A giant of our union who inspires us still
Our union has been built over many generations by committed and courageous men and women.
This Tuesday, 5th June, in a series of events we will mark the life and impact of one of the most prominent of these individuals, James Connolly, a man who was born on that date in the slums of Edinburgh in Scotland 150 years ago.
His was the most humble of beginnings, the son of Irish emigrants who had been drawn to the developing industrial belt of central Scotland from Monaghan.
The family were among the first generation of that great new mass of people that was forged by the industrial revolution – the working class. James, himself, would be among the political activists who initially formulated the creeds of ‘new unionism’ and socialism that would empower his class over the following century.
By the first decades of the last century Connolly was working with the other great figures of the early years of our union, such as James Larkin, Helena Maloney and William O'Brien, laying the foundations for an organisation which still leads the fight for workers in Ireland.
His thoughts and practical actions which united the class, gender and anti-imperialist battles into one struggle, led to his execution by the British Empire, but live on in our progressive politics today.
Union organiser, political activist, journalist, historian, play and song writer – SIPTU will be marking all the aspects of Connolly’s work this 5th June.
In the Mansion House, the Lord Mayor of Dublin Micheál Mac Donncha, will open a conference to discuss how trade unions must evolve in order to better organise and represent freelance and precarious workers.
A published account of the Connolly family by James’ daughter, Ina, will also be launched at this event. That evening a new documentary film, ‘Our Army’: A People’s History of the Irish Citizen Army launched followed by a night of song and music in Liberty Hall.
Connolly played the greatest role in the struggle for Irish political independence and social freedom.
