A powerful song that warrants some study and repetition. Anybody know anything about it?
8. Larkin
When Larkin came to Dublin town When Larkin came to Dublin town Said he the poor have mighty weapons To fight and bring the tyrant down
We are the poor of Dublin town We are the poor of Dublin town Where will we find these mighty weapons To fight and bring the tyrant down?
“Come follow me” said Larkin then “Come follow” me said Larkin then “I will show you a mighty army To make you all free Irishmen”
“No ship must sail no wheel must turn No crane must swing no furnace burn And these are far, far greater weapons Than gun or gaudy uniform”
“The sun goes down each weary day The sun goes down each weary day On slum and tenement and people Who starve and yet will not give way”
“Come all ye noble Irish men Come join with me for liberty! We will make one mighty army To break the bonds of slavery!”
A homage to ‘Big’ Jim Larkin, a Liverpool native syndicalist who organised the Irish Transport & General Workers Union. Larkin, with James Connolly, led the year-long dockworkers strike (which was joined by other groups of workers) in 1913. All the arms of the Irish capitalist state, then still a part of Great Britain, were ranged against them and eventually the long and bitter strike – known as the ‘Dublin Lockout’ – failed. The union lives on and Larkin remains a revered figure in Irish social history. Modern day Irish reformists claim both Larkin and Connolly as their own, conveniently overlooking the fact both men were ardent socialists.