The Irish Citizen: Vol. 2 no. 2, c. 1972

Irish Citizen

THE NATION WHICH ENSLAVES ANOTHER CAN NEVER ITSELF BE FREE.

VOL. 11, No.2, PRICE 5 p.

Since the beginning of the Civil Rights movement in Ireland in 1968, one of the tools used by British imperialism to achieve its aims has been the ‘impartial’ report. First we had the Cameron report on the origins of unrest. Then.McRory on local government, Cairncross on the economy, followed by the ex-Flying on the police murder of Sam Devenney.

More recently we have had the Compton report on the torture of primuch torture could be got ewey with.

And finally the Scarman and Widgery reports. Remarkably, all these reports reached conclusions which coincided sik the immediate interests of British 2 new mesk on the face of Stete power in the Six Counties, m an attempt to win over or neutralise a substantial number of Catholics from the IRA, and thereby isolate the IRA. In other words, to kill the IRA by kindness to the Catholic community.

To replace Orange law by Whitelaw.

Yet Eddie McAteer, the leader of the Nationalist Party, was not far off the mark when he commented that the Widgery report ‘means the end of the Whitelaw mission’. The only sensible conclusion to be drawn from this is that the Tory Government is split on the question of what to do about the situation in Ireland. That is the only explanation for the contradiction between Widgery’s carefully manufactured conclusions and Whitelaw’‘s stated policy. /t is well known that Lord Carrington, the Defence Minister, has no confidence in the success of the present policy. He believes that it will eventually be necessary to impose a military solution, and for this reason was not willing to have the truth about Bloody Sunday known, for fear of the effect it would have on the morale of the troops that he will eventually need to impose a solution. Carrington realises that you cannot order soldiers to shoot civilians, then have Widgery condemn them, and later on expect the same troops to shoot some more civilians. What the Widgery report means is that a section of the ruling class, and particularly the military establishment, is preparing for an attack on the no-go areas. The period which has passed since the imposition of direct rule has clarified the reality of the situation in Ireland.

The change of strategy of British imperialism arose from its inability to defeat the IRA without first isolating it from a sizeable section of the Catholics in the Six Geunties. When Stormont stood in the way of this new policy the British Government hed no choice but push past it.

And im pushing past Stormont, Britain hes started the process of disintegration of the Orange monolith. Cone att ‘the Us ey ee IRA it is necessary S> ’ dancy- And so ait Camp must now choose eho important. One section of the Protestant power Structure, represented by the Alliance Party, the Northern ireland Labour Party, and the Union is the most important. Another, representing the plebian and petit-bourgeois elements headed by Craig's Vanguard movement, has decided for the Ascendancy.

Faulkner represents those who think they see a way out of this dilemma. He believes that if the present policy of the British Government can be reversed, and Britain returns to a policy of all-out war As the delegates assembledforthe second conference of the Irish Solidarity Campaign in Oxford, it soon became evident that the Campaign had grown in size, and spread geographically in a dramatic way during the months since last summer. The conference reflected the concrete experiences of the delegates in building a solidarity movement, and in this sense too the conference was a big advance on the first. These.experiences were drawn on during the discussion on the manifesto ‘Why Irish Solidarity?’ which was published in the last issue of Jrish Citizen. Updating amendments were submitted which analysed the situation since the manifesto was written, including the question of the implications of direct rule.

Most of the discussion was on the problems of a strategy for building the solidarity movement, including the question of gaining influence within the British labour movement, and the role of ~r Ss Giky ponsite Wt ferene at (Comserwetve comsensis to the right on the iets question and if he puts such pressure om Heath as to force him back into an old style confrontation policy with the Catholic community. The high point of this campaign will be a demand for an attack on the no-go areas, such as Free Derry.

This is the meaning of the Loyalist rallies in Britain. Behind the megalomaniac pretensions of Craig lies the expertise of the Faulkner apparatus, which is drawing together the National Front, the Monday Club, and the other British rightwing organisations. Supporters of the Irish struggle in Britain must organise a counter-campaign to these moves. The two immediate points in

BOB PURDIE

Irish exiles in this. The most controversial discussion was on the proposal to change the slogan “Victory to the IRA’ to ‘Unconditional support for the military struggle of the IRA against British imperialism and the forces of reaction in Ireland’.

On.the one side it was argued that there was no need to change this slogan, that the Campaign was gaining more and more support on the basis of it, and that there was not a sufficient argument for a change because of the opposition to it, on the grounds that it could be mis-interpreted as meaning a general support for the political stance of the two sections of the Republican movement, rather than supportfor the military struggle of the IRA.

On the other side it was argued that if there was misinterpretation the ISC had no-

BRITAIN: HANDS

OFF FREE DERRY

Geen together in Protest agamnst the Loyalist Unionist propegenda. And this must understand the key importanceof Craig's British intervention, and theneed to draw the British labour movement intoop position to it. A good start in this process can be made by organising tours of speakers involved in the resistance of Free Derry and any other liberated areas. This will help to explain to. broader sections of the labour movement the importance of protesting against the Loyalist rallies. The Irish Solidarity Campaign is willing to play its part in such united action. Gery Lawless

SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN UPSURGE

thing to lose and everything to gain, by removying any ambiguity, and that developments in the AIL meant that a clearer, and more precise formulation would put the ISC on a firmer basis for winning support for a principled solidarity programme within the AIL.

The manifesto was accepted in its general outline, while being referred to the new Executive Council for re-drafting for issue as a pamphlet. The voting on the slogan revealed fairly general support for amending ISC’s programme to include the new stogan, while an amendment to change the fourth slogan of the manifesto to.the new formulation ‘was won by‘4 much narrower margin.

The other ,main discussion was on perspectives, with the Scottish delegates successfully pressing the conference to adopt a proposal to organise an all-British demonstration in Glasgow, : ‘Cont. Back Page col.4

Any reader in the habit of dining out in London might care to note down the following restaurants to avoid:- La Carosse in S.W.3, The Garden and the Grange in Covent Garden, Part-owner of all three is erstwhile disc jockey, estwhile graphic novelist, and ertwhile Unionist Minister of Development, Roy Bradford.

REE

IRAte Tito British imperialism, and the British Army received a hammering in the international media after Bloody Sunday in Derry.

But they were not without their defenders; apart from their faithful allies, aid came from one unexpected quarter—Tito’s Yugoslavia.

Belgrade radio commented; “It is an indisputable fact that hardly anywhere in the world do the army and police show such a degree of patience, constraint and self-discipline as in the British Isles.” etre Black and Tan The two Ministers of State appointed to run the Northern Ireland Office of the British government are Lord Windlesham and Mr.

Paul Channon. Windlesham is a member of __ the Hennessy brandy family, and Channon is ~ from the Guinness brewery family. The mix- Seeaof brandy and Guinness is known in parts if lteland as Black and Tan. — ss ++eee Safety First On Thursday April 6th, artillery cadets im the _Free State Army had an unexpected “treat”.

They were allowed to fire 320 projectiles from a 3.7 howitzer:— the total amount of ammunition available to the Free State scien for these weapons, ‘Th 9.7 hole gece Stata tl a jeep. itch sed weapon for the ‘type of guerrilla warfare going on in the Six Counties that “Union-Jack”’ Lynch, being un- —To most people in Britain, Heath seems to be making a serious effort to bring about peace in the Six Counties. He has the support of the Labour Party and the SDLP, if not of the Protestants. Will direct rule satisfy the Catholics? As we explained in the last issue of The /rish Citizen, Heath only made his initiative when he was advised by the British Army of its inability to smash the IRA.

The Heath initiatives are meant to bring the peace of Pax Britannica to Ireland—the peace of the graveyard. The initiatives do not alter the fundamentals of the Irish problem. He proposes to alter the Superstructure of Northern Ireland— the State _ will remain, and the Ulster Catholics will remain prisoners inside this basically artificial _ apparatus. What Heath proposes is an amelioration of the conditions of the prisoners in- "Side this state, not the freeing of the prisoners.

_ For this reason, direct rule will not satisfy any _ but a minute section of the Ulster Catholics.

_ —Has Heath’s proposals led to split in the _ Gatholic ghettoes? Is there, as the press sug- : many women who now want peace?

_ Ef case any supporters of the Irish struggle a have been taken in by the great story ‘the oa of Andersonstown, vaeeoppose the banner of Peac> against the intimidatory re IRA and their gangster molls, a round information on the Women up will not come amiss .. .

billedin the British press DI for the Irish Cathoown is an Englishwoman ass area of the Malone Road.

ing class Andersonsable to trust the Free State Army to prevent it falling into the hands of the IRA, has taken the precaution of using up all the ammunition.

4H Department of the Army The recent promotion of Colonel E. Edward “double eejit” Shortall as Assistant Chief of Staff of the Free State Army was not unexpected. During the days of the Arms Crisis, Shortall, 2 former Director of Intelligence, was actively sounding out opinions in the army, and reporting directly to Lynch.

nald. McDonald has been doing Trojan work in the border areas preparing for the clamphave expected a reward. He would have got his promotion, were it not for the loss of two FN automatic rifles & one 38 radio set during the recent borage 2. Women Together is in receipt of a financial grant from the Stormont Ministry of Community Relations. 3. Women Together has a grand total of four (4) members in the Andersonstown area. Two of them come from the privately owned fringe of Andersonstown. 4. Among Mrs. Patterson’s ardent supporters at the disrupted meeting were what the pro- Unionist Guardian described as Lambskincoated ladies, strung with pearls, from as far afield as Lisburn, and Portadown.

One such supporter, who travelled all the way from Donaghadee, was a Mrs. Patricia Fisher.

Mrs. Fisher is best known in Belfast as Patricia McLaughlin, daughter of a former Tory-Unionist M.P., who herself is a former Tory Unionist M.P. She is at the moment married to Mr. Nigel Fisher, Tory M.P. for Surbiton.

McLaughlin changed her name to Fishe: at about the same time as British Board of Trade investigators were fishing into the affairs of a limited Company with whom she was, to put no finer point on it, intimately connected.

On the other hand, Mrs. Maire Drumm, who led the local women’s intervention against this meeting, lives in the heart of Andersonstown.

Her husband is at present serving his third term of imprisonment for opposing British imperialism in Ireland. Maire herself has recently completed a term of imprisonment for having pointed out the self-evident fact that the only good British soldier in Ireland is a dead one.

—Now that the institutions of Orangism have been torn from the machinery of central government in the Six Counties, what options are open to the unionists in attempting to retain their control of the State?

Before answering this question, the fundamentals of Irish Unionism must be appreciated.

They are:— IRA supporters in Monaghan.

But keep trying Tom. Mrs. Lynch thinks well of you. +e ARH Last Post In a confidential memo. addressed to the Manager and Managing Director of the Daily Yelegraph, that paper's leader writer, T. E.

“Peter” Utley, describes the great tributes paid by Faulkner to the Daily Telegraph for their consistent championing of the Stormont Cause. In recognition of this service, the memo. continues, Utley and his wife were invited to stand on the balcony of Stormont Castle when Faulkner reviewed the Vanguard rally.

* ERK

Most people have become so cynical about British Army claims to have shot so many gunmen that they consider the British Army Press Office to be staffed by unmitigated liars. It is. But the lies are not always conscious.

For example, the Provos in Derry have devised a brilliant scheme for flushing out British Army snipers. Scenario British sniper/sentry spots figure lurking behind wall/ditch/hedge. Brit opens fire. Figure collapses. British Army Press Office claims another “gunman shot dead”. Then the Provos drag away one of the half dozen tailor’s dummies which they have been using for this purpose.

CHECKMATE

Latest secret weapon of the British Army in Ireland—Czech bomb disposal experts.

The British Army, convinced that the IRA is using Czech or Russian Bombs, has imported some Czech defectors to cope with them.

At least that’s what they say.

Other cynics might think that the a worried about the high _ - ee

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

1. To maintain the Orange ascendancy.

2. To maintain the Union with Britain.

Generally these two principles have not been inconsistent with each other, but now we are in a period (not the first) where there are irreconciliable contradictions between the two.

British imperialism, in order to maintain the Union, is willing to sacrifice the Orange ascendancy. This poses the dilemma for Ulster Unionism:— Which is the more important of the two fundamentals? Moderate Unionists, Paisley, the Alliance Party and the Northern Ireland Labour Party represent the section which sees the maintenance of the Union as the most important.

Craig and his Vanguard organisation see the maintenance of the Orange ascendancy as the most important. Faulkner represents those sections which stil!

hope to maintain both. With this dilemma in mind, it is too early to say in what direction the Unionists will move, except to say this much: there is no possibility for a successful UDI. As the then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland said to Craig on television in 1969, drawing an analogy between the Rhodesian and Northern Ireland situations, “Where is the Ulster airforce?” This was a recognition of the fact that the balance of forces in Northern Ireland excludes a UDI.

—Paisley and the SDLP both appear to be trying to win moderate opinion on either side of the sectarian line. What are the chances of their succeeding, and what would the consequences be? For an answer to this question, we would recommend that you read Chapter 7. of “Ireland Unfree” by Bob Purdie, (IMG Publications, 182, Pentonville Road, London N.1, price 30 p), which was reviewed in the last issue Of The Irish Citizen.

/RISH CITIZEN.

Hut 22 Cage 3 Long Kesh Concentration Camp Dear Editor, i have read some of your articles on N.L. and they are quite good. Now i’m asking you to go a step further and give us some of your space to support our demand for an end to internment. There is a lot of nonsense written and spoken about us in the British Press and on TV. We are not murderers, terrorists, and gunnmen as propaganda would have you believe. We are here as a result of a gigantic boob by the Westminster government and our very own Special Branch, and because Faulkner doesn’t like people who don’t support his repressive regime.

One of the things that angers me most about the situation is the British Press’ attempt to do the biggest Whitewash Job in British history, and it is refreshing to read the truth in your paper. What I’m asking you to do is to join the thousands of people all over the world who have condemned internment. Already there is a broadbased organisation in existence known : centration Camp”. It’s aim : hoor our Wibtecoier “to force it to end internment now.

What we want i DeODIC LO. OF any Foup demanding an ond to internment. We are asking people to hold public meetings everywhere and get prominent people to speak at these meetings. We would also like to bombard Maudling with letters, telegrams and phone calls to make him realise that the Tory government’t latest piece of repression is all wrong. The conditions here are atrocious, but we don't want a campaign to get them improved; the campaign’s sole aim is to end internment now. If you want any more information on the campaign and on how you can help write to the C.C.

D.C. office, 39 Falls Rd., Belfast, and to me here at Long Kesh. Remember, pressure by Stormont on Westminster helped to introduce internment; pressure by you can and will end it. Join us to SMASH INTERNMENT NOW.

Yours, Patrick Curran

IRISH CITIZEN

EDITOR: Gery Lawless Editorial: 22, Duncan Terrace, London N.1 DISTRIBUTION: Gill Galvin, 37, Gordon Mansions, Torrington Place, London WC1 Design: Steve Smith Published by: Irish Solidarity Campaign, Printed by: F.I. Litho (T.U.) Ltd, 182, Pentonville Road, London N.1 01-837 9987

WHY THE BRITISH PRESS & TV SUPPORTS THEIR ARMY

THE MEDIA AND MRS GROVES

Mrs Groves, of Tullymore Gardens, Andersonstown, Belfast, lost the sight of both her eyes when a paratrooper fired a rubber bullet into her face at point-blank range.

The incident occurred on the morning of 4 November, when yet another military search was taking place in her area. One group of brave Tommies had completed their work, and then the Paras moved in.

Mrs. Groves opened her window and was told by a para to ‘close your fucking window’.

She didn’t. He shot her in the face. The rubber bullet collapsed the bridge of her nose and blinded her for life. Many Catholics listening to their radios heard an army voice say on a walkie-talkie: 1 hope we killed the cunt’. But the incident was scarcely mentioned in the British media, and this photograph never appeared. Mrs. Groves had the misfortune to be a member of the nationalist minority, and at the time the British press and TV networks were too busy condemning the tarring and feathering of collaborators, to bother about the actions or role of the British army- Yet a few journalists have now begun to ques- ‘tion the role that the media is playing in assisting the ruling class to suppress the national liberation struggle. All the correspondents covering the Six Countirs tumed up to watch the civil rights march in Derry on 6 February.

and when the demonstration was transformed into a Bloody Sunday many of them found themselves on the receiving end of the army's counter-insurgency programme.

e Times correspondent cain ‘A photooe arora cars said: “I was appalled. Th _ opened up into.a od of people. As far as | ae ‘az sauna lage ae Se ian: “Paratroopers piled out of them vehicles, many ran forward to make arrests_ but others tushed to the street corners. It was these men, perhaps 20 in all, who opened fire with their rifles. I saw three men fall to the ground... .

‘Army snipers could be seen firing continuously towards the central Bogside streets and at one stage a lone army sniper on:a street corner fired two shots towards me as | poked my head around a corner. One shot chipped a large -chunk of masonry from a wall behind me.’

-For one the army version of what had happened, fed out by the army’s press office, was flatly contradicted by eye-witness reporters, but after a couple of days the media had recovered and was back to its famous ‘balancing’ act.

“Was the army to blame for Bloody Sunday?

asked the Mirror on the Tuesday—and recorded two verdicts across its centre spread: ‘“GUILTY— Bogside accuses troops’ and ‘NOT GUILTY— “Four of the dead were wanted men”. And This Week on the Thursday ‘balanced’ an eyewitness account by a Welsh ex-soldier with denials by the paratroopers themselves.

Of course, had the killings on Bloody Sunday been in any way attributable to the IRA, the media would also have leant over backwards (far enough to kiss its arse) to provide a properly balanced coverage. And when the colonels finally appeared at the Widgery tribunal they admitted that those ‘four wanted men’ had simply been arrested at some time in the campaign and were therefore ‘known to the army’as no doubt is every able-bodied Catholic over the age of 10. As soon as Widgery, that independent and highly objective Lord Chief Justice, was appointed to head the tribunal of inquiry, the envents on Bloody Sunday immediately became sub-judice, thus allowing the media to wash its hands of the whole thing. The investigations of the Sunday Times ‘insight’ team—revealing that the army intended to draw out the IRA and shoot them down, and then, when the IRA did not surface, shot Gown unarmed civilians instead.

never sew the ght of day.

ver the Saute notes ieas after cece Sunday. The G a oso" a liberal thin- Me] rid L body), oni CURSE Curie thea Soe unification of freland. The Guardian's central concern ought to have been to insist that in 50 years Stormont has managed a grossly unjust society, he wrote after resigning. ‘The leader policy should have called the backlash bluff from the start. . . It is hardly possible to believe that, if those commanding lie ag Emma Groves, of Andersonstown, Belfast lost the sight of both her eyes when a paratrooper fired a rubber bullet into her face at point-blank range The incident occurred on the morning of 4th November when yet another military search was taking place in her area. One group of soldiers had conpleted their work and left, and then the paras moved in. Mrs Groves opened her window. She was told by a para to “close your fucking window’. She didn’t, and so he shot her in the face. The rubber bullet collapsed the bridge of her nose and blinded her for life. Many Catholics listening to their radios heard an army voice say on a walkie-talkie: “I hope we killed the cunt” the troops knew that a section of the press would be continuing a rigorous scrutiny of their behaviour, they would have felt able to embark Ameena led to.she death of i bp <a ts.” a journalists took the initistive and called an immmediate protest meeting, attended by 200 peo ple. The meeting deplored the “intensifymmg censorship in the television, radio, and press coverage of events in Ireland’, and added: “We pledge ourselves to oppose it.”

If the BBC policy on the coverage of events in Northern Ireland meant that some normally acceptable items were dropped, it was better to pay that price than to have potentially harmful items broadcast.

This is what Desmond Taylor, the BBC’s editor, News and Current Affairs, told the last month’s meeting of London Radio and Television branch after several members employed by the BBC had given examples of what they felt might have been internal censorship. Taylor had been invited to the meeting to reply to the branch’s December resolution condemning any form of censorship of Northern Ireland coverage and calling on the BBC to allow editors full responsibility to judge material on its editorial merits.

‘HIGHER LEVELS’

He said he affirmed the principles of the resolution—as long as he was one of the editors, Spelling out the BBC’s policy on Northern Ireland coverage, he said that material was now judged at a higher editorial level than normal because there had been a succession of ‘‘journalistic blunders” at.the beginning of the present troubles.

He believed most of the coverage had been honest, but the bad had driven our the good.

There was no outright ban on interviewing members of the IRA but permission to do so-had to be obtained from Taylor himself.

He pointed out that anyone who interviewed an IRA member in Northern Ireland without telling the police could go to jail for up to ten years, that such interviews caused political problems and that, since the IRA was good at using the Press, if an interview was done and then not used there would undoubtedly be an outcry.

Finally, each programme on Northern Ireland now had to be defensible by itself; items could not be “‘balanced”’ over a period.

Placing the editorial judgment at a higher level than normal was not something he liked doing, Desmond Taylor concluded, but it had to be done. Asa result, he claimed, the heart of the BBC’s Northern Ireland coverage was , geous.” ‘sound and honest, good and coura- As far as pressure on the BBC from outside was concerned, there was indeed pressure from all sides. ‘“‘But it is not a quarter as bad as at election time.”

JOURNALIST March 1972 Begs: ee oe But since then there have been no further Meetings, and censorship continues virtually unabated. What the majority of concerned journalists fail to realise is that resolutions and motions are only part of the answer to the media’s propaganda campaign. While these declarations register protest and would, if - they were followed up by determined action, put some pressure on the news managers, they do not clarify the precise role that the media is playing in the war.

As Ulsterman Desmond Taylor, the BBC’s independent and highly objective editor of news and current affairs, argues: ‘If the BBC’s policy means that some normally acceptable items are dropped, it is better to pay that price than to have potentially harmful items broadcast.’ (Other of Mr Taylor’s enlightened views are re-printed on this page.)

It was Bernard Falk, of BBC-TV’s 24 Hours, who made one of the ‘blunders’ to which Taylor refers, and who told the protest meeting: ‘Journalists are the worst trade unionists.

We’ve no guts, and we don’t speak with one voice. How many of you would come out and support me if I got the sack tomorrow?

Faced with such a deliberate policy of supporting and sanctifying the ruling class’s aims .in Ireland, it is essential for journalists to link their demands with those of the Irish people. Unless they recognise and support the right of the Irish people to self-determination, their protests will not only fall on deaf ears; they will be countered by the arguments of those who desperately want to see the the armed vanguard of - pease S.C.

FORMED

The first public meeting of the newly-formed West London ISC was held in the Hammersmith North Labour Hall on March 23. Speakers included a member of the Provisional IRA. This caused quite a furore in the local press. The Shepherds Bush Gazette published interviews with local Tery and Liberal politicians, condemning Hammersmith North Labour Party for allowing its premises to be used by an organisation which supports the IRA and the struggle for Irish freedom.

True to itself, the Labour Party reacted in panic and banned the branch meeting scheduled for the first Thursday in A pril—giving West London ISC barely one hour’s notice of the cancellation. The ISC responded by organising a picket of the the Hammersmith Labour Party premises on Thursday, April 13, when the Executive Com- mittee was meeting to consider further action.

Executive members arriving for the meeting were greeted by pickets carrying posters demanding the right of free speech for ISC and attacking the Labour Party for bowing to Tory pressure. The decision of the Executive was that the ISC could continue to hold its regular branch meetings on the first and third Thursday of every month at 446 Uxbridge Road, Shepherds Bush, at least until the next meeting of the General Management Committee of the Party, The picket was extensively covered by the local press.

“ete ee elalale.: IRELAND: THE Vi

< CONTINUES

a ee eee Despite the fact that Justice Scarman’s Report was signed on 4th February 1972, two months later it is above all appropriate to the present conjuncture of Britishimperialism’s strategy in Ireland. Its subject is the history of the civil disturbances in the north of Ireland in 1969 which exploded in Derry in August and resulted in the large scale deployment of the British army to keep ‘law and order’ on the streets. In accordance with ruling class historiographical tradition it is essentially pragmatic and ideological. “The facts’ appear sacrosanct, but are garnished according to the needs of the moment. This is evident from its main lines of argument and conclusions. It is designed to please everyone and blame no-one who is part of the present attempt to inch towards the political settlement that Heath hopes will emerge eventually from the recent ‘initiatives’. Thus the middle class Catholic leaders are exonerated’ the SDLP completely, while the Civil Rights movement gets off with a reprimand--from any serious responsibility for the violence. Naturally enough, ‘extremists’ and socialists like Bernadette Devlin have little to commend them to Scarman as they are clearly outside the consensus that the Hon. Justice wishes to encourage. The role of the police is at once obscured by the verbosity of the narrative, and by euphemistic descriptions of extremely concrete events. The murderous rampages of the police and ‘UVF’ style mobs—an “‘unhappy affair’’— are regarded as incidental, the ‘‘excess” of an individual or an “error” of judgement. One such “error” of the RUC officers during August ‘69 was that in nearly every case of indiscriminate shooting by the Ulster Special Constabulary they had directly contravened official police orders that the B’s to ou fire arms on riot control When you add up all these apparently isolated cases of flouting orders and breaches of discipline by the police, their generality ra- , : po and the Protestant Robs | is similarly dealt with. It is boldly asserted at the beginning of the report that ‘‘. . . the general case of a partisan force cooperating with Protestant mobs to attack Catholic people is devoid of substance, and we reject it utterly”’. But as one reads the report of each town and incident once again, in nearly every case of major disturbance the report reveals the Protestant gangs behind the RUC/LSC in the streets.

This is not the case only in Derry and Belfast where it was already well established that the Protestant mobs combined with the police in armed assaults as well as baton charges, petrol bombings, burnings etc. The picture is similar in the small towns. The example of Dungannon will suffice. In dealing with the relationship bet ween the police and the Protestant mob there it quotes the evidence of County Inspector Landale faced with a ‘‘Protestant crowd in ugly mood”: “With great luck I got them turned and got them to follow me into the Square. I shouted ‘Back to the Square quick’ and I ran towards them and to my amazement they turned and they followed me” ‘The Protestant mob had good reason to think that the Inspector would not lead them astray, because earlier, as the report is forced to show, the USC had opened fire on an unarmed crowd of Catholics injuring three of them. Landale’s testimony demonstrates very well the relationship that existed between the police and Protestant mobs. Scarman, instead of referring to this evidence points to examples of police refusing to unite with the Protestant mobs and even restraining them from attacking Catholics. The point however is not that the police always urged the mobs qn or only sometimes, or the majority of the time—although it is certain that restraint by the police against the Protestants was the exception rather than the rule. The central explanation lies in a realm which Scarman does not touch on at all— the common position of the police and the Protestant mob, This was not only a common hatred for the Catholics as such, but a position of defence of the statelet of Northern Ireland itself, and the various social and political privileges this endowed on the Protestants. Thus the bulk of Scarman is devoted to obscuring this political reality under a mountain of de- Rossville St, August 12. The ruc penetrate Rossville St, followed by civilian supporters throwing stones at the maisonettes on the righthand side of the street. The nine-storey flats known as tail about what is largely ‘keeping up appearances’ by the RUC establishment. The study of the 1969 events is made in a complete social and political vacuum. Rarely are the fundamental differences in aspiration of the religiously divided people raised and never as a contextual basis for understanding events.

Absolutely no light is shed on the social grievances that lie behind the Catholic resistance to the armed bodies of the Orange statelet.

However, none of these things make the reportpolitically significant, and it has rightly been : eno : tome initiative. However, one lesson that emerges from the report is worth repeating, mainly because it is a lesson for some of the left, who during those days in the middle of August 1969 abandoned fundamental anti-imperialist positions and joined in the chorus of approval for the intervention of the imperialist army.

It is clear from the report that troops were deliberately kept out of the streets until after the USC had been let off the leash for a time. The troops were thus to appear as the saviours of the Catholics from a massive pogrom. This was the deliberate policy of the Wilson goverment, to make the troops more credible as a ‘peace keeping’ force. Thus, far from being responsible for stopping the threatening build up of armed attacks on the Catholics it was the British government itself and Wilson in particular that must largely bear the responsibility for unleashing these forces.

—Ben Joseph

CAMPAIGN

For further details contact:

ISC, 22 DUNCAN TERRACE,

LONDON N.1.

Rossville Estates are visible on the left.

Nate ee eee ei lest ee ial

1.S.C. JOINS EASTER MARCH IN BELFAST

Every year at Easter Republicans North and South march in commemmoration of the Luster Uprising of 1916, esc paying stim 1916. This year’s Easter march took place at a critical pomt in Ireland’s long history of struggle. The mass resistance over the past two years of the nationalist population of the six counties, underpinned and carried forward by the military resistance of both wings of the Irish Republican Army, had made it impossible for British Imperialism to impose any solution. In other words, they have failed in their tactic of militarily defeating the IRA as a first step towards ending the resistance and bringing in a new period of stability. A new approach was needed, and this was provided by the long delayed initiatives.

By suspending Stormont (though only temporarily) and announcing a “phasing out” of internment the British Government hoped to draw away a significant number of the nationalist population from their support for the military tactics of the IRA. Isolation of the IRA from its base in the nationalist population would be a significant victory for imperialism. The Easter marches provided the first opportunity after the Heath initiatives for the minority to demonstrate openly their response to I mperialism’s concessions—peace on Britain’s terms or support for the IRA and the continuation of the struggle. In Belfast alone over 12,000 marched in solidarity behind the ranks of the Official and Provisional

IRA.

This year’s Easter march also saw a 40-man contingent from Britain of the Irish Solidarity Campaign marching in solidarity behind the in close proximity to each other, thus making it difficult for the ISC to take part in both marches.- The Irish Solidarity Campaign gives its unconditional support to both sections of the IRA in its struggle against the armed forces of British Imperialism.

The trip to Belfast was organized by the Oxford branch of the Irish Solidarity Campaign so that a contingent of people from Britain who support the Irish people in their struggle for national self determination could demonstrate their solidarity in a very real manner.

The Irish Solidarity Campaign realizes that the few concessions won from the Tory government in no way satisfy the just demands of the Irish people. The struggle will continue. In Britain the ISC will continue to give support to the struggle of the Irish people and in a situation where that struggle finds its sharpest expression in the armed conflict between the IRA and the British Army the ISC will continue to build in this country a strong movement of British and Irish workers and students for the defeat of the British Army and in solidarity with the IRA. —Gus Fagan Oxford 1.S.C. Part of S.C. contingent forms up off the Falls Road, Belfast.

There is no sug Among all the “information” that the Stormont and Westminster governments produce about Northern Ireland there is one section that you can believe, and that is the set of unemployment figures which appear monthly. The current figures show that the overall unemployment rate in N. Ireland is more than 10%, that in Derry it is 14% and in Newry 16%. Unemployment levels of this order have always been taken to represent a state of depression in a capitalist economy, but the important question for socialists is, exactly for whom the economy is “depressed” To answer that we have to examine the position of both unemployed and employed workers and the circumstances of those who offer or refuse them employment, the capitalist class. It is, therefore, fortunate that the Westminster government has provided reliable information to assist in this task.

In the October 1970 issue of THE EMPLOY-

MENT AND PRODUCTIVITY GAZETTE

there is a fascinating statistical analysis of “Labour costs in N. Ireland.” (1968) which reveals just how “‘cheap”’ labour is in that part of the world. In manufacturing industry, for example, total labour costs for the year amounted to £848. The corresponding figure for the rest of U. K. was £1133.

Since the actual wage payment accounts for about 98% of labour costs, those figures mean that, job for job in manufacturing industry, N. Ireland wages were just about 75% of those paid in Britain. A similar situation existed in the construction industry; the figures were £1028 (N.I.) and £1359 (G.B.). Again, job for job, N. Ireland wages were three-quarters of those in Britain. Worst of all was the situation of the worker in mining or quarrying; in that industry total labour costs in the Six Counties were £799, and in Britain £1275. N. Ireland labour costs in mining and quarrying were only 63% (less than two thirds) of those in Britain. In fact, the only approach to parity with Britain was in the white-collar sector of insurance and banking where Six County labour costs were 99% of those in Britain. zestion that the wage payadequate for t England’s paltry standards the workers in N. Ireland are very poorly paid. Also, ihe oils should be said that Bee seh > comgroups mentioned. But the se na and the variations do not alter the case that in N.

Ireland wages are much lower, job for job, than in the rest of the U.K.

“Living women’s liberation’ is how the role of Belfast women was described by a street leader in the Turf Lodge. This aptly sums up the role which women have adopted in Northern Ireland now. With increasing British Army repression, intensive raids, arbitrary arrests, internment and imprisonment for political offenses, with many men on the run and others killed by the British occupation forces, the Catholic areas are being drained of men. With husbands, fathers and sons away, it is falling more and more to the women to organise the defence of the Catholic ghettoes.

Catholic working class women in Northern Ireland have, for the fifty years of the Orange state, suffered exploitation not only as a class and as a nationalist minority, but also as a sex. Up to the present crisis, though individual women have played an important part in the Republican and Civil Rights movements, the general role of women was relatively passive. In a situation of chronic unemployment (up to 20% of the adult male population) of job discrimination and housing ¢ workers in Britain—it is not.

=" The point being made here is that even by

WHO OWNS IRELAND?-2.

ULSTER=25-

Now, it might be argued (by a Unionist) that these disparities only reflect the fact that Six Country workers work less hours than their British counterparts. But that is not true. The correct information again comes from Her Majesty’s Government. Generally, workers in N. Ireland work slightly longer hours, so that the figures already given remain accurate. So, the wage-vate in N. Ireland is generally 75% of what it is in Britain. In the most blatant case, however, the workers in quarrying work an average of 2359 hours per year in N. Ireland and in Britain they work 1703 hours. What that means is that the hourly rate for the job in N. Ireland (78 Old pence) was only half of what it was in Britain.

The point of all these figures is to show that to 1968 there is no reason to be hat ¢ situation has improyed since the. It has probably worsened. certainly, s fay as s the pei tion's Patisnates Gf the sopicnal cost of ving index suggest that the cost of living in N. Ireland is among the highest of the various regions of the U.K. And the market disruptions brought about by the current struggle in the North are continually aggravating that situation.

But the capitalist class is not reknown for its concern with the real wage; what concerns them is the money wage, the “cost” of labour.

and the amount of profit they can gain from the product of that labour. For them the sishortage, it was the women who held together the frayed fabric of Northern Ireland society.

It was they who bore the burden of keeping the family together, of bringing up the children and of budgeting on inadequate wages or social security.

The current situation has galvanised women into action. From being a vital stabilising force within the Oringe state, they are now actively working towards its destruction.

Since the introduction of internment, women have played the leading role in the Civil Disobedience Campaign, which involves more than ninety per cent of Catholic housewives and has cost the state tens of thousands of pounds. An article in the Dublin magazine Hibernia(INTERNMENT, Women next? 17.12.1971) describes the importance of women in this campaign. It is coordinated by Mrs. Kitty O’Kane from her home-—so effectively that a British army sergeant and a captain Smith, under the command of the local army commander, recently called to destroy her duplicating machine, Women are emerging as the leaders in the

BELOW BRITISH

WAGE RATE

tuation whows continuing improvement. If we listen to Faulkner’s Minister of Commerce, Robin “Boy-wonder” Bailey, we learn that “Ulster” manufacturing capital is becoming more and more “productive”; that is, more and more profitable. And it is true that over the period 1960-1968 “productivity” gains in N. Ireland industry outstripped those in the rest of the U.K. But to examine the distribution of that additional productivity we would have to know a lot more than we do about the state of capitalism in the Six Counties. While the government is quite willing to produce figures on the profitability of capital.

If those figures were avalaible we might be able to see just how the workers there are exploited. abe gitticuley | in obtaining accurate figures secrets & profits realised by the subsidiary plants of the industrial giants like ICI, Courtaulds, Du Pont, and so on. Those profits are shown in the total profits of the parent company, and there is no way of deciding just how much is attributable to their Six County plants and to the productive efforts of the underpaid workers. — The general picture we have is of the ludicrous situation in which British workers, through their tax payments, subsidise a state where British capitalism can exploit Irish workers to the extent that profits are in excess of their original subsidy. To make the case complete, what we need of course, are more accurate figures on the finances of Northern Ireland.

The provision of those figures is not to be expected. Most authorities on Northern Ireland run up against the same problem when they come to discuss the finances of the state. Mansergh writes,“‘The Imperial Government has displayed no little anxiety lest any public discussion of the (financial) relationship between Great Britain and Northern Ireland should reopen the Irish Question as a whole” (“The Government of N. Ireland”’, p.222), He adds; “This anxiety is shared by the Government of Northern Ireland”. And that was written in 1936! I wonder how anxious they must both be now. And later, in 1964 C.J. Lawrence, in a book on the finances of Northern Ireland, complains about the cloud of secrecy over the most pertinent financial matters. And in the Commons Debate on N. Ireland in-September 1961, no less a figure than Harold Wilson made exactly the same complaints. Well, to refer back to Mansergh’s statement, the Irish question “as a whole” is now reopened, but not because of any public discussion of the financial relationships between Britain and the Six Counties. The secrecy in that area remains, however, and there is probably increased anxiety on the part of both governments—if only because of the 7 vastly increased direct military expenditure. — The figures and the argument g e superficial documents as THE STER YEAR do know that there i isan outtited capital from N_ Ireland to Britain. We also know that this outflow is a mer figure—that is, the outflow figure is arrived at after the subsidy has been taken into account. So, the gross outflow of capital from N. Ireland is greater than the inflow— the private outflow is in excess of the public inflow. The excess is very difficult to estimate, but some authorities suggest that the private outflow could be twice as big as the public inflow. Part of the outflow will be the

LIVING WOMEN’S LIBERATION:

defence of the Catholic communities. They initiated the Hen Patrols which counter the “Duck Patrols”’ of the British Army. Their warning of imminent British Army raids, with the now traditional whistle blowing and dustbin-lid banging, has allowed many men to escape the British Army. These warnings have forced the Army to tie down large numbers of soldiers in order to search an area. But women are now moving from a supportive role to actual participationin the armed struggle. Many IRA operations are now carried out by teams of both men and women. The Official IRA recruits women directly into its ranks, though the Provisionals still maintain Cumann na mBan as a separate women’s organisation. Rose Curry was the first female IRA officer to be killed in the course of the present struggle.

No women have as yet been interned, though this is a possibility which they may now have to face. An extension has recently been built on to the women’s prison in Armagh,and there are rumours that a new internment camp is being built to accommodate women.

aeortet polat Sar the true financial relats and if the extent of British capa tion could be demonstrated, it is the class element of the s might becorme.snara SSpeeeat of the working class there.

W. Thompson So far the security forces have maintained the fiction of Orange justice in relation to women—more than 50 women are presently in jail, after being tried in the Court for political offences. Rita O’Hare is one of those against whom the state has framed an attempted murder charge in order to impose its judicial internment. However, the method of getting rid of political women through the courts is too cumbersome to deal with the numbers of women involved, and internment of women is probably not far off. The British press has been softening up British public opinion for this move. An example of this was the ‘Terror Girls’ attack on the Maguire sisters who were shot by British soldiers for sounding a car horn during a British army attack.

The active participation of women marks the turning point in the struggle—it is a participation without which the Irish struggle for national liberation could never succeed. And it has itself involved a revolution which has already destroyed the basis for the continued existence of the Orange State. Rosemary Sales

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, has in his report done all his political masters expected from him, and indeed more. Thirteen Irishmen, none of whom even Lord Widgery could Say was armed, were killed in Derry on January 30th by the British Army using British army bullets, but now, the British Government through its legal arm tells the world that the major share of responsibility lies with the Civil Rights Association march organisers.

Lord Widgery concedes that the deaths were unfortunate, but as he wrote, “‘in the circumstances, it is not remarkable that mistakes were _ made and some civilians hit”. When the only valid questions at this stage were whether the paratroopers were taking part in a pre-ordered _ manoeuvre that badly misfired _ they lo: _ Widge Shitin ing either at rybody or nobody, Widgery continues this dition of British legal half-truths by using cial gymnastics. e has indeed served his masters well; the very ed of his report would indicate that it was a mere formality. The only surprise was that _ some people were anticipating the impossible _ —the truth; but where the accused should have ere . ccusatio The Rise of the Irish Trade Unions, by Andrew Boyd—Anvil, 50p.

A History of the Irish Working Class.

by P. Berresford Ellis. Gollanez, £3.50 j ! Recently there has been a whole spate of __ histories of the Irish labour movement and labour histories of Ireland. Unfortunately, _ most of these are without much value since _ they make no analysis and do not contribute _ new material. The two books above are _ typical of these. __ The Rise of the Irish Trade Unions, like Boyd’s previous effort, is a laborious des- _criptive document. While it draws heavily on previously published works such as been examining his own grave misdemeanours, the murky waters of deception flowed freely.

A sample extract from the report will illustrate the aptness of the remark made by Eddie Mc- Ateer, of the Nationalist Party that “‘we are lucky he did not find that the 13 had committed suicide”’. The key paragraph is number 54 which asks “who fired first?” and reads: “I am entirely satisfied that the first firing in the courtyard was directed at the soldiers.”” Why is the good Lord so sure? Read on, “Such a conclusion is not reached by counting heads or by selecting one particular witness as truthful in preference to another. It is a conclusion gradually built up over many days of listening to evidence and watching the demeanour of witnesses under cross-examination.”A_ remarkable insight into the working of British concluding line: “If the soldiers are wrong ~ + PX¥2! atic " - On such a basis as this, does the Lord Chief Justice form his conclusion; elsewhere in his report, he accepts the evidence of an officer wholesale simply because it was after all “the word of an officer and a gentleman”.

Lord Widgery himself of course has an upstanding military record himself, and knows about these things; he has found and deterfirst armed when they were shot; he stated that in

WRI TEWV ASHE:

mined the only criticisms to be levelled against the Army are minor ones concering the way they handled the demonstration.

A whole array of various witnesses, press people, passers-by, clerics, and demonstrators, people. with little in common unlike the army witnesses, stated adamantly in Coleraine to the good Lord that no shots were fired or bombs thrown at the paratroopers before they opened fire. Lord Widgery has determined that these civilian witnesses were simply mistaken while “doing their best to be truthful”, as the report states in such a subtle yet so patronising a manner. Those 13 Irishmen are dead with British bullets in them yet Widgery does not say who was responsible in his 35,000 word report, when this was the major motivation in the Sition”. And yet Widee: somehow managés to avoid the conclusion of criminal responsibility for these killings. When the facts stare him in the face.

British justice now stands clearly exposed as merely a matter of expediency, of clearing up the dirty washing left by British policies in the last of its colonies. —David Martin LSC UPSURGE from pager The credentials report showed that ' there were delegates from 22 ISC branches, and representatives from 19 other organisations including 3 AIL branches, 2 Trade Union organisations, 2 Students Unions, 2 LPYS branches, Fraternal delegates were present from Belgium and Switzerland from the Ceylon Solidarity Campaign, and from P.D. and the RMG in Ireland. Messages were read from Sweden and Denmark, and also from Cabhair Uladh — Irish Civil Rights, in Dublin.

AIL MEETING

At a special delegate meeting held in London on May 2nd the Anti-Internment League decided to broaden the political basis of its demands. The most important points which were agreed were the adoption of ‘Selfdetermination for the Irish people’ and ‘We oppose British imperialism in Ireland in all its forms and declare our solidarity with the Republican and Socialist organisations who spearhead the resistance in Ireland’.

Proposals from Kensington and Paddington AIL, for ‘Solidarity with all forces fighting British imperialism, including both wings of the IRA’, was successfully amended to remove the last six words, and the meeting also rejected a proposal from ISC that the AIL should holda conference to draw up a new programme based on self-determination which would be unambiguous in its support for the military struggle, and suggesting the formulation ‘Unconditional support for the IRA in its military struggle against British imperialism and the forces of reaction in Ireland’. The discussion showed up two important confusions in the minds of the majority of the delegates. Firstly, no distinction was made between general support for the organisations involved in the struggle in the North, and specific support for the military struggle of the IRA, and secondly, a conception that the representatives of the Republican organisations present could have a veto on whether the movement in Britain took such a position. Confusion _ was further increased by a speech inwhich Chris Harman of IS suggested that the proposal had no meaning except to justify a ‘spli movement outside the AIL. _ working class away from its prejudices about the Irish struggle. Keith Veness of the ‘Charthe impossibility of dodging this issue, and the favourable response to a principled position within the labour movement. Harman’s witch-hunting speech was refuted by pointing out that ISC was formed before the AIL, and that the ISC was trying.to get a principled basis for a united organisation.

CRIBBED IRISH HISTORY

Ryan’s History of the Irish Labour Movement (often without acknowledgement) it does serve a limited purpose by bringing a lot of this material together ynder one cover. As such newcomers to the subject should find it useful. Boyd begins in the early 18th century and traces the Anglo-Irish government’s attempts to suppress the “workers combinations’’. Anti-Union laws were passed in 1729, 1743, 1757, 1763 and 1780. Finally the notorious Wilberforce Act of 1799 suppressing all Unions in Britain was extended to Ireland but with an all round increase in penalties and punishment.

And when one speaks of punishment that is what is meant. For example, the Act of 1750 provided for imprisonment of up to six months and a public whipping for trade union membership. Boyd reports an incident in 1770 where a trade unionist was whipped through the streets of Dublin by the local hangman while the City Sheriff walked alongside watching! During the early 19th century it appears that the Irish Trade Unions were better organised and more militant than in industrialised Britain. But Boyd does not bother to analyse this phenomenon Here he missed an opportunity to show how the national struggle and the class struggle fuse. Because British imperialism dominated the Irish economy native Irish industry was in decline and the livelihood.

of the artisan workers was in jeopardy. This was why the trade union movement supported O’Connell’s demand for repeal. However, even at this early stage class antagonisms had become too sharp to allow O’Connell and the trade unions to fight out the issue together.

So in 1831 the Dublin Trades Political Union began an independent repeal campaign in opposition to O’Connell.

Boyd goes on to describe the rise of the genera!

trade unions and the emergence of such leaders as Connolly and Larkin. Again he fails to analyse this process and so missed a chance to explan the revolutionary nature of Connolly’s and Larkin’s politics. Generally these last chapters are heavily indebted to Emmet Larkin’s biography of Larkin and Greaves’ biography of Connolly and display not a spark of originality.” A History of the Irish Working Class, by Berresford Ellis has a misleading title.

In fact it is a general, vague and very often, imprecise account of. Irish history from early times. Again there is not a trace of originality, with the author liberally poaching ideas and quotes from other well known ard easily available works. The book begins by attempting to back up Connolly's claim that primitive communism existed in Ireland. Few people would dispute Connolly’s contention if left like that.

However, Connolly’s ciaim that primitive communism lasted right up to the 16th century at most has only partial justificatim It is typical of Ellis that he should fail to understand what the real debating point was.

Next the author moves on to a discussion of feudalism in Ireland where he makes a few useful comments about the role of the Church as a force acting to break down the resistance of the class system. However this point has already been made by T-A. Jackson. The following chapter on the Plantations makes much use of Heslinga’s book: The Irish Border asa Cultural Divide. Needless to say, as this work is a sophisticated piece of Orange propaganda the author tries to hide his sources . The chapter on the United Irishmen is pathetic and grossly confused due to the author’s failure to pinpoint the class forces operating at the time. The following chapter on Socialist Pioneering is just an expanded version of a similar chapter in Connolly’s Labour in Irish History, though nonetheless interesting. The next two chapters, O’Conre Il— the enemy within and Marx, Engles and the Fenians are about the best in the book. The final chapters, like those in Boyd’s book, rely heavily on Emmet Larkin and Greaves, and it would be far better to go directly to the sources—both their books together, cost less than Berresford Ellis. B. Kelly tist’ drew on personal experience to underline oad