Background

Ailtirí na hAiséirghe founder Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin, circa 1942

The group was founded out of a branch of Conradh na Gaeilge established by Ó Cuinneagáin in 1940. He had left a job in the civil service, and moved to County Donegal in order to become fluent in Irish. Having been a member of several underground pro-Axis organisations but become disillusioned with their limited vision of seeing a German victory as an end in itself rather than an opportunity to transform Irish society, he established Craobh na hAiséirghe (Branch of the Resurrection) as a militant and active wing of Conradh to form "a Hitler Youth Movement under the guise of an Irish class".^[9] The branch grew rapidly, holding public events as well as organising Irish language classes, and Ó Cuinneagáin was elected to Conradh na Gaelige's executive. At the time many ideas of the far right, especially corporatism, were fashionable in Ireland, even with ministers of the democratically elected Irish government, and seemed to chime well with Catholic social teaching. These ideas were mixed with more traditional Irish nationalism and especially a hostility to the partition of Ireland.

By March 1942, though, Ó Cuinneagáin wished for a wider and more explicitly political organisation, motivated by his failure to be elected president of Conradh na Gaelige and conflicts with other members of its executive.^[10][11] A two-hour speech made by Ó Cuinneagáin on Whit weekend announcing the establishment of Ailtirí na hAiséirghe as an openly fascist movement with the aim of establishing a totalitarian government in Ireland^[12] and the publication of Aiséirghe 1942, devoted purely to Ó Cuinneagáin's political views, alienated many of their members.^[13] A split developed which was resolved amicably between Ó Cuinneagáin and the culturalist Proinsias Mac an Bheatha, who agreed to assume Craobh na hAiséirghe's debts and changed the branch's name to Glún na Buaidhe (Generation of Victory).^[14]

Members and activities

The Department of Justice estimated the party's Dublin city membership after six months in existence to be about 30 or 40, with very few supporters outside Dublin.^[15] Due to the Dublin organisation squeezing local branches by taking a large amount of the profit from membership fees, propaganda and donations, along with fears of internment for membership of the party there existed a widespread culture among local organisations of maintaining a separate set of local membership records rather than forwarding completed application forms to Dublin, allowing the branches to retain the whole of their members' affiliation fees and count on a reliable flow of income from weekly in-house collections, and selling Aiséirghe badges as a token of de facto membership, allowing wearers to take part in activities on the same basis as those properly enrolled.^[16]

R.M. Douglas estimates that the party had around 2,000 self-identified members in the summer of 1945,^[17] with the highest concentration of branches and active members being found in Cork, Tipperary and Wexford.^[18] Despite the party's focus on the Irish language they gained few supporters in the Gaeltacht, while Aiséirghe's support in Northern Ireland was decimated after a crackdown by the Royal Ulster Constabulary following a failed publicity stunt by Ó Cuinneagáin in 1943.^[19] A significant number of Aiséirghe members were women compared to other Irish political parties or European fascist parties, primarily motivated by concern over foreign cultural influence in Ireland and fear of being forced to emigrate, as Ireland had an unusually high rate of female emigration compared to most of Europe.^[20]

Aiséirghe began to arrange speeches where crowds of people might be found, such as pubs, cinemas, sporting events and churches, as well as to organise parades and Irish dancing.^[21] Aiséirghe speakers would deliver a speech in Irish before switching to English, something which, according to Aindrias Ó Scolaidhe aroused the curiosity of crowds.^[22] The party's members also engaged in extra-legal activities. Following an unsuccessful campaign to rename Talbot Street in Dublin to Seán Treacy Street, the party took matters into their own hands, defacing the official street-signs and attaching replacements of their own.^[23] They beheaded the monument to Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough in the Phoenix Park and played a major part in sparking the VE Day riots in Dublin after Trinity College students raised the Union Jack and Soviet Union banners in celebration of the Allied victory in World War II.^[24]

Split and decline

Dissent began to grow in the party towards Ó Cuinneagáin's extremism and hostility to other political parties, and Aiséirghe's minor success in the 1945 local elections convinced many members that the party had potential for success under a more moderate leader willing to co-operate with mainstream parties and politicians.^[25] Following internal disputes, a vote was held nominating Riobárd Breathnach to be the new party leader. Ó Cuinneagáin won the vote, but the entire Cork delegation resigned afterwards.^[26] The split was catastrophic for Aiséirghe as it caused many members in the party's Munster heartland to leave the party.^[27] The collapse of Aiséirghe left the path open for Clann na Poblachta, which shared some of its economic and cultural theories with the party but without the anti-democratic and anti-Semitic elements, to capitalise on political and economic disaffection towards the Fianna Fáil government.^[28] Many disillusioned Aiséirghe members defected to Clann na Poblachta.^[29]

On the morning of 14 May 1949, in an attempt to gain back the ground that was lost by the split and the rise of Clann na Poblachta, posters saying "Arm Now to Take the North." were put up by the party in Dublin and other large towns. The Gardaí responded by tearing down the posters.^[30] This only drew further attention to the spectacle which was reported on by newspapers throughout both Ireland and Britain.^[31] The party's brief notoriety did not last, as Ó Cuinneagáin was unable to follow up on his call to action. Many of the new followers he had recruited by this tactic soon left.^[32]

Ailtirí na hAiséirghe held its last formal meeting in 1958, though the party newspaper, Aiséirghe, continued to appear until the early 1970s.^[8]

Attitude towards Protestantism

Despite Aiséirghe's strong nationalism and inspiration from the Papal Encyclicals, the party was tolerant of Protestantism, using Christian rather than Catholic terminology. Ernest Blythe, an Ulster Protestant former government minister, was an influential supporter of the party. Risteárd Ó Glaisne, a Methodist, said of Ó Cuinneagáin that "his attitude to Protestantism was not only unsectarian but unpatronising". Ó Cuinneagáin believed the establishment of a Christian corporatist order would appeal to Protestants as well as Catholics and that majority-Protestant educational institutions like Trinity College Dublin could be used as "an effective instrument towards winning the loyalty of the descendants of that section of our countrymen". Despite this, Ó Cuinneagáin was prepared to use ethnic cleansing against any of the mostly Protestant Irish unionists who resisted inclusion in an Irish state, and to replace them with members of the Irish diaspora.^[42]

Relationship with Irish republicanism

Ó Cuinneagáin made strong efforts to court Irish republicans, providing film screenings, books, gramophone records and Aiséirghe literature to republican internees and becoming a prominent member of the Green Cross Fund which helped send financial assistance to the families of republican prisoners. Prior to founding the party Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin had led Aicéin, the youth wing of the republican party Córas na Poblachta and had helped secure the presidency of Conradh na Gaelige for the IRA internee Seán Ó Tuama. He had also been a writer for An tÉireannach and the Wolfe Tone Weekly. As a result, he could claim to be a member of the Irish republican community and had developed close relationships with Irish republicans over the years.^[49]

Tarlach Ó hUid, editor of IRA newspaper War News and co-founder of the Irish Republican Radio station became an active member of the party as did Gearóid Ó Broin, a member of the IRA Army Council. IRA Adjuntant-General, Tomás Ó Dubhghaill, gave the party his approval. An IRA internee in the Curragh reported to Roger McHugh that many of his fellow internees supported Ó Cuinneagáin.^[52] In 1943 Francis Stuart, speaking on the German propaganda broadcast Redaktion-Irland, urged Irish voters to support Aiséirghe and Córas na Poblachta.^[53] An Irish soldier who joined the movement reported that the Dublin branch consisted entirely of "Nazis and people who were in the IRA".^[54] G2 and MI5 noted that Aiséirghe members were often found attending Sinn Féin meetings and speaking from their platforms along with the fact several Aiséirghe officials had Sinn Féin pedigrees.^[55]

Tensions sometimes developed between the Irish Republican Army and Aiséirghe. When Tomás Óg Ó Murchadha criticised the IRA in 1944, many Balbriggan party members who were also members of the IRA resigned. Some Aiséirghe activists resented the IRA for their lack of focus on the revival of the Irish language.^[56] The leader of the Cork organisation, Seosamh Ó Coigligh, accused Ó Cuinneagáin in a letter criticising him of causing the party to be regarded as an appendage of the IRA and Sinn Féin.^[57]

Bibliography

• Douglas, R. M. (2009). Architects of the Resurrection: Ailtirí na hAiséirghe and the Fascist 'New Order' in Ireland. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-7998-6.

Citations