Evening star., 1922-03-15
RADICAL SPIRIT IN IRISH LABOR,
BUT ORGANIZATION IS LACKING
Union Leaders Tolerate Free State Only
as Vantage Ground to Fight for
Workers Republic.

, gan life as a commercial traveIei;
came to Ireland on business, joined
the Shop Assistants Union ana re.
manned to become the actual head OF
the labor movement in the county,
He is a sQuare-faced, unsmiling m
dividual, who speaks correct English,
practices the amenities of polite inter-
| course. has graying hair, steel gray
eyes and an air of constant ap-
pratsal. johnson lobbied for the free
state at the dahl sessions of last
January.
The Best Compromise.
1T is not the best, but it is the best
compromise" he told me. in explana.
| tion. We can work for a workers
republic as effectively under a free
state as we could under a republic,
perhaps more So"
| understands Irish labor as well as
any man within its ranks that John
son is fearful that a continued strug-
gle for a republic. with the martial
| conditions which would accompany 1t.
| might 80 demoralize industrial condi-
tions as to damage the organized
! forces from within. through lack of
employment and consequent lack Of
revenues. The scale of pay in most
! industries is higher today In Ireland
than in England in some instances by
several shillings day. The union
| leaders are attempting to maintain
| that condition and are giving whole
hearted support to the trifiing strikes
against wage reductions occurring
throughout the country.
But If johnson is emphatically for
the Free State, Tom Foran is not.
Foran assured me that he was for
neither the Free State nor the repub-
|
republic.
THAT is our platform" he said
i simply. We were in his spacious. bare
| office in the headquarters of the
| Transport Workers in Parnell square.
He is smallish, black-haired, black
| mustachioed man, not forceful, with
| a rather shy manner. and one Of the
last men in Dublin you would select
| as the head OF 100000 transport work.
! ers. He talked freely. as did john
| son. A woman sat by his side during
the conversation, intent on every
! word, yet not participating. l was
not introduced to her.
Irish labor is in much the position
of the man who. having a burglar in
his house, calls the police and an OBJ
| jectionable constable arrives. He
helps the constable subdue the thief
| the policeman afterward,' Foran told
| me. England being the burglar and the
| Free State the constable.
The Transport Workers Union is
the l. W. W. of Ireland. 1t is making
| effective the "one big union idea
| endeavors OF big Bill'' Haywood and
! his colleagues. Started as an off
| shoot from the old trade union of
| transport workers in 1909. it grew
| rapidly under the leadership of
| Foran. Jim Larkin-now in Jail in
| tot
/ molly. Today it enrolls workers in
all trades.
Take. in All Labor.
I'VE take in the graveyard and the
| theater. the farm and the hotel, the
| foundry and the shop" said Foran.
The transport workers head dis
| dams any idea of compromise with
capital. He is tenacious in the way
! that many Irish leaders are, and
ceptions of Irish characteristics.
Most of his men are socialists, many
are communists. and they are by all
odds the most dangerous to the es-
| tablished order of any large group
| in Ireland.
There has been close relation
ship between labor and the repub-
| lican movement, The men who
fought during Easter week. 1916. had
been trained by Connolly and his as
sociates and came largely from the
| working class. During 1.-The trouble"
labor. and especially that part Of it
embraced in the Transport Workers
Union. stood firm by the cause of the
rebellion. That thought gives con-
Germ to employers, who fear labor
will claim its reward from the net
government to degree that will be
prejudicial to them.
The seeds of bitter economic
struggle are present in Ireland after
the political storm shall have sub
! sided A workers republic and con-
! fiscation of idle property are ideals
which threaten the existing social
order But those who believe in that
order take courage when they sur
vey the statistics. showing that a
half million middle-class and peas
ant proprietors live on the land and
are conservative, therefore, that
there are at least 100000 trading and
professional people and that Of the
SOC, 900 to 100000 proletarians in the
island less than half are organized.
These also take solace from the hold
which religion-all religions-have
on the people. and they regard the
church in ireland, as elsewhere, as
a moderating influence.