Stop Them

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Murder of the most savage kind is being carried out in our nameby the British government with the connivance of the leaders of the British labour movement.

Bobby Sands, a republican prisoner of war has been 51. days on hunger strike demanding recognition of his political status as a prisoner jailed for his opposition to British imperialism.

Indeed between the time of writing on Monday and Socialist Press appearing on the streets on Thursday, he could well have died.

Nobody seriously denies that there is a civil war against Fritish rule in the occupied six counties of Ireland -casualties are reported every day.

Nor does anyone seriously pretend that the republican prisoners are "ordinary" criminals: they are picked up and interrogated by special state forces; subjected to special techniques of torture and prolonged remand; and brought before special, no-jury courts which mete out very special sentences on the most tenuous of evidence (Bobby Sands is serving fifteen years for the possession of a single revolver).

The claim that the republicans are isolated individual gunmen with no popular support has been amply refuted by Bobby Sands' by-election victory Fermanagh/South Tyrone, in which he won over 30,000 votes.

Yet the British imperialist rulers refuse to recognise Sands and his fellow republican prisoners in Long Kesh as prisoners of war.

They prefer to leave him to starve to death-together with three other hunger strikers who began their action after Sands.

And in this stand the Tories have the full unstinting support of the Labour leadership and the TUC Like Tories Like the Tories, these "leaders" prefer to let the army, TUC and Loyalist paramilitaries crush the struggles of the oppressed nationalist minority in the North of Ireland than to champion their struggle for the right of self determination for the Irish people.

The growing street viol ence in the six counties in the last week however underlines the fact that such a course brings its own dangers to British imperialism and its friends in the South.

If Bobby Sands is murdered by the obduracy of the Thatcher government and the inaction of the Labourites, the simmering anger of the Irish people could boil over sides of the border.

This is why Irish Pr Minister Haughey hel arrange the visit of 1 MPs Blaney, De Valera O'Connell to Sands' bed in Long Kesh.

It is why Cardinals other churchmen have their voices to the pleas the Thatcher governmen make concessions to republican prisoners in o to forestall Sands' death.

Workers in Britain Ireland should place no fidence in such appeals: Tory government is brut determined to uphold Br military rule in the six a ties-and to repress intimidate its enemies.

Thatcher takes

action confident that will receive continued partisan" support from labour movement bur cracy.

It is our job to break collaboration, mobilise British working class in s arity with its brothers sisters in the 32 countie Ireland, and carry thr the fight for political st and the withdrawal British troops from Irela No more Irish mar We call on all our reade fight now in every u branch and Labour Part! action to force a Br withdrawal and dtive ou pro-imperiaiist leaders o labour movemen!