Loyalist Association of Workers
The Loyalist Association of Workers (LAW) was a militant unionist organisation in Northern Ireland that sought to mobilise trade union members in support of the loyalist cause. It became notorious for a one-day strike in 1973 that ended in widespread violence.
Development
The LAW was formed in 1971 from an earlier, more minor group, the Workers' Committee for the Defence of the Constitution, and was initially led by
The LAW organised a "Day of Action" on 7 February 1973 when its members ensured that electricity supplies were halted in Belfast and other areas and forced the closure of many shops through intimidation. Protests were also organised outside Royal Ulster Constabulary stations, some of which turned violent, whilst a number of fires were lit, with a fire-fighter killed by a loyalist sniper in Sandy Row. A gun battle with the army ended with two loyalists killed, a Protestant and a Catholic were found murdered in separate attacks, whilst a Catholic church in Belfast's Newtownards Road and a Catholic children's home in Newtownabbey were attacked by loyalist mobs in what proved to be a night of violence. Hull nonetheless congratulated his members and declared the Day of Action a success despite five deaths.[4]
The reaction of mainstream unionism was less congratulatory however as street violence and especially gun battles with the army an anathema to more respectable unionist leaders. Sensing the shift in opinion, the LAW issued a statement on 12 February condemning the "lawless hooliganism and vandalism" of that night.
Relationship with paramilitaries
The group was represented on the umbrella loyalist
Decline
Despite initially hailing it as a huge success the Day of Action saw the LAW go into decline. Mainstream unionism had baulked at the excesses of the night whilst some members were suspicious of Hull, feeling that his background in the Northern Ireland Labour Party brought his loyalism into question.[8] For his part Hull spoke of converting the LAW into a working-class loyalist party in the immediate aftermath of the strike, something that drove a wedge between him and his closest political ally Vanguard leader Bill Craig.[8] Meanwhile, disagreements over how the LAW should become involved in anti-internment campaigns and whether or not rent and rates strikes, a favourite tactic of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in the late 1960s, saw the movement disintegrate.[9]
The lack of a fully formalised structure meant that the LAW lost the vast majority of its membership following the formation of the
LAW became inactive, but Bob Pagles, who had led with Murray and had considered joining a cross-community peace movement, instead decided to restart it. Becoming its leader, he represented it on the
References
Notes
- ^ a b c d "Abstracts on Organisations – 'L'". Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, pp. 49–50
- ^ Kerr, p. 40
- ^ a b Bew & Gillespie, p. 59
- ^ Kerr, p. 53
- ^ W.D. Flackes & Sydney Elliott, Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968–1993, Blackstaff Press, 1994, p. 334
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, p. 32
- ^ a b Bew & Cillespie, p. 60
- ^ Wood, p. 33
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, p. 74
- ^ Wood, p. 16
- ^ "Glossary of the strike", The Irish Times, 2 May 1977, p.11
Bibliography
- Bew, Paul & Gillespie, Gordon. Northern Ireland A Chronology of the Troubles 1968–1999, Gill & Macmillan, 1999
- Kerr, Michael, The Destructors: The Story of Northern Ireland's Lost Peace Process, Irish Academic Press, 2011
- McDonald, Henry & Cusack, Jim. UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror, Dublin, Penguin Ireland, 2004
- Wood, Ian S., Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA, Edinburgh University Press, 2006
