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********** The Easter rising of 1916 **********
from Workers Solidarity No 33?
[1991?]
THIS YEAR marks the 75th anniversary of the Easter
Rising. There will be all sorts of commemorations
throughout the country, organised by forces ranging from
Fianna F?il to Sinn F?in. We will hear a lot of talk about
the "spirit of 1916", what does it mean today?
The rising was heroic. Some would even say stupid. It had little
popular support. Most Irish people at the time believed that Irish men
should be off fighting the Germans. It was widely thought that in
return Home Rule would become a reality. The leaders of the rising
were not too worried about this. They believed that the blood sacrifice
was all that was needed to inspire future generations.
NATIONALISTS
The rising itself was led by middle class nationalists. Their one and only
objective was the liberation of the country from British rule. This has
not yet been achieved. Indeed all the major parties, including the
Workers Party, have given up on this. The Anglo-Irish Agreement was
only the most recent attempt to come to terms with partition. For all
the waffle about being the true inheritors of the Rising, not one
government of the Free State has implemented the limited demands of
the rebels.
The Proclamation declared the following "The Republic guarantees
religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities for all its
citizens and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the
whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation
equally."
EQUALITY
Here we see a general liberal desire for equality. But far from equality,
all we see around us in the Irish Republic is inequality. Workers are
thrown on the dole and expected to live on a pittance while the bosses
make enormous profits and eat in outrageously expensive restaurants.
There are plush new private hospitals while workers get second rate
health care. Women are denied the right to participate fully in society.
Their role as wives and childminders is enshrined in the Constitution.
Far from cherishing all the children of the nation equally, working class
children are denied the right to attend third level education yet their
parents fork out a fortune in taxes to subsidise the children of the rich.
NOT SOCIALIST
Not that the leaders of the Rising were socialist or anything like it.
Their only concern was to get the British out. The new Ireland was
clearly going to be capitalist. The Proclamation calls on all Irish people
to unite, saying that all previous differences which "have divided a
minority from the majority" were "carefully fostered by an alien
government". So the only problem was British domination.
It obviously was a problem but this perspective totally overlooks the
fact that only three years previously the Irish bosses led by William
Martin Murphy had locked out and starved thousands of Irish
workers. Were the workers now to forget all this and unite with their
enemies?
JAMES CONNOLLY
The presence of Connolly did not give the Rising a socialist tinge.
Connolly had clearly decided that socialism should be put in cold
storage. He believed that the World War was a great opportunity to
strike at Britain. Also the defeat in the 1913 Lockout had left the
working class demoralised. Rather than get stuck in and rebuild union
organisation and militancy, Connolly chose to go with the nationalists.
He was not fighting for socialism when he went into the G.P.O.
The executions following the Rising (rather than the Rising itself) and
the British attempt to introduce conscription set the country alight.
British rule was totally undermined by 1919. The War of
Independence and the First D?il not only showed that the majority of
the people opposed the British, but also highlighted what Sinn F?in
was fighting for.
IRISH "SOVIETS"
In many parts of the country land was seized and "Soviets" were
established in many workplaces. These workers wanted more than a
united capitalist Ireland. They wanted the whole set-up changed.
They wanted real control over their lives. But this did not fit into the
policy of uniting all the Irish people. Sinn F?in land courts were
established and the land was handed back to its former owners. The
Countess Markiewicz, one of the heroines of the rising, warned against
the "dangers of social revolution".
Today Sinn F?in claim, louder than anybody, to be the inheritors of
1916. Without a doubt they are. They carry on the tradition of armed
struggle and the blood sacrifice. Despite all the left wing posturing
they are still nationalists whose aim is to unite all the Irish people
against the British. As in 1916 there are not just "Irish people". There
are Irish workers and Irish bosses, and they have nothing in common.
A WORKERS REPUBLIC
The task remains to free the country from British domination. For
Anarchists this can only be done by taking up the struggle as part of
the fight for a Workers Republic. Workers' control and the smashing of
capitalism is our aim. Anything less is not worth fighting for. The real
heros and heroines of Irish history are the workers who fought for this.
The state will not hold commemorations for them. That might only
encourage workers today.
Eddie Conlon