Here’s the fourth and final programme in the Looking Left series, and the topic is the newspaper of the Communist Party of Ireland, the Irish Socialist. Cedarlounge has a great post on the paper here.
The panel is made up of Dr. Ann Matthews, Tom Redmond, Mick O’Reilly, and myself, and is presented by Daniel Finn.
The programme is about 30 minutes long, and touches on issues such as the Dublin Housing Action Committee, the North, the Irish economy, and Europe, as well as the CPI’s reaction to the 1968 ‘Prague Spring’, and the life and work of Betty Sinclair.
Incidentally, cedarlounge also has a great post on ‘The Squatter,’ a publication associated with the Dublin Housing Action Committee,
The article below is simply a typed copy of the edited entry on Ireland that’s available on Google Books. As such, it is incomplete. Unfortunately, not all of the footnotes to the article are available on Google Books. From those which are available, it appears that Alexander was helped in this overview of Irish Trotskyism by D.R. O’Connor Lysaght. The notes cite letters between the two historians. This does not mean, of course, that the conclusions reached by Alexander are those of Lysaght. It means what it says on the tin, that Alexander corresponded with Lysaght while writing the article.
D.R. O’Connor Lysaght wrote an early history of Irish Trotskyism, published by People´s Democracy. Ciarán Crossey and Jim Monaghan wrote the excellent “The Origins of Trotskyism in Ireland” in Revolutionary history, 6:2-3 (1996), 4-57.
So, for what it’s worth, here’s the edited version of Alexander’s article, from Google books preview.
TROTSKYISM IN IRELAND
Ireland has never figured as a major centre of strength for international Trotskyism. The movement really did not get a foothold at all there until World War II and even then there were false starts. Its various factions and tendencies have been more than usually plagued with the problem of relations with other political currents on the Left. The partition of Ireland has meant that the Trotskyists have not only had to find a “political space” for themselves with regard to relations with the Social Democrats and Stalinists, but also with regard to the nationalists of various hues and policies.
Below are links to a list of 222 left-wing newspapers and periodicals published by Irish social, political and trade union organisations It is an incomplete list, as these lists tend to be, but hopefully a useful one nonetheless. Its weakest point at the moment, I would say, is that there are very few community-based periodicals on the list: left-wing community activism is noticeable by its absence. Hopefully, that will be rectified next time around.
The main sources for this file were John Goodwillie, ‘Lesser Marxist Movements in Ireland : A Bibliography 1934-1984′, Saothar, No. 11, 1986, p 116-123; Mike Millotte, Communism in Modern Ireland: The Pursuit of the Workers Republic Since 1916, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1984; Emmet O’Connor, Reds and the Green: Ireland, Russia and the Communist Internationals, 1919-43, UCD Press, Dublin, 2004; as well as my own research over the years.
(The following is taken from an article by John Goodwillie which appeared in issue 9 of Gralton, Aug/Sep 1983. It was a supplement to a family tree of the Left which John created , and which I posted a couple of weeks ago here. Apologies in advance to John Goodwillie for copying and posting his article.)
These notes attempt to record the leftwing organisation which have existed in Ireland since 1960. No attempt has been made to record purely local organisations outside Dublin and Belfast, or microscopic groups which have never reached double figures. The larger organisations have been presented in more detail. This should be regarded as something of a working document: any corrections or clarifications will be welcome and printed in a future issue.
Anarchist Bookshop Collective – short-lived group in the 1980s who can be regarded as successors to Dublin anarchist Group and predecessors of Dublin Anarchist Collective.
Anarchist Workers Alliance – formed 1978. A libertarian Marxist organisation formed by ex-members of the Dublin and Belfast anarchist groups. Ceased to function in 1982.
Belfast Anarchist Collective – formed 1978. Disbanded as an organisation in 1983. (Link to copy of their publication, Anarchist Worker, on Cedarlounge here.
British and Irish Communist Organisation – changed name from Irish Communist Organisation in 1971. Initially made an impact with its “two nations theory”, but support declined after it adopted other uncommon positions. Members participated in Campaign for Labour Representation in the North and Democratic Socialist Party in the Republic.
Campaign for Labour Representation – formed c.1978 with the participation of members of the British and Irish Communist Organisation to campaign for the extension of the British Labour Party to northern Ireland.
Communist Party of Ireland – reformed 1970 with the amalgamation of the Communist Party of Northern Ireland and the Irish Workers’ Party. Although it failed miserably in every election contested, it did have some influence within the trade union movement. Ideologically it remained friendly to Moscow.
I came across this while researching the Looking Left programme that was based on Z Magazine/Gralton. I thought it was interesting, so below is a thumbnail to the full-sized image. As far as I know, the family tree was designed by John Goodwillie, who also produced a glossary of the Left in Ireland in the same issue (Gralton, no.9, Aug/Sep 1983). I’ll try to get that up tomorrow.
The author of the map states that:
To simplify the diagram, youth movements have been omitted except for the Young Socialists and Young Socialist Alliance, whose history did not follow that of parent organizations. Dashed lines indicate that one group were members of, or closely connected with another. Left and right on the diagrams do not represent any judgement of political stance…
Note 1 [refers to] Left Alternative
Note 2 [refers to] The SLP Tendencies [who] were Socialist Workers Tendency, Republican Socialist Tendency, and Workers’ Alliance for Action.
Note 3 [refers to] Socialists Against Nationalism”
