'British labour movement solidarity in the 1913-14 Dublin Lockout' - online talk 17.3.21

Ralph Darlington, Emeritus Professor of Employment Relations at the University of Salford, returned to give us another talk, which was live-streamed.

While most accounts of the Dublin Lockout of 1913-14 consider it primarily as an event in Irish history, it was also one of the most important struggles in 20th century British history. It was influenced by, and was an integral part of, the great ‘Labour Unrest’ that swept over Britain in the years 1910-14 and had tremendous repercussions in Britain as well as Ireland. This talk analyses the nature, extent and dynamics of the solidarity campaign that was generated on the British mainland for the Lockout (probably the only other comparable event was the national miners’ strike of 1984-5), the reasons why such widespread support was forthcoming, and its broader implications for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of militant trade unionism in Britain during this period.