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What was the contribution of James Connolly and/or Jim Larkin to the Irish Labour Movement? (2018)
Essay credit: Laura Campion
1913 Strike & Lockout
The industrial dispute that convulsed Dublin in 1913, commonly called the ‘The Lockout’, took place against a backdrop of urban poverty. Unemployment was chronic among unskilled labourers, who lived in slums known as ‘tenements’, contrasting the wealthy factory owners who led lucrative lifestyles. Those who rejected this inequality were known as socialists, and sought to improve the living conditions of the poor by redistribution of wealth. It was from this ideology that sparked the unionisation of working classes in Ireland. In this essay I will examine the unionisation of the working class, the roles of Jim Larkin and James Connolly, and the events surrounding the 1913 Strike and Lockout.
Socialism was born during the French Revolution, and developed and spread across Europe during the 19th Century. There was much political discourse regarding class, with the most famous thinkers being Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who supported violence to achieve their aims. Socialism aimed to end the exploitation of workers and clear slums that the Industrial Revolution had produced. These issues affected workers in Ireland and around Europe. However, it would take much longer for Irish socialism to develop in response to these issues. As F.S.L. Lyons in ‘Ireland Since the Famine’ states: “A labour situation where the demand was greater than the supply, and where there was a large pool of unemployed was not conducive to the growth of organisation at trade union or at the political level.”
Socialism involved mostly industrial workers, but Ireland was a largely agrarian country; over 60% of Irish people worked in the agricultural sector in 1914. Only Belfast was industrialised, with the development of shipbuilding and textile industries. However, sectarian divisions prevented co-operation religion between Catholic and Protestant workers in the factories and shipyards. In addition to religious discrimination, Catholics were also affected by the Catholic Church’s deep opposition to socialism, which used its influence over Irish people to steer them away from this political belief. Workers’ rights were also largely ignored by the government, as politicians refused to allow anything other than Home Rule to be discussed. In the words of Home Rule leader, John Redmond, “Labour must wait”. As a result, there was a lack of support for Larkin and Connolly’s ideals- at first. However, conditions in Dublin proved to create and push to the forefront an Irish labour movement.
The Irish Labour Movement grew partly out of the British movement, and it was from here that 2nd generation Irish organisers Connolly and Larkin would emerge as key figures. ‘Craft Unions’ were joined by skilled workers such as bricklayers and printers, who were valuable workers, therefore were used as a strong bargaining position. Most of these Craft Unions operated under the guidance of the British Trade Union Congress (TUC), but in 1895 the Irish Trade Union Congress (ITUC) was established, after some Irish trade unionists felt neglected by the TUC. Unskilled workers had no leverage over their employers and could not form unions, but as conditions worsened in Britain and Ireland, they strived to fight for their rights as employees for better working conditions. Keir Hardie became the first working-class MP and helped found the British Labour Party. He became friends with Connolly, who was an active trade unionist.
Marx had a profound influence on Connolly, and helped shape the ideals of the Irish Labour Movement. Born to Irish parents, Connolly was originally from Edinburgh. He worked as a dustman but lost his job after losing an election to the Corporation as a socialist. He moved to Dublin in 1896 with his family. He was invited to Ireland by the Dublin Socialist Society to organise an Irish socialist movement, and later founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party and the Workers’ Republic newspaper. Connolly was an internationally known socialist thinker, but unlike most, he did not see nationalism as a threat to socialism, having witnessed exploitation of workers linked to British rule. An intelligent and eloquent figure, his skilful use of language persuaded many to question their mistreatment and exploitation, having once stated “The worker is the slave of capitalist society, the female worker is the slave of that slave.”
Conditions for European workers worsened; the main issue surrounding industrial unrest was inflation. Irish food prices rose by 29% between 1895 and 1912. Vast unemployment kept wages low, leading to militant trade unionism. Larkin travelled to Belfast to establish unity among workers, regardless of religion. Coming from Liverpool, he understood sectarianism, as when the Irish emigrated there during the Famine, sectarianism developed. He united Catholic and Protestant unskilled workers in the Dockers’ Union. Between 1906 to 1914, strikes became common across Europe in the fight for better working conditions, and Ireland was no exception. When the employers brought in strike-breakers, known as “scabs”, to do the work, other unions joined in, and even the police went on strike. Industry in Belfast came to a halt as a result, however only transport workers got pay increases, and sectarianism, fuelled by Home Rule, put an end to a united labour movement there.
Larkin then moved back to Dublin where conditions were significantly worse than Belfast. He enlisted 2500 workers in the Dockers’ Union, and led 3 successful strikes, marking a success in the Irish Labour Movement. However, he was suspended for carrying out too many strikes, thus marking a failure. He then formed a new union for unskilled workers; the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU). It quickly spread across Ireland, and gained widespread support. Connolly became its organiser in Belfast. He and Larkin also founded the Irish Labour Party to represent workers in the upcoming Home Rule government in 1912. By 1912, the ITGWU had developed considerably and had grown to18,000 members. The early days of the ITGWU proved to be successful, as it earned the support of a large number of workers with a common cause: to fight for improved pay and working conditions.
Larkin led a number of strikes which successfully led to pay increases of 25%. To neutralise the employers’ use of scabs, Larkin used the sympathetic strike tactic; when one industry was on strike, the workers in another industry refused to handle anything from it. For example, 2000 women in Jacobs biscuit factory lost their jobs when they refused to handle flour made by a company whose workers were on strike. As a result, many employers gave in to Larkin’s demands, highlighting his skills as a powerful figure in the movement. Connolly’s foundation of the Irish Labour Party reflected the “extent to which organised labour felt that its concerns could best be expressed through independent representation”, according to Alvin Jackson in “Ireland 1798-1998”. With successes in Belfast and Dublin, pay increases and massive union memberships, the future looked bright for the Irish labour movement, and it appeared that Connolly and Larkin would succeed.
In response to the growing unionisation of workers, employers united under William Martin Murphy, who was probably Ireland’s most powerful businessman. A successful business owner, he owned the Dublin Tramway Company, Clery’s Department Store, several newspapers including the ‘Independent’ and hotels. He used his ownership of the papers in his favour by negatively portraying the Labour Movement to influence people into siding with employers. Murphy united employers in the Employers’ Federation, in opposition to Larkin’s victories. His tramway workers had to be on call all day, but were only paid for the hours they worked. It took six years for a driver to become full time, and many worked 12 hours a day for 365 days of the year. Uniforms, licences and insurance were also deducted from their wages. They were fined if a tram was late and suspended without pay if a passenger complained. Hence, workers were exploited under Murphy.
Murphy staunchly opposed the work of Larkin. When tramway workers started to join the ITGWU, he sought to stop them. He held a meeting with his workers and sacked 6 ITGWU members. He then ordered that no ITGWU member would work for him. When he sacked Independent newspaper workers for membership, they picketed the offices. Newsboys and Easons workers refused to handle the paper. Murphy then sacked 200 tramway workers. Larkin called for a general strike in protest of the mistreatment under Murphy. The organisation of employers, combined with Murphy’s powerful status and influence, posed a dangerous threat to the Labour Movement. Nevertheless, the Labour Movement continued to fight for workers’ rights.
Larkin’s strike took place during the Dublin Horse Show in August 1913, the busiest time of the year for trams. The police used violence against the workers, and strikers fought scabs. Connolly established the Irish Citizen Army to defend the strikers from the police and to fight for a socialist republic. The police banned an ITGWU rally on O’Connell Street. The night before the meeting, a protest was held outside Liberty Hall, the ITGWU headquarters. In the riot, police killed 2 people and injured 300. Larkin was determined the O’Connell Street rally would go ahead. In disguise he slipped past police and gave a speech from the window of Murphy’s “Imperial” hotel. This outraged police, who stormed the hotel, which ended up injuring 500 people. The city was soon rioting as workers clashed with police. Police smashed the homes of tenement dwellers. Two houses collapsed, killing five adults and two children.
The riots sparked outraged across Ireland, forcing the government to investigate Dublin slums. The Employers’ Federation responded with a lockout. When a union refused to handle goods from another one on strike out of sympathy, their bosses locked them out of work, which Murphy intended to stop sympathetic striking, one of Larkin’s best tactics. By October 1913, 20,000 workers were locked out by 400 employers. Liberty Hall sent out free dinners for striking families. The TUC raised money and sent a shipload of food to Dublin; £100,000 was donated to assist strikers. The government was forced to intervene. Larkin wanted ITGWU members reinstated, and the right for workers to unionise. Unions accepted the Askwith Enquiry’s findings, but the Employers’ Federation refused, losing them support. Larkin and Connolly had formed the Irish Labour Movement into a well organised force; they knew how to expose working conditions to the world which gained them vast support.
However, the Catholic Church’s opposition to strikes hindered its success. British sympathisers wanted to bring Dublin children to stay with English families during the strike, known as “The Dublin Kiddies Scheme”. The Church claimed families would convert children to Protestantism, and used this fear to anger Irish nationalists and Catholics to turn them against socialism. Murphy’s papers supported them. The Employer’s Federation also began hiring more scabs, and many strikers went back to work instead of seeing their jobs lost to a new workforce. The strike began to fade out as the workers began to return to work in January and promised not to join a union. Not much change came about following the strike, and Larkin left for America where he helped found the Communist Party. Connolly continued their work and prepared for a socialist revolution before being contacted by the IRB to take part in the 1916 Rising.
It could be argued that Murphy became one of the most loathed figures in Irish history after failing the 1913 Strike and Lockout. Although the Labour Movement had lost this battle for the right to join a union, in the long term they won this right. Following the 1913 Lockout, Larkin became less important overtime as new leaders emerged and Connolly was executed, however both men left a lasting legacy and a labour movement which survives to this day.
Feedback: This is a very good essay! It’s packed full of relevant correct historical information, and you make really good use of quotation. Your intro is strong, clearly laying out the essay and providing some background. Your conclusion wraps up the essay, but could do with being a bit clearer in summing up the points you made – you should still say everything you’ve said, but also go through the points you’ve made and answer the question one final time. Make sure you’re answering the question in every paragraph too. For example, the info you give in the paragraph just after the introduction is all important and relevant, but could do with being linked to Larkin and Connolly in some way. As the question is specifically about them and their contribution to the Labour Movement, every paragraph needs to show how one or the other contributed.
Cumulative Mark: This essay would easily achieve the maximum 60/60 for its cumulative mark, as you have plenty of strong paragraphs.
Overall Evaluation Mark: For OE, this essay would get about 28/40. This mark is awarded for essays that are very good but that lack evidence of extensive wider reading or detailed analysis – try making deeper commentary on the information that you’re providing in future essays!
Total: 88/100
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