C. Desmond Greaves

Who was C. Desmond Greaves?

Charles Desmond Greaves was an Irish activist and historian. He wrote a number of books on Irish history as a Marxist historian.

Greaves studied at Liverpool University where he graduated in chemistry and botany, he worked as a research chemist at Powell Duffryn. In 1934 he joined Communist Party of Great Britain. In 1941 he joined the Connolly Club which became the Connolly Association, he became the editor of its magazine The Irish Democrat.

His library of Irish books is held at the Working Class Movement Library in Salford, deposited by his executor Anthony Coughlan. The Desmond Greaves summer school is held each year as a forum for discussing topics which exercised him, such as Irish left wing, and republican politics.