Seán Cronin (1920-2011)

Seán Cronin at the Garden of Rememberance, Dublin in 1996

THE death of Seán Cronin has seen the passing of one of the most significant activists, thinkers and writers in the history of Irish republicanism. He played a pivotal role in the IRA’s 1950s campaign and went on, through his prolific writings, to help shape the ideals and ideas that motivate modern republicans.
Seán Cronin served as Chief of Staff of the IRA in 1959. He was the author of the plan that formed the basis of the IRA’s Resistance Campaign in the Six Counties that began in 1956. Cronin based the plan on both the Irish guerrilla experience of the Tan War and post-World War Two anti-colonial struggles. The aim was to attack the British garrison in the North and its infrastructure and to isolate it, eventually creating liberated zones.
In that period he also worked as editor of the republican monthly newspaper, ‘The United Irishman’. He wrote the book, ‘Resistance - The Story of the Struggle in British-Occupied Ireland’, which was published in 1957 (republished in ‘IRIS - The Republican Magazine’, No 20, Summer 2007). Imprisoned several times in the 26 Counties, Cronin was released in 1962, after the Resistance Campaign had ended. He wrote later:
“Although the guerrillas managed to survive for the duration of the campaign and received shelter and food from the people, they were unable to transform the fight into a popular struggle. They also suffered from internal and external weaknesses, especially in the matter of equipment.”
Cronin resumed work as a journalist which he had done in the United States and Canada prior to his return to Ireland in 1955. He worked for ‘The Irish Press’ and the ‘Irish Independent’ and emigrated to the US again in 1965. There he became US correspondent for ‘The Irish Times’, a post he held for many years, writing authoritatively about politics and society.

Seán Cronin’s most important political legacy is in his writings. He was the author of a significant overview of Irish history Irish Nationalism; he edited and published the papers of Joe McGarrity, who financially supported and corresponded with Irish republicans from PH Pearse to Seán Russell (The McGarrity Papers, 1972); he wrote a ground-breaking biography of Frank Ryan, the 1930s IRA leader and International Brigade volunteer in Spain (Frank Ryan - The Search for the Republic, 1979).
Always stressing the anti-sectarian nature of Irish republicanism, Cronin, with Richard Roche, published ‘Freedom the Wolfe Tone Way’ (1973), a selection of Tone’s writings, with an extensive introduction by Belfast Protestant republican Jack Bennett. This was an important book in educating the young republicans of the 1970s and 1980s. He also wrote studies of Jemmy Hope, Kevin Barry, James Connolly and the 1916 Rising (Our Own Red Blood). In 1971, his book, ‘Ireland Since the Treaty’, was published by Sinn Féin’s Irish Freedom Press.
At the start of the Irish Peace Process in the 1990s, Seán Cronin gave advice and assistance to the Sinn Féin leadership. He maintained a keen interest in Irish affairs and, despite a debilitating illness, visited Dublin in 2007 for a reunion with his comrades of the 1950s.
Born in Dublin in 1920 and raised in Ballinskelligs, County Kerry, Seán Cronin died in March 2011 in Maryland , USA, where his body was cremated. His ashes will be returned to Kerry.
Deepest sympathy is extended to his widow, Reva, and family.
Leaba i measc laochra na hÉireann go raibh aige.