You can find all my poems by clicking on the "lyrics" label at the bottom.
“Anti-Imperialist Unity” based on “Unity is Power” by Kill, Baby, Kill, original lyrics are here.
1. The title is a phrase used by Seamus Costello, who was a leader of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and its military wing the Irish National Liberation Army. He believed in this concept, although I’m not sure what groups he had in mind besides his RSM and the Provisionals (what have been called in recent decades Sinn Fein and the IRA). Maybe he hoped he could convince his former comrades in Official SF and the Official IRA (the other side of the 1969/70 split that produced the Provisionals), but probably not. Probably People’s Democracy (a civilian but militant left-wing anti-Partition group born as a part of the civil rights movement that had taken place between 1967 and 1972), who I have reason to believe were friendly to the IRSP. Maybe 1-3? tiny left groups that were anti-Partition and maybe one or two tiny republican groups that I can’t think of. And maybe unaffiliated individuals would be welcome. I haven’t read his speeches and interviews in a long time and am not sure I can find them, but I imagine the unifying principles would be at least a lukewarm belief in socialism and a firmer opposition to Partition. He died in 1977, so this about the period 1975-1977.
2. The RUC were until late 2001 the police in N. Ireland.
3. I doubt Army bases were in anything smaller than a medium-sized town (i.e. Omagh, Strabane).
4. Starting around the beginning of the conflict and continuing in recent years some statistics about average pay indicate that the cost of labor is lower in N. Ireland than it is in Britain. On the other hand, the rate of unionization is higher in N. Ireland, but I think this has little effect because
A) sectarianism divides workers from taking effective action together,
B) it’s difficult for passionately anti-sectarian socialists to get into major positions of power in N. Ireland’s labor movement,
C) many of those who might take that kind of role were busy with the National Question and related issues and/or had/have criminal records from republican activity (something similar could be said about some reformed loyalists, for example the late David Ervine),
D) although the Churches aren’t nearly as central to N. Ireland politics as you might think, the Catholic Church there is not that of El Salvador’s late Archbishop Oscar Romero,
E) center-right politics dominate the Unionist community, perhaps because bigotry and colonialism tend to do that (i.e. most leftists advocate against that kind of shit, and are ignored even when they focus on issues that are purely class), and
F) it might be relevant that the police were, until recently, VERY prepared to break some heads and until recently had excellent political cover if they did so (potential strikers may have also been reluctant to confront soldiers with powerful rifles who were trained for aggression and had even better cover if they killed someone),
G) there is no labour party with the kind of power that the British Labour Party has in Britain (the SDLP don't count, see this and SF is hated by Unionists (you could say something similar about the SDLP, either because they're Catholics, or because they're socially conservative and middle-class, so many of those Protestants who are working-class and/or progressive don't vote for them))
More evidence for what I say in the last line of the 1st verse is found in the following facts taken from the book Northern Ireland: the Orange State by Michael Farrell:
“In 1974 45% of all firms in Northern Ireland employing 500 or more workers were controlled from Britain, as were 28 out of 51 firms employing between 250 and 500 workers” p. 326
5. The pride would be both the working-class kind and the Irish kind.
6. Fenian is a derogatory term for Catholic and republican, but has been adopted by republicans.
7. James Connolly was Ireland’s greatest socialist and greatest republican.
8. Republicans did a lot of feuding. Even if it was slightly unavoidable, it was bad. People who were, to one degree or another, good republicans and/or socialists were lost. It was demoralizing for the communities they were based in. It distracted form fighting the British. It was used by the British in anti-republican propaganda.
9. In 1975 the IRSP became one of the two first political parties in Ireland to call for gay rights (the other one was PD). I wouldn’t be surprised if in the mid-70s about 25% of the Provos supported gay rights (in 1991 a publication by and for IRA POWs published an article by a gay Volunteer calling for the movement to recognize the contributions made by gay and bi-sexual Volunteers).
10. **27% of this poem is me, 73% is the original.
So much wrong in the North today, the Catholics are being oppressed
What's the point of fighting each other, when the North’s in a mess?
RUC Barracks in every district, Army bases in every town
The Brits are occupiers and they’re trying to keep the cost of labor down
This is the voice of Costello, a voice full of pride
Calling out with a message now- we must all be allied
So listen fenians and reds, listen well, unity's a must
If we can't achieve to unite as one our efforts will go bust
Chorus:
Unity is power, unity is grand, Unity’s the weapon to defend our land
Unity's the answer to Connoilly’s call
Unity will set our class and nation free, Unity will bring us final victory
If we stand united, we will never fall
All these senseless feuds only give the Brits a laugh
Comrades we must stand as one, fighting on the people’s behalf
Shoulder to shoulder, brothers and sisters, make sure we'll never fail
So stick together and act as one, united we'll prevail
Chorus
To all of those who share our beliefs: United we will win
Unity brings victory, it's the power from within
So join our ranks on the battlefield, together side by side
To fight our people's enemies and for Irish freedom and gay pride
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