Journal of Co-operative Studies 56(3), 63-70
The Ralahine experiment and the politics of land in late nineteenth-century Ireland
| Peer reviewed/Research article | Published online: Dec 2023 |
The Ralahine experiment and the politics of land in late nineteenth-century Ireland
Vol 56 No 3, pp. 63-70
How to cite this article: Doyle, P. (2023).
The Ralahine experiment and the politics of land in late nineteenth-century Ireland. Journal of Co-operative Studies, 56(3), pp. 63-70. https://doi.org/10.61869/RMJX6750
Abstract
In 1823 Robert Owen arrived in Dublin to give a series of lectures setting out how a ‘New View of 911±¬ÁÏ’ might be made manifest in Ireland. At the heart of Owen’s vision was the establishment of a series of co-operative, self-sustaining communities that would at once take people out of poverty while shaping their moral character. Owen’s visit would have been unremarkable if not for the fact that ten years later, a landlord called John Vandeleur reorganised his estate into a co-operative colony: Ralahine co-operative society, an Owenite commune where tenant farmers effectively become co‑partners in the estate’s management. Even though two years later the society collapsed, the legacy and memory of Ralahine exerted a hold over the imaginations of an assortment of land reformers, nationalists, and co-operators in Ireland. This article shows how a failed experiment in co-operative community building created an influential resource of co-operative knowledge that shaped political imaginaries and inspired alternative visions of property ownership in response to crises occurring in the second half of the nineteenth century. In particular, the work of Owenites involved in Ralahine, such as Craig and William Pare, is examined to locate the enduring historical relevance of the Irish Owenite commune.
PDF
References
British and Foreign Philanthropic 911±¬ÁÏ. (1823). Explanation of Mr. Owen's plan for the relief of Ireland, and the poor and working classes generally in all other countries (Report). Richard Milliken.
Comerford, R. V. (2010). The Land War and the politics of distress, 1877-1882. In W. E. Vaughan (Ed.). A new history of Ireland, VI: Ireland under the Union, II, 1870-1921 (pp. 26-52). Oxford University Press.
Craig, E. T. (1831, September 1). [Letter to Robert Owen]. National Co-operative Archive Robert Owen Collection (ROC/3/85/2), Manchester, UK.
Craig, E. T. (1833, August 27). [Letter to Robert Owen]. National Co-operative Archive Robert Owen Collection (ROC/3/85/1), Manchester, UK.
Craig, E. T. (1882). The Irish land & labour question: Illustrated in the history of Ralahine and Co‑operative farming. Trübner & Co.
Cunningham, J. (2005). Lord Wallscourt of Ardfry (1797-1849): An early Irish socialist. Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical 911±¬ÁÏ, 57, 90-112.
Curtis, L. P. (1980). Incumbered wealth: Landed indebtedness in post-famine Ireland. American Historical Review, 85(2), 332-367.
Donnelly, J. S. (1994). The Terry Alt movement, 1829-31. History Ireland, 2(4), 30-35.
Dooley, T. (2004). Land and politics in independent Ireland, 1923-8: The case for reappraisal. Irish Historical Studies, 34(134), 175-197.
Dooley, T. (2022). Burning the Big House: the story of the Irish country house in a time of war and revolution. Yale University Press.
Doyle, P. (2019). Civilising rural Ireland: The co-operative movement, development, and the nation-state, 1889-1939. Manchester University Press.
Evans, A. (2008). E. T. Craig: proto-socialist, phrenologist and public health engineer. International Journal of Epidemiology, 37(3), 490-505.
Fawcett, H. (1865). The economic position of the British labourer. Macmillan & Co.
Garnett, R. G. (1972). Co-operation and the Owenite socialist communities in Britain, 1825-45. Manchester University Press.
Geoghegan, V. (1991). Ralahine: An Owenite community (1831-1833). International Review of Social History, 36, 377-411.
Guinnane, T. W., & Miller, R. I. (1997). The limits to land reform: The Land Acts in Ireland, 1870-1909. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 45(3), 591-612.
Harrison, J. F. C. (1969). Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America: The quest for the new moral world. Routledge.
Jordan, D. (1998). The Irish National League and the 'unwritten law': Rural protest and nation-building in Ireland 1882-1890. Past & Present, 158(1), 146-171.
Murphy, D. (2009). William Pare. Dictionary of Irish Biography.
Ó Gráda, C. (1974). The Owenite community at Ralahine, County Clare, 1831-33: A reassessment. Irish Economic and Social History, 1(1), 36-48.
Pankhurst, R. K. P. (1991). William Thompson (1775-1833): Pioneer socialist. Pluto.
Pare, W. (1870). Co-operative agriculture: A solution of the land question as exemplified in the history of the Ralahine cooperative agricultural association. County Clare, Ireland. Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer.
Potter, B. (1891). The Co-operative movement in Great Britain. Sonnenschein & Son.
Wallace, A. R. (1900). Studies scientific & social, Vol. II. Macmillan.