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The Irish Citizen Army, or ICA, was a small group of trained volunteers established in Dublin for the defense of worker’s demonstrations from the police.The army rose out of the great strike of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union in 1913, known as the Lockout of 1913. The dispute was over the recognition of this labour union founded by James Larkin. It began when William Martin Murphy, an industrialist, locked out some trade unionists on August 19, 1913. The conflict came to involve 400 employers and 25,000 workers. This strike caused most of Dublin to come to an economic standstill. The lockout was marked by vicious rioting between the strikers and the Dublin Metropolitan Police, in which two men were beaten to death and hundreds more injured. Another striker was later shot dead by a strike-breaker. After a six-month standoff, the workers returned hungry and defeated. This defeat and the harsh treatment given to the strikers by the Dublin Metropolitan Police, convinced James Connolly and others that it was necessary to organize the workers to defend themselves. The Citizen army for the duration of the lockout was armed with hurling sticks and bats in order to protect worker's demonstration from the police.The Irish Citizen Army was totally reorganised in 1914 and, after James Larkin left Ireland for America, became James Connolly’s personal army of trained socialists. Connolly had served in the British army in his youth and knew something about military tactics and discipline. Captain Jack White, responsible for the training of this army, offered 50 pounds towards the cost of shoes to workers so they could train. The ICA was armed with Mauser rifles bought from Germany. This organisation was one of the first to offer equal membership to both men and women and trained them both in the use of weapons. The army based themselves around the ITGWU union building, Liberty Hall. The founders of this army were: Jack White, an ex-British army captain, James Larkin, a labour leader, and the socialist James Connolly, who believed in achieving political change through physical force, in the tradition of the Fenians. Other active members in the early days included Sean O'Casey, Countess Markievicz, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington and Michael Mallin. White, Skeffington and O'Casey left the ICA when it became apparent that Connolly was moving towards the radical nationalist group, the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Connolly was inducted into the IRB's Supreme Council in preparation for the Easter Rising.The army never numbered more than 250 men and women. On Monday April 24, 1916, only 220 of them took part in the Easter Rising, alongside a much larger body of the Irish Volunteers. They helped occupy the General Post Office on O'Connell Street (then Sackville Street), Dublin's main thoroughfare. Mallin, Connolly's second in command, along with Markievizc and an ICA company, occupied St Stephen's Green. Another company under Sean Connolly took over City Hall and attacked Dublin Castle. Finally, a detachment occupied Harcourt street Railway station. ICA men were the first rebel causalties of Easter Week, two of them being killed in an abortive attack on Dublin Castle. Sean Connolly, an ICA officer, was the first rebel fatality. A total of eleven Citizen Army men were killed in action in the rising, 5 in the City Hall/Dublin castle area, 5 in Stephen's Green and 1 in the the GPO.Connolly was made commander of the rebel forces in Dublin during the Rising and issued orders to surrender after a week. He and Mallin were executed by British army firing squad some weeks later. The surviving ICA members were interned in Wales until 1919.Many of them later joined the new Irish Republican Army from 1917 on, but the Citizen Army remained in existence until the 1930s. According to some reports, ICA men were involved in various IRA operations during the Anglo-Irish War, including the burning of the Customs House in 1921. The ICA also occupied Liberty Hall, the Trade Union headquarters during the early weeks of the Irish Civil War in 1922 to prevent it falling into the hands of either the insurgent Republicans or the Free State Army.The ICA's last public appearance was to provide a guard of honour at Constance Markievicz's funeral in 1927.Uniforms: The uniform was dark green with a slouched hat. As many members could not afford a uniform, they wore a blue armband, with officers wearing red ones.This profile was edited with MySpace Profile Editor MySpace Profile Editor
