Republican Congress
Republican Congress An Chomhdháil Phoblachtach | |
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Irish republicanism |
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The Republican Congress (
The group claimed: "We believe that a republic of a united Ireland will never be achieved except through a struggle which uproots capitalism on its way."
History
Background
A group of republicans had founded a party,
Establishment
On 8 April 1934, the founding conference of the Republican Congress party was held in
During this time, those involved in the Republican Congress developed the concept of a "triple alliance" that would need to unite to advance the workers' cause in Ireland: A socialist Party, a paramilitary force and one big union. The socialist party would, of course, be the Republic Congress itself whilst the "One Big Union" (a concept taken from
Two councillors were elected as Republican Congress candidates in
Infighting and Demise
Following moderate success in agitating on behalf of the workers the Congress split at its first annual conference held in Rathmines Town Hall on September 8–9, 1934. The split occurred mainly due to organisational disunity between two factions. One side, which included the likes of Peadar O'Donnell,[5] Frank Ryan and George Gilmore[6] believed that a popular front of left-wing republicans could challenge the dominance of the mainstream political parties and form a "republic". The opposing faction, which included Roddy Connolly[7] and Michael Price, believed that a political party should be formed in order to fight for a "workers' republic". Those calling for a Popular Front won a vote on the matter and in response, those calling for a "Workers' Republic", including Price, withdrew their support and left the Congress.[3]
The group went into decline thereafter. An attempt to form a 100-member military-style organisation to infiltrate the political, social and trade union movements came to nothing, and in 1936 the party ran out of money. It briefly replaced its weekly newspaper, Republican Congress, with a new publication, the Irish People, but this made no difference, and the party office closed down. Despite this, the remaining leaders worked with the Community Party of Ireland to hold a series of public meetings, led by Willie Gallacher from the Communist Party of Great Britain, but following crowd trouble, these were abandoned, and the group undertook no public activities after November 1936.[3]
The Congress had its last hurrah on the battlefields of the Spanish Civil War when a group of Irishmen fought for the Second Spanish Republic as part of the Communist International Brigades.
Members
- Roddy Connolly
- Nora Connolly O'Brien
- Eithne Coyle - Joined the Congress but quickly resigned after members of Cumann na mBan expressed contention
- Peter Daly
- Charles Donnelly
- Frank Edwards
- George Gilmore
- Victor Halley
- Sheila Humphreys - Joined the Congress but quickly resigned after members of Cumann na mBan expressed contention
- William McCullough
- Seán McLoughlin
- William McMullen - Cited in some sources as Chairman[8]
- Peter O'Connor
- Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin - Served as an editorial writer of the Republican Congress's Irish language newspaper An tÉireannach. However, he resigned after a few months and later came to renounce socialism in favour of Fascism. Would go on to found Ailtirí na hAiséirghe.
- Peadar O'Donnell
- Michael O'Riordan
- Thomas Patten
- Frank Ryan
- Jack White
See also
- Irish Socialist Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War
References
- ^ Athlone Manifesto (8 April 1934), quoted in Republican Congress 5 May 1934
- ISBN 9780951117248.
- ^ a b c d Tim Pat Coogan, The IRA, pp.79-84
- ^ "The Irish Citizens' Army". SIPTU.ie. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
- ^ White, Lawrence William (July 2005). "Peadar O'Donnell, 'Real Republicanism' and The Bell". Retrieved 24 March 2021.
Republican Congress divided at its first national conference between those who wished to launch a new socialist political party seeking as an immediate objective a 'workers' republic' and those who, following O'Donnell, wished the new venture to remain what it was: a congress, a coming together of all republican opinion representing disparate organisations, to pursue the common objective of 'the republic'.
- ^ Diarmaid Ferriter (October 2009). "Gilmore, George Frederick". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ Byrne, Patrick. "The Irish Republican Congress Revisited". Retrieved 24 March 2021.
- ^ "McMullen, William". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
Bibliography
- Brian Hanley, The IRA 1926-1936
- Sean Cronin, Frank Ryan: The Search for the Republic
- Donal O'Drisceoil, Peadar O'Donnell
- Paddy Bryne - "Memoirs of the Republic Congress"
- Eugene Downing, a CPI member was interviewed and describes the Bodenstown episode of 1934