The Orange Order & sectarianism in Ireland The Orange Order - an enemy of ALL workers It is unfortunate, if perhaps somewhat inevitable, that the now annual battles around the ‘marching season’ fall along religious lines. The Orange parades are being used to test the supposed neutrality of the northern regime and the PSNI in particular. The losing side in this dangerous game however is likely to be the working class, Protestant and Catholic, as the confronta- tions and the sectarian attacks that occur around the Orange marches drive people further into ‘their own’ communities. The reality of the Orange Order is that it ecute on behalf of the victims of Orange is a counter-revolutionary institution set attacks. They also sent special missions up and maintained to target not just to the area to undermine the Orange Catholics but also ‘disloyal’ Protestants. Order’s influence. It’s formation and spread was encouraged Indeed the Orange Order probably played by the British state in the years leading a key part in ensuring the failure of the up to the 1798 rebellion precisely in or- 1798 rebellion. At the time General John der to drive a wedge between ordinary Knox, the architect of this policy de- Catholics and Protestants. The 12th of scribed the Orange Order as “the only July was picked as the key date to pro- barrier we have against the United Irish- vide an alternative attraction to the men”[2] after the failed rebellion he wrote marking of Bastille day and in itself to “the institution of the Orange Order was INSIDE: mark the sectarian massacre that led to of infinite use”[3] . The survival of the Or- the formation of the Orange Order. ange Order since, and in particular the • Loyalism and the The Orange Order was born in Armagh special place it was given in the sectar- Protestant working class in 1795 as part of an armed terror cam- ian make up of the northern state (every paign to deny full citizenship rights to single head of the 6 counties has also been • Time to stop beating the Catholics. This was in the context of a senior member of the Orange Order), struggles between landlords and tenants reflect its success in this role. Orange Drum in the area of which the Anglican Arch- The strategy was simple. In order to pre- bishop of Armagh said “the worst of this • Marching to nowhere vent Protestant workers identifying with is that it stands to unite Protestant and their Catholic neighbours the order of- Papist, and whenever that happens, good- • Stirring Up Sectarian fered an anti-Catholic society, led by the bye to the English interest in Ireland”. wealthy Protestants that offered all Prot- Hatred Specifically the penal laws forbade Catho- estants a place in its ranks, and the prom- lics from bearing arms, but radical (and ise of promotion and privilege. The an- •King Billy Revisited mostly Protestant) volunteer companies nual parades were a key part of this strat- in the 1780's had been recruiting and •The 1798 Rebellion and egy, they filled two roles. They allowed arming Catholics with the “the full sup- the working class Protestant members a the creation of the port of a radical section of Protestant po- day in the sun to mix with their ‘betters’ litical opinion”[1]. Orange Order and at the same time lord it over their The sectarian attacks that accompany Catholic neighbours. •When the Falls and the Orange marches today also go right back At the same time they exposed radical to its origins. Again in 1795 up to 7,000 Shankill fought together Protestant workers to accusations of be- Catholics were driven out of Armagh by ing ‘traitors’ for refusing to take part in Orange Order pogroms. But there was • Peace deal offers the events. Much of the imagery of one key difference with today, then many loyalism, the bonfires, the bunting and sectarian war or expelled Catholic families were sheltered the painted kerbstones provide an oppor- by Presbyterian United Irishmen in Bel- sectarian peace tunity to demand of every Protestant fast and later Antrim and Down, and the worker in a community ‘which side are • Neither Orange nor (mostly) Protestant leadership of the you on’. United Irishmen sent lawyers to pros- Green A PDF booklet from the Struggle site www.struggle.ws Right from the start the parades have described by William Reich of poor work- standing guard against communism”. been accompanied by violence as they ers/unemployed for fascism. Although Catholic workers have been and attempt to force their way through areas The Orange Order’s complex nature is continue to have a higher chance of be- where they are not wanted. The first pa- also shown by the events of 1881 when it ing unemployed than Protestant workers rades of 1796 saw one fatality, but in 1797 was possible for the Land league to hold for much of the North’s history, rates of 14 were killed during violence at an Or- a meeting in the local Orange hall at Protestant unemployment have still been ange parade in Stewartstown. In 1813 an Loughgall. Micheal Davitt told the crowd high. This gave the Orange order both a Orange parade through one of the first that the “landlords of Ireland are all of ‘carrot and stick’ to encourage Protestant areas of Belfast identified as ‘Catholic’ one religion - their God is mammon and workers to join. The Order was a place saw four more deaths. rack-rents, and evictions their only mo- where workers could meet employers, The town of Portadown has long been a rality, while the toilers of the fields, and formally or informally receive job of- hot bed of ‘contentious’ parades, banned whether Orangemen, Catholics, Presby- fers. On the other hand, particularly in marches took place there in 1825 and terians or Methodists are the victims”. rural areas, employers would be aware 1827. In 1835 the Portadown marches of who was a member and discriminate This danger of class unity saw the ruling claimed their first victim, Hugh Donnelly, in job applications against those who class and British conservatives rapidly a Catholic from Drumcree. Armagh Mag- were not. returning to the Order and the Grand istrate, William Hancock, (a Protestant), Orange Lodge of Ireland responded with Understanding the reactionary origins of said: a manifesto claiming that the Land the Orange Order is central is under- “For some time past the peaceable inhab- League was a conspiracy against prop- standing why the claims that the itants of the parish of Drumcree have been erty rights, Protestantism, civil and reli- marches represent ‘Protestant culture’ is insulted and outraged by large bodies of gious liberty and the British constitution. about on a par with claiming a Ku Klux Orangemen parading the highways, play- When the question was put this way the Klan march represents ‘white culture’. ing party tunes, firing shots, and using Orange Order fulfilled its role and went Indeed the very promotion of a separate the most opprobrious epithets they could on to provide the scab labour which at- ‘Protestant’ culture can only be seen as invent .... a body of Orangemen marched tempted to harvest Captain Boycott’s deeply reactionary in the context of the 6 through the town and proceeded to crops. counties. The term ‘Protestant’ culture is Drumcree church, passing by the Catho- never used to include the Protestant re- From this period on, with the growth of lic chapel though it was a considerable publicans of 1798 or 1934, for instance. the socialist movement, the Orange Or- distance out of their way.”[4] As such it’s real meaning can only be der’s warnings became extended to the ‘anti-Catholic’. In the relevant stability after the defeat idea of a conspiracy of “Popery”, “anar- of 1798 the British and local ruling class chy” and “communism”. These sort of Andrew Flood felt they no longer needed the Order and, warnings were repeated whenever peri- 1 The Defenders, p18, Deirdre Lindsay, in 1798; 200 as we have seen, went so far as to ban it ods of social radicalism saw Protestant years of resonance, Ed. Mary Cullen. and its marches. Its survival during these workers acting in their own interests as 2 The Tree of Liberty, Radicalism, Catholicism and years shows that the institution cannot it was precisely at these moments that the Construction of Irish Identity 1760 - 1830, Kevin simply be viewed as dependent on Brit- the danger of them linking up with Whelan, p119. ain or local Protestant rulers. It also fed Catholic workers threatened the unity of 3 Ibid., p120. off the historical legacy of sectarianism the Order. In 1932, when the Falls and 4 The figures for killing and quotes in this section and annually offered a chance for the ‘lit- Shankill rioted together against unem- come from the PFC report ‘For God and Ulster: an tle man’ to feel big. In this sense the psy- ployment, the Order warned “loyal sub- alternative guide to the Loyal Orders’ to be found on chological attraction of Orangism for poor jects of the King, the vital necessity of the internet at http://www.serve.com/pfc/loyal.html Protestants is similar to the attraction

Loyalism and the Protestant working class (i.e. Catholics) lie down. Initially Protes- tant privilege had to do with getting the best land. More recently it has been about Time to stop beating the Orange Drum access to jobs, houses, and a sense of su- THERE IS NOTHING in Irish politics about which more rubbish is spoken periority. That this ‘privilege’ is very mi- than the Protestant working class. Now that the loyalists have ceased their nor does not matter a lot. When you have murder campaign more attention is being paid to them. Not only are a lot of little, the difference between you and the mainstream politicians unsure what to make of loyalism, when they are not person with even less can assume an downright scared of it; but many on the ‘left’ are equally bamboozled. Tak- unreal importance. ing a serious look at reality shows up an upsetting fact: sectarian bigotry is The history of Protestant privilege in the still strongly ingrained. That is why the Orange Order, Apprentice Boys, North is not seriously denied by many OUP, DUP, UVF, UDA and all the other loyalist organisations can, between people anymore. Nor is it seriously de- them, claim the allegiance of the vast majority of northern Protestants. nied that this was official policy since the Loyalism is not primarily about loyalty divide the plain people and thereby con- formation of the northern state in 1921. to the British government or to the trol them. When the Orange Order was It was never a secret. Unionist prime Queen. It has its own interests. That is founded in 1795 it was to protect the ar- ministers couldn’t stop boasting about it. why Carson’s UVF could threaten rebel- istocracy from the revolutionary nation- “I have always said that I am an Orange- lion against Britain when Home Rule was alists of the United Irishmen and to di- man first, and a politician and a mem- discussed. That is why the UDA can talk vide working people on religious grounds. ber of this parliament afterwards....all I about breaking the link with Britain and ‘PROTESTANT PRIVILEGE’ boast is that we have a Protestant parlia- having an independent Ulster. Its function was to fool ordinary Protes- ment for a Protestant people” (Craigavon); Long before the partition of Ireland, land- tants into thinking that they had a com- “I recommend those people who are loyal- lords and industrialists of the north east mon cause with their ‘betters’. Its basis ists not to employ Roman Catholics.... I had been using Orangism as a way to was making the ‘Croppies’ or ‘Fenians’ want you to realise that you have got your Prime Minister behind you” values they are joining an alliance with against Catholics. These are the ones who (Brookeborough). Even the much lauded their bosses. They are saying that the have fought hard, and often at great risk, ‘liberal’ Terence O’Neill advertised for a religion they share with their employers against the bigots on their jobs and in “Protestant girl” to clean his house. is more important than the status of their unions. However they are in the worker they share with men and women minority. TERRORISM of another religion. The Orange Order This policy of anti-Catholic bigotry was GREEN NONSENSE has been the biggest body within which enforced by terror and murder. Some- Because of this most republicans write this alliance has been institutionalised. times it was carried out by official bodies off Protestants as indefinitely stuck in a (the RUC and the B Specials), sometimes This gives workers a sense of importance, swamp of bigotry and hatred. This is not by ‘unofficial’ murder gangs such as that a feeling that they are part of the ‘supe- only irrational, it also reinforces back- led by RUC District Inspector Nixon in rior’ group in society. It also gives them a ward looking Green nationalism. It the 1920s. The main players are the place near the front of the queue for what- should be obvious, especially to socialists Royal Irish Regiment (formerly the ever jobs may be going. It gives the rich and trade unionists, that working class UDR), along with the UDA, UVF and Red a sense of security that the workers will people have more in common than they Hand Commando. be marching alongside them rather than do separating them. against them. In 1924 Prime Minister Craig introduced Anyone seriously interested in rooting legislation to “indemnify all officers of the Orange sectarianism has always played out sectarian hatred and building work- Crown against all actions or legal pro- this role. It ties workers to the rich, and ing class unity must look at the times ceedings.... (in relation to) any act, mat- to the interests of the rich. At the same when people came together and the rea- ter or thing done during the course of the time it cuts off the possibility of those sons their unity was not sustained. present Troubles, if done in good faith, same workers linking up their Catholic In 1907 Protestant and Catholic dockers and done, or purported to be done in the counterparts. Again and again episodes and carters (transport workers) fought execution of their duty or for the defence of working class militancy were destroyed together in a great strike which closed of Northern Ireland”. In 1969 Terence by appeals from Orange bosses to Orange down much of Belfast. The mood this O’Neill granted an amnesty to the loyal- workers to abandon the class conflict and struggle generated even led to the police ist thugs (including off-duty RUC and B ‘defend Ulster’. coming out on strike. The leading organ- Specials) who attacked civil rights march- UNITY IN STRUGGLE iser was Jim Larkin, a man who was not ers at Burntollet Bridge. Very few RUC These episodes of working class unity did exactly a hero to loyalism! or RIR members, no matter how bloody not last long, but they did happen. They their deeds, ever saw the inside of a In 1919 40,000 engineering workers from showed it is possible. They did not hap- prison cell. jobs like the Harland & Wolff, Shorts and pen because of well meaning platitudes Mackies struck for a 48-hour week. While This is now accepted as an established from clergy or liberals. They happened most of the strikers were Protestant, the fact by practically everyone. What many in the course of working class struggle. majority on the strike committee were do not want to accept is that Protestant The only times when the sectarian barri- Catholic. Not only was the strike solid but privilege is still a reality in the North. ers were pushed aside, when large num- the strikers fought together against Brit- Yet the official British government fig- bers of working class Protestants turned ish soldiers brought in to scab. ures show that Catholic males are two away from Orangism, was when they and a half times more likely to be unem- FALLS & SHANKILL FIGHT were involved in struggle against ‘their’ ployed than Protestants. A study released TOGETHER bosses and ‘their’ government. When they October 1994 by Professor Bob Rowthorn In 1932 thousands of unemployed fought fight to better things for themselves and of Cambridge University found that 33% together for better conditions on the ‘out- their families they are forced to break of Catholics aged 25 to 55 - the impor- door relief’ projects. The unemployed of from their bosses and make common tant wage earning years - are unem- the Falls and the Shankill rioted together cause with other workers. ployed compared to 15% of Protestants. against the police. In December 1994 it was revealed that However when they fight only to better In 1944 25,000 shipyard workers became 60% of the long term unemployed were themselves as Protestants, they must ‘disloyal’ when they defied the wartime Catholics. While there is a very real in- turn their backs on other workers and anti-strike laws and struck for higher pay. crease in poverty among Protestants, it make common cause with their bosses. is still true that Catholics get an even In 1982 thousands of Catholic and Prot- There have always been many Protestant worse deal. estant nurses, ambulance drivers, clean- workers who have not been fooled by sec- ers, porters and other health workers Thus when loyalist workers talk about tarian hatemongering into turning holding on to what they have, there are talking about something concrete. It is not merely about ‘identity’ or ‘culture’. More free anarchist publications online And where they feel they have lost some- thing over the last twenty five years (like This pamphlet is a print out of a PDF file from the Struggle site. direct unionist control over the RUC/ There are dozens more PDF files at this site that anyone can print PSNI and unrestricted power in local out and distribute for free. To get instructions and download them councils to allocate jobs and houses to ‘loyal Protestants’), they want it back. go to http://struggle.ws/pdf.html. LOYALIST VALUES So let us face facts. Orange sectarianism is not without a material base, and it is not some sort of frightened reaction to militant republicanism. Unless we under- stand the basis for sectarianism we will not be able to uproot it. When Protestant workers accept loyalist stood beside each other on picket lines It is no surprise that workers who stood against cutbacks and for a pay rise. shoulder to shoulder a while ago are now viewing each other as enemies. They are In almost every year since the early 1980s not hearing anything that would suggest DIY publishing Catholic and Protestant struck together a different way of seeing things. Almost in the Health Boards, the DSS, the Hous- everyone tells them that their trade un- Download and print out ing Executive and other jobs against sec- ion unity has no political implications. anarchist publications from tarian murder threats. The only way to win Protestant workers http://struggle.ws/pdf.html As well as these well-known incidents away from the bigoted all-class alliance there have been hundreds of other any contact with Protestants, even when of loyalism is to build a movement which smaller examples, all of which show the they are fighting their own bosses. This has its base in day-to-day struggles and same thing - that Protestant workers has always been the case with republi- which also explains why it is in the in- have broken, at least temporarily, from canism. terest of all working class people to de- Orange bigotry and linked up with Catho- stroy the six county state. Alongside a Loyalism bases itself on handing out a lic workers to achieve better conditions fight against the 26 county state, a new few marginal privileges to Protestant for both. Ireland- a Workers Republic - becomes a workers. It is about who suffers slightly SNUFFING OUT SECTARIANISM realistic possibility. Anything less adds less poverty. All talk of a more ‘just’ re- There is no denying that these episodes to the painful division into Orange and distribution of poverty must be rejected. have been brief. But they demonstrate Green. Anarchists have no desire to take from that unity is possible. Struggles against someone who has little in order to give to A movement which fights only on eco- the bosses are the starting point from someone else who has even less. We won’t nomic issues can gather support from sig- which anarchists work to snuff out the be satisfied with anything less than the nificant numbers of Protestants but when fires of sectarian hatred. Only class poli- elimination of poverty. it comes into conflict with the Northern tics have ever successfully provided an state will rip itself asunder and disap- Our goal is a socialist Ireland, where the alternative to loyalism. pear. We need only look at how the North- freedom of the individual is respected and These episodes have been brief because ern Ireland Labour Party, which was a where the working class hold direct and unity on ‘bread & butter’ issues has never major force in the 1960s, completely van- complete control through their own coun- extended into unity on broader political ished in the 1970s when it could not cope cils. In the struggle for this loyalist work- issues. Whenever the ‘national question’ with the realities of the civil rights cam- ers can be won away from their bosses, was raised workers began to divide on paign and the later troubles. and only then will the cycle of sectarian- religious lines. And that is why the bosses ism be finally broken. AN ANARCHIST ANSWER always raised it. On the other hand a movement which Joe King opposes the sectarian state but does not First it was ‘Home Rule’ and then ‘the Based on the article originally published base itself on the day-to-day needs of border’. Each time Protestant workers in Workers Solidarity 44, 1995 took fright and retreated back into working class people will find it impossi- loyalism. Republicanism contributed to ble to break out of the confines of the this by insisting that there must be a Catholic community. It will fail to make united Ireland before class politics could take the stage. Workers unity on day-to- day issues holds no special importance for them. They either can’t see, or won’t see, that joining the Ireland of DeValera, Marching to nowhere Cosgrave or Bertie is not going to fire the average Protestant with enthusiasm! The trade unions are the only mass or- Stirring Up Sectarian Hatred ganisation of workers that spans the sec- tarian divide, that has not been broken IT IS A great tragedy that once again this July the working class population down on religious lines. However the of Belfast’s Lower Ormeau will be mobilising to try and stop the Orange leadership of the unions has argued hard Order from marching down their road. A tragedy because the Order should that to introduce the political issues of never get that far, it should be stopped by the working class population of imperialism, partition and repression can the Upper Ormeau! not be allowed as it will divide the move- Although Orange marches have been op- its agenda of ‘parity of esteem’ and pro- ment. This has meant that when divi- posed since they began, the recent wave vide a mechanism for highlighting the sions came to the fore these same lead- of nationalist opposition in Belfast dates problems with the RUC/PSNI, there is ers have had no answers, no way to com- from events in February 1992. On the also little doubt that the campaigns bat the divisiveness that has been part Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast five against the parades are genuinely popu- and parcel of the six county state since Catholics were murdered in a bookies lar. It is up to the residents to choose who its inception. shop by the UDA. That July, some Or- will act as their spokespersons in talks angemen while marching past the site of with the Orange Order. NOTHING TO SAY the gave five-fingered salutes. The However for anarchists, while we should Throughout the troubles the ICTU North- Portadown march through the Garvaghy oppose the Orange Orders parades where ern Ireland Committee has been opposed Road had provoked serious confronta- ever local people reject them (and our to anyone who has called for a struggle tions in 1972, 1975 and 1981. against the sectarian state. They say that ideal would be for ‘Protestant areas’ to is ‘divisive’. The result has been that the Much noise has come from loyalist quar- also oppose them), there are real prob- official trade union movement has noth- ters about the central involvement of cur- lems with the way these campaigns are ing to say when the likes of Paisley and rent and ex-Sinn Féin members in the proceeding. residents’ committees that oppose the company demand support for the status They have been caught up with Sinn march. While it is undoubtably true that quo. Fein’s need to put the RUC to the test the confrontations help Sinn Féin push and have tended to move towards a posi- tion of lobbying the British state to ban Orange marches (via the Parades Com- mission) and use its military to enforce these bans. Thus the Drumcree confron- tation of 1998 and the massive show of military force deployed by the British became a shop front for the role of the British state as an ‘honest broker’ be- tween two troublesome children. Far from exposing the role of the British state in Ireland and thus why it should withdraw, this appears to demonstrate the importance that it stays to ‘keep the peace’. This is the problem with putting Britain’s commitment to ‘parity of esteem’ to the test, it is all too easy a test for the British state to pass! Anarchists cannot call for state bans on marches in any guise. Bitter experience role as a body that is anti-left, against tants oppose the Orange Order, and even has shown that when the state is given a workers’ unity and responsible for test- in the six counties many radical and even weapon to ban reactionary marches it will ing/ disciplining radical Protestant work- liberal Protestants are probably quietly quite happily use this weapon against ers. This would serve two purposes, opposed to the Order. progressives ones too. Nowhere should firstly it would undermine the tendency this be clearer than in the six counties, towards mirror image sectarianism Right now however there is no opening the current round of conflicts saw its ori- within nationalist areas. More impor- for them to express this opposition. In the gins in the banning and re-routing of Civil tantly, it would open the door towards ideal situation we could hope for a broad Rights marches in 1968. ‘cross-community’ opposition to the Or- organisation ‘of all religions and none’ ange parades. committed to physically defending areas The central problem however is that the against Orange parades. Creating that residents’ groups are fighting on the sec- This final point will seem hopelessly uto- ideal situation starts now with the strug- tarian terrain chosen by the Orange Or- pian to many. However until significant gle to win hearts and minds to anti- sec- der. With its membership declining and numbers of Protestant workers begin to tarian working class politics. its influence on the state under threat, openly reject the Orange Order it will the Order needs an ‘anti-Protestant’ op- continue to succeed in its primary objec- Joe Black position to justify its continued existence. tive, as a counter revolutionary body. It Based on the article originally published in is probably the case already that an over- The residents’ groups are allowing them- Workers Soldiarity 57, Summer 1999 whelming majority of southern Protes- selves to be painted into this corner be- cause their opposition is almost com- pletely based around the anti- Catholic nature of the Orange Order. This makes it all too easy for the Orange Order to tell Protestant workers that the opposi- tion is really ‘anti-Protestant’ in nature. It also leaves unchallenged sectarians within the nationalist areas who are ac- tive in or around these groups. As anarchists we could just wish this is- sue would go away and so refuse to deal with its complexity. However to do this would also be to make ourselves irrel- evant for the two to three months that the ‘marching season’ dominates the northern political agenda. In general we should support the at- tempts to physically prevent the Orange Order marching through residential ar- Don’t hate the media become the media eas where they are not welcome. We should not involve ourselves in lobbying the British or Irish states, either directly International anarchist news or indirectly (through the Parades Com- mission), to ban marches. We should not http://www.ainfos.ca demand that the RUC or British army act to enforce whatever bans may exist. DIY Publishing - put up your own story, Politically our role around such cam- paigns should be to challenge the exclu- photos, audio or video and see others at sive focus on the Orange Order as an anti- http://www.indymedia.org Catholic body. We should highlight its King Billy Revisited It is often said that history is written by the victors. It is probably more true to say however that history is written by the rulers or by those with ambition to rule. I want to look at the events of a period of Irish history which has had a profound effect on the events of the three centuries since and which is the source of many of the sectar- ian myths which people - especially those in the Six Counties - are still suffering the consequences of. Over three hundred years ago two con- paign to free Holland from French domi- tenders for the English throne fought nation. James II of England had fled to their way around Ireland. Nationalist France and to the protection of Louis XIV historians extol the virtues of the “Patri- following an unsuccessful attempt to give otic” Irish forces and their French allies all chief state offices in England to Catho- which fought with King James II in de- lic aristocrats. An alliance composed of fence of Catholicism and Ireland. Union- wealthy landowners and merchants and ist politicians and historians on the other the Church of England - alarmed by hand praise the memory of King William James’ actions - invited his son-in-law, of Orange and his great victory at the the ruler of Holland - William of Orange Battle of the Boyne in defence of “Civil - to take over! estant religion against the Roman Catho- and Religious Liberty”. The truth how- On November 5th 1688, William landed lic Church. However the historical reali- ever is vastly different. in England and James found himself de- ties of the alliances formed in Europe at The Orange Parades on and around the serted by his army, navy, court function- the time explode this Orange-Unionist- twelfth of July have long been a bone of aries, the Law, the Church, the City and Protestant myth. In fact Catholic Spain serious contention and indeed a source even his own family. Fearing for his life, was one of William’s main allies in the of sectarian conflict in the Six Counties. he fled to France and the safety of the fight against the spread of French domi- Members of the Orange Order demand Court of Louis XIV. William and his wife nance. And - wait for it - the Pope - as their unalienable right to march the Mary were installed as joint monarchs of temporal monarch of Italy - was a fervent Queen’s highway, as their forefathers England after they had agreed a Bill of supporter of William’s claim to the Eng- before them have done, in commemora- Rights and an Act of Settlement (which lish throne and a military ally in the fight tion of the victory of King William of Or- limited the royal succession exclusively against Louis and France. When William ange at the battle of the Boyne - a vic- to Protestants, even marriage to a Catho- and his army arrived on English soil, he tory (as the Orangemen see it) for reli- lic being a disqualification). brought with him a Papal blessing and a gious and civil liberty. Nationalists, on banner proclaiming the support of Italy In order to understand the effects of all the other hand, see the Orange Parades and the Pope!! this on Ireland, we must first of all un- as nothing more than a coat-trailing ex- derstand what was going on in Europe The maintenance of Protestant England’s ercise designed to keep the Catholic popu- at the time. We must ask why did independence thus coincided with lation in their place and to pound forward William, a Dutchman, come to England, William’s interests which in turn coin- the message that Northern Ireland is an and why did James seek political asylum cided with the interest of Catholic Spain Orange state and that nationalists are in France? Louis XIV, autocrat of France and the Pope himself. For Ireland the and will always remain second class citi- and supreme representative of feudalism story was somewhat different. Whoever zens in that state. in Europe, was busily engaged at the time won the power struggle between William It is interesting in this context to look in spreading French dominance in the and James the mass of Irish people stood back at the events of just over 300 years western world. In the struggle to achieve to lose. The events in Ireland during ago and to analyse exactly what was in- control Louis required allies, and to up- James’ attempts to win back the English volved in the war between William of set the balance of power he needed Eng- monarchy proved that neither William Orange (King Billy as he is popularly land on his side. James’ flight to France and his allies, including the Pope, or known) and James II of England. This was thus mutually beneficial for both the James and his ally Louis XIV were in the war - popular mythology would have us French monarch and the deposed Eng- slightest bit interested in the welfare of believe - was a struggle to defend the lish monarch. James saw his alliance the Irish people. Protestant religion against the Roman with Louis as a means whereby he could In Ireland the accession of the Catholic Catholic Church. In reality, however, the re-establish his dominance at home James II to the throne of England had Williamite War - in Ireland - was effec- whereas Louis saw the potential of a re- excited great interest among the Catho- tively a war between two factions for installed James in terms of his own ef- lic landlord class. This loyalty to James mastery over the Irish people. And far forts to dominate Europe. was purely economic in base with many from being a war to defend Protestant- William of Orange, on the other hand, of them hoping that the Cromwellian set- ism against the Catholic Church, William was fighting for the independence of Hol- tlements would be revoked enabling them of Orange counted among his allies none land against Louis and as such was very to return to ownership of lands which other than the Pope of Rome - the head interested in having England on his side. they, or their ancestors had owned in pre- of the Roman Catholic Church!! The Pope Thus William’s view of the throne of Eng- Cromwell times (having, of course, robbed and King Billy were in fact political bud- land was its usefulness in defending the them from Irish people in a previous set- dies engaged in a bitter European power national independence of Holland. tlement). Over two-thirds of Ireland’s struggle in which Ireland’s people - both good arable land was at the time owned Catholic and Protestant - were mere sac- It is because William - a Protestant - came by less than one-sixth of the total popu- rificial pawns. to England at the invitation of the Whigs lation, the land-owning minority being to help them defeat James - a Catholic - England - and even more so Ireland - almost completely members of the Prot- that the Williamite war has since been were for William of Orange (the ruler of estant landlord class. Thus the Catholic described as a struggle to defend the Prot- Holland) simply useful tools in his cam- landlord class welcomed James, the Prot- estant landowners feared him and for the an army consisting of the riffraff of Eu- dirt in an effort to retain King James upon mass of Irish people whoever won noth- rope’s mercenaries. His army was made the throne. But it is equally beyond all ing was likely to change. up of Dutch, Danes, Swedes, Prussians question that the whole struggle was no and French Huguenots plus a few Eng- earthly concern of theirs; that King James In Ireland the struggle known as the lish, Scottish and Ulster regiments. was one of the most worthless representa- Williamite Wars was effectively a fight tives of a race that ever sat upon the between two factions of landlordism to William’s army was slightly superior in throne; that the “pious, glorious and im- decide which of them should have the numbers to James’ and indeed the most mortal” William was a mere adventurer right to exploit the Irish people. As James capable soldier on James’ side - Patrick fighting for his own hand, and his army Connolly was to write in Labour in Irish Sarsfield advised against entering bat- recruited from the impecunious swords- History in 1910 tle on the Boyne. James, however, over- men of Europe who cared as little for Prot- ruled the advice, was overrun and beat a “all the political struggles of the period estantism as they did for human life; and hasty retreat to Dublin where he imme- were built upon the material interests of that neither army had the slightest claim diately set sail for France, leaving the one set of usurpers who wished to retain, to be considered as a patriot army com- Irish people to suffer the consequences and another who wished to obtain, the bating for the freedom of the Irish race.” of his actions. mastery of those lands” “The war between William and James William’s victory at the Boyne was In March 1689, James II landed at (Connolly continues) offered a splendid greeted with enthusiasm in Rome. The Kinsale in Co. Cork with a small army opportunity to the subject people of Ire- Pope welcomed the victory of the “Euro- comprised of French and Irish troops to land to make a bid for freedom while the pean Alliance” forces and Pontifical High launch his bid to win back the English forces of their oppressors were rent in civil Mass was celebrated in thanksgiving for crown. James had in fact little or no in- war. The opportunity was cast aside, and the deliverance from the power of the terest in Ireland but hoped to use it as a the subject people took sides on behalf of Catholic Louis XIV and the Catholic landing post to get to Scotland. On 7th the opposing factions of their enemies. The James II. Meanwhile King Billy marched May James called together a parliament Catholic gentlemen and nobles who had on and on July 7th entered Dublin. In to meet in Dublin - a parliament which, the leadership of the people of Ireland at rapid succession Drogheda, Kilkenny and because it declared that the English par- the time were, one and all, men who pos- Waterford surrendered but William’s liament was incompetent to pass laws for sessed considerable property in the coun- troops were repulsed at Athlone. Ireland, was to become known as the “Pa- try, property to which they had, notwith- triot Parliament”. James’ army, under the command of standing their Catholicity, no more right Patrick Sarsfield had fallen back to de- to title than the merest Cromwellian or The extent of the parliament’s “patriot- fend the line of the River Shannon. Williamite adventurer. The lands they ism” soon became clear however. The William laid siege to the city of Limer- held were lands which in former times problems of the Irish people as a whole ick, and leaving his army under the com- belonged to the Irish people - in other were ignored completely as this parlia- mand of baron de Ginkel, King Billy left words, they were tribe-lands.” ment quickly set about the task of at- for England. The war between the two tempting to secure ownership of the lands Finally from Connolly: armies - both of whose “leaders” had fled of Ireland for the landlords assembled in the country was to continue until Octo- “The forces which battled beneath the parliament and to prevent further dis- ber 1691 with significant battles taking walls of Derry or Limerick were not the placement by other adventurers from place at Athlone, Aughrim Galway and, forces of England and Ireland but were England. The landlord class who control- of course, Limerick. the forces of two English political parties led the parliament used the occasion to fighting for the possession of the powers carve up Ireland for themselves, ignor- On October 13th 1691 the Articles of Ca- of government; and the leaders of the Irish ing the mass of people and leaving them pitulation - to become known as the Wild Geese on the battlefields of Europe landless. To quote Connolly again: Treaty of Limerick - were signed and King were not shedding their blood because of Billy’s victory was assured. Over 20,000 “The so-called Patriot Parliament was in their fidelity to Ireland, as our historians Irish men fled to France (becoming reality, like every other that sat in Dub- pretend to believe, but because they had known in history as the “Wild Geese”) and lin, merely a collection of land thieves and attached themselves to the defeated side entered the service of the King of France their lackeys; their patriotism consisted in English politics. This fact was fully il- where they formed the “Irish Brigade” in an effort to retain for themselves the lustrated by the action of the old Franco- and indeed it is reckoned that over the spoils of the native peasantry; the Eng- Irish at the time of the French Revolution. next fifty years 450,000 Irishmen died in lish influence against which they pro- They in a body volunteered into the Eng- the service of the King of France. tested was the influence of their fellow lish army to help put down the new thieves in England hungry for a share of Thus an inglorious period of Irish history French Republic, and as a result Europe the spoil” came to an end - a period around which witnessed the spectacle of the new repub- there have been more myths propagated lican Irish exiles fighting for the French William of Orange sent his first battal- than Hans Christian Andersen or any Revolution, and the sons of the old aris- ion of troops to Ireland on August 13th other great storyteller could have dreamt tocratic Irish exiles fighting under the 1689 and William himself arrived over on of. It is a period of Irish history which banner of England to put down that Revo- 14th June 1690. With an army of 36,000 the history books portray variously as a lution. It is time we learned to appreciate men he left Belfast on the march to Dub- war between Protestantism and Catholi- and value the truth upon such matters, lin. Despite the myth, the actual Battle cism or as one between the English King and to brush from our eyes the cobwebs of the Boyne was of little significance as Billy and Irish patriots supported by King woven across them by our ignorant or it did not end the war. Indeed we should James II and the French. For a true per- unscrupulous history-writing politicians.” also remember that, despite the fact that spective on these events, however, James he was supposedly fighting for England Based on a talk by Gregor Kerr given to Connolly’s Labour in Irish History ex- and Protestantism, the English parlia- a WSM Open Meeting 7/7/97. Such talks plodes the myths and I would in conclu- ment was extremely reluctant to give represent the authors opinion alone and sion like to quote extensively from it. William the army he needed to conquer are frequently deliberately provocative in Ireland saying that he had plenty of “It is unfortunately beyond all question order to start discussion. Dutchmen anyway. So when William did that the Irish Catholics shed their blood cross the Boyne on July 1st 1690, he had like water and wasted their wealth like unteer companies had been recruiting The 1798 Rebellion and the and arming Catholics. In the 1780's a Protestant and loyalist force started dawn raids on Catholic homes, search- ing for arms. These were know as the creation of the Orange Order ‘Peep-O-Day boys’. In 1795 one such raid at ‘The Diamond’ near Dunmurry saw The foundation of the Belfast and Dublin societies of United Irishmen took many Catholics killed. It was in the af- place in the Autumn of 1791. This initially reformist organisation demanded termath of this clash that the Orange democratic reforms including Catholic emancipation. The United Irishmen’s Order was formed. journey to revolutionary separatism was only completed in June 1795. From this time on their program was for a revolution that would break the con- It was in the interests of both the Irish nection with Britain and usher in democratic reform. landlord class and the British govern- In December of 1796 the United Irishmen religious discrimination known as the ment to promote sectarianism. As the came the nearest they would to victory Penal Laws. Anglican Archbishop of Armagh pointed when 15,000 French troops arrived off out of the land struggle in the 1780's “The The penal laws were designed to draw a Bantry Bay. Only the bad weather and worst of this is that it stands to unite Prot- religious barrier between the landlord poor seamanship of the Jacobean sailors estant and Papist, and whenever that class (which would be restricted to An- prevented the landing. After Bantry Bay happens, good-bye to the English interest glicans) and the Catholic / Presbyterian Irish society was bitterly polarised as loy- in Ireland”.[22] It would be an oversim- peasantry. Catholic landlords could re- alists flocked to join the British army and plification to claim Britain invented this tain their land but only at the price of the United Irishmen’s numbers swelled sectarianism, the tensions were already converting. massively. there but it provided the careful nurtur- The Penal laws also banned Mass and ing in which it grew. Key to this process By the Spring of 1798 a campaign of Brit- education, Presbyterians were subject to was encouraging the growth of the Or- ish terror was destroying the United similar laws. A Test act excluded them ange Order and sectarian warfare in Ar- Irishmen organisation and many of the from local government. In 1713 a West- magh. Kevin Whelan summarises the leaders had been arrested. The remain- minster act made Presbyterian school- benefits of this project as “It inserted an ing leaders felt forced to call an immedi- teachers liable to three months impris- implacable barrier to the linking of the ate rising. A series of factors undermined onment and Presbyterian - Anglican mar- United Irishmen and Defender territories; the rising in Dublin. However it sparked riage was also made illegal.[19] As late it stopped the spread of radical Freema- major risings in Wexford in the south and as 1771 four Presbyterians were arrested sonry; it pulled Protestants in general Antrim and Down in the North. These for holding a prayer meeting in firmly to a conservative pro-government saw large scale battles in which tens of Belturbet.[20] stance; it split the nascent Presbyterian - thousands participated. By the Autumn Catholic alliance in mid-Ulster; it checked the rebellion had been defeated, tens of Origins of the Orange Order United Irishmen infiltration of the yeo- thousands were dead and a reign of ter- It is inevitable that both the history of manry and militia”.[87] ror had spread over the country. religious war in the 16th and 17th cen- tury and inequalities still present in the General John Knox was the architect of Ascendancy & penal laws 1790's led to sectarianism in the general this policy and described the Orange Or- The previous 150 years in Ireland had population. If anything the period from der as “the only barrier we have against been marked by two vicious wars where the 1780's on was remarkable for the fact the United Irishmen”.[88] In 1797 he the combatants were mobilised along re- that these sectarian tensions temporar- wrote “I proposed some time ago that the ligious divides, with Catholics and Prot- ily retreated into the background. Orangemen might be armed and added estants (including the Presbyterians) on to some of the loyal corps as supplemen- opposite sides. Each side in these wars Armagh was the major exception to this, tary yeomen .... They are bigots and will claimed religious motives and the reli- here the population was evenly divided resist Catholic emancipation”.[89] Later gious divide led to various sectarian mas- three ways between Anglicans, Presby- he wrote to the administration in the cas- sacres. This period of massacre and coun- terians and Catholics. Under the Penal tle that “the institution of the Orange ter massacre created the sectarian poli- laws Catholics were not allowed to have Order was of infinite use”.[90] tics that have dominated Ireland since. arms but some of the more radical Vol- Many mechanisms were used to Ireland of the 1790's was ruled promote the Orange Order but by Anglican (Church of Ire- most importantly its members land) landowners and aristo- were effectively given impunity (as crats. The mass of the popula- many death squads still are today tion were not Anglican and so in Latin America) for pogroms even if they could accumulate against Catholics. One victim re- wealth they were excluded called “every magistrate in Ulster, from political power. Outside of but one or two, was an Orange- Ulster and Dublin they were man, and no justice could be ob- overwhelmingly Catholic. Ul- tained either in courts or law ster was dominated by Presby- ....”.[91] In fact in 1795 this policy terians (Dissenters) who had was so obvious that Camden com- moved there in the previous plained “some of the magistrates centuries, displacing the ear- have been incautious enough not lier Catholic settlers of that to carry on this measure so secretly region. The complex religious as to have escaped the notice of the divide along class and geo- public”. [92] graphic lines had been created by the British ruling class as a Agendas in writing the history mechanism to ‘divide and rule’. Execution of one of the Protestant leaders of the rising, Henry It is rightly said that history is It included a codified system of Joy McCracken (inset) in Belfast written by the victors. The British and sult to even the Orangemen of 1798, one loyalist historians who wrote the initial of whom James Claudius Beresford de- The rising in Antrim/Down histories of the rising described it as lit- clared he was “Proud of the name of an The situation in the North had changed tle more then the actions of a sectarian Irishman, I hope never to exchange it for since 1796. A savage campaign of British mob intent on massacring all Protestants. that of a colonist”.[134] torture had terrified, disorganised and dis- Even reformers sought to hide from the A couple of years after the rising Britain armed many of the United Irishmen. Gen- program of 1798 to unite Irishmen re- succeeded in forcing the Irish Parliament eral Knox said that his methods were also gardless of creed. After 1798 they turned intended to “increase the animosity between to pass an ‘Act of Union’ which effectively to the confessional politics of mobilising the Orangemen and the United Irishmen”. dissolved that parliament and replaced Catholics alone. Daniel O’Connell, the it with direct rule from Westminster. It Nevertheless the rank and file were deter- main architect of this policy went so far is ironic that 36 Orange Lodges in Co. mined there should be a rising and the in 1841 as to denounce the United Irish- Armagh and 13 in Co. Fermanagh de- lower officers with Henry Joy MaCraken men as “.... wicked and villainously de- clared against this Act of Union. Lodge got an order for a rising at a delegate meet- signing wretches who fomented the rebel- No. 500 declared it would “support the ing on June 2nd. This delay meant it was lion”.[107] independence of Ireland and the consti- not till the 5th that the rising started in On the loyalist side there was a desper- tution of 1782” and “declare as Orange- Antrim and the 7th in Down. In the course of this delay three of the United Irishmen ate need for the Orange Order to mini- men, as Freeholders, as Irishmen that we colonels gave the plans to the British tak- mise Presbyterian involvement in the ris- consider the extinction of our separate leg- ing away any element of surprise. ing so it could be portrayed as a sectar- islature as the extinction of the Irish Na- ian and Catholic affair. So loyalist ac- tion”.[135] More seriously rumours started reaching counts have tended to focus on the Wex- the north from the Wexford rebellion with The central message of 1798 was not Irish ford massacres, often making quite false the newspapers “rivalling rumour in por- unity for its own sake, indeed the strong- claims about their scale, who was mas- traying in Wexford an image of Catholic est opponents of the British parliament sacred and why they were massacred. massacre and plunder equalled only by leg- had been the Irish ascendancy, terrified Musgraves (the main loyalist historian) ends ....”. Many of these stories were false that direct rule might result in Catholic in his coverage of the rebellion gives only although Protestant men had been killed emancipation. Unity offered to remove in Enniscorthy. The distorted version that 2% of his writing to the Antrim and Down the sectarian barriers that enabled a tiny reached the north by 4 June (before the ris- rebellion while 62% of his coverage con- ascendancy class to rule over millions ing) was that “at Enniscorthy in the county centrates on Wexford.[115] What ac- without granting even a thimble full of of Wexford every Protestant man, woman counts they give of the Northern rising democratic rights. The struggle has and child, even infants, have been mur- portray it as idealistic Presbyterians changed a little since as dered”. Alongside this were manufactured being betrayed by their Catholic many of these rights have stories like a supposed Wexford Oath “I, neighbours and so learning to become been won, but in terms of A.B. do solemnly swear .... that I will burn, ‘good loyal Orange men’. The scale of destroy and murder all heretics up to my creating an anarchist soci- British and loyalist massacres of knees in blood”. In addition there was “am- ety the words of James these Presbyterians is seldom men- ple time” before the battle of Ballynahinch Hope, the most proletarian tioned. on the 13th for news of the Scullabogue of the 1798 leaders still ap- massacre to have reached the North. 1798 and Irish nationalism ply The debate around nation is in it- Later commentaries have tried to deny the “Och, Paddies, my hearties, self something that divides the Irish significance of the Northern rising or have have done wid your parties. left. In particular after the parti- claimed the many Presbyterians failed to Let min of all creeds and tion of Ireland in 1922 there has turn out. However given all of the above profissions agree. If Or- been a real and somewhat success- what is truly remarkable is how little ef- ange and Green min, no fect all this had, in particular as by the 5th ful effort to divide people into two longer were seen, min. Och, the Wexford rising had clearly failed to nations. One consists of all the naboclis, how aisy ould Ire- spread. At this stage there were 31,000 people in the south and the land we’d free.” United Irishmen in the area of the rising northern nationalists. Ca- in the north of which 22,000 actually took tholicism was a central part This article is based on a much longer part in the major battles. of this definition with the article on the 1798 rebellion to be found Catholic Church being given at http://struggle.ws/andrew/1798.html Like the Wexford rising the Northern rebels an informal veto for many dec- succeeded in winning minor skirmishes 19 A history of the Irish Working Class, ades over state policy. To a against the British but were defeated in the Peter Berresford Ellis, 1972, p51 major battles. The British burned towns, large extent this definition is 20 ibid, p51 villages and houses they considered sym- tacitly accepted by many parts 22 A history of the Irish Working Class, pathetic to the rebels and massacred both …, p68 of the Republican movement to- prisoners and wounded during and after 87 The Tree of Liberty, Radicalism, Ca- day. Francie Malloys 1996 elec- the battles. After the battle of Antrim some tholicism and the Construction of Irish tion campaign posters based on were buried alive. 32 United Irishmen lead- their being 20,000 more nation- Identity 1760 - 1830, Kevin Whelan, p124 ers were executed in the North after the alists (i.e. Catholics) then Protes- 89 ibid, p124 rising, including two Presbyterian minis- tants in Mid-Ulster being a case 90 ibid, p120 ters. in point. 91 ibid, p123 Henry Joy McCracken managed to go into 92 ibid, p120 In the north the key to this project, hiding after the rising where he wrote a 107 Freeman’s Journal, 22 May, Doing the sectarain letter to his sister which neatly sums up the ‘Protestant state for a Protes- 1841 headcount for electoral tant people’ is still strong. Particu- 109 Labour and Irish History, the causes of the failure of the rising; “the gain in the ‘96 elections larly in recent years this has seen James Connolly, Chap VII rich always betray the poor”. He was cap- the political decision of northern loy- 115 The Tree of Liberty, Radicalism…p138 tured and executed in Belfast on July 16th. alists to start referring to themselves as 134 Revolt in North, Charles Dickson, 1960, p243 The key informer who betrayed the Dublin British or ‘Ulster-Scots’. This is a quite 135 ibid, p243 rising, Reynolds, had turned informer in remarkable robbing of even the history 1798 because of fears of his ancestral es- tates being confiscated. of loyalism, and would have been an in- from Dublin to Belfast, but as they reached the border the RUC stopped When the Falls and the them and turned most of them back. But some did manage to reach Belfast and took part in the march. Shankill fought together “The main speakers that night were Tommy Greehan, Davey Scarborough, The Outdoor Relief strike in Belfast saw unemployed Catholics and Protes- Jimmy Koter, Betty Sinclair, Sean tants fighting alongside each other. In 1982 one of the few survivors from Murray and Arthur Griffin. Thomas the strike, William Burrows, talked to Outta Control, a local anarchist pa- Mann came over from England to speak per in Belfast. Twelve years later we are pleased to help uncover a small bit at the funerals of the two Falls men. He of anti-sectarian working class history be reprinting William’s recollections. was arrested and deported to Clogher He talked firstly of a march up the Newtownards Road, and secondly de- Valley, before returning to his home. scribed the rally of 40,000 at Queens Square. Other well known speakers I remember “I remember the march up the ful event in the workers’ struggle for bet- of that time were Bob Stewart from Dun- Newtownards Road. It was organised by ter conditions. On that occasion there was dee, Willie Gallacher and Charlotte the Revolutionary Workers Group. The a fight against the Poor Law Guardians Despard. agitation was against the 10% cut in of Belfast, who were controlled by the “Two weeks after that march I lost my welfare benefits the government im- Unionist Party. The Guardians had im- job. I was a farm labourer employed by posed. The bru was 17/- but they brought posed extremely harsh conditions on un- David McAnse. He was the father of Anne it down to 15/-. It was the same year as employed workers. Dickinson, who until recently was a Un- the Invergordon mutiny in Scotland “Whenever the benefit of an unemployed ionist politician in East Belfast. when the sailors struck against a reduc- person ran out due to not having enough tion in their wage. “There were RWGs in different parts of stamps, they had to do task work three the city. In East Belfast were Bob Ellison, “There were about 1,500 of us on the days a week. They got paid 16/- a week, Bob Stewart, Eddie and Sadie Menzies, march, with a red flag, and we were to not in cash but in the form of a chit. This Jimmy Woods, James Connolly (no rela- have a meeting at Templemore Avenue. was given to the grocer who gave you gro- tion!), Davey Greenlaw, Jimmy Bob Stewart from Scotland was to speak ceries for that amount. McKenzie, Joe Lather, Jimmy Spence, but there was a mob of about 40 to greet “The workers, of course, took exception Jimmy Kernoghan, John Lavery, Billy us. They went under the name of the to this form of payment and thousands Bishop, Billy Tomlinson and his brother Ulster Protestant League and were out of Outdoor Relief workers took to the Joe, Billy Somerset Snr., and Lofty to get him as he was well known. They street to protest against it. Some of these Johnson. had lambeg drums, deacon poles (with a protests ended up in clashes with the spear at the end), and a union jack. “The Falls Road group members were police and in a series of riots, with a large Johnny McWilliams, Jimmy Quinn, Tom “John Crumlin, a notorious bigot from number of people being arrested. The Picken, Johnny Campell and Jimmy the shipyards (during the early ‘20s he worst riot occurred on the Falls Road Hughes. Jimmy McKurk was a very mili- stirred up sectarian hatred against the where two protesters were shot dead. tant worker in the ODR strike from the Catholics, which drove many of them out) They were Samuel Baxter and John Falls but wasn’t in the group. carried the Union jack. He was one of Keenan. the ‘three Cs’ - Carson, Crumlin and “Group members from the Shankill were “The Outdoor Relief workers replied with Connor, who ten years earlier had been Norman Taggart and his brother Bob, a massive protest to Queens Square, or- responsible for stirring up sectarian ha- Bob McVicker and his brother Sam, Billy ganised by the Revolutionary Workers tred in the shipyards and chasing Catho- Johnson, John Sinclair, Aggie Young and Groups. There were about 40,000 work- lics out. Crumlin, in particular, made the Martha Burch. From the Donegal Road ers in Queens Square that night on 11th most maledictory speeches then. were John, Mary and Nora Griffin. Billy October 1932. They came from all parts Boyd came from York Street. Other mem- “There were about fifty police there. But of Belfast, and from Derry and Coleraine. bers of the groups included Maurice they weren’t there to protect us. It was a Four hundred workers set out to walk Watters, Jack White and Ben Murray”. sham defence. They let the mob through and then joined in. There was a lot of fighting and it ended with nine arrests. Jack White was a Protestant born in 1879 in Broughshane in Jack White Jack White (box) had his neck cut by one County Antrim, the only son of the British war hero Sir George of the deacon poles, not too seriously. He Stuart White. He proposed the idea of workers' militia, the Irish was fined £10 and bound over to keep Citizens Army (ICA) in the 1913 Dublin lockout and played a the peace. So was Harold Davidson, a key role in its early development and organisation. In April 1916 student from Malone. But the rest, who he was arrested in south Wales for attempting to organise a strike had no connections, got about three of miners in support of James Connolly. months each. In 1931, White was involved in a bitter street battle between “We had an improvised band to lead us. unemployed workers and the RUC on the Newtownards Road We borrowed three drums from St in Belfast. In 1936 at the age of 57 he travelled to Spain (as Malachy’s pipe band in the Markets. But part of a Red Cross ambulance crew) to help fight fascism. they were destroyed that night. I remem- Here he gravitated towards the anarchist CNT. ber Tommy Hill being there. He was a tram driver, and was known as Red Impressed by the revolution that had unfolded in Tommy because he always wore a red tie. Spain, White was further attracted to the anarchist He wasn’t in the RWG, but was an inde- cause due to his own latent anti-Stalinism. pendent from the Shankill Road. He spoke at all the meetings. More information including White’s writings at http://struggle.ws/anarchists/jackwhite.html “October, fifty years ago, was a wonder- The huge vote, North and South, in favour of the 'Good Friday Agreement' shows that the vast seat. In any case making a link with majority do not want a return to pre-ceasefire violence. Can this agreement get to the root of the working class northern Protestants sectarian problem and deal with the hatreds, fears and suspicions that have bedevilled our would have meant breaking the link with country? Andrew Flood looks at the prospects. the southern ruling class and the Catho- lic church. Since partition, despite executions and Peace deal offers sectarian excommunications by their ‘friends’, most Republicans have viewed that link as sacred above all others. So in 1934 war or sectarian peace Bodenstown those Protestant workers were physically driven off the march. The agreement represents a new consensus for Ireland, that the island is populated by two tribes of irrational savages who must forever be moni- First time as tragedy, second time tored lest one side gain advantage over the other. Under the deal the wisest as farce? representatives of these tribes, supervised by the British and US govern- It is deeply ironic that the agreement ments, will gather on a regular basis to fight for the scraps that are pro- comes 200 years after the great rebellion vided. of 1798. It is claimed that during the re- The agreement offers nothing except a in calling for a no vote without present- bellion the English Viceroy boasted it sectarian division of the spoils. From here ing any realistic alternative to the ‘back would be crushed so brutally that the on politics in the six counties is officially to war’ brigade. cause of the United Irishmen would be divided into Unionist, Nationalist and set back for 200 years. This it now ap- The parliamentary ‘left’ however not only Other. In regard to the assembly the pears was an underestimate. ‘Republi- accepted the deal, they tried to present agreement states cans’ seem to have given up on the great it as the best thing since sliced bread. promise of that rebellion “to substitute the “At their first meeting, members of the This dishonesty can only be described as common name of Irishman for Catholic, Assembly will register a designation of incredible. The agreement as outlined in Protestant and Dissenter”. identity - nationalist, unionist or other” the first paragraph not only accepts but promotes the most reactionary view of the So why have we arrived at such a dead The ‘Other’ are very much second class working class on this island possible. In end? There are two reasons, the first in citizens as 1798 the United Irishmen asked “Are we the absolute failure by the left to promote any alternative vision capable of winning “arrangements to ensure key decisions forever to stalk like beasts of prey through people to the fight for a better society. are taken on a cross-community basis; fields stained with our ancestors’ blood?” Today’s ‘republicans’, whether pro or anti- This is not just an Irish problem but an (i) either parallel consent, i.e. a majority deal both seem to be answering ‘Yes’. international one as the left promoted one of those members present and voting, in- lame duck dictatorship after another. cluding a majority of the unionist and The agreement is a consequence of the Secondly the rules of the game are chang- nationalist designations present and vot- failure of republicanism and the left to ing. Any conflict between the ruling class ing; win over any significant section of north- ern Protestant workers to an anti-parti- of Southern Ireland and the ruling class (ii) or a weighted majority (60%) of mem- tionist stance. Right now this failure is of Britain is being buried by their joint bers present and voting, including at least so complete that this may seem like an need to efficiently manage the European 40% of each of the nationalist and union- impossibly utopian project. But histori- workforce. They both pushed the agree- ist designations present and voting”. cally, both spontaneously and catalysed ment because the question of which of them manages capital in the six counties, In other words instead of a unionist veto by left activists, sections of the Protes- is far less important than the removal of we now have both a unionist and a na- tant working class in the north have an ongoing instability in the European tionalist veto. This makes it almost im- proved open to such a strategy. Most fa- political system. possible to develop any sort of non-sec- mously when 500 Protestant workers tarian parliamentary party as its vote from Belfast joined the Bodenstown Wolfe In many ways the deal is to their advan- simply wouldn’t count in vital decisions. Tone Commemoration in 1934. tage. The costs of having to occasionally Anarchists have little time for parliamen- Such a strategy however required one police the annual confrontation at tary politics, we are against any division sacrifice the republicans would not make, Drumcree and elsewhere may well be into leaders and led but what the peace that was to ‘break the connection with outweighed by the knowledge that north- agreement has created is a system where capitalism’ and fight for a ‘32 county ern workers face major difficulties in even a Labour party is almost impossi- workers republic’. In truth though after uniting against the demands of European ble. independence far too many republican capital. Is it better than an ongoing and increas- activists saw the fight as one to extend For anarchists looking at the future the ingly sectarian war? Yes! But it is a step the clerical state in the south into the old saying ‘if I was going there I wouldn’t sidewards. It is for this reason that we north, albeit with them in the driving start from here’ rings particularly true. refused to vote for or against it, choosing It is all too easy to despair that the tiny to abstain. numbers of anarchists who are active will be unable to point to an alternative. But The failure is ours! here is where we are, so here is where It is a damning indictment of all who we have to start from. Northern workers identify themselves as left-wing (or even have united across the sectarian divide liberal) how little opposition there has in the past to fight on economic issues, been to this aspect of the deal. Within ‘re- this will happen again in the future. We publicanism’ the only opposition was need to be in a position when this hap- based on the crudest of ‘four green fields’ pens to turn that fight into a fight for an nationalism and the resurrection of anarchist Ireland. corpses as holy relics to ward off a ‘sell out’. Some socialist organisations actu- Based on an article published in Workers ally ended up supporting this nonsense, Solidarity 54, 1998 We cannot rely on a few “good men” to sort out the situation for us. That is the Neither Orange nor Green mistake most of the socialist movement made this century and is the reason why While welcoming the ceasefire we don’t expect the “peace process” to lead we had ‘socialist’ dictatorships like the to much. Sinn Féin’s politics offer little more to Northern workers, as a class, USSR and China on the one hand, and than the politics of the fringe loyalist groups. Both aspire to getting a better ‘socialist’ sell-outs like the Labour Party deal for the poor and oppressed in their communities but neither are capa- or Democratic Left on the other. There ble of delivering, as they are limited to rhetorical appeals to the workers of is, however, a different current in social- the other side to “see sense”. Neither can offer a way forward because nei- ism, based not on good leaders but on the ther can unite workers across the sectarian divide in a common struggle. self-organisation of the working class. Anarchism, at the moment, is a very make. The politics of both the SDLP and This self-organisation is what anarchism much smaller force in Ireland then even Sinn Féin are essentially about extend- is all about. We don’t believe the way for- the fringe loyalist groups, but it does of- ing the southern state northwards. This ward lies in finding the right leader, fer a way forward. We argue for working would have the benefit of ending rule by whether it’s Gerry Adams, Tony Blair or class self-activity that appeals not to poli- sectarian bigots (although the southern Lenin. Instead we see the way forward ticians or priests as allies but to workers Garda’ are no more keen on the working lying with ordinary people; taking con- everywhere, in Ireland, in Britain and in- class then their northern counterparts) trol of our lives into our own hands, com- ternationally. But this unity cannot be but that’s about it. Many workers in the ing together and starting to fight back. based on just ‘bread and butter issues’. South have spent a good part of the last The role of anarchists is not to assume In the past Catholic and Protestant work- decade fighting the power of the Catho- the leadership of such a process but to ers have united in common fights to get lic church, from its influence on the legal argue for self-activity, encourage it and more from the bosses. The largest and system to its covering up of child abus- seek to encourage those fighting back to better known examples of this are ing priests and enslavement of unmar- unite in an overall struggle against capi- ried mothers in the Magdalen laundries. * 1919 Engineering strike when the talism and for a new society. mostly Protestant workforce of Harland Apart from that, the Dunnes Stores and And that’s where you come in. Unlike and Wolff elected a strike committee that other strikes demonstrates that the other left papers, we won’t end every ar- happened to be mostly Catholic. gobshite Southern bosses are every bit as ticle by telling you the only way forward mean as their northern equivalents. It * 1932 Outdoor Relief strike when the is to join the party. What we do say is also demonstrates they can be beaten, if unemployed of the Falls and the Shankill find out more about anarchism and look workers stand together. rioted in support of each other, and at ways of encouraging self-activity in the against the police. Workers’ unity against the bosses is re- struggles you are involved in. If you de- quired but the form that unity takes is cide you like what we say then please do Both these were broken by the unionist also vital. The unity must be political as get in touch and help us in saying (and bosses convincing Protestant workers well as economic. The PSNI, the border, doing) it. Above all recognise that the that it was all a ‘Fenian’ trick and that clerical control of schools and hospitals, answer is not getting ‘our’ leaders into their real interests lay in loyalism. Look and laws restricting divorce, gay sex and talks but in taking back control ourselves. at the poverty figures for the Shankill access to abortion all need to be opposed. road today and you can see who was re- Based on an article originally published ally tricking who. But the bosses’ trick in Workers Solidarity 46, 1995 worked and economic unity crumbled, to be replaced by a vicious pogrom and the expulsion of Catholics and left-wing Prot- Workers Solidarity Movement estants from the shipyards in 1919 and sectarian rioting in 1933. The articles in this pamphlet are based on articles and talks taken For this reason, the idea we can wish the from the Workers Solidarity Movement web site. The WSM is an division of the working class in the north away by simply talking about wages and Irish anarchist organisation in existence since 1984. living conditions is a fantasy. More re- cently there has been unity in support of The WSM web site includes hundreds of articles about Ireland and the nurses’ pay claim, against health service cuts and against sectarian intimi- anarchism in general. Personal news reports of demonstrations in dation in Housing Executive and Dept. Ireland, many with photographs are regularly added to the site. You of Social Security offices. All of these in- can access these at stances are heartening. Unfortunately little permanent unity has been built upon these successes because of a failure http://struggle.ws/wsm.html to confront ‘communal politics’. Protestant workers have to reject The WSM publishes a regular newspaper called Workers loyalism and unionism as ruling class Solidarity and a magazine called Red & Black Revolution. ideologies. They have to see their allies To subscribe to these follow the instructions below... as being workers who happen to be Catholic, north and south, and their en- Ireland: Send 10 Euro to WSM, PO Box 1528, Dublin 8 and emies as the loyalist bosses and the Brit- we will send you the next 9 Workers Solidaritys and the next ish state. This is no easy break to make 2 issues of our magazine Red & Black Revolution but the big benefit of the ceasefire is that it is now easier then it was. International rates (for 6 WS + 1 R&BR), Britain; 5 STR, Europe; 7 Euros or equiv, rest of world; 10 USD. Send cash No to the bosses Orange or Green or cheques made out to WSM to WSM, PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland. Catholic workers have a similar break to