An rare pamphlet from a small, but important, Irish American socialist press consisting mainly of Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington’s speech on the murder of her husband during the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, in which she participated in, given during her tour in the US from December to April, 1916. Also published on her return to Ireland, where she joined SInn Fein, this pamphlet was banned by British authorities until 1919. The pamphlet also includes an article by her husband and political partner Frances on Ireland and the War written just weeks before his murder at the hands of the British.

‘F. Sheehy Skeffington was an anti-militarist, a fighting pacifist. A man gentle and kindly even to his bitterest opponents, who always ranged himself on the side of the weak against the strong, whether the struggle was one of class, sex or race domination. Together with his strong fighting spirit, he had a marvelous, an unextinguishable good humor, a keen joy in life, a great faith in humanity and a hope in the progress toward good.’

A Forgotten Small Nationality: Ireland and the War by Francis Sheehy-Skeffington and British Militarism As I Have Known It by Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington. Donnelly Press, New York. 1917.

Contents: Ireland and the War (February, 1916), British Militarism As I Have Known It) F. Sheehy Skeffington’s Last Days, The Arrest, Hostage Incident, The Murder, Other Murders, My Search, My Sister’s Arrest, Promotion of Colthurst, Second Burial, Court Martial, Asquith Interview, Expose, State of Ireland, The Volunteers. 31 pages.

Donnelly Press was a short-lived, but important, printing office of the Irish Progressive League which had emerged from the Irish Socialist Federation, of which James Connolly had been a leading member. During Ireland’s revolutionary period they produced a number of pamphlets and books by Irish activists highlighting the struggle there, including some of Connolly’s most important works.

PDF of pamphlet: https://archive.org/download/forgottensmallna00sheeiala/forgottensmallna00sheeiala.pdf