Irish History
  James Connolly
—by Michealín Dhochartaigh

James ConnollyJames Connolly was born on 5 June 1868, at The Cowgate, Edinburgh. His parents were Irish emigrants from Co Monaghan. His father worked as a manure carter, removing dung from the streets at night, and his mother was a domestic servant.

The Cowgate, where the Connollys lived, and the adjacent area known as Grassmarket, were the Irish slums. Anti-Irish sentiment at this time was rampant, and the Irish were forced to live in these slums, collectively known as 'Little Ireland.'

At the tender age of 10, Connolly left school and got a job with the Edinburgh Evening News, where he worked as a quasi servant � cleaning ink rollers and running errands for adults. At age 14, Connolly joined the British Army and was posted in Ireland, where he witnessed first hand the abominable treatment of the Irish people by the British.

While serving in Ireland, he met his future wife, a Protestant named Lillie Reynolds. They were engaged in 1888 and married two years later. At this time, Connolly -- appalled at the British subjugation and oppression of the Irish people -- discharged himself from the British Army and went back to Scotland with his new wife.

Connolly joined his father and brother working a manure carter. He became active in Socialist and trade union circles and became secretary of the Scottish Socialist Federation. During this time, Connolly also became involved with the Independent Labour Party.

In late 1894 -- at the invitation of the Scottish Socialist, John Leslie -- Connolly went to Dublin in May 1896 as paid organiser of the Dublin Socialist Society. By May of 1896 Connolly had organised the Irish Socialist Republican Party; and by 1898, Connolly had established the first Irish Socialist paper � The Workers' Republic.

In 1903 Connolly chaired the inaugural meeting of the Socialist Labour Party but soon became disillusioned and emigrated to the U.S., not to return until July 1910. In the U.S., Connolly founded the Irish Socialist Federation in New York, and another newspaper, The Harp.

When Connolly returned to Ireland, he became the Belfast organiser for James Larkin's Irish Transport and General Workers Union.

In 1913 James Connolly co-founded the Labour Party, and in 1914 he helped organise opposition to the Employers Federation in the Great Lock-Out of workers that August. In 1913, Connolly also founded the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), at Liberty Hall, the headquarters of the ITGWU. The ICA, was established to defend the rights of the working people.
In October 1914, Connolly returned permanently to Dublin and revived the newspaper The Workers' Republic. In The Workers' Republic newspaper, Connolly published articles on guerrilla warfare and continuously urged the group known as The Irish Volunteers for their inactivity. The Irish Volunteers were, however, urged by their leadership to support England in the war against Germany. Many of them sided with John Redmond -- leader the Irish Parliamentary Party -- and became known as the National Volunteers.

In January 1916, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (those who did not go with the National Volunteers at the split) decided to take James Connolly into their confidence. During the following months, he took part in the preparation for a rising and was appointed Military Commander of the Republican Forces in Dublin, including his own Irish Citizen Army.

James Connolly was one of the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. He was in command of the Republican HQ at the GPO during the Easter Rising of 1916, and was severely wounded. He was arrested, court-martialled and sentenced to die by firing squad.

In the early morning hours of 12 May 1916, James Connolly was taken by ambulance from Dublin Castle to Kilmainham Jail, carried on a stretcher into the prison yard, strapped into a chair and subsequently executed. This act, as well as the execution of the other leaders, was the catalyst in turning the Irish people against British rule.

Selected Writings by James Connolly

  * For the Citizen Army
  * To Irish Wage Workers in America
  * The New Evangel State Monopoly versus Socialism
  * New Year�s Day 1916
  * Old Wine in New Bottles
  * Patriotism and Labour
  * The Problem of Trade Union Organization
  * We Only Want the Earth
  * What is a Free Nation?
  * Women's Rights
  * Workshop Talks
 

Chronology

  * 1868 June 5: born Edinburgh, Scotland
  * c.1879: began employment at printing works
  * 1882: joined Second Battalion of the Royal Scots Regiment; stationed first at Cork, later in Dublin
  * 1889: deserted the army and fled to Perth, Scotland
  * 1890 April 20: married Lillie Reynolds from Co. Wicklow
  * 1895 May: became Secretary of the Scottish Socialist Federation
  * 1896 May: left with his family for Dublin to take up employment as paid organizer of Dublin Socialist Club
  * 1897: Erin's Hope published
  * 1897 June 21: demonstration commemorating 1798; arrested; Maud Gonne paid fine for his release
  * 1901: The New Evangel published
  * 1901 and 1902: lecture tour of Scotland and England
  * 1902: toured USA on behalf of the Socialist Labor Party
  * 1903 September 18: sailed for USA leaving his family in Dublin; he became involved with the Socialist Labor Party on the east coast
  * 1904: his family joined him in America
  * 1908: appointed organizer of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
  * 1909: Socialism Made Easy published
  * 1909-1910: 11 month tour of USA
  * 1910: Labor in Irish History published in US
  * 1910 July 26: arrived back in Ireland
  * 1915: Re-Conquest of Ireland published
  * 1915: "Acting General Secretary", Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU)
  * 1916: took part in the Easter Rising at General Post Office, Dublin; arrested
  * 1916 May 12: executed by firing squad

James Connolly

See Also:

  * Connolly and the First World War: Political Lessons for Today
  * Connolly: National Liberation, Socialism, Partition
  * Connolly and Republican Socialist Organisational Strategy
  * Connolly on Religion, Women and Sex
  * James Connolly Re-Assessed � The Irish and European Context
  * Republican, socialist, feminist: Connolly and the women's movement

Songs:

  * The Citizen Army
  * Freedom's Sons
  * Irish Citizen Army (aka James Connolly)
  * James Connolly

Seafront, Bray, Co Wicklow.