89 Anarcho-Nationalism and Irish Freedom Sean Worgan This essay looks at what I call anarcho-nationalism and its links to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) newspaper, Irish Freedom, which was published between 1910 and 1914. As part of this it examines Irish Freedom’s links to anarchist thought. This breaks new ground since no previous study has examined the links between the two. Due to constraints of space the essay does not look into the relationship between anarchism and the more militant anarcho-syndicalism of this period, 1 but it does posit the idea that Irish Freedom linked anarchism and nationalism. Anarcho-nationalism drew on anarchism and placed it in the nationalist framework of seeking independence from the British. One can see what is meant by this by examining Peter Marshall’s definition of anarchism, which could equally serve as a definition for the kind of nationalist programme Irish Freedom was pursuing. Marshall notes: All anarchists reject the legitimacy of external government and of the state, and condemn imposed political authority, hierarchy and domination. They seek to establish the condition of anarchy, that is to say, a decentralised and self- regulating society consisting of a federation of voluntary associations of free and equal individuals… 2 If one substitutes the word nationalists for anarchists it is quite easy to see how an anarchist programme could be applied to Ireland, particularly with regard to its decentralising aspects, including a federation of voluntary associations. Indeed, in a different form such a programme had already been applied in Ireland through the Land League, the radical agrarian society formed in 1879 by Michael Davitt to agitate for tenants’ rights, which evolved out of local land league organisations. The American anarchist, Benjamin Tucker had noted in his 1897 work, Instead of a Book: Ireland’s true order: the wonderful Land League, the nearest approach on a large scale, to perfect Anarchistic organization that the world has yet seen. An immense number of local groups scattered over large sections of two continents…each group autonomous; each composed of varying numbers of individuals… 3 Later on Irish Freedom’s editor, Bulmer Hobson, in his earlier guise as the Dungannon Clubs’ co- founder, also spoke in anarcho-nationalist terms. In his 1909 pamphlet, Defensive Warfare, Hobson wrote of the need to create ‘a community of interest’ against the British state, ‘It is necessary to establish a community of interest as well as a community of sentiment. Community of national sentiment will go far, but a community of interest to back it up will be stronger still’. 4 This idea echoes Tucker, whose self-contained anarchist communities Hobson may or may not have known about. However, Hobson’s true inspiration was E.T. Craig, who had written A History of Ralahine, which Irish Freedom later carried an article on. 5 The book outlined the fortunes of a short-lived co-operative colony started by County Clare landlord John Scott Vandaleur on his Ralahine Estate in Ireland. Vandaleur had been inspired by a series of lectures given by the originator of the co-operative movement, Robert Owen, in Dublin in 1823. So he invited Craig, an English follower of Owen, to organise the experiment among the tenants on his estate. 6 Marnie Hay notes Hobson lent Craig’s book to Constance Markievicz, his co-founder, who was a socialist and feminist, and who was ‘charmed at the idea of an agricultural commune’. 7 Unfortunately, Hobson’s and Markiewicz’s project failed, but what is interesting about the Craig connection is its socialist element. Though an old man by the time, Craig was an early member of the Socialist League and spoke at a number of their propaganda meetings. 8 This again puts Hobson in socialist circles, even anarchist Saothar 44 Journal 20199_Layout 1 20/02/2019 07:31 Page 89