“Too long, aye! Far too long, have we, the Irish working people been humble and inarticulate… The Irish working class are beginning to awaken”. (Larkin.J, The Irish Worker. 1911). The words of James Larkin 2 years before the most severe and significant industrial dispute in Irish history. The Dublin Lockout happened at the time of the home rule movement, it became so big it dimmed the movement and took over the news. Led by Jim Larkin who at the time was the organiser for the national union of dock labourers (NUDL), Larkin successfully organised major ports in the UK, in Belfast he even managed to join union members despite a sectarian divide. He then tackled Irish ports this proved most difficult for him, in 1908 while handling a dock strike…show more content… Larkin was released on conditional bail and broke the terms by planning a public meeting to be held on O’connell St(GPO) the following Sunday which didn’t happen and instead surprisingly Larkin appeared across the street on the Balcony of William Murphy’s imperial hotel where many innocent passers-by and church goers were making their way home. The police acted on the unsuspecting crowd and this became known as Irelands first bloody Sunday resulting in 2 deaths and many casualties. “By 4 September 1913, Murphy had persuaded over 400 of Dublin’s employers to lock out any employee who refused to sign declarations forswearing the ITGWU. Within a few weeks at least 15,000 workers were locked out and dependent on the TUC food fund for survival. Thousands more, ranging from casual workers outside unions to hawkers and the self-employed, faced destitution because of the knock-on effects of the dispute”. (History Ireland.com n.d)
Larkin was arrested and later put to trial found guilty and sentenced to 7 months in prison, James Connelly takes control of the union, Larkin is released from prison 13 November. The Lockout eventually collapses after 6 months of violent clashes, William Martin Murphy gets a vote of thanks from the Dublin chamber of commerce. Larkin is elected first president of