Tag: Republicanism

  • Ireland after the Ceasefire

    Ireland after the Ceasefire

    30 years ago, on 31 August 1994 the Provisional IRA declared a ceasefire. 25 years of armed struggle had failed to bring the unification of Ireland any closer. The ceasefire (which despite an interruption between 1996 and 1997 would eventually lead to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998) was an admission on…

  • James Connolly and the struggle for Irish independence

    James Connolly and the struggle for Irish independence

    The great revolutionary James Connolly was born 156 years ago today to Irish parents in Edinburgh. Connolly grew to be the greatest Marxist ever produced by these islands; an iconic figure in the history of the Irish working class. Executed by the British army in 1916 following his leading role in the Easter Rising, Connolly’s…

  • Dublin Lockout

    Dublin Lockout

    The 26th of August 2023 marked the 110-year anniversary of the beginning of the Dublin Lockout. 20,000 members of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) battled with the forces of British and Irish capitalism. The workers were conscious that this was a life-or-death struggle for the very existence of their organisations. They made…

  • Republicanism and Revolution: “the rich always betray the poor”

    Republicanism and Revolution: “the rich always betray the poor”

    In 1798, the first uprising took place against British rule in favour of a Republic in Ireland, inspired by the democratic ideals of the French and American revolutions. 

  • 100 attend successful book launch of ‘Ireland: Republicanism and Revolution’ by Alan Woods

    100 attend successful book launch of ‘Ireland: Republicanism and Revolution’ by Alan Woods

    On Saturday 26 November, 65 people gathered in the London Irish Centre, with another 35 connecting online, for the launch of the new edition of Alan Woods’ Ireland: Republicanism and Revolution (order here). Comrades joined the live-streamed event from Ireland, Britain, Sweden, the USA and Canada, making this a really international gathering.

  • Bloody Sunday: fifty years on

    Bloody Sunday: fifty years on

    50 years ago today, soldiers of the British paratroop regiment opened fire on a peaceful civil rights march in the North of Ireland. 13 people were killed immediately, and a 14th victim died later as a result of his injuries. For half a century, the British state has covered up this atrocity, a crime for…

  • 40 years since the Irish hunger strikes: the struggle for a Socialist United Ireland continues

    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…

  • What lies behind the collapse of Stormont?

    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…

  • Bus Éireann dispute: explosive anger a harbinger of the class struggle to come

    Bus Éireann dispute: explosive anger a harbinger of the class struggle to come

    After Bus Éireann, a subsidiary of Ireland’s state-owned public transport operator (CIÉ) responsible for bus travel outside of Dublin, announced a swathe of attacks against workers and bus services, the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) declared an all-out strike effective from midnight on 23rd March. The bus drivers have reacted to these attacks with…

  • The Irish establishment “celebrates” the Easter Rising – A shameful charade

    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…