Irish Marxist archive

national | miscellaneous | press release

Wednesday August 06, 2003 13:27

by Jim Monaghan

History Documents of the mainly Trotskyist Irish Left. A new Archive.
If we are to succeed we must learn from history otherwise we will continue to repeat mistakes

Many generations have tried to end Imperialist and Capitalist exploitation and alas have failed. It remains to be seen whether the current generation will be any more successfull. The important thing about the people who wrote thses documents is that they tried. The earliest Irish Trotskyist was Tom O'Flaherty who was a founder of the American Communist Party and later of the American Trotskyist movement. He returned to Ireland in the thirties and died of heart failure. He was a brther of Liam O'Flaherty.Nora Connolly-O'Brien corresponded with Trotsky.
The movement proper was founded by an International Brigades veteran Bob Armstrong. His group included the later Trade Union Leader Matt Merrigan and the painter Paddy Trench who worked for the POUM in the Spanish Civil War.This group had friendly relations with Michael Price of the old Republican Congress.
Later veterans of the movement included Gery Lawless, Paddy Healy, Ranor Lysaght up to the current claiments to the roles in the variouys groups both large and small.

This is to announce a new Irish Marxist Archive, which can be found at:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~workersrepublic

We hope will be of interest to Irish leftists. The intention is to
present a number of historic documents which may not be readily
available and which give some idea of the history of the struggle for
socialism on this island. We don't want to ignore international
issues, but we doubt whether Irish left groups would have contributed
much original material to debates over the Iranian Revolution,
Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.

Why not put the documents on the Marxist Internet Archive?

Firstly, we don't want to limit the documents to those output by
people now dead. The aim is not to reproduce the Marxist Internet
Archive, but to supplement it with documents relating to Ireland,
sorted by subject. We also don't rule out stating an opinion where we
think that one is due - we aren't just archivists.

What can you do?

Firstly, if you are interested in what we are offering, read what we
are putting on the site. If you have any documents which you think
people might be interested in, contact us.

MATT.

---

'They say that leaders always emerge, no matter what the ideals or the
systems of democracy that are put in place. Well, this may or may not
be true, but what is the case is that arseholes certainly do.'

---

Éirigh lasadh as an splanc seo

mkavanagh@iol.ie