Preliminary Programme

Tue 13 April
    8.30
    10.45
    14.15
    16.30

Wed 14 April
    8.30
    10.45
    14.15
    16.30

Thu 15 April
    8.30
    10.45
    14.15
    16.30

Fri 16 April
    8.30
    10.45
    14.15
    16.30

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Tuesday 13 April 2010 8.30
D-1 LAB04 Rural class relations and radical politics in 20th century Ireland
Artiestenfoyer, muziekcentrum
Networks: Labour , Rural Chair: Lars Olsson
Organizer: Conor Mccabe Discussant: Lars Olsson
Caitriona Clear : Women's household work and power in Ireland 1921-61
This paper, while it acknowledges the very important legal obstacles which hampered Irish women over these years, argues that working-class/small farming/labouring-class women of the house exercised power in various ways, notably by controlling the household finances and the means of production. However, this paper asks if this power made these ... (Show more)
This paper, while it acknowledges the very important legal obstacles which hampered Irish women over these years, argues that working-class/small farming/labouring-class women of the house exercised power in various ways, notably by controlling the household finances and the means of production. However, this paper asks if this power made these women’s working lives any easier, and suggests that we move beyond and outside concepts like ‘power’ and ‘control’ when attempting to measure the quality of women’s – and indeed, men’s – lives in the past. (Show less)

Donnacha Sean Lucey : Class, welfare and politics in Ireland, 1918-32
This paper will concentrate on the role of welfare in the politics of the Irish revolution and early independent Ireland. The place of the destitute and marginalised within Irish society during this critical period has largely been ignored by Irish historians. By the emergence of the revolutionary Sinn Fein in ... (Show more)
This paper will concentrate on the role of welfare in the politics of the Irish revolution and early independent Ireland. The place of the destitute and marginalised within Irish society during this critical period has largely been ignored by Irish historians. By the emergence of the revolutionary Sinn Fein in 1918 a substantial section of the population was reliant on the Irish poor law through the workhouse system and outdoor relief. Furthermore, the control of such welfare provisions was largely in the hands of local government bodies which were the focus of much radical politics. Indeed, the control of welfare administration was an important sphere of local power, patronage and influence. Vitally, an examination of the dynamic that welfare played in the politics of the revolution and the first decade of the Irish Free State allows for a range of fresh perspectives on poverty and its relationship with class and politics in Ireland. Furthermore, such an exploration will aim to deepen current understandings of the poor and their place within Irish society during this highly formative period. (Show less)

Conor Mccabe : 'Fair Play' for the Ranchers: Cattle and Class in Ireland, 1922-1975
This paper will look at the dynamics of Irish agrarian class relations, from the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922 to the agricutural crisis of 1975. In particular, it will focus on class dynamics in relation to the country’s cattle industry. The centrality of cattle to the Irish ... (Show more)
This paper will look at the dynamics of Irish agrarian class relations, from the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922 to the agricutural crisis of 1975. In particular, it will focus on class dynamics in relation to the country’s cattle industry. The centrality of cattle to the Irish economy gave the beef industry a commanding role within Irish social and political life, with the greatest influence held by the country’s ranchers. The system of production had a distinctive regional character, one dating back to the early nineteenth century. The small farmers based in the south-western and north-western counties sold calves and store cattle onto the large grazing-farm owners of the central-eastern counties, where they were fattened for export. The quality of land and size of farms in the south and west of the island made it difficult, if not impossible, for small farmers to fatten cattle themselves. On top of this, large numbers of these farmers had to sell their labour at certain times of the year, as agricultural or road labourers, in order to make ends meet. The distinction between the small farmer and the rancher was not just regional. The big farmer was also a man of business, combining farming with cattle dealing, money-lending, and commercial retailing. The ranchers used their commercial and financial strength to political effect. Successive government policy sought to petrify the Irish cattle system, often at the expense of indigenous industrial expansion and agricultural diversification. The cattle crisis of 1974/5, which saw ranchers compensated for falling beef prices at the expense of small farmers (who produced calves, after all, not beef), laid bare the social, economic, and political power held in the hands of the ranchers.
To date, the majority of Irish class studies have focused on class as social status: in other words, they have tended to see class as a category. This paper takes a longitudinal approach, and ventures to see class as a social relationship that can only be observed in motion. The beef industry in Ireland was the central element of the Irish economy from the post-famine period up to the the 1970s. A critical understanding of the dynamics of the industry over time with regard to the economic, social, and political life of the country is crucial in order to understand Irish rural class relations in the modern period. (Show less)

Emmet O'Connor : Mutiny in the International Brigades: The Irish defection to the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War
By 31 January 1937, over 100 men had left Ireland to join the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Other Irishmen had gone to Spain from homes outside Ireland. Some were communists; more, like the man that most regarded as their leader, Frank Ryan, were leftwing republicans. Ryan intended ... (Show more)
By 31 January 1937, over 100 men had left Ireland to join the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Other Irishmen had gone to Spain from homes outside Ireland. Some were communists; more, like the man that most regarded as their leader, Frank Ryan, were leftwing republicans. Ryan intended that they would be the nucleus of a distinct Irish unit in the war, and meanwhile form part of the 16th (British) Battalion, XV International Brigade. On 12 January 1937, the Irish voted not to serve with the British, and most went over to the American Abraham Lincoln Battalion. As the International Brigades were supposed to be the embodiment of proletarian internationalism, steeled by Bolshevik discipline, the incident generated derision, bemusement, and embarrassment. Commissars of the British battalion blamed it on Irish fecklessness. Historians have blamed it on anglophobia. Ryan accused the commissars of instigating the vote in order to divide his troops and sabotage his plans for an Irish unit.
Was he right, or was he blaming the British for the immaturity of his men? (Show less)



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