CHAPTER XXV 



RALAHINE AND ITS TEACHINGS l 



THE successful and most instructive experiment made 

 at Ralahine in 1831-33 is very little appreciated except 

 by a few advanced reformers ; but it attracted great 

 attention at the time, and deserves to be better known, 

 because it affords a practical and conclusive answer to 

 many of the objections now made to the possibility of 

 successful co-operation, especially in agriculture. The 

 adviser and organizer of this great experiment, Mr. E. T. 

 Craig, exhibited a marvellous tact and knowledge of 

 human nature, and has shown us how to avoid the rocks 

 and pitfalls which have led to failure in many other cases, 

 and this was especially remarkable in so young a man 

 (then under thirty), and shows him to have been a born 

 organizer and leader of men. Yet his great powers, which 

 might have benefited the nation and the human race, 

 were forbidden their full expansion through the influence 

 of the money interests and religious prejudices of the 

 ruling and landed classes. A brief sketch will now be 

 given of the difficulties he overcame, the results he 

 achieved, and the lessons to be learnt from his experience. 



Ireland in 1830. 



In 1830 the state of Ireland, especially in the south 

 and west, was deplorable. The potato crop had failed and 



1 The Irish Land and Labour Question illustrated in the History of 

 Ralahine and Co-operative Farming. By E. T. Craig. London : 

 Triibner and Co, 1882, 



