In politics, as in comedy, timing is everything. Unfortunately, this important book was completed before the recent general election, the results of which dent somewhat the optimistic tone of the editors’ introduction.
Oisín Gilmore and David Landy argue, against what they see as a prevailing culture of pessimism, that during the years after 2009 “the left achieved significant successes, mobilised hundreds of thousands and changed the political culture of Ireland”, resulting in a “transformed electoral landscape”.
There is some truth in this and many of the essays in this collection illustrate the huge effort put in by activists in those years, whether in opposing water charges or fighting for Repeal. But despite all the upheavals since the Great Recession, in Ireland, the centre (right) has clearly held. Nevertheless, this book is an important reminder that change often comes only through grassroots campaigning, at times involving relatively small numbers and is often denounced by “respectable” opinion.
But the reality is that attempts to build left-wing alliances in Ireland have foundered. The book fails to convey the level of mutual dislike and indeed contempt which hinders such co-operation. Deciding to largely avoid discussing politics north of the Border was also a mistake. The national question helps explain at least some of the left’s disunity. Neither can we ignore that partition reflects the single biggest division within the working class on this island.
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The editors’ historical overview contains a number of assumptions which are at least contestable. The anti-capitalist potential of Irish republicanism is overstated. So the radical and secular 1867 Fenian manifesto is quoted, but not the far more influential (though less radical and certainly not secular) 1916 proclamation.
The significance of the 1913 Lockout and syndicalism is significantly underplayed. But Larkinism cast a long shadow. During the 1960s southern Ireland had the highest strike rate in western Europe. As an exasperated Irish Congress of Trade Unions delegate complained in 1970, “the problem is that (our) members will not pass any picket”. That this militancy occurred in a conservative Catholic polity may be confusing, but it is a fact.
Kevin Doyle does identify “the steady decline in working-class self-activity since the mid-1980s” as a key problem, noting that today “independent working-class self-organisation (is) practically extinct”. Mary Muldowney describes the lack of response by much of the trade union movement to austerity and notes the importance of social partnership in weakening the organisation since 1987.
But while the book’s focus is on recent struggles, there needed to be a deeper examination of working-class politics in 20th-century Ireland. Why did the unions embrace partnership and were there alternatives? There are other gaps. Crime, in antisocial and organised varieties, is a real issue for working-class communities. If this book is taken as a guide, however, then the left has nothing to say about it.
Irish gangland was once somewhat constrained by the existence of republican opposition. That no longer exists in the same way, and this is a factor not only in the confidence of criminals but also in the brazenness of the far right. Though the book’s conclusion reflects on the emergence of this phenomenon, it understates it somewhat. While they did not perform well in the general election, the far right’s agitation, particularly since 2020, has succeeded in mainstreaming racist sentiment; 2024 alone marked two large anti-immigrant marches through the centre of Dublin, which included openly fascist contingents.
Small groups of anti-racists were left to impotently wave Palestinian flags from behind Garda lines. Gardaí who, despite the magical thinking of some, were required to protect those left-wingers. Would anyone have predicted that in 2009? Part of the impetus (and possibly the funding) for the far right’s momentum comes from abroad. However, due to what the editors claim was the “relatively small role” international solidarity played for the left in the period under question, this book does not really address global issues. But they are another one of the left’s significant fault lines.
During the last decade alone Irish socialists volunteered to fight alongside the Kurds. One of those who did, Finbar Cafferkey, was subsequently killed in Ukraine. Arguments about that conflict and those in the Middle East have seriously divided the Irish left and affected their ability to co-operate. As elsewhere, the decline in universalism has meant some here embrace various forms of identity politics, or worse conspiracism and what might best be described as “comedy Stalinism”.
Few seem prepared to question whether forms of organisation developed under either conditions of Czarist tyranny, or 19th-century British imperial rule, have any real place in democratic working-class politics in the 21st century. Until they do, the optimism of the editors is unfortunately likely to be misplaced. More importantly, the efforts of many sincere activists will sadly continue to be wasted.
- Brian Hanley is assistant professor in the history of Northern Ireland at Trinity College Dublin and author of, most recently, The Impact of the Troubles on the Republic of Ireland, 1968-79: Boiling Volcano? (Manchester University Press, 2018)
