Free Citizen: Vol. 2 no. 1, October 1970

Anniversary issue 2 Oct’70 Vol 2 Not

NEWSPAPER OF THE

PEOPLES DEMOCRACY

REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER AT THE POSTOFFICE

SHANKILL SUFFERS

SAD

ARMY JACKBOOT

BY CYRIL TOMAN

Ballymurphy, Falls, New Lodge Road, Shankill; month after month the army jackboot descends one working class area or another. Month after month the ordinary work=ing people in some area of Belfast have their homes saturated with G.S. gas, are confined to their houses under virtual curfew, and count themselves lucky if they escape being charged with disorderly behaviour and keing sent to prison for a mandatory six months.

WE SAY THIS REPRESSION MUST

STOP!

As in the case of the Ballymurphy/ New Barnsley riots, FREE CITIZEN in no way sympathises with the sec-, tarian behaviour which may have sparked the rioting off. But we do have every syrnaeey with the people of an entire community whom the army chooses to impress by shows of force. On the Shankill last weekend the army used nearly 1,000 cannisters of teargas. Gas, which has its worst affect upon infants and the elderly - percisely those people who are least likely to be involved in riots. Over 60 people have been remanded - many of them at a kangaroo court sitting on Sunday morning - on charges of disorderly behaviour, for which, if convicted, they will receive the mandatory six months jail sentences. The courts themselves will be travesties of justice. Army evidence is believed against civilian evidence, Mere evidence that somebody has been in a riot area is usually enough to earn him six months, In the very first issue of Free Citizen we said: ''The presence of troops will not be of any use unless basic grievances are resolved".

In the past year, very little has been done. Chichester-Clarke has been more concerned with keeping friendly with the Unionist Party right wing than in altering the lot of the ordinary people. More houses and amenities for the Shank ill could well help to reduce jealousy, which is part of the cause of tension. Yet the housing trust has built fewer houses in Belfast since the troubles, not more. There is widespread discontent at the way the Shankill is being redeveloped, yet the authorities seem unprepared to meet any of the local objections. Even the very basic right of democracy, "One man One vote" will be denied to the people of Shankill on October 7th, when the bye-election will be fought on the old restricted franchise. It is hardly surprising in these circumstances that an angry frustrated community can fall victim to the rantings of sectarian sharks like John McKeague. overseas The heavy-handed way in troops dealt with the crowd was deplorable: the situation escalated until the entire population of the Shankill area was under attack, just as the entire population of the Lower Falls has been just two months previously. It doesn't take a military genious to predict the result when a crowd of football hooligans is confronted.

by Military Police carrying their sub-machine-guns. Peoples Democracy has always campaigned for an unarmed police force. On the pretext that they are "security' forces, the army appear fully armed in crowd situations.

Hoping that the army can restore order in such a situation is like hoping that a bull could restore order in a china shop. If the army is to continue to engage in crowd control, then it must be unarmed. We utterly condemn the indiscriminate use of C.S. gas, and demand the immediate repeal of the Criminal Justice Act, and the release of all prisoners sent to jail because of it. Eritish troops with their repressive methods are causing far more trouble than the prevent. They are a crutch which the weak government prefers to lean upon rather than to implement reforms. The sooner they go, the better.

x *

FREE POSTER

WISiiE

NOT SO PURDIE

On this page we feature a picture of Donald Purdie. Purdie is an old boy of St. Malachys College. Wanting to get ahead in the world (and to work off his authoritarian complex) he joined the R.U.C. Demonstrating a shrewd ability to sell out his Irish connections foc moneta sy gain, he soon graduated to the Special Branch at an extra £3 a w eek. Recently Purdie has been boasting about how successfully he infiltrated the Republican movement. He claims he was at the Newry demonstration with a copy of the 'United Irishman" sticking out of his pocket.

He acted his part of agent provocateur so well that he apparently impressed some people who were drinking in a nearby bar. Now he claims that he has been asked by the Republicans to join the local unit. Purdie is a typical example of Special Branch incompetence. Not only is he incapable of spying efficiently, he is also incapable of keep- -ing hissecrets to himself when he drinks (which is frequently) ani continually boasts about how he is pulling the wool over the eyes of the Republicans. Go back to pounding the beat Purdie at £3 less a week than you're getting now. Your intelligence stinks!

PURDIE - BRANCHMAN.

PHO Clti4hN 2nd OCTOBER 1970 Later told how he ; | search tor a job outside the army ior Capt. Kelly. Mr. Haughey. he said, suggested the job of pig smuggling preventive officer. Mr. Haughey had told him that he got this idea when he was waiching the — soldiers marching on parade. Readers are asked to suggest an explanation - in 25 words or less for the connection which Mr.

Haughey's mind made between two seemingly unrelated subjects.

PRIZE ; Conducted tour : The Monasteries of Cavan.

KY MAN

Disappointment for Paisley and his reactionary KKK buddy Dr.

Carl McIntyre. Vice-president of the Saigon regime Air Marshall Ky (opium smuggler and fan of the late Adolf Hitler) will not be attending McIntyre's 'Right wing rally for victory' in Washington. In Paris Ky said he wouldn't be going "because of all those violent students who would demonstrate against him". RIGHT ON! Supt. Thompson Backs Down When P.D. speakers arrived m Church Place, Lurgan, last Saturday to hold a meeting against mandatory six months sentences, they found that the local R.U.C.

superintendent, Thompson, had succumbed to a relapse of pre- Young swine fever and was warning P.D. members that they must clear off toa ''Catholic-Area" (his term) of the town. The Superintendent claimed that the centre of Lurgan was traditionally reserved for "Loyalist" meetings. P.D. members made it clear that they would not accept his sectarian geography of the town, and that it was not supposed to be the police's job to support the Unionists! monopoly of meetings in the centre of Northern towns. Thompson said that he had "received information" that if the meeting was held certain people would try to break it up. He was told by P.D. that his job was to see that the meeting was not interfered with; People's Democracy had no intention of attacking anyone Thompson's reply deserves to be referred to the Police Authority: P.D., he saic ''caused trouble wherever they went. If they did not come to Lurgan there would be no trouble”. He then declared that, if P.D. speakers went ahead with the meeting he would arrest them on charges of "behaviour likely to lead to a breach of the peace”. P.D. members present held a short discussion and decided to proceed with the meeting in Church Pkce; they would defend themselves in the courts if necessary. Brian Tipping, Michael Farrell and John Gray spoke. army Thompson called in the Army.

Perhaps remembering how they had been used to start a riot in Lurgan six weeks ago (see FREE CITIZEN No. 48) the Army were unenthusiastic: their officer was seen to shrug his shoulders.

Superintendent Thompson's bluff was called. There was no disorder and no arrests. At the Lurgan meeting Thompsor appeared as the glorified message boy of the local right-wing > Unionists. He claimed that the breach of the peace, and accordingly he was going to arrest the organisers of the meeting. What happened in Lurgan was a mere three days after Sir Arthur Young had announced his resignation.

Already the R.U.C. are trying to return to their old sectarian role. "A battle will have to be fought in the next few weeks to prevent the extreme Right of the Unionist Party reneging on the few reforms that have already been won. Those reforms must be safeguarded as a part of the greater struggle against exploitation in general.

The P.D. intend to continue with their protest against repressive legislation in order to warn the Unionists that there can be no going back to the days of Carson and Craigavon." news FREE CITIZEN always welcomes news and articles. Written articles should be sent to 88 Ladybrook Park. News items may be phoned to the editor on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings between 6.00 and 7.00pm. Tel: Belfast 665644.

———— Ssh liens ah

*valapie only Witm tne special First Anniversary issue of FREE CITIZEN, w eekly newspaper of the Peoples Democracy published at 88 Lagvbrook Park Belfast, Subscription 50/- a year

__ REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST

Sure let us free Ireland !

Never mind Such base, carnal thoughts as concern work and wages, h Ithy homes, or lives unclouded by poverty, The ra krenting*landlords: is he not also an Irishman, d wherefore should we hate him? Nay, let us not speak harshly of our brother - yea even when he raises our rent. Let us free Ireland : I fourths of the fruits of our inding capitalis » Who robs us of threelabour, who sucks the very marrow of our bones when we are young, and then throws us out in the street, like a worn out tool, when we ars grown prematurely old in his sery -é, is he not an Irishm t, and wherefore would we th im? e land that bred and bore us." And the landlord who €S us pay for permission to live upon it.

Vhoop up for liberty ! “Let us free Ireland," says the Patriot who won't touch Socialism. Oh then you can go back to your slums, same as before.

Whoop it up for liberty !

iround for the landlords rent Oh then you can go scrapin or the moneylenders interest Whoop it up for libert Y.

After Ireland is free Ss before. : > patriot who won't touc h li classes, and if you won't your rent you will be evicted Same as now. But the Party, under command of the sheriff green uniforms and the Harp without the Crow n, masters and destr« them from their hol power; organize to wren rom their robber c] and workshops on and in whic h they enslave us: 0: ganize ‘to cleanse our social life from the stain of social cannibalis from the prey of man upon his fellow man, ORGANIZE for a full, free and happy life FOR ALL OR

FOR NONE!

From ''Workshop Talks" by JAMES COND VOLLY First published n 1909

ne nae ee a ee Oe ee nn ents: Facing The Future When the Free Citizen began, a year ago this week, it looked as if the first round in the struggle for the Workers' Republic had just been won. It looked as if the Orange statelet in the North was about to be dismantled and this was a pre-condition to the building of a mass socialist movement. 'Smiling Jim' Callaghan had just returned to London after wringing a package of reforms out of the Unionist gang at Stormont. And within a week the Hunt Committee would report, recommending an end to the B-Specials and the disarming of the R.U.C. These weren't all the demands made behind the barricades but, if implemented, they would have gone a long way towards desectarianising the Northern set-up.

For many in the Civil Rights movement the first round was the only one they intended to fight, and they sat back contented waiting for Britain to force through the reforms for them. But, almost immediately, the rot set in. The Hunt report sparked off an explosion df resentment on the Shankill Road which ended with one R.U.C. man and two civilians dead. The revolt on the Shankill was the despairing cry of confused working people, who for years had been brainwashed by the Craigs, Brookes, and Chichester-Clarkes, and now saw themselves betrayed. They had been told that bigotry, discrimination and a sectarian militia were essential to their survival and now these safeguards were being thrown on the scrap heap. To make matters worse, when they revolted - they who had been the shock-troops of British imperialism in Ireland for so long - they were crushed by the British imperialist army.

The Shankill was crushed, but its revolt gave new heart to Paisley, Craig, and West. They realised that all might not be lost if they exploited the Protestant back-lash correctly. And exploit it they did.

Paisley stomped the countryside all that winter and spring - and in Ap-ril got his reward. He and the mindless nonentity Beattie were elected to Stormont in Bannside and South Antrim by-elections. It was the high point of their support. In the June election for Westminster Paisley won in N.Antrim, but Beattie came a poor third in North Belfast (which includes the Shankill and Crumlin Roads). But, though Paisleyism had passed its peak by the summer, it hada profound effect on the Unionist party and the reform programme. The local bosses of the party saw the prospect of losing their support among the working class, coupled with losing their control of local patronage. The revolt moved from the slums of the Shankill and the hovels of Bannside to the committees of the Unionist party and the demand grew for a change in the leadership and an end to the reforms. The spotlight shifted from Paisley to Craig, West and the West Ulster Unionist Council.

Under constant pressure from even further right, the blundering, stumbling Clarke regime diluted the reforms. At first they tried to appease the right with repression which was at least impartial, and so the British could readily accept it. The Public Order Amendment Act was pushed through early in the year and followed by a new and stiffer Explosives Act. Then at the beginning of July came the dictatorial Criminal Justice Act.

Measures extraordinarily unpopular with the rank and file demanded extraordinary repression as an appeasement, and so the re-routing of some Orange parades on the 12th was preceded by the vicious and preplanned attack on the Falls which left three civilians dead.

But all the gestures to the right only whetted their appetite and after the banning of the Blackmen and Apprentice Boys a show-down was inevitable. It will now come at the special meeting of the Unionist Council at the end of October. The appeasement has been stepped up in preparation for it. Porter has gone as Minister of Home Affairs to be replaced by right-winger Taylor. Sir Arthur Young, appointed to de-sectarianise the R.U.C., is to be replaced by Shillington, who was second-in-command to the discredited Unionist hack Peacocke.

Meanwhile, nothing has been done to implement the Central Housing Authority, or the McCrory Report on Local Government which are central to ending the system of sectarian patronage. Faulkner has even hinted at reneging on these measures. So, one year later, the reforms of August 1968 are in jeopardy and Chichester-Clarke is likely to be replaced by someone even further to the right. In the meantime the Unionists have acquired even more repressive laws and are currently issuing a spate of political summonses against militant leftists like the P.D. Resistance was never more necessary than today. But it will not come from organisations like the C.R.A., which is nearly dead, or from the opposition M.P.'s who were bought over long ago and showed it by their failure to oppose the Criminal Justice Act. It will be left to militant socialist organisations like the P.D. But the situation is far from kopéess. Britain was forced to start reforming Stormont in August 1969 by the revolt of the Civil Rights movement and the danger that the Unionist pogroms would stir the apathetic masses in the South into action. Westminster has only allowed the Unionists to dilute the reform package because of the threat of revolt by the Unionist right. At the moment they are wavering. Determined protest against any dilution and the threat FREE CITIZEN 2nd OCTOBER 1970 _ by mike farrell of further riots can convince the British government that in the long term they will have to dismantle the North's Orange state.

The future of the North is in the balance. If the reforms can be forced through the Unionist party will be finished - that is why they are resisting so bitterly. Their hold on Protestant farmers and workers will be broken and the road will be open for the building of a mass socialist movement. The job of spcialists is to force the granting of reforms and to build the framework of a movement which can unite the working class in the next round of the struggle. - The P.D. has always been in the forefront of the demand for reforms, We have also worked long and hard on building the framework of a revolutionary socialist organisation.

It is time now to work out a clear socialist programme on which to base future campaigns and to attempt to tie round that pro- gramme the revolutionary socialists to be found in the Mid-Ulster constituency organisation, a very few branches of the Labour Party and in the Republican movement, together with the Peoples Democracy.

ROACH ......

Frank Roach is currently being held in Brixton Prison awaiting trial for the C.S. gas throwing incident in the House of Commons at Westminster. His stay which has already lasted several weeks is to say the least unpleasant. He is, however, allowed to receive as many letters as are sent to him, and these do help to aleviate’the tedium. If anyone would like to write to him, evena few lines of good wishes, his address is: Frank Roach, Brixton Prison, Jebb Avenue, Brixton, London S.W.2. His number, 086700, should be quoted on the envelope. finlays charged The Housing Trust it seems is out for blood. Since the publication of the story of the Finlay family in last week's Free Citizen a letter has arrived from the Housing Trust informing the family that Petty Sessions Action is being taken to "recover" the £22 which the Trust claims the Finlays owe in arrears. By our reckoning the Housing Trust owes the Finlays money.

The Trust's policy is to charge families living in chalets 12/6d. per week, for the first six months.

The Finlays have been in occu~ pation for seven months. For the first few months they were asked to pay £2 10s. rent per week. Allin all Mrs. Finlay has paid the Trust at least what she "owes" them.

Meanwhile the Welfare Authorities have gained a rather tenuous "stay of execution", while in the background that many-head monster, the Housing Trust, is howling for blood and bone marrow.

KISS FOR PEACE

Richard Milhous Nixon, the man nobody would buy a used car from in 1960, and now President of the richest, most powerful and most Imperialist nation in the world is on a European tour and has decided to spend two days in Dublin to tell oul Dev about the middle east situation, according to the official news releases. Those who feel that Dev is hardly likely, at present, to be having too many sleepless night about Hussein, the P.L.F. and Al Fatah, or the death of Nasser, are right. Our man in Dublin tells us that the aged president spends all his time arranging the televising and news coverage of his own state funeral - Anyway, Nixon's here to reassure the Irish voters back home that he ‘for theould sod'. Before anyone is rash enough to feel grateful for his ‘visit we should consider a few things about tricky dicky. Nixonis supposedly a Quaker - noted for their pacifism - yet he is the man responsible for the genocide going on in Vietnam; he is the man who referred to all students as "bums'’ two days before his national guard (the equivalent of the B men) murdered four young "bums" (two of them girls) at Kent State University this year; he is the man responsible for the attempts by the pigs to wipe out the black panthers - over fifty shot so far this year; he is the man who boasts about "AmerikKKan justice” while a black man Bobby Seale is tried, gagged, bound and strapped to a chair, in court and then sentenced to four years for ‘Contempt of court". Nixon is the man who choose as his vice president the bumbling moronic Greek Fascist Spiro Agnew, the cor ruptest mayor in the U.S. before he became vice president (and friend of the colonels in Greece).

Nixon is the man who as a budding young lawyer made his working for the infamous Senator McCarthy, who, in the 50's led the red scare witchhunt. Nixon is the one who as a director in numerous firms is making a packet out of the Vietnam war while hundreds of innocent Asian peasants get napalmed, Nixon is the one responsible now for U.S. Imperialism in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Phili- PPpines, Japan, Turkey, Brazil, Uruguay, Dominica and a host of other small nations. Anyone who wonders how this thing became President of the US of A should read 'The Selling of the President' by Joe McGinniss (Penguin 6/-d.),

“NIXON'S THE ONE"

Twelve months ago, following the August troubles, the P.D. reorganised itself. It became a closely organised group with a card-carrying membership and an elected central committee. Prior to this, the P.D. has been a mainly student organisation campaigning for civil rights. The August emergency clearly demonstrated the need for a deeper analysis of Northern Ireland's problems The simple exposure of Unionist government discrimination, though necessary, was no solution in itself. In effect, the emphasis given to this, especially by the rightwing of the C.R. movement led to the growth of a Protestant backlash which was reinforced by the 1912style rhetoric of the neo-fascist Unionist Right. class conscious _ ’ With this in mind, the P.D. left the University and set up branches throughout the North, expanding its membership to such an extent that it became comprised of (non-student) workers ranging from labourers to farmers to architects and doctors. The first conference of the reorganised P.D. clearly démonstrated the developing class-consciousness of the P.D. It examined the social, economic political problems in the North. It came to the conclusion that these problems were inter-related, that they could only be solved together, not seperately. Economically the North was subject to exploitation by British and foreign companies. These could be of the fly-by-night variety - like B.S.R. and Cyril Lord - or a more malignant, deeper penetrating fungus like the Toome Eel Fishery Co.

Politically the presence of 8,000 British Troops on the streets brought us face to face with the reality of British control of this area.

It forced the P.D. to recognise that as well as being an economic power in the North, Britain was also’a military power. It demonstrated the nature of British economic and military imperialism, and how they operate together in the interests of the ruling class and against the objective interests of the working class. This brought the border into sharp focus and the desirability of a united Ireland not of the Green Tory Gombeen variety, but a socialist Workers Republic. Since that conference last October, the P.D. has set about working out the implications of these decisions. The Free Citizen has been established as the only left-wing weekly in Ireland, bringing our activities, analyses and point of view to thousands of readers. A theoretical journal - the Northern Star - appears quarterly and deals at length with both current events and historical data, viewed from a left-wing perspective. A Year’s Work ......<..:.«.

FREE CITIZEN 2nd October 1970 Industrially, the P.D. has been very active on numerous occassions - for example by our continuing campaign for the return of Lough Neagh to the fishermen we have exposed the exploitation of the Toome Eel Company and even forced the Unionist government to talk of nationalising the Lough. During the Cement Workers strike we took up collections to help the strikers and held meetings to protest against scabs and strike-breakers. Since the Unionist police force is always on the side of the blacklegs, seven of our members were sentenced to from four to fifteen months in prison when the police attacked one of these meetings. The P.D. also took the initiative when the Trade Union bureaucracy cancelled the annual May Day March. Backed by militant trade unionists, the P.D. organised a May Day March which was successfully held and well attended by several hundred workers. On the social front we have been involved in a wide range of activities from helping the homeless, by squatting, or merely preventing them from being intimidated by Housing Trust or Corporation bureaucrats, to aiding those who were threatened with unjust dismissal from work. We have also held many public meetings te-protest against-the __ various pieces of repressive legislation with which the Unionist government are undermining every person's basic freedom - the Special Powers Act, the Public Order Act, and the latest one, the Criminal Justice Act, These protests were, and are, designed to demonstrate the political nature of this legal repression and the fact that it is used, and will continue to be used, to jail those who pose a threat to the state - witness the massive number of summonses served on P.D. members and Supporters in the past six weeks, Underpinning all this action is the fact that the ultimate solution to the problems of Ireland, North and South, is the establishment of a socialist Workers Republic.

This will only be achieved by ununiting the workers, Catholic and Protestant, ina common struggle against the common enemy. In its first year of organised existence the P.D. has broken down the sectarian barriers to some extent, numbering both Catholic and Protestant workers among its members, Admittedly these tend to be among the most class-conscious and politically-aware bers of the working class. The P.D.'s task for this coming year and the years which follow is to extend this consciousness to the mass of the workers of all religions and none, the more quickly to bring about the creation of the Workers Republic.

LABOUR LIARS

The press-cuttings on the right are from LABOUR CHALLENGE the new monthly paper of the NILP.

Note the lying reference to Peoples Democracy. We can state with absolute certainty that we have never published a single word of religious or racial hatred - indeed we have often let things go unsaid, which could have been said, in case they might have been misunderstood as supporting prejudice. We would ask those members of NILP who read or sell FREF CITIZEN and therefore know that the allegation is un‘rue, not to buy or distribute LABOUR CHALLENGE until an apology to P.D. has been made.

And to the author of this cheap slander we point out that the second part of the Prevention of Incitement to Hatred Act prohibits: 'The circulation of false statements or reports." writing (including ch is threatening, sulting, but it must be 2uthor of the words up hatred against of a section of the I " ottfences carry penalties of a 6 appagn s_ imprisonment or a oth for that matter) an a increased to two years i fine should the hateger be tried and found guilty by a Dut this i anc £1,000 Meantime should e the Prote estant Telegraph by an { or for that matter some » trash ) remem ber to read it - ‘there may be a decent ountering it.

LABOUR CHALLENGE

ARDOYNE-= A Reader Writes Dear Citizen, In last week's issue of Free Citizen an article appeared called "Aftermath in Ardoyne". This article was barely enough to awaken the curiosity of the readers as to what is happening and what did-happen in Ardoyne. The article mentioned that after an attack on Hooker Street where four people were shot including a mother and her child, the people of Ardoyne defended themselves. This defence was necessary because the British Armed Forces who are in charge of security on the Crumlin Road were nowhere to be found, and so,in fear of another pogrom like that of August 1969 the people of Ardoyne returned fire on their attackers. The article went on to say that after this five men were arrested, charged with causing an explosion and later with the ridiculous charge of the attempted murder of a person or persons unknown on the Crumlin Rc In the light of the adverse publicity given to the incident of June 17th it is the duty of all Socialist papers to try and shed as much light as possible on the matter.

Last week's issue failed to stress three very important points.

1. These men are totally innocent of the crime they are charged with.

2. 'The attempted murder of persons unknown on the Crumlin R« on June 27th' is only an excuse to hold these men and so alleviate the pressure on Stormont arising from the destruction caused on the night of June 27th., by the same mobs as attcked Hooker Street.

The speed with which it was trumped up is shown in the wording. How can an unknown person be’ murdered? If the intended victims aré unknown there can be no evidence of a murder.: These men are being beld on a now well known deliberate suppression of facts. 3. This is the most important What happened in Ardoyne is just another act of oppression by British Imperialism. It has all the well known characteristics.

Trumped up charges, suppression of facts on the news media, detentions without evidence. It is Clear that nu one really believes that the men being detained murdered anyone and also what is clear is that the Imperialists in Ireland are going to use this case to the full, for now the number of accused is up to six and a seventh may be added. Soon all Ardoyne will be in court on this ''charge?”’.

And after Ardoyne who knows | No one in the six counties of Ireland that is under this Jackbooted Army is safe from these trumped up charges. Our Jails are full of Irish workers Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter all innocent of any crime except one: they resented oppression, and if that is a crime I hope we are all guilty. Frank Murphy, \rdoyne.

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FREE CITIZEN 2nd OCTOBER 1970 Mid-Ulster Socialists COMRADELY GREETINGS to the members of the newly formed Cookstown Independent Socialist Committee which held its inaugural meeting last Friday. The Committee has been formed by a group of Bernadette Devlin's election workers and issued a statement explaining its aims: 'The need for an independent socialist movement in Mid-Ulster is now very evident." Condemning the formation of the SDLP as a politicians' manoeuvre, they say: "Anyone who hopes to achieve real change in the system here can have no support for any pale-green tory party. We care little whether Bernadette has 80 or 80,000 aspiring supporters in this constituency , as long as they are dedicated to her policies. You cannot praise Bernadette Devlin in one breath and condemn her socialism in the next. Only a socialist movement will fight for the rights of farmers, workers and small shopkeepers." It is understood that similar independent socialist committees are to be set up in other parts of Mid-Ulster and plans have already been made for groups in Carrickmore and Strabane. P.D. welcomes the formation of these groups. When we have criticised Bernadette Devlin, it has been for her past failure to create a democratic party in her own constituency. We wish her constituents who have taken this initiative every success and look forward to opportunities of co-operating with them. Bus to Dublin There will be an Anti-Nixon Demonstration in Dublin on Sunday October 4th. A bus organised by P.D. will leave from Ulsterbus Terminal, Glengall Street, on Sunday morning at 10.00 am. There are still some seats available. Return fare 25/-.

Phone 615661 or 665644, northern star Now on sale price 1/6, or by post 2/- (in stamps) from 88 Ladybrook Park Belfast I would like to become a member of the People's Democracy. I enclose a fee of 5 shillings NEI E Ss gies, 5-5 caw wistaIe ee eae A OGF OSB 555 50055 ccavatensghts-te sian SEE * All letters, gifts, correspondence etc. to:- 88, Ladybrook Park, Belfast. To remit sums of money you can use our giro number: 68 101 2005