Synopses & Reviews
In this comprehensive study of socialist republicanism in interwar Ireland, the author demonstrates that the contradictory analysis that characterized the republican left explains its political failure. This important book unravels the politics of a significant Irish republican cult and illuminates important issues of class and politics, changing and enriching our reading of the history of independent Ireland.
Review
"English does a good job of showing how and why the left failed in Ireland during the interwar period....Based on an impressive range of archival and other material, including a large number of interviews with contemporaries."--Choice
"...A scholarly, balanced, and lively account of the efforts of a group in the outlawed Irish Republican Army...brimming with interesting detail and providing excellent references and bibliography."--American Historical Review
"English's book, brimming with interesting detail and providing excellent references and bibliography, is a study of a side show in the Irish political spectrum of the interwar period. It is a definitive history of that endeavor."--Modern Europe
Synopsis
This is a comprehensive and scholarly study of socialist republicanism in independent Ireland between the wars. The 1934 Republican Congress movement exemplified the socialist republican stance, holding that 'a Republic of a united Ireland will never be achieved except through a struggle which uproots capitalism on its way'. In this carefully argued study, Richard English demonstrates that the contradictory analysis which characterized the republican left during these years explains its political failure. He explores the mentality which typified republicans during the formative years of independent Ireland, and shows how their solipsistic zealotry was simultaneously self-sustaining and self-defeating. Dr English examines the complex relationship between economics and nationalism in the Irish Free State and the way in which this relationship determined the policies and success of the dominant Fianna Fail party. Radicals and the Republic is an important book which unravels the politics of a significant Irish republican cult and illuminates our reading of the history of independent Ireland.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [277]-305) and index.