‘As imperialistic as our masters’? Relations between British and Irish communists, 1920–1941

ABSTRACT

Soon after its formation, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was tasked by the Communist International with assisting their Irish comrades to develop their organisation. This article outlines the relations between British and Irish communists from 1920 to 1941 and argues that, notwithstanding the selfless work of some British communists, the CPGB on the whole exhibited a patronising and paternalistic demeanour towards the Irish that failed to consider the latter’s perspective on an equal footing to its own, even in their own affairs. This attitude, combined with its position within the heart of the British Empire, is indicative of ‘cultural imperialism’.

KEYWORDS:

• Communism
• imperialism
• Communist Party of Ireland
• Communist Party of Great Britain
• Comintern

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Irish Research Council for funding a two-year post-doctoral fellowship, held at NUI Galway, during which much of this article was researched and written.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The Communist, 25 November 1920, 8.

2. See, for instance, O’Malley, Ireland, India and Empire.

3. Marx and Engels, Selected Correspondence, 237; cited in Bell, Hesitant Comrades, 153.

4. Morgan, Cohen and Flinn, Communists and British Society, 197.

5. Pelling, The British Communist Party, 15.

6. Ibid., 16.

7. McManus is often spelled as MacManus, but he used the former as his handwritten signature.

8. Horner, Incorrigible Rebel, 25–31.

9. Paul, The Irish Crisis; Fox, Marx, Engels and Lenin on the Irish Revolution. Thomas Alfred Jackson wrote numerous articles on Ireland over the years, but the ultimate testament to his interest was his book Ireland Her Own (1946). It is noteworthy that most of those named came from the ‘impossibilist’ tradition of British socialism, with a background in the Socialist Labour Party rather than the British Socialist Party, the latter of which comprised the majority of the CPGB’s members.

10. Communist International, Minutes of the Proceedings, 127–28; cited in Bell, Hesitant Comrades, 114. Radek was speaking slightly before the CPGB was founded, though the point was directed at the British delegates to the Congress who aimed to build a Communist Party at home. The Call was the paper of the British Socialist Party, the Workers’ Dreadnought that of Sylvia Pankhurst’s Communist Party (British Section of the Third International). After the formation of the CPGB, the Call was reconstituted as The Communist, the official organ of the new party.

11. This was a common occurrence, where a larger/more experienced section assisted the building of an organisation in a country connected through empire, geography, or shared culture, as with Germany and Austria. This policy was not without its critics; the Indian communist M.N. Roy thought it ‘smacked of imperialism’. R.W. Robson’s report of Amsterdam Colonial Conference, July 1925, Parliamentary Papers, 1926, xxiii, 689, cited in Pelling, The British Communist Party, 41.

12. On the Americas, see Stevens, Red International and Black Caribbean; Zumoff, The Communist International and US Communism. On the CPGB and the British Empire, see Callaghan, “The Communists and the Colonies,” 4–22; Smith, “National Liberation for Whom?” 283–315; Sherwood, “The Comintern, the CPGB, Colonies and Black Britons,” 137–63; Callaghan, “Colonies, Racism, the CPGB and the Comintern,” 513–25; Redfern, “British Communists,” 117–35.

13. The major exception is Morgan et al., Communists and British Society, 196–202.

14. Milotte, Communism in Modern Ireland; O’Connor, Reds and the Green; Treacy, The Communist Party of Ireland; McGuire, Roddy Connolly; McGuire, Sean McLoughlin; Byers, Seán Murray; McLoughlin, Left to the Wolves. Examples of works that touch on Irish communism include Patterson, The Politics of Illusion; Grant, Irish Socialist Republicanism.

15. Milotte, Communism in Modern Ireland, 44.

16. The archive in Moscow is called Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv sotsial’no-politicheskoi istorii (Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History). Henceforth RGASPI.

17. O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 237.

18. Comrade Larkin, speech to the Presidium of the Comintern, 20 December 1926, RGASPI fond 495, op. 2, d. 64a, l. 97 (henceforth RGASPI 495/2/64a/97. The last number refers to the page).

19. Crowley et al., Atlas of the Irish Revolution.

20. See especially his Labour in Irish History (1910) and The Re-Conquest of Ireland (1915).

21. For the labour movement in these years, see O’Connor, Syndicalism in Ireland and Kostick, Revolution in Ireland.

22. For the SPI, see O’Connor, “True Bolsheviks?” 209–22.

23. Ibid., 211.

24. O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 32–49.

25. Letter from the SPI to the Executive Committee Communist International (ECCI), 8 October 1921, RGASPI 495/89/10/6–7. See also Workers’ Republic, 22 October 1921, 4. In the latter, it says they were expelled for ‘reformism, consecutive non-attendance at the Party, and consistent attempts to render futile all efforts to build up a Communist Party in Ireland.’ A detailed defence of their expulsion was published on p. 5.

26. Constitution of the CPI adopted 28 October 1921, RGASPI 495/89/7/6–13.

27. Letter from Secretariat ECCI, to CPI, 23 May 1922, RGASPI 495/89/12/13.

28. See for instance, letter and accompanying report from the CPI to the Finance Commission, Communist International, 9 November 1921, RGASPI 495/89/8/4–12.

29. Report of the Communist Party of Ireland to the ECCI, October 1921 to October 1922, 28.12.22. RGASPI 495/89/16/40–80 (the relevant information is from l. 46).

30. Ibid, RGASPI 495/89/16/50–51. The Communist, 8 October 1921, 5; 15 October 1921, 1. See also Interview of Roddy Connolly and George McLay, CPI, with Comintern representative Mikhail Borodin, 15 July 1922, RGASPI 495/89/13/22–23.

31. Report of the CPI to the ECCI October 1921 to October 1922, RGASPI 495/89/16/51–53.

32. Letter and resolution from JJ O’Leary, Secretary CPI, Dublin, to Secretary of the Comintern, 13 June 1922, RGASPI 495/89/12/16–18.

33. Report of the CPI to the ECCI October 1921 to October 1922, RGASPI 495/89/16/54.

34. Letter from J.J. Leary, CPI Dublin, to the Central Executive Committee, KPD (Communist Party of Germany), Berlin, 10 March 1922, RGASPI 495/89/12/4; Memorandum of the CPI to Com Raccosi [sic], Secretary, EC Comintern, 9 May 1922, from R Connolly, Berlin, RGASPI 495/89/12/11.

35. See note 27 above.

36. Interview of Connolly and McLay with Borodin, RGASPI 495/89/13/6.

37. See Report of the CPI to the ECCI, Oct 21-Oct 22, RGASPI 495/89/16/71–72.

38. Workers’ Voice, 21 May 1932, 2.

39. Workers’ Republic, 17 December 1921, 1–2; O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 56–7.

40. One member of the IRA executive, Peadar O’Donnell, joined the party. Interview with Connolly and McLay, RGASPI 495/89/13/17; George McLay, National Treasurer, CPI, to ECCI, 31 August 1922, RGASPI 495/89/12/39–46. However, they failed to gain a wider influence.

41. See Report of the CPI to the ECCI, October 1921 to October 1922, RGASPI 495/89/16/68–72; Connolly and McLay interview, RGASPI 495/89/13/20–21; and Workers’ Republic, 29 July 1922, 1, 3, 4; 12 August 1922, 1,3, 4; 19 August 1922, 1, 4; 2 September 1922, 1.

42. Report of the CPI to ECCI, October 1921 to October 1922, RGASPI 495/89/16/69–70; Milotte, Communism in Modern Ireland, 60–61; McGuire, Sean McLoughlin, 93–95; O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 67–68.

43. Murphy, New Horizons, 184–6.

44. Untitled fragment of report, RGASPI 495/89/13/83–84. It is not clear which of the two wrote the report. The report states ‘I.T. workers’, which I am presuming is shorthand for ‘Irish Transport’ after the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union.

45. George McLay, Political Secretary, ‘Communist Party of Ireland Report to October 1st, 1923 from April 1923’, RGASPI 495/89/22/74–76.

46. Letter from Arthur McManus to The Secretariat, The Comintern, Moscow, 11 October 1923, RGASPI 495/18/210/52–55.

47. Ibid, RGASPI 495/18/210/52–53.

48. Ibid, RGASPI 495/18/210/54. For the CPI’s reply, see their letter to the ECCI, 1 December 1923, RGASPI 495/89/22/81–82.

49. See Letter from Arthur McManus to the Secretariat, The Comintern, 11 October 1923, RGASPI 495/18/210/52.

50. O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 91; McGuire, Roddy Connolly, 92.

51. There are a number of biographies of Jim Larkin, of which O’Connor’s Big Jim Larkin is the most thorough. All uncited background information on Larkin in this article is readily available in this and other biographies.

52. Letter from McManus to the Secretariat, The Comintern, 11 October 1923, RGASPI 495/18/210/54–55.

53. McManus admitted this in a letter to the Workers’ Party of America, dated 2 February 1924, but recognised his ability to attract ‘the masses’, and hoped that a communist group could be built around him. RGASPI 495/38/7/244–248.

54. Letter from McManus to the Secretariat, The Comintern, 11 October 1923, RGASPI 495/18/210/55.

55. Letter from Comrade McManus to Comrade Kuusinen, 2 February 1924, RGASPI 495/38/7/243–244.

56. O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 95–6; Milotte, Communism in Modern Ireland, 74.

57. Letter to ‘Comrade Larkin’, from the Secretariat, ECCI, 2 June 1924, RGASPI 495/89/27/5. The letter gushed that ‘The place of Ireland in the world revolutionary movement is so important and your own work on behalf of the Irish working class so well known, that on the occasion of the Fifth Congress we repeat our invitation to you to come to Moscow’.

58. The ITGWU produced a useful but damning collection of documents related to Larkin’s activities in these years, The Attempt to Smash the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (Dublin: ITGWU, 1924). O’Connor suggests the editor was probably William O’Brien, Big Jim Larkin, 242.

59. The latter was announced in the Irish Worker, 8 September 1923.

60. O’Connor, A Labour History of Ireland, 130–32.

61. Resolution on the Irish Question, Presidium of the ECCI, 7 January 1925, RGASPI 495/89/28/22–24.

62. Stewart, Breaking the Fetters, 149–50.

63. For details, see O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 104–10. Stewart recalled of his time in Ireland that ‘I soon found that one of my greatest difficulties was to keep the peace among our own people. Larkin was the biggest problem because he always personalised his politics. He would denounce this scoundrel, that scoundrel, in fact almost everyone in Ireland was a scoundrel.’ Breaking the Fetters, 149.

64. O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 110; Milotte, Communism in Modern Ireland, 79–80; Stewart, Breaking the Fetters, 154.

65. Remarques du Com Murphy, undated [1926?], RGASPI 495/89/28/28.

66. Pollitt to the Profintern, 5 February 1925, RGASPI 534/7/26/38–39 cited in O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 113.

67. Pollitt to Lozovsky, 2 September 1925, RGASPI 534/7/26/154–156 cited in O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 113.

68. Comrade Larkin, speech to the Presidium of the Comintern, 20 December 1926, RGASPI 495/2/64a/95–99 [quote from l. 96].

69. Ibid., RGASPI 495/2/64a/96.

70. Ibid., RGASPI 495/2/64a/98.

71. Ibid.

72. Ibid., RGASPI 495/2/64a/97.

73. Ibid.

74. Ibid., RGASPI 495/2/64a/99.

75. Ibid., RGASPI 495/2/64a/97.

76. Letter from Albert Inkpin, General Secretary CPGB, to Comrade Bennett, Comintern, Moscow, 10 July 1925, RGASPI 495/100/242/2–3.

77. Comrade Larkin, speech to the Presidium of the Comintern, 20 December 1926, RGASPI 495/2/64a/97.

78. Ibid.

79. Comrade Smith, speech to the Presidium of the Comintern, 20 December 1926, RGASPI 495/2/64a/100–101.

80. Ibid, RGASPI 495/2/64a/100.

81. Ibid.

82. Ibid.

83. Ibid., RGASPI 495/2/64a/101.

84. J.T. Murphy, speech on the Irish Question to the Presidium of the Comintern, 7 January 1927, RGASPI 495/2/70/8.

85. Irish Draft Resolution, 5 January 1927, RGASPI 495/3/3/15–17. Although it is marked as this at Queen’s University Belfast, the original in Moscow has been digitised, and its designation is listed as 495/3/2/7–9. See http://sovdoc.rusarchives.ru/#showunit&id=125255 [accessed 13 May 2016]. Another version of the resolution appears at 495/2/70/74–76 where it is dated 26 January 1928. It is unknown if this is a mistake or if, perhaps, the resolution was not approved until then. I will use the first designation when citing.

86. Irish Draft Resolution, 5 January 1927, RGASPI 495/3/3/15.

87. Ibid., RGASPI 495/3/3/16.

88. Unknown ‘For the Secretariat’, CPGB, to J. Larkin, Irish Worker League, 9 February 1927, RGASPI 495/100/427/6.

89. O’Connor, Big Jim Larkin, 266.

90. Re Election Campaign in Ireland to the Executive Committee of the Irish Workers’ [sic] League, 23 January 1928, RGASPI 495/89/40/56–60.

91. Speech of Comrade Larkin, 9^th ECCI Plenum, Trade Union Commission, 5^th Sitting, 13 February 1928, RGASPI 495/167/75/83–96.

92. Speech of J.R. Campbell, 9^th ECCI Plenum, Trade Union Commission, 6^th Session, 14 February 1928, RGASPI 495/167/78/4–7.

93. Minutes of the Meeting of the Anglo-American Secretariat for Monday, 20 February 1928. Irish Commission, speech of Larkin, RGASPI 495/72/34/1–28.

94. Ibid., RGASPI 495/72/34/11–12.

95. Ibid., RGASPI 495/72/34/19.

96. Ibid., RGASPI 495/72/34/25.

97. Ibid., RGASPI 495/72/34/26–27.

98. See Preliminary Report in the Present Situation and Our Policy, to the PolitSecretariat and Anglo-Amer. Secretariat ECCI, from Dublin, 26 November 1929, by Tom Bell, representative in Ireland, RGASPI 495/89/64/64–71.

99. Report of the C.I. Commission in Ireland to the Anglo-American Secretariat ECCI, Dublin 17 March 1930, RGASPI 495/89/62/1–4.

100. Report on the Situation and Tasks of the Revolutionary Workers’ Groups in Ireland (Period of December 1930 and Jan. 1931), RGASPI 495/14/334/1–8.

101. Report from Ireland, received 22 March 1931, RGASPI 495/89/64/49.

102. Ibid, RGASPI 495/89/64/51–52.

103. Bell, on the other hand, was not, and was accused variously of drunkenness and sectarianism regarding members of the IRA, for which he was withdrawn. See Report from Secretariat, received 30 January 1931, RGASPI 495/89/65/1–4; and Draft Resolution on Ireland by Comrade [J.R.] Campbell, 1 September 1930, RGASPI 495/89/61/19–22.

104. Letter to Robin [Page Arnot], 25.5.31 from R. Stewart, RGASPI 495/89/65/48–51.

105. Letter to the CPGB on the Irish Question (Adopted by Pol-Commission 9.8.32.), RGASPI 495/4/207/168–171.

106. Ibid. This line was repeated with numerous examples given in a report by Rozhnov on 22 December 1932, RGASPI 495/89/78/124–129.

107. Letter of Anglo-American Secretariat to Ireland RE: elections, 7 January 1932, RGASPI 495/89/75/1.

108. See Byers, Seán Murray.

109. O’Donnell never re-joined the communists after his membership of the original CPI, although he would remain close to them.

110. Grant, Irish Socialist Republicanism, 199–201.

111. Gilmore, The Irish Republican Congress, 30.

112. Gilmore, The Irish Republican Congress, 45; Byrne, The Irish Republican Congress Revisited, 30; Republican Congress, 6 October 1934, 1.

113. Gilmore, The Irish Republican Congress, 46–57; McGuire, Roddy Connolly, 147.

114. Irish Workers’ Voice, 14 April 1934, 4.

115. Instructions to CPI re Republican Congress 16 September 1934, RGASPI 495/89/96/46–47.

116. O’Connor, Reds and the Green, 201–04.

117. Republican Congress, 13 October 1934, 2.

118. Connolly O’Brien, We Shall Rise Again, 72.

119. Gilmore, The Irish Republican Congress, 56; Byrne, The Irish Republican Congress Revisited, 32; Republican Congress, 6 October 1934, 1.

120. Directive letter to Ireland 14 October 1934, RGASPI 495/89/96/56–64.

121. Letter from Sean Murray to the Anglo-American Secretariat re the proposed visit of O’Donnell to USSR, dated 7 September 1935, RGASPI 495/14/335/17. The same letter is handwritten here: RGASPI 495/14/335/24–30.

122. 15 January 1936, letter from Harry Pollitt regarding his visit to Ireland on 11–12 Jan, RGASPI 495/14/220/2–3. Pollitt was not the only one to express concern over Murray’s ability to lead. Some of the Dublin membership thought likewise, as did another visitor from the Comintern, Max Raylock. For the latter, see Letter from M. Raylock, 29 July 1936, RGASPI 495/14/341/98–101.

123. Zusammenfassung der Debatte zu dieser Frage auf der ZK-Sitzung der KP Englands am 1 und 3 Juli 1938, RGASPI 495/20/252/36–49.

124. Communist Party of Ireland, Communist Party of Ireland Outline History, 31.

125. Macintyre, The Reds; Bozinovski, “The Communist Party of Australia,” 56. My thanks to Evan Smith for these references.

126. Evan Smith, ‘Anti-colonialism and the imperial dynamic in the Anglophone communist movements in South Africa, Australia and Britain’. Unpublished paper, presented at the Transnational Leftism workshop, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, 25 September 2017.

127. See references in RGASPI 495/89/64/52 and 58–61 for instance, and RGASPI 495/89/90/29.

128. See Convery, “Brigadistas,” 85–95, 179–87.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Irish Research Council [Post-doctoral Fellowship].

Notes on contributors

David Convery

David Convery is a historian of British and Irish radical and labour history. He received his PhD from University College Cork in 2012 and was an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at NUI Galway from 2014-16. He has written on subjects such as Irish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War; the 1913 Dublin Lockout; James Connolly; and the historiography of the Irish working class.