Irish Independence and the English Proletariat

(Quote of the Week)

Writing when all of Ireland was under British rule, Karl Marx stressed that for the proletariat in England to develop its class consciousness, it must champion Irish independence. Today, the emancipation of the working class in Britain remains inextricably linked to that of the workers in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, posing the need for proletarian revolutions that establish a voluntary federation of workers republics in the British Isles.

I have become more and more convinced—and the thing now is to drum this conviction into the English working class—that they will never be able to do anything decisive here in England before they separate their attitude towards Ireland quite definitely from that of the ruling classes, and not only make common cause with the Irish, but even take the initiative in dissolving the Union established in 1801, and substituting a free federal relationship for it. And this must be done not out of sympathy for Ireland, but as a demand based on the interests of the English proletariat. If not, the English people will remain bound to the leading-strings of the ruling classes, because they will be forced to make a common front with them against Ireland. Every movement of the working class in England itself is crippled by the dissension with the Irish, who form a very important section of the working class in England itself. The primary condition for emancipation here—the overthrow of the English landed oligarchy—remains unattainable, since its positions cannot be stormed here as long as it holds its strongly-entrenched outposts in Ireland. But over there, once affairs have been laid in the hands of the Irish people themselves, as soon as they have made themselves their own legislators and rulers, as soon as they have become autonomous, it will be infinitely easier there than here to abolish the landed aristocracy (to a large extent the same persons as the English landlords) since in Ireland it is not just merely an economic question, but also a national one, as the landlords there are not, as they are in England, traditional dignitaries and representatives, but the mortally-hated oppressors of the nationality....

In fact, England never has and never can rule Ireland any other way, as long as the present relationship continues—only with the most abominable reign of terror and the most reprehensible corruption.

—Karl Marx, Letter to Ludwig Kugelmann (29 November 1869)