Irish Socialist Republicanism, 1909-36

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 of the period. *** .. .Grant’s study does contain some very useful detail regarding the fissiparous world of Irish socialist republicanism. Its best sections deal with the early twentieth-century socialist republicanism of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU); and the book’s most useful contribution is to focus our attention on the details of organized labor in these years, in relation to socialist republicanism. - Irish Literary Supplement, Vol.34, No.1, Fall 2014