Spring 2022 Lectures

Shay Cody – The Life and Achievements of Labour Leader Tom Johnson

A talk by President of the Irish Labour History Society, Shay Cody, on Labour Leader, Trade Unionist and co-author of the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil, Tom Johnson. Delivered at an Irish Labour History Society event on 5 March 2022. Based on Shay’s contribution to Irish Labour History Society Publication ‘Seeking No Honour’ which was supported by Fórsa trade union.

Alan McCarthy – The Real People’s College? Workers’ Education in Cork and Dublin, 1946-51

Dr Alan McCarthy gave this talk at an Irish Labour History Society event on 10 March 2022. In 1948 after two years of dedicated study, twenty-four trade unionists were awarded diplomas in social and economic science by UCC President Alfred O’Rahilly. Concerned by the potential spread of crypto-communism, O’Rahilly sought to influence the development of adult education nationally at institutions like UCD and the Catholic Workers’ College. This staunch espousal of Catholic social teaching within the nascent adult education movement brought it into conflict with advocates of non-denominational workers’ education, such as the People’s College, within the context of Catholic integralism in the 1940s and 1950s. This is the story of the institutions that claimed to be the ‘real’ college of the People.