Career
Born in Liverpool, Tom Johnson worked on the docks for an Irish fish merchant. In 1900 he started work as a commercial traveler. At various times he was the president, treasurer and secretary of the Irish Trade Union Congress which was, at that time, also the Labour Party in Ireland, until officially founded in 1912 by James Connolly and James Larkin.
Johnson became Vice-president of Trades Union Congress in 1913, and President in 1915.
Johnson sympathized with the Irish Volunteers, many of whom were sacked from their jobs, for illegal activities. During the Easter rising, he noted in his diary that people in Ireland paid little heed to the fate of the defeated revolutionaries.
When the British government tried to enforce conscription in Ireland in 1918, Johnson led a successful strike in conjunction with Sinn Féin that caused King George V to advise Lloyd George to drop the issue. He was subsequently elected a Territorial Decoration for Dublin County to the Third Dáil at the 1922 general election and remained leader of the Labour Party until 1927.
As such, he was Leader of the Opposition in the Dáil of the Irish Free State, as the anti-treaty faction of Sinn Féin refused to recognise the Dáil as constituted.
He issued a statement of support for the Government of the 4th Dáil when the Army Mutiny threatened civilian control in March 1924. He lost his Dáil seat at the September 1927 general election, and the following year he was elected to Seanad Éireann, where he served until the Seanad"s abolition in 1936. Each Summer, Labour Youth holds the "Tom Johnson Summer School" to host panel discussions, debates and workshops.