Lockout
Date:1993
Organisation: 1913 Commemoration Committee
Contributors: Info
Brendan Archbold, Des Derwin, Mags Glennon, Gregor Kerr, Cieran Perry
View: View Document
Discuss:Comments on this document
Subjects: 1913 Lockout James Larkin

Please note:  The Irish Left Archive is provided as a non-commercial historical resource, open to all, and has reproduced this document as an accessible digital reference. Copyright remains with its original authors. If used on other sites, we would appreciate a link back and reference to The Irish Left Archive, in addition to the original creators. For re-publication, commercial, or other uses, please contact the original owners. If documents provided to The Irish Left Archive have been created for or added to other online archives, please inform us so sources can be credited.

Commentary From The Cedar Lounge Revolution

2nd January 2013

Many thanks to Liam Cullinane for forwarding this document to the Left Archive. Many thanks also to JM for enabling the following introduction to the document by Mags Glennon, who was involved in the 1913 Commemoration Committee in 1993:

The pamphlet ‘Lockout’ was produced in 1993, as part of a series of events to mark the 80th Anniversary of the 1913 Lockout. These included a Public Meeting, Exhibition and historical walking tour. The weekend was put together by the 1913 Commemoration Committee, which included members of Red Action, the WSM and The Workers Party, as well as independent republican and socialist activists and rank and file trade union members. Also involved were striking workers at the time locked out from the Pat The Baker company for joining a trade union. ‘Lockout’ was launched by Dublin Lord Mayor Tomas McGiolla, only a few hundred copies were produced and it sold out very quickly.

A Commemoration Committee to celebrate the centenary of the Lockout has been established by several of the original members of the 80th anniversary committee and a host of new political and historical groups. Our aim is to highlight the current economic hardships of working people and the source of this crisis through comparing and celebrating the heroic efforts of the Dublin people in 1913. We feel that the current union leadership and their political supporters in Labour will attempt to use the 100th anniversary as a diversionary tactic to downplay their ongoing roles in the economic punishment of working families for a crisis not of their making.

This pamphlet contains a range of essays on various topics relating to the Lockout.

A range of familiar names can be found in the pamphlet, Des Derwin writes the essay on Dublin 1913-1993. Cieran Perry (then of Red Action) writes about the Irish Citizen Army. Mags Glennon also of Red Action, writes about ‘Socialism and Irish Nationalism 1830-1913’. Gregor Kerr of the TUI and Secretary of Trade Union Fightback (and the WSM), writes about the Industrial Relations Act (1990). Meanwhile there is a short two page piece under the headline ‘Pat the Baker – 1993 Still fighting for Union Rights’ which deals with a then sixth month strike for union recognition. All told the nature, background and development of the Lockout and its aftermath are considered in some detail and obvious linkages with then contemporary events are made.

However in order to give a sense of the document it is probably most appropriate to briefly consider the Foreword by Brendan Archbold of IDATU. He offers in two pages an outline of how during the 19th century the British had to concede the vote to most male workers and that there would be a further softening of the ‘combination laws’ of 1824 which had only marginally ameliorated the notorious anti-trade union legislation of the 1799 and 1800 which made unions illegal.

However even the Trade Union Act of 1871 was legally contested and as Archbold notes;

In the words of Justice Lindley in 1899, ‘you cannot make a strike effective without doing more than is lawful’.

Four years later the Tory government established a Royal Commission which lead to the introduction of the Trade Disputes Act in 1906 – which as Archbold notes then stood for 84 years as the ‘legal basis for the bulk of industrial action engaged in by Irish workers up to and after the establishment of the Irish Free State’. And Archbold notes that ‘armed with real protection from legal persecution, the trade unions could now concentrate on the struggle for better working conditions instead of concerning themselves with judicial ambush from the bench’. He also notes that so pervasive was union activity that even the Inspector General of the RIC was forced to admit that ‘recent indiscipline’ was a function of trade union picketing (and presumably speeches).

Archbold positions the 1913 Lockout as being something of a response to this upsurge in activity, and in particular a view amongst the employers league that the ITGWU, Larkin, Connolly and other trade unionists as well as their membership ‘would have to be crushed’. And he argues that ‘the battle would not be fought on issues such as wages or working conditions, one would it be fought on the issue of the right to belong to a trade union. The issue which was to cost James Nolan, a young Dublin worker, his life, would be the ‘kind’ of Trade Union a worker could join. Of course workers could join unions but not ‘Larkin’s union’.’

And the piece notes a rhetoric that many would become well acquainted with in the contemporary period:

Today however while the challenge is still there, ti takes a much more sublet approach. From employers we get what is commonly known as ‘Human Resource Management’. It’s not about ‘us’ and ‘them’, we’re all in this together and we must learn to get along without involving outsiders, otherwise known as trade unions. From the trade union leadership we get the Programme for Economic and Social Progress (PESP). Need we say more. And finally from the Government we get the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A piece of legislation which is designed to curtail the activities of trade unionists and to bring about what government and employers constantly refer to as ‘good industrial relations’.

Archbold concludes:

So the struggle continues. We must fight today, just as energetically as they did in 1913 for the right to join a union and to have that union recognised as the legitimate voice of the workers in question. The significance of the ‘Pat the Baker’ strike will not be lost on those trade unionists who are familiar with the principle involved. So let’s be brave in the struggle. After all, we have the trade union leadership on our side. Haven’t we?


Comments

No Comments yet.

Add a Comment

Formatting Help

Comments can be formatted in Markdown format . Use the toolbar to apply the correct syntax to your comment. The basic formats are:

**Bold text**
Bold text

_Italic text_
Italic text

[A link](http://www.example.com)
A link

You can join this discussion on The Cedar Lounge Revolution

  • By: Lockout, part 1: Unfinished Business « Spirit of 1913 Fri, 11 Jan 2013 15:31:29

    […] *For a facsimile of this pamphlet click here […]

    Reply on the CLR

  • By: fourfingerproductions Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:01:41

    Reply on the CLR

  • By: David Convery Tue, 24 Sep 2013 23:50:17

    The link doesn’t seem to work. Can you check it out? Thanks

    Reply on the CLR

  • By: gopro hd hero Sun, 26 Jan 2014 00:58:51

    Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon everyday.
    It’s always exciting to read through articles from
    other writers and practice a little something from other
    web sites.

    Reply on the CLR

  • By: 佛光 Fri, 07 Mar 2014 07:50:35

    While meditation is certainly an integral part it is still only part
    of the story. Over the millennia, Buddhism has developed a complex
    and colorful system some describe as “mind boggling. Raja Dhian Singh and his brother Gulab Singh were great warriors known as Jammu Brothers.

    Reply on the CLR

  • By: Printing services Mon, 17 Mar 2014 19:10:16

    Whatever be you printing requirement, the best firms provide you with very good eco friendly printing solutions.
    Provided that you decide on not to, then the
    consequences might be grievous; an unfavorable business could wait in any individual’s musings
    and not in a positive method. This is an excellent tool for the business traveler.

    Reply on the CLR

  • By: tradingnewspaper.com Sun, 23 Mar 2014 06:34:04

    TD Ameritrade Like E*Trade, TD Ameritrade offers mutual funds as
    well as access to online banking. My strategy instead is to let my stock purchases stand
    until the economy recovers. That is trillions in a
    sole stock exchange industry.

    Reply on the CLR

  • By: Estelle Thu, 27 Mar 2014 17:09:19

    Google Adwords has a tool called the “Google Keyword Tool” that will come
    in handy when you brainstorm for keyword ideas.

    You have to be vigilant because a small number of insects of plant problems
    can turn into a full blown panic in just a matter
    of days because the plants are not as protected by pesticides used by traditional
    farmers. It also provides other ways to sort through thousands or millions of search results
    by allowing users to refine or expand their search.

    Reply on the CLR