Striking Similarities

Kevin Morley takes a detailed look at two examples of industrial action that were both extremely important moments in industrial relations

In 1913 there was the Dublin Lockout which was a gargantuan struggle between the opposing forces of William Murphy who owned the Dublin United Tramway Company and the Irish Independent newspaper group whilst also being the head of the Employers Federation, versus Jim Larkin and James Connolly and the Irish Transport and General Workers Union.

The dispute was a bitter one involving a strike and a lockout of the working people of Dublin which lasted for some eight months.

In the first part of this well-researched work the author examines the lockout and the conclusion in 1914.

The second part of the book crosses the Irish Sea and looks at the 1984/85 Miners Strike which crippled the coalfields of Britain for a year.

Morley points out that, although separated by 70 years and two world wars, that there are some very strong similarities between the two industrial disputes. And that these similarities are well worth closer examination.

Striking Similarities deserves a place on the bookshelf of any modern historian and people who specialise in industrial relations. And of any layman with an interest in modern history.

It is published by The Book Guild at £11.99.

The Mule in Military Service

Almost entirely ignored, the role of the poor mule in wars, including both the  First and Second World Wars is examined and reported upon by Anthony Clayton in his new book The Mule in Military Service.

It is a detailed and authoritative account of the use and treatment of mules whilst in military service.

Anthony Clayton points out that the number of mules used within conflicts has been huge. But he points out that their loyal service was often overshadowed by the hardships they went through and the many cases of utterly unnecessary cruelty to which they were subjected.

The book is a thoroughly well researched work and is an epitome of what in depth research should be.

Although this book will be of great value to academics searching the history of war it is not in any way a dry book as it is written in a very readable style.

It is well sourced and cited throughout and it does contain some very illuminating illustrations. 

This book belongs on the bookshelf of any military historian and interested lay reader and at £9.99 is well worth the price.

It is published by The Book Guild.

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The Cypher Bureau

The Cypher Bureau is a novel by Eilidh McGinness. It tells the story of what happens when the Polish Cypher Bureau learn that the Germans are employing a new type of code that hey cannot decypher.

The Cypher Bureau takers the decision to employ mathematics students to implement a new way of dealing with the science of code breaking.

One of these students is Marian Rejewski. With other outstanding mathematics students he participates in a top secret course in code breaking.

He is given a commercial version of the Enigma machine and a set of user handbooks, and, alone, het starts to learn how to break the code.

His work must be undertaken in absolute secrecy, but the situation is growing increasingly dangerous as the outbreak of war with Germany is becoming more obvious and time is running out for the team of code breakers.

Although the story is a fictionalised account of real events, Marian Rejewski was a very real part of the Polish efforts to defeat the German Enigma cypher.

It's a very readable account of the story of the incredibly brave and resourceful Polish code breakers and the absolutely vital part they played in helping defeat Nazi Germany.

It is published by The Book Guild at £8.99.

Fragments

Fragments is a new novel from lawyer turned author John Ellison.

It's a novel that draws heavily on the maxim "Borrow from history, build from imagination."

It's a piece of historical fiction, yet a piece of recent history, set in the 1960s and beyond.

Rather than writing a 'straight' memoir, John Ellison has decided to mine memoir to create a fictionalised story which he uses to tell the life, from his point of view, of Clive Bates, who, from his position as a retired law lecturer, looks back all the way to 1968 when he leaves University with a law degree and takes up his first teaching post.

There are a rather eclectic (dare one say also slightly eccentric?)  group of fellow lecturers in the college's Business and General Studies Department of East Ham Technical College.

Potential problems are flagged from the early pages of the novel when one of his colleagues airly annonces that: "Teaching a class of pretty girls about erotic references in the poems of John Donne and being paid for it is in my view a reasonable way of making a living."

However, as he doesn't expect to remain in the employ of the East Ham Technical College for long, that might or might not be a problem for those concerned!

There's snobbish behaviour from some chap who was educated at Oxford and a colleague always ready to fulminate on the advantages of Socialism at, or without, the drop of a hat all adding to the general atmosphere of the East Ham Technical College's Business and General Studies Department!

However, this is all set against casual sexism and everyday racism, the sudden shock of the speeches of Enoch Powell, the Russian invasion of Chekassloakia, the massive anti-Vietnam war demonstration in London and the US Presidential election of 1968.

John Ellison uses the historical backdrop to interweave the life story of Clive Bates into a very enjoyable and realistic memoir, albeit a fictional one.

It's published by Matador at £8.99