Description

JIM LARKIN
Described by George Bernard Shaw as ‘The greatest Irishman since Parnell.’
Big Jim Larkin has been a hero of mine since I was a kid growing up in Drumcondra and Glasnevin, two fairly tough areas back then, but wonderful and rich with neighbourly solidarity, though we did look down a bit on the road next door. We had a three-foot garden, a spiky railing, and a little gate, while their front doors opened onto the road, so we thought we were a bit posher.
That little cameo of Dublin was a good example of why Jim Larkin was viewed as a slightly threatening figure as I grew up.
Jim Larkin was admired hugely for leading the Dublin lockout of 1912 and the subsequent strikes and street actions that led directly to the 1916 Easter Rising. He founded the Irish Labour Party and was a thorn in the side of the authorities all his life and was much admired by ordinary Dubliners for his oratory and skill at mobilizing the working class to improve their living conditions.
But the other side of the coin was simple. He was a communist and people feared we would end up like Russia under totalitarian rule. Remember this was Catholic Ireland and the church rarely sided with workers, just the ruling elite.

Larkin was close to James Connolly and together they organised the Irish Citizen Army to protect the workers and ran smuggled German guns for them into Ireland via Howth.

Ivan Beshoff, a Ukrainian who took part in the Russian Navy mutiny in Odessa, was a sailor on the legendary Battleship Potemkin, escaped to Ireland, and with Jim Larkin founded the Irish Communist Party which was another reason for those in power to fear him.
For many years I have wanted to remember this amazing man and this is my attempt to do him justice.
Today Big Jim Larkin deserves to take his place in this series of works titled Irish Revolutionaries.

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