Irish Socialist volunteers in the Spanish Civil War describes a grouping of IRA members and Irish Socialists who fought in support of the cause of the Second Republic during the Spanish Civil War. These volunteers were taken from both Irish Republican and Unionist political backgrounds but were bonded through a Socialist and anti-clerical political philosophy. Many of the Irish Socialist volunteers who went to Spain later became known as the Connolly Column.
Following the rejection of the socialist motion put to the IRA Army convention on 17 March 1934 at St. Stephen's Green, Dublin three leading IRA volunteers resigned their duties within the IRA; Frank Ryan, Staff Captain Peadar O'Donnell, and George Gilmore.
Then followed a meeting of the Republican Congress, a body composed of the disaffected members of the IRA who wanted Irish Republicanism to focus on achievement of its goals via the political ideals of Socialism. Held in Athlone on April 7 and 8 the focus of the initial meeting was to decide on the direction of the new body and it was decided that an annual Congress should be inaugurated beginning in September 1934. [Note 1]
Following this an IRA court martial took place with former Major-General Seán Russell and the Commanding Officers (OC.) of North Tipperary, Clonmel, and the Fourth Dublin Battalion presiding. Former Commandant General Michael Price and O'Donnell were found guilty in absentia on a charge of insubordination and dismissed from the organisation. Bobby Edwards, Ryan, and Gilmore were also court martialed. IRA members who had expressed support for the Congress were effectively "stood down" from active service in the IRA although they would have retained links to the organisation due to its make up and operational nature.
Planning for Republican Congress continued, however, with a meeting being held in Rathmines Town Hall on September 29 — 30, 1934. From the outset schisms within the newly formed group were apparent. Michael Price, Roddy Connolly and his sister Nora Connolly called for a drive towards a Workers Republic and the formation of a Workers Republican Party. O'Donnell, Ryan, Gilmore, and Edwards put forward a resolution supporting a United Front of the working class and small farmers. The latter resolution was eventually carried by 99 votes to 84. [Note 2]
The Congress gradually fell apart by 1936 and its significance as a political group passed. It did however provide the framework through which recruitment of IRA volunteers to fight in Spain would take place.
With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Peadar O'Donnell and then George Gilmore went to Spain on behalf of the Congress to report on proceedings, and returned enthusiastic supporters of the Spanish Republicans. Ryan was incensed at quasi-Fascist Eoin O'Duffy organising an Irish Brigade to fight with the Fascists, and in open letters to the papers criticised Cardinal MacRory for raising funds at church collections to support Franco. [2] The Congress started publicising the Spanish Republican cause in public meetings. Frank Ryan organized the first transports of Irish volunteers. The first men left Dublin, Belfast, and Rosslare ports in early December 1936 traveling through France and Britain to Spain.
The first Socialist volunteers saw action on the Cordoba front in December 1936. Approximately 135 men fought beside the French IXth Battalion and No.1 Company of the British Battalion. The objective was the town of Lopera and by the time the action was complete it had caused the death of nine in the Irish contingent. They were Frank Conroy (Kildare), Johnny Meehan (Galway), Henry Boner, Jim Foley, Tony Fox, Leo Green, Michael Nolan, Michael May, Tommy Wood (Dublin).
Training for the Socialist volunteers took place at Madrigueras (Albacete) alongside troops from the British Battalion. The two groups were not amalgamated,[ dubious – discuss ] and the Irish contingent was shortly moved to a base in the town of Villanueva de la Jara in January 1937 and part of the Irish voted to move over to the American Lincoln Battalion.
The next engagement the Irish were involved in was the Battle of Jarama following Franco's advance into the Jarama Valley in February 1937. Other campaigns the volunteers were involved included the 1938 advance on Gandesa and the decisive Battle of Ebro where they fought as part of the XV Brigade.
On demobilization of Republican forces the Irish contingent marched to Marsa, later Els Guiamets, and then the demobilization center in Ripoll.
Other factors outside of anti-fascist political conviction and the charismatic urging of Ryan and O'Donnell cited by volunteers for fighting in Spain include:
"Still determined to stay here until fascism is completely crushed. Impossible to do other than continue on with the slogan of Cathal Brugha: "No Surrender"
The heavy toll paid by the Republican side in terms of manpower and eventual defeat lead to the imprisonment of those who did not escape from Spain following the victory of the Francoists. While many Socialist and Republicans were able to escape on time, they returned to an Ireland which had undergone significant change in terms of restrictions placed on those sympathetic to the aims of the IRA.
Commemorations of the part Irish Republicans and Socialists played in the conflict are still held and a plaque honoring IRA volunteers from the Short Strand in Belfast is the site of annual ceremonies. The Connolly bookshop in Dublin keeps various items of memorabilia from the troops who fought.
Samuel George Montague Nathan was an English soldier who served in the British Army during World War I, the Royal Irish Constabulary's Auxiliary Division during the Anglo-Irish War and the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. During his service in the Auxiliary Division, Nathan was suspected of being involved in the assassination of two Sinn Féin politicians, which later contributed to the alienation of Irish volunteers in the International Brigades from their British counterparts during the Spanish Civil War.
Events from the year 1920 in Ireland.
Michael O'Riordan was the founder of the Communist Party of Ireland (3rd) and also fought with the Connolly Column in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.
Charles Patrick Donnelly was an Irish poet, republican and left wing political activist. He was killed fighting on the republican side during the Spanish Civil War.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) of 1922–1969 was a sub-group of the original pre-1922 Irish Republican Army, characterised by its opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It existed in various forms until 1969, when the IRA split again into the Provisional IRA and Official IRA.
Frank Ryan was an Irish politician, journalist and soldier. He first came to prominence as an Irish republican activist at University College Dublin and fought for the Irish Republican Army during the Irish Civil War. Ryan fell under the influence of Peadar O'Donnell, an advocate of socialism within Irish republicanism, which resulted in him breaking with the IRA and becoming involved with founding a new political organisation, the Republican Congress, and editing its associated newspaper, An Phoblacht.
The Connolly Column was the name given to a group of Irish republican socialist volunteers who fought for the Second Spanish Republic in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. They were named after James Connolly, the executed leader of the Irish Citizen Army. They were a company-strength unit of the XV International Brigade, which also included the US, British and Latin American battalions in Spain. The name is now retroactively applied to all Irish volunteers who fought for the Spanish Republic.
Peadar O'Donnell was one of the foremost radicals of 20th-century Ireland. O'Donnell became prominent as an Irish republican, socialist politician and writer.
The Republican Congress was an Irish republican political organisation founded in 1934, when pro-communist republicans left the Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army. The Congress was led by such anti-Treaty veterans as Peadar O'Donnell, Frank Ryan and George Gilmore. In their later phase they were involved with the Communist International and International Brigades paramilitary; the Connolly Column.
George Frederick Gilmore was a Protestant Irish republican and communist who became an Irish Republican Army leader during the 1920s and 1930s. During his period of influence, Gilmore attempted to shift the IRA to the political left, but alongside Peadar O'Donnell and Frank Ryan he was expelled for his efforts. After leaving the IRA, Gilmore attempted to unite Irish republicanism under the banner of the Republican Congress, but ideological debates split the group apart. Afterwards, Gilmore removed himself from public life.
The Spanish Civil War lasted from July 17, 1936 to April 1, 1939. While both sides in the Spanish Civil War attracted participants from Ireland, the majority sided with the Nationalist faction.
The British Battalion was the 16th battalion of the XV International Brigade, one of the mixed brigades of the International Brigades, during the Spanish Civil War. It comprised British and Dominion volunteers.
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade was the name given to the 2,800 Americans who volunteered to fight for the Spanish Republic against the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. The Americans were organized into several battalions that were assigned to the XV International Brigade, which was one of many such mixed brigades within the International Brigades.
Robert Martin Hilliard was an Olympic boxer, Irish republican, Church of Ireland minister and communist. He was killed in the Spanish Civil War fighting in the International Brigades.
Robert Andrew Doyle was a communist activist and soldier from Ireland. He was active in two armed conflicts; the Spanish Civil War as a member of the International Brigades and the Second World War as a member of the British Empire's Merchant Navy.
Peter Daly was an Irish socialist and republican who fought in the Irish War of Independence as well as serving as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, where he died serving with the International Brigades.
Nora Harkin was an Irish republican socialist and activist.
Peter O'Connor was an Irish republican and communist who fought as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War as part of the International Brigades. It has been suggested by some sources that O'Connor saw the most fighting of any Irish volunteer for the Republican side in that war. He also served as a local councillor and activist in his home town of Waterford City.
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