My ears are still peeled about goings on in the Sodacakeville part of the world and I just heard something interesting about Limerick on the radio today, that would have been great fun to reference in The Sodacakeville ..have you heard about the Limerick Soviet?
this week in 2009 marks the 90th anniversary of The Limerick Soviet (Sunday 13th - Sun 27th April 1919)
When Limerick citizens rebelled against a decree by the Royal Irish Constabulary of a Special Military Area which stopped them moving freely, now they needed permits to enter parts of the city and to go to work (this meant that workers travelling to work over the Sarsfield Bridge and Thomond Bridge required permits).- The conflict arose due to the threat of gathering crowds - (15000 people) in attendance at the funeral of a respected Trades Union man (Robert Byrne) who was killed while being sprung by the IRA from hospital where he was being treated for the effects of his hunger strike (2 RIC men had also died in the skirmish so tempers were high and the guerrilla war was in it's infancy in the new and somewhat compromised Republic). The Trades Union set up a committee which printed their own money, controlled food prices and published newspapers - local trades people honoured the money (and at the end of the strike there was a kitty of £1000 left in the fund). All of this became world news because a contender for the first flight across the Atlantic had elected to begin his flight in Shannon so the world media was focussed here. The strike was dubbed The Limerick Soviet by the Times newspaper and despite the attempt at derision the people welcomed the name.... "soviet" (meaning a self-governing committee) which had become a popular term after the 1917 revolution and hopeful new beginnings in the USSR.
An American journalist, Ruth Russell wrote that "... the bells of the nearby St Munchin's Church tolled the Angelus and all the red-badged guards rose and blessed themselves." After two weeks the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Limerick, Alphonsus O'Mara, and the Catholic bishop Denis Hallinan called for the strike to end, and the Strike Committee issued a proclamation on stating that the strike was over.
Rather long winded but there ya go... not something you learn in the school history books, it is a little known piece of history being commemorated publicly for the first time (I think) this year.
see video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js0FR8GkBEo
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