The Limerick Soviet
In the second part of an article on the Limerick Soviet of 1919,
Aengus O Snodaigh tells the story of its brief height and fall.
As the Limerick Soviet became established from April 15, 1919,
onwards and people began to realise that they could be in for the
long haul, panic buying of food stocks started. Immediately, the
Soviet ordered the bakers back to work, fixed milk, potato, butter
and bread prices and ensured delivery to the shops tasked with their
sale. Seven thousand tons of Canadian grain on board a docked ship
was confiscated and unloaded. Depots were set up outside the city to
receive food for the city. This was smuggled into the city whatever
way possible, by boat, hearses, whatever. These measures proved to be
a success.
The Soviet issued travel passes to thousands travelling on the city's
transportation system, which was fully controlled by the workers.
When strike money was not forthcoming from some of the British-based
unions, the Soviet imaginatively issued its own currency ``in
denominations of one, five and ten shillings''.
Fuel became a problem, though, for the strike leadership, with the
coal merchants refusing to release stocks to them. To avoid direct
confrontation with the merchants, they backed down, issuing an order
that the military or customers with military permits were not to be
supplied.
Soon, opposition from the authorities, the business community and the
churches began to be mobilised against the workers. They were worried
that the strike would spread ``over the whole of Ireland, North,
South, East and West and maybe to England, Scotland and Wales''.
A Daily Express journalist put it thus: ``The leadership mean to win,
and it certainly seems as if the workers of Ireland were with them...
I have witnessed many strikes in England but never one bearing any
resemblance to this. It is a grand slam, and it suggests
possibilities on which it is not pleasant to ponder.''
Sympathetic strikes outside of Limerick were being offered,
regardless of the frowning of British-based trade union executives on
support for ``an industrial move against political action''.
The national leadership of the Irish Labour Party and Trades Unions
Congress (ILPTUC) and of the biggest union, the ITGWU, seemed to
support the Limerick workers, suggesting in statements that a
national general strike was to be called. But it was not to be.
They backed down, and instead suggested the evacuation of the city,
hoping that moral force would force the British to back down. What it
actually meant was that the labour leadership, backed by much of the
Sinn Féin leadership in the background, were willing to go to any
length to avoid a full-scale confrontation with the British military
authorities - Sinn Féin's militancy or even support for action
against the British occupying forces was in its infancy at this
stage.
The Soviet was by now in existence 10 days. The Congress leadership
bar, William O'Brien and Thomas Cassidy travelled to Limerick to put
their suggestion to the Soviet. It was flatly rejected.
News of the plan leaked out, and it was seized upon as a chink in the
Soviet's armour. The next day, April 24, the Catholic bishop, Dr
Hallinan and the Lord Mayor held a series of bilateral meetings with
the Congress leaders and the military authorities. They formed the
impression that the Congress leaders were against a general strike
and succeeded in gaining minimal concessions on the issue of military
permits from General Griffin. From these meetings, the Bishop and the
Mayor issued a letter to the Congress leaders insisting that the
strike be ended immediately. On April 26, the Strike Committee began
to back down, with Thomas Johnston, Congress leader, declaring at a
mass meeting the return to work in areas not effected by the military
permits and that a special conference would be planned to consider
further action in the effected areas.
The capitulation was complete, and many of the workers went home
crest-fallen, dejected and disgusted at their leadership. Many did
not return to work straight away and on April 27 the Strike Committee
issued a proclamation stating that the strike was at an end. The
military proclamation was revoked a week later on May 5.
Thomas Johnston defended the executive's decision at the Congress
conference in Drogheda in August 1919, saying:
``The General Strike meant - that it has got to be backed up by guns,
that it meant a Revolution; and until they were prepared to use guns
and hoist the Red Flag from one end of the country to the other there
was no use in condemning the National Executive because they did not
call a general strike.''
The capitulation of the labour leadership to the church, the military
and the chamber of commerce was to have far-reaching consequences for
the labour movement in Ireland. The militancy which was associated
with the Irish labour movement was gone and with it the belief that
civil disobedience or protest could dislodge the British. The IRA was
now seen as the only credible opposition to the British. The Limerick
Soviet came into existence 80 years ago this month.
Lift
``The leadership mean to win, and it certainly seems as if the workers
of Ireland were with them... I have witnessed many strikes in England
but never one bearing any resemblance to this. It is a grand slam,
and it suggests possibilities on which it is not pleasant to ponder.''
- Daily Express journalist
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