Anarchism in Ireland
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Anarchism in Ireland has its roots in the stateless organisation of the
One of the prominent figures in the Irish socialist republican movement was the syndicalist James Connolly, who led the formation of the
It was only in the late 1960s that a specifically anarchist movement began to emerge, in the context of the
Statelessness in Gaelic Ireland
Before the Tudor conquest during the 16th century, It has been suggested by some that Gaelic Ireland was largely stateless, being described as "anarchic" by the Irish historian Goddard Henry Orpen, although this characterisation was disputed by Irish nationalists such as Eoin MacNeill. Gaelic Irish society was largely built around kinship and had few if any political institutions, with the early Irish law scholar D. A. Binchy having written about the absence of any legislature, bailiffs or police, and noting "no trace of State-administered justice". The historian Kathleen Hughes argued that one of the reasons that it took more than five hundred years for the English conquest of Ireland to finally be achieved, was precisely because of the lack of a centralised state in Ireland, as Irish people were reticent to give up their freedoms to any state.[2]
The basic
Laws were passed down orally by a class of professional jurists known as Brehons who could be consulted by tuatha and enforced by groups of private individuals through a system of sureties, which were the basis for almost all legal transactions. Common tactics to resolve disputes included mutual fasting between plaintiffs and defendants, in which the one that broke their fast or refused to submit to adjudication would "los[e] their honor within the community", with the harshest punishments that communities dealt out being outlawing and exile.[5] The Gaelic Irish also did not mint nor issue their own coinage, despite Viking and later English colonists having done so, which allowed for fair and equal exchange to take place.[6]
When the Anglo-Norman invasion established the Lordship of Ireland in 1171, native Gaelic institutions came under some strain as they attempted to adapt to the political system brought by the new state. The conquest of Ireland culminated under the Tudors, who established the centralised Kingdom of Ireland in 1542 and suppressed the last holdouts of rebellion by 1603, finalizing the "destruction of the old anarchic society".[7]
The Plantations of Ireland brought on another series of rebellions against increasing anti-Catholic discrimination, culminating in the Irish Confederate Wars, during which the Irish Catholic Confederation briefly re-established self-governance in Ireland before eventually being conquered by the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. Following the Glorious Revolution, Irish Jacobites attempted to restore James II to the throne, but they were defeated and Williamite rule was successfully secured over Ireland.
Origins
One of the earliest examples of anarchism in Ireland was in the early work of the Anglo-Irish political philosopher Edmund Burke. A Vindication of Natural Society, though intended as a satire of Henry St John's deism,[8] elaborated one of the first literary expressions of philosophical anarchism, which inspired the works of the English radical William Godwin and was later praised by the American individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker.[9] Some libertarian scholars have insisted that Burke was initially sincere in his anarchist views, but later disowned them in order to advance his political career,[10] although this characterisation has since been disputed.[11]
Socialism
Following the events surrounding the Paris Commune, efforts were made to establish branches of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA) in Ireland, led by Joseph Patrick McDonnell, the Irish representative on the IWA's General Council. In February 1872, a branch of the IWA was established in Dublin by Richard McKeon, but its activities quickly came under attack by anti-communist mobs, which forced its premature closure on 7 April of the same year. A Cork branch had also been established in February, to more success, gaining 300 members within weeks. When an anti-communist meeting was called by city officials on 24 March, a hundred internationalist workers wearing green neckties disrupted the meeting, themselves taking control of the stage after several hours of conflict with its organisers. But like the Dublin branch, the Cork branch was itself driven out of the city amid a "red scare" driven by the local clergy. There were other short-lived branches in Cootehill and Belfast, which were likewise suppressed.[12]
Socialists were not able to establish their own organisations again until the 1880s, in the context of the greater socialist revival happening around the
By this time there had been a split within the SDF, in which
Unlike its predecessors, the activities and meetings of the Socialist League were able to continue largely unmolested until April 1886, organising among local bottlemakers during a lockout and inviting William Morris to give lectures in the city. But with the defeat of the First Home Rule Bill, the organisation's capacities began to wane as political agitation in Ireland started to focus almost exclusively on the issue of Home Rule. By October 1886, the Dublin League had come into conflict with the London-based Central Council over the earlier expulsion of Charles Reuss, with the anarchist-leaning Dublin branch supporting Reuss in line with The Anarchist newspaper. The branch quickly resolved the dispute within a month, but members had already become discouraged by the conflict, and the Dublin League collapsed in March 1887. Nevertheless, former members of the League continued their socialist agitation for years to come, with the Socialist League being quickly succeeded by the National Labour League (NLL). The NLL mobilised the unemployed to demonstrate in the streets and proclaimed a distinctly revolutionary socialist outlook, calling for the common ownership of land and for Irish workers to rise up against capitalism. By the turn of the 1890s, new unionism was introduced to Ireland by the Irish Socialist Union, laying the foundations for the rise of syndicalism.[21][22]
Irish writer
Around 1890
Syndicalism
In 1896, the Irish syndicalist James Connolly[a] moved to Dublin, where he founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party (ISRP) with the aim of establishing an Irish workers' republic, but left the party in 1903 following an internal conflict with E. W. Stewart regarding trade unionism and electoralism. Connolly subsequently led the Scottish left-wing faction of the Social Democratic Federation to split off and form the Socialist Labour Party (SLP), a De Leonist political party that advocated for industrial unionism. He then moved to the United States, where he collaborated with fellow syndicalists in the American SLP and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), before returning to Ireland in 1908.[28][29]
Another Irish syndicalist that moved to Dublin at this time was
A series of industrial disputes led by the ITGWU eventually escalated into the
"The precious blood shed in the unsuccessful revolution will not have been in vain if the tears of their great tragedy will clarify the vision of the sons and daughters of Erin and make them see beyond the empty shell of national aspirations toward the rising sun of the international brotherhood of the exploited in all countries and climes combined in a solidaric struggle for emancipation from every form of slavery, political and economic"
Following the
Later developments in Irish syndicalism included the establishment of the Congress of Irish Unions after a split in the ITUC, their subsequent merger into the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and eventually the merger of the ITGWU and Larkin's Workers' Union into the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), which continues its activities to this day as Ireland's largest trade union.
Modern development
In the late 1960s, as the civil rights campaign took off,
In the early 1970s some ex-members of the
Origins of the modern movement
The first steps towards building a movement came in the late 1970s when a number of young Irish people who had been living and working in Britain returned home, bringing their new-found anarchist politics with them. Local groups were set up in Belfast, Dublin, Limerick, Dundalk and Drogheda. Over the next decade anarchist papers appeared, some for just one or two editions, others with a much longer life. Titles included Outta Control (Belfast), Anarchist Worker (Dublin), Antrim Alternative (Ballymena), Black Star (Ballymena), Resistance (Dublin) and Organise! (Ballymena). Bookshops were opened in Belfast (Just Books in Winetavern Street) and Dublin (ABC in Marlborough Street). All of these groups attracted people who identified themselves as anarchists but had little in the way of agreed politics or activities, and no organised discussions or education about anarchism. This imposed limits to what they could achieve and even to their continued existence – all groups were short-lived, had little impact and left no lasting legacy.
In 1978, ex-members of the Belfast Anarchist Collective and the Dublin Anarchist Group decided that a more politically united, class-based, and public organisation was necessary. Their discussions led to the Anarchist Workers Alliance, which existed from 1978–81, although only to any substantial extent in Dublin.
Irish anarchists, amongst others, organised
Anarchist organisations in Ireland
Several organisations have operated in Ireland in the past:
- The Workers Solidarity Movement was a platformist anarchist group that had members in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Belfast, Derry, and Galway. It formed in 1984 and folded in 2021.[40]
- A Belfast branch of the British Solidarity Federation, which was formerly Organise!, a small class struggle anarchist organisation formed in 2003 from a merger of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation, Anarchist Federation, Anarchist Prisoner Support and a number of individuals.
- The Dublin-based Revolutionary Anarcha-Feminist Group (RAG), a group for female anarchists was formed in 2005 and has published six issues of a magazine, The Rag.
- In April 2015, the Dublin Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) was founded.[41]
- The Irish Anarchist Network is a network of anarchists founded in 2022.[42]
There are also a number of organisations and spaces which, while perhaps not explicitly anarchist, share much in common with the anarchist movement. These include the Grassroots Gatherings (2001–present), the Dublin Grassroots Network (2003–2004), Grassroots Dissent (2004–), Galway Social Space (2008–2010),
See also
- World Socialist Party (Ireland) - defunct political party which advocated a stateless, democratic society and rejected the idea of vanguardism and any transitional state.
- Squatting in Ireland - Often linked to Irish Anarchist organisations
Notes
- ^ In the book Black Flame, Lucien van der Walt argued that Connolly, despite being a Marxist syndicalist, "should be considered part of the broad anarchist tradition."[27]
Notes
References
- ^ "WSM has come to an end - we look forward to new anarchist beginnings". Workers Solidarity Movement. 8 December 2021.
- ^ Peden 1971, p. 3.
- ^ Peden 1971, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Rothbard 2006, p. 282.
- ^ Peden 1971, p. 4.
- ^ Peden 1971, pp. 4, 8.
- ^ Peden 1971, p. 8.
- ^ Rothbard 1958, p. 114.
- ^ Rothbard 1958, p. 117.
- ^ Rothbard 1958, pp. 114–118.
- ^ Smith 2014.
- ^ Lane 1997, p. 19.
- ^ Becker 1988, pp. 119–120.
- ^ Lane 1997, p. 20.
- ^ Lane 1997, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Lane 2008, p. 17.
- ^ Lane 1997, p. 21.
- ^ Lane 2008, pp. 17–19.
- ^ Lane 1997, pp. 21–22.
- ^ Lane 2008, p. 19.
- ^ Lane 1997, p. 22.
- ^ Lane 2008, pp. 19–21.
- ^ Goodway 2006, pp. 62–92.
- ^ Ó Catháin 2004.
- ^ McGee 2005, p. 216.
- ^ McGee 2005, p. 218.
- ^ van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, pp. 149, 164, 170.
- ^ a b c d van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 163.
- ^ O’Connor 2010, p. 194.
- ^ van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, pp. 163–164.
- ^ van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 164.
- ^ van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 318.
- ^ MacSimóin 1997.
- ^ Hall 2019, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Hall 2019, p. 5.
- ^ a b Goodwillie 1983.
- ^ McCarthy, Dec. "Looking back on the Dublin EU summit protests - Mayday 2004". anarkismo.net. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- ^ Looby, Robert (May 2004). "May Day Smear Campaign – the Irish media turns against protesters". Three Monkeys Online. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- ^ a b c "Protest group blames gardaí for clashes". 'Raidió Teilifís Éireann'. 2 May 2004. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- ^ "Ireland: A farewell to the Workers Solidarity Movement". Freedom News. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
- ^ "Introducing the Dublin Anarchist Black Cross". dublinabc.ana.rchi.st. Archived from the original on 29 May 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ "Irish Anarchist Network (IAN)". Irish Left Archive. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
Bibliography
- Becker, Heiner (October 1988). "The Mystery of Dr Nathan-Ganz". The Raven (6). London: OCLC 877379054.
- OCLC 897032902.
- Goodwillie, John (1983). "Glossary of the Left in Ireland 1960–83". Gralton Magazine (9). Dublin: Gralton Co-operative Society. OCLC 1235535966. Archived from the originalon 25 August 2009.
- Hall, Michael (October 2019). A History of the Belfast Anarchist Group and Belfast Libertarian Group (PDF). Island Pamphlets. OCLC 1280067425. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- Lane, Fintan (1997). "The Emergence of Modern Irish Socialism 1885-87". Red & Black Revolution (3). Dublin: Workers Solidarity Movement: 19–22. OCLC 924048574.
- Lane, Fintan (2008). ""Practical anarchists, we": social revolutionaries in Dublin, 1885–87". OCLC 231619350.
- MacSimóin, Alan (1997). "Jack White: Irish Anarchist who organised Irish Citizens Army". Workers Solidarity (50). Dublin: OCLC 51859611.
- McGee, Owen (2005). The IRB: The Irish Republican Brotherhood, from the Land League to Sinn Féin. OCLC 238617973.
- Ó Catháin, Máirtín (2004). "Dr. John O'Dwyer Creaghe (1841-1920)". Irish Migration Studies in Latin America. Waterford: OCLC 1074613522.
- O’Connor, Emmet (2010). "Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism, and Nationalism in Ireland". In Hirsch, Steven J.; OCLC 868808983.
- Peden, Joseph R. (April 1971). "Stateless Societies: Ancient Ireland". OCLC 8546937.
- OCLC 1027084093. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- OCLC 75961482.
- Smith, George H. (21 March 2014). "Edmund Burke, Intellectuals, and the French Revolution, Part 2". Libertarianism.org. Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- OCLC 1100238201.
Further reading
- Ó Catháin, Máirtín (2012) [2004]. A Wee Black Book of Belfast Anarchism (1867-1973) (PDF) (2nd ed.). OCLC 1194693455.
- OCLC 70220211.