Honouring Revolutionary Labour Hero, James Connolly

Members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) held a James Connolly commemorative event in on Saturday 21st June as part of the union’s annual conference in Edinburgh.

Wobblies from across Europe gathered to commemorate the revolutionary syndicalist and internationalist’s contribution to the labour movement and to the ideals of the ‘One Big Union’.

As members stood underneath the Cowgate arch at the memorial plaque to the labour hero, one member stepped forward and addressed those assembled. They described Connolly’s early life from when he was born to Irish immigrant parents on June 5th 1868. Connolly joined the ranks of the British Military at the of age 14 to escape deplorable levels of extreme poverty in the working class community of Cowgate, Edinburgh. Eventually having left the military at the age of 21, Connolly settled in Dublin in 1896.

In 1903, Connolly and his wife and young family emigrated to the United States. They shared accommodation with relatives in the Troy neighbourhood of New York and he found work as a sales rep with an insurance firm. In 1905, Connolly left to become a full-time union organiser with the newly established IWW, which he participated in creating.

During those early days of the Union, Connolly worked for a period in areas such as New York City and Newark, New Jersey, alongside a noted family friend, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.

Together they focused on encouraging migrant workers to help organise and unionise their place of work, and to join the ranks of the IWW.

Connolly returned to Ireland in 1910. The years that followed were turbulent for Irish workers. From the sectarian division of our class in the North, by the bosses and the political establishment alike, he continued to fight for workers’ unity and the need to unionise in both Belfast and Dublin. Connolly was also involved in the industrial struggles around the 1913 Dublin Lockout. Under his direction, the first workers’ militia, Irish Citizens Army (ICA), was set up to defend workers on picket lines and at protests.

During the wartime insurrectionary period of 1916 Ireland moved closer to the brink. Connolly and Patrick Pearse were commanders in the General Post Office (GPO) during the Easter rebellion. He was wounded in the fighting. Following the rebel surrender after six days of fighting, he was executed along with the six other signatories to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.

A spokesperson for the IWW said, "It was important for us as a union to acknowledge the fact that fellow workers have travelled far and wide to attend this year’s Conference. We honour James Connolly at this time, not only because he was a revolutionary historical figure within the labour movement internationally, but we also have to recognise his important contribution to the Industrial Workers of the World and to the ideals of the One Big Union.

“I think for many of us, who attended this years IWW Annual Conference in Edinburgh, it was important for us as a union to mark the occasion. To pay tribute to a working class hero of labour from the city with an equally important connection to our union. We look forward to having a permanent acknowledgement to that fact here in Cowgate sometime in the near future.”

As the event came to a close, those in attendance raised their fists in the air and sang one of the most iconic labour anthems “Solidarity Forever”. Written back in 1915 by Ralph Chaplin and sung to the tune of “John Brown’s Body” which was inspired by “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.