Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour and Class Forthcoming Events March 3, 2013
Posted by Garibaldy in History, The Left.trackback
An Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour and Class (ICHLC) was established earlier this year at the Moore Institute, NUI Galway. The founding meeting on 1 February was attended by 30 lecturers, researchers and research students from a number of disciplines, including History, Politics, Sociology, Economics, English, and Law.
The initial aims of the ICHLC, briefly and in no particular order, are as follows:
• To encourage research on the history (including the contemporary history) of labour and class, especially in relation to Ireland and Irish people abroad;
• To promote interest in these issues within the university community through the holding of regular seminars, symposia and conferences, the development of new courses, and the expansion of digital archives;
• To raise consciousness about issues of labour and class in society generally, through the organisation of public lectures, debates and classes, through engagement with media, and through occasional publications.
For alerts about upcoming activities, go to the ICHLC Facebook page and clike ‘Like’
http://www.facebook.com/IrishCentreForHistoriesOfLabourAndClass
A number of forthcoming events are flagged:
Fri. – Sat., 8 – 9 MARCH 2013, Moore Institute, NUI Galway, and Harbour Hotel, Galway
FREE Conference: ‘The British Labour Party and 20th-century Ireland’, Speakers include Stephen Howe, Joan Allen, Gearoid O Tuathaigh, Emmet O’Connor
Programme: http://www.nuigalway.ie/history/news_notices/index.html
Thurs. 14 MARCH, 8 pm, Mechanics Inst, Middle St, Galway
(History Ireland hedge school with Ir. Centre for Labour & Class) Adm €5, €3
‘“The North began”: Volunteering, 1912-14’. Tommy Graham (in the chair) with John Borgonovo, John Burke, Mary Harris, Ann Matthews on UVF, Citizen Army, Irish Volunteers, Cumann na mBan
Thurs. 21 MARCH, 8 pm, Mechanics Inst, Middle St, Galway
(History Ireland hedge school with Ir. Centre for Labour & Class) Adm €5, €3
‘Locked out: 1913 in Dublin and Galway’. John Gibney with Mary Muldowney, Francis Devine, James Curry, John Cunningham on the labour movement in the heyday of Jim Larkin
Thurs. 28 March, 8 8 pm, Mechanics Inst, Middle St, Galway
(History Ireland hedge school with Ir. Centre for Labour & Class) Adm €5, €3
“‘Suffrage first”? Women at home, at work and in the public sphere, c.1911-14’, Caitriona Crowe with Mary Jones, Mary Clancy, Caitriona Clear & Sarah-Anne Buckley
Is the Moore Institute named for the Moore landlord family whose most notable member was George Moore the writer? The Moores by many accounts were ‘benevolent’ landlords, but yet part of the unproductive class that lived off the labour of the tenantry.
Perhaps the ICHLC could examine the class forces that result in this family of the parasitical class been honoured in the name of the research institute.
The Moores were also descendants of Thomas More of Utopia fame, and one of their number was President of Connacht during 1798. You can see his grave on the Mall in Castlebar.
Moore hall itself was burnt during the revolution.
Interesting point @CL. To the best of my knowledge, the naming of the Moore Institute was not related to an endowment – in the way of UCD’s O’Reilly Hall or Smurfit Business School, for example.
And while the Moores may be described as ‘benevolent landlords’, in fairness they were rather more than that, for a democratic impulse was apparent in several generations.
Citizen John Moore, 1763-1799, was appointed President of Connaught on 14th Fructidor, Year 6 of the French Republic, and died in custody.
His grandson, George Henry Moore, was an MP, a Fenian, and a friend of O’Donovan Rossa
George Henry’s son, Colonel Maurice Moore fought for the Empire during the Boer War (alongside Capt Jack White of Citizen Army fame), but was later prominent among the founders of Irish Volunteers.
Another son of George Henry’s, George Moore (though probably the least ‘democratic’ of them), is acknowledged to have been one the greatest writers to come out of Connacht.
Ah, I see Mr. Cunningham beat me to it.
Looks like a great series of talks.
Every Irish university seems to have a Smurfit or O’Reilly hall or library. Is that any better than being named after some Anglo-Irish landlords?
The oh-so-radical Keough-Naughton centre at Notre Dame is named after, well Keough and Naughton- throw your post-colonial eyes onto that.
(Colonel Maurice Moore became a senator, was central to Peadar O’Donnell’s land annuities campaign and joined Fianna Fail. Terrible to have something named after his family.)
From a class standpoint its interesting that these various institutes and research centers are named for families and individuals of the ruling oligarchies.
Its ironic that at Galway studies of class will now take place in an institute named for a prominent family of the unproductive landlord class, and financed, in part, by the appropriations of the capitalist, Andrew Mellon.
No suggestion is being made here that individual researchers will be biased in their studies towards the interests of the ruling class.
The laptop/netbook/iphone you used to type up and post that message CL, the result of unionised labour? Co-operative ownership model?
Or just ironic you used the result of non-unionised labour, the profits of which go to capitalists, to pass high and mighty judgement on what will amount to the ONLY centre for the study of class and labour on the island of Ireland, and one under the direction of the editor of the ONLY working class and labour research journal on the island.
I’,m not sure how John Cunningham’s commitment to, and output of, Irish labour and working class research and analysis will stand up in fifty years’ time when put against the comments of CL on cedarlounge, but methinks it might hold a greater weight than the internet ephemera that is comments under blog posts.
‘No suggestion is being made here that individual researchers will be biased in their studies towards the interests of the ruling class.’
Unionised labour also results in profits for capitalists.
Something else that’s “ironic”, CL. Seems that Noam Chomsky intends to give a lecture in the O’Reilly Hall in UCD. Not to worry: I expect he’ll cancel when he discovers that the ORH is named for an “individual of the ruling oligarchies”
http://www.facebook.com/events/168114383338296/
I’m not suggesting that the facilities should not be used, merely suggesting that perhaps ‘ the ICHLC could examine the class forces that result in this family of the parasitical class been honoured in the name of the research institute.’ (comment, #1 above)- and why is it not called, for example, the Connolly/Larkin Institute.
If that’s the case should we not demand that all universities rename buildings named after representatives of parasitical classes?
Are the Notre-Dame lot going to tell Keough and Naughton to stop funding their post-colonial adventures?
An excellent suggestion.
They might get away with calling it the Galway Institute – for Mary Galway, of course, who was the leader of the Belfast female textile workers of late C 19 & early C 20.
John Cunningham seems to suggest there was quite a radical strand in the particular family.
Anyway, once the landlord class were replaced by good, Irish strong farmers everything turned out ok didn’t it? Especially for the farm labourers.
According to the historian Peter Hart the Land League and its successor the National League were the “first true people’s movements for democracy the world had seen”.
Oh, well if Peter Hart said it, it must be true.
CL, I tip my hat to your chutzpah and would include a smiley face on this if I knew how…
“There is no evidence that trying to put on a happy face makes a difference.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/books/10ehrenreich.html?pagewanted=all
“Every Irish university seems to have a Smurfit or O’Reilly hall or library.”
The ultimate perversion in that line has to have been the University of Limerick’s decision to name its school of applied capitalism the Kemmy Business School.
+1. As regards the Moore Institute issue CL raises above, it’s not nearly as crass in my book as the Galway left holding events in hotels like the Imperial and Harbour which aren’t unionised.
Neither’s wordpress, even though there are union-friendly hosts out there.
Just sayin’…
Emma, interesting thought. I’ve been googling to find out WordPress’s approach to unions and can’t find any evidence one way or another. I’ve also googled to find union friendly blogging platforms and likewise nothing. Any suggestions?
I had that problem when ireland.com chut down last year and I decided to try to replace it with an egalitarian email provider. One possibility for “egalitarian” would have included a company that recognises unions. I had no joy.
Interesting. I agree that would be a reasonable working definition.
Often wondered how that came about. Can anyone cast any light on it?
Source? Not that I’m saying you’re wrong, and it’s a fair point if true. Doesn’t negate my post, though, two wrongs…