William Martin Murphy: patriotic entrepreneur or ‘a soulless, money-grubbing tyrant’?

AE’s letter is enshrined in the literature on the strike, but one never hears of Murphy’s letter to the Daily Citizen, in which he responded to the charge that he had produced the state of affairs existing in Dublin. ‘At the Court of Inquiry at Dublin Castle’, he declared, ‘I was cross-examined for hours by … Read more

Big Jim Larkin: Hero and Wrecker

ITGWU founded The ITGWU marked the birth of the modern Irish labour movement. Less than 10% of Irish workers were unionised at this time, and most of these were in British-based unions. In Dublin especially, many activists felt neglected by British labour and argued for an Irish-based movement. As an NUDL official, Jim had said … Read more

Class dismissed?

Brian Hanley asks whether commemoration of the Lockout means that awkward questions about class and power in Ireland are ignored. Over the weekend of 30–31 August 1913, a few days into what was to become a five-month-long lockout, the Dublin Metropolitan Police ran amok across inner-city Dublin, attacking strikers and their supporters. Two men died … Read more

The Lockout Tapestry —a stitch in time

The 1913 Lockout Tapestry is an ambitious, large-scale, collaborative visual arts project to commemorate the Dublin Lockout. During this epic struggle an estimated 100,000 people, one third of the capital’s inhabitants, faced starvation for five months in a battle for workers’ rights. The Lockout of 1913 is unique in the ‘decade of centenaries’ that we … Read more