radiofreederry:

Happy birthday, James Larkin! (January 21, 1874)

One of the most celebrated republicans and socialists in Irish history, James “Big Jim” Larkin was a central figure in the struggle for Irish freedom from British colonial rule at the turn of the 20th Century. Born in Liverpool, Larkin grew up impoverished as a child laborer. He became a union organizer shortly before moving to Belfast, by which time he already considered himself a socialist. He was a leader in the Belfast Dock Strike, uniting Protestant and Catholic workers against the bosses, although the strike itself failed. Larkin founded the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union, and founded the Irish Labour Party alongside James Connolly. The Transport Union was crushed in the Dublin Lockout of 1913, in part due to a lack of support from the British trades unions, but this led to the formation of the Irish Citizen Army, with Larkin as one of its leaders. Larkin traveled to the United States, where he spent time in prison for his political beliefs. He returned to Ireland in the midst of its civil war, and quickly became the leader of the communist movement in Ireland as head of the Irish Worker League. He became the only communist ever elected to the Dail, although he was prevented from taking his seat. Larkin’s relations with the Comintern eventually broke down, and by the 1940s he had reaffiliated with the Labour Party. He died in 1946.

“The great appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise!”