Working Class Struggle in the North- 1907

The North of Ireland has a rich history of working class struggle often dismissed or ignored in mainstream commentary. In the run up to the major strikes in November, Matt Collins begins a three part series on workers struggle in the North, looking first at the events of 1907.

We are expected to assume sectarianism as the natural order of life here in the North- any attempt to construct working-class politics is considered an inherently futile and irrelevant project. There is however a hidden history that tells a different story. It is a history of strikes and struggles and of moments of unity between Catholic and Protestant workers which posed an alternative to the politics of division.
For a short period in 1907, Belfast saw the emergence of great class struggle and working class unity which contained within it the power to break sectarianism and create a new, fighting labour force in Irish politics. The Belfast Dock Strike of 1907 stands as one of the most impressive and inspiring moments in the storied history of the working class in Ireland.
The Belfast of the early 20th Century was a bourgeoning city, at the industrial heart of the British Empire, and with an ever growing and increasingly exploited working class. The interests of Empire and industry were represented and safeguarded by the forces of Unionism. As historian John Gray puts it in his seminal account of the strike City in Revolt “For Belfast’s employers, economic interest and the politics of Unionism were inextricably linked.”
The politics of Ulster Unionism where well rooted and supported by vast numbers of Protestants from industrialists to workers. The all-protestant alliance was however an uneasy one. Tensions had been growing for years between workers angry at their conditions and bosses who demanded more for less. In January of 1907, a hard working and well respected Union organiser by the name of Jim Larkin arrived on the docks of Belfast. Amidst the simmering tensions between workers and bosses, Larkin set out to organise the cities 3,000 Dockers. Anger at the grim conditions on the Docks was rife; workers endured long hours, low wages and a culture of casual employment endured.
Unionisation of the docks was not a simple task in any region but was complicated in Belfast by years of sectarianism. Catholic workers had long been subject to discrimination and were largely excluded from the more skilled posts on the docks. Protestant workers had been encouraged to see themselves as part of the "Protestant ascendancy" and view Catholics as the enemy. But the worsening conditions on the docks and the active intervention of Larkin began to bring workers together.
Within a month of Larkin’s arrival the vast majority of Dockers were union members and galvanised by Larkin’s fiery radicalism they began to prepare for action. The response of Belfast’s employing class was unforgiving- they locked out the workers in an attempt to crush the Union. This harsh move backfired and a wave of strikes began to spread. When the employers attempted to break the strike with scab labour, the Dockers took strike action and where supported by the Carters who refused to transport goods delivered by strike breakers.
By the summer of 1907 thousands of Belfast’s workforce were out on strike and militancy reached a heightened level. Scabs could only reach the docks with the help of the police, while strikers burnt vans used to continue production.
On 26th July the Belfast District Trades council called a mass rally which erupted into a general strike- perhaps the most significant expression of class anger in the history of Belfast. Indeed the Northern Whig aptly expressed the fear of employers when it printed that “We are on the eve of an experience something akin to which has paralysed Russian cities during the last couple of years”. The faint smell of Revolution was in the air and the bosses where worried.
The 200,000 strong demonstration passed through both Catholic and Protestant areas to the tune of both Orange and Green bands and in an incredible show of support, hundreds of police mutinied, threatening to tip the very balance of power within the city. Under the pressure of the strike the state moved to play the sectarian card in an attempt to divide the movement. Local press labelled the strike a “Nationalist uprising,” whilst thousands of troops and loyal police were deployed into the Catholic area of West Belfast in an attempt to whip up sectarian tension.
During the strike the forces of bourgeois reaction from both sides of the sectarian divide came out against the workers. Unionist politicians, the Catholic Church and the various captains of industry all lined up to attack the strike. This onslaught alone was not enough to break the strike- ultimately it was the actions of the trade union leadership which brought the strike to its end. Fearful that the level of militancy in Belfast could spread to Britain and disconnected from the mood of their membership, the union leadership, under James Sexton, crossed over from Britain to intervene in the strike and cut a deal.
At this time workers across Britain and Ireland refused to handle goods from Belfast, and militancy was spreading. The union leadership preferred the maintenance of negotiation and stability over the unpredictability of strike action. They put an end to the solidarity actions thus depriving the strike of the oxygen of solidarity needed to continue. Left isolated, the strike was forced to come to an end.
Despite the defeat of the strike the actions of Larkin and the Dockers showed the potential of workers struggle in challenging sectarian divisions. Larkin’s politics related to the immediate interests of the workers, promoting self action and solidarity through organisation. Yet when the level of militancy decreased they had built no political organisation capable of learning the lessons of the strike and building for the future. We should learn the lessons of 1907 but also celebrate it- it was a window into another world, where the bonds of solidarity between people became more important than the flags of convenience used to divide us and for this it should be remembered.