Liam Mellows Branch

The Party in Cork from its earliest days saw its brand as Irish and Christian with no interaction with socialist movements in Europe. Examples of 'good' Labour movements were listed by public representatives such as T.J Murphy were the UK, New Zealand and Australia. In the years after the Russian Revolution, national figures such as Thomas Johnson, Cathal O'Shannon and William O'Brien were supportive of the Irish Socialist Party and the Bolshevik Revolution, but such support was rarely evident in Cork. Criticism on Soviet communist doctrine came largely from the Roman Catholic Church and prominent Catholic lay people such as Alfred O'Rahilly. The two main political parties (Fianna Fail in particular) were also constantly labelling the Labour Party as communist. The local media in particular such as The Southern Star and The Cork Examiner were equally vehement of their criticism of communist influences. However, Labour politicians, both in city and county, were critical of the Soviet Union in terms of its lack of democracy, its anti religious sentiment and that no trade union structures existed as they understood it.

The Labour Party in Cork was constantly on the defensive electorally to deny any connection with communism, which was linked with being anti-Catholic. Labour were seen as pro-communist as they were seen to attack the rights to property, they accepted the principle of class conflict and regularly criticised the capitalist system. They called for land distribution from 'ranchers' to farm labourers and the compulsory acquisition of land for house building if local farmers would not sell land. Labour meetings and public representatives regularly called for certain industries to be given state aid or be taken into public ownership while national policy also called for nationalisation of certain industries such as railways. They also recognised that there was class conflict in society which was contrary to Church social teaching and the views of other political parties. Labour figures constantly criticised the capitalist system which 'has taken control of the hearts and minds of men and has made them selfish. It has set man against man, leaving most in poverty'.

Labour argued for the State to have more control of the money system, the need to establish municipal banks and they criticised the amount of money held in banks with so much poverty in both the city and the countryside. In the city, there was some initial support for the Russian Revolution, as evidenced in the use of the Soviet flag in the Cork Soviet in 1921. However, this was short lived as the preoccupation with Labour leaders in Cork focussed on trade union issues, such as employment creation, poverty, housing, education and a philosophy based on Christian social teaching. The tradition that the Labour leadership in the county came from either a trade union background (particularly the IT&GWU) and the land agitation movements such as the Land and Labour Association, which was socially Christian in nature. Some unions were also quite socially Christian in nature and influential, such as the INTO. Many of the INTO branches were affiliated to the Party in Cork and individual members also took up officerships in a number of branches. This was at a time when the Church exerted enormous amounts of influence in primary schools. INTO members were strenuously opposed to communist influence. An example of this was at the 1931 Cork West selection convention. A motion from Sean O'Sullivan NT Drimoleague and John O'Sullivan NT Bantry proposed 'that the Labour Party and unions at this conference... utter detestation of any form of communism or other doctrines to our Catholic faith.' The motion was adopted. Speaking on the motion, TJ Murphy expressed the view that 'Communism was subversive to the Catholic Faith and morals and interfered with our national ideals. Labour would not exclude anti-Catholics but would not exclude accept communist or Bolshevik doctrines'. 14 Cork branches and unions including INTO branches from Dunmanway, Bantry, Skibbereen, Macroom, IT&GWU branches from Dunmanway and Bandon, NUR Dunmanway and Bandon Carpenters Union reflected the widespread support for the motion. Similar sentiments were expressed at branch meetings and at political meetings in the mid 1930s, such as Quill in Leap, Murphy in Aghada and the Kilmichael and Buttevant branches. Murphy argued 'European countries are blighted by fascism or communism, forces that are filled with hatred threatening civilisation.'

Unions affiliated to the Labour Party expressed similar sentiments. In 1936, the Buttevant Branch wrote to the new Bishop of Cloyne stating 'we the members of the Buttevant Branch of the Labour Party do hereby solemly affirm our beliefs in the Commandants of God and are prepared to oppose with all legitimate means at our disposal any party who may constitute themselves as propagandists for the teaching of communism in our island.' In 1937, T. Moylan, NUR Mallow stated that there was no affiliation between Labour and communists and that changing the conditions of the poor did not constitute communism. The INTO Branch meeting in Kanturk passed a motion that union funding to the Labour Party should not be used to enable the Party to affiliate with Continental movements of communistic tendencies. The 1940s saw little changes in the attacks on Labour and their trenchant details on communist lines. Eileen Crowley, a candidate in the city elections in 1943 expressed the view that 'we need to put in practise the social teachings of the Roman Catholic Church'. James Hickey, at a meeting in Bandon at the same time, echoed similar sentiments. When Sean McEntee of Fianna Fail attacked Labour communist tendencies at an election meeting, TJ Murphy repudiated his attacks stating that the Party supports the papal encyclicals and the laws of Catholicism to deal with the problems of the time.

In 1943, the North-West Branch met in the Butter Exchange Band room. Members felt there were misconceptions in the use of the term in the Party constitution 'Irish Workers Republic'. The Branch approved the use of the title of 'An Irish Workers Republic as laid down in the 1916 Proclamation and stated that as workers we do not need inspiration form Russia, Spain or Mexico'.The Irish Labour Party would recognise the right to private ownership, freedom of the press and religious liberty, the resolution concluded. The term 'Workers Republic' in the constitution was said to be problematic. It was seen by members of society and the Labour Party to be pro-Soviet. The INTO in particular were influential, both nationally and in Cork, in opposing the use of the term. They believe it went beyond Catholic social teaching and when the term was referred to the Bishops for their view, it signalled the triumph of Catholicism. The onslaught of the Church, Catholic lay speakers, the press and other political parties was too much and the Catholic ethos in the party was very strong. The right to private property and the belief that Labour was a party of public ownership had also been opposed and cost the Party support that went to Fianna Fail.

The civil and political antagonism to Labour and the threat of socialism/communism was expressed at a lecture of Corporate State by Professor Hogan of UCC I May 1934. Attended by William T. Cosgrave and many in CnaG/ FG party, the lecture was entitled 'Corporate State – An Alternative to Capitalism and Socialism'. Hogan deemed socialism to be a threat and the state needed an alternative which the corporate state provides, based on Christian social teaching and the removal of the issue of class politics. Socialists, he argued, sought class conflict and Irish trade unionists deny that they are Marxists, yet subscribe to the class war idea. However, Christian trade unions in Holland and Belgium were working the principles contained in the encyclical 'Rerum Novarum', where capital and labour come together and co-operate successfully, he concluded.

The press offered little support, with a Cork Examiner editorial in 1947 dismissing the Labour view that capitalism was not working and that free enterprise was being replaced by monopolies. The editorial argued that communism would not deliver utopia, that the right to property was sacrosanct and that free enterprise and not state controls or monopolies was the way forward. The Labour Party fear as being seen as supporting communism or indeed being infiltrated by communists is seen in how Labour reacted to a new branch of the Party in the City.

From 1935, the Party organisation had endeavoured to establish a number of branches around the city. Blarney Street was one of the areas identified by the Organisation Committee but it was not until 1943 on the initiative of Michael O'Riordan that a branch was formed there in February. A number of men involved in the Connolly Group in the Curragh joined him. The branch was named in honour of Liam Mellows. Naming a branch after someone such as Mellows was unusual for the party and the suspicion of communist influence may have been a factor in the branch being viewed with mistrust. The new branch set up meeting rooms in 16 North Main Street and in November 1943 held their inaugural meeting with then Lord Mayor, James Hickey, opening the meeting. Quill was elected as Chair, Bill Nagle as vice-chair, Michael O'Riordan as secretary, Minutes Secretary Jim Savage (whom was also a delegate to the Constituency Council) and Marie Keohane as Treasurer. A committee comprising Mrs J Hurley, Ellen Crowley B.A, Derry Kelleher, Jim Savage, Vincent Crotty, Tommy Murray (father of Labour Lord Mayor John Murray) and D.Sheehan elected. The initial report seems to show that Seamus Ronayne was elected as Treasurer but Keohane appears to have acted as branch Treasurer. The Press Release issued after the first meeting stated that 40 members enrolled, that an Organising Committee set out proposed activities and its attitude to the Irish language. The title 'Craobh' rather than 'Branch' was used. Such use of the language was unusual for a Labour Party branch.

The Branch took out short advertisements for a series of public lectures, describing themselves in those as Craobh Mhaoillosa (Labour Party). The branch became active locally organising public lectures engaged with the trade unions not affiliated with the party and would send delegations to meetings of the Corporation raising issues such as housing. Many of these activities were standard for other Labour branches at the time but the Blarney Street branch appears to have been more energetic and organised in its activities. Branch established a reputation as a dynamic branch and its rapid development appears to all much to all religions organised organisational skills. The branch set up premises in 75 North Main Street premises on the site of the old Boiler Makers' Trade Union and organised a series of public lectures held in the North Main Street premises. Some of the lectures included branch members presenting talks on Liam Mellows, 'The Indian Question', 'Science and Socialism', the Irish language, 'England and the Irish Question', social security and 'The Jewish Question'.

O'Riordan asserts that Quill was imposed on the Liam Mellows Branch as Chair to ensure that Labour in Cork City could control the new branch. O'Riordan also argued that the talk on the Jewish question arose following comments made by Timothy Quill on 'Jew Boys'. Gerald Goldberg was present at the talk and was so impressed by O'Riordan that he subsequently donated £5 to the branch. Quill, perhaps irritated by the talk demanded that the money be returned.

O'Riordan, in a speech to the 2001 Labour Party Conference, stated that "I was accused of attempting to 'subvert the party' with Jewish money. An investigating committee was established, presided over by a Labour TD. The complaint against me was sustained and I was expelled by the party."

"Following my release from the Curragh Camp and my return to Cork in 1943, I was among those who founded the Liam Mellows Branch of the Labour Party in the hope that it might become the political voice of Irish anti-fascism in this city. I was named secretary of that branch but unfortunately the chairman we were given by the Party leadership was a Cork City Councillor who would debase the name of Labour in 1944 by a vitriolic attack on what he called "the Jew boys" of Cork. It was in opposition to such anti-Semitism that I insisted on giving a public lecture under the auspices of the Liam Mellows Branch on the subject of the Jewish question. A number of prominent members of Cork's Jewish community attended that public meeting and the future Lord Mayor of Cork, Gerald Goldberg, said from the floor: "I came here to defend my people, but when I heard the lecturer I saw there was no need". But the anti-Semitic Labour Councillor did not give up. When Gerald Goldberg subsequently made a donation to branch funds I was accused of attempting to 'subvert the Party with Jewish money'. An investigating committee was established, presided over by a Labour TD. The complaint against me was sustained and I was expelled from a Party that was not prepared to support my continuing anti-fascist stand in 1944."

While there is merit to this claim, it does appear to be more complex than this account. Antisemitism did exist in the city at this time and Quill was a devout Catholic. Barry Desmond in his book 'No Workers Republic' testifies to the antisemitic feeling in the city at the time. There was a strong anti-communist sentiment within Labour and the party had been constantly assailed in the city by professor Alfred O'Rahilly and many figures within the Roman Church, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. The Communist Party in Eire had been disbanded but the NI party still existed. O'Riordan and Nagle attended the NI Communist Party conference in Belfast in October 1943 with four Labour members (including John De Courcey Ireland).

A report in The Irish Press suggests that the Administrative Council 'had become aware that certain persons in Cork were engaging in activities which appear to be inconsistent with their membership of the Labour Party and accordingly they appointed a subcommittee to investigate the membership and administration of the Liam Mellows Branch'. This was headed up by vice-chair, TJ Murphy. They heard the complaint against O'Riordan and Nagle being present at the (NI) Communist Party conference. O'Riordan maintained that he had only attended to meet former comrades socially. Following an investigation, the committee recommended the expulsion of both and the decision was approved of by the Parliamentary Party. The two Cork members were expelled on 5 February 1944 and the 4 Dublin members in April. Both decisions were ratified by the annual conference that year. But there are no reports or minutes of O'Riordan being expelled by the party locally on the Jewish episode but it is likely that it played a role in the expulsions. Likewise, it is clear that Timothy Quill, as a theologian and Christian Socialist held strong anti-Soviet views as possibly anti-Semitic views. The perceived threat of Soviet communism was perhaps the reason that Timothy Quill was nominated as Chair of the Liam Mellows Branch. It was around this time that the IT&GWU disaffiliated from Labour and the National Labour Party and separate Trade Union Congress on the basis that Soviets were infiltrating the Labour Party.

One incident involving the branch illustrates the divisions within the party in the city. The Cork Examiner reported in August 1944 that a deputation of three members of the Liam Mellows Branch spoke at a meeting Cork Corporation on the issue of juvenile offenders in the city. They requested a commission to review the issue and that a system of 'constructive reformation' rather than prison punishment take place. After the deputation left the meeting, PJ O'Brien of the National Labour Party launched an attack on the delegation stating that these were members of the Labour Party who sought to introduce 'neo communism' into Cork. Quill, Leader of the Labour Party group in the Corporation angrily objected stating that it was false. The meeting agreed to defer the report to the next meeting. At that meeting on 12 September 1944, the report was adopted.