Evening star., 1935-04-21

the priests and the pro-treaty ele-
ment Of the old Sim Fein. In Frank
MacDermot 1t has the one potential
Irish leader. apart from De Valera.
who has the power of striking the
imagination.
But while 1t contains the more edu-
Gated and experienced classes which
have been impoverished by the eco
nomic war, 1t has lost much of the
rank-and-file support it once had
Temporarily. at all events. the peas
antry OF the barren West have prof.
tied by the catastrophe that has be-
fallen the prosperous element of So
ciety. They have had a more liberal
scale OF pensions and relief, and, IN
the decline of the British market,
meat and milk have been plentiful at
rldiculously uneconomic prices. It is
in this rank-and- file of the peasantry.
with its ancient hostility to England
and its hatred of landlords. that De
Valera's strength lies. and there is
no immediate prospect of that source
OF power being diminished.
But it is from the left that De VAL
era's difficulties chiefly come. The
nature Of those difficulties was illus
trated by the great tramway strike in
Dublin. There has long been a con-
siderable Communist strain in the
labor movement of Ireland. Il sub
sided after Connolly's execution. bu.
1t has revived Of late and was a factor
in the tramway war.
4 x*
The Communists have no love for
De Valera, whom they denounce as
a bogus Republican and Democrat.
Nor has De Valera any love for them.
He is before everything else a devoted
Catholic whose central aim is to make
his country a medieval island Of the
saints. economically and politically
separated from the wicked modern
world without. Apart from his own
dislike of the Communist creed of in
ternationalism and materialism, he
Is impelled both by the church and
his own moderate supporters to oppose
the Communits, with whom the Cath
olic hierarchy are in open conflict over
the dismissal of q teacher at Water
ford on account of his political
opinions
His other difficulty from the Left
is the Irish Republican army. He is
ceaselessly challenged by the opposi-
ton to declare the I. r. A. an illegal
organization. MacDermot has been
especially insistent since the murder
Of More O'Ferrall. But De Valera
canont risk an open breach with the
I. R. A. either politically or mill
tarily. for 1t is his Fascist or Nazi
reserve in the event of a Blue Shirt
push" But, while it is true that he
has made no attempt to suppress the
I. r. A. or to search for its arms. he
has not hesitated to arrest those of its
members who have been guilty CT civil
disturbance.
The fact is that the gunman Is so
traditional q part of the political
movement in ireland that no govern
ment in present conditions can hope
to eliminate him. It Is q case of dead
ened public conscience and Of fear
on the part Of those who know and
refuse to come forward, as in the
O'Ferrall murder. in regard to which
the government has offered q reward
of f1 900.
Nor in the case of the Dublin strike
can 1t be said that the government
surrendered to the forces Of disorder.
It employed military lorries to miti-
gate the public distresses due to the
paralysis of the transport services
proceeding which, If not q declaration
Of war on the extremists of the Left,
certainly brought 1t into collision
with those forces.
But it Is not the political difficulties
which are the chief problem for De
Valera. His ultimate survival or fall
will depend on the consequences Of his
economic policy. The full effects of
that policy, which aims at an isolated
and -sufiicing Ireland, divorced
from her chief external market. have
vet to be disclosed. And upon that
disclosure the internal political struc-
ture Of ireland win depend.