There is a hidden history to the ‘Troubles’. The role played by the organised workers’ movement in opposing sectarian violence and, at times, preventing it from spiralling out of control does not appear in the history books.

Throughout the ‘Troubles’ the majority of workers remained united in their trade unions. Not once has a strike been defeated by sectarianism.

The sectarian parties have a sectarian view of the past just as they do of the present. They seek to proclaim themselves as the best representatives of ‘their’ community in the present. And they defend their positions from the past in order to bolster their positions today.

Class-conscious activists have a duty to counter this view, and to act as the collective memory of the working class. It is important to preserve the working-class history of the North, in particular the high points of class struggle when the working class moved in unity on social or industrial issues, or in opposition to sectarianism.

In a series of articles this website will seek to do this. Today we publish an article on the many examples of workers actions against sectarian threats and actions between 1969 and 2001.

We also re-publish a review of the film “Good Vibrations” from 2013, and an updated obituary of trade unionist and class fighter Davy Bell.