DISMANTLE NAZI IRA ORANGE ORDER FOR IRISH PEACE PROCESS

The Irish Foreign Minister in the south, Charlie Flanagan son of Ireland's most famous Nazi Blueshirt, Oliver J Flanagan, turned up in Stormont yesterday, to meet the Orange Order Fascist representatives of the DUP. It was billed as the last ditch attempt, to save the dying Peace Process, to prevent a civil war in Ireland. The CIA were there, the British SS were there, the IRA were there but the Blueshirt bog trotter, from Ireland's largest bog, was left holding the can. The Orange Order didn't bother to turn up and essentially gave the lot the finger.

When the British remained in Occupied Ireland and granted a certain degree of autonomy in the South, they left the same unholy mess and wars, that they left, after withdrawal from Occupied Palestine. To compound both problems, they armed the Orange Order to the teeth, like Israel has been armed, so why would either of them sit down and negotiate, with the backing of two nuclear powers? The whole process is a charade and as sure as night turns to day, until their imperialist mentors, withdraw their arms and backing both of the Orange Order and Israel, the communities under the jackboots, will continue to be terrorized,  as they both have been, for the last forty years and indeed with close to a century of mayhem.
Simply put in both cases Israel/Palestine and Orange /Green, a genuinely honest broker is required, with all other outside interference withdrawn, for serious negotiations to begin.

Now who the hell is this commentator with his opinions, I hear you ask. Well I can tell you that I am intimate with the details of all of this, for all of my life. I was born into a home in Ireland, where my father was a Nazi Blueshirt and a latent Orange man, as a lot of their descendants in Fine Gael are today, albeit they have stopped riding goats as far as we know but then who is going to go home and tell their wife, honey I had sex with a goat today. 

I was serenaded to sleep with the sash, as a child by my father, while on the other hand, my mother who was a rapid Irish republican, serenaded me to sleep at night, with the Wearing of the Green. I do not exaggerate, that my home, truly was a war zone, where slash hooks were used, between my warring parents, since I first recall. At eight years of age I was ordered to pour a bucket of water, over what I believed was my mother's dead body, who lay unconscious on our concrete kitchen floor. I grew up with a blind hatred of my father and all forms of fascism. I am quite intimate with both ideologies. It is the inheritance of both British Colonialism and the traces of the Roman Empire, in the form of their church. The following clip is a lighter version of the problem.






The Real IRA and 32CSM are, like the Orange Order and UVF, still attracting support from far-right groups, like the race-hate extremists in National Alliance, particularly in Derry. They’ve distributed mail drops with pleas to stop America, turning into a Third World slum of non-whites. The Nazi type propaganda and pictures, calls for support for the Real IRA and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement. The strange historical connections of Ireland’s ultras with Nazism, appears to be spreading like wildfire across most of the former Irish republican spectrum. Governments of former republicans in the south of Ireland, from Fianna Fail to Fine Gael have always employed draconian censorship and political internment wide scale. 

Now it appears, Provisional Sinn Fein, Real IRA, 32CSM, RNU and Pensive intellectuals are following suit, in the footsteps of Goebbels, who came to power in 1933, after Hitler was appointed Chancellor, who then arranged his appointment, as Propaganda Minister. One of Goebbels' first actions, was to organize the burning of decadent books. Under Goebbels' leadership, the Nazi Propaganda Ministry, quickly exerted controlled supervision over all the news media, arts and information in Germany as it is both parts of Ireland today. 

Reports are circulating that Pensive Quill soundbites, accompanied by Sceal photo-ops, will be part of the next 32 County Reich coup, which will supervise the nuking, of decadent and subversive literature on the internet, such as Irish Blog.

Urban Dictionary

Fascism
14 identifying characteristics of Fascism by Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt. ("Fascism Anyone?," Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20)


Powerful and Continuing Nationalism:

Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottoes, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.


Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights:

Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.


Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause:

The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.


Supremacy of the Military:

Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.


Rampant Sexism:

The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.


Controlled Mass Media:

Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.


Obsession with National Security:

Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.


Religion and Government are Intertwined:

Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.


Corporate Power is Protected:

The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.


Labor Power is Suppressed:

Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .


Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts:

Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.


Obsession with Crime and Punishment:

Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.


Rampant Cronyism and Corruption:

Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.


Fraudulent Elections:

Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
Sound familiar anyone..?
de Bertie Bumwhistle 30 Mai 2005


The Nazi side of the Irish Republican Movement

Mary McAleese

The recent inflammatory comments made by Presidential hate-monger Mary McAleese has brought to public attention the issue of Nazism and anti-Semitism. As the world stopped to remember the Nazi genocide 60 years on from the Allied liberation of Auschwitz, it is fitting if we remember the allegiances between the citizens and government of what what was the Irish Free State, including their most radical front - Sinn Fein/IRA; and anti-Semitism/National Socialism.



de Valera's beloved Fuhrer

The sectarian and inflammatory comments made by Mary McAleese were as follows: (stated with reference to Nazis)

"They gave to their children an irrational hatred of Jews in the same way that people in Northern Ireland transmitted to their children an irrational hatred of Catholics, in the same way that people give to their children an outrageous and irrational hatred of those who are of different colour and all of those things,"

The implication of which is the Ulster Protestants are as abhorrent as Nazis, while Roman Catholics as victimised as Jewry, and thus Irish Republicanism's bloody struggle murdering thousands of innocent Protestants is perfectly justifiable. To oppose this would therefore be tantamount to supporting Nazism.

These comments were hardly surprising coming from someone whose republican terrorist sympathies have been no great secret. The reality of Irish treatment of Jews and their conduct during World War Two should cause Mrs McAleese to hang her head in shame rather than pontificate to others.

We only have to look back to the first Irish holocaust memorial day on 26th January 2003 when Justice Minister Michael McDowell openly apologized for Irish wartime policy that was inspired by "a culture of muted antisemitism in Ireland," which discouraged immigration by Europe's shattered Jews. He said that "at an official level the Irish state was at best coldly polite and behind closed doors antipathetic, hostile and unfeeling toward the Jews."

Eamon de Valera

Sixty Years ago on the 2nd May 1945 just at the close of World War Two the political leader of the Irish Free State and embodiment of the Irish Republican movement failed even to be discreet in his support for Nazism. Eamon de Valera, the survivor of the 1916 Easter rising (a track record for helping German war efforts), saw fit to sign a petition of condolence at the German legation in Dublin to express his grief on the death of Hitler. Furthermore, he went to personally commiserate with the Nazi representative in Eire, Dr Eduard Hempel on the death of their beloved Fuhrer. Later on the Dublin mob vandalised the British High Commission and the US embassy on news of the Allied victory, both countries being outraged at Ireland's attitude and actions.



Eire's Nazi sympathiser and President McAleese

Please note this event took place a full three months after the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and the revelation of the full horror of the Nazi genocide, and was only two weeks after British troops had liberated Bergen-Belsen, accompanied as it happened by an Irish doctor. There could be no possibility that de Valera and the Dail were unaware of the Nazi treatment of Jews, and yet the leader of supposedly neutral Ireland still wished to pay his respects to one of the most evil men in the history of the world. It was a display of support that no other national leader on earth made. At the time it was defended as a diplomatic gesture but was one that not even General Franco was insensitive enough to make.

It is clear that de Valera was sympathetic to the Nazi slaughter of Jews, and still willing to be open about it when it was clear that there would be no comeback for Nazi Germany and no united Ireland on the back of an axis victory and the bayonets of the SS. It is interesting to note that de Valera's visit was publicly applauded in the Irish press by Irish republican supporting literary gem, George Bernard Shaw.

Eoin O'Duffy

Eoin O'Duffy rose to prominence as Chief of Staff of the IRA at the time of the Civil War and was commander of the Monaghan brigade and later IRA Chief of Staff. At this time, as pro-treaty he split with de Valera. As the first Chief Commissioner of the Garda Siochana (Irish police force), Eoin O'Duffy turned himself into Ireland's answer to Mussolini being leader of the 100000 strong fascist Blueshirts movement (Army Comrades Association) which he renamed the National Guard. This organisation echoed Hitler's SA movement and based its marches, flags and salutes (Hail, O'Duffy) on those in use in Nazi Germany.



O'Duffy and his Irish Fascists

In 1933 O'Duffy was the founder of the Fine Gael Party which developed from the Blueshirts, and was thus leader of the political opposition to de Valera's Fianna Fail party. A year later he was ousted from the leadership when he proposed an invasion of Northern Ireland. Fine Gael saw itself strongly in the mainstream of European fascism and this can clearly be seen in the words of John A. Costello who later became leader of Fine Gael and Prime Minister of the Irish Republic. Speaking in the Dail he said "The Blackshirts have been victorious in Italy and Hitler's Brownshirts have been victorious in Germany, as assuredly the Blueshirts will be victorious in Ireland". During the Spanish Civil War O'Duffy led the 700 strong pro-Franco Irish brigade, but the Spanish fascist was not impressed by his fascist colleague O'Duffy's drunken antics and disbanded them.



Saluting the Irish Fuhrer

During World War Two (Still known in the Republic of Ireland as the Emergency) O'Duffy took a great interest in Nazism with which his Peoples National Party was closely aligned. He even went to the extent of sending an offer to Hitler saying that he would raise a "Green Legion" of Irishmen to fight on the Russian front. As a Nazi collaborator he spent time in Germany discussing with the Nazis in true Irish Republican fashion precisely what he could do to assist in Hitler's campaign against Britain. The 'Green Duce' that had modelled himself on Mussolini and supported Hitler died peacefully in 1944 and was buried with a state funeral in Glasnevin cemetry in Dublin, alongide other heroes of Irish Republicanism such as Daniel O'Connell, Roger Casement and O'Duffy's former comrade Michael Collins.



The "Green Duce" - leader of Fine Gael Blueshirts

Irish Anti-Semitism

This of course was not the only manifestation of Irish sympathy for Nazism which led to them being rebuffed scornfully by the USA, that prevented their qualification for Marshal Aid, and delayed their entrance into the United Nations until 1957. During the War officials of the Irish Free State were outrageous in their racist anti-Semitism which was openly tolerated by the Roman Catholic hierarchy and common currency in Irish society. Indeed Hitler's racial criteria for keeping out the Jew were still being used in Eire 8 years after Hitler's death. A 1953 memo from the Dublin department of Justice argues that vetting refugees into the Republic should be on a similar basis to that 'adopted for the admission of non-Ayran refugees' in 1938 and 1939. The Department of Justice went on to depicte the eastern European Jews applying for asylum as a danger to the Irish State. "There is strong anti-Jewish feeling in this State which is particularly evident to the Alien Section of the Department of Justice." They went on to write 'Sympathy for the Jews has not been particularly excited at the recent news that some thousands are fleeing westwards because of the recent round-up of communist Jews who had been prominent in Government and in government service in eastern European countries.'

When in the Dail in 1943, Oliver J. Flanagan praised Hitler for ridding Germany of Jews claiming, "I doubt very much if they are human!", he was not challenged by any other member. Later in a speech to the Dail he said "There is one thing that Germany did and that was to rout the Jews out of their country. Until we rout the Jews out of this country it does not matter a hair's breadth what orders you make. Where the bees are there is honey, and where the Jews are there is money." Flanagan was soon to join Fine Gael and remained a T.D. for them until 1987 briefly becoming Minister for Defence in the late 1970's. In 2004 Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny T.D. eulogised the memory of the nazi monster on the resignation of his son from politics "Charlie Flanagan continued the long tradition of service given by his late father Oliver J. to the people of Laois/Offaly in exemplary fashion." An exemplary Jew hater indeed! J.J. Walsh T.D. who had been a minister in the Cosgrave government was another high ranking anti-Semite who described Irish Jews as a "gang of parasites".

Anti-Semitism and praise for fascism was also rife within the Roman Catholic hierarchy. The main body organising support for Franco was the Irish Christian Front (I.C.F.) a broad based pressure group which , in the early months of the Spanish civil war organised massive demonstrations and had, initially at least, more widespread support than the Blueshirts. The Front's founders were Patrick Belton, who was formerly a T.D. for both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael as well as being an ex-Blueshirt, and Alexander McCabe, formerly elected for both Sinn Fein (pre-1922) and Cumann Na nGaedheal and later to be a member of Eoin O'Duffy's pro-nazi People's National Party. At one I.C.F. rally in Cork in September 1936 40,000 people assembled to hear Monsignor Patrick Sexton, Roman Catholic Dean of Cork, blame the Spanish civil war on "a gang of murderous Jews in Moscow". Beside him stood Alfred O'Rahilly, the future president of the University College of Cork, and Douglas Hyde, the future president of the Irish state who up until introduction of the Euro has his head on the Irish £50 note.

This track record of democratically elected and clerical Jew-baiting was certainly foundation for the fact that only 30 European Jews fleeing persecution were given asylum before the war, none during it, and only a handful afterwards, and that there was consistent government opposition to granting any asylum. Even a year after the close of war, with the memory of the concentration camps fresh in the Irish public's consciousness, the Department of Justice was still vehemently opposed to Jews entering Ireland. In August 1946, the Minister of Justice refused to admit 100 Jewish orphans found at the Bergen-Belsen death camp.

This race hatred should be no surprise given the recent history there had been, of pogroms against Jews in Ireland, such as in Limerick in 1904 when Roman Priest Father John Creagh incited the local population against "blood-sucking" Jewish money-lenders. His sermons brought about a two-year trade boycott of Jewish businesses that was accompanied by harassment and beatings and resulted in the almost total departure of the 150-strong Limerick Jewish community.

Eire's Axis Neutrality

During the course of World War Two the Irish Free State remained officially neutral. In 1938 a year before the outbreak of war de Valera took control of the three treaty ports of Queenstown, Berehaven and Lough Swilly making them unavailable for British and thus allied naval operations. These ports were of such significance to allied naval activities that the US ambassador to Eire, David Gray urged President Roosevelt to seize them.

Without the free access to ports and seaways around Northern Ireland operations would have been near impossible, as was later testified to by President Eisenhower who said, "without Northern Ireland I do not see how the American forces could have been concentrated to begin the invasion of Europe. If Ulster had not been a definite, co-operative part of the British Empire and had not been available for our use I do not see how the build up could have been carried out in England". In 1943 Churchill paid a similar tribute to Northern Irelands contribution in the face of the Irish Free State's hindrance and obstruction: "Only one channel of entry remained open. That channel remained open because loyal Ulster gave us the full use of the Northern Irish ports and waters and thus ensured the free working of the Clyde and the Mersey".



One and the same cause

The veneer of neutrality during the war thinly veiled popular sentiment which though divided was often openly pro-Nazi. Poet John Betjeman, while working for the British High Commission in Dublin during the war stated with regard to the Irish people that they are: " either anti-British, anti-German and pro-Irish (faintly a majority)…pro Irish and pro-German (about 48 per cent)…the Irish papers are all anti-British…and the best-selling writers are pro-German".

As far as assisting the Nazi war effort the Irish did play their part. Not being obliged to black out they assisted German bombers in the blitz on Belfast and Liverpool. British intelligence was also aware that Dingle bay and the inlets on the coast of county Kerry and Cork were open for use for the refuelling of German u-boats in preparation for attacks upon Allied convoys and shipping, which of course represented the life-line of Britain and the Allied cause. Until relatively recently there was still a German pub near Dingle called Krugers which was testimony to this activity.

Sinn Fein/IRA

With specific reference to Sinn Fein/IRA there is much to say about the open link with Nazi philosophy and Nazi Germany. At the beginning of the 20th century Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Féin, published anti-Semitic articles in the republican United Irishman newspaper. At the outset of the war in 1939 Sinn Fein/IRA refered to her "victorious European allies" - referring to Nazi Germany and the other axis powers. In February 1939 Nazi agent Oskar Pfaus travelled to Ireland to liaise with prominent IRA terrorist Jim O'Donovan the IRA Army council do discuss options for co-operation and agreed that the IRA would assist the Nazis through a program of sabotage and espionage.

At the declaration of war in 1939 Sinn Fein/IRA responded by attacking targets in England - also receiving financial support for their enterprise by support from Irish American Clan na Gael. It is interesting to note that on the day Britain and Germany went to war that the first soldier to be shot was by the IRA in Belfast. Nazi Agents Ernst Drohl and Herman Goertz arrived in Ireland in 1940 to assist and co-ordinate the Sinn Fein/IRA fifth column.

In April 1942 RUC Constables Thomas Forbes and Patrick Murphy (Roman Catholic father of 10) were murdered in two separate attacks by an IRA gang as a part of the IRA's pro-Nazi subterfuge. The gang of 5 were sentanced to death with only leader Tom Williams getting the noose. Joe Cahill, later to be prominent IRA Chief of Staff, and the other three escaped the rope following direct intervention from Hitler's Pope Pius XII. At his death in July 2004 Cahill was lauded as a hero by Roman Priest Des Wilson and former Irish Taioseach (Prime minister) Albert Reynolds.



Joe Cahill's coffin carried by Sinn Fein/IRA terror leaders

Sean Russell

IRA Chief of Staff Sean Russell offered his terrorist services to Hitler in keeping with the Nazi philosophies of his organisation. Sean Russell had been in contact with the Nazi regime from 1936 and travelled to Berlin in May 1940 to receive bomb making and sabotage training and was in talks with the German foreign ministry regarding further avenues of co-operation and mutual interest which would support the Nazi war effort against Britain. His aim would be to foment a rising in Northern Ireland using the Roman Catholic population.

Following the fall of France in 1940 Germany had planned "Operation Kathleen" in which Sinn Fein/IRA would act as go betweens and a fifth column to persuade the Irish Free State to invade Northern Ireland and facilitate the mass landing of German invasion troops at Larne and Londonderry. They would assist the Nazis in occupying Northern Ireland as a stepping stone into the rest of the UK as part of their planned invasion. Russell and prominent Sinn Fein/IRA activist and Nazi collaborator Frank Ryan were dispatched on a U-boat to Ireland by the Nazis in operation Taube which failed due to Russell's death (an inglorious life commemorated by a statue by the Irish National Graves Association in Fairview Park, Dublin in 1951).



Nazi U-Boat - IRA Chief Sean Russell's Funeral Parlour

Russell received a Nazi burial at sea complete with Swastika and full military honours. Recently his statue was decapitated by anti-fascists in protest at an open Nazi being publicly commemorated. Following this the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Paris called for the statue to be left unrestored as an "enduring symbol of Ireland’s shame". The Irish government over which Mary McAleese presides has committed itself to rebuilding this revolting statue to the glories of the third reich and to a monster who would be reviled for the fascist and traitor he was if he had lived in any other country.



Nazi collaborator Sean Russell's statue in Dublin damaged by anti-fascist activists, Dec 2004
An "enduring symbol of Ireland’s shame" (Simon Wiesenthal Centre)

The key-note speaker at the IRA's Sean Russell commemorative rally in 2003 was Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Fein/IRA Dublin candidate for the European elections. That she had delivered an eulogy to a pro-Nazi stooge should have caused to her to be eaten alive by her rival candidates: imagine the consequences of a British politician rededicating herself to the cause of Oswald Mosley. Instead, the matter was never raised during the campaign that followed, lest it seem unseemly. She was duly elected to the European parliament, the only Euro-MP who retrospectively favours collaboration with the Nazis.



Sinn Fein/IRA's Mary Lou McDonald openly spoke in favour of IRA Nazi Chief and Collaborator Sean Russell

The facts about Russell's tenure as Sinn Fein/IRA Chief of Staff as well as his death are crystal clear. As British cities were relentlessly bombed during the Luftwaffe Blitz, Russell dispatched bombers of his own to England. Explosions killed civilians in cities such as Coventry while industries and military installations in Northern Ireland were targeted, all at a time when the Free World was fighting a war of survival against Hitler's armies. Russell and the IRA's terrorism in support of the Nazi war efforted led to him being honoured in Berlin and his presence on the U-boat.

Frank Ryan

The German foreign ministry sent Ryan a second time (Taube II) in which he was to use his extensive political, media and trade union contacts in Ireland to stir up opposition to England. He was at the same time to approach the Irish government and suggest that the German invasion of Britain would be an opportune moment for the seizure of Northern Ireland. Ryan said he believed Irish prime minister, Eamon de Valera, would back the plan and handed German agents a list of 23 people whom he said would be reliable contacts in Ireland. They included IRA commanders and Maud Gonne, muse of the poet W. B. Yeats.

Later on with a German direct invasion of Britain no longer likely, Taube II needed to be revamped. German troops were to be on standby in Brest, France, ready to be smuggled into Ireland to stiffen Irish resistance. It was Ryan's task to ensure that the Germans would be welcomed as allies and liberators. Ryan died in February 1944 and was buried under an assumed name in Dresden.

Ryan and Russell were not alone in "Nazi/IRA". In his very candid memoir, the late Paddy Devlin admitted that during the war there was a great degree of sympathy for the Nazis inside the IRA in Belfast. Devlin recalled that while in Crumlin Road jail he and his comrades enthusiastically plotted the advance of the Germans into the Soviet Union on a map in their prison cell. Each time news came through the radio about Nazi victories he and the other IRA inmates would cheer to the rafters.

Contemporary Anti-Semitism

Anti-semitism in Ireland continues to this day with recent condemnation by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for not including a specific reference to antisemitism in a new UN resolution on religious intolerance it submitted in October 2003 to the UN General Assembly Third Committee. A further act of Irish Jew-hate in the withdrawal of the UN anti-semitism statement was interpreted by the Wiesenthal centre as an Irish attempt to "delegitimise the Jewish people". In a recent letter to Taioseach Bertie Ahern the Wiesenthal centre expressed the opinion that "Ireland is the only World War II neutral to have never confronted its dealings with Nazi Germany". Currently there is much concern regarding the state supported Hunt museum in Limerick which stocked its collection with items taken from Jews which were trafficked by the Nazis.

In another contemporary case, Francis Stuart (1902-99), an Irish writer and member of Aosdana (an affiliation of creative artists in Ireland), who wrote in one of his books: "The Jew is the worm that got into the rose and sickened it," received a Saoi (Gaelic for 'wise one') award in 1996 (the highest honour the Republic of Ireland can give an artist). He was also known for his antisemitic radio broadcasts made during World War II.

Gerald Goldberg, who was Lord Mayor of Cork in 1977, received death threats and as a result he considered leaving Ireland. A synagogue in Cork was fire-bombed at the time. Israel's relations with Ireland were strained for many years because of the issue of Irish peacekeepers being injured or killed while serving in Lebanon. Protests, appeals and antisemitic comments/abusive phone calls were often received during those years by Jewish community offices.

Conclusion

Overall the role of the Irish Republic and the IRA in relation to Nazism has been shameful and humiliating. Mary McAleese should be ashamed. If she wants to look for Nazis maybe she should look closer to home. This is an example of why as law abiding innocent victims of fascist terrorism we do not trust Sinn Fein/IRA nor the Irish government.


157 90

Merch
15.

fascism
Fascism is the current idea of thegovernment of the USA ran under George W. Bush that advocates complete loyalty to the government, more money for military power and ruthless corporate dominance. Not completely amazing George W. Bush's views are fascist, seeing how his grandfather Prescott Bushworked with the Axis powers.
Those who oppose fascism in the USA are sometimes quietly detained never to be seen again.
European: There should be an uprising to bring the the fascist United States of America.

Canadian: Ya to bad people are too bull-headed and scared to start the revolution against the evils of fascism.
de Revolutionist_71 24 Martie 2008

24 28

Merch

16.

fascism
according to upton sinclair, fascism iscapitalism plus murder.
italy employed fascism in and prior to WWII
de wedrinkandwesing 18 Aprilie 2006

24 28

Merch
17.

fascism
arbitrary elitism; fascism is a belief that a particular entity is superior to all others without objective criteria to support that belief;
The Nazi expressions uber alles and master race and Nazi philosophy that races exist at its pleasure quintessentially represent arbitrary elitism, fascism. Currently, circa 2000, governments which, in fact, virtually, if not literally, serve principally the special interests of a few, are, in fact, de facto fascist governments.
de PonyTail 10 Martie 2006

19 23

Merch
18.

Fascism
From Dictionary.com

"A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism."

Sound like USA? Well let's have a look...

Dictator: George W. Bush
- America suppresses the opposition through media censorship. Anything the opposition says, America will use media to regard it as propaganda and therefore censor it.
America also uses Military as a method of terror to provoke the Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq and Iran. As for belligerent nationalism and racism, since 9/11 the American Government held an anti-muslim stance and used media to spread this idea. Publically they would appear to be accept of muslims but behind public eyes, their own agenda would tell a different story. For example the invasion of Iraq and seizure of their oil fields (What's wrong with giving the oil field back to the Iraqi people?), and possibly Iran to be next because of their nuclear capability. Despite the fact that America has their own nuclear capabilities far greater than any other nation.
The use of the media plays a strong role in fascism, especially in the developing of the belligerent nationalism and racism.

Example: The American government explaining to the world media their purpose in preparing their troops for a possible attack on Iran. Their concern being the nuclear capabilities of Iran. What they fail to mention is that on the other side of the world, from the Eastern point of view, America already has nuclear capabilities and enough of it to destroy their country with 1 word, and that word is "Fire!"
de M U N G 12 Aprilie 2006

51 57

Merch
19.

fascism
Fascism is a response by right-wing capitalists in a given country to any kind of broadly powerful working class mass democratic and libertarian social movement.

In many Western and Latin American countries (as well as some in Asia) the right tries very hard to seem like it is nice and friendly and about freedom -- until working class people are finally fed up with them and their constant exploitation and desire to control everything -- and then the right gives money and support to fringe political parties or supports right-wing generals in the military that say they will smash the workers movements. This leads to a fascist society.
Fascism was effective at supporting ruling class capitalist interests when (Mussolini, Franco, Hitler, Pinochet, General Tojo) crushed the workers movements in their respective countries.
de word bird 11 Iunie 2009

12 21

Merch

20.

fascism
Look in the mirror, Mr. Bush.
Hmm, I feel like another power trip. I know, I'll prevent airline passengers from bringing coffee on airplanes! Then I'll refer to fascism when I talk about terrorists!
de shibby1 30 August 2006

31 40

Merch
21.

fascism
1. A system of government characterized by extreme nationalism, violence, and the control of ideas:. America
2. The right-wing movement in Europe between the World Wars.
3. Not a leftest movement. Do a little research on the times you fiends. The Popular Front was a leftest movement to counter the rise of fascism.
The corporate state in America can be compared to fascism. The corporations own the government that spews its nationalist, militarist propaganda with overtones of a "think like us or get the hell out" mentality while they themselves own and control all means of production and wealth.
de Sausage Mahoney 20 Decembrie 2003

53 62

Merch

22.

Fascism
Collective noun for a group of Head teachers (principals).

A fascism of head teachers had gathered at Oxfordshire Education Department for a briefing of proper ways to make kids hate school.
de Hujanika Bolokofpt 06 Septembrie 2007

3 18

Merch
23.

fascism
The mortal enemy of anarchists. They must fight it at all costs.
Oh great. The fascists are back. Anyone willing to take them on?
de Eddy 23 Decembrie 2003

24 47

Merch

24.

fascism
An economic system under which all property is privately owned by a minoroty of the population, is highly regulated by a national government, while opposition is rigorously suppressed.
Sound familiar?
de ralph 02 Februarie 2004

25 55

Merch
25.

fascism
arbitrary elitism
Is not world facism the single greatest problem of this planet?
de pi4c 24 Octombrie 2003

10 42

Merch
26.

fascism
A right wing authoritarian style goverment that is very close to the top left wing. A fake version of socialism.
.....I have nothing to say
de The left wing king 13 Ianuarie 2004

15 56

Merch

GET UP ! STAND UP ! STAND UP FOR WATER RIGHTS !

The anti-urban philosophy of ancient Celts, is confirmed by Roman historians, who were very aware of it's attributes and recorded it.Their Roman Empire and subsequent British inheritor's perspective, was that the Celtic way of life, was alien to their own form of urban civilization and bureaucracy. Fionn McCumhaill was Ireland's greatest Celtic shamanic figure, who spent most of his life with Na Fianna in the Irish wild, as a hunter gatherer, intimate with the Spirit of wild animals. Shamanic practices were then inherited by agricultural and pastoral Celts. While anthropological purists insist, shamanism proper exists only among Siberian and Asian societies, they are wrong, as both native Indians in America and the Irish can attest to. Everything is evolutionary. Below is an article from somewhere or other, that itself was borrowed from Source, so please excuse me, if I do not accredit it, because it's knowledge evolved over many millennia.

EVERYTHING IS BORROWED

As we sat in a circle sharing our visions, a simple common thread between the imagined Material and Spiritual abundance emerged: a feeling of unlimited personal freedom, immense well-being and joy. We all agreed that we are both materialistic and spiritual beings. No matter what our religious beliefs, both sides need to be acknowledged and rewarded in order for us to feel truly happy.


On the material side, many participants shared visions from their journeys that I expected: lavish villas, fancy cars and chauffeurs, gold, diamonds and pearls, travels to exotic lands, unlimited shopping, elegant clothing, private islands, staff taking care of them, and an unending supply of money to do whatever they want. Interestingly, most people dreamed up possessions for just themselves and their immediate families. What was unexpected was that many participants were surprised by how unimaginative they were in their conceptions of Material abundance; they didn’t feel that they were really envisioning what they truly wanted. Some also realized they really don’t want much at all.

On the other hand, when envisioning their versions of Spiritual abundance, many participants received messages encouraging altruism, like sharing the Earth’s resources, universal love, and universal peace. They saw breathtaking images of colorful rainbows and landscapes, and heard birds chirping and heavenly music. Those are things we can share and enjoy with others.

So, on the one hand, we have Material abundance, which encourages individualism, and on the other we have Spiritual abundance, which encourages community and sharing. How can we achieve both?

The great teacher – The River

A river is a perfect place to start. It’s the perfect teacher to contemplate and meditate on life. Some years ago at Harriman Park, Upstate New York, I sat by a stream, closed my eyes, and fell into deep meditation. The clear, cold water rushed down the densely forested mountain. It twisted its way between huge and small ancient dark rocks, brought down by the previous ice age from far away, creating small pools and waterfalls covered with green moss, white foam, and sweet bubbly sounds. Thought flowed through my mind:

“Some leaves and branches continue downstream and some get stuck and rot out. Do they rot to give life for others? Is this is their purpose? Water never stops – it finds ways around the rock and moves on. Those powerful hard rocks are polished and smoothed by the never-ending stream of soft water. Water congregates in a muddy pool, giving life to mosquitoes, frogs, dragonflies, and others. Would the trees be here if it wasn’t for this stream? What is happening under the perfectly calm surface? Where does the water come from and where does it go from here? What does it carry with it? Why does it never stop running?”

The indigenous shamanic wisdom is based on deep observations of nature, accepting that we are an integral part of nature and actively relating this to our own life. From the ancient wisdom of shamanic traditions, we can learn how to better integrate our lives with nature, and identify and remove the blockages that limit our potential in order to let us flow more freely in the river of life.

The Inca way

My teacher Don Jose Joaquin Pineda, a Quechua yachak (Birdman) from the High Andes of Ecuador, often reprimanded those he diagnosed using the traditional candle techniques for their lack of faith. Some asked, “Faith in what?” And he used to say, “Trust in the work of Apus (mountain spirits), Pachamamma (Mother Earth), and Viraqucha (Great Creator).”

“But, how do you gain faith?” they asked. With conviction in his fierce black eyes, he would answer, “You need to pray ardently and concentrate on developing full trust in the universe.”

But can you learn trust in a world where fear, deceit, and competition for power and resources is the norm? Can you learn trust in the universe when we are so removed from nature ourselves?

The Inca way of bringing abundance into one’s life is through an alignment with the Earth, universe, and our soul purpose or mythic vision of our life. Only then you can enter into Ayni , a state in which give and take are in equilibrium, and Pachamamma will provide you with all your needs. A special Despacho offering ceremony is usually performed to bring about abundance with offering of gratitude to Pachamama and the Apus. Participants place many varieties of grains, food, minerals, flowers, emulates, and personal prayers of gratitude or requests into the offering blanket. At the end of the ceremony, the shaman wraps all the offerings in a bundle and "dispatches" it to spirits by burning it in a fire or burying them in the Earth. Fire ceremonies are used by many shamanic traditions to cast off negativity and other obstacles to make room for abundance.

The shamanic belief

Most ancient cultures had Gods or Goddesses of prosperity and abundance, for which they performed special ceremonies and prayers. Some are still celebrated in the present, such as the Bolivian Ekeko, the mustached Andean god, Goddess Lakshmi, honored by Hindus, the Celtic tradition Letha, Isis in old Egypt, Frigga of the Norse, and for the Mongols, goddess Itugen, and many more.

The core shamanic belief is that the Universe was created by the Great Creator perfectly and in full harmony. It can provide humans and all living beings with everything we need for our physical, spiritual, and emotional existence. Truly, there is plenty all around us to support and share with all beings on this Earth. So why is it that so many people live in scarcity? Why do some people lack trust in the possibility that we can all live in abundance, and resort to hoarding fortune and resources at the expense of other Humans and animals?

To believe in the unseen forces of life, you need to give up existential control. By doing so, you gain emotional and spiritual freedom. It all comes down to faith. Scarcity comes from fear of not having enough for me to share with others, and the fear of poverty and of death. It leads to power grabbing, greed, and the distortion of reality. Scarcity is in the service and support of what we call the shadows or evil, the dark forces of the universe.

Removing the obstacles

In addition to having faith in the universe and remembering that you are an integral part of nature, one must remove negative energy that creates obstacles to receiving the abundance that awaits you. It is hard to see energy blocks and to locate them within you. We can only sense their existence in our physical bodies or energy fields using our intuition and sensory powers. The shamanic belief is that we have a few energy centers in our bodies: the Earth center – our legs; the fire center – the source of our sexual energy, passion and creativity ; the heart center – our power to love ; the throat center – our ability to express ourselves; the third eye center – enables us to “see” ; and the crown of our head – our thought and ideas center.

Some shamans are able to see energy blocks as a dark mass in their clients’ physical body or illuminated energy body. They learn to scan their clients’ inner physical and energy bodies with their knowing eyes and intuitive feelings. Shamans in the Amazon and other cultures can see these blockages once they ingest special medicinal plants. Some can locate it through candle reading, in which a client brushes a candle over their body and the candle absorbs their energy. Once lit, the shaman can spot any blockages. Some shamans can lay hands on or above their clients’ body and detect where negative energy lies by the different temperature it emits from the body. Some people can see it from far away. Some shamans see entities that intrude on a person’s body in the form of people or animals. In my healing workshops, I teach many people to successfully see and feel negative energies, and they are always so surprised at their ability to do so.

Where do these obstacles come from?

Most negative energy blockages originate from old fears, guilt put upon us by our immediate family members, energy attacks sent by others, negative beliefs and judgment, previous lifetime incidents, or intervention of passed-on souls. These blockages are obstacles that get in the way of our Material and Spiritual abundance. Sometimes we feel we do not deserve to have what we want. We may have an inner wish to not take on responsibilities, as the more we have, the more we have to take care of.

Throughout the ages, shamans have developed numerous tools and methods to remove these obstacles from their clients, which include: energy extraction and removal; soul retrieval, the process in which the shaman locate a missing part of the client’s soul and reunite it back to her clients; blessings and prayers; shamanic journeys with spirit guides to seek knowledge and answers on behalf of the client; positive affirmations and mind meditations; fire ceremonies to burn old negative energy and past and bring transformation; curse removal; invisible cord cutting that connect the clients to unhealthy relationships; and many more. Of course, each culture or tradition does it differently and uses different ingredients based on their locations, but the principles are similar.

Saying Yes to life. Abundance starts with you !

Every shamanic tradition has time-tested techniques for removing the blocks that prevent you from connecting with the flow of life. Our fears, which come from negative experiences or beliefs, convince us that we are not capable, that we're inadequate or undeserving. We deny ourselves, often without even realizing it. Rather than allowing the universe to flow through us, so we can receive the many opportunities it makes available, we stay stuck within our familiar limitations.

Yes. Abundance starts with you. By letting your river flow again, you will start to be in the flow of life and attract abundance to flow with you.

Here are some points to think about and work with. Be grateful and give thanks for everything that happens to you, both the “good” and the “bad.” Your “friends” and your “enemies” are your teachers; thank them for the opportunity they gave you to learn more about yourself. Don’t carry grudges; forgive yourself and others, especially your parents. Find what your life purpose is and what make you joyful and passionate, and pursue it with passion. Find faith in nature, in God, in the great creator; anything can work. To be in the abundance flow is to share and give to others, to your community, and to those who need more then you do.

BEWARE OF THE RISEN PEOPLE

The Right2Water campaign has said,  "In a panicked response to Saturday’s Right2Water demonstration, the Government added a new anomaly to its crumbling water tax edifice by introducing a tax credit and extending the Household Benefits package. "It leaves hundreds of thousands of low earners who do not earn enough to pay tax, and will not qualify for the Household Benefits package, empty handed." Around 100,000 people marched against the water charges in Dublin on Saturday. 

The Rebel 

I am come of the seed of the people, the people that sorrow;
Who have no treasure but hope,
No riches laid up but a memory of an ancient glory
My mother bore me in bondage, in bondage my mother was born,
I am of the blood of serfs;
The children with whom I have played, the men and women with whom I have eaten
Have had masters over them, have been under the lash of masters,
and though gentle, have served churls.
The hands that have touched mine,
the dear hands whose touch Is familiar to me
Have worn shameful manacles, have been bitten at the wrist by manacles,
have grown hard with the manacles and the task-work of strangers.
I am flesh of the flesh of these lowly, I am bone of their bone I that have never submitted;
I that have a soul greater than the souls of my people’s masters,
I that have vision and prophecy, and the gift of fiery speech,
I that have spoken with God on the top of his holy hill.
And because I am of the people, I understand the people,
I am sorrowful with their sorrow, I am hungry with their desire;
My heart is heavy with the grief of mothers,
My eyes have been wet with the tears of children,
I have yearned with old wistful men,
And laughed and cursed with young men;
Their shame is my shame, and I have reddened for it
Reddened for that they have served, they who should be free
Reddened for that they have gone in want, while others have been full,
Reddened for that they have walked in fear of lawyers and their jailors.
With their Writs of Summons and their handcuffs,
Men mean and cruel.
I could have borne stripes on my body
Rather than this shame of my people.
And now I speak, being full of vision:
I speak to my people, and I speak in my people’s name to
The masters of my people:
I say to my people that they are holy,
That they are august despite their chains.
That they are greater than those that hold them
And stronger and purer,
That they have but need of courage, and to call on the name of their God,
God the unforgetting, the dear God who loves the people
For whom he died naked, suffering shame.
And I say to my people’s masters: Beware
Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people
Who shall take what ye would not give.
Did ye think to conquer the people, or that law is stronger than life,
And than men’s desire to be free?
We will try it out with you ye that have harried and held,
Ye that have bullied and bribed.
Tyrants… hypocrites… liars!by Patrick Pearse

IRISH RISE FROM THEIR KNEES Don't Let the Sinners Divide

The great appear great because we are on 

our knees: Let us rise! - Jim Larkin

THE AUTHOR AND former presidential speechwriter Peggy Noonan once said: “A speech is poetry: cadence, rhythm, imagery, sweep! A speech reminds us that words, like children, have the power to make dance the dullest beanbag of a heart.”

One can not underestimate the power of a good speech or the effectiveness of a speech’s key line.

With that in mind, over the course of the summer TheJournal.ie is asking some of the most prominent figures in Irish society from politicians to sports stars to nominate their favourite speech of all time and tell us why they like it so much.

journal.ie: Socialist Party TD for Dublin North Clare Daly. She writes:

Larkin’s speech outside the gates of Mountjoy before beginning a sentence during the lock-out in 1913 stands out for me because of its total contrast with the approach of modern trade union leaders.

The call to continued action and defence of the class struggle, the goal of a better future for all, the spirit of self-sacrifice and the absolute resolve to ensure that workers only trust their own and don’t allow themselves to be sold out.

After seven years of struggle, his aspirations and concerns are for the movement generally and workers individually, a call of encouragement and hope.

Jim Larkin, (Photo via YouTube/ogiepanther)

James Larkin (Big Jim) was a major figure in the Irish labour movement. Born in England to Irish parents, he is best known for his role in the 1913 Dublin Lockout and for being a profound orator that captured the crowds. On 28 October 1913, Larkin was tried and sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment for using seditious language. From the gates of Mountjoy Prison Larkin made this speech:

At the entrance to Mountjoy Gaol I desire to address a few words of encouragement and hope to you. We have now been associated together for the past seven years. Throughout that period of time we were in a chronic state of sturm-und-drang, always and ever advancing from position to position. Attacks on us have been made in front and flank and we have always proved unconquerable. The fort is as impregnable to-day as in the past days when we hoisted the flag.

This great fight of ours is not simply a question of shorter hours or better wages. It is a great fight for human liberty of action, liberty to live as human beings should live, exercising their God-given faculties and powers over nature; always aiming to reach out for a higher betterment and development, trying to achieve in our own time the dreams of great thinkers and poets of this nation – not as some do, working for their own individual betterment and aggrandisement.

It has always been in our mind the building up of this nation not that we ourselves might enjoy the fulfilment of our own work, but that those who come after us may enter into the promised land. This work requires the right not only to combine, but to use that combination for our own economic and industrial emancipation.

Now, I will be away from you in the body, but I will be with you in spirit. I have faith that those men who are honoured by being left to bear the standard will get your heartiest, honest and sustained support, that there will be no compromise. Trust no one but yourselves; have faith in the men you have elected and will elect; they must be the men who will decide what settlement shall be arrived at in our present conflict.

Without wishing to cast any reflection upon our friends across the Channel, this fight must be settled by the men here at home in our own Union. Without in any way disparaging any order or section of the organised working-class, we of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union cannot only claim but can make good our claim of being the pioneers in this grand class war.

History speaks in no uncertain way; it tells us that thew pioneers must suffer, but suffering brings satisfaction and to us who have been pioneers, we must during the period of this class struggle which we have entered into depend upon loyalty, the faithfulness and the determination of what is known industrially as the unskilled workers. Sometimes compelled to retreat, we have come back again into battle with renewed strength and courage.

Men such as Daly Partridge, McKeown and Connolly – any of these may be liberty. These and these only must allow and authorise to act for you. There will  be an attempt to seduce you from your allegiance, but no one can mislead truth. Everyone hopes such deeps and just cause as that in which you and I are engaged must win out. Don’t forget the RED HAND that struck terror in the hearts of the sweaters and slum property owners, the publicans and all who may be out to destroy life.

We live to give life, hope and joy. And now for the sake of your children and children’s children, be true to yourselves; and, moreover, may you by the stress of the attack of this struggle learn anew; stand by the Union and live out the motto of your Union – ‘Each for All, and All for Each.’ I enjoin, even to the humblest and I so convey to all good luck till the prison gates are open.

(disambiguation).
James Larkin

Teachta Dála
In office
June 1943 – May 1944
In office
July 1937 – June 1938
Constituency Dublin North–East
In office
September 1927 – September 1927
Constituency Dublin North
Personal details
Born 21 January 1876
Liverpool, England
Died 30 January 1947(aged 72)
Dublin, Ireland
Resting place Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin
Nationality Irish
Political party Independent Labour Party (from 1893)
Labour Party (1912–23; 1941–47)
Socialist Party of America (1914–19)
Irish Worker League(1923–27)
Spouse(s) Elizabeth Brown
Children James Larkin, Jnr
Denis Larkin
Occupation Docker, trade union leader
Religion Roman Catholicism[1][2]


James (Jim) Larkin (21 January 1876 – 30 January 1947) was a British and Irish trade union leader and socialist activist, born to Irish parents inLiverpool, England. He and his family later moved to a small cottage in Burren, southernCounty Down. Growing up in poverty, he received little formal education and began working in a variety of jobs while still a child. He became a full-time trade union organiser in 1905.

Larkin moved to Belfast in 1907 and founded the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, the Irish Labour Party, and later the Workers' Union of Ireland. Perhaps best known for his role in the 1913 Dublin Lockout, "Big Jim" continues to occupy a significant place inDublin's collective memory.



Contents [hide]
1 Biography
1.1 Early years
1.2 Organising the Irish labour movement (1907–14)
1.3 Dublin Lockout 1913
1.4 Larkin in the US (1914–23)
1.5 Return to Ireland and communist activism
1.6 Return to the Labour Party
2 Commemoration
2.1 Literature
2.2 Songs
2.3 Monument
2.4 James Larkin Way
2.5 Liverpool Irish Festival 2008
2.6 People
3 See also
4 References
5 Other sources consulted
6 Further reading


Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]

Larkin was born on 21 January 1876 the second eldest son of Irish immigrants, James Larkin and Mary Ann McNulty, both natives of County Armagh. The impoverished Larkin family lived in the slums of Liverpool during the early years of his life. From the age of seven, he attended school in the mornings and worked in the afternoons to supplement the family income—a common arrangement in working class families at the time. At the age of fourteen, after the death of his father, he was apprenticed to the firm his father had worked for but was dismissed after two years. He was unemployed for a time and then worked as a sailor and docker. By 1903, he was a dock foreman, and on 8 September of that year, he married Elizabeth Brown.

From 1893, Larkin developed an interest in socialism and became a member of the Independent Labour Party. In 1905, he was one of the few foremen to take part in a strike on the Liverpool docks. He was elected to the strike committee, and although he lost his foreman's job as a result, his performance so impressed the National Union of Dock Labourers (NUDL) that he was appointed a temporary organiser. He later gained a permanent position with the union, which, in 1906, sent him toScotland, where he successfully organised workers in Prestonand Glasgow.
Organising the Irish labour movement (1907–14)[edit]

In January 1907, Larkin undertook his first task on behalf of the trade union movement in Ireland, when he arrived inBelfast to organise the city's dock workers for the NUDL. He succeeded in unionising the workforce and, as employers refused to meet the wage demands, he called the dockers out on strike in June. Carters and coal men soon joined in, the latter settling their dispute after a month. Larkin succeeded in uniting Protestant and Catholic workers and even persuaded the local Royal Irish Constabulary to strike at one point, but the strike ended by November without having achieved significant success. Tensions regarding leadership arose between Larkin and NUDL general secretary James Sexton. The latter's handling of negotiations and agreement to a disastrous settlement for the last of the strikers resulted in a lasting rift between Sexton and Larkin.

In 1908, Larkin moved south and organised workers in Dublin,Cork and Waterford, with considerable success. His involvement, against union instructions, in a dispute in Dublin resulted in his expulsion from the NUDL. The union later prosecuted him for diverting union funds to give strike pay to Cork workers engaged in an unofficial dispute. After trial and conviction for embezzlement in 1910, he was sentenced to prison for a year.[3] This was widely regarded as unjust, and the then Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Aberdeen, pardoned him after he had served three months in prison.

After his expulsion from the NUDL, Larkin founded the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) at the end of December 1908. The organisation exists today as the Services Industrial Professional & Technical Union (SIPTU). It quickly gained the affiliation of the NUDL branches in Dublin, Cork,Dundalk and Waterford. The Derry and Drogheda NUDL branches stayed with the British union, and Belfast split along sectarian lines. Early in the new year, 1909, Larkin moved to Dublin, which became the main base of the ITGWU and the focus of all his future union activity in Ireland.

In June 1911, Larkin established a newspaper, The Irish Worker and People's Advocate, as a pro-labour alternative to the capitalist-owned press. This organ was characterised by a campaigning approach and the harsh denunciation of unfair employers and of Larkin's political enemies. Its columns also included pieces by intellectuals. The paper was produced until its suppression by the authorities in 1915. Afterwards, theWorker metamorphosed into the new Ireland Echo.

In partnership with James Connolly, Larkin helped form theIrish Labour Party in 1912. Later that year, he was elected to the Dublin Corporation. He did not hold his seat long, as a month later he was removed as he had a criminal record since his conviction in 1910.
Dublin Lockout 1913[edit]
Main article: Dublin Lockout

In early 1913, Larkin achieved some notable successes in industrial disputes in Dublin; these involved frequent recourse to sympathetic strikes and blacking (boycotting) of goods. Two major employers, Guinness and the Dublin United Tramway Company, were the main targets of Larkin's organising ambitions. Both had craft unions for skilled workers, but Larkin's main aim was to unionise the unskilled workers as well. He coined the slogan "A fair day's work for a fair day's pay'.[4]

Guinness staff were relatively well-paid, and enjoyed generous benefits from a paternalistic management that refused to join Murphy's lock-out.[5] This was far from the case on the tramways. The chairman of the Dublin United Tramway Company, industrialist and newspaper proprietor William Martin Murphy, was determined not to allow the ITGWU to unionise his workforce. On 15 August, he dismissed forty workers he suspected of ITGWU membership, followed by another 300 over the next week. On 26 August, the tramway workers officially went on strike. Led by Murphy, over four hundred of the city's employers retaliated by requiring their workers to sign a pledge not to be a member of the ITGWU and not to engage in sympathetic strikes.

The resulting industrial dispute was the most severe in Ireland's history. Employers in Dublin engaged in a sympatheticlock-out of their workers when the latter refused to sign the pledge, employing blackleg labour from Great Britain and elsewhere in Ireland. Guinness, the largest employer in Dublin, refused the employers' call to lock out its workers but it sacked 15 workers who struck in sympathy. Dublin's workers, amongst the poorest in the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, were forced to survive on generous but inadequate donations from the British Trades Union Congress (TUC) and other sources in Ireland, distributed by the ITGWU.

For seven months the lock-out affected tens of thousands of Dublin's workers and employers, with Larkin portrayed as the villain by Murphy's three main newspapers, the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and the Evening Herald. Other leaders in the ITGWU at the time were James Connollyand William X. O'Brien, while influential figures such as Patrick Pearse, Constance Markievicz and William Butler Yeatssupported the workers in the generally anti-Larkin Irish press.The Irish Worker published the names and addresses of strike breakers, Irish Independent published the names and addresses of men and women who attempted to send their children out of the city to be cared for in foster homes in Belfast and Britain.[4][6] But Larkin never resorted to violence. He knew it would play into the hands of the anti-union companies and knew he could not build a mass trade union by wrecking the firms where his members worked.[4]

The lock-out eventually concluded in early 1914 when the calls for a sympathetic strike in Britain from Larkin and Connolly were rejected by the British TUC. Larkin's attacks on the TUC leadership for this stance also led to the cessation of financial aid to the ITGWU, which in any case was not affiliated to the TUC. Although the actions of the ITGWU and the smaller UBLU were unsuccessful in achieving substantially better pay and conditions for the workers, they marked a watershed in Irish labour history. The principle of union action and workers' solidarity had been firmly established. Perhaps even more importantly, Larkin's rhetoric, condemning poverty and injustice and calling for the oppressed to stand up for themselves, made a lasting impression.
Larkin in the US (1914–23)[edit]

Jim Larkin at his 8 November 1919 booking for "criminal anarchism" in the state of New York.

Some months after the lock-out ended, Larkin left for the United States. He intended to recuperate from the strain of the lock-out and raise funds for the union. His decision to leave dismayed many union activists. Once there he became a member of the Socialist Party of America, and was involved in the Industrial Workers of the World union. He became an enthusiastic supporter of the Soviet Union and was expelled from the Socialist Party of America in 1919 along with numerous other sympathisers of the Bolsheviks.

Larkin was reported as having helped disrupt Allied munitions shipments in New York City during World War I. In 1937, he voluntarily assisted US lawyers investigating the Black Tom explosion by providing an affidavit from his home in Dublin. According to British Army Intelligence officer, Henry Landau:


Larkin testified that he himself never took part in the actual sabotage campaign but, rather, confined himself to the organising of strikes to secure both higher pay and shorter hours for workmen and to prevent the shipment of munitions to the Allies.[7]

Larkin's speeches in support of the Soviet Union, his association with founding members of the American Communist Party, and his radical publications made him a target of the "First Red Scare" that was sweeping the US; he was jailed in 1920 for 'criminal anarchy' and was sentenced to five to ten years in Sing Sing prison. In 1923, he was pardoned and later deported by Al Smith, Governor of New York.
Return to Ireland and communist activism[edit]

Upon his return to Ireland in April 1923, Larkin received a hero's welcome, and immediately set about touring the country meeting trade union members and appealing for an end to theIrish Civil War. However, he soon found himself at variance with William O'Brien, who in his absence had become the leading figure in the ITGWU and the Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congress. Larkin was still officially general secretary of the ITGWU. The ITGWU leaders – Thomas Foran, William O'Brien, Thomas Kennedy: all colleagues of Larkin during the Lockout – sued him. Their counsel told the court that Larkin had justified the occupation by false and malicious attacks on their characters, to oust them and to gain sole control of the union. The Master of the Rolls, presiding, declared: "It is surprising that a man of Mr Larkin's intelligence should launch so desperate an invective against these people for irregularities, in the misapplication of funds and the falsification of documents, when I have before me a document which bears the name of James Larkin, which has been proved to be a mis-statement." Larkin's "mis-statement" asserted that the Transport Union had £1,746.69 in the Hibernian Bank in December 1913, whereas the union account was completely empty. Moreover, since all relevant union account books had mysteriously been destroyed, no explanation for the missing money was possible. The court duly found against Larkin, ordering him to pay the costs of both sides. The bitterness of the court case between the former organisers of the 1913 Lockout would last over twenty years.[6]

In September 1923 Larkin formed the Irish Worker League(IWL), which was soon afterwards recognised by the Cominternas the Irish section of the world communist movement. In 1924 Larkin attended the Comintern congress in Moscow and was elected to its executive committee. On his return Larkin announced that he had addressed some 20 million Russians, having been elected as one of "the 25 men to govern the world" and boasted that he had been appointed a Chief of Battalion of the Red Army, whose 2.5 million men had "pledged to come to the assistance of Irish workers". However, the League was not organised as a political party, never held a general congress and never succeeded in being politically effective. Its most prominent activity in its first year was to raise funds for imprisoned members of the Anti-Treaty IRA.

During Larkin's absence at the 1924 Comintern congress (and apparently against his instructions), his brother Peter took his supporters out of the ITGWU, forming the Workers' Union of Ireland (WUI). The new union quickly grew, gaining the allegiance of about two-thirds of the Dublin membership of the ITGWU and of a smaller number of rural members. It affiliated to the pro-Soviet Red International of Labour Unions.

Larkin launched a vicious attack on the Labour leader, Tom Johnston, who like Larkin, was Liverpool-born. But whereas Johnston had spent most of his life in Ireland, Larkin had been as long in the US as he had in Ireland. "It's time that Labour dealt with this English traitor," Larkin trumpeted. "If they don't get rid of this scoundrel, they'll get the bullet and the bayonet in reward. There's nothing for it, but a dose of the lead which Johnson promises to those who look for work." This incitement to murder Johnston in a still-violent post-Civil War country cost Larkin £1,000 in libel damages.[6]

In January 1925, the Comintern sent Communist Party of Great Britain activist Bob Stewart to Ireland to establish a communist party in co-operation with Larkin. A formal founding conference of the Irish Worker League, which was to take up this role, was set for May 1925. A fiasco ensued when the organisers discovered at the last minute that Larkin did not intend to attend. Feeling that the proposed party could not succeed without him, they called the conference off as it was due to start in a packed room in the Mansion House in Dublin.

At the September 1927 general election, Larkin ran (a huge surprise for all) in Dublin North and was elected.[8] However, as a result of a libel award against him won by William O'Brien, which he had refused to pay, he was an undischarged bankrupt and could not take up his seat.

Larkin was unsuccessful in his attempts in the following years to gain a position as a commercial agent in Ireland for theSoviet Union, and this may have contributed to his disenchantment with Stalinism. The Soviets, for their part, were increasingly impatient with what they saw as his ineffective leadership. From the early 1930s Larkin drew away from the Soviet Union. While in the 1932 general election he stood without success as a communist, in 1933 and subsequently he ran as "Independent Labour". In 1934 he gave important evidence on the 1916 Black Tom explosion to John J. McCloy,[9]allowing a case for damages against Germany to be reopened; presumably because of Germany's new Nazi government.[10]

During this period he also engaged in a rapprochement with the Catholic Church. In 1936 he regained his seat on Dublin Corporation. He then regained his Dáil seat at the 1937 general election but lost it again the following year.[11] In this period the Workers' Union of Ireland also entered the mainstream of the trade union movement, being admitted to the Dublin Trades Council in 1936, although the Irish Trade Union Congress would not accept its membership application until 1945.
Return to the Labour Party[edit]

Larkin's gravestone in Glasnevin Cemetery

In 1941 a new trade union bill was published by the Government. Inspired by an internal trade union restructuring proposal by William O'Brien, it was viewed as a threat by the smaller general unions and the Irish branches of British unions (known as the 'amalgamated unions'). Larkin and the WUI played a leading role in the unsuccessful campaign against the bill. After its passage into law he and his supporters successfully applied for admission to the Labour Party, where they were now regarded with more sympathy by many members. O'Brien in response disaffiliated the ITGWU from the party, forming the rivalNational Labour Party and denouncing what he claimed was communist influence in Labour. Larkin later served as a Labour Party deputy in Dáil Éireann from 1943–44.[11]

James Larkin died in his sleep on 30 January 1947. His funeral mass was celebrated by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, and thousands lined the streets of the city as the hearse passed through on the way to Glasnevin Cemetery.
Commemoration[edit]
Literature[edit]

Larkin has been the subject of poems by Brendan Behan,[12]Patrick Kavanagh,[13] Frank O'Connor and Lola Ridge; his character has been central in plays by Daniel Corkery, George Russell (Æ), and Sean O'Casey;[14] and he is a heroic figure in the background of James Plunkett's novel Strumpet City.[15]
Songs[edit]

James Larkin was memorialised by the New York Irish rock band Black 47, in their song The Day They Set Jim Larkin Freeand The Ballad of James Larkin was recorded by Christy Mooreand also the Dubliners. Paddy Reilly sings a song simply entitled Jim Larkin that describes the lot of the worker and their appreciation of the changes made by Larkin and Connolly .
Monument[edit]

Statue of James Larkin on O'Connell Street, Dublin (Oisín Kelly 1977)

Today a statue of "Big Jim" stands onO'Connell Street in Dublin. The inscription on the front of the monument is an extract in French, Irish and English from one of his famous speeches:


Les grands ne sont grands que parce que nous sommes à genoux: Levons-nous.
Ní uasal aon uasal ach sinne bheith íseal: Éirímis.
The great appear great because we are on our knees: Let us rise.

The slogan, first used on the 18th century French radical paper Révolutions de Paris,[16] also appeared on the masthead of the Workers' Republic, founded by James Connolly in Dublin in August 1898. Originally the organ of the Irish Socialist Republican Party, this periodical later became the official organ of the Communist Party of Ireland, which was founded in 1921. The original slogan is usually attributed to Camille Desmoulins (1760–1794), theFrench revolutionary;[citation needed] but it appears, only slightly modified, in an essay written by Étienne de La Boétie(1530–1563) and first published in 1576.[17]

On the west side of the base of the Larkin monument is a quotation from the poem Jim Larkin by Patrick Kavanagh:


And Tyranny trampled them in Dublin's gutter
Until Jim Larkin came along and cried
The call of Freedom and the call of Pride
And Slavery crept to its hands and knees
And Nineteen Thirteen cheered from out the utter
Degradation of their miseries.

On the east side of the monument there is a quotation fromDrums under the Windows by Seán O'Casey:


...He talked to the workers, spoke as only Jim Larkin could speak, not for an assignation with peace, dark obedience, or placid resignation, but trumpet-tongued of resistance to wrong, discontent with leering poverty, and defiance of any power strutting out to stand in the way of their march onward.

A road in Clontarf, North Dublin, is named after him.
James Larkin Way[edit]

A road in L4 1YQ, Kirkdale, in his home city of Liverpool, just off Scotland Road, is called James Larkin Way.
Liverpool Irish Festival 2008[edit]

To celebrate Liverpool's capital of culture, the Liverpool Irish Festival held a 'James Larkin Evening' at the 'Casa' bar-the Dockers pub in central Liverpool. This was attended by Francis Devine who wrote the general history of the Trade Union movement in Dublin and the formation of SIPTU, it was introduced by Liverpool/ Irish, Marcus Maher, who came over from Dublin to present a special commissioned painting by Finbar Coyle to James Larkin's last remaining Liverpool nephew, Tom Larkin. The painting reflects both Dublin, where Larkin would spend his remaining political career, and on the other side the 'Liver Birds' and his home city of Liverpool.
People[edit]

The Transport and General Workers' Union activist Jack Jones, whose full name was James Larkin Jones, was named in honour of his fellow Liverpudlian.