by Emmet O’Connor

Waterford labour in ‘the red flag times’, 1917-23
Emmet O’Connor
To understand the labour militancy and radicalism of 1917 to 1923, one has to appreciate that these were extraordinary times in Europe and that Ireland was never as isolated as historians would have you believe. Since the growth of seapower, of empire, and of contact with the Americas in the late 18th century, Ireland was one of the most globalized countries in the world. Every major political movement in Ireland from the Volunteers of 1778 to Black Lives Matter has been a consequence of international factors. This was particularly evident in 1917-21 when Europe was giddy with the idea of a bright new future. And this was to be a radical future. There was a widespread feeling that there could be no going back to governance by the pre-1914 elites who had blundered into a catastrophic war…