JAMES CONNOLLY - By J. T. MURPHY fact that the father was a laborer . . . publican Party and edit its organ, count of its effect upon Lenin. “His a Marxist must write ; In 1880 Connolly's family became ex- “The Workers’ Republic." Revolt whole being cried out against it and . SOMEDAYthe life of James Connolly. We iles and arrived in where against the Boer war, Anti-Jubilee where Lenin called for the transfor- , his father . obtained work Empire Demonstration . . shall never get a true appreciation of as a cor- writing mation of the Imperial War into the poration dustman. James became a “Labor in Irish History” . . . represen- Connolly’s place in Irish History and Civil War of the Classes, Connolly 1 printer’s devil Tn the office of the lo- tative of the Irish S. P. at the In- called the subject nation of Ireland revolutionary the Socialist movement cal “Evening News.” He was then ternational Social Congress, in 1900. to war upon the Empire. of Britain and America until someone, , under legal age, but his employer In at the split of the S. D. F. in 1903/ “We shall continue in season and

a year . .” armed with the guiding philosophy for defeated the law . the formation of the Socialist Labor out of season to teach that 'the far- Then the sack. lucky Party of his life, has turned it upon his work “But he was in line with De Leon, later in flung battle line of England is weak- enough to find work soon afterwards the year he departed for America. est point and appraised his thoughts and ac- at the nearest its heart, that a . . . years in bakery later . . . two Back again in 1910. The organization Ireland is in that position of tactical tions accordingly. has in a mosaic tiling factory. . . . . i The of the I. T. W. U. . . The great in- advantage that a defeat of England brought together “a record of facts, , company of his uncle, an old Fenian, dustrial revolt of 1913. The final mar- in India, Egypt, the Balkans, or Flan- opinions, and recollections of James , kept vivid in'his memory the glamour tyrdom after Easter Week, 1916." ders, would not be so dangerous to and agony of the national struggle. Here was complacent trade un- Empire Connolly” which will be exceedingly no the British as conflict of arm- Mitchell too, he read, and much Irish working j helpful to whoever undertakes the ion leader, but a class war- ed forces in Ireland, that the time for history. Brooding, intense, silent, work, but insofar as he attempts to rior with heart aflame. What could Ireland’s battle is now, the place for outwardly inwardly aflame, a place Connolly, he enters into the cold and be the use of talking about the phi- Ireland’s Battle is Here.” spirit of adventure called him to losophy gradualism same partisan claims which lie con- new of to this man Both watchwords scenes. Leaving Edinburgh at eight- steeped in revolutionary lore and were fundamen- demns in others. ‘‘One inclines upon com- tally sound in relation to the een Connolly was in turn tramp, navvy pelled to do battle at every step. Once war the whole” he says, “to define his on Imperialism. Both with tire- and peddler, spending a roving and the goal of social revolution becomes men probable attitude as that of the offi- less energy pursued their tasks, but eventful life in different parts of Brit- his consuming aim and he has grasp- cial Irish Labor Party,” begins an there is a difference in the of tain. He was married in Perth at ed the Marxist method of readng his- means argument to justify his claim, and operation. Both agreed they the age of twenty-one. An accident tory, his evolution towards in that suddenly drops it as, “perhaps, a pro- must call into operation the sum to his father recalled him to Edin- becomes a certainty the years to- fitless conjecture.” I doubt this. The as tal of the forces they could burgh. His parent was permanently sweep us onward towards the great muster controversy and speculation have a against the imperialist, but had disabled and James Connolly took up crisis of 1914. His divergence from one a significance, which, if properly appre- highly developed party as an instru- his work as dustman in the cleansing the Kautskys in the revolutionary ciated, would do much to indicate the ment to gather the forces and main- department of the . . corporation , purpose. They had revolutionary right line of approach to an under- no tain the proletarian hegemony, But many tomes of ancient and mod- purpose but turned into a the standing of Connolly. other had no such revolutionary par- ern history had he handled, the revo- fatalism which saw emerg- Why the rival claims for the soul ty understanding the role of the pro- lutionary phases of Irish history in ing thru the gradual transformation of Connolly? Why the quotation and letariat in predominantly agricul- . . . a particular. Marx, Engels . .Asso- of capitalism. What to them was a counter quotation to justify the sup- tural country. Lenin was farther a- ciation with British Socialists. Mor- paralysing blow was to Connolly the port or non-support of action? Why head than Connolly and with the Bol- . ris, Hyndman, Leslie . . Then to great opportunity. Ryan’s account of still move Connolly’s own dying ex- shevik Party not only led the work- in 189 G Socialist agiator the effect of the Imperialist War clamation, “The Socialists will never as on ers as the vanguard of the mighty and to start the Irish Socialist Re- Connolly reads like Zinoviev's ac- re- understand why. I am here. Does volutionary movement of workers and not the answer lie in the fact that peasants, but crystalized and express- Connolly is among the few great fig- ed the experience that the world ures of the international working THE WORKERS’ FLAG should see and hear and read and un- class movement which belong to the derstand. Connolly had not such a transition from the epoch of imperial- Unfurl our banner to the breeze It shall challenge tyrant wrong; party. He appealed to the I. T. W. expansion epoch ist to the of social On mountain heights and distant seas; It shall make the weak, the strong; U., the citizen army. He led his re- revolution, that he felt himself sur- Where the poor are trodden down It shall clasp in brotherhood cruits to the very forefront of the rounded by , narrow nation- In the country and the town; Men of every race and blood. national struggle and by these acts alism, doctrinaire Socialism, none of stamped upon pages Where the children toil all day, the of Irish his- which had been brought face to face tory the role of the of Ire- Robbed of sunshine and of play; ‘Tis the flag whose gleaming red with the task of revolution? I think But, al- Where land in its war of liberation. McManus struck the key to the situ- our sisters earn their bread Strikes the workers’ foes with dread; tho he created the impression In that he ation when he observed that Connolly work from which all joy has fled; ’Tis our flag, we workers, here; would not hesitate to turn against was “the one Socialist that he had Where our brothers give their life Rise and greet it with a cheer. some of his colleagues in the national judged every public ever met who For masters’ gain, in bloody strife. James H. Dolsen. war if they would not proceed to car- situation or political crisis with an ry out the socialist measures for eye upon revolutionary possibilities.” which he fought, I do not find any Where were the others to be found at clear defining of the role of the prole- that time? Certainly we do not find tariat or his aims as that of the dic- them in the British Isles, nor Amer- Daily tatorship of the proletariat or what ica. We are compelled to turn our An Italian a Communist part revolutionary party must take eyes factors eastwards and bring him into in the organized labor move in relation thereto. His deeds pro- By Antonio Presi. ment alignment with the smkll Bolshevik of this country today. claim the answer and one feels con- group led by Lenin. Desmond Ryan battle initiated by the Italian And when we look over this great vinced that had Connolly not been army says, “Broadly speaking, James Con- Federation for an Italian Commun- of more than 3,500,000 workers murdered by the Asquith-Henderson THE speaking nolly must be classified as a Workers’ ist daily in America is near its tri- our language, without a combination and had he lived to see Republican daily paper, any and Communist. The doc- umph. It was a hard, formidable bat- without labor insti- the Russian Revolution and the emer- trines tution, know how and methods that the Russian tle. we great was the gence of the Communist Internation- familiarized, damage done by this gang Revolution has since We were like a little group of sail- of demn al, he would have completed his writ- fighting gogues up in the regalia were his. He would certainly have ors in a terrible storm at sea. dressed of ings in full accord with the declara- at A desperate “proletarian saviors.” It is for this been one with Lenin in destruc- fight. tions of the . We possessed only reason that our Federation decided to tion and construction alike.” Ryan the Indomitable It is this incompleteness is right in this, but the trouble is determination to arrive at the goal, to concentrate its main forces to achieve which gives rise to the claims of partisans. that Ryan himself does not under- give to the glorious and immortal the realization of a daily paper, a paper Ryan speaks of his departure from stand Leninism and consequently, Communist International a new which can reach the toiling "his original Marxism” when in reali- cannot apply it to the understanding fighting flag, a new impregnable masses and teach them the Commun- ist principles, ty he was manifesting firmer grip of Connolly. He does not understand trench defended by a few ardent Com- give them an ideal to a defend, propagate, of its esesntiais in contrast to the the great changes that were coming munist soldiers. to to realize. formal expression passing in the > Marxists, Only a few months ago our “Alba Tomorrow we know what will be name in the ranks of the cleav- of Marxism whether via Kautsky age that was imminent when those Nuova” started to come out every the result of the propaganda for the or De Leon. This was the case on who had been transforming Marxism week. The atmosphere which sur- daily paper. We know that thous- more than the struggle of subject nations. into an apology for reformism were rounded us was full of antagonism, ands of working men and working- He grasped the essentials of working to be separated from those who grasp- hatred, aversion. But we never cared. women will understand their duty in with the peasantry, and of using ed Marxism as the philosophy of The Communist soldiers cannot fear the great field of the class struggle. the re- co-operatives whilst the followers volution. Nor does he understand the ts enemies; we know them very well. Our paper will be a great weapon of De Leon were concentrating in- difference between those who marched Oportunists, reformists so-called, against the Fascist movement, it will on libertarians of the Makhno dustrial unionism and the box. with Lenin under the banner of type, In- gle in this country among the Italian ballot be the center of the anti-Fascist strug- . And besides He learned his industrial unionism and those who under the that it ~ dustrialists, all in the industrialized countries of Eng- leadership of De Leon, most of whom of them with their will be a great help to the American publications, a land and America, but he had ap- at least kept much of their revolution- launched relentless of- workers because it will fight to dis- to against principle ply his philosophy in essentially ary powdering and saved themselves fensive the which we sipate racial and national hatred be- an stood for. But shrank be- agricultural country by in the hour of International Crisis we never tween the workers of the world, so as dominated a fore the rattle We powerful nationalist spirit from becoming the abject creatures snake. remained to eliminate the ignominous national- because of immovable, rock of granite. its subjection to England. Fearlessly of imperialism, such as Kautzky, Van- like a istic teachings so dangerous to the We working he faced these problems which did and reformists of the Sec- followed our course. class interests. Only the en- dervelde. Today sympathies not press upon the ond International. He writes with a the of the Italian emies of the workers, Americans or De Leonists of workers are with us, the victory of Italians, Britain and America and grap- mind which seems to be a long way can tremble before this new as ho establishing daily paper step by pled with them he felt big back amidst the old controversies be- a shows that made the workers toward the differ- we were right. Those who assail us their emancipation; working ences that lay between him nationalism and international- but the and his tween belong to the category of the impo- class sing old associates. That is why ism, industrial unionism and the bal- all over the world can the he ex- tent, the pusillanimous, good only to hymn of Joy in this claimed, "The socialists will not lot box, talking about peaceful per- movement, be- un- fight against the workers’ cause rath- cause it shows Fascism derstand why 1 am here.” Could he iods and war periods. And yet these that cannot er than the capitalist regime. For succeed in crushing the hope a have seen the succeeding years—wel- are only incidentals to an apprecia- for more than a quarter of a century that now day of the workers of Italy. comed the Russian and tion of Connolly’s position. Connolly’s Revolution felt element, because of its sectarian and Yes, the publication of “II Lavora- the quaking foundations of capitalism, place in history is among the heralds narrow mind in the class struggle, tor” is the beginning of the new and he would also have heard of a new epoch and he must be placed an answer- has continuously divided the workers triumphant resurrection of the Italian ing cry. The revolutionary and understood accordingly. Socialists into various factions. Not in the proletariat. The day will come when do understand and greet James Con- Ryan vividly sketches his struggles. name of a party, an ideal, a principle, we will celebrate the downfall of nolly as one of the valiant few who Born in Ulster in the same year as but for their own personal ambition. Mussolini and his pretorian army to by their deeds rescued Marxism from Lenin, "Connolly was ‘draggod up’ only (he And for this reason Uio Italian give birth to Italian Soviet Repub- sterility and led the way into the like most proletarian boys ... Os his working class in America, numerous lic. It is inevitable. The Italian pro- epoch of social revolution.—J. T. Mur- parents beyond we know little the as it is, is not yet one of the main !letariat is still marching. phy.