Tom Maidhc O'Flaherty (

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

: ''Tomás Ó Flaithearta'', 1889-1936) was an

Communist politician in the early 20th century, a supporter of the

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

James P. Cannon, and writer in English and Irish. In 1919, he, along with John Reed,

Jim Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...

and others, helped to create the Communist Labor Party, a precursor to the Communist Party USA.

Background

Tom Maidhc O'Flaherty was born at Gort na gCapall in 1889,

Inishmore Inishmore ( ga, Árainn , or ) is the largest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland. With an area of and a population of 762 (as of 2016), it is the second-largest island off the Irish coast (after Achill) a ...

, an island off the west coast of Ireland. His parents were Maidhc Ó Flaithearta, a well-known Irish nationalist, and Maggie Ganley. His brother was Liam O'Flaherty. His family, descendants of the

Ó Flaithbertaigh Ó, ó ( o-acute) is a letter in the Czech, Emilian-Romagnol, Faroese, Hungarian, Icelandic, Kashubian, Polish, Slovak, and Sorbian languages. This letter also appears in the Afrikaans, Catalan, Dutch, Irish, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Occitan, Po ...

family of

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...

, were not well off. The

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

was widely spoken in the area, and the O'Flahertys spoke both English and Irish from the

Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially reco ...

. His sister was Bríd Ní Fhlatharta.

Career

O’Flatherty was a founder member of the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...

, a militia formed to further Ireland's independence, and later migrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, where he became a member of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

(IWW). He was among those who first joined the

American Communist Party The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

, where he was an associate of John Reed, James P. Cannon, and

William F. Dunne William Francis Dunne (October 15, 1887September 23, 1953) was an American Marxist political activist, newspaper editor and trade unionist. He is best remembered as the editor of the radical ''Butte Bulletin'' around the turn of the 1920s and a ...

. He was a columnist for the ''Daily Worker'' and was the first editor of the ''Labour Defender''. O'Flaherty was active in the defence of imprisoned Irish labour leader

James Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...

and was editor of the left-wing Irish American paper ''The Irish People''. He left the Communist Party and returned to Ireland in 1934 because of ill-health. There he became editor of the Irish-language left-wing paper ''An tÉireannach''.

Personal life

O'Flaherty's brother, Liam (1896–1984), was an Irish novelist and short-story writer who played an important role in the

Irish literary renaissance The Irish Literary Revival (also called the Irish Literary Renaissance, nicknamed the Celtic Twilight) was a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century. It includes works of poetry, music, art, and literature. O ...

as well as helping to found the Communist Party of Ireland. His nephew (by his sister, Bríd's Ní Fhlatharta) was

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...

commentator and writer, Breandán Ó hEithir.

Death

Tom Maidhc O'Flaherty died of heart failure on the Aran Islands in December 1936, aged 47.

Works

Like his brother Liam, O'Flaherty retained a deep interest in the Irish language. Like Liam, he wrote fiction in English and in Irish. His works include two books of short stories: ''Aranmen All'' and ''Cliffmen of the West'', and a collection of his short stories in Irish under the title ''An Bhrachlainn Mhór'', published posthumously.

Legacy

O’Flaherty figures in the memoir of

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), defected from the Soviet underground (1938) ...

, who worked with him at the ''Daily Worker'' in New York City.

References

External sources

* Ó hEithir, Breandán (1991). 'Liam Ó Flaithearta agus a Dhúchas' in ''An Chaint sa tSráidbhaile''. Comhar Teoranta. * O'Flaherty, Tom (1991 - reprint). ''Aranmen All''. Brandon Book Publishers. * Robinson, Tim (1995). ''Stones of Aran: Labyrinth''. Lilliput Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oflaherty, Tom Maidhc Politicians from County Galway 1889 births 1936 deaths Irish communists American communists American Trotskyists Industrial Workers of the World members Irish emigrants to the United States Irish writers People from the Aran Islands