RadioReason

Socialist republicans discuss the strategy necessary to build a socialist republic in Ireland. They ask whether the struggle should be exclusively in Parliament or in the streets or both.

90 years of Connolly Books ... Dublin's oldest radical bookshop December 2022, saw Dublin's oldest radical bookshop celebrated its 90th anniversary. Owned and managed by the Communist Party of Ireland, the shop stocks one of the best selections of radical and left-wing books available in Ireland.  In this episode two celebrated historians recount the history of the bookshop during an event held to mark the occasion. They are joined by long time and recently retired General Secretary of the CPI, Eugene McCartan, as he tells of the shop's ethos and steadfast support for working class eduction. 

On Tuesday 5 March 1867, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (the Fenian Movement) published a Proclamation Of The Irish Republic, prior to attempting the overthrow of British rule in Ireland. This document is now an item of historic interest albeit with some obvious current relevance.

Writing in the Irish Worker on 14 March 1914, James Connolly said of the mooted partitioning of Ireland Such a scheme as that agreed to by Redmond and Devlin, the betrayal of the national democracy of industrial Ulster would mean a carnival of reaction both North and South, would set back the wheels of progress, would destroy the oncoming unity of the Irish Labour movement and paralyse all advanced movements whilst it endured. In this episode the Peadar O'Donnell  Socialist Republican Forum convenes a discussion reflecting on the century following the 1922 Treaty and  the solidification of  partition ...  as Connolly had predicted, a century of reaction.  This conversation is chaired by  political activist Patricia Campbell who is joined by Niall Bowen of the Tyrone Peoples' Dáil,  Graham Harrington from the Communist Party of Ireland and Caoimhe NíLoinsigh  a member of the Forum.

Writing in the Irish Worker on 14 March 1914, James Connolly said of the mooted partitioning of Ireland Such a scheme as that agreed to by Redmond and Devlin, the betrayal of the national democracy of industrial Ulster would mean a carnival of reaction both North and South, would set back the wheels of progress, would destroy the oncoming unity of the Irish Labour movement and paralyse all advanced movements whilst it endured. In this episode for the Peadar O'Donnell Socialist Republican Forum, noted historian Fearghal MacBhloscaidh addresses the events that cemented partition and the immediate impact it had on Irish society; an impact that has led to a century of reaction.

A recent RTE TV  documentary highlighted the horrors inflicted on thousands of women and children in Ireland's 'Magdalene Laundries' (institutions run by orders of nuns for women who were deemed as "fallen" by society) for decades after the foundation of the 26-County state. In this short podcast we ask why the state tolerated and indeed facilitated such cruel behaviour.

To coincide with the COP26 in Glasgow, the Peadar O'Donnell Socialist Republican Forum's Patricia Campbell interviews two leading environmentalists ... Seán McBrearty of the US based group ' Oil and Water Don't Mix' and Fidelma o'Kane of the Irish group 'Save Our Sperrins'. 

Examining how the Fine Gael party view the prospect of Irish unity.

On 23 March 1921 the IRA in Co Roscommon ambushed a convoy of British military and members of the RIC as they travelled from Strokestown towards Longford. The ambush took place in a rural area called Scramogue. This is the story of that engagement along with detailed background of events in the county leading up to the ambush and its aftermath. The story is recounted here by Roscommon historian Henry Owens. 

Political activist and historian Matt Siegfried talks with Patricia Campbell about the current Black Lives Matter protest movement in the USA and discuss the sensitive (for the Irish at any rate) matter of racism among Irish Americans.

Nothing worries an established ruling class so much as a series of unpredictable events over which they have no control. There can be little doubt that developments over the last six months have given rise to just such concerns within governing circles in Dublin.  Is the Irish Establishment preparing to contain these unexpected developments by drawing the more amenable into their ranks? 

We only want the Earth is a line from a song composed by James Connolly and this phrase  was used as the title for a podcast created to celebrate the socialist's life work on the 104th anniversary of his execution. 

This podcast was recorded by Radioreason.com