A James Connolly Reader

by James Connolly, Shaun Harkin (Editor)

Overview

Considered by many Ireland's most important revolutionary, James Connolly devoted his life to struggles against exploitation, oppression, and imperialism.  Active in workers' movements in the United States, Scotland , and Ireland, Connolly was a peerless organizer, sharp polemicist, and highly original thinker. His positions on the relationship between national liberation and socialism, revolution in colonized in colonized and under developed economies, and women's liberation in particular were often decades ahead of their time.  This collection seeks to return Connolly to his proper place in Irish and global history, and to inspire activists, students, and those interested in history today with his vision of an Ireland and world free from militarism, injustice, and deprivation. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608466665
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	05/15/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	250
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Shaun Harkin: Shaun Harkin is an activist and writer presently based in Derry City, Ireland. He is a member of the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit Alliance. He is a regular contributor to Socialist Worker (U.S.), the International Socialist Review, and? Socialist Worker (Ireland).

James Connolly: James Connolly (1868 1916) was an Irish republican and socialist leader, aligned to syndicalism and the Industrial Workers of the World. He became one of the leading Marxist theorists of his day. He was executed by a British firing squad because of his leadership role in the Easter Rising of 1916.

Table of Contents

Irish Socialist Republican Party
Socialism and Nationalism
Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee
The Men We Honour
Compromise
The Gaelic Revival
The Roots of Modern War
A Socialist Candidate for Dublin Corporation
State Monopoly versus Socialism
Socialism and Religion
International Capitalism
The Kaiser and the Class War
Socialism and Royalty
Soldiers of the Queen
Physical Force in Irish Politics
The South African War
Law and Order
Imperialism and Socialism
A Plea for the Children
Let Us Free Ireland!
The Coming Generation
Coronation of King Edward VII
Taken Root!
The New Danger: Socialists and Coalition
Declaration of the Principles for the Irish Socialist Federation
The Coming Revolt in India I
The Coming Revolt in India II
Socialism Made Easy
Erin’s Hope: The End and The Means
Sinn Féin and the Language Movement
Emigration
To Irish Wage Workers in America
Facets of American Liberty
Sinn Féin, Socialism and the Nation
Learning Their Lesson
Ballots, Bullets, Or -?
Industrial Unionism and Trade Unions
Labour in Irish History
Sweatshops Behind the Orange Flag
Ireland, Karl Marx and William Walker
Direct Action in Belfast
Visit of King George V
Some Rambling Remarks
British Labour and Irish Politicians
North-East Ulster
July the Twelfth
A Forgotten Chapter in Irish History
Belfast and Dublin Today
The Dublin Lock Out: On the Eve
Glorious Dublin!
How to Release Larkin
Irish Rebels and English Mobs
A Titanic Struggle
A Fiery Cross or Christmas Bells
The Isolation of Dublin
Labour and the Proposed Partition of Ireland
The Exclusion of Ulster
Old Wine in New Bottles
Our Duty in This Crisis
A Continental Revolution
The National Danger
A Martyr for Conscience Sake
The War Upon the German Nation
The Hope of Ireland
Socialists and the War
Revolutionary Unionism and War
Moscow Insurrection of 1905
For the Citizens Army
Ireland - Disaffected or Revolutionary?
The Ties That Bind
Economic Conscription
Woman
What Is Our Programme?
Cannon Fodder for British Imperialism
We Will Rise Again
The Irish Flag
Last Statement

Editorial Reviews

"James Connolly was an uncompromising fighter for Irish freedom and a socialist for all the world. He lived in tumultuous times in dire poverty in Scotland, Ireland, and the United States. Everywhere, he enriched the working class. Connolly was a teacher of socialism and a militant unions organizer. He wielded words like a scimitar, slicing through the thickets of lives to get to capitalism's noxious heart. He wrote socialist songs which can still ring the rafters today. Connolly died in the struggle for national liberation in Dublin in 1916, having never given an inch to patriots who couldn't stand socialism. With an erudite introduction and a glittering selection of his penetrating, polemical, incisive, inspiring writings, Shaun Harkin has produced the Connolly book which socialists across the world have been waiting for." —Eamonn McCann

"admirably researched" –Irish Independent

“Many [books about James Connolly] tend to be quite partial and serve more to try and make Connolly’s memory serve the political agenda of the author, rather than illuminate the actual thinking of the man. For a handy alternative to this sort of thing, Haymarket books have brought out this paperback that will make an extremely good starting point for anyone who wants to know more about his real thoughts and beliefs.” –Counterfire

“A book that should be on school shelves, as much as those of someone who wishes for a fairer society. Essential.” –NJ McGarrigle, Irish Times

“The legacy of James Connolly, Ireland’s pre-eminent Marxist revolutionary, has been appropriated and sanitised by every political tradition including the Irish state to such an extent that his historical role has often been obscured. Shaun Harkin’s selection of Connolly’s writing shines a penetrating light through this fog and allows him to speak for himself.” –Socialist Review

From the Publisher