Irish Freedom June 1942

FARM,
TURF WORKERS'
EMIGRATION
SUSPENDED
)ERMITS enabling men experienced in
1 agricultural or turf work lo leave the
country for employment elsewhere will not
be issued before September 30th, at the
t.irlieot.
The statement points out that the question
of the conservation of the man power
reserve necessary for essential needs has
been constantly under review.
If necessary, it is stated, suspension of
the issue of permits to the classes mentioned
will be continued after September
30th.
This additional restriction applies to
men going either to Britain or the Six
Counties. It does not, however, extend
to men living in towns having local government
nor, for the present, to men in
those congested districts, situated in
Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Galway,
Kerry, Leitrim, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon
and Sligo which are defined in the
Schedule to the Unemployment Assistance
(Third Employment Period) Order,
1940. In the event, however, of a shortage
of workers for agriculture and turf
anywhere, the embargo on permits may
be extended to those congested districts
at the Minister's discretion.
It is added, as already announced, that
any man who refuses an offer of suitable
employment or who leaves employment
voluntarily without just cause will,
whether he comes under the restrictions
indicated or not. be refused a permit.
It was announced some time ago that
under the emigration control scheme permits
would not be isued to persons desirous
of going to Britain if they were under
22. except in very exceptional circumstances;
or they were in employment or
employment was available for them in Ireland.
These restrictions were later extended
to apply to emigration to the Six
Counties.
WHAT ARE
Special H8
y ^ e e b o t i )
No. 42 JUNE, 1942 Price 2d.
World
Number
INSIDE:
Comment
Page 3
Men of '98
P.ig:-s 4 & 5
Bread and Politics
Stormclouds over
Page 6
Africa Page 8
'We are not entitled to build on the hope that we might keep out
of the war'—Prof. O'Sullivan.
At the same meeting says De Valera—
DANGER WILL INCREASE
DROFESSOR O'SULLIVAN, addressing
the students of U.C.D.
in recruiting for the L.D.F., is reported
to have said that one of a
number of dangers which we face
was due to the circumstance that because
we had been free from invasion
so far, people were apt to assume
that there was no danger in the future.
The attitude of the Man in the
Street, continued Prof. O'Sullivan,
appeared to be that apart from certain
inconveniences the war hardly
existed for him. The war. in fact,
nearly every six months, and sometimes
every three, went through a
tremendous revolution. It would be
extremely unwise to assume that because
to-day it seemed to be far from
our shores, it could not quickly come
to us in the event of a sudden revolution
in tactics. We are not entitled to
build on the hope that we might be
PRESIDENT DE VALERA, speaking
at the same meeting, complimented
the student companies on their
smart appearance, remarking that
the only fault he could find was that
a considerably greater number were
not in the ranks. Conscription was
not in force here, he said, and he
"hoped it would be possible to obtain
the forces necessary for the defence
of the country without having to resort
to it.''
Continuing the President said:
"We will not be free from danger
until the war has finished. It is likely
that instead of diminishing, our danger
will increase as time goes on. It
is imperative, therefore, that people
should strengthen their determination
and prepare themselves in every
possible way for any misfortunate
which would come."
"The more numerous and better
rPHAT is the question we ask of every
reader of "Irish Freedom." We have
appealed in the most serious manner for
MELLOWS
funds to carry on the paper.
Many of our readers, alive to their
HONOURED
responsibilities as Irishmen and women,
THE mother of Liam Mellows saw a Dublin
bridge re-named in honour of her
have taken collecting cards and promptly
returned them with the monies willingly
son recently. Queen Street Bridge became
given. Where our readers have been asked
Mellows Bridge when Nora Connolly
for help, we know of no refusal.
O'Brien idaughter of James Connolly) unveiled
two bronze plaques erected by the
But what percentage of those who have
cards have used them? We appreciate the
National Graves Association in collaboration
with the Old Fianna Association.
good intentions expressed, but, let us be
blunt, good intentions don't pay bills. Unpaid
bills mean no paper. No "Irish Freedom."
means Irish exiles without a voice
After Mass at Clarendon St. Church for
the repose of the souls of Liam and Barney
Mellows, a procession marched from
or protector in this country.
We set as our goal £100 by June 1st.
St. Stephen's Green to the bridge.
Frankly, we have failed in our object. Only
Nora Connolly O'Brien said that the renaming
of streets, bridges and buildings
£12 short? Perhaps, but knowing our wide
circulation and the tens of thousands of
in honour of those who died to undo the
Irish exiles in this country, we have failed
conquest was a small but sure sign that
to reach out to them for that support we
the reconquest appealed to the hearts of
know we can command.
the people. It was a happy thought to
May we, therefore, appeal to our new
choose a bridge to commemorate Mellows.
readers as well as our staunch old ones to
LI AM MELLOWS
In their journey towards freedom they
tackle this job of constant financial support
for our paper.
had met an obstacle, but if they willed it
the man they honoured cou'.ti help them
Our total for this month reaches £56 7s.
over it.
lOd. This total is swollen by a princely TEACHERS OPPOSE
The freedom Mellows visualised w r as
gift of £50 from a staunch supporter of
freedom from foreign oppression, domestic
Ireland's cause. We thank this and other COMPULSORY IRISH exploitation. If they refreshed their memory
as to what he wanted they would
r pHE debated question of teaching
donors most warmly for their gifts, and
trust their efforts will prove an inspiration
to our other readers.
find that in him they had a bridgehead
J- through Irish has at last been tackled from which they could build to freedom.
systematically. The National Teachers'
Will all readers please send in their collecting
cards with the money as soon as
Eamon Martin, chairman. Mellows Committee,
presided. The Last Post was
Organisation sent a questionaire to 9,000
teachers, asking only those who habitually
possible?
sounded by a bugler of St. James's Band.
taught Irish to reply. Of 1,400 replies, 80
Additional collecting cards can be supplied
upon application.
The inscription on the plaques reads:
per cent, agreed that "it is educationally "The name of this bridge has been
unsound to use any other language than
Per— £ s. d.
changed to Mellows Bridge to honour Lt.-
the home language in the teachings of
M. Carroll, Liverpool 17 6
General Liam Mellows, I.R.A.. who gave
arithmetic, algebra, geometry, history, and
Pte. Murphy, Orkney 3 0
Ms life for the Republic of Ireland, December
8, 1922."
Geography."
J. Flanaghan, Dagenham ... 8 6
Brian, Shaun & Michael Ward 7 6 The main finding of this report is that
Mr. Jllckey, Wembley 4 6 children of English-speaking homes (more
Mick Letaane, London 1 0 0 than three-quarters of the population)
DUBLIN TRADES
J. Feeney, Oxford 2 6 "do not receive the same benefits from instruction
through Irish that they would
COUNCIL
M. Carroll, Liverpool 3 0 0
A "Rogue" 4 4 receive had instruction been through English,"
and that "the change from Engllch those people in the second World War
". . . Reaffirms Its solidarity with
Doctor C 50 0 0
In the home to Irish in the school transfers
the Infant suddenly into a new and
who are ftghUnf to defend Trade
Unions and Workers' Democracy."
58 7 10
Brought forward 31 8 UJ unnatural world, prevents the flourishing Mr. Swift, Bakers' Union, state**
of Interast which is, or ought to bo, the
"Irish Labour eaoast remain without
opinion* when Trade Unions are being
Total ....;... £87 17 9} basis of all education, and tends to make
destroyed In many pacts of the world."
his school life miserable."
F
CATHOLICS AND
THE RUSSIAN
ALLIANCE
RANK SHFED, Catholic writer,
publisher and lecturer, writing
in "The Changing World Series,"
says:—
" Was it permissible lo co-operate
with a Communist-Atheist Government?
What difference was there between
the Nazism we were fighting
against and the Communism that was
now our ally? The answer was inescapable.
The right procedure was
to compare not the nature of the two
evils but the urgency of the two
threats to the world. There is a danger
to the world from Nazism, and
there is a danger from Communism:
but the two threats are different. '
Germany aims ift world conquest by
force of arms: Russia has not made—
and obviously cannot make—any such
threat. . . .
"Nazism is a danger to the strongest
country by its own strength of
arms. Communism is a danger to no .
country capable of putting its own
social-economic house in order. Nor is
the threat from Communism so entirely
bound up with Russia. Communism
was a theoretic system and a
danger to the world long before the
Soviets took over Russia. It remains
a danger to any country whose socialeconomic
system breaks down. If a
people makes its own social economic
system work, then Communism is no
danger to it; if it does not, then Communism
will come, no matter what,
happens to Russia. . . .
"The upshot of all this is that a
nation can resist Nazism only by
matching Germany's strength in arms.
The obvious policy for us, then, Is to
accept the co-operation of Russian
arms against the German arms, for
otherwise we stand in fair peril of
utter destruction."
D
DUBLIN
FIRE
UBLIN had its "bog" fire when th?
great two-mile turf-stack In Phcenix
Park caught alight.
Besides these turf fires there have been
the Larkln's Bakery fire at Lefterkenny.
where the premls*^ and 8,000 loaves wer.;
destroyed.
i i Stevenson's Sawmills fire at Stra'oane.
where the mills and the adjoining cat net
makers' and an egg and poultry store were
gutted.

2 IRISH FREEDOM June, 1942
Marching
On ...
I X spur ol exceptional difficult:* s due
" o ;he ur

4 IRISH FREEDOM 5
— Who fears to speak of Ninety-eight,
= Who blushes at the name?
~ When cowards mock the patriots' fate,
= Who han?s his head for shame?
= He's all a knave or half a slave
n
Who slights his country thus;
11 But a true man, like you, man.
Will till your glass with us.
= Some on the shores of distant land
= Their weary hearts have laid,
EE
And by the stranger's heedless hand
= Their lonely graves were made;
EE
But, though their clay be far awav
E
Beyond the Atlantic foam,
EE
In true men, like you, men,
EE
Their spirit's still at home.
~ They rose in dark and evil days
— To right their native land;
= They kindled here a living blaze
EE
That nothing shall withstand.
= Alas! that Might can vanquish Right—
= They fell, and passed away;
= But true men, like you, men,
= Are plenty here to-day.
H
Then here's their memory—may it be
— For us a guiding light,
= To cheer our strife for liberty,
EE
And teach us to unite!
= Through good and ill, be Ireland's still,
= Though sad as theirs your fate;
= And true men, be you, men,
= Like those of Ninety-Eight.
= JOHN KELLS INGRAM.
I
I
I
I
United Irish
Catechism
1 believe in the Irish Union; in the
supreme majesty of the people; in the
equality of man; in the lawfulness of
insurrection, and of resistance to oppression.
I De.iev-u in a Revolution founded on the
rights of man; in the natural and imprescriptable
rights of all the Irish citizens
to all the land. I believe the soil or
any part of it cannot be rightfully
transierred without the consent of the
people or their representatives, convened
and authorised by the votes of
every man having arrived at the age of
twenty-one years.
j believe the land or any of it cannot become
the property of any man, but by
purchase, or as a reward for forwarding
ana preserving the public liberty,
believe our present connection with England
must be speedily dissolved,
believe that old age, pregnant
women
and labour should be honoured,
believe that treason is the crime of betraying
the people.
believe religious distinction (i.e., favouring
discriminations) are only protected
by tyrants.
believe applying the lands of the Church
to relieve old age, to give education and
protection to infancy, will be more acceptable
to a united people than maintaining
lazy hypocrites or ravenous title
gatherers.
this faith I mean to live, or bravely die.
What art you?
An Irishman.
As an Irishman, what do you hope tor?
The emancipation of my country, and
equality of rights, a fair division of the
land, and abolition of religious
establishments,
and representative government.
What advantage can our poverty be to
our lawmakers?
By being poor we must be on the alert,
to procure the necessarjes of life, which
makes true the old maxim, They keep
us poor and busy.
Our time will be
spent studying to avoid want
instead
of inquiring into the cause of it, for
inquiry is dangerous to tyrants.
What good could a fair division of the
land be to Ireland?
As the land and
its produce was intended
for the use of man, it is unfair
for fifty or a hundred men to possess
what is for the subsistence of near five
millions: it exposes the great body of
the people to sorry want and every
misery. . . It is not possible that God
can be pleased to see a whole nation depending
on the caprice and pride of a
small faction, who can deny the common
property in the land to the people,
or at least tell them
how much they
should eat and what kind; how #uch
they shall wear and what kind.
How shall we arrive at the blessings so
oertam from independence?
By a union of ALL the people.
Do you want the privileged order in this
union?
No. Were we to wait their concurrence,
our delivery would be as distant as the
general death of Nature.
What do you mean should compose
this union?
Every man who Is oppressed; every
man that labours; every honest man of
every religion.
In
Q-
A.
Q-
A.
Q.
A.
TO "IRISH FREEDOMON THESE PAGES, PAYS TRIBUTE
THE
MEN
/ vROINARILY one would expect women
" to be more of a liability than an asset
on a battle-field.
But, as we are all learning
nowadays, this is not always the case.
Women in service uniforms are commonplace
to-day.
They were undreamed of in
1798. Women did find a function, of sorts,
as common camp followers, and among the
sutlers' supply-waggons—the commissariat
in those days being still left largely
to
private enterprise.
There was no Army Service Corps
in
the British Army till Wellington
organised
one during the Peninsular Campaign;
and it is notorious that there was no
women's nursing service for the
British
Army till Florence Nightingale organised
one during the Crimean War.
These facts throw into relief the innu t
merable ways in which women supplied all
these services for the rebel armies in Ireland
in 1798.
In Wexford particularly the men joined
the rising almost to a man: and the
women, rather than stay in their homes
at the mercy of any band of wandering
Orange yeomen or militia, joined the rebel
camps, where not only were they far safer,
and protected from insult, but could make
themselves useful in a score of ways.
They attended to the washing, mending
and cooking; they helped to make
cartridges;
they nursed the sick; and foraged
for supplies.
She had phenomenal strength, and had
been accustomed to help her father with
a sledge-hammer at the anvil.
She had
also great acuteness. a ready wit, and a
most plausible tongue.
She was, in addition,
possessed of a power of disguising
her appearance and even her features. Her
courage was as great as her strength; and
her fidelity was greatest of all.
She ranged the countryside hawking
gingerbread and fruit from a basket, covering
many miles a day and
gathering
every scrap of information there, was
about the disposition and movements of
the troops.
And also in wheedling cartridges
out of the soldiers, especially those
whose allegiance was shaky.
She got large quantities. She rarely returned
without several hundred cartridges
concealed about her, and the information
she gathered enabled Holt and his men
to evade capture for months; until, in
fact, Holt surrendered under the Amnesty
Act.
* * * '
When Emmet's lodgings were searched.
Ann was arrested, and, as we would say
nowadays, "put through the third degree."
They told her they would hang her there
and then, and up-ended a cart in the yard
to hang her between the shafts by a rope
over the breeching-band. While this improvised
gallows was being got ready, they
thrust her against a wall and pricked her
The Women
Guerillas
Myles Byrne records how, when a quantity
of flour fell into rebel hands, the
young women turned to and baked a quantity
of flat cakes, bannocks and "flapjacks"
to eat with the meat of the sheep that
were captured at the same time. He notes
this, forty years after the event, and remembers
how particularly welcome this
addition to their diet was to the tired
army.
Of women who nursed the wounded devotedly
there were, of course, innumerable
cases.
So there were of women who hid
fugitives and helped them to escape. But
there are at least three cases of women
who played a conspicuous part in the
actual fighting; and one more who set a
shining example.
In the rising in Co. Down, Betsy Grey
of Killinchy went to the camp of the
rebels near Ballinahinch with some supplies
for her brother and her sweetheart
in the army.
This was the service most
commonly performed by women in '98; but
Betsy Grey departed from the custom
when she decided to stay with her brother
and her sweetheart for the battle
then
imminent.
They found her a pony, and carrying a
green flag, she led the company into
action.
She, her brother and her sweetheart
all kept together in the retreat after
the defeat, at Ballinahinch; and all three
were murdered together by the yeomanry.
Nancy Doyle, a faggot-cutter's daughter,
behaved with conspicuous gallantry
during
the prolonged and bloody struggle to
capture New Ross in the Wexford rising.
Eye-witnesses report that she "seemed
to bear a charmed life."
Moving to and
fro when the battle raged most
fiercely,
she used one of her father's faggot-hooks
to cut the belts from the enemy soldiers
who had fallen, to get the cartridges from
their leather pouches.
These she distributed
to the rebels, who were desperately
short of ammunition.
At the end of the day when the rebel
army was in retreat, she saved a cannon
which they were going to abandon.
Taking
her stand by it. she swore she would
wait there to be shot unless they were men
enough to carry it off.
She succeeded In
rallying a party and together they saved
the cannon.
* • *
Susie 0Toole was a blacksmith's daughter
of Amtamoe, Co, Wicklow.
She gave
invaluable awistfince to the famous Wicklow
chief, Joseph Holt, who called her his
"moving magazine."
by T. A. Jackson |
arms and shoulders with their
bayonets
till she was covered with blood.
"Will you confess now?" they said, as
they jabbed.
She stuck to her one answer,
"I will tell you nothing."
They put the noose around her neck,
under the "gallows."
"Will you confess
now?
It's your last chance."
"You may murder' me," she said, "but
not a word will you get out of me!"
They hoisted her on the rope till only
her toes touched the ground, and her
senses had nearly left her. Then they gave
up, and carried her off to gaol.
In prison
they pestered her repeatedly, until her
health was destroyed and even her mind
became partially deranged.
In the end
they turned her adrift, without a home to
go to—her father had been killed—without
a relative in the world.
But never a word did they get from Ann
Devlin; and never while she lived would
she tolerate a wTong word said against
Robert Emmet or his cause.
* * *
These are a few only^f the women who
served in '98 and 1803. Their like has been
found every time the need has arisen; and
their like 4s—who can doubt it?—here today
as ready to serve as ever.
To those we have named we must add
Ann Devlin as typical of the great body
of Irishwomen who had given devoted service
in all the revolutionary
liberation
struggles in Ireland.
Ann Devlin was a peasant girl of
twenty-four who was sent by her father
to help in one of Robert Emmet's munition
depots and to act as household servant to
Emmet himself.
Ann was working at the depot on the
fateful June 23rd, 1803, when Emmet made
his abortive attempt.
She was despatching
a messenger on horseback with a sackful
of cartridges she had helped to make,
and a quantity of hand-grenades Emmet
had devised (made out of ink bottles filled
with powder and coated with buck-shot
embedded in cement) when Emmet and a
few companions returned disheartened
and dejected.
To her challenge Emmet himself replied,
"It Is me, ,Ann!"
"Musha! Bad welcome to you, then!"
Ann replied. "Is the world lost by you, you
cowards, that you lead the people to destruction
and then leave them?"
Emmet could only answer, sadly, "The
fault is not piine, Ann." •_._*.".
While Emmet hid in the mountains, Ann
carried letters to hhn.* She carried his
letters to Sarah Curran.
A MONG the stirring episodes
;:> nip
= - * centufies-old struggle of u;< ivj'-n
EE people for freedom, the memory 1798 is
= treasured by Irish men and women.
Mention Corn
Market in Belfast, and
= you will be told, there Henry jay
= McCracken was hung in '98. With pride
EE
they will point to McArts Fort juttinti out
= on Cave Hill and relate how 011 that 'loftv
= peak, Wolfe Tone, with his Belfast sup-
EE porters Neilson, Russell and McCracken,
= met and made their famous Declaration of'
EE
the Rights of Man in Ireland.
= To understand the '98 Rebellion it is
= necessary to revert to 1791. The Northern
= Whig Club was formed by Lords Charle-
EE
mont and Moira in Belfast in that year.
= Theobald Wolfe Tone was elected a mem-
EE ber of this Club. A young barrister, he
== was born in Dublin in 1763 and educated
= at Trinity College. Disappointed with the
IE
Whig Club and inspired by the French
EE
Revolution, Tone formed the first Lodge
= of the United Irishmen in Belfast in
EE
October, 1791. The objects of this Society
= were outlined in their famous Declaration
= of the Rights of Man in Ireland.
1 | UNION OF ALL CREEDS
=z ritHESE were briefly, the Emancipation of
EE
Ireland from English rule; the Re-
= form of Parliament, and the cordial Union
EE of all Creeds. The international oittlodk
EE
of the United Irishmen and their anituce
= to the ruling class in society is best shown
= by the following quotation from ths
EE
declaration:
= "When the aristocracy come forward
the people fall backward; when tie
EE people come forward, the aristocraci,
EE
fearful of being left behind, insinua e
EE themselves into our ranks and rise in 0
= timid leaders or treacherous auxiliaries
= They mean to make us their instn 1-
ments.
Let us rather make them our instruments.
One of the two must happe 1.
The people must serve the Party, or tie
Party must emerge in the mightiness if
the people, and Hercules will then leai
on his club.
On the 14th July, the da»
which shall ever commemorate Us
French Revolution, let this Society potr
by Joh
peasantry, and floggings and tortures were
the order of the day. Tone was still busy
EE
soliciting aid on the Continent, but his =
hopes were disappointed when a Dutch £
fleet was defeated by the British off Cam-
E
perdown. =
On 12th March, 1797, police seized mem- =
bers of the Dublin Committee of the E
Society and two months later Lord Edward =
Fitzgerald was wounded during arrest and
EE
died in Newgate Prison two months later.
EE
The brothers Sheares were hung at New- =
gate.
^
In May the people rose in armed rebel- =
lion. At Prosperous, in Co. Kildare, peas- =
ants armed with pikes captiTred the mili-
EE
tary barracks. Attacks were also made at =
Naas, Tara, Carlow and the Curragh, but
EE
at these towns the insurgents were de-
EE
feated. * =
In Co. Wexford notable successes were =
gained. On Saturday, 26th May, the signal
E
for rebellion was a beacon lit on the sum- =
mit of Carrigruahill, ten miles outside =
Ferns. By m a day a party of 5,000 men =
was formed at Oulart under the leadership =
of Fathers John and Michael Murphy. =
Moving next day on Enniscorthy, they de-
EE
feated the North Cork Militia and captured =
the town. Retreating to Wexford, the EE
British troops were compelled to evacuate
EE
that town also. The Green Flag was =
hoisted over the town, and the prisoners
EE
held there were released.
EE
BAGENAL HARVEY =
A MONG these was Bagenal Harvey, who
EE
took command of the peasant force. =
Under his leadership they advanced on
E
New Ross, intending an ultimate march
EE
on Dublin. At New Ross his forces were =
defeated after a stubborn fight in which
E
Lord Mountjoy, commander of the Dublin
E
Militia, was killed. =
Another force under Father John E
Murphy advanced on Arklow, Co. Wicklow. =
Here again the peasantry were defeated,
E
Father Murphy being killed. British E
forces then converged on Vinegar Hill. The
E
Irish forces, outnumbered and vastly in-
E
inferior in equipment, were defeated after =
fierce and bloody battle. This was the be-
E
ginning of the end of '98.
E
I
O f
EE
°ut their first libation to European lil •
erty, eventually the liberty of the worli,
= and with eyes raised to Heaven, in h i
EE
presence let them swear to maintain tl i
EE
rights and prerogatives of their natui s
= as men, and the right and prerogative < I
Ireland as an independent people."
GOVERNMENT ALARM
|N July 14th, 1791, Belfast celebratt I
the anniversary of the Storming < [
EE
the Bastille in Paris. Crowds swarmed b •
= hind the revived Volunteers, who marcht I
E with bands and flags to the Linen Ha .
= The day's proceedings closed with a dinir :
EE at which the toasts were Mirebeau, lead' 1
EE
of the Frenfh Revolution, Washington ar I
r: Franklin, who led the Americans in the 1
E fight for independence, and Molyneat I
E and G rattan, representative of Iris 1
= nationality.
E The strength of the United Irishmt 1
E grew rapidly. The Government gre
= alarmed, and in 1795 the Society was su;
E
pressed and Tone was forced to sail wit
= his family to America, continuing his act
E vities on behalf of the Society. The fc
= lowing year he left for France to solic
EE French aid for the purpose of freeir
E
Ireland.
= In Ireland the spirit of the people h£
= grown in determination to free their lan
EE Lord Edward Fitzgerald also appealed f<
E= help in France. The peasantry secret
E
armed themselves. Distrusting the militi
E
the landowners obtained permission fro:
= the Government to form their own ye
= manry. On 15th December, 1796, a Frenc
E fleet left Brest under command of Ge
= Hoche. Tone sailed with them on boai
E the Indomitable.- Meeting with storrr
EE
weather, the fleet scattered, and eventi
= ally fourteen ships anchored in Banti
EE Bay. No landing was attempted, and tr
= fleet returned to Prance.
MARTIAL
LAW
EE ritHE Government proclaimed martfc
= - 1 - law in Antrim, Down, Derry an
E Donegal, and the United Irishmen 1
= paper, the "Northern Star," was su]
= pressed and a number pf members of u
= Committee were arrested in Belfast, ir
g
. troops and ytomanrv were loosed on tr
1 Griffin
The leaders of the United Irishmen,
Thomas Emmett, Arthur O'Connor,
M'Nevin and others, were sent into detention
at Fort George in Scotland.
In the North, the United Irishmen
under Henry Jay McCracken attacked
Antrim; Newtownards and Saintfield were
seized by the Down men under the leadership
of Henry Munro.
Attacked by Gen.
Nugent's forces, they were finally defeated
at the battle of Ballynahinch.
Munro was
hanged at Lisbourn, and McCracken at
Belfast.
In August, Tone's efforts in France succeeded,
and another expedition under Gen.
Humbert sailed for Ireland. On 22nd August
they landed at Killala, Co. Mayo. Mat^
thew Tone accompanied them as representative
of the Irish people.
Lord Cornwallis
finally surrounded these forces and
compelled them to surrender at Ballinarnuck.
Matthew Tone was hanged immediately.
TOO LATE
r PHE French forces had arrived too late
to help the insurrection. Sailing from
Brest aboard the French ship the Hoche,
Wolfe Tone arrived off Loch Swilly on
October 10th. Attacked by the British warships,
the Hoche was forced to surrender.
Tone was imprisoned.
' Sentenced by a
courtmartial to be hanged, he was found
that same night in his cell bleeding from
a wound in his throat.
Execution of his
sentence was postponed on legal grounds,
and he died from the effects of his wound
on November 19th, 1798.
The memory of '98 burned into the
minds of the Irish people and will remain
for ever.
Wolfe Tone will always be doar
to them, and the annual pilgrimage to his
Pave at Bodenstown continued each year
until It was Hipprosaad by an Irish Gov-'
wtnwit.
The United Irishmen, led in the
"lain by Protestants, proved in the words
°(Jim Connolly 1
"Thatth* pressure of a common exploitation
ean make enthusiastic
rabafs
°ut * • Protestant work in* eftd* earne*t
champions of civil and religious
"borty out of Catholics, and out of both
• United 8oclal Democracy.-! „..".,
_
llltll»HIHWWHHH»IIHHIimHWHMHHHIIttlHimi»W
OF '98
A MONG the many who have given their
lives in the struggle to make Ireland
a Nation, few deserve a higher place on
the roll of fame than Tone's friend and
Robert Emmet's companion, Thomas
Russell.
Born in Co. Cork 011 November 21st, 1767,
the son of an Army officer, Russell was
himself an officer in the Army when he
made Tone's acquaintance
in Dublin in
1789. They had become close friends when
Russell and his regiment were moved to
Belfast.
Here Russell made the contact
with the more advanced Whigs—Neilson.
McCork, the Seimans, and others—which
resulted in his calling-in the aid of Tone,
from which in turn resulted the foundation
of the Society of United Irishmen in
October, 1791.
In the work of founding the Society,
Tone and Russell toured the district
around Belfast; and to their joint efforts
and the backing of Samuel Neilson the
successful launching was due.
Tone in his autobiography gives unstinted
praise to Russell and his work; in
fact, words were never better deserved
than Patrick Pearse's over the grave of
Tone: "I have always loved the very name
of Thomas Russell because Tone so lovea
him."
Yet Tone, unwittingly, has been the
cause of many mistaking completely the
nature and quality of Russell.
ing him by winning the less advanced
Whigs over to the agitation for Catholic
Emancipation which the United Irishmen
carried on at the same time as the Catholic
Committee agitated on its own behalf.
Tone in his diary describes how Russell
gave an eloquent and spirited "history of
the negotiations" of the Catholic Committee
and the United Irishmen which "history"
Tone applauds highly.
Then adds
Tone,
"decided on the spot to christen
Russell 'P.P., clerk of this parish.' "
Why?
To answer this query, one must
see the volume of "Miscellaneous Papers"
included in the works of Swift, and there
among a number of "squibs" concocted
jointly by Swift, Pope, Arbuthnot and
Gay, the curious will find, under the title
of "Memoirs of P.P., clerk of this Parish,"
a highly ribald parody of Burnet's History
of his own Times.
The jest is another pull at Russell's
"leg," and derives its point from Burnet's
old-womanish tendency to dwell upon all
sorts of trivial detail, and from the fact
that both Tone and Russell knew intimately
and relished highly the work of
Swift.
* * *
TiUSSELL'S standing in the Society of
United Irishmen is more than sufficient
to acquit him of both charges. He 1
was. until he was arrested in September,
1796. the chief military commander of the
Salute to
Thomas Russell
TN
the life of his father which Tone's
J- son compiled from the papers Tone
left behind him, there was included Tone's
diaries so far as they have survived.
These are of such inestimable merit that
they make the book stand out unrivalled
among works of its kind.
But inattentive readers are apt to forget
that the diaries were begun to serve the
purpose of a narrative-letter for the diversion
of Tone's wife and sister. And as Tone
loved a joke and was travelling with Russell,
it was only to be expected that he
should crack all sorts of jokes at Russell's
expense. (Russell, it must be remembered,
read the diary as it was written, as the
"girls" for whom it was written well
knew.)
Thus, when Tone refers to Russell as
"very drunk," "swearing horribly," "gloriously
drunk," and "highly disorderly,'
anyone knowing his Tone and the circumstances
knows that if these things
had
been merely true, Tone
would not have
troubled to record them.
The point of the
jest was that Russell had been intended
for the Church,
and in a hard-drinking
and hard-swearing age, was abstemious
both in his use of wine and strong language;
while Tone, one gathers, was quite
able to make up for Russell's deficiencies
in both fields.
Not that Tone was a drunkard, or foulmouthed.
He was a "good mixer," and
could keep up with his company in any
field they chose. That is apparent from
the esteem and affection he aroused
in
men vastly alien to his political outlook—
men like the Duke of Wellington with
whom Tone had played when they were
both children.
But if it be folly and worse to set down
Russell as nothing but a toper from a misreading
of Tone's "leg-pulls," the opposite
view, which some have taken—that Russell
was a dull, solemn puritan, is an equally
absurd misinterpretation.
It derives from Tone's playful trick of
giving his friends nicknames, and when he
christened Russell "P.P., clerk of this parish,"
the mischief was done for this
humourless school of expositors.
I grant that the joke here calls for
more erudition than these expositors commonly
possess, but it is a joke all
the
same and Illuminates both Tone and Russell.
a • •
T HE incident occurs when Tone and Russell
were hard at work, Tone building
the Catholic Committee and Russell aidby
T. A. Jackson
"underground" forces in Ulster, then
by
far the best organised province in Ireland.
Virtually he was, before Lord Edward Fitzgerald
became active in the movement, the
commander-in-chief of the United Irish
forces, and his capture struck the movement
a heavy blow.
In his private life he showed the same
ability to command respect; and the same
conscientious fearlessness for which Tone
so admired him.
He was tricked by a
swindler and forced to sell his commission
to pay a debt. Through the influence of-.a
friend he was made a magistrate in Tyrone
and appointed to a salaried office in connection
with the Manor Court at Dungannon.
He resigned the post, nine months
later because, as he stated publicly, he
"could not reconcile it to his conscience
to sit as a magistrate on a bench
when the practice prevailed of inquiring
what a man's religion was before inquiring
into the crime with which the prisoner
was accused."
What made his action all the more conspicuous
was that in a dispute then raging
between the handloom weavers and
the
linen-merchants, Russell took the side of
the weavers, and was at once suspected of
"Jacobinism" and "Republicanism."
He obtained the situation of librarian
to the Belfast Library, and in that capacity
he .helped to found the Belfast Academical
Institution.
Who dares to speak of " 83 "* =
Nor blushes at the name? =
O'Kelly, Dev. and McEntee, =
They'll bring their country shame. =
He's all a knave or half ^ slave
Who slights his country thus; ==
So. true men, like you, men, ~
Come, take vuur stand with us!
'Tis surely dark and evil days —
That see our land made safe
EE
For sweating boss whose rapine flays
EE
The mulcted diudge or waif; =
Whose profits keep in squalor deep
EE
Our slurti-housed kith and kin; =
Is't this, O Dead, for which ye bled =
And gave your lives to win? =r
Here's to his memory, may it be ~
For us a guiding light— ~
Our comrade brave, James Connolly, =
Who died for this same right— =
The right to that which toil and sweat =
Make holy in our claim; =
The right to choose our ranks with those =
We think are kith the same. =
Though Order Bill and Censorship =
Our struggle now assail, —
Before the threat of tyrants' whip =
Our forces shall not fail. —
We'll take our place, to lead the race
EE
From want and war and greed, —
Dissension by, our heads held high,
EE
Good brotherhood our creed! =
* Emergency Order 83 prohibits wage =
increases in Eire. =
I \ETAINED in prison, untried, until
J
' June 30th, 1802, Russell on his release
went with Tom Emmet and others to the
Continent, and during the short "peace of
Amiens" they visited Paris.
Emmet and
others accepted commissions in the French
army, but Russell held back, not having,
any faith in the good intentions of Napoleon.
At this point young Robert Emmet arrived
in Paris and laid before Russell his
plans for a fresh insurrection in Ireland.
Russell caught fire from Emmet's enthusiasm.
and returned with him to Dublin in
April, 1803.
Together they sought out Myles Byrne
(who had fought in Wexford, in '98) and
Jamie Hope, the weaver (who had fought
with Henry Jay McCracken in Antrim in
the same year). It was agreed that Emmet
should concentrate upon Dublin, while
Russell and Hope went to rouse the North.
Russell was cruelly disappointed.
Hr
had expected to And the North in the
(Continued at foot of Next Column)
Pilgrimage
to
Bodenstown
In Bodenstown church there lies a
green grave,
And wildly around it the winter winds
rave.
Small shelter I ween are the ruined
walls there
When the storm sweeps down o'er the
plains of Kildare.
j N June, 1898, I was one of the 50,000
1 Irish Nationalists who assembled at
Bodenstown Churchyard for the centenary
celebration of the glorious memory of
'98.
"We carried no corpse, we carried no
stone, but stopped when we came to the
grave of Wolfe Tone."
The orator of the
day was Underwood O'Connell, of New
York, who paid an eloquent tribute to the
memory of the dead patriot.
On returning t,o Dublin I entered a
music publishers in O'Connell Street and
asked for a copy of the music for the
"Grave of Wolfe Tone."
"There is no music to that piece," said
the shopkeeper, "it's a recitation."
"That's strange to me, seeing that I've
been singing it since childhood," I replied.
"Had you been at Bodenstown to-day you
might have heard me sing it."
Outside the music shop I engaged a
car and told the jarvey to drive to Glasnevin
Cemetery.
On the way I asked him,
"Do you know Clarence Mangiin's grave?"
He looked at me with surprise.
"What's
the matter with you?
I've been on the
stand for twenty-one years and you are the
first person who ever asked that question.'
"Well, do you know Mangan's
grave?"
"I do. sir." "Then take me to it."
On reaching the cemetery the jarvey
conducted me to a wild part and to a
grave where the rank grass was higher
than the headstone.
Taking off his cap,
the jarvey inserted the stock of his whip
between the grass and the stone, laying
back the grass to enable me to read the
inscription.
"Poor Mangan," I reflected, "poverty
followed you even to the grave.
But the
Dark Rosaleen whom you loved so dearly
might have given you a more fitting
memorial than that paltry slab of stone. "
PEADAR
O'GROUKE-FANNING.
(Continued from Preceding Column)
same temper as in 1796. He might as well
have been on another planet.
He issued a
manifesto but got no response at all. Before
he pould rejoin Emmet, he, too, had
met frustration, disaster and death.
Rurse.1! remained hidden
In a craftsman's
house in Dublin until
September,
1803. when he was arrested on suspicion.
He does not seem to hav% been betrayed,
and certainly was not by the working-men
among whom he lay hidden while three
separate rewards of £500 each were
offered for information leading to his
arrest..
He was, of course, found "guilty," and
was hanged in the churchyard at Downpa
trick on October 21st, 1803.

X
6 IRISH FREEDOM June, 1942
Two 'Trish Freedom"
BREAD
AND
li POLITICS
importance ol Irish agriculture to
the cause of democracy is considerual-
Increased agricultural production in
liiij country will not only help to solve the
p;. mt,i critical shortage of food at home.
Dir. ii will also mean a steady stream of
foe a supplies for the people of Britain and
th' forces of the democratic allies based
or. Britain to-day. and this in its turn will
liv . 11 the liberation of valuable shipping
,.i;i»ce. now used for food, for carriage of the'Stormont
-.',. .'. materials and munitions, and the freeof
man-power in countries overseas for
ii
more important than the production
siK transport of food for Britain.
"Various steps have been taken in the
pas' fetv years, almost entirely as a result
of pressure from the working-class and
democratic forces, to protect and improve
Ir;.=h agriculture. First there was the imposition
by the Fianna Fail government
fiv- years ago of a guaranteed minimum
\\P-c-o of. at first 27s..and later 30s. a week.
This, together with the halving of annuity
payments on farms in the Twenty-Six
Counties, helped to stem the flight_ from
the land aftd mrffcV 7 county We sllgtitly
less unattractive than it had been under
the Cosgrave and British regimes. Then in
Juno, 1940. the long-overdue Agricultural
Wages Board Act came into force in the
Si" Counties, fixing legal minimum wage
rales for agricultural workers in all districts
in the North. These rates have been
revised, under pressure, more than once,
arc! in December 1941, after a fairly widespread
campaign in which farmworkers in
the Derry district took a prominent part,
minimum wage rates were fixed, varying
from 41s. in Co. Fermanagh to 48s. round
Belfast, for a 54-hour week. 'The actual
demand for the Six County farmworkers
was for 60s. for a week of 50 hours, as in
Encland. for all districts in the province.)
WOODBINES!
vrR. COADY. the Agricultural In-
I structor. was lecturing recently
in Northern Longford to an audience
of farmers. He spoke for an
hour, and then asked if anyone
wished to put a question. There was
silence.
Thinking that, perhaps, his point
needed further elucidation, he continued
for another twenty minutes,
and then asked for questions again.
This time, after some hesitation, one
of the farmers got up and asked:
"Do you knp* where I'd get Woodbines
in Longford?"
Meanwhile, the bread crisis has broken
in ihe South, and Mr. Lemass has declared
that there is a shortage of 100.000 tons of
wheat, or nearly one-third of a normal
year's supply. The reasons for this are not
very far to seek.
They are .in the first place, the unpatriotic
attitude of larger farmers in the midlands.
who are more interested in making
a quick fortune out of cattle exports to
Great Britain than in growing essential
foodstuff for home consumption These
gentry, with whom the Fianna Fail Government
(largely for lack of pressure from
the labour and democratic forcesl has
been far too lenient, must be well aware
thaf the discontent which is arising in Ireland
from the lack of adequate bread supplies
is liable to play into the hands of the
various Nazi agents, from Trotskyites to
so-ealled Republicans, who wish for their
own ends to stir up discontent against the
Di Valera Government
Then there is the deplorably low legal
wage 130sJ payable u> farm-workers in
the south, which itself is by no means
always paid. This low wage has had the
effect of withdrawing skilled agricultural
labour from the laiid. Finally, there is
the fact that the activities of the Land
Commission, directed towards the bringing
into production waste land and large derelict
estates, has been carried on at somewhat
leisurely rate. (There was, a recent
demonstration in Dublin from the Meath
Gaeltacht on this subject.)
One of the chief reasons for the present
condition of Ireland is the neglect of agriculture.
both theoretically and from the
point of view of organisation of farmworkers
and small farmers, which the
labour movement has displayed. It is to be
hopsd that the newly-promulgated programme
of the Northern Labour Party for
the prosperity of Northern agriculture will
during this year be carried into every
country district of the North, and that real
and concentrated pressure will be put upon
Government to see that a
fair deal is given to the farm-worker and
the small farmer, and that rigid measures
are used to prevent middlemen, the railways
and the banks from filling their
pockets at the expense of the agricultural
producer in the North and the food-consumer
both sides of the Irish Sea.
At the same time, the Southern Labour
movement has the immediate task, not of
carping and doctrinaire criticism, but of
campaigning vigorously, in company with
other democratic forces, for a number of
rapid reforms which will have the effect
of* solving the bread crisis and steeply
raising the productivity of all branches of
Irish agriculture for the benefit both of
the Irish and British peoples.
Such reforms are, briefly, as follows:
(1) An increase in the minimum wage
for Southern agricultural workers.
(2) Reasonable guaranteed prices for
all classes of agricultural produce.
(3) A greatly increased percentage of
compulsory tillage area on large farms
containing.ar&ble land.
(4) Interest-free loans tp snia|| farmers
to enable (hem to obtain Implements,
seed, etc.
(5) Drastic price control, to prevent
the present exploitation of the agricultural
population by unscrupufous gombeen
men.
(6) Facilities tor the provision of the
maximum amount of fertilisers free of
charge for farmers.
With regard to the sixth point, the
Labour and Irish movements in Britain
have the duty of pressing upon the British
authorities the need for shipment of fertilisers
to Ireland in expectation of increased
food shipments to Britain.
At the same time, Si* County,agriculture^
ip order to play its full part in the
crisis, requires two reforms, jnamely a reduction
of land annuity payments for
the ninety thousand, odq, sMtft'farmers
in the JNorth,' and a. higher,' standardised
wags'for ttip Nfrrth'.s.'iMOO farmworkers.
The whole of. lije&hd, like th^ whole
of ftrjtain, is^ oye^sfijUfpw^ ty the UAzi
menace.,
The A^irlcultyraj workers and
sflial), farmers of 'the Thirty-two' counties,.
wiljs. t | hei/' great tradition of,struggle
for liberty, like the. ,gpirectiye, farmers
of the U.S r S.R., the peasants of
Chin*, and th'fijarifl-WQrkers of. Britain,
will wish to..cf>ntrjbute ty.thq ityttle for
freedom and a more prosperous future
for all .working people.
P. McQuillan
S 1 NEW RADIO CHIEF
1EAMUS O BRAONAIN. Acting Director
of Broadcasting at Radio Eireann,
has been appointed Director.
He hoped to improve the musical side
of broadcasting by extending the public
symphony concerts.
r If possible, there would also be concerts
from provincial centres, but that would
depend on suitable material being available.
A difficulty about arranging programmes
was that features which were
popular in the country were not so popular
in the towns and cities and vice versa.
Regarding Irish, he said his aim was to
"popularise" it through the radio.
"We want as much variety as we can
get,' not exclusively fifteen-minute talks,
but features which would include drama,
music, songs, jokes, stories.
"Wc want to make Irish as natural and
interesting as possible. We .want to put it
on a par, at least, with English or any
othe^ language in our programmes.''
Suggestions for suitable Gaelic programmes,
he said, would be carefully
considered.
Specials
GERMANS
WHO
I THINK
/ rvice to
the average untutored music lover like
myself.
The story of the Philharmonic appeared
in the April issue of "Irish Freedom." Till
then, most of us had thought, mistakenly,
that symphony orchestras were recognised
by everybody, including Cabinet ministers,
to be one of the greatest achievements of
civilisation, and sordid questions of
finance were never permitted to trouble
such organisations.
Russell gives us the detailed story of
the Philharmonic's war-time struggles and
its transformation into a self-governing
orchestra relying on popular audiences for
its support. He does not minimise the
difficulties still to be overcome, or the
necessity and desirability of subsidies. But
he speaks confidently . . . "the immensity
of all that is at stake, the vision of all
that may be lost, has awakened thousands
of people to a recognition of the treasures
they possess."
He writes delightfully of the mysteries
of the modern symphony orchestra. We
are taken behind the scenes and given the
"low-down" on conductors and players.
Even then we are not finished, for Russell
seems to knew all the questions which you
a-.id I n^g^t ask were we to find ourselves
in the congenial company of a discursive
musician.
You should read this remarkable book.
J. B. Priestley contributes a stimulating
preface.
PETER KELLY.
* "Philharmonic," Thomas Russell (Jonathan
Capei. 7 6.
HAVE
YOU
GOT
CONNOLLYS
WRITINGS?
Send Cash with Older
to " Irish Freedom,"
K o o m 117, Premier
House, 150 Southampton
Row, London, W.C.I
LABOUR IN IRISH HISTORY
THE AXE TO THE ROOT
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RELIGION
THE RECONQUEST OF IRE-
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Complete Set of Four Book*,
2 10 post free
edited by ANNE
KELLY
How green
was your valley
V
HIS lilin i-.as been criticised unfavourbly
by many because they say it is
disjointed and untrue to life. It gives a
picture of Welsh mining village life that
is not grim enough. Its producers failed
to pay sufficient attention to such details
as the un-Weish accent of some of the
players, as the too-elegant coiffures of
the village girls, and as the too-sumptuous
cottages.
But they ovenook the fact that the film
is not. and is not intended to be. a piece
of documentary evidence. It is something
rarer than a replica. It is a breathing recreation
of a quality of life we have all
known, wherever we have lived.
When voices sneak out of our childhood
they recall a series of pictures just such as
those recorded here, just as lightly connected.
glowing unmistakably in just such
colours and shapes. The friends and foes
of childhood appear to us with the similar
intensity of beauty or villainy as the
lovely sister, the stern honest father, the
kindly preacher, and the nasty little
deacon appear to this boy. The home if
childhood in memciry is similarly far
larger and finer than its measurements.
A Belfast Story
\ SIMPLE story- powerfully told. Without
sentimentality or condescension
Laverty describes a tragedy of poverty.
In response to her unemployed soil's desperate
appeal, grandmother leaves her
beloved cottage and field at Toome to
lodge in his crowded Belfast cottage where
her pension, scant as it is, means salvation
from the bailiffs.
Grouped round the central characters—
the fading, enduring grandmother, Johnny
and his wife Kate, stoic, anxious and
kindly, Mary, dreaming of refuge in a convent,
Hugh, planning marriage on his first
job—the household'and street are vital
with life.
The objectivity of this gifted young
writer leaves judgment implicit on society,
expressed in the poignant observation of
the grandmother — "There's something
wrong and wretched in a world where old
women are out picking cinders on an Ash
Wednesday morning."
Laverty promises to add lustre to the
school of Irish realists, and we look forward
in high hope to his succeeding work.
* "Lost Fields," Michael McLaverty
athan Cape), 7/6.
The Soviet
Reader Today
(Jon-
rpHE Soviet reader is not only eager to
read the newest foreign novels, poetry
and short stories; he also wants to know
what the leading representatives of world
literature have to say about the burning
questions of our times.
The magazine "International Literature"
serves to satisfy this interest. John Steinbeck's
"Grapes of Wrath," Richard
Wright's "Native Son," Sean O'Casey's "I
Knock at the Door," Jim Phelan's "Green
Volcano," Roger Martin Dugar's "Thibauld
Family," Jules Remain'/ "Verdun,"
Thomas Mann's "Lotte in Weimar," and
new war stories by Chinese authors were
published serially in the Russian edition
of "International Literature" a few
months before the outbreak of war.
Recent issues included "In Place of
Splendour," by Constancia de la Mora.
Anti-Hitler plays by Berthold Brecht, a
German writer, and short stories by
Friedrich Wolf have also been very well
received.
Every issue of "International Literature"
contains stories and articles about Germany
and other Fascist countries.
The magazine has also published many
writings devoted to the fight of the British
people, and particularly to the gallantry
of London and other cities In the face of
Nazi air raids.
Much space is devoted to discussion of
the cultural bonds which unite Russian
and Anglo-American literature. Ample
book reviews help to keep the Soviet
reader abreast of the most outstanding
anti-Fascist literature of the world. The
magazine receives a voluminous correspondence
from all parts of the world.
and its surrounding,
earthly richness as hills of his v.::chood.
Those who set up a shriek of "ui .•al."'
"inaccurate." betray a kick ol inteli ;_..nce
and sympathy and admit to having -U'OWll
a shell instead of a skin.
The photography skilfully mai: .'. a:ns
the atmosphere of retrospect, and t his is
heightened by the very line commei i.'.ary,
.ins
:Ch
at times approaching poetry, which
through it. and by the Welsh songs .
flow in and out.
Altogether it leaves an impression c." :ho
dignity of life in the valleys, and th, -ad
inevitability of the breaking-up of family
and community life under forces th-. ooy
does not understand.
Roddy McDowell plays the boy Hugh
Morgan simply and unpretentiously but
the best-played part is that of the mcr.her.
It was a wise producer who decided to
risk an Irish tmgc to a Welsh accei; and
give the part to that fine actress Sara
Allgood. The unsophisticated and humanhearted
will undoubtedly live through a
delicate interpretation of past days as
moving as their own dearest memorie-5.
Changes
at Stormont
W
FREDA
BEADLE.
H. McCULLOUGH. well-knov n Belfast
workers' leader, has written an
interesting pamphlet. " Changes at Stormont"
t price 2dj. declaring that the Government
of Northern Ireland, as it is at
present constituted, cannot rally the
people, nor obtain their whole-h arted
support because the people have not
sufficient confidence in it.
He calls for a reconstitution cf the
Stormont Government to include representatives
from all sections of the
people. Unionist. Independent Unionists.
Nationalist, Labour. Referring, to the
Government of Eire, he writes: "There is
no reason why the relationship between
the Northern and Southern Governments
should not be better—there is, indeed, a
sound basis for improvement which would
be of mutual advantage, and would assist
the war effort. Unfortunately, the present
Stormont Government is not the best
government to bring out that iimrovement."
I)ETTER plays are being written in Irish
than in English in this country at
present, but "a certain amount of cold
shoulder is being given to Irish dramatists
and a certain coterie is tending to ignore
them," said Seamus de Bhilmot. adjudicating
in the Irish dramatic classes at
Feis Shligigh.
READY IN JUNE
WAR
in the
WORKSHOPS
by
JACK OWEN
In this book Jack Owen
analyses many of the factors
which are holding up production
in the engineering
industry, and from a wealth
of experience as a worker in
the industry, puts forward
practical suggestions for
solving these problems.
1/3 net
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nf publications
2 SOI I II\\ll'TO\ PLACE, II .C.i
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to

1 \
IRISH FREEDOM June, 1942
Two u Irish Freedom"
BREAD
AND
I POLITICS
"I":K importance ol Irish agriculture u>
:hc cause ol democracy is eonsider-
Increased apricn'.iural production in
.,: - , 01 tutr.. will not only help to solve the
i>: • - m critical shortage .of food at home.
, \\iil also mean a steady stream of
supplies for ihe people of Britain and
forces of the democratic allies based
o. Britain to-day. and this in its turn will
.. the liberation of valuable shipping
. ... now used lor food, lor carriage of
materials and munitions, and the free-
:. _ -.f man-power in countries overseas for
.. . . more important than the production
.,:; transport of food for Britain.
V. rions steps have been taken in ilv
pre few years, almost entirely as a result
of ; resstire from the working-class and
been appointed Director.
He hoped to improve tile musical side
of broadcasting by extending the public
symphony concerts.
If possible, there would also be concerts
Irom provincial centres, but that would
depend on suitable material being available.
A difficulty about arranging programmes
was that features which were
popular in the country were not so popular
in the towns and cities and vice versa.
Regarding Irish, he said his aim was to
"popularise" it through the radio
"We want as much variety as we can
get; not exclusively fifteen-minute talks,
but features which would include drama,
music, songs, jokes, stories.
"We want to make Irish as natural and
interesting as possible. We want to put it
on a par. at least, with English or any
other language in our programmes."
Suggestions for suitable Gaelic programmes.
he said, would be carefully
One of the chief reasons for the present
Condition of Ireland is the neglect of agri- J considered
Specials
GERMANS
WHO
THINK
/ 'AN you imagine several hundred young
• people getting together in Germany
for a free and unrestrained discussion of
war and peace, and debating questions of
politics and philosophy?
Can you visualise young Germans who
are able to more than repeat. "The Fuehrer
thinks for me." and who have a right
to think for themselves; young Nazis who
suddenly find themselves compelled to find
a reply to all the questions arising in their
minds; young ami-Fascists who suddenly
find that they have nothing to fear—in
short, young people who are not merely
mute subordinates but independent individuals?
No. Such democratic gatherings of
young Germans are of course out of the
question in Hitler Germany. But. less than
1,250 miles from Berlin such meetings do
take place, attended by German workers,
farmers and students who debate and
hammer out their new ideas together. I
am referring to meetings of German war
prisoners in the U.S.S.R.
THINKS FOR THE FIRST TIME
"I began to think here for the first time,"
said one young German soldier after a
heated discussion.
How have the German soldiers been converted
from fighting automata into thinking
men?
Not all ol them have passed through
such an evolution. Among them are some
diehard Nazis who to this very day hope to
become the masters and executioners of
foreign peoples. Among them are former
leaders of the Hitler Youth, and other individuals
prepared to sell whatever convictions
they have for their personal advantage.
But the fact is that such types now
form the minority.
NOT AN EASY PROCESS
These young German soldiers are undergoing
a tremendous moral change. They
are sincerely striving for a new understanding.
It would be folly to think that
the process is either easy or smooth. Terrific
upheavals are required to set these
young minds thinking along new lines. All
of them grew up in the atmosphere of
Nazidom.
They were told that only the German
was human, and that the only justification
for the existence of the rest of the
world was to serve the Germans. They
were intoxicated by the victories of German
arms and were accustomed to gather
booty and loot their victims. Most of them
were taken prisoner at a time when the
German armies were not yet being pushed
back all along the front, when they were
still sure of ultimate victory. They hoped,
when captured, to return to Germany
within a few weeks.
Quite candidly it required the failure of
the German offensive to unfetter the
minds of these young people. The unexpectedly
strong resistance of the Red
Army, the moral and military superiority
of the Soviet troops had already sown consternation
and confusion in the minds of
these men. and as the outcome of the
battles became more apparent, the first as
yet hazy thoughts of doubt began to grow
in the minds of the German soldiers.
Their second surprise and shock c..." •
when they discovered what prisoner-'
camps in the Soviet Union were like. Tit;
Nazi officers had told their men that tit-
Russians were accustomed to beat up ar.d
execute war prisoners. They found that
this jvas not true.
They found humane treatment, clean
warm bathhouses, wholesome food, medical
aid. neat barracks, cinema, library and athletic
fields. All this was not their greatest,
shock. This came with the first snowfall
with the setting in of cold weather—and
still, in spite of Hitler's promise, no siitu
of the end of the war.
Then came the great offensive of the Red
Army along the whole front. It was at,
this point thai the foundation of Fascist
influence, the blind faith in German invincibility,
the fixed idea that the German
is perfection itself and far superior to all
other peoples, began to crumble and break.
And when it did break, the prisoners'
minds were open to independent thought.
AWAKENING AFTER NIGHTMARE
German soldiers in the prison camps
are becoming more and tndre convinced
that Hitler has deceived them. They feel
that they have been living in the shadow
of a gigantic lie. It is the awakening after
a nightmare in which imperialism paraded
as German socialism, raving madness was
presented as order, shame and disgrace appeared
as glory, and crime as heroism.
All of a sudden they were face to face
with truth. Astonished by this truth, they
asked, "What will happen to Germany'-*"
In their profound anxiety for Germany s
fate they gave the reply m an appeal to the
German people signed originally by 158
German soldiers, and in the last two weeks
by a further 474.
From Hitler's mercenaries these young
men have been transformed into champions
of Germany's future. People inside
Germany hear their message. They will
not. wait for the Nazis to fall tinder the
blows without. They will help to crush
Hitler, so that when the peoples settle their
account with him. Germany herself may
not be crushed
PROTEST AT ELECTION
OF DCRRY MAYOR
A CHALLENGE to have a plebiscite
taken upon the question of the
Mayoralty was issued at a recent meeting
of Derry Corporation by Councillor James
McGeehan. when he and other Nationalist
members protested against the re-election
as Mayor of Senator F. J. Simmons, the
Unionist nominee.
"I can assure you," declared Councillor
McGeehan. "that if you have a plebiscite
you will not receive a single vote from the
15.812 Nationalist electors. You will gel a
good percentage of the 10,638 Unionist
HOtes. Yet we must watch this farce of
a Unionist Mayor being appointed."
ON THE NATIONAL
by J. STALIN
We now have a fully formed multi-national Socialist
State which has .stood all tests and whose stability might
well be envied by any national State in any part of the
world."—Muhu.
Price 6d. Post free 7d.
* * *
H'c sell nil progressive hunks, including -.eurks
hy James Connelly. II rite fur free list.
CENTRAL
BOOKS LTD.
2-4, PART.ON STREET, LONDON, W.C.I
risk an Irish tinge to a Welsh accen „nd
give the part to that fine actre-- Sara
Allgood. Tile unsophisticated and ii ::,;.:.-
hearted will undoubtedly live thrc -h .<
delicate interpretation of past cia; - as
moving as their own dearest, memon
FREDA BEADLE.
Changes
at Stormont
H. McCULLOUGH, \\e!l-kno. .
** • fast workers' leader, lias writ',
interesting pamphlet. - Changes at
mont" i price 2d.i. declaring that theminent
of Northern Ireland, as i:
present constituted, cannot ralh
people, nor obtain their whole-h
support because the people ha - ,
sufficient confidence m it.
He calls for a recotistitution : the
Siormont Government to include :
teprethe
sentatives from all sections c:
people. Unionist. Independent Unt
:usts.
Nationalist. Labour. Referring to
the
Government of Eire, he writes: "Til:
;re is
no reason why the relationship bet
ween,
the Northern and Southern Govern::
should not be better—there is. intisound
basis for improvement which
lents
•ed. a
bo of mutual advantage, and would
ivould
the war effoit. Unfortunately, the p
assist
Stormont Government is not the
government to bring out that nr.
ment."
. Belli
an
Stor-
Gov-
;s at
the
at'ted
not
'esent
best
-rove-
I)ET'I'ER plays are being written .n Irisn
than in English in this country at
present, but "a certain amount of cold
shoulder is being given to Irish dramatists
and a certain coterie is tending to ignore
them." said Seamus de Bhilmot adjudicating
in the Irish flramatic clas-.-s at
Feis Shligigh.
READY IN JUNE
WAR
in the
WORKSHOPS
by
JACK OWEN
In this book J tick Owen
analyses many of the factor.,
which are holding up production
in the en.nincennn
industry, and from a wealth
of experience as a worker in
the industry, puts forward
practical suggestions tor
solving these problems
1/3 net
/'/

8 IRISH FREEDOM June, 1942
STORM CLOUDS
OVER AFRICA
< LARING inequalities in the matter of
^ ' punishment exist between white and
biaek soldiers. African soldiers are subject
to stoppages of pay for the most
trivial offences. Local public opinion
a-eply resentful at these indignities, is
po.veriess to express itself, the press beii:_
e.1 ••cttvely muzzled by the Colonial D-
.eitce Regulations. In Nigeria a press cen-
I sorship regulation was recently introi
duced threatening with prosecution the
proprietor and editor of any newspaper
: which publishes matter relating to a strike
| N the last war, West Africa became a Libya to Northern Nigeria, was the first in Madagascar, Vichy plans for Wast
! or labour dispute, etc., which, in the
' battlefront the moment the British Fn-nch colony to declare for the de Africa are likely to be accelerated under
; opinion of the authorities, is likely to
ultimatum to Germany expired. Indeed it Gaullist movement. After the debacle at intensified Axis pressure.
i raise the morale of the enemy."
it recorded that the first shot fired by a D?ka:\ General de Gaulle's forces proceeded
to French Equatorial Africa and,
British soldier came from the rifle of an
STRATEGICAL ROADS
This negative approach to a question e:
African sergeant ot the Gold Coast Regiment
which invaded German Togoland on able to effect a link between Chad and * ' French hate been building the sys-
Somatic oi the policies of t'r,;stratum
riveting with very little opposition, were 1 V'HILE the British and tne F: •• • tal importance to a country at war :.•
August 4th, 1914.
the Atlantic seaboard. Tims Donala. tem of strategical roads and landing sr.es negation of which alone colonial
There-being no German colonies this Pointe Noire, and Brazzaville in Free in the Sou'.he.n Sahara and Middle Congo literacy senilis capable,
time. West Alnca seemed remote from the French territory, together with Lagos regions to establish communications between
the West African ports and the African people are beginning to
spite o: these obvious handicaps th"
scene of hostilities, and the realisation of • Nigeria i. Accra and Takoradi 'Gold
us present strategic importance in relation Coast i assumed fresh importance as ports Middle East. Axis engineers have been shake off political torpor. The decision of
to the Bat lie of the Atlantic and to the ai which supplies could be unloaded for equally active p ishing ahead with the ! the Nigerian National Democratic Party,
supply routes to the Middle East appeared transport across Africa to the MicU.lt> East. scheme of connecting Mers-ei-kebir i the Youth Movement, and the Young
i Algeriai with Dakar.
1 Democrats to amalgamate and form a
unlikely.
FORT LAMY BOMBED
The fall of France, however, transformed
Two hundred thousand labourers, including
Moroccans. Algerians. French
! broader national movement is an indicaj
tion of this awakening.
the picture. Somnolence and tranquility l^ORT Lamy. the capital of Chad, stands
gave way to agitation and alarm. The fate * at the junction of routes across Central
Africa to the Nile Valley and the Red prisoners of the Spanish Civil War. have
prisoners of war. and even Republican
SELF-GOVERNMENT NOW
of the vast French colonial territories became
a matter of grave concern both to Sea. It soon received the attentions ol been set to build a road and a railway
j THE people of the Soviet Union. Clint.
I -*- and the Phiilipines have cietuor.-
the subject peoples and their imperialist hostile reconnaissance planes, and recently.
after the announcement of Amer-
landing fields. This project is reported to
alongside which is situated a series of
I strated that one of the essentials to sisorulers.
The port of Dakar, the best developed
and by far the best equipped in ica's recognition of the Free French terri-
be Hearing completion.
! cessful resistance to aggression is a clear
| and positive objective and a passionate
West Africa, became the object of attention
and both belligerents made efforts to Axis territory is 1.400 miles away in the West African scene appears more
tories. it was bombed. Since the nearest In the midst of the gathering threat,
i and enduring will to sacrifice in order to
j attain it. The torch they have kindled
secure control of the fort and its hinterland.
raid could only have come from territory
West African Students' Union of Great
Libya, the airplanes that took part in the tenebrous the closer it is examined.
has shown the way, for instance, to th •
DAKAR A SPRINGBOARD under Vichy control.
Britain, who. in London, recently sent to
jFOLLOWING the signing of the Armis- The bombing of Fort Lamy may be the
- by -
the Prime Minister and newspapers in
* tice. with France, the Axis Powers prelude to a campaign by the Vichy Government
to recover "rebel" territory. It Desmond Buckle tion:
Britain and abroad the following resolu-
sent there an army of technicians on the
pretext of improving its defences, but in is possible that it was in this connection
' In the interests of Freedom, Justice,
reality to prepare it as a base for their that Admiral Platon. then Minister of The events of the last six months in and true Democracy, and in view of the
U-boat olfensive against British shipping Colonies, toured West Africa at the end Asia have proved that countries can only lessons of Malaya and Burma, as well as
in the Atlantic. The facilities it offered of last year. On his return to Vichy in successfully be defended by their own the obvious need of giving the peoples of
as a springboard for an attack on the January, he said:
people—people whose roots are deeply the Empire something to fight for, the
Americas were by no means overlooked. If "In the military field everything has embedded in the soil. The day of "garrison"
defence is over. The vaunted de-
Britain strongly urges the British Gov-
West African Students' Union in Great
Dakar in Axis control was a menace to been done. Resources have been concentrated
m quantities sufficient to discourfences
of Hong Kong, Malaya, Singaernment
to grant internal self-govern-
vital British supply routes, its strategic
position at the point where the Old World age the aggressive ideas of those who pore, Java and Burma were of no avail ment NOW, with a definite guarantee ol
comes closest to the New was of equal would like to repay themselves with our when the test came, for the teeming complete self-government within five
magnitude.
Empire for the cost of the war which populations of these lands were not inspired
to participate in their defence.
We are convinced that only a realis-
years after the war.
British action to secure control of the they are continuing. The resources have
port or ;o neutralise it followed. However, been considerably increased and arms Yet that melancholy tale seems to have tic approach and a generous gesture on
the clumsy effort which found expression are arriving in increasing quantities." taught no lessons in some quarters. The the part of the Imperial Government
in General de Gaulle's abortive attempt to Admiral Platon's words do not preclude policy of forcing the native to accept a now can save the Empire from collapse.
win over the port, and the subsequent bombardment
by British warships, in which action against Free French territory by time expecting him to fight, is still being ered over West Africa will break and
the use of these resources in offensive position of inferiority while at the same How soon the storm clouds now gath-
hundreds of innocent people were killed, Vichy forces. In that regard conjecture pursued in West Africa. Africans, who drench yet another part of a long-sujf.'nr..-.
was grist to the mill of Axis propaganda can go further.
will bear the brunt of ar,y conflict in iifvs* con' in.rt I.. IVad *ep