and arrests before the ceasefire were in the anti-Unionist areas. Just look at the lists of prisoners. The vast majority were and are anti-Unionists. This is exactly what the Loyalists have always been able to rely on-the strength of the British state to back up their own sectarian little statelet, so that whenever the croppies get too out of hand, too much for the B-Specials and their ilk, then they could be dealt with by more powerful forces. It is under the umbrella of the British army, and emboldened by the concessions they have forces out of the Rees and the Labour Government, that the Protestant para-military ples from our own history of where groups and gangs have developed.
The Young Militants, the Red Hand Commando and the countless other tiny sects of swaggering bully boys have wreaked their vengeance on the anti-Unionist population in ghetto areas that are literally filled from top to bottom with British troops. Amazingly, although not really surprisingly, Imperialism has created its own they are never caught. When the RUC and the British army arrived at the Divis Flats early last month after some 200 Loyalists had stormed the building, they shrugged their shoulders and complained that the mysterious attackers had run off before they got there. But this did not stop them laying into the crowd of anti-Unionists who had gathered as their homes were being attacked.
This is the army that mutinied before the First World War when its senior officers thought that the Liberals might grant Home Rule (not independence or the right to self-determination, just Home Rule!). This is the same army which General King said could have smashed the resistance if it had not been fouled up by the Provisional ceasefire on the one hand and Government policy on This is the army which has smashed into resistance movements in every corner of the globe and more recently has practiced counter-insurgency with policemen in London and smashed a strike in Glasgow. And this is the army which Stan Thorne, MP for Preston South thinks will stay in its barracks and come out just long enough to hit the Loyalists bigots on the head when they go on the rampage against a Bill of Rights designed to make things better for the Catholics. Lt Rost It is ideas such as these, whether advanced by Stan Thorne or the Morning Star, that we have to fight, because they will lead to the defeat of the anti-Unionist population and will severely set back the movement in Britain. We have to be clear that it is utopian to think that British imperialism will pass a law through its very own Parliament that will abolish itself in the North of Ireland. Not only is that utopian, it is farcical when the same people tell us that the army of that imperialism will preside over its own abolition in the northern part of Ireland. We have many examthe army stands, but the Chilean working class have an even bloodier éxample in Chile today.
Imperialism is not just another aspect of government policy, like incomes policy. It is not something that can be abolished through Parlia ment, like health service charges. Parliament to pass its own laws, to finance its own armed bodies of men, to preserve its own social, political, economic and cultural existence. includes its dominant relationship to The fight of the Irish workers and the British workers is against imperialism. You can't ask imperialism to have that fight for you. Imperialism artificially divided Ireland; imperialism fostered and encouraged sectarianism; and now imperialism will have to pay the price. On that Labour MP Jeff Rooker is right when he says that a Bill of Rights will not solve any of the problems, that there is no British solution, and that, as Joan Maynard says, there will be no solution until the northern statelet is completely dismantled.
It is for these reasons that delegates at the TOM conference who support the IMG will continue to fight as they have always done for the broadest possible united fronts to mobilise workers on the question of Ireland, but within those united fronts we will fight for: NO CONCESSIONS TO THE LOYALISTSTROOPS OUT NOW! BECAUSE BECAUSE working class.
BECAUSE Marian attacks.
BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE terests. This is the source of all Ireland's problems. The Six County statelet was artificially established to protect these interests. in pursuit of these interests, British troops have for the past six years terror ised and brutalised the nationalist minority in the Six Counties. Hundreds have been interned in concentration camps, thousands put behind bars, and still others shot down. The only peace that the troops can bring to Ireland is the peace of the graveyard.
BECAUSE the troops prop up a sectarian system which keeps Catholic workers as second class citizens. Protestant workers are won to the sectarian system by caste privileges granted through Loyalist control of the sectarian statelet in jobs, houses and welfare benefits. The rate of unemployment amongst Catho lics in Derry and parts of Belfast is over 20%. the propping up of the artificial Six County statelet by the troops only ser ves to reinforce the idea that Loyalist Protestant workers can best resolve their problems at the expense of the Catholic workers. The troops give confidence to the Loyalist workers that the most backward demands of the United Ulster Unionist Council (UUUC) for the restoration of all their privileges can be won. The presence of the troops perpetuates the divisions of the Irish in pursuit of their reactionary attempts to subdue the Catholic working class, the British army gives cover to the Loyalist terror gangs who openly boast of murdering Catholics. The British army does its best to smash up the attempts by the Catholics to defend themselves, leaving Catholic workers prey to sectIreland is a laboratory for the development of repressive techniques (counter insurgency methods, torture, 'riot' control, rubber bullets, gas, joint army-police actions). These techniques are being developed for use against the Brit ish working class itself. Joint army-police manoeuvres at Heathrow, the invasion of small towns by the army 'practising', and the intervention of troops in the Glasgow dustcart drivers' strike are small indications of what is in store for British workers based on the experience gained in Ireland. the toleration of this situation in the Six Counties by British workers makes them vulnerable to the attacks of the ruling class in this country. The Prevention of Terrorism Act introduced by Jenkins last year shows how police state laws can be introduced in this country for later use against British workers. As the strength of the trade unions prevents them from defeating the working class at the level of the economic struggle, the capitalist class will turn more and more to using issues like Ireland to split the labour movement and prepare the ground for future defeats. behind the cover of the troops, a reactionary Loyalist base is being beefed up for use as the springboard for an offensive against the British working class This is the meaning of the intervention of Powell in Irish politics. Airey Neave, Tory spokesman on Ireland, stated after the Loyalists' victory in the Convention elections that he supported their aims. He has already written to the ex-B-Specials Association commending the 'valuable role played by the gallant men of the Special Constabulary down the years. under the protection of the troops, the Loyalists are reorganising and rearming themselves. The Loyalists now have once more, under the Labour Government, their very own sectarian police force with the establishment of the extended special reserves of the RUC and the UDR this rearming and reorganising of the Loyalists is laying the basis for a mass Loyalist attack on the nationalist minority. The Ulster Co-ordinating Committee is a united body of the Craigs, the Paisleys and the Wests with the paramilitary gangs. British troops are preparing the way for a bloodbath and a civil war. Despite the continuation by the Provisionals of the truce, the Loyalist assassinations and pub bombings have continued unabated, and Army GOC Sir Frank King has protested against the release of Republican internees whilst doing nothing to curb the Loyalist terror gangs. a victory for the army will be a massive boost for the worst enemies of the working class in this country. The success of the struggle of the nationalist population so far in the Six Counties has divided the ruling class and preven ted them from single-mindedly concentrating their attention on defeating British workers. The defeat for the ruling class which the removal of British troops from Ireland would signify would be a big boost for workers' struggles in this country. The nationalist struggle in Ireland and the struggle to defend living standards in this country are inextricably intertwined.
red weekly 22 may 1975
----- pull-quotes -----
FIGHT IMPERIALISM