Partisan • Patriotic • Internationalist
Fortune Teller Out of sheer desperationI went to the fortune tellerand begged her to tell me when the war would end.Her lips curled.What did that mean?I felt my own lips beginning to curl as well, unwittingly.She looked me straight in the eye.Maybe she doesn’t know, I said to myself.Can she […]
Ar dtús, caithfidh mé mo leithscéal a ghabháil as labhairt anseo i dteanga ár namhad. Nach greannmhar go bhfuil muid ag plé an ábhair seo i dteanga a níonn scrios ar ár gcultúr agus ar mheon na saoirse sa tír seo agus ar fud an domhain, lá i ndiaidh lae. […]
based on an interview with Karl Döring The unification of Germany in 1990 initially inspired hope but quickly descended into chaos for many in the former GDR. As someone who experienced this transition firsthand, I witnessed the upheaval caused by the shift from a planned economy to a market-driven system. […]
Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey, OR Books, New York and London, 2023 Poetry for the Many is a remarkable publication by two prominent British socialists, Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey, whose public roles might not immediately suggest a foray into poetry. Corbyn and McCluskey are both well-known for their political […]
For decades, New Books editions of Connolly’s writings were the main resource for readers seeking the word of James Connolly in print. The two volumes of Connolly’s Collected Works and pocket versions of Labour in Irish History remained bestsellers in New Books (later Connolly Books), but the story of Connolly […]
Aiséirí / Resurrection is an anti-war poem, in Irish and English, in response to a painting of the same title by Hermann Stenner who was only 23 when he was killed during the First World War. Translated by Gabriel Rosenstock Resurrection Will they rise from the dead the casualties of […]
On Tuesday 24th September, the latest novel by Sally Rooney, Intermezzo, hit the shelves in bookshops nationwide. The launch day saw queues in front of bookshops before they opened, and Rooney was in the media spotlight for her reiterated, unequivocal support for Palestine in a recent public appearance. Now used […]
Seán O’Casey was the first English-speaking dramatist of international significance to emerge from the proletariat. One of the recurring themes in his work is that of revolution. While in his early Dublin plays he controversially considered the Irish working class not yet ready for revolutionary change, his later works explore […]
Produced by Azzy O’Connor, Fiadh Tubridy and Declan Mallon, The Rent Strike (2024) documentary was shown in the Irish Film Institute in August. Screening across Ireland are being scheduled at the moment, with a growing public interest across all generations. The Rent Strike uses archive footage, newspaper articles, personal archives […]
John Mayall died on the 22, July 2024, aged 90 years, at his home in Los Angeles. He was not concerned with fame or celebrity status, and was content performing clubs and smaller venues. He continued to perform until his last live performance in March 2022, at The Coach House, […]
The French Revolution sparked great hopes for the rise of the bourgeoisie, the abolition of feudal structures, and the establishment of a capitalist society. Napoleon centralised power in his person, established an authoritarian regime, and crowned himself emperor in 1804. His wars in Europe served both territorial expansion and the […]
Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten, by Maurice J Casey – review Richard Mullen The blurb on the back cover of Hotel Lux reads: “A series of romances wrapped in a detective story, disguised as a narrative history of international communism, Hotel Lux uncovers a world of forgotten […]
Newslessness is a bilingual poem in Irish and English by Gabriel Rosenstock, in response to a work of art by the influential German artist Hans Haacke. Hans Haacke, News, 1969 (Fair Use) Newslessness What a day! a day like any other day a day full of news but unlike the previous […]
Ransom ’79 (dir. Colm Quinn, 2024) is the story of Charlie Bird working on his final documentary, about a demand to extort £5 million from the government or foot-and-mouth disease would be unleashed into the south of Ireland, back in 1979. This is a true crime story, that remained covered […]
On Tuesday 25th June, the LGBT committee of CPI’s Dublin branch organised a screening of the East German film, Coming Out (dir. Heiner Carow, 1989), with party members and members of the public in attendance. Coming Out was the last film produced in the GDR, by the production house DEFA, […]
Spy thrillers about and accounts of East-West spying during the cold war abound, are always written from a particular Western political standpoint. Autobiographies relating the stories of former “agents for peace” on the other hand are rare. Beatrice Altman-Schevitz’ The Shadow in the Shadow is the only such memoir to […]