The Secretary of the recently-established Socialist Party of Ireland on their election campaign in the Royal Exchange Ward of Dublin’s municipal elections.

‘Dublin Proletariat Strike Class Note’ by Joseph O’Kelly from The Weekly People. Vol.14 No. 48. February 25, 1905.

BRAVO, ERIN!

DUBLIN PROLETARIANS STRIKE CLASS NOTE AND RUN UP AGAINST CHURCH AND STATE ALLIED TOGETHER.

Scorning Pure and Simple Unica Indorsement, They, Though Only A Handful, Nominate Candidates and Force The Capitalist Class to Drop Their Political and Religious Differences to Down Them–A Defeat that Is A Victory

Dublin, Jan. 31. At the recent Municipal Elections in Dublin the Irish Socialist Party determined to test the value of its propaganda among the working class. Owing to the state of the British Electoral laws and the tactics adopted by the Home Rule and Conservative parties alike, the contesting of even one ward is a work of considerable difficulty and of great expense; and as, numerically, the party here is small, even this effort necessitated sacrifices on the part of our members.

In previous years our party had contested other wards throughout the city. This year we ran the Socialist plough over virgin soil–the Royal Exchange Ward. On previous occasions all possible means were employed to secure the return of our candidates, such as seeking the endorsement of the Local Trades’ Council etc., but on this occasion no such means were adopted. The class note was struck and the fight was a class fight, resulting in a struggle of intense bitterness.

Our candidates were, for Aldermanship, T.J. Lyng, a shop assistant; for Councillorship, John Amall, photographer. Our opponents were, a Mr. Delahunt, a liquor seller and slum landlord, and a Mr. Doyle, a well known milk seller These two men had the support of the official Home Rule Party. Not alone were our opponents possessed of all advantages in the way of hired canvassers, etc., but they resorted to the time honored custom of free beer distribution amongst those depraved unfortunates whose votes and services can be obtained by such means. They also collected thugs and bullies to break up our meetings and assault our members, while their friends, the police, looked on with the careless ease of disinterested spectators. They also had the support of the clergy, and no one who knows Ireland need be told what this means. The capitalist champions made a great parade of their Nationalism and posed as upholders and defenders of Catholicity. In a leaflet handed to the people at the Chapel doors on the Sunday preceding the elections they asked the voters to support them against the Socialists Lyng and Arnall who were trying to upset their Catholic and National organization”. The hired slanderers stooped to every villainy to prejudice the voters. We were described as atheists, freemasons, foreigners, etc., etc. But the gem of the campaign of Msrs. Delahunt and Doyle was a circular they sent to the shop keepers and professional people of the ward, who are principally conservatives. In this production they do not at all parade their Catholicity and Nationalism, but appeal to their erstwhile enemies for their votes because their opponents are “men of no property”, and because “we are convinced you do not wish to have Socialism in Ireland, and we now invite you to strike a decisive blow at that propaganda”. Nothing could demonstrate more forcibly how true it is that the capitalist class, when their power to govern the social opportunities is challenged by the workers, no matter what apparent political or religious differences they may have, will unite to preserve their common class privileges. Would that the workers would only learn this lesson and become animated with the same spirit of class solidarity. The union of forces triumphed of course. The following is the vote:

For Aldermanship, Delahunt (Home Ruler) 660; Lyng (Socialist) 110; For Councillorship, Doyle (Home Ruler) 557; Arnall, (Socialist) 134.

Judging by figures we have been beaten badly, yet taking into consideration the enormous odds against us, our showing is decidedly a tribute to the vigor of our movement.

If, here in a country in a backward state of industrial development, a handful of proletarians can make so good a fight, what may not the comrades elsewhere, living under more favorable conditions for propaganda, accomplish? Yours fraternally,

Joseph O’Kelly, Secretary, The Socialist Party of Ireland.

New York Labor News Company was the publishing house of the Socialist Labor Party and their paper The People. The People was the official paper of the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP), established in New York City in 1891 as a weekly. The New York SLP, and The People, were dominated Daniel De Leon and his supporters, the dominant ideological leader of the SLP from the 1890s until the time of his death. The People became a daily in 1900. It’s first editor was the French socialist Lucien Sanial who was quickly replaced by De Leon who held the position until his death in 1914. Morris Hillquit and Henry Slobodin, future leaders of the Socialist Party of America were writers before their split from the SLP in 1899. For a while there were two SLPs and two Peoples, requiring a legal case to determine ownership. Eventual the anti-De Leonist produced what would become the New York Call and became the Social Democratic, later Socialist, Party. The De Leonist The People continued publishing until 2008.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/the-people-slp/050225-weeklypeople-v14n48.pdf