NATIONALISM IS NOT A SCOURGE - Village Magazine

October-November 2024 7

Castlebar

Co Mayo

A Chara,

I am writing to express my deep disappointment at

the recent editorial in your magazine (issue 83) titled

’Nationalism, a scourge’. Having been an avid reader

of your magazine for some time now, admired the

integrity of journalism, and shared the progressive

outlook of the magazine, I was dismayed to read the

regressive and divisive opinion piece in the most

recent issue. While I have no doubt of the good and

progressive intentions of the author, I cannot help but

raise some of my concerns, and hopefully by the end

of this email, you shall ﬁnd that Irish Republicanism

is in fact something that represents the ideals of your

magazine and should not be “dumped”.

Firstly, I take issue with your argument that

Republicanism “provides no guide once a country

gets rid of its monarch or emperor, the primary targets

of Republicanism”. Irish Republicanism was ﬁrst

espoused by the Society of United Irishmen led by the

protestant aristocrat Theobald Wolfe Tone. Inspired

by the liberal ideals of the French Revolution, it sought

to establish a French-style democratic Irish Republic.

While not explicitly socialist, it advocated for “the

men of no property” — the rank and ﬁle of the 1798

rebellion, (and later 1803 rebellion) — and

championed the rights of persecuted Catholics. This

was a non-sectarian organisation, (while sectarian

atrocities did tragically occur on both sides).

Republicanism continued to evolve into the

ninteenth centur y with thinkers such as James Finton-

Lawler promoting class-consciousness, arguing that

the class struggle was inseparable from the national

struggle (decades before Marx!). Michael Davitt, and

the Fenian ‘New Departure’ committed the Republican

cause to the small tenant-farmers, winning drastic

land reforms through collective action.

James Connolly was the most famous advocate for

socialist republicanism, arguing that “the cause of

labour is the cause of Ireland” and vice versa.

The 1916 proclamation, the founding document of

modern republicanism, declares “the right of the

people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland”, and is

indisputably left-wing and progressive in its outlook.

The “Democratic Programme” of the 1st Dáil was

similarly radical in its social policy. Liam Mellows of

the anti-Treaty IRA fully embraced socialism, arguing

that “Under the Republic, all industry will be controlled

by the State for the workers’ and farmers’ beneﬁt. All

transport, railways, canals, etc, will be operated by

the State — the Republican State — for the beneﬁt of

the workers and farmers. All banks will be operated

by the State for the beneﬁt of industry and agriculture,

not for the purpose of proﬁt-making by loans,

mortgages, etc. That the lands of the aristocracy (who

support the Free State and the British connection) will

be seized and divided amongst those who can and

will operate it for the nation’s beneﬁt”.

It was Republicans who led the Irish international

brigade which fought Franco’s Fascist uprising in

Spain. It was Republicans who fought the Fascist

Blueshirts on Irish streets. Republicans defended

Derry Catholics from RUC brutality. Republicans have

stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people since

the beginning of the brutal Israeli occupation. Surely

the martyrdom of Connolly and Mellows, the legacy

of Countess Markievicz and Bernadette Devlin, the

heroism of Peadar O’ Donnell and Bobby Sands are

something to be celebrated, and their work continued?

I don’t understand how you can reduce these

principled men and women, who often paid the

ultimate price for their ideals, to ‘political sluts’.

I recently encountered a video of recently elected

People Before Proﬁt councillor Darragh Adelaide

confronting a racist right-wing protestor in Dublin. As

a proud Irishman, Adelaide confronted the man,

speaking as Gaeilge. The racist, who, despite claiming

to be a ‘nationalist’ couldn’t speak the nation’s ﬁrst

language, was shocked that a non-white person could

speak the language. While I don’t know if Adelaide

would call himself a ‘nationalist’ or a ‘republican’,

such actions are how progressives around the country

reclaim the idea of Irish nationality as an anti-colonial,

anti-capitalist and progressive movement.

I do, however, 100% agree with the majority of what

you said. In recent months I have been hugely

disappointed at Sinn Féin’s posturing to the far-right.

Leftists need to ensure that those who claim to

represent the republican cause do so, and do not

resort to populism, lest they become, as you

excellently put it, “Fianna Fáil for slow learners”.

Rather than abandon the goal of a 32-county Irish

socialist Republic, progressives need to hold Sinn

Féin accountable to it, and if they continue their drift

to the centre, we need to provide a principled

republican opposition.

Nationalism does not need to be ‘toxic’. Look at ‘An

Dream Dearg’, an Irish language advocacy group who

are one of the loudest pro-Palestinian voices in the

country. We should be proud of the country, not as it

is, but as we want it to be.

Progressive forces need to demonstrate to the

people that we are so patriotic, so committed to the

egalitarian goal of 1916 that we will not stand for the

usurpers of our ﬂag. We cannot surrender our ﬂag to

the fascists, the racists, the homophobes and the

downright stupid. The left needs to rebuild the

Republican cause for the 21st century, rather than

divide the Irish people further.

Is mise le meas,

Muiris Ó Clochartaigh

NATIONALISM IS NOT A SCOURGE

VillageOctNov24.indb 7 03/10/2024 14:27