Irish Republicanism

Irish Republicanism is a national liberation movement and political position that generally supports the creation of an entirely independent and united Irish Republic and opposes all forms of British rule in Ireland.

History

Irish Republicanism first emerged as a distinct political philosophy after the French Revolution and the rise of Republicanism in Europe. In May 1798, the first explicitly Republican revolt against British rule in Ireland was started by the Society of United Irishmen, a predominantly Protestant group and the smaller predominantly Catholic Defenders. This rebellion was supported by Revolutionary France and led by Theobald Wolfe Tone. By September the British had defeated the rebellion and executed most leaders and many other participants

In 1803, the United Irishmen, led this time by Robert Emmet, staged a smaller revolt against British rule in Dublin. This rebellion too was quickly defeated, and Robert Emmet and many other revolutionaries were executed or forced into hiding or exile.

In 1848, the Young Ireland movement, whose name was inspired by other Republican movements in Europe at the time such as Young Italy, attempted a rebellion in Tipperary. The rebellion failed after a short gunfight. The leaders went on to found the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in Ireland.

The Fenian Brotherhood and the IRB engaged in several acts of armed resistance. From 1881 to 1885, the groups orchestrated a series of bombings against various infrastructure, government, and military targets in Britain. They also attempted a rebellion in 1867 through a series of small risings in Dublin and the Irish countryside. Along with several other major actions.

The IRB, along with the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizens Army, founded during the Dublin Lockout in 1913 founded in 1913 and Cumann na mBan founded in 1914 and several other groups began the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916. This rebellion was defeated in about a week, but eventually led to the larger Irish Revolution, starting in 1918. During the Irish Revolution, the Irish Republican Army, from then on the leading force in militant Irish Republicanism was formed.

After the Irish Revolution, the IRA split into two groups, the Pro-Treaty IRA, which supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and later became the Army of the Republic of Ireland, and the Anti-Treaty IRA, which opposed it, starting the Irish Civil War.

In 1969, the Anti-Treaty IRA, by this point just called the IRA, split into the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA. Sinn Fein, then closely associated with the IRA, also split between Official Sinn Fein, Later Sinn Fein Workers Party, and Provisional Sinn Fein.

Various Irish Republican groups participated in the Troubles between the 1969 and the late 1990s and early 2000s, opposing the British Army and Unionist Protestant terrorist gangs supported at times by the British Government and Apartheid South Africa, whose arms to supply the gangs were in turn supplied by the Zionist Entity with arms it had captured from the PLO during "Israel's" invasion of Lebanon, which were dispersed to the Phalanges in Lebanon and transferred through an arms dealer named Joseph Fawzi.

Irish Republicanism is supported by a variety of groups today. However, outside of some sporadic actions, armed resistance has mostly ceased.

Socialism/Communism

Like with most national liberation movements, Irish Republicanism has many links with Socialism and Communism. Proto-Socialist ideals and rhetoric was employed in the United Irishmen risings. Theobald Wolfe Tone, the leader of the 1798 rising, stated that, "Our independence must be had at all hazards. If the men of property will not support us, they must fall; we can support ourselves by the aid of that most numerous and respectable class of the community, the men of no property." Additionally, another leader of the 1798 rebellion, Henry Joy McCracken, stated, “You will no doubt hear a great number of stories respecting the situation of the country, its present unfortunate state is owing entirely to treachery, the rich always betray the poor.”

Later, the issue of Irish freedom and Irish Republicanism came up several times at the International Workingmen's Association, also called the First International, including being mentioned by Karl Marx, who drafted a resolution on Irish political prisoners being held by Britain. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels also wrote extensively on Ireland and its fight for freedom.

In the 1890s and early 1900s Socialism and Communism began to be more explicitly linked with Irish Republicanism within the movement. James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army arose prominent parts of the Irish Republican movement, and Connolly became a leader of the Easter Rising in 1916.

The Irish Citizens Army and several other Socialist republican groups played roles during the Irish Revolution and Civil War, including the creation of small "Irish Soviets." During this time the Soviet Union also had its first contacts with Irish Republican groups, with a treaty even being drafted for the two to mutually recognize each other and to cooperate with each other, though this treaty was never ratified.

Socialist Republicanism, like Irish Republicanism in general, was mostly stagnant from the end of the civil war to the eruption of the Troubles in 1969. In 1969, the IRA and Sinn Fein split. While both factions were Socialist, the Official IRA and Official Sinn Fein were self proclaimed Marxist-Leninist groups, while the Provisional IRA and Provisional Sinn Fein were more broadly Socialist. It is important to note however that the split was mostly over the issue of abstentionism, with the Provisionals supporting continued abstentionism, and the Officials supporting electoralism.

Abstentionism/Electoralism

Abstentionism has played an important role in Irish Republicanism. In Irish politics, abstentionism refers to political officials who, after being elected, refuse to take the seat in the government body they are part of and refuse to vote or do other official business related to that position. This first occurred in Ireland in 1918, when the majority of Ireland's seats in the British Parliament went to Sinn Fein candidates. These candidates did not take their seats in Parliament, and instead formed the First Dáil.

Since then, Irish Republican organizations have participated in abstentionism often, refusing to take seats in several political bodies including the British Parliament, the Dáil Éireann, and the Northern Ireland Assembly, as well as some local seats of government.

Several Irish Republican organizations have abandoned abstentionism, which has led to splits within those organizations. Fianna Fáil, now one of the 2 dominant political parties in the Republic of Ireland, split from Sinn Fein in 1926. Fianna Fáil wished to take seats in the government, while the rest of Sinn Fein wished to remain with abstentionism. Later, the Official IRA and Provisional IRA split partly over the issue of abstentionism. In 1986, Provisional Sinn Fein dropped its policy of abstentionism, leading to Republican Sinn Fein and the Continuity IRA splitting from the Republican movement.

Irish Republican Legitimism

A feature of many republican organizations is legitimism. In Irish Republicanism, legitimism is the belief that the only legitimate government of Ireland was the government of the first and second Dail and that only groups which are politically descended from those organizations are legitimate. Legitimists do not recognize the Republic of Ireland and it's army and police and generally support Abstentionism. The Provisional IRA and until the Good Friday Agreement Sinn Fein both believed in legitimism, and today legitimism is a core feature of Republican Sinn Fein and the Continuity IRA.

Groups

Militant Groups

• Society of United Irishmen 1791-1804
• Defenders 1780s-1800s
• Young Ireland 1842-1849
• Fenian Brotherhood 1858-1880
• Irish Republican Brotherhood 1858-1924
• Irish Volunteers 1913-1920s
• Irish Citizens Army 1913-1947
• Cumann na mBan 1913-present
• Irish Republican Army 1919-present in various iterations
  • Irish Republican Army 1919-1922
  • Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army 1922-1969
  • Official Irish Republican Army 1969-1972
  • Provisional Irish Republican Army 1969-2005
  • Continuity Irish Republican Army 1986-present
  • Real Irish Republican Army 1997-2012
  • New Irish Republican Army 2012-present
• Irish National Liberation Army 1974-2009
• Saor Éire 1967-1975
• Irish Peoples Liberation Organization 1986-1992

Political Groups

• Repeal Association 1830-1848
• Irish Parliamentary Party 1874-1922
• Home Rule League 1873-1882
• Sinn Fein 1905-present in various forms
  • Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein 1922-1969
  • Provisional Sinn Fein 1970-present
  • Official Sinn Fein/Sinn Fein Workers Party/Workers Party 1970-present
  • Republican Sinn Fein 1986-present
  • 32 County Sovereignty Movement 1997-present
  • Saoradh 2016-present
• Irish Republican Socialist Party 1974-present
• Communist Party of Ireland 1933-present
• Republican Socialist Collective 1986-1992