T H E I R I S H W A N D E R E R S ' F O O T B A L L T E A M .

IRISH STILL LEAD IN KILBURN FOOTBALL

" I R I S H D E M O C R A T " R E P O R T E R T H E al l - I r ish Association football team, " I r i s h Wanderers , " is maintaining

its reputation for inv inc ib i l i t y in the K i l b u r n League, popular Secretary John Stuart told the " I r i sh Democrat" at the team's comfortable head-quarters at the Br idge House Hotel , Paddington.

C.A. dancer delights Gaelic Club

"pHE appearance of Connolly Association * Dancer M:SS Mary Murphy, of Kil-

kenny at the new London Gaelic League Ceili, at St. Annes Church Hall, Seton Place, N.W.I., caused widespread favour-able comment. Miss Murphy is a danoer of fine accomplishments and delighted her audience.

With her appeared Mr. Cathal Smyth, champion dancer of London, who danced a hornpipe. . It is understood tha t the Gaelic League

has now left Fulham and intends to work in Central London. After a period of dol-drums it is beginning to expand again with a language class at Mile End attended by Irish nurses f rom the local, hospitals.

Weekly classes are held at John Street, Bioomsbury.

T PHE team, which consists entirely of Cork men but for the one Dubliner,

is at the head of the Kilburn league and in the semi-final of three London cups. They have topped the league for the past two years and have earned a considerable reputation for the. ability of Irish sports-., men.

Forthcoming fixtures include a match with Clew Peterson's at Regent's Park erf February 8th, and against the Jewish team Bar Koshbi at Scrubs Lane on 15th.

Matches are at 11 a.m. on the Sunday, mornings. A coach leaves the Bridge,' House at 9.30 a.m.

NEW FACTORY ANEW £80,000 Birr factory will produce

moquette upholstering fabric and em-ploy 100 persons later this year. Company' will be known as B. Wood and Co. (Ire- :

land) Ltd., and Irish directors are the Earl'; of Ross, G. Lyndon and J. Duggan (Kil-; kenny). Named after the parent firm In Leeds, the firm has as English directors Mr. E. C. Wood and his brother, Leeds manufacturers.

No. 98 (N.S.) FEBRUARY, 1953 Fourpence

We Challenge Birmingham Official 'justify your Anti-Irish Statement' BUT NO REPLY YET RECEIVED

* 's CHOCKED by the blatant anti-Iriskbias of an o f f i c i i * the ** office of the Billeting Officer of the Ministry oTTlabour, Irishmen are looking to the Connolly Association for appropriate action. The "Irish Democrat" has written challenging him to justify his statements.

It will be remembered that during last July's "Irish Week" sponsored by the .Birmingham Branch of the Associ-ation, John Griffin declared that there ought to be a thorough invest igat ion made into the conditions under which Irishmen were l iving in the city.

The information department of the Birmingham Corporation is reported to have stated that the billeting officer of the Ministry of Labour was in a position to explain the present position.

One of his officials is reported to have said:—

"We vet all our billets: we accept none unless we have seen them for ourselvea and find them satisfactory." The Press report continued: "Some land-

ladies refuse to accept Irishmen," af ter which he is reported to have said:

"I t is possible that a lot do not behave themselves af ter we have found billets for them and they are forced to leave.

MILK PRO TO RAN\

A SPECIAL

R1

They got turned out and probably find thfese unsatisfactory billets themselves." While there are many Irish people who

feel that their only hope'of redress is to ask the Irish Government to. st£p in and appoint a permanent official to act as informatkm officer in Birmingham, it is also widely thought tha t the Birmingham authorities and the Ministry of La bout-should not be allowed to escape their re-sponsibilities. I t is not a .matter of getting information about what exists so much as having a campaign to improve the situa-tion, for example, by the provision of hos-tels and the registration of- lodging bouses with a minimum standard enforced con-trolled rents, and regular registration.

The "Irish Democrat" has s t i l t the fal-lowing letter ta the billeting oflVcer, chal-lenging him to justify the statements attributed to his department:— v

My attention has been drawn to state-ments in the Press attributed flo yourself, in Whlch liri8%t&t«& that tome laftdlatttes in Birmingham < do not accept Ir ish (Continued on Page Three,

- • c !• IpwSwi t 'rtf-i J.,1^1^..'!. i'

ERS -THIS STRIKE IS

S P O N D E N T

IGHTS and wrongs of the milk producers' strike are being hotly debated in the

blame intolerable delays on increasing the price.

T h e G o v e r n m e n t a l l ege h a s t y p rec i -1 p i t a t e ac t ion a n t i c i p a t i n g t h e i r consid

(Ah-: "The Croppy Boy")

I SING a son* of the Northern Land, Where the yoang Republic was Iwed

and born; Where men of all creeds joined band

in hand " To med the Sasanach might with

seem; Where heroes fought and where

martyrs died For Ireland's honour and Ireland's

weal; Where faith is stronger than England's

pride. And love more lasting than English

steel ! Antrim and Down and Donegal; CavanNFermanagh and green Tyrone; Derry, Monaghan, Armagh—we love

them all • "For the tales they tell us of days long

flown; For the sqjigs they sing us of Ninety-

Eight; Of Orr, McCwktn; arjd brave Munro; Of Hope, and R o w l a n d Betsy Grey; And a thousand others who faced the

foe* i •••

CONNOLLY

From proud Cave Hill up to Breffni'i valves.

From the eastern billows to Inishowen, The breexes are telling a hundred

tales Of the Mtes who battled to b«M their

own; Of boys like NeUaon, the young and » Of maids, and mothers, and manly

men, Of priest and parson who gladV gave Their lives, that the land nlight be free

again! IVIen of the North! no shame Is yours> You are still unbeaten by greed and

hate; The hope of the centuries aye endures, And the faith that was flaming in

Ninety-Eight. The day is dawning when Northern

men Shall sweep the foe men from sea to sea And songs of joy will be song again At Northern firesides—In Ireland free!

—BRIAN NA BANBAN.

e r a t i o n .

aged

milk.

part of the 1 * Producers

V y E S T London T T Association If I

of th« fconnoiiy W issui invita-

tions to the democratic organisations of ether oppressed peoples, with a Hew to staging in London a gigantic protest dem-onstration against the constant Interfer-ence of British imperialism In the affairs ef other nations.

Among those to be invited will be the Carrlbean Labour Congress (London Branch) whose Secretary, Mr. William ^t rachan s eloquent address to the Con-nolly Branch, vjon him a deserved, tribute from Chairman Eamonn MaoLaughlin.

explains Strachan another in effect

Whether the Government gave a pro-mise which political considerations now

them to at tempt to tyriggle out of, or the producers ace intransigeant

yond all leason, the children, sick; and of the cities of Ireland had to eke

an existence on reconstituted dried except in certain praiseworthy in-

ces. . t' .

are commenting that the milk UfidfcrtM* the responsibility of t f tr bofcuiwnift with milk of

own aeoord. If they wish to bere-' ' with the mission

responsibility. Others defect on the part of the Oovernment

run with the hare and hunt with the ftptind*.

i. i Working-class people are noticing how even the Government Press sold full column length advertisement space to the Strikers. The strikers claim "democracy" on their side in holding up the community for a price. This is in marked contrast to the denunciation of the strikes of workers which do not cause the community one-thousandth part of the inconvenience.

h« We "Ireland,' Swift do two hure

indies •were but an Ireland serHMif in tOI deed years ago.

Connolly Association merilbers are tale ing an increasing interest in the struggl of the Colqnlal Peoples. A member of " Kikuyu tribe of Kenya, a brilliant Joi ist temporarily resident in Britain, plained-how Imperialism pretended the Kenya people had no national sciousnes* history, ^culture, or indeed would tlilnk language. T h e visitor

ERIALIST MOVE plained that there were no such words as "Mau Mau" In Kikuyu, and tha t the whole was yet one more illustration of the hypo-crisy of British B ^ ^ l l t t i . ' - ' ! *

Indian and other speakers have also addressed the Association recently, and the

stfftt ferity between the Irish Mr national Whity and tndepead-

and that of Mig ooieniee is eo tfriking the new dspartura w a e . a g e c d upen

at the «aet meeting. Other as wilt of the

I> EAOERS of the be grateful to Mr. James Oeyle, the

Sports Editor,for laying in Walt ping, capturing ai j l . Because beftfre he did "Bad "un" . . v W ^ M f t •elf, alone. «> /rrr-a «•:

New Mr. .Doyle ia able to i underttMMlatteprido that ttafftJMKIt tipped "Whispering StsaC a l t ta l . » Say HAIWIM* oaJl •iait... f r apJ i I* tailert' ' sjaMgi noinivHl of' wmum FrvmHivnK twfoe at short odd*.

etc.

. roller detalfe are mp^mi nu ''Irish oemoorat" M the

THE I R I S H EM O C R A T

2 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT February, 1953

MAYOR OF BOOTLE SAYS READ WORKS OF JAMES CONNOLLY

OUR LIVERPOOL CORRESPONDENT

ALDERMAN Mark Connolly, Labour Mayor of Bootle, has two strong bits of advice for Irish workers in this country—

read the works of the great Socialist James Connolly, and "Get organised."

Mayor described partition

LIVERPOOL DOCKERS MEAN TO GET THAT CHARTER

'IRISH DEMOCRAT' REPORTER I N Boot le—where an Irisih name " spells "welcome" on the mat—you don't have to go far to see how Irish and English workers, all hit equally hard by imperialist Tory policies, can work together in their common cause and interest.

Christmas week-end, «nd thousands of dockers along the waterside—where Jim Larkin first rose to scare the lights out of the bosses (and timid trade union leaders)—took home the magnificent wage packet of £3 12s.

With thousands laid^fcle by the Tory Government's new hunger policies—"ex-port and starve"—redundancy is again looming over dockland, and the Irish among Bqotle's dockers are in the fore-front of a growing movement throughout Britain against the return of the hungry thirties.

Merseyside portworkers' committee, with men on it like Alex McKechnie and Joe Byrne, has taken the initiative in ar-i anging for a national deckers' deputation to M.P j on February 23rd to put the men's demands for a rgyersal of the Tory niea-suces which at one -blow condemned half of Merseysldt's dock workers to the poverty of the "fall"back" guarantee wage.

The deputation will arge rthe ending of the Government's £600,000,000 import cuts j vhich, together with its repercussions on exports, has brought vast areas of the docks to a standstill.

They will demand tha t forced to suffer ^ f

tockers are not [^•interests of

American-dictated policies which have stopped valuable trad? with many count-ries throughout the ' world—while Ameri-can ships themselves atfc seizing much of the supplementary tradeHost to Britain.

Until a year ago and the big butler im-port cuts—also adopted to pay,for the use-less arms programme—there were 19,000 dockers fully employed on Merseyside, plus 500-odd additional labour.

comparative pi IgNnt mit, the

for profits, were the-t h * ,

was here, , always

todemand but

be thousands

so keeo nOw to pay guaranteed wage agreed upon in time of good trade, and are seeking any excuse th£t WQUld give (hem a chance of break-ing the agreement.

But the-dockers' slogan is: "One o u t -all out f"

After the meeting with the M.P.s, a national conference of portworkers' com-mittees is to be held, to reinforce the deputation's demands and back up the programme contained in the Dockers' Charter. . Its points include a basic 30/- a day fall-back guarantee. "What use ljs £3 IBa.Odd to a man Jttfe Billy Shanahan here, who h a s f l v e k l d s a t koine to feed?'' one docker commented to a reporter.

• T i l * charter also demands pensions for a*. the «id ateo—who still have to work tilt they drop. Old men like Tft-yeuvold Pat Hart. who would be the last himself, though, to say he was ready Dor retirement.

Pat, who comes from Dorsay Cross-roads t Mlver rBridga*: about six xnttea out ;of

WWkedftU his life a tBoot le j t te ims be has "no pains, nd

TT was Tom Mann, pioneer of the British 1 Labour movement, who during the big strike battles of 1911 for union recogni-tion, faced the charges of mounted police with two sashes across his chest—of orange and green to signify the unity of the Irish workers of Bootle of both reli-gions.

It is not only in union matters, though, that the Irish dock#s are to the forefront.

' rPAKE, for example, the dockers' own * Phoenix Amateur Boxing Club. Its

committee members consist of lads like Peter Healy, Wilf Duffy, A. Mulloy and McMullan.- Their promising welterweight Bob Davis only just lost on points in a recent contest in Dublin with the Phoenix Club there.

The club's secretary, Jim Carraghen, tells me the club is looking for more Senior members—who are assured of ex-pert instruction from ex-professional Frank Duff. They have premises of their own at 251 Crosby Road, Seaforth.

Taking it all round, the Mersey's Irish dockers are as proud of their Irish back-ground as any of their couhtrymen any-where, and certainly maintain the good name of Irishmen in their sporting, union and other activities.

IN BRIEF l\vf Rt W. H. TAFT, son of the notorious i T J - Taf t has been tipped for U.S. Am-bassador In Ireland. Chip off the old block-head? v

* * * Prosecution counsel in Kenya compared

the Mau Mau with the I.R.A. and said that if a Liberal said "Join the I.R.A." he would be guilty of a criminal offence. The remark merely shows the anti-Irish pre-judice of the Imperialists.

# * • The Munster and Leinster Bank made

enough money last year to pay out a total of 11 percent dividend. So for every pound the shareholders had in jt they got a coi^ple or bob. Not so bad? The Ulster Bank made £133,429 and the Bank of Ireland declared eight per cent. So the summary of it all Is "Pity the poor rich!"

He said in an interview with the "Irish Democrat" he believed Irishmen here could best serve their own interests and those of their country by linking up with the broad Labour and trade union move-ment.

The Mayor, whose father comes from New Ross, Co. Wexford, praised the "trade union mindedness" of Irish wor-kers. "They are an intelligent lot," he said, and in his many years' experience in the Labour movement in Liverpool and Bootle he has always found them anxious to get close to what's going on. "The Irish just can't do without orga-

nisation,'' he declared. "They know the value of it from the organisations they be-longed to in Ireland."

He stressed the importance of trade union organisation now in view of the new proposals to recruit large forces of women labour from Ireland for Lancashire's cot-ton mills, quit by thousands of local workers during the recent bad slump.

Mayor Connolly showed how this fact was an answer to the anti-Irish cry some-times heard: "Why don't you go back to Ireland?"

"We drained Ireland of many of her skilled craftsmen. There are thousands and thousands of Irish in this country, and we can't do without them," he said.

iT^HIS had often been declared from La-bour platforms, where voices were al-

ways raised in support of giving the Irish workers a fail- deal, and where the Irish cause was always heard with sympathy.

Queried about the act of the Labour Government in introducing the Ireland Bill, which placed the Six Counties perma-nently in control of the Tory Unionist Party, the Mayor suggested that Irishmen could best make themselves heard on this and other matters from within the broad Labour movement.

"The Irish are always quick to go for progressive movements," "he said. "They have always played a big part in all move-ments from afar back—like Jim Larkin."

U E believed It natural that from the trade union movement, many would

"see the'r way to Join the Labour Party or some other Socialist organisation."

In th 's way, he agreed, they would see more clearly that the common interests of English and Irish workers were linked with Ireland's national interests.

"For the Irish," he said, "never lose sight of their national ideals, no matter where they are."

The unity of Ireland, through the wor-kers of Ireland in friendship with the English workers, was the way forward for them all, he agreed.

s. no nothlna:' VUM - , . _ born In Ireland, and 111 die there

too, if I'm sparo*" fa* arid. He remembers fftn Larkfci And T t ana i aan ,wbom he de-scribed as the "best man that ever evfr lived."

STRANRAER-LARNE STEAMER IN DESPERATE SEA DISASTER

* •

so that they oouldn't sit, supposing a simi-lar hurricane had sprung up?"

For many years now the "Irish Demo-crat" has been pressing that something should be done about overcrowding on the cross-channel services, and It is cer-tain that a hurricane cannot be guaran-teed always to arise on a "quiet night."

A second thought is: "For the coat of throe months' rearma-

ment expenditure it would probably be possible to build a tunnel between the two oowiMw. and International expresses oouM ran from Euston to deltas? in eight hours and to iMMn in ton."

AL L readers of the 'Irish Democrat' w i l lw i sh to express to the families

and relative* of those lost in the ill-fated British Railways steamer, Prin-cess Victoria, whioh sank in a hurri-cane oil Copeiand Island on the last dqy of January.

At the same time they will wish to pay a tribute to the crew and to all seamen whose noble occupation is plied in all weathers year in year out without inter-mission. The disaster which has taken place reminds the world once again that the stamen's trade—even in a 30-mile crossing—has dangers like those of the miner or transport worker, 'Mid tba t the business of the world Is kept going by the courage, skill and intelligence of I ts wont-ing people.

I t is, of course, premature to comment on what, wilt almost oertainly be the sub-ject of an enquiry.

One> thought will however spiling to the minds of aU tboto who croes the Irish Boa —whij^.may well be the stormiest and moot uncertain sea in.the wotfd, except for the ratio* around the Palfcland Islands

m m have happened if the Mweeofr i m m * * Christmas time with

The Mayor described partition as an artificial division, a barrier between the people, raising an imaginary line of thought that "those on the other side are different from us"—an example of the "divide and conquer" rule.

The border kept the people apart from each other—that was its main evil.

"I have always believed that two Gov-ernments in one country are unnecessary," he said. "And," he added, "the cost of the Northern Ireland Government is some figure for us to meet in England."

i"jPHE Mayor pointed to one way in which ^ the imaginary "border" is broken down in the day-to-day working together of Irish Catholic and Protestant workers.

"I know the Orange men well," he said. "I've worked with lots of them."

These Protestant workers, too, see things differently when they come into the trade union movement and realise their common interests with their fellow-Irishmen on the job. He agreed that the growth of the Labour movement was one factor in the ending of the sectarian divisions of the past.

"If every Irish worker would read Jim Connolly," he concluded, "they'd have a good idea of where they stand."

THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY

sat in the valley green, l sat me with nor love,

My sad hiprtipfrpea the two between, "" ew love,

i w i n that made on ireiahddearty,

W h i t e s t the wind blew down the

itain glen

And Shook the golden barley. Twas hard the woeful words to frame,

To bfoak the ties that bind us; But harder %tM to b e a ^ f * shame.

Of foreUft heins ; A nd so I

i'll seek And Join BM kr*ve UnitM men

While soft winds shake the barley." While sad I kissed away her tears,

My ffnd arms round per flinging, The fofmah's Shot burst on our ears,

From oat the wild wood ringing. The bpMot pierced my tfue-love's side

In life's young sprldgja* early, And on my breast In blood she died,

When soft winds shook the barley. But Moed for *teO(l,'wttheMt rcptorse,

I've ta'en at Oulart Hollow, I've plaood my true love's clay and

Where I full soon Will follow. And round her grave I wander drear,

Noon, night and morning early, With breaking heart, when e'er i hear

The wind that shakos the barley. —ROBCftT DWYER JOYCE

P . J . K E A R N E Y 192 HICMfTfttBT

O Q L U E R t WOOD. S.W.19

W W

CUT THIS OUT AND SEND TO: 53 ROSOMAN STREET,

I wish to join the Connolly Assaeiat ion:

I Name

Address

I enclose annual rfubocription: 2/6.

EJC.1

February, 1953 3

I R I S H D E M O C R A T 53 Rosoman Street, London, E.C.1

All communications to Subscription Rates: The Editor, • .12 months 5 / 6

DESMOND GREAVES 6 months 2 / 9 I I I I I I I I I I I M I I I I I M I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I M

INDICTMENT 'TWERE is nothing in this newspaper * more important than the letter from

Mr. O'Neill, of Birmingham which appears on page six. The editorial which was to have occupied this column—an appeal for funds to carry on the work of the "Irish Democrat"—has had # to be scrapped in favour of iL

For Mr. O'Neill's bitter, ironical, frus-trated cry of anger at the Injustice which 4s being done to Irish people to-day and his personal analysis of it, represent one aspect of the entire policy-crisis of Labour to-day.

That picture, emerging clearly through the fierce sarcasm, of the man outside the Labour Exchange saying to himself, "The swlnes! They wanted me during the war; and there'll be another war, and they'll want me again! Meanwhile I can starve!" should be pondered by all Trade Unionists, British and Irish.

For the officials of the Labour Exchanges and the factory-owners are deliberately trying to create a body of men whose sense of frustration and injustice will be directed against their fellow-workers. It is imperial-ism which has created the "Irish problem" and by ruining Ireland has caused Irish emigration, and anybody who feels no spe-cial sympathy with that unemployed Irish-man knows nothing of solidarity.

Yet Mr. o'Neiirs conclusion is a mis-taken one, drawn from a one-sided picture, admittedly the only picture presented to him in these days when every device known to capitalist triokary is used to pre-vent the workers learning the truth.

If every man whe was refused a job (whatever his nationality) allowed himself to ghn way to hatred of those who got one, the employers* paradise would be on its way. Me could pick and oheeee, lay down his own rates and conditions and we'd ail be crawling on our bellies to be taken on.

indignation is called for, but against the Imperialist bosses who select workers of one nationality so as to set those of other nationalities against them, They may do a t i t «f selecting the other way round later, «» it Is In everybody's Interest to resist discrimination. Bodies Ilka the Blrming* ham Trades council pledged to toko up irishmen's special problems can bo eaMed in to help, wtttr the backing of the Dublin and Belfast Trades Councils.

But that does not end It There Is NO NEED for this vicious alternation of war and slump, dying on the battlefield then dying of starvation or. inanition. That Is Imperialism's answer to the problems of the worlds It Is not ours. The preparations for war oreate the unemployment, then the war r e r " — " " — a fantastic

MR. JIM GARDNER

JIM GARDNER, FOUNDRY WORKERS' LEADER, BACKS WORKING-CLASS UNITY

IN A MESSAGE TO THE "IRISH DEMOCRAT"

J I M LARKIN'S suggestion on how to achieve Irish Trade Union J unity, published in your January issue, should be examined by ail workers on both sides of the Irish Sea. In these days of cold war hysteria and the ever-present danger of a third world war, with rearmament dettroyftig world trade and bringing unemployment, high prices and lowering real wages, there is urgent need to combat schisms and witch-hunting designed to divide worker against worker and to fight for unity so that our Trade Union movement may grow strong and healthy in the service of its members. Irish and British workers have a common tatttrtot to defend and advance living standards, to protect and improve the social services and to maintain and develop peaceful relations between the peoples of all nations.

In the cause of peace and economic advance, let us resolve on an abiding unity and friendship between Irish and British workers. There are nodil feret ioes which cannot be resolved by determination and goodwill on both sides and in which t o establish Trade Union unity in Ireland. Unity in a single Irish Trades Union Congress w i l l bring about a closer fraternal relationship between the Irish and British Unions and materially help such Trades Councils as.in Birmingham to implement the decision t o r f v e more attention to drawing Irish workers resident in Britain into the British Unions.

JIM GARDNER.

and T H O S E

must

• war remove, it by fclillhg propter Wha fantastic absurdity! Wlut fcl Indictment a civilisation in utter decayl

it Is certainly no disgrace to thenv thft

- - ^ t J ^ o f c e s l n thowertd which can peace, a n f oan remove the

j S H h f slumps wWoh hrtefvone be-tween imperialist wars. These f*cee are growing day by day,«nd their full deploy-ment depends on the united working people of Britain, linking themselves with the peoples of her «nf<

who write to Bill Kerston know his new address. It

is: St. Catherine's Home, Popes Grove, Twickenham, Middlesex. He is now convalescing from his recent illness, and everybody wi l l wish him a speedy recovery.

Another Connolly Association invalid is Mr. Pat Dooley, now convalescing in Scot-land after a serious heart attack. Those who remember Pat when Editor of the "Irish Democrat"—a combination of a high-powered car and a thunderstorm— will hope that sickness does not long weigh down his active temperament.

"Fancy me having a heart attack!" said he.

"Fancy you not!" retorted his wife. And she about had it.

Those who would like to write and wish him a speedy recovery can address their letters to his London address, or to the "Irish Democrat."

* • •

Readers who received their subscription copies late, and had the tantalising experi-ence of seeing the paper on, the bookstalls three weeks before they got theirs de-serve our humble apologies. We are think-ing of scrapping this column and making it into a sickness column. Practically every member of the staff of the "Irish Democrat" has been laid up in January with something or other—mostly influ-enza. This is partly due to the heavy bur-den of voluntary work placed on so few people. So come in and help, everybody. Disregard alike the denunciations of re-action and sneers erf decadents. We want your help.

« • • » npHE delightful wee girls who danoe from 1 time to time at the Mincheetw noit-nelly Association scoials are the ihipils of

A D V E R T I S S M I N T

IN THE "IRI8H DEMOCRAT"

* COSTS 1 • / • per Cotwrni Inch

WHY N O T TRY IT f

GET US THROUGH THE WINTER XpEBRUARY, shortest, coldest, hardest • month—with meet sickness about—is -with meet sidtttOM kbout^-is

the "Irish Democrat's" nightmare every year. Thanks to the good friends whose contributions are listed below we have al-ready got through January. As soon as thle weather shows the slightest signs of taking up our open-air a^tlvlWes, collection®, sales, etc. will be on again, and we'll have the biggest spring and summer campaign yet— and last year's was a record.

We have to state, however, tha t come what may. we cannot do without a post-bag- of £60 during Pebruaiy. "Ike "J*18*1

Democrat" runs at an extraordinarily narrow margin, and if for example a branch of the Connolly Association ordets

100 copies and sells only 80, then we actu-ally LOSE. This can happen easily in the winter when so much sickness is about and £ is impossible for .jypnehes to gauge accurately their ne©*.' « o onoe again we appeal to our supporters, new and old, and acknowledge with thanks:

H. Falriey m K T. C«id>'tr«, M. Talbot io/-, E. BUT 1/8, ftdUtton 4/6, Dr. K M § a •/«, J.B. !•/', M. Hayes » / - , MaMMti* 2/6, oigges b/-, J. Kramer J/-, H. Cehen 5/-, M. Druck 1W-. J. sifter j g *rs. Clal-

UTh^I'iT-, S K w i h a i S r S flW a t , E. Marmlh III . Joe <rNrtoM/«, fc j . Kearney 10/-. Adda MMdenen W , J S Power 14/I, <1. T. NOMM t/d- Total

Mrs. Riley, the dancing teacher who has done so much for the development of Irish dancing in the north-west of England. Last autumn they had remarkable suc-cesses at the Tar Club Feis, at Queens Road, Oldham, Road. There were over 300 competitors, yet Jaoquellne Dixon toCk the cup for step-dancing for competitors under seven years of age. She enrie second In the reel, first In the jig. The cup was pre-sented at the Tare Club last September. Mrs. Riley, whose contribution to Irish life is steady and constant, unstinted and often given voluntarily a t expense and inconvenience to herself, is a woman of whom the Manchester Irish can be Justly proud.

* * * *

Mr. Stephen Lally's ambition, to bring back the remains of his brother-in-law Daly who was executed in India for his part in the mutiny of the Connaught Rangers, is still unachieved, despite many years' consistent agitation. It is some-thing which ought to be kept in mind all the time, and a resolution, or a letter of enquiry to a T.D. from time to time would help. It is worth noting also that the pensions of the mutineers have not been increased despite the high cost of living, and this is also something which should be looked into. , >

HOW many " London, a

Irish Pubs" are there in correspondent asks. Ex-

actly what is an "Irish house"? Generally speaking, to the Irish, the public hopse is a social centre, not merely a place to drink. There is an increasing tendency of publi-can to cater for Irish music in the big cities, particularly London*

Old Connolly Association supporter Larry ODewd is seen each week-end fingering bis accordion in the "Black Cap" «f Camden Town. In the great Irish centre of HoUoway the "Hag's Head" Is catering for >r l sh music. Probably the most imposing shews are put on at the 'Crown" of Cricklewood, and the "Brook Q»eh" of Hammersmith. But the "Wind-mill" (Cricklewood) is running cabaret in the saloon, and many have been those who have expressed appreciation of the blind singer David Barry and others who are there from time to time. London's great-est Irish centre is, of course, KilbUrn. There, in the "Victoria" on the comer of Wiltesden Lane, is the Nagei trio. This consists ,of Cornelius Nagel (accordion) Anna Hagel, guitarist and very sweet singer, and the brother of both of them, Justin Nagel, who is very able O f t h e drum. Heedless to say. with a name like that, the family comes from Cork.

And there are others—too numerous to mention—but we will

AVKRY welcome expression of comes from the famous Irish?!

Irish Republic but an Irish Workers' Re-public; for present purposes that is to say for the IristMtrugglo against British Imperialism.

"I am glad to see that the "Irish Democrat" takes the uncompromising anti-imperlaiist llne on Kenya, jMd tke proper Republican line about itm.Coro-nation . , . and delighted to s»e the pie-ture of the protect against the American occupation of this country. .Anftj'fu of course with you on thOi conscriptNm of irishmen In this oountry which Is an OUTRAGE. (Conscription Is anyhow an outrage in my opinion hut thp con-s c r i p t i o n o f irishman, add* insult to injury so altogether I'm In agree-ment with everything In the copy of the "Irish Democrat" yeu sead amlwithyou luck for continuing^ another is years.

* * •

OW there is a distinct? •buyers* market' in the entertafenneftfc" f

•thin houses are afflicting erfe full-scale commercial ednkferifte*-'-ty* is something courageous to open Up a new dance hall, and everything^ Courageous deserve at least, a chance--

so we give, a ment more Irish Soci&l a stand Is not a ftffly. t though I supjkwe i t 1

way. i t opened dn J a . innisfail pipers and'1

dftnclng is given out to the tunes of O'Sullivan's Band.

Spot prizes a r e given during: the -tag and. Secretary Mr. T. Covey tedd the "Irish Democrat," dancing starts at-g ftpi. on Saturdays and Sundays. The addsess te St. Michael's HaU. a r e e o i a n d , ^ ^ Camden Town. Some of you will wa r t to

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. f r o m r a g e % tenants, and that it ^ lot do not behave then lets have been found w forced to leave.

t i t

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I feel tha t an statement would be Birmingham than tary Pet rotary' t o» | t tg therefore directing my auadry 'i good self in toe f i m i n S J S S :

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THE IRISH DEMOCRAT February, 1953

SOME BLAME FATE FOR EMIGRATION-OTHERS BLAME DE VALERA

WE BLAME IMPERIALISM IRISH exiles bear some resemblance to Mahomet's celebrated

coffin—hung between heaven and earth—neither able to live at home, nor possessing the full basis for ready assimilation into the British population. England seems too different, with

its speedier tempo, its insistence on time and money as the measure of everything, its greyness, hardness and (except in the North) impersonality.

Moreover, the Irish are separated from the English not only by history and tem-perament, from many being countrymen brought into the environment oi foreign towns, but also from the fact that, being newcomers, they usually have to accept the hardest, dirtiest jobs, irrespective of qualifications.

A man beside the Canonbury Dance Hall told the "Irish Democrat": "I went to Galway University; but what was the use of it? It got me navvying in Eng-land."

THIS type of situation is not so uncom-mon as might be thought. The son

of a small farmer—and remember farming is still the most highly skilled occupation in the world—may be given an education as a result of indescribable stinting and economy in the home, and then he must emigrate and his work and his parents' sacrifices mean nothing to them, him, or the country he was born in. Instead he may do the jobs the Englishman (small blame to him) does not want, the hard jobs, the hot, back-breafcing jobs that have been transformed by new techniques in the much-maligned "Eastern" world, or the mental jobs in personal service without dignity, prospects or reward.

Emigratiorvls no light thing, arising from a roaming instinct or whatnot. That Irish soil so many have fought for through the generations is not as nothing to the youth of Ireland. That the Irish emigrants' children to the third generation colonise in the big cities and bring up their families in Irish traditions is a proof of the inten-sity of national feeling. Go to Kilburn, or All Saints, and meet the Irish who come from miles around, and see the flower of the youth of Ireland, fine, healthy, alert men and girls, unable to get a living in an Ireland which political tricksters tell them is free.

No wonder there is a feeling of frustra-tion, bitterness, suppressed anger, con-cealed under light-hearted cynicism among our young exiles.

Too many of ihem do not know what has hit them!

That this is true is shown by the experi-ence of those who sell the "Irish Demo-crat." This must be one of the only papers whose Editorial Committee themselves* hawk it about the streets and places where Irishmen congregate, and learn first-hand the things the ordinary reader is thinking, together with the views of many who are not readers.

IT is quite certain that there has been a big change in the climate of opinion.

There was a time when many Irishmen thought that all was going to well for them in England. Then they had little reason to think deeply about Ireland either. The slightest criticism of Fianna Pail or De Valera was frowned upon. They had identified De Valera with Ireland, and rightly objected to what they thought was cr lticism of their country. t

NOW t h e r a a ionget identify t»e Valeta with Ireland. Theyarefncjined to identify him with-the "big- tellbw'Vat home, with land or money, and on seeing his picture on the "Democrat" and the announcement that he was "back at work," they made wry comments, such as, "Did he ever do any work?" and "That feliow is no good to us, or we wouldn't be here." For it doesn't seem so good to be "here" as it did.

Irish capitalists are of course not free from blame, as has sometimes been sug-gested. But the main, the overwhelming responsibility for the present position in Ireland, belongs to British imperialism. This article aims to show how imperialism has ruined Ireland, keeps it ruined, and is responsible for emigration among many other evils. Let it be stressed, British im-perialism, NOT the British people, is to blame.

EVERYBODY knows how British capi-talism in the olden days reduced Ire-

land to petaury—but for its wonderful climate they would have made a desert of i t But when they felled the trees, they produced instead hundreds of squire miles of bogs, which can be cleared to provide fuel now, and ultimately become good agri-cultural land. Everybody knows also how the population of Ireland reduced from over eight million, to under five mil-lion, In * H^-MntWy—a» a result of evio-

^Stott KNOW how every device known to tfown^ttent was invoked to keep

to stop It having any

Such was the state of the Ireland the Irish took over in 1922.

"Took over," did I say? Twenty-six counties were given nominal political free-dom. Six were given "heme rule." The agricultural south and west formed one state, the industrial north-east another. Two economically lop-sided states were created by Act of the British Parliament.

How could you develop light industries in the south and west without the help of the heavy industries of the north-east? How could agriculture be mechanised? The bogs drained? The rivers controlled and made into great inland waterways carry-ing sea-going vessels from shore to shore? The harbours fitted out to take the world's greatest ships? The hills re-afforested, un-doing the work of centuries of misrule? The largely unexploited mineral resources scientifically explored and made to serve the people? Without the help of the in-dustry already there in the north-east where would help come from?

It would come from B r i t a i n , . . . at a price. Very little help, very expensive help, grudging help, the help of the Imperialist usurer more intent on helping himself.

The development of the Twenty-Six Counties, such as it has been, has had to pay a constant tribute to Britain. Ships had to be built on the Tyne, while Belfast shipyards built vessels for the ends of the earth. Ireland paid the fancy prices deter-mined by the war-laden British market. Electrical generating equipment could be got only in dribs and drabs. The British imperialists flatly refused to sell the mepns 61 making arms—long before the war.

Yet many of the industries which would have supplied the wants of an Irish Industrialisation programme could and should have been sited and set up in the Six Counties!

THROUGH its inclusion in the imperial-ist system the Six Counties was com-

pelled to serve other markets; and it sells its ships to the world (which is, of course, harmless in itself, and nobody would wish to eliminate export trade) and buys food from far-off Canada and Argentine. But, deprived of industries serving Ireland, its towns languish day by day; Derry, Newry, Enniskillen are ghosts of their former selves. Belfast itself, which could have been far and away the biggest city in Ire-

Discussion is invited on this article

land with a million inhabitants, is now left miles behind by Dublin. Partition has ruined the Six Counties by imposing an altogether artificial development upon them, and it is to be feared that the next slump will show this with devastating force.

The border stands like a mountain bar-rier between Ireland and prosperity. It was put there to serve that precise pur-pose. It was put there to make and keep Ireland weak and impoverished, to leave it at the mercy of the money-lords and war-lords of Britain.

Into divided, impoverished Ireland, British capitalists poured their invest-ments—very like American 'aid' to Britain. They took care to set up only the indus-tries which suited them, and not the ones which would break Ireland's dependence on Britain. They tried to keep the essen-tial control in Britain. Where would Irish

•chocolate be without the British cocoa, virtually stolen from the farmers of the Gold Coast? Where would Fords assembly plant be without something British or American to assemble? The machinery in the Irish boot and shoe industry cannot be manufactured in Ireland, and the machines used are on hire. Nobody will sell Ireland the tools needed to replace them. The story could go cn.. . .

BRITISH banks have a big controlling interest in Irish banks. The small

farmer down country puts his money in the small-town bank and gets, say, two per cent, on it. The same bank invests his money in British shares which carry, say, 10 per cent., and the shareholders of the bank may even get 15 per cent, or more. Such banks may even refuse to finance Irish industry because, as the re-cent American "experts" said, it is insuffi-ciently profitable—unprofitable because small in scale, and continually starved of equipment and capital, and cut off from the biggest market in Ireland, the north-east. The Irish industrialist, if he wants an average return on his capital, must either use sweated labour, or invest abroad. Some do each, others do both.

This fact means that the Irish workers are saddled with two sets of exploiter. That is why wages tend to be low except In a few skilled trades. The working man must support British imperialism as well as Irish capitalism.

Two riders are on the ass's back—or would be if he was an ass. Not being an ass, he gets out of Ireland to work in England where there is only one exploiter to carry. Though by the way things are going the British people will soon have another themselves, America, and the Irish will then have three. For the British im-perialists when they have to pay the American piper will try to squeeze some of the wherewithal out of Ireland, never fear.

F ARMING is affected as much as in-

dustry. The farmer must buy fertilisers from Britain, and don't the big monopolies charge! The Ranks combine virtually controls the grain trade—and farmers' prices are kept conveniently low, while bread prices soar. For fear you should learn about it, interests in Irish newspapers try to see that news favourable to Britain i§ printed, arid that products British capitalists want to sell are boosted on the Irish market,, as Coco-cola was by the Americans.

So the young farmer gets fed up with working hard for a poor living, can't get a Job in the industry which isn't there,

"

and emigrates to the country whose ruling class have ruined his own, the enemy's country, as he.thinks,. Is this net the. story of thousands from Connemara a.id Mayo? Over £10 million is.said to be cut back home by the exiles every year. The boats and trains are crowded with thsin every Christmas and Easter.

The exile knows it is all wrong. Why should the "enemy's country" afford him a better living than his own? Why cannot Ireland, with its fertile land, salubrious climate and industrious people, not. sup-port them at home? Why must.they be wanderers all their youth, and often after-wards? He goes to the Irish dance-hall, Irish pub, Irish church, to remain atnong Irish people, to create temporarily the illusion of an Ireland teeming with her own children, keeping and developing her traditions towards a progressive future. Often he covers up the feeling ol' frustra-tion, isolation, unfamiliarity and "not be-longing" with a cynical exterior and even a pretended carelessness of fi eland's destinies.

What is his future? Will Ireland ever be anything? Is there, alternatively, any permanent place for him, or his children, in the Britain of to-day? Will those who are moving from job to job, camp to camp, ever have a settled family life and home of their own? These questions, though it may not be immediately obvious, relate to the state of affairs in Britain also. The mass of British youth are asking similar questions about their future.

AND the answer also is to be sought, in Britain. For here you have tha centre of

the Imperialist system. This system is in the first place one of monopoly, of one small group pf men getting everything into their oWn hands and using the re-sources of the country for their private ends. To take examples, transport.'1'If' vOu don't'like the conditions of travel to-Dub-lin via Holyhead, what better alternative Hiave you? All is owned, byiflje on6.~ The "Observer" recently ran an' article which explained how pver 400 chemicals, many of them notoriously poisonous, are add fid to food m this, country. I t added that* any-body who wanted to purchase pure food would _ be unable to do" so,~ as the food supplies of this country have beeri "cor-nered" by a staall group of big firms who, be it said, make money out of adulteration.

Every key product of British Industry has been monopolised. Sometimes the state has a hand In it—and acts as the monopdlltts' agent. -The monopolists' nominees get into the Government and run it—we call them the Tories. The monopolies run ail Britain as their private monopoly, and the banks are intertwined with them.

.The monopolies, in chemicals, steel, petrol, food, etc:, have only one aim—to get as much profit as can possibly be got. They force up prices, and there is no stop to it till the people kick. They freeze or reduce wages and there is no stop to this either. They keep houses and other neces-sities in artificially short supply, making excuses in Parliament, but really to keep up rents and as* the material on more profitable operations;- They increase taxa-tion on the ordinary people—again till they kick. There is no way of stqpping .it but popular resistance.

Not content with monopolising their own country they want to monopolise Other people's as well. They have created deserts throughout the world by systematic rob-

(Coritlnued on Page Six, Column One)

BUILDING EMPLOYERS GET UP TO THE OLD TRICKS AS TRADE SLACKENS

OUR LIVERPOOL CORRESPONDENT M G L Y signs that anti-union building ** contractors are trying the old trick of using Irish labour to force down working conditions are apparent on some of the big sites out at Lither-land, north of Liverpool.

The danger is there, a union member told me, but its immediate effects are not obvious to all the men, particularly to Irish lads new on the Job and unfamiliar with accustomed conditions.

Little things, he said, and some bigger matters such as working out in inclement weather, are causing some anti-Irish feel-ing among the less trade union-minded English workers.

While occasional anti-Irish remarks are heard, .however, most of the men have nothing -against the Irish., "They, are a line lot of lads," a plasterer's labourer .said.

The trouble lies deeper. I learned the

astounding tact that 6ne of the biggest contractors "will not tolerate" trade union organisation among the building labourers, many of whom are Irish.

O U T the feeling on the sites is all for getting organised. "I'll join a union all

right if all the other Irish here want to," a Dublin lad said—and all the otliers, English and Irish, are ready for it.

Contrast between conditions on unorgan-ised jobs and those where the labourers are in a union is seen in the nearby "jet" site, a huge aircraft factory project which is well organised.

"The lads on the housing sites are in the hands of the employers," labourers' shop steward George Gore told me there.

"If they ever dp Btulday work, they can be pkid only single t taie'for i t - i t ' s all. up to the boss," he said, "whereas here where it's organised we'/e guaranteed double time.

"If the weather is bad I can tell the lads to go and take shelter—they have my protection and the guaranteed week."

AND there are reports from the housing sites that the bosses are more often

getting the men to work cut in the rain— and there is no Issue of protective clothing. As the jobs get tighter, the employers are getting bolder.

On the "Jet," the union organisation, through its fighting shop steward, has secured ah issue of rubber boots to all men, and is fighting now for extra "condi-tion money." for working in particularly heavy ground «•••

But "we have to buy our own boots," a worker on Lloyds and Crosse site told me.

Conditions on the other sites are re-» fleeted in' the fact tha t men are always doming and going. Few stay for many months on the Job. .

February, 1953 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

ARCH-MILITARIST T A K E S O V E R U . S . A .

Developing Pattern of a Nazi State A S far back as 1947, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt described the

U.S.A., after two-and-a-half years of Truman's administra-tion, in the following terms:

"People afraid to speak their minds, people afraid to be seen with certain other people, people afraid to meet for discussion of popular subjects, people afraid to be known to read certain books—all these are afraid not because of any valid wrong-doing, but because of what might be suspected." Since Mrs. Roosevelt wrote the above

the attack upon civil liberties has been intensified a hundredfold, and now em-braces all shades of liberal opinion. So much is this so that America is now developing stage by stage along the same path as Nazi Germany.

This took place under Truman's admini-stration, Truman the man whom the right-wing leaders of Labour described as a "radical president" till he was found out. Truman and Eisenhower belong to tha t type described by the two American his-torians Morison and Commager:—

"Since 1840 successful presidential can-didates (with the exception of Lincoln and the Roosevelts) have not been prominent and experienced statesmen but military heroes or relatively obscure men."

And another American historian, Profes-sor Schlesinger, after tabulating the views of 50 American presidents decided that out of all the presidents of the U.S.A., only

MONTHLY FEATURE BY

P. J. CLANCY

six could be classed as statesmen, Lincoln, Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Wilson, Jefferson and Jackson. Truman does not even come into the second class. While the historians have not placed him yet, in the category of complete failures, lie is put on the stage next to that which they de-scribe as average.

It is as well to quote these American opinions since the press of Britain is en-gaged in presenting Truman as one of the greatest presidents the U.S.A. ever pro-duced.

The wealth of the U.S.A. is becoming concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. As that process goes on so does the gov-ernment become controlled by fewer and fewer hands. The powerful big monopolies of industrial and financial capitalists have turned the Government into their play-thing whos? function it is to assist them to Secure the maximum profits.

Look at the composition of Truman's and Eisenhower's cabinets and this stands out clearly. Take a look at a few of the leading figures.

IN Truman's cabinet, Dean Acheson, Secretary of State, head of a big law

firm, general counsel for Ethyl Corpora-tion, and owned jointly by the powerful monopolies Du Pont, General Motors, and Rockefeller's Standard Oil. He is also con-nected with the J. Henry Schroeder bank-ing corporation.

W. Averill Harriman, president Tru-man's principal adviser on foreign policy is connected with the banking firm of Brown Bros., Harriman and Co., which is another tentacle of the Rockefeller com-bine. He is also director of five railway companies, chairman of the Union Pacific railroad, as well as having many other in-terests. We could do the rounds of Tru-man's cabinet and find the same over and again.

In the new Eisenhower cabinet the new Secretary of State is another member of the Rockefeller Empire, who has made a reputation for himsajf as the defender of monopoly cartels throughout the world. He has openly expressed his admiration for Nazism and Fascism. His name is John Foster Dulles, and he is a dangerous man.

Charles Erwin Wilson, in charge of de-fence, is chief of General Motors con-trolled by Du Ponts, salary 566,000 dollars per year, with holdings of stock to the value of two and a half million dollars. General Motors at present has got on hand

two and a half thousand million dollars of armaments contracts, or more than 7i per cent of all the armaments contracts in the U.S.A.

Asked to justify his retaining his inter-ests in General Motors while he was the man who would give out the contracts he replied cynically, "What's good for Gen-eral Motors is good for the country, and what's good faf the country is good for General Motors."

THE new feature of the Eisenhower cabinet is, however, the complete blend

of armaments kings and professional mili-tarists, as seen from the records of these men. • "

While it is true there have been gen-erals before at the head of the American state, the difference now is that Eisen-•hower represents America at the peak of its aggressive imperialist policy.

Another feature of the Nazi state now developing in America is the super-race mentality. Hughy Long, the American Fascist, said that Fascism would'come to America as "super-Americanism," and it looks as if his prophecy was coming true.

The officers in the American army in Korea refer to the people of both north

THE MOLLY MAGUIRES f AST month the B.B.C. polluted the air

with a play entitled "A private eye for Pennsylvania," boosted In the "Radio Times" and presented at a peak listening time. This play exalted the exploits of the American Pktkerton Detective Agency, and in particular those of one James Mc-Parlan who acted as a spy for the employ-ers ameng the Irish miners in Pennsyl-vania In the last century. His role was re-vealed when he was chief state witness at the frame-up trials of the miners' leaders, known as the "Molly Magulres>" * * *

IN the sixties and seventies the anthra-cite coalfields of Pennsylvania were

being developed very rapidly and large numbers of Irish immigrant workers, pre-viously evicted from the-farms in Ireland, poured into : the district in search of work. Driven from Ireland by British Imperial-ism they foilnd themselves facing the same enemy in America, for the mines were largely financed by British capital-ists.

Conditions in the mines were appalling. Wages were low. and such as they were, largely paid in the form of credit at the company's shop. Here prices were higher than elsewhere, and as a result many wor-kers never saw any money at all—they owed the company money at the end of a month's work.

Wages were paid on the basis of piece-work, and there were no checkweighmen to see that they were not cheated. Safety measures were virtually non-existent, and the law in this matter was blatantly flouted by the employers.

In the year 1871 alone in one county, 112 miners were killed and 339 orippled. Chil-dren were employed from as early as seven years old and worked picking stones from the coal up to fourteen hours a day, un-til their bones were twisted ahd their lungs impregnated with coaldust.

I ) ESISTANCE was constant, but dismis-t V b»1 and blacklisting was the usual con-sequence- ot a fomplalnt. The blacklist woifld follow a man tfll- he left the coal-field altogether. Strikes, howevw, we*e fre-

quent. Always the strikers were deluged with abuse on the mlneowners' controlled press; they were beaten up by hired thugs, arrested without charge by the police—in-deed the companies had their own "Coal and Iron Police" for the purpose of keep1

ing "order" in the mining areas. In the course of the "long strike" of 1875

the Union, called the Workingmen's Bene-volent Association, was temporarily smashed despite heroic efforts on the part of the workers.

# * •

IT was then that the Irishmen who had been peasants in Ireland, formed the

secret society .known as the "Ancient Or-der of Hibernians," similar in constitution to the Whiteboys or Ribbonmen. The par-

by P. O'SULLIVAN

ent organisation was dominated by busi-nessmen and bishops, and Connolly, years afterwards had many a brush with them. But as so often happens fci Irish affairs, the local, branch scarcely resembled it, and indeed the miners' branch was subse-quently expelled from the A.O.H. by the New York Centre.

The name Molly Maguires was first a term of abuse, coined to label all militant miners. Then n became synonymous with membership of the A.O.H. The "Molly Maguires" never existed as such any more than any organisation called "Mau Mau" was ever set up.

Every effort was made to stamp out the A.O.H. and in the course of this struggle a new weapon of capitalism's armoury was invented.

• * *

THE Pinkerton's detective agency was the first of many such organisations

in the UJS.A. I t was hired by employers to send spies into factories, mines, |md jobs, to disrupt workers' organisations, report on their activitiee, to devise splits -*nd di1-venficms wWch-would diseredtttbetrgenu-ine leader* and provoke strikes and in-

cidents which would give employers and courts the excuse for intensified repres-sion. Pinkerton's openly advertised its activities and its foul brood of agents and-provocators was praised by every capital-ist newspaper. t

This should give something to think over to those who do. not believe (although they proclaim it too) that the U.S.A. could send spies to disrupt other people's coun-tries!

James MacParlan, darling of the B B.C., was the chief agent among the miners. As a result of his activities scores of miners were tried on trumped-up charges of mur-der, and at least seventeen were executed in 1877 alone..These.early heroes ol Ameri-can Labour were:

Thomas Munley, James Carroll, James Roarity, Huglt McCrehan, James Boyle, Thomas Dpfiy, Michael J. Doyle, Ed-ward J. Kelly, Alexander Campbell, John •onabue, Thomas P, Fisher, Patrick Tully, John Kehoe, Patrick Hester, peter McHugh, Peter MacManus and Andrew Leneharh The witnesses against them were

bribed, the evidence contradictory, the juries intimidated. Defence evidence was completely ignored. The leading prosecu-tor, Crowen, was himself a coal-owner.

THE men were not really tried as in-dividuals but as the representatives

of "Molly M&guireism"—for having dared resist starvatWn and oppression. Member-ship of the A.O.H. was enough to hang a man, no matter how weak the case against him. The "Miners' Journal"—owned by the bosses—of June 22nd, 1877, blurted out the truth when it asked:

"What did they do? Whenever prices of labour did not suit them, they organised and proclaimed a strike." In other words they were hanged because as workers they defended their rights.

These Irish miners' record, long forgot-uMWliy.

and south Korea as "the. cattle" whilst the people of Manila and" the Phillipines are referred to as the "Gooks."

THEN there is the campaign now in pro-gress on a vast scale to undermine

the national heritage and culture of the ancient peoples of Europe, through films and pernicious literature in all major European languages. American periodicals which have been condemned . by church leaders in both Ireland and Britain as being on the borderline of indecency are still being sold openly. More serious still is the undermining of social and ethical standards through gangster films and comics which encourage sadism and Vio-lence, and turn the youth (sp the Ameri-cans hope) into good mercenary soldiers for the U.S.A.

Within the United States itself the treatment of negroes, halfcasts and mulat-toes as "inferior" peoples will certainly grow worse under the new Republican ad-ministration. Thousands of news-sheets and leaflets appear daily in American cities with such headings as "Dirty Jew." The attack on civil liberties is taking a similar form to that in Nazi Germany. First the Communists were singled out for attack; then the attack s p r e a d s t o other . shades of left-wing opinion, and Anally like a river that overflows its bank» it, en-gulfs all that stands in its way^ The mild-est expression of liberal opinion becomes all but high treason. Those in charge of the inquisition are clerical fasciitis like MacCarron and MaeCarthy. < >:t .

The gangsters also are playing; 4Qteir part in defending the "American way of life" and are' doing very well out of it.

Under a new "protection" racket, the gangisters'stiter approaching businessmen in Chicago, threatening to frame them as

smear them as fellow-they pay them a sum of

money.'-In foreim policy, America is allied with

the blackest reaction-- throughout —the world—General Franco, Chlang-Kai-Chek, SvnittsfeSUfee. BfScist Or***, the » ni-feudtu desfccrEisnr sFrurkey! **

rrO-DA-? ~Arfffcri6ari< j f tnpi iMsJi re ire--L sents atmenaw to alkneoples figty tag for national independehce. When the t lir-teen American -colontea-roae u p in revolt and threw off the British yoke they rightly had the support and sympathy ot all pro-gressive people ' throughout the world. America became the envy ef Europe; the haven of refuge for- the persecuted, the friend of all nations struggling lor free-dom. ' \ y . " . i . J ' Y ^ f c K ^ J

What a terrible contrast. To-day the American Imperialists* are murdering the George Washingtons of other lands. They are arming and*bolstering up the effete Imperialisms of Britain and Prance, aid-ing and abetting them in murdering the George Washingtons of the'colonies, the men guilty of Washington's crimes-fight-ing for the freedom and independence of his country. * r

The new American Government Is a threat to aH who stand for national inde-

V/IUUtt V, UUVAKB1UI travellers., unless, the

m

OM.

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT F e b r u a r y , 1 9 5 3

L IE Y T E 13 §

WI TH the workless man's friends "Wit-helm" and "Adolf" in the happy hunt-

ing ground, and poor old "Joe" closing his eyes to the inevitable and stubbornly clinging to the prospect of peace, It seems the Irish have outlived their usefulness in Britain to-day, especially in Birmingham where the vacancy boards of many big firms in this huge blot upon civilisation display the notice "NO IRISH NEED APPLY" . . . when the gasworks here needed five painters to do some white-washing, and three Englishmen and two Irishmen applied at the Labour Exchange for the Jobs.

The three Englishmen got cards for the jobs, and the two Irishmen—and North-of-Ireland men at that—were told that "NO IRISH NEED APPLY"—"God Save the Queen"—the Pope's a Fenian, so! He's safe enough!

Now, Sir, my reason for writing "the t ruth" Is to ask you: "Are the Irish, whose brains and brawn helped to build the civi-lised and christianised world going to sit back and twiddle their thumbs while the direct line of the nine lepers and of Iscariot, the English!—take the bread and margarine off their plates?"

PATRICK O'NEILL

P.S.—The reason for the "NO IRISH NEED APPLY." It Is a well known fact that the owners and shareholders of the factories vote TORY. It is also a well-known fact that the Irish in Britain vote LABOUR.

P.P.S.—The world was happy when Win-nie was in the wilderness. His policy will make the world happy again, and soon!

This letter from an Irishman resident in Birmingham has beert printed exactly as received. Owing to the nature of its con-tents it is referred to in our Editorial col-umns.

\ , f A Y we, the undersigned, through the medium of your paper express our

profound disgust at the statement made by the M. of L, Billeting Officer in Birm-ingham.

We regard this statement regarding Irishmen lodging in Birmingham as an attempt to cover up the failure of the above department and we therefore ask the BiHetIng Officer to retract his state-ment.

in the first place we would suggest that there is no evidence to show that land-ladies refuse to accept Irish workers as boarders because of their alleged mis-behaviour.

In the second place since bad landladies do exist in any cityv many irishmen are forcwMntr thslr lodgings owing to lack of better accommodation.

It is sad to fofleot that many young Irishmen return to Ireland broken down In health through being ferted to live in disgraceful conditions and It- can only be

| that at an early date some measures i taken to regtater all lodgin* heosip

I have compulsory Mspeotion at regular Intervals by an inspector of the Health

(Signed) A. KEELY P. CASSIDY 4. C08GR0VE JOHN A. COWAN P. 0. ROBE 4. PARNELL

CHINA THROUGH IRISH • I ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ M I - v a K t a m - , . . . . . . - a i . I I ; l

T FLEW to Peking last August and had a few weeks in China. Our

route was Prague, Moscow, Novosi-birsk, Irkutsk, Peking. We had a look-round wherever we could and in Moscow went to see Tolstoy's home, now a public monument.

As I was being shown round an odd thought struck me. On the same terrace as myself in Cork had lived a Miss Emily Jack who had'been governess in the Tol-stoy household. I asked about her. Yes, it was so. I saw the bed In the comer of the nursery where she had slept. I saw her photograph on the wall of the bedroom of the daughter of the house who had been closest to her. So it was with, a Corhpac-cent, thought I to myself, that they spoke English in the Tolstoy household.

And it was with a Cork accent that I went to China. How could I spend a day in a Chinese village and not /remember the history of the Munster peasantry? How could I hear a lecture from a Chinese Gov-ernment official on the struggle for the land and not remember the Whiteboys? One psychological t rai t I have noted, now tha t I live in England, separates the Eng-lish from ourselves. The English, in this atomic age, may sometimes wonder whether their population may not sud-denly be halved. We know that ours was. We were eight millions and are reduced to four. The Famine Is the overwhelming fact of modern Irish history.

T>UT deeply as the Famine has bitten into our consciousness do we even yet

draw the right lesson from it? What caused the Famine? When the English write about it, they say it was the blight and treat the subject botanically. When the Irish write about it, they say it was the English and treat the subject national-istically. But the t ruth of the matter is tha t it was the landloiji system, which compelled the starving peasants to hand over the corn that could have saved them to the landlords.

Tha t is the answer we should give if we treat the Famine socialistically. And that is why I say I looked^tt the Chinese scene through Irish eyes. For even at the tiifle of the Famine there was one Irishman, Fintan Lalor, who had analysed the ques-tion correctly, and his words were with me all the time. "Mankind will yet be masters of the earth. Hie right of the people to make the laws—this produced the first great -modern earthquake. The right of the people to own the land—this will produce the next."

And now it has actually happened in China. When we were there land reform was already completed for some three hundred, million peasants. Our party visited villages in areas separated by many hundreds of miles—in Peking, Hangchow, Canton. Things were everywhere the same. I shall recall here what I saw myself in Peking. I believe it to be typical. I t was a village of some 2,000 souls, or 836 families. The land of some 22 landlord families had been confiscated and redistributed. Every family now had land. The village was governed by a Peasants' Association, which annually elected a mayor and coun-c i l Everybody, male or female, over 18 exercised the vote. Feudal marriage, with all its attendant horrors, had been

r v r by

Professor Farrington

W E B L A M E I M P E R I A L I S M

( F r o n t Page Four )

this, the

They are making Kenya, Malaya and

minute you are reading vast armaments under Siding Britain against

people who a<xft want to attack them— but really to ha t ter down resistance when small-nations object to them stealing their land ahd resources.

While Britain's resources, above all her one supreme resource, the clever workman-ship of her sfcttlsd working people, are thus wasted and mis-used, the quality of every product in common usedaolines, from milk to. matches alike; and every Institution, from museum services to telephone «en-

fan*, into «Jecay, War is the iro-oajjr object, at once their hope

* their ruin* the .grisly both relish and dread.

Bi and terrifying them at one > src '} ' 4 « .v •

itsr deeds , t h r * i » « r its meal*, mouthed phrases.

fcrPtMMtti fcfcothf : XBMIihM

This system of Imperialism is slowly bleeding Britain to death, socklng lts blood from within—exactly the same system is acting from without upon Ireland, sucking Ireland's Mood. The emigration of Irish-men from their homes, and the sanding of young English boys to Malaya and'j&orea,, are part of the SAME system, tW© aspects of the one thing, imperialist greed. The rising cost of living and unemployment in Britain tf caused by the same thing as caused the devastation, depopulation, and partition of Ireland.

End the system of Imperialism, and ths British and Irish pieplsr can help etch other to mutual pisspirlty. The natural wealth of sash eowntryHnstead ef befog ohannelled off lata the pecketsofgreedy and irresponsible speculators, used to w a n and roh other people* wlU be used enlarge the prosperity of bath. Britain wilt send irelarffl lghM aha MMtrlh ao-cordanoe with what aha has to oiler; and Ireland win supply Britain on the same equal feoting| no ferae will be applied be-tween the two oountries, onoe Imperialism

away with.

t b * conceal

more vigorous population, but with the vil-lage organisation it is possible to arrange for industrial crops such as jute.

It is also possible to recruit labour from the villages for the great reconstruction works which are everywhere underway. As many as ten million villagers were en-gaged for some part of one year in land reclamation. And plans are on foot to col-lectivise farms and mechanise agriculture, which is the Socialist way to set labour free from the land and make it available for industry. The peasants are being pre-pared for these changes. Mutual aid teams work in the villages. Co-operation is en-couraged. All hopes are turned to the com-ing tractors and the pulling down of the boundaries between the tiny fields.

HINA is an immense courUry, but still it is not the whole of m e East, and

this suggests my last thought. Evils simi-lar to those of Chinese landlordism oppress

-the lives of an even vaster peasant popu-lation in Hindustan, Pakistan, Burma, Indo-China, Malaya, and elsewhere.

Delegations from these countries arrive in a never-ending stream to study the methods and • results of land reform in" China.

Unless I have been utterly mistaken in what I saw, these delegations will learn a lesson which can be turned to account in their own countries. What Fintan Lalor prophesied is taking place with tremen-dous speed. I t is in our day tha t mankind will be masters of the earth.

abolished. Men could not now marry till twenty or women till eighteen, and the marriage had to be the result of the free choice of both parties. All the children of the village were at school, and a new school was being built to provide secondary education. The grain was marketed co-operatively and there was a co-op with a good range of clothing and utensils.

There was a central hall for public meetings which was also used as a library. A vigorous attack is being made on illiter-acy, and an average of forty persons a day came to read in the hall where there were* shelves containing 8,000 books. In the vil-lage was also a clinic where hygiene was taught and where three medical personnel,; attended for some hours every day.

I'FHESE achievements suggest an idyllic picture. But the reality was more

moving than any idyll, for the evidence of the evil past was everywhere about us. The streets were only dust-tracks. Many of the houses were poor. Sanitation was ele-mentary. i r t h e children were fat and Well the older folk bore the marks of privation, disease and toil. What was so heartening was to see order coning out of chaos, pur-pose out of drift, confidence out of despair..

What is the bearing of land reform on the Chinese revolution as a whole? It Is necessary to understand that it is the basis of the whole thing. U China is to become a great country—ana that it will become so It is impossible for me to doubt—it must develop industries. This was impossible in any big way without the reform. Now not only do the peasants eat better since they have ceased to hand over thirty mil-lion tons of grain in rent, which means a

ing Ireland their Imperialist bosses rivet their chains -more securely on the British —or they in turn would leap to aid the Irish people.

They want to maintain distrust, dis-unity, apathy and confusion. And all the slanders and attacks on the Connolly As-sociation which are levelled from time to time are to be suspected in the light of this. For the aim of the Connolly Associa-tion is to bring about the understanding of the mutual interests of British and Irish working people, and to tell Irishmen while they are here and form, part of the working-class of Britain, to realise what %

W anti-imperialist force that- class can united, and determined to stand for

its rights and the rights of the nations. Tttr Jraat prfnotpls ofwmpsrtallst tsoties

is to toytt winder, to oonbaal the fact that ens system robs two (and more) peoples.

Once this Is clearly understood, English and Irish see their oommon enemy. Against imperialism's monstrous crimes the sins of De Valera are pecadilloes, to bo criticised > all right, but «seen In perspective. Those still in Ireland wiH deal with them. Here-in England, the citadel of corrupt

establish a f f t x i t o f k t

ourla&difti f t i t ikpT nations and oppre over.

€

IRISH NAMES b y

WALTER O'NEILL I WAS pleased to see that my articles on

names hkd excited Interest as far away as Australia, and must explain about th» MaeBefrtietts first. They a r» of the same stock as the O'Connors, being re-lated t f of Tadhg in the etc O'Connors they

of comtaught Next - to the

t&e most powerful for hundreds of

. they spilt I ts Own ohief.

part In the and retained their

•g down to the

ily held oonsid-©* 8ligo down to form of the name ig the son of Dlir-

personal mbtie,

O'Connor^Itself is one of the most fre-quent and widespread of ail Irish family names. There ware at least six distinct famines of this name:

(1) The O'Connors of Connaught, who claim thotr name from 0'Conohubar, King of Connaiiglftfjn the 18th oentury.

(2) The O'Connors of OITaty, who claim their descent fHtti Ros Fallghe, sen of Cathaoir Mor King of Ireland in the ind oentury. They Were a powerful family and sUBoaOded Jn defending their territory against the English for more than three hundred years. Their chief stronghold was Oungarv.

(3) Tho O'Connors of Kerry who ware terds >of territory between Tralee and the 8Hannm n i t af thl* land remained in possesion of ths fami ly imt i l the reign of Kiuniwth l whan It waa oonftsoated and given to Trinity College. The family stronghold was at Carrtgafoyle, near Bally-

(4) Tho O'Connors of Corcomroe, who ware lords of West Clara down to the six-teenth oantury.

(6) Tho O'Connors of Kaanaoht who ware lords in the Bar any of that name in Oa. Oorry untU they ware dispossessed by the O'Kanee shortly before tho Anglo-N*rm*n invMion«

(8) The O'Oonnors of U1 Breasll, Who are said to have been a branch of the Oirghialle, It Is doubtful If there la an-other Irish name wftioh waa so common In suoh widely separated areas. Moat Irish names in the old days wore oloaaly oon-neeted with one particular part of the country.

Next month wo will give the history of suoh famous Irish nanwo as MoOonnel, O'ConneH and a few more.

* T R Y

MORGAN HAVARD Phones:

RIVERSIDE 7654 ACORN 3371 L O N D O N

F e b r u a r y , 1 9 5 3 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

atir m nyM^MQA BY GLYN EVANS

r O R M E R L Y , when the Rumanian r theatre was run on a profit-making basis, its settings were of a superficial nature, the preparation for a play was usually devoid of scientific or creative basis. In commercial and the few state-aided theatres, performances were given in a hasty, improvised fashion, with a sharp eye to profit, but with complete lack of consideration for the creative rfile of the artists.

Only to-day does the Rumanian actor occupy the place of honour that is his due lor the theatre exists for millions of workers. Fulfilling an educational mission, it aims to present the new reality that has come into being, but also to spread the inspired message of the great world classics.

The Rumanian theatre to-day has based >% development on Realism as opposed to Formalism, Superficiality and Empiricism.

But ,to lay the foundations of a realist theatre great changes had to be made in methods of work, so much so indeed, that both actors and producers had to adopt a new attitude to the entire structure of the art.

TO-DAY every performance is the fruit of a long period of work which may

sometimes last for months. The basis is the principle of teamwork.

The theatre is no longer a place for ex-hibitions of the most unrestrained indivi-dualism. For both actors and producers there is an ar t which is collective in the sense of demanding common effort where each personality is respected but the creativeness of the individual serves the aim of the play as a whole.

The work carried out in preparing a per-formance begins with repeated readings of the play. These "round the table" read-ings are accompanied by full discussion not only of the play, the dramatis persona, but of the work of the author as a whole-

The author of a modern play attends all rehearsals and, in accordance with the suggestions of the producer and actors, may modify his text in order to give it Die most appropriate form.

During the initial stages, actors and actresses take part in conferences on the playwright and his time and, in the case of classical or historical plays, on the man-ners, customs and costumes of the period.

r r H I S preparatory study is combined with x lectures which cover the questions of history, literature, and literary criticism raised by the play, and its significance for the present.

For example, when the Soviet classic, "Lyubov Yarovaya," by C. Trenev, was staged at the Bucharest Municipal Theatre, the theatrical personnel of the theatre began by making a study of the details of the 1917 revolutionary period and the civil war.' For this purpose they used both historical and literary material. A study was made of the methods of stag-ing the play at the various Soviet theatres, and the descriptions given by N. Dan-chenko and C. Stanislavsky of its presenta-tion at the Moscow Art Theatre. Guidance was drawn from various Soviet films of the civil war period. The actors were, therefore, furnished with considerable social, historical and artistic knowledge before they attempted to interpret the parts they played.

They had before their eyes clear pictures of the life and character of the heroes of the Revolution and Civil War and fully appreciated the major issues of principle involved in the play.

Scale Model of the New Theatre of Music.

"PREPARATORY work by the actors is even more detailed in plays of present-

day life. The theatrical personnel tem-porarily leave the stage or library, and go amongst the working people.

When they were staging Maria Baaush's play, "The Great Day" or Lucia Demetrius' "Men of To-day," the casts of the National, and Municipal Theatres were, not content merely to make a study of the collective farm problems illustrated in these plays; they set out for the countryside, visited the actual villages in the plays and by meeting the collective farmers learned at first hand the new aspects of i i fe in .the Rumanian village and the changed moral outlook of peasants Joining a collective farm.

The actors, producer, d^cor artists, cos-tumiers, all who collaborated in the pro-duction of Mihail Davidoglu's ptey,**C»ty of Fire," visited the great metallurgical plants. They studied the different phases of the production process and assimilated the terminology and manner of speaking typical of iron and steel workers, by living among them, learning about their work, their interests, the way of living. Dressed

in dungarees, they thus even felt the heat near the furnaces and experienced the ex-citement of the great moment when the white-hot metal is poured from the blast-furnace.

In this way, the life of the workers of the Rumanian People's Republic is repre-sented in the theatre in a way that is true to life, in the richest and most artistic manner.

,'lVro less attention is. given to the pro-duction of the classic plays. Shake-

speare's "Romeo and Juliet" was re-hearsed for nine months at the Bucharest National Theatre. Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters" went through more than a year's rehearsals. The Army Theatre spent a whole season preparing for the premiere of Lope de Vega's "Watering-place of the Herds."

During the preparatory work, the theatrical personn^J who stage the per-formance—of no matter what p l a y -organise discussions on the subject of the m6st efficient procedure for rehearsals, methods of presentation, the interpreta-tion given by the actors, etc.

At a certain stage, "dress rehearsals" are held at which the actors and producer have the benefit of presenting the results of their work before specialists who may be*drawn from the thdatre itself or from outside. This arrangement provides for a periodical critical analysis, which is of great value in guiding the work, of the team in the best direction

The first performance is given, but the work of the actors and producer is not then a t an end. The theatres continue to

make improvements even af te r the premiere. It need hardly be said tha t the theatrical critics play an important part in this, but our actors and producers are given assistance to-day which was com-pletely lacking in former times, tha t of the public and that of their colleagues from other theatres.

After the first performance, discussions take place between the actors and the pub-lic. For example, it was possible to make substantial improvements in the perform-ance of "City of Fire," played before an audience of Reshitza iron and steel worker's and workers from Bucharest, and also to the play itself, as a result of critic-isms made by the audience. The audience helped to remove features which were not true to life, ;*nd drew the attention of the actors to fofmalistic aspects in inter-pretation.

T H I S type of approach has brought im-portant successes. Actors and pro-

ducers have earned the award of hightar ic distinctions. Talent .

All the theatres have circles for ideological and a i t j ^ c study, such as the "Stanislavsky"* dit&ta, which, arose tin M o t i v e of a ^ M j t o i | producers. tb<a8ri£|»9L 7,

Rumanian actors a im to apply the great creative principlesof SianiqtoMltft the adoption of whose system can raise the Rumanian theatre tb new levels of artistic achievement. For in a< democratic : a realist Socialist theatre Is an essential factor : in the ' tion of the people.

( ••

THERE MAY BE A JOB . Nort holt.—School at Walford Site. Pres-

tige and Co. Ltd. £174,016. Camber well—Six flats at Crawthew Grove.

J. Shackell and Co. Ltd. £10,716. Edmonton—16 dwellings at Fore Street.

Direct labour. Kingston-on-Thames.—40 houses at Ches-

sington Hall Estate. Orchard Peers Ltcl. £61,797. ^

City.—Office at City of London Cemetery-Hall, Beddall and Co: Lt& £10,0«e.

City.—Offices for Old Kent Road Estate. H. Parfl t t and Sons Ltd. £7,450.

London East—Works at King George V Dock. Hall and Haywood Ltd. £16,000.

E.C.—Adaptations at Friendly House Pro-perty Ins. Co. Ltd. Griggs and Son. £20,000.

Ffnchley.—30 houses at Elmshurst Estate. G. Ward Ltd. £84,185.

Fulham.—25 flats at Avenues Site. Tersons Ltd. £59.622.

Fulhanv—Foundations for Flats (72) at Sullivan Court. J. Laing Ltd. £7,457.

Islington.—18' clwelllngs at Canonbury Park South. Pitchers Ltd. £41,504.

Lewlsham.—Works at Park Hospital. N. Wright Ltd. £22,515.

Brent, fLW^-ErtensiorV! at Brent Cres-cent Factory. Chamberlain Industries, S.E. Warehouse at Benbow Wharf. Direct labour.

W.C.—Repairs at Montague Street. Mullen and Munsden Ltd.

W andsw«rth<—Works atJSfchool. Leigham Court Road. Bridgg.WMkw Ltd. £31,5^2.

Staines—School at fiftahwell G. Moss Ltd. £66,350.

Harrtw.—Extensions to Roxeth Manor School. Sherman and Oo. Ltd. £1,467.

Tottenham,—Works at e«McI "to Seven Sisters Road. Dtreot labour. £4,430.

Lewlahdnfc— School at Woodham Road. Thomas and Edge Ltd. £243.000. , .

Poplar.—«i houses at Priory Street. Direct labour. £86,410. ->>

Croydon.—10© houses at New Addington Estate. Grace and"Mnrsh.

Camberaell*—Alteration to St. Giles Hos-pital. Ridgeway Contractors Ltd.

Ilford.—Flats at Heathcote Ave. W. and C. French Ltd. £4,156.

A oton.—Adaptations at Acton Secondary School. H. Pickrill Ltd. £16,783.

Greenwich.—C.D. Works at Kidbrook. A. Mitchell Ltd. £9,782.

Hampatead—Eight dwellings at Broom-sleigh Street. W. B. Towers and Co. Ltd. £15,436.

Kensington.—16 flats at Chepstow Cres-cent. Tyler and Sons Ltd. £30,789.

Lewisham. — 17 dwellings a t Creeland Grove. Direct labour. £62,103.

Sheredlteh.—44 flats at Cranston Estate. A. T. Rowley Ltd. £93,482.

Hendon.—Eight flats i t Victoria Road, Brent Street. C. Bryant and Sons Ltd.

Kensington.—15 flats at Sichester Road, Oldham Road. R. Mansell Ltd. £30960.

Kensington.—Eight fiats at Treborvir Rd. R. Mansell Ltd. ,£17.396.

LeytWk—27 dwellings at Parte Grove Road. Davies Bros. £49,000.

Lsyton.—18 flats a t 'Grange Park Road. C. Paine and Sons. £28,000.

Paddhigton—Works at Porchester Baths. Y. J . Lovell and Son Ltd. #28,333.

Hackney.—42 dwellings at Upper Clapton Road. Direct labour.

HaafcMy^-rl2 dwellings at Bethnal Road. Direct labour. £29,650.

Heeftney.—Eight dwellings at Ketminghall Road. Direst labour.^MOO*, ^

T f t t t e r a i p N P l >dwsBings a t De«tabury Site. Lancasters Ltd. jB83;300.

ttepney.—Dwellings, atnBanraott Site. A E. Symes L td

Epsom.—68 dwellings at l lount Hill Site Carlton Oo|it»etors Ltd. £38018.

Epsom.—48 dwellings at Chewtagtco Rd. Site. Carlton Contractors Ltd.

Epsom.—30 flats at the Avenue. WSates Ltd. £50,544.

Fhtohtey.—58 dwellings a t n a s h u r s t Road Estate. O. Ward Ltd.' £85,610.

TwMMnham.—98 dwalUngs Gardner Grove. Bunting Co te Oo. £83434.

Twickenham,—51 flats at TowfleJd Road. Lander and Houghton Ltd. £77,382.

M,

L E T T B t e

Camberwell. — Flats at Gowlett Road. OA S. Ltd. £10,812.

Cambsrwell.—Nine flats at Reedham J. Shackell and Co. Ltd. £16,508.

Shipley.—124 dwellings at Wrose No. "2 Site. Direct labour; £155,328.

Dursigy.—Fqptory M Mawdleys Ltd. Zone Works. £200,000. "

Rowley Regis.—74 houses a t Brickhouse Farm Estate. Direct labour. £188^68.

Chester. — 80 houses at Blacon Site. T. Warrington and Sons Ltd. £96,568.

Tlptoni—130 dwellings at Park Lane West Estate. Austin and Co. Ltd.

Lytham St. Arm**—82 houses at Kilnhouse Estate. Atherton Bros.

WorWngton.—100 "houses at Westfleld Es-tate. J . Twlname Ltd. £134,178.

8tretf«rd^-30 dwellings at Stretford Road Estate. B. Smith Ltd. £32,903.

8tretfSHl.—14 flats at Station Road Site. B. Smith Ltd. £18890.

Sunderland.—52 bouses a t Vicarage Farm, Silkworth. -Direct labour.

WakaflekL—12 flats at George Street. H ; Boot, sons Ltd. Walisflstd.—.10 houses at Wind hall Street, i Direct labour.

CasHefsrH—204 dwellings at Ferry Fry-ston jEatate, Harlow and Mllner Ltd. £271,037.

Mans barter—158 houses at Hillside Estate. , Brackley. • Direct labour.

kbMv-116 houses at Westmoreland Ave. i Estate. Sellick Nifchdlls and Co. Ltd.

,*edfsr&—Flats at Ashburnam Read. F. G. Mlnter Ltd. £181,100.

WahetoliL—100 houses *t Kettlethcjpe Estate. Harkm and Mlnter Ltd.

Ashlngton.—30 houses. at Darn ley Road r tgm. Direct labour.

10 houses. E. Ibbptaon houses at Lengtown. J . MB-

' " ; • uf^TU! 19 dwellings at EMcUey. F A — ;'•• '•.•• "TT,®

Houses at .West Teas R. Jones and Son. .

IH«>f • 12 flats a t Sylvan Hall Estate, Building and Pub. Worcs. Cons. Co.

a l l m m y r H very bitter mood, r

learn the

it^or not. But thfy ' a ^ I w t l i M l m l t the meaning of "British"ips it autfa them!

Liverpool. .

%

8 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT February, 1953

•i *

£ I

•JL <1

s gl. :

ML Sk.

wf.

E F

m-f Wy >

KEEP THIS DATE:

17 MARCH

London Social of incomparable attractiveness

EVERYBODY will be there !

PINDAR OF WAKEFIELD

WEST LONDON C.A.

Anti-Partition MEETING

ANSON HALL

CHICHELE ROAD

CRICKLEWOOD, N.W.2 «

Prominent Speakers

Wed., 11 Mar.

WEST LONDON CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION

INFORMAL SUNDAY SOCIAL - •

DANCING - SONG - BALLAD King and Queen, Paddington Green, W.2

1st MARCH, 1953 8 p.m. to 10 p.i Tickets 1 / 6

. m .

BOXING BY THE SPORTS EDITOR

CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION Manchester Branch

Grand IRISH NIGHT FRIDAY, 20 FEBRUARY, 1953

THE THATCHED HOUSE Old Market Place

Market Street —Cross Street

MANCHESTER SONG DANCE B A L L A D Tickets: One Shilling

t ^ h e five English boxers who were ex-* pected to do well against a second-

class Irish team were very disappointing. One decision I thought was a little harsh in the English side. I was sure that the English heavyweight F. Davidson had done enough to earn a victory over D. Maher. But apparently the judge thought differently.

The best match of the night was between the lightweight champion A. Power and the tough English boy with the long reach, J. Baxter. This was a grand scrap and Baxter was surprisingly still on his feet at the final gong.

It was a grand night's sport such as is always provided by the Phoenix Boxing Club. Other results were:

Bantam.—J. Farrell (Crumlin) beat P. Garry (Northern Co.) on pts.

Feather—T. Butler (Army) bt. J. Leach (Northern Co.) on pts.

Light Welter.—A. Power (Civil Service) bt. J. Baxter (Northern Co.) on pts.; Trooper G. Curtis (2nd Motor Squadron)

L E T T E R S TN the January issue of your paper I read 1 where Mr. Hotobah Samuels, a Chris-t ian from Sierra Leone expresses aston-ishment at the British Government using witch doctors to "oleanse" Africans of "Mau Mau" oaths. Those acquainted with British imperialist trickery are not sur-prised when they hear of its latest stunts. Sunsterfuge Is one of the two implements left in the toolbag of Imperialism. The o ther is force.

Terrified British Imperialism, under sentence of death f rem the colonial peoples is vainly endeavouring to hold back the day of i tfeMnlltg. V

(bure t ) Timet" Church

•with a n d upon this

f m years ago, the fed a pioture of an

CI ••iaaaafrii'iilf— l« ' 'll«MlltaI ' lergyman in rapti®

the words "thou art • rock . . . ...» '. . . _ .. „ _ much looal superstition ^wm woven upon which a chapel was to be erected. We also saw a picture of Maleotm MacDonaid in the f a r East participating with much religious fervour in the ceremonies of an Eastern Temple!

While to my mind every n p is enticed to his Own religion, and ail discrimination against or oontefti|tt of ( I f religion is against the principles of Democracy, and t h e Africans a r » entitled Id^joitch-dootors if they want thems w e ' t m p ^ b e en our guard against every a t t empt to use reli-gion in .the servfees of Imperialism, espe-cially by inen without a religious thought in their skulls.

JOHN KAZEAil (B.W.I.)

A COUPLE of days ago I was in a hotel In Liverpool when the conversation

wortrtfd round to t h e Trouble In Kenya. A smar t ly dressed young Irishman made the following t f t i j i r k : V

"TWrd y i u are I WE helped those nig-gers and eduoMM* t h e m / f t M Britain has been toe s o f C t d t * ' m i f c * Look at the t hanks they're j Jy lng U*I" ,

My bloo<£&1^1grlien t heard one of my f countrymen, coming from Britain's oldest

colony, Ireland, whiefc. suffered all these agonies again and again, criticise the colonial peoples for what we fought, and haven ' t finished fighting.

Imperialism does Hot exploit people be-

xploiUtlon as Is now common In

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"weallh

hii

g w ^ w m ^ i h e coqvwiinity. Hev-4oes It

• * T » f f f f l M I 1 " H i i <.v .iatewsd-And wo too, Jsne» t b e g u a and the. hang*

! ,"Ir ish people" a a d l h e their preen deakroyetk

Joton O'Leary : Thomas Clarke Luby. r t w w p p . l l p r i i u i i , 'and OPDonomu). BOMS

. wflfw eenteseed t e peoal eerr i tude for tt years on charges of "treason." Compare

this with events in Kenya—organising re-sistance to an oppressor is "treason."

I really believe myself t h a t the "iron curtain" is really a dollar curtain, and that behind it the millionaires and their like have been having a few setbacks which they resent. But on this side of it there are certainly plenty of bickerings going on, in Argentine, Persia, Egyi* and everywhere they have curtailed the influence and pro-fits of Britislf speculators, while America is applying her gangster financial methods to her own allies. •

The British millionaires are increasing their brigandage in the small Countries becatise the big ones will no longer let them. Had it not been for the heroes who organised the Irish in the days before 1916, Easter 1916 would have been Just an-other date, and we might well have found ourselves to-day struggling under the iron heel in the same way as the Africans.

As Charles Stewart Parnell's sister Fanny wrote:

The birds of prey are hovering round The vultures wheel and swoop

They come, the ooronated ghouls With drumhead and with troop—

They come to fa t ten on your flock Your children and your wives

Ye die but onoe—hold fast your lands And, If you can, your lives.

T h i r was addressed to irishmen nearly a century ago and it could be truthfully ad-dressed to our colonial brothers to-day. One th ing can be stated with oertainty and tha t is, the vast majority of Irish-men throughout the world are ttlth the people of Kenya.

PAtRICK MURPHY Liverpool.

I V H E N I went Into the "Country House Inn" In Tiverton, Devon, I found an

Irishman arresting everybody's at tention by his Intelligent statements on the sub-Jeot of war and peace. - f ••

Ho was mr. Con Martin, ol LI o w u giving in® r w u i u •» n n

to He recalled how in 1930 and onwards a

slump* gripped the U.8.A. Wit she was not then an aggressive nation. Since then she has doubled her industrial production, and

the results of this production want out. And tha t is what makes her an aggressor to-day; For her home Investment does not absorb the results of her gigantic industry.

There was general agreement about this, and some thought that setting up bases all round the world, close to the Russian borders was provocative. A lady felt the Russians might be tempted to launch de-fensive war. I replied tha t I understood them to be opposed to this idea.

Tom Meany, from Co. Clare, said In his opinion the people of the world were pro-tecting peace because the war-horses could no longer rely on them to fight for them when they wanted.

I showed them the "Irish Democrat." A Welshman, Wynne Thomas, of Port Tal-bot, said "They say ail Irishmen are head-strong. My own experience is the opposite as this paper the "Irish Democrat" shows —it could show some of our own Socialists a thing or two."

I took .six orders for the "Irish Demo-crat" and t h e landlord with whom the Irish boys were lodging invited me to stay the night, and believe me, I was well looked after.

This sort of experience spurs you on to ever greater efforts. Above all it reinforces confidence in the Irish and British work-ers being able to Set together for their common good. We have great potential for achievements in the future once it is mus-tered and efficiently organised. •

MICHAEL HANRAHAN. Exeter.

PEACE ON

By Rev. Fr. C. Duffy • • e e

From the * Irish Democrat3

Price 1/-

bt. H. Taylor (Northern Co.) on pts.; B. Breslin (Phoenix) bt. T. Kelly (Corin-thians) stopped 4th round; S. McKenna (St. Canice's) bt. J. Jackson (Army and Phoenix) on pts.

Middle.—G. Gannon (Parnells) bt. G. Somerville (Phoenix) on pts.

Heavy.—D. Maher (British Rlys.) bt. F. Davidson (Northern Co.) on pts.; J. Clancy (St. Vincents) bt. T. O'Rourke (Stoke-on-Trent), stopped 2nd round; P. Bruce (Sandymount) bt. V. McCann (Phoenix) on pts.; J. Sheedy (Phoenix) bt. T . Reid (Corinthians) on pts. '

A full house in the City Hall had full value for money at a tournament put on by the Glen Boxing Club, where Tommy Milligan outpointed P. Ratcliffe, the West of England champion. Full results were:

Fly.—J. O'Sullivan, Fr. O'Leary, Hall, bt. T. Myers (Glen) on pts.

Feather.—F. Hayes (Glen) bt. J. Quirke (Killeady), stopped in ist round; P. Gra-ham (St. George's, Belfast) bt. T. O'Sulli-van (C.C.N.B.C.) on pts.

Light— W. O'Mahony (Glen) bt. J. Wise-man (Somerset) on pts.; P. O'Leary (Glen) bt. M. Kelleher (Sunnyside) on pts.

L i g h t - W e l t e r T . Milligan (Belfast) bt. P. Ratcliffe (Bristol) on pts.

Welter.—J. King (St. George's, Belfast) bt. J. Plenty (Bristol) on pts.

Light-welter.—D. Cullinane (C.I.E.), bt. K. Sheehan (C.C.N.B.C.).

Light-middle.—T. Hyde (Sunnyslcie), bt. J . Simmonds (Bristol); S. O'Connell (F.C.A.) bt. J . O'Halloran (Fr. O'Leary Hall).

Feather.—M. Leahy (Army and Gien), bt. 0 . Courtney (C.C.N.B.C.).

Middle.—W. f r i g h t (St. George's, Bel-fast), bt. J . Thorne (Bristol).

British Lightweight Champion Mark Johnson of Manchester, earned himself a chance of a' c rack at the world's cham-pionship when h e outpointed and eutboxed the Australian Champion, Frank t a n -nery. Jack Solomons may intend having a chat with World's Champion Carter.

Mike Jacobs t h e American fight promo-ter, who made a million dollars m the game, died in January.

by MoGINTY

/ " \ N the f r o n t page we mentioned our ' total profit of £23 17s. 4d. to date, and

ventured to draw attention to the last win-ner Whispering Steel at 7 to 1.

Mont Tremblant who won the Cheetham Gold Cup easily by ten lengths is again making a bid for victory. He will have his work cut out to beat Teal and that grand horse Halloween, who has already beaten Mont Tremblant at the St. Stephen's b a y meeting at Kempton Park. However, in the "cup" he will meet Halloween on seven pounds better terms. Teal will make an appearance at the Doncaster February meeting in t h e Great Yorkshire chase and should win.

Here is my selection to follow for Febru-ary:

STRAIGHT CUT 0 8 B E R S T 0 W N 8TRAIGHT QUILL RON'S HOPE LEGAL JOY

• SHINING GOLD WHI8PERING STEEL STROKES V PERSIAN GLORY GLARRADE UN POBTlLLON VAL D£ L'AIR =L HWg i. »w i 'i tegmsm 1 i na

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