All Ireland Strike

May 1922, the top of O’Connell Street, and speakers are seen standing on a wagonette speaking defiantly to the passing crowd.

In April 1922, in protest to the IRA rejecting the vote of the Dáil, the unions of Ireland, which had declared general strikes against the British in 1918 and 1920, the speakers called a strike against ‘militarism’ and the threat of Civil War. It was generally understood that this was particularly targeted against the anti-Treatyites.

During this time, the value of agricultural exports had fallen by 50% globally, and people were facing an international economic recession. The General strike of 1922 was for the most part encouraged by the pro-Treaty government, the press, the Catholic Church and society in general.