The 1913 Lock-out - ‘Strange Death of Labour Ireland’

Luton Irish Forum presented the latest in its series of free cultural seminars entitled The 1913 Lock-out and the subsequent ‘Strange Death of Labour Ireland’ at their Centre on 24th September with guest speaker Dr Ivan Gibbons, Programme Director of Irish Studies at St Mary's University College, London.  Dr Gibbons provided an opportunity to hear an alternative version of the significance of the 1913 Dublin Lock-out both immediately afterwards as well as the long-term consequences for Irish Labour. 

The lecture which was given to a packed room which included officials from Unite placed 1913 in the political, social and economic context of Ireland at the beginning of the 20th Century.  It explored how the promise of 1913 was dissipated and overtaken by the rise of nationalism and republicanism, aided by the decision of the post Connolly and Larkin leadership of the Irish Labour Party to accept this.  It investigated how splits and poor leadership weakened Labour even further so that by the emergence of independent Ireland Irish Labour was a pale shadow of what it had been 10 years earlier.  This largely established the template for the subsequent secondary role of Labour in the independent Irish state.

Tom Scanlon, Public relations Officer Luton Irish Forum said ‘We are delighted that Dr Ivan Gibbons agreed to present this lecture marking one of the most memorable episodes in Irish Labour history. He said that ‘An appreciation of history can be of great value as it gives us a sense of identity and demonstrates to the younger generations what others endured to achieve progress.

LIF member Tom said ‘It brought back a lot of memories of when I lived in Dublin - the Dublin soldiers in World War 1, The Dublin Fusiliers, The Western Front, Gallipoli and the slums in Dublin.  My Grandad was lost in war in France.  My Gran had three brothers in the British Army and one - William Morris was in the Dublin Fusiliers and died at Gallipoli. We had one room in Kilmainham Dublin and shared an outside tap and toilet with six other families.  I slept in the same bed with my parents until I was 8 yrs old with my brothers [age nine and three], until we got a house in Ballyfermot Dublin.  Lots of families were the same as us.  We had a great time.’