From Sinn Féin, March 30, 1907.
Admittedly, Sinn Féin is a comprehensive movement, and takes within its purview every question of moment dealing with National advancement, but up to the present little or nothing has been said or written of Sinn Féin in its relation to Irish Trades Unionism. At the last Irish Trades Congress held in Athlone, it was computed that there were about 68,000 trade unionists in Ireland—I write subject to correction—either members of local trade unions or amalgamated bodies. In this number, I take it, there is a fair percentage more or less directly connected with and active workers in the Sinn Féin movement, members of amalgamated trade unions. Unquestionably the aim of our movement is to build up a nation from within, and in the task our principal hope lies in the Irish artisan, but if he continues to have his councils swayed by the dictates of an Executive having London, Liverpool, or Manchester for its headquarters, the possibility of establishing even a healthy industrial atmosphere in Ireland is indeed remote.
Ireland at the present time seems to be a sort of happy hunting ground for English trade union organisers, who come over and preach of the glories of amalgamation and its consequent benefits. But the English workman looks at the question merely from the standpoint of £. s. d.; for a time he may lose a little on the transaction, but eventually makes sure to recoup himself. In fact he treats the question as a commercial transaction and acts accordingly. To my own knowledge, Irish trade unionists have been brought out on strike solely with the idea of diverting industry into English channels; certainly the men so brought out may have received an amount per week as strike pay, but it is seldom if ever they get more than their particular trade union may have contributed to the common fund. In the end, the English Executive informs the trade union that it was better to resume, and with what result? The employer grows distrustful, may employ him for a time, and soon dispenses with his services altogether, but his place is filled by either an Englishman or a Scotchman, on whom the employer imagines he can rely, apparently unconscious of the fact that the new arrival may be a member of the same trade union which compelled his Irish workmen to cease work. Strikes in Ireland, engineered in England, have done more to suppliant native artisans than any cause I know of.
Looking at the question from a financial standpoint, I find that a large amount is handed over yearly to trade union executives in England. Were this money kept at home and utilised in the formation of co-operative societies attached to Irish trades unions with the view of establishing and supporting native industries, I venture to remark that the Irish labour market would not be overcrowded with dispirited but at the same time capable and intelligent artisans.
Promoters of amalgamation triumphantly inform us that in order to prosper Irish trade unions must necessarily amalgamate with similar English bodies. I emphatically refute this claim. Take, for instance, the Dublin Typographical Provident Society, which is a local body. Its membership is at present over 1,000, had a balance of £1,700 odd to its credit in January, 1907, after providing for unemployed claims during the previous year, the fund at its disposal for purposes of superannuation amounted to over £600, after meeting the claims of members on that particular fund during the year 1906. The benevolent fund attached to the society has at its command over £1,000 after meeting claims incidental thereto, and still the society is a local one, and prospering, buidheachas le Dia. Through the agency of an employment committee it has brought back thousands of pounds’ worth of work in the city, with the result that at the beginning of the year 1907 there were but 50 men idle out of a total of over 1,000. This surely ought to be an object lesson for Irish printers, and I hope they will read, think, and inwardly digest. In fact the moment is opportune for the formation of an Irish Typographical Association. Possibly our fellow-workers in the profession resident in Cork, Belfast, Limerick, Drogheda, Dundalk, and the other centres of printing industry would fall in with the project.
The Sinn Féin movement can boast of active and intelligent workers amongst the printers of Ireland, and it is to be hoped that they may take action consistent with the principle of the movement into which they have thrown their lot. It may be the foundation, the superstructure of a federation of Irish trade unions working for the benefit of Ireland, and the Irish artisan in particular, as a unit in the struggle for industrial resurrection.
Micheál Ó Flannagáin.