Red Triangle is a major social history and the backstory to Britain’s partition of Ireland in 1921. It captures the wave of labour militancy that swept across the north during the struggle for Irish independence. From Belfast and Ulster’s linen triangle, this movement radiated outwards as socialist trade unionists forged an unlikely alliance between Catholics and Protestants, challenging sectarian divisions and imperial authority. The mass strikes offered a tantalising glimpse of a democratic future for Ulster before the movement was crushed by loyalist violence.

East Tyrone historian Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh draws on vivid eyewitness testimony, lost pamphlets and labour archives to craft a compelling, ground level account of Partition and its place in Irish history.