The most recent development has been the holding of a meeting in Dublin in recent weeks to relaunch what it called the Communist Party Of Ireland. This was made up of some lifelong communists, particularly from Belfast, plus a section of the Connolly Youth Movement that disaffiliated from the old Communist Party based in Essex Street in Dublin over two years ago.
The general secretary of the Essex Street group is Eugene McCartan. McCartan claimed that after the defectors left that they were never affiliated to the Communist Party in the first place. Some of us felt that was a bit like saying the Pope was never a Catholic. The new group also received support from other places around Ireland, including Dublin and Cork. The conference program was delivered in a very classy and well-made pamphlet believed to have been produced by a professional journalist. The newsletter they produce usually on a weekly basis is called Unity. This new group has control of that, plus the premises in Belfast. Subsequently the Essex St, Communist refer to them as the Unity group.
One of the main ideologues behind this move by the Unity group is a former member of Official Sinn Féin and the CPI, Eoin Ó Murchú. In an article in Unity (25 June) announcing the event, Ó Murchú stated that his new “party” wants to unite all working people on the island. It's hard to know whether that is sad or a farcical.
Ó Murchú left the Official Republican Movement more than 40 years ago after a dinner appointment with Goulding and Garland who told him his style of editing the United Irishman, their monthly newspaper of the time, was too theoretical and contained a very blatant Maoist position. Ó Murchú Immediately left and joined the Communist Party. He brought with him around 20 other members, some of whom had different reasons for leaving the Official Republican Movement as they were moving towards a two-nation position.
On joining the CPI these people were treated appallingly and were under suspicion. It was common to hear CPI members say these people were not Marxists, that they came from a nationalist background and we don't know what baggage they are bringing into our party.
Ó Murchú would appear to be the last of that group to survive. People like the late Jerry O'Leary and others just moved away. The Communist Party of Ireland were extremely upset when at O'Leary's funeral, his family made no mention that he was ever a member of the Communist Party. The Communist Party like to claim bodies after somebody dies, they even had a eulogy in the paper for Rayner O’Connor Lysaght whose politics they opposed and everything he stood for during his lifetime.
Ó Murchú has now become a non-person - along with Ernest Walker, Lynda Walker, Joe Bowers, and almost the entire former branch members of the Communist Party in Belfast. People from other places in Ireland have joined them as non-persons, also. The Belfast Communist newspaper Unity throws a little light on of this. They are now joined with 75% of the Connolly Youth Movement who disassociated from the CPI over two years ago. There is now more Communists outside the party than inside the party and that has always been the way.
In Belfast the Party is the most precarious position. The old communists is holding on to what they have. A new entity has arrived on the seen calling itself the Communist Party of Ireland's Greater Belfast Branch. There appear to be no more than four people in this group. Two of them are brothers that previously claimed to represent the British Labour Party in Northern Ireland, at one stage claiming a thousand members. When that went belly up after the demise of Jeremy Corbyn that was the end of that. They have now moved over to the Communist Party Essex Street, and they don't show the same enthusiasm for identifying with the party as they did when supporting the British Labour Party.
Ó Murchú has now become a non-person - along with Ernest Walker, Lynda Walker, Joe Bowers, and almost the entire former branch members of the Communist Party in Belfast. People from other places in Ireland have joined them as non-persons, also. The Belfast Communist newspaper Unity throws a little light on of this. They are now joined with 75% of the Connolly Youth Movement who disassociated from the CPI over two years ago. There is now more Communists outside the party than inside the party and that has always been the way.
In Belfast the Party is the most precarious position. The old communists is holding on to what they have. A new entity has arrived on the seen calling itself the Communist Party of Ireland's Greater Belfast Branch. There appear to be no more than four people in this group. Two of them are brothers that previously claimed to represent the British Labour Party in Northern Ireland, at one stage claiming a thousand members. When that went belly up after the demise of Jeremy Corbyn that was the end of that. They have now moved over to the Communist Party Essex Street, and they don't show the same enthusiasm for identifying with the party as they did when supporting the British Labour Party.
Another one is a school teacher that left his job in London after being remanded on police bail for over ten months while he was being investigated by the fraud squad. When the police decided to take no action against him, he resigned his position as headmaster of the school and ended up in Belfast after selling his exclusive penthouse property in Southgate London. This man claims he is an entrepreneur and has business selling sporting shirts with shops in Portadown and a mail-order business. He lives in Havana Cuba for some of the year. He is a firm supporter of the Essex Street Communist group.
The Essex Street group is reaching out to obtain new alliances. They use the Peadar O'Donnell Socialist Forum to gain insight and foothold in areas they have no support whatsoever. They are reaching out at the moment to people with strong Republican sympathies and credentials. At the Connolly commemoration in Arbour Hill this year the two main speakers were former active republicans. Some people educate themselves by meeting the scholars on the way home from school. But the Communist Party glorifies itself by meeting the Warriors on the way home from War, as shown at their Connolly commemoration this year.
The Essex Street communists are accusing the Belfast unity group of being King Billy Communist and promoting William Walker over James Connolly. This is most disingenuous as the Essex Street group never engaged in any action in support of the National question at any stage during the 30-year conflict. Not one of them was jailed for anti-imperialist actions and most definitely not one of them died.
Communism in Ireland appears to be in a complete mess. The people who deserve the most sympathy are current members of the Connolly Youth Movement. What they inherited is shameful and not of their making. Some of them have already made a good contribution on behalf of Ireland. I'm talking of the delegation they sent to Cuba and the way they conduct themselves when they were there. I hope they don't get bogged down in a conflict between rival sects, which is the total sum of what communism has to offer to the Irish people at the minute.
⏭ Bill O'Brien is an independent republican.
The Essex Street group is reaching out to obtain new alliances. They use the Peadar O'Donnell Socialist Forum to gain insight and foothold in areas they have no support whatsoever. They are reaching out at the moment to people with strong Republican sympathies and credentials. At the Connolly commemoration in Arbour Hill this year the two main speakers were former active republicans. Some people educate themselves by meeting the scholars on the way home from school. But the Communist Party glorifies itself by meeting the Warriors on the way home from War, as shown at their Connolly commemoration this year.
The Essex Street communists are accusing the Belfast unity group of being King Billy Communist and promoting William Walker over James Connolly. This is most disingenuous as the Essex Street group never engaged in any action in support of the National question at any stage during the 30-year conflict. Not one of them was jailed for anti-imperialist actions and most definitely not one of them died.
Communism in Ireland appears to be in a complete mess. The people who deserve the most sympathy are current members of the Connolly Youth Movement. What they inherited is shameful and not of their making. Some of them have already made a good contribution on behalf of Ireland. I'm talking of the delegation they sent to Cuba and the way they conduct themselves when they were there. I hope they don't get bogged down in a conflict between rival sects, which is the total sum of what communism has to offer to the Irish people at the minute.
⏭ Bill O'Brien is an independent republican.
We had similar problems in the Judean People's Front
ReplyDeletewas thinking something similar. Bill usefully charts these things but to me it is like following the twists and turns of the Westboro Baptist Church. I don't know too much about the Connolly Youth but some of those I have worked with are the most conscientious of people. I look at them and then look at young people on the far right and the difference in quality is galactical.
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