Transcribed for the first time, a beautiful article from Jim Larkin written from the U.S. for ‘The Masses’ on 1916’s Easter Rising in his homeland. He analyzes and defends the forces of revolution, explains his own role in the formation of the Irish Citizens Army, gives his appreciation of and relationship with James Connolly, offers his regret that “fate denied some of us the opportunity of striking a blow for human freedom,” though “we live in hopes that we, too, will be given the opportunity,” and ends with an appeal for workers to extend their hands in solidarity to the widows and orphans of our dead comrades. A wonderful piece of writing and of history.

‘The Irish Rebellion’ by James Larkin from The Masses. Vol. 8 No. 9. July, 1916.

THE Irish Rebellion was brought to birth by men who had given service to the working class in all quarters of the globe. James Connolly, who has sealed his belief in the principles of eternal justice and the cause of the common people, worked as an organizer for the Socialist Party in Scotland, and for many years in America. In 1907, when I found the work, which I had set my hand to, required of me more than I could give it, worn out in brain and physically unfit, I appealed to Connolly to come home. I explained the desperate nature of the undertaking, pointing out to him that not only would he have to sacrifice his position, the welfare of his wife and children (six of whom were girls, one a boy, and they were young in years and unable to work), and also made clear to him the possibility that it might mean the sacrifice of his life. Connolly, who knew only too well what the call meant to him, never hesitated for a moment; he broke up his home and upon landing in Ireland in 1908 found that the man who had invited him home was lying in jail, the movement had got a smashing blow, the organized employers, the so-called Nationalist Party, controlled by John Redmond, in collusion with the British government, not forgetting the Clerical reactionists, determined to destroy the movement body and soul. No houselord would give us shelter, the police were ordered to batter to death the men who wore the Union Badge, our children in some cases were refused entrance into the schools, priest and parson fulminated against us in their pulpits, some of the more intolerant Sinn Fien leaders denounced us as tools of the English government.

Connolly never failed us, even in that hour of trial; waiting until I was released from prison, we gathered the remnants of the army together, supported by a group of the most intelligent, loyal and determined comrades a man ever had the honor to associate with, or a movement ever produced; and so we set out to walk in the footsteps of those who had gone before us. We knew that to preach economic determinism without having an industrial and social organization behind it, and an armed force if necessary to protect this organization, would be futile. Therefore, we designed a plan and method of organization, which I submit, given a reasonable time to develop, will yet prove the only successful method of overthrowing the capitalist system. Organizing the workers into industrial unions in the several industries, linking them up into one homogeneous whole, connecting the agricultural workers through the co-operative movement with the urban worker, providing the members of the organization with the means of social intercourse through the various activities we had on foot-dramatic societies, orchestras, choirs, bands, football clubs, medical clinics, billiards, boxing, wrestling, and all the other concomitants of the social life of communities, but all directly linked up with the industrial organization; never forgetting at all times to give them instruction as to the real purpose of their existence. Taking them from the fetid atmosphere of the slums into healthy recreational pursuits, we took them mindward into the realms of art, literature and science always pointing out to them a belief and consciousness of their class. After many educating struggles on the industrial field, which brought with them sometimes tribulations, but always experience and knowledge, we found out that we had also to give them an opportunity to exercise their military ardor, as a counter attraction to the recruiting officer and the call of militarism, and as a means of self-protection against the onslaughts of the hired assassins, soldiers and police of the capitalist class. We organized the Citizen Army, every member of which was a class-conscious member of the working class, and of necessity had to be a member of his union.

This is the army which gave the world pause some few days ago and in association with their fellows of the Sinn Fein and National Volunteers, held the City of Dublin for seven days, though badly equipped. Let me say here that the statement that the revolutionary movement was financed, organized, or controlled from any German source, is a deliberate and calculated lie. The Citizen Army was organized in 1908, in Cork City. It was driven out of existence by persecution and the jailing of its members, including myself, in 1909. It was reborn during the big Transport Strike in England in 1911. The uniforms, arms and equipment which they possessed were owned and controlled by the unions with which they were affiliated, but were paid for by the weekly contribution of the members of the organization. The officers were elected by the rank and file. Our First Adjutant was Captain White, the son of General Sir George White, who commanded the forces at Ladysmith during the Boer War. I presided over the court martial which compelled White to present his resignation under penalty of dismissal because we found him propagating the idea among the rank and file that the working class could not produce men who could guide them out of the cursed system of capitalism into the co-operative commonwealth, but ever insinuating that the middle class and aristocrats should be appealed so to save them. It is true, of course, and no apology is necessary, that the Irish revolutionary movement in America did open negotiations through Roger Casement with the German government. And it is quite within the bounds of probability that if the Irish revolutionary movement at home could have held its position for some time longer, it too would have opened up negotiations with any ally for the purpose of getting arms and equipment to carry their venture to success. Why apologize? Some day the organized workers of the different nations that go to make up the universe will take advantage of the experience and practice of the capitalist governments, and will appoint their ambassadorial staffs, connect up their organizations and be prepared to act in assisting each other, whenever attacked by the capitalist class in their several countries. With such an organization and in such a day and hour, will we possess a real international working class movement.

It is also necessary to state that each member of the Citizen Army took an oath upon joining that he would not fight outside the boundaries of his own nation, except to assist the struggling revolutionary working class of another country, that he would take no orders from King, Kaiser nor any capitalist government, but would march and fight only by instruction of the common people and to preserve the rights of the common people. They refused to be conscripted, preferring to die in Ireland than to serve as hired assassins to shoot and maim members of the working class of any country.

From letters which I have received it is plain to me that the premature rising in Ireland was forced upon them by the knowledge the insurgents possessed that the British government were determined to conscript them. The ultimate aim of their work and endeavor, as set down in the declaration they signed, and which Connolly and myself drafted, was to set up a co-operative commonwealth in Ireland, based on industrial democracy. The cuts that have appeared in the papers of Liberty Hall, labelled the headquarters of the Sinn Fein movement, were so labelled with the purpose of confusing and misleading those who saw such photographs. Liberty Hall, Dublin, was the headquarters of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, of which I am the General Secretary, and of which James Connolly, now dead, was the General Organizer. That building was bought and controlled by the members of that organization. It was also the headquarters of the Irish Socialist Party. No organization other than Socialist and Labor organizations, except the many activities connected with the social and educational features of that movement, was allowed to function there. The Sinn Fein headquarters, on the contrary, was at Number 6 Harcourt street, close unto a mile and a half away, in the center of the city. The Irish Transport and General Workers Union owned and controlled three· other halls in Dublin, Emmet Hall, Inchicore, the Fintan Lalor Hall, Aungier street, and the Workers Hall, High street, Dublin. In addition to them they had the Workers Hall, Corporation street, Belfast, Liberty Hall, Lynns Place, Sligo, Liberty Hall, Kingstown (Dunleary), Workers Hall, Wexford, Liberty Hall, Waterford, the O’Neill-Crowley Hall, Merchant Quay, Cork, and several other halls in different towns throughout Ireland, which they rented. Liberty Hall, Dublin, which was blown to pieces by the shells from the British gunboats, cost us $30,000, and the property destroyed therein in the way of co-operative goods another $10,000. It must be understood that the union carried on a co-operative business, had its own clothing stores, hair dressers, shoemaking shops, and a free food distribution center for the poor.

To go into the detailed work of this movement would take up too much space, and I want to close by assuring your readers that the men who founded this movement, some of whom have been honored by being permitted to seal their belief in it in blood, who lived for it and who were honored in dying for it, have left behind them comrades who are determined to bring it to fulfilment. Though fate denied some of us the opportunity of striking a blow for human freedom, we live in hopes that we, too, will be given the opportunity. Out of the fourteen men who were shot to death, five were members of the Irish Socialist and labor movement. All of the others, while not affiliated with our movement, were men imbued with a deep love of their fellows. I would like to have the privilege in your next issue of attempting to interpret their work. I cannot close, however, without mentioning that heroic soul the Countess of Markevitch, who for years has been associated with James Connolly and myself, and who helped materially in assisting my sister, Miss Larkin, to found the Irish Women Workers Union. Many of the members of this Union fought with their brothers, and some of them have had the privilege of dying for the cause they espoused. Connolly and his colleagues, nearly all of them, were married men with large families dependent upon them, Connolly having seven children and a wife, six of these children girls, one only of whom was able to work, being a factory worker in Belfast. The responsibility of providing for these families is a heavy one.

It is possible that amongst your readers there are men and women who may, though thinking the rebellion an unwise one, cherish the ideals these men and women lived and died for, and it must be admitted that the most glorious thing that has happened during this carnival of blood lust in Europe was the self-sacrifice and devotion of these men to a cause which they believed in. Is it not possible, therefore, that the call of these women and children may receive an echoing response? Knowing the Board of Editors of THE MASSES, I feel sure they will be only too pleased to accept on behalf of these women and children any material help your readers may wish to offer. The woes of Belgium have been depicted in song and story, but Ireland and her people have been crucified for seven centuries. To Connolly’s old comrades in the Socialist movement in this country, I leave the case of his wife and children. I hope to have the opportunity of speaking more fully of these matters at a meeting in New York City, and any one who desires to get copies of Connolly’s books and pamphlets, may write me at 1046 North Franklin street, Chicago.

“Heed a word, a word in season, for the day is drawing nigh,
When the Cause shall call upon us, some to live and some to die.
He that dies shall not die lonely, many a one hath gone before,
He that lives shall bear no burden heavier than the one they bore.
E’en the tidings we are telling, were the same for which they bled,
E’en the Cause that our hearts cherish, was the same for which they fell.”

James Connolly and his comrades heard the call.

The Masses successfully combined arts and politics and was the voice of urban, cosmopolitan, liberatory socialism. It became the leading anti-war voice in the run-up to World War One and helped to popularize industrial unions and support of workers strikes. It was sexually and culturally emancipatory, which placed it both politically and socially and odds the leadership of the Socialist Party, which also found support in its pages. The art, art criticism, and literature it featured was all imbued with its, increasing, radicalism. Floyd Dell was it literature editor and saw to the publication of important works and writers. Its radicalism and anti-war stance brought Federal charges against its editors for attempting to disrupt conscription during World War One which closed the paper in 1917. The editors returned in early 1918 with the adopted the name of William Lloyd Garrison’s The Liberator, which continued the interest in culture and the arts as well as the aesthetic of The Masses. Contributors to this essential publication of the US left included: Sherwood Anderson, Cornelia Barns, George Bellows, Louise Bryant, Arthur B. Davies, Dorothy Day, Floyd Dell, Max Eastman, Wanda Gag, Jack London, Amy Lowell, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Inez Milholland, Robert Minor, John Reed, Boardman Robinson, Carl Sandburg, John French Sloan, Upton Sinclair, Louis Untermeyer, Mary Heaton Vorse, and Art Young.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/masses/issues/tamiment/t63-v08n09-m61-jul-1916.pdf