The subject of this work is the development of ideas - their origin, content and function within social movements and phenomena of social protests - from the Jacobinism of the early republican movement in Ireland at the end of the eighteenth century to the alliance of the forces of socialism and republicanism culminating in the Easter Rising, 1916. Special emphasis has been placed on the ideas of James Connolly within the context of the Second International and the particular problematic of socialism and the national question.

After 1848 political revolution disappears in England and grows in Ireland. Like countries in southern and eastern Europe, Ireland was not developing its population, technology, wealth, or its middle class as was England. Celtic Ireland was at the edge of extinction. How did the Irish turn this around? There were three kinds of response to this challenge: One acquiescence, supporting the Act of Union with ‘Great Britain’ (1800); Two, compromise, partial administrative repeal of the Act of Union, ‘Home Rule’; Three, fight for an independent Irish republic by revolutionary means, like George Washington in 1776. Our analysis focuses on the third response, the Fenians, but the others are always in the picture. How do the Fenians expect to make a revolution successfully? English monarchs, Tory politicians, and English governments spared no military cost to prevent any George Washington allied with France or Germany at their back-door. To discover the revolutionary answers to our question the author goes to the general history and to a detailed analysis of the Fenian social organization, leadership, value perspectives during four time periods. What is the movement’s desired future, republican (‘green’) or socialist (‘red’)? What are the consequences for Ireland, its classes, castes, and groups?

"'This book is a fresh and exciting look at Irish radicalism in the early twentieth century, which puts the labour movement at the centre of socialist agitation and adds immensely to our understanding of the era', Brian Hanley, Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool, co-author of The lost revolution: the story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party (2009). 'Grant's book takes a fresh and stimulating approach to the politics of the labour movement and republicanism in early twentieth-century Ireland. A useful, provocative and engaging study, it should be read by all those with an interest in the history of social radicalism on this island', Fintan Lane, author of The origins of modern Irish socialism, 1818-1896 (2007). This book examines Irish socialist republicanism in the early part of the 20th century. Previous studies of the subject have pointed to the left wing of the IRA as the prime instigator of the movement. Here, socialist republicanism is examined in detail from the perspective of the Labour movement alongside the IRA and other republican groups for the first time. The result is an enlightening account of the many connections and alliances that existed between republicans, socialists, communists and others. The reader is provided with a narrative that explains the many twists and turns in both mainstream and radical Irish politics in the period."--Publisher's website.

This is a review of the Irish Republican movement in the 20th century from a socialist viewpoint. After outlining the earlier period, the book focuses on developments in the movement since the coming to power of Fianna Fail in 1932, and particularly on the modification of Republican ideology leading up to the events of August 1969, and to the subsequent formation of the Provisional Republican movement.

Delves into the internal politics and personalities that brought life to the Irish Socialist Republican Party. The political significance of the organisation led by James Connolly is viewed in both the international and national sphere. The legacy of theISRP has had an impact on the left wing and republican movements in Ireland for many decades.

This is the first comprehensive study of the IRA's attempts to create a "social republicanism," a marriage between militant nationalism and the politics of the left.