Jim Larkin Commemoration Saturday, January 31st
Jim Larkin addressing a meeting in 1924 after his return to Ireland after his release from Sing Sing Prison in the United States for ‘sedition’
You are invited to attend SIPTU’s annual Jim Larkin commemoration in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, at 11 am on Saturday 31st January, to mark the sixty-eighth anniversary of his death. Larkin brought the ‘new unionism’ to Ireland, successfully organising and mobilising unskilled and semi-skilled workers for the first time in the country’s history. In doing so he transformed the nature of the Irish trade union movement and ultimately the shape of modern Irish society.
Larkin’s ideas are as relevant today as when he first arrived on our shores in 1908. Irish unions are once more reaching back to relearn the lessons of the organising model he created.
This is the third in a new generation of Larkin commemorations, the first of which was in January 2013. We see these commemorations as part of a process to re-examine, evaluate and learn the lessons of Larkinism, which not alone gave Irishmen and women the confidence and capacity to stand up for their rights at work, but the aspiration to transform Ireland into a just society which cherished all of its people equally.
We hope you will attend and we look forward to engaging with you in this vital debate over the coming months and years at this critical period in our country’s history.