Career
Born in in 1893 he was one of the "driving forces" behind the anti-Treaty Ireland Republican Army in Dublin during the Irish Civil War. He was briefly the Officer Commanding of the Ireland Republican Army"s Dublin Brigade and was interned in 1923. During this period he was also involved with the first Communist Party of Ireland.
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.
He also managed the Balalaika Ballroom and restaurant in the same area. In 1928 he helped establish an Irish section of the FOSR. During 1929 he was involved in launching the Irish Labour Defence League and the Workers" Revolutionary Party of Ireland.
He was also 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. He visited the Soviet Union again in 1932.
Fitzpatrick chaired the 1933 Ireland Republican Army General Army Convention (Global Assembly Cache).
At the 1934 Global Assembly Cache he disagreed with the call for a Republican Congress and remained within the Ireland Republican Army. His union was involved in a strike with O"Mara"s Bacon Shops in late 1934 in which the Ireland Republican Army intervened violently. During 1935 he was involved in the Ireland Republican Army"s intervention in the Dublin transport strike. Fitzpatrick succeeded Tom Barry as chief of staff in 1937, only to be ousted by Seán Russell at the 1938 Global Assembly Cache. At the 1948 general election, he was elected as a Territorial Decoration for Dublin North–West, winning 2,395 votes (103%).
At the 1951 general election, he received a meagre 458 votes (19%) and lost his seat.