Two flags in the sand: anti-Communism in early Cold War Northern Ireland

ABSTRACT

This article reveals how the Cold War impinged upon not just national, but local political considerations and became woven into communal narratives. It contributes to the examination of religion in the conflict, adds to the historiography of Britain and the Cold War, and provides a context by which British Cold War experience and responses can be assessed. With Northern Ireland’s political similarities to Great Britain, its consistency with European norms and its overlaps with popular sentiment in the United States, Northern Ireland offers a gauge to better understand the nature of anti-Communism in the Cold War’s first decade and offers an unexplored perspective on the conflict.

KEYWORDS:

• Britain
• Cold War
• Northern Ireland
• anti-Communism
• McCarthyism
• political

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War, 3.

2. Goodman, “British Government,” 63.

3. Klehr et al., The Secret World, 15.

4. Miliband and Liebman, “Reflections On Anti-Communism,” 10.

5. Deery, “The Secret Battalion,” 9.

6. Morgan, Labour in Power, 436–437.

7. Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War, 9.

8. Deery, “The Secret Battalion,” 16.

9. Morgan, Labour in Power, 437.

10. Hennessy, The Secret State, 82–83.

11. Papers RE: prosecution of Val Morgan (PRONI, Home Affairs, HA/32/1/565).

12. Reports of Communist meetings 25/5/1940 to 6/11/41 (PRONI, Home Affairs, HA/32/1/557).

13. MI5 File on Betty Sinclair (National Archives, Security Service, KV 2/2506)

14. MI5 File on Desmond Greaves (National Archives, Security Service, KV 2/3363).

15. Harbinson, The Ulster Unionist Party, 104.

16. Cunningham, “An Historical Coda,” 136.

17. Speech by Sir Basil Brooke, 2 July 1945 (P.R.O.N.I., Dept. of the Prime Minister, PM4/20/8) and Election Communication from Lt-Col J.M. Blackiston-Houston and Sir Walter Smiles, for the Westminster Parliamentary Election, Down 1945 (P.R.O.N.I., Ulster Unionist Council Papers, D1327/16/2/21).

18. Summary report of a visit to Northern Ireland by Chapman-Walker (Chief Political Officer) and J.P.L. Thomas MP, 20 February 1951 (Bodleian Library, Conservative Party Archive, CCO 2/2/21).

19. Smith, “Ever Reliable Friends?” 83.

20. Memorandum by the Prime Minister, 7 November 1947 (PRONI, CAB/4/735).

21. Bew et al., Northern Ireland, 88.

22. Ibid., 93.

23. Prime Minister’s Message of thanks to loyalist’, 10 July 1945 (P.R.O.N.I., Dept. of the Prime Minister, PM/4/20/8).

24. Ulster Prime Minister on election results (P.R.O.N.I., Dept. of the Prime Minister, PM/4/20/8).

25. Derrick Amory standing in Tiverton wrote that Communism was the only danger to peace and that it was ‘out to destroy Christianity and all it stands for’. As with the following Welsh and Scottish examples, this is just a further example of many such specimens. Tiverton and Totnes are just two examples of the language employed by Conservatives across England (Bodleian Library, Conservative Party Archive, PUB 229/10/8).

26. Election communication from Norman Cole, Conservative and Liberal candidate for South Bedfordshire, 1951 (Bodleian Library, Conservative Party Archive, PUB 229/10/8).

27. Election communication from Jim Bowen Conservative candidate for Ebbw Vale, 1951 (Bodleian Library, Conservative Party Archive, PUB 229/10/13).

28. Bodleian Library, Conservative Party Archive, PUB 229/10/8 and PUB 229/10/13.

29. Miliband and Liebman, “Reflections On Anti-Communism,” 17.

30. Election communication from Montgomery Hyde, Ulster Unionist candidate North Belfast, 1951(Bodleian Library, Conservative Party Archive, PUB 229/10/15).

31. Election communication from L.P.S. Orr, Ulster Unionist candidate for South Down, 1951 (Bodleian Library, Conservative Party Archive, PUB 229/10/15)

32. Election speech by Brooke at Newcastle 17 October 1951 (P.R.O.N.I., Dept. of the Prime Minister, PM/4/20/14).

33. Raymond Mawby, Conservative MP for Totnes, 1955–1983 and assistant Postmaster General, 1963–1964, was paid for supplying Czechoslovakian military intelligence with information on Parliament and leading Conservatives on a regular basis. ‘Tory MP sold information to Czech spies’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18617168) (22 August 2012).

34. Election speech by Brooke, Oct. 1951 (P.R.O.N.I., Dept. of the Prime Minister, PM/4/20/14).

35. Election speech by Brooke in West, North and East Belfast 24 October 1951 (P.R.O.N.I., Dept of the Prime Minister, PM/4/20/14).

36. Foster, Modern Ireland, 85.

37. Walker, A History of the Ulster, 77 & 91.

38. Objects of the Unionist Society (1951–1952) (Conservative Party Archive, CCO 2/4/18)

39. ‘From the Government Chief Whip’ Brian Faulkner

40. Foster, Modern Ireland, 291 and 302.

41. Chubb, The Constitution And Constitutional, 47–48.

42. Wood, Britain, Ireland, 105.

43. Quinn, Irish Volunteers for Spain, 29.

44. ‘To the electors of South Armagh’, Malachy Conlon’s election address, issued 5 June 1945 (P.R.O.N.I., Dept. of the Prime Minister, PM/4/20/8).

45. Ibid.

46. Wood, Britain, Ireland, 192.

47. Boyer, “Catholics, Christians,” 31.

48. Ibid., 34.

49. Othen, Franco’s International Brigades, 111.

50. Boyer, “Catholics, Christians,” 32.

51. Wood, Britain, Ireland, 200–203.

52. Delaney, “Anti-Communism,” 901.

53. Election Communication from Gerald Annesley, Nationalist candidate for South Down (P.R.O.N.I., Dept. of the Prime Minister, PM/4/20/14).

54. Irish News, 11 June 1945.

55. Federation of Labour were a nationalist breakaway faction of the Northern Ireland Labour Party.

56. Conway, “Catholic Politics,” 240.

57. Ibid., 237–238.

58. Miliband and Liebman, “Reflections On Anti-Communism,” 19.

59. Redfern, “Winning the Peace,” 32.

60. Deery, “The Secret Battalion,” 10.

61. Othen, Franco’s International Brigades, 111.

62. McInerney, Northern Labour.

63. Harbinson, A History of the Northern Ireland, 146–148.

64. Election Communication from Sam Napier for the Westminster Parliamentary by-election, 4 Nov, 1952 (P.R.O.N.I., Ulster Unionist Party Papers, D1327/16/2/37).

65. Help to Change the face of Ulster—Labour Election publication (P.R.O.N.I., Northern Ireland Labour Party Papers, D1327/16/2/37).

66. Klehr et al., The Secret World, 15.

67. Deery, “The Secret Battalion,” 2.

68. Fried, Nightmare in Red, 144.

69. Global Visions and Parochial Politics, 442–443.

70. Goodman, “British Government,” 62.

71. Ibid., 64.

72. Caute, The Great Fear, 21.

73. See note 58 above.

74. Harbinson, A History of the Northern Ireland, 146–148.

75. UNITY, Letter from the RUC HQ, 2 July 1948 (PRONI, Home Affairs, HA/32/1/922)

76. http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/totals.html (accessed 06/04/17).

77. Communist literature and activities in NI (PRONI, Home Affairs, HA/32/1/515)

78. History Ireland Contemporary History, Features, Issue 6 (Nov/Dec 2012), Northern Ireland 1920—present, Volume 20.

79. Caute, The Great Fear, 47.

80. Haynes, “The Cold War Debate Continues,” 76.

81. Brooke’s Diary: 11 April 1950 (P.R.O.N.I., Brookeborough Papers, D3004/D/41).

82. Brooke’s Diary: 8 May 1950 (P.R.O.N.I., Brookeborough Papers, D3004/D/41).

83. Landis, Joseph McCarthy, 16.

84. Ibid., 17.

85. Kirby, “Harry S. Truman’s International Religious,” 35–37.

86. Kirby, “Religion and the Cold War,” 1.

87. Jones, “The Clergy,” 188.

88. McFarland and Johnston, “The Church of Scotland’s Special Commission,” 348 and 355.

89. ‘National and International Problems’, Presbyterian Church in Ireland Annual Report 1949 (Union Theological College), 82–98.

90. ‘The social and economic challenge of Communism’, Presbyterian Church in Ireland Annual Report 1953 (Union Theological College), 89.

91. ‘The nature of Communist propaganda’ Presbyterian Church in Ireland Annual Report 1951 (Union Theological College), 80–83.

92. Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, Belfast 1951(Edgehill College Library).

93. Kirby, “The Church of England,” 264 and 273.

94. Jones, “The Clergy,” 191.

95. Church of Ireland Gazette, 7 August 1953.

96. Atheistic Communism a Papal Encyclical by Pius XI (1937) (Cardinal O’Fiach Library), 3–5.

97. Ibid., 9.

98. Ibid., 24.

99. Elliot, The Catholics of Ulster, 469.

100. Catholic Truth Society publication: Communism and the home by Douglas A. Hyde [a former Communist and convert to Catholicism] (1950) (Cardinal O’Fiach Library), 1–3.

101. Ibid., 16.

102. Christmas sermon 1946, D’Alton Papers (Cardinal O’Fiach Library, D’Alton Papers, ARCH/12/5 Box 20).

103. Irish News 20 February 1950, “Communist Agents in Ireland,” 4.

104. Crosby, God, Church, and Flag, 13–14.

105. ‘Observations of the Presbyteries on the 1953 Report’, Presbyterian Church in Ireland Annual Report 1954 (Union Theological College).

Additional information

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Stephen J. Goss

Stephen J. Goss is Previously affiliated to Queen's University Belfast, Stephen Goss is currently an independent scholar. He specialises in Cold War Britain and the history of Northern Ireland.