Peadar O'Donnell

Paedar O'Donnell (1893-1986) was a major radical figure in the history of twentieth century Ireland. A socialist, Republican and a writer who saw his pen as a weapon in the revolutionary process, he moved from his role as a trade union organizer to the senior ranks of the IRA during the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. A key figure in the Republican-Communist nexus of the late twenties and early thirties, O'Donnell was the instigator of the mass campaign against the payment of land annuities to Britain, an issue that helped Fianna Fail to power in 1932 and sparked off the Economic War.