A Briftch writer interviews Sean O'Casey, the great Irish playwright Nee who recently celebrated his 84th birthday eae et Pa IRE ERE * ~ reat ‘hurrah for life “a age of 84 you can u paect him tao show ftachment from the POT: <3 Uny giant of a man fe that the rip-roaring zest rings through every- “4j. 028 written for the years, od ntl flowering of child- Casey, €r socialism is a Vision ind, ae has constantly in ial It was of children ma first when I met . Ms home in Torquay. ‘keg |S SO much humbug bildren y this country about Bee Look at all this hoo- _ Sut the royal baby. : it’s entitled to the fo NBs of life — fresh air, 9d; freedom to run and nd aa So is every other child, ie few of them get it. ies “N° doubt the NSPCC tome good work. But h back houses that still 8 € soul out of anything oy tok at the schools. Oh, Wy. B some new ones, I Nee Ut most. of them are and dingy prisons.” ementkness and dirt of the », Mt Where he was born on , is still vividly of a by 0 Casey, the . children born to a pean family in Cath- eT charter on the eco- ang and social rights of ed by ing women has been ie the WFTU Executive affiliate bodies have Cted to widen their itinare work to ensure the ride. °n of working women Oe Union activities and to Women workers to Odies the trade t * di Poe of ae we Grate charter ‘notes that Tes, be, chee of an ever larger. °f women in production ‘reversible fact of ©.” According to the @s an inseperable part i‘ Working class. working That O'Casey ailing and al- most blind, should have sur- vived those early years was ‘due mainly to the great spirit that later brought him inte head-on conflict with the forces of repression — British imper- ialism, the sterile Irish clerics, and later the new bourgeoisie of the Irish Free State. O’Casey threw himself inte: the struggles of the Irish work- ers movement, working succes- sively as hod-carrier, dock worker. pick and shovel man on the roads and railroads. In the great strike of 1913 — eventually defeated only by the combined power of the bishops and the bosses — he acted as assistant to the great Jim Larkin. And in the struggle for Irish liberty, he played an important part in the creation of the pro- letarian Irish Citizen Army, formed to defend strikers from the police. He was.still working as a navvy when his first play, Sha- dow of a Gunman, set in the Dublin of 1920 during savage fighting between the IRA and the Black and Tans was pro- duced at the Abbey Theatre. The play brought him £4. Professional It was not unti] Juno and the Paycock — produced to packed houses at the Abbey the fol- lowing year — brought him the princely sum of £25 that he decided to quit mixing cement and become a professional writ- er. He was then 44. O’Casey’s two plays saved The World Federation oj Trade Unions (WFTU) has con- vened an International Trade Union Conference of Working Women at Bucharest from May 11 to 16, 1964. women have the same aspira- tions and economic and _ social demands as the entire working class. However, they have ad- ditional specific demands, which result from their position as workers, women and mothers.” The WFTU states that the right to work, recognized for women in the majority of coun- tries in the world, necessarily baton-swinging Dublin- ihe Abbey Theatre from finan- cial collapse. His third major play The Plough and the Stars, brought riots to the theatre. The play struck simul- taneously at Irish chauvinism and the bigotry of the priests — and Right-Wing flag-waggers combined with the Church’ to force the play from the stage. Six weeks later O’Casey left Ireland and began writing anew play for the Abbey, in London. But The Silver Tassie, which took as its theme the stark tra- gedy and stupidity of the First World War, proved too much for the Abbey Theatre, and it was rejected. Since then O’Casey has re- fused to allow his plays to be performed in the Abbey. This year, however, Sean has given permission for the com- pany to perform Juno and the Paycock once again, and I asked him why? Shakespeare “The reason is plain enough. They want to perform it as part of the Shakespeare cele- brations — and I could never refuse Shakespeare anything. “Why, there’s more social understanding in Shakespeare than. in all the labor leaders rolled into one big ball. All some of them think about now is how soon they can get into the House of Lords. “Now it’s Lord Willis, wear- ing his ermine robes so that he can look like the rest of ’em. -“How can any self-respecting socialist dress himself like that to prance about in a monkey- house? They should be fighting implies equal rights in all spheres of the economic, social and politcial life of every coun- try. The WFTU holds that in capitalist countries “the em- _ployers and the monopolies, in ‘their pursuit of a policy of so- cial regression, are simulta- neously conducting an intensive policy of discrimination against working women” and that the elimination of these discrimina- tory practices is “absolutely essential.” With regard to countries like India, which fall in the catego-- ry of ‘“newly-liberated coun- tries,” it is noted that women have played their part in the to abolish it — should have abolished it when they had the power to.” I asked Sean about the film of his life, soon to be made, with Sean Connery playing the part of O’Casey — but the con- versation took a quick left turn into politics again. Film of life “Sure they're making the film — two very good friends of mine — with a script by John Whiting. I’m not really interes- ted in the film as an art form, but it will bring me in a few pounds. “But let’s stop talking about me. I’m not important. What’s happening around us in the world is. 5 ‘ “lve more bitterness now. about things — the poverty and misery that still exist around us — than I ever had. And I'm -more of a Communist than I ever was, “The newspapers, now, they make me want to spew — rat- tling on about the sins of the Soviet Union and never a peep about what’s wrong here, under their noses. “Sure there are deficiencies in the Soviet Union, but they’re being put right. And they’re nothing to the deep, wide wounds in our own society.” Sean’s friendship for the Soviet Union has remained con- “stant throughout the 46 tur- bulent years of its existence. _ The future concerns O’Casey now as much as it did in his youth. His last volume of auto- biography, Sunset and Evening Star, concludes with a great struggle for national indepen- dence but the “remnants of colonialism hinder the com- plete emancipation of women.” in these countries, “working women have to cope with many difficulties and discriminatory practices.” The draft charter includes such demands as right to work SEAN O’CASEY “Hurrah!” for life — to all — had been, to what it was, t what it would be. And what it will be, for th — peoples of the world, is still i — O’Casey’s mind at the age © 84. “Sure we'll get Socialism is Britain. Things are changing ai: over the world — in this cour try, too. “It?s not. so easy for th police to baton down a work- ing-class demonstration and ge: away with it, as they did wit: the unemployed during th: *30’s. “And look at all the coun tries already socialist or on the road to socialism. Surely w won’t be long in following. 2. has to come.” : : O’Casey’s vision was pu clearly by the strike-leader Ayz- monn, in his great play abow’ the 1913 strike. Red Roses fe Me: Fair city I tell thee that children’s white laughter, An’ all the red joy of grave youth goin’ gay, Shall make of thy streets a wild harp ever sounding, Touch’d by th’ swift fingers o young ones at play! We swear to release thee fror: hunger an’ hardship. From things that are ugly an” common an’ mean; Thy people together shall build a brave city, Th’ fairest an’ finest that eve was seen! : Ayamonn’s fair city is Dut lin, but O’Casey’s is the work. — And when we build it, he, a: much as any man will have made ‘it possible. - —British Daily Worker. ‘. and abolition of all discrimina- tory clauses and practices ir the “employment and dismiis- sal” of working women, ratifi- cation and effective applicatio:: of ILO Convention No. 100, e:- tablishing the principle of equa: wages; equal access to teck- nical training, special adaptatic:: of working hours without loss ~ of wages to give women th: possibility of accomplishin:, their duties as workers and z- mothers; and social security. ! also demands that ‘‘as a mothe and worker,” the women work — ers must have special prote:- tion. “This protection shou! cover also her children.” May 8, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page’7’