Ireland and the Fourth International

Papers, journals and pamphlets of the Fourth International's supporters in Ireland, 1969–1996

An Open Letter

In The Plough: Vol. 2 no. 16, c. January 1975 · scan page 6 · about 536 words

The Fourth InternationalTrade unions and workers' struggles

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Machine-read text, not corrected. Cut from the scan by machine, by the size of the headline type. Where columns were set close together, lines of a neighbouring article can run in, and a headline can be missed so that two articles share a page. For anything you quote, read the scan.

Scan page 6

OPEN LETTER TO THE SOCIALIST Dear Comrades, In the December issue of THE WORKER, you state, in an article on Armstrongs: “It is essential to prevent fully assembled Opels coming into the country — the appeal to dockers and the idea of sending a delegation to Rosslare are steps in the right direction . . . The original decision of car workers to maintain the assembly industry must be pushed and acted upon, with prevention of car imports ‘on wheels”.

In the same issue, in an article on Smiths in Wexford, you attack dumping of bogus ‘Irish-assembled cars’, and report with approval the Dublin car workers call “‘to car workers and dockers not to handle imported assembled models as a means of supporting their action to and Price 20p from RMG branches, or 30p (including posage and packing) from Plough Book Service, c/o 38 Clanawley Road, Killester, Dublin 5. The: Plough — page 6 resist redundancy and unemployment in the industry”. And you report that the Smiths workers were “well supported by the dockers in Rosslare Harbour who refused to handle any goods for the car assembly industry.”

Similarly, in an issue of the GALWAY WORKER (no date), you state: “At the moment Ireland is becoming a dumping ground for floods of very cheap clothes and shirts. Shirts are pouring in from Hong Kong, Roumania, South Korea, Portugal, etc. They can be sold here at such knock down prices because of the paltry wages of workers in these countries. Workers in the clothing industry must fight this dumping . . . It is through the Federation of Shop Stewards and Rank-and-File workers 2 Pamphlets INPRECOR {5 the new analytical journal of the Fourth International, which will be published simultaneously every two weeks fn English, Spanish, French and German. It will be an Ind {spenseble organ for 411 militants hoping to develop an understanding of the interMational class struggie ana contribute in the building of a centralised rewolutionary International Printed in Ireland Oct. Sth'74 Oct. 26th IRISH SECTION OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL | WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE REVOLUTIONARY MARXIST GROUP 44 cacy brea akan copsu pine tedine secpae csepececcqicspedspedbe cece cage, Pee eeee ttt iter re eee reer e rer er ere rrry eraeteeeeseee ‘ fought.”

So far, so good. committees that general demands for the blacking of ‘dumped’ clothing and for the blacking of assembled cars can be raised and But at the National Delegate Conference of the Federation, rather than fighting for and raising “general demands for the blacking of assembled cars”, members of your organisation actually opposed such a demand. Confused by the sophisticated ultra-right Stalinism of the Two Nations pro-Wage Restraint B.I.C.O., your members fell for the diversion of associating the use of embargoes as a tactic in the ongoing struggle of workers around redundancie$with the use of embargoes and the ‘Buy Irish’ campaign of the bosses and bureaucrats to protect the interests of native capitalism.

What can your readers make of your politicies when you call for a tactic in your paper and vote against it at a vital rank-and-file conference?

Fraternally, JOHN O’SULLIVAN

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revolutionar marxist group Send 10° The Secretary, R.M.G, 38 Clanawley Road, Dublin 5.

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