The study of Irish labour history as a distinct discipline began in the 1970s, which saw the formation of the Irish Labour History society (ILHS), and the publication of its journal, Saothar. The 1970s also 'saw the publication of two studies that did much to redefine the subject' (see O'Connor, 'Ireland') : these were Arthur Mitchell's Labour & Irish Politics, 1890-1930 (1974), and Charles McCarthy's Trade Unions in Ireland, 1894-1960 (1977). Before then, studies of Irish labour tended to be radical interpretations of Irish history – with the emphasis firmly on the revolutionary power of the Irish working class -  rather than studies of, say, trade union organisation or working class culture.  

The best known of these studies is James Connolly’s Labour in Irish History, which was first published in 1910. Connolly saw in Irish history evidence to support the view that ‘only the Irish working class remain as the incorruptible inheritors of the fight for freedom in Ireland.’ In Connolly’s eyes, ‘the Irish question is a social question, the whole age-long fight of the Irish people against their oppressors resolves itself, in the last analysis, into a fight for the mastery of the means of life, the sources of production, in Ireland.’ The book is structured around the timeline of the independence  struggle, not the labour movement, in Ireland.

Labour in Irish History served to inform a number of studies. Connolly’s argument can be heard in W.P. Ryan’s The Irish Labour Movement from the Twenties to Our Own Day (1920), and O’Donnell’s The Story of Irish Labour (1921), although both works contain more on the labour movement than Connolly's Labour.  Other works which owe a debt to Connolly include Elinor Burns, British Imperialism in Ireland (1931), Brian O’Neill, The War for the Land in Ireland (1933), T.A. Jackson, Ireland Her Own (1947), D.R. O’Connor Lysaght, The Irish Republic (1970), and Peter Beresford Ellis’, A History of the Irish Working Class (1972). A more detailed examination of Unionism is included by Eric Strauss in Irish Nationalism and British Democracy (1951).  

Works which lay outside of the ‘Connolly School’ include J. Dunsmore Clarkson, Labour and Nationalism in Ireland (1925), and Jermone J. Judge’s PhD dissertation, ‘The Labour Movement in Ireland’ (UCD, 1955). Before the 1970s, detailed Irish labour studies remained sparse, although trade union studies included works such as John Swift, A History of the Dublin Bakers and Others (1948), and T.J. O’Connell, 100 Years of Progress: The Story of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (1968), as well as significant articles  by Rachel O’Higgins, Fergus D’Arcy, and D.W. Bleakley.

The establishment of the ILHS in 1973 saw the start of a concerted move to establish Irish labour studies as a distinct discipline within Irish historiography. The society’s constitution called for the promotion of ‘Irish labour history and of Irish people in labour history abroad and labour history in general; the appreciation of the importance of labour history in the educational curriculum; and the preservation of all records and reminiscences, oral and written, relating to the current and past experiences of the Irish working class and its organisations'. It was followed two years later by the first issue of Saothar (1975), which has recently (2006) reached its 30th edition.

Until recently, Saothar’s focus tended to be on the trade union movement. Research continues to develop and expand the subject of Irish labour history. However, a general  history of Irish labour, as defined by Saothar from 2002 onwards, has yet to be written.

Because of this, the history outlined here is a history of the Irish labour movement – principally its trade union and political sections – rather than a history (cultural, economic, social, etc) of the Irish working class.

(Sources: Emmet O'Connor, 'A Historiography of Irish Labour,' Labour History Review, Spring 1995; "Ireland,' Labour/Le Travail, Fall 2002. )




Footage from1913 lockout. Taken from Mise Éire (1959).