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8^25In Memoriam to Michael Montgomery – RIPϔ%5
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 3On l2
Tuesday, December 4th, in the forenoon, the funeral of Michael l2
Montgomery took place in his native Derry City. Michael had for more l2
than three decades dedicated his life to the cause of national l2
liberation and socialism, and the sudden demise of this former City l2
Councillor and ex-internee was occasioned by a sense of deep shock l2
throughout the working-class areas of the city. The funeral service at l2
St. Eugene’s Cathedral in the Bogside was attended by many comrades from l2
all over Ireland. Local prominent figures included the Mayor of Derry, l2
Assemblymen, His Lordship Bishop Edward Daly, and John Hume, MP, MEP. l2
They mingled with hundreds of ordinary people who had good reason to l2
remember the services of this gallant defender of their communities. The l2
funeral march to the Republican Socialist Plot in Derry’s cemetery, l2
where are laid volunteers of the I.N.L.A., including the city’s two l2
hunger-strikers, Patsy O’Hara & Michael Devine, was headed by a colour l2
party, dressed in black, provided by the Neil McMonagle Memorial Flute l2
Band.
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l2 After religious rites were observed at the grave-side, the platform l2
^25D tribute was chaired by his left-long friend and political associate, Mr. l2
^25D Fionnbarra O’Dochartaigh, who served time with Michael in 1966. He also l2
^25D wrote the oration. The oration was delivered, at its author request, by l2
^25D Mr. Paul Whorskey, the chairman of the local I.R.S.P.
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l2 THE FOLLOWING WREATHS AND FLORAL TRIBUTES WERE RESPECTFULLY LAID ON THE l2
^25D PATRIOT’S GRAVESIDE:
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l2 The Mayor, Aldermen & Councillors of Derry City Council/ From All His l2
^25D Loving Family/ Denis & Annette & Family/ General Headquarters Staff of l2
^25D the I.N.L.A. / Ard Comhairle of the I.R.S.P/ Belfast Brigade, I.N.L.A. / l2
^25D Belfast Comhairle Ceantair, IRSP. / Derry Brigade, I.N.L.A./ Derry l2
^25D Comhairle Ceantair I.R.S.P./ South Derry I.R.S.P./ Irish Republican l2
^25D Socialist PoWs, Long Kesh, Magilligan, Crumlin Road Jail, Armagh Women’s l2
^25D Prison, Portlaoise, Arbour Hill and Limerick Jails.
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l2 From the neighbours, Iniscarn Road/ Fionnbarra agus Clann/ Treasa & l2
^25D Bridie, Cromore Grds./ Denis & Annette & Family/ Michael Devine Memorial l2
^25D Flute Band/The Staff & Patrons, Dungloe Bar/ Management & Patrons, l2
^25D Crescent Bar/ Ann Sharkey & Clare/ Dermott Liddy & Family/ Always l2
^25D Remembered by ‘Big Eddie’ / From Ann & Lorne/ From John McCourt & l2
^25D Family/ Jan & Eileen O’Connor, New York/ Liam & Sheila O’Comainn & l2
^25D Family/Creggan Taxi Drivers Associaton/ Brian & Lilly Boyle & Family/ l2
^25D Paddy & Family/ Staff & Patrons of the Beech Tree Bar/ The Crockett l2
^25D Family/ Collette & Baby/ Eddie & Sadie McLaughlin/ Shantallow Volunteer l2
^25D Flute Band/ The Montgomery Family, Westway, Creggan/ Blanche & Reg, l2
^25D Newcastle, England.
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l2 Other floral tributes were laid but unfortunately could not be listed l2
^25D because of the large numbers involved and limitations of time.
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l2 The following are only a few of many messages of sympathy which where l2
^25D delivered to the chairperson on the day:
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l2 From Jim Lane, National Chairperson of the Irish Republican Socialist l2
^25D parry:
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l2 “Derry buries to-day its first Republican councillor, elected since the l2
^25D 1920s’. Cork comrades salute his life-time service and will remember l2
^25D with pride the man we called “Comrade”. His energy knew few bounds. We l2
^25D extend deepest sympathy to his family circle, relatives, comrades and l2
^25D friends.”
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l2 Message for Seamus ‘Chang’ Coyle, POW, Portlaoise Jail,:
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l2 “All the lads here send their deepest sympathy to the family circle, l2
^25D comrades and friends. We may be behind bars and high walls but our l2
^25D spirit is with you in Derry on this sad day”.
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l2 Michael Quinn, Irish Republican Socialist Committees, North America:
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l2 “Our comrades in North America share your sorrow and express our deepest l2
^25D sympathy to the family circle, comrades and friends. In life he l2
^25D struggles, and in death we shall never forget his service. An ocean can l2
^25D never divide us at times like these.”
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l2 Message from HMP Armagh Women’s Prison:
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l2 “The sisters in Armagh know we have lost a true comrade and friend, who l2
^25D did much to assist Prisoner Welfare efforts. We will sadly miss his warm l2
^25D personality. Michael had the unique honour to speak at the graveside of l2
^25D Wolfe Tone at Bodenstown, an honour indeed which he fully deserved. Many l2
^25D ex-internees will remember that he remained faithful to his electoral l2
^25D boycott pledge and did not occupy his public office until all were l2
^25D freed, yet worked day in and day out for his electors in Creggan. l2
^25D Condolences to his family, his comrades and his friends gathered here l2
^25D to-day at the Republican Socialist Plot”.
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l2 Oration:
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l2 The following oration was delivered by the Derry City chairperson of the l2
^25D Irish Republican Socialist Party:
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l2 Today, we are gathered to pay tribute to the memory of a comrade who l2
^25D stood almost alone in his day. We assemble here as friends and comrades. l2
^25D Those of us who were his comrade have feelings of close association; l2
^25D these are linked to having faced a common adversity down through the l2
^25D years. Those of us who were his friend know only too well the l2
^25D outstanding contribution this man made over this past three decades. His l2
^25D untimely death has shocked us all and indeed we have reached the end of l2
^25D an era. His dedication to the cause of Connolly became a legend in his l2
^25D own day. Such is reflected by the many messages and floral tributes that l2
^25D have been received these past few days by his comrades, family and l2
^25D friends. He dreamed of Ireland as we would surely have her. Not free l2
^25D merely but Gaelic as well, not Gaelic merely but socialist as well.
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l2 Michael began his political involvement as a youth. It’s many a year now l2
^25D since he placed his left hand on the flag and raised his right hand to l2
^25D pledge to serve his country and people. That pledge he carried out until l2
^25D the last hours of his life and what better tribute can any comrade make l2
^25D to another than by saying, we shared a common dream and dared to l2
^25D struggle to make it a living reality.
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l2 In the 1956-62 Resistance Campaign Michael was among the few, and soon l2
^25D was occupying the highest ranks amongst the resistance fighters. As a l2
^25D member of an Active Service Unit he was associated with men like Seamus l2
^25D Costello, who was later to found the Irish Republican Socialist Party. l2
^25D Michael held the highest positions possible, both as a political l2
^25D activist and as a republican soldier. As a result of his efforts he was l2
^25D forced to leave the city he loved in 1960 and after some time in the l2
^25D Twenty-Six Counties, he travelled travelled to England where he was l2
^25D active establishing and expanding the exile movement, Clann na h-Eireann.
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l2 In 1965 Michael returned to Derry in the midst of growing agitation for l2
^25D jobs, equal voting rights and housing. Where there was a struggle l2
^25D Michael was there. Where there was some poor family facing eviction he l2
^25D was there to expose and oppose the Rachmanist landlords, police and l2
^25D bailiffs. During his life he helped establish advice centres and l2
^25D assisted literally thousands of working-class people in their everyday l2
^25D problems. In those early years his sister, Breege, sadly no longer with l2
^25D us, was by his side, be it in the office or on the picket line.
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l2 In 1966, when the Minister of Home Affairs, William Craig, issued a l2
^25D proclamation outlawing all public demonstrations to mark the Fiftieth l2
^25D Anniversary of the 1916 Rising in Dublin, Michael, with a few brave l2
^25D souls stepped forward to meet the unionist challenge. He was determined l2
^25D that those who fell in action or where executed by the British, would be l2
^25D commemorated throughout the North, and particularly in his own native l2
^25D Derry. With the late Paddy Kirk, and another comrade who is with us l2
^25D today, he refused to pay fines later imposed by the courts, and they l2
^25D were jailed for some weeks in Crumlin Road, Belfast. Six in all were l2
^25D sentenced to hard labour, three of them from Belfast.
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l2 In the same year he assisted the War for Independence veteran, the late l2
^25D Neil Gillespie, to contest the Westminster elections. During and l2
^25D following that election campaign many young people formed themselves l2
^25D into the Young republican Association (YRA), which immediately became l2
^25D involved in the struggles of ordinary people, whom Michael considered l2
^25D the basis of any revolutionary movement. He assisted countless families l2
^25D to obtain better accommodation, and with a small band laid the l2
^25D foundation of what was later to emerge as the Civil Rights movement.
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l2 The reaction of the state was one of continual harassment, involving l2
^25D early morning raids, with beatings and arrests being common place. When l2
^25D the Civil Rights movement was established he again threw his heart into l2
^25D organising and became a well-known leader of hundreds of stewards, which l2
^25D played an essential role at meetings and mass demonstrations. Those l2
^25D years he felt were the most worthwhile of his whole life, simply because l2
^25D he witnessed unity in action, which at all times he called for, seeing l2
^25D the necessity to build a Broad Front of all democratic and socialist l2
^25D forces. When “The Battle of the Bogside” erupted in August 1969, l2
^25D Michael’s invaluable experience was often called upon. By this time he l2
^25D was a Brigade Staff Officer in the North-West region – like an ancient l2
^25D Celtic chieftain, there to lead, guide and advise.
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l2 After years of activity Michael’s card was, as we say, well and truly l2
^25D marked. It was to be no surprise to his comrades that he would be high l2
^25D on the list of suspects for internment which occurred on August 9th l2
^25D 1971. It is a salute to his memory that some men and women still walked l2
^25D the streets of Derry, fully conscious that no matter what the l2
^25D establishment threw at him; Michael would somehow outflank their every l2
^25D effort. Little did they know what foul physical and psychological l2
^25D maltreatment Michael and another eleven selected Irish republicans were l2
^25D going through. All of these twelve men would later be referred to as l2
^25D “The Hooded Men”, because they were subjected to denial of toilet l2
^25D facilities for days on end, held spread-eagled against walls for unknown l2
^25D periods, heads covered with cloth, while being enveloped by constant l2
^25D “White Noise” throughout their ordeals. The effects of all this had its l2
^25D cost, haunting them for many years afterwards. These twelve men would l2
^25D speak for all when they took the British Government to the dock of the l2
^25D European Court of Human Rights to expose their methods of brutality in l2
^25D Ireland. They were rewarded, years later, by British being found guilty l2
^25D before the eyes of the world for “inhumane and degrading treatment” l2
^25D against arrested persons.
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l2 For those of us who knew better, their treatment amounted to nothing l2
^25D less than sheer torture, and all of those who suffered subsequently l2
^25D carried the scars. This was Britain’s latest crime against the l2
^25D long-suffering Irish population and those who took to the streets on l2
^25D January 30th 1972 in defence of the internees were ruthlessly shot to l2
^25D death and wounded in what became known as Derry’s Bloody Sunday. l2
^25D Michael, like the civil rights martyrs will be remembered for l2
^25D generations to come. Above all he will be remembered as a man who was a l2
^25D socialist when few even dared to use such a title, let alone fight for l2
^25D its aims. He was also a true internationalist in every sense of the l2
^25D word, seeing liberation struggles in Africa, Vietnam or Latin America as l2
^25D the same common struggle for freedom and equality that he most strongly l2
^25D upheld at home. Often he represented the republican socialist movement l2
^25D when foreign visitors came to Derry and on more than one occasion spent l2
^25D weeks on the road travelling throughout Britain to alert the Labour and l2
^25D Trade Union Movement to what was actually happening here in the name of l2
^25D ordinary people in England, Scotland and Wales. Such lectures also l2
^25D informed hundreds of students and leading academics in Britain. Union l2
^25D branches, labour clubs and universities were given high priority during l2
^25D such outreach tours, mainly organised by an expanding Troops Out l2
^25D Movement.
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l2 It is difficult to convey, in a few hundred words, a fitting tribute to l2
^25D this
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l2 outstanding man. There is much which must be left unsaid until the dawn l2
^25D of freedom.
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l2 If life springs from death, and if from the graves of patriot men and l2
^25D women spring
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l2 living nations, then surely, none of us can have any doubt that we lay l2
^25D to rest one of
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l2 the finest of our generation, who truly lived for Ireland and its l2
^25D down-trodden people.
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l2 We have our tears and our memories, but also we shared the warmth of a l2
^25D generous
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l2 personality. To his family circle and close friends we extend our l2
^25D deepest sympathy.
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l2 To his memory we pledge to work towards his dream which we collectively l2
^25D shared.
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l2 Finally, when summing up his own dedication to the cause, no words seem l2
^25D more fitting than those of his favourite song:
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l2 Let ‘friends’ all turn against me,
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l2 Let foes say what they will,
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l2 For my heart is with my country,
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l2 And I love old Ireland still.
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l2 MICHAEL MONTGOMERY-IRISH REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST- WE LOVED YOU AND WE SALUE l2
^25D YOU! |
