James Connolly
Edited by Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh
Ireland and the War
Ireland and the War
p.144The Position of the Nation 17 October 1914
On Monday evening in the Antient Concert Rooms a mass meeting was held under the auspices of the Irish Neutrality League. The demonstration was principally intended to act as a set off to Mr John Redmond's recent recruiting meeting in the Mansion House, and to define the position of Ireland in relation to the present European War. When the proceedings opened the building was filled to overflowing by an enthusiastic gathering. Mr James Connolly took the chair amidst applause, and was accompanied on the platform by Mr Arthur Griffith (Editor Sinn Féin), Mr William O'Brien (President Dublin Trades Council), Mr John T. Kelly, TC; Mr J.J. Scollan (AOH, IAA), Major John MacBride, Mr Seán Milroy, ex-Alderman Macken, and the Countess Markievicz.
Mr Connolly, in his opening address, explained that they were met together to launch a campaign which he thought would prove historic in the annals of this country. He had with him on the platform men drawn from all classes. There were labour men there, and men who by no stretch of the imagination could be called labour men. They had Home Rulers and Republicans, Socialists and Sinn Féiners (applause). They had members of the sane section of the Volunteers, members of the Citizen Army (applause), and representatives of Cumann na mBan, Inghinidhe na hÉireann, and the various Franchise Leagues in Ireland. All of these represented ideals that were strangely different and ideas of the future that were strangely hostile. They represented many diverse ideas that for the time being were relinquished, so that they could come together on a common platform. But having mentioned the things they disagreed on, he would now turn to the one thing upon which they all agreed, namely, that the interests of Ireland were more dear to them than the interests of the British Empire (loud applause). They wanted to emphasise the fact that the enemies of England were not necessarily the enemies of Ireland. It was their duty to gather together the forces in Ireland so that they might place their country in the position it ought to occupy – a position of neutrality (applause). Having acquired the force, it was their duty to arrive at a conception p.145 of this question, and that conception was not likely to be of concern for the British Empire. They were now gathered together to emphasise the fact that their duty was to Ireland and to Ireland only (cheers). In doing so they would, of course, be accused of all sorts of motives. Mr Redmond (groans) told them that it was their duty as Irishmen to support England in the present crisis, because she had closed for ever the record of her past in this country, but he (Mr Connolly) held that they could never map out their plans for the future unless they were able to understand the past (applause). When he (the speaker) was told of the promises made by England he remembered the promises made by England in the past and the result of those promises – which were never kept – he would tell them they ought not to heed her promises now unless they had the power in their hands to see that they were kept (applause). If Mr Redmond, instead of pledging the support of the Irish people in the British House of Commons had told Mr Asquith that he proposed going home to Ireland to consult the voice of Ireland, then, had he made such a statement, the Irish nation would be born again (cheers). But that opportunity had been lost. The English people were now crying out about the woes of Belgium, but when Belgium was devastated with fire and sword there were no British there to help her. Even when Belgium was in the throes of agony England sent her expeditionary force to France. This, of course, was done for 'strategic reasons', but she knew that her army was safer beside the big French force than with the smaller army of Belgium. Germany was fighting for the commerce of the seas and for the means of building up a sane civilisation in Europe (cheers). This was no rigged meeting – they had no RIC force to protect it. Irishmen wanted to see their country emerge from the present crisis with her dignity preserved (loud applause)...
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Title (uniform): Ireland and the War
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
Edition statement
2. Second draft.
Extent: 1862 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: E900002-041
Availability: Available with prior consent of the CELT programme for purposes of academic research and teaching only.
Source description
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). ‘Ireland and the War’. In: James Connolly: The Lost Writings. Ed. by Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh. London: Pluto, pp. 144–145.
You can add this reference to your bibliographic database by copying or downloading the following:
@incollection{E900002-041,
author = {James Connolly},
title = {Ireland and the War},
editor = {Aindrias Ó~Cathasaigh},
booktitle = {James Connolly: The Lost Writings},
publisher = {Pluto},
address = {London},
date = {1997},
pages = {144–145}
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Profile description
Creation: by James Connolly
Date: 1914
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- The text is in English. (en)
- Some terms are in Irish. (ga)
Keywords: political; essay; prose; 20c
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