CONNOLLY'S SPEECH ON THE
OUTBREAK OF
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Speaking at
a meeting in Dublin, Sunday,
August 30, 1914, to commemorate the deaths
of James Nolan,
John Byrne and Alice Brady, killed during the Dublin Lockout,
1913-14, Connolly said:
I am glad to see so large a gathering to
commemorate our comrades, because they were murdered for the sake of
great
principles. It was not a mere casual murder, but a cold-blooded and
premeditated one, deliberately planned with the idea in mind that as
they went
to their graves, so went the hopes for which they fought; that when
they were
murdered all the hopes of the Irish workers would be slain with them;
when they
were foully done to death all our aspirations for a cleaner, better
city and
grander nation would be murdered, too.
Where do we stand to-day? The Irish
Transport and
General Workers' Union and the hopes of the Irish working class, and
that class
itself stands erect and resolute, fearing no man, and the British
Government is
down on its knees praying for the Russians to come and save them. Our
fight of
last year was not for added wages and reduction of hours; it was for an
opportunity of building up in our midst men and women, a chance to
develop
nobility and grandeur of character for men and women, a time to realise
the
nobility of life, to study the history of Ireland, to study our rights
as well
as our duties; time to develop men and women for the coming crisis, so
that
they might take advantage of it when it came. Abject servility there is
in Ireland;
whatever of the spirit of a slave that in you lies, lies with those who
served
to cripple the grandest movement ever started. If labour controlled
your
destinies, conjure the picture of what might have happened when after
Grey and Asquith
had plunged England
into war, there arose a clamour for Redmond.
And Redmond, without
consulting
you, the people of Ireland,
pledged us to war with as kindly, gracious a nation as God ever put the
breath
of life into---what happened then? Redmond
when they shouted for him might have sat still and let them shout, then
before
another sun rose got a measure greater than Grattan dreamed of. Redmond,
as spokesman of the majority of the Irish people might have risen and
said: `I
and my colleagues will go to Ireland
and consult the Irish Nation.' Then would Ireland
be a nation in reality. `We have waited and now Germany
has come, and we will start our own Parliament. Stop us if you can.'
Help would
have come from all sides. Why the R.I.C. would have acted as a guard of
honour!
These men have sold you. Sold you? No, by
God,
given you away. Whether my speech is pro-German or pro-Irish, I don't
know. As
an Irish worker I owe a duty to our class; counting no allegiance to
the
Empire; I'd be glad to see it back in the bottomless pit. The Irish
workers
hold themselves ready to bargain with whoever can make a bargain. England
has been fighting Germany.
If it were not for the Russians, French and Japanese, the British would
not
have made a mouthful for the Germans. The Germans are in Boulogne,
where Napoleon projected an invasion of Britain.
To Ireland
is
only a twelve hours' run. If you are itching for a rifle, itching to
fight, you
have a country of your own; better to fight for our own country than
for the
robber empire. If ever you shoulder a rifle, let it be for Ireland.
Conscription or no conscription, they will never get me or mine. You
have been
told you are not strong, that you have no rifles. Revolutions do not
start with
rifles; start first and get your rifles after. Our curse is our belief
in our
weakness. We are not weak, we are strong. Make up your mind to strike
before
your opportunity goes.
