Irish Left Archive
@ila@leftarchive.ieDigital collection of political material from the Irish Left.
#Ireland #Politics #History #Activism #IrishLeftArchive #SnapshotsOfPoliticalAction
In June 1984, a visit by Ronald Reagan to Ireland was met with widespread protests, with a march on Shannon airport on his arrival, a large “ring around Reagan” protest in Dublin city centre, and the Women’s Peace Camp in the Phoenix Park.
This article from Labour left expresses disappointment at that party's failure to oppose the visit.
#Ireland #Politics #History #RonaldReagan #Labour #LabourLeft #IrishLeftArchive
![A scanned magazine article, reading:
Silence is violence
Nearly seven hundred delegates at the Labour Party Conference voted for a composite motion which called for a boycott of functions and engagements held in connection with President Reagan’s Irish visit. The international committee advocated a similar approach. However, it was defeated by the narrowest of margins.
Speakers from what may be termed the party’s ‘centre’ argued against a boycott. Senators O’Mahoney and Harte having condemned torture, mass murder,violations of international law, the attempts to overthrow a legitimate government (one that is supported by the Socialist International) and all criminal activities sponsored by the Reagan Administration, then turned around and said a boycott wouldn’t look good or was contrary to ‘protocol’. They of course were to later absolve their socialist conscience by personally boycotting the joint session but had helped block Labour taking effective action as a party. This position might be characterised as leading from behind. A majority of the score or more parliamentarians who boycotted Reagan’s Oireachtas speech were Labour Party representatives, yet because we did not lead from the front, a course advocated by the Left and one which would have brought attention to our internationalist philosophy, we failed to offer genuine, as opposed to token, solidarity with the oppressed in the Third World.
At Conference the leadership were given a lifeline in the form of a petition to be given to Reagan which replaced the boycott. Dick Spring we are told fulfilled his obligations in this regard although predictably this exercise did not receive any headlines or photographs nor was it meant to. Spring neither led from the front nor behind but rather played second fiddle to the host, Garret FitzGerald.
Given that nearly 50% of Party wanted a complete boycott and an overwhelming majority showed grave concern at Reagan’s policies one would have expected Spring to give public expression of this anger. Instead his contributions to this media event was laughing and joking with Nancy Reagan at the State Banquet while hundreds of party members marched together outside with thousands of others.
Once again the leadership proved incapable of giving expression to the concerns, aspirations and idealism of young people. Another opportunity missed.
[Image shows a number of people marching in Dublin with the foreground banner reading "Silence is violence". It is captioned: Protestors at anti-Reagan demo.]](https://posts.leftarchive.ie/attachments/thumbnails/ba63a53f49ddff34167cd5270867c19f1e6cf725e36f28d986abcf1156c78744/Labour_left--Reagan.jpeg)
In June 1984, a visit by Ronald Reagan to Ireland was met with widespread protests, with a march on Shannon airport on his arrival, a large “ring around Reagan” protest in Dublin city centre, and the Women’s Peace Camp in the Phoenix Park.
This article from Labour left expresses disappointment at that party's failure to oppose the visit.
#Ireland #Politics #History #RonaldReagan #Labour #LabourLeft #IrishLeftArchive
![A scanned magazine article, reading:
Silence is violence
Nearly seven hundred delegates at the Labour Party Conference voted for a composite motion which called for a boycott of functions and engagements held in connection with President Reagan’s Irish visit. The international committee advocated a similar approach. However, it was defeated by the narrowest of margins.
Speakers from what may be termed the party’s ‘centre’ argued against a boycott. Senators O’Mahoney and Harte having condemned torture, mass murder,violations of international law, the attempts to overthrow a legitimate government (one that is supported by the Socialist International) and all criminal activities sponsored by the Reagan Administration, then turned around and said a boycott wouldn’t look good or was contrary to ‘protocol’. They of course were to later absolve their socialist conscience by personally boycotting the joint session but had helped block Labour taking effective action as a party. This position might be characterised as leading from behind. A majority of the score or more parliamentarians who boycotted Reagan’s Oireachtas speech were Labour Party representatives, yet because we did not lead from the front, a course advocated by the Left and one which would have brought attention to our internationalist philosophy, we failed to offer genuine, as opposed to token, solidarity with the oppressed in the Third World.
At Conference the leadership were given a lifeline in the form of a petition to be given to Reagan which replaced the boycott. Dick Spring we are told fulfilled his obligations in this regard although predictably this exercise did not receive any headlines or photographs nor was it meant to. Spring neither led from the front nor behind but rather played second fiddle to the host, Garret FitzGerald.
Given that nearly 50% of Party wanted a complete boycott and an overwhelming majority showed grave concern at Reagan’s policies one would have expected Spring to give public expression of this anger. Instead his contributions to this media event was laughing and joking with Nancy Reagan at the State Banquet while hundreds of party members marched together outside with thousands of others.
Once again the leadership proved incapable of giving expression to the concerns, aspirations and idealism of young people. Another opportunity missed.
[Image shows a number of people marching in Dublin with the foreground banner reading "Silence is violence". It is captioned: Protestors at anti-Reagan demo.]](https://posts.leftarchive.ie/attachments/thumbnails/859e23f03ff046cae42e67d2092543fb79d63670bdcce4f00565b4e895167b19/Labour_left--Reagan.png)
From 1998, an article from the Workers' Solidarity Movement paper, Anarchist News, on anti-Traveller racism.
The issue is available on our website here: https://www.leftarchive.ie/document/2988/
#IrishTravellers #Racism #Politics #Ireland #WorkersSolidarityMovement #Anarchism #IrishLeftArchive
Anarchist News, No. 17 (1998) — Workers' Solidarity Movement
Irish Left Archive
"Welcome to Planet Bertie!"
The first issue of Resistance, from the Irish Socialist Network, on the actions of John Gormley as Minister in the Green Party's first coalition government.
https://www.leftarchive.ie/document/3785/
#Ireland #Politics #History #GreenParty #IrishSocialistNetwork #IrishLeftArchive
Resistance, No. 1 (2007) — Irish Socialist Network
Irish Left Archive
![Welcome to Planet Bertie!
"The biggest issue I have had to deal with in my first few days of office has been the M3 motorway. I spent all day Friday, right up to 11pm, Saturday morning and even parts of Sunday talking to archaeologists and legal people. I phoned the Attorney General at his home on Saturday. The official legal advice confirms that my hands are tied in this instance, despite what certain opposition parties are claiming." Green TD and Minister John Gormley, writing in his blog on Monday, 18 June.
Ah yes, as Homer Simpson famously said, if something's hard to do, it's not worth trying, despite what "certain" opposition parties might say. Expect more of the same from Minister Gormley. The Green Party, for example, is now fully backing the government's policy of co-location, the divisive neo-liberal plan to allow private health facilities on the grounds of public hospitals. As for Shannon… ah now, boys and girls, his hands are tied! Sure, 'tis only a war.
[Image of John Gormley, captioned: John Gormley of the Green Party stares into the abyss.]](https://posts.leftarchive.ie/attachments/thumbnails/1652d1e0462dbbf259f00cf9ce29065e485656f87057f53594627f791d5339c1/isn_greens.png)
Great to see that the very useful archive of The Worker, later Socialist Worker — the newspaper of the Socialist Workers’ Movement (SWM) and Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) — has been further expanded.
It now includes scans of the first volume of the paper from 1972–1977, when it ceased publication during the period in which the SWM joined the Socialist Labour Party (SLP); and the second volume, which ran from 1980–1984.
The site is working towards adding the remaining issues from the 1980s, which would make it a near-complete archive of the paper from 1972–2018.
swonline Publisher Publications - Issuu
issuu.com
"The Plight of the Un-Married Mother, by One of Them"
From 1970, an article in Irish Socialist, newspaper of the Communist Party of Ireland.
It outlines a first-hand account of the experience of pregnant women subjected to the abuses of "mother and baby homes" run, with state support, by the Catholic church.
![THE two articles on un-married mothers in this paper a short time ago prompted me to write about some of my experiences as an un-married mother. I come from a small town in the West.
When my parents found out I was pregnant they rushed me off to the parish priest, who immediately demanded I marry the fellow.
Neither I or my parents wanted this 50 then he said I was to go away to relations living away until he could fix me up in a home. So I went away and about a month later went into a home in Co. Tipperary. I did not have to pay any money as the County Council payed the normal grant which was sent straight to the nuns.
My parents drove me there one Sunday and I remember well the Reverend Mother saying “Do not worry, she will be a different girl when she gets out”. I did not guess at the time how long it would be until T “got out”. When my parents left I was shown my bed in a dormitory and was given the first of many brainwashing sessions (because I was crying). This consisted of telling me that I was just a slut and not worthy of anything decent and that I should be extremely thankful and grateful that this home had taken me in, this continued in many different ways the whole time I was there and I believed it, forgetting as the nuns seemed to that they were being amply paid by the County Council.
WORK
The next morning I was put to work. The home was without any paid help, all the work was done by the mothers and the mothers-to-be. Some were put in the kitchen, some in the laundry, some used to sweep and wash the floors and some, if they were trained, were put in the office to type letters and answer the phone.
I was put in the kitchen. We had to get breakfast, dinner, and supper for 100 people. I settled down to my new situation and prepared myself to put up the loneliness of being away from home. I was prepared to put up with it but I was determined to write to my parents and tell them just how different the nuns were when they left.
COULD NOT LEAVE
So I wrote my letter and asked where I could post it. I was told that I could not go out to the post box in the town nearby, in fact I could not leave the convent grounds. So I asked how was I to post it. I was told “Hand it in to the Reverend Mother and when someone went into town they would post it. I went and gave it to the Reverend Mother, ten minutes later she sent for me.
When I went into her office there was my letter on the table, opened and obviously read. Before I had a chance to protest she told me that I couldn’t send that letter and that I would have to write another one that showed the home in a better light. This I refused to do and then she told me that if I didn’t she would hold all the letters that were sent to me so I agreed to re-write it. When I returned with the second letter, she opened it and read it and then told me that it still wasn't good enough. In the end she stood over me and told me what to write. This letter was duly posted. When the reply came my parents said that they were glad that I was so happy and that my letter had put their minds at ease.
When I told one of the other girls about all this she told me that every one went through the same thing when they first came. She also told me that she had complained to her parents when they came to visit her. Her parents went to the Reverend Mother and she told them that all the new girls went through that stage and that it would be better if they did not visit their daughter until she got over it, she said she would send for them when she thought the time was ripe.
So they left thinking that their daughter was in understanding hands and they were not sent for until the girl had promised to be ‘good”. When I heard that I realised that [there] was no way out but to keep my mouth shut and try to make the best of it.](https://posts.leftarchive.ie/attachments/thumbnails/801788db8039d3713c48589efbd0c8487bdecda55bd7b56e41ffe70feb87addf/irish_socialist_unmarried_mother.jpeg)
in our January activist interview for the Irish Left Archive Podcast, we spoke to left activist, Vincent Doherty.
We discuss his politicisation growing up in Derry; his role in the Derry Republican movement and perspective on the Officials and the divisions which led to the formation of the IRSP; his work with the IMG and Troops Out Movement in England; joining Peoples' Democracy and his central role in the H-Blocks campaign during the 1981 hunger strikes; his move towards Sinn Féin and the influence of People’s Democracy; and his perspective on the contemporary left in Ireland.
https://www.leftarchive.ie/podcast/44-vincent-doherty-offical-sinn-fein-international-marxist/
#Ireland #Politics #Trotskyism #Republicanism #IrishLeftArchive #Podcast
Episode 44: Vincent Doherty: Offical Sinn Féin, International Marxist Group, Troops Out, People's Democracy, H-Block Committee, Sinn Féin — Irish Left Archive Podcast
Irish Left Archive
Irish Left Archive shared 2 years ago
@samvardy@mastodon.lolHi, call for contributions to a research project on the “Border-Busters” in Ireland.
We are looking for stories/photos/films/media referring to “Border Busters”/“Days of Action” during the Troubles in Ireland for a BA/Leverhulme funded research project.
Reply or DM for more info and/or please share in your networks if you can. Thanks!
#borderIreland #borderbusters #daysofaction
Published #OnThisDay 11th January 1995:
Northern Ireland Report, No. 21
Northern Ireland Report was published by an ad hoc group of individuals in the United States who, while close to Sinn Féin, were critical of it, and particularly so during the developing Peace Process. Their position would have been strongly left of centre. One aspect of their goal was to produce a publication which was different from the more conservative leaning publications issued in the US which were sympathetic to Irish republicanism.
https://www.leftarchive.ie/document/3290/
#OTD #Ireland #History #Politics #Republicanism #IrishLeftArchive
Northern Ireland Report, No. 21 (1995)
Irish Left Archive
New document:
Saor Éire: Draft Constitution and Rules, 1931.
Saor Éire was a left Republican and communist organisation founded by members of the IRA in 1931. Notable among its founders were Peadar O'Donnell, Frank Ryan and George Gilmore.
It was described as "an organisation of workers and working farmers", and brought together members of the Revolutionary Workers' Groups (RWG), which was chiefly Dublin-based, and the Irish Working Farmers' Congress (IWFC), which had been established by O;Donnell in 1930 and was associated with Krestintern, the Peasants International.
Saor Éire: Draft Constitution and Rules (1931) — Saor Éire [1931]
Irish Left Archive
"Bright Prospects for Council of Labour"
From 1967, an article from Labour ('Official Organ of the Labour Party'), on cooperation between the Labour party, Northern Ireland Labour Party and Republican Labour Party.
View Document: Labour, Vol. 1, Nos. 5-6 - Labour
Irish Left Archive
A cover illustration from The Bottom Dog of Liam Cosgrave, from August 1976.
"There is no repression or police brutality" ... "I must recall the Dáil. I need more ammunition."
The Bottom Dog, subtitled "The working class paper of North Munster", was a Limerick-based left publication in the 1970s.
This issue was published in the wake of a series of instances of Garda brutality, which are detailed in the cover story. Cosgrave's Dáil recall declared a national emergency and introduced the Emergency Powers Bill, which ultimately led to the resignation President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh who had referred the act to the Supreme Court.
From Irish Socialist, newspaper of the Communist Party of Ireland, in 1973:
"Béaloideas le Spailpín"
The article argues the derogatory use of spailpín arises from colonial English usage, and wage workers should see it as a noble term.
![Cé an ciall atá leis an bhfocal “spailpín”? Is é an brí atá leis ná, duine a bhíonn ag obair do fhostóir ar tuarastal, seachas bheith ag obair dó féin. Is obróir gach spailpín. Ach ní spailpín gach obróir. D'fhéadfadh le obróir bheith ag obair dó féin, mar shampla, feirmeoir, siopadóir, iascaire, &rl. Is obróiri iad siúd go léir. Ach an duine a thuileann tuarastal as bheith ag obair do fhostóir — duine eile, comhlucht gnó nó an stát — is spailpín é, nó í. Níl aon fhocal sa Saics-Bhéarla atá díreach oiriúnach chun “spailpín” d'aistriú. Mar sin, nuair a bhí na Sasanaigh agus na tiarnaí talún i réim sa tír seo, bhí orthu an focal féin do thógaint isteach sa Saics-Bhéarla gan aon athrú sa bhfuaim. “Spalpeen” an litriú a chuireadar air. Agus toisc go raibh drocmheas acu ar na spailpíní a bhí hiarálta acu, labhradar an focal “spailpín” le tarcuisne. Agus tá an tarcuisne sin ceangailte leis go fóill i measc muintear na h-Éireann agus fiú amháin lucht labhartha na Gaeilge. Tá an brí seo ar spalpeen i “The Oxford Universal Dictionary” : Spalpeen. Irish. 1780. [a. Ir. spailpín of unknown origin.] 1. A common workman or labourer; a farm worker or harvester. 2. A low or mean fellow; a scamp, a rascal 1815. 3. A youngster 1891. Ní doigh liom go bhfuil iomlán den cheart i gceachtar den trí bhri sin. Ach is léir go mba mhaith leis na Sasanaigh bheith ag feacaint síos a srónacha ar an spailpín, pé bhrí a bhaineadar as an bhfocal. Ní cóir dúinn-ne in Éirinn glacadh le sin, agus ar chor ar bith ní cóir dúinn bheith ag féachaint cuigh Sasana nó cuig an Oxford Dictionary chun ár dteanga féin a mhúineadh dúinn. Is focal uasal é “spailpín”. Agus focal uasal ab' ea é sar ar dhein na Sasanaigh agus a lucht comhoibríochta in Éirinn truailliú air. -Má theastaíonn uainn úsáid na Gaeilge do mhéadú agus do chur fé mheas, is deacair slí níos fearr d'fháil ná na focail breá Gaeilge a bhí ag ár sinsear do chur in usáid arís agus breis feidhm a bhaint astu. Is é ceann deis na príomh chuspóirí atá agus a bhí ag an nGasra Camanach i gcónaí ná, feabhas a chur ar chaighdeán maireachtála agus coinníolacha fhostaíochta na spailpíní (maraon le dreamanna eile). Agus chun é sin a dhéanamh, is riachtanach é go seasfaimís-ne spailpíní ar ár gcosa féin, go gcoimeádfaimís ár gcinn in áirde, agus go mbeadh meas againn ar nósanna, béasanna — agus teanga —ar sinsear. Ní ceart go mbeadh náire na eagla ar éinne a rá go h-oscailte : “Is spailpíní sinn agus is Camanaigh sin”.](https://posts.leftarchive.ie/attachments/thumbnails/90b991c5ed872cab4397f60b11b5c469cca58482b8878ada0373ed75d38ff647/irish-socialist-spailpin.jpeg)
From 1975, the Starry Plough, newspaper of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), on the execution of five members of ETA and FRAP under Franco's fascist dictatorship.
The article highlights Irish solidarity action and draws parallels with Irish Republicanism.
It also notes the potential for several more executions, though thankfully they didn't take place and Franco died two months later.
From 1981: "To Be Or N.A.T.O. Be?"
Rebel, from Revolutionary Struggle.
Rebel, No. 47 (1981) — Revolutionary Struggle
Irish Left Archive
We've moved to a new self-hosted account, so here's a new #introduction for us to pin :)
The Irish Left Archive is a digital collection of political material from Irish left parties, campaigns and activists. We post left wing political periodicals, posters and leaflets, as well as recording an interview podcast with activists.
Give us a follow if you're interested in left wing politics!
#Ireland #Politics #History #Activism #IrishLeftArchive #SnapshotsOfPoliticalAction
From the Committee for the Rights of Travellers in 1983:
Pavee, No. 3 -- a magazine produced by the Travellers' rights group during their campaign responding to anti-Traveller rallies and calling for better provision for Travellers and recognition of Traveller ethnicity.
Pavee, No. 3 (1983) — Committee for the Rights of Travellers
Irish Left Archive
The British Left on Ireland.
A collection of documents from British parties and groups on Ireland, from across Labour, communist, Trotskyist, Maoist, and other left traditions.
Document Collection: The British Left on Ireland
Irish Left Archive
Since we've posted our first podcast of 2023 this week, here's a round up of interviews we did in 2022.
We took a bit of a longer break this year, but still added interviews with some fascinating guests from different strands of the left.
Many thanks to all our guests who have given us their time to be on the podcast, and to everyone who has been listening! We have plenty more episodes to come, so we look forward to speaking to more guests this year, and hopefully widen the range of left activism and organisations already covered.
#IrishLeftArchive #Politics #Activism #History #Ireland #Podcast
Published #OnThisDay 4th January 1975:
"The Ceasefire"
Workers' Weekly, from the Workers' Association (British & Irish Communist Organisation) on the then recent IRA ceasefire.
Workers' Weekly, Vol. 2, No. 30 (1975) — The Workers' Association
Irish Left Archive