Abstract

This article examines the activity of two commissions sent by the British Labour Party to Ireland in 1920. The tense situation on the island, and the ongoing confrontation between Catholic republicans and Protestant unionists who supported the continuation of the union with London, attracted close attention in social-democratic circles. Having failed to secure from David Lloyd George’s government an agreement to establish an independent investigation into violations of the law committed by the forces of order, the Labour Party undertook, in 1920, two attempts to study the situation on the island on its own. The commissions dispatched to Ireland were composed of well-known Labour figures, including members of Parliament. The article analyzes the first visit, during which party activists focused mainly on large cities and held conversations with Irish workers and trade-union representatives. The second visit was better prepared and covered, in addition to urban centers, a number of villages and small towns on the south-western coast of Ireland, where the situation was particularly acute. The author notes that during this second trip the commissioners were able to gather testimony from a larger number of people, including numerous victims of violence and arson. Particular attention is paid to Labour’s impressions of the brutal events in Balbriggan on 20–21 September 1920 and of the shootings at Croke Park in Dublin on 21 November 1920. The author addresses debates within the party over the “Irish question” and nationalism more broadly, as well as the propaganda campaign organized by Labour in early 1921 across Great Britain to convey to the public a true picture of events in Ireland. This campaign marked the culmination of Labour’s efforts to draw public attention to the British authorities’ flagrant acts of brutality on the “Emerald Isle”.