Improving Working and Living Conditions: Trade Union Militancy in Ireland, 1907-1914

Who was key in providing wider support for the general strike?

Leader of the British Labour party Keir Hardie who visited Dublin

Why was the Dublin lockout defeated?

1) Conviction of the employers supported by police 2) Failure of British TRADE UNION support 3) Lack of church support

What was the climax of the 1907 NUDL's strike?

10th August meeting attended by 10,000 Protestant and Catholic workers breaks into rioting with troops and two bystanders killed

When was the general strike ended? Who were they betrayed by?

18th January 1914, the officials of the British trade unions

What shows how poorly treated low skilled workers were of all ages?

1901 the legal age at which children were allowed to work was raised to 12 but school-leaving certificates were forged

What event led to Larkin being suspended from the NUDL?

1908 carter's strike bringing shipping to a halt with 3,000 striking overall and victories in the removal of the black shilling system for brewers with two weeks notice required for dismissal

What shows that despite the loss of public support for them after their response to the Askwith Commission the employers continued to attack the ITGWU?

50 scabs arrived in October

When did the general strike begin and why that day?

26th August 1913 10:00am bc it was the Dublin Horse Show so the strike would have maximum impact

What was the Dublin Metropolitan Police's response to the strike?

28th August Larkin and ITGWU leadership arrested and charged of seditious libel while group of union workers baton-charged on O'Connell street

When did the employer's lockout of employees if they refused to sign pledge against ITGWU begin? And what statistics show its extent?

2nd of September, more than 25,000 employees had been put out of work by over 400 firms

What proportion of Murphy's Dublin United Tramways Company went on strike? Who supported this?

700/1700, distributors of Murphy's Irish Independent who prevailed despite the largest newsagent Eason and Company supporting Murphy as dockers refused to handle the company's goods

What tragic event shows how even in the final days of the general strike tensions remained high?

A scab was fined just £2 for firing his revolver at the public despite casualties such as 16 year old Alice Brady who was fatally wounded while on picket duty

What did the Dublin Employers Federation led by Murphy do that began the general strike of 1913-1914?

August sacked 40 men and 20 boys from his paper the Irish Independent for being ITGWU members

What shows the scale of urbanisation into the 1900s?

Belfast's population increased by 100,000 from 1850 to the early 1900s

How did Larkin and Connolly respond to the importation of scabs/blacklegs?

Connolly created the Irish Citizen Army composed of around 300 trained union members with hurling sticks to defend unionists against police, Larkin and Connolly also called out workers whose employers had not joined the lockout

What was the employers response to the proposals of The Askwith Commission which made them appear like the vindictive villains and so lost them popular support?

Demanded that the ITGWU's leadership be replaced with people amenable to the employers and that striking workers could only be reappointed if there was a vacancy

What figures show how long working hours, poor sanitation and malnutrition led to abject conditions for the irish poor even in the context of the time?

Dublin 1905 the mortality rate was 22/1000 while in London it was 16/1000

What two statistic show the extent of Dublin Metropolitan Police's actions in response to the general strike?

Even fatally injured unionist James Bryne's 14 year old daughter was clubbed on the head, more than 500 received hospital treatment following police action

What statistic highlights the overcrowding leading to poor sanitation in Dublin in the early 1900s?

Following the collapse of a slum building killing 7 people a 1914 survey found that 26,000 families were living in 5,000 tenements

What shows British trade union's early stances in Ireland?

General Federation of Trade Unions support for Sexton's ending of the 1907 strike, support for Sexton's charge of conspiracy against Larkin

What gave the ITGWU such significance?

General union rather than specific trade union meant membership was more than 18,000 by the end of 1911, syndicalist and militant, shifted power balance to workers for first time

What did Sexton specifically use to evict Larkin?

Get's Larkin charged for fraud for transferring funds from the Cork branch to support the strike in Dublin however only serves three months due to protests

What statistics highlight the dire conditions unskilled labourers faced in Ireland in the early 1900s?

Historians estimate that it would require 22 shillings to keep a family at a basic standard of care, while the average unskilled labourers wage was 10 shillings and the average weekly rent was 4 shillings per week in 1914

What shows the impact of Larkin's Fiery Cross Crusade in 1913?

In South Wales two Associated Society of Engineers and Firemen drivers were dismissed for refusing to move Dublin goods and 30,000 railwaymen went out on unofficial strike in support of them

What statistic symbolises the failure of Larkin's ITQWU's general strike to achieve anything overall?

Jacob's Biscuits only took back 100/672 workers and cut their wages by a minium of 2 shillings per week

Who organised the political wing of trade unionism in Ireland and when?

Jim Larkin, James Connolly and William O'Brien formed the Irish Labour Party in 1912

Who was key in the NUDL's transition to Ireland and what did he create in 1909 after being faced by Sexton's pacifism on August the 10th?

Jim Larkin, the Irish Transport and General Workers Union

On top of their donations what shows how union official's position did not match their rank and file members?

Larkin drew an audience of 4000 in Glasgow the day after the conference

What was the demands of Larkin and the Belfast dockers 1907 strike?

Minimum wage of 27 shillings for a 60 hour week

What statistics shows employers willingness to sacrifice in the short term for defeating militarised unionism in the long term?

Murphy's Dublin Tramway Company saw its net profit drop from £142,000 to £120,000

What was the conclusion of the 1907 NUDL's strike?

NUDL leader James Sexton and General Federation of TUs made deal with employers that put their own career interests first: 1) Persuaded Carter's back to work for promised pay rise but no union recognition 2) So isolated the dock workers

What did Larkin create along with the ITGWU to enhance the militarisation of the working class in Dublin?

Newspaper the Irish Worker in 1911 with a circulation of 20,000 copies a week

What shows the British population's financial support for those suffering during the lockout?

October £13,000 worth of aid was sent, November £16,000 and December £21,000

What was the result of the 1913 TUC special conference that shows British Trade Unions willing to abandon their Dublin counterparts inorder to maintain their relationship with British employers?

Only 6 delegates voted against motion condemning Larkin. Gasworkers rep Jack Jones tabled an amendment suggesting that employers ought to be offerered an ultimatum that threatened to not handle Dublin "tainted" goods if they didn't compromise. It was voted down 2,300,000 to 203,000

What is an example of James Connolly the theoretician's impact?

Organised the Irish Textile Workers Union for female linen workers in 1911

What were the causes of the General Strike/Dublin Lockout?

Poor working/living conditions, individual leaders, Employer aggression

What was the "Save the Kiddies" scheme?

Proposed by Dora Montefiore to send unionist's children out of Dublin and so give struggling families support as well as being a publicity coup by painting the employers as villains but failed due to Catholic church opposition

What escalates the 1907 strike?

Secondary strike action, William Barrett's refusal to ride in a vehicle transporting blackleg workers leading to a mutiny of 300 in the Royal Irish Constabulary and troops being brought in

What are the two significant points of the 1907 NUDL strike?

Secondary striking solidarity preventing employers from simply replacing section with blackleg labourers and overcoming sectarianism

What is an example of broader support which aided the workers in resisting the employer's "siege" during the general strike?

September a ship called The Hare arrived carrying 60,000 boxes of food each capable of feeding a family of five from the homes of the British working class

Which reporter was key in amplifying concerns over the general strike in the UK?

Sheehy-Skeffington on the Daily Herald

Why did the Catholic church dislike the general strike and the ITGWU so much?

Socialism threatened the rigid middle class conservatism of the church post the devotional revolution in the wake of the famine. Also believed rumours that 'Save the Kiddies' was linked to the white slave trade.

What did Larkin embark on after the employers started importing scab labour in 1913?

The Fiery Cross Crusade starting in the Free Trade Hall in Manchester to encourage the blacking of dublin traffic and so stem the flow of British scabs while disrupting trade

What was formed in Ireland in 1907?

The National Union of Dock Labourers

What was called to address the dispute between traditional trade union conservatism and Larkin's popular militant syndicalism?

Trade Union Congress Special Conference 9th December 1913

What shows how unstable work was for unskilled labourers like dockers and carters was in the early 1900s?

Unemployment reached 20% in Belfast's shipyards during the 1908-9 depression

Who was the bastion of employer's response to increased trade unionism? What was he initially? What did he found?

William Martin Murphy, a Home Rule MP until lost his seat to a Parnellite after the 1892 split,1911 founded the Dublin Employers Federation

Can you relate a notable incidence which demonstrates the Catholic church's resistance to the ITGWU?

William Walsh the Archbishop of Dublin's open letter condemning mothers who sent their children to Britain as part of the "Save the Kiddies" scheme for "abandoning their faith"

What did the Askwith Commission propose?

Withdrawal of the employers ban on ITGWU membership, an end to sympathy secondary strikes, creation of conciliation boards

What did Larkin publish in preparation for the Trades Union Congress Special Congress?

his manifesto in the Daily Herald