"WITH UNITY YOU CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS" - reflections on Belfast shipyard workers' victory

Thursday 3rd October, 2019, will become an important date in the history of Belfast workers' struggles, and indeed of workers well beyond the city limits.
That morning, a proud but emotional group of workers returned to work in the Harland and Wolff shipyard, nine weeks after they had faced total, permanent closure.

By seizing control of their workplace at the end of July, the 123 members of Unite and GMB trade unions prevented the devastating disappearance of this landmark workplace. They defied and defeated the owners who had run the yard into the sand; the Tory government of Boris Johnson who dismissed appeals for government intervention with the contemptuous remark "this [closure] is a commercial decision"; and the sceptics in our own trade union movement who habitually greet closures and redundancies with the refrain "there's nothing we can do to stop it." 

They fought like lions

If these brave workers hadn't taken swift, united, militant collective action, the hovering vultures would have swooped, asset-stripping, turning this shipyard, established in 1861, into yet another marina or other waterfront tourist attraction. 

Instead of caving in with whimpering resignation, these workers and their local union officials fought like lions, refused to give up their belief in the rich potential for the yard and its skills, and demanded renationalisation to build that future, highlighting especially their readiness and ability to contribute to a thriving green energy industry.

Where private capitalist ownership squandered workers' skills and the unique facilities of Europe's biggest dry dock, working men and women had a vision for the future - and fought for that dream. 

Whilst their central demand for nationalisation fell on the deaf lugs of Boris Johnson and his cabal, the nine weeks of relentless campaigning and the workers' case for a thriving future for the yard has won over a new owner, InfraStrata. Eighty of these fearless fighters returned to work on Thursday 3rd October, with confident predictions of that number rapidly growing to 400.

I spoke to Harland and Wolff's Unite shop steward, JOE PASSMORE, his first evening back at work. 

"It's been quite emotional today, Richie," said Joe, with classic understatement. "It's historic." 

I asked him where their determination to fight back came from. 

"Previous owners tried to run it into the ground, with contempt and mismanagement. There were community leaders,  including ex shipyard workers, talking to the company - going back years, we've now discovered - telling them about the possibilities and potential. But they were too aloof to listen. But we knew we had a successful industry in the making and we were not prepared to let it suffer a slow death. That's where our belief and determination came from."

Workers' Unity the Key to Victory

Their fighting spirit and determination inspired the solidarity of workers far and wide. Very significantly, the H&W workers were themselves united; not divided on sectarian lines. Nor did they allow any hard or soft border to cut across their working class unity; amongst the trade unionists who joined their solidarity rallies (usually with generous donations in hand) at the shipyard gates were strikers in Northern Ireland's civil service and health service, but also workers from Dublin and veterans of sit-ins at Waterford Glass. 

Occupation and Renationalisation

But how did they prevent closure? What lessons for workers facing similar threats - whether the Ballymena Wrightbus workers, or others across Ireland and Britain? 

Joe is keen to inform and inspire others:

"The first key to our success was how we let everyone know what was happening, with use of social media. That meant we didn't have to hold meetings every day. Our members knew everything we were doing, including the crises we faced and the brick walls we ran into. 

The next key was our use of the press to reach everyone. The first ten days especially we were headline news in every paper and TV, making sure we were in everyone's thoughts. 

Social media and the press are vehicles, but the key to it all was preparation and organisation. Even while we were in negotiations with the previous owners we set up our own Cobra Committee,  where we looked at the worst case scenario,  and planned to occupy the plant. We took on board the lessons of previous situations where they'd done this, like Visteon and even in Scotland.  

"Our intention was to lock the gates and let nobody in. But what we actually did, without pre-planning it, was that we took control of the gates, and with people we judged were good for our cause, we applauded them through the gates. Control of the yard gates was key, not locking the world out. 

"We needed the forest of flags from all different trade unions at the gate, and our visible presence. We even had Belfast tour buses being detoured to visit us, a tourist attraction, with tourists standing up waving to us! We had to be in the public eye, to get our case across."

"You Can't Buy Commitment Like That!"

I suggested the relationship between workers and their union is a critical factor in any battle. Joe told me of his pride in the workforce and the union. 

"Each time we got coverage in the press it gave our people confidence and the belief grew that we would get an outcome. We had people covering the nightshift on the gate every single night for nine weeks. They never got a penny pay for doing this, don't forget. That's an incredible level of commitment. You can't buy that. They never stopped believing. They knew where we were, even the setbacks in the campaign, and they still believed in us."

So where are they up to now, after gaining a new owner, InfraStrata? Joe explains:

"All along our vision was about saving the jobs, but by getting back inside to then relaunch the yard. "We've had nine weeks of sitting in the wind and cold, having earnest discussions about the future. We have a strong union to deal with any issues that arise. Our job is to reeducate them into leading the company from the bottom up. The guy who's taken over has promised the union, through our reps, will be part of decisions.

"The core of Infrastrata's current work is controversial, it's building gas storage facilities. But he says his long term interest is in repairs and green energy,  and that's our realm. 

And the other thing that inspires our confidence in the future is that he's looking at apprenticeships and reskilling. We didn't even have to tell him. We are skilled tradesmen, but all of a certain age. If only we can get hold of young people and teach them the skills - even enough to be semiskilled steelworkers or welders in the interim before apprentices start - that would be a huge boost. We are hopeful for the future. 

And the new owner's hopeful of 400 jobs in the yard."

Joe sees their own battle in its broader context. 

"Our situation is a microcosm of the whole UK. There's big possibilities in green energy, but to build on those opportunities we may not have the people and that's scary. 

It's contradictory when the government give the orders for green energy but haven't been responsible enough to build up the workforce, with the skills. A Labour government would face the same. We really have to look at infrastructure as well as orders. We need skilled employment to be the absolute priority before we lose it."

In another sense too, Harland and Wolff is a microcosm.
Joe explained to me how the government sets budgets and prices for green energy, "so private companies look for the cheapest possible option. Big companies cut to maintain profit, so when it gets down to small companies they won't take on work that won't make a profit. The likes of H&W just about break even. The government won't subsidise, they are trying to do it on the cheap. They don't seem to see the bigger picture and the effect of their actions, behind the political headlines." 

To me that underlines the absolutely justified central demand of these workers' campaign, for nationalisation of H&W. 

But not in isolation; as we've repeatedly written throughout this battle for survival, we need public ownership of all the shipyards and the entire energy sector (alongside transport, construction and the banks) to plan and invest in a clean, green, sustainable future, with full involvement and input to decisions by the shopfloor experts: workers like those who've just saved the Belfast shipyard. 

Replace the Orange and Green Politicians

Fighting for future generations will have been a steep learning experience for every worker involved. Amongst many other lessons, the role of Orange and Green politicians will have been exposed. 

One memorable moment in their campaign was the announcement by Unite that they would stand workers' candidates in East Belfast and elsewhere, a challenge that certainly concentrated the minds of the foot-dragging DUP politicians, who had done nothing to wield their leverage over the Tory government to pursue workers' demand for government intervention, for renationalisation to the save the shipyard. 

Speaking to me the night the victorious trade unionists had returned to work, Joe was blunt in his appraisal.  

"The politicians played little or no part. Even those we met at the TUC Congress, it was all words of sympathy, not saying what they would do for us, not one of them saying how they'd go about it. But it's action that wins struggles, not sympathy."

Writing as a socialist who grew up amidst the destructive Orange and Green politics that curses the working class in N Ireland, I hope the threat issued by Unite will grow into an anti-sectarian, united working-class challenge in elections, with worker candidates backed up by the unions and cross-community groups, taking up the class issues that unite ordinary people.
That would be another massive monument to the united victory of the Harland and Wolff workers of 2019. 

Moving Mountains!

This heroic battle, and particularly the fact it won the jobs back, has sent ripples out across workplaces. As Joe told me, "Every dispute now the first thing workers say to the union officials is should we occupy?!" 

When I asked Joe for his core message to other workers facing job losses or closures, it was the same solid, inspiring one that he has carried with him at meetings throughout the past nine weeks.

"If you have a cause and believe you are right, don't be afraid to speak out. 

"A voice among a couple of friends is great, but when everyone stands as one, united, that's real strength. That's when you get publicity, and the bigger your noise the bigger your chances of victory. 

"There's incredible strength in unity and people have to realise that with unity you can move mountains."

Harland & Wolff: THE POWER OF WORKERS!

At the end of July, the iconic Harland and Wolff Belfast shipyard was declared dead by politicians and 

management alike. The 123 workers and their unions (Unite and GMB) seized the initiative, seized hold 

of the yard, and demanded “Save Our Shipyard – Renationalise Now!”.

Their courageous, decisive action and clear-cut battle-cry has mustered the active support of workers 

all over Ireland, north and south, as well the UK, USA, South Africa, and across Europe. Daily solidarity 

visits, collections for the hardship fund, and solidarity rallies and marches, have given a glimpse of the 

latent power of a united working class determined and willing to take action.

Occupied - Renationalise Now!

When the politicians – particularly the DUP, who ‘represent’ the shipyard area of East Belfast – refused 

to take meaningful action to pound the minority regime of Boris Johnson into saving the yard, its jobs 

and skills, the workers declared they will stand trade union-backed candidates against them in a 

general election.

This determined stance and collective action has not only inspired thousands of trade unionists, but 

brought the local DUP politicians to heel, and won extensions (by the administrators) of the ‘unpaid 

temporary layoff’ period to 30 September, buying time to either achieve renationalisation or get a 

serious buyer, with every existing job guaranteed.

Four weeks after the yard’s obituaries were being written, five credible bids are now being 

negotiated. That’s the potential power of collective union action, which needs to be deployed 

far more generally.

Two Futures

This battle provides a glimpse of two stark choices for the future. 

One where the government is prepared to let the whole community, jobs and skills sink to the 

bottom of the Irish Sea, because, in Johnson’s words, “this is a commercial decision.” 

Or one where the collective strength and action of workers through their unions secures 

public ownership and a whole new green industrialisation, with quality jobs for the future.

The entire trade union movement – including those gathering at the TUC in Brighton, should 

pile in with solidarity until victory for the Harland and Wolff workers – and apply its lessons 

across the board.

Joe Passmore (on right), UNITE shop steward, with Paul Beattie (GMB)

I spoke to JOE PASSMORE, Unite shop steward in Harland & Wolff, about their heroic       showdown with those who would leave an industrial desert in Belfast and call it progress!

Richie: YOU'VE TAKEN ACTION TO STOP CLOSURE OF THE SHIPYARD. WHAT WOULD 

THE IMPACT OF CLOSURE HAVE BEEN, PERSONALLY OR GENERALLY?

Joe: “The impact would have been on the wider community. Yes, it was about our 123 jobs, but 

the number of jobs generated when we get a  contract goes into the hundreds, and a few years 

back we had 1,500 working here. A lot of them local people, living in Belfast, feeding into the local 

economy. 

It would have been a catastrophic loss, and also a lot of industries feed off us. In fact a lot of jobs 

have been lost in other companies since we went into administration.

But it’s not only about jobs, Harland and Wolff is iconic in Belfast. The idea that those giant cranes 

would become a monument to the past would be heart-breaking. And aside from the emotional part, 

an economic disaster.”

RV: WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO OCCUPY THE YARD?

Joe: “We occupied because this was a set-up. The more we learn, the more we think plans to close 

this place go back years, with key players including politicians and government departments.

They sold us a dream about refitting cruise liners and gave an exclusivity clause to the company 

promising this, MJM Marine, of Newry. Two weeks before they were meant to finalise the deal, 

MJM withdrew the bid, cut it from £9m to £2m, and didn't include the workforce in their plans!

Their plan was to bring people in from abroad, on slave wages, and then get rid of them. That's

 what this company has done elsewhere.

Pulling the plug was blatant profiteering at the expense of working people.

There was intense anger at this. The union held meetings at board level with the owners, and took 

over the running of the meetings! We called in the politicians. But we also set up our very own

 "Cobra Committee", a Council of War.

We made it plain we are not going to lie down. We planned to take control and that's exactly 

what we've done, blocking off all entrances bar one. And our motto is that we only let people 

in who have our future at heart; we will not accept the vultures.

Five or six companies are starting to finalise bids this week. Why were they never in the loop before?

They were excluded because of the agenda to close the shipyard. Now they are falling over themselves 

because of the stand we've taken and the publicity it's gained. We've scared off the vultures and scared 

the living hell out of the politicians.

The DUP has the ear of the government but wasn't prepared to do anything. We were butting heads 

with them. It's only very recently they've shown any willingness to help, because we had them on the 

ropes. 

We focused their minds by announcing we would oppose them in East Belfast in a general election, 

taking away workers' votes, which would lose the seat for the DUP.”

RV: YOUR CALL FOR RENATIONALISATION HAS BEEN DYNAMITE IN LIFTING THE 

SIGHTS OF WORKERS HERE. WHY DO YOU DEMAND THAT?

Joe: “Renationalisation is the easy way to solve this. We have plenty of work we could bring in right 

now.

Before they pulled the plug, BAe packages for submarines worth about £3m were lined up to come 

to us, with all the technical stuff sorted.

Even since going into administration, enquiries about use of our docks for ship-repair work, worth 

about £1m-£1.5m, have come in. So we could already have enough work to keep us going up to 

Christmas. But we couldn’t take the work because we don’t have an owner.

The government are aware of all this, and the work it could bring in, but seem reluctant to go near 

the word nationalisation. I don't care what they call it, but it's the obvious solution.

We need to force industrial leaders to recognise the advantages of long term planning and

investment in people over short-term financial gain. the consequence for continuing on the 

present trend will be catastrophic to British industry. 

Looking at Ferguson's in Scotland, even the DUP parliamentary leader has recently said there's no 

reason why if the devolved Scottish government can nationalise, that the UK national government 

can't do so.

Now it looks like we need to rely on the big hitters to buy us.”

RV: ANOTHER SOURCE OF INSPIRATION TO MANY OF US IS YOUR CALL FOR RENEWABLE 

ENERGY PRODUCTION AT H&W. WHY?

Joe: “That has to be a big consideration. At least two of the five bidders are concentrating on 

renewable energy. The last ship we built was 2004, it's been mostly green energy production 

since. We have a history of it, and have all the prototypes. It's what we are capable of.”

Previous article in Scottish Socialist Voice 

RV: WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN MESSAGES TO TRADE UNIONISTS HERE?

Joe: “We have hit a nerve with our stance. We've found a way of fighting. We will not let anyone 

destroy our communities for short-term financial gain. 

My biggest wish of all is that other people, other workers, see something unfair, morally corrupt, 

and that they stand together, refuse to accept it. If we don't take charge, say we're not moving 

until these things are put right, the whole of industry will be destroyed.

My main message to other trade unionists: this is what you can do if you stand together.

We are 100% unionized, but it's not enough to get a membership, this is what the unions should 

be doing. Get over the defeat of the miners and other issues. We are stronger and smarter. We 

shouldn't underestimate what we can do. Several other disputes in Northern Ireland are drawing 

on this example, beginning to see the potential.”

………...

Send union donations to either Unite or GMB offices in Belfast - help sustain this very 

important struggle. 

Unite, 26-34 Antrim Rd, Belfast BT15 2AA

GMB, 1A Victoria Rd, Holywood  BT18 9BA 

50 YEARS SINCE TROOPS SENT INTO IRELAND

It's hard to believe it was 50 years ago today, on 14 August 1969, that the Harold Wilson Labour government sent troops into N Ireland, declaring it a stop-gap, emergency, temporary measure. 

They first arrived in Derry, the next day were also deployed in Belfast, and were to remain for 30 years, during the bleak, dark days of sectarian division, 3,720 violent deaths, and ruthless state repression; the 'Troubles'.

The vast majority of people today - whether Protestant, Catholic or neither - are absolutely determined there will be no going back to those days. 


During election times, the Orange and Green sectarian politicians still today rely on headcounts of 'their own' communities to hold onto their overpaid positions, trading on the Good Friday Agreement to climb to office - where they are quite relaxed about cosying up to politicians of 'the other side' to carry out Tory austerity cuts; privatise services; impose the miseries of Universal Credit; slash budgets by cutting Corporation Tax on big business; and make a fortune for friends and family through the corrupt Renewable Heating Initiative scam. 


The same politicians would prefer us not to know that it was repeated waves of strikes and rallies by workers, united in opposition to the sectarian killings, that were instrumental in bringing about the ceasefires 20 years ago. 

What is equally unknown and unspoken of - including outside of Ireland - is that during the period immediately prior to the British army's arrival, multiple opportunities for working class unity and indeed socialist change were thrown up. 
Opportunities created by the courageous struggles of ordinary people, including trade unionists at shopfloor level, but unforgivably squandered by the leadership of the trade union and wider labour movement. 

Background reading on why troops sent in & results

In this short pamphlet - Class not Creed, 1968 - I sketch out the bloody and pernicious history of Britain's ruling rich in their exploitation of Irish land and labour, in particular their coldly calculated incitement of sectarian divisions; their divide-and-rule tactics, culminating in the 1921 partition of Ireland. 

That side of history is relatively well known; the pamphlet also unearths some of the many, many examples of working class Catholics and Protestants uniting in struggle, in defiance of their political 'masters', who sought to keep them divided and thereby easier to exploit.  


That happened right throughout the 20th century - including on the eve of the violent eruptions of August 1969, when the Labour government deployed troops rather than a united workers' movement to confront the Paisleyite mobs and RUC/B Special police who went on the rampage in Derry's Bogside and parts of Belfast, burning Catholic families out of their homes. 

Even less known, are the heroic efforts of shop stewards in the Belfast shipyard - who set the tone and set the pace for others in workplaces where the bigots threatened assaults on workers, by calling a mass meeting of all 8,000 workers, passing a declaration of opposition to sectarian division and intimidation, leading them out in a token strike against sectarian violence; actions unanimously agreed by the 8,000 and acted upon that day, 15 August 1969. 


Or the Peace Patrols and Vigilante groups - many of them joint Protestant/Catholic in composition - who patrolled several Belfast estates in August 1969, quelling the bigots from attacking people's homes, preventing a slide into outright civil war, in a way that the British army was simply incapable of doing. 

With very rare exceptions, these defence groups were not only non-sectarian but anti-sectarian. 

In the Ardoyne and Unity Walk, they stopped attacks on Protestant families. In East Belfast they prevented attacks on the homes of the Catholic minority. Joint Catholic/Protestant peace patrols operated in several areas, including Ballymurphy, Turf Lodge, New Barnsley, Springmartin and Springhill. Far more homes would have been burnt out, far more murderous attacks would have happened, had it not been for these courageous efforts. 

Troops take aim on Bloody Sunday, Derry 1972

The tragedy is that the leaderships of the trade unions and labour movement in 1969 did nothing to coordinate and build on these ground-level and workplace efforts to stem the sectarian tide, relying instead on pious pleas for 'calm', and support for use of the British army.  


The latter went on to prove in action that working class people have to rely on our own forces, our own unified communities and organisations, not the forces of a capitalist state. 
Far from being defenders of the Catholic community, the army was soon deployed in an array of repressive measures, including house raids; curfews; internment without trial; shoot-to-kill policies; torture - and as some socialists warned at the time, practiced methods later used by the British government and its state against workers in struggle, most spectacularly against the 1984-5 striking miners. 

Workers' unity in action, 2019 

The failures of the leaderships of the Civil Rights, Labour and trade union movements turned a golden opportunity for unity and socialist change into decades of bitter sectarian reaction, starting in August 1969, as the bigots drove the peace patrols out of existence and put the workplace shop stewards on the defensive. 


To their eternal credit, however, these same rank and file union leaders led several waves of strike action against the killings - from both sides - during the 1970s and 1980s, preventing outright civil war. 
Meantime, the best the army could offer was - in the cold, cynical phrase of Tory Minister, Reginald Maudling - to reduce the North "to an acceptable level of violence"! 


I encourage you to have a read of Class not Creed, 1968. It gives background context to the deployment of the British army 50 years ago, why the ruling class through the Wilson government decided to send them in. It recounts some of the main events afterwards. And it describes what might have been if there had been a large, cross-community socialist party that could have built on the real events and heroic efforts of thousands of working class activists, 50 years ago. 


We need to study and learn from the past to ensure there is no going back. We need to base our efforts on class, not creed. 

Order copies here (£3 including postage): 
https://scottishsocialistparty.org/product/class-not-creed-1968/

N Ireland Explodes - 50 years ago

Fifty years ago, Northern Ireland exploded. 

On 5 October 1968, about 500 people assembled in Duke Street, in Derry, to march for civil rights, in defiance of a ban imposed by the Unionist government that had ruled the roost since the partition of Ireland in 1921. 

The ensuing brutal police violence that cracked skulls and hospitalised at least 100 protesters was televised across the world. That was the day most commentators designate the start of 'the Troubles'. 

Many myths surround this whole period of history, and many rich lessons for today need to be unearthed. 

This was a period of vast opportunities for working class unity in Ireland - which then turned into the bloody conflict for nearly 30 years, marked by deepened sectarian division and 3,700 deaths. 

But could history have been different? What were the roots of sectarianism? What did the civil rights movement signify and achieve? What role did the trade union and labour movement play 50 years ago? Was workers' unity possible? Why were British troops sent in by a Labour government in August 1969? And have the claims by Sinn Fein today, that they are the modern inheritors of the civil rights struggle of 50 years ago any basis in the historic facts?

We don't study history for the hell of it; we do so to learn from success and failure, in order to apply the lessons to the current world - including Ireland. The biggest crime of much that is written on Irish history is the way it excludes the many glorious displays of workers' unity in struggle. 

Below is the opening section of Chapter 1 of a 110-page book I wrote in 1989, entitled Socialism - not Sectarianism. This chapter deals with the main events of 1968-9. 

If you would like the full chapter (the book is now out of print), please pay a modest £3 via PayPal, to the account with the email address jim.sspfinance@gmail.com 

We will then send you the full Chapter.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

LESSONS OF THE 1968 CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE [Chapter 1 of Socialism - Not Sectarianism]

Twenty years ago, British and Irish capitalism was rocked to its foundations by the social explosions surrounding the civil rights campaign in Northern Ireland.

Mass demonstrations, significant signs of Catholic and Protestant unity, police thuggery, barricades, no-go areas and pogroms against the Catholic minority - were features dominating events from the first big Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) march on 5 October 1968 to the entry of British troops on 14 August 1969.

What were the roots of these social convulsions?

British imperialism mastered the arts of exploitation, bloody suppression of revolts and the cynical use of divide and rule tactics, in its centuries of rule in Ireland. By the early 1900s, it faced its most powerful foe: the young Irish working class, united in movements threatening socialist revolution. Despite the poisons of sectarianism, Catholic and Protestant workers combined against their common enemy in the 1907 Belfast docks strike, led by Jim Larkin, during which Belfast police mutinied. The 1913 eight-month Dublin lockout involved Protestant Belfast workers giving solidarity to Catholic Dublin workers in their showdown with Catholic Dublin bosses. 

Workers unite

Under the shadow of the 1917 Russian revolution, the capitalists faced a mobilized Irish working class in 1918-21. 

In 1919, Belfast engineering workers, whose majority were Protestant, formed a united Protestant-Catholic strike committee, with a Catholic elected as chairman. They led a virtual general strike which involved mass trade union patrols. Belfast was temporarily in the workers' hands, and even the capitalist media were forced to admit 'law and order' was better than when the police were in control.

The 1919 Limerick Soviet involved price controls by the workers' committees and production of their own currency - 'Labour Notes' - distinct from the national currency. 

Arigna miners occupied their pits and forced compensation from the bosses at the end of their action for the improved productivity during the period of workers' control of the mine. 

Creamery workers seized their workplaces, hoisted red flags, and declared on banners "We make cream, not profits". 

Land labourers, road workers and numerous other layers were involved in a wave of strikes, sit-ins and embryonic soviets throughout every corner of Ireland.

This workers' movement was met by military savagery and pogroms against Catholic and Protestant socialists in Belfast. The latter were orchestrated by big business, executed by the UVF thugs, and encouraged by the British Tories. In the period June 1920 to June 1922, a total of 428 died and 1,766 were injured in these pogroms. And 25% of the 9,000 driven from their jobs, in four days in August 1920, were Protestants: trade unionists and socialists, including those involved in the 1919 general strike. 

Partition 

In 1921, British imperialism was guilty of the crime of partition - the culmination of their divide and rule tactics in the face of a workers' movement threatening their power and privileges. Two unviable, poverty-stricken, undemocratic, capitalist statelets were thus born. 

Partition met the naked cash calculations of the capitalist class. It allowed them to maintain the most industrialized region around Belfast, and vital naval bases to help 'Britannia rule the waves'. Above all, it threw back the workers' movement for decades.

However, the capitalists in the South were incapable of developing a healthy, independent economy. Neither tariffs nor free trade could end the miserable conditions that blighted the population. For instance, by 1946, 46% of the population still depended on agriculture for an income! As writer Tim Pat Coogan put it: "Had it not been for the safety valve of emigration (400,000 in round figures 1950-60), the frustration and desperation of these years must have led to mass riots."

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