Fragments of Victory: The Contemporary Irish Left - edited by Oisín Gilmore and David Landy
Published in 2025 by Pluto Press, London, UK and Las Vegas, NV
232 pages
ISBN: 9780745348759
Anyone who has worked in progressive organizing knows we often feel like we are fighting an uphill battle. Faced with over half a century of Red Scare propaganda, neoliberal austerity, increasing privatization, and the gutting of trade unions, collective bargaining, worker protections, and social safety nets, the Left has taken quite a beating over the past several decades. In addition to these external pressures, leftist movements have often been famously characterized by incessant infighting. An obsessive drive for ideological purity often fuels these internal divisions, as members split hairs over ancillary issues or theoretical disagreements over semantics and tactics.
As such, in the face of the rising tide of fascism resurging in the Western world today and the threat of climate catastrophe and neofeudalism on the horizon, it can be immensely difficult to feel any sense of hope for a progressive future. Yet, amidst all of the darkness that surrounds us, there are small slivers of light that are piercing through.
For example, despite its history of center-right politics and conservative Catholic influence, the Republic of Ireland has increasingly become a dissident voice in the West. Due to its own history of colonial oppression, many Irish citizens have been outwardly vocal in their solidarity with Palestinians against the Israeli apartheid regime. In 2018, the Irish public overwhelmingly voted in favor of repealing the 8th Amendment, which was one of the strongest abortion bans in the EU. Though access to abortion care in Ireland is still woefully inadequate and sparse, the Repeal the 8th campaign was a landmark success in furthering women’s healthcare in Ireland.
Progressives can learn many lessons from the wide array of left-wing organizing in Ireland. In their 2025 volume, Fragments of Victory: The Contemporary Irish Left, editors Oisín Gilmore and David Landy provide a wide survey of how leftwing groups, including anarchists, republicans, Trotskyists, social democrats, and trade unions, have fought against neoliberal austerity policies with varying degrees of success. Focusing primarily on campaigns and activity from the 2008 financial crisis to the present day, the authors within this volume provide varying perspectives on the contemporary activist landscape in Ireland.
Overview:
The book is divided into two parts. The first chronicles the various social and political campaigns that actively fought against various austerity measures in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. These pivotal campaigns and organizations include the initial anti-austerity campaigns from 2008-2013, the successful mass movement that led to the abolition of water charges, the efforts culminating in the landmark 'Repeal' campaign for women's reproductive rights, and the ongoing struggles related to housing affordability and availability.
In the second half, the book moves beyond campaign narratives and explores the dynamics within various left-wing organizations. These include examining the role of trade unions in advocating for workers' rights amidst shifting political landscapes as well as the positioning and influence of center-left parties in Irish politics. On the more radical side, these authors discuss the roles of anarchist and Trotskyist groups and offer insights into the complexities of republican movements in contemporary Ireland.
Each chapter is penned by leading activists, providing insider perspectives on how these movements shaped Ireland's political and social landscape. The editors aim to highlight the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from these campaigns and organizations, offering valuable insights that can translate into other contexts through various international movements. As such, these writers paint a vivid picture of the evolution and impact of left-wing activism in Ireland, capturing the energy and diversity of grassroots movements that have sought to challenge and transform political and societal norms.
Deeper Dive:
Fragments of Victory offers a comprehensive examination of modern left-wing activism in Ireland. The book is structured into two main parts. Part One highlights specific campaigns centered around single flashpoint issues, namely water charges, abortion, and housing. Part Two examines the organizations that comprise the Irish left, such as trade unions, the center-left, anarchists, Trotskyists, and republicans, all with varying and competing interests and goals. Each chapter is authored by leading activists and scholars, providing firsthand accounts and analyses that shed light on the dynamic and multifaceted nature of left-wing activism in Ireland. In their opening chapter, editors Oisín Gilmore and David Landy provide a structural overview of the book, as well as its limitations in capturing the full spectrum of experience of left-wing organizing in Ireland.
In the Second Chapter, David Landy explores the initial challenges faced by activists during the economic downturn, highlighting the grassroots efforts to oppose austerity measures and the early mobilizations that laid the foundation for subsequent movements. He highlights one of the defining features of the left during this period, which is “its organizational disunity” (38). He shows how many of the organizations and parties that will be covered in subsequent chapters faced increased fragmentation and factionalism amidst the burnout and exhaustion of 2013. Yet, he also emphasizes the short-term victories, such as the water charges and Repeal campaigns. While building a broad, left-wing coalition has proved to be exceptionally difficult in the past decade and a half, Landy believes that there is a ray of optimism in coordination efforts, which has precedent in the Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes’s (CAHWT) extensive mobilization network and local trade unions to oppose water charges.
In the Third Chapter, Dave Gibney provides an insider's perspective on the successful mass movement that led to the abolition of water charges and prevented water privatization. The chapter details the strategies employed, the challenges encountered, and the ultimate victory achieved through widespread public engagement. As a result of massive marches and civil disobedience, over ⅔ of Irish households refused to pay the tax, and tens of thousands actively rallied against it. While he praises the success of nonpayment and the coalition of trade unions, left-wing parties, and grassroots community groups, he also highlights the fractious nature of these left-wing organizations as they splintered off and distrusted one another in the aftermath of the campaign. As such, these more radical groups largely failed to channel the widespread discontent and anger at austerity measures into actionable proposals.
In Chapter Four, Aileen O’Carroll and Máire Ni Chuagáin recount the efforts of the Repeal campaign, which culminated in the legalization of abortion in Ireland. After the death of a young woman in Galway named Savita Halappanavar due to complications of a miscarriage after being denied an abortion, a renewed call to reform Ireland’s abortion ban came to the center of public discourse. Facing an uphill battle against entrenched Catholic sentiment and a neoliberal political status quo, activists mobilized in the wake of the 2015 gay marriage referendum and utilized that momentum to build one of the largest feminist movements in the history of the Irish state. They discuss the non-hierarchical structure of the Abortion Rights Campaign’s (ARC's) coalition-building, public outreach, and advocacy that overcame deeply entrenched opposition, ultimately leading to ⅔ of Irish voters deciding in favor of reproductive rights.
Addressing the ongoing housing crisis, Chapter Five examines the grassroots campaigns advocating for affordable housing and against evictions. Juliana Sassi, Seamus Farrell, Rosi Leonard, and Aisling Hedderman provide insights into the tactics used and the complexities of addressing housing as a human right. In the wake of the financial crisis, these years saw “the emergence of a housing movement with two main wings, movements from above and from below, with the latter creating flash points of resistance and bringing the ‘housing crisis’ to mainstream attention” (95). The authors emphasize that while there was not one unifying demand that connected people struggling for housing (as opposed to the water charges and Repeal campaign, which had a definable and time-oriented goal), resistance to the housing crisis began on the margins first, most notably in Direct Provision and emergency accommodation (88).
While the struggle for housing often had short bursts of radical activity, the authors warn that these demands can easily be subsumed into the dominant order and be used as a scapegoat against minorities, particularly refugees. The authors emphasize the need for long-term organizing and radical action, writing, “An awareness of the limitations of once-off actions centred around flash point issues has led to the development of the CATU [Community Action Tenants Union], which aims to ground direct action within a community-based structure” (95-96). By fostering these community-based models, the authors aim to combat both the deeper roots of the housing crisis and racialized animus toward refugees. Yet, this is not without limitations and challenges, as geographical and demographic challenges still exist in organizing a broad-based coalition that challenges not just this single issue, but the broader systemic causes for the housing crisis “in a semi-peripheral European capitalist nation” such as Ireland (95).
In Chapter Six, Mary Muldowney focuses on the role of trade unions in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, centering primarily on the Croke Park and Haddington Road public sector agreements. She highlights the failure and timidity of the Labour Party in challenging the center-right austerity policies of Fine Gael, as well as the difficulty of unionization within private multinational corporations. She discusses the role of trade unions in broader-based campaigns, such as Right2Water and the Raise the Roof campaigns to challenge the water charges and housing crisis, respectively. While there was vigorous organizing and protests by unions in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Muldowny argues that unions have largely “reverted to concession bargaining and reliance on influence rather than pressure” in the wake of austerity measures that disproportionately affect the working class (113). Overall, trade unions found themselves in a weak position, especially during the Troika years, but managed to secure small wins after economic independence in 2013. While she is skeptical of the trade union leaders making any sort of alliance with radical left parties anytime soon, Muldowny is nonetheless hopeful that collaborations with social movement actors can help restore confidence and faith in unions as a mobilizing force for change.
Chapter Seven shows Paul Dillon recounting the rise, fall, and fracturing of the Labour Party. He focuses on the performance of Labour in government from 2011 to 2016 as a minority party to both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, highlighting their capitulation to austerity measures. Labour proudly stood by their time in government from 2011-2016, arguing that they helped to curtail further austerity measures that were sought by Fine Gael. What the record shows, however, is that Labour consistently capitulated to the economic demands of the right-wing, while portraying itself as the party in favor of liberal social policies, such as gay marriage. Yet, by the time of the referendum, most parties supported it, which made Labour almost wholly indistinct from the other two major parties. Their failure has fueled the rise of Sinn Fein as a viable alternative left-wing party, as the Labour Party has almost entirely imploded and has no influence in Irish politics today.
In Chapter Eight, Kevin Doyle recounts the efforts of a small group of anarchists in Ireland, discussing their philosophies, organizational structures, and contributions to broader social and political discourses. He primarily focuses on the Workers’ Solidarity Movement (WSM) and its difficulty in gaining major popular traction in Ireland. While it was incredibly small (with 50-60 active members), the WSM achieved an impressive output via its newspapers and was a long-standing and well-known group in Ireland. However, the group imploded in the early 2010s, ending nearly forty years of fervid organizing and writing efforts. Doyle charts the trajectory of the WSM, noting the feelings of burnout, exhaustion, and personality conflicts that defined the group in its latter years. Ultimately, Doyle argues, “The WSM didn’t properly consider the longer-term attrition of the project it was immersed in at all, perhaps because it didn’t understand in the first place how big a project it had undertaken” (139).
In Chapter Nine, David Landy charts the trajectory of two Trotskyist parties in Ireland: the Socialist Party (SP) and the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). While Sinn Féin is by and large the largest left-wing party in Ireland, these smaller radical left parties also fared well after the collapse of Labour in 2016. While they had managed to secure 5% of Dáil seats through their wider electoral vehicles -- People Before Profit (PBP) and the Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA)-- factionalism began to take hold quickly. According to Landy, the SP focused on ideological purity and only class-based politics. At the same time, the SWP looked to capitalize on identitarian conflicts to build coalitions, eventually being absorbed into the larger PBP. He analyzes the differing strategies between these two groups and how these strategies either allowed them to survive or spelled their doom. He also examines the ill-fated attempt at the broad-based coalition that never truly got off the ground, the United Left Alliance.
Chapter Ten focuses on the Republican groups in Ireland during this era of austerity. Dan Finn mostly recounts the bumpy rise of Sinn Féin over the past decade, leading to their unprecedented election results in 2020, where they secured more votes than any other party (though they were still shut out from government). In contrast to the widespread success of Sinn Féin, Stewart Reddin and Damian Lawlor examine the more militant Éirígí. The main republican group to the left of Sinn Féin, Éirígí was formed in 2006 as a splinter group from Sinn Féin, as they believed that Sinn Féin was not committed to socialist principles. After running a handful of meager campaigns, the majority of Éirígí’s membership has left the party and defected to other splinter groups.
In the concluding chapter, Oisín Gilmore reflects on the trajectories of the movements and organizations discussed, analyzing their collective impact on Irish society and prospects for future activism. He argues that while we should celebrate these small victories, these fragments of victory are not nearly enough. Gilmore also highlights that while support for left-wing parties and organizations has been growing in recent years, there has been a similar, though smaller, rise in support for far-right, anti-immigrant, and independent movements as well.
Commendations:
Fragments of Victory possesses several notable strengths. First and foremost, the book’s greatest strength is that it is written by a wide array of activists who were directly involved in the movements they discuss. This insider perspective provides authentic insights into how campaigns, such as the Water Charges Movement or the Repeal the 8th Campaign, were organized and what strategies proved successful. This type of firsthand account is crucial for organizers because it provides tangible lessons that can be applied to future efforts. For instance, the discussion of the anti-austerity struggles and their eventual success provides a roadmap for how broad-based coalitions can be built in times of economic crisis, as well as how easily factionalism can take root and undermine these coalitions before they even have an opportunity to bloom.
Furthermore, this volume rightfully emphasizes the importance of short-term campaigns with actionable goals in mobilizing people. The book’s focus on direct action—such as the anti-water charges campaigns and the housing activism—is particularly inspiring for organizers who prefer non-institutional forms of resistance. The book shows how mass mobilizations, grassroots organizing, and popular demands can successfully challenge governmental and corporate power.
While these give us reasons for hope, the real difficulty arises in the wake of these campaigns to maintain their momentum, as they often splinter due to internal tensions. While short-term goals are important in securing wins that make people’s lives better, they can easily be rolled back or overturned with the stroke of a pen. The authors readily admit that these efforts have been far from perfect and have often been met with failure. But these offer plenty for the reader to consider as they strive to avoid the pitfalls and mistakes of their predecessors. This volume reveals the precarity of these campaigns in the absence of a medium-term vision to maintain momentum to accomplish more systemic, long-term objectives, which should always be kept in mind when planning campaigns and organizing strategies for systemic change.
I also deeply appreciated this work’s intersectional approach. This brief volume doesn't just focus on one or two issues but presents a broad spectrum of struggles: economic justice, reproductive rights, housing, labor rights, and more. This makes it a useful resource for organizers who work across different sectors. The intersectionality within the chapters emphasizes how various struggles are interconnected—be it the overlap between economic austerity and housing or how neoliberal policies impact women’s reproductive rights.
One of the most interesting aspects of this work is its analysis of various leftist political organizations across Ireland. These chapters that focus on the strengths and weaknesses of organizations such as trade unions, Trotskyists, anarchists, and republicans offer a critical yet constructive examination of what works and what doesn’t. This is an invaluable resource for anyone involved in organizing, as it encourages self-reflection and a more strategic approach to movement building. By understanding the pitfalls of certain ideologies and strategies, left-wing organizers can hopefully avoid repeating past mistakes.
Finally, this work can be fruitfully utilized to compare the struggles against austerity in Ireland to other struggles across the globe. While this volume does not go into too much detail about solidarity across national borders, its international perspective—showing how Irish left movements interact with global struggles—offers an important reminder for organizers that the fight against neoliberalism and austerity is not isolated to one specific time and place. By reading critically, we approach this work as one that can encourage solidarity beyond national borders and offer a global context for local struggles. This is vital in an era where global capitalism impacts local communities.
Critique:
On the other hand, there are a few notable weaknesses. First and foremost, while there are glimmers of hope sprinkled throughout the work, it is overall a pretty demoralizing book. Illustrating the unfortunate truth that “no one hates leftists as much as other leftists,” the litany of examples in this book all point to an incredibly fractious (and honestly petty) Left in Ireland, often squabbling and splintering due to personality clashes and petty grievances.
Additionally, the scope of focus within this work seemed incredibly narrow, mostly confined to a handful of campaigns in the decade between 2008-2018. To be fair, the editors admit at the beginning their exclusion of other issues such as gay marriage and the Palestine issue. Yet, this would have made the book more engaging and relevant to what’s happening in the contemporary world, and overall seems like a missed opportunity.
Most notably, the focus on individual campaigns—though inspiring—is sometimes disconnected from the broader, long-term strategy needed to transform the system. I would have liked to see more emphasis on how to sustain momentum after these victories, and how to bridge the gap between issue-based mobilizations and the development of a comprehensive, alternative political project. For example, after the Repeal the 8th Campaign, what steps should be taken to ensure continued progress on reproductive justice beyond legislation? Since access to abortion care in Ireland is still not generally accessible (especially depending on whether you live in an urban or rural area), how can this be remedied through further action, building upon the success of previous campaigns?
Another shortcoming of this work is that, despite its insistence on a combination of short-, medium-, and long-term goals, it does not offer much of the theoretical depth necessary to inform and sustain such medium to long-term objectives. While the book is rich with practical experiences, it sometimes lacks a deeper theoretical analysis of the political economy underlying the struggles discussed. While organizers need practical knowledge, they also need a solid theoretical foundation that can help them navigate the complexities of power structures and help build a coherent, unified ideological framework. A deeper engagement with Marxist, feminist, or postcolonial theories, for example, could help build the intellectual backbone necessary for sustaining long-term struggles.
Finally, while the authors make note of the difficulty of coalition-building as they discuss movements like anarchism, Trotskyism, and trade unions, it does not delve deeply into how the Left can effectively build coalitions with broader sections of society (e.g., the working class in rural areas, precarious service workers in urban centers, etc). A left-wing organizer needs to understand how to bridge divides with people outside their immediate ideological circles to build a larger movement for social change, which the Left--both inside and outside of Ireland--has struggled with immensely. As such, the book does not fully explore the challenges of such coalition-building, and what can be done to avoid fractious personalities getting in the way of the ultimate political objectives.
Conclusion:
Overall, Fragments of Victory is an essential resource for left-wing political organizers, offering practical lessons from successful grassroots campaigns and movements in Ireland. While its weakness in its theoretical content, lack of international solidarity efforts, and overall demoralizing tone may be tough to swallow at times, Fragments of Victory remains an indispensable resource. By providing detailed, insider perspectives on left-wing organizations and focusing on mobilizing the masses for immediate, concrete victories, this book is a timely and important reminder to think through our successes and take stock of our failures. It is a book that will inspire and inform, and it pairs well with supplemental reading on the broader political and economic context in which these movements operate.
Ireland has changed dramatically since the financial crash of 2008, and while there have certainly been obstacles and failures, there is also much to celebrate. Ireland has the potential to be a beacon of light amidst the encroaching wave of fascism resurging in Europe. In their solidarity with Palestine due to their shared history of suffering under colonial oppression, Ireland can become a dissenting voice against the hegemonic power of neoliberal capitalism and global structures of power. The future, while seemingly bleak, is also ripe with possibilities. It is up to us to realize and actualize them.