'TAN WAR' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER - 'An tOglach' , 1918-1921.......
.......the British 'Defence of The Realm Act' was used against Irish Republicans , and Irish and British workers ; it was a 'catch-all' piece of legislation used shamelessly by Westminster to secure and maintain the position in society obtained by the 'Establishment' .......
Westminster used the 'DORA' legislation to trample over ordinary workers as well as Irish Republicans - by the middle of 1942 , at least 1,563 workers had been convicted of 'offences' under the 'Defence of the Realm Act' and fined a total of £4,025 (Sterling). In 1943 , trolley-bus operators , dockers and carters found themselves facing armed British troops, in Belfast , on the picket-line as , once again , 'DORA' was enforced and the striking workers were fined .
The Westminster Parliament had now turned 'DORA' on 'An tOglach' , the Irish Republican newspaper ; it was now an " illegal publication " , according to Westminster , and anyone found in possession of a copy of same would be "....charged and imprisoned under the Defence of The Realm Act ..." . An tOglach's first Editor , Piaras Beaslai , born in Liverpool in 1881 was , at the young age of 23 , the Editor of 'The Catholic Times' newspaper in England before coming to Ireland , where he joined the 'Gaelic League' .
Piaras Beaslai fought with the Irish Rebels in 1916 , at 35 years of age , in the North King Street area of Dublin , and was subsequently jailed by the British in Strangeways Prison in Manchester where he shared prison space with an Irish Republican legend .......
(MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
RAIDS.......
".......the drunken British Army Captain , Moss , was arguing with my father - he told us that if any more of his "pals" were shot by the IRA , the British Army would burn our village ......."
" My father told Captain Moss that he would have to find another method to save his men - that he (my father) was powerless to keep the IRA from shooting his men . Moss walked up to my father and shouted - " I'll try every method ; I'll search your house for a start ." " Do, " said my father , " I cannot prevent you , but I'll watch you while you search ." Captain Moss glared again at my father but said nothing , while my father picked up a lighted candle in a candlestick . Muttering to himself , Moss first selected a linen press in the kitchen .
My father stood behind him while he searched the shelves carefully , starting at the top . He took plenty of time , and every now and then stopped to lecture my father , who was entirely engrossed in a study of the combustion of the candle , and ceased to pay serious attention to the Englishman's fulminations . My sisters were glad to see that his anger had given place to some other feeling which might be something like a grim humour . But they never could have forecast his change of tactics . Little did they think that the " man severe and stern to view " whom they knew so well and whom " every truant knew " could be guilty of the childlike and reprehensible conduct to come !
Captain Moss finished with the shelves and , muttering "Not much there ..." stooped to pull out a drawer underneath the shelves ; " You will find that even less profitable ," said my father , as he turned the candle into a 'weapon' of sorts ......."
(MORE LATER).
DEATH OF A BUTCHER .
(No By-Line)
First published in 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 , Number 5 , page 42.
Re-published here in six parts .
(3 of 6).
Although the authenticity of the IRA's claim that it had killed Lennie Murphy , issued through the 'Republican Press Centre' in Belfast some sixteen hours after the execution , was accepted by the RUC , and by loyalist paramilitaries and the media , the hysterically anti-Republican 'Irish News' newspaper was so irked by the idea that the IRA had carried out an operation that was so extremely popular among virtually all shades of nationalist opinion , that it subsequently concocted a clumsy 'exclusive' story alleging that loyalists had killed Lennie Murphy with weapons supplied by the IRA (see 'Irish News' , 6th December 1982) !
This squalid attempt , reminiscent of British Army ' black propaganda' , to link the IRA with loyalist sectarian killers , was strenuously denied by the IRA and rejected by nationalists .......
(MORE LATER).
Apologises for the enforced delay with today's post : the 'BLOGGER' 'Publish ' Link has been 'down' since at least 7.30am this morning - Sharon .
