Big Jim Larkin

Much has been written about 'Big Jim' Larkin but, remarkably, this is the first full-length biography. Through the research of leading Labour historian Emmet O'Connor, Larkin - Labour leader and agitator - is thoroughly evaluated. Based on newly uncovered and extensive police records, FBI files, and archives of the Communist International in Moscow, O'Connor goes beyond the public figure of heroism to explore the hidden side of a very private person who hated people knowing his business and kept his ambitions and personal demons behind a veil of silence. 'Big Jim' remains the central figure in the history, public history, and mythology of Irish Labour. A powerful orator and brilliant agitator, in popular consciousness Larkin is forever linked with the 1913 Lockout and the formation of the modern Irish Labour movement. Since 1909 he has been the hero of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, the Workers' Union of Ireland, and SIPTU. For all workers, and all employers, his name is synonymous with militancy and solidarity.And yet this 'hero' succeeded in instigating a civil war in Dublin trade unionism, and in time came to be vilified as a 'wrecker' by some of his former comrades.In Big Jim Larkin Emmet O'Connor reveals a man who proves to be both hero and wrecker.

'Through his re-examination of established sources as well as a range of new material ... O'Connor seeks to present a more comprehensive study of Larkin's life and personality ... Larkin's experiences as family man, international traveller, journalist, and communist provocateur both in America and Ireland are explored, providing us with a more rounded image of Larkin's life than has previously been available.' Brian Ward, Irish Studies Review, August 2016 'In Irish history, the titanic figure of labour leader James Larkin transcends the cause he served ... Emmet O'Connor's excellent biography can surely stake a claim to definitive status. He reconstructs the career of the public man, and in fluent and often elegant prose steers a lucid course through the often murky worlds in which Larkin operated.' John Gibney, Books Ireland, May-June 2016 '... may be his [O'Connor's] masterpiece. Certainly it is now the authoritative life of Big Jim. He is revealed warts and all, and though the warts are many the author does not let them obliterate the features of the real Larkin.' D. R. O'Connor Lysaght, History Ireland, March-April 2016 'Surprisingly, Emmet O'Connor's excellent new book is the first full-length biography of Larkin ... this biography will be indispensable to students of Larkin, the 1913 lockout and Irish labour history generally.' Gerard Noonan, The Irish Story, March 2016 'O'Connor's exhaustively researched biography of Big Jim is a great read and will undoubtedly be regarded as the definitive account of a great but troubled, and troublemaking, man.' Tom Wall, Dublin Review of Books, February 2016 'Dublin is the city most associated with Larkin and Larkinism, but the University of Ulster historian Emmet O'Connor restores Larkin to Liverpool and Larkinism to Belfast ... O'Connor does the hard labour of the historical biography, scratching away at the myth that Larkin would order a strike as casually as requesting bacon for breakfast. He reveals the man underneath: abstemious, a tad prudish; full of nervous energy and strong tea ... It sometimes seems that Larkin's world, and the sort of world he fought for, are very far off. Nevertheless, as this very readable book concludes, he remains "a hero".' Bryce Evans, The Irish Times, 6 February 2016 'Emmet O'Connor's new biography of Jim Larkin is labour history writing at its very best. The author combines an exhaustive knowledge of the source material with a deep empathy for his subject matter while never losing the ability to make sound critical judgement ... It provides the reader with a detailed portrait of Larkin as trade unionist, socialist, republican, propagandist, organiser and family man.'Eoin O Broin, Sunday Business Post, 10 January 2016 'Jim Larkin will forever be remembered for his role in organising the unskilled workers of Dublin, leading them in the great Lockout of 1913 and, although defeated, founding the modern Irish trade union movement in the process. While Emmet O'Connor gives due weight to this period in his masterly new biography he balances it with unrivalled research into Larkin's life after the Lockout, particularly his time in the United States, his relations with the German Empire during the First World War, with the Soviet Union subsequently and his debilitating feuds when he returned to Ireland.'Padraig Yeates, Irish Independent, 28 November, 2015 'This is the first book to cover James Larkin's life in depth and reveals a huge amount of new insight into his remarkable activities.' The Irish Voice, December 2015 'This is an important book by a historian who follows the evidence where it leads ... The work is marked by extensive research ... attractively produced by UCD Press.' T. J. Morrissey, The Irish Catholic, February 2016 'O'Connor's book does help to create a more complete "word -picture" of Larkin, which we shouldn't be afraid to look at more closely. It shows a very human Larkin, subject to all the highs and lows of the victories and defeats that are at the heart of real trade union struggle.' Mark Walshe, Irish Marxist Review, 2016 'O'Connor deserves much credit for how he handled the hidden aspects of Larkin's life ... he has constructed a complete picture of Larkin's life post-1913 ... Big Jim Larkin can now claim to be the definitive account of Larkin's life ... This work tells the story of the real Jim Larkin and exposes many of the myths about the man. It is essential reading.' Irish Literary Supplement, Spring 2017 'O'Connor's tremendously detailed research published here fills significant gaps in our knowledge ... For the first time, we have a textured, evidence-based analysis that grapples with the contradictions and complexities of Larkin as public figure and private person ... [this book] should stand as the standard biography of James Larkin for many years to come. It is a superb study of a fascinating historical figure.' Fintan Lane, Familia: Ulster Genealogical Review, 2016

Emmet O'Connor completed a BA in University College, Galway in 1977, an MA in Galway in 1979 and a PhD at St John's College, Cambridge in 1984. Since 1985 he has lectured in the School of History in Ulster University. Between 1983 and 2001 he co-edited Soother, and is an honorary president of the Irish Labour History Society. He has published widely on labour history, including Reds and the Green: Ireland, Russia, and the Communist Internationals, 1919-43 (UCD Press, 2002) and A Labour History of Ireland, 1824- 2000 (UCD Press, 2011). At present he is working on a study of the Irish in the Spanish Civil War.

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