Unfree Citizen: Vol. 3 no. 48, 23 September 1974

REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER AT THE G.P.0.

NEWSPAPER OF THE

PEOPLES DEMOCRACY

_ 3 Vol. 3 — No. 48 WEEKLY — 23rd September 1974 5p

MASSIVE

FINANCIAL? |

INTERESTS :

BEHIND

BRITISH ARMY

OCCUPATION

NOW UWC. CHAIRMAN CALLS

When Marx said that history repeats itself he was referring to a period of decades rather than months. But the business of the ‘Peace’ movements then probably does not go by Marxism! Once again we witnessed the dreary repetitive spectacle of the peace merchants out again in Belfast. And once again we saw every organ of the ‘impartial’ press slaver with glee and hope as they churned out verbatim reports and boring interviews with the peace seekers in the Grosvenor Hall last week.

Once upon a time we were told that the ‘Ban the Bomb’ demonstrators were the peace seekers, and most people, including the Press, laughed at their long

FOR ‘PEACE’

hiar and fancy clothes. Then the British Army came to Northern Ireland ‘To keep the peace’! Anda strange ‘peace’ it was too — homes raided and wrecked in the middle of the night, men and women, boys and girls, dragged off for internment, interrogation or torture — or the lot. And when the people reacted to this it was stepped up and a new peace movement appeared — the peace movement of the middle class: ‘Women for Peace’ who used to impartially buy flowers for British soldiers and who were also finally pelted with eggs by women who had their menfolk killed or interned by the B.A. peace keepers.

That pro-Unionist middle class movement died a well-deserved death some time ago, despite the frantic attempts of the press and TV to keep it going. But here we are again with another one. This time led by none other than chairman of the Ulster Workers’ Council, the body which led the strike against Catholic participation in the NI state last May — Harry Murray. Harry doing his bit for British imperialism, had started on another well-publicised crusade. His attendance included mainly members of the Alliance Party and Northern Ireland Labour Parties, all good supporters of any peace movements going — particularly the one the British army have been engaged in since 1971.

The attendance was also non-sectarian though it was boasted by ‘The Sunday Press’for there were eight nuns present, as well as Des O’Hagen, education officer of Official Sinn Fein. — An impressive collection of people. And not to forget the other Participants, the BA were also there in strength with blackened faces, screaming Saracens and guns at the ready. To make sure all went peacefully of course.

Sure after all, if you're talking of ‘Peace’ you couldn’t exclude the British Army

LABOUR GRANTING

LOYALIST DEMANDS

The recent statement from Merlyn Rees announcing the plans to increase the sectarian UDR and RUC was a complete capitulation to loyalism. Since the strike, organised by the Ulster Workers council, in May last, a sinister British strategy has emerged. Two months back we pointed this out in our articles ‘The forward march of fascism’ British —_ocmnentetinemetapentimmenieatle Over the past few months of political crisis, during and since the Loyalist U.W.C. strike, the southern Government have become the originators of an entirely new form of politics, known as ‘Government by deafening silence’. Bereft of anything meaningful to say on the present situation, embarrassed by their total inability to pursue a line of policy on the North within even an asses roar of independent thinking, the “likely lads’ of the Coalition have followed up their grand silence with Withdrawal’ and Loyalist Independence’.

Rees statement last week has updated what we have been saying. Since the collapse of Sunningdale the Loyalists are in a strong position. They have got a pledge from the British of a return to the old sectarian Stormont, the UVF are legalised, the ‘third force’ has been granted and all have beep demanding Nothing could be further from the truth — Cosgrave sneaked off to Westminster trailing clouds of pure bluff. In interviews before he went, he hinted darkly that he would be taking up such issues as the British claim to Rockall Isle and the introduction of the Green Pound for agriculture. The main point, however, was to seek firm assurances from the British Government on power-sharing and the “‘Irish Dimension’. (Despite the fact that these last two points were supposed the old Fianna Fail-style ‘Government to have been signed, sealed and by Gimmick’’. Such a.gimmick was the recent much publicised visit to London of Cosgrave and a whole goggle of government aides and ministers. This particular gimmick was vitally necessary to make it appear as if the Dublin Government knew what they were at all along by keeping silent, and were just waiting for the Correct opportune delivered at the Sunningdale Conference — and, in fact, were announced by Cosgrave as being the non-negotiable corner-stone of Coalition policy on the North!)

After hours of what is known in diplomatic jibberish as ‘‘meaningful discussions’’, Cosgrave came away with no undertaking whatsoever on the Green Pound — not even an more repression against the Catholic minority. ~ But also the Loyalist strike there has been a contest for power between the John Taylor/Harry West clique and the Loyalist para-military and fascist organisations like the UDA and UVF.

It has been a contest of who can demand the most repression against the anti-Unionist people. Taylor and West got a new lease of life during the UWC strike but now find themselves in conflict with the new breed of loyalist.

All have one thing in common though, they want a return to the old 6 Co. State, to Protestant supremacy.

Opposition to that is the common basis for unity among anti-imperialists

COSGRAVE'S

PILGRIMAGE TO LONDON

Pound” is supposed to be the present non-negotiable cornerstone of Coalition agricultural policy!) He received what amounted to a dismissal on the Rockall question, with the British government agreeing to negotiate something which does not belong to them in the first place, and then refusing point-blank to name a date for these negotiations.

The much sought-for assurance on Power Sharing and the “‘Irish Dimension’ turned out to be a weak and watery statement which committed the Labour government to nothing at all and left the Coalition boys standing around twiddling their thumbs — In short, Cosgrave got NOTHING. Coalition made plenty of promises What did come out of the meeting, however, was the ready agreement of the Coalition government to hold a joint Anglo-Irish Security Conference in Dublin, to integrate security North and Souty, between the Free State forces and the British Army and the RUC. And to back this up Cosgrave gave a firm undertaking to introduce laws in the Dail to allow'the trial and conviction of ‘‘furitive offenders’’ fromthe North in southern courts. The Coalition went across to London

CHILE

PICKET IN

DUBLIN

On Wednesday September 11th, the anniversary of the American-backed military coup which overthrew Salvador Allende’s socialist government in Chile, members of the Revolutionary Marxist Group, Peoples Democracy and Socialist Workers Movement staged a picket on the offices of Standard Telephones and Cables in Dublin. Standard Telephones is a subsidiary of the giant American ITT firm which was used as a cover for the CIA leading up to the Chilean coup. It has become known that thirty thousand Chileans were massacred by the military regime which overthrew President Allende. The figures have been released by an International commission in Stockholm which also says that in the past two months alone 20,000 people have been arrested in Chile. Food prices are rocketting and there are now half a million people out of work. All political parties and newspapers are outlawed as are elections. Trade Union activity is completely banned.

This is not to say that the Chilean people are not re-organising and preparing to fight back. The question of what happened in Chile is of great importance to socialists. It has shown clearly the folly of Allende’s policy of not arming the.

workers to protect themselves against their enemies and it shows the lengths America is prepared to go to prevent the development of a workers state in Chile. roaring like lions and came back like a troop of performing ¢ chimpanzees at a circus tea-party. j And this, of course, is the precise relationship between the Imperial British Government and their ini “regional’ government in Leinster House — (who says the Brits don’t believe in Regional Government?)

whose primary role and purpose is to maintain British political, economic and stratetic, policy in Ireland. We regret that the Yearly subscription rate to ‘‘Unfree Citizen has been raised to £4.25 per year. This is due to increased paper, printing and postal costs.

moment,to stick the boot into assurance that the British Government "Ar old” would not oppose it! (The ‘’Green a —eETEeEeEe————OO ees eS _"*" —_— OO??? oO ee eeu eee eS eo eS 05

“GREEN

PA PER’

REVEALS THE ECONOMICS

OF BRITISH OCCUPATION

Amid a massive blaze of press and television publicity Merlyn Rees announced his spectacular ‘Green Paper’ on Northern Ireland’s economy.

Like a schoolboy after working out a difficult sum Ree’s declared that it should put out of people’s heads once and for all the notion that there could ever be any form of independent Northern Ireland State. His main purpose in the green paper seems to have been to knock the ideas of UDI which have been bandied about by some Loyalists. But in trying to disarm the ‘UDI’ propounders Rees has given perhaps the best clarification yet, on the British army’s real role in Northern Ireland.

For his figures disclose that British firms own 45% of the N.1. factories employing more than 500 people.

That is, they control almost half of the biggest industries in the 6 Cos.

So-called N.1. firms control one one fifth, while America has another one-fifth and EEC the remaining one-tenth. These figures apply to only the large firms, and the Green Paper hinted that the balance was the same for those employing 200—500 or less. Rees went on to proudly boast that the British government grant to Northern Ireland was £331m.

suggesting that the people were really indebted in a very big way to Britain! Brian Faulkner was quick to back him up as was Bob Cooper of the Alliance Party. But in the rash of implications that Britain is a dear generous old soul shelling out millions of pounds to us each year just because she is so worried about our welfare — one important thing is conveniently overlooked. That is the amount of British money invested in Northern Ireland. Take

SPECIAL BRANCH RAID

Ree’s figures that almost 50% of all Northern factories are British-owned and consider the value of the average factory premises and machinery. Such premises like the vast Sirrocco engineering works in Short Strand have buildings and machinery which run to a value of tens of millioms of pounds, not to mention the vast plants owned by Couralds and Goodyear. Further, the firms which are classified in the Green Paper as being NI owned are only so in name — many are effectively the subsidiaries of British and Foreign companies which take on Irish directors to give them the appearance of being native.

Proponents of UDI have quoted the total value of such buildings and equipment at the colossal sum of £7,000,000,000 — or approximately TWENTY TWO

TIMES THE AMOUNT OF THE

ANNUAL BRITISH SUBSIDY,

AND THREE HUNDRED AND

THIRTY THREE TIMES THE

AMOUNT SPENT IN THE

CURRENT YEAR ON THE

MAINTENANCE OF THE

‘SECURFTY* FORGES: AND THE

VALUE OF THAT PROPERTY

RISES EACH YEAR.

FURTHER, THE GREEN

PAPER STATES THAT THE

MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF PROFIT

LEAVING NORTHERN IRELAND

EACH YEAR TO BRITISH

OWNERS IS £37,000,000

APPROXIMATELY.

Even accepting the doubtful word of the imperialists for that, that figure alone is almost twice the cost of ‘security’ each year!

And while announcing that £37m — worth of Northern Ireland workers’ labour went into the bank accounts of British profiteers, the Green Paper also says that emigration runs at 6,600 per year, that wages are £4 per week less than in England and that 20% of houses are regarded as unfit to live in. These are the relevant facts to be considered by the anti-Unionist working class when the ‘Green Paper’ is used to justify the link with Britain. From these figures it is clear that Britain is Aot running a state and an army and a police force for charity — SHE IS PROTECTING

HER OWN VAST ECONOMIC

INVESTMENT IN NORTHERN

IRELAND.

Britain is not interested in creating the ‘peace’ she talks about for any honourable reason. She is merely interested in getting stability — stability to continue to exploit 6 Co. workers. But more importantly she is fighting to hold on to the factories — the means of production.

Any realistic settlement of the North's problems can only be a socialist one, it must include Irish unity, and that means sharing the natural resources of the country and the means of production throughout the 32 counties.

In short it means confiscation of all foreign owned property to be used for the benefit of all the Irish people. That Britain fears and that she is at present paying £33m a year as a bribe to prevent.

‘AN PHOBLACHT’

As Cosgrave was returning from his abortive trip to London, his security forces showed evidence of his government's good faith by conducting a mass-raid on the offices of “An Phoblacht’” newspaper of the Provisional Republican Movement in Dublin. Over 30 uniformed male and female gardai and special branchmen ransacked the newspaper offices and arrested four people, including Eamon MacThomais, recently released from Portlaoise jail and editor of the newspaper and Sean Keenan the paper's office manager. The Gardai also lifted a load of equipment and office paper-work. Mac Thomais and another of those arrested were later charged and held on remand. This is not the first time that the offices of newspapers opposed to the government have been raided and their staff and equipment taken. Indeed the predecessors of the present Gardai the old Dublin Metropolitan Police made regular raids on the offices of socialist.and republican newspapers, including the office of James Connolly.

This latest raid, as with all assaults on free speech and journalism, must be resisted and condemned every time.

In a state where the government has complete control of censorship of T.V.

and Radio, and has blackmailed the “popular” press into voluntary censorship, it is vital that the people have at their disposal papers and journals which are independent and prepared to tell the truth about the collaborationist policies of the Dublin government with the British. We in ‘Unfree Citizen’ are not in the least intimidated by this latest turn of the screw — we will continue to expose the pro-imperialist policies of the Leinster House politicians and will continue to fight for a workers republic.

BRITIS

LITANY

Over the last 5 years, since the arrival of British troops on the streets of Belfast and Derry, we have heard the British government give various different ‘reasons’ as to why they are here. Depending on political expediency, the role of the British Army has been officially described as ‘Peace Keeping’, ‘At war with the |.R.A.’, ‘Defending the democratic wishes of the majority’, or ‘Keeping the ‘‘two sides” apart’. Whatever pious excuses the British may put forward in an attempt to explain away the role of their troops *o the foreign press, they don’t " onvince the ordinary working people of t!-e Catholic minority areas of the North of Ireland. The role of the Briti:.: Army is the same in Ireland as it has been in every part of her former ernpire — TO PROTECT BRITISH C.\PITAL. At the moment Britain sees the anti-imperialist war as the greatest risk to her economic interests in Ireland. Consequently her reaction is to lash out savagely at those whom she sees as carrying that war forward.

And although her propoganda might say that she is fighting a ‘small tightly-knit group of terrorists’, Britain is waging a war of attrition and terror against the whole ariti-Unionist population. By their never-ending resistance, by their marches and demonstrations, even by banging bins and blowing whistles, by using every form of resistance of which they are capable the anti-Unionist working class have proven themselves to be the formidible enemies of British interests in Ireland. And the British Government, never one to suffer from qualms about beating up women and children, is using a policy of terror against the entire Sstholic minority. brief look at the activities of ‘ish Army and their local Xe ane UDR and RUC over the ths, bears this out. rT own he Andersonstowh last ‘ea of Belfast for example, is at the moment ‘patrolled’ by the Black Watch regiment, a Scottish regiment famous ic. liad aa for its anti-Catholic bias. These ise i thugs hit the head-lines a few weeks ago by their unprovoked attack on a PHRC anti-internment march to Long Kesh. The action came as no surprise to the people of Andersonstown who have been subjected to their unfettered brutality for more than 2 months now.

The young people of the area often cannot walk more than a 100 yards in the district without being stopped, spreadeagled against a wall for up to half an hour and subjected to sectarian abuse. More often than not they are arrested and taken to one of the many arm forts in the area and held for several hours and interrogated. One young lad, 17 years old, from the Lenadoon area, received 2 broekn ribs as a result of a blow from a rifle butt during such a ‘search’ He was told by one of his assaulters that if he reported his injuries to a solicitor or to a newspaper, he would be shot.. (a very real threat in Belfast where the British army have got away with cold-blooded murder on many occasions — by claiming that their victim had a gun or petrol bomb etc. The fact that the weapons are rarely found is of no consequence as far as the army are concerned.) On July 9th last a young mother had to be given three stitches in her head when she was struck with a rifle butt by another member of the Black Watch. On 22nd July as reported in ‘Unfree Citizen’ the home of P.D.

member Terry Austen was completely wrecked by them.

These examples are by no means isolated. The litany of terror goes on: July 1st — 16 homes in Andersonstown raided in the early hours of the morning. All men were arrested and held in custody in

iin ‘ wil i ! : fh "7 if 1, Ni Ii My, wen mes 4 solitary confinement. Attempts were made to force them to sign statements connecting them with various activities about which they knew nothing. July 2nd — soldiers in Turf Lodge beat a teen-age girl uncomscious with rifle-butts, assaulted a pregnant woman and burst into several houses wrecking them in the process. An old age pensioner in one of them had a heart attack as a result.

Twinbrook area In the Twinbrook area, another woman had a heart attack after being beaten with rifle butts by the Black Watch, and to further demonstrate their sectarian bias, the ‘’Patrol’’ drove around this isolated Catholic estate waving a Union Jack and singing Loyalist songs just before 12th July last. St. James In the St. James’ area, the Royal Green Jackets have been leaving their mark too. Again the ‘Unfree Citizen’ told of how 4P.D. members were attacked and beaten up by them, while selling ‘Unfree Citizen’ in the area. Such occurances are commonplace. In the same area many houses have been wrecked by the army while the occupants.were on holiday. On July 3rd parts of the area were sealed off while the Green Jackets dug up peoples gardens — allegedly looking for arms. None, of course, were found. On July 30th a 13 year old girl was struck with a rifle butt and a 7 year old boy badly beaten by the army on the same day. And so the story continues.

Short Strand In Short Strand, East Belfast, the Royal Horse Artillery have been keeping the true tradition of British Army brutality. The pattern is familiar — houses broken into and wrecked, 12 and 13 year old - children beaten up, midnight raids, arrests and hours of interrogation.

On 19th July, Desmond Mulligan and Raymond Crane had to receive medical attention after being arrested and ‘interrogated’ at the Artillery’s headquarters. Desmond Mulligan was forced to strip naked during interrogation and was then punched and beaten. Raymond Crane received severe bruising to the ribs. The latest trick of this regiment is to tie the wrists and ankles of men they have arrested and force them to hop, doubled over, while they are beaten with rifle butts and batons. Belfast not unique But Belfast is by no means unique.

In the country areas the picture is the same, only here we also have the UDR terrorising the Catholic population. In Co. Tyrone particularly, the UDR have been playing their terror game, arresting Catholic farmers, interrogating them and beating up many. After one such incident a farmer was hospitalised for two months. In the same county UDR patrols have also been operating along with groups of men dressed in civilian clothes. Such ‘patrols’ have been...

responsible for beating up many’local Catholics. It was also in Tyrone in July that the terrible summary execution by the British army of a young farmer, Patrick Mcllhone, took place outside his own door.

The resistance struggle has been waged and supported by the anti- Unionist population for more than three years now. Internment did not defeat it, nor did the policy of saturating the ghettoes with troops.

The British have decided that terrorism is part of their policy.

Let us continue to stand up and fight and refuse to be beaten again into subjection.

KEEP UP THE STRUGGLE!

‘REPRESENTATIVES

OF THE CATHOLICS’

CHANGE THEIR TUNE

The SOLP have done a lot of crining and manoeuvering in their short history in Northern politics. They jumped on every .

bandwagon possible in order to woo the support of the anti-Unionist working class. From the days when claiming to be ‘the representatives of the Catholic minority’ when they withdrew from Stormont after the murder in Derry by the British army of two young men, Cusack and Beattie, they have lead a very winding path indeed. In the early months after internment they staked their political identity on ‘opposition to internment’; in the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday murders in Derry they cashed in on demonstrations to try to boost their (even then) soured credibility.

From then on though, they have outdone only the most bigoted Unionists in their condemnations of the people of the North who have continued to fight and support the resistance struggle.

Never willing to miss a chance they have been on every bandwagon of pro-British propaganda that has been dreami up by the Imperialists to undermine that struggle. And of course when there was the prospect of elections and the promise of fat jobs, there they were, out around the doors, more Provo than the Provos themselves, slamming internment, torture and army harassment. They were, they said, “the only legitimate representatives of the Catholic people’. And they got their jobs, and went back again to the old business of attacking and undermining the struggle of the people who had voted them in. In the Westminster elections, in the Assembly elections, at Sunningdale and on every cap-in-hand trip to London they claimed to be the “representatives of the Catholic people’.

But where has this “honourable” tradition suddenly gone? What has happened to the “representatives of the Catholic people’? For last week John Duffy party secretary of the SDLP stated that he didn’t know how the myth had got around that they were a party representing ‘Catholics’!

The SDLP, he said, were a ‘SOCIALIST’ party first, and they were “merely trying to bring about social equality”!

— Yet another swing in stated policy for the SDLP. We always said that the SDLP were the representatives only of the Catholic middie class, that section of the Cathotic community who down through the years have consistently . tried to be more Unionist than the Unionists themselves. We said that they represent those who have no interest in seeing even the border removed and all-Ireland unity, not to mention a Socialist republic. Every move they have made has gone further and further to prove just that. Duffy's statement last week can only show even more clearly that they are aiming at appealing to the milder unionists, that they are becoming more and more embarrassed with being labelled “Catholic”. ; If more proof is needed then consider that also last week the SDLP said that me they were “not ooking for any solution that would involve the south”.

By implication the are saying that they have abandoned their (hypocritical) claim to want the border removed.

The SDLP are becoming more and more absorbed into the imperialist’s political system. They are rapidly losing all credibility in the eyes of the anti- Unionist working class and are clearly being cemented into the structure of the sectarian six-County state.

GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN

Time and time again in ‘Untree Citizen’ we have warned of and cited samples of the creeping repression that has been going on in the South over the past 5 years, particularly since the introduction of the Offences Against the State Amendment Act in 1972.

This repression and the manipulation of the law against the rights of the citizen has arisen as a result of the political integration of the Southern government with British policy in Ireland. This political integration is common to all the Dail political parties, since the present Labour/Fine Gael Coalition are pursuing the laws of repression brought in by Fianna Fail — laws which they hypocritically opposed while in opposition. The people who administer these laws, the Gardai, have been traditionally portrayed as being an impartial “‘peoples police’, languishing on the support they received over 50 years when they replaced the para-military R.1.C.

Now, in line with developments in Britain, the North and in Europe, we have the emergence of high-ranking Gardai officers seeking to further manipulate the law to the advantage of the Gardai and the state.

PD. BOOK

“Songs from the Barricades” published by People; Democracy, has a selection of 26 of the most popular street ballads based on the Irish struggle up to the present day.

Included are such songs as ‘’Jack Lynch's Army”, ‘‘Bogside Man”, “Broad Black Brimmer’,'’Tom Williams’, ‘Over the Wall’, etc. etc.

Price 25p; or 31p post paid from Connolly Bookshop “‘Garda Review”’ In an article in last April’s issue of “Garda Review’, (Monthly Magazine of the Garda Siochana) the assistant Garda Commissioner Patrick McLaughlin proposed that the whole basis of the law be changed to give the Gardai a free hand and to shift the onus of proving innocence onto the accused. At the moment (except under the Offences Against the State Act), a person is innocent until proved guilty by the state or by the prosecution. What Assistant Commissioner McLaughlin wants is that the person be considered guilty until he proves himself innocent.

Political control of the law This line of thinking in the high ranks of the Gardai bears out only too seriously the warnings that those of us who have opposed the : Offences Against the StateAct and the Special Courts, made about the Behind the Wire prison and concentration camps in Northern Ireland by two members of Peoples Democracy. Phil Mc Cullagh describes the mind-wrecking boredom and terror of the daily routine in Long Kesh where he has been interned without trait since August 1971. Michael Farrell describes the course of his and Tony Canavan’s hunger strike ordeal in Crumlin Road Jail while sentenced on a trumped up charge of breaking a law that only Orange and UDA men are allowed to break.

Order now from Unfree Citizen sellers or from Connolly Bookshop.

“Blood in the Street” There are only a few copies of this book left. This is an accoynt of the events of Bloody Sunday by two eye witnesses Fulvio Grimaldi and Susan North.

Price 40p; or 48p post paid from Connolly Bookshop The personal accounts of life in British the Algerian and Irish situations.

INNOCENT? |

extension of political control to all sections of the law “‘Garda Review” can if they wish, try and pass off this sort of public thinking by Gardai as part of an on-going open debate.

(As indeed they do try in their September issue No. 9). However anyone with any experience of state politics knows that this sort of magazine is often used to fly kites for the government and their forces, to test public opinion in preparation for the introduction of new measures. Oppose repressive laws Repressive laws that exist now must be opposed lock, stock and barrell — to ignore them or wish them away only opens the way for the little Hitlers to impose even more laws against the people and in support of the State. ome Assistant Commissioner Patrick McLaughlin

UNFREE CITIZEN

“Battle for Algeria” The story of the Algerian fight for Independence, how the Algerian people won political freedom from the French Colonialists after a long and bitter struggle very srmilar to that which is being waged in Jreland against Britain to-day.

The book, written by P.D. member Michael Farrell, concludes with a chapter on the similarities between Starry Plough FLAGS: -Eull tize ‘Starry Ploughs’ Sx 3 - £1.00 “Tne Price 15p; or 21p post paid from Connolly Bookshop. “Struggie in the North’ The first edition of this pamphlet produced and published by P.O.

was issued in 1969, the second in 1972. It covers the background to the present conflict in Ireland and deals with the various stages of the struggle from 1969-1972.

It is essential reading to anyone wishing to understand the present situation. Price 15p; or 21p post paid from Connol!y Bookshop “This is Free Belfast’’ This long playing record of the songs of the barricades is now available. Price £2 or £2.18 post paid from Connolly Bookshop.

PLEASE CROSS ALL CHEQUES

OR POSTAL ORDERS

BALLYMUN GAS PRICEPROTEST = = = =-x . Approximately 500 people took part in a demonstration held by the Ballymun Gas Consumers Association in Dublin last to the GPO where a meeting was held.

The association was formed recently to demand that fuel prices for domestic householders have been given crippling bills which many people are simply unable to pay. In Ballymun there is no option weekedn. The protest took the form of a march from the Garden of Remembrance

TV. RISE

ANOTHER CUT

IN WAGES

On Wednesday September 11th last the were going up by 33 1/3rd%'to enable proud announcement that Radio Telefis RTE keep improving the standards of its Eireann viewers were goting to get a programmes: “colourful winter on T.V.” appeared in The old Black and White licence was the 26 Co. newspapers and on RTE already £9 and will now go up to £12.

newsbulletins. The old Colour licence was £15 and will “FANTASTIC”! no doubt for those now go up to £20. It seems that the wealthy enough to afford Colour T.V. Coalition is not just content with But for the ordinary black and white curbing workers wages, but is intent on viewer there was no cause to jump for taking bigger and bigger chunks of them joy. in various taxes and licences. Truly this uses be reduced. In Ballymun in particular but to use the expensive central heating supplied-by Dublin Corporation.

2600. ARMY V JOURNAL

The real bombshell was dropped the next day though, when a statement from is a case of the country’s 400,000 black and white viewers being made pay for

GLORIFIES BRITISH

Conor Cruise O’Brien’s department of the increased pleasured of the better-off.

the Govt. announced that LICENCES

‘CROSS-SECTION’

OF VIEWS?

Publicity stunts are nothing new to 26 Co. government ministers. Ever since Patrick Hillery’s visit to the Falls in 1970 there have been many similar He claimed that he had ‘’a good opportunity of getting a cross section of minority views on the North of Ireland situation’’. Afterwards it turned out that he had met only the Loyalist mayor, the Alliance Party deputy mayor and some - ventures mostly with a splash of publicity. SDLP party members!

So much for the credibility of the government Information Services.

Garret FitzGerald’s was a secret two-hour visit to Derry last Friday.

The object in this picture deserves at least a word of mention. It is something which RTE considered of great importance to the nation, for it got more prominence on every news bulletin a couple of weeks back then the power blackout caused by the British Army in Newry. It is the wreck of ‘Morning Cloud’ the yacht owned by mass murderer Edward Heath!

‘TRIBUNAL’ SYSTEM

The involvement of the 26 Co. army in collaborating with the British Army and RUC by manning roadblocks and checkpoints, taking part in searches and raids etc. has come to a head in recent weeks with the shooting in Monaghan of a young unarmed civilian. That incident showed up some of the trigger-happiness which seems to be the key point in the latest phase of recruitment and virtual retraining of the army to be used as an anti-Republican, anti-Socialist and above all anti-People force. The ‘Defence’ forces are supposedly for defence of national territory, but the one thing that can be said of the training and BERTIE oe ert Be! sages ——____—_——_—"_ glorifying military weapons and other equipment, to the exclusion of the effects that these have on people, and to the exclusion of the POLITICAL PURPOSE

WHICH DICTATES THEIR USE.

How else can this extract from the monthly 26 Co. Defence Forces’ magazine ‘AN COSANTOIR’ be described. Here we have, in a journal of the 26 Co.

Army, a glorification of the machinery used in infamous and widely condemned Compton Tribunals system whereby witnesses go without identification, where Special Branch torturers churn out their rigged evidence to jail anti-Unionists

‘SIGNALS—THE VITAL LINK

THE technical expertise of the Royal Signals finds many uses in Northern Ireland These can be as mundane as installing radios in cars or electronic targets on ranges or as unusual as producing voice disguisers for witnesses giving evidence at special courts at the Maze. Once the gadget is turned on the voice becomes unrecognisable and the hidden-from-view witness can give evidence without fear of intimidation. Soldier (UK) for anything up to 20 years.

We wonder when we can expect a glorification of the Hollywood Palace Barracks Torture Compound ‘noise machine’, or of the ‘ingenious’ equipment dreamt up by other British Army engineers for electric shock torture during interrogation. It is indeed a wonder that there have not been more attempts at roadside executions by the 26 Co. mercenaries.

LC.R.A. DEMONSTRATIONS

IRISH CIVIL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION DEMONSTRATION

IN SUPPORT OF PRISONER'S DEMAND FOR FOOD EARLELS

AND CRAFT MATERIALS.

rearmament drive begun in 1973 is that defence is the last thing that is considered by the Coalition government.

The one object of the army’s training seems to be to use all military methods with ruthlessness. It is to dull the mind of the recruit, to turn him into a virtual zombie who will act solely on orders. It also has the object of LEAVES PARNELL SQ. SATURDAY 5th OCTOBER 3 p.m.

IRISH CIVIL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION DEMONSTRATION TO

LIMERICK PRISON TO PROTEST AT THE DENIAL OF VISITS TO

ROSE DUGDALE.

STARTS 3 p.m. — BUSES FROM DUBLIN — TIMES WILL BE

ANNOUNCED LATER.

PP eat IS nn nT ODI LT AIT rs SIO EN

LEA. AND GOVERNMENT STAND AGAINST.

SMALL FARMERS

Despite threats and warnings from pro-Unionist Limerick ‘socialist’ Jim Kemmy* and from the former ‘Labour’ Lord Mayor of Limerick Stephen Coughlan, more than 20,000 men and women took part in the Farmers’ rally in Limerick last Saturday. The most positive aspect of the demonstration against EEC prices was a token sale of farm produce at the prices the farmers get themselves — beef at 16/20p per pound, 15p a stone for potatoes, 3p for a cabbage, 1p for a dozen carrots, 3p for a pint of milk and 22%p for a pound of bacon!

The militancy of the farmers is justifiable for they have been sold short by two governments, but the sad aspect of the Saturday demonstration was the cynical way the Irish Farmers’ Association condemned the Government for causing the present beef crisis.

T. J. Maher, the president, called for a ‘Monetary break with Britain’ (the Irish £ is the same value as the British one). He claimed that this ‘would be the answer to the farmers’ problems. farmers’ organisation, this position is outlined. It explains how there is only enough feedstuffs in the country to feed 5 million of the _ fountry’s 7% million cattle.

But the big farmers will be buying up much of this to FATTEN cattle for the already glutted beef market — because they are GUARANTEED a minimum price for fat cattle by the EEG. In this situation it is clear that the government has the power to force big farmers to get rid of their fat cattle now by some form of subsidy or tarriff. Needless to say, since the government is in favour of the EEC plans to get the small farmers off the land, and to increase the size of the farms, it will not do this.

In fact the ‘Green Pound’ which is being demanded by the NFA and Break the £ link with Britain woulchas apparently been granted in indeed bring much more meaning into the word ‘indépendence’ but alone it means nothing. Maher's statement is hypocritical. He and Brussels, will only serve to encourage big farmers to hold on to their cattle. Further, evidence of the government's attack on the IFA were the leading proponents small farmers lies in their of EEC membership in 1972. They supported the EEC because they represent the BIG farmers — the cattle ranchers. EEC farm policy is to raise the size of farms to ‘economic units’ — in plain English to get rid of the small farmer.

Breaking with the English £ would benefit all farmers, but it would not be of any real benefit to the small men, to those who make just a bare living from farming. At the moment there is a crisis because the EEC Farm policy had led to over-production of cattle. The small farmers produce the young cattle and sell to the ‘‘big men’’! They in turn fulfil almost a factory role by fattening these for market and export. They only buy when they reckon that there will be a market for their fat cattle at a profitable price for them. If, as at the present time there is no market for the fat cattle then they don’t buy calves from the small farmers — or else they buy at ridiculous prices from farmers desperate for the money. The big farmer runs his enterprise like a factory and of course works through the banks.

He therefore has access to the money necessary.to buy the feed to fatten his cattle — even with the present glut situation and can wait for better prices in the Spring. In a pamphlet issued by the National Land League, the small

BLOCKING OF THE EXPORT

OF YOUNG CATTLE. Young cattle would fetch £25 per cwt. on the export market but cannot be sold in many cases here even for £5.

In this lies the hypocricy and cynicism of Maher and the NFA.

They are not only the most effective instruments of application of the Government’s and EEC’s campaign against the'small farmer, but are succeeding ir: hoodwinking the small farmers themselves.

It is becoming clearer almost by the day, that the only victims of the Government's and EEC’s policies are the country’s workers and small farmers. Emigration in the past has been the traditional safety valve for farmers driven off the land, or for the unemployed on the dole queue. But with unemployment rising in Britain even that miserable luxury will soon no longer be there.

It would appear that for once in lreland’s history a government is going to have to face the victims of its economic activities. Such a situation can only serve to drive home to Irish workers ahd small farmers that their interests lie neither in a mythical ‘unity with Europe’, nor in being controlled by British Capital. It can only convince them that the only system that will benefit them is one which will put them before the economies of Capitatism — a 32 counties Workers and Small Farmers’ Republic.

KILLER

AT LARGE:

Three weeks ago a Dublin youth John Doran from Ballyfermot, was shot in the leg by Special Branchmen in Chapelizod Dublin. He was shot as he ran away from a car that had been followed by the police.

Another man in the car ran in the direction of the river Liffey and shots were also fired at him.

Subsequently the river was dragged for several hours but nothing was found. No trace of weapons of any kind was found in the men’s car.

After this remarkable incident all the Garda authorities could say was that ‘‘A member of the forces discharged a single shot at a man in Ballyfermot’. Despite the evidence of witnesses the gardai have denied that more , than one shot was fired, and have denied that a second person was also fired at. It is still not known whether this man was hot or drowned.

The name of the ‘Branchmen have not been released by the Gardai and indeed they have not even been suspended pending investigation of the shooting. The whole affair certainly should make people very cautious of unmarked police If you are interested in joining the People’s Democracy and fighting for a 32-County Socialist Republic, fill in the form below and send it to : Belfast: CONNOLLY BOOKSHOP, AVOCA PARK,

ANDERSONSTOWN RD.,BELFAST 11.

London: P.DOHERTY, 134 - 136 KINGSLAND HIGH ST.,

LONDON , E8.

vehicles, for with at least one potential ae murderer on the loose who knows what to expect?

ARE THEY STILL IN YOUR AREA

READY TO KILL??

THE PEOPLES DEMOCRACY

— What we stand for The People’s Democracy is a revolutionary socialist organisation, _ fighting for the establishment of a 32-County Workers Republic in Ireland. In that fight we have learned through our experience of the struggle in the North that there can be no progress made until the age-old problem of the domination and exploitation of Ireland by British imperialism is.settled.

_, We therefore support the war of resistance against British contro} in the North and have agitated and will continue to agitate, to back up that war — north and south.

Because both states, north and south, are capitalist controlled we recognise that the 26-Co. government — and indeed all the Leinster House Politicians — support: Britain in the continuation of partition in Ireland and actively promote this by their policy of repression in the 26 Cos.

Consequently we see that the ‘Struggle for National Liberation and Socialism must be fought here as well.

Our activity is based on our experience and Marxist analyses of the situation in Ireland. We consider the anti-imperialist struggle should be fought to gain the support of the working-class people of Ireland and the People’s Democracy pledge themselves to achieving through the struggle for National Liberation — a Workers Republic of Ireland.