Ireland: Republicanism and Revolution

by Alan Woods

"The cause of labour is the cause of Ireland, the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour." - James Connolly
The national liberation movement in Ireland stands once more at a crossroads. For thirty years, the Provisional IRA fought an armed struggle to eject British imperialism, without bringing Ireland one step closer to unification. Now, decades after the IRA declared a ceasefire and Sinn Féin politicians took up ministerial portfolios in the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Good Friday Agreement is tattered and failing.
The armed struggle and the constitutional road to a United Ireland have both landed in dead ends. The question is now posed before socialist in a period of unprecedented capitalist crisis, when all the old contradictions are bursting violently to the surface - where next?
For more than 200 years, generation after generation of Irish men and women have fought for national liberation from British imperialism under the banner of the Irish Republic. In studying this rich revolutionary heritage, one lesson shines through, bought at an enormous cost of life and only through the socialist revolution is the attainment of complete national liberation and reunification of Ireland possible.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

138 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Alan Woods is a Trotskyist political theorist. He is one of the leading members of the British group Socialist Appeal as well as its parent group, the International Marxist Tendency (IMT). He is political editor of the IMT's In Defence of Marxism website.

Woods supported the Militant tendency within the UK Labour Party until the early 1990s, when he and Ted Grant were expelled from the tendency and founded the Committee for a Marxist International (soon renamed International Marxist Tendency) in 1992. They continued with the policy of entryism into the Labour Party.

Woods has been particularly vocal in his support for the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, and has repeatedly met with the socialist Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, leading to speculation he was a close political adviser.

Reviews

[Séamas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last two chapters have a theoretical edge which cuts through much of the problems facing the Republican movement both historically and in modern times. While somewhat dated, being produced 14 years ago, it is an excellent analysis of the Republican movement that "calls things by their right name".

[Sasha Boucher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshing read, most Irish historians tend to focus almost exclusively on the Irish Volunteers, Sinn Fein, the Fenians, and the IRA, any mention of class struggle and/or class analysis of the troubles is fleeting if at all present. It obviously couldn't delve into every detail of the past 120 years in one book, but it's a great way of familiarizing yourself with the Irish struggle.

[William Gedling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellently highlights the main revolutionary threads woven in Irish history. It highlights the incredible heights of James Connolly's emphasis of working class independence in perspectives and action, in contrast to the sectarianism of the petty-bourgeoisie in the service of both the Irish and British Bourgeoisie. Only when an independent, revolutionary force led by united working class of Ireland can, not only the border question but, all social and economic issues be resolved in the interests of all workers; no matter their religion!

[Jay]

Forward to Connolly!

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book by a fantastic writer

[Effixe Avalé · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je connaissais très mal l'histoire révolutionnaire de la classe ouvrière irlandaise, et quelles brillantes leçons ce livre fournit-il à cet égard!

Sans doute le meilleur exposé pour marteler encore et encore que, la question nationale dérivant en dernière analyse de la question sociale, elle ne peut être résolue qu'à travers l'unité de la classe ouvrière par-delà toutes ses barrières religieuses ou ethniques.

Cela fait plus de cent ans que le marasme du républicanisme perdure sous la férule du sectarisme le plus crasse : il est grand temps de percer la chape de plomb! Alan Woods opère ici avec brio un retour aux sources, à même les idées de James Connolly, les seules qui peuvent orienter le prolétariat irlandais vers une véritable libération nationale.

« Nous ne pourrions concevoir une Irlande libre avec une classe ouvrière assujettie, nous ne pourrions concevoir une Irlande assujettie avec une classe ouvrière libre. »

[Niceto · Rating 5 out of 5]

The key objectives and ideas of the Irish Republican movement couldn’t have been highlighted better than this.

James Connolly’s socialist approach to the national question in Ireland is perfectly conveyed and justified. Alan Woods insist upon this approach and reinforces Connolly’s ideas by explaining the history of the Irish bourgeois’ and petty-bourgeois’ betrayal of the Irish people’s efforts for political and economic sovereignty.

Woods also criticizes the “Individual Terror” of the Provisional IRA that emerged in 1969. He accepts that the revolutionary movements of masses cannot succeed without armed struggle while also underlining that an armed struggle which is independent from the masses (PIRA) will not only fail against imperialism, but will also damage the revolutionary efforts of the working class.

I believe that this book, Connolly’s ideas and his methods are not only inspirational for Irish, but for all the people who are oppressed by imperialists.

[Olive Rickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brief book which by no means covers the history I. Seth but draws out the key lessons for the republican movement and key lessons for the British and international working class.

[Reed Landry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Presents an interesting and useful historical narrative with inadequate historical research to back it up. Convinced of its own claims in advance. Dogmatic Marxism.