     ********** The Easter rising of 1916  **********
                        from Workers Solidarity No 33?
                                                [1991?]

THIS YEAR marks the 75th anniversary of the Easter 
Rising.  There will be all sorts of commemorations 
throughout the country, organised by forces ranging from 
Fianna F‡il to Sinn FŽin.  We will hear a lot of talk about 
the "spirit of 1916", what does it mean today?

The rising was heroic.  Some would even say stupid.  It had little 
popular support.  Most Irish people at the time believed that Irish men 
should be off fighting the Germans.  It was widely thought that in 
return Home Rule would become a reality.  The leaders of the rising 
were not too worried about this.  They believed that the blood sacrifice 
was all that was needed to inspire future generations.

NATIONALISTS

The rising itself was led by middle class nationalists.  Their one and only 
objective was the liberation of the country from British rule.  This has 
not yet been achieved.  Indeed all the major parties, including the 
Workers Party, have given up on this.  The Anglo-Irish Agreement was 
only the most recent attempt to come to terms with partition. For all 
the waffle about being the true inheritors of the Rising, not one 
government of the Free State has implemented the limited demands of 
the rebels.

The Proclamation declared the following "The Republic guarantees 
religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities for all its 
citizens and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the 
whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation 
equally."

EQUALITY


Here we see a general liberal desire for equality.  But far from equality, 
all we see around us in the Irish Republic is inequality.  Workers are 
thrown on the dole and expected to live on a pittance while the bosses 
make enormous profits and eat in outrageously expensive restaurants.  
There are plush new private hospitals while workers get second rate 
health care.  Women are denied the right to participate fully in society.  
Their role as wives and childminders is enshrined in the Constitution.

Far from cherishing all the children of the nation equally, working class 
children are denied the right to attend third level education yet their 
parents fork out a fortune in taxes to subsidise the children of the rich.

NOT SOCIALIST

Not that the leaders of the Rising were socialist or anything like it.  
Their only concern was to get the British out.  The new Ireland was 
clearly going to be capitalist.  The Proclamation calls on all Irish people 
to unite, saying that all previous differences which "have divided a 
minority from the majority" were "carefully fostered by an alien 
government".  So the only problem was British domination.  

It obviously was a problem but this perspective totally overlooks the 
fact that only three years previously the Irish bosses led by William 
Martin Murphy had locked out and starved thousands of Irish 
workers.  Were the workers now to forget all this and unite with their 
enemies?

JAMES CONNOLLY

The presence of Connolly did not give the Rising a socialist tinge.  
Connolly had clearly decided that socialism should be put in cold 
storage.  He believed that the World War was a great opportunity to 
strike at Britain.  Also the defeat in the 1913 Lockout had left the 
working class demoralised.  Rather than get stuck in and rebuild union 
organisation and militancy, Connolly chose to go with the nationalists.  
He was not fighting for socialism when he went into the G.P.O.

The executions following the Rising (rather than the Rising itself) and 
the British attempt to introduce conscription set the country alight.  
British rule was totally undermined by 1919.  The War of 
Independence and the First D‡il not only showed that the majority of 
the people opposed the British, but also highlighted what Sinn FŽin 
was fighting for.  

IRISH "SOVIETS"

In many parts of the country land was seized and "Soviets" were 
established in many workplaces.  These workers wanted more than a 
united capitalist Ireland.  They wanted the whole set-up changed.  
They wanted real control over their lives.  But this did not fit into the 
policy of uniting all the Irish people.  Sinn FŽin land courts were 
established and the land was handed back to its former owners.  The 
Countess Markiewicz, one of the heroines of the rising, warned against 
the "dangers of social revolution".

Today Sinn FŽin claim, louder than anybody, to be the inheritors of 
1916.  Without a doubt they are.  They carry on the tradition of armed 
struggle and the blood sacrifice.  Despite all the left wing posturing 
they are still nationalists whose aim is to unite all the Irish people 
against the British.  As in 1916 there are not just "Irish people".  There 
are Irish workers and Irish bosses, and they have nothing in common.

A WORKERS REPUBLIC

The task remains to free the country from British domination.  For 
Anarchists this can only be done by taking up the struggle as part of 
the fight for a Workers Republic.  Workers' control and the smashing of 
capitalism is our aim.  Anything less is not worth fighting for.  The real 
heros and heroines of Irish history are the workers who fought for this.  
The state will not hold commemorations for them.  That might only 
encourage workers today.

Eddie Conlon

