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Seán MacBride | |
|---|---|
| Born | Seaghan Macbride 26 January 1904 Paris, France |
| Died | 15 January 1988 Dublin, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political orientation | Irish Republicanism Socialism Anti-Imperialism |
Seán Macbride was an Irish politician, lawyer, Irish republican military leader, and humanitarian and anti-imperialist activist.[1]
He was involved in the Irish republican movement during the Irish War of Independence, the Irish Civil War, and the subsequent Anti-Treaty IRA campaigns. He served as Chief of Staff of the Anti-Treaty IRA for a time and as a member of the Saor Éire political party and various pro-Soviet and anti-Fascist groups attempted to move the Irish republican movement to the left. He later defended Irish republican political prisoners in court.[1]
Later in his life he became a prominent humanitarian activist, pushing for social-democratic and some socially progressive reforms in the Republic of Ireland, as well as human rights, anti-imperialism, and anti-militarism abroad. He played a leading role in various international organizations including the Amnesty International and the United Nations. He also held positions in the government of the Republic of Ireland.[1]
Early life
Seán Macbride was born on 26 January 1904 in Paris, France. He was the only child of Irish republican military leader and future martyr of the Easter Rising John MacBride, and Irish republican feminist and socialist activist and fellow Easter Rising veteran Maude Gonne, who had married each other in 1903. He had two half siblings on his mothers side, George, who died in infancy, and Iseult Lucille, both of whom were fathered by French right-wing politician Lucien Millvoye.[1]
MacBride and Gonne divorced in 1905 due to John MacBride's alcoholism, violence, and infidelity, and Gonne was awarded custody of Seán.[1]
Seán received his first education at the Jesuit college of St Louis de Gonzague in Paris, France. When he was 12 years old his father was executed for his role in the Easter Rising. Soon after the family moved to London. At 14 Seán was enrolled as a boarder in Mount St. Benedict in County Wexford, Ireland.[1]
He attended University College, Dublin as a student of law and agriculture, but did not graduate due to his involvement in republican action. Around this time his mother bought the Roebuck House in the suburbs of Dublin, where he would live until his death in 1988.[1]
Early political involvement
MacBride was first involved in Sinn Féin at 14 during the 1918 general election while in Dublin, when he joined Fianna Éireann, which would become the youth wing of various iterations of the Irish Republican Army. At the age of 16 he lied about his age and joined the Irish Republican Army. He was involved in the importation of arms into Ireland from the Weimar Republic with Robert Briscoe as well as various actions within Dublin. From October to December 1921 MacBride travelled to London with Michael Collins during the negotiations for the Anglo-Irish Treaty, where he provided security for Collins and to arrange the safe departure of the Irish delegations if the negotiations broke down.[1]
As a result of the Anglo-Irish treaty the Irish republican movement split. The split culminated at the Battle of the Four Courts, where Anti-Treaty republicans occupied the Four Courts in Dublin and were subsequently shelled by the pro-treaty National Army. MacBride was among those with the anti-treaty forces and was arrested after the surrender of his garrison. He was detained in Mountjoy prison for the duration of the Irish Civil War which erupted after.[1]
After the civil war
In 1923, while he was being transferred from Mountjoy Jail to Kilmainham, MacBride escaped captivity and was never recaptured. He accompanied anti-treaty leader Éamon de Valera to Rome in 1925.[1]
On 26 January 1926, MacBride married Catalina Bulfin. He began to work for his mother at a jam factory which she had started and also as a journalist in Paris and Dublin. He continued his involvement with anti-treaty forces and was arrested in 1927 after the assassination of Kevin O'Higgins by anti-treaty republicans, who was minister for justice of the Irish Free State in retaliation for the executions of anti-treaty prisoners of war during the civil war. His mother asked friend and poet William Butler Yeats, then a member of the Free State senate, to work to free MacBride, however due to the emergency laws in place after the assassination these efforts were unsuccessful. He was later released after he established that at the time of the assassination he had been meeting Bryan Cooper, a member of the Free State parliament, in relation to his mother's jam business.[1]
In 1927 Éamon de Valera split from Sinn Féin in order to pursue electoralism. MacBride remained affiliated with the small and fractured Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin. In September 1931 Macbride was involved in the founding of the short-lived socialist and anti-treaty political party Saor Éire, which the anti-treaty movement then began to coalesce around.[1]
MacBride continued his involvement with the Anti-Treaty IRA, where he began to play a leading role as adjutant general. He opposed the Peadar O'Donnell's leadership of Saor Éire primarily due to his perception that it would lead to anti-treaty groups contesting elections, which MacBride believed would be a unproductive venture.[1]
In June 1936 the Irish Republican Army was banned and Maurice Twomey, its Chief of Staff, was arrested. MacBride succeeded him as Chief of Staff. He left the IRA in 1937, when the constitution of the Republic of Ireland was enacted. He was replaced by Tom Barry.[1]
Legal career
In October 1937, MacBride began his legal career. In June 1939 the Offenses Against the State Act was put into place in the Republic of Ireland, which allowed the internment of suspected IRA members without trial and would lead to the execution and imprisonment of many more IRA members and leaders.[1]
He represented an internee in the case Burke v. Lennon, which led to part of the Offenses Against the State Act being struck down due to it violating the constitution. After the case the constitution of the Republic of Ireland was amended to allow for internment of political prisoners.[1]