Last modified: 2022-04-16 by rob raeside
Keywords: ireland | starry plough | star | plough | big dipper |
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In 1913 police in Dublin attacked a demonstration by striking workers, killing two people. Trade union leaders then formed a paramilitary organisation, the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) with the intention of providing protection for labour demonstrations. The ICA developed into an armed and uniformed force and in 1914 it adopted the starry plough as its flag - the shade of bluish green used in the flag matched the colour of the ICA's uniform. In 1916 the ICA took part in the rebellion of that year. The original starry plough was captured by British forces but was returned to Ireland in 1966 on the fiftieth anniversary of the rebellion and is now preserved in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.
In 1934 the largest trade union, the ITGWU, introduced a
simplified version of the starry plough with a sky-blue field, and
it rapidly gained acceptance as the flag of the Irish trade union
movement and of the movement's political wing, the Labour Party.
This flag continues to be used at trade union conferences and
marches. Because of the ICA's participation in the rebellion of
1916, the flag is used by republican paramilitary groups. Versions
of the starry plough have also been used by a variety of socialist
groups. The Labour Party continued to use the 1934 flag until the
late 1970s when the field was changed from blue to red. In the
late 1980s the red starry plough was in turn replaced by a white
flag showing a red rose - an emblem used by many other European
socialist parties.
Vincent Morley, 18 March 1997
George William Russell (AE) designed the famous Starry Plough flag for the
Irish Citizen Army which was unveiled on 5 April 1914 and flown during the
Easter Rising.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William_Russell,
https://www.lurganancestry.com/aegeorgerussell.htm
David Lawrence,
21 March 2022
image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 13 February 2010
A 1975 Long Kesh Interment Camp flag signed by 150 prisoners (114 by 178cm.,
45 by 70in.) was posted on eBay in February 2010. This is a plain version of
that flag (no signatures). It is a light blue flag with seven regular
five-pointed stars oriented irregularly and placed to (very) roughly match the
Big Dipper asterism (in Ursa Major), in what seems to be a variant of the design
above.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 13 February 2010
(obverse) image by Jaume Ollé after a photo by Nozomi Kariyasu, 5 May 2005
The starry plough flag of the Irish Citizen Army, flown in the 1916 rising.
Laurence Jones, 27 December 2005
image provided by Tom Dolan 10 March 2016
During INLA funerals, the caskets of their dead are draped exclusively in the light blue Starry Plough flag.
image provided by Tom Dolan 10 March 2016
However, there have been a few exceptions
over the years. For example, during the Hunger Strikes
in 1981, the INLA members who died on hunger strike had both the Starry
Plough flag and the Irish Tricolor draped on their coffins (the Starry
Plough flag being given more prominence, of course - most of the time, the
Starry Plough would
cover the Orange section of the Tricolor). The reason
being was for the INLA to distinguish their members from that of the
Provisional IRA, who used the Irish Tricolor exclusively on their coffins.
After the Hunger Strikes, the INLA reverted back to
once again solely draping the caskets of their dead with the Starry Plough
flag.
In recent times, however, a few veterans of the Irish Republican
Socialist Movement/Party (IRSM/IRSP) made special arrangements over what
flags would cover their coffins.
image provided by Tom Dolan 10 March 2016
Example #1:
At the funeral of Johnny
White in Derry, his casket was draped in both the Starry Plough and the plain
Red Flag of International Socialism Each flag shared equal prominence on the
coffin.
image provided by Tom Dolan 10 March 2016
Example #2
For the funeral in
Derry (in April 2012) of INLA veteran, Seamus 'Chang' Coyle, a striking
Starry Plough with 7 stars on a red background adorned his coffin. However,
upon closer inspection, one clearly sees the white stars are not in the same
constellation as the normal Starry Plough. Instead, the stars appear to be
arranged in a way so as to resemble more or less a Sickle (a common Socialist
symbol). This arrangement of the stars was most likely deliberate.
Tom
Dolan, 10 March 2016
The Starry Plough is widely used as a symbol across Ireland. Here are some links:
Jan Mertens, 9 November 2008