Report from Forbes Paterson
Introduction from Chronology
Gallagher says that Forbes Paterson, (who was a northern Presbyterian who
had declared for Sinn Féin) writes a report on the political situation in
north-east Ulster. His main recommendation is the founding of a
paper which aims to bind Labour to Sinn Féin. He also warns that the arming of
unionists could set the stage for a pogrom against Catholics.
More Detail
Mitchell says that Sinn Féin asked Paterson to write a report in June
1919 and he delivered it in October 1919.
It was considered by the Sinn Féin Standing Committee and the Dáil
cabinet who ask him to write another report. This is delivered in April 1920
with the same recommendation that Sinn Féin should adopt a strong social
programme to attract working class unionists.
However, this is rejected by the Dáil cabinet. The reason given by Mitchell is that “The ministers
were middle-class people with a middle-class outlook …If they adopted a strong
labour programme, not just a vague statement of principles as in the Democratic
Programme, they would open themselves up to charges … that they were
crypto-Bolsheviks, left-wing extremists, enemies of Christian civilisation,
etc. … flaming nationalism had got them this far, and flaming nationalism would
see them the rest of the way.”
The Dáil cabinet did set up an Ulster Information Bureau which produces
propaganda aimed at unionists and appoints five organisers in Ulster.
Patterson goes on to become the
editor of Red Hand. This was a
Sinn Féin journal founded by FJ Bigger.
It was a short-lived – September to December 1920. (Diarmaid O’Hegarty
does not think much of the idea of setting up a paper and says so to Collins.)