Architects of the Resurrection : Ailtirí na hAiséirghe and the fascist 'New Order' in Ireland / R.M. Douglas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Douglas, R. M., 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fascism--Ireland--History--20th century.

Fascism.

History.

Ireland--Politics and government--1922-1949.

Ireland.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

x, 322 pages : 1 map ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Ailtirí na hAiséirghe and the fascist 'New Order' in Ireland

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2009.

Summary:

In The Early 1940S many people in Ireland expected Nazi Germany to win the Second World War. According to secret Irish government assessments, most wanted it to. After the fall of France and with Britain on the brink of defeat, democracy seemed likely to disappear from Europe. But if this happened, how should newly independent Ireland – a country that had remained neutral in the war – respond to what appeared to be an emerging post-democratic world order?

Gearòid Ó Cuinneagàin, a young pre-Axis activist, had an answer. In 1942 he founded Ailtirì na hAisèirghe (‘Architects of the Resurrection’), a fascist movement that aimed to destroy the infant Irish democracy and replace it with a one-party totalitarian state. But Ailtirì na hAisèirghe was no mere Nazi imitator, Rather, it aimed at something far more ambitious, the fusion of totalitarianism and Christianity that would make Ireland a ‘missionary-ideolgical state’ wielding global influence in the postwar era.

Supported by idealistic youth and mainstream politicians like Ernest Blythe, Oliver J. Flanagan and Dan Breen – and scrutinished anxiously by British and American intelligence – hAisèirghe won several seats in the 1945 local government elections. But a devastating split, just as it seemed poised to make a political breakthrough, reversed its fortunes and put an end to Ò Cuinneagàin’s once-promising career as a would-be Irish führer.

Architects of the Resurrection casts an uncomfortable light on the popularity of anti-democratic, anti-Semitic and extremist ideas in wartime Ireland. Students of Irish history and of comparative fascism will discover many new insights in this book.

Contents:

Anti-democratic influences in Ireland, 1919-39

'New' and 'newer' orders

The ideology of Aiséirghe

The green totalitarian band

Democratic deficit

Autumn of discontent

The 'Cunningham circus'.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780719079733

071907973X

0719079985

9780719079986

OCLC:

317748944

Online:

http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/catalogue/book.asp?id=1204397