Campaign Against Reagan Visit: Oppose the Visit of this Foreign Imperialist Warmonger
Date:1984
Organisation: Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist)
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Subjects: Ronald Reagan Visit to Ireland, 1984

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Commentary From The Cedar Lounge Revolution

31st March 2014

Please note: This document was added to the archive with Campaign Against Reagan Visit: Fascist Warmonger, Get out of Ireland!. The commentary below refers to both.

These documents from the CPI (M-L) are in some respects curious. They lack the clear newsletter format used by that party for much of its other documentation and instead are very text heavy. They are also in a four page A4 format with an additional double sided A4 leaflet.

They consist of a long piece on Reagan entitled ‘Fascist Warmonger, Get out of Ireland!’ with additional articles. These latter encompass a range of issues, including ‘U.S. imperialism’s ‘vital interests’’, ‘Imperialism is the cause of war’, ‘USSR- also an imperialist aggressor and exploiter’ and ‘Oppose Both Superpowers and All Imperialism! Throw British imperialism out of Ireland!’.

A number of quotes from the main article will give a sense of the overall tone of the document:

The visit of Ronald Reagan, President of the Untied States of America, is an insult and a very real threat to the Irish people. It is not, as the government and Dail parties pre tense goes, an ‘honour to welcome a distinguished son of our race’.

First and foremost, Reagan represents U.S. imperialism, which as one of the two superpowers along with the equally dangers Soviet social imperialism, is levying bloody wars against the peoples and nations it holds in servitude for super profits, all around the world, such s the lebanon and Central America. AND at the same time is preparing for another world war to save this rotten system of exploitation, suppress the people and secure unchallenged world monopoly; a world war still worse than the previous ones, with unimaginable devastation whether it is waged by nuclear or conventional weapons.

It argues that:

We in Ireland must rise in protest at Reagan’s visit to condemn this whole system of imperialism, and the ominous threat of both superpowers who are dragging the world to the precipice of another world war. We must demonstrate our solidarity with and support for all those peoples and nations who are justly fighting to throw off the yoke of these imperialists, especially the yoke of U.S. imperialism in this case, such as the people of El Salvador and so many other countries.

The A4 leaflet outlines further objections to Reagan, arguing that “Reagan is the friend of those who preside without the slightest humanity or democratic principle over the unjust and criminal military, fascist-type colonial regime in the north of Ireland, where torture to extort confessions or perjury is the order of the day, where assassinations carried out directly by the British army and their undercover SAS, or by fascist loyalist gangs incited and organised by the British military intelligence are simply normal instruments of colonial government, where political prisoners, genuine Irish patriots are branded as criminal, as they have been branded down through our centuries of struggle for freedom.”

It concludes by asking readers to Join the Campaign and:

…fight to avert the danger of another world war on the following principled basis.

  1. Oppose both superpowers…
  2. Oppose all imperialist war preparations, both nuclear and conventional…
  3. Throw British imperialism out of the north!

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  • By: Eagle Mon, 31 Mar 2014 11:50:32

    Just wondering, but was there anything similar to these protests to the visit of Pres Kennedy? I know it was a different time and probably less likely, but still I’m curious.

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  • By: Ed Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:09:07

    In reply to Eagle.

    Well there were no Trotskyists or Maoists in Ireland then, the Labour Party still ran a millions miles from the word ‘socialism’, and the Communist Party was still a tiny embattled minority, so I’d say probably not. But there were anti-Vietnam war protests a few years later.

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  • By: Joe Mon, 31 Mar 2014 14:17:19

    I have some very happy memories of the Reagan protests which I just might share with ye all one of these days.
    To add to Eagle’s question, how come there weren’t similar protests for the visits of Clinton and Obama, two presidents who were just as good at projecting American imperialist power around the globe as Reagan was?

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  • By: Bob Smiles Mon, 31 Mar 2014 14:26:29

    In reply to Joe.

    Bwcause nobody believed Reagans Irish act but we fell for the other two clowns

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  • By: Jim Monaghan Mon, 31 Mar 2014 15:08:09

    A lot of the left share the lesser evilism of much of the USA left. Vote Clinton to keep Bush out or whatever. SF have managed to be cosy with the USA dems and be antiwar at the same time. Oh the Reagan visit. We had the farce of 2 independent marches. At least they choose different times. I would guess now we might have 3 or more.

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  • By: Jim Lane Mon, 31 Mar 2014 15:24:00

    I happened to be in Dublin when he visited there. Fair dues, there were a few dozen members of Sinn Fein out on the street that with banners as he passed the Garden of Remembrance.

    s

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  • By: Jim Lane Mon, 31 Mar 2014 15:30:24

    Sorry, lest I confuse anyone, I am referring to Eagle’s reference to the John F. Kennedy visit to Dublin in the early 1960’s.

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