THE LARGEST general strike in the history of the Southern Irish took place on Tuesday 22 January. In a half-day stoppage called by the Irish Congress Trade estimated 700,000 people took part in a series of demonstrations throughout the Counties.
400,000 joined the Dublin march.
The strike was taxation system which Southern Irish state. This works in such a way that 87 per cent of all income tax collected is paid by industrial and service sector workers — about 700,000 workers in all. Farmers - and there are 170,000 in THE National Front is to hold march and rally in Glasgow on March under the banner IRA'. This response to the successful (U)TOM April attracted over thousand people. The Movement in Scotland is calling for Ine labour movement to organise a massive protest stop marching.
West of Scotland NF organiser Raymond Skinner claims the march was prompted by calls from 'Ulster Loyalists in Glasgow'. The latter have been outraged by TOM demonstrations in Glasgow and Dundee over the past eighteen months, that they have hạd to go to the NF to organise a counter-demo is revealing of their weakness.
Unions, year.
Approximately
over the unequal operates in the ers, 'Smash the demonstration Troops Out the NF but the fact the South of Ireland - contribute only one per cent of the total income tax. But it is not only farmers benefited from the Irish taxation system. Taxes on the richest five per cent, who own 71 per cent of all wealth, have either been dropped or massively cut in the last few years. A wealth tax has been abolished and corporation tax will be reduced from 45 per cent to 10 per cent next In all, taxes on capital yield only one per cent of the total raised by income tax. Among the victims of the taxation system are married women, who pay a disproportionately greater amount of their income to the Irish exchequer than do single people.
What all. this adds up to is that while industrial and public sector workers work one day in five for the Irish revenue commissionthe self-employed and The demonstration in Glasgow last April which attracted over a thousand people. worried about the TOM. Interest in Scottish TOM has also been shown by who have been march. investigating a recent speaking tour.
In the week 13-21 January, a highly of meelugs was TOM in Glasgow, Dundee, Stirling and about one day a year.
who have them and onto the worker.
larger farmers Aberdeen to publicise the Birmingham Bloody Sunday commemoration These Lord meetings addressed Hayes, ex-soldier who served two tours in Northern Ireland. Hayes also spoke to kids in a local school.
an army representative contribute less than one day a month, and those in the higher levels of business put in Reports in the British media have tended to portray the arguments about the Irish taxation system as a conflict between industrial workers and farmers. In fact, as speakers at last week's demonstrations made clear, the general strike was against the whole system which demands that Irish industrial workers pay for all the rest. As Ruaidhri Roberts, general secretary he the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said: whole burden of taxation has been shifted not towards those best able to pay, but away from While the Irish Fianna Fail government, under the new leadership of millionaire Charlie Haughey, has promised to look into reforming the taxation system, it also wants to do a Margaret Thatcher and impose severe cuts in public spending. Roberts made it clear that the repeatedly called the school seeking Lloyd's name and address. They gave were no explanation as to why they wanted an the information. army intelligence: Lloyd had actually debated the army's role in Ireland in Iront of tre Kids will a segcan Irish unions are also opposed to this:
reductions in government spending • of employment opportunities.
are in no. way policy.' follows tion — "Tax the greedy, not the needy'. This says little for seeking cuts in overall taxation, we are not seeking and are opposed public expenditure. recognise the need to maintain the level of housing, on social welfare and on the creation We do not wish to see a diminution in that expenditure and we seeking a deflationary Tory But whether such a deflationary policy is followed by the Irish government depends on week's general strike.
Certainly the militancy of Irish workers can hardly be questioned. 1979 saw more days lost through strikes than in any other year since the establishment of the Southern Irish state. The message to the Irish government was summed up by one placard on the Dublin demonstra.
Over 300 people attended Lloyd's meetings, which were also addressed by Harry McShane, a veteran socialist who told of campaigning for. "troops our' with John Maclean in 1920. The Edinburgh meeting was to have been chaired by the Labour MP for Leith, Ron Brown, who sent his apologies when at the last minure he had to the steel debate * One MP missing from that • debate was Tam Dalyell, who was sent up north the same evening to speak to Edinburgh Centrai Party. TOM Edinburgh Central had taken part in the heckling of Callaghan during a rally But attempt purge the hecklers back-fired when the loca party voted to adopt a troops out Dalyell was sent in as part of an to persuade Edinburgh Central to 'cool it'. But by the end o the meeting Dalyell was also calling for troops out. He even took back with him copies of a report prepared by the original hecklers to explain their positions, saying that he would them around Shadow NEXT WEEK:
Gerry Foley, American journalist and author or several pubucatol. on Ireland, reports on the Provisional Sinn Fein conference held recently in Dublin.