Ireland and Britain - Unfinished Business Dublin Lockout 1913 - about class and power • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Terrible housing conditions, 70+ living in one house causing appalling health No medical services, harsh working conditions, loss of basic rights Workers independent organisation Employers unleash industrial and ideological offence – which class will rule Media and church shamelessly poison minds against leaders and workers Capitalists manipulate division between men & women; skilled & unskilled; Catholic & Protestant Employers boast they can afford 3 meals a day to starving families Lock out part of Europe wide wave of social unrest Drunken police injure thousands killing 2 protestors. A young woman was killed by a scab. Women bear the brunt of poverty and hunger 3000 women from Jacob’s factory stay out for 6 months Women organise soup kitchens with political, the state refuses to feed the poor British TUC reject general strike, Irish trade unions won’t take solidarity action Workers starved back in January 1914, but class consciousness strengthened 1913 unfinished business
London 2013 - about class and power • Acute housing problems, hundreds facing eviction and homelessness • Attacks on workers’ hard won gains over 65 years - health, education and welfare • Unite our struggles; NO class collaboration • Government ideological attack the poorest to protect pay and profits of the rich • Media and politicians demonise workers taking action and protestors • Government/media stigmatise immigrants; unemployed, disabled; single mothers • MPs wages up £7,000; rich get millions in bonuses; workers pay and conditions cut and welfare drastically cut alongside draconian regime • Austerity policies part of Europe wide attack on working class • Students and workers kettled and many injured. A by-stander killed by police • Women bear the brunt of austerity welfare cuts • Women lead communities fighting against the cuts • State use of food banks charitable, but abdicates responsibility • British TUC reject call for general strike with an Austerity Road Show • We have just begun to fight
100 years on - Let Us Rise and name the day of the General Strike Prepare for the General Strike Today the Dublin and London governments want to take us back to the conditions that led to the Dublin Lockout of 1913. So let us draw inspiration from 1913 Lockout months, when against huge odds workers fought Irish and British capitalism - in the worst of times with extreme poverty and appalling living and working conditions. Workers fought together for 6 months during the lockout facing starvation, as Irish capitalists tried to destroy the independent organisation of workers, led by James Larkin and James Connolly. Starvation was their weapon. This was in a country where the legacy of 1845-1851 continued, the tragic starvation of millions with another million forced to leave their lands because of British colonial policies. In 1913 the British TUC betrayed the Dublin workers by refusing to call a general strike. Today we see betrayals of the working class by a refusal to respond to the need to call national action against today’s dreadful austerity policies. Though defeated after 6 months following an extremely harsh winter, there was victory in defeat, as the bosses were unable to remove the idea of trade union action and workers' solidarity. Today we must continue to pile pressure on leaders to adopt an independent class position and fight for workers whatever their situation - employed or not employed. If they cannot rise to this need then we must replace them. Today the rich and their masters in government and the Labour Party through their support, want to lock us out of benefits, public services and decently paid jobs and into subsistence and destitution and force us back to be the slaves of the rich. The lessons of 1913 is that solidarity between Trade Unions both national and international is vital and we must commit ourselves to trade union action and not just trade union speeches. The TUC approved the general strike in September 2012. Now it’s time to name the day. Let’s demand the unions fight to turn the day of civil disobedience day, November 5th, into a national day of strike action. It’s necessary to fight. It’s possible to win.
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