James Connolly - 12/05/16 - R.I.P.

[LiverpoolHibs]

Today marks the anniversary of the execution of Jim Connolly, in my opinion the greatest Hibby to walk the earth (many will disagree, different strokes etc.), but without wishing to cause offence I would like to pay my respects.

R.I.P. Jim.

[Dashing Bob S]

Yes. Just read a biography of Connolly, definately a great man.

[LiverpoolHibs]

Yes. Just read a biography of Connolly, definately a great man.
Ruth Dudley-Edwards'?

[JamieHibby]

Today marks the anniversary of the execution of Jim Connolly, in my opinion the greatest Hibby to walk the earth (many will disagree, different strokes etc.), but without wishing to cause offence I would like to pay my respects.

R.I.P. Jim.As would I :agree:

[LiverpoolHibs]

Actually, I'd like to rephrase 'causing offence' to 'causing an argument'.

[ginger_eejit]

The two Jims (Connolly & Larkin), Legends of the Irish Labour movement.

I've been to Kilmainham Prison and saw the prison yard where Connolly, severely injured, was strapped to a chair to be executed.

Very sombre stuff indeed.

[steakbake]

I have visited the site at Kilmainhan Prison in Dublin where James Connolly was murdered. Certainly a very sombre place to see.

While he's tarred with the brush of some of the fighters and politicians who came after him, I think that James Connolly will eventually be vindicated by history as the story of Ireland unravels.

Certainly, Edinburgh should have no shame in naming the lane on the Meadows after him.

Any opposition is just squeamishness and inbuilt ignorance left over from decades of media assaults which portrayed any move towards irish republicanism as some kind of barbaric terrorism which was culpable and complicit in the post -69 'versions' of the IRA.

[LiverpoolHibs]

Yep, I've been to Kilmainham Jail also. Haunting doesn't come close...

[ginger_eejit]

It's absolutely shocking the ignorance that was displayed from some quarters when it suggested that one of the Meadows walks be named after Connolly. Evidently many people did not know to or were interested in making a distinction between the Easter Uprising IRA, and the Provisional IRA of the Troubles. Or knew of any of Connolly's Labour trade unionist background

Connolly should be up there and celebrated as much as Hardie, McDonald and Bevan

[cabbageandribs1875]

yup RIP mr connolly :agree:




off-topic a bit now, i noticed today is also the 14th anniversary of the death of john smith(labour leader at the time) and although i have not voted labour for many many moons i honestly think this man would have been a tremendous prime minister, actually a decent and honest politician/man.

[LiverpoolHibs]

yup RIP mr connolly :agree:




off-topic a bit now, i noticed today is also the 14th anniversary of the death of john smith(labour leader at the time) and although i have not voted labour for many many moons i honestly think this man would have been a tremendous prime minister, actually a decent and honest politician/man.
He'd have been better than Blair/Brown, no question - not that that says much. No way he'd have had their majority, however.

[--------]

It's absolutely shocking the ignorance that was displayed from some quarters when it suggested that one of the Meadows walks be named after Connolly. Evidently many people did not know to or were interested in making a distinction between the Easter Uprising IRA, and the Provisional IRA of the Troubles. Or knew of any of Connolly's Labour trade unionist background

Connolly should be up there and celebrated as much as Hardie, McDonald and Bevan


IMO he was a much greater and more principled man than any of those three.

Ian Bell referred to him in his Saturday piece in 'The Herald' this weekend - Connolly once wrote to Hardie rebuking him for coming to a compromise with the then Liberal government, and reminding him that neither nationalism nor socialism belonged to the politicians - they belong to the people, and only when the people and the people alone are sovereign can either nationalism or socialism remain as positive values or forces in any society.

If other more 'successful' politicians had understood what Connolly understood, we might have avoided a lot of the heartbreak and bloodshed of the last 100 years.

Blacksaltire uses the right word, IMO - Connolly was judicially murdered in 1916, and his murder and other similar actions of the British government in the years immediately following are the reasons for much of the antagonism and sectarian resentments that disfigure NI and Scotland to this day.

[LiverpoolHibs]

IMO he was a much greater and more principled man than any of those three.

Ian Bell referred to him in his Saturday piece in 'The Herald' this weekend - Connolly once wrote to Hardie rebuking him for coming to a compromise with the then Liberal government, and reminding him that neither nationalism nor socialism belonged to the politicians - they belong to the people, and only when the people and the people alone are sovereign can either nationalism or socialism remain as positive values or forces in any society.

If other more 'successful' politicians had understood what Connolly understood, we might have avoided a lot of the heartbreak and bloodshed of the last 100 years.

Blacksaltire uses the right word, IMO - Connolly was judicially murdered in 1916, and his murder and other similar actions of the British government in the years immediately following are the reasons for much of the antagonism and sectarian resentments that disfigure NI and Scotland to this day.
Great post. However, as much as I'd like to think so I can't imagine that the Civil War would have have been avoided had Connolly lived and I wouldn't like to speculate on which side he would have taken, if either.

Marchin' down O'Connell Street with the Starry Plough on high
There goes the Citizen Army with their fists raised in the sky
Leading them is a mighty man with a mad rage in his eye
"My name is James Connolly - I didn't come here to die
But to fight for the rights of the working man
And the small farmer too
Protect the proletariat from the bosses and their screws
So hold on to your rifles, boys, and don't give up your dream
Of a Republic for the workin' class, economic liberty"
Then Jem yelled out "Oh Citizens, this system is a curse
An English boss is a monster, an Irish one even worse
They'll never lock us out again and here's the reason why
My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die....."
And now we're in the GPO with the bullets whizzin' by
With Pearse and Sean McDermott biddin' each other goodbye
Up steps our citizen leader and roars out to the sky
"My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die...
Oh Lily, I don't want to die, we've got so much to live for
And I know we're all goin' out to get slaughtered, but I just can't take any more
Just the sight of one more child screamin' from hunger in a Dublin slum
Or his mother slavin' 14 hours a day for the ****
Who exploit her and take her youth and throw it on a factory floor
Oh Lily, I just can't take any more
They've locked us out, they've banned our unions, they even treat their animals better than us
No! It's far better to die like a man on your feet than to live forever like some slave on your knees, Lilly
But don't let them wrap any green flag around me
And for God's sake, don't let them bury me in some field full of harps and shamrocks
And whatever you do, don't let them make a martyr out of me
No! Rather raise the Starry Plough on high, sing a song of freedom
Here's to you, Lily, the rights of man and international revolution"
We fought them to a standstill while the flames lit up the sky
'Til a bullet pierced our leader and we gave up the fight
They shot him in Kilmainham jail but they'll never stop his cry
My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die...."

[--------]

Great post. However, as much as I'd like to think so I can't imagine that the Civil War would have have been avoided had Connolly lived and I wouldn't like to speculate on which side he would have taken, if either.

Marchin' down O'Connell Street with the Starry Plough on high
There goes the Citizen Army with their fists raised in the sky
Leading them is a mighty man with a mad rage in his eye
"My name is James Connolly - I didn't come here to die
But to fight for the rights of the working man
And the small farmer too
Protect the proletariat from the bosses and their screws
So hold on to your rifles, boys, and don't give up your dream
Of a Republic for the workin' class, economic liberty"
Then Jem yelled out "Oh Citizens, this system is a curse
An English boss is a monster, an Irish one even worse
They'll never lock us out again and here's the reason why
My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die....."
And now we're in the GPO with the bullets whizzin' by
With Pearse and Sean McDermott biddin' each other goodbye
Up steps our citizen leader and roars out to the sky
"My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die...
Oh Lily, I don't want to die, we've got so much to live for
And I know we're all goin' out to get slaughtered, but I just can't take any more
Just the sight of one more child screamin' from hunger in a Dublin slum
Or his mother slavin' 14 hours a day for the ****
Who exploit her and take her youth and throw it on a factory floor
Oh Lily, I just can't take any more
They've locked us out, they've banned our unions, they even treat their animals better than us
No! It's far better to die like a man on your feet than to live forever like some slave on your knees, Lilly
But don't let them wrap any green flag around me
And for God's sake, don't let them bury me in some field full of harps and shamrocks
And whatever you do, don't let them make a martyr out of me
No! Rather raise the Starry Plough on high, sing a song of freedom
Here's to you, Lily, the rights of man and international revolution"
We fought them to a standstill while the flames lit up the sky
'Til a bullet pierced our leader and we gave up the fight
They shot him in Kilmainham jail but they'll never stop his cry
My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die...."


It wouldn't.

What I was trying to say was that Connolly understood what most political leaders too easily forget - that a political leader should be the servant of the people, not their master.

And that the ideals of socialism and national self-determination belong to the people, not to the individual who happens to be the figurehead of the movement working for those ideals.

I was actually thinking of the way in which the ideals of socialism were corrupted and betrayed first by Lenin and the Old Bolsheviks, and later by Stalin and his inner circle within the CPSU, and of Zimbabwe and the way Mugabe has used his status as 'liberator' to rape the country and the people for his own benefit and aggrandisement.

Or even the travesty of the Labour movement represented by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and 'New Labour'.

Perhaps Connolly would have been corrupted like so many others. The fact is that he died fighting for an ideal that others after him twisted into something he at the time of his death would certainly have repudiated.

He was a great man, a man Edinburgh should honour much more than she does.

[marinello59]

It wouldn't.

What I was trying to say was that Connolly understood what most political leaders too easily forget - that a political leader should be the servant of the people, not their master.

And that the ideals of socialism and national self-determination belong to the people, not to the individual who happens to be the figurehead of the movement working for those ideals.

I was actually thinking of the way in which the ideals of socialism were corrupted and betrayed first by Lenin and the Old Bolsheviks, and later by Stalin and his inner circle within the CPSU, and of Zimbabwe and the way Mugabe has used his status as 'liberator' to rape the country and the people for his own benefit and aggrandisement.

Or even the travesty of the Labour movement represented by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and 'New Labour'.

Perhaps Connolly would have been corrupted like so many others. The fact is that he died fighting for an ideal that others after him twisted into something he at the time of his death would certainly have repudiated.
He was a great man, a man Edinburgh should honour much more than she does.

Spot on there Doddie.

[Part/Time Supporter]

Today marks the anniversary of the execution of Jim Connolly, in my opinion the greatest Hibby to walk the earth (many will disagree, different strokes etc.), but without wishing to cause offence I would like to pay my respects.

R.I.P. Jim.

Definitely the Hibby that's had the greatest effect on history.

He also got to see (or at least read about) Hibs winning the Scottish Cup twice in his lifetime. Lucky *******.

:greengrin

[blaikie]

Did'nt no much about him but a done some research great man :agree:
RIP

[Dashing Bob S]

Ruth Dudley-Edwards'?

Donal Nevin. Also another a while back by a guy called Austen Morgan.

[Haymaker]

Sounds like a great man after i researched him. I must get some books to read...

[hibbybrian]

RIP James

some details here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Connolly

[blaikie]

RIP James

some details here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Connolly
:agree: .... Theres also a youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmkLRhJzCrE&NR=1

[stu in nottingham]

James Connolly

The man was all shot through that came to day into the Barrack Square
And a soldier I, I am not proud to say that we killed him there
They brought him from the prison hospital and to see him in that chair
I swear his smile would, would far more quickly call a man to prayer
Maybe, maybe I don't understand this thing that makes these rebels die
Yet all men love freedom and the spring clear in the sky
I wouldn't do this deed again for all that I hold by
As I gazed down my rifle at his breast but then, then a soldier I.
They say he was different, kindly too apart from all the rest.
A lover of the poor-his wounds ill dressed.
He faced us like a man who knew a greater pain
Than blows or bullets ere the world began: died he in vain
Ready, Present, and him just smiling, Christ I felt my rifle shake
His wounds all open and around his chair a pool of blood
And I swear his lips said, "fire" before my rifle shot that cursed lead
And I, I was picked to kill a man like that, James Connolly

A great crowd had gathered outside of Kilmainham
Their heads all uncovered, they knelt to the ground.
For inside that grim prison
Lay a great Irish soldier
His life for his country about to lay down.
He went to his death like a true son of Ireland
The firing party he bravely did face
Then the order rang out: Present arms and fire
James Connolly fell into a ready-made grave
The black flag was hoisted, the cruel deed was over
Gone was the man who loved Ireland so well
There was many a sad heart in Dublin that morning
When they murdered James Connolly-. the Irish rebel


God bless James Connolly a great man and arguably the greatest Hibby of them all.

[Peevemor]

An imagined conversation with his wife Lilly.

Marchin' down O'Connell Street with the Starry Plough on high
There goes the Citizen Army with their fists raised in the sky
Leading them is a mighty man with a mad rage in his eye
"My name is James Connolly - I didn't come here to die

But to fight for the rights of the working man
And the small farmer too
Protect the proletariat from the bosses and their screws
So hold on to your rifles, boys, and don't give up your dream
Of a Republic for the workin' class, economic liberty"

Then Jem yelled out "Oh Citizens, this system is a curse
An English boss is a monster, an Irish one even worse
They'll never lock us out again and here's the reason why
My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die....."

And now we're in the GPO with the bullets whizzin' by
With Pearse and Sean McDermott biddin' each other goodbye
Up steps our citizen leader and roars out to the sky
"My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die...

Oh Lily, I don't want to die, we've got so much to live for
And I know we're all goin' out to get slaughtered, but I just can't take any more
Just the sight of one more child screamin' from hunger in a Dublin slum
Or his mother slavin' 14 hours a day for the sc*m
Who exploit her and take her youth and throw it on a factory floor
Oh Lily, I just can't take any more

They've locked us out, they've banned our unions, they even treat their animals better than us
No! It's far better to die like a man on your feet than to live forever like some slave on your knees, Lilly

But don't let them wrap any green flag around me
And for God's sake, don't let them bury me in some field full of harps and shamrocks
And whatever you do, don't let them make a martyr out of me
No! Rather raise the Starry Plough on high, sing a song of freedom
Here's to you, Lily, the rights of man and international revolution"

We fought them to a standstill while the flames lit up the sky
'Til a bullet pierced our leader and we gave up the fight
They shot him in Kilmainham jail but they'll never stop his cry
My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die...."

[hibsdaft]

connolly film was meant to be getting made, not heard much in a while though:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7101497.stm

[LiverpoolHibs]

Bump...

R.I.P. James.

"If you strike at, imprison, or kill us, out of our prisons or graves we will still evoke a spirit that will thwart you, and perhaps, raise a force that will destroy you! We defy you! Do your worst!"

[Pretty Boy]

Just like to add my thoughts to this thread.

I have been involved with the James Connolly society for a while now and nothing annoys me more than being tagged as IRA sympathisers etc etc. There are many idiots wearing Celtic tops and downing Tennents who tag on to what are peaceful marches meant to celebrate a great man in his home city. These marches do not encourage tricolours or Republican banners and are open to anyone regardless of religion, race etc. Being tagged in the same bracket as the Orange Order is to my mind deeply offensive as the JCS is a non sectarian organisation, the Orange Order an organisation with deep rooted sectarian views which they will openly admit. The JCS undertakes huge ammounts of charity work as well as keeping alive the story of one of Edinburghs great sons who was murdered for his beliefs.

RIP James Connolly.

[Nakedmanoncrack]

Just like to add my thoughts to this thread.

I have been involved with the James Connolly society for a while now and nothing annoys me more than being tagged as IRA sympathisers etc etc. There are many idiots wearing Celtic tops and downing Tennents who tag on to what are peaceful marches meant to celebrate a great man in his home city. These marches do not encourage tricolours or Republican banners and are open to anyone regardless of religion, race etc. Being tagged in the same bracket as the Orange Order is to my mind deeply offensive as the JCS is a non sectarian organisation, the Orange Order an organisation with deep rooted sectarian views which they will openly admit. The JCS undertakes huge ammounts of charity work as well as keeping alive the story of one of Edinburghs great sons who was murdered for his beliefs.

RIP James Connolly.

Have to say that on a couple of occasions I attended JCS marches and sadly the Celtic/IRA/buckie swilling/neds made up a large part of the numbers.

[sadtom]

In memory of a great man.
It truly is a shame when 'real' heroes are not recognised especially in the city of his birth.
'When the history books talk of kings and men of fame.' (redskins)

Connolly was certainly no dewey eyed nationalist. He was smart enough to give a accurate enough annalysis of events that he did not live long enough to see. He contemplated the possibility of 'partitioning' many years before it happened and correctly (imho) figured that it would result in 'a carnival of reaction'.

[stu in nottingham]

In memory of a great man.
It truly is a shame when 'real' heroes are not recognised especially in the city of his birth.


It certainly is a great shame. Just the one little plaque mounted on the wall in The Cowgate I believe. That's no way to commemorate such a great man.