Free Citizen: Vol. 2 no. 13, 1 January 1971

= FREE

CITIZEN

REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER AT THE POSTOFFICE

NEWSPAPER OF THE

PEOPLES DEMOCRACY

3

PRIC™

WEEKLY FRI. 1 JAN

1971

BASQUES -

FRANCO

SHOWS NO MERCY

"WE HOPE A PARDON WILL NOT BE GRANTED

US. WE ARE REVOLUTIONARIES. WE WANT TO

DIE FOR THE DIGNITY OF MAN AND THE

LIBERTY OF OUR BASQUE COUNTRY." WITH

THESE WORDS THE E.T.A. PRISONERS AWAITED

THEIR DEATH. THE WORLD PRESS® VARIOUS

GOVERNMENTS AND CHURCHES HAVE ALL BEEN

CLAMOURING FOR "CLEMENCY". THROUGHOUT

EUROPE DEMONSTRATIONS HAVE BEEN

MOUNTED AGAINST SPANISH EMBASSIES, AND IN

SPAIN THE MOST WIDESPREAD STRIKES AND

DEMONSTRATIONS SINCE THE CIVIL-WAR HAVE

OCCURRED,

"CLEMENCY" ALTHOUGH THE SENILE DELIN-

QUENT FRANCO HAS REMITTED SENTENCES OF

DEATH THE ACCUSED WILL HAVE TO SERVE AT

LEAST 30 YEARS -- IN FRANCO'S JAILS THIS IS

A DEATH SENTENCE. THERE TODAY, PRISONERS

ARE TORTURED, KEPT IN FREEZING CONDITIONS

WITH MINIMAL FOOD, DENIED MEDICAL

SUPPLIES FROM EITHER THE RED CROSS OR THE

BLACK CROSS, AND, UNDER SPANISH LAW EVEN

WHEN THEY SERVE THEIR LENGTHY SENTENCES

Gorostidi

-- FOR EXAMPLE 20 YEARS -- THEY ARE NOT

RELEASED UNLESS THE CAUDILLO FRANCO WILLS IT.

If not, theyjust rot in jail although th they have served their time. Sentences of up to 750 years are not uncommon, making a mockery of any i idea of "clemency" or parole.

But what of the Basques? For hundreds of years the Basques have been demanding their autonomy and inuependence,. A distinct people with their own language and customs their mountainous land has been divided between France and Spain. The Basques were amongst the most courageous fighters against Franco and the Fascists ‘during the Civil War and the dictator has never forgiven them. Their language has been outlawed and they have been subjected to the most horrendous tortures. Chief of the torturers was Inspector Meliton Mazanas, chief of the San Sebastian secret police. In August 1968 this thug was killed in reprisal for his personally torturing to death five Basques. Now 15 Basque militants have been tried -- there were 16, but one, a pregnant woman, has gone mad after "interogation " Even after the so-called act of clemency to those initially sentence: sentenced to death, these 15 will have to serve over 700 years of imprisonment. Even the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Spain, whose alliance with the fascists has been a scandal for so long, were forced to protest at the proposed executions (two of the accused were in fact priests). Now that these militants have merely been sentenced to living death it will be interesting to see whether the Catholic Church in Spain will continue its protest. Spanish big business has always been in league with reactionary Catholic organisations like "Opus Dei" and Franco's fascist party the Falange have always relied on the continuing support of the bishops. Already liberals the world over, who were shocked at the death penalty are joyfully accepting the sentence of living death for the Basques -- thus we have the B.B.C, talking of Franco as the man who by his decision has "united all 33 million Spaniards." Mario Onaindia Eduardo Uriarte Fransisco Larena Jose Dorronsoro Many of those 33 million are ready to fight fascism in Spain.

We say victory to the Spanish workers, We say victory to the Spanish workers, and an end to hypocrisy about ''clemency''. Demonstrations of solidarity and boycotts of Spain are being organised all round the world. Ireland will not be excluded.

—- MEETING —

Belfast P.D. will be holding a meeting against the sentencing of Basque Nationalists and the repression of Polish workers next Saturday at the City Hall at 3.15.

Other groups interested in protest ng against these twin evils are invited to participate.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

FREE CITIZEN by first class post to anywhere in Europe......

Per: Waeaie st siscncce-e.0 £2. 10s. Od.

Camnomnecsas cee oes £1... 58. Od.

Sorat): 32: RARER pL ately ae 12s. 6d.

airmail to anywhere in the world Pers Weare... .. c+ «95: £3. Os. Od.

Write to: 88 Ladybrook Park, Belfast.

LAW AND ORDER

ASI

BGAINST THE

oN STATE Aer

LAW AND ORDER

NW aa: With Friends Like These — Who Needs Enemies

LETTER

Dear Sir, Jack Lynch is well known for his attempts to"recognis¢ the artificial segregation of the Irish people. One of his first attempts was his leading role in the format?

on of the Bord Luthcleas Na h-Eireann (B.L.E.) a 26 county Athletic Body. Simultaneously, that great worker for the Irish people ?? Billy Mc Kee formed the Ulster Sports Council with some!

help from his past friends. These °} were the first attempts to destroy the N.A.C.A. (National Athletic and | Cycling Association) a 32 counties association. Even the G.A.A.

recognise Mc Kees'U.S.C. They let him use their pitches for training and they also turn a blind eye to the fact that the U.S.C. is seeking competition with the Imperialist puppet of athletics,the Northern Ireland Amateur Athletics Association. These are the people who say"'No politics in sport", by which they accept partition in sport These are the people who are accepting the words of Lynch, "Partition is a reality and we must accept it". Lynch said this to a delegation of N.A.C.A. men when he interviewed them. The N.A.C.A. refused to accept partition. There was a deluge of publicity in the press for the | | "realist" bodies B.L.E. and U.S.C to help the "drowning'' of N.A.C.A.

(so Lynch thought), but the N.A.C.

A. and the people behind them moved from strength to strength.

Ras Na h-Eireann which was staged in January 1970 at Dunleer ,Co. Louth attracted over 600 athletes. This year Ras Nah- Eireann will be a two day event and the Organisers hope for one thousand participants. Truly a sign of strength for the N.A.C.A. The Cycling Branch (N.C.A.) of the N.A.C.A. is also making the same progress. In 1963 Poland participated in An Ras Tailteann the ten day, 1000 mile bicycle race.In 1968 the Czechoslovaks came over to take honours. In 1970 when an Ras Tailteann was dedicated to Vladimir Lenin and James Connolly , the Russians were guests. Such a record could not have been obtained without the support of the people of Ireland: The people of Ireland are behind the N.A.C.A The partitionists ork is breaking up at the 1971 will see the push which will finally make it collapsenever to be re-built again.

frame, oints.

"TRACK & WHEELS"

Belfast 14, ? oe At rR eee RE eer ae ERROR eRe NER wm 60 SES ny Gre CRE RS nr pega ra pememcee tennn vemenes iy a FREE CITIZEN Ist. JA~ ° ot

"SURPRISE!

This week a list of the fifty largest companies in Ireland was issued. One startling fact to emerge was that No.1 on the list was the Cement Company.

This is the same company which, rather than give their workers reasonable wage forced a ‘ke which lasted six months. ai despite the fact that they are the most profitable company ‘n Ireland.

No. 3 in the list was Roadstone who barely three mon ': after the end of the Cement Strixe proposed a merger with Cement Ltd. When the merger finally takes place, there will be one huge *igantic company with a n overwhe ng yuonopoly over the supply of a b sic raw material i.e. cement, in the construction industry. Ireland North and South has a huge housing problem. Only last year violent clashes between the homeless and the Gardai took place on the streets of Dublin. Oby to solve this problem a crash housing programme using all suitahb resources would be required to house the homeless and give evei') family a home of which they cou!d be proud. But all the builders and Cemeni/ Roadstone go where there is profit There is no profit in building ‘oo many houses. Better to slow ‘own house building and build luxury hotels for the Tourists. Au isn't it better to build a limited number of °. private houses and sell them for a high price than build too many houses ? This is what happens under Capitalism. With increasing World competition, small firms go to the wall. Unly the giant monopolies like Cement/Roadstone can survive.

They in turn must limit their supply of raw materials to the market to increase the price and profit. The result is less houses, more hotels less of the real necessities and more spurious luxuries, In the Workers' Republic which P.D. is dedicated to building, firms like Cement/Roadstone will be nationalised under workers" control and their resources applied to the building of enough houses for our people. The needs of the Irish people come before the profits of shareholders. Gerry Ruddy I would like to become a member of the People's Democracy. I enclose .a fee of 10 shillings. 1 EY 0 ol Sameer eee Pe YP era a AdGdPCSS +s cite aire Vaoiea ols pee All letters, gifts, correspondence etce;. to: - 88, Ladybrook Park, Belfast. ‘ To remit sums of money you can use our giro number: 68 101 2005 - Seen A MP eRe atthe nat Roemer om a Eee ene Coane 1 NONE Pe MR PN Atte aia ‘

\

HYPOGRIS

In the last issue of the Free Citizen we commented upon the hypocrisy of the AmeriKKKan government over the prisoners held by the Vietnamese people. This week has come the news that having devastated the forests and fields of Vietnam for five years with 'defoliants and herbicides' the US regime has announced that it will 'phase out' this policy from next June. This follows a report from the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences carried out by Dr Matthew Meselson of Harvard University which warned that the use of sprays has resulted in large areas becoming totally barren and that no living +: thing could grow there for up to the next hundred years. Moreover, "human health had been damaged for some time to come'. What does this really mean? In fact it is concealing one of the most horrific atrocities in human history, - an atrocity which surpasses anything the Nazis managedto do! The latest agency report from Hong Kong ( see Irish Times, 30/12/70) reveals the truth. Of the millions of Vietnamese people in both south and north Vietnam sub- i jected to these arealsprays many thousands have suffered the fate of Enoch Paisley The Christmas issue of the Protestant Telegraph must have been read with satisfaction by small businessmen and well heeled shopkeepers. More clearly than ever before the paper revealed its anti-working class bias. On the front page there was an apology that ‘due to the Communist inspired and perpetuated electricity workers go slow we are unable to produce our usual 12 page paper". Thus, thanks to the electricity workers we were spared more than two pages of the rantings of Enoch Powell. What was significant about his tirade was that he chose to pick out and attack "ecumenical" clergymen who had agreed to participate in immigrant Hindu services and clergymen who had urged christiaas to play an active part in TU affairs. These clergy were to be condemned said Powell. This is not the first time that the Protestant Telegraph has displayed its sympathy with the racialist and anti-trade unionist Powell. Thus on September 9th they recorded support for Paisley from a Mr Frank Smith, a London tory councillor who had "allied himself with Mr Powell” and ''openly advocated an end to all immigration.

Whenever the PT. refers to Africa it refers to "dark Africa’' and "heathen ignorance" and add their support to the racist regimes of Smith and Vorster. Now let us return to N. Ireland's trade unionists. The RT. swallowed all the rich men's lies about the ‘reckless few' involved in the elect- Printed and Published by Peoples Democracy, _ is running out for the mass murderer | they set up their war crimes tribun- ' their verdict upon the US warmach- | 1 i i } action at Ardglass during the cement ' strike. FREE CITIZEN 1st. JAN 1971 jtue. More evidence that the N.Ireland ‘worker is exploited. This time it comes from the Northern Committee , Irish Trade Union Congress. They ‘ show that the average expenditure per employee in N.I. was 74.9% of the British figure in manufacturing industries, 75.6% in cons.ruction 88.5% for gas, electrica and water supply industries and 99% for insurance and banking. In other words, employers in N.I. give fewer fringe benefits as well as lower wages than their counterparts in England. They spen little more than half the amount on fringe benefits while the S.E.T.

benefits them on an average of £71 ‘ner employee while in England the figure is only £17. Interesting figures from the ICTU. But what many workers are asking is why the unions here, especially the amalgamated unions, do not fight for the same wage levels here as their members in England get. The unions are the same, the employers are often the same, why pare the wages not the same? The ;less an employer has to pay out per {worker the bigger the profit he makes ifor himself. Its up to the workers those other victims of AmeriKKKan technology, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - cancer, leukemia and malformation. Today in Vietnam babies are being born with chromosome defects and there are increasing reports of the births of "monster" children, in meny cases limbless like the Thalidomide children or suffering from leukemia.

The hideous disease Trisomy-21 which leaves children helpless idiots has also appeared after widescale spraying. AmerikkKKa's gift to the oppressed people of Asia has not been 'freedom and democracy's it has been the bloody dictatorship of Hitler worshippers like the opium smuggler Ky; it has been genocide; it has been the destruction of entire towns and villages; it has been massacres like My Lai, and now it is miscarriages and monster births.

As thousands of Gls desert every week- last year over 80,000, time ers. After the second world war als to pronounce sentence upon the Nazis; today, every decent person in the world with even scanty knowledge of the facts has pronounced ‘here and across the water to fight the ‘bosses for every penny of the profits.

It is not enough for the ITUC to say that workers here are exploited, we know that, it is for them to do something about it. ine, and the verdict is GUILTY!

ricity go slow. In “ict those 3,000 men in N. Irelanu uring a thankles job earn less than ~20 a week and were perfectly right to strike with their English colleagues.

This month again dockers were jailed here for their action in stopping scabs during the dock strike earlier this year. They were treated every bit as harshly as the PD members when they took similar opare a Copper for Christmas Consternation over Christmas amid ; . the Newry constabulary. Last week No doubt Paisley for all his | 4 déaler was driving a valuable load racialism would support the blackleg | of antiques through the town and decharter provided by our police | cided to stop overnight in a local and magistrates. } hotel. He parked his lorry, and, It is probably true that | because of his valuable cargo decid- Protestant Unionists are closer ! ed to inform the local gendarmerie to certain sections of the working ‘well, wouldn't you? Later that nigclass than old style unionists, in } ht a passing couple chanced to spy Belfast at least. Hence on the three men removing goods from the bus fares issue - one at least, ‘back of the aforementioned lorry.

Fred Proctor supported the camp- j Naturally, like all lawabiding citizaign to keep fared down, although =} ens, they dialed 999. When the law his colleague Mrs Miskimmon pee hk pigs Bad edicts resorted to the level of farce by H Now the good folk of New claiming at a public meeting that {ry are wondering why next day thre the only reason that the fares had ‘RUC man including the ain = P ee a ae “ ; , 10us to. goNapawas because Gonnelty *Const.Murtagh whose bravery is > badge sporting conductors were ‘usually restricted to beating up drugiving free rides to nuns and pr- J agca ; F m nks orc iests up and down the Falls Road, ak @ ee ea or Nobody on the Shankill Bin RSet pes ee préhedas Th or anywhere else believed this ria atone ace a. a omg drivel, but nobody knows where fort their a a a a a.

the Paisleyite spokesmen stand they were all Ei aq paths — on any number of bread and butter one just wanted ae, cp tage jee c arh« c a i . , mace Pe rhaps the latest PT, maybe, with the¢departure of their with its racism and anti-trade ‘ex-boss Artful Tongue they were union rubbish will serve to dis- ‘merely adopting the motto of their illusion some who have up to now new fuhrer - in for a Shillington?

been deluded. i : 88 Ladybrook Park Belfast. Subs. 50/ il. per year.

ese Ae SURE Ao Ne ne ete ee ee RRR RN my Oe

~ WORKERS REVOLT IN POLAND

Just two weeks before Christmas the leaders of the Polish Comm- ‘unist Party announced massive 20% increases in the prices of basic foods. This shock measure slashed by a fifth the already low living standards of Polish workers. Within a few days there were revolts by dockers and shipyard workers in the Baltic ports of Szeczin, Gdansk, and Golynia.

Communist Party and Police headquarters were burnt down, a Soviet ship sunk in Szeczin and militia men lynched in Gdansk.

The riots continued for several days even after the army was sent in and fired on crowds of demonstrators. Only the sacking of party boss Gomulka, the President, and Prime Minister quietened the situation down.

Local right-wingers, notably Father Denis Faul of Dungannon, reacted with glee hoping to use the Polish events to discredit Marxism in Ireland. The silence of these men over oppression in Spain, Vietnam or Cambodia was more than enough to expose their motives, but their ill-informed seribblings served to obscure a very significant developement. The Polish dockers who marched on the 'Party headquarters in Gdansk and then burnt it were singing the revolutionary anthem the "Internationale" and shouting "down with the red bourgeoisie." This was not just a sudden outburst of rage by an apathetic working-class goaded beyond endurance by the parasitic party bureaucracy. Many of these Polish workers were conscious Marxist revolutionaries disgusted at the betrayal of socialism by the Communist Party.

This is not so suprising.

Communist Party rule in Poland is only 22 years old. There are still alive today genuine Marxists who were memebrs of the Polish Socialist and Communist parties before and during the war. Though many of these men were persecuted during the Stalin era - even Gomulka was jailed juring the 1950's - and though freedom of discussion has been rigorously suppressed for most of the 22 years, some tradition of independent Marxist thinking has lingered on. This was shown in 1956 when rioting by workers in Poznan brought down the old-guard Stalinist rulers and Gomulka was brought back from jail to appease the workers,

BY MICHAEL FARRELL

In the turmoil that followed workers' councils or soviets were established in many Polish factories and attempts were made to convene a national conference of workers' councils. For nearly two years the new government was forced to concede freedom of discussion and lift press censorship and there was a widespread growth of revolutionary socialist groups and magazines.

Even when Gomulka had re-established the party's absolute dictatorship discussion continued.

In July 1965 two young Poles, Jacek Kuron and Karl Modzelewski received long jail sentences for their criticisms of party policy.

They joined with friends in court in singing "The Internationale" as they were taken away. Between them they had written a remarkable "Revolutionary Socialist Manifesto" which traced the developement of the Communist Party bureaucracy into a new class managing the Polish economy in its own class interest and against that of the workers. They urged the necessity of a working-class revolution to overthrow the bureaucracy and establish a real socialist society.

They believed this was the only solution in Russia and the other East European satellites as well.

Three years later in 1968 there were further riots and disturbances in Poland, this time mainly by students. Gomulka dealt with these by a combination of police repression, and diverting attention through deliberately fomented anti-semitism. Many dissidents were arrested and jailed, including Antoni Zambrowski who was no revolutionary but who had defended the right of Kuron and Modzelewski to propagate their views, and several more militant Marxists.

Kuron and Modzelewski in 1965 had analysed the current 5 year plan, 1965 - '70 and forecast that by 1970 Poland would be facing a severe economic crisis and the bureaucracy would be forced to lower the workers' living standards.

They seem to have been remarkably accurate and their views seem to have gained widespread support since they advocated uprisings of the working class. Today things are quiet again in Poland, as the party bureaucrats try to placate the workers by sacrificing Gomulka and his associates and making a few economic concessions. But the living standards of Polish workers are desperately low and the bureaucracy is incapable of giving away much more without endangering its own position. If Kuron and Modzelewski are right there will be more and more frequent economic crises until a highly-organised working-class seizes power for itself and establishes genuine workers' control.

The great obstacle is Russia.

Already the Russsan bosses have FREE CITIZEN lst. JAN 1971" crushed two uprisings. Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Soviet leaders visited Warsaw as soon as trouble broke out and Soviet tanks were rumoured to be massing on Polish frontiers, But already there has been a pattern of uprisings. Workers rev vo!ted in East Berlin in 1953, in Huugary in 1956 they toppled the Stalinist regime and won virtual independenc for a fortnight; in Czechoslovakia workers and revolutionary students provided the backbone for the passive resistance to the Russsn invasion.

In none of these countries have the basic contradictions been solved.

Everywhere the workers live in poverty, and everywhere revolt is brewing. There are even stirrings in Russia itself. The hope for Socialism in Eastern Europe lies in simultaneous revolts by the working-class in several countries. The significance of events in Poland is that they show the day is drawing nearer. The same spirit of revolutionary socialist upsurge is abroad in Eastern Europe as in the West and the Third World.

Ireland, Poland, Vietnam: the struggle is the same. r IEE SSE) Ce oe emwmowrnmuteas town >