The following note is sent further to my previous observations, oral and written, on the Anti-Partition League of Great Britain.
The League consists of a number of branches in London and other towns in England, Scotland, and Wales. The membership of the London branches amounts to about 1,000 and the total membership in Britain is estimated at 5,000 or thereabouts. The membership subscription is half-crown per year.
It is directed by Irishmen of zeal and integrity but of little or no experience of organisation and of scant reserves either of money or leisure. The public meetings are attended principally by our own people whether in the local gatherings in the branches themselves, or in the few organised large demonstrations which have been addressed by Mr. de Valera.
Thus far it has not gained wide support and because it is not big in conception and is really weak in execution, has made little if any impression on British opinion. Its leaders complain of the lack of support from Dublin, saying that they have approached each of the home political parties exhorting them to help by supplying speakers and, in the initial stages of the organisation, by financial help. They have explained in these approaches that their membership is made up of followers of each of the different Parties at home, but at the same time they have laid heavy emphasis on the fact that the movement is not, and has no intention of being, tied exclusively to any one Party.
In conversations with Irishmen and women in London, Manchester, and Liverpool, I have found opposing views about the necessity for such an organisation. There are those who hold the view that there is little if anything to be achieved by Anti-Partition campaigns in this country. When the proved successes in former days of Irish organisations in the formation of British opinion on our questions are cited as an example of what may be done by propaganda, they reply that the situations are not really comparable. They contend that - unlike the pre-Treaty situation when one political party in Britain had for years fully avowed its policy of autonomy for all Ireland - there is today no evidence that either the Labour Government or the Labour Party is prepared to make the unity of Ireland part of their declared policy.
If asked whether we in Britain should remain passive and following the precept of Gambetta1 about Alsace and Lorraine, keep the names of the severed Counties 'on our hearts but not on our lips', they answer by maintaining that Whitehall is unlikely ever to initiate action on its own and that real results are far more likely of achievement by direct negotiation, however gradual the process, between Dublin and Stormont.
The other and more widely held view is that it is the obvious and immediate duty of our people here to work in every practicable way for the abolition of the Border.
From the All Parties action at home on the occasion of the recent Six Counties Election2 and from my conversations with the Minister last week, I assume that this latter view now reflects our accepted policy.
That being the position, it becomes urgently necessary to consider either the reorganising of the Anti-Partition League or the establishing in its place of an organisation on efficient and comprehensive lines. The structure should obviously be so designed as to provide modern propaganda action in all spheres. One of the most important, if not the most important, of these spheres, is that of the Press. There should be an Irish press agency which should provide articles for the national and provincial dailies as well as the weekly journals, letters in the correspondence columns, and from time to time contributions by authors whose names and standing would ensure respect and attention. A regular supply of simply written, easily read, pamphlets of not more than twelve or sixteen well printed pages, together with leaflets, should be a leading activity of such an agency. (In the pre-Treaty days, an agency on these lines which was run by Tom Kettle,3 assisted by Stephen Gwynn4 and a few others, proved a really effective force for the formation of British opinion). A Research Section also should be set up, the business of which would be to produce exposition of up-to-the-minute statistical and economic developments - giving a kind of child's guide to knowledge of some of the less generally understood factors.
A second sphere might be that of organising on an extensive scale demonstrations to be addressed by leaders and also the supplying of speakers who could expound our cause at public meetings and debates held by other organisations. Though at present there does not appear to be much fervour amongst our own people, a well manned and properly directed organisation would, I think, soon succeed in forming self-supporting branches of political value in the various industrial areas of Britain.
Another sphere and one which would obviously require expert control and direction would be that of the peaceful penetration by our own people into the executive bodies of British organisations such as the Trade Unions and the branches of the Labour Party in which we already form an important percentage of their membership (With this in view I sent some months ago, for the use of the Government Information Bureau, a confidential official directory of Labour Party Branches which contained the names and addresses of the Chairman and Secretary of every Branch) - A few of our men who would, of course, have to be 'hand-picked' - could be genuinely effective in this branch of the organisation.
The Governing Body for local purposes might be an Executive Council for Britain consisting of elected representatives or delegates on a regional basis. It would be of great importance that this Executive Council should work in the closest association with a Standing Committee of the All Parties Organisation at home.
The general policy and method should be directed by a Central All Parties authority in Ireland. After working in Irish political movements in this country for many years, I regard this as of vital importance.
The staffing of the Organisation to begin with might well be a General Secretary who should have prominently situated office premises in London or Birmingham or Manchester, whichever city was decided upon, as best suited for the work. In addition to the full time General Secretary, it would probably be necessary to appoint a full time Organiser in, say, three areas covering England, Scotland, and Wales.
