US trade union event on Famine, Lockout and H-Blocks Hunger Strikes

THE International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hosted a two-night Irish history and cultural event at the IBEW Local 3 Union Hall in Queen’s, New York, last month where 200 union members and guests heard Professor Christine Kinealy, Director of the Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University, Marty Glennon on the Dublin Lockout of 1913, and actor-playwright Tony Devlin on the 1981 Hunger Strike.

Co-chair and Business Manager Christopher Erikson said he had been moved to learn more about his Irish background and a real desire to know about Ireland’s history and its connections with the organised labour movement in America.

In his opening words he spoke of how he was extremely moved by the perseverance of the Irish, how they emigrated to America during ‘The Great Hunger’ and how they rose quickly to leadership roles in the trade union movement in the US.

“We don’t want to see the movement go back to nothing and have to work its way up again. Too many before us made monumental sacrifices and it is our duty, as their descendants, to continue to move forward and prosper and grow the working class.”

•  Michael Yee, Chris Erikson, Tony Devlin, Marty Glennon and James Baker

Professor Christine Kinealy, Director of the Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University, gave a fascinating 40-minute review of Irish history, followed by Christopher Erikson focusing on the rise of the Irish into political power and mainstream America. He noted the contributions the Irish have made to developing a modern-day labour movement.

Co-chair Marty Glennon gave an overview of the Dublin Lockout of 1913 with a video about the trade union movement struggle and the audience was then transported forward in time to the H-Blocks Hunger Strikes of 1981, a year that changed Ireland and had a profound effect in America.

Tony Devlin gave one of his greatest performances in the play written and directed by him and titled 1981. His depiction of the situation in which 10 young men resorted to giving their lives on Hunger Strike for the restoration of political prisoner status stirred emotions in everyone in the audience.

The programme concluded with Marty Glennon asking:

“Where would the working class be today, if the International Workers of the World had taken hold at the beginning of the 20th century?

“The Troubles in Ireland and the world are not Catholic against Protestant, black against white, or any other variation thereof – it is the ‘haves’ against the ‘have nots’.

“We need to come together as a working class – a world-wide working class.

“As James Connolly said, ‘Our demands most modest are – we only want the earth.’”