The Republican Journey

By Tommy McKearney

Over the two centuries since the concept of republican democracy was first introduced to the people of this island, the philosophy has become embedded to such an extent that it is now as well established in the political field as Christianity is in the religious life of society. There is, of course, a significant number of people who reject the politics of republicanism but this does not alter the fact that a substantial majority of the island’s population accept (consciously or unconsciously) the basic parameters of a political package first proposed and advocated by Tone and McCracken.

This observation, however, applies only in the widest sense. It is possible, for example, to argue that a majority of the republic’s electorate and its major political parties subscribe to republican principles on the basis that they actively participate within a republican form of government. In Northern Ireland it is also technically correct to say that a majority of the SDLP would advocate – under ideal circumstances - a republican administration. By using such a yardstick we would, therefore, include within the broadest interpretation of republican such unlikely bedfellows as Fine Gael, the Progressive

Democrats, the SDLP, Sinn Fein, the IRSP, Fianna Fail and the C.P.I.
Levelling down republicanism in Ireland to this, the lowest possible common denominator, risks reducing our analysis to the absurd. There is quite obviously a considerable gulf between the republicanism of say: the Progressive Democrats, Sinn Fein and the Communist Party of Ireland. It is worthwhile, therefore, to look at the origins and evolution of republicanism on this island in order to gauge what we might deem to be its key aspects and its contemporary manifestations.

Due to the pivotal role played by Northern Irish Presbyterians in bringing republicanism to Ireland, it is important that we recognise the influence, not just of the American revolution but also of English Civil War radicals such as the Levellers on the shaping of Irish republicanism. It might be credibly suggested indeed that the ‘theological’-like disputes that bedevil Irish republicanism owes something to this early Presbyterian influence. However, since the earliest republicans in Ireland were most immediately and directly influenced by the great French revolution and its First Republic, it is undoubtedly the case that the French influence was/is the most pronounced. Effectively this meant that during its earliest days, Irish republicanism was inculcated, not just with a tolerance or even admiration for revolutionary violence, but also with the idea of bringing about deep running social and economic change. That much we can say quite comfortably, but how the different adherents, supporters and fellow travellers of the doctrine, thereafter interpreted and practiced the philosophy is more difficult to ascertain.

The fact that Ireland was ruled from London throughout a large part of the last two centuries, has meant that the establishment of a republic on this island inevitably meant breaking the political connection between monarchistic Britain and any new state here. A consequence of the Republic’s need for national self-determination was the intermingling of republican democracy and narrow nationalistic agendas. It has frequently been difficult, therefore, to separate the two and many view Irish republicanism as concerning itself merely with the goal of politically divorcing Ireland from Britain. Moreover, since Britain chose for many years to disregard the demand of a clear majority on this island for self-determination it meant that the early resort to arms remained very much a central concern for those anxious to establish a republic here.

Some of this, however, is now historic. Britain’s political and military withdrawal from the southern 26 counties has left the question of national self-determination a ‘non issue’ for most people in the Republic of Ireland. The post-Good Friday Agreement referendum has now robbed republicans of a credible claim that Britain is defying the democratic wishes of the Irish people by remaining in the northern 6 counties. It may be presumptuous to say that the national question is no longer an issue in Irish politics but it has to be accepted, nevertheless, that there is currently no measurable constituency demanding an immediate British withdrawal. The desire for an all Ireland republic may remain among a majority on the island but as an aspiration rather than a dynamic for action.

If republicanism in Ireland is merely the completion of a national self -determination agenda, then we might very well say that as a political philosophy it has now matured to the stage of fossilisation if not outright decay. Its work, in other words, is done and it can be safely parked.

Yet, Irish republicanism has always contained within it a deep socioeconomic dynamic - land for the tiller and bread for the toiler have always been concerns of a sizable section of the republican constituency. In different generations, Jemmy Hope, James Fintan Lalor, Michael Davitt, James Connolly and Sean Lemass were, in a real sense, republicans with a deep commitment to improving the people’s living conditions. It will now be interesting to see whether this aspect of Irish republicanism manifests itself as a distinct and separate tendency within politics on this island or whether the social concerns will be taken up instead by all parties springing from the republican tradition, albeit modified and adjusted to suit the class and economic interest of those parties’ support bases.

For the past century and a half the most militant section of Irish republicanism has organised itself through ‘the secret revolutionary organisation’. Such a structure is clearly not suited to the development of a broadly based socioeconomic movement. Secrecy and conspiracy are not compatible with the politics of a mass movement advocating a better lot for the less well off.

Paradoxically, parliamentary politics in Ireland - north and south - do not always lend themselves to a single minded pursuit aimed at altering the redistribution of wealth within society. Significant progress within a proportional representation system almost invariably depends on appealing to all sections of the electorate. This has a democratic and stabilising influence on electoral politics and parties but does, nevertheless, reduce their scope for single issue campaigning.

These factors - end of secrecy combined with blind spot among parliamentarians - might lead to radical Irish republicanism finding a new and qualitatively different outlet. Time will tell and while the era of the ‘Fenian Dynamiter’ has undoubtedly come to an end, it is still too early to confine Irish republicanism to either the museum or even parliament.

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