Connolly, James

Related Category: British and Irish History: Biographies

1870–1916, Irish nationalist and socialist. An advocate of revolutionary syndicalism, he went (1903) to the United States, where he helped to organize the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Returning to Ireland, he became an organizer of the Belfast dock workers. He helped James Larkin to organize the Irish Transport and General Workers Union and, during the great lockout of the Dublin transport workers in 1913, organized a citizen army. Convinced that the triumph of Irish nationalism was a prerequisite for the success of Irish socialism, he joined the Easter Rebellion of 1916. He was wounded, court-martialed, and executed.

See two selections from his writings: Socialism and Anatomy (with intro. and notes by D. Ryan, 1948) and The Workers' Republic (ed. by D. Ryan, 1951); biography by C. D. Greaves (1972).