Irish Solidarity Bulletin: no. 2, c. September 1970

a 5 as ‘irish solidarity Dutiet rs eg

WHY BIRMINGHAM WORKERS SHOULD

As thé deep divisiuns in the | build a mass movement of workers Unionist party beccme more open, it in Britain which can offer real ie becomes more obvious that from the S0licarity to the struggle for Iris point of view of the governments of freedom, which recognises that eset Stormont and Westminster the crisis ¢vMMon enemy in aoe: See a in the. Northern Treland statelet is iS the monopolies, the lanc ee insoluble. The only solution open to their hangers-on, and et naan Fe British Imperialism,and its allies that the shan ee nab ere Se in the six counties police state, syticbabe be free while i 0488 e “is more troops to crush the ain subjugation.

opposition which threatens their long-term aim of a federal solution to the Irish question. ‘Until now the I.S.C. groups have existed in isolation, but on Oct.

1o/llth. this situation will be altered when a Conference will take place to establish the I.S.C. ona national level. All. interested The bourgecis press in Britain presents the situation in terms of restless natives who fight each other at closing time cver issues organisations in the labour movement 300 years Old; There is OF course ore invited to attend to discuss a an element of truth in this other- programme of sectivities.in support “wise absurd picture, which is that Of the Irish people in their struggle British Imperialism has manipulated against all the forces at the dispesal religious differences among the oF ene eer thelist chase, eS working class in Iveland in order | political force, has to attract peal Soe ve ete t Seapine en fe Ehe not only Irish workers, but British Aer gall eat oe agielteliber ti - workers as well. The labour movement demands for self-determination, for in Britain has sat back too lone several “Gecades . while British capitalists have — a a sweated super-profits out of Irish Pn: the past this process hes gone workers. and Trish prisoners have pi withoub any ‘serous opposition rotted in Gaola for Garing to from the labour movement in challenge this brutal system of Britain. Though Ireland is less exploitaticn. The establishment of important to the British economy the I.S.C. gives British workers a than it wie IH the’ 19 century, Tt chance tc remedy their situation by remains its second best customer, Showing solidarity with their & source cof cheap labour and high fellow'workers in Irelamc,..

‘ PC p> + Fe = * . Shs profits. As an Irish militant XXXXXKXXKXXXXKXKKXXKXXKKXKKXKXKXKKKXKXXX Said recently, because of British Imperialism Ireland has become a IRISH SOLIDARITY MEETINGS IN Bt HAM nation whose chief export is people and whose chief industry is are held in the the dole,

| BLACK SWAN

te response to this situation, the ot a yf oa 2 I.S.C. 46 has been formed on ‘the Every Tuesday night at 8.30pm.

programme of self-determination be fur the #rish people, the withdrawal of British troops from Ireland NATIONAL CONFERENCE - DIGBETH CIVIC and the release of Irish political prisoners from Irish and British HALL Oct. 10-II Jails. The aim of the I.8.c. is to . 7 oe Pre Aton Sty |

The strength cf the left, in.any Irish! iaeaecens? wits ipea directly related tc the solidarity cf socialists in this.

country with the struggle in Ireland. The article below indicates cne of the many manoevres: beings practised by .

the right in Ireland in order to abort the Irish revolution.

Workingclass Support in Britain must be directed towards | Sinn Fein and Peoples Democracy based groupings. This is.

only possible. through Lee a ieee NOW :

S.D.L.P. FORMED IN_ BELFAST.

The creation of a new Social app ere Ss Seen Democratic«sLabour Party. in the North — eae sai ee will no doubt be ereeted by many 4s Hume and Currie also supported the : : Piped, tee introduction: of the*U.D<R.: 6ariier a step towards the-unity required by ao es co wes?

Sit ekctps Cieitinenicnksa? But the this year. Hume even flew over to unity ohieved by the formation of Birmingham in the election period a : sehr lao to support Roy Hattersley,Labour .

niet S.D. sail sede eae ae cy candidate for Sparkbrook, and the counties sous: Perr eae: eee Minister responsible for steering the U.D.R.(Ulster Defence Reg.)

wies6,.5.L.2. dondidta of a group of Bill through the Commons. When Stcrmont opposition M.P.s rate ‘su adhe oo on nA ee = gee through the Nationalists, Northern {Ashe NbSen hubs ahd acacia Ireland Labour. Party.,’ and Republican drepped shes Labour Party to Independents. The Northern Treland. Labour Party and Republican , Labour have already split over the issue cf a new Unity party.

3 sett pare et Thear: eee Mee that DR. : cnly one of. many examples. of neicrn lack -of; any: fixed. policies. Everythings they p~ropose.is really no-more than The new party is in fact a coming a political kite to see which way together cof professional politicians the wind is blowing. This is not. the regardless of their previous positiongsort of leadership the people in the ‘in créer to protect themselves from North-need, yet these are 2 of the the growing support that republicans leading figures in the:new S.D.L. P.

and socialists are collecting in ‘unity' party.

the North. The} hope tc pose as a viable constitutional alternative what binds, this group of professional to the Unionists and thus retain politicians. together, besides fear © Support from all sections of the . for the safety of their seats in - Catholic population. In order Go Parliament, is the hope that one day carry this policy through to fruitionthey might even provide the 6 co.

they will’of course have to, at some statelet with an alternative govnt.

stage or other, become Her Majesty's to the. Unionists. Just as they hope Loyal: Sa ee oe to rally Catholic mbddle class Support by advancing ‘the demands of Madtital ning unity and working out a the 'mbnority' so they hope that ‘the viable political programme is gcing Unionist moderates will run to them to present some difficulties when the hardliners re-establish however. For: instance Paddy Devlin control of the Unionist govnt.

and’ Gerry Fitt wogld, presumbly, , Cisagree over what they mean by a What is their role likely to be?

‘United Ireland' seeing as they pees have belonged to the N.I.L.P. and Firstly the hope of winning over Republican Labour Party respectively. moderate, Unionists /isi/ancillosion.

The Republican Labour Party broke A Unionist party, no matter: how from the N.I.L.P.. in 1949 bees use the'hardt.a leadership,.is too.viable latter would not include a demand for to. be.thrown away fora; gombeen a 32 dounty Republic in oa. ‘programmelrish stew, like» the-S.D.; L. Pi Or what about Gerry Fitt and another On the other hand , as far as the prominent S.D.L.P. member, John ‘British govnt. is concerned the Hume? Fitt is opposed to Irelands S.D.L.P. provides the best hope of entry into the Common Market. Hume diverting the civil rights movement

Certainly those who welcome its demise, as being the demise of the Unionists power base are mistaken.

The power base of the Unionists lies >in the Orange Order and the contrcl 1u gives them over Protestant workers. Although the abolition of ' Stormont would’ severely weaken the ' powers of patronage the Unionists have: it would not eliminate them.

Up until 1920 the Unionists managed quite well without Stormont.

On the other hand abolition of Stormont would be a major setbaek for ALL Irish seperatists. In fact it would mean that Britain could even abandon the pretence that the 6 counties were only held by the ‘consent of the majority of their inhabitants, as represented at Stormont. In. other words even the mandate of the Unionists would be an irrelevant issue for the British government in safe-guarding their -4nterests in the North. All bargaining. power, even by the Norths ruling elass, in dealing with Westminster would be lost. what therefore needs attacking is not Stormont but the system of corrupt govnt. that makes it "a Protestant Parliament for a Protestant people”. In the immeciate future this means giving the Bill of Rights cur full support. The Bill cf rights demands that fundamental safeguards to the ‘individuals liberty and frecdom to organise are inserted in the Norths tconstitutiont (Govnt. of Ireland Act co@ 1920). I% would also cutlaw discrimmination and make impossible large scale 'fixes' of the type the Unionist govnt. use to buy political support. Stormont in this case- would not provide the Unionists with such a well-adapted machine to maintain their supremacy. On the other hand abolition of Stormont would see 6n ena to the Bill of Rbghts (they’ coulda hardly be written into the non-existent British constitution).

Tt would clear away too pert of the 7

EMIGRANTS. RALLY.

One of the worst effects of British Imperialism is the wholesale emigration it produces. Approximately in 3 cf those born in Ireland are forced to emigrate at some time in their lives - the majority permanently. Unable to find work at home Irish workers swell the labour pool in Britain. In the building industry in particular large numbers of young Irish workers, unattached with ho responsibilities, and coming from rural areas with no trede unicn traditions, provide cannon fodder for employers. (Cannon fodder in the building industry certainly it has an accident rate of 3 dead every 2 days). Irish emigration impoverishes Ireland and provides a safety valve that protects the incompetent governments, North and South, which cannot prbvide employment or accomodation for the ordinary working people of the country.

The Clann né HEireann Rally in Dublin on the 22 August was only one of-many steps which must be taken by Irish people, at home and abroad, to solve the problem.

Meanwhile, just to help people make up their minds about whether to leave or not Lynch (26 county premier), is helping out the local landlords in their efforts to ‘improve: their properties, by streamlining the eviction laws.

Large areas.of Ireland, are still owned by landlords whose titles go back to the Norman conquest of the 12 century. This is particulerly true cf Dublin. This city already has 10,000 homeless. The new Prohibition cf Forcible Entry and Occupation Bill will ensure that this figure isaugmented, and the emigrant ship from Dun Laoghaire is a bit fuller this winter. The bill is aimed at squatters (though its provisions can be’ used by the police in certain other types cf eviction). Certainly it. is a far easier way of sclving the housing historical impedimenta to the fulleérproblem ‘than the usual method. Instesc integration of the six counties: into the complex of monopoly . capital. Issued at:67 Birchwood Crescent, Birmingham 12 Phone 356 8781. of building more houses, reduce the number of people. It also shows that the fight of: the Irish people for social justice is not confined to one side of the Border.

5 and Irish workers off the streets.

Doubtless both the Unionist govnt.

and the British govnt. will encourage the new party(cf course the embrace wontt be too hearty or the blatanty of their collaboretion will be too obvious). Already the S.D.L.P. has shown its willingmess to play ball with the establishment by stating it will see as its main cbjective winning the support of the minority in the North. Im other words it will play on the Catholic vote and help the © Unipnists maintain sectarian differences amongst the working people. It far is interesting to note that so the S.D.L-P. has not menticned the civil rights movement in any of its policy staements.Apparently the movement which provided a vehicle that got some of the M.P.S who now compose the §.D.L.P. into office is now regarded by them as too radical to be associated with any longer.

Some people have pointed. out that the S.D.L.P. describes its policy 4s "left of centre, and. that it Supports the aims of the"organised Labour movement". Harold Wilson ~ could make the same claim but no one would deny that during his 6 years in office the cnly gsins made by the people in the North were made at the cost of their own exertions.

Wilson did not set up Free Derry or Free. felfast. Similarly people may say "yes, but at least the S.D.L.P. stands for United Ireland". It may come as Surprise to know thab Sir HEecward Carson, the leader of the Uister Unionists before the First World War anc a founder of the 6 county statelet, also stood for a 'United Irelandt - united under the British crown. a a a The signifieant point about the S.D.L.P.s programme is nct that they stand for a united Ireland but that they don't stand for a 'United Irish socialist republict, or even a'United Irish Republic. In other they are prepared to accept federal solution as an answer to partition. This means they pose a very sericus threat to all progressive movements in Ireland.

2 a The next British General electicne and elections are a long way oper Motes Ghichester-Clarke decides to take a cdisunited party tc the polls to fight off the hardline challenge the members of the S.D.L.P.

will continue to form the second largest party in Stormont for some time to come. This means that if, and when, federal talks take place the S,D.L.P. will probably be ‘ admitted to’ them on the basis of speaking for the 'minority' in the North. In this way the Irish people in the North will be bull-dozed into 4 political reorganisation of their community they never asked for and were never consulted about.

What is the alternative to the 'Gombeen Stew! ~of the profess-~ional politicians? An alternative at the moment can only rest in Support for the Civil Rights movement which is of proven integrity.

For the future Republicans and socialists must work for 4 genuine unity mbvement cf the Irish pxBople on the basis of anti-Imperialism.

When unity comes it must be as a result of the. coming together of organisations and individuels senuinely representative of the Irish people, North and South. It cannot be achieved by the machinations of the politices cf Stormont.

OCCOSCOCUDOCOSCGUOUCUDUGCOUCOUC OGOULGU00

BILL _OF RIGHTS, NOT DIRECT RULE.

The inability of Chichester-Clarkes governrent to control right-wing rebels and the failure of the Situeticn to timprovet as far as Westminster is ccngerned is beginning to strain the Heath govnt. Maudlings threat of Direct Rule was meant to frighten off the'rebel'Unionists.

(Rogue Unionists might be a more accurate term). But the threat also indicated that the British govnt. is losing confidence in the ability of Stormont to hold the 6 counties in its interests. While the unicnists Split, ‘opposition to the old squirearchy that has controlled Stormont since its inception has grown. As Stormonts viability as an instrument of Imperialist domination decreases its utility in exploiting differences in the rights ranks may be srowing.