THE SAOR EIRE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 33, 9 February 1932, Page 9

THE SAOR EIRE

IRELAND'S NEW PARTY

ELECTION ' ISSUES

The "red menace" is raised as an issue in the Irish electorate campaign.

Mr. James N. Dolan, T.D., Parliamentary Secretary to the Saorstat. Ministry for Industry and Commerce, made a definite charge of Russian influence recently, stated the Government's position and declared the Saorstat to be faced with "a very serious (menace in 'the new armed attack on the rights of the people by the Communistic movement, which has spread from Soviet Russia. At the head of Saor Eire there were men in direct touch with Soviet Russia, and they were proposing to mobilise the1- manhood of the country in order to bring into existence what was called a Workers' Republic • :.•.:-■■■

•■_ This estimate of the aims of revolutionary republicanism in Ireland is probably not held by any considerable section of the Irish people. The suggestion of Russian intrigue has been scouted outside the ranks of the sup-porters-of the Saorstat Ministry. It is true .that the Irish Eepublican Army and the new Saor Eire movement openly av>ow aims of a Badieal-Socialist nature; it is also true that members of these organisations have recently visited Russia. But the same could be said of George Bernard Shaw. , Yet there is in Ireland a genuinely Communist organisation directly controlled from Moscow—the Workers' Revolutionary Party. But its strength inthe Saorstat, both as regards numbers and influence, is held to be negligible, and it denounces the leaders both of Saor Eire and of the I.E.A. as " l:#mrgeois revolutionaries" and "reformists." ■ . ■ . . ■ .. . DE VALERA'S VIEW. The Opposition in the Saorstat Parliament—Fianna. Fail—has declared that both the allegations of Russian influence and the recent Constitution Amendment Act, which introduced antiterrorist powers, form parts of a somewhat Machiavellian Vplot" by which Cumann na n-Gaedheal (the Government Party) hopes to retain power at the coming General' Election. It has accused the Government of trying by the cry of "Communism" to enlist the backing.of the Catholic Church solidly on its behalf, and by the Act to stir up civil disorder of so. grave a nature as to make a "free" election impossible Speaking at Ballina recently Mr de Valera, the leader of the Fianna Fail (Constitutional Eepublican Party) said- .. i Y°u remember in the 1927 election they had a Public Safety Bill and they worked up general anxiety in order to get back into power. . . There is another trick this time. I have letters telling me that already there aws agents of the Government going around the country seeing the bishops and clerey. showing, some 'captured letters'—tair. raising letters—trying to provide the proper atmosphere that they think will give them an opportunity of getting back into power for another five years * In its general sentiment the Fianna C*li r% evon' more intensely catholic than Cumann na n-Gaedtieal------ten3 Sai- d to as Pire t0 the ro]e of a Catholic Action Party." The fact that its leaders do not believe in the t£ TeoA°w* aY bonneeti o>i. between the Left Wing Republicans and Bussia' must carry some weight. , ~. . DEATH OP SINN FEIN. ■ The political as apart from the physical side of Irish opposition to British rule from 1916-1921 was carried out. by an organisation known asSinu Fein After the signing of the Anglo-Irish ireaty the opponents of that settlement captured Sinn Fein, and it continued m its role of chief mouthpiece of opposition to the British connection In 1925, when Mr. de Valera' and a number of deputies; decided.to recognise the Treaty status, take the oath of allegiance, and work for their aims within the Constitution, they1 were fiercely denounced as'"traitor's" by a majority of the organisation, and forced to.leave.it and fpnn their own party, Fianna Fail. After that schism, however, Sinn Fein began to dwindle rapidly in membership. Its thesis was—and is-^-that the Irish Republic proclaimed by th° leaders of the 1916 rising, and ratified by a majority of the elected representatives of the Irish people in 191S still exists; that the Saorstat and Northern Ireland Governments arc "usurping Governments" possessing no r>pral authority, and that thoso deputies who were returned at the General Election of 1921 and who havo not since taken an oath to the. British Crown constitute the rightful Government of all Ireland. These deputies, who number 27 in all, meet periodically, elect a President nud Cabinet, and debate public affairs. Since, however, they possess neither army, police, nor civil service; since they havo neither financial backing nor popular support, their doings are not taken very seriously. ; . The majority of the Irish people not unnaturally foel that Shin Fein, which is in fact a political party which lias foresworn the use of the available political machinery, cannor. do very much to further their interests. Ilence the landslide to Fianna Fail from 1025 on-—and a reported landslide to Saor Eire to-day. .... EISE AND PALL. < Sinn Fein is a movement which played a decisive part in Anglo-Irish'' relations from 101G-1021—one of the most remarkable movements of tUc - war period. In 1010 its membership eaiinut ■havo totalled more thair two or time thousand for all Ireland, and its nicur