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Jerry Devine - an ex suitor of Mary’s - is described as “a type, becoming very common now in the Labour Movement, of a mind knowing enough to make the mass of his associates, who know less, a power, and too little to broaden that power for the benefit of all".

While he belongs to the trade union movement - and is behind the principled strike that Mary is taking part in - his desire for change and equality is found lacking when he rejects Mary because she is pregnant with Charlie Bentham’s child.

O’Casey seems to use him to show the idealistic nature of socialism, while also critiquing the true principles of the socialist movement.