Campaigns // Imperialists out of Ireland!!

‘The conquest of Ireland had meant the social and political servitude of the Irish masses, and therefore the re-conquest of Ireland must mean the social as well as the political independence from servitude of every man, woman and child in Ireland’

~ James Connolly

A timeline of Irish history
1916-1922

1916
On Easter Monday 24th April Pádraig Mac Piarais, President of the Provisional Government steps out from the GPO in Dublin and proclaims the Irish Republic.

‘We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies to be sovereign and indefeasible….The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally…’

The Military Council of the IRB consisting of Pádraig MacPiarais, Joseph Plunkett, Eamonn Ceannt, Seán MacDiarmada and Thomas Clarke, had drawn up plans for a Rising the previous year and had co-opted James Connolly to the Council in January. Joseph Plunkett had taken responsibility of the plans for military engagement in Dublin. The Irish Republican Army took command of key buildings across Dublin and held out gallantly for a week against superior British forces inflicting particularly heavy casualties on enemy forces at Mount Street Bridge. Outside the city, confusion reigned following Eoin MacNeill’s countermanding orders the previous day. Despite this, Volunteers in a number of counties mobilised. In North County Dublin, Volunteers led by Thomas Ashe took over RIC barracks at Ashbourne, Garristown and Donabate. In Galway, Liam Mellows commanded Volunteers in attacks at Oranmore and Athenry. However, the failure of the Aud to successfully land weapons along the Kerry coast proved costly.

On Friday 28th James Connolly, Commandant of the Dublin Division, Irish Republican Army issued a manifesto:

‘This is the fifth day of the establishment of the Irish Republic, and the flag of our country still floats from the most important buildings in Dublin, and is gallantly protected by the officers and Irish Soldiers in arms throughout the country……the manhood of Ireland, inspired by our splendid action, are gathering to offer up their lives if necessary in the same holy cause. We are here hemmed in because the enemy feels that in this building is to be found the heart and inspiration of our great movement. Courage boys we are winning, and in the hour of victory let us not forget the splendid women who have everywhere stood by us and cheered us on. Never had man or woman a grander cause, never was a cause more grandly served.’

By the following afternoon, headquarters was hopelessly outnumbered. Following an evacuation of the GPO, a council of war took place at 16 Moore Street where the members of the Provisional Government present decided on an unconditional surrender. Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell delivered the surrender notice to British forces posted at the top of Moore Street. As Pearse commented while fighting raged earlier in the week ‘you know, Emmet’s insurrection is as nothing to this. They will talk of Dublin in the future as one of the splendid cities – as they speak of Paris today. Dublin’s name will be glorious forever!’

The British government’s response was swift and brutal. Courts Martial were commenced on 2nd May and conducted at Richmond Barracks, with the exception of the severely wounded James Connolly, tried in his bed at Dublin Castle and Thomas Kent tried in Cork. Over the course of ten days, fifteen men were to be executed by firing squad, and in August Roger Casement was hanged Pentonville Prison, London. On 7th May the night before his execution, Éamonn Ceannt, who had commanded the Republican forces at South Dublin Union, wrote:

‘I leave for the guidance of other revolutionaries who may tread the path that I have trod, this advice. Never to treat with the enemy, never to surrender at his mercy, but to fight to a finish. I see nothing gained but grave disaster caused by the surrender, which has marked the end of the insurrection of 1916….the enemy has not cherished one generous thought for those who withstood his forces for one glorious week. Ireland has shown she is a Nation. This generation can claim to have raised sons as brave as any that went before. And in years to come Ireland will honour those who risked all for her honour at Easter in 1916.’

1917
Following the Rising the British interned hundreds at Frongoch Camp Wales and prisons across England. Those sentenced at Courts Martial were held in various prisons, including Countess Markievicz held alone in Aylesbury Prison. The British commenced the release of internees early in 1917. In February, Count Plunkett, father of executed 1916 leader Joseph Plunkett, won a by-election for Sinn Féin in North Roscommon, garnering twice the number of votes as the Redmondite candidate. He refused to take his seat at Westminster stating defiantly ‘it is in Ireland that the battle for liberty is to be fought’. By the years end Sinn Féin had won four separate by-elections. In June the remaining prisoners were released. There were jubilant scenes in Dublin as thousands gathered to welcome them home.

In September a number of prisoners being held in Mountjoy commenced a hunger-strike demanding recognition of their political status. The strike ended tragically after four days when Thomas Ashe died as a result of force-feeding. The inquest into his death found that ‘the hunger was adopted against the inhuman punishment inflicted and a refusal to their demand to be treated as political prisoners.’ A massive funeral was organised and Michael Collins delivered the oration at his graveside: ‘nothing additional remains to be said. That volley which we have just heard is the only speech which it is proper to make above the grave of a dead Fenian.’

At their Ard Fheis in October Sinn Féin is reconstituted as a Republican party and Éamonn de Valera is elected President. It declares its aim as ‘securing the international recognition of Ireland as an independent Irish Republic.’ The following day the Volunteers meet to elect a National Executive, de Valera was elected President and Cathal Brugha Chief of Staff.

In Russia the Bolsheviks seized power with Lenin proclaiming:

‘What is the significance of this workers’ and peasants’ revolution? Its significance is, first of all, that we shall have a Soviet government, our own organ of power, in which the bourgeoisie will have no share whatsoever. The oppressed masses will themselves create a power. The old state apparatus will be shattered to its foundations and a new administrative apparatus set up in the form of Soviet organisations.’

1918
In an attempt to supplement their forces on the battle front in Europe, tens of thousands of whom had been killed, the British government attempted to impose conscription in Ireland. They were met with fierce and unified resistance, with a Conference in April, representing the forces of republicanism and organised labour as well as the Irish Parliamentary Party, resolving to ‘resist Conscription by the most effective means at our disposal.’ On 23rd April a General Strike was called in opposition to conscription. The British were forced into a humiliating climb down and responded with accusations of a ‘German Plot’ arresting and detaining dozens of leading Sinn Féin members.

The British government introduced the Representation of the People Act in 1918 spreading the franchise more widely, but still restricting it for women over the age of thirty.

In December a general election was called and Sinn Féin won an overwhelming victory, rendering the Irish Parliamentary Party a redundant force. Of the 105 seats Sinn Féin won seventy three, the Unionists twenty six and the Parliamentary Party just six. Countess Markievicz was the sole woman elected. The Irish people had declared overwhelming support for the Republic proclaimed in 1916.

1919
On 21st January Dáil Éireann was established in the Mansion House and ratified ‘the establishment of the Irish Republic and pledge ourselves and our people to make this declaration effective by every means at our command’. The Dáil then adopted a Democratic Programme based on the principles of the Proclamation of 1916:

‘….in the language of our first President Pádraig Mac Piarais we declare that the nation’s sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the nation, but to all its material possessions; the nation’s soil and all its’ resources, all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the nation and with him we re-affirm that all rights to private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare….’

A new epoch in Irish history had begun. International recognition for the Irish Republic was received a month later when a separate Irish delegation was received at International Labour and Socialist Conference in Berne. In an effort to raise funds for the newly established Dáil a public loan was organised and Republican Bonds were issued.

On the same day the Dáil convened, Volunteers in Tipperary ambushed a RIC patrol transporting gelignite and killed two policemen. In Limerick in April the British proclaimed the city a military area demanding that all passing through carry permits. The Trades Council called a general strike and thousands of workers responded to the call. The Limerick Soviet was established. In June the Dáil commenced the establishment of Arbitration Courts and local courts, a Consular Service and a land bank. By September the British government had banned Dáil Éireann. The Volunteers of the Irish Republican Army stepped up their guerrilla campaign against the British occupying forces.

1920
In January Local Government Elections were held and Sinn Féin once again prevailed, with eleven of the twelve City and Borough Councils returning Sinn Féin majorities. The British had introduced the Government of Ireland Bill, late the previous year which proposed the partition of Ireland. Subsequent to the election, Dublin Corporation passed a motion ‘acknowledging the authority of Dáil Éireann as the duly elected Government of the Irish people.’ The British resorted to terror tactics, murdering the Mayor of Cork, Tomás MacCurtáin at his home in March. The jury at his inquest returned a verdict of ‘wilful murder carried out by the RIC and officially directed by the British government’. Terence MacSwiney replaced MacCurtáin as Mayor of Cork.

The British campaign of terror intensified with the mobilisation of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries in Ireland. The British government proscribed various organisations and publications, declared martial law in towns across Ireland and sent the Tans to terrorise local communities, which they did with vigour, burning and looting Cork city and Balbriggan, destroying creameries in other towns and going on the rampage in places like Tuam and Kilmallock. The Restoration of Order Act was introduced giving the British authorities powers to intern without trial. A popular IRA figure from Tipperary Seán Treacy who had taken part in the ambush at Soloheadbeg in 1919 was gunned down on Talbot Street, in Dublin. Resistance took many forms, railway workers refused to drive trains carrying British troops and dockers refused to handle the munitions of war against the Irish people.

A number of events were to have a profound effect in deepening the already strong support for the republican struggle. In October Terence MacSwiney died in Brixton prison following seventy-four days on hunger strike. Two other hunger strikers, Michael Fitzgerald and Joseph Murphy were to die in Cork Prison during this period. In November an eighteen year medical student and IRA Volunteer from Dublin, Kevin Barry was hanged in Mountjoy. In early November British Prime Minister Lloyd George pompously claimed to ‘have ‘murder’ by the throat’. The IRA gave him his answer on the morning of 21st November when units from across Dublin executed twelve British spies. British revenge was swift, members of the Auxiliaries and the RIC opened fire on crowds attending the Dublin and Tipperary match in Croke Park, leaving twelve dead. That night they tortured and murdered the Dublin Brigade OC Dick McKee and his Adjutant Peadar Clancy, along with Conor Clune in Dublin Castle. In December the British Labour Commission reported that ‘the Auxiliaries and the Black and Tans were compelling the whole Irish people, men, women and children to live in an atmosphere of sheer terrorism.’

The Government of Ireland Act is passed partitioning the country, allowing for the establishment of a parliament in the six counties. Throughout the year sectarian attacks continued against the nationalist community in the north. In July in Derry loyalists mount vicious attacks leaving nineteen dead. Loyalist mobs target Catholic workers in the Belfast shipyard before attacking homes in nationalist districts of the city. After a five day spree seventeen people were killed.

1921
By early 1921 almost all counties in Munster and south Leinster were under martial law, the British conducted summary executions and opened up internment camps. During curfew hours in Limerick the Mayor of Limerick George Clancy was murdered at his home. The IRA reorganised its units in the martial law area establishing the First Southern Division commanded by Liam Lynch and the Second Southern Division under the command of Ernie O’Malley. In West Cork Tom Barry’s Flying Column continued to be a thorn in the side of the British and at Crossbarry in March they killed over thirty British soldiers in one the largest engagements of the Tan War between the IRA and the British crown forces. In May the Dublin Brigade launched an attack on the Customs House, the centre of British Administration in Ireland. Over a hundred Volunteers were involved in the operation during which the building was burned, however, a number of Volunteers were killed and several dozen arrested.

In July a Truce was declared. Ernie O’Malley wrote eloquently of the time and the resistance of the people to British rule:

‘…the RIC were the eyes of the British Army….and often I wished our people were as loyal to the Republic as the RIC were to their masters. We had from centuries of oppression the faults of slaves, seldom their vices, and when one met men who were born free one thanked God for it. The girls too developed and broke away from strict parental discipline. This to my mind was the greatest innovation. The people were gradually drawn into the movement. One cannot write about the older women; they understood us so well and their hearts reached out to us so lonely and tired. It was a people’s war, that is why we fought so well as from November 1920. The people understood, they made allowances and there was need for that.’

Following the passage of the Government of Ireland Act the previous year, June saw the opening of a parliament in the six counties. Negotiations between the Republican delegation and the British commenced in London in mid October and ran until early December. The delegation led by Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith agreed to a Treaty that signed away the sovereignty of the Irish Republic. The Dáil was summoned to debate the Treaty on the 14th December. During the course of the debate, Mary McSwiney TD, member of Cumann na mBán rejected the Treaty in the following terms:

‘half measures are no longer possible, because on the 21st January 1919, this assembly, elected by the will of the sovereign people of Ireland, declared by the will of the people the Republican form of Government as the best for Ireland, and cast off all for ever their allegiance to any foreigner.’

Richard Mulcahy speaking in favour of the Treaty rather lamely suggested ‘what we are looking for is not arguments but alternatives.’

1922
The Dáil voted to accept the Treaty by the narrowest of margins 64 votes in favour to 57 against. Within days of the vote, senior members of the IRA from around the country requested the holding of a General Army Convention to reaffirm the Army’s allegiance to the Irish Republic. In February Cumann na mBan held a Convention and overwhelmingly rejected the Treaty. The General Army Convention was held in late March and reaffirmed the IRA’s allegiance to the Irish Republic, a new Executive was elected from which Liam Lynch was appointed Chief of Staff. In the six counties the draconian Special Powers Act was introduced which was directed against the nationalist community amidst ongoing sectarian murders and pogroms against that community. By July refugees had begun to flood south.

In April the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Republican Army seized the Four Courts and established it as Headquarters of the Republican Executive. De Valera and Collins agreed a Pact in advance of the the general election, which essentially meant that the forthcoming election would not be considered the deciding vote on the Treaty and an agreed panel of candidates would be put to the people. On the eve of the election Collins reneged on the Pact. In the early hours of 28th June the Free State Army opened fire on the Republican forces in the Four Courts, using British army artillery. Within days the Four Courts was in flames and the Republican garrison was forced to surrender. Over a hundred prisoners were taken and committed to Mountjoy.

The Free State government quickly adopted the terror tactics of their British masters and within months had commenced summary executions of IRA Volunteers; among those murdered were Erskine Childers and Harry Boland. In December the Free State government carried out a sickening reprisal following the IRA killing of Free State TD Seán Hales. The following day as a reprisal the Free State government ordered the execution without trial of IRA prisoners Liam Mellows, Joseph McKelvey, Rory O’Connor and Richard Barrett.

Peadar O’Donnell wrote of the searing effect of the executions, particularly the loss of Liam Mellows:

‘in his influence among his race Mellows was unrivalled, and in the content of his mind nothing so valuable had been in the country. This madness would pass, the attempt to organise British rule in Ireland on the basis of the grouping of such mediocrities as could be hired would fail; the very class on which it rested must pass; in a short time the illusions that were being raised must die. And Mellows, who above all the leaders had drawn lessons from the failure that would show the line to be taken in a new mobilisation, was dead; the richest mind our race had achieved for many a long day had been spilled. I felt wasted and queerly alone as though the only purpose I had in being in prison had been taken from me….It’s a strange feeling to experience, that sense that the wrong is too strong too resist and the dirt too thick to crawl through and you are separated from your team. I was very unhappy that night of 8th December, 1922, and the six months I had then spent in prison seemed to stretch in a grey, dull waste to the edge of the years that had been so alive.’