Labour Comment, Cork Vol 43, no 12

Eamon de Valera On Beginning Of ‘Civil War’

Poblacht na hEireannn  War News.  

No. 2, Thursday, 29 June, 1922.

AT the last meeting of Dail Eireann an Agreement was ratified which, if faithfully observed, would have given us an opportunity of working for internal peace and of taking steps which would make this nation strong against the only enemy it has to fear—the enemy from outside.

At the bidding of the English this Agreement was broken, and at the bidding of the English, Irishmen are today shooting down on the streets of our capital brother Irishmen—old comrades in arms, companions of the recent struggle for Irish Independence and its embodiment—the Republic.

English propaganda will strive to lay the blame for this war on Irishmen, but the world outside must not be deceived.  England’s threat of war, that, and that alone, is responsible for the present situation.  In face of England’s threat of war some of our countrymen yielded.

The men who are now being attacked by the forces of the Provisional Government are those who refuse to obey the order to yield—preferring to die.  They are the best and bravest of our Nation, and most loyally have obeyed the will of the Irish people freely expressed, but are not willing that Ireland’s Independence should be abandoned under the lash of an alien Government.

Proclamation issued by IRA leaders at beginning of Civil War

Poblacht na hEireannn War News. No. 2, Thursday, 29 June, 1922.

FELLOW CITIZENS of the Irish Republic:  The fateful hour has come.  At the dictation of our hereditary enemy our rightful cause is being treacherously assailed by recreant Irishmen.  The crash of arms and the boom of artillery reverberate in this supreme test of the nation’s destiny.

Gallant soldiers of the Irish Republic stand vigorously firm in its defence and worthily uphold their noblest traditions.  The sacred spirits of the Illustrious Dead are with us in this great struggle.  ‘Death before Dishonour’, being an unchanging principle of our national faith as it was of theirs, still inspires us to emulate their glorious effort.

We therefore, appeal to all citizens who have withstood unflinchingly the oppression of the enemy during the past six years, to rally to the support of the Republic and recognize that the resistance now being offered is but the continuance of the struggle that was suspended with the British.

We especially appeal to our former comrades of the Irish Republic to return to that allegiance and thus guard the Nation’s honour from the infamous stigma that her sons aided her foes in retaining a hateful domination over her.

Confident of victory and of maintaining Ireland’s Independence this appeal is issued by the Army Executive on behalf of the Irish Republican Army.

(Signed🙂 Comdt. Gen. Liam Mellows, Comdt.  Gen. Rory O’Connor,  Comdt. Gen. Jos. McKelvey,  Comdt. Gen. Earnan O Maille,  Comdt.  Gen. Seumas Robinson,  Comdt. Gen. Sean Moylan,  Comdt. Gen. Michael Kilroy,  Comdt. Gen. Frank Barrett,  Comdt. Gen. Thomas Derrig,  Comdt. Gen.T. Barry,  Col. Comdt. F. O Faolain,  Brig. Gen. J. O’Connor,  Gen. Liam Lynch,  Comdt. Gen. Liam Deasey,  Col. Comdt. Peadar O’Donnell,  P. Ruttledge. 

(28th June 1922)