The Wolfhounds of Irish-American Nationalism

Figures

The greatest leader in the history of Clan na Gael. John Devoy would play a prominent role in the movement from his release from prison and arrival in the U.S in 1871 to the major split in 1920 and eventual death in 1928.

Daniel Coholan was a leading member of Clan na Gael, the major driving force behind the Friends of Irish Freedom and ally of John Devoy prior to and during the split of 1920.

After the split in 1920 Joseph McGarrity would become the leader of Clan na Gael up until his death in 1940. He was the main driving force behind the IRA bombing campaign in Britain from 1939-40.

Eamon De Valera on his 1920 tour of the United States. His insistence on direct control of Clan na Gael funds and fundraising efforts split the organization, a division from which the Clan never fully recovered.

Clan na Gael monument at Mount Carmel cemetery in Chicago commemorating members of the organization killed in the Boer War fighting Britain.

One of the most interesting leading Clan na Gael figures of the twentieth century. Not only was Mike Quill a leading figure within Clan na Gael from the mid-1930s until his death in 1966 but he was also a leading founder of the Transport Workers Union of America and a major civil rights advocate. The crossover in membership between Clan na Gael and the TWU was significant.

George Harrison became a member of Clan na Gael shortly after seeing active service in WW2 serving in the U.S Army. He was the leading gunrunning liaison to the IRA during the border campaign of 1956–62 and later on to the Provisional IRA throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

Introduction

While on a fundraising tour of the United States in 1878 Michael Davitt, the leading figure of the Land League movement in Ireland, described the Irish American nationalist community of the time as “the avenging wolfhounds of Irish nationalism”. The “avenging wolfhounds” that Davitt was referring to was the dominant Irish nationalist organization in the U.S. during this time period, Clan na Gael. The image of an Irish hunting dog stalking a larger prey over long distances and periods of time was certainly a fitting image for the movement.

Clan na Gael were the inheritors of the Fenian revolutionary tradition which collapsed in the aftermath of the failed military raids into Canada in the early 1870s. From the 1870s up until the early 1920s Clan na Gael evolved into not only the most successful Irish American revolutionary organization ever but also one of the most successful transatlantic revolutionary movements in history. Not only was the Clan instrumental in instigating the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin but was also vital in providing the financial lifeblood and international propaganda necessary for the Irish revolution from 1919–21. Clan na Gael’s role in inspiring revolution in Ireland also inspired and motivated other social and political movements in the U.S. as well as foreign movements outside of America which has also been a long-neglected area of study.

The Clan and its sister organization in Ireland, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, proved to be a very lopsided relationship for most of its history up until 1916. While the IRB in Ireland was largely ineffective and borderline irrelevant pre-1916, it was Clan na Gael that kept Irish Republican ideology as part of the broader political discussion in Ireland when Home Rule looked like it would completely dominate. The Clan’s role as the dominant partner in the Republican movement was highlighted in the New Departure when against the wishes of the IRB the Clan joined in political alliance with the Home Rule Party and Land League to achieve short term political goals that fell short of full independence. The IRB’s ←1 | 2→very existence often relied on the financial support from the Clan as well as political pressure levied to be more pro- active.

The Clan would linger on to the present day as a mere rump of an organization becoming increasingly ineffective as the result of internal disagreement and splits over the years. It’s disconnection from political events and reality in Ireland left the Clan as one of the most militant and uncompromising Irish American organizations. The very fact the Clan even exists today is a remarkable statement on its ability to endure numerous ←2 | 3→setbacks and splits over many decades. With the advent of the Good Friday Agreement and the IRA ceasefire in 1998 Clan na Gael has gravitated more toward militant splinter groups which in turn have found themselves marginalized in a war weary Irish society. The future looks bleak indeed for any increase in the political prospects for the Clan. With the Brexit debacle a united Ireland seems closer than ever through peaceful constitutional means. The long history of violent revolutionary Irish American Republicanism seems overwhelmingly to have entered its final phase.

There can also be an argument made as to an academic bias in Ireland against the study and recognition of groups like Clan na Gael in the overall struggle for Irish independence. This may be the result of a negative view of Irish American nationalism as being of an overly romanticized and therefore a shallower version of its Irish counterpart. The geographic distance of Clan na Gael was also viewed as representing a deep ideological and political chasm which meant that the movement never had to deal with the realities in Ireland of political repression and the deeply complicated problem of Northern Ireland loyalism. The fact that so much of the Clan’s funding and political pressure went toward pushing for armed conflict and violence in Ireland without itself having to face the harsh reality and consequences of its actions may also have left a bitter taste for many in Ireland who had to face the full consequences and who may have been of an anti-Republican position or at least seeing political violence ←3 | 4→as deeply problematic. Historical revisionism by such academics and writers as Conor Cruise O’Brien and Ruth Dudley Edwards, who were well known for their hostility toward militant Irish Republicanism, would have viewed Irish American nationalism as little more than a financial enabler of political violence and not actually view Clan na Gael as a wing of the broader Republican movement worth much more academic attention and which contained many unique features and struggles not seen with its counterparts in Ireland.

CHAPTER 1

Revolutionary Origins

When looking for a starting point to the centuries long Anglo-Irish conflict there is perhaps no better starting point than the year 1169. In this year the deposed king of Leinster, Diarmait mac Murchada, invited an Anglo-Norman army under the leadership of Richard “Strongbow” de Clare to help him regain his throne. In return mac Murchada offered his daughter in marriage and his throne after his death. The Norman invasion was at first rapid and successful in the face of militarily inferior and divided opposition. Unlike the developing strong centralized state in England Ireland still existed on a basis of local clan loyalty and small kingdoms who were more often than not warring with each other. As Strongbow was a vassal of Henry II of England the newly conquered territory fell under the initially loose rule of the English monarchy. As the decades and centuries passed this rule would become ever tighter.

Despite the initial Norman successes their expansion slowed and stalled in the generations following due primarily to inter-feuding among the Normans themselves, lack of interest from the government in England and stubborn resistance by Irish Chieftains who still clung fiercely to their independence. As well as this intermarriage and alliances became a common feature between the newly arrived Anglo-Norman Lords and local Chieftains. This became so common that a saying developed of the Anglo-Norman invaders becoming “more Irish then the Irish themselves”. By the end of the Middle Ages what now became known as “the Old English” became indistinguishable in customs and looks to their native Irish counterparts. As a result the Anglo-Normans never came close to fully conquering Ireland and this task would be left to later generations of English monarchs.

Despite this assimilation of the Anglo-Normans the concept of Ireland as a nation still had not developed as local Chieftains and Clans continued to wage war amongst themselves and carry out cattle raids as ←5 | 6→their forefathers had done for centuries prior. The last High King of Ireland, Ruaidri Ua Conchobair had died in 1198 and so too the last vestiges of any remaining concept of a unified Irish kingdom. Everything was to change with the ascension of Henry VIII to the throne of England in 1509 and the Reformation which followed. Henry VIII dedicated himself to the total conquest of the remaining independent Irish clans and the assimilation of Ireland into his kingdom. It would be under Henry that religion would be brought into the ferment of Anglo-Irish antagonism. With Ireland remaining strongly Catholic Henry began to view the island as a vulnerability in the growing religious wars on the continent and the conflict with Rome.