Why does the Reactionary Right try to copy Revolutionary Aesthetics?

Dennis Kuvaldins 

In November 2025, a group calling itself the New Republican Movement (NRM) released a video in which they threaten MLAs and councillors as legitimate targets due to “uncontrolled immigration” in Ireland. With the recent growth of the reactionary right across Ireland, primarily centred around the issue of immigration, such development is not a surprise. 

Pictured: Still from video released by ‘New Republican Movement’

Riots, such as the recent ones in City West, Ballymena and Dublin; the attacks on migrant accommodation; as well as the growth of far-right parties, clearly indicate a growing militant wing of the far right. This element will only continue to grow as the capitalist crisis in Ireland deepens further and the establishment parties attempt to shift the blame and adopt the far-right framing of the issues in order to prop up their dwindling appeal. 

What attracted a particular kind of media attention for the NRM was not merely their rhetoric and threats, it was how they presented themselves. The group’s name, and the video itself featuring armed, masked men standing in front of a tricolour, is clearly trying to invoke the imagery of revolutionary republicanism. 

This group however, does not stand as part of the republican tradition and is undeniably a part of this new right-wing movement. Apart from immigration, they made sure to link their struggle with the performative ‘culture war’ discourse, including a point on ‘indoctrination’ of children in schools. Unsurprisingly this has made them popular with certain sections of the Irish American diaspora and British reactionaries, with the likes of Tommy Robinson wasting no time in sharing the great news of this group’s emergence. 

The only tradition this group stands in is that of reactionaries appropriating the aesthetics and imagery of revolutionary movements, a tradition which has plenty of examples throughout history. 

The Nazi party, officially the National Socialist German Workers Party, is of course a famous example of this. The name clearly indicates their attempt at appealing to the working class, especially in the context of the capitalist crisis of Weimar Germany.

Pictured: Anti-Nazi cartoon. Upper text: in front of the working-class. Lower text: and in front of the circles who can pay.

As Michael Parenti wrote in ‘Blackshirts & Reds’: “Both the Italian fascists and the Nazis made a conscious effort to steal the Left’s thunder. There were mass mobilizations, youth organizations, work brigades, rallies, parades, banners, symbols, and slogans. There was much talk about a “Nazi revolution” that would revitalize society, sweeping away the old order and building the new.”

Despite the rhetoric and imagery, after taking power the fascists only continued to serve bourgeois interests. 

Many fascists to this day still pay lip service to a kind of vulgar anti-capitalism, emphasising either some fictional distinction within capitalism (e.g. ‘global finance’ capital), or a generic populist obscuring of class struggle (the ‘people’ united against an ‘elite’, with no material distinction between what either groups’ class interests really are).  

The notion of a ‘Labour Zionism’ also plays into this, the idea that a revolutionary or even progressive current could emerge out of a settler colonial ideology is obviously ridiculous, but it has not stopped attempts to conjure up such a connection, primarily using the kibbutzim movement to ‘Red wash’ the crimes of the Zionist project.

In his book ‘The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine’, Ilan Pappe describes the ‘Marxist-style’ posters which decorated the ‘red house’; the trade union building in which the eventual Nakba was planned. It is also worth pointing out how some of the worst atrocities carried out during the establishment of the Zionist entity were carried out by self-proclaimed ‘left’ Zionists. 

One can point to numerous other examples of this phenomenon from around the world. As the contradictions of capitalism sharpen and the working class is plunged further into crisis, it becomes vital for reactionaries to present themselves as an answer, offering up seemingly simple explanations for the situation the world has been brought to and claiming to defend the ‘common working man’ against those they label as the enemy. 

As we saw above with the NRM; in Ireland this phenomenon shows itself with the appropriation of Irish revolutionary republicanism. The NRM are not the only or the first. Recently a group calling itself the Irish Citizen Army Rebirth has started to organise itself, primarily on telegram. They also posted a similar video back in September, where masked men with disguised voices vow decisive action to save the country from immigration. Despite claiming the name of the revolutionary socialist army founded by James Connolly, they are more preoccupied with complaining about the lefties in their telegram and posting AI videos. Their rhetoric and threats did however attract special branch attention, but they have yet to be directly linked to any of the recent attacks on migrant accommodation. 

As with the historical examples above, despite any imagery they might adopt, the reactionaries will only serve the interests of the ruling class. The Irish far-right’s focus on attacking the opposition parties with more vitriol than they do the Fianna Fáil / Fine Gael government points to this. Despite any claims they make against the political establishment, their vision for Ireland does not ultimately differ on the fundamental issues of class. Their role is to be the bourgeoise’s useful idiots. 

Many genuine republicans have correctly identified and called out this phenomenon for what it is. Fascists have been met with resistance wherever they attempt to organise, as seen with Clann Éireann being run out in Dublin last September, and their aligned group, Republicans Against Antifa, in West Belfast earlier in the year. Last month, Saoradh have also gone on record stating that far-right inmates will not receive protection from Republicans in prisons.  

All of this should serve as a reminder that our political analysis should always come first. While the slogans and rhetoric used are an important question for a revolutionary movement to consider, there is no such thing as an inherently revolutionary aesthetic. They can very easily be co-opted and appropriated. Ultimately what distinguishes the character of a political organisation is its praxis, guided by its theory and analysis. 

The left in Ireland has largely failed to give the working class a solution to the ever worsening crises. The reactionaries have filled that gap, taking advantage of an unorganised and disunited working class. As the reactionary right will continue to grow throughout the island, it is imperative that communists, through the Communist Party, and genuine republicans work towards a united front, that is capable of meeting the tasks that face us today, and that can carry on the legacy of revolutionary movements of the past, at home and abroad.