On this day, 1 December 1921, striking workers at Castleconnell fisheries in Ireland occupied their workplace and declared a soviet (workers council). The following day at a Dáil cabinet meeting, labour minister Constance Markiewicz was instructed to contact the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU) and inform them that the soviet would be suppressed by the Irish Republican Army. Police and volunteers were also to be used to evict the strikers. However it appears this did not transpire, and the workers eventually vacated the premises voluntarily on December 22 after the boss agreed to arbitration, which later ruled in favour of the workers.
Pictured: a soviet at Bruree Creamery, 1921 https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2149224838595988/?type=3
