I was Administrating a Discussion Boards system as early as the 90s, and am an Admin in a Yank-based site even today; so I know that it is a standard right wing reaction to any Newbie to regard them as a potential Troll, or at least not what they present themselves to be. As a left progressive, I’ve always operated against this reactionary territorial tendency. Apart from paranoid exclusionism, censorship is another bugbear of mine.
This is the first time I’ve registered my real name as my Username anywhere, as I figured an FFer at CLR should be totally open, and not some anonymous sniper. I’ve always enjoyed the nominal PIRA CO coincidence, and am chuffed that SoS has thus accorded my real name avatar of the month, so to speak.
I don’t honestly know what Branno is talking about with all the 1932 stuff. There’s nothing in what I’ve posted to prompt that. But it does seem that there’s an honest ignorance here about CJH and FF. So I’ll clarify that, as I was one of those who joined FF on foot of his election as leader, and have first hand knowledge of the era in FF.
From the day in 1979 he took over, there were many thousands in FF who considered him unsuitable. These Colleyites considered him vulgar and shady, and agreed with Garret FitzGerald about “a flawed pedigree” vav the national question. Some of these would in due course leave for the PD’s, but not many. Party loyalty is a strong suit in FF, and most stayed in the party, still unhappy about CJ.
I was not one of them. I was like many others, who saw him as a man who would not turn his back on northern nationalists & republicans, who would cut through the civil service here to get social improvements implemented, and get the Irish economy moving again. Many of us would slowly but steadily become disillusioned, so that by the 90s, the large Ard Fheis rallies that lazy historians use to argue mass adulation, consisted of only the hardcore Charlieites. It’s hard for small left wing parties to realise that a heaving RDS rally can represent only a small percentage of a party.
But even these CJH loyalists were gutted when it emerged definitively that he was a tax dodger, and in the pockets of fat cats (not a successful businessman in his own right). By the end, CJH was seen by all in FF as a let down at best, but mainly a disgrace. It is simply an ignorant lie to say, as Branno did, that “FF loved its crooks”.
Certainly not Burke and Lawlor, who were never liked in the general party, being seen as Dublin bullies and CJH hatchet-men. Every big party has its rotten apples (SF can’t feel too happy about Tom McFeely at the moment), and these were loathed NOT loved in FF.
The above is for the benefit of those who are interested in history over received opinion or partisan propaganda. I don’t intend to argue any case for CJH here, just describe the FF party at the time.