changing of the guard

CHANGING OF THE GUARD
After the signing of treaty in 1921 the struggle to gain the levers of power began in earnest. The southern Irish
middle class made up of old unionist elite, the catholic hierarchy, large land owners and the remnants  
of the old civil service took the view that partition and the oath was preferable than a prolong conflict
with Britain which would undermine the old order even in the new nationalist state.
The question on everybody lips in late 1921 was what would a truly free Ireland  would look like, in particular what class or classes would hold the balance of power.
The forces of the old order and conservatism had many advantages over new militancy of poor working class least the ability of the workers and trade unions to organise in any meaningful way.
This handed the incentive to forces of conservatism that were able to garner support from Britain and the wider middle class.
The fact that the mainstream unions of ILPTUC and ITGWU both mainly supported the pro treaty side also stabilised newly formed free state. This unfortunate lack of vision and imagination doomed the labour party to be on the sidelines of politics for over seventy years, instead of supporting workers rights for better living conditions and wages they were mainly reduced to the role of keeping the peace.
But workers were angry very angry and it soon boiled over in 1922 when Liam o Flathery the great playwright and critic with other members of the communist party took control of the Rotunda hospital
And raised the red flag, followed  by in January 25th when twenty five workers seized Mallow mill in cork, than on the 27th of January railways were brought to halt by strike action soon dockers and canal workers followed, in Cobh workers seized the terminus and appointed their own station master.
Rural Ireland was near anarchy with reports of violence and land seizures in Mayo Cork Limerick  
Offaly Tipperary , this was due to abolition of agricultural wages board in 1921 which mediated
conflicts between labourers and farmers and sabotage were used as a weapon by rural workers.
But the forces against workers were considerable with wages steadily dropping and manufacturing output down by 50%, poverty was epidemic and living conditions which described as the worst in Europe ,infant mortality was running close to 30%.
But no real leader emerged to unite all the strands of the workers struggle with the unions keeping their heads down trying not to provoke open all out class warfare.
With the outbreak of civil war it was hoped by those on the left that the anti treaty side would embrace the workers cause, people like Roddy Connellly son of James Connelly and Liam Mellows openly called for the anti treaty forces to stand shoulder to shoulder with fellow workers, but alas  
It fell on deaf ears in fact most of leaders of the anti treaty were hostile to the workers cause.
And it was anti treaty forces in cork lead by Lynch that ran the workers out of the Mallow mill
And Sean Moylan who subdued the rural unrest.
The civil war seems to be struggle of two faces same coin each one just as conservative as the other
With no real interests in fixing the massive social problems of slums hunger and poverty.
George Russel the famous writer and critic wrote in a open letter on the anti treaty forces
“can you name those who, if were all killed would have left behind, as Pearse and Connelly ,Mac Donagh Or Childers did, evidence of thought or imagination.”
This lack of vision by the anti treaty forces to mobilise the bottom rung of society who gained little in the formation of a new state and would have embraced a political and economic struggle
To improve their conditions was swept under the carpet of patriotic rhetoric.
As the forces of conservatism grew stronger and stronger with easy access to money and arms
And workers conditions worsened open class warfare by the workers themselves would have been an act of futility and failure and just the act of surviving and putting food on the table and roof over your head was the hardest struggle in itself.
With defeat of the anti treaty forces and republicans taking their seats in the Dail Irish workers were left with little hope in improvement of wages and living conditions and so headed for the boat or had hand to mouth existence,
While there was wealth in the country it was in the hands of the large landowners ,the old Anglo Irish  
Elite and large industrialists bUt most of country from 1923 to 1928 lived in poverty  
Into this vacuum the catholic church did glad fully wade in and the rest as they say is history.