A Witness to the Lockout and much more

Given the response to our posting of the Young Jim Larkin and, more especially the Helena Molony Witness Statements on the wwww.1913committee.ie website, we are going to post other Witness Statements from the Bureau of Military History that have a strong link with 1913 and, or the labour movement of the period.

We start with William O’Brien, not just because he was probably the most significant figure in the Lockout of 1913 after Larkin but because he played the leading role in salvaging the ITGWU from destruction after 1916, allying it Dail Eireann from 1919-1921.

He also tells a good story, if not exactly one motivated by generosity of spirit towards his enemies. Perhaps the most interesting admission he makes is that he was a member of the revolutionary IRB 

http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/reels/bmh/BMH.WS1766.pdf