The daily worker., 1927-07-18
By T. j. o'FLAHERTY


utive council of the Irish Free State,
foreign minister and minister of jus
tice, and practically all the editorial
comment that | read was eulogistic
of the dead official, condemnatory of
the militant Republicans and appeared
to be in the main, the product of one
mind, with variations for each paper
to create the appearance of
originality.
O'Higgins was extolled as a
Strong" man, and the practical ap-
plication of this virtue that won the
approval of the capitalist scribes was
his brutal suppression of the Repub-
lican movement that sought to bring
about the political separation of Ire
land from Great Britain and the
unity of. the country under one gov
ernment.
| In crushing this movement O'Hig-
gins did not hesitate to use the firing
squad against his former intimate
! friends. The number of Republicans
that he was directly responsible for
!
| n. Yet this is the monster who has
been credited by the capitalist edi-
torial hacks with having kind heart,
In proof of which they adduce his al
legged collapse when he heard the
sound Of the gun shots that snuffed
out the life of the rebel Rory. O'Con-
nor, his former bosom friend, who
left all his possessions to the O'Hig-
gins family by will
THERE is no mystery surrounding
the reason for the universal praise
showered on O'Tfiggins by the i'm
perialist press and their regret for
his death. He was defender of the
capitalist system in Ireland and all
over the world. Like many others in
history and in the history of all op-
pressed countries he snatched at the
opportunity afforded him by the
treaty which created the Free State,
to step in as England's chief jailer of
the Irish workers and peasants.
"The Irish Question" has been a
thorn in the side of every British
government for centuries. Against
the rebellious Irish people, England
used every method known to the
tyrant, from the most brutal and
bloody suppression to an interna-
tional campaign Of slander which
painted them as either clowns and
buffoons whose only virtue was a
facility for making the world laugh
at their antics, or else savage and
ferocious being whose normal ac-
tivities were murder, arson and lying.
The policy of blood and terror failed
to quench the unconquerable spirit
of the people, but the campaign of
character assassination was more
successful. In fact even today there
are radicals with a fairly intelligent
grasp of the class struggle whose
knowledge of the Irish struggle is
hardly on higher plane than that
possessed by the hacks who write i'm
perialistic editorials on the Irish
question for the capitalist press.
GINCE the militant socialist James
Connolly and his comrades raised
the flag of rebellion against the
British empire in Dublin in 1916 un-
til today the sewer pipes of capitalist
journalism have been exuding their
poisoned filth against the gallant
men and women who risked their
lives for the cause of Irish freedom
from British rule. Those lickspittles
could not find terms harsh enough to
hurl at those brave souls. They were
murderers, agitators, lunatics. The
traitor, the stoolpigeon and the re-
negade were exalted and the gibbet
and the firing squad were suggested
as the proper reward of self-sacrifice. |
1t was the policy of clarifying the |
scab as the highest type of citizen
applied internationally.
THE execution of 0'Higgins by un-
known persons was seized on as
an excuse by those scribblers to trot
out the hoary hokum about Ireland
and the alleged inability of the Irish /
people to conduct themselves except
in manner that brings JOY only to
the undertaken and the manufacturer
of embalming fluid. Tho murders
take place with such monotonous fire.
quency in the United States that only
a very unusual one stays on the front
page more than few hours the capi-
talist editors adduced from the kill
ing of O'Higgins that England was
quite justified in Withholding the right |.
of self-gcvernment from Ireland. Be-
fore the creation of the Free State,
there might be some excuse for a
hot headed patriot in popping off an
obnoxious British oppressor or
grasping landlord. but now that the
Irish are permitted to govern their
own country, nothing but an in
satiable thirst for gore could be the
motive for the crime So the anvil
chorus hammered.
That O'Higgins was a tool Of the
British government in Ireland net a
representative Of the Irish pro-
ducing classes, the worker and pea
I