The 1911 walk-out

Some people came from the green fields of Ulster

Most came from the back-street slums

All searching for work in the linen industry

There's a call for flax to be spun

The year it was 19 hundred and 10

A time when mills ruled supreme

Linen lords in Ireland Toasted new found riches

On the backs of the poor And their dreams

The factories were prisons for women and children

Who worked on machines everyday

Some fell to disease

Lungs black with the dust

Others died on the floor where they lay

In 1911 a walk-out was called

By the women who suffered the toil

C' m on all you spinners,

you layers & Doffers Half timers unite one & all

The bosses got angry as the strike took a hold

Conditions were grim many times they'd been told

They chose to be ignorant it was better that way……….for them

The strike it was broken Mills went on spinning

The death toll and injuries still high For women and children

Who slaved for a living Are waiting their turn to die

The average age was just 45 For a woman cut down in her prime

To the linen lords of Ireland People will remember

Your part in this terrible crime

© Padraig Lalor October 2005