Communism in Ireland / Bound Document Volume

A bound volume titled ‘Communism in Ireland / Vol. 2 / private papers’. The volume contains numerous newspaper clippings and printed ephemera compiled by Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. relating to the activities of various socialist and communist groups in Ireland. The volume contains much material relating to the Irish Workers’ League which was founded in 1948. The League was a re-establishment of the southern part of the Communist Party of Ireland. In 1970 the League merged with the Communist Par

Details

Level of description
File
Date
1949-1955
Reference
39
Extent and medium
188 pp; 32.5 cm x 20 cm; Bound volume, manuscript, typescript, clipping and printed
Scope and content
A bound volume titled ‘Communism in Ireland / Vol. 2 / private papers’. The volume contains numerous newspaper clippings and printed ephemera compiled by Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. relating to the activities of various socialist and communist groups in Ireland. The volume contains much material relating to the Irish Workers’ League which was founded in 1948. The League was a re-establishment of the southern part of the Communist Party of Ireland. In 1970 the League merged with the Communist Party of Northern Ireland to reunite the party across the island. The file also includes correspondence, notes and lists generated by Fr. Senan on various prominent Irish communists. Many of the clippings in the volume are ‘red scare’ type articles taken from Irish newspapers including the ‘Irish Independent’, the ‘Irish Press’, and the weekly Catholic title ‘The Standard’. The volume includes much material on the political career of Michael O’Riordan (1917-2006), the prominent Irish communist who fought with the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. O’Riordan emerged as a central figure in the leftist republican movement in Ireland in the second half of the twentieth century. He was the founding secretary of the Irish Workers’ League, and general secretary thereafter of its successor grouping, the Irish Workers’ Party, from 1962 to 1970. He later served as general secretary of the reconstituted thirty-two county Communist Party of Ireland from 1970 to 1983 and acted as party chairman until 1997. The volume is a ‘Richview Account Series Book’ printed by Browne & Nolan in Dublin.
Repository
Irish Capuchin Archives
Context
Irish Capuchin Archives > Papers of 'The Capuchin Annual' and the Irish Capuchin Publications Office > Papers of Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. > Bound Photographic and Document Volumes

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Extracted Mentions

People, places, and terms identified via handwriting recognition and named entity recognition.

People

Places

Terms

Sample passages

  • At this period three men, all of them students of Communism, came back from the Spanish front. They were: Michael O'Riordan of Cork, John Power of Waterford, and Patrick Smith of D…
  • Michael O'Riordan (of the Irish Workers' League) writes:—
  • "About August, 1941, O'Riordan and company sent a telegram from the Camp which read: 'Internees at the Curragh support United Nations in struggle for Democracy.'"
Full Transcript (OCR, 53 pages)

Machine-generated OCR transcript. Handwritten material may contain recognition errors.

Page 1

No Reds In 26 Counties, Says MacBride IN A NATION-WIDE INTERVIEW OVER THE MUTUAL BROADCASTING SYSTEM OF AMERICA, MR. MacBRIDE, MINISTER FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, SAID THERE WERE NO COMMUNISTS OR ANY COMMUNIST PARTY IN THE NEW IRISH REPUBLIC. "THEY ARE ALL IN BELFAST." HE ADDED. The Minister also said that if Ireland were granted membership of the United Nations the matter of Partition would be placed before the Assembly. Asked why Ireland did not grant air bases to the Allies during the war, Mr. MacBride said: "We could not enter into a military alliance with Britain." When asked if Ireland would sign a pact with Russia if Russia offered an alliance detrimental to the United States and Britain, he said, "No." INDIA When reminded that India and Britain worked out an agreement for India to remain in the Commonwealth, Mr. MacBride said: "I do not think we would remain in the British Commonwealth even if we got complete independence. The Crown is a symbol of oppression." The principle of the new Republic was that of wanting a complete Ireland—one Republic with national unity. He repeated that Northern Ireland has no right to remain partitioned. Ireland would never enter the Atlantic Pact as long as Partition remained. LAND SCHEME He reiterated earlier statements that Ireland desired its people to speak Gaelic as well as English. In order to get Irish-born people to return from foreign countries the new republic was embarking on a vast land scheme, he told his American listeners.—A.P.

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