On a sunny Sunday in July 1914, the little fishing port at Howth, north of Dublin city, saw one of the most dramatic events in early 20th century Irish history; the Howth gun running, in which over a thousand rifles were openly imported to arm the Irish Volunteers and defend the Irish nation.
This gunrunning venture followed on from the Unionist Larne Gunrunning which saw over 25,000 rifles imported to Ireland in April 2014 by the Unionist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer force which still continues to make news in recent months.
Many previously moderate nationalists were outraged by how the unionists had been allowed to arm. The revolutionary spirit increased amongst the Nationalist population as their faith in the idea of home rule and concessions diminished.
The Irish Volunteers founded a year before in 1913 needed to arm themselves, the UVF which had also just been formed in 1912 were well armed and supported by the state.
Against the background of this open unionist militancy, the Irish Volunteers proved popular, attracting 10,000 members in its first year.
Cumman na mBan with upwards of 1500 members was formed to assist the Volunteers, though some of the most radical women republicans, such as Helena Moloney and Constance Markievicz, elected to join the socialist Citizen Army instead, where they were given equal standing with the men.
The Volunteers also had a ready-made youth wing, the Fianna Eireann, founded by Constance Markievicz 1903 as an alternative to the ‘imperialist’ Boy Scouts. The Fianna were in fact to provide many of the most militant Volunteer activists.
All of these groups would work together in the lead up to and including the 1916 rising, working together while maintaining their own autonomy with a unity of purpose
The Irish Volunteers had the men, the women and the youth, the next move was to secure the arms.
After futile attempts to buy weapons in France and Belgium, Darryll Figgis and Roger Casement finally sourced some 1,500 surplus 1871 vintage Mauser rifles in Germany. They were obsolete single shot weapons but they were real rifles and that was enough for now. The only issue now was how to get them to Dublin
To transport them to Ireland a plan was formulated which involved Erskine Childers and his wife Molly sailing the Asgard to rendezvous with a German tug boat the Gladiator. He would take a portion of the arms while Conor O’Brien would take the remainder in his smaller yacht, the Kelpie.
After an arduous journey which included a stop in Holyhead to repair damaged sales after the Boat was hit with one of the worst storms to hit the area for decades, the guns finally arrived in Howth on 26th July. The guns were unloaded and spirited away by members of Na Fianna Eireann and the Irish Citizen Army, as a riot ensued as Police converged on the scene.
As can only be expected the chaos gathered a large crowd, what was a successful gun running operation was soon to turn into a murder spree by British Soldiers, known as the Bachelor’s walk massacre.
Like so many other times in Irish history, Irish men and women were brutally murdered in their own country by British forces, the Bachelor’s walk massacre lives on in infamy in the annals of Irish History. Men, women and children had been attracted to the commotion surrounding the gun landing, British Soldiers belonging to the Scottish Borderers were jeered by the crowd, in response to simple jeering these foreign soldiers opened fire indiscriminately on the crowd and murdered three people Mary Duffy 50, Patrick Quinn 46 and James Brennan aged just 18, while seriously injuring nearly 40 more.
The incident proved a seminal moment of political opportunity for Irish Nationalists, speaking after the massacre Pádraig Pearse declared ‘The army is an object of odium, and the Volunteers are the heroes of the hour. The whole movement, the whole country, has been re-baptised by bloodshed for Ireland.”
‘Remember Bachelor’s Walk’, whether written on walls, printed on leaflets or carried on banners, became a rallying cry for Republicans in the years that followed, while the guns imported into Howth that day would go on to arm the brave patriots of the 1916 rising.`
The success of the Howth landing can be attributed to the working together of various sections of Irish society. The personnel involved in the operation came from varying religious backgrounds, some were not even Irish born and even more surprising for the time women took a leading role. Irish Republicanism has always been and remains to be a modern forward-thinking ideology in comparison with the outdated imperialist mindset of unionism.
If we take for example the 1916 proclamation, its opening line is directed to “IRISHMEN AND IRISH WOMEN”, now compare that with the opening line of the unionist Ulster proclamation of 1913 that opens with “WHEREAS ULSTERMEN” further the document entirely omits any reference to women. Clearly showing a fundamental difference in ideology and one that perhaps persists to this day.
In 2022 Irish Republicanism must examine how we too can foster every section of society to get more involved in the struggle, anyone who makes their home in Ireland must be encouraged to make their contribution and to be as passionate about Ireland and its success as an independent nation as anyone else. Thomas Davis the Young Irelander summed it up well when he said:
“It is not blood that makes you Irish but a willingness to be part of the Irish Nation.”
Unlike the archaic outlook of British imperialists and Irish reactionaries where preference is to be white, Christian and male, Irish Republicanism stands in stark contrast by boasting of a diverse membership which along with it brings fresh and original insights, talent and ingenuity.
The guns that arrived in Howth that day would go on to arm the rebels of 1916, the gun landing is seen as remarkable and something to be commemorated not only by Irish Republicans but also mainstream constitutionalists, riding two horses going in different directions would come to mind, we as Republicans understand that Howth was instrumental in the revolutionary years that followed, Revolutions are a dirty business and revolutionaries must be armed to meet the might of their opponent. The idea that the revolutionaries of today do not come from the same tradition is entirely wrong, the cause and goal has not changed for any true Irish Republican.
Republicans in the early part of the last century did not set out to simply smash an orange state, or replace one flag for another, they were out for the Republic, an independent state for all the people, Republicans and the political prisoners who currently reside in prisons both north and South are out for the same thing.
It is an absolute travesty that the Republican prisoners are widely ignored by greater society, indeed most people would not even know they exist, believing falsely that with the signing of the GFA all prisoners were released and that political prisoners in Ireland were consigned to history. The media and constitutional nationalists along with pseudo socialist groupings like to skirt over the truth of the matter, they are more concerned with political prisoners in far flung places around the world than political prisoners on their own doorstep.
But Irish republicans do not forget, we understand that while Ireland remains occupied there will always be men and women willing to resist it, that this inevitably will ensure that political prisoners remain a reality in Ireland, and these prisoners will always have the decided and unfaltering support of Irish Republicans.
It is easy to live in a false reality, believing that because the British aren’t as visible anymore its ok, that having representation in either the British or Freestate assemblies is what its all about and that somehow the ideal of securing an Irish Republic is for a bygone age and that we should be content, I call this ideology post Republicanism.
They tell us there is a new way, let’s talk it out with the Brits and Freestaters, there is no need to be hostile anymore, there is room at the table for all of us, and if we aren’t at the table we can’t implement change. There is nothing new in this, in fact this reformist position probably even pre-dates Republicanism in Ireland, it is counter revolutionary, completely out of date and encourages a slavish mentality.
As John Redmond told the volunteers to join the British Army in the First World War to secure Home Rule we now have modern day constitutional nationalist encouraging people to join the RUC/PSNI in a similar act of stupidity and national treachery.
Surrendering for seats in the enemies parliament isn’t a victory of any kind, it’s an utter defeat, the idea is to pacify with false power and notions of equality with your overlords, imperialists have used this strategy for centuries to quell rebellion and unbelievably it still works.
These alternatives to the Irish Republic are sold by charlatans who profit personally from their success, there can be no alternative to the Irish Republic, and we can have no truck with reformism or British and Freestate parliaments. It is not an easy or popular road we are on; it wasn’t easy or popular for those who went before us either, it requires strength and resolve, It requires the ability to be defiant rather than compliant. Revolutions are not won in the halls of parliaments but on the streets with the ordinary people.
Over one hundred years since the Howth gun running there is again an increase in militarism internationally and also nationally with unionist paramilitaries evidently armed and threatening violence. While constitutional nationalists sit on their laurels begging for British concessions unionist paramilitaries supported by unionist parties are organising again to secure their dominance and Irelands submission.
As Padraig Pearse famously remarked ‘the Orangeman with a gun is not as laughable as the nationalist without one’.