(Incorporating "Irish Freedom")

sVw Series No. 6 JUNE, 1945 Price 3d.

IRELAND'S FIRST ENVOY

TO RUSSIA STANDS FOR

EIRE PRESIDENCY •

See Page Eight

This is why ALL Irishmen should vote Labour

How to Find if You

Have a Vote A LL Irishmen in Britain whose names are i on the electoral register are entitled to

vote in the forthcoming General Election. Before you get the vote, you mast make

sure that your name actually appears on the register, which can be consulted in the Town Hall of the Borough where you are living.

It was compiled some time ago. and you will be on the register where you were living on January 31st, 1945. That is the con-stituency in which you are entitled to vote.

One of the Labour complaints against the present snap election is that it is being held on this out-of-date register and it has been stated by the papers that as many as 100,000 Londoners will lose their vote, and be dis-franchised by the event of their leaving the places where they were on January 31, 1945 m order to return to London. This trouble with population movement will doubtless apply to many Irishmen.

CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION DANCE IN MANCHESTER

A SUCCESSFUL social and dance was * l held under the auspices of the Man-chester Branch of the Connolly Association in the Association's rooms at 449a, Stockport Street, Longsight, on May 12.

There was old and modern dancing, Irish songs and music, and refreshments. A good turn-out of members and friends has encour-aged the organisers to make arrangements for a series of similar socials during the coming months.

The next will take place on June 12 (de-tails in advertising columns).

By OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT VVTITHIN the next six weeks Presidential

and local elections are to be held in Eire, and General Elections in Northern Ireland and Britain.

I t is against this background of an elec-toral struggle for power and the new si tuat ion created by the end of t he war in Europe tha t we mus t study the series of apparent ly unrelated events — Mr. de Valera 's condolences on the d e a t h of Hit-ler. the lifting of the censorship, the speeches of Mr. Churchill a n d Mr. de Valera, and the announcement of the elec-tions.

By a series of political manoeuvres the rul ing classes in each country a re striving to overcome the crises with which they are faced—in Eire the crisis of suppl ies and F i a n n a Fail 's a t tempt to win power on a

10 PARTIES TO FIGHT ULSTER

ELECTIONS / CANDIDATES from ten parties or groups ' will contest the Northern Ireland elec-tions. So far 86 candidates have been se-lected or mentioned for 52 seats.

They are: Unionist 43. Labour 15, Nation-alists 10, Commonwealth Labour six, Federa-tion of Labour two. Independent Labour one, Independent Unionists two, Other Independ-ents two.

The Communist Party has decided to con-test three Unionist seats. Mr. W. M. McCul-lough, Secretary of the Party, will oppose Lord Glentoran, former Minister of Agricul-ture, in the Bloomfield Division of Belfast, and Miss Betty Sinclair, Vice-Chairman of the Belfast Trades Council, will be nomin-ated for Cromac against Major I. Maynard Sinclair, the Minister of Finance. The third candidate, Mr. S. E. Maitland. will contest West Down, held by Mr. J . E. Bailey.

Morrison lifts travel ban to North, but

A Trip to Ireland is still a headache

H OLDERS of British brown or blue travel permi t cards may now travel

freely between Britain and Northern Ire-land, and exit permits for each journey will not required.

' i l l ,il!

N E A R L Y 4 0 0

medals: g o t o r PHE .tetai ' number of awards for

heroism won by volunteers from Eire in World War I l . f r a s almost 400. Seven of them were the coveted Vic-toria Cross, the list so far including: Victoria Cross 1 Distingunlshed Service Order . . 41 Distinguished Flying Cross . 65 Distinguished Flying Medal 32 Air Force Cross 9 George Medal 9 Military Cross 68 Distinguished Conduet Medal . . 16 Military Medal 68 George Cross 1 Distinguished Scrvlce Cross . . . . 5 Other Awards 56 •How the Irl&h h»w fought FasrHim:

See F i f M 4 and 5).

Restrictions on travel between Britain and Eire and by Eire citizens between Britain and the North are being main-tained for the present, exit permi ts or visas being still necessary.

New applications to travel to Northern Ireland by residents in Britain between the ages of 18 and 30 will not normally be granted without the consent of the British Ministry of Labour and National Service.

Stating in the House of Commons tha t the lifting of the ban did not apply to Eire. Mr. Morrison, Home Secretary, said that Britain was still at war with Japan and there was still a Japanese Legation in Dublin. Cross-Channel services would be improved as soon as it was possible to withdraw suitable ships from war services.

U.S. soldiers on leave will be allowed to visit blood relations in Eire, and Eire citizens may now vLsit Britain to visit relations in the U S. forces.

local and Presidential, as well a s on a na t iona l scale; in Britain and the Six Counties, the challenge of Labour to Tory monopoly and privilege.

THE SAME TACTICS Though Mr. de Valera, Sir Basil Brooke

and Mr. Churchill differ on many points they have one policy in common—to keep down the forces of Labour and progress; though the crises with which they are faced a re different, the tactics they use are the same. By propaganda, tricks and political stunts, they try to bewilder and divide the people.

Thus, Mr. de Valera's l i f t ing of the cen-sorship and his conciliatory reply to Mr. Churchi l l ' s provocative broadcast, was de-signed to win many thousands of votes for Mr. Sean T. O'Kelly and F i anna Fail local cand ida tes at the elections on J u n e 14th. It will be remembered how cleverly the American note requesting the expulsion of the Axis diplomats was used by F i anna Fail to sweep the elections last year.

AN ELECTION GIFT Mr. Churchill 's reference to Eire's

" s h a m e f u l " neutrali ty and his boost of "loyal" Ulster was nothing more than an election gift for the Ulster Unionists, desperate for an issue on which to fight the election.

T h o u s a n d s of Protes tant workers and small f a r m e r s in Northern Ireland, sick of 23 years of Unionist-inspired poverty and ger rymander ing tbut natural ly sceptical of F i a n n a Fail and Nationalist flag-wag-ging), have swung towards Labour.

Terr if ied by this prospect of P ro te s t an t votes going anywhere except to Orange candidates , the Unionists hasti ly dragged out the Border bogey, gave it a f r e sh coat of "anti-Dev." paint, and dangle It before the electorate, confident t h a t they can s tampede the progressive P ro tes t an t voters in the Nor th by the th rea t of an imagined Fascist menace from the South.

Mr, de Valera played into the hands of the Unionists by his condolences on the death of Hitler, and created exactly the opposite effect to that intended. By giving thtf Six County Tories ammuni t ion for a "snap" election, he has helped perpetua te Part i t ion instead of ending it.

IRISHMEN'S ROLE Sir Basil Brooke and Mr. Churchil l have

not conferred in London for nothing. Brit ish Tories, calculating t ha t d iehards like Lord Londonderry and Dr. Lit t le can be relied upon to support reaction and imperialism, would much prefer to have nine Unionis ts rather than nine Socialists represent ing the Six Counties a t West-minster.

The I r ish people will play a role in keep-ing with their great democratic and

liberty-loving tradit ions. Sir Basil Brooke represents a Govern-

men t of linen lords, shipping barons and landed aristocrats, whose rule has a t t imes been almost strong flavoured with Fascism.

WHAT IT STANDS FOR His par ty s tands for gerrymandering,

pogroms and the bruta l B-special repres-sion agains t the rights of the Nationalists, and unemployment and low wages for t h e P ro te s t an t workers.

Only the victory of the Labour and pro-gressive forces can br ing peace, co-opera-tion and prosperity to the peoples of Eirs, the Six Counties and G r e a t Britain.

It is the duty of every Irish man and woman in Britain to vote and work for t ha r e tu rn of a Labour Government .

TRAVELLING TRIALS

aTHOUSANDS of Irish people who hi <J - planned a holiday at home this summer

will be disappointed to hear that the pass-port restrictions have not been relaxed and travel facilities improved for Eire as well a s the Six Counties.

Travelling to Ireland under present con-ditions will be more of a feat of endurance than a holiday.

Burdened with travel permits, exit visa, sailing ticket, and pre-censored papers, jostled in trains, overcrowded on the Mail-boat, intimidated by hordes of Customs, Im-migration and Security officials, dropping with hunger and nervous exhaustion, t he traveller to Ireland usually returns from h is holiday more exhausted than when he started.

Now tha t the war in Europe has ended and more shipping becomes available, t h e Ministry of War Transport should provide better services. Thousands of Irish ex-Ser-vicemen and munition workers will bless t he day when they can travel home in peace and comfort.

Surely it is time to re-open the Rosslare-Fishguard route and resume the twlce-a-day service on the Holyhead route.

IRISHMAN REFUSED T O FIGHT SOVIETS

DESCRIBING how the Nazis had tried to persuade him to fight against Russia,

Peter Brogan, an Irishman of St. Helen's, Lanes., told a reporter that William Joyce ("Lord Haw-Haw") had acted as interpreter when he was tried for sabotage in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany.

"They offered me three months' leave in Ireland and a chance to work in a P.O.W. camp if I would fight against Russia," said Brogan, who has been recently released from internment, "but when I refused they called me a swine and sentenced me to twelve months' imprisonment."

INTOLERANCE IN DUBLIN Speaking in Belfast. Mr. T. Adams, Dublin

agent of the Iriih Church Missions, said that there were places In Dublin where it was impassible to teach the Gospel. They had heard, he said, about the Intolerance of the Orangemen, but, even In their own school in Dublin, they could not have Evan-gelistic Services without windows being broken.

Gave two Irish workers ten minutes notice !

J A M E S D O Y L E and M i c h a e l H a n l o n t w o w e l l - k n o w n m e m b e r s of t h e C o n n o l l y Associat ion, h a v e recent ly b e e n v ic t imised for the i r w o r k i n g -

c lass ac t i v i t i e s in S t o k e N e w i n g t o n . Saekcd from the bomb-repair work on

which they had been engaged, without any reason being given, they were allowed only ten minutes in which to leave their hostel at Stamford House.

Protests to the local Council and to the National Service Officer have so far been unavailing.

Dovle and Hanlon are well known for their work on behalf of Irish building Workers in Stoke Nfrw'ington.

Acting as chairman and secretary respec-tively of the Welfare Committee, they have succeeded in greatly improving conditions at. Stamford House hostel.

Their work has also been frequently praised by Borough officials, and early this year when a rocket fell In the district, leav-ing a roof in a dangerous condition, they were the only two to volunteer to repair 1t.

Clearly here Is a case In which the local Trade Union movement should take action to protect their members against victlmLsa-— tlon and black-listing.

IRISHMEN CAN BUY THEIR

'Irish Democrat' from

PROGRESS B O O K S H O P

7 John Da l ton St., Manchester

§

MEET YOUR IRISH FRIENDS

THE TARA CLUB 390 4 Brixton Koad, London, S.W.

CEILIDHE EVERY WEDNESDAY, SATURDAY and SUNDAY.

Irish and Modern Dances to Frank Lee and his Radio and Recording

Tara Ceilidhe Band.

South London's Irish Social Centre ^ t ^ , t ^ l

- ! i 5 > > ti?) VS")

FRIDAY NIGHT IN HANDSWORTH IS IRISH NIGHT IN BIRMINGHAM

CEILIDHE DANCING

S O C I A L r SOCIAL CLUB, HOLYHEAD ROAD, J HANDSWORTH J S Commences 7 p.m. 3 § Centre for G.A.A. and all Irish 5 § Activities. §

A D E L P H I D A N C E H A L L

117 R U S H O L M E R O A D (near All Saints)

M A N C H E S T E R

D A N C I N G , Tuesday, Thursday (1/-) and Saturday. Sunday: 3 to 6 p.m. (1 /6) , 8.30 to 11 p.m.

(1/6)

t ^ l <<S*> <<£*"< <<̂ 1 t ^

IP YOU WANT TO CONSULT THE

CONNOLLY I ASSOCIATION | ADVISORY SERVICE | CUT OUT THIS COUPON -> and post to the Connolly Associa-§ tion, Cth .Floor, Premier House, 150 ^ Southampton Row, London, W.C.I

§ §

together with Postal Order for 1/-

Name

Address § § | § Make out P.O. to Connolly Associa- J ^ tion and cross. §

l^i t ^ , (<£?> t ^ l

N E W P R O P E L L E R TWOPENCE MONTHLY

THE one paper that caters solely for i the needs of engineering and i

1 shipbuilding workers and deals with i the problems of the Shop Stewards in i factory and shipyard.

Order from the Shop Stewards I National Council, 5, Guildford Place, London, W.C.I. Tel. Holborn 1361.

I WISH on behalf of the Connolly J Association Legal Aid Fund to appeal to all my Sport readers to sub-scribe generously to this Fund. So many of our countrymen are in need of Legal Aid. but owing to financial difficulties cannot procure it. We do our best, but our funds cannot stand it. Help us to help you. It may be your turn to-morrow to write to us for Legal Aid. So send us your subscrip-tions now. Sportsmen, lie generous,-and post your donations to:

James Dovle, 101 High Street, Stoke Newington, London, N.I6

T H E IRISH DEMOCRAT

T H I S is YOUR page. It is open to every "Democrat" reader who has ' a grouse to voice, w h o wants to throw a brickbat or hand in a bouquet. This

month our correspondents talk of Dublin's lost civic pride, of Irish nurses in Britain, of lodgings, of "literary gents," and about the episode when . . .

Somebody smashed in the Countess's nose \

FEW days ago I was walking down GraUon Street. Dublin and saw that the

Irish Red Cross were handing out leaflets in their anti-T.B. campaign. The leaflets pointed out how spitting helps to spread T.B. germs. A few hundred yards down the street someone was spitting into the gutter—a clear indication of how Dublin people have lost the civic spirit.

This lack of civic pride is evident in other ways. Lord Gough's statue in the Phoenix Park was beheaded by a hacksaw and the head dumped in the Lifley. Countess Gore-Booth's bust in St. Stephen's Green had its nose broken. On Sundays the keepers in the Botanic Gardens have difficulty in pre-venting damage to flowers and shrubs. In Inchicore a road was widened and 14 young saplings, almond and cherry trees were planted on the grass margin. Eleven of these trees were broken oft or stolen.

But this vandalism is not surprising when one realises what little opportunity for re-creation there is for young people, outside

ethe pub. the cinema and the dance-hall. Our National Library closes at 9.15 p.m.,

an hour when most people arc just getting settled in their evening work. The reason given is that the staff tall adult men) must catch the last bus home. But it is notice-able that a great many restaurants (mostly staffed by young girls) in Dublin, are open until midnight. Apparently food for the body gets preference over food for the mind.

The various museums and picture galler-ies are closed at 5 p.m.

Merrion Square is still closed to all but a select few. In the long summer evenings you may see old men, wean- women and children creep out from the slums nearby and sit down outside the railings. Dublin. JOHN MANNING. [An important social problem is raised in

this letter. The increase in juvenile crime is not peculiar to Dublin. Aggravated by the war and lack of parental control, it arises in all cities where youth finds no outlet for their physical and mental ener-gies. The solution will be found, not in moral lectures, but in the provision of suit-able youth clubs, recreation centrcs, and playing-fields. It is bad housing and the lack of recreational facilities, ra ther than original sin, which drive our boys and girls on to the streets and so drives them into juvenile crime.—Editor J.

A BOUQUET O V E R D U E JSN'T it about time someone paid tribute

to the magnificent work of the Irish nurses in Britain?

Nurses are a most exploited profession. They are played one against the other, are given starvation wages, hemmed in by prison rules, the pettiness of institutionalism and lack of social amenities. For the Irish

nurses there are the added problems of nos-talgia. hostility to real or imagined persecu-tion and so forth.

I 've met groups of very happjr Irish nurses and they've ben very good indeed. My own impression is that where you find an Irish nurse intelligent enough to transplant her-self and learn about this country, they're brilliantly good, efficient and happy. But. this is. unfortunately, not always the case. Sometimes they do not live here—they only react to conditions. They must learn to adapt themselves to their new environment. London. AN IRISH DOCTOR.

A N Y SUGGESTIONS ?

MANY Irishmen here in Britain are faced with the problem of getting lodgings

in Dublin when they go home for a holiday. If they live in the Provinces, they must usually spend the night in the city, and if they have no friends there, they must go to a hotel. Very often men are faced with the choice of paying 15 - or £ 1 for bed and breakfast , or sleeping in some "dump."

I t would be a good idea if your paper could advertise some decent, cheap hotel where a man might get bed and breakfast (at reasonable rates). Most men returning home would be willing to pay 10/- or 12/-for bed and breakfast if it was good value for the money. "PROVINCIAL."

RE MR. LEMASS OF all the Ministers, Mr. Lemass has ob-

viously been doing the most thinking of late. Those who have glibly dubbed him the tool of the Manufacturers' Federation should re-read his recent speeches with care. No doubt Messrs. Walsh. O'Reilly, McEvoy, F rame and the rest would be only too glad if they could finally net Mr. Lemass; and given the development of certain circum-stances and the absence of a vigorous and numerically powerful Labour movement, they may yet do so. But for the present Mr. Lemass seems to be trying genuinely to seek a solution to the nation's economic ills, that will not unduly favour any one section of the community. It is easy to sneer at his apparent belief that the State is "above class" but the other side of the medal is his sha rp controversy with the Vocational Commissioners, whose plans, if carried into effect, would for ever subordinate the inter-ests of the many to those of the few.

T h e t ruth is that Mr. Lemass is a "bour-geois democratic" politician representing a strongly working-class Dublin constituency, with a healthy faith in the economic poten-tialities of the country and a great many false theories as to how they could best be developed. Like many another such, he could become a figure of commanding sta-ture. deserving well of the common people,

provided that the common people achieved tha t unity of organisation and clarity of purpose necessary to isolate him from the reactionary intrigues who count upon Fianna Fail making post-war Ireland a pro-fiteers' paradise.

It is widely believed, however, that Mr. McEntee's handling of the Dignam Plan J§ likely to lead to his rapid disappearance from the political scene.

Now more than ever before is it true that the cause of Ireland is the cause of Labour —Labour united, vigorous and far-sighted, no longer ashamed to wear the mantle that dropped from Connolly's shoulders 29 years ago. JOHN IRELAND. Dublin.

BRIGHT SPIRIT / \N a recent visit to Belfast I came across " ' one of your most valuable and interest-ing pamphlets.

I want to convey to you the bright spirit it has brought to us Irishmen here.

Although we are Southern Irish, and in the Forces, it is the first time in the few years we are over here that such a good effort for unity and assistance for the Irish has been taken up by somebody. There is true sense in every line of your book.

On behalf of the remainder of the Irish lads here, we wish every success to the Con-nolly Association. We will be very glad to help you in any way we can. Staffs. IRISH AIRMAN.

"TOO MANY," HE S A Y S i WONDER where your reviewer gets the

idea that writers and their critics are "near" to the working-class, ant that Liam O'Flaherty and Mr. O'Donnell are flaming advocates of the working class struggle.

"Famine" was beyond debate a rare and moving work by a great writer but Liam's contribution to the working class at the moment consists of brilliant sneering at things Irish from the comparative safety of the side-walks of New York. As for Mr. O'Donnell, 95 per cent, of the Irish navvy-dom, transported with his assistance from Donegal into the blare and blast of Eng-land's war effort, are not aware that the gentleman exists.

To my mind there are two many literary gents quick to assume the mantle of Con-nolly and only succeeding in mocking the memory of a heroic man.

The t ruth of to-day's industrial situation is tha t the writers write and the talkers babble over a pint of "black velvet," while the workers bewildered by the ranting tongues of conflicting political creeds, see nothing in front of them but the black shadow of the returning Means Test.

I am one of them and I know. Leicester. THOMAS FEGAN.

Hyde - President and Poet but which comes

There is fine horses and stall-fed oxen And a den for foxes to play and hide—

Fine mares for breeding, and foreign slieep-ing,

And snowy fleeces in Castle Hyde. * * * r P H E ancestral home of the Hydes in Co. J - Cork is described as l i t t le less than

a n ear th ly paradise in this old ballad of Castle Hyde, but Douglas Hyde himself was not born into the land-owning class. JThe four generations of A r t h u r Hydes, each a clergyman of the C h u r c h of Ire-land, and the last Canon of Elphin and Rector of Frenchpark. were descended from a certain George Hyde, a younger son.

Thus Douglas, his father's third son, be-longed by birth to the professional classes, from which in the past Anglo-Ireland's best writers, best leaders—and best rebels—have come. Where the landlords threw up an occasional Lord Edward or Parncll, the pro-fessional class was prolific in Tones and Emmets, Mitchels and Da vises, Swifts, Veatses and Hvdes.

Yet there was a good deal of the feudal spirit about Douglas Hyde; his amusements, fishing and shooting were the gentry's; if he did not ride to hounds, tha t was prob-ably because there was no pack near enough. His intimacy with the Ideal peas-antry was feudal; in such a remote country district as that round his home in Roscom-mon, Hyde would find the old sense of soli-

b y

first ? V i v i a n M e r e i e r

darity between high and low, between gentry and peasantry, surviving almost un-changed, just as the Irish language still sur-vived there in his youth. One still sees, here and there, traces of this old feeling, whereas the peasantry and the new bourgeoisie are open enemies.

If Hyde stayed aloof from the Irish bour-geois revolution, it was because of this feu-da] s t ra in in him. Indeed, Ills determina-tion to revive the Irish language was on a par with that desire to recapture the past which Marx and Engels had noted in the "feudal socialists" of 1848. Hyde tried to revive Irish where another might have sought to revive the medieval guilds or the practice of archery or the knowledge of heraldry.

Of course, there was more than mere di-lettanteism in Hyde's case. He could never have worked so hard and so unselfishly through the years 1893-1915, when he con-trolled the Gaclic League, if it had not been for his Very real national feeling. He took up the Irish language, rather than any of the other things, because if was IRISH.

Coming from the background he did. he could never hate England, as an Englishman like Childers might, but he could love Ire-land.

I should like to say just a word or two about

should like to say just a word or two about Hyde, the writer. He was never purely a literary man; his books had to be works of scholarship as well. He wanted to set Irish down just as it had been spoken, and was prepared if necessary to sacrifice any merely literary quality to the cause of scientific ac-curacy. His small amounjt of, genuine crea-tive work was done in Iri,sh—poepis ^nd one-act plays. Lady Gregory';!'translation of one of the latter, "The Workhouse Ward," has become an Abbey classic. But if you get down "The Love Songs of Copnacht" (1893) in a public library—it is a scarce book, which should be reprinted at sixpence or a shilling so that every Irishman and Irish woman could buy and read it—you will realise that never ww a scholar so human. In his word-for-word prose translations ot the poems and of his own Irish commentary on them, he invented the Irish-English which became the dialect of the Abbey Theatre and evolved into the poetic lan-guage of Syngc.

Perhaps, when the years have rolled on, and the first President of Eire's public life is forgotten; when the controversy over the revival of Irish has been settled one way or the other and therefore forgotten also: then Douglas Hyde's words, In English or Irish, may prove lasting. The man who had for seven years the highest-paid public post in Eire, may bri best remembered for his work as a poet and translator.

(With ackhemleflgmfnU to the "Ohurch of Ireland Gazette")

June, 1945 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

IRISH DEMOCRAT ROOM 117. PREMIER I IOlSI

150 SOUTHAMPTON ROW. LONDON. \V.( 1

All tommunii .ilions to be addressed s I he Edilnr ! I .mil ( .inipheil. Telephone \.i.: 'IV;. ,"!:<i(;

KATE—Tttrl.e tlmith> I -s i \ »ioiU'is " -

Trickery r j ^ H E Tsries never commit indiscretions

without malice afore thought . When Mr, Churohiil launched his a t tack on Mr. de Vafera, he was not concerned about neutral i ty at all. He was doing a piece of electioneering, and as surely as thunder follows lightning, the rumbles of the com-ing dissolution of the Northern Parlia-ment appeared in the papers next day.

LiUe a one-stringed fiddler, the Unionists have little versatility, but they know all the dodges of the ins t rument . Following the Prime Minis ters lead, the Unionists' orchestra has struck up their old tune— the Protestant Government for a Protes-t a n t people, the preservation of the Border, "scatter the Papists" and plenty more.

Their aim is to fight this election on issues that have nothing to do with the real problems facing the people of Nor-t h e r n Ireland.

The rea! issues of this election are: Will the re be social progress in the Six Coun-ties? Are gerrymander ing and religious nepot ism to cease? Are the Six Counties to become a depressed area once more? Is t h e Unionist Camarilla still to rule the roost?

T h e people of Northern Ireland will not be divided by old shibboleths. They are a hard-headed, sober people, given to weigh-ing realities. ' The only danger is tha t Tory tricks may lead Nationalists to re-f r a in from voting. But disgust and im-pat ience are bad counsellors. The fu ture of the Six Counties demands overwhelm-ing vote for the working-class candidates to ensure a t tent ion to the people's imme-d ia t e needs.

j y j R . DE VALERA'S condolences on the death of Hitler was a diplomatic

b lunder—and nothing more. Those who read into his action a sinis-

ter Nazi plot or imagine t ha t citizens of Eire are 100 per cent. pro-Fascist either know nothing of Irish politics or else have allowed their indignation to warp their be t t e r judgment .

T h e question naturally arises as to how such an astute politician couid make such a blunder.

Mr. de Valera's visit was the logical con-clusion of the policy of neutral i ty adopted th roughout the war.

So successful has the Eire Government been in erecting a double barrier of censor-ship and isolation between Eire and the res t of the world tha t they themselves have failed to grasp the significance of the enormous social and political changes which have taken place in Europe during the past five years. Victims of their own censorship, they are now living in a political cloud-cuckoo land,1 entirely unaware, for example, tha t Fascism is not merely dis-liked by a small group of Liberals or Soci-alists , but is actively loathed by the great mass of the peoples of Europe.

To argue, as some do, t ha t Mr. dc Valera's action was diplomatically "cor-rect," is to misunders tand the function of diplomacy which is to secure goodwill to-wards one's country. Punctilio of the kind displayed by Mr. de Valera may have m e a n t something in leisurely Victorian days, but it is misplaced In dealing with t he cynical and unscrupulous German Foreign Office. In any case, Hitler's death occurred at a t ime when the central Ger-m a n Government was already split into conflicting fragments. When the Taoi-seach put his foot Inside Hempel 's door-way the German Government Represented nothing more than • handful of N**1 des-peradoes tkulkfng In a Berlin dugout.

Why 13, are up in arms

rish Teachers " T H I R T E E N thousand Ir ish teachers

are up in arms against the hypoc-r i sy , s h i l l y - sha l l y ing and procrast ina-t ion of the present Government re-gard ing Educat ion.

R e c e n t l y a t t h e I .N.T.O. A n n u a l Cor,ft!vss in-Gahvay fighting speeches were reported. S t r ike action was in the air.

WAGES LESS THAN IT H I (TTTEI 'S Out 01 the 13.000 registered teachers. (i.OSM)

had less than IM a week; 3,000 had C3 and 2.000 bad from 39 - to 53/-. These "en-tile figures that Air. T. I i is by, I.N.T.O. offi-cial, gave at Congress.

WHERE DOES PRIMARY EDUCATION STAND?

The so-callcd National Schools arc a hangover from the old British system of education in Ireland. They cater for chil-dren from "infants" age to the school-leav-ing age, and job-commencing age of 14. In the bad old days, pupils were given a grounding in "Reading, Writing and 'Rith-metic"—with some elementary facts of farming thrown in—all aimed at producing more efficient cogs in the social and eco-nomic machine of English capitalism.

That machine, we are told, has been scrapped. Yet after 12 years of a National Government, this formula of a minimum education for the poor man's child has lost even its practical value. Children in rural Ireland, belonging to communities essenti-ally agricultural, arc equipped neither for trade, dairy science, fanning, forestry nor horticulture. They are injected with use-less book-learning which has become the be-all and end-all of their childhood experi-ence at a time when the country is not pro-ducing enough food economically to feed its lowest income population. In the vast ma-jority of country Schools you will not find even a School Garden where they might be taught the rudiments of the Natural Sciences.

There they sit. week in, week out, in out-worn, dilapidated, leaky buildings that arc often no better than stone-wall sheds, hav-ing their minds dulled and suffocated Willi potted information from ridiculous tort-books. WHAT IS THE AIM OF THIS DOLED-Ol T

"EDUCATION"? Certainly it is not to develop character,

nor initiative. Nor can it be to train the child to think independently or originally. It seems merely to cram the head with such dry-as-dust facts and figures as will get their possessor some soul-killing job in shop or bank or warehouse. Apparently the aim of most of the young products of this injection process is to go through life wearing fancy suitings, their hands unstained from the

S''ril. and :<> dream of a riv:i H i : , . '

Ulty ;>uce. lite Harm oi the iier-tee'' re-vi'.al has be: a Meetiiered unr'n r bun..lite-racy's Hies and folders.

W H \ T OF OCR SECONDARY EDUCATION?

Tiv, whole rfuondary system hi Ireland is hau.Ued 07 tin spectres of "Getliny a Cer-tificate." Dreaded examinations obsess pupil and teacher alike, in he class-room they overshadow the syllabus: in the official statistics they figure as a hallmark of achievement.

It is quite obvious tha i in present-day Ire-land minds are being cut to a pattern like utility suits. What Pearce. before de-nounced a.s the Murder Machine has become a kind ol .sausage-machine, turning out thousands of standardised citizens.

Clearly the aim of present-day adminis-tration is to perpetuate masses of ignorant working-class, and a minority of well-edu-cated children.

HIGHER EDUCATION "We must stamp out the awful idea that

Higher Education is an expensive thing." de-clared Dr. Schrodinger, the eminent scien-tist, recently addressing a Students' Con-gress representing all the Irish Universities.

Commenting on his outspoken address, the "Irish Times" admitted that to-day it is difficult for any student with limited means, even with the aid of scholarships, to get a University education. "That hardly is sur-prising in a country where even Secondary education is the privilege of comparatively few."

Thus while a professional career is open to monied "idle rich," the Government pro-mises to allocate five million pounds for better schools.

When? Vaguely, in the dim future. And how is it to be distributed? To the benefit of the sons of turf-cutters, farm-workers, transport workers? Most -certainly not. The money will principally be expended on re-conditioning the present wasteful Secondary system.

Last June, the Government promised the Dail their Ten-Year Plan. IL is still on paper. Meanwhile the children mosi af-fected are huddled in condemned buildings under hygienic conditions that are a dis-grace to a boastfully Christian State. Coun-try children sometimes have to tramp five miles to their lessons, barefoot in the depth of winter. About 1.000 of these school build-ings are just ancient shacks—dismal out-houses, unheated and with damp walls and leaky roofs. The teacher himself has to sweep out the stone floors, no caretaker be-ing allowed.

L E S L I E H. D A I K E N He Attacks Shilly-shallying

Early this year the Dublin County Medical Officer of Health reported: "During the month 668 pupils in nine schools were medically inspected. My report s h o w s that 12 boys and 13 girls suffered from mal-nutrition; 27 boys and 64 girls, uncleanli-ness; 125 boys and 114 girls, dental defects; 18 boys and 39 girls defective vision; 28 boys and 50 girls, squint; 42 boys and 35 irirls, tonsils and adenoids; 65 boys and 72 • iris, anaemia; 23 boys and 14 girls, postura. de-fects; three boys and six girls, juvenile rheu-matism."

EMIGRANTS BACK OCT TEACHERS "Irish Democrat" supports Irish teachers

in their campaign for decent standards. It, regards £ 5 per week as an absolute mini-mum for a trained teacher—rising to a maximum of £600 according to experience and qualifications.

It insists that men and women teachers shall receive equal pay for doing the same work and equal rise in bonus and pensions.

It opposes compulsory dismissal of wo-men teachers who marry.

It proposes the drawing up of a standard rate similar to the Burnham Scale, below which no teacher's salary shall fall. ,

Such attractions as Burnham in Britain may lead Irish teachers to follow other skilled workers in larger numbers than hith-erto.

Before they are tempted to capitulate, or from disillusionment to emigrate, it is well to remember that every worthwhile measure in the demoeratisation of English education was fought for during the difficult years of war, and won, by the united demand of the common people as a whole.

H I C H L I C H T S B Y ' R E P I H < . i l ~

Six County Labour gives a lead to Britain's progressive parties WHEN the Six Counties go to the polls

on June 14th, the Orange-camou-flaged "Big Business" clique of Sir Basil Brooke will face a united Labour vote.

This good news cams when the N.I. Labour Party Executive decided not to put forward any candidates in constituencies where there are already anti-Government candidates in the field.

In fact, this goes fu r the r than Labour unity. It means tha t "progressives" in each constituency will not be put in the unhappy position of having to choose which "agin the Government" man to vote for.

How's tha t for a lead to progressive par t ies in Britain?

GREEK WILL MEET GREEK

IOTS of people are anxious to know just

J why the Royal Ulster Constabulary were selected to supply instructors for the Greek police.

The official explanat ion is tha t the R.U.C. ate the only "Pee le rs ' who carry f irearms and receive mil i tary along with police training. If you remember, the Black and Tans were also recruited on a basis oi military t ra in ing and proficiency in firearms.

The R.U.C. are also well versed in the gentle ar t of provocation. Seizing every flimsy excuse, they parade through Catholic areas in Nor thern Ireland especially the Palls Road in Belfast—not only armed with revolvers but riding in armoured cars with rifles and machine-guns sticking out a t all angles.

One of their little games Is to cordon off a Catholic residential a rea In the small hours, hammer a t doors unti l the wood-work is splintered or the occupier answers, and then barge into the house and turn it topsy-turvy.

The excuse is t ha t they 're hun t ing for a r m s a n d seditious l i tera ture , but time and again law-abiding families, without any connection with banned organisat ions, are subjected to this abuse.

I also know of cases where Catholic Labour supporters are challenged time a f t e r t ime in their own street on their w .y home f rom night work and made to she . their identi ty cards to the same policemc : who have known them f rom childhood

When the Greek s tormtroopers h a v : been t ra ined it will be interest ing to see how the Greek workers react.

Meant ime, I can tell you what the le-nction was of the special Commission sent to Belfast before the war by the National Council lor Civil Libert ies: "The method of rounding-up practised does not greatly differ f rom similar practices carried out in countr ies under Fascist rule," they said.

FALL OF THE CENSORSHIP I \UBLINERS, when they heard Churchill

-1 ' on the wireless making his recent at tack on De Valera. or read it in their newspapers next morning, might have been excused for feeling disappointed when they turned to the "leader to set what their paper had to say about it ami found no comment there.

Could it be tha t they waited for a direc-tive on how to treat the a t tack, or was it that they were so long used to ignoring event ; of public importance, as a result of the Censorship, tha t force of habit won?

CONFLICTING PRESS VIEWS r P A L K I N G about the Censorship, it was 1 amusing to read the editorial verdicts

passed on it by the Dublin Press. The "I r i sh Times" roundly damned it.

The " Independent" called it "stupid, clumsy and un jus t , " remarking t ha t "much information t h a t the people had a

perfect r ight to receive was withheld f rom them without any valid reason.".

The "I r i sh Press" said: "The Censor-ship fully justified itself, no mat te r wha t minor errors and i r r i ta t ions we may have had to complain of." It went on "to pay a tr ibute to the "good sense and impart i -ality which character ised the very com-plex and difficult work the Censors were called upon to do."

A MILD COMMENT

I^ O R my part , I t r u s t I may be in order in offering a comment of my own. viz.,

tha t it of ten aroused the suspicion on the pa r t of large number s of I r ishmen a t home and abroad t h a t the Censor h a d strong ant i -democrat ic sympathies—and that ' s put t ing it mildly. - ,

TOLD TO THE MARINES \ I R. SEAN MacENTEE would be a great ' • one for tell ing Chris tmas ghost

stories. He did h i s best to make iris hearers ' blood curdle when referr ing to Beveridge at a meet ing of the Comntetce Society of University College. Dublin, he said:

"Freedom to-day seemed to involve the complete subordinat ion of the indi-vidual into a S t a t e free to rule a:bi-trarily on the plea of seeking the com-mon good. Th i s f reedom means in fact total i tar ian power to compel people to direct all their act ivi t ies according to an order of values predetet mined a::d pre-scribed by o thers . . . . It can b - shown t h a t once they entered into a planned economy' their p lanning must lead to dictatorship."

Isn ' t i t odd t h a t the people of Bri ta in, a f t e r f ight ing for long years against total i -tar ianism should now be clamouring foe 11?

I 4 THE IRISH

i E I. ... .'.in a.;:' u\> :•. M ' - J • : .. l: t Fa sc i sm '..- i" '••-•'••

tu.:«t»n! otia.iY m a y nc.v be »pg':":> :j I t . ;:.!.!; A'r.nv diUJOiTa'.S. :CUT 1 -o: d ' . i ice. iwv. cele'-. hi tv nr.pii c i a u n o c r a r . w.th t:v- i : u hh :: 0 . i l w 'A o i ici.

In ' h : . : t r i u m p h she I r i sh people h.;ve p l ayed a n h o n o u r a b l e p . m . For umonu the- c o m m o n people the re was n o nea -t r a l i t y t o w a r d s t he political s y s t e m o: F a s c i s m : 110 n eu t r a l i t y t owards t he e n e m i e s of workers ' r igh t , c ru shed w h e i e -t-ver t h e h a t e d symbol of Fasc is t d i c t a t o r -s h i p v.ms lo be found .

T h o u s a n d s of I r i s h m e n , m i n d f u l of t h e i r d e m o c r a t i c he r i t age , bore a r m s to secure i t s over th row.

They began in Spa in , where t he I r ish in t he I n t e r n a t i o n a l Br igade won world re-nown.

And how the enemies of t he I r i sh wo: k e r s h a t e d these he roes a n d f a w n e d t ipon t h e i r d e t r a c t o r s ! They p u r s u e d t h e l eader of t he I r i s h section of t he I n t e r -n a t i o n a l B r i g a d e — F r a n k R y a n — t o t he grave .

W h e n he lay dead. I r e l a n d ' s neo-Fasc i s t s den ied t h e use of t he Mans ion House for a R e p u b l i c a n g a t h e r i n g in his honour , j u s t before t hey s a n g h i g h mass for Musso l in i a n d h i s mis t ress .

BU T t h e I r i sh workers r edeemed t he h o n o u r of I r i sh democracy. T h o u -

s a n d s of I r i s h m e n a n d women worked in t h e a r s e n a l s of democracy , s t r e n g t h e n i n g t h e s inews of ar .

Airfield a f t e r airf ield was bui l t l a rge ly by I r i s h labour .

R e c o r d s were broken laying t he mi les of conc re t r u n w a y s bui l t on bleak a n d lonely was tes where the I r i s h lived a n d s lep t " h a r d " in the i r own c o m m u n i t i e s mi les f r o m t h e a m e n i t i e s of the towns.

T h o u s a n d s of I r i s h worked in t h e sh ip-ya rds , too, where every rivet s t r e n g t h e n e d a n o t h e r s h i p — t h e sh ip of f r i e n d s h i p a n d u n d e r s t a n d i n g wi th the i r Eng l i sh work-m a t e s .

At l a s t bo th peoples saw t h r o u g h t h e c a m p a i g n of m u t u a l h a t e loosed by t he r i ch of bo th coun t r i e s to s epa ra t e t h e wor-kers in t h e in t e re s t of profi t , u p o n which n e i t h e r border , sea, no r l a n g u a g e a c t s a s a b o u n d a r y .

Ask t h e Engl i sh worker in B i r m i n g h a m a n d m a n y s imi la r t owns w h a t was t he con-t r i b u t i o n of the I r i sh to the d e f e a t of Fas -cism. T h e y will p o i n t to the t h o u s a n d s of I r i sh m e n a n d w o m e n who worked d a y a n d n i g h t s h i f t s in t he a m m u n i t i o n f a c -tories.

T h e y will poin t to the t h o u s a n d s of I r i s h g i r ls f r e s h f r o m the f a r m s whose

-by PAT DOOLEY

h a n d s a re now ca! Io ;>ed f r o m the i if t inir of shells .

I R I S H M E N c a n be p r o u d of their wonu n-* toik in Br i t a in , for not only have t h e y

served 111 t he fac to r ies . 011 the buses, but also in t he hosp i ta l s . Scores of hosp i t a l s have the i r quota of I r i s h nurses and doc-tors. Ar.d in t he b l i tz a n d dur ing t h e f ly-bombs a n d t he r o c k e t s they more t h a n did the i r bit.

I recall a London hosp i t a l , fly-bornbed, with dead and d y i n g literally s t r ewn a r o u n d . Among t h e debr i s of broken glass, beds, p a r t i t i o n s , w i th layers of plas-ter f r o m the walls a n d ceil ing lying over m a n y beds, I saw I r i sh nurses wipe t he dust f r o m thei r b l a c k e n e d faces and r u n to l if t a beam which t r a p p e d one of t h e i r pa t i en t s .

T h o u s a n d s gave t h e i r lives to resist t h e impos i t ion of s lavery on f r e e men.

I t h i n k of o n e — j u s t one—of the m a n y — Mick L e h a n e , a M e r c h a n t Navy man , w h o

\ now lies a t the sea b o t t o m a f t e r fighting to b r ing food to t h e s e shores .

W a r t akes a t e r r ib le toll in h u m a n s u f -fe r ing . B u t it is a l so t h e crucible of ex-per ience. Hav ing p a s s e d t h r o u g h it t h o u -s a n d s of I r i s h m e n a r e be t t e r able to bui ld anew a s t ronge r a n d m o r e prosperous I r e -land.

T h e y will r e t u r n pol i t ica l ly clearer, w i t h wider i ndus t r i a l e x p e r i e n c e and s t imu la t ed to win a h ighe r a n d b e t t e r s t a n d a r d of life a t home .

Accus tomed to d e c e n t wages and condi-t ions, c lo thes a n d h o u s i n g , our menfo lk , exper ienced in t r a d e u n i o n and wel fa re work will resis t t h e d e n i a l of their r i g h t s of o rgan i s a t i on a n d a s s e r t the i r s t a t u s as workers .

R e f r e s h e d by the i r c o n t a c t with a wider world, they will r e t u r n to every town a n d village in I re land to d ispel t he illusions Qf the few whose power r e s t s upon the incul-cat ion of 13th c e n t u r y ideas and the pay-men t of 18th cen tu ry wages .

/ t U R women h a v e b e c o m e t r ans fo rmed . T h e y will r e t u r n w i t h more t h a n t h e

l a tes t f a s h i o n s in h a i r - s t y l e s and two-piece cos tumes ! No longer a r e they conten t to r e m a i n f a r m h o u s d r u d g e s .

At long las t they c l a i m the place f o r which Connol ly so nobly f o u g h t to secure for t h e m . C a r r y i n g t h e i r A.E.U. t r a d e un ion c a r d they will c l a im equali ty in

A group of Ir ish seamen typical of de fy the Hun

the men f r o m Eire who helped U U-boats.

wages and s t a t u s , a n d they h a v e proved t h e i r r ight to it.

I t is as t rag ic a s i t is ironical t h a t t hey s h o u l d have won t h i s f r eedom a n d inde-pendence , no t a t h o m e , but in t h e l a n d t h e y were t a u g h t to ha t e .

T h e s e are the m e n a n d women w h o kept a l i g h t the flame of I r i s h l iberty. Pos t e r i t y m a y one day u n d e r s t a n d the n e u t r a l i t y of I r e l a n d du r ing t h e world's g r e a t e s t s t r u g g l e for f r e e d o m , bu t m a y n o t con-d o n e it.

W h a t e v e r t he j u d g m e n t of h i s t o r y m a y be. it is ce r ta in t h a t t r ibu te will be pa id to those I r i s h m e n a n d women, who, recog-n i s ing Fascism to be t he e n e m y of al l h u m a n f reedom, ra l l i ed to c r u s h t h i s t v r a n n v to the d u s t .

IN AMERICA THEY SAY . . . First American to shout a Jap was Mike

Murphy. First American pilot lo sink a Jap battle-

ship was Colin Kelly. First American soldier lo be decorated—

James Powers. First American Pil:>t to land on D-day—

I.t.-CcJ. Mike Murphy. First American flier to "down" a Jap plane

—Edwin O'Hara. First American bomber to blast Yawata—

Lt. Col. Kichard Kenny. First shot fired to liberate Bataan—I.t.

John F. Murphy. First American mother lo lose five sons—

Mrs. T. F. Sullivan.

The V.C.s Irishmen were in this war C E V E N Vic tor ia Crosses were won J by volunteers f rom Eire dur ing this w a r .

Flying Officer Donald Garland. Ballinacor, Co. Wicklow. was awarded the first V.C. in the R.A.F. He destroyed an important bridge ever the Albert Canal in Belgium, in June , 1940. The bridge area was heavily protected by ant i -a i rcraf t guns and enemy f ighters-but had to be destroyed at all costs. Only one out of five a i rc ra f t sent in on a low-level bombing a t tack survived.

L/Cp4. Patrick Klnneally, V .C.

Two of Flying Officer Gar land ' s brothers have been awarded the D.F.C.

Major Harold Ervine-Andrews, East Lan-cashire Regiment, Co. Wexford, was one of the first iwo Army V.C.s of t h e war. On the night of May 31, 1940, in the face of intense artillery, mor ta r and machine-gun fire, he held oft vastly superior enemy forces near Dunkirk, eventually killing seventeen of the enemy with his own S len gun and rifle fire.

Captain Edward Stephen Fogartv Fegen, R.N., Bal i inuntv, Co. Tipperarv , was the ihird I r i shman lo win t he V.C. in this war.

Capt. Fegen was c o m m a n d e r of the armed merchan t cruiser, JcrvLs Bay, escorting 38 merchan tmen in the Nor th Atlantic, when a powerful German warsh ip was sighted. Drawing oul of the convoy, the JervLs Bay made s t ra ight for the enemy and engaged it so that the other m e r c h a n t ships could scat-ter. For nearly an hour Capt . Regen held the enemy fire. His ship then blew up and sank, and he went down with her.

Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde, D.S O., R.N., Drominagh, Lough Derg, Co. Tipperary, was killed in ac t ion in 1942 when challenging hopeless odds to a t tack the Ger-man batt le cruisers. Scharnos t , Gneisenau and Prince Eugen, as they s teamed through the Stra i ts of Dover.

Captain J. J. B. Jackman, Royal North-umberland Fusiliers. Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, was in command of a machine-gun company during a tank attack on El Duda ridge, Tunisia. He was killed while direct-ing fire on enemy gun positions.

Lance-Corporal John Pa t r i ck Kinneally, Irish Guards, Co. Tlppcrary, was awarded

t he V.C. fur ou t s t and ing gal lantry in Tr.r.'.r.ia.

Single-handed, he completely routed an enemy company, which was preparing to a t t a ck a position held by the Irish Guards . Armed only with a Bren gun he charged down a bare open hillside, firing f rom his h ip as he did so. T h e enemy broke up in confusion.

Lance-Corporal Kinneal lv repeated this remarkable exploit two days later, when ac-companied by a sergeant from the Recon-na isance Corps, h e again charged the enemy forming up for assault . This l ime he so harassed the enemy, inflicting many casu-alties, tha t the projec ted at tack was f rus-t r a t e d .

I t was only later l h a t it was discovered t h a t he had been wounded. He refused to give up his Bren gun, claiming tha t he was t he only one who understood it, and contin-ued to fight all th rough that, day with great courage and devotion to duiv.

Private Richard Kelllher, Australian Army, Ballbcggan, Tralec. Co. Kerry, was a mem-ber of a platoon a t t a ck ing a Japanese posi-tion in New Guinea in September, 1943

Coming under heavy fire from concealed machine-guns only fifty yards away, five of the platoon were killed and three wounded. In face of these casualties. Private Kellihcr suddenly, on his own initiative and without orders, dashed towards the pc>st and hurled two grenades at it, killing some of the enemy, but not all. Returning to his sec-tion, he seized a Brer) gun, again dashed to within thirty yards of the enemy post, and With accurate Are completely silenced lt.

A B.L.A. MAN WRITES

I CAME across a little incident a lev - days ago. Having some hours to spare,

I wandered down a blossom-covered lane. The April sunshine was at its best, and everything was peaceful and quiet. Rabbits and squirrels were scurrying through the wood. T h e n I noticed through the blossom-covered trees an array of while crosses—it was a war cemetery with graves only a lev days old.

As I glanced at the rows of white crosses I noliced m a n y an Irish name and regiment. I r e l a n d - w a s well represented here in this little p a t c h of foreign soil, among men of all creeds and nat ions. Here was no race or creed—all were comrades who died for free-dom.

J. HOG.-W 1 B.L.A.)

PRIEST ADVOCATES CO-OPERATION

" ' T H E quickest and surest way of stepping-J - up rura l productivity was through co-

operat ion," said ihe Rev. E. J . Coyne, well-known Jesui t cconomisl, speaking at. lb a n n u a l meet ing of Ihe Irish Agriculture Organisa t ion Society in Dublin.

Advocating better education and organ sat ion of fa rming, Fa ther Coyne declare t h a t expendi ture on agricultural educatio should be looked upon as a capital invest ment . The only hope for agricultural educ<, tion was a large, almost complete, measur of decentra l isa t ion, making the county th unit . He wrould like to see an Agricultui Ins t i tu te in every county, with a demonstre tion f a r m a t tached .

Af ter educat ion came the need for volui tary organisat ion of the rural community a] a whole, but especially the farmers. The)1

were hoping a f t e r the war to be able to begin an intensive co-operative campaign in as yet relatively untouched districts.

I RISH lads who worked In the beetficlds of J- England, playing their part to kee» Britain fed while the Nails were at her doon.

From the moment its ugly head wa June, 1945 5

first reared to menace man's freedom

In thousands they rallied for the but not one fired a shot for th

les IO l ' s of people toss their noses in to the

^ air when I re land 's name is ment ioned mm. I reYnd is a strange country, and has a strange way of doing tilings. "Who are we going 1 1 be neutral against?" asked a member of the Irish Parl iament when t ha t question was befor t it. and tha t represents tiie Irish mind fair ly well.

The fact is t ha t Ireland shows he r ncu-•ralit.v l),v being up to her waist in the war —that is as f a r a s the fighting is concerned.

* :\S *

Lei's ask a few questions. Was there a single I r i s h m a n with arms in his h a n d s lighting lor the Nazis in Sicily, or were there any 111 Nor th Af r ica?

More de l igh t fu l still to me—is there one, was thete ever one. found to fire a shot at a Ked Army m a n ?

Not a single one. as far as I know. And this, mind you, f r o m a Catholic country, sub-missive to the Vat ican.

Not one. not a shadow of one. Bu t tens and tens of t housands arc fighting 011 the side of the Allies.

Leaving out Nor the rn Ireland a l together , there were more Southern Irish in t he Allied Army t h a n in h e r own. They poured into the R.A.F.. a n d it ha s been said t ha t in some canteens a good deal of Gaelic was spoken. I, myself, have received Iwo letters in Gael ic from young pilot-officers when about to take off to have a c rack a t the Germans .

They were in t h e Navy, too, in ihe T a n k Corps, in the I n f a n t r y , and. if one counts

Finucane - worthy symbol of the R.A.F.

WI N G - Commande r Paddy Finucane . 21-

year-old flying ace, D.S.O. a n d triple D.F.C., c rashed into the Channel a n d was drowned when his mach-ine was hit by a million-to-one shot from a mach-ine - gun 011 a F r e n c h beach.

With 32 G e r m a n air-c r a f t to his credit , the youngest Wing - Comman-der ended his career un-beaten by the Lu f twa f f e h e had so of ten chal-lenged,

" Never another l i k e Finucane," said his red-headed friend, Squadron-Leader K. Truscott , who h a s named h i s plane, "Paddy ."

I l V

& E A X O C A $ E Y

the Merchant Navy las great a corps as a n y . ar.d munition factories, a whole host of I r i shmen and Ir ishwomen fought the Nazi-Fasciht Powers.

The Irish were everywhere. Tlicy were in Syria, in North Africa,: and they were in Sicily. They Here 011 the bloody beaches of Dunkirk* I hey were in every blasting blitz tha t fell 011 every English city; they »e re in the gallant convoys bringing addi-t ional help to Malta and the g rea t battling farces of the Soviet Union. They toiled in every port, worked in every

factory, fought on all ihe f r o n t s where the Brit ish and Americans met llie Nazis face 10 lace.

* * *

' I " 'HE first couple to gain American war J- decorations were—if I remember rightly

—a Cohen and a Kelly. A Kennedy commanded a merchant

cruiser tha t went down fir ing her guns lo the last, batt l ing with a Nazi fleet 111 the North Sea.

A Fogarty Fegen went down 011 the Jervis Bay, defending a precious convoy to the last f rom a Nazi battleship 111 the Atlantic Ocean.

A Wexford man led his squadron of Swordfish; and met his dea th , bombing the two Nazi warships escaping f rom Brest.

Paddy Finucane was a wor thy symbol of the R.A.F. Nolan, a Dublin m a n . bore on his back a mighty beam while his comrades dug a girl out lo safety 111 one of the Lon-don blitzes.

We have all heard of Genera l s Alexander and Montgomery who have, with their gal-lant men. trampled Nazi a rmies into the grave, but all of us haven't hea rd of Skipper Brann igan . whose ship was bat tered in a Maltese harbour , and who. ordered lo aban-don her. refused, shouting t h a i he "would bring her out in her stockinged feet ."

The re was ihe A.A. gunner . Cassidy, who tore to bits the wings of m a n y a Focke-Wullc trying to down ships in the icy seas on their way to Murmansk .

The other day, the King fixed a medal on the breast of a flight-enginc-r, who. when a four thousand pound bomb stuck in a rack while his plane was over a German target, carried 011 a n igh tmare flight with it amid burs t ing flak, de te rmined t h a i this blow should fall on the foe, too. And fall it did. and the name of the m a n is Aloysius Mullany. a name as Irish as the blossom 011 our snowy bog-cotton.

The advanced flight of American para-troops. who glided down into Sicily, was led

bv a m a n lisi-n from ihe ranks, named Lieut. Col. CYrney. sounding as Ir ish a - the ciovir 01 tile Vali of sheamnr .

Ye th,- Iri;:i were in Tie fight. Ti: \ aiv.a - ' Ju l ' . .1) V al'AuYs will be. I:: c'.eiy ca.-uaity list l lniv will always be found tin-n a m e s 0; K. li> and l iurkc and Slu-a.

* * *

"Read out the names," and Burke sat back. And Keliy dropped his head. While Shea—they called him "Scholar Jack" Went down Ihe list of "the dead. Of the officers, seamen, gunners, marines. The crew of the gig and the yawl. The bearded man and lad in his teens, Carpenter, coal-passers, all. Then knocking the ashes from out his pipe, Said Burke in an off-handed way, "We're in the dead man's list, by Christ, Kelly and Burke and Shea." Then Shea, the scholar, with rising joy, Said, "We were at Kamillies, We left our bones at Fontenoy, And up in the Pyrenees; Before Dunkirk, on I.andan's Plain, Cremona, Lille, and Ghent; We're all over Italy, France and Spain, Wherever they pitched a tent: We died for England from Waterloo To Egypt and Dargai, And still there's enough for a corps or two, Kelly and Burke and Shea."

* * * Ay, there is; and thev were with the

Allies.

NEW EDUCATION ACT IN BPJTASN

J

(9' (10

(111

Without Comment ./ C O M M E N T I N G on Adolf Hi t le r ' s d e a t h * in Berlin, the " S p e c t a t o r , " wr i t ing in t h e L e a d e r Page P a r a d e in t he " I n d e p e n -d e n t , " c la ims to have me t Hi t le r several t i m e s .

T h e wr i te r s ta tes t h a t t he Leade r ' s only p r i v a t e life was a n occas iona l m o u n t a i n walk, d u r i n g which he used to d r o p in on h i s humble , bearded Alp ine n e i g h b o u r s a n d a sk fo r a glass of h o t milk.

T h e wri ter also revea l s th i s " cu r ious" f a c t . A year before t he world war a new G e r m a n "Who's W h o " w a s publ i shed . " T h e F u e h r e r and Chance l l o r h a d t he first p a g e all to h imsel f , of wh ich obvi-ous ly h e mus t have a u t h o r i s e d t he proof , t h e long s u m m a r y of h i s b i r th , ca ree r , d i s t i nc t i ons , etc.. e n d s laconica l ly w i th t h e words , 'Religion, R . C . ' "

HE Nc.v Educat ion Act in Br i ta in pro-vides for—

1 Raising the school-leaving age to 15 without exemption by the end ot the war. And to 16 not more than t h r e e years later.

' Free education under a single secon-dary code for ail children af ter the pri-mary stage.

' Common s tandards of siafF.net. equip-ment and amenit ies for ail schools.

1 Adequate provision of nursery schools. 1 Free medical services and school meals. ' Maintenance aloiwances for children in

post-primary schools. 1 Day continued education for all be-

tween 16 and 18. 1 Free access to universities and h igher

technical colleges for all who can benefit thereby. Ample provision for adult education.

Minimum salaries of £300 rising to £580 a year for qualified men teachers. A minimum of £274 for women teachers. Maximum size of classes in pr imary schools to be 40. in secondary schools 30 children.

HERO OF DIEPPE—( apt. Patrick Porteous, V.C.

AND THESE WERE THE LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES

WHO IN SPAIN

I T is known, that at least 48 of the many Irishmen who volunteered to light

Fascism in Spain gave their lives 011 that battlefront. The names of the galant 48 are:

W. Beatlie, Belfast—July, 1937—Brunette. Henry Bonar, Dublin—December, 1936—Cor-

dova. Hugh Bonar, Dungloe—February, 1937 J a r -

ama. Dennis Cody, Dubl in—January , 1937—Las

Rosas. F. Conroy, Dublin—December, 1936 —Cor-

dova. Chris. Conway, Dublin—February, 1937

J a r a m a . Peter Daly, Wcxfol-d—St pt., 1937—Sara-

gossa. William Davis, I re land—July 1937 . Brun-

ete. Charles Donnelly, Dublin—Feb., 1937—Jar-

ama. William Henry, Belfast—Feb. 1937—Jarama. R. M. Milliard, Killarney—Feb., 1937—Jar-

ama. Michael Kelly, Kilconncl^Jiilv, 1937—Bru-

netc.

J. Mechan, Galway—Dec., 1936—Cordova. Thomas Kerr . Belfast—October, 1938. W. Laughlin, Belfast—July 1937—Brunetc. M. May. Ireland—Dec.. 1936—Cordova.

I I EKE is Paddy O'Dare, former mem-her of the International Brigade,

who served as a private in the British Army in the present war.

Ben Murray , Ireland—Mar., 1938—Aragon.

Will iam McGregor, Dublin—Sept. , 1938— Ebro.

E a m o n n McGrotly, Dublin—Feb., 1937 Ja r -a m a .

Jack Nalty, Dublin—Sept.. 1938—Ebro. Michael Nolan, Dublin—Dec., 1936 Cor-

dova. R. O'Neill. Belfast—Feb., 1937—Jarama.

P. O'Sull ivan. Dublin—July. 1938 Ebro.

Tom Pa t Ion, Donegal—Dec., 1936—Madrid. M. P. Quiii],111. Waterlord Feb., 1937- J a l -

ama . Maurice Ryan, Ireland Aug., 1938—Ebro. J ames Straney. Belfast July 1938 - E b r o . Liam Tumilsoil, Bel fas t - Feb., 1937 Ja r -

a m a . David Walsh, Eullina Jan . . 1938 Teruel. T h o m a s Woods. Dublin Dec., 1936—Cor-

dova. T h o m a s O'Brien, Liverpool—Feb., 1937—

J a r a m a . F ranc i s O'Brien, London—Jan , 1938—Ter-

uel. Tony Fox, Dublin—Dec., 1936—Cordova. Leo Green, Dublin—Dec., 1938—Cordova.

Samuel Lee J . WoullTe J . Foley W. Henry W. Barry M. Russell T. Morris

J . O'Shea W. H. Fox P. Glacken P. O'Neill T. Morris J . Kelly J . Scolt

This is not a complete list. The Ir ish Di .liocrat" would be glacl to hear from any-one who can add to it. or can give t u r t h e r details about the place of birth date of d t a i h and where killed in those ease: v.here lull details are not given.

ALEC DIGGES WOUNDED Alec Digues, ex-Internat ionai Br leader

and former editor of "Ir ish Freedom.' has been wounded while fighting with the Royal Horse Guards in Holland. Badly injured in both legs, he is now recuperat ing in a South Wales hospital.

He would be glad to hea r from old f r iends again, and letters sent, c, o the "Irish Demo-cra t , " will be forwarded to him.

6 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT June, 1945

IG f by IAD. ra-nCTwasn«»< -i

SOCCER

) tin lirs:

onf /ie s now rather

:' tt.ti:

in

t; l'

:: io..

J e • l . K . C .

I'mill .

tnii

0c; nil i'ai

.k Uid.. I .v beaten !: tic beiil SI

Ll the id 10 SCOft-.

i.tniield -mii'.i;'i; f v nul round.

Ki'ilv ant n beat

lave bi

•nd chanipio r goals io i\ • live goals

and Cci tiiion were the .::<• goal lo nil. larger bin for

U'l'ii

C

trie! bv

(.Una;

•Imcr

ic

war.-. Gli'iitoran Tlie scores w ould Ceil.is. Bohemians' star goalkeeper. Linficld deflated Cork Utd. thrtv goals to nil m Bel-las'.. U.C.D. beai Cobh Ramblers lour goals to tv.o in the lmal oi the In;: rraediale Cup a; Dalymount Park. a. Malone. ol U.C.D.. scored three of his side's goals. F.A.I. Junior Cup Semi-Final: Hockvillo iCorki Air Corps O. F.A.I. Minor Cup Bolls. Minors 7. Ever-green 4.

Shamrock Rovers were prepared to pro-vide £3.000 towards the erection ol a sta-dium and the directors of the Club would also takes shares in the project if the F.A. of Ireland decided to proceed with the project. This was stated by Capt. T. Scully, then-delegate, at a recent Council meeting when he was presented with a medal as represen-tative of the F.A. Cup winners' club and another to mark his ten years' membership of the Council.

Bohemians' members will lose their exist-ing right of free admission to matches, un-der the direct control of the Association, at Dalymount Park if a recommendation by the Council Is adopted at the annual meet-ing of the Association.

There was a profit of £402 on the Associa-tion's working last season. A grant of £100 was made to the Junior Committee.

CROSS-COUNTRY Davy Baird, after a career of 30 years,

made his final appearance when he ran in the Donore Harriers three-mile Consolation Handicap. Placings were: 1 M. Haret (scri 19.15; 2 F. Cahill (1.10) 19.50; 3 M. Murphy (2.20) 20.20; 4 A. Porter, 20.25; 5 S. Banks (20.35), 6 D. Baird (20.40).

CYCLING Dublin filled the first four places in the

56 Kilo Junior Cycling Championship of Ireland. Placings were: 1 O'Reilly (St. Vets) lh. 35mins. M. O'Kellv, I.R.C./in the opening handicap of his Club, made the fast-est time in the members' trial handicap in the Dunlop Cup, 2hrs. 12mins; 2 J. Keogh.

i win and J. J.

50 k:\ meCK" ChTtnipiinishin His time was

lie lap prize, and ;li IVncliT. Club-J. Keogh 11.R.C.i I he 25 mile Cycle

• .-i .wr mas.-t-ci aari • if Ireland a. Enniscnrt ! 18.55. McCain; won ire! f»r second place y,

mates. M. O'Kelly and Acre first and second ii Road Championship over the Dundalk Dun-leer course. P. Cannon tCuchallan C.Cj v-as third.

H O C K E Y Minister Junior Cap Final Wanderers 1.

Limerick Nil. Muckross 8 goals. Railway Union Nil. Muckross thus won the Ladies' Senior Hockey League. Maids. 2. Wi.-klow Past 2. Y.M.C.A. retained Hie 1,piaster Senior Hockey League by defeating Three Rock Rovers by three goals to nil.

G R E Y H O U N D S Model Dasher, the champion record-

breaking Irish greyhound ol the English Midlands, for which £10.000 was paid, pulled up lame while contesting heal two of the Penny Baer Cup at Birmingham. His owner stated that he had either pulled a ligament or broken a bone. Darkie's Gift (Tanist-Maid Darkie) which raced at the Market Fields, Limerick, this season, and recently won a 525 yards at Harolds Cross Park in 30.28. has been sold for £1.000. He was owned by Michael McCarthy, of Abbev-feale. Astra A. Dublin bred bitch won the Easter Cup Final at Shelbourne Park, his time being the fastest ever for an Easter Cup Final. 29.86. Behatton (Manhattan Midnight—Beefy K). semi-finalist of Irish Oak's at Clonmel and a recent winner in 30.86 sees, at Shelbourne Park, has been sold by his owner, Mr. P. Redmond Gorey. to a cross-channel buyer for £650.

RUGBY Seven-a-side Tourney, played a t Cork —

Cork Constitution 22 pts., Dolphins 5 pts. Limerick Senior Cup Final—Garryowen 3 pts.. Army Nil. Hospital's Cup Semi-Finals —Mater 6 pts., Richmond 6 pts. Senior Cup Final—Old Belvedere 17 pts., Old Weslev 12 pts.

Bohemians and Belfast Celtic will play in the Final of the Inter-City Cup.

K J E A B E R S w i l l be in te res ted to k n o w that Con O ' K o i i y , unde-

feated heavyweight champ ion of the i N o r t h of England, was orda ined

pr iest ear ly last mon th and cele-b ra ted his first Mass in H u l l on Sun-day, M a y 13th last. He is the first profess ional boxer to become a Catho-lic pr iest . He was orda ined p r i va te l y in S h r e w s b u r y by Bishop M o r i a r i t y , the Bishop being too i l l to t r a v e l to Sale, Cheshire, where the o rd ina t i on was to have taken place.

Fr. O'Kelly had 64 professional fights in four years, and no k.o. recovered against him. He was oil his way for a British title, but decided io '.our America, where he had twenty-three fights, winning fourteen and once forced a draw with King Levinsky.

He retired from the ring for five years, but came back and again won the North of England Championship in 1937. In 1938 he gave up boxing and studied for the priest-hood and alter seven years Fr. Con O'Kclly celebrated his first Mass near the gymnas-ium where he first learned his boxing. / \NLY ten of the twenty-three contests " ' scheduled were fought at Co. Dublin Boxing Championships held in the Stadium.

Results were: 4st. 71bs.. Final, A. Reddv bt. P. Dunne tlmp.i 5st„ P. O'Connor (Bos-co) bt. N. Quinn (Drogheda). 6st., J. Duffy (P'Bello) bt. M. Harnett (Myrai. 8st. Final J. Farrell (Boscoi bt. J. Daly (C.B.S.). Sen. Juvenile 4st. 71bs. Final, P. Kiety (Imp.) D. McLeod (St. V'ctsi. 5st. 71bs.. A. Byrne iDrogheda) bt. H. Humpston (Myrai . Jun. Light: T. Herrv (Cor.) bt. J. O'Brien (Ter.) Novice Light: P. Fitzsimons (Phoenix' bt. R. McCabe (Mt. St.i K. McKernan (S' Mount) bt. J . McCarthy (Arbour Hill). Nov-ice Welter Semi-Final: D. Hughes (Afton) bi. T. O'Connor (Cor.)

Winners of the Killarney Tourney were Ptes. Grimes, P. Kane and Sweeney; J. Sav-age, O. Browne, D. Brasil (Des. B.C.), D. O'Brien, M. O'Shet, T. Buckley. M. Mangan, J. Cooper (St. Mary's B.C.)

In the Youth's Boxing Club in Feltham, four young Irish lads are doing very well. One, young Dan Phillips, has won his first five fights. I am told he is a grand lit tie scrapper, and I hope to see him in action very shortly. Another likely to go far is Pat Han'.on, who has just won his first fight.

AN : '0

INVITATION

SPORTSMEN ton at -t leh «

' Iclll ilia! ,«

' Ict'Iil .It if Doyl<

Il'.l'tl o i-Lome ill

t.,.l!t'"tl rcrl . 1 : 1 Sic M

i). • mitl so i u ,- hail a i.iii - ,

with '.jn't't • Jit-land. .,< .'imibl liiat in i.i-.

our ', In;' will he a mc • • illlt'i't si: :! should get it! ti.ii ai 191. High Street.

Londtm, N.Ifi.

lour "•to!.

Irish Gipsy Kings Death

r THOUSANDS of t inkers f rom all over Ireland trekked to Ballinaslce. Co.

Galway. to bury J o h n Ward, recognised by their f ra te rn i ty as the "King of the Gypsies."

John Ward, who for 15 years had ruled over the tinkers, was born in Ballinasloe. He died in the county home in Lotighrea

When lie was laid to rest in Ballinasloe over 10.000 members of the t inker tribe were present.

Around the open grave women in gaily-clad shawls and the t radi t ional red petti-coats, and men of wiry physique with multi-coloured neckerchiefs, broke into keening as the coffin was lowered into the ear th .

The next king will be elected in race week in Galway, when the clans fore-gather there. The election will be carried out by secret ballot, and a candidate must have a clear majority before he gets the honour.

His revenue is derived from the tribe, every one of whom have to pay him tri-bute. They must also supply him with the best caravan available and a team of four white horses.

Whatever camp he visits he must be en-tertained and he is never allowed to buy a drink, as every tinker thinks it an honour to treat him.

LARKIN AGAINST CONGRESS SPLIT

J A M E S D O Y L E

Answers t o

Questions by Harry Pollitt

1 -

What common interest in the post-war period will make National Unity possible? Is a peaceful transition Socialism possible?

Cork Wants Work, Not Charity

M '

to

Is planned Capitalism possible and under what conditions? These are some of the funda-mental questions answered by Harry Poliitt in his new record selling book. Secure a copy (post paid) by sending 1/Jd. right away.

• Send 2d. for copy of our new-illustrated 1945 Calalogue or 1 /-for six issues of our Monthly Catalogues.

Dept. I.D.I

CENTRAL BOOKS LIB 2/4 Parian Street — London, W.C.I

By JAMES S A V A G E (Secretary

UCH is said and written to-day about the goodness of certain

Cork Capitalists. They head the list of subscribers of St. Vincent de Paul. We hear their extraordinary good-ness preached from the pulpit, they even receive the blessings of our clergy.

Cork Labour Partvi

We lorget that this benevolence only be-gan lately when a certain glamorous Capi-talist decided to enter the political field. We were asked to vote for the person who would give us work. We would share the profits of his factory with the workers.

But work was only provided lor a few. New we are asked to wait outside the door of the St. Vincent de Paul in Turkey Street, or that magnificent building on St. George's Quay where we get the enormous sum of 'en and sixpence to feed and house us for a week.

This creature we are told takes the great-est pleasure in doling out charity. The same pleasure was felt, by the "soupcrs" during the famine ol '47.

Hut we are not living in the dark ages. The world has progressed since then; the world has rapidly changed during the past few years. People in other countries are awake to the humbug of charity.

The working-class must learn to'1-oar back , at such exploiters: "Keep your alms, ye canting robbers, button your pockets, and let the begging box pass on. Neither as loaas or alms will we take that which is our own. We spit upon the benevolence that robs us of a pound and flings back a pennv in char-ity."

Only beggars would rather have alms than honest earnings.

It is strange that no remedy can be sug-gested for poverty but charity, doles, Penny Dinners, outdoor relief, societies for this, that and the other. A Lady Bountiful was heard to boast of being on five committees for the relief of poverty.

This kind of thing is only hacking at the branches of the evil instead of striking at the root. The world will not get better by giving alms. It is like trying to cure a broken leg with a sticking plaster.

Charity creates a feeling of superiority on the one side and inferiority on the other. It holsters up Hie capitalist system. It is merely a clever device to keep the worker demoral-ised.

Capitalists get the profits but we get the crusts and crumbs!

There Is but one way to end this gross injustice; by a complete change In the social system. No man has any inherent right to live Oir the sweat and toil of his fellow man. Man's own labour is the only honest source whence not only his own physical, moral and intellectual wants must be supplied, but those also of Ills natural dependents, his wife and children. The worker must receive the whole product of his toil.

" T T is the responsibility of Irish Unions -L to give a lead to maintain the unity of

the Irish Trade Union Congress and to bring in unaffiliated unions. Differences in poilcy should have been discussed inside the pres-ent T.U.C. machinery and not by the Irish Council of Unions." So declared Mr. James Larkin, Jnr. . T.D., at a Labour Party lec-ture in Dublin.

Mr. Larkin added that there seemed to be no immediate solution to the present split. "There is going to be a split no matter what the issue may be. Even if the Irish Council changed its policy certain individuals would still carry out splitting tactics."

The Government are now preparing ground for carrying out post-war indus-trial policies. Provision is being made for industrial as well as agricultural exports on the basis of cheap labour costs. There-fore, virile, highly organised unions are not wanted. Presents tactics will therefore weaken the

T.U. machine so that it will carry out capi-talist policies.

The example of Northern Ireland and British Unions pressing for higher social standards will lose force under an 'isolation' policy. Certain Unions are prepared to co-operate with the Governmeht in that direc-tion to secure a monopoly ol> organisation m particular industries. . x

Mr. John Swift, who presided, said that the Irish Council will be backed by other reactionary forces who havq .corporate State or Portguest ideas.

Connolly Association Sports Club.

^ y A N T E D urgently: Fifteen F O O T -

B A L L JERSEYS. Can any Irish

Clubs oblige? Write J. Doyle, 191

High St., Stoke Newington, London,

N.16.

CORK REBUFFS O'BRIEN yyriLLIAM O'BRIEN'S bid to disrupt tile * ' Labour movement suffered another

setback recently when John Donovan and Jack Duggan, popular Southern trade union-ists. were elected vice-chairman and chair-man respectively of No. 2 section. Irish Transport and General Workers' Union.

John Donovan, whose brother was recently killed fighting the Nazis in Holland, is a well-known Cork anti-Fascist. He is em-ployed at the Savoy Cinema, and was re-cently selected as Labour candidate for tile Cork Corporation.

Con Connolly (Carpenters), T. O'Dono-giiue (A.E.U.), Frank O'Sullivan (Secretary, Cork Workers' Council i and George Duncan (N.U.R.) have also been selected as Labour candidates.

Mick O'Riorden, ex - International Brl-grader who was interned in the Curragh dur-ing the early part of the war, wll stand as a Socialist.

Thirteen branches of the I.T.G.W.U. have refused to accept O'Brien's splitting tactics, according to the "Irish People."

June, 1945 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT

Mr. De Valera pleads for understanding

1 1 JN(i to Mr. ('hurt-hill's broadcast. 11. |)c Yalera saitl:

contrive not to be guilty of adding ,) the flames of hatred and pas-

, !i promise to burn up whatever is war of decent human feelings in

. can be made lor Mr. Chur-v.'cmoni—however unworthy—in the

,'iboratice of his victory. No such ex-,i(l be found for me in this quieter

it-re. Churchill makes it clear that in cer-rcumstances he would have violated i.u'aliiy and that he would justify his II-, Britain's necessity.

CI: InmU'ti. a Ilk-' ju: •i' .-miliar ac.s oi ;

ll com cut ion ;>' can be framed elsewhere.

Ail credit him ilia: he succes:-fully re-sisted i lie temptation, which I have no doubt many times assailed him in his difficulties, and to whit ii I lively admit other leaders miulit have succumbed.

It may perhaps mark a fsesh beginning towards the realisation cf thai mutual com-prehension to which Mr. Churchill has re-ferred.

1 would like to put a hypothetical ques-tion—it is a question I have put to many Englishmen since the last war. Suppose

What do the Irish Trade Unions Want? LABOUR is floundering through

lack of consistency in policy. A great political issue is challenging an answer: Is Labour—meaning Labour Party, Trade Unions and a l l—to be national, international, or both ? Let us see what advice is given by Labour's enemies.

liit pseudo-Catholic "Standard" thunders: i Irish Trade Unionism to be controlled

:: ;ii within Ireland or from without?" To-..i it r with other viciously anti-Labour pro-. a-.aiida sheets, it pours vile abuse on the h-.-h delegates to the World T.U.C.

I'llt• o'Bricnite breakaways are its blue-, • eci boys. But we seem to remember this -, ::;. sheet deploring the fact tha t the Irish .:. Britain were joining British Trade Unions - In raise it would make them more inclined tii iitihl for decent wages when they got i.oillf.

But what is the dispute about? At pres-British as well as Irish unions operate

.:; Ireland. The Irish membership of the B r i t i s h Unions form part of the affiliated membership of the Irish T.U.C.

The British membership has no influence mi the decisions of this body. But a big t-i'oportion of the membership of these tituons is in the Six Counties. Either then, 'lie Irish workers in the Six Counties count

as Englishmen, or the "Standard" and the other reactionary periodicals, want to recog-nise and perpetuate the Border by depriving Labour on either side of il of the power of concerted action. And why? Because the policy of 32-County Labour does not suit them. It is international as well as national. The reactionaries would like it to be neither.

The furore of delegate-baiting and bogey-hunting means only one thing. Is Irish La-bour to be controlled by its own National membership, democratically affiliating with equal rights, and power lo speak as a Na-tional unit, to the organs of world Labour? Or is it to be controlled in the 26-Counties. by green anti-Labour forces, and possibly in the Six Counties by orange anti-Labour?

This is what its enemies want to bring it to. Is it to be controlled, in other words, by workers or by capitalists? This is the issue behind all the blather.

Connolly's answer would have been clear. "The cause of Labour is the cause of Ire-

land." But is Irish Labour to participate in the

present advance of Labour throughout the world? The prospects opened up by the Crimea Conference and the World T.U.C. are prospects for Ireland also. But only a united Labour movement can make them realities.

Desmond Greaves

They're Fighters for Freedom M o . 3 — B O B B O Y L E

{IKK many another good Irish worker in J Britain, Bob Doyle came to Socialism

h> way of the Republican Congress. During the 'thirties when F ine Gael

adopted the Blueshirt as its national em-bir-m. when Fianna Fail was strengthening capitalism, when the I.R.A. was driving up t'le blind alley of anti-British terroism. and the Labour Party was shutting its eyes to

the murder of trade ' ' unionists in Spain,

the Republican Con-gress was one of the few political bodies in Eire which could claim to inherit the social and national programme of Con-nolly. It was a politi-cal tragedy that the Congress could not adapt itself to rap-idly changing world conditions and broke up shortly a f t e r Hub Doyle

Frank Ryan went to Spain. ISut though rtsnv of its leaders, Frank

K>an Michael Price, Cora Hughes and Kit Coii".ay arc now dead, and others scattered or no longer active—I think of Pcadar ODonnell and George Gilmore—yet the (''in'itfts'played a ^eroic role in organising. ' (luta'.mg and developing Irish Republican workers in the principles of Socialism.

Many of the rank-and-file Congress mem-bers are now in Britain, taking an active I'ai'l m the Irish movement here. One of Hie most typical of these members, a fighter '•'•hi) has never lost heart or become cynical ' ' disillusioned, is Bob Doyle, who was a <!•••' e friend of Kit Conway and took part

i b him in the famous Dublin rent strikes. I in i d by unemployment to leave Dublin.

K''b was working in London when the Span-1 war broke out.

I realised at once," he sa\s. " tha t the ii-h! of the Spanish people against Fascism

- identical with the Dublin workers' fight it is: slum landlordism and imperialism."

Volunteers to Spain in those days were :: >" tied in by the French "Underground,"

:i:--i Bob's adventures began before he had ' ' " 1 set foot on the French coast. But. f ' 1 tiuially he linked up with other volun-

f in Paris and crossed Into Spain by " ' fif Carcassonne and the Pyrenees.

Ill March 1938, hp was ftghtlng with the 1 ' ''national Brigade on the Aragon Front.

After a series of desperate actions in which they were heavily outnumbered by the Re-publican armies, they were forced back, and an Italian mechanised column, led by Mussolini's Black Arrow regiment, broke through and surrounded a section of the British Battalion. Among the prisoners taken were Bob Doyle and Frank Ryan, cap-tured within a few yards of each other.

"Ii was ironic," says Bob, " that on the day I was captured, Lord Halifax said in the House of Commons that there was no proof of Italian intervention in Spain."

Out of the 700 men who had gone into battle that morning only 85 survived to answer the roll-call that evening.

Imprisoned in a Catholic Church, the sur-vivors were given no food for three days. II was during this period tha t Frank Ryan was taken out and sentenced to death. Later, they were removed to an old monastery near Burgos.

"For eleven months we lived under a reign of terror, writes Bob. "Floggings were frc-quen'. several prisoners disappeared with-out trace, and disease spread as a result of the lilthv conditions and bad food. German Gestapo agents visited the camp every day to interrogate the prisoners, but despite the terror, Frank Ryan organised secret lec-tures on Connolly and helped tremendously to keep up the morale and self-respect of the men. One day he was taken out by the Spanish police. Before the handcuffs were put on him lie turned towards us and gave the Red Front salute. That was the last we saw of him."

Exchanged for Italian prisoners in 1939. Bob returned to Ireland, where, however, he was unable to find work.

In 1940. he came to England lo join the Merchant Navy. A year later he volunteered for the Roval Navv. serving in an auxiliary cruiser at Gibraltar until his health, which had been undermined by bad food and ill-treatment in prison, broke down and he was discharged.

He now works in Central Books Ltd.. and Is a well-known member of the Connolly Association. He sells more "Irish Democrats" Ihan anvone else in the country. In the first fortnight of April, the West London Branch or the Connolly Association, or which he is chairman, sold more than 2.000 copies-an all-time record. F-C.

(Next Month—Albert Hall)

»i'-i'maiiv li.u! nun (lie war, bail invaded ami occupied I.ngland, and tb.it alter a long lapse til lime and main hitter struggles she was l.nallv brought to ac-quiesce in admitting England's right to freedom, and lot Kngland go hut not the whole of England, .til but, let us -at. tin-six southern counties. .These six southern counties, those com-

manding the entrance to the narrow seas. Germany, let us suppose had sinidcd out and insisted on holding herself with a view to weakening England as a whole, and main-taining the security of her own communica-tions through the Straits of Dover?

W O U L D H E ? Lei us suppose, further, tha t after all this

had happened. Germany was engaged in a great war in which she could show that she was on the side of the freedom of a number of small nations, would Mr. Churchill as an Englishman who believed tha t his own na-tion had as good a right lo freedom as any other, not freedom for a part merely, but freedom for the whole—would he, whilst Germany still maintained the partition of his country and occupied six counties of it. would he lead this partitioned England lo join with Germany in a crusade? I do not think Mr. Churchill would.

Would he think the people of partitioned England an object of shame if they stood neutral in such circumstances? I do not think Mr. Churchill would.

Mr. Churchill is proud of Britain's stand alone af ter France had fallen. Could he not find in his heart the generosity to acknow-ledge tha t there is a small nation that stood alone, not for one year or two, but for sev-eral hundred years against aggression, that could never be got to accept defeat and has never surrendered her soul?

Many a time there appeared little hope except tha t hope to which Mr. Churchill re-ferred—that by standing fast the time would come when, to quote his words, "The tyrant would make some ghastly mistake which would alter the whole balance of the struggle."

BETTER ENDING I sincerely trust, however, that il is not

thus our ultimate unity and freedom will be achieved. I have had a vision of a much nobler and better ending.

I regret that it is not to this nobler pur-pose tha t Mr. Churchill is lending his hand rather than by abusnig a people who have done him no wrong, trying to find in a crisis like the present an excuse for continuing the injustice of the mutilation of our coun-try.

Meanwhile, even as a partioned small na-tion, we shall continue unswervingly to work for the cause of true freedom and for peace and understanding between all nations.

HELD OVER / |WING to pressiue on space a number of

" contributions hau- bct-n held over. 'I:.r-:-e inciud. :

British Ltssuii- in;- i -j.Jj Farmers." bv Flat® Campbell.

"Gl't v ttt t C'o-i);!• :';. .(in lit : i mi Calhtjtics ami Conn,trio: t ij Mtalaei;: Bo-.le.

Frt'iv 'i .-. Duunti ti. bv B ib It)o\ ic. An Irish iradi- Union i..r Artist

Btinarci .McGinn. An Anal' i,s tile Jn-ii Uudr, t." i the

Iiidi tor. I 'he Players' Theatre." by R. M. Fot..

Book R'.'view-. edited by E. M. Boyle.

DO YOU WANT TO BECOME AN

ACTOR ? l F p H E Connolly Association is appealing lor -L Irish scripts and sketches for the Dra-matic Society.

In a report of the Society's activities, Mollie O'Lcary writes: "Some years ago Father Peppard. O.S.A., produced at Si. Augustine's Church. Fulham Palace Road, a series of one-act and three-act Irish plays, in which I was fortunate enough to take part. I always hoped that we could start the foundations of an Irish Theatre in Lon-don. Now. under the auspices of the Con-nolly Association, we ar# happily and ener-getically working toward that aim. Deirdre Halligan is producing T. C. Murray's "Au-tumn Fire" with Kathleen Bonner. Berna and Maura Young, Ted Mortelman and Jack Judge in the cast.

Several one-act plays are also being pro-duced. and we propose to present a concert party with songs, dances and recitations, at camps and hostels in which Irish workers are billeted.

So if you want an Irish show, write to the Connolly Association.

We wish to thank all those who have sub-i mitted scripts, which will be replied to in

due course. Anyone interested in the theatre, in act-

ing, producing, singing and dancing, is in-vited to attend our rehearsals which are held every Wednesday at 7.30 p.m.. in the Gari-baldi Cafe. Leystall Street, off Clerkenwell Road.

SOCIAL SECURITY MANY of the 250 delegates attend-

ing the World Trade Union Con-gress were present at a reception given by Dr. Bernard Griffin, Archbishop of Westminster, in the Throne Room of the Archbishop's House. Dr. Griffin, in his address, said that in plans for reconstrutcion the workers of all na-tions would demand social security and employment.

T h e Six County Premier pulls a fast o n e

/ I Til the blessing of Six County "Big Business" and the Black Hundreds of

the Orange Lodges, and facilitated by the out-of-date tactics of sections of National-ists, Sir Basil Broukc has taken time by the forelock to spring a General Election.

In doing so he pandered, like Churchill in Britain, to the most reactionary members of bis Party, and lie also counted on disunity in the Labour and progressive ranks.

Brooke sees the end of the Six Counties' wartime boom in employment and wages, and wants to cash in on this while there is still a false front of prosperity.

Things, however, are not quite so good as they appear. For one thing, the unem-ployed figures continue to mount. There are nearly 20,000 people registered, which is equivalent to a figure of 750,000 in Great Britain. The aircraft factories are threat-ened with a complete close-down, or al-most, to judge from Sir Stafford C'ripps' letter to the shop stewards. Redundancy is a word with a definitely ominous signifi-cance in the North. Unemployment has been held somewhat bv the transfer of sev-eral thousand workers to London for blitz repairs, and one hears that Eire workers are being discreetly rooted out by the can-cellation of residence permits. By export and expulsion of workers, the Northern Tory Government tries to cope with a inajar problem.

Sir Basil Brooke's speech on post-war con-ditions was designed apparently to prepare the people tor reduced living standards. Apart from a ralher anaemic championship of controls, the Premier appears to have only the vaguest ideas of posl-war develop-ment in the Six Counties. Obviously the linen, shipbuilding and agricultural indus-tries are to be faced .with vastly changed conditions in the Immediate future: but so far nothing in Ihc nature of a comprehen-sive plan has emerged from the inner rooms of Stormont.

FOLLY OF ABSTENTION Despite their internal dissension, the

Unionists are in a confident mood. And well they might be after their succession of

by-election victories in Carrick, Larne, and South Tyrone. The defeat of Councillor Leeburn, chairman of the N.I. Labour Party, was not unexpected in Tyrone; what is dis-turbing about it is that the forces of reac-tionary Unionism have received a strong supporter in the person of Mr. McCoy, a gentleman whose tenure as an R.M. in Bel-fast was not marked by leniency towards any strikers or Left-wing defendants who appeared before him.

South Tyrone is, of course, a rural con-stituency, and Labour has a very weak ma-chine indeed in these regions. There is a substantial Nationalist vote in the area, but it remained passive, presumably on direc-tives from above.

It is difficult indeed to understand the process of reasoning by which the Catholic and Nationalist leaders justify abstention in such circumstances. Abstention could once be described as futile in the North; now it is irresponsible and playing into the hands of the bitterest opponents of the com-mon people.

One feature of the by-elections worth not-ing was the absence of Progressive Unionist candidates. This group made a determined effort in the last General Election to break the hold of the Official Unionist Party In the Six Counties, but it had little success. Its last sortie was made in the South An-trim election for the Imperial House, when 111 a three-cornered contest Mr. Prior polled very poor'\ indeed. It would seem that neither the Progressive or Independent Unionists have am basis in the North out-side Belfast.

The IMay Day demonstration in the city was probably the broadest and most success-ful ever held. Chaired by a Communist, the platform represented all the major forces of Labour and (lie Trade I'nions. The Bel-fast Trades Council deserves credit for its initiative in the matter. It is an energetic and progressive body and at the moment it is busy trying to achieve some cohiwion be-tween the workers in town and country with regard to post-war reconstruction.

E.'M. BOYLE

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT June, 1945

FIVE REASONS why the Irish should

VOTE LABOUR • I UiOl K'v Policy for Britain means

more anil better paid work for all. im hid in*; the Irish in Britain. l o w policy i i.e.. Churchill and the Con M'r\a;ivc >1U' and

• will r e s u l t in t h e e x a c t o p p o -vou will be ; h e f i rs t t o no .

• 1. VBOl K'S friendly polic y towards Ire-land will increase employment at home by increasing the flow of raw materials to Irish industry. C h u r c h i l l ' s p o l i c y c u t d o w n m a t e r i a l s enormously and paid the lowest prices for the things he was forced to accept from Ireland during the war.

il LABOUR will operate the Beveridge IMan which means better pensions and health benefits. You are eligible for benefit. The Tories want to put the Plan in cold storage.

It LABOMt believes in taxing the rich to relieve the poor. You know what tax has been deducted from your pay while Churchill has been in power.

D LABOl R will work in harmony with their brother Parties in the Six and the 26-( ounties for the freedom, peace and pros-perity of all peoples.

V O T E L A B O U R !

FIGHTING FUND We earnestly ask you to support our Fund.

Last month was not as good as we had hoped so we tool; to you to send us all you can this month.

Total for April and May, £3 17s. Thanks to D. Bell. London, 12/-; P. Kenny, Rugby,

j 10/-; H. Bonnington, 6/-; J . U. Stewart 10'-; F.C. 5.-; M.H.. 2 -; Sgt. Hogan, B.L.A., 18 '-; Miss M'Naul. 10/6; J. J. Conrin, London, 2/6; M. Dillon. Surrey. 1 '-. Donations to Molly Hill. " Irish Democrat," Premier House, Southampton Row, London, W.C.I.

Labour bluntly refuses to be blackmailed

By ANNE KELLY BLACKPOOL.

r p i l i : largest and most united Conference * in British Labour's history has rejected

Mr. Churchill's electioneering blackmail; ac-cepted the challenge of an early election and will go all out to win a majority Labour Government on July 5.

With only two votes against, the 1.100 delegates who all ended the annual Labour Party Conference a t Blackpool, rejected the suggestion, backed by the threat of a July election, that Britain's aged Coalition Gov-ernment should continue till alter victory over Japan and that a referendum should be held on prolonging Parliament.

As an alternative to the cynical Tory at-tempt to snatch a party advantage by a rush jingo election on an out-of-date register

w h i c h will d i s f r a n c h i s e h u n d r e d s of t h o u -sands of lighting; men. transferrin! workers and evacuated householders, the Conference reiterated the case for an autumn election.

Labour's decision to "light and win" has firmly united tile three great wings of Bri-tain's progressive movement—the Labour Party, more than seven-milion strong Trade Unions, and the nine million Co-operators,

The demand for a united progressive elec-toral "truce" was defeated by only 95.000 votes out of a voting strength of nearly three millions. Despite this formal defeat, dele-gates are of the opinion that there will be a great degree of "unofficial" unity between all progressive parties during the electoral campaign in the many constituencies.

I t is also significant that although the leadership has given a pledge not to enter

any further coalition with the Tories, if they do not gain a decisive majority at the Election, the possibility of a coalition with the Liberals, Commonwealth. I.L.I*, and Communists is not ruled out.

Fighting speeches by Mr. Ernest Bevin (Minister of Labouri, Mr. Herbert Morrison (Home Secretary) and Mr. Aneurin Bevan were cheered to the echo. Mr. Ernest Bevin declared that internationally friendship be-tween Russia, the United States and Great Britain was vital to secure world peacc.

The United States was the example of free enterprise in the world. The Soviet Union had socialised its internal economy. Britain stood between the two with a tre-mendous possibility of changing in the fu-ture to the Socialist economy which was needed.

MORE PUBLICITY ABOUT HOSTEL CONDITIONS

WANTED VIWELFARE and billeting problems in Lon-

' ' don hostels were discussed at a con ferenee of building workers held in the Empress Rooms, Kensington, on April 28th.

Chairman of the Conference, at which over 200 delegates attended, was Mr. H. Weaver, Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Operatives.

Mr. Jack Judge, of the Connolly Associa-tion, was one of the thirteen members of the provisional committee elected, and among those who promised their support in educa-tional and cultural work were the Workers' Music Association and the London Council of Social Service.

Complaints were made about the insuffi-cient publicity given to hostel conditions. [N.B.—The "Irish Democrat" will be glad to

hear from readers about hostel conditions. Letters dealing with billeting problems, clothing ration difficulties, etc., are always welcome I.

Students Provoked the V.E. Day Riots in Dublin

By " B R I A N BORU" / \ N the afternoon of May 7th, about * 100 students assembled on the roof of Trinity College and hoisted the Union Jack, the French Tricolour, the Soviet flag, and the Irish Trico-lour.

They were all on one flagstaff with the Irish flag at the bottom. To make matters worse two students—said to be from Bel-fast—lowered the flags and then attempted to burn the Irish flag.

The crowd outside the College, which had grown to several thousands, tried to rush the College gates, but were stopped by the police and College officials. Prominent in

News about the other Elections

The man who should succeed as Irish President Hyde

By JOHN IRELAND Our Dublin Correspondent

"V7EITHER the speech of Mr. Churchill nor De Valera's reply can be said to

have helped Ireland's position. Mr. Chur-chill was undoubtedly Pianna Fail's best election agent, both for the Presidential and municipal elections.

The majority of the Irish people, hav-ing been taught by Pianna Pail leaders during the war years that thinking is dangerous, rallied around Mr. de Valera, as they have not done since his rejection of the U.S. Note on Axis diplomats in Dublin.

They did so without realising that in fact Mr. de Valera hardly said a single positive word in the whole of his state-ment of condemnation for Fascist aggres-sion and the regime of the concentration camps, which so professedly fervent a Christian might have been expected to utter.

Neither was there a word of sympathy for the small nations of the continent, which if Ireland has indeed a moral case against Britain, should have won the Irish spokesman's strongest sympathy.

The promise of material help for the starving peoples of the continent was made in a spirit of charitable condescension, comparing very badly with the spontane-ous comradeship of—for instance—the

British workers' support for the 1913 strikers of Dublin.

If Mr. Churchill wants to see democracy further strengthened in Europe, now that Nazism has been beaten in the field, he will have to think twice when making public utterances before saying things that can only have the effect of streng-thening the two most reactionary forces in present-day Ireland—FMana Fail Nation-alism and Northern Unionism.

For there is no doubt tha t these two forces gained more from Churchill 's "victory" oration t h a n the democratic forces desirous of a genuine Anglo-Irish unders tanding

DR. McCARTAN DESERVES SUPPORT f i ENERAL McEOIN is a director of v T "The Standard," former friend of blueshirt Fascism, and whole-hearted sup-porter of Pine Gael. S. T. O'Kelly, as Minister of Finance, has persistently bowed the knee to the Federation of Irish Manufacturers, and willingly cast the main burden of taxation on the poor.

No wonder, then, that the united front of Labour and Farmer Deputies to nomin-ate Dr. McCartan for the Presidency has cheered those democratic sections of Irish opinion anxious to find someone for whom to vote that would not represent the dominant reactionary classes in the country.

Press Freedom will help Labour

By DESMOND GREAVES

THE abolition of the Press censorship in Eire has met with universal approval.

Those who were trying to prove that Mr. deValera had destroyed democracy In Ire-land have received a rude shock. The de cision is the more welcome for its prompt and unsolicited execution. The moment the war was over in Europe and the dan-ger to neutrality passed away the ban was lifted

Many have chafed under the censorship. It h a s been emphasised that a people im-perfectly informed are bound to be slow to assess events, and may make wrong choices. i > * i, •• •,

The temptation to use special powers for party advantage is hand to resist and cre«ps in insidiously like a n Invisible eon-

. taglon. Even,if It ia .withstood, Still the

very operation of censorship bears on some harder than on others.

In this instance. Labour has been worst hit. Labour is essentially the most inter-national part of the nation. In any period when censorship limits inter-national contacts and renders all attempts to see across frontiers suspect, It is easy for unscrupulous politicians to manoeuvre Labour into a difficult position. The Irish censorship has undoubtedly helped the Labour splits by obscuring Issues vital to Labour. This earnest of good faith will strengthen the prestige of Fianna Fail, but It will also strengthen the hands of those who want to see quicker progress in Ire-land. They can now thrash out their common policy free from any embargoes.

They will be encouraged to call for new reforms, namely that certain other war-tints regulations.shall go,the Way of th? censorship, In pfrticular the Trade Union Act, and—dare we say It?—the literary censorship as well.

Dr. McCartan can hardly be said to have any policy at all. but at least he was closely associated with the Irish National Movement in its most democratic, pro-gressive and international days, and so deserves the support of anyone to whom Wolfe Tone means, not only the green Hag. but also the red, white, and blue of the French Revolution. Dr. McCartan was first Irish envoy to the Soviet Union.

LABOUR WANTS HOUSES FOR NEWLY-WEDS

r P H E Labour machine for the local elec-•L tions in Dublin is in much better work-

ing order than the various disrupters had hoped. Labour has 26 candidates in the field for the 45 seats, mostly young and vigorous, but with a good blend of experi-enced men and women, such as Coun. Miss Chevenix, of the Women Workers' Union, and James Larkin, Sen.

Heartened by the success of the May Day demonstration this year, and by the stand taken up by the T.U.C. against the dis-rupters of the Trade Union Movement—a stand that has rallied to the T.U.C. thou-sands of hitherto unaffiliated workers—the Dublin Labour Movement hopes once again, in spite of the unprecedented vigour of Fianna Fail's election campaign, to win big support for the municipal policy.

This includes the following demands: — (1) Representation of Dublin citizens on the Board of the Transport Company; <2> establishment of a municipal bank; <3> conversion of the municipal debt to lower interest rates; (4) use of the no longer needed emergency kitchens to supply hot meals to Dublin's schoolchildren; (5) pro-vision of community halls in each Dublin housing estate; <6> provision of special new cottages for newly-wed Dublin work-ing-class couples.

the crowd were students from the rival Na-tional University and some young men wear-ing the Fascist Ailtiri na hAiseirighe em-blem.

Squads of detectives were rushed to Col-lege Green and all flags were taken down and the students dispersed. Later in the day windows in the American Consulate and the British Representative's office were bro-ken. Twelve people were treated in Mercer's Hospital for injuries.

In a statement issued on the following day, the Provost and repraentatives of Stu-dent Societies apologisedSror the incidents, explaining that the flag-burning had been the action of a few irresponsible individuals.

* * *

I T ^ H E N the war in Europe ended, the * ' Irish in London were neither singing,

nor dancing. It was not that they did not share the general relief from the ending of the cruellest and bloodiest war in all his-tory, but their minds were occupied with the thought that Eire, though officially neu t ra l , had made sacrifices equal in proportion to those made by any Western participants. So many of the Irish in Britain visualised a scene at the Peace Conference when Ireland would present its claim to recognition and the right to participate in building the new world upon the ruins of the old.

In such thoughtful moments there came the news that there were riots in Dublin and baton charges in the vicinity of Trinity College. I hold no brief for the men and women who were rioting, but I have a con-tempt for the Trinity students.

At a time when many Dublin men and women were wearing Allied emblems, in re-membrance of those who died, these students prepared the stage for the revival of the Neo-Fascism of Ailtiri na hAiserighe.

The action of the Trinity students Is only made possible by the lack of unity within the ranks of the Irish working-class.

THE LITTLE BLACK ROSE rPHK«Little Black Rose shall be red at last; ' What made it black but the March wind

dry And the tear <>f the widow that fell on it

fast? It shall redden the hills when June is nigh. The Silk of the Kin* shall rest at last; What drove her forth but the dragonfly? In the roiden vale she shall feed full fast. With her milk jold horn and slow dark eye. The wounded wood-dove lies dead :at last! The pine Ion* bleed In*. It shall not die! This none is secret. Mine ear It pawed In a wind o'er the plains of Atlirury.

—Aubrey de' Vere.

U.S. AIR LINE PACT

r P H E text of an air transport agreement J - between U.S. air lines and the Eire

Government has been issued in Dublin. Authorised U.S. air lines are accorded

In "the territory of Ireland" rights of t ran-sit. non-traffic stop, and commercial entry for international traffic at. tl)e Shannon air-ports—Foynes and Rynanna—on routes from the U.S. to Ireland and countries be-yond via Intermediate points in both direc-tions.

All eastbound aircraft on these routes should stop at the Shannon airport, as the first European port of call, and all west-bound aircraft on the same routes should call at the port.

Irish airlines are accorded the same rights at specific airports in U.S. territory "in connection with such route or routes as may be determined at a later date." Fuel, lubricating oils, and spare parts im-

ported solely for use by aircraft covered by the agreement are to receive most-favoured-nation treatment regarding customs duties, inspecting fees. etc.

Rynanna is the combined land and mar-ine terminal base the Eire Government is constructing 8} miles farther up the Shan-non from Foynes, the flying-boat base used by British Overseas Airways and the U.S. lines.

Printed by Ripley Printing Society (T.U.), Ripley. Derbys.. and pt»bl|& the Editor, ~~ ' " " ton Row

Ltd. Ripley. Derbys.. and published by 5r, Pronier House. 130 SoU^hump-, London, W.C'-l. T