A weekend of political debate running from 13 – 15 September 2013 at the Ireland Institute in the boyhood home of Pádraig Pearse
Topics in the summer school’s programme acknowledge the many anniversaries this year marks -
• 250th anniversary of Wolfe Tone’s Birth
• 100th anniversary of the 1913 Lockout
• 75th anniversary of the foundation of The Connolly Association
The topics this year include:
Labour in Ireland – Past and Present
Desmond Greaves’ life and work on the 100th anniversary of his Birth
Labour, imperialism and the Irish revolution
Irish Trade Unionism 100 years on from the Great Dublin Lockout
Women and the Labour Movement since 1913
The international weakness of the Left in the face of the Economic Crisis
Friday 13 Sept 7.30
The School opens for the weekend with
Desmond Greaves’ life and work on the 100th anniversary of his Birth
Session starts at 7.30
Speakers:
• Anthony Coughlan: – Desmond Greaves’ literary executor
- A Political Evaluation of Charles Desmond Greaves, the historian, political activist and biographer of Connolly
• Priscilla Metscher: – Historian, University of Oldenburg, Germany
- The importance for the labour movement of Greaves’ biography of James
Connolly: “The Life and Times of James Connolly” (1961)
Chair:
• Kevin McCorry: – People’s Movement and former organiser of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA)
Saturday 14 Sept. Two sessions
The first of two sessions today is
1) Labour and the National Question since 1913
Session starts at 11.00
Speakers:
• Joe Jamieson: – Trade Unionist, New York
- Connolly’s Long-Term Legacy in America
• Ruan O’Donnell: – Historian, UL
- Labour and the Irish Revolution
Chair:
• John Douglas: – General Secretary MANDATE Trade Union and President of Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU)
The second of two sessions today is
2) Challenges to Irish Trade Unionism 100 Years after the Great Dublin Lockout
Session starts at 14.30
Speakers:
• Brian Campfield: – Gen Sec, NIPSA and Exec Committee, ICTU
- Strategies and solutions – Trade Unions in a time of crisis
• Michael Taft: – Research Officer, UNITE Trade Union
- Social partnership, the Croke Park Agreements etc and their effects on Union effectiveness
• Esther Lynch: – Legal and Social Affairs Officer, ICTU
- Trade Unions and the EU: the demise of Social Europe
Chair:
• Mick O’Reilly: – President of Dublin Council of Trade Unions
Sunday 15 Sept
The first session is
1) Women and the labour movement since 1913
Session starts at 11.00
Speakers:
• Therese Moriarty: – Labour Historian
- The historical experience of women in the union movement
• Louise O’Reilly: – SIPTU Sector Organiser
- The EU and working women
• Fionnula Ui Brógáin: – Trade Union Organiser, Communications Workers Union (CWU)
- Organising women in the new economic climate
Chair:
• Catríona Crowe: Head of Special Projects, National Archives of Ireland
The concluding session is
2) The collapse of the Left in the capitalist economic crisis
Session starts at 14.30
Speakers:
• John Boyd: – Secretary of the Campaign against Euro–federalism (CAEF), Britain
• Horst Teubert: – German Foreign Policy Analyst
• Eoin O’Murchú: – Former Political Editor Raidió na Gaeltachta
Chair:
• Professor Thomas Metscher: – University of Bremen, Germany
Bookings and Admission
Full School €25
Individual sessions €6
Students/unwaged half-price
For More Information
http://www.greavesschool.com
Frank Keoghan, Summer School Director
25 Shanowen Crescent,
Dublin 9
Mobile: 087 2308330
Email: post@greaves.ie
Venue
27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2
How to get there
Pearse Street is in the city centre close to Trinity College; number 27 is on the same side of street as the Trinity Capital Hotel (next door).
By Dart and Train: Tara Street Station (01 828 6400);
Pearse Station on Westland Row, Dublin 2 ( 01 703 3634)
By Bus: 1, 3, 5, 7, 7A, 8, 44B, 44C, 47A, 47B, 48A, 62, 63 and 86
Car Parking: Trinity Car Park, Pearse Street, Dublin 2 (01 678 9200); Tara Street Car park (located opposite the Irish Times); Fleet Street Car Park (01 671 4201)
.
The venue for the Desmond Greaves Summer School is Pearse Centre a purpose-built theatre space accessible through number 27 Pearse Street. This house on Pearse Street is the boyhood home of 1916 leader Pádraig Pearse; a building restored to its period look and held in trust by the Ireland Institute for Historical and Cultural Studies.
The Greaves Summer School has over its 25 years been the forum for looking back over Ireland’s socialist heritage while looking forward to address issues concerning Ireland’s place in the wider world in the twenty-first century.
Desmond Greaves’ writings about the necessity of national sovereignty are especially relevant today as the Irish state finds itself completely emasculated within Euro-American structures.
Desmond Greaves was editor of The Irish Democrat, the magazine of the Connolly Association. Greaves championed the idea of campaigning for Civil Rights against Unionist domination in the North of Ireland. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association grew out of the Wolfe Tone Society in the 1960’s. Greaves’ legacy lies in his vision of Ireland, a message that echoes Tone’s, to unite Irish people throughout the island to work together in their common economic and social interests.
