Connolly gets a send off as he readies for his 12-day trip aboard the steamer Sardinia on August 30th to the United States for his transformative speaking tour hosted by the Socialist Labor Party. In England, Connolly had just completed two weeks lecturing for the Social Democratic Federation and the Independent Labor Party of Salford.

‘Send Off for Connolly’ by C.W.F. from The Weekly People. Vol. 12. No. 24. September 13, 1902.

Irish Agitator Pays His Respects to Middle Class at it.

On Saturday evening, August 16, a social gathering was held in the S. D. F. Club, 43 Trafford road, Salford, to meet James Connolly of the Irish Socialist Republican party, and editor of the Workers’ Republic, the official organ of that party. Connolly had just completed the second week’s course of lectures delivered by him this season under the joint auspices of the South Salford S.D.F. and the West Salford I.L.P., and he sails for the United States today, August 30, where he will undertake a lecturing tour extending over about three months, under the auspices of the Socialist Labor Party of America.

Upwards of one hundred met to give Connolly a “send-off,” and with toasts, songs and music, a very enjoyable evening was spent. T.H. Sutton, who acted as chairman, explained the object of the gathering, and called on G. Sanders to propose the health of our Comrade Connolly, and to convey through him our fraternal greetings to American comrades. Sanders gave some particulars of Connolly’s early life, and said they could testify to the splendid work he had done in the past, and believed he would perform greater achievements in the future. Connolly would soon sail for that great free republic, there to tell the free American workman that Socialism alone could solve the great problem which faced them today. Would that we could send not one but one hundred stalwarts, for never in the history of the world was there more need for all thinking men and women to make an effort to save the working class from a threatened state of slavery such as the world had never seen. He thought they might in the name of all earnest Socialists toast the health of Comrade James Connolly, wishing him a safe journey and all success in his mission, and sending through him the message of our great leader, “Workers of the world, unite!”

The remarks of Sanders were greeted with sustained applause, and the toast was drunk with much enthusiasm.

James Connolly, although stating at the outset that he was somewhat at a loss in responding to such a eulogium, being unaccustomed to such ceremonies, gave a lengthy and eloquent speech in reply. After dealing with several aspects of the Socialist movement, he said that one thing he particularly wished to comment upon was the practice amongst many branches both of the S.D.F. and the I.L.P. to attach great importance and hope in the awakening of the middle class. He was inclined to think that the working class were, with all their limitations and faults, showing a disposition to work out their own emancipation and that they would eventually do so. He was always sorry to see men of the working class lacking in faith in their class, for, speaking generally, they were better able to grasp broad issues than men of the middle and upper class. The average middle-class man, though superficially well-educated, was quite unable to grasp any problem outside his own narrow environment. The working class had in the main built up and still sustained and performed the work of the Socialist organizations. That there were notable exceptions did not justify the leaning by them towards a hope and faith in the middle class as the ultimate lever for emancipation from present conditions.

Wm. Horrocks proposed the toast of “The International Socialist Movement,” which was responded to by R. Whithead in a few well chosen remarks.–C.W.F. in London Justice.

New York Labor News Company was the publishing house of the Socialist Labor Party and their paper 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 De Leon 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 De Leon who held the position until his death in 1914. Morris Hillquit and Henry Slobodin, future leaders of the Socialist Party of America were writers before their split from the SLP in 1899. For a while there were two SLPs and two Peoples, requiring a legal case to determine ownership. Eventual the anti-De Leonist produced what would become the New York Call and became the Social Democratic, later Socialist, Party. The De Leonist The People continued publishing until 2008.

PDF of full issue: PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/the-people-slp/020913-weeklypeople-v12n24.pdf