James Connolly
Edited by Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh
p.128Irish Rebels and English Mobs
22 November 1913
Sunday, November 23rd, will be the forty-sixth anniversary of the execution in Manchester of Allen, Larkin and O'Brien.
On the night before these, our brothers, were hanged, a howling mob of the scum of that English city held orgy around the prison walls and made right hideous, as well as profaned, the last hours of The Three by the singing of indecent songs and the shouting of blasphemous insults at the faith of the Irish rebels who had dared to outrage the majesty of England. To that English mob the words 'Irish Rebel' summed up everything hateful and odious. At these words their worst passions were aroused, and in their fury they behaved as only savages can behave when a gallant foe is stricken down. To work their passions up to that point the English Press exhausted every effort, and tapped every reservoir of vitriolic denunciation and callous slander. The English public responded to the call of the prostitutes of the Press with but few exceptions; one of these few, Ernest Jones, the great Chartist, took up the thankless task of defending the Irishmen, and thus completed a round of devotion to the cause of Ireland begun in the stormy days of the Young Irelanders.
But to the vast multitude – as to that howling mob desecrating the last hours of brave men by their ribald insults and loudmouthed indecency – the name of Irish rebel was like a red rag to a bull. Forty-six years ago!
Forty-six years after that outrage a gathering of the democracy of Manchester met together a few hundred yards away from the spot on which stood Salford Jail. This gathering was at least three times as large as that other mob of historic ill-fame. It was composed, not of the degraded slum population, but of intelligent, educated, self-respecting men and women – the flower of the Manchester working class.
Again, the centre of attraction was the presence of Irish rebels. But this gathering of the Manchester democracy roared out to these Irish rebels of our day a welcome and a promise – a welcome to them because they had dared and suffered for democracy; a promise to do likewise if the word was only given. To this latter-day gathering to be an Irish working class rebel – standing for all and more that the immortal three had stood for – was to possess a passport to their admiration and p.129 esteem. So much had education accomplished – so much and so far had the toilers of England progressed towards a realisation of their true position – realising at last that they are not citizens, but helots and slaves of an Empire.
Are we saying too much when we say that this welcome accorded last Sunday to Larkin and to Connolly at these magnificent gatherings of over 25,000 people went far to wipe out the bad memories of the past, and to make it more possible for the two democracies to understand each other – and understanding, to co-operate together in the march of their own class emancipation?
On Sunday there will be a procession through the streets of Dublin to commemorate that martyrdom. We trust that every member of the Transport Union and its sister organisation, the Irish Women Workers' Union, will be in their allotted place in that procession. No excuse can be taken for absence. There are bodies allotted places in that procession whose every public act is a negation of what the Fenians stood for, but no murmur should be allowed against the desecration of their presence. At other times and other places, that question must be raised. But upon that day let our reproach be the reproach of our silence in their presence.
It is our duty to show the world that neither the friendship of the English nor their hatred can turn the Irish democracy from their resolve to win for their country her right to be a free and independent Nation enjoying a true Republican freedom.
The architects of that freedom will and must be the Irish working class. Ours is the task to prepare them. While that preparation is going forward we must take our place in every good and wise movement for the upholding of the highest ideals born of the age-long struggle of our people.
JAMES CONNOLLY.
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Title (uniform): Irish Rebels and English Mobs
Author: James Connolly
Editor: Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh
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Electronic edition compiled by: Benjamin Hazard
proof corrections by: Aisling Byrne
Funded by: University College, Cork via The Writers of Ireland Project
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2. Second draft.
Extent: 1861 words
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Publisher: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College Cork
Address: College Road, Cork, Ireland—http://www.ucc.ie/celt
Date: 2006
Date: 2010
Distributor: CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.
CELT document ID: E900002-036
Availability: Available with prior consent of the CELT programme for purposes of academic research and teaching only.
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Edition
- Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh (ed.), James Connolly: The Lost Writings (London 1997).
Selected further reading
- James Connolly and William Walker, The Connolly-Walker controversy on socialist unity in Ireland (Dublin 1911, repr. Cork 1986).
- Robert Lynd, James Connolly: an appreciation, to James Connolly, Collected works (2 vols, October 1916, repr. Dublin 1987) i, pp. 495–507.
- Lambert McKenna, The social teachings of James Connolly (Dublin 1920).
- Desmond Ryan, James Connolly: his life, work and writings (Dublin 1924).
- G. Schüller, James Connolly and Irish freedom: a marxist analysis (Chicago 1926, repr. Cork 1974).
- Noelle Davis, Connolly of Ireland: patriot and socialist (Carnarvon 1946).
- Richard Michael Fox, James Connolly: the forerunner (Tralee 1946).
- Desmond Ryan, Socialism and nationalism: a selection from the writings of James Connolly (Dublin 1948).
- Desmond Ryan, 'James Connolly', in J. W. Boyle (ed.), Leaders and workers (Cork 1960, repr. 1978).
- C. Desmond Greaves, The life and times of James Connolly (London 1961, repr. Berlin 1976).
- François Bédarida, Le socialisme et la nation: James Connolly et l'Irlande (Paris 1965).
- Joseph Deasy, James Connolly: his life and teachings (Dublin 1966).
- James Connolly, Press poisoners in Ireland and other articles (Belfast 1968).
- James Connolly, Yellow unions in Ireland and other articles (Belfast 1968).
- Peter McKevitt, James Connolly (Dublin 1969).
- Owen Dudley Edwards, The mind of an activist: James Connolly (Dublin 1981).
- Derry Kelleher, Quotations from James Connolly: an anthology in three parts (2 vols Drogheda 1972).
- Peter Berresford Ellis (ed.), James Connolly: selected writings edited with an introduction by P. Berresford Ellis (Harmondsworth 1973).
- Samuel Levenson, James Connolly: a biography (London 1973).
- James Connolly, Ireland upon the dissecting table: James Connolly on Ulster and Partition (Cork 1975).
- Nora Connolly O'Brien, James Connolly: portrait of a rebel father (Dublin 1975).
- E. Strauss, Irish nationalism and British democracy (Westport CT 1975).
- Bernard Ransom, Connolly's Marxism (London 1980).
- Communist Party of Ireland, Breaking the chains: selected writings of James Connolly on women (Belfast 1981).
- Ruth Dudley Edwards, James Connolly (Dublin 1981).
- Brian Kelly, James Connolly and the fight for an Irish Workers' Republic (Cleveland, OH 1982).
- John F. Murphy, Implications of the Irish past: the socialist ideology of James Connolly from an historical perspective (unpubl. MA thesis, University of North Carolina at Charlotte 1983).
- Anthony Lake, James Connolly: the development of his political ideology (unpubl. MA thesis, NUI Cork 1984).
- Frederick Ryan, Socialism, democracy and the Church (Dublin 1984). With reviews of Connolly's 'Labour in Irish History' and Jaures' 'Studies in socialism'.
- Connolly: the Polish aspects: a review of James Connolly's political and spiritual affinity with Józef Pilsudski, leader of the Polish Socialist Party, organiser of the Polish legions and founder of the Polish state (Belfast 1985).
- X. T. Zagladina, James Connolly (Moscow 1985).
- James Connolly and Daniel De Leon, The Connolly-De Leon Controversy: On wages, marriage and the Church (London 1986).
- David Howell, A Lost Left: three studies in socialism and nationalism (Chicago 1986).
- Priscilla Metscher, Republicanism and socialism in Ireland: a study of the relationship of politics and ideology from the United Irishmen to James Connolly, Bremer Beiträge zur Literatur- und Ideologiegeschichte 2 (Frankfurt-am-Main 1986).
- Michael O'Riordan, General introduction, to James Connolly, Collected works (2 vols Dublin 1987) i, pp. ix–xvii.
- Cathal O'Shannon, Introduction, to James Connolly, Collected works (2 vols Dublin 1987) i, 11–16.
- Austen Morgan, James Connolly: a political biography (Manchester 1988).
- Helen Clark, Sing a rebel song: the story of James Connolly, born Edinburgh 1868, executed Dublin 1916 (Edinburgh 1989).
- Kieran Allen, The politics of James Connolly (London 1990).
- Andy Johnston, James Larraggy and Edward McWilliams, Connolly: a Marxist analysis (Dublin 1990).
- Lambert McKenna, The social teachings of James Connolly, by Lambert McKenna, ed. Thomas J. Morrissey (Dublin 1991).
- Donnacha Ní Gabhann, The reality of Connolly: 1868-1916 (Dublin 1993).
- William K. Anderson, James Connolly and the Irish left (Dublin 1994).
- Proinsias Mac Aonghusa, What Connolly said: James Connolly's writings (Dublin 1994).
- James L. Hyland, James Connolly: life and times (Dundalk 1997).
- William McMullen, With James Connolly in Belfast (Belfast 2001).
- Donal Nevin, James Connolly: a full life (Dublin 2005).
Connolly, James (1997). ‘Irish Rebels and English Mobs’. In: James Connolly: The Lost Writings. Ed. by Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh. London: Pluto, pp. 128–129.
You can add this reference to your bibliographic database by copying or downloading the following:
@incollection{E900002-036,
author = {James Connolly},
title = {Irish Rebels and English Mobs},
editor = {Aindrias Ó~Cathasaigh},
booktitle = {James Connolly: The Lost Writings},
publisher = {Pluto},
address = {London},
date = {1997},
pages = {128–129}
}
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Creation: by James Connolly
Date: 1913
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