November 07

‘The transformation of conditions seemed a mystery to many. Social science was more successful than military force. Socialism could induce poor, ignorant Irish peasants to live in peace and harmony with each other. In their individualism, every man was for himself at the expense of every other person. Now each found his interest promoted by promoting the comfort and happiness of all around him.’The Ralahine Agricultural and Manufacturing Co-operative Association was launched by John Scott Vandeleur on his 618-acre estate near Bunratty, Co. Clare. Inspired by Robert Owen (1771–1858), the pioneer of the co-operative movement, Vandeleur hoped to discourage his tenants from joining agrarian secret societies, to encourage them to raise common capital—so that they could eventually purchase the estate—and to promote protection ‘against the evils of poverty, sickness, infirmity, and old age, the attainment of a greater share of the comforts of life than the working class now possess, the mental and moral improvement of the adult members and the education of their children’. Supervised by Englishman E.T. Craig, a devoted Owenite, the tenants—seven married couples along with their children, who attended a non-denominational community school, and 21 single men—elected a committee twice a year and instead of money used ‘labour notes’, which could be used in community stores. Marking their progressive outlook, they were the first in Ireland to use a reaping machine. As Craig himself wrote:

The spanner in the works, however, proved to be the landlord himself. An inveterate gambler, Vandeleur’s debts ran out of control just two years later and his creditors moved in. They seized the estate and sold the entire assets of the co-operative.