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11 Facts About Mick Fitzpatrick

1.

Michael Fitzpatrick was an Irish republican, Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and Clann na Poblachta politician.

2.

Mick Fitzpatrick was briefly the Officer commanding of the IRA's Dublin Brigade and was interned in 1923.

3.

Mick Fitzpatrick was a full-time official of the Grocers' trade union and secretary of its social club at the Banba Hall in Dublin's Parnell Square.

4.

Mick Fitzpatrick managed the Balalaika Ballroom and restaurant in the same area.

5.

Mick Fitzpatrick was the central figure in IRA contacts with the Soviet Union during the late 1920s and in 1927, he represented the IRA Army Council at the first International Congress of the Friends of Soviet Russia in Moscow where he was elected to the presidium of the FOSR.

6.

Mick Fitzpatrick was involved in Comhairle na Poblachta, a body set up the same year to heal the rift between the military and political anti-Treaty forces in Ireland.

7.

In 1931 Mick Fitzpatrick was elected to the National Executive board of Saor Eire - a far-left political organisation established in September 1931 by communist-leaning members of the IRA.

8.

Mick Fitzpatrick's union was involved in a strike with O'Mara's Bacon Shops in late 1934 in which the IRA intervened violently.

9.

Mick Fitzpatrick succeeded Tom Barry as Chief of Staff in 1937, only to be ousted by Sean Russell at the 1938 GAC.

10.

Mick Fitzpatrick was involved in the 1946 launch of Clann na Poblachta - a political party which drew support from people who were tired of the old Civil War politics and wanted more concern for social issues.

11.

Mick Fitzpatrick died in 1969 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.