32 Counties: The Failure of Partition and the Case for a United Ireland

Partition of Ireland was a Tory strategy to defend the British Empire and has spawned a 'carnival of reaction in Irish politics. Kieran Allen rejects the view that the two cultures of Catholic and Protestant communities lock people into permanent antagonism, instead, the sectarian states have kept its citizens divided through political and economic measures like austerity, competition for reduced services and low wages. 32 Counties evokes the tradition of James Connolly and calls for an Irish unity movement from below to unite the North and the Republic into a secular, socialist and united Ireland.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 20 April 2021
Publisher: Pluto Press

This is Irish history seen anew, from below, bristling with practical lessons for the working-class struggle today. - Eamonn McCann.

The 32 counties of Ireland were divided through imperial terror and gerrymandering. Partition was borne from a Tory strategy to defend the British Empire and has spawned a 'carnival of reaction in Irish politics ever since. Over the last 100 years, conservative forces have dominated both states, offering religious identity as a diversion from economic failures and inequality.

Through a sharp analysis of the history of partition, Kieran Allen rejects the view that the two cultures of Catholic and Protestant communities lock people into permanent antagonism. Instead, the sectarian states have kept their citizens divided through political and economic measures like austerity, competition for reduced services and low wages.

Overturning conventional narratives, 32 Counties evokes the tradition of James Connolly and calls for an Irish unity movement from below to unite the North and the Republic into a secular, socialist and united Ireland.

Weight: 230g
Dimension: 215 x 135 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780745344171