David Colyer says Ave Atque Vale to veteran socialist Jimmy O'Dea. First published in October 2022 for The Commonweal, this is part one of two entries.
Very interesting. Connolly would have wept at how communism actually operated, and the very limited independence that, say Czechoslovakia or Hungary enjoyed. I wonder just what he would have made of the incredible prosperity of a swathe of Ireland today, the beneficiary of EU support and a turbo-capitalist business/ tax regime!
No disagreement there re: Hungary or Czechoslovakia. I think most early socialists would be both amazed and horrified by what capitalism has achieved. The “Celtic tiger” laid low by economic downturn, resulting in an absurd crisis in property. Efforts to offset climate debt resulting in forests where, to quote someone in the Irish Times, “nothing is alive in there”. Human capacity for innovation and creation and the accumulation wealth should never be in doubt - what we do with it, how it’s divided, and its impact on the planet on which we rely is a more complicated story.
Though I am light years away from Jimmy politically, this is an inspiring read. The one thing I'd object to is the statement that Ireland was only 'nominally' independent of the British Empire. This is a bit of a slur both on Cosgrave's vastly underrated government and on (to me the less congenial) de Valera. The newly independent Ireland played a BIG role in making people think in terms of the Commonwealth, not the Empire, and to me at least it's a source of regret that they felt obliged to leave the Commonwealth in 1949. But that's another story.
Thanks for the thoughts! I suspect the author was reflecting on the statement from James Connolly, so from a very marxist perspective, about what independence means in the context of world capitalism:
“If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts will be in vain. England will still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs.”
Nicely put. Looking forward to reading more of the Commonweal!
Very interesting. Connolly would have wept at how communism actually operated, and the very limited independence that, say Czechoslovakia or Hungary enjoyed. I wonder just what he would have made of the incredible prosperity of a swathe of Ireland today, the beneficiary of EU support and a turbo-capitalist business/ tax regime!
No disagreement there re: Hungary or Czechoslovakia. I think most early socialists would be both amazed and horrified by what capitalism has achieved. The “Celtic tiger” laid low by economic downturn, resulting in an absurd crisis in property. Efforts to offset climate debt resulting in forests where, to quote someone in the Irish Times, “nothing is alive in there”. Human capacity for innovation and creation and the accumulation wealth should never be in doubt - what we do with it, how it’s divided, and its impact on the planet on which we rely is a more complicated story.
Though I am light years away from Jimmy politically, this is an inspiring read. The one thing I'd object to is the statement that Ireland was only 'nominally' independent of the British Empire. This is a bit of a slur both on Cosgrave's vastly underrated government and on (to me the less congenial) de Valera. The newly independent Ireland played a BIG role in making people think in terms of the Commonwealth, not the Empire, and to me at least it's a source of regret that they felt obliged to leave the Commonwealth in 1949. But that's another story.
Thanks for the thoughts! I suspect the author was reflecting on the statement from James Connolly, so from a very marxist perspective, about what independence means in the context of world capitalism:
“If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts will be in vain. England will still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs.”