Labour and the Politics of Disloyalty in Belfast, 1921-39

The Moral Economy of Loyalty

Christopher J. V. Loughlin

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9783319710808
• eBook ISBN: 9783319710815
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

This book provides the first 'history from below' of the inter-war Belfast labour movement. It is a social history of the politics of Belfast labour and applies methodology from history, sociology and political science. Christopher J. V. Loughlin questions previous narratives that asserted the centrality of religion and sectarian conflict in the establishment of Northern Ireland. Labour and the Politics of Disloyalty in Belfast, 1921-39 suggests that political division and violence were key to the foundation and maintenance of the democratic ancien régime in Northern Ireland. It examines the relationship between Belfast Labour, sectarianism, electoral politics, security and industrial relations policy, and women's politics in the city.

© The Author(s) 2018

Christopher J. V. LoughlinLabour and the Politics of Disloyalty in Belfast, 1921-39https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71081-5_1

Begin Abstract

1. Labour and the Politics of Disloyalty in Belfast, 1921–39: The Moral Economy of Loyalty

Christopher J. V. Loughlin¹

(1)

Belfast, UK

Abstract

This chapter sets the stage for the thematic case study approach of Labour and the Politics of Disloyalty in Belfast, 1921–39. It assesses the historiography on the establishment of Northern Ireland, the labour movement in the region and its relationship to the Irish revolution. It defines terms utilised in the case studies. The chapter argues that whilst communal demarcation was demonstrated in religious, ethnic and colonial terms, the principal issue in Northern Ireland was political conflict and violence; this resulted in the establishment of a ‘moral economy of loyalty’. Northern Ireland was a peculiar state which established a democratic ancien régime. Finally, it situates The Moral Economy of Loyalty as sympathetic to the ‘social interpretation’ of the Irish revolution.

Keywords

LabourDisloyaltyBelfastMoral economyLoyalty

End Abstract

The present slim volume originates from a PhD thesis, ‘The Political Culture of the Belfast Labour Movement, 1924–39’, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and conducted at Queen’s University Belfast in 2009–13. In that thesis, ‘political culture’ was utilised as the methodological framework to investigate the record of the inter-war Belfast labour movement. Robert Kelley, in an influential description, described the difference between politics and political culture as ‘the difference between reporting the flow of play in a particular sport setting and describing the larger framework that sets up its overall nature: the rules of the game’.¹ It also involves, according to Lawrence Black, ‘ordinary and elite political activity, activists and spectators’.² Political culture is therefore an attempt to analyse something more fundamental than politics; the concept is used to understand how the ‘rules’ of politics are conceptualised, measured and understood by individuals and groups. During the PhD thesis, it became clear that ‘political culture’ was a phrase to describe the constitution of the ‘political’.³ Finally, the present volume being the result, it became evident that previous analysis was overly harsh on the politics of labour in inter-war Belfast and the wider lack of development of class politics in Northern Ireland. But what, exactly, do we mean by ‘labour’?

Andrew Finlay has argued that the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) should be examined as part of the broader labour movement rather than as a purely electoral party.⁴ The case studies presented below are sympathetic to Finlay’s view. They attempt to examine both the organised political and industrial expression of the labour movement and the wider experience of working-class people. The first criterion for inclusion was evidence produced by political parties consisting of working-class people or with a specific orientation to the working class. On this basis, evidence from the NILP, the Belfast Independent Labour Party, the Northern Ireland Socialist Party and communists was examined. Furthermore, material from the Ulster Unionist Labour Association was considered because of their orientation to recruit working-class Unionists to the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). Second, evidence from institutions and organisations which represented industrial working-class concerns was examined. For example, source material from trade unions, organisations of the unemployed and the Belfast Trades Council was examined.

The book utilises a historical case study approach to analyse the Belfast labour movement during the inter-war period. The archival sources available, however, are limited because of the destruction caused in Belfast by the Second World War. The book has therefore relied on both public and archival sources. These sources consist primarily of newspapers, such as the Belfast Newsletter, Belfast Telegraph, Irish News and Northern Whig. Left-wing newspapers of the period—for example, The Labour Opposition of Northern Ireland, The Voice of Labour and The Irish Democrat—have also been used as a significant source. Newspapers tended to either glorify the role of the left or alternatively demonise it because they were produced either by the left or their opponents. Government sources from the period, especially police reports, have also been used extensively. The origins of these sources—official, private and archival—require that the historian handle the evidence with care and diligence.

This book is, however, an examination of the political literature produced by the Belfast working class. Therefore, broader cultural and literary sources were utilised at a minimum.⁵ These included such important topics as the Co-operative movement in Belfast, represented primarily by the Belfast Co-operative Society Ltd. This body had a mass membership in Belfast during the period,⁶ intervened in local politics,⁷ and saw significant co-operation between activists who identified as Labour, Unionist and Nationalist.⁸ Similarly, this book does not examine adult education represented by local branches of the Workers’ Education Association (WEA)⁹ and the National Council of Labour Colleges (NCLC).¹⁰ Both of these bodies provided education to working-class adults in Belfast, though with different objectives. The WEA provided classic, liberal and non-political education , while the NCLC provided explicitly left-wing education , much like the Plebs League in Britain. At least one Socialist Sunday school existed in Belfast during the inter-war period, but again this topic was not investigated. Last, the influence of culture and literature on the Belfast labour movement was not examined. These omissions include individuals who were involved in labour activities at the time, such as John Hewitt, or who grew up in Belfast during the period, such as Sam Hanna Bell. These areas await further study and have been utilised only when they seemed particularly appropriate.¹¹

The introduction below is a political narrative and discussion of the early history of...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Labour and the Politics of Disloyalty in Belfast, 1921–39: The Moral Economy of Loyalty
• 2. Belfast Labour, Nationalism and Sectarianism
• 3. Building the ‘Great March’ of Progress
• 4. Labour, Law and the State in Northern Ireland, 1921–39
• 5. Women and Belfast Labour Politics
• 6. Conclusion: Belfast Labour, Civil Rights and the Politics of Disloyalty
• Back Matter