Brendan Clifford (born 1936) is an Irish historian and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

Early life and education

He was born in the Sliabh Luachra area of Munster, Republic of Ireland.

Career

As a young man, Clifford emigrated to the United Kingdom and became involved in

left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soc ...

. Initially, he was an associate of Michael McCreery, a leader of the

Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity was a small United Kingdom, British Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist group that left the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1963. CDRCU was led by Michael McCreery, the son of General (United K ...

, Widgery, David (1976). ''The Left in Britain, 1956–68''. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England:

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Marxist–Leninist group that had left the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1963. Later, he joined the Irish Communist Group which soon split into two factions; Clifford sided with the

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

faction, which named itself the Irish Communist Organisation (ICO). In 1967, Clifford gave a public speech on the

Republican Congress The Republican Congress ( ga, An Chomhdháil Phoblachtach) was an Irish republican and Marxist-Leninist political organisation founded in 1934, when pro-communist republicans left the Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army. The Congress was led by ...

in Wynn's Hotel, Dublin,"Dual Aim of the Republican Congress", ''Irish Times'', March 68th, 1967, (p.8). at a meeting of the Irish trade union group Scéim na gCeardchumann. In the early 1970s, he joined the other ICO members in advocating the " two-nations theory"that the

Ulster Protestant Ulster Protestants ( ga, Protastúnaigh Ultach) are an ethnoreligious group in the Irish province of Ulster, where they make up about 43.5% of the population. Most Ulster Protestants are descendants of settlers who arrived from Britain in the ...

s formed a separate nation and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

had no right to force them into a

United Ireland United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the maj ...

against their wishes. Clifford soon became a prolific publisher of material advocating the group's viewpoint. The ICO later changed its name to the British and Irish Communist Organisation (B&ICO).Plunkett, Patrick (21 June 1974). "The BICO Influence on Irish Thought". ''

The Kerryman ''The Kerryman'' is a weekly local newspaper published in County Kerry in Ireland by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper was founded in 1904 by Maurice Griffin and cousins Thomas and Daniel Nolan. Independen ...

''. p. 10. He was an active campaigner against

Irish nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...

alongside other B&ICO members including his wife Angela Clifford, Jack Lane, Manus O'Riordan and Len Callendar. By the late 1970s, according to historian Richard P. Davis, Clifford and historian Peter Brooke were effectively leading the B&ICO. In the 1980s, Clifford began campaigning for the organisation of British mainland political parties in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Aughey, Arthur (1989). ''Under Siege: Ulster Unionism and the Anglo-Irish Agreement''. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Blackstaff Press. pp. 146–167. . He was an active member of the Campaign for Equal Citizenship political-advocacy group which advocated this aim. Clifford was strongly against the 1985

Anglo-Irish Agreement The Anglo-Irish Agreement was a 1985 treaty between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Irela ...

and wrote several pamphlets attacking the agreement and especially the Irish politician

John Hume John Hume (18 January 19373 August 2020) was an Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the recent political history of Ireland, as one of the architects of the Northern Ire ...

, whom Clifford regarded as a reactionary Irish Nationalist; and Queen's University Belfast, which Clifford claimed was biased against the Ulster Unionists. As the B&ICO became inactive in the mid-1980s, he began working through several new groups, including the Aubane Historical Society, an organisation originally intended to be a local history organisation, but later expanded into the role of opposing the "revisionist" movement in Irish history; and the Ernest Bevin Society, the B&ICO's British branch. In a piece written for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', Clifford argued that Northern Catholics had no interest in a United Ireland and therefore electoral integration was the answer to the Northern conflict: "Opinion polls now confirm what one knew from experience in the Sixties, that most Catholics did not want to join the Republic. That fact is, however, of no electoral consequence".Clifford, Brendan (22 March 1989). "The Political Impotence That Fuels Rebellion; Brendan Clifford on Ulster's Resentment at Electoral Exclusion". ''

''. Clifford also criticised the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

(IRA) campaign of violence as futile: "The IRA wants to revolutionise the Irish State to make it fit for Irish unity. But nothing is less likely than a revolution in the Republic, and all concerned know it". Clifford also defended the

British Monarchy The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...

, arguing it played a socially beneficial role in British society. Clifford opposed the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

(1990–1991); he was dismayed at Irish academic

Fred Halliday Simon Frederick Peter Halliday (22 February 1946 – 26 April 2010) was an Irish writer and academic specialising in International Relations and the Middle East, with particular reference to the Cold War, Iran, and the Arabian peninsula. Biog ...

's support for the conflict and wrote a Bevin Society pamphlet, ''The New Left Imperialist'', that was strongly antagonistic toward Halliday. In the 1990s, Clifford and Lane published several books on Irish history, including ''Notes on Eire: Espionage Reports to Winston Churchill, 1940–2'', an account of Irish writer

Elizabeth Bowen Elizabeth Bowen CBE (; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London. Life ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

intelligence reports to Britain. The book marked an abandonment of the opposition to Irish nationalism that had characterised Clifford's earlier work. This book provoked some controversy because Clifford argued the Anglo-Irish Bowen was not in any way an Irish writer. Clifford stated Franco's rule brought political stability to Spanish society: "Spain evolved under Franco. It is doubtful in the extreme whether the

Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 A ...

which he overthrew was capable of evolving". Clifford has also argued Britain, not Germany, bears responsibility for starting World War II: "Going over the events of 1939 one can hardly suppress the thought that Britain decided to aggravate Germany over the last national issue remaining from the Versailles arrangement and make it an occasion for war, lest no further opportunity for war should present itself, and the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...

'' 1938)' should prove to be a settlement". Discussing the book '' The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922 – August 1939'' in an essay in ''Notes on Eire'', Clifford argues that Hitler's speeches are "coherent arguments" and claims he can see how Hitler was able to persuade the Germans to follow him. Clifford also argues that pre-World War II British governments had no interest in stopping the Nazi persecution of the Jews and that the importance of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

in World War II has been exaggerated by modern historians: "the extermination of the Jews was an obscure incident in the hinterland of the German-Soviet War.... The Jews were not being exterminated when Britain declared war. The Jewish question does not figure in the declaration of war. The extermination did not begin until two years into the war, after Britain had succeed in spreading it to Russia. It was unimagined even by the most daring spirits in the SS in the summer of 1939". He has also taken issue with Irish histories of the Irish Free State during the Second World War. In a critique of the book ''Ireland and the League of Nations 1919–1946'' edited by Michael Kelly, Clifford claims the book and others reflect non-Irish viewpoints. Clifford has endorsed

David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include '' The Destruction of Dresden'' (1 ...

as a historian and argued the charges of

Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...

laid against Irving are unjust, stating Irving has not denied that "millions were killed deliberately" by the Nazi government."...an English historian, David Irving, set out to write a history of the Second World War from documents...he revised the figures downwards but never...denied that millions had been killed deliberately. Yet an English court found he was a Holocaust denier, and he was imprisoned in Austria as a Holocaust denier. Genocide was therefore removed from the sphere of historical investigation and made an Article of Faith enforceable by Law." Brendan Clifford, "Marketing Genocide", ''Irish Political Review'', February 2013.

Bibliography

* Clifford, Brendan (1986). ''Parliamentary Despotism: John Hume's Aspiration''. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Athol Books. . * Clifford, Brendan (1987). ''Queen's: A Comment on a University and a Reply to Its Politics Professor''. Athol Books. . * Clifford, Brendan (22 March 1989). "The Political Impotence That Fuels Rebellion; Brendan Clifford on Ulster's Resentment at Electoral Exclusion". ''

''. * Clifford, Brendan; Lane, Jack (1999). ''Notes on Eire: Espionage Reports to Winston Churchill, 1940–2''. Aubane, Ireland: Aubane Historical Society. . * Clifford, Brendan (2004). ''Traitor-Patriots in the Great War: Casement and Masarykwith a Review of the Rise and Fall of Czechoslovakia'' (part of the '' Belfast Magazine'' series 23). Belfast, Northern Ireland: B. Clifford. p. 41. .
Brendan Clifford on the Russian Revolution

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clifford, Brendan Date of birth missing (living people) 1936 births 20th-century Irish historians 21st-century Irish historians Irish activists Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom Living people Maoists People from Munster Historians of World War II British and Irish Communist Organisation members

Early life and education

Career

Bibliography

See also

References

External links