“I am not a Nazi. I am not even pro-German. I am an Irishman fighting for the independence of Ireland. The British have been our enemies for hundreds of years. They are the enemy of Germany today. If it suits Germany to give us help to achieve independence, I am willing to accept it, but no more, and there must be no strings attached”
Today marks the 79th anniversary of Volunteer Sean Russell. The following is an opinion piece by an Irish Socialist Republican arguing that the Republican Movement should not allow Russell’s memory be besmirched by Anti Republican elements, and should return him to his rightful place with the rest of our Patriot Dead.
Sean Russell is perhaps one of the most maligned leaders of Irish Republicanism, yet when he died, he was on active service, under IRA orders and held the rank of Chief Of Staff.
Those who criticise and condemn Russell, fail to see that he was the embodiment of the Fenian Maxim, that ‘England’s Difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity. It is long past time that Irish Republicanism reclaims the memory of Sean Russell from the anti Republican elements who tarnish is name, in the hope that by doing so, they will tarnish the cause for which he lived and died. This article, providing a brief overview of his life’s work, is an attempt to start that process, answering the question Who Was Sean Russell.
Sean Russell was born in Fairview in Dublin in 1893. Motivated by a burning desire to ‘Break the Connection with England, Russell joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913. During the 1916 Rising, Russell was an officer in the 2nd Battalion of the Dublin Brigade and was interned in Frongoch and Knutsford after the Rising.
On his release from Prison Russell returned to Dublin and Active Service, and took up a position as part of the General Headquarters Staff of the Irish Republican Army. By 1920 Russell has been appointed as the IRA’s Director of Munitions, a key position in a People’s Army then prosecuting a war against British Imperialism.
Russell was opposed to the treaty of surrender and remained loyal to the All Ireland Republic that had been Proclaimed in 1916 and established in 1919. When the Free State instigated Counter Revolution on the orders of and in alliance with British Imperialism, Sean Russell fought in defence of the Republic. His stand in defence of Our Republic would once again land him in gaol and he was imprisoned by the Free State in Mountjoy Prison.
While in Mountjoy, Russell was a key planner of the Republican Prison escape which he successfully took part in,and immediately returned to active service and was part of a group of IRA veterans pushing for a return to Revolutionary activities. In 1926 Russell travelled to the Soviet Union on IRA orders, to procure arms and support from the Communist Government.
Russell was elected as Quartermaster General of the IRA in 1927 and held this key position until 1937. During this ten year period, Russell played a key role reorganising IRA units around the country and overseeing drilling and training in preparation for a future campaign to defeat the counter revolution and re-establish the Republic.
Evidence of the respect he was held in throughout the movement can be gauged from the fact that he was chosen to deliver the main oration at Bodenstown in 1931, the same year the IRA launched its short lived Socialist Front, Saor Éire. Russell never delivered his speech as he was again arrested in advance of the commemoration.
In 1932 Russell went to the USA raising funds and support for the IRA and in 1933 it was Russell who was chosen by the movement to organise IRA intervention on behalf of workers during a rail strike in Belfast.
In 1936, Russell was again in the USA, with the leader of Clann na Gael Joe McGarrity, and both men became convinced that the correct course of action for the IRA was a bombing campaign in England, taking the war home to British Imperialism.
Those opposed to this campaign succeeded in having Russell court-martialled and dismissed from the IRA, on charges of misappropriating Army funds and that his most recent US trip did not have IRA sanction. The dismissal was to be short lived however and by the IRA Convention in 1938 supporters of Russell and the England Campaign won a majority and succeeded in having him returned to the Army and elected as Chief of Staff.
In a key political move, following the 1938 General Army Convention, Russell succeeded in having the last remaining faithful members of the second Dáil Éireann, the only legitimate government of the Irish Republic, transfer governmental authority to the IRA, giving the IRA Army Council the authority to declare war.
Russell set about reorganising the IRA and the Army Council in preparation for the England Campaign. IRA veterans were brought back in the ranks under his leadership to plan the campaign and train the Volunteers.
In January 1939, the IRA Army Council under Russell declared war on England and the Sabotage Campaign or S-Plan was launched as a bombing campaign in England. As part of the Propaganda arm of the Campaign, Russell again travelled to the US in April 1939, as the leader of militant Irish Republicanism. Russell took up a speaking tour organised by Joe McGarrity and Clan na Gael. He was arrested and detained during a visit to the US by the English Monarch, a decision which was met with widespread opposition by Irish America.
On the advice of McGarrity and Captain Robert Montieth veteran of 1916, Russell Skipped his bail and made his way to Germany. The Clan had always maintained contact with Germany since its support for the Republic in 1916, and the outbreak of War again in Europe led militant Republican opinion to believe that England’s difficulty could be Ireland’s opportunity again.
It was for this reason Russell made contact with the Clans German Links. While in Germany, Russell made clear that neither he, nor the IRA had any sympathy for Nazism, and if England’s enemy was to help the Republic, it was to be with no strings attached. Russell then received training in the latest German explosives and sabotage techniques and was linked up with the militant Irish Socialist Republican and Anti Fascist, Frank Ryan, who had been handed over to Germany by Fascist Spain.
On August 8, 1940 the IRA’s Chief of Staff Sean Russell and his comrade Frank Ryan left Germany onboard a U-Boat to be transferred back to Ireland in an operation codenamed Operation Dove.
During the journey, Russell became ill. There was no doctor onboard the submarine and Sean Russell gave his life for the Irish Republic just 100 miles off the Galway Coast, on August 14, 1940. Operation Dove was cancelled and Frank Ryan returned to Germany. In the years since it death, some have believed that Russell was murdered on the orders of British Intelligence while onboard the submarine.
It is clear from this short overview of the life of Sean Russell, that he was no Fascist or Nazi Sympathiser, but was a solider of the Irish Republic, dedicated to the reestablishment of our Republic Proclaimed in 1916 and when he gave his life, he was on active service for the Irish Republican Army, in an effort to procure arms. This is the mission that led him to Germany in 1939 and it was no different from the motivation of Erskine Childers in 1914 or Roger Casement in 1916.
Far from being considered a fascist, Sean Russell Should be celebrated as a great Fenian.
This was how Russell was viewed by the movement following his death. In 1951 the National Graves Association erected a life-sized statue to the IRA Chief of Staff in his native Fairview. This statue was immediately attacked by Irish Fascists, as it depicted Russell with his left fist raised in salute, the international salute of Communist Revolutionaries.
It is only since the onset of the poison that is revisionist history that the legacy of Sean Russell has come under attack. Anti Republican Elements have attempted to label Russell as a Nazi in the hope that by doing so, they can label the Republican movement as fascist. Our enemies therefore, do not attack Sean Russell, but the Republican Movement.
Mouth pieces for the Free State’s Garrison Class have led a campaign to dismantle the Russell Statue in an attempt to break support for Irish Republicanism. This has led to numerous attacks on the statue by pro imperialist vandals. Each time the statue has been attacked however, it has been restored through the efforts of Republicans, and particular mention must be made of the National Graves association for the work they have done in refusing to allow the memory of this Volunteer be besmirched.
Without fear then, Irish Republicans should remember Volunteer Sean Russell, IRA Chief of Staff for what he was, a loyal Solider and servant of Our All Ireland Republic, as an embodiment of the old Fenian Maxim that England’s Difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity and a Volunteer who spent his entire life dedicated to the cause fighting the counter revolution in Ireland, and Rebuilding the All Ireland Republic.
Sean Russell gave his life for Our Republic, on this day in 1940. Remember him with pride.