James Connolly

Connolly, James 

Born June 5, 1868, in Edinburgh; died May 12, 1916, in Dublin. Irish revolutionary and fighter for the independence of Ireland.

In the 1880’s, Connolly was active in the strike movement and studied the works of K. Marx and F. Engels. In 1896 he founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party in Dublin—a party that aimed at combining the struggle for socialism and the struggle for national liberation. He lived in the USA between 1903 and 1910, participating in the socialist movement and in the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). After returning to Ireland in 1910, Connolly joined J. Larkin as leader of the largest trade union of transportation and unskilled workers. He led the Dublin Strike of 1913.

Despite his syndicalist errors, Connolly made a great contribution to the dissemination of Marxism. He wrote many works on the political and ideological struggle, the history of the workers’ and national liberation movement, economics, and military affairs. One of the main leaders of the Irish Uprising of 1916 against British imperialism, Connolly joined other leaders of the rebellion in signing a proclamation that declared an independent Irish Republic. After the defeat of the uprising Connolly, gravely wounded, was captured by British authorities and shot.

WORKS

In Russian translation:
Rabochii klass v istorii Irlandii: Otvoevanie Irlandii Moscow, 1969.

REFERENCES

Orlova, M. E. “Iz istorii rasprostraneniia marksizma v Irlandii.” In the collection Iz istorii marksizma i mezhdunarodnogo rabochego dvizheniia. Moscow, 1963.
Greaves, C. D. The Life and Times of James Connolly. London, 1961.