‘Anarchist’ Jim Larkin sentenced to hard labour in US
New York, 4 May 1920 - Jim Larkin, former leader of the Irish Transport Union, has been sentenced to five to 10 years in prison with hard labour following his recent conviction in New York on a charge of criminal anarchy.
Mr Larkin has been living in the United States since 1914, after leaving Ireland in the wake of the 1913 strike and lockout, and is believed to have been working as a longshoreman. The evidence presented at his trial was that, in the course of a public speech, he used the expression ‘March forward with the Red flag on the bayonet’ and that he was a member of the Anarchist Council which had been advocating the overthrow of the American government by violent means.
Mr Larkin provided his own defence over three hours during which he denied using that expression and stated he believed in the Soviet government of Russia, which sought to do away with class distinctions.
Reacting to the sentence, the Belfast Newsletter praised the American methods of dealing with the revolutionary threat and stated that there would be ‘peace in this country if the Irish executive would only stop fooling and govern.’
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
