Irish socialist republicanism, 1909–36

Adrian Grant

‘This is a well-written, prodigiously researched and thought-provoking book. This study presents an actual thesis: an argument and analysis that challenges much of the previous work on the subject … I commend this book to anyone with an interest in modern Irish history … I very much enjoyed reading it and consider it to be a substantial and worthy contribution to Irish Labour history', Bill Anderson, Labour History (May 2013).

‘Grant succeeds in his aim to demonstrate that socialist republicanism “was a complex movement, based on the practicalities of Irish politics”, rather than a potentially “dominant force in independent Ireland” … His broader approach to the study of Irish socialist republicanism is a welcome addition to the historiography’, Marnie Hay, Labour History Review (Spring 2014)

‘Grant traces socialist republicanism not from James Connolly but rather from James Larkin’s establishment of the semi-syndicalist Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) in 1909 … Grant succeeds in showing that pragmatism ruled the coalition of republicanism and socialism … this is a well-organised, thoroughly researched and very readable book. It is to be much recommended’, Marc Mulholland, English Historical Review (April 2015). 

‘Adrian Grant takes a wider, longer and more integrated view [of socialist republicanism], locating the emergence of socialist republicanism as a political force (or “mass movement”) in 1909 … Novel features of the book include the emphasis placed on the period between 1909 and the early 1920s and the suggested ideological continuities with the later era … The author is surefooted in his depiction of social radicalism and the labour movement during the revolutionary period … In general, Grant maps the terrain of socialist republicanism effectively and illuminated the links between left-republicans, communists and labour activists … overall this is a stimulating and important study that takes a fresh approach to working-class politics in early twentieth-century Ireland. It adds to our understanding of political life at the time', Fintan Lane, Irish Economic and Social History (2013).

‘The author has worked with a mass of both primary and secondary historical sources to weave a narrative which, while covering ground that is well walked, is nevertheless interesting, thought-provoking and fulfils that most essential objective of stimulating the reader to want to find out more', Michael Halpenny, Liberty (November 2012).

‘Adrian Grant makes a strong case for the compatibility of socialism and republicanism … [this book is] an important contribution to the debate', Padraig Yeates, Dublin Review of Books (December 2012).

‘Scholarly and well researched … of prime interest will be the account of the attempt to revive socialist republicanism in the 1930s … Grant does justice to the facts … this book will help by recording the past, warts and all', The Socialist Voice (December 2012).

‘A valuable addition to the literature of the socialist and republican movements in their most effectively heroic period', D.R. O'Connor Lysaght, Socialist Democracy (December 2012).

‘Adrian Grant’s Irish Socialist Republicanism, 1909–36 closely studies one phase of this ever-changing political world … Its best sections deal with the early twentieth-century socialist republicanism of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU) … [the book] contains some very useful detail regarding the fissiparous world of Irish socialist republicanism', Richard English, Irish Literary Supplement (Fall 2014).

‘This book is a fresh and exciting look at Irish radicalism in the early twentieth century, which puts the labour movement at the centre of socialist agitation and adds immensely to our understanding of the era’, Brian Hanley, University of Liverpool, co-author of The lost revolution: the story of the Official IRA and the Workers’ Party (2009).

‘Grant’s book takes a fresh and stimulating approach to the politics of the labour movement and republicanism in early twentieth-century Ireland. A useful, provocative and engaging study, it should be read by all those with an interest in the history of social radicalism on this island’, Fintan Lane, author of The origins of modern Irish socialism, 1818–1896 (2007).