The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1916-06-23
Larkin Defends
Irish Revolt
Uprising Forced by the knowledge
of Impending Consumption,
Labor Leaders Say

jim LdTklu, the lIlSu IdDOI leduel,
gives his explanation of the Irish re
bellion in the July number of The
Masses, of New York. He says that
it was a widely organized and care
fully planned uprising, which occurred
prematurely because the leaders had
private information that the British
Government knew of it and was plan
ming to block it by imposing conscrip-
tim on Ireland.
Jim Larkin is closer to the Irish
rebels than any other man in America,
and his opinions on the motives of the
upheaval, the relations of his Citizen
Army to the Sim Feiners, and other
questions dealt with in this article
have the weight of authority.
From letters that I have received"
he says, "it is plain to me that the
premature rising in Ireland was forced
upon them by the knowledge the in
surgents possessed that the British
Government was determined to con-
script them The ultimate aim of their
work and endeavor, as set down in
tho declaration they signed, and which
Connolly and myself drafted, was to
set up a cooperative commonwealth
in Ireland, based on industrial
democracy.
Cuts Were Misleading
THE cuts that have appeared in the
papers, of Liberty Hall, labeled the
headquarters of the Sim Fem move.
ment were so labeled with the pur-
pose of confusing and misleading those
who saw such photographs. Liberty
Hall, Dublin, was the headquarters of
the Irish Transport and General
Workers Union, of which l am the
general secretary, and of which James
Connolly, now dead, was the general
organizer. That building was bought
and controlled by the members of that
organization. 1t was also the head
quarters of the Irish Socialist party
No organization other than the So
cialist and labor organizations, except
the many activities connected with
the social and educational features of
that movement, was allowed to func-
ton there.
THE Sim Fem headquarters, on
the contrary, was at G Harcourt street,
close to a mile and a half away, in
the center of the city. The Irish
Transport and General Workers
Union owned and controlled three
other halls in Dublin, Emmett Hall,
Inchicore, the Fintan Labor Hall,
Aungier street and the Workers Hall,
High street, Dublin. In addition to
them, they had the Workers Hall,
Corporation street, Belfast; Liberty
Hall, Lynns place, Sligo; Liberty Hall,
Kingstown (Dundreary) ; Workers Hall,
Wexford; Liberty Hall, Waterford;
the O'Neill-Crowley Hall, Merchant
Quay, Cork and several other halls
in different towns throughout Ireland,
which they rented Liberty Hall, Dub
lin, which was blown to pieces by the
shells from the British gunboats, cost
us 100000, and the property destroyed
therein in the way of cooperative
goods another 100000 1t must be I'M
derstood that the union carried on a
cooperative business, had it's own
clothing stores, hair dressers, shoe
making shops and a free food dstri-
button center for the poor.
No German influences
Let me say here that the statement
that the revolutionary movement was
financed organized or controlled from
any German source is deliberate and
calculated lie The Citizen Army was
organized in 1908, in Cork City. It
was driven out of existence by perse-
cution and the falling of its members,
including myself, in 1909, 1t was re-
born during the big transport strike in
England in 1911. The uniforms, arms
and equipment which they possessed
were owned and controlled by the
unions with which they were affiliat-
ed but were paid for by the weekly
contribution of the members of the
organization. The officers were elected
by the rank and file.
Our first adjutant was Captain
White, the son of Gen Sir George
White, who commanded the forces at
Ladysmith during the Boer war.
presided over the court-martial which
compelled White to present his resig
nation under penalty of dismissal, be-
cause we found him propagating the
idea among the rank and file that the
working class could not produce men
who could guide them out of the