The legacy of Connolly, 150 years after his birth

Posted by Jim on February 3, 2018

The following is an abridged article written by Jim Slaven of the James
Connolly Society.
 

June 5th 2018 will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of James
Connolly in Edinburgh’s Cowgate. This will provide us with an
opportunity to reappraise Connolly’s life and work. Not to merely
commemorate or recall the dates that mark out significant chapters and
events in his life, but rather to meaningfully engage with the man, his
writings and his philosophy.

Like many other working class kids, Connolly (and his brother John)
joined the British Army in a bid to escape poverty and destitution.
After seven years Connolly absconded from the British Army and spent
time in Dundee and Perth (where he married Lillie Reynolds, an Irish
Protestant he had met in Dublin) before Connolly returned to live in
Edinburgh, back in Little Ireland. Connolly took up employment as a
manure carter (as his father had before him) and immersed himself in
political activity with the Scottish Socialist Federation. Quickly
establishing himself as one of the key writers, orators and organisers
in the city. Within a few short years he had twice stood for election in
the St Giles ward in the city. He also became active in the Social
Democratic Federation and in the Independent Labour Party in the city
once it was founded by Keir Hardie.

During this period Connolly studied socialist writings, including those
of Marx and Engels (it is said he taught himself French and German
sufficiently to read texts that were not yet available in English).
Edinburgh during the 1890’s was the hub of socialist activism in
Scotland and a wide variety of political influences were embraced by the
young Connolly. As well as Irish nationalism, the teeming tenements of
Little Ireland and the surrounding area where home to exiles from the
Paris Commune and Fenian movement, Scottish republicans, Chartists and
socialists of varying international hues.

In Edinburgh Connolly was introduced to a wide range of individuals some
of whom influenced him and his thinking greatly. The city was a fertile
intellectual, political and cultural environment for the young Connolly.
Figures such as visionary sociologist and urban planner Patrick Geddes
and anarchist Peter Kropotkin mixed with socialists of various strands.
These included fellow Little Ireland resident John Leslie a poet and
activist, and the likes of Keir Hardie, Eleanor Marx and William Morris.
Another influence was exiled Communard Leo Melliot who famously told an
Edinburgh meeting commemorating the Commune that ‘without the shedding
of blood there is no social salvation’. The influence of the Paris
Commune on Connolly’s political thinking could be seen in the decades
that followed. Throughout his life Connolly commemorated the Commune
annually.

After the failure of his cobbler’s shop, and now married with three
young children, Connolly said he was going to buy a mirror to watch
himself starve to death. He even considered leaving Edinburgh and
politics for good and emigrating to Chile. Only the intervention of his
friend and comrade John Leslie dissuaded him. And in 1896 after an
appeal by Leslie he was offered the position of paid organiser with the
Dublin Socialist Club. He accepted and moved to Ireland.

Within days of arriving in Ireland Connolly made his famous statement
that “The struggle for Irish freedom has two aspects: it is national and
it is social”. Shortly thereafter this was expounded in more detail in
the manifesto of the newly established Irish Socialist Republican Party
(ISRP). This highlights that these are not ideas Connolly came to later
in life or even in Ireland. These were ideas Connolly arrived in Ireland
with, having developed them in the Irish milieu of the Cowgate.

It was during this period of Connolly’s life that he began to develop
his theoretical writings with the publications of Erin’s Hope. He also
began writing for the journal of Daniel De Leon’s Socialist Labour Party
in the United States. Although a small organisation the ISRP and
Connolly were leading public protests against Queen Victoria’s Diamond
Jubilee and the Boer War. A war Connolly said was motivated to
facilitate ‘an unscrupulous gang of capitalists to get into their hands
the immense riches of the diamond fields’.

His time in Dublin, like the rest of his life, was marked by severe
poverty. With an expanding family (the Connolly’s now had six children)
and limited job opportunities Connolly decided to emigrate to the United
States in 1903. The following year he was joined by his family, however
his eldest child, Mona, died in a tragic accident as the family prepared
to leave Dublin.

Initially a member of the SLP however Connolly clashed repeatedly with
De Leon and a mutual antipathy was not long in the making. Throughout
his life Connolly forthrightly shared his opinions (and disagreements)
on any issue he chose. De Leon was famous for his intolerance of those
who disagreed with him within the SLP and socialist movement.

While Connolly was in the US the International Workers of the World
(IWW) was formed, known as the Wobblies. Adopting a syndicalist approach
of the One Big Union, Connolly immediately joined and became an
organiser. Throughout his time in the US Connolly travelled extensively
giving speeches and organising. In 1908 Connolly toured the United
States in support of Eugene Debs Presidential campaign. During this
period Connolly continued to write both for papers and more theoretical
works. While in the US he also wrote plays, published a pamphlet of his
songs entitled Songs of Freedom and his popular book Socialism Made
Easy.

On his return to Ireland in 1910 Connolly was determined to adapt the
IWW’s approach of industrial unionism to Irish conditions and joined the
Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU), which had been formed
by Jim Larkin during Connolly’s time in the United States. Connolly
worked as an organiser in Belfast attempting to unite Catholic and
Protestant workers in ITGWU activity. This, and the Catholic Church’s
vociferous attacks on socialism in Ireland, led Connolly to rethink the
relationship between religion and ideology.

As ever Connolly continued to write with Labour, Nationality and
Religion and then Labour in Irish History being published. Labour in
Irish History remains a classic work which reframes Irish history from
the perspective of the working class. This established Connolly’s
reputation as an original thinker, theoretician and Marxist historian.

One of the defining workers struggles between Labour and Capital on
these islands was the 1913 Dublin Lockout when the ITGWU, led by
Connolly and Larkin, faced the owner of the Dublin Tramways, William
Martin Murphy. In Murphy, the workers were up against an immensely
powerful and immensely class-conscious opponent. At one point involving
20,000 workers the sheer scale and ferocity of the lockout shook Irish
society and the British Empire. After British police attacked, and
killed, workers James Connolly concluded the only way for workers to
protect themselves from state violence was to create a worker’s militia.
The Irish Citizens Army was born. This army, of and for the working
class, is recognised as the first of its kind in the world.

After the British union bureaucracy refused to call out their members in
solidarity the lockout was defeated. The struggle of the workers and the
violent state response led many Irish nationalist to conclude any
nationalist movement must have a social dimension. The lockout confirmed
Connolly’s view that only when the Irish people were in control of their
own destiny, without outside interference or impediment, could Irish
workers be free. The pieces were falling into place for revolution. The
question was would an opportunity present itself?

The outbreak of the war in 1914 provided Connolly with an opportunity to
underline his principled approach to political action. As the left
across the world abandoned their previous opposition to the war in
favour of national chauvinism, Connolly held firm. He now found himself
in a small band of principled socialists campaigning against the world
war. His experiences in the British Army left Connolly with an abiding
hatred of militarism and the British military in particular. The
anti-war writing produced by Connolly during this period are among his
very best writing. For Connolly the failure of the vast majority of
socialists to hold the anti-war line and support the war confirmed his
view that Ireland must seize the opportunity for revolution and
independence, both national and social. Britain’s role in a world war
was, for Connolly, an opportunity working class revolutionaries could
not pass up. Ireland was on the road to Easter 1916 and revolution.

Throughout his political life Connolly’s view on Irish independence was
consistent. He viewed Britain’s involvement in Ireland as a disaster. He
identified, however, that a nationalist movement led by the middle class
would be unable to complete the ‘reconquest’ he viewed as essential.
Such a nationalist movement would demand political freedom but would be
unable to demand economic freedom. Firstly, because the bourgeois
nationalist is unable to think outside the logic of the capitalism
system and secondly because their own economic position, privileged
relative to the working class, is a direct result of economic oppression
imposed on the people of Ireland by British colonisation. Connolly’s
solution was simple but revolutionary: the working class must lead the
struggle for political and economic freedom.

As we approach the 150th anniversary of his birth we need to re-engage
Connolly’s life and work with the working class he fought for every day
of his life. To channel his rage at injustice and his determination to
fight for those marginalised, silenced and excluded under capitalism. To
use his love of life and politics and culture and humour to give people
hope and optimism.

Strong support urged for ‘March for Truth’

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Victims of the conflict have announced plans for a mass march in Belfast
to demand action on efforts to deal with the legacy of the conflict.

A number of groups representing relatives bereaved at different times
have come together under the banner “Time for Truth” and urged people to
join their protest on February 25.

It comes as various attempts to bring closure to conflict killings have
failed due to a refusal to provide resources or the legal constraint of
“national security”.

Announcing the march, Emma Rogan, whose father Adrian was shot dead in
the UVF Loughinisland massacre in County Down in 1994, said the truth
cost nothing.

“I am calling on everyone to come out, put your feet on the streets and
march with us,” she said. “Solidarity, everybody together sending a
strong clear message that we deserve and we need the truth. It’s human
decency that people would get the truth and know what happened to their
loved ones and know why.”

She added: “I was eight years old when my father was murdered. He was
34, not much older than I am now. For him and his memory, and for his
legacy, I require the truth and I need the truth for him.

“He was afforded no dignity in his death. He lay dying along with five
other men on a pub floor in ’94 while they watched the World Cup. The
truth costs nothing, the truth belongs to everybody.”

At the launch event, John Teggart, whose father Danny was killed by
soldiers in Ballymurphy in west Belfast in 1971, rejected the suggestion
the march would only represent one side of the community.

“It is open to all families irrespective of their backgrounds who lost
loved ones or who were injured in the conflict,” he said.

“We are calling on all sections of society to support the Time for Truth
march, the pursuit of the truth is a matter for all society. This covers
all walks of life – all victims under the one banner.”

New evidence emerged this week that the PSNI have secretly been
withholding files containing evidence supplied by the British Minister
of Defence from as far back as 2007. The police have claimed they didn’t
know they had the database in their possession, and admitted it had not
been included when providing intelligence material for conflict-related
inquests.

Sinn Fein described the development as “staggering”. Republican Network
for Unity said it was “just another cover up within an act of
collusion”.

A number of completed inquests which could be impacted by the
revelation. Padraig O Muirigh, who has represented families in four
completed inquests as well as several pending cases, said it was
“astonishing”.

“Once again there are serious question marks about how the PSNI have
handled legacy cases in the coroners court and related proceedings,” he
said.

“The families I represent have no confidence in the PSNI, or indeed MoD,
fulfilling their obligations with respect to legacy inquests and
consideration should be given to some independent oversight of the
disclosure process.”

Mike Ritchie of Relatives for Justice also said it “beggars belief that
nobody thought that this information would be relevant for inquests”,
while Paul O’Connor of the Pat Finucane Centre said “there are going to
be a large number of families that have serious questions”.

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly said the PSNI’s explanation was not acceptable.
“They still haven’t clarified who decided not to tell the disclosure
unit,” he said.

Fight for civil rights continues

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Fifty years on from the launch of the civil rights movement,
nationalists are contining to battle for equality in the face of
systematic and opportunistic discrimination.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the famous civil rights marches
from Coalisland to Dungannon and at Duke Street in Derry city. Images
of the RUC beating protestors at Duke Street were broadcast around the
world by the international media.

But while nationalist politicians have been bickering over who should
get credit for the civil rights movement, it emerged this week that
Catholics are still almost 50% more likely to be unemployed as
Protestants. The latest annual figures released by the Stormont
administration this week showed that the inequality gap is actually
widening.

In sports, nationalist teams are currently prevented from playing at a
publicly owned sports pitch in North Belfast due to a loyalist threat.
And there was international disbelief when a local council announced
this week that it had blocked the flying of Irish flags at a public St
Patrick’s Day celebration.

Derry City and Strabane District Council said that as it had provided
some funding, it would insist no flags be used at the St Patrick’s Day
event. The council’s move has left it open to accusations of anti-Irish
discrimination, as it has never previously objected to the use of the
British flag at loyalist events.

Independent republican councillor Paul Gallagher said the changes were
a result of a mistaken “interpretation of legislation” by councillors
Sinn Fein is to seek to reverse the decision.

Meanwhile, pupils from Irish-medium schools across the north have been
forced to protest at Stormont parliament buildings over the
discrimination that Irish language speakers face on a daily basis.

Katy-Rose Meade, an A-level student from Colaiste Feirste secondary
school in Belfast, addressed the rally on the steps of Parliament
Buildings.

“The community has organised and mobilised for over 12 months, and will
continue to do so until our rights are delivered, as was promised more
than 12 years ago (in the St Andrews Agreement),” she said.

“I was six when that promise was made and during my lifetime I have
witnessed obstacle after obstacle placed before the growth of our
community-led revival.

“That community has had enough. Nothing other than a stand-alone
rights-based Irish-language Act, as is afforded to other minority
language communities on these islands, will do,” Katy-Rose added.

HAGGARTY TO GO FREE IN BRAZEN COVER-UP

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There was widespread shock this week after it was confirmed that
loyalist Special Branch double agent Gary Haggarty could be freed
within weeks despite pleading guilty to five murders, five attempted
murders and hundreds of other crimes.

A 35-year jail term was reduced to six-and-a-half years for his support
of the British state and agreeing to give evidence. But despite working
as a paid police informer for 11 years, a prosecution using his
testimony is only set to go ahead in one case.

With time served on remand, Haggarty is now eligible to appear before
parole board hearing which could secure his immediate release.

Haggarty committed hundreds of offences alongside the unionist
paramilitary UVF in the period from 1991 to 2007. His murder victims
included innocent Catholic workmen Eamon Fox and Gary Convie, killed as
they had lunch together in a car in north Belfast in 1994.

Mr Fox’s son Kieran said he felt let down.

“What is justice in this country? It is just designed to look after the
criminal,” he said.

“How can a man convicted of that many crimes be set free? The man is a
serial killer, he was a paid state informer, he was allowed to kill at
will, police knew he was killing at will and let it continue.”

He added: “You live by the sword, you die by the sword.

“All the families here today did not ask to be here, we were dragged
into this through no fault of their own. The police could have prevented
us being here today but did not, they were prepared to look after a
criminal, a terrorist, back him.

“It just seems life in this jurisdiction here, you are dispensable, it
doesn’t matter, get on with it.”

Also killed was grandfather Sean McParland, who was shot dead by
Haggarty in front of his children simply to protect his position as an
informer. To “prove himself” to fellow gang members and avoid suspicion
that he was an informer, Haggarty volunteered to take the lead role in
the murder. He shot Mr McParland at close range in the chest.

Haggarty’s murder victims also included John Harbinson, who was beaten
to death with a hammer by a UVF gang in North Belfast in May 1997 —
afterwards Haggarty went and had a drink in a nearby house — and Sean
McDermott, a 37-year-old Catholic found shot dead in his car near Antrim
in August 1994.

Prosecutors have claimed Haggarty’s evidence is insufficient to provide
a reasonable prospect of obtaining a conviction against 11 other
suspected loyalist paramilitaries and the “police intelligence officers”
who directed his actions.

Andree Murphy of Relatives for Justice said he trial and sentencing of
Haggarty gave scant attention to the actions of the RUC/PSNI, and why
they failed to prevent or actively assisted in the targeting of
individuals.

“It seems perverse that Haggarty’s evidence is good enough to convict
him, and potentially other loyalists, but deemed to fall short when it
comes to RUC Special Branch Officers,” she said.

In a statement, Niall Murphy of the Kevin Winters law firm said their
clients feared that “the entire process has been stage managed and
directed to ensure that no prosecutions were ever brought — the
fundamental premise underpinning that guarantee, being the fact that
state agents and employees are a species protected from prosecution.”

He particularly condemned the failure to prosecute the attempted murder
of John Flynn, even though the PSNI had paid him compensation for the
RUC’s role in two attacks, and excoriated the use of a sick note by a
member of the Special Branch to successfully avoid other prosecutions.
He said it was the most concerning decision not to prosecute a case in
court since the murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan.

He added: “What of the role of the two Registered Informants who
accompanied Haggarty to Skegoneill Avenue to commit the murder [of Sean
McParland], and the other Registered Informant who prepared the second
getaway car. Or indeed the role of the Registered Informant who
selected the house for the murderous attack and perhaps most
concerningly the roles of Haggarty’s Special Branch handlers who he
asserts were directing him on a murderous rampage of terrorism to fulfil
Special Branch’s own intelligence interests and security ambitions for
the north Belfast UVF?”

Sinn Fein MLA Raymond McCartney last night said the families of those
killed and injured by Haggarty had “received neither truth nor justice”.

“This reduced sentence means that he is effectively getting away with
murder,” he said.”But families are also being denied the truth around
allegations that Haggarty’s RUC Special Branch may have ignored warnings
about murder and may have covered up his involvement in murders and
attempted murders over many years.”

Official Communication from the UFA

Posted by Jim on February 2, 2018