Added retrospective comments by RJ are in italics.

Jan 22 1963: there is a letter from Uinsean Mac Eoin to George Gilmore in the WTS archive, seeking his help in organising Wolfe Tone commemorative meetings during 1963.

The Wolfe Tone Societies evolved from a meeting held on March 26 1963, in the house of Uinsean Mac Eoin, 20 Marlborough Road, Dublin 4, convened by Cathal Goulding, with a view to organising some events to commemorate the bicentemary of the birth of Theobald Wolfe Tone in 1763. Also present were Richard Roche, Harry White and Lorcan Leonard. Initial ideas included a pageant and an exhibition; a further meeting was planned for Dundalk to which Belfast people would be invited. CG had earlier met with Cork republicans who were supportive of the idea.

Meetings initially took place under the label 'Wolfe Tone Bi-Centenary, Dublin Directory' and Dick Roche was the Secretary. On April 24 they met again; the Protestant dimension was explored, with Dr Simms approached about St Catherine's Church as a pageant location. In the context of a projected lecture week, Prof Moody in TCD was approached but declined; Hubert Butler was considering participating. Mairtin O Cadhain in TCD had been approached about the exhibition. Fund-raising events were considered.

The meeting on May 10 1963 was attended by Liam Burke, Jack Bennett and Sean Caughey from Belfast, and Harry White, Cathal Goulding and Uinsean mac Eoin from Dublin. The 'Irish Union' concept was discussed and deferred. A printed publication was projected by Jack Bennett; Russell's grave was to be restored; there was to be a Wolfe Tone Week June 16-22 in Casement Park, and a ceremony on Cave Hill on June 20. The Bodenstown Committee wanted a member co-opted to the Bicentenary Directory. Al Ryan in Waterford wanted to form a local committee. A weekend convention of Dublin, Belfast and Cork members was projected for May 25-26.

Jack Bennett's 'Wolfe Tone Today' was produced as a one-off newspaper-like broadsheet, for widespread public sale at the price of one shilling. It contained historical and biographical material (McCracken, Russell, Hope, Castlereagh, Betsy Grey, Armour), presented in contemporary mode, as 'living history', with emphasis on uniting Irishmen of all creeds in the face of contemporary issues.

At the meeting on May 20 the initial group was joined by Eamonn Mac Thomais and Deasun Breathnach, and various projected memorials were discussed. The pageant concept was developed, and it was agreed to approach Sean O Riada for music. Harry Kernoff was doing a woodcut for the Tone booklet cover. The TCD exhibition involved interacting with Brian Hurst the Librarian via Mairtin O Cadhain. It was hoped to get Sean Cronin to address a lecture in TCD in the context.

The May 1963 Wolfe Tone Directory Convention

Dublin: Sean Cronin, Harry White, Dick Roche, Uinsean Mac Eoin, Lorcan Leonard, Cathal Goulding, Deasun Breathnach, Ciaran mac an Aili and Terry Conneally;

Belfast: Fred Heatley, M McKeown, S Caughey, Jack Bennett, John Irvine and Liam Burke;

Cork: Rory Driscoll; Derry: Hugh MacAteer; Newry: Dan Moore; Waterford: Al Ryan; Ballina: Greg Collins.

How was this group identified, selected, assembled? It was probably as a result of personal contact by Cathal Goulding. It had nothing to do with Sinn Fein; the Sinn Fein minutes at this time show only 'fuzzy' knowledge of it. An Ard Comhairle meeting took place this same weekend, from which the following has been abstracted:

AC 11/05/63: There was a perceived need to clarify the WT committee position, and to get the United Irishman to publish a letter from the Secretary.

AC 25/05/63 Eamonn Mac Thomáis reported on proposed WT activities. TMacG thinks he was sec of the committee.

AC 24/08/63: there was a letter from TP Connealy seeking a speaker for a housing protest. JJMcG proposes issuing a statement.

The communication-gap with Sinn Fein must have been recognised by Goulding, because Eamonn Mac Thomais turns up on the record for the first time at a 'Wolfe Tone Directory' on June 4.

The Convention outlined an ambitious programme of events, pageantry, music, in various locations. The Cork events were to be associated with Thomas Russell's birthplace, Belfast events with the graves of Hope, Orr and Russell; there was a definite aspiration to reach out to the Protestant republican tradition: '...to use the Tone Bicentenary as a launching point from which the doctrine of Republicanism could be taught anew so that Tone's aim of a free, united Ireland, in which Catholic and Dissenter would work together in harmony and liberty, would be soon achieved..'.

The minutes of the following meeting on June 4 1963 (the first attended by Eamonn Mac Thomais, as a Sinn Fein link) are on the headed paper, with pike symbol, which names the Directories:

Belfast: John Bennett, Liam Burke, Sean Caughey;
Cork: Sean O'Callaghan, Rory O'Driscoll, Jack Lynch;
Dublin: Deasun Breathnach, Cathal Goulding, Lorcan Leonard, Uinsean Mac Eoin, Richard Roche, Harry White.

The agenda includes the pageant (there is trouble contacting Sean O Riada); also the exhibition in TCD, and the booklet. O Cadhain is to lecture in Irish. Hubert Butler wants to meet Jack Bennett. Copies of Jack Bennett's paper 'Wolfe Tone Today' and the Dublin booklet were to be ordered for Bodenstown, and it was noted that SF were also ordering the paper (presumably via EMacT).

NB There is no record of how people were recruited. It is a 'Directory' with the implication that its membership is at the invitation of the Chief. We are in a quasi-IRB mode of operation, with most of the contacting being done within the existing Republican network, though there is apparently an aspiration to go outside it.

July 2 1963: Hubert Butler cried off; UMacE to write; book and paper circulated to the US; Niall Toibin to be sought for the Pageant in lieu of Seamus Parker who had cried off.

July 16 1963: usual group plus Sean Bermingham from SF. Hubert Butler is after all OK. Contribution from George Gilmore. Essay contest suggested by 'Rex McGall' (Deasun Breathnach).

July 26: Roger McHugh to act as Director of the Mansion House lecture week; lectures to be from himself, Hubert Butler, Ciaran Mac an Aili, Jack Bennett and Sean Cronin. Sean Bermingham and Terry Conneally to be co-opted to the Directory. A letter went out seeking financial support for the series.

This is the first time a membership change was minuted. The 'Directory' is showing signs of developing a life of its own.

August 6: Circulation of publications, Pageant arrangements, essay contest.

Sept 3: Chairs for lectures discussed; Peadar O'Donnell, Risteard O Glaisne, Labhras O Nuallain, Daithi O h-Uaine etc suggested. Essay rules established.

Sept 10: postering for the Mansion House lectures to be done by SF supporters.

Sept 11: letter from Liam Burke reporting on sales of Wolfe Tone Today; Fred Heatley had been active.

Sept 17: Sean Cronin to attend TCD Tone symposium and to speak on behalf of the Directory.

Oct 8: Group now includes UMacE, LL, HW, DB, EMacT, TC, CG and RR. Offer from Sairseal & Dill to publish the series; Hubert Butler invited 'members of the Directory' to his home in Kilkenny; UMacE and LL to go. Jack Bennett and Liam Burke to speak at a meeting in Glencolumcille. UMacE, LL and RR to attend SF Ard Fheis in Moran's Hotel to sell literature. UMacE and LL to survey Tailors Hall and liaise with Maire Comerford.

Oct 22 and Nov 5: minor tidying up and fund-raising to pay debts.

A key meeting took place in Dundalk on November 24 1963, involving Liam Burke, Tomás Mac Giolla, Martin Shannon, UMacE and RR. It was decided that the WT group would continue in existence under a new title, not as a political party, but to be 'agitational and educational' and to formulate a programme for the future.

Martin Shannon at this time was the Editor of the United Irishman. TMacG was standing in for CG representing the Army Council, which clearly regarded the Directory as its property. The concept of the 'think tank' to supply the UI and the movement generally with ideas was emerging.

1964

February 11 1964: present UMacE, RJ, HW, CG, TC, RR, Padraig O Nuallain, DB and J Kennedy. All-Ireland meeting projected for Belfast. Essay prize. 'Ballad night' concept linked to a structured political mini-drama; sub-committee to include Mairin Johnston. 'Who Owns Ireland' booklet suggested by RJ. Agreed to co-operate with SF in drafting the social and economic programme. DB mentioned a co-op in Ballymena.

The experience of the Connolly Association and the work of Eamonn McLoughlin in structured ballad scripting is here trying to carry over, on RJ initiative. The Ballymena co-op suggests the beginnings of an understanding of the need to build bridges into Protestant culture.

March 3: LL, UMacE, RMacG (DB), SB, HW, RJ, CG, RR, TC; vote of sympathy with the widow of John Irvine; essay prizes sent out; Lorcan Leonard proposed plan of action noted; RJ reported progress on pamphlet; TC to attend a 'Plough' function; RJ to meet Bob Mitchell re TCD republican club group; RJ, DB, LL and UMacE to help with the SF Social and Economic Programme.

The Plough contact was an attempt to cultivate the 'Labour Left' community, with which RJ had been in contact in the late 1950s. There also turned up in RJ's file a letter dated 13/03/64 from Francis Carty the Editor of the Sunday Press; it seems we had complimented him on Claude Gordon's column (Jack Bennett's) but were critical of how it was often suppressed in favour of news items in some editions in the South.

March 24 1964: DB, PON, RJ, SB, EMacT, CG, TC, RR. RJ: TCD contact pointed towards Labour; SF needed inputs for the 6-co imperial elections. Talk of a Waterford convention. Sympathy to the widow of Brendan Behan.

April 7: still talk of Lorcan Leonard's manifesto; bus tour at Bodenstown-time.

April 28 1964: UMacE, HW, PON, RJ, DB, CG, TC, RR; Lorcan Leonard's letter of resignation considered; UMacE and RR to go and see him. It seems I proposed and then withdrew that his resignation be accepted. He had promised a draft manifesto and had not delivered. I suspect however that we were in the presence of hostility to the left as perceived by small business. RJ proposed and UMacE seconded that a drafting committee be set up for a constitution of a 'republican ginger group'; RJ, DB and UMacE. In the notes for the minutes the 'Tuairim' label was used. Seosamh Mac Domhnaill and Sean O Bradaigh were invited to join the 'Directory'.

May 12: Plans for debate with the City Group of Fine Gael in Powers Hotel on May 26: RJ and Ciaran Mac an Aili to speak. A symposium in the Mansion House was planned for the occasion of the meeting of the Ministers for Justice of Europe; speakers projected were Con Lehane, Seamus Sorahan, Sean Caughey and Sean Dunne TD; alternatively Michael Lennon or Prionnsias Mac Aonghusa. Wolfe Tone Week: symposium in Irish. The draft constitution was discussed and amended.

June 8 1964: RJ; PON, DB, TC, EMacT, SB; reports on City Group symposium (press impact had been neglected); wreath on Tone's widow's grave in Brooklyn; sale of books at Bodenstown; Ethna MacManus and Micheal O Laoire to be invited to join. Applicants at the City Group meeting to be written to. RJ to speak at a 'Free Ireland Organisation' in Moran's Hotel. Constitution to be discussed at next meeting.

The 'Directory' concept can be here seen to be evolving towards a 'club' concept, with membership by invitation. The adoption of the Constitution implied declaring autonomy from the Movement.

June 29 1964: UMacE, RJ, RR, PON, EMacM, DB, CG; co-option of Sean Cooney and Micheal O Laoire postponed until Constitution agreed. Conference projected for October to explore the 'economic resistance' concept. Constitution adoption meeting fixed for July 25.

Foundation of the Dublin Wolfe Tone Society

At the September 1 meeting there was mention of a projected debate with Clann na Poblachta in Powers Hotel. Justin Keating was present and was co-opted as a member. Padraig O Nuallain agreed to act as Chairman, and Uinsean Mac Eoin as treasurer. The concept of the 'economic resistance movement' emerged, and Ethna MacManus reported that she had heard from Fr McDyer (Glencolumcille) and there was a meeting projected with him and Peadar O'Donnell, which RJ also was to attend. It was decided to send copied of the Constitution to Tony Coughlan, Micheal O Laoire, Brian Murphy and Antoin O Midheach (Tony Meade). It was agreed to publicise the need for Donegal-Derry linkages.

We were making an attempt to build a group fit to involve people who subsequently became leading Labour party intellectuals. Our re-think of the 'national question' in the Wolfe Tone tradition had aroused a flicker of interest. Anthony Coughlan at this time was supportive of his old UCC colleague MOL. I managed to introduce a Donegal-Derry linkage concept (ie a cross-border development agency) at the June 1965 meeting in Derry of the Irish Association; this must have been the origin of the idea.

September 29 1964: meeting with United Societies of Castleblayney projected for December; it seems RJ was controversing with Ernest Blythe. There was talk of worker-farmer interaction in the context of the 'economic resistance' concept; the McDyer enterprise in Donegal was in touch with small farmers clubs in mayo; a possible role for Sceim na gCeardcumann emerged; RJ was to speak to them. I have found my notes for this event, which took place on 24/10/64, and have included them in the WTS folder. The key concept was the need to find means of linking urban workers with the projected rural co-operative movement revival. There were also notes towards the development of a 'co-operative congress' concept, with urban, industrial and consumer dimensions as well as primary producers. Target recruits for the Society were Anthony Coughlan, Sean Cronin and Michael McInerney.

October 20 1964: RJ in the chair, present EMacM, S Cronin, UMacE, A Coughlan, RR, TC, DB, J Keating and C Goulding. RJ to meet with Peadar O'Donnell the following Saturday. JK reported on a meeting with a group from the USSR, in the context of trade development. There was talk of a 'freedom train' to run from Dublin to Derry, as part of a campaign against closure of the direct Dublin-Derry railway, then imminent.

This was Anthony Coughlan's first meeting; nothing came of the 'freedom train' concept, alas. RJ's Peadar O'Donnell meeting was in the context of the 'economic resistance' concept, which had been promoted in the October 1964 United Irishman. In retrospect, this promotion was a mistake, in that it associated the concept with an explicit Republican ideology, this arousing suspicion in the mind of Peadar O'Donnell, whose experience of the movement was based on its form in the past, rather than the form to which we aspired.

Members of the WTS had participated in support of Sinn Fein candidates in the Northern elections, and it was agreed to draft a report on the experience.

November 10 1964: PON in the chair; RJ, UMacE, CG, HW, AC, SC and RR present. The Peadar O'Donnell meeting had yielded notice of a conference in the Gresham with Sceim na gCearcumann, County Associations etc, with an invited audience, including WTS representatives. Uinsean Mac Eoin proposed and Padraig O Nuallain seconded a motion calling on the Government to purchase the assets of the Northern railways should Stormont decide to close them down, and keep them going. Steps were taken to publicise this.

November 19: Galway event (Cronin, Breathnach); Hubert Butler letter; Tailors Hall; 'dinner' idea shelved. December 8: Tomás Mac Gabhainn to be approached; Dungannon meeting; co-op conference in January...

TMacG had pioneer standing in the co-operative development domain.

December 7 1964: there was a WTS meeting where Ethna MacManus read a paper on Irish trade. This is not on record, but was noted by Greaves who attended.

1965

RJ reported on a meeting that had taken place in Swinford addressed by Peadar O'Donnell and Fr McDyer. The basis for future co-operative development organisation was becoming unclear. There was input from JK on the NFA and small farmers.

This was the occasion when POD drove the wedge between McDyer and the Charlestown Committee people.

January 25: Peter Kerr joins the group (a northern sympathiser with a Presbyterian background). There is mention of Rev McElroy, and a Dundalk meeting; the context is not clear. A sub-committee is set up to look into publishing a monthly journal: RR, TC, Brian Murphy, PON, AC. Likewise a group to look into civil liberties in the south: AC, RJ, DB, TC. A Belfast meeting is projected.

McElroy was a Presbyterian minister who had been asked by Rev GBG McConnell to attend the Armour lecture; there is a letter to this effect in the archive.

February 9: 'economic resistance' concept is being shelved; situation in the West fluid; see whether 'Defence of the West' emerges with an actual democratic structure with a membership. Contacts re Civil Liberties with Asmal in TCD and Edgar Deale; AC is prime mover.

Not minuted, but emerging from the foregoing in the RJ records: there is a Feb-March correspondence with Raymond Crotty attempting to set up a meeting or conference on all-Ireland economic planning; contact with Geoffrey Copcutt is also projected; the latter, as a town planner, had gone public in opposition to the Craigavon project. Nothing came of this, but it deserves to be on record as a creditable attempt. Donal Nevin and Garrett Fitzgerald were also projected, for a 'balanced platform'.

There is a paper in the WTS archive by the present writer which expands on the above; the plan was to run a seminar to follow up on the implications of the Lemass-O'Neill meeting, and to initiate examination of possibilities for genuine N-S co-operation in the national interest. The objective was to expose the fact that O'Neill did not have the power; we would have to go to Wilson. It was to be followed by a seminar on urban planning, invoking Copcutt, and addressing the issue of over-development of Dublin and decline of rural areas; also by a seminar on the agricultural subsidies, with leading farming co-operators north and south, and invoking Joe Johnston and Justin Keating. Finally there was to be a seminar on the University for Derry as a national demand. The foregoing was a valid plan adapted to the time, and it is a pity it was not implemented.

March 9: CG came to this one. Meeting in Belfast projected around Easter. Asmal memo noted; RJ had seen Edgar Deale and noted that Irish Association for Civil Liberty (IACL) did not take initiatives on OAS Act. Names targeted for circulation of Asmal memo.

A copy of a letter from RJ to Jack Bennett has turned up relating to this meeting in Belfast; it was projected that the meeting should be supportive of the New University of Ulster being located in Derry, and urged that there be a Donegal dimension, and a proposal for it to be associated with a scheme for the integrated development of the North-West, a jointly-funded cross-border body. It was also suggested that a ballad concert should have an orange and green theme, with interspersed narrative. There was also a cryptic reference to Shorts, indicating an aspiration to achieve left-wing trade-union contact in the context.

March 30: Civil Rights memo ready for signing..

April 5 1965: a symposium sponsored by the WTS in the Clarence Hotel on the real issues in the general election; speakers were the present writer, Anthony Coughlan, Uinsean mac Eoin and Ethna McManus. AC promoted levelling up of social services compared to the North, which had benefited by Labour legislation in Westminster. A resolution was passed urging cross-border co-operation directed at the development of the Donegal-Derry area. RJ condemned the current Lemass-O'Neill talks as 'one property-owner speaking to another' without the peoples' needs being on the agenda (eg the projected Derry University). EMcM called for vertical integration in agriculture under the control of the co-operative movement. UMacE was critical of speculative development of Dublin sites.

Citizens for Civil Liberties

May 25: the CL encounter postponed, due to ED being ill.

June 8 1965: Maire Comerford joins the group, in the Tailors' Hall context. The Civil Rights issue is still dormant. 'Armour of Ballymoney' lecture projected by Ken Armour, his son, a teacher in Campbell College.

June 21: RJ, PON, AC, UMacE, RR. The Irish Association meeting in Derry had been planned to celebrate the projected upgrading of Magee College to the status of the New University of Ulster. This however had subsequently been located by Stormont on a green-field site near Coleraine, a snub for Derry. The IA conference therefore assumed a political role, and many subsequently associated with the Civil Rights movement attended, including John Hume and the present writer. What follows is the WTS reaction to this event. Letters were to be sent to the Trustees of Magee College and to Ken Armour, RJ to draft; also to brief Micheal O Laoire for a Dail question. Projected Queens lecture by Michael Dolley. Letter to Corporation re Tailors Hall. Resolution re housing in the Arran Quay context. Newsletter 'Tuairisc' projected, with WTS logo.

June 29 1965: there is in the archive a flier for a meeting in the Father Matthew Hall addressed by Unisean Mac Eoin, Michael O'Leary TD and Paul Rowan (Caper St Traders) on 'Dublin - Live City or Dead'. This was directed at the Corporation's plans for the Arran Quay area, and at the land speculation issue.

July 6: UMacE, AC, DOB, RR, Sean Bermingham, TC, DB (RmacG). Tailors Hall taken up by Des Guinness. Civil Liberties: Edgar Deal in touch with AC; AC and Asmal to join Irish Civil Liberties Association. Newsletter to include Arran Quay, note on University of Ulster and Magee College (by AC); RJ absent, RR to write RJ to get article on economic crisis.

July 7: AC wrote to RR proposing a list of target people for circulation of Tuairisc, emphasising the need to identify people in the labour and trade union movement as well as republican politicals; also people concerned with the defence of the West and the emergent co-operative movement, the latter being liable to Fianna Fail take-over.

July 27 1965: more on Tailors Hall; resolution to the Corporation in support of the preservation of the Gaiety Theatre.

August 1965: the second issue of Tuairisc came out; it led with an 'Economic Resistance' note; this contained a call for the rejuvenation of the co-operative movement. There were also some notes on the Castlecomer mine, and a call to save the Gaiety Theatre, then under threat.

September 6 1965: RJ, CG, P Kerr, UMacE, RR, DB, TC, Noel Kavanagh, George Hodnett, Maire Comerford. GH had come in on the basis of his work on the issue of resisting developer-driven demolitions of historic Dublin landmarks. Armour lecture projected for October 12, UCD L&H to be approached for joint sponsorship, via Roger McHugh. RJ reported on 'Comhar Linn' project.

I have on record an exchange of correspondence with Dessie O'Malley the then Minister on the question of the housing of the people who were taking refuge in Griffith Barracks. My one-page letter calling for the declaration of a housing emergency, and setting up a Temporary Accommodation Authority, elicited a lengthy and defensive response, accompanied by a 7-page memorandum. We were proving that we could engage meaningfully with Government.

AGM Sept 21 1965: RJ, UMacE, HW, PK, RR, MC, NK, SB, GH, DB. Harry White became Chair, RJ remained vice-chair, Sec RR, assist sec AC, Treasurer UMacE. Secretaries report covered events of the previous year, a summary of which was drafted as a letter to people being invited to join. Sean Cronin to write a booklet for the coming 1966 jubilee year. Armour event re-scheduled. MC to supply Jack Bennett in Belfast with critical material on the projected 'Scotch-Irish' conference. Belfast meeting projected for October 9, with lecture by Ciaran The minutes of the October 12 1965 meeting record some important seminal events. Present were RJ, UMacE, NK, AC, CG, PK, PON, TC; the group was also joined by John Tozer and Daithi O Bruadair. RJ had seen Sean Cronin in New York and latter had agreed to produce the booklet about 1916. Armour postponed to January 19. RJ to approach Bill Meek to join. Dungannon WT Association had no connection with WTS.

Then on the Belfast Meeting: '..It was reported that a successful launching meeting had been held in Belfast between Dublin delegates R Johnston, Peter Kerr, Anthony Coughlan and Uinsean Mac Eoin, and Belfast delegates Liam Barbour, Michael Dolley, Alec Foster, Jack Bennett and Liam Burke. It was agreed that for the moment the new group should concentrate its attentions on the civil rights issue, particularly the question of plural voting. Contact was made with Republicans working on the same issue and it was learned that a Committee for Democratic Elections had been set up. Fred Heatley was asked and agreed to become Secretary of the new Belfast group. It was also made known that Ciaran Mac an Aili was prepared to read a paper which he had done for the UN on 'Civil Liberties North and South', to a meeting organised by the WTS in Belfast. It was agreed that invitations be sent to the UN Association in Belfast and that Prof J McCartney be invited to speak to the paper. It was suggested that the Committee for Democratic Elections should get in touch with the Campaign for Social Justice in Dungannon and, with an official link already in existence with the republican movement, to form a broad common platform on this issue with all similarly-minded organisations in the North..'.

It was urged that the Dublin MWT/WTS Constitution be adapted to serve the new group as the Belfast WTS. A symposium on the Dublin housing question was planned, and there was to be a social in RJ's house to enable introduction of new members. A Free Trade consultative conference was projected for November 14.

A bizarre event occurred at this social; some people arrived whom no-one knew, and Cathal Goulding threw them out, thinking they were Special Branch. A letter subsequently arrived from Joe Kennedy complaining about the treatment of some business friends of his from the US; an unfortunate case of mistaken identity, and an indication of the prevalent paranoia which inhibited the development of an open political movement. I have added this letter to the record.

October 1965: the 3rd issue of Tuairisc came out; it had a feature of the Free Trade Agreement; there was an analysis of the Dublin housing problem, triggered by the homeless people in Griffith Barracks, which called for setting up a flat-dwellers association; there was also a critique to the 'Scotch-Irish' tendency in Northern mythology.

November 2: HW, UMacE, AC, NK, RJ, JT, RR, CG, DB, PON, DOB. Contact with Belfast WTS: Peter Kerr to liaise. Meeting with 'Free Ireland' organisation: RJ, JT and UMacE. Free Trade conference. Housing symposium. Civil Liberties. Tailors Hall. November 16: continues on same topics.

November 14 1965: there was a consultative conference on the Anglo-Irish Free Trade Agreement in Power's Hotel; there is some documentation about this in the archive, together with the terms of reference of the WTS Economic Independence Committee. This was in aid of drumming up some support for lobbying the Dail on January 14.

December 14: usual group, no CG, Hubert Butler looked in. Free Trade conference had taken place and attracted some publicity. Tape-recording of Joe Clarke projected as addendum to Cronin's 1916 booklet. Armour lecture Jan 19?. Annual dinner projected for Jan 29?

1966

A briefing paper prepared by the present writer for this Free Trade lobbying event is on record in the WTS archive; it covers the ground historically, with some quantitative economic indicators of the health of firms of different types. Some quotes are relevant:

"..Alternative policies would have been possible to a determined government in 1957, as world conditions were not so adverse as they were in 1933.... The problem of high-cost small industries (behind tariffs) would have been tackled by... favouring cost-cutting technical innovations, by investing in technological research and development work... Free Trade is being thrust upon us by Britain in the hour of imperial decline..."

The paper went on to expand on diversification of trade, strengthening the home market, protection of industry (with various focused measures, like 'expand the scope and terms of reference of the State scientific and technological services..'), control of capital movement (using taxation devices), in summary '..to prevent a drift back to the Act of Union... radical independent thinking.. change substantially our trade patterns..'.

The Jan-Feb issue of Tuairisc, no 5 (no 4 is missing from the archive) is totally dedicated to the free trade issue; it included an analysis of the Jan 14 lobbying event, when nearly all Dublin and some rural TDs were each seen by one or more of their constituents, and were briefed for the debate.

There was in the WTS archive a TCD undergraduate publication entitled 1916-1966, to which AC and the present writer contributed, along with others. I have scanned my article into the first 1960s political module.

January 11: HW, UMacE, AC, Seamus MacGabhainn, Brian Murphy, (Charlie?) Murphy, Noel Kavanagh, Peter Kerr, RR, RJ, JT, TC, Ethna Viney, DB. Armour lecture mid-Feb. First ideas for 1916 symposium emerge, four-day event in Mansion House, RJ, CM and SMacG sub-cttee to develop. Free Trade symposium had produced an Economic Independence Committee; AC as prime mover. Housing. Annual dinner postponed. Free Ireland contacts invited to join WTS. Cork WTS projected tentatively.

February 1 1966: UMacE, RR, AC, NK, SMacG, Maire Comerford, JT, PK; also Rite Ni Dubhshlaine, Caitlin Ni Chaomhanaigh, Colette Ni Mhotligh. The latter 3 had been Tuairim attenders some year previous. Armour: Feb 8 in Wynn's Hotel; an attempt was made to invite prominent Protestants (Tony Farrington, Muriel Gahan, Douglas Gageby). Plans for 1916 symposium were taking shape: Asmal to set in context of other 20th century freedom movements, Brian Farrington on Yeats, George Gilmore on Labour.

February 22: HW, RJ, UMacE, JT, SMacG, PK, NK, BM, RR, RniD, CniC; also for the first time Micheal O Loingsigh and Tony Meade. Jury's booked for 1916 lectures, May 9-13. Tuairisc to contain Armour summary and Harris article (this is the first mention of Eoin Harris), also note on trade union law from Civil Liberties meeting. The Armour lecture was noted as having been good. My recollection of it is that it was poorly attended, having lacked good pre-publicity, due to the uncertainty regarding date and location. Projected 1916 panel: Farrington, Gilmore, Asmal, Bennett, O Cadhain. Next meeting fixed for March 8.

A copy of his paper is on record in the WTS archive; I hope it will some time get edited and published. It was read on the occasion by Peter Kerr, Kenneth Armour being sick; he had however worked on the paper and send down a copy. It was reported in the Irish Times of February 12 1966. Rev JB Armour fought for Queens University Belfast to be made friendly to Catholics (having spent time in Queens College Cork), was active in two North Tyrone election campaigns where Liberal Home Rule candidates were elected, organised the Ballymoney rally against Carson in November 1913, and blamed the Tories in Westminster for organising the opposition to Home Rule in their own selfish interests. He predicted that the Larne gun-running would result in similar events in the South. He died in 1928.

There is a hiatus in the record then until June; this can perhaps be filled in by Tuairisc. The notes up to this are in Dick Roche's writing; those from June 21 are in the writing of John Tozer. I may be to blame for this; I think I took over being secretary, found the going a bit heavy due to other pressures, and then handed over the minutes to John Tozer as assistant secretary.

There is a printed card with the 1916 Lecture schedule: May 9 Brian Farrington on the Literary Revival and the 1916 Rising; May 10 Cian O h-Eigeartaigh an Teanga agus 1916; May 11 Kader Asmal 1916 and 20th century freedom movements; May 12 Jack Bennett Connolly, Ulster and 1916; May 13 George Gilmore Labour and 1916. Of these the first and last were subsequently published as pamphlets. There is a letter from Gilmore relating to his paper in the archive.

May 24 1966: letter from Fred Heatley re sales of Cronin's booklet in Belfast.

May 25: there is in the archive a copy of TCD, the undergraduate weekly, which has an unsigned promotional article about the WTS.

June 1966: completed application form from Paul Gillespie. The form suggested applicants should specify areas of interest or special skills.

June 1966: issue #6 of Tuairisc appears, with an apology for the gap in the production. It contains a questionnaire for supporters, and an outline of activities to date; also contact-points for Belfast and Cork, and a declaration of intent to do the same for Galway and Waterford. It contained also a critical appraisal of Eamonn Andrews, RTE, the language movement and the Boyle Fleadh Ceol by one Eoghan O Broin.

There must have been a meeting on June 8 1966 because there is in the archive a letter from AC to RJ apologising for his absence (due to his father's illness in Cork). The letter is marked read on that date by me.

There is also a minute in my handwriting dated June 8, no year, but it must have been 1966. It was a somewhat ad-hoc 'planning committee' meeting, attended as well as RJ by Eoin Harris, Seamus Costello, Micheal O Loingsigh, John Tozer, Rita Ni Dubhshlaine and (perhaps anomalously) by Mary Maher. I proposed Derry Kelleher for membership in order to increase our representation from the science and technology community. We noted the decline of record-keeping owing to the temporary absence of Dick Roche, and the fact the the assistant secretary Anthony Coughlan had family difficulties arising from the death of his father. There had been a gap in the production of Tuairisc. I undertook to draft some re-organisation proposals for the next meeting. Costello wanted local government research material, and I undertook to draft some for the next Tuairisc. Mary Maher it seems had undertaken to act as the convener of a panel of professional journalists, to include, as well as Dick Roche and Deasun Breathnach who were already members, Micheal Foy and Michael Viney, to act as advisers to the United Irishman, and to help raise its technical and journalistic level. This proposal it seems came from Michael Foy, who also wanted to become a member.

It is not clear from the record what became of the foregoing proposals. Michael Foy never showed; he was at that time doing PR for the Sugar Company. Nor did Michael Viney. To help fill this hiatus I have added some correspondence to the 1966 record, as follows:

June 21 1966: this is the first of the John Tozer minutes; RJ to get out next Tuairisc; sub-committee structure to await responses to circular; Anne O'Sullivan (later Harris) reported on meeting in Cork considering setting up Cork WTS; AO'S to liaise; UMacE to contact Belfast group to plan Maghera conference; Tailors Hall meeting in Hibernian.

June 27 1966: letter to RJ from Alec Foster, of the Belfast WTS, who was Conor Cruise O'Brien's then father-in-law, indicating inability to get a response from Conor. This indicates that at the time we were trying to contact him to explore political options, given that the aura of his progressive role in the Congo still hung about him.

There is an undated abrasive note from UMacE re money associated with the above in the archive.

List of names and addresses of members of the Dublin WTS; this is undated but it occurred with 1966 material in RJ's record; it is therefor probably part of the handover to John Tozer. It is noteworthy that Eoin Harris and Aine ni Shuilleabhain are named on it, but the names have been struck out. I recollect that Eoin at that time said he wished not to associate closely with the WTS. Seamus Costello and Derry Kelleher's names appear, also Cathal Mac Liam. Some prospective people to be approached also are listed on a separate sheet; they include Jim Fitzgerald, Seoirse Dearle and Risteard O Glaisne.

Origins of NICRA

A letter from Proinsias de Rossa was in RJ's file dated 14/07/66, relating to Tuairisc promotion, offering names; he was however critical at the way Tuairisc seemed to be sniping at Sinn Fein and preferring the Labour Party: '...Sinn Fein has a ready-made national attitude and with encouragement and additional capable personnel could become a strong force within a short period. The negative attitude towards Sinn Fein will have to be dropped...'.

The Maire Mac an tSaoi meeting took place, under WTS auspices, in Jury's Hotel reported in the Irish Times on July 25 1966, under the title 'Clear Thinking on the Irish Language'; she said that '..the culture to which Irish was a key was a revolutionary culture - it was a culture of the oppressed..'. She was supportive of the innovative teaching methods introduced by Fr Colman O hUallachain, and critical of Government dishonesty, and the tendency to use Irish as a scapegoat.

Tuesday July 26 1966: 13 present, including AC, CG and SC; Tailors Hall conference reported by UMacE; supportive resolution passed; Alec Foster to chair the meeting in Kevin Agnew's house in Maghera; main topic 'civil rights and discrimination' and 'trade unions and unity'; Tuairisc had been sent out. Ethna Viney (MacManus) raised the question of Nitrigin Eireann, the refusal of a seat on the Board to an NFA representative, threatened US take-over; EV to work with Derry Kelleher on this. Symposium on PR projected for September; the suggestion came from Michael Dore who had been Ethna's employer and who felt strongly about the issue, as a citizen.

There is in the archive a letter from AC to RJ summarising this meeting, RJ being away on vacation. In he notes the existence of a Cork republican dissident group, promoting a split, and publishing a newsletter critical of the left-republican political process, from a traditionalist physical force position. He urged that Tuairisc should take on the issues raised, promoting the political potential for action within the Free State, and analysing the differences between the latter and the Stormont regime.

Thursday August 11: AC came to Dublin from Cork with Tuairisc material, a manifesto-type article on priorities for republican policy; this was discussed with RJ on Friday August 19.

A letter from Noel Kavanagh dated 11/08/66 indicates that he had picked up addresses of Irish organisations abroad; this was noted at the meeting, for extending the circulation of Tuairisc.

August 17 1966: there is in the archive a copy of a letter to the Irish Times signed by RJ on the question of the Arklow fertiliser plant of Nitrigin Eireann, questioning the nature of the deal with the US company Shaheen Natural Resource Inc, and alerting the public to the process of sell-out of the State-owned sector of the economy. It also questioned the rationale for siting the ammonia plant at Arklow when it would have made more synergetic sense to have located it at Whitegate, in association with the refinery. It called for a single integrated nationalised chemical industry employing Irish technologists. The main input to this submission came from Derry Kelleher, who was a chemical engineer and had direct experience of the fertiliser industry.

August 23: 11 present; contact with Paul Gillespie (student Labour group); Eoin Harris resigned; Dore letter re PR; RJ? to contact Dusty Miller re Nitrigin; RJ proposed a 'planning committee' to project future activities more systematically. RJ and SMacGabhainn reported on the Maghera meeting, at which a Civil Rights Convention was projected to which various Northern organisations should be invited. This was the seminal meeting at which the War Memorial Hall event was planned. DOB reported that some 300 people had been at Murlough. This was the meeting at which I spoke, and was introduced by the Pope O'Mahony as my father's son, with my father having been the author in 1913 of 'Civil War in Ulster'; he knew this, I had not briefed him; at the time I had forgotten this aspect of my father's background. Conor Cruise O'Brien also spoke; at this time he was seriously considered in the context of Mid-Ulster, as a possible candidate.

August 31 1966: issue #7 of Tuairisc contained a serious theoretical position paper Our Ideas, which deserves reproduction in full. There was also a review by RJ of JJ's 'Economic Headaches', which is worth reproducing alongside RJ's evaluation of that publication. There was also a 'Letter from Belfast' by 'Kanenas' who according to AC was Jack Bennett, and an article by Clara Ni Giolla on 'Co-operation'.

There are critical letters about the foregoing from John Goodwillie and Commandant Brennan-Whitmore in the archive, written from differing perspectives. There is also a congratulatory letter to Dick Roche from Sean Cronin in New York dated Sept 5 1966. Responding to the plan for the August Maghera conference on the call for the Civil Right charter, he proposed the need for a commission on the implications in an all-Ireland context of religious and political rights in a country dominated by Catholics. He claimed that the 1916-21 people did not understand the issue. He proposed an all-Ireland Commission to draw up a Charter of Rights, the equivalent in the Irish context of the UN Human Rights declaration. His list of possible members of such a Commission included Roger McHugh, George Gilmore, Joe Johnston, David Greene, Mairtin O Cadhain, Con Lehane, Owen Sheehy-Skeffington, Harry Kernoff etc. He concluded by mentioning that all the bright spots in news from Ireland could be traced to the WTS.

September 13 1966: 17 present, 12 of whom signed the paper, including Cathal Goulding and Seamus Costello; also present were Maire Comerford, Derry Kelleher, Anthony Coughlan, Aine Ni Shuilleabhain, Ethna Viney. Frank Ross proposed for membership; Desmond Fennell to be seen by a sub-committee. Feedback letter on Tuairisc. Planning Committee report discussed; people allocated as conveners of sub-committees to come up with ideas for events targeting special areas.

A copy of this report is on record; it noted that the membership of the Society was approaching 40, and that the possibility existed of setting up working groups with conveners. The following groups and conveners were suggested:

Language: Micheal O Loingsigh; Literature and Drama: Noel Kavanagh; Music, dancing etc: Mary Cannon; Education and student groups: Daithi O Bruadair. The foregoing constituted a 'cultural' group of groups. A 'socio-economic group of groups' was also projected: urbanism, housing, local government: Frank Ross; science and technology: Derry Kelleher; health and social services: Tony Coughlan (this however was queried); national economics: Ethna Viney; Co-operative movement: Seamus MacGabhainn; Trade Union Movement: Terry Conneally; historical research: Cathal MacLiam. This completes the list as on the 'planning committee' report, but there is added in pen: civil rights - Tony Coughlan.

Some comment is appropriate: this reflects how the present writer, although aware of the Maghera meeting and its significance, had not identified it as the key issue, leading to the weakest points of the Unionist establishment. Anthony Coughlan, to give him credit, did this, and insisted on the twelfth topic, undertaking to develop it. My own vision was to try to develop a rich mixture of intellectual fuel for a broad-based national movement, which I had hoped the politicised republican movement would become. In this grandiose concept however, in the 'planning committee' report, I had missed out on the key issue which AC saw. The projected mode of operation of the 'planning committee' was to meet between aggregate meetings, with all conveners invited, but urged not to come unless they had a concrete proposal. AC has a marginal comment: 'too many groups? strength dissipated?' I think he could well have been right, though in retrospect I think this approach was in principle worth trying out; it would have self-selected those who were prepared to work creatively.

Tuesday September 27 1966: some of the conveners reported, MOL on language mentioned the 'Language Freedom Movement' meeting in the Mansion House; a 'silent protest' was projected. The indications were that few had yet convened. AC came up with a proposal for an alternative to Edgar Deale's IACL group. AC to go to Belfast to evaluate progress towards the projected Civil Rights meeting planned at Maghera. This is also noted in AC's diary.

The 'planning committee' met in 22 Belgrave Road on October 5. MOL came up with a projected paper by Colman O h-Uallaghain. AC planned a trip north to contact Belfast WTS people re projected Maghera Convention. This event was aimed at the Republican Clubs, to persuade them that Civil Rights was the key issue; it involved a reading of a key issue of Tuairisc. But note the conflict of date; the annual report in January 1967 gives August as the date of this meeting. My recollection is that there were 2 distinct Maghera meetings, the second of which was a Convention involving the Clubs, while the first was strictly WTS and initiated the planning for the War Memorial Hall event.

There was also planned a 'Democracy in Ireland Week' for November, with Enid Lakeman (of the PR Society, the PR referendum being on the agenda). EV to write a paper on 'economic democracy' oriented towards the economy of the West. Gilmore's 'Labour and 1916' pamphlet to be published. Proposed to involve Tom Mitchell with the Housing Group. General meeting to elect the Planning Committee thereby giving it some status; up to now it had been ad-hoc.

The full meeting on October 11 echoed the foregoing plan; money still owing on the Cronin booklet about 1916; agreed to go ahead with the Gilmore; projected to expand the history group and try to bring in de Courcy Ireland. It was agreed no need to elect a 'planning committee' as such; it was the officers plus any active conveners.

Sunday October 16: AC noted that he attended a Belfast WTS meeting at International Hotel, with Jack Bennett, Fred Heatley and others.

October 18 1966 planning committee: some money had come in for an article in Business and Finance on Nitrigin Eireann (this was a joint effort from Derry Kelleher and RJ). Maire Comerford reported that funds were coming in for the Tailors Hall. Projected Dublin meeting with Mrs McCluskey on 'Democracy in Ulster'; this was in the context of a series including Enid Lakeman in support of PR in the Republic; also 'Language and Democracy in Ireland'. AC reported on Belfast WTS meeting; all was in order for the War Memorial Hall meeting on November 28 or Dec 1; Ciaran Mac an Aile and Kader Asmal to speak.

Present at the above meeting were RJ, AC, MC, DK, MOL, Tony Meade, JT. WTS people entitled to attend Regional Conferences of republican movement. This was not a WTS decision; could it perhaps have been an 'Army' decision conveyed by Meade? The latter according to CDG was at about this time promoting that the WTS should expand politically to supersede Sinn Fein as the Republican 'political wing', unencumbered by SF baggage. There was also a proposal to set up a WTS in Tralee, which would have been an echo of the 'Meade plan'.

I have a letter from John Mitchell from Perry's Ale, Rathdowney, outlining the basis for the closure thereof; I remember looking in around then, as my uncle Jack Young used to buy the barley. Staff were transferred to Kilkenny. A local committee was set up. This was the last of the old 'real ales', and unfortunately it died before the new-wave 'real ale' movement caught on. I would have made contact in the 'economic resistance' context.

November 1 1966: Positive feedback on Tuairisc from abroad. Support speaker for Lakeman meeting (McCluskeys unavailable) O Glaisne? Sorahan? Agricultural problems meeting: Rickard Deasy perhaps? Ethna Viney and Cathal Quinn? (Mayo co-operative movement). Dungannon republican conference the following Sunday.

One gets the impression from JT's minutes that there was much hopeful talk recorded aspirationally, but little firm action, though some key events do manage to get organised.

Sunday November 6 1966: AC noted that he had met at Alec Foster's place in Ravenhill Road; DATA people (TU) came along and offered to help. Picked up by RJ and driven to Dublin along with Denis Foley.

November 11: a symposium in Jury's Hotel on 'why townspeople should support the farmers' under WTS auspices took place; there is no record of speakers or attendance, but a resolution was passed, calling for a Meat Marketing Board, and a plan to raise the incomes of small farmers. At this time the NFA was marching and being led aggressively by Rickard Deasy.

November 14: AC noted that RJ passed him some work on the historical section of a political handbook for republicans.

November 15: general WTS meeting was addressed by Fr Colman O h-Uallachain on language learning techniques; JT's minutes summarise what he said. From this emerged a campaign for text-book in Irish for schools, a neglected area. Vote of sympathy with the widow of founding member Lorcan Leonard. Meeting in Ballina on Sunday to discuss small-farmer co-ops announced.

November 18: public symposium on 'Bunreacht ne h-Eireann and Irish Democracy' took place in Jury's Hotel; a resolution was passed supporting the retention of PR. It urged revision on the Constitution in matters relating to birth control and divorce, recognising these issues as being obstacles to national unity. It urged that the European Convention on Human Rights be embodied in law. Text of the resolution is on record.

November 25: AC noted that RJ had been elected to the SF Ard Comhairle.

Sunday November 27: AC noted a meeting at Alec Foster's to make final arrangements for the Civil Rights meeting, which took place on Monday 28th; McCartney's presence noted. Conference in new year to draw up Charter decided. Back to Dublin with O Loingsigh and Asmal.

Wednesday November 30: AC noted WTS meeting in Jury's Hotel; Language and Democracy in Ireland; AC did all arrangements; there is a flier for this meeting in the archive. On Dec 1 drafted an EEC statement for SF and passed to RJ, to be issued on Dec 17. On Saturday Dec 3 spoke to Cork WTS inaugural meeting, paper on 'Towards a New Ireland'. RJ and Jim Regan present. A copy of AC's script is in the WTS archive.

December 6 1966 general meeting: UMacE reported on Cork meeting in Munster Hotel, some 60 people present, speakers Uinsean O Murchu and AC. Belfast meeting had taken place in the British Legion Hall; some 70 present; John D Stewart in the chair; Mac an Aile and Asmal were main speakers; ad-hoc group set up, not the WTS. Planning the AGM referred to committee; projected topics include the alternative to the Common Market, the Casement Diaries, regional planning and the Gaeltacht, science and technology, labour and republicanism.

December 20 planning committee: AGM planned for January 21; Common Market and Casement to get priority. A letter to prospective members was sent out, signed by Anraoi de Faoite as Chairman, on behalf of the planning committee. This letter enshrines the then philosophy of the Society, and is worth reproducing in full, along with the Constitution.

No issue of Tuairisc had appeared since the seminal #7 in August; this reflected that the efforts of AC and RJ were going into the implementation of the key ideas contained therein, primarily the Civil Rights question in the North

1967

January 17: there is in the archive a letter from Barry Desmond, then working for the ICTU, declining to participate in the West County Hotel symposium, pleading a prior engagement with the INPC.

The Annual General Meeting took place on Saturday January 21 1967; this constituted a showcase event; the various current areas of interest were all covered by specialist reports, and there was a review of the previous year's work by John Tozer, an MS copy of which is in the archive. This contained a reference to the setting up of the Cork society (which managed to escape being minuted in Dublin). It also expanded on the Maghera conference of the Belfast WTS on August 6, which was attended by Dublin and Cork WTS delegates, and also by Republican Club delegates from Tyrone, Fermanagh and South Derry. This report is actually a conflation of 2 distinct Maghera events; the first was in August, included WTS people only, and planned the War Memorial Hall event to initiate the process that led to the NICRA; the second was in October, and was a convention of Republican Club representatives, to update them on the Civil Rights Movement plans. A document was discussed in depth at the second of these meetings, which had been published as the editorial of Tuairisc no 7 (this is the document that was read by Eoghan Harris). Ciaran Mac an Aili analysed the Special Powers Act and the need for a six-county Civil Rights Convention was discussed.

"The first step was implemented in Belfast on November 28 when a symposium was held... The audience represented all shades of anti-unionist opinion, including nationalist, NILP, Social Justice, trade unionist, socialist and republican. The symposium was organised by an ad-hoc group consisting of Belfast WTS and trade union representatives. No elected committee was set up, but the ad-hoc committee was extended by calling for voluntary support for the purpose of organising the next meeting, which would be addressed by an NCCL speaker from London... It was considered unwise to establish a Civil Rights Convention under circumstances in which it would be rapidly torn asunder by political rivalry; the goal was a strictly non-political Convention. This could clearly not have been achieved at the first meeting..."

The formation of the Cork WTS began with an informal encounter between RJ and a group of UCC graduates 'known to a member of the Dublin society of Cork origin' this of course was Eoghan Harris. A meeting subsequently held in June was aimed at making a link in Cork with the republican movement, but this proved abortive due to internal problems in the Cork movement. These relate to the anti-political militaristic mind-sets of Mac Stiofain and Mac Carthaigh who then dominated the Cork scene. "..a preparatory committee was set up which held a number of meetings, expanding the membership to include individuals prominent in the trade union movement, in Dochas, in the West Cork small-farm co-operative movement and in amateur drama. The Chairman was Dave O'Connell and the secretary Brian Titley. The inaugural public meeting was held on December 3rd and featured a review by Anthony Coughlan of Ireland since the Treaty, as well as shorter talks by Uinsean O Murchu (Cork WTS on the language movement and by Uinsean Mac Eoin on the situation in the North. The second public meeting was held on Friday December 16 and was addressed by Jim Fitzgerald of Dublin on the National Theater..."

The November 11 meeting which tried to sell the farmers' struggle to Dublin citizens was addressed by Tom Llewellyn for the NFA, Michael Dillon the Irish Times columnist and Barry Desmond of the Labour party. The November 18 meeting on the proposed constitutional amendment featured Enid Lakeman on the advantages of PR, Seamus Sorahan on the Offences Against the State Act, and Risteard O Glaisne who pointed out the deficiencies as seen from the angle of the Protestant community.

Specialist reports to the AGM covered Housing and Town Planning (UMacE), the Tailors Hall (Maire Comerford), Micheal Mac Aonghusa on the Irish Language, Derry Kelleher on science and technology (unrecognised by the Government as a factor in economic development), Anthony Coughlan on Civil Liberty; Mairin de Burca reported on the changes occurring within Sinn Fein, and Fred Heatley reported on the Belfast WTS. Eoin O Murchu spoke on the development of the TCD students republican club, and Paul Gillespie spoke on behalf of Labour students. Dave O'Connell outlined the development of the work of the WTS in Cork. Sean O Cionnaith on behalf of the Sinn Fein leadership appealed for support in the coming local government elections.

Cathal Mac Liam was elected Chairman, Roy Johnston vice-chairman, Noel Kavanagh secretary assisted by John Tozer, the treasurer remained Uinsean Mac Eoin.

This clearly represented a milestone in the development of political left-republicanism, with signs of growing influence and acceptance, and increasing friendly links with the labour movement. There is in the WTS archive a letter from Sean O Cionnaith dated 23/01/67 to the present writer, inviting 10 members of the WTS to attend an Educational Conference of the Dublin Comhairle Ceanntair of Sinn Fein, to be held in Wynn's Hotel. I had added an M/S note and passed it on the Noel Kavanagh with the suggestion that we would need to do this discreetly, not to give the impression of 'bulldozing WTS members into Sinn Fein'. There is no record of the agenda, but in my note I indicated that Anthony Coughlan was speaking.

In the coming period, we must try to establish 'what went wrong' such as to neutralise this promising renaissance.

For the next few months Noel Kavanagh's minutes are impeccable:

February 7 1967: 15 present; McCracken stamp; itinerants; Connolly Association conference; Derry Kelleher to go, with expenses paid. Ethna Viney outlined some points on the Common Market, and undertook to read a paper at a future meeting. UMacE reported on the inaugural meeting of the NICRA, which was representative of all sections of the community. Belfast WTS members associated were Jack Bennett, Michael Dolley and Fred Heatley. AC proposed that they fund the installation of a phone in the home of the Belfast WTS secretary, but Dublin WTS funds would not support this. RJ raised the issue of the proposed singling of the Belfast-Dublin railway.

February 28 1967: EV's paper was not available; correspondence with CIE regarding rail downgrading; Mary Cannon resigned, citing political incompatibility; it was agreed to attend an Irish Socialist seminar in the Moira Hotel on March 11-12. Correspondence about the latter is in the archive; a note from RJ mentioned that the Editor of the United Irishman was going, and that it was by invitation only; the emphasis was on Anglo-Irish relations and the EEC, and speakers were Desmond Greaves, Joe Deasy and Andy Barr. Kelleher reported on the Connolly Association conference, which had been attended by young liberals, labour and trade union groups; Gerry Fitt had addressed it. 'Protestant patriots' booklet promoted by UMacE. Micheal O Loingsigh reported back from a Cork WTS meeting, and urged starting a society in Tralee. A Limerick society was also proposed by Noel Kavanagh. UMacE reported in a meeting of the TCD Republican Club which he had addressed, noting the absence of any SF participation. Proposal to meet with the SF Ard Comhairle. Noel Kavanagh reported on setting up a Folk Council (Duchas I think it was called).

At this meeting also AC reported on his Common Market document and called for a special meeting on March 7, with the document to be published in a special issue of Tuarisc, #8 in the series. This is on record in the WTS archive: it consists of a 16-page document covering all aspects of the EEC, and promoting the 'Association' process as an alternative to full membership. It got full treatment on the April 21 issue of 'Business and Finance' and can be regarded as constituting the founding document of what later emerged as the Common Market Study Group, the CM Defence Campaign, and eventually the Irish Sovereignty Movement, in all of which the leading light was Anthony Coughlan.

March 14: Protestant patriots were still on the agenda; George Gilmore to be approached, also Maire Comerford, for sources. RJ to meet the CIE management. SF was to discuss the proposed meeting at the next Ard Comhairle. £15 sent to Belfast. AC to represent the Dublin WTS at a meeting called by the Republican Clubs to protest against their being banned.

There is correspondence with republican contacts in Limerick in mid-March exploring the possibility of starting a WTS there. I recollect a fruitless visit about then, in which we met with Jim Kemmy. There is also a letter from Mairin de Burca inviting 4 WTS people to meet the Sinn Fein Standing Committee on April 10; this later was reconvened for 24th. From the archive it appears that the emphasis was on getting support for the work of the Dublin Housing Action Committee. Alas there is a gap here in my abstract of the Sinn Fein record.

April 4 1967: RJ, CMacL, UMacE, AC, JT, Cathal Goulding, Maire Comerford, RNiD, CNiC, SMacG, Noel Kavanagh. RJ reporting from CIE: responsibility ultimately with Westminster Dept of Transport and Power. CIE were genuinely concerned. RJ to prepare a memo for next meeting. AC reported on the success of the Belfast meeting.

There is on record an editorial from the Western People dated April 29 1967 which reproduces the WTS EEC analysis, as published in Tuairisc and reprinted in Business and Finance.

There is again a hiatus in the record; there was a meeting on April 18, for which the invitation was signed by John Tozer. There is on record some correspondence with Sinn Fein regarding the local elections and the Wright Plan, which related to housing and planning legislation. Uinsean Mac Eoin is on record as having spoken at a meeting organised by Dublin Sinn Fein on Friday May 19. There is a discussion document aimed at a Conference of WTSs in Dublin on June 24/25, drafted by AC, of whose then thinking it constitutes an excellent summary. This if possible deserves to be scanned in, and I hope to do this eventually. It may perhaps be regarded as a manifesto for AC's tenure of the secretaryship of the Society, though it is not clear from the 1967 record when this began. I have discovered some WTS records of this period in my own papers, and I am embedding these in what follows.

During March-April 1967 there is on record in the archive a correspondence with the Teilhard de Chardin Society; Derry Kelleher was the prime mover in this, in the context of the Marxist-Christian dialogue. This aroused some interest in Ireland among socially concerned Christians, but had little political impact. There is a record in the archive of a meeting organised by the WTS in the Moira Hotel addressed by Mrs Croose-Parry and Derry Kelleher, and articles were published in the United Irishman and in the Irish Democrat.

The Connolly Association wrote to the WTS on May 5 seeking a speaker for their June 18 Trafalgar Square demonstration, to speak with Gerry Fitt. It is not clear if anyone went. There is a passing reference on May 5 in the Greaves Diaries to the possibility of MacLiam coming, but nothing subsequent. There is also on record a letter from the Russell Cumann signed by Rose Doyle dated May 8 1967, seeking support for 3 events: the life and times of James Connolly (Anthony Coughlan), the Wright Plan, and a ceilidhe.

There is a letter dated June 3 1967 from Fred Heatley regarding Belfast participation in the proposed conference; this expresses some unease at the emphasis on the Common Market issue, and seeks more information. It was followed by one dated June 7 seeking to co-ordinate Belfast WTS participation in the Bodenstown commemoration.

The June 1967 Conference of the 3 WTSs

There are extensive notes on this conference, by Noel Kavanagh, and a list of the participants: these were as follows:

Dublin: Micheal O Loingsigh, Micheal Mac Aonghusa, Derry Kelleher, Maire Comerford, Anthony Coughlan, Roy Johnston, John Tozer, Cathal Mac Liam, Noel Kavanagh on the Saturday, and on the Sunday also Uinsean mac Eoin, Tony Meade and Cathal Goulding.
Belfast: Frank Gogarty, Jack Bennett, Fred Heatley, and on the Sunday Anne Hope.
Cork: Mary O'Shea (Leland).
Student clubs: Kevin McCorry (QUB), Ernest Bates, Pat Murphy, Ron Lindsay (TCD).

It was proposed by Mary O'Shea and seconded by Anthony Coughlan and agreed that a liaison committee for the 3 societies be set up to meet quarterly, the first meeting to be before the end of August.

There was on the Saturday some discussion of the sub-committee structure for the society, and fear was expressed that less frequent general meetings would lead to lack of cohesion. The overall basis for WTS membership was discussed: accept the Constitution and be prepared to work etc. Avoid going too far left. There was a distinct difference in attitude to the EEC as between Belfast and Dublin, and the complexities of the relationship between the EEC and the national question began to be probed.

On the Sunday the Civil Liberties question was discussed, again bringing out the differences between North and South; an all-Ireland movement would not be appropriate. It was the priority issue in the North, rather than the EEC. The idea of a paper or a journal in the North was discussed and postponed. Student republican clubs in TCD and QUB had been established and recognised. A meeting on the EEC was planned for July 22. UCC students should be targeted by Cork WTS.

The assessment of the Left, in the 'analysis of organisations' document introduced by RJ, is worth quoting: "Both CPNI and IWP remain in relative isolation due (a) to the negative tradition of Stalinism and consequent foreign orientation, and (b) to failure to come to grips with the existence of the national question and the rule of British imperialism in Ireland, which led to their condemnation of the '50s campaign on the Border. The CPNI and the IWP have not succeeded in working out an agreed joint national strategy and remain organisationally distinct. Both groups have, however, a wealth of trade union experience and a number of members with considerable influence in the trade union movement. Theoretically speaking, the CPNI, half-heartedly, and the IWP, in full, accept the republican classics as an essential part of our revolutionary heritage..".

The June 1967 Coughlan Guidelines

He went on to list the issues; in the 26 counties he listed:

1. Opposition to the Common Market and the Anglo-Irish Free Trade Agreement... economic integration with Britain, involving free movement of labour, goods and capital.. rules out.. building an independent economy.. sustained criticism..

2. Defence of Civil Liberties, in particular PR and trade union rights..

3. political education of the younger generation of republican and labour supporters in the universities..

He went on to list in the 6 counties:

1. Defence of civil liberties and organisation of political actions against the Unionist Government in relation to their reactionary policies in the civil liberties area, in respect of gerrymandering, electoral reform, the ban on the Republican Clubs etc.

2. To foster unity of action among non-Unionists; detailed criticism of economic policies... launch a radical anti-Unionist political monthly, appealing to the labour and trade union movement.. win the working-class Orangemen from their present political allegiance to Unionism.. civil liberties issues.. non-sectarian outlook... the idea being to get around the ban on the United Irishman.

He also had the following specific proposals:

1. Dublin and Cork societies to help build the Defence of the Nation Committees to organise opposition to the Common Market, with public meetings etc.

2. Public meetings also in defence of PR, trade union rights, full employment, preservation of the urban environment.

3. Dublin, Cork and Belfast societies to promote initially an all-Ireland student conference for republican and labour clubs, seeking to identify common ground, followed by local conferences and study groups to suggest action projects.

4. Each society to produce pamphlets and newsletters, along the lines pioneered in Dublin with Tuarisc, and the Common Market pamphlets.

5. The Belfast Society should give priority to civil rights work, via the NICRA which it had helped to establish, and try to develop the monthly political paper as suggested above.

He concluded by urging the adoption of this document as a guideline, and the setting up of societies in Galway, Limerick, Tralee, Waterford and Derry...

A document 'The Case Against the Common Market: Why Ireland Should Not Join' was produced by Anthony Coughlan subsequent to the foregoing Conference, and it was circulated on June 29 1967 to all TDs and Senators with a covering letter. A handful acknowledged. This was basically the conference document as discussed; it marks the beginning of the anti-EEC campaign.

July 7: Brian Titley wrote from the Cork WTS naming David O'Connell and Edward Williams as their delegates to the August liaison committee. These were leading Cork republicans, subsequent to 1970 respectively Provisional and Official.

There seems, alas, to be no record of the projected July 4 meeting at which the outcome of the 3-society conference was to be discussed in the Dublin WTS.

July 18: Fred Heatley wrote to Noel Kavanagh stressing that the Queens students had approached the Belfast WTS, with the Republican Club as a 'fait accompli'; this had pre-empted the idea of a Queens WTS.

July 18 1967: committee minute by Noel Kavanagh, typed; committee to propose to a general meeting on August 22 a re-grouping with conveners in national economics, student groups, science and technology, urbanism, culture and fund-raising. This represents a weed-out of the over-ambitious structure of a year previous.

July 31 1967: meeting of Dublin WTS members with the SF Standing Committee took place; there is alas no record of this in the WTS archive. Nor is there in the SF archive, as the SC was not then keeping proper records. It is probable that the question of how the WTS 'liaison committee' would relate to existing SF structures was discussed. There was an undercurrent in the 'army' (expressed among others by Tony Meade) which wanted the WTS network to leapfrog Sinn Fein, making a new political start without negative baggage, so this was a sensitive issue.

August 18 1967: there is a letter on record from Anthony Coughlan to Noel Kavanagh from Cork, briefing him on how to work the general meeting and sub-committee structure: the general meeting should approve new members. The student clubs should be left to do their own organising; the society should not 'foist itself' on them. Occasional public functions should keep the society in the public eye.

August 24 1967: officers and conveners of sub-committees to constitute the Committee of the Society. General meeting once a month. Sub-committees as required. Active sub-committees: national economics (AC); Housing and Urbanism, Tom Mitchell; Fund Raising, CNiC; Cultural, Micheal O Loingsigh; Student Liaison, Kevin McCorry; Science and Technology, Derry Kelleher. Members to contact convener of choice.

September 7 1967 (John Tozer's minutes): Vincent McDowell had joined the group. Anti-Apartheid suggests plans for Human Rights Year; WTS to nominate a representative. 'Fenian Lectures' series planned, to replace October meeting.

September 26: Fenian centenary events in the Moira Hotel: Joe Deasy, Jim Fitzgerald, Uinsean Mac Eoin. Tailors Hall. Terence McCaughey. These minutes are obscure

October 3: history sub-committee: Cathal MacLiam, JT, Derry and Phyllis Kelleher, Maire Comerford. Contact with de Courcy Ireland. No clear decisions

October 15 1967: there an undated document by AC planning this meeting, and then a minute of the meeting of the 3 WTSs in Dublin; Dublin agenda prioritises economics and the EEC (the Wilfred Beckermann lecture, and the Defence of the Nation League), but is also active on language, history, theatre (Jim Fitzgerald and TP McKenna addressed a meeting in the Moira) and trade union history (Joe Deasy). Belfast has published a Life of HJ McCracken, and is developing a Connolly centenary programme for 1968; a lecture series is projected for January on a range of topics: Irish music, the EEC, the Protestants and the nation, theater in Ireland, the Anglo-Irish literary tradition etc. The Cork society is into urban preservation, trade union law, the EEC (lecture by AC) and the need to promote discussion in Irish of things other than Irish itself.

October 28 1967: Noel Kavanagh's resignation accepted. CMacL, RJ, AC, DK, Helen Hanrahan, CNiC, P Hogan, RR, UMacE, T Mitchell, RNiD, DOB, SMacG, George Hodnett. AC reported on the work of the Defence of the Nation League (this was an ad-hoc group set up to address Common Market issues). Kelleher reported on the work of the history sub-committee; deCI had produced a document.

November 8: history sub-committee; M Comerford, D Kelleher, JdeCI, Oliver Snoddy, CMacL, JT. Pamphlet on 'Ireland's European Tradition' proposed.

One gets a decided impression of loss of momentum, despite AC's visionary document of June. Momentum is shifting away in the direction of the perceived EEC threat. If and when some 1968 and subsequent material surfaces, I will abstract it in a continuation module.

The WTS in 1968

There is in the WTS archive a record of correspondence circa January 1968 between the present writer and both Sinn Fein and the United Irishman regarding publication policy. The objective was to get WTS material published in the Assessment series of pamphlets published by the UI. Sinn Fein was supportive. Sales of the UI by SF Cumann members should be supported by sales of pamphlets, towards the end of the month, to push if someone said they had bought the paper already. There is a letter from Seamus O Tuathail, then the editor, referring to difficulties with the management, then Eamonn Mac Thomais.

There is a copy of a letter from Donal Donnelly, of Dochas (the Peadar O'Donnell Fr MacDyer co-operative support movement), asking payment for 10 copies of their pamphlet 'Challenge', which it seems the WTS had sold, because RJ had marked it 10/- sent, along with a copy of the Constitution, inviting him to join. He did not do so.

A letter dated February 6 1968 from Frank Gogarty enclosed a cutting from the Irish News of the same date, reporting the Belfast Wolfe Tone Society symposium on the Irish language, which was organised jointly with the New Ireland Society, and took place in Queens University. Micheal O Loingsigh, who spoke at short notice replacing a speaker who had let them down. He made the case that the language revival must be accompanied by 'the spirit of social revolution'. Flann O Riaian and Tomás O Muimhneachain also spoke, accusing the Dublin government of insincerity. Gogarty mentioned that 12 bodies in NI political and cultural fields had notified the Belfast WTS of their willingness to attend 'Connolly co-ordinating committee in the Presbyterian hostel on Monday next'. He also mentioned that the AGM would take place on February 25.

The 1968 WTS AGM

1. I urged that the incoming committee consist of 5 elected by the AGM plus conveners of any working groups.

2. Get a spokesman from the movement to outline ideas for 'development of radical unity', and get the invitation to the Standing Committee on the Monday. Regrettably the Standing Committee minutes are missing.

3. Get the student republican clubs to report on their work.

4. Don't try to cover everything ion the secretary's report; let the key activists on the Criminal Justice Bill, or the Textbooks, of the Poetry Readings report in their own right.

5. I was also keen to get participation from the Sceim na gCeardcumann people, the Students for Democratic Action (SDA), and the Labour Left (Brendan Scott et al).

I was obviously attempting to develop a broad-based radical-democratic intellectual leadership of a national-democratic movement, at a time when the students were occupying, or were about to occupy, UCD. However I have as yet no record of this AGM, so I am not sure how much of what I had hoped for actually took place.

I wrote to Maire Woods on 24/03/68 enclosing signed petition-forms relating to the anti-Vietnam-War campaign, of which she was a leading member, as well as being a member of the WTS. I suggested to her that there was a need for a radical women's rights group to be set up, and urged her to look into this, if she had time at the margin of the Vietnam campaign.

Tuairisc Re-launch

[A] The New Republic: this was an outline of the social and economic structure of a model 32 county Republic, based on the ideas of Connolly's socialism, under the headings the State, Culture, Social Services, Production, Trade, Finance , Defence and External Affairs. Tuairisc went on the outline this; it was in fact basically the Eire Nua document, subsequently hijacked by the Provisionals after the split; it was strong on the 'Regional Government' concept, with the Capital moved to Athlone, cutting the link with Dublin perceived as the legacy of the Pale, the imperial focus, the centre of British influence.

[B] The Movement and the People: this was aimed at people '..who are actively concerned with building a conscious united revolutionary movement for a Socialist Republic in Ireland today..'. This covered definitions of political terms, evaluation and classification of various existing organisations, enumeration of the main issues, an outline of methods of awakening people's understanding of the issues, analysis of the special conditions in the Six Counties, and an outline of the structure of the movement. NB there was absolutely no military dimension in this context; this was the blueprint for the movement to 'go political' definitively.

[C] The Technology of Independence: the United Irishman from September 1967 and January 1968 had published a series of articles on this theme, from Derry Kelleher and myself; it called for being printed in a more permanent form, '..for use in propagating the idea that there is no need for basing our industrialisation plans on the employment of the foreign expert and that Ireland is technologically quite capable of developing an advanced economy, provided we use correctly our assets of talented manpower..'.

[D] Ireland and Europe, the Historical Links: This was the material presented at the Wynn's Hotel meeting in November 1967. '..It shows that there are two Europes: the Europe of the monarchists and monopolists and that of the ordinary working people. The main Irish historical links are with the latter, and the modern neo-Unionist trend, centred round the EEC and free trade with Britain, is a reversal of this tradition and an attempt to put us under the hegemony of the former.'

I don't think this publication project got off the ground. There are quite a few residual copies in the WTS archive, suggesting that it was not distributed as systematically as usual. If it had, it would have constituted a valid theoretical enrichment for the development of an all-Ireland democratic revolution with social-revolutionary content, along the lines to which we had aspired in 1964, and which underlay issues #7 and #8 of Tuairisc. This publication project was perhaps killed by the pace at which events developed, and the diversion of the attention of the movement towards the sterile issues of abstentionism, and its associated threat of re-emergent militarism.

The WTS School Text-books Group produced a 33-page report dated May 1968, signed by Colette Ni Moitleigh, Sean O Laighin, Risteard O Glaisne and Micheal O Loingsigh, written in Irish, with an English summary appended. It was accompanied by a six-page memorandum to the Department of Education. The whole was a quite devastating indictment of Government policy over the decades, exposing the extent to which Irish language policy had hitherto amounted to lip-service, and outlining the problems to which teachers and learners were exposed as a result of lack of text-books. This document I understand had some impact.

I have a copy of a letter which I wrote to Anthony Coughlan dated 24/07/68, which referred to a WTS meeting the previous day which Tony as Secretary had been unable to attend; it conveyed from the meeting a vote of sympathy on the death of his father. I went on in the letter to fill him in on what had happened; we went on with the meeting because Maire Comerford had plans well advanced for her 'Aeriocht' and needed support (this was an open-air political-cultural event, in a mode pioneered earlier by Constance Markiewicz, which Maire was resurrecting).

I mentioned also in the letter about our move to collect signatures of notables for publication, in support of a campaign against the Criminal Justice Bill, then a Civil Rights issue in the Republic. It was proposed to get out a circular to existing supporters, with all the names on it, asking them for further suggested supporters, with a view to publishing before Dail re-assembly. We felt the need for an organising committee; who would sign the circular? I asked AC for suggestions. I mentioned that 'K-M' (presumably Kingsmill-Moore) was 'agitated about it and thinks no-one should sign'. I was concerned lest the signed statement was flawed. We should check this, and if so, send out an amended version with the circular. I undertook to try to establish the source of K-M's agitation.

I have a copy of a circular which I sent out on 9/08/68 convening a WTS meeting for August 13; this is annotated from the meeting itself, of which however I do not have minutes. It was proposed to re-examine the 'specialist group structure' of the Society with a view to reconstructing it.

The circular outlines an approach to specialist group project procedure: define the scope, allocate research to people, draw together the results and draft a paper, discuss this before the Society as a whole, revise the draft in the light of feedback, publish the revised draft, in Tuairisc or elsewhere, in preliminary mode, publish finally in referencable print, and then implement to the extent of getting it adopted as policy by a national organisation. '..This represents a steady systematic development of theory into practice, involving ever widening circles of people..'.

The circular then went on to list some current issues lending themselves to the above 'project group' approach:

A: To develop the Criminal Justice Bill critique into an effective Civil Rights organisation;
B: To develop the current discussions about the TCD-UCD merger into a consistent national higher education policy covering various regional and specialist aspects;
C: To come up with a unified comprehensive education policy for second level which would be acceptable to teachers and parents;
D: To examine the question of State finance for the Arts;
E: To initiate some regular cultural event having a 'national cultural consciousness' aspect;
F: To address the question of birth control and divorce in the context of the requirements of a projected 32-county Constitution;
G: To address the question of a national health service taking on board the problems which had arisen in Britain in that context;
H: To produce a history of the First Dail and its Democratic Programme in time for the 50th anniversary.

Of the above aspirations: A became the Citizens for Civil Liberties, later the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL); B contributed via press-controversy to the emergent 3rd-level politics of the 1970s, C later generated the 'Association for Democracy in Education' which campaigned, unsuccessfully, for comprehensive schools to be under the VECs rather than under the religious denominations, D was stillborn, E generated some poetry readings between Ireland, Wales and Scotland which have persisted, being eventually taken over (I think) by the Comhdhail, F laid the basis for the Divorce Action Group, G was stillborn, and H helped to produce Maire Comerford's book on the First Dail.

This broad-based approach remained the present writer's aspiration for the development of a theoretical basis for a projected democratic movement for national unity, some time in the future, and I was pushing it on the eve of the Coalisland-Dungannon march, which attacked the Achilles heel of Unionism, and triggered the subsequent rapid and increasingly chaotic developments. There was thus a clear mismatch between the present writer's strategic vision of a broad-based radical democratic movement capable of picking up some Protestant political support in the North, and the Greaves-Coughlan tactic of going for the Unionist underbelly via the Civil Rights demands. It is quite clear from the above that I had not put these together. We were not acting in concert. The consequence was that when the NICRA demands began to be realised, and the situation opened up politically in the North, there was not in existence enough of a broad-based non-violent democratic movement, with an all-Ireland structure, to take advantage of it. Fianna Fail irredentism took over, with a strong Catholic-nationalist flavour, and the basis for the armed response to the armed B-Special pogroms of August 1969, and the subsequent emergence of the Provisionals, was laid.

Filed with my 1968 WTS material is the last 4 pages of a 5-page letter, probably from Tom O'Connor of Coalisland, a leading member of the Dungannon Republican Club. In it he outlined to view from below of the various organisation in Dungannon concerned with the housing issue: the Homeless Citizens League, the Campaign for Social Justice and the Dungannon Housing Association. This was in the lead-up to the famous incident where a Council house was allocated to a single Protestant woman, while families were in the queue, triggering the Coalisland to Dungannon march led by the NICRA. This letter supports our contention that the Clubs were active in the grassroots, and were in a position to give local support to the march, ensuring it went off peacefully.

Also filed with this material is a foolscap duplicated document, recognisable as the product of Anthony Coughlan's typewriter, though unsigned; it is printed on both sides, and is headed 'Declaration...Dungannon August 24 1968'. It contains a preamble summarising the current list of civil right abuses in NI, and then goes on to outline the need for a Bill of Rights, calling on the Dublin and London governments to act, and the peoples of Britain, the Republic and NI to press their respective governments to act, in support of this demand. It is structured so as to suggest it was intended to be read out from the platform, by the Chairman of a public meeting.

I remember this document; it appeared during the Coalisland to Dungannon march, and was Anthony Coughlan's attempt to contribute to the politics thereof. It never reached the platform, nor was it read out, though it was circulated to a limited extent. It should have been read out by Betty Sinclair, who chaired the short meeting which occurred near the hospital, when the march was blocked from entering the town, and it is perhaps a pity it wasn't, though it was arguably too long for the occasion. It did sum up exactly what the demands of the demonstration were. I have summarised it elsewhere in context in my 'political notes' module.

What seems to have happened was that AC produced it, but omitted to get it accepted by the NICRA committee. Fred Heatley, representing the NICRA committee, on the occasion refused to accept it for transmission to the Chair. Subsequently in Heatley's account of the event it seems he had been under the impression that it was an 'Army Council statement', blocking it for that reason. This was a total misunderstanding; the 'Army Council' at the time was led by the politicisers, who understood perfectly well that if they were to succeed in what they were doing the 'army' as such would have to take a back seat, on this and future occasions, being on the way to being, in effect, stood down. The Northern IRA units were already in the process of transforming themselves into political Republican Clubs (though Mac Stiofain was doing is best to subvert this process). Fred Heatley however had earlier negative experience of IRA influence, and can be forgiven his paranoia. The conclusion to be drawn from this experience is that in politics it is important to get explicit agreement from those concerned before taking action. Attempting to take short-cuts can be counter-productive.

There is a copy in the WTS archive of a press statement, undated, which relates to a lecture given by Anthony Coughlan at the ITGWU hall in Waterford, on 'James Connolly and his Relevance Today'. This was to do with the Connolly centenary 1968, and was sponsored by the James Connolly Cumann of Sinn Fein, Waterford.

The WTS in 1969

There is no record of the 1969 AGM of the WTS which apparently took place on January 24-26. There is however in the archive a record of some comments on the documentation by Uinsean Mac Eoin. There seems to have been a fairly comprehensive national development plan, covering housing, physical planning, the building industry, accommodation (ie rented flats etc), rents and purchase, land, finance, rural services, and regionalisation. It would seem that the document on which he was commenting was strongly regionalist, with a 9-region map.

There is in the WTS archive a document which is undated, but seems to be an outline by the present writer of the concept that later led to the Sheelin Shamrock School. This the makings of another high point in the process of convergence of the Left with the politicising left-republican movement. It took place in the spring of 1969, and was an attempt to strengthen the analysis of the politicisation problem in the context of the work of the 'Garland Commission'. It is noteworthy that the document was not strictly a WTS document, more a 'republican movement' one, but at this time we were working hard to develop the broad inclusive 'National Liberation Movement' concept, in which I would have seen the WTS embedded. I give below an outline of this document, for what it is worth:

Topics included 'Ireland and the World' (Asmal), 'The Irish revolutionary tradition and the lessons of history' (de Courcy Ireland); the class structure of Ireland today, the way forward and the 'radical alliance' concept, parliamentarism and the lessons of local government, trade unions and industrial democracy, democracy in a disciplined movement, civil disobedience, a critique of the Labour programme, the experience of the Stormont elections. A library of supportive documentation was specified, including the 'Commission documents'. Projected speakers included Coughlan, Asmal, Mac an Fhaile, Costello, O'Riordain, Roche, Harris, O Tuathail, Mac Giolla, Goulding, Greaves as well as RJ. This list looks aspirational, but in fact good coverage of the radical spectrum was obtained in the event, including O Riordain, Asmal and de Courcy Ireland. Greaves around this time recorded receiving an invitation from the present writer, and was encouraged to accept by Micheal O Riordain, but declined.

March 4 1969: there are some notes by the present writer relating to the need to support the 'Citizens for Civil Liberty' group, in the context of the current farmers movement.

April 15 1969: a general meeting of the WTS in 24 Belgrave Road (Mac Liam's) had Kader Asmal speaking on Trade Union Law. Sean Cronin's pamphlet on 'The Rights of Man in Ireland' had been published by the United Irishman. Associated with Anthony Coughlan's circular for this is an m/s letter from me to AC as input to the WTS meeting; I would be late, due to a Trades Council meeting. At this time I represented the Aviation Branch of the Workers Union of Ireland on the Dublin Trades Council. The 'RTE affair' was on the agenda. This had to do with the resignation of Lelia Doolan, Jack Dowling and Bob Quinn, as outlined in their book 'Sit Down and be Counted'. I urged attempting to get together a group of radical media people to tease out the implications of this, perhaps via a symposium on 'Democracy and the Mass Media'. I included Jim Fitzgerald and Eoghan Harris in the list of target people. I also urged that a 'witty' article on the 'Twelfth of July' be developed, for suitably timed publication, leaning on the Brendan Behan angle, 'to torpedo the Dungiven events'. Call for the parades to be welcomed, and supported with fiddlers and pipers. We need also a civil rights demo in Sandy Row. (This was an attempt to de-fuse the threatening sectarian explosion).

In connection with the 1969 elections in the South the WTS ran some meetings arranged by a 'voters advisory group' in various shopping centres in Dublin. Not much came of this; it was a gesture in the direction of broadening the experience of the movement in the context of the Garland Commission process.

The society met on September 23, also at Mac Liam's, to discuss the then disastrous current Northern situation. The secretary AC led off the discussion. There is however no record of what was said or decided.

There was a further meeting on November 4, at which Manus Durkan spoke on 'The Power of the Insurance Companies'. There was also a poetry reading in Jury's Hotel, with Sean O Tuama, on November 15.

Manus Durkan was a Fianna Fail trade union activist who had helped the IWP activist Noel Harris organise the ASTMS in the insurance business. The poetry reading was part of a series organised by Meryl Farrington to make cultural links with Irish, Scottish and Welsh poets.

One gains the impression that WTS momentum was declining, and that it was unable to respond to the Northern crisis, given the way it had developed.

The WTS in 1970

March 24 1970: Joe Deasy spoke on 'The Independence of Small Nations'. There is on record a copy of the notice for this meeting, signed by Anthony Coughlan, secretary. "..The speaker will be examining, with particular reference to Ireland, the problems which a small nation has of maintaining its independence and identity under the political, economic and cultural pressures of imperialism. This has special relevance at a time when the twenty six county State is seeking to obtain membership of the Common Market under precisely such pressures..". He went on to give notice that "...the Society intends organising a Conference on the subject and related matters in the near future..". The circular also promoted a poetry reading on March 22 by Dic Jones the Welsh farmer-poet, in the series produced by Meryl Farrington.

There is a gap then until July 7, when typed minutes of committee meetings begin; it looks like Uinsean Mac Eoin has taken over being secretary, with AC bowing out with a view to concentrating on the Common Market Study Group.

July 17 1970: committee minutes by UMacE; RJ, CMacL, TC, UMacE; TC presumably is Anthony Coughlan as ex-officio secretary. It was agreed to try to organise a 'solidarity-type' conference in Dundalk in mid September. UMacE announced that a WTS had been started in Newry. RJ and CMacL to visit Limerick. Draw in on poetry readings. AGM fixed for November 7, perhaps out of town (Cavan?). UMacE read a paper giving his assessment of the North.

The Mac Eoin paper (1.5 pages) is in the archive: control now with the Army and Westminster; federal settlement with pretence of national unity seen as a possibility; in this context Fianna Fail would move in on Nationalist ground; radicals like Bernadette would be isolated. NICRA now outdated; a moderate nationalist umbrella group was required, to express minimum requirements for a federated republic, avoiding radical rhetoric such as to drive moderates into the arms of Fianna Fail. He calls for a new role for a Northern WTS, the old Belfast WTS being defunct, with the objective of trying to win the middle ground.

There is in the WTS archive a copy of an interview by Jack Dowling of Cathal Goulding, done for This Week on July 31 1970. This was when he was trying to hold the movement together after the split, and build up the 'officials', which later became the Workers Party. He outlined the then thinking of the leadership of the movement regarding how to achieve a socialist republic, and how the movement had attempted to go political, with parliamentary participation, to the extent that they were not in a position to supply 'defence' in August 1969, though they had put up armed resistance to the July 3 1970 re-occupation of the Falls by the British. He gave his views on the basis for the split. He defended the organisation from the charge of being anti-clerical and 'red'. He claimed to have persuaded US supporters that parliamentary participation would be useful if guided by revolutionary principle.

Correspondence from RJ dated August 21 1970 is on record; I can fill it in by recollection: Cathal Mac Liam and I went to Limerick; we met with Jim Kemmy, but the contact network was fouled by our encountering a hack journalist of the Fianna Fail persuasion, with whom Kemmy had had negative experience. The mission came to nothing; we had insufficient local knowledge to enable us to avoid the pitfalls.

It seems also we were supportive of the City Quay housing protest, which we attempted to link politically with the 'Battle of Hume St'; this also was unsuccessful, because the City Quay people, whose community was being demolished, could not identify with the Hume St issue, which was basically architecture and urban planning in the abstract, related to office environments.

September 15 1970: committee minutes, same group present as above; apology from Micheal O Loingsigh. Agreed to co-operate with Newry WTS in a 'concerned citizens' conference on October 3, on the North. It was urged that about 6 people should prepare papers, and that it should not be open to the press. It was agreed to try to re-activate Alec Foster with a view to trying to re-convene a Belfast WTS. General meeting of Society fixed for October 6, to discuss the current position in the North.

September 17: there is a copy of a letter which went out to selected people as from the Newry WTS, signed by Geraldine McGuigan, inviting them to '..a small conference sponsored by us, and supported by a countrywide group of concerned citizens who have been directly or indirectly involved in events... October 24.. Derryhale Hotel, Dundalk. She went on to list an initial group of invitees: Margo Collins, Madge Davison, Bernadette Devlin, James Donnelly, Jack Dowling, Sam Dowling, Mike Farrell, Frank Gogarty, Brandan Harken, Fred Heatley, Ciaran Mac an Aili, Oliver MacCaul, Terence McCaughey, Kevin Boyle, Eamonn McCann, Kevin McCorry, Uinsean Mac Eoin, Malachi McGurran, EK McGrady, Frank MacManus, Eamonn Mealagh, Terry O'Brien, Emmet O'Connell, Roy Johnston, Edwina Stewart.

There appears to be nothing on record to confirm that this actually happened; it is a group spanning officials, provisionals, communists, PDs, Trotskyists and various WTS contacts from the middle ground, from which an agreed position would be somewhat unlikely to be forthcoming. It looks like the Society was grasping at straws, in a rapidly worsening situation.

October 6 1970: a general meeting took place, which was minuted by UMacE; Cathal MacLiam was in the chair. RJ reported on the aborted Limerick project; MOL reported on plans for an anti-EEC meeting there. AC traced the origins of the NICRA, and criticised the role of the PD; he called for a Bill of Rights; direct rule was not a solution. RJ stressed that the Belfast WTS should have remained in existence and not allowed itself to be absorbed into the NICRA. Dick Roche called for the WTS to create a role for itself as a bridge between people of differing religions, and the reconcile the 'two wings of the republican movement'. Con Lehane stressed the deep fears of the Northern Protestants. Maire Comerford praised the way the NICRA had split the Orange movement. Other speakers included Alan Heussaff, Brendan O Cathaoir, Staf van Velthoven, Uinsean Mac Eoin. The AGM was fixed for November 3 in 20 Marlborough Road; weekend conference projected for later.

There are some notes by the present writer in the WTS archive, dated October 6 1970. They are worth reproducing:

Role of WTS in foundation of NICRA; breadth of original spectrum; Dungannon, Derry, mass-movement phase; rise of ultra-leftism; Newry, Derry march, Burntollet, Protestant backlash, August 69.

All of the foregoing I had ticked off, implying that they had been covered by Anthony Coughlan who was the first speaker.

After August 1969 the Belfast Trades Council basically adopted the CR programme. The unions had a positive role in preventing the pogrom from extending to the shipyards. Dublin Trades Council had set up a fund, but there were problems in administering it. Politicisation of the movement was proceeding, with wide sales of the UI; a 'citizens press' was emerging. There were embryonic local government structures emerging behind the barricades. Repression was beginning again, Stormont was moving to the right. Opposition to the existence of Stormont was futile when the alternative was direct rule. Political position of 'wanting direct rule' was untenable; would satisfy Unionists and moderate Catholics, and lead to period of stability and reaction. Basic mistake of Belfast WTS was to disappear; the basis existed for reviving it.

The foregoing represents an overview of the present writer's perception at the end of 1970. I had added cryptically 'Newry meeting' and 'Foster's letter' but alas I have no record of these.

There is a paper in the WTS archive, possible written by Antonia Healy, who had joined the Society, critical of the education system in the Republic. Later with Joy Rudd, Bill Hyland (the Dept of Education statistician, and founder of the seminal Dalkey non-denominational primary school), she went on to set up the Association for Democracy in Education (ADE) to lobby for educational reform. This must be seen as a creative WTS spin-off during this period. It perhaps deserves treatment in the context of the history of the movement for integrated education, which was stimulated by the Northern situation. The present writer was supportive, but played a peripheral role.

November 3 1970: the AGM took place; there is no record of this directly, but there exists what looks like notes for an annual report by RJ of 1971 activities, which commences with a note as follows:

AGM 3/11/70: Chairman Cathal Mac Liam, Vice-Chairman Micheal O Loingsigh, Joint Secretaries Derry Kelleher and Dick Roche, committee Dermot O Doherty, Seamus Mac Gabhainn, RJ and Joy Rudd.

November 17 committee meeting: researched pamphlet on Fine Gael? Freedom of Conscience. Labour's alternatives to Coalition. Democratic Reform in Education.

December 1 1970 general meeting: Freedom of Conscience - Antonia Healy gave a Humanist view (the full m/s text is in the archive). There was another attempt to re-activate Belfast.

December 15 committee meeting: statement of aims for new members; EEC alternatives; parents and education, sub-committee to be convened by Joy Rudd.

Some navigational notes: