N't Let Them Die!

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After four years of bitter struggle have failed helped to stampede a group of union leaders, he have refused to wear prison clothing or to slop to make any impact on the British govern- Labour MPs and individual liberals into adding ment's position and failed to win the support their signatures to the Charter 80 petition haan ashiontad ta thou need fram the Rritich workers' movement endorsing the prisoners' five demands.

Seven Irish republican prisoners at the notorious Long Kesh concentration camp in bellast are now in men uniu weck on DAICLAŁ thain third wool an hunger strike.

They are demanding restoration of their status as prisoners of war, in opposition to the attempts by Labour and Tory governments to brand them as "criminals" for fighting to liberrate their country from British rule-imposed by military force. In fighting such imperialist repression, the five specific demands raised by the prisoners are for:

*The right to wear their own, not prison, clothing *The right to refrain from prison work.

*The right to free association amongst other political prisoners.

*The right to organise their own educational and recreational facilities, and to receive one visit, one letter and one parcel a week.

*The right to full remission of sentences.

These demands have been consistently raised by republican prisoners in Long Kesh since their special category status was stripped from them by the Wilson government in 1976, in a bid to portray as common criminals those who fight the efforts of the British army to preserve the imperialist oppression of the Irish people For four years, up to 300 republican prisoners any one time have been engaged in the "blanket" protest at Long Kesh in which they пр out their cells.

in retanation incy nave been subjectou to savage intimidation: clothed only in a single blanket, they have been left in filthy, unheated cells and subjected to brutal body searches, beatings and endless abuse.

This maltreatment at the hands of British imperialism which has been internationally condemned, has run alongside a complete silence on the blanket struggle from the leadership of the British labour movement.

Trade union and Labour leaders-who so easily comdemn barbaric behaviour by right wing regimes in far away Latin America, Asla and Africa have raised not a whisper against similar activities being carried out by the British military authorities in their efforts to repress the liberation struggle in the six counties of Northern Ireland In some cases this shameful silence has been the result of-indifference to the struggles of the Irish people for national liberation: in others it is the outcome of tacit or open support for their "own" British ruling class in maintaining its rule over the six counties of Northern Ireland.

As a result, few labour movement leaders have seen any political advantage to be gained from declaring themselves in support of the Blanket men of Long Kesh. they need from the British workers movement the 'H' Block prisoners have resorted to desperate OTANITAMA tactics.

Desperate is certainly the word: the decision to launch a hunger strike in their present weakened state could quickly bring death to the seven men involved.

But there is no doubt that they have been so goaded by ill-treatment and oppression that they are willing to press through their struggle. The only way they can be saved is to ensure that they win their demands.

m1- L... tAN nantire ta nere nave alreay been too many martyrs to the Irish revolution: the British labour movement has the responsibility to act in solidarity with the hunger strikers and ensure that no man dies.

Already it is clear that the hunger strikers' stand has formed a focal point for a growth of the struggle against British imperialism.

A huge 25,000-strong demonstration through Belfast bore witness to the solid support for the liberation struggle in the six counties-now at a greater level than any time in the last ten years.

And the fears of a rise in the struggle and of the possible deaths of hunger strikers have With one or two notable exceptions, these signatories have until now taken no significant stand on the prisoners' issue or the irish liberation struggle.

Their involvement now must be made the starting point of the broadest possible campaign throughout the labour movement for action in solidarity with the hunger strikers.

This means demanding that these union leaders and Labourites conduct an active campaign at every level in their own organisations for resolutions in support of the prisoners' demands, and for preparations to mobilise maximum support on the national demonstrations on November 15 and December 7 in London.

The fight on these issues must be linked to a full scale mobilisation in the British labour movement against the Thatcher government and against the defenders of British imperialism in the Labour leadership.

In this context, socialists must explicitly raise the demand for the immediate withdrawal of British troops from Ireland as the basis for the ending of imperialist rule and the self-determination of the Irish people as a whole.