This lecture discusses the Irish Labour movement from 1921-1924, following the Irish War of Independence and Civil War. It covers: 1. The post-war economic slump in Ireland and Britain in 1921, and the Irish Trade Union Congress's pledge to resist wage cuts. 2. The establishment of the Irish nationalist state through the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, and the outbreak of civil war between pro- and anti-treaty factions. Prominent anti-treaty leader Liam Mellows was executed that year. 3. Letters written by Mellows from prison in 1922 calling on republicans to make their social and democratic program more clear and to prioritize winning support from Irish workers.

1. HHIS403 - Political & Social Movements in Twentieth-Century Ireland
The Irish Labour Movement, 1889 – 1924
Friday @ 10am
Introduction: Irish Labour movement, 1889-1924
The Rise of New Unionism, 1889-1906
James Connolly and the Irish Socialist Republican Party, 1896-1904
Jim Larkin and ‘Larkinism’, 1907-1914
The 1913 Lockout and the Irish Citizen Army
Syndicalism, 1917-1921
Civil War and Retreat, 1921-1924
Conclusion
Required Reading:
Emmet O’Connor, A Labour History of Ireland 1824-2000 (Dublin: UCD Press, 2011): 51-127.
Supplementary Reading:
Conor McCabe, ‘Your only God is profit’: Irish class relations and the 1913 Lockout ’ in David Convery (ed)
Locked Out: A Century of Irish Working-Class Life (Dublin: Irish Academic Press 2013)
Lorcan Collins, James Connolly: 16 Lives (Dublin: O’Brien Press, 2012)
Fintan Lane, The Origins of Modern Irish Socialism, 1881-1896 (Cork: Cork University Press, 1997)
David Lynch, Radical Politics in Modern Ireland: The Irish Socialist Republican Party, 1896-1904
(Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2005)
Emmet O’Connor, Syndicalism in Ireland, 1917-1923 (Cork: Cork University Press, 1988)
Emmet O’Connor, James Larkin (Cork: Cork University Press, 2002)

9. 29 July 1922
Sean McLoughlin was only 21 when he
became Commandant-General of the army
of the Irish Republic in the 1916 Easter
Rebellion.
Most of its leaders were executed by the
British Army, but he survived, perhaps
because he was so young.
McLoughlin looked towards a social as well
as a political revolution. He wished the
labour movement to lead the struggle for
Irish independence, he became an active
trade union leader and joined the
Communist Party.

16. Lecture Seven:
Civil War and Retreat, 1921-24
1. Post-War slump
2. The Nationalist State realized
3. Liam Mellows and call to Labour
4. Larkin and the Labour movement

17. 1. The Post-War slump
- During 1921, Irish manufacturing trade almost halved. By
December, over 26 per cent of workers were idle
- In Britain, wages were ‘getting back to normal’ following the
collapse of the Triple Alliance of railwaymen, miners and
transport unions on ‘Black Friday’ and the subsequent isolation
and defeat of the miners’ strike against pay cuts

18. BLACK FRIDAY - 21 April 1921
-Triple Alliance: the NUR, the National
Transport Workers' Federation, and the
Miners' Federation of Great Britain
- Decision by the transport and rail
unions in Great Britain not to support
the miners in their strike

19. BLACK FRIDAY - 21 April 1921
-Triple Alliance: the NUR, the National
Transport Workers' Federation, and the
Miners' Federation of Great Britain
- Decision by the transport and rail
unions in Great Britain not to support
the miners in their strike
- Black Friday refers to the sense of
betrayal felt by ordinary trade union
members within the unions
- Union leadership went for sectional
interests over class interests

20. 1. The Post-War slump
- In Ireland, particularly the South, the effect of ‘Black Friday’ was
limited by the political and military situation
- Not possible to deploy troops to break trade unions due to the
Anglo-Irish truce, July-December 1921, and subsequent civil war.

21. 1. The Post-War slump
- In Ireland, particularly the South, the effect of ‘Black Friday’ was
limited by the political and military situation
- Not possible to deploy troops to break trade unions due to the
Anglo-Irish truce, July-December 1921, and subsequent civil war.
- August 1921, Trade Union Congress pledges to ‘hold the harvest’
of wage gains, and to prioritise unity in the impending struggle.
“The Irish Labour Party has advised that in all industries where
notice of reduction in wages or attacks on working conditions are
made, all the unions in this trade or that industry should come
together… and pledge themselves to stand firmly to the bitter
end.”
Tom Foran, ILP&TUC president, August 1921

23. - 22 August 1921. Carrigan
Tribunal established.
- December 1921 – Carrigan
report
- finds in favour of wage
reductions and extenstion of
hours
- 10 February 1922 –
Carrigan Tribunal suspended
for six months

25. 2. The Nationalist State realised
- October 1921, abolition of
the Agricultural Wages Board
- 7 January 1922 – ratification
of the Anglo-Irish Treaty
- 26 March ‘22 – IRA members
meet and vote to repudiate the
treaty. Led by Liam Mellows
and Rory O’Connor.

26. 2. The Nationalist State realised
- October 1921, abolition of
the Agricultural Wages Board
- 7 January 1922 – ratification
of the Anglo-Irish Treaty
- 26 March ‘22 – IRA members
meet and vote to repudiate the
treaty. Led by Liam Mellows
and Rory O’Connor.
- 14 April ‘22 – anti-treaty
forces led by O’Connor and
Mellows seize the Four Courts,
Dublin.
- 28 June ‘22 – Collins orders
the shelling of the Four Courts,
seen as definitive start to the
Civil War

27. 2. The Nationalist State realised
- 8 December 1922, Rory O'Connor,
Liam Mellows, Dick Barrett and Joe
McKelvey are executed in retaliation
for the killing of Seán Hales.

28. 2. The Nationalist State realised
- 8 December 1922, Rory O'Connor,
Liam Mellows, Dick Barrett and Joe
McKelvey are executed in retaliation
for the killing of Seán Hales.
- 24 May 1923 – Frank Aiken and
Eamon deValera call on anti-treaty
forces to disarm and return home.
"Further sacrifice on your part would
now be in vain and the continuance
of the struggle in arms unwise in the
national interest. Military victory must
be allowed to rest for the moment
with those who have destroyed the
Republic"

29. 3. Liam Mellows and the Call to Labour
NOTES FROM MOUNTJOY
- a series of three letters -the first letter is dated 25
August, the second 29 August and the third 9
September 1922) about the current crisis of
Republicanism.

30. 3. Liam Mellows and the Call to Labour
NOTES FROM MOUNTJOY
- a series of three letters -the first letter is dated 25
August, the second 29 August and the third 9
September 1922) about the current crisis of
Republicanism.
The Programme of Democratic control (the social
programme) - should be translated into something
definite. This is essential if the great body of workers
are to be kept on the side of Independence - This
does not require a change of outlook on the part of
Republicans, or the adoption of a revolutionary
programme as such.

31. 3. Liam Mellows and the Call to Labour
NOTES FROM MOUNTJOY
- a series of three letters -the first letter is dated 25
August, the second 29 August and the third 9
September 1922) about the current crisis of
Republicanism.
The Programme of Democratic control (the social
programme) - should be translated into something
definite. This is essential if the great body of workers
are to be kept on the side of Independence - This
does not require a change of outlook on the part of
Republicans, or the adoption of a revolutionary
programme as such.
The headline is there in the Declaration of 1919. It is
already part of the Republican policy. It should be
made clear what is meant by it. Would suggest
therefore that it be interpreted something like the
following which appeared in the Workers' Republic of
July 22nd last.

32. - is well to note that the I.R.A. Executive had already
taken up the question of the demesnes and ranches
and had adopted a scheme for their confiscation and
distribution.
In view of unprincipled attacks of the Labour Party,
and because of the landless and homeless Irish
Republican soldiers who fought against Britain, it
might be well to publish this scheme in whole or in
part.

33. - is well to note that the I.R.A. Executive had already
taken up the question of the demesnes and ranches
and had adopted a scheme for their confiscation and
distribution.
In view of unprincipled attacks of the Labour Party,
and because of the landless and homeless Irish
Republican soldiers who fought against Britain, it
might be well to publish this scheme in whole or in
part.
We should certainly keep Irish Labour for the
Republic: it will be possibly the biggest factor on our
side. Anything that will prevent Irish Labour becoming
Imperialist and "respectable" will help the Republic.
As a sidelight on Johnson, O'Brien, O'Shannon and
Co. it will interest you to know that when they called
on us in the Four Courts last May they (particularly
Johnson) remarked that no effort had been made to
put the Democratic Programme into execution.

34. In our efforts now to win back public support to the Republic
we are forced to recognise - whether we like it or not- that
the commercial interest, so called, money and the
gombeen men are on the side of the Treaty, because the
Treaty means Imperialism and England

35. In our efforts now to win back public support to the Republic
we are forced to recognise - whether we like it or not- that
the commercial interest, so called, money and the
gombeen men are on the side of the Treaty, because the
Treaty means Imperialism and England.
We are back to Tone - and it is just as well-relying on that
great body "the men of no property".
The "stake in the country" people were never with the
Republic. They are not with it now-and they will always be
against it- until it wins. We should recognise that definitely
now and base our appeals upon the understanding and
needs of those who have always borne Ireland's fight

36. In our efforts now to win back public support to the Republic
we are forced to recognise - whether we like it or not- that
the commercial interest, so called, money and the
gombeen men are on the side of the Treaty, because the
Treaty means Imperialism and England.
We are back to Tone - and it is just as well-relying on that
great body "the men of no property".
The "stake in the country" people were never with the
Republic. They are not with it now-and they will always be
against it- until it wins. We should recognise that definitely
now and base our appeals upon the understanding and
needs of those who have always borne Ireland's fight.
Even though the decision of the election of 1918 stands;
even though the Declaration of Independence remains a
fact; even though the election of June 1922 was an "agreed
election" at which no issue was put or decided, yet,
because of the interpretation put upon it by the Treatyites…
it is essential that the Republic be over again affirmed by
the people as soon as possible.
When that may be no one can tell, but we cannot look too
far ahead, in the meantime the Provisional Republican
Government should endeavour to "carry on"

40. 4. Larkin and the Labour movement