I understand that Martin McGuinness is to be buried today in the Republican plot at the City cemetery in Derry, which is fitting given that he spent most of his adult life as a member and leader of the IRA (even though he denied it).
There will be, of course, no paramilitary trappings, no IRA beret or glove, I presume and certainly no firing party. That thought reminded me of the photo below which includes Martin McGuinness, second from the left, I believe, firing a volley over the grave of Eamonn Lafferty.
Nineteen-year-old Lafferty was the first IRA member to be killed in Derry by the British Army during the Troubles and was shot on the edge of the Bogside during a gunbattle on August 18th, 1971, a couple of weeks after internment had been introduced.
There was a heavy security presence at his funeral which made the customary IRA manifestation impossible. A few days later McGuinness and three comrades staged this salute to Lafferty. The Derry Journal was present to capture the moment and featured the photo on its front page. (Correction: The salute happened in October, two months after Lafferty’s death)
The Broken Elbow 
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The enormous glorification of Martin McGuinness by establishment politicians and the MSM is a manifestation of the absence of moral values in capitalist society today.
Here was a figure who actively supported and promoted terrorism that involved bombing, killing and torture. For opportunist reasons he shifted away from these deeds he is now being eulogised from many quarters. These very clerical, political and MSM elements employed vitriolic language in condemnation of the violence that he and his comrades actively supported. Now because he turned away from this terrorism he is now being hailed as a hero. Yet Irish civilians guilty of murder are subjected to life in prison even if they admit guilt and genuinely turn from such violence. There is no glorification for them.
There is no moral justification for glorifying Martin McGuinness and others while punishing others.
It also indicates the moral nihilism of much of the public that pay such respect for such a reactionary figure.
Politically speaking Martin McGuinness never represented the class interests of workers. His party, Sinn Féin, represents the class interests of capitalism.
Indeed, in a sense, he is being lauded because the IRA surrendered to the British state in it’s so called struggle for a 32 county Irish Republic. Sinn Féin and it’s friends promote surrender and defeat as victory. The political establishment together with its MSM are effectively glorifying Martin McGuinness because he symbolises this surrender to the forces they represent.
The British state through its security network had effectively colonised Sinn Féin/IRA. Prima facie evidence exists to suggest that the SinnFéin/IRA movement would appear to have become riddled with informers and agents from top to bottom. It is not any wonder that it should under these conditions have ignobly capitulated.
In many ways what were then called the Officials (now the Workers Party) were savagely condemned by the Provos. Yet Sinn Féin/IRA, in many ways, morphed into what it had bitterly opposed.
The states north and south of the border, it’s political parties, the Church and the MSM have no morality except the nihilistic one of capitalism. These actors form a unity. Ultimately their moral values are based on events that support capitalism.
These actors are just as capable of supporting and eulogising the Daesh type terrorist groups in the Middle East. Indeed they have been supported by the nihilistic CIA.
The public that joins in this glorification of the deceased McGuinness are devoid of authentic morality too. There currently exists no movement that authentically seeks to overthrow capitalism and replace it with communism. There is no such ethics today.
Take Care Paddy Hackett
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Maybe there does exist – “a movement that authentically seeks to overthrow capitalism and replace it with communism” – or at least, something different from the USSR, but recognizable to Marx, in the Green – Red alliance that is much of the Green Party today?