Communism in Modern Ireland

344 Pages·1984·19.407 MB·English

by  Mike Milotte

The Pursuit qfthe
Workers’Republic since 1916
Communism inModernIrelanddescribesthe
activityandthefateofavariety oforganisations
in Irelandwhichregardedthemselvesasheirs
totheviewsofJamesConnolly,thesocialistleader
executedforhispartintheEasterrisingof1916.
Thebooktracestheoriginsanddevelopments
oftheIrishcommunistmovementandthe
attemptsbyvariousgroups,NorthandSouth,
toestablishaviablecommunistpartyinIreland
andtoinfluenceleft-wingparties,therepublican
movement,thetradeunionsandinmorerecent
timesthecivilrightsmovementinNorthernIreland.
MikeMilottehighlightsthefrequentlyviolent
oppositionwhichcommunistsencounteredfrom
withintheworkingclass, andfromclerical,
right-wingandstateforces, andthedegreeto
whichanti-communistsentimentandactivity
affectedthemovement’sdevelopment. Itshows
howtherelationshipbetweenIrishand
internationalcommunismwasstructured
andexaminesthedegreetowhichtheIrish
communistmovementretainedtherevolutionary
traditionsitembracedon itsinception.
ThehistoryofIrishMarxismisacolourfulone,
involvingseriousandcommittedindividualswho
werepreparedtosacrificemuchfortheirbeliefs.
Inrecallingtheirexperience,thebookfillsagap
inthestudyofIrishlabourhistory, andrescues
theIrishleftfromanobscurityitdoesnotdeserve.
Fornoteon authorsee backflap.
BOSTON
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Digitized by the Internet Archive
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COMMUNISM IN MODERN IRELAND
To Rachel and Saoirse
Mike Milotte
COMMUNISM
IN
MODERN IRELAND
The Pursuit of the
Workers’Republic since 1916
Gill and Macmillan
Holmes and Meier Publishers, Inc.
PublishedinIrelandby
GillandMacmillanLtd
Goldenbridge
Dublin 8
withassociatedcompaniesin
Auckland,Dallas,Delhi,HongKong,
Johannesburg,Lagos,London,Manzini,
Melbourne,Nairobi,NewYork,Singapore,
Tokyo,Washington
©MikeMilotte, 1984
0 7171 0946 1
FirstpublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 1984by
HolmesandMeierPublishers,Inc.
30IrvingPlace,NewYork,N.Y. 10003
ISBN0-8419-0970-9
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Milotte,Mike
CommunisminModemIreland.
Bibliography: p. 302
Includesindex.
1.Communism—Ireland—History — 20thcentury.
2.Communism—NorthernIreland —History —20thcentury. I.Title.
HX250.3.A6M54 1984 335.43’09415 84-629
ISBN 0-8419-0970-9
PrintoriginationinIrelandby
PrintPrepLtd,Dublin
PrintedinHongKong
Allrightsreserved.
Nopartofthispublicationmaybecopied,
reproducedortransmittedinany formorby
anymeans,withoutpermissionofthepublishers.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction 1
1 The Heritage ofJames Connolly
Connolly, Syndicalism and the Easter Rising 9
Labourafter the Rising 24
Class Struggle andNational Struggle 29
2 From Socialist Party to Communist Party
The SocialistParty and the Internationals 36
The SPI at the Second and Third Comintern
Congresses 41
The Launching ofthe CommunistParty 46
3 The CommunistParty,Nationalismand Syndicalism
From Truce to Civil War 49
The CommunistParty in the Civil War 59
The Turn to the Class 63
4 James Larkin and Irish Communism
The Irish Worker League 70
The Workers'Party ofIreland 83
Left Turn 93
5 Revolutionary Workers’ Groups, Ultra-Leftism and
the Crisis
ClassAgainst Class 96
Suppression 106
Castlecomerand Catholic Reaction 114
6 Communist Struggles in Belfast: For Bread and
Freedom
Communism ComesNorth 122
Unemployed Struggles andAnti-Imperialism 128
TheNationalRailway Strike 138
7 The Second Communist Party: Fascism and the
Republican Congress
Communism andIrish Fascism 141
The Republican Congress 150
8 The Unpopular Popular Front
The Transition to the Popular Front 158
The Spanish Civil War 169
Political Capitulation 175
9 Communism in the Second World War
‘Just’ War or \Imperialist’ War? 182
Liquidation Class Struggle and Twenty-six-
,
County Neutrality 191
Patriotism, Class Collaboration andPartition 200
10 Cold War Communism
Communism Partitioned 216
Irish Communism after Stalin 224
The National Question in a Period ofTransition 229
11 Ireland’s Dual Carriageway to Socialism ... or
Nowhere
Opportunism and the Searchfor Respectability 239
Reforming the Six-County State 251
The Communists and the Northern Explosion 267
Epilogue: 1970-1980 281
Bibliography 302
Index 313