Larkin, James (1876–1947)

In O'Connell Street, one of Dublin's main thoroughfares, the statue of trade union leader James Larkin (1876–1947) stands outside the General Post Office. It was here, in 1916, that the freedom of Ireland was declared during the Easter Rising.

Irish labour leader. He founded the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) in 1909. Depressed by his failure in the 1913 Dublin lockout, he went to the USA in 1914. He returned to Ireland in 1923, only to be embroiled in a bitter dispute with William O'Brien, who had built up the ITGWU in his absence. Larkin eventually joined the Labour Party, and was elected to the Dáil (Irish parliament) in 1943.

Born of Irish parents in Liverpool, Larkin became a convinced trade unionist and socialist. He was sent to Belfast in 1907 to attempt the unionization of the Belfast docks, where he was confronted by the city's intense sectarianism. In 1912 he persuaded the Irish Trade Union Congress to set up a congress-based Labour Party. During his stay in the USA he attended the founding convention of the American Communist Party and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for ‘criminal anarchy’.