1169 And Counting.....

Friday, March 10, 2006

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 .)

Thursday, March 09, 2006

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).

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

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).

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

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).

Monday, March 06, 2006

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).

Friday, March 03, 2006

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).

Thursday, March 02, 2006

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).

Wednesday, March 01, 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 !

" 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).

Tuesday, 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 !

On the night of Sunday , March 7 , 1802 , James Napper Tandy was quietly released from prison and put on board a ship for France ; on March 14 , 1802 , he landed in Bordeaux to military and civic receptions : the Treaty under which Napper Tandy was released , the Peace Treaty of Amiens , was signed on March 25 , 1802 .

Irishmen have served with distinction in the Irish Brigades of both the French Monarchy and the French Republic and Irish names are among those of the great Army Generals engraved on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris . There has long been an antipathy on the part of French people towards the English ; this antipathy dates back to the '100 Years War' , 1337 to 1453 , and England is still regarded by many as "...la perfide Albion.. " .

The Young Irelanders and the Fenians had many supporters in France and , now , in our time , there have been numerous Irish Solidarity Committees throughout the length and breadth of France : in 1981 , several French towns named streets after Bobby Sands and the other patriots who died on hunger strike - 'Rue Bobby Sands' ; 'Rue des Martyrs Irlandais' : French people today take a sympathetic interest in the Irish cause - despite all the misleading publicity , they feel instinctively that the English , somehow or other , must be at the root of the problem.......
(MORE LATER).

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

The law was not very oppressive until W.T. Cosgrave passed the 'Coercion Act' in 1931 : De Valera later amended this and made it one of the most oppressive Acts in the world - calling it the 'Offences Against the State Act' . .

T.J. Ryan got three months in jail for membership of the IRA : today , one could get up to ten years for the same reason . I was offered a free passage to America if I could supply any information - my refusal to do so did not endear me to the C.I.D. - in August 1929 I was taken from my home at 2.30 A.M. , stripped naked , put in the back of a C.I.D. man's car and held down on the floor of the car . The only words spoken were " Drive to the Strand ... "

After about five miles the car stopped and I was told to get down on my knees and say an Act of Contrition : one of my captors put a gun to my head and said - " Let's kill the bastard..." Another of them said - " No , we would be traced...." : so they started beating me .......
(MORE LATER).

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

The law that lets them , caught red-handed ,
halt the game and leave it stranded ,
summon up a sworn inquiry
and dump their conscience in the diary .

During which hiatus , should
their legal basis vanish , good ,
the thing is rapidly arranged :
where's the law that can't be changed ?

The news is out . The troops were kind .
Impartial justice has to find
we'd be alive and well today
if we had let them have their way .

Yet England , even as you lie ,
you give the facts that you deny .
Spread the lie with all your power -
all thats left ; it's turning sour .
(MORE LATER).

Monday, February 27, 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 !

A letter from the Senate of Hamburg to the French , which set out their (Germany) reasons for extraditing James Napper Tandy (which they did on October 1 , 1799) was returned unopened . The German administration then communicated personally with Napoleon Bonaparte , whose reply was devastating , and which he published for the edification of the public - " You have violated hospitality , a thing that would not happen among the barbarous hordes of the desert ... "

Bonaparte promptly ordered trade sanctions which were not lifted until April 1801 , on payment of a fine of 4,500,000 francs . Napper Tandy was sentenced to death at Lifford Court in Donegal , and May 4 , 1801 , was fixed as the day of execution . A reprieve was granted until May 28 , 1801 and , on May 12 that year , his execution was postponed indefinitely . By 1802 the long war between France and England was coming to an end , and negotiations for peace were under way : Lord Cornwallis , the 'Lord Lieutenant' who had taken personal command against General Humbert's army in 1798 was the Chief British negotiator and Joseph Bonaparte , brother of Napoleon , was the Chief French negotiator .

The Peace Treaty of Amiens , 1802 , is another significant date in European history ; its signing was delayed when the First Consul instructed his brother to demand that the British comply with one further condition - " General James Napper Tandy must be released from prison and restored 'au sein de la France' - to the bosom of France . "
(MORE LATER).

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

Joseph Mary Plunkett left his sick bed to sign the Proclamation ; he married Grace Clifford hours before his execution - ' ...with all my love I place this wedding ring upon your finger , there won't be time to share our love - for we must say goodbye .. '

James Connolly said - " We want to break the connection with England . She has no right in Ireland , never can have any right in Ireland . The presence in any one generation of Irish men ready to fight and die to assert that truth makes the British Government usurpation a crime against human progress . "

Help to bring back the spirit of 1916 ; help to expose the vile politicians who give you scandal after scandal . These men died behind lonely prison walls and their mortal remains are still behind lonely walls - we have to demand that their resting place be made a public place that we who are interested in Justice can visit .

When T.J. Ryan from Cranny , County Tyrone , was released from the internment camp in 1924 he set about re-organising the West Clare Battalion of the IRA : I happened to be one of his recruits .......
(MORE LATER).

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

He faded , and another said : " We three met close when we were dead -
into an armoured car they piled us
where our mingled blood defiled us ,
Certain , if not dead before , to suffocate upon the floor .

Careful bullets in the back , stopped our 'terrorist' attack ,
and so three dangerous lives are done - judged , condemned and shamed in one " .
That spectre faded in his turn : a harsher stirred , and spoke in scorn -
" The shame is theirs , in word and deed ,
who prate of Justice , practice greed ,
and act in ignorant fury - then ,
Officers and Gentlemen ,
send to their Courts for the 'Most High' to tell us did we really die !

Does it need recourse to law to tell ten thousand what they saw ? "
(MORE LATER).

Friday, February 24, 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 !

On the day Castlebar was liberated - August 27 , 1798 , James Napper Tandy sailed from Dunkerque with 270 French Grenadiers and a large quantity of weapons , powder and artillery , on board the corvette 'Anacreon' , reputed to be the fastest vessel in the French Navy .

They landed near Burtonport , County Donegal on September 16 , 1798 but , on hearing of General Humbert's defeat at Ballinamuck , they withdrew . On September 21 , 1798 , the ships Captain landed Napper Tandy at Bergen in Norway , from where , en route to France by land , he arrived in Hamburg , then a neutral state , on November 22 , 1798 .

It was there that Napper Tandy was arrested and protracted extradition proceedings followed ; the British arrogantly demanded that he be handed over for 'trial' - eventually , he was extradited on October 1 , 1799 : but French retribution was swift - they re-called their 'charge d'affaires' and Consul in Hamburg immediately . Hamburg's representatives in France were given 24 hours to quit their residences and eight days to leave the country !

This all coincided with the return of Napoleon Bonaparte from Egypt and his assumption of power as First Consul of France .......
(MORE LATER).

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

Tom Clarke served 14 years under the most brutal conditions in an English prison for his part in a bombing campaign in England .

Eamonn Kent stated - " I leave for the guidance of other Irish revolutionaries who will thread the path that we have trod - this advice - never treat with this enemy , never surrender to their mercy : fight to a finish . This enemy has never cherished one generous thought for those with poor equipment and small in numbers , who withstood their forces for one glorious week . I shrink not from death at daybreak ... "

Sean McDiarmada stated - " In a few hours I will join my comrades in a better world . I am sentenced to die in the morning : I die that Ireland might live . The job-hunters will condemn our action , but posterity will judge us right . "

In his address to the Court Martial , Thomas McDonagh said : " I chose to think that you have done your duty according to our rights in sentencing me to death and I accept your sentence with joy and pride since it is for Ireland I am about to die .... " The British occupation have never for more than a hundred years been compelled to confront in field of battle such formidable force . While Ireland lives the brain and the brawn of her manhood will strive to destroy the last vestige of British rule in Ireland .......
(MORE LATER).

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

Then from left and right they came ,
more mangled corpses , bleeding , lame ,
holding their wounds : they chose their grounds -
ghost by ghost , without a sound .

One stepped forward , soiled and white :
" A bomber I . I travelled light , four pounds of nails and gelignite
about my person , hid so well - they seemed to vanish where I fell .
When the bullet stopped my breath , a doctor sought the cause of death :

he upped my shirt , undid my fly , twice he moved my limbs awry : and noticed nothing .
By and by a soldier , with his sharper eye , beheld the four elusive rockets -
stuffed in my coat and trouser pockets .
Yes , they must be strict with us ; even in death so treacherous ! "
(MORE LATER).

Thursday, February 23, 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 !
" What Humbert achieved with small forces in a country where 100,000 men were available to fight against him , is simply amazing , and yet , it does not seem to have received the flattering recognition it deserved from History " . - Stuart Jones , English Historian .
Panic reigned as French snipers took over vantage points and picked off the bewildered enemy ; fierce sword and sabre duels ensued in the streets as a whole army fled in disarray , some to Hollymount and Tuam , and some cavalry did not stop till they reached Athlone ,County Westmeath , some 60 miles away !
British General Lake's personal baggage was found abandoned in the street ; well and truly and aptly were the events of that day called the 'Races of Castlebar' ! Sections of the Longford and Kilkenny militias turned their coats and hoisted the green flag : French Captain Jobit estimated the numbers who changed sides at 574 men : for this , many of them were singled out afterwards for particularly brutal treatment and execution .
Irish militia man Gunner James Magee of County Longford was probably the most famous of them .(MORE LATER).

THE UNBROKEN LINKS IN THE IRISH REPUBLICAN CHAIN ....... By Martin Calligan.(No year of publication.)
Ireland has fertile fields , underveloped minerals - oil , gas and fish in our waters . Foreign fish-factory boats now will destroy our fishing beds while it is illegal for Irishmen to fish in their own waters . We have thousands unemployed while four out of every five items in our shops are foreign goods .
We have a so-called 'Head of (a 26-County) State' called 'President of Ireland' , yet not a single person in the Six Counties ever had a say in the matter ! ('1169...' Comment.... except , no doubt , the British 'powers-that-be' !) We have a so-called 'Peace Process' and yet innocent people murdered month after month by British and pro-British death squads . Our Martyred dead are an embarrassment to the pro-British media in the 26 Counties .
Padraig Pearse said - " We proclaim the Irish Republic ......may your children enjoy the happiness and prosperity which only freedom can bring . I am not afraid to face the judgement of God or posterity ....... " (MORE LATER).

BUTCHERS DOZEN .......A poem by Thomas Kinsella , written after Bloody Sunday . From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .
There in a ghostly pool of blood a crumpled phantom hugged the mud : 'Once there lived a hooligan - a pig came up and away he ran , here lies one in blood and bones , who lost his life for throwing stones ' .
More voices rose : I turned and saw three corpses forming , red and raw , from dirt and stone each upturned face stared unseeing from its place -
' Behind this barrier , blighters three , we scrambled back and made to flee : the guns cried 'STOP' , and here lie we ' .(MORE LATER).

Wednesday, February 22, 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 !

" We present ourselves as sincere friends to all who will embrace the cause of liberty and we thirst after nothing but breaking your fetters and chastising your tyrants " - General Lazare Hoche .

A forced march by night across the mountains in torrents of rain ; a surprise attack at dawn ; and a masterly assault by General Sarrazin on the British 'defenders' ' left flank gave warning of what was to come : brave Mayo men faced pounding artillery with nothing but pikes hammered out by skilled blacksmiths who had worked night and day for five days .

To confuse the enemy further , General Humbert suddenly changed tactics - he launched his full reserve , and changed from closed formation to open files . Rising up in his saddle , and brandishing his sword , he gave the order , in Irish - " Eirinn go Brach ! " The drums sounded the 'pas de charge' and a blue line , now within a few paces of the enemy , regrouped back into closed lines and moved swiftly forward , their bayonets gleaming in the morning sun , a fierce and threatening determination in their countenances .

The famed army of the French Revolution was here in the fields of Mayo : veterans of many victorious campaigns on the continent , men who had endured much and who believed passionately in their cause . They had measured their enemy and marked them down as ' the defenders and upholders of tyranny and injustice' . The Sasanaigh and their Irish militias and Yeomen hesitated , and then turned their backs and fled in terror .......
(MORE LATER).

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

We know that when Cromwell came to Ireland he slaughtered men , women and children ; that he uprooted the natives and gave their lands and property to his soldiers - later called 'the Gentry' .

Under the Government Act 1920 , Britain drew a border around six counties , so that a minority of Cromwells descendants would always have a parliamentary 'majority' in a contrived puppet State , now they have a veto . The Twenty-Six County State operates within the structures of the British system ; their policies are based on foreign investments . You can never have prosperity here , multi-nationals will only come if assured a good profit and are under no obligation to pay a decent wage out of their huge profit .

You read in the capitalist press that unemployment is down and again that such a factory has closed making hundreds redundant ; since joining the Brussels block this State's prosperity has depended on handouts - other peoples money . There is no such thing as free money - someone must pay , but not the rancher farmer and his like ; their pressure groups saw to that . The small farmers only got the crumbs , and now those crumbs are getting scarce - the rich refusing to pay . This States' Agricultural Policy is dictated by Brussels - potato's and vegetables are imported from abroad , while those depending on 'free money' have'nt even got a hen !

Such a policy leaves no future for your children .......
(MORE LATER).

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

' I went with anger at my heel
through Bogside of the bitter zeal
- Jesus pity! - on a day
of cold and drizzle and decay .

A month had passed . Yet there remained
a murder smell that stung and stained ,
on flats and alleys - over all -
it hung . On battered roof and wall ,
on wreck and rubbish scattered thick ,
on sullen steps and pitted brick .

And when I came where thirteen died
it shrivelled up my heart . I sighed ,
and looked about that brutal place
of rage and terror and disgrace :
then my moistened lips grew dry -
I had heard an answering sigh .......
(MORE LATER).

Tuesday, February 21, 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 !

Castlebar was defended by a huge English army : the Kerry Militia ; the Galway Yeomanry ; the Sixth Foot Regiment ; the Frazer Fencibles ; Lord Roden's Dragoons (known as the 'Foxhunters') ; the Kilkenny Militia ; the Longford Militia ; the Fencible Cavalry ; the Prince of Wales Fencibles ; the Fencible and Royal Irish Artillery - in all an army of at least 4,000 men , of whom 600 were superbly mounted cavalry .

There was no shortage of 'top brass' , either - General Lake , 'the Butcher of Wexford' , Commander of His Majesty's forces in Ireland ; General Hutchinson , Commander of His Majesty's forces in Connacht ; Lord Ormond ; Lord Granard ; Lord Longford (Pakenham) . A later Pakenham in his book ' The Year Of Liberty' declares that they were all "...totally outclassed by Humbert . "

Captain Jobit , who kept a diary of the expedition , described Castlebar as "...a tough nut to crack , for a little army like ours .. " - between 800 and 900 French and about 700 or 800 untrained but determined pikemen from many parts of County Mayo .......
(MORE LATER).

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

On his way to the South of Ireland , Michael Collins called on Tom Malone - alias Sean Forde - to end the so-called Civil War , the last thing the British wanted , for they had supplied the guns and the ex-Black 'n Tans to put over the 26-county State .

Emmet Dalton joined the British Army and during an attack in France an Officer was killed ; Dalton took over and repelled the attackers , for which he was decorated and sent to join Sir Henry Wilson , a position of trust . Back in Dublin after the war , Emmet Dalton offered to help the IRA .

Sean McKeown was under sentence of death in Mountjoy Jail ; five British soldiers collected meat from the abettor each day under orders that the driver and sentry would not leave the armoured car , but they did not oblige , and Dalton drove to Mountjoy Jail , got past the two gates - but the alarm was raised . How did they get past the two gates and the sentry ? When State papers were released after 50 years , General McReidy had stated 'never any danger ...we know in advance' . It was a British move to endear Emmet Dalton to Michael Collins ; Dalton was a member of MI5 - he went away with an MI5 man's wife who had his papers .

Michael Cunningham in his book stated that it was seen in the papers in her possession where the British Government had paid a large sum of money for the killing of Michael Collins . Emmet Dalton was in charge of Collins' bodyguards at Beal Na Blath ; he took Collins' remains to a British Military hospital and stated that the bullet was fired from a distance , and had only sufficient strength to penetrate his skull ; but Nurse Gordon , who washed Collins' wounds , testifies to one entry and one exit wound , and that the bullet was fired so close that his hair was singed .......
(MORE LATER).

INFORMERS : The RUC's Psychological War .......
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.
By Sean Delaney.

It also needs to be emphasised however , and re-emphasised , that the RUC's use of informers , and the manipulation of the Northern legal system to suit their ruthless and pragmatic ends , is not a new phenomenon but simply a new face on the unchanging nature of British repression in Ireland . Republican resistance - which despite the use of informers in a few cases to date against loyalists , is the primary target of the RUC - has shown itself well able to counter all those aspects of repression over the past twelve years and more : internment , Castlereagh , Diplock Courts , H-Blocks , assassinations , and to continue its war of revolutionary attrition . ('1169...' Comment - the Provisionals' 'war of revolutionary attrition' is now been 'fought' only from within the walls of three parliaments which were each established by the British . 'Revolutionary...' ?)

The Nationalist community as a whole , which has borne the brunt of British Army and RUC military and political repression over the same period , can and should mobilise now to counter this futher attack on the freedom struggle in Ireland and , as can almost certainly be done , make the British use of paid informers - with all of their sordid retinue of bribes , immunity and 'schooled' 'evidence' - too expensive a tactic , in terms of its political consequences , to be worth the effort .

[END of 'INFORMERS : The RUC's Psychological War' .]
(Tomorrow : 'BUTCHERS DOZEN' - from 1983.)