Sunday 30 July 2006

The Plough Vol 03 No 29

The Plough
Vol. 3- No 29
Sunday July 30th 2006

E-mail newsletter of the
Irish Republican Socialist Party


1) Editorial

2) Statement on white line vigil

3) Still Protesting In Middle Age

4) The Myth of Irish Wealth

5) 'The oppressor demands loyalty'

6) Facts about the occupation of Iraq

7) In support of Republican prisoners in Maghaberry

8) From the newspapers
a. Stop the war in Lebanon and Gaza!
b.
9) Letters
a. Gibney, O’Rawe and the missing evidence


KEVIN LYNCH COMMEMORATION SUNDAY August 6thrd at 2.00pm Dungiven County Derry.
All comrades to attend.

Editorial
The state of Israel backed by its USA/UK allies has declared war on the people of Lebanon. The USA supplies the bombs, the British facilitate their delivery and the Israeli state uses them to massacre men women and children. The pretext for the invasion of Lebanon, the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, has long been forgotten and it is now clear that Israel is acting on behalf of Imperialism to re-configurate the Middle East to conform to USA interests. The armed aggression against both the Lebanon and Palestine people is a war crime. The IRSP unequivocally supports the rights of both Hamas and Hezbollah to resist the Israeli onslaught by whatever means are at their disposal. For no one should be under any illusions. The events unfolding in the Middle East are part of the offensive waged by Imperialism against progressive forces worldwide.
Israel simply could not exist without the billions of US-dollars in military and financial aid it receives annually from its masters. Israel has been the world’s largest recipient of U.S foreign aid for thirty years. For the 2005 fiscal year alone, it received $357 million in economic support, $2.2 billion in military support and $50 million in assistance for migration and settlement. In addition, to help Israel out of its economic slump, the U.S. provided $9 billion in loan guarantees until 2008. . (Source FifthInternational.org Global Newswire 15 July 2006

This is not a war on terror. The USA is losing control in South America where there is a notable swing to the left. Struggles in Nepal and the Philippines are weakening the allies of Imperialism. Both in Afghanistan and Iraq the USA and their British allies are finding themselves under increasing attack.

We call on all republican socialists to support all protests against USA /British aggression and we openly advocate victory to the anti imperialist forces fighting against Imperialism without in any way endorsing their social or economic policies.


Statement on white line vigil
Daly/McNamee Irish Republican Socialist Party Cumann have called a white line vigil to honour the sacrifices of 1981 hunger striker and INLA Volunteer Kevin Lynch. The vigil will commence at 5 pm sharp outside the IRSP national headquarters at 392 Falls Road on Tuesday 1st of August.

It is paramount we do not forgot the sacrifices our comrades made twenty-five years ago to be recognised not as criminals but as political prisoners. The only genuine way to honour our hunger strikers is to struggle for the political status our comrades are deprived of today.

Republican prisoners were no less criminals in 1981 than today, political offenses should treated by the British Government as such as long as Irish men and women are prepared to fight against capitalism and imperialism. The IRSP call without reserve and without compromise for the reinstatement of the political status signed away with the Good Friday Agreement.

PRO,
Daly / Mc Namee Cumann
Irish Republican Socialist Party

STATEMENT ENDS
STILL PROTESTING IN MIDDLE AGE:

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon, and there I was, standing on a white-line picket on the Falls Road. I never though, even in my wildest dreams, as a teenager, that I would still be protesting about prison conditions as I entered middle age. As I stood on the Falls Road last Saturday, I could not help but think back to those dark days of 1980/1.
I remember the protests, white-line pickets and picketing the local British Army/R.U.C. barracks. I remember walking to and from meetings with other youths from our area, we walked as there were no private taxis then, plus, like most teenagers, we were always short of money, but if my memory is correct, we didn’t mind walking as we chatted away about the H-Blocks. During the Hunger Strike in 1980, we had to put up with the dark nights and drizzle that soaked us to the bone, but this didn’t seem to annoy us either. I remember the enthusiasm we had; we really believed we were making an impact on the people in our area. It seemed we up to something every day.
After the 1980 Strike ended and we believed the prisoners won, we were delighted for them and relived that none of them died. But as time passed I realised all was not well. As the talk started about another Hunger Strike I remember feeling that we will not be able to get the support that we had on the first Strike, I actually felt that the prisoners had let us down in some way. At the rally at the Busy Bee to mark the start of the second Strike, I noticed the crowed was smaller. Had people been “burned out” protesting, did they think the prisoners were bluffing? I didn’t know. Starting the white-line pickets on the Shaw’s and Andersonstown Roads again I noticed there were fewer of us and we were not getting the same response from the public. I think even our enthusiasm was waning. Some of our pickets at the barracks we so small, less than ten of us, I thought we would never get things back to what they were during the first Hunger Strike. All that changed with Bobby Sands being elected as an M.P.
Overnight everything had changed, moral was up no end, we had a spring in our step again. The prisoners were going to win and now that one of them was an M.P. none of them would die. Of course our beliefs were brought back to earth with a massive bang when Bobby died. Even then I thought that that was it, Britain will see that in the eyes of the world, the prisoners are not criminals and give them the 5 demands. No, I was wrong again. Frankie, Ray and Pasty were to die over the next few weeks. April and June came and went, we were still protesting away, but we now knew that the prisoners were determined to see it through to their deaths. There was no room for doubt, we were protesting to save prisoners lives.

Our protests were no longer full enthusiasm, just a gritty determination to do what we could for the prisoners. As Joe and Martin died it seemed things could not get worse, we kept up our pickets, Kevin and Kieran died. At this stage I think we were all just overtaken by the sadness of it all. As Tom and Mickey died we wondered where it was all going to end. Ten prisoners dead. The Hunger Strike ended. I believe by now we were just relieved that it was all over. No matter what Britain said, these prisoners had proved for once and for all that they were not criminals.
Now 25 years later we remember them up and down the country. Even on T.V. there are shows marking the Hunger Strike in a way that was unthought-of back in 81 when the whole of the media were against the prisoners. Prisoners who were involved in the prison protest and people who led it outside the prison were being interviewed. I am not sure if this is progress but it is where we are today.

So as I stood on the protest on Saturday at the ripe old age of 43 my thoughts returned to those days of my youth spent protesting for the prisoners. Little did I think then that I would spend my 20th birthday in prison, or be in the Blocks myself, or even end up in prison a second time?

But I am sure the last thing on my mind was that at 43 I would still be on the Falls Road protesting for prisoners. And that those who were leading the protests outside the prisons in 80/81 would not be out with me in 2006. Then again to my youthful mind back then, I never thought that they would end up in Stormont. But no matter what else was going through my mind in my teens, it would have been impossible to convince me that the people, who we followed in 80/81, would be the ones responsible for signing away the demands that the ten Hunger Strikers died for. The protest brought back many memories for me. I looked for the youths, who protested in 80/81 from the Upper Andersonstown area, middle aged now like me, and I saw none of them.

Has the grind of daily life dulled their enthusiasm, maybe they believe in the Good Friday (Dis) Agreement? Or worse still, they now no longer care. I hope it will not take another Hunger Strike to get people to care. But as we begin protesting again I believe we lack enthusiasm, but there is a gritty determination to let the people know that there are prisoners being denied the rights that the 10 Hunger Strikers died for.

And that when Provisional Sinn Fein signed the G.F.A. they were the ones who signed away those rights. If this is progress, let P.S.F. keep it, I can do without this type of progress. I would rather stand in the rain on the Falls Road protesting for prisoner’s rights, than belong to a party that signed away those rights to get into Stormont and to placate a British Government that allowed ten prisoners die.

So it looks like I will begin middle age life the way I spent my youth, protesting against prison conditions. Some might not see this as progress, but given the choice between protesting on the Falls Road and “progressing” into Stormont, you will find me on the Falls Road protesting.

(Gerard Foster)




THE MYTH OF IRISH WEALTH

According to various news bulletins on the evening of Monday 10th July 2006 ‘Irish people are the second richest in the world’. If the media is to be believed only the Japanese are richer than the Irish. However on closer examination this claim does not hold water. Firstly who are the Irish people? Are they the 30,000 Irish millionaires who exist in Ireland? if the answer is yes then it may be true to say that Ireland has more millionaires per capita than almost every other country! However, this hardly constitutes the Irish (26 county) people does it? that is unless the other, upwards of 4,000,000 people majority working class are ignored. Then they tell us that this wealth is based on the property boom and economists warn against a lowering of property prices. Is this a way of keeping property prices artificially high? so high that most people can’t afford to keep up and those that can or, more to the point think they can, do not actually own the house they are pleased to call there own, the mortgage company or bank do. This nation of property owners, that is unless the nation consists of the mighty aforementioned 30,000, is a myth. With property prices running at a vastly inflated rate these same economists, via the ever reliable media, tell us that inflation in Ireland is among the lowest in the European Union. Of course these calculations do not add up, inflated property prices and low inflation? What next? It might be an advantage to tell the population what barometer these inflation statistics are calculated by because if, as suspected they are worked out on wages alone then a false figure will be arrived at. Wages in Ireland, according to a recent trade union report are, in real terms among the lowest in Europe. If this is the case then how can ’the Irish people’ be the second richest in the world? unless of course wage earners are omitted from these statistics.

If this economic claptrap bears any truth, we in Ireland should have goods and services second to none, which we most definitely do not. There should be no need for street collections to raise money for hospitals, or people selling scratch cards to raise funds for asthma and other serious illnesses. Imagine we are part of a country which boasts the ’second richest people in the world’ and we have the second worst health service in the European Union. The fact is it is the way this bullshit comes across which fools most people. The media tell their viewers, listeners and readers a diet of severely rationed truths like a pie with no filling. On the outside it looks very appetizing until the unsuspecting dinner tries to find the filling and, guess what, there is none.

I wonder if these people who are making these fictitious claims about ’Irish people being the second richest in the world’ have actually done a survey among the population as a whole, that is those who for five minutes every four or five years at election times, are classified as the Irish people when they are required to vote. I am sure if they did they would come up with a very different set of figures. If, for example the whole population was surveyed, and the question was along the lines of “ do you feel as though you are part of a people who are ranked as the second richest in the world” what do you think the answer would be? Yes, no, or don’t talk rubbish I can’t even get a hospital bed when I am sick. On the other hand, if we accept just for a minute this diatribe of rubbish where is the population’s share of this phantom wealth?

Recently the free state government announced a windfall of 900 billion euro above expectations from tax revenue. Sounds great but if this is the case, once again, why are our goods and services so poor and real wages so low? Why are so many people living on the streets or in the case of the lucky ones temporary accommodation? Remember these are, according to statistics, the ’second richest people in the world’; the mind boggles at such tomfoolery.

So if the property market collapses, and by this they mean the prices coming down to a figure where people can genuinely afford to purchase and own (as opposed to the mortgage company being the lawful owners) their own property our erstwhile economists would refer to such a scenario as a slump and would start immediately scare mongering about an impending recession.

The moral to this short story is no matter what they tell you always question, no matter what you read always question and no matter what you hear always question, because in this liberal democracy they will only tell you the bits that serve their own class interests.

(Kevin Morley)








'The oppressor demands loyalty'


Bernadette McAliskey, socialist, republican, community activist, spoke at Marxism 2006 event in London. Here is an edited version.

The 30 years of armed struggle and mass resistance against British rule in Ireland began with the struggle for civil rights. The struggle was about fighting against second class citizenship.

For people today it is perhaps incredible that Britain, which is terrorising Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of democracy, did not have equality in voting as late as 1968. In order to be able to vote in Northern Ireland you had to be a property owner. So landlords owned not just property but the democratic process as well. Northern Ireland was constructed on massive discrimination. Discrimination is not just about blatant prejudice; it has a rationale that argues that people are disloyal. It was assumed that Catholics were disloyal.

We are seeing this process repeated. Under the war on terror it is assumed that Muslims are disloyal. Because someone is Muslim we are told they cannot really be truly British. To prove that you are not disloyal you have to overtly express support for the most right wing activities of the state. Only then can you be considered truly a proper citizen. This was the position Catholics had reached by the 1960s. The Unionists opposed the post-war reforms, such as the welfare state. They showed foresight in doing this. The poor got healthier and educated.

At first the Nationalist community had an element of gratitude about the reforms. It is similar with immigration. People coming into Britain are expected to have a perception that they they owe this country something. People are encouraged to come here so their labour can be exploited, but they are supposed to feel grateful.

In Ireland some people had a certain gratitude but they hit the glass ceiling. The next generation came along and argued that it was our right to have a decent standard of living and democracy. he reformists had exhausted all the peaceful means of change. There was nowhere to go but the streets. All movements seem to start with a reformist saying, "Come to the streets and follow me." They think the street is an extension of the places where they hold authority.

They don't realise that when you are on the street a qualitative change takes place. You have space away from the physical constraints that remind you of your place in society. People look around and think that on the streets we are all equal.

Next, the police arrive. The police are great levellers. The reformists say to the police officer, "We are law abiding..." They never get to finish the sentence. The reformists then spend all their time trying to get us off the streets.

When the police charge at you, whether you're Irish or miners or whoever, two things happen. The reformists get scared and the young people, in particular, get radicalised.

We were looking for very small things. We had no one to vote for, but we wanted the right to vote, to jobs and for somewhere to live.

The state used violence. The mass movement became reactive to what the state was doing. They threw stones at us we threw stones back. The state repressed the rights of the people.

The police have killed a man getting on a tube. They have kicked in the door of two Muslim brothers and shot one of them - for nothing.

British police have been doing that and worse in Ireland for 30 years. They will do it here if we do not stop them. This is a consequence of a system that does not allow Muslims to be "really" British.

People are slowly being asked to pick their side. To be British you have to be uncritical of the government because the government is fighting terror. That is the important lesson of what happened in Ireland. There is a new left, but there is still some life in the old left.
(Bernadette McAliskey)
.










Facts about the occupation of Iraq
• British firms have made at least $1.1 billion profit out of the occupation of Iraq alone
• US Vice President Dick Cheney’s Halliburton alone has been awarded contracts in Iraq worth $20 billion
• $8.8 billion of Iraqi and $1 billion of Afghani aid money has not been audited properly and has gone “missing”
• A quarter of all “reconstruction” aid has been spent servicing the occupation
(FifthInternational.org Global Newswire 11 July 2006)


In support of Republican prisoners in Maghaberry

On Friday, July 14, 2006 Republican POWs both in Maghaberry and Portlaoise held a 24-hour fast in protest against the regime in Maghaberry and the attempts to criminalise Republican prisoners by enforcing sub-standard conditions on the segregated landings.
Republican POWs in Maghaberry have been engaged in a prison protest since June 19, 2006 and there are now over thirty POW's
on the protest.

They are fighting to improve conditions for segregated prisoners in Maghaberry who are in effect being punished for exercising their right to segregation from non-political prisoners. They are demanding that their five demands be addressed.

1. RIGHT TO FREE ASSOCIATION
2. END TO CONTROLLED MOVEMENT
3. RIGHT TO FULL TIME EDUCATION
4. SEPARATE VISITING FACILITY
5. RIGHT TO ORGANISE OUR OWN LANDINGS

POWs in Portlaoise have been acting in solidarity with their comrades in Maghaberry during the prison protest and 19 POWs in Portlaoise took part in the fast.




Letters

GIBNEY: O’RAWE AND THE MISSING EVIDENCE.

In his column in the Irish News, dated the 11th May, Jim Gibney gave his version of events during the Hunger Strike of 1981. He used the same column to rubbish Richard O’Rawes version of events leading up to Joe Mc Donnells death. Some of his points are very valid. Like Bik Mc Farlane saying there was no conversation. And that no other prisoners on the wing “heard the conversation”, or that “For 24 years he was in regularly in the company of ex-prisoners. He never mentioned the rejected “set of proposals” to anyone”. He also made a number of other points, but I believe the prisoners on the wing with Bik and Richard are the most important. If what Gibney says about the other prisoners is true, then O’Rawe is obviously lying.
O’Rawe wrote, in response to these claims, in the Irish News on the 15th May making a number of claims of his own. As for Gibney’s claims about the other prisoners, O’Rawe said, “At no point have I sought to enlist my cellmate’s public support for my position… but now that Jim Gibney has brought my cellmate into this, I strenuously challenge him to provide the evidence that my cellmate heard no conversation. I am confident he won’t or can’t.
As all of this was written nearly two months ago, and I have been waiting on Jim Gibney to produce the evidence from O’Rawes cellmate, or any other prisoner come to that, to prove O’Rawe wrong, I am beginning to wonder why he has not done so. It could lead to the belief that maybe there is some truth to O’Rawe claims. Gibney should not let this challenge, to produce evidence, go on much longer.
As all of this has taken place in public in the Irish News, I thought that pages of the Irish News would be the best place for the evidence to be produced. Surely I am not the only one waiting for O’Rawe to be rubbished?
Gerard Foster
Andersonstown.







From the newspapers
Statement of the Israeli Communist Forum (20.7.2006)

Stop the war in Lebanon and Gaza !
The Israeli communist forum strongly condemns the barbaric attacks of the Israeli army in Lebanon and in Gaza Strip. In those attacks many innocent people, including women and many children, have been killed. A lot of houses have been demolished, as well as airports, various roads, bridges, electric power stations etc'. As a result of this destruction hundreds of thousands of people are in dangerous situation and lack basic products, including food and water.
The refusal of Ehud Olmert's Government to conduct any negotiation with the Palestinian elected leadership, including on exchange of prisoners, was main cause for recent escalation in the region. Olmert's government is continuing the old principle of past Israeli governments - which failed during all history - according to it "with our neighbours we shall 'speak' only with force, and what we can’t achieve with force, we shall achieve by using more force". This policy inflicts not only great losses to the Palestinian and Lebanese Peoples, but also to Israeli citizens and to its economy. The northern part of Israel is nearly paralyzed.
From the history of the conflict in our region we know that neither mass killings, bombardments and destruction of huge areas nor liquidations of military or political leaders in any degree can’t achieve for the long run the aim of their perpetrators.
The pretext of the Israeli government for initiating the new war was that its aim is to recover an Israeli soldier who was captured by the Palestinians, and later to release the two soldiers which were captured by Khizballa near the Lebanese border, (the declared aim of Khizballa was to use the Israeli soldiers in order to exchange them with Lebanese prisoners in Israel, and it was also kind of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle and with the Palestinian prisoners.) If the real aim of the Israeli government indeed was to release the captive soldiers, it could have been achieved through negotiations, as it happened in several occasions in the past, including in recent years. But it was just excuse for realizing military aggression which was prepared long time ago.

There is a dangerous attempt to drag Syria and additional countries in the region into the new war. The implementation of these schemes is enabled at this stage by the total support of USA. USA automatically supports all the barbaric acts of aggression conducted by the Israeli army. USA is trying, through the Israeli army, to score some achievements in the region, which will mitigate its recurrent failures in Iraq, which weakens its status in the region. It is very regretful that the international opposition to the Israeli aggression was very weak in the beginning of the war, but in last days its started growing in various parts of the world. The current policy of Olmert's government is disastrous for both the Israeli People and the other Peoples in the region.

We call to enhance the struggle against this policy, and for maximum unification of the forces, Jews and Arabs, which are persistently opposing the war and occupation as well as the racism inside the state of Israel. We congratulate the first acts of protest, which took place in last days and call for their continuation and increase. We call to all peace loving forces in the world to raise their voice against the barbaric war of the Israeli government and to express active solidarity with the Palestinian People, the Lebanese People and the persistent peace forces in Israel.
















What’s On

Remember Des Warren

Out of the pickets jailed at Shrewsbury, following the national building workers strike of 1972, Des Warren served the longest sentence. His trial on conspiracy charges was part of the attempt by the Tory government of the day to destroy basic trade union rights.

It is now 30 years since Des was released from his three-year prison sentence. Des suffered permanent injury to his health from drugs administered in jail, and this ultimately led to his death in April 2004.

3pm, Saturday 5 August 2006
at the Casa, Hope Street, Liverpool Contact details: 0151 709 9948 Justice4pickets@yahoo.co.uk For further information see: www.billhunterweb.org.uk





Please find attached info on Annual Royal Hospital/Féile lecture -this year's lecture is 'Good health- Where there's a will there's a way! A unique look at ethnicity, health and healthcare by Dr. Rafik Gardee Director Nataional Resource CEntre for Ethnic
Minority Health Scotland. Will be looking at issues and concerns relating to the needs of the multi-ethnic communities in our multi-cultural society, including keeping pace with rapidly changing political agendas and the diversity agenda.

It’s on Tues 8 Aug at 5pm in St. Mary's College. Falls Road Belfast



Details of the funeral of Ted Grant –Marxist Internationalist.
Here are the details of Ted's funeral arrangements
It will take place at the South Essex (Corbett's Tey) crematorium in Ockenden road, Upminster RM14 2UY on Tuesday 8th August at 1.15pm. It can be reached by public transport from Upminster Station (Tube/Overground)b y getting the 370 bus going to
Gray's or Corbett's Tey.

A memorial meeting will take place on Sat afternoon. 9th Sept at the friends meeting place, Euston London - more details later.


Steve Jones


The Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee are holding a 25th
Anniversary Dinner on the 12th of August, 2006 in memory of those who
died on hunger strike in 1981.

We will be producing a unique commemorative journal for this event and
would like to offer you the opportunity to have your business or club
featured. We are expecting over 100 attendees, including several
prominent Irish-Americans, and we will feature two special guest speakers,
plus an arts & crafts raffle.

All ads will be black and white. Ad rates are as follows:

8” x 10” Inside Front/Back Cover - $200
8” x 10” Full Page Ad - $100
5” x 8” Half Page - $50
3” x 5” Quarter Page - $25

The Deadline for ads is August 1st, 2006.

Any Group or Organisation can place an ad by following the directions
in this e-mail, The monies raised go to the prisoners dependants so
please make a very important contribution.

Forms are available at www.wemustbeunited.com and if you need any
assistance you can contact us at (708) 655-2078 or (312) 560-9311, or by
email: info@wemustbeunited.com.

Go raibh maith agat,

Colm Mistéil
CHSCC Chairman
www.wemustbeunited.com




Coiste na nIarchimí Summer School/Scoil Samhraidh 2006
Tí Chulainn Cultural, and Heritage Centre, Mullaghbawn, Co Armagh
16-18 August 2006


Admission to the full school, including accommodation and all meals (breakfast, lunch, and 3-course evening meal) - £40.00/€60

Admission to one day, including accommodation and all meals - £20/€30

Admission to one day, including lunch and evening meal - £10/€15

Limited spaces available:
book now on 028/048 90200770
or summerschool2006@coiste.com




Wednesday 16 2.00 p.m. The future we give our children
Duncan Morrow
- Community Relations Council
Linda Moore
- NI Human Rights Commission
Bunmi Salako
- Louth African Women’s Support Group
Bobby Gilmore
- Migrant Rights Centre Ireland
James Doorley
- National Youth Council of Ireland

8.30 p.m. Keynote speaker Mary Lou McDonald MEP


Thursday 17 10.00 a.m. Children of the '60s - Raising a radical voice
Former civil rights activists
Fergus O'Hare
Mina Wardle
Inez McCormack

2.00 p.m. Children of the conflict - a generation imprisoned
Séanna Walsh
former republican prisoner
Martina Anderson
former republican prisoner
Billy McQuiston
former loyalist prisoner
Robert Niblock
former loyalist prisoner

Friday 18 10.00 a.m. A new generation - following tradition or breaking new ground?
Toireasa Ní Fhearaiosa
- Sinn Féin councillor, Kerry
Philip McGuigan
- Sinn Féin MLA, North Antrim
Elisha McLaughlin
- Sinn Féin councillor, Derry City
Matt Carthy
- Sinn Féin councillor, Carrickmacross



Comrades,
Continuing with our celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Spanish
Civil War we are pleased to offer a reproduction of the Spanish
Republican flag with the International Brigades logo. The flags are 3
feet x 5 feet costing £10 each + postage and can be located on our home
page.We also have copies of the 'Connolly Column' a book by an Irish
International Brigadier, Michael O'Riordan who recently died. RRP £14.99
our price £12.99 + postage
Both items available on our website: www.socialistproductions.org
don't forget you can also purchase our International Brigades badge and
t-shirt.

NO PASARAN
Robert


Catalan Solidarity: Ireland Committee

Catalan Solidarity: Ireland Committee was established to provide practical support and solidarity to Catalan political prisoners, their supporters as well as information on the continuing struggle for self determination and socialism in Catalonia to challenge the media portrayal on political militants that are being fuelled by a regime, its media, its paramilitary forces, and mounting repressive laws and legislations.

In order to assist these goals we have established an online news and information service to comment on the current political situation within Catalonia, from within the prisons and on the streets.

As part of our work we aim to provide information events, pickets and solidarity protests etc to highlight various campaigns and activities and to raise awareness of the political situation in Catalonia.

We urge both Catalans living in Ireland and other non-Catalans across Ireland to write to Catalan Political Prisoners, offering them both continued solidarity and support.

We intend to issue regular news, comments & activities via email by Llibertat! ˆ Saoirse!

At present our website is under construction however, we hope that our work will inspire you to find out more!

www.catalansolidarity.org SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS

Llibertat! ˆ Saoirse!

E-news service of the Catalan Solidarity: Ireland Committee
To obtain this regular eservice Llibertat! ˆ Saoirse!, forward „SUBSCRIBE‰ to the following e-mail: catalansolidarity@hotmail.com







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The Republican Socialist Youth Movement have re-launched their website.

It can be viewed at

www.rsym.org



An Glór / The Voice

News sheet of Belfast Republican Socialist Youth Movement

January 2007

Circulation: 400



- Brit police never acceptable

- Maghaberry Prison protest continues

- Assets Recovery Agency, a question of money

- Support the Turkish death fast

- Ard Fheis rejects any move towards INLA decommissioning

- Volunteer Davy McNutt RIP

http://www.rsym.org/pdf/magazines/anGlor1.pdf



The Republican Socialist Youth Movement have produced a short video on the situation concerning Shannon airport and its continued use by American troops and the CIA. The video can be viewed at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH0WqJb95l8



Subscribe to the bi-monthly “The Starry Plough/An Camchéachta”

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IRSP: Pairtí Poblachtach Sóisialach na h-Éireann

http://irsm.org/



James Connolly Society

http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/



James Connolly Archive

http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly



The Republican Socialist Forum from Derry IRSP is

http://rsmforum.proboards23.com/index.cgi



Republican Socialist Online Merchandise - Website

A website that offers a central place to go on the Internet to find good quality items with a distinct Republican Socialist theme. Proceeds from sales from this effort go towards the IRSM and it’s various projects.

http://www.angelfire.com/folk/irishshop/index.html



Donate to the IRSP:



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Tuesday 11 July 2006

The Plough Vol 03 No 28

The Plough
Vol. 3- No 28
Tuesday July 11th 2006

E-mail newsletter of the
Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial

2) Demonisation by the “News of the World” rag

3) White line picket

4) Richard O’Rawe, P.S.F. and Events in 1981.

5) Used, Abused, Disgarded, to the Scrapheap

6) Ireland's risk-of-poverty rate among EU's highest

7) Fermanagh IRSP-Statement

8) From the newspapers

9) Letters
a. 1916 and the Sommne
b. The masses











Editorial
This edition of the Plough contains a rebuttal of a sensational front page story in the News of the World Sunday paper by Martin Breen on the 2nd of July. The rebuttal by comrade Willie Gallagher is a measured response to an article that surely has the hand of British intelligence behind it. The only truth in the article is that members of the IRSP did go to Cuba as part of a work camp last year. The full details were carried in the Plough Vol. 2- No 44 E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party on Saturday 23rd July 2005. Breen obviously prefers to listen to pub gossip from his ‘friends in intelligence than actually do any research. Some journalist, some writer!!
Other articles here cover a recent protest against the criminalization policy against republican prisoners,which involved a wide spread of republicans from different organisations.We may differ in policies and strategy but on the issue of the prisoners we are united. There is also a thoughtful article on the controversy over the book, “Blanketmen” by Richard O’Rawe and a look at the plight of free state soldiers thrown to the wolves after serving their time. The growth of the IRSP continues as we carry a statement from a new branch of the IRSP in Fermanagh.

As the bonfires born on the 11th night in the six counties and we face another orange celebration of bigotry a recent poll has shown little or no support or even interest in the Good Friday Agreement. All that we can now look forward to is more of the same sad sectarianism that has dominated politics in the six counties. That will only end when the state itself is smashed. Those who advocate the restoration of a Stormont assembly are only carrying on the politics that have failed for the 86 years of the existence of the Northern state.




Demonisation by the “News of the World” rag
The News of the World story featuring myself and Gerard Murray is typical of the tabloid press in distortion of the truth and begs the question as to how this paper came into possession of the photographs contained in the article.
Last October the PSNI seized these particular photographs, as well as others, and other documentation relating to our trip to Cuba.There was nothing secret about this trip, we were not wined and dinned, we had no secret meetings with Castro, we did not clinch any deals in relation to laundering money as we had nothing to launder. In fact nothing occurred in Cuba that could be construed in any shape or form as sinister.
Obviously some of the sources for that article was the PSNI who recently returned documentation, computers and other material belonging to Teach na Failte that was seized last October in a so called money laundering investigation. They informed the European funders that nothing of interest was found.
Recently the PSNI have been returning other items that were seized during the same raids to individuals connected with the IRSP and Teach na Failte. Again nothing of interest was found. Last week I was informed that the materials seized at my home were in the process of being returned to me.
The October raids occurred in a wave of PSNI inspired publicity which has been very muted until yesterdays article, which in my opinion, will be used as some sort of excuse for the PSNI failing to find anything of substance and as a cover for their keystone-cops activities.
‘Those crafty IRPS shifted everything to Cuba. Thats why we couldn’t find anything.’
It is nothing new and comes as no surprise that the PSNI are using the press as another tool in their arsenal for political objectives and as a means of justification for their nefarious activities. The raids on Teach na Failte had nothing to do with money laundering but was in fact more about the State closing Teach na Failte down, which in effect they have done despite finding absolutely nothing of substance to justify their actions.
The above coupled with the fact that harsh words were exchanged with a reporter from the News of the World over the demonisation and hounding of Dessie O Hare a number of months ago would be much closer to the truth than the laughable claims that appeared in this paper. It was made clear then that the IRSP would be making no comments on any subject to this paper ever again and the recent article, as well as the hounding of Dessie O Hare and his family is clearly why we should stay away from the tabloid press.
A detailed account of our time in Cuba was featured in the Starry Plough and gives an opposite but accurate version of our experiences.
I am now in the process of seeking legal advise particularly in regards to photographs that were seized during PSNI raids and ending up in the tabloid press.
Willie Gallagher.


White line picket
The IRSP embarked on the first of a planned campaign to highlight the plight and support the cause of the political prisoners currently on protest in Maghaberry gaol by staging a white line picket from the bottom of the Whiterock Road to Beechmount Avenue. Around 150 Belfast IRSP activists lined this stretch of the Falls Road to protest their disgust at the unacceptable treatment of Republican POW's within Maghaberry gaol by the British Government and their Prison Service.
The IRSP fully support the prisoners in their protest and call for the reinstatement of political status, which was surrendered by a branch of Irish Republicanism within the acceptance of the British manufactured Good Friday Agreement. The sacrifices of the ten brave republican volunteers and martyrs of Long Kesh in 1981 must not be in vain. The demands won then are the right of each and every republican POW incarcerated now.1981 must be a lesson to us all. Do not allow a return to those dark and dismal days, stand by the POW's now, remember the hunger strikers with pride and demand the reinstatement of political status!
(Belfast IRSP statement July 8th 2006)



RICHARD O’RAWE; P.S.F. AND EVENTS IN 1981.

“It only becomes the truth when it is officially denied:”
I imagine from the title of this article it would be natural to think I am writing about O’Rawes’ book, “Blanketmen”. Nothing could be further from the truth. I haven’t even read the book, though no doubt I will eventually get around to getting a copy of it.
I am more interested in the Provisional Movements’ Leadership’s (P.M.L.) reaction to the book and that of a few others like Danny Morrison. I had, of course, heard about O’Rawes’ claims, but felt that they were only his opinions and would have no way of backing them up. It was a non-starter and people would soon forget about his claims that the P.M.L outside the prison let the last 6 Hunger Strikers die, including 2 I.N.L.A. Volunteers, to promote their own political agenda. Let’s face it, this claim was so serious I did not believe it; I was wondering what agenda O’Rawe was working to, and the release of the book coming up to the 25th anniversary of the Hunger Strikers deaths smacked of commercialism.
The reactions came thick and fast from those close to Adams P.l.c, they were on radio rubbishing the book and O’Rawe, they used their own columns in newspapers to debunk his claims, some were emotional, some tried to used “facts”, like the “comms” O’Rawe sent out of the prison during the Hunger Strike to lay the blame for the last 6 deaths elsewhere. All of this is to be expected and is understandable.
So all I got out of it was claim and counter-claim, it was going no-where, the truth was there to be got, but I believed we would never get to the bottom of it, and it was just best to get on with it rather than waste time looking for something I would never find. As time went past and I had nearly forgotten all about the book. I happened to find myself in Derry painting a mural to one of the I.N.L.A. Hunger Strikers, Pasty O’Hara. That Tuesday evening we went to a bar to catch the second part of an R.T.E. documentary about the Hunger Strike, the first part being the previous Tuesday. O’Rawe was interviewed and repeated his claim about the last 6 the men to die, nothing new in that I thought, Morrison was on also, but he said nothing new either. So as I sat watching, I thought this is getting away from the reason that the men died, and was getting bogged down on these claims. Adams was interviewed and was doing what he does best, stroking his own ego. As the show seemed to loose its way, the people with me were talking away rather than watching the show, even I was loosing interest. Then Adams, in an answer to a question about the “Mountain Climbers’” (The British Governments’ go between to the P.M.L.) offer to the Hunger Strikers, said that he did not know about the Mountain Climber until afterwards. At first I thought I had heard him wrong. I asked had anybody else heard what Adams had just said. No, they all said. Surely I was mistaken in what I heard him say, “BASICALLY I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBER UNTIL AFTERWARDS.” I knew I had heard him correctly, but couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Everybody who had read 10 Men Dead knew Adams was up to speed on all the doings of the Mountain Climber. Yet here he was on R.T.E. saying that he was unaware of it all. My first thought, after the initial shock, was why would he say that? Adams is not a foolish person, yet here he was committing himself on national T.V. to the “fact” that he was unaware of the Mountain Climber.
We were all tired after a long day painting the mural, and after only three pints, we went to our digs and I was soon asleep. When I awoke the next morning I could not think of anything else, Adams knew nothing about the Mountain Climber? Why would he say that? Even when we were working away at the mural, I kept thinking what was the reason for him denying his role in this part the Hunger Strike? There was a reason sure enough, but I couldn’t work out why. Then an incredible thought came to me, what if O’Rawe is telling the truth? Is Adams trying to distance himself from his part in the Hunger Strike because, if it is true, that the last 6 men died for Provisional Sinn Fein’s future plans in politics that would end his political career over night? His silence is deafening, he should be shouting from the roof tops that O’Rawe is wrong. Yet we hear nothing from the “main player” on the outside of the H-Blocks during the Hunger Strike, you would hear more noise out of a gold fish, why?
Trying to get proof that Adams knew about the Mountain Climber during this part the Hunger Strike would not be easy. R.T.E. didn’t even try by the looks of it. My first thought was to look up the book Ten Men Dead, in it I found plenty of comms addressed to “Brownie” and the book claims that this is Adams. On page 37 it states Adams “writing a book, Peace in Ireland, and a regular column under the pen name ‘Brownie’ in Republican News, the weekly journal of Sinn Fein”. All through the book there are references to Adams as “Brownie”. On page 347 a comm addressed to Brownie from Bik dated July 30, starts “Firstly it was great having a yarn with you last night”, this was in reference to a visit to the Hunger Strikers by Adams, Owen Carron and I.R.S.P. representative Seamus Ruddy, the previous evening. So it is one of these three, go to the end of the comm, and Bik signs off by asking Brownie “to tell Owen and Seamus it was a pleasure meeting them”. That leaves Adams as Brownie. Now Brownie is mentioned all the way through the book, Bik must have written to Brownie daily. Adams went into the prison to talk to the Hunger Strikers and Bik. If Adams knew nothing about the Mountain Climber, what were they talking about? Surely it could not have been the British offer/deal as he knew “nothing about it till afterwards”. Even more interesting is the Danny Morrison Column in the Daily Ireland on June 7th 2006. In his head long rush to prove O’Rawe was wrong about his claims, he proves Adams is lying about his role in the Hunger Strike: Morrison was allowed into the prison on the 5th of July, before Joe Mc Donnell died, to explain the offer/deal to the Strikers and Bik, as Bik was talking to the Strikers “Morrison is allowed to phone out from the doctors surgery. Tells ADAMS that prisoners will not take anything on trust…” Why tell Adams anything about the prisoner’s response to an offer/deal Adams knew nothing about. Surely he would have said to Morrison what offer/deal are you on about? Then Morrison goes on to tell us in the same column that “6 July. GERRY ADAMS confides in I.C.J. P. about secret contact and the difference in the offers”. Again what could Adams tell the I.C.J.P. about the “secret contact” if he didn’t know about it till afterwards? So Morrison confirms also that Adams is lying about his role in the Hunger Strike.
A number of weeks after the R.T.E. show the BBC showed one also on the Hunger Strike. Adams was interviewed and talking about the ending of the first Hunger Strike says that he and others were reading the Mountain Climbers offer/deal in Clonard Monastery “when, if memory serves me correctly, Tom Hartley came in and said the Hunger Strike is over, they called it off”. So Adams wants us to believe that he was at the heart of things with the Mountain Climber during the first Hunger Strike, but knew nothing “until afterwards” during the second Hunger Strike, who kept him out of the loop and why? It is obvious that Adams is lying. Let’s go over some of the points I have made.
1: Adams says on R.T.E. in the show in May 2006 “that he knew nothing about the Mountain Climber offer/deal until afterwards”
2: June 7 2006. Morrison in his Daily Ireland article, phones Adams from the prison hospital about offer/deal. Also says about Adams visit to the I.C.P.J. about offer/deal.
3: June 27. Adams admits on BBC that he was reading Mountain Climbers offer/deal for ending first Hunger Strike.
4: June 27. On the same show Adams talks about Mountain Climber during the 2 Hunger Strikes.
5: Ten Men Dead. As can be seen in the book, “Brownie” was involved in every aspect of the Hunger Strike. If Adams knew nothing about the Mountain Climber, why has he never denied he was “Brownie”?
The question remains why Adams would want to distance himself from his role in the Hunger Strike. Of course this does not prove O’Rawe’s claims are true. But it does prove Adams is lying. He was fully aware of the Mountain Climber. So he has reasons to lie, Adams needs to tell, at least the families of the Hunger Strikers, why he is lying about what went on during those first few days in July 1981 when he, and a few others, were in contact with the British. If he does this, he can prove O’Rawe wrong, if not, that, at least gives O’Rawe the “Moral High ground” in his claim that the last 6 Hunger Strikers were allowed to die by a few people for their own political gains.
It is mind boggling, frightening even. But, impossible? You decide….I am off to read O’Rawe’s book, as I have been told he makes some other claims about people who were in the leadership of the prisoners in the H-Blocks at that time, which if true, will be worth looking into….
Gerard Foster
Belfast.
(The above article also appeared in the Blanket July 10th 2006)

USED, ABUSED, DISGARDED TO THE SCRAPHEAP.
It is not often, if ever, that writing for a republican publication should try to evoke any sympathy towards members of the 26 county defence forces. However on this occasion perhaps it is time to make incursions into this unwritten rule.
On Monday 3rd July 2006 I was listening and watching with interest to the 6-one news bulletin on RTE. The bulletin reported on the fate of members of the free state defence forces who served along the British imposed border during the late 1960s and 1970s.
Some of these men have suffered psychological and physical damage as a result of their tour of duty along the border. According to the bulletin the 26 county government have offered little if any form of rehabilitation or/and treatment for these former free state soldiers.
Many of these men have, or are suffering from alcoholism, marriage break-ups , mental illness outside that of alcoholism and many are now homeless. These men are the forgotten victims of the war in the six counties and their conditions, it would appear are “a direct result of their tour of duty” along the border. As per usual in such circumstances these men would have been brought up on a diet of bullshit such as “ you are fighting for your country\ and “ be proud to serve your country”. Maybe if they had crossed the border these normally nonsensical statements could have held an element of truth but that was not the case.
What they should have been told was something approaching the truth, along the lines of
“you are going to the border to ensure that the troubles of the six counties don\rquote t come over the border and interfere with the cushy existence of your lords and masters in the 26 counties.”
As usual when people fall foul of the circumstances they are forced into there are no facilities available to rehabilitate them, a disgrace applicable to any country operating under a system they are pleased to call Liberal Democracy. Perhaps long overdue a hostel has been opened in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, for ex free state army personnel who served along the border nearly three decades ago and not before time. The hostel will offer some form of rehabilitation and treatment for the deterioration in the health and condition of these men.

Much hype is often made about the physical and psychological injuries suffered by the British Crown Forces, RUC/PSNI and members of the colonial prison service but very little if anything is reported on injuries suffered by members of the 26 county forces.
These people are just as much victims of a situation not of their own making as anybody else. The 26 county capitalist class consistent with the capitalist system which they thrive under do not want to know these unprofitable personnel. Many of these men were “not allowed to communicate” with the local populace, and remember this is on the Southern side of the border, were forced to do 24 hour shifts with no sleep and when they could grab a couple of hours they were given wooden boards to lay on with no sleeping bags. This typifies the contempt in which the present system holds for the people who, all be it foolishly, are the first to offer up their lives in defence of the system. These people who offer their chests for a bullet are normally from the most dispossessed downtrodden and exploited stratas of society.
Maybe the progressive steps taken in Letterkenny could give a signal of conscience out to the 26 county government, however “don’t hold your breath “ as capitalism does not conduct its self on humanitarian lines.
As socialists it is hoped that one day there will be a society in which armies are no longer necessary, a redundant force consigned to the dustbin of history. However to achieve that goal of displacing an obstinate entrenched, greedy profit motivated enemy, the capitalist class, in all its manifestations it will be, regrettably necessary to break eggs in order to create the revolutionary socialist omelette. This, it is hoped, will give rise to a society geared towards peoples’ needs and not the profits of a greedy few. A society geared towards caring for people who are ill and not consigning them to the scrap heap which is what we witness daily under the present imbecile system called capitalism.\par
Kevin Morley




Ireland's risk-of-poverty rate among EU's highest

Ireland has one of the highest rates in the EU of people at risk of falling into poverty, according to a report ,”Measuring Ireland’s Progress, 2005” published by the Central Statistics Office.

The proportion of Irish people at risk of poverty, after pensions and social transfer payments were taken into account, was 21% in 2004, one of the highest rates in the EU.

The effect of pensions and social transfers on reducing the at-risk-of-poverty rate was low in Ireland compared with other EU countries.

In 2002, social protection expenditure in Ireland was less than 16% of GDP. This was half of the rate in Sweden and the lowest of the EU 15 countries.





Fermanagh IRSP-Statement

Up to one hundred republicans gathered in Enniskillen's Cornagrade estate on Saturday 1st July to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1981 hungerstrike. A mural in honour of the hungerstrikers was unveiled by Michael and Louise Devine, the son and daughter of the tenth man to die during the 1981 hungerstrike Micky Devine. During the ceremony a short oration was delivered by Michael Og in which he congratulated those involved in remembering the sacrifices of his father and his nine comrades. He also paid tribute to those involved in the establishment of a new Irish Republican Socialist Party cumann in Fermanagh and hoped that Saturday's event was the first in what he hoped would be a long line of political activity for the party in Fermanagh.

During the event a wreath was laid at the Bobby Sands memorial on behalf of the newly established Fermanagh IRSP cumann.






From the newspapers

The story peddled by imperial apologists is a poisonous fairytale

Neocon ideologues are being given free rein by the media to rewrite the history of Britain's empire and whitewash its crimes

A resurrection is haunting the British media, the bizarre apparition of "benevolent empire". It takes the form of documentaries and discussions steered towards the conclusion that colonialism was not such a bad thing after all and that something of a celebration is in order. Trouble is, to get there, some creative reworking of the facts is needed. After a recent brouhaha about Britain's imperial history on Radio 4's Start the Week - in which I took part - the presenter Andrew Marr worried that the debate had been "pretty biased" against empire: there was a lot of enthusiasm and a "warm nostalgia" for empire, he suggested in the subsequent phone-in, even in former colonies, "still something there, absolutely".

Only the desire to recover some imaginary good from the tragedy that was empire can explain the elevation of the neoconservative ideologue Niall Ferguson to chief imperial historian on the BBC and now Channel 4. His aggressive rewriting of history, driven by the messianic fantasies of the American right, is being presented as a new revelation. In fact, Ferguson's "history" is a fairytale for our times which puts the white man and his burden back at the centre of heroic action. Colonialism - a tale of slavery, plunder, war, corruption, land-grabbing, famines, exploitation, indentured labour, impoverishment, massacres, genocide and forced resettlement - is rewritten into a benign developmental mission marred by a few unfortunate accidents and excesses.

Soundbite culture thrives on these simplistic grand narratives. Half-truths and fanciful speculation, shorn of academic protocols such as footnotes, can sound donnishly authoritative. The racism institutionalised by empire also seems to be back in fashion. The book accompanying Ferguson's current Channel 4 series on 20th-century history, The War of the World, tells us that people "seem predisposed" to "trust members of their own race", "those who are drawn to 'the Other' may ... be atypical in their sexual predilections" and that "when a Chinese woman marries a European man, the chances are relatively high ... that only the first child they conceive will be viable." Not far from the pseudo-scientific nonsense that once made it possible to punish interracial relationships.

Behind such talk and the embrace of the broadcasters is the insistence that we are being offered gutsy truths that the "politically correct" establishment would love to suppress. This is the neo-conservative as spunky rebel against liberal tyranny. Yet Ferguson peddles nothing more than the most hackneyed, self-aggrandising myths of empire, canards once championed by old imperialists such as Macaulay and Mill and rehashed now by the Bush administration: western imperialism brings freedom, democracy and prosperity to primitive cultures. The myth decorates US and British foreign policy spin while trendier versions have also emerged in platforms such as the Euston Manifesto. By anointing Ferguson and his fellow imperial apologists such as Andrew Roberts as semi-official historians, the British media are colluding in a dangerous denial of the past and lending support to contemporary US imperial propaganda .

The evidence - researched by scholars such as Amartya Sen, Nicholas Dirks, Mike Davis and Mahmood Mamdani, Caroline Elkins and Walter Rodney - shows that European colonialism brought with it not good governance and freedom, but impoverishment, bloodshed, repression and misery. Joseph Conrad, no radical, described it as "a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly".
Good governance?
More famines were recorded in the first century of the British Raj than in the previous 2,000 years, including 17-20 million deaths from 1896 to 1900 alone. While a million Indians a year died from avoidable famines, taxation subsidising colonial wars, and relief often deliberately denied as surplus grain was shipped to England.

Tolerance?
The British empire reinforced strict ethnic/religious identities and governed through these divisions. As with the partition of India when 10 million were displaced, arbitrarily drawn boundaries between "tribes" in Africa resulted in massive displacement and bloodshed. Freedom and fair play? In Kenya, a handful of white settlers appropriated 12,000 square miles and pushed 1.25 million native Kikuyus to 2,000 restricted square miles. Resistance was brutally crushed through internment in detention camps, torture and massacres. Some 50,000 Kikuyus were massacred and 300,000 interned to put down the Mau Mau rebellion by peasants who wanted to farm their own land. A thousand peaceful protesters were killed in the Amritsar massacre of 1919.

A collective failure of the imagination now makes it difficult for us to think about the globe before European and American domination. Greed and violence are hardly exclusive to one culture. But colonialism destroyed or strangled possibilities and potential for progress, such as Mughal Emperor Akbar's "sul-e-kul" or "universal good" which underpinned his governance. The scale of European imperialism inaugurated a new chapter in the history of greed which still shapes all our lives.
Natural resources - cotton, sugar, teak, rubber, minerals - were plundered in gigantic quantities. The Indian textile industry was the most advanced in the world when the British arrived; within half a century it had been destroyed. The enslaved and indentured (at least 20 million Africans and 1.5 million Indians) were shipped across the globe to work on plantations, mines and railroads. The stupendous profits deriving from this enabled today's developed world to prosper.

The point isn't for Europeans to feel guilt, but a serious consideration of historical responsibility isn't the same thing as a blame game. Forgetting history is tempting but undermines a society's capacity for change.

Among the many facile assumptions encouraged by these imperial apologists is that those who criticise colonialism are absolving tyrants and bigots in Asia and Africa from responsibility for their crimes. Of course it is possible and absolutely necessary to condemn both. Indians must acknowledge their culpability for atrocities during the partition, for example. But that in no way exonerates the British Raj from its pivotal role in the tragedy that led to over a million deaths.

A wilful ignorance of other people's cultures and histories encourages the notion that freedom, democracy and tolerance are intrinsically western. As Amartya Sen has argued, the subcontinent has long been home to traditions of free-thinking and debate.
Participatory governance was not Britain's gift (recall Gandhi's indigenous village republics), even if parliamentary democracy as an institutional form was adopted in some ex-colonies. Free trade is another mythical western contribution to world history. Amitav Ghosh has reconstructed the forgotten history of a vibrant trade culture between medieval India and Africa. When the Portuguese arrived, they demanded that the Hindu ruler of Calicut expel Muslims, "enemies of the Holy-Faith", from his kingdom. He refused and was subjected to two days of bombardment.

Indeed, one legacy of European colonialism that we all reckon with is the self-fulfilling prophecy of the "clash of civilisations". The claim that east and west are bound to come into conflict is merely an extension of imperial practice which found it useful to seal off porous cultures into fixed categories. This tragic "lie of the colonial situation", as Frantz Fanon called it, rebounds on us tragically in the terror unleashed in the name of Islam and Bush's "war on terror". If we are to undo the destructive legacies of empire, it won't do to invest celebratory falsifications with credibility. To make sense of a shared present and look towards a more humane future, we need to start with a little informed honesty about the past.

Priyamvada Gopal
Wednesday June 28, 2006
The Guardian

(Priyamvada Gopal teaches postcolonial studies at Cambridge University and is the author of Literary Radicalism in India: Gender, Nation and the Transition to Independence )

pg268@cam.ac.uk





Letters.


(The Following letter was published in the Irish news)


Dear Sir/madam

The 26 counties government has now publicly acknowledged its British military past by issuing for the first time a stamp commemorating those who died during the battle of the Somme and staging a state ceremony at the Islandbridge memorial. The event is put on the same level as the Easter Rising, because it accepts the British claim that the Great War fought by Britain was for "small nations to be free"; therefore Unionists and Nationalists who participated in it have an equal claim to be honoured by the Irish state. But the politics of the Somme are incompatible with those of the 1916 Rising.

The new pro-Great War doctrine makes no assessment of what was at stake, and uncritically accepts the British propaganda about "small nations". It was a war for King and Country, for that project of global conquest and genocide called the British Empire. The new doctrine glosses over the false reasons that brought the nationalists in the Great War and misrepresents the imperial purposes of the slaughter. If we are faithful to the ideals of 1916, we should acknowledge it as the "Crime Against Europe" as Roger Casement and the "War against the German Nation" as did Connolly. It is something that should be lamented, not celebrated.

Some will argue that given the significant number of Irish people who fought in the Great War, it should be commemorated. Whether all foreign wars in which Irish people were involved should be commemorated is dubvious. Should we commemorate the Irish who fought on the pro-Slavery side during the US Civil War for example?

It is interesting that the Redmondite "war against the German and Turk" - in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) amongst other places- is being rehabilitated at a time when the 26 counties establishment increasingly alligns itself with the Ameranglian crusade in the Middle East...


Liam O RUAIRC
392 Falls Road
Belfast BT 12
028 90 321 024






Dear Comrades ,

Let me ask you a serious question: There is one aim that all communists gain for, there is the same way of getting to it: Get the masses to follow. Now is the time to end all individual violence and build up parties like the Batasuna did and the Sin Fein has done. I think to get involved with the masses that are so hyped with TV Technologys and Wealth of own living, their only chance we do have is to cooperate with all other movements around the world to become one voice: So get in contact with th MRTA in Peru, the EZLN in Mexico, the CNT in Spain, and the movements in Venezuela and so on -to connect-means to save this planet before it explodes!!

Thank you very much for reading my short thought on left wing politics,
I think time is here for us to share and even not sharing the same ways, we do have the same aim, so let's unite against exploitation and environment killings!!

Please visit: www.myblog.de/loganey
www.people.freenet.de/gandhi

FRIENDSHIP,

Manu Loganey





The Chicago Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee are holding a 25th
Anniversary Dinner on the 12th of August, 2006 in memory of those who
died on hunger strike in 1981.

We will be producing a unique commemorative journal for this event and
would like to offer you the opportunity to have your business or club
featured. We are expecting over 100 attendees, including several
prominent Irish-Americans, and we will feature two special guest speakers,
plus an arts & crafts raffle.

All ads will be black and white. Ad rates are as follows:

8” x 10” Inside Front/Back Cover - $200
8” x 10” Full Page Ad - $100
5” x 8” Half Page - $50
3” x 5” Quarter Page - $25

The Deadline for ads is August 1st, 2006.

Any Group or Organisation can place an ad by following the directions
in this e-mail, The monies raised go to the prisoners dependants so
please make a very important contribution.

Forms are available at www.wemustbeunited.com and if you need any
assistance you can contact us at (708) 655-2078 or (312) 560-9311, or by
email: info@wemustbeunited.com.

Go raibh maith agat,

Colm Mistéil
CHSCC Chairman
www.wemustbeunited.com


Comrades,
Continuing with our celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Spanish
Civil War we are pleased to offer a reproduction of the Spanish
Republican flag with the International Brigades logo. The flags are 3
feet x 5 feet costing £10 each + postage and can be located on our home
page.We also have copies of the 'Connolly Column' a book by an Irish
International Brigadier, Michael O'Riordan who recently died. RRP £14.99
our price £12.99 + postage
Both items available on our website: www.socialistproductions.org
don't forget you can also purchase our International Brigades badge and
t-shirt.

NO PASARAN
Robert


Catalan Solidarity: Ireland Committee

Catalan Solidarity: Ireland Committee was established to provide practical support and solidarity to Catalan political prisoners, their supporters as well as information on the continuing struggle for self determination and socialism in Catalonia to challenge the media portrayal on political militants that are being fuelled by a regime, its media, its paramilitary forces, and mounting repressive laws and legislations.

In order to assist these goals we have established an online news and information service to comment on the current political situation within Catalonia, from within the prisons and on the streets.

As part of our work we aim to provide information events, pickets and solidarity protests etc to highlight various campaigns and activities and to raise awareness of the political situation in Catalonia.

We urge both Catalans living in Ireland and other non-Catalans across Ireland to write to Catalan Political Prisoners, offering them both continued solidarity and support.

We intend to issue regular news, comments & activities via email by Llibertat! ˆ Saoirse!

At present our website is under construction however, we hope that our work will inspire you to find out more!

www.catalansolidarity.org SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS

Llibertat! ˆ Saoirse!

E-news service of the Catalan Solidarity: Ireland Committee
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The Republican Socialist Youth Movement have re-launched their website.

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An Glór / The Voice

News sheet of Belfast Republican Socialist Youth Movement

January 2007

Circulation: 400



- Brit police never acceptable

- Maghaberry Prison protest continues

- Assets Recovery Agency, a question of money

- Support the Turkish death fast

- Ard Fheis rejects any move towards INLA decommissioning

- Volunteer Davy McNutt RIP

http://www.rsym.org/pdf/magazines/anGlor1.pdf



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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH0WqJb95l8



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Monday 10 July 2006

The Plough Vol 03 No 27

The Plough
Vol. 3- No 27

Monday 10th July 2006

E-mail newsletter of the
Irish Republican Socialist Party


1) Editorial


2) THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION IN IRELAND



Editorial.

On the IRSP web site, there is reference to a document Road to Revolution and claims it is an internal IRSP document. That is an unintentional mistake.

This article was first published in An Phoblacht in issues No. 3 Jan 1966, No. 4 March 1966, and in issue No.6 July 1966, under the name Ger Collins and representing the views of the group Irish Revolutionary Forces. This article, published in 1966, 50 years after 1916, was based on Leninist revolutionary teachings as interpreted to the Irish situation. It was also published in pamphlet form.

The full selection of 14 issues of An Phoblacht is now with Linenhall Library and along with the 6 issues of People’s Voice and form an interesting study of the struggle against revisionism in Ireland at the time.

Jim Lane, a former Chairman of the IRSP, former IRA Volunteer and activist in the IRF, distributed this document among some members of the IRSP as recommended reading mentioned it was produced by the Marxist/Leninist group, Irish Revolutionary Forces in 1966. Jim Lane was involved with its production along with the leadership (Sean Daly, Brendan O’Neill, Gerry Higgins) and other members of the IRF Organisation. It was an agreed document on how revolutionaries should proceed in Ireland and it was to inform the thinking in the years ahead of some comrades involved in the Republican struggle right up to the time they became members of the Irish Socialist Republican Movement, especially in the struggle for the primacy of politics within that movement.
The document was part of the strong struggle by the IRF against the pro-Moscow entryists to the Republican Movement. Those comrades and political historians who are interested can view the 14 copies An Phoblacht, the 6 copies of People’s Voice and The Road To Revolution in Ireland in the following libraries; The Linenhall Library, The National Library,
The UCG Library, Trinity Library, The Cork City Library, The Cork County Library.

The Plough is re-publishing it here both in the interests of historical accuracy and because of its relevancy still today. The article reaffirms the importance of revolutionary theory. The article raises important questions about stages of the revolution which no doubt which will generate some debate. It emphasises the importance of a revolutionary programme and while accepting that tactics to implement that programme may vary the programmes itself is of immense importance. It also poses questions about the relationship between the party, the masses and the revolutionary struggle itself. No doubt some of the soft left, ie those who fail to identify with actual real existing revolutionary struggles such as Cuba and Venezuela, Nepal, will find these questions embarrassing. The article quiet correctly places the whole issue of physical force in its proper context and makes no concessions to pacifism. It reaffirms that in the final analysis the ruling class will resist change with force.




THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION IN IRELAND

“Without a Revolutionary Theory there cannot be a Revolutionary Movement”—Lenin

There are many in Ireland who flippantly disregard the great need for a theoretical knowledge of revolution, by saying that it is ACTION and not THEORY that is required. This sort of error is one, which cannot avoid producing dire consequences.
A thorough understanding of revolutionary theory is indispensable to the successful pursuance of revolutionary action. A revolutionary activist can no more cope with the many and diverse problems of revolution without revolutionary theory, than can an electrical engineer master his problems without knowledge of electricity. The question is as simple and straight forward as that.
REVOLUTION:
In terms of present conditions in Ireland: Revolution stands for the total overthrow of that social, political and economic system which functions in the country as a whole; and its replacement with an entirely new order of things, more compatible to the needs of the people, more beneficial to their progress and general welfare, and designed to ensure the unqualified Independence of our Nation State.
From this it is obvious that the Irish Revolution must be a two-phased effort. The first must be aimed primarily at the overthrow of the Partitionist regime and the seizure of State power by the revolutionary movement. The second must represent a co-ordinated national effort during which the national community, under the leadership of the revolutionary movement, will undertake the reconstruction of the nation on completely new lines.
The most important thing to understand, and understand fully, is that revolution not alone entails that period of national struggle to free the country, but also encompasses an after period, to implement the social, political and economic changes necessary to give the newly acquired independency a durable substance. Consequently, the revolutionary political organization which mobilizes a popular support for the struggle against the present regimes in Ireland, must, of necessity, retain the directorship of national affairs after that struggle has been won, so as to ensure that what the people fought for shall he realised.
To propose that the matter of national leadership could be arranged in any other fashion is ridiculous. It is stupid, for example, to say that when Ireland is liberated from its colonial yoke, and re-united politically, a parliamentary election should be held to elect a 32 County Parliament. What political interests are going to compete with the party of the Revolution in such an election? Are the old parties to be permitted to continue, even under different names? Obviously, such a set-up, wherein the political opposition to the revolution is allowed to retain its cohesiveness after the revolution has won, cannot be entertained by any reasonable person.
Furthermore, it is highly absurd to suggest that new political parties would come into being in the aftermath of victory. Where are they going to come from? What interests are they going to represent? It should be plain enough that all progressive groups in the country are going to identify themselves with the revolution during the colonial struggle, and as a consequence, they are going to become part of the revolutionary political organisation. Anyone, any social or economic interest which does not establish such an identity must be opposed to the revolution. You cannot have neutrals in a revolutionary struggle, and if it should happen that a segment of the population did adopt a neutral position during the struggle, then they have automatically forfeited the right to participate as an independent political force in the State founded by the Revolution.
The facts of the matter are: a modern revolutionary movement must have a popular basis if it is to succeed. During the anti-colonial struggle its organizational structure must facilitate a mass mobilization of the community within the framework of the movement. The desires of the people will therefore be expressed through the revolutionary movement during the struggle. This is quite logical and it is equally logical to say that the will of the national community can be as beneficially expressed through the same medium during the period of reconstruction that follows the anti-colonial struggle.
In effect, a revolutionary government under these conditions would be drawn from one political party. The State would function under a system of Socialist Democracy wherein the various contradictions, or legitimate conflicts of interests of the community, would be represented in the Party, and would be resolved by the democratic machinery of that party. The only interests which would not be represented in, or recognized by the State, would be those antagonistic to the interests of the community. This is the revolutionary way. There is no other.
REVOLUTIONARY PROGRAMME:
When a revolutionary movement calls upon the people to rise in active opposition to the status quo, it must base its case on positive proposals of its own, as well as on the negative aspects of the ruling regime. The people must be given a tangible reason why they should overthrow the existing order in that they must be presented with the prospects of an alternative system emerging from their struggle, which will incorporate benefits not forthcoming under the prevailing ruling clique.
Generally, it is the practice of revolutionary movements to issue a social, political and economic programme, so as to enlighten the community on its ultimate aims and ideals. This programme, with its contents exemplifying the ideological motivation of the revolution, represents the CORE of the struggle for freedom. By assessing its contents against corresponding elements of the status quo, it is possible to determine whether or not that CORE is sound or hallow; whether or not the fight, even if successful, is going to be worth the sacrifice and trouble it will inevitably incur. Does the programme propose modifications to the existing system, or does it involve the creation of a completely new and progressive order? That is the main question. And an analysis of any programme will answer this question, and by so doing, will make clear at once if its contents are in fact revolutionary or not.

A truly revolutionary programme for Ireland must, of necessity, be diametrically opposed to the existing order of things, this is only logical, and since Ireland now functions according to the dictates of capitalism, then, it is but common sense to suggest that an Irish revolutionary movement must found its programme on the principles of Revolutionary Socialism. There exists no other known alternative.
However, the realization of a revolutionary programme requires planning, to take into account the resources of the revolution and of the opposition to it, to select the means by which the revolution advances, and to dictate the employment of revolutionary forces and resources. Such diversified planning falls under the general heading of policy.
REVOLUTIONARY POLICY:
A revolutionary policy represents an assessment of any given situation, and the strategic and tactical plans adopted for the employment of revolutionary forces and resources in that situation. From this it can be seen that a fundamental difference exists between the basis of a revolutionary programme, and the various policies conceived to realise it. And it is precisely this difference, by no means obscure or undefinable, that causes much confusion in the appreciations of many Irish Revolutionaries.
A programme expresses the principles on which the revolution is founded. To modify such a programme, or to pursue a course of action antagonistic to its fulfillment, represents a positive violation of PRINCIPLE. On the other hand, policies are dictated by prevailing conditions - of necessity, they must change as conditions alter, or when new opportunities emerge. The only principle governing policy is the principle of compatibility with the ultimate realization of the revolutionary programme it is designed to serve.
This somewhat brief outline should at least serve to illustrate a great weakness among contemporary Irish Revolutionaries - that is, the tendency to confuse policies for a programme, and therefore to confuse principles with strategic and tactical expediencies.
An Irish revolutionary programme must be based on the destruction of the neo-colonial system, and the construction of a new socialist order. The employment of force to achieve this end is purely a matter of policy, and for that matter, so is the participation, or nonparticipation, in the arena of parliamentary politics.
However, experience, coupled with a pragmatic assessment of current conditions in Ireland, points to the use of force as the only realistic policy. And in this sense only is force complementary to our principles.
On the other hand, should the unprecedented occur, wherein our objectives could be gained without the use of force, and where the use of force could indeed complicate, rather than complement, the realization of a programme, then, under those particular circumstances a policy of physical force would in fact be in direct violation of our principles, since it would be antagonistic to the realization of our programme.
Having established the role of policy in the overall framework of revolution, it is necessary to proceed and sub-divide policy itself.
It has already been said that revolution in Ireland involves the two-phased process of destruction and reconstruction, with both dovetailed together to complement the ultimate realization of a revolutionary programme. Now, since the revolution must be divided into two distinct, though complementary, phases, the over-riding trend in policy must be likewise influenced for maximum efficiency and results. Consequently, to expedite explanations, the dominating policy during the initial period can be classed as Power Policies and those of the second period, Reconstruction Policies.
POWER POLICY:
It is pointless to talk on what should be done to save the country, unless you are in the position to implement your proposals. Therefore, having formulated its programme, an Irish revolutionary movement must assess the situation, formulate plans for the mobilization of support, and then commit its forces against the status quo in a struggle for state power.
Power is the key to revolutionary success - unless a movement succeeds in its struggle for state power its hopes, its aims, its aspirations for a better and more equitable life for the nation’s people amounts to nothing more than wishful thinking.
It is for this reason that the quest for power looms so large in revolutionary appreciations during the initial stage of the revolution. However, it is of equal importance that a revolutionary leadership retains this quest for power in its proper perspective.
State power is itself but a means in the service of the revolution, and is not an end in itself. For this reason, although all means can in theory be justifiably employed by the revolution in its struggle for power, in practice, limits are imposed by the necessity to strenuously guard at all times against any venture or commitment that would tend to compromise the status or functioning of the body which is to symbolize state power once victory has been achieved.
It is natural then that although Power Policies must be dictated by the need of doing what is necessary and what is possible to realize power, at the same time, they must also be governed by the paramount demand of avoiding any compromising action, even though such action may hold the possibility of a quicker victory on the surface.
In other words, when Power Policy is being formulated at any given point, its makers cannot isolate the range of their evaluations to within the scope and demands of the particular revolutionary phase they are engaged in. They must at all times look beyond that juncture where State power is naturally required by the forces of the revolution, and take into consideration the possibility of any long sought participation in a course of action they contemplate initiating, may have, or could possibly have, on the ultimate revolutionary reconstruction of the nation.
A factor, which should perhaps be re-emphasized, is that bearing on the employment of physical force. Force is an element, which can be used in a variety of ways other than in its obvious form of military action. However, we are not concerned here with any particular policy governing its employment; more specifically, we are interested in basic attitudes towards its employment.
Of necessity, a revolutionary movement must from the outset regulate its policies on the premise that force will have to be used in the struggle for power. Both precedent and ordinary common sense points to the realism of this stand. On the other hand, while a revolutionary movement must organize and prepare for the employment of physical force, should it so happen that a unique opportunity presents itself to facilitate the ascendancy of revolutionary forces without its use, naturally the leadership will not turn it down. On such an eventuality, policies can easily be realigned to avail of the opportunity.
The important thing to bear in mind is that although it is relatively simple for a revolutionary movement that has from the beginning determined its progress on policies, which rely on the employment of force, to re-adjust rapidly to exploit any opportunity to acquire power by peaceful means. It is practically impossible for a movement whose progress means to change its course with equal success and speed, when it has been demonstrated that force offers the only solution. The truth of this statement is substantiated over and over in the pages of history - it is an uncontestable fact.
Consequently, the mood of a revolutionary movement must always be: We are going to prepare for - and use - force to acquire our objectives. However, should the enemy be so kind as to vacate the field and allow the revolution to march forward without hindrance, then we will naturally avail of the situation.


RECONSTRUCTION POLICY:
Basically, these policies are those formulated for the regulation of the revolution’s advance once state power is in the hands of the revolutionaries.
Policies governing the country’s reconstruction, along lines compatible to the principles of Socialism, are of tremendous importance. Indeed, there are many cases where the revolutionary forces experienced success on the battlefield, only to lose their way when it came to the implementation of the social, political and economic changes that justified their existence in the first place.
So, when revolutionaries do acquire power, they must be constantly on the alert against the emergence of any attitudes tending to foster the reactionary notion that the job is now completed for all practical purposes, or ideas that the revolution can afford to give a little here and there without undue adverse effects. The job is far from being done, and the revolution can no more afford to compromise during the course of national reconstruction than it could during the period of struggle against enemy forces.
In many respects it could be said that the period of national reconstruction is one during which errors of policy more easily occur than during the period of struggle against the forces of the reactionary regime.
In reality, it is more correct to say that erroneous policies can remain undetected for a greater time during the reconstruction period than during the period of armed struggle where they develop first, through a relaxation in revolutionary vigilance arising from the mistaken though frequent notion that the revolution is a reality once the struggle for power is won.
Secondly, due to the growth of arrogance in leadership circles which can express itself in the shape of pursuing policies that the people in general are not yet ready to accept, on the premise that the leadership knows what is best for the people. This latter contention may well be true. Nevertheless, the role of revolutionaries is not to undertake the construction of a socialist state as their exclusive responsibility, but, to guide the people in their rebuilding of their own country.
The fundamental difference between a Socialist and a bourgeois revolution is that while the latter represents a struggle for state power in the interests of a particular minority class, the former represents one for mass emancipation. As a result, although bourgeois revolutionaries rely mainly on popular support for the winning of their revolution, once they have that power in their hands they invariably proceed to arrange things in the interests of their class; disregarding the interests of the masses when such interests conflict with their own.

The great bourgeois cry of “LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY” takes into account only the bourgeoisie - it has never yet been known to include the “Lower Orders”, as they style the working classes. To the bourgeois revolutionary, “the people” is a very abstract phrase indeed, but to the Revolutionary Socialist it is an entirely different matter. The Socialist revolutionary is of the people and for the people in the fullest sense of the term, and should he ever forget this, and put himself on the path of a bureaucrat, ordering the people around, you can be sure that there is one revolution on the road to ruin.
State power, in the hands of a revolutionary leadership, must only be used to forward the revolution, by doing what is necessary in a tempo regulated by what is possible at any given time. A revolutionary leadership cannot, through the employment of the revolutionary movement backed by the might of state power, proceed to construct the new society by decree, completely disregarding the attitudes and voice of the mass of the people, and at the same time expect to realise in the end that concept of society envisioned by the philosophy of Revolutionary Socialism.
For success in reconstruction, a strict equilibrium must at all times be maintained between the revolutionary leadership, the revolutionary movement and the mass of the people. In a word, socialist reconstruction represents a co-operative endeavor between the leadership, the movement and the mass of the people, and in this undertaking state power is merely a tool to be used just like any other, and not a whip with which to drive the people towards their salvation.
The socialist reconstruction of a country represents the labours of its people to build a society, which is to the advantage of all. However, the structure that ultimately emerges in any given country can only reflect the amount of labour which has been devoted to its building. No people can expect such a blessing as a gift, no revolutionary movement and its leadership can say to the people “give us your support in our struggle for state power, and we will give you a socialist state in which all will enjoy benefits hitherto undreamed of.”
No! If such a state is to be created, then the people themselves must build it, the revolutionary leadership and the movement can only instruct, direct and co-ordinate its creation. It is of the utmost importance that revolutionaries grasp this fact from the beginning, and that they keep it in mind when they are formulating policy at any given time. And it is for this reason also that the danger of isolating considerations for any given policy, to within the limits of immediate demands, has been stressed throughout.
It may, for example, appear smart politics to make all sorts of promises when you are appealing for support to wage a struggle for power. But what happens when power is actually yours, and you find yourself in the inevitable position of not being able to pay up? You can, of course, use your newly acquired power to keep the people in line - you can also use state power to coerce the people into the building of that order of things you promised would be realized so readily and so painlessly. But what the end result of this course would be is difficult to say.
It is obvious that at this stage it is impractical to extend our discussion on the basis of proposing specific policies to meet the needs of our own particular situation in Ireland. We must, of necessity, limit the discourse: (l) to illustrating the role of policy in the revolutionary process as a whole, so as to clearly define its proper function; (2) to establishing some basic tenets which govern the formulating of policy, especially some points that may easily be overlooked by students in their study of revolutionary techniques.
The great need is to demonstrate, over and over, that this business of revolution cannot be reduced to such relatively simple terms, a learning how to use a gun, and then taking off to take a shot at a target e.g., the “B” Specials or the likes - Revolution represents political action under the most demanding of conditions, it is a haven neither for fools, rogues or adventurers.
Again, let it be remembered that the profession of a revolutionary is not merely related to the correct leadership of a people in their struggle for freedom, but also to correct leadership during that period when the people must work, and work hard, to give a durable substance to their new-found status.
So far, an attempt has been made to identify the significance of a Revolutionary Programme. This was followed by an examination of Revolutionary Policy, wherein it was demonstrated that policy is essentially an instrument by which a given programme is realised. The next link in the chain is Revolutionary Action, which, in turn, can be viewed as the instrument of policy.
REVOLUTIONARY ACTION:
It is not our desire to examine the various categories of revolutionary action, but rather to place such action as a whole in proper perspective to the other elements of revolution, which influence and dictate its direction and content.
In essence, Revolutionary Action constitutes any act or combination of acts designed to complement the realisation of a given revolutionary policy. From this it can be seen clearly that action undertaken by an organisation is not revolutionary by virtue of its own content, but through its relationship to policy.

It is necessary to grasp clearly the underlying significance of this interrelationship between Action, Policy and Programme if one is to appreciate fully what revolution really entails. All too frequently, the idea is held in Ireland that military action against the occupational regime is revolutionary policy, on the strength of its manifest aggressiveness towards the enemy.
This is a mistaken and highly dangerous notion, because regardless of how warlike an anti-occupational campaign may be, it is not its military content as such which determines it’s revolutionary status, but the policies it is designed to complement.
A few illustrations may assist in presenting more clearly what we are trying to establish. Take our own situation. It will be conceded that a revolution in Ireland must entail not alone the political reunification of the nation, but also the social and economic reconstruction of the country as a whole. As a result, to be revolutionary, any organisation which presently professes hostility to the partitionist regimes must, first, present a programme based on these aims; second, formulate policies which correlate the realisation of this programme both to prevailing conditions and the organisations capabilities; and finally, engage in a sequence of activity designed to implement the policies.
In such a context, any activity engaged in is revolutionary action, regardless of whether or not it is military in form.
On the other hand, as an example of military action, which is not necessarily revolutionary, we can take the I.R.A. campaign started in 1956. In this instance, there existed no programme that we know of. And for that matter neither did the Republican Movement of the day regulate its aims according to a series of co-ordinated policies. Consequently, it is difficult to determine what the I.R.A. was actually fighting to establish as an alternative to what it was trying to destroy. It is utterly stupid to claim the I.R.A. was fighting for Irish freedom and let it go at that. Of itself, the term “freedom” is far too vague to mean anything - it must be qualified by social, political and economic commitment in order to have a positive form. Lacking such commitment the campaign in the Six Counties was, in every sense, negative, and the military activity, which ensued, was therefore non-revolutionary.
As a matter of historical accuracy it should perhaps be mentioned that the I.R.A. leadership of 1933 issued one of the very few revolutionary programmes that has ever emanated from an Irish revolutionary movement. That the men of that time failed to achieve their goals does not detract from their position - at least they presented a coherent programme, and conceived policies to realise it. Their failure lay, in part at least, in the realm of their policies.
Another example which differs in form but whose end result is similar is to be found among some organisations of the “left”. Here we have organisations, some of which, present programmes that are essentially revolutionary. However, the policies conceived to realise them bear no relationship whatever to revolutionary demands, and, as a consequence, all action these organisations undertake is unavoidably reactionary.
The foregoing examples should at least show that revolutionary action is a constituent part of a binary formula, whose elements of programme, policy and action must at all times complement each other. When any conflict develops between these elements, then the entity loses its revolutionary standing to a degree determined by the extent of the contradiction.
Irish republicans have a tendency to ignore the theory of revolution, and instead view revolution solely in terms of action against the enemy. Unfortunately, this has the unavoidable result of endowing their activities with a certain negative quality - that is to say, their actions are determined more by what they oppose than by what they propose to create in its place.
The result of this negative position is at least partly obscured by the fact that any armed action against the colonial regime is bound to produce some good, in as much that at least it serves as a counter-force to the oppressive force of the enemy.
However, the fact to be grasped is that we can no longer restrict our interpretation of revolution to mere military action against the British in the North-East, and at the same time expect a wide response from the people. If we are ever to gain a mass basis for our efforts, then we can only hope to do so when we place such military action in proper perspective.
That is, when we can demonstrate to the people that such action is necessary and vital to the implementation of policies, which, in turn, relate to a social, political and economic programme that offers the people at large positive prospect of a better way of life.
This pertinent fact must surely be apparent to all by now. And the primary lesson to be learned from it is that the old approach to revolution, wherein Republicans could rally a mass support for their efforts without the necessity of committing themselves to a social and economic programme of revolutionary proportions, no longer applies.
The call for action to free the country no longer receives the response of old. The question is now asked, either consciously or subconsciously, “What do you propose to free us from?” And the only way that query can be answered is by the presentation of a programme.
The factors touched on are elementary, and yet, unless they are understood, unless the fundamentals of the simple formula that has been demonstrated is thoroughly grasped, it is difficult to appreciate how the more complex problems created by a revolution in motion could ever be mastered.
Irishmen have never shown a reluctance to fight against their enemies. But with all our fighting over the past two centuries, the results to date are meagre by any standards. Surely, therefore, this should tend to demonstrate that revolution entails more than a willingness for combat. This does not mean, of course, that physical force is an unimportant factor in revolution. Far from it.
However, to have revolutionary potential, to possess the capability to deliver an adequate return for the demands it makes, physical force must be subordinate to the directives of policies, which, in their turn, must be subservient to social, political and economic objects conceived to better the people’s welfare.
End item.


Catalan Solidarity: Ireland Committee

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It is the policy of the Plough to acknowledge information and articles from other sources.



The Republican Socialist Youth Movement have re-launched their website.

It can be viewed at

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An Glór / The Voice

News sheet of Belfast Republican Socialist Youth Movement

January 2007

Circulation: 400



- Brit police never acceptable

- Maghaberry Prison protest continues

- Assets Recovery Agency, a question of money

- Support the Turkish death fast

- Ard Fheis rejects any move towards INLA decommissioning

- Volunteer Davy McNutt RIP

http://www.rsym.org/pdf/magazines/anGlor1.pdf



The Republican Socialist Youth Movement have produced a short video on the situation concerning Shannon airport and its continued use by American troops and the CIA. The video can be viewed at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH0WqJb95l8



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