[Marxism] Revolution and Religious Fundamentalism

[Jscotlive@xxxxxxx]

The originators of the modern Irish nationalist movement - men like Wolfe  
Tone and Robert Emmett - were Protestant and inspired by the example of the  
French Revolution. And Padraig Pearse, the de facto leader of the 1916 Easter  
Rising, along with the other seven signatories of the Proclamation, was  
certainly inspired by the republican ideals espoused by them. But he was also  
committed to the Gaelicising of Irish society, its culture, language, and  
education, which was then, and is now, both undeniably and  inextricably linked 
to a 
Catholic identity. 
 
Yes, the progressive clauses included in the Proclamation were at the  
insistence of Connolly, which is exactly the point I was making with regard  to 
his 
alliance with the Irish nationalists. He understood that though he  shared 
fundamental differences with regard to the political and social forces he  was 
aligning with, those differences paled in comparison to the immediate  task of 
the struggle against British imperialism. He joined forces with Pearse  et al 
without holding any illusions that if they should succeed in ending  British 
rule he would then face his allies as enemies in the struggle  to move from 
political to social emancipation.
 
And while the central role of the Catholic Church in the Irish Free State  
may not have been the original aim or intention of the signatories of the  
Proclamation in 1916, it is hard to see how such religious conservatism,  
especially in matters of social policy, would not have been as rigid should 
they  have 
survived to see their dream of Irish nationhood come to  pass. 
 
 
 
 
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