Anarchist Workers Alliance expose fascist meeting – April 1981

A 1981 press statement from the Anarchist Workers Alliance about a fascist meeting in Dublin’s Gresham Hotel. This small meeting was attended by a few AWA members, who kept asking embarrassing questions about the fascist connections of the invited speakers. The result was that the audience scurried off and the organisers gained nothing, not even a few addresses to add to their contact list.

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The hosts were the Christian Community Centre, a group of about 50 mainly elderly fundamentalist Catholics led by TCG O’Mahony, a solicitor whose offices at 22 Merrion Square also served as the CC Centre. This group appeared in the early 1970s and was last seen during the 1997 Presidential election when the Irish Independent reported (17/08/1997)

“Among Dana’s backers is the curious figure of TCG O’Mahony, an elderly Dublin solicitor, who has urged a “national prayer crusade” to get her elected.  He is targeting 37 Fianna Fail and 23 Fine Gael parliamentarians, hoping optimistically that they might nominate her.

Mr O’Mahony is best known for a bizarre row in Dublin courts over his attempts to erect a basilica for rosary prayers to the Virgin Mary in the middle of O’Connell St.  When he lost he carried on the worship over a loudspeaker while driving up and down O’Connell St with the Virgin Mary statue strapped to the roof of his pink Mercedes.”

In the 1982 general election O’Mahony stood in Dublin North Central, getting a mere 214 votes (0.5%).

On another occasion they tried to take over the assembly point for the Dublin Council of Trade Unions May Day march, parking a van at the Garden of Remembrance and blaring out very loud hymns on a PA system. After about 10 minutes some anarchists and Trotskyists disconnected their PA and sent them on their way.

O’Mahony also operated a pirate radio station, CC Radio, from his offices. This was on air for a year or two in the early 1980s and it’s output consisted of religious music, tapes from American extreme conservatives and monologues from O’Mahony himself railing against abortion, divorce, contraception, Vatican II, socialism, liberalism and secularism. It was finally closed down by the Department of Posts & Telegraphs after repeated complaints of interference.

They were a bit like Youth Defence, but without the violence or the youth.

Cork Anarchist Conspiracy – October 2003

The Cork Anarchist Conspiracy was a local A5 magazine published by anarchists involved with the Cork Autonomous Zone (see page 5). A few were members of the Workers Solidarity Movement but most were not affiliated with any grouping. Four issues were produced from 2003 – 2005.

One of those involved gave this description: “The CAC was an initiative that brought together members of the WSM and other anarchists / libertarians in the Cork area in this period. It aimed to increase and enlarge the anarchist presence in the city and around.

Politically some of those involved were arguing for a more open, less restrictive membership basis for involvement in the CAC – this was very much posed in opposition to the WSM at the time which was viewed by some as being restrictive and dogmatic in a number of respects. The more ‘open’ broader interpretation of what constituted anarchism – that was CAC – was also an organisational formula for those in the group to do more work with one another.

Within the group there were different views on what should be the priorities for anarchists at that point. But we were unified by the feeling / belief that we would be better working together than separate.”

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This issue has articles on anarchism, privatisation, the CAZ, Crap Job of the Season (‘Oh Think Twice’ restaurant), Cycling and Wars, Skateboarders on collision course with City Council, and fighting the bin tax.

Fight War, Not Wars – October 1982

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A four page leaflet put out after British anarcho/pacifist/punk band played at Belfast’s short lived anarchist youth ‘A Centre’ in Long Lane.  National Front supporters attacked the gig, and then the RUC arrived and thumped some of the punks who had been the target of the NF attack.

Opened in November 1981 the A Centre was run by the Belfast Anarchist Collective as an “alternative cultural space” in Belfast city centre and ran on Saturday afternoons.  It soon became a magnet for young people and punks in particular.  On loan from Belfast’s gay Carpenter Club the A Centre put on banned or controversial films, new wave music and punk bands, performance poets and artists, alternative books and comics, and a wholefood cafe.  Among the bands who played there were Stalag 17, The Defects, Xdreamists, Rudi, Spider, Rufrex, The Outcasts, The Defects, Just Destiny and Ten Past Seven.

The corganisers were openly hostile to the cops (usually refusing them admission: “sorry pal, we have a no uniforms policy“).  In retaliation the RUC got scare stories into the local papers about “under age kids mixing with subversives” “glue sniffing”, and so on.  This, and resulting hassle from the city council because they didn’t have an entertainment licence, meant that after about a year the Centre closed.

Alexander Berkman -The Only Hope of Ireland (1916)

The Blast was a San Francisco based newspaper published by Alexander Berkman in 1916-1917. It’s main focus was on the trade union movement in California, as well as covering national labour events, and educating its readers about anarchism.

It also covered a broad range of topics such as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, the trial of trade unionists Tom Mooney and Warren Billings for the Preparedness Day bombing, and the growing ferment in Europe.  Margaret Sanger, on trial for giving out information about birth-control, wrote on women’s rights and family planning.

The paper’s anti-militarism was not ignored by the authorities and the paper was shut down in June 1917 when Berkman was jailed for “inducing persons not to register” for the draft.

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This was written in the aftermath of 1916 rising, just three days after the execution of James Connolly.

Anarchist stickers – late 1990s

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A series of 16 stickers produced by Workers Solidarity Movement members, they advertised a website with information about anarchism, the WSM and some groups and campaigns supported by anarchists.  Using a web address unconnected to the WSM was to avoid picking up litter fines of €150.00 for each sticker found on a bus shelter, lamppost or traffic sign.

Rebel Worker (Cork) – March/April 2008

This local newsletter was published by the Cork branch of the Workers Solidarity Movement, who announced that “Rebel Worker will be appearing bimonthly (when possible) and will be distributed both on its own and as an insert in the WSM’s long-standing free newspaper, Workers Solidarity”.  However this plan was abandoned and only this one issue was produced.

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Articles covered ‘co-location’ private hospital plans in Cork city, a short piece on preparations for the 2008 May Day parade in the city, and an interview with an abortion rights activist from the Cork Women’s Right to Choose Group.

Divorce – undermining the family? WSM – May 1986

This pamphlet was produced by the Workers Solidarity Movement in the weeks before the 1986 referendum on whether or not to remove the constitutional ban on divorce. The vote was lost by a margin of almost 2:1, with 935,843 (63.48%) voting to keep the ban and 538,279 (36.52%) to remove it. A second referendum in 1995 saw the ban finally scrapped, with a result of 818,842 (50.28%) to 809,728 (49.72%).

Alone on the far left, the WSM was heavily involved in this campaign and had two members elected to the National Executive of the Divorce Action Group. At the time they described their motivation as being to “increase personal freedoms” and “challenge the power of the Catholic bishops”

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Anarchy magazine – Craigavon New Town – early 1970s

From the British Anarchy magazine in the early 1970s (this issue is Second Series, Vol. 10, No.1 but undated), an article by Roger Willis about Craigavon New Town. This was to incorporate Portadown and Lurgan in an urban centre of the future with new houses, lots of jobs and great facilities. Needless to say, it didn’t turn out like that.

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Anarchy magazine, special issue on Ireland – 1971

Anarchy magazine, edited by Colin Ward, was published from London in the 1960s. A second series, with no direct connection to Ward’s, appeared in the 1970s. Issue no. 6, from 1971, was largely given over to articles written by members of People’s Democracy.

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It kicks off with an introduction looking at the reforms won by the civil rights movement, and the response of the left in Britain to internment.

Next is a detailed account of the police mutiny during the 1907 Belfast dock strike. The author, John Grey, went on to expand this into a book; City in Revolt (Blackstaff Press, 1987). The revolt was sparked by the refusal of Constable William Barrett to escort a wagon driven by a scab, and soon saw the majority of RIC men in the city put forward their own demands for pay and pension increases. The spirit of Larkinism was seen in statements like that condemning their officers for doing “all in their power to humiliate the Belfast police in the eyes of the public by turning them into “blacklegs” – to please their friends the capitalists”.

A biographical article about James Connolly emphasises his syndicalism, but the unknown author gets carried away by his own enthusiasm when he quotes the socialist poet Robert Lynd as proof that Connolly was not only a syndicalist but specifically an anarcho-syndicalist.

The history of People’s Democracy by J. Quinn takes us through the early PD’s development from a student civil rights group to a revolutionary socialist organisation. It gives us a real sense of how the most dynamic left group in the six counties at the time saw things at the beginning of the ’70s.

‘Major Mullen’ (the late John McGuffin) describes his arrest and time in Crumlin Road jail.

The 22 week strike by workers at Cement Limited in Drogheda and Limerick in 1970 saw PD helping the strikers by picketing scab deliveries coming into small non-union ports like Cushendun, Kilkeel and Ardglass. The Orange state responded with over 100 summonses, numerous arrests and several jail sentences. PD were also accused of responsibility when in Armagh “within the course of two weeks no fewer than 21 lorries owned by scabs mysteriously combusted” and in Newry when “over 200 people came out of their houses and stoned the boat (loaded with scab cement) out of the harbour”.

Finally, there are book reviews looking at the Blueshirts, Church & State in modern Ireland, and anarchism in urban life.

Workers Solidarity no.1 – November 1984

The first issue of Workers Solidarity was published in November 1984, a few weeks after a small group of anarchists from Cork and Dublin had founded the Workers Solidarity Movement. Initially an 8 page A4 monthly, it later appeared as a 20 page magazine, then a 12 page A3 newspaper and currently as a folded A2 paper. Circulation in their first years ranged from 750 to 1,500. Sales were mostly in pubs on Friday evenings, street sales on Saturday afternoons, outside labour exchanges (the biggest regular sale was at the women’s labour in Cork), and at left events.

The WSM is part of the ‘platformist’ current within anarchism, http://anarchistplatform.wordpress.com.

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As befits a first issue, there is an article setting out the politics of the WSM. Others look at the British miners strike, free trade unions in Russia, the Dunnes Stores anti-apartheid strike, how the government managed to cut some some women’s dole payments while conceding equality, the connection between socialism and freedom, and the campaign for conjugal rights by anarchist prisoners Marie and Noel Murray.

The manic looking guy on page 4 is Dessie O’Malley, then Fianna Fail minister and later the leader of the Progressive Democrats. Dessie was very worried about “industrial subversives” at the time. Also of note is a letter from Poland and an advert for a WSM picket protesting about the Polish government’s export of coal to Britain during the miners’ strike.