‘The IRA & Fascism: Truth And Love Against The Force Of Evil’ by Donal Lavery

Many things have been said about republicanism and individual republicans by the revisionist ideologues in the media and state organs. One charge which has always been levelled against them is that they mimicked the methods of fascist juntas scattered across the world. There’s no doubt that militant movements around the globe will share some common tactics, such is the nature of warfare. But this is an allegation which has to be tested against the cool light of history, and not based on raw emotion or prejudiced perspectives of the recent conflict.

Republicanism by its nature is a democratic ideology. It asserts the rights of the citizen over the interests of the corporate state, seeking to transfer power from the unelected (banks, big business, the civil service, Monarchs, Popes, etc) to the mass of the population. Republican movements in each country foster similar outlooks on such matters – after all, it was a Republican-minded President who drove the British out of America; A Republican President who ended slavery and Republicans who oversaw France’s transition from Monarchy. All of these involved militant struggle against injustice and evil.

One country I have always felt a spiritual attachment to is Spain. I love the people and the culture; getting off the plane there and being greeted by locals has a sense of connection within me as though there is a familiarity of it all in my heart. Now, up until the 1970s Spain was ruled by a fascist junta, which overthrew the elected Republican government in Spain (which had effectively ended the Monarchy). This coup d’etat was a right wing backlash to avoid mass redistribution of resources and making Spain into a shining beacon of equality for the rest of Europe to emulate. Indeed, British Cabinet Ministers encouraged General Franco to proceed with this, knowing that he would keep the Left at bay; Likewise, Hitler provided him with arms and bombed the republican forces from the skies. The Great Powers wanted this radical threat crushed, knowing what it could inspire. Knowing that the rights enshrined by a republic would forever end their permanent grab on power.

But we must also remember that aid came from many spheres. In Ireland, it is factually correct that the Catholic Hierarchy, who so often denounced the IRA, encouraged men to go off and bear arms against the elected government of Spain, to maintain the “Catholic ethos” of the nation against republican radicalism and democracy. The Bishops did, as song asserts, bless the Blue-Shirts for their efforts at mobilising fascist militias to destroy democratic methods. These people came predominantly from the middle class of Irish society, with a strong connection to what became the Fine Gael party, under General O’Duffy’s direction.

But not all Irish people had an affinity for the Francoist agenda. The poorer classes in society organised, under the command of the IRA and Irish Left, to provide resources and volunteers who would die fighting for the elected government in Spain. Fighting for the inalienable right of the Spanish people, a sovereign European nation, to hire and fire the people who rule over them. They were joined by people like George Orwell. Even future Tory Prime Minister Ted Heath was helping to organise resources and support at Oxford University in the fight against fascist extremism.

Many Irish men perished from the bullets of fascist guns and artillery. There was nothing in it for them but the confidence of knowing they tried to help a neighbouring nation to determine its own destiny in the world; to see ordinary working people get a fair shot at life via socialist economic planning. To rid a country crying out for change from the parasitical forces, under the guise of a Crown dynasty, by overthrowing an old order and forming anew. The battle for Madrid and other strategic areas was as bloody as can be and no thanks awaited those returning from that disaster. But this was undoubtedly one of the finest moments in the history of the Irish race and the revisionists out there should do well to remember it before making their bold, ideological commentary.

In Spain today, you have a minority government made up of the remnants of Franco’s old party; just like Ireland has a minority government of people with a diluted blue-shirt affinity. The real question historians should be pondering is when the unfinished revolution in both countries will finally take over.