Headline accuracy

The article by Olga Rodríguez on the recent EgyptAir plane crash into the Atlantic Ocean (Militant, November 15) points out several parallels between the EgyptAir crash and press coverage and allegations concerning the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996—now proven to be the result of mechanical malfunction. It seems likely that the EgyptAir crash, too, will prove to be the result of mechanical malfunction rather than a bomb or terrorist attack.

However, nothing in the article points to the precise cause of the crash nor (three weeks now after the crash) does anyone yet know exactly what happened.

It's quite a leap, therefore, to jump from what the article says about the crash to the article's headline: "Air crash shows bosses' disregard of safety." Disregard of safety is of course true about capitalist airplane manufacturers in general and Boeing in particular; it is probably the case for EgyptAir (though I know nothing about this particular airline); it might even prove to be what lies behind the crash of this particular airplane.

However, the content of the article does not back up the headline.

Overstating one's case—especially in a page one headline—weakens the impact of the story.  
 
Bob Braxton 
Hapeville, Georgia 
 

History of Ireland

The selection from Capitalism's World Disorder in the November 29 issue of the Militant states that "Today's Irish Republic had been established that year [1920] following a national-democratic revolution, but bourgeois forces in the Republican movement acquiesced in Britain's retention of the Six Counties of Northern Ireland."

The reality of Irish history is far more complex. The Treaty signed by Irish negotiators in 1921 resulted in a "Free State," not a republic. The debate on whether to accept the Treaty focused on the oath to the British Crown that members of the Irish Dail (parliament) would have to take; both sides formally opposing partition amid the anti-Catholic pogroms that accompanied it.

The Dail ratified the Treaty in 1922 by a small majority. Those who opposed the Treaty (Republicans) established a headquarters with their own armed forces. The Free Staters ended the economic boycott against Northern Ireland, without any guarantees for the Catholic minority. Both Free State and Republican forces continued to send arms to the Irish Republican Army in the North for defensive purposes. But Republicans continued the boycott, and began preparations for military raids against British forces in Northern Ireland. Under pressure from Britain, and with artillery borrowed from them, Free State forces attacked the Republican headquarters, starting a civil war.

Still, the oath to the Crown, and not partition was seen by participants as the major issue in the civil war. Behind this lay the different class forces represented by the opposing armies, and the unsolved agrarian question.

The defeated Republicans called a cease-fire in 1923. In 1925 a Tripartite Agreement between the Free State government, Northern Ireland, and Britain further consolidated partition.

The 26-county government was declared a republic only in 1949, but Republicans generally still refer to it as the Free State, viewing an end to British rule in the North and reunification as the minimum program for an Irish Republic.  
 
Marc Lichtman 
Brooklyn, New York 
 
 
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