“A beacon-light to the oppressed of every land”: James Connolly and the work of the working-class intellectual

Abstract

This article seeks to defend James Connolly from attacks on both the Left and Right, particularly the charge that his legacy is nationalist delusion and fanaticism. The article argues that Connolly’s politics and his engagement with Irish cultural politics demonstrate his commitment to human equality as both a right, but also a principle of human intelligence. The article addresses Connolly’s status as a working-class intellectual with reference to how he challenges conventional hierarchies between the philosophers of Marxism and the proletarians who are the object of those deliberations. The article argues that from Connolly’s thought and activism an anti-colonial Marxism emerges which might help explain the neo-imperialist world we find ourselves in today and provide a critique lacking in the collapsed teleological versions of orthodox Marxism. The relations between his Marxism and nationalism are explored, as are his play Under Which Flag? his poetry and songs.     

An Opportunistic Anglophobe: Charles J. Haughey,the Irish Government and the Falklands War, 1982

This article examines Irish taoiseach (prime minister) Charles J. Haughey’s involvement with the Falklands War of 1982; a hitherto neglected subject related to a defining episode in the history of Great Britain in the post-war era. Specifically, it focuses on Haughey’s relationship with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher during the depths of this crisis and the immediate diplomatic and political fallout between the British and Irish governments in the aftermath of the Falklands War. At the heart of this article is the argument that Haughey’s modus operandi during the Falkland War was motivated by a blend of political opportunism and cynical anglophobia.     

‘Masters in Their Own House’: Britain,the Dominions and the 1946 Ex-Service Free Passage Scheme

The dominant narrative of post-1945 British migration is that of the ‘ten pound poms’: British civilians who availed themselves of the system of subsidised migration and emigrated to Australia for the bargain price of £10, with the rest of the cost of passage being split between the British and Australian governments. It is little wonder that historians have tended to focus on this scheme, as between 1947 and 1972 around one million Britons used it to resettle in Australia.¹1. Constantine, ‘Waving Goodbye?’, 193. However, concealed within huge movement of people is a much smaller, but nonetheless important, migrant stream: the free passage scheme, a program which was open to veterans of the British forces and the Merchant Navy, under which almost 50,000 people settled in Australia. It operated only between 1946 and 1955 and was designed as a part of the package of benefits offered to all British veterans of the Second World War. The research on which this article is based, which was funded by the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies at the University of Edinburgh and headed up by Professor Sir Tom Devine, aimed to investigate the background and implementation of the 1946 free passage agreement. The project revealed significant differences between the 1946 scheme and its post-First World War equivalent. The British government's attitude towards the concept of empire migration had shifted from support to reluctance, as post-1945 planners worried about a shrinking British population and potential economic competition from the dominions. At the same time, the dominions were determined to prioritise their own reconstruction programmes, rather than assist Britain in resettling its veterans. Only Australia agreed to take British ex-service personnel, but as part of a much wider immigration plan designed to boost the Australia population and economy.     

Borderland spaces for learning partnership: opportunities,benefits and challenges

This paper uses case studies and secondary literature to critically examine how learning spaces inhabited by geographers might be used productively as borderland spaces for learning partnership. Borderland spaces are novel, challenging, permissive and liminal, destabilizing traditional power hierarchies. In these spaces, students gain confidence in accepting agency in learning, moving towards critical thinking and reflective judgement, thereby developing self-authorship. They acquire new knowledge, skills and facets to their identity. They also feel anxiety as they take on new roles and adopt a partnership ethos. Faculty must guide students to support their successful navigation into and out of borderland spaces.     

Austerity,Right Populism,and the Crisis of Labour in Canada

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, neoliberal governments embarked on austerity programs that include reducing public services, imposing public sector wage restraint, and reorganizing public sector working conditions and labour relations. In this context of economic crisis and austerity, populism has risen across North America and Europe on both the right and left of the political spectrum. The rise of right populism in particular confronts unions with key organizational and strategic challenges as neoliberal governments seek to mobilize right populist discourses in their efforts to restructure work and labour relations. Using a socio‐geographic framework, and based on an examination of post‐2008 legislative and policy measures undertaken at the federal, provincial, municipal levels in Canada, this paper explores the nexus between “uneven austerity”, rising populism, and union strategic capacities. We examine this intersection of austerity and populism at multiple scales to reveal the implications for organized labour.     

A royal Maya country house: Archaeology at Bejucal,Guatemala

This article presents three years of archaeological investigations at the minor Maya center of Bejucal, Guatemala. A complete site history is presented relying on data from artifact analysis, architectural study, epigraphy, and bioarchaeology, with a goal towards identifying the site's function within the broader El Zotz polity. The authors argue that Bejucal underwent significant transformation following its establishment as a sacred hilltop site during the Late Preclassic period (400 b.c.–a.d. 250). The El Zotz royal family gradually appropriated the space, converting it into a royal country house and elite burial place. Bejucal's proximity to a large permanent water source suggests that the country house was situated within favorable hunting grounds. The research contributes to a broader discussion about the role of minor centers in regional settlement patterns, highlighting the benefit of textual data in making interpretations. The article also highlights the important role of salvage work in lowland Maya archaeology.     

Identifying Areas with Elevated Disease Incidence Rates Using Empirical Bayes Estimators

Using maps of observed disease incidence rates to identify regions with potentially elevated risk may be misleading due to the instability of the observed rates in regions with small populations. We use a simulation study to examine the use of maps based on observed incidence rates in identifying such high-risk areas as compared to maps based on empirical Bayes and constrained empirical Bayes rate estimates. In addition, because the existence of clusters of areas with elevated risk violates the usual distributional assumptions underlying the empirical Bayes approach, we also examine the robustness of the estimates and the impact of incorrect assumptions on identification of high-risk regions. The simulation results indicate that the observed incidence rates were quite sensitive in terms of identifying areas with truly elevated rates. However, due to the instability of the observed rates, maps based on observed incidence incorrectly identified areas as high risk more frequently than did maps based on the estimators. The standard and constrained empirical Bayes estimates were more stable than the observed rates even when based on incorrect distributional assumptions. The standard empirical Bayes estimates, however, were oversmoothed in that too few areas were identified as having elevated risk. The constrained empirical Bayes approach provided sensitivity closer to that of the observed rates yet with the percentage of areas incorrectly identified as high risk equal to that of the standard empirical Bayes estimates. We illustrate an application of these results with an analysis of the geographic distribution of brain cancer mortality among counties in Ohio.