Irish Citizen Army
Encyclopedia
The Irish Citizen Army or ICA, was a small group of trained trade union
volunteers established in Dublin for the defence of worker’s demonstrations from the police. It was formed by James Larkin
and Jack White. Other prominent members included James Connolly
, Seán O'Casey
, Constance Markievicz, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
. In 1916, it took part in the Easter Rising
– an armed insurrection aimed at ending British rule in Ireland.
. The dispute was over the recognition of this labour union founded by James Larkin
. It began when William Martin Murphy
, an industrialist, locked out some trade unionists on 19 August 1913. In response, Larkin called an all out strike on Murphy's Dublin United Tramway Company. Other companies, encouraged by Murphy, sacked ITGWU members in an effort to break the union. The conflict eventually escalated to involve 400 employers and 25,000 workers.
This strike caused most of Dublin to come to an economic standstill and was marked by vicious rioting between the strikers and the Dublin Metropolitan Police
, particularly at a rally on O'Connell Street
on August 31, in which two men were beaten to death and about 500 more injured. Another striker was later shot dead by a strike-breaker. The violence at union rallies during the strike prompted Larkin to call for a workers' militia to be formed to protect themselves against the police. The Citizen army for the duration of the lockout was armed with hurling
sticks and bats in order to protect workers' demonstrations from the police. Jack White
, a former British Army
Captain, volunteered to train this army and offered 50 pounds towards the cost of shoes to workers so they could train. In addition to its role as a self defence organisation, the army, which was drilled in Croydon Park in Fairview
by White, provided a diversion for workers unemployed and idle during the dispute. After a six-month standoff, the workers returned to work hungry and defeated in January 1914. The original purpose of the ICA was over, but it would soon be totally transformed.
, its commander, was arrested. Sean O'Casey
then suggested that the ICA needed a more formal organisation. O'Casey wrote a constitution stating the Army's principles as follows: "the ownership of Ireland, moral and material, is vested of right in the people of Ireland" and to "sink all difference of birth property and creed under the common name of the Irish people".
On Larkin's insistence, all members were also required to be members of a trade union, if eligible. In mid 1914, White resigned as ICA commander to join the mainstream nationalist Irish Volunteers
and Larkin took over.
James Larkin left Ireland for America in October 1914, leaving the Citizen Army under the command of James Connolly
. Whereas during the Lockout, the ICA had been a workers' self defence militia, Connolly conceived of it as a revolutionary organisation - dedicated to the creation of an Irish socialist republic. He had served in the British army in his youth and knew something about military tactics and discipline. Other active members in the early days included Sean O'Casey
, Constance Markievicz, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
. Sheehy-Skeffington and O'Casey left the ICA when it became apparent that Connolly was moving towards the radical nationalist group, the Irish Republican Brotherhood
.
James Connolly was a convinced Marxist socialist and Irish Republican and believed that achieving political change through physical force, in the tradition of the Fenians, was legitimate.
The ICA was armed with Mauser
rifles bought from Germany by the Irish Volunteers and smuggled into Ireland at Howth
in July 1914. This organisation was one of the first to offer equal membership to both men and women and trained them both in the use of weapons. The army's headquarters was the ITGWU union building, Liberty Hall
and they were almost entirely Dublin based. However, Connolly also set up branches in Tralee and Killarney
in county Kerry
. In October 1915, armed ICA pickets patrolled a strike by dockers at Dublin port.
Appalled by the participation of Irishmen in the First World War, which he regarded as an imperialist, capitalist conflict, Connolly began openly calling for insurrection in his newspaper, the Irish Worker. When this was banned he opened another, the Worker's Republic. The British authorities tolerated the open drilling and bearing of arms by the ICA, thinking that to clamp down on the organisation would provoke further unrest. A small group of Irish Republican Brotherhood
(IRB) conspirators within the Irish Volunteers movement were also planning a rising. Worried that Connolly would embark on premature military action with the ICA, Connolly was approached and inducted into the IRB's Supreme Council to co-ordinate their preparations for the armed rebellion known as the Easter Rising
.
The army never numbered more than 250 men and women. On Monday April 24, 1916, 220 of them (including 28 women) took part in the Easter Rising, alongside a much larger body of the Irish Volunteers
. They helped occupy the General Post Office
on O'Connell Street
(then Sackville Street), Dublin's main thoroughfare. Mallin, Connolly's second in command, along with Markievicz and an ICA company, occupied St Stephen's Green. Another company under Sean Connolly took over City Hall and attacked Dublin Castle
. Finally, a detachment occupied Harcourt Street railway station. ICA men were the first rebel casualties of Easter Week, two of them being killed in an abortive attack on Dublin Castle. Sean Connolly, an ICA officer, was the first rebel fatality. A total of eleven Citizen Army men were killed in action in the rising, five in the City Hall/Dublin castle area, five in Stephen's Green and one in the GPO.
James Connolly was made commander of the rebel forces in Dublin during the Rising and issued orders to surrender after a week. He and Mallin were executed by British army firing squad some weeks later. The surviving ICA members were interned in Frongoch
in Wales until 1919.
Many of them later joined the new Irish Republican Army
(IRA) from 1917 on, but the Citizen Army remained in existence until the 1930s. According to some reports, ICA units were involved in various IRA operations during the Irish War of Independence
, including the burning of the Customs House in May 1921. During the fighting in Dublin
that began the Irish Civil War
in July 1922, some elements of the ICA (which by this time had about 140 members) were involved in the Anti-Treaty IRA occupation and defence of the Four Courts
while others occupied Liberty Hall
, the Trade Union headquarters, to prevent it falling into the hands of either the Republicans or the Free State Army.
Uniformed Citizen Army men provided a guard of honour at Constance Markievicz's funeral in 1927.
In 1934, Peadar O'Donnell
and other left wing republicans left the IRA and founded the Republican Congress
. For a brief time, they revived the ICA as a paramilitary force, intended to be an armed wing for their new movement. According to Brian Hanley's history of the IRA, the revived Citizen Army had 300 or so members around the country in 1935. However, the Congress itself split in 1935 and collapsed shortly afterwards.
The ICA's last public appearance was to accompany the funeral procession of union leader James Larkin
in Dublin in 1947.
. As many members could not afford a uniform, they wore a blue armband, with officers wearing red ones.
Their banner was the Plough and the Stars. Connolly said the significance of the banner was that a free Ireland would control its own destiny from the plough to the stars. The symbolism of the flag was evident in its earliest inception of a plough with a sword as its blade. Taking inspiration from the bible and following the internationalist aspect of socialism it reflected the belief that war would be redundant with the rise of the Socialist International. This was flown by the Irish Citizens Army during the 1916 rising. The design changed during the 1930s to that of the blue banner on the right, which was designed by members of the Republican Congress
, and was adopted as the emblem of the Irish Labour movement, including the Irish Labour Party, though they eventually dropped it. It is also claimed by Irish republicans and has been carried alongside the Irish tricolour and Irish provincial flags at Provisional Irish Republican Army
, Official IRA
and Irish National Liberation Army
(INLA) rallies.
The banner, and alternative versions of it, is also used by the Connolly Youth Movement
, Labour Youth
, Ógra Shinn Féin
and the Republican Socialist Youth Movement
.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
volunteers established in Dublin for the defence of worker’s demonstrations from the police. It was formed by James Larkin
James Larkin
James Larkin was an Irish trade union leader and socialist activist, born to Irish parents in Liverpool, England. He and his family later moved to a small cottage in Burren, southern County Down. Growing up in poverty, he received little formal education and began working in a variety of jobs...
and Jack White. Other prominent members included James Connolly
James Connolly
James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...
, Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
, Constance Markievicz, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Francis Skeffington from Bailieborough, County Cavan, was an Irish suffragist, pacifist and writer. He was a friend and schoolmate of James Joyce, Oliver St John Gogarty, Tom Kettle, and Conor Cruise O'Brien's father, Frank O'Brien...
. In 1916, it took part in the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
– an armed insurrection aimed at ending British rule in Ireland.
The Lockout
The army rose out of the great strike of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union in 1913, known as the Lockout of 1913Dublin Lockout
The Dublin Lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers which took place in Ireland's capital city of Dublin. The dispute lasted from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, and is often viewed as the most severe and significant industrial dispute in...
. The dispute was over the recognition of this labour union founded by James Larkin
James Larkin
James Larkin was an Irish trade union leader and socialist activist, born to Irish parents in Liverpool, England. He and his family later moved to a small cottage in Burren, southern County Down. Growing up in poverty, he received little formal education and began working in a variety of jobs...
. It began when William Martin Murphy
William Martin Murphy
William Martin Murphy was an Irish nationalist journalist, businessman and politician. A Member of Parliament representing Dublin from 1885 to 1892, he was dubbed 'William Murder Murphy' among Dublin workers and the press due to the Dublin Lockout of 1913...
, an industrialist, locked out some trade unionists on 19 August 1913. In response, Larkin called an all out strike on Murphy's Dublin United Tramway Company. Other companies, encouraged by Murphy, sacked ITGWU members in an effort to break the union. The conflict eventually escalated to involve 400 employers and 25,000 workers.
This strike caused most of Dublin to come to an economic standstill and was marked by vicious rioting between the strikers and the Dublin Metropolitan Police
Dublin Metropolitan Police
The Dublin Metropolitan Police was the police force of Dublin, Ireland, from 1836 to 1925, when it amalgamated into the new Garda Síochána.-19th century:...
, particularly at a rally on O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street is Dublin's main thoroughfare. It measures 49 m in width at its southern end, 46 m at the north, and is 500 m in length...
on August 31, in which two men were beaten to death and about 500 more injured. Another striker was later shot dead by a strike-breaker. The violence at union rallies during the strike prompted Larkin to call for a workers' militia to be formed to protect themselves against the police. The Citizen army for the duration of the lockout was armed with hurling
Hurling
Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...
sticks and bats in order to protect workers' demonstrations from the police. Jack White
Jack White (labour unionist)
Captain James Robert "Jack" White DSO was one of the co-founders of the Irish Citizen Army.-Early life:Jack White was born in 1879, at Whitehall, in Broughshane, County Antrim, Ireland...
, a former British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
Captain, volunteered to train this army and offered 50 pounds towards the cost of shoes to workers so they could train. In addition to its role as a self defence organisation, the army, which was drilled in Croydon Park in Fairview
Fairview, Dublin
Fairview is a coastal district on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland, in the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council. Part of the area forms Fairview Park, on land reclaimed from the sea.-Location and access:...
by White, provided a diversion for workers unemployed and idle during the dispute. After a six-month standoff, the workers returned to work hungry and defeated in January 1914. The original purpose of the ICA was over, but it would soon be totally transformed.
Re-organisation
The Irish Citizen Army was totally reorganised in 1914. In March of that year, a demonstration of the Citizen Army was attacked by the police and Jack WhiteJack White (labour unionist)
Captain James Robert "Jack" White DSO was one of the co-founders of the Irish Citizen Army.-Early life:Jack White was born in 1879, at Whitehall, in Broughshane, County Antrim, Ireland...
, its commander, was arrested. Sean O'Casey
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
then suggested that the ICA needed a more formal organisation. O'Casey wrote a constitution stating the Army's principles as follows: "the ownership of Ireland, moral and material, is vested of right in the people of Ireland" and to "sink all difference of birth property and creed under the common name of the Irish people".
On Larkin's insistence, all members were also required to be members of a trade union, if eligible. In mid 1914, White resigned as ICA commander to join the mainstream nationalist Irish Volunteers
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists. It was ostensibly formed in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers in 1912, and its declared primary aim was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland"...
and Larkin took over.
James Larkin left Ireland for America in October 1914, leaving the Citizen Army under the command of James Connolly
James Connolly
James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...
. Whereas during the Lockout, the ICA had been a workers' self defence militia, Connolly conceived of it as a revolutionary organisation - dedicated to the creation of an Irish socialist republic. He had served in the British army in his youth and knew something about military tactics and discipline. Other active members in the early days included Sean O'Casey
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
, Constance Markievicz, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Francis Skeffington from Bailieborough, County Cavan, was an Irish suffragist, pacifist and writer. He was a friend and schoolmate of James Joyce, Oliver St John Gogarty, Tom Kettle, and Conor Cruise O'Brien's father, Frank O'Brien...
. Sheehy-Skeffington and O'Casey left the ICA when it became apparent that Connolly was moving towards the radical nationalist group, the Irish Republican Brotherhood
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century...
.
James Connolly was a convinced Marxist socialist and Irish Republican and believed that achieving political change through physical force, in the tradition of the Fenians, was legitimate.
The ICA was armed with Mauser
Mauser
Mauser was a German arms manufacturer of a line of bolt-action rifles and pistols from the 1870s to 1995. Mauser designs were built for the German armed forces...
rifles bought from Germany by the Irish Volunteers and smuggled into Ireland at Howth
Howth
Howth is an area in Fingal County near Dublin city in Ireland. Originally just a small fishing village, Howth with its surrounding rural district is now a busy suburb of Dublin, with a mix of dense residential development and wild hillside, all on the peninsula of Howth Head. The only...
in July 1914. This organisation was one of the first to offer equal membership to both men and women and trained them both in the use of weapons. The army's headquarters was the ITGWU union building, Liberty Hall
Liberty Hall
Liberty Hall , in Dublin, Ireland is the headquarters of the Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union...
and they were almost entirely Dublin based. However, Connolly also set up branches in Tralee and Killarney
Killarney
Killarney is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is located north of the MacGillicuddy Reeks, on the northeastern shore of the Lough Lein/Leane which are part of Killarney National Park. The town and its surrounding region are home to St...
in county Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
. In October 1915, armed ICA pickets patrolled a strike by dockers at Dublin port.
Appalled by the participation of Irishmen in the First World War, which he regarded as an imperialist, capitalist conflict, Connolly began openly calling for insurrection in his newspaper, the Irish Worker. When this was banned he opened another, the Worker's Republic. The British authorities tolerated the open drilling and bearing of arms by the ICA, thinking that to clamp down on the organisation would provoke further unrest. A small group of Irish Republican Brotherhood
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century...
(IRB) conspirators within the Irish Volunteers movement were also planning a rising. Worried that Connolly would embark on premature military action with the ICA, Connolly was approached and inducted into the IRB's Supreme Council to co-ordinate their preparations for the armed rebellion known as the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
.
Easter Rising
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists. It was ostensibly formed in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers in 1912, and its declared primary aim was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland"...
. They helped occupy the General Post Office
General Post Office
General Post Office is the name of the British postal system from 1660 until 1969.General Post Office may also refer to:* General Post Office, Perth* General Post Office, Sydney* General Post Office, Melbourne* General Post Office, Brisbane...
on O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street is Dublin's main thoroughfare. It measures 49 m in width at its southern end, 46 m at the north, and is 500 m in length...
(then Sackville Street), Dublin's main thoroughfare. Mallin, Connolly's second in command, along with Markievicz and an ICA company, occupied St Stephen's Green. Another company under Sean Connolly took over City Hall and attacked Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...
. Finally, a detachment occupied Harcourt Street railway station. ICA men were the first rebel casualties of Easter Week, two of them being killed in an abortive attack on Dublin Castle. Sean Connolly, an ICA officer, was the first rebel fatality. A total of eleven Citizen Army men were killed in action in the rising, five in the City Hall/Dublin castle area, five in Stephen's Green and one in the GPO.
James Connolly was made commander of the rebel forces in Dublin during the Rising and issued orders to surrender after a week. He and Mallin were executed by British army firing squad some weeks later. The surviving ICA members were interned in Frongoch
Frongoch internment camp
Frongoch internment camp at Frongoch in Merionethshire, Wales was a makeshift place of imprisonment during the First World War. Until 1916 it housed German prisoners of war in an abandoned distillery and crude huts, but in the wake of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland, the German prisoners...
in Wales until 1919.
Many of them later joined the new Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
(IRA) from 1917 on, but the Citizen Army remained in existence until the 1930s. According to some reports, ICA units were involved in various IRA operations during the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
, including the burning of the Customs House in May 1921. During the fighting in Dublin
Battle of Dublin
The Battle of Dublin, a week of street fighting in Dublin from 28 June to 5 July 1922, marked the beginning of the Irish Civil War. The fighting began with an assault by the Provisional Government of the proposed Irish Free State on the Four Courts building which had been occupied by a hard-line...
that began the Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
in July 1922, some elements of the ICA (which by this time had about 140 members) were involved in the Anti-Treaty IRA occupation and defence of the Four Courts
Four Courts
The Four Courts in Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's main courts building. The Four Courts are the location of the Supreme Court, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit Court. The building until 2010 also formerly was the location for the Central Criminal Court.-Gandon's Building:Work based on...
while others occupied Liberty Hall
Liberty Hall
Liberty Hall , in Dublin, Ireland is the headquarters of the Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union...
, the Trade Union headquarters, to prevent it falling into the hands of either the Republicans or the Free State Army.
Post-Irish independence
In the 1920s and 1930s, the ICA was kept alive by veterans such as Seamus Mc Gowan, Dick McCormick and Frank Purcell, though largely as an old comrades association by veterans of 1916.Uniformed Citizen Army men provided a guard of honour at Constance Markievicz's funeral in 1927.
In 1934, Peadar O'Donnell
Peadar O'Donnell
Peadar O'Donnell was an Irish republican and socialist activist and writer.-Early life:Peadar O'Donnell was born into an Irish speaking family in Dungloe, County Donegal in northwest Ireland, in 1893. He attended St. Patrick's College, Dublin, where he trained as a teacher...
and other left wing republicans left the IRA and founded the Republican Congress
Republican Congress
The Republican Congress was an Irish republican political organisation founded in 1934, when left-wing republicans left the Irish Republican Army. The Congress was led by such IRA veterans as Peadar O'Donnell, Frank Ryan and George Gilmore. It was a socialist organisation and was dedicated to a...
. For a brief time, they revived the ICA as a paramilitary force, intended to be an armed wing for their new movement. According to Brian Hanley's history of the IRA, the revived Citizen Army had 300 or so members around the country in 1935. However, the Congress itself split in 1935 and collapsed shortly afterwards.
The ICA's last public appearance was to accompany the funeral procession of union leader James Larkin
James Larkin
James Larkin was an Irish trade union leader and socialist activist, born to Irish parents in Liverpool, England. He and his family later moved to a small cottage in Burren, southern County Down. Growing up in poverty, he received little formal education and began working in a variety of jobs...
in Dublin in 1947.
Uniforms and banners
The ICA uniform was dark green with a slouched hat and badge in the shape of the Red Hand of UlsterRed Hand of Ulster
The Red Hand of Ulster is a symbol used in heraldry to denote the Irish province of Ulster. It is less commonly known as the Red Hand of O'Neill. Its origins are said to be attributed to the mythical Irish figure Labraid Lámh Dhearg , and appear in other mythical tales passed down from generation...
. As many members could not afford a uniform, they wore a blue armband, with officers wearing red ones.
Republican Congress
The Republican Congress was an Irish republican political organisation founded in 1934, when left-wing republicans left the Irish Republican Army. The Congress was led by such IRA veterans as Peadar O'Donnell, Frank Ryan and George Gilmore. It was a socialist organisation and was dedicated to a...
, and was adopted as the emblem of the Irish Labour movement, including the Irish Labour Party, though they eventually dropped it. It is also claimed by Irish republicans and has been carried alongside the Irish tricolour and Irish provincial flags at Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
, Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
and Irish National Liberation Army
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....
(INLA) rallies.
The banner, and alternative versions of it, is also used by the Connolly Youth Movement
Connolly Youth Movement
The Connolly Youth Movement is an all-Ireland youth organisation affiliated to the Communist Party of Ireland but which is also strongly independent and organises separately from the CPI. Internationally the Connolly Youth Movement is affiliated to the World Federation of Democratic Youth...
, Labour Youth
Labour Youth
Labour Youth is the youth wing of the Labour Party of Ireland. Anyone under the age of 27 is eligible to join Labour Youth....
, Ógra Shinn Féin
Ógra Shinn Féin
Ógra Shinn Féin is the youth wing of the Irish political party Sinn Féin. ÓSF is active and organised throughout Ireland. It is often considered the most prominent incarnation of Fianna Éireann. Upon its establishment in 1997 it was originally known as Sinn Féin Youth, it changed to Ógra Shinn...
and the Republican Socialist Youth Movement
Republican Socialist Youth Movement
The Republican Socialist Youth Movement ' is the youth organization of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement.-See also:*Ógra Shinn Féin*Fianna Éireann*Socialist Youth...
.
Sources
- James Larkin, The Lion of the Fold by Donal Nevin.
- Ireland’s Independence 1880–1923 by Oonagh Walsh
- Six Days to Shake an Empire by Charles Duff
- The Imagination of an Insurrection: Dublin, Easter 1916 by William Irwin ThompsonWilliam Irwin ThompsonWilliam Irwin Thompson is known primarily as a social philosopher and cultural critic, but he has also been writing and publishing poetry throughout his career and received the Oslo International Poetry Festival Award in 1986. He describes his writing and speaking style as "mind-jazz on ancient...
- The IRA 1926-1936, Brian Hanley
- The Irish Citizen Army 1913-1916, D.R. O'Connor Lysaght, in History IrelandHistory IrelandHistory Ireland is a magazine about the history of Ireland published every two months. It features articles by a range of writers and book reviews. The focus is on history rather than archaeology.The magazine's editor isTommy Graham....
, Vol. 14, No. 2, April/May 2006. - The Irish Citizen Army, Labour clenches its fist! Ciaran Perry,
Further reading
- Anderson, W.K. 1994. James Connolly and the Irish Left. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. ISBN 0-7165-2522-4.
- Fox, R.M. 1943. The History of the Irish Citizen Army. Dublin: James Duffy & Co.
- Greaves, C. Desmond. 2004 [New edition]. Liam Mellows and the Irish Revolution. Belfast: Foilseacháin an Ghlór Gafa. ISBN 1-905007-01-9.
- Hanley, Brian. 2002. The IRA: 1926-36. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 1-85182-721-8.
- Robbins, Frank. 1978. Under the Starry Plough: Recollections of the Irish Citizen Army. Dublin: The Academy Press. ISBN 0-906187-00-1.
- O'Casey, Sean (as P. Ó Cathasaigh). 1919. Story of the Irish Citizen Army. London: Journeyman.