WE NEVER FORGET: Last Statement of James Connolly, Irish Rebel
-Mother Jones
James Connolly
June 5, 1868-May 12, 1916
``````````
Last Statement, smuggled out to the world through his daughter, Nora,
on the eve of his execution:
To the Field General Court Martial, held at Dublin Castle,
on May 9th, 1916:
I do not wish to make any defence except against charges of wanton cruelty to prisoners. These trifling allegations that have been made, if they record facts that really happened deal only with the almost unavoidable incidents of a hurried uprising against long established authority, and nowhere show evidence of set purpose to wantonly injure unarmed persons.
We went out to break the connection between this country and the British Empire, and to establish an Irish Republic. We believed that the call we then issued to the people of Ireland, was a nobler call, in a holier cause, than any call issued to them during this war, having any connection with the war. We succeeded in proving that Irishmen are ready to die endeavouring to win for Ireland those national rights which the British Government has been asking them to die to win for Belgium. As long as that remains the case, the cause of Irish freedom is safe.
Believing that the British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland, the presence, in any one generation of Irishmen, of even a respectable minority, ready to die to affirm that truth, makes that Government for ever a usurpation and a crime against human progress.
I personally thank God that I have lived to see the day when thousands of Irish men and boys, and hundreds of Irish women and girls, were ready to affirm that truth, and to attest it with their lives if need be.
JAMES CONNOLLY,
Commandant-General, Dublin Division,
Army of the Irish Republic[Photograph added.]
SOURCES
James Connolly
http://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Connolly
http://spartacus-educational.com/Sconnolly.htm
James Connolly's Last Statement
https://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/1916/05/laststat.htm
Last Statement:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MemUQ1hM0Ps width:500 height:315]
Last Family Visit:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUc6_QkkU3k width:500 height:315]
James Connolly - Mary Black
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmAxUdNj3v0
(Song cannot be played at C99, but is very lovely
performance and well worth the click.)
Comments
Woah, JayRae, that is some poignant and heroic letter. TY.
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
thank you, Gerrit
more to come on James Connolly and the other Irish Martyrs.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
The British presiding officer was Blackader
Charles Blackader
The leaders were conscripted into the British army and then tried under an ad-hoc set of rules based on British military rules of justice. Found guilty of high treason because in British army and fighting against them. The whole thing was illegal from start to finish.
The great uncle was in the GPO in 1916 and was on the breakout with The O'Rahilly up along Moore st. That and the Mount Street bridge are my two favourite stories of the Rising.
They all had a rough time over the next three days, but there wasn't a one of them that went through that didn't come out with a fire burning in them. I thought that the Neil Jordan film summarized it effectively in the opening scenes of Michael Collins "Next time we'll fight them our way!"
Thank you for the info on Blackader, gendjinn.
I would love to see you write about your great uncle and what he went thru. The O'Rahilly was amazing and heartbreaking what they went thru.
The executions will be covered by Hellraisers and WE NEVER FORGET will have memorials for all of the martyrs, and probably, three for James Connolly. I have quite a bit of info on Connolly, on the others, I could use more. Original sources are most valued at Hellraisers and WNF.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
More than welcome
You'll notice a few familiar tricks deployed by the British in the aftermath of 1916. The murderer of Francis Sheehy Skeffington was packed off to an asylum temporarily because he was "insane". The officer & club classes rallied around him to ensure he had a secure financial future.
There was the North King Street massacre which the military/politicians in Dublin tried to cover up. There wouldn't have been even the whitewash of an inquiry but for the strenuous, continued objections of one lone British officer who got word to the PM (can't find his name right now.)
James Connolly Was There...
Hillary Clinton 2016: I'm a proud progmoderate!
TY, Phil! Great version of the song for martyr, James Connolly.
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons