The ‘Labour Hercules’: The Irish Citizen Army and Irish Republicanism, 1913–23
The ‘Labour Hercules’: The Irish Citizen Army and Irish Republicanism, 1913–23

Author: Jeffrey Leddin

Publisher: Merrion Press

Published: 2019-03-20

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1788550765

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The Irish Citizen Army (ICA) was born from the Dublin Lockout of 1913, when industrialist William Martin Murphy ‘locked out’ workers who refused to resign from the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union, sparking one of the most dramatic industrial disputes in Irish history. Faced with threats of police brutality in response to the strike, James Connolly, James Larkin and Jack White established the ICA in the winter of 1913. By the end of March 1914, the ICA espoused republican ideology and that the ownership of Ireland was ‘vested of right in the people of Ireland’. The ICA was in the process of being totally transformed, going on to provide significant support to the IRA during the 1916 Rising. Despite Connolly’s execution and the internment of many ICA members, the ICA reorganised in 1917, subsequently developing networks for arms importation and ‘intelligence’, and later providing operative support for the War of Independence in Dublin. The most extensive survey of the movement to date, The ‘Labour Hercules’ explores the ICA’s evolution into a republican army and its legacy to the present day.

The Irish Citizen Army
The Irish Citizen Army

Author: Ann Matthews

Publisher: Mercier Press Ltd

Published: 2014-09-05

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1781173087

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The Irish Citizen Army was originally established as a defence corps during the 1913 Lockout, but under the leadership of James Connolly its aims became more Republican and the IRB, fearing Connolly would pre-empt their plans for the Easter Rising, convinced him to join his force with the Irish Volunteers. During the Rising the ICA was active in three garrisons and the book describes for the first time in depth its involvement at St Stephen's Green and the Royal College of Surgeons, at City Hall and its environs and, using the first-hand account of journalist J.J. O'Leary who was on the scene, in the battle around the GPO. The author questions the much-vaunted myth of the equality of men and women in the ICA and scrutinises the credentials of Larkin and Connolly as champions of both sexes. She also asserts that the Proclamation was not read by Patrick Pearse from the steps of the GPO, but by Tom Clarke from Nelson's Pillar. She provides sources to suggest that the Proclamation was not, as has always been believed, printed in Liberty Hall, and that the final headquarters of the rebels was not at number 16 Moore Street, but somewhere between numbers 21 and 26.

Rebel Sisters
Rebel Sisters

Author: Marita Conlon-McKenna

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2016-02-01

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 1473508606

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The No.1 bestselling novel from one of Ireland's most loved writers! With the threat of the First World War looming, tension simmers under the surface of Ireland. Bright, beautiful and intelligent, the Gifford sisters Grace, Muriel and Nellie kick against the conventions of their privileged, wealthy Anglo-Irish background and their mother Isabella's expectations. As War erupts across Europe, the spirited sisters soon find themselves caught up in Ireland's struggle for freedom. Muriel falls deeply in love with writer Thomas MacDonagh, artist Grace meets the enigmatic Joe Plunkett - both leaders of 'The Rising' - while Nellie joins 'The Citizen Army' and takes up arms to fight alongside Countess Markievicz in the rebellion. On Easter Monday 1916, the Rising begins, and the world of the Gifford sisters and everyone they hold dear is torn apart in a fight that is destined for tragedy. ____________ 'Engrossing' Sunday Times 'Marvellous ... A gripping read' Irish Independent 'Finally, women are being written back into the history of [Ireland's] awakening' Irish Mail on Sunday

Florence and Josephine O'Donoghue's War of Independence
Florence and Josephine O'Donoghue's War of Independence

Author: Florence O'Donoghue

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13:

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Historian and IRA leader Florence O'Donoghue describes his experiences as head of intelligence in Cork city during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). He candidly assesses the leaders of this period, including Tomas MacCurtain, Sean O'Hegarty, Terence MacSwiney and Michael Collins and critically examines the evolution of the Irish Volunteer citizen-soldiers. He also details his wife Josephine's role as the top IRA spy in Cork's British Army headquarters, working for the rebels in exchange for the return of her eldest son, lost in a bitter custody battle with her in-laws. After O'Donoghue kidnapped the child and reunited him with his mother, the two collaborators eventually fell in love and were secretly married in the spring of 1921. Forty years later, the couple presented their story to their children in order to explain the family secret that had haunted their domestic lives. The first part of the book is O'Donoghue's and his wife's account of their activities in the Anglo-Irish War, written in 1961; the second part is composed of 47 letters in diary form, written by O'Donoghue to his wife while he was 'on the run' during the last ten weeks of the Anglo-Irish War, from May to July 1921. They provide a rare snapshot of the daily life of fugitive IRA guerrillas.