Land & labour: the agrarian question in the Irish Revolution (1913-23) - online talk 26.5.21 скачать в хорошем качестве

Land & labour: the agrarian question in the Irish Revolution (1913-23) - online talk 26.5.21

Terry Dunne spoke to us on the agrarian question in the Irish Revolution, 1913-23. A pressing issue in the era of the Second International was why comparatively small-scale agriculture persisted in the form of so-called “peasant farms” and what to do about it — that is to say what policies socialists should adopt in this situation. While historiographical debate on the workers’ movement and the Irish revolution is dominated by the national question as a practical matter at the time the agrarian question was as important. In most of Ireland the main industry was agriculture — between 1917 and 1923 by far the largest group organised into the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union were farm workers. This was just one of a multiplicity of agrarian mobilisations which included the cattle drives of small-farmers agitating for re-distribution of land; the more conservative Irish Farmers’ Union; and continuing conflict between landlords and tenants. This talk outlined the course of these various rural movements and addressed the proposals of the labour leadership regarding the agrarian question. Terry Dunne has a PhD in sociology from the National University of Ireland – Maynooth and creates podcast episodes at peelersandsheep.ie. His work has been published in a variety of journals and magazines including Critical Historical Studies, Rural History, Éire-Ireland, Saothar and History Ireland.