“STOP PRESS As we go to press, the prisoners…”

— STOP PRESS !

As we go to press, the prisoners on hunger strike in Portlaoise face “continuing silence from the Free State government to their demands. Today 4 of the hunger strikers have been removed to the Curragh military hospital; what will happen to them there has yet to be revealed. Cooney seems determined not to concede to any of the demands. The knowledge of the disgraceful conditions these men have endured is only now seeping through the media.

Republicans and socialists must mobilise in solidarity with these hunger strikers, As political prisoners they are in the front line of the repression of the Free State and British Imperialism.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE PORTLAOISE HUNGER-STRIKERS!

offensive was the assassination of Francis Green by a special task force of the British Army (possibly with personnel from both the SAS and the UDR).

By the very nature of their operations, which are more consciously political — that is, counter-revolutionary — than the operations of the regular army, the SAS have close links with the most right-wing elements in the B.A.’s top brass. To suggest, as at least one [Irish newspaper did, that the task force involved would have been unaware of the political significance of their action in relation to the ceasefire is clearly ridiculous, some of the features of events around the Ulster Workers Council strike. Then, a speech by British P.M., Harold Wilson, announcing that the army would smash the Loyalist strike, was vetoed by General Sir Frank King. Order to dismantie UDA barricades were neutralised by a British Army ‘work-to-rule’ policy of standing by while barricades were rebuilt a few yards awav.

The response of the minority In their response to the ceasefire, the British government have refused to be moved from the central objectives of their post-Sunningdale Strategy. The political lesson of the UWC strike was abundantly clear; and only the mass mobilisation of the oppressed minority can alter the political balance of forces away from the process of rebuilding a Stormont-type regime.

This places the Provos in a dangerously isolated position. While there is no doubting the conviction of Provo rank-and-filers that what they are fighting for is the Workers’

hunger strike. their efforts around the question in the coming months.

leaders even issued a public rebuke,. But as the offensive gathered momentum O'Brien no longer needed to threaten resignation. The.

Special Branch were given free rein not only to arrest any possible Provo negotiators they could get their hands on, but also to prevent meetings taking placé by a policy of close observatior and harassment. In addition to tnese measures, 4 provocation was launched at Portlaoise which continues with the hard-line response to the in the height of the right-wing offensive, O'Brien represented the ‘Irish dimension’ (!) at the SDLP conference, while Fitt spoke explicitly on behalf of the British government; Paisley praised Rees and Allan chatted with the UDA. The right had united against the Provos.

Only mass action will beat the Right In the context of the crisis of perspectives in the anti-Unionist population and the disorientation and demoralisation which has deepened since the UWC strike, British imperialism and the SDLP see the Opportunity to gain ground on certain crucial issues. Thus the most active intervention on the streets in the New Year was the movement of the RUC into areas they could not enter before the ceasefire. Both Rees and the SDLP are conscious of the importance of the issue of policing in the overall strategy of rebuilding Stormont, and they can be expected to concentrate much of And for revolutionaries the key initiatives will be to build resistance to the RUC. It will be vital both to denounce the SDLP surrender on policing and to engage actively in building the resistance. |n this way, it will be possible to develop the idea of mass self-defence in a very practical way, and to begin to rebuild the combativity and confidence of the Catholic masses. What is the connection between traffic accidents and British Army morale?

Early last year, Roy Mason, British Minister for Defence, indicated that the “Horrific” scale of B.A. casualties in |reland was destroying morale and hitting recruitment. About three-and-a-half thousand have been killed or wounded.

In March of last year, the Observer newspaper reported that British soldiers killed in action have been “flown back to Britain - in some cases listed as traffic fatalities.”

Over the year there has been a great reduction in British Army casualty figures, and a mysterious increase in the number of soldiers killed in German road accidents.

An example of the faking of road accident figures was reported in a local German newspaper, the Westfalisches Voiksblatt. After a road accident in heavy rain on the Autobahn between the town of Bielefeld and the British Army base at Heford, when an Army transport lorry overturned, the B.A. issued a statement claiming that 10 soldiers were setiously injured.

However, the local German Fire Brigade Unit which came to the scene, reported that a total of only 6 soldiers was involved.

COLLABORATOR OF THE YEAR The award for Collaborator of the Year must be shared this year, - between Gerry Fitt and Conor Cruise o’ Brien.

Gerry Fitt has gone so far for so long that there can be no role for him outside of British politics, He is looking for the kind of reward that used to be reserved for Unionists.

Most of the details of the Cruiser's amazing meal of insults with certain press correspondents have appeared in one newspaper or another. Such as the toast: ‘’To democracy and all the repressive legislation necessary to maintain it’, and so on.

One detai! | haven't séen reported anywhere was his constant reference to the |rish people as “my little people’.

The Plough — page 3

SPSESSHSSEKESSESSESSSSSESESSSSLSESSE In order to make any progress on order to get the British out, all you

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Parallel with moves during UWC Strike? The right-wing line-up against the ceasefire shared