Larkin was unsuccessful in his attempts in the following years to gain a position as a commercial agent in Ireland for the Soviet Union , which may have contributed to his disenchantment with Stalinism . The Soviets , for their part , were increasingly impatient with what they saw as his ineffective leadership . From the early 1930s , Larkin drew away from the Soviet Union . While in the 1932 general election , he stood , without success , as a communist and in 1933 and subsequently , he ran as " Independent Labour " . In 1934 , he gave important evidence on the 1916 Black Tom explosion to John J. McCloy , allowing a case for damages against Germany to be reopened ; presumably because of Germany 's new Nazi government
Black Tom explosion
Black Tom explosion
James Larkin