# The Martyrdom of Ireland

Published in Workers' Dreadnought (9 October, 1920) under the pseudonym C. E. E(dwards).
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The Martyrdom of Ireland
THE "TIMES" TURNS SINN FEIN
WILL SINN FEIN GO RED?
News matter from the "Times," September 27th:–
Early this morning the town of Trim was wrecked by armed men.
Large Force of Invaders
Two hundred of the "Black and Tans" entered the little town of Trim early this morning, singled out the the shops and business establishments of those residents alleged to be in sympathy with SinnFein and ransacked, pillaged and burnt all. At noon today the town had all the appearance of a bombarded town in the war zone of France. Furniture is piled in the main street, houses are still smouldering, and the people are panic-stricken.
At three o'clock in the morning a force of entered the town. They visited the Town Hall in Castle Street, licensed premises and a mineral water factory in Market Street, and a drapery establishment in High Street. The doors were smashed in. Petrol was commandeered and poured over the shops, and soon all were on fire. To-day nothing remains but the charred walls
Editorially the "Times" says:-
"Recognising that they had failed to wean Ireland from SinnFein by their proposal for self-government, Ministers have sought an alternative policy in rivalling the intimidation of the Irish Republican Army. Their agents are the "Black and Tans," whose methods have, apparently, been borrowed from their opponents. Presumably they hope that Ireland, between the upper and the nether millstone will be ground to docility. The hope may be rain. Even if we discount those racial characteristics which sustained the cause of Irish nationality against the oppressors of long centuries, we cannot discount the intelligence of the Irish people. The reign of the coercionist is conditioned by the life of the Government; there is no time to the reign of the local terrorist. [Italics ours.] Np Government can conceal from the Irish people the immense progress which their cause has made, and is making, in this country and overseas. Ireland may conclude that she can wait and that the Government cannot. The present conditions in Ireland will not react effectively against SinnFein, whose power will remain."
In thorough Northcliffian style the "times" does the Salome wiggle before stern SinnFein. But will it be seduced? Will SinnFein make a deal with the life-long imperial enemy of Irish labour and freedom to sell the sacred cause of the working people of Ireland? Who can say? Nevertheless, the duty of militant English revolutionaries is plain: support and aid the Irish Revolution and when Sinn Fein seizes the reins of political power, carry on the revolutionary fight with the Irish Workers, when a bourgeois government of little local capitalists will not be able to dope with reforms after Ireland's industries have been destroyed and disorganised in her struggle against imperial capitalism. The situation of Sinn Fein in Ireland can stand comparison with organised labour in England. Carson and his vicious crew in their crazy cupidity are but preparing the ground for Irish Communism. When British Capitalism, beaten and confused, decides to withdraw its shameless adventurous–the "Black and Tans," the regulars, the raw recruits of the R. I. C. , its monocled top dogs and those in Dublin Castle–the inexorable law of the self-preservation will force socialisation and make close co-operation a necessity in Ireland. If the sepulchral White "Times" turns green to-day, the peasantry and proletariat of Ireland may turn Red to-morrow.
British Labour Impotent
C. E. E.