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[[File:Mayday 07.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Members of the Workers Solidarity Movement marching in Dublin during [[International Workers' Day|May Day]] 2007]]
{{Anarchism sidebar |by region}}
'''Anarchism in Ireland''' has its roots in the stateless organisation of the ''[[
One of the prominent figures in the Irish socialist republican movement was the syndicalist James Connolly, who led the formation of the [[Irish Transport and General Workers' Union]] along the lines of [[industrial unionism]] and fought in the [[Easter Rising]] as part of the [[Irish Citizens Army]]. Following the independence of Ireland and the rise of communist tendencies in the country, some left-wing republicans began to gravitate towards anarchism, including [[Jack White (trade unionist)|Jack White]], who himself became an anarchist while fighting on the side of the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republicans]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]].
It was only in the late 1960s that a specifically anarchist movement began to emerge, in the context of the [[Northern Ireland civil rights movement|civil rights movement]] in [[Northern Ireland]] and the outbreak of [[the Troubles]]. A number of small local groups formed and dissolved throughout the 1970s before the establishment of the [[Workers Solidarity Movement]] (WSM) in 1984, which continued to exist as a national [[platformism|platformist]] federation up until
==Statelessness in Gaelic Ireland==
[[File:16th-century-Irish.jpg|thumb|left|[[Gaels]] depicted in a painting from the 16th century.]]
Before the [[Tudor conquest of Ireland|Tudor conquest]] during the 16th century, It has been suggested by some that [[Gaelic Ireland]] was largely stateless,
The basic [[polity]] form of Gaelic Ireland was the ''[[
Laws were passed down orally by a class of professional jurists known as ''[[Early Irish law|Brehons]]'' who could be consulted by ''
When the [[Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland|Anglo-Norman invasion]] established the [[Lordship of Ireland]] in 1171, native Gaelic institutions came under some strain as they attempted to adapt to the political system brought by the new state. The conquest of Ireland culminated under the [[House of Tudor|Tudors]], who established the centralised [[Kingdom of Ireland]] in 1542 and suppressed the [[Nine Years' War (Ireland)|last holdouts of rebellion]] by 1603, finalizing the "destruction of the old anarchic society".{{Sfn|Peden|1971|page=8}}
The [[Plantations of Ireland]] brought on another series of rebellions against increasing [[Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom|anti-Catholic discrimination]], culminating in the [[Irish Confederate Wars]], during which the [[Confederate Ireland|Irish Catholic Confederation]] briefly re-established self-governance in Ireland before eventually being [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland|conquered]] by the [[Commonwealth of England]] under [[Oliver Cromwell]]. Following the [[Glorious Revolution]], Irish [[Jacobitism|Jacobites]] attempted to restore [[James II of England|James II]] to the throne, but they were defeated and [[Williamite]] rule was successfully secured over Ireland.
==Origins==
[[File:Edmund_Burke2_c.jpg|thumb|right|[[Edmund Burke]], an early exponent of [[philosophical anarchism]] in his work ''[[A Vindication of Natural Society]]''
One of the earliest examples of anarchism in Ireland was in the early work of the Anglo-Irish political philosopher [[Edmund Burke]]. ''[[A Vindication of Natural Society]]'', though intended as a satire of [[Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke|Henry St John]]'s [[deism]],{{Sfn|Rothbard|1958|p=114}} elaborated one of the first literary expressions of [[philosophical anarchism]], which inspired the works of the English radical [[William Godwin]] and was later praised by the American individualist anarchist [[Benjamin Tucker]].{{Sfn|Rothbard|1958|p=117}} Some [[libertarianism|libertarian]] scholars have insisted that Burke was initially sincere in his anarchist views, but later disowned them in order to advance his political career,{{Sfn|Rothbard|1958|pp=114-118}} although this characterisation has since been disputed.{{Sfn|Smith|2014}}
===Socialism===
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[[File:Irish_landlord_begging_for_rent.jpg|thumb|right|Political caricature of the [[Land War]], depicting a landlord begging for rent.]]
Socialists were not able to establish their own organisations again until the 1880s, in the context of the greater socialist revival happening around the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]. One early mention of an Irish connection to [[anarchism]] was the [[Boston]]-based [[Irish nationalist]]
[[File:Socialist League Manifesto 1885.jpg|thumb|left|The manifesto of the [[Socialist League (UK, 1885)|Socialist League]], a [[libertarian socialism|libertarian socialist]] organisation that had a branch in Dublin from 1885 to 1887.]]
By this time there had been a split within the SDF, in which [[libertarian socialism|libertarian socialists]] led by [[William Morris]] and [[Andreas Scheu]] broke from [[Henry Hyndman]]'s parliamentarian faction, establishing the [[Socialist League (UK, 1885)|Socialist League]] with the intention of fomenting a [[social revolution]]. From its outset the League lent its support to the Home Rule movement, with its secretary [[John Lincoln Mahon]] setting into motion efforts to recruit Irish members to the League. By June 1885, the League's
Unlike its predecessors, the activities and meetings of the Socialist League were able to continue largely unmolested until April 1886, organising among local bottlemakers during a [[Lockout (industry)|lockout]] and inviting William Morris to give lectures in the city. But with the defeat of the [[Government of Ireland Bill 1886|First Home Rule Bill]], the organisation's capacities began to wane as political agitation in Ireland started to focus almost exclusively on the issue of Home Rule. By October 1886, the Dublin League had come into conflict with the London-based Central Council over the earlier expulsion of Charles Reuss, with the anarchist-leaning Dublin branch supporting Reuss in line with ''[[The Anarchist (newspaper)|The Anarchist]]'' newspaper. The branch quickly resolved the dispute within a month, but members had already become discouraged by the conflict, and the Dublin League collapsed in March 1887. Nevertheless, former members of the League continued their socialist agitation for years to come, with the Socialist League being quickly succeeded by the National Labour League (NLL). The NLL mobilised the unemployed to demonstrate in the streets and proclaimed a distinctly [[revolutionary socialism|revolutionary socialist]] outlook, calling for the [[common ownership]] of land and for Irish workers to rise up against capitalism. By the turn of the 1890s, [[new unionism]] was introduced to Ireland by the Irish Socialist Union, laying the foundations for the rise of [[syndicalism]].{{Sfn|Lane|1997|p=22}}{{Sfn|Lane|2008|pp=19-21}}
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[[File:John_Creaghe.jpg|thumb|right|[[John Creaghe]], an Irish doctor that led the anarchist movement in [[Sheffield]], before moving to [[Argentina]].]]
Around 1890 [[John Creaghe]], an Irish doctor who was joint founder (with Fred Charles), of ''The Sheffield Anarchist'', took part in the "no rent" [[
===Syndicalism===
[[File:James_Connolly2.jpg|thumb|
In 1896, the Irish syndicalist [[James Connolly]]{{refn|group=lower-alpha|In the book ''[[Black Flame (book)|Black Flame]]'', [[Lucien van der Walt]] argued that Connolly, despite being a Marxist syndicalist, "should be considered part of the broad anarchist tradition."{{Sfn|van der Walt|Schmidt|2009|pp=149, 164, 170}}}} moved to [[Dublin]], where he founded the [[Irish Socialist Republican Party]] (ISRP) with the aim of establishing an [[Irish republicanism|Irish]] [[socialist state|workers' republic]], but left the party in 1903 following an internal conflict with [[E. W. Stewart]] regarding trade unionism and electoralism. Connolly subsequently led the Scottish left-wing faction of the [[Social Democratic Federation]] to split off and form the [[Socialist Labour Party (UK, 1903)|Socialist Labour Party]] (SLP), a [[De Leonism|De Leonist]] political party that advocated for [[industrial unionism]]. He then moved to the [[United States]], where he collaborated with fellow syndicalists in the [[Socialist Labor Party of America|American SLP]] and the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW), before returning to Ireland in 1908.{{Sfn|van der Walt|Schmidt|2009|p=163}}{{Sfn|O’Connor|2010|p=194}}
Another Irish syndicalist that moved to Dublin at this time was [[James Larkin]], a trade union activist of the [[Liverpool]]-based [[National Union of Dock Labourers]] (NUDL) that had been expelled for participated in [[wildcat strike action]]s. Connolly and Larkin together collaborated in the foundation of the [[Irish Transport and General Workers' Union]] (ITGWU), a trade union with [[syndicalism|syndicalist]] tendencies which the two hoped would eventually form the nucleus of "[[One Big Union (concept)|One Big Union]]" in Ireland.{{Sfn|van der Walt|Schmidt|2009|p=163}} Connolly's view of syndicalism held that "the political, territorial state of capitalist society will have no place or function under Socialism", thus he rejected the use of state bureaucracy in the transition to socialism, instead considering that [[industrial union]]s would [[prefigurative politics|provide the framework]] for a future socialist society.{{Sfn|van der Walt|Schmidt|2009|pp=163-164}} Connolly also viewed electoral participation as a "political weapon" for industrial unionists, although he rejected the conquest of state power as a goal, believing that any [[social revolution]] must immediately abolish the [[state (polity)|state]].{{Sfn|van der Walt|Schmidt|2009|p=164}} This position led Connolly and Larkin to establish the [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]] as the political wing of the [[Irish Trades Union Congress]] (ITUC), of which the ITGWU was an affiliate.{{Sfn|van der Walt|Schmidt|2009|p=163}}
A series of industrial disputes led by the ITGWU eventually escalated into the [[Dublin lock-out]] of 1913. During the lockout, Connolly and Larkin came together with [[Jack White (trade unionist)|Jack White]] to establish the [[Irish Citizen Army]] (ICA), a workers' militia set up to protect striking workers from the [[Dublin Metropolitan Police|police]]. Following the suppression of the strike movement, Larkin fled to the United States, where he became involved in the activities of the IWW and later gravitated towards [[Bolshevism]].{{Sfn|van der Walt|Schmidt|2009|p=163}} Meanwhile, with the outbreak of [[World War I]], a section of the ICA around Connolly began to plan for an armed uprising against [[British rule in Ireland|British rule]] with the aim of establishing an independent Irish Republic. Connolly's take on republicanism rejected [[Irish nationalism|nationalism]], which he believed would simply lead to Irish workers being oppressed by an Irish capitalist state. Connolly
{{quote|"The precious blood shed in the unsuccessful revolution will not have been in vain if the tears of their great tragedy will clarify the vision of the sons and daughters of Erin and make them see beyond the empty shell of national aspirations toward the rising sun of the international brotherhood of the exploited in all countries and climes combined in a solidaric struggle for emancipation from every form of slavery, political ''and'' economic"}}
[[File:Bandera_CNT-FAI.svg|thumb|right|Flag of the [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo|CNT]]-[[Iberian Anarchist Federation|FAI]], an [[anarcho-syndicalism|anarcho-syndicalist]] organisation which the Irish anarchist [[Jack White (trade unionist)|Jack White]] supported during the [[Spanish Civil War]].]]
Following the [[Irish War of Independence]], Jack White had found himself politically isolated from the main camps of the new [[Irish Free State]], gravitating towards [[left communism|anti-parliamentary communism]] and briefly joining [[Sylvia Pankhurst]]'s [[Workers Socialist Federation]]. In 1934, a number of communist members of the [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|Irish Republican Army]] came together with other left-wing figures to establish the [[Republican Congress]], which White joined, organising a branch in Dublin with other former [[British Army]] serviceman. The Congress soon experienced a split between socialists in favour of establishing a workers' republic and communists that advocated a temporary alliance with [[Fianna Fail]], with the socialists breaking off and many joining the Labour Party, while White himself remained in the organisation. When the [[Spanish Civil War]] broke out, the Congress organised support for the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republicans]] and established the [[Connolly Column]], with White joining it to fight against the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalists]]. Upon arriving in Spain, White was immediately impressed by the [[Spanish Revolution of 1936|revolutionary gains]], particularly the collectivisation projects and the organisation of the [[confederal militias]] advanced by the [[anarchism in Spain|anarchists]]. While fighting on the Aragon front, White trained militiamen and women how to use firearms, while also becoming increasingly
Later developments in Irish syndicalism included the establishment of the [[Congress of Irish Unions]] after a split in the ITUC, their subsequent merger into the [[Irish Congress of Trade Unions]] and eventually the merger of the ITGWU and Larkin's [[Workers' Union of Ireland|Workers' Union]] into the [[SIPTU|Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union]] (SIPTU), which continues its activities to this day as Ireland's largest trade union.
== Modern development ==
In the late 1960s, as the civil rights campaign took off, [[People's Democracy (Ireland)|People's Democracy]], before it became a small [[Trotskyist]] group, included some self-described anarchists{{Sfn|Hall|2019||pages=3–4}} such as [[John McGuffin]] and Jackie Crawford. The latter was one of the group who sold ''[[Freedom (British newspaper)|Freedom]]'' in [[Belfast]]'s Castle Street in the late 1960s. There was an anarchist banner on the Belfast-Derry [[civil rights]] march.{{Sfn|Hall|2019||page=5}} PD members, including John Grey, contributed to a special issue of the British ''[[Anarchy Magazine]]'' about [[Northern Ireland]] in 1971.
In the early 1970s some ex-members of the [[Official IRA]] became interested in anarchism and developed contact with ''[[Black Flag (newspaper)|Black Flag]]'' magazine in London. Among names used were Dublin Anarchist Group and New Earth. Their existence was brief and not widely known.{{Sfn|Goodwillie|1983}} A number of jailings for "armed actions" saw the group disappear. Two members, [[Marie and Noel Murray]], were later sentenced to death for the killing of an off-duty [[Garda Síochána|Garda]] during a bank raid as part of a group called the Anarchist Black Cross (with no relation to the much older [[Anarchist Black Cross|prisoner support group]]). Their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment on appeal. In 1970 there existed a [[hippy]] commune in a squatted house on Dublin's exclusive [[Merrion Road]] known as the Island Commune. Some inhabitants, including [[Ubi Dwyer]] of [[Windsor Free Festival]] fame, sold ''Freedom'' outside the [[General Post Office (Dublin)|GPO]] on Saturdays.
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In 1978, ex-members of the Belfast Anarchist Collective and the Dublin Anarchist Group decided that a more politically united, class-based, and public organisation was necessary. Their discussions led to the Anarchist Workers Alliance, which existed from 1978–81, although only to any substantial extent in Dublin.{{Sfn|Goodwillie|1983}} It produced ''Anarchist Worker'' nos. 1–7; documents on the [[Irish nationalism|national question]], [[women's liberation]], trade unions, and a constitution.
Irish anarchists, amongst others, organised [[Reclaim the Streets]] parties in Dublin in 2002 and 2003.<ref name="Dec1">{{cite web |last1=McCarthy |first1=Dec |title=
[[File:Guards_arrive_at_Grangegorman_squat.jpg|thumb|right|[[
▲=== Active organisations ===
Several organisations have operated in Ireland in the past:
*The Workers Solidarity Movement was a [[platformist]] anarchist group that had members in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Belfast, Derry, and Galway. It formed in 1984 and folded in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://freedomnews.org.uk/2021/12/09/ireland-a-farewell-to-the-workers-solidarity-movement/ |title=Ireland: A farewell to the Workers Solidarity Movement |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=9 December 2021 |website=Freedom News |publisher= |access-date=7 August 2022 |quote=}} </ref>
*A Belfast branch of the British [http://www.solfed.org.uk/local/belfast Solidarity Federation], which was formerly [[Organise!]], a small class struggle anarchist organisation formed in 2003 from a merger of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation, Anarchist Federation, Anarchist Prisoner Support and a number of individuals.
*The Dublin-based Revolutionary Anarcha-Feminist Group (RAG), a group for female anarchists was formed in 2005 and has published six issues of a magazine, ''The Rag''.
*In April 2015, the Dublin Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) was founded.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dublinabc.ana.rchi.st/2015/04/introducing-dublin-anarchist-black-cross/ |title=Introducing the Dublin Anarchist Black Cross |access-date=2021-07-21 |website=dublinabc.ana.rchi.st |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529002744/https://dublinabc.ana.rchi.st/2015/04/introducing-dublin-anarchist-black-cross/ |archive-date=29 May 2015}}</ref>
* The Irish Anarchist Network is a network of anarchists founded in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.leftarchive.ie/organisation/6310/ |title=Irish Anarchist Network (IAN) |website=Irish Left Archive |access-date=2023-03-20 }}</ref>
There are also a number of organisations and spaces which, while perhaps not explicitly anarchist, share much in common with the anarchist movement. These include the Grassroots Gatherings (2001–present), the Dublin Grassroots Network (2003–2004), Grassroots Dissent (2004–), Galway Social Space (2008–2010), [[Rossport Solidarity Camp]] (2005–2014), Jigsaw (
==See also==
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== Notes==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
== References ==
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== Bibliography ==
*{{cite journal|url=https://libcom.org/library/raven-06|first=Heiner|last=Becker|title=The Mystery of Dr Nathan-Ganz|journal=The Raven|issue=6|date=October 1988|location=
*{{cite book|author-link=David Goodway|last=Goodway|first=David|chapter=[[Oscar Wilde]]|title=[[Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow]]|location=[[Liverpool]]|publisher=[[Liverpool University Press]]|year=2006|pages=62–92|isbn= 1-84631-025-3|oclc=897032902}}
*{{cite journal|first=John|last=Goodwillie|url=http://www.irishleftreview.org/2009/08/20/glossary-left-ireland-1960-1983-john-goodwillie-gralton-augsep-1983/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090825221530/http://www.irishleftreview.org/2009/08/20/glossary-left-ireland-1960-1983-john-goodwillie-gralton-augsep-1983/|archive-date=25 August 2009|title=Glossary of the Left in Ireland 1960–83|journal=Gralton Magazine|issue=9|year=1983|location=
*{{cite book|title=A History of the Belfast Anarchist Group and Belfast Libertarian Group|first=Michael|last=Hall|location=[[Newtownabbey]]|publisher=Island Publications|series=Island Pamphlets|issue=117|date=October 2019|access-date=21 June 2021|url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/islandpublications/hall19-ip117.pdf|pages=3–4|oclc=1280067425}}
*{{cite journal|title=The Emergence of Modern Irish Socialism 1885-87|url=http://www.wsm.ie/story/1778|first=Fintan|last=Lane|year=1997|journal=Red & Black Revolution|issue=3|location=
*{{cite journal|first=Fintan|last=Lane|url=https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/practical-anarchists-we-social-revolutionaries-in-dublin-1885-7/|title="Practical anarchists, we": social revolutionaries in Dublin, 1885–87|journal=[[History Ireland]]|location=
*{{cite journal|url=http://struggle.ws/ws/ws50_jack.html|title=Jack White: Irish Anarchist who organised Irish Citizens Army|first=Alan|last=MacSimóin|journal=Workers Solidarity|issue=50|year=1997|location=
*{{cite book|first=Owen|last=McGee|title=The IRB: The Irish Republican Brotherhood, from the Land League to Sinn Féin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ngnAQAAMAAJ|location=[[Dublin]]|publisher=[[Four Courts Press]]|year=2005|isbn=1851829725|oclc=238617973}}
*{{cite journal|url=http://www.irlandeses.org/cathain.htm|title=Dr. John O'Dwyer Creaghe (1841-1920)|first=Máirtín|last=Ó Catháin|year=2004|journal=Irish Migration Studies in Latin America|location=
*{{cite book|
*{{cite journal|url=https://mises.org/library/complete-libertarian-forum-1969-1984|title=Stateless Societies: Ancient Ireland|first=Joseph R.|last=Peden|journal=[[The Libertarian Forum]]|volume=III|issue=4|date=April 1971|location=
*{{cite journal |url=https://mises.org/library/note-burkes-vindication-natural-society |title=A Note on Burke's Vindication of Natural Society |last=Rothbard|first=Murray|author-link=Murray Rothbard|journal=[[Journal of the History of Ideas]]|location=
*{{Cite book |last=Rothbard |first=Murray | author-link=Murray Rothbard|url=https://mises.org/library/new-liberty-libertarian-manifesto |title=For a New Liberty |year= 2006 |orig-year=1973 |publisher=[[Mises Institute]] |isbn=978-0-945466-47-5 |location=[[Auburn, Alabama|Auburn]] | oclc=75961482}}
*{{cite web|url=https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/edmund-burke-intellectuals-french-revolution-part-2|title=Edmund Burke, Intellectuals, and the French Revolution, Part 2|first=George H.|last=Smith|date=21 March 2014|website=[[Libertarianism.org]]|location=[[Washington, D.C.]]|publisher=[[Cato Institute]]|access-date=17 November 2021}}
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