Ireland: Republicanism and Revolution¶

Core Argument¶

Alan Woods argues that the Irish national question can only be resolved through socialist revolution led by the working class, not through constitutional agreements or bourgeois nationalist movements. The Good Friday Agreement, far from being a genuine peace settlement, is exposed as a trap that entrenched partition while offering nothing to working people. The book contends that every major Irish nationalist movement has been betrayed by its bourgeois and petty-bourgeois leadership, from the United Irishmen through to the Provisional IRA and modern Sinn Féin, because these classes are tied by economic interests to British and international capital.

The central thesis draws on James Connolly's insistence that the cause of Ireland and the cause of labour are inseparable, and on Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution. Woods argues that the Irish bourgeoisie, arriving too late to compete with English capital, has repeatedly sold out national struggles to protect its property interests. Only the working class, leading the poor peasantry and urban poor, can carry through the tasks of national liberation—but it can only do so by proceeding immediately to socialist transformation, without pausing at any intermediate stage of bourgeois democracy. The slogan must be "Back to Connolly": a thirty-two-county Socialist Republic achieved through revolutionary struggle, not constitutional agreement.

Overview¶

The book opens with a devastating verdict on the Good Friday Agreement and the current political situation. Woods argues that the 2008 financial crisis shattered the illusion of peace and prosperity, unleashing explosive rage that has boosted Sinn Féin while leaving the party caught in a fatal contradiction: elevated by working-class anger but led by a petty-bourgeois cadre. The British ruling class cannot relinquish Northern Ireland because the Union is fraying, and allowing it to unwind in Ireland would risk the same in Scotland. The modern Tory Party, dominated by reactionary elements, could again "play the Orange Card" to postpone referendums.

The theoretical grounding is established through a rigorous examination of the national question and class question. Woods draws on Lenin and Trotsky to argue that in the modern epoch, only the working class can solve the tasks of the bourgeois-democratic revolution by taking power. Connolly had already explained that the Irish bourgeoisie could not solve the national question because of their ties to the British bourgeoisie. The "theory of stages," which postpones socialism until after reunification, is denounced as a betrayal of Connolly's legacy and a capitulation to bourgeois leadership.

The historical chapters trace the betrayals of bourgeois nationalism from Grattan's Parliament through Daniel O'Connell to the Fenians. Feargus O'Connor discovered that O'Connell's class feeling was stronger than his desire for Irish freedom. The Land League was sold out by middle-class leaders. Connolly and Larkin built the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union and the Irish Citizen Army—the first Red Army in the world—but the Easter Rising was betrayed by middle-class nationalists, and Connolly's execution removed the possibility of the Irish working class leading the anti-imperialist revolution.

The book's treatment of the post-1916 period is particularly damning. The Labour Party's fatal slogan "Labour must wait" and its withdrawal from the 1918 election left the working class without independent leadership. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 renounced the Republic, partitioned the North, and established a semi-colonial Free State. Partition was a deliberate strategy of British imperialism, driven by economic and strategic interests and by the ruling class's fear of proletarian revolution. The Orange Order was the key instrument for splitting the working class along religious lines.

The later chapters examine the Civil Rights movement, Bloody Sunday, the prison struggle, and the Good Friday Agreement. Woods argues that the Provisionals' armed struggle was a strategic failure, substituting an armed elite for the mass movement and achieving precisely the opposite of what was intended. The 1981 hunger strikes represented a promising base for revolutionary politics that the Provisional leadership failed to harness. The Good Friday Agreement is presented as a reactionary capitulation, not a historic peace settlement.

Chapter Guide¶

Introduction — The Good Friday Agreement was a trap; the 2008 crisis shattered the illusion of peace; Sinn Féin embodies a fatal contradiction between working-class anger and petty-bourgeois leadership.
The National Question and the Class Question — Only the working class can solve the national question, and only through permanent revolution proceeding immediately to socialist transformation.
Historical Role of Bourgeois Nationalism — The Irish bourgeoisie has repeatedly betrayed the national cause, from Grattan's Parliament through O'Connell to the present.
Feargus O'Connor and the Fenians — The Fenians represented revolutionary democracy but were fatally weakened by adventurist tactics and refusal to link with the English workers' movement.
The Workers' Movement — Connolly and Larkin built revolutionary trade unionism and the Irish Citizen Army, but the 1913 lockout exposed the limits of reformist trade union leadership.
The Easter Rising — Connolly's Rising was betrayed by middle-class nationalists, and his execution removed the possibility of working-class leadership of the national revolution.
Guerrilla War — The 1918-21 guerrilla war was betrayed by the Treaty, partition was a deliberate imperialist strategy, and sectarianism was the weapon for dividing the working class.
The Russian Revolution and Ireland — The Bolshevik model of working-class leadership was correct for Ireland but sabotaged by reformism, Stalinism, and theoretical backwardness.
The Thirties — The 1932 Belfast unemployed marches proved Protestant and Catholic workers can unite; the Civil Rights movement failed by not linking democratic demands to socialism.
Bloody Sunday — The massacre exposed the impossibility of pacifism under colonial conditions and opened a vacuum filled by the Provisionals, whose strategy deepened sectarian division.
The Prisoners' Struggle — The 1981 hunger strikes radicalised masses but the Provisional leadership subordinated the mass movement to armed struggle.
The Good Friday Agreement — The Agreement was a reactionary capitulation that abandoned Irish unity for ministerial portfolios; the institutions are unsound and will break down.
A Change of Course Is Needed! — Guerrilla warfare is the mode of peasant struggle, not proletarian struggle; only a mass workers' party based in the trade unions can achieve liberation.
Against Sectarianism! For Class Unity! — Sectarianism is a ruling-class weapon; the goal is a thirty-two-county Irish Workers' Republic as part of a Socialist United States of Europe.

Key Concepts¶

Permanent Revolution — The theory, developed by Trotsky and adopted by Lenin, that in the modern epoch the working class must carry out the tasks of the bourgeois-democratic revolution and proceed immediately to socialist transformation without pausing at intermediate stages.

Theory of Stages — The bourgeois nationalist position, denounced as a betrayal of Connolly, that postpones socialism until after reunification and subordinates working-class interests to national unity.

Orange Card — The British ruling class's tactic of deploying Protestant sectarianism to block Irish national liberation and divide the working class along religious lines.

Irish Citizen Army — The first Red Army in the world, founded in 1913 by Connolly and Larkin as a working-class militia organically linked to the trade unions.

Labour Must Wait — The fatal slogan adopted by the Irish Labour Party in 1918, abandoning independent working-class political action and handing leadership of the national movement to bourgeois nationalists.

Armalite and Ballot Box — The Provisional IRA/Sinn Féin strategy of combining armed struggle with electoral politics, condemned as an uncomfortable compromise that subordinated the mass movement to terrorism.

Sectarianism — A weapon of the ruling class, deliberately cultivated to keep the working class divided, not an ancient tribal feud; the Orange Order and Catholic Church are its principal instruments.

Thirty-Two-County Socialist Republic — The goal of revolutionary Marxists in Ireland, a united workers' republic to be achieved through revolutionary struggle, not constitutional agreement, as part of a Socialist United States of Europe.

Chapters¶

14 chapters