ABSTRACT
The period after 1968 could be described as one of retreat and political defeat for unionists in Northern Ireland (Gillespie 2007). While the civil rights movement has been thoroughly accounted for (see, for example, Bosi 2006; Prince 2007; Ó Dochartaigh 1997; Purdie 1990), there has been an academic neglect of Protestant protest and collective action in Northern Ireland during the ‘Troubles’ (with the exceptions of Novosel 2013; Gillespie 2004; Nelson 1984). There have been several occasions during the 35 years of conflict when sections of the loyalist community have tried to use the industrial might of Protestant workers in a national stoppage or strike to achieve a political end, some which have been successful, and others with only a limited success, or unsuccessful. The most successful of these protests was the Ulster Workers’ Council strike in May 1974, which brought down the power-sharing executive agreed at Sunningdale. The protests surrounding the Anglo-Irish Agreement a little over a decade later, in 1985-1986, while failing to achieve any political changes, were successful in mobilizing Protestant collective action.
