Founded in 1896 by James Connolly and others, the Irish Socialist Republican Party was warmly greeted and promoted by the Socialist Labor Party in the U.S. as a vehicle for reaching the millions of Irish-American workers, who in their mass had largely stood outside the Socialist movement.

‘The Irish Socialists’ from The People. Vol. 6 No. 40. January 3, 1897.

“The Great Appear Great To Us Only Because We Are On Our Knees, Let us Rise.”

The Membership Card of the Irish Socialist Republican Party–Outward Color, Emerald Green–A Significant Motto–Condensed Declaration of Principles that Demand Absolute Industrial and National Freedom–Industrial and National Subjection stunts People’s Growth–The Ownership of the Machinery of Production is the Prerequisite to Industrial Freedom.

The membership card of the Irish Socialist Labor party, the launching of which we referred to a few weeks ago, is a thing of beauty. Its color is a deep emerald green. On its first or front page it bears simply the inscription:

IRISH SOCIALIST REPUBLICAN PARTY, FOUNDED MAY, 1896.

On its fourth, or last, page, it prints the deep motto:

“The great appear great to us only because we are on our knees.

“LET US RISE.”

The second inside, or third, page, is divided up in squares for dues stamps, and the first inside, or second, page makes this announcement:

“The Irish Socialist Republican party holds:

“That the agricultural and industrial system of a free people, like their political system, ought to be an accurate reflex of the democratic principle, by the people, for the peoples solely in the interests of the people.

“That the private ownership, by a class, of the land and instruments of production, distribution and exchange, is opposed to this vital principle of justice, and is the fundamental basis of all oppression, national, political, or social.

“That the subjection of one nation to another, as of Ireland to the authority of the British Crown, is a barrier to the free political and economic development of the subjected nation, and can only Serve the interests of the exploiting classes of both nations.

“That therefore the national and economic freedom of the Irish People must be sought in the same direction, viz., the establishment of an Irish Socialist Republic, and the consequent conversion of the means of production, distribution and exchange into the common property of society, to be held and controlled by a democratic state in the interests of the entire community.

“That the conquest by the Social Democracy of political power in Parliament, and on all public bodies in Ireland, is the readiest and most effective means whereby the revolutionary forces may be organized and disciplined to attain that end.”

The headquarters of the organization are at 67 Mid Abbey street, Dublin, Ireland. It is intended to issue a series of pamphlets at a penny each. The first of the series has already appeared. Every intelligent Irish workingman in America should keep himself posted on this movement, and should enthusiastically labor here with the American di- vision of that great international movement, of which the Irish Socialist Republican party is the Irish division. Long have Irish capitalists, in Ireland and America, played upon the Irish love for freedom and pulled the Irish workingman by the nose for their private, profit, and to the undoing of all the Irish people hold dear. Here in particular, the Irish capitalists, representing identical interests with the English capitalists, have had high carnival on the backs of the Irish workers, whom they have plucked, rackrented, dispossessed and thrown out of work, and finally made voting cattle of. The place of the Irish proletariat or working class here and in Great Britain is alongside of the proletarians of all other nationalities and creeds, under the banner of socialism and at war with the whole capitalist class, whether its members be Irish or German, American or French, Jew or Gentile or Catholic.

We welcome the organization in Ireland of the Socialist Republican party.

New York Labor News Publishing belonged to the Socialist Labor Party and produced books, pamphlets and The People. The People was the official paper of the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP), established in New York City in 1891 as a weekly. The New York SLP, and The People, were dominated Daniel DeLeon and his supporters, the dominant ideological leader of the SLP from the 1890s until the time of his death. The People became a daily in 1900. It’s first editor was the French socialist Lucien Sanial who was quickly replaced by DeLeon who held the position until his death in 1914. After De Leon’s death the editor of The People became Edmund Seidel, who favored unity with the Socialist Party. He was replaced in 1918 by Olive M. Johnson, who held the post until 1938.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/the-people-slp/970103-thepeople-v06n40.pdf