IRSN Salute Thirty-four Years of Republican Socialist Struggle
10 Dec 2008
The Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM) is today 34 years old. The IRSM is the combined revolutionary activists of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, Irish National Liberation Army, Republican Socialist Prisoners of War, and its supporters abroad. Founded on 10 December 1974, the IRSM remains one of the best embodiments in Ireland today of the political tendency of which William Thompson, Fintan Lalor, James Stephens, J.P. McDonnell, James Connolly, Jim Larkin, Peadar O Donnell, Frank Ryan, Mick Price, and Nora Connolly-O Brien were a part.
The IRSM has suffered through what Bernadette McAliskey once called the greatest level of repression ever directed against any party in Irish history. Most tragically, having suffered the murder of its founding chairperson Seamus Costello by the OIRA and its second chairperson Miriam Daly, along with leading activists Ronnie Bunting and Noel Little at the hands of the SAS, all before the end of 1980—a mere six years after the movement’s founding. The virtual decapitation of the IRSM, at such an early time during its history, left scars that continue to leave a mark on the IRSM to the present day.
Though the murder of Costello represented the loss of a revolutionary of such stature, a movement might never hope to again see his like; amazingly the IRSM had the good fortune to again have a leader of unequalled intelligence, charisma, courage, and determination arise from within in its ranks, when Gino Gallagher became the last Chief of Staff of the INLA and the dynamic force behind the creation of a collective leadership for both the IRSP and INLA. Thus it was all the more bitter, when within only a handful of years, Gino Gallagher too was murdered by former comrades who had turned into cynical reactionaries.
The IRSM survived the terrible blow of losing Comrade Gallagher, but without his leadership the movement retreated from the direction in which Gino had lead them and less than a year after the murder, voices from within the Ard Comahairle of the IRSP were seeking an INLA cease-fire. While the initial effort was soundly rejected by the majority of the party’s members, less than nine months after the debate and vote had taken place, the IRSP Ard Comhairle called upon the INLA to lay down its arms.
It has now been ten years since the declaration of the INLA cease-fire. The Irish working class have yet to see a coherent programme emerge from the IRSM to make plain the Way Forward, since concluding the struggle in arms. In that time, the Irish Socialist Party and Socialist Workers Party have overtaken the predominance of the IRSP in some political arenas in Ireland and more recently both eigiri and the Irish Socialist Network have emerged to join Socialist Democracy in challenging the IRSP’s previous dominance as the Ireland’s republican socialist vanguard.
The INLA continues to maintain its arms and commemorate its martyrs, but has offered no analysis of what circumstances might again call for resuming an armed strategy, nor how it sees its role during the present period. While eschewing the role of community police force within the nationalist community of the six counties, today the INLA chiefly acts against drug dealers—which the bourgeois media invert into allegations of drug dealing. Despite not having challenged the British occupation forces in the six counties militarily for over ten years now, the past year and a half has seen the arrest of somewhere near 18 members of the IRSM, primarily on charges of INLA membership. This harassment by the 26-county regime only adds more infamy to its unrelenting persecution of Comrade Dessie O Hare, who was kept incarcerated years after an amnesty should have seen him released, making plain that the IRSM remains the favorite target of British imperialists and Irish capitalist alike.
Despite the criticism raised by comrades of the International Republican Socialist Network of the course taken by the IRSP since 2004, the IRSN continues to work in support of the POWs of the IRSM, having continuously provided financial assistance to the IRSM’s prisoners since its founding and continues to express its solidarity with the IRSM as among the leading embodiments of revolutionary working class consciousness in Ireland today. We in the IRSN remember with pride the heroic history of the IRSM and continue to work to build greater awareness of and support for the IRSM internationally.
The 34-years that the IRSP and INLA have fought for national liberation and socialism in Ireland offer profound lessons to revolutionaries around the globe, for any who would take the time to learn them and the comrades of the IRSN will continue in their efforts to bring the news of the IRSM’s revolutionary history to other revolutionaries, internationally and to adapt the lessons of its experience in ways that enhance the revolutionary struggle of other nations fighting for national liberation and socialism.
With the IRSM, we consider the Starry Plough to be our banner. The comrades of the International Republican Socialist Network hail the memory of the IRSM’s martyrs, defend the prisoners of that movement, and applaud the ongoing efforts of the revolutionaries within that movement on behalf of the Irish working class. With the IRSM, the IRSN’s comrades embrace the history of the IRSM as our own, and strive to uphold its revolutionary traditions. On this 34th anniversary, the International Republican Socialist Network sends greeting of sincere solidarity to the IRSM and raises a glass in toast to its continued fight for an Irish workers’ republic.
Adh mor,
Peter Urban,
Comrade, the International Republican Socialist Network
The Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM) is today 34 years old. The IRSM is the combined revolutionary activists of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, Irish National Liberation Army, Republican Socialist Prisoners of War, and its supporters abroad. Founded on 10 December 1974, the IRSM remains one of the best embodiments in Ireland today of the political tendency of which William Thompson, Fintan Lalor, James Stephens, J.P. McDonnell, James Connolly, Jim Larkin, Peadar O Donnell, Frank Ryan, Mick Price, and Nora Connolly-O Brien were a part.
The IRSM has suffered through what Bernadette McAliskey once called the greatest level of repression ever directed against any party in Irish history. Most tragically, having suffered the murder of its founding chairperson Seamus Costello by the OIRA and its second chairperson Miriam Daly, along with leading activists Ronnie Bunting and Noel Little at the hands of the SAS, all before the end of 1980—a mere six years after the movement’s founding. The virtual decapitation of the IRSM, at such an early time during its history, left scars that continue to leave a mark on the IRSM to the present day.
Though the murder of Costello represented the loss of a revolutionary of such stature, a movement might never hope to again see his like; amazingly the IRSM had the good fortune to again have a leader of unequalled intelligence, charisma, courage, and determination arise from within in its ranks, when Gino Gallagher became the last Chief of Staff of the INLA and the dynamic force behind the creation of a collective leadership for both the IRSP and INLA. Thus it was all the more bitter, when within only a handful of years, Gino Gallagher too was murdered by former comrades who had turned into cynical reactionaries.
The IRSM survived the terrible blow of losing Comrade Gallagher, but without his leadership the movement retreated from the direction in which Gino had lead them and less than a year after the murder, voices from within the Ard Comahairle of the IRSP were seeking an INLA cease-fire. While the initial effort was soundly rejected by the majority of the party’s members, less than nine months after the debate and vote had taken place, the IRSP Ard Comhairle called upon the INLA to lay down its arms.
It has now been ten years since the declaration of the INLA cease-fire. The Irish working class have yet to see a coherent programme emerge from the IRSM to make plain the Way Forward, since concluding the struggle in arms. In that time, the Irish Socialist Party and Socialist Workers Party have overtaken the predominance of the IRSP in some political arenas in Ireland and more recently both eigiri and the Irish Socialist Network have emerged to join Socialist Democracy in challenging the IRSP’s previous dominance as the Ireland’s republican socialist vanguard.
The INLA continues to maintain its arms and commemorate its martyrs, but has offered no analysis of what circumstances might again call for resuming an armed strategy, nor how it sees its role during the present period. While eschewing the role of community police force within the nationalist community of the six counties, today the INLA chiefly acts against drug dealers—which the bourgeois media invert into allegations of drug dealing. Despite not having challenged the British occupation forces in the six counties militarily for over ten years now, the past year and a half has seen the arrest of somewhere near 18 members of the IRSM, primarily on charges of INLA membership. This harassment by the 26-county regime only adds more infamy to its unrelenting persecution of Comrade Dessie O Hare, who was kept incarcerated years after an amnesty should have seen him released, making plain that the IRSM remains the favorite target of British imperialists and Irish capitalist alike.
Despite the criticism raised by comrades of the International Republican Socialist Network of the course taken by the IRSP since 2004, the IRSN continues to work in support of the POWs of the IRSM, having continuously provided financial assistance to the IRSM’s prisoners since its founding and continues to express its solidarity with the IRSM as among the leading embodiments of revolutionary working class consciousness in Ireland today. We in the IRSN remember with pride the heroic history of the IRSM and continue to work to build greater awareness of and support for the IRSM internationally.
The 34-years that the IRSP and INLA have fought for national liberation and socialism in Ireland offer profound lessons to revolutionaries around the globe, for any who would take the time to learn them and the comrades of the IRSN will continue in their efforts to bring the news of the IRSM’s revolutionary history to other revolutionaries, internationally and to adapt the lessons of its experience in ways that enhance the revolutionary struggle of other nations fighting for national liberation and socialism.
With the IRSM, we consider the Starry Plough to be our banner. The comrades of the International Republican Socialist Network hail the memory of the IRSM’s martyrs, defend the prisoners of that movement, and applaud the ongoing efforts of the revolutionaries within that movement on behalf of the Irish working class. With the IRSM, the IRSN’s comrades embrace the history of the IRSM as our own, and strive to uphold its revolutionary traditions. On this 34th anniversary, the International Republican Socialist Network sends greeting of sincere solidarity to the IRSM and raises a glass in toast to its continued fight for an Irish workers’ republic.
Adh mor,
Peter Urban,
Comrade, the International Republican Socialist Network