Handmaids of the Resurrection: Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, Women and Irish Fascism

Abstract

Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, the most important fascist party to arise in Ireland, reached its electoral peak in 1945 when it won nine seats in the local government elections of that year. Much of its success was due to the unusually high level of support it gained from women, who made up a greater proportion of its membership than did their counterparts in the mainstream parties or in fascist movements overseas. Though the party's policies were often surprisingly accommodating of women's participation in public life, Aiséirghe's true distinctiveness lay in its assertion of the compatibility of totalitarian politics and Christian social principles. This ideological syncretism – giving a literal interpretation to the expression ‘political religion’ – proved especially attractive to those young Irishwomen who were disturbed by what they perceived as the indifference of liberal-democratic political and economic systems to women's material and spiritual interests.