Irish Democrat December 1970
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I IRISH DEMOCRAT I<br />
f^JJL SPECIAL ENLARGED XMAS NUMBER | 6 I<br />
FOUNDED IN 1939 FOR PEOPLE WITH THE COURAGE TO THINK<br />
Peers and M.P.s plan the<br />
Lord Brockway, originator of the Race Relations Act, which<br />
gave coloured citizens full Civil Rights in England, Scotland and<br />
Wales, is reported to foe considering the possibility of introducing<br />
m m ^ siiSih* the HUSH DEMOCRAT ^<br />
of firdsr<br />
to<br />
• »•-<br />
up<br />
-THE drafting of the Bill of<br />
1<br />
Rights has stimulated our<br />
supporters and brought in an<br />
improved maintenance fund<br />
for November...<br />
There is great need to keep it<br />
up. For we want to send copies<br />
of the paper which contains the<br />
draft of the Bill of Rights to as<br />
many influential people as possible.<br />
And of course it costs<br />
money. And we want to issue<br />
the Bill with a commentary, as<br />
a pamphlet.<br />
Our best thanks to: T. & Q.<br />
Shields £2, G. Grove-White £1,<br />
P. O.Connor 16/-, Hethe Wolff<br />
£1, Florence McCarthy 10/-,<br />
Waterside Workers of Australia<br />
£4/12/1, <strong>Irish</strong> Book Centre<br />
donation £3/7/10, P. Cronin<br />
10/-, E. MacLoughlin £1, M.<br />
Brennan.£l, T. Evans £1, Miss<br />
M. J. O'Halloren £2, Mr. O'Malley<br />
2/-, Mr. Lysaght 5/-, Anon.<br />
£1, M. F. Maunsell £1, P. Mc-<br />
Govern £4, Mrs. V. Morton £2,<br />
Maire Comerford £4/4/-, A.<br />
Heusseff J OA. Angela Barry £1,<br />
Bill Meek £5, Michael O Loinsigh<br />
£5, F.HtO. (Nuneaton) £5,<br />
North London Readers £4, South<br />
London Readers £3. Total:<br />
£54 I7«. 9d.<br />
% Consideration is also boing given fay Members of Parliament<br />
to the possibility of introducing it In the Commons as<br />
well;<br />
The Bill of Rights has the<br />
official backing of the influential<br />
Movement for Colonial<br />
Freedom of which Lord Brockwav<br />
is president. He is also<br />
president of the Campaign for<br />
Democracy in Ulster.<br />
A number of other peers have<br />
shown interact, notably Lord<br />
Kilhracken, and a meeting<br />
called recently in the House of<br />
Lords was attended by Lord<br />
Longford and Lord Soper.<br />
The meeting considered the<br />
desirability of proceeding with<br />
a BUI and it waa decided that<br />
the opinion of Mr. Gerard Fitt<br />
and others'would bo sought.<br />
It is reoegnised that the introduction<br />
of the Bill at this stage<br />
would not bring immediately<br />
the clamp-down on Stormont<br />
that is required. It would be no<br />
more than a preliminary airing.<br />
Even supposing it passed the<br />
Lords and went to the Commons,<br />
while the Tories hold the<br />
majority, it would have no<br />
chance of becoming law. And<br />
it would not pass the Lords.<br />
(Continued on Page Six)<br />
SUPPLEMENT<br />
IRISH BOOKS<br />
THIS MONTH<br />
THIS XMAS-SAILING TICKET DATES<br />
THOSE who intend to brave<br />
the rigours of the British<br />
transport system and go home<br />
for Christmas will want to<br />
know the days on which it is<br />
neoecsary to have sailing<br />
tickets.<br />
The B & I Line informs us<br />
that there will be no need for<br />
sailing ticket* at all on the<br />
Swancea to Cork service.<br />
There wlU be sailing tickets<br />
required for Journeys from<br />
Liverpool to Dublin on <strong>December</strong><br />
18tb-23rd ineiucive, and<br />
from Dubttu to Ll*|»C0l on<br />
<strong>December</strong> 21th to January 3rd<br />
inclusive.<br />
For Liverpool-Bel fast sailing<br />
tickets will be required on <strong>December</strong><br />
21st, 22nd and 23rd, and<br />
for the return Journey on De»<br />
oember 26th and 28th.<br />
Of the British-owned services,<br />
Heyiham to Dun Laoire (Holyhead<br />
Is still out of action) demands<br />
soiling tickets from Heysham<br />
oa <strong>December</strong> 19th-24th<br />
inolusive, and from Dun Laoire<br />
from <strong>December</strong> 27th to January<br />
4th inclusive, plus January 8th.<br />
If you are going from Heysham<br />
to Belfast you wttl need<br />
a sailing ticket on Dec ember<br />
18th-24th Inclusive, and on the<br />
return Journey on <strong>December</strong><br />
27th-29th Inclusive, also on Sat*<br />
urday, January 2nd and Monday,<br />
4th.<br />
On the Fishguard-RoMiaro<br />
route sailing tickets are required<br />
on <strong>December</strong> 19th, 9*10,<br />
23rd and 24th. For the return<br />
Journey they are required for<br />
the 11.30 pjti. sailing on Docem<br />
ber28th and 29th, and January<br />
2nd.<br />
Travellers should check that<br />
there actually I* a sailing on the<br />
day they want to go. (Seat* of<br />
the runs of dates Include Sunday*.)<br />
Also chock that<br />
have been no changes.<br />
The "<strong>Irish</strong> <strong>Democrat</strong>"<br />
accept responsibility for the aeouraoy<br />
of thW Information It<br />
hac received, but every effort<br />
has boon made Is check it.<br />
Lord Brockway (President<br />
of M.C.F.) might see his<br />
Race Relations Act extended<br />
to N. Ireland.<br />
Remember the<br />
prisoners<br />
U/HEN Christ mao eomeo<br />
round it is then wo remember<br />
to write to our friends.<br />
This Christmas let us act forget<br />
the <strong>Irish</strong> political Hawaii<br />
who are held in Engtlab Jails.<br />
They are:<br />
Barry Bruton (178277), address:<br />
KM. Prison, CambfMge<br />
Reed, Bristol.<br />
Gerry Doherty (647993): H.M.<br />
Prison, Lancaster<br />
Conor Lynch: HJM. Prison,<br />
WakcMd, Yorkshire.<br />
P. Otuilivan: KM. Prison,<br />
Wormwood Scrubs, Loudon,<br />
W.12.<br />
E. Smullen (6479S&) t HJM.<br />
PrftoiH Gftrtretb -l^iGGIt^fr•<br />
Letter on Ptg* Nine.<br />
flteRRY CHRISTMAS<br />
CUR READERS
2 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT<br />
DECEMBER <strong>1970</strong><br />
HOW GERRYMANDERING WORKED IN DERRY CITY IN 1968<br />
SEATS UNDER P.R.<br />
SEATS AS WON<br />
N<br />
s<br />
AAAAAj! NONE 0<br />
f + + 3<br />
aoaoooaoa 8 5<br />
A _ — - - - - — — —<br />
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAf + f + + - + + + .8<br />
+ + + + -f + + + 8<br />
OOO<br />
NONE 0<br />
NONE 0<br />
AAAA NONE 0<br />
+ 1<br />
Wa<br />
oaooaofl •••• 4 ••• 3<br />
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA«AADAAAAA + 4- + + + + + 4- 8<br />
+ ++-+'+++-+' + + 4 + 12<br />
ALL<br />
oooaoaaoaoaaoaaoao 12 • M t t t M 8<br />
a* Nationalists OO0O Unionists + Nationalists. Unionists.<br />
P A T<br />
I > K V 1 \ E<br />
TORIES BACK APARTHEID<br />
|UINCE the General Election<br />
victory of the Tory Party, »<br />
big business has stepped up its<br />
efforts to re-establish relations<br />
with Rhodesia, broken by the<br />
wtyte settlers by its unilateral<br />
declaration of independence five<br />
years ago.<br />
Recently on TV, Ian Smith,<br />
RhSMesian Premier, said he<br />
wquld only negotiate further<br />
with Britain as between tfvo<br />
sovereign states, and furthermore.<br />
that the "one man one<br />
vote" wiH never be allowed in<br />
Rhodesia. / j ,<br />
In this country o^ fdur ipd a »•<br />
half million people, the vast ><br />
majority of whom are block<br />
people, will continue ta b* rplcd<br />
The Tories are<br />
their plan to send arms to South<br />
Africa. This is all<br />
strategy to<br />
noKt on Atnca.<br />
test that the South Africans will<br />
only use the arms to protect the<br />
SimaBBtown base from possible<br />
Soviet attack has been demolished.<br />
I®" spite of thew pwus promise^<br />
the arms will be. used<br />
ftjpttwl th* Africa® peopte-attuggtfng-fbr<br />
liberation.<br />
The entire Labour movement,<br />
the Libera* Ratty and the overwhelming<br />
r majority of the British<br />
public now stand four square<br />
against the sale of any asms to<br />
the Sbuth African racist regime.<br />
AMmCAN<br />
Now the Americas mid-term<br />
elections. are over, where do the<br />
ordinary Americans stand.; have<br />
they won or lost ? *<br />
Although the Republican and<br />
u <strong>Democrat</strong>ic Parties are like<br />
Tweedledum and TWcedledW in<br />
the sense that they are both<br />
capitalist parties, there are important<br />
policy differences between<br />
them as well as within<br />
each party.<br />
In this election President<br />
Nixon aimed at wieaing: majorities<br />
in the Senate and House of<br />
Representatives. He campaigned<br />
for more power for the police, a<br />
curbing of the people's right to<br />
demonstrate.<br />
He took an active personal<br />
part in the campaign on the<br />
hustings. Untold millions of dollars<br />
Were poured into his campaign<br />
coffers.<br />
and oppressed without any civil<br />
or voting rights, by the "tiny"<br />
minority of 208, a ,and getting rid of<br />
all reactionary regimes from the<br />
surface of the enrtb.<br />
What's the tally? It would seem<br />
t» be that notwithstanding its many<br />
failures and weaknesses the U.N.O.<br />
tiu in fact restrained war-mongers,<br />
if it has not been able to hold them<br />
entirely.<br />
The world would have been an<br />
even nxwe dangerous pJaee without<br />
it.<br />
riHIE tendency of Governments to<br />
keep their handling of foreign<br />
affairs away from popular scrutiny<br />
has prevented a wide enough unierst&ndina<br />
of what the United<br />
Nations is all about. Thus though<br />
the general sense of the ordinary<br />
man is to bring in China and all<br />
get round the table, the U.S.A. insists<br />
on continuing to recognise an<br />
effete ruling-class clique huddled<br />
on an off-shore island to which<br />
they were expelled over twenty<br />
years age!<br />
Sheer prejudice and class distinction<br />
prevents the U.NJQ. from<br />
being the force for peace it should<br />
be in Asia. For how can you guarantee<br />
peace if you won't speak to the<br />
other fellow?<br />
Where talks do take place, and<br />
frequently the U.NX). is tbe only<br />
body that can acceptably initiate<br />
them, some progress at least is<br />
made, and in the two cases of<br />
Naked British aggression<br />
HAVE we get a Government in<br />
Ireland? ><br />
Sometimes one wonders.<br />
When the disturbances took plaoe<br />
in the six counties, and savage<br />
counter-revolution swept info the<br />
Falls Road areas, we were told that<br />
Mr. Lynch would.take the matter up<br />
at the United Nations.<br />
The United Nations still stands.<br />
But where does Mir. Lynch stand?<br />
Then there were the instanoes<br />
when British soldiers crossed the<br />
border in order to try to arrest<br />
people.<br />
These incidents are more numerous<br />
than was reported, and it is said<br />
they are still going on. What is<br />
being done about them?<br />
The most scandalous of all is the<br />
stopping and searohing of <strong>Irish</strong><br />
merchantmen by British naval vessels<br />
looking for arms. And there<br />
were no arms. And no apology.<br />
And no compensation.<br />
It is something to know that Mr.<br />
Lynch protested, so that there are<br />
limits to what he will endure. He<br />
should break off talks on the E.E.C.<br />
until <strong>Irish</strong> sovereignty is respected.<br />
Vietnam and the Near East, at any<br />
rate a restriction, in the scale of<br />
hostilities was achieved.<br />
little-regarded, but overriding<br />
influence on the fortunes<br />
of nations is what might be<br />
termed the "balance of world<br />
forces." No nation is capable of isolating<br />
itself from this balance<br />
While it might seem at first glance<br />
that the feature of the past twenty<br />
fire years is the deadlock between<br />
the superpowers, within that deadlock<br />
there has bean a remarkable<br />
slow transformation.<br />
In 1950 there were only 50 states<br />
(with a few deliberate exclusions t<br />
with the degree of sovereignty and<br />
governmental apparatus to be entitled<br />
to membership. The Repubtfc<br />
was one of the deliberate- exclusion*<br />
Each existing group of members<br />
had. its own ideas as to which new<br />
members were wanted-<br />
But who can deny that there is a<br />
favourable transformation. The<br />
number of affiliated states Is now<br />
127, and for the mdst part the in<br />
crease is due to the break-up of the<br />
old British and Frenek Empire*.<br />
What is truly astonishing is that<br />
successive Governments in Ireland<br />
have retreated from the old position<br />
of raising partition internationally,<br />
at the very time when potential<br />
support for a condemnation of<br />
British agression is growing.<br />
Mr. Aiken's line of backing<br />
Chinese entry was abandoned as<br />
a result of Whitehall pressure. But<br />
in November this year, Ireland<br />
voted once more that China should<br />
come in.<br />
DECEMBER <strong>1970</strong> THE IRISH DEMOCRAT<br />
AN EXPLANATION<br />
TEXT<br />
COMMENT<br />
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty,<br />
ry and with the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal,<br />
and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by<br />
the authority of the same, as follows :<br />
1. (1) The Race Relations<br />
Act, 1968, is hereby extended to<br />
Northern Ireland, and Section<br />
19—(4) of the said Act is resealed.<br />
1. (2) In its application to<br />
Northern Ireland, the Race Re-<br />
'ations Act 1968 shall have<br />
effect as if Section 1—(1) read<br />
'For the purposes of this Act a<br />
person discriminates against<br />
another if on ground of colour,<br />
race, religious belief or ethnic<br />
cr national origins he treats that<br />
other, in any situation to which<br />
section 2, 3, 4 or 5 below applies,<br />
iess favourably than he treats<br />
cr would treafother persons,<br />
and in this Act references to<br />
discrimination are references to<br />
discrimination on any of those<br />
grounds."<br />
1. (3) The Ministry of Community<br />
Relations established by<br />
the Parliament of 'Northern<br />
Ireland shall administer the<br />
Race Relations Act 1968 within<br />
Northern Ireland, on behalf of<br />
the Race Relations Board, and<br />
there shall be a right of appeal<br />
from any decision of the<br />
Ministry of Community Relations<br />
to the Race Relations<br />
Board.<br />
2. (1) It shall not be an<br />
offence in Northern Ireland to<br />
advocate or work in accordance<br />
with the law for the establishment<br />
of a single Parliament for<br />
the whole of Ireland.<br />
2. (2) The Parliament of<br />
Northern Ireland shall have no<br />
power to make it an offence to<br />
advocate or work for the purpose<br />
set out in subsection (1)<br />
aboye.<br />
2. (3) Save as may be established<br />
by a statute of the Parliament<br />
of Westminster, it shall<br />
be illegal to administer in<br />
Northern Ireland as a condition<br />
of public office or employment<br />
or in connection with any local<br />
or Parliamentary election, any<br />
oath or test that is repugnant<br />
lo the oonacience of any person<br />
wishing to advocate or war*<br />
within the law for the establishment<br />
of a single Parliament for<br />
the whole of Ireland.<br />
2. (4) It shall not be unlawful<br />
n Northern Ireland for a person<br />
to describe himself a? a<br />
Republican or to associate With<br />
othttr persons to work within<br />
the law for the propagation of<br />
Repubftcan Opinions.<br />
3. It shall not be an offence<br />
within Northern freiand to display<br />
me flags or emblems of<br />
Mxintrfe* In friendly relations<br />
with Mer Majesty.<br />
4. (1) At any General Eleolion<br />
for the Parliament of<br />
Northern Ireland, the oleotfon<br />
shall be according to tin. prinwple<br />
of proportional rapr mentation,<br />
each elector having one<br />
transferable vote, as defined in<br />
subsection W of thirsertton,<br />
and each constituency shaH return<br />
not fewer than four memberg.<br />
(2) The expression transferable<br />
vote means a vote<br />
Riven :—<br />
a. so as to indicate the<br />
voter's preference for the<br />
candidates In order; and,<br />
1.(1) The Race Relations Act<br />
does not apply to Northern<br />
Ireland. Section 29 (4) is the<br />
section that prohibits it from<br />
applying in Northern Ireland<br />
and therefore needs to be repealed.<br />
1. (2) The Race Relations Act<br />
contains in the section quoted<br />
a definition of discrimination.<br />
But this definition does not<br />
include any mention of religion.<br />
In Northern Ireland it<br />
is impossible lo prevent discrimination<br />
without including<br />
religion in the definition. But<br />
in order not to foist on the<br />
people of England a law which<br />
they do not want, the section<br />
is so worded that the extension<br />
of the definition to include<br />
religion would apply<br />
only to Northern Ireland. Any<br />
exceptions (for example to<br />
protect Jewish bakers) would<br />
have to be added in separate<br />
sub-sections. The section is<br />
intended to safeguard the<br />
voting rights and access to<br />
employment of citizens of the<br />
Republic.<br />
1.(3) There is no compelling<br />
reason why this method of<br />
administration must be adopted.<br />
But there is a case for<br />
not depriving Stormont needlessly<br />
oj any power that it<br />
has. In case the administration<br />
is not fair there is a right<br />
of repeal, and a responsibility<br />
to the Race Relations Board.<br />
2.(1) The purpose of the section<br />
is to safeguard the right to<br />
work for a united Ireland. The<br />
first subsection guarantees the<br />
right to work for the ending<br />
of partition, and the second<br />
prevents the Stormont Parliament<br />
from passing at any<br />
future" time a law taking<br />
this right away.<br />
2. (3) In Northern Ireland people<br />
have had to swear oaths of<br />
aHegiance to the British<br />
Crown as a condition of employment<br />
or being allowed to<br />
stand for election. There is<br />
no such oath or test in England.<br />
Granted such oaths and<br />
tests are under duress and not<br />
morally binding, they remain<br />
an insult.<br />
2. (4) Safeguards the operation<br />
of the Republican Clubs, and<br />
gives people the right not<br />
only to work for a united Ireland<br />
but for a united <strong>Irish</strong><br />
Republic.<br />
3. This section does away with<br />
the "flags and emblems" Act,<br />
and the flying of the tricolour<br />
as such can only be prohibited<br />
in the unlikely event of war<br />
between Britain and the Republic.<br />
4. This section provides in effect<br />
for the restoration of the electoral<br />
system that was introduced<br />
in 1921. It is the same<br />
system as is in use in the<br />
Republic.<br />
OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS<br />
TEXT<br />
b. capable of being transferred<br />
to the next choice<br />
when the vote is not required<br />
to give a prior choice the<br />
necessary number of votes, or<br />
when, owing to the deficiency<br />
in the number of the votes<br />
given for a prior choice, that<br />
choice is eliminated from the<br />
list of candidates.<br />
4. (3) Wherever the number<br />
of candidates contesting a byelection<br />
exceeds that of two,<br />
each elector shall have one<br />
transferable vote.<br />
4. (4) At any election of representatives<br />
of a local government<br />
area, the election shall be<br />
according to the principle of<br />
proportional representation,<br />
each elector having one<br />
transferable vote, as defined in<br />
subsection (2) of this section,<br />
and each electoral area shall<br />
return not fewer than four<br />
representatives, and in any byelection<br />
in which the number<br />
of candidates exceeds two, each<br />
elector shall have one transferable<br />
vote.<br />
4. (5) Her Majesty may, by<br />
Order in Council, frame regulations<br />
prescribing the method<br />
of voting and transferring and<br />
counting votes, at any election,<br />
according to the principle of the<br />
transferable vote, and for<br />
adapting thereto the previsions<br />
of any Representation of the<br />
People Acts and any other Acts<br />
relating to Parliamentary or<br />
Local Government Elections<br />
and with respect to the duties of<br />
returning officers in connection<br />
therewith; and any such regulations<br />
shall have effect as if<br />
they were enacted in this Act.<br />
5. (1) On and after the appointed<br />
day the Parliament of<br />
Northern Ireland shall cease to<br />
have power to legislate in respect<br />
of the following matters,<br />
namely :—<br />
a. Tbe suspension .of Habeas<br />
Corpus,<br />
b. the imprisonment of suspected<br />
persons without charge<br />
or trial denial of recourse to<br />
Habeas Corpus or a Court of<br />
Law, or denial of the right of<br />
trial by jury,<br />
c. the entering and searching<br />
of private premises without<br />
a warrant of a Justice of<br />
the Peace,<br />
d. the imposition of a curfew<br />
or the prohibition of<br />
meetings, assemblies fairs,<br />
markets, or praccscioac, except<br />
where this is necessary<br />
in enter
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THE last 20 years of the 18th<br />
century was a great period<br />
in <strong>Irish</strong> history. I am firmly, if<br />
regretfully, convinced that we<br />
have never achieved equal<br />
greatness since. I am equally<br />
sure that the late 18th-century<br />
spirit of democratic and nonsectarian<br />
unity, looking outward<br />
to a common struggle with all<br />
other peoples towards life of a<br />
higher quality, and emanating<br />
from the common aspirations of<br />
the great majority of the <strong>Irish</strong><br />
for economic and social freedom,<br />
has got to be recaptured if we<br />
are ever to re-achieve any sort<br />
of greatness.<br />
READ Dr. Inland's story of the<br />
Act of Union. *tt am oarrted<br />
out cgalnst tho will of tho <strong>Irish</strong><br />
paopl* fey foroo against the poor<br />
: id brlfeory of the rleh.<br />
The Industrial Relations MM it<br />
the force MM Tories AN hoping to<br />
i.se (.gainst the organised worksn.<br />
if there is bribery of the rtoh on<br />
are not likely to how of It jttt<br />
there it no need to doubt there «rtll<br />
be a supply of "jobs for the boys."<br />
It It an ugly elgn that Mr. Hooth<br />
is to reetore the practice of granting<br />
bowsers for political services.<br />
Very ominous.<br />
The psopto who aocept them would<br />
profeaMy reply as the M.P. in the<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Pariiimont did when a critic<br />
ohailenped him. "You told your<br />
country."<br />
The real enemies of a nation's<br />
progress are never many. But<br />
they are always to be found in<br />
powerfully fortified positions,<br />
well-chosen beforehand. They<br />
are always surrounded by a<br />
host of dependents, more or less<br />
corrupt, who are rather to be<br />
pitied in the final analysis than<br />
hated. They are usually helped<br />
by, even dependent on, and<br />
therefore anxiously working for<br />
division and stupidity among<br />
their adversaries.<br />
They are rarely quite as<br />
strong as they seem, but always<br />
too strong for rash or ill-organised<br />
opponents, however heroic,<br />
whose rashness or poor organisation<br />
they are quick to turn to<br />
their own advantage. And they<br />
live in perpetual agony that<br />
their power is slipping from<br />
them.<br />
This agony makes them as a<br />
group—though sometimes as individuals<br />
civilised enoughvicious,<br />
unscrupulous and cruel.<br />
So it was with Ireland in the<br />
1780s and 1790s, The majority<br />
Of the great landowners, particularly<br />
those who did not generally<br />
reside here, a group of high<br />
officials who lived well because<br />
> of revenue got from the people<br />
by the landlord-led and landlordchosen<br />
government, and a group<br />
of British merchants determined<br />
to prevent the expansion of<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> trade and industry, these<br />
and their hangers-on and those<br />
whom they could bamboozle,<br />
these were the enemies of Ireland.<br />
. Behind them stood all the<br />
crowned heads representing all<br />
the landowning aristocracies of<br />
Europe, all afraid Ireland might<br />
go the way France was going,<br />
the way Poland looked like<br />
going. Did not Queen Maria<br />
Carolina of Naples, sister of<br />
Marie Antoinette of France, ask<br />
the notorious Nelson to treat her<br />
own capital "like a rebel <strong>Irish</strong><br />
town" when democrats had<br />
taken it over ?<br />
And in 1799 the enemies of<br />
Ireland were in a greater agony<br />
Of anxiety than ever before or<br />
probably since. They had seen a<br />
nation born before their eyes<br />
and were determined on infanticide.<br />
If the Act they pushed into<br />
law in 1800 did not quite<br />
achieve the murder, it certainly<br />
stunted the child's growth to a<br />
pitiable degree.<br />
Grattan, for an assessment of<br />
whose real stature as an <strong>Irish</strong><br />
leader we are still waiting, had<br />
the merit that he always referred<br />
to Ireland as a nation. It<br />
was a dirty word then. The idea<br />
was only surfacing, in the strong<br />
currents of the 18th-century<br />
enlightenment, that a country<br />
could belong to its people, not<br />
to its ruler.<br />
The first revolutionary event<br />
in 1789 in France was, not the<br />
fall of the Bastille, but the declaration<br />
by the newly-elected<br />
representatives of the people<br />
that they were the National Assembly<br />
of the French people, no<br />
longer the Third Estate of the<br />
Kingdom of France. And the<br />
measure of the anguish caused<br />
to Ireland's enemies by Grattan's<br />
acclimatisation here of the<br />
concept of an <strong>Irish</strong> nation is<br />
their loathing of him.<br />
Tone and his friends enriched<br />
the conception of an <strong>Irish</strong><br />
nation made current by Grattan.<br />
To them, the nation was the<br />
whole people (though I fear they<br />
were rarely explicit about the<br />
rights of the female half), acting<br />
for the public good in unfettered<br />
control of its own destinies,<br />
but pledged to advance in<br />
harmony with all other peoples<br />
towards the common goal of a<br />
finer life for all mankin^j.<br />
This international conception<br />
of <strong>Irish</strong> nationhood is of vital<br />
importance because it included<br />
the idea of friendship with the<br />
British people, not only after but<br />
during the achievement of freedom<br />
(an idea spurned today by<br />
people calling themselves republicans<br />
who should therefore<br />
know better). It was vital also<br />
because it took into account the<br />
reality, obvious then only to the<br />
perceptive, now to all but the<br />
blind, that the enemies of the<br />
peoples are a supernational, a<br />
world-organised force — Maria<br />
Carolina and her sister were just<br />
as much enemies of Ireland as<br />
George III and Lord Camden<br />
(as today it is not so much<br />
Paisley or Blaney that are the<br />
enemies of Ireland as Onassis<br />
and Gulf Oil and the London<br />
and New York-based finance and<br />
property companies).<br />
•More on the Market'<br />
All this correct analysis of the<br />
situation of the 1790s, leading<br />
to the creation of a revolutionary<br />
nationally and internationally<br />
minded organisation, the<br />
Society of United <strong>Irish</strong>men, to<br />
the outspoken praise of French<br />
radicalism by Grattanites like<br />
Laurence Parsons and Arthur<br />
O'Connor, to '98 and the arrival<br />
of French soldiers with dangerous<br />
slogans was too much for<br />
THE IRISH DEMOCRAT<br />
THE GREAT SELL-OUT<br />
the class opposed to the demands<br />
of the <strong>Irish</strong> people.<br />
This class had therefore to remove<br />
the appearance of <strong>Irish</strong><br />
nationhood, represented by the<br />
constitution of 1782 with its<br />
separate Parliament and laws<br />
and the flourishing trade and<br />
industries growing in their<br />
shadow, as a step to removing<br />
the idea, and if possible, the<br />
reality, of separate <strong>Irish</strong> nationhood.<br />
It was necessary first to sanctify<br />
the proposed infanticide by<br />
obtaining religious benediction.<br />
From the Church of Ireland this<br />
was easy. Few Church of Ireland<br />
clerics were of the calibre<br />
of the eccentric Volunteer<br />
Bishop of Derry, and the Church<br />
was bribed by the promise of a<br />
seat in the new Union House of<br />
Lords for each of its (then four)<br />
archbishops.<br />
DECEMBER <strong>1970</strong><br />
The Catholic Church proved<br />
equally amenable, and Archbishop<br />
Troy of Dublin and the<br />
Catholic Bishop of Derry, charm-<br />
The story of the Act of Union<br />
ingly known as "Orange Charlie"<br />
were typical of Catholic 45, despite Grattan's eloquence,<br />
went through with a majority of<br />
By John de<br />
Courcey Ireland<br />
Church leaders who sided his identification of anti-Unionism<br />
with the people," his duel<br />
noisily with the nation's ruling<br />
class enemies.<br />
with the infamous Corry. Why ?<br />
"I did," he replied, "and I was<br />
dlvllleh glad to have a oountry to<br />
tell."<br />
6 A i*<br />
Sovereignty is the essential point<br />
regarding E.E.C.<br />
The Governments are supposed<br />
to take their orders from the people.<br />
To be able to do this they must.be<br />
free to do what .the people want<br />
Sovereignty is thus the essence of<br />
representative democracy.<br />
If sovereignty is abandoned, then<br />
the people's democracy ceases to<br />
exist.<br />
No matter how promising the immediate<br />
prospects might look (and<br />
in faet they look the reverse) If<br />
things go wrong the people are<br />
powerless to put them right.<br />
And that Is Just what Messrs.<br />
Heath and Lynch appear to WANT.<br />
They were tricked into believing<br />
the remaining restrictions on<br />
the civil liberties of Catholics<br />
would be removed in exchange<br />
for their support of the Union.<br />
They also interpreted the French<br />
Revolution's attack on landed<br />
property, not excluding the<br />
huge estates of the Church, as<br />
an attack on religion itself.<br />
In this they rejected the view<br />
of far-seeing French priests like<br />
that champion of Ireland the<br />
Abbe Gregoire, who equated<br />
Jacobin social principles with<br />
those of Christianity.<br />
Next, it was necessary to be<br />
sure of a majority in the <strong>Irish</strong><br />
Parliament for its own abolition.<br />
This was tried in 1799, but the<br />
first Union Bill was rejected by<br />
the <strong>Irish</strong> House of Commons, by<br />
106 votes to 105. A new one was<br />
introduced in January 1800.<br />
Grattan, seriously ill and under<br />
threat of assassination, returned<br />
to the Commons and fought it<br />
step by step. But this time it<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Labour 'want<br />
their brains tested'<br />
"Their backsides were itching<br />
for the plush seats of office."<br />
—SEAN O'CASEY, 1948<br />
RELAND'S antl-E.E.C. campaign<br />
I is now well under way. Every<br />
day there is news of meetings<br />
around the country—Trades Councils,<br />
Chambers of Commerce, Macra<br />
na Feirme branches, debating<br />
societies. They all seem to have the<br />
Common Market on their programmes<br />
over the winter and the<br />
pro-and-antl speakers are at it<br />
hammer and tongs.<br />
The Government is so worried<br />
about the growing opposition that<br />
it plans to deluge the country with<br />
glossy propaganda about the benefits<br />
of "Europe" in the coming<br />
months. Not that this will daunt<br />
the opponents of membership.<br />
They feel the people are moving<br />
more and more their way, alarmed<br />
at the prospect of selling their independence.<br />
If only Labour does not<br />
commit the folly of Coalition, there<br />
is a prospect of the anti-Market<br />
forces winning the day.<br />
Last month a Labour delegation<br />
came back from Brussels with their<br />
convictions and doubts about Ireland's<br />
entry much strengthened.<br />
The Labour Party secretary, Mr.<br />
Halligan, stated that the policy of<br />
the Labour Party in the Dail would<br />
not change and that there would be<br />
no change if there was a referendum<br />
on E.E.C. membership.<br />
Some Labour Party leaders like<br />
Mr. Justin Keating, T.D., are<br />
savagely critical of the E.E.C.<br />
around the country. It is hard to<br />
see them reconciling this view with<br />
a Pine-Gael and Labour coalition<br />
which Is bound to continue with the<br />
Common Market effort, as Fine Gael<br />
are the main enthusiasts In favour<br />
of Ireland's Joining.<br />
TAR. CONOR CRUISE O'BRIEN,<br />
Michael O'Leary, David Thornley<br />
and others are said to favour a<br />
ooalltion with Fine Gael at this<br />
stage. Hence they do not press the<br />
Common Market question too much.<br />
They would like to see the Common<br />
Market go away so that they<br />
could go into office with Fine Qael<br />
if the Government loses an election.<br />
You would think anyone who<br />
wanted to take over the Southern<br />
Government Just now would want<br />
his head examined, particularly if<br />
partnered wlp Fine Gael. There<br />
are three mftfn issues before tho<br />
country thta .year—the North, the<br />
E.E.C. and the problem of Inflation.<br />
On each of them a Coalition would<br />
be no better than Fianna Fail and<br />
might well be much worse.<br />
Can you imagine what would happen<br />
if Fianna Fail went into<br />
opposition and a Coalition took<br />
over? All restraints would then be<br />
gone from the Blaney/Boland faction<br />
in Fianna Fail. Once in opposition<br />
they would go all put to prove<br />
their "republican" credentials and<br />
embarrass the weak Coalition. Mayhem<br />
might well be made on the<br />
Border. The Labour Party would<br />
have to support Pine Gael's tough<br />
measures with the Unions. They<br />
would learn for the third time the<br />
lesson of Coalitions—that the strong<br />
party gets the credit for what good<br />
the Coalition does, and the weaker<br />
party gets blamed for all the bad.<br />
In the aftermath of the last Coalition<br />
Governments the Labour Party<br />
lost support, while Fine Gael and<br />
Fianna Fail gained. Another Coalition<br />
would be suicide for the Labour<br />
Party and would strike a frightful<br />
blow to the country.<br />
rpHE Labour Party will debate the<br />
Coalition question at a special<br />
conference next month and all the<br />
left will be violently opposed. Matt<br />
Merrigan of the Amalgamated<br />
Transport and General Workers'<br />
Union, Noel Browne and some of<br />
the Dublin branches will be fighting<br />
hard against changes in party<br />
policy, but they are terribly afraid<br />
the lure of office will tempt the<br />
Labour T.D.s.<br />
With Fianna Fail in disarray and<br />
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael united<br />
on the Common Market, there is a<br />
tremendous political opportunity<br />
now for the Labour Party. They<br />
could stand In defence of the<br />
nation, pushing Fianna Fail and<br />
Fine Gael together on the Common<br />
Market. They could be the party<br />
around which all the national forces<br />
could rally. If no Government were<br />
returned with an overall majority<br />
after an election, the Labour position<br />
should be: we will support<br />
whichever minority Government<br />
agrees to implement the most items<br />
of our programme.<br />
This would be a principled and<br />
sensible position, which would get<br />
the Labour Party plenty of respect<br />
and support. It might not bring<br />
them to office within a month of the<br />
election, but it would be the way to<br />
go about getting real power and<br />
office in the years opening up before<br />
us.<br />
The coming few months may show<br />
whether the Labour Party can rise<br />
to this chance or commit the most<br />
serious blunder and folly in its<br />
history.<br />
Viceroy Cornwallis "trying to<br />
do dirty work with clean fingers,"<br />
as Alfred Jimmera wrote,<br />
secretary Castlereagh (an <strong>Irish</strong><br />
ex-Grattanite whom an English<br />
poet likened to the Devil), and<br />
Lord Chancellor Clare, another<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> ex-Grattanite, had done a<br />
wholesale high-pressure campaign<br />
on members of the two<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Houses of Parliament.<br />
In an age when corruption<br />
was more open and less sophisticated<br />
than ours, they openly<br />
bribed 25 members to change<br />
sides, according to Jonah Barrington,<br />
who saw it all, and in<br />
one year induced 63 members to<br />
vacate their seats.<br />
Barrington declared that of<br />
118 who voted for the Union in<br />
1800, seven only had received<br />
no consideration of any kind.<br />
There were a score of new peerages<br />
or promotions in the peerage.<br />
Now eminently respectable<br />
peerages like the Earldom of<br />
Bardon originated thus.<br />
The smell is supposed to have<br />
evaporated from them by now,<br />
as in a year or two it will have<br />
from the notorious post-1914-18<br />
war Lloyd George peerages.<br />
The whole Union operation<br />
is said to have cost the British<br />
Government over £1 million<br />
(then in gold, remember). As<br />
much of the expenditure went<br />
through secret service and suchlike<br />
channels, the real figure is<br />
not ascertainable.<br />
Arguments have been adduced<br />
to minimise the slim and cut<br />
down Barrington's figures, but<br />
the fact that bribery on a large<br />
scale completed what terror,<br />
false promises and unscrupulous<br />
propaganda had begun is undeniable.<br />
It was a disaster that Connolly,<br />
the first <strong>Irish</strong>man to revolutionise<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> history by writing<br />
it as the history of social and<br />
economic struggle, had so little<br />
time to follow the path disclosed<br />
by the brilliance of his historical<br />
insight. He undoubtedly underestimated<br />
Grattan. He also<br />
seriously understated the catastrophic<br />
economic effects of the<br />
Act of Union, attributing the<br />
collapse of <strong>Irish</strong> history after it<br />
to the English possession of coal<br />
rather than to the presentation<br />
by the Union 6f a defenceless<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> market to the ravages of<br />
Britain's new coal-based industries.<br />
After all, English merchants<br />
clamoured for the Union precisely<br />
so that they could dump<br />
their goods in our market,<br />
which is, of course, also why<br />
many big businesses in the<br />
E.E.C. want us to sign a 20th<br />
century Union with them. And<br />
neither Denmark nor Sweden,<br />
nor Italy, all without coal, suffered<br />
the same commercial<br />
catastrophe as 19th-century Ireland,<br />
reduced from the relative<br />
prosperity of the 1780-92 period<br />
with its diverse industries and<br />
soaring trade figures, to being a<br />
century later, simply imperial<br />
Britain's supplier of beef,<br />
porter and cheap military and<br />
civilian labour.<br />
In conclusion, let us not forget<br />
that the whole English radical<br />
movement, weak in Parliament<br />
through the prevailing<br />
electoral system, but vigorous in<br />
the country, opposed and continued<br />
to oppose, the outrageous<br />
"unification" of Ireland with<br />
their country.<br />
DECEMBER <strong>1970</strong> THE IRISH DEMOCRAT<br />
BOOK LIST<br />
IRISH HISTORY<br />
Historical map of Ireland, 8/-.<br />
Early <strong>Irish</strong> Poetry. James Carney,<br />
5/-.<br />
Early <strong>Irish</strong> Society. Myles Dillon,<br />
High Upon The Gallows Tree. A.<br />
eiynn, 5/-.<br />
Jonathan Swift and Contemporary<br />
Cork. 21/-.<br />
Fenians and Fenianism, M. Harmon,<br />
8/6.<br />
The <strong>Irish</strong> at War. Famous Battles,<br />
E. Hayes-McCoy, 5/-.<br />
History of Limerick, M. Lenihan,<br />
126/-.<br />
Graveyard of the Spanish<br />
Armada, T. P. Kilfeather, 5/-.<br />
Historical Notes on Laois,<br />
McCaba, 5/-.<br />
Phases of <strong>Irish</strong> History, E.<br />
MacNeill", 10/6.<br />
The Course of <strong>Irish</strong> History,<br />
Meody and Martin, 30/6.<br />
The Fenian Movement, T. W.<br />
Meody, 10/6.<br />
The Unfortunate Mr. Robert<br />
Emmet, Leon O'Broin, 6/-.<br />
Charles Gavan Duffy, Leon<br />
O'Brotn, 20/-.<br />
The Great O'Neill, Sean O'Faolain,<br />
15/-.<br />
The Bold Fenian Men, Seamus G.<br />
O'Kelly, 3/6.<br />
The Fremantle Mission. A Fenian<br />
Rescue. Sean O. Lufng, 3/6.<br />
The Year of Liberty (1798),<br />
Thomas Pakenham, 63/6.<br />
Captain Boycott, Philip Rooney,<br />
3/6.<br />
The Fenian Chief* (James<br />
Stephens), Desmond Ryan, 45/-.<br />
The Manchester Martyrs, Paul<br />
Reee, 25/-.<br />
Jacobite Ireland, J. G. Simms,<br />
50/-.<br />
The Great Hunger*, Cecil Woodham-8mtth,<br />
8/6.<br />
Ancient and Present State of the<br />
County of Kerry, Chas Smith, 105/-.<br />
Ireland and Anglo-Amerioan Relations,<br />
18M-21.<br />
My Years in English Jails,<br />
O'Donovan Rossa, Ua Cearaigh,<br />
5/'.<br />
Spies In Ireland, Enno Stephan,<br />
3/6.<br />
Shaping of Modern Ireland,<br />
Conor Cruise O'Brien, is/-.<br />
Revelt in the North (1798), Chas<br />
(Continued on Page Six)<br />
BIOGRAPHY<br />
AND<br />
REMINWCENCES<br />
Borstal Boy, Brendan Behan, 5/-.<br />
Prison<br />
Slimpses of an <strong>Irish</strong> Felon's<br />
Prison Life, Tom Clarke, 5/-.<br />
Kevin Barry, 8ean Cronin, 3/6.<br />
Kevtn O'Higgins, T. de Vere<br />
White, 5/-.<br />
Stephen Hero, James Joyce, 5/-.<br />
My Years in English Jails,<br />
O'Benovan Rossa, 5/-.<br />
Miohael Davitt, F. Sheehy Skeffi<br />
niton, 36/-.<br />
Twenty Years A-growing, Maurice<br />
O'SuHlven, 7/6.<br />
Oliver 8t. John Gogarty, Ulick<br />
O Oonnor, 8/6.<br />
The Jeyee We Knew, Ulick O'Connor,<br />
6/-.<br />
The Yeats We Knew, F. Mac-<br />
Manus, S/%<br />
The World of Brendan Behan,<br />
Sean MoCann, 3/8.<br />
The World of Sean O'Casey, Sean<br />
McTCaim, 5/-.<br />
Letters Of a Successful T.D., J. B.<br />
Kerne, */-.<br />
Feniane and Fenianism, Maurice<br />
Harmon, 4/6.<br />
Days of Fear. Hunger strike diary,<br />
Frank Callagher, «/-.<br />
There WUt Be Another Day,<br />
Peadar O'Donnell, 5/-.<br />
Martyrs for Ireland: Barnes and<br />
McCormack, Brian O'Higgins, 1 /-.<br />
TIM PAT COOGAN<br />
NOVELS & STORIES<br />
My Left Feet, Christy Brown, 5/-.<br />
Horsethieves of Ballysaggart, Brian<br />
Cleeve, 6/-.<br />
A Munster Twilight, Daniel Corkery.<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Country People, Kevin Danaher,<br />
7/6.<br />
Folktales of the <strong>Irish</strong> Countryside,<br />
Kevin Oanaher, 7/6.<br />
The Ould Plaid Shawl, Francis<br />
Fahy, 4/-.<br />
The Man from Clare, J. B. Keane,<br />
5/-.<br />
Big Maggie, John B. Keane, hardback<br />
2t/\<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Fireside Folk Tales, P. Kennedy,<br />
6/-.<br />
Folktales of Fairies and Witches,<br />
P. Kennedy, 8/-.<br />
Stand and Give Challenge, F. Mac-<br />
Manus, 6/-.<br />
This House was Mine, F. Mac-<br />
Manus, 5/-.<br />
Men Withering, F. MoManus, 6/-.<br />
Candle for the Proud, F. Mac-<br />
Manus, 6/-.<br />
Flow on, Lovely River, F. Mac-<br />
Manus, 6/-.<br />
The Greatest of These, F. Mac-<br />
Manus, 7/6.<br />
The Clanking of Chains, Brintley<br />
Macnamara, 3/6.<br />
First Book of <strong>Irish</strong> Myths and<br />
Legends, Eoln Neeeen, e/-.<br />
Modern <strong>Irish</strong> Short Stories, Frank<br />
O'Connor (Ed.), hawRMMk 9/-.<br />
Short Stories of Llam ©Tlaherty,<br />
Famine, Liam O'Flaherty, 5/-.<br />
The informer, Liam O'Flaherty, 3/6.<br />
Fionn and his Companions, Standish<br />
O'Grady, hardback 15/-.<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Mart Stories, Seamus G.<br />
O'Kelly, 6/-.<br />
Where Mountainy Man have Sown,<br />
Mtthaei O Suillibhean, 3/6.<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Folk Oustom and BeHef, Sean<br />
0 Suillibhean, 7/-.<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Wake Amusements, Sean 0<br />
Suiiiibhean, 8/6, hartfhaok 16/-.<br />
Captain Boycott, Philip Roney, 3/6.<br />
An <strong>Irish</strong> Navvy, Bomhnall Mac<br />
Amlaigh, hardbaok 25/-.<br />
Portrait of the Artist as a Young<br />
Man, James Joyce, 5/-.<br />
Ulysses, James Joyce, 10/-.<br />
•ubltners, James Joyce, 3/6.<br />
Sally Kavanagh, Charles Kickham,<br />
7/6.<br />
At Swim Two Birds, Flann O'Brien<br />
6/-.<br />
Singular Man, J. P. Donleavy, 7/-.<br />
Ginger 1*an, J. P. Donleavy, 6/-.<br />
mis XM AS<br />
IVE IRISH BOOK S<br />
Book Review<br />
THE<br />
"The I.R.A.," by Tim Pat Coogan<br />
(Pall Mall Press, London,<br />
373pp., 45/-, £2.25). .<br />
fHIS is a readable and interesting<br />
book and a valuable<br />
source of information for the<br />
younger generation who do not<br />
remember the' twenties, 'thirties,<br />
'forties and 'fifties. It must be<br />
said at the outset that it is not<br />
a "deep" book, nor it it always<br />
accurate in matters of detail.<br />
Its author is the young journalist<br />
whose flair and humanism<br />
revived the failing fortunes of<br />
the <strong>Irish</strong> Press. He is the paper's<br />
editor. The journalist wants to<br />
set down the essential facts, together<br />
with any odd or striking<br />
accidents that accompany an<br />
event.<br />
He has no time* to polish his<br />
style, which will usually be conversational,<br />
nor to ponder long<br />
over his subject matter. Mr.<br />
Coogan's book has the merits<br />
and de-merits of journalism. It<br />
is lively and holds the reader's<br />
attention, but it rarely stops to<br />
ask or answer "why ".<br />
The great currents of historical<br />
development are beyond its<br />
INFLATION<br />
Turn your money into<br />
books: one of the best investments.<br />
Who knows<br />
what the pound will be<br />
worth if we are pitchforked<br />
into the Common Market ?<br />
A book keeps its value for<br />
years.<br />
SONGS AND BALLADS<br />
Second book of <strong>Irish</strong> Ballads, J. N.<br />
Healy, 7/6.<br />
Mercer Book of old <strong>Irish</strong> street ballads:<br />
Vol. 1 18/-, Vol 2 10/-, Vol 3<br />
12/-.<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> ballads and songs of the sea,<br />
J. N. Healy, 7/6.<br />
Third Book of <strong>Irish</strong> ballads, M.<br />
Jollie, 10/-.<br />
Folksongs sung in Ulster, R. Morton,<br />
10/-.<br />
Songs of the Glen na Mona, Brian<br />
O'Higgins, 3/6.<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Polkmusic Song and Dance,<br />
D. O'Sullivan, 6/-.<br />
Songs and Recitations of Ireland:<br />
Book 1, The Wag, 2/fl; Book 2,<br />
The Harp, 2/6; Book 3, The Easter<br />
Lily, 2/6: Book 4. The Tara<br />
Brooch, 2/6; Book 5, The Wild<br />
Geese, 3/-.<br />
Songwriters of Ireland. Colm O<br />
lochia in, 6/-.<br />
The Peeler and the Goat and other<br />
songs, Darby Ryan, 5/-.<br />
Songs for the Sixties, MrfcColl and<br />
Seeger, 3/6.<br />
Shuttle and Cage (Songs), Ewan<br />
MacColl, 4/6.<br />
MUSH BOOKS » IRISH BOOKS • IRISH BOOKS<br />
By Feicreanach<br />
I.R.A.<br />
scope. What it does is to preserve<br />
first-hand material from<br />
men who have already passed<br />
on, and this is of great value.<br />
The story of the I.R.A. is, of<br />
course, the story of Ireland in<br />
this century, beginning with the<br />
foundation of the Citizen Army<br />
and the Volunteers in 1913, the<br />
Anglo-<strong>Irish</strong> war and the split<br />
that followed the Treaty (socalled).<br />
Mr. Coogan spends only<br />
37 pages on this period, and<br />
quite rightly, for the story has<br />
been told before.<br />
The main body of the book<br />
begins with the year 1923, and<br />
the ensuing period is seen by<br />
the author in terms of a<br />
dilemma, one horn leading to<br />
physical force, the other to<br />
politics. In this way the leftright<br />
struggles of the '20's and<br />
'30's are explained, and the<br />
emergence of Saor Eire and the<br />
Republican Congress.<br />
JN a sense > the success of<br />
, Fianna Fail was a blow to<br />
the "politicals" rather than to<br />
the "hard-liners." Such can be<br />
deduced at any rate. People who<br />
would have joined Saor Eire, or<br />
the Congress were temporarily<br />
dazzled by the rise of De<br />
Valera's new party. But it is also<br />
significant that again and again<br />
An Phoblacht accused the<br />
Right-wing "physical force only<br />
men" of wishing to come to an<br />
accommodation with Fianna<br />
Fail, which handed over the<br />
politics of the movement to<br />
Fianna Fail in return for toleration<br />
in thg exercise of violence.<br />
History repeated itself, if what<br />
has been published,is true, only<br />
this year.<br />
It may have been the menace<br />
of blueshirt Fascism which<br />
halted the rightward swing temporarily.<br />
Nobody need doubt that<br />
the I.R.A. played a great part in<br />
defeating O'Duffy. But the rise -<br />
of Hitler Fascism as a possible<br />
military enemy of Britain had<br />
the reverse effect. The decima-<br />
(Continued on Page Six)<br />
"CRY BLOOD CRY ERIW."<br />
^ Published at 42/-. ThU magnificently<br />
illustrated unum of<br />
the "fight tor the Irtth ftemiblic,"<br />
by Redmond Fitzgerald, is<br />
offered at 36/- while start* fast.<br />
We have already refiiMd offer*<br />
to Buy tfmoe ooplw at tmtl prfce.<br />
A splendid Christmas gift. As «<br />
coftMtton of pfetwres atone this<br />
is unique.<br />
Civil<br />
Rights<br />
Spotlight<br />
DIVIDED ULSTER. Liam efe<br />
Paor. Penguin Special 5/-.<br />
(25 n.p.)<br />
THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS.<br />
O. Dudley Edwards.<br />
Gill & MacMillan 50/-. (£2.50)<br />
FIRE OVER ULSTER.<br />
Patrick Riddeil.<br />
Hamish Hamilton. 35/- (£1.75)<br />
ULSTER, 1969. Max Hastings.<br />
Gollancz. 42/- (£2.10).<br />
-pHERE is little doubt that of the<br />
' books that have appeared<br />
since the ructions started in Northern<br />
Ireland, this Penguin Special<br />
by Mr. de Paor is the most generally<br />
serviceable to the ordinary<br />
reader, as well as being excellent<br />
value for money.<br />
Mr. de Paor gives a straight account<br />
of <strong>Irish</strong> history, and shows<br />
how the background of the present<br />
struggle is the attempt by British<br />
Imperialism to conquer Ireland and<br />
maintain the country as a colony.<br />
Thus the Tudor, Stuart, Crotnwellian<br />
and Williamite confiscations,<br />
and plantations and settlements,<br />
explain why the religious slogans<br />
of the 16th century still have sig?-<br />
nificance today.<br />
This is a book that every Englishman<br />
who professes an Interest in<br />
politics should be persuaded to<br />
read. And the <strong>Irish</strong>, too, except<br />
that it should be read with a little<br />
more caution by them, for though<br />
it is in general as sound as a bell,<br />
there are occasional lapses which<br />
give a wrong impression in matters<br />
of detail.<br />
Thus, he says the first Catholic<br />
Relief Act "originated with the<br />
British government." A few pages<br />
later it emerges that it "originated"<br />
with Wolfe Tone and Keogh. Then<br />
it is said that Belfast "became the<br />
second city in Ireland." It did,<br />
but it also became the first, and<br />
lost that position thanks to partition.<br />
Again ft Is stated that the<br />
Unionists drew the boundaries of<br />
"Northern Ireland." Well, not<br />
exactly—though admittedly they<br />
successfully maintained them.<br />
These are not important points,<br />
and do not affect the broad outline,<br />
but the reader should read<br />
critically and be on his guard, at<br />
least if he is looking for something<br />
he can't really expect for live bah!<br />
One other wee grouse. When, oh<br />
when, wHI the pabtiehsrs stop the<br />
barbarous practice of putting "foot"<br />
notes at tho end)<br />
lUflR. DUDLEY EDWARDS'S<br />
"" book is one of much greater<br />
sophistication, and is considerably<br />
heavier on the pocket. It spends<br />
less time on the past and includes<br />
a philosophical analysis of reoent<br />
events in Ulster. The style is elegant,<br />
whether somewhat donnishly<br />
diffuse or brilliantly epigrammatic.<br />
It is not a book to bo read at a<br />
sitting, but demands careful attention<br />
owr a thus.<br />
At the same time it Is hard to<br />
be sure exattty what thesis Mr.<br />
Edwards Is retllly presenting. The<br />
wealth of detail, tho cultural allusions,<br />
give the book richness, but<br />
at the expense of tho pieture as a<br />
whole. Tho title implies that the<br />
present situation derives from tho<br />
errors committed by Irieh people<br />
in tho past And true to this<br />
philosophy Mr. EOwrtt begins his<br />
analysis with an examination of<br />
Ulster Unionism. Since tho oomct<br />
scienflAo starting point is British<br />
imperial policy the whole book is<br />
(Continued on Page Seven)<br />
All day everyday<br />
HI Mfeefc<br />
B A Z A A R DECEMBER 5th _ 13th<br />
Also SECONDHAND BAftGAINS • 283 Greys Inn Road, 50 yards from Kings Cross<br />
»
6 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT<br />
DECEMBER <strong>1970</strong><br />
THE I.R.A<br />
REVIEW<br />
(Continued from page five)<br />
tion of the Left wing in the<br />
Spanish Civil War followed as<br />
it was by the extraordinary<br />
episode of Russell and Ryan<br />
resulted in a further swing.<br />
Yet there is no right-wing<br />
basis for the l.R.A. Rebounding<br />
from politics the leaders<br />
launched the bombing campaign.<br />
I remember being in Killarney<br />
a few weeks before the second<br />
world war broke out. The roads<br />
for miles around were<br />
plastered<br />
with the slogans "damn your<br />
concessions" and "give Britain<br />
more<br />
bombs."<br />
The people admired the I.R.A.,<br />
but thought them hot-headed<br />
and ill-advised. The collapse of<br />
the bombing campaign left only<br />
Hitler, and there were some<br />
loose contacts<br />
established.<br />
Any suggestion that the I.R.A.<br />
became "fascist" is, of course,<br />
quite mistaken, but there is<br />
surely no coincidence in the fact<br />
that the war-time alignment<br />
produced the most serious demoralisation<br />
in the history of<br />
the movement, culminating in<br />
the Stephen Hayes case.<br />
It is clear that Mr. Coogan<br />
thinks Hayes was innocent. And<br />
there seems a strong<br />
probability<br />
that he is right.<br />
j^FTER an examination of the<br />
splits which divided the<br />
movement in the 1950's, Mr.<br />
Coogan concludes with an<br />
account of the 1956-62 border<br />
campaign.<br />
It is hard to come to<br />
any other conclusion than that<br />
it helped to consolidate the hidden<br />
coalition<br />
of Fianna Fail and<br />
Fine Gael, into which Labour<br />
periodically enters when the<br />
others are in difficulties.<br />
The epilogue refers to the present<br />
split in the Republican<br />
ranks. It is unfortunate, however,<br />
that no critical<br />
assessment<br />
is attempted. Could the split<br />
have been averted ? Was the<br />
kind of Leftist politics that<br />
emerged based on false social<br />
theories and assessments ? Were<br />
the class lines in the <strong>Irish</strong><br />
nation properly understood ?<br />
Was the pace forced<br />
unnecessarily<br />
? And was the I.R.A.,<br />
whose business, after all, is a<br />
Republic, led to assume the<br />
responsibility of work that was<br />
the proper task of the Labour<br />
movement ? Was there, in short,<br />
something happening in the<br />
South which paralleled the<br />
blind alley of "People's Democracy"<br />
in the North ?<br />
THESE questions are not answered.<br />
And from Mr.<br />
Coogan's standpoint, they probably<br />
do not arise. He seeks a<br />
solution to the partition problem<br />
in some vague<br />
"federalism"<br />
to follow entry into the Common<br />
Market. It is as if Jonah<br />
and his lady love were to<br />
be espoused within the whale's<br />
belly, with no prospect of getting<br />
out.<br />
It is a deficiency of Mr. Coogan's<br />
book that it is largely<br />
uncritical<br />
of present political<br />
standards, so that fashionable<br />
philosophies are taken for<br />
granted. And as was indicated<br />
at the outset,<br />
there are a number<br />
of inaccuracies regarding<br />
things of which this reviewer<br />
has personal recollections. And<br />
there are therefore probably<br />
more. At the same time fair is<br />
fair and Mr. Coogan has done a<br />
useful job for which he is to be<br />
warmly<br />
thanked.<br />
A<br />
MODERATE UNIONIST' OPINION<br />
"Ulster at the Crossroads," by<br />
Terence O'Neill (Faber and<br />
Faber, 30/-).<br />
IT is a curiosity of history<br />
that<br />
A<br />
the name O'Neill has become a<br />
prominent one on the anti-national<br />
side of <strong>Irish</strong> politics. Captain<br />
Terence Marne—the second christian<br />
name symbolically retails a<br />
British reverse in the first world<br />
war—belongs to a land-owning<br />
family which can trace its descent,<br />
allowing for a change of surname<br />
from Chichester three or four<br />
generations back, to the Sir Fhelim<br />
O'Neill who led the revolt of Ulster<br />
Gads in 1641.<br />
There is therefore a link of consanguinity<br />
between the recent<br />
Orange prime minister and Owen<br />
Roe, Shane the Proud, the great<br />
Hugh and the ancient kings of<br />
Ulster.<br />
Even more curious than his<br />
genealogy is the part played' by<br />
Terence in unionist politics.<br />
The<br />
speeches quoted in this book reveal<br />
a mind quite oblivious to the reality<br />
of his position.<br />
He seems to, have<br />
deferred joining the plebeian<br />
Orange order until the prospect of<br />
a cabinet post made it obligatory.<br />
Having given his allegiance in the<br />
same condescending spirit as that of<br />
Henri IV, who thought Paris worth<br />
a mass, he continued to speak as if<br />
he still retained an independent<br />
moral stance.<br />
As an efficient finance minister<br />
he was, to his credit, dismayed by<br />
the social squalor which underlay<br />
the protestant state created by<br />
Craigavon and Brookeborough. His<br />
/ failure as prime minister arose from<br />
his inability to see that progress is<br />
impossible in N. Ireland under the<br />
Orange ideology.<br />
He was slow to grasp the<br />
fact<br />
that in Stormont the only<br />
flower<br />
that blooms is the Orange lily. You<br />
cannot pursue liberal aims and at<br />
the same time act as leader of a<br />
sectarian movement.<br />
Yet this is what he set out to<br />
do. Hence we had the spectacle of<br />
nn Orangeman preaching a sermon<br />
on religious tolerance at Ballycastle<br />
on Good Friday, 1966.<br />
Of Catholics he said in Canada<br />
that if you treat them kindly they<br />
will become like Protestants.<br />
This<br />
was meant to Illustrate his broadmindedness.<br />
Yet his misunderstanding<br />
of Catholics was less profound<br />
than his miscalculation<br />
of<br />
the degree to which protestant<br />
opinion had been corrupted by the<br />
Orange monopoly of power.<br />
His weakness wi» * vis Paisley was<br />
that the latter had all the good<br />
tunes. He was saying to the faithful<br />
what every Orange leader has<br />
been saying since 1920. The word<br />
moderation is only good for a laugh<br />
in the lodges<br />
O 'NEILL should be much happier<br />
in the house of lords to which<br />
Mr. Wilson was constrained to promote<br />
him in justification of the confidence<br />
he had so often expressed<br />
in O'Neill's statesmanship. He is at'<br />
last amongst his fellow Britishers.<br />
He has always believed that because<br />
Orangeism pays lip-service to<br />
Britain therefore Ulster is British.<br />
In his speeches the words British<br />
and <strong>Irish</strong> assume the simple<br />
polarity of good and bad.<br />
Opening<br />
an Ulster we€k at Nottingham he<br />
referred to "so-called <strong>Irish</strong> linen."<br />
He contrasts British and <strong>Irish</strong><br />
living standards as if they were as<br />
disparate as those of the U.S. and<br />
Mexico.<br />
The sonorous litany of Alexander,<br />
Montgomery, Templer, Alanbrooke<br />
and Dill is ever on his lips as proof<br />
of the quintessential Britishness of<br />
the Six Counties.<br />
While talking of liberal policies<br />
O'Neill followed the unionist mythology<br />
as sedulously as any predecessor.<br />
He could not exhort factory<br />
workers to greater effort without referring<br />
to the covenant of 1913. If<br />
Gerry Fitt questioned the government's<br />
housing policy the prime<br />
minister scented a conspiracy<br />
to<br />
subvert the state. When Paisleyites<br />
murdered two youths in the summer<br />
of 1966 he linked the I.R.A. with the<br />
U.V.F. in his broadcast condemning<br />
violence.<br />
j<br />
O'Neill was probably the last<br />
unionist prime minister.<br />
His successor<br />
is an agent for concealed<br />
direct rule from Westminster.<br />
The<br />
Orange order, while itfc powerful influence<br />
is still apparent" in the sluggishness<br />
with which Britain's instructions<br />
are being carried out, no<br />
longer holds undisputed sway.<br />
BOOK LIST<br />
(Continued from Page Five)<br />
Diokson*, 21/-.<br />
The Hedge Schools of Ireland, P.<br />
J. Downing, •/%<br />
8wift Re-vlslted, Denis Donoghe,<br />
10/6.<br />
The Felon's Traofc, Michael<br />
Doheny*, Hardback If/6.<br />
Kevin O'Higglna. Strongman of<br />
the Free State, De Vara white, 8/-.<br />
Kevin Baity, Sean cronin, 3/e.<br />
Down Dublin Streets, Eamon Mao<br />
Thomals, 3/8.<br />
The I.R.A., Tim Pat Coogan, 46/-.<br />
Ireland Yeaterday and Tomorrow,<br />
Bulmer Hobaon, Ml-.<br />
John O'Leary (Fenian), Marcus<br />
Bourke, M/-.<br />
The Qatea Flew Open, Peadar<br />
O'Donnell*, 5/-.<br />
Cry Blood Cry Erin. Fight for the<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Republic (bargain), 25/-.<br />
HUSH BOOK BAZAAR<br />
DECEMBER 5th - 13th<br />
ALL DAY AND EVERY DAY<br />
283 GRAYS INN ROAD, LONDON, W.C.I<br />
CALL IN AND HAVE A LOOK<br />
OPEN TILL 9 p.m.<br />
Paisley's election successes may<br />
force Britain to tighten the screws<br />
on Stormont.<br />
Orangemen will blame O'Neill for<br />
betraying their cause. In fact it is<br />
doubtful if anyone could have done<br />
more to delay reform under the tremendous<br />
pressure of the Civil<br />
Rights movement since August 1968.<br />
He denied the fact of discrimination<br />
against the minority, praised<br />
the<br />
R.U.C. after their brutality in Derry<br />
on October 5th, and continued<br />
to<br />
maintain down to the publication of<br />
the Cameron and Hunt reports that<br />
the major cause of communal tension<br />
was the existence of Catholic<br />
schools.<br />
The minority will look back on<br />
him as the man responsible for appointing<br />
Craig to control of<br />
the<br />
R.U.C., as the prime minister who<br />
spoke no word of sympathy for the<br />
poor of Derry vrtio had their homes<br />
wrecked by drunken policemen,<br />
above all as the* politician who had<br />
the effrontery to ask for their support<br />
in advance of the most elementary<br />
reforms.<br />
John Cole's editorial<br />
comments<br />
carry partisanship to the extreme of<br />
complete reversal of fact.<br />
People's<br />
Democracy did not break a truce by<br />
their famous Bel f ast-Burntollet-<br />
Derry march of January 1969.<br />
On<br />
the contrary they resisted every<br />
blandishment by which O'Neill and<br />
Captain Long tried to trick them<br />
into cancelling the march.<br />
O'Neill's refusal to protect them<br />
on the march illustrates the hard<br />
cynicism underlying his bland, dull,<br />
somehow scoutmasterish public<br />
persona.<br />
Bill of Rights<br />
(Continued from Page One)<br />
What. then, is the good of it?<br />
It is pointed out that the Race<br />
Relations Act began in the same<br />
modest way.<br />
First, people said it<br />
was Impossible to draft it.<br />
Then<br />
it was drafted.<br />
It was introduced<br />
and thrown out.<br />
But finally the<br />
Labour government realised that<br />
here was the very thing that was<br />
needed, and thanks to public pressure<br />
they made it an official<br />
measure.<br />
It is also important that as well<br />
as stressing grievances, those who<br />
want reform in the six counties<br />
should stress remedies. The Bill of<br />
Rights shows what remedies<br />
are<br />
wanted and who can provide them.<br />
This would be shown to the world<br />
by introducing the Bill.<br />
And ultimately,<br />
at the end of the road<br />
when it is passed, it can open up<br />
new prospects for the people of the<br />
six counties.<br />
FROM 283<br />
GRAYS INN RD.<br />
BOOKS ON THE<br />
IRISH<br />
REVOLUTION<br />
Books on the <strong>Irish</strong> Revolution, 1912-<br />
1923.<br />
Histories: Guerilla Days in Ireland,<br />
Tom Barry, 5/-.<br />
My Fight for <strong>Irish</strong> Freedom, Dan<br />
Breen, 5/-.<br />
The Easter Rebellion, Max Caufield,<br />
6/-.<br />
The First Dail, Maire pomerford,<br />
5/-.*<br />
Fifty Years of Liberty Hall, 7/6.<br />
The indivisible island, Frank Gallagher*<br />
£1 is.<br />
The Connaught Rangers, T. P. Kilfeather,<br />
6/6.<br />
The <strong>Irish</strong> Republic, Dorothy Macardle*<br />
12/6.<br />
The Easter Lily, Sean O'Callaghan,<br />
5/-.<br />
Insurrection Fires at Eastertide, M.<br />
O'Dubhghaill, 46/-.<br />
The Rising, Desmond Ryan* 21/-.<br />
The Insurrection in Dublin, James<br />
Stephens, 6/-.<br />
The Ulster Crisis, A. T. Q. Steward,<br />
16/-.<br />
Army without Banners,<br />
E. O'Malley*<br />
6/-.<br />
De Yalera by Mary C. Bromage, 5/-.<br />
Louie Bennett, by R. M. Fox, 7/6.<br />
Jim Larkin, by R. M. Fox.<br />
Special<br />
bargain (scarce) 7/6.<br />
Ghosts of Kilmainham, 1/6.<br />
Tragedies of Kerry, Dorothy Macardle.<br />
Patrick Pearse, Hadley Mc£ay/ l 5/-.<br />
Roger Casement, Herbert 0 Mackey,<br />
4/6.<br />
The Rebel Countess, Anne Marreco,<br />
hardback 45/-, paper 7/6.<br />
Life and Death of Michael Collins,<br />
Eoin Neeson, 40/-.<br />
Michael Collins, Frank O'Connor,<br />
7/6.<br />
I Die in a Good Cause (Thomas<br />
Ashe), S. 0. Luing, 10/6*.<br />
Miohael Collins, Desmond Ryan, 5/-.<br />
Michael Collins, Rex Taylor, 3/6.<br />
Leaders and Men of 1916, F. X.<br />
Martin, 12/6.<br />
The O'Rahllly, Marcus Bourke, 6/-.<br />
Lenin on Ireland, 2/-.<br />
The Best of Connolly, P. Mac-<br />
Aonghusa, 10/-.<br />
The eB8t of Pearce, P. MacAonghusa,<br />
10/-.<br />
Principles of Freedom, Terence Mac-<br />
Swiney, 9/6.<br />
Political Writings of Padralg<br />
Pearse, 15K<br />
Poet's Plays<br />
"Yeats the Playwright," by Peter<br />
Ure (Routledge and Kegan<br />
Paul, 12/-).<br />
|r JPHIS book, described as a<br />
Commentary on Character<br />
and Design in the Major Plays<br />
of Yeats, is a reprint of the book<br />
first published in 1963.<br />
The author divides his book in<br />
two. Parrt 1 deals with three plays<br />
of Yeats's earlier period, "The<br />
Countess Cathleen." "The Bang's<br />
Threshold" and "Deirdre." Part 2<br />
is devoted to the plays written between<br />
1917 and 1939, and they are<br />
grouped according to the themes<br />
they pursue.<br />
The author narrates<br />
the story of each play, and explains<br />
what the playwright was attempting<br />
to put across.<br />
He details the<br />
alterations Yeats made on his plays<br />
over the years and why.<br />
He discusses<br />
the efiflfct Yeats's private life<br />
had on his work, the views and<br />
opinion of the playwright's friends,<br />
and his association with the<br />
theatre.<br />
A very useful book for the student.<br />
Excellent value, complete<br />
with notes and index, at 12/-.<br />
GRAINNE DILLON<br />
CELTIC STUDIES<br />
Early <strong>Irish</strong> poetry, J. Carney, 6/-.<br />
Phases of <strong>Irish</strong> History, E. Mac-<br />
Neill, 10/6.<br />
Ossianic Lore and Romantics Tales<br />
of Mediaeval Ireland, Gerard<br />
Murphy, 10/-.<br />
The Celts, Joseph Raftery, 6/-.<br />
Everyday Life of the Pagan Celts,<br />
Anne Ross, hardback 30/-.<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Folkways, Estyn E. Evans,<br />
hardback 35/-.<br />
Celtic Mythology, Proinsias Cac<br />
Cana, illustrated 25/-.<br />
Early<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Society, Myles Dillon<br />
(Ed.), 7/-.<br />
MEMORY<br />
A book on a shelf keeps<br />
memory green when less<br />
durable presents are forgotten<br />
all about. Its capacity<br />
to give pleasure continue!,<br />
and the donor thus<br />
gives something that keeps<br />
expressing his feelings<br />
long after Christmas is<br />
over.<br />
SOCIOLOGY<br />
AND<br />
POLITICS<br />
Gola: Life and Last Days of an<br />
Island Community, Aalen and<br />
Brody, 12/6.<br />
The Common Market: Why Ireland<br />
should not Join, A. Coughlan, 2/-.<br />
Life and Ideas of Robert Owen, A.<br />
L. Morton, 12/6.<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Agriculture and the Common<br />
Market, R. Crotty, 2/-.<br />
Shaping of Modern .Ireland, Conor<br />
Cruise O'Brien, 15/-.<br />
Formation of the <strong>Irish</strong> Economy, L.<br />
M. Cullen, 8/6.<br />
The <strong>Irish</strong> Election System, J. F. S.<br />
Ross, hardback 1/6.<br />
The Years of the Great Test, 1926-<br />
1939, F. MacManus (ed.) 10/-.<br />
The Republic of Ireland, D. R.<br />
O'Connor-Lysaght, 21/-.<br />
IMPORTANT<br />
BOOKS<br />
"••THE Indivisible<br />
Island," by<br />
X<br />
Frank Gallagher (21/-).<br />
Probably the most detailed and<br />
satisfactory account of partition,<br />
fixing the responsibility<br />
where it belongs, on British imperialism.<br />
An education to read<br />
it.<br />
Frank Gallagher was one of<br />
the early editors of An<br />
Phoblacht.<br />
"i r pHE <strong>Irish</strong> Republic," by Dorothy<br />
Macardle (12/6). Anybody who<br />
has not read this classio is short<br />
of essential mental equipment.<br />
Dorothy Mcardle was in Cumann<br />
na mBan and took the Republican<br />
side in the Civil War.<br />
When In<br />
London she spoke at Connolly<br />
Association meetings.<br />
This vast<br />
book, a thousand pages long, is<br />
in paperback at 12/6.<br />
' ir rHE RISING," by Desmond<br />
Ryan (21/-).<br />
Still the standard<br />
work on the Rising of 1916.<br />
Desmond Ryan, one of the most<br />
likeable men in Ireland, was the<br />
son of W. P. Ryan, the Gaelic<br />
scholar, and was for a time a<br />
student teacher under Pearse at<br />
St. Enda's.<br />
He lived in London<br />
and contributed to some of the<br />
early issues of the <strong>Irish</strong><br />
<strong>Democrat</strong>,<br />
before returning to Dublin.<br />
" A RMY without Banners," by<br />
Eaman CMalley (6/-).<br />
This<br />
is the famous classic, "On another<br />
man's wound" which for some reason<br />
the publishers have chosen to<br />
camouflage, and<br />
Incidentally lose<br />
the whole point of the title.<br />
But<br />
the book Itself remains the best<br />
on the Black-and-Tao period.<br />
O'Malley was an amazingly gifted<br />
man, one of the boldest and most<br />
resourceful guerilla leaders, but<br />
Immensely gifted student of poetry,<br />
literature and. in later life, a great<br />
collector of pictures, and a democrat<br />
to the core.<br />
DECEMBER <strong>1970</strong> THE IRISH DEMOCRAT<br />
FROM 283<br />
GRAYS INN RD<br />
SIX-COUNTY<br />
CRISIS<br />
Divided Ulster, Liam de Paor, 5 -.<br />
Burntollet, Bowed Egan & McCormack,<br />
10/-.<br />
Ulster 1969, Max Hastings, 42/-.<br />
The Sins of our Fathers, 0. Dudley<br />
Edwards, 50/-.<br />
Fire Over Ulster, by Patrick Ridded,<br />
35 -.<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Question and the British<br />
People, Desmond Greaves, 1/-.<br />
The Holy War in Belfast, Andrew<br />
Boyd, 8/6.<br />
MISCELLANEOUS<br />
Robert Emmet's Speech from the<br />
Dock, 1/-.<br />
Speeches from the Dock, D. B.<br />
Sullivan (h/b), 25/-.<br />
The Best of Swift, R. Wyse-<br />
Jackson, 6/-.<br />
Folksong in England, A. L. Lloyd<br />
(h/b 63/-), 12/6.<br />
The First Exile. Story of Colmcllle.<br />
Poem by R. Farren (h/b), 8/6.<br />
Senate Speeches of W. B. Yeats,<br />
Ed. D. R. Pearce, hardback 21/-.<br />
DISPLACED PERSONS<br />
"The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar<br />
B." by J. P. Donleavy<br />
(Penguin, 30pd., 6/-).<br />
"TPHE word rabelaisian cannot be<br />
-L resisted. Donleavy's latest<br />
novel is bawdy, it is hilarious,<br />
picaresque. satirical, irreverent,<br />
titillating, outrageous. The plot has<br />
preposterous coincidences and has<br />
to be pursued with effort through<br />
a hazy ambience of unreality.<br />
Yet to read it is to be compelled<br />
to ponder on the interrelated mysteries<br />
of loneliness, love arid<br />
death.<br />
Alt the characters, as is<br />
usual in a Donleavy story, are<br />
adrift from their moorings.<br />
They<br />
follow their destinies without ties<br />
of kinship or locality: the eponymous<br />
wealthy Frenchman seduced<br />
into disgrace at Trinity and into<br />
marriage in Kensington, the<br />
secretly tortured Scottish aristocrat<br />
whose Dublin days and nights are<br />
divided between sexual athleticism<br />
and the study of divinity, the prostitutes<br />
from the country and the<br />
compliant au pair girl from Paris.<br />
Even the rich Anglos are made to<br />
appear dSpays6 by their sedate<br />
charity.<br />
At the price, it would be risky<br />
not to read this book.<br />
It may just<br />
fit that niche between Ulysses and<br />
Swim-Two-Birds into which the<br />
publishers of <strong>Irish</strong> novelists try to<br />
squeeze so many of their products.<br />
EAVANN CONOR.<br />
Quare ones<br />
in London<br />
"Revolutionists in London : A<br />
Study of Five Unorthodox<br />
Socialists," by James W.<br />
Hulse (Oxford University<br />
Press, 48/-).<br />
DV arbitrarily selecting his writers<br />
** on the basis of residence in<br />
London, Mr. Hulse has achieved the<br />
remarkable feat of producing a<br />
study of socialist literature in the<br />
English language between 1880 and<br />
1920 without mentioning James<br />
Connolly, an omission the more<br />
striking when one considers that of<br />
the five studied two (Shaw by birth,<br />
William Morris by conversion) were<br />
keenly interested<br />
in the anti-imperialist<br />
movement in Ireland.<br />
The central figure of the quinete<br />
is Bernard Shaw. "Unorthodox" is<br />
a mild epithet for a polemicist who<br />
was in contact, o rmore often conflict,<br />
with the protagonists of the<br />
entire spectrum of socialist thought<br />
throughout most of his long life.<br />
His practice of testing every hypothesis<br />
against what he considered<br />
the depressing facts of human nature<br />
led him first to reject the<br />
Marxian doctrine of surplus value,<br />
then to mistrust the anarchism of<br />
the Russian 6migr6s, Kropotkin and<br />
Stepniak and the revisionism of the<br />
German Bernstein, next to throw<br />
himself into the Fabian movement<br />
which seemed directly contrary to<br />
his earlier convictions, and finally<br />
to the conclusion<br />
that what the<br />
world needed was the creation of a<br />
new species.<br />
In this last phase the<br />
socialist Shaw heartily approved of<br />
dictatorship, of Stalin, Mussolini<br />
and Hitler impartially.<br />
Yet the book brings out the fact<br />
that Shaw, for all his tendency to<br />
indulge himself and his audiences<br />
with dramatic hyperbole, remained<br />
a convinced Marxist and moved<br />
more or less steadily away from the<br />
dream of a frontal assault on the<br />
entrenched capitalist system towards<br />
the advocacy of a political<br />
attack OR.a political problem.<br />
All the writers reviewed, most<br />
markedly the former dynamitard<br />
and assassin, the gentle Prince<br />
Peter Kropotkin, moved in the same<br />
direction as the world war and the<br />
Russian revolution altered the outlook<br />
for a possible advance in social<br />
reform through permeation of the<br />
existing bourgeois institutions, parliament,<br />
ttte press and<br />
municipal<br />
bodies. *<br />
SEAMUS TREACY.<br />
THE MANCHESTER MARTYRS<br />
"The Manchester Martyrs," by<br />
Paul Rose (Lawrence and<br />
Wishart, £1.25)<br />
\ S a Mancunian, a barrister, a<br />
- socialist Member of Parliament<br />
and chairman of the Campaign for<br />
Democracy in Ulster, Paul Rose<br />
was drawn by a diversity of interests<br />
to a close study of the horrific<br />
circumstances surrounding the public<br />
hanging in November, 1867, of<br />
Allen, Larkin and O'Brien outside<br />
Salford gaol.<br />
Of the victims' innocence this<br />
book leaves no doubt.<br />
It records<br />
in detail the shifts by which the<br />
processes of law were perverted by<br />
an aristocratic government plunged<br />
into a delirium of fear and arrogance<br />
by a working-class conspiracy.<br />
The refusal to hold the trial away<br />
from Manchester, where the Press<br />
had whipped up an anti-Fenian<br />
hysteria, the manacling of unconvicted<br />
men. the purchase of witnesses<br />
and the admission of manifestly<br />
unreliable evidence of identification<br />
were impediments to justice<br />
additional to those inherent in<br />
the legal system of the time.<br />
Besides paying tribute to the<br />
memory of the three brave young<br />
Fenians, Paul Rose stresses the<br />
futility of government by frightfulness.<br />
He shows how a frantic<br />
government, by indulging in that<br />
triple ritual strangulation, strengthened<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> resistance, provoking<br />
the cold, methodical fury that inspired<br />
the Land League and the<br />
later Republican movement.<br />
A third theme of the book is the<br />
social character of the revolt<br />
against imperialsh. Widespread<br />
protests against the hangings by<br />
radical intellectuals and<br />
workingmen's<br />
organisations were contemptuously<br />
dismissed by government<br />
and monarch.<br />
Engels and Marx<br />
recognised the ploy of<br />
exploiting<br />
the Fenian scare to incite one section<br />
of the working class against<br />
another.<br />
It is encouraging to note that<br />
Paul Rose is here of one mind<br />
with James Connolly, who regarded<br />
the Fenian bid for national independence<br />
as a phase in the world's<br />
progress towards socialism, whether<br />
or not the leadership recognised it<br />
as such.<br />
This theme makes the book more<br />
than a piece of conscientious research.<br />
It states his conviction<br />
that resistance to imperialism has<br />
now been canalised into the demand<br />
for civil rights in the six counties.<br />
Paul Rose, aware that these will<br />
never be conceded out of love of<br />
the Belfast Catholics, knows that,<br />
given the will, the British workingclass<br />
movement has the power to<br />
MERGER MANIA<br />
"Merger Mania," by William<br />
Davis (Constable, 35/-).<br />
fRASER was a tall, slim,<br />
chain-smoking Scot with a<br />
fondness for pink champagne.<br />
He always wore a splendid<br />
flower in his buttonhole,<br />
usually<br />
a carnation." You are impressed<br />
by the selection of significant<br />
detail, the piercing factuality.<br />
Our dandy was one of a galaxy<br />
of tycoons whose effulgence is<br />
reflected in this book by the<br />
editor of "Punch."<br />
Charlie Clore and Joe Hyman<br />
—the author uses Christian<br />
names like one of the gossipwriters<br />
in the "Sunday Press"—<br />
Murdoch, Maxwell, Weinstock<br />
and a dozen others have found<br />
a joint-stock Boswell. There is<br />
a wealth of exciting adventure.<br />
Arnold Weinstock's G.E.C.<br />
swallows up A.E.I., closes up its<br />
Woolwich factory, and 5,500<br />
men and women are redundant.<br />
Arnold did all this without help<br />
from anyone but the Labour<br />
Government, which set up the<br />
Industrial Reorganisation Corporation<br />
so that he could use<br />
the taxpayer's money if his own<br />
ran out.<br />
Hyman was unhappy. He<br />
couldn't make up his mind<br />
whether to buy up the Liberal<br />
Party for one million pounds,<br />
become ambassador to the U.S.,<br />
or ask Mr. Heath to give him<br />
the chairmanship of the Conservative<br />
Party. He decided on the<br />
last, was turned down, and attributed<br />
this to Heath's fear of<br />
being<br />
eclipsed.<br />
These were the sultans of the<br />
'60's. You should read about<br />
them. It will help to steel your<br />
nerve for your next<br />
wage-claim.<br />
They are not all extant, for<br />
takeover tycoons have, as weell<br />
as the appetites of cormorants,<br />
the tastes of cannibals.<br />
SEAMUS<br />
TREACY.<br />
SPOTLIGHT ON CIVIL RIGHTS<br />
CONTINUED<br />
FROM PAGE 5<br />
thrown off course.<br />
It is the show<br />
without Punch.<br />
F ROM the examination of official<br />
Unionism (extraordinary incidentally:<br />
the author quotes Macohlavelli's<br />
dictum that domains are<br />
held by the same means that<br />
achieved them, but makes no economic<br />
analysis) he prooMds to the<br />
description of Palsleylsm. Then<br />
oomes the "breaking of the working<br />
dass," which is defined as "Indioatlng<br />
destruction, failure and apparent<br />
future Insignifioance." There<br />
is muoh erudite comment but nowhere<br />
is the thesis argued.<br />
And<br />
however carefully one reads, it is<br />
difficult to see what produced "the<br />
generation which smashed the<br />
Northern Ireland establishment,"<br />
for, alas, it has still to bs smashed.<br />
The impression one gets Is of a<br />
middle-class Intellectual without<br />
previous involvement In the anti-<br />
Imperialist struggle, trying honestly<br />
to explain something which took<br />
him unawares, and oo
8 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT DECEMBER <strong>1970</strong><br />
Dha leabhar o dha dhuibhneach<br />
'w V<br />
La Dar Saol, Tomas 0 Criomhthain,<br />
Sairseal & Dill.<br />
[T\E Reir Uimhreacha, Padraig Ua<br />
Maoileoin, Muintir an Duna.<br />
Ise an mile feall Gaeltacht Chorea<br />
Dhuibhne a bheith laghdaithe<br />
chomh mor is mar ta arae<br />
gan<br />
bhreag gan aibheil (mar a deireann<br />
siad fein thios ansin) is galanta an<br />
teanga Gaoluinne ta mar oidhreaeht<br />
anuas ona sinsear ag muintir na<br />
h-aite sin. Ta cail domhanda bainte<br />
atnach ag An tOileanach a scriobh<br />
athair Thomais Ui Chriomhthain<br />
dachad bliain no mar sin o shin<br />
agus ta cail mhor bainte amach<br />
chomb maith ag Fiche Bliain Ag<br />
Fx le Muiris O Suilleabhain nach<br />
maireann.<br />
Ta an ceathrar udar seo gaolmhar<br />
lena cheile, mar sin ni on<br />
gbaoth na on ngrian a thoig siad<br />
a mbua; bhi Na Mlrd 0 ThuaWh<br />
agus 8iWe Blum le Padraig<br />
Ua<br />
Maoileoin ar dha leabhar chomb<br />
maith agus a fhoillsiodh le blianta<br />
fada anuas agus is e mo thuairim<br />
macanta fein gur fearr e an ceann<br />
seo uaidh na ceachtar acu sin dar<br />
chuaigh roimhe.<br />
Saol na n'earcach<br />
(na rucach,<br />
gabh mo leithsceal: cloitear le<br />
A-<br />
canuint an<br />
udair!) 1 nDepot na<br />
nGardai Siochana i bPairc an<br />
Fhionnuisce os cionn trioch bliain<br />
o shin ta in De Reir Uimtireacha<br />
agus ba leabhar e nar fheadas fein<br />
a ligint uaim go raibh a dheire<br />
leite agam.<br />
Ta Na Maoileoin domhan,<br />
gearchuiseach, crionna gan a<br />
bheith "trom"; ainneoin feabhas<br />
agus saibhreas na Gaeilge sa leabhar<br />
seo beidh gach duine in ann e<br />
leamh agus is fearr da reir a<br />
mbraithfear an tabhairt faoi deara<br />
agus an tuiscmt ar dhoine ta ag an<br />
udar seo.<br />
Ta na caractair ar fad ann<br />
rianalthe<br />
go h-eifeachtach ar sli<br />
taithneamhach. Mar shompla ni<br />
fheachann Ua Maoileoin le duine ar<br />
bith acu a chur romhat ina iomlan<br />
ar aon pharagraf na ar aon leathanach<br />
amhain; de reir a cheile a<br />
chuireann se os do chomhair iad sa<br />
chaoi agus go bhfuilir ag dul ina<br />
n'aithne mar a rachfa in aithne ar<br />
dhaoine a chasfai ort in do shaol<br />
laethiuil.<br />
Nil cur i gceill na muga<br />
maga na breagh-mhaoatkneas na a<br />
dhath mar sin a mhillfeadh an<br />
leabhar anseo ach saothar ionraic<br />
nach lease lena udar saitean a<br />
thabhairt anonns a nail faoi bhreagghalantacht<br />
an tsaoil Eireannaigh<br />
mar a bhi is mar ta si.<br />
Ni abhfad a bheithea in eadan an<br />
leabhair seo nuaire a bhaithfea nar<br />
Gharda Siochana on mbroin e Padraig<br />
Ua-Maoileoin: ta se in amhras<br />
ar an ni is Udaras ann ona thus<br />
amach. Is fear e, silim, as a scaoilfeadh<br />
saor thu da mbearfadh se ort<br />
ag rothaiocht gan solas d'oiche, nios<br />
tuisce na<br />
mar a thoigfeadh se<br />
t'ainm.<br />
Ard-leabhar ar cheart e a<br />
leamh.<br />
Le iascaireacht agus feilmearacht<br />
a chaith Sean O Criomthain a shaol<br />
agus e brea briomhar i gconai is<br />
gura fada bheas. Ta La Dar Saol<br />
roinnte i dtri chuid agus is e an<br />
chead chuid an chuid is fearr ce<br />
go bhfuil an leabhar gan locht sios<br />
trid.<br />
Ba choir don chead chuid a<br />
bheith ar chursa na h-Ard Teiste<br />
a mbeidh spraoi chomh fonnmhar<br />
le scafaire naoi mbliana deag ar bith<br />
mar is slachthmhar, cumasach an<br />
piosa scribhnoireachta e; d'eile<br />
nuair a chuimh-nionn tu i gceart<br />
air is seard ta ann eacht agus gaisce<br />
mar is fear e Sean O Criomhthain<br />
nach ndeacha ar ardscoil na ar<br />
cholaiste ariamh.<br />
Ach a ar ndo bhi scoil ab fhearr<br />
na ceachtar acu aige—seanchas na<br />
muintire a chuaigh loimhe ma earlaimh<br />
sar-mhaith anuag on tsean<br />
am fado.<br />
Ach ta buanna eile an<br />
scribhneorga ag Sean groi; na<br />
buanna ceanna sin ta ag a fhear<br />
gaoil, ag Ua Maoileoin; ta suil ina<br />
cheann, ta cluasa geara, ta meabhar<br />
agus tuiscint agus crionnucht.<br />
Eachtra, an chait bhain, mar<br />
shompla, agus breithiunas an Udair<br />
air—ta abhar smaointe anseo do<br />
dhuine a rbith againn. Ach is e an<br />
greaann agus an "crnic" agus an<br />
dea-chaint an rud is suantasai i<br />
La Dar Saol: ta an t-Udar, ina<br />
sheanfhear do, chomh h-aerach is<br />
mar a bhi ariamh agus tabharfaidh<br />
se cuairt ar an tabhairne no ar alt<br />
da bhfuil beo. 'Gura fada amhlaidh<br />
e agus nara fada go bhfuighfldh<br />
muid leabhar eile uaidh a bheas flu<br />
leath chomh maith leis an gceann<br />
seo.<br />
Ta 'chaon cheann dena leabhra<br />
seo ar liosta an Chlub Leabhar<br />
agus sliim go b'shin e an chaoi is<br />
fearr len' iad a fhail.<br />
£3 sintus<br />
bliana an Chlub agus ta leabhair<br />
breise le fail ar lacaiste fial. Scriobh<br />
chuig 37 Sr. na bhFinini, Baile Atha<br />
Cliath. Ni bheidh sibh in aifeal air.<br />
DONALL MAC AMHLAIGH<br />
FROM 2 83<br />
GRAYS INN RD<br />
"f DIE in a good cause,'' (S. O.<br />
Luing, 10/6). The story of<br />
Thomas Ashe, the man who<br />
should probably have taken De<br />
Vatera's position<br />
as leader of the<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> nation, but was just not<br />
personally pushful enough at<br />
the time when he was leading<br />
the l.R.B. He died after being<br />
forcibly fed and otherwise tortured<br />
in Mountjoy at the end<br />
of 1917. This is a reliable factual<br />
account.<br />
Lady Gregory vi<br />
TIM<br />
C.A.<br />
PAMPHLETS<br />
Qvestton and tin British<br />
fey Dtsmond Greaves, refra*f<br />
v 2>6 "to -1/- while st»«k<br />
tarts. ' *<br />
num fm H Ireland Free? «d.<br />
j<br />
ThmH UwtenJsm in Ireland Today,<br />
fey T. CotifMin, M.<br />
Omr Man to Bud Partition, 6d.<br />
TIm Mah Question—challenge . to<br />
demooratic Britain, report<br />
Onmenuu motadin* Speech by<br />
«tonryf*t,<br />
t/fc<br />
Who KiHed Brendan Behan? M.<br />
WMf Tone and the IrfeH Nation,<br />
% Oaamand 6rea*es, now 1/-.<br />
heWMaak—a study of W<br />
M. Ye*eaand his work, by iMan<br />
IRISH<br />
SOCIALIST<br />
LIBRARY<br />
Warfare by fames<br />
Tfea mofiaaai of Ireland, by<br />
^MMrCdMMllP, 2/6.<br />
Ertnta M« and Ma Maw Evangel,<br />
by Jamas DwmoHy, t/«.<br />
m <strong>Irish</strong> History," by J»ni«i<br />
V. 3/«.<br />
Labour, Nationality and Helrgien,<br />
OannaUy, 2/6.<br />
tiand, */-.<br />
Raftary, A, Tfea TaaaMngs<br />
Pad-<br />
' ralg Pears®, 6d.<br />
naaay, J, Fiery grass<br />
Wis story of<br />
4im Larfdn, 1/6.<br />
Fifty Yabrs of Liberty Hail, the<br />
golden jabHee «f the <strong>Irish</strong> Transport<br />
A General Worker*' Union,<br />
illustrated, few only 5/-.<br />
The Place for REAL<br />
Christmas Presents .<br />
IRISH<br />
oo6k<br />
BAZAAR<br />
2834RAYS INN RD ,<br />
LONDON,<br />
W.C.I.<br />
tOftiin. - 0 p.m.<br />
EVERY DAY<br />
DECEMBER<br />
5th te 13th<br />
"Lady Gregory," by Elizabeth<br />
Cojchead (35/-);<br />
"Cuchulain<br />
of Muirthemne" (63/-); "Gods<br />
and Fighting Men" (70/-);<br />
"Visions and Beliefs in the<br />
West of Ireland" (70/-); (all<br />
by Lady Gregory; Colin<br />
Smyth,<br />
publisher).<br />
\ UGUSTA, Lady Gregory, was<br />
very much a non-person before<br />
Elizabeth Coxhead's book was written.<br />
As her biographer remarks<br />
, , somewhere, jt seems almost as if<br />
$ Ireland didn't want to know about<br />
h,er.<br />
With Yeats, she founded the<br />
Abbey Theatre.<br />
Without her, the<br />
Abbey would never have established<br />
itself.<br />
But she is seldom talked<br />
about and when the literati write<br />
about her they do so with more<br />
than a slight touch of patronajrr<br />
Yeats was tall, romantic and hue<br />
an interesting though<br />
respectable<br />
love-life.<br />
Lady Gregory, as we see<br />
from her photographs, could be<br />
anybody's granny — dumpy and<br />
dowdy, conventional, and very backward<br />
in pushing herself forward.<br />
And, as the song says, ". . . she's<br />
just a woman, so easy to forget . ."<br />
The men of the <strong>Irish</strong> literary revival<br />
were more expert at getting<br />
themselves into the limelight than<br />
Lady Gregory was.<br />
You need to rend this book to<br />
understand just how great waB her<br />
contribution<br />
to <strong>Irish</strong> life ami to<br />
the advancement of theatrical<br />
standards throughout the world.<br />
There's a surprise on every page<br />
When you've finished it, you'll feel<br />
a keen regret that you never knew<br />
her—and not many biographical<br />
figures have thai effect—on me,<br />
anyway.<br />
She came at the tail-end of a<br />
bigoted Protestant, prosperous<br />
County Galway family and she was<br />
reared, for all practical purposes,<br />
by her native nurse, Mary Sheridan.<br />
From Mrs. Sheridan she absorbed<br />
the attitudes of the <strong>Irish</strong> peasantry,<br />
including their outlook on the<br />
Fenian ru»mg, which didn't agree<br />
at all with what was said in her<br />
mother's drawing-room.<br />
She wanted<br />
to learn <strong>Irish</strong> as a child, but was<br />
forbidden to do so as it was considered<br />
that a knowledge of this<br />
wild dialect would do her no good,<br />
culturally or otherwise.<br />
She grew up an independentminded<br />
girl<br />
and. by a fluke, it<br />
seems, for she was cast by her<br />
family in the old maid role, attracted<br />
Sir William Oregory, who was<br />
62 when she married him, at, 28.<br />
The reaction of "How could shell<br />
must have been for his money"<br />
is unjustified. He was a man with<br />
c haracter and charm and an m-<br />
lirhlened outlook, though he never<br />
stepped outside the Ascendancy<br />
class.<br />
After 12 years of marriage Lady<br />
Gregory was widowed.<br />
She had a<br />
young son and enough money to<br />
live comfortably—but she was a<br />
born worker. Through meeting<br />
Edward<br />
Martyn and later Yeats,<br />
she learned about the richness of<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> folklore and traditions which<br />
were all around her in County Galway<br />
and she tentatively started<br />
collecting tales and legends.<br />
Eventually<br />
she ended up with a good<br />
working knowledge 1 of <strong>Irish</strong> and an<br />
ability to converse in the language<br />
(Yeats never managed this).<br />
Her<br />
appreciation of the <strong>Irish</strong> heritage<br />
grew and her chief value as a folklorist<br />
was that she added nothing<br />
to and neither did she subtract anything<br />
from what the peasant, <strong>Irish</strong>speaking<br />
people told her.<br />
The most interesting part of the<br />
book, perhaps. Is how the Abbey<br />
came to be founded and an account<br />
of its development.<br />
Lady<br />
Gregory was the linchpin from<br />
very early on.
j<br />
10 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT<br />
PATSY McCANN<br />
•pHERE'S a man by the name of Mick Hogan<br />
and he's driving me out of me life<br />
He has a big daughter called Bridget<br />
And he wants me to make her me wife ;<br />
She stands six foot four in her stockings<br />
And herself of meself would make three<br />
Sure whenever I'm standing beside her<br />
Me elbow just touches her knee.<br />
CHORUS:<br />
Patsy McCann will you marry me daughter?<br />
Oh : Patsy McCann will you take her wed ?<br />
Ten golden sovereigns down I will give you,<br />
A three-legged stool and a fine feather bed ;<br />
Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Patrick,<br />
The pictures that hang on the wall,<br />
I'll throw them all info the bargain<br />
If you'll marry me daughter at all-<br />
Well, I married big Bridget Hogan<br />
And she's mine now for better or worse,<br />
But I got the worst of the bargain<br />
She has turned out to be an old curse-<br />
She kicks me, she beats me, she flays me<br />
Ties me up now lest I'd run away<br />
Oh, me six foot four beauty's a caution,<br />
But her father was worse for to say.—<br />
-Chorus.<br />
miUam Bloat<br />
IRISH SONGS<br />
PEIGIN LEITIR MHOIR<br />
S O goirim i<br />
Agus goirim i mo stoir<br />
Mile gra 1e m'unam i<br />
Si Peigin Leitir Mhoir.<br />
Ta caoire agam's ta Cait agam<br />
Si Peig an bhean is fearr<br />
Pe'r bith fear a gheobhas i<br />
Nach air a bheas an t-adh.<br />
Chuir me sceala siar aici<br />
Go gceannoinn di bad mor,<br />
Se'n sceala ctrair si aniar chugam<br />
Go ndeanfadh leath-bhad seoil.<br />
Ta iascairi na Gaillimhe<br />
'S iad ag teacht anoir le coir<br />
Le solas gealai gile<br />
No go bhfeieidis an tseoid.<br />
Eirigh suas a Pheigin<br />
Agus seas ar bharr an aird<br />
Comhair do ohuid bullan<br />
Agus feach an bhfuil siad ann.<br />
CURFA:<br />
'S o goirim goirir.i i<br />
Agus goirim i mo stoir<br />
Mile gra le m'anam i<br />
Is gearr go mbheidh si mor.<br />
IN a mean atoode on the Sbanfcill Road lived a man named William Bloat<br />
1<br />
He had a wife, the bane of his life, who always got his goat,<br />
Till one day at dawn with her nightdress on he slit her bloody throat.<br />
Now he was glad he had done what he had as she lay there stiff and still,<br />
Till a sudden awe of the angry law filled his soul with an awful chill<br />
And to finish the fun so well begun he decided himself to kill.<br />
Then he took the sheet from his wife's cold -feet and twisted it into a rope<br />
And he flanged himself front*|te pantry shelf—'twas an easy death, let's hope<br />
With his final breath and he facing dearth, he solemnly 1 cursed the Pope.<br />
But the strangest turn of the whole concern is only just beginning—<br />
He -went-to HeM but his wife got well and she's still alive and sinning<br />
For the razor blade was German made, but the rope was Belfast linen.<br />
'• — — ——. ......... H9SMDCWI<br />
THE HUMOUR IS<br />
Oil ME NOW<br />
* 8 I went out one evening, 'twas in the month of May,<br />
« A farmer and his daughter I spied upon wy^way;<br />
*ild the girl sat down quite eatmly to the miUrtng of her cow,<br />
Saying, "I will and I must get married, for the humeur is on me now.'<br />
"Be quiet you fodtieli daughter and hold your winsome tongue,<br />
You're better free and irtngll «nd happy while ydu're young,"<br />
But the ilaughter «heek her shoulders and milked her patient cow,<br />
Saying, "I will and V must got married, for the humour is on me now."<br />
"And sure who are you to turn me that married young yourself<br />
And took my darling mother from off the single sheM<br />
"Ah, sure daughter dear, go alsy, and milk your patient oow,<br />
For a man may have his humour but the humour is off me now."<br />
"Indeed I'll teU my mother dreadful things you say,<br />
indeed I'll tell my matfier 4Ms very Messed day."<br />
"Oeh, now daughter Have a heart, dear, you'll eause a tearful row I"<br />
"WelJ, I will unlets I marry, for the humour is on me now."<br />
"if you must be married, will you tell me who's the man?"<br />
"I will," the daughter anaworcd, "sure there's William, James and John,<br />
A carpenter, a tailor and a man who milks the cow,<br />
For I will andH must get married, for the humour is on me now."<br />
"A carpenter's a sharp man, and a tailor's hard to face,<br />
With his legs aoross the table and threads about the place,<br />
And sure John's a fearful tyrant and he never likes a row . . ."<br />
"Well, I will and I must get married for the humour is on me now."<br />
"If you must be married will you tell me what you'll do?"<br />
"I will," the daughter answered, "Just the same as Ma and you,<br />
I'll be mistress of my dairy and my butter and my cow . . .<br />
"Aye, and your husband too, I'll answer, for the humour is on yoiu now!"<br />
At last the daughter married, and very well-to-do,<br />
And loved her darling husband tor a month, a year or two<br />
But John proved a fearful tyrant, and she quickly rued her vow,<br />
Saying, "I'm sorry now I married, for the humour is off me now."<br />
Tipperary<br />
so far away<br />
T<br />
HE sun had set with its goUten<br />
rajrs<br />
And the bitter fight was o'er<br />
Our brave boys sleep beneath the<br />
clay<br />
On this earth they are no more.<br />
The moonbeams shone on the<br />
battlefield<br />
Where a dying rebel lay;<br />
His arms were crossed on his body<br />
outstretohed<br />
And his life-blood flowed away.<br />
Our comrades in silent ambush lay<br />
For the evening sky was clear<br />
Yet not one man was there afraid,<br />
Our brave boys knew no fear;<br />
Few people in the city streets<br />
Had heard that fierce affray,<br />
Or of that valiant youth whose<br />
home was set<br />
In Tipperary so far away.<br />
There was none to weep for you,<br />
Sean asthore,<br />
As you lay upon the ground;<br />
Your comrades knew you were on<br />
your own<br />
As you wearily looked around.<br />
"Lift me gently," you whispered,<br />
"No longer on eapth must I stay;<br />
Oh, I'll never more roam to my<br />
native home<br />
In Tipperary so far away."<br />
The soldiers of Ireland bore him<br />
high<br />
On their shoulders with solemn<br />
tread,<br />
And many a heart with a tearful<br />
sigh<br />
Wept for our patriot dead.<br />
They silently lowered him int# the<br />
grave<br />
To wait for the reokoning day;<br />
Sean Treacy who died is home to<br />
stay<br />
In Tipperary so far away.<br />
THE ANTI-IRISH<br />
IRISHMAN<br />
ROM Polar seas to torrid climes,<br />
F Where'er the trace of man is<br />
found,<br />
What common feeling marks our<br />
kind<br />
And sanctifies each spot of<br />
ground?<br />
What virtue in the human heart<br />
The proudest tribute can<br />
command?<br />
The dearest, purest, holiest, best—<br />
The lasting love of Fatherland!<br />
Then who's the wretch that basely<br />
spurns<br />
The ties of country, kindred,<br />
friends<br />
That barters every noble aim<br />
For sordid views, for private<br />
ends?<br />
One slave alone on earth you'll<br />
find<br />
Through Nature's universal span,<br />
So lost to virtue, dead to shame—<br />
the anti-irish <strong>Irish</strong>man.<br />
Our fields are fertile, rich our<br />
floods,<br />
Our mountains bold, majestic,<br />
grand;<br />
Our air is balm, and every breeze<br />
Wings health around our native<br />
land.<br />
But who despises all her charms,<br />
And mocks her gifts where'er he<br />
can<br />
Why, he, the Norman's sneaking<br />
slave,<br />
Tlie anti-<strong>Irish</strong> <strong>Irish</strong>man.<br />
The Norman—spawn of fraud and<br />
guile—<br />
Ambitious sought our peaceful<br />
shore,<br />
And, leagued with native guilt,<br />
despoiled<br />
And deluged Erin's fields with<br />
gore.<br />
Who gave the foeman footing<br />
here?<br />
What wretch unholy led her van?<br />
The prototype of modern slaves,<br />
The anti-<strong>Irish</strong> <strong>Irish</strong>man.<br />
For ages rapine ruled our plains<br />
And slaughter raised his red<br />
right hand,<br />
And virgins shrieked and rooftrees<br />
blazed,<br />
And desolation swept the land.<br />
And who would not those ills<br />
arrest<br />
Or aid the patriotic plan<br />
To burst his country's galling<br />
chains?<br />
The anti-<strong>Irish</strong> <strong>Irish</strong>man.<br />
But now, too great for fetters<br />
grown,<br />
Too proud to bend a slavish<br />
knee,<br />
Loved Erin mocks the tyrant's<br />
thrall,<br />
And firmly vows she shall be<br />
free!<br />
But mark yon treacherous, stealthy<br />
knave<br />
That bends beneath his country's<br />
ban-<br />
Let infamy eternal brand<br />
That anti-<strong>Irish</strong> <strong>Irish</strong>man.<br />
HUGH HARK IN.<br />
DECEMBER<br />
1S70<br />
THE STONE<br />
OUTSIDE DAN<br />
MURPHYS<br />
DOOR<br />
HERE'S a sweet garden £pct in<br />
T our mem'ry,<br />
It's the place we were born in and<br />
reared<br />
Tis long years ago since we left it,<br />
But return there we will it we're<br />
spared,<br />
Our friends and companions of<br />
childhood<br />
Would assemble each night near a<br />
score,<br />
Round Dan Murphy's shop, and<br />
how often we've sat<br />
On the stone that stood outside his<br />
door!<br />
CHORUS-<br />
Those days in our hearts we will<br />
cherish,<br />
Contented, although we were poor,<br />
And the songs that were sung<br />
In the days we were young,<br />
On the stone outside Dan Murphy's<br />
door!<br />
When our day's work was over we'd<br />
meet there,<br />
In the winter or spring just the<br />
same;<br />
The boys and the girls altogether<br />
Would join in some innocent game;<br />
Dan Mutphy would bring down his<br />
fiddle,<br />
While his daughter looked after the<br />
store,<br />
The music did ring and sweet songs<br />
we would sing<br />
On the stone outside Dan Murphy's<br />
door!<br />
—CHORUS<br />
Back again will our thoughts often<br />
wander,<br />
To the scenes of our childhood<br />
home,<br />
To the friends and companions we<br />
left thereit<br />
was poverty caused us to roam.<br />
Since then in this life we have<br />
prospered<br />
But still in our hearts we feel sore<br />
For mem'ry wiH fly to the days now<br />
gone by,<br />
And the stone outside Dan Murphy's<br />
door!<br />
—CHORUS<br />
JOHNNY PATTERSON.<br />
EILEEN OGftADY<br />
OW Eileen O'Grady's a real <strong>Irish</strong> lady,<br />
NI'm longing to call her my own,<br />
I'll not be contented till she has consented<br />
To be Mistress Barney Malone.<br />
I met this fair treasure while walking for pleasure,<br />
She looked up at me, then she cried<br />
Without any warning, "The top of the morning"<br />
And then up to her I replied:<br />
CHORUS:<br />
Come, come, beautiful Eileen, come lor a drive with me,<br />
Over the mountain and down by the fountain,<br />
Over the high road and down by the low road.<br />
Make up your mind, don't be unkind, and we'll drive to Castlebar.<br />
To the road I'm no stranger, for you there's no danger,<br />
So up like a bird on my old Jaunting car.<br />
Now Eileen Said: "No sir, with you I won't go, sir,<br />
Don't think It ungrateful of me:<br />
I'd rather go walking than have people talking,<br />
You know what the story wopld be."<br />
Now, Eileen, my Jewel, don't treat me so cruel,<br />
To treat me this way is a shame,<br />
Give over your blarney and say I'm your Barney,<br />
And don't keep me waiting in vain."<br />
DECEMBER <strong>1970</strong><br />
THE IRISH DEMOCRAT<br />
Sheep's trotters and rum punch<br />
IN the "cuardthing" houses in<br />
Raheenalrogue, the writer<br />
heard, when a boy, many stories<br />
about people and families who<br />
lived in and around Ballyroan<br />
in the "long ago."<br />
Hi > only regrets are that he<br />
did not listen more attentively,<br />
and that tape-recorders were not<br />
yet Invented, as the actual telling<br />
of these stories was 90 per<br />
cent of the enjoyment. The<br />
same tales told or written in<br />
contemporary terms simply fall<br />
flat. He was later to see in<br />
print, many of the stories, listened<br />
to by the firesides, specially<br />
those concerning the "flatting<br />
Barringtons" of Cullenagh.<br />
This family originated with a<br />
John Barrington who, in 1S64,<br />
was granted, seized, or 'grabbed'<br />
a castle, with the land of Cullenagh<br />
and adjoining areas.<br />
Centuries later, these estates in<br />
in the courts for debt, were<br />
acquired by a Mr. Toler (later<br />
the notorious Lord Norbury), in<br />
whose family they remained until<br />
the Land Purchase.<br />
THE relationship between Barringtons<br />
and their tenants<br />
was unique for the day and age,<br />
and contrasted sharply with the<br />
conduct of other local Ascendancy<br />
families. Apparently they<br />
never pressed' for rent or tithes,<br />
and administered rough justice<br />
and welfare which included the<br />
organisation of sports, including<br />
a crack hurling team.<br />
During the time of Grattan's<br />
Volunteers, they officered and<br />
raised, from their tenants, a<br />
mounted unit, "The Cullenagh<br />
Rangers," and a company of<br />
foot, the "Ballyroan Light Infantry."<br />
These units were said<br />
to be among the best at the<br />
Volunteer parade in College<br />
Green.<br />
Duelling (often on horseback)<br />
seemed to-b* the family recreation.<br />
At Maryborough (near<br />
Port Laoise) a Barrington<br />
brained an opponent with a<br />
"shillelagh," while another brother<br />
sheared the whiskers af°the<br />
county court judge. Another<br />
member, a keen supporter of<br />
William of. Orange, who found<br />
himself suspended by the neck<br />
from his own doorpost by enthusiastic<br />
followers of Mnes,<br />
was cut down by a tenant who<br />
had been with James at the<br />
Boyne, and had rushed home to<br />
warn his friends that all was<br />
lost and to tell them to scatter.<br />
There are countless stories<br />
about their hunting, drinking<br />
and seducing exploits, but best<br />
of all concerns a New Vnar's<br />
"stag" party, organised by<br />
young "bloods."<br />
JONAH BARRINGTON was the<br />
only one to, leave a mark on<br />
politics •amt Hterature. As weH<br />
as being an M.P. and a. lawyer,<br />
he was a prottftc writer. He has<br />
left in his "Recollections" vividpen<br />
pictures of the /ives, pleasures<br />
and social habits of the<br />
Ascendancy in Laoise during-tfte<br />
latter half of the 18th century, besides<br />
his account of '98; and the<br />
aftermath. Among many anecdotes,<br />
he recalls a New Year<br />
orgy, and his initiation in Dublin,<br />
into "the Aldermen of Skin-<br />
THE OLDEN DAYS<br />
IN LAOflS<br />
by<br />
HARRY ALLEN<br />
ners Alley", one of the first-ever<br />
Orange Lodges.<br />
The carcass of a "steer," a<br />
hogshead of claret, a cartload of<br />
oranges, dozens of "spitted"<br />
chickens, flitches of smoked<br />
bacon, a firkin of butter, cabbage,<br />
onions, and jars of "scrubrum"<br />
were taken to a hut at<br />
Cullenagh occupied by two old<br />
retainers. Straw was piled kneedeep<br />
on the floor, the windows<br />
"blacked out," the guests,<br />
pipers, fiddlers, dogs and gamecocks<br />
were then brought in, and<br />
no person was allowed to leave<br />
until everything eatable and<br />
drinkable had been consumed.<br />
The party opened with rounds<br />
of brandy, then the guests<br />
slashed their favourite "collops"<br />
from the carcass, which when<br />
toasted over the turf fire, were<br />
washed down with jugs of<br />
"mulled" claret. Toasts were<br />
drunk, songs sung, the pipers<br />
piped, the fiddlers fiddled, the<br />
dogs howled, while the guests<br />
gorged themselves until many,<br />
often including the musicians,<br />
fell at their posts, arid slept until<br />
they were sober. Others<br />
swilled "scrub-rum" to make<br />
them vomit, so as again to gorge<br />
themselves non-stop until breakfast.<br />
J*HE menu for breakfast was<br />
smoked rashers, "spitted"<br />
chickens, cabbage, onions and<br />
"buttered claret." Their stomachs<br />
must have been lined with<br />
stainless steel.<br />
As a diversion a cock fight<br />
was started and continued until<br />
all the birds were killed except<br />
one, who was adjudged the<br />
champion. Later a> fox brush<br />
was stuck- in a candlestick in<br />
the centre of a table, before<br />
which all present made obeisance.<br />
By the seventh morning, the<br />
"steer" was a skelton, the dogs<br />
had disposed of the chicken<br />
NOTES fc NEWS<br />
^ READER has asked why the<br />
A<br />
"<strong>Irish</strong> <strong>Democrat</strong>" does not<br />
(apart from the songs) have the<br />
same items on the same page<br />
each month.<br />
In a nutshell it is because contributors<br />
take no notice of the<br />
last date for the arrival of copy<br />
and pages have to be made up<br />
from the copy that is available !<br />
Contributors, please NOTE—<br />
the last day for receipt of copy<br />
for the January issue is <strong>December</strong><br />
21st, and remember the post<br />
is dreadful now, and will be<br />
worse then. We have just received<br />
a complaint that a letter<br />
we sent by first class mail to a<br />
place two miles away took six<br />
days for delivery !<br />
*• * *<br />
SUCCESSFUL conference and<br />
BBcial eventn* was heid in London<br />
by the Connolly Association and<br />
"<strong>Irish</strong> <strong>Democrat</strong>," on Saturday, 21st<br />
Novwnher<br />
Conference, which was attended<br />
by representatives of the various<br />
N.I.C.R.A. and Social Justice grouplngn.<br />
and Connolly Association<br />
branches as far away, as Co. Durham,<br />
If you would like tfrlm* "DEMOCRAT" posted to<br />
% you, send thie out-out with your sebecription to :<br />
The IRISH DEMOCRA1, 283 Grays Inn Road, London, W.C.1<br />
with 16/- for a year 8/- for six months<br />
Name<br />
Address<br />
A<br />
bones, dead cocks, and the offal.<br />
The grounds had been drained<br />
from the hogshead. The jars had<br />
been "mulled," "buttered" and<br />
consumed to the last drop. The<br />
"hard-goers" now departed to<br />
rest and relax.<br />
JONAH Barrington was present<br />
at this "do," and his detailed<br />
account of it makes amusing<br />
reading, as also does the story<br />
of his initiation into "The Aldermen<br />
of Skinners Alley.''<br />
The memlxrs paid sixpence<br />
for initiation refreshments,<br />
which consisted of sheep's trotters,<br />
rum punch in blue jugs,<br />
whiskey punch in white jugs,<br />
and porter in pewter pots. Before<br />
the refreshments were<br />
served a solemn oath was<br />
taken to "The glorious and immortal<br />
memory of the great and<br />
good Good William, not forgetting<br />
Oliver Cromwell, who<br />
assisted in redeeming us from<br />
popery, slavery, arbitrary power,<br />
brass money and wooden shoes.<br />
May we never want for a<br />
Williamite to kick a Jacobite,<br />
and the Bishop of Cork."<br />
Such was Orangeism to those<br />
who founded it.<br />
11<br />
in dei hcd%<br />
by Slit\ III AI.V<br />
BOVE the noise and the dust-filled air,<br />
A above the sweat and the mid-day glare,<br />
the crash of shovels on broken stone,<br />
the pain in the sinew, the ache in the bone,<br />
above each curse, above each swear,<br />
above the hell the navvies bear<br />
—a gruff voice sang,—<br />
'there was a girl from God knows where,<br />
but she wore roses in her hair,"<br />
Some would laugh at a mate's coarse joke,<br />
the rest too tired hardly ever spoke,<br />
but little by little each one of us thrilled<br />
to the words of the song, and our hearts were filled;<br />
an old man heaved his heart with a sigh,<br />
dreaming of lost loves long gone by,<br />
but I was yeung and my heart was wild,<br />
and love was the play of the adult child;<br />
I thought of a colleen I met at Puck Fair,<br />
who had wistful brown eyes and the darkest of hair;<br />
I looked at the face of the ganger then,<br />
the face of a rat, a rat amongst men,<br />
—and forgot my hate for his narrow eyes,<br />
as I lifted up mine to the sunlight skies;<br />
we forgot the work and the heat in our dreams<br />
and the sweat that poured down our backs in streams;<br />
It was all so vague but oh, so sweet<br />
the words that were sung in the blazing heat.<br />
NO, NOT AN E.E.G CHRISTMAS<br />
%1/HEN you go out with the<br />
Christmas shopping basket<br />
take a wee peep into where the<br />
goods come from. -<br />
Put IRELAND at the head of<br />
the list, put the COMMON<br />
MARKET at the foot.<br />
The dictators who role these<br />
oeuntries are trying to swattew<br />
Ireland up with the aid of their<br />
friends, the British Imperialists and<br />
native traitors. Why should we<br />
help: these people?<br />
Never buy Dutch or Fretted butter<br />
while there is <strong>Irish</strong>. A part<br />
of the reason for the cheapness of<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> butter is cheap grain Imports<br />
and oheap feed fer the farmer and<br />
manufacturer. In E.E.C. these advantage!<br />
WMdd disappear, and<br />
Didcfe and A-enolt butter might<br />
flood the market. Don't encourage<br />
them.<br />
"f/<br />
Again there is no excuse for buying<br />
Frenoh cheese whan titer* are<br />
perfectly good <strong>Irish</strong> oheeecs available—even<br />
such exotio types as<br />
Brie and Camembert are obtainable<br />
in OtJbffn.<br />
discussed the draft Bill of Rights,<br />
and how to forward the campaign<br />
under the condlttaw of a Tory Oorernment<br />
at Weetmtnater.<br />
The Conference wm addressed by<br />
Desmond Greaves and Seen Redmond<br />
was in the chair.<br />
* * *<br />
Too late for the full teact to b» pub<br />
liBhed in this issue coat the news<br />
that two important Dublin Societies<br />
had gone on record in support oi the<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> <strong>Democrat</strong> draft at the Bill of<br />
Rights. The Wolfe Tone Society's<br />
resolution signed by Caifcal Mac Iran<br />
and Dalton Kelly "opposes uty<br />
attempt to (ob off" the Nationalists<br />
with anything less. The CSramntttee<br />
of Citizens for Civil Liberty resolution<br />
is issued an the authority ot Goo<br />
Lehane and the Rev. T. P. Mc-<br />
Cougbear.<br />
People living at home should send<br />
as presents NOT things imported<br />
into Ireland, but items MAINE in<br />
Ireland. For example, such cheeses.<br />
S* for drink, you can get <strong>Irish</strong><br />
A whisky and very good it is too,<br />
and. <strong>Irish</strong> gin. It is time the<br />
Australians started marketing<br />
brandy se as to break the monopoly<br />
of the French. But they do<br />
wines as good as any you are likely<br />
take able t* afford to. buy, though<br />
their marketing technique- is gene<br />
some,<br />
Their wines are not of German<br />
quality, but they stand in comparison<br />
with the French or Italian,<br />
which are rapidly becoming mare<br />
, concoctions, as they are pumoMt<br />
into tank-wagons and manufactured<br />
by rapid continuous processes.<br />
Eastern Europe produces good,<br />
serviceable wines new. The bast<br />
known are probably the Yugoslavs,<br />
though I find them "earthy." If<br />
you can gat Hungarian Szegeder<br />
Furmint (Furmint Is the kind of<br />
grape) it is as good as the best<br />
Qerman Rieslings. But it is hart<br />
to get Hungarian wines are inclined<br />
to be a trifle sweet, and the<br />
battlers adapt the foei practice of<br />
putting, plastic tops on their corks.<br />
The corks rot underneath.<br />
•w*H€ Bulgarians suit me beat.<br />
I They are dry and fruity. And<br />
Ireland has signed a Trade Agfa<br />
men* with Bulgaria which means<br />
they are obtainable in Dublin shops<br />
at b«ltt». You'd, pay W- tor<br />
similar quality in England. And<br />
if Ireland gaas Into the E.E.C. yeuU<br />
be paying 3d/- for drink half as<br />
good.<br />
The Rumanians and Russians<br />
also produce wines. What is significant<br />
about alt East European products<br />
is that while (excepting some<br />
Hungarians) they are never of<br />
superlative luxury quality, they am<br />
reliable, a reasonable buy and. a<br />
safe Buy, Whereas, with the<br />
cheaper French and Italian brands<br />
you have nothing but an objaat<br />
lesson In , how monopoly ruins<br />
everything it toneftes.<br />
E EC against tosh sovtmgnty<br />
( t ENTERAL De GAULLE hadseveral<br />
lessons tor the <strong>Irish</strong>, for<br />
this greatest of Frenchmen always<br />
held that a nation which surrendered<br />
its independence and<br />
sovereignty put its whole future in<br />
peril.<br />
If a man like De Gaulle could<br />
fear for franoe'e sovereignty in the<br />
Common Market and opposed- the<br />
pretentions of the nraawils ©ommfcsien,<br />
how much more Justified<br />
are such fears for a MTW.11 state<br />
like Ireland?<br />
Some who should know better, in<br />
the <strong>Irish</strong> Labour Party, are now<br />
trying to work out a formula for<br />
E E C. WOULD RUIN THE WEST<br />
l)RAVE and far-se«iolg as always,<br />
*' Father James McDyer, of<br />
Olencolumbkille Co-operative Society,<br />
has called on <strong>Irish</strong> farmers<br />
to oppose the Common Mnrket. Hf<br />
is bound to be listened to, for he<br />
is universally respected among<br />
farmers and everyone knows he<br />
stands for the farraerB' interests.<br />
"The Common Mfu-ket Is a<br />
frightening preepeetN B>r Ireland<br />
and <strong>Irish</strong> agriculture, says Father<br />
MrDyer. "In the lUceiy ovont of<br />
the Mansholt Plan being tmplompnted,<br />
the transfer from tillage<br />
to grass land will result In a disastrous<br />
fall in the population ervga«ed<br />
in agriculture, with a consequent<br />
loss to shopke©v>ors in<br />
country aroas.<br />
"The law of finance, that capital<br />
does not follow poverty, but faiiows<br />
development, would mean the total<br />
collapse of the economy In the<br />
west of Ireland<br />
"If we enter the Common Market,<br />
Europeans will come in and buy the<br />
dying lands and farms of our<br />
country, and the <strong>Irish</strong> will be<br />
hunted from their native habitat."<br />
Most of the <strong>Irish</strong> farming leader.',<br />
tu.ve been mesmerised by the Common<br />
Market and the high prices<br />
they hope to «et for beef and mutton<br />
The hig men who mn the<br />
N.F.A. should do all right, but.<br />
there's nothing in it for the smaller<br />
man. Father McDyer's statement<br />
Kives a lead to the smaller farmers<br />
and is a valuable help to Ireland's<br />
antt-E.E.C. campaign. \<br />
the impossible They are looking<br />
for a form of wards which w«il let<br />
them say that it is possible for<br />
Ireland ta j«m.tbe Common Market<br />
and still retain her sovereignty as<br />
a State.<br />
the heart art Ireland's sovereignty<br />
lies in the fact tbmt the Iftdl and<br />
<strong>Irish</strong> Supaone Court aie the final<br />
makers and. intacpreters at law in<br />
Ireland. If Ireland joins the<br />
Market this will no longer be the<br />
case.<br />
I:N the EJ&C., the decisions erf the<br />
European Oonrt wonid override<br />
the <strong>Irish</strong> Supreme Court in «U<br />
matters relating to tbe Roan<br />
Treaty. The decisions of the Brussels<br />
Cofiomiasion, a body Da Gaulle<br />
once described as "a conclave ef<br />
technocrats without a country, reaponsible<br />
to no-one," would take<br />
precedence over the decisions of the<br />
DaiL<br />
At present the <strong>Irish</strong> Constitution<br />
lays down that the Okreachtas has<br />
sole and exclusive power of making<br />
laws for the State, that the decisions<br />
of the Supreme Court are<br />
"in all cases final and conclusive"<br />
and that no international<br />
agreement shall be part of the domestic<br />
law of the State save as<br />
may be deteimined by the Otreachtas.<br />
All these provisions conflict<br />
with the Rome Treaty, by signing<br />
which we would be handing over<br />
to Brussels the power of legislating<br />
in the future, in ways not even<br />
known at the time of signing.
12 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT DECEMBER <strong>1970</strong><br />
Another<br />
"aliens"<br />
scare<br />
1 PERIODICALLY there is a "make<br />
^ the <strong>Irish</strong> aliens" scare.<br />
And the <strong>Irish</strong> scarcely heed it.<br />
First they don't believe it will<br />
happen. Second they don't care if<br />
it does. The English press grows<br />
frenzied with indignation at the<br />
<strong>Irish</strong>man's special 'right to migrate'<br />
through all these islands.<br />
These volatile excitable Anglo-<br />
Saxons ! Always on about something.<br />
They get so excited about<br />
the <strong>Irish</strong>men migrating that they<br />
forget that they have the right to<br />
migrate themselves in return!<br />
If the <strong>Irish</strong> were aliens here,<br />
they'd be aliens in Ireland. And<br />
they'd not be able to arrange the<br />
take-overs so easily. And for that<br />
purpose they ought to be aliens.<br />
Then they talk about adopting<br />
E.E.C. principles—that includes<br />
freedom of migration. And a very<br />
bad principle too!<br />
What then is it all about? Probably<br />
a ploy to scare Mr. Lynch. Perhaps<br />
to frighten him into accepting<br />
British searches of <strong>Irish</strong> merchant- •<br />
men. Or to be docile in the E.E.C. '<br />
;<br />
negotiations.<br />
My guess? He'll oblige. But the<br />
alien scare will never come to anything<br />
anyway.<br />
IRISH l\<br />
BRITAIN<br />
HAVE YOU SIGNED THE PETITION?<br />
FOR A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR NORTHERN IRELAND<br />
We, the undersigned, residents of Great Britain, being over eighteen years of age, hereby<br />
request the Prime Minister of Great Britain to secure the introduction in the Westminster<br />
Parliament of a BILL OF RIGHTS for Northern Ireland, which will so amend the Government<br />
of Ireland Act (1920) as to write into the constitution of Northern Ireland the guarantee of a<br />
standard of civil liberty not lower than that obtaining in the remainder of the United Kingdom,<br />
and through the establishment of democracy make possible peaceful constitutional progress.<br />
IT HAPPENED<br />
IN DECEMBER<br />
DECEMBER 3rd<br />
Catholic Convention in<br />
Dublin, 1792.<br />
DECEMBER 6th :—<br />
Treaty Signed, 1921.<br />
DECEMBER 8th :—<br />
Liam Mellowes executed,<br />
1922.<br />
DECEMBER 11th :—<br />
Cork City burned by<br />
Crown Forces, 1920.<br />
DECEMBER 13th<br />
Clerkenwell Jail Explosion,<br />
1867.<br />
DECEMBER 22nd :-<br />
Battle of Kinsale, 1601.<br />
DECEMBER 29th :—<br />
James Fintan Lalor died,<br />
1850.<br />
Letter from Paul Rose M.P.<br />
|TVEAR EDITOR,—I think it would<br />
be unfortunate if the "<strong>Democrat</strong>"<br />
which has played a very<br />
balanced role in opposing narrow<br />
sectarianism, was to emphasise<br />
tactical differences between those<br />
who advocate direct rule and those<br />
who put forward a Bill of Rights.<br />
* I am sure that all members and<br />
supporters of C.D.U. would be happy<br />
to give their votes or voices in<br />
favour of a BUI of Rights. I myself<br />
have signed your petition as have<br />
active members like our vice president<br />
Stan Orme.<br />
Most of us are aware, after Enoch<br />
Powell's speech, of the dangers that<br />
direct rule could be a way of compelling<br />
integration in * hew Act of<br />
Union, even if Professor John<br />
.Mackintosh, M.P., in his otherwise<br />
unexceptionable "New Statesman"<br />
article failed to understand this<br />
danger.<br />
Those of us who in the past advocated<br />
direct rule did so as a tactical<br />
threat to force the Unionists<br />
intb making reforms and as an ultimate<br />
remedy should they fail to. do<br />
so. It was never envisaged as desirable<br />
nor as a principle. The feeling<br />
has crystallised around the view<br />
that a temporary period of direct<br />
rule in order to force through reforms<br />
that would be impossible for<br />
Chichester Clark to contemplate<br />
could be followed by the reconvening<br />
of Stonnont, elected by proportional<br />
representation, in order to administer<br />
those reforms.<br />
Bard lines and unyielding principles<br />
are out of place in so volar<br />
tile a situation. O.D.U. is to launch<br />
a series of meetings to give a platform<br />
for the new united opposition<br />
but we welcome free discussion and<br />
are not afraid of honest differences<br />
in our own ranks. What we cannot<br />
accept is the abuse of our platform<br />
as happened at the Labour Party<br />
Conference for an unpleasant per<br />
sonal attack by the W II..P, speaker<br />
on our good friend Gerry Fitt, MP.,<br />
who above all unites the best elements<br />
around him and builds a<br />
bridge with the British Labour<br />
Movement.<br />
Similarly I resent the assumption<br />
by Miss Devlin that she is the physical<br />
embodiment of the Civil rights<br />
movement. This is no time for<br />
public displays of disunity and those<br />
who make them must be severely<br />
Printed by Ripley Printers LUL,<br />
(T.U.). Nottingham Road, Ripley,<br />
Dotoyshire, and published by<br />
Connolly Publications Ltd., at<br />
an Grays Inn Road, London,<br />
W.C.1.<br />
censured by the mass of committed<br />
civil rights campaigners.<br />
If the N.I.L.P. or the Devlin Praetorian<br />
Guard wish to preempt all<br />
virtue I can only say that I learned<br />
the facts about Northern Ireland<br />
from the Manchester Connolly Association<br />
eight years ago and helped<br />
found C.D.U. as mainly Labour<br />
Party based campaign to influence<br />
those in positions of power almost<br />
six years ago.<br />
At that time the N.I.L.P. was still<br />
stopping parks opening on Sunday<br />
and Miss Devlin was a sweet little<br />
schoolgirl. So let them not tell<br />
others how to act and let us show<br />
by our example that whatever our<br />
differences we will not be deflected<br />
from the common cause for which<br />
we have worked in harmony for so<br />
long.<br />
Yours fraternally,<br />
PAUL B- ROSE,<br />
(Chairman C.D.U.).<br />
[Surely the position has changed<br />
out of recognition jfcice the controversy<br />
over "dirret rule" first<br />
arose, not least as a result of the<br />
return of a Conservative Government<br />
which every day swings more<br />
perilously towards Powellism.<br />
The need for the consolidation of<br />
all forces opposing this dihection<br />
is obvious.<br />
The next logical step would seem<br />
to be an attempt to introduce<br />
comprehensive remedial legislation<br />
at Westminster, so as to establish<br />
firmly that it is possible. The<br />
wide support such a step would be<br />
given is shown by the large number<br />
and high qualifications of<br />
those who have signed the petition.<br />
The petition is sponsored by the<br />
Connolly Association, the Movement<br />
for Colonial Freedom, the<br />
Birmingham and Coventry<br />
Branches of "Social Justice," the<br />
Manchester Civil Rights Association,<br />
and the Oxford Campaign<br />
for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland.<br />
Signatures are being officially taken<br />
up by the Manchester Branch of<br />
the United Ireland Association,<br />
the London Branches of<br />
N.IC.RA, and the Wolverhampton<br />
Branch of Social Justice, as<br />
well as the "Connolly Association<br />
Branches throughout the country.<br />
There would seem to be no reason,<br />
if one is to Judge by Mr. Rose's<br />
letter, why the C.D.U. should not<br />
Join with us in this campaign.<br />
And like Mr. Rose we too welcome<br />
constructive criticism and deplore<br />
personalities.—EDITOR).<br />
Copies from :<br />
IRISH DEMOCRAT<br />
283 Grays Inn Road.<br />
Other addresses<br />
below.<br />
CONNOLLY MEN TO THE FORE AT<br />
A FTER hearing an account of<br />
the infamous "Industrial<br />
Relations Bill" from Sean Redmond,<br />
and an account of the<br />
November 14th Trade Union Defence<br />
Conference by Charlie<br />
Cunningham, members of the<br />
Central London Branch of the<br />
Connolly Association were in<br />
agreement that it was necessary<br />
to bring the whole <strong>Irish</strong> Community<br />
to an awareness of the<br />
threat of creeping Fascism in<br />
Britain, and to support the token<br />
strike planned for <strong>December</strong><br />
8th.<br />
Charlie Cunningham, who was<br />
present at the conference as a delegate<br />
from his branch of the Sheetmetal<br />
Workers' Union, said it was<br />
the largest, the most enthusiastic<br />
and the most united rank-and-file<br />
Trade Union Conference in British<br />
working-class history.<br />
It was almost impossible to get<br />
near the hall, and overflows were<br />
being booked as fast as they could.<br />
A REMARKABLE feature was the<br />
-t*- presence of important Trade<br />
Union leaders on a rank-and-file<br />
platform. Among them was Mr.<br />
Jack Jones, General Secretary of<br />
the Transport and General Workers'<br />
Union, who has Larkinite family<br />
associations. There was also Mr.<br />
Briginshaw of the print workers'<br />
Union.<br />
These called for all-out struggle<br />
Bill of Rights<br />
Resolutions<br />
PROPOSED by Desmond McDade<br />
and seconded by Brian<br />
Gregory, the following resolution<br />
was passed by the Acton Branch of<br />
the Draughtsmen's Union, D.A.T.A.<br />
"This branch calls on the British<br />
Government to incorporate a Bill of<br />
Rights in the Government of Ireland<br />
Act (1920). This Bill to<br />
guarantee freedom of speech, freedom<br />
of assembly, freedom of the<br />
press, and the outlawing of sectarian<br />
discrimination. We note the<br />
ominous build-up of ultra-right wing<br />
Unionist pressure on the Stonnont<br />
regime, and urge that the notorious<br />
Special Powers Act be abolished. Its<br />
increasing use by British Crown<br />
Forces can only worsen an already<br />
dangerous Six-County situation."<br />
A resolution in similar terms was<br />
passed by the Annual Congress of<br />
the Essex District of the Communist<br />
Party.<br />
HIGH GATE N.I.C.R.A.<br />
FOLK<br />
&<br />
MUSIC<br />
DANCING<br />
•<br />
THE LEATHSIDERS<br />
THE 'TAPPERS<br />
•<br />
ST. JOSEPH'S HALL<br />
Highest* Hall, N.19<br />
SATURDAY, DEC. 5th<br />
Bar it Refreshments<br />
8.30 - 12 midnight.<br />
Com* and enjoy a<br />
really good night.<br />
T.U. DEFENCE MEETING<br />
against the bill, and no miserable<br />
line-by-lining such as is advocated<br />
by the discredited Mrs. Barbara<br />
Castle, whose ill-omened Bill opened<br />
the gates for the Tory attack.<br />
Connolly Association members,<br />
always to the fore in the defence<br />
of Trade Union rights, were present<br />
in force.<br />
* MONG them were Hugh Cassidy<br />
and Jack Henry from the<br />
Sunley site, Charlie Cunningham<br />
already mentioned, Desmond Mc-<br />
Dade of the Draughtsmen's Union,<br />
Joe O'Connor and Tony Donnahy of<br />
the Railwaymen, and two miners<br />
who are members of the Co.<br />
Durham Branch of the Association.<br />
There may have been more that<br />
the "<strong>Democrat</strong>" reporter failed to<br />
see in the vast throng.<br />
Delegates had before them a<br />
pamphlet brilliantly written by the<br />
General Secretary of the T.U.C., Mr.<br />
Vic Feather. It explained why the<br />
new Bill is the most vicious attack<br />
on Tra