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The British and Irish Communist Organisation (B&ICO) was a small but highly influential group based in London, Belfast, Cork, and Dublin. Its leader was Brendan Clifford. The group produced a great number of pamphlets, and many regular publications including ''The Irish Communist'' and ''Workers Weekly'' in Belfast. Its current formation is as Athol Books with its premier publication being the ''Irish Political Review''. == Origins == Brendan Clifford was an Irish emigrant from the Sliabh Luachra area of County Cork who had migrated to London and become involved in left-wing politics there.〔Clifford often mentions his Sliabh Luachra upbringing in his writings, for instance,see the autobiographical introduction to "The Dubliner:The Life, Times and Works of James Clarence Mangan" (Athol Books,1988) and the entry in "A North Cork Anthology" (Athol Books,1993).〕 Clifford and some of his followers had been in Michael McCreery's Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity and later they joined the Irish Communist Group.〔See David Widgery, The Left in Britain (1976) p. 489〕〔(The Method of Marxism ) and (A Reply to Comrade Clifford (1966) ) A critical article on the ICG and Clifford by Ted Grant〕 This body consisted largely of Irish people who were living in London and were opposed to the Soviet-aligned communist organisations intended for Irish people. Following a 1965 split, the Maoist wing named itself the Irish Communist Organisation, which later became the British and Irish Communist Organisation. The broadly Trotskyist wing, led by Gerry Lawless, became the Irish Workers' Group.〔Sean Matgamna, ("The RSL (Militant) in the 1960s - a study in passivity" ), introduction to re-issue of ''What we are and What We Must Become'', Alliance for Workers' Liberty Website〕 The ICO undertook an investigation into the development of Maoism, and concluded that it was not a suitable model for an anti-revisionist group. The Chinese Communist Party had supported some aspects of Nikita Khrushchev's "revisionism", and then been dishonest about its past positions.〔(''The Communist Party of China and the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU'' ), B&ICO, on the Communist Party Alliance Website.〕 One founder-member, Dennis Dennehy, was Secretary of the Dublin Housing Action Committee, which organised a highly successful protest movement in the early 1960s. In 1968, the ICO issued a press release which defended the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.〔Irish Times, 23 August 1968, p. 6〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British and Irish Communist Organisation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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