Block Armagh-All Out

policy?

Todate, it appears to have been one of the topics discussed at the Haughey-Thatcher 'summit!in DublinlastDecember. Thishistoric! meetingis still cloudedin secrecy, but someone in the British government decided it wouldbe useful toleak the story. Asaresult attention was com— pletely focussed in the South of Irelandon the contradictionsin the Dublin government's policy onneutrality, andaway from the threat of lanPaisley. The British government was able to take some pressure off itself temporarily.

Up to then hapless Humphrey Atkins, Thatcher's Secretary of State for the North of Ireland, was caught between lan Paisley's campaign against the 'HaugheyThatcher? sell-out! and the Dublin government's hints and innuendoes that it had convinced Westminster toat least serious— ly consider the ending of partition.

British denials were not convincing since they didnot state that Haughey wasaliar. A similar clearcut statement about Thatcher was avoidedin Dublin. Hence the only possible conclusion could be that there was some sort of cover up.

BRITAIN'SNEWTACTICS The question which arisesnext then is: why didn't either Haughey or Thatcher call! each other liars? Clearly, sucha step wouldhave led to an abrupt end of the direct involvement of the Dublin government in Britain's latest political moves in the North of Ireland. But more to the point, recent comings of the Britishin the Six Counties. Asaresult, Charlie Haughey became Taoiseach, and the credibility of nationalist/ republican politics among the Southern population was enhenced, PerhapsHaughey too would capitulate openly likelLynch if publicly confronted by the British; but evenin this unlikely event, is there any guarantee that a similar 'republican! backlash woul dnot occur?

HAUGHEY'S CONTRADICTIONS If we look at things this way, we see Britain recognizing that Charlie Haughey diverts doubts about the desirability of British interference in Irelandaway from the field of practical action andinto the realms of unfulfilled hopes. Ifitis toorisky to attack these hopes, why not play upon their contradictions?

And there is one very obvious contradiction in Haughey!'s policy: the idea that British interference inlreland stems froma '!mistaken policy! rather than a determined effort to defenditsimperialist interests. Haughey!'s approach suggests there wouldbeno threat to the interests of the British ruling classiflreland was united 'Ipeacefully! asa capitalist country friendly with the so-called United Kingdom, THE NUCLEAR WAR MONGERS This stance hasno practical credibility. Britain's policy inlreland isnotanaberration, ablack spot in an other wise lily-—white sheet of « paper. Thatcher makes war against Ireland and against oppressed people the world over. She enthusiastically backs the NATO alliance. At the moment, this aggressive military form-— ation, at the instigation ofits Below we publisha short interview withFergus O!Hare of the National H-Block/Armagh comm-— Committee, activist in thelrish National Teachers! Organisat— ion and member of People!sDem-— ocracy.

DURING the last hunger strike, a Workers! Day of Action was called, What happened on that day - did many workersrespond to thatcall?

Most involvedin this area of the campaign would consider the Day to be fairly successful. Theres-— ponse wasvery solidin several areas -especially inthe six counties. For example, inBelfast, there was the biggest iurnout ever at a trade union/workers! march when several thousand workers left their jobsto protest for the prisoners. Derry also was a huge success, some est— imated the numbers to be over 10, 000 people, of success? WAS there support in the 26 Cols?

Oh yes, the Day of Action was or— ganised for on anall Ireland basis. Working support was expressedin many of the 32 countiesin Cork, Drogheda and Dundalk, Waterford, Letterkenny, Tyrone, Wicklow, Dublin tomentiona few. On theAlcan site in Limerick, probably the single biggest industrial employment, over 500 workers walked out, | Other factories, building sites, . Offices, etc sent telegrams and atically. held lunchtime meetings. It cer| tainly made the hard work and effort worthit. Although, obviously thisresponse was only 15th? an inkling of what ispossible to build over a period of time.

WE arenow into a second Hunger Strike and another Workers! Day of Action has been called for on April 15th, What are the chances The confusion affecting therest of the campaign around the ending of the last Hunger Strike has affected trade union and workers! supportalso,. The same prob— lemsbeset work in this area, So our assessment of April 15th must be very realistic — there arelimited possibilities. We will probably see a bigger res-— ponse inthe six counties. South-— ern workers who arenot asimmediately affected by the repress— ion fall prey to the pro-imperialist attacks on the campaign from the likes of Paddy Devlinet al. Wehave to fight back for wor- Dublin 2. kers! hearts and minds withclear political explanations of whatis goingon. The candidacy of Bobby Sands in the Fermanagh By-Election givesus a good oppor-= tunity to pose again the immediacy of the situation and convince worker s of the need to support the prisoners.

HAS the last mobilisation among workers provided the campaign with new links or roots?

Quite definitely, there arenow (in the six counties) action groups in workplaces. Tradeunion work, ié approaching local factories, isnowbeing takenup by local action groups much more system— LASTLY Fergus, what type of action can workers take on April Activists lobbying workplaces should be seeking acommitment from those workers to take some form of solidarity action, Any— thing from the sending of tele— grams, lunchtime meetings, to the possibility of one hour, half day or full stoppages shouldbe sought. If workersare stopping, they should march toa central point (to meet up with other workers) andholda short public rally. Thepressand H-Block campaign should be i nformed of any action taken, If the Britishrefuse to concede andthe hunger strike continues, we will be fighting for further workers! action on April 22nd, MRIS RIE Send telegrams to:

Margaret Thatcher, 10 Downing St, London.

C, J. Haughey, Leinster House, Your Trade Union Head Office,