Liam O’Flaherty: The Writer as Critic of the Free State

Liam O’Flaherty missed the Easter Rising by a number of weeks. Claiming to have grown tired of waiting for revolution, he signed up in the Spring of 1916 to fight in the First World War. He was rewarded for his service with serious injury and a lifelong affliction of

Two Hundred Years of the Orange Citadel (Part 2)

At the opening of Derryhale Orange Hall, in July 1899, the Reverends Thacker and Austin made what the Portadown News described as being ‘important speeches’. The pair of preachers castigated Portadown Protestants who sold land to, employed, or consorted with ‘Papist rebels’. On February 28th 1900 the good citizens of

Where is the Democratic Socialists of America Going?

The rise of the Democratic Socialists of America from some 5,000 to 125,000 members in the past decade is one of the most significant signs of the long crisis of U.S. capitalism, the continued appeal of anti-capitalist politics, and the perpetual possibility of a larger working-

People Power stopped the Orange Order – not Armed Gunmen

The clearest precedent for the recent Garvaghy Road events is not of sectarian battles in the distant past but of the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s and 1970s. Thousands of Protestant working-class people then supported and participated in the civil rights movement, most via their membership of

Why Public Sector Workers Are Right to Strike

It’s an old adage but how do you know a government Minister is lying – their lips are moving! And so it is with Jack Chambers and Micheál Martin – both of whom are trying to justify the ongoing arrogance and ineptitude of this government. Government Lies Chambers thinks there isn’

France: Revolution 2.0

At the end of the giant student and worker demonstration in Paris on Thursday, October 8th, a banner was hung across the July Column in the Place de la Bastille. The banner read “Revolution 2.0, Rendez-vous October 17th”. The banner reflects the sentiment of thousands of mostly young

Two Hundred Years in the Orange Citadel

At a Sunday service in June 1795, a Reverend George Maunsell, a magistrate and rector of Drumcree Church, called on his congregation ‘to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in the true spirit of the institution’, by attending a sermon to be given by a Rev. Devine

Trade Unions – making them work for us

If trade unions are serious about changing the conditions workers live and work under, they cannot confine themselves to the workplace – they must organise, mobilise and fight on the political issues that shape workers’ lives. As Rosa Luxemburg wrote, “There are not two different class struggles of the working class,

No Data Centre in Kilmeaden

Could you start by telling us something about Kilmeaden and how people feel? Kilmeaden is a small village about seven miles from Waterford city. The surrounding area is primarily agricultural, and there used to be a cheese plant in the village before it moved to Kilkenny. Two new housing estates

Orange Order: The Birth of a Counter-Revolutionary Force

The Orange Order did not start as a gentry project but arose from clashes in Armagh between the mainly Catholic, Defenders, and Protestant Peep o’Day Boys, most famously in the battle of the Diamond in 1795. Around forty-eight Catholics were shot dead in this skirmish and many were

Garvaghy Road: There Are Not Two Sides

The clashes in Portadown between Orange marchers and nationalist residents have widely been reported as reflecting sharp and essentially irreconcilable differences between “the two communities”. This is, at best, a distortion designed to accommodate the notion that Catholics and Protestants are gripped by 17th century ideas which pitch them against

Gavin Bazunu is an Irish hero.

Last Sunday night, the Irish men’s football team played Israel. This was the first of two fixtures against Israel in the European Nations League, the least prestigious of the three regular international football tournaments Ireland participates in. Although it was an official home game for the Israeli team, the