Irish Democrat December 1970

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I IRISH DEMOCRAT I 

f^JJL SPECIAL ENLARGED XMAS NUMBER | 6 I 

FOUNDED IN 1939 FOR PEOPLE WITH THE COURAGE TO THINK 

Peers and M.P.s plan the 

Lord Brockway, originator of the Race Relations Act, which 

gave coloured citizens full Civil Rights in England, Scotland and 

Wales, is reported to foe considering the possibility of introducing 

m m ^ siiSih* the HUSH DEMOCRAT ^ 

of firdsr 

to 

• »•- 

up 

-THE drafting of the Bill of 

1 

Rights has stimulated our 

supporters and brought in an 

improved maintenance fund 

for November... 

There is great need to keep it 

up. For we want to send copies 

of the paper which contains the 

draft of the Bill of Rights to as 

many influential people as possible. 

And of course it costs 

money. And we want to issue 

the Bill with a commentary, as 

a pamphlet. 

Our best thanks to: T. & Q. 

Shields £2, G. Grove-White £1, 

P. O.Connor 16/-, Hethe Wolff 

£1, Florence McCarthy 10/-, 

Waterside Workers of Australia 

£4/12/1, Irish Book Centre 

donation £3/7/10, P. Cronin 

10/-, E. MacLoughlin £1, M. 

Brennan.£l, T. Evans £1, Miss 

M. J. O'Halloren £2, Mr. O'Malley 

2/-, Mr. Lysaght 5/-, Anon. 

£1, M. F. Maunsell £1, P. Mc- 

Govern £4, Mrs. V. Morton £2, 

Maire Comerford £4/4/-, A. 

Heusseff J OA. Angela Barry £1, 

Bill Meek £5, Michael O Loinsigh 

£5, F.HtO. (Nuneaton) £5, 

North London Readers £4, South 

London Readers £3. Total: 

£54 I7«. 9d. 

% Consideration is also boing given fay Members of Parliament 

to the possibility of introducing it In the Commons as 

well; 

The Bill of Rights has the 

official backing of the influential 

Movement for Colonial 

Freedom of which Lord Brockwav 

is president. He is also 

president of the Campaign for 

Democracy in Ulster. 

A number of other peers have 

shown interact, notably Lord 

Kilhracken, and a meeting 

called recently in the House of 

Lords was attended by Lord 

Longford and Lord Soper. 

The meeting considered the 

desirability of proceeding with 

a BUI and it waa decided that 

the opinion of Mr. Gerard Fitt 

and others'would bo sought. 

It is reoegnised that the introduction 

of the Bill at this stage 

would not bring immediately 

the clamp-down on Stormont 

that is required. It would be no 

more than a preliminary airing. 

Even supposing it passed the 

Lords and went to the Commons, 

while the Tories hold the 

majority, it would have no 

chance of becoming law. And 

it would not pass the Lords. 

(Continued on Page Six) 

SUPPLEMENT 

IRISH BOOKS 

THIS MONTH 

THIS XMAS-SAILING TICKET DATES 

THOSE who intend to brave 

the rigours of the British 

transport system and go home 

for Christmas will want to 

know the days on which it is 

neoecsary to have sailing 

tickets. 

The B & I Line informs us 

that there will be no need for 

sailing ticket* at all on the 

Swancea to Cork service. 

There wlU be sailing tickets 

required for Journeys from 

Liverpool to Dublin on December 

18tb-23rd ineiucive, and 

from Dubttu to Ll*|»C0l on 

December 21th to January 3rd 

inclusive. 

For Liverpool-Bel fast sailing 

tickets will be required on December 

21st, 22nd and 23rd, and 

for the return Journey on De» 

oember 26th and 28th. 

Of the British-owned services, 

Heyiham to Dun Laoire (Holyhead 

Is still out of action) demands 

soiling tickets from Heysham 

oa December 19th-24th 

inolusive, and from Dun Laoire 

from December 27th to January 

4th inclusive, plus January 8th. 

If you are going from Heysham 

to Belfast you wttl need 

a sailing ticket on Dec ember 

18th-24th Inclusive, and on the 

return Journey on December 

27th-29th Inclusive, also on Sat* 

urday, January 2nd and Monday, 

4th. 

On the Fishguard-RoMiaro 

route sailing tickets are required 

on December 19th, 9*10, 

23rd and 24th. For the return 

Journey they are required for 

the 11.30 pjti. sailing on Docem 

ber28th and 29th, and January 

2nd. 

Travellers should check that 

there actually I* a sailing on the 

day they want to go. (Seat* of 

the runs of dates Include Sunday*.) 

Also chock that 

have been no changes. 

The "Irish Democrat" 

accept responsibility for the aeouraoy 

of thW Information It 

hac received, but every effort 

has boon made Is check it. 

Lord Brockway (President 

of M.C.F.) might see his 

Race Relations Act extended 

to N. Ireland. 

Remember the 

prisoners 

U/HEN Christ mao eomeo 

round it is then wo remember 

to write to our friends. 

This Christmas let us act forget 

the Irish political Hawaii 

who are held in Engtlab Jails. 

They are: 

Barry Bruton (178277), address: 

KM. Prison, CambfMge 

Reed, Bristol. 

Gerry Doherty (647993): H.M. 

Prison, Lancaster 

Conor Lynch: HJM. Prison, 

WakcMd, Yorkshire. 

P. Otuilivan: KM. Prison, 

Wormwood Scrubs, Loudon, 

W.12. 

E. Smullen (6479S&) t HJM. 

PrftoiH Gftrtretb -l^iGGIt^fr• 

Letter on Ptg* Nine. 

flteRRY CHRISTMAS 

CUR READERS

2 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 

DECEMBER 1970 

HOW GERRYMANDERING WORKED IN DERRY CITY IN 1968 

SEATS UNDER P.R. 

SEATS AS WON 

N 

s 

AAAAAj! NONE 0 

f + + 3 

aoaoooaoa 8 5 

A _ — - - - - — — — 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAf + f + + - + + + .8 

+ + + + -f + + + 8 

OOO 

NONE 0 

NONE 0 

AAAA NONE 0 

+ 1 

Wa 

oaooaofl •••• 4 ••• 3 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA«AADAAAAA + 4- + + + + + 4- 8 

+ ++-+'+++-+' + + 4 + 12 

ALL 

oooaoaaoaoaaoaaoao 12 • M t t t M 8 

a* Nationalists OO0O Unionists + Nationalists. Unionists. 

P A T 

I > K V 1 \ E 

TORIES BACK APARTHEID 

|UINCE the General Election 

victory of the Tory Party, » 

big business has stepped up its 

efforts to re-establish relations 

with Rhodesia, broken by the 

wtyte settlers by its unilateral 

declaration of independence five 

years ago. 

Recently on TV, Ian Smith, 

RhSMesian Premier, said he 

wquld only negotiate further 

with Britain as between tfvo 

sovereign states, and furthermore. 

that the "one man one 

vote" wiH never be allowed in 

Rhodesia. / j , 

In this country o^ fdur ipd a »• 

half million people, the vast > 

majority of whom are block 

people, will continue ta b* rplcd 

The Tories are 

their plan to send arms to South 

Africa. This is all 

strategy to 

noKt on Atnca. 

test that the South Africans will 

only use the arms to protect the 

SimaBBtown base from possible 

Soviet attack has been demolished. 

I®" spite of thew pwus promise^ 

the arms will be. used 

ftjpttwl th* Africa® peopte-attuggtfng-fbr 

liberation. 

The entire Labour movement, 

the Libera* Ratty and the overwhelming 

r majority of the British 

public now stand four square 

against the sale of any asms to 

the Sbuth African racist regime. 

AMmCAN 

Now the Americas mid-term 

elections. are over, where do the 

ordinary Americans stand.; have 

they won or lost ? * 

Although the Republican and 

u Democratic Parties are like 

Tweedledum and TWcedledW in 

the sense that they are both 

capitalist parties, there are important 

policy differences between 

them as well as within 

each party. 

In this election President 

Nixon aimed at wieaing: majorities 

in the Senate and House of 

Representatives. He campaigned 

for more power for the police, a 

curbing of the people's right to 

demonstrate. 

He took an active personal 

part in the campaign on the 

hustings. Untold millions of dollars 

Were poured into his campaign 

coffers. 

and oppressed without any civil 

or voting rights, by the "tiny" 

minority of 208, a ,and getting rid of 

all reactionary regimes from the 

surface of the enrtb. 

What's the tally? It would seem 

t» be that notwithstanding its many 

failures and weaknesses the U.N.O. 

tiu in fact restrained war-mongers, 

if it has not been able to hold them 

entirely. 

The world would have been an 

even nxwe dangerous pJaee without 

it. 

riHIE tendency of Governments to 

keep their handling of foreign 

affairs away from popular scrutiny 

has prevented a wide enough unierst&ndina 

of what the United 

Nations is all about. Thus though 

the general sense of the ordinary 

man is to bring in China and all 

get round the table, the U.S.A. insists 

on continuing to recognise an 

effete ruling-class clique huddled 

on an off-shore island to which 

they were expelled over twenty 

years age! 

Sheer prejudice and class distinction 

prevents the U.NJQ. from 

being the force for peace it should 

be in Asia. For how can you guarantee 

peace if you won't speak to the 

other fellow? 

Where talks do take place, and 

frequently the U.NX). is tbe only 

body that can acceptably initiate 

them, some progress at least is 

made, and in the two cases of 

Naked British aggression 

HAVE we get a Government in 

Ireland? > 

Sometimes one wonders. 

When the disturbances took plaoe 

in the six counties, and savage 

counter-revolution swept info the 

Falls Road areas, we were told that 

Mr. Lynch would.take the matter up 

at the United Nations. 

The United Nations still stands. 

But where does Mir. Lynch stand? 

Then there were the instanoes 

when British soldiers crossed the 

border in order to try to arrest 

people. 

These incidents are more numerous 

than was reported, and it is said 

they are still going on. What is 

being done about them? 

The most scandalous of all is the 

stopping and searohing of Irish 

merchantmen by British naval vessels 

looking for arms. And there 

were no arms. And no apology. 

And no compensation. 

It is something to know that Mr. 

Lynch protested, so that there are 

limits to what he will endure. He 

should break off talks on the E.E.C. 

until Irish sovereignty is respected. 

Vietnam and the Near East, at any 

rate a restriction, in the scale of 

hostilities was achieved. 

little-regarded, but overriding 

influence on the fortunes 

of nations is what might be 

termed the "balance of world 

forces." No nation is capable of isolating 

itself from this balance 

While it might seem at first glance 

that the feature of the past twenty 

fire years is the deadlock between 

the superpowers, within that deadlock 

there has bean a remarkable 

slow transformation. 

In 1950 there were only 50 states 

(with a few deliberate exclusions t 

with the degree of sovereignty and 

governmental apparatus to be entitled 

to membership. The Repubtfc 

was one of the deliberate- exclusion* 

Each existing group of members 

had. its own ideas as to which new 

members were wanted- 

But who can deny that there is a 

favourable transformation. The 

number of affiliated states Is now 

127, and for the mdst part the in 

crease is due to the break-up of the 

old British and Frenek Empire*. 

What is truly astonishing is that 

successive Governments in Ireland 

have retreated from the old position 

of raising partition internationally, 

at the very time when potential 

support for a condemnation of 

British agression is growing. 

Mr. Aiken's line of backing 

Chinese entry was abandoned as 

a result of Whitehall pressure. But 

in November this year, Ireland 

voted once more that China should 

come in. 

DECEMBER 1970 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 

AN EXPLANATION 

TEXT 

COMMENT 

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, 

ry and with the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, 

and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by 

the authority of the same, as follows : 

1. (1) The Race Relations 

Act, 1968, is hereby extended to 

Northern Ireland, and Section 

19—(4) of the said Act is resealed. 

1. (2) In its application to 

Northern Ireland, the Race Re- 

'ations Act 1968 shall have 

effect as if Section 1—(1) read 

'For the purposes of this Act a 

person discriminates against 

another if on ground of colour, 

race, religious belief or ethnic 

cr national origins he treats that 

other, in any situation to which 

section 2, 3, 4 or 5 below applies, 

iess favourably than he treats 

cr would treafother persons, 

and in this Act references to 

discrimination are references to 

discrimination on any of those 

grounds." 

1. (3) The Ministry of Community 

Relations established by 

the Parliament of 'Northern 

Ireland shall administer the 

Race Relations Act 1968 within 

Northern Ireland, on behalf of 

the Race Relations Board, and 

there shall be a right of appeal 

from any decision of the 

Ministry of Community Relations 

to the Race Relations 

Board. 

2. (1) It shall not be an 

offence in Northern Ireland to 

advocate or work in accordance 

with the law for the establishment 

of a single Parliament for 

the whole of Ireland. 

2. (2) The Parliament of 

Northern Ireland shall have no 

power to make it an offence to 

advocate or work for the purpose 

set out in subsection (1) 

aboye. 

2. (3) Save as may be established 

by a statute of the Parliament 

of Westminster, it shall 

be illegal to administer in 

Northern Ireland as a condition 

of public office or employment 

or in connection with any local 

or Parliamentary election, any 

oath or test that is repugnant 

lo the oonacience of any person 

wishing to advocate or war* 

within the law for the establishment 

of a single Parliament for 

the whole of Ireland. 

2. (4) It shall not be unlawful 

n Northern Ireland for a person 

to describe himself a? a 

Republican or to associate With 

othttr persons to work within 

the law for the propagation of 

Repubftcan Opinions. 

3. It shall not be an offence 

within Northern freiand to display 

me flags or emblems of 

Mxintrfe* In friendly relations 

with Mer Majesty. 

4. (1) At any General Eleolion 

for the Parliament of 

Northern Ireland, the oleotfon 

shall be according to tin. prinwple 

of proportional rapr mentation, 

each elector having one 

transferable vote, as defined in 

subsection W of thirsertton, 

and each constituency shaH return 

not fewer than four memberg. 

(2) The expression transferable 

vote means a vote 

Riven :— 

a. so as to indicate the 

voter's preference for the 

candidates In order; and, 

1.(1) The Race Relations Act 

does not apply to Northern 

Ireland. Section 29 (4) is the 

section that prohibits it from 

applying in Northern Ireland 

and therefore needs to be repealed. 

1. (2) The Race Relations Act 

contains in the section quoted 

a definition of discrimination. 

But this definition does not 

include any mention of religion. 

In Northern Ireland it 

is impossible lo prevent discrimination 

without including 

religion in the definition. But 

in order not to foist on the 

people of England a law which 

they do not want, the section 

is so worded that the extension 

of the definition to include 

religion would apply 

only to Northern Ireland. Any 

exceptions (for example to 

protect Jewish bakers) would 

have to be added in separate 

sub-sections. The section is 

intended to safeguard the 

voting rights and access to 

employment of citizens of the 

Republic. 

1.(3) There is no compelling 

reason why this method of 

administration must be adopted. 

But there is a case for 

not depriving Stormont needlessly 

oj any power that it 

has. In case the administration 

is not fair there is a right 

of repeal, and a responsibility 

to the Race Relations Board. 

2.(1) The purpose of the section 

is to safeguard the right to 

work for a united Ireland. The 

first subsection guarantees the 

right to work for the ending 

of partition, and the second 

prevents the Stormont Parliament 

from passing at any 

future" time a law taking 

this right away. 

2. (3) In Northern Ireland people 

have had to swear oaths of 

aHegiance to the British 

Crown as a condition of employment 

or being allowed to 

stand for election. There is 

no such oath or test in England. 

Granted such oaths and 

tests are under duress and not 

morally binding, they remain 

an insult. 

2. (4) Safeguards the operation 

of the Republican Clubs, and 

gives people the right not 

only to work for a united Ireland 

but for a united Irish 

Republic. 

3. This section does away with 

the "flags and emblems" Act, 

and the flying of the tricolour 

as such can only be prohibited 

in the unlikely event of war 

between Britain and the Republic. 

4. This section provides in effect 

for the restoration of the electoral 

system that was introduced 

in 1921. It is the same 

system as is in use in the 

Republic. 

OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS 

TEXT 

b. capable of being transferred 

to the next choice 

when the vote is not required 

to give a prior choice the 

necessary number of votes, or 

when, owing to the deficiency 

in the number of the votes 

given for a prior choice, that 

choice is eliminated from the 

list of candidates. 

4. (3) Wherever the number 

of candidates contesting a byelection 

exceeds that of two, 

each elector shall have one 

transferable vote. 

4. (4) At any election of representatives 

of a local government 

area, the election shall be 

according to the principle of 

proportional representation, 

each elector having one 

transferable vote, as defined in 

subsection (2) of this section, 

and each electoral area shall 

return not fewer than four 

representatives, and in any byelection 

in which the number 

of candidates exceeds two, each 

elector shall have one transferable 

vote. 

4. (5) Her Majesty may, by 

Order in Council, frame regulations 

prescribing the method 

of voting and transferring and 

counting votes, at any election, 

according to the principle of the 

transferable vote, and for 

adapting thereto the previsions 

of any Representation of the 

People Acts and any other Acts 

relating to Parliamentary or 

Local Government Elections 

and with respect to the duties of 

returning officers in connection 

therewith; and any such regulations 

shall have effect as if 

they were enacted in this Act. 

5. (1) On and after the appointed 

day the Parliament of 

Northern Ireland shall cease to 

have power to legislate in respect 

of the following matters, 

namely :— 

a. Tbe suspension .of Habeas 

Corpus, 

b. the imprisonment of suspected 

persons without charge 

or trial denial of recourse to 

Habeas Corpus or a Court of 

Law, or denial of the right of 

trial by jury, 

c. the entering and searching 

of private premises without 

a warrant of a Justice of 

the Peace, 

d. the imposition of a curfew 

or the prohibition of 

meetings, assemblies fairs, 

markets, or praccscioac, except 

where this is necessary 

in enter

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THE last 20 years of the 18th 

century was a great period 

in Irish history. I am firmly, if 

regretfully, convinced that we 

have never achieved equal 

greatness since. I am equally 

sure that the late 18th-century 

spirit of democratic and nonsectarian 

unity, looking outward 

to a common struggle with all 

other peoples towards life of a 

higher quality, and emanating 

from the common aspirations of 

the great majority of the Irish 

for economic and social freedom, 

has got to be recaptured if we 

are ever to re-achieve any sort 

of greatness. 

READ Dr. Inland's story of the 

Act of Union. *tt am oarrted 

out cgalnst tho will of tho Irish 

paopl* fey foroo against the poor 

: id brlfeory of the rleh. 

The Industrial Relations MM it 

the force MM Tories AN hoping to 

i.se (.gainst the organised worksn. 

if there is bribery of the rtoh on 

are not likely to how of It jttt 

there it no need to doubt there «rtll 

be a supply of "jobs for the boys." 

It It an ugly elgn that Mr. Hooth 

is to reetore the practice of granting 

bowsers for political services. 

Very ominous. 

The psopto who aocept them would 

profeaMy reply as the M.P. in the 

Irish Pariiimont did when a critic 

ohailenped him. "You told your 

country." 

The real enemies of a nation's 

progress are never many. But 

they are always to be found in 

powerfully fortified positions, 

well-chosen beforehand. They 

are always surrounded by a 

host of dependents, more or less 

corrupt, who are rather to be 

pitied in the final analysis than 

hated. They are usually helped 

by, even dependent on, and 

therefore anxiously working for 

division and stupidity among 

their adversaries. 

They are rarely quite as 

strong as they seem, but always 

too strong for rash or ill-organised 

opponents, however heroic, 

whose rashness or poor organisation 

they are quick to turn to 

their own advantage. And they 

live in perpetual agony that 

their power is slipping from 

them. 

This agony makes them as a 

group—though sometimes as individuals 

civilised enoughvicious, 

unscrupulous and cruel. 

So it was with Ireland in the 

1780s and 1790s, The majority 

Of the great landowners, particularly 

those who did not generally 

reside here, a group of high 

officials who lived well because 

> of revenue got from the people 

by the landlord-led and landlordchosen 

government, and a group 

of British merchants determined 

to prevent the expansion of 

Irish trade and industry, these 

and their hangers-on and those 

whom they could bamboozle, 

these were the enemies of Ireland. 

. Behind them stood all the 

crowned heads representing all 

the landowning aristocracies of 

Europe, all afraid Ireland might 

go the way France was going, 

the way Poland looked like 

going. Did not Queen Maria 

Carolina of Naples, sister of 

Marie Antoinette of France, ask 

the notorious Nelson to treat her 

own capital "like a rebel Irish 

town" when democrats had 

taken it over ? 

And in 1799 the enemies of 

Ireland were in a greater agony 

Of anxiety than ever before or 

probably since. They had seen a 

nation born before their eyes 

and were determined on infanticide. 

If the Act they pushed into 

law in 1800 did not quite 

achieve the murder, it certainly 

stunted the child's growth to a 

pitiable degree. 

Grattan, for an assessment of 

whose real stature as an Irish 

leader we are still waiting, had 

the merit that he always referred 

to Ireland as a nation. It 

was a dirty word then. The idea 

was only surfacing, in the strong 

currents of the 18th-century 

enlightenment, that a country 

could belong to its people, not 

to its ruler. 

The first revolutionary event 

in 1789 in France was, not the 

fall of the Bastille, but the declaration 

by the newly-elected 

representatives of the people 

that they were the National Assembly 

of the French people, no 

longer the Third Estate of the 

Kingdom of France. And the 

measure of the anguish caused 

to Ireland's enemies by Grattan's 

acclimatisation here of the 

concept of an Irish nation is 

their loathing of him. 

Tone and his friends enriched 

the conception of an Irish 

nation made current by Grattan. 

To them, the nation was the 

whole people (though I fear they 

were rarely explicit about the 

rights of the female half), acting 

for the public good in unfettered 

control of its own destinies, 

but pledged to advance in 

harmony with all other peoples 

towards the common goal of a 

finer life for all mankin^j. 

This international conception 

of Irish nationhood is of vital 

importance because it included 

the idea of friendship with the 

British people, not only after but 

during the achievement of freedom 

(an idea spurned today by 

people calling themselves republicans 

who should therefore 

know better). It was vital also 

because it took into account the 

reality, obvious then only to the 

perceptive, now to all but the 

blind, that the enemies of the 

peoples are a supernational, a 

world-organised force — Maria 

Carolina and her sister were just 

as much enemies of Ireland as 

George III and Lord Camden 

(as today it is not so much 

Paisley or Blaney that are the 

enemies of Ireland as Onassis 

and Gulf Oil and the London 

and New York-based finance and 

property companies). 

•More on the Market' 

All this correct analysis of the 

situation of the 1790s, leading 

to the creation of a revolutionary 

nationally and internationally 

minded organisation, the 

Society of United Irishmen, to 

the outspoken praise of French 

radicalism by Grattanites like 

Laurence Parsons and Arthur 

O'Connor, to '98 and the arrival 

of French soldiers with dangerous 

slogans was too much for 

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 

THE GREAT SELL-OUT 

the class opposed to the demands 

of the Irish people. 

This class had therefore to remove 

the appearance of Irish 

nationhood, represented by the 

constitution of 1782 with its 

separate Parliament and laws 

and the flourishing trade and 

industries growing in their 

shadow, as a step to removing 

the idea, and if possible, the 

reality, of separate Irish nationhood. 

It was necessary first to sanctify 

the proposed infanticide by 

obtaining religious benediction. 

From the Church of Ireland this 

was easy. Few Church of Ireland 

clerics were of the calibre 

of the eccentric Volunteer 

Bishop of Derry, and the Church 

was bribed by the promise of a 

seat in the new Union House of 

Lords for each of its (then four) 

archbishops. 


The Catholic Church proved 

equally amenable, and Archbishop 

Troy of Dublin and the 

Catholic Bishop of Derry, charm- 

The story of the Act of Union 

ingly known as "Orange Charlie" 

were typical of Catholic 45, despite Grattan's eloquence, 

went through with a majority of 

By John de 

Courcey Ireland 

Church leaders who sided his identification of anti-Unionism 

with the people," his duel 

noisily with the nation's ruling 

class enemies. 

with the infamous Corry. Why ? 

"I did," he replied, "and I was 

dlvllleh glad to have a oountry to 

tell." 

6 A i* 

Sovereignty is the essential point 

regarding E.E.C. 

The Governments are supposed 

to take their orders from the people. 

To be able to do this they must.be 

free to do what .the people want 

Sovereignty is thus the essence of 

representative democracy. 

If sovereignty is abandoned, then 

the people's democracy ceases to 

exist. 

No matter how promising the immediate 

prospects might look (and 

in faet they look the reverse) If 

things go wrong the people are 

powerless to put them right. 

And that Is Just what Messrs. 

Heath and Lynch appear to WANT. 

They were tricked into believing 

the remaining restrictions on 

the civil liberties of Catholics 

would be removed in exchange 

for their support of the Union. 

They also interpreted the French 

Revolution's attack on landed 

property, not excluding the 

huge estates of the Church, as 

an attack on religion itself. 

In this they rejected the view 

of far-seeing French priests like 

that champion of Ireland the 

Abbe Gregoire, who equated 

Jacobin social principles with 

those of Christianity. 

Next, it was necessary to be 

sure of a majority in the Irish 

Parliament for its own abolition. 

This was tried in 1799, but the 

first Union Bill was rejected by 

the Irish House of Commons, by 

106 votes to 105. A new one was 

introduced in January 1800. 

Grattan, seriously ill and under 

threat of assassination, returned 

to the Commons and fought it 

step by step. But this time it 

Irish Labour 'want 

their brains tested' 

"Their backsides were itching 

for the plush seats of office." 

—SEAN O'CASEY, 1948 

RELAND'S antl-E.E.C. campaign 

I is now well under way. Every 

day there is news of meetings 

around the country—Trades Councils, 

Chambers of Commerce, Macra 

na Feirme branches, debating 

societies. They all seem to have the 

Common Market on their programmes 

over the winter and the 

pro-and-antl speakers are at it 

hammer and tongs. 

The Government is so worried 

about the growing opposition that 

it plans to deluge the country with 

glossy propaganda about the benefits 

of "Europe" in the coming 

months. Not that this will daunt 

the opponents of membership. 

They feel the people are moving 

more and more their way, alarmed 

at the prospect of selling their independence. 

If only Labour does not 

commit the folly of Coalition, there 

is a prospect of the anti-Market 

forces winning the day. 

Last month a Labour delegation 

came back from Brussels with their 

convictions and doubts about Ireland's 

entry much strengthened. 

The Labour Party secretary, Mr. 

Halligan, stated that the policy of 

the Labour Party in the Dail would 

not change and that there would be 

no change if there was a referendum 

on E.E.C. membership. 

Some Labour Party leaders like 

Mr. Justin Keating, T.D., are 

savagely critical of the E.E.C. 

around the country. It is hard to 

see them reconciling this view with 

a Pine-Gael and Labour coalition 

which Is bound to continue with the 

Common Market effort, as Fine Gael 

are the main enthusiasts In favour 

of Ireland's Joining. 

TAR. CONOR CRUISE O'BRIEN, 

Michael O'Leary, David Thornley 

and others are said to favour a 

ooalltion with Fine Gael at this 

stage. Hence they do not press the 

Common Market question too much. 

They would like to see the Common 

Market go away so that they 

could go into office with Fine Qael 

if the Government loses an election. 

You would think anyone who 

wanted to take over the Southern 

Government Just now would want 

his head examined, particularly if 

partnered wlp Fine Gael. There 

are three mftfn issues before tho 

country thta .year—the North, the 

E.E.C. and the problem of Inflation. 

On each of them a Coalition would 

be no better than Fianna Fail and 

might well be much worse. 

Can you imagine what would happen 

if Fianna Fail went into 

opposition and a Coalition took 

over? All restraints would then be 

gone from the Blaney/Boland faction 

in Fianna Fail. Once in opposition 

they would go all put to prove 

their "republican" credentials and 

embarrass the weak Coalition. Mayhem 

might well be made on the 

Border. The Labour Party would 

have to support Pine Gael's tough 

measures with the Unions. They 

would learn for the third time the 

lesson of Coalitions—that the strong 

party gets the credit for what good 

the Coalition does, and the weaker 

party gets blamed for all the bad. 

In the aftermath of the last Coalition 

Governments the Labour Party 

lost support, while Fine Gael and 

Fianna Fail gained. Another Coalition 

would be suicide for the Labour 

Party and would strike a frightful 

blow to the country. 

rpHE Labour Party will debate the 

Coalition question at a special 

conference next month and all the 

left will be violently opposed. Matt 

Merrigan of the Amalgamated 

Transport and General Workers' 

Union, Noel Browne and some of 

the Dublin branches will be fighting 

hard against changes in party 

policy, but they are terribly afraid 

the lure of office will tempt the 

Labour T.D.s. 

With Fianna Fail in disarray and 

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael united 

on the Common Market, there is a 

tremendous political opportunity 

now for the Labour Party. They 

could stand In defence of the 

nation, pushing Fianna Fail and 

Fine Gael together on the Common 

Market. They could be the party 

around which all the national forces 

could rally. If no Government were 

returned with an overall majority 

after an election, the Labour position 

should be: we will support 

whichever minority Government 

agrees to implement the most items 

of our programme. 

This would be a principled and 

sensible position, which would get 

the Labour Party plenty of respect 

and support. It might not bring 

them to office within a month of the 

election, but it would be the way to 

go about getting real power and 

office in the years opening up before 

us. 

The coming few months may show 

whether the Labour Party can rise 

to this chance or commit the most 

serious blunder and folly in its 

history. 

Viceroy Cornwallis "trying to 

do dirty work with clean fingers," 

as Alfred Jimmera wrote, 

secretary Castlereagh (an Irish 

ex-Grattanite whom an English 

poet likened to the Devil), and 

Lord Chancellor Clare, another 

Irish ex-Grattanite, had done a 

wholesale high-pressure campaign 

on members of the two 

Irish Houses of Parliament. 

In an age when corruption 

was more open and less sophisticated 

than ours, they openly 

bribed 25 members to change 

sides, according to Jonah Barrington, 

who saw it all, and in 

one year induced 63 members to 

vacate their seats. 

Barrington declared that of 

118 who voted for the Union in 

1800, seven only had received 

no consideration of any kind. 

There were a score of new peerages 

or promotions in the peerage. 

Now eminently respectable 

peerages like the Earldom of 

Bardon originated thus. 

The smell is supposed to have 

evaporated from them by now, 

as in a year or two it will have 

from the notorious post-1914-18 

war Lloyd George peerages. 

The whole Union operation 

is said to have cost the British 

Government over £1 million 

(then in gold, remember). As 

much of the expenditure went 

through secret service and suchlike 

channels, the real figure is 

not ascertainable. 

Arguments have been adduced 

to minimise the slim and cut 

down Barrington's figures, but 

the fact that bribery on a large 

scale completed what terror, 

false promises and unscrupulous 

propaganda had begun is undeniable. 

It was a disaster that Connolly, 

the first Irishman to revolutionise 

Irish history by writing 

it as the history of social and 

economic struggle, had so little 

time to follow the path disclosed 

by the brilliance of his historical 

insight. He undoubtedly underestimated 

Grattan. He also 

seriously understated the catastrophic 

economic effects of the 

Act of Union, attributing the 

collapse of Irish history after it 

to the English possession of coal 

rather than to the presentation 

by the Union 6f a defenceless 

Irish market to the ravages of 

Britain's new coal-based industries. 

After all, English merchants 

clamoured for the Union precisely 

so that they could dump 

their goods in our market, 

which is, of course, also why 

many big businesses in the 

E.E.C. want us to sign a 20th 

century Union with them. And 

neither Denmark nor Sweden, 

nor Italy, all without coal, suffered 

the same commercial 

catastrophe as 19th-century Ireland, 

reduced from the relative 

prosperity of the 1780-92 period 

with its diverse industries and 

soaring trade figures, to being a 

century later, simply imperial 

Britain's supplier of beef, 

porter and cheap military and 

civilian labour. 

In conclusion, let us not forget 

that the whole English radical 

movement, weak in Parliament 

through the prevailing 

electoral system, but vigorous in 

the country, opposed and continued 

to oppose, the outrageous 

"unification" of Ireland with 

their country. 


BOOK LIST 

IRISH HISTORY 

Historical map of Ireland, 8/-. 

Early Irish Poetry. James Carney, 

5/-. 

Early Irish Society. Myles Dillon, 

High Upon The Gallows Tree. A. 

eiynn, 5/-. 

Jonathan Swift and Contemporary 

Cork. 21/-. 

Fenians and Fenianism, M. Harmon, 

8/6. 

The Irish at War. Famous Battles, 

E. Hayes-McCoy, 5/-. 

History of Limerick, M. Lenihan, 

126/-. 

Graveyard of the Spanish 

Armada, T. P. Kilfeather, 5/-. 

Historical Notes on Laois, 

McCaba, 5/-. 

Phases of Irish History, E. 

MacNeill", 10/6. 

The Course of Irish History, 

Meody and Martin, 30/6. 

The Fenian Movement, T. W. 

Meody, 10/6. 

The Unfortunate Mr. Robert 

Emmet, Leon O'Broin, 6/-. 

Charles Gavan Duffy, Leon 

O'Brotn, 20/-. 

The Great O'Neill, Sean O'Faolain, 

15/-. 

The Bold Fenian Men, Seamus G. 

O'Kelly, 3/6. 

The Fremantle Mission. A Fenian 

Rescue. Sean O. Lufng, 3/6. 

The Year of Liberty (1798), 

Thomas Pakenham, 63/6. 

Captain Boycott, Philip Rooney, 

3/6. 

The Fenian Chief* (James 

Stephens), Desmond Ryan, 45/-. 

The Manchester Martyrs, Paul 

Reee, 25/-. 

Jacobite Ireland, J. G. Simms, 

50/-. 

The Great Hunger*, Cecil Woodham-8mtth, 

8/6. 

Ancient and Present State of the 

County of Kerry, Chas Smith, 105/-. 

Ireland and Anglo-Amerioan Relations, 

18M-21. 

My Years in English Jails, 

O'Donovan Rossa, Ua Cearaigh, 

5/'. 

Spies In Ireland, Enno Stephan, 

3/6. 

Shaping of Modern Ireland, 

Conor Cruise O'Brien, is/-. 

Revelt in the North (1798), Chas 


BIOGRAPHY 

AND 

REMINWCENCES 

Borstal Boy, Brendan Behan, 5/-. 

Prison 

Slimpses of an Irish Felon's 

Prison Life, Tom Clarke, 5/-. 

Kevin Barry, 8ean Cronin, 3/6. 

Kevtn O'Higgins, T. de Vere 

White, 5/-. 

Stephen Hero, James Joyce, 5/-. 

My Years in English Jails, 

O'Benovan Rossa, 5/-. 

Miohael Davitt, F. Sheehy Skeffi 

niton, 36/-. 

Twenty Years A-growing, Maurice 

O'SuHlven, 7/6. 

Oliver 8t. John Gogarty, Ulick 

O Oonnor, 8/6. 

The Jeyee We Knew, Ulick O'Connor, 

6/-. 

The Yeats We Knew, F. Mac- 

Manus, S/% 

The World of Brendan Behan, 

Sean MoCann, 3/8. 

The World of Sean O'Casey, Sean 

McTCaim, 5/-. 

Letters Of a Successful T.D., J. B. 

Kerne, */-. 

Feniane and Fenianism, Maurice 

Harmon, 4/6. 

Days of Fear. Hunger strike diary, 

Frank Callagher, «/-. 

There WUt Be Another Day, 

Peadar O'Donnell, 5/-. 

Martyrs for Ireland: Barnes and 

McCormack, Brian O'Higgins, 1 /-. 

TIM PAT COOGAN 

NOVELS & STORIES 

My Left Feet, Christy Brown, 5/-. 

Horsethieves of Ballysaggart, Brian 

Cleeve, 6/-. 

A Munster Twilight, Daniel Corkery. 

Irish Country People, Kevin Danaher, 

7/6. 

Folktales of the Irish Countryside, 

Kevin Oanaher, 7/6. 

The Ould Plaid Shawl, Francis 

Fahy, 4/-. 

The Man from Clare, J. B. Keane, 

5/-. 

Big Maggie, John B. Keane, hardback 

2t/\ 

Irish Fireside Folk Tales, P. Kennedy, 

6/-. 

Folktales of Fairies and Witches, 

P. Kennedy, 8/-. 

Stand and Give Challenge, F. Mac- 

Manus, 6/-. 

This House was Mine, F. Mac- 

Manus, 5/-. 

Men Withering, F. MoManus, 6/-. 

Candle for the Proud, F. Mac- 

Manus, 6/-. 

Flow on, Lovely River, F. Mac- 

Manus, 6/-. 

The Greatest of These, F. Mac- 

Manus, 7/6. 

The Clanking of Chains, Brintley 

Macnamara, 3/6. 

First Book of Irish Myths and 

Legends, Eoln Neeeen, e/-. 

Modern Irish Short Stories, Frank 

O'Connor (Ed.), hawRMMk 9/-. 

Short Stories of Llam ©Tlaherty, 

Famine, Liam O'Flaherty, 5/-. 

The informer, Liam O'Flaherty, 3/6. 

Fionn and his Companions, Standish 

O'Grady, hardback 15/-. 

Irish Mart Stories, Seamus G. 

O'Kelly, 6/-. 

Where Mountainy Man have Sown, 

Mtthaei O Suillibhean, 3/6. 

Irish Folk Oustom and BeHef, Sean 

0 Suillibhean, 7/-. 

Irish Wake Amusements, Sean 0 

Suiiiibhean, 8/6, hartfhaok 16/-. 

Captain Boycott, Philip Roney, 3/6. 

An Irish Navvy, Bomhnall Mac 

Amlaigh, hardbaok 25/-. 

Portrait of the Artist as a Young 

Man, James Joyce, 5/-. 

Ulysses, James Joyce, 10/-. 

•ubltners, James Joyce, 3/6. 

Sally Kavanagh, Charles Kickham, 

7/6. 

At Swim Two Birds, Flann O'Brien 

6/-. 

Singular Man, J. P. Donleavy, 7/-. 

Ginger 1*an, J. P. Donleavy, 6/-. 

mis XM AS 

IVE IRISH BOOK S 

Book Review 

THE 

"The I.R.A.," by Tim Pat Coogan 

(Pall Mall Press, London, 

373pp., 45/-, £2.25). . 

fHIS is a readable and interesting 

book and a valuable 

source of information for the 

younger generation who do not 

remember the' twenties, 'thirties, 

'forties and 'fifties. It must be 

said at the outset that it is not 

a "deep" book, nor it it always 

accurate in matters of detail. 

Its author is the young journalist 

whose flair and humanism 

revived the failing fortunes of 

the Irish Press. He is the paper's 

editor. The journalist wants to 

set down the essential facts, together 

with any odd or striking 

accidents that accompany an 

event. 

He has no time* to polish his 

style, which will usually be conversational, 

nor to ponder long 

over his subject matter. Mr. 

Coogan's book has the merits 

and de-merits of journalism. It 

is lively and holds the reader's 

attention, but it rarely stops to 

ask or answer "why ". 

The great currents of historical 

development are beyond its 

INFLATION 

Turn your money into 

books: one of the best investments. 

Who knows 

what the pound will be 

worth if we are pitchforked 

into the Common Market ? 

A book keeps its value for 

years. 

SONGS AND BALLADS 

Second book of Irish Ballads, J. N. 

Healy, 7/6. 

Mercer Book of old Irish street ballads: 

Vol. 1 18/-, Vol 2 10/-, Vol 3 

12/-. 

Irish ballads and songs of the sea, 

J. N. Healy, 7/6. 

Third Book of Irish ballads, M. 

Jollie, 10/-. 

Folksongs sung in Ulster, R. Morton, 

10/-. 

Songs of the Glen na Mona, Brian 

O'Higgins, 3/6. 

Irish Polkmusic Song and Dance, 

D. O'Sullivan, 6/-. 

Songs and Recitations of Ireland: 

Book 1, The Wag, 2/fl; Book 2, 

The Harp, 2/6; Book 3, The Easter 

Lily, 2/6: Book 4. The Tara 

Brooch, 2/6; Book 5, The Wild 

Geese, 3/-. 

Songwriters of Ireland. Colm O 

lochia in, 6/-. 

The Peeler and the Goat and other 

songs, Darby Ryan, 5/-. 

Songs for the Sixties, MrfcColl and 

Seeger, 3/6. 

Shuttle and Cage (Songs), Ewan 

MacColl, 4/6. 

MUSH BOOKS » IRISH BOOKS • IRISH BOOKS 

By Feicreanach 

I.R.A. 

scope. What it does is to preserve 

first-hand material from 

men who have already passed 

on, and this is of great value. 

The story of the I.R.A. is, of 

course, the story of Ireland in 

this century, beginning with the 

foundation of the Citizen Army 

and the Volunteers in 1913, the 

Anglo-Irish war and the split 

that followed the Treaty (socalled). 

Mr. Coogan spends only 

37 pages on this period, and 

quite rightly, for the story has 

been told before. 

The main body of the book 

begins with the year 1923, and 

the ensuing period is seen by 

the author in terms of a 

dilemma, one horn leading to 

physical force, the other to 

politics. In this way the leftright 

struggles of the '20's and 

'30's are explained, and the 

emergence of Saor Eire and the 

Republican Congress. 

JN a sense > the success of 

, Fianna Fail was a blow to 

the "politicals" rather than to 

the "hard-liners." Such can be 

deduced at any rate. People who 

would have joined Saor Eire, or 

the Congress were temporarily 

dazzled by the rise of De 

Valera's new party. But it is also 

significant that again and again 

An Phoblacht accused the 

Right-wing "physical force only 

men" of wishing to come to an 

accommodation with Fianna 

Fail, which handed over the 

politics of the movement to 

Fianna Fail in return for toleration 

in thg exercise of violence. 

History repeated itself, if what 

has been published,is true, only 

this year. 

It may have been the menace 

of blueshirt Fascism which 

halted the rightward swing temporarily. 

Nobody need doubt that 

the I.R.A. played a great part in 

defeating O'Duffy. But the rise - 

of Hitler Fascism as a possible 

military enemy of Britain had 

the reverse effect. The decima- 


"CRY BLOOD CRY ERIW." 

^ Published at 42/-. ThU magnificently 

illustrated unum of 

the "fight tor the Irtth ftemiblic," 

by Redmond Fitzgerald, is 

offered at 36/- while start* fast. 

We have already refiiMd offer* 

to Buy tfmoe ooplw at tmtl prfce. 

A splendid Christmas gift. As « 

coftMtton of pfetwres atone this 

is unique. 

Civil 

Rights 

Spotlight 

DIVIDED ULSTER. Liam efe 

Paor. Penguin Special 5/-. 

(25 n.p.) 

THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS. 

O. Dudley Edwards. 

Gill & MacMillan 50/-. (£2.50) 

FIRE OVER ULSTER. 

Patrick Riddeil. 

Hamish Hamilton. 35/- (£1.75) 

ULSTER, 1969. Max Hastings. 

Gollancz. 42/- (£2.10). 

-pHERE is little doubt that of the 

' books that have appeared 

since the ructions started in Northern 

Ireland, this Penguin Special 

by Mr. de Paor is the most generally 

serviceable to the ordinary 

reader, as well as being excellent 

value for money. 

Mr. de Paor gives a straight account 

of Irish history, and shows 

how the background of the present 

struggle is the attempt by British 

Imperialism to conquer Ireland and 

maintain the country as a colony. 

Thus the Tudor, Stuart, Crotnwellian 

and Williamite confiscations, 

and plantations and settlements, 

explain why the religious slogans 

of the 16th century still have sig?- 

nificance today. 

This is a book that every Englishman 

who professes an Interest in 

politics should be persuaded to 

read. And the Irish, too, except 

that it should be read with a little 

more caution by them, for though 

it is in general as sound as a bell, 

there are occasional lapses which 

give a wrong impression in matters 

of detail. 

Thus, he says the first Catholic 

Relief Act "originated with the 

British government." A few pages 

later it emerges that it "originated" 

with Wolfe Tone and Keogh. Then 

it is said that Belfast "became the 

second city in Ireland." It did, 

but it also became the first, and 

lost that position thanks to partition. 

Again ft Is stated that the 

Unionists drew the boundaries of 

"Northern Ireland." Well, not 

exactly—though admittedly they 

successfully maintained them. 

These are not important points, 

and do not affect the broad outline, 

but the reader should read 

critically and be on his guard, at 

least if he is looking for something 

he can't really expect for live bah! 

One other wee grouse. When, oh 

when, wHI the pabtiehsrs stop the 

barbarous practice of putting "foot" 

notes at tho end) 

lUflR. DUDLEY EDWARDS'S 

"" book is one of much greater 

sophistication, and is considerably 

heavier on the pocket. It spends 

less time on the past and includes 

a philosophical analysis of reoent 

events in Ulster. The style is elegant, 

whether somewhat donnishly 

diffuse or brilliantly epigrammatic. 

It is not a book to bo read at a 

sitting, but demands careful attention 

owr a thus. 

At the same time it Is hard to 

be sure exattty what thesis Mr. 

Edwards Is retllly presenting. The 

wealth of detail, tho cultural allusions, 

give the book richness, but 

at the expense of tho pieture as a 

whole. Tho title implies that the 

present situation derives from tho 

errors committed by Irieh people 

in tho past And true to this 

philosophy Mr. EOwrtt begins his 

analysis with an examination of 

Ulster Unionism. Since tho oomct 

scienflAo starting point is British 

imperial policy the whole book is 

(Continued on Page Seven) 

All day everyday 

HI Mfeefc 

B A Z A A R DECEMBER 5th _ 13th 

Also SECONDHAND BAftGAINS • 283 Greys Inn Road, 50 yards from Kings Cross 

»



THE I.R.A 

REVIEW 

(Continued from page five) 

tion of the Left wing in the 

Spanish Civil War followed as 

it was by the extraordinary 

episode of Russell and Ryan 

resulted in a further swing. 

Yet there is no right-wing 

basis for the l.R.A. Rebounding 

from politics the leaders 

launched the bombing campaign. 

I remember being in Killarney 

a few weeks before the second 

world war broke out. The roads 

for miles around were 

plastered 

with the slogans "damn your 

concessions" and "give Britain 

more 

bombs." 

The people admired the I.R.A., 

but thought them hot-headed 

and ill-advised. The collapse of 

the bombing campaign left only 

Hitler, and there were some 

loose contacts 

established. 

Any suggestion that the I.R.A. 

became "fascist" is, of course, 

quite mistaken, but there is 

surely no coincidence in the fact 

that the war-time alignment 

produced the most serious demoralisation 

in the history of 

the movement, culminating in 

the Stephen Hayes case. 

It is clear that Mr. Coogan 

thinks Hayes was innocent. And 

there seems a strong 

probability 

that he is right. 

j^FTER an examination of the 

splits which divided the 

movement in the 1950's, Mr. 

Coogan concludes with an 

account of the 1956-62 border 

campaign. 

It is hard to come to 

any other conclusion than that 

it helped to consolidate the hidden 

coalition 

of Fianna Fail and 

Fine Gael, into which Labour 

periodically enters when the 

others are in difficulties. 

The epilogue refers to the present 

split in the Republican 

ranks. It is unfortunate, however, 

that no critical 

assessment 

is attempted. Could the split 

have been averted ? Was the 

kind of Leftist politics that 

emerged based on false social 

theories and assessments ? Were 

the class lines in the Irish 

nation properly understood ? 

Was the pace forced 

unnecessarily 

? And was the I.R.A., 

whose business, after all, is a 

Republic, led to assume the 

responsibility of work that was 

the proper task of the Labour 

movement ? Was there, in short, 

something happening in the 

South which paralleled the 

blind alley of "People's Democracy" 

in the North ? 

THESE questions are not answered. 

And from Mr. 

Coogan's standpoint, they probably 

do not arise. He seeks a 

solution to the partition problem 

in some vague 

"federalism" 

to follow entry into the Common 

Market. It is as if Jonah 

and his lady love were to 

be espoused within the whale's 

belly, with no prospect of getting 

out. 

It is a deficiency of Mr. Coogan's 

book that it is largely 

uncritical 

of present political 

standards, so that fashionable 

philosophies are taken for 

granted. And as was indicated 

at the outset, 

there are a number 

of inaccuracies regarding 

things of which this reviewer 

has personal recollections. And 

there are therefore probably 

more. At the same time fair is 

fair and Mr. Coogan has done a 

useful job for which he is to be 

warmly 

thanked. 

A 

MODERATE UNIONIST' OPINION 

"Ulster at the Crossroads," by 

Terence O'Neill (Faber and 

Faber, 30/-). 

IT is a curiosity of history 

that 

A 

the name O'Neill has become a 

prominent one on the anti-national 

side of Irish politics. Captain 

Terence Marne—the second christian 

name symbolically retails a 

British reverse in the first world 

war—belongs to a land-owning 

family which can trace its descent, 

allowing for a change of surname 

from Chichester three or four 

generations back, to the Sir Fhelim 

O'Neill who led the revolt of Ulster 

Gads in 1641. 

There is therefore a link of consanguinity 

between the recent 

Orange prime minister and Owen 

Roe, Shane the Proud, the great 

Hugh and the ancient kings of 

Ulster. 

Even more curious than his 

genealogy is the part played' by 

Terence in unionist politics. 

The 

speeches quoted in this book reveal 

a mind quite oblivious to the reality 

of his position. 

He seems to, have 

deferred joining the plebeian 

Orange order until the prospect of 

a cabinet post made it obligatory. 

Having given his allegiance in the 

same condescending spirit as that of 

Henri IV, who thought Paris worth 

a mass, he continued to speak as if 

he still retained an independent 

moral stance. 

As an efficient finance minister 

he was, to his credit, dismayed by 

the social squalor which underlay 

the protestant state created by 

Craigavon and Brookeborough. His 

/ failure as prime minister arose from 

his inability to see that progress is 

impossible in N. Ireland under the 

Orange ideology. 

He was slow to grasp the 

fact 

that in Stormont the only 

flower 

that blooms is the Orange lily. You 

cannot pursue liberal aims and at 

the same time act as leader of a 

sectarian movement. 

Yet this is what he set out to 

do. Hence we had the spectacle of 

nn Orangeman preaching a sermon 

on religious tolerance at Ballycastle 

on Good Friday, 1966. 

Of Catholics he said in Canada 

that if you treat them kindly they 

will become like Protestants. 

This 

was meant to Illustrate his broadmindedness. 

Yet his misunderstanding 

of Catholics was less profound 

than his miscalculation 

of 

the degree to which protestant 

opinion had been corrupted by the 

Orange monopoly of power. 

His weakness wi» * vis Paisley was 

that the latter had all the good 

tunes. He was saying to the faithful 

what every Orange leader has 

been saying since 1920. The word 

moderation is only good for a laugh 

in the lodges 

O 'NEILL should be much happier 

in the house of lords to which 

Mr. Wilson was constrained to promote 

him in justification of the confidence 

he had so often expressed 

in O'Neill's statesmanship. He is at' 

last amongst his fellow Britishers. 

He has always believed that because 

Orangeism pays lip-service to 

Britain therefore Ulster is British. 

In his speeches the words British 

and Irish assume the simple 

polarity of good and bad. 

Opening 

an Ulster we€k at Nottingham he 

referred to "so-called Irish linen." 

He contrasts British and Irish 

living standards as if they were as 

disparate as those of the U.S. and 

Mexico. 

The sonorous litany of Alexander, 

Montgomery, Templer, Alanbrooke 

and Dill is ever on his lips as proof 

of the quintessential Britishness of 

the Six Counties. 

While talking of liberal policies 

O'Neill followed the unionist mythology 

as sedulously as any predecessor. 

He could not exhort factory 

workers to greater effort without referring 

to the covenant of 1913. If 

Gerry Fitt questioned the government's 

housing policy the prime 

minister scented a conspiracy 

to 

subvert the state. When Paisleyites 

murdered two youths in the summer 

of 1966 he linked the I.R.A. with the 

U.V.F. in his broadcast condemning 

violence. 

j 

O'Neill was probably the last 

unionist prime minister. 

His successor 

is an agent for concealed 

direct rule from Westminster. 

The 

Orange order, while itfc powerful influence 

is still apparent" in the sluggishness 

with which Britain's instructions 

are being carried out, no 

longer holds undisputed sway. 

BOOK LIST 

(Continued from Page Five) 

Diokson*, 21/-. 

The Hedge Schools of Ireland, P. 

J. Downing, •/% 

8wift Re-vlslted, Denis Donoghe, 

10/6. 

The Felon's Traofc, Michael 

Doheny*, Hardback If/6. 

Kevin O'Higglna. Strongman of 

the Free State, De Vara white, 8/-. 

Kevin Baity, Sean cronin, 3/e. 

Down Dublin Streets, Eamon Mao 

Thomals, 3/8. 

The I.R.A., Tim Pat Coogan, 46/-. 

Ireland Yeaterday and Tomorrow, 

Bulmer Hobaon, Ml-. 

John O'Leary (Fenian), Marcus 

Bourke, M/-. 

The Qatea Flew Open, Peadar 

O'Donnell*, 5/-. 

Cry Blood Cry Erin. Fight for the 

Irish Republic (bargain), 25/-. 

HUSH BOOK BAZAAR 

DECEMBER 5th - 13th 

ALL DAY AND EVERY DAY 

283 GRAYS INN ROAD, LONDON, W.C.I 

CALL IN AND HAVE A LOOK 

OPEN TILL 9 p.m. 

Paisley's election successes may 

force Britain to tighten the screws 

on Stormont. 

Orangemen will blame O'Neill for 

betraying their cause. In fact it is 

doubtful if anyone could have done 

more to delay reform under the tremendous 

pressure of the Civil 

Rights movement since August 1968. 

He denied the fact of discrimination 

against the minority, praised 

the 

R.U.C. after their brutality in Derry 

on October 5th, and continued 

to 

maintain down to the publication of 

the Cameron and Hunt reports that 

the major cause of communal tension 

was the existence of Catholic 

schools. 

The minority will look back on 

him as the man responsible for appointing 

Craig to control of 

the 

R.U.C., as the prime minister who 

spoke no word of sympathy for the 

poor of Derry vrtio had their homes 

wrecked by drunken policemen, 

above all as the* politician who had 

the effrontery to ask for their support 

in advance of the most elementary 

reforms. 

John Cole's editorial 

comments 

carry partisanship to the extreme of 

complete reversal of fact. 

People's 

Democracy did not break a truce by 

their famous Bel f ast-Burntollet- 

Derry march of January 1969. 

On 

the contrary they resisted every 

blandishment by which O'Neill and 

Captain Long tried to trick them 

into cancelling the march. 

O'Neill's refusal to protect them 

on the march illustrates the hard 

cynicism underlying his bland, dull, 

somehow scoutmasterish public 

persona. 

Bill of Rights 

(Continued from Page One) 

What. then, is the good of it? 

It is pointed out that the Race 

Relations Act began in the same 

modest way. 

First, people said it 

was Impossible to draft it. 

Then 

it was drafted. 

It was introduced 

and thrown out. 

But finally the 

Labour government realised that 

here was the very thing that was 

needed, and thanks to public pressure 

they made it an official 

measure. 

It is also important that as well 

as stressing grievances, those who 

want reform in the six counties 

should stress remedies. The Bill of 

Rights shows what remedies 

are 

wanted and who can provide them. 

This would be shown to the world 

by introducing the Bill. 

And ultimately, 

at the end of the road 

when it is passed, it can open up 

new prospects for the people of the 

six counties. 

FROM 283 

GRAYS INN RD. 

BOOKS ON THE 

IRISH 

REVOLUTION 

Books on the Irish Revolution, 1912- 

1923. 

Histories: Guerilla Days in Ireland, 

Tom Barry, 5/-. 

My Fight for Irish Freedom, Dan 

Breen, 5/-. 

The Easter Rebellion, Max Caufield, 

6/-. 

The First Dail, Maire pomerford, 

5/-.* 

Fifty Years of Liberty Hall, 7/6. 

The indivisible island, Frank Gallagher* 

£1 is. 

The Connaught Rangers, T. P. Kilfeather, 

6/6. 

The Irish Republic, Dorothy Macardle* 

12/6. 

The Easter Lily, Sean O'Callaghan, 

5/-. 

Insurrection Fires at Eastertide, M. 

O'Dubhghaill, 46/-. 

The Rising, Desmond Ryan* 21/-. 

The Insurrection in Dublin, James 

Stephens, 6/-. 

The Ulster Crisis, A. T. Q. Steward, 

16/-. 

Army without Banners, 

E. O'Malley* 

6/-. 

De Yalera by Mary C. Bromage, 5/-. 

Louie Bennett, by R. M. Fox, 7/6. 

Jim Larkin, by R. M. Fox. 

Special 

bargain (scarce) 7/6. 

Ghosts of Kilmainham, 1/6. 

Tragedies of Kerry, Dorothy Macardle. 

Patrick Pearse, Hadley Mc£ay/ l 5/-. 

Roger Casement, Herbert 0 Mackey, 

4/6. 

The Rebel Countess, Anne Marreco, 

hardback 45/-, paper 7/6. 

Life and Death of Michael Collins, 

Eoin Neeson, 40/-. 

Michael Collins, Frank O'Connor, 

7/6. 

I Die in a Good Cause (Thomas 

Ashe), S. 0. Luing, 10/6*. 

Miohael Collins, Desmond Ryan, 5/-. 

Michael Collins, Rex Taylor, 3/6. 

Leaders and Men of 1916, F. X. 

Martin, 12/6. 

The O'Rahllly, Marcus Bourke, 6/-. 

Lenin on Ireland, 2/-. 

The Best of Connolly, P. Mac- 

Aonghusa, 10/-. 

The eB8t of Pearce, P. MacAonghusa, 

10/-. 

Principles of Freedom, Terence Mac- 

Swiney, 9/6. 

Political Writings of Padralg 

Pearse, 15K 

Poet's Plays 

"Yeats the Playwright," by Peter 

Ure (Routledge and Kegan 

Paul, 12/-). 

|r JPHIS book, described as a 

Commentary on Character 

and Design in the Major Plays 

of Yeats, is a reprint of the book 

first published in 1963. 

The author divides his book in 

two. Parrt 1 deals with three plays 

of Yeats's earlier period, "The 

Countess Cathleen." "The Bang's 

Threshold" and "Deirdre." Part 2 

is devoted to the plays written between 

1917 and 1939, and they are 

grouped according to the themes 

they pursue. 

The author narrates 

the story of each play, and explains 

what the playwright was attempting 

to put across. 

He details the 

alterations Yeats made on his plays 

over the years and why. 

He discusses 

the efiflfct Yeats's private life 

had on his work, the views and 

opinion of the playwright's friends, 

and his association with the 

theatre. 

A very useful book for the student. 

Excellent value, complete 

with notes and index, at 12/-. 

GRAINNE DILLON 

CELTIC STUDIES 

Early Irish poetry, J. Carney, 6/-. 

Phases of Irish History, E. Mac- 

Neill, 10/6. 

Ossianic Lore and Romantics Tales 

of Mediaeval Ireland, Gerard 

Murphy, 10/-. 

The Celts, Joseph Raftery, 6/-. 

Everyday Life of the Pagan Celts, 

Anne Ross, hardback 30/-. 

Irish Folkways, Estyn E. Evans, 

hardback 35/-. 

Celtic Mythology, Proinsias Cac 

Cana, illustrated 25/-. 

Early 

Irish Society, Myles Dillon 

(Ed.), 7/-. 

MEMORY 

A book on a shelf keeps 

memory green when less 

durable presents are forgotten 

all about. Its capacity 

to give pleasure continue!, 

and the donor thus 

gives something that keeps 

expressing his feelings 

long after Christmas is 

over. 

SOCIOLOGY 

AND 

POLITICS 

Gola: Life and Last Days of an 

Island Community, Aalen and 

Brody, 12/6. 

The Common Market: Why Ireland 

should not Join, A. Coughlan, 2/-. 

Life and Ideas of Robert Owen, A. 

L. Morton, 12/6. 

Irish Agriculture and the Common 

Market, R. Crotty, 2/-. 

Shaping of Modern .Ireland, Conor 

Cruise O'Brien, 15/-. 

Formation of the Irish Economy, L. 

M. Cullen, 8/6. 

The Irish Election System, J. F. S. 

Ross, hardback 1/6. 

The Years of the Great Test, 1926- 

1939, F. MacManus (ed.) 10/-. 

The Republic of Ireland, D. R. 

O'Connor-Lysaght, 21/-. 

IMPORTANT 

BOOKS 

"••THE Indivisible 

Island," by 

X 

Frank Gallagher (21/-). 

Probably the most detailed and 

satisfactory account of partition, 

fixing the responsibility 

where it belongs, on British imperialism. 

An education to read 

it. 

Frank Gallagher was one of 

the early editors of An 

Phoblacht. 

"i r pHE Irish Republic," by Dorothy 

Macardle (12/6). Anybody who 

has not read this classio is short 

of essential mental equipment. 

Dorothy Mcardle was in Cumann 

na mBan and took the Republican 

side in the Civil War. 

When In 

London she spoke at Connolly 

Association meetings. 

This vast 

book, a thousand pages long, is 

in paperback at 12/6. 

' ir rHE RISING," by Desmond 

Ryan (21/-). 

Still the standard 

work on the Rising of 1916. 

Desmond Ryan, one of the most 

likeable men in Ireland, was the 

son of W. P. Ryan, the Gaelic 

scholar, and was for a time a 

student teacher under Pearse at 

St. Enda's. 

He lived in London 

and contributed to some of the 

early issues of the Irish 

Democrat, 

before returning to Dublin. 

" A RMY without Banners," by 

Eaman CMalley (6/-). 

This 

is the famous classic, "On another 

man's wound" which for some reason 

the publishers have chosen to 

camouflage, and 

Incidentally lose 

the whole point of the title. 

But 

the book Itself remains the best 

on the Black-and-Tao period. 

O'Malley was an amazingly gifted 

man, one of the boldest and most 

resourceful guerilla leaders, but 

Immensely gifted student of poetry, 

literature and. in later life, a great 

collector of pictures, and a democrat 

to the core. 


FROM 283 

GRAYS INN RD 

SIX-COUNTY 

CRISIS 

Divided Ulster, Liam de Paor, 5 -. 

Burntollet, Bowed Egan & McCormack, 

10/-. 

Ulster 1969, Max Hastings, 42/-. 

The Sins of our Fathers, 0. Dudley 

Edwards, 50/-. 

Fire Over Ulster, by Patrick Ridded, 

35 -. 

Irish Question and the British 

People, Desmond Greaves, 1/-. 

The Holy War in Belfast, Andrew 

Boyd, 8/6. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Robert Emmet's Speech from the 

Dock, 1/-. 

Speeches from the Dock, D. B. 

Sullivan (h/b), 25/-. 

The Best of Swift, R. Wyse- 

Jackson, 6/-. 

Folksong in England, A. L. Lloyd 

(h/b 63/-), 12/6. 

The First Exile. Story of Colmcllle. 

Poem by R. Farren (h/b), 8/6. 

Senate Speeches of W. B. Yeats, 

Ed. D. R. Pearce, hardback 21/-. 

DISPLACED PERSONS 

"The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar 

B." by J. P. Donleavy 

(Penguin, 30pd., 6/-). 

"TPHE word rabelaisian cannot be 

-L resisted. Donleavy's latest 

novel is bawdy, it is hilarious, 

picaresque. satirical, irreverent, 

titillating, outrageous. The plot has 

preposterous coincidences and has 

to be pursued with effort through 

a hazy ambience of unreality. 

Yet to read it is to be compelled 

to ponder on the interrelated mysteries 

of loneliness, love arid 

death. 

Alt the characters, as is 

usual in a Donleavy story, are 

adrift from their moorings. 

They 

follow their destinies without ties 

of kinship or locality: the eponymous 

wealthy Frenchman seduced 

into disgrace at Trinity and into 

marriage in Kensington, the 

secretly tortured Scottish aristocrat 

whose Dublin days and nights are 

divided between sexual athleticism 

and the study of divinity, the prostitutes 

from the country and the 

compliant au pair girl from Paris. 

Even the rich Anglos are made to 

appear dSpays6 by their sedate 

charity. 

At the price, it would be risky 

not to read this book. 

It may just 

fit that niche between Ulysses and 

Swim-Two-Birds into which the 

publishers of Irish novelists try to 

squeeze so many of their products. 

EAVANN CONOR. 

Quare ones 

in London 

"Revolutionists in London : A 

Study of Five Unorthodox 

Socialists," by James W. 

Hulse (Oxford University 

Press, 48/-). 

DV arbitrarily selecting his writers 

** on the basis of residence in 

London, Mr. Hulse has achieved the 

remarkable feat of producing a 

study of socialist literature in the 

English language between 1880 and 

1920 without mentioning James 

Connolly, an omission the more 

striking when one considers that of 

the five studied two (Shaw by birth, 

William Morris by conversion) were 

keenly interested 

in the anti-imperialist 

movement in Ireland. 

The central figure of the quinete 

is Bernard Shaw. "Unorthodox" is 

a mild epithet for a polemicist who 

was in contact, o rmore often conflict, 

with the protagonists of the 

entire spectrum of socialist thought 

throughout most of his long life. 

His practice of testing every hypothesis 

against what he considered 

the depressing facts of human nature 

led him first to reject the 

Marxian doctrine of surplus value, 

then to mistrust the anarchism of 

the Russian 6migr6s, Kropotkin and 

Stepniak and the revisionism of the 

German Bernstein, next to throw 

himself into the Fabian movement 

which seemed directly contrary to 

his earlier convictions, and finally 

to the conclusion 

that what the 

world needed was the creation of a 

new species. 

In this last phase the 

socialist Shaw heartily approved of 

dictatorship, of Stalin, Mussolini 

and Hitler impartially. 

Yet the book brings out the fact 

that Shaw, for all his tendency to 

indulge himself and his audiences 

with dramatic hyperbole, remained 

a convinced Marxist and moved 

more or less steadily away from the 

dream of a frontal assault on the 

entrenched capitalist system towards 

the advocacy of a political 

attack OR.a political problem. 

All the writers reviewed, most 

markedly the former dynamitard 

and assassin, the gentle Prince 

Peter Kropotkin, moved in the same 

direction as the world war and the 

Russian revolution altered the outlook 

for a possible advance in social 

reform through permeation of the 

existing bourgeois institutions, parliament, 

ttte press and 

municipal 

bodies. * 

SEAMUS TREACY. 

THE MANCHESTER MARTYRS 

"The Manchester Martyrs," by 

Paul Rose (Lawrence and 

Wishart, £1.25) 

\ S a Mancunian, a barrister, a 

- socialist Member of Parliament 

and chairman of the Campaign for 

Democracy in Ulster, Paul Rose 

was drawn by a diversity of interests 

to a close study of the horrific 

circumstances surrounding the public 

hanging in November, 1867, of 

Allen, Larkin and O'Brien outside 

Salford gaol. 

Of the victims' innocence this 

book leaves no doubt. 

It records 

in detail the shifts by which the 

processes of law were perverted by 

an aristocratic government plunged 

into a delirium of fear and arrogance 

by a working-class conspiracy. 

The refusal to hold the trial away 

from Manchester, where the Press 

had whipped up an anti-Fenian 

hysteria, the manacling of unconvicted 

men. the purchase of witnesses 

and the admission of manifestly 

unreliable evidence of identification 

were impediments to justice 

additional to those inherent in 

the legal system of the time. 

Besides paying tribute to the 

memory of the three brave young 

Fenians, Paul Rose stresses the 

futility of government by frightfulness. 

He shows how a frantic 

government, by indulging in that 

triple ritual strangulation, strengthened 

Irish resistance, provoking 

the cold, methodical fury that inspired 

the Land League and the 

later Republican movement. 

A third theme of the book is the 

social character of the revolt 

against imperialsh. Widespread 

protests against the hangings by 

radical intellectuals and 

workingmen's 

organisations were contemptuously 

dismissed by government 

and monarch. 

Engels and Marx 

recognised the ploy of 

exploiting 

the Fenian scare to incite one section 

of the working class against 

another. 

It is encouraging to note that 

Paul Rose is here of one mind 

with James Connolly, who regarded 

the Fenian bid for national independence 

as a phase in the world's 

progress towards socialism, whether 

or not the leadership recognised it 

as such. 

This theme makes the book more 

than a piece of conscientious research. 

It states his conviction 

that resistance to imperialism has 

now been canalised into the demand 

for civil rights in the six counties. 

Paul Rose, aware that these will 

never be conceded out of love of 

the Belfast Catholics, knows that, 

given the will, the British workingclass 

movement has the power to 

MERGER MANIA 

"Merger Mania," by William 

Davis (Constable, 35/-). 

fRASER was a tall, slim, 

chain-smoking Scot with a 

fondness for pink champagne. 

He always wore a splendid 

flower in his buttonhole, 

usually 

a carnation." You are impressed 

by the selection of significant 

detail, the piercing factuality. 

Our dandy was one of a galaxy 

of tycoons whose effulgence is 

reflected in this book by the 

editor of "Punch." 

Charlie Clore and Joe Hyman 

—the author uses Christian 

names like one of the gossipwriters 

in the "Sunday Press"— 

Murdoch, Maxwell, Weinstock 

and a dozen others have found 

a joint-stock Boswell. There is 

a wealth of exciting adventure. 

Arnold Weinstock's G.E.C. 

swallows up A.E.I., closes up its 

Woolwich factory, and 5,500 

men and women are redundant. 

Arnold did all this without help 

from anyone but the Labour 

Government, which set up the 

Industrial Reorganisation Corporation 

so that he could use 

the taxpayer's money if his own 

ran out. 

Hyman was unhappy. He 

couldn't make up his mind 

whether to buy up the Liberal 

Party for one million pounds, 

become ambassador to the U.S., 

or ask Mr. Heath to give him 

the chairmanship of the Conservative 

Party. He decided on the 

last, was turned down, and attributed 

this to Heath's fear of 

being 

eclipsed. 

These were the sultans of the 

'60's. You should read about 

them. It will help to steel your 

nerve for your next 

wage-claim. 

They are not all extant, for 

takeover tycoons have, as weell 

as the appetites of cormorants, 

the tastes of cannibals. 

SEAMUS 

TREACY. 

SPOTLIGHT ON CIVIL RIGHTS 

CONTINUED 

FROM PAGE 5 

thrown off course. 

It is the show 

without Punch. 

F ROM the examination of official 

Unionism (extraordinary incidentally: 

the author quotes Macohlavelli's 

dictum that domains are 

held by the same means that 

achieved them, but makes no economic 

analysis) he prooMds to the 

description of Palsleylsm. Then 

oomes the "breaking of the working 

dass," which is defined as "Indioatlng 

destruction, failure and apparent 

future Insignifioance." There 

is muoh erudite comment but nowhere 

is the thesis argued. 

And 

however carefully one reads, it is 

difficult to see what produced "the 

generation which smashed the 

Northern Ireland establishment," 

for, alas, it has still to bs smashed. 

The impression one gets Is of a 

middle-class Intellectual without 

previous involvement In the anti- 

Imperialist struggle, trying honestly 

to explain something which took 

him unawares, and oo

8 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT DECEMBER 1970 

Dha leabhar o dha dhuibhneach 

'w V 

La Dar Saol, Tomas 0 Criomhthain, 

Sairseal & Dill. 

[T\E Reir Uimhreacha, Padraig Ua 

Maoileoin, Muintir an Duna. 

Ise an mile feall Gaeltacht Chorea 

Dhuibhne a bheith laghdaithe 

chomh mor is mar ta arae 

gan 

bhreag gan aibheil (mar a deireann 

siad fein thios ansin) is galanta an 

teanga Gaoluinne ta mar oidhreaeht 

anuas ona sinsear ag muintir na 

h-aite sin. Ta cail domhanda bainte 

atnach ag An tOileanach a scriobh 

athair Thomais Ui Chriomhthain 

dachad bliain no mar sin o shin 

agus ta cail mhor bainte amach 

chomb maith ag Fiche Bliain Ag 

Fx le Muiris O Suilleabhain nach 

maireann. 

Ta an ceathrar udar seo gaolmhar 

lena cheile, mar sin ni on 

gbaoth na on ngrian a thoig siad 

a mbua; bhi Na Mlrd 0 ThuaWh 

agus 8iWe Blum le Padraig 

Ua 

Maoileoin ar dha leabhar chomb 

maith agus a fhoillsiodh le blianta 

fada anuas agus is e mo thuairim 

macanta fein gur fearr e an ceann 

seo uaidh na ceachtar acu sin dar 

chuaigh roimhe. 

Saol na n'earcach 

(na rucach, 

gabh mo leithsceal: cloitear le 

A- 

canuint an 

udair!) 1 nDepot na 

nGardai Siochana i bPairc an 

Fhionnuisce os cionn trioch bliain 

o shin ta in De Reir Uimtireacha 

agus ba leabhar e nar fheadas fein 

a ligint uaim go raibh a dheire 

leite agam. 

Ta Na Maoileoin domhan, 

gearchuiseach, crionna gan a 

bheith "trom"; ainneoin feabhas 

agus saibhreas na Gaeilge sa leabhar 

seo beidh gach duine in ann e 

leamh agus is fearr da reir a 

mbraithfear an tabhairt faoi deara 

agus an tuiscmt ar dhoine ta ag an 

udar seo. 

Ta na caractair ar fad ann 

rianalthe 

go h-eifeachtach ar sli 

taithneamhach. Mar shompla ni 

fheachann Ua Maoileoin le duine ar 

bith acu a chur romhat ina iomlan 

ar aon pharagraf na ar aon leathanach 

amhain; de reir a cheile a 

chuireann se os do chomhair iad sa 

chaoi agus go bhfuilir ag dul ina 

n'aithne mar a rachfa in aithne ar 

dhaoine a chasfai ort in do shaol 

laethiuil. 

Nil cur i gceill na muga 

maga na breagh-mhaoatkneas na a 

dhath mar sin a mhillfeadh an 

leabhar anseo ach saothar ionraic 

nach lease lena udar saitean a 

thabhairt anonns a nail faoi bhreagghalantacht 

an tsaoil Eireannaigh 

mar a bhi is mar ta si. 

Ni abhfad a bheithea in eadan an 

leabhair seo nuaire a bhaithfea nar 

Gharda Siochana on mbroin e Padraig 

Ua-Maoileoin: ta se in amhras 

ar an ni is Udaras ann ona thus 

amach. Is fear e, silim, as a scaoilfeadh 

saor thu da mbearfadh se ort 

ag rothaiocht gan solas d'oiche, nios 

tuisce na 

mar a thoigfeadh se 

t'ainm. 

Ard-leabhar ar cheart e a 

leamh. 

Le iascaireacht agus feilmearacht 

a chaith Sean O Criomthain a shaol 

agus e brea briomhar i gconai is 

gura fada bheas. Ta La Dar Saol 

roinnte i dtri chuid agus is e an 

chead chuid an chuid is fearr ce 

go bhfuil an leabhar gan locht sios 

trid. 

Ba choir don chead chuid a 

bheith ar chursa na h-Ard Teiste 

a mbeidh spraoi chomh fonnmhar 

le scafaire naoi mbliana deag ar bith 

mar is slachthmhar, cumasach an 

piosa scribhnoireachta e; d'eile 

nuair a chuimh-nionn tu i gceart 

air is seard ta ann eacht agus gaisce 

mar is fear e Sean O Criomhthain 

nach ndeacha ar ardscoil na ar 

cholaiste ariamh. 

Ach a ar ndo bhi scoil ab fhearr 

na ceachtar acu aige—seanchas na 

muintire a chuaigh loimhe ma earlaimh 

sar-mhaith anuag on tsean 

am fado. 

Ach ta buanna eile an 

scribhneorga ag Sean groi; na 

buanna ceanna sin ta ag a fhear 

gaoil, ag Ua Maoileoin; ta suil ina 

cheann, ta cluasa geara, ta meabhar 

agus tuiscint agus crionnucht. 

Eachtra, an chait bhain, mar 

shompla, agus breithiunas an Udair 

air—ta abhar smaointe anseo do 

dhuine a rbith againn. Ach is e an 

greaann agus an "crnic" agus an 

dea-chaint an rud is suantasai i 

La Dar Saol: ta an t-Udar, ina 

sheanfhear do, chomh h-aerach is 

mar a bhi ariamh agus tabharfaidh 

se cuairt ar an tabhairne no ar alt 

da bhfuil beo. 'Gura fada amhlaidh 

e agus nara fada go bhfuighfldh 

muid leabhar eile uaidh a bheas flu 

leath chomh maith leis an gceann 

seo. 

Ta 'chaon cheann dena leabhra 

seo ar liosta an Chlub Leabhar 

agus sliim go b'shin e an chaoi is 

fearr len' iad a fhail. 

£3 sintus 

bliana an Chlub agus ta leabhair 

breise le fail ar lacaiste fial. Scriobh 

chuig 37 Sr. na bhFinini, Baile Atha 

Cliath. Ni bheidh sibh in aifeal air. 

DONALL MAC AMHLAIGH 

FROM 2 83 

GRAYS INN RD 

"f DIE in a good cause,'' (S. O. 

Luing, 10/6). The story of 

Thomas Ashe, the man who 

should probably have taken De 

Vatera's position 

as leader of the 

Irish nation, but was just not 

personally pushful enough at 

the time when he was leading 

the l.R.B. He died after being 

forcibly fed and otherwise tortured 

in Mountjoy at the end 

of 1917. This is a reliable factual 

account. 

Lady Gregory vi 

TIM 

C.A. 

PAMPHLETS 

Qvestton and tin British 

fey Dtsmond Greaves, refra*f 

v 2>6 "to -1/- while st»«k 

tarts. ' * 

num fm H Ireland Free? «d. 

j 

ThmH UwtenJsm in Ireland Today, 

fey T. CotifMin, M. 

Omr Man to Bud Partition, 6d. 

TIm Mah Question—challenge . to 

demooratic Britain, report 

Onmenuu motadin* Speech by 

«tonryf*t, 

t/fc 

Who KiHed Brendan Behan? M. 

WMf Tone and the IrfeH Nation, 

% Oaamand 6rea*es, now 1/-. 

heWMaak—a study of W 

M. Ye*eaand his work, by iMan 

IRISH 

SOCIALIST 

LIBRARY 

Warfare by fames 

Tfea mofiaaai of Ireland, by 

^MMrCdMMllP, 2/6. 

Ertnta M« and Ma Maw Evangel, 

by Jamas DwmoHy, t/«. 

m Irish History," by J»ni«i 

V. 3/«. 

Labour, Nationality and Helrgien, 

OannaUy, 2/6. 

tiand, */-. 

Raftary, A, Tfea TaaaMngs 

Pad- 

' ralg Pears®, 6d. 

naaay, J, Fiery grass 

Wis story of 

4im Larfdn, 1/6. 

Fifty Yabrs of Liberty Hail, the 

golden jabHee «f the Irish Transport 

A General Worker*' Union, 

illustrated, few only 5/-. 

The Place for REAL 

Christmas Presents . 

IRISH 

oo6k 

BAZAAR 

2834RAYS INN RD , 

LONDON, 

W.C.I. 

tOftiin. - 0 p.m. 

EVERY DAY 

DECEMBER 

5th te 13th 

"Lady Gregory," by Elizabeth 

Cojchead (35/-); 

"Cuchulain 

of Muirthemne" (63/-); "Gods 

and Fighting Men" (70/-); 

"Visions and Beliefs in the 

West of Ireland" (70/-); (all 

by Lady Gregory; Colin 

Smyth, 

publisher). 

\ UGUSTA, Lady Gregory, was 

very much a non-person before 

Elizabeth Coxhead's book was written. 

As her biographer remarks 

, , somewhere, jt seems almost as if 

$ Ireland didn't want to know about 

h,er. 

With Yeats, she founded the 

Abbey Theatre. 

Without her, the 

Abbey would never have established 

itself. 

But she is seldom talked 

about and when the literati write 

about her they do so with more 

than a slight touch of patronajrr 

Yeats was tall, romantic and hue 

an interesting though 

respectable 

love-life. 

Lady Gregory, as we see 

from her photographs, could be 

anybody's granny — dumpy and 

dowdy, conventional, and very backward 

in pushing herself forward. 

And, as the song says, ". . . she's 

just a woman, so easy to forget . ." 

The men of the Irish literary revival 

were more expert at getting 

themselves into the limelight than 

Lady Gregory was. 

You need to rend this book to 

understand just how great waB her 

contribution 

to Irish life ami to 

the advancement of theatrical 

standards throughout the world. 

There's a surprise on every page 

When you've finished it, you'll feel 

a keen regret that you never knew 

her—and not many biographical 

figures have thai effect—on me, 

anyway. 

She came at the tail-end of a 

bigoted Protestant, prosperous 

County Galway family and she was 

reared, for all practical purposes, 

by her native nurse, Mary Sheridan. 

From Mrs. Sheridan she absorbed 

the attitudes of the Irish peasantry, 

including their outlook on the 

Fenian ru»mg, which didn't agree 

at all with what was said in her 

mother's drawing-room. 

She wanted 

to learn Irish as a child, but was 

forbidden to do so as it was considered 

that a knowledge of this 

wild dialect would do her no good, 

culturally or otherwise. 

She grew up an independentminded 

girl 

and. by a fluke, it 

seems, for she was cast by her 

family in the old maid role, attracted 

Sir William Oregory, who was 

62 when she married him, at, 28. 

The reaction of "How could shell 

must have been for his money" 

is unjustified. He was a man with 

c haracter and charm and an m- 

lirhlened outlook, though he never 

stepped outside the Ascendancy 

class. 

After 12 years of marriage Lady 

Gregory was widowed. 

She had a 

young son and enough money to 

live comfortably—but she was a 

born worker. Through meeting 

Edward 

Martyn and later Yeats, 

she learned about the richness of 

Irish folklore and traditions which 

were all around her in County Galway 

and she tentatively started 

collecting tales and legends. 

Eventually 

she ended up with a good 

working knowledge 1 of Irish and an 

ability to converse in the language 

(Yeats never managed this). 

Her 

appreciation of the Irish heritage 

grew and her chief value as a folklorist 

was that she added nothing 

to and neither did she subtract anything 

from what the peasant, Irishspeaking 

people told her. 

The most interesting part of the 

book, perhaps. Is how the Abbey 

came to be founded and an account 

of its development. 

Lady 

Gregory was the linchpin from 

very early on.

j 


PATSY McCANN 

•pHERE'S a man by the name of Mick Hogan 

and he's driving me out of me life 

He has a big daughter called Bridget 

And he wants me to make her me wife ; 

She stands six foot four in her stockings 

And herself of meself would make three 

Sure whenever I'm standing beside her 

Me elbow just touches her knee. 

CHORUS: 

Patsy McCann will you marry me daughter? 

Oh : Patsy McCann will you take her wed ? 

Ten golden sovereigns down I will give you, 

A three-legged stool and a fine feather bed ; 

Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Patrick, 

The pictures that hang on the wall, 

I'll throw them all info the bargain 

If you'll marry me daughter at all- 

Well, I married big Bridget Hogan 

And she's mine now for better or worse, 

But I got the worst of the bargain 

She has turned out to be an old curse- 

She kicks me, she beats me, she flays me 

Ties me up now lest I'd run away 

Oh, me six foot four beauty's a caution, 

But her father was worse for to say.— 

-Chorus. 

miUam Bloat 

IRISH SONGS 

PEIGIN LEITIR MHOIR 

S O goirim i 

Agus goirim i mo stoir 

Mile gra 1e m'unam i 

Si Peigin Leitir Mhoir. 

Ta caoire agam's ta Cait agam 

Si Peig an bhean is fearr 

Pe'r bith fear a gheobhas i 

Nach air a bheas an t-adh. 

Chuir me sceala siar aici 

Go gceannoinn di bad mor, 

Se'n sceala ctrair si aniar chugam 

Go ndeanfadh leath-bhad seoil. 

Ta iascairi na Gaillimhe 

'S iad ag teacht anoir le coir 

Le solas gealai gile 

No go bhfeieidis an tseoid. 

Eirigh suas a Pheigin 

Agus seas ar bharr an aird 

Comhair do ohuid bullan 

Agus feach an bhfuil siad ann. 

CURFA: 

'S o goirim goirir.i i 

Agus goirim i mo stoir 

Mile gra le m'anam i 

Is gearr go mbheidh si mor. 

IN a mean atoode on the Sbanfcill Road lived a man named William Bloat 

1 

He had a wife, the bane of his life, who always got his goat, 

Till one day at dawn with her nightdress on he slit her bloody throat. 

Now he was glad he had done what he had as she lay there stiff and still, 

Till a sudden awe of the angry law filled his soul with an awful chill 

And to finish the fun so well begun he decided himself to kill. 

Then he took the sheet from his wife's cold -feet and twisted it into a rope 

And he flanged himself front*|te pantry shelf—'twas an easy death, let's hope 

With his final breath and he facing dearth, he solemnly 1 cursed the Pope. 

But the strangest turn of the whole concern is only just beginning— 

He -went-to HeM but his wife got well and she's still alive and sinning 

For the razor blade was German made, but the rope was Belfast linen. 

'• — — ——. ......... H9SMDCWI 

THE HUMOUR IS 

Oil ME NOW 

* 8 I went out one evening, 'twas in the month of May, 

« A farmer and his daughter I spied upon wy^way; 

*ild the girl sat down quite eatmly to the miUrtng of her cow, 

Saying, "I will and I must get married, for the humeur is on me now.' 

"Be quiet you fodtieli daughter and hold your winsome tongue, 

You're better free and irtngll «nd happy while ydu're young," 

But the ilaughter «heek her shoulders and milked her patient cow, 

Saying, "I will and V must got married, for the humour is on me now." 

"And sure who are you to turn me that married young yourself 

And took my darling mother from off the single sheM 

"Ah, sure daughter dear, go alsy, and milk your patient oow, 

For a man may have his humour but the humour is off me now." 

"Indeed I'll teU my mother dreadful things you say, 

indeed I'll tell my matfier 4Ms very Messed day." 

"Oeh, now daughter Have a heart, dear, you'll eause a tearful row I" 

"WelJ, I will unlets I marry, for the humour is on me now." 

"if you must be married, will you tell me who's the man?" 

"I will," the daughter anaworcd, "sure there's William, James and John, 

A carpenter, a tailor and a man who milks the cow, 

For I will andH must get married, for the humour is on me now." 

"A carpenter's a sharp man, and a tailor's hard to face, 

With his legs aoross the table and threads about the place, 

And sure John's a fearful tyrant and he never likes a row . . ." 

"Well, I will and I must get married for the humour is on me now." 

"If you must be married will you tell me what you'll do?" 

"I will," the daughter answered, "Just the same as Ma and you, 

I'll be mistress of my dairy and my butter and my cow . . . 

"Aye, and your husband too, I'll answer, for the humour is on yoiu now!" 

At last the daughter married, and very well-to-do, 

And loved her darling husband tor a month, a year or two 

But John proved a fearful tyrant, and she quickly rued her vow, 

Saying, "I'm sorry now I married, for the humour is off me now." 

Tipperary 

so far away 

T 

HE sun had set with its goUten 

rajrs 

And the bitter fight was o'er 

Our brave boys sleep beneath the 

clay 

On this earth they are no more. 

The moonbeams shone on the 

battlefield 

Where a dying rebel lay; 

His arms were crossed on his body 

outstretohed 

And his life-blood flowed away. 

Our comrades in silent ambush lay 

For the evening sky was clear 

Yet not one man was there afraid, 

Our brave boys knew no fear; 

Few people in the city streets 

Had heard that fierce affray, 

Or of that valiant youth whose 

home was set 

In Tipperary so far away. 

There was none to weep for you, 

Sean asthore, 

As you lay upon the ground; 

Your comrades knew you were on 

your own 

As you wearily looked around. 

"Lift me gently," you whispered, 

"No longer on eapth must I stay; 

Oh, I'll never more roam to my 

native home 

In Tipperary so far away." 

The soldiers of Ireland bore him 

high 

On their shoulders with solemn 

tread, 

And many a heart with a tearful 

sigh 

Wept for our patriot dead. 

They silently lowered him int# the 

grave 

To wait for the reokoning day; 

Sean Treacy who died is home to 

stay 

In Tipperary so far away. 

THE ANTI-IRISH 

IRISHMAN 

ROM Polar seas to torrid climes, 

F Where'er the trace of man is 

found, 

What common feeling marks our 

kind 

And sanctifies each spot of 

ground? 

What virtue in the human heart 

The proudest tribute can 

command? 

The dearest, purest, holiest, best— 

The lasting love of Fatherland! 

Then who's the wretch that basely 

spurns 

The ties of country, kindred, 

friends 

That barters every noble aim 

For sordid views, for private 

ends? 

One slave alone on earth you'll 

find 

Through Nature's universal span, 

So lost to virtue, dead to shame— 

the anti-irish Irishman. 

Our fields are fertile, rich our 

floods, 

Our mountains bold, majestic, 

grand; 

Our air is balm, and every breeze 

Wings health around our native 

land. 

But who despises all her charms, 

And mocks her gifts where'er he 

can 

Why, he, the Norman's sneaking 

slave, 

Tlie anti-Irish Irishman. 

The Norman—spawn of fraud and 

guile— 

Ambitious sought our peaceful 

shore, 

And, leagued with native guilt, 

despoiled 

And deluged Erin's fields with 

gore. 

Who gave the foeman footing 

here? 

What wretch unholy led her van? 

The prototype of modern slaves, 

The anti-Irish Irishman. 

For ages rapine ruled our plains 

And slaughter raised his red 

right hand, 

And virgins shrieked and rooftrees 

blazed, 

And desolation swept the land. 

And who would not those ills 

arrest 

Or aid the patriotic plan 

To burst his country's galling 

chains? 

The anti-Irish Irishman. 

But now, too great for fetters 

grown, 

Too proud to bend a slavish 

knee, 

Loved Erin mocks the tyrant's 

thrall, 

And firmly vows she shall be 

free! 

But mark yon treacherous, stealthy 

knave 

That bends beneath his country's 

ban- 

Let infamy eternal brand 

That anti-Irish Irishman. 

HUGH HARK IN. 

DECEMBER 

1S70 

THE STONE 

OUTSIDE DAN 

MURPHYS 

DOOR 

HERE'S a sweet garden £pct in 

T our mem'ry, 

It's the place we were born in and 

reared 

Tis long years ago since we left it, 

But return there we will it we're 

spared, 

Our friends and companions of 

childhood 

Would assemble each night near a 

score, 

Round Dan Murphy's shop, and 

how often we've sat 

On the stone that stood outside his 

door! 

CHORUS- 

Those days in our hearts we will 

cherish, 

Contented, although we were poor, 

And the songs that were sung 

In the days we were young, 

On the stone outside Dan Murphy's 

door! 

When our day's work was over we'd 

meet there, 

In the winter or spring just the 

same; 

The boys and the girls altogether 

Would join in some innocent game; 

Dan Mutphy would bring down his 

fiddle, 

While his daughter looked after the 

store, 

The music did ring and sweet songs 

we would sing 

On the stone outside Dan Murphy's 

door! 

—CHORUS 

Back again will our thoughts often 

wander, 

To the scenes of our childhood 

home, 

To the friends and companions we 

left thereit 

was poverty caused us to roam. 

Since then in this life we have 

prospered 

But still in our hearts we feel sore 

For mem'ry wiH fly to the days now 

gone by, 

And the stone outside Dan Murphy's 

door! 

—CHORUS 

JOHNNY PATTERSON. 

EILEEN OGftADY 

OW Eileen O'Grady's a real Irish lady, 

NI'm longing to call her my own, 

I'll not be contented till she has consented 

To be Mistress Barney Malone. 

I met this fair treasure while walking for pleasure, 

She looked up at me, then she cried 

Without any warning, "The top of the morning" 

And then up to her I replied: 

CHORUS: 

Come, come, beautiful Eileen, come lor a drive with me, 

Over the mountain and down by the fountain, 

Over the high road and down by the low road. 

Make up your mind, don't be unkind, and we'll drive to Castlebar. 

To the road I'm no stranger, for you there's no danger, 

So up like a bird on my old Jaunting car. 

Now Eileen Said: "No sir, with you I won't go, sir, 

Don't think It ungrateful of me: 

I'd rather go walking than have people talking, 

You know what the story wopld be." 

Now, Eileen, my Jewel, don't treat me so cruel, 

To treat me this way is a shame, 

Give over your blarney and say I'm your Barney, 

And don't keep me waiting in vain." 


THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 

Sheep's trotters and rum punch 

IN the "cuardthing" houses in 

Raheenalrogue, the writer 

heard, when a boy, many stories 

about people and families who 

lived in and around Ballyroan 

in the "long ago." 

Hi > only regrets are that he 

did not listen more attentively, 

and that tape-recorders were not 

yet Invented, as the actual telling 

of these stories was 90 per 

cent of the enjoyment. The 

same tales told or written in 

contemporary terms simply fall 

flat. He was later to see in 

print, many of the stories, listened 

to by the firesides, specially 

those concerning the "flatting 

Barringtons" of Cullenagh. 

This family originated with a 

John Barrington who, in 1S64, 

was granted, seized, or 'grabbed' 

a castle, with the land of Cullenagh 

and adjoining areas. 

Centuries later, these estates in 

in the courts for debt, were 

acquired by a Mr. Toler (later 

the notorious Lord Norbury), in 

whose family they remained until 

the Land Purchase. 

THE relationship between Barringtons 

and their tenants 

was unique for the day and age, 

and contrasted sharply with the 

conduct of other local Ascendancy 

families. Apparently they 

never pressed' for rent or tithes, 

and administered rough justice 

and welfare which included the 

organisation of sports, including 

a crack hurling team. 

During the time of Grattan's 

Volunteers, they officered and 

raised, from their tenants, a 

mounted unit, "The Cullenagh 

Rangers," and a company of 

foot, the "Ballyroan Light Infantry." 

These units were said 

to be among the best at the 

Volunteer parade in College 

Green. 

Duelling (often on horseback) 

seemed to-b* the family recreation. 

At Maryborough (near 

Port Laoise) a Barrington 

brained an opponent with a 

"shillelagh," while another brother 

sheared the whiskers af°the 

county court judge. Another 

member, a keen supporter of 

William of. Orange, who found 

himself suspended by the neck 

from his own doorpost by enthusiastic 

followers of Mnes, 

was cut down by a tenant who 

had been with James at the 

Boyne, and had rushed home to 

warn his friends that all was 

lost and to tell them to scatter. 

There are countless stories 

about their hunting, drinking 

and seducing exploits, but best 

of all concerns a New Vnar's 

"stag" party, organised by 

young "bloods." 

JONAH BARRINGTON was the 

only one to, leave a mark on 

politics •amt Hterature. As weH 

as being an M.P. and a. lawyer, 

he was a prottftc writer. He has 

left in his "Recollections" vividpen 

pictures of the /ives, pleasures 

and social habits of the 

Ascendancy in Laoise during-tfte 

latter half of the 18th century, besides 

his account of '98; and the 

aftermath. Among many anecdotes, 

he recalls a New Year 

orgy, and his initiation in Dublin, 

into "the Aldermen of Skin- 

THE OLDEN DAYS 

IN LAOflS 

by 

HARRY ALLEN 

ners Alley", one of the first-ever 

Orange Lodges. 

The carcass of a "steer," a 

hogshead of claret, a cartload of 

oranges, dozens of "spitted" 

chickens, flitches of smoked 

bacon, a firkin of butter, cabbage, 

onions, and jars of "scrubrum" 

were taken to a hut at 

Cullenagh occupied by two old 

retainers. Straw was piled kneedeep 

on the floor, the windows 

"blacked out," the guests, 

pipers, fiddlers, dogs and gamecocks 

were then brought in, and 

no person was allowed to leave 

until everything eatable and 

drinkable had been consumed. 

The party opened with rounds 

of brandy, then the guests 

slashed their favourite "collops" 

from the carcass, which when 

toasted over the turf fire, were 

washed down with jugs of 

"mulled" claret. Toasts were 

drunk, songs sung, the pipers 

piped, the fiddlers fiddled, the 

dogs howled, while the guests 

gorged themselves until many, 

often including the musicians, 

fell at their posts, arid slept until 

they were sober. Others 

swilled "scrub-rum" to make 

them vomit, so as again to gorge 

themselves non-stop until breakfast. 

J*HE menu for breakfast was 

smoked rashers, "spitted" 

chickens, cabbage, onions and 

"buttered claret." Their stomachs 

must have been lined with 

stainless steel. 

As a diversion a cock fight 

was started and continued until 

all the birds were killed except 

one, who was adjudged the 

champion. Later a> fox brush 

was stuck- in a candlestick in 

the centre of a table, before 

which all present made obeisance. 

By the seventh morning, the 

"steer" was a skelton, the dogs 

had disposed of the chicken 

NOTES fc NEWS 

^ READER has asked why the 

A 

"Irish Democrat" does not 

(apart from the songs) have the 

same items on the same page 

each month. 

In a nutshell it is because contributors 

take no notice of the 

last date for the arrival of copy 

and pages have to be made up 

from the copy that is available ! 

Contributors, please NOTE— 

the last day for receipt of copy 

for the January issue is December 

21st, and remember the post 

is dreadful now, and will be 

worse then. We have just received 

a complaint that a letter 

we sent by first class mail to a 

place two miles away took six 

days for delivery ! 

*• * * 

SUCCESSFUL conference and 

BBcial eventn* was heid in London 

by the Connolly Association and 

"Irish Democrat," on Saturday, 21st 

Novwnher 

Conference, which was attended 

by representatives of the various 

N.I.C.R.A. and Social Justice grouplngn. 

and Connolly Association 

branches as far away, as Co. Durham, 

If you would like tfrlm* "DEMOCRAT" posted to 

% you, send thie out-out with your sebecription to : 

The IRISH DEMOCRA1, 283 Grays Inn Road, London, W.C.1 

with 16/- for a year 8/- for six months 

Name 

Address 

A 

bones, dead cocks, and the offal. 

The grounds had been drained 

from the hogshead. The jars had 

been "mulled," "buttered" and 

consumed to the last drop. The 

"hard-goers" now departed to 

rest and relax. 

JONAH Barrington was present 

at this "do," and his detailed 

account of it makes amusing 

reading, as also does the story 

of his initiation into "The Aldermen 

of Skinners Alley.'' 

The memlxrs paid sixpence 

for initiation refreshments, 

which consisted of sheep's trotters, 

rum punch in blue jugs, 

whiskey punch in white jugs, 

and porter in pewter pots. Before 

the refreshments were 

served a solemn oath was 

taken to "The glorious and immortal 

memory of the great and 

good Good William, not forgetting 

Oliver Cromwell, who 

assisted in redeeming us from 

popery, slavery, arbitrary power, 

brass money and wooden shoes. 

May we never want for a 

Williamite to kick a Jacobite, 

and the Bishop of Cork." 

Such was Orangeism to those 

who founded it. 

11 

in dei hcd% 

by Slit\ III AI.V 

BOVE the noise and the dust-filled air, 

A above the sweat and the mid-day glare, 

the crash of shovels on broken stone, 

the pain in the sinew, the ache in the bone, 

above each curse, above each swear, 

above the hell the navvies bear 

—a gruff voice sang,— 

'there was a girl from God knows where, 

but she wore roses in her hair," 

Some would laugh at a mate's coarse joke, 

the rest too tired hardly ever spoke, 

but little by little each one of us thrilled 

to the words of the song, and our hearts were filled; 

an old man heaved his heart with a sigh, 

dreaming of lost loves long gone by, 

but I was yeung and my heart was wild, 

and love was the play of the adult child; 

I thought of a colleen I met at Puck Fair, 

who had wistful brown eyes and the darkest of hair; 

I looked at the face of the ganger then, 

the face of a rat, a rat amongst men, 

—and forgot my hate for his narrow eyes, 

as I lifted up mine to the sunlight skies; 

we forgot the work and the heat in our dreams 

and the sweat that poured down our backs in streams; 

It was all so vague but oh, so sweet 

the words that were sung in the blazing heat. 

NO, NOT AN E.E.G CHRISTMAS 

%1/HEN you go out with the 

Christmas shopping basket 

take a wee peep into where the 

goods come from. - 

Put IRELAND at the head of 

the list, put the COMMON 

MARKET at the foot. 

The dictators who role these 

oeuntries are trying to swattew 

Ireland up with the aid of their 

friends, the British Imperialists and 

native traitors. Why should we 

help: these people? 

Never buy Dutch or Fretted butter 

while there is Irish. A part 

of the reason for the cheapness of 

Irish butter is cheap grain Imports 

and oheap feed fer the farmer and 

manufacturer. In E.E.C. these advantage! 

WMdd disappear, and 

Didcfe and A-enolt butter might 

flood the market. Don't encourage 

them. 

"f/ 

Again there is no excuse for buying 

Frenoh cheese whan titer* are 

perfectly good Irish oheeecs available—even 

such exotio types as 

Brie and Camembert are obtainable 

in OtJbffn. 

discussed the draft Bill of Rights, 

and how to forward the campaign 

under the condlttaw of a Tory Oorernment 

at Weetmtnater. 

The Conference wm addressed by 

Desmond Greaves and Seen Redmond 

was in the chair. 

* * * 

Too late for the full teact to b» pub 

liBhed in this issue coat the news 

that two important Dublin Societies 

had gone on record in support oi the 

Irish Democrat draft at the Bill of 

Rights. The Wolfe Tone Society's 

resolution signed by Caifcal Mac Iran 

and Dalton Kelly "opposes uty 

attempt to (ob off" the Nationalists 

with anything less. The CSramntttee 

of Citizens for Civil Liberty resolution 

is issued an the authority ot Goo 

Lehane and the Rev. T. P. Mc- 

Cougbear. 

People living at home should send 

as presents NOT things imported 

into Ireland, but items MAINE in 

Ireland. For example, such cheeses. 

S* for drink, you can get Irish 

A whisky and very good it is too, 

and. Irish gin. It is time the 

Australians started marketing 

brandy se as to break the monopoly 

of the French. But they do 

wines as good as any you are likely 

take able t* afford to. buy, though 

their marketing technique- is gene 

some, 

Their wines are not of German 

quality, but they stand in comparison 

with the French or Italian, 

which are rapidly becoming mare 

, concoctions, as they are pumoMt 

into tank-wagons and manufactured 

by rapid continuous processes. 

Eastern Europe produces good, 

serviceable wines new. The bast 

known are probably the Yugoslavs, 

though I find them "earthy." If 

you can gat Hungarian Szegeder 

Furmint (Furmint Is the kind of 

grape) it is as good as the best 

Qerman Rieslings. But it is hart 

to get Hungarian wines are inclined 

to be a trifle sweet, and the 

battlers adapt the foei practice of 

putting, plastic tops on their corks. 

The corks rot underneath. 

•w*H€ Bulgarians suit me beat. 

I They are dry and fruity. And 

Ireland has signed a Trade Agfa 

men* with Bulgaria which means 

they are obtainable in Dublin shops 

at b«ltt». You'd, pay W- tor 

similar quality in England. And 

if Ireland gaas Into the E.E.C. yeuU 

be paying 3d/- for drink half as 

good. 

The Rumanians and Russians 

also produce wines. What is significant 

about alt East European products 

is that while (excepting some 

Hungarians) they are never of 

superlative luxury quality, they am 

reliable, a reasonable buy and. a 

safe Buy, Whereas, with the 

cheaper French and Italian brands 

you have nothing but an objaat 

lesson In , how monopoly ruins 

everything it toneftes. 

E EC against tosh sovtmgnty 

( t ENTERAL De GAULLE hadseveral 

lessons tor the Irish, for 

this greatest of Frenchmen always 

held that a nation which surrendered 

its independence and 

sovereignty put its whole future in 

peril. 

If a man like De Gaulle could 

fear for franoe'e sovereignty in the 

Common Market and opposed- the 

pretentions of the nraawils ©ommfcsien, 

how much more Justified 

are such fears for a MTW.11 state 

like Ireland? 

Some who should know better, in 

the Irish Labour Party, are now 

trying to work out a formula for 

E E C. WOULD RUIN THE WEST 

l)RAVE and far-se«iolg as always, 

*' Father James McDyer, of 

Olencolumbkille Co-operative Society, 

has called on Irish farmers 

to oppose the Common Mnrket. Hf 

is bound to be listened to, for he 

is universally respected among 

farmers and everyone knows he 

stands for the farraerB' interests. 

"The Common Mfu-ket Is a 

frightening preepeetN B>r Ireland 

and Irish agriculture, says Father 

MrDyer. "In the lUceiy ovont of 

the Mansholt Plan being tmplompnted, 

the transfer from tillage 

to grass land will result In a disastrous 

fall in the population ervga«ed 

in agriculture, with a consequent 

loss to shopke©v>ors in 

country aroas. 

"The law of finance, that capital 

does not follow poverty, but faiiows 

development, would mean the total 

collapse of the economy In the 

west of Ireland 

"If we enter the Common Market, 

Europeans will come in and buy the 

dying lands and farms of our 

country, and the Irish will be 

hunted from their native habitat." 

Most of the Irish farming leader.', 

tu.ve been mesmerised by the Common 

Market and the high prices 

they hope to «et for beef and mutton 

The hig men who mn the 

N.F.A. should do all right, but. 

there's nothing in it for the smaller 

man. Father McDyer's statement 

Kives a lead to the smaller farmers 

and is a valuable help to Ireland's 

antt-E.E.C. campaign. \ 

the impossible They are looking 

for a form of wards which w«il let 

them say that it is possible for 

Ireland ta j«m.tbe Common Market 

and still retain her sovereignty as 

a State. 

the heart art Ireland's sovereignty 

lies in the fact tbmt the Iftdl and 

Irish Supaone Court aie the final 

makers and. intacpreters at law in 

Ireland. If Ireland joins the 

Market this will no longer be the 

case. 

I:N the EJ&C., the decisions erf the 

European Oonrt wonid override 

the Irish Supreme Court in «U 

matters relating to tbe Roan 

Treaty. The decisions of the Brussels 

Cofiomiasion, a body Da Gaulle 

once described as "a conclave ef 

technocrats without a country, reaponsible 

to no-one," would take 

precedence over the decisions of the 

DaiL 

At present the Irish Constitution 

lays down that the Okreachtas has 

sole and exclusive power of making 

laws for the State, that the decisions 

of the Supreme Court are 

"in all cases final and conclusive" 

and that no international 

agreement shall be part of the domestic 

law of the State save as 

may be deteimined by the Otreachtas. 

All these provisions conflict 

with the Rome Treaty, by signing 

which we would be handing over 

to Brussels the power of legislating 

in the future, in ways not even 

known at the time of signing.

12 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT DECEMBER 1970 

Another 

"aliens" 

scare 

1 PERIODICALLY there is a "make 

^ the Irish aliens" scare. 

And the Irish scarcely heed it. 

First they don't believe it will 

happen. Second they don't care if 

it does. The English press grows 

frenzied with indignation at the 

Irishman's special 'right to migrate' 

through all these islands. 

These volatile excitable Anglo- 

Saxons ! Always on about something. 

They get so excited about 

the Irishmen migrating that they 

forget that they have the right to 

migrate themselves in return! 

If the Irish were aliens here, 

they'd be aliens in Ireland. And 

they'd not be able to arrange the 

take-overs so easily. And for that 

purpose they ought to be aliens. 

Then they talk about adopting 

E.E.C. principles—that includes 

freedom of migration. And a very 

bad principle too! 

What then is it all about? Probably 

a ploy to scare Mr. Lynch. Perhaps 

to frighten him into accepting 

British searches of Irish merchant- • 

men. Or to be docile in the E.E.C. ' 

; 

negotiations. 

My guess? He'll oblige. But the 

alien scare will never come to anything 

anyway. 

IRISH l\ 

BRITAIN 

HAVE YOU SIGNED THE PETITION? 

FOR A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR NORTHERN IRELAND 

We, the undersigned, residents of Great Britain, being over eighteen years of age, hereby 

request the Prime Minister of Great Britain to secure the introduction in the Westminster 

Parliament of a BILL OF RIGHTS for Northern Ireland, which will so amend the Government 

of Ireland Act (1920) as to write into the constitution of Northern Ireland the guarantee of a 

standard of civil liberty not lower than that obtaining in the remainder of the United Kingdom, 

and through the establishment of democracy make possible peaceful constitutional progress. 

IT HAPPENED 

IN DECEMBER 

DECEMBER 3rd 

Catholic Convention in 

Dublin, 1792. 

DECEMBER 6th :— 

Treaty Signed, 1921. 


Liam Mellowes executed, 

1922. 


Cork City burned by 

Crown Forces, 1920. 

DECEMBER 13th 

Clerkenwell Jail Explosion, 

1867. 

DECEMBER 22nd :- 

Battle of Kinsale, 1601. 


James Fintan Lalor died, 

1850. 

Letter from Paul Rose M.P. 

|TVEAR EDITOR,—I think it would 

be unfortunate if the "Democrat" 

which has played a very 

balanced role in opposing narrow 

sectarianism, was to emphasise 

tactical differences between those 

who advocate direct rule and those 

who put forward a Bill of Rights. 

* I am sure that all members and 

supporters of C.D.U. would be happy 

to give their votes or voices in 

favour of a BUI of Rights. I myself 

have signed your petition as have 

active members like our vice president 

Stan Orme. 

Most of us are aware, after Enoch 

Powell's speech, of the dangers that 

direct rule could be a way of compelling 

integration in * hew Act of 

Union, even if Professor John 

.Mackintosh, M.P., in his otherwise 

unexceptionable "New Statesman" 

article failed to understand this 

danger. 

Those of us who in the past advocated 

direct rule did so as a tactical 

threat to force the Unionists 

intb making reforms and as an ultimate 

remedy should they fail to. do 

so. It was never envisaged as desirable 

nor as a principle. The feeling 

has crystallised around the view 

that a temporary period of direct 

rule in order to force through reforms 

that would be impossible for 

Chichester Clark to contemplate 

could be followed by the reconvening 

of Stonnont, elected by proportional 

representation, in order to administer 

those reforms. 

Bard lines and unyielding principles 

are out of place in so volar 

tile a situation. O.D.U. is to launch 

a series of meetings to give a platform 

for the new united opposition 

but we welcome free discussion and 

are not afraid of honest differences 

in our own ranks. What we cannot 

accept is the abuse of our platform 

as happened at the Labour Party 

Conference for an unpleasant per 

sonal attack by the W II..P, speaker 

on our good friend Gerry Fitt, MP., 

who above all unites the best elements 

around him and builds a 

bridge with the British Labour 

Movement. 

Similarly I resent the assumption 

by Miss Devlin that she is the physical 

embodiment of the Civil rights 

movement. This is no time for 

public displays of disunity and those 

who make them must be severely 

Printed by Ripley Printers LUL, 

(T.U.). Nottingham Road, Ripley, 

Dotoyshire, and published by 

Connolly Publications Ltd., at 

an Grays Inn Road, London, 

W.C.1. 

censured by the mass of committed 

civil rights campaigners. 

If the N.I.L.P. or the Devlin Praetorian 

Guard wish to preempt all 

virtue I can only say that I learned 

the facts about Northern Ireland 

from the Manchester Connolly Association 

eight years ago and helped 

found C.D.U. as mainly Labour 

Party based campaign to influence 

those in positions of power almost 

six years ago. 

At that time the N.I.L.P. was still 

stopping parks opening on Sunday 

and Miss Devlin was a sweet little 

schoolgirl. So let them not tell 

others how to act and let us show 

by our example that whatever our 

differences we will not be deflected 

from the common cause for which 

we have worked in harmony for so 

long. 

Yours fraternally, 

PAUL B- ROSE, 

(Chairman C.D.U.). 

[Surely the position has changed 

out of recognition jfcice the controversy 

over "dirret rule" first 

arose, not least as a result of the 

return of a Conservative Government 

which every day swings more 

perilously towards Powellism. 

The need for the consolidation of 

all forces opposing this dihection 

is obvious. 

The next logical step would seem 

to be an attempt to introduce 

comprehensive remedial legislation 

at Westminster, so as to establish 

firmly that it is possible. The 

wide support such a step would be 

given is shown by the large number 

and high qualifications of 

those who have signed the petition. 

The petition is sponsored by the 

Connolly Association, the Movement 

for Colonial Freedom, the 

Birmingham and Coventry 

Branches of "Social Justice," the 

Manchester Civil Rights Association, 

and the Oxford Campaign 

for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland. 

Signatures are being officially taken 

up by the Manchester Branch of 

the United Ireland Association, 

the London Branches of 

N.IC.RA, and the Wolverhampton 

Branch of Social Justice, as 

well as the "Connolly Association 

Branches throughout the country. 

There would seem to be no reason, 

if one is to Judge by Mr. Rose's 

letter, why the C.D.U. should not 

Join with us in this campaign. 

And like Mr. Rose we too welcome 

constructive criticism and deplore 

personalities.—EDITOR). 

Copies from : 

IRISH DEMOCRAT 

283 Grays Inn Road. 

Other addresses 

below. 

CONNOLLY MEN TO THE FORE AT 

A FTER hearing an account of 

the infamous "Industrial 

Relations Bill" from Sean Redmond, 

and an account of the 

November 14th Trade Union Defence 

Conference by Charlie 

Cunningham, members of the 

Central London Branch of the 

Connolly Association were in 

agreement that it was necessary 

to bring the whole Irish Community 

to an awareness of the 

threat of creeping Fascism in 

Britain, and to support the token 

strike planned for December 

8th. 

Charlie Cunningham, who was 

present at the conference as a delegate 

from his branch of the Sheetmetal 

Workers' Union, said it was 

the largest, the most enthusiastic 

and the most united rank-and-file 

Trade Union Conference in British 

working-class history. 

It was almost impossible to get 

near the hall, and overflows were 

being booked as fast as they could. 

A REMARKABLE feature was the 

-t*- presence of important Trade 

Union leaders on a rank-and-file 

platform. Among them was Mr. 

Jack Jones, General Secretary of 

the Transport and General Workers' 

Union, who has Larkinite family 

associations. There was also Mr. 

Briginshaw of the print workers' 

Union. 

These called for all-out struggle 

Bill of Rights 

Resolutions 

PROPOSED by Desmond McDade 

and seconded by Brian 

Gregory, the following resolution 

was passed by the Acton Branch of 

the Draughtsmen's Union, D.A.T.A. 

"This branch calls on the British 

Government to incorporate a Bill of 

Rights in the Government of Ireland 

Act (1920). This Bill to 

guarantee freedom of speech, freedom 

of assembly, freedom of the 

press, and the outlawing of sectarian 

discrimination. We note the 

ominous build-up of ultra-right wing 

Unionist pressure on the Stonnont 

regime, and urge that the notorious 

Special Powers Act be abolished. Its 

increasing use by British Crown 

Forces can only worsen an already 

dangerous Six-County situation." 

A resolution in similar terms was 

passed by the Annual Congress of 

the Essex District of the Communist 

Party. 

HIGH GATE N.I.C.R.A. 

FOLK 

& 

MUSIC 

DANCING 

• 

THE LEATHSIDERS 

THE 'TAPPERS 

• 

ST. JOSEPH'S HALL 

Highest* Hall, N.19 

SATURDAY, DEC. 5th 

Bar it Refreshments 

8.30 - 12 midnight. 

Com* and enjoy a 

really good night. 

T.U. DEFENCE MEETING 

against the bill, and no miserable 

line-by-lining such as is advocated 

by the discredited Mrs. Barbara 

Castle, whose ill-omened Bill opened 

the gates for the Tory attack. 

Connolly Association members, 

always to the fore in the defence 

of Trade Union rights, were present 

in force. 

* MONG them were Hugh Cassidy 

and Jack Henry from the 

Sunley site, Charlie Cunningham 

already mentioned, Desmond Mc- 

Dade of the Draughtsmen's Union, 

Joe O'Connor and Tony Donnahy of 

the Railwaymen, and two miners 

who are members of the Co. 

Durham Branch of the Association. 

There may have been more that 

the "Democrat" reporter failed to 

see in the vast throng. 

Delegates had before them a 

pamphlet brilliantly written by the 

General Secretary of the T.U.C., Mr. 

Vic Feather. It explained why the 

new Bill is the most vicious attack 

on Tra

Irish Democrat December 1970

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