Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin (born John Gerald Cunningham; 2 January 1910 – 13 June 1991) was an Irish language activist, Irish nationalist and far-right politician born in Belfast, Ireland. He was the founder and leader of Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, a fascist party which sought to create a Christian corporatist state and revive the Irish language through the establishment of an authoritarian dictatorship in Ireland.Political parties in the Republic of Ireland by Michael Gallagher. Manchester University Press ND, 1985, , (p.107-9).
Early life and education
John Gerald Cunningham was born on 2 January 1910, to John Cunningham, a restaurant manager, and Catherine (Kate) McMahon, of 31 Sandhurst Gardens in the Stranmillis district of Belfast. His father was from County Armagh and his mother, who could speak Irish, from County Down. Gearóid had four sisters and two brothers. His brother Seósamh (Joseph) became a solicitor who also went on to fight in the Spanish Civil War for the Nationalists with Eoin O'Duffy's Volunteers, while his brother Tomás went on to become a Catholic priest.
He attended St. Malachy's Christian Brothers School. He gained third place nationwide in the Irish civil service examinations in 1927 and earned matriculation to Queen's University Belfast. He rejected an offer from his father to finance his university studies and instead accepted an appointment in the Irish Department of Finance, being posted to Athlone. There he renewed acquaintance with Patrick Lenihan, one of his former teachers at St. Malachy's. Inspired by Lenihan, a cultural nationalist, he changed his name from Gerald Cunningham to its Gaelic form, Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin.Douglas (2009), p. 60
Ó Cuinneagáin was later posted to Castlebar and Dublin and was appointed Junior Executive Officer in the Department of Defence. In 1932, he requested three months of unpaid leave to attend an Irish language immersion programme in Ranafast, but was turned down. In response he resigned in July and spent the following year in Ranafast, emerging a fluent Irish speaker.Martin White, The Greenshirts: Fascism in the Irish Free State, 1935-45, p. 257
Ó Cuinneagáin's command of the language earned him a position in 1933 as an editorial writer of the Republican Congress's Irish language newspaper An tÉireannach, publishing some of the articles under the pseudonym "Immaculate Virgin". After some months, however, he resigned, seeking a more reliable form of income and possibly coming to disagree with the newspaper's socialist views. In 1937, he became a partner in a small tax-consulting venture, Ó Cuinneagáin & Cooke.Douglas (2009), p. 61
Pro-Axis underground
In 1937, he wrote an article in the conservative republican Wolfe Tone Weekly calling for an alliance between Ireland and Italy against their common enemy, the United Kingdom. He called for a large-scale military build-up, hoping that the power of a strong Ireland combined with the influence of the Irish diaspora might sway Mussolini to assist the Irish cause.Douglas (2009), p. 34 At this point, however, Ó Cuinneagáin was not yet a fascist, stating in the article that Ireland need not be a fascist state and instead envisioning Ireland as a democratic republic based on the United States, with an economic programme inspired by Roosevelt's New Deal.Douglas (2009), p. 64
In 1939, recognising that war between Britain and Germany was imminent, he called on Irish people to "make use of this other great danger facing England to benefit our country".Douglas (2009), p. 62 In an unpublished manifesto written in spring 1940, "Ireland a Missionary-Ideological State?" he advocated the establishment of a corporate state which would combine faith and modernity, rejecting the "materialism" of capitalism and communism.Douglas (2009), p. 63
In 1940 Ó Cuinneagáin was involved in the establishment of Clann na Saoirse, which was connected to the pro-Axis organisations Irish Friends of Germany and Cumann Náisiúnta. These had been set up by Easter Rising veteran and former Blueshirt W.J. Brennan-Whitmore with the goal of creating a corporate state in Ireland.R. M. Douglas, The Historical Journal Vol. 49, No. 4 (2006), p. 1161 Ó Cuinneagáin was appointed Stiúrthóir (director) in May and issued an eight-point programme calling for the military reclamation of Northern Ireland, pro-natalist policies, a ban on emigration, the elimination of the "pernicious influence of aliens" on Irish economic life, the establishment of a "sovereign federation" of the Celtic nations (Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany), and the prohibition of the English language.R. M. Douglas, The Historical Journal Vol. 49, No. 4 (2006), p. 1162
Following the discovery of Plan Kathleen, the Irish government had the principal members of Clann na Saoirse, the Irish Friends of Germany, and Cumann Náisiúnta arrested. Ó Cuinneagáin was not arrested, as his involvement with the movement was not public knowledge. The detainees were released a few days later. The Irish Friends of Germany and Cumann Náisiúnta began to organise meetings planning to assist a German invasion under the cover of Irish-language classes taught by Ó Cuinneagáin. In September, however, he announced his plans to leave the organisation to instead form a branch of Conradh na Gaeilge known as Craobh na hAiséirghe (Branch of the Resurrection) which would be "a Hitler Youth Movement under the guise of an Irish class".Martin White, The Greenshirts: Fascism in the Irish Free State, 1935-45, p. 256
Two days later, Irish security forces raided the houses of members of the Irish Friends of Germany and Cumann Náisiúnta. Again Ó Cuinneagáin escaped arrest as the Irish authorities did not realise that "Séamus Cunningham", "Jerry Cunningham" and Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin, three of the names by which he was known, were the same person.R. M. Douglas, The Historical Journal Vol. 49, No. 4 (2006), p. 1169
Craobh na hAiséirghe
Craobh na hAiséirghe claimed to be a non-political and non-ideological organisation dedicated to the preservation of the Irish language and culture, and many of its members had no interest in fascism. Their membership grew at a rapid rate, numbering within a year 1,200 and 1,500 adherents.R. M. Douglas, The Historical Journal Vol. 49, No. 4 (2006), p. 1175 At Craobh na hAiséirghe's second meeting Ó Cuinneagáin was elected president of the organisation but within a few weeks changed his original title to Ceannaire, meaning "leader". Ó Cuinneagáin copper-fastened his authority and established absolute powers of direction over the organisation.Douglas (2009), p. 76
He became involved with the pro-German republican party Córas na Poblachta and assumed the leadership of its youth wing Aicéin (Action) until Aicéin's independence was ended in February 1942. For Ó Cuinneagáin, association with the party allowed him to gain recruits for Craobh na hAiséirghe and make connections with the Irish Republican Army, in addition to the possibility of influencing Córas' policy ideologically.R. M. Douglas, The Historical Journal Vol. 49, No. 4 (2006), p. 1176
In 1941, Ó Cuinneagáin was elected to Conradh na Gaeilge's national executive, the Coiste Gnótha, but became involved in a dispute with other members of the executive over a proposed Conradh commemorative publication of the 1916 Easter Rising, as Ó Cuinneagáin insisted that a member of Craobh na hAiséirghe be appointed editor of the issue. Ó Cuinneagáin's attempts to pack the leadership of Conradh failed to work, as only he and Proinsias Mac an Bheatha were elected to its council. His two bids for presidency of Conradh na Gaeilge likewise failed.Douglas (2009), p. 84 Afterwards he commenced a boycott of Conradh, prohibiting Craobh delegates from participating in the Coiste Gnótha and withholding the annual fee due from the branch.Douglas (2009), p. 85
In June 1942, a convention was organised in Donaghpatrick to commemorate the centenary of the founding of The Nation newspaper by Young Ireland. Ó Cuinneagáin was invited to give an address, in recognition of his work on behalf of the Irish language. His two-hour speech was a political one that strongly criticised Irish society and its leadership but praised the Emergency Powers Act for helping to prepare Ireland for totalitarian government. He announced the formation of a new political movement alongside Craobh na hAiséirghe to be known as Ailtirí na hAiséirghe.Douglas (2009), p. 86
The speech brought to a head dissent growing at the increasingly political stance of the branch as many of the branch's members were civil servants or otherwise worked for the state which Ó Cuinneagáin now expressed his wish to overthrow. The publication of Aiseirghe 1942, which was devoted purely to laying out Ó Cuinneagáin's political vision for his new movement, similar to the eight-point programme he had issued as a member of Clann na Saoirse, exacerbated these tensions.Douglas (2009), p. 87
On November 6, 1942, at the annual Craobh na hAiseirghe meeting, the organisation split amicably, with the culturalists under Proinsias Mac an Bheatha adopting the new name of Glún na Buaidhe (Generation of Victory) and agreeing to assume Craobh na hAiséirghe's debts. In his final address as leader of the branch, Ó Cuinneagáin pledged his co-operation with its objectives and asked members to assist Glún na Buaidhe.Douglas (2009), p. 90
Ailtirí na hAiséirghe
Ó Cuinneagáin and his movement began to hold speeches where crowds of people might be found such as pubs, cinemas, sporting events and churches as well as to organise parades and Irish dancing.Douglas (2009), p. 178 Aiséirghe speakers would deliver a speech in Irish before switching to English, something which, according to Aindrias Ó Scolaidhe, one of Ó Cuinneagáin's deputies, aroused the curiosity of crowds.Douglas (2009), p. 176 Ó Cuinneagáin became a frequent speaker at campus events, even proselytising in the pro-Unionist environment of Trinity College.Douglas (2009), p. 170
Ó Cuinneagáin courted the support of Irish republicans with whom he had developed close relationships during his time in Conradh na Gaeilge and Córas na Poblachta. He was prominent in the Green Cross Fund which helped provide financial assistance to the families of republican internees and he began to arrange film screenings for and provide books, gramophone records and Aiséirghe literature to IRA internees. Several prominent IRA volunteers including Gearóid Ó Bróin, a member of the IRA Army Council, joined Ó Cuinneagáin or expressed their approval of the party.Douglas (2009), p. 168 The Irish intelligence service G2 and its British counterpart MI5 began to note that Aiséirghe members often attended Sinn Féin meetings and sometimes even spoke from their platforms.Douglas (2009), p. 174
The party was unprepared for the 1943 Irish general election and won no seats. In an attempt at a publicity stunt two weeks before the election Ó Cuinneagáin organised an Aiséirghe céilí in Belfast and gave a fiery speech during it, hoping to be arrested and gain press coverage as a "political prisoner." As he predicted the Royal Ulster Constabulary immediately broke up the event and took Ó Cuinneagáin into custody. However, he was released forty-eight hours later, denying him the press coverage for which he had hoped.Douglas (2009), p. 189 The party's support in Northern Ireland was devastated as in the weeks as following the incident Aiséirghe members in Northern Ireland were visited by the RUC and given the choice of resigning from Aiséirghe or being interned under the Special Powers Act.Douglas (2009), p. 190
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