Bloody Sunday

Solidarity with Republican and Socialist Organisations Fighting British Imp created in response to a uniaue historical situation - the struggle in the North of Ireland. After Internment. was imposed in the summer of 1971, this struggle escalated to the most. formidable challenge to British rule in Ireland since 1922.

The minority in the North having risen from their knees in 1968, refused to accept Internment and fought back both militarily and politically. This resistance became the focus of world - wide attention -- just as Cuba, Algeria and Viet -Nam had become in their struggles to achieve national liberation. These struggles had not only engaged the invading forces in a fierce guerilla war, but they had also raised the question of international solidarity not least in the country of the oppressor itself.

Irish exiles have a long history of particapation in the struggle to free their native land. The Irish in Britain are no exception. But for the first time in Britain a movement was created which embraced not only Irish exile organisations, but also FREE IRELAND’ . MAY 1973- PAGE FOUR of British society. Student Unions, Revolutionary Socialist groups and Trade Union organisations were .all represented. The Anti - Internment League was a new factor in the British poiitical scene.

There had been co-operation among Irish and British revolutionary groups before in the Irish Civil Rights Campaign, the Irish Solidarity Campaign and numerous local committees. But none had beenJ’as large , as broad or as effective as the AIL.

The AIL mobilised much greater numbers of British peopile than any previous solidarity organisation.

Thts was a new dimenston. It posed the posstbiltty of buthdingsa movement tn Britain similar to the anttwar movement tn the U.S.A. A movement whitch would have the effect of ' brinaing the war home ' t.e. would contribute to the defeat,of the timperqgalist war by forces within the oppressor country itself.

Such a movement could not fail to involve large sections of the Irish community in Britain. THough it must have as its primary task, the aiding of the Irish struggle, it could not but help to strengthen the arm of those who wished to revolutionize British society.

The AIL Demands:

‘proven to be one of extreme exploited to the full.

Ireland.

Self Determination for the Irish People The situation in the North has volatility. This meant that the AIL could not. always respond on the same level - its broad support waxed and waned according to the situation at the time. A large part of those who side. turned out on AIL demonstrations were reacting to a temporary phase in the strategy of British interest in Ireland. They were horrified at the injustices of internment, and the brutality of the British Army. In other words, they were mobilised by the.' politics of the last atrocity '. This meant that the AIL declined in size after the introduction of Direct Rule. Illusions in the Whitelaw administration abounded and the British propaganda machine, through the Press and TV media, made sure that these illusions were Nevertheless, the AIL carried on with new conviction of the utmost importance of its task, and consolidated itself through the adoption of new aims which made it clear that the AIL was in solidarity with those Republican and Socialist forces fighting British Imperialism in some notable successes. In November of last year, in a period of down turn in the crisis, the AIL mounted a demonstration of 2,500. Then in January a 5,000-strong march comm- , emorated the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry, end -ing in an,impressive rally in Camden Town Hall, and an overflow meeting which packed the street out> But we know that demonstrations, although useful and necessary, are insufficient, and we need to develop a strategy to react to the changes within Britsh society, if we are to render the kind of aid the Irish struggle needs. We have witnessed the growing dissillusion in Britain with the Irish war, the creeping demoralisation in the British Army, and the concern expressed by increasing number of trade unionists about the repression in Ireland.

Withdraw British Troop

ABOUR

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Bringing the war home

The AIL Trade Union Conference