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Nationalism and Sectarian Violence in Liverpool and Belfast, 1880s–1920s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2010

Gareth Jenkins
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Abstract

This article focuses upon the local cultures of Liverpool and Belfast, two cities wracked by recurrent communal sectarian strife. My analysis contributes to a growing appreciation of the locality and region as sites of accommodation, negotiation, and resistance to “nationalizing forces.” I argue that in Liverpool secularization and democratization contributed to local Tory Democracy's loss of control over popular sectarianism and to the subsequent development of a dynamic working-class movement that generated sustained Protestant-Catholic violence. In contrast, Ulster Unionism largely contained and controlled sectarian violence in Belfast. With the national threat of Irish Home Rule, the movement intervened, drawing Protestant working-class activity away from the street into “representative” structures, which were designed to harness and “police” popular sectarianism. Consequently, I examine whether the growing nationalization of British political culture from 1880 to the 1920s exacerbated or contributed to the resolution of entrenched sectarian strife within the two cities.

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Article
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International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 78 , Issue 1 , Fall 2010 , pp. 164 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 2010

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References

NOTES

This article is dedicated to the memory of Jacqueline Jenkins (1940–2008), a tolerant mother and an inspirational teacher for over thirty years.

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