THE QUARREL WITH THE NATIONAL VOLUNTEERS.
"Plantagenet.: The truth appears so naked on my side
That any purblind eye may find it out.
Somerset : And on my side it is so well apparell'd,
So clear, so shining and so evident
That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye.".
-Shakespeare.
A sharp, definite and lasting antagonism was born during the night on which the National Volunteers were established between the official controlling power of that body And the Labour movement in general.
Some of the most prominent speakers at the initial meeting, held in the Rotunda Rink, Dublin, on Tuesday, November the 25th, had been, and indeed were then, intimately associated with the effort to smash the Labour movement, and violent opposition was manifested by a large section of the audience towards these as they were advocating the reasons for Irishmen to unite in the Volunteers for the maintenance of the "Liberties and Rights common to all Irishmen."
It was generally concluded at the time that this disturbance was deliberately organised by the Irish Citizen Army, but the facts are that the army or its officials had nothing whatever to do with the occurrence, nor did any of its officers ever suggest that such an action would meet with their tacit consent or definite approval.
Efforts were made frequently by Captain White and by the Secretary to promote co-operation in the use of halls for drilling purposes, but no concession whatever In this respect would be granted by the Volunteers to the Citizen Army. Their original manifesto had been signed hy members of the Hibernian organisation and by a member of the United Irish League, two movements that were bitterly and implacably opposed to the interests of Labour. Every political movement had received an invitatiom to attend the preliminary meeting, while Labour was silently ignored. In Irish Freedom every political body was welcomed into the National Volunteers, but no mention was made of the workers' organisations.
At a meeting held in Navan Mr. John MacNeill had announced that the National Volunteers would be under the control of the Irish Parliament, which Mr. Redmond had declared would be subservient to the English Imperial Parliament, and these incidents and declarations filled the mind of Irish Labour with so much mistrust and suspicion that definite and organised hostility began to be displayed by the Irish Citizen Army towards the efforts of the National Volunteers to induce the Irish workerrs to join its ranks. A vigorous discussion was carried on in the Worker by Seumas Mac Gabhan, a well-known Sligo Volunteer, and the Secretary of the Citizen Army. An effort was made by the Volunteers to form a company in Swords, a stronghold of the Irish Transport Union, but the meeting, which was kept secret till the last moment, was attended by officers of the Irish Citizen Army, who proceeded to Swords by car, and a strong company of the latter organisation was formed from those workers who had gathered together to hear the speakers sent to Swords by the Executive of the National Volunteers.
The Volunteers were asked if John MacNeill's statement was true; to declare if they stood for Home Rule, the principles of Grattan's Parliament, or an Irish Republic; to give in their Constitution a declaration in favour of the Rights of Man as well as the Rights of Ireland, as the United Irishmen did; and to refuse a welcome to those who attempted to prevent the workers from asserting their elemental right to join the Union of their choice.
At the suggestion of Jim Larkin, the Secretary of the Citizen Army sent to the Secretary of the Irish National Volunteers the following challenge:-
"To the Provisional Executive of the Irish National Volunteers:-
"Whereas, the Provisional Executive of the Irish National Volunteers have claimed from public platforms and in the Press the support of the Irish workers; and, whereas, the rank and file of the movement are almost wholly composed of members of the working class ; and
"Whereas, the conviction is growing stronger in Labour circles, owing to the ambiguous principles of the Volunteers' Constitution, and the class basis of the Provisional Executive, and the Ladies' Auxiliary Committee, and the strong elements co-operating with the movement, which have been consistently antagonistic to the lawful claims of Labour:
"We the members of the Council of the Irish Citizen Army, representative of Organised Labour, now challenge the Executive of the Irish National Volunteers to public debate in which to justify their appeal for the sympathy and support of the Irish working class.
"Details of debate to be arranged by three members of the Volunteers' Executive and three members of the Council of the Irish Citizen Army.
"(Signed) SEAN O CATHASAIGH,
"Hon. Sec., Irish Citizen Army."
The following reply, written in Irish, was received from Mr. John MacNeill:-
"19 Herbert Park, Dublin.
"DEAR SIR,- I received your letter last night at the Volunteers' Headquarters, and I gather from its contents that you think that there is a distinction being made by the Volunteer Executive between the noble and the obscure, the rich and the poor, and that you wish to discuss the matter in public debate.
"I am ignorant of the existence of such a distinction. I never heard much or little of it till I read your letter. It is impossible for me to enter into a discussion upon a matter about which I know nothing.
"Sincerely yours,
"EOIN MACNEILL.
" The Secretary, Irish Citizen Army."
This letter was succeeded by a reply subsequently received from Mr. Gogan, Assistant Secretary to the Irish National Volunteers, which ran as follows:-
"The Irish Volunteers,
"2o6 Great Brunswick Street,
"Dublin, May, 1914.
"DEAR SIR,-With reference to your challenge to public debate, the Provisional Committee regret to say that they cannot see their way to participate.
"Fraternally yours,
"THE HON. SECRETARIES.
"(Per L. G. Gogan, Assist. Sec.)
"The Secretary, Irish Citizen Army"
The following comment on these letters appeared in an issue of the Irish Worker dated June 13th, 1914:
" We venture to draw the attention of the readers of the Worker to the fact that the challenge was first answered by Mr. MacNeill himself without consulting his Executive - a singular action - and also that the subsequent letter from the Assistant Secretary includes the rejection of the suggestion of a conference between three members of each committee to discuss the whole question. Is it any wonder that Labour looks dubiously upon a movement which is afraid or unwilling to give an answer for the hope that is in it? These replies are eloquent testimonies to the workers that the National Volunteers' attachment to Democracy is built upon foundations of hay and straw and stubble."
It is singular to relate that notwithstanding the acute feelings of antipathy that existed between the official elements in the Volunteers and Labour, the cordial relations between the rank and file of both organisations remained warm and apparent. It was a pleasure, when the Citizen Army accidentally encountered a body of Volunteers on the march, to see how eager both were to do honour to each other in an earnest and brotherly salute.
It was also strange that the Labour Leaders were always enthusiastically received everywhere, though their speeches were usually punctuated with sharp and penetrating criticisms of the Volunteer movement.
At a meeting held in Bray, on April the 15th, 1914, outside of the Town Hall, which had been let to the Volunteers to hold an organising meeting, but which was refused to the Citizen Army, though its use had been sought for the same purpose, the greater part of the audience consisted of members of the Volunteer movement. Yet Jim Larkin and Captain White got a rousing reception, and Larkin's impassioned appeal to all to follow the principles of Wolfe Tone and John Mitchel, in spite of the back-boneless Volunteer Executive, was received with a loud and an earnest cheer. Jim advised all the workers to identify themselves with the Citizen Army, and reminded them that to suffer for Ireland and for humanity was to enter into a brighter and a fuller heritage.
The antagonism of the official element in the National Volunteers was painfully demonstrated by the following announcement which appeared in the Irish Worker from the Labour Day Committee, May, 1914:-
"Judging by the number of delegates present at last meeting, the celebration of Labour Day this year promises to eclipse anything held in recent years,
notwithstanding the fact that the National Volunteers have organised an opposition demonstration for the same day."
One day while the Secretary was preparing an agenda for a Council meeting, a messenger arrived who told him Captain White was very eager to speak with him on the telephone. The Secretary answered the call and was astonished to hear Captain White say that he had received an astonishing letter from Mr. MacNeill; he went on to tell the Secretary to summon a Council meeting at once, "for," said he, "the Lord has delivered John MacNeill into our hands." It was explained to the Council meeting held that night that Captain White offered the Volunteer Executive two companies of fully uniformed and equipped men, if the Executive would allow them to remain an independent though affiliated body. This offer, with which the Citizen Army Council had nothing to do, and about which they knew nothing at the time, was made subsequent to the celebrated encounter which Captain White had with the police while leading a few hungry men to the Mansion House with a view of protesting against the organised attempt to intensify unemployment in Dublin, that the men might continue to suffer for their temerity in resisting the tyranny of the employers. The letter which was sent by Mr. MacNeill, and which was read to the Council, rejected the Captain's offer, and explained that the National Volunteers could have no association with an organisation that had recently been in conflict with the police. Several members urged that this letter should be immediately published, but it was finally decided that, as the Citizen Army had no intention of amalgamating with the Volunteers, the wiser course to adopt was to pass the incident over.
Looking over past events now in the calm of new thought, it is painful to reflect upon a division that perhaps could not have been avoided but might indeed have been less bitter. The men in the National movement who understood and sympathised with Labour might have been more tolerant, and probably would have been so, had those in the Labour movement who understood National Ideals been more forbearing.
During the whole controversy Captain White and Countess Markievicz separated themselves from and frequently opposed the antagonism displayed towards the National Volunteers. And it is most probable had any indication been given by the Executive of the Irish National Volunteers to promote an amicable understanding between two bodies who had so much natural affinity with each other, that the influence of these two Leaders of the Citizen Army Council would have evolved a working basis of genuine and useful unity between the two organisations, with results that would have materially benefited and strengthened the objects for which both were ostensibly and actually working.
But there was one man whose voice was seldom heard, whose personality was little known in the Labour movement, but who was almost worshipped in the National camp, that silently but effectually opposed any corporate union between militant Nationalism and Labour. It was only when the star of this genius began to fade, which happened after his attempt to hand over the National Volunteers to the guidance of the Parliamentary Party, That a definite spirit of evident comradeship began to manifest itself between the Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army. This man's persistent attitude towards Labour was the attitude of the witches towards the intrusion Of Faust and Mephistopheles:-
" Who are ye? What would ye here? Who hath come slinking in? The plague of fire into your bones!"
This man was Bulmer Hobson, whose warmest appreciation of all things appertaining to Labour was a sneer, and whose influence, which was powerful and potent, even with those whose sympathies were undoubtedly %vith the working-class, was always directed towards the prevention of an understanding between the forces of Labour and the militant power of young-hearted Nationalism.
But during all this unfortunate strife the Citizen Army was painfully developing its strength, adding to its members slowly, but surely, till, at a meeting of the Army Council, it was at last announced that the roll-book showed that the Citizen Army in the City and County of Dublin numbered a thousand men.
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CHAPTER V