A large number of members and supporters of the Workers’ Party (WP) gathered in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, on 4th July, to remember the victims of attacks on the Republican Clubs in 1975.
During that tragic year, 11 members and supporters of the Republican Clubs (which would later become the WP) were murdered, and many more injured, during a series of attacks launched by the INLA and the Provisional IRA, and facilitated by the security forces.
Mícheál McCorry of the WP National Commemoration Committee chaired the event, with the main oration delivered by Elaine Rush. McCorry spoke of how “1975 was a time when our very political existence came under attack from two very different threats.”
Elaine Rush explained that “They (the victims) were murdered because of their commitment to building a party dedicated to the unity of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter. They were murdered because of their commitment to building a party dedicated to the establishment of a democratic, secular, socialist, unitary state on the island of Ireland – a Republic.”
Following the event, there was a well-attended social where the Workers’ Party Women’s Committee presented a tribute to May Mac Giolla for all her years of service to the Workers’ Party and to the struggle for socialism in Ireland.
