James Connolly in the Bureau of Military History
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James Connolly in The Bureau of Military History Conor Kostick The Bureau of Military History was es- tablished by the Irish government in 1947 with the remit of interviewing activists from the period 1913 to 1921. The Bu- reau approached people through the orig- inal IRA brigade structures, from there word of mouth led them to members at all levels of the Volunteer movement. The result is an archive collection with over 1,700 contributions, including witness statements from rank and file members whose testimony is otherwise lost to his- tory. First released in 2003, in 2012 this archive was put online at http://www. bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/. The Bureau collection was drawn upon by Lorcan Collins in his splendid new bi- ography of James Connolly (OBrien Press, James Connolly 2012), but examining the archive materi- als also allows for a renewal of the discu- sion among socialists of the role of James The testimony in the Military Bureau Connolly in the Easter Rising. A num- archives concerning James Connolly is not ber of Irish Citizen Army members were of the sort of evidence that can deliver a interviewed by the Bureau and it is from definitive resolution to the debate over his them most of all that we can cast a light on political activity - after all, those still alive the ideas and practice of James Connolly in 1947 had their own political coloura- in 1915 and 1916. Historically, the ap- tion to affect their memories - but it does praisal of James Connolly's deeds in these deepen our understanding of what he was years has followed party lines. Those, like attempting to do and of his personal char- Desmond Greaves, who believed that revo- acter. lutionaries should support republicans un- Following the outbreak of war, Con- critically as a first stage towards socialism nolly was convinced that the internation- were very enthusiastic about Connolly's alism of the working class, as embodied by role in the Easter Rising, while others such his colleagues in the trade union and so- as Peter Hadden of the Militant (now So- cialist movement, had not been destroyed. cialist Party) who saw only reactionary It was temporarily submerged under a politics in the national movement, consid- wave of jingoism, but he wrote, echoing ered Connolly to have been deeply mis- Voltaire on the American Revolution - the taken in dragging unwilling trade unionists right spark could `set the torch to a Euro- and ICA members into battle.1 pean conflagration that will not burn out 1For example, C.D Greaves, `James Connolly (1868 1916) Marxist', Marxism Today, June 1968, p. 177. Peter Hadden, Divide and Rule (Second Edition: London and Dublin 1986), pp. 61 66. 15 until the last throne and the last capital- tion. We were to be cautious. We must not ist bond and debenture will be shrivelled play the enemys game, we must have no on the funeral pyre of the last war lord.'2 more forlorn hopes, `our children's children And `even an unsuccessful attempt at so- would vindicate Ireland's right to freedom', cial revolution by force of arms... would be etc. less disastrous to the Socialist cause than `We in the Citizen Army felt very proud the act of Socialists in allowing themselves and confident in our leadership. We, in to be used in the slaughter of their brothers common with the Volunteers, had orders 3 in the causes.' to resist any arrest or disarmament and to So Connolly wanted a military fight resist with force any raid on our premises. while favourable conditions prevailed and We knew that in our case there would be he hoped that this fight would be made no backing down on the part of our leaders, easier by the desire of many Irish Volun- but we were not so sure about the leader- 5 teers for a rising. But late in 1915, Con- ship of the Volunteers.' nolly was growing increasingly concerned When a commemoration was held of that the Irish Volunteers were - like pre- the centenary of the birth of John Mitchell, vious generations of radical nationalists - in November 1915, Padraig Pearse spoke going to miss a chance to defeat the Em- about how previous insurrections had al- pire. Britain was massively stretched by ways been just too late. Frank Robbins, the war and the Irish garrison was down then a young ITGWU and ICA member, to some 8,000 troops. was present in the audience with Connolly, who stood up and said: `will this one also While the ICA was preparing to strike be too late?'6 and a greater and greater tension was growing among its members, the leaders Robbins also drew attention to the im- of the Irish Volunteers were shying away portance of the incident concerning Robert from action. Maeve Cavanagh, an ICA Monteith. Monteith was an Irish Vol- member and poet, remembers Connolly at unteer against whom the British author- this time saying of Eoin MacNeill's news- ities issued a deportation order. This cre- paper, The Irish Volunteer, that it was like ated a flashpoint, which was defused when a `great wet blanket spread over Ireland ev- the leaders of the Irish Volunteers allowed ery week.'4 Helena Moloney, also ICA, and Monteith to be deported. Connolly, by an actress at the Abbey, said that as a re- contrast, declared that any such order ap- sult, it was the Workers Republic that was plied to a member of the ICA would be eagerly awaited each week. `It was rightly resisted in arms and this position made an regarded as the real voice of the `extremist' impression on the more resolute of the Irish 7 side of the Volunteer movement. The offi- Volunteers. cial organ of the Irish Volunteers, The Irish Interpreting these events as meaning Volunteer, edited by John MacNeill and the leadership of the Irish Volunteers were controlled by Bulmer Hobson, had taken pulling away from the idea of insurrection, on a curious and intangible tone of cau- Connolly tested his own organisation to see 2James Connolly, Irish Worker, 8 August, 1914. 3James Connolly, Forward, 15 August 1914. 4WS0248 5WS0391 6WS0585 7Ibid. 16 if the ICA were willing to fight alone. In tan, a leading IRB member, recalled Tom autumn 1915, reported Robbins, `Connolly Clarke saying `the Volunteers would not ordered a complete mobilisation, which he and should not be forced to strike by any regarded as being of great importance. He action like this.' McCartan himself, how- addressed the members present and con- ever, disagreed, believing that `if the ICA veyed to them his opinion that the situa- went out, we must go out too, as otherwise tion was now becoming dangerous and it the whole movement would fizzle out like might mean that the Citizen Army would the Rising of `98. It was at the Supreme have to fight alone without the aid of the Council meeting that I put forward these Irish Volunteers. From this time onwards, views.'12 members were told to fight rather than lose Stated in the abstract, without insight arms.' Every ICA member was asked three into the internal divisions among the Irish questions, one of which was `are you pre- Volunteers, the idea of the tiny ICA start- pared to fight without the aid of the Irish ing an insurrection can seem reckless, to 8 Volunteers or any other allies.' say the least. But if Connolly was counting By January 1916, those of the Irish Vol- on a section of the Irish Volunteers joining unteers who intended to fight were wor- in, his calculations were not unrealistic, in ried that some incident involving the ICA that his insurrectionist militancy was cre- would trigger an insurrection prematurely ating massive tensions inside the IRB and and they kept a close eye on Liberty Hall. the Irish Volunteer leadership. Already, according to P.S. O'Hegarty, a The best testimony to Connolly's member of the Supreme Council of the thinking at this point comes from Eamon IRB, Sean MacDermott had said in May O'Duibhir of the Tipperary IRB. Speaking 1915 that `well have to do something about to Connolly on a fact finding mission for this bloody fellow Connolly. Hes going the IRB, O'Duibhir reported Connolly's about shouting out his mouth all over the views as being that `he feared the national place and we're afraid he'll bring the Ris- leaders, if they intended a rising at all, ing down on us before we are ready.'9 might put it off until it would be too late. Christopher Brady, the printer of the The time to act was whilst England was Workers Republic and of the proclama- engaged in this war, and the war cannot tion, remembered that `Sean McDermott last forever. He further said that he was was a weekly visitor to Liberty Hall. He determined to strike and that before long, would drop in on Thursday night usu- unless he had some assurance that the Irish 13 ally, for an advance copy of the Workers Volunteers would strike soon.' Republic. Other occasional visitors were The IRB resolved this tension by Tom Clarke, Joseph Plunkett and Padraig preparing to kidnap Connolly with the in- Pearse.'10 Pearse could not sleep for a tention of showing him that his fears were week after the first 1916 edition of the misplaced. Eamonn T Dore, an IRB mem- Workers Republic made it clear that the ber, was one of those told off on 19 January ICA intended action.11 Patrick McCar- 1916 by Commandant Ned Daly to stand 8Ibid.