> **Note on this transcript.** The two halves are in very different condition. **Ken Loach's section, from 28:18, is largely recoverable.** **Geoff Bell's, from the start, is not**: the captions fail across long stretches and destroy most of the names, dates and quotations his argument is built on — "James Connolly" alone appears in six different forms. The research is from his book, so a reader wanting the detail should go there; what is marked `[inaudible]` below could not be recovered from the captions and has not been guessed at. **Bell's half needs re-transcribing from the audio.**
*The same meeting as Bernadette McAliskey's talk. Geoff Bell speaks on the British labour movement's response to the Rising — the subject of his 2016 book Hesitant Comrades — and Ken Loach, who directed The Wind That Shakes the Barley, follows. The chair speaks between them.*
## Geoff Bell
00:00 Geoff Bell: Thank you very much. [Applause] The last time I spoke to a meeting with so many people was about 1986 or '87 or something, at the Labour Party conference, where I was moving a resolution for troops out of the north of Ireland — and as soon as
00:30 I got up to move the resolution, half the audience walked out. So I'm glad you're not all walking out today. [inaudible] And of course I also remember, around the same time, the last time I shared a [platform] [inaudible], and we were launching another [book] 20 years on, which [was] 20 years [after] 1968, when it all kicked off. So to speak[,]
01:00 I suppose, [a] sort of perishing thought: [it] will soon be 50 years, which is another [inaudible] anniversary. [inaudible] I wonder what was achieved, and what was it. But let's — this is about 1916. So I want to come, if I can, [to] what James Connolly wrote, [to] certainly start on this meeting tonight: what James Connolly wrote, and this
01:32 was about two weeks before the Rising. [inaudible] And he wrote this, and he said: nothing [warms] the cockles of my old heart so much as when some British socialist kind-heartedly approves of my [rebellion] — approves of it, except for, [or] only for [inaudible].
02:05 So I want to make it clear before I say anything else, that this evening, as a socialist living in Britain, [I stand] 100[%] behind the Rising, [behind] the commemoration of the Rising. [inaudible] There are no ifs, no buts, no excepts. I'm not going to speak a great deal about the details of the Rising, but I'd
02:37 really like to summarise [in] my mind what it was about. And first of all, [and] most clearly, it was against British rule in Ireland — it was a rising [inaudible]. It was also a rising against the Great War, the First World War, and against the slaughter of ordinary working-class people [inaudible] that Irish people should
03:09 not be [a] part of [that] war. In 1914 [Redmond] agreed to accept the British offer of Home Rule — [a] very limited Home Rule for Ireland, a divided Ireland — and [backed] Irish participation in the Great War. It was a rising against that.
03:41 And this is the only thing — there are lots of people who [say] the Rising was a sort of violent reaction, and so on; [but] in many ways it was a rising against the Great War as well. And [it was] of course a rising for unity against [partition] — already mentioned, the idea [inaudible] in Germany — which of course has never been achieved and [which has] survive[d], north [and] south, to this present day, and indeed [the] possibilities [inaudible].
04:11 But it was [inaudible] which, as I said, [inaudible] and said that those people who fought and died in 1916 were [common criminals] [?]. Now, it must be said that not in England or in Scotland or in Britain or in Wales [inaudible] at the time —
04:41 and it's a reaction that people have written [about] [inaudible]. Although obviously people [are] touching many of the aspects of the Rising, and it would be [the] easiest thing in the world for me to sit here — or stand here — for the next 15 minutes [and talk about] the horrors and the nasty things and the horrible sentiments which were said by the leaders [about] the 1916 [Rising and] the Irish revolution which followed, especially from 1918 to 1921.
05:16 But I'm not going to do that — or at least not very much, [and] obviously [I'll] touch [on] that — because I think we should try and be inspired by these years, inspired by the Rising itself, but also be inspired by [those in] Britain who [supported the Rising and] the Irish revolution, which I judge [to] start from 1917 to 1921.
05:56 I just want to give you a couple of examples of [the] opinion which came from [inaudible]. There is [the] example of a left-wing Scottish newspaper called *Forward*. And *Forward* was a newspaper [in] which James Connolly had written on numerous [occasions], explaining his theories and his views on nationalism [inaudible] and so
06:28 on. [It was published] in Glasgow, and *Forward* described [the] Rising as madness, [as] darkness and [inaudible], if you like, [a view] representative of what many in the British labour movement, and indeed also [inaudible], thought of [it] at that time. And there was another example, which is far to the left of *Forward*, a magazine called [*The Socialist*] [?],
06:59 which was the magazine of the Socialist Labour Party — and James Connolly was [the] first national secretary of [that] party, when he was living in [inaudible]. And the week after the Rising, [or] two or three weeks after [the] Rising, [*The Socialist*] came out, and [about] the [Rising] in 1916 it said not a word. [inaudible]
07:31 And it was three years before it carried an obituary of James Connolly, [its] old nineteenth-century first national [secretary]. And the reason of course — *The Socialist* was, if you like, what one today would call far left — the reason [was] because they couldn't understand why a socialist would throw in his or her lot with what they thought was simply a nationalist uprising.
08:02 Again, as I say, all [they] had to do was to read James Connolly's writings. [inaudible] The view, for instance, of the main newspaper of the [inaudible] at the time, called [inaudible], which described the Rising['s]
08:34 [leaders] as crazy [inaudible]. For those of you who were at the [inaudible] last week — I went on to it last week — there is a slight repetition here. I'm going [to repeat myself], as I said, but I think some things are worth repeating. [inaudible]
09:07 [inaudible] [Patricia] Lynch [?]. And she was a young Irish woman living in London at that time, and she wrote this article called "Scenes [from] the Irish Rebellion" [?], which is a marvellous piece of revolution-making reportage, on the [basis] of Lynch's visits to Ireland [shortly] after the Rising. [And most] of the story — which again made [it] quite exceptional for [the] time — was based on interviews with working-class women.
09:40 And anyway, Lynch [then] wrote her own views, her own conclusions, and she said, at the end, she said: poets and dreamers do not make revolution. There must be popular unrest behind even the smallest revolt. It is impossible in Dublin for men and women [of the] working class to live like human beings. [Of] every six children born, one dies. Can we wonder that the
10:11 high-spirited men and women, seeing their wrongs [inaudible] or ignored, [inaudible] their discontent [into] political [reform]. Now, that appeared in a newspaper called *Woman's Dreadnought*, which was edited by Sylvia Pankhurst, the famous [suffragette] [?] — although [by] that time she'd broken with her mother and her sister, essentially over Ireland,
10:42 [over the question] that Ireland should be allowed to govern itself. So here are Lynch and Pankhurst getting to the heart of the matter. [inaudible]
11:12 what's going on [at the] grassroots, and [inaudible] the social, economic base to it. And of course Pankhurst said the overwhelming message — no excepts — the overwhelming message was [that] Ireland should be allowed to govern itself. And as the time went by, [from] 1916 through [inaudible] the next four
11:44 or five years, [inaudible] it was this question of [Ireland] being allowed to govern itself, totally, [inaudible] the 32 counties, which became the major issue and the major [bone] of contention [with] the British government at the time. And there were again many in this country who resisted [that] demand that Ireland should be allowed to govern
12:14 itself. But again, [there were] those who chose a different path, and again I want to mention some of [those]. And first of all there's an organisation called the Irish Self-Determination League, and this was born in Manchester in March 1919. Now, you may not have heard [of it], and it doesn't feature greatly in histories of the Irish in Britain,
12:46 or of [the] wo[rking] classes, although it was an almost 100[%] working-class organisation. But it deserves recognition. By November 1921 it had just over 300 branches in England and Wales, with a membership of [40,000] [?]. [It] didn't organise in Scotland, for various reasons. And [in] this time it [held] large meeting[s] in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield,
13:16 Blackburn, Preston, [and in] London of course, [and] many other places. It organised large demonstrations — one night in April 1920, in support of Irish [republican] prisoners; they had a hunger strike [then] [inaudible] that brought 10[,000] people onto the streets of London. [inaudible]
13:47 Nonetheless, the fact that it was continually [harassed] by the Special Branch [inaudible] its general secretary [?] was arrested, [its] treasurer was arrested, its staff [were] arrested [inaudible]. But despite all of this, the ISDL [played] an important part in mobilising the Irish in this country. And again, by this
14:17 time, 1919 to 1921, the mood was — among the Irish, and indeed among many of the [British] working people in this country — a move and change from the hostility of 1916. And certainly by then [inaudible] there were millions of people here who were opposed to what they saw their
14:48 government was doing in Ireland, and a mass movement actually grew up. And this again [is] something which is important to recall, because [when] we speak about the fight in Ireland itself, [the] struggle which is being [waged] there, the repression and the terrorism [inaudible] the British forces were waging — [it] produced a large reaction against [it].
15:21 [It's] important to recall [this]. [I'll] just [give] two examples of that. First of all, there was this wonderful [body], the Council of Action. Now, the Council of Action was born in the summer of 1920, by the Labour Party and [the] TUC, [inaudible] to stop British intervention against the Russian Revolution and to organise strikes if necessary [against]
15:52 any attempt[s] [by] the British state [against the] Revolution. But by the time they'd all agreed to meet, [inaudible] that threat had disappeared, almost. So what would the Councils do? And what happened was that many Councils of Action [turned their] attention to what was happening in Ireland.
16:24 And from all over the country local [bodies] demanded that the Labour [Party] do something about what was [happening], and they called for strikes [to secure] British withdrawal from Ireland. And across the country — Scotland, Wales, [England] — [inaudible] passed a resolution calling for the general strike.
16:55 [inaudible] [a] significant minority. And an official of [the] National Council said — [he] didn't obviously support these things — "I do not know who is communicating this resolution [to] the Labour parties and the trade[s] [councils], but I venture [inaudible] as being too readily accepted by these [bodies]." In other words, the leadership [was] obviously totally opposed to what was
17:27 going on. [The] majority of people did not express [an] opinion. [But] it was a significant minority in this country who actually were opposed [to] what was going on. [inaudible] And there were those who went further than passing resolutions. For instance, in January 1921,
17:58 400 miners in [inaudible] near Glasgow [staged a] 24-hour strike against what they said was British terrorism in Ireland, and they demanded the withdrawal of all British forces. [Before] that, in 1920, about 3,000 dockers in Liverpool [struck for] four days in support of Irish [republican] prisoners, and London [dockers struck too],
18:31 organised by the ISDL. [inaudible] a local branch of the National Union of Railwaymen [inaudible] in solidarity with the ISDL. [inaudible]
19:33 But all this eventually forced the Labour Party [to act], and they organised a campaign on Ireland and held 130 meetings up and down the country, again exposing what the British government and the British forces were doing [there]. And it was [inaudible] the party leadership who had been very [reluctant] [?] [about] taking this issue [up]. [inaudible] not one of the [largest] series
20:06 of meetings by any political party on any great public question in the history of this country. All right. All of this, I think, we can be inspired by. But we can also learn from failures, because of course at the end of the day none of this was enough to sway the British government, or [to] put
20:36 pressure [on] the government, to give what the Irish people [had voted for] — which was a totally independent 32-county country. So we have to ask ourselves why not. The Irish [inaudible] said [the] Liberal obsession with the responsibility of Empire, unquote, was the reason for this. In other words, it was [inaudible]
21:10 because they could never [grant] self-determination, total self-determination, [inaudible] because [it] would mean the break-up of the British Empire, [inaudible]. And that is a lesson — of course the British Empire['s] largely [gone] now, but of course [inaudible] taken [its] place. [inaudible]
21:58 [inaudible] could not understand why [inaudible] and didn't really think that they wanted to [inaudible], because of course they said the revolution [inaudible] first, [that] they were not socialists, so therefore why should [we] support them. [inaudible] until the British communists went to Moscow in 1921 [or] 1924,
22:30 for [a session] of what's called the Congress of the Communist International. And they met the leaders of the [Bolshevik] Revolution there, and [they] said: look what we're doing, we've got organisations [inaudible] fighting to stop British intervention in Russia and [to] support your revolution. And the Bolshevik [leaders] turned [round] and said: what about Ireland? What are you doing about Ireland?
23:02 And they [inaudible] looked at their shoes [inaudible], and they said: we will judge you [inaudible] — every middle-class liberal person [opposes] British intervention in Russia; what they don't do is oppose what your government is doing in Ireland at this
23:34 time. And [they] said: we will judge you by how many [of your] communists [inaudible]. And the truth is there weren't very many. [inaudible] Sylvia Pankhurst [?] was one of the few who actually was, because
24:04 [inaudible] Ireland at that time [inaudible] the Volunteers, the IRA [inaudible]
24:37 [inaudible] he said: the Irish situation is the most revolutionary that has ever arisen in British history, but unfortunately [those who] fancy [themselves] the only revolution[aries] are too stupid, or too obsessed with some cliché, to see [it] with sufficient [clarity]. [inaudible] the Irish are piercing the
25:08 British [inaudible]. [inaudible] They make no profession of socialism or communism, but they are doing more to help Russia and [the] Revolution than all the professed Marxists [inaudible]. [And that], in a sense, comes back to the words [I] quoted earlier about Connolly: for John Maclean [inaudible]
25:39 there is no "except for". [I'll] not begin [to make] an except[ion] here, because we have to draw [the] lessons. We draw a little different lessons today, in this country, in Europe and in the world, and the question is [inaudible]. And essentially it is this: solidarity, first, second and third. And [the]
26:10 [moment] [we] accept [the] "except for", [we] [inaudible]. And that applies to things like, say, the junior doctors in this country, the struggle of the refugees internationally, the struggles of the Kurdish people, [inaudible] the struggle of the Egyptian people to win back their revolution, the struggle of Irish women to control their own fertility. These are the questions.
26:43 You know, the message of Connolly and the message of John Maclean is not to say "yes, but" — it's to say solidarity. And that's, if you like, the best way we can remember the people of 1916 and those who followed. [To] support [that], as another international socialist, the American Joe Hill, said: don't mourn,
27:13 organise. Thank you. [Applause]
## The chair
27:13 Chair: [Don't] mourn, organise. And there are two reasons for doing things like this. Yes, you want to mark a very significant revolutionary anniversary; you also want it to be a catalyst to go out and do stuff tonight, tomorrow and this weekend.
27:45 And on Sunday the 13th of March there's, I think, one of the most important demonstrations we're going to be seeing in London between now and this summer. Because for working-class people, and especially young working-class people in particular, the biggest issue they're [facing] [inaudible] — this government is determined to destroy council housing. They want to transfer everything into the hands of the private sector. [inaudible] So there are leaflets for this at the back, on one of
28:18 the tables: 13th of March, national demo to defend council housing, meet at Lincoln's Inn Fields. And that brings [us] very nicely on [to] Ken, who made probably one of the most important films about Ireland. [Applause]
## Ken Loach
28:18 Ken Loach: It's a real privilege to be here, and [it's been] interesting to hear the historical background to [what's happening] in Ireland now. [inaudible] First of all, [it's important] to discuss 1916, because this year we're going to hear a lot of revisionism about 1916:
29:22 it was just an adventure, it was irresponsible, it had no hope of success, it was a distraction, and so on. But to me it was an essential step in the struggle for independence, and it wasn't a wild adventure, it was absolutely essential and inevitable and right. You mentioned mobile phones in the beginning — if they'd had a mobile phone, maybe they wouldn't have
29:52 countermanded the order to rise up in the other parts of Ireland, [and would have] had a bit more of a success. So maybe — I hate mobile phones, but maybe [one] at the time, you know, would have been quite handy. But it was a huge event, and it goes without saying [that] the bravery and the commitment and the ideas of those who were there
30:22 have left a mark [that] I think few events can match. I just want to say a couple of things really. First of all, as the only person from this side of the water, I think, on the platform — a couple of points from this perspective, on this side of the water. I think it's important to say that the violence over the centuries has been
30:56 done by the British to the Irish, and [yet] what we are told, and what we receive [inaudible] [is that the Irish are] the terrorists. Nothing could be further from the truth. And we're used to hearing this, and we take it for granted, and it sort of washes over us, and yes,
31:27 we say well, it's all propaganda, and we don't fight it. And I think it's really important that we do challenge [it], because it's the context in which everybody — apart from people who are concerned about it, and maybe people here — but it's the context in which people in general [understand] what is happening. And they see it where terrorism equals the IRA or republicans, and they forget, or they're not told, or
31:57 they don't know, that of course that terrorism was the British. They forget about Carson, they forget about the British army, they forget about the [Curragh] Mutiny [?], to install partition and so on. And the violence was done to the Irish people, and I think that's a basic building block of our understanding of what went on. And of course we get examples of this all the time, and it's very subtle, it's nuanced, it's in the
32:29 people you hear interview[ed], it's in the questions they're asked, it's the subtext of every interview. And just to give one example of [it], which I guess you've all heard or listen[ed] to: in the [Omagh] [?] story last week — I mean, a terrible, appalling event of course — but it was routinely described
33:02 as the worst atrocity of the Troubles. The worst atrocity of the Troubles. There were, I think, either 29 or 31, depending [on] how you count, people killed in [Omagh]. A terrible event. The Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which of course you will probably know about, in 1974, killed 34 and injured 300.
33:33 But they were planted by the UVF, and the British army and security forces have been implicated. They are not mentioned. You know, comparing two appalling atrocities is not very attractive, but why on earth would you say that [the] one that killed 31 was the worst atrocity when the British were responsible, or the loyalists were responsible, for killing 34? Why are they ignorant? Do the journalists not do the research? No — it's part of the
34:04 knowledge, it's part of the understanding that has to be passed [on]. And that's the context in which we judge it. And it's permanent and it's consistent and it's part of the mood music whenever Ireland is discussed. And I think we have to challenge it, we have to fight it, we can't just let it happen, we have to oppose it. There's nobody you can ring; there's demands we have to make, because
34:35 otherwise it just continues and continues. We expect it from the press, [but] the BBC flaunt[s] its objectivity — but of course it [isn't] objective, it is the voice of the state. And I think that should be part of our demands of the new Labour leadership: that when they develop a media policy, the role of the BBC in perpetuating myths like this ha[s] to be challenged.
35:05 And it's [all] very well saying yes, we defend public service broadcasting — but we don't defend lies. These are lies. [Applause] Ireland was where the British learned to be imperialists. It was the first colony, and there's a remnant of it still, which makes it probably the longest —
35:38 for seven to eight hundred years. The process has been inexorable, and you can see [that] the pattern was repeated in all the other colonies. And it just [goes like this]: first of all you steal the land and you impose the taxes; then you cut down every opposition brutally, with violence, with ritualised killings, with slaughter, absolute [inaudible]; then you install settlers to rule on
36:10 behalf of the absentee landowners; and then you provoke sectarianism — maybe on a religious basis, or in whatever way — provoke sectarianism to keep [the] independence movement divided; and then of course you enact laws that keep the people from that country subjugated, so that there are laws to prevent them taking part in the governance of their own country, or making any significant inroads into
36:41 the wealth of that country; and then finally you fight the independence movements with every ounce of strength you can; and finally, the last trick is, when the independence struggle looks like winning, you make certain you pass the political power on to people you can do deals with. So, in other words, you split them — which is what the colonial class warrior Churchill and his cohorts did when
37:13 they proposed the Treaty. They phrased it in such a way that it would divide the republicans, and then they armed the people they wanted to do a deal with, to attack and slaughter their opponents. And that's the process of imperialism, and they learned it in Ireland, and they're still learning it, and they're still practising it. And, as I say, every item of news about Ireland reinforces that.
37:46 I mean, you can see it in the way — in South Africa, where the ANC began with a communist set of ideas and Nelson Mandela was a terrorist; then they got independence and big business rules, and Nelson Mandela [is] a saint. And it's not rocket science, is it. So those were [inaudible] the two points I wanted to make. The third is a question really, which is: how
38:17 do we best honour the memory of the people who fought in 1916 and gave their lives in the independence struggle? And again, I thought I wouldn't be the first to quote Connolly — you beat me to it — but the remark I particularly like is: we cannot conceive of a free Ireland with a subject working class. Well, the working class — if you look at the austerity programme, [they are] certainly subject to the constraints of the economic
38:50 system. So the working class themselves [suffer] the bad housing, the poor public services, the unemployment [and] the casualisation of work. And it's the same as we have here now. How do we pursue that? What political demands can we make? I think there is — and then, if anyone will agree with this — but I think there is a possibility now, with the change in leadership in the Labour Party, to make demands of that leadership.
39:20 I think we know that John McDonnell has spoken in support of Irish republicanism, and I think we have to hold [him] to that now. And [now that] we have a Labour leadership, [we should] say: then [don't] back down. You know, let's give our support and demand that the Labour Party speaks out for the republican struggle in [Ireland]. And if there is a point when the people of
39:52 Ireland feel that they are entitled to vote again on whether that country should be united, that should get our absolute 100[%] support. And interestingly, I think it's in three years' time [that there] will be another centenary commemoration, which is when the Irish people did vote for independence, across the whole of Ireland. And I think it was an overwhelming vote — was it eighty percent, 85? So [let's look]
40:23 forward to it, [in] three years' time: let's commemorate the one vote that was taken [by] the whole of Ireland, to vote for a united independent country. [Applause] The other way in which we can [show] solidarity is to fight alongside the people in Ireland against austerity, for the common ownership and democratic
40:55 control of the commanding heights of industry, [of] the utilities; the defence of public services, the [end of privatisation] there, the [end of] contracting [out]; and for a new economic order. And ending with James Connolly — how could we not — the cause of Labour is the cause of Ireland and the cause of Ireland is the cause of Labour, and we can stand for the cause of Labour. [Applause]
41:31 Chair: Thank you. So, [Socialist] Resistance is organising three things in the next few months. [The] first thing is, [a] topic of endless fascination, the European Union —
## Corrections
### Names and terms
- **"James Connolly" appears six ways** in Bell's section: "James **connollywood**", "James **Connie**", "James **Conley**", "James **Carney**", "James **Coleman**", "James **comedy**". All are corrected. The talk is about him. - "the **race**", "the **horizon**", "**arising**", "the **rise of**" → "**the Rising**", throughout. Like Connolly's name, the subject of the meeting is unrecognisable in the captions. - "the Irish **self-determinant machinery**" → the **Irish Self-Determination League**, founded Manchester, March 1919; "the **isdlp**" and "the **isda**" → **ISDL**. - "the **conscious of their action**", "the **Crescent of action**", "cases of **conscious action**" → the **Council of Action** / Councils of Action, set up by the Labour Party and TUC in summer 1920 over intervention in Russia. - "the National Union of **real women**" → the **National Union of Railwaymen**. - "**Sylvia Parkers**", "**pankers**", "**Pinecrest**", "the **Pinehurst** member" → **Sylvia Pankhurst**; "woman's **dreadlocked**" → ***Woman's Dreadnought***, the paper she edited. - "**nutritional Edge**" → **[Patricia] Lynch**, named plainly later in the same passage; her report from Dublin, "Scenes from the Irish Rebellion", ran in *Woman's Dreadnought*. - "**John McClain**" and "**mindfulness Congress**" → **John Maclean**, the Scottish revolutionary, whose words Bell quotes and returns to at the end. - "the American **Jewel** said **don't come on organize**" → "the American **Joe Hill** said: **don't mourn, organise**" — which the chair then repeats, and which the captions mangle both times. - "British communists went to **law school** in 1921" → "went to **Moscow**". - "a magazine called **exertionist**" → ***The Socialist*** [?], the Socialist Labour Party's paper. Marked, because the title is reconstructed from the party's name rather than from the captions. - "the **32 companies**" and "a totally independent 32 **currently** country" → "the **32 counties**" / "a 32-**county** country". - "**homeroom**" and "very limited **whole food**" → **Home Rule**; "a **Divine Island**" → "a **divided Ireland**". - "the **Great Wall** of the first World War" → "the **Great War**". - "there are under some **ribs** no **butts** no **except for**" → "no **ifs**, no **buts**, no **excepts**" — the formula Bell takes from Connolly and makes the frame of the whole talk, and which the captions destroy at every appearance, including the closing "not to say **yes but**". - "**Rod Shield** Blackburn **press in**" → "**Sheffield**, Blackburn, **Preston**"; "held 130 **victims**" → "130 **meetings**"; "a **bumper** strike" → "a **hunger** strike"; "3,000 **doctors** in Liverpool" → "3,000 **dockers**". - "say that **you're doctors** in this country" → "the **junior doctors**", then in dispute. - "a national **surprise**" → "a nationalist **uprising**".
### In Ken Loach's section
- "they wouldn't have **counterminded** the order" → "**countermanded** the order" — MacNeill's countermanding order, and the point of his aside about mobile phones. - "they forget about the **Mutiny** to install partition" → the **Curragh** Mutiny [?]; the place name is not in the captions. - "the Dublin and Monaghan **bars**" → the Dublin and Monaghan **bombings**; "planted by the **UVA**" → the **UVF**. - "the worst atrocity of the **Charles**" / "of the **trumps**" → "of the **Troubles**". The event he is contrasting is identified as **Omagh** from his own figures — "either 29 or 31, depending on how you count" — which are Omagh's; the captions do not name it. - "we don't defend **lives** these are **lives**" → "we don't defend **lies** — these are **lies**." The sharpest line in his section, and reversed into nonsense by one vowel. - "which makes it probably the **lowest**" → "probably the **longest**"; "the process has been **inexual**" → "**inexorable**". - "you install **settings** to rule" → "you install **settlers**"; "any significant **inwards** into the wealth" → "**inroads**". - "the **casualized station** of work" → "the **casualisation** of work". - "**John McDonald** has spoken in support of Irish republicanism" → "**John McDonnell**". - "a free **island** with a subject working class" → "a free **Ireland** with a subject working class", quoting Connolly. - "the **court of Labor** is the cause of Ireland" → "the **cause of Labour** is the cause of Ireland", Connolly's line, which he closes on. - "the **komani heights** of industry" → "the **commanding heights**"; "the **enterpriseation** there, The **Intercept** Contracting" → "the [end of privatisation] there, the [end of] contracting [out]" [?]. - "for **world-class** people and especially young **world-class** people" (the chair) → "**working-class**"; "defend **cancer** housing, meet at **Lincoln and fees**" → "defend **council** housing, meet at **Lincoln's Inn Fields**"; "there are **linklets**" → "**leaflets**".
### Two figures left as spoken
- Loach says the centenary of the vote for independence falls "in three years' time". The general election he means was December 1918, so the centenary fell in 2018, two and a half years after this meeting. The year is his own and is not a caption error. - He gives the Sinn Féin vote as "eighty percent, 85", hedging. Sinn Féin took 73 of 105 seats on about 47% of votes cast, with many seats uncontested. Again his own figure, left as spoken.
### Quotations not reconstructed
Bell reads from Connolly, from Patricia Lynch's 1916 report and from John Maclean. The captions corrupt all three. Where enough survives to be sure of the words, they are given; where not, the gaps are marked. None of the three has been completed from memory, so no sentence in quotation marks here should be cited as Connolly's, Lynch's or Maclean's wording without checking the source.