In Limerick, Ireland's fourth largest city, the workers and their representatives take over running the city and their action is declared a 'Soviet'. The British authorities see it as a serious threat to their rule in Ireland.

The first Soviet in either Ireland or Britain was set up in Limerick in 1919. It published its own newspapers, issued its own currency and won worldwide publicity. Regarded by the British authorities as a major threat to security and a source of potential revolution, the city was soon put under strict military control.

Rebellion, Resistance and the Irish Working Class: The Case of the ‘Limerick Soviet’ explores the background and history of a major strike which occurred in Limerick city, Ireland, in 1919. This industrial dispute made headlines worldwide given that many central aspects of the dispute impacted on controversies as relating to workers’ rights in both Ireland European at this juncture. In this volume the “Limerick Soviet,” as it was known, is considered as a seminal element within Ireland’s local and regional history. This volume is an important addition to the historical literature, one which illuminates Ireland’s symbolic role within more large-scale European events of this historical period—the Russian Revolution and the mass protests by striking workers in both Germany and Scotland being just two examples.

This in-depth exploration of five industries in the Kola Peninsula examines Soviet power and its interaction with the natural world.

An accessible overview of Ireland's War of Independence, 1919-21. From the first shooting of RIC constables in Soloheadbeg, Co Tipperary, on 21 January 1919 to the truce in July 1921, the IRA carried out a huge range of attacks on all levels of British rule in Ireland. There are stories of humanity, such as the British soldiers who helped three IRA men escape from prison or the members of the British Army who mutinied in India after hearing about the reprisals being carried out by the Black and Tans in Ireland. The hundreds of thousands of people who celebrated the Centenary of the 1916 Rising with pride and joy are the same people who will appreciate the story of the Irish Republicans who battled against all odds in the next phase of the fight for Ireland between 1919 and 1921.

Packed with violence, political drama and social and cultural upheaval, the years 1913-1923 saw the emergence in Ireland of the Ulster Volunteer Force to resist Irish home rule and in response, the Irish Volunteers, who would later evolve into the IRA. World War One, the rise of Sinn Féin, intense Ulster unionism and conflict with Britain culminated in the Irish war of Independence, which ended with a compromise Treaty with Britain and then the enmities and drama of the Irish Civil War. Drawing on an abundance of newly released archival material, witness statements and testimony from the ordinary Irish people who lived and fought through extraordinary times, A Nation and not a Rabble explores these revolutions. Diarmaid Ferriter highlights the gulf between rhetoric and reality in politics and violence, the role of women, the battle for material survival, the impact of key Irish unionist and republican leaders, as well as conflicts over health, land, religion, law and order, and welfare.