"Intercourse between Bolshevism and Sinn Féin" These were the words one British newspaper used to describe the relationship between the Irish Republican movement and the fledgling Soviet Union during the Irish Revolution. It was an unlikely pairing. Ireland became a deeply conservative, Catholic country where communism was viewed with suspicion and fear. Yet during the Irish War of Independence, as British forces fought republicans across the island, whispers of Soviet support and communist sympathy rippled through both Dublin and London.

But how real was this link? Did the IRA truly seek Soviet weapons and backing? And what did Moscow make of Irish republicanism? This episode uncovers the remarkable and forgotten story of how Ireland and Soviet Russia came to view each other as potential allies, and why that relationship would ultimately collapse. This is the third episode in Brothers in Pain ia groundbreaking series by Dr Brian Hanley that explores the international dimensions of the Irish War of Independence.

Written, Researched & Narrated by Dr Brian Hanley. Check out Brian's publications here https://www.tcd.ie/history/staff/brian-hanley.php

Producer: Fin Dwyer

Sound: Kate Dunlea

Note from Brian :

In researching these episodes I have been indebted to the work of the following scholars;

Anna Lively, Sam McGrath, Bruce Nelson, Terry Dunne, David Brundage, Niamh Coffey, Gerard Shannon, Maurice Casey, Kelly Anne Reynolds, Chris McNickle, Joe Doyle, Liz Gillis, FM Carroll, Patrick Mannion, Jimmy Yann, Niall Cullen, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Keith Jeffrey, Arthur Mitchell, John Borgonovo, Kate O’Malley, Michael Doorley, Robin Adams, Kevin Kenny, Fearghal McGarry, Catherine M. Burns, Síobhra Aiken, Patrick J. Mahony, Darragh Gannon, Matthew Pratt Guterl and James R. Barrett.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Dublin's gay community, Irish Independence and the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 heralded anything but freedom. While the new state promised change, the gay community faced decades of repression, arrest, and severe punishment. Yet despite this, they continued to build lives, relationships, and communities in the shadow of fear.

In this episode, I am joined by historian Aevrill Earls to discuss her book Love in the Lav, a fascinating history of the community in Dublin in the decades after Irish independence. While repression is central to the story, this conversation also uncovers a more complicated picture of the community's relationship with wider Irish society and the ways people navigated a world shaped by surveillance, stigma, and silence.

Get you copy of Aevrill's book Love in the Lav

Become a supporter of the show patreon.com/irishpodcast

Get you copy of Love in the Lav

In Ireland - https://www.hodgesfiggis.ie/book/love-in-the-lav/averill-earls/9781439924167

In the US Bookshop.org - https://bookshop.org/p/books/love-in-the-lav-a-social-biography-of-same-sex-desire-in-ireland-1922-1972-averill-earls/99753665e753ea33?ean=9781439924167&next=t

Aevril Earls is Associate Professor of History at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, Executive Producer of Dig: A History Podcast, and co-convener of the Reminiscence and Remembrance Oral History Project for LGBTQ+ Ireland.

Sound: Kate Dunlea

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Keep handing it to the Micks. The Roman Catholic Irish are, and always have been, the only un-Americanised people in the United States.”

These words came from a supporter of Admiral William S. Sims, an ardent opponent of Irish republicans in the United States in the 1920s. This episode of Brothers in Pain explores the crucial battle for American public opinion during the Irish War of Independence.

While the equivalent of over one hundred million dollars was raised for republican organisations and for victims of the war of independence in Ireland, there was also strong opposition to Irish independence in the United States. Leading American politicians regarded Britain as a key ally, while groups like the Ku Klux Klan despised what they saw as immigrant politics. This podcast tells the history of this crucial battleground in the Irish War of Independence. Brothers in Pain is a groundbreaking series by Dr Brian Hanley that explores the international dimensions of the Irish War of Independence.

Written, Researched & Narrated by Dr Brian Hanley

Producer Fin Dwyer

Sound Kate Dunlea

Note from Brian :

In researching these episodes I have been indebted to the work of the following scholars;

Anna Lively, Sam McGrath, Bruce Nelson, Terry Dunne, David Brundage, Niamh Coffey, Gerard Shannon, Maurice Casey, Kelly Anne Reynolds, Chris McNickle, Joe Doyle, Liz Gillis, FM Carroll, Patrick Mannion, Jimmy Yann, Niall Cullen, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Keith Jeffrey, Arthur Mitchell, John Borgonovo, Kate O’Malley, Michael Doorley, Robin Adams, Kevin Kenny, Fearghal McGarry, Catherine M. Burns, Síobhra Aiken, Patrick J. Mahony, Darragh Gannon, Matthew Pratt Guterl and James R. Barrett.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.