Post by Stallit 2 de Halfo on Dec 18, 2007 14:29:26 GMT
www.limericksoviet.com/
The Limerick Soviet of 1919, or the Limerick General Strike as it sometimes called, was one of the most important events in modern Irish history.
It was the first - and only - time that organised Labour challenged Sinn Féin and the IRA for leadership of the increasingly powerful movement for Irish independence from Britain. It held within its momentous events the prospect that the coming revolution in Ireland would be not merely political, but economic and social as well.
Yet, for many years, the Soviet was airbrushed from history. In 1990, I wrote 'Forgotten Revolution - The Limerick Soviet 1919' to redress that balance: to show a new generation of Irish people that, in many ways, their grandmothers and grandfathers were more radical than they dare to be today.
The O'Brien Press published two thousand copies of the book in hardback. It was acclaimed by both general and academic reviewers. Within weeks, the book entered the Best Sellers' List. After a year it was sold out.
Recurrently, in the subsequent years, I frequently get enquiries about the book and, reluctantly, have to tell people that it is out of print. Copies occasionally come up for sale on Internet auction sites.
It has long been my ambition to respond to this continuing interest by making the book more widely available to potential readers. Now the freedom and power of the Internet allows me to do so, by making the full text and accompanying illustrations, available free of charge.
Since I wrote the book, I re-read the text once or twice. I am pleased to say that I have never been tempted to change even a single word of it.
I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it.
Liam Cahill
6th November 2003
The Limerick Soviet of 1919, or the Limerick General Strike as it sometimes called, was one of the most important events in modern Irish history.
It was the first - and only - time that organised Labour challenged Sinn Féin and the IRA for leadership of the increasingly powerful movement for Irish independence from Britain. It held within its momentous events the prospect that the coming revolution in Ireland would be not merely political, but economic and social as well.
Yet, for many years, the Soviet was airbrushed from history. In 1990, I wrote 'Forgotten Revolution - The Limerick Soviet 1919' to redress that balance: to show a new generation of Irish people that, in many ways, their grandmothers and grandfathers were more radical than they dare to be today.
The O'Brien Press published two thousand copies of the book in hardback. It was acclaimed by both general and academic reviewers. Within weeks, the book entered the Best Sellers' List. After a year it was sold out.
Recurrently, in the subsequent years, I frequently get enquiries about the book and, reluctantly, have to tell people that it is out of print. Copies occasionally come up for sale on Internet auction sites.
It has long been my ambition to respond to this continuing interest by making the book more widely available to potential readers. Now the freedom and power of the Internet allows me to do so, by making the full text and accompanying illustrations, available free of charge.
Since I wrote the book, I re-read the text once or twice. I am pleased to say that I have never been tempted to change even a single word of it.
I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it.
Liam Cahill
6th November 2003