Citizens Lockout 1913 - 2013: Episode 5 Part 1

Citizens: Lockout 1913-2013. An audio history series made by Athena Media with the funding support of the BAI.

“There is not I think, it’s fair to say, a direct link between the Lockout of 1913 and the Rising of 1916, that would be a misreading of history.” says historian Diarmaid Ferriter. By mid 1914 Larkin is in the United States and with the outbreak of war Home Rule is parked. The bitter poverty of Dublin deepens and thousand of unemployed Irishmen enlist in the British Army, much to the horror of the Irish Citizen Army leader James Connolly. Many see 1913 as a precursor to 1916 but for Ferriter that is a rear mirror view of events. “Sometimes I think that we look back at the Lockout and its legacy and we read history backwards. We think of it as this iconic event and something that was not successful for the workers at the time, but ultimately can be considered a success because of the extent to which it developed a conscience and a consciousness of the status of Labour” Diarmaid Ferriter

In Episode 5 we explore the impact of defeat on not just the trade union movement but also on our key characters. Is it the defeat of Lockout or the outbreak of World War One which defines 1916? We hear the voices of Connolly and Larkin read by Ronnie McCann and Stephen Murray as well as the views of historians and commentators including Padraig Yeates, Diarmaid Ferriter and Ruth Dudley Edwards.