Easter Rising Commemorations

The Anniversary of the Easter Rising of 1916 is traditionally the most important event in the Irish Republican calendar. All over Ireland, Irish Republicans commemorate the Easter Rising remembering with pride those who have given their lives in pursuit of a unitary Republic, free from Imperial domination and capitalist exploitation. Close to their thoughts, on the anniversary of the Easter Rising, will be those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the more recent phase of the struggle for national liberation. Irish Republican Easter Commemorations usually take the form of well organised marches to the Republican plot in the local cemetery where the graves of the fallen can be found. In Belfast, there are several Republican Plots in the massive Milltown Cemetery belonging to a number of different Irish Republican organisations, including the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, the Provisional IRA and the Official IRA. At Easter time each year, these revered places are the scene of various commemorations.

The Easter Rising

The Easter Rising, all those years ago in 1916, although defeated militarily by the British proved to be the catalyst for the re-birth of Irish revolutionary separatism. The Easter Rising was organised by the secret revolutionary organisation known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B). The main fighting force was made up of the Irish Volunteers (Oglaigh na hEireann), James Connolly's workers' militia, the Irish Citizen Army with a supporting role played by female members of Cumann na MBan. The main contingent were joined by Na Fianna Eireann, the Republican Scouting movement, and the Hibernian Volunteers. The most significant military action of the 1916 Rising took place in the capital city Dublin, where extremely courageous Irish revolutionaries, although outnumbered 16 to 1, took on the might of the British war machine. Casualties on both sides reached into the thousands, with over 200 fatalities mostly on the side of the British army.

Prior to the Rising and even in the immediate aftermath, the actions of the Irish Republican insurrectionists were condemned by the Catholic Church and the majority of the Irish people, indeed some of the captured volunteers were spat on by sections of the angry and bewildered Dublin population. Commandant James Connolly, the Marxist leader of the Irish Citizen Army, was so badly wounded in the fierce fighting during Easter week, that he was executed while tied to a chair. Young Willie Pearse was executed for the sole reason that he was a brother of Patrick Pearse, a leader of the Rising. Poor old Tom Clarke, who had spent many years as a Republican prisoner of war in English prisons, was paraded through the streets naked in an unsuccessful attempt to break his resolve, before being sentenced to death by drum-head courts martial. All signatories of the 1916 Proclamation were summarily executed and many more Irish Republicans had their death sentences commuted to long prison sentences, or indefinite detention by internment.

Those Irish Republicans not executed were eventually interned in Frongoch concentration camp in Wales. However, the callous manner in which the British Imperialist administration in Ireland arbitrarily executed sixteen of the perceived leaders of the Easter Rising, eventually swayed Irish public opinion overwhelmingly in their favour. The British, with all the arrogance borne of their Imperial might, were the unsuspecting midwives to les enfants terrible de la Republique. Irish Republicanism enjoyed another cyclic renaissance and Yeats' Terrible Beauty had indeed been born..

Each Easter, in Belfast alone, there will many separate commemorations, by various Republican organisations. During Easter weekend, Republicans traditionally wear a paper badge with the image of an Easter Lilly in it's centre. In the early 1970's when the IRA split into the Official IRA and the Provisionals, the Official IRA became known colloquially as 'Stickies', as their Easter lilly badges had adhesive backing. The Provisional IRA's Easter Lilly badge, was worn with a small pin through it for attaching to lapels. (At one stage the PIRA were briefly nicknamed the 'pinheads' but it never really caught on, unlike like the Officials nickname.) The following Irish Republican organisations and political parties have separate Easter commemorations:

• The Irish Republican Socialist Movement;
• Provisional Sinn Fein;
• Republican Sinn Fein;
• The 32 County Sovereignty Movement;
• The Republican Network for Unity;
• Eirigi;
• IPLO former comrades;
• The Workers Party;
• Official Republican Movement (ORM)

In Belfast, the two largest Easter commemorations are those organised by the Irish Republican Socialist Movement and the Provisionals. The Irish Republican Socialist Movement's Easter 1916 commemoration usually leaves Dunville Park in the Lower Falls area at 11.30 am on Easter Sunday. The Provisionals march usually departs from Beechmount Avenue at 1.30pm and in recent times has been accompanied by pageant type attractions. There are also Easter Rising commemorations held by 'independent' Republicans in various parts of Ireland, most noticeably in County Tyrone.

In the South, the Free State government usually has some tokenist commemoration, though given their revisionist nature they, might well have finally succeeded in erasing 1916 out of their short, selective memories. In Belfast, where nearly all commemorations make their way to Milltown cemetery, there is a fair bit of political choreography involved in keeping the various organisations from cutting-in on each others' parades.

Easter is a proud time for Irish Republicans, although with all commemorations there is a touch of sadness, not just for the martyred dead but for friends and comrades, who may be unable to attend a commemoration due ill-health or imprisonment. Many people feel that it is a great shame that there are so many separate commemorations and hope that sometime soon there may be a more unified approach to Easter commemorations.

Éirí Amach na Cásca!

© Iskra

"We are out for Ireland for the Irish. But who are the Irish? Not the rack-renting, slum owning landlord; not the sweating, profit-grinding capitalist; not the sleek and oily lawyer; not the prostitute pressman - the hired liars of the enemy . . . but the Irish working class . . . The cause of labour is the cause of Ireland. The cause of Ireland is the cause of labour. They cannot be dissevered . . . Therefore, on Sunday, April 16th, the Green Flag of Ireland will be solemnly hoisted over Liberty Hall."

(James Connolly, Commander of the Citizen Army, writing in the Workers' Republic to alert members of the imminent Rising, April 8, 1916.)