Thomas Johnson, 1872-1963: First leader of the Labour Party in Dáil Éireann

[Johnson, Thomas] Gaughan, J. Anthony. Thomas Johnson, 1872-1963 - First leader of the Labour Party in Dáil Éireann. Mount Merrion, County Dublin, Kingdom Books, 1980. 22 cm. 513 pages with many illustrations. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective collector's mylar. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. Name of preowner on endpaper. Very rare publication ! Thomas Ryder Johnson (17 May 1872 - 17 January 1963) was an Irish Labour Party politician and trade unionist who served as Leader of the Opposition from 1922 to 1927 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1917 to 1927. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin County from 1922 to 1927. He was a Senator for the Labour Panel from 1928 to 1934. Born in Liverpool, Tom Johnson worked on the docks for an Irish fish merchant, spending much of his time in Dunmore East and Kinsale. It was this way that he picked up ideas about socialism and Irish nationalism, joining in 1893 a Liverpool branch of the Independent Labour Party. In 1900 he started work as a commercial traveller, then moved in 1903 with his family to Belfast where he became involved in trade union and labour politics. In 1907 Johnson helped James Larkin organise a strike in the port, but had to watch in dismay as the strike, which began with remarkable solidarity between labour, Orange, and nationalist supporters, collapsed in sectarian rioting. At various times he was the president, treasurer and secretary of the Irish Trade Union Congress which was, at that time, also the Labour Party in Ireland, until officially founded in 1912 by James Connolly and James Larkin. Johnson became Vice-president of TUC in 1913, and President in 1915. Johnson sympathized with the Irish Volunteers, many of whom were sacked from their jobs, for illegal activities. During the Easter Rising, he noted in his diary that people in Ireland paid little heed to the fate of the defeated revolu..