The Limerick Soviet

Towards the end of the First World War Russian workers revolted and struck back with their weapon of choice, that being the withdrawal of their labour, thus began The Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917. Millions of people had been dragged in to a useless war and when the women of Russia protested at the shortage of food Czar Nicholas II turned the soldiers on the people. The women protesters appealed to the army to support their cause, and in a very short period of time the Czar was deposed and a provisional government made up of bankers, lawyers, industrialists, and capitalists was formed. The Bolshevik Party in Russia were on the rise and in 1917 Vladimir Lenin returned from exile and joined the party whose goal was to overthrow the Provisional Government and set up a government for the proletariat. In the agitation that followed, Lenin encouraged the peasants to take the land from the rich landlords and the industrial workers to seize the factories from their capitalists' owners. The workers began to organize themselves into "workers councils" or Soviets as they were known, they were elected from among their peers, unlike the provisional government. They began to educate themselves on political, economic and social issues, and so the scene was set for the people of Russia to embark on a journey of self-determination. The Russian people wanted an end to the war which was a cause of great suffering throughout Russia and beyond. The final unsuccessful push against the Germans in June 1917 broke the resolve of the troops who had remained loyal to the provisional government. The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, encouraged mass desertion from the army and appealed to the troops to accept their ideals and principles. On 24th October, 1917 units of the Red Guards took control of the city Petrograd, capturing key buildings, power and railway stations and strategically important bridges. During the night of the 25/26th October 1917 the Bolsheviks stormed the 3 The Limerick Soviet 1919 Winter Palace and arrested the Provisional Government. Lenin then proclaimed a new government for the people of Russia, a government run by the Soviets. Europe was transformed in the aftermath of the First World War the Red Revolution continued with "Soviets" being established in many other European Countries, general strikes and workers communes sprung up across the Continent and in April 1919 Ireland was to experience its first "Soviet" when the workers of Limerick defied the Military might of the British Empire. It occurred as workers in the city refused to succumb to the imposition of martial law in Limerick, which had been declared following the death of Robert J. Byrne, a trade unionist and IRA leader, who was shot by the police, while trying to escape from his hospital bed, where he lay dying from the ravages a politically motivated hunger strike. This hard-line approach by the British authorities backfired and resulted in the calling of a general strike, where the Local Trades and Labour Council in effect took control of the city of Limerick, and soviet was declared.