“Social Sinn Féin and Hard Labour”: the journalism of W.P. Ryan and Jim Larkin 1907–14

Abstract

The history of Irish journalism continues to develop, particularly studies of the key journalists associated with the Gaelic Revival. The present article contributes to this historiography by closely analysing the political and cultural nationalism of two of the era's newspaper editors, W.P. Ryan and Jim Larkin. Drawing on evidence found in editorials from the Irish Peasant (1906–10) and the Irish Worker (1911–14) respectively, it is argued that both writers adhered to a form of progressive republicanism. Moreover, while both editors advocated the Revivalist goal of national reconstruction, they were also vocal and articulate critics of the more conservative elements of this movement as well as Irish nationalism more generally. The article will also examine the ideological differences which existed between Larkin and Ryan themselves. In particular it will be shown how Larkin's labour republicanism was focused on the necessity for open class conflict while Ryan viewed a transition to socialism occurring in Ireland through cross-class co-operation.

Keywords::

• W.P. Ryan
• Jim Larkin
• Irish Peasant
• Irish Worker
• Gaelic Revival
• journalism
• socialism
• republicanism

Notes

^1.The Irish Nation (IN), December 3, 1910.

^2.Foley, “How Journalism became a Profession,” 33.

^3. The paper resumed publication in February 1907 as the Peasant and Irish-Ireland. It continued under this guise until January 1909 when it was renamed the Irish Nation. In December 1910 financial problems led to its final demise, with Ryan returning to London to write for the radical pro-labour DailyHerald. For a full account of these events, see Waters, “W.P. Ryan and the Irish-Ireland Movement.” His unpublished dissertation gives a comprehensive account of Ryan's entire life with special emphasis on his time as editor of the Peasant and Nation, and the key themes of the newspapers including religion, nationalist politics, the Irish language and socialism.

^4. The wider significance of the Irish Worker (IW) which Larkin edited is discussed in detail in John Newsinger's “‘A Lamp to Guide Your Feet’.” In this article he talks extensively about the politics of the paper, its readership and overall context in the development of radical Irish politics. Newsinger'sRebel City also provides a sound contextual background for the 1913 Lockout and the narrative of its unfolding, culmination and significance to the formation of a radical anti-imperial left republicanism. Much of what will be stated about Larkin in this chapter is as relevant to James Connolly and other leading figures in the early labour movement, but, as Emmet O'Connor observes in “Connecting Connolly”, Larkin has unjustifiably remained a neglected figure academically and it is crucial for a deeper understanding of the origins of left republicanism that his life and writings are more thoroughly studied (85).

^5. See Larkin, James Larkin; O'Connor, James Larkin; and Rafter, Irish Journalism before Independence.

^6.IN, October 23, 1909.

^7. This was the governing body of the Gaelic League.

^8. See n. 5 above.

^9.O'Connor, “Connecting Connolly,” 87.

^10. “Larkinism” was initially a derogatory term used by critics of Larkin and the ITGWU's unique synthesis of syndicalism, socialism and republicanism, but it was adopted by the trade unionists themselves to describe their politics and tactics from 1909 onwards.

^11.Hutchinson'sThe Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism, chapter 4, gives an in-depth analysis of Moran's form of cultural nationalism.

^12.Davis, Arthur Griffith and Non-violent Sinn Féin, 35. Sinn Féin was formed in August 1907 when the Sinn Féin League and the National Council amalgamated.

^13.TheIrish Peasant (IP), May 18, 1907.

^14. The National Democrat was a magazine run by Frederick Ryan and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington from February to August 1907. See Allen, “Frederick Ryan.”

^15.IP, July 13, 1907.

^16.IP, October 19, 1907.

^17.Waters, “W.P. Ryan and the Irish-Ireland Movement,” 401.

^18.IP, July 18, 1908.

^19.IP, December 26, 1908.

^20. Ibid.

^21. Ibid.

^22.Ryan, The Irish Labour Movement, 180. The Socialist Party of Ireland-Cummanacht na hÉireann was formed in the summer of 1909 by a number of Dublin radicals and disillusioned republicans. Its English and Irish titles were regularly used together.

^23.IN, October 23, 1909.

^24. Ryan argued that under a Co-operative Commonwealth each individual would receive an equal share of property which they could use as they wished.

^25.IN, October 23, 1909.

^26.IP, April 23, 1907.

^27.IN, June 25, 1910. Larkin had been imprisoned for supposedly embezzling money from the NUDL.

^28.IN, October 8, 1910.

^29.IW, May 27, 1911.

^30.The Harp, May 1910.

^31.IW, May 27, 1913.

^32.IW, September 2, 1911.

^33.IW, September 16, 1911.

^34.Irish Independent (II), September 18, 1911.

^35.II, September 29, 1911.

^36. Ibid.

^37.O'Connor, “The Age of the Red Republic,” 76.

^38.O'Connor, James Larkin, 32.

^39.IW, July 8, 1911.

^40.IW, November 18, 1911.

^41.IW, March 8, 1913. This was a similar article praising Emmet as a great Irish patriot and internationalist.

^42.Larkin's spelling of Cathleen Ní Houlihan was very irregular.

^43. The Lockout and Larkin's attempts to create British and Irish solidarity are covered in detail in O'Connor, James Larkin; and Larkin, James Larkin.

^44.IW, February 14, 1914.

^45. Larkin was hugely hostile to partition on the basis that it was a concession to the capitalist Ulster Unionist Party.

^46.O'Connor, James Larkin, 50; Larkin, James Larkin, 165.

^47.O'Connor, James Larkin, 50.

^48.IW, October 10, 1914.

^49.IW, October 24, 1914.

^50.Rafter, Irish Journalism before Independence, 33.