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A Traditional Republican Rebuttal to the Racist
Far Right
The following piece was written by Des Dalton and carried on
the Pensive Quill on June 6. We think it appropriate to share it
here as we we note the ongoing attempts by the racist far right to
hijack Irish Republicanism..
“Those who read or saw the images on our screens of the murder of
George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 by a policeman were horrified
and angered by the brutality of this act. What for me was most
chilling was the total disregard shown by the policeman and his
colleagues for the life of this totally innocent man. The lack of
even a basic humanity is surely a warning to the United States that
the deep-rooted racial division of their nation is as potent today
as it ever has been in their chequered history of racial
discrimination and oppression.
“What is equally worrying is the willingness of so many to come out
and attempt to rationalise this vile act or to engage in the usual
whataboutery that is the stable of those who refuse to engage with
the injustice that is in front of them. The riots and violence which
they sparked are a symptom of a problem and an injustice that has
haunted America since the original thirteen colonies gained their
independence from Britain.
“In Ireland, our history has taught us that to concentrate on the
symptom of the problem and to ignore its cause serves only to
prolong conflict and injustice. The US Civil Rights movement was an
inspiration to the emerging Civil Rights movement in the Six
Counties, and we should remind ourselves of this when these faux
republicans issue their latest anti-immigrant or racist diatribe.
“This brings me to my purpose here. For quite a time now I have
noticed on social media usually anonymous accounts popping up which
on the surface espouse a traditional Irish republican view of
history and the issue of partition. On occasion they will let the
mask slip and a homophobic, racist or anti-immigrant post will
appear or be shared by them. It is an insidious attempt to equate
traditional Irish Republicanism with the poisonous doctrines of the
far right. It is anathema to the very ethos of Irish Republicanism.
“As someone who has spent a lifetime both studying the history of
republicanism and as an activist, I would be the first to
acknowledge that Irish Republicanism can be a broad church, as any
national movement tends to be. Within its ranks throughout the
decades there have been those for whom everything including social
and economic issues are secondary to “breaking the connection with
England”. Indeed, some would be conservative regarding any change to
property relations or the economy of a New Ireland.
“In Unfinished Business: The Politics of ‘Dissident’ Irish
Republicanism, by Dr Marisa McGlinchey, former republican prisoner
and activist the late Tony Catney claimed: “There are people that I
know who are involved in republican struggle and their politics are
as right wing as Maggie Thatcher ever was. They just want to be
right-wing Irish rather than right-wing English.” (McGlinchey, 2019,
MUP.)
As pointed out by Tony Catney, Irish republicanism as a national
movement has always had room within its ranks for this divergence of
views on issues beyond the national question. However, the
overarching philosophy of republicanism has always been progressive.
“As a political philosophy its historical roots lie in the European
enlightenment. The founders of the Society of the United Irishmen
were explicit as to the aims of their new movement:
“The greatest happiness of the greatest number – on the rock of this
principle let this Society rest.” This is essentially the philosophy
that has guided revolutionary or traditional republicanism
throughout its 229-year history. The three major proclamations
issued in 1803, 1867 and 1916 all sought more than a mere British
withdrawal from Ireland. Each, to a greater or lesser degree sough
radical social and economic change in terms of property relations,
universal suffrage, and church state relations. Irish Republicanism
while naturally drawing on a distinct Irish cultural and historical
identity has also never been afraid to look outwards. Just as the
United Irishmen sought aid from revolutionary France, the Fenians
forged links with the nascent First International. Irish Republicans
have forged links with other anti-colonial struggles, from India to
Kenya.
“Forgive me if I digress slightly at this point but I believe it is
necessary to confront a smear that is continually leveled at
traditional republicans. Already I can hear the hackneyed references
to Sean Russell being lined up regarding his contacts and presence
in Germany in 1939/40. I will address them here.
“To understand Sean Russell you must first grasp the fact that he
was first, last and always a Fenian separatist and all that implies.
We can argue about the political naivety of his actions but to view
them through a contemporary lens is unhistorical. In the 1920s
Russell traveled to the Soviet Union on an arms-buying mission.
Russell was a soldier and his objective was the freedom of Ireland.
In his book, the nuances of ideology were for the politicians.
Russell looked at his missions to the Soviet Union and Germany
through the prism of Irish history. He saw himself following in the
footsteps of Casement in 1916 or Tone and Emmet in the 1790s. All
sought aid from states currently at war or hostile to England. For
Russell, the adage of ‘England’s difficulty is Ireland’s
opportunity’ was no mere historical slogan, but rather a programme
of action.
Russell famously told one German official: “I am not a Nazi. I’m not
even pro-German. I am an Irishman fighting for the independence of
Ireland.” He made it clear that any military aid could not have any
strings attached.
“The historical illiteracy of those who seek to foist ideological
labels on Russell is encapsulated in the various attacks that have
been made on his statue in Fairview Park in Dublin. Both the far
right and far left have at various times vandalised the statue,
labelling Russell alternatively communist and fascist. Russell was
neither a fascist nor a communist, he was a Fenian. Those from the
right and the left who took it upon themselves to attack his statue
are united by the same historical illiteracy and failure to
understand the Fenian tradition of which Russel was an exemplar.
On the continent strong links have historically been created with
Basques, Bretons, Catalans, and Corsicans. In the Middle East
Palestine has always been a cause close to the heart of traditional
republicans. In the 1950s, a period often portrayed as dominated by
an insular and conservative republican leadership, one has only to
peruse copies of The United Irishman to see the attention that was
being paid to anti-colonial struggles in Kenya, Algeria and Cyprus.
In the case of Cyprus cooperation between the IRA and EOKA prisoners
in British jails led to the escape from Wakefield prison of IRA
prisoner Seamus Murphy in 1959. I had the pleasure of knowing and
meeting many republican veterans of this period and was always
struck by their well- developed and informed internationalism.
“It was this siting of the Irish struggle in the context of the
global struggle against imperialism that created the international
awareness of, and sympathy for, the 1981 Hunger Strike. The tens of
thousands who marched in cities across Europe and the world did not
emerge from a vacuum. They were the result of consistent and
methodical work internationally by republican leaders such as Ruairí
Ó Brádaigh in the 1970s.
My own journey to republicanism was signposted not by the darkness
of racism and reaction. I was drawn to republicanism because I saw
in it a vision of a new and better Ireland, I saw a philosophy that
was always on the side of the oppressed wherever they were to be
found.
“For all of these reasons I am angry when I see these dubious
figures emerging from the shadows in an attempt to cloak their
philosophy of hate in the noble and enlightened banner of Irish
Republicanism. They hijack and twist the words of Pearse to impose
on them a meaning that denigrates the noble aspiration to an Ireland
that is truly in the ownership of the Irish people. This aspiration
to the ownership of Ireland for the people of Ireland is later to be
found in the 1916 Proclamation. This is no crude racist slogan but
an appeal to the historic right of Irish people to national freedom.
I say to them as a lifelong traditional republican you do not speak
in my name. What brought me to republicanism was a belief and an
appeal to the highest instincts of our nature, not a recourse to the
darkest and most base. Those who wish to place Ireland’s historic
and legitimate demand for national independence and Irish identity
on some twisted idea of “blood and soil”, have no place in
traditional republicanism. As we rejected the Blueshirts we should
also reject these later incarnations of a warped religion that
emerged from a Munich Beer Hall. Racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia,
sectarianism, or any other discrimination or hate based on gender,
colour or ethnicity have no part of Irish republicanism. Our cause
has always been that of humanity. We take our stand shoulder to
shoulder with the oppressed of the world and like Connolly we wish
to see a free Ireland take her place among a community of free
nations.” | 
