On this day in 1913, the Dublin Lock-Out began as hundreds of tram workers went out on strike, growing into one of most significant industrial disputes in Irish history. It involved ~20,000 workers and 300 colluding employers, and led to the founding of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) to protect worker demonstrations.

In the years leading up to the strike, the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) had been seeking to unionize and radicalize the Irish workforce. Founded by socialist revolutionary James Larkin in 1908, the ITGWU was one of the first Irish unions that catered to both skilled and unskilled workers.

In July 1913, three hundred businesses (led by capitalist William Martin Murphy) agreed to not allow the ITGWU to unionize the Dublin workforce. Murphy dismissed hundreds of workers of suspected of union membership soon after.

Many employers in Dublin then locked out their own employees, affecting tens of thousands of Irish workers, many of whom were already the poorest in the United Kingdom.

After outbreaks of violence between striking workers and strike-breakers occurred, James Connolly, Larkin and ex-British Army Captain Jack White formed a worker's militia, the Irish Citizen Army, to protect workers' demonstrations.

The lock-out concluded in early 1914, when the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Britain rejected Larkin and Connolly's request for a sympathetic strike. Most workers, many of whom were on the brink of starvation, went back to work and signed pledges not to join the ITGWU, which was further weakened when Larkin fled to the United States and James Connolly was executed following the 1916 Easter Rising.

Many of the blacklisted workers joined the British Army, having no other source of pay to support their families, and quickly found themselves in the trenches of World War I. ITGWU eventually recovered and gained strength after WWI; by 1920 the ITGWU was Ireland's largest union with 120,000 members, compared with its pre-war peak of 24,135 at the start of January 1913.

The Dublin 1913 Lockout :trouble:

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[–] BironyPoisoned@hexbear.net 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

When I cook buffalo wings, I like to imagine myself as a 45 year old loser line cook in a small southern time around the 1970's. I'm a drunk, loser, alcoholic until one day I get a knock on the door. Apparently I have a half-black son who's 14. His mom and I had a brief fling in college but do my small town upbringing and maladjusted racial tension, it didn't work out. After agreeing to take care of him, I learn that he has dreams of opening up a restaurant of his own. Our relationship is rocky but we find common ground when I realize that his mom kept one of my old buffalo chicken wing recipes.

When I make him wings, I can see that he remembers his mom. For the first time since we've met, he thanks me with something resembling genuine happiness. This drives a creative spark in me that leads me dream of larger things than being a line cook. I get sober, and start applying for culinary schools. However, due the effects of racism, things don't always work out. My life ends in a tragedy when I defend my son from being accosted only to be pushed into the path of an oncoming car.

I die ultimately unfulfilled but having seen a glimpse of something greater. Years later, my son opens a small restaurant and uses the same recipe I taught him all those years ago. He visits my grave and can't quite call me dad. But the feelings are present. As he walks away from my grave, we can see that he left a photo of him and his mom together years before her death. They're smiling and enjoying the wings. Even though I was such small part of his life, in some way, I was still there. A reflection of my self in another person, even if we've never met.

I'm South East Asian so I don't think this racist but I'm willing to do some self-crit. It just helps the wings taste better. Gotta get in the mood ya know?

[–] GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net 3 points 9 hours ago

This is for sure racist