how do the political parties lay claim to the 1916 legacy?

Labour

The Labour Party predates the Rising but had a significant connection with it. The party was founded in Clonmel in 1912 as the political wing of the trade union movement. From the beginning it was torn by the national question, as the union movement represented Protestant workers in the North, who believed in the union with Britain, as well as nationalist workers in the South.

James Connolly, a key figure in the union movement, was also commander of the Citizen Army which took part in the Rising. He was one of the signatories of the Proclamation. However, the Labour Party did not take a formal position on the Rising although Connolly was executed in its aftermath, Liberty Hall destroyed and a number of prominent party figures with nationalist sympathies arrested. Connolly was succeeded as leader of the party by Tom Johnson, an English born moderate socialist who played down nationalism in an effort to keep the support of both Protestant and Catholic workers. The trade union movement, particularly the ITGWU, expanded rapidly after the Rising under the leadership of William O'Brien and Thomas Farren.

The rise of Sinn Féin presented Labour with a dilemma. The party took the momentous decision not to contest 1918 election at the request of Sinn Féin, which was seeking a clear decision from the electorate on the national issue. By abstaining at the birth of the modern Irish democratic state, Labour marginalised itself.

The party showed great courage four years later in the first democratic election in a free Ireland. Labour was asked by pro- and anti-Sinn Féin factions to stand aside from the pact election of June, 1922, which amounted to a vote on the Treaty. The party refused and, despite massive republican intimidation, Labour contested that election on the basis of supporting the Treaty. It won 20 per cent of the vote and the party became the Opposition in the Third Dail because the anti Treaty Sinn Féin faction choose to abstain.

Labour continued to be the main Opposition until Fianna Fáil entered the Dáil in 1927 but was gradually eclipsed thereafter. In 1932 the party helped put de Valera into power when Fianna Fáil failed to win an overall majority. It was soon cast aside when Fianna Fáil won an overall majority in 1933.

At times Labour has emphasised its 1916 connections but it has also clashed with the republican tradition at regular intervals since 1922. The party has always derived a significant element of its support from a working class tradition that had had links with Britain through the trade union movement and the British forces. Following the outbreak of the Northern Troubles in 1969 the Labour leadership has taken a consistent line in opposition to Sinn Féin and the IRA. While Labour has always regarded Connolly as one source of inspiration its main thrust has always been to represent the trade union tradition. The Starry Plough, the flag of the Citizen Army, was dropped as a Labour symbol in favour of a red rose during the leadership of Dick Spring, but it has made a comeback in recent times. The flag will be carried in the 1916 commemoration parade on Easter Sunday at the suggestion of the party.