Pearse’s putsch in 1916 was against the wishes of vast majority
Far from being “a mandatory obligation,” whatever that may mean, Patrick Pearse undemocratically mounted a putsch against the wishes of the vast majority of the Irish people, Sinn Féin and the Irish Volunteers. This constituted a treasonable act. Arms were supplied by Germany, the country against which Britain and some 150,000 Irishmen were fighting at a time when the outcome of this war was very undecided.
It should never be forgotten that about 30,000 Irishmen from this island fell in the Great War fighting for the freedom of small nations and they are still not honoured in their own country. Another legacy of 1916.
In addition, Pearse was bound by the IRB constitution, which stated: “The IRB shall await the decision of the Irish nation, as expressed by a majority of the Irish people, as to the fit hour of inaugurating a war against England.”
Does Dr Murphy think that “a mandatory obligation” meant it was proper to ignore the fact that the great majority of the Irish people thought it was wrong to support politics as violence?
The immediate consequences of the doomed mission were the deaths of almost 400 innocent Dubliners, the destruction of parts of their city and the imprisonment of hundreds of suspected supporters of Pearse.
The Jesuit historian, Francis Shaw, wrote of 1916 that Pearse considered his generation of Irishmen to be “nationally degenerate” and “in need of redemption by the shedding of blood”.
In effect, to be law-abiding and peace-loving was to be considered “nationally degenerate”! The murderous consequences of that warped belief are still with us even now. IRA/Sinn Féin saw 1916 as the holy grail in their bloody terror campaign against Ulster Protestants. About 3,000 died in that rampage. Such are the long-term effects of Dr Murphy’s so-called “mandatory obligation”.
And that is why Fianna Fáil and the PDs should go cold turkey on 1916.
Instead, they should celebrate the success of real democrats like O’Connell, Parnell and John Redmond. There is simply no moral justification for continuing to mourn the likes of Pearse.
Robin Bury
The Reform Movement
Killiney
Co Dublin
