Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals, with Maurice Casey
In this episode we talk to Maurice Casey about his book, Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals. Hotel Lux tells the story of May O’Callaghan and her social circle in the Comintern’s Moscow accommodation for international communists. We discuss Maurice’s PhD research, its transformation into the book, and the lives and interactions of May and other communists with whom she crossed paths.
Maurice is a historian based at Queen’s University Belfast. His work focuses on the history of modern Ireland, queer history, and the history of international communism in the interwar world. He holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin, Cambridge University and the University of Oxford, where he completed his doctoral studies in 2020. He was a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University from 2018 to 2019. His writing has appeared in a variety of publications including History Today, the Irish Times and Tribune magazine. Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals is his first book.
Hotel Lux is published by Footnote Press. You can follow Maurice’s research on his Substack at archiverats.substack.com.
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1:14:34
The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism, with Aidan Beatty
In this episode we talk to Aidan Beatty about his book, The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism. We discuss the history of the Socialist Labour League and Workers’ Revolutionary Party in the UK; the role of the party and their Galway-born leader, Gerry Healy, in Trotskyism; the implosion of the party in 1985 with allegations of sexual abuse against Healy in a context of an already diminished Left; and responses to Aidan’s book.
Aidan is a lecturer in history at Carnegie Mellon University and President of the American Conference for Irish Studies. He is currently writing a book about capitalism and Irish nationalism and is also co-editing, with Brian Hanley, a forthcoming edited collection on the global history of the Irish far-right.
The Party is Always Right is published by Pluto Press and available on their website.
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1:23:27
Gearóid Ó Faoleán: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland
In this episode we talk to Gearóid Ó Faoleán about his research into support for the Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland during the Troubles. Gearóid is the author of A Broad Church: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1969–1980 and A Broad Church Vol. 2: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1980-1989, published by Merrion Press in 2019 and 2023, respectively. He is currently working on a history of traditional music in west Clare with support from a bursary from the Irish Association of Professional Historians.
We discuss the extent of support and sympathy for the IRA in the South and its role in the armed campaign; how public support manifested in training, arms, and the legal system; and the wide, cross-party political spread of IRA sympathy, discrete from the political wing of the Provisional movement.
Both volumes of A Broad Church are available from Merrion Press.
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1:08:35
Niall McGuirk: Hope Collective
In this episode we talk to Niall McGuirk about the Hope Collective. Hope Collective originated in the early 1980s when Niall started putting on gigs to encourage bands to play in Dublin and developed into the Hope Collective in 1994. Hope facilitated dozens of bands playing gigs in Ireland and latterly has produced books recording the history and recollections of that music scene.
We discuss Niall’s involvement in playing and organising gigs, creating fanzines, the development of Hope Collective, the D.I.Y. philosophy and values underpinning it, and the community that it generated.
You can find out more about Hope Collective on their website, where you can also buy their most recent publication, Punks Listen, a collection of writing from musicians, writers and others about music that has inspired and influenced them.
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1:40:07
Until We Fall: Long Distance Life on the Left, with Helena Sheehan
In this episode we talk to Professor Helena Sheehan about her recent book, Until We Fall: Long Distance Life on the Left.
We discuss the lead up to and impact of the break up of the Soviet Union, Helena’s experience of post-apartheid South Africa and the changing role of the University in the contemporary period.
Helena is Emeritus Professor at Dublin City University (DCU) and has published and taught on culture, media, politics and philosophy. She has been active on the left in Ireland since the 1970s, with numerous campaigns and as a member, first, of Official Sinn Féin, then the Communist Party of Ireland and subsequently the Labour party.
A podcast looking at Left politics in Ireland from the Irish Left Archive.
We talk to activists, writers, historians, politicians and others involved in Left organisations and movements about their experiences of participating in Left parties and campaigns; Left publications and political documents they’ve been involved in; and the history and development of progressive politics in Ireland. We also look at the role of the Irish Left Archive and similar informal projects.
The podcast is hosted by Ciarán Swan and Aonghus Storey.
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