“The Rise of the Irish Trade Unions, by Andrew…”

The Rise of the Irish Trade Unions, by Andrew Boyd—Anvil, 50p.

A History of the Irish Working Class.

by P. Berresford Ellis. Gollanez, £3.50 j !

Recently there has been a whole spate of __ histories of the Irish labour movement and labour histories of Ireland. Unfortunately, _ most of these are without much value since _ they make no analysis and do not contribute _ new material. The two books above are _ typical of these. __ The Rise of the Irish Trade Unions, like Boyd’s previous effort, is a laborious des_criptive document. While it draws heavily on previously published works such as Ryan’s History of the Irish Labour Movement (often without acknowledgement) it does serve a limited purpose by bringing a lot of this material together ynder one cover. As such newcomers to the subject should find it useful.

Boyd begins in the early 18th century and traces the Anglo-Irish government’s attempts to suppress the “workers combinations’’. Anti-Union laws were passed in 1729, 1743, 1757, 1763 and 1780. Finally the notorious Wilberforce Act of 1799 suppressing all Unions in Britain was extended to Ireland but with an all round increase in penalties and punishment. And when one speaks of punishment that is what is meant. For example, the Act of 1750 provided for imprisonment of up to six months and a public whipping for trade union membership. Boyd reports an incident in 1770 where a trade unionist was whipped through the streets of Dublin by the local hangman while the City Sheriff walked alongside watching!

During the early 19th century it appears that the Irish Trade Unions were better organised and more militant than in industrialised Britain. But Boyd does not bother to analyse this phenomenon Here he missed an opportunity to show how the national struggle and the class struggle fuse. Because British imperialism dominated the Irish economy native in opposition to O’Connell. spark of originality.”

A History of the Irish Working Class, easily available works. Irish industry was in decline and the livelihood. of the artisan workers was in jeopardy. This was why the trade union movement supported O’Connell’s demand for repeal. However, even at this early stage class antagonisms had become too sharp to allow O’Connell and the trade unions to fight out the issue together. So in 1831 the Dublin Trades Political Union began an independent repeal campaign Boyd goes on to describe the rise of the genera! trade unions and the emergence of such leaders as Connolly and Larkin. Again he fails to analyse this process and so missed a chance to explan the revolutionary nature of Connolly’s and Larkin’s politics. Generally these last chapters are heavily indebted to Emmet sources .

Larkin’s biography of Larkin and Greaves’ biography of Connolly and display not a by Berresford Ellis has a misleading title. In fact it is a general, vague and very often, imprecise account of. Irish history from early times. Again there is not a trace of originality, with the author liberally poaching ideas and quotes from other well known ard The book begins by attempting to back up Connolly's claim that primitive communism existed in Ireland. Few people would dispute Connolly’s contention if left like that. However, Connolly’s ciaim that primitive communism lasted right up to the 16th century at most has only partial justificatim It is typical of Ellis that he should fail to understand what the real debating point was. Next the author moves on to a discussion of feudalism in Ireland where he makes a few useful comments about the role of the Church as a force acting to break down the resistance of the class system. However this point has already been made by T-A. Jackson. The following chapter on the Plantations makes much use of Heslinga’s book: The Irish Border asa Cultural Divide. Needless to say, as this work is a sophisticated piece of Orange propaganda the author tries to hide his The chapter on the United Irishmen is pathetic and grossly confused due to the author’s failure to pinpoint the class forces operating at the time. The following chapter on Socialist Pioneering is just an expanded version of a similar chapter in Connolly’s Labour in Irish History, though nonetheless interesting. The next two chapters, O’Conre Il— the enemy within and Marx, Engles and the Fenians are about the best in the book. The final chapters, like those in Boyd’s book, rely heavily on Emmet Larkin and Greaves, and it would be far better to go directly to the sources—both their books together, cost less than Berresford Ellis. B. Kelly