The currency of Catholic-hierarchy and narrow-nationalist versions of anti-conscriptionism, and the absence of international-socialist versions, explains why the revulsion against the World War in 1917-8 could take Catholic-nationalist-militant but socially-conservative forms.
The currency of Catholic-hierarchy and narrow-nationalist versions of anti-conscriptionism, and the absence of international-socialist versions, explains why the revulsion against the war in its later years could take Catholic-nationalist-militant but socially-conservative forms.
This instalment in our long-running series on Connolly follows on from a discussion of how Connolly sought to root socialism in a version of Irish history.
This instalment in our long-running series on Connolly follows on from a discussion of how Connolly sought to root socialism in a version of Irish history.
What did James Connolly contribute to politics in Ireland? A powerful myth, knitting together socialism and pre-1652 Gaelic-Irish society, defining socialism as the revival on a higher level of ancient Gaelic common property. Part of that myth was the idea that militant nationalism led to socialism and so was a way, perhaps, to reach the Protestant workers of north-east Ireland.