23 April 2005

'Radical Politics in Modern Ireland - The History of the Irish Socialist Republican Party 1896-1904' By David Lynch with foreword Diarmuid Ferriter.To Be Published March 2005 | 192 Pages Irish Academic Press
ISBN 0716533561

www.iap.ie and available from all good bookstores.
 

The Irish Socialist Republican Party (ISRP) was a party of seminal importance in the history of radical politics in modern Ireland. The party  was the forerunner and ideological springhead for a political tradition that  has had a significant impact on radical Irish politics ever since. The ISRP was the first experiment with that powerful, dynamic, yet sometimes  very confused cocktail of traditional republican politics and socialist  principles.

The party produced the first regular socialist paper in Ireland the Workers'  Republic, ran candidates in local elections, represented Ireland at the  Second International, agitated over issues such as the Boer War and the 1798  commemorations. Politically the ISRP was before its time, putting the call  for an independent "Republic" at the centre of its propaganda before Sinn  Fein or others had done so.  This is the first full length study of this important organisation.  Using  the primary sources available this study delves into the internal politics  and personalities that brought life to the organisation. The political  significance of the organisation led by James Connolly is also viewed in  both the international and national sphere.

The legacy of the ISRP was to have an impact on the left-wing and republican  movements in Ireland for many decades following its demise in 1904.

*David Lynch is a journalist who lives in Dublin. He has done work for such  publications as Magill, Leinster Leader and The Irish Times.