Telling stories of struggle and heroes

Gerry Adams outlines the thinking behind the Léargas books series calling on us all to be active citizens. Campaigning and organizing together for democratic empowerment.

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The idea behind the Léargas series of books grew out of a lecture I gave in the Tí Chulainn centre in Mullaghbawn, South Armagh in November 2018. The local Michael J Murphy committee heard that I was a fan of his and asked me to give a talk. I was pleased to accept as I had first come across his writings when I was in Long Kesh. In the early 1970s, Michael used to send copies of his books into the Kesh to the internees. His accounts of Irish folklore and of rural and community life of South Armagh and the Ring of Gullion were hugely interesting. Some of his stories have stayed with me until today.

Michael wrote six plays, ten books, and was an accomplished poet, photographer, and broadcaster. He was a Seanchaí, a Sage, and a Citizen. His parents were from South Armagh, though he was born in Liverpool. He returned to Dromintee in 1922 aged 7. When he left school aged 14, he started to work as a farm labourer.

He began to write down the stories he heard from the people he worked with. He amassed, through his work at the Irish Folklore Commission, the largest collection of oral tradition ever collected by a single individual in the English-speaking world which runs to over 150 volumes. He was also a prolific photographer. Michael took thousands of photos. He also developed them himself. At a time, with some notable exceptions, when few photographers recorded the lives of poor people or working people, particularly in rural communities, Michael’s photos are a treasure trove of people at work, at play or relaxing in their homes or in the field. In the ordinariness of their lives.

He was a man with a progressive social view and a belief in social justice. He loved the landscape around Sliabh Gullion particularly. His writings about the countryside around Gullion are particularly uplifting and enchanting. That was Michael J Murphy.

After the talk was completed, I suggested that we publish it along with some of the photographs that Michael had taken of South Armagh and Rathlin Island. In July 2018, ‘Michael J Murphy – Seanchaí, Sage and Citizen’ was published. It was to be the first of what is now a series of eleven books.

I have long held the view that it is enormously important that we tell our own story, especially for those engaged in struggle. The establishment media is generally hostile and is usually only interested in the lives of the elites. It is essential therefore that people in struggle know who we are and where we come from. We need to learn the lessons of the past and celebrate the lives of those who came before us.

Next year, I will have been an activist for 60 years. I first joined Sinn Fein in 1964. In the intervening years, I have had the good fortune to meet many solid, sound, learned women and men. Léargas is my tribute to all of them. 

All of those who are part of the series, except for Fra McCann and Alex Maskey, are now dead. Of the eleven Léargas published thus far, I personally knew all but two of whose stories I tell. Michael J Murphy and Michael Davitt are the exceptions. The others are John Joe McGirl, Pat Finucane, Máire Drumm, Kevin McKenna, Bobby Storey, Kathleen Thompson, Eddie Fullerton, Fra McCann/Alex Maskey, and Rita O’Hare. Next year, le cuidiu Dia, the Léargas series will continue. 

• Sinn Féin at Downing, December 1997. Martin McGuinness, Martin Ferris, Gerry Adams, Lucilita Bhreathnach, Siobhán O'Hanlon and Richard McAuley, with the research and help of Richard,  a future Léargas edition will focus on Siobhán

Richard McAuley has done great work researching and helping with all this. Next year, we hope to focus on republican women, starting with our friend the late Siobhán O’Hanlon. 

Each book tells the unique story of the life and times of an individual. All of them encountered danger and took risks in pursuit of Irish freedom and independence. 

Máire Drumm, Pat Finucane, and Eddie Fullerton were killed by unionist death squads acting in collusion with the British state. Alex Maskey was also shot, but thankfully survived. Michael Davitt, Bobby Storey, John Joe McGirl, Kevin McKenna, Fra McCann, and Rita O’Hare spent many years in prison. Kathleen Thompson dedicated years of her life to the republican cause and to shielding those of us on the run.

Collectively, their stories also tell of the decades of repression faced by the nationalist/republican people in opposing English rule in Ireland and in particular the brutality of the apartheid system in the North created by unionism.

Together, these eleven Léargas books tell the stories of twelve extraordinary men and women. Together they were and are exceptional. When strong women and men were needed to fill an bearna bhaoil, they stepped forward. They cared deeply about their families, their friends, the Irish people. They wanted a better future for all of us. They were activists down to their fingertips.

Big Bobby Storey summed it up well. In a conversation with his parents, he told them, “If anything ever happens to me and if people ask you if it was worth it, you be clear. Tell them that up until the last minute it was worth it for me.”

As for the rest of us? Change is underway. Let’s be active in shaping and deepening that change. If we are already activists, we need to be more active. If we are not activists, today is a good time to start. It’s time to move beyond talking about it. Or leaving it to others. There is a role for everyone. 

We don’t have to be a Bobby Storey or a Máire Drumm or a Rita O’Hare or any of those in the Léargas series. Just be yourself and do your best to bring as much or as little as you can to the great historical mission to end Partition and the Union and to build a new union between all the people of the island of Ireland. That’s what those I have written about in the Léargas series have done. 

It’s time to be an active citizen. It’s time for campaigning, organising, for democratic empowerment. Let’s do it - together.  

The Léargas series is published by Republican Merchandising Ltd. Available from Sinn Féin Bookshop www.sinnfeinbookshop.com and An Fhuiseog www.thelarkstore.ie

All profits go to the Green Cross