Red Triangle

A fascinating people’s history that transforms our understanding of Irish Independence, Partition and the origins of Northern Ireland

Set in the tumult leading up to Irish Independence and Partition, Red Triangle tells the story of the wave of working-class militancy in 1918-19 that saw Protestant and Catholic labourers ‘with hunger at their heels’ united in defence of their wages and dignity. Starting in Ulster’s linen triangle, the movement spread from Belfast to Dungannon, as socialist trade unionists forged an unlikely solidarity that challenged both sectarian division and imperial authority. The mass strike action raised the tantalising hope of a democratic future for Ulster before crashing on the jagged rocks of loyalist counter-revolution and economic depression.

Historian Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh reveals the vicious reaction to this working-class solidarity. How Ulster’s Unionist elite, supported by the British authorities, fomented loyalist violence to crush the movement. And he argues how Loyalism and British imperialism sowed the dragon’s teeth of future conflict in the province.

Drawing on vivid eyewitness testimony, lost pamphlets and labour archives, Red Triangle is a fascinating and original account for everyone interested in the modern Irish and British history, the Empire, decolonisation and labour struggles.Introduction
1. Land, Linen & Liberty
2. Belfast Beginnings
3. Women, Weavers & the Workers’ Union
4. Tyrone: Revolution among the Bushes
5. The Caledon Lockout
6. Pogrom
7. The ‘Miracle of Coalisland’
ConclusionFearghal Mac Bhloscaidh is Senior Lecturer in History at St. Mary’s University, Belfast and the author of two previous monographs on the revolutionary period in Ireland, Fenians and Ribbonmen and Tyrone: The Irish Revolution. Originally from East Tyrone, he taught for ten years at Coláiste Feirste, the largest Irish-language secondary school on the Island and makes frequent contributions to historical television documentaries and news programmes. He was previously a Research Fellow at the National University of Ireland, Galway.