Irish republican and socialist leader. James Connolly was born on June 5th 1868. For a man so linked to Irish history, Connolly was actually born in Edinburgh, Scotland. The area he lived in was nicknamed ' Little Ireland' and was one of the city's slum areas. He subsequently spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. His parents were originally from County Monaghan and their life in Edinburgh was hard. He left
school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading
revolutionary theorists of his day.
James Connolly joined the British Military at age 14 to escape his extreme poverty. Seven years later at the age of 21, Connolly left military life and eventually settled in Dublin in 1896.
In 1903 Connolly emigrated to the United States,living for a brief period in Troy New York with a relative, and worked for an insurance firm as a salesman. But by 1905 he left Troy to persue his ideals of organizing a militant working class movement and soon joined the newly formed IWW ( Industrial Workers of the World ), as a member and full-time organizer.
A prolific writer of historical, cultural, political, economic, and social analysis, as well as a one man editor and publisher of his own books and newspaper, many people of opposing political beliefs within the Labor movement and the Left valued and praised Connolly's insightful views.
Connolly did not consider himself an Anarcho-Syndicalist, however in 1908 when a split in the IWW occured between the Marxist Daniel De Leon and the Anarcho-Syndicalists, Connolly sided with the Anarcho-Syndicalists.
Connolly hated sectarianism, which he considered one of the greatest obstacles preventing worker anti-capitalist unity. One of his writings that reflects this belief ;"The development of the fighting spirit is of more importance than the creation of the theoretically perfect organization. That indeed, the most theoretically perfect organization may, because of it's very perfection and vastness, be of the greatest possible danger to the revolutionary movement if it tends, or is used, to repress and curb the fighting spirit of comradeship in the rank and file.Connolly also was distrustful of centralized government, best reflected in his statement that ;
'Without the power of the industrial union behind it, democracy can only enter the state as the victim enters the gullet of the serpent.'
Connolly came back to Ireland at the
invitation of a small socialist group.
Here he soon made his mark as a talented organiser, speaker and writer.
It was James Connolly above all who was responsible for the alignment
between
working class organisations and the goal of irish independence.Connolly
wrote brilliantly on the necessity of socialism to the cause of
Irish independence, as well as all manners of topics relevant to the
world socialist movement. He
believed it was the working class who could shake the foundations of
the British empire, for the benefit of all the oppressed of the world.
James Connoly addressed meetings in north Wales, after which the
celebrated Welsh socialist and local Independent Labour Party leader
Silyn Roberts recalled :
"Gyda Larkib ym 1911 y cyfarum ag ef ac y dysfgais ei edmygud a'i
garu. Un o drysorau gwerthfawrocaf fy llufrgell yw copi o'i gyfrol
Labour in Irish history, a roddwyd i mi ganddo a Larkin i gofio am eu
hymweliad a Chymru".
"I met him with Larkin in 1911, and learnt to admire him and love
him. One of the greatest treasures in my library is a copu of his volume
Labour in Irish history, which he and Larkin gabe me as a momento of
their visit to Wales", With James Larkin, he was centrally involved in the Dublin lock-out of 1913, that paralyzed commerce
and transport for many weeks. During the general strike Connolly
organized the Irish Citizen Army amongst striking workers, in a self
defense response to wide spread beatings of striking workers by the
Irish police and British military. The Irish Citizen Army became the
nucleus of the Dublin Division of the Army of the Republic during the
1916 Easter Rebellion against British rule of Ireland.
With the outbreak of war, Connolly became increasingly committed to
formenting an insurrection against British rule in Ireland; he had
gradually changed from labour organiser and agitator into military
commandant and theorist. In mid-January 1916 he reached agreement with
the Irish Republican Brotherhood Military Council to co-operate in an
insurrection the following Easter. He joined the Council, and on the
day before the Rising its members appointed him vice-president of the
Irish Republic and Commandant-General, Dublin Division, Irish Army.
Connolly proved himself to be the most effective and inspirational of
the rebel leaders during the insurrection. On Easter Monday, 24th April,
he led the Headquarters Battalion from Liberty Hall to the General Post
Office and commanded military operations there throughout the week –
supervising the construction of defences, determining and adjusting
strategy, summoning reinforcements and deciding on the disposition of
his forces. That only nine volunteers in the post office garrison died
during the fighting is testimony to his talents. He himself took
constant risks with his own safety but even after being severely wounded
on 27th April, he remained, as Patrick Pearse said, "still the guiding
brain of our resistance".
At noon on Saturday 29th April Connolly supported the majority view of the leaders that they should surrender as he 'could not bear to see his brave boys burnt to death'.
His expectation was that the Risin's organisers would be shot and the
rest set free. Under military escort, Connolly was carried to the Red
Cross Hospital at Dublin Castle where hours later he signed Pearse's
surrender order on behalf f the Irish Citizen Army. He was
court-martialled there, propped up in his bed, on 9th May. At his trial
he read the following brief hand -written statement which said :
“Believing
that the British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any
right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland, the presence,
in any one generation of Irishmen, of even a respectable minority,
ready to die to affirm that truth, makes the Government forever a
usurpation and a crime against human progress. I personally thank God
that I have lived to see the day when thousands of Irishmen and boys,
and hundreds of women and girls, were ready to affirm that truth, and to
attest to it with their lives if need be.”
As spring was turning
to summer, a city still coming to terms with the death and destruction
of the Easter Rising was being forced to accept yet more blood-letting.
Despite
his severe wounds, on 12 May 1916 he was transported by military
ambulance to
Kilmainham Gaol, carried to a prison courtyard on a stretcher, tied to a
chair and executed by the British
military by firing squad to the outrage of many people
in Ireland and across the world. It certainly significantly contributed
to the mood of bitterness in Ireland. His body (along with those of the
other rebels)
was put in a mass grave without a coffin. The executions of the rebels
deeply angered the majority of the Irish population, most of whom had
shown no support during the rebellion. It was Connolly's execution,
however, that caused the most controversy. Historians have pointed to
the manner of execution of Connolly and similar rebels, along with their
actions, as being factors that caused public awareness of their desires
and goals and gathered support for the movements that they had died
fighting for. It was the death of their leaders, and particularly of
Connolly, that sparked the flame of Irish
republicanism across this island, launched a mass rebellion, and
ultimately led to the creation of an Irish republic. Of all the executions carried out during the 1916 Easter Rising, none
raised as much public anger then or since as the execution of James Connolly
Though considered by many historians to be an " Irish Nationalist ",
Connolly did not believe in ignoring class divisions in the name of
nationalism. That Ireland could not be free until the working class of
Ireland was free.
In the aftermath of his death Kerry journalist Liam MacGabhann penned The Poem of James Connolly in
1933.
MacGabhann, who was born on Valentia Island in 1908, wrote the stirring
piece from the view of a soldier in the firing party ordered to shoot
Connolly.
In 1916 a Welsh regiment on its way to the Western Front was
diverted to Ireland as backup for troops trying to crush the rebellion
in Dublin. MacGabhann heard a story about a young soldier, a son of a
Welsh miner, who was part of that regiment and was included in the
firing squad for Connollys execution and felt utter guilt and shame
because of it.
In the aftermath of the ghastly deed this unnamed
Welsh solider tracked down Connolly’s widow and children to ask for
their forgiveness. as she later recalled, he told Lily:
" I am a miner. My father was a miner, and my grandfather was a miner
-they were both very busy in the trade union. How can I go back home?
They would know about James Connolly even if I didn't. I haven't been
home on leave. I can't go home. I'd let something slip, and they'd know
I'd killed James Connolly.Oh,why was I chosen tokill a man like that?"
Lily replied : James Connolly has already forgiven you. He realised you were being forced, he realised you were only a working class boy".
MacGabhann took this anonymous Welsh soldier as the
voice for his poem who reflects on his participation in the execution of
Connolly with heavy regret.
The Poem of James Connolly - Liam MacGabhann
The man was all shot through that came today
Into the barrack square;
A soldier I – I am not proud to say
We killed him there;
They brought him from the prison hospital;
To see him in that chair
I thought his smile would far more quickly call
A man to prayer.
Maybe we cannot understand this thing
That makes these rebels die;
And yet all things love freedom – and the Spring
Clear in the sky;
I think I would not do this deed again
For all that I hold by;
Gaze down my rifle at his breast – but then
A soldier I.
They say that he was kindly – different too,
Apart from all the rest;
A lover of the poor; and all shot through,
His wounds ill drest,
He came before us, faced us like a man,
He knew a deeper pain
Than blows or bullets – ere the world began;
Died he in vain?
Ready – present; And he just smiling – God!
I felt my rifle shake
His wounds were opened out and round that chair
Was one red lake;
I swear his lips said ‘Fire!’ when all was still
Before my rifle spat
That cursed lead – and I was picked to kill
A man like that!
Today,
James Connolly is regarded as one of Ireland's greatest heroes. He was a
revolutionary socialist and militant unionist who dedicated his life not
just to the cause of Irish liberation, but also to international
socialism. He inspired not only the republican and socialist tradition in Ireland but
anti-colonial & anti-imperialist movements around the world.
In the history of the international working class movement we should
remember James Connolly as a hero and martyr who acted on his
beliefs.
Today, a statue of James Connolly stands in pride of place at
the centre
of Dublin. A brass engraving of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic
also sits at pride of place in the window of the General Post Office
headquarters, where Connolly made his stand for the liberty of his
nation and the working class during four fateful days in April 1916. .
I
will end with this final quote from him :-
"A revolution will only be achieved when the ordinary people of the
world, us, the working class, get up off our knees and take back what is
rightfully ours."
Andy Irvine - Where is our James Connolly
