was the similar geography of the Rockite rebellion with the war of independence one hundred years later –both were largely concentrated in southwest Munster. Moreover, one is struck by the similarities between the organisation of the Rockites and the IRA at local level.
Upon entering the Rockites, recruits swore to obey the orders of his local “captain” and not inform on his comrades as well as, in some cases, to “have a Roman Catholic King and French Government”. IRA Volunteers, also largely groups of young rural men, swore comparable oaths to obey orders and to uphold the Irish Republic. The fit is not exact, many would dispute the prevalence of sectarianism in the IRA of the 1920s, but the parallels are there.
Historians such as Tom Garvin and Peter Hart have previously noted this congruence of geography and organisation between rural secret societies and the IRA. The continuities between the agrarian rebels of the 19th century (through the “tithe war” of the 1830s and the “land war” of the 1870s) and the nationalist guerrillas of the 20th may be worth looking into further.
James Donnelly’s book is fascinating glimpse into pre-famine Ireland. It was a world where the majority were certainly oppressed by the social and religious order but their sometimes murderous actions are a reminder that the oppressed can sometimes be as cruel and vengeful as their oppressors.
 Famously narrated by Marxist historians Eric Hobsbawm and George Rude in the 1969 book, “Captain Swing”.