Archive for the ‘Limerick Soviet 1919’ Category
February 18 2023 – Tens of Thousands Demonstrate Against Racism and the Far-Right in Dublin
Brendan Ogle (UNITE Trade Union) introduces film highlights of the February 18 2023 Ireland for All Solidarity March in Dublin :
A diverse band for sure, an eclectic mix of the great, the good and …well. The point is Ireland 
is about 
not hate.
Get the hate off our streets.
NEVER LET THE FASCISTS HAVE THE STREETS
(Put together by the brilliant @martinblake) :
https://www.facebook.com/100006503678746/videos/756058655802297/
Photos of the demonstration – special thanks to Mike Finn and Maeve Foreman :
Read the rest of this entry »Thousands took to the streets to march on the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday – DerryNow Report
The feedback I got all week was that the 2022 Bloody Sunday March in Derry today would be huge. This turned out to be true. An initial report is below.
Here is the intriguing bit. The mass media (e.g. RTÉ Radio Bulletin this morning at 8.00am) reported lots of other stuff – for example, Dublin government taoiseach Mícheál Martin laying a wreath – and said nothing about the march this afternoon at 2.30pm in Derry featuring speeches by Bernadette McAliskey, Éamonn McCann, and others. RTÉ is a public service broadcaster in Ireland largely funded by a license fee. It comes under pressure from the “great and the good” to toe the line and exclude radical voices. And sometimes it gets things spectacularly wrong – today was an example.
What is the key political message today : Prosecute the Generals!
We will keep fighting – and, eventually, we might win. If we don’t fight, we definitely lose.
Rayner Lysaght has passed away – Limerick Soviet Historian, a parent of modern Irish Trotskyism
Most readers of this site probably know the sad news that Rayner Lysaght passed away on Friday July 2 2021. He was born in Llanishen, Cardiff, Wales, on January 30 1941.
Here is a link to the death notice :
https://rip.ie/death-notice/rayner-daniel-o-connor-lysaght-killester-dublin/463010
People can add condolences, if they wish.
A wide range of people from the left and the workers’ movement have written generous personal tributes. A number of them are here https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2021/07/02/d-r-oconnor-lysaght/
People in Dublin may wish to join friends and comrades lining the route holding banners and tributes aloft. I will be bringing a Starry Plough and Fourth International banner. People might like to assist.
Rayner Lysaght was a long-standing supporter of the Fourth International, a founder-member of its Irish Section – the Revolutionary Marxist Group, in 1971 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Marxist_Group_(Ireland)?wprov=sfti1
The cremation ceremony starts at 2.00pm, so try to get to Glasnevin Cemetery at least 15 minutes before that time.
Anne Conway reports on Rayner’s life and death.
Read the rest of this entry »Pat O’Connor 1948-2015, Limerick Socialist, Supporter of the Fourth International
Recently, following prompts by Pádraig Malone, I forwarded material celebrating the life and political activities of the late Pat O’Connor to the Irish Left Archive site.
A 21 year old Pat O’Connor is holding the placard saying “PD [People’s Democracy] Opposes Racism”. 1970 demonstrations against the touring South African
All-White Rugby Team.
John Meehan December 7 2020
Mike Finn’s “Bread Not Profits” – Celebration of the 1919 Limerick Soviet – Online for 48 Hours, Starts Thursday April 9 2020 1.00pm
Highly Recommended – Watch Out for the Reference to Leon Trotsky!
The play has won an Irish Times Award, which is Extremely Well Deserved. Bread Not Profits was a rare example of Performance Theatre 🎭 drawing in the audience very close; there was very little alienated feeling that the performers were talking down to you from the top stage. This is a big problem with the conventional theatre format, and all kinds of lectures – especially the big rally/meeting format beloved of political control-freaks! I attended the play on my last visit to Limerick. The way life has turned, I wonder will I I ever be able to visit again? Still, memories stimulate! – John Meehan
https://www.facebook.com/Breadnotprofits
A review :
Shakespeare used his history plays to explore issues relating to the morality of power and kingship and to question when it might be right to rebel. In Gúna Nua’s production of Mike Finn’s latest history play Bread Not Profits, the question repeatedly asked of the audience is “ whose side are you on?” , by the end it’s not a very difficult one to answer.
In this promenade-style production, which traces the events surrounding the unique Limerick Soviet of 1919, it’s impossible not to cheer for the ordinary workers who had the audacity and courage to strike against the military might of the British Empire.
Set in the haunting dereliction of Limerick’s Cleeves toffee factory, one of the first factories where the workers downed tools in 1919, Finn’s Bread Not Profits walks you through a time and place all but forgotten. From the shadows of history men and women emerge like ghosts demanding to be heard.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/bread-not-profits-review-a-play-that-touches-the-soul-1.3874005
Tomás Ó Flatharta 