The Blanket

The Blanket - A Journal of Protest & Dissent
The Wrong kind of Republican?
What can happen if you dare to differ

History, its said, is written by the victors. In the case of the Provisional movement, who cant claim victory, history, it seems, is there to be manipulated.

 

Ivan Morley • 6 November 2006

While reading an article on The Blanket recently, I couldn't help but draw similarities to the treatment the Gallagher family received at the hands of the Provisional movement, and that which befell my own family. My mother met a similar fate to Granny Josie when I was in jail charged in connection with shooting a RUC man and a British soldier in Newry. The prison transport provided by the PDF was never available to her because I was charged with an IPLO operation.

It wasn't always like that. In the early part of the struggle, the various republican factions, regardless of their differences, often pooled resources, as in the case of the Green Cross committees at the time. The Provisional Movement's policy of "undermining and absorbing" Republican Socialist prisoners is a shameful act that deserves exposing. In the Adams camp's push for power in the 70's, anyone who didn't fit their agenda was ruthlessly undermined and marginalised, a policy that was used (very effectively), throughout recent history. A case in point is that of my father Davey Morley.

Davey has been almost airbrushed out of republican history because the Adams camp didn't agree with his leadership in jail, supposedly because of his stance on discipline within the camp; but the truth of the matter is that Adams tried, and failed, to oust Davey by running Ivor Bell against him in the election for camp O.C. This ploy failed, as in a free vote prisoners voted for Davey as the popular choice. It's the only time any of the Adams camp has ever been defeated in an internal election. Maybe this has had a bearing on why such ballots are non-existent within the Provisional movement nowadays.

Davey Morley was well respected within the republican community. Before the start of the present "troubles", Davey enlisted in the British Army where he was a drill major, an accomplished sniper who won cups and medals for his skill. This stood him well in the early days before his capture on the 24th of Feb. 1974. His favourite weapon, a sniper Lee Enfield bolt action, was put to good use more than once. A competent explosives man, Davey preferred the cortex method than electrical detonation.

He was very active from 1969, where he worked with notable republicans like Martin Meehan, Joe Rafters, 'Dutch' Doherty, and 'Cleaky' Clarke. Davey was, in Meehan's words, "a top operator", and top of the most wanted at the time, even after arrest and capture holding prison staff hostage in a failed escape attempt from Armagh jail in March 74, before becoming a protégé of Billy McKee, who seen fearless leadership skills in Davey.

He fought gallantly with his men in the burning of the camp on 15 Oct 74. Davey died an untimely death on 6 June 1987, at only 46. Many have commented that this could have been due to the use of the CR gas on prisoners at the time. Local Sinn Féin councillor Brendan Curran went to Davey's wake and asked for a photo of him to do an article in AP/RN, which was never carried. A life long republican commitment ignored because it didn't suit the Adams camp. Davey Morley was airbrushed from republican history.

When Davey's co-accused Gerry 'Groucho' Marks died (RIP) shortly after Davey, the death got a half-page mention in AP/RN —rightly so, he was another skilled and committed Volunteer— it was almost like a slap in the face for the family that Davey didn't get a mention.

The only mention he gets now is derogatory comments from Gerry in some book or another. Strange that it took Gusty Spence in his book to say, "Davey was light years ahead of the leadership at the time." Oddly they had a good working relationship, with Gusty doing his part to try to get the Brits to stop brutalising the men after the '74 burning. But yet it seems that Gerry tries to castigate Davey at every opportunity in his various books about his time in Long Kesh.

Davey Morley was a true republican; so was his son Eoin Morley. Eoin was murdered by British agents masquerading as PIRA members in April 1990. Eoin served the republican cause well, as an operator for the PIRA and later the IPLO. When our family approached the Provisional movement at the time with our evidence that those who killed Eoin were British agents, they didn't want to know. They would rather let these agents continue on their treacherous ways than confront the truth. Time has now proved us right, but maybe to the Provisional movement, Eoin, like Davey before him, didn't fit the bill, and was considered "the wrong kind of republican".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Index: Current Articles + Latest News and Views + Book Reviews + Letters + Archives

The Blanket - A Journal of Protest & Dissent

 

 

There is no such thing as a dirty word. Nor is there a word so powerful, that it's going to send the listener to the lake of fire upon hearing it.
- Frank Zappa



Index: Current Articles



19 November 2006

Other Articles From This Issue:

The Bogeyman
Anthony McIntyre

Believe It Or Not
John Kennedy

Contra Con Artists
Anthony McIntyre

The Wrong Kind of Republican?
Ivan Morley

Equality Agenda: British Rhetoric and Reality
Martin Galvin

A Deal Done By Quislings
Mick Hall

Realignments
Dr John Coulter

Deadline? Pull the other one!
David Adams

Political Policing
Martin Ingram

It's Not The Taking Part
Anthony McIntyre

Who Can Get Dr No to Say Yes?
Dr John Coulter

Equality or Equity
Michéal MháDonnáin

Federalism
Michael Gillespie

Revolutionary Unionism
Dr John Coulter

Who Needs Enemies
John Kennedy

The King's Threshold
Robin Kirk


7 November 2006

When It's Time for Change, No One Is Irreplaceable
Mick Hall

Date Fixed For Flawed Landmark Case
Michael McKevitt Justice Campaign

Souper Sinn Fein
Eoghan O'Suilleabhain

Boo!
Dr John Coulter

St Andrews Agreement & 'the Left'
Davy Carlin

Shotgun Wedding
John Kennedy

...and to create the space for a diversity of views...
Noel Dolan

'Undo the Great Betrayal, Free the Occupied 26'
Dr John Coulter

The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Anthony McIntyre

Power & Powerlessness
Patricia Campbell

The Constantine Institute
Terry O'Neill

Mary Robinson Spotlights Human Rights Abuses in Darfur
William Hughes

Fearless Speech
Anthony McIntyre

 

 

The Blanket

Home

 

 

Latest News & Views
Index: Current Articles
Book Reviews
Letters
Archives
The Blanket Magazine Winter 2002
Republican Voices