Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ As most people will be aware in recent years, Ireland, we have seen the emergence of far-right neo fascist parties. 

Recently the residents of Dublin’s East Wall district have had their quite legitimate concerns about the 26 county government's lack of consultation over the housing of 380 asylum seekers in an old ESB building hijacked by the so-called Irish Freedom Party, I understand. We covered this last week so no need to go over it again, except to say many residents are making it known that these groups, neo-Nazi variant of fascism are not welcome. The same right-wing group, understood again to be from the fascist Irish Freedom Party led by Herman Kelly are trying the same methods down in Cork. Here the residents have been quick off the mark, perhaps learning from the experiences in East Wall, and anti-fascist placards have been visible on the streets. That is a very encouraging sign. To remind people of the net result, should these organisations ever come to power I shall quote a short ode by a German Pastor, Martin Niemoller, once a supporter of Hitler who fell foul of the Nazis finishing up in a camp, which he survived. The poem is very self-explanatory: 

First, they came for the communist, and I did not speak out.
Because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out.
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out.
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out.
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me

This is the net result if these people ever get to power. They care nothing for the residents of East Wall or anywhere else for that matter, and their nameless faceless multi-millionaire backers care even less. These residents are just fodder to promote the fascists' campaigns. With the huge influx of refugees and asylum seekers coming into Ireland I am surprised it has taken them so long to react. The IFP is not the only neo-fascist party in Ireland. Just because they do not contain the word in their titles is merely a technicality. The Irish National Party led by Justin Barret recently had their Ard Fheis disrupted in county Fermanagh by anti-fascists reportedly carrying hammers. One way of dealing with these extremely violent, if they are allowed, people from spreading this Hitlerite garbage.

It is not the aim of this article to condemn or condone the use of violence when opposing racism and fascism, but just read your history books to see the most effective methods of the past. The reader can make their own mind up.

Ireland, like Britain, has had its fair share of small fascist organisations dating back to the 1930s and Eoin O’Duffy’s Blueshirts founded in 1932 and dissolved in 1935. In their ranks numbered the former Free State Minister for Finance, Ernest Blyth. When this gang was disbanded O’Duffy formed the National Corporate Party, 1935-37, a very tiny fascist party with the Greenshirts as their military wing. Both these groups were opposed on the streets by the IRA. Another perhaps less well-known openly fascist party was Ailtiri na hAiseirghe (Architects of the Resurrection) founded by Hitlerite Gearoid O’Cuinneagain. The organisation existed between 1942 and 1958. Like the Blueshirts this organisation was opposed by anti-fascists on the streets. O’Cuinneagain openly supported the Axis forces during the Emergency, or Second World War. In Britain back in 1936 Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (BUF) were stopped by thousands of anti-fascists led primarily by Jewish and Irish groups and was made up of trade unionists, socialists, communists and even some liberals. Mosley and his gang were stopped at Cable Street in London’s East End.

Moving into the 1970s and the rise in Britain of the National Front led by openly pro-Nazi John Tyndall, a right-wing street thug who was Colin Jordan's right hand man in the 1950s (see BBC series Ridley Road for more on Jordan). As a counter to the NF the Socialist Workers Party initiated the Anti-Nazi League which grew to huge numbers. The ANL was successful in combating the NF, later to reform as the British National Party, and in 1981 the SWP decided to disband the league. This, I still believe, was not because the battle against fascism was won, but moreover because Tony Cliff and the SWP leadership could no longer control the ANL. The ANL formed at one point into “squads” which became known as “Squadism” which complemented the huge mobilisations which were not always necessary. Any response to fascism must be appropriate relative to the threat. For example, a small fascist demonstration or mobilisation would not require thousands of anti-fascists on the streets; a national mobilisation, when a “squad” could do the job more efficiently. On the other hand, a huge far-right mobilisation, such as in South London in the early eighties would require a huge anti-fascist counter attack, bringing in branches from all over Britain.

Once the ANL had been disbanded any SWP members who continued with the good work of the ANL faced expulsion from the party. Many SWP - the more aggressive elements - members were expelled and new anti-fascist left-wing groups like Red Action began for the first time to emerge and engage the Nazis on the streets. I by chance bought their paper one day in a left-wing bookshop which was called, like the organisation who printed it, Red Action. I found their reading and ideas very attractive and they advocated, what turned out to be a successful strategy at the time, confrontation on the streets and opposing fascism ideologically at any given opportunity. 

Red Action were instrumental in forming Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) which was made up of socialists of many differing hues solely to combat fascism. Former British Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was affiliated to AFA. I just happened to be on a tube train on London’s underground and as I alighted on my tourist journey searching for ancient London landmarks, I witnessed a commotion and fighting, or chasing may have been an appropriate description. It was a Red Action initiative to clear the area of fascist paper sellers. I must admit, although I was a peaceful tourist this Red Action crowd were impressive. Their methods might be frowned upon, but they certainly had the desired effect. The SWP condemned these actions by AFA and Red Action in particular as being just “Squadists” an arm of the old ANL which they themselves organised! Ironic, because once the SWP had lost control of the ANL anybody or group using, perhaps updating a little these same tactics were condemned by the party leadership of the SWP as being the exact same “Squadists”, a strategy which less than a decade earlier they had endorsed!

According to papers which I have read and conversations I had with various anti-fascist groups the confronting fascism on the streets is a very useful and necessary action to take. It is not the only way though. Other means which compliment such aggression must also be used. Countering the fascist arguments in discussion with those who may be swayed by what appears, on the surface, to be logical arguments from the far-right when in fact they are Hitlerite policies dressed up in suits. For example, the myth that imported foreign labour forces down wages. What nonsense. Employers force down wages and use the migrant worker as a convenient excuse for doing so. The trade unions should be moving quicker to counter these red herrings by the bosses, pointing to the minimum wage in Ireland, due to be raised to 11.70 euro per hour from the New Year. The employers who pay staff below this rate, then scapegoat migrant labour as the cause, must be taken to court by the unions, highlighting them for what they are, exploiters not only of labour but also any given set of conditions. These employers should be reminded of their legal obligation to pay the minimum wage to indigenous and migrant workers. 

There are many ways and arguments to combat fascism, far too many for this blog, which street combatting is perhaps and unfortunately pivotal if history tells us anything. Such action must be accompanied by rational political counterarguments to justify the street activity. For those who do take the street violence and confrontational road, and I am neither advocating or denouncing such actions, pick you side. Red Action, I am led to understand, attacked the NF/BNP at their remembrance Sunday mobilisation. Not the main event, usually televised, as such folly would be seen as disrespectful to the fallen by the general public, but after, when the fascists held their own hypocritical scene. Remember, a lot of good men and women from across the globe stretching from China to the USSR to the USA, Britain, France, Belgium, India, Australia, New Zealand, parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Czechoslovakia and Ireland gave their lives fighting the very ideology the NF/BNP/British Movement. 

Today, Britain first, a fascist party with links to loyalist groups in the north are one of the major groups in Britain, admired by the former US President Donald Trump. What would President Franklyn D Roosevelt have made of that?

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

Opposing Racism And Fascism Past And Present

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ As most people will be aware in recent years, Ireland, we have seen the emergence of far-right neo fascist parties. 

Recently the residents of Dublin’s East Wall district have had their quite legitimate concerns about the 26 county government's lack of consultation over the housing of 380 asylum seekers in an old ESB building hijacked by the so-called Irish Freedom Party, I understand. We covered this last week so no need to go over it again, except to say many residents are making it known that these groups, neo-Nazi variant of fascism are not welcome. The same right-wing group, understood again to be from the fascist Irish Freedom Party led by Herman Kelly are trying the same methods down in Cork. Here the residents have been quick off the mark, perhaps learning from the experiences in East Wall, and anti-fascist placards have been visible on the streets. That is a very encouraging sign. To remind people of the net result, should these organisations ever come to power I shall quote a short ode by a German Pastor, Martin Niemoller, once a supporter of Hitler who fell foul of the Nazis finishing up in a camp, which he survived. The poem is very self-explanatory: 

First, they came for the communist, and I did not speak out.
Because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out.
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out.
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out.
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me

This is the net result if these people ever get to power. They care nothing for the residents of East Wall or anywhere else for that matter, and their nameless faceless multi-millionaire backers care even less. These residents are just fodder to promote the fascists' campaigns. With the huge influx of refugees and asylum seekers coming into Ireland I am surprised it has taken them so long to react. The IFP is not the only neo-fascist party in Ireland. Just because they do not contain the word in their titles is merely a technicality. The Irish National Party led by Justin Barret recently had their Ard Fheis disrupted in county Fermanagh by anti-fascists reportedly carrying hammers. One way of dealing with these extremely violent, if they are allowed, people from spreading this Hitlerite garbage.

It is not the aim of this article to condemn or condone the use of violence when opposing racism and fascism, but just read your history books to see the most effective methods of the past. The reader can make their own mind up.

Ireland, like Britain, has had its fair share of small fascist organisations dating back to the 1930s and Eoin O’Duffy’s Blueshirts founded in 1932 and dissolved in 1935. In their ranks numbered the former Free State Minister for Finance, Ernest Blyth. When this gang was disbanded O’Duffy formed the National Corporate Party, 1935-37, a very tiny fascist party with the Greenshirts as their military wing. Both these groups were opposed on the streets by the IRA. Another perhaps less well-known openly fascist party was Ailtiri na hAiseirghe (Architects of the Resurrection) founded by Hitlerite Gearoid O’Cuinneagain. The organisation existed between 1942 and 1958. Like the Blueshirts this organisation was opposed by anti-fascists on the streets. O’Cuinneagain openly supported the Axis forces during the Emergency, or Second World War. In Britain back in 1936 Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (BUF) were stopped by thousands of anti-fascists led primarily by Jewish and Irish groups and was made up of trade unionists, socialists, communists and even some liberals. Mosley and his gang were stopped at Cable Street in London’s East End.

Moving into the 1970s and the rise in Britain of the National Front led by openly pro-Nazi John Tyndall, a right-wing street thug who was Colin Jordan's right hand man in the 1950s (see BBC series Ridley Road for more on Jordan). As a counter to the NF the Socialist Workers Party initiated the Anti-Nazi League which grew to huge numbers. The ANL was successful in combating the NF, later to reform as the British National Party, and in 1981 the SWP decided to disband the league. This, I still believe, was not because the battle against fascism was won, but moreover because Tony Cliff and the SWP leadership could no longer control the ANL. The ANL formed at one point into “squads” which became known as “Squadism” which complemented the huge mobilisations which were not always necessary. Any response to fascism must be appropriate relative to the threat. For example, a small fascist demonstration or mobilisation would not require thousands of anti-fascists on the streets; a national mobilisation, when a “squad” could do the job more efficiently. On the other hand, a huge far-right mobilisation, such as in South London in the early eighties would require a huge anti-fascist counter attack, bringing in branches from all over Britain.

Once the ANL had been disbanded any SWP members who continued with the good work of the ANL faced expulsion from the party. Many SWP - the more aggressive elements - members were expelled and new anti-fascist left-wing groups like Red Action began for the first time to emerge and engage the Nazis on the streets. I by chance bought their paper one day in a left-wing bookshop which was called, like the organisation who printed it, Red Action. I found their reading and ideas very attractive and they advocated, what turned out to be a successful strategy at the time, confrontation on the streets and opposing fascism ideologically at any given opportunity. 

Red Action were instrumental in forming Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) which was made up of socialists of many differing hues solely to combat fascism. Former British Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was affiliated to AFA. I just happened to be on a tube train on London’s underground and as I alighted on my tourist journey searching for ancient London landmarks, I witnessed a commotion and fighting, or chasing may have been an appropriate description. It was a Red Action initiative to clear the area of fascist paper sellers. I must admit, although I was a peaceful tourist this Red Action crowd were impressive. Their methods might be frowned upon, but they certainly had the desired effect. The SWP condemned these actions by AFA and Red Action in particular as being just “Squadists” an arm of the old ANL which they themselves organised! Ironic, because once the SWP had lost control of the ANL anybody or group using, perhaps updating a little these same tactics were condemned by the party leadership of the SWP as being the exact same “Squadists”, a strategy which less than a decade earlier they had endorsed!

According to papers which I have read and conversations I had with various anti-fascist groups the confronting fascism on the streets is a very useful and necessary action to take. It is not the only way though. Other means which compliment such aggression must also be used. Countering the fascist arguments in discussion with those who may be swayed by what appears, on the surface, to be logical arguments from the far-right when in fact they are Hitlerite policies dressed up in suits. For example, the myth that imported foreign labour forces down wages. What nonsense. Employers force down wages and use the migrant worker as a convenient excuse for doing so. The trade unions should be moving quicker to counter these red herrings by the bosses, pointing to the minimum wage in Ireland, due to be raised to 11.70 euro per hour from the New Year. The employers who pay staff below this rate, then scapegoat migrant labour as the cause, must be taken to court by the unions, highlighting them for what they are, exploiters not only of labour but also any given set of conditions. These employers should be reminded of their legal obligation to pay the minimum wage to indigenous and migrant workers. 

There are many ways and arguments to combat fascism, far too many for this blog, which street combatting is perhaps and unfortunately pivotal if history tells us anything. Such action must be accompanied by rational political counterarguments to justify the street activity. For those who do take the street violence and confrontational road, and I am neither advocating or denouncing such actions, pick you side. Red Action, I am led to understand, attacked the NF/BNP at their remembrance Sunday mobilisation. Not the main event, usually televised, as such folly would be seen as disrespectful to the fallen by the general public, but after, when the fascists held their own hypocritical scene. Remember, a lot of good men and women from across the globe stretching from China to the USSR to the USA, Britain, France, Belgium, India, Australia, New Zealand, parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Czechoslovakia and Ireland gave their lives fighting the very ideology the NF/BNP/British Movement. 

Today, Britain first, a fascist party with links to loyalist groups in the north are one of the major groups in Britain, admired by the former US President Donald Trump. What would President Franklyn D Roosevelt have made of that?

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent 
Socialist Republican and Marxist

7 comments:

  1. Mary Robinson's late doctor father stopped a traveller halting site in his Mayo town . How come there are no reception centres in Killiney , Rathgar etc ? Locals on Nutley Lane stopped one in 2000 .

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm not sure I get your point Dave. Are you suggesting Mary Robinsons "late Doctor father" was right to stop a travellers halting site? The Irish travelling community, in my experience, are the salt of the earth. Everybody, irrespective of their ethnic or racial origins have the right to live.
    I can only refer you back to the short ode at the begining of the blog, I hope, and doubt you do, support the racist, Hitlerite crap pedalled by the far right which does not represent the initial concerns of the community. Unfortunately the influence of these fascists appears to be spreading.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry, Dave, that should have read "I hope and no doubt you do" NOT support the "Hitlerite crap" pedalled by the far right. My failiure to insert the word "not". My apologies.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Mary Robinson reference was to show the hypocrisy of the lunatic " No Borders Far Left " . Robo was strangely silent when her father stopped the halting site proposal . The only clowns who support limitless immigration are those on the libertarian right who want to force people to work for nothing & the cushioned NGO class ( 200,000 in Ireland ) who trouser an average 40 K a yr , live in posh leafy suburbs , & scream " wacist " @ anyone who dares to disagree with them . As I said , why are there are no reception centres in Dartry , Sandycove , Blackrock ? The influential locals won't allow it & their kids who are Antifa virtue signalling freeloaders will keep their gobs shut . George Galloway has been accused of being " wacist " because he said unlimited immigration drives housing costs through the roof . Dalkey is full , welcome to Darndale . Nobody should be allowed enter Ireland unless they have valid i d & proof of a clean criminal record . 4,000 have landed Dublin airport this yr without any documents ! Try pulling the same stunt in any other country & you will be on the next flight home . If Ireland had proper immigration control , two gay men in Sligo & Aishling Murphy would be still alive # Diversity is our weakness

    ReplyDelete
  5. It appears to me you have limited sympathies with the fascist right. Roger Griffin refers this to para fascism (certain sympathies while not supporting fascism, the thin end of the wedge), a practice used by most if not all capitalist government give lip support, often covertly, and support groups like the IFP, sometimes financing them again covertly.. Pretending to show sympathies with one group, like the "two gay men&Aishling Murphy" you allude to while holding certain sympathies with the fascist right.

    Wages are forced down by employers not migrant labour. Employers who "pocket 40 k" per annum, and more some of who finance or at least covertly pay lip service to supporting the fascist right. Employers who pay less than the minimum wage to indigenous and migrant labour are breaking the law and should be prosecuted for such. We would then see how equal before the law we really are, as the capitalist mask of fair play drops and the ugly para fascist, as Roger Griffin refers to it, face becomes apparrent.

    By supporting, or pretending to support one group, like "two gay men in Sligo &Aishling Murphy would still be alive". You claim "Diversity is our weakness" which is not the case. There is room for a hundred different groups, cultures in society if society was run on not dividing to rule. Intergration and Diversification is possible, but difficult under the present system. For example FGM no way, this is not culture and must be stamped out. On the other hand cultural dress, freedom of religion, ethnic Diversity, while still being intergrated into Irish society is not a problem. The multi cultural nature of the Saint Patricks day parade, like the Nottinghill carnival in London is a great and encouraging thing which the fascist right would stop.

    Have you got a criminal record, Dave? Doesn't bother me if you have but should it stop you iving in another country?

    At the end of the day, all, each and every one of us have ancesstors who came from somewhere else.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
  6. Caoimhin,

    Instead of again sounding like Alf Garnett and fist waving, why not offer up solutions to the problem. ..Whats the deal with this....

    The multi cultural nature of the Saint Patricks day parade, like the Nottinghill carnival in London is a great and encouraging thing which the fascist right would stop.

    Why can't everyone simply go green on the 17th March each year? The LBG-ers have their pride weekend, Orange Men have the 12th, Americans the 4th July, French have the 14th July....I could go one but we all get the picture.....

    In a nut shell, anyone who is on board with Paddy's day being about everything that isn't Irish or green....I will book you a first class flight and you can join the trans woke vegans on the island.

    ReplyDelete
  7. For many years, the organisers of the St Patrick's Day Parade in New York excluded Irish American LTGBQ+ groups. One can have multiple identities which can be celebrated simultaneously.

    ReplyDelete