Ailtirí na hAiséirghe
Ailtirí na hAiséirghe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founder | Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin |
| Founded | 1942 |
| Dissolved | 1958 |
| Ideology | Fascism Irish nationalism Religious nationalism Gaelic particularism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Colours | Dark Green |
Ailtirí na hAiséirghe (Irish pronunciation: [ˈalʲtʲi̞ɾʲiː n̪ˠə ˈhaʃeːɾʲiː], meaning "Architects of the Resurrection") was a minor radical nationalist and fascist political party in Ireland, founded by Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin in 1942.[1] The party sought to form a totalitarian Irish Christian corporatist state. Its objectives included the creation of a one-party state under the rule of an all-powerful leader; the criminalisation of the public use of the English language; discriminatory measures against Jews; the building-up of a massive conscript army; and the conquest of Northern Ireland. In the longer term, Aiséirghe aimed to make a fascist Ireland into a "missionary-ideological" state spreading its combination of totalitarian politics and Christian social principles worldwide.
An "organised group of anti-Semites",[2] its sympathies were with the Axis powers in World War II. It was one of a wave of minor far right parties in 1940s Ireland, like the Monetary Reform Party, that failed to achieve mainstream success.[3]
The party obtained no seats in the 1943 and 1944 general elections.[4] In the 1945 local government elections, however, Aiséirghe candidates won nine seats (out of 31 contested), gaining a total of more than 11,000 first-preference votes. Put in context, this comprised less than 1% of the then electoral roll of 1,803,000.
Its supporters included former Cumann na nGaedheal government ministers Ernest Blythe and James Joseph Walsh (Blythe had also been a leading member of the Blueshirts), and Monetary Reform Party TD Oliver J. Flanagan.[5] Seán Treacy,[6] the future Labour Party TD and Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, was a party member in the 1940s, as were the novelist Brian Cleeve,[7] the philosopher Terence Gray[8] and the broadcaster and author Breandán Ó hEithir.[6] Although never a member, Seán South was familiar with the group's publications.[9]
After an internal split in late 1945, Aiséirghe's influence weakened. It was in some respects overtaken by the radical Clann na Poblachta, which shared some of its economic and cultural theories but without the anti-democratic and anti-Semitic elements.[10] It held its last formal meeting in 1958, though the party newspaper, Aiséirghe, continued to appear until the early 1970s.
Foundation
The group was founded out of a branch of the Gaelic League established by Ó Cuinneagáin in 1940. Ó Cuinneagáin had left a job in the civil service and moved to Donegal to become fluent in Irish and he established Craobh na h-Aiséirí (Branch of the Resurrection) as a militant and active wing of the League which grew rapidly: holding public events as well as organising Irish language classes. At the time many ideas of the far right, especially corporatism were in vogue in Ireland, even with ministers of the democratically elected Irish government, and seemed to chime well with Catholic social teaching (the Estado Novo of Portugal was particularly popular as a model of a post-democratic society) and these ideas were mixed with more traditional Irish nationalism and especially a hostility to partition. By 1943, though, Ó Cuinneagáin wished for a wider and more explicitly political organisation and so established Ailtirí as an openly fascist party with the aim of establishing him as the single leader of Ireland. [11]
References
Sources
- Douglas, R. M. (2009). Architects of the Resurrection: Ailtirí na hAiséirghe and the Fascist 'New Order' in Ireland. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-7998-5.
Citations
- ^ British Spies and Irish Rebels, Paul McMahon
- ^ Ó Drisceoil, Donal (1996). Censorship in Ireland, 1939-1945. Cork: Cork University Press. ISBN 978-1-85918-074-7.
- ^ Manning, Maurice (1972). Irish Political Parties: An Introduction. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-7171-0536-6.
- ^ Defending Ireland: the Irish state and its enemies, Eunan O'Halpin
- ^ Eoin O'Duffy, Fearghal McGarry
- ^ a b Douglas (2009), p. 250
- ^ Douglas (2009), p. 163
- ^ Douglas (2009), pp. 154-5
- ^ Douglas 2009, pp. 285-7
- ^ Douglas, R. M. "Ailtirí na hAiséirghe: Ireland's fascist New Order". History Ireland. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
- ^ That Neutral Island: A Cultural History of Ireland During the Second World War, Clair Willis, Faber and Faber, London 2007, ISBN 9780571234479, pp. 364 - 367
Further reading
- Wills, Clair (2007). That neutral island: a cultural history of Ireland during the Second World War. London: Faber and Faber. pp. 364–369. ISBN 978-0-674-02682-7.
- Gallagher, Michael (1985). Political parties in the Republic of Ireland. New Hampshire: Manchester University Press. pp. 107–109. ISBN 978-0-7190-1742-1.
- McMahon, Paul (2008). British spies and Irish rebels: British intelligence and Ireland, 1916-1945. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. p. 389. ISBN 978-1-84383-376-5.