Smith, Sammy

Born in a Protestant working-class family. In his youth, he worked at Harland & Wolff shipyards , acquired the skills of union activity.

From his youth, Sammy Smith was brought up in an atmosphere of British loyalism and Ulster unionism . Participated in clashes with Irish Catholics, Republicans. Formed a unit of Protestant self-defense against the IRA . He also clashed with the British authorities and the military, which impeded both the republican and the Oranzhist militants ^[2] .

In September 1971, Sammy Smith became one of the co-founders of the Ulster Defense Association ( UDA ). Quickly advanced as a speaker, specialized in public speaking on behalf of the UDA. Edited the newsletter of the Association. He was a member of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party and the leadership of the Unionist Union Worker Council of Ulster ( UWC ).

The ideology of Sammy Smith, along with orangeism and anti-communism , bore pronounced populist and labor features. Smith constantly emphasized the working class character of the UDA. His views were compared with the ideas of white nationalism , but the racial attribute was replaced by confessional-Protestant.

Smith's speeches were kept in the spirit of extreme right - wing loyalism and unionism. He called for a war against the IRA and its supporters, including “passively sympathizing”. His texts were characterized by the manipulation of historical facts in an anti-Irish and anti-Catholic manner (for example, he claimed that Pope Benedict XV blessed the Easter uprising , or that the colors of the Irish flag were chosen in the Vatican ).

At the same time, Smith took advantage of the opportunity to establish contact with Catholics, at least relatively loyal to Britain . He has spoken at political discussions at Dublin University College and at Irish National University . This was facilitated by the light character and personal sociability of Smith. On this basis, “chubby jolly” Sammy Smith was opposed to many fellow Orangemen, especially the “gloomy athlete” Tommy Herron ^[3] .

The positions of Sammy Smith in the union movement strengthened in 1973 (especially after the death of Herron). Along with public policy, union activity, and information support, Smith became a UDA security officer in the West Belfast brigade (led by UDA founder Charles Harding Smith ).

Sammy Smith, in collaboration with UDA chairman Andy Tyree and David Trimble, played a prominent role in the May 1974 general strike organized by the UWC. On May 17, 1974, on the third day of the strike, learning about the attacks in Ireland, Sammy Smith said:

I am very happy about the bombings in Dublin . There is a war with the Free State , and now we are laughing at them ^[4] .

However, the bombings in Dublin and Monahan were carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Forces ( UVF ), with which the UDA was in a difficult competitive relationship. Therefore, for the support of these attacks, Smith was beaten and temporarily suspended from the functions of the UDA speaker ^[5] . The competition between UDA and UVF precluded an expression of mutual sympathy.

In 1975, Sammy Smith visited the United States as part of the UDA delegation. At Amherst, he participated in a conference on the political prospects of Northern Ireland. In his report, Smith tried to combine the rhetoric of loyalism and Orangeism with the recognition of the principle of the universality of civil rights.

The following year, Smith’s rhetoric sharply tightened. In an interview with a student publication, he said that “Northern Ireland is at war and there are no innocents in the war” - this meant the justification of the UDA attacks. He also said that there would be no place for Catholics in a Protestant North Irish state. But at the same time, he regularly visited the Irish Catholic quarters, dealing with the solution of social, especially housing issues along the trade union line.

The physical elimination of Sammy Smith was planned on two sides - UVF and IRA. In early 1976 , Smith’s house was attacked by UVF militants, but Smith received only minor injuries.

On March 10, 1976, Sammy Smith was killed by IRA militants at his sister's house. ^[6]