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Description
Most political history in Ireland is concentrated on the big parties. The Labour Party’s history illustrates the battle an independent, left-of-centre party had in establishing a voice and an influence in a deeply conservative country, where the echoes of civil war and Catholic Church hegemony dominated the political landscape. This collection of essays is no hagiography. Leading writers from the fields of journalism, history and social reform examine the failings, splits and contradictions alongside the social and economic achievements the Party lays claim to. Among the contributors are Diarmaid Ferriter, Stephen Collins, David McCullagh and Niamh Puirséil.
Beginning with the foundation of the Party in May 1912, the social and political conditions that led the Labour movement to establish a political wing are explored. The first decade of the Party’s existence was a tumultuous time in Irish politics and Labour’s role in the constitutional, electoral and military upheavals that resulted in the foundation of the State are analysed in detail. Likewise the manner in which the Party found itself the ‘half-party’ in the ‘two-and-a-half party’ system that defined Irish political life for generations receives expert and critical attention. Essays also consider the often fraught relationship the Party has had with the media, the Catholic Church and other groups on the left in Ireland, in addition to internal debates and divisions over issues as diverse as the relationship with trade unions, social reform, Northern Ireland and Europe. Together, some of the most renowned and critical voices in Irish non-fiction writing cast a cold eye on Ireland’s oldest political party and present a narrative of Ireland’s last 100 years from a perspective often ignored or drowned out in traditional histories of Ireland.
Bibliographic Data
- Book Format: Paperback
- Published: Due Apr 2012
- Dimensions: 220 x 150 mm
- Number of pages: 256
- ISBN: 9781848891425
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