Irish Citizen Army
| Irish Citizen Army | |
|---|---|
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Arm Cathartha na hÉireann Participant in |
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Irish Citizen Army group outside Liberty Hall under a banner which reads "We serve neither King nor Kaiser but Ireland"
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| Active | 1913–1947 |
| Leaders | |
| Headquarters | Dublin |
| Strength | ~300 |
| Allies | Irish Volunteers |
| Opponents | British Empire |
| Battles and wars | |
The Irish Citizen Army (Irish: Arm Cathartha na hÉireann), or ICA, was a small group of trained trade union volunteers from the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) established in Dublin for the defence of worker's demonstrations from the police. It was formed by James Larkin, James Connolly and Jack White on 23 November 1913. Other prominent members included Seán O'Casey, Constance Markievicz, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, P. T. Daly and Christopher Poole. In 1916, it took part in the Easter Rising – an armed insurrection aimed at ending British rule in Ireland.
The army rose out of the great strike of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union in 1913, known as the Lockout of 1913. The dispute was over the recognition of this labour union founded by James Larkin. It began when William Martin Murphy, an industrialist, locked out some trade unionists on 19 August 1913. Then on 25 August, in response, Larkin called an all out tramway strike on Murphy's Dublin United Tramway Company. Other companies, encouraged by Murphy, sacked ITGWU members in an effort to break the union. The conflict eventually escalated to involve 400 employers and 25,000 workers. "Larkinism" prompted the recruitment of a workers' militia. But in October, Larkin was arrested by strikebreakers. And for the duration of the lockout James Connolly, his deputy took control, announcing a call to arms of four battalions of trained men with corporals and sergeants.
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Wikipedia