142-699: William McMillen (19 May 1927 – 28 April 1975), aka Liam McMillen , was an Irish republican activist and an officer of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) from Belfast , Northern Ireland . He was killed in 1975, in a feud with the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). McMillen was born in Belfast in 1927 and joined the IRA at age 16 in 1943. During the IRA's Border Campaign (1956–62), he
284-707: A hunger strike demanding release from prison, and reinstatement of their status as political prisoners ( 1920 Cork hunger strike ). Three men died during this time including the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney . Among the most infamous of the Black and Tans actions were the Bloody Sunday massacre in November 1920 and the burning of half the city of Cork in December that same year. These actions, together with
426-653: A united Ireland , and finally a socialist society would be created in Ireland. In 1974, the Official Republican Movement split over the ceasefire and the direction of the organisation. This led to the formation of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) with Seamus Costello (whom the Official IRA had expelled) as its chairperson. Also formed on the same day was IRSP's paramilitary wing,
568-605: A "Kingdom and Republic of Ireland" and that "the earls should be called Captains General of the said Republic and one could exercise his office on land and the other at sea." These proposals were approved by Philip IV and forwarded to Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia in Brussels. As the Anglo-Spanish War became more tepid, the plans were never put into practice. A decade later, the Irish Rebellion of 1641 began. This consisted of
710-601: A TD in the Dublin West constituency and president of the party for most of the previous 30 years, was the only member of the Dáil parliamentary party not to side with the new Democratic Left . Mac Giolla lost his seat in the general election later that year , and no TD has been elected for the party since then. However, at local authority level, the Workers' Party maintained elected representation on Dublin, Cork and Waterford corporations in
852-449: A Young Irelander, addressing the peace resolutions, delivered his 'Sword Speech', in which he stated, "I do not abhor the use of arms in the vindication of national rights ... Be it for the defence, or be it for the assertion of a nation's liberty, I look upon the sword as a sacred weapon." John O'Connell , Daniel O'Connell's son, was present at the proceedings and interrupted Meagher's speech, claiming that Meagher could no longer be part of
994-495: A basis for the movement, with groups forming across the island in hopes of independence. Parliamentary defeats provoked uprisings and armed campaigns, quashed by British forces. A rising , amidst World War I, that ended in execution provided the basis for success, including electorally. An Irish republic was declared in 1919 and officialized following the Irish War of Independence . The Irish Civil War , beginning in 1922 and spurred by
1136-753: A coalition between the Irish Gaels and the Old English (descendants of the Anglo-Norman settlers who settled during the Norman Invasion) rebelling against the English rulers. While some ideas from the 1627 proposals were carried on, the attempt to rally both Gaels and Old English to the banner, mean't trying to find common ground and one of these concessions was support for the Stuart monarchy under Charles I of England whom
1278-771: A division within Sinn Féin, in which the majority faction followed the leadership in a Marxist direction. It was known as Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place) or Official Sinn Féin , to distinguish it from the minority faction of "Sinn Féin (Kevin Street)" or "Provisional Sinn Féin". It changed its name from Sinn Féin to Sinn Féin The Workers' Party in 1977 and then to the Workers' Party in 1982. In that time, Provisional Sinn Féin came to be known simply as Sinn Féin . Both groups were tied to corresponding paramilitary groups, with Official Sinn Féin tied to
1420-598: A dynamite campaign in Britain. A total of twenty-five major explosions beset Irish nationalism's perception and dictated Britain's approach towards Ireland and the " Irish question ". In 1865 the Fenian Brotherhood in America had split into two factions. One was led by O'Mahony with Stephens' support. The other, which was more powerful, was led by William R. Roberts . The Fenians had always planned an armed rebellion, but there
1562-619: A long time arguably still better than in the Republic of Ireland. Official Sinn F%C3%A9in The Workers' Party ( Irish : Páirtí na nOibrithe ) is an Irish republican , Marxist–Leninist communist party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland . The party formerly asserted a claim of direct descent from the original Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith . It took its current form in 1970 following
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#17330937561101704-524: A majority of the anti-treaty Sinn Féin of these views and the movement split again. In 1926, he formed a new party called Fianna Fáil ("Soldiers of Destiny"), taking most of Sinn Féin's TDs with him. In 1931, following the enactment of the Statute of Westminster , the country became a sovereign state along with the other Dominions and the United Kingdom. The following year, De Valera was appointed President of
1846-618: A meeting of IRA commanders in Belfast. Billy McKee and several other republicans arrived at the meeting armed and demanded McMillen's resignation. He refused, but many of those unhappy with his leadership broke away and refused to take orders from McMillen or the Dublin IRA leadership. Most of them joined the Provisional Irish Republican Army , when this group split off from the IRA in December 1969. McMillen himself remained loyal to
1988-519: A member of the Commonwealth. As a result of this – and also because continuing struggle against the Dublin government was futile – the republican movement decided to focus on Northern Ireland from then on. The decision was announced by the IRA in its Easter statement of 1949. The area that was to become Northern Ireland amounted to six of the nine counties of Ulster, in spite of
2130-644: A minor split left the party after the 2004 local elections , with only two councillors, both in Waterford . The party fielded twelve candidates in the 2009 local elections . The party ran Malachy Steenson in the Dublin Central by-election on the same date. Ted Tynan was elected to Cork City Council in the Cork City North East ward. Davy Walsh retained his seat in Waterford City Council . In
2272-524: A number of members left and established a group called Republican Left; many of these went on to join the Irish Socialist Network. Another split occurred in 1998, after a number of former OIRA members in Newry and Belfast, who had been expelled, formed a group called the Official Republican Movement, which announced in 2010 that it had decommissioned its weapons. The Workers' Party has struggled since
2414-569: A pejorative term for Irish Catholics. Public support for the Fenian movement in Ireland grew in November 1861 with the funeral of Terence MacManus , a member of the Irish Confederation, which Stephens and the Fenians had organised – having "recognized the potential of street parades for mobilizing supporters and influencing onlookers". The popularity endowed by the procession and oration established
2556-571: A permanent ceasefire in May 1972. Following this, the movement's political development increased rapidly throughout the 1970s. On the national question, the Officials saw the struggle against religious sectarianism and bigotry as their primary task. The party's strategy stemmed from the "stages theory": firstly, working-class unity within Northern Ireland had to be achieved, followed by the establishment of
2698-576: A premature explosion at an arms depot attracted the attention of police, they were unaware of the United Irishmen activities at the time and did not have any information regarding the planned rebellion. Emmet had hoped to avoid the complications of the previous rebellion and chose not to organise the county outside of Dublin to a large extent. It was expected that the areas surrounding Dublin were sufficiently prepared for an uprising should one be announced, and Thomas Russell had been sent to northern areas of
2840-680: A pro-Treaty general. The new government , responding to this provocation and to intensified British pressure following the assassination by an anti-treaty IRA unit in London of Henry Wilson , ordered the regular army to take the Four Courts , thereby beginning the Irish Civil War . It is believed that Collins continued to fund and supply the IRA in Northern Ireland throughout the civil war, but, after his death, W. T. Cosgrave (the new President of
2982-599: A republic of Ireland independent from connections to England dates from 1627. Summaries of these plans are held in the Archives générales du Royaume in Belgium and were made familiar to Irish historians by the work of Fr. Brendan Jennings, a Franciscan historian, with his work Wild Geese in Spanish Flanders, 1582–1700 (1964). This early republican spirit was not ecumenical and was formed by exiled Irish Catholic Gaels with
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#17330937561103124-536: A response to the ongoing housing crisis in Ireland. In 2016, the party published Solidarity Housing, a public housing policy that proposed a cost-rental housing model for Ireland. Later that year, a Workers' Party motion for 100% mixed-income public housing on the publicly owned O'Devaney Gardens site in the north inner city was passed by Dublin City Councillors, but was later overturned after an intervention by Minister for Housing Simon Coveney . The party retains
3266-570: A seat in Cork East . It increased this to three seats in 1982 and to four seats in 1987 . The Workers' Party had its best performance at the polls in 1989 when it won seven seats in the general election and party president Proinsias De Rossa won a seat in Dublin in the European election held on the same day, sitting with the communist Left Unity group. Following the split of 1992 , Tomás Mac Giolla ,
3408-460: A significant minority of its membership broke off to form Democratic Left , a party which later merged with the Labour Party in 1999. The reasons for the split were twofold. Firstly, a faction led by Proinsias De Rossa wanted to move the party towards an acceptance of free-market economics. Following the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, they felt that the Workers' Party's Marxist stance
3550-519: A tradition of secularism. In April 2017, Councillor Éilis Ryan organised a demonstration against the proposed control of the new National Maternity Hospital by the Religious Sisters of Charity . The Workers' Party campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum to repeal the Eighth amendment in May 2018, having been the only party in the Dáil to oppose the introduction of the Eighth amendment in 1983. At
3692-551: A young PIRA member, killed. Tom Cahill, brother of leading Provisional Joe Cahill , was also shot and wounded. After these deaths, the two IRA factions in Belfast negotiated a ceasefire and directed their attention instead at the British Army. When the Northern Ireland authorities introduced internment in August 1971, McMillen fled Belfast for Dundalk in the Republic of Ireland , where he remained for several months. During this time,
3834-542: Is to establish a free and independent republic in Ireland: that the pursuit of this object we will relinquish only with our lives ... We war against no religious sect ... We war against English dominion. However, failed communications and arrangements produced a considerably smaller force than had been anticipated. Nonetheless, the rebellion began in Dublin on the evening of 23 July. Emmet's forces were unable to take Dublin Castle, and
3976-512: The 1993 local elections with Peter Smyth retaining the seat that had been held by Tom French in Loughside, Craigavon . This was lost in 1997 , leaving them without elected representation in Northern Ireland. The party performed poorly in the 2007 Assembly election ; it won no seats, and in its best result in Belfast West , it gained 1.26% of the vote. The party did not field any candidates at
4118-503: The 2014 local elections Tynan retained his seat; however Walsh lost his, following major boundary changes resulting from the merging of Waterford City and County councils. In January 2015, Independent councillor Éilis Ryan on Dublin City Council joined the party. In the 2011 general election the Workers' Party ran six candidates, without success. In the 2016 general election , the party ran five candidates, again without success. At
4260-456: The 2019 Irish local elections , the party dropped to one remaining councillor, with Éilís Ryan losing her seat on Dublin City Council. The party gained ten seats at the 1973 Northern Ireland local elections . At the 1977 Northern Ireland local elections , this fell to six council seats and 2.6% of the vote. One of their best results was when Tom French polled 19% in the 1986 Upper Bann by-election , although no other candidates stood against
4402-556: The 2019 local elections , Éilís Ryan lost her seat on Dublin City Council, leaving Ted Tynan as the party's only elected representative in Ireland. In November 2020, the Standards in Public Office Commission announced that the Workers' Party were one of five political parties who failed to provide them with a set of audited accounts for 2019, in breach of statutory obligations. In April 2021, The Phoenix reported that at
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4544-512: The Ard Chomhairle (leadership council) of Official Sinn Féin . By 1974, a group of OIRA members around Seamus Costello were unhappy with the ceasefire. In December 1974, they broke away from the Official movement, forming the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish National Liberation Army . Some OIRA members under McMillen's command, including the entire Divis Flats unit, defected to
4686-542: The Belfast Brigade had for defensive operations, McMillen stated they had only one pistol, a machine gun and some ammunition. By 14 August 1969, serious rioting had broken out in Belfast and Catholic districts came under attack from both civilian unionists and the RUC. McMillen's IRA command by this point still had only a limited amount of weapons (one rifle, two sub-machine guns and nine handguns according to one account) because
4828-622: The Falls Curfew . The British Army mounted an arms search in the Official IRA stronghold of the Lower Falls, where they were attacked with a grenade by Provisional IRA members. In response, the British flooded the area with troops and declared a curfew . This led to a three-day gun battle between 80 and 90 Official IRA members led by McMillen and up to 3,000 British troops. Five civilians were killed in
4970-773: The Fenian Brotherhood and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), fraternal organisations founded in the United States and Ireland respectively with the aim of establishing an independent republic in Ireland. The IRB was founded on Saint Patrick's Day 1858 in Dublin. Members present at the first meeting were James Stephens , Thomas Clarke Luby , Peter Langan, Joseph Denieffe, Garrett O'Shaughnessy, and Charles Kickham . Stephens had previously spent time exiled in Paris, along with John O'Mahony , having taken part in
5112-528: The Great Famine and the suspension of habeas corpus , which allowed the government to imprison Young Irelanders and other political opponents without trial, was hastily planned and quickly suppressed. Following the abortive uprising, several rebel leaders were arrested and convicted of sedition. Originally sentenced to death, Smith O'Brien and other members of the Irish Confederation were transported to Van Diemen's Land . The Fenian movement consisted of
5254-511: The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). A number of tit-for-tat killings occurred in a subsequent feud until a truce was agreed in 1977. In 1977, the party published and accepted as policy a document called the Irish Industrial Revolution . Written by Eoghan Harris and Eamon Smullen, it outlined the party's economic stance and declared that the ongoing violence in Northern Ireland was "distracting working class attention from
5396-830: The Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War , and a smaller number of ex-IRA members, communists and others participated on the Republican side. In 1937, the Constitution of Ireland was drafted by the de Valera government and approved via referendum by the majority of the population of the Free State. The constitution changed the name of the state to Éire in the Irish language ( Ireland in English) and asserted its national territory as
5538-444: The Northern Ireland peace process and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The PIRA have since decommissioned and republicans have been elected to various echelons of government: those within the movement opposed to this outcome are often referred to as dissident republicans . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century, Ireland, or parts of it, had experienced alternating degrees of rule from England. While some of
5680-438: The Officer commanding (OC) of the Belfast Brigade . McMillen was keen to work for the unity of Protestant and Catholic workers. Roy Garland recalled that McMillan's grandfather was master of an Orange lodge in Edinburgh and McMillan knew of that heritage and the meaning of the colours of the Irish flag. He prominently displayed in his election offices a verse of a poem by John Frazier, a Presbyterian from Co Offaly: "Till then
5822-445: The Official Irish Republican Army . By the late 1980s, the party had broken through electorally in the Republic of Ireland and at its peak it elected 7 TDs at the 1989 general election and 21 councillors at the 1991 local elections . However, following the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, almost all the party's elected members broke away and formed Democratic Left in 1992. Since 1992
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5964-505: The Protestant Ascendancy . It also attracted support and membership from Catholic agrarian resistance groups, such as the Defenders organisation, who were eventually incorporated into the Society. The Society sought to unite the denominations of the island under the simple distinction of Irish. The Irish Rebellion of 1798 began on 23 May, with the first clashes taking place in County Kildare on 24 May, before spreading throughout Leinster , as well as County Antrim and other areas of
6106-487: The Puritan Parliament of England ) it evolved into the Irish Confederate Wars . In the summer of 1642, the Catholic upper classes formed the Catholic Confederation , which essentially became the de facto government of Ireland for a brief period until 1649, when the forces of the English Parliament carried out the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and the old Catholic landowners were permanently dispossessed of their lands. The most explicit Irish separatist viewpoint from
6248-426: The Second Dáil , thus ending the conflict. Though many across the country were unhappy with the Anglo-Irish Treaty (since, during the war, the IRA had fought for independence for all Ireland and for a republic, not a partitioned dominion under the British crown ), some republicans were satisfied that the Treaty was the best that could be achieved at the time. However, a substantial number opposed it. Dáil Éireann ,
6390-408: The Whigs .' William Smith O'Brien , who had previously worked to achieve compromise between O'Connell and The Nation group, was also concerned, and claimed that he feared these resolutions were an attempt to exclude the Young Irelanders from the Association altogether. At an Association meeting held in July 1846 at Conciliation Hall , the meeting place of the Association, Thomas Francis Meagher ,
6532-526: The partition of the island , then occurred. Republican action, including armed campaigns, continued in the newly-formed state of Northern Ireland, a region of the United Kingdom. Tensions in the territory culminated in widespread conflict by 1969. This prompted paramilitaries: republicans assembled under the Provisional Irish Republican Army , who waged a campaign against the British state for approximately three decades. Represented by Sinn Féin , republicans would gradually invest in political action, including
6674-468: The province was heavily colonised with English and Scottish settlers. Campaigns against English presence on the island had occurred prior to the emergence of the Irish republican ideology. In the 1590s and early 1600s, resistance was led by Hugh O'Neill (see the Nine Years' War ). The Irish chieftains were ultimately defeated, leading to their exile (the ' Flight of the Earls ') and the aforementioned Plantation of Ulster in 1609. In Europe, prior to
6816-471: The " Black and Tans ", to reinforce the Royal Irish Constabulary 's Auxiliary Division . Republicans were the primary adversary of these forces, whose warfare included pillaging and extrajudicial executions. Both sides used similar tactics: hair cutting , arson attacks, taking of hostages and executions. Republicans also established sovereign courts , a considerable symbol of the movement's public support. In August 1920 Irish Republican prisoners went on
6958-414: The "Provisional Army Council" and its party and military wing as Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA, while those remaining became known as Official Sinn Féin and the Official IRA . Official Sinn Féin, under the leadership of Tomás Mac Giolla , remained aligned to Goulding's Official IRA. A key factor in the split was the desire of those who became the Provisionals to make military action the key object of
7100-452: The "Sticks" or "Stickies" because in the 1970s it used adhesive stickers for the Easter Lily emblem in its 1916 commemorations, whereas Provisional Sinn Féin used a pin for theirs. The modern origins of the party date from the early 1960s. After the failure of the then IRA's 1956–1962 border campaign , the republican movement, with a new military and political leadership, undertook a complete reappraisal of its raison d'être . Through
7242-443: The 1798 rebellion, Emmet was a member of the United Irishmen, as was his brother Thomas Addis Emmet , who had been imprisoned for membership in the organisation. Emmet and his followers had planned to seize Dublin Castle by force, manufacturing weaponry and explosives at a number of locations in Dublin. Unlike those of 1798, preparations for the uprising were successfully concealed from the government and law enforcement, and though
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#17330937561107384-399: The 18th and 19th centuries, republics were in a minority and monarchy was the norm, with few long-lasting republics of note at time, such as the fully-fledged Dutch Republic and the Republic of Venice , as well as the Old Swiss Confederacy and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , which had republican aspects. However, as noted by Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich , the first ever document proposing
7526-411: The 1960s, some leading figures in the movement, such as Cathal Goulding , Seán Garland , Billy McMillen , Tomás Mac Giolla , moved steadily to the left, even to Marxism , as a result of their own reading and thinking and contacts with the Irish and international left. This angered more traditional republicans, who wanted to stick to the national question and armed struggle. Also involved in this debate
7668-468: The 1969 riots was very important within IRA circles, as it was one of the major factors contributing to the split in the movement in late 1969. In a June 1972 lecture organised by Official Sinn Féin in Dublin, McMillen defended his conduct, stating that by 1969 the total membership of the Belfast IRA was approximately 120 men and their armaments had increased to a grand total of 24 weapons, most of which were short-range pistols. In September, McMillen called
7810-411: The 2004 European elections in Northern Ireland. Waterford City remained a holdout for the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. In the 1997 general election , Martin O'Regan narrowly failed to secure a seat in Waterford . However, in February 2008, John Halligan of Waterford resigned from the party when it refused to drop its opposition to service charges. He was later elected a TD for Waterford in
7952-416: The 2011 general election. The party's sole remaining councillor in Waterford lost his seat in the 2014 local elections . Michael Donnelly, a Galway-based university lecturer, was elected as the party President at the party's Ard Fheis on 27 September 2014 on the retirement of Mick Finnegan . The Workers' Party called for a No vote against the Treaty of Lisbon in both the June 2008 referendum , in which
8094-451: The Acts of Union 1800, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, by a vote of 158 to 115. A number of tactics were used to achieve this end. Lord Castlereagh and Charles Cornwallis were known to use bribery extensively. In all, a total of sixteen Irish borough-owners were granted British peerages . A further twenty-eight new Irish peerages were created, while twenty existing Irish peerages increased in rank. Furthermore,
8236-425: The British Army continued for a short time afterward in the Wicklow Mountains under the leadership of Michael Dwyer and Joseph Holt , involving attacks on small parties of yeomen . These activities were perceived by some to be merely "the dying echoes of an old convulsion", but others feared further large-scale uprisings, due to the United Irishmen continuing to attract large numbers of Catholics in rural areas of
8378-414: The Cumann members ensured that SFWP members regularly appeared on the programme without having to acknowledge their membership. The Cumann was also able to influence one of RTÉ's flagship shows The Late Late Show , and placed SFWP activists into the show's studio audience, a studio audience who often took part in discussions on the show. During 1981 Irish hunger strike , the Cumann was deeply annoyed by
8520-447: The De Rossa motion. As a result of the conference's failure to adopt the motion, De Rossa and his supporters split from the organisation and established a new party which was temporarily known as "New Agenda" before the permanent name of "Democratic Left" was adopted. In the South the rump of the party was left with seven councillors and one TD . In the North, before the 1992 split, the party had four councillors – Tom French stayed with
8662-410: The Donnelly faction, with Tynan president of the breakaway faction. The Belfast Telegraph also reported upon the story in April 2021, and suggested one faction had tried to expel Tynan on the stated basis that he had not paid his membership fee for that year. However, Tynan told the Belfast Telegraph that he believed the actual basis for his expulsion was that a new guard of members who wished to move
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#17330937561108804-430: The Executive Council , or prime minister) discontinued this support. By May 1923, the war ended in the order by Frank Aiken , telling IRA members to dump arms. However, the harsh measures adopted by both sides, including assassinations, executions and other atrocities , left a bitter legacy in Irish politics for decades to follow. In October 1923 mass hunger strikes were undertaken by Irish republican prisoners protesting
8946-541: The Executive Council of the Free State and began a slow process of turning the country from a constitutional monarchy to a constitutional republic, thus fulfilling Collins's prediction of "the freedom to achieve freedom". By then, the IRA was engaged in confrontations with the Blueshirts , a quasi-fascist group led by a former War of Independence and pro-Treaty leader, Eoin O'Duffy . O'Duffy looked to Fascist Italy as an example for Ireland to follow. Several hundred supporters of O'Duffy briefly went to Spain to volunteer on
9088-434: The IRA's Dublin leadership, which became known as the Official IRA . The split rapidly developed into a bitter rivalry between the two groups. In April 1970, McMillen was shot and wounded by Provisional IRA members in the Lower Falls area of Belfast. In June 1970, McMillen's Official IRA had their first major confrontation with the British Army , which had been deployed to Belfast in the previous year, in an incident known as
9230-469: The Irish Regiment in the Spanish Netherlands then in the service of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia , to invade and reconquer the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland and set up an Irish government loosely aligned with the Habsburg Empire . One of the main problems was that within the leadership of the Hispano-Irish diaspora, there were rivalries and factionalism between two primary contenders, Shane O'Neill and Hugh O'Donnell , over who should be
9372-422: The Irish parliament, voted by 64 votes to 57 to ratify it, the majority believing that the treaty created a new base from which to move forward. Éamon de Valera , who had served as President of the Irish Republic during the war, refused to accept the decision of the Dáil and led the opponents of the treaty out of the House. The pro-Treaty republicans organised themselves into the Cumann na nGaedheal party, while
9514-414: The National Council remained in existence as a pressure group with the aim of increasing nationalist representation on local councils. The first annual convention of the National Council on 28 November 1905 was notable for two things: the decision, by a majority vote (with Griffith dissenting), to open branches and organise on a national basis; and the presentation by Griffith of his 'Hungarian' policy, which
9656-463: The Northern conflict was typified by the slogan it would adopt: "Peace, Democracy, Class Politics". It aimed to replace sectarian politics with a class struggle which would unite Catholic and Protestant workers. The slogan's echo of Vladimir Lenin 's "Peace, Bread, Land" was indicative of the party's new source of inspiration. Official Sinn Féin also built up fraternal relations with the USSR and with socialist, workers' and communist parties around
9798-421: The O'Mahony wing of the movement itself tried and failed to capture Campobello Island in New Brunswick in April 1866. Following this failure, the Roberts faction of the Fenian Brotherhood carried out its own, occupying the village of Fort Erie, Ontario on 31 May 1866 and engaging Canadian troops at the battles of Ridgeway and Fort Erie on 2 June. It was in reference to Fenians fighting in this battle that
9940-475: The OIRA in Belfast. Irish republican Inactive Defunct Irish republicanism ( Irish : poblachtánachas Éireannach ) is the political movement for an Irish republic , void of any British rule . Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both widely supported and iconoclastic. The modern emergence of nationalism, democracy, and radicalism provided
10082-504: The Official IRA carried out many attacks on the British Army and other targets in Northern Ireland. However, in April 1972, the organisation in Belfast was badly weakened by the death of their commander in the Markets area, Joe McCann . In May of that year, the Dublin leadership of the OIRA called a ceasefire, a move which McMillen supported. Nevertheless, in the year after the ceasefire, McMillen's command killed seven British soldiers in what they termed "retaliatory attacks". McMillen served on
10224-518: The Old English were strongly attached to. The motto of the Confederation would thus become Pro Deo, pro Rege et Patria, Hibernia unanimis ('Irishmen United for God, King and Country'), with any idea of a republic ditched. Beginning as a coup d'état with the aim of restoring lost lands in the north of Ireland and defending Catholic religious and property rights, (which had been suppressed by
10366-723: The Orange lily be your badge my patriot brother. The everlasting green for me and we for one and other." In 1967, McMillen was involved in the formation of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and was a member of a three-man committee which drew up the Association's constitution. The NICRA's peaceful activities resulted in violent opposition from many unionists , leading to fears that Catholic areas would come under attack. In May 1969, when asked at an IRA army council meeting by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh how many weapons
10508-455: The Unionist government was undemocratic, bigoted and favoured Protestants. Emigration for economic reasons kept the nationalist population from growing, despite its higher birth rate. Although poverty, (e)migration and unemployment were fairly widespread (albeit not to the same extent) among Protestants as well, on the other hand the economic situation in Northern Ireland (even for Catholics) was for
10650-568: The Young Irelanders) and 1865 and 1867 (by the Fenians) were followed by harsh reprisals by British forces. The National Council, was formed in 1903, by Maud Gonne and Arthur Griffith , on the occasion of the visit of King Edward VII to Dublin. Its purpose was to lobby Dublin Corporation to refrain from presenting an address to the king. The motion to present an address was duly defeated, but
10792-590: The Younger that he would bring about Catholic emancipation , though after the Acts of Union were successfully voted through, King George III saw that this pledge was never realised, and as such Catholics were not granted the rights that had been promised prior to the Acts. A second attempt at forming an independent Irish republic occurred under Robert Emmet in 1803. Emmet had previously been expelled from Trinity College , Dublin for his political views. Like those who had led
10934-459: The aftermath of the split, and Mac Giolla was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1993. Outside of the south-east, the Workers' Party retains active branches in various areas of the Republic, including Dublin , Cork and County Meath. In the 1999 local elections , it lost all of its seats in Dublin and Cork and only managed to retain three seats in Waterford City. Further electoral setbacks and
11076-556: The anti-Treaty republicans retained the Sinn Féin name. The IRA itself split between pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty elements, with the former forming the nucleus of the new Irish National Army . Michael Collins became Commander-in-Chief of the National Army. Shortly afterwards, some dissidents, apparently without the authorisation of the anti-Treaty IRA Army Executive, occupied the Four Courts in Dublin and kidnapped JJ "Ginger" O'Connell ,
11218-501: The background of the violent beginning of what would be termed the Troubles ). A growing minority within the rank-and-file wanted to maintain traditional militarist policies aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland . An equally contentious issue involved whether to or not to continue with the policy of abstentionism , that is, the refusal of elected representatives to take their seats in British or Irish legislatures. A majority of
11360-496: The class struggle to a mythical national question". The policy document used Marxist terminology: it identified US imperialism as the now-dominant political and economic force in the southern state and attacked the failure of the national bourgeoisie to develop Ireland as a modern economic power. Official Sinn Féin gravitated towards Marxism-Leninism and became fiercely critical of the physical force Irish republicanism still espoused by Provisional Sinn Féin. Its new approach to
11502-561: The coalition government, announced his intention to declare Ireland a republic. The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 , which "described" the state as the Republic of Ireland (without changing its name or constitutional status), led the British government to pass the Ireland Act 1949 , which declared that Northern Ireland would continue as part of the United Kingdom unless the Parliament of Northern Ireland consented to leave; and Ireland ceased to be
11644-493: The collapse of the Soviet Union and labelled them "liquidators". Marian Donnelly replaced De Rossa as president from 1992 to 1994. Tom French became president in 1994, and served for four years until Sean Garland was elected president in 1998. Garland retired as president in May 2008, and was replaced by Mick Finnegan who served until September 2014, being replaced by Michael Donnelly A further minor split occurred when
11786-714: The continuation of their internment without trial by the newly formed Irish Free State - three men died during the 1923 Irish Hunger Strikes . De Valera, who had strongly supported the Republican anti-treaty side in the Civil War, reconsidered his views while in jail and came to accept the ideas of political activity under the terms of the Free State constitution. Rather than abstaining from Free State politics entirely, he now sought to republicanise it from within. However, he and his supporters – which included most Sinn Féin TDs – failed to convince
11928-578: The country and arms raids being carried out on a nightly basis. It was also feared that rebels would again seek military aid from French troops, and another rising was expected take place by 10 April. This perceived threat of further rebellion resulted in the Parliamentary Union between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After some uncertainty, the Irish Parliament voted to abolish itself in
12070-482: The country to prepare republicans there. A proclamation of independence, addressed from 'The Provisional Government' to 'The People of Ireland' was produced by Emmet, echoing the republican sentiments expressed during the previous rebellion: You are now called on to show to the world that you are competent to take your place among nations, that you have a right to claim their recognisance of you, as an independent country ... We therefore solemnly declare, that our object
12212-562: The country. French soldiers landed in Killala on 22 August and participated in the fighting on the rebels' side. Even though they had considerable success against British forces in County Wexford , rebel forces were eventually defeated. Key figures in the organisation were arrested and executed. Though the Rebellion of 1798 was eventually put down, small republican guerrilla campaigns against
12354-614: The early 1970s and continued to operate in secrecy until the Worker's Party broke apart in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed (1991) and likewise the Workers' Party saw a major split with the formation of the Democratic Left (1992). Remaining undetected was fundamental to the existence of the Cumann, as officially RTÉ reporters were not allowed to have party-political affiliations, in order to appear objective as journalists. The Cumann
12496-448: The early 1990s to rejuvenate its fortunes in both Irish jurisdictions. The Workers' Party maintains a youth wing, Workers' Party Youth, and a Women's Committee. It also had offices in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Waterford. Apart from its political work at home in Ireland, it has sent party delegations to international gatherings of communist and socialist parties. The party supported an independent anti-sectarian candidate, John Gilliland, in
12638-414: The existing membership, elect an 11-member provisional executive council and make several other significant changes in party structures was defeated. The motion to "reconstitute" the party achieved the support of 61% of delegates. However, this was short of the two-thirds majority needed to change the Workers' Party constitution. The Workers' Party later claimed that there was vote rigging by the supporters of
12780-421: The fact that in the last all Ireland election ( 1918 Irish general election ) counties Fermanagh and Tyrone had Sinn Féin/Nationalist Party (Irish Parliamentary Party) majorities. In 1921, Ireland was partitioned. Most of the country became part of the independent Irish Free State . However, six out of the nine counties of Ulster remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland. During this time (1920–1922)
12922-709: The fighting and about 60 wounded. In addition 35 rifles, 6 machine guns, 14 shotguns, grenades, explosives and 21,000 rounds of ammunition, all belonging to the OIRA, were seized. McMillen blamed the Provisionals for instigating the incident and then refusing to help the Officials against the British. This ill-feeling eventually led to an all-out feud between the republican factions in Belfast in March 1971. The Provisionals attempted to kill McMillen again, as well as his second-in-command Jim Sullivan . In retaliation, McMillen had Charlie Hughes,
13064-496: The flag was not removed he and his supporters would march on the office and remove it themselves. On the same night, Wednesday, 28 September 1964, a large force of the RUC armed with rifles, Sten guns , batons and crowbars smashed down the doors of McMillen's election HQ and removed the tricolour. The following day the IRA replaced the flag in the window and police attacked a crowd who had gathered to support McMillen. Rioting ensued. At around this time McMillen succeeded Billy McKee as
13206-642: The flying of the tricolour under the Flags and Emblems Act . In October 1964, during the general election campaign, a photo of McMillen was placed in the window of the election office in Divis Street flanked on one side by the Starry Plough flag and on the other by the tricolour. Initially the authorities did not intervene, but they were jolted into action following threats from the Reverend Ian Paisley that if
13348-493: The government of Great Britain sought to replace Irish politicians in the Irish parliament with pro-Union politicians, and rewards were granted to those that vacated their seats, with the result being that in the eighteen months prior to the decision in 1800, one-fifth of the Irish House of Commons changed its representation due to these activities and other factors such as death. It was also promised by Prime Minister William Pitt
13490-572: The headquarters of Sinn Féin for decades before the 1970 split. At its Ardfheis in January 1977, Official Sinn Féin renamed itself Sinn Féin – The Workers' Party . Its first seats in Dáil Éireann were won under this new name. A motion at the 1979 Ardfheis to remove the Sinn Féin prefix from the party name was narrowly defeated. This change would come about three years later. In Northern Ireland , Sinn Féin
13632-458: The law of God [ 'laws of morality'] to the commands of my superior officers; and that I shall preserve inviolable secrecy regarding all the transactions [ 'affairs'] of this secret society that may be confided in me. So help me God! Amen. The Fenian Brotherhood was the IRB's counterpart organisation, formed in the same year in the United States by O'Mahony and Doheny. The Fenian Brotherhood's main purpose
13774-494: The leadership favoured abandoning this policy. A group consisting of Seán Mac Stiofáin , Dáithí Ó Conaill , Seamus Twomey , and others, established themselves as a "Provisional Army Council" in 1969 in anticipation of a contentious 1970 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis (delegate conference). At the Ard Fheis, the leadership of Sinn Féin failed to attain the required two-thirds majority to change the party's position on abstentionism. The debate
13916-533: The leadership in Dublin were reluctant to release guns. While McMillen was involved in some armed actions on this day, he was widely blamed by those who established the Provisional IRA for the IRA's failure to adequately defend Catholic neighbourhoods from Ulster loyalist attack. He was arrested and temporarily detained by the RUC on the morning of 15 August, but was released shortly afterwards (see also Northern Ireland riots of August 1969 ). McMillen's role in
14058-416: The likes of John Locke and Thomas Paine , they initially propagated parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation . Degradation in the legal achievement of these outcomes, coupled with the burgeoning perception of England as a foreign conqueror, inspired revolutionary sentiment and eventual action. At this stage, the movement was led primarily by liberal Protestants, particularly Presbyterians from
14200-521: The name "Irish Republican Army" was first used. These attacks (and those that followed) in Canada are collectively known as the " Fenian raids ". Irish republican and other independence movements were suppressed by the British authorities following the merging of Ireland with Britain into the United Kingdom after the Act of Union in 1801 . Nationalist rebellions against British rule in 1803, by Robert Emmet, 1848 (by
14342-563: The native Gaelic population attempted to resist this occupation, a single, unified political goal did not exist amongst the independent lordships that existed throughout the island. The Tudor conquest of Ireland took place in the 16th century. This included the Plantations of Ireland , in which the lands held by Gaelic Irish clans and Hiberno-Norman dynasties were confiscated and given to Protestant settlers ("Planters") from England and Scotland . The Plantation of Ulster began in 1609, and
14484-575: The new grouping. This provoked another intra-republican feud in Belfast. The feud began with arms raids on OIRA dumps and beatings of their members by the INLA. McMillen, in response was accused of drawing up a "death list" of IRSP/INLA members and even of handing information on them over to the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force . The first killing came on 20 February 1975, when the OIRA shot dead an INLA member named Hugh Ferguson in west Belfast. A spate of shootings followed on both sides. On 28 April 1975, McMillen
14626-650: The newly formed Northern Ireland saw "savage and unprecedented" communal violence between unionists and nationalists (see The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922) ). In the 1921 elections in Northern Ireland: This territory of Northern Ireland, as established by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 , had its own provincial government which was controlled for 50 years until 1972 by the conservative Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The tendency to vote on sectarian lines and
14768-415: The old position. In 2023, the Workers' Party launched its policy document "Lets Get Real", stating that nuclear power is the only energy option for Ireland which is reliable, affordable and low carbon. The party advocates Ireland building 6 conventional nuclear plants at 2 or 3 sites for an estimated cost of €50 billion. The Workers' Party made its electoral breakthrough in 1981 when Joe Sherlock won
14910-438: The organisation, rather than a simple rejection of leftism. The pre-split leadership, they stated, had attempted to replace the programme of Wolfe Tone and James Connolly with "the foreign socialism of Marx and Mao". If this had gone unchecked, their argument went, the "traditional" IRA would have been replaced by the “so-called National Liberation Movement, including Communist Party members. In 1977, Official Sinn Féin ratified
15052-467: The overall leader and thus have rights to an Irish throne if the project was a success. A third option was to resolve the conflict between the two factions before an invasion by making them family, with a marriage proposed between Hugh O'Donnell's sister Mary Stuart O'Donnell and Shane O'Neill, but this broke down. Ministers in Madrid , to Philip IV of Spain , instead drew up proposals on 27 December 1627 for
15194-446: The party has existed as a microparty . A 2021 split in the party left the party's status disputed. In 1971, it registered to contest Dáil and local elections in the Republic of Ireland under the name Sinn Féin . From the early to mid-1970s, it was known as Official Sinn Féin or Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place) to distinguish it from the rival offshoot Provisional Sinn Féin, or Sinn Féin (Kevin Street) . Gardiner Place had symbolic power as
15336-468: The party towards more Irish Republican positions, such as being in favour of a referendum on Irish reunification , sought to push him out of the organisation. Historically the Workers' Party opposed a border poll on the basis it would be "sectarian" and pit Nationalists against Unionists, and argued instead that the solution to Northern Ireland would be to unite both groups under the banner of Internationalist Socialism. Tynan and his supporters seek to retain
15478-401: The party's annual Ardfheis the party voted to expel their only elected representative Ted Tynan. This is disputed by the party themselves. In response, a faction of the party called an emergency general meeting in which they backed a vote of no confidence in party president Michael Donnelly and voted Tynan as his successor. Micheal McCorry, who had been General Secretary, became president of
15620-554: The party's new name: Sinn Féin The Workers' Party without dissension. According to Richard Sinnott, this "symbolism" was completed in April 1982 when the party became simply the Workers' Party. Although the Official IRA became drawn into the spiralling violence of the early period of conflict in Northern Ireland , it almost immediately reduced its military campaign against the United Kingdom 's armed presence in Northern Ireland, declaring
15762-474: The party, Gerry Cullen (Dungannon) and Seamus Lynch (Belfast) joined New Agenda/Democratic Left, and David Kettyles ran in subsequent elections in Fermanagh as an Independent or Progressive Socialist. While the majority of public representatives left with De Rossa, many members remained in the Workers' Party. Sean Garland condemned those who broke away as "careerists" and social democrats who had taken flight after
15904-594: The period, found in Disputatio Apologetica , written in Lisbon in 1645 by Fr. Conor O'Mahony , a Jesuit priest from Munster, argued instead for a Gaelic monarchy to be set up in an explicitly Catholic Ireland, with no mention of a republic. The origin of modern Irish republicanism exists in the ideology and action of the United Irishmen. Founded in 1791 and informed by the Enlightenment , popular sovereignty and
16046-459: The popularity of the republican ideals in Ireland and repression of republican political expressions by the British government, led to widespread support across Ireland for the Irish rebels. In 1921, the British government led by David Lloyd George negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty with republican leaders led by Arthur Griffith who had been delegated as plenipotentiaries on behalf of
16188-403: The positive coverage that the hunger strikers (such as Bobby Sands ) began to receive, as they were aligned with the Provisionals. In response, they produced pieces which focused on the victims of violence by the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland. In early 1992, following a failed attempt to change the organisation's constitution, six of the party's seven TDs, its MEP, numerous councillors and
16330-582: The press in Britain to describe members of the Repeal Association (a group campaigning for the repeal of the Acts of Union 1800 which joined the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain) who were involved with the Irish nationalist newspaper The Nation . Encouraging the repeal of the Acts of Union, members of the Young Ireland movement advocated the removal of British authority from Ireland and
16472-642: The proportions of each religious denomination ensured that there would never be a change of government. In local government, constituency boundaries were drawn to divide nationalist communities into two or even three constituencies and so weaken their effect (see Gerrymandering ). The (mainly Catholic) Nationalist population in Northern Ireland, besides feeling politically alienated, was also economically alienated, often with worse living standards compared to their Protestant (mainly Unionist) neighbours, with fewer job opportunities, and living in ghettos in Belfast , Derry, Armagh and other places. Many Catholics considered
16614-467: The proposal was rejected, and the October 2009 referendum , in which the proposal was approved. It was the only left-wing party to campaign for a No vote in the 2013 Seanad abolition referendum . It called for a Yes vote in the marriage equality referendum in 2015. The party supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum . The party has been involved in campaigning for public housing and renters' rights as
16756-486: The province of Ulster . The founding members of the United Irishmen were mainly Southern Irish Protestant aristocrats. The key founders included Wolfe Tone , Thomas Russell , Henry Joy McCracken , James Napper Tandy , and Samuel Neilson . By 1797, the Society of United Irishmen had around 100,000 members. Crossing the religious divide in Ireland, it had a mixed membership of Catholics, Presbyterians, and even Anglicans from
16898-569: The re-establishment of the Irish Parliament in Dublin. The group had cultural aims also, and encouraged the study of Irish history and the revival of the Irish language . Influential Young Irelanders included Charles Gavan Duffy , Thomas Davis and John Blake Dillon , the three founders of The Nation . The Young Irelanders eventually seceded from the Repeal Association. The leader of the Repeal Association, Daniel O'Connell , opposed
17040-485: The rising broke down into rioting, which ensued sporadically throughout the night. Emmet escaped and hid for some time in the Wicklow Mountains and Harold's Cross , but was captured on 25 August and hanged on 20 September 1803, at which point the Society of United Irishmen was effectively finished. The Young Ireland movement began in the late 1830s. The term 'Young Ireland' was originally a derogatory one, coined by
17182-573: The same association as O'Connell and his supporters. After some protest, the Young Irelanders left Conciliation Hall and the Repeal Association forever, founding the Irish Confederation 13 January 1847 after negotiations for a reunion had failed. The Young Ireland movement culminated in a failed uprising (see Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 ), which, influenced by the French Revolution of 1848 and further provoked by government inaction during
17324-458: The sitting MP and a year later, when other parties contested the constituency, he only polled 4.7% of the vote. Three councillors left the party during the split in 1992. Davy Kettyles became an independent 'Progressive Socialist' while Gerry Cullen in Dungannon and the Workers' Party northern chairman, Seamus Lynch in Belfast, joined Democratic Left. The party held on to its one council seat in
17466-675: The support of Habsburg Spain as part of the Irish military diaspora who had fled into Spanish service in the aftermath of the Flight of the Earls during the Thirty Years' War . This was in the context of the break-down of the Spanish match and the onset of the Anglo-Spanish War of 1625–1630. Proposals were made at Madrid, with the involvement of Archbishop Florence Conry and Owen Roe O'Neill , for
17608-502: The tradition of republican funerals , a ritual instrumental as evidenced by the oration at Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa's funeral . Popular perception elsewhere deemed the movement as terrorisitic – a persistent perception of republicanism thereafter. Nevertheless, the likes of Rossa would raise the public profile of the movement by their evocation of martyrdom and highlighting of prisoner maltreatment. Support from America proved both lucrative and troublesome as transatlantic members waged
17750-652: The uprising of 1848 and fleeing to avoid capture. O'Mahony left France for America in the mid-1850s and founded the Emmet Monument Association with Michael Doheny . Stephens returned to Ireland in 1856. The original oath of the society, drawn up by Luby under Stephens' direction, read: I, AB., do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will do my utmost, at every risk, while life lasts, to make [other versions, according to Luby, establish in'] Ireland an independent Democratic Republic; that I will yield implicit obedience, in all things not contrary to
17892-423: The use of physical force to enact repeal, and passed 'peace resolutions' declaring that violence and force were not to be employed. Though the Young Irelanders did not support the use of violence, the writers of The Nation maintained that the introduction of these peace resolutions was poorly timed, and that to declare outright that physical force would never be used was 'to deliver themselves bound hand and foot to
18034-517: The whole of Ireland. The new state was headed by a President of Ireland elected by universal suffrage. The new Constitution removed all reference to the monarchy but foreign diplomats continued to present their credentials to the King in accordance with the Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936 which had not been repealed. The new state had the objective characteristics of a republic and
18176-407: The working classes could be united in class struggle to overthrow their common rulers, with a 32-county socialist republic being the inevitable outcome. However, this Marxist outlook became unpopular with many of the more traditionalist republicans, and the party/army leadership was criticised for failing to defend northern Catholic enclaves from loyalist attacks (these debates took place against
18318-638: The world. Throughout the 1980s, the party came to staunchly oppose republican political violence , controversially to the point of recommending cooperating with British security forces. They were one of the few organisations on the left of Irish politics to oppose the INLA/Provisional IRA 1981 Irish hunger strike . The Workers' Party (especially the faction around Harris) strongly criticised traditional Irish republicanism , causing some of its critics such as Vincent Browne and Paddy Prendeville to accuse it of having an attitude to Northern Ireland that
18460-615: Was a turning point in Irish history, leading to the War of Independence and the end of British rule in most of Ireland. From 1919 to 1921 the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was organised as a guerrilla army, led by Richard Mulcahy and with Michael Collins as Director of Intelligence and fought against the British. During the Anglo-Irish War , the British government formed a paramilitary police force consisting of former soldiers, known as
18602-494: Was charged with allegations of vote-rigging and expulsions. When the Ard Fheis went on to pass a vote of confidence in the official Army Council (which had already approved an end to the abstentionist policy), Ruairí Ó Brádaigh led the minority in a walk-out, and went to a prearranged meeting in Parnell Square where they announced the establishment of a "caretaker" executive of Sinn Féin. The dissident council became known as
18744-519: Was close to Ulster unionism . Part of the party's plan to gain influence in the Republic of Ireland was the formation and maintenance of a secret branch ( cumann ), the Ned Stapleton Cumann , inside Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ . Centred around the leadership of Eoghan Harris, the members were all employees of RTÉ and many of them were journalists. Members included Charlie Bird , John Caden and Marian Finucane . The branch started in
18886-502: Was influential within RTÉ, and used its position to shape the output of RTÉ programming; they pushed for narratives which reflected the official Sinn Féin/Workers' Party outlook, particularly in relation to the Provisional IRA . One programme impacted by the Cumann, Today Tonight , aired 4 nights a week and focused on investigative journalism. Although not directly involved with the show,
19028-594: Was interned and held in Crumlin Road jail. In 1964, he ran in the British general election as an Independent Republican candidate. When McMillen placed the Irish tricolour in the window of his election office in the lower Falls area, this sparked a riot between republicans, loyalists and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). There had been tensions on the issue since the government of Northern Ireland banned
19170-537: Was now an obstacle to winning support at the polls. Secondly, media accusations had once again surfaced regarding the continued existence of the Official IRA which, it was alleged, remained armed and involved in fund-raising robberies, money laundering and other forms of criminality. De Rossa and his supporters sought to distance themselves from alleged paramilitary activity at a special Árd Fheis held at Dún Laoghaire on 15 February 1992. A motion proposed by De Rossa and General Secretary Des Geraghty sought to stand down
19312-537: Was now called the Sinn Féin policy. This meeting is usually taken as the date of the foundation of the Sinn Féin party. In 1916 the Easter Rising , organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood , was launched in Dublin and the Irish Republic was proclaimed, albeit without significant popular support. The Rising was suppressed after six days, and most of its leaders were executed by the British authorities. This
19454-479: Was now disagreement as to how and where this rebellion might be carried out. Roberts' faction preferred focusing all military efforts on British Canada (Roberts and his supporters theorised that victory for the American Fenians in nearby Canada would propel the Irish republican movement as a whole to success). The other, headed by O'Mahony, proposed that a rising in Ireland be planned for 1866. In spite of this,
19596-408: Was organised under the name Republican Clubs to avoid a ban on Sinn Féin candidates (introduced in 1964 under Northern Ireland's Emergency Powers Act ). The Officials continued to use this name after 1970, and later used the name Workers' Party Republican Clubs . In 1982, both the northern and southern sections of the party became The Workers' Party. The Workers' Party is sometimes referred to as
19738-516: Was referred to as such by de Valera himself, but, it remained within the British Commonwealth and was regarded by the British as a Dominion, like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Furthermore, the claim to the whole of the island did not reflect practical reality and inflamed anti-Dublin sentiment among northern Protestants. In 1948, Fianna Fáil went out of office for the first time in sixteen years. John A. Costello , leader of
19880-401: Was shot dead by INLA member Gerard Steenson , as he was shopping in a hardware shop on Spinner Street with his wife Mary. McMillen was hit in the neck and died on the scene. His killing was unauthorised and was condemned by INLA/IRSP leader Seamus Costello . Despite this, the OIRA tried to kill Costello on 9 May 1975 and eventually killed him two years later. McMillen's death was a major blow to
20022-579: Was the Connolly Association . This group's analysis saw the primary obstacle to Irish unity as the continuing division between the Protestant and Catholic working classes. This it attributed to the " divide and rule " policies of capitalism , whose interests were served by the working classes remaining divided. Military activity was seen as counterproductive, because its effect was to further entrench sectarian divisions. The left-wing faction believed
20164-631: Was to supply weapons and funds for its Irish counterpart and raise support for the Irish republican movement in the United States. The term "Fenian" was coined by O'Mahony, who named the American wing of the movement after the Fianna – a class of warriors that existed in Gaelic Ireland . The term became popular and is still in use, especially in Northern Ireland and Scotland, where it has expanded to refer to all Irish nationalists and republicans, as well as being
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