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Ceachta Beaga Gaeilge, Vol. IV: The Laundry Strike 1945 is an extension of Norma Borthwick's original Irish language lesson book, Ceachta Beaga Gaeilge where all three volumes sit faded blue in the Yeats Archive of the National Gallery of Ireland. This lesson book is unusual in its intended situation, to cultivate learning outside of a formal institution setting. It also provided a well for people independently engaging in language as resistance, as Jack B. Yeats notably did, archived in a series of notebooks.
The story of the laundry strike is particularly inspiring especially in a period where workers face precarious contracts, murkier working hours and trade unions lay institutionally wounded. The iconic strike was an all women picket where, circa 1500 laundresses, originating in Dublin, fought for and won fortnight's annual paid holiday which was later extended to all workers in the free state.
No organised male workers had previously demanded this or fought this fight. Today, women hold a majority in trade union subscription in Ireland, now surpassing their previously dominant male counterparts. It’s important to note that although the laundry strikes were born out of a women dominated occupation, solidarity was found all over the country as workers in the free state knew this was a fight for everyone.
This was a collaborative project and through the Rank & File Collective we organised a lino-printing workshop, echoing the original medium of the previous Ceachta Beaga Gaeilge editions, where ten participants illustrated each page of the book.
Illustrators/maisitheoirí:
Abigail Shannon
Aislinn Shanahan Daly
Danny Carby-Robinson
Eli Kane
Emily O'Brien
Emma Hurson
James Renaghan
Lamia Tadjine
Martha Ní Riada
Mary Martin
Neasa Tierney
Self-published
Softcover
15 pages
210 x 150 mm
