Statue of James Larkin on O'Connell Street (Oisín Kelly 1977)

The Dublin Lockout of 1913 was the most severe industrial dispute in the history of Ireland, a general lockout of workers in Dublin meant to contain the expansion of trade unions. Statue of the Irish Labour leader James Big Jim Larkin, located on OConnell Street in Dublin, Ireland. ... Statue of the Irish Labour leader James Big Jim Larkin, located on OConnell Street in Dublin, Ireland. ... Statue of James Larkin on OConnell Street (Oisín Kelly 1977) Oisín Kelly, born Austin Kelly, (1915 - 1981) was an Irish sculptor. ... Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... A lockout is a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... A Trade Union (Labour union) ... is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. ...

Background

The chairman of the Dublin United Tramway Company, industrialist and newspaper proprietor William Martin Murphy, was determined not to allow the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU), led by James Larkin, to unionise his workforce. On 15 August he dismissed forty workers he suspected of ITGWU membership, followed by another 300 over the next week. On 26 August the tramway workers officially went on strike. Larkin timed the strike to take place in the middle of the Dublin Horse Show, when the inconvenience caused would be greatest and Murphy's business worst affected. At a pre-arranged time, the Tram drivers and conductors literally walked off the trams, leaving them unattended. Led by Murphy, over four hundred of the city's employers retaliated by requiring their workers to sign a pledge not to be a member of the ITGWU and not to engage in sympathetic strikes. William Martin Murphy was an Irish businessman and politician, best known for his role as leader of an employers syndicate in the Dublin Lockout of 1913. ... The Irish Transport and General Workers Union was founded by James Larkin as a general trade union (in line with the policy of the Industrial Workers of the World). ... Statue of James Larkin on OConnell Street, Dublin (Oisín Kelly 1977) James (Big Jim) Larkin (Irish: Séamas Ó Lorcáin)(1874-1947), an Irish trade union leader and socialist activist, was born in Liverpool, England on 28 January 1874, of Irish parents. ... August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining. ... August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ... A sympathy strike is a labour strike that is initiated by workers in one industry and supported by workers in a separate but related industry. ...

Course of the dispute

The resulting industrial dispute was the most severe in Ireland's history. Employers in Dublin engaged in a lockout of their workers, employing blackleg labour from Britain and elsewhere in Ireland. Dublin's workers, amongst the poorest in the United Kingdom, were forced to survive on generous but inadequate donations from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and other sources in Ireland, doled out dutifully by the ITGWU. A scheme whereby the children of Irish strikers would be temporarily looked after by British trade unionists was blocked by the Roman Catholic Church, who protested that Catholic children would be subject to Protestant or atheist influences when in Britain. The Church supported the employers during the dispute, condemning Larkin as a socialist revolutionary, which eventually shown to be true. The first known human settlement in Ireland began around 8000 BC, when hunter-gatherers arrived from Britain and continental Europe, possibly via a land bridge. ... Striking Teamsters, wielding pipes, clash with armed police in the streets of Minneapolis, 1934. ... Image:TradeUnionsCongress20050108 CopyrightKaihsuTai. ... The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church (see terminology below) is the Christian Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, currently Pope Benedict XVI. It traces its origins and sees itself as the same Church founded by Jesus and maintained through Apostolic Succession from the Twelve Apostles. ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... Revolutionary, when used as a noun, is a person who either advocates or actively engages in some kind of revolution. ...

The Dublin Metropolitan Police baton charge a union rally on O'Connell street, on "Bloody Sunday" August 1913

The strikers used mass pickets and intimidation against strike breakers and the Dublin Metropolitan Police in turn baton charged worker's rallies. The DMP's attack on a union rally on Sackville Street (now known as O'Connell Street) in August 1913 caused the deaths of two workers and hundreds more were injured. This was provoked by the illegal appearance of James Larkin to speak out for the workers. It is still known in the Irish Labour movement as "Bloody Sunday" (despite two subsequent days in 20th century Ireland that are also described in this way). Another worker was later shot dead by a strike breaker. In response, Larkin and his subordinate James Connolly formed a worker's militia named the Irish Citizen Army to protect workers' demonstrations. Image File history File links 1913lockout. ... Image File history File links 1913lockout. ... Daniel OConnell, 19th century nationalist leader, whose statue by John Henry Foley, stands on the street named after him. ... The Dublin Metropolitan Police was formed in 1836, after twenty years of attempts to create an effective policing force in Ireland Rural policing in Ireland began when Chief Secretary for Ireland, Robert Peel created the Peace Preservation Force in 1816. ... Daniel OConnell, 19th century nationalist leader, whose statue by John Henry Foley, stands on the street named after him. ... The Irish Citizen Army`s Starry Plough banner. ...

For seven months the lockout affected tens of thousands of Dublin's workers and employers, with Larkin portrayed as the villain by Murphy's three main newspapers, the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and the Evening Herald. Other leaders in the ITGWU at the time were James Connolly and William X. O'Brien, while influential figures such as Pádraig Pearse, Countess Markievicz and William Butler Yeats supported the workers in the generally anti-Larkin media. The Irish Independents header consists of its name and a green harp The Irish Independent is Irelands best-selling broadsheet newspaper. ... The Sunday Independent is a broadsheet Sunday newspaper published in the Republic of Ireland by Independent News and Media plc. ... The Evening Herald is a tabloid evening newspaper published in Dublin, Ireland by Independent News & Media. ... For the Olympic athlete, see James Connolly (athlete) James Connolly James Connolly (June 5, 1868 - May 12, 1916) was an Irish nationalist and socialist leader. ... William X. OBrien (1881-1968) was an influential Teachta Dála and trade unionist in Ireland. ... Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (known as Pádraig Pearse or by his Irish name Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais) (November 10, 1879 – May 3, 1916) was a teacher, poet, writer and political activist who led the Irish Easter Rising in 1916. ... Constance Georgine Markiewicz (1868?1927), was an Irish politician and nationalist. ... W.B. Yeats in Dublin on 24 January 1908. ...

Today, stands a statue of Larkin in Dublin's O'Connell Street. In the passage of time, some have argued that Larkin has no right to be there, due to his ideology and to the passing of time and a changed nation. Some argue it was he who had a large part to play in the causing of hardship to the people he proclaimed to protect. Of late, it has been muted that he should be replaced with William Martin Murphy, who created employment in Ireland and abroad, was respected by his peers and by the majority of his employees and was known to pay above the industry norms at the time. History has shown Larkin to have been ill-advised in his actions in Ireland.

End of the Lockout - the employers' victory

The lockout eventually concluded in early 1914 when the calls for a sympathetic strike in Britain from Larkin and Connolly were rejected by the TUC. Most workers, many of whom were on the brink of starvation, went back to work and signed pledges not to join a union. The ITGWU was badly damaged by its defeat in the Lockout, and was further hit by the departure of Larkin to America in 1914 and the execution of James Connolly for his part in the nationalist Easter Rising in 1916. However, the union was re-built by William O'Brien and Thomas Johnson and 1919 its membership had surpassed that of 1913. Image File history File links 1913_Bileog. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... Combatants Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, Irish Republican Brotherhood British Army Royal Irish Constabulary Commanders Pádraig Pearse, James Connolly General Sir John Maxwell Strength 1250 in Dublin, c. ... This article is about Thomas Johnson the Irish politician. ...

Although the actions of the ITGWU and the smaller UBLU were unsuccessful in achieving substantially better pay and conditions for the workers, they marked a watershed in Irish labour history. The principle of union action and workers' solidarity had been firmly established; no future employer would ever try to "break" a union in the way that Murphy attempted with the ITGWU. Perhaps even more importantly, Larkin's rhetoric, condemning poverty and injustice and calling for the oppressed to stand up for themselves, made a lasting impression.

Yeats' "September 1913"

September 1913, one of the most famous of Yeats' poems, was written to express the poet's support of the workers in this struggle. Yeats is the surname of a notable Irish family: John Butler Yeats (1839-1922), Irish artist and portrait painter William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet and playwright, Nobel prize winner Susan Yeats, also known as Lily, (1866-1949), active in the Arts and Crafts movement and Dun Emer Guild...

September 1913

What need you, being come to sense,

But fumble in a greasy till

And add the halfpence to the pence

And prayer to shivering prayer until

You have dried the marrow from the bone?

For men were born to pray and save.

Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,

It's with O'Leary in the grave John OLeary (1830 - 1907) was an Irish poet noted for his failure as a student of both law and medicine, and for his imprisonment in England during the nineteenth century. ...

Was it for this the wild geese spread

The grey wing upon every tide;

For this that all the blood was shed,

For this Edward Fitzgerald died, Edward Marlborough FitzGerald (March 31, 1809–June 14, 1883) was an English writer, best known as the poet of the English translation of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. ...

And Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 1780 - 20 September 1803) was an Irish nationalist rebel leader. ... Theobald Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone, commonly known as Wolfe Tone (20 June 1763 - 19 November 1798) was a leading figure in the Irish independence movement. ...

All that delirium of the brave?

External links

• Dublin Lockout 1913 — from the BBC History website