200 at 'Political Culture in Cork - an answer to revisionist historians and journalists'

Audio of talk by Dr Brian P Murphy osb in the Imperial Hotel South Mall Cork on Fri April 15. Nine audio files - approx two hours in total.

This very successful meeting with over 200 present also saw the launch of Dr Murphy's new book, 'The Catholic Bulletin and Republican Ireland'.

Some recent studies question the ideals of the Irish republican movement, branding it as sectarian; minimising the ideals of those involved; and categorising the IRA as murderers of policemen. These issues were addressed in the talk, which furthers the critique of the approach adopted by Peter Hart in 'The IRA and its Enemies', and in subsequent revisionist work.

The debate on the approach by Peter Hart, and his response, has been covered on Indymedia at

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69172

The talk addressed positively the struggle of the Irish people, with particular reference to Cork, to fashion their own national identity in opposition to the dominant political culture of the British Empire, a dominant culture that was based, in the view of Edward Said, on the assumption of racial superiority.

Dr Murphy examined the creation of Dail Eireann in January 1919 and the failure of Ireland's appeal for independence to be heard at the Paris Peace Conference. John J. Horgan, a Cork member of the Irish Party, quoted Erskine Childers’ on England's attitude: 'to the great majority of Irishmen, Great Britain now signifies "Prussianism" incarnate, and with good reason ... Great Britain is making war, literally, on the principle of freedom.'

An outline was given of some of the constructive works of Dail Eireann - the Dail Loan, the National Land Bank, the Dail Courts and the renewal of industry.

A film made in August 1919 of Michael Collins launching the Dail Loan is very significant and was shown as part of the talk.

Crown Forces opposed all of these initiatives. Again, to quote Childers (a leading figure in the Land Bank) in May 1920: 'an attempt is being made to break up a whole national organisation, a living, vital, magnificent thing, normally and democratically evolved from the intense desire of a fettered and repressed people for self reliance and self development. This attempt, if we are to give words their right meaning, is the great crime, the fundamental crime.'

Consideration was given to the actions of the IRA in the war. The talk took place on the 85th anniversary year of the deaths of Lord Mayors, Thomas MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney.

April 15th was two days prior to the anniversary of the in-quest jury finding that MacCurtain 'was wilfully murdered under circumstances of the most callous brutality, and that the murder was organised and carried out by the RIC, officially directed by the British Government.'

The findings of this study suggest that recent historical studies labelling the IRA as sectarian killers are defective at source and the propagating of such studies in the popular media by such journalists as Kevin Myers and Eoghan Harris is similar to the writings of British propaganda during the war of Independence.

Myers, in particular, has become a serial verbal abuser of republicans of this period. Their writings distort the historical narrative. This talk is an attempt to put the record straight for Cork but also for Ireland as a whole.

Dr Murphy is currently researching British Propaganda during the 1919-22 period. He gave a highly acclaimed talk on the subject in Dublin recently in which he questioned the research findings of Canadian academic Peter Hart and Oxford historian Roy Foster.

Dr Murphy's talk on British propaganda was covered in The Sunday Times, La (Irish language daily) and the BBC.
Dr Murphy returned to criticisms of Hart in his talk. He addressed in particular inadequacies in Hart’s understanding of the motivation of republicans, his downplaying of the anti-democratic role of the British government and its forces and Hart’s misuse of source material.

The talk is in four parts and the question & answer session in two parts. An additional audio file contains Dr Murphy’s remarks on his newly published book ‘The Catholic Bulletin and Republican Ireland’. In addition the opening remarks of Padraig O Cunachain, who Chaired the meeting, and Jack Lane of the Aubane Historical Society, are also included.

The talk will be to interest to students of Irish history, those interested in the critique of revisionist historiography, in the 'spinning' of the historical record, and in parallels with contemporary politics.