Saturday, April 28, 2007

'Republican socialist' gears-up to attack Westminster....



'Man Of The People' Bertie Ahern , the 'Shell/Shannon' poodle ,has been invited to the kennel of that other poodle , Tony B.Liar, where , amongst other niceities , he will thank the ensconced war-mongers for accepting the surrender of the latest batch of Irish 'rebels' and for continuing to finance their 'transition' from terriers to poodles .

In doing so, 'the bert' is , like one of his predecessors, hoping to secure his place in history . And , just like his predecessor, he is assured of that.......






Friday, April 27, 2007

'British Terror : tell the world....'


'BRITISH TERROR IN IRELAND :TELL THE WORLD THE FULL STORY'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

'The most vicious forms of torture combined with brain-washing techniques are now being practised by the Crown authorities in Occupied Ireland to obtain 'confessions' . The Coalisland story is not an isolated instance . We have examples also from Derry , from Down , from Fermanagh - indeed , from all areas of Occupied Ireland .

A father and son arrested in Fermanagh within the past month were both brutally treated by the RUC . The father is now in the Omagh Mental Hospital .
A youth arrested in Kilkeel , County Down , had to be shifted to a mental hospital after his release from the RUC . A noted brain specialist has testified to his condition .
James Donnelly , Leo McGarry , James Hackett , Paddy Timony and Denis Cassin , of Armagh City , who were arrested on December 7 , were kept in tubs of cold water for four hours , were taken out and , while naked , had their feet stamped on and their bodies punched . Later they were beaten with rubber truncheons .
These things are happening in Occupied Ireland today . The Coalisland youths may be put in the dock any day now on capital charges , but as yet they are held uncharged and untried .
In Fermanagh , youths arrested during the last round-up are also uncharged and untried . But this has not prevented Stormont declaring that four of them will be charged and will receive stiff sentences . British 'justice' in Ireland now follows the rule : 'Announce the sentence first and then charge and try them' . Willing stooges , rejoicing in the name of "judges" , are ready to dispense the required sentence whenever called upon .
The London 'Observer' newspaper , on December 15 , 1957 , carried an article on brain-washing in which this statement appeared :
" The real tortures are isolation and solitary confinement , prolonged interrogation , humiliation..." Now read the story of the Coalisland youths and see if the description fits . Britain may have gotten away with torture in Cyprus and other places , but she won't get away with it in Ireland . This isn't Kenya . There are Irish exiles with powerful voices in every corner of the globe and they will see to it that this story is told in full . The Irish people at home will not stand for it either . Our job now is to expose British atrocities in Ireland and tell the world the full story ' .
(MORE OF THESE ARTICLES TO FOLLOW...)

THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY.
Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .


It may have been a tear of joy in the knowledge that Fingal County Council- which brought the injunction - has gifted the 35-year-old Socialist Party member and her campaign , publicity beyond her wildest dreams . Not only this , but even SIPTU has now felt it necessary to come out , against all its instincts , and condemn the jailing of Clare Daly and party colleague , Leinster House member Joe Higgins. The question now is whether all this is enough to sweep Clare Daly - the Chairperson of the Fingal Anti-Bin Tax Campaign- into Leinster House at the next general election .

That the Technical , Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) is considering strike action over the protestors' jailing might not be that surprising , but for SIPTU General Secretary-Elect , Jack O' Connor, to come out in support of Clare Daly and Joe Higgins is astonishing as Dublin Airport catering shop steward , Clare Daly , is exactly the kind of bolshie rabble rouser that keeps the union top brass awake at night when they would prefer to be dreaming of plush boardroom meetings and those cute little bottles of Ballygowan .

Clare Daly has had run-ins with the SIPTU leadership in the past and they consider that her Trotskyist tendencies and tactics - blocking bin trucks and shouting through megaphones - just aren't cricket.......
(MORE LATER).



GLOSSARY OF THE LEFT IN IRELAND : FROM 1960 TO 1983.......
These notes attempt to record the left-wing organisations which have existed in Ireland since 1960 . No attempt has been made to record purely local organisations outside Dublin and Belfast , or microscopic groups which never reached double figures . The larger organisations have been presented in more detail .
From 'GRALTON' magazine, 1983.
By John Goodwillie.
(NOTE : Links in the following article are as accurate as possible - not all the groups mentioned left a discernible 'footprint' .)

UNITED LABOUR PARTY: Formed in 1978 around Paddy Devlin as a non-sectarian labour party in the North of Ireland . Won one seat in the local elections in 1981 despite Paddy Devlin's departure .

WORKERS ALLIANCE FOR ACTION: A tendency in the Socialist Labour Party(SLP) , formed in 1978 around the Irish Workers Group. This organisation ceased to exist when they left the SLP in 1979 .

WORKERS LEAGUE: This group changed its name from the League For Workers Vanguard in 1971 . Trotskyist organisation affiliated to the International Committee of the Fourth International (Healthites). This group ceased to function around 1978 .
(MORE LATER).







Thursday, April 26, 2007

Memorial Rally for Irish Hunger-Strikers .

MEMORIAL RALLY FOR IRISH HUNGER-STRIKERS , Saturday 5th May 2007 .

On Saturday May 5th next , in Dublin ,the Republican Movement will hold a Memorial Rally for the 22 Irish men that died on hunger-strike between 1917 and 1981 :
Thomas Ashe, Kerry, 5 days, 25 September 1917 (force fed by tube , died as a result).
Terrence McSweeny, Cork, 74 days, 25 October 1920.
Michael Fitzgerald, Cork, 67 days, 17 October 1920.
Joseph Murphy, Cork, 76 days , 25 October 1920 .
Joe Witty, Wexford , 2 September 1923.
Dennis Barry, Cork, 34 days, 20 November 1923.
Andy O Sullivan , Cork, 40 days, 22 November 1923.
Tony Darcy, Galway, 52 days, 16 April 1940.
Jack 'Sean' McNeela, Mayo, 55 days, 19 April 1940.
Sean McCaughey, Tyrone ,22 days, 11 May 1946 (hunger and thirst Strike).
Michael Gaughan, Mayo , 64 days, 3 June 1974.
Frank Stagg, Mayo , 62 days, 12 February 1976.
Bobby Sands, Belfast , 66 days, 5 May 1981.
Frank Hughes , Bellaghy (Derry) , 59 days, 12 May 1981.
Raymond McCreesh , South Armagh , 61 days, 21 May 1981.
Patsy O Hara , Derry , 61 days, 21 May 1981.
Joe McDonnell , Belfast , 61 days, 8 July 1981.
Martin Hurson , Tyrone , 46 days, 13 July 1981.
Kevin Lynch, Dungiven (Derry) ,71 days, 1 August 1981.
Kieran Doherty , Belfast , 73 days, 2 August 1981.
Tom McIlwee , Bellaghy (Derry) , 62 days, 8 August 1981.
Micky Devine , Derry , 60 days, 20 August 1981.

A two-hour picket and rally will be held on the traffic isle facing the GPO in Dublin's O'Connell Street , beginning at 1(one) P.M . , on Saturday May 5th 2007 .
All Welcome.






Wednesday, April 25, 2007

WHICH WAY FORWARD IN THE FREE STATE....... ?

In the wake of Sinn Fein successs in the North , republicans are increasingly having to confront the problem of building a realistic strategy for the very different political situation that exists in the 26 Counties . In this controversial analysis , Sinn Fein ard comhairle ('National Executive') member Paddy Bolger , argues that the Sinn Fein concept of an 'Economic Resistance Movement' , put forward in 1971 and expanded eight years later , is seriously over-optimistic , and that the national question remains the central revolutionary issue on which Free State workers can be mobilised in a painstaking and gradualist approach .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983 .

We may have to accept that the furthest we can go in the foreseeable future is to secure majority nationalist representation by electoral gains in the North , and aim to progressively improve our electoral situation in the South based on intelligently presented national and economic positions , by building a movement for British withdrawal and economic renewal , and eventually achieving what could be called a democratic , neutral united Ireland . This would be an historic gain . ('1169...' Comment - ...as opposed to the countless so-called "historic" happenings that have taken place during this false-dawn of a 'peace process' , which have not only completely de-valued that word , when used in a Six County context , but have actually ensured that the word itself now means the opposite of that which it should!)

In those circumstances , it would then be the strength achieved by Sinn Fein and the working class that would be the factor making possible any further movement from that point towards a socialist republic .
[END of 'WHICH WAY FORWARD IN THE FREE STATE?']
(Next : 'TELL THE WORLD' : from 1958)


TROUBLESOME BUSINESS .......
The book - 'Troublesome Business-The Labour Party and the Irish Question', by GEOFFREY BELL , was published by Pluto Press in 1982.
Reviewed here by Ciaran Dowd.
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1982 .

Progressive resolutions about the situation in the North of Ireland were pushed through successive British Labour Party conferences and Tony Benn came off the fence to support re-unification and independence for Ireland . And yet Don Concannon, the party's spokesperson on Ireland , could still carry out his obscene death-bed call on Bobby Sands to tell him that the British Labour Party did not support his just demands.

It may yet be true , as MP Joan Maynard told an LCI fringe meeting at the 1981 Labour Party conference , that "...Bobby Sands' death and the votes he got transformed the situation inside the Parliamentary Labour Party . As far as Irish unity went , it was conversions all round.." But the concrete evidence of Maynard's optimism - with her failure to be reselected to the party's National Executive Committee at the 1982 conference - is still a long way from being seen .
[END of 'TROUBLESOME BUSINESS']
(Next - 'YOUNG BLOODS ; CLARE DALY' : from 2003)

GLOSSARY OF THE LEFT IN IRELAND : FROM 1960 TO 1983.......
These notes attempt to record the left-wing organisations which have existed in Ireland since 1960 . No attempt has been made to record purely local organisations outside Dublin and Belfast , or microscopic groups which never reached double figures . The larger organisations have been presented in more detail .
From 'GRALTON' magazine, 1983.
By John Goodwillie.
(NOTE : Links in the following article are as accurate as possible - not all the groups mentioned left a discernible 'footprint' .)

SOCIALIST WORKERS MOVEMENT: An organisation in the Trotskyist tradition formed in 1971 mainly from elements of People's Democracy and the Young Socialists, together with the Waterford Socialist Movement (an affiliate of the Socialist Labour Alliance) , on the basis of orientation to the working class and sympathy with the International Socialists (now known as 'The Socialist Workers Party') in Britain . The SWM entered the Socialist Labour Party and dissolved into the Socialist Workers Tendency in 1978 . Re-formed in 1980 when the SWT left the organisation .

SOCIALIST WORKERS TENDENCY: Formed in 1978 in the Socialist Labour Party(SLP) by the Socialist Workers Movement. The 'Tendency' group left the 'SLP' in 1980 .

SOCIALISTS AGAINST NATIONALISM: Formed in 1980 as an alliance of The Socialist Party, The Limerick Socialist Organisation, and the British And Irish Communist Organisation. Replaced by the Democratic Socialist Party in 1982 .
(MORE LATER).







Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Commemorating the 22 Irish Hunger-Strikers.....

HUNGER STRIKE MEMORIAL RALLY , DUBLIN , SATURDAY MAY 5th , 2007 .


Between the years 1917 and 1981 , 22 Irish men died on hunger strike in their fight for Irish Freedom . That same fight continues today , as six Irish counties remain under the jurisdictional control of Westminster , which enforces that control with military occupation . The annual Hunger-Strike Commemoration -organised by the Republican Movement - will be held this year on Saturday , 5 May , when a two-hour picket and rally will be held on the traffic isle facing the GPO in Dublin's O'Connell Street , beginning at 1(one)P.M.
ALL WELCOME!






Monday, April 23, 2007

WHICH WAY FORWARD IN THE FREE STATE....... ?

In the wake of Sinn Fein successs in the North , republicans are increasingly having to confront the problem of building a realistic strategy for the very different political situation that exists in the 26 Counties . In this controversial analysis , Sinn Fein ard comhairle ('National Executive') member Paddy Bolger , argues that the Sinn Fein concept of an 'Economic Resistance Movement' , put forward in 1971 and expanded eight years later , is seriously over-optimistic , and that the national question remains the central revolutionary issue on which Free State workers can be mobilised in a painstaking and gradualist approach .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983 .

How can we make progress , then , given that we rule out (as in commonsense we must) revolutionary armed struggle in the Free State , and given that economic and social circumstances are not hopeful ?

I believe that the central economic question in Irish history is the national question : sometimes in the South the national question can be lost sight of by republicans who see the ending of partition as a future goal to be accomplished by building a mass republican organisation on social issues . In fact , apart from its centrality to Irish political life , the 'national question' is the only question in the Ireland of today with a revolutionary political potential .

And so , while we cannot fail to be socialists in all areas of work identified in the economic resistance programme in 1979, we may err too far in a direction that is only superfically revolutionary unless the 'national question' is at all times kept to the fore.......
(MORE LATER).



TROUBLESOME BUSINESS .......
The book - 'Troublesome Business-The Labour Party and the Irish Question', by GEOFFREY BELL , was published by Pluto Press in 1982.
Reviewed here by Ciaran Dowd.
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1982 .

There have always been progressive pressure groups in the British Labour Party, such as the early 1960s' 'Campaign for Democracy in Ulster' (sic) but , in Office , the British Labour Party has uncompromisingly toed the imperialist-unionist line .

To the left of the Party there have been several campaigns since 1969 committed to British withdrawal from Ireland : in the early 1970's there was the Anti-Internment League, which was superceded in 1976 by the Troops Out Movement (TOM). Geoff Bell concludes that " ...the inability of TOM to build the 'mass campaign' it hoped for was due to the hostile environment it had to work in.."

This is obviously true , but it did not prevent a powerful anti-war movement materialising in the United States at the time of Vietnam: however that may be , by 1980 these forces had shifted their attention to the Labour Committee on Ireland (LCI) which operates essentially within the British Labour Party.......
(MORE LATER).


GLOSSARY OF THE LEFT IN IRELAND : FROM 1960 TO 1983.......
These notes attempt to record the left-wing organisations which have existed in Ireland since 1960 . No attempt has been made to record purely local organisations outside Dublin and Belfast , or microscopic groups which never reached double figures . The larger organisations have been presented in more detail .
From 'GRALTON' magazine, 1983.
By John Goodwillie.
(NOTE : Links in the following article are as accurate as possible - not all the groups mentioned left a discernible 'footprint' .)

SOCIALIST LABOUR PARTY: Formed in 1977 following the Independent (Anti-Coalition) Labour election campaigns . Attracted much uncommitted support from members of the League For A Workers' Republic, the Irish Workers' Group, part of the Movement For A Socialist Republic and the Socialist Workers' Movement. These groups departed over the period 1978-1980 . The 'SLP' has been fissiparous from the beginning , alienating its members for diverse reasons , and eventually dissolved in 1982 .

THE SOCIALIST PARTY: This group changed its name from The Socialist Party Of Ireland in 1976 , following its adoption of a 'two-nations theory': it achieved some localised working-class support before it merged into the Democratic Socialist Party in 1982 .

THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF IRELAND: Formed in 1971 as a breakaway from Official Sinn Fein on the grounds that they were still too much of an all-class alliance and that a consciously socialist organisation was necessary . After an effort to build itself as a replacement for the Communist Party Of Ireland, it changed its name to the Socialist Party in 1976 .
(MORE LATER).