It is hard for even assiduous students of modern Irish history and politics to keep up with the steady stream of new publications. Despite the best efforts of literary editors, there is not space to take adequate notice of all the significant books that appear. Reviewers do not always draw attention to everything new and striking, writes Martin Mansergh
Valuable insights may be overlooked and fail to be absorbed into the general bloodstream of knowledge.
The memoir of Seán MacBride, That Day's Struggle, covering the years 1904-1951 and edited by his former aide and political secretary Caitriona Lawlor, was published by Currach Press before Christmas and contains fascinating material.
MacBride, briefly IRA chief of staff in the mid-1930s, became a tough-minded constitutional republican, after the adoption of Bunreacht na hÉireann. His national involvement spanned from 1918 to his death in 1988. After his domestic political career ended in the 1950s, he devoted himself to international causes.
As Caitriona Lawlor states in her introduction, this remarkable Irishman's "first independent action was to join the movement to free his country from oppression by force". He later became "an outstanding advocate of the rule of law".
As Maud Gonne's son, he saw a good deal of Roger Casement as a boy and was also present during a long interview between his mother and Padraic Pearse, headmaster of St Enda's. Great friends of Maud's included the children's storyteller Patricia Lynch (author of The Turfcutter's Donkey) and the suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst.
MacBride's opposition to the death sentence dated from his experiences in the War of Independence, when an innocent man, Thomas Whelan of Galbally, Co Limerick, was hanged by the British in March 1921. He relates how he spared an ex-British soldier accused of being a spy from an IRA court-martial.
In both cases, it was using a scapegoat pour encourager les autres. Unlike some later historians, he had little faith in correct identification by the IRA of spies and traitors.
During the treaty negotiations MacBride was a dispatch runner. He disapproved of the drinking sessions indulged in by some of the delegation. He felt de Valera should have led the negotiations. He had disagreements at home, as "Mother was at that time very much in favour of the Treaty".
MacBride claimed, when writing his memoir, that he did not believe in wars as a method of solving anything. Violence and force should only be a last resort.
He felt the 1916-21 period had created such a situation, but was "much less sanguine as to the justification of opposing the Treaty by force of arms", though it was "probably justified".
He criticised Liam Lynch and Frank Aiken for hesitations which had perversely contributed to the Civil War. He respected Dan Breen as being closer to Tom Barry, and as courageous and generously impulsive.
By 1923 the IRA had been "very badly defeated". He felt de Valera moved too quickly to usurp the functions and responsibilities of the IRA.
He accompanied de Valera to Rome later, having arranged a false passport for him. He credits Archbishop Mannix as well as Mgr Hagan, rector of the Irish College, and behind them the Vatican, with persuading de Valera that he must enter Free State politics, leading to the foundation of Fianna Fáil, an explanation first documented by Dermot Keogh.
If so, this must be one of the most benign examples of Vatican influence on Irish politics! MacBride strongly disagreed with abandoning the legitimist position on the Second Dáil and the republican government, and resisted overtures from Aiken to join Fianna Fáil.
All his life, MacBride had to live with rumours that he was in some way involved in the assassination of Kevin O'Higgins. He was in Brussels at the time.
He regarded O'Higgins more favourably than some of his colleagues, as someone who was insisting that the rule of law be observed by forces of the State.
MacBride took part in the establishment of Saor Eire, underlining the point that Sinn Féin was not then regarded as a satisfactory political vehicle by many republican militants. Being open to accusations of atheism and communism was not a better passport to political success circa 1930.
Constitutional purity was not achieved by any side overnight. The IRA collaborated with Fianna Fáil's election in 1932, according to MacBride, as a means to freeing prisoners and ending emergency legislation.
He claims that Fianna Fáil sought intelligence from the IRA about the Blueshirts, information on which was passed to the government. There were strains, which increased over time.
MacBride disagreed with Seán Russell's programme of launching a war against Britain. "This always struck me as a rather unrealistic type of operation". After the Constitution was passed, MacBride decided to terminate his association with the IRA.
The rest of the book covers the more well-trodden ground of Clann na Poblachta. The background to its formation was the fate of republican prisoners during and after the war, and the desire to challenge economic conservatism, for example, on afforestation.
The Clann's downfall had a lot to do with the appointment of someone with no political background, Noel Browne, to cabinet as minister for health.
MacBride was proud of his early involvement with the European movement, not finding either Commonwealth or possible Nato membership effective levers for reopening the question of partition. Like many of his generation, he considered the end of partition simply a matter of persuading the British, without any regard to unionist wishes.
The opposite attitude is to this day quite common among unionists, that any change in the constitutional position is solely up to them, without reference to nationalist wishes.
The memoir ends abruptly with an account of unsuccessful efforts to protect the railways. Even at an advanced age, Seán MacBride was a great user of the train. He deserves a full critical biography.