The Expropriation of James Connolly

[Stallit 2 de Halfo]

Connolly Ain't Nothing but a Train Station in Dublin:

The Expropriation of James Connolly's Revolutionary Legacy by Irish Republicanism

Irish republicanism just prior to the 1916 Easter Rising consisted of a bourgeois movement of professionals and intellectuals that blended romantic notions of Gaelic Ireland with traditional rhetoric opposing British rule. The republican position lacked a social agenda that could inspire the Irish working class, and as a result the party Sinn Féin remained politically insignificant. After the Rising, the republican movement's ideological position changed little, but by laying claim to one of the Rising's primary architects, James Connolly, republicans succeeded in winning support of the working class away from the Irish labor movement. Connolly's revolutionary position was incompatible with that of the conservative republican leadership, however, meaning that the expropriation of Connolly's legacy required substantial revision by those who would use his memory as their political tool.

As a dedicated socialist and labor leader as well as a republican, Connolly differed considerably from many nationalists on an ideological level, but at the same time he inspired some of the more progressive elements within the republican movement to consider social issues alongside national ones, and with his overt political agitation, provoked the nationalists beyond theory and towards concrete action. Although Connolly was not in charge of the rebellion against England, he shared in its ideological and military leadership, and his contribution prompted Patrick Pearse to write that Connolly was "the guiding brain of our resistance."1 Due to Connolly's role, both republicans and the labor movement (including the Irish Labour Party, the Irish Trade Unions Congress and the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union) had equally compelling claims to Connolly's political legacy, and therefore were equally poised to take political advantage of an increasingly radical working class.

The Rising offered political success to any party that was able to rally the workers behind its ideals. Sinn Féin was the one to seize the initiative, and shifted the focus of the working class towards national issues and away from a class analysis. As a result, socialist rhetoric was purged from post-Rising discourse and the labor movement became marginalized in Irish politics. Ultimately, Sinn Féin claimed Connolly's ideological inheritance without challenge, and immediately and intentionally worked to defuse the more dangerous aspects of his life's work.


Read further:

larkspirit.com/general/connolly.html