British and Irish Communist Organisation (BICO)

Collection Dates: [c1960-c2014]

Extent: [circa 60 boxes]

The British and Irish Communist Organisation (BICO) was a small but influential group based in London, Belfast, Cork, and Dublin. 

Publishing initially as the Irish Communist Organisation they began to publish under the name British and Irish Communist Organisation in 1971 following the escalation of conflict in Northern Ireland, this reflected that their analysis and activities covered the working class and state structures of both countries. 

Under the leadership of Jack Lane and Brendan Clifford, the group produced a great number of pamphlets, and many regular periodicals including the Irish Communist and Workers Weekly. BICO itself was dissolved in the 1980s and succeeded by several historical societies and publishers.

Deposited at DCU in 2019, the BICO collection provides a unique insight into the evolution of a political organisation on the fringes of politics in Ireland and Britain. 

The published pamphlets and periodicals span from the 1960s to the mid 2010s. The Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ are well represented with the political narrative changing as the conflict developed over time. 

Broader issues of the radical left, such as nationalism, secularism, Stalinism and revisionism are also analysed in detail within the collection. 

Most of the books and larger pamphlets in the collection are published by Athol Books, Belfast, and Aubane Historical Society, Cork.

Read about the donation of this collection to Archives and Special Collections in 2019. 

This collection is in the process of being digitised and will soon be made available digitally through our library catalogue, hosted on our Archival platform AToM.