Politics in the Streets

The origins of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland

by Bob Purdie (1990)

Originally published by The Blackstaff Press,

PDF version included on CAlN with the permission of the author http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/crightslpurdiel NOTES

Where the title of a book, article or pamphlet is not given fully, the complete reference will be found in the bibliography. In some cases collections of papers in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland had not been fully catalogued when I consulted them and it has not been possible, therefore, to give a fuller reference than the general accession number.

ABBREVIATIONS HC Deb. Westminster House of Commons Debates (Hansard) NIHCD Northern Ireland House of Commons Debates PRONI Public Record Oflice of Northern Ireland UCD University College Archives Depamnent

CHAPTER I Spence told a journalist of how I Belfast Telegraph, 31 October 1962 'frightening' had been reports of 2 For this debate see NIH~52: an IRA plot in 1966. This referred 702-16~30 October 1962 to a ludicrous scare story of the 3 See Bew, Gibbon and Patterson, time about a planned 1916-style 1979, pp. 63-128, for a discussion takeover of the main Belfast post of Unionist 'populism'. office, combined with infiltration 4 Irish Weekly, 17 February 1962 by republicans of, among other 5 Ibid., 29 May 1965 bodies, the Protestant churches, 6 O'Neill, 1969, p. 41 the Salvation Army and the 7 Irish Weekly, 5 September 1964 Freemasons. The reports seem to 8 Rea, 1966, PP. 7-8 have been a highly coloured 9 Bailie, 1964, P. 15 interpretation of the rather more 10 McCafferty, Niall, 1966, p. 30 modest plans which the 11 Bleakley, 1964, p. 104 republicans did have, and which 12 Boulton, 1973, P. 53 will be outlined in Chapter 3. I 3 Smethwick was a parliamentary Since the Ministry of Home consti~encyin the English Affairs had copies of the relevant Midlands made (in)famous by the documents, suspicion about the victory of the Conservative source of the reports must fall on candidate in the 1964 general it; see Belfrage, 1988, p. 265, election, after what was widely for Spence's statement. interpreted as a racialist campaign. 15 Nelson, 1984, p. 72 14 However, members of the uVF 16 PRONI D 3342/A/3 may have been partly the victims 17 The Matthew Plan, or the Beet of political manipulation. Many Regional Survey and Phof 1963 years later, UVF leader Gusty was drawn up for the Brookeborough government by Provisional Sinn F6in after the Professor Sir Robert Matthew of republican split in 1970. the University of Edinburgh. It 10 McAllisier, 1977, pp. 13-15 established a 'stop-line' to limit 11 Quoted in Van Voris, 1975, p. I4 the growth of Belfast and 12 See Thayer, 1965, pp. 215-16 introduced the first comprehensive 13 Quoted in White, 1984, pp. 43-4 urban planning seen in Northern 14 Johnson, 1964, P. 3 Ireland. The Wilson Plan was 15 O'Brien, 1972, p. I41 commissioned by the O'Neill 16 McAllister, 1975, p. 358 government and was published in 17 Duffy, 'Cross Roads'. New 1965. Drawn up by Thomas Nation, July 1964, p. 11 Wilson, a distinguished economist 18 Duffy, 'A Reviving Proposal . . . of Northern Ireland origins, and Should the Northern Ireland Adam Smith, Professor of Political Parliament Have More Powers?', Economy at the University of New Ireland, March 1963 Glasgow, it introduced regional 19 Thayer, 1965, p. 216 planning and was designed to 20 White, 1984, pp. 53 and 56 encourage growth outside the 21 McKeown, Ciaran, 1984, p. 24 Belfast area, including the new 22 Ibid., p. 29 university and the new town of 23 Irish Weekly, 12 August 1967 Craigavon. 24 McKeown, Ciaran, 1984, pp. 30-1 18 The Lame gun-running took place 25 Irish Weekly, 4 March 1967 in February 1914, when Major 26 Harkness, 1983, p. 185 Fred Crawford, aboard the Clyde 27 See Elliott, 1973, pp. 93-4 Valb,landed 35,000 Mauser 28 Brett, 1963, p. 19 rifles and 2,500,000 rounds of 29 Nelson, 1984, PP. 46-7 ammunition obtained from 30 Long, 1963, P. 19 Germany to arm the UVF to resist 31 The Mater Hospital was a Home Rule for Ireland. The ' Catholic voluntary hospital on incident holds a place in Unionist Belfast's Crumlin Road which and loyalist mythology somewhat received no financial assistance parallel to that which the landing from the Government. of guns for the Irish Volunteers 32 Brett, 1978, p. 62 by Erskine Childers in July I914 33 PRONI D 302611 has for nationalists. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid. CHAPTER 2 36 Wright, 1973, P. 267 I For a discussion of the APL, see 37 Ibid., p. 268 Purdie, 1986. 38 Brett, 1978, p. I31 2 See Purdie, 1983 39 McAughtry, 1981 3 Irish Weekly, 28 April 1962 40 Gillespie, 1985, p. I I 4 Thayer, 1965, P. 204 41 Belfast Telegraph, 14 December 5 0 hA& et al., 1975, P. 3 1962 6 Bell, 1970, P. 341 42 McElro~,1964, P. 22 7 Rooney, 1984, p. 80 43 PRONI D 3342/A/7 8 Ibid., p. 81 44 PRONI D 3342/A/2 9 Not to be confused with the An 45 Gillespie, 1985, p. 26 Phoblacht published by 46 PRONI D 3342/A/2 premises in several constituencies could only use one extra vote in a I Ulster Yew Book 1963-5 2 Birrell et al., 1971, pp. 1254 constituency of their choice). 3 Rose, Richard, 1971, p. 294 Graduates of qm resident in 4 Whyte, 1983 rmd Brett, 1986 Northern Ireland could vote both 5 Irish Weekly, 14 November 1963 in their constituency of residence 6 See Tomlinson, 1980, pp. 128-9 and for the three Stormont MPS 7 Dungannon Obsewer, 21 elected to represent the university. September 1963 (Graduates entitled to a business 8 Ibid. vote could not use that ad the 9 Ibid., 18 May 1963 University vote.) 10 Ibid., 15 June 1963 c. For local government the 11 Ibid., 31 August 1963 franchise .was restricted to I2 Quoted in Van VoriS, 1975, p. 50 householders and their spouses 13 Feeney, 1976, PP. 4-5 who were on the Stormont I4 Quoted in Van VoriS, 1975, p. 50 register. This excluded tenants I5 Interview, 26 August 1981 and other adults living in only 16 Irish News, 18 January 1964 pan of a house. There were I7 Quoted in Van VoriS, 1975, p. 53 additional votes for businesses, 18 Interview, 26 August 1981 which could nominate up to six 19 CS] Campaign Newslener, no. 10, electors to use one extra vote 28 December 1969 each. 20 PRONI D 2993 21 At this time the franchise in R. J. Lawrence (1965, p. 26) Northern Ireland was different for found that more than a quarter of Westminster, Stormont and local the parliamentary electors had no government elections: local government vote. It should also be noted that the local a. For Westminster it was the government electoral boundaries same as in the rest of the United were drawn up in such a way as to Kingdom, that is, all adults who ensure greater representation for had reached the age of twenty-one those paying the greatest amount and whose names were on the in rates. This, for example, was register were entitled to vote, the reason given to two Quakers, except that there was a qualifying Denis Barritt and Charles Carter, period of three months' residence for the apparently anomalous in Northern Ireland. division of the wards in Derry, b. For Stormont it required when they investigated allegations electors to have been born in of discrimination (1962, pp. Northern Ireland or to have been 121-5). It is not easy, therefore, resident in the United Kingdom to decide exactly how far the for seven years (a provision mainly electoral laws discriminated intended to exclude citizens of the against Catholics. They were not Irish Republic). There were also the only ones to be disqualified additional votes for the occupiers from the local government of business premises in the franchise but they were constituency, with a value of at disproportionately affected by the least f 10 per annum (electors with ward boundaries which delivered into Unionist control some local 37 PROM D 302613 authorities which might otherwise 38 PROM D 302611 have been controlled by 39 Rose, Paul, 1981, p. 178 Nationalists. However, Unionist 40 PRONI D 302611 defences of the system have the 41 PROM D 302612 unmistakable ring of special 42 Rose, Paul, 1981, p. 194 pleading, and there seems to be 43 Ibid., p. 180 no common-sense reason to doubt 44 Ibid., pp. 197-8 that there was discrimination 45 PROM D 302611 against Catholics and that it was 46 Government of Ireland Act, 1969 deliberate. 47 Quoted in Van Voris, 1975, p. 53 22 Charles Brett, in a commentary on 48 Wallace, 1967, pp. 168-9 the Legal Aid and Advice Bill, 49 Mackintosh, 1968, p. 173 noted that one of the few 50 Wallace, 1967, p. 161 unanimous recommendations of 51 For this debate see HC Deb. the Steele Committee, which had 733:1296, 8 August 1966 been responsible for drawing up 52 Wilson, 1971, p. 270 its main proposals, had been the 53 O'Neill, 1972, p. 83 provision of a special form of legal 54 Brett, 1978, PP. 134-5 aid, without financial limit, for 55 Irish Weekly, 9 December 1967 cases involving matters of public 56 PROM D 302611 interest, brought before the Court 57 Ibad. of Appeal and the House of 58 At that time Gerald Kaufman was Lords. This had been ignored Harold Wilson's personal press when the legislation was drafted; officer. see Brett, 1964. 59 PRONI D 302612 23 Boyle, Hadden and Hillyard, 60 Ibid. 1975, P. 12 24 Quoted in van VO~~S,1975, p. 53 25 Rose, Richard, 1976, p. 251 26 Greaves, 1963, p. 518 I Irish Weekly, 22 September 1962 27 Interview given to Ken Pringle, 2 Johnston, 1966, p. I January 1984, and kindly made 3 Johnston, 1968, p. 30 available to the author 4 The Scarman Tribunal, presided 28 HC Deb. 736:225, 15 November over by Mr Justice (now Lord) 1966 Scarman, was an inquiry into the 29 Quoted in The Plain Truth, 2nd riots and shootings in the summer ed. of 1969. Its report was published 30 Irish NW, 3 October 1964 in April 1972. 31 Interview given to Ken Pringle, 5 Scarman Report, vol. 11, p. 48 January 1984 6 See NIHCD 70:IgI-4, 13 June 32 Itish Weekly, 4 August 1962 1968. Van Voris wrongly identifies 33 Ibid., 10 November 1962 this document as the one which 34 Civil Liberties, January I g48 was annexed to the Scarman 35 Connolly Association, Our Phto Report. For a description of the End Parrition, p. 9 incident referred to, which took 36 Introduction to WUPapers, PRONI place in Derry, see Chapter 5. D 30~611 7 Irish Universities Press, Northern Ireland Political Literature This would probably have (microfiche collection), fiche Q guaranteed Fianna Fdil a 8 Ibid. permanent Ddil majority and 9 Johnston, 1972, p. 17 opponents saw this as a civil I0 Ibid. liberties issue parallel to those 11 Anthony Coughlan has informed raised by the civil rights the author that this was, in fact, movement in the north. the Tuairisc document already 25 Sunday News, 13 October 1968 referred to, and that he was its 26 NIHCD 70:108+, 16 October 1968 author although he was not 27 Deny Journal, 10 December 1968 present at the Maghera meeting 28 Irish News, 7 October 1968; (letter, 12 August 1988). Goulding proved that he was 12 Interview, 6 April 1986 actually in Dublin at the time. 13 NICRA, 1978, p,. 20 Fred Heatley recalls that Goulding 14 Heatley, Fomt~ght,22 March had originally intended to take 1974, P- 11 part but that his car had broken I5 Hope, 1976, P. 33 down. 16 NICRA, 1978, p. 11 29 NIHCD 70:IOI4, 16 October 1968; 17 Irish News, 26 August 1968 in fact no members of the DHAC or 18 Irish Times, 26 August 1968 the Young Socialists were involved 19 Cameron Report, para. 35. The in NICRA at this time, nor was the Cameron Commission was a three- Connolly Association, which has man commission of inquixy, never been organised in Ireland. presided over by Lord Cameron, Craig meant the Connolly Society set up by Terence O'Neill in of Derry, which was a purely January 1969 to investigate the nominal body used by the left violence since 5 October 1968. Its republicans to get extra report was published in representation on the organising September 1969. committee for the march. Craig 20 Devlin, 1969, p. 92 had a habit of quoting politically 21 McCann, 1974, P. 37 inept police reports as if they were 22 Copy of undated letter written by matters of indisputable fact. Eamonn McCann and sent to 30 Riddell, 1970, p. 139 Michael Farrell before 5 October 31 Mac Stiofih, 1975, p. 108 1968. Permission to quote from 32 See Stewart, James, The Smcggle the letter kindly given by Eamonn in the North McCann. 33 NIHCD 7o:1008, 15 October 1968 23 Unless otherwise.stated, the 34 Momssey, 1983, p. 129 information given here about these 35 BBC Radio 4, 'Ireland: the Spark events, and the quotes, are taken that Lit the Flame', presented by from Fergus Pyle's superb report Mary Holland and broadcast on in of 7 October 28 February 1988. 1968, or from the Irish News 36 Wright, 1988, p. 165 report of the same date. 37 Bruce, 1986, p. 266 y At the time the Fianna Fdil government was proposing to abolish proportional representation for elections in the Irish Republic. 1 Nairn, 1967, p. 115 2 Robinson, 1970, pp. 217-18 34 This provoked the resignation of 3 Mmerty, Nell, 1979, P. 157 the ~ac'sfirst press officer, the 4 Irish Militmrt, April 1967 independent liberal Unionist and 5 Quoted in Van Voris, 1975, p. 38 department store owner, Major 6 ua~29d158(3) Campbell Austin. He could not 7 McGonagle was to become associate himself with what was, Northern Ireland's first technically, an illegal protest. ombudsman and later a member 35 Deny Journal, 22 October 1968 of the Irish Senate. 36 Ibid. 8 Deny Journal, 3 May 1968 9 Irish Militant, June 1968 10 Mitchel McLaughIin in the BBC Radio 4 programme, 'Ireland: the I Arthu, 1974, P. 23 Spark that Lit the Flame', 2 Vammry,1969170, p. 14 presented by Mary Holland and 3 Devlin, 1969, P. 74 broadcast on 28 February 1988. 4 Ibid. 11 McCann, 1974, p. 29 5 New Ireland, 1966, p. 7 12 It was on this occasion that links 6 McKeown, Ciaran, 1984, p. 20 were first established between 7 BeetTelegraph, 5 April 1967 McCann and the Derry republican 8 Irish Militant, April 1967 militants. He was living in 9 Quoted in Van Voris, 1975, pp. at the time and helped 60-1 them to organise their campaign. 10 It is a measure of his anonymity 13 Workers' Research Unit, 1978, p. that NICRA'S oficial history (NICRA, I 6 1978) published a photograph in 14 Deny Jouncal, 2 February 1962 which he was identified merely as 15 Ibid., 23 November 1962 a 'bespectacled megaphone 16 Ibid., 19 May 1967 carrier'. 17 Ibid., 19 November 1968. 11 Impact, Spring 1964 O'Leary was not a member of the I2 NIHCD 66: 1063,9 May 1967 CPNI, which had no members in I3 NIHCD 67:1794, I4 November Derry at this time. 1967 18 Ibid., 2 April 1968 14 NIHW 67:1796, 14 November 19 Ibid., 31 May 1968 1967 20 M-, 1974, P. 33 15 Belfact Telegraph, 6 November 21 Deny Jml, 5 July 1968 1967 22 M-, 1974, PP. 34-5 16 McKeown, Ciaran, 1984, p. 50 23 Ibid., p. 35 17 Heaney, 1968, p. 522 24 Den~3-l~ I9 July 1968 18 Devlin, 1969, pp. 1-1 25 Ibid., 23 July 1968 19 McKeown, Michael, 1986, p. 47 26 Ibid., ro September 1968 20 Cameron Report, para. 195 ' 27 Ibid., I November 1968 21 PRONI D 3297 28 McCann, 1974, P. 33 22 Irish Times, 10 October 1968 29 Ibid. 23 Irish News, 11 October-1968 30 Curran, 1986, p. 85 24 See Farrell (ed.), 1988, pp. 26-8 31 McCann, 1974, P. 32 and 90-3 32 Ibid. 25 PRONI D 3297 33 McClean, 1983, PP. 47-8 26 See Farrell (d.), 1988, pp. 124-5 27 Paul Arthur noted the confIicting 46 PROM D 3253 accounts of the origins of the 47 Ibid. name but accepted the statement 48 A London branch and later a of the PD printer, John D. Dublin branch were also set up. Murphy, that he had thought of These were composed mainly of the name when he had to put out northern exiles and concentrated a printed announcement (1974, p. on publishing information and 37). This version was supported statements on behalf of the PD. by Bernadette Devlin in her 49 PROM D 3297 autobiography (p. 102)~and in a 50 Comerford, 1982, p. 41n. slightly different form by Ciaran 5 I PRONI D 3297 McKeown (p. 47). 52 Comerford, 1982, p. 74 28 O'Neill, 1969, pp. 143-4 53 See Milotte, 1984, pp. 18~215 29 This account of the march is 54 NIHCD 70:1022, 16 October 1968 largely based on that in Egan and 55 I~hNews, 18 October 1968 McCormack, I*. 56 The name did not signify any 30 Irish News, 6 January 1969 affiliation with what has since 31 Faulkner, 1978, p. 50 become known as the 'Militant 32 Quoted in van VoriS, 1975, p. 90 Tendency'. Both the British 33 PRONI D 3253 Militant and the Irish Militant took 34 Devlin, 1969, p. 120 their names from the American 35 Ahur, 1974, P. 41 publication of the same name, the 36 FarreU, 1976, P. 249 oldest English-language Trotskyist 37 Interview, 4 July 1987 newspaper in the world, published 38 Five years later there was a in New York since 1928. macabre footnote to the events in 57 Lawless, 1966 Newry. The body of Kenneth 58 Irish News, 21 May 1966 Lennon, a Newry-born Luton car 59 Campu~,3 May 1966 worker, was found in a Surrey 60 Breitman, 1981, p. 16 ditch. He had been murdered by 61 The name was adopted from an the Provisional IRA after having American Trotskyist youth been exposed as an informer. A movement which was prominent police photograph submitted to in smdent radicalism and protests the Cameron Commission showed against American intervention in him attacking police barriers in Vietnam. Newry, raising the possibility that 62 Baxter, et al., 1969, p. 118 he may have been acting as an 63 Quoted in Van Voris, 1975, p. 61 agent provocateur; see Robertson, 64 Ibid., p. 81 1976, p. 18. 65 Ibid. 39 Cameron Report, para. I 18 66 Quinn, 1971, p. 18 40 Quoted in Van VO~~S,1975, pp. 67 'The PD of that time was strongly 9747 reminiscent of the 22 March 41 Arthur7 1974%P, 47 Movement'; Levy, '1972, p. 201 I. 42 Rumpf and Hepburn, 1977, p. 68 Gombin, 1970, p. 420 I93 69 He meant the Block W,the 43 Quoted in Anh~,1974, p. I I9 Red Mole was not published until 44 Irish Weekly, 8 March I* 1970. 45 PROM D 3297 70 Callaghan, 1984, P. 137 71 Ali, 1972, p. 229 Mlci Hayter, 76 Deny Journal, 8 November 1968 1971, P. 105 77 Ibid. 72 Interview, June 1988 78 Baxter et al., 1969 p. 6 73 Baxter et al., 1969, p. 4 79 Deny Journal, 29 November 1968 74 Ibid., P. 5 80 Irish Weekly, 5 July 1969 75 Ibid. 81 McGufh Papers