Republican Congress

Republican Congress, a political offshoot of the Irish Republican Army established in 1934 in an attempt to obtain mass support for the struggle for an all‐Ireland socialist republic. It was initiated by former members of Saor Eire and supported by a large section within the IRA who were looking for a political alternative to Fianna Fáil. It was also a response to the apparent rise of fascism in Ireland in the form of the Blueshirts. However, the leadership of the IRA, weary of political experiments and afraid of being tainted with communism, opposed it. The proposal to form Republican Congress was narrowly defeated in the IRA Convention of 1934. A large section subsequently left the IRA and established the congress together with other radical groups.

Its objectives were set out in the Athlone manifesto. Its main contention was that a truly free republic would never be achieved except through a struggle which uprooted capitalism on its way. Its unrealistic call to all workers and small farmers from both traditions to unite on their shared class interest and to forget their ‘foreign fostered’ differences made it a doomed enterprise from the start. Although it initially created some enthusiasm, the organization split at its first convention in September 1934 between those who were ultimately more committed to republicanism and the more communist‐minded section, and it quietly dissolved in 1935. After its demise key members played a major role in the organization of the Connolly Brigade which fought on the side of the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War.

Joost Augusteijn