Republicanism and the Working Class
| Date: | June 1993 |
|---|---|
| Organisation: | People's Democracy |
| View: | View Document |
| Discuss: | Comments on this document |
| Subjects: |
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Commentary From The Cedar Lounge Revolution
30th August 2021
Many thanks to the person who forwarded this to the Archive
This is an interesting addition to the Archive, a document from People’s Democracy dating from the early 1990s that discusses across six pages aspects of Republicanism and the working class. In essence the document considers different phases from 1798 onwards of Irish history and the position of Republicanism at every point thereafter.
There is a strong critique and criticism of Republicanism arguing that ‘republicans had nowhere to go but down after the 1930s’. It continues:
The sectarian nationalism of the 26 county state – an artificial construction with no historical authenticity – was absorbed almost totally by the republicans leaving little difference with Fianna Fáil other than the gun. When the current phase of political struggle opened up through the civil rights movement the republicans were a fairly anachronistic outfit. That the unreconstructed wing, the provisionals, came to be the dominant force in the struggle is entirely due to failures on the left.
It argues that republicans adopted a ‘more left leaning stance’ at times of particular struggle, but that this ‘never went beyond a radical populism that can be seen with hindsight as being within their traditional politics’.
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