The Irish Counter-Revolution, 1921-1936: Treatyite Politics and Settlement in Independent Ireland

Abstract

In 1921, Michael Collins argued that the Anglo-Irish treaty offered nationalists the freedom to achieve freedom. In 1926, Kevin O'Higgins proposed to crown the British monarch king of a reunited Ireland. In 1933, Eoin O'Duffy advocated a corporatist state on the Fascist Italian model, within a republican settlement. This study explains how such contrasting political views were reconciled within an evolving pro-Treaty position. It argues that in order to understand the development of the new and the establishment of a viable democracy it must first be recognized that a dedicated counter-revolution underpinned the post-revolutionary settlement. The book opens with a comprehensive re-evaluation of the treaty negotiations. It argues that there existed elements of anti-democratic culture on both sides of the treaty divide, not least Collins himself. It emphasizes the central role of Kevin O'Higgins in using the spoils system of the new state to undermine his opponents within the regime. Based on ten years' research in archives in Ireland, Britain, France and the USA, this is a reappraisal of the Irish Free State.