Post by RedFlag32 on Jul 24, 2007 1:53:15 GMT
Seamus Costello 1939-1977
Irish republican Socialist
www.irsm.org/irsp/costello/bio/
Have you ever felt impelled to write about something? Have you ever felt an urge to express the joy and understanding you received from an experience? I want to be honest with you with this review so Id like to start of that way.
I felt completely compelled to write about my experience of reading this pamphlet. It came at a time when I knew most of the information in the pamphlet, but to have it compacted into book form was inspiring and although I am unsure about the existence of a “soul”, I felt something happen inside me that I have to share. I felt it when I first started learning about this person but in reading this pamphlet it brought it all together and I felt an energy I couldn’t get rid of, this may be chemically based, but it moved me to write this small piece even though I know my skills as a writer are very basic. I’m willing to receive any criticism in the hope that I get across my absolute passion for what this man stood for and appreciation for finding this gem. To start, I’d like to make you aware of my introduction to Republican Socialism and Seamus Costello.
I’m a young man of 25 who grew up in a council estate in Dublin Ireland. The phrase “council estate” conjures up images of burnt out cars and annoying young men drinking on the corner etc…but to me the reality is that it is a closely knit community where we all share a basic flaw, the flaw of coming from a “council estate”. This flaw expressed itself to me from a very early age. I live right next to a middle/upper class area and my first experience of class conflict was when I was around the age of ten and cycling on my bike. I was going on an adventure with one of the kids I hung around with and we decided to go the distance to this neighbourly estate for the fun and thrill of going somewhere unknown. Sadly the only memory I have of this first escape from my estate was being stopped abruptly by three of four teenagers, about five-six years older than me and my female friend and being told we were “insert name of estate” knackers and basically being confronted violently on the basis of where we came from. It was only years later that I understood it was class based and not territorial. From this moment on I had a hatred for those who lived in the “poshie” houses behind us but my character wouldn’t allow me to throw stones at their windows like some of the other kids did as I knew it was fundamentally wrong. I went through my young teens hating these people and even came very close to attacking them in various ways. I remember being a young man who had just being sacked from work and the first place I thought of targeting for my anger and for finding money was this estate, I thankfully pulled back and convinced myself that it wasn’t their fault I was let go and found myself another job.
My estate is surrounded by these middle class people and it was during a walk with my dog that I stumbled into another confrontation of class conflict and hate towards me and a friend. We were walking our dogs to the nearby river which we did every evening after school. We loved dogs and even got into a bit of hunting (which I sadly regret) because we thought this was the most active way to train and own a dog. We walked to this river every evening, rain or shine. We put on our walking gear and had our treats for the dogs so that we could train them as we walked them. If I’m being honest, ill have to admit we had a sneaky smoke or two in the fields, it was our way of rebelling and there was no malice in it, just two friends who where next door neighbours and friends since birth walking their dogs and chatting about girls or what happened in school that day. Finally we got to the bridge and took our usual break and sat down whilst we sparked another smoke, choking on the fumes no doubt. Then all of a sudden from above us we could hear voices, we knew what estate they were coming from and looked at each other in amusement, it is strange how certain words or experiences stay with you forever. I can’t explain why this experience stayed with me and influenced me and why my friend has probably forgotten it but to this day I can still see their faces and hear their words. Once again these people had taken it upon themselves to attack us verbally, calling us “insert estate name” knackers and scum. For whatever reason I saw red, maybe it was my teenage hormones kicking in, or maybe it was the fact that I was too young to do anything the last time this had happened when I was ten, but I ran straight towards the place this name calling was coming from with two dogs in tow and a friend left standing in bemusement. When I eventually got through the bushes that hid the description of these “poshies” I was confronted with a fence which I couldn’t climb, I picked up the nearest rock and hurled it at the area I seen these people running, cowards running from a small teenager in wellies with a fence to block him from doing any serious damage. The rock bounced of a Mercedes in the garden and I immediately turned on my heels and ran like hell, laughing and joking with my friend. To us it was just another day, but now ten years later this experience and that of many of my childhood memories has stuck with me for a reason I cant explain but can only express to you as fact and hope you may see some relevance in it in relation to this pamphlet and the politics this man stands for.
I would like to relate one more story of my childhood which I think played a part in my political leaning, a very small part, but an important part all the same. I was still in primary school and the memory of these attacks from the local “poshies” was still fresh in my mind. I used to come home for lunch every day as I lived very close to school and looked forward to my ma’s waffles and pizza and a nice cuppa tea. I used to let the dog out the back field to relieve her self and bring her for a quick walk, so this day I did exactly that. To my complete amazement and if I’m honest amusement, I clasped my eyes on a twelve foot metal fence completely segregating us from the “poshie” estate to the back of us. The council machinery had moved in over night and erected this divisive metal fence in a matter of hours. I was completely confused as to why they wanted us blocked from them as it was my personal experience that they were the instigators in this class division, certainly in my case. From this moment on I was wary of the “poshies” next to us and took every opportunity to debase them, even if my character stopped it from being physical, my mind knew who the “enemy” was.
As I grew I found that I was interested in history, I have another memory which runs deep of when I was in school being thought about the famine. I felt a deep hatred for what had happened and automatically assumed an anti-English stance, thank god I studied history more in later years and realised how silly my English hatred was. I grew up when the provisional movement of Sinn Fein were winding down their bombing campaign, but even my late arrival to provisional politics didn’t take away the realisation of what they stood for and what they were doing. I “supported” them for a few years, until I became disillusioned with their strategy. I remember that the one place I could think as a child and have time to myself was the shower, it sounds silly to you I’m sure but in a full house it was the only place I could think. I remember writing things that popped into my head onto the steamy mirror that was beside the shower as a kid, sometimes it was which girl I “loved” and other times it was politically based or just random thoughts. It was in this space I realised that what the provisional’s stood for was not something I could support. I was very young and naive. I didn’t understand why my thought process was rejecting them but I knew I had to ditch them or id implode mentally, so I did!
I spent the next couple of years partying and rejecting any notion of social consciousness. It was sad as before this I was very aware of political and social circumstances. If only my thoughts had been channelled at this stage to something progressive instead of being neglected because of my lack of identification with any social or political ideology. It was, surprisingly enough the internet which came to my rescue. Without going into too much detail about what happened between my disillusion with provisional Sinn Fein and my support for republican socialism id like to get to the point at which I started to realise where my politics lay.
I had always felt an unexplained connection with “English” ordinary people whilst the bombing campaign of Britain was taking place, this connection was obviously class based but I didn’t know it yet, to me the provisional’s were too nationalist I suppose, I didn’t know it at the time but I rejected their strategy and embraced the ideology of the IRSM which is class and humanly based. I found out about Seamus Costello through finding out about the IRSM, to me the IRSM represented the only humanist and progressive opinion in Irish republicanism. I remember being filled with joy when reading the “Ta” Power document which was the most progressive piece of writing to come out of “the troubles”. Here was a movement which accepted its flaws, its mistakes, and was willing to try to correct them for the good of man. They were class based, completely non-sectarian and had visions far beyond that of national independence and self interested politics. If you want my honest opinion Irish Republicanism represented something dogmatic and reactionary to me. The ideology of republicanism is certainly not reactionary but the organisations representing this movement seemed this way. I was wrong of course, even the most self inverted republican movements in Ireland are not reactionary, for the national independence of Ireland is a progressive step for human kind not a backward one.
However it was the IRSM which represented the most progressive and international strand of Republicanism to me. It was actually through my realisation that I was a socialist that I found the IRSM and then realised I was a republican socialist. I suppose you could say it was through my self education of humanism and democracy that I found the IRSM and found myself in a place where I could begin studying them and finding out if it was a movement I could support. I don’t know if it is a weakness or not but one thing about me is that I never jump in feet first into anything I’m unsure about. I think it has to do with my father’s influence who is very cautious, while my mother is very rebellious. Some people would sign up to the IRSM straight away but not me, I started to find out and educate myself about this movement as much as I could. I bought books, read online websites and got to know people involved in the movement. Not once did I take a step back from my support of the RSM. I say this with great admiration as I’m the type of person to easily be put off by counter revolutionary or sectarian attributes. It would have been the safe option to get involved with one of the many Irish left pacifist organisations, those who reject the IRSM and its ideology. They don’t get harassed by the state militia and can go about their work freely. But this is not what I am after, I may be cautious but I am not a coward. My caution is based on the fear that I would support something non-progressive not the fear of state harassment.
I connected with the IRSM as an organisation, but I truly connected with Seamus Costello as a person. He was born and was active in a part of Ireland not very far from myself, he was a democrat at heart and like myself I believe he was an Irish republican because this was the most progressive form of politics from which true working class emancipation could take place. It’s a sad fact that for the republican movement to take a sharp turn to the left it needed to hand up the lives of a few brave and selfless people, Seamus Costello was one such man. I don’t believe in the personality cult and I drew back from my obsession with this man as a result, but if this mans personality was defined in the way he lived his live, fighting for the underdog, trying to achieve social democracy in the truest sense of the word and bringing to Ireland a freedom that touched all sections of those who toiled and sweated to make this country that which it was, then that’s a personality I can obsess about without any feelings of guilt.
I had been searching for this pamphlet since I found out about Seamus Costello but I heard it was out of print so I gave up hope. Only recently I moved to the hometown of Seamus Costello and one sunny Monday I took a stroll down the town. I walked into the town hall bookstore as I knew that it sold second hand books. To my amazement I placed my hand on this pamphlet., the price was €4.00. I told the guy I had been looking for it for ages and he said he was the only person to have it as the Costello memorial committee sent them to him periodically. I snapped it up and spent the afternoon in a sunny back garden reading the whole thing.
What really jumps out of this pamphlet is that this man really represented the working class. His complete devotion to that struggle is an inspiration to us all, his political activities incorporated the following organisations, and at time of death he was a member of them all. Wicklow county council, County Wicklow committee of agriculture, Eastern regional development committee, Bray urban district council, Bray branch of the ITGWU, Bray and district trades union council (of which he was president 1976-77), The Cualman historical society, Chairman of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, from the periods between 1964 and 191974 he held the positions of Adj. General, chief of staff and director of operations in the Official IRA and the position of vice-president of official Sinn Fein.
My childhood experiences and my life experiences drew me towards republican socialism because it is based on humanist and democratic principles, sometimes those principles are blurred during periods of struggle but its people like Costello and pamphlets like this one which snap our thoughts back to why we are inspired by an ideology which is hounded and harassed by the state militia and has been reserved to be a minority movement for now. After reading this you realise why you are involved, no matter how small, in the working class struggle, and why you want to continue this struggle until the ideas of men like Costello can finally be put into practice.
This pamphlet is a great start for those wanting to know about what an ideal republican socialist strives for and wants to achieve, it encourages us as activists to emulate his direction. It gives a detailed and short account of how the greatest socialist republican of modern Irish history thought he should be active to achieve his goals. If we trust in his goals we should trust in his tactics. That’s not to say we must follow him blindly, revolutionary tactics change with time and I’m sure Costello was wrong on some fronts, but it is a sign of his greatness that Bernadette McAliskey, a revolutionary spirit that possibly matches that of Costello, and one who disagreed with him on some issues had this to say in her tribute to him in the pamphlet, repeating what was said on the death of Malcolm X “Without him, we feel suddenly vulnerable, small and weak, somewhat frightened, not by the prospect of death, but of life and struggle without his contribution, his strength and inspiration”.
Here’s the good news comrades, this pamphlet can now be viewed online. Just follow this link and you can read it all for free! I hope your experience with this mans politics is as inspiring as mine was.
www.irsm.org/irsp/costello/bio/
Irish republican Socialist
www.irsm.org/irsp/costello/bio/
Have you ever felt impelled to write about something? Have you ever felt an urge to express the joy and understanding you received from an experience? I want to be honest with you with this review so Id like to start of that way.
I felt completely compelled to write about my experience of reading this pamphlet. It came at a time when I knew most of the information in the pamphlet, but to have it compacted into book form was inspiring and although I am unsure about the existence of a “soul”, I felt something happen inside me that I have to share. I felt it when I first started learning about this person but in reading this pamphlet it brought it all together and I felt an energy I couldn’t get rid of, this may be chemically based, but it moved me to write this small piece even though I know my skills as a writer are very basic. I’m willing to receive any criticism in the hope that I get across my absolute passion for what this man stood for and appreciation for finding this gem. To start, I’d like to make you aware of my introduction to Republican Socialism and Seamus Costello.
I’m a young man of 25 who grew up in a council estate in Dublin Ireland. The phrase “council estate” conjures up images of burnt out cars and annoying young men drinking on the corner etc…but to me the reality is that it is a closely knit community where we all share a basic flaw, the flaw of coming from a “council estate”. This flaw expressed itself to me from a very early age. I live right next to a middle/upper class area and my first experience of class conflict was when I was around the age of ten and cycling on my bike. I was going on an adventure with one of the kids I hung around with and we decided to go the distance to this neighbourly estate for the fun and thrill of going somewhere unknown. Sadly the only memory I have of this first escape from my estate was being stopped abruptly by three of four teenagers, about five-six years older than me and my female friend and being told we were “insert name of estate” knackers and basically being confronted violently on the basis of where we came from. It was only years later that I understood it was class based and not territorial. From this moment on I had a hatred for those who lived in the “poshie” houses behind us but my character wouldn’t allow me to throw stones at their windows like some of the other kids did as I knew it was fundamentally wrong. I went through my young teens hating these people and even came very close to attacking them in various ways. I remember being a young man who had just being sacked from work and the first place I thought of targeting for my anger and for finding money was this estate, I thankfully pulled back and convinced myself that it wasn’t their fault I was let go and found myself another job.
My estate is surrounded by these middle class people and it was during a walk with my dog that I stumbled into another confrontation of class conflict and hate towards me and a friend. We were walking our dogs to the nearby river which we did every evening after school. We loved dogs and even got into a bit of hunting (which I sadly regret) because we thought this was the most active way to train and own a dog. We walked to this river every evening, rain or shine. We put on our walking gear and had our treats for the dogs so that we could train them as we walked them. If I’m being honest, ill have to admit we had a sneaky smoke or two in the fields, it was our way of rebelling and there was no malice in it, just two friends who where next door neighbours and friends since birth walking their dogs and chatting about girls or what happened in school that day. Finally we got to the bridge and took our usual break and sat down whilst we sparked another smoke, choking on the fumes no doubt. Then all of a sudden from above us we could hear voices, we knew what estate they were coming from and looked at each other in amusement, it is strange how certain words or experiences stay with you forever. I can’t explain why this experience stayed with me and influenced me and why my friend has probably forgotten it but to this day I can still see their faces and hear their words. Once again these people had taken it upon themselves to attack us verbally, calling us “insert estate name” knackers and scum. For whatever reason I saw red, maybe it was my teenage hormones kicking in, or maybe it was the fact that I was too young to do anything the last time this had happened when I was ten, but I ran straight towards the place this name calling was coming from with two dogs in tow and a friend left standing in bemusement. When I eventually got through the bushes that hid the description of these “poshies” I was confronted with a fence which I couldn’t climb, I picked up the nearest rock and hurled it at the area I seen these people running, cowards running from a small teenager in wellies with a fence to block him from doing any serious damage. The rock bounced of a Mercedes in the garden and I immediately turned on my heels and ran like hell, laughing and joking with my friend. To us it was just another day, but now ten years later this experience and that of many of my childhood memories has stuck with me for a reason I cant explain but can only express to you as fact and hope you may see some relevance in it in relation to this pamphlet and the politics this man stands for.
I would like to relate one more story of my childhood which I think played a part in my political leaning, a very small part, but an important part all the same. I was still in primary school and the memory of these attacks from the local “poshies” was still fresh in my mind. I used to come home for lunch every day as I lived very close to school and looked forward to my ma’s waffles and pizza and a nice cuppa tea. I used to let the dog out the back field to relieve her self and bring her for a quick walk, so this day I did exactly that. To my complete amazement and if I’m honest amusement, I clasped my eyes on a twelve foot metal fence completely segregating us from the “poshie” estate to the back of us. The council machinery had moved in over night and erected this divisive metal fence in a matter of hours. I was completely confused as to why they wanted us blocked from them as it was my personal experience that they were the instigators in this class division, certainly in my case. From this moment on I was wary of the “poshies” next to us and took every opportunity to debase them, even if my character stopped it from being physical, my mind knew who the “enemy” was.
As I grew I found that I was interested in history, I have another memory which runs deep of when I was in school being thought about the famine. I felt a deep hatred for what had happened and automatically assumed an anti-English stance, thank god I studied history more in later years and realised how silly my English hatred was. I grew up when the provisional movement of Sinn Fein were winding down their bombing campaign, but even my late arrival to provisional politics didn’t take away the realisation of what they stood for and what they were doing. I “supported” them for a few years, until I became disillusioned with their strategy. I remember that the one place I could think as a child and have time to myself was the shower, it sounds silly to you I’m sure but in a full house it was the only place I could think. I remember writing things that popped into my head onto the steamy mirror that was beside the shower as a kid, sometimes it was which girl I “loved” and other times it was politically based or just random thoughts. It was in this space I realised that what the provisional’s stood for was not something I could support. I was very young and naive. I didn’t understand why my thought process was rejecting them but I knew I had to ditch them or id implode mentally, so I did!
I spent the next couple of years partying and rejecting any notion of social consciousness. It was sad as before this I was very aware of political and social circumstances. If only my thoughts had been channelled at this stage to something progressive instead of being neglected because of my lack of identification with any social or political ideology. It was, surprisingly enough the internet which came to my rescue. Without going into too much detail about what happened between my disillusion with provisional Sinn Fein and my support for republican socialism id like to get to the point at which I started to realise where my politics lay.
I had always felt an unexplained connection with “English” ordinary people whilst the bombing campaign of Britain was taking place, this connection was obviously class based but I didn’t know it yet, to me the provisional’s were too nationalist I suppose, I didn’t know it at the time but I rejected their strategy and embraced the ideology of the IRSM which is class and humanly based. I found out about Seamus Costello through finding out about the IRSM, to me the IRSM represented the only humanist and progressive opinion in Irish republicanism. I remember being filled with joy when reading the “Ta” Power document which was the most progressive piece of writing to come out of “the troubles”. Here was a movement which accepted its flaws, its mistakes, and was willing to try to correct them for the good of man. They were class based, completely non-sectarian and had visions far beyond that of national independence and self interested politics. If you want my honest opinion Irish Republicanism represented something dogmatic and reactionary to me. The ideology of republicanism is certainly not reactionary but the organisations representing this movement seemed this way. I was wrong of course, even the most self inverted republican movements in Ireland are not reactionary, for the national independence of Ireland is a progressive step for human kind not a backward one.
However it was the IRSM which represented the most progressive and international strand of Republicanism to me. It was actually through my realisation that I was a socialist that I found the IRSM and then realised I was a republican socialist. I suppose you could say it was through my self education of humanism and democracy that I found the IRSM and found myself in a place where I could begin studying them and finding out if it was a movement I could support. I don’t know if it is a weakness or not but one thing about me is that I never jump in feet first into anything I’m unsure about. I think it has to do with my father’s influence who is very cautious, while my mother is very rebellious. Some people would sign up to the IRSM straight away but not me, I started to find out and educate myself about this movement as much as I could. I bought books, read online websites and got to know people involved in the movement. Not once did I take a step back from my support of the RSM. I say this with great admiration as I’m the type of person to easily be put off by counter revolutionary or sectarian attributes. It would have been the safe option to get involved with one of the many Irish left pacifist organisations, those who reject the IRSM and its ideology. They don’t get harassed by the state militia and can go about their work freely. But this is not what I am after, I may be cautious but I am not a coward. My caution is based on the fear that I would support something non-progressive not the fear of state harassment.
I connected with the IRSM as an organisation, but I truly connected with Seamus Costello as a person. He was born and was active in a part of Ireland not very far from myself, he was a democrat at heart and like myself I believe he was an Irish republican because this was the most progressive form of politics from which true working class emancipation could take place. It’s a sad fact that for the republican movement to take a sharp turn to the left it needed to hand up the lives of a few brave and selfless people, Seamus Costello was one such man. I don’t believe in the personality cult and I drew back from my obsession with this man as a result, but if this mans personality was defined in the way he lived his live, fighting for the underdog, trying to achieve social democracy in the truest sense of the word and bringing to Ireland a freedom that touched all sections of those who toiled and sweated to make this country that which it was, then that’s a personality I can obsess about without any feelings of guilt.
I had been searching for this pamphlet since I found out about Seamus Costello but I heard it was out of print so I gave up hope. Only recently I moved to the hometown of Seamus Costello and one sunny Monday I took a stroll down the town. I walked into the town hall bookstore as I knew that it sold second hand books. To my amazement I placed my hand on this pamphlet., the price was €4.00. I told the guy I had been looking for it for ages and he said he was the only person to have it as the Costello memorial committee sent them to him periodically. I snapped it up and spent the afternoon in a sunny back garden reading the whole thing.
What really jumps out of this pamphlet is that this man really represented the working class. His complete devotion to that struggle is an inspiration to us all, his political activities incorporated the following organisations, and at time of death he was a member of them all. Wicklow county council, County Wicklow committee of agriculture, Eastern regional development committee, Bray urban district council, Bray branch of the ITGWU, Bray and district trades union council (of which he was president 1976-77), The Cualman historical society, Chairman of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, from the periods between 1964 and 191974 he held the positions of Adj. General, chief of staff and director of operations in the Official IRA and the position of vice-president of official Sinn Fein.
My childhood experiences and my life experiences drew me towards republican socialism because it is based on humanist and democratic principles, sometimes those principles are blurred during periods of struggle but its people like Costello and pamphlets like this one which snap our thoughts back to why we are inspired by an ideology which is hounded and harassed by the state militia and has been reserved to be a minority movement for now. After reading this you realise why you are involved, no matter how small, in the working class struggle, and why you want to continue this struggle until the ideas of men like Costello can finally be put into practice.
This pamphlet is a great start for those wanting to know about what an ideal republican socialist strives for and wants to achieve, it encourages us as activists to emulate his direction. It gives a detailed and short account of how the greatest socialist republican of modern Irish history thought he should be active to achieve his goals. If we trust in his goals we should trust in his tactics. That’s not to say we must follow him blindly, revolutionary tactics change with time and I’m sure Costello was wrong on some fronts, but it is a sign of his greatness that Bernadette McAliskey, a revolutionary spirit that possibly matches that of Costello, and one who disagreed with him on some issues had this to say in her tribute to him in the pamphlet, repeating what was said on the death of Malcolm X “Without him, we feel suddenly vulnerable, small and weak, somewhat frightened, not by the prospect of death, but of life and struggle without his contribution, his strength and inspiration”.
Here’s the good news comrades, this pamphlet can now be viewed online. Just follow this link and you can read it all for free! I hope your experience with this mans politics is as inspiring as mine was.
www.irsm.org/irsp/costello/bio/
