Irish Conscription Crisis Strike (1918)

Tue Apr 23, 1918

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On this day in 1918, in protest of conscription laws, a one-day “complete and entire” general strike was held in Dublin, stopping work at railways, docks, mills, theatres, public services, shipyards, shops, and munitions factories.

The strike took place in the Conscription Crisis of 1918, which began when a coalition of Irishmen, including unions, nationalist, and the Catholic Church, resisted attempts by the British government to impose conscription (military draft) on Ireland during the WWI.

On April 18th, an Anti-Conscription Committee, representing a variety of political factions, met to plan resistance. The same day, Roman Catholic bishops declared conscription unjust and called on the Church’s adherents to resist “by the most effective means at our disposal”.

In the weeks following the April 23rd strike, anti-conscription rallies were held nationwide, with 15,000 people attending a meeting in County Roscommon at the start of May. Despite the conscription law’s passage, it was never put in effect - no one in Ireland was drafted into the British Army.