Sir, - The Socialist Party is proud to have helped organise the magnificent demonstration by 600 people which stopped David Irving from speaking in UCC. Kevin Myers has written off those who participated as silly adolescents and as "proto-fascists". It is obvious that he does not understand what fascism is; this is shown by his statements that Sinn Fein and the IRA are fascists. The Socialist Party has never supported Sinn Fein or the Provos, and opposed the `armed struggle' from the beginning, but we don't agree with using the label fascist as simply a term of abuse. Fascism is a political ideology. It is a strange sort of fascist who campaigns for trade union rights, for universal suffrage, who defends the rights of asylum-seekers, etc., which Sinn Fein has done. Kevin Myers quotes from the writings of Irving. Is he attempting to argue that Irving is not a fascist? His quotations are selective and out of context. Irving claims that Hitler knew nothing of the "Final Solution". This is the thesis of his book Hitler's War (1977).
Mr Myers states: "I doubt if any of those posturing anti-Nazis have ever read a word of David Irving." And here he is correct: the vast majority of those who protested against Irving have not read his books. But the vast majority of people have never read Hitler's Mein Kampf, but they know he was a fascist! The Socialist Party believes in free speech. However, we make one exception: fascists. The avowed aim of fascists is to destroy all democratic rights. They want to end the right to vote and set up a one-party fascist dictatorship. They want to smash trade unions and end the right to strike. They want to destroy everyone's right to free speech. Free speech for fascists helps them to organise and recruit.
Some will argue that the right to free speech is absolute. But even in this country it isn't. The incitement to hatred laws in theory stop people from making racist, abusive statements; the laws of slander and libel also exist to protect people. The very same people who say that the right to free speech is absolute also defend these laws.
The last words on how to stop the rise of fascism should be left to Hitler: "Only one thing could have broken our movement - if the adversary had understood its principle and from the first day had smashed, with the most extreme brutality, the nucleus of our new movement." Unlike Kevin Myers, we have learnt the lesson of history and we are determined to ensure that fascism does not get the opportunity to build a base in this country. - Yours, etc.,
Stephen Boyd, National Committee, Socialist Party, Thomas Street, Dublin 8.