A Letter from Rathangan – Webinar

Marking the 1920 General Strike and the Belfast Pogrom

Saturday October 10th 2020

This seminar takes as its starting point a letter, received in ITGWU HQ on April 16th 1920, from W. Byrne, Branch Secretary ITGWU Rathangan. Among other things, Byrne describes the actions taken by ITGWU members in Rathangan as part of the General Strike in support of the hunger strikers in Mountjoy.

Featuring presentations by Padraig Yeates and Brian Hanley, the seminar will explore the role of the Labour movement during the War of Independence. It will also mark the 1920 Belfast Pogrom which was not just an attack on Catholics in the shipyards but was also an attack on ‘rotten prods’ and on trade unionism.

Padraig Yeates is a journalist and author of Lockout: Dublin 1913 and A City in Turmoil: Dublin 1919-1921.

Brian Hanley is a writer and historian, currently teaching at Trinity College Dublin. His most recent book is The Impact of the Troubles on the Republic of Ireland (Manchester, 2018).

This will be a virtual event via Zoom from 10.00 to 12.20. In order to register and for further information email: creativerathanganmeitheal@gmail.com