R. M. Fox

Richard Michael Fox (1891–December 1969), better known as R. M. Fox, was a journalist and historian of the Irish left.

Fox was born in Leeds in 1891, the second of four sons to a schoolteacher mother and engineering workman father. As a child his family moved to London, where he left school at age 14. Following this he began to work in factories where he became interested in socialism. His parents were active in the Co-operative Movement, and as a young man Fox joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain and the Industrial Workers of the World.

On the outbreak of World War I, Fox denounced it as an imperialist war in which workers had no interest. His refusal to be conscripted led to his being tried and imprisoned several times throughout the war. He was abruptly released in April 1919; later that year he authored his first book, Factory Echoes, and enrolled at Ruskin College in Oxford where he studied Economics and Political Science.

While at Ruskin, Fox became the editor of New Oxford and gained a reputation as a labour journalist. He was invited to Soviet Russia in 1921 to observe the results of the recent Russian Revolution, and in 1922 he visited Dublin and established contacts with leading leftist figures there.

Following his graduation from Ruskin, Fox married children's author Patricia Lynch and they spent time in London, Paris, Brussels, and Germany before eventually settling in Dublin. Fox's articles appeared in the Irish Statesman and in the late 1920s he began publishing his books through Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press. His autobiography, Smoky Crusade, was published in 1937. Fox was a member of the National Union of Journalists as the Secretary of the Dublin branch, and the Irish branch of PEN International in which he served as the Chairman for a period. In 1943 the NUJ nominated him for the Cultural and Educational Panel in the Seanad Éireann although he was not elected.

During "The Emergency", the Irish Directorate of Military Intelligence was concerned about The Irish Press having Fox, Maire Comerford, Brian O'Neill, Geoffrey Coulter, and Tom Mullins on its staff.

Fox also commented and published on the state of Irish literature and theatre. Reviewing Teresa Deevy in 1948 he comments that while her plays were remarkable they were not frequently staged. "I ask myself why the work of a modern Irish dramatist of such creative power is not seen more often on the Irish stage."

In 1957 he published 'Jim Larkin: The Rise of the Underman', the first biography of Larkin.

An account of Fox’s trip to Maoist China was published as China Diary in 1959. Here he gives a positive portrayal of the results of the Chinese Communist Revolution, writing that "China is working out a plan of social progress which eliminates social conflict and provides a basis for social harmony. Around this time he was writing for the Dublin Evening Mail.

Fox died on 28 December 1969 aged 78 due to left ventricular failure and bronchopneumonia influenza at Bon Secours Hospital. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Selected bibliography

 * Factory Echoes, 1919.
 * Drifting Men (1930)
 * Rebel Irishwomen, 1935.
 * Smoky Crusade, 1937.
 * Green Banners: The story of the Irish struggle, 1938.
 * The History of the Irish Citizen Army, 1943.
 * James Connolly: The Forerunner, 1943
 * Years of Freedom: the story of Ireland 1921–48, 1948.
 * Labour in the National Struggle (1950s)
 * Jim Larkin: The Rise of the Underman, 1957.
 * Louie Bennett: Her Life and Times, 1958.
 * China Diary, 1959.