Farming in the War of Independence: Co-ops in the line of fire as Crown forces take reprisals for IRA attacks

Troops targeted co-operative creameries in 1920-21 — with rumours of collusion from private dairy owners. The destruction of co-ops put tens of thousands of farmers into ‘acute distress’ — but the tactic ultimately backfired on the British

Targeted: Milford Creamery was also attacked

Destroyed: Ballymacelligott Creamery, which was burned down by Crown forces in the War of Independence. Photo courtesy of the National Library

Targeted: Milford Creamery was also attacked

Destroyed: Ballymacelligott Creamery, which was burned down by Crown forces in the War of Independence. Photo courtesy of the National Library

Patrick Doyle

Targeted: Milford Creamery was also attacked

Ciaran Moran Twitter Email

April 06 2021 02:00 AM

Co-op managers these days might think they have a tough job keeping the business out of the red and keeping farmers happy.

But it’s a far cry from the challenges faced by their predecessors 100 years ago.

During the War of Independence, co-operatives found themselves on the receiving end of State violence in the most serious threat the movement ever faced.

Co-ops had developed hugely since the establishment of the first creamery in 1889.

And according to historian Patrick Doyle, who has extensively researched the history of the co-operative movement in Ireland, by the eve of World War I, “co-ops were mainstream”.

Farming had prospered during the Great War and by its conclusion, many farmers were highly reliant on co-ops for their income.

Doyle says it had been a complex journey to that point, highlighting that co-ops were, at first, viewed as a very controversial movement.

Patrick Doyle

“When co-ops were established in a local area, it disrupted the economic fabric of that local area,” he says.

“It put a lot of noses out of joint. You had butter traders, merchants, commercial travellers and private creamery owners who would have seen the establishment of a co-operative creamery as a direct threat to their economic interests.

“It’s a very different type of business model. It was democratically owned by the farmers themselves. So it was economically empowering too.”

This context is essential, Doyle says, as these tensions came back to the fore during the War of Independence.

Much of the violence associated with this period occurred in rural areas, with a particular concentration in the south-west — the centre of the dairying industry.

Confrontations between the IRA and Crown forces took the form of guerrilla warfare, raids on private property, martial law and industrial strike action, and the spread of terror dominated news stories about Ireland from 1919 until the announcement of a truce in July 1921.

Security policy

Doyle says the decision to target co-ops formed a central component of the British government’s security policy.

“By 1920, there were over 320 co-operative creameries, across rural Ireland. They are very prominent, visible and hugely important to many families in rural Ireland,” he says.

“By late summer/autumn of that year, the violence is intensifying and the co-op movement starts to feel the heat somewhat.”

During 1920 and the first half of 1921, Crown forces responded to IRA provocation through attacks on co-operative societies as a way to punish a community.

While the British officially deny the involvement of their forces in this behaviour, Doyle says: “What’s clear is that across the country in places like Sligo, Tipperary and Kerry, burning of creameries quickly becomes the reaction to local IRA guerrilla activity.

“It’s essentially a counter-insurgency strategy. If you don’t know who the members of the local IRA or they’re on the run, then the decision is to punish the whole community.”

Throughout 1920 and ’21, IAOS (now ICOS) received regular updates about assaults on co-operative societies.

Targeted: Milford Creamery was also attacked

One such incident was carried out on the night of October 23, 1920. A party of men travelled to the creamery in a police vehicle and stopped at a house in the townland of Ballydonoghue in Kerry, where they assaulted two young men and “bobbed the hair of two girls”.

“They burned down a large part of the co-operative creamery, destroying machinery, a large quantity of cheese, and £1,000 worth of butter.”

Estimated damage to the society stood at between £10,000 and £12,000.

The violence placed severe strain on the movement, with local societies forced to close and national resources stretched to breaking point.

The violent attacks on co-operatives spread anxiety throughout the local population and trade suffered as a result.

According to Doyle’s research, by January 1, 1921, 42 co-operatives had been destroyed and another 30 societies were described as “unfit for work”.

Further, it is claimed that each creamery destroyed put 800 farmers out of business.

Indeed an organisation called the Irish White Cross — set up by philanthropists in the United States to raise funds — estimated that 60,000 were exposed to acute distress as a result of losing their ability to make a livelihood.

“We are talking about substantial numbers of people affected,” Doyle says.

There were rumours of collusion between private creamery owners and the military, encouraging the attacks on co-operatives, but this remains a grey area, Doyle says.

“In the later stages of the war, the attacks on co-ops begin to slow down due to public pressure.

“But what they start to do then is just close them down, which obviously still impacts the local community.

“At a local level, there does seem to be preferential treatment towards private creameries, and certainly a sense the British State was working closely with private creameries rather than the co-ops.”

Tensions

What is clear, Doyle says, is that reprisal tactics rekindled socio-economic tensions between co-operative and private creameries that had remained dormant during World War I.

Despite the apparent success of the reprisal strategy from the point of view of the Crown forces, according to Doyle the attacks were ultimately counter-productive.

Violence aimed at co-ops undermined British legitimacy in Ireland, he says, adding: “What it ends up doing is rather than quell or undermine IRA attacks, it actually just aggravates them further.”

The co-op movement was really nationalised during this time and became an icon of an emerging Irish nation.

“After the War of Independence and the creation of the Free State, the co-operative movement has become a national institution and it remains so for the next 40-50 years,” says Doyle.