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Black 47 are a New York City based celtic rock band with Irish Republican sympathies, whose music also shows influence from reggae, hip hop, folk and jazz.^[1][2][3] The band was formed in 1989 by Larry Kirwan and Chris Byrne,^[4][5] and derives its name from a traditional term for the summer of 1847, the worst year of the Great Irish Famine.^[1][6]

History[link]

Beginnings[link]

Kirwan originally arrived in New York City from Wexford aged 19, and played in a succession of bands before teaming with Byrne, a Brooklyn policeman, in 1989. The combination of Kirwan's electric guitar and Byrne's use of traditional Irish instruments initially received a poor reception, but a year later, with the addition of new members Geoff Blyth (founding member of Dexy's Midnight Runners), Fred Parcells and Thomas Hamlin,^[3] they were playing regularly at Paddy Reilly's bar on Manhattan's East Side.^[5] The band began to play three to five nights a week,^[2] and garnered praise for both the socio-political lyrics and "off-the-wall" live shows,^[3] quickly drawing a fan base from both the political left and right. Kirwan stated in an interview that the band was "formed to be political",^[7] with the socialist lyrics attracting one half of the political spectrum, and the songs of the day-to-day life in America attracting traditionally right-leaning "cops, firemen and construction workers."^[4]

Breakout[link]

The band got their first big break when their debut release, Home of the Brave, launched as a cassette at a St. Patrick's day gig at Reilly's in 1990, was heard by Frank Murray, manager of the The Pogues, who signed them to his newly launched label.^[8] They went on to open for The Pogues at Brixton Academy in December of the same year,^[9] and following the collapse of Murray's label the band released an eponymous independent album in 1991, which bought them to the attention of EMI.^[10] They went in to the studio with Ric Ocasek of The Cars,^[5] where they re-recorded parts of their self-titled album for the 1992 release of Fire of Freedom,^[10] which was described as "the most fun you can squeeze out of a five-inch disc." and drew comparisons with Kevin Rowland and Bruce Springsteen.^[11][12] Black 47 gained access to a significantly wider audience when Funky Céilí (Bridie's Song), a track from Fire of Freedom gained extended air-play on music channel MTV, becoming the bands breakout single.^[13] The song was praised for the use of a traditional jig, riotous conclusion and as "a knockout example of how Irish music can rock."^[14] A second song from the album, Black 47, caused a stir amongst older fans of Irish music who had maintained close emotional ties to their ancestors who lived during the famine, traditionally a subject rarely addressed in song.^[7] The band followed up with Home of the Brave in 1994 with Jerry Harrison serving as producer, and a move from EMI to Mercury Records in 1996 followed with the release of Green Suede Shoes.

Throughout the late 1990s the band continued to perform around 150 nights a year both on tour and at Reilly's,^[6] but was plagued by a series of tragedies behind the scenes, and their political stance on affairs in the North of Ireland resulted in UK record companies being unwilling to support or promote the band, restricting a potentially lucrative market. At the 1996 St. Patrick's Day gig a 22-year-old off-duty police officer, Christopher Gargan, used his department issue 9mm pistol to commit suicide, injuring two women including June Anderson, Kirwan's wife.^[15] In 1997 one of the band's sound engineers, Johnny Byrne (immortalised in the band's single Johnny Byrne's Jig), died from injuries suffered after falling from his apartment window in New York City not long after recording an album of children's songs with Kirwan.^[16] The late 90's also saw band member Thomas Hamlin's apartment burn down, Kevin Jenkins retire after a car crash whilst on tour and John Murphy, a close friend of the band, die after falling in to a coma after a motorcycle accident. These events are reflected upon in Those Saints, a song on the Trouble in the Land album, released in 2000. 2000 also saw the release of the band's first compilation album to mark their tenth anniversary, Ten Bloody Years, and the departure of Byrne who amicably left the band to concentrate on his solo project, Seanchai and the Unity Squad.^[17]

Post Byrne[link]

Black 47 went on an unofficial recording hiatus, although they maintained their live performances, influenced as much by the events of 9/11 as the departure of Byrne. The release of New York Town in 2004 reflected the city before and after the attacks,^[18] where a number of Black 47 fans, such as FDNY chaplain Mychal Judge, honoured in the song Mychal, were casualties.^[19] Post-9/11 Black 47 had started to play regularly at Connolly's Pub in midtown Manhattan, playing shows Kirwan described as intense in order to allow fans who had lost loved ones an outlet for their emotions, and this was channelled into making the album.^[19] New York Town was a critical success, drawing parallels to Joyce's Dubliners due to it being a series of short, unrelated stories centered around New York City, and Kirwan was praised for painting a picture of the everyday life of New Yorkers, although the appearance of guest singers such as David Johansen of the New York Dolls and Christine Ohlman was noted for highlighting the weakness in Kirwan's own voice.^[18]

Following the release of Elvis Murphys Green Suede Shoes, a companion to Kirwan's memoir, Green Suede Shoes - An Irish-American Odyssey in 2005, the band released a second greatest hits album, Bittersweet Sixteen in 2006 to celebrate sixteen years. Elvis Murphy was generally well received, as despite the lyrics at times having literary 'problems'^[20] it was considered challenging yet enjoyable^[21] and for making "real emotional sense" and touching both the heart and soul.^[20] Bittersweet Sixteen was praised for being both a great introduction to the band and a treasure for seasoned fans, containing rare tracks such as the original version of Funky Céilí.^[22]

Prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the band became outspoken critics of the potential war, speaking out regularly at gigs^[23][24] When the invasion was announced they were playing live, and due to the political mix the band attracted some fans begun to scuffle and walk out in response to the left-leaning lyrics of the anti-war songs.^[23] They released a collection of such songs in 2008 on an album simply titled Iraq, and the band were considered to be one of the few bands with a pedigree in political music to undertake such a task.^[23][24] Inspiration for the lyrics came from Kirwan's communication with fans serving on the front line, as a significant demographic of the fanbase is young men who enlist to fund their futures.^[4] Kirwan called the album a response to the war being forgotten about, as stories moved away from the front pages, drawing similarities in the way violence in the North of Ireland became 'acceptable'.^[4]

The band returned to drawing from a wider ranger of subjects with their 2010 album Bankers and Gangsters. It was noted that this album, unsurprisingly, was less political than it's predecessor,^[25] and was also criticised for returning to the safe haven and not bringing anything new to the bands discography.^[26] However the album was generally well received, with praise going to the high standard of Kirwan's storytelling ability so far in to the band's lifetime as well as the "rollicking spirit" of the bands.^[25][26] Kirwan relates his noted ability and passion in biographical songs such as Bobby Sands to his time spent as a playwright, likening his performance singing them to method acting.^[6] The album has also been considered one of the band's best, referencing the "sharp social commentary and genre-bending sounds."^[2]

Politics[link]

A 1993 Time magazine article on Irish rock in America said it was "the proletariat passion of Black 47's songs that make the group stand out."^[27]

Irish Republicanism[link]

In an early interview Kirwan spoke of the British "attempt at racial cleansing" and exploitation in Ireland,^[1] and many of the band's songs directly relate to Irish republicanism, such as James Connolly, Bobby Sands and Vinegar Hill. The presence of this content has at times bought criticism on the band from listeners who are politically neutral to the situation,^[26] as well as restricting their promotion in the UK. Speaking of the period that inspired the band name, Kirwan said, "I'm not one of those people who believe the British did [the famine] on purpose... But what they did do was they allowed millions of people to starve and leave the land because they didn't want to change the particular economic system they had at the time." ^[7]

In 2000 Byrne sued the BBC after they used one of his songs, Fenians without his permission as a soundtrack to alleged gun running by members of the IRA in a documentary. Byrne stated that the British military machine was controlling Northern Ireland, and was insulted that his music was being used as pro-British propaganda.^[28]

Iraq War[link]

On top of the Iraq album, Kirwan noted that the war was one which "the working class is fighting".^[6] He also stated that politicians wasted an opportunity to change the world for the better, placing most blame on the shoulders of then-president Bush^[19] Kirwan argued that had there been a Churchill-esque leader then America would have taken the opportunity to rid themselves of dependence on foreign oil, and change the way America communicated with the rest of the world. He also criticised Bush for using the memory of the victims of 9/11 to justify war as the biggest tragedy that came out of the event.^[19]

Piracy[link]

Kirwan actively encourages the videotaping, recording and photography of Black 47's live shows, citing the fact that no two shows are the same and it's good to have a record of it.^[6] The band's official website has also encouraged soldiers posted in the Middle East to pass around bootlegged copies of albums.^[6]

Influence[link]

Although the band has been criticised due to the fact most members only have a tenuous link to Ireland,^[8] Black 47 are recognised as "the premier Irish-American rock group" who created an environment where bands such as Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly have been able to flourish.^[24]

Discography[link]

Band members[link]

• Geoffrey Blythe : tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet
• Joe Burcaw : bass, vocals
• Thomas Hamlin : drums, percussion
• Larry Kirwan : lead vocals, guitar
• Joseph Mulvanerty : uilleann pipes, flute, bodhrán
• Fred Parcells : trombone, tin whistle

Early members

• Chris Byrne : uilleann pipes, tin whistle, bodhrán and vocals (1989–2000)
• David Conrad : bass (1991–1993)
• Kevin Jenkins : bass (1993–1995)
• Andrew Goodsight: bass (1995–2006)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Black 47 on Facebook

Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands (Irish: Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh;^[1] 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the British Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze.

He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of Special Category Status. During his strike he was elected as a member of the British Parliament as an Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner candidate.^[2][3] His death resulted in a new surge of IRA recruitment and activity. International media coverage brought attention to the hunger strikers, and the republican movement in general, attracting both praise and criticism.^[4]

Life[link]

Early years and family[link]

Sands was born into a Catholic family^[5][6] in Abbots Cross, but also lived in a house in Doonbeg Drive, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and lived there until 1960^[7] whereupon the family were forced to move to Rathcoole, Newtownabbey.^[7] His first sister, Marcella, was born in April 1955 and second sister, Bernadette, in November 1958. His parents, John and Rosaleen, had another son, John, in 1962. On leaving school, he became an apprentice coach-builder until he was forced out at gunpoint by loyalists.^{[8][clarification needed]}

In June 1972, at the age of 18, Bobby moved with his family to the Twinbrook housing estate in west Belfast, being obliged to leave Rathcoole due to loyalist intimidation.^[9]

He married Geraldine Noade. His son, Gerard, was born 8 May 1973. She soon left to live in England with their son.^[10]

Sands' sister Bernadette Sands McKevitt is also a prominent Irish Republican. Along with her husband Michael McKevitt she helped to form the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and is accused of involvement with the Real Irish Republican Army.^[11] Sands McKevitt is opposed to the Belfast Agreement, stating that "Bobby did not die for cross-border bodies with executive powers. He did not die for nationalists to be equal British citizens within the Northern Ireland state."^[12]

Provisional IRA activity[link]

In 1972, Sands joined the Provisional IRA.^[13] He was arrested and charged in October 1972 with possession of four handguns which were found in the house where he was staying. Sands was convicted in April 1973 sentenced to five years' imprisonment and released in April 1976.^[14][15]

On his release from prison in 1976, he returned to his family home in West Belfast, and resumed his active role in the Provisional IRA's campaign. He was charged with involvement in the October 1976 bombing of the Balmoral Furniture Company in Dunmurry, although he was never convicted of this charge with the presiding judge stating that there was no evidence to support the assertion that he had taken part.^[16] After the bombing, Sands and at least five others were alleged to have been involved in a gun battle with the Royal Ulster Constabulary, although he was not convicted due to lack of evidence. Leaving behind two of their wounded friends, Seamus Martin and Gabriel Corbett, Sands, Joe McDonnell, Seamus Finucane and Sean Lavery tried to make their escape in a car, but were apprehended. Later, one of the revolvers used in the attack was found in the car in which Sands had been travelling.^[17] His trial in September 1977 saw him being convicted of possession of firearms (the revolver from which the prosecution alleged bullets had been fired at the RUC after the bombing) and Sands was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment within HM Prison Maze, also known as Long Kesh.^[18]

Immediately after his sentence he was implicated in a ruckus and spent the first 22 days on boards in Crumlin Road Prison, 15 days naked, and a No. 1 starvation diet every 3 days.^[19]

Long Kesh[link]

In prison, Sands became a writer both of journalism and poetry—being published in the Irish republican newspaper An Phoblacht. In late 1980 Sands was chosen as Officer Commanding of the Provisional IRA prisoners in Long Kesh, succeeding Brendan Hughes who was participating in the first hunger strike.

Republican prisoners had organised a series of protests seeking to regain their previous Special Category Status and not be subject to ordinary prison regulations. This began with the "blanket protest" in 1976, in which the prisoners refused to wear prison uniform and wore blankets instead. In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to "slop out" (i.e. empty their chamber pots), this escalated into the "dirty protest", wherein prisoners refused to wash and smeared the walls of their cells with excrement.^[20]

Published works[link]

While in prison Sands had several letters and articles published in the Republican paper An Phoblacht (en: Republican News) under the pseudonym "Marcella". Other writings attributed to him are: Skylark Sing Your Lonely Song ^[21] and One Day in My Life.^[22] Sands also wrote the lyrics of "Back Home in Derry" and "McIlhatton", which were both later recorded by Christy Moore; and he wrote "Sad Song For Susan" which was later recorded. The melody of "Back Home in Derry" was borrowed from Gordon Lightfoot's famous 1976 song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

Election[link]

Shortly after the beginning of the strike, Frank Maguire, the Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, died suddenly of a heart attack, precipitating the April 1981 by-election.

The sudden vacancy in a seat with a nationalist majority of about five thousand was a valuable opportunity for Sands' supporters to unite the nationalist community behind their campaign.^[10] Pressure not to split the vote led other nationalist parties, notably the Social Democratic and Labour Party, to withdraw, and Sands was nominated on the label "Anti H-Block / Armagh Political Prisoner". After a highly polarised campaign, Sands narrowly won the seat on 9 April 1981, with 30,493 votes to 29,046 for the Ulster Unionist Party candidate Harry West—and also becoming the youngest MP at the time.^[23]

Following Sands' success, the British Government introduced the Representation of the People Act 1981 which prevents prisoners serving jail terms of more than one year in either the UK or the Republic of Ireland from being nominated as candidates in British elections.^[24][25] This law was introduced so as to prevent the other hunger strikers from being elected to the British parliament.^[26]

Hunger strike[link]

The 1981 Irish hunger strike started with Sands refusing food on 1 March 1981. Sands decided that other prisoners should join the strike at staggered intervals in order to maximise publicity with prisoners steadily deteriorating successively over several months.

The hunger strike centred around five demands:

1. the right not to wear a prison uniform;
2. the right not to do prison work;
3. the right of free association with other prisoners, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits;
4. the right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week;
5. full restoration of remission lost through the protest.^[27]

The significance of the hunger strike was the prisoners' aim of being declared as political prisoners (or prisoners of war) and not to be classed as criminals. The Washington Post, however, reported that the primary aim of the hunger strike was to generate international publicity.^[28]

Death[link]

Bobby Sands' grave in Milltown Cemetery

Sands died in the prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. The original pathologist's report recorded Sands' and the other hunger strikers' causes of death as "self-imposed starvation", later amended to simply "starvation" after protests from the dead strikers' families.^[29] The coroner recorded verdicts of "starvation, self-imposed".^[29]

The announcement of his death prompted several days of riots in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. A milkman and his son, Eric and Desmond Guiney, died as a result of injuries sustained when their milk float crashed after being stoned by rioters in a predominantly nationalist area of north Belfast.^[30][31] Over 100,000 people lined the route of Sands' funeral and he was buried in the 'New Republican Plot' alongside 76 others. Their grave is maintained and cared for by the National Graves Association, Belfast.^[32] Sands was a Member of the Westminster Parliament for 25 days, though he never took his seat or the oath.

In response to a question in the House of Commons on 5 May 1981, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, "Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did not allow to many of its victims".^[33] The official announcement of Sands' death in the House of Commons omitted the customary expression of sense of loss and sympathy with the family of the member.^[34]

He was survived by his parents, siblings, and a young son (Gerard) from his marriage to Geraldine Noade.

Reaction to death[link]

Europe[link]

Memorial mural along Falls Road, Belfast

In Europe, there were widespread protests after Sands' death. Five thousand Milanese students burned the Union Flag and shouted 'freedom for Ulster' during a march.^[4] The British Consulate at Ghent was raided.^[4] Thousands marched in Paris behind huge portraits of Sands, to chants of 'the IRA will conquer'.^[4] In the Portuguese Parliament, the opposition stood for Sands.^[4] In Oslo, demonstrators threw a tomato at Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom, but missed. (The 28 year old assailant claimed however that he had not aimed for the queen, but for a smirking British soldier)^{[4] [35]} In the Soviet Union, Pravda described it as 'another tragic page in the grim chronicle of oppression, discrimination, terror and violence' in Ireland. Russian fans of Bobby Sands published a translation of the "Back Home In Derry" song ("На Родину в Дерри" in Russian).^[4] Many French towns and cities have streets named after Sands, including in Nantes, Saint-Étienne, Le Mans, Vierzon, and Saint-Denis.^[36] In the Republic of Ireland, his death led to riots and bus burning. IRA members allegedly unsuccessfully attempted to coerce proprietors of shops and other businesses into closing for a national day of mourning.^[37] The West German newspaper Die Welt took a negative view of Sands.^[4]

The Americas[link]

The US media expressed a range of opinions on Sands' death. The Boston Globe commented that "[t]he slow suicide attempt of Bobby Sands has cast his land and his cause into another downward spiral of death and despair. There are no heroes in the saga of Bobby Sands."^[38] The Chicago Tribune wrote that "Mahatma Gandhi used the hunger strike to move his countrymen to abstain from fratricide. Bobby Sands' deliberate slow suicide is intended to precipitate civil war. The former deserved veneration and influence. The latter would be viewed, in a reasonable world, not as a charismatic martyr but as a fanatical suicide, whose regrettable death provides no sufficient occasion for killing others."^[39]

The New York Times wrote that "Britain's prime minister Thatcher is right in refusing to yield political status to Bobby Sands, the Irish Republican Army hunger striker," but that by appearing "unfeeling and unresponsive" the British Government was giving Sands "the crown of martyrdom."^[40] The San Francisco Chronicle argued that political belief should not exempt activists from criminal law: "Terrorism goes far beyond the expression of political belief. And dealing with it does not allow for compromise as many countries of Western Europe and United States have learned. The bombing of bars, hotels, restaurants, robbing of banks, abductions and killings of prominent figures are all criminal acts and must be dealt with by criminal law."^[41]

Some American critics and journalists suggested that American press coverage was a "melodrama".^[42] One journalist in particular criticised the large pro-IRA Irish-American contingent which "swallow IRA propaganda as if it were taffy," and concluded that IRA "terrorist propaganda triumphs."^[43]

Archbishop John R. Roach, president of the US Catholic bishops, called Sands' death "a useless sacrifice".^[44] The Ledger of May 5, 1981 under the headline “To some he was a hero, to others a terrorist” claims that the hunger strike made Sands "a hero among Irish Republicans or Nationalists seeking the reunion of Protestant-dominated and British-ruled Northern Ireland with the predominantly Catholic Irish Republic to the south."^[45]

The Ledger cited Sands as telling his friends: “If I die, God will understand," and one of his last messages to them being, “Tell everyone I’ll see them somewhere, sometime.” ^[45]

Some political, religious, union and fund-raising institutions chose to honour Sands. The International Longshoremen's Association in New York announced a 24-hour boycott of British ships.^[37][46] Over 1,000 people gathered in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral to hear Cardinal Terence Cooke offer a Mass of reconciliation for Northern Ireland. Irish bars in the city were closed for two hours in mourning.^[4] In Hartford, Connecticut a memorial was dedicated to Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers in 1997, the only one of its kind in the United States. Set up by the Irish Northern Aid Committee and local Irish-Americans, it stands in a traffic circle known as "Bobby Sands Circle," at the bottom of Maple Avenue near Goodwin Park.^[47]

The New Jersey General Assembly, the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, voted 34-29 for a resolution honouring his "courage and commitment."^[4]

In 2001, a memorial to Sands and the other hunger strikers was unveiled in Havana, Cuba.^[48]

Asia[link]

• In Tehran, Iran, President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr sent a message of condolence to the Sands family.^[49] The government renamed Winston Churchill Boulevard, the location of the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Tehran, to Bobby Sands Street, prompting the embassy to move its entrance door to Ferdowsi Avenue to avoid using Bobby Sands Street on its letterhead.^[50] A street in the Elahieh district is also named after Sands.^[51] An official blue and white street sign was affixed to the rear wall of the British embassy compound saying (in Persian) "Bobby Sands Street" with three words of explanation "militant Irish guerrilla".^[49][52] The official Pars news agency called Bobby Sands' death "heroic".^[49] There have subsequently been claims that the British foreign secretary has pressured Iranian authorities to change the name of Bobby Sands Street but this is denied.^[53][54][55]
• The Hindustan Times said Margaret Thatcher had allowed a fellow Member of Parliament to die of starvation, an incident which had never before occurred "in a civilised country."^[4]
• In the Indian Parliament, opposition members in the upper house Rajya Sabha stood for a minute's silence in tribute. The ruling Congress Party refused to join in.^[4]
• The Hong Kong Standard said it was 'sad that successive British governments have failed to end the last of Europe's religious wars.'^[4]
• A large monument dedicated to Irish protagonists for independence from Britain, including Bobby Sands, stands in the Waverley Cemetery in Sydney, Australia.

United Kingdom[link]

At Old Firm football matches in Glasgow, Scotland, some Rangers fans have been known to sing songs mocking Bobby Sands to taunt fans of Celtic. Rangers fans are mainly Protestant, and predominantly sympathetic to the Unionist and Loyalist community; Celtic fans are traditionally more likely to support the Nationalist and Republican community.^[56] Celtic fans regularly sing the republican song "The Roll of Honour" which commemorates the ten men who died in the 1981 hunger strike, amongst other songs in support of the IRA. Sands is honoured in the line "They stood beside their leader - the gallant Bobby Sands." Rangers' taunts have since been adopted by the travelling support of other UK clubs, particularly those with strong British ties, as a form of anti-Irish sentiment.^[57] The 1981 British Home Championship football tournament was cancelled following the refusal of teams from England and Wales to travel to Northern Ireland in the aftermath of his death due to security concerns.

Cardinal Basil Hume, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, condemned Sands, describing the hunger strike as a form of violence. However he noted that this was his personal view. The Roman Catholic Church's official stance was that ministrations should be provided to the hunger strikers who, believing their sacrifice to be for a higher good, were acting in good conscience.^[45]

Political impact[link]

Nine other IRA and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) members who were involved in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike also died after Sands. On the day of Sands' funeral, Unionist leader Ian Paisley held a memorial service outside of Belfast city hall to commemorate the victims of the IRA.^[37] In the Irish general elections held the same year, two anti H-block candidates won seats on an abstentionist basis.

The media coverage that surrounded the death of Sands resulted in a new surge of IRA activity and an immediate escalation in the Troubles, with the group obtaining many more members and increasing its fund-raising capability. Both nationalists and unionists began to harden their attitudes and move towards political extremes.^[58] Sands' Westminster seat was taken by his election agent, Owen Carron standing as 'Anti H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner' with an increased majority.^[59]

Music and film[link]

The Grateful Dead played the Nassau Coliseum the following night after Sands died and guitarist Bob Weir dedicated the song "He's Gone" to Sands.^[60] The concert was later released as Dick's Picks Volume 13, part of the Grateful Dead's programme of live concert releases.

The music video for the The Cranberries song Zombie shows a clip of a mural commemorating Sands.

Songs written in response to the hunger strikes and Sands' death include songs by Black 47, Nicky Wire, The Undertones,^[61] Bik McFarlane and Eric Bogle. Christy Moore's song, "The People's Own MP", has been described as an example of a rebel song of the "hero-martyr" genre in which Sands' "intellectual, artistic and moral qualities" are eulogised.^[62] American rock band Rage Against the Machine have listed Sands as an inspiration in the sleeve notes of their self titled debut album.^[63] and as a "political hero" in media interviews ^[64]

Bobby Sands has also been portrayed in the following films:

• Bobby Sands was played by John Lynch in the 1996 film Some Mother's Son. It was directed by Terry George and written by George and Jim Sheridan.^[65]
• Bobby Sands was played by Mark O'Halloran in the 2001 film H3.^[66]
• Il Silenzio dell'Allodola (2005, aka The Silence of the Skylark) by Italian film director and scriptwriter David Ballerini features Ivan Franek as Bobby Sands. It won awards and was premiered in Ireland at the Cork Film Festival, screened at Rotterdam Int. Film Festival and several other festivals.^[67]
• Michael Fassbender played Bobby Sands in Hunger, a 2008 film by artist Steve McQueen about the last six weeks of Bobby Sands' life in the context of the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival^[68] and won McQueen the prestigious Caméra d'Or award for first-time filmmakers.^[69] It was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK for the first time on 15 December 2009.^[70]

See also[link]

	Ireland portal
	United Kingdom portal
	Biography portal

• List of United Kingdom MPs with the shortest service
• Terence MacSwiney - Lord Mayor of Cork in 1920 who died in Brixton Prison after a hunger strike lasting 74 days.
• Khader Adnan

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bobby Sands

• Bobby Sands Trust – Official website of poetry and writings by Bobby Sands MP
• Biography from Irish Republican website
• Bobby Sands diary entries & biographies of the ten hunger strikers
• Timewatch: Hunger Strike – a Hidden History (Otmoor Productions/BBC 1993.)
• The Diary of Bobby Sands secret diary written during the first seventeen days of his hungerstrike, before being moved to the prison hospital.

James (Big Jim) Larkin (21 January 1876 – 30 January 1947) was an Irish trade union leader and socialist activist, born to Irish parents in Liverpool, England. He and his family later moved to a small cottage in Burren, southern County Down. Growing up in poverty, he received little formal education and began working in a variety of jobs while still a child. He became a full-time trade union organiser in 1905.

Larkin moved to Belfast in 1907 and founded the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, the Irish Labour Party, and later the Workers' Union of Ireland. Perhaps best known for his role in the 1913 Dublin Lockout, "Big Jim" continues to occupy a significant place in Dublin's collective memory.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Larkin was born on 21 January 1876 the second eldest son of Irish immigrants, James Larkin and Mary Ann McNulty, both natives of County Armagh. The impoverished Larkin family lived in the slums of Liverpool during the early years of his life. From the age of seven, he attended school in the mornings and worked in the afternoons to supplement the family income—a common arrangement in working-class families at the time. At the age of fourteen, after the death of his father, he was apprenticed to the firm his father had worked for but was dismissed after two years. He was unemployed for a time and then worked as a sailor and docker. By 1903, he was a dock foreman, and on 8 September of that year, he married Elizabeth Brown.

From 1893, Larkin developed an interest in socialism and became a member of the Independent Labour Party. In 1905, he was one of the few foremen to take part in a strike on the Liverpool docks. He was elected to the strike committee, and although he lost his foreman's job as a result, his performance so impressed the National Union of Dock Labourers (NUDL) that he was appointed a temporary organiser. He later gained a permanent position with the union, which, in 1906, sent him to Scotland, where he successfully organised workers in Preston and Glasgow.

Organising the Irish labour movement, 1907–1914[link]

In January 1907, Larkin undertook his first task on behalf of the trade union movement in Ireland, when he arrived in Belfast to organise the city's dock workers for the NUDL. He succeeded in unionising the workforce and, as employers refused to meet the wage demands, he called the dockers out on strike in June. Carters and coal men soon joined in, the latter settling their dispute after a month. Larkin succeeded in uniting Protestant and Catholic workers and even persuaded the local Royal Irish Constabulary to strike at one point, but the strike ended by November without having achieved significant success. Tensions regarding leadership arose between Larkin and NUDL general secretary James Sexton. The latter's handling of negotiations and agreement to a disastrous settlement for the last of the strikers resulted in a lasting rift between Sexton and Larkin.

In 1908, Larkin moved south and organised workers in Dublin, Cork and Waterford, with considerable success. His involvement, against union instructions, in a dispute in Dublin resulted in his expulsion from the NUDL. The union later prosecuted him for diverting union funds to give strike pay to Cork workers engaged in an unofficial dispute. After trial and conviction for embezzlement in 1910, he was sentenced to prison for a year.^[3] This was widely regarded as unjust, and the then Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Aberdeen, pardoned him after he had served three months in prison.

After his expulsion from the NUDL, Larkin founded the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) at the end of December, 1908. The organisation exists today as the Services Industrial Professional & Technical Union (SIPTU). It quickly gained the affiliation of the NUDL branches in Dublin, Cork, Dundalk and Waterford. The Derry and Drogheda NUDL branches stayed with the British union, and Belfast split along sectarian lines. Early in the new year, 1909, Larkin moved to Dublin, which became the main base of the ITGWU and the focus of all his future union activity in Ireland.

In June 1911, Larkin established a newspaper, The Irish Worker and People's Advocate, as a pro-labour alternative to the capitalist-owned press. This organ was characterised by a campaigning approach and the harsh denunciation of unfair employers and of Larkin's political enemies. Its columns also included pieces by intellectuals. The paper was produced until its suppression by the authorities in 1915. Afterwards, the Worker metamorphosed into the new Ireland Echo.

In partnership with James Connolly, Larkin helped form the Irish Labour Party in 1912. Later that year, he was elected to the Dublin Corporation. He did not hold his seat long, as a month later he was removed as he had a criminal record since his conviction in 1910.

The Dublin Lockout, 1913[link]

Statue of James Larkin on O'Connell Street, Dublin (Oisín Kelly 1977)

In early 1913, Larkin achieved some notable successes in industrial disputes in Dublin; these involved frequent recourse to sympathetic strikes and blacking (boycotting) of goods. Two major employers, Guinness and the Dublin United Tramway Company, were the main targets of Larkin's organising ambitions. Both had craft unions for skilled workers, but Larkin's main aim was to unionise the unskilled workers as well.

Guinness staff were relatively well-paid, and enjoyed generous benefits from a paternalistic management that refused to join Murphy's lockout.^[4] This was far from the case on the tramways. The chairman of the Dublin United Tramway Company, industrialist and newspaper proprietor William Martin Murphy, was determined not to allow the ITGWU to unionise his workforce. On 15 August, he dismissed forty workers he suspected of ITGWU membership, followed by another 300 over the next week. On 26 August, the tramway workers officially went on strike. Led by Murphy, over four hundred of the city's employers retaliated by requiring their workers to sign a pledge not to be a member of the ITGWU and not to engage in sympathetic strikes.

The resulting industrial dispute was the most severe in Ireland's history. Employers in Dublin engaged in a sympathetic lockout of their workers when the latter refused to sign the pledge, employing blackleg labour from Great Britain and elsewhere in Ireland. Guinness, the largest employer in Dublin, refused the employers' call to lock out its workers but it sacked 15 workers who struck in sympathy. Dublin's workers, amongst the poorest in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, were forced to survive on generous but inadequate donations from the British Trades Union Congress (TUC) and other sources in Ireland, distributed by the ITGWU.

For seven months the lockout affected tens of thousands of Dublin's workers and employers, with Larkin portrayed as the villain by Murphy's three main newspapers, the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and the Evening Herald. Other leaders in the ITGWU at the time were James Connolly and William X. O'Brien, while influential figures such as Patrick Pearse, Constance Markievicz and William Butler Yeats supported the workers in the generally anti-Larkin Irish press.

The lockout eventually concluded in early 1914 when the calls for a sympathetic strike in Britain from Larkin and Connolly were rejected by the British TUC. Larkin's attacks on the TUC leadership for this stance also led to the cessation of financial aid to the ITGWU, which in any case was not affiliated to the TUC. Although the actions of the ITGWU and the smaller UBLU were unsuccessful in achieving substantially better pay and conditions for the workers, they marked a watershed in Irish labour history. The principle of union action and workers' solidarity had been firmly established. Perhaps even more importantly, Larkin's rhetoric, condemning poverty and injustice and calling for the oppressed to stand up for themselves, made a lasting impression.

Larkin in America, 1914–1923[link]

Some months after the lockout ended, Larkin left for the United States. He intended to recuperate from the strain of the lockout and raise funds for the union. His decision to leave dismayed many union activists. Once there he became a member of the Socialist Party of America, and was involved in the Industrial Workers of the World union. He became an enthusiastic supporter of the Soviet Union and was expelled from the Socialist Party of America in 1919 along with numerous other sympathisers of the Bolsheviks.

Larkin was reported as having helped disrupt Allied munitions shipments in New York during World War I. In 1937, he voluntarily assisted US lawyers investigating the Black Tom explosion by providing a sworn affidavit from his home in Dublin. According to British Army Intelligence officer, Henry Landau:

Larkin testified that he himself never took part in the actual sabotage campaign but, rather,confined himself to the organizing of strikes to secure both higher pay and shorter hours for workmen and to prevent the shipment of munitions to the Allies.^[5]

Larkin's speeches in support of the Soviet Union, his association with founding members of the American Communist Party, and his radical publications made him a target of the "First Red Scare" that was sweeping the US; he was jailed in 1920 for 'criminal anarchy' and was sentenced to five to ten years in Sing Sing prison. In 1923, he was pardoned and later deported by Al Smith, Governor of New York.

Return to Ireland and communist activism[link]

Upon his return to Ireland in April 1923, Larkin received a hero's welcome, and immediately set about touring the country meeting trade union members and appealing for an end to the Civil War. However, he soon found himself at variance with William O'Brien, who in his absence had become the leading figure in the ITGWU and the Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congress. Larkin was still officially general secretary of the ITGWU, and a bitter struggle between the two men ensued which would last over twenty years.

In September 1923 Larkin formed the Irish Worker League (IWL), which was soon afterwards recognised by the Comintern as the Irish section of the world communist movement. In 1924 Larkin attended the Comintern congress and was elected to its executive committee. However, the League was not organised as a political party, never held a general congress and never succeeded in being politically effective. Its most prominent activity in its first year was to raise funds for imprisoned members of the Anti-Treaty IRA.

During Larkin's absence at the 1924 Comintern congress (and apparently against his instructions), his brother Peter took his supporters out of the ITGWU, forming the Workers' Union of Ireland (WUI). The new union quickly grew, gaining the allegiance of about two thirds of the Dublin membership of the ITGWU and of a smaller number of rural members. It affiliated to the pro-Soviet Red International of Labour Unions.

In January 1925, the Comintern sent Communist Party of Great Britain activist Bob Stewart to Ireland to establish a communist party in cooperation with Larkin. A formal founding conference of the Irish Worker League, which was to take up this role, was set for May 1925. A fiasco ensued when the organisers discovered at the last minute that Larkin did not intend to attend. Feeling that the proposed party could not succeed without him, they called the conference off as it was due to start in a packed room in the Mansion House in Dublin.

In the September 1927 general election, Larkin ran (a huge surprise for all) in Dublin North and was elected. However, as a result of a libel award against him won by William O'Brien, which he had refused to pay, he was an undischarged bankrupt and could not take up his seat.

Larkin was unsuccessful in his attempts in the following years to gain a position as a commercial agent in Ireland for the Soviet Union, and this may have contributed to his disenchantment with Stalinism. The Soviets, for their part, were increasingly impatient with what they saw as his ineffective leadership. From the early 1930s Larkin drew away from the Soviet Union. While in the 1932 general election he stood without success as a communist, in 1933 and subsequently he ran as "Independent Labour". In 1934 he gave important evidence on the 1916 Black Tom explosion to John J. McCloy,^[6] allowing a case for damages against Germany to be reopened; presumably because of Germany's new Nazi government.^[7]

During this period he also engaged in a rapprochement with the Catholic Church. In 1936 he regained his seat on Dublin Corporation. He then regained his Dáil seat in the 1937 general election but lost it again the following year. In this period the Workers' Union of Ireland also entered the mainstream of the trade union movement, being admitted to the Dublin Trades Council in 1936, although the Irish Trade Union Congress would not accept its membership application until 1945.

Return to the Labour Party[link]

In 1941 a new trade union bill was published by the Government. Inspired by an internal trade union restructuring proposal by William O'Brien, it was viewed as a threat by the smaller general unions and the Irish branches of British unions (known as the 'amalgamated unions'). Larkin and the WUI played a leading role in the unsuccessful campaign against the bill. After its passage into law he and his supporters successfully applied for admission to the Labour Party, where they were now regarded with more sympathy by many members. O'Brien in response disaffiliated the ITGWU from the party, forming the rival National Labour Party and denouncing what he claimed was communist influence in Labour. Larkin later served as a Labour Party deputy in Dáil Éireann (1943–44).

James Larkin died in his sleep on 30 January 1947. His funeral mass was celebrated by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, and thousands lined the streets of the city as the hearse passed through on the way to Glasnevin Cemetery.

Commemoration[link]

Literature[link]

Larkin has been the subject of poems by Brendan Behan,^[8] Patrick Kavanagh,^[9] Frank O'Connor and Lola Ridge; his character has been central in plays by Daniel Corkery, George Russell (Æ), and Sean O'Casey;^[10] and he is a heroic figure in the background of James Plunkett's novel Strumpet City.^[11]

Songs[link]

James Larkin was memorialized by the New York Irish rock band Black 47, in their song The Day They Set Jim Larkin Free and The Ballad of James Larkin was recorded by Christy Moore and also The Dubliners . Paddy Reilly sings a song simply entitled Jim Larkin that describes the lot of the worker and their appreciation of the changes made by Larkin and Connolly .

Monument[link]

Today a statue of "Big Jim" stands on O'Connell Street in Dublin. The inscription on the front of the monument is an extract in French, Irish and English from one of his famous speeches:

Les grands ne sont grands que parce que nous sommes à genoux: Levons-nous.

Ní uasal aon uasal ach sinne bheith íseal: Éirímis.

The great appear great because we are on our knees: Let us rise.

The slogan, first used on the 18th century French radical paper Révolutions de Paris,^[12] also appeared on the masthead of the Workers' Republic, founded by James Connolly in Dublin in August, 1898. Originally the organ of the Irish Socialist Republican Party, this periodical later became the official organ of the Communist Party of Ireland, which was founded in 1921. The original slogan is usually attributed to Camille Desmoulins (1760–1794), the French revolutionary.^{[citation needed]}

On the west side of the base of the Larkin monument is a quotation from the poem Jim Larkin by Patrick Kavanagh:

And Tyranny trampled them in Dublin's gutter
Until Jim Larkin came along and cried
The call of Freedom and the call of Pride
And Slavery crept to its hands and knees
And Nineteen Thirteen cheered from out the utter
Degradation of their miseries.

On the east side of the monument there is a quotation from Drums under the Windows by Sean O'Casey:

...He talked to the workers, spoke as only Jim Larkin could speak, not for an assignation with peace, dark obedience, or placid resignation, but trumpet-tongued of resistance to wrong, discontent with leering poverty, and defiance of any power strutting out to stand in the way of their march onward.

A road in Clontarf, North Dublin, is named after him.

James Larkin Way[link]

A road in L4 1YQ, Kirkdale, In his home city of Liverpool, just off Scotland Road, is called James Larkin Way.

James Larkin Republican Flute Band[link]

A marching band in Liverpool, the James Larkin Republican Flute Band, is named after him. Formed in 1996 by members of the Liverpool Irish Community, it is a fife & drum marching band, that promotes and celebrates Irish music, culture and political pride and awareness on Merseyside.

The Liverpool Irish Festival 2008[link]

To celebrate Liverpool's capital of culture, the Liverpool Irish Festival held a 'James Larkin Evening' at the 'Casa' bar-the Dockers pub in central Liverpool. This was attended by Francis Devine who wrote the general history of the Trade Union movement in Dublin and the formation of SIPTU, it was introduced by Liverpool/ Irish, Marcus Maher, who came over from Dublin to present a special commissioned painting by Finbar Coyle to James Larkin's last remaining Liverpool nephew,Tom Larkin. The painting reflects both Dublin, where Larkin would spend his remaining political career, and on the other side the 'Liver Birds' and his home city of Liverpool.

People[link]

The Transport and General Workers' Union activist Jack Jones, whose full name was James Larkin Jones, was named in honour of his fellow Liverpudlian.

Footnotes[link]

• This page incorporates information from this member's entry in the Oireachtas Members Database

Other sources consulted[link]

• James Larkin, Emmet O'Connor, Cork University Press, Cork, 2002.
• Lockout: Dublin 1913, Pádraig Yeates, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 2000.
• Communism in Modern Ireland: The Pursuit of the Workers' Republic since 1916, Mike Milotte, Dublin, 1984.
• Thomas Johnson, 1872 - 1963, John Anthony Gaughan, Kingdom Books, Dublin, 1980.
• The Rise of the Irish Trade Unions, Andrew Boyd, Anvil Books, Dublin, 1985.
• History of Monuments O'Connell Street Area, Dublin City Council, 2003, [1]
• Guinness 1886-1939, SR Dennison & Oliver McDonagh; Cork Univ. Press 1998. See: Chapter 8, "The employees; work and welfare 1886-1914" and chapter 9, "Industrial Relations 1886-1914".

Further reading[link]

• E. Larkin, James Larkin, Irish labour leader 1876 - 1947, London: E. Larkin, 1977.
• Dónal Nevin (ed.),James Larkin: Lion of the Fold. Dublin, 1998.

External links[link]

• James Larkin's electoral history

See also[link]

Organized labour portal

• Families in the Oireachtas
• Rerum Novarum

(ElectionsIreland.org)