Yellow Unions in Ireland and Other Articles

Many thanks to Conor McCabe for scanning and forwarding this to the Archive.

This short document from the Irish Communist Organisation (precursor to the British & Irish Communist Organisation), dating from 1968, is part of their Connolly’s Suppressed Articles series. The document actually contains three articles by Connolly, including ‘The Problem of Trade Union Organisation’, ‘Yellow Unions in Ireland’ and ‘British Aluminium Company Again’.

The Introduction notes that:

The writings of Connolly which are included in this second selection from the articles which have been suppressed by the bourgeoisie and the opportunists, deal with various aspects of the trade union movement.

And this continues by contextualising Connolly’s writings in the (then) contemporary.

In “The Problem of Trade Union Organisation11 Connolly deals with a problem which has become more of a problem every year since the article was written. This article shows how completely his position has been distorted by those “followers” of his in high places who attribute the view to him that an increase in the size of the trade unions was enough to guarantee progress towards socialism.

It continues:

The leadership of the I.T.G.W.U. holds that Connolly is out of date: that collaboration between “management and labour” and not revolutionary struggle by the workers against the the capitalists (or “management”, as the bourgeoisie now prefer to be called) is what is now required. But we venture to suggest that this article of Connolly’s has not been suppressed because it is out of date, but because it exposes those “followers of Connolly” in the leadership of the trade union mo/ement who have been one of the main props of capitalism m the Free State for almost 50 years.

The Introduction also notes:

In “Yellow Unions in Ireland” Connolly deals with the attempt by the Catholic Church to organise Catholic trade unions. Though the bourgeoisie and the opportunists have been working overtime to represent Connolly as a Christian Socialist’, Connolly himself never made the slightest concession to ’Christian Socialism’, either of the Catholic or Protestant varieties. He held consistently that a man’s religion, or his irreligion, was his own private affair, and that it should not be brought into the working class movement. Scientific socialism was materialist, and was not derived from any religious principle. (See The New Evangel).

And:

The third article,dealing with a strike in Larne,shows the influence of Presbyterianism on the working class movement.

It shows that the most effective religious control over the working class in Ireland was exercised by the Presbyterian Church and not by the Catholic Church.

It will be clear from the two last articles that there is no truth in the view that Connolly favoured the influence of the Catholic Church and opposed the influence of the Presbyterian Church on the working class movement.

The introduction continues:

Even though they have failed in their attempt to suppress these writings of Connolly, the modern revisionists (the latest breed of opportunists) are still trying to obstruct their circulation. Shortly after the I.C.O. had drawn attention to the suppression of these articles, the “Connolly Association” brazenly announced that “all the works of Connolly0 could be purchased in the Irish Democrat Bookshop in London (Irish Democrat, June 1968). Various publications of the Communist Party of Great Britain carried the same announcement.

And concludes:

The attempt by the revisionists to obstruct the circulation of the I.C.O. editions of Connolly’s suppressed articles are, of course, pathetically ineffective. As soon as the fact of suppression became known the situation was already outside their control. As things now stand, the more they try to obstruct the more they expose themselves. May their efforts at obstruction increase!

Comments

You can also join the discussion on The Cedar Lounge Revolution

No Comments yet.

Add a Comment