this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
552 points (98.4% liked)
A Comm for Historymemes
2923 readers
701 users here now
A place to share history memes!
Rules:
-
No sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, assorted bigotry, etc.
-
No fascism, atrocity denial, etc.
-
Tag NSFW pics as NSFW.
-
Follow all Lemmy.world rules.
Banner courtesy of @[email protected]
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Explanation: While the Irish Potato Famine in 1847 was triggered by potato blight, a fungus-like parasite, the deeper cause of its devastation was the exploitation of the English landlords and the bizarre ultra-free-market policies of the British Empire at the time, leading to English absentee landlords getting richer as their tenants were literally dying, and Ireland exporting food at a time when starvation was rampant.
Steal lands, call it "free market"
classic liberalism
While the land theft was an important component of English oppression of the Irish, I mean in terms of the famine - if the landlords were Irish instead of English transplants, it's unlikely that their behavior would have been significantly different in terms of grain export, unless a feudal or clientistic power structure was retained. The free market, rather than the land theft, is in the core of this issue.
The land theft was fundamental to the famine.
Under the British rule, the Irish were not allowed to own land and had to rent it from a British landlord; more important still, the Irish were not allowed to rent more than a half-acre.
The only crop with a sufficient yield per acreage to feed yourself and have enough left over to pay rent off a half-acre of land, is the potato.
The potato blight hit the entirety of Europe, not just Ireland. Only Ireland suffered a famine. Because the British rule had reduced the options for the Irish to potatoes or starvation.
That's a pretty dire misunderstanding of the situation. The Irish were allowed to own land. The problem was that some 60%+ was in the hands of absentee British landlords, and another ~30% in the hands of Anglo-Irish magnates. Irish were absolutely allowed to rent more than a half-acre - a half-acre wouldn't feed a single person, much less pay rent besides. A fourth-acre was the limit for those seeking relief at the poorhouses.
I mean, other areas in Europe suffered famine conditions in the same period because of the potato failure - Ireland was just hardest hit.