The Simple Truth About The Irish Sugar Industry . In the past week or so , the remains of the sugar industry in this State has again come under attack from outside interests : with this in mind , we re-print a document which was first published 17 years ago (1989) .
The Simple Truth About The Irish Sugar Industry .
Address by Ruairi O Bradaigh , Uachtaran , at a meeting of Comhairle na Mumhan (Munster Executive) ,Sinn Fein Poblachtach , in Killaloe , County Clare , on Sunday 19 February 1989 .
Sinn Fein Poblachtach supports the workers , farmers and general business community of North Tipperary in the struggle to retain their sugar factory in Thurles and hopes that the people will not be fobbed off on this occasion with the sort of vague promises about alternative employment that has led to such a sense of betrayal in the Tuam , County Galway sugar-beet area .
But in recalling the various promises made by Leinster House politicians on all sides over the years to retain the major plants of Comhlacht Siucra Eireann - one of our major efforts at public self-reliance within the limitations of the Free State development efforts - we feel it is necessary to remind all concerned that there is little the politicians can do for Irish sugar-growing or indeed for any other type of rural development based on the processing of native materials , once one accepts the EEC ground-rules that were set-out on entry into the multinational rich man's club in the 1970's.......
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FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA ....... From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')
The 'honeymoon' period between Fianna Fail and the IRA continued after de Valera formed his first government in 1932 with the passive support of the Labour Party . There were negotiations between Fianna Fail and the IRA to work out a common strategy but these foundered when de Valera demanded that the IRA disband ; one of the first acts of the new (Fianna Fail) State government had been to release the republican prisoners from Arbour Hill .
In the 1933 general election Fianna Fail won 77 seats and an overall majority : de Valera abolished the Oath and the Governor-General position and set about erecting tariff barriers to develop Irish industry - this and the with-holding of the land annuities provoked the British to begin an economic war against the Free State .
De Valera dismissed Eoin O' Duffy , the Garda Commissioner , who went on to found the fascist Blueshirts ; the right-wing , pro-British forces consisting of the Blueshirts , Cumann na nGaedhal , their rancher and big business backers briefly formed a loose alliance and virtually threatened a coup d'etat . But they were far too weak to carry out any such takeover . The threat of the Blueshirts was warded off with the help of the IRA and renewed repressive legislation .
This was soon turned on the IRA itself when the Blueshirts were dead .......
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BILLY WRIGHT , LOYALIST VOLUNTEER FORCE . " I have been prepared to die for long many a year . I don't wish to die , but at the end of the day no one will force their opinion down my throat . No one . "
On August 29 , 1996 , shortly before the 'Combined Loyalist Military Command's' death threat against him expired , EMER WOODFUL interviewed LVF leader BILLY WRIGHT in his Portadown home .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1998 .
Emer Woodful : " You have been associated with Alec Kerr , who was expelled from the UDA in 1994 . How did you get involved with him ? "
Billy Wright : " I knew Alec when the war was on . He's a very articulate young man , and very presentable , and let me say that , prior to the cease-fire , Alec Kerr was one of the men who strove to try and bring about a settlement in Northern Ireland (sic) . However , he recognised , shortly into the process , that the IRA were not sincere , and when the production of the framework document came about , he understood like many loyalists that if the basis for peace was to be the framework document , then the unionist people were to go into a united Ireland . "
Emer Woodful : " The UVF leadership is obviously really angry with you . Earlier this month they stood down what they called one of the units in Portadown . Was that you they were referring to ? "
Billy Wright : " No , well , I'm not a member of any organisation , so they could'nt stand me down . "
Emer Woodful : " But then why do young loyalists look up to you so much as a hero if you're not a member of any organisation ? "
Billy Wright : " Well , I'm not conscious of anyone looking up to me as a hero . I think a lot of people see defiance in me , and I am defiant . I feel aggrieved at the way that the unionist people have been treated by the IRA and , indeed , by the governments . I'm very vocal on it , and I'm not going to be frightened into keeping quiet . "
(MORE LATER).
LIAM MELLOWS AND THE IRISH CIVIL WAR .......This is the bulk of a public lecture given at University College , Galway , by Sinn Fein Ard Comhairle member and Deputy General Secretary of the 'Local Government and Public Services Union' , Phil Flynn , on December 8th 1982 , the 60th Anniversary of the Free State's execution of Liam Mellows .
First published in 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .
Sinn Fein , while nominally a non-class , National Party , was in fact a bourgeois National Party ; the fact that it included the bulk of the advanced workers did not make it any the less bourgeois in character : it represented bourgeois interests . Its non-class appearance , carefully cultivated by de Valera and Michael Collins , was a piece of camouflage behind which a dictatorship of the bourgeoise was established .
The contradictions which British imperialism exploited were those between the various classes in the national movement - those same classes were attracted to the movement because it served their class interests - but the interests of the different classes required different degrees of national independence than the interests of the smaller property owners . The class interest of the working class and small farmers alone demanded the total break with the 'Empire' .
The Anglo-Irish property owners never abandoned the imperialist side ; after the Treaty they supported Michael Collins and Cosgrave . The biggest Irish property owners did not as a rule support imperialism activity , nor did they support Sinn Fein although Arthur Griffith represented their interests ; after the Treaty they gave their active support to the Free State .......
(MORE LATER).
