DOCSLIB.ORG

Intercontinental Press

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Intercontinental Press Intercontinental Press Africa Asia Europe Ocean/a the Americas Vol. 13, No. 7 CD1975 by Intercontinental Press February 24, 1975 Fighting in Cambodia Pentagon Doubles Airlift Operation to Pnompenh LON NOL; Are you ready to die for him? French Army Draftees Fight for Rights 'Irish Republican Socialist Party' Formed 'Officials' Split Over Stalinist Power Play t Troops Out of Ireland,' Say London Marchers Tim Wohlforth Workers League and the International Committee Out to Lick Inflation In This Issue Closing Date: February 17, 1975 Ford WINs Queen BRITAIN Ford WINs Queen 600 Protest Threat to Abortion Law President Ford's canipaign to Whip —by Phyllis Hamilton and Bridget Lux Inflation Now (WIN) never got off "Troops Out of Ireland," Say Marchers the ground in the United States. But Russell Foundation Under Attack Immigrant Worker Wins Victory it seems to have swept the Queen of —by Kevin Thomas England off her feet. The royalclothes- FRANCE Draftees Demand Rights—by F.L. Derry horse asked Parliament on February LOR Holds First Congress 12 to boost her living allowance by SINGAPORE Tan Wah Plow Victim of Frame-up Charges $1 million a year. —by Peter Conrick Inflation, according to the queen, IRELAND "Officials" Split Over Stalinist Power Play—by Gerry Foley has eaten into her annual$2.35 million MOZAMBIQUE Thousands Face Famine budget to such a degree that she can ITALY Reveal Truman Readied Troops In 1948 to no longer make ends meet. The so Block Electoral Victory of CP —by Dick FIdler lution? WIN, obviously. Dock Workers Win Partial Victory Prime Minister Harold Wilson told —by Sharad Jhaverl the House of Commons that the queen CAMBODIA Pentagon Doubles Airlift to Lon Nol needed the dough. In real terms, he —by Peter Green explained, to meet the queen's request BELGIUM Workers Combat Advancing Recession —by Marcel Smet meant no increase at all in her pay ARAB EAST Habash Scores Palestinian "MInlstate" Deal because it would only make up for URUGUAY Jurists Document Repression what inflation had taken away. DOCUMENTS The Workers League and the International Committee—by Tim Wohlforth The new leader of the Conservative Turkish Workers Fight for Own Unions party, Margaret Thatcher, drew cheers Protest by Draftees From the Antilles when she welcomed the queen's plea for The Appeal of the One Hundred help. The royal household, she said, In Defense of the Draguignan Defendants "is our most precious asset." Brazilian Censors' "Forbidden Topics" Jeremy Thorpe, leader of the Liberal The Struggle for Kurdish Autonomy party, spoke understandingly of the AROUND THE WORLD FROM OUR READERS queen's plight. "Inflation,"he said, "in BOOKS 265 Chronicle of Current Events evitably hits any head of state in what —by Marilyn Vogt ever system it is operated." DRAWINGS 256 Lon Nol; 260, George Habash; 267; Pyotr Left-wing members of the Labour Yakir; 269, Anatoly Marchenko; 276, Andres Perez—by Copain party responded to Wilson's message EN ESPANOL: with hoots, jeers, and catcalls. William 277 DIscurso de Trotsky en el Funeral de Joffe Hamilton, a Member of Parliament PERU 272 Explosion Popular Sacude Regimen from Scotland, went to such extremes VENEZUELA 275 Respuesta de la Liga Soclallsta a la as to say that he would propose leg Naclonallzaclon del HIerro 278 Presos Soclallstas islation to "nationalize the Queen." ARGENTINA That he would actually do anything that radical was doubted. It was just his way of talking. Buckingham Palace reported thatthe royal staff at the end of 1974 consisted of 463 hands. Among these are ladies Intercontinental Press, P.O. Box 1 16, Villoge Station, which may not necessarily coincide with those of Inter in waiting, butlers, grooms, stable New York, N.Y. 10014. continental Press. Insofar as if reflects editorial opinion, hands, cooks, footmen, private secre EDITOR: Joseph Hansen. unsigned material expresses the standpoint of revolu- CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Pierre Frank, Livio Maitan, fionory Marxism. taries, financial officers, and public Ernest Mandel, George Novack. PARIS OFFICE: Pierre Frank, 10 Impasse Guemenee, relations experts. EDITORIAL STAFF: Michael Baumann, Gerry Foley, 75004, Paris, France. Besides the $2.35 million pin money Ernest Harsch, Judy White. TO SUBSCRIBE: For one year send S15 to Interconti she receives from state funds, thequeen BUSINESS MANAGER: Rebo Hansen. nental Press, P.O. Box 116, Village Station, New York, ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER: Steven Warshell. N.Y. 10014. Write for rotes on first class and airmail. has a tax-free income from 52,000 COPY EDITOR: Mary Roche. Special rates available for subscriptions to coloniol acres of royal estates. In 1970, the TECHNICAL STAFF: Bill Burton, Jomes M. Morgan. ond semicoloniol countries. last time her income from this source Subscription correspondence should be addressed to was made public, the take was Published in New York eoch Monday except last in Intercontinental Press, P.O. Box 1 16, Village Station, $720,000. December ond first in Jonuory; not published in August. New York, N.Y. 10014. Because of the continuing dete Intercontinental Press specializes in political analysis rioration of the U.S. postal system, pleose allow five The size of the queen's fortune has and interpretation of events of porticulor interest to weeks for change of address. Include your old oddress never been made public. Estimates the labor, socialist, colonial independence. Black, and OS well OS your new address, and, if possible, on range from $120 million to $240 mil women's liberotion movements. address label from a recent issue. lion. □ Signed articles represent the views of the authors. Copyright © 1975 by Intercontinental Press Intercontinental Press Broad Protest Movement Started by a Handful French Army Draftees Demand Democratic Rights By F. L. Derry Paris democratic rights that are the mark of up affair is Mr. Alain Krivine. ," "If the army was not affected by military life in France. claimed the conservative daily Le Fi the events of 1968," Francis Cornu A broad and impressive movement garo. "His program for national de said in the January 7 Le Monde, "it in defense of the "200" stalled the gov fense can be summed up in these few was only a brief respite. The young ernment's retaliatory measures for words: The bourgeois army must be draftees of 1974 have lived the heri more than two months. It was only destroyed. The Draguignan defendants tage of 1968 in the high schools, at in November that the government felt were the first three mines planted by their places of work, and, having ob confident enough to arrest the three his organization to set off an explo tained the right to vote, i are full citi soldiers. The arrests touched off one sion in the ranks." zens. They no longer accept having of the broadest political defense efforts But the response of the soldiers them their rights and civil liberties tempo in recent French history. It was selves was somewhat more dramatic: rarily suspended, if only for twelve a movement that grew, at long last, Within days a "second Draguignan" months. In their view, military regula to include many locals of the CFDT,2 took place. On January 13, several tions and discipline are all the more the CGT,3 and the FEN.4 It received hundred French soldiers (the military intolerable since the principles and tra backing even from the PCF5 and PS.6 officials say 150; the Gomitd de De dition being pressed on them seem out The extent and seriousness of this de fense des Appel6s says more than 300) moded and irrelevant: Why is there fense were registered emphatically in stationed at Karlsruhe in Germany a need for military service? What kind the verdict: Taurus was acquitted and staged a similar demonstration, hold of defense? . Forced conscription Pelletier and Ravet received one-year ing a general assembly in the morning has been abolished in a number of sentences, mostly suspended, and they and then, joined by other soldiers, foreign countries, and its retention in have already been released. taking to the streets in a peaceful pro France has for a long time been the "The trial has demonstrated what a test for more than an hour before re object of discussion inside the mili farce the military courts are," was the turning to base. So far, no arrests tary high command." response of the Comity de Defense des have heen announced. Nearly 275,000 soldiers —half of Appel^s (Committee for the Defense The three central demands of the the French armed forces—are draft of Draftees). "They must be abolished, Karlsruhe action involved free trans ees, and the protest movement that along with the military's security portation to allow soldiers on leave has been spreading rapidly through branch." to visit their families in France, an their ranks has aroused fear among The January 10 Z,e Monde reported increase in the number of leaves grant both military officers and government the reaction of the Ligue Communiste ed, and inclusion of soldiers under officials. Neither the carrot nor the R^volutionnaire, the French Trotsky- provisions of the minimum-wage law. stick, neither appeasement nor repres ist organization that has helped spear Underlying the demands, however, sion, seem able to contain the growing head the defense campaign: "The de was a questioning by the young draft protest, which was recently focused on termination and courage shown by the ees of the French army's right to sta a military courtroom in Marseilles. soldiers of Draguignan and the un tion its troops outside of French bor On trial January 7 and 8 were three precedented mobilization of the entire ders. young draftees—26-year-old Robert workers movement have demonstrated "For several weeks now," Le Monde Pelletier, 21-year-old Alex Taurus, that it is possible to block the plans pointed out January 14, "the solidar and 20-year-old Serge Ravet.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Irish Responses to Fascist Italy, 1919–1932 by Mark Phelan
    Provided by the author(s) and NUI Galway in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite the published version when available. Title Irish responses to Fascist Italy, 1919-1932 Author(s) Phelan, Mark Publication Date 2013-01-07 Item record http://hdl.handle.net/10379/3401 Downloaded 2021-09-27T09:47:44Z Some rights reserved. For more information, please see the item record link above. Irish responses to Fascist Italy, 1919–1932 by Mark Phelan A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisor: Prof. Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh Department of History School of Humanities National University of Ireland, Galway December 2012 ABSTRACT This project assesses the impact of the first fascist power, its ethos and propaganda, on key constituencies of opinion in the Irish Free State. Accordingly, it explores the attitudes, views and concerns expressed by members of religious organisations; prominent journalists and academics; government officials/supporters and other members of the political class in Ireland, including republican and labour activists. By contextualising the Irish response to Fascist Italy within the wider patterns of cultural, political and ecclesiastical life in the Free State, the project provides original insights into the configuration of ideology and social forces in post-independence Ireland. Structurally, the thesis begins with a two-chapter account of conflicting confessional responses to Italian Fascism, followed by an analysis of diplomatic intercourse between Ireland and Italy. Next, the thesis examines some controversial policies pursued by Cumann na nGaedheal, and assesses their links to similar Fascist initiatives. The penultimate chapter focuses upon the remarkably ambiguous attitude to Mussolini’s Italy demonstrated by early Fianna Fáil, whilst the final section recounts the intensely hostile response of the Irish labour movement, both to the Italian regime, and indeed to Mussolini’s Irish apologists.
    [Show full text]
  • Miscellaneous Notes on Republicanism and Socialism in Cork City, 1954–69
    MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON REPUBLICANISM AND SOCIALISM IN CORK CITY, 1954–69 By Jim Lane Note: What follows deals almost entirely with internal divisions within Cork republicanism and is not meant as a comprehensive outline of republican and left-wing activities in the city during the period covered. Moreover, these notes were put together following specific queries from historical researchers and, hence, the focus at times is on matters that they raised. 1954 In 1954, at the age of 16 years, I joined the following branches of the Republican Movement: Sinn Féin, the Irish Republican Army and the Cork Volunteers’Pipe Band. The most immediate influence on my joining was the discovery that fellow Corkmen were being given the opportunity of engag- ing with British Forces in an effort to drive them out of occupied Ireland. This awareness developed when three Cork IRA volunteers were arrested in the North following a failed raid on a British mil- itary barracks; their arrest and imprisonment for 10 years was not a deterrent in any way. My think- ing on armed struggle at that time was informed by much reading on the events of the Tan and Civil Wars. I had been influenced also, a few years earlier, by the campaigning of the Anti-Partition League. Once in the IRA, our initial training was a three-month republican educational course, which was given by Tomas Óg MacCurtain, son of the Lord Mayor of Cork, Tomas MacCurtain, who was murdered by British forces at his home in 1920. This course was followed by arms and explosives training.
    [Show full text]
  • What Happened to the Workers' Socialist League?
    What Happened to the Workers’ Socialist League? By Tony Gard (as amended by Chris Edwards and others), September 1993 Note by Gerry D, October 2019: This is the only version I have of Tony Gard’s docu- ment, which contains the unauthorised amendments as explained in the rather tetchy note by Chris Edwards below. [Note by Chris Edwards (May 2002). War is the sternest possible test for any Trot- skyist organisation. While many British organisations failed this test in the case of the Malvinas/Falklands War (e.g. the Militant group with its “workers war” against Argen- tina position), the British proto-ITO comrades did attempt to defend a principled posi- tion against the bankrupt positions of the leadership of their own organisation, the British Workers Socialist League (WSL). This is an account of the tendency struggle over the Malvinas war and many other is- sues to do with British imperialism. This document was written with the stated purpose of being a “balance sheet” of the tendency struggle. It was somewhat ironic that, Tony G, the author of most of this document, and the person who had played the least part in the WSL tendency struggle during 1982-3, felt himself most qualified to sit in judge- ment on the efforts of those who had been centrally involved in the tendency struggle. This was despite his insistence that he did not wish to do so at the beginning of this ac- count (see below). In fact, one of the barely disguised purposes of this “balance sheet” was to rubbish and belittle the efforts of the comrades who had been centrally involved in the tendency struggle.
    [Show full text]
  • League of Socialist Workers
    A JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MARXISM VOLUME 13 NUMBER 2 AUTUMN 1986 Fourth EDITORIAL BOARD: David North, editor Peter Schwarz Chris Talbot Nick Beams International Keerthi Balasuriya Editorial 5 A Contribution to a Critique of G. Healy's "Studies in Dialectical Materialism" by David North October 7 - November 7, 1982 13 Letter from Cliff Slaughter to David North December, 1983 26 Letter from David North to Cliff Slaughter December 27, 1983 29 Letter from David North to Mike Banda January 23, 1984 34 Political Report by David North to the International Committee of the Fourth International February 11, 1984 39 Letter from Aileen Jennings to the Workers Revolutionary Party Political Committee June 30, 1985 47 Letter from Cliff Slaughter to Sections of the ICFI October 5, 1985 48 Joint Communique from the Greek and Spanish Sections of the ICFI October 21, 1985 49 Resolution of the International Committee of the Fourth International on the Crisis of the British Section October 25, 1985 50 Statement of the International Committee of the Fourth International on the Expulsion of G. Healy October 25, 1985 52 Special Congress Resolution of the Workers Revolutionary Party (Healyite) October 26, 1985 53 "Split Exposes Right-Wing Conspiracy Against Party" Statement by the Central Committee of the Workers Revolutionary Party (Healyite) October 30, 1985 54 "Morality and the Revolutionary Party" News Line article by Michael Banda November 2, 1985 55 Letter from the International Committee to the Central Committee of the Workers Internationalist League, Greek Section of the ICFI November 9, 1985 57 Letter from the Workers League Central Committee to the Workers Revolutionary Party Central Committee November 21, 1985 59 Letter from Cliff Slaughter to David North November 26, 1985 63 "Revolutionary Morality and the Split in the WRP" News Line Report on November 26 London Public Meeting November 29, 1985 70 Letter from Peter Schwarz to the Central Committee of the Workers Revolutionary Party December 2, 1985 73 "Nothing to hide..
    [Show full text]
  • Trotskyists Debate Ireland Workers’ Liberty Volume 3 No 45 October 2014 £1 Reason in Revolt Trotskyists Debate Ireland 1939, Mid-50S, 1969
    Trotskyists debate Ireland Workers’ Liberty Volume 3 No 45 October 2014 £1 www.workersliberty.org Reason in revolt Trotskyists debate Ireland 1939, mid-50s, 1969 1 Workers’ Liberty Trotskyists debate Ireland Introduction: freeing Marxism from pseudo-Marxist legacy By Sean Matgamna “Since my early days I have got, through Marx and Engels, Slavic peoples; the annihilation of Jews, gypsies, and god the greatest sympathy and esteem for the heroic struggle of knows who else. the Irish for their independence” — Leon Trotsky, letter to If nonetheless Irish nationalists, Irish “anti-imperialists”, Contents Nora Connolly, 6 June 1936 could ignore the especially depraved and demented charac - ter of England’s imperialist enemy, and wanted it to prevail In 1940, after the American Trotskyists split, the Shachtman on the calculation that Catholic Nationalist Ireland might group issued a ringing declaration in support of the idea of gain, that was nationalism (the nationalism of a very small 2. Introduction: freeing Marxism from a “Third Camp” — the camp of the politically independent part of the people of Europe), erected into absolute chauvin - revolutionary working class and of genuine national liberation ism taken to the level of political dementia. pseudo-Marxist legacy, by Sean Matgamna movements against imperialism. And, of course, the IRA leaders who entered into agree - “What does the Third Camp mean?”, it asked, and it ment with Hitler represented only a very small segment of 5. 1948: Irish Trotskyists call for a united replied: Irish opinion, even of generally anti-British Irish opinion. “It means Czech students fighting the Gestapo in the The presumption of the IRA, which literally saw itself as Ireland with autonomy for the Protestant streets of Prague and dying before Nazi rifles in the class - the legitimate government of Ireland, to pursue its own for - rooms, with revolutionary slogans on their lips.
    [Show full text]
  • Northern Ireland •
    No 47 February 1983 20p BRITAIN • Northern Ireland • - I Northern Ireland 1983 presents a grim picture. British imperialist terror stalks the streets, as the Royal Ulster Constabulary carries out a '?hoot Or! s~Z~-t:' ~1,~~cl?-: 1?~·.~~Qi:~n ??:Q~ !H~t P('-::~l~] ;.c~n a-c·t~ \"! sts. The Catholic ghettos are hellholes of despair and oppression; the Protestant working-class areas scarcely better off. Against a backdrop of social deprivation, 25 per cent official unemployment and army/police re­ ",~~«.;d pression, the interpenetrated Catholic and Protestant communities are Top: British troops terrorise Belfast. Bottom: Droppin well after INlA bombing. locked into sectarian antagonisms which only seem to harden by the month. The conflicting claims of the Irish Catholic and Ulster Protestant peoples, two distinct communities sharing and contesting the same terri­ tory, cannot be democratically resolved within the framework of capital­ ipm. Every day the British army remains, it simply exacerbates the op­ pression of the Catholic masses and deepens the communal divisions. It is Troops out now - an elementary duty for proletarian revolutionists to demand their im­ mediate, unconditional withdrawal. But the Republican programme of forcible reunification of the Thirty Two Counties would simply reverse the current terms of oppression between Protestant and Catholic. There can be no solution to social oppression and the conflicting national/ smash the RUC/UOR! communal ciaims in Northern Ireland other than through the perspective of proletarian revolution, forging class unity between Catholic and Protestant workers in struggle against the common enemy. The gelignite bomb planted by the Irish National Liberation Army in a crowded pub in Ballykelly early last December, which killed six Prot­ Not Green against Orange estant civilians and eleven British soldiers, served only to deepen the sectarian hatred.
    [Show full text]
  • Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15535-0 — Contesting Economic and Social Rights in Ireland Thomas Murray Index More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15535-0 — Contesting Economic and Social Rights in Ireland Thomas Murray Index More Information INDEX abortion, 121, 151, 171, 175, 179, 182, 183 Ballinrobe, Co., 78 Age of Revolutions, 25 Ballymun Tenants’ Association, 302 agrarian Bolshevism, 73, 108 banking cartel, Irish, 52, 96, 116, 117, 118, Airey v. Ireland (1979), 206 122, 126 Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education Bar Council, 61, 202, 203, 207 (1969), 170–1 Bar Library, 189 Alexandra College, 281 Bar of Ireland, 194 Algeria, 164 Barrington, Donal, 226, 283, 315 Amalgamated Transport and General Workers barristers, 59, 201–2 Union, 234, 314, 315–16, 317 Bartholomew, Paul, 279, 280, 288 American Committee for Relief in Ireland, Bartley, Patrick, 131 72, 85 Barton, Robert, 80 American Federation of Labour, 84 Beard, C., 17 Amnesty Ireland, 193 Belton, Paddy, 129 An Phoblacht (newspaper), 124 Bennett, Louie, 147 Anglo-Irish Economic War (1932–8), 117, Binchy, Daniel, 283 119–20, 150 Binchy, William, 287 Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921), 80, 87, 93, 116 Birmingham, Willie, 321 Anti H-Block campaign, 317 Blacam, M. de, 266 apartheid, 179 Blake v. Attorney General (1982), 211, 214, Aran Islands, The (Synge), 67 217–18, 222, 227, 276, 319, 320 Arbitration Board, 139–40, 232 Blueshirt Constitution, 114 arbitration courts, 49, 66 See also courts Blueshirts, 127 in 1880s, 77–8 Blythe, Ernest, 103 creation of, 73 Bolivia, 11, 347 replacement with Dail´ Courts, 79–80 Bolshevik Revolution, 30, 68 restructuring of, 106–7 boom-bust cycle of property speculation, 178 in West of Ireland, 106–7 Bourdieu, P., 1–47 Archdale, Betty, 142 Boyle, Hilary, 307 Argentina, 153 Brady, James, 284, 285 Army Comrades Association, 114, 127–8 Brady, Patrick, 306 Arrighi, G., 27 Brazil, 52, 153 Artisan Dwelling Company, 79 Brennan v.
    [Show full text]
  • Detlef Murphy Die Entwicklung Der Politischen Parteien in Irland
    Detlef Murphy Die Entwicklung der politischen Parteien in Irland Sozialwissenschaftliche Studien Schriftenreihe dar sozialwissenschaftlichen Institute der Universitat Hamburg Herausgegeben von M.-E. Hilger, J. Kob, W. Steffani Heft 19 Detlef Murphy Die Entwicklung der politischen Parteien in Irland LESKE VERLAG + BUDRICH GMBH, OPLADEN 1982 Die Entwicklung der politischen Parteien in Irland Nationalismus, Katholizismus und agrarischer Konservatismus als Determinanten der irischen Politik von 1823 bis 1977 DETLEF MURPHY LESKE VERLAG + BUDRICH GMBH, OPLADEN 1982 Meiner Mutter meinem Vater und Monika Cip-Kurztitelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek Murphy, Detl8f: Die Entwicklung der politischen Parteien in Irland: Nationalismus, Katholizismus u. agrar. Konv8rvatismus als Determinanten ir. Politik von 1823-1977 / Detlef Murphy. - Opladen: Leske und Budrich, 1982. (Sozialwissenschaftliche Studien; H. 19) ISBN 978-3-8100-0398-0 ISBN 978-3-322-93730-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-322-93730-8 NE GT (c) Leske Verlag + Budrich GmbH, Opladen 1982 Gesamtherstellung: Hain Druck GmbH, Meisenheim/Glan I N HAL T EINLEITUNG 14 A. THEORETISCH-METHODISCHE GRUNDLEGUNG 27 1. Die Republik Irland in der vergleichenden Parteienforschung: Der permanent abweichende Fall 27 2. Zum Forschungsstand: Ein Parteiensystem sui generis? 39 3. Zur BegrUndung des historisch-genetischen Ansatzes: Das Parteiensystem als Endprodukt des Kampfes urn nationale Souveranitat 52 4. Zum Phasenmodell 64 B. HISTORISCHE VERLAUFSANALYSE: IRISCHE PARTEIPOLITIK 1M 19. UND 20. JAHRHUNDERT 74 1. DIE HISTORISCHE AUSGANGSSITUATION: IRLAND BIS ZUR UNION VON 1800 74 1.1. Die Union von 1800 als Ausgangspunkt des modernen irischen Nationalismus 75 1.2. Das keltische Irland 76 1.3. Der Beginn der britischen Herrschaft in 1rland 77 1.4. Okonomische Ausbeutung und religiose Verfolgung 78 1.5.
    [Show full text]
  • Minor Parties in Irish Political Life, 1922-1989
    The Economic and Social Review, Vol. 21, No. 3, April, 1990, pp. 269-297 Minor Parties in Irish Political Life, 1922-1989 JOHN COAKLEY* University of Limerick Abstract: This article examines the role in Irish politics of parties other than the three "permanent" ones with a view to filling a recognised gap in political research. Minor parties are grouped into four loose categories on the basis of comparative studies of party systems: nationalist, agrarian, left-wing and right-wing parties. Following a profile over a 67-year period, the characteristics of minor parties are examined. The most important category in electoral terms, that of agrarian parties, consists mainly of parties that sought to mobilise the electorate on a new, alternative political issue. Nationalist and left-wing parties, by contrast, typically sought to challenge existing parties on traditional issues, alleging that the latter had deserted the causes they had originally claimed to serve. The right-wing category consists of parties which related in more diverse ways to the established party system: some sought to mobilise voters on alternative political issues, some sought to publicise a cause even if there was little prospect of electoral success (a type of motivation also to be found in the nationalist and left-wing categories) and some constituted essentially machinery of convenience for individuals. I INTRODUCTION he sudden entrance onto the Irish political stage of the Progressive Demo- A cratic Party in 1987 and its more recent role in altering the pattern of Irish government formation draw attention to the series of minor political groups which have appeared at crucial periods in the state's history and many of which have, at least temporarily, held a pivotal position.
    [Show full text]
  • Left Pamphlet Collection
    University of Sheffield Library. Special Collections and Archives Ref: Special Collection Title: Left Pamphlet Collection Scope: A collection of printed pamphlets relating to left-wing politics mainly in the 20th century Dates: 1900- Extent: over 1000 items Name of creator: University of Sheffield Library Administrative / biographical history: The collection consists of pamphlets relating to left-wing political, social and economic issues, mainly of the twentieth century. A great deal of such material exists from many sources but, as such publications are necessarily ephemeral in nature, and often produced in order to address a particular issue of the moment without any thought of their potential historical value (many are undated), they are frequently scarce, and holding them in the form of a special collection is a means of ensuring their preservation. The collection is ad hoc, and is not intended to be comprehensive. At the end of the twentieth century, which was a period of unprecedented conflict and political and economic change around the globe, it can be seen that (as with Fascism) while the more extreme totalitarian Socialist theories based on Marxist ideology have largely failed in practice, despite for many decades posing a revolutionary threat to Western liberal democracy, many of the reforms advocated by democratic Socialism have been to a degree achieved. For many decades this outcome was by no means assured, and the process by which it came about is a matter of historical significance which ephemeral publications can help to illustrate. The collection includes material issued from many different sources, both collective and individual, of widely divergent viewpoints and covering an extensive variety of topics.
    [Show full text]
  • THE MAKING of a PARTY? the International Socialists 1965-1 976
    THE MAKING OF A PARTY? The International Socialists 1965-1 976 Martin Shaw The history of organised marxist politics in Britain, for almost a century, is one of continuous marginality. The number of people involved in marxist parties and organisations of any description has never exceeded a few tens of thousands at any one time. The problem of creating a socialist organisation of real political weight, to the left of the Labour Party, might well seem insoluble. Many have concluded, indeed, that this is so; from the leadership of the Communist Party, with its desire for long-term merger with Labour, and the deep-entry trotskyists of Militant to the thousands of ex-Communists and revolutionary socialists who have joined the Labour Party as individuals. The overall record of failure should not blind us, however, to the real opportunities which have been lost due to the inadequacies of the marxist left itself. To give only the most important example, early British marxism was dominated by a sectarian propagandist tradition, which greatly militated against its achieving any decisive influence, either in the formative period of the modern labour movement, or in the great industrial upheavals just before, during and after the 1914-18 war. Nor should this record allow us to assume that the underlying features of British working-class politics, which have made for the unique dominance of Labourist reformism in the last three-quarters of a century, will never change. On the contrary, there are reasons for believing that they have already begun to be transformed. The 1945-51 period of Labour Government was, in fact, a watershed in working-class politics.
    [Show full text]
  • SH34 Text 1 Dec.Qxd
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Ulster University's Research Portal Identity and Self-Representation in Irish Communism The Connolly Column and the Spanish Civil War Emmet O’Connor ‘It is perhaps considered easier by some to fight fascism in Spain, than work in the exceptionally difficult conditions in the South of Ireland’. Comintern memorandum, 19371 The first thing to say about Irish communist self-representation is that, outside internal party journals and publications on the Spanish Civil War, it hardly exists. This might seem to be a reflection of the weakness of communism in Ireland. Certainly the conventional wisdom is that commu- nists were of no consequence in Irish history. The most acclaimed survey of the political history of twentieth century Ireland, Lee’s Ireland: 1912–1985, made just eight passing references to ‘communism’ in 687 pages, and all of them actually dealt with anti-communism.2 It is true that the communists were rarely very numerous, suffered chronic problems of organization, and found it difficult to sustain branches outside Dublin and Belfast. The first Communist Party of Ireland (CPI), launched in 1921 by James Connolly’s precocious son, Roddy, probably had about 50 to 100 active members over most of its short history, and was dissolved in 1924 in favour of Jim Larkin’s Irish Worker League. The League began with some 500 supporters, but Larkin used it as little more than a personal soapbox. Following Larkin’s break with the Communist International in 1929, Moscow sponsored the Revolutionary Workers’ Groups, preparatory to the foundation of the second CPI in 1933.
    [Show full text]