During the first Irish civil war, when the British left, the remaining rebels had an internal war where they executed every socialist, with support of the british government.
This is why it was a liberal revolution later on, all the socialists where dead.
The winning side in the Civil War consisted of those who wished to put an end to all this ‘Bolshevism,’ in every sense. The losing side consisted of a wide range of forces which, on behalf of a variety of causes, resisted.
In Autumn 1922, the Free State began to carry out executions without trial. The Free State would claim that the executions were ‘inevitable if Ireland was to be saved from a descent into Bolshevism’ and that they ‘saved many lives and shortened the conflict.’ The security minister Kevin O’Higgins insisted that ‘there should be executions in every county.’ WT Cosgrave said that he would be willing to kill ten thousand people.(10) By the end of the war the Free Staters had executed 81 of their former comrades.
The Soviets of Munster, as we have seen, were suppressed by the Free State. But 1922-3 saw a postal strike, a farm labourers’ strike in Waterford and a dock workers’ strike in Dublin. These were all major class battles. (18) The new postmaster-general JJ Walsh declared that Irish workers were lazy and would have to be ‘smashed’ as a ‘salutary lesson to the general indiscipline.’ (19) The great strikes of 1922-3 were indeed defeated with brute military force. The potential for a Workers’ Republic, or even for a strong trade union and labour movement in the new capitalist Ireland, was massively undermined. The ITGWU, the largest and most militant union, collapsed from 120,000 members in 1920 to 11,000 by 1931. Meanwhile, Labour’s vote collapsed in the 1923 General Election. (20)
Some socialists attempted to appeal to IRA members. Peadar O’Donnell, a member of the Communist Party of Ireland, was also on the anti-Treaty IRA executive. Liam O’Flaherty, later a famous writer, and Roddy Connolly, son of James, were two of over a hundred socialists who fought on the anti-treaty side during the battle for Dublin. Their courage should not blind us to the fact that their strategy was a disaster. The Revolutionary Socialist Party pursued a better policy, leading the Munster soviet movement. But both parties were very small and underdeveloped, and it appears both were dealt fatal blows by the Civil War and the repression that followed.
General Eoin O’Duffy, third-in-command of the Free State forces, feared socialism. In his opinion, any peace deal would only benefit ‘the Bolsheviks.’ ‘The Labour element and Red Flaggers are at the back of all moves towards “Peace” […] if the Government can break the back of this revolt, any attempts at revolt by labour in the future will be futile.’ (21) O’Duffy went on to a storied career: Garda commissioner, leader of the semi-fascist Blueshirts, founder of Fine Gael, and a soldier of Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
Over 400,000 people emigrated in the 1920s, including many who had taken part in the revolution. The anti-treaty side came from a political tradition which, from Cú Chulainn to Pádraig Pearse, celebrated heroic failure. Thus many politicians, even those who lost the war, were able to dine out on the memory of the Civil War for a century afterwards. But a lifetime of silence and shame followed for many rank-and-file veterans of labour, national or women’s struggles.
Those who didnt get executed in the aftermath of the first war, with support of the far right and the british fled.
Id reccomend watching ‘The Wind The Shakes The Barley’, its a good film that goes over this time period, and the socialists betrayal.
The socialists tend to overstate to what extent the independence movement was socialist. At no point was socialism ever “the main ideology driving” the revolution; it was only ever a wing. Collins, Griffith, De Valera were never socialists.
Likewise, the civil war wasn’t socialist-vs-capitalist, though there were elements.
I’ve tried watching the film twice. Too sad for me.
Thanks for the perspective; I wasnt sure how real the socialist presence was in the first wave. I would guess that a large amount of the socialist core likely fled when they started hanging them though.
During the first Irish civil war, when the British left, the remaining rebels had an internal war where they executed every socialist, with support of the british government.
This is why it was a liberal revolution later on, all the socialists where dead.
Jim Larkin? William O’Brien? Liam O’Flaherty? George Pollock? Delia Larkin? Seán McLoughlin? Cathal O’Shannon? Seán O’Casey? Roddy Connolly?
Yes, they existed in part post-first Irish revoltution, they where no longer a signficant bloc of people and not the main ideology driving it anymore.
If that where the case Ireland would be socialist, no?
https://www.socialistpartyni.org/theory/war-against-bolshevism-the-irish-civil-war-1922-23/
Those who didnt get executed in the aftermath of the first war, with support of the far right and the british fled.
Id reccomend watching ‘The Wind The Shakes The Barley’, its a good film that goes over this time period, and the socialists betrayal.
Good source. Basically right.
The socialists tend to overstate to what extent the independence movement was socialist. At no point was socialism ever “the main ideology driving” the revolution; it was only ever a wing. Collins, Griffith, De Valera were never socialists.
Likewise, the civil war wasn’t socialist-vs-capitalist, though there were elements.
I’ve tried watching the film twice. Too sad for me.
Thanks for the perspective; I wasnt sure how real the socialist presence was in the first wave. I would guess that a large amount of the socialist core likely fled when they started hanging them though.