Left to right: Harry Owens, Bob Doyle, Mick O’Reilly, Joe Bowers, Manus O’Riordan, Jim McDermott – Transport House, Belfast 15th September 2006.
This article by Mary Horton first appeared in Unity, the weekly publication of the Irish Communist Party.
IN 2006, the International Brigade Commemoration Committee (IBCC) held a very successful event on Saturday with a meeting in Transport House followed by the unveiling of a plaque to the Brigaders and also the Belfast book launch of Bob Doyle’s book.
Getting a packed house on a Saturday morning in Transport House is no mean feat, but that was the situation when people showed their interest in the second seminar organised by the Messines Association, Belfast Trades Council and the IBCC.
Joe Bowers chaired the meeting and the theme of the talks was the common history that the people of Ireland shared regarding the fight against fascism and the Spanish Civil War.
Jimmy McDermott a local trade unionists and historian recalled the situation that those on the left faced at that time, whilst Manus O’Riordan, SIPTU Head of Research and also the Executive Member for Ireland, International Brigade Memorial Trust, spoke about a range of Volunteers, drawing attention to the diversity of traditions – catholic, protestant, jewish, atheist; as well as of political loyalties – Republican and Unionist; of those who supported the Spanish Republic.
Both contributions were welcomed and many questions were asked from the floor.
Michael O’Reilly welcomed people to Transport House noting that many members of the ATGWU had joined the fight against the Franco regime.
Veteran Bob Doyle arrived at the meeting part way through the morning.
Later in the day in the John Hewitt bar there was a packed house as John Gray introduced the book launch for Bob’s book.
Kevin Doherty gave the crowd a warm welcome; there was not even standing space and people spilled out onto the bright sunlit pavements listening to the speeches from the outside as well as inside.
As one of the participants noted, a “Tour of Belfast Bus” was going past at the time and tourists took photographs of what they must have thought was a typical Saturday afternoon scene of an over packed pub in Belfast.
John Gray gave an excellent introduction to the book and to Bob’s life. Bob gave his speech, which is reproduced in full here. Speaking quietly but determinedly he gave an analysis of the fight that we have on our hands regarding capitalism.
All during the day his warmth and humanism came through as many people came up to meet him and greet him.
Announcing the unveiling of the plaque Lynda Walker also welcomed the relatives of the late veterans, Marie and Sean Edwards, who had travelled from Dublin, Rob Smith from Dundee, Manus, Annette, Luke and Neil O’Riordan, Cherry Duncan, Emmett O’Connor, and others, over twelve were present.
Reading a verse of the poem by David Marshall
“In Unremembered graves they lie Untrumpeted, their songs forgotten, Our children are not taught their history”
Lynda said “we will make sure that our children are taught their history and that this event is part of that remembering.” The mood was good and no one batted an eyelid when by mistake she called upon Peter O’Connor to say a few words,
In response Emmet O’ Connor said “I’m sure he would rise to the occasion if he could!!”
Reading Charley Donnelly’s poem she noted that it was as relevant then as it is now, and that we must fight to make all this kind of inhumanity a thing of the past.
Bob unveiled the plaque and was presented with artwork done by Gerry Gleason.
Song and music followed with Angela and Liam Delaney, Dee McDowell, Brian and Mary Mulrine, Gerry Jones, and the session musicians providing brilliant music to a backdrop of roaring political chatter, not the best of order but certainly much appreciated.
Joe Mulheron sang his song And who will Chair the meeting now?—Connolly Column, about the men from Derry who went to fight against Franco. The night and the music flew on into oblivion.
Reporting on his website almost immediately Ciaran Crossey noted that “ Over four nights Bob spoke to packed houses from Dublin on Sept 13th, through Sligo, and Derry and onto Belfast on the 16th. Crowds ranging from 30 in Sligo, 60 in Derry to over 200 in Belfast heard Bob link the struggle in Spain with the struggles today against globalization and the war in Iraq. Every available copy of his book was sold over 125, 48 in Belfast…There were a large number of people who left the book launch after we’d sold all our book and raced round Belfast City until all the books there had gone from Easons Smyths and Waterstones” (geocities.com/Ireland)
It is to be hoped that the IBCC will reproduce the material from the talks in pamphlet form some time in the future. A third seminar will be held later in the year.
Charlie Donnelly’s poem:
The Tolerance of Crows
And with flesh falls apart the mind
That trails through from the mind that cuts
Thought clearly for a waiting purpose.
Progress in the nerves and
Discipline’s collapse is halted.
Body awaits the tolerance of crows.
Death comes in quantity from solved
Problems on maps, well-ordered dispositions,
Angles of elevation and direction;
Comes innocent from tools children might
Love, retaining under pillows,
Innocently impaled on any flesh.
*********************
This speech was given by Bob Doyle, September 16th. 2006. At his Belfast book launch in the John Hewitt. It has been used in part or in total many time and we make no apologies repeating it again.
“I have prepared something to say to you all, but I’m not as strong as I used to be, so I will read what I can, but please bear with me if I hand over to my comrade Harry Owens, should I need to. I’d like to tell why I’m here.
Some of you may wonder why a 90 year old veteran of a war that happened a long time ago in a far off country is here speaking to you today.
Some of you who know a little about the Spanish Civil War may see it as a glamorous episode in working class history, when young poets, like Byron in Greece, fought and died in a foreign land for a noble cause. Perhaps you have come to see me, a decrepit romantic relic.
But I am not here to indulge in emotional memories, though I have many memories of comrades and events that affect me deeply.
I am not here to make you sad with tragic recollections of a heroically fought war, or to make you happy with my survival into old age. I am here to make you boil with anger; the powers that supported Franco in Spain are still active, and today their reach is global.
The same US corporations that supplied the fascists with oil in Spain are today pilfering the oil of the Iraqi people.
The British government that lied to the people while secretly giving financial credits and hypocritically allowing arms to be smuggled to the Spanish fascists is the same government that lied about weapons of mass destruction and led the British people into a war that they did not want.
Those who lie and cheat in order to hold on to power, who exploit child and slave labour in the third world to make yet more profits, who torture, murder and massacre in defence of ‘their interests’ – they are still in control.
When I am told that Spain was the last noble cause, I know that I am speaking to someone who doesn’t want to see the obvious truth. In 1936 there were many apologists for racism and oppression who did not want to see fascism for what it was.
Today the fight against those who put profit before people is just as intense, and the stakes are higher than ever. We must make common cause with those in the third world who are now in the front line, as Spain once was. No more Kenyan peasants must be forced off their land and into urban slums so that supermarkets can sell cheap roses and out of season strawberries. No more Congolese child soldiers must kill and be killed so that Nokia can sell ever cheaper mobile phones.
Those who stand up to corporate global capitalism, like Chavez in Venezuela and Castro in Cuba, must be defended. Those whose greed would destroy our environment, with catastrophic consequences for humanity, must be defeated. It is indeed a noble struggle and it will not be over until the liberation of the entire human race.
La lucha continúa.”
Sadly Bob Doyle, Manus O’Riordan, Liam Delaney & Joe Mulheron, are no longer with us.