Spirit Of Revolution P/B

In the spring of 1919, Lloyd George wrote: 'The whole of Europe is filled with the spirit of revolution. There is a deep sense not only of discontent, but of anger and revolt, amongst the workmen against pre-war conditions...In some countries like Germany and Russia, the unrest
takes the form of open rebellion; in others...it takes the shape of strikes and of a general disinclination to settle down to work.' While comparative studies of revolution within the social sciences define revolution, in part, as necessarily involving mass participation, dominant narratives of the Irish revolution have left Lloyd George's 'spirit of revolution' by the wayside.The political content of the revolution is assumed to exclusively be the demand for national independence, while a focus on high-politics and military elites obscures the ways in which tens of thousands of people participated in diverse forms of popular mobilization. This collection of regional and local case studies, by contrast, shows that a 'spirit of revolution' was widespread in Ireland in the period 1917-23.

Contributors include: Anne Boran; Johnny Burke; John Cunningham; Terry Dunne; Mary Forrest; Brian Hanley; Dominic Haugh; Liam Alex Heffron; Moira Leyden; Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh; Kieran McNulty; Theresa Moriarty; Gerry Watts.