I am shocked and saddened to hear of the news of the death of Alan MacSimoin. In the 1970s as national secretary of the Anarchist Workers Association I corresponded with a young man in an Irish Republican youth organisation who had started considering anarchist ideas. This was Alan and he went on to working with us to setting up an anarchist organisation in the Republic , This eventually became the Workers Solidarity Movement. Alan parted with the WSM some years ago but he remained an active anarchist till the end
He was bright and acerbic and always well dressed whenever I met him. A great loss to the movement and to the world. Totally choked to hear this news.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/workers-solidarity-movement-ireland/alan-macsimoin-rest-in-power/2846867552005706/
Here is another tribute with
Here is another tribute with more details of his life:
https://comeheretome.com/2018/12/05/alan-macsimoin-1957-2018-dublin-historian-and-political-activist/
#A video of Alan talking
#A video of Alan talking about his life:
https://irishrepublicanmarxisthistoryproject.wordpress.com/2015/07/07/alan-macsimoin-long-time-anarchist-activist-part-1/
No, I am really not reading
No, I am really not reading this. I am shocked
Really shocked
Let me just say, we go back a long time, 40 years or so
We had different views and opinions on stuff, he a platformist,
coming out of the revolutionary wing of the republican Irish movement,
me, an anarchosyndicalist. But Alan was dedicated to anarchism
and (more importantly) a person of their word.
This is a hard one to absorb
Big raised fist to you Alan! Yours in the struggle for
freedom!
My condolences to everyone
My condolences to everyone who knew him. I'd bet that there weren't many who, like Alan, had the courage to give up nationalism for libertarian communism and go on to organize in the difficult circumstances of 1970s Ireland.
This is indeed sad news. I
This is indeed sad news. I had the pleasure of being put up at Alan's in the 1980s. Condolences to his family, comrades and friends. Alan MacSimoin presente.
Very sorry to hear this. He
Very sorry to hear this. He was a top man. I never felt he was defined by his differences in opinion with others.
A strike a McDonalds.... the
A strike a McDonalds.... the struggle never ends, even as comrades lives do.
Here's to you Alan!
Anarchist Worker (May/June 1978)
["b]Anarchist Worker,[/b] published by the Anarchist Workers Alliance in the late 1970s/early 1980s, can be regarded as one of the forerunners of the Workers Solidarity Movement. The AWA existed in Belfast and Dublin but was always more of an idea than a reality, with membership never going into double figures. The print run was about 750 (ranging from 500 to 1,500)."
https://irishanarchisthistory.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/anarchist-worker-mayjune-1978/
I'm very saddened to hear
I'm very saddened to hear this. I'm sure we had a disagreement or two, and I'm sure he was probably right. He was a wonderful servant to anarchism.
our thoughts go to his
our thoughts go to his freinds, family and comrades
Alan's death notice, you
Alan's death notice, you might want to check out the heading of the 2nd paragraph
https://rip.ie/death-notice/alan-mac-simóin-stoneybatter-dublin/372782
Alan at launch of Come Here
Alan at launch of Come Here To Me! book 1 in December 2012. Credit – Paul Reynolds (lifted from Come Here To Me).
And thanks to come here to me
And thanks to come here to me and the photographer (Paul Reynolds) for permission to use the photo
Some of Alan;s early
Some of Alan;s early anarchist activity was in the Murray Defence Committee and we in the AWA in the UK worked closely with him in solidarity activity to save the Murrays from the rope. He came to London and helped us produce a two sided special edition of our paper Anarchist Worker focussing on the Murrays and we participated with him in the demonstration outside the Irish Embassy on July 24th 1976,
I remember around that time a
I remember around that time a night time torch-lit march in London for the Murrays led by a wailing bagpiper.
Battlescarred wrote: Some of
Battlescarred
Cool,cool, I never knew about his London participation in the Murray ca,pain. I recall that issue of the "AW". I somehow remember (falsely maybe at this time) that the Murray page was also a stand alone leaflet or something of sorts. I know we did our best to publicize the Murray case, do defense stuff and disbursed stuff from the defense committee, Also recall a smallish leaflet, one sided by the DC which we made copies of and distributed.
Not having access to our records at the moment, I'm wonder if it was thru the Murray case we first were in touch with Alan? Oddly, I also remembering him signing his name as Alain (is that gaelic?).
Yes he signed his name Alain
Yes he signed his name Alain in those days, and yes, it is Gaelic as far as I am aware