James Connolly’s son Roderick was an Irish delegate to 1920’s Second Comintern Congress where he discussed Lenin’s theses on national self-determination as the war against British occupation began. Again he was a delegate to late 1922’s Fourth Comintern Congress, but in vastly changed circumstances. The Treaty and counter-revolution in Ireland led to civil war and the brutal execution of dozens of Irish republicans by the new ‘Free State’, a partitioned country in the hands of landlords and capitalists now doing the Empire’s bidding. Connolly’s Communist Party had opposed the Treaty immediately and supported Republicans in the Civil War. Here, he gives the reasons for opposing the Treaty, later at the Congress he would offer a resolution passed by the Comintern condemning the executions at home.

‘The Civil War in Ireland’ by Roderick Connolly from Bulletin of the IV Congress. No. 26. December 6, 1922.

Twenty-Sixth Session. November 29, 1922.
Discussion on the Versailles Treaty (report by T.J. Murphy).

CONNOLLY (Ireland): Comrades, the technical arrangements of the Commission on the “Struggle Against the Versailles Treaty” have not been of the best kind. For, though it has requested the Irish Delegation to speak on this question, for some technical reason we have not been able to participate in its work, and therefore we limit ourselves to a brief statement.

The relation of Ireland to the Versailles Treaty is of a purely negative character. Though it changed the status of some the oppressed nations of Europe to suit the interests of its composers, it left the position of Ireland untouched. We all know that the moral basis of this Treaty was the famous fourteen Points of President Wilson, which included, as chief among them, the right of self-determination for all nations. We also know that in particular, this formula was made instrument, not for the liberation of the oppressed peoples but for the imperialist and reactionary designs of the Three Great Conquering powers: England, France and America. Naturally, therefore, there was no application of this sovereign remedy to the peoples groaning beneath the yoke of either English or American Imperialism.

At the time of the Versailles Treaty the Irish National Revolutionary movement was just gaining strength. It had not yet entered upon a decisive armed fight against English domination in Ireland, The petit-bourgeois leaders of it believed to a certain extent in the peaceful pacifist solution of their problems with England by a reference of the question to the League of Nations, which, it was fondly hoped, would make a real application of the right of self-determination a over the world. They believed in the power of justice and the fourteen points, they could not penetrate into the imperialist nature of the Powers of the League or of the Treaty that was being constructed. They did not understand that, accordingly, the Irish National question would not be settled by the five Great Powers at Versailles. They sent their delegate to the Versailles Conference to plead for the cause of the Irish Freedom along with the oppressed peoples throughout the world. From Korea in the East to Ireland in the West all the representatives of the oppressed nations clamoured for freedom. But very quickly the Irish National representatives at Versailles saw that there was obtaining every national independence from the Supreme Council, and to a certain extent the Irish Nationalists were disillusioned. This was of particular importance because, following on it, the Irish National Revolutionaries became determined that if they could not achieve their freedom through appealing to the humanitarian instincts of the Great Powers then they would achieve it themselves by force against British Imperialism in Ireland. Accordingly, after the Versailles Treaty, we had a most intense national war in Ireland for two and a half years. The fierce struggle that the Irish revolutionaries carried on had a culmination in a most barbarous terror, but even this terror had to be abandoned owing to the resistance of the Irish revolutionaries. So, after two and a half years of a determined attempt to subjugate Ireland, Lloyd George bethought himself that if he could not win by force of arms, perhaps he could by force of diplomacy. Accordingly, Lloyd George, the chief composer of the Versailles Treaty, through which he had made imperialism as secure as possible in the West and East, became convinced that with the use of a treaty he would also make Imperialism firm and well-founded in Ireland. He therefore entered into negotiations with the leaders of the Irish revolutionary movement, and the result of this was the famous Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6th, 1921. The Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland had not the effect of settling the Irish question. The treaty had merely this effect: that it won over the upper strata of the Irish bourgeoisie to the side of British Imperialism in return for a share in the exploitation of the Irish proletariat and peasantry. It did not free the Irish people even from imperialism because even all the formal acts of this treaty which was supposed to grant freedom to the Irish people shackled them more firmly than ever to British Imperialism by various reservations and safeguards, including the measure, of leaving the executive power of the so-called Free State in the hands of the King of England and in the hands of the representative of British Imperialism, the Governor General. It was also a fact that it gave Britain the permission to hold a number of ports in Ireland that could be used as naval bases or as stations for wireless, etc. The fact that it gave Britain these rights within Ireland shows that this Irish Treaty does not in any way satisfy the claims for complete Irish independence. Of course, in reality, Britain did not need any such rights in Ireland as those given by the Treaty, because by the fact of her superior fleet, army and equipment, the English at any time in which the British Empire was threatened could use its forces to acquire the ports, naval stations, etc. with, or without a Treaty But it is necessary to show that even formally, the treaty which was signed between the representatives of British Imperialism on the one hand and the representatives of the Irish bourgeoisie on the other hand did not satisfy the claims for Irish independence.

The result of this treaty was practically the same as the results of every one of the so-called Versailles Treaties. Instead of bringing peace and harmony to the nation or to the people to which it was applied, it brought chaos, it brought civil war, and the increase of the revolutionary forces in the country. The result of the treaty between Britain and Ireland is that practically within five months of the setting up of the Free State (as the methods by which the treaty was to be worked), an unprecedented terror rages in Ireland, a terror which the Irish bourgeoisie finds it necessary in order to implement the treaty. If it were possible that this treaty satisfied in any degree the aspirations for the national independence of Ireland, a terror would not be necessary. But even the ordinary resources of a bourgeois state by which it seeks to enforce its will are not practicable in Ireland, and the fact that it has to resort to extra-legal methods, methods beyond the state, and to organize a terror shows that this treaty is also bankrupt, like that of Versailles and of Sèvres. The present civil war is illustrated in its most intense form by the armed struggle between the forces of the Free State and those of the Irish Republicans. It is necessary for the Communist International, if it is to regard this struggle against the Free State or against the Treaty as a component part of the struggle against the Versailles treaty as a whole–it is necessary for it to understand what are the social classes which are involved in this struggle, and what classes the different military organisations represent.

The fact is quite plain, by an examination of the situation in Ireland, that the Free State and its army are the representatives of British Imperialism and that it is supported by the landowners, big financiers and capitalists of Ireland. On the other hand, the Republican Army, though it is more difficult to investigate into its social composition, may be said to be supported by a large mass of landless peasants, and a large portion of the not yet class conscious workers in the towns, and to be led by the intelligentsia and petty bourgeoisie. This, in short, is the social composition of these two forces. And what is especially important for the Comintern is to realise that within the composition of the Republican forces there are those large masses of landless peasants on the one hand and the Irish workers on the other. Now, this fight leads us to believe that, if the struggle develops continually against the Free State, these masses of workers and peasants will inevitably impress their demand upon this struggle, and gradually transform it into being a purely independent and nationalist struggle against a free state into a class struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat, and for the Soviet system in Ireland. That is the main general idea regarding the Republican Movement in Ireland and the support of this movement against the Free State Treaty, It must be considered as part and parcel of the International struggle waged against the Versailles Treaty and its consequences.

Later on, when the Commission has decided upon the Irish question, there will be opportunities to dilate much more upon the situation. The Irish question is very little known outside of Ireland, and at the same time it is impossible, within this Congress, in a speech on the Versailles Treaty lasting only 15 minutes to give the subject a full treatment. O the other hand, the Communist International is bound to take immediate step with the question of Ireland. The news has come through that the terror has reached a climax where the State in Ireland, the bourgeois state, has commenced the execution of prisoners taken during the Civil War. Knowing that through the Communist International, with its international forces and connections, is the best method whereby to give form to the struggle, not only against the Irish Free State, but against this terror employed against the revolutionaries and the Irish workers, the Irish Communist Party has drafted a resolution upon the terror and the executions, which the presidium will consider and put to the Congress later.

The Bulletin of the IV Congress of the Communist International was the on-site produced, sometimes several times a day, stenographic report of the congress held in Moscow from November 5 to December 5, 1922 with 348 voting delegates representing 53 countries.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/4th-congress/bulletin/n26-dec-06-1922-Bulletin-IV.pdf