Attempts have been made by the Communist Party to prevent a trade union delegation to Ireland from having formal discussions with groups supporting a "Troops Out' policy.
The delegation, from the London County Association of Trades Councils, returned from Ireland last Sunday after a three-day visit to Belfast. But before it left London a special meeting attended by large numbers of Communist Party members instructed it to have talks only with certain specified groups.
These predictably include the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Confederation of Trade Unions, Belfast Trades Council, and the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. But also included were the Committee of the Shankill Road Advice Centre, a solidly Loyalist area, and a mysterious body called the l'ederation of Community and Tenants Associations in Northern Ireland Three hundred people marched through Kilburn last Saturday calling for the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act time. But according to a Link Community spokesman, Sean Morris: "The Federation referred to has not been seen or heard of or almost six ycars. We have information that Sammy Smyth, and another leading UDA man, are using the name of the Federation now for their own purposes.
In other words, British trade unionists were being asked to consider the views of an organisation fronting for the Loyalist murder gangs while being forbidden to visit any community or political organis
_red weekly july 10 1975 education/health_ .11
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