Irish Republican Bulletin, January 1964
| Date: | 1964 |
|---|---|
| Organisation: | Clan na Gael & IRA Veterans of America, Inc. |
| View: | View Document |
| Discuss: | Comments on this document |
| Subjects: |
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Commentary From The Cedar Lounge Revolution
13th January 2014
This document issued by Clan na Gael & IRA Veterans of America, Inc. in January 1964 provides an interesting insight into a very specific period in the history of Republicanism in Ireland, particularly because it was shaped in large part for an audience in the United States. Clan na Gael and I.R.A. Veterans of America Inc. were – it appears, former Irish Civil War veterans. In the aftermath of the death of Desmond Swanton and injury of Gerry Madden (see below), they offered to raise funds to help the recovery of the latter. They sent a delegation to meet Tom Maguire in Mayo during this period and in New York they held Field Days, Easter Sunday Commemorations and advertised the sale of Easter Lilies.
The document is a broad critique of the then extant Republican Movement.
In a ‘Notice’ it asserts that:
“As stated in a previous issue the IRB is a non-profit project. Its purpose is to provide our members and their friends with the truth and to lay bare the facts concerning the enemies of the Irish Republic, so that the whole world might see. We seek the assistance of our readers and their friends in the form of contributions so that we may be able to keep the Bulletin going to you in its present form, ever striving to maintain its high standards while providing the friend of Ireland with the necessary confidence to help them in their age-old struggle safeguarding their national heritage.”
It commences with an overview of the problems of same:
“Today we face the problem of disunity in the ranks of the Republican Movement in Ireland. Let not the domestic and foreign enemies of the Irish Republic take any solace from this temporary condition. The forces of truth will eventually succeed and move forward to strike again for their cherished heritage. ‘Unity’ is the slogan once more and the forces of compromise will try again to get us to follow this illusion.
The basis for unity must be founded on the ideals of our martyred dead. That is the one and only basis for unity. it is that simple. We have all the fundamentals necessary to confront our enemies with a united force. We have the sacred tradition, handed down to us over the generations, the tradition of physical force. If we accept the teachings of Pearse and stay clear of political entanglements there is no reason whatever to fear the future. Unity is strength. There is no reason whatsoever but that the Republican movement can and will be unified. Built on the sound foundation consistent with the principles and ideals forever eloquent from the muted tongues of our many deceased. it cannot fail. If our new unity is based on any form of compromise, whether open-faced compromise or one of a more sublet and not easily recognised type, then we shall fail as surely as we have failed in the past.
In our earnest desire for unity, we must remember that the freedom of Ireland will never come from the political platform. Through the ages and throughout the world freedom has been attained only by the strength of armed men and Ireland is no exception.”
In another piece focuses on the erection in 1963 of a memorial at the Republican Plot in Saint Finbarr’s Cemetery by a committee which then invited De Valera to the opening of the memorial. As has been detailed elsewhere two ‘young volunteers from Cork, Desmond Swanton and Jeremiah Madden’ attempted to ‘blow up the memorial to protest the De Valera visit’. [For more on this please see below].
The mine exploded prematurely, taking the life of Volunteer Swanton and seriously injuring his comrade, Volunteer Jeremiah Madden.
It continues by arguing that:
“The magnificent protest made by Swanton and Madden has been heard throughout the world. It echoes and re-echoes throughout the Irish Hills and reminds us to thank Almighty God that Ireland still has her soldier-youth ever ready to sacrifice their lives for love of dear, dark Rosaleen.”
There is an interesting account of the attempt to destroy the memorial given by Madden.
There is also a piece entitled ‘From Realism Springs Victory’ which argues that ‘over the past few years Clan na Gael has found itself compelled to maintain a strenuous crusade against those backsliding and compromising policies which are synonymous with prevailing organised Republican action in Ireland. We have endeavoured to transmit a clear and precise appraisal of the Republican Separatist position to the youth of Ireland; hoping, with ever constant hope, that our message will eventually sear through that cloud of confused and diffused thinking, within which the republican question would appear to be deliberately enveloped by its own leadership’.
It continues by comparing and contrasting Clan na Gael to Sinn Féin and SF’s Independence Programme.
It also reprints ‘Confessions of a Spy (The Stephen Hayes Confession).
Here are some further materials of use and interest in relation to issues raised by the above document. Many thanks to Jim Lane for forwarding them.
The following documentary deals with events that occurred in the West Tyrone area, and in North Antrim, at the time of the opening of Operation Harvest in December 12th, 1956. Also there is an account of the help given by Donegal man Peader O’Donnell to the IRA campaign in 1958. His harbouring of leading IRA figures and his attempt to procure arms for the IRA at that time are touched on. All this, and much more.
For it, link to : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45i1FgDBE3M
The second documentary deals with the accidental death by explosion of IRA Volunteer Desmond Swanton in Cork in 1963. This is followed by the Irish Revolutionary Forces (Cork) publication An Phoblacht struggle to prevent the takeover of the Republican Movement by the Moscow-line Communist Parties in Ireland. Also, the organisation of the anti-Vietnam War Campaign in Cork is dealt with. This is followed by an account of events that led up to the split in the Republican Movement in the late 60′s and early 70′s.
For it, link to : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpxxpTI-bL8
And here is a 30-page account of much that appears in the above two filmed documentaries .
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By: Joe Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:50:19
In reply to Laochra Uladh.
Well if the line above reminding us to “thank Almighty God that Ireland still has her soldier-youth ever ready to sacrifice their lives for love of dear, dark Rosaleen” is reflective of general opinion in CnG in the sixties, we shouldn’t be surprised that they went mostly Provo.
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By: Political Tourist Mon, 13 Jan 2014 15:15:53
In reply to Laochra Uladh.
Is this CnG the same organization that turns up at the St Patricks Day Parade in New York every year?
Was a branch of CnG not involved with the Chicago/Rupert/RIRA sting back a decade or so ago.
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By: roddy Mon, 13 Jan 2014 16:31:33
A pologies,I stand corrected ,I mixed up CnG with Clann na hEireann as being a wp support group.However Joe,do not assume that the “dark Rosaleen” stuff was confined to those who went Provo.As a youth in the late 60s I attended functions in the north where a future president of the WP would often be called upon to give a recitation.Her party piece was a poem called “who is Irelands enemy” with references to “altars” “irish priests”,”irish maidenhood” and “our holy land” Meanwhile many who took the Provo side would have been at the back of the hall rolling their eyes.!
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By: Joe Mon, 13 Jan 2014 17:02:39
In reply to roddy.
🙂 Thanks Roddy. As WBS has pointed out here several times, splits are very mixed-up and messy.
Whatever about “dark Rosaleen”, I still think that more of those who wished “to thank Almighty God that Ireland still has her soldier-youth ever ready to sacrifice their lives” would have gone Provo than would have gone Sticky.
And pretty much all of them now would be against any more killing. Hopefully Almighty God would be at one with them on that.
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By: roddy Mon, 13 Jan 2014 17:16:28
Joe ,and believe it or not many of those who went through those splits are now on quite civilized ,even friendly terms with each other !
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By: Political Tourist Mon, 13 Jan 2014 17:28:48
Every republican group has made at least a nod to the Left.
Even Provo publications of the 1970’s mention an “All Ireland Socialist Republic”.
I always saw it as code as in “we haven’t a hope in hell but let’s send a signal to most of the poor sods that support us”.
Any Irish American supporters of the 50 shades of Irish Republicanism i’ve met seemed happy to go along with the politics.
They probably smiled along with the rest of us.
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By: que Mon, 13 Jan 2014 18:07:31
In reply to roddy.
WHO IS IRELAND’S ENEMY
Who is Ireland’s enemy?
Not Germany, nor Spain,
Not Russia, France nor Austria;
They forged for her no chains,
Nor quenched her hearths,
Nor razed her homes,
Nor laid her altars low,
Nor sent her sons to tramp the hills
Amid the winter snow.
Who spiked the heads of Irish priests
On Dublin Castle’s gate?
Who butchered helpless Irish babes,
A lust for blood to sate?
Who outraged Irish maidenhood,
And tortured aged sires,
And spread from Clare to Donegal
The glare of midnight fires?
Who scourged our land in ‘Ninety-Eight,
Spread torment far and wide,
Till Ireland shrieked in woe and pain,
And Hell seemed fair beside?
Who plied the pitch-cap and the sword,
The gibbet and the rack?
O God! that we should ever fail
To pay those devils back.
Who slew the three in Manchester,
One grim November dawn,
While ’round them howled sadistically
The Devil’s cruel spawn?
Who shattered many Fenian minds
In dungeons o’er the foam,
And broke the loyal Fenian hearts
That pined for them at home?
Who shot down Clarke and Connolly
And Pearse at dawn of day,
And Plunkett and MacDiarmada,
And all who died as they?
Who robbed us of MacSwiney brave?
Who murdered Mellows, too,
Sent Barry to a felon’s grave,
And slaughtered Cathal Brugha?
Not Germany nor Austria,
Not Russia, France nor Spain
That robbed and reaved this land of ours,
And forged her heavy chains;
But England of the wily words —
A crafty, treacherous foe —
‘Twas England scourged our Motherland,
‘Twas England laid her low!
Rise up, o dead of Ireland!
And rouse her living men,
The chance will come to us at last
To win our own again,
To sweep the English enemy
From hill and glen and bay,
And in your name, O Holy Dead,
Our sacred debt to pay!
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By: que Mon, 13 Jan 2014 18:10:37
In reply to que.
some what confusingly Brugha and Mellows were killed by Pro-treaty forces.
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By: Joe Mon, 13 Jan 2014 20:54:45
In reply to roddy.
Tagann ciall le haois. With age comes sense.
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By: Mick Mon, 13 Jan 2014 21:04:58
Republican groups all make a nod to the Left
and the All Ireland Socialist Republic. The Sinners have got well away from all that now and Eirigi seem to be more Republican than Socialist nowadays.
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By: irishrepublicanmarxisthistoryproject Tue, 14 Jan 2014 00:29:42
The document issued by Clan na Gael in America, from 1964. Are like all of Jim Lane’s contribution very interesting.
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By: Gearóid Ó Faoleán Tue, 14 Jan 2014 12:27:42
In reply to Mick.
Mick,
Could you explain why you view éirígí as being more republican than socialist these days?
Cheers.
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By: EamonnCork Tue, 14 Jan 2014 12:32:26
In reply to que.
There’s a certain style of Republican Kitsch in both this song and the Dark Rosaleen stuff which doesn’t seem to be doing the rounds anymore. Reading it made me feel nostalgic for the time I worked in local papers and you’d get letters in from lads who thought writing, “Toor a loo Toor a Lay say Maggie Thatcher’s shoneen brass band,” was the ultimate devastating retort to their political opponents.
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By: Bob Smiles Tue, 14 Jan 2014 14:53:35
In reply to Gearóid Ó Faoleán.
For nation and community was there slogan in the euro referendum. The key Dublin lefties..,left
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By: irishrepublicanmarxisthistoryproject Tue, 14 Jan 2014 21:47:55
Here are some further materials of use and interest in relation to issues raised by the above document.
The following documentary deals with events that occurred in the West Tyrone area, and in North Antrim, at the time of the opening of Operation Harvest in December 12th, 1956. Also there is an account of the help given by Donegal man Peader O’Donnell to the IRA campaign in 1958. His harbouring of leading IRA figures and his attempt to procure arms for the IRA at that time are touched on. All this, and much more.
For it, link to : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45i1FgDBE3M
The second documentary deals with the accidental death by explosion of IRA Volunteer Desmond Swanton in Cork in 1963. This is followed by the Irish Revolutionary Forces (Cork) publication An Phoblacht struggle to prevent the takeover of the Republican Movement by the Moscow-line Communist Parties in Ireland. Also, the organisation of the anti-Vietnam War Campaign in Cork is dealt with. This is followed by an account of events that led up to the split in the Republican Movement in the late 60′s and early 70′s.
For it, link to : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpxxpTI-bL8
And here is a 30-page account of much that appears in the above two filmed documentaries.
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By: irishrepublicanmarxisthistoryproject Fri, 17 Jan 2014 20:13:47
Further materials of interest in relation to the Desmond Swanton affair in Cork 1963.
The following Saturday night, Saint Patrick’s eve, there was a ceili in the hall to welcome us home and although I enjoyed seeing some of my old friends again, it turned out to be a strange night. In the course of the night I noticed some agitation and heated discussions taking place and eventually I was approached by a tearful Elma O’Connell, Dave O’Connells sister who asked me if I could intervene and do something to prevent her boyfriend from doing something. She explained that on the following day de Valera was coming to the Republican Plot to unveil a monument and that her boyfriend and another volunteer intended to blow up the monument that night. I immediately approached the local OC and another senior member of the movement and we went upstairs to the library to discuss it and I was amazed at their casual attitude to what I thought could turn into a disaster. They said that they had warned the two lads that if they went ahead with their plan it would be an unofficial action and they would be dismissed from the movement and I felt that the least that should be done was that a group should go down to the house in Blackrock and detain the two lads there until after Dev had departed again. However, the senior member’s response was that he had come to the dance with his wife and no one was going to spoil his night’s enjoyment so he went back to the dance hall again. As it turned out, the two lads went ahead with their plan and at about three am as John and myself were walking up Mount Carmel Road there was a mighty explosion and I prayed that the two lads would be all right. The next morning as I was returning from Mass I called to the old Fire Station on Sullivan’s Quay and the firemen told me that Elma’s boyfriend had been blown to bits and that they had collected his remains in buckets and that the other volunteer was so badly injured that he wasn’t expected to survive. Despite his severe injuries he did in fact survive but he lost a leg and an eye and as a matter of fact the monument wasn’t even scratched and if they had succeeded in blowing it up they would have emptied most of the graves in the Plot.
Link-https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Rebel-Spirit-The-Life-And-Times-Of-Seamus-O-Lionachain/140265629383498?refid=46
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By: irishrepublicanmarxisthistoryproject Fri, 17 Jan 2014 21:02:30
https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Rebel-Spirit-The-Life-And-Times-Of-Seamus-O-Lionachain/140265629383498?refid=46
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By: Mick D Sun, 19 Jan 2014 10:42:36
I agree with the comment that there was no need for Desmond Swanton to die, he could’ve been detained until Dev left Cork.
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By: Gaire O Dubhshlaine Thu, 06 Mar 2014 12:45:53
The original Clan na Gael established on June 20, 1867 does not acknowledge those camps who turned their backs on the legacy of Theobald Wolfe Tone and went with NORAID although at the present time we are in the minority.
But rest assured that the true, republican CnG, particularly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey still exists and has no plans or intentions to go away any time soon.
Gaire O Dubhshlaine
Francis Hughes Camp
New Jersey
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By: Sam Fri, 08 Jan 2021 10:27:30
Came across again this while googling Clan na Gael in the 1960s. Photograph of a group of them (with rifles and berets) at the funeral of an IRA veteran in Chicago in 1967 available to see here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/391979460930832/permalink/3489331577862256
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