Jim Larkin: The Rise of the Underman

This is the life story of a man whose fierce intolerance for social injustice made him the storm centre of the Irish industrial scene. No more staunch and valiant fighter ever emerged from the turbulent pages of the history of the common people of Ireland. His fiery eloquence, unconquerable spirit and singleness of purpose resulted in the forging of an unprecedented unity within a community of traditionally divided loyalties, a unity which made possible the rise of the underman in Ireland. Jim Larkin’s path led him through tumultuous struggles—through prison gates, through the times of execration until at the end he became honored as a National figure and a great leader of what Wolfe Tone had termed “that numerous and respectable class, the men of no property.” Even viewed down the long corridor of the years his stature is undiminished.