Today in Labor History August 26, 1913: The Dublin lock-out began, a 5- month strike over terrible living and working conditions, and for union recognition. At the time, some Irish workers were living with 55 people per house. The Infant mortality rate among the poor was 142 per 1,000 births. TB-related deaths were 50% higher than in England or Scotland. The main organizers of the strike were 2 syndicalists, James Larkin and IWW cofounder, James Connolly. Several workers were killed by police and by strikebreakers. Hundreds were injured. WB Yeats’ poem, September 1913, is often viewed as a commentary on the brutality of the strike. Connolly was later executed as a leader of the Easter Rising, in 1916.

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