appea l against such impr isonment or i n t e rnmen t . Cases may ba heard in c a m e r a .

" T h e Home Minister , ac t ing on the advioe of the police, m a y r e f u e i to allow a person so impr isoned (or In terned) to send or receive le t te rs or to receive visits f rom his f r i ends or legal adviser. T h u s the prisoner, denied a trial , is also denied access to all outside aid. The bankbooks of the suspect may be exam-ined by the police a n d his money may be confiscated. T h e d e a t h penal ty may be imposed for offences o ther t h a n mur-der or treason.

"Af t e r a prisoner 's dea th , the Home Minister or a polioa officer may direct t h a t no Coroner's inque'st shall be held, a n d t h u s the pr isoner ' s relatives and f r i e n d s are denied all oppor tuni ty of in-spec t ing on the corpse any marks of possible violence in a r r e s t or de tent ion . T h e extraordinary powers conta ined in t hese acts have ac tual ly been in use s ince 1922, and they a r e now a pa r t of Nor the rn Irish law."

" I n the considered opinion of the Commission the opera t ion of t h e Spe-cial Powers Act is cont ra ry to the f u n d a m e n t a l principles of democra t ic government , in t h a t it imperils the r i g h t s and freedom of law-abiding citi-zens."

In 1949 the Uni ted Nat ions Declara-tion of Human R igh t s was drawn up. It was disclosed t h a t of these 11 basic h u m a n rights, no less t h a n n ine were being violated in Nor the rn I re land. So ce r t a in provisions of t he act were re-voked. The "Irish Democra t " pointed ou t a t the time t h a t th i s was mere

white-washing, and in a few m o n t h s t ime the first oppor tuni ty was t aken by the S to rmon t Government to re-s tore t h e provisions.

Dr. Mageean, descr ibing how he tried to p u t a s top to t e r ro r i sm in 1935, said: On Ju ly 17th, 1935. when Catholic homes were bu rn ing ; when pitiable lots of Cathol ic f u r n i t u r e made bonfires in the s t r ee t s of Be l fas t ; when t h e cam-paign of te r ror aga ins t Catholic life and proper ty was a t its height, I sen t a n u rgen t t e legram to the late Lord Craigavon asking h i m to take s teps to pu t a n end to the campaign. A letter f r om his secretary s ta ted tha t he was "desired by the P r i m e Minister to ac-knowledge receipt ol my telegram." No more. I wrote to Baldwin who was t h e n P r ime Minister of England. He passed it on to S imon—then Home Secretary. I was informed by h im "Tha t it is the Governmen t of Nor the rn I re land t h a t is responsible for t h e ma in tenance of law a n d order in t h e a rea within the i r jur isdict ion. He was "not prepared to in tervene."

But the British Act which set up Nor thern Ireland s ta tes : "Notwith-s t a n d i n g the es tab l i shment ol t he Par-l iament of N.I, or any th ing conta ined in th is Act, the sup reme author i ty of the Pa r l i ament of t h e U.K. shall re-main unaffected and undiminished over all persons, m a t t e r s and things in N.I. and every par t thereof ."

—Governmen t of I re land Act, 1920. Sect ion 75.

CHURCHILL KEPT IRELAND OUT

P U B L I C A T I O N of Yalta discussions 1 by America has put Britain on the spot over Ireland.

It was Churchill who kept Ireland out of t h e United Nations.

Year by year the usual ant i -nat ional-ists in nat ional is t cloaks have been spread ing the lie t h a t it was Russia.

Absolutely alone among newspapers, the " Ir ish Democrat "—on the evidence of t h e s t a t emen t s of t he several par t ies —denied this. We knew Ireland 's enemies better.

Now Mr. Sean MacBride, with the Yal ta f ac t s in his hands , is asking per-t inen t quest ions in An Dail. T h e decrepit old s inner of Westminster is exposed—once aga in . For MacBride says t h a t Churchil l told Stalin flat, when Sta l in wan ted Ireland to join the U.N.O., t h a t he wouldn ' t have us in a t any price.

1939 -1955 TO MARK OUR TWENTIETH

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HURRY L — WHILE STOCKS LAST I

THE EASTER PROCLAMATION / ) N April 24th, 1916, Ireland's most famous his-

torical document was published to the world, over the signatures of Thomas J. Clarke, Sean MacDiarmada, P. H. Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas MacDonaugh, Eamonn Ceannt and Joseph Plunkett .

It began : " In the name of God and of the past generations f rom which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her Hag and strikes for her freedom."

From the m o m e n t the rising burst on t h e as tonished consciousness of t he Br i t i sh Imperia l is ts , they tu rned all t he resources of mil i tar ism in war-time to p u t it down a n d hound its leaders to the i r dea ths .

I t took t h e m a week to restore con-trol of Dublin.

J A M E S CONNOLLY

a m a n n e r as to be calculated to Inti-midate any person" there, to obst ruct the approaches to the place, or to lead to a breach of the peace

Picketing calculated to in t imida te any person is declared to be "watch ing or beset t ing" which, ol course, is a cr iminal offence under the 1875 Act. But. as Ci t r ine points out, t he Act in-troduced "a wholly artificial definit ion of in t imidat ion. ' I t defined it in such wide te rms as substant ia l ly to prohibi t picketing of any kind."

If an employer involved in a legal t rade dispute apprehended a loss in his business as a result of picketing, such picketing would be a criminal offence under scctlon thrac .

II is not illegal under the Art, to str ike to secure a non-unionist 's dis-missal. But it is illegal to approach a non-unionist, a n d warn h im t h a t a s t r ike would be called to bring pressure on his employer to dismiss him unless he Joined a t r a d e union.

Subsection (4) of section t h r e e de-clares t h a t " n o t w i t h s t a n d i n g a n y t h i n g in any Art " it is a criminal offence to "watch or beset" a house, or t he ap-proach to a house, where a person re-

sides for tile pu rpose of persuading any cording to C i t r ine the wording of th is person to a b s t a i n from working. Ac-subsection "is calculat«d to throw con-siderable doubt upon the joint effect of section seven of t h e 1875 Act and sec-tion two of the 1906 Act." Citr ine goes on to say: " I t suggested that, no thwi th -s tanding those sections, a t tending a t or near a pe r son ' s residence for t he purpose of pe r suad ing him to work or absta in f rom working was an un l awfu l watching or beset t ing. It thus made the peaceful picketing lit any residence a precarious procedure '

The repeal of section three 0f the 1927 Act would leave tile relevant pro-visions of t he 1875 and 1906 Acts in force. These Acts legalised peaceful picketing but a lso laid down penal t ies for illegal p icket ing anr( forbade t h e use of violence a n d intimidation to a person, his family or his property. They forbade also t h e watching and beset-t ing of a person 's place of business, his residence and t h e approaches to these places. These provision are quite ade-qua te to prevent intimidation or non-peaceful picketing.

Section four of the 1027 Act deals with expendi ture from trade union funds on political object

Expendi ture by t r a d e unions on poli-t i ca l objects has been a fea tu re of the movement for more t h a n a century. T h e i r r ight to spend money on political objec ts was not quest ioned. A t r ade un ion was enti t led by a major i ty vote to make rules providing for such ex-pend i tu re and for levies on all its mem-bers for the purpose. -

In 1909, however, t he House of Lords in t h e Osborne case denied t h a t t r ade un ions could spend money on any ob-jects other than the narrowly industr ial ones specified in the Trade Union Arts.

T h e Trade Union Act, 1913. rectified t h e position. It recognised the t rade unions ' right to spend money on poli-tical objects but establ ished rules for t h e set t ing up of political funds . Trade unions were obliged to take a secret ballot of their m e m b e r s on the question of political expenditure, to set up a s epa ra t e political f u n d under rules ap-proved by the Reg i s t r a r of Friendly Societies and to provide for t he exemp-tion f rom political levies of all members who signed a "contract lng-out" form

Section four of t h e 1927 Act substi-t u t e d "contract ing-in" for "contract ing-out ," Thus no twi ths t and ing t h a t a t r ade union by major i ty decision may have adopted political fund rules as

prescribed by the 1913 Act, it is prohi-bited f r o m levying political contr ibu-t ions f rom any member unless he sig-nifies on the prescribed form t h a t he wishes to contriBute.

Subsection <2> of section four makes it obligatory on t r a d e unions to levy political fund contr ibut ions separately f rom other contr ibut ions. Only sums raised by the political levy may be paid into the political f u n d and no other assets may be applied in fu r the rance of the political objects . This section also obliges an unregis tered t rade union having a political f u n d to make an annua l re turn to the Registrar in res-pect of the fund.

T h e rase aga ins t " contracting-in " rests upon the r igh t of the major i ty in a voluntary associat ion to raise and expend funds according to the rules of t ha t association. Th i s right is exer-cised by various types of association f rom ordinary clubs to companies with-out even such special privileges tor the minori ty as are conta ined in the 1913 Art. Major i ty derision prevails in such associat ions and only In most excep-tional cases are the minority permi t ted to be exempt f rom t h e decision.

(Continued next month) .

T P H E Y could never restore their ln-fluence over t h e minds and spir i ts

of t h e Irish people. T h e sickening cha in of reprisals; t h e legal murder of Casement "under a centuries-old Act raked up f rom d i sue tude . . . all followed the same pa t t e rn t h r o u g h the Black and Tans to the t i m e when Bri t ish Imperial ism, its m a i n base in I re land lost, adopted par t i t ion as a last effort to hold a precarious footing in the roun t ry , and f rom t h a t new " p a l e " to t h rea t en the r e m a i n d e r and upset its economy.

T h e proclamation was the beginning of the " Reconquest of I re land " by the Ir ish people.

" We declare the r igh t of the people of Ireland to the ownersh ip of Ireland and to the unfe t te rod control of Irish destinies," it read.

" T h e Republic g u a r a n t e e s religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all Its citizens and declares its resolve to pursue the hap-piness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all Its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences, care-

fully fostered by an alien Government, which has divided a minority from the majority in the past."

T A M E S CONNOLLY, t h e Socialist, f J pu t his s igna ture t o tha t . Some-times Nor the rn I r e l and Socialists ask whe ther Nat ional ism is compatible wi th Socialism? Are they more Socialist t h a n J a m e s Connolly?

Somet imes Nor the rn Ireland workers ask for guarantees , hes i ta t ing to join a Uni ted I re land wi thout .

Could any gua ran t ee s be better t h a n those in the proc lamat ion?

Could any s t a t e m e n t do more t h a n devote one out of i ts Ave short pa r a -g raphs to t h a t ?

" Equal rights and equal oppor-tunities." Do they have such in Britain or in Northern Ireland (so-called)—or (nobody denies it) in the truncated Twenty-Six Counties?

I t was because t h e Proclamat ion of the I r ish Republic declared for a People's Republic, a thoroughly demo-crat ic republic, t h a t Bri t ish Imper ia l -ism was determined to put i t down a t no m a t t e r wha t bloodshed.

« The partition was imposed to put an

InsuperaMe barrier In the way of those who wanted to "cherish all the chil-dren of the nation equally." But M-caliod insuperable barriers have been broken down before now. The unity of the Irish people to defeat partition will grow into unity to establish the true Republio of Connolly and pearse.

McGINTY McGinty's ten to follow—tMrd

s e a s o n — are TIPPECAHOF, ANTON, BOB. EVER READY. DURANTE. FAIRY SPRITE, S U N SHOW. THE RABBI, PAIR FIGHT, DOLLY ROOK.

6 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT April 1955

A Gaelic Leaguer in Russia I H A D always wanted to meet someone

who had visited the Soviet Union so that I could get an answer to some of the questions I wished to ask about that coun-try.

It was only alter my return l'rom a visit tu ih.r U.S.S'r. that I found that I myself was to become the "horse's mouth" for hundreds of others eager to learn at first-hand what the Soviet people were like: what they were achieving and what they thought about things in general.

To anticipate questions and satisfy a general curiosity about the Soviet Union I shall describe briefly what I saw, and learnt during my recent stay in that coun-try.

In Moscow I found a stolid, serious people, wrapped in drab but comfortable winter clothing. Children on ice skates skimmed at ice-ring speed over the snow-covered streets. A couple of little girls were playing a variation of the game of curling, by throwing a pram (without wheels, but with a baby in it!) along the ground to each other from a distance of about 50 yards.

I noticed a complete lack of formality about the people. They had an easy and casual approach towards each other no mat te r what their positions were. Even in the hospitals the pat ients had a casual and friendly nod for the doctors.

The wards in the hospitals are small, each containing five or six beds. There is no waiting list and doctors from the hos-pital visit their pat ients in their own homes whilst they are convalescent. I am not competent to comment on their medi-cal or surgical s tandards but I was struck by the remarkable cleanliness of every-thing- and everyone in the hospitals.

I^ O R those who are interested in per-sonal details of the Russian people. I

find they have a mania for ice-cream and may be seen in hundreds, during a bliz-zard, eating outsize ice-cream wafers in Moscow streets. They are gregarious but never seem to s tand still. Even during the interval in the thea t re they , leave the auditorium and walk round and round for ten to fifteen minutes in a huge room like a ballroom! _

The women and men are extremely modest and there are no public demon-strat ions of affection. I met no poseurs or pseudo-Bohemian types, nor did I see hysterical teenagers go berserk when talented Soviet ar t is ts appeared on plat-

St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow.

forms of the many theatres. In fact I found it bewildering to find such a high s tandard of refinement everywhere.

Of course I did think Moscow women ra ther old-fashioned looking, with a weak-ness for dull little brooches and drab "hug-me-tights." However, they were not old-fashioned mentally and I was to re-mark that many rustic-looking people who seemed physiologically twenty-five years behind the times were on introduction to be about fifty years culturally ahead of their counterparts in other countries.

This was the amazing thing about Rus-sia—the passion for knowledge. They read always and everything they could get their hands on. Bookshops were reminiscent of bargain sales a t home.

I t was as if the growth of literacy had outstripped the printing technique. Of course, I was to learn of a big advantage they had over us. As children they had no horror-comics; as teen-agers they had

by CATHAL MacCRYSTAL

President, Belfast Gaelic League who recently toured

the Soviet Union with a party of journalists organised by

Mr. Peadar O'Donnell's "Bell."

Exclusive to the Irish Democrat no pin-up lithographs of sensuously posed film-stars: as adults they could not find in daily papers the sordid details of scan-dalous behaviour.

HOWEVER. I didn't like everything I saw in the U.S.S.R. For instance, the

sight of policemen carrying revolvers. (I live in Belfast>. I resented also the habit in some factories of pillorising any workman who defaulted in some way by posting up his name and negligence in the factory wall-paper.

All the factories and workshops were centrally heated and well ventilated and always there was tha t easy, casual rela-tionship between the workers and man-agement tha t I experienced nowhere else but in the Soviet Union.

The system of teaching in the schools intrigued me. Each child was encouraged to do so much blackboard work that he or she became a potential teacher. Pupils who found difficulty in keeping up with the rest of the class in some particular subject became the responsibility of the most brilliant s tudents in tha t subject. All vocations had the same status. The person who gave most to the State was not the doctor nor the hodsman, but the one who worked well.

The Soviet equivalent of Baden-Powell's Cubs or Brownies seemed to be the Young Pioneers whose winter activities included numerous visits to museums and ar t galleries. For the visitor every ar t gallery became a school of a r t if one followed the guide with the pointer.

I ATTENDED Mass in St. Ludovic's Roman Catholic Church in Moscow,

and was impressed by the piety of the

IRELAND'S FIRST MAY DAY "1 \UBLIN Was among the first capitals in

the world to celebrate May Day as a working-class festival — expressing the unity of purpose of working people in their efforts for improved wages and con-ditions and a new order of society.

The first Irish May Day was in 1890. Two newly-formed unions had made the first appreciable dent in craf t prejudice and had swept the field in Britain. The Gas Workers and General Labourers Union and the Dockers Union formed Irish sections, and into them streamed the hitherto unorganised unskilled work-ers, including agricultural labourers.

The Gas Workers and General Labourers Union in Britain was led by an Irishman, Edward Aveling, and his wife Eleanor Marx Aveling was the daughter of Karl Marx.

The Irish sections referred to were formed early in 1890 and in March 1890 the

Acknowledgments n r H E "Irish Democrat" fights on YOUR

1 behalf—against Partition, Discrimi-nation, bad conditions, and every aspect of Imperialism a n d Toryism.

We new! YOUR help—to be exact we need £S,aoo this year to Improve -our paper and make it a mere effect We organ in the fight against imperialism, to secure bet-ter premise* and more staff, to wipe out our debts, and to expand our aotivlties.

How about taking up a collection for our fund on your Jeto— we will gladly supply oolleotlng sheets and literature.

Our heartiest thanks are due to: Dubliner 3/-, per J . Slevin «/6, P. Mc-

Laughlin 16/-, 0 . J , H. Clarke £1/«/6, R. Anderson 1/S, P. Deo»ey 2/-, Molly Ander-sen 7/-, T. MoSweeney 2/-, F. C. Campbell II / - , W. BIBH*P 1/S, T.W. Cl, w. Burke £1, P. Mallen 6/-, H. Oennys 2/6, Anon, Cam-den Town 1/fS, E. Qulnn l/», C. McClam 5/6, E. McLaughlin 2/8, T. P. Cuddy 2/6, J. Manrahan H/6v F. Ost fne 6/-, J.A. £1, P. MeUttigMtoi Ml-, D. Sullivan 1/6, per D. Cariin £1/15/-, A. Wood 10/-, E. Gibson 3/-, 8ligoman »/-, R. Stewart £1, Anna Xendereen «/-, C. Betbedder 1/10, N. Lon-don, CA. F.H.O. 1 •/- , A.K. £2, R. Johnston #/-, D. KlJcpmmins 11/-, F. Wor-

toWK*ur«t J/- . • . Watters «/-, W. DUtOA »/-, A. Pander 2/6, 8. J. F is tur a l W > / < . F- P- Campbell 14/6, J. J . H e * * * * " «»•»»»•» v t < * Kearney m u t n .

TOTAL fttl/11/1.

by PAUL O'HJGGINS

union won the eight-hour day for the em-ployees of the DubUn Gas Company. In May 1890 the Gas Workers and Dockers Union celebrated "Labour Day with a great demonstration in Phoenix Park under the slogan of the "legal eight-hour day." Both unions grew rapidly and by May Day, 1891, the whole t rade union and labour movement had been revolutionised.

The Gas Workers ynion in the period 1890-91 became the first modern Irish union to embrace the skilled and unskilled industrial and agricultural workers of Ireland, and organised both men and women.

But it was not content to organise the workers f<ir the improvement of wages and conditions. It also took the lead in urging the working class to form an independent political organisation.

On March 4th, 1891 a great Labour Con-ference was held in Dublin. Delegates from over seventy trade unions attended. On the proposal of Michael Carty, Irish organiser of the G.W.G.L.U., the Irish Labour League was founded with a pro-gramme which included the following: — 1. A universal legal eight-hour day.

Removal of taxation from all essential foods. State control of railways, canals, har-bours, docks, etc. Reduction of rents. Nationalisation of the land. Taxation of all unoccupied land and houses. Promotion of industries within Ireland.

The same afternoon Charles Stewart Parnell. lighting the last campaign which only his premature death prevented his winning, publicly declared support for their programme. Welcoming the forma-tion of the Irish Labour League, Parnell used these words:

"I, as an Irish Nationalist, believing in the future of my country, In the right of our country to nationhood, welcome these at tempts of the working mrt> to improve their condition and promise ywi my hearty and cordial support, knowing that in the working men Ireland has her best army, her strongest and bravest sol-diers, and her steadiest ft«hters for the national r ights of Ireland." On May 3rd, 18JH. a tremendous May

Day demonstration was held in Phoenix

Park. The 'Freeman's Journal ' said "Tha t the demonstration represented the labour and working interest of the Irish metro-polis, there is not the slightest doubt."

The following resolutions were passed: (1)

(2)

That day;

there should be an eight-hour

(3)

(4)

That the workers will make no pro-gress without uni ty; That the laws between labour and capital were unequal and ought to be rectified. That Irish Labour should be repre-sented in Pa r l i amen t

In the following years the traditions were established and other towns followed suit— Dundalk, Drogheda, Belfast. In every May Day demonstrat ion the workers voiced their demand for an independent working-class policy, and tha t unity was their sole means of emancipation. Over and over again they expressed the view that the workers of Bri tain were not their enemies but their best allies. On many occasions, notably on May Day. 1893, col-lections were taken up for workers on strike in Britain.

To-day May Day is celebrated in the Six Counties: Connolly Day is celebrated in the Republic. But the day is not so f a r distant when one day will be celebrated throughout a united Ireland by a united Labour movement.

Mr. Cathal MacCrystal

congregation. It reminded me of Derrybeg Chapel in Gweedore in t h e Donegal Gael-tacht, with nave and aisles crammed to the point of suffocation. The priest, Fr . Butonovitch, whom I saw afterwards, was visibly affected at meeting someone f rom Ireland and sent a message of greeting to my fellow countrymen.

He and his charges were not interfered with in any way and his one complaint against the state was its refusal to allow religious instruction to be given publicly to anyone under 18 years of age, a l though parents could make themselves responsible for their children's religious upbringing. When I broached the political situation, Fr. Butonovitch stated the immediate ob-jective of every country should bepeace .

At the building exhibition in Moscow I saw huge prefabricated units for use in construction. A special thick gla.ss was used extensively for piping instead of the lead used in domestic plumbing.

In such a short article as this it is not easy to convey coherently the details of a few weeks' visit to the Soviet Union, but certain impressions are indelible, such as the clinics and rest-rooms in the fac-tories; the experimental research inst i-tute in Leningrad where the emphasis is on removing the industr ial hazards of every conceivable occupation; the deep affection of the Russian people for the i r children and parents: the extravagant scenery in opera and ballet; the clean humour and high s tandard of the i r variety shows; the Irish like warmth and spontaneous generosity of the people of Georgia, and the Ceilidh e atmosphere of a social evening in a collective farmhouse.

TO Cf

me, however as a Gaelic Leaguer, came my biggest thr i l l when I went

to visit- the small autonomous republic of Abkazia in Georgia The name Abkazia means "Country of Soul" and the custom-ary salutation on entering a hoose is "Peace in your home" to which the reply is "You are welcome."

ON March 4th, 1921, when this country was declared a Republic, 90 per cent,

of its people were illiterate, there being only 148 schools and 7,000 pupils. To-day this small area possesses 400 schools with higher education facilities. But the won-derful thing is tha t it is 100 per c e n t literate in Its own langue, as a conse-quence of the encouragement and assist-ance of the Supreme Soviet in restoring the vernacular of Abkazia which was pro-scribed under the Czars.

Thirty years ago, the country had one native-language writer: to-day it has thousands. Every facet of native cnlture was likewise flourishing and I had the pleasure of witnessing the "Country- of Soul," expressing its nationality through its music, dancing, games and customs.

Yet from Riga to Georgia I found the Soviet people had one thing in ooinmon— an almost pathetic desire to main ta in peace in the world Since I came home I feel I have at least tha t in common with them also.

CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION MEETINGS WEST LONDON 17 Bishopsbridge Road,

Paddlngton, W.2.

* THURSDAYS, 8 p.m. Apl. 7: ORIGIN OF PARTITION

G. Curran. Apl. 14: IRELAND TO-DAY

E. Lyons. Apl.21: IRELAND TO-MORROW

P. J. Clancy. Apl. 28: IRISHMEN, UNITE1

E. MacLaughlln.

NORTH LONDON " T h e Old Eagle,"

251 Royal College Street.

* WEDNESDAYS, 8 p.m. Apl. 6: LlAM MELLOWES

Desmond Greaves. Apl. 13: IRISH AND LABOUR

Councillor P. J. Gethin. Apl. 20: PHYSICAL FORCE

P. J. Clancy. Apl. 27: ANNUAL GENERAL

MEETING

M A N C H E S T E R B R A N C H - E V E R Y T U E S D A Y , 8 L A B O U R P A R T Y ROOMS, O X F O R D S T R E E T

Opposite Fraseatis (All Saint's)

p.m.

z

•i 0

"lit

I

April 1955 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

Edited by Cathal MacLiam

AN BLATH B'OIGE -Roibeard Emmet

JVTI raibh aois r iamh ann i stair tire nach ^ raibh duine eigin ann a bhf rtidh chun iarracht a deannamh ar rgidh-thea th t an cheist ba mhd a bhiodh ag cur isteacht ar muin tear na tire ud. Is amhtakfh go mbionn na n-intinn is uaislc'6 is cial lmhara ag gabhiil leis an oheist; duine de 'n dream lid ab ea Roi-beard Emrfiet, a chrochadh 'san mblian 1803, th'^is teip ar an eiri-amach a chui-readh ar bun an bttan cManna.

T4 cunntus bea thadh an 6ig-fhear seo— ni raibh ach cuig 's fiche de blianta aige nuair a d'4ag se—sgriobhtha ag Leon O Broin (Silrs&U A Dill; S/6) agus gan amhras 's4 an cunntus is fearr agus is iomUine at & le faghail, idir Gaedhilge agus B4arla, go dhl seo.

Rugadh Emmet i mBaile Atha Cliath Na mblian 1778, an blian a chuireadh na • Eireannaigh Aontuithe ar bun. Clann

uas&i ab ae a ch iann agus bhf post mar Dhoctufr Stftit ag a h-athair. Bhi baint ,ig an gclann le daoine a chuaidh go dtf an Fhrainc agus Meirice£, tiri 'na raibh tuairmi poblachtanachais i bhfeidmh intl. Ni m6r, ti& bh&rr. go raibh na tuairmi sin 'na adhbhar diosbbireachta ag an gclann agus nl m<5r freisin go raibh an clann tughtha teis na tuirmi.

T E linn 6ige Roibeard, bhi si 'na scolaire ^ thar b h i r r : bhi an matamaitic go prass aige agus d'r6ir soGala, bhi s6 ag dul chun chinn go dtapaidh. Cuireadh chuig Coldiste na Trion6ide nuair nach raibh ach cuig bliana d4ag aige, agus niorbh f h a d a go raibh c*ii air, ni h-amhain mar scolaire ach mar drii-deoir. 'San diospdireacht ni raib dhd in-tinn aige faoi seo agus i gconuf labhair s i ar thaobh an d&onflaittils. Is beag adh-bhair n t r leag s£ l&mh air nach raibh s i 'na mhAictear dhe. Ach go tHo6ann cuiread deire le n-a chursa, sul ar raibh deis aige ciim a bhaint amach. Oibriodh as an gColdiste 6; agus le na theanta sin bhi gach iclscoil idir Eire agus an Bhrea-tan Mh<Jr dunta roimhe. Ba sa mblian 1798 a th i r la sin agus dibriodh 6 'tuisc go raibh ceangail aige leis na h-Eirean-nalgh Aontuithe. Ni fhios duinn ci an ph&irt a glach se i rith an cogaidh, ach p i sceal i biodh muid cinnte gur glac s i part , d'aimhedin a 6ige.

Nuair a bhi cinniri an iiri-amach, iad-san a ghabhadh agus n&r cuirsadh chun bhiis, i bpriosun, thug Emmet ciialrt or tha go min-minic. Ghidh go raibh a dhearthAr, Tomis Addis faoi glas, niorbh cuairt pearsanta amhi in a bhi ann ach, bhi s i ag bailiu eolais diobh agus ag tab-hairt seeala ddibh i gcaoi s go mbhiodh siad i ndon ul lamhu chun troda li eigin eiie. De bhri gur sceidh bratadbir air, b'eigin do Emmet dul i bhfolach. D'imtigh s i thar saile i n-a dhiadh sin agus bhi s i san Fhrainc ar lorg cabhair chun ais-iirl. Chas Tom*s Addis a bhi th'iis ceitre bli-ana i bpriosun, air i bPiras.

I^HANIG ROIBEARD abaile arist san 1 Deire Foghmair na mbliana 1802,

agus thosuigh s i ag ullamhu chun iiri-amach. Bhi csangail ag a dhream leis na Corresponding Societies i Sasana, daoine a bhi ag iarraidh poblacht a chur ar bun sa tir ud.

Ta fhios ag chach chiard a tharla nuair a d'iirl na h-Eireannairgh amach i ml lul, 1803; gur theip ortha agus gur thoghadh Emmet agus eii? agus gur chrochadh iad. 'San Fbgra an ^iri-amaoh, tA rucfai ann a theasbAineann gur duine practioiiiil Emmet, go raibh s ta idi i r deanta aige ar ciirsal stiit, agus gur ghlach si leis an tualrm nach raibh ceart ag i inne a chuid a dholl gan cead d'fag-hiil on start agus go mba ceart cuid an chliir a bheidh mar cuid an naisiuln.

NI mbr a r i d go bhfull saotaoir mhai th deanta ag an udar , Leon O'Broln. TA bail-lighte aige gach a bhuil tracht deanta ar Emmet.

RMMET, in this booh, is seen as a figure J of great intellectual gilts and of

strong noble character , who in his short l ifetimi- *nd ha was hanged In his 25th year well earned the gratitude of his countrymen.

Mr. O'BrOln has added much new material to t ha t already collected and his work Is the fullest and best aocount so far K'ven.

The publishers ar* Si irs ial k Dill and •be puce is «/6, which l« not coatly when °ne considers t h a t the book oontalm a m»P- a photot ta t of the Proclamation, seven picture* of Emmet himaalf and many other pictures.

C.Mnc.L.

Rights of the Citizen Handbook of Citizens' R ights (National

Council tor Civil Liberties, 48 pages, 2 6.)

^ H I S is a valuable little booklet and should be obtained and kept by

all those who conduct any public political or industrial activity.

The consistent policy ot the rulers of Britain is to try to monopolise everv mode of expression—press, radio, television— and thus deny a hearing to anv but them-selves.

The old days before the working class grew strong knew the "gag-ac ts" of ( " I met murder on the way") Castlereagh, and the notorious combination Acts which sent the Tolpuddle martyrs to transporta-tion. The newspaper tax aimed at putt ing reading matter out of the worker's reach. And, generally speaking, as working-class organisation increased, and im-proved, the rulers of Britain more and more relied on the power of money to deny a say to those without money.

For immemorial ages the people expressed their opinions by coming to-gether and voicing them at meetings. They were shot, batonned and sabred at Peterloo and elsewhere to keep the r ight to do so. Almost as independent of money-backing is poster-parading and picketing.

TNDOOR meetings can be restricted by 4 owners of halls, and the high cost of advertising. Open - air meetings are different. The principal cities of Britain for long had enjoyed traditional meeting places where passers-by listened to politics.

The booklet which lias been written on the law might well be followed by a study of the non-legal a t tempts to whittle away the onlv inexpensive form of communica-tion of ideas. Correctly it points out that indirect methods are in favour to-day. It is some " offence " incidentally committed which provides the excuse for interference by authority.

But it is not gene/ally appreciated what enormous restrictions have taken place without a blow being struck. Public squares have been turned into car parks; the motorists can flaunt their comfort at public expense (park ing meters? perish the thought of charg ing t h e m ! ) - t h e people can slink into the back streets. If they try to hold meetings there they will be stopped for " obstruction."

Another favourite trick (especially in Yorkshire) is that councils " beaut i fy" the cities by planting geranium beds where people hold meetings, but not where capitalists make " brass." The traditional meeting places of the hungry thirties are planted out with flowers. In Trafalgar Square they have erected huge unsightly fountains which spray meetings with

with encouragement from Edinburgh. The police of one Dumbarton burgh relused to name a site where an Irish meeting would be allowed to proceed Though the N.C.C.L. booklet claims that in English law there is a "right of public meeting, to picket, and parade," Scottish authorities have a hab i t of claiming that a magistrate's " p e r m i t " is necessarv. Those whose activities are stopped through want of a permi t can then watch others who assert they have no per-mit holding public meetings on exactly the same ground! I t is all very surpris-ing. Something for the N.C.C.L. to inves-tigate if they can get a good sale and raise the money!

While the right of public expression is naturally of most immediate interest to politically-minded people, the booklet wiulu spray meetings Wltn i™""««»j-iiiimiou people, Me OOOklei

water in the slightest wind, as if there u n d e r review provides valuable informs were not enousrh restrictions nn th» Hon on many otiter matters . ' .- Is your

telephone tapped? . . . wrongful arrest . . . search and seizure.

And the keynote is rightly that " there is no danger that the tasks of the police in combatting crime will be made more difficult by the citizen having a clear understanding of h i s rights; the police will gain far more by the willing co-opera-tion of an informed public than could ever be gained by the assumption of. non-exis-tent powers coupled with a DOlicv of ' bluff . '"

Postscript - A Scottish edition of ' Citizens' Rights " would be of value. A Belfast edition—might cover a postage s tamp! H > M <

were not enough restrictions on the Square as it is.

The number of convenient meeting places is declining all the time. In Corby, even in progressive Coventry, the City Council does not consider an open-air meeting site worthy of consideration in its town plan. All is so orderly these days.

As for police interference there is great variation from place to place. Little objection • is taken to street meetings in London, Manchester or most English Midland cities. Nottingham has its own " Hyde Park," which is a civic university. Scotland, on the other hand, provides astonishing examples of blatant dis-crimination practised by all appearance

SET IN SHADOWS " ^ UNSET on the Window Panes," i family (not unnaturally) feel rather

Walter Macken's latest novel strongly about his behaviour. Although (pub l i shed by M a c m i l l a n , p r ice 12 6), B a r t § o e s away, the family still staggers

-—• i.. „i . L _ i . 1 f r o m nn p traiTon™ — yti_

IRISH IN BRITAIN *pHE Irish in Britain: where are they?

What do they work at? How do they live? These are some of the questions often asked about the Irish immigrants in this country, and the answers to which ' " " " " " " J ' ^ ' " ' S " 1

every politically-minded Irishman should , impu l s iveness in a young m a n h e l p know. In a pamphlet, "Irishmen Make h im tn pninv l i fp h u t wi th m n n a R a r t

is mainly about events which take place in a village called Boola in the West of Ireland. The central charac-ter is young Bart O'Brien, one of a family living on the edge of the village. His brother, Luke, manages tiie farm, while his mother runs their grocery shop. Normally strength and

Good Trade Unionists," published this month by the "Irish Democrat" (1/- post fre» from 53 Rosoman Street, E.C.1) this information is to be found.

The pamphlet, which has an attractive appearance, is based on an "Irish Demo-crat" Conference held in the Holborn Hall in November, 1954. Besides a photograph of that great figura of trade unionism, Jim Larkin, on the front page, there are other photographs of historical Interest and maps to show where and how many Irish live in different parts of Britain. A fuller review of this important pamphlet will appear in ths next issue.

him to enjoy life, but with young Bart it is otherwise. These qualities bring misfortune to fr iends and relatives, ending with the death of his half-brother, a character who is as likeable as Bart yet s trangely impassive.

The story begins with Bart's thought-lessness causing a young girl called Breeda to become blind and his half-brother's mental powers to become per-manently impaired. Bart 's next victim is a girl who momentarily attracts him, Sheila O'Brien. He betravs her and has to leave the village in a hurry because he does not want to marrv her and her

SHE IS FAR FROM THE LAND

THOMAS MOORE

She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps, And lovers are round her, sighing;

But coldly she turns from their gaze, and weeps, For her heart in his grave is lying.

She sings the wild song of her dear native plains, Ev'ry note which he lov'd awaking;

Ah! little they think, who delight in her strains, How the heart of the Minstrel is breaking.

He had lived for his love, for his country he died, They were all that to life had entwin'd him;

Nor soon shall the tears of his country be dried, Nor long will his love stay behind him.

Oh! make her a grave where the sunbeams rest, When they promise a glorious morrow;

They'll shine o'er her sleep like a smile from the West, From her own lov'd island of sorrow.

— • -• • • •

from one tragedy to another. His mother dies partly of a broken heart because her son Joseph is unable to go on with the priesthood.

Eventually Bart returns. We know from his letters to Breeda, the blind girl, tha t everyone and everything in the world which he travelled made very dis-agreeable impression On him. Aa h e looks, ra ther wasted and his complexion has acquired a yellow hue, we are not sur-prised when Bart s tar ts a travelling grocery business, thus competing with and helping to ruin his brother Luke.

The final catastrophe occurs when the brother Joseph announces t h a t ' h e has seen a vision on the mountainside. Bart spreads the news a s quickly as h e can. His idea is to attract hundreds of sight-seers who will come to see Joseph and the Vision, to whom he can sell food and drink. As the crowd do not see the promised vision, they feel cheated, so they turn on young Joseph, whom they feel is a charleton. When B a r t rescues him from the crowd, Joseph is in a pitiable state, both physically and mentally. The novel ends with the principal characters stand-ing about the death bed of Joseph. The blind girl, Breeda, Bar t and Luke feel there is some powerful spiritual influence present as the young lad dies. Martha, Luke's wife, insists t h a t it is only the sun-set on the window panes.

T H E overall effect of the story is one of unreality. The re is so much real

evil in the world and clearly at tached to particular people t h a t Bart as an imper-sonification of evil is never convincing. There are undoubtedly tragedies duft to frustrat ion of the barrenness of some rural parts of IreUmd, but these tragedies are not caused by young men like Bart O'Brien. Such tragedies have social and political causes known to every Irish school child.

Once Irish writers forget what the his-tory teacher told t hem at school, they are likely to produce such a story where not one character la normal , in the sense of being aware of the things which make life worth living, h u m a n dignity, skill in any kind of work, beauty, courage, laughter, self-sacrifice for a noble cause. In lacking this awarness, the characters of this book fall to develop, they only detertwrate. As they did not start off by being full and living characters, there la no real tragedy In their decay. The tragedy 4s In the writer rather than the writing. Here is BO much skill at describing the human scene wasted. Why cannot he write -about people who believe in Ireland's future, and there are many in Ireland who do and are working for that future? .Per-haps he has become afraid or the ftitttre like the writers or " The Vanishing'Irtsh." Perhaps the hydrogen bomb frightened him. O h e can omy- hope t h a t he will shake off his terror before attttng down to write ano the r novel. C.C.

8 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT April 1955

BIRMINGHAM BULL RING

Caster Sunday: 3.30 p.m. Speakers:

DESMOND GREAVES GERRARD CURRAN

Chairman: CORMAC KERR • • • •

NOTTINGHAM CITY SQUARE

Easter Sunday: 3.30 p.m. Speakers:

EAMONN LYONS CHRIS. MAGUIRE PEADAR CONNOLLY

Hyde Park, London EASTER COMMEMORATION

SUNDAY, 10 APRIL, 3 p.m. PATRICK DEYINE PATRICK O'SULLIVAN EAMONN MACLAUGHLIN FREDERICK O'SHEA

LEICESTER M A R K E T P L A C E

EASTER SUNDAY, 7.30 p.m. S p e a k e r s :

Eamonn Lyons Chris. Maguire Peadar Connolly

f u l l list of Easter meetinos-1955

T O N D O N , 10th, Hyde Pa rk , 3 p.m., P. Devine, P. O'Sullivan, F. O'Snea, E.

MacLaughlin; 17th, E. Lyons C. MacLiam; 24th, E. McLaughlin, G. Curran. MAN-CHESTER, 10th, Piatt Fields, 3 p.m., D. Kilcommins, T. Henry, M. Weaver; 24th, Pat Clancy, J. Deighan, T. Henry. BIR-MINGHAM, 10th, Desmond Greaves, G. Curran; 24th, E. Lyons, D. Greaves, C. Kerr. NOTTINGHAM, Old Market Square, 3 p.m. 10th, E. Lyons, C. Maguire; 24th, C. Maguire, P. Connolly. LEICESTER Market Place, 7.30 p.m. 10th, E. Lyons, C. Maguire. COVENTRY (Fire Station) 3 p.m., 17th, E. MacLaughlin, P. O Sullivan. NORTHAMPTON, 17th, 7.30 p jn . , E. Mac-Laughlin, P. O'Sullivan. HUDDERSFIELD 24th, 7JO p.m., Patrick Clancy, J . Deighan, Dr. E. O'Shea. LUTON, 2«th, 8 p.m., P. O'Sullivan, C. MacLiam. ST. ALBANS, 3.30 p.m„ P. O'Sullivan, C. MacLiam. WIGAN, R. Hardybutts, 17th, 2.30 p.m., Darnel Kilcommins, T. Henry, J . Deighan. ST. HELENS, 8 p.m., T. Henry, J. Deighan, D. Kilcommins.

Meetings are under arrangement for Bradford, Sheffield and Corby, but details are not available at time of going to press. See local announcements.

Manchester C.A. Success

M A N C H E S T E R Branch of the Connolly Association embarked on an interest-

ing new venture on March 13th, when they organised a one-day school in the Labour Party Rooms, All Saints, on the subject of "Scientific Socialism..'' Tutor was Des-mond Greaves, and 22 members attended together with five visitors.

Keynote of the school was the serious manner in which the s tuden t s tackled a series of specimen political problems re-lated to the progress of I re land.

Chairman was Daniel Kilcommins. Fol-lowing the school a public meeting was held in freezing cold at Deansgate blftz site. But, in spite of t h e weather, 150 came to protest against the " 0 " Specials' action in shooting Ar thur Leonard. A thousand leaflets were distributed and a fur ther (indoor) protest meeting took place on March 15th,

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AN EASTER MESSAGE TO THE IRISH

IN BRITAIN The killing of Arthur Leonard by 'B' Specials has shocked the coflsciehce of many British people — especially in the Labour Movement.

Trade Union Branches have condemned the outrage.

THIS AT THE VERY TIME CONTROVERSY RAGES OVER THE POLICY OF LABOUR.

"LEFT" means ANTI-IMPERIALIST. "RIGHT-WING" means IMPERIALIST.

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IF British Labour can be won to a Left-wing Anti-Imperialist Policy in time for the coming Election, then instead of "Ireland Acts" we may see Ireland United.

SO every Irishman should urge the British workers to support Ireland's unity. To do so would help to sweep the Tories from office.

IRISHMEN AND WOMEN—

ORGANISE, EDUCATE, UNITE! Join the Connolly Association

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CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION STEPS UP ACTIVITIES T ONDON branches of the Connolly As-

sociatlon combined for one of the most successful St. Patrick's Day celebrations ever held under their auspices.

Says Secretary of the Socials Committee Miss Mairin Langan: "There are so many people to be thanked t h a t we cannot enumera te ttiem all. I hope they will all accept our thanks."

But principal credit undoubtedly belongs to the 8oolal( Committee Itself, and not leatt to MlM Langan herself who, together with Mrs. May Malone (a t rojan if ever there was one!) and Mrs. O'Dowling, or-ganised for weeks before to make the event a success.

Famous Irish I'olk-singer Margaret

Barrv made an unexpected appearance; Pa t Galvin delighted his audience as usual - o h ! we couldn't mention them all.

though we must mention John Ennis, the accordian player, who was present with his wife, the famous Camogie player.

Mossages were read from the Irish Am-bassador and from Mrs. Lena Jeger, M.P. for tho constituency where the dance was held. Present was the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Holborn. The Lord Mayor, in the coursa of a short address, expressed pleasure at the enjoyment the visitors were having. Also present were Professor J. D. Bernal and Mrs. Felicity Bolton, who had travelled all the way from Birmingham. M.C. was Pat Dcvinc,

and the hundreds of guests present ended by joining in the "Soldiers Song."

The new ar rangements between the "Ir ish Democrat" and the Connolly Asso-ciation, giving branches of the C.A. 10 per cent . discount on sales are rapidly filling t h e coffers of the branches, and the North London branch i.s already wondering what is to be done with the new found wealth! They are thinking of taking a leaf out of Manchester 's book and holding a one-dav school.

Another feature i:; becoming the publi-cation of leaflets by the "Irish Democrat." The "Irish Democrat ' ' prints a leaflet, and t he branches order supplies in which there is included the particular announcement of meeting etc which they wish to make.

Birmingham branch is now being ro-

Coventry 3.30 p.m.

Northampton 7.30 p.m.

SUNDAY, 17 APRIL S p e a k e r s :

Eamonn MacLaughlin Pat O'Sullivan

TRUTH ABOUT THE CONNOLLY

ASSOCIATION 'T'H E bost Easter commemoration any

Ir ishman could perform is to join the Connolly Association, the oldest, the strongest, the most active, most mili tant fighting organisation of Irish people resi-dent in Britain.

When you have joined you may find people Will tell you what an awful thing— you havctlor.c ynd how the leaders of tha t organisation want you to become a terrible sort of person.

Well, here are the qualities we want to see in our members: — 1.—Initiative. When you see an opportu-

nity to serve the people, seize it. Don't wait for others. Imperial-ism never sleeps. We must not either. 2.—Though t fu In ess. The experience you

are having every day is the raw material of history. These little events, t ha t make up "the class struggle and the national struggle, combined to-gether decide the future. Th ink over your experience, summarise it, and study Irish and working-class history in the light of it. 3.—Constructiveness. Wage a continuous

war agains t cynic-ism. It is the one sure t rademark of a failure. The imperialists want Irish people to grow cynical and lose fa i th in their own country, their own powers and their own leaders. 4.—Reliability. When you under take to do

anything, be absolutely sure and do it. Think before you volunteer, and if you have reason to doubt your own ability to do it, do not mislead others into expecting it of you. 5.—Honesty. Tell the people the t ruth .

No progressive political cause was ever advanced one little bit by trickery or intrigue. 6.—Sobriety. By twhich i.s not meant "tee-

totalism" but you should have hold of drink, not drink have hold of you. The work of Father Mathew in his day was not to be despised—without it t rade unionism might have been much more difficult to establish. The Chinese revolutionaries had to wage a war against opium in their own movement—imperial-ism laughs when the people are dreaming. It is terror-stricken when they wake up. What 's the solution? Do your business first then take your drink af terwards (as Danny Kilcommins advised the Manches-ter school)—not the other way round

In a fu ture Issue we will say something about how to organise branches now be-ing established increasingly in various areas. This comes first, as it is the indi-vidual who is the UNIT of the Connolly organisation.

organised. The departure of the old and familiar figure of Johnny Griffin from that city left a serious gap. Cormac Kerr has now become 9acretary, and Birmingham readers of the "Irish Democrat" who feel they would like to join at an auspioious time, should get In touch with 63 Roso-man Streot, London, E.C.I or come to the Bull Ring on tho toth or 24th. Shortly it is hoped to commence weekly meetings in tho Birmingham Bull Ring, and also in Nott ingham City Square.

Pr in ted by Ripley Printing Society Ltd. (T.U.t, Ripley, D^liys., and published by the Editor a t 53 Rosoman Street, London, E C 1.