The Cork General Lockout of 1909.
Luke Dineen will speak about The Cork General Lockout of 1909 at the Spirit of Mother Jones summer school on Friday afternoon at 2pm.
Back here in Cork, throughout 1909 there was huge unrest in the Labour movement with thousands of workers either on strike or locked out of their jobs. Small local trade disputes multiplied, the City Docks disputes of 1908 again came to the boil, James Larkin's new Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) was at the center of many disputes as it had attracted large numbers of recruits from among various workforces in the city.
Through the months of June and July 1909, Cork was the scene of violent street battles and baton charges by the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). On the night of 20th June, twenty people attended the North Infirmary hospital suffering from head wounds as a result of the street battles.
The end result was a total defeat for the workers, the recently formed ITGWU branch collapsed. Inter union conflict with the Workers' Union, the ruthlessness of the employers and RIC and the opposition from the local press ensured a comprehensive victory for the employers. Many workers were left destitute or in prison and their families in poverty.
In the later 1913 Dublin Lockout, Cork born William Martin Murphy acted in a similar manner to Dobbin and the Dublin Employers' Federation (founded in 1911) adopted the same approach as the CEF.
Also during the lockout, the ITGWU had organised the workers in Cork into protection groups, armed with hurleys and clubs whose role was to protect strikers on Cork's docks. This became a model for the later Irish Citizen Army (ICA) of 1913, and the men and women of the ICA were to prove a major catalyst for the 1916 Rising.
Luke is the author of the recent Irish Labour History Society publication "A City Of Strikes: The Cork General Lockout of 1909".
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