The daily worker., 1927-07-18
The Death of Kevin O'Higgins

1
the dives of her Oriental possessions
Against those human vermin the
Irish Republican Army battled until
the treaty which created the Free
State was signed in the winter of
1921, between the British govern
ment and the representatives of Dali
Eireann.
THE Dali split over the treaty, the
pro-treatyites winning by a bare
majority DeValera, the leader of the
opposition faction held out for an
amended oath of allegiance, but most
/ of his followers did not care so much
about the wording of the oath as the
fact that the treaty kept Ireland in
! the grip of the Empire and split the
! country in two political parts by
/ granting autonomy to the tory
North thus giving the British base
of operations in Ireland against the
nationalist revolutionsts.
/ IN the elections that followed the
split the pro-treatyites won ma
| jority of the deputies for the treaty
/ the Labor Party accepting the pact
as step in advance.
The militant Republicans refused to
accept the treaty and decided to
maintain the military organizations
that forced the British to make con-
/ cessions. The Collins -Cosgrave-M Null
cahy faction, the pro-treaty group,
/ suddenly decided to fight the mill
tants and civil war followed. Michael
Collins, the leader of the treaty fac
tion was killed in action and the Free
State inaugurated campaign of
terror under the leadership of Kevin
O'Higgins who took no part in the
Easter Week Rebellion. Before
O'Higgins halted the firing squad,
! N of his former comrades fell to rise
no more.
WHEN the civil war ended and the
j" military campaign of the Repub-
licans was crushed for the time be-
ing, O'Higgins became one of the
leading men in the Free State gov
ernment. The British government
liked him. He believed implicitly in
imperialism and expressed his ad-
miration for Mussolini. Ireland,
which was hitherto a thorn in the
| side of British imperialism would now
be friend in peace and an ally in
war. The Free State government
thru its minister for external affairs
/ pledged the manhood of the country
to the defense of the empire. O'Hig-
| gins attended the last meeting of the
imperial conference in London and
only one week before his death at
tended the Geneva naval parley where
he is said to have supplied the Brit
ish naval experts with information
on the cooperation that could be ex-
| pected from the Free State in case
OF hostilities with another power or
combination of powers.
IN the recent elections the anti
treaty Republicans made gains
while the Free State supporters lost
ground. Every sign pointed to a re-
viyal of the Republican spirit. The
Free State government was consid-
cred in precarious condition and
for while there was doubt that Cos
grave, OHiggins and company would
form a government Had the Labor
Party under the leadership of the re-
dictionary Thomas Johnson, who is
supported by William O'Brien, secre-
tary of the Irish Transport and Cen
eral Workers Union and former CO.
worker of James Connolly, adopted a
militant policy, for labor and Repub-
licanism, it would have taken the
ground from under the feet of the
quibbler DeValera whose policy is al
most impossible to unravel or under
stand
DeValera refused to take the oath
of allegiance to the king. He had
formula of his own which meant prac-
tically the same thing. His group
was not seated and the Labor dele
cation of % members now constitutes
the opposition which is nuled and
futile.
HAD the anti-treaty Republicans
taken their seats and made, an
alliance with the Labor Party or at
least made an attempt to do so, it |
would be possible, the Labor Party |
being willing for the opposition to
vote the oath of allegiance out of
existence, thus creating situation
that would compel the British to
either consent to a reopening of |
negotiations or resume the policy of |
terrorism at time when her atten-
tion is devoted to holding her own in
several parts of the world simultan-
eously.
If the Labor and the Republican |
parties had genuine revolutionary
leaders of the Connolly type, they
would be able to unite on an anti-im- !
perialist program that would hasten
the day Of complete freedom for the
Irish workers and peasants from
foreign rule and native exploitation
and constitute valuable contribu-
tion to the anti.imperiahst forces