JOURNAL OF THE IRISH LABOUR HISTORY SOCIETY

REMINISCENCE 113us due to my politics I have always cherished such memories of my father. In the words of EwanMacColl's song 'Yes that was myoid man'. I should say, thefamily were accommodated by neighboursfor the night.From his early youth foe Deasy was and still is an avid reader. Even in his late teens he wasinvariably drawn towards both socialist writing and ideas.The fIrst ideological change I experienced would be in my late teens when I started to read BernardShaw. My reading was facilitated by a period of two years of unemployment after I left school atseventeen in 1939. Much reading and thinking during this period conditioned my mind for new ideas.Shaw was a huge influence on people of my age, notably in drawing them towards socialism but alsostimulating one to question as you never had questioned before. The next writer that had an impact on·me would have been Connolly. In fact it was during my time in the New Theatre Group that somebodymentioned Connolly as being worth reading.2 I don't think it is possible to say at what particularjuncture a person becomes a Socialist. You don't just wake up one morning a Socialist. It is not a Roadto Damascus revelation. When I became more conscious of socialism I began to read Marx. Althougha Socialist before I read Marx he clarifIed ideas for me and again opened up a whole new world.However, any indepth reading such as Marx, Engels and Lenin was left until after I'd joined the IrishWorkers' League (IWL).3Deasy' s first job was as a clerk for Great Southern Railways in the Kingsbridge Parcels Office.Conditons in his work place were almost Dickensian and having made an issue ofthisfact Deasy foundhimself transferred to Liffey function as Station Master's Clerk.I often think my first job as a clerk strengthened my socialist convictions. When I was working inKingsbridge I worked different shifts. I worked from six in the morning till three in the afternoon andthe late shift from seven to one o'clockin the morning. This was during the war and trains were verymuch delayed because of fuel problems. Trains suffered clinkers and firemen took hoUrs before theycould clear the clinker and enable the engine to restart 4 We had to wait till these trains came in. Iworked closely with the outdoor staff ~ porters, parcel porters and road freight carters. What struck mewas that they were mostly married men with large families and some of them were earning about £2a week. If they were parcel porters their basic wage was £2.10 shillings which was appallingconsidering the average wages were approximately £3 a week. I identifIed myself with them and it didhelp lead me to the labour movement.In 1944, Deasy met his wife to be. Pat Hayden, an active member of the Crumlin Branch of theLabour Party. Pat camefrom a left-wingfamily and she and they were to be extremely supportive duringthe subsequent critical years. Pat was both wife and comrade. She had been in the Communist Partyas a teenager and was still a member at the time that it was disbanded in 1941. Alongside Deasy'spolitical evolution was an equally strong commitment to the trade union movement. Deasy joined theRailway Clerks' Association (RCA). a British based Union. In 1951 the RCA became the TransportSalaried Staffs' Association. 5At that time I joined the Union without examining whether it was British or Irish based. It wassimply the Union for the job I was in. The RCA had organised clerks since before the First World Warso it had a long tradition. It changed its name not because it had amalgamated but because it had reachedthe position where it was representing much more than railway clerks. Its new members included otheroccupations such as the road freight staff.From 1944 onwards foe Deasy began to play an active trade union role. Narrowly defeated in his