1919 was the year the trouble all went down
The Defence of the Realm Act was invoked by the Crown
They imposed martial law upon old Limerick town
And they made the local people foot the bill
The local trades and workers council met for 12 long hours
And said we will not recognise the British Army’s powers
This city is the people’s, we reclaim it now as ours
It ever was and shall be ever still
We are the Limerick Soviet
We answer only to the people’s plea
We care no more for their martial law
Than the British Army cares for you and me
The printing workers laboured through the darkness of the night
To urge the population to resist the army’s might
Within two hours the city walls proclaimed a General Strike
And Limerick responded to the call
Workers in their thousands were parading through the streets
The Irish Times was horrified and called for their defeat
But the people were in charge now not the Army or elite
They held the torch of freedom for us all
We are the Limerick Soviet
We answer only to the people’s plea
We care no more for their martial law
Than the British Army cares for you and me
The Soviet of Limerick it lasted two weeks long
A forgotten revolution overlooked by history’s song
John Cronin and his strike committee’s beacon has not gone
It lights the path to justice for us still
We are the Limerick Soviet
We answer only to the people’s plea
We care no more for their martial law
Than the British Army cares for you and me
The Defence of the Realm Act was invoked by the Crown
They imposed martial law upon old Limerick town
And they made the local people foot the bill
The local trades and workers council met for 12 long hours
And said we will not recognise the British Army’s powers
This city is the people’s, we reclaim it now as ours
It ever was and shall be ever still
We are the Limerick Soviet
We answer only to the people’s plea
We care no more for their martial law
Than the British Army cares for you and me
The printing workers laboured through the darkness of the night
To urge the population to resist the army’s might
Within two hours the city walls proclaimed a General Strike
And Limerick responded to the call
Workers in their thousands were parading through the streets
The Irish Times was horrified and called for their defeat
But the people were in charge now not the Army or elite
They held the torch of freedom for us all
We are the Limerick Soviet
We answer only to the people’s plea
We care no more for their martial law
Than the British Army cares for you and me
The Soviet of Limerick it lasted two weeks long
A forgotten revolution overlooked by history’s song
John Cronin and his strike committee’s beacon has not gone
It lights the path to justice for us still
We are the Limerick Soviet
We answer only to the people’s plea
We care no more for their martial law
Than the British Army cares for you and me
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