Call for Chapters (Irish Soviets)

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‘Bread Not Profits’: A History of Ireland’s Soviets       

Call For Chapters

Between 1919 and 1923 there were over one hundred Soviets declared in Ireland, and countless more were declared between 1923 and 1939. Thousands of people occupied lunatic asylums, ports, farms, factories, creameries and mills. They were led by travelling organisers, trade union committees and even by spontaneous workers groups. The history of the Irish Soviets has long been entangled with the Ireland’s Republican narratives. The Soviet period is often represented either as industrial action in support of the fledgling republic or as melodramatic trade unionism which failed to grasp the significance of the national conflict. However, they took place against the background of the most idealistic years of the Russian Revolution, the heights of the German and Hungarian Revolutions and Italy’s Biennio Rosso. This book will attempt to untangle the Irish Soviets from the Republican and Nationalist narratives, to reassess the causes and motivations for these occupations and to situate them in a broader international context. This is a call for chapter proposals on aspects of the soviet movement in Ireland.

 We are specifically looking for proposals on:

• Histories of specific Irish Soviets, or comparisons between two or more Soviets. This is, perhaps, the most desirable type of proposal.

• The Irish Soviet Movement in its international context.

• The relationship between the Soviets and the British State, I.R.A. and the Free State.

• The reception these groups received from the general public.

• The significance of the history of the Irish Soviet Movement for Ireland today.

• Or any other aspects of the history of the movement that you believe are pertinent or have been overlooked.

 Proposals should take the form of Abstracts (of 300-500 words), along with a brief biographical note about the author (under 300 words), submitted to the editor, Oisín Wall, at oisin.wall@kcl.ac.uk. If your abstract is accepted, the finished paper will be due for submission in February 2014. Finished chapters should be 7,000-10,000 words in length.

 The deadline for the submission of abstracts will be July 7th. The editor will communicate his decision to you as soon as possible after that date.

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