Decoding the IRA

by Tom Mahon

  In December 1926 Andy Cooney wrote to the IRA’s representative in New York to send on a bank draft for $1,000: ‘send [the] draft to [the] covering address. Make it payable to Mrs Despard, Roebuck House, Clonskea, Co. Dublin. Send with it a note to Mrs Despard saying you are sending her [the] draft for [the] relief of [IRA] dependents.’ The IRA has a long history of disguising army funds as monies for the welfare of prisoners’ dependants and it’s clear from Cooney’s correspondence that the money was meant for the IRA’s own coffers.133 Charlotte Despard would have needed to be terribly out of touch to be unaware that the considerable sum of £1,000 was not ultimately going to the prisoners’ dependants’ fund.

  Despard set up a jam factory in 1924 to support unemployed republicans, though it never employed more than fifteen people. The enterprise continuously lost money, until she closed in down in 1926. It was a sad and disillusioning experience for her, as the republicans proved unco-operative and a number of people she trusted stole from the business.134 During her time in Ireland she was most comfortable in the company of socialist republicans such as Peadar O’Donnell rather than the more conservative nationalists. After her shock at the killing of the Free State minister, Kevin O’Higgins in 1927, she increasingly turned to communism and away from Gonne’s pure nationalism.135 In 1933 she left Roebuck House, eventually moving to Belfast where she died bankrupt in 1939.136

  Throughout the encrypted documents there are many women mentioned, the vast majority of whom were couriers or who ran safe houses or call houses (see Chapter 2). While some were from well-known republican families, the names of others are no longer remembered. The following are a few examples.

  When the IRA’s OC in Britain received money from the Soviets, he sent £100 to Dublin to Peadar O’Donnell’s wife, Lile, for GHQ.137 Money for the OC in Britain was sent as a cheque for £50 payable to ‘Miss Winnie O’Shea, 8 Loraine Road, Holloway, London’.138 IRA despatches to London were to be sent to: ‘Nurse B Lynch SRN [State Registered Nurse] and CMB [Central Midwife’s Board], 104 Cazenove Road, Stanford Hill, London’. The IRA’s OC in Britain told Twomey to ‘try and arrange that letters arrive on Tuesdays and Fridays. Any letters marked urgent will be delivered to me. On other days make your letters as few as possible’ and he helpfully added ‘the six letters after “Lynch” stand for degrees of some kind’.139

  The IRA simply couldn’t have functioned without these dedicated and unacknowledged women. It’s ironic that they showed much more competence and carried out their duties far more efficiently than many of their male counterparts.

  The IRA and anti-imperialism

  Under the leadership of Moss Twomey the IRA engaged in a series of attacks (mainly in Dublin) against what they perceived to be symbols of British imperialism. These ranged from tirades in An Phoblacht to public protests and street brawling and even armed attacks, and formed a major focus of IRA activity into the 1930s. The majority of the targets now seem rather innocuous, and included the boy scouts, Poppy Day, English newspapers and war films and the display of the Union Jack.140 However, there could be deadly consequences; in 1929 Albert Armstrong was shot dead after he gave evidence in court against IRA men who had removed a Union Jack from outside his offices.141

  In 1926 the IRA also launched a campaign against moneylenders which had many similarities with the anti-imperialist activities and will therefore be discussed in this section. The anti-imperialism campaigns were as successful as anything the organisation undertook in these years and benefited the IRA in a number of ways. The activities allowed units to organise and maintain a degree of military readiness, but were not provocative enough to merit a major crackdown by the state. Blowing up the statues of British generals and nobility in Dublin gave the impression of military prowess and had a useful propaganda value – though the IRA often had difficulty successfully demolishing the intended victim. The IRA’s targets were frequently unpopular and these activities generated public support and recruits. For example, there were few among the nationalist majority in the Free State who had much sympathy for Trinity College students halting traffic in College Green and singing ‘God Save the King’ during Poppy Day! The activities also kept the hotheads in the Dublin IRA occupied, acting as a safety valve, and helped Twomey keep the organisation together until the time was right for a major assault on the Free State.142

  In addition to the trappings of imperialism, the IRA had a concern about the influence of ‘imperialists’ who formed an imaginary fifth column in the country. The term is rather imprecise and could be interpreted as a substitute for ‘wealthy Protestant’. Certainly there were far greater threats to the IRA in the Free State than the remnants of the nineteenth-century elite. In May 1926 Moss Twomey wrote to the director of intelligence asking him ‘Have you yet made a list of the principal imperialists in Dub [sic]?143

  Aside from political considerations, part of the IRA’s objection to these British symbols was cultural, as ostensibly they wanted to promote the re-Gaelicisation of the country. The new IRA constitution adopted at the 1925 convention included as one of its primary objectives the goals of reviving the Irish language for daily use and of promoting ‘the development of the best mental and physical characteristics’ of the Irish race.144 Twomey felt that republicans should be committed to building ‘a distinctly Gaelic nation, which will cherish Gaelic traditions and ideals’.145

  However, in general members of the IRA were not noted for their proficiency in Irish and the extent of many volunteers’ commitment to the language was to translate their names into Irish and this they often achieved with a high degree of originality. In these documents even the name An Phoblacht is frequently misspelled. Moss Twomey for instance referred to it as An Poblacht.146 The adjutant of the Limerick brigade couldn’t spell the IRA’s name in Irish and wrote a letter with ‘Oglaig na hÉireann’ typed on the top of the paper; unfortunately ‘Oglaigh’, the Irish word for soldier, was misspelled.147

  Irish nationalists saw British books, periodicals, cinema and newspapers as a form of cultural imperialism, while Catholic activists saw them as a source of all vice and immorality. The offending papers included the News of the World – a purveyor of shock and titillation. The majority of the IRA’s members, though angry with the hierarchy’s excommunication of them during the Civil War, were observant Catholics and a campaign against the English media resonated with many on both political and religious grounds. The archbishop of Tuam called on Catholics to ‘shun … as you would a pestilence’ all imported literature, while the local Sinn Féin cumann passed a resolution against newspapers from London which were ‘injurious to our National virtue’.148

  The Catholic Church’s concern with this threat predated that of the IRA’s, and organisations such as the Catholic Truth Society urged news-agents to refuse to stock offending papers and were alleged to have been involved in the seizing and burning of papers from trains.149

  In November 1926 the IRA inaugurated a campaign against the English Sunday papers. GHQ wrote to the Dublin OC: ‘You are hereby granted permission to seize papers at Dun Laoghaire … This operation is not of sufficient magnitude to warrant the use of arms and they, therefore, should not be used in its execution.’150

  The following March Moss Twomey issued orders to IRA units throughout the country, including Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Mayo and Limerick: ‘Arrange to seize and destroy objectionable English Sunday papers on Sunday 13th March. They should be seized on trains or at stations [and] if offered for sale outside churches and in shops. Arms are not to be used in these operations. You will continue this action weekly until the nuisance ceases.’151

  Figure 15. A similar despatch from Moss Twomey to the OC of the Limerick brigade ordering him to destroy the English Sunday newspapers.

  Arrange to seize and destroy objectionable English Sunday papers on Sunday 13th March. Seize [the papers] on trains or at [the] station, [or] if offered for sale outside churches and in shops. Arms are not to be used.

  T
his despatch was written in 1927, but was dated 1924. This was deliberately done so as to confuse the gardaí in the event of capture of the document.

  The South Dublin battalion (whose operational area included Dun Laoghaire where many of the papers were unloaded from the mailboat arriving from Britain) responded with great enthusiasm and on the Sunday destroyed thousands of newspapers valued at about £80. After the papers had been loaded into a delivery van, a group of IRA men seized the van and burned the papers in a laneway. Mrs Dixon, a widow who was the owner of the newspaper distributors, alleged that one of the men produced a revolver during the operation.152 This attack was warmly received by the Irish-American newspaper the Irish World, which reported that ‘a truckload of 30 bales of English Sunday newspapers were seized and burned by an armed body of masked men on its arrival at Kingstown [Dun Laoghaire]’ and in April it ran the headline ‘Filthy English newspapers burned in Dun Laoghaire’.153 Later Charlie Gilmore (the brother of the better-known George), one of the battalion’s officers, wrote to Twomey proposing that ‘papers be dumped overboard on arrival [at Dun Laoghaire on] Sunday 10th April. This means holding [the] pier [for] ten minutes.’154 Twomey cautioned the unit not to carry arms during the operations and ‘you must avoid any damage to the pier or railway or ship property. Otherwise you may go ahead.’155

  The Dublin brigade was less active – though on Sunday 20 March half a dozen men stopped a newspaper delivery lorry in Parnell Street, unloaded the papers, doused them in petrol and lit a bonfire in the street.156 Twomey wrote to the brigade’s OC in early April asking why he had ‘not continued to take action against the undesirable Sunday newspapers’.157

  In Cork, however, it was the Catholic Church and not the IRA which took the lead. In March the Church, with the full approval of Bishop Daniel Cohalan, helped organise a public meeting which drew thousands of supporters, including much of the city’s political establishment. The lord mayor presided and the Free State’s Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, J. J. Walsh, shared his concern about ‘the moral well being’ of the country. The dean of Cork, Monsignor Sexton, said that ‘the movement against immoral literature was not intended to interfere with the liberty of the press’. The meeting passed resolutions, including a proposal that the (more wholesome) Cork Examiner should publish a Sunday edition.158

  Fr Barrett of St Mary’s church said there was a ‘declaration of war for a high purpose – to save the beautiful soul of holy Ireland’. He admitted he took Sunday papers from a newsboy and threw them into the River Lee, though he did let him keep copies of the Sunday Independent. It’s unknown if the clerical bully ever compensated the boy for the stolen papers.159

  Monsignor Sexton, along with several priests, supported a group that was described as the Cork Angelic Warfare Association. In February four Angelic warriors seized newspapers from a newsvendor, John Courtney, including copies of the News of the World and the Sunday Pictorial. Courtney was later refunded the cost of the papers. When one of the gang, Percy Kelly, was brought to trial, the proceedings were so farcical that it was the witnesses who were effectively put on trial. Before a large audience of priests and other supporters, the prosecuting state solicitor agreed that Kelly’s actions were ‘meritorious’ though against the law, while garda superintendent Butler denied that he had threatened ‘that the priests of Cork would be brought to their knees’. Courtney was asked whether he was a married man and whether he’d allow the offending papers into his home. To loud cheers the judge applied the probation act to Kelly, who walked free.160

  Bishop Cohalan despised the IRA, having excommunicated volunteers in 1920 during the Anglo-Irish War, and wouldn’t have welcomed IRA support for the activities of the Cork Angelic Warfare Association. However, the IRA’s campaign clearly coincided with that of the Church, and Twomey may have hoped to benefit from public support for the issue. Charlie Gilmore’s involvement is ironic, as he was both a socialist and a Protestant and would have been expected to resist attacks which gave conservative Catholic nationalists greater influence over the press.

  The Irish people continued to read the English Sunday papers and other corrupting filth – despite legislative actions such as the 1929 Censorship Act and the imposition of a tax on foreign newspapers in 1933. In 1938 the Fianna Fáil Minister for Justice, P. J. Rutledge, reported that 1,048 books and twenty periodicals had been permanently banned. The offending authors included such well-known pornographers as Aldous Huxley, Herman Hesse and Seán Ó Faoláin.161 In one way or another many in power in the state allowed themselves to be drawn into this crusade, which was largely orchestrated by elements associated with the Catholic Church.

  In the 1920s, British studios made a number of propaganda films about the Great War, which didn’t accord with IRA sensibilities. In November 1925 a group of three armed men exploded a mine inside the Masterpiece cinema in Dublin during a showing of the film Ypres (having warned the cinema beforehand against showing the film). Following the explosion, two pursuing gardaí were fired upon; a few days later two of the men were arrested.162

  The following year the Battle of Mons, which was officially sanctioned by the British Army Council, was released. It told the story of the British army’s retreat from Belgium in the early months of the First World War and depicted acts of heroism, such as that of the soldier who rescued his wounded comrade in a wheelbarrow. A critic at the time called the film ‘inspiring’ as it showed ‘the gallant fighting’, and in one scene where two officers played the ‘The British Grenadiers’ on a tin whistle and toy drum, he reported that it brought a lump to his throat.163 Obviously this film posed a major threat to the gullible Irish public and Twomey wrote to the OC of the Dublin brigade: ‘Seize … [the] picture “Mons” to be shown in [the] Corinthian [cinema] tomorrow and next week. Do not destroy [it] but hold [it] safely pending instructions.’164 He then sent similar orders to IRA units in Tipperary and Cork.165 The OC in Dublin promptly sent a missive off to the Corinthian’s owner objecting to the film, partially on the grounds that it glorified war (and who better to know about glorifying war):

  Sir,

  I note that a British war-propaganda film entitled ‘Mons’ is being shown in your Theatre this week. This picture, as is admitted even by the English Press, is not a true representation of the horrors of the European War, but has for its aim the glorification of the British army.

  British propaganda pictures cannot be tolerated in Ireland. You will remember that I have had to take drastic action against another Dublin Cinema [a reference to the Masterpiece Cinema] which persisted in showing a companion picture to ‘Mons’.

  I now request you to discontinue this film within twenty-four hours from date [sic]. Should you refuse, I will be obliged to take drastic action against you.

  You will note also that such drastic action shall be delayed only so long as suits my convenience.

  (Signed)

  Brigadier-General

  Commanding Officer Dublin 1 Brigade.166

  The proprietor of the Corinthian doesn’t seem to have been cowed into submission as twelve days later the cinema was still showing the film.167

  Another perceived threat emanated from the boy scouts, including the sea scouts, which the IRA saw as ‘British reservists’.168 However, there was some rational (though largely misguided) basis to the IRA’s fears about the scouts. General Baden Powell, who had distinguished himself in South Africa fighting the independent-minded Boers, founded the scouting movement. Powell has been described as an ‘Empire propagandist’ and he promoted an essentially English concept of boyhood and citizenship.169 The organisation had many military trappings – with uniformed boys parading in formation. In Ireland they inspired Na Fianna Éireann, the youth wing of the IRA, which unlike the scouts, had a very definite military function.

  In early 1926 the IRA chief of staff wrote to the OC in Britain:

  At your convenience I would like you to pick up as much information as possible as to the inner working, and pu
rpose of the Baden Powell Boy Scouts. If some of the speeches and confidential communications could be got they would be of much use here. These B.P. Scouts are so strong here that they are a positive menace. They can do as they please while Fianna Éireann are prosecuted. We mean to give publicity to the fact that the B.P. Scouts are much more a Military Organisation than the Fianna. If the reports from Ireland to London could be got they would be invaluable for the purpose in view. I am sure they make reference to Ireland in their general reports, but the confidential ones would be much better.170

  The OC wrote back that he was unable to get any information, as ‘at present I have no connection whatever with that organisation’.171 In 1928 the IRA burned down and fired shots into a number of scout huts and the following year reportedly planned to bomb Elvery’s sports shop in Dublin for having a window display promoting the World Scout Jamboree.172

  Every November unionists and British army veterans celebrated Poppy Day or Remembrance Day (in honour of those that had died in the First World War) by displaying the Union Jack and wearing poppies. Beginning in the mid 1920s, the IRA in Dublin attempted to prevent these displays and obstruct the British Legion’s parade. They organised public demonstrations which attracted speakers from across the republican spectrum, ranging from Éamon de Valera to communists and feminists. These rallies were usually held in College Green and were attended by a substantial number of people; in 1932 some 15,000 attended. They degenerated into disorder and fighting as IRA supporters attempted to snatch flags from members of the Legion and engaged in running battles with the gardaí.173 The protests were supported by many outside of the IRA and continued until the early 1930s when the IRA adopted a more tolerant approach.174