The forgotten insurrection

The public presentation of British History, especially that of its imperialist past provides a fascinating insight into understanding the neuroses of the British establishment. Most of us in our lifetimes have been exposed to jingoistic interpretations of British history.whether it is in children's comics and books, film or the mass media.

This translates into a Ladybird book view of history as you go back to World War Two, the Great War, the Crimea, the Battle of Waterloo and Trafalgar etc.

British history becomes either a series of battles whose resolution brings a new elite into power or dispatches some alien external threat. In this history we remember the War of the Roses, The Roundheads versus Royalists and James versus William battling for the throne. We remember also the history of victories over the external threat whether it be the Spanish Armada, Napoleon's forces or Germany. In short it's a comfortable history of predictable outcomes with the darker reality completely glossed over.

John Charlton's new book The Chartists is in some measure a paint stripper of a book because it reveals a crucial period of British history where there is no external threat and where the internal struggle for power is not resolved with some titanic battle on the green plains of England.

It is a book which tells the story of what Charlton calls the ``first national workers' movement''. The Chartists movement was a political association that drew thousands of people into political activity and protest between 1838 and 1848.

Charlton tells how it mobilised hundreds of thousands of workers who were forced into protest and in some cases open revolt by the oppressive nature of the British capitalist system of the 19th Century.

It is the story of forgotten insurrections. When for example were we ever told of the town of Merthyr Tydfil? In May 1831 its inhabitants revolted, holding control of the town for four days before the British Army final broke down the insurrection.

Why is the history of Irish MP Feargus O'Connor, one of the founders of the Chartist movement, not remembered? One of his contemporaries, Daniel O'Connell, a public opponent of Chartism, is more likely to feature in a commentary on British history of the time than O'Connor.

Charlton's book holds the answer to these questions as it reveals not just a history of the Chartists but the history of a struggle between the British capitalist establishment and those it sought to systematically exploit. It is a recognition of the historical reality that `Great' Britain was built not only on the stolen wealth of its colonial occupations but also on the backs of its own people. It is a rarely articulated version of British history.

Finally, a note of caution. This book does come with one serious flaw. The author has filled the text with a seemingly endless amount of references to the class nature of the conflict. Fine, but do we really have to endure ``the crucible of insurrection clearly sharpened class attitudes and created a class consciousness'' and being told that ``The working class, confident and strident, had been intimidating bourgeois and petit bourgeois for a generation''. It grates after a while and takes away from what is otherwise a very scholarly and readable book.

BY NEIL FORDE

Continuing to question their jailers

The editorial in the latest issue of The Captive Voice/An Glór Gafa asks why the British state has treated Roisín McAliskey with a vindictiveness which has angered so many people round the world. Amnesty International has issued an ``urgent action'' appeal and Irish TDs, British MPs, European MEPs and US politicians have all raised their voices to protest. Why has Britain allowed this campaign to gather steam rather than taking the straightforward - and humanitarian - solution of releasing this heavily pregnant, ill young woman?

The editorial offers two reasons. First, the ill-treatment is their way of making an example of Roisín in order to intimidate and silence anyone who might ask questions about Britain's role in Ireland. Secondly, it says, ``the undermining of international legal principles through extradition is used by Britain with the specific intention of criminalising internationally the republican struggle.''

These explanations are backed up by a review of a book by Sister Sarah Clarke, the campaigner on behalf of Irish political prisoners in Britain and an article by Joe Doherty outlining Britain's violation of extradition law in order to take away the rights of Irish prisoners.

Another article, from the prisoners on remand in Belmarsh Prison in London describes their conditions in the Special Secure Units which were recently described by Amnesty International as constituting ``cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment''.

Keeping up the magazine's reputation for eclectic content there is, on a lighter note, an entertaining and perceptive look by Pat Magee at the long trail of Troubles novels, a subject which he is studying for a postgraduate degree. The novels are mostly garbage, he not unreasonably concludes, though some do stand out, because, he says, ``they have tried to grapple...with the tortuous complexities of the conflict, refusing to buy at face value the comfortable pro-British government line.''

Golf rears its head with another republican defence from Paul Edwards of this increasingly classless sport. In this article there is so much drink taken I found it hard to focus by the time I got to the end.

Then came that old favourite, the Red Spider who, since the magazine was founded, has always found plenty of material from Ned Flynn. ``You can't keep a bad man up,'' says the Spider as he relays another belter from Ned. Worth the cover price is the Red Spider.

The magazine is now available. Hurry and get your copy now.