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.......
(MORE LATER).



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 .......
(MORE LATER).



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).

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(Apologises for the late posting - issues with 'Blogger' .)

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh! ('Happy St. Patricks Day!')


FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA .......
From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')

In 1932 , the IRA called for Irish Republicans to support Fianna Fail to " Put Cosgrave Out " and took an active part in the election campaign .

With its promise to dismantle the Treaty , abolish the Oath and the position of 'British Governor-General' , repeal repressive laws and release the Republican prisoners , retain the land annuities and develop native industry and agriculture to provide employment , Fianna Fail reflected the radicalism of the Republican masses who brought it to power .

But its programme was still limited by the conservatism of de Valera and his 'Document Number Two' concept of the national question . Fianna Fail had won the leadership of the anti-imperialist struggle but it stopped that struggle far short of its objectives . The IRA attempted throughout the 1930's to find a political and military direction for itself and to win back the initiative from de Valera but it found neither while Fianna Fail consolidated its position and the Republican Movement went into decline . Having got what it wanted from its 'colleagues' in the IRA , Fianna Fail began to turn into that which it once opposed ....... ('1169...' Comment : a lesson here for others.)
(MORE LATER).



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 : " How did you hear about the death threat ? "
Billy Wright : " Well , I was aware of a conspiracy after Drumcree . I had been informed from Belfast that my name was to be blackened , and an excuse sought to execute me . So this has been an ongoing process since I took my stand with the Orange Institution at Drumcree . "

Emer Woodful : " And who tipped you off ? "
Billy Wright : " Well , I'm not going to say that . But what I can say is that I have a lot of fine friends in Belfast , and further afield , and there are a lot of fine loyalists in Belfast . "

Emer Woodful : " Why do you think this death threat was issued against you ? "
Billy Wright : " I have been very vocal in my opposition to the form of politics that the PUP has espoused . Now , I respect their right to hold their point of view , but if they claim to monopolise the opinion of loyalists and claim to be speaking on behalf of people that vehemently disagree with them , and then try to impose a silence , well I think that's morally wrong , and I will not allow people to impose their form of politics on me . And I most certainly would'nt try to impose my politics on them . "
(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 .

The political party which James Connolly had formed to be the political arm of the working class - the Labour Party - stood aloof * from the national struggle and thereby condemned itself to a barren existence . (* '1169....' Comment : .....and the Labour Party , today , having fallen off the fence , can be found firmly on the anti-Republican side of the equation . They are nothing short of a disgrace in respect of their 'republicanism' .)

In the second rank of Sinn Fein leadership there were many whose republican idealism made them genuinely thoughtless of class questions , and who , when the crisis came in 1922 , would have gone with any class which stood clearly for the Republic . But the Sinn Fein leaders , the men who held the power , were bourgeois . Arthur Griffith had never concealed the fact that he represented the interest of the large Irish bourgeoisie ; he had sided with the Dublin employers against the Dublin workers in 1913 when almost every other nationalist had criticised the employers . De Valera had in 1918 coined the famous phrase , " Labour must wait " .

It is often denied that Michael Collins represented the capitalist interest , but it is clear from his book 'The Path to Freedom' , that he never envisaged an Ireland which was not capitalist ; writing of the land struggles of 1880 he said that " ... the killing of landlords would have been murder .. " if it had not furthered the national Cause . And writing about his 'New Ireland' he said that Labour would be an "...element in the life of the nation .. " and would be free to "...play the part that belongs to it .. "
(MORE LATER).

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FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA .......
From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')

Speaking in Leinster House in 1929 , Eamon de Valera said - " Those who continued on in that organisation (the IRA) which we have left can claim exactly the same continuity that we claimed up to 1925 . "

Sean Lemass had earlier described Fianna Fail as a "...slightly constitutional party .. " and , in 1931 , a year before the first Fianna Fail government took Office , the two organisations marched together to Bodenstown which had been ringed by Free State troops ; the same year the Free State government introduced its most repressive measures of all when it set-up a military tribunal with power to impose the death penalty .

This was accompanied by a 'red scare' when the State Administration , the Catholic hierarchy and the media combined to denounce the IRA , the newly-banned Saor Eire (an IRA-founded party with socialist policies) and Fianna Fail as 'communist' : Fianna Fail's newspaper 'The Irish Press' (founded by de Valera in 1931) was prosecuted before the military tribual for "...seditious libel.." . It was the broad opposition to this regime which swept Fianna Fail to power in 1932 - with the help of the IRA .......
(MORE LATER).



1913 : 75 YEARS AFTER THE LOCK-OUT .......
From 'Liberty News' , March/April 1988 .
(No 'By-Line' )

The 1913 Lock-Out tried to outlaw a culture which was counter to capitalism ; it failed partly because it was so crude and ham fisted . Today's attack is more subtle and all the more dangerous because of it .

To honour the memory of 1913 we must begin , on an individual basis , to commit ourselves to trade union activity , not just trade union membership . We must once again set out the task of regenerating a nation on the shoulders of a people industrially free .

[END of '1913 : 75 YEARS AFTER THE LOCK-OUT'].
(Tomorrow : 'BILLY WRIGHT - PREPARED TO DIE.....' : from 1998.)

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 .

British imperialism destroyed the Republic by exploiting the contradictions that existed within the national movement ; these were class contradictions .

The Republic , as it existed from 1919 to 1921 , was a 'One-Party State' : Sinn Fein was 'the Party of the State' and , according to its leaders , it was a classless Party which was fighting purely in the interests of the Irish Nation . The reality however was that many classes were to be found within Sinn Fein and the IRA .

Medium-sized Irish businessmen (national bourgeoisie) ; small businessmen - shopkeepers , tradesmen etc (the petty bourgeoisie) ; peasants , large and small ; and workers , both urban and rural . From 1918 to 1921 no nationalist group of any significance existed outside the Sinn Fein/IRA organisation : all nationalist groups - the Citizen Army , the Irish Volunteers , the Irish Republican Brotherhood , the old Sinn Fein , the Gaelic League , the GAA , etc had merged to produce the Sinn Fein/IRA organisation .

The most significant merger was that of the Irish Citizen Army - the army of the Irish working class - with the Irish Volunteers - the army of the Irish nationalist bourgeoisie , to form the IRA .......
(MORE LATER).

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FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA .......
From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')

In July 1927 a General Election was called and Fianna Fail won 44 seats to Cosgrave's 47 : de Valera's policy was not to enter the Free State parliament until the Oath of Allegiance to the British monarch was removed .

Then in July 1927 , Kevin O' Higgins was assassinated and the Free State government passed a law which would force future Leinster House candidates to swear on their nomination that they would take the Oath of Allegiance : in August 1927 , de Valera led the Fianna Fail elected representatives , many of them with revolvers in their pockets , into Leinster House and signed the Oath of Allegiance document .

A second General Election was held in September 1927 and Fianna Fail increased its vote , winning 57 seats : the Sinn Fein party from which de Valera had split was virtually wiped out and ceased to be a relevant political force . De Valera's departure from Sinn Fein by no means meant that he was irrevocably split from the IRA which remained independent of both parties . The relationship between Fianna Fail and the IRA in these years was very close ; their members campaigned in common against the repression of the Cosgrave regime whose legitimacy they did not recognise . Indeed - de Valera was , then , full of praise for the IRA .......
(MORE LATER).



1913 : 75 YEARS AFTER THE LOCK-OUT .......
From 'Liberty News' , March/April 1988 .
(No 'By-Line' )

The new 'documents' are the beliefs in privatisation , deregulation , public expenditure cuts and increasing appeals to individualism . Trade union values are being dismissed as "...old fashioned.. " or "...belonging to the nineteenth century.. " but in fact they were never more necessary if we are to win the struggle for control of our destinies and management of our own economic , social and political affairs .

The lessons are that we must learn from 1913's solidarity between different trade unions , national and international . The trade union movement fought for the whole of the working class not just the organised sectors . The 'Irish Worker' newspaper through its mass readership countered the employers message through the bosses' servant press . The trade unions provided social and cultural activities for its members as well as industrial and political leadership .
(MORE LATER).


PLUS CA CHANGE .......
Charles Haughey and Charles Stewart Parnell .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1998 .
By Vincent Browne.

A correspondence was entered into between Cecil Rhodes and Charles Stewart Parnell that purported to link the donation to an undertaking from Parnell that the Irish Party would continue to support the retention of Irish members in the (British) House of Commons once 'Home Rule' was granted : but the Rhodes biographer dismisses the correspondence -

- " A close examination of this correspondence reveals that Parnell had made no real commitments . It is hard to disagree with an eminent contemporary biographer , who dismissed the Rhodes-Parnell letters as 'mere verbiage' designed to obscure the fact that Rhodes had bought the Irish Party support for £10,000 . "
[END of 'PLUS CA CHANGE' .]
(Tomorrow - ' LIAM MELLOWS AND THE IRISH CIVIL WAR' : by PHIL FLYNN , from 1982.)

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FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA .......
From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')

In 1925 the IRA further emphasised its independence when it withdrew its allegiance from the underground Second Dail Republican government reluctantly headed by de Valera and elected a new Army Council .

That same year de Valera's argument for entry into the Free State parliament was strengthened when that body debated the Boundary Agreement between the Free State Government and the British . This finally sealed the partition boundary in its present form ; if the Sinn Fein TD's had taken their seats they * could have defeated Cosgrave's Cumann na nGaedhal on the vote . (* '1169....' Comment : it should be noted that this article was written three years after the Provisionals decided to take seats in Leinster House - in short , they were [and are!] still attempting to justify that decision to themselves and to Republicans outside their political party . It is now twenty years [ie 1986-2006] since Adams and his group deserted the Republican Movement for a career in Free State politics - and partition remains in place .)

At the 1926 Sinn Fein Ard Fheis , de Valera argued for an end to abstentionism but was defeated by 223 votes to 218 : he resigned and led his supporters away to form his new party , Fianna Fail , in May of that year : that party leadership immediately began the task , at which it was to become adept in the years ahead , of building a strong centrally controlled organisation geared to winning elections . It was helped by the increasing reactionary policies of Cumann na nGaedhal , who had introduced a repressive 'Public Safety Act' and had concluded another agreement with Britain to collect and repay the land annuities and had also cut public spending .......
(MORE LATER).



1913 : 75 YEARS AFTER THE LOCK-OUT .......
From 'Liberty News' , March/April 1988 .
(No 'By-Line' )

1913 was , in fact , a marvellous victory drawn from the jaws of defeat ; the trade union and labour movement was soon to become an essential and important part of the new State and , in general terms , society came to accept the broad tenets of social democracy , if not socialism .

The broad values of society reflected the need to extend care to the underprivileged groups in society : but the battle was not won in 1913 , and progress since has been uneven . Despite tremendous growth in numerical terms in the size of the trade union movement in the 1970's , working-class organisation has not been reflected in political gains . In terms of a social audit of Dublin today as compared to 1913 can we really claim to be 'in credit' ? Certainly extreme poverty * has gone but things are relative to the times . ( * '1169....' Comment : "extreme poverty" has , for the most part , simply been replaced by 'bread/border-line poverty' and pushed into its own areas in the cities . It is usually only seriously [briefly] addressed and/or recognised when it 'spills-out' from those areas into neighbouring middle-class estates .)

We still have acute housing problems , unemployment , emigration , attacks on hard-won health , education and social services and new problems of urban decay , drug abuse , vandalism and crime in the alienation of our youth . Regrettably there is now a gathering attack on trade unionism and the essential collective values that it represents and to which the whole of Irish society owes many of its freedoms .......
(MORE LATER).



PLUS CA CHANGE .......
Charles Haughey and Charles Stewart Parnell .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1998 .
By Vincent Browne.

Charles Stewart Parnell was unable to account for either the £1000 John Morrogh donation or £5,000 of the monies received from Cecil Rhodes : it would appear that this 'great Irish leader' appropriated for his own uses about £375,000 in present-day terms .

But that is not all - in the present issue (ie February 1998) of the 'Bar Review' magazine , Rory Brady SC quotes from a biography of Cecil Rhodes - ' Rhodes : The Race for Africa' , as claiming that the donation by Rhodes , of £10,000 , was intended to buy the support of the Irish Party for chartered companies . In 1889 , Cecil Rhodes was seeking support in the British House of Commons for a charter for his corporation , the British South Africa Company , to develop Bechuanaland , and he needed the support of Charles Stewart Parnell and the Irish Party .......
(MORE LATER).

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'1169....' was represented at the 'Irish Blog Awards' ceremony on Saturday last , 11 March , in The Alexander Hotel in Dublin .
And we made a 'record' (of sorts!) of our own at same - we were the only blog that walked into the Awards ceremony with two spot-prizes [2 framed 1916 Proclamations to be given away during the raffle] and left the Awards ceremony with two spot-prizes [2 passes for a film premier in Dublin] !
It was a great night , enjoyed by all : well organised by Damien Mulley and ably presented by Rick O' Shea . Congratulations to all the winners , and 'Thank You' to all the sponsors . We here at ' 1169 And Counting....' are looking forward to the next one . Especially now as we have a whole new list of people to hassel for votes .... !


FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA .......
From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')

It was under the names of Eamon de Valera and Frank Aiken (IRA Chief of Staff in succession to Liam Lynch and later a leading Fianna Failer) that the 'Dump Arms' order of 1923 was issued , ending IRA actions against the Free State forces .

In the year that followed , as Republicans re-grouped and re-organised , there was intense debate on the way forward : de Valera was to emerge the victor in that debate . There were roughly three schools of thought ; firstly , there was the section of the IRA leadership which , after the Treaty betrayal , was intensely suspicious of all 'politicians' and which saw the re-organisation of the IRA in preparation for a renewed military campaign as the only way to restore the Republic .

Secondly , there were those who believed that opposition to the Treaty should be rallied around the Republican members of the Second Dail which they recognised as the only legitimate government in the country . The third was that of de Valera who believed that Republicans should enter the Free State parliament and 'reverse the Treaty from within' : all three broad strands of opinion were represented in the IRA which at the same time maintained its independence from them and was committed primarily to the task of military re-organisation .......
(MORE LATER).



1913 : 75 YEARS AFTER THE LOCK-OUT .......
From 'Liberty News' , March/April 1988 .
(No 'By-Line' )

The workers also began to defend themselves through the formation of a Citizen Army : intellectuals and many middle-class sympathisers rallied to the workers' side , shocked at the awful conditions and horrified at the pig-headedness of the employers : however , the Catholic Church was less sympathetic and positively hostile to the notion of Dublin's starved youngsters going to the 'Godless' homes of English sympathisers for the duration .

James Connolly wondered why souls were of greater concern than bellies ! In the face of uneven odds the Lock-Out began to crumble in January 1914 as the Building Labourers' Union returned , as many others were to do , without signing the offending document . Some stuck it out until May 1914 but , in the end , the employers could and did claim victory as resistance collapsed - but they lacked the strength to enforce their victory , as the Irish Transport and General Workers Union survived ; in defeat , the ITGWU had gained many adherents and , more significantly , had laid the foundations that led James Connolly to conclude :

" From the effects of this drawn battle both sides are still bearing heavy scars . How deep those scars are , none will ever reveal . But the working class has lost none of its aggressivness , none of its confidence , none of the hope in the ultimate triumph . No traitor amongst the ranks of that class has permanently gained , even materially , by his or her treachery .

The flag of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union still flies proudly in the van of the Irish working class , and that working class still marches proudly and defiantly at the head of the gathering hosts who stand for a regenerated nation , resting upon a people industrially free . "
(MORE LATER).



PLUS CA CHANGE .
Charles Haughey and Charles Stewart Parnell .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1998 .
By Vincent Browne.

Charles Haughey was not the first 'great Irish leader' whose reputation has been besmirched by allegations of financial corruption . Charles Stewart Parnell was the subject of the most serious allegations of financial impropriety , and the substance of these allegations has been added to by evidence that has emerged . In 1883 , the then huge sum of £40,000 ( in present-day terms , about £2.5 million) was collected from around the country to enable Parnell to get out of financial difficulties .

This donation was open and its purpose clear , so that his acceptance of it is not questionable - what is questionable , however , are two other huge donations that Parnell received : £1000 (about £62,500 in present-day terms) from a Mr. John Morrogh and a massive £10,000 (£600,000 in present-day terms) from the South African imperialist Cecil Rhodes .

It would seem clear that both of these donations were intended for the Irish Party ; however , when challenged about these donations after the split over the O'Shea divorce case ,Parnell was unable to account for certain items .......
(MORE LATER).

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FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA .......
From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')

Instead of leading the opposition to the 1921 Treaty of Surrender on a principled basis and defending the Republic , Eamon de Valera instead put forward another proposal for compromise with Britain , an alternative treaty which ever afterwards was known as 'Document Number Two' .

This served to weaken the Republican case once more and as a result the forces who supported the new Free State regime faced a divided opposition : throughout the Civil War there was no strong single Republican leadership .

De Valera's position at this time was vitally important as it pointed to the direction in which he would lead in the years ahead : he remained committed to his 'Document Number Two' 'solution' which entailed revision of the Treaty - he did not play an active part in the Civil War but was seen as 'the leader of the Republicans' , and was vilified by the Free State government , press and Catholic hierarchy .......
(MORE LATER).



1913 : 75 YEARS AFTER THE LOCK-OUT .......
From 'Liberty News' , March/April 1988 .
(No 'By-Line' )

Questions were raised in the British House of Commons over the 31 August 1913 baton-charge by the police on the streets of Dublin and the matter was debated at the British Trade Union Conference . Violence was not new for the beleaguered workers , however , as scabs were protected and pickets frequently attacked : James Nolan , James (John) Byrne and Alice Brady paid for their loyalty to the workers' cause with their lives .

Support soon came on foot of the distress but Jim Larkin's 'Fiery Cross' crusade in Britain , where he preached the 'Divine Mission of Discontent' , generated rank and file rather than official reaction and assistance was limited to food and material support rather than sympathetic industrial action . James Connolly , now co-ordinating industrial matters , drew the port of Dublin shut as 'tight as a drum' and both sides settled for a long attritional war through the winter with the bosses relying on starvation and the workers on the simple message of ' Each for all and all for each ! '

The Trade Union Council 'Dublin Food Fund' and other support marshalled by the Dublin Trades Council sustained the workers and there can have been few occasions as emotive as the landing of the food ships on the quays .......
(MORE LATER).


BUTCHERS DOZEN .......
A poem by Thomas Kinsella , written after Bloody Sunday .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .

Let them Out ! At least let in
a breath or two of oxygen ,
so they may settle down for good
and mix themselves in the common blood .

We all are what we are , and that
is mongrel pure . What nation's not ,
where any stranger hung his hat
and seized a lover where she sat ?

He ceased and faded . Zephyr blew ,
and all the others faded too .
I stood like a ghost - my fingers strayed
along the fatal barricade .
The gentle rainfall drifting down
over Colmcille's town
could not refresh , only distil ,
in silent grief from hill to hill .
[END of 'BUTCHERS DOZEN' .]
(MONDAY , 13 March : 'Plus Ca Change - Haughey and Parnell' , from 1998 .)

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FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA .......
From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')

Assuming the Presidency of Sinn Fein and the Irish Volunteers in 1917 , Eamon de Valera became head of the Dail Eireann government in 1919 ; his reputation was enhanced by his tour of the United States raising support for the struggle at home .

While in the United States , de Valera was widely described as 'President of the Irish Republic' : he was seen internationally as the public face of the Irish independence struggle . But his stand for the Republic of which he was supposed to be 'President' was less than firm ; in an interview with the 'Westminster Gazette' newspaper in 1920 he suggested that the Dail might accept less than complete independence from Britain and compared the possible relationship between Ireland and the British 'Empire' with that between the United States and the Cuban Republic .

To do so weakened the Republican case considerably at the height of the Black and Tan war - it gave 'ammunition' to those who went on to support the Treaty of Surrender 1921 , and it also exposed the fact that de Valera himself was never a convinced Republican . This was to become clear again when the Treaty was signed under threat of "...immediate and terrible war.. " in December 1921 .......
(MORE LATER).


1913 : 75 YEARS AFTER THE LOCK-OUT .......
From 'Liberty News' , March/April 1988 .
(No 'By-Line' )

Under the calculating leadership of William Martin Murphy , owner of the 'Irish Independent' newspaper and controller of the Dublin Tramways Company , over 400 employers combined in the 'Dublin Employers' Federation' to deny the same right of combination to the city's underprivileged . The 'target' was the threat , in class terms , of the message of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union so marvellously articulated by Jim Larkin's street oratory .

The crunch came on August 15 , 1913 , when William Martin Murphy offered the 'Independent' newspaper's 'Despatch Department' the choice of union - or job : they chose the Union , and were fired ! Solidarity action saw the dispute escalate with further dismissals in Eason's and on the trams .

The now confident employers issued the infamous 'document' , locking out any worker that refused to sign a pledge to disown the ITGWU . By the end of September 1913 , over 20,000 workers were locked out . On 31 August 1913 , the police attacked an innocent crowd gathered to hear Jim Larkin address them in O' Connell Street , Dublin ; the meeting had been banned by the authorities , and the ITGWU had transferred their activities to their social premises in Croydon Park , Clontarf , Dublin .

Scores were injured in the baton charge and British public opinion was shocked at the scenes .......
(MORE LATER).


BUTCHERS DOZEN .......
A poem by Thomas Kinsella , written after Bloody Sunday .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .

Who could love them ? God above them ...
'Yet pity is akin to love' , the thirteenth corpse beside him said ,
smiling in its bloody head , 'and though there's reason for alarm
in dourness and a lack of charm
their cursed plight calls out for patience . '

They - even they - with other nations
have a place , if we can find it .
Love our changeling ! Guard and mind it -
doomed from birth , a cursed heir ,
theirs is the hardest lot to bear , yet not impossible , I swear ,
if England would but clear the air
and brood at home on her disgrace -
everything to its own place .

Face their walls of dole and fear
and be of reasonable cheer -
good men every day inherit
Father's foulness with the spirit :
purge the filth and do not stir it !
(MORE LATER).

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FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA .......
From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')

In Ireland in the late 1960's , Sean Lemass's 'economic miracle' was proving to be a mirage : unemployment and emigration soared again .

The new post de Valera , post Lemass Fianna Fail had a deep identity and leadership crisis : it was all to culminate in 1989 with the entry of the party into a coalition for the first time in its history . That most 'sacred' Fianna Fail 'principle' of all - its divine 'right' to rule alone , as the only party representing the 'national' interest - joined all the abandoned Fianna Fail 'principles' of decades on the rubbish heap .

It is impossible to understand Fianna Fail without understanding the politics of de Valera : often described as an 'enigma' and an almost mythical or mystical figure , his aura pervaded the life of the State and gave Fianna Fail its essential character . In fact , behind the 'mask' , de Valera was a skilled politician who used the loyalty he instilled in his supporters to build a strong centrally controlled party which had no equal in the country .

His position of leadership in the National struggle began almost by chance because of the fact that he was the senior surviving commander of the Republican forces in the 1916 Rising .......
(MORE LATER).



1913 : 75 YEARS AFTER THE LOCK-OUT .......
From 'Liberty News' , March/April 1988 .
(No 'By-Line' )

Dublin lacked an industrial base , and work in 1913 was generally of a casual nature with poor trade union organisation and slave wages ; a third of the city's teeming population inhabited the city centre tenement slums - the overcrowding , squalor and inadequate sanitation combined with poor diet to give Dublin one of the highest infant death rates in Europe .

Violence and prostitution were further evidence of the degraded but desperate condition of many of the population . It was , in many ways , an unlikely seed-bed for trade-unionism : the social system was typified by insecurity of employment , personal daily struggles for survival and the frequent indifference of the longer established , but conservative , craft trade unions . The 'New Unionism' , marked by its organisation of the unskilled and socialist zeal , had enjoyed a brief flourish in Dublin of the 1890's but the odds were heavily stacked against permanent success and many union organisations had become moribund .

With James Larkin's arrival in Ireland as Organiser for the National Union of Dock Labourers the waterfront workers rose again , firstly in Belfast in 1907 and subsequently in other Irish ports . Disagreement with the National Union of Dock Labourers ' Liverpool Executive led to Larkin's suspension and the launch of a specialist Dublin-based unskilled workers union , the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union : from the beginning the new union proclaimed in its rule book a wide programme of industrial and political agitation to change society in the interests of the Irish working class . The employers would not be silent observers .......
(MORE LATER).



BUTCHERS DOZEN .......
A poem by Thomas Kinsella , written after Bloody Sunday .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .

Bloody sputum filled his throat ,
he stopped and coughed to clear it out ,
and finished , with his eyes a-glow :
'You came , you saw , you conquered ... So .
You gorged - and it was time to go .

Good riddance ! We'd forget - released -
but for the rubbish of your feast :
the slops and scraps that fell to earth
and sprang to arms in dragon birth .

Sashed and bowler-hatted , glum ,
Apprentices of fife and drum ,
high and dry , abandoned guards
of dismal streets and empty yards ,
drilled at the codeword 'True Religion'
to strut and mutter like a pigeon -
"Not An Inch-Up The Queen !" :
Who use their walls like a latrine
for scribbled magic - at their call ,
straight from the nearest music-hall ,
Pope and Devil intertwine ,
two cardboard kings appear , and join
in one more battle by the Boyne !
(MORE LATER).

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FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA .......
From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')

De Valera's own history and reputation and his verbalising about partition ('1169...' Comment - sounds familiar !) deceived the working class and small farmers ; Fianna Fail sought to reflect their republican aspirations in words while the deeds of its leaders belied all the rhetoric ( '1169...' Comment - ...definitely sounds familiar .. ! ) .

Thus Fianna Fail governments could be anti-British without ever really threatening British interests in Ireland ; ('1169....' Comment - Did the then Fianna Fail organisation ever call on Westminster to [re-]establish a Six County parliament and beseech the British PM to implement British policy in the Six Counties , as some 'republicans' are now doing ... ?) while the republican-sounding rhetoric flowed , de Valera was jailing and executing Republicans and suppressing the IRA with a ruthlessness that matched the regime he opposed during the Civil War .

Under the decades of Fianna Fail rule partition was actually entrenched ; the farm labourers and smallholders who formed the bedrock of Fianna Fail support were decimated as a class and the urban workers faced unrelenting poverty and hardship - economic underdevelopment and mismanagement caused widespread unemployment and emigration which , by the time de Valera finally retired from active politics in 1959 , had reached epidemic proportions . The second era in the history of Fianna Fail was begun with a brief period of economic growth and deceptive prosperity under the government of Sean Lemass , de Valera's successor : for most of the 1960's the 'honeymoon' continued .

Then Fianna Fail entered what was to become a period of prolonged crisis : the war in the North of Ireland exploded and exposed both its republican lip-service and its bitter internal rivalries .......
(MORE LATER).



1913 : 75 YEARS AFTER THE LOCK-OUT .
From 'Liberty News' , March/April 1988 .
(No 'By-Line' )

1913 is regarded as the foundation stone of the modern Dublin labour movement ; it was an epic , heroic struggle that lends itself to dramatic memory and interpretation as evidenced by James Plunkett's play 'The Risen People' and the subsequent novel 'Strumpet City' .

It is also , increasingly perhaps , regarded as historic in the sense that its immediate relevance is diminishing as contemporary society changes and loses its direct links with the slums , general labourers , pawn shops and grinding poverty of the old Dublin : this is mistaken , for we in the labour movement of today * should continue to recall 1913 both for the sacrifices made on our behalf but also for the political victories that the struggle secured and which are being slyly but surely eroded by a rampant 'New Right' in its attempt to de-unionise and de-politicise Irish society .......
(* - '1169...' Comment : definitely NOT this crowd of political self-servers .)
(MORE LATER).


BUTCHERS DOZEN .......
A poem by Thomas Kinsella , written after Bloody Sunday .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .

The game runs out of room at last - A people rises from its past ,
the going gets unduly tough , and you have (surely...?) had enough .

The time has come to yield your place
with condescending show of grace :
an Empire-builder handing on .

We reap the ruin when you've gone ,
all your errors heaped behind you :
promises that do not bind you - hopes in conflict ,
cramped commissions - faiths exploited , and traditions .
(MORE LATER).

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FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA .
From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')

For most of the life of the 26-County State one party has completely dominated politics there : it has held office for a total of over 40 years and has never lost two elections in a row and , on two occasions , it ruled for a 16 year stretch . For most of its existence the party and the State were dominated , and even formed , by the ideas of one man : the man was Eamon de Valera and the party was Fianna Fail .

The history of Fianna Fail is divided into two distinct eras : the first saw its emergence as the political creation of de Valera and its rise to power with the overwhelming support of workers and small farmers on a Republican platform - through consummate political skill de Valera used the populism of his party to create a machine built for winning elections and guaranteeing that Fianna Fail would remain the only party capable of forming a government on its own ; like all such groups and political leaders which use populism to rise to power Fianna Fail , once power was achieved and consolidated , betrayed those who had given it birth ('1169.....' Comment - sounds familiar) .

The conservatism of de Valera himself , and the big business and big farmer interests who backed Fianna Fail as soon as they felt it safe to do so , combined to make the party a right-wing force which ultimately held back progress towards both national and social freedom : the great advantage on its side was that it managed to retain broad popular support at election after election ('1169 ....' Comment - again : sounds familiar) - central to that success was Fianna Fail's attitude to the national question .......
(MORE LATER).



THE UNBROKEN LINKS IN THE IRISH REPUBLICAN CHAIN .......
ByMartin Calligan.
(No year of publication.)

There's a sacred spot in Dublin
It's a place called Arbour Hill ,
Where sleeps our noble Martyrs ,
Their message rings out still .

To you their message calling ,
As called that Easter day ,
When they flew the flag of Freedom
And proclaimed the IRA .

They march , these men , in Dublin -
And for Ireland struck a blow ,
They raised the flag of Freedom
O'er Dublin's G.P.O.

Traitors tried to sell that Cause ;
Traitors they may be ,
But Connolly had one in mind ,
Old Ireland's Liberty -
They followed Tone and Emmet
And faced a Martyr's grave ,
That you may take their message
If our Nation we must save .

Six counties subjected
Are held by England still -
Wake up and show devotion
For the men of Arbour Hill !
[END of 'THE UNBROKEN LINKS IN THE IRISH REPUBLICAN CHAIN']
(Tomorrow : '1913 - 75 YEARS AFTER THE LOCK-OUT' . From 1988)

BUTCHERS DOZEN .......
A poem by Thomas Kinsella , written after Bloody Sunday .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .

Your democracy insists you must'nt talk with terrorists !
White and yellow , black and blue ,
have learnt their history from you :
divide and ruin , muddle through - not principled , but politic .

In strength , perfidious ; weak , a trick
to make good men a trifle sick -
we speak in wounds : behold , this mess ;
my curse upon your politesse .

Another ghost stood forth , and wet
dead lips that had not spoken yet :
" My curse on the cunning and the bland ,
on gentlemen who loot a land -
they do not care to understand -who keep the natives on their paws
with ready lash and rotten laws .

Then if the beasts erupt in rage
give them a slightly larger cage -
and , in scorn and fear combined ,
turn them against their own kind .
(MORE LATER).

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Dublin Riots , Saturday , February 25 , 2006 .
RIOT SQUAD RESPONSIBLE FOR STARTING THE TROUBLE-
I was there from 11 AM untill 2.15 PM : this is what actually happened , as witnessed by myself and that other writer , amongst others , who was obviously in the same vicinity of O' Connell Street/Parnell Street as myself . Sharon.
NOTE - readers may be asking why the 'spark' that set the whole incident off was not shown on television news reports and/or in the pictures and reports that were published in the newspapers : on Monday , 27 February last , in 'The Evening Herald' newspaper , the following was published (on page 5) , by that organs 'Crime Editor' -
" A number of photographers , and myself , were taking pictures of the confrontation and we were surrounded by gardai who demanded that we stop and forcibly stood in front of us to prevent snaps . "
It appears that State agents were , even then , preparing an alibi for themselves and their paymasters . (Thanks , again , to the 'IRBB' for the 'heads-up' on that newspaper article).
Belfast solicitor Pádraigín Drinan was accompanying an official observer from Washington DC when riots broke out - Ms Drinan said that, contrary to many media reports, much of the fighting had erupted after local Dubliners were forced off O’Connell Street and down adjoining side streets by gardaí.
“ I saw hundreds of middle-aged local people jostle aggressively with Garda officers after being forced down side streets. They weren’t the type you would associate with a riot, ” she said. (Sourced from 'Daily Ireland' newspaper , February 28 last. )


THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE IRISH STRUGGLE .......
This article is based on a lecture delivered by Sean O Bradaigh in Dublin on January 21 , 1989 , marking the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the First (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann in the Mansion House on January 21 , 1919 , and the links between Irish and French Republicans - 'Partners in Revolution' 200 years ago .
Published in 1989 by Sean Lynch , Cleenrath , Aughnacliffe , County Longford , on behalf of the County Longford Branch of the National Graves Association .
By Sean O Bradaigh .
Liberte ! Egalite ! Fraternite ! Ou La Mort ! ( (Freedom ! Equality ! Brotherhood ! or Death!).
Unite Indivisibilite De La Republique !

Not since he surrendered the United States of America to General George Washington at Yorktown (1781) had Marquis Cornwallis faced such a superb tactician as General Humbert ; his strategy was a simple one - he refused to let General Lake counter-attack until they had together assembled an immense army .

With 30,000 English troops massed in South Leitrim and North Longford , they stopped Humbert's advance on Granard , at Ballinamuck on 8th September 1798 . Fatigue had slowed the march of Humbert's army ; had they reached Granard their campaign would have taken on a new character , with Dublin as their next objective : the capital was virtually defenceless as almost all of the garrison had been moved to Connacht .

" The life of a Lord Lieutenant of Ireland " , said Cornwallis , " comes up to my idea of perfect misery . I wish I were back in Bengal " . With the Rising suppressed , he set about constructing the Act of Union of 1800 , "...with the great object of consolidating the British Empire " .
[END of 'THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE IRISH STRUGGLE'].
(Monday , 6th - 'Fianna Fail : The Mask of de Valera' ; from 1989.)


THE UNBROKEN LINKS IN THE IRISH REPUBLICAN CHAIN .......
ByMartin Calligan.
(No year of publication.)

This new 'law' (by de Valera) , that verbal statements be accepted in the Free State Military Courts even if the people who were supposed to have made them were dead or insane (!) was only passed for the purpose of convicting and killing George Plant , a man who fought with distinction against the Black and Tans and the Staters : Sean McBride was defending for Plant - the Free State's 'Solicitor's Office' told McBride that the only way George Plant could save his life would be by 'a plea of insanity' : Plant told McBride to tell the Staters that in no way would they be allowed to downgrade him . That he would have death before dishonour . Plant and Joe O' Connor were then taken before the Military Court .

The Garda Superintendent involved in the case made a slip , which led to the acquittal of Joe O' Connor : but George Plant was sentenced to death . He was placed in the back of a Military truck , with his coffin , and within 48 hours was executed by a drunken firing squad in Portlaoise Prison : there was no right of appeal . These are the people who talk about justice , terrorists and men of violence .

I would ask the reader to note that in my comments (in this article) I am not defending or condemning Michael Collins , just recording facts to show that Britain only used her friends when useful and will drop them when a problem arises .
(MORE LATER).




BUTCHERS DOZEN .......
A poem by Thomas Kinsella , written after Bloody Sunday .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .

We must forget , and look ahead ,
nurse the living , not the dead -
my words died out . But a phantom said :
'Here lies one who breathed his last
firmly reminded of the past ; a trooper did it , on one knee ,
in tones of brute authority. '

That harsher spirit , who before
had flushed with anger - spoke once more :
'Simple lessons cut most deep - this lesson in our hearts we keep ;
persuasion , protest , arguments ,
the milder forms of violence , earn nothing but polite neglect.'

England , the way to your respect
is via murderous force , it seems ;
you push us to your own extremes -
you condescend to hear us speak
only when we slap your cheek .
and yet we lack the last technique : we rap for order with a gun ,
the issues simplify to one .
(MORE LATER).

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Dublin Riots , Saturday , February 25 , 2006 .
RIOT SQUAD RESPONSIBLE FOR STARTING THE TROUBLE-
I was there from 11 AM untill 2.15 PM : this is what actually happened , as witnessed by myself and that other writer , amongst others , who was obviously in the same vicinity of O' Connell Street/Parnell Street as myself . Sharon.
NOTE - readers may be asking why the 'spark' that set the whole incident off was not shown on television news reports and/or in the pictures and reports that were published in the newspapers : on Monday , 27 February last , in 'The Evening Herald' newspaper , the following was published (on page 5) , by that organs 'Crime Editor' -
" A number of photographers , and myself , were taking pictures of the confrontation and we were surrounded by gardai who demanded that we stop and forcibly stood in front of us to prevent snaps . "
It appears that State agents were , even then , preparing an alibi for themselves and their paymasters . (Thanks , again , to the 'IRBB' for the 'heads-up' on that newspaper article).
Belfast solicitor Pádraigín Drinan was accompanying an official observer from Washington DC when riots broke out - Ms Drinan said that, contrary to many media reports, much of the fighting had erupted after local Dubliners were forced off O’Connell Street and down adjoining side streets by gardaí.
“ I saw hundreds of middle-aged local people jostle aggressively with Garda officers after being forced down side streets. They weren’t the type you would associate with a riot, ” she said. (Sourced from 'Daily Ireland' newspaper , February 28 , 2006. )


THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE IRISH STRUGGLE .......
This article is based on a lecture delivered by Sean O Bradaigh in Dublin on January 21 , 1989 , marking the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the First (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann in the Mansion House on January 21 , 1919 , and the links between Irish and French Republicans - 'Partners in Revolution' 200 years ago .
Published in 1989 by Sean Lynch , Cleenrath , Aughnacliffe , County Longford , on behalf of the County Longford Branch of the National Graves Association .
By Sean O Bradaigh .
Liberte ! Egalite ! Fraternite ! Ou La Mort ! ( (Freedom ! Equality ! Brotherhood ! or Death!).
Unite Indivisibilite De La Republique !

" That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew . I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . " - Theobald Wolfe Tone .

Liberty , Equality , Fraternity are noble ideas which still inspire us and for which we still struggle , both North and South of the British-created border .

Charles , Marquis Cornwallis (1738 - 1805) , former Viceroy of India , became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in June 1798 . On hearing of the French landing he took personal command of the English forces in the field . He had reached Athlone when he heard of the capture of Castlebar and sent an urgent message to England for "... as large a reinforcement as possible .. " despite the fact that he already had 100,000 troops in Ireland .......
(MORE LATER).


THE UNBROKEN LINKS IN THE IRISH REPUBLICAN CHAIN .......
ByMartin Calligan.
(No year of publication.)

After 5 months 'on the run' I was caught and put away for six months for refusing to answer questions . On my release I was arrested at the prison gate and sent to the Internment Camp : here , I was present when the Military Police fired on us without warning or provocation .

Barney Casey was killed and others wounded in this affray - we burned a section of the camp for which I got 2 years , and I was sent to Arour Hill Prison . While there I met George Plant and Joe O' Connor .

De Valera had an other Act passed - he asked Leinster House to give the Military Court power to accept verbal statements even if the people who were supposed to have made them were dead or insane ! Also - it should be noted that most of those 'statements' were made under torture .......
(MORE LATER).


BUTCHERS DOZEN .......
A poem by Thomas Kinsella , written after Bloody Sunday .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .

Tongue of serpent , gut of hog ,
spiced with spleen of underdog -
stir in , with oaths of loyality , sectarian supremacy ,
and heat , to make a proper botch ,
in a bouillion of bitter scotch .

Last - the choice ingredient - you !
now , to crown your Irish stew ,
boil it over , make a mess : a most imperial success !

He capered weakly , racked with pain ,
his dead hair plastered in the rain ;
the group was silent once again -
it seemed the moment to explain
that sympathetic politicians say our violent traditions ,
backward looks and bitterness , keep us in this dire distress .
(MORE LATER).

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Dublin Riots , Saturday , February 25 , 2006 .
RIOT SQUAD RESPONSIBLE FOR STARTING THE TROUBLE-
I was there from 11 AM untill 2.15 PM : this is what actually happened , as witnessed by myself and that other writer , amongst others , who was obviously in the same vicinity of O' Connell Street/Parnell Street as myself . Sharon.
NOTE - readers may be asking why the 'spark' that set the whole incident off was not shown on television news reports and/or in the pictures and reports that were published in the newspapers : on Monday , 27 February last , in 'The Evening Herald' newspaper , the following was published (on page 5) , by that organs 'Crime Editor' -
" A number of photographers , and myself , were taking pictures of the confrontation and we were surrounded by gardai who demanded that we stop and forcibly stood in front of us to prevent snaps . "
It appears that State agents were , even then , preparing an alibi for themselves and their paymasters . (Thanks , again , to the 'IRBB' for the 'heads-up' on that newspaper article).


THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE IRISH STRUGGLE .......
This article is based on a lecture delivered by Sean O Bradaigh in Dublin on January 21 , 1989 , marking the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the First (All-Ireland) Dail Eireann in the Mansion House on January 21 , 1919 , and the links between Irish and French Republicans - 'Partners in Revolution' 200 years ago .
Published in 1989 by Sean Lynch , Cleenrath , Aughnacliffe , County Longford , on behalf of the County Longford Branch of the National Graves Association .
By Sean O Bradaigh .
Liberte ! Egalite ! Fraternite ! Ou La Mort ! ( (Freedom ! Equality ! Brotherhood ! or Death!).
Unite Indivisibilite De La Republique !

" And pledge we the stout sons of France , boys ,
bold Humbert and all his brave men ,
whose tramp , like the trumpet of battle ,
brought hope to the drooping again . "

It was of course in France's interest to assist us Irish in 1798 when she was at war with England ; but it was in our interest also . The Rising failed , but the experience in Wexford , in Antrim and in County Down in the month of June 1798 showed that brave Irishmen and women , on their own , could take on the enemy and put up a formidable resistance . The campaign in the West of Ireland in August 1798 demonstrated that we had friends in the world outside who understood our predicament and were willing to help .

As Irish Republicans we are all in the tradition of Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen ; that tradition was born of an Irish separatism which was given a new direction and a new lease of life by the inspiration of the events of 1798 in France . The generous ideals of the First French Republic , born in blood 200 years ago , are part of an inheritance which has inspired every generation of Irish people since then and inspires us today . We are children of Ireland , but we are also , as Irish Republicans , ' enfants de la patrie' , because the school of Irish Republicanism is a Franco-Irish school and we have all been there .......
(MORE LATER).



THE UNBROKEN LINKS IN THE IRISH REPUBLICAN CHAIN .......
ByMartin Calligan.
(No year of publication.)

I got a couple of kicks and I then had to travel nearly 2 miles , naked and barefooted , until I came to Mick Huxley's house , where I got clothes and shoes . I arrived home at five in the morning .

When the Military Court was set-up in 1931 I was in the first batch taken before it : in all , I was to appear five times before the Military Tribunal . I spent 11 years as a 'Guest of the State' - spent in all their 'guesthouses' including the Curragh Internment Camp . Immediately after the war was declared in 1939 I was interred without trial . Seamus Burke succeeded in proving we were illegally interred , and we had to be released .

However , De Valera had the Military Court Act amended immediately to cover the loophole , and then I had to 'Go on the run' in the traditional manner of the Irish Rebels throughout the centuries . While on the run , a government agent who infiltrated the IRA sent an order that I go to Clonmel , County Tipperary ; I tossed a coin with Joe O' Connor , Kerry , over which of us should obey this order and I won - this meant that I would stay in my present posting . Unknowingly , I had avoided a trap .......
(MORE LATER).



BUTCHERS DOZEN .......
A poem by Thomas Kinsella , written after Bloody Sunday .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .

Friend and stranger , bride and brother ,
son and sister , father , mother ,
all not blinded by your smoke ,
photographers who caught your stroke .

The priests that blessed our bodies , spoke ,
and wagged our blood in the world's face -
the truth will out , to your disgrace .

He flushed and faded . Pale and grim ,
a joking spectre followed him :
take a bunch of stunted shoots ,
a tangle of transplanted roots ,
ropes and rifles , feathered nests ,
some dried colonial interests ,
a hard unnatural union grown , in a bed of blood and bone .
(MORE LATER).

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