Disunity of the 1916 Flags: The Irish Tricolour and the Starry Plough

The various member groups that participated in the Easter Rising were not as ideologically harmonious as one might think at first glance. The different militant groups, the Irish Citizen Army and the Irish Volunteers, were led respectively by the leaders of the Rising and members of the Provisional Irish Government, James Connolly and Patrick Pearse. In terms of flags, their ideologies were represented by the Irish Tricolour/ Irish Republic Flag and the Starry Plough Flag.

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The old design for the Starry Plough Flag

Patrick Pearse was a well-known advocate for physical force nationalism and advocated for a bloodshed as a vehicle for independence. James Connolly was a notable socialist figure of the time and, to at least some extent, saw violent revolt as necessary although not ideal. Their flags represent this internal difference in ideology between the two men. The Starry Plough conjures images of workers taking up their plowshares and fighting back against oppression, while the Irish Tricolour has a long history within Ireland and in an international context and the Irish Republic Flag is simply a visual, straightforward representation of the Easter Rising’s overall goal.

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The Irish Tricolour

Fitting that, in 1916, the Starry Plough and the Tricolour/Irish Republic Flag flew opposite one another. In many ways, the geographical location of the two flags, the Tricolour and Irish Republic Flag flying over the Dublin General Post Office and the Starry Plough in front of the Imperial Hotel, represents how Connolly’s and Pearse’s ideologies opposed one another. Even though both were bonded under a common goal, Irish independence, Connolly’s prefered methods of change through economic pressures by the working class paralleled Pearse’s vision of change through physical violence of true Irishmen. The flags of Easter 1916 more so represented a coalition of groups despite each flag stemming either from the ideas of unity of the the Irish Island, the unity of the Irish people, or the unity of the working class.

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The logo of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), a paramilitary group that contributed to the violence during the Troubles. Both the modern Starry Plough and the Irish Tricolour are displayed alongside a fist holding an AK-47.

The basis for a free Ireland, the Irish Proclamation of Independence was read underneath all three of the flags in front of the GPO. The geography and the ideologies behind both the men and the flags leads to an ambiguity in the flags of 1916. The ambiguity, perhaps unbeknownst the leaders of the Rising, provide a wide range of diverse and, sometimes, at odds ideals that have come to represent Ireland that came together to fight for the glory of Ireland. Or the opposing flags can come to mean true Irishness is more so a combination of the ideologies of both Pearse and Connolly. In that case, nationalism, republicanism, violence and socialism become inseparable from one another and the most true Irish principles there can be, as well as a very dangerous combination.

However, Pearse and Connolly could not even agree between themselves, so somehow fusing all of their beliefs probably is not the vision they had in mind for the future of their country, otherwise they would have had only one flag. Instead, the people of Ireland were left to determine the legitimacy of their heroes’ philosophies, determining who they would have stood with and what flag they will stand under.