Troops Out of Ireland!

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FOR nearly 13 years now, the British Army has been on the streets of Nor thern Ireland, during what has become known 88 "the troubles"

The cause of "the trombles" goes back hundreds of years, to the start of British rule of Ireland and the fight of the Irish people to rule themselves.

In 1920 26 counties gained independence, while 6 of the 9 counties of Ulster remained under British This was opposed by the Labour movement of the time; Belfast Trades Council voted against partition, realising that the proposed six county state would lead to greater divisions inside the northern Irish working class.

The British Labour Party of 1921 stated that it was "prepared to allow Ireland to assume whatever form of self determination the great mass of the Irish people desire."

What has happened since 1920 is that the Northern irish working class has been divided, not by religion but on the basis of religion, which in turn reflects whether one is a loyalist or a nationalist. In Britain the labour movement mostly quietly forgot about the six counties until 1969 when the troops were sent in.

So what is the basis of the division in the Northern Irish working class? Is it just that the Catholic community want to be part of Eire and the Protestants want to be part of Britain? No, it is deeper than that.

In the 1960s an agitation started to campaign for civil rights against the discrimination experienced by by Catholics. Like the blacks in the USA, they wanted equal opportunities — with the Protestants.

To understand the nature of discrimination you have to realise that your name, your school and your address in Northern Ireland are all indications of which community you belong to.

For example, if your name of O'Hara and you live on the White Rock Road, and went to school at St. Paul's, then you are a catholic. Also if you say haitch instead of aitch, then you are a Catholic.

You don't need to be black to be noticed and discriminated against, if people are aware of these guides.

The levels of discrimination are best illustrated by the fact that throughout the whole of the six counties, the 1971 census showed that in every Distriet Council area, Catholic unemployment rates were higher than Protestants, from the industrial areas of Belfast to the agricultural areas of Fermanagh.

No surprise when the official ideology was voiced Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in the 1930s.

The Civil Rights marches of the 1960s were met with a violent response from Orangemen and from the RUC, whose members are overwhelmingly Protestant, as they were seen as an attack on the privileges of the Protestant community.

Most famous was the attack on the Belfast to Derry march organised by People's Democracy starting out on January 1, 1969. When they came to Burntollet Bridge, just outside Derry "a force of From then on the levels in the union. struggle between the Catholic community and is to ask branches and the statelet of Northern Ireland moved away from sider ways of making their just being about equal meetings more accessible to rights and an end to dis- the good advice about women". Unfortunately, all crimination. It came to be about the struggle for a reunited Ireland as the precondition for ending discrimination. situation.

NUPE at the moment has no policy on the question of Northern Ireland, and abstained at last year's Labour Party conferenc. when the question was debated. This is despite the fact that NUPE organises Protestants and Catholics in the six counties, on a 50§50 basis.

As trade unionists, we should see it as fundamental to fight against discrimination. Therefore we argue that NUPE takes up the Irish question, organises more of the day schools and weekend schools like the one organised by the East Midlands Division at the beginning of April.

We propose that it also commits itself to the principle of unconditional British withdrawal and a united Ireland, as the only solution to the troubles, and affiliates to the Labour Committee on Ireland.

Delegates should support and vote for composite 14.

CHARLIE SARELL NUPE steward Leicester Hospitals branch IT"

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CATFRI HOT SNACKS