IRISH MOCRA

(Incorporating "Irish Freedom") New Series No. 76 APRIL, 1951 Price 3d.

R E A D E R ! WE WANT Y O U R N E W S

News, articles, stories, poems, letters should be sent to the

Editor (see page 4)

Irish Freedom is being: green

final in Scotland ?

from P E T E R MacMENUS S C O T T I S H foo tba l l - fans a r e specu la t ing ^ on t h e possibility of a n "a l l -green" Cup final . Bo ih Glasgow Celtic a n d Edin-b u r g h Hibe rn i an are in the semi- f ina l of the Sco t t i sh Cup. T h e "Hibs" a r e well away a t t he top of the League with h ighes t po in ts and th ree g a m e s in hand . They should win. Celtic h a s a t least a good even chance of mee t ing t h e m .

Las t t ime the two I r i sh t e a m s m e t in lhe final unprecedented scenes were wit-nessed. T h e record crowd s a n g "Hail , glorious St . Pa t r ick" so lustily t h a t they are sa id to have dislodged rocks f r o m the sides of Slemish.

AMERICAN NEWS

PAGE SIX

Amazing admission made in Cork PROFESSOR OX "GIVE IT THEM FREE"

from JAMES SAVAGE C O N F I R M A T I O N OF THE URGENCY OF THE WARNINGS ISSUED W IN THE "IRISH DEMOCRAT" AGAINST THE INTER - PARTY GOVERNMENT'S INTENTION OF INVOLVING IRELAND IN ANGLO-AMERICAN W A R PLANS IS SUPPLIED BY A SPEECH BY PROFESSOR HOGAN.

Speech was made at Cork University (President Professor Alfred O'Rahilly who welcomed the treaty of 1921 which partitioned Ireland).

to wait a few months or at most a year and a half," declared the profes-

J. SAVAGE CAMOUFLAGE

STATEMENT He claimed that members of the

Government had "stated" to him that they were going to bargain ent ry into the Atlantic pact for the re tu rn cf the Six Counties.

"They told me we would only have

BACK AGAIN WITH US Jimmy Doyle - sports writer

POPULAR FIGURE REJOINS 'DEMOCRAT'

( 1Q-ORDINATING the sports news in the " ' "Democrat" from now on we re-intro-duce J immy Doyle, whose knowledgeable re-porting was so well appreciated in the "Irish Democrat" five years a fo .

Mr. Doyle attended the Connolly Associa-tion St. Pa t r i cks night Ceilidhe in the "One T u n " together with his tall, charming wife.

Mrs. Doyle's ambition is to re tu rn to Ire-land for a holiday. She is out of it 17 years.

SINGER J immy Is a singer as well and filled the

gap created by the sudden illness of Dick Johnson—and then, like manna f rom heaven, Ciaran OXenehan came along, and there were two.

In politics Jimmy Doyle is Fianna Fall. "But I support the Connolly Associations Ugh* for Independence," he declared. JAMES DOYLE

sor. OPPOSED IT

r r H E Professor strongly criticised GOT-e rnmen t policy—but not for bargain-

ing away I r i sh f reedom for a spurious unity in slavery—for ne t get t ing into the pact immediately.

It will be remembered that the Profes-sor, whose brother was a Minister of the Cosgrave Government, was a warm sup-porter of the O'Oufly Blueshirt movement ether members of which sit in ministerial chairs alongside renegade Labour ana Republicans.

War moves in tens i fy every day. Dorman O 'Gowan ' l a t e Smi th ) is an open advo-cate of a reac t ionary bargain.

CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION DRAMA MOVE MR. BERNARD MURPHY wishes It to be

announced that he is forming once again the Irish Theatre Group which he con-ducted "until recently. The Group now has over a dozen members and rehearsals have begun on Synge 's two short plays, "Riders to the Sea" and. "The Shadow of the Oki l . "

Readers of the "Irish Democrat" and mem-bers of Lhe Connolly Association who are In-terested can be put in touch with.the l^eatre Group by writing c/o 'Irish Democrat' Office.

Prob lem is the unpopu la r i t y of this policy. Thinking caps a r e pu l l ed t igh t to t ry to inVent an acceptable camouflage. " I r i sh Times" advocates modifying Article Four of the At l an t i c P a c t Which the "Irish Democrat" was t h e f i r s t paper to disclose involved suppor t f o r par t i t ion. Modificat ion of acceptance- of present f r o n t i e r s would, it is t h o u g h t , lead to accep tance of vast occupat ion f - ibrces u n d e r the pact. *

Mr. Oe Valera refuses to declare against the Pact and all it would involve for the Irish people, sheltering behind the fact that he is in opposition.

I t is generally held, however , t h a t De Valera ' s ut terances a re deliberately g u a r d e d and tha t his real policy is identi-cal in essentials to t h a t of t h e Govern-men t . On the other h a n d h e is also gambl ing on the coalition m a n a g i n g oo las t unt i l a f t e r the nex t p re s iden t i a l elec-tion, under which c i r cums tances Mr: De Valera would not wish to s t r e w thorns on t h e pa th to Phoenix P a r k .

BELFAST A NEW chapter has been written in the

trade union history of the North by for the strike of 3,200 aircraft workers nine weeks in defence of ten shop stewards who were dismissed by Short Bros, and Hariand, on January Mnd.

Despi te the weak suppor t they received in d e f e n c e of vital workshop t r ade union r i g h t s f r o m officials of the i r unions a t n a t i o n a l and local level t h e workers , aided by the mi l i t an t shop s t ewards ' movement in Bel fas t , forced official recogni t ion of t h e d i spute by all t he un ions .

BREAKDOWN

Nat iona l officials of t he unions , when they visited Belfas t t o m e e t t h e Arm's represen ta t ives and <the depu t i e s of the a n t i - t r a d e union Six-County Minis te r of Labour , were met by a d e m o n s t r a t i o n of 300 shop s tewards f rom all t he engineer-ing t r a d e s in the city.

A f t e r the breakdown twiee of negotia-t ions conducted by the Minis t ry of Labour

Our Belfast Correspondent a court of inquiry into the causes of the dispute was set up but th i s court never really sat . W h e n it opened, negot ia t ions were resumed instead and t r a a e union officials and the representa t ives of the firm agreed to a se t t lement , but the men, a t a mass meet ing, flatly re jec ted the condit ions the firm advanced.

AGREEMENT At the time of writing another draft

agreement has been completed and the workers are to meet to consider the terms.

T h e par t ies assembled for the court of inquiry on the 60th day of t h e str ike, but a f t e r 15 minu tes the court ad journed , as t rade union officials and the firm sought to find te rms for a r e tu rn to work.

The firm agreed tt> r e ins t a t e the ten shop s tewards as workers and if they a rc re-elected to the i r fo rmer posit ions they will no t be recognised by the Arm unt i l a f t e r fo rmal discussions with the t r ade unions to which they belong. T h e re-election of all of t h e shop-s tewards is

VICTORY almost cer ta in but the firm was looking for a face-saving formali ty.

OPPORTUNE The terms agreed to between the t rade

union officials a n d the firm are not ex-pected to sa t i s fy the workers, however, bu t with the weakening a t t i tude of the union leaders the acceptance of a compromise was opportune. T h e solidarity' of the shop s tewards and the workers *wfi£s u n T

shaken a f t e r n ine weeks, as the f r equen t mee t ings proved, but if the t r ade union leadership, 'particularly a t natlotal level, h a d shown the same ardour as the workers, t he men would have gone back to work with bet ter te rms t h a n those they were advis fd to accept. T h e t rade union executives were more concerned wiih ge t t ing a se t t l ement t h a n f ight ing for t rade union r ights and It is unders tood t h a t the workers were warned by some of the unions t h a t if they didn ' t hur ry up and accept a se t t lement , as agreed be-tween the firm and the uplons, official recognition of the dispute would be wi thdrawn.

COAL IN CORK M a n * p r o t e s t s .

Ci O R K children shiver as Jthe death-rate . ' among the old peqftfit ' i i l t l t record heights. ' Reason—the s c a r c i t y h i g h pripe of coal, now: infl icted on Abe people Of Cork,, following B r l W i a y to freeze Ireland 'mil. J w J« < t n

Cork people are asking "Why is Ameri-can coal at £9 a ton ( f i f teen shillings dearer than that sold anywhere else in the country and difficult to burn) inflicted on the Southern capital?" T h e angry protests in the Labour Movement have forced the' Corporation to make public protest.

"I think we should not accept this situation," said Aid. McOrath.

"I propose we demand a national price for coal. I wonder, in the fixing of wages will the Labour Court or any other body fix a higher rate for Cork to compensate for the higher price of coal. If not, I can't see where the workloc people can get the extra money. This s tate of affairs is a scandal."

Attempts to increase the rent of cot-tages, which are falling to pieces through lack of repair, bring loud protests from rank and file members of i t t e Kilmichaei branch of the Labour Party Bitter com-plaints were made against th is further proposed rise In the cost of living. This v a s adding insult to injury, since their cottages were In such difirepair gWing to the contract system of repair aiid- the In-efficiency of the counci l .

A resolution was passed, demanding that repairs be carried out by direct labour in the future. • . I ..

- t " "

2 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT April, 1951

Twenty per cent bonus won on festival site Well-known Manchester Republican lays wreath

OUR MANCHESTER CORRESPONDENT k J l C H A E L NAUGHTON, of County ^ Galway, one of the best-known republicans in the Manchester district, has once more consented to lay the wreath on the grave of the tftanches-ter Martyrs at Moston Cemetery.

The ceremony will be held on Easter Sun-day. shortly a f t e r this goes to press, but will be reported in full in the next issue of the "Ir ish Democrat ." The commemoration has been main ta ined year by year without inter-mission for three-quarters of a century, a striking tr ibute to the hold which Allen, Larkin and O'Brien established over the imaginat ions of the Manchester Ir ish.

Mr. Naughton is a member of the Man-chester Area Council of the Anti-Partit ion of Ireland League. He was a personal f r i end of the late Seumas Barrat t , and a member of the Martyrs Committee.

K N E W M E L L O W E S Mr. Naughton comes from Ballygar. which

is also the home town of Mr. Daniel Kilcom-mins, secretary of the Manchester b ranch of the Connolly Association. But Mr. Naughton is many years older. He joined the Volun-teers in 1916 but left the country a f t e r a number of gruelling years spent continuously on the run. His house was raided continually and he says Free State hirelings were every bit as bad as the British.

Although he did not know Connolly per-sonally, he knew both Liam Mellow es and his brother Barney Mellowes intimately. Because of being on the run he spent but little time in his native Galway, being mostly in Mayo and Sligo. That incidentally explains why Mr. Kilcommlns never came across him at home.

BUILDING WORKER S VIEWS

Willie McGee \ T t h e t ime of writing the S u p r e m e

- * Cour t of t h e United Sta tes g r a n t e d a s t ay of execut ion in the case of Will ie McGee, who is under sentence of d e a t h for a c r ime he never committed.

His wife, who has been touring the United States speaking at monster meet-ings, recently revealed that the woman whom McGee is alleged to have raped was on the contrary continually importuning McGee.

This f a c t would have emerged be fo re now but fo r the na tura l feelings of t h e wife who n o t unnatura l ly considered t h e e t h e r f a c t s completely decisive.

West London branch of the Connoiiy Association pMsed unanimously a resolu-tion cal l ing for the acquittal of this inno-cent man.

T h e reso lu t ion was forwarded to the Amer ican Ambassador and the P re s s a n a was widely repor ted.

\ J UCH has been written and spoken about - ' A the Festival of Britain. Highly paid c a V N i a n s from the cosy atmosphere of Broadcasting House crack stale jokes about "statues" and the " tanner ." Two noble members of tha t ancient and democratic in-stitution, the House of Lords, who probably couldn't distinguish between a trowel and a shovel, had a mild tant rum about the Festi-val. One of the aristocratic specimens wanted the Battersea Park Pleasure Gardens closed down, as "jollification and recreation" was out of order in the present internat ional situation. His supposed political opponent disagreed on the grounds tha t this was pre-cisely what the Keds wanted to undermine defence preparations, etc. Defence in the eyes of those gentlemen in the production of tanks, guns, planes, atom bombs and other murderous weapons. Needless to say the-majority of building workers regard this propaganda with contempt, knoWing t ha t if war did unfortunately break out those noble

1 gentry would find themselves cushy numbers well behind the lines in reserved occupations. Experience shows tha t those who sweat pro-ducing the weapons, have the unenviable privilege of dying using them.

Dissatisfaction was also expressed in the House of Commons on the alleged inadequacy of the catering arrangement for the expected million foreign visitors. A London evening paper, writing on the pictorial propaganda being used to entice foreign visitors, com-mented on a picture of a table groaning under the weight of choicest foods. Though such concern is being shown by the Press for the welfare and appetites of foreign visi-tors, it rarely bothers to concern itself with the welfare of the building workers doing the construction which makes the Festival pos-sible, only to make the usual splash about Red plots whenever an industrial dis-pute occurred on the site. ' P H E work on the Pleasure Garden site -i- commenced about mid-'50. The site

covers an area of 37 acres which for the most of the time has been a veritable quagmire of sludge, making even walking about diffi-cult. Many buildings c»" the most varied architectural designs are almost completed. The Big Dipper has already been tested, and a riverside pier is being constructed. Amongst

other at tractions will be a Peter Pan's rail-way, children's zoo, etc.; 37,000 tulips are being planted, and the whole lay-out will "harmonise with the na tura l beauty of the park."

ABOUT 1,500 workmen are employed on on the site, approximately half of whom

are Irish. At the beginning trade union organisation was weak, but as more deter-mined trade unionists came along, and as the necessity to improve the primitive wel-fare and working conditions become more urgent, a hundred per cent, organisation was built up with a capable and militant Works Committee. As a result , various improve-

by TOM DURKIN

ments in wages and working conditions were secured by determined action, including a 20 per cent, bonus and the reinstatement of wrongfully dismissed men by sergeant-major type foremen. The main reason for these successes was the unity amongst the workers, particularly on the Works Committee which consisted of Catholics, Communists, Labour and some of the not definite outlook. Whilst heated arguments on politics, religion and the most diverse issues can usually be heard in the canteen, differing opinions aren ' t allowed to endanger uni ty before the boss. As is usual on most big building sites, t rade union and political l i terature is sold, mainly "Daily Worker," "Catholic Worker," "New Builders' Leader," and by no means least our own "Irish Democrat ." On one occasion a prominent representat ive of the firm sug-gested to a leading Communist trade unionist that the sale of the '.'Catholic Worker" should be prohibited. Much to his discomfiture, he was told tha t no spli t t ing manoeuvre would be tolerated and t ha t t he democratic r ights of the workers would be upheld even if they wanted to sell "Comic Cuts ." / \FTEN in the past a t tempts have been

made by unscrupulous and sometimes misguided people to split Irish and English workers, by alleging t h a t Irish workers under-mine conditions, are backward in trade union

I. DON'T FORGET NOW W E R Y soon now—two or three * months —and the "Irish Demo-

crat" and Connolly Association will have a full-time official Jn its office.

Can you believe it ? Sincte 1947 every scrap of work has been done voluntarily by writers, workers, sellers, in their leisure hours.

That will go on. But to co-ordinate this great and growing effort we must restore the professional centre we had till 1947.

Irish Councillor could solve Westminster crux

Our Monagfian

A REPORT in the "Belfast Telegraph" of February 2nd, 1951 states t h a t Mr.

McLeod, Conservative M.P. for Enfield W„ was not pleased with the present replicas of the Lion and the Unicorn which has been installed in Westminster Hall", the new British House of Commons, and he asked the Minister of Works, Mr. Stokes, whether and for what reason they are to remain in their present position. He said: "They are mons-trous things which look as if they had come f rom the wardrobe of some film studio, they are completely out of place in what is t he finest and oldest par t of the Palace of West-minster." '

Problem Solved Some months ago at a meeting of the

Monaghan Urban Council, the vice-chairman, Mr. Andrew McCarron (Ind., F.F.) refused to stt or act under the shadow of the Lion and the Unicom which was above the main ent-rance doer of the Council Chamber. Mr. lieCftJTon protested to the British emblem • n d had a motion carried to have it removed and have the Irish emblem replace it. The

Ay architect in his specification has esti-the sum of £1,000 for Its removal and

' U r . McLeod and Mr. Stokes agree to l ^ i perfect replica for Westminster

I MO sure t ha t the Monaghan Urban l h»ve no hesitation in present-

(free of charge). I may add here that It has been electrically treated

•ft few months ago and Is in sound condit ion.

Correspondent The Lion and the Unicorn have received

much publicity and are better ^nown to the people of Monaghan as "The Keowboys." This nickname was christened on t h ^ L i o n and the Unicorn by the Unionist representative of the_ Council on each occasion when he made references towards the British emblem. I feel tha t If the Minister of Works, Mr. McLeod and Monaghan U.D.C. work hand in hand and take action they can put an end to these protests against the Lion and the Unicorn.

says MAY

HAYES

Sales have risen. But not enaugh. The special fund approaches £71. But we waat another 2^00 per noatti, and we want another £130.

Evtfry eapaemy it pnpjtfced. maoey is waakd. So j U » t fnrget m Send in that contribution at onee.

No

HISTORIANS!

This Issue is Free O1

tWING to difficulties and delays in securing the original text of

Eagles'* "History of Ireland," we have to hold up the publication of farther instalments by one more month. We apologise to ear readers, but feel sure they will agree that the prscnrrftient of a definitive text will be worth the delay. At the time of an Bouncing the aeries we were unaware that the original might be made available, and the owner! are going to considerable trouble and expense In copying it for us.

music goes to Moscow A SELECTION of g ramophone records

of I r i sh music h a s been aespa tcheu to the U.S.SJI. T h e records, which in-clude "8t,ar of t h e C o u n t y Down," "Eibiin A Ruin," "Una B a n " a n d "Airs of '98," a r e a present f r o m t h e Irish-U-S^SR. Society to the Society for C u l t u r a l Relations wi th Foreign Countr ies , Moscow.

From the Soviet W o m e n ' s Anti-Fasclst Committee, Moscow, t h e Society's o rgan i -sing secretary h a s h a d a n acknowledg-men t of le t ters s e n t t o t h e m recently. T h e Soviet women wro t e : "We wouid appre-ciate your s end ing I r i sh periodicals, news-paper c l ippings, etc., which could he lp us to become b e t t e r acqua in ted with the life of I r i sh women a n d children." T h e i r let ter is being r ep roduced In full in a for thcoming issue of the Society's monthly newsle t te r , which will be fo r -warded on reques t , pr ice 3d per copy: annua l subscr ip t ion , Including pos tage 3/-. Cor respondence t o : Miss H E. Aii-berry, 37 F l tzwi l l iam Square, Dublin. Eire.

activity, a re only concerned with working un-limited overtime, and that if it hadn ' t been for the influx of Irishmen on the building sites wages would be much better. Some of the allegations are unfortunately correct a t times, though certainly not at Battersea Park, as a few examples will show. When the Festival wrokers decided to march to Hyde Park in support of their sixpence wage claim, the Irish were there in strength, the soft brogue mingling with the metallic Cockney twang shouting the slogan, "We want the tanner ." A special shout was reserved for MacAlpines in Park Lane, where the story of many a gruelling day's toil lies behind the imposing headquarters of the concrete king.

We Irish, like everyone, have our faults, but we react quickly to injustice. Our long history of struggle against the British ruling class has no doubt made us sympathetic to-wards the struggles of other peoples for their rights, and therefore the case of the seven executed Martinsville negroes aroused bitter denunciation, no doubt recalling memories of Tom Mooney. Within an hour 360 signatures to a petition of protest to the U.S. Embassy were secured and a deputation consisting of four Ir ishmen, three coloured men, three Englishmen and a Scot presented the peti-tion, showing that Battersea Park is not indifferent to negro persecution in Virginia. A number of Irishmen also willingly sacri-ficed a half-day's pay to demonstrate their support of the dockers being tried a t Bow Street for struggling to improve their pay and secure their Charter . T ? E E L I N G S of bitter resentment are being -1- expressed at the stationing of Dutch military personnel in Northern Ireland, and I 'm sure tha t Irishmen will never permit any part of our country to be turned into another Indonesia by the Dutch Imperialists, Atlantic Pact or any other pact.

Finally, I wish to add t ha t a hundred copies of the "Irish Democrat" February issue were sold on the job. The popularity of our paper is growing and the next issue is eagerly looked forward to. So here's wishing the Connolly Association and the editorial staff every success in continuing to give the lead on problems affecting Irish people's wel-fare in Britain, In the fight to abolish parti-tion at home, and the establishment of a United Irish Socialist Republic, for which our great patriot Connolly gave his life. Then the immigrant ship will no longer be neces-sary and we can secure peace, fr iendship and brotherly relations with the working people of our neighbouring island, who will one day atone for the brutal oppression of their ruling class by removing them from power and building their own Socialist order based on the equalitv, fr iendship • and sovereignty of all peoples.

G.A.A. Meath 4—6. Louth 0—5.

A FTER 15 minutes' play the Meath left winger, scored a grand goal off a mid-

field free by shooting between a packed South goalmouth. This goal put Meath on the road to the National Football League Divisional honour.

It was hard to realise tha t this Louth team was last year's Lelnster champions and All Ireland finalists. Meath played throughout like All Ireland's champions, their football was superb and fully deserved their victory.

KERRY DOWN Kerry the Munster champions, went down

with flying colour to All Ireland champions, Mayo, by 1—9 to 1—«; this match was de-cider in the group three Divisional League and was played at Ballina. What a grand

by

FINBARR SMYTH match to watch, never a dull moment, with the Kerrymen fighting to the flnai whtetle. Kerry was well served by its full-back line, in Brosnan. J . Murphy, with the Mayo for-ward line of the three M's, Mlckie, Mulderrig and Mongey, well in the game. The Kerry team wore black armlets and a two minutes ' silence was observed in memory of the late Charles O'Connor, the former Kerry foot-baller, whose brother Sean cried off for the match.

POINTS In Division 2 between Wexiord and Tip-

perary a t Davin Park, Carrlck-on-Sulr. Wex-ford emerged the winners by 1—7 to 0—2. This tie was the direct opposite to the Mayo-Kerry tie and there was little if any good football to be seen; the winners received the points, but tha t ' s about all.

At Klidare. Dublin senior players beat the Klldare team by two points, 1—7 to 1—5. Dublin played a grand game and fully de-served to win. Other results were: Offalv 0—9, Roscommon 0—2; Oalway 1—14. Clare 1—8, Carlow 1—«, Waterford 1—4; Longford 3—9, Sllgo 1—6; Cavan 3—9, Leltrlm 1—J.

April, 1951 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 3

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT All Correspondence to

The Editor DESMOND GREAVES

at 13 Lambs Conduit Passage,

London, W.C.I RATE—Twelve Months 4/-

S1 s Mentha 2/-

S T R I K E S ( CONGRATULATIONS to the workers of

Short and Harlands who have won a great victory in the true traditions of Ulster.

Let all genuine Nationalists take off their liats to the men who held out for nine weeks, not merely for economic advantages to them-selves, but primarily because their mates had been victimised. Are these men worth win-ning for the cause of Irish Independence, these men whose sense of solidarity with iheir fellow-workers leads them to make ten times the sacrifice many anti-partition league officials would ever make for their country?

We do not hesi tate to say: until these men are not only within the ranks of those fight-ing for National Liberation, but in the fore-f ron t of them, then Ireland will remain as she is, a divided country composed of^ two vassel states.

The Belfast str ike is a lesson to Dublin. Here also was a spirit of militancy and de-termination which should be the envy and admirat ion of the country, but lacking was the essential, unity.

In the very citadel of Imperialist reaction all the unions, all the trades came together and stood out till victor}' was won. And it needed tha t—nine weeks of it. There were no hesitations, no doubts as to whether some genteel members of the general public might approve of the str ike and the rough methods the strikers were using. They went right in and won.

In the twenty-six county strikes there was disunity. The militancy was there. Men went the length of Sligo to picket—men with not much in their bellies to do it on. In Cork and elsewhere blacklegs were summarily dealt with on the basis tha t it is we or the other fellows in a strike.

But all this came to little first because of the disunity in the trade union movement. Second, the strikers' morale was undermined by the type of propaganda which is so preva-lent in the twenty-six counties to-day, and which has as its object the discrediting of the very concept of working-class independ-ent action.

You cannot have a strong united national movement with a weak and divided working class. The split in the trade union movement has gone on long enough and is deliberately maintained long after a compromise could have been reached, because the right-wing leaders are thereby excused from putting up a struggle in either the industrial or the political field.

The split was engineered at the behest of the industrialists so as to hamstring th£ working class and make effective opposition to their policy of enriching themselves at the expense of the nation's interests an im-possibility. And the result? While in 19M the working class drew 45 per cent, of the national income, now they draw about 30 per cent.

In agriculture the same production is turned out by hands constantly reduced in numbers by emigration. The right-wing La-bour Party leaders have formed a coalition against their members' interests, and sit in the Government, doing very well, thank yoo. Such are the fruits of disuhity.

Belfast has shown the way in 1951 as it showed It in 1907. Few though the 3,000 strikers may have seemed in proportion to the population, they proved themselves united an irresistible force, and a measure of what a united working class, a united people, might do.

Sometimes the way of those struggling for emancipation seems exceptionally dark. Such darkness has overhung Ireland too long al-ready. Even those admirably qualified to lead a movement in better times stumble, fall by the wayside, or rest by the road. Hence the spUnter-parlies which excuse inaction, the In-dividualistic commentators each lit his own coign.

Let those who doubt the future taie one look, a short one, at the Belfast strike, and men get to work. It takes a long time to pieee together a movement split within a divided country. There are no wands or in-strumous of transmogrification. But the steady 'encouragement of the militancy of the working people; the putting of their in-terests first at all times: the encouragement of every slightest trend promising unity in action—this helps powerfully and must tell in time.

The uniting and strengthening of the working class will Increase tenfold the oppor-tunities for a united nation. And let us take courage from one thing: only three years separated 1913 from 1918.

Collaboration's Last Gamble ^ DIPLOMATIC bat t le is being

waged over the body oi Ireland. E v e r y device of political deception, f r o m blatant demagogy to thinly vei led coercion has been called into service. The proposition that is being discussed is that of depr iv ing Ireland of i ts poor vestiges of spurious inde-pendence, wrenched no less bloodily f r o m rapacious imperial ism, and using h e r ter r i tory and resources in a third wor ld war.

Britain is still interested in Ireland as her best market and as a food supplier. Bui now strategic considerations are outweighing all else. Ireland is in the most unfor tunate geo-graphical position in the world. She inter-rup t s Britain's view of American and America's view of Europe. A hostile Ireland would be a desperate menace to the imper-ialist war plans. A friendly or subservient Ireland—even if depopulated and deserted— would be a tremendous asset to them. The war plans now being carried out at the be-hest of the Militarists of Wall Street demand as an essential condition, that Ireland should be brought in. But then comes the old famil iar question. What il' the Irish people don' t want it?

INHERE are three types of answer given by J - the politicians. The first and simplest is advocated by the "Irish Times" in terms of genteel admonition. Professor Hogan of Cork is an addict of it. Get into the Atlan-tic Pact, and ask no questions, is broadly what they say. The basis of this standpoint lies in the direct link-up between British finance-capital and the big capitalist ele-men t s in Ireland. The new provincial Ascen-dancy is all but a replica of the old (landed) ascendancy. They do what their masters tell them.

But politicians of experience have more subtlety. The Fine Gael Government (be-decked with Rathgar Labour and Kingstown Republican, like red-and-green tissue paper round a halfpenny bacon bone) fully appre-ciate the mass feeling against war. They re-member the mass movement against involve-ment in 1939. They recall the unpromising response to their 1948 efforts to popularise a "Holy War." They appreciate that the only hope of getting Ireland at the service of their masters is to lead the people on slowly, throwing dust in their eyes at every step. Mr. De Valera obligingly steps forward to assist in the process. MR. MacBride is in Washington. Is he

there for his heal th? What does Wash-ington want of Ireland? CJjeap food for its Brit ish war base? Bases for bombers? Naval s tat ions for submarines? Much more. The aim is the complete subordination of Ire-land's economic, political and military activi-ties to the world-political aims of Imperial-ism. It means the surrender of the national territory for the use of the Imperialists.

How can the people be persuaded to lease out their territory for such purposes? By means of the lie direct. The surrender of the national territory must be represented as if it were the restoration of national terri-tory. In effect Mr. MacBride—the "republi-c a n " who wrecked the I.R.A. by expelling all the militants, "with ignominy"—tells Bri tain and America, "I can' t get the Irish people in, till you get your fellows out." Professor Hogan, appalled at the Government 's in t ran-sigence In face of the "Communist menace," accuses the Government of selling when they

ought to be giving. The Government on the other hand realises they cannot lace the Irish people empty-handed. Redmond got his Home Rule Bill—plus a Suspensory Act. What will MacBride get? Ending of the bor-der, plus intolerable concessions, or another Suspensory Act? Instead of one part of Ire-land in the empire and the rest "out" of it. we might find the whole half in and half out. I F in return for the ending of the border * he enters the Atlantic pact, that will mean foreign troops all over Ireland. Ire-land would be united—and nobody objects to that—but she would be united as an occu-pied country. The Atlantic pact can be seen at work in Britain. Br i ta in is an occu-pied country. If anybody disbelieves let them try to get a meal in Oxford—the waitresses in the cafes will ignore* h im while they serve Americans. (It may do some of the

b y

DESMOND GREAVES British people no harm to realise what an intolerable thing it is not to be master in your own home. But let us hope they get moving quickly). Ireland so f a r has British forces in the North plus a few Dutch and Americans. The "South" is still under control of the Irish army. Let us see it remains so.

Every action of the Government, the Northern nationalist party, and the leaders of the Anti-Partition League is based on the policy of striking a bargain. To throw dust in the people's eyes, the ma t t e r is put as if the aim is ending the border, and going into the Atlantic pact might be a way of achiev-ing that aim. In fact, the reverse is true. The aim is to get into the pact and protect the property of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy banks, (as a matter of interest, how many Catholic bank directors are there in Ire-land?) and the ending of the border is seen as a way into the pact.

MR. De Valera has a still more subtle ap-proach, worthy of the author of Docu-

ment No. 2. This document, it will be remem-bered, possessed the politically admirable Q u a l i t y ol being unacceptable to the British (thus safeguarding Mr. De Valera's reputa-tion) while not giving the Republicans a political basis to fight on. I t was a red her-ring the size of a shark. Mr. De Valera to-day says tha t neutrality is his policy because Partition remains. Would he bargain? No! Perish the thought! But "a free Ireland might probably have the same inducements to join as other countries had ."

In other words, let MacBride and company carry on with their dirty bargaining. His hands will be kept clean and pure. But pro-vided he got the money first, then of his own free will and in no way as pa r t of a bargain, he would then' probably be prepared to de-liver the goods. If he is genuine why does he not say "Fianna Fail will lead a mass movement to overthrow the coalition rather than tolerate its policy of dragging Ireland into war?"

When Collins said "Treaty," De Valera said "Document No. 2." When dosgrave said "Empire" De Valera said "external asso-ciation.'' When MacBride says "Let's strike a bargain," Mr. De Valera says, "No bargains. You do this of your own f ree will, and with-out conditions, and then I'll do that of my own free will, and without conditions." And that, of course, is not a bargain. The only

snag is tha t the customer may prefer to deal with the more conventional shopkeeper with the goods on the counter.

But just as Document No. 2 was the means of holding back anti-treaty feeling, thus con-tributing with every lost day to the danger of a Civil War, so De Valera's typically dis-honest arguments serve to confuse people who, like the major i ty of Fianna Fail mem-bers, are genuine supporters of national in-dependence. BUT war is the continuation of politics

by other means. A policy of hostility to those whom Bri ta in and America have one result—involvement in Britain's war. I t one result—.involvement in Britain's war. I t is impossible to stop half-way, and this Bri-tain and America know. If the border were to be abolished and the country united even on the basjs of MacBride's proposed bargain, no sane man would say, "tear it apar t again." But it would be a sad day for Ireland. She would be securing a part of her own at the expense of the whole. She would be buying one half of her patrimony at the expense of the other, her formal rights in the six coun-ties by losing substantial rights in the thirty-two.

Collaboration with Imperialisrh is the key-note of Irish Governmental policy since 1922. It has assumed various forms in changing conditions. National reformism has cocked its snooks at the aged lion more t han once— but "for the record" rather than for the fact . ONCE this is realised the central task of

Irish progressives becomes clear, the gradual crystallisation of anti-Imperialist, non-collaborationist forces around the class-conscious working class on the programme of national independence—the right to enjoy one's own country in peace.

The crystallisation of these forces demands the consistent exposure of collaboration in all its subtle forms. Big De Valeras have little De Valeras . . . and so ad infini tum. But it must be remembered that wrong ideas reside in the hear ts of fundamentally decent people. "He's a decent fellow"—so often heard—should not lead to the abatement of ' the ideological struggle, but it may well lead to unity in action. ( OOD people may have bad ideas. How is

J that difficulty to be got over? By unit-ing in action and continuing the debate on ideas. Ideas, like sticks and stones, do not 1 break bones. But actions do. If there are^j any actions which are obviously valuable and useful to all of us, let us perform them to-gether right away, and save all our bones.

You do not agree with my criticisms of De Valera? You think he is for peace and i n -dependence? Well, time will show. If he is ' for peace a strong movement among the Irish for peace will not hinder but help him. If he is for independence, demands to remove. British troops f rom the six counties ought to delight and enourage him. If on the other., hand his concern for these things is pre-tended, a strong movement will safeguard us. Either way it is necessary. Let us join forces, and make such a movement, and whoever has the right ideas will matter little so long *«| as we get what we want in practice. A full belly can afford to be tolerant.

Willingness to unite in action with others is a test of seriousness of purpose, and f o r 1

this reason: The Irish people united art ' , strong enough to defeat imperialism. T h a t li-the reason for the vast intricate costly system of division and sub-division—partition, sec-tarianism (a put-up job if ever there was (Continued on Pag* Four, Column Onty '

DUBLIN L E T T E R from PAUL

Mass oi the people are not ... - — .. ... . . • . c. , 1 .1 1

THE leaders of all parties are committed to a policy of support for American-

sponsored preparations for aggressive war. The campaign against the Dutch has dropped out of public sight, by mutual consent of the Government, Fianna Fall and the Anti-Partition Association. Only the Irish Peace Committee has continued SILENCE to denounce the pretence of Dnteh troops ^ »VUs In on Irish soil.

American forces have been in Derry (un-noticed by De Valera and Costeite) for many weeks. De Valera who during the last war condemned, as an unfriendly act the landtag of United States troops in Nor-thern Ireland, to-day Is silent when Ameri-can troops in .peacetime violate Ireland's territory.

officer of health for three years a/ter he had become a minister? We will forbear from mentioning Dr. Little. These men have broken no laws but they have known how to play the Parliamentary game. Spe-cial plaudits are out of place. . ,

T I 1IIAT the mass of the Irish people are not the dupes of the politicians is

seen from the numbers of people who joined in the boycott of Dutch goods, and from the recent appearance in the Irish Press of a series of letters condemning the Government's silent betrayal of the people in refusing to denounce United States Infringement of our territory.

Recently Professor Fellm O'Brien, of University College, Galway, told the public that Ireland is and has been since 1921 blessed with political leaders of the high-est integrity and lioncst.v. No doubt they are personally of moral sense, probity and public spirit, But they are politically none of these tilings. This is a poor effort to bsmboosle people Into continuing to ac-cept their leadership. They are men of the capitalist system and they work strictly according to rules. Was it lack of concern for hh» own Interest that led I>r. O'Higfins to retain the post of medical

has been maintained on all - ... the face of the horrifying re-

velation that Ireland is exporting babies fn large numbers to the United States for purposes which are not clear. Within the last year 150 have been exported by air alone. This vile trade can hardly have been carried on without the knowledge and consent of the Minister of External Affairs, Mr. MacBride.

The source of these babies seems to be the numerous homes in Ireland for or-phaned and illegitimate children. Accord-ing to firsthand Information some of these homes do a nourishing trade in the provi sion of children "for adoption" in North-ern Ireland, Britain and the United gtaUs.

Slncc the Government h4» refused to allow passage of a comprehensive legal adoption . ' f i l l in Ireland, a number Of questions should be asked. Why does the Government refuse to allow citixens of Ire-land the same rights in the adoption of children as it allows the citicens of other states? Under what law has the Govern-ment given its permission a trade which means that citixens of Irish birth can Be purchased as ritixens of another state? What public guarantee exists that these children are well oared for in theft new homes, either morally, physically or spirit ually? Arc these children genuine orphans? Is it not a fact that In some cases they are children whose mothers are still liv-ing? I» it not a fact that in wich eases

the mothers have no knowledge Of the fate of the children? I T will please Professor O'Brien that the

Federation of Irish MusafMtaren re-cently gave an example of its own. ideal of inUgrttfvani hojjesty wheij tt a t a shoflkini • ssfei should be expect papy'a accounts for the last. The Federation of says that such vant to the decision of wl priccs co^ulfll important to know the profits < panics. . The Prices freeze has beeome f awe. Two-tlUrds of the lte*p inally have Increased la pcice . December. t » a ^ t i i y i many " are selling com prise. Ks'.wqsg.l... a useful purpose tt U * hi bop*s kf Ut tpprar i ly deceiv erf till their stocks were over. . working class * not quieted. U oeft nothing shact at cifases in addition to genuine trol. Anything else is only * J ception and of weakening the will to T t l S d L Y * • I hold Budget being us Un at the moment. Its purpose is to wfc wash living nmdimw*. i t Is I its findings for there is Utile M | b t In t h e case of the Nutrition Survey, deUitad «s-aminatisn will give the lie to the oMcia! CMC IMMN.

t

rf*' » r

M >

MICHAEL O'RIORDAN

CONNOLLY THE

COLLABORATION —CONTINUED FROM PAGE THREE

one; why, Carson and Devlin used to walk a r m in arm round the deck of the Belfast boat! i, the two trade union centres, the rival labour parties in the six counties . . . con-sciously or unconsciously the splitters do the work of imperialism. DIVISION is the main obstacle to be over-

come. So let nobody who is opposed to unity, pretend to lie a serious-minded fighter for Irish independence. Small splinter par-ties which have purified and repurified their dogma til! they have discarded all living con-tent and are reduced to a few catch-phrases are not going to turn into mass movements overnight. Mass movements involve people of different ideas acting together, because the need for action outweighs the need for argu-mentat ion.

You want examples? The Dungannon clubs. Count Plunkett 's Convention of 1917, and the Republican Congress wrecked by a small group's senseless insistence on the im-mediate slogan of a "Workers' Republic" when the majority wanted a national, an "I r ish Republic."

The Connolly Association began in 1934 as the London Branch of the Republican Congress. Thanks to the broadmindedness of the late Mr. Joseph Fowler, of the Roger Casement Club, it was able to link up with the remnants of the Irish Self-determination League and Sinn Fein. The "Irish Demo-c ra t " came into existence because De Valera banned the Republican Congress newspaper and "Irish Front," the forerunner of the "Democrat" was published by the London Branch. Great united campaigns were con-ducted for example for the release of Frank Ryan jailed by Franco and subsequently mur-dered by the Nazis. Thousands of signatures were collected and monster meetings held. The united campaign compelled the British and Irish Governments to offer lame explan-ations, but just as the 1914 war saved from exposure the promoters of the Marconi swindle, so the 1939 war saved the accom-plices of the murderers of Frank Ryan.

THEN as now there were clever people who advanced slick arguments against

unity. There were rumours round the public houses that if you only waited a while the Government would do just what it wasn't doing.

Unity to-day is a thousand times more urgently needed. Let all the friends of Irish independence come tofether in one move-ment to stay the hand of imperialism and expose iti henchmen. When this threat is removed we can fight about the finer points of policy. And remember, if the going seems to be hard at times, whatever Is necessary will come if it is fought for. KEEP IT UP !

T H E informative article by Desmond Greaves on "Connolly in Scotland" is a valuable and necessary addition to the

historical information necessary for a correct assessment of this man's great contribution to the Irish working class. The article spurred me on to search once again for some notes I took down during a visit to an exhibition held by the I.T.G.W.U. at Liberty Hall in 1948 during the '98 Rising' Centenary Week.

The exhibi t ion consisted of period-icals, documents , photos, ballads, agi-ta t iona l and polit ical handbi l l s tha t told t he story of the ear ly s t ruggles for t r a d e unionism. They also re-flected clearly the ex t en t of Con-nol ly ' s political influence and abil i ty in t ha t fo rmat ive per iod; his posi-t ive Socialist v iewpoin t to the local, na t iona l and in te rna t iona l issues and also t he ex ten t to which his Socialist m e t h o d of approach had cont inued a f t e r his execution in the Irish Labour and t rade union movement .

To the young t rade unionist of the p resen t generat ion g rowing up in an a t m o s p h e r e of class collorat ion, the exhib i t ion served the purpose (un-wi t t ing ly ) of exposing the cant of the O 'Rahi l lys by showing in close visual f o r m the class charac te r of Connolly 's t each ings and practice.

IN a displayed copy of the "Workers Re-public" (February 1903) the re appears

a ballad, showing to w h a t degree the task he set himself in tha t period was a hear t -b reak ing one—the job of inculcat ing into the workers the consciousness t h a t they were a separa te class, d is t inct entirely f r o m the I r i sh middle class and t h a t t he in te res t s of the workers were completely opposed to those of the capi tal is ts , na t ive a n d foreign, aga ins t whom they mus t organise both industr ial ly and politically.

T h e bal lad "Song of t h e Elections" was occasioned by the cor rup t electoral prac-tices of the Municipal elections of t h a t year (1903>. He himself was the cand ida te of t h e I r i sh Socialist Republ ican P a r t y in the election. The resu l t of t he election w a s — F a n a g a n , leading Dublin under-t ake r a n d nominee of the Uni ted I r i sh League was elected with 763 votes, Dodd (Home Rule) received 238 votes and Con-nolly was second wi th 243 votes.

As the ballad tells t he contes t took place in an a tmosphere of complete corrupt ion wi th t h e Dublin "publ ican" p laying a pa r t as impor t an t as when in later days he helped to subsidise react ion in the I ta l ian elections of 1948. T T would be a m a t t e r of conjec ture as to 1 whe the r the I t a l i an De Gaspar i and

S a r a g a t s and the 'yankee ' Marshal ls drew a n y lessons f rom th is word election in Dubl in ' s "North Citie" in 1943. T h e bal-lad. hereunder , deserves to be republished in ful l . . . .

SONG OF THE ELECTIONS Sing us of Elections,

Full of fight and f tuj . All the hosts of Labour

By Capi ta l i s ts outdone. Tell us of the dea th r a t e

High in Dublin town, F a n a a a n the Fune ra l m a n

Said he 'd put it down. Sing of workers ' chi ldren

Dying in the slums. P a r e n t s chance of vengeance

Wi th the voting comes, Tell how slum voters

On Election Day, Fo r a pint of Por t e r

Sell t he chance away. Sing how Tory Capital ist

I n the North Citie, Out manoeuvred Socialist

By his Chari t ie , Tel l how shoals of voters -

Degraded men of soul, Sold the i r hopes of F reedom

For a bag of coal. S i n g how Labour 's Cand ida te

For the Lord Mayor 's c h a i n Crawled to ask the capi ta l is ts

Vote to put him there. Tell how Tim Har r ing ton ,

Lawyer sleek and bold. Dished the Labour cand ida te

Lef t h im in the cold. Sing us how the Publ ican

T h e Landlord, the Employer , St r ive to press the working m a n

Deeper in the mire. Tell how Socialist voters

Yet with r igh tous w r a t h Will sweep these slimy vermin

Out of Labour 's pa th .

' r p H E F a n a g a n the f u n e r a l m a n r e f e r r e d J - to m u s t have been undoub ted ly one

of Dubl in ' s still biggest u n d e r t a k e r s wi th head offices " F a n a g a n s of Aungie r S t r e e t . '

One of the historic documen t s d isplayed was a copy of the M a n i f e s t o issued and c i rcu la ted by the Socialist P a r t y of I re-land on t h e occasion of the Royal visit oi Queen Victoria to Dublin in 1900. A huge m e e t i n g was held in College G r e e n by Connolly to give R "hear ty welcome to Her M a j e s t y " the " F a m i n e Queen . " T h i r t y t h o u s a n d took par t in a d e m o n s t r a t i o n in which a coffin labelled " T h e Br i t i sh Em-pire' ' was borne with an escort of a dozen huge black flags. T h e Man i f e s to s t a t e d :

"Mona rchy is a survival of t h e t y r a n n y imposed by the h a n d of greed a n d t r eache ry upon the h u m a n race in t h e da rkes t and most i gno ran t days of our h is tory . I t derives its only sanc t ion f rom

the sword of the m a r a u d e r and the help-lessness of the producer, and its g i f t s to h u m a n i t y a re unknown save as they c a n be m e a s u r e d in the pernicious examples of t r i u m p h a n t and shameless iniquities . T h e f u t u r e of the working class requi res t h a t al l poli t ical and social position:', should be open to all men and women ; and t ha t every m a n and woman shou ld have equal oppor tun i ty to a t t a i n to t h e proudest pos i t ion in the land . . .

" T h e Social ist d e m a n d s t h a t t he only b i r t h r igh t necessary to qual i fy for publ ic office s h o u l d be the b i r th r igh t of ou r common h u m a n i t y , we deny all a l legiance to th i s ins t i tu t ion of Royal ty . . . T h e mind accus tomed to polit ical kings c a n easily be reconciled to social Kings—capi -talist k ings of the workshops, the mill , the ra i lway, t he ships a n d the docks!"

E X H I B I T E D also was a n i tem w h i c h bea r s out Desmond Greaves ' r e f e r -

ences to t h e cont r ibu t icn of Connolly to the Sco t t i sh Socialist movement . It was a copy of " T h e Young Rebel," da ted J u n e 1917. Th i s was a paper published in Glas -gow by a revolut ionary group and it com-m e m m o r a t e d the first ann iversa ry of Con-nolly's d e a t h by dedicat ing the f r o n t p a g e

-. lass to the cause of indus t r ia l union-,-::i and social ism was i l lus t ra ted in t h e ,'xii.biticn by copies of "The Harp ." t h e ore an of t h e I r i sh Socialist F e d e r a t i o n n ro which he organised the Ir ish-Ameri-can workers .

Tr. .lS first number there appeared a s tatement by h im which even t h o u g h written in 1909 applies to-day in the con-ditions in w h i c h members of the Associa-tion bea r ing his n a m e work. Wr i t ing of he ob jec t s of the I.S.F. he dec lared:

We propose to show all t he workers of cur l igh t ing race tha t Socialism will m a k e (hem be t t e r f ighters wi thou t being less Irish; we propose to advise the Ir ish w'ho are Socialists , now to organise thei r forces as I r i sh a n d get again in touch wi th orga-nised bodies of l i terary, educa t iona l a n d revolutionary I r i sh ; we propose to m a k e a c a m p a i g n among our coun t rymen a n d to rely for our method main ly on impor t -ing a correct in te rpre ta t ion of I r i sh history, p a s t a n d present ."

DU R I N G his stay in America his work was not confined to organis ing a n d

politically educa t ing the I r i sh there . He also lec tured a n d organised for the Social-ist P a r t y a n d the "Wobblies" i the Indus -

Special Article by MICHAEL O'RIORDAN to him. "Lest we forge t" in black m o u r n -ing l e t t e r ing headed the page and u n d e r the h e a d i n g " In Memor i an" was publ ished the words a n d music of his own m a r c h i n g song:

"Come, comrades , sing a rebel song, A song of love and ha te , Of love u n t o the lowly And of h a t r e d to the great . T h e g r ea t who trod our f a t h e r s d o w n W h o s tea l our chi ldren ' s bread. Whose h a n d s of greed are e'er ou t -

s t r e t c h e d T o rob t h e living and the dead , . . We will s ing a rebel song, As we proudly m a r c h along T o end t h e age long ty ranny T h a t m a k e s for h u m a n tears , O u r m a r c h is neare r done W i t h each set t ing of t h e sun, And t h e t y r an t ' s migh t is pass ing W i t h the pass ing of the years . . . . "

' " P H I S t r i b u t e by the Scot t ish worke r s showed the respect t h a t Connol ly

c o m m a n d e d as a Socialist leader a n d fighter a n d it typifies t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l fee l ings of f r a t e r n i t y and solidarity in a common s t ruggle t h a t l inks the worke r s of I r e l a n d a n d of Scot land.

W h a t a cont ras t to the pseudo n a t i o n a l -ism of t h e present day r ight wing I r i s h t r ade un ion leaders.

Connol ly ' s work in the S ta tes would be wor thy of a special s tudy by itself. His work t h e r e in winning the many I r i s h e m i g r a n t s amongs t t he American worK-

^©UMD and ABOUT with Qcrrard Curran "TTTTHY is the Irish Club In London a

' V mere imitation of sui exclusive Tory Club?" many a young Irish person has been heard to ask.

The pseudo-sophisticated atmosphere and the somewhat generous subscription of three guineas, make many middle and working class Irishmen shun this "home from home" for Irish exiles. The purpose of the noti-political clause In Its constitution seems to be u> make its members more English than the English themselves and to water down all Nationalist feeling. Aim is to Include the Orangemen. Talks on any Irish isao* likely to cause controversy, and especially criticism • f the British Government, are barred. Hence Orangeman will stay Orange. There is a very good dance Hour, but no Irish dancing. There are no Irish classes nor plays in our native tongue.

It is not the policy of the Club to foster the Irish language. The only sign of Irish informality I could find the night I paid a visit, was the fact that coffee was served in the billiard room. • • *

"That's amazing," exclaimed Mr. Neagel, at the Blarney Club, when he

JanMs Connolly's birth certificate In the roiddleflige Of the "Democrat." Mr. Neagel DM btg responsibilities in connection With his dance programme but he chatted with me trtoifc he wpei t leed the preparation* 0 f the

hall. The Blarney Club holds dances every night but Monday and music is provided by the Blarney Club Orchestra.

* • •

Did you ever meet Andy Barrett , by the way? You must have done when you went to the Blarney Club, where he Is the steward with the welcoming smile for everybody.

To look at that quiet smile you'd think he had no troubles. But he found trouble last year when he went home to Belmullet, only Gaelic-speaking town In Ireland, in Co. Mayo. He stayed for a fortnight In one of the hotels and suffered from damp sheets, no hot water, and generally primitive arrange-ments. Yet the charge was eleven shilling* a night. A nice way to welcome the exile's return, thought Andy!

* * *

For Irish people who like to dance in the af ternoon, there a three to six dance every Sunday at the Round Tower Club, Holloway Arcade. Music is played by Johnny Mul-doon's six-piece band. There is room on the floor for over one thousand dancers. The evening dance is from eighty-thirty to eleven-thirty.

• • • Miss Diana Campbell, sister of Mr. Flann

Campbell, is in England at present working

in a film called "No Resting Place" (direc-tor, Paul Rotha) . Her part is the wife of a tinker. The leading role is played by Mr. Mlchpel Gough.

# * * Tipperary-born Cecil Day Lewis, well-

known contemporary poet, has been ap-pointed Professor of Poetry at Oxford Uni-versity. Mr. Lewis will be remembered for his prominence in the Anti-Fascist Move-ment before the War. He wa-s a member of the Dublin Fabian Society. * • *

No Irish need apply for membership of the Challoner Club. Pont Street, unless they are prepared to drop their brotfue. The Chal-loner Club is a Catholic Club with a mem-bership of English aristocrats who nre im-perialist first and Catholic af ter . Many Irish Catholics, after paying their subscrip-tions, found themselves taking a very secon-dary part in its activities.

* * *

We have found Murcheen MacDonagh. Readers will be sorry to le<arn that he has been throngh a srrioas and prolonged IB-new, but thanks to a good constitution and the characteristic optimistic temperament which endeared him and his fiddle to two generation* of Irish danoers, he is now con-valescent. Hurry up and convalesce, \Mur-cheen, we want to see you about again.

The Editor informs me tha t though there was a good response to his appeal for old copies of Irish nationalist and socialist news-papers, his files still have very many gaps in them, particularly In the older newspapers. So don't forget the address Is: O. Gur ran , 13 Lambs Conduit Passage, W.C.I.

• * * A Liverpool reader has bet that "Bloody

Balfour" on some occasion declared that the extermination of Irishmen was a good thing as It would prevent them breeding "little rebels," . . . or some such expression. Does any reader know the quotation that is being referred to? If so, please send it in, with an account of where it is to be found. • • •

Successful meetings have been held by the Liverpool Anti-Partition League, and Miss Eire Oormley, popular secretary of the Bootle branch, has been well to the fore. In Dundee aLs<">, a Cellidhe and meeting was held on or around St. Patrick's Day. Both were Well attended.

• * • News, articles, poems, letters intended for

publication should be sent to the Editor a t 13 Lambs Conduit Passage, W.C.I. If pos-sible M88 should be typewritten on one side only, double spacing. The Editor regrets however that he cannot promise to return MBS unless supplied with SAE for the pur-pose, or to enter into correspondence.

trial W o r k e r s of the W o r l d ' . In 1908 he became a n organiser for t h e Socialist Party of America . He held this posi t ion until he decided to r e t u r n to I r e l and in July 1910. In 1908 he publ ished his work "Socialism M a d e Easy" wi th the object of providing workers wi th a political p r i m e r . This excel lent work is now out of p r i n t ; no copy of it was displayed, even t h o u g h it was r ep r in t ed in m a n y edi t ions in America, B r i t a i n and Austra l ia .

The e n t h u s i a s m wi th which his Dub l in comrades, now organised in the Social is t Party of I r e l and , awai ted h is r e t u r n t o Ireland was indicated by the m a n y copies displayed of advance handbi l l s an -nouncing h i s r e tu rn in t e rms such as— "James Connolly, t he f a m o u s I r i sh Ameri -can o ra to r is coming. Look out for d a t e s ! '

The handb i l l s a n n o u n c e d the hold ing of a large n u m b e r of mee t ings in P h o e n i x Park a n d o the r cent res ; one which pub-licised a m e e t i n g in the T r a d e s Hall, Cape l Street, a t which he was billed to speak on "Labour in the U.S_A." carr ied the rous-ing s logan wi th which Marx concluded

t h e C o m m u n i s t Mani fes to : "Workers of all l ands un i t e ! You have no th ing to lose but your c h a i n s ! "

Another la rge poster showed a p o r t r a i t of h im in t h e centre, a n d announced h i m as the m a n who replied to the a t t a cks by Fr. O ' K a n e , S.J. Another carr ied p ress comments on his work in America f r o m the "Boston Herald." "The Cliveland P la in Dealer" a n d "The Sal t Lake Tr ibune ." l . ^ R O M "Detroi t To-day" I read

1 "A vivid forceful exposit ion of Social-ism, a n d a well fort if ied defence of i t s principles, held the a t t en t ion of an in-telligent audience in Bamle t Hall fo r nearly two hours, the (exponent being James Connol ly of Dubl in . . . . as h e warms u p to^ i i s subject his delivery grows more a n i m a t e d unt i l it fa ir ly speaks w i t h eloquence."

The indus t r i a l s t ruggle of 1913 was re -presented by an original of t he b a l a n c e sheet of t h e s t r ike f u n d and of the food tickets issued to the s t r ikers and t h e i r families enab l ing t h e m to procure sup-plies of bread , etc., t h e expenses of s a m e being covered f rom the "Br i t i sh T r a d e Union F u n d . "

The m o u n t e d photos of the per iod showed t h e food k i tchens working a n d the crowded scenes as the Dublin workers demons t ra ted in welcome on the quays ide at the a r r iva l of t he "S.S F r a t e r n i t y " loaded to t h e gunwale with food f rom t h e British Co-operative Movement .

The pho tos show the Citizen Army dri l-ling in Croydon P a r k a n d p a r a d i n g in Beresford Place in f r on t of Liberty Hall .

In t h e fighting of Eas te r Week the l a t -ter bui ld ing was selected by the B r i t i s h Military au thor i t i e s a s the first t a r g e t when they brought the gunboa t " H e l g a " into ac t ion .

It h a s been quest ioned whe the r t h i s Hction was mot ivated by any mi l i t a ry necessity or simply because they h a t e d so

much the mi l i tan t revolutionary comple-ment ol the "Rebel" forces tha t had come f rom that Hall, " the unconquered ci tadel of the I r i sh working class." (Connolly in the "Workers ' Republic." April 8th, 1916, sixteen days before the Risingi .

S^HELL a f t e r shell was fired at Liberty * Hall; a f t e r a n hour ' s solid bombard-ing the "Helga" withdrew. One could est imate f r o m the p ic ture the amount of damage it had infl icted on the headquar -ters of the T r a n s p o r t Union before it had done so.

It was a p i ty t h a t a number of im-por tan t h is tor ica l declarat ions deal ing with Connolly a n d Eas te r Week were mis-sing f rom the Exhibi t ion .

Those t h a t would have given food for thought for p resen t -day trade unionis ts would have been a n exposition in juxta-position of t h e edi tor ia ls of the "Ir ish Independen t " a n d t h e "Ir ish Cathol ic" and the f a m o u s declara t ions of Lenin on the '13 s t r ike a n d Eas te r Week.

An in te res t ing sidelight, however, was

displayed on the Limerick general s t r ike which took place in April 1919. It was in protes t against the imposit ion of mili tary pe rmi t s on the populat ion by the au thor i -ties. This strike completely crippled the economic life of the city. It was sup-ported by all the people in a n enthus ias t ic f a sh ion and lasted ten days in face of Bri-t ish mili tarist dominat ion even though no indicat ion was given by the au thor i t ies about wi thdrawing the permits, a few days a f t e r the resumption of work the issue of pe rmi t s was completely suspended. Limer-ick was the focus of all organised workers. £1.500 was subscribed to the Strike Fund . Issued by the Commit tee in charge were Bond notes which ac ted as receipts and pledge notes. A n u m b e r of these were displayed at the I.T.G.W.U. Exhibit ion and a few are to be seen in the l ibrary of T.C.D.

T h a t this str ike was no mere mani fes-t a t i on of na t ional i sm was seen by a n in-clusion in the I.T.U. Exhibit ion of a copy of the "Workers ' Bul le t in" dated 23rd April. 1919, and bear ing the pound impr in t —issued by the "Limerick Prole tar ia t . "

SHAW HOUSE OPEN By DANIEL KEYES

"l"I7*HY was the Irish showing so poor on * * the occasion of the opening of the

National Trust Memorial to George Bernard Shaw, at Ayot St. Lawrence. The only Irish representative, apar t f r o m journalists, was Ambassador, Mr. Boland.

On the shelves of the late Mr. Shaw's lib-rary were prominently displayed volumes re-lating to Irish Constitutional Law and Thorns Directory. On the walls of the rooms notable figures whose pictures were included and illustrated Mr. Shaw's affections were Ibsen, Dzerahinsk.v, Granville-Barker, Lenin and Stalin, together with Sean O'Casev and Yeats.

The many London Ir ish and visitors from home who will want to see this unique testa-ment to the living Shaw will find i t con-venient to travel from Hyde Park Corner by Green Line bus to Ayot Green.

National Trust officials a re worried about how to fend off souvenir hunters who, having failed to digest Mr. Shaw's ideas, are likely to seek bits of his furn i ture .

TO MY SECRETARY Thirty years with Bernard Shaw She writes a book and—clear detected— Whate'er she heard, whate 'er she saw, It left her mind quite unaffected, A trifling, narrow-minded woman, An hour of glory she may snatch, But thank the Lord (I am but human) That Margot never was a Patch.

William Gallacher.

For whom does " THE BELL" toll ? ' y H E United States is using her immense

industrial strength not only to corner the markets of the world and dominating other capitalist countries to plant her military bases and forces in positions from which to wage aggressive war against Korea, China and the U.S.S.R. but also to deluge the countries under her control with nauseating streams of American "culture."

The purpose of th i s "cultural" offensive is to weaken t h e res is tance of the people to f u r t h e r A m e r i c a n in f r ingements of their independence a n d to endeavour to cloak the self ish motives of Uni ted S ta tes policy. In order to succeed this policy needs men of inf luence to assist in th is deception of t h e i r country . Such men can be rewarded w i th t h e pickings of the odd jobs provided by t h e "cultural" activities of the Uni ted S t a t e s E.C.A. Adminis t ra-tion (Marsha l l P l a n ) in Europe.

While the aff ini t ies between the peoples of the U n i t e d S t a t e s and I re land have natura l ly been very close, the official United S t a t e s G o v e r n m e n t has always acted on t h e side of Bri tain agains t the movement for I r i sh freedom. One need only r e m e m b e r t h e United Sta tes inter-vention a g a i n s t t he Fenian advance in to Canada , or p r e s i d e n t Wilson's barr ing the use of the Uni ted Sta tes postal service to I r i sh na t iona l i s t .o rgan i sa t ions , to con-firm this. T h e hosti l i ty to I re land dis-played by t h e f o r m e r U.S. Ambassador in Dublin, Gray , is charac te r i s t i c of the ant i -Ir ish outlook of American rul ing circles.

Now t h a t t h e Uni ted Sta tes is con-cerned to secure I re land as an a tom-bomber base, according to the U.S. General Bradley, and th rough E.C.A. every effort is being made to render Ire-land complete ly dependent in economic mat ters , it is the i r a im firstly t h a t the past h is tory of t h e a t t i tude of U.S. Gov-e rnments shoud be hushed up; secondly t ha t the t r u t h a b o u t the American way of life be obscured ; thi rdly t ha t t he uni ted Sta tes be depic ted as a disinterested bene-factor, unconce rned with her own profit , In these c i r cums tances cul tural infi l t ra-tion in I r e l and is being intensified.

"I RELAND'S his tor ic subjection to Im-perial ism h a s resulted in the destruc-

tion of he r Gael ic culture, which now lingers on only on the western f r inge. Despite th i s fact , a nat ional cul tural renaissance in t h e English language, took place a t t h e beginning of the twent ie th century. Yeats , Synge, and O'Casey are its grea t names . I t was a renaissance t ha t went h a n d in hand with the ant i -imperialist m o v e m e n t of the people. Wi th the grea t be t raya l cul ture Itself suffered a defeat , a n d to-day Ir ish cul ture is s tag-nant , awa i t ing t h e life-giving b rea th of th» mass m o v e m e n t t ha t is to come t h a t will bring un i ty a n d independence for Ire-land. However, when a cul ture is s tag-nant, it f aces i m m i n e n t danger of com-plete ann lmi l a t ion . At the moment it Is threatened by the culture of the United Sta tes Amer ican trash in the form of films, books and radio programmes Is daily degrading the cultural standards of our people and rendering impossible t he independent life of any character is t ic Irish n a t i o n a l cu l tu re .

At the moment a chi ldren 's a r t com-pet i t ion is being sponsored in I re land by the E.C.A. which one fears will replace the hea l thy t rad i t ions of the Ir ish visual a r t s wi th the neuro t ics of American deca-dence. The p redominan t place occupied by Uni ted Sta tes a n d Bri t ish interests in the production and exhibit ion of films has h i t h e r t o blighted t h e b i r th of a n inde-p e n d e n t film indus t ry in Ireland. To-day E.C.A. is producing a film in I re land called " T h e Promise of Ba r ty O'Brien" on the sub jec t of rura l electrif ication. T h e chief technic ians are largely foreigners. One of the few I r i shmen is the au thor Sean O'Faola in . Here aga in one witnesses the rep lacement of a n independent I r i sh ven-t u r e by a United S ta t e s sponsored produc-tion. A U.S. I n f o r m a t i o n Service is now

asks Paul O'Higgins

opera t ing in Dublin, where c inemas are now pu t t ing on U.S. p ropaganda shor ts suppl ied by • t h e In fo rmat ion Service. These films are chiefly a t tacks on "com-m u n i s m " and on the Koreans.

INCREASINGLY such Ir ish cul ture as the re is is becoming dependent o n

Uni ted States Imperia l ism. Tak ing the few li terary magaz ines t ha t are produced in I re land one finds t ha t economically they are largely dependent on the Uni ted S t a t e s market . "Hibernia," a pious maga-zine published in Bray, Co. Wickiow. notor ious for its anti-working-class, Soviet -hate p ropaganda , has its price m a r k e d on the cover as 6d. or 15 cents . Appeal to American buyers Ls no doubt increased by the art icles on such subjects as ' T h e Love-Education of Girls." "En-voy," a pretent ious l i terary production, in addi t ion to having a Canad ian associate editor , and a con ten t culled in part f rom decadents of F r a n c e and Western Ger-many , paying scant a t tent ion to I re land ' s cu l tu ra l problems, h a s a wide circulat ion in the United S ta tes and Britain.

(")NE cannot expect opposition to the ^ United States "cultural" oflenslve from auch quarters. Notice of the re-appearance of "The Bell" gave one hope that at last a vehicle would exist lor those who are concerned with the problems of Irish culture, who deplore the current Americanlsation of Ireland, and who look for the revival of democratic antl-Imperlallst feeling In Ireland. After five Issues one Is foroed to the conclusion that "The Bell" Just cannot put a foot wrong from the American point of view. How far "The Bell" Is dependent on the United States market Is Impossible to say, but the fact Is that eare Is taken to give the least poaslbie offence.

IN the first Issue the trial of t en Hollywood film writers for the i r

opin ions was whi tewashed by Woodrow Wya t t , M.P., who incidentaUy is no f r i end of na t ional i sm. This art icle was

prefaced by a note f r o m the secretary of the Ir ish "Association of Civil Liberty," who excused the t r i a l of non-political democra ts by sugges t ing t h a t "com-m u n i s m " was a "grave menace to the existence of an ordered society." Such "de tachment" is r e m a r k a b l e f rom those concerned with the preserva t ion of civil liberty.

I n the same issue is a n art icle on ' " F r a n k Ryan in G e r m a n y " by Franc i s S tua r t , lecturer in a G e r m a n University unde r Hitler, which seeks to remove all mean ing from F r a n k R y a n ' s life. So well it succeeds t ha t one Dubl in s tuden t maga-zine referred to i t ignorant ly as "an ar t ic le writ ten by one I r i s h m a n in Ger-m a n y about ano ther . " Peada r ODonne l l wri tes ". . . how h a p p i l y c i rcumstanced we should be if a n y t h i n g like the fu l l t e a m of Ir ish wri ters could make their l iving a t home. I t would be inevitable In such circumstances f o r t hem to group along special in te res t s , and almost in- 1

evitably t ha t we should achieve a circle of * • writers, who being themselves men of known orthodoxy, would concern them-selves with e n c r o a c h m e n t s on f reedom in t h e n a m e of religion by zealots and freaks whose impatience w i th more normal people—or more worldly—transforms them in to dangerous bullies. Such circles of writers in Dublin a n d Be l f a s t would set up a cul tural s t imulus wh ich would enr ich every aspect of I r i sh l i fe ."

Here then is t h e g i s t of t he matter. Your man, Peadar , s t i l l known down the count ry as "The Communi s t , " is now des-perately anxious t h a t his orthodoxy should be publicly recognised, is no longer prepared to d e f e n d f r e e d o m against imperialism, but r e s t r i c t s himself to a t t acks on fana t ics , w h o would injure orthodoxy by thei r f a n a t i c i s m .

Having in its first issue denied Frank R y a n ' s Republicanism and whitewashed United States internal policy, "The Bell" descends to its lowest in its last issue with an article on O'Faolain called "Autoanti-americanism." This curious expression is a smokescreen which covers an attack on all who dare to doubt the disinterested-ness of United S t a t e s interference , in Irish affairs. While one may accept without hesitation Uni ted States dis-interestedness In Its employment of Sean O'Faolain in an « .C.A. film, no one can doubt American motives in making money payments to the Irish Government.

His chief target is the letter by Louie Bennett treprinted in last month's "Democrat") suggest ing that acceptance of a United States Survey of Irish indus-trial prospects, and of United States sub-sidies is likely to lead to involvement in United States strategic plans. O'F&oialn thinks these subsidies are given to help raise the living standards of the people. An obliging s tatement by an E C-A. official in Ireland referring to a Joint E.G.A.— I D A. industrial survey announced the news that profitable investments would be made as a result of it.

It is clear that the leaders of culture, following the political leaders, are beta**- -ing their people to American There can be no development of culture until i t . i s linked wKh * movement of the people for f{ee0OK> 1)00}, a d . imperialism.

M

" W

6 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT April, 1951

American Clergyman Asks—

ONE WORLD OR TWO ? r F H E late Republ ican presidential

candidate , Wendel l Wilkie, made America conscious of the phrase : " One world or none." The develop-ment of high-powered explosives, such as the atom and hydrogen bombs, has greatly s tepped up the at tacking potential of t h e nations pos-sessing them and has p u t a positive meaning into the above slogan.

However, it appears t ha t since that t ime certain of the poli t icians of the United States are advocat ing two worlds. There is a possibili ty tha t this changed in te rna t iona l at t i tude is based upon the po ten t i a l offensive and defensive c o m m i t m e n t s of the At lant ic Pac t and the s ignatory na-tions thereto. It is be ing openly ad-vocated tha t the Wes te rn world set up the mach inery of a Uni ted Nations, purged of those na t ions which do not subscribe to our t ype of Western re-presenta t ive government .

Yet cer ta in of the e lements against which the diplomatic pu rge would be directed were our close allies in the recent sanguinary s t ruggle against the most reac t ionary t e r ro r which has plagued Europe since the t ime of Attilla, the Hun, dubbed by many his-torians: "The Scourge of God," and without whose aid t h e r e may be justly en ter ta ined g rave doubt as to whe ther the w a r could have been brought to such speedy conclusion, even though the t ime it took seemed long enough to a w a r - w e a r y world. • rPHE question which I would pose here J - is: "Would the objec t ives which these

polit icians desire to o b t a i n for their re-spective na t ions have a h ighe r degree of potent ia l a t t a inab i l i ty th rough the medium of one world or two. One his tor ian ha s said. "History a lways repea ts itself— once as t ragedy, once as farce ." Was it t ragedy t h a t ce r ta in in te res t s , previous to World W a r II , w h e t h e r ac t ing th rough a lack of knowledge of all t h e facts in-volved, misguided se l f i shness or sincerity

New York Irish Get Busy Again OUR NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT 'A1 MERICAN-IRISH are up in arms against

Atlantic Pact forces in Northern Ireland.

"All citizens of the United States of America resent the action of the Nether-lands Government," wrote James A. Doris, president of an area of Claim Na Gael and Bronx Counties in New York, in a letter to the Netherlands Embassy.

"I protest," he continued, "against the action of the Netherlands Government, which accepted a cunningly conceived in-vitation from the British Admiralty and in defiance of the objection of the Govern-ment of Ireland, has sent a naval air squadron & Derry. Americans consider this action unjust and unfriendly to the Irish p e o p l e and an affront to men and women of the Irish race everywhere, who regard with detestation the British policy of keeping the people and territory of Ire-land divided. The American-Irish Press has taken special

interest in the news that an American public relations film boosting American capitalism got a very cold reception In Dublin.

One DabUner is reported to have com-mented that the film was "a lot of lies" and that t h e n was nothing in the United States but race prejudice and industrial strife. Another said he wanted no part In the American way of life.

This incident and the Increasing number of Irish citizens who complain of the lack of democracy in the States, is symptomatic of the feeling now sweeping America tha t American "democracy" may not be worth facing death to save.

"The capitalist form of government, our American way of life, is represented by Colonial slavery, and the natives do not see anything worse than that particular system," says Irish-American Senator W. Malonc, of Nevada. "I am unhappy to say," he con-tlnues, "that through the Marshall Plan 'give-away' programme, we have been guilty of financing a slavery system In the Malayan States, Indochina, and the Negro Slates of Africa." '

New York Republicans, after holding the amwal GflRMUr CwMnmnoratim meeting, a» <n Uupeh the New Yet* Co«ne|ty Awo~

Ma leaden U a Mayo-born M j f c e a t beck on the f tha« sell out with Mike ' iwMhfa more about them te trtry one «4 them!

in ' h e belief tha t th is was the best policy for America, influenced our foreign policy to the ex tent t h a t our diplomacy r e m a i n e d aloof f r o m cer ta in honest a l l iances unt i l p e r h a p s sheer necessity forced t h e m into being for the survival of decent na t ions . P e r h a p s such alliances, h a d they been earl ier made , m igh t have p reven ted the pe rve r t ed ambi t ions of Hi t le r i sm f r o m drowning the en t i re world in a sea of blood a n d tears . Will our d ip lomat ic a t t e m p t s t o c rea te two worlds be h is tory r e p e a t i n g itself as fa rce?

Some wr i te rs 011 political science have def ined politics as " the science of govern-ment . ' ' Polit ics is derived f r o m the Greek word "Polites," which m e a n s citizen. Since f r o m its der ivat ion the word m e a n s citi-zen, I would consider politics as t h e sci-ence of ge t t ing along with one 's fellows. M a n y wri ters on government have come to accept th is more logical def in i t ion of the word.

Now we have previously s t a t ed t h a t the probable way to view the ques t ion of one world or two is t h r o u g h which m e t h o d the objec t ives we desire a re the most easily-

necessary in order 10 prevent the in f i l t r a -tion of object ionable political phi losophies . P e r h a p s th i s is a worthy end to work to-ward but would isolation be the best m e t h o d to accomplish th i s end? My per -sonal opinion would be t ha t our most

•at ' r poli t ical philosophies is the best develop-m e n t of our own na t ion under God to t h e end t h a t justice and equity migh t p r e -vail.- Even, however, a s suming t h a t we agree 011 isolation, a n o t h e r p rob lem is b rought in to the foreground. I so la t ion of ourselves might not necessarily p r e v e n t the in f i l t ra t ion of these political phi loso-phies to which we object, in to o t h e r na t ions which might now be n e u t r a l or a t least a re not within the direct o rb i t of Amer i can political influence, and w h i c h na t ion or na t ions migh t be in a m o r e s t r a t eg ic position to embar r a s s us t h o u g h it or t hey might not be near ly so g r e a t or power fu l as na t ions which we m a y now wish to disengage ourselves f r o m ac t ive d ip lomat ic co-operation.

W O U L D moral and ma te r i a l a d v a n c e of the people advoca t ing i so la t ion

from REV. JOHN H. OWENS

a t t a inab l e . Our pr imary object ive in f o r m i n g the s t ruc ture of the Uni ted Na t ions was to reduce the war po ten t ia l to a m i n i m u m . And by reduc ing the war t h r ea t , it was hoped t ha t t he na t ions m i g h t have m a x i m u m periods of peace in order to develop their in te rna l prosper i ty . Now if t he honest objective of those poli-t ic ians who are advocat ing two worlds, is to br ing peace and prosper i ty to th£ people for whom they are ac t ing a n d this should be the main objective of any decent gove rnmen t . I wonder if th i s object ive m i g h t be bet ter obtained t h r o u g h isola-tion or co-operation with our fellow na t ions , however much we may differ upon occasion.

One wr i te r upon s t a t ec ra f t h a s said t h a t war is only a n extension of d iplomacy pro-jected on to the field of physical conflict . If t h i s def ini t ion may be accepted, t h e n it ax iomat ica l ly follows as a corollary t h a t t he longer we co-operate a round the diplo-m a t i c board, however acr imonious our d i f ferences may become a t t imes, t he fa r -the r a n d f a r t h e r into the f u t u r e a re being pushed t h e f ron t ie r s of war. which was the or iginal purpose for c rea t ing the Uni ted Nat ions . ^ O M E of our political t h inke r s a re of ^ t h e opinion t ha t th i s isolat ion is

follow such act ion? Would the ho r i zons of wa r become lesser potent ia l t h r e a t s t h a n t hey would be t h r o u g h co-opera t ion? Now I m a i n t a i n t ha t t he re can be no g r e a t m n t e r i a l advance without a concomi t an t mora l advance . Indeed, I would p r e f e r to t h i n k t h a t a moral advance m u s t cf necess i ty precede any grea t ma te r i a l ad-vance as mater ia l advance in the cor rec t sense m e a n s providing more secur i ty f o r the ci t izens, which mus t be p r e d i c a t e d upon a more equitable dis t r ibut ion of t l m physical th ings necessary for what is n o w considered the good life under F r e e E n -terpr ise . t h a n now prevails. The b r i n g i n g of th i s i n to our daily lives would i n d i c a t e a c h a n g e in the moral outlook of m a n y of t h e leaders of the na t ion .

Or p e r h a p s we should view the ques t i on in t h i s m a n n e r : P r iva te En te rp r i se a n d individual init iat ive places the b u r d e n f o r the well-being of the average ci t izen to a g r e a t ex ten t upon his own shou lde r s , and t h e r e is an a t t e m p t to secure p e r s o n a l secur i ty by personal and private s av ings , bus iness ventures and inves tments . Cou ld th is end objective be bet ter ach i eved t h r o u g h isolation f rom such large a n d i m p o r t a n t a reas of the world a n d i t s t eeming millions? I merely pose t h e ques-tion for t h e readers though , I h a v e n o

personal answer . But despite t l v ".'.any good th ings wh ich m a y be advoca ^d for the sys tems of F r e e Enterprise , 1'ie in-dividual u n d e r s u c h a system ha-; never dared t rus t himself ent i re ly to " the whole" if it were at all possible to avoid do ng so. He does seem a bit doub t fu l of t he abi l i ty of " the whole. ' ' a s it now func t ions to guaran tee his s a fe ty and security, or a t least he feels t h a t such doles, unemploy-ment i n su rance or old age pensions as say be avai lable a re so inadequa te or hedged in by so m a n y humi l ia t ing restr ic-tions t h a t it is well to supp lemen t t h e m by personal savings, if a t all possible.

I men t ion th is f ac t because the advo-cates of isola t ion feel t ha t this na t ion , under God, m i g h t m a k e better progress th rough t h e d ip lomat i c enti ty of two worlds. And in the final analysis, pro-gress can only be m e a s u r e d by the spiri-tual, physical a n d economic well-being of the cit izens of t h e na t ion . I use the t e r m isolation, no t as it h a s heretofore been , used by s t u d e n t s of in te rna t iona l diplo-macy, bu t in t h e sense of isolation of the Atlantic P a c t Na t ions f r o m other s igna-tory na t ions of the Uni ted Nat ions C h a r -ter with whom we may differ on m a t t e r s of polit ical ideology. ( 1AN the conf l ic ts which cause war be " more easily resolved without t h e co-operat ion of ce r t a in na t ions t h a n wi th their co-opera t ion? P e r h a p s if each citi-€en of t he n a t i o n would take h is Chr i s t -ianity more seriously, we might be de-veloping the m o r a l milieu in our social fabr ic in which Chr i s t i an i ty could pro-perly func t ion . I t m i g h t help to provide us with a new mora l base and the po ten-tiality for achiev ing on the " this world" level ihose very t h i n g s which we Chr i s t -ians have too o f t e n professed wi th our lips but denied in our lives.

Pe rhaps a r m e d wi th this shield, we could a f ford to co-operate wi th any nat ion, however m u c h our political per -spectives di f fered. T h e overt actions of our lives pray m o r e sincerely t han our lips. Many of us whi le profess ing belief in God, lack a n y such real belief in God, or hold it h a l f - h e a r t e d l y or part ial ly. We dis t rust t he world a n d men, and prove our lack of conf idence in the supreme power behind all, by h e d g i n g ourselves a round in isolation a n d bui ld ing u p our own security. We seem to lack en thus i a s t i c conf idence in the possibil i t ies of t h e entire world or man, or in t h e Providence which orders both. Is our des i re to re f ra in f r o m co-operat ion wi th ce r t a in s ignatory na t ions to the Un i t ed N a t i o n s Char te r a n admis-sion t h a t our f a i t h is still no t s t rong enough to believe t h a t God can move moun ta in s?

E n d s o f t h e E a r t h R - a S s AT the last meeting of the present session,

the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union unanimously adopted a law for the protec-tion of peace proposed by Chai rman of the Soviet Peace Committee, Nikolai Tikhonov. The law makes ajl propaganda for a new war and undermining the cause of peace a criminal offence of grave nature.

I n the preamble the law refers to war propaganda carried on in some countries which it s tates is In contrast to the Soviet policy of peace and international co-opera-tion. Thus, the highest legislative organ of the Soviet Union has responded to the appeal launched at the Second World Peace Con-gress a t Warsaw last November.

The importance the Soviet Government a t t aches to the new law is shown by the presence In the Kremlin's great hall of Marshal Stalin.

The British and American Embassies were not represented in the diplomatic gallery. United States Ambassador Allan Kirk earlier Informed the British Ambassador t ha t he did not intend to follow the usual custom of sending a diplomatic representative to the Ana! session and several American satellites obeyed the crack of the whip.

Tikhonov spoke in strong terms of the war hysteria reigning In Britain and other lands. But there was a rising movement, he said, against war and against the cost of preparing for war.

Among those who spoke in support of the new law were journalist Konstant ln Slraonov on behalf-of the group of deputies represent-ing Smolensk, Bryansk and other districts which suffered most grievously f rom the last war. He delivered a passionate Speech, clos-ing \Uth the words: "Peace can be s&ved" I MPORTANT revelations concerning Aftierl-

can aggressive plans In Asia have been made by American Journalist Robert Allen in t h e English-language edition of the Japanese paper Mainichl, "L'Humanite" reports. Trtiese revelatldns are particularly significant, "L 'Humani te" points out, In view of the fact

that Allen is considered in Tokyo as the official spokesman of General MacArthur and that the article in question passed the censor-ship of American headquarters.

"The war undertaken against the Chinese Communists will from now on be extended to Chinese territory itself," Allen wrote. "For obvious reasons of security, only a pa r t of these operations can be revealed at present . But it can be stated tha t they are under way and that others on a larger scale are being prepared."

"The final objective of these preparat ions ," Allen continues, "is the general invasion of China. National forces a t present in For-mosa will be utilised for the es tabl ishment of this second front. They will be assisted by the American Air Force and Navy. Con-siderable naval forces are In this sector.

"They are called the 'Formosan S t r a i t s forces,' and are commanded by Admiral Ros-coe Hillenkoetter, former chief of the Cen t ra l Intelligence Agency. Here Is what can be published on what will be done. Organisa-tion, a rmamen t and broad support of the an t i -Communist resistance movement in Ch ina . This includes sabotage and secret activities especially in Manchuria which the Reds a re using as a supply centre for their a rmies in Korea; the preparation of a 'water l if t , ' a naval bridge for the Invasion of a force of 300,000 men.

" I t can also be revealed," Allen writes, "that Britain, France and some other na t ions

have been informed of these operations. Th i s fact Is highly significant because It Is ad-mitted tha t If the Communist Chinese do not know of these Intentions they are now in-formed of them. Obviously It Is part of the films of American strategy to make t h e m known to them—up to a certain point. At the same time, the United States has warned the Allies of the need for more t roops in Kflrra. They have baen informed tha t if new reinforcements arc not forthcoming, the Americans may flhd It necessary to accept the offer of the use of Chinese Nat ional is t forces."

These cynical admissions, L 'Humanite points out, are in fac t but part of the Ameri-can war plans in Asia as admitted by Allen himself. However, the paper adds, the Korean People's Army Is aware of the entire plan—at least, such of It as was conceived of before the unleashing of aggression in Korea—on the examination of Syngman Rhee's safe af ter the liberation of Seoul.

ISTANBUL newspapers can no longer be silent about the fac t tha t Turkish in-

dustry Is being destroyed by American im-ports. The newspaper "Aksham" announced that all 40 stocking factories In Turkey which formerly met the needs of the population have been forced to close down because of the Import of stockings from the United States.

AMERICAN business Ls now making use of "bubble gum" (a form of chewing gum)

to indoctrinate children with war propa-ganda.

A Brooklyn, New York, chewing gum firm is selling t h e gum wrapped in paper on which is printed In large letters, "Freedom's War." Inside are cards showing American soldiers at tacking Orientals. Each card por-trays a different method of attack. The children are invited to trade these among themselves as they used to trade snapshots of sports stars.

The Veterans for Peace, an organisation of ex-Servlcement active In the fight for pcace, has - launched a campaign to boycott the "war gum."

THE Nether lands Minister of War, H. L. Jacob, has announced tha t Dutch sol-

diers will be trained in Western Germany and military service In Holland will be ex-tended from 12 to 18 months. Dutch soldiers will move barracks In the British occupation eone of West Germany where thev will be trained together with British soldiers. The excuse given by the Netherlands War Mini-ster for this move Is tha t Holland does not have sufficient space for military training.

April, 1951 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT Felons of Our Land By ARTHUR M. FORRESTER

l ^ U ' I ' up once more, we'll drink a toast ' To comrades far away;

No nation upon earth can boast Of braver hearts than they.

And though they sleep in dungeons deep. Or flee outlawed and banned.

We love them yet, we can ' t forget The felons of our land.

IN bey hood's bloom and m a n h o o d s pride, Foredoomed by alien laws,

Some cn the scaffold proudly died For holy I r e l a n d cause.

And, brothers, say, shall we to-day Unmoved, like cowards stand,

While traitors shame and foes defame The felons of our land?

j ^ O M E in the convict's dreary cell ^ Have found a living tomb, And some unseen, unf r iended fell

Within the dungeon's gloom. Yet, what care we, a l though it be

Trod by a ruffian band— God bless the clay where rest to-day

The felons of our land. LET cowars sneer and t y r an t s frown,

Ah, little do we care! A felon's cap's the noblest crown

An Irish head can wear . And every Gael in Innisfa i l

Who scorns the serf 's vile brand, From Lee to Boyne, would gladly join

The felons of our land.

Labour M.P. Attacks Tory Rule at Stormont

BING'S PAMPHLET ON PARTITION ~ y y r H E N the British Labour Govern-

ment was elected in 1945, m a n y Ir ish people, both at home and abroad, sighed with relief. It was widely fel t that now the Tories had been defea ted so decisively the old b i t te rness would disappear , and Anglo-Irish relations be put on a hap-pier and more f r iendly basis. The re was universal rejoicing that Chur-chill, arch-enemy of Ir ish independ-ence, had been beaten, and few tears w e r e shed for the Liberals , pa r ty of Lloyd George and the "Black and Tans ."

I t was recollected that a conference of the British Labour Party had pledged itself to end Parti t ion, and when a group of Labour M.P.s banded themselves together in the "Friends of Ireland" it was hoped t ha t it would not be long before the House of Com-mons took action to isolate and weaken the Six County Unionists.

The Connolly Association and other more realistic Irish organisations pointed out that British Labour was dominated by Right-wing leaders like Attlee. Bevin and Morrison. They warned that this Labour leadership (as dis-tinct from rank-and-file Labour which was usually progressive, though often misled and confused) would sell out Irish freedom just as the Liberals did before them. Attlee and

FLANN CAMPBELL reviews the new "Tribune" pamphlet, " John Bull's Other Ireland," by Geoffrey

Bing, M.P.

Juno and the Paycock T \ 7 " H A T was probably the biggest audience

" * ever for a Sean O'Casey play heard a brilliant production of " J u n o and the Pay-cock" on the B.B.C. last m o n t h . Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of British people bad the pleasure for the first time of meeting Juno, Captain Boyle and Joxer, and judging by their comments on the day af ter the production they liked the experience. "The whole world's in a terrible state of chassis" is a catch-cry which seems to suit the present mood of the Bri t ish public.

# * * TPHE Northern Ireland Festival Theatre pre--L seated last month, " T h e Passing Day," by George Shiels at the Lyric Theatre, Ham-mersmith, London. I t was produced by Tyrone Guthrie.

* * * ' i T H E STATIST" is not a journal which

one generally associates with Irish affairs. I t Is more a magazine for British economists, bankers and big businessmen, but recently the editorial staff prepared a survey of Irish industry, agriculture and trade which Is one cf the most comprehensive studies on this subject for many years. Entitled

"Economic Survey of the Republic of Ire-land," it will be reviewed in the next issue of the "Irish Democrat." I t costs 1 6, and is excellent value. It may be obtained from the Editor at 51 Cannon Street, London, E.C.4.

People interested In modern developments in the Irish economy should read "Trade Union' Information," published by the Irish T.U.C. a t 32 Nassau Street, Dublin (7 - a year post free).

• • * T^ORTHCOMING or recently - published

books of Irish interest include, "Plays, S t o r i e s a n d Poems," by Patr ick Pearse (price 10/6) and "My Fight for Irish Freedom," by Dan Breen (price 6/6) , published by the

, Talbot Press, re-issues in the Traveller's Library of James Joyce's "Dubliners" and "Por t ra i t of the Artist as a Young Man" (price 4/6 each), "When Kings are Arming," by Denis Godfrey, published by Jona than Cape at 10 6.

I t is hoped to review Gorki's "Childhood" and Frank O'Connor's new collection of short stories, "Traveller's Samples" in the next issue.

Cripps, they argued, were more likely, if they ever visited Belfast, to hobnob with Brooke and the big industrialists than with Nationalist M.P.s or trade union officials.

Parliamentary Squeaks How right the Connolly Association has

proved to be, and how wrong those simple souls who put their trust in the British La-bour Government! For nowadays there is hardly more than a squeak ever heard about Irish unity in the House of Commons—and that squeak is soon smothered under the heavy hand of the Party Whip—while the Tories are more strongly entrenched than ever at Stormont and in their Orange Lodges.

And now at this late hour, Mr. Geoffrey Bing, K.C., M J . , a leading light In the "Friends of Ireland," comes forward with a pamphlet entitled "John Bull's Other Ire-land" (Tribune, 6d.), claiming to be an "ex-posure of the policies of the Ulster Govern-ment "

It might more properly have been entitled "an exposure of the political bankruptcy of the present British Labour Government pol-icy towards Ireland."

Mr. Bing, like the able lawyer he is, makes an extremely powerful case against the Nor-thern Ireland Uidonists. He lambastes their reactionary social policy, derides their claim to be democratic, and denounces their lack of civil and religious freedom.

Gerrymandering, pogroms, Special Powers Acts and religious discrimination he very properly and forthrightly condemns. As sentence is piled upon sentence, quotation

THE LONELY TOWER W HEN on C h r i s t m a s m o r n i n g last it

w^s revealed t h a t t h e Stone ot Scone had been t aken f r o m Westmins ter Abbey, t he h e a r t s of I r i s h m e n everywhere could not he lp but wa rm t o w a r d s the sus-pect Scott ish na t iona l i s t s ; l ike patronis ing but benevolent elder b r o t h e r s we acknow-ledged the audac i ty of j u n i o r . Now, ha l f -incredulous I have jus t r ead , in a new s tudy of the poetry of W. B. Yeals ("The Lonely Tower," by T. R. Henn, Methuen, 21/-) t h a t in 1889 the I r i s h poet was in London conspir ing with M a u d Gonne to take the Abbey S t o n e — t h e s tone of des-tiny—back to its r i gh t fu l h o m e in I re land. So it was ours a f t e r all!

passed between 1916 and 1923, was a t h e m e which l ingered with Yea t s to the end.

Not unnatura l ly , therefore , Mr. H e n n pu t s a g rea t deal of emphas i s on th is background of life in the g rea t houses of the west of Ireland. T h i s world offered secur i ty and peace to t h e poet a t t h a t t ime, a l t h o u g h he was well aware t h a t most of these houses were built over " the bones of a rebellion and two famines ."

Y e a t s saw the bit ter p a r a d o x of I r e l and a n d i ts challenge. He wrote in 1898 to A.E. . . . " B u t remember a lways t h a t you are face to face with I re land, its t ragedy a n d its poverty, and if you would express Ire-l and you mus t know her to the h e a r t in all

to Mr. Henn ' s serious and i m p o r t a n t book. I apologise. T h e r e was n o t h i n g frivolous in Yeat 's In tent ion t owards the s t o n e - i t belonged to the D a n a a n symtjolq t h £ t thickened the t ex ture o i h i s early poems —the stone, the cauldron , t h e speftr and the sword, t he images of a n c i e n t Ir ishry. He later t u r n e d to o t h e r images, but th roughout his work Y e a t s chose to inter-pre t reality t h r o u g h symbol i sm. In one of the most i m p o r t a n t c h a p t e r s of his book Mr. Henn t races the g r o w t h a n d relation-ship of Yeat ' s symbols, a n d in par t icular his great un i fy ing symbol of the lonely-tower, which became for h i m the circling movement of life, the up a n d down s ta i r of progress. . .

"I declare th is tower is my symbol. I declare t h i s winding, gyr ing, spiring treadmill of a s ta i r Is my ancent ra l stair. ' '

* * •

MR. HENN is a scho la r well able for the task he ha s se t h imsel f , but he

has an in teres t ing a d v a n t a g e In being an I r i shman , s h a r i n g the s a m e "ances t ra l memory" as his subject . He comes f rom Yeats ' own county of Sligo, f rom the Anglo-Irish t rad i t ion of a r i s tocra t ic cul-ture, t ha t Yea t s admired so much. T h e passing of t h a t a s cendancy world, as it

If this seems to be a frivolous approach her moods ' You will be a far more power ful mystic and poet and teacher because of this knowledge . . . absorb Ireland and her tragedy, and you will be the poet of a people, the poet of a new insurrection."

•When the r e b e l l i o n s 1916 broke out, though Yeats and his friends did not fight, he recognised his responsibility and expressed it . . .

"Did that play of mine send out Certain men the English shot, Could my spoken word have checked That whereby a house lay wrecked?"

The rebellion and the civil war hastened the change that was taking place in Yeat's poetry. An enduring anger sharpened his style and dispelled the twilit Ireland of his early work. He saw the war against England in noble and romantic terms, the deliberate, political act of bold and reso-lute men. * + * r p H E shooting of the sixteen men, the

hanging of Roger Casement, the dis-persal and imprisonment of the Republi-can leaders replaced for Yeats the old mythology . . . <y

"When Pearse aurttmoned Cuchulaln to his side

What stalked through the Past Office? There , where the " ter r ib le beauty" was

born, t he men and women fighting for the

Republic of I re land took on the heroic qualities of the old Celtic heroes. Cuchu-lain, bound by the belt to a pillar in his last fight, a s in the s ta tue in the post office, is the symbol of the grea t heroism of the Irish in defeat .

Disillusion with politics, and the strong instincts of his own nature drove Yeats back into his lonely tower, to his ideal of poetry that should be itself "distinguished and lonely." He developed his doctrine of the Mask.

* • • •

A T R - HENN emphasises that a real un-^ derstanding of Yeats' poetry de-pends upon a realisation of this theory of the Mask, and some sympathy with it. Yeats was very conscious of the dual nature of his personality. He called his two opposing sides "self" and "anti-self," and said "out of the quarrel with our-selves we make poetry." To preserve this poetic personality intact, he believed that he should assume a second self, a publle personality worn when the occasion de-manded, like a mask. He was scholar, statesman, sage, hard riding country gentleman all in turn. He wore the cos-tume, spoke the language, assumed the Mask, and through this deliberate out-ward Inconsistency, Yeats sought his own unity and truth.

In other studies in this book Mr. Henn shows how much of the visual symbolism in Yeats' poetry can be explained by a study of the art galleries he liked to visit; he deals with his great interest in myth and magic, and many other aspects which help to illuminate some of the more ob-scure references.

Yeats may not have been the "poet of a people"—the lonely tower claimed him for its own at the end, but at a great moment in Ireland's history he was there to make the occasion greater . . .

"Because I helped to wind the clock I come to hear it strike."

MARY FRANCIS

upon quotation, and denunc ia t ion upon de-nunciation, one wonders how such a viciou3, sterile and backward regime can possibly have endured for nearly 30 years.

Feeble Policy And there's the rub. For Mr. Bing makes

his overwhelming case against the Tories, but when it comes to suggesting what can be done to get rid of them his policy is vague and woolly.

Summarised, his policy seems to be as follows: (1) An appeal should be made to the Bri-

tish Tories, asking them to prove their de-mocratic principles by dissociating them-selves from the actions of their opposite numbers across the Channel .

(2) Eire should be made richer economi-cally so as to appeal more strongly to the citizens of the North.

(3) Religious leaders in Britain, a joint body of Labour and Tories, the British Gov-ernment, or failing these "a group of inde-pendent and distinguished persons" should hold protest conferences or approach the Northern Ireland Government asking them to abolish sectarianism, restore local democ-racy, have free elections, put an end to the Special Powers, and so for th .

Really, Mr. Bing, are you as naive as all this, or do you truly believe that If the Bri-tish Tories only .knew how disgraceful was the regime of Sir Basil Brooke that they would at once try and change It? Are you serious when you suggest tha t Mr. Winston Churchill should tour the Six Counties mak-ing speeches calling for civil and religious liberty? Churchill, the man who vehemently urged every kind of fire and slaughter against Irish republicanism in 1916-1821?

Patriotism and Prosperity The policy of making Eire richer is one which will appeal to all Irish patriots, but to argue, as does this pamphlet, that "the first essential In uniting Ireland Is to find effective means of promoting agricultural prosperity" is to disregard the whole Anglo-American Imperialist set-up which requires Eire as a permanent supplier of livestock products to Britain. A prosperous Eire will have a mixed and better-balanced fa economy as well as a much more developed Industry. It will not merely be an agricultural appendage to Britain, as Mr. Bing appears to think it should be. When Mr. Bing suggests tha t a confer-

ence of religious leaders be called in Britain or that joint demand by Labour and Tory M.P.s be made to Stormont, it is difficult to know whether to laugh or be angry. If the Irish people had waited for the British Bishops to move then they would still be suffering under the Penal Laws; if they had waited for a majority of the House of Com-mons to take action then th,ere would be still rack-renting and Coercion Acts.

Why leave It tcx the Bishops and the. Tories? There has been a majority Labour Government In power in Britain since 1945. The question arises as to what it) has been doing all these years.

Mass Movement Has Mr. Bing nlver heard of the mass struggles of the Irish people, of United Irish-men, Young Irelanders, Land Leaguers,-Vol-unteers, Citizen Army and I . R . A . ? . Dow he not realise that if Sinn Fein had waited upon the House of Commons that there would be-no Dail and no Republic? Does he not know of the mighty battles of Jim LaiWn in 191* and the Belfast unemployed in 1932? Has he never learned of the huge demonstration held in Trafalgar Square in 1887 which de-manded the release of Frntan prisoner* and that out of these struggles of "Bloody Sun-day" the modem British 14beur movement was born? Does heXhink that the rank-and-file of the trade unions and British Labour. Party branches are powerless? Dees he not believe that the Irish people, at home and abroad, can help to shape their own destiny by meetings, demonstrations, resolutions, votes and the circulation of pamphlets, books and papers?

Unite Against Imperialism No, Mr. Bing, this Is not good enough. Ireland will resoaln for ever divided, ex-ploited and poor if she waits for h«r "bet-ter*" to solve her problems, The united,, struggle of the Irish people agata*t Bnper-mism, led by the organised wmfetngretoaa. and assisted by allies in Bri*«i« and otter parts of the world, will «TMHMlly u p l t e t t e -land. Meanwhile we welcome the efforts «f Mr. Bing and his M M * fh MCUpftTO With the Job of rousing the BrUWMkaheur move-ment against British tatemntfcm ift ftpwlgn countries, but warn that until the British iAbour Party shows by its actions means to leave Irish people to settle their own affairs thea we' must retfttti this Party as Insincere and unVUIfnf to Aufil Its 1 lses. l i n e words are not enough, less promises from the British < and more action. I r e l a n d ^ another test for the theory and practice of social dsuecracy , .

8 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT April, 1951

I

& r

FEIS LONNDAIN Performances of highest order

By SLIGO HARVEY

^iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiNiiimiiiMiiimiiiiiiiiiiim

HTHE London Feis held at the Convent 1 of Mercy Hall, Crispin Street, E.C.2

from February 24th to March 4th proved as popular an event as ever, and demon-strated once again, that whatever the in-tention of the Ard Choisde of the Gaelic League the Irish populace as a whole re-gard it primarily as their annual dancing festival.

Not only the actual compet i tors , out f r i ends , re la t ives and suppor t e r s of the var ious c lubs turned up in droves to revel in th i s d isp lay of typically Gaelic cu l ture .

T h e decision of last year ' s champions , Br idge t M c G o w a n and Cah i l S m i t h not to compe te again , but to allow the r is ing s t a r s a chance to shine was widely acc l a imed as a generous gesture, a n d could well have been emula ted by some o t h e r "hardy annuals ," since the ma in f u n c t i o n of the Feis is the encouragemen t of t h e development of our a r t s and not t h e g lor i f ica t ion of the individual. I n con-sequence of this withdrawal , Miss J u n e RadclifTe of St. John the Bapt is t ' s , Hack-ney, l a s t year ' s Junior Champion , ga ined p r e m i e r honours, but t he issue was long in doubt , as the exuberan t d a n c i n g of T e r r y Bowler, of C u m a n n na Ghael ig . F u l h a m , r a n her very close. T h e la t ter , »f he con t inues in his p resen t vein, will go f a r . Y o u n g Paddy Crean won the junior championsh ip .

\ S usual , the cohorts f r o m the var ious S m i t h Schools of Dancing, t r a i n e d m

t h e slow Ki lkenny style, were well in evi-dence, a n d picking up prizes a n d meda l s w i th gay abandon. Th i s style is par t icu-larly well adap ted to compet i t ive events , a s it p e r m i t s the effective display of t h e mos t i n t r i c a t e steps. St. J o h n t h e Bap-tist 's , for a small club, pu t up a splendid showing, and St. Augustine 's , H a m m e r -S m i t h a n d C u m a n n na Ghael ig , F u i h a m . were well to t h e ( f p r e . Most of t he d a n c i n g w a s done to the "fiddling of ' Miss ' Mgt. Keogh , Mr . Power and the St. J o h n ' s ac-c o m p a n i s t .

In the vocal section, the success of Mr. R. Johnston's magnificent s inging was popularly acclaimed, and it can be borne in mind that he can be heard every month, rendering YOUR favourites at the Connolly Club Socials at the Pindar of Wakefield in Gray's Inn Road.

Miss M a r g a r e t Keogh, as usual, car r ied off t h e f i rs t prize in the violin section. T h i s c a n be chiefly a t t r i b u t e d to the fact t h a t t h e o ther e n t r a n t s fa l l in to one of two sections—fine, or thodox violinists who seem u n a b l e to in te rpre t t h e t r a d i t i o n a l dance r h y t h m s of I r i sh music—or t rad i -t iona l fiddlers, who are pe r fec t in t h e jig. reel a n d hornpipe, but who a re completely devoid of tone and ruba to when it comes to the slow air. Miss Keogh, being ade-quate in both, has t he re fo re a n easy task.

T h e distinctively I r i s h ui leann p ipes won honours for T. Culley, with J i m Q i u n n of C u m a n n ne G h a e l i g a close second. T H E section devoted to Cei l idh bands J was won by a myster ious combina-tion named Clan ne H-Ei rann . which , on closer invest igat ion proved to be the Manor House combina t ion u n d e r thei r popular leader, J i m Murphy . It h a s lon^; been commented t h a t the va r ious estab-lished clubs seem to s h u n th i s event , and ' h e question ar i ses a s lo w h y C u m a n n na Ghaelig. the Gae l ic League, St. Monica 's , t he Ta ra Clubs, etc., do not suppo r t this section.

T h e ad jud ica t ion of the d a n c i n g was of the very h ighes t order, b in in o the r spheres it fell cons iderably below ihis level, probably owing to the expense in-volved in the s ecu r ing of the services of real experts as j u d g e s . Danny M a r t i n and the Ard Choisde of t h e Gaelic League ( f London are to bo cong ra tu l a t ed on the organisat ion of t h i s Festival, a n d it will, no doubt, bring h o m e to t h e m t h e obvious moral tha t they will no t lack for suppor t when they set out to give the I r i s h public what the Ir ish publ ic wants .

AT CONNOLLYS

CEILI 28 APRIL 1951

DICK, JOHNSON * WILL SING *

Music by SLIGO H A R V E Y , JOE O ' F A R R E L L and a T R U M P E T E R at the

l b slQCi

| PINDAR OF WAKEFIELD fi i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i inii imiii i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i imim^

GRAYS INN ROAD 7.30 — 11 p.m.

£andan fatting,* \ | R . LESLIE FARNSWORTH, organiser

of the East London Festival of Arts, was an interested spectator of the London Feis. Whilst appreciative of the hospi-tality of the nuns of the Convent of Mercy Hall, he expressed the opinion that the event merited a larger and more con-veniently situated venue, and suggested that the York Hall, Bethnal Green could probably be secured for future occasions.

A popular prizewinner at the Feis was Miss Kathleen Boatman of St. John the Baptists, who Is not only a dancer of distinction, but a rising pianist in the classic style, and holder of a bronze medal for proficiency.

Friends of Mrs . El izabeth Gould ing , the Cork born gues t house p ropr ie t ress of Grosvenor Road . Victoria will be pleased to know t h a t she h a s made a successful recovery f rom h e r opera t ion in t h e West-minster Hospital , a n d is now back home again. She ha»s o f t e n as m a n y a s seven-teen Ir ish eviles u n d e r her roof.

Her daugh te r . She i lagh Gould ing . runs a dancing class fo r jun iors of w h o m much is expected in d u e course. She is no t only a Feis medal l is t in I r i sh danc ing , but is certificated in t h e t a p d a n c i n g a n d ballet styles. She a l so annexed a first prize in playing the p i a n o a t t he r ecen t Feis.

BOXING BITS By JAMES A. DOYLE

HONOURS WERE EVE A TEAM selected by the Dublin Co.

Board of the I.A.B.A. shared hon-ours with the British Brigade of Guards at the Stadium, Dublin, each team win-nine six of the total twelve boats.

Eddie Walsh, of the Oarda club, deputis-ing for the Irish heavyweight champion, Jerry O'Colmaln, beat Cpl. A. T. Worrall, former A.B.A. champion. Worrall down for a count of eight In the second round, fought on very well to be beaten nominally on points.

R. Teidt, the National Junior welterweight champion, easily outpointed Pte. Smith. Other Irish winners were Willie Duggan (Crumlin), S. Klfcen (Obr.), Kevin Doyle (Arbour HHl) and J. N. McOermott (Par-nefl's).

It is hoped that the American boxing team visiting Britain for the Festival will also take part in an International against a se-lected Irish team In Dublin. Could be, too. that the European team talcing part In the American-Grinta Glove's championship may also t f c s e M tiAflfiMtfflhf. ''

Champions For o«r Monster m f c f i I am giving a list

of the New Monster Sealor champions: Fly: P. O'Brien (Nemo), Bantam; l>. Ring

(Nento), Welter ( J. Howllnhan (Nemo), IJftU; D. O'Calloghan (Sunny sidr). Light Wmm'to MNhttp (Xdfcw), I%M MMt; 8. CmmeB (F.C.A.), Middle; T. MeNamee (Glen), Cmtaer; P. Martin (Gkfifc, Heavy;

which Walcott hi t Charles with a strong right hook to the head and then waded in in the hope of f inishing the fight and lifting the world heavy-Weight title. But Charles weathered the s torm to emerge a clear points winner and so te ta in ing his crown. Biggest cheer of the n ight was for old champion Joe Louis who Is anxious to fight Charles.

The British Boxing Board of Control nas sent a note to the American Board of Control intimating that the B.B.C. recognised Sugar Ray Robinson as the world welterweight champion.

Mrs. Charlie Smith, wife of the dancing master, states that Cahil, her son, is largely retiring from making public ap-pearances, and will concentrate in train-ing others in the slow, intricate Kilkenny style, popularised by his father. Devotees of the faster Derry and Dublin schools will have to look to their laurels!

T h a t English s t a l w a r t of I r ish mus ic . Bill Rollinson, m a i n s t a y of the C u m a n n na Ghael ig Cei l idhe Band, was well in evidence as the official accompanis t a t t he Feis. If you do not know Rol l inson , look for a piano, a pair of th ick spec-tacles. a red complexion and a b road smile, and you have him. Fr iends a re seek-ing to persuade h i m to adopt a d i s t inc t ive brogue composed of the best e l e m e n t s of Cork, Galway, D e r r y and Dalston, E.8!

A complete reorganisation is under way at St. John the Baptist's, Hackney. Big Bill Radciiffe, member of the Committee, and his daughter, June, this year's cham-pion, are resigning for domestic reasons and carry with them the best wishes of all their associates. The piano has also re-signed, but from internal complications, leaving the burden on the long suffering violinist! A host of young beginners have enrolled for training in the fast Defry Style, and great things are expected from them under the able leadership of the Percival Brothers and their popuiar M.C., Jack Casey.

G.A.A. NEWS P A G E TWO

• •

AMERICAN NEWS P A G E SIX

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WHEN YOU HAVE READ THIS PAPER PASS IT ON !

RACING \ L T H O U G H the flat is now in full

swing rac ing unde r N a t i o n a l H u n t R u l e s comes into its own a g a i n on April 7 th when ihe Engl ish G r a n d Na t iona l will be r u n a t Liverpool. Of t h e f i f ty odd en-t r ies none appeals to m e m o r e t h a n Cadams town . who is now quo ted a t fifties, whom I think will win a n d m a y be fol-lowed home by S h a g r e e n a n d Arct ic Gold In a n a t t e m p t to br ing off t h e Spr ing double I p u m p for K e e p a t w o a t w o in the Lincoln with Mer ry Rose a n d Persia fi l l ing the second a n d t h i r d posi t ions .

Since the C h e l t e n h a m Gold C u p was " r a ined off" and will be r u n a t t h e next C h e l t e n h a m meet ing, th i s will give Vin-

TIPS FROM " M c Q I N T Y "

cen t O'Brien the young Cork t r a i n e r ; im* to p repare the ga l lan t C o t t a g e Rake , three t imes winner of the Cup, fo r a f o u r t h a t t e m p t and the possibility of a n o t h e r re-cord if O'Brien decides to " H a v e a Go." I would not oppose the Rake , wi th Bluff K i n g and Arctic Gold fol lowing close.

At the same meeting the Irish will make raid with Arctic Silver, a full brother to Arctic Gold. Martin Molony may ride and as I have a big tip for Emerald Flasn another raider, a good double is indicated my full selections are:

LINCOLN; 1, Keepatwoatwo; 2, Merry Rose; 3, Persia.

NATIONAL: 1, Cadamstown; 2, Shag-reen; 3, Arctic Gold.

GOLD CUP: 1, Cottago Rake; 2, Bluff King; 3, Arctic Gold.

CHELTENHAM: Emerald Flash, Arctic Silver.

Forty-seven entries have been received for the Irish Lincoln to be run at the Curragh on April 18th. Best of the forty-seven may be PRONOUNCED, SOLD-R I F T and PENNY ON T H E JACK.

HATTON6 SNACK, Ireland's champion hurdler and record-breaker, returns to Ire-land shortly but not to the famous Churchtown, Co. Cork Stables. Vincent O'Brien his trainer has taken the spacious Baldoyle House, Co. Tipp

(Glen). ' ? ' of 73 wwr listed for the

' Betting Championships heW at the Stadium. Dublin. -JM -) / j t '

cham-aftcr « gruelling fourth round in

ASSOCIATION F O O T B A L L I R I S H soccer f a n s will have an oppor-* tunity to see their favourite football

teams in act ion during the Festival of Britain. Amongst those coming to play in Britain will be Shelbourne, Cork Utd., Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk, Transport, St. James' G a t e , Bridevllie, Limerick, Longford Town, SUgo Rovers, Drum-condra, Waterford and Bohemians. I trust our team* wilt not be paired off with third division teams. I am sure our players have nothing to learn from any of the first division t eams In England.

The final split between the I.F.A. and the P.A.I. brings an end to the meeting of the selected t eams who for many years now brought thril ls to their many sup-porters bqth s ides of the Border, on St. Patrick's Day. Great credit to the F-A.L for their ^successful efforts In gett ing a Germany Selective to play the F.A.I. on St. Patrick's Day. T h e Germans will make a selection from two South G e r m a n Clubs —F.S.V. (Frankfurt) and the Kicker's

• By Francis McCarron • (Offenbach). This match should give the Irish selectors a chance to experiment with new blocd in view of their game with the English League on April 4th. Whi le I agree we must put out a strong team against the Germans, and in view of the fact thnt we were trounced by both the Scottish and English Leagues in the pas, , our fault lies not with our forward line but with our defence. Johnston, the Lim-erick right half and Golfer, Shelbourne, outside-left., Dave Noonan, Cork's left full back deserve retentioh.

Here are a few interesting facts. BObbv Brennan. Fulham's £20,000 Irish

International forward will be out of foot-ball for some t ime owing to ankie injury

Jimmy Higglns, Birmingham inside-lefu is Dublin bom. so Is Jackie Carey (Man-chester Utd.) right full back and captain

The second round of the Football Asso-ciation Cup brought no surprises. Shel -boume by defeat ing Shamrock Rovers by

two goals to one are now favourites and I will predict them to go through to the final and win.

The tie between Drumcondra and Bo-hemians was a disappointing one and neither of these teams appeared to Want to win. though Drums did eventually by two clear goals.

Sllgo Rovers too got through to the semi-finals when they beat Dundalk

The tie between Cork Athletics and Limerick ended dramatically with thir-teen minutes to play. T h e Cork support-ers invaded the pitch when Cork was win-ning by one goal to nil, and the referee had no alternative but to call off the game. This stupid and nonsensical action might well put Cork out of the Cup if the F.A.I. Emergency Committee decide to have the match replayed. Printed by Ripley Printing Society Ltd.

(T.U.), Ripley. Dcrbys., and published by the Editor at 13 Lambs Conduit Passage, London, W.C.I.