Category: Theory
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When British troops were sent onto Ireland’s streets
50 years ago, on Sunday 30 January 1972, the British Army opened fire on a peaceful civil rights march in Derry in the North of Ireland. 14 innocent people were killed in an atrocity. For decades, the British ruling class attempted to cover up the atrocity. When British troops were sent into Ireland in 1969,…
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40 years since the Irish hunger strikes: the struggle for a Socialist United Ireland continues
On this day 40 years ago, in the face of Tory intransigence, the hunger strike by Republican political prisoners in Ireland came to an end. Decades on, only revolutionary class struggle can provide a future free from oppression and sectarianism. On 3 October 1981, the remaining Irish Republicans on hunger strike in the North of…
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The partition of Ireland at 100: a story of blood-soaked counter-revolution
One hundred years ago, on 3 May 1921, the partition of Ireland became law in the British parliament. As the Marxist revolutionary, James Connolly, had predicted, partition created “a carnival of reaction both North and South”.
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‘Common History, Common Struggle’ – from an error of emphasis to opportunism
Peter Hadden was still working on the finishing touches of his book, Common History, Common Struggle, when he sadly passed away in 2010. In it he analysed the events surrounding the beginning of the Troubles in Ireland. What began as a mass uprising of working-class, Catholic neighbourhoods eventually descended into a reactionary spiral of violence.
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What lies behind the collapse of Stormont?
The power-sharing deal in the North of Ireland, established with the Good Friday Agreement, has broken down. The old system of rule no longer works, an indication of the pressures that flow from the economic crisis. Gerry Ruddy looks at why and how this has come about. The partition of Ireland leading to the establishment…
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The Irish establishment “celebrates” the Easter Rising – A shameful charade
On Sunday an official state ceremony was held in Dublin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. The officials present, including the men of the Church, represent a class that did not support the Rising in 1916, but who now wish to present themselves as heirs to that heroic struggle. Here Alan…
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The Twelfth of July by James Connolly
The Ulster loyalist celebrations known as ‘The Twelfth,’ celebrated every 12 July in the North of Ireland, commemorate the victory of William of Orange over King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. They are used to whip up sectarian tensions by specifically anti-catholic groups such as the Orange Order, who amongst…