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The Irish Co-Operative Movement and the Construction of the Irish Nation-State, 1894-1932

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The Irish Co-Operative Movement and the Construction of the Irish Nation-State, 1894-1932 ‘Better, Farming, Better Business, Better Living’: The Irish Co-operative Movement and the Construction of the Irish Nation-State, 1894-1932 A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities. 2013 Patrick Doyle School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Table of Contents List of Tables .................................................................................... 4 List of Abbreviations ....................................................................... 5 Abstract ............................................................................................ 6 Declaration ....................................................................................... 7 Copyright ......................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgments ............................................................................ 9 Introduction: The Co-operative Movement and the ‘Irish Question’ ........................................................................................ 11 Chapter 1: Building the Co-operative Commonwealth in Ireland, 1894-1910 ......................................................................... 47 Chapter 2: Ourselves Alone, 1907-1918 ........................................ 90 Chapter 3: The Co-operative Movement and Revolution, 1919-1921...................................................................................... 147 Chapter 4: The Irish Free State – A Co-operative Commonwealth? 1922-1932 ......................................................... 208 Conclusion .................................................................................... 270 Bibliography ................................................................................. 280 Word Count: 79,795 2 List of Figures Page Figure 1.1: IAOS Co-operative Network in 1909 65 Source: Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, Annual Report 1909 Figure 4.1: Frontispiece by Sean Keating to Joseph 265 Hanly’s The National Ideal . Source: Insert of cover to Joseph Hanly, The National Ideal: A Practical Exposition of True Nationality Appertaining to Ireland (Dublin: Dollard Printinghouse, 1931), unpaginated. 3 List of Tables Page 84 Table 1.1: Provincial statistics for IAOS creameries Source: IAOS, Annual Report, 1913 111 Table 2.1: Co-operative societies and members, 1907-1914 Source: IAOS, Annual Reports, 1907-1914 . 126 Table 2.2: Number of co-operative societies, 1914-1918. Source: IAOS, Annual Reports, 1914-1918 . 176 Table 3.1: Declining Milk Supply to Six Creameries in Counties Limerick and Kerry Source: House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, [Cmd. 808], p. 6. 179 Table 3.2: Financial Position of IAOS in 1919 Source: IAOS, Annual Report, 1920 . Table 4.1: Danish Butter Exports to Britain, 241 1891-1923 Source: National Archives of Ireland AGF/2005/68/401 Report of the Agricultural Commission , p. 26. Table 4.2: Ballymacelligott Co-operative Society 257 Statement of Accounts for Year Ended 31 December 1924 Source: National Archives of Ireland 1088/70/2, Ballymacelligott Co-operative Society Correspondence files. 4 List of Abbreviations Agricultural Credit Corporation ACC Co-operative Wholesale Society CWS Dairy Disposal Company DDC Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction DATI House of Commons Parliamentary Papers HCPP Irish Agricultural Organisation Society IAOS Irish Associated Creameries IAC Irish Creamery Managers’ Association ICMA Irish Parliamentary Party IPP Irish Republican Army IRA Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union ITGWU Kerry Local History Archives KLHA National Archives of Ireland NAI National Library of Ireland NLI 5 Abstract This thesis argues that agricultural co-operative societies under the leadership of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society played a crucial role in building the Irish state and defining a national identity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By questioning widely held assumptions about a formative period in Ireland’s political and economic development, it is argued that critical ideas about the Irish nation emanated from the sphere of economics. In particular, the efforts of co-operative activists are understood as important actors in the process of building the Irish nation-state through their interventions to reorganise rural society. The co-operative movement’s attempts to organise the resources and population of the Irish countryside represented a serious modernising effort that shaped the character of the politically autonomous nation-state that emerged in the 1920s. The establishment of co-operative societies introduced new agricultural technologies to rural districts and placed local farmers in control of agricultural business. Although co-operators met with frequent frustration in their objective to restructure Irish society along co-operative lines, the study of the movement remains central to a thorough understanding of social and political conditions in the period under review. Co-operative ideas became incredibly influential amongst Irish nationalists associated with Sinn Féin. It is argued that the co-operative movement’s modernising project became embedded in the Irish countryside and enmeshed in a political economy of revolutionary nationalism. As a consequence, the co-operative movement exerted a significant influence upon those who seized governmental power after the Irish revolution, which extended beyond independence. The thesis utilises a range of local and national sources which include records for individual co-operative societies, reports and publications associated with the national movement, as well as a wide variety of contemporary literature and journalism. By applying a local approach that feeds into an analysis of the co- operative movement on a national level, the thesis presents a detailed analysis of how co-operative activists and ideas influenced the creation of Ireland’s political culture. Crucially, the work of interstitial actors is reinserted into the process of the Irish state’s development. The building of state institutions is viewed through the work of a network of co-operative experts and therefore as something that occurred outside the deliberations of official circuits of power. The thesis breaks new ground in the historiography of the development of the Irish state by analysing the important work of those involved in shaping rural social relations and institutions such as co- operative organisers, engineers, propagandists, managers and secretaries. 6 Declaration No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university of institute of learning. 7 Copyright i. The author of this thesis (including nay appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfor.aspx?DocID=487 ), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations ) and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses. 8 Acknowledgments I am indebted to my supervisors, Dr Till Geiger, Dr Pedro Ramos Pinto and Dr Natalie Zacek for their support and enthusiasm throughout this research project. The discussion of ideas and history throughout the PhD has been a most stimulating and rewarding experience. In particular, I’d like to thank Pedro whose patience and willingness to engage in long and thoughtful considerations about the issue of Ireland and identity are much appreciated. Throughout the PhD, there are times when it feels that the work is produced under conditions of intense solitude, but it is only as I compose these lines that I realise how much the work rests upon the kindness and good grace of others. I am indebted to all the friends and family who have made this work possible. All the members of the Doyle and Durcan families have helped to make the experience of research and conference attendance in Ireland possible for which I am exceptionally appreciative. I’d especially like to thank my aunt, Margaret Doyle, for her hospitality and all the homemade bread. Also, thanks to my uncle and aunt, Anthony and Catherine Doyle,
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