Campaign Faces Vicious Tory Government
Socialist Republic1981Prisoners and the hunger strikesThe Southern state and its partiesPrisoners and the hunger strikesThe Southern state and its parties
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Lenge The election of Bobby Sands as Member of Parliament for Fermanagh/South Tyrone on the H-Block/Armagh political prisoner ticket was an Imporpaign of the SOLP urging antithe 5 demands ever being gransign that the campaign for polithe majority of the Irish people. could not prevent these deaths?
Mrs. Margaret Hughes One of the most important less— Thatcher represents. It is not out to other youth, it by the Hunger Strike campaign, It built massive mobilisations North and South, the biggest seen in Ireland since the early '70!'s, Internationally there was pressure from: the USA, France, Portugal, Norway, Greece, Malta. In Ireland, limited expressions of concern from the major Nationalist parties were given point by resolutions of support and strike action from Trades Unionists throughout the 32 Counties, But this is no ordinary British government. It is one of the most vicious right wing Tory regimes ever seen in that country. It is a government that plans to isolate, criminalise and defeat the anti-imperialist movement and in so doing humiliate the Irish people as a whole -a determination matched only by their determination to attack the British working class. !n Britain as well as Ireland, unemployment, cutbacks, poverty and misery have now*become the order of the day. A defeat on the Irish question would throw the whole strategy of the government into question and mark a major crisis for imperialism internationally.
The extremely reactionary nature of this government and the central importance or political status is then the first lesson which we must firmly grasp. This itself points to the secondiesson. There is absolutely no point in placing reliance on parties like Fianna Fail and the SDLP to uphold the democratic rights of ithe Irish people, Junior partners In imperialist exploitation is the game which these parties play. Unfortunately, far too many people still have confidence In their willingness to find a solution to the hunger strike crisis. We have not yet succeeded in capturing the misleaders Haughey and Hume and forcing them to respond to the demands of the movement, We have not yet succeeded in compelling these parties through their rank and file to throw their weight behind the forces of the hunger strike campaign.
This is why the demands:
WITHDRAW FROM THE COUNCILS END THE HAUGHEY THATCHER TALKS EXPEL THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR