IRSM Memorial

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday May 12, 2003 11:27 by Republican Socialist Publicity Bureau - Irish Republican Socialist Movement 028 90 321024

Irish Republican Socialist Movement On 11 May 2003, a memorial to four martyrs of the Irish National Liberation Army was dedicated in the Markets area of South Belfast.

Irish Republican Socialist Movement

On 11 May 2003, a memorial to four martyrs of the Irish National
Liberation Army was dedicated in the Markets area of South Belfast.

[Chair's Opening Remarks]

On behalf of the Republican Socialist Ex-Prisoners Memorial
Committee, I would like to say that it is an honour and privilege to
be asked to introduce this unveiling of this memorial to our dead
comrades.

The main reason that this committee was set up is to make sure that
all our dead volunteers and comrades memories should live on. Our
committee is composed of comrades, ex-prisoners and ex-combatants who
survived the struggle. We felt it appropriate that we should honour
those of our comrades who did not.

I would like to thank everyone who has gathered here today to honour
fallen comrades. And I would like to extend a special welcome to the
families of the dead comrades. Sad memories can be revived by
occasions like these. But let today be one of pride for each and
every one of our comrades. They were not only a credit to their
families but a credit to the neighbourhoods from which they came.
These comrades gave their time, their energy and ultimately their
lives for the freedom and empowerment of the working class.

Throughout Ireland, in many little country roads, in village towns
and city sites, are memorials to those who died during the past three
centuries to achieve Irish freedom. The number of monuments that have
been erected in so many out of the way places is amazing. Many of the
present generation of young people have never noticed those
monuments, or thought about the cost, not merely in lives but also
the pain that went into the making of this country.

Those who have survived the seventies, eighties and nineties in the
North have known oppression and wanted freedom, have known violence
and wanted peace, have known repression and wanted justice, and known
discrimination and wanted equality. These are things that have
affected the daily lives of everyone here.

As a result of our experiences we believe that the struggle for a
republic is the only way forward. But that struggle must be like
today's event, inclusive. We have no desire to re-open old wounds or
denigrate anyone else.

Sniping among ourselves while Britannia divides and rules us is no
longer an option. That's where the energies of all republicans,
socialists and democrats should be directed. We are strongest when we
work together.

[Dedication Speech]

Friends, Comrades,

We are here today to honour the memory of four brave volunteers.

Jim Power, killed in action 7 May 1981,
Thomas "Ta" Power, assassinated 20 January 1987,
John O'Reilly, assassinated 20 January 1987,
Emmanuel Gargan, assassinated 21 March 1987.

"Revolutionaries are dead men on leave -- this saying sums up the
type of life ahead for all who dare to oppose British rule in Ireland
and indeed oppression and imperialism anywhere in the world. Life as
a revolutionary offers no material rewards, no medals, only the joy
of participating in the struggle for freedom. As individuals we only
have a limited time to achieve this task."

Those words, written by one of those volunteers, epitomises best the
spirit of republicanism. It is a revolutionary doctrine, it is a
radical doctrine, it is a progressive doctrine. Those of us here
today who call ourselves republicans should wear the mantle of
republicanism with pride.

For there is pride in participating in the struggle for freedom.
Those who we honour today knew some of that for they played their
very active part in the struggle against imperialism. Dedicated
soldiers of the republican tradition, they grew up amidst repression,
violence, discrimination and injustice. These things they observed
but they did not ignore. They, like thousands of others, had enough
of the daily humiliations from the unionist state, enough of the
casual brutality of the RUC, enough of the imperialist swagger of the
racists in the British Army, enough of the "croppy lie down"
mentality.

They had had enough of the cant and hypocrisy of the ruling elites
who preached passivity in the face of violence, preached acceptance
in the face of injustice, preached resignation in the face of
inequality. Like thousands others, Jim, Ta, John and Emmanuel had had
enough.

They did what any right thinking individual would do in the face of
British and unionist tyranny. They took up arms and fought in the
streets of Belfast and elsewhere for the liberation of their people.
In so doing they were following in a proud tradition stretching back
to the United Irishmen, and including the Fenian Brotherhood, and the
volunteers of the 1916-22 period.

Tomorrow, May 12th marks the 87th anniversary of the execution of
James Connolly, socialist republican, founder of the Irish Citizen
Army, murdered by the British establishment who tied a badly wounded
man to a chair and shot him. Like our comrades we honour today, James
Connolly walked the streets of Belfast organising the mill workers,
the dockers, the low paid. He organised the Irish working class in
both political and military resistance. Connolly recognised that
different situations require different responses. During the first
world war he recognised that the time was ripe to take up arms
against imperialism. He saw that the struggle for the dignity and
rights of the working class was part of the same struggle for
national independence and that the social and economic parts of
struggle could not be separated from the national struggle.

James Connolly was an inspiration, a guide, for all radicals and
republicans. He inspired the volunteers we honour today. He was an
example that each of those volunteers would have followed in their
own ways if death had not intervened. They each had but a limited
time to contribute to the struggle before death stole them away from
us.

When we look at this memorial, and when people think of the dead
volunteers, we should also spare a thought for the families of the
same volunteers. They have had much pain to endure, sorrow to bear
and grief to contend with.

Jim Power was one of only two republicans to die in action during the
1981 hunger strike. He was killed defusing a bomb. Ta and John died
together when they were gunned down outside Drogheda where they had
gone to peacefully resolve differences with others. Emmanuel was
killed two moths later by others in a pub on the Ormeau Road.

The latter three deaths at the hands of former comrades was a
disgrace. Never again should any of us allow ourselves to view other
republicans either with hatred or as the enemy.

A few weeks before his death I spoke with Ta in his home in the
Markets here and he handed me a document which included the following
phrase:

"We must be vigilant that we don't sink into the morass of
sectarianism, mixing, pettiness etc. We must not get involved in
unprincipled slanging matches etc, into positions that are sectarian,
anti-revolutionary, morally damaging, that give succour to the enemy
and that confuse and divide the working class."

Those wise words should be engraved in the minds of anyone who calls
themselves a republican. Friends and comrades, the main enemy we all
have is British imperialism. Never ever forget that.

It has been clear for some time that the vast majority of the Irish
people favour Republicans using peaceful methods of struggle. That
has to be respected for we all realise that different situations
require different methods of struggle. There are huge social,
economic and political problems facing us all. If these are to be
tackled then we need republicans and republican socialists to throw
their full weight into the political struggle for our full
emancipation.

The unveiling of this plaque has been part of a process by which the
Republican Socialist Movement pays homage to our dead volunteers and
comrades. But friends and comrades, they died trying to change this
society. As indeed did many other republicans in other organisations
who were good, decent, honest men and women who lost their lives
fighting against injustice. Like so many others, they never knew any
life other than that of violent state repression firstly under the
Stormont regime and then under the direct rule of the British
government.

Life here should never have been such that young volunteers gave
their lives to battle injustice. From whichever organisations
volunteers came, their sacrifices should be honoured by us all.

To conclude quoting the words of Ta, writing about his own brother
Jim, but which equally apples to all our comrades:

"He was born under a regime of repression and died fighting for
liberty. In the words of George Jackson, on the death of his own
brother: 'I want people to wonder at the forces which created him,
terrible, calm man-child, courage in one hand, the machine gun in
the other, scourge of the unrighteous, an ox for the people to
ride!'"

Martyred Volunteers of the Irish National Liberation Army, we salute
you!

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