Act Now! Dont Let

When Marie and Noel Murray were sentenced ta Noel Murray is aged 26. When he left school death by hanging om June 9th ‘informed opinion’ he worked in C.I.E. as a metal fabricator and in the media was that the Coalition Government #5 @ member of a trade union, as was Mario. would commute the sentences, Several prominent He has opposed State violence for the past 10 ye individuals called on the Government not only to — from Nuclear Warfare to the tortures in There are indications that the Cabinet is split preg iva fact that Gardai at no time suggested on the question and that the opinion of the Garda ni wa eee ORRIN ne ony naeirehl Siochana, in favour of the sentence being carried Saab Pg Mere tried before the. “Special unionist population. This is something that republicans and socialists will ignore at thei own peril. The mistake however, that Mac Giolla makes in crawling up the backside of the ‘peace’ campaign is that this in so far as it does draw support from the ghettoes it draws the defeated who are prepared to accept a return to “normality” which in the context of the 6-Counties can only mean a retum to the repression and diserimination of Stormont Unionist regimes, A socialist alternative For socialists the tasks are very much-different, The effect of the ‘peace’ campaign has been widespread; the brutal shooting of 12-year-old Majella O"Hare by the Paras in South Armagh revealed how quick the British Army has been to take advantage of the ‘peace’ cover to step up repression; the now daily incursions of the RUC and UDR illustrate the opportunities being created for their return to nationalist districts. For those who support the anti-imperialist movement the most urgent need is to get across to the overwhelming majority of the anti-unionist workers the dangerous situation that we are in. The time is clearly dipping past when we will be able to turn the #truggie in the only direction that can weld the workers of the republican districts, firmly to the anti-imperialist movement, commute the death sentences on the Murrays, but, Long Kesh, also to abolish the death penalty altogether, Aaa z Sepang the Gowersreans has made no move, Their trial in the Special Court Capt to procure a hangman from Britain. : ;

out, will play a crucial role. 11 is therefore of the 5 utmost importance that all thosa who oppose the carrying out of the death sentences should make their voices heard; only public pressure can ensure that the Murrays lives will be saved, Who are the Murrays?

Marie Murray is aged 27, From the time she left school she worked for 8 yeays in the Civil Service in the Gaeltacht Department and she left there in 1974 when she married Noel Murray, She has worked all har adult life for the Political, social and cultural welfare of the trish people,

The declaration of a State of Emergency WHERE |S THE REPRESS LEADING ?

$m inublican) violence as amainst and the implementation of the Criminal Law Act by the Dublin Government represents a new level of collaboration between the Southern Irish ruling class with British Imperialism and a qualitative escalation in the degree of repression in the 26-County State. It is clearly aimed at smashing the republican resistance. Every previous anti-Partitionist struggle has been defeated not in the North, but in the South, by mass recent upsurge beginning in 1968, the level of mass involvement in the struggle was such that it was not possible for the Southern Government to smash the republican resistance. However, since 1972/3 the level of mass participation in the struggle has dropped off, largely because of the military elitism of the republicans; and this has resulted in the increasing isolation of the republican movement. [tis this isolation of anti-imperialist forces which has enabled the Dublin Government to escalate repression in the 26 Counties.

By any standards, the new legislation represents a serious encroachment on civil liberties, The declaration of a State of Emergency gives the police and army far wider powers than they have ever had before and creates a situation where the government can suspend virtually all constitutional rights; while under the Criminal Law Act virtually all anti-imperialist political activity becomes illegal. Anyone involved in such activity is liable to up to ten years imprisonment; furthermore, any person or publication opposing or exposing State actions against anti-imperialists is liable to the same penalties, The fact that the 26 County Government already has an arsenal of repressive laws in its statute books but has made no systematic attempt to smash the main republican organisations, especially Provisional Sinn Fein, might suggest that the new legislation is mere rhetoric, However, a look at the pattern of recent events clearly demonstrates otherwise. The last year has seen the systematic use of torture against political prisoners — unprecedented in the southern state in recent decades. More sinister, however, have been moves against the major newspapers. The ‘Irish Times’, the ‘quality” bourgeois daily, was prosecuted, along with the independent liberal fortnightly, ‘Hibernia’ for publishing letters against the hanging of the Murrays, while the ‘Irish Press’, which has always been the unofficial organ of Fianna Fail has been accused by Conor Cruise O'Brien of supporting subversion (a crime punishable by ten years imprisonemin under the new legislation.

Given this background, we must view the new legislation as part of an offensive by the Coalition Government in Dublin aimed at creating a political atmosphere within which it will be possible for them to suppress the republican resistance. The government is counting on the passivity of the working class to carry through this offensive. The mergence of a new “peace” movement facilitates this task, because although the “Peace” movement in the North won only marginal support in the Catholic working class areas, and no support at all amonst the southern working class, it has provided the basis of a massive anti-republican propaganda campaign by the ruling class. As against this, the ‘peace’ movement coming 80 close to the repressive legislation has endangered Government strategy by producing a significant degree of social polarisation, massive mobilisation of the middle class with’ illegal organisations, Yet, aiave noted members of any illegal organisation, on the basis of statements which they have said government. militants under fire.

Genmany — by saying that it is necessary to “deal COMMITTEE: above, Gardai did not claim that the Murrays were against (republican) violence as against increasing working class discontent. This discontent expressed itself in Navan, where over a thousand workers from mines and factories left their jobs to demonstrate against the new legislation and in demonstrations in Ennis, Killala and Limerick.

Many trade unions have protested against the new repressive legislation. So did many Labour Party branches and the Dublin Regional Council of the Labour Party Two Labour deputies opposed the legislation in the Dail, others in the Senate, despite the fact that the Labour Party is the junior partner in the Coalition The Coalition is aware of the precarious path it is travelling. Any new working class upsurge, north or south, would disrupt its whole strategy. Precisely because of this danger, it is operating a pincer movement, beginning its campaign against the anti-impeiralist resistance by first suppressing isolated militants while simultaneously using its full executive powers to prevent any defence of the Marie and Noel Murray have been singled out as an example for the rest of the resistance. After being tried without a jury, they were sentenced to death by hanging. The only evidence against them was confessions which were made under torture. Before and after their trial there has been a clampdown of news about the Murrays and about any activities of the Murrays Defence Committee. The Movement fora Socialist Republic believes that the defence of the Murrays is the single most important task for revolutionaries in Ireland today; if the State is allowed to murder them, the stage will be set for the suppression of the whol ti-i iali :

AIMS OF THE MURRAY DEFENCE