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Wolfe Tone Societies

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The Wolfe Tone Societies
(Template:Lang-ga)
Wolfe Tone, 20 June 1763 – 19 November 1798
AbbreviationWTS
Formation1964
TypeIrish political organisation
PurposeCreation of an all Ireland republic
HeadquartersDublin
Region served Ireland
MembershipBy invitation
Official language English and Irish

The Wolfe Tone Societies (Template:Lang-ga) evolved from the commemorative committees which the IRA helped set up in 1963 to mark the bicentenary of the 1793 birth of Wolfe Tone. These emerged as the Wolfe Tone Societies in 1964. Radical republican discussion groups which held debates across Ireland and which helped to "foster republicanism by educating the masses in their cultural and political heritage". One of their core objectives was to achieve a "united Irish republic".

One of the key intellectuals who joined the societies was Roy Johnston, a Protestant Irish nationalist who sought to encourage Protestants in Northern Ireland to join the Irish nationalist movement. In the spirit of Wolfe Tone he sought to unify all Irishmen.

History

In 1963 to commemorate the bi-centenary of Wolfe Tone's birth, Irish republicans formed the Wolfe Tone Societies. It was decided two years later that the organization should continue and focus on trying to "influence cultural and political trends in the country" and using democratic means to weaken the Unionist government of Northern Ireland. It's main bases of strength where in Belfast and Dublin.

In 1984, a Wolfe Tone Society was founded in London from the amalgamation of several London based Irish republican groups. It gives support to Sinn Fein policies. It holds major meetings and republican commemorations at the Camden Irish Centre in London, which are attended by Sinn Fein members such as Francie Molloy, and also stages protests.

The London society also has the support of Labour MP John McDonnell, who not long after being elected gave a speech at a Bobby Sands commemoration at the Camden Irish Centre in 1997.

Objectives

Formation of NICRA

Bibliography

  • English, Richard. Armed Struggle;– A History of the IRA, MacMillan, London 2003, ISBN 1-4050-0108-9
  • Coogan, TP. The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal, 1969-96, and the Search for Peace, Arrow Books Ltd, 1996, ISBN 009946571X

Sources

References

  1. National Archives Ireland - Tuairisc: The news-letter of the Wolfe Tone Society, Number One
  2. English p85
  3. English p85
  4. http://www.iol.ie/~rjtechne/century130703/1960s/wtsconst.htm
  5. English pp85-86
  6. ^ Abe Books - Wolfe Tone Annual 1994
  7. CAIN - "We Shall Overcome" .... The History of the Struggle for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland 1968 - 1978 by NICRA (1978)
  8. An Phoblacht - Wolfe Tone AGM rejects criminalisation
  9. ^ [http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk/wolfe-tone-society-mcdonnell/Memory/0102aff0-e974-489b-a8e0-a00b0116bde6 Friends Reunited - Wolfe Tone Society
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