England

In the last year over 165 people have been deliberately murdered in cold blood in Northern Ireland. The British Government, Press and TV , have attempted to cover up the real nature of this campaign of assassinations by pretending that some sort of ' psychqpathic maniacs ', as} opposed to organised killer_squads, have been responsible. They have further confused the public into thinking that the victims have been equally divided between Catholics and Protestants. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.

ORGANISED POGROMS Of those 165, about 123 were Catholics and the rest Protestants, and that is in an area where Protestants outnumber Catholics by three to one.

Half of the Protestants. to die in this way were killed by other. loyalists, either because they were too friendly with Catholics or as a result of internal feuds. The number of Catholics to have been killed by the IRA or other non-loyalist groups is only seven.

There is a well organised anti -Catholic pogrom in operation in Belfast. The facts about these assassinations are backed up by frightening stories of families being driven from their homes in UDA controlled areas. IN ONE ESTATE ALONE, RATHCOOLE, 1,000 FAMILIES, ALL CATHOLICS, HAVE BEEN FORCED TO LEAVE OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS. 800 families have fled from East Belfast, an area where many of the assassinations took place. In the last few’months scores of Catholic pubs, shops and churches have been bombed and burned.

The bomb attacks come without ee warnings, and are designed to kill as Many people as possible. The British Government and press have attempted to ignore the extent of this loyalist pogrom, so as to avoid having to do something about it. , THE LOYALIST KILLER SQUADS A number of the loyalist killer squads are known by name; 'TARA ', " RED HAND ',.' SILENT “DEFENDERS ', as well as these named groups, there are undoubtedly other assassination squads within the UDA, and the illegal UVF. Most of those arrently facing murder and attempted murder charges were connected with one or other of these groups.

William Craig once said: " four or five armed commando ‘type Protestant organtsattons are now standing by to carry out spectal duttes..... people are begining to say, tf there ts gotng to bea blood bath, well better to get it over with once and for all."

When asked specifically about the assassination of Catholics, he replied: "7tf tt ts tmposstble to win our democratic rights without this sort of thing happening, then I an prepared :to tolerate it."

Extreme loyalist papers openly call for the killing of Catholics. A poem in one of them contains these lines:

" Fight Provo, IRA and Paptsh Scum Annthtlate! Exterminate !

Till Peace has come. "

Another poem, refering to John McKe| ague’s * Red Hand ' group went as follows:

" Bow their tmaining tt is over, Teerr ae | To rid sete Of the dirty Rebel Sewn! ” Gf all these groups, only the UVF is oeeeeel - Members of the rest walk the | Streets freely while hundreds of lesa icons remained imprisoned for olitieal beliefs alone:

S opnt ist para-military groups ings are not the work of It is widely assumed here in assassination squad operating from within the Ulster Defence Regiment, the British trained and financed forced that replaced the ' B ' Specials. A number of UDR members have appeared on attempted murder and murder charges, but no attempt has been made to remove extreme loyalists from the UDR. They continue to use it as-a training ground and a source for modern weapons.

Many of those to die ' mysteriously ',as the police like to call it, were in fact killed by British Army personnel operating in plain clothes from civilian cars. One of the very first to die in an assassination was Mr. Paddy McVeigh who-was gunned down by such a killer gang. Daniel Rooney died likewise,as did. agvenet other men and boys.

Baxter, new head of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Within the last few weeks, two soldiers have appeared in court on attempted murder charges. They;shot and wounded three unarmed Sa! ep standing at a‘bus stop. The soldiers were in plain. clothes, and using a Thompson sub-machine gun, the tradishould fool noone into believing that the plain clothes killer squads of the British Army are free-lancers.

They are part of British policy, in Ireland One of the leading British Army strategists for the North, Brig.: Frank Kitson, has openly advocated the killing off of ' unwanted members of the public '. He has organised similar assassinations in many other British colonies. ..~ BRITISH ARMY TERROR The British Government, and its army have refused to take action against the loyalist assassins because to do so would mean moving troops from the Catholic ghettoes into the loyalist ones. The British are not here to bring peace or restore law and order as their apologists maintain, but to defeat all opposition to imperialist domination. At the moment,the main threat to British rule comes from the anti - unionist side, so all effort is going in to smash them.

In the meantime, the loyalists are given a free hand to kill and bomb as many Catholics as they like. The British tolerate the assassinations and at times particapate in them, because they have the effect of terrorising the Catholic community into submission. In many areas the killings have scared the people so much, that they are prepared to have the Army back as protectors. Thus the Army is confusing the people into thinking it has a valid — to play here.

WITHDRAW THE TROOPS But there were no killings like this the barricades were up and the anyone who stands in the way of the British explottatton of Ireland. ONLY THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES CAN DEFEND THE AREAS WHERE THEY LIVE. _ THE SOONER THE ARMY IS WITHDRAWN; THE SOONER THE KILLINGS WILL STOP.

Mike Miller Bel fast ' PRISONERS AID COMMITTEE show this. dit. the trial. my best endeavours". ‘Pat O'Sullivan Hull WS ae Michael Crowley and 7. ucec xi n addi xT "There ts no country in Europe where politteal prisoners are treated ltke in England" Marx wrote in 1869 and now over one hundred years later we could add "Except in Ireland".

But one of the worst aspects of being a political prisoner in England is that you are not recognised as such. You are according-to law an ordinary criminal as regards punishment and can be picked out for special harassment and isolation, while not being able to claim the dignity of special status.

The Prisoners Aid Committee was set up by Clann na h-Eireann last year to draw attention to Irish political prisoners in England, to campaign for them to be given political prisoner status and to help their dependants morally and financially.

By what criterion do we decide that a man is a political prisoner? It is fashionable to say that all prisoners are, political prisoners in a capitalsystem. That all those imprisoned in this late stage of the decline of the bourgeoisie ‘are the victims of this society and its ruthless system of oppression and that they are therefore "political" prisoners.This is not our position.We feel that men whose political activities and beliefs have led directly to them being tried and given harsh and heavy sentences, should be given special recognition of this fact. And they garage. are specially treated within the prison system, where there.is an implicit recognition of the fact that they are "politicals". A few examples will In the Winchester trial last November, judge Sebag-Shaw elicited Noel Jenkinson's political ideas for the benifit of a middle-class jury. I quote from newspaper reports of "The judge asked Jenkinson about his comment at the start of the evidence that he deplored the killing of’innocent working class, people and whether he would deplore it. My first interest is to my class. I see everything on a class basis and everything that effects my class gets Asked tf he would deseribe himself as antt-capttaltst, Jenkinson replied that that was a negative thing. "I am pro-working class....I became a Communist because they were the LIST OF PRISONERS AT PRESENT HELD IN BRITISH JAILS.

Noel Jenkinson Leicester Conor Lynch Wakefield Finbar Kissane Wormwood Scrubs Alex McLaverty Maidstone Richard McLaferty Maidstone Joe Farrington Stafford Michael Duigan Isle of Wight Michael Tobin Chelmsford Michael Gaughan Albany IOW James Moore Wormwood Scrubs Jack McElduff Albany IOW Mathew Ward Aberdeen Michael Flaherty- in Borstal, address not yet given tion, the Belfast en-Roisin McNearney, Marian William McLarnon, Robert *« Walsh, Gerard Kelley, Martin *« Brady, William Armstrong, Hugh Feeney and Paul Holmes are held on remand in Brixton only people who constantly fought against Fascism".

POLITICAL COURTS At his trial Joe Farrington was closely questioned about his political views and accused of being a Communist sympathiser. Pat O'Sullivan and Conor Lynch at their trial, were both questioned about the IRA, though no attempt was made © to prove their membership. Eamonn Smullen recently released from Nottingham, has explained in press conferences and at a public. meeting in London, the way in which his militant trade union activities made the Special Branch determined to put him away and how he. was given a heavy sentence - 8 years before it was reduced to 5 on appeal- despite the dubious legality of the case. An interesting comparison can be made with the arms cases involving the "Orange Order of England"in Leeds and the UDA case in London last year, where the judge handed down suspended sentences in the first case and the jury acquitted in the second.

Many of these cases bear the marks of a Special Branch frame-up, with the use of conspiracy charges, agents—provocateurs and the planting of evidence. (Remember the Hacney arms Case?). It took the police 3 ba months to find Noel's fingerprints on the explosives found in his TREATMENT IN PRISON In prison thesé* men are singled out for special treatment. They are held as Category A prisoners, with consequent delays to mail and all visitors have to submit photos to the police and be visited in their homes. They are denied political books and newspapers - including letters and cards from the AIL. Most of them are refused "Rosc Catha" and "The United Irishman" on the grounds that it will work against their "rehabilitation", this being an open admission that they are political prisoners.

Like Pat O'Sullivan and Eamonn Smullen were, they are denied parole home leave, hostel and week-end leave and all the other "priveleges" of our wonderful prison system. And this despite the fact that they are well-behaved prisoners and usually earn full remission of sentence.

DUTY OF THE BRITISH LEFT It is the duty of all thé English Left, whose country has been and is guilty of tremendous brutality and savagery in its colonisation of Ireland, to remember the role played by Karl Marx in the campaign to win amnesty for the Fenian prisoners in the 1870s and to join with us in our demands for the release of all Irish Political prisoners from English jails. Let all. those prisoners in Greece, Spain and Vietnam, now turn their attention to those Republicans imprisoned in their own jails and disassociate themselves from the workings of the class-biased judicial system which now holds within itsjaws a group of dedicated Socialists and Revolutionaries who are "guilty" only of having consistently fought against British Imperialism.

Let than remember that a time wtll come, and will come soon, when they too wtll be looking for recognition for thetr political prisoners.

the White Paper. IN DEFENCE OF BLOODY SUNDAY be required to restore the positton raptdly. Fumbling at this juncture

----- pull-quotes -----

tional weapon of the IRA. The fact, that these men have beet ar#ested |

ari == $= a was total! ly excluded The Army cannot and will not defend

* Price, Dolores Price, IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS IN

who have quite correctly raised their voices for’ political