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Collected Works: Volume One
- GenresIreland
516 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1987
About the author
James Connolly
158 books70 followersJames Connolly (Irish: Séamas Ó Conghaile) was an Irish socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of his day. Though proud of his Irish background, he also took a role in Scottish and American politics. He was executed by a British firing squad because of his leadership role in the Easter Rising of 1916.
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April 28, 2026
As Ireland’s most outstanding revolutionary, the true heir to the Jacobin traditions of Tone, Neilson, McCracken, and bold Robert Emmet, the works of James Connolly have the most immense significance for the communists and progressive elements in Ireland, even now more than a century after his execution. The writings of Connolly carry into the epoch of imperialism the republican spirit, the longing for national independence that permeated through every page of Neilson’s Northern Star and every speech of Wolfe Tone, revealing with the most striking clarity the reality of British imperial domination over Ireland and its intimate relationship with the capitalist system. The ultimate conclusion, the same conclusion as Lenin and Stalin on the national question: that the final liberation of an imperialised country such as Ireland can only come with the expropriation of the quisling bourgeoisie who sell their country to the foreign imperialists, socialism.
The spirit of Connolly’s work is best summed up with his saying that: “Ireland, as distinct from her people, is nothing to me; and the man who is bubbling over with love and enthusiasm for ‘Ireland,’ and can yet pass unmoved through our streets and witness all the wrong and the suffering, the shame and the degradation wrought upon the people of Ireland—yea, wrought by Irishmen upon Irish men and women, without burning to end it, is, in my opinion, a fraud and a liar in his heart, no matter how he loves that combination of chemical elements he is pleased to call Ireland” (p. 10). And these words, also, sum up the greater content of this first volume of his collected works.
The vast majority of this volume, part of a collection of articles tellingly named “Socialism and Nationalism”, concerns the intimate relationship between the workers’ and national liberational movements in Ireland. Recruiting leaflets for Connolly’s Irish Citizen Army noted that it “places its reliance upon the only class that has never betrayed Ireland—the Irish working class.” And this idea finds brilliant elucidation throughout this whole volume. In the later, majority, portion of this volume on socialism and nationalism, a great many articles are dedicated to explaining the role of the Irish working class in the national liberation movement and how a true renaissance of Irish culture can only take place under socialism, when Ireland has rid itself of the cosmopolitan vestiges of capitalism. The insistence found here on the leading role of the proletariat in the national liberation struggle follows exactly from the same conclusion as Lenin’s warnings about “a certain rapprochement between the bourgeoisie of the exploiting countries and that of the colonies” (Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 242, Progress Publishers 1974).
What’s more, in this section not an inch is given to nationalist perversions. Where many (like Luxemburg) would fall into the camp of national nihilism and renounce the national struggle altogether, and others like (Ó Cuinneagáin) would become brazen nationalists, a brilliant criticism of both national nihilism and nationalism is found here as Connolly understands the positive relationship of proletarian internationalism with patriotism, the patriotism which Stalin reminded the Communists of the importance of in 1952. In several articles, a clear distinction is drawn between nationalism which is a prejudicial device of reaction and progressive patriotism which is the obverse side of the coin of internationalism. “True patriotism” — says Connolly — “seeks the welfare of each in the happiness of all, and is inconsistent with the selfish desire for worldly wealth which can only be gained by the spoliation of less favoured fellow-mortals. It is the mission of the working class to give to patriotism this higher, nobler, significance. This can only be done by our working class, as the only universal, all-embracing class, organizing as a distinct political party, recognizing in Labour the cornerstone of our economic edifice and the animating principle of our political action” (p. 311). If we were to recall Stalin’s instructions in 1952 that “The banner of national independence and national sovereignty has been thrown overboard. There is no doubt that it is you, the representatives of the communist and democratic parties, who will have to raise this banner and carry it forward, if you want to be patriots of your country, if you want to become the leading force of the nation” (Stalin, Speech at the Nineteenth Party Congress, p. 14, Foreign Languages Publishing House 1952), then we all throughout this volume that Connolly, more than 40 years before, had brilliantly carried out this obligatory task on the front of national liberation, reigniting the torch of Irish republicanism after the demise of Fenianism.
But the most outstanding piece of this volume is by far Connolly’s book Labour in Irish History. As a description of Ireland’s history from ancient times to contemporary capitalism, the evolution of Ireland’s revolutionary movement, every twist and betrayal, it is easily the most valuable contribution to Irish history ever written owing to its historical materialist lens of analysis. The clearest lesson from this book is the routine betrayal of national interests of Ireland by its bourgeoisie. Yet we may recall, also, the methods by which our forefathers worked, the great enlightenment origins of Irish Republicanism from Jacobin France, and the entire chronology of how British capital came to be so intertwined in the life of the Irish people necessitating the overturn of capitalism as the condition for the real national liberation of Ireland. What’s more, this book is a brilliant example of historical materialism in practice as applied to the history of a given nation.
The single flaw of this volume (or rather, the entire two-volume collected works set), is the manner of its formatting. Rather than the standard date-based format typical of most collected works sets (as, for example, in those of Marx and Engels, Lenin, and Stalin), the editors, probably pressed for time and resources, and not able assemble such a precisely organised volume, chose instead to organsie this series by by “book”: beginning with Labour in Irish History, then The Re-Conquest of Ireland, and then finally Socialism and Nationalism. This strange formatting also means that the introduction to the book Socialism and Nationalism by Desmond Ryan is practically in the middle of this volume rather than being placed next to Michael O’Riordan’s introduction at the beginning. On this topic of introductions, also, O’Riordan’s short work is a brilliant preface to this volume, offering an excellent biographical sketch of Connolly and revealing, through the course of Connolly’s excellent understanding of Marxism, the proto-Leninist conclusions of Connolly, conclusions which reached their fullest development and systematisation in the works of Lenin and Stalin.
On the whole, while the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin must always assume the premier position for all Communists, the works of Connolly are a brilliant enrichment of Marxism in Ireland through their elucidations on the history of the Irish nation, kindling of the republican traditions of the Irish people, and exposure of the national nihilists, nationalists, and orangeman traitors.
The spirit of Connolly’s work is best summed up with his saying that: “Ireland, as distinct from her people, is nothing to me; and the man who is bubbling over with love and enthusiasm for ‘Ireland,’ and can yet pass unmoved through our streets and witness all the wrong and the suffering, the shame and the degradation wrought upon the people of Ireland—yea, wrought by Irishmen upon Irish men and women, without burning to end it, is, in my opinion, a fraud and a liar in his heart, no matter how he loves that combination of chemical elements he is pleased to call Ireland” (p. 10). And these words, also, sum up the greater content of this first volume of his collected works.
The vast majority of this volume, part of a collection of articles tellingly named “Socialism and Nationalism”, concerns the intimate relationship between the workers’ and national liberational movements in Ireland. Recruiting leaflets for Connolly’s Irish Citizen Army noted that it “places its reliance upon the only class that has never betrayed Ireland—the Irish working class.” And this idea finds brilliant elucidation throughout this whole volume. In the later, majority, portion of this volume on socialism and nationalism, a great many articles are dedicated to explaining the role of the Irish working class in the national liberation movement and how a true renaissance of Irish culture can only take place under socialism, when Ireland has rid itself of the cosmopolitan vestiges of capitalism. The insistence found here on the leading role of the proletariat in the national liberation struggle follows exactly from the same conclusion as Lenin’s warnings about “a certain rapprochement between the bourgeoisie of the exploiting countries and that of the colonies” (Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 242, Progress Publishers 1974).
What’s more, in this section not an inch is given to nationalist perversions. Where many (like Luxemburg) would fall into the camp of national nihilism and renounce the national struggle altogether, and others like (Ó Cuinneagáin) would become brazen nationalists, a brilliant criticism of both national nihilism and nationalism is found here as Connolly understands the positive relationship of proletarian internationalism with patriotism, the patriotism which Stalin reminded the Communists of the importance of in 1952. In several articles, a clear distinction is drawn between nationalism which is a prejudicial device of reaction and progressive patriotism which is the obverse side of the coin of internationalism. “True patriotism” — says Connolly — “seeks the welfare of each in the happiness of all, and is inconsistent with the selfish desire for worldly wealth which can only be gained by the spoliation of less favoured fellow-mortals. It is the mission of the working class to give to patriotism this higher, nobler, significance. This can only be done by our working class, as the only universal, all-embracing class, organizing as a distinct political party, recognizing in Labour the cornerstone of our economic edifice and the animating principle of our political action” (p. 311). If we were to recall Stalin’s instructions in 1952 that “The banner of national independence and national sovereignty has been thrown overboard. There is no doubt that it is you, the representatives of the communist and democratic parties, who will have to raise this banner and carry it forward, if you want to be patriots of your country, if you want to become the leading force of the nation” (Stalin, Speech at the Nineteenth Party Congress, p. 14, Foreign Languages Publishing House 1952), then we all throughout this volume that Connolly, more than 40 years before, had brilliantly carried out this obligatory task on the front of national liberation, reigniting the torch of Irish republicanism after the demise of Fenianism.
But the most outstanding piece of this volume is by far Connolly’s book Labour in Irish History. As a description of Ireland’s history from ancient times to contemporary capitalism, the evolution of Ireland’s revolutionary movement, every twist and betrayal, it is easily the most valuable contribution to Irish history ever written owing to its historical materialist lens of analysis. The clearest lesson from this book is the routine betrayal of national interests of Ireland by its bourgeoisie. Yet we may recall, also, the methods by which our forefathers worked, the great enlightenment origins of Irish Republicanism from Jacobin France, and the entire chronology of how British capital came to be so intertwined in the life of the Irish people necessitating the overturn of capitalism as the condition for the real national liberation of Ireland. What’s more, this book is a brilliant example of historical materialism in practice as applied to the history of a given nation.
The single flaw of this volume (or rather, the entire two-volume collected works set), is the manner of its formatting. Rather than the standard date-based format typical of most collected works sets (as, for example, in those of Marx and Engels, Lenin, and Stalin), the editors, probably pressed for time and resources, and not able assemble such a precisely organised volume, chose instead to organsie this series by by “book”: beginning with Labour in Irish History, then The Re-Conquest of Ireland, and then finally Socialism and Nationalism. This strange formatting also means that the introduction to the book Socialism and Nationalism by Desmond Ryan is practically in the middle of this volume rather than being placed next to Michael O’Riordan’s introduction at the beginning. On this topic of introductions, also, O’Riordan’s short work is a brilliant preface to this volume, offering an excellent biographical sketch of Connolly and revealing, through the course of Connolly’s excellent understanding of Marxism, the proto-Leninist conclusions of Connolly, conclusions which reached their fullest development and systematisation in the works of Lenin and Stalin.
On the whole, while the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin must always assume the premier position for all Communists, the works of Connolly are a brilliant enrichment of Marxism in Ireland through their elucidations on the history of the Irish nation, kindling of the republican traditions of the Irish people, and exposure of the national nihilists, nationalists, and orangeman traitors.
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