"The Socialist who would destroy, root and branch, the whole brutally materialistic system of civilisation, which like the English language we have adopted as our own, is, I hold, a far more deadly foe to English rule and tutelage, than the superficial thinker who imagines it possible to reconcile Irish freedom with those insidious but disastrous forms of economic subjection – landlord tyranny, capitalist fraud and unclean usury; baneful fruits of the Norman Conquest, the unholy trinity, of which Strongbow and Diarmuid MacMurchadha – Norman thief and Irish traitor – were the fitting precursors and apostles. "

#usury #Norman #irishtraitor

"If you remove the English army to-morrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain.

England would still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs."

#blood #martyrs

"Nationalism without Socialism – without a reorganisation of society on the basis of a broader and more developed form of that common property which underlay the social structure of Ancient Erin - is only national recreancy.

It would be tantamount to a public declaration that our oppressors had so far succeeded in inoculating us with their perverted conceptions of justice and morality that we had finally decided to accept those conceptions as our own, and no longer needed an alien army to force them upon us.

As a Socialist I am prepared to do all one man can do to achieve for our motherland her rightful heritage – independence"

#nationalism #alien #motherland

This is actually the majority of the article broken up into small chunks for ease of use.

"What is Patriotism? Love of country, someone answers. But what is meant by ‘love of country’? “The rich man,” says a French writer, “loves his country because he conceives it owes him a duty, whereas the poor man loves his country as he believes he owes it a duty.” The recognition of the duty we owe our country is, I take it, the real mainspring of patriotic action; and our ‘country’, properly understood, means not merely the particular spot on the earth's surface from which we derive our parentage, but also comprises all the men, women and children of our race whose collective life constitutes our country’s political existence."

#patriotism #country #irishrace

These two quotes are from Patriotism And Labour (1897).

The second isn't overtly nationalistic but is a good example of Connolly speaking about excess labour reducing wages. This is even more relevant now with foreign labour through open borders.

"We desire to preserve with the English people the same political relations as with the people of France, or Germany, or of any other country; the greatest possible friendship, but also the strictest independence. Brothers, but not bedfellows. Thus, inspired by another ideal, conducted by reason not by tradition, following a different course, the Socialist Republican Party of Ireland arrives at the same conclusion as the most irreconcilable Nationalist."

#nationalism #borders #immigration

Above taken from Socialism and Irish Nationalism (1897).

"The interests of Labour all the world over are identical, it is true, but it is also true that each country had better work out its own salvation on the lines most congenial to its own people."

#borders #immigration

"The national and racial characteristics of the English and Irish people are different, their political history and traditions are antagonistic, the economic development of the one is not on a par with the other, and, finally, although they have been in the closest contact for seven hundred years, yet the Celtic Irishman is to-day as much of an insoluble problem to even the most friendly English as on the day when the two countries were first joined in unholy wedlock."

#irishrace #celtic

These two quotes are taken from Erin's Hope (1897).

This is a very interesting article that I might revisit as it touches on many topics including Irish societal history, foreign competition and the Anglo Question.

"We gather from the American newspapers that our countrymen in the United States army and navy have been highly distinguishing themselves in the cause of the war with Spain.

This is as it should be and in consonance with all our Irish traditions. We are a fighting race, we are told, and every Irishman is always proud to hear our politicians and journalists tell of our exploits in the fighting line – in other countries, in other climes and in other times.

Yes, we are a fighting race. Whether it is under the Stars and Stripes or under the Union Jack; ... look then for the sons of our Emerald Isle..."

Yes, we are a fighting race. In Africa, India or America, wherever blood is to be spilt, there you will find Irishmen, eager and anxious for a fight, under any flag, in anybody's quarrel, in any cause – except their own."

#flag #irishrace #country

This is a slightly condensed section from The Fighting Race (1898) outlining how Connolly understood that no matter what flag he fought for, or country he lived in, that an Irishman is still Irish, that there is something more to being Irish than geography & citizenship. This is echoed In his own statement before his execution. In other words, he implicitly rejects the notion of civic nationalism and acknowledges ethnic bonds, what he refers to as "race".

List of # terms to use in the search bar for quick access to relevant quotes:

irishrace
irishpeople
country
nationalism
nation
flag
blood
martyrs
celtic
borders
immigration
alien
motherland
usury
norman
irishtraitor
foreign
natives
children
scab
unpatriotic
globalism
environmentalism
existence
gaelic
native
family
plantation
community
individual
collective
duty
veg
soul
famine
homeless
barbarians
oyvey
shutitdown
slander
slavery
Gael
capitalism
language
extinction
past
present
future
political
economic
creed
history
chemical
elements
soil
Ireland
materialistic
socialist
capitalists
flag
dublincastle
englisharmy
tears
socialism
parentage
duty
national
racial
tradition
invasion
exploiters
plunder
conquest
dispossession
character
hunger
future
capitalism
machinery
chauvinistic
protectionism
hereditary
lifeblood
demographics
climate
destiny
oldrace
europe
landlord
history

If the list gets too long I'll simplify it where possible, but it's a start.

To go straight to the top put # "top" into the search bar to bring you to the first post of the channel.

"Lord Lieutenants were unknown in Ireland before the Norman invasion. They have ever represented a foreign dominion, and the fight for Irish ‘rights’ does not date from the year 1800, but goes back a trifle of 600 years before that event.

As a matter of fact there never was such a thing as an Irish Parliament. The collection of exploiters who met in College Green were not Irish in any sense of the term. Their Parliament was no more than the council of a horde of foreign brigands deliberating as to the best and safest method of plundering the natives."

#norman #natives #foreign

Taken from Home Thrusts (27 Aug. 1898).

The last two lines are probably enough on their own, the rest is for context. The Norman's invaded. "foreign brigands" distinct from the "natives". Think about this next time identity deconstruction is used to justify mass immigration today.

"In the eyes of the farmers no wagging of green flags could make a landgrabber a patriot; let the workers apply the same test and brand as enemies of Ireland all who believe in the subjection of labour to capital – brand as traitors to his country all who live by skinning Irish labour"

#borders #immigration

Taken from Labour Representation (1898).

This is good example of Connolly's writings that can be applied to modern Ireland. We currently have our native working class being undercut by foreign labour and markets, and this practice is supported by the very people who claim to stand for the wellbeing of the workers.