THE growing instability of the neo-colonial part of Ireland was highlighted by the general election on 11 June for the Dublin parliament.
The seats were divided Lost evenly between the ec: erning bourgeois party The bourgeois opposiThe first, Fianna Fail, -8 seats; the second, ite Gael and Labour, 80.
highly peculiar hold the lance of power.
H Block prisoner canlidates won two seats, eferively denying rianna any possibility of putEg together a stable maWhatever kind of weak overnment emerges from be intensive wheeling and which has now will be much revious one to pressures nsing anti-imperialist «ung, locusea on tne r ack issue and the impendısaster visible all servers Dutlet The relative economic * elopment ot the past eas was fuelled and susted by borrowing, and day of reckoning for imperialist banks and lancial institutions is approaching.
the same time, the osperity of the last years • ihe closing-oft of the ditional outlet of arraton nas produced explosive growth of the ambers of youth who are *ginning to flood onto a job market. this situation the ish people are desperatelooking for political rematives.
This was reflected by wild fluctuation in the pinion polls In Ine 01 C * results. the erratic pattern of The national coalition I Fine Gael and Labour bich governed the couny ::om 1973-7 left an evil mory of repression and capitulation to imc.a.ism.
repeat of such a cialist Challenge 18 June 1981
Dublin
government was not an attractive alternative, but the incumbent regime had done nothing to deal with the economic problems.
Failed Its anti-imperialism did not go beyond a little pale verbiage and SOISC dubious publicity gimsuch the Dublin/London summit talks with a vague agenda and even vaguer purpose.
respects collaboration repression even increased under Fianna Fail.
The cabinet presided over by Charles Haughey has let the British government drive four Irish policial prisoners to their death without even making an official protest.
Since the Irish governStalled to political prisoners wing, the Irish people did this directly by electing two of them to membership of the parliament that is supposed to represent These two prisoners have now been recognition as political prisonels. representatives of the oppressed the only means available to Moral When one prisoner has been elected to the British parliament, and two to the rish parliament how can Ine Thatcher government continue claim the criminal?
How can any Irish government claim it JULi SILS responsibility defend them?
In a whirl-wind tour in support of the Block campaign, Bernadette McAliskey stressed:
When one half of the population is under Over 3,000 people showed their support for the prisoners in years of age any , governparty EDAL says that young people between the ages of zu and 30 wnc are starving themselves to death to uphold the dignity of our people aren't a of concern, has no moral right to The attendance at Bernaacle s Tailles was largeundark, in Especially ere youthful, especially in an H Block prisoner was later elected She said: "The press is talking about the cynicism of youth towards the big parties That's that's common sense. They're not about to be fooled.
Bernadette also appealed to workers at incentres: 'Take back the trade unions who betray them, put them back in the tion on Saturday. forefront, the cause labour the of which Block candidates received astounded the press and the politicians, both here and in Britain. Moreover the visible success of the H Block ballpalel cal didates was only the tip of the iceberg The intervention of the H Block movement in the accurated was severe. ly restricted by the tionalist wing of Provisional Sinn Fein. It had in+ sisted the Block movement could only support prisoners who would be unable take their seats if elected. Leap This wing of Provisional Sinn Fein also found it difficuit to colLondon's H Block demonstralaborate with other forces in the campaign. It was, and is, afraid of independent personalities like Bernadette McAliskey.
In the present situation it is easy to see the power that H Block leaders could wield in parliament.
If Bernadette had STOOG. .TOT example, and been elected, the campaign wold nave taken qualitative leap forward.
If H Block activists had stood in all or in a broad range of constituencies. Bernadette proposed, the established parties could have been rocked to their foundations.
The H Block candidates cut into the votes all parties but they most damaged those with false pretensions Republicanism Fianna and Sinn Fein the Workers Party Fianna Fail's Charlie Haughey.
The latter group, now sect, made gains only as long as It was the onlv alternative the big parties.
everywhere H Block candidate stood, SFWP was cut down size.
Nonetheless the failure of the H Block campaign to contest more constituencies allowed two hardened enemies of the prisoners to get into parlia ment and hold the balance of power that is, Joe Sherlock of Sinn Fein the Workers Party, and Jim Kemmy OI Socialists Against Nationalism. Lunatic Another independent, enough one, is is confused enough on national talking about blocking with Kemmy and Sherlock.
Only the gross default of the anti-imperialist forces could ex plain the fact that such lunatic sectaltalli could play an important role Th other independents populists, more inclined to vote with Fianna Fail. One of them Sean Dublin Bay Loftus, is an ecology canvote came from both left and right.
Peoples Democracy, the Irish Trotskyist group. stood two candidates on a revolutionary imperialist programme Vincent Doherty, a leader of the H Block movement, premier's Dublin constituency and Joe Harrington, a respected trade union activist in Limerick city Against powerful Doherty rolled up 1,481 first preference votes out of 40,581 cast in That is, more chan one nit five-seat constituency; of the vote needed to be elected Harrington got lust under 1,000 votes on the basis of a very small-scale campaign in an area where anti-imperialist feeling is relative v low The Irish Labour Party suffered such heavy losses that its very survival would be threatened bi a continuation of its coalition policy It may be forced to reject the tempting fruits of exclusion in the governthe hand Ol Fine Gael, thereby leaving no other possibility open but that of rickety minority government Given the inability of the incoming stable goment elect a ment, the likelihood is that the next genera will be held in a relativel short LINC imperialist movement will consequently have chance to re-orientate itself, so as to take fuller advantage opportunities available.
It already had greatly increased possibilities bring pressure to bear on behalf of the prisoners
The organisation we called the Free Trade Unions of the Coast was formed on April, I heard about it on Radio Free Europe. (Laughter) It's independent union, the Anna ANNA Walentynowicz is a leader of the Polish Solidarity. The strike in famous Gdansk shipyards last August began over her sacking as a crane driver in the yards. DeAnn Rathbun and George Saunders of the negotiating committee, turned out that the manager real didn't wan to come to an agreement with us.
----- pull-quotes -----
The H Block election victories wiped the smiles off the faces of Fine Gael leader Fitz Gerald and