Mother Jones celebrating her birthday on the 1st May 1930 at the Burgess Farm in Maryland.
Supporters of Labour and union activist Mother Jones are presently celebrating her “American birthday”, which Mother herself claimed was on 1st May.
Celebrating Mother Jones’ birthday in Chicago are Hector Arellano of the Bricklayers Union and Brigid Duffy as Mother Jones of Chicago. The photo is by the Mother Jones Heritage Project.
This coincides with May Day which is celebrated as workers day across the world and is based on the campaign for an eight hour day by labour unions in America in 1886.
SIPTU plaque at the Haymarket in Chicago.The Haymarket Incident in Chicago.
While the Haymarket incident took place on the 4th May, the subsequent execution of four innocent workers for the deaths of the policemen after a union meeting in Haymarket Square has been commemorated for the past 140 years.
Deeply influenced by the events at the Haymarket, Mary Harris repeatedly refers to the labour martyrs for the eight hour day in her writings and appears to have said later in her life that she was born on 1st May 1830 as part of her Mother Jones persona.
However records at the North Cathedral in Cork show that she was baptised on the first day of August 1837. So she was probably born on the 31st July as children in Ireland were baptised as early as possible after birth. Church records state that Mary Harris was baptised by Fr. John O’Mahony, her parents were Richard Harris and Mary Cotter and her sponsors were James Hennessy and Ellen Leary.
The North Cathedral of St. Mary and Anne, CorkCertificate of birth and baptism.
Of interest is that the baptism font used that morning almost 190 years ago still remains in use today in the Cathedral.
The original baptism font in which Mary Harris was baptised on the 1st August 1837.
So the annual Spirit of Mother Jones festival takes place in the Shandon Historic Quarter in late July to honour Mother Jones’s annual Irish birthday. All are welcome to the events and to attend the annual toast to Mother Jones using the best Irish whiskey at her Plaque in Shandon thus completing the second annual birthday celebrations of this remarkable woman.
The annual toast to Mother Jones at her plaque in Shandon.
In 2026 the dates of the Spirit of Mother Jones festival and summer school are from Thursday 23rd July until Saturday 25th July.
The Red Flag Festival takes place in County Meath from Friday 30th May to Sunday 1st June 2025. The Festival celebrates the life of Jim Connell, known as the man who wrote The Red Flag.
Jim was born in Kilskyre, County Meath in 1852. He worked as a casual docker in Dublin, however he was blacklisted due to his efforts to unionise the workers in Dublin’s docklands. Connell emigrated to London in 1875, and became a staff journalist on Keir Hardie’s newspaper, “The Labour Leader”.
Inspired by the London Dock Strike, Jim wrote the Red Flag in 1889. It quickly became an anthem of the International Labour Movement and is sung each year at the British and Irish Labour Party’s annual conferences. His life and work for trade unions and the promotion of social justice is celebrated in his home place at this festival. He is honoured at Crossakiel, Co Meath by a magnificent monument.
Jim Connell died in 1929, and he is buried in London.
A very interesting 2025 Festival programme of events takes place over the weekend and full details can be obtained at info@redflagfestival.com. All are welcome.
The National Monument in Cork was erected at the junction of the South Mall and the Grand Parade (Sráid an Chapaill Bhuí)” Yellow Horse Street in 1906. It replaced the statue of King George II on horse-back, which lasted one hundred years in locations around the Grand Parade until it was finally removed in 1862. Cork’s citizens “gratitude for the many blessings that they enjoyed during his auspicious reign” had seemingly lost its ardour.
The Cork Young Ireland Society then raised the finances for a national monument and the foundation stone was eventually laid on 2nd October 1898. Almost eight years later on St Patrick’s Day 1906, the present impressive monument, designed by Dominick Coakley with figures sculptured by John Francis Davis of College Road was finally unveiled. It lists the names of some who took part in the Risings of 1798, 1803, 1848 and Fenian rebellions over the strident poses of Wolfe Tone, Michael Dwyer, Thomas Davis and Peter O’Neill Crowley on each of the corners.
Recent Gathering at the National Monument in support of the people of Gaza.
A “Mother Erin” sculpture facing north takes the central position in this very imposing edifice. Over the years it has become an assembly area for political and social gatherings especially during the War of independence and election campaigns. Recently the 2016 commemoration of the 1916 Rising was held there and currently the weekly Palestinian support groups gather nearby on the Grand Parade.
One hundred and thirty three names of individuals appear on three sides of the monument, some recognisable and some not. Other important patriots such as John Swiney, the draper of Goul Na Spurra near Shandon Street and the Cork leader of the United Irishmen along with Roger O’Connor, Tadhg O’Donovan (Tadhg an Astna), and John Griffith are not there.
However the almost total lack of women listed or referred to on the National Monument is a glaring omission. Just two women are named on the side plaques, Anne Devlin and the Marchioness of Queensberry.
Anne Devlin was extremely active in the plans for the 1803 Emmet rebellion. A very close confidant of Robert Emmet and sister-in-law of Michael Dwyer, Anne suffered in prison as she refused to testify against Emmet. She died in poverty.
Caroline Margaret Douglas (1821-1904) was born and spent time as an infant in Bantry. Later she aided the Manchester Martyrs and contributed financially to nationalist and radical causes and corresponded with James Connolly re his Workers’ Republic newspaper. One of her sons, John, was responsible for the adoption of the Queensberry rules in boxing while a grandson was Lord Alfred Douglas. Catherine is buried in Scotland.
The men listed on the National Monument are all quite laudable no doubt for their patriotic contributions to Irish freedom and each worthy of remembrance. It was erected to “perpetuate the memory of the gallant men of 1798, 1803, 1848 and 1867 who fought and died in the wars of Ireland to recover her sovereign Independence”. And it concludes with the wish that “righteous men will make our land A Nation Once Again”.
Metal plaques representing the Cork Coat of Arms and the four provinces have been added to the surrounding metal guard rails. Curiously, two oval metal plaques with the eagle and flag of the United States with the words ‘Hail Columbia’ and 1776 is attached to the northern and southern metal guards. ‘Hail Columbia’ dates from the inauguration of George Washington and was the national anthem of the USA until 1931. Today it remains the official anthem of the Vice President of the United States.
The monument also predates the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence as well as the establishment of the Republic? Recently a plaque has been added to the monument to commemorate all who served the cause of Independence 1916-1923. The recent plaque is slightly obscured by the Hail Columbia plaque.
Yet how representative is it of the real history or indeed of the complete Irish story if just over one percent of those listed on this Mother Erin or Erin monument are women and references to the contribution of women are overlooked almost entirely?
Is it time to create an additional memorial in the heart of Cork City which is more representative of Cork and the entire nation, inclusive of all women and men who contributed in any way to achieving our sovereign independence, to those who built our community and to the emigrants who impacted positively on the wider world?.
Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Dan Boyle with the Cork Mother Jones Committee 2024 and friends.
2024 Festival, some memories. Solidarity is referred to regularly in trade union circles, even the Ralph Chaplin romantic song Solidarity Forever, forged in the bloody union war tent colonies of the bleak Kanawha hills of West Virginia in the winter of 1913/14 remains a favourite at Trade Union conferences. Yet the opening event of the 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival demonstrated to the audience what real worker solidarity is and what it can achieve.
Director Felipe Bustos Sierra with the Scottish workers.
Nae Pasaran is a triumph of all that is human and powerful in trade union solidarity. It focuses on a small band of Scottish workers including Bob Fulton, John Keenan, Robert Somerville and Stuart Barrie who blocked the refurbishing of Hawker Hunter jet engines from the Chilean Airforce which had been delivered from Chile to their Rolls Royce factory in Kilbride for maintenance. Those planes had earlier attacked the Palacio de la Moneda where Salvador Allende died during the Pinochet coup of September 11th 1973. The Scottish workers had effectively grounded the Chilean junta’s air force. Director Filipe Bustos Sierra who joined us on Zoom has created a stunning masterpiece of the impact of union solidarity.
Owen Reidy, General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Later Irish union officials Owen Reidy, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and Adrian Kane of SIPTU spoke at the festival where they offered a realistic analysis of the Irish trade union movement, detailed its challenges such as the right to collective bargaining and suggested ways to attract young people. They both offered a progressive vision of the role of unions in the future world of work. Nae Pasaran should be on the agenda of every trade union ADC in the coming years!
Fight Like Hell-The Testimony of Mother Jones, a film written and acted by Kaiulani Lee, portrayed a passionate and reflective older Mother Jones. The fire still burned in Jones in 1921 and her tales of 40 years of organising workers raised hairs in their telling. But the tales of action were tempered by the wisdom she had earned and the experiences acquired. Kaiulani Lee joined the audience on Zoom and discussed her own experiences while she travelled in some coal mining areas prior to the making of the film, One wondered if indeed much had changed since the days when Mother Jones tramped those hills. And one was left very much in awe of Mother Jones and how she survived four decades of union organising in such locations? The film is a must see and represents a history long neglected.
Later that evening social historians, Liz Gillis and Anne Twomey considered what became of the women revolutionaries of the War of Independence after 1923. For some reason the Decade of Centenaries pitched tents in 2023, but few have asked about what became of the many hundreds of women of the invisible army who populated the Civil War prisons in 1923. Amazingly enough the British were often reluctant to jail women, however the new native government jailed their erstwhile female comrades with extraordinary relish and brutality. As Liz documented the sad litany of repressive legislation discriminating against women, it became obvious that many women were driven to lives of silent acquiesce, of living with the trauma and violence endured during incarceration, some decided to emigrate and a few remained to do what they could to improve social conditions in the shadows of history.
Pictured: Liz Gillis, James Nolan and Anne Twomey.
Minister for Justice Kevin O’Higgins had a particular obsession with removing the “hysterical young women” from jury service and from other organs of the new State. Ironically, although a devout married Catholic it seems that O’Higgins was conducting an affair in the early days of his ministerial duties. Later Taoiseach Eamon De Valera and Archbishop John Charles McQuaid renewed their Blackrock College “old boy” connections in the early 1930s and along with their disciples erected further fences of exclusion for women from Irish political life for another four decades.
Historian Anne Twomey discussed how one local woman, Margaret Goulding Buckley of Winters Hill and Maddens Buildings, worked all her life in the shadows and beyond to stand up for women workers and bring about change.
John Barry of Dublin and Queen’s University calls capitalism “a death cult” and his dissection of the predictable outcome of its activities for all life on Earth suggests that indeed the end result will be a dead planet. He asks why is the voluntary and community work of countless millions of people who contribute to social good and wellbeing of society excluded from the capitalist measurements in economics and financial balance sheets. Simultaneously, the useless financial trading and gambling in futures and shares, currencies and commodities and paper by millions of stockbrokers and attendant retinues of white collar legal and financial elites which control governments contributing little to the common good are counted in the figures? Why indeed?
Speaker: John Barry with John Barimo.
By way of contrast, the documentary ‘field’, the story of biodiversity on an old dump on the Northside of Cork City was a gem of a production. Remarkable in its zen-like simple walk through the waste ground. As the headlong rush to eliminate truly “wild” areas gathers pace in Cork city urban areas to create a controlled concrete landscape with amenities and Victoriana biodiversity, this film was a breath of fresh air. A story of a neglected ground, which surprisingly yielded the blue remains of the infamous southside Douglas tower, held the large attendance captivated. Alas it emerged in the Q&A that the land is privately owned and development will inevitably replace the sturdy resilient biodiversity so ably brought to life in this wonderful film..
field: The blue tower.
The Environmental Round Table led by John Barimo introduced us to the next generation of environmental experts and activists in Claudia Hihetah, Dearbhla Richardson and Niamh Guiry. Let’s hope they can influence government policy and are listened to!
Pictured: Niamh Guiry, Dearbhla Richardson, Claudia Hihetah and John Barimo.
The music and songs of Jimmy Crowley and Eve Telford before an appreciative audience were like balm to the soul. These two musicians just get better and better with a wide range of singing material. Eve read some of her poems, ‘Waterplace’ an ode to Cobh, ‘Lighthouses’ in tribute to Caoimhe Butterly and her work for the Palestinians, where the womb of humanity will last longer than the wounds.
Eve Telford.
She concluded with ‘Curlews in Cork Harbour’ in praise of our beautiful harbour. Jimmy announced that his 2014 publication “Songs From The Beautiful City: The Cork Urban Ballads” has been reprinted. And followed it up by singing John Fitzgerald’s ‘The Green Hills of Cork’ better known as ‘Beautiful City’. It helped to restore the downcast Corkonian hurling supporters present and perhaps 2025 will be our year!
Jimmy Crowley. (Emma).
Tears of sadness, shards of anger and rays of hope were present for the 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones award. It felt so futile to give people the Children of Lir themed award, when those people are being bombed daily, need a ceasefire now, along with food and practical assistance, as well as freedom. Speakers Walaa Sabah, Fiona O’Rourke, Dr Nick Maynard told us the “Stories of Palestine”. The Firkin remained silent throughout as one tried to imagine the daily hell on earth that is Gaza. Ms Zeina Alazzeh accepted the Award from James Nolan on behalf of the Embassy in Ireland of the State of Palestine.
Pictured: Fiona O’Rourke, Walaa Sabaa and Dr. Nick Maynard. Photo (@sweeneynmedia)
Maybe one day the Spirit of Mother Jones award will mean something to a free people!
Ms. Zeina Alazzeh representing the Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland with the Spirit of Mother Jones Award 2024. Photo @sweenynmedia:)
If you want to learn about the history of Cork, visit the Cork Butter Museum and listen to curator Peter Foynes on his walking trip around his native place elucidate why Shandon looks like it did once and explain why it looks like it does today. Question: is Skiddy’s Apartments now the oldest public housing scheme in Ireland after 300 years of providing homes for Corkonians?
Jack Lane receiving a presentation from Ann Piggott.
Indeed, historian Jack Lane in his revealing account of the All For Ireland League and the Irish Land & Labour Association confirmed that the 50,000 cottages with an attached acre which were built in Munster, mainly in Cork represented the first major public housing scheme in Western Europe. Championed by D.D.Sheehan MP, those houses accommodated hundreds of thousands of people. The blueprint for the solution of homelessness nearly 120 years ago. Julianna Minihan earlier discussed the provision of a public water supply to the poor people of Cork, some 50,000 of whom had no fresh water prior to the Great Hunger. Gerard O’Rourke author of Land War to Civil War 1900-1924 provided an enlightening account of the perseverance of the people of Donoughmore to the fight for Irish Independence.
Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Dan Boyle with Svitlava Deikun and Victoria Tymoshehuk.
Kalyna Ukrainian Community Choir again performed in the presence of the Lord Mayor, Cllr. Dan Boyle. Their colourful and joyous singing, in spite of personal and political worries about the war in their homeland, displayed the true resilience of the Ukrainian people. Cork Singers’ Club on opening night provided a public platform for the singers of songs in Cork and beyond, it is a unique treasure!
Carla Gover, and CornMaiz of Zoey Barrett, Arlo Barnette and Yani Vozos provided a striking contrast on the following evening when they entertained a large crowd with fiddles, banjo and guitar music from Kentucky. Introduced by Johnny Nyhan it became a memorable night of music and Appalachian culture. Thanks Carla for coming all this way to Shandon!
Carla Gover and CornMaiz in full swing.
Before a huge attendance which had been joined by those who arrived from the Feminist Walk from U.C.C at the Mother Jones Plaque, singer songwriter Martin Leahy unveiled his new composition ‘Mother Jones”.
Martin Leahy.
Taken from the words of Mother Jones it certainly left an impression on those present who accompanied Martin in the final choruses.
” We need you in our hearts more than ever today
The rich still burn the earth and the poor still pay”
Rory McCarthy added a song and Cork’s Mother Jones (Joan Goggin) sang a lusty version of “The Half Door”. John and Gearoid Nyhan accompanied by everyone present closed out 2024 with Foster and Kristofferson’s “Me And Bobby MaGee”. Yes indeed, Mother Jones after her early life tragedies knew that “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”. Therein lies the source of her resilience and inspiration!
Pictured: John and Gearoid Nyhan.
The slanting evening sun from the west which had earlier draped the Mother Jones plaque in a warm glow gradually slipped behind the Butter Market and signalled the end of festivities. Its warm rays recreated the memory of other pleasant evenings with friends and absent friends on John Redmond Street.
The Evening Sun on the Mother Jones Plaque.
The Spirit of Mother Jones Meitheal for 2024 was over. Over one hundred people, speakers, singers, musicians and performers had participated in the actual festival over the three days, while several dozen had worked behind the scenes to ensure the thirty events took place. We thank the many hundreds of people who attended those events along with our sponsors in the trade union movement, the Shandon Community, the local business community, and the Cork City Council as well as the Dance Cork Firkin Crane and the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.
The Presentation of the Spirit of Mother Jones Award 2024. Front row: Fiona O’Rourke, speaker, Zeina Alazzeh, Embassy of the State of Palestine, Walaa Sabah, speaker and Dr. Nick Maynard. Back row: John Barimo, James Nolan, Ann Rea, Ger O’Mahony, Ann Piggott and Dominic O’Callaghan, members of the Cork Mother Jones Committee.
Carla Gover and CornMaiz from Kentucky playing at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.
Maggie O’Neill speaking at the Cork Feminist Walk.
Jennifer Ahern, Artist and Environmental Anthropologist and Dervla Baker, Director of the documentary, field.
Some of the huge crowd who attended the Mother Jones Toast at the Plaque at the concluding event of the 2024 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.
Owen Reidy, General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) receiving a presentation of a portrait of Mother Jones from Ann Piggott of the Cork Mother Jones Committee. The original painting is by Lindsay Hand and the original is the Irish Embassy in Washington.
The Feminist Walk arriving at the Butter Market in Shandon on Saturday evening. The walk was organised and led by Maggie O’Neill and Conach Gibson-Feinblum and had come from University College Cork.
The panellists who participated at the Environmental Roundtable, “Climate Change and Taking Action.” Left to Right: Niamh Guiry, Dearbhla Richardson and Claudia Hihetah.
The award ceremony took place at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane on Friday evening, 26th July 2024. The award was presented to Miss Zeina Allazzeh, the Research and Policy Officer of the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Ireland.
Miss Allazzeh had been nominated by Ambassador Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid to receive the award on their behalf.
Miss Zeina Allazzeh receiving the award from James Nolan, of the Cork Mother Jones Committee accompanied by Ann Piggott.
The presentation ceremony took place after a public meeting “Stories of Palestine”, which featured speakers, Walaa Sabha, Fiona O’Rourke and Dr. Nick Maynard.
Miss Zeina Alazzeh on behalf of the Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland with the Spirit of Mother Jones Award 2024 from the Cork Mother Jones Committee at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane. @Sweeneynmedia.
Response from the Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland, Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid to the Cork Mother Jones Committee.
The Spirit of Mother Jones Award 2024 at the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Dublin.
Speaker: Jack Lane of the Aubane Historical Society.
Venue: Saturday 26th July 2024 at 2.15 p.m Maldron Hotel, Shandon.
“The ‘All for Ireland League’ does not feature very much in the standard history of the country. Yet it was one of the most significant movements in our history. It was instrumental in nothing less than creating a social revolution in empowering the rural working class – the farm labourers – into a movement that satisfied their essential needs as a class. It is a very appropriate subject for this festival as it was always identifiable with Cork in its origins and successes. It has many monuments in the numerous Labourers’ Cottages that dot the local countryside.” Jack Lane.
Historian, Jack Lane.
Aubane Historical Society was founded by a number of local people in Aubane in North Cork in 1985. “It seeks to make available original and first hand accounts of various aspects of our history’. It has produced many publications and some of these are available from its website. See www.aubanehistoricalsociety.com
General Background note from Cork Mother Jones Committee:
The Irish Land and Labour Association (ILLA) was founded in the early 1890s in Munster to agitate for tenant farmers and rural labourers rights. Among its founders was Kanturk born D.D. Sheehan (later an MP from 1901 – 1918) who became its chairman. He placed a particular focus on the rights of farm labourers who lived in poor housing conditions, very often in mud and stone cabins almost unchanged since the Great Famine times.
Demanding land and houses for people along with fair wages, education and pensions, the organisation quickly commanded widespread support from rural workers mainly in Co Cork, but also in Limerick and Tipperary. Growing in power and influence, Sheehan’s ILLA demanded a housing programme for these long neglected rural labourers. Later, William O’Brien’s All For Ireland League from 1909, both largely based in Cork supported these demands. This substantial cohort of rural workers and labourers had been largely ignored by the Irish Party in favour of the tenant farmers who were availing of favourable land purchase schemes.
The Labourers Acts of 1906-1914 were influenced by this agitation and their implementation utterly transformed the Irish countryside when the local County Council created a massive programme of large scale public house building of rural cottages with attached plots of land. Tens of thousands of these cottages were constructed over the next decade especially in County Cork and throughout Munster and upwards of a quarter of a million low income people were housed in decent comfort.
Labourers Cottage known as Sheehans’ Cottages. (Wikimedia). (Osioni).
It represented an incredible achievement over a short period. The Government using the state institutions such as the County Councils to acquire the land,construct good quality and affordable houses to a number of designs and then house local families
One is left to wonder why the modern Irish state today with vastly more resources cannot resolve our housing crisis based on the very effective and practical housing template across rural Cork and other counties. A template of public housing sourced and implemented by the ILLA and the All For Ireland League over one hundred years ago.
Ann Piggott of the Cork Mother Jones Committee presents a Mother Jones portrait to Jack Lane, speaker.
