Archive for the ‘History of Ireland’ Category
“Jim Connolly and Irish Freedom” a 1926 Pamphlet containing a TJ O’Flaherty (Tomás Ó Flatharta) introduction
Thanks to Des Derwin for locating this document
‘Jim Connolly and Irish Freedom’ – Cover
James Connolly “The Hero of Red Easter 1916” – Back Page
‘Jim’ Connolly and Irish Freedom by G. Schuller, Introduced by TJ O’Flaherty. The Little Red Library No. 11, 1927. With Daily Worker Ad.
Contents: Introduction, The Significance of Ireland for the Comintern, Role of the Working Class in the Irish Struggle for Freedom, The Union with the Peasantry, Connolly the Revolutionary and Marxist, Against the Imperialist War, The Easter Rising, Civil War and the ‘Free State.’
Read the rest of this entry »The Little Red Library was a series of eleven pamphlets published by the Workers (Communist) Party of America in the mid-1920s by the Daily Worker Publishing Company in Chicago.
Institutionalized Sectarianism in the North of Ireland – Ian Paisley, Prayers for Partition, Marching Feet in Derry
Today’s Stormont Administration is controlled by the Democratic Unionist Party, founded by far-right religious rabble-rouser Ian Paisley. Despite the honeyed words of today’s peace process, the Northern state’s government is choked by institutionalized sectarianism. Paisley’s spiritual children will descend on Armagh City on October 21 reciting prayers for partition.
October 11 1988 – Ian Paisley heckles the “AntiChrist” Pope in the European Parliament
Read the rest of this entry »Ireland’s Culture and History Wars – Che Guevara and the nation’s “stamp of the year” – Michael D Higgins Rejects Men of God Partition Pray-In at Armagh Cathedral
Dateline October 9 2017.
Fine Gael politician Neale Richmond launched an ill-judged ambush on the Irish Post Office’s Ché Guevara stamp. Richmond’s sniping helped make this stamp one of the most successful products ever sold by An Post.
Four years on, Neale Richmond has moved up the ladder from the Seanad to Dáil Éireann – he is now a TD in Dublin-Rathdown. This Fine Gael bulldog may be set loose on President Michael D Higgins – currently much more popular than the FFFGGG coalition after rejecting Ireland’s “Carnival of Reaction” – partition.
Michael D Higgins 6 Partition 0 – Two Opinion Polls Show Landslide Support for the President’s Anti-Partition Actions – Irish Times Dampens Impact
Casual Irish Times readers may not have noticed an important story. A news item is presented in a tiny corner on the front of the October 8 2021 edition of the newspaper :
Poll: A majority approves of the decision by the President to refuse to attend a religious event in Armagh : page 2
Turning to page 2 alert readers might notice a headline on the bottom of the page :
Poll reveals support for Higgins’s decision to decline invitation to partition event
The stubborn facts :
A large majority of voters approves of the decision by President Michael D Higgins to refuse the invitation to attend a religious event in Armagh to mark the centenary of partition and creation of Northern Ireland, today’s latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll finds.
More than two-thirds of respondents (68 per cent) agreed that the President was “right to decline the invitation”.
This is a statistical landslide, proving that mass sentiment is against the political establishment on this issue
Support for the President’s decision is highest among older age groups, with 74 per cent of those over 50 agreeing with him, against just 54 per cent of those aged 18-24.
A higher proportion of Fianna Fáil voters (74 per cent) than Sinn Féin voters (72 per cent) backed the President’s position, though supporters of the Green Party (81 per cent) were most likely to say he was right to decline the p
Supporters of Fine Gael (19 per cent) and Labour (20 per cent) were most likely to say he should have attended the event.
A different media outlet, the Irish News, published details of another opinion poll with very similar numbers, and decided this headline worked
“Huge backing for President Michael D Higgins” – Irish News Headline
Practical Conclusions?
Boycott the October 21 Armagh Cathedral Celebration of Partition
The men of God have no right to summon the President of Ireland to anything – certainly not a Partitionist Pray-in.
John Meehan October 8 2021
President Michael D Higgins Rejects Religious Invitation Issued by Men of God in Armagh – The Right Decision – The 1921 Partition of Ireland Created a Carnival of Reaction
Eejit is a great word living within the English language spoken in Ireland. Author Mike Finn reveals the meaning in a sentence of nine words : “Those advocating Brexit are an awful shower of eejits”. Likewise, those who advocate “marking” the partition of Ireland are an awful shower of eejits. President Michael D Higgins is no eejit.
Michael D has become a spokesperson for the vast majority of people living in Ireland who hate partition. He will not attend a religious event in Armagh commemorating the 1921 creation of the Northern Ireland Orange State. An opinion poll on the issue shocked numerous pro-Unionist forelock-tuggers in Ireland – 81 per cent of people in the 26 County bit of Ireland agree with the President’s decision.
“Huge backing for President Michael D Higgins” – Irish News Headline
Read the rest of this entry »The Fascist Origins of Fine Gael in the 1930’s – Manus O’Riordan – one of his last posts.
Manus O’Riordan, who died unexpectedly on Sunday September 26, was always writing and publishing. This was one of his last Facebook posts – it is re-published here in his honour.
FOR THE DECADE OF CENTENARIES: REMEMBER COSGRAVE!
W.T. Cosgrave , Fine Gael Fascist and President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State 1922-1932.
These photos show the first Vice-President of Fine Gael, W.T. Cosgrave, in dress suit, with the first President of Fine Gael and Blueshirt leader, Eoin O’Duffy, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alfie Byrne, at a November 1934 Blueshirt / Fine Gael rally in the Mansion House.
See http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/art-and-design/visual-art/ireland-s-past-in-colour-blueshirts-fiddlers-and-dún-laoghaire-baths-in-a-whole-new-light-1.4679870 for the provenance of the Fascist Cosgrave in colour.
Heil Willie!
On February 28, 1934, voicing his opposition to the Fianna Fáil Government’s Wearing of Uniforms (Restrictions) Bill, the Fine Gael TD and future Taoiseach John A Costello proclaimed in Dáil Éireann that “the Blackshirts were victorious in Italy and the Hitler Shirts were victorious in Germany, as, assuredly, in spite of this Bill and in spite of the Public Safety Act, the Blueshirts will be victorious in the Irish Free State”.
Or, as Encyclopaedia Britannica describes the first Fine Gael Taoiseach:
“John A. Costello, in full John Aloysius Costello, taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957. A prosperous lawyer who had served as attorney general, he owed his selection as taoiseach to a coalition of several parties (including his own Fine Gael) and prominent independent politicians united in opposition to Eamon De Valera’s Fianna Fáil.”
Death Notice; Funeral and Wake Details; Tributes : https://rip.ie/death-notice/micheál-manus-o-riordan-glasnevin-dublin/470919. https://rip.ie/cb.php?dn=470919. https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2021/09/29/manus-oriordain/
Manus O’Riordan has passed away
Here is a preliminary tribute written by Des Derwin, and a report describing his funeral
Trade unionist, socialist, historian, researcher and singer Manus O’Riordan has died. A keeper of the memory of the Spanish Civil War, and of the music of the movements.
Trade unionist, socialist, historian, researcher and singer Manus O’Riordan has died. A keeper of the memory of the Spanish Civil War, and of the music of the movements.
It is only hours, according to Facebook, since Manus O’Riordan posted on his page. It is less than three months since he stood with the wide spectrum of the left at fellow historian Rayner Lysaght’s funeral. Manus shall have as great a send off. Since then I spoke to him briefly near Hart’s Corner, where he lived and where he had some memorials erected. (Manus O’Riordan is pictured carrying a banner honouring Irish anti-fascists who fought against Franco in the 1930’s Spanish Civil War – in Glasnevin Cemetery at the funeral of Rayner Lysaght https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2021/07/05/rayner-lysaght-has-passed-away-limerick-soviet-historian-a-parent-of-modern-irish-trotskyism/
I differed profoundly with Manus on many issues and strongly agreed with him on many others. In the ITGWU and SIPTU he always showed the greatest respect to me and to my minority views. He cooperated on labour and anti-imperialist history with all those on the left providing a historical forum.
In the past fortnight I finally completed noting my political reminiscences of my own father, who was a one-time colleague of Manus’ father.
Passing on and passing it on. RIP. Des Derwin September 27 2021
Update : the funeral of Manus O’Riordan, Glasnevin Cemetery, Friday October 1 2021
Some images from the funeral of Manus O’Riordan. Friday October 1 2021. Among the attendance was Tara, carrying the shopping bag of the occasion. It can be bought at the Bang Bang Café, Phibsborough. Also present was Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland – currently popular with nearly stream of the Irish Left after refusing to attend a religious ceremony in Armagh celebrating a “Carnival of Reaction” 100th Anniversary : the partition of Ireland in 1921. There were many displayed Trade Union and left wing banners at the funeral, honouring a dedicated historian of the Irish working class. See also https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2021/09/29/the-fascist-origins-of-fine-gael-in-the-1930s-manus-oriordan-one-of-his-last-posts/
Irish Police Boss Drew Harris and Two Unsolved Murder Cases – 1975 Miami Showband Massacre; 2007 Paul Quinn Murder
The Masks of Garda Boss Drew Harris
If you knew nothing about Irish 6 County whataboutery you might think “Fair enough – Garda Boss Drew Harris is doing the decent thing”. Maybe there are better questions : What mask is the former Royal Ulster Constabulary / Police Service of Northern Ireland high-flier wearing? Is he a “fox in charge of the hen-house”? Or, should we trust a “warm and friendly” chap “committed to justice”?
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has visited the barn in Co Monaghan where Paul Quinn was battered to death by the IRA, and has pledged to help bring his killers to justice.
But, when you know about Harris’s obstructive behaviour towards survivors of the 1975 Miami Showband massacre, you correctly suspect the motives of a powerful state agent who shields British State killers.
Garda boss Drew Harris and his legacy – Stephen Travers, Miami Showband, Aftermath of a loyalist murder spree.
Miami Showband Massacre survivor Stephen Travers also criticised Mr Drew Harris’s appointment, describing it as “putting the fox in charge of the hen house”.
Rayner Lysaght has passed away – Limerick Soviet Historian, a parent of modern Irish Trotskyism
Most readers of this site probably know the sad news that Rayner Lysaght passed away on Friday July 2 2021. He was born in Llanishen, Cardiff, Wales, on January 30 1941.
Here is a link to the death notice :
https://rip.ie/death-notice/rayner-daniel-o-connor-lysaght-killester-dublin/463010
People can add condolences, if they wish.
A wide range of people from the left and the workers’ movement have written generous personal tributes. A number of them are here https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2021/07/02/d-r-oconnor-lysaght/
People in Dublin may wish to join friends and comrades lining the route holding banners and tributes aloft. I will be bringing a Starry Plough and Fourth International banner. People might like to assist.
Rayner Lysaght was a long-standing supporter of the Fourth International, a founder-member of its Irish Section – the Revolutionary Marxist Group, in 1971 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Marxist_Group_(Ireland)?wprov=sfti1
The cremation ceremony starts at 2.00pm, so try to get to Glasnevin Cemetery at least 15 minutes before that time.
Anne Conway reports on Rayner’s life and death.
Read the rest of this entry »RTÉ, Censorship, and Irish Unity – Kieran Allen demolishes identitarian gibberish promoted by the Dublin Establishment
In a recent Tomás Ó Flatharta Blog post – RTÉ Broadcaster Claire Byrne Censors Joe Brolly, who criticised the reactionary politics of DUP Westminster MP Gregory Campbell – https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2021/03/22/rte-broadcaster-claire-byrne-censors-joe-brolly-who-criticised-the-reactionary-politics-of-dup-westminster-mp-gregory-campbell/ “Identitarian Gibberish” is targeted. This is part of a “distinct agenda” promoted by the management of the Irish State Broadcaster RTÉ. The inevitable result is censorship of people promoting a vision of post-partition Ireland which can destroy the “carnival of reaction” created by the 1922 Treaty ending the heroic 1919-21 War of Independence. Writing in “Rebel News” the author and activist Kieran Allen adds extremely useful context. His article is reproduced in full here.
Read the rest of this entry »When RTÉ puts on a special programme about a united Ireland, you know that big changes are underway. The partition of Ireland is now under question. RTÉ, however, has a distinct agenda and that was exemplified in one dramatic incident. http://www.rebelnews.ie/2021/03/23/rte-censorship-irish-unity/?fbclid=IwAR1vMTLrz5rsPP2awNgaLDDN1Qycb1Z1PtfpcNbHUgUOgB48vKgrvyBvcIY
