Architects of the Resurrection: Ailtirí na hAiséirghe and the Fascist 'New Order' in Ireland

In 1942 Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin, a young pro-Axis activist, founded Ailtirí na hAiséirghe ("Architects of the Resurrection"), a fascist movement that aimed to destroy the infant Irish democracy and replace it with a one-party totalitarian state. But Ailtirí na hAiséirghe was no Nazi imitator. Rather, it aimed at something far more ambitious: the fusion of totalitarianism and Christianity that would make Ireland a "missionary-ideological state" wielding global influence in the postwar era. Supported by idealistic youths and mainstream politicians like Ernest Blythe, Oliver J. Flanagan and Dan Breen—and scrutinized anxiously by British and American intelligence—Aiséirghe won several seats in the 1945 local government elections. Architects of the Resurrection casts an uncomfortable light on the popularity of anti-democratic, anti-Semitic and extremist ideas in wartime Ireland. Students of Irish history and of comparative fascism will find many new insights in this book. In 1942 Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin, a young pro-Axis activist, founded Ailtirí na hAiséirghe ("Architects of the Resurrection"), a fascist movement that aimed to destroy the infant Irish democracy and replace it with a one-party totalitarian state.But Ailtirí na hAiséirghe was no Nazi imitator. Rather, it aimed at something far more ambitious: the fusion of totalitarianism and Christianity that would make Ireland a "missionary-ideological state" wielding global influence in the postwar era. Supported by idealistic youths and mainstream politicians like Ernest Blythe, Oliver J. Flanagan and Dan Breen--and scrutinized anxiously by British and American intelligence--Aiséirghe won several seats in the 1945 local government elections.__Architects of the Resurrection__ Seeking the creation of a one-party totalitarian state, Ailtiri na hAiseirghe was Ireland's leading fascist movement during the Second World War. Architects of the Resurrection reconstructs the hidden history of this pro-Axis organisation, and its ambitious plans to make Ireland the leading light of ultra-right extremism in the postwar world. -- . Anti-democratic influences in Ireland, 1919-39 'New' and 'newer' orders The ideology of Aiséirghe The green totalitarian band Democratic deficit Autumn of discontent The 'Cunningham circus'.