Sir, - Anthony Coughlan understandably springs to the defence of C.D. Greaves (September 4th), who was not the only, but was certainly the most consistent historian to label Arthur Griffith an imperialist and implacable enemy of the Labour movement in the Ireland of his time.
Mr Coughlan writes: "That Griffith wished Ireland to maintain and help run the British Empire side-by-side with England through a dual monarchy" is a "well-known fact". Well-known to Anthony Coughlan and other Greaves fans because of the latter's unsubstantiated assertion (The Life and Times of James Connolly, p.64) that Griffith lusted after an "Anglo-Irish empire in which Britain and Ireland would jointly exploit the lesser breeds".
Nowhere in what he wrote did Griffith ever refer to an "Anglo-Irish empire". In the very first issue of his first newspaper (United Irishman, March 4th, 1899), he made his position on empire crystal clear. He referred to a Daily Express article on the British Sudan campaign which asked why Irishmen refused to take part in the extension of the British Empire. To this question he replied: "Ireland and the Empire are incompatible. One cannot be an African `civiliser' and an Irish nationalist; one cannot trample on the rights of other people and consistently demand his own."
Another "well-known fact", according to Mr Coughlan, is that Griffith "strongly opposed the Connolly and Larkin-led workers' movement at the time of the 1913 lockout". Never in the course of the vast amount that he wrote about the lockout did he criticise the workers' leaders (or rather leader; he criticised Larkin but not Connolly, whom he greatly respected) without faulting the employers as well. But, far from devoting his energies to censure, most of his attention was given to what he discerned as the twin causes of the trouble, and very genuine worker grievances: dreadful dwelling conditions and low wages.
I entitle the final chapter of my Griffith biography: "The Frankenstein Image". C.D. Greaves contributed more than most to the construction of that image. And it is a gross distortion. - Yours, etc.,
Brian Maye, Mountain View Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.