The Dublin Lockout 1913 new perspectives on class war & its legacy

‘Intolerance has been the curse of our country.’

Putting Ireland on trial, Jim Larkin’s verdict was damning and resolute. His words resound, shuddering towards the present day where class division and workers’ rights disputes make headlines with swelling frequency. In this pioneering collection, an exemplary list of contributors registers the radical momentum within Dublin in 1913, its effects internationally, and its paramount example in shaping political activism within Ireland to this day.

The narrative of the beleaguered yet dignified workers who stood up to the greed of their Irish masters is examined, revealing the truths that were too fraught with trauma, shame and political tension to remain within popular memory. Beyond the animosity and immediate impact of the industrial dispute are its enduring lessons through the First World War, the Easter Rising, and the birth of the Irish Free State; its legacy, real and adopted, instructs the surge of activism currently witnessed, but to what effect?

The Dublin Lockout, 1913 illuminates this pivotal class war in Irish history: inspiring, shocking, and the nearest thing Ireland had to a debate on the type of society that was wanted by its citizens.

Table of Contents

Preface – Fr Walter Forde: An Appreciation

1. 1913 Lockout: A Chronology of Events ~ Pádraig Yeates

2. A Tale of Two Cities: The 1913 Lockout, The View From Belfast ~ Peter Collins

3. ‘Quick-Witted Urchins’: Dublin’s Newsboys in Challenging Times, 1900–22 ~ Donal Fallon

4. Social Reform and the Irish Question: An Irish-American Perspective on the 1913 Lockout ~ Meredith Meagher

5. Insult and the Locked Out Workers of 1913 ~ John White

6. ‘Into the Sun’: Helena Molony’s Lost Revolution ~ Fearghal McGarry

7. Glorious Forever?: The Political Evolution of the Irish Citizen Army, 1913–21 ~ Conor McNamara

8. ‘The Layers of an Onion’: Reflections on 1913, Class and the Memory of the Irish Revolution ~ Brian Hanley

9. 1913: The Cinderella Centenary ~ Pádraig Yeates

10. The Legacy of the Lockout: Lessons From Oral History ~ Mary Muldowney

11. An Introduction to Manuscript Sources on the Irish Citizen Army ~ Conor McNamara

About the Editors

Conor McNamara is the 1916 Scholar in Residence at Moore Institute, NUI Galway, for 2015/17. His books include Easter 1916: A Research Guide (2016), The Easter Rebellion 1916: A New Illustrated History (2015) and The West of Ireland in the Nineteenth Century: New Perspectives (2011).

Padraig Yeates is a member of the 1913 Committee. He is a journalist, trade union activist, and acclaimed author whose books include, Lockout: Dublin 1913 (2010), A City in Wartime: Dublin 1914–1918 (2011), A City in Turmoil: Dublin 1919–1921 (2012) and A City in Civil War: Dublin 1921–1924 (2015). He previously edited the Irish People and worked for the Irish Times as Community Affairs and as Industry and Employment Correspondent.