Free Citizen: no. 48, 4 September 1970

* HWH

FREE

CITIZEN

FIGHT THIS

CRIMINAL ACT

BECAUSE OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT, AN OFFICIAL

STATE OF EMERGENCY HAS EXISTED IN N. IRELAND SINCE

JULY 1ST, AND UNTIL LORD GRAY, THE GOVERNOR, DEGLARES

THE "EMERGENCY" OVER, MAGISTRATES HAVE NO CHOICE BUT

TO SEND PEOPLE TO JAIL FOR A WHOLE ASSORTMENT OF :

OFFENCES.

UNDERTHE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT WHICH

WAS RUSHED THROUGH PARLIAMENT IN A DAY,

THERE IS A COMPULSORY 6-MONTH SENTENCE

FOR DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR, TAKING PART IN

AN UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY,. SITTING DOWN ON A

ROAD OR IN A PUBLIC BUILDING AND TAKING

PART IN A BANNED DEMONSTRATION. LAST WEEK

PEOPLES DEMOCRACY BEGAN A CAMPAIGN AGAIN

AGAINST THIS REPRESSIVE LAW: A PICKET OW

REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER AT THE POSTOFFICE

NEWSPAPER OF THE

PEOPLES DEMOCRACY

3

PRICE

WEEKLY

FRANK GOGARTY

LATEST VICTIM

PUBLIC MEETINGS

Meetings will be held this Saturday (5th September) at the following places: THE CRUMLIN ROAD JAIL DEMANDED THE Armagh..... 3.00 pm RELEASE OF PEOPL& IMPRISONED BECAUSE OF Belfast...... 3.00 pm THE 'MANDATORY 6-MONTHS' RULE. THIS WEEK- § Newry.......3.00pm END PEOPLES DEMOCRACY WILL HOLD PUBLIC Beleek....... 5.00pm.

Omegn: ....... 9.00pm.

MEETINGS IN FIVE TOWNS DEMANDING THAT THE

GOVERNMENT END THE 'EMERGENCY' AT ONCE.

The most recent and most notorious injustice perpetrated as a result of the Criminal Justice Act. is the sentencing of Frank Gogarty, former CRA Chairman, to,six months imprisonment. Frank was Criminal Justice Act is bad, and they want to reconvene Stormont to repeal it. We might just remind the gentlemen that it was with their help and support that the Act became

BUS FARES

P.D. has maintained tables carrying the petitions in the centre of town at lunch-time each day for the past fortnight. A public rally The Act spotted by the military during the New Lodge Road riots, and charged with disorderly behaviour. Frank Gogarty always considered it his duty to stand by the people in a conflict where there was a likelihood that people's rights would be infringed. According to the law as it stands, the minimum penalty for the duralaw in the first place. which, in two months has been used to imprison hundreds of people, passed through Stormont in a single day - surely a record even for that undemocratic institution. It could not have gone through so easily if the opposition M. P.'s had decided to resist it. It took the Government months to pass the Public Orand picket will be held in front of the City Hall at 3 p.m. on Saturday 12th September. bince the campaign started ,just over a fortnight ago, we have held public meetings, pickets, and have collected over 19000 signatures for our petition. The main theme of the campaign has. centered around the large profits being made out of the city buses by London Banks and the favouritism,shown towards private transport over the public buses by the Corporation's Transport policy. The Corporation nave tried to counter our campaign by making outlandish statements such as that if the buses were financed from the rates, there would be no way of turning down busmen* pay demands ‘Our answer to that is 1) Other Corploration workers are paid from the lrates, and it has not put their wages up very much, and 2) It would do no lharm if busmen had better wages: ‘at the present time the only drivers bringing home good wages are those 'who do long hours of overtime.

der Act when the opposition decided to hold it up. Instead, Gerry Fitt, now. 'leader' of the S. D. L@P. made a speech welcoming the Bill. It was pnly after P.D. begana campaign of public demonstrations against the Criminal Justice Act that Fitt has begun to condemn it.

But let him realise that mandatory six month sentences will not be defeated at Stormont by the unaided efforts of a few opposition M,P.'s.

The Government will only give way if it is clear that there is a vast amount of public opinion against such an unjust law. And the place to show your opposition is on the streets. tion of the 'emergency' is six months imprisonment. Even Gerry Lunn, the-magistrate, regreted imposing the mandatory 'T feel that the Criminal he said, “has tied my sentence. Justice Act", hands, and in a way that I very Magistrates are not much resent." generally thought of as disloyal to the Government, so that when even R.M. Lunn - himself the son of a former Unionist M.P. - complains that he resents his hands being tied by the Act, we realise just how unjust it must be. The newly formed Social Democratic and Labour Party (or 'jobsfor-the-Boys' Party, as it-is better known) has suddenly decided the

Was it simply a coincidence when an employee of the Ulster Plant Ltd.

near Dungannon was sacked within an hour’of his attempt to start a Trade Union branth? Until 18th August last, Mr. F. Molloy was employed as an apprentice fitterwelder at ‘the Ulster Plant Ltd., which employs about 30 workers, mainly fitter-welders. He had been an employee for about two and a half yéars. August 18th was the day that he called a meeting of the workers: during the 10 o'clock tea break. . About 9 attended and conditions of.work, wages and trade unionism were discussed.

Mr. Molloy takes up the story: "Benny Haughey was appointed to seek a wage increase, and weut to see Mr. Déuglas (one of the directors of Ulster Plant). He was told that there wasn't a chance of more money for anyone. At about half ten Mr. Douglas came in to where I was working; the foreman was using my welder; Mr. Douglas told me to sweep the floor. I refused, protesting that I was employed as a welder. I was then told to go to the office and collect my cards and get out. I was told at the office that my cards were not ready. I was told again to get out, and was in fact physically kicked out." I had brief words at the Ulster Plants works with two of the directors, Mr. Pat Douglas and Mr.

Lee Molaghan. Each became extremely busy when they learned that I was going to write an article for Free Citizen, but I did manage to get this much; neither had any idea that there was an attempt being made to form a trade union. Both stated that they had not the slightest objection to a Troops start Riot How the appearance of British.

troops, armed and in their provocative riot-gear, turned an evenings harmless fun into a serious riot was described in Lurgan court last week. Charges of disorderly behaviour were discussed against two youths by Resident Magistrate Charles Stewart, when it became clear from the evidence that the riot had been entirely caused by the appearance of troops in a residential area with instructions "disperse'’ a crowd of people watching a bonfire. The incident occurred at Shankill] Street, Lurgan on August 15th.

Inspector P.J. Rooney of Lurgan R.U.C. said he had received a complaint about the bonfire. He= proceeded to Shankill Street (presumably to investigate) accompanied by a section of the Queen's Lanarkshire Regiment in full riot-gear and complete with army snatch-squad. Asked why he had to bring the troops along, Rooney said ''There was not sufficient police in Lurgan at the time."

When the troops arrived they were formed up in rows of eight with shields, batons, gas canisters etc. What they found was a crowd of 50 people standing round a bonfire. ‘There was a peaceful crowd around a bonfire" Private Whittaker said in evidence. "There seemed to be no necessity for the troops to be there'’. The situation appeared the same to another army witness, Lance Corporal Noad. He said that he saw people standing round a bonfire; one of them told him it was a peaceful crowd and that they did not want trouble. Lance Corporal Noad, however, had "orders to disperse the crowd, and this applied whether it was a peaceful crowd or not.

We were not told it was peaceful before we arrived." Needless to say, the residents of the area resented their being shoved around by the Army's bully-boys, and resisted when the Army tried to put them off their own streets. The army retaliated with tear gas, and arrests were made. Dismissing the charges, the R.M. said "The army had arrived in Shankill Street to’ find an entirely peaceful situation with a Mardi Gras (festival) atmosphere’. It had developed into a riot. Up until August of last year, Peoples Democracy demanded the immediate disarming of the R.U.C. No sooner had our demand for an unarmed police force been met, than the British Army began to act as an armed police force.

Bow they "occupy" the streets carry out attacks on residential areas and generally behave in as provocative a manner as the R.U.C. ever did. Besides, there are now far more armed troops at large on the streets than there ever were armed R.U.C. men. It is only a-farce to talk about an "unarmed police force" when any R.U.C, inspector can call-up a platoon of the British Army and invade a/residential area on the excuse that "there were not enough police" DISARM THE TROOPS Now.

BELFAST P.D.

Belfast P.D. has moved to new premises at 53, High Street. The premises consist of two offic and are for the exclusiv use of the Peoples Demo- Cracy. The move is effect ive from Thursday 3rd September. FREE CITIZEN 4th SEPTEMBER 1970

C.R. MAN DENIES RIGHTS

union branch being formed.

Strangely these statements don't fit neatly with the facts:- Last week another employee Mr.

C. McCausland was sacked because he ''didn't wish to go to the South for a job lasting a number of days" If he didn't put the job before his domestic affairs he too could get his cards he was told. Mr. Benny, Haughey and Mr.

Clark, and Mr. McCausland were all advocates of trade unionism.

Coincidence? Mr. Molloy was especially angry over what he considered to be a Hypocritical stance of Mr. Douglas.

'Mr. Douglas", he said, " has become a prominent member of the Civil Rights movement and is a leading Tyrone Republican. He could shout fascists at the police on Civil Rights demonstrations, but it was a different story when it came to the basic rights of workers in his own factory."

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The much-advertised crash housing programme is nothing more thar a government propaganda charade.

This became clear when three men from the Shelter 'homes', Glasmullen, marched into the office of the Housing Trust general manager Wilford Hornibrook. The men, accompanied by a member of the P.D. Central Committee, refused to leave Hornibrook's office until he agreed to see them. They were fed up trying to get satisfaction by more 'normal' methods. During the interview, the three men, Patrick McClenaghan, George McMullan and Daniel Piper, demanded to know why seventeen families - who had been burned out last August - had still not been rehoused. Hornibrook told them that there was "a very limited number of * houses available’. Nearly all the houses in W. Belfast had been allocated, but he could offer them flats or houses in other areas. The men said flats would not be acceptable because they had families, and outof-town houses would mean they would have to look for other jobs.

The men wanted to know what had happened to the 'crash housing programme' and the promise that all

PIG-IN

Just how much the Army have contributed to Northern Ireland apart trom their peacekeeping duties is the subject of an article by Lt.-Col. D.

Piggins in “Hackle,” the maga- Zine of the 1st Bn. The Royal ns of Fusiliers. Sol. Piggins lists an impressive total of cases in which the battalion has _ helped various charities, and he says that it makes no difference to the soldiers whether they are “Prod” or “Mick”, if they need help, the soldiers try to give it.BELFAST NEWSLETTER Everyone by now is familiar with such events as sit-ins and swimins as a means of voicing discont-; ent in Northern Ireland. Now Her Majesty's guardians of law and order are jumping into the act by coming up with a new device to promote peace known as "'Piggins". The ''Pigg-ins'" work very simply, according to the army magazine ''Hackle'’. They take place in areas that the troops have smashed up considerably, such as the Falls, Shankill and New Lodge Road. Having destroyed the homes and possessions of many workingclass citizens, the troops now will perform charitable acts to show Belfast people that they actually had good intentions.

CRASH PLAN-

FEWER HOUSES

FREE CITIZEN 4th SEPTEMBER 1970 those turned out would be rehoused.

Questioned about the Gkn Road estate, Hornibrook admitted that as a result of the 'srash' programme FEWER house had been built there than had been planned before the ‘erash' programme. "The original lan was to build 298 houses there", said Hornibrook, "but when the 'crash' programme was decided upon, we constructed a different type of house, and only 207 houses - 91 fewer - could be built."

When asked how many more houses were built in Belfast because of the 'crash' programme than would have been built anyway, Hornibrook told his questioners to "Ask the Commissioner of Complaints . What is Hornibrook hiding?

Is the 'crash' housing programme anything more than a Government publicity stunt at the expense of those people burnt out? Could it be true that as a result of the 'crash' programme fewer houses have been built in Belfast than were orginally planned?

Since Hornibrook will not answer these questions, perhaps some Stormont M.P. would get off his ass and find out the truth.

EEL FEAST

1 og 2 Fae 3) Og Gg nt. 4 ne

NEXT SATURDAY (5TH SEPT.)...

YN Ra ys bg = YAY Oy bs | SE ee eee

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FROM A SOCIAL WORKER

The extensive floods in Belfast have considerably worsened the plight of working class people in the slums of Belfast. Many people have lost all their furniture, clothing and bedding. They have not got the money to replace these and the Supplementary Benefit grant of £15 per household and £5 per person are far from adequate.

Thus they are living in the most abject poverty and squalor.

In the lower Falls many of the houses are now no longer inhabitable. The sight of people in Durham Street living in houses with rotten and broken floorboards, damp walls and unsafe ceilings is harrowing. Similarly in Roden Street, Donegall Road, North Howard St Cupar Street, people including Old Age Pensioners and handicapped people, have been badly neglected. They have been left to pay for their own repairs to doors,floors, electrical appliances and for redecoration. The landlords say the Corporation is responsible; the corporation say the landlords.

No one does anything. Back entries are clogged with carpets, oilcloth, mattresses, and other flood and slime svaked material so that they are a health hazard and a haven for rats. We advise people to throw this stuff unto main roads where it will be cleared fast because it impedes traffic. People should claim their additional grants from Frederick Street. The officials are hoping that few people will apply and have not made information available to the needy. We again urge people to demand adequate compensation and stand up to bullying officials to demand adequate compensation and to stand up to bullying officials.

However in some places only rehousing can solve the situation and this should be demanded in no uncertain terms. The flood victims must not be left at the mercy of the weather again. We may be able to do little about the weather but we can expose Belfast Corporations criminal neglect of the flood victims. Blame the Corporation not the weather! Workers Republic (cont) people will be only too willing to share their property with others.

But such a society is so different from our narrow greedy system that it is impossible for us to predict precisely how it will be organised. We can only take the first step towards it by building the work ers' republic. Then new generations, freed from the cultural strangulation of capitalism, will be able to foresee and stri ve towards the new era of socialism.

WHAT IT MEANS wi Karl Marx, the founder of modern socialism, wrote that in the ideal socialist or communist society - not to be confused with the deformed class-ridden system in Russia and Eastern Europe - the state would wither away and man would be a hunter in the morning, a worker in the afternoon and a writer in the evening. How is this ideal system to be achieved? Can we change overnight from a system built on poverty and slums, breeding wars and requiring more and more blatant force to maintain itself in power to this ideal society where repression and want are abo!ished and people are free to develop their personality to the fullest extent? Marx also argued that the capitalist system is based on classes. A very small group of people own almost all the productive wealth of the country, mines, banks, factories etc. and the vast majority of the population, the working class are employed by them and paid only a fraction of the value of their labour. In a capitalist society the repressive organs of the state, the law, police and army are used to protect the privileges of the ruling class. fishermen All this was self-evident in Marx's day in the mid 19th century. It may seem less so now as the cruder forms of capitalism have been forced to make concessions to the working class. But the situation is still basically the same. Some of the most grinding poverty has been eliminated in Europe and N. America, but slums, and unemp.oyment, remain together with oppressed and discriminated against minorities such as blacks in America or Cath olics in N.Ireland. The law and police are still on the side of the capitalists. To take just two examples: When bailiffs of the thieving Toome Eel Company ram fishermen's boats and sink them the law supports them. When fishermen protect themselves they are charged with assault. When a desperately needy family squats in a vacant house the law and the police combine to errect them at the request of a landlord who 'owns' several houses. This cannot be eliminated overnight and so Marxists do not believe in instant change from capitalism to ideal socialism. There has ' to be a transitional period during which classes still exist but the capitalists are expropriated.

This is known as a workers' state or, since it's not likely to be a monarchy, a workers' republic.

| What it means in practice is that socialist and working class parties FREE CITIZEN 4th SEPTEMBER 1976

THE WORKERS REPUBLIC-

come to power and proceed to expropriate the capitalists, to take over their monopoly of wealth. A workers' republic cannot eliminate classes or all private ownership of productive wealth but it can take over the most important sectors of the economy for the benefit of the working class. The immediate priorities of a workers! government would be to take over all mines and mineral resources, all industries employing’ over 25 or 30 people and all farms and estates over about 250 acres.

Ground rents would be totally abolished and private ownership of more than two houses prohibited while strict laws would govern inheritances, preventing any individual from inheriting more than about £10,000 in cash or property.

Measures like these would prevent the exploitation of workers by the capitalist class but they would also have to be accompanied by worker?

control of the new industries to prevent capitalist exploitation being replaced by the type of oppression found in Russia, where the party officials have taken over the functions of the capitalist class.

Workers' control would mean that in each factory or large firm meetings of the workers would take the major decisions in the way the Board of Directors do to-day and the managers and adminstrative staff would be answerable to these on them. At the national level a central council of delegates from factories, farms and other enterprises would share power with the Parliament elected by areas like today. The effect of these measures would be to turn the class-society upside down and replace domination by the capitalist class with domination by the working class and small farmers who constitute the great majority of the population.

This would be infinitely more democratic but it would still not have eliminated social inequality.

Instead it would have eliminated need for in a workers' republic the government would be obliged to guarantee full employment, a decent home for every family, 4 weeks paid holiday per year and an adequate minimum wage. middle class The element of inequality would arise from the continued existence of a third class, the middle class.

In a capitialist society this class is made up of those who by possession of a small amount of capital or so some special skill eg. teachers,lawyers, doctors etc manage to raise themselves above the working class without controlling any significant amount of productive pruperty. A ell workers' government would not expropriate the small shop-keeper or medium sized farmer or seize the house and car of a professional worker. On the contrary ina workers' state they would be relieved of the constant pressure from chin stores, ranchers, and the rising cost of living. The workers' government would encourage them to form co-operatives but without coercion and would reduce inequality by raising the living standards ; of workers and small farmers not | by lowering the living standards of the smaller middle classes. Person al property would not be interfered with by a workers' government.

e police However it would be foolish to imagine that the capitalist class would give up their privileges voluntarily and not try periodically to seize them back. Moreover capitelism, by contrasting slums and mansions, the idle rich and the toiling poor, and by forcing people to grow up and live in degrading conditions, breeds crime and the criminal mentality. For these reasons, and the added one in the case of Ireland that this country is exploited by imperialism as well,and the imperialists are notoriously loath to give up their priviliges, the workers' republic would have to retain the repressive forces of law, police and army. These would be completely overhauled however. Judges would be drawn from the working class, not the relics of the feudal aristocracy. The law would be reversed in favour of the workers and the existing force scrapped and a | new one recruited and placed under | strict community control at local and central level. The army would be purely defensive and run on democratic lines with elected regimental councils. This way the repressive forces of the state while continuing to exist would change their character and become agents for en: forcing the will of the people renee than suppressing them. As poverty is abolished and with it the need for cut-throat competition; as the constant urging to acummulate more material goods is removed from the mass-media; and as men have more leisure and more choice of creative occupations so crime should gradually vanish and the instinctive desire for private property as a defence against hard times die out. When that happens, when the new socialist man is born, free of greed, hate and fear and anxious to help his fellows then society will move beyond the workers' republic. The state will wither away, there will be no need ; for police or army, public opinion 4 will enforce the law if needed and

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