I
must correct another suggestion made by Liam O Ruairc.
I did not introduce Roger Faligot to Ireland, he
went there of his own accord. It is true that we
travelled to Dublin on the same overnight boat,
but we did not spend the night drinking and talking.
I think I had a berth that night, and would always
have preferred a good sleep. I had only met him,
briefly, on one previous occasion and I wasn't really
sure who he was. It was only during that trip to
Ireland that I did get to know him, under his pseudonym
of "Rory O'Connor."
We
did have another night travelling together, but
in the opposite direction. It was just after he
had been expelled from the Irish Section, and this
was announced, breathlessly, to me by a young English
woman who was one of their members. I listened in
weary silence and then gave both of them a Rollo.
It is a memory I have of the useless dramas of the,
in Hugh MacDiarmid's phrase, "white mouse factions."
I
think his explanation for Ernest Mandel's belief
that he had met SE is a convincing one. Further
evidence is that his presence in Ireland was quite
open, he was giving a lecture in TCD. The Garda
Special Branch would have been keeping tabs on him.
I'm
afraid Liam overestimates the powers of a "professional
historian." History requires evidence and a
group like SE, obviously, leaves behind very incomplete
records. If I were to write about them it would
be as a Christian Socialist, telling the sad story
of human beings who (like me) thought they could
achieve good results from activities that are morally
wrong.
On
another small point; my old comrade always signs
himself as "Gery Lawless."
