Labor organizer James Connolly combined Irish nationalism with socialist criticism and a willingness for armed insurrection. His influence extended as far as the United States, where he played an active role in the Industrial Workers of the World (the "Wobblies"), to Russia, where they guided Lenin's thoughts on imperialism and colonialism. Connolly was executed by the British Government for his role in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin.
Considered by many Ireland's most important revolutionary, James Connolly devoted his life to struggles against exploitation, oppression, and imperialism. Active in workers' movements in the United States, Scotland , and Ireland, Connolly was a peerless organizer, sharp polemicist, and highly original thinker. His positions on the relationship between national liberation and socialism, revolution in colonized in colonized and under developed economies, and women's liberation in particular were often decades ahead of their time. This collection seeks to return Connolly to his proper place in Irish and global history, and to inspire activists, students, and those interested in history today with his vision of an Ireland and world free from militarism, injustice, and deprivation.
This new biography explores the neglected life and political career of Sean Murray, who went from an unremarkable, rural, northern Catholic upbringing to General Secretary of the Communist Party of Ireland, and was one of the most prominent left-wing thinkers of his era. An Irish War of Independence volunteer, anti-Treaty republican, and graduate of the International Lenin School in Moscow, Murray rooted himself in the key Irish labor, republican, and international struggles of his time. Using previously untapped sources, the book uncovers the details of Murray's IRA activities during the Irish revolutionary period, his significant contribution to the 1932 outdoor relief strike and the short-lived Republican Congress initiative, and his crucial role in organizing the Irish contingent of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Shining a spotlight on Murray's close personal and political relationships with Peadar O'Donnell, Frank Ryan, Jim Larkin Jr., Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, and many others, the book reveals how cross-pollination between the Irish socialist and left republican movements was maintained by virtue of these relationships. This is a story of how, in the face of adversity (the coercive measures of the Unionist state and "red scare" tactics of Catholic Ireland) Sean Murray left a significant imprint on Irish leftist politics through his work as an activist and organizer, a prolific writer, a propagandist, and a theorist. [Subject: Biography, Irish Studies, Political History]
The story of contemporary Ireland is inseparable from the story of the official republican movement, a story told here for the first time - from the clash between Catholic nationalist and socialist republicanism in the 1960s and '70s through the Workers' Party's eventual rejection of irredentism. A roll-call of influential personalities in the fields of politics, trade unionism and media - many still operating at the highest levels of Irish public life - passed though the ranks of this secretive movement, which never achieved its objectives but had a lasting influence on the landscape of Irish politics. 'A vibrant, balanced narrative' Diarmaid Ferriter, Irish Times Books of the Year 'An indispensable handbook' Maurice Hayes, Irish Times 'Hugely impressive' Irish Mail on Sunday 'Excellent' Sunday Business Post
"A WORK OF GREAT DRAMATIC POWER climaxing in the final hundred pages where he writes a full, searing narrative of the patriot leaders' last days . . . It's powerful stuff." --The Sunday Press (Ireland) On Easter Monday of 1916, a thousand Irish men and women, armed with pikes and rifles, took over the center of Dublin and proclaimed a republic. It was a rash, doomed, symbolic uprising, and the rebel leaders knew it. Crack British troops killed and wounded hundreds of the rebels in the week of fighting, and British artillery shells left Dublin's city center in ruins. But the Rising of 1916 was not in vain. The short-lived insurrection and the subsequent executions of sixteen rebel leaders galvanized the Irish people. The overthrow of seven centuries of British rule in Ireland began on Easter Monday, 1916. In Rebels, Peter de Rosa, author of the bestselling Vicars of Christ, tells the story of the 1916 Rising in all its terror and beauty. With the dramatic flair of a novelist and the scrupulous accuracy of a professional historian, de Rosa brings to life the people, passions, politics, and repercussions of this historic event.
Townshend traces the dramatic events of the Easter Rebellion in Dublin in 1916, the actions and aims of the rebels, the British response to the revolt and the consequences, politically and culturally, of the uprising.
This book analyzes the underlying reasons behind the formation of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), its development, where this current in Irish republicanism is at present and its prospects for the future. Tommy McKearney, a former IRA member who was part of the 1980 hunger strike, challenges the misconception that the Provisional IRA was only, or even wholly, about ending partition and uniting Ireland. He argues that while these objectives were always the core and headline demands of the organization, opposition to the old Northern Ireland state was a major dynamic for the IRA’s armed campaign. As he explores the makeup and strategy of the IRA he is not uncritical, examining alternative options available to the movement at different periods, arguing that its inability to develop a clear socialist program has limited its effectiveness and reach. This authoritative and engaging history provides a fascinating insight into the workings and dynamics of a modern resistance movement.
Necessary Trouble is the definitive book on the movements that are poised to permanently remake American politics. We are witnessing a moment of unprecedented political turmoil and social activism. Over the last few years, we've seen the growth of the Tea Party, a twenty-first-century black freedom struggle with BlackLivesMatter, Occupy Wall Street, and the grassroots networks supporting presidential candidates in defiance of the traditional party elites. Sarah Jaffe leads readers into the heart of these movements, explaining what has made ordinary Americans become activists. As Jaffe argues, the financial crisis in 2008 was the spark, the moment that crystallized that something was wrong. For years, Jaffe crisscrossed the country, asking people what they were angry about, and what they were doing to take power back. She attended a people's assembly in a church gymnasium in Ferguson, Missouri; walked a picket line at an Atlanta Burger King; rode a bus from New York to Ohio with student organizers; and went door-to-door in Queens days after Hurricane Sandy. From the successful fight for a 15 minimum wage in Seattle and New York to the halting of Shell's Arctic drilling program, Americans are discovering the effectiveness of making good, necessary trouble. Regardless of political alignment, they are boldly challenging who wields power in this country.
