Socialism With Irish Characteristics: Part 1

The most historically popular variant of socialism usually tends to be Marxist-Leninism. Many revolutionary groups around the world including in places like Cuba and Angola have adopted Marxism. However here in Ireland, Irish Republicanism has adopted a very much different form of socialist thinking. It is a socialist philosophy that has taken inspiration from ancient Celtic traditions and has been updated as the struggle moved through each phase. This is a history of the origins of socialism and anti capitalism within Irish society/republicanism since it’s foundations.  

Celtic period

In the old Celtic civilization it is known that Clans were to hold land collectively under the common ownership of tribes. Power was also decentralised to tribes around Ireland. Private property existed but was considered limited. With the English conquest of Ireland, the new British feudal system saw the cooperative ownership of land done away with and a new centralised land ownership system. Land was concentrated into the hands of the king and his agents in Ireland. Those who had commonly owned the land were now dispossessed of all land. This saw an end of an old tradition of land ownership that was owned by those of the clan, for the next centuries the new colonial system would be implemented throughout Ireland. Although they were a system of land ownership that was cooperatively owned it should be noted that they were an unfree class during the Celtic period. However it shouldn’t be underestimated how much the idea of common land ownership would later play its part for republican thinkers. The Brehon also laws had a progressive view of homosexuality and women’s equality, this also created republicans to develop a view on these issues.

In Armagh a hospital was established to look after the sick. All the clans would have a sort of ancient hostel to stay there when needed. This was a form of universal healthcare system at the time. The idea of meithal or working together for the betterment of the people around you would have come from this period and is well known by people of rural/Gaeltacht areas to this day. 

The United Irishmen. 

In the 1790s radical Republican politics was now being developed by people like Wolfe Tone, Henry Joy and Jemmy Hope. Unlike America these revolutionaries did not represent the interests of the landed elite. The 1798 rebellion saw the Lower classes of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter take on British colonialism and the landed classes who sided with that system. Tone knew that the Republic was to be of the “men of no property” and that the “men of property” were enemies of Irish freedom. The United Irishmen were known to attack the landed Gentry’s property. Jemmy Hope puts it well on the kind of society the United Irishmen wanted to see when independence was gained and the republic was to be built. He said: 

"It was my settled opinion that the condition of the labouring class was the fundamental question at issue between the rulers and the people, and there could be no solid foundation for liberty, till measures were adopted that went to the root of the evil, and were specially directed to the restoration of the natural right of the people, the right of deriving a subsistence from the soil on which their labour was expended." 

So as early as the United Irishmen it was clear that independence of Ireland in the form of a republic was to have social and economic changes in order to free the people from the chains of exploitation. Other writings of some of the leaders from this period show that they were much bitterness towards the ruling classes due to the centuries of domination. They are writings from many Irish speakers in this period and how they believed in ownership of land belonging to people. 

The young Irelanders

With an Gorta Mór and the act of Union the patriotic flame was rekindled. However it is here where we see people like James Fintan Lalor. Lalor’s writings show a very clear conscience that the rulers of the nation should be the people of the nation. His thinking could be considered an agrarian form of socialism that he promoted. At this time most workers were farm workers who had worked for landlords or had rented their land from them. The British Laissez Faire economics would see over a million starve, so it naturally arose that we needed a system that promoted the well being of our people. Here is a few of Lalors ideas on land ownership and class: 

“The principle I state and mean to stand upon, is this, that the entire ownership of Ireland, moral and material, up to the sun, and down to the centre, is vested of right in the people of Ireland” 

“I hold and maintain that the entire soil of a country belongs of right to the people of that country, and is the rightful property not of any one class, but of the nation at large”

“It is a mere question between a people and a class – a people of eight million and a class of eight thousand. They or we must quit this island ... they or we are doomed.”

So we now see that they are a very strong belief that only Irish freedom will be achieved when the people are free to control the land that they work on. I think Lalors ideas set a precedent for generations to come in terms of building a republic where land and wealth is communally owned. Thomas Davis like Lalor was of the belief of developing a native style economy that would be based on the talents of the common people. He also wrote about how the capitalist systems emerging factories were “a poison to virtue and happiness”. Davis had wrote many articles on the issues of the colonial ruling classes and the Irish peoples suffering at their behest. One of Davis’s articles called “Udalism and Feudalism” saw him promoting a system that he considered native and inspired by the Celtic style of ownership. He also compared “Udalism” to a Norwegian style of small farm methods rather than Landlordism. This is what he believed the wealth of a nation should be: 

“The equal distribution of comfort, education, and happiness is the only true wealth of nations.” 

So with the cultural revival and national sentiment growing it was clear that people like Lalor and Davis would have to envisage a type of agrarian system that would cater for the people of Ireland but also fit into the ideals of national revival. This is exactly what those people did and it would lay a template that generations to come would inherit and advance. 

The Fenians 

Ten years after the Young Irelander rebellion a veteran called James Stephens established the Irish Republican Brotherhood. In this period revolutionary movements all over Europe with a wide range of new thinking and Ideologies were cropping up. Stephens and others learned from these movements and updated republican thinking further. The International Workingmen’s Association was established in 1864, this organisation represented a vast array of socialist, communist and leftist movements in Europe. The IRB were the Irish representatives in this movement and they’d find themselves alongside people Marx and Engels. The IRB didn’t just see the plight of the Irish people but were also seeing the exploitation from the industrial revolution in England. This deepened the radical thinking of Republicanism and would see the fenian involvement with the radical social causes of the day including trade unions. The Fenian proclamation of 1867 shows the kind of republic that the IRB were hoping to build: 

“We therefore declare that, unable longer to endure the curse of Monarchical Government, we aim at founding a Republic based on universal suffrage, which shall secure to all the intrinsic value of their labour.

The soil of Ireland, at present in the possession of an oligarchy, belongs to us, the Irish people, and to us it must be restored.

We declare, also, in favour of absolute liberty of conscience, and complete separation of Church and State.”

Although the ideology of the IRB was similar to that of their predecessors they are no doubt they became more radicalised and developed their ideology further due to learning from the revolutionaries around them. But it must be noted that these revolutionaries also learned from them for example Marx and Engels learned the importance of national liberation and national conscience due to Irish Republicanism. Stephens made it clear he believed in a nation that belonged to the lower Classes of Ireland, what he said was “The only countries I recognize over the earth are Toil and Privilege; the one of these I shall struggle for, the other against, with all the faculties of my being.” This meant he would struggle against the imperialist capitalist nations and for the nations that will be free from exploitation. 

Michael Davitt another well known IRB member would be involved with organised Labour in Britain but when he came back to Ireland he became associated with the land struggle. He pushed for land reform via the land league against the landlord class. Their slogan was “the land for the people", however alliances were made with the upper classes of the Irish parliamentary party. This saw a betrayal of the more radical elements of the land league by the conservative elements in the IPP.

Le Adrian Gallagher