The Bottom Dog Bites Back
The Bottom Dog, a publication of the Limerick Council of Trade Unions, was first published on 20th October 1917. The paper brought together the forces of industrial unionism and radical elements among the craft unions. By the time the Dog's first editor, Ben Dineen, died in November 1918, forty-eight editions of the paper had been published. The Dog began its life in orde
r to represent the interests of the oppressed (the "bottom dog"), whether oppressed in terms of class, race, nation, s*x or otherwise. Always and everywhere the Dog worked to expose social injustice and to highlight the plight of those whose stories are omitted in polite society, insisting that the "bottom dog would only come into his own when every worker, male and female, was thoroughly organised". The Dog has always attempted to give voice to the oppressed and has always focused its attention on issues such as bad housing, low pay, unemployment and poor working conditions. Since the attacks on the working class are currently as fierce as they have ever been, The Dog is now ready to return as a quarterly publication (from December 2013). With sincere respect to the history and spirit of the publication we take the 1975 editorial statement as our starting point:
"*The Bottom Dog is not a platform for any political party or faction. It is rather a forum open to all workers who wish to contribute articles or ideas etc. The paper covers issues where the working class is under attack or on the advance e.g. redundancies, unemployment, wage freezes and attacks on workers' rights, repression, s*x discrimination and womens' rights, strikes, sit-ins and trade-unionisation, especially when they relate to, affect, teach lessons or show the way forward for workers in this country*." The Dog aspires to be a voice of, and for, the working class - a space where workers, activists, scholars and all others committed to furthering the interests of the working class as a class, can develop and disseminate ideas, and prepare for the struggles ahead.
