IRISH LEFT PUBLICATIONS, 1880-1985: A WORK IN PROGRESS
Aug 21st, 2009 by Conor McCabe
Below are links to a list of 222 left-wing newspapers and periodicals published by Irish social, political and trade union organisations It is an incomplete list, as these lists tend to be, but hopefully a useful one nonetheless. Its weakest point at the moment, I would say, is that there are very few community-based periodicals on the list: left-wing community activism is noticeable by its absence. Hopefully, that will be rectified next time around.
The list has been sorted in four ways:
The main sources for this file were John Goodwillie, ‘Lesser Marxist Movements in Ireland : A Bibliography 1934-1984′, Saothar, No. 11, 1986, p 116-123; Mike Millotte, Communism in Modern Ireland: The Pursuit of the Workers Republic Since 1916, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1984; Emmet O’Connor, Reds and the Green: Ireland, Russia and the Communist Internationals, 1919-43, UCD Press, Dublin, 2004; as well as my own research over the years.
I don’t think the WSM would describe themselves as Libertarian Marxist. AFAIK they use the term Libertarian Socialist or Anarchist.
Cheers for that, Marcas. Are you involved with any of the groups at all? We’re looking to make the list as accurate as possible, so comments / clarifications / suggestions are always welcome.
People’s Democracy also brought out a publication that started in 1984 and ran for a couple of years called An Reabhloid. I can’t recall when it stopped nor how many numbers were published.
Thanks Gearoid, I hadn’t heard of it before. One for the updated list.
Pacifist and other soft left publications are absent from the remarkable list. Congrats on your great research nevertheless! There was a magazine called Dawn - an Irish journal of nonviolence, with publication addresses in Belfast and Dublin. It was published from 1974-1984 and ran to 106 issues, some of them double issues. Check here for some archival stuff:
www.innatenonviolence.org/resources/index.shtml
In the 1980s there was an eco-radical quarterly called An Caorthann (Irish for rowan tree). Green Party people like Trevor Sargent contributed, but it wasn’t a party publication as such. Some archival items here:
http://iol.ie/~mazzoldi/toolsforchange/zine/caorthann.htm
From the Aran Islands a quarterly magazine mixing celtic spirituality, ecology, anti-war campaigns and alternative lifestyle flourished in the 1980s. It was called Aisling Magazine and was published by Dara Molloy and Tess Harper. Some back issues can be checked here:
http://www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/Home.html
Did Irish CND and the Carnsore anti-nuclear movements publish their own magazines? I seem to remember that an anarchist group brought out a magazine called The Contaminated Crow.
Conor may have been thrown by John Goodwillie’s original characterisation of the Anarchist Workers Alliance as Libertarian Marxist. This would have been fairer to the AWA than to the WSM. The WSM takes it’s non-Marxism very seriously. However, as in the case of the AWA (which incidentally carried a state capitalist analysis of Russia), the WSM makes a materialist critique of capitalism which correlates with the political economy of Marx. Both the AWA and the WSM espouse an orientation to the organised working class, a distinguishing feature, I believe, of the Platformist current within anarchism to which it is affiliated.
That’s great stuff, Walter, just what the list needs. The list is top-heavy with trade union and hard-left periodicals and newspapers. There’s virtually nothing from Green/Environment groups and organisations, and apart from the Irish Labour Party, nothing really from the soft left alright. Needs to be rectified. Your mention of Dawn reminds me of a pacifist newsletter which was published in Dublin in the 1940s to the 1960s. I have it in my notes somewhere and must dig it out and put it up. I think it was printed by the Unitarians - not too sure though.
And then… there’s the rank and file trade union, left and oppositional trade union, workplace and industrial publications! Rare today. But don’t go away.
D_D, I don’t have a background in anarchism, so I’m relying very heavily on other sources for the affiliations. Cheers for the comments. They’ve very helpful indeed.
I know I’ve left out a lot of anarchist publications from the list. would you know of any other titles and approximate years?
Conor,
Have you left out The Workers’ Party stuff because it is too well known?
Something a lot more mundane. I forgot. Which is weird seeing I worked on a DCTV show about the Irish People. with regard to the United Irishman, When would you say it became Left Republican, or was it always left-leaning? Certainly by the late 1960s, the editions I’ve seen were Left.
I went through the National LIbrary online catalogue tonight, and found another 31 journals I left out, on top of the Irish People.
1977 - Action
- Banshee
1979 - Belfast Bulletin
1919 - Belfast Worker
1976 - Belfast Worker
1973 - Forward
1972 - Internal Bulletin
1973 - Irish People
1982 - New Labour and Ireland
1997 - Red Banner
1977 - Red Bellows
2001 - Resistance: Ireland’s Socialist Magazine
1980 - Scarlet Women
2000 - Socialism 2000
2004 - Socialist Voice
1991 - Socialist Voice
1974 - Strike No.1
1974 - Strike!
1976 - T.U. News
1977 - Teoiric
1978 - TUCAR
1975 - Ulster Socialist
2000 - Voice
- Waterford Worker
1976 - Women’s Action
- Women’s Bulletin Series
1980 - Women’s View
1972 - Worker, The
- Workers Liberty
1977 - Workers Research Unit (Belfast) Bulletin
1976 - Young Worker
And I still have the anarchist and Green movement to go.
Slowly, slowly, though. I reckon by Christmas we should have a decent enough EXCEL file for people to download and use as reference.
Maybe the Socialist Party (the one which split from Official Sinn Fein in the early 1970s) would be better listed as “Communist”, as their main differences with the CPI seemed to be not only their ‘two states’ theory but also a more intense pro-Moscow line.
Also, while there were Trotskyists (like Eamon McCann) in the Independent Socialist Party (a very early anti-militarist split from the IRSP) the one pamphlet they produced was quite critical of the Leninism.
D_D is right about the Anarchist Workers Alliance being happy to describe themselves as libertarian marxist. While there are members of the Workers Solidarity Movement who also would accept that tag, all of them would first and foremost call theselves anarchists. And I think all the other anarchist groups, past and present, would have rejected it.
Some other anarchist ones:
1978 Black Rag Periodical
1980 Outta Control Belfast Anarchist Collective
198? Antrim Alternative Antrim & Ballymena Anarchist Group
1984 Resistance Dublin Anarchist Collective
198? R@view Belfast Anarchists
1994 Red & Black Revolution Workers Solidarity Movement
1994 Organise! Organise! t
1995 Resistance Irish Anarchist Communist Federation
1995 Ainriail Frontline Collectice, Galway
1998 Rebel Worker Organise!
2000 Solidarity Bulletin Syndicalist Solidarity Federation
2003 Cork Anarchist Conspiracy Cork Anarchist Group
2003 Working Class Resistance Organise!
2006 RAG Revolutionary Anarcha-Feminist Group
2009 The Leveller Organise!
Some union ones:
197? Shop Steward National Federation of Shop Stewards Committees
1977 New Liberty ITGWU New Liberty Group
1977 Busworker Busworker Group
1984 The Law Local Authority Workers Group
1990 Trade Union Fightback Trade Unionists & Unemployed Against the Programme
1997 SIPTU Fightback SIPTU Fighback group
A few history ones:
1981 Irish History Workshop History Workshop Co-op
1984 Obair Irish Labour History Society
1986 Irish Labour History News Irish Labour History Society
And finally….
1976 Heads Up Red Republican Party Left Republican
1986 Borderline Periodical Socialist
1989 Z Periodical Socialist
2002 Catalyst Socialist Alternative Libertarian Socialist
That’s great stuff there Alan. I really appreciate it. As I said, I won’t update the list for a couple of months, in order to get as much catalogued as possible, but hopefully by the end of the year we’ll have a decent enough list from the 1860s to today.
Wow, you’re getting lots of feedback to that Work in Progress. The Dawn pacifist magazine published a pamphlet in Belfast in 1978 titled Nonviolence in Irish History, with an article on peace groups since the 1930s. The Unitarian item you mentioned might be referred to there. Check this online site: www.innatenonviolence.org/pamphlets/nonviolence.pdf
In the period 1974-c.1981 the Prisoners Rights Organisation campaigned in Dublin for penal reform. They published a quarterly magazine called Jail Journal that was sold at meetings and in selected pubs. The PRO avoided party politics and two prominent members were Margaret Gaj of the famous Gajs Restaurant in Baggot Street, and a schoolteacher called Joe Costello. Another member for a while was veteran campaigner Mairin de Burca of the Workers Party. Costello subsequently joined the Labour Party and was elected in the same inner city constituency as Tony Gregory. Currently he is Labour spokesperson on foreign affairs.
That’s a great pamphlet, Walter, cheers. I got my facts wrong. The journal I was thinking of was Pax - which may have had one or two Unitarians in its fold, but was not a Unitarian-led group, instead mainly Quakers.
The pamphlet is a great help. Cheers. And thanks for the info on the PRO as well. Much appreciated.
We’re all getting older and more forgetful Conor!
Before I forget, there is also An Eochar, a prisoners’ publication from Long Kesh. I’m sure other groups had the same. There were also local Republican Club newspapers, though possibly with the same name. I think you listed the Derry one, but there were others, such as in Turf Lodge. I’d have to check though.
The UI is an interesting question. I’d say certainly by the mid-60s, though it retained some of the older facets. Maybe even before, though that might require a much more flexible definition of left.
As regards definitions of “left”, it’s something I’m going to have to tackle at some point. I’m going to cheat, though, and leave it until closer to Christmas.
Here’s a pdf download of the anarcho-environmental magazine The Contaminated Crow, from 1980. It has lots of discussion about tactics and inter-organisational relations within the antinuclear power movement of the time. Tactics and ideology seem to be perennial themes in the pages of left publications.
http://www.struggle.ws/pdfs/leaflets/archived/crow.pdf
Great stuff! Cheers Walter.
Earthwatch was edited by Lothar Lueken from the south of Ireland. It was a seriously researched environmental magazine and was available from health food shops and other outlets. Lueken has been publishing poetry in recent years. Here’s a link to a literary blog that carries a short interview with him. Scroll down:
http://www.obheal.ie/blog/?p=10
You’ll probably find that people linked to an organisation called Feasta, which researches alternatives to orthodox economy and environment, were contributors to Earthwatch.
Great initiative!
A few bits and pieces to throw into this:
(1) An Caorthann was indeed a Green Party publication, but aimed at building broader links between social movements generally (one of the reasons why the GP became less supportive of it over time).
(2) There’s a report from a networking meeting for green / alternative / organic magazines c. 1996 online at http://www.iol.ie/~mazzoldi/toolsforchange/zine/imb96/paper.htm and a list of the papers we were then in contact with in that scene at http://www.iol.ie/~mazzoldi/toolsforchange/zine/imb96/subs.htm.
(3) The Jan 1999 issue of Community Media Network’s “Tracking” included a partial listing of the alternative press from a left perspective; might be worth asking them for a hardcopy. As I recall their overview was consciously trying to show the diversity of the alternative press.
(4) The various editions of the Alternative Ireland Directory, put out by the Quay Co-op in Cork through the 80s and 90s, would be a good source for other publications of this kind in this time period.
(5) Changing tack, there would be an enormous number of small Gestetnered or photocopied publications from the community organising movement between the 1970s and the 1990s if not before and after. CMN again may have a sense at least of who, if anyone, might have any kind of overview.
(6) There’s an archive of the Irish Women’s Movement, which I think may now be in Cork - Linda Connolly has a book called something like “Documenting the Irish women’s movement” which should be a good source. Plans were afoot a few years back for a gay / lesbian archive - not sure if it ever happened, but if it did it would be another useful source.
(7) Lastly - sorry for the amount of material but have to go and do other things - the Quaker Historical Library in Stocking Lane (D16) seems to take its brief very seriously, and this would probably be another good way to come at the pacifist / soft left angle.
Keep up the good work,
Laurence
That’s great stuff Laurence, cheers. Some great links and suggestions. I’m going to be in Cork in a couple of weeks time so I’ll be able to check out what’s there. and I didn’t know about the Quaker library, so cheers for that as well.
I stand corrected by Laurence about the political status of An Caorthann. It did draw contributions from individuals not in the Green Party. As for research archives where radical and alternative Irish periodicals might be found, I can recommend the Linenhall Library in Belfast. Almost every fringe Northern Ireland publication from the late 1960s can be read there.
Catholic Worker had a publication during their short stay in Dublin.
Cheers Chris. What was the Catholic Worker? And would you have any dates as to when it was in Ireland (North/South)?
In the late 1970s there was a student magazine called Movement - the magazine of radical christian ideas and action. It was published from an address in Rathgar Road, Dublin. After some time the publication office relocated to England, and is still published to cater for a mainly UK student christian readership. While based in Ireland they published a couple of pamphlets about Ireland, its history and the background to the situation in Northern Ireland. The Rathgar Road address hosted a Resources Centre which catered for radical and socially innovative feminist, environmental, prison reform, peace and health groups. The Carnsore anti-nuclear movement drew heavily on the resources at this centre. Towards the end of the 70s the resources centre folded. The Prisoners Rights Organisation found a premises in Buckingham Street in the inner city which was later developed into a community resource centre. It may still be there, serving the needs of locals.
Walter, that’s a great link of information there. I really appreciate this. Thank you.
From CW’s London website:
I’m not sure when they were in Dublin; it may have been ’90s or 2000s, but I’ve asked them. It’s possible that they had a presence in Ireland before that.
Cheers Chris
The Bottom Dog was produced by the Limerick branch of first the RMG, then PD in Limerick.
Thanks Jim. I thought at first that it was IRSP, as it was quite pro-IRSP. Cheers for that.
Limerick PD/Bottom Dog
Joe Harrington later mayor of Limerick was a member.
John Feeney father of Chekov was editor of Grille.
Regards
Jim
1967 Workers’ Republic Irish Communist Organisation, Dublin Communist
I think maybe not. My memory is that at this time it was produced by the League for a Workers Republic, led by Paddy Healy. At this time the LWR was umnaffiliated internationally but Trotskyist.
This is great, Jim. Thanks very much.
Catholic Worker Dublin were c. 2002 - 2007.
Cheers Chris.
Rosc Catha was Official Republican, not just Left Republican.
Clann na h-Eireann was the name, I think.
Padraigh Yeates and Gerry Doherty who feature in “Lost Revolution” were probably involved.
Did I mention LPJ - Love, Peace, Justice? It appeared early in the 1970s as a cyclostyled newssheet of about 8 pages and was produced by Justin Morahan and a few pacifist friends. Justin did time in Mountjoy Prison after he occupied the office of a coal dealer company to highlight the unjust treatment of a former employee.
I vaguely remember attending a demonstration outside the US embassy in Ballsbridge, possibly late 1960s. The late Dennis Dennehy, an activist in the Dublin Housing Action Committee and several other campaigns, handed me a copy of The Agitator. It was a modest cyclostyled publication about housing and other agitations of the time.
About the word cyclostyled for younger readers. Before the wide availability of photocopiers and computers it was common for campaigners to “cut stencils”, that is type A4 pages on waxed sheets with office typewriters. The waxed sheets were then wrapped around the inked drum of a Gestetner or Xerox manual duplicator. Publishers then used elbow grease to print out so many copies of the pages, checking the ink supply to ensure clear reading quality. Then all sheets of text were stapled together. If a group had somebody with artistic bent a designed cover might be “cut” carefully on a wax sheet. Sometimes the cover was duplicated on coloured paper slightly thicker than the inside pages.
If people got some money together they enhanced the appearance of their publications by going to a typesetters and then laying out their magazines, illustrated with photos, and taking the “camera ready” finished work to a litho-offset printers where the magazine was collated. An example I know of a “kitchen table magazine” that began its life in Gestetnered form was North West Newsletter, a magazine for organic farmers. After successfully publishing and distributing their publication for some years they changed over to litho offset. They also changed the title to Common Ground. NWNL-Common Ground published for an impressive 20 years, from 1976-1996. It encouraged organic farming and carried information about environmental campaigns.
Obviously computers and desktop publishing software has made things easier for self publishing groups nowadays; but brainpower and imaginative presentation plus basic business skills are human qualities needed for successful publishing.
That’s great Walter. There’s a run of L.P.J. in TCD, so I must check it out.
Just browsing through the comments. Jim Monaghan (RMG ) gives the impression that it was produced by RMG (PD). Certainly there was a strong involvement by RMG-PD through the efforts of people like Joe Harrington who lived in O’Malley Park at the time. Joe went on to produce his own newsletter in the Southhill area.
But there were others involved as well - many of whom were independent. And then there were members of The Irish Republican Socialist Party. These included Tom Hayes of Castleconnel and Shannon. Tom was a marvellous source for info and contacts. John Gilligan lived in O’Malley Park and later on the island in St. Mary’s. John went on to become Mayor of Limerick.
Paddy Kenneally, then of Ennis and Corofin IRSP was a prominent member of the Plasters Union and contributor. The late Stella Makowski-Fean was involved on the IRSP Ard Comhairle and Limerick student politics.
Like many in the area she came from a prominent left-republican position and was heavily influenced by her mother Brigid Makowski, the late IRSP leader Seamus Costello and by her involvement on behalf of Chilean emigres in the area.
It was an incredible collective for its time. The Bottom Dog tells of stories like Ferenka, local issue, women’s rights, student struggle and the work of Trade Unionists on the ground.
I have passed on the few copies I had obtained, with Tom Hayes some years ago, to the Archive. Hopefully they will be scanned soon and put online.
Thanks for the mention of LPJ (Love Peace and Justice) Walter and Conor
Just for th record:LPJ began as an individual pacifist action and remained so for about a year when it became a group.
The action you mention was the occupation of the Dublin Port and Docks office after a docker, Tony Donaldson, was let go when he returned to work after an accident. He went on hunger strike and later on thirst strike. When we were being held in Mountjoy, he got his job back.
LPJ as a newssheet had only 4 pages. You won’t get the whole range in TCD or elsewhere. It cost 3p to buy on the street and many friends and donors helped out also.
I was constantly harangued by the National Library to send a copy of each issue to them as it appeared. (it was the law). I sent only a few issues as it took up too much time.
Thanks for the details, Justin Morahan. You’ve kept your oar in down through the years. Happy Christmas.
Maybe it’s time for Conor to post a reflective article, or two, on the business of publishing hard copy periodicals. Discuss financing, editing and layout skills, and distribution. Time was around the 1970s when there may have been a dozen more hard left, soft left and ‘alternative’ Irish-produced magazines doing the rounds. They had different methods of circulating etc. Currently there seems to be in the republic around three hard left periodicals, and I don’t know about the North.