PETER GRAHAM FUNERAL, 30 OCTOBER 1971
Jan 11th, 2010 by Conor McCabe
I finally tracked down a decent copy of the somewhat infamous photo of Charlie Bird giving a clenched-fist salute at the funeral of murdered Irish trotskyist, Peter Graham. It comes from the cover of This Week, 12 November 1971.
The article is embedded below.
I see the author of the article already had Charlie Bird’s number: ‘For many of these young people, membership of a left-wing group is simply a phase and the once vociferous Maoists, for instance, have now almost faded away into oblivion, or into respectable Establishment jobs.’
Was it ever determined who had been responsible for Graham’s murder?
It’s never been determined, nothing but rumours.
That’s fascinating! Thanks for posting.
For many of these young people, membership of a left-wing group is simply a phase and the once vociferous Maoists, for instance, have now almost faded away into oblivion, or into respectable Establishment jobs
Except for Tariq Ali, bien sûr…
I have heard of two student radicals at UCD from the 60s who settled comfortably into mainstream journalism. One became a gossip columnist reporting tidbits about the chattering trendies who attend gala filmshows and openings of art exhibitions. Another became a senior production manager at a Sunday newspaper, and described wine appreciation as one of his leisure interests. How many of today’s young radicals will be able to say in ten years time that a pint of plain is yer only man? How many will reside in suburbs like Finglas, Crumlin, Kilbarrack or Killester?
[…] * Peter Graham Funeral, 30 October 1971 […]
Perfect. Now we need a picture of (current Arts Council of Northern Ireland chief exec) Roisin McDonough standing at the funeral of her boyfriend (IPLO leader) Jimmy Brown, in 1992. Yes, 92. Anyone?
Bit of a strange request. Why do you want to see a picture of a woman at the graveside of her boyfriend? You doing a cover for a Smiths album or something?
Strange request indeed - all we got to offer is a very 60s looking Bernadette Devlin (in the above post) - a few years before she nearly suffered the same fate as Graham.
In January 1972 Mairin Keegan, a member of Saor Eire and the Socialist Labour Alliance - she was also the Fourth International’s representative in Ireland - died from a relapse in cancer that was brought on in no small way, it is reckoned, by the shock of Peter Graham’s murder. Keegan had been in Paris in ‘68. Many of the same people who attended Graham’s funeral, attended Keegan’s, which was held just ten weeks later. Both were in their twenties. I dunno. I just find that very sad.
The flat where Graham was murdered was in an old Georgian building long torn down, no.110 St. Stephens Green. It was at the corner of St. Stephen’s Green, opposite the St. Stephen’s Green South/West entrance, and across from Edward Carson and George Fitzmaurice house.
Is that a younger tousel headed Tom McGurk & a balding Raynor Lysat aka Raynor Lighthouse that I see behind Charlie Bird ?
Yes Rayner Lysaght is the balding man in the photo taken in Deans Grange Cemetery at PeterGraham’s funeral. The tall blonde man is certainly not Tom McGurk, he was in fact an old friend of Peter’s from schooldays.There were many friends of Peter there from the Liberties where he grew up and where his family were still living quite recently .
There are no pictures of Peter Graham.At the time I provided the one for the poster as nobody else had one,to our surprise.I still have some.
Tariq was renamed Macanally for those who quieried why someone Irish was not picked.
The Gaelic version of Tariq Ali’s name going the rounds (my rounds anyway) sometime later was Terry Kelly. Try saying it with a Northern Ireland accent. And I do think that is Tom McGurk, sorry.