Strike Scenes in Limerick
April 1919 and martial law is in effect in Ireland. These scenes from Limerick show some of the military precautions that were put in place. Soldiers stop pedestrians to check identification papers and streets are barricaded by British Army tanks (HMT Scotch and Soda).
The Limerick Soviet was a self-declared soviet that existed from April 15th to 27th 1919 in County Limerick. At the beginning of the Irish War of Independence, a general strike was organised by the Limerick Trades and Labour Council, as a protest against the British Army’s declaration of a ‘Special Military Area’ under the Defence of the Realm Act, which covered most of Limerick city and a part of the county. The soviet ran the city for the period, printed its own money and organised the supply of food.
