JIM CONNOLLY ASSUMES THE LEADERSHIP
"My country claims me all, claims every passion;
Her liberty henceforth be all my thought!
Though with a brother's life yet cheaply bought;
For her my own I'd willingly resign,
And say, with transport, that the gain was mine."
-Martyn.
Under Jim Connolly's leadership an appreciable change began to appear in the attitude of the Citizen Army Council towards the Volunteers. The attitude of passive sympathy began to be gradually replaced by an attitude of active unity and co-operation. In their break-away from the control of the Parliamentarians Party the Volunteers had built a bridge over the stream of thought that separated the two forces from each other, and speculation became common as to whether the Volunteers would absorb the Citizen Army or that body's influence would sway the councils of the Volunteers. Jim Connolly had never associated himself with any of the attacks made upon the Volunteers during their earlier history - indeed, whenever he had previously interested himself in the affairs of the Citizen Army, which was seldom, his influence had been invariably exerted to moderate the mutual hostility that smouldered, and occasionally flamed, into passionate recriminations and, consequently, the relations between him and the militant members of the Volunteer Council soon became cordial. It is difficult to understand the almost revolutionary change that was manifesting itself in Connolly's nature. The Labour movement seemed to be regarded by him as a decrescent force, while the essence of Nationalism began to assume the finest elements of his nature. His articles that now appeared in the Workers' Republic with consistent regularity, the speeches that he delivered at various demonstrations and assemblies, all proclaimed that Jim Connolly had stepped from the narrow byway of Irish Socialism on to the broad and crowded highway of Irish Nationalism. The vision of the suffering world's humanity was shadowed by the nearer oppression of his own people, and in a few brief months pressed into a hidden corner of his soul the accumulated thoughts of a lifetime and opened his broad heart to ideas that altered the entire trend of his being. The high creed of Irish Nationalism became his daily rosary, while the higher creed of international humanity that had so long bubbled from his eloquent lips was silent for ever, and Irish Labour lost a Leader.
A well-known author has declared that Connolly was the first martyr for Irish Socialism; but Connolly was no more an Irish Socialist martyr than Robert Emmett, P. H. Pearse, or Theobald Wolfe Tone.
But as this little work is intended to be historical rather than critical, we must take up again the simple and concise narration of the facts as they occurred.
The Constitution of the Irish Volunteers was radically altered on Sunday, October 25th, 1914, at the first Convention held by that Organisation in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. The Convention was called after the original Provisional Exerutive had definitely repudiated the government of the nominees which Mr. J. E. Redmond had selected to ensure that the Irish Volunteer movement would be always subsidiary to the Constitutional agitation carried on by the Parliamentary Party in favour of self-government for Ireland. The Volunteer movement had been riven in sunder and two distinct branches now called upon the people of Ireland for support and allegiance: the National Volunteers under the patronage of the Parliamentarians, and the Irish Volunteers under the government of the original Executive Committee.
Force of circumstances compelled the Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army to link forces together on many occasions. Their sympathies at least became identical in hostility to everything connected with the Parliamentarian Party. The members of the two movements began to fraternise together, and on the day of the Convention the members of the Citizen Army helped to line the roads leading to the Abbey Theatre, in which the Volunteer Convention was held, and gave many indications of their feeling of exultation at the formation of a Volunteer Association which had been largely purged of what they considered to be reactionary elements, and which had formulated a Constitution which evoked their sympathies and commanded their support. To all that carefully reflected upon passing events it was apparent that the Citizen Army was really becoming the militant Left Wing of the Irish Volunteers.
Referring to the Convention, the Irish Worker, October 31st, 1914,said:-
"We congratulate the Volunteers on the success they have achieved. It is a significant sign, and should give Irishmen here at home reason to pause to see Volunteer delegates from London, Glasgow and Liverpool taking part in the proceedings and standing side by side with the true men in the movement. They have not forgotten the hellish system which forced them to seek a living in the land of the stranger."
At a great Emmett Anniversary held on Sunday,October the 25th, organised by the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army attended in full strength, and the following notice in the Irish Worker indicated the desire of the Volunteers to enlist on their side the power and influence of Labour:
IRISH VOLUNTEERS' FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION,
SUNDAY, October 25th.
GREAT DEMONSTRATION AND TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION
Around places in this city sacred to the memory of the United Irishmen and other patriots who died for Ireland. To be concluded by a
MEETING IN STEPHEN'S GREEN,
at which a declaration of the policy adopted by this Convention will be made.
All Nationalist and Labour Bodies and Bands are invited to co-operate.
Procession will assemble in Beresford Place at
6.30 prompt.
Mr. EOIN MACNEILL will speak.
It became quite obvious now to all that the Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army were essentially one in ideal, and would eventually be one in action. Things were hurrying towards a bloody climax, but as yet the cloud in the sky was no larger than a man's hand, and no one realized that in a few weeks it would have enveloped the whole of the City of Dublin in smoke and blood and fire.
The drilling of the Volunteers and the Citizen Army daily became more pointed and practical; and in the manoeuvres practised by both organisations, it became apparent that everything possible was being done to prepare their members to make the most of their limited numbers and circumscribed powers.
A further indication of the singular change in Jim Connolly's ideas, and of his determined attachment to the principles enunciated by Sinn Fein and the Irish Volunteers, which were, in many instances, directly contrary to his life-long teaching of Socialism, was the fixing on the frontage of Liberty Hall a scroll on which was written the inscription: " We serve neither King nor Kaiser - but Ireland." His speeches and his writings had long indicated his new trend of thought, and his actions now proclaimed trumpet-tongued that the appeal of Caitlin Ni hUllachain-" If anyone would give me help, he must give me himself, he must give me all " - was in his ears a louder cry than the appeal of the Intcruationale, which years of contemplative thought had almost written in letters of fire upon his broad and noble soul.
Liberty Hall was now no longer the headquarters of the Irish Labour movement, but the centre of Irish National disaffection. Activities redoubled; preparations went forward with feverish haste, and the night was made joint labourer with the day. Route marches were organised, and carried out at every conceivable hour with order, and disciplined enthusiasm, and no member of the Citizen Army knew when he retired to bed how long he might be allowed to repose there, for frequent summonses were issued to members to join their units at an hour's notice to go they knew not where, and do they knew not what.
One day everyone entering Liberty Hall was startled to read on the notice-board that that night the Irish Citizen Army was to make an attack upon Dublin Castle, and many a conjecture was framed as to the seriousness of the purpose indicated on the notice-board. At midnight out marched the Citizen Army under their leaders, through a heavy fog that enveloped the city, the mist-shaded electric street lamps blinking at this body of armed men marching by, like watchful eyes eagerly endeavouriug to discover the reason of this unusual and singular sight in the streets of Dublin at such an hour.
But it was only a test, and these practices continued making the members used to sudden calls, and generally preparing them for the heavy struggle that was soon to break the gentle and happy sleepiness of Dublin City.
A definite union had now been formed between the Irish Citizen Army and the Irish Volunteers, and on the Sunday before Easter Day, 19l6, an outward and visible sign of the inward union was given by the dramatic hoisting of the Irish Tricolour, of Orange, Green and White, over the most conspicuous part of Liberty Hall.
On the evening of the ceremonial, thousands thronged the square in front of the Hall, and as the ball of bunting flew up the flagstaff, shook itself free on the breeze, and contrasted its lines of Green, White and Orange with a dull grey sky, there was a thunderclap of eheering which proclaimed unmistakably that the union of Labour and Militant Nationalism was a popular one, though many in the assembled crowd merely came to feast their souls on a novel pageant, which event is always a sweet luxury to the uneducated Irish nature.
Labour had laid its precious gift of Independence on the altar of Irish Nationalism, and this display was a sign to the govening classes to at least consider the dumb wish of an aspiring people.
It was followed by fire and bloodshed, and, as the great Englishman, Carlyle, says: "The governors who wait for these to instruct them are surely getting into the fatallest courses - proving themselves sons of Nox and Chaos, for Insurrection is a mere announcement of the disease - visible now even to the Sons of Night ... the falsehood of it alone will be conquered, will be abolished as it ought to be; but the truth of it is part of Nature's own laws, co-operates with the world's eternal tendencies and cannot be conquered."
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CHAPTER XI
THE RISING
When the dark world seems all too desperate,
A hopeless, hideous struggle without cease,
When hope is gone what left but seek release
In one mad grapple with the thing you hate;
Flinging all counsel to the whirlwind, send
Defiant challenge, to the world; and so
Recklessly facing your triumphant foe,
Pray that some welcome bullet bring the end.
"Yours was this grim resolve that nerves the will
When faith and hope are fled beyond recall,
As it was theirs who died at Bunker Hill,
And those mad boys who held the Roman Wall;
Your dreams, maybe, were madmen's dreams; but
still
You gave your lives for them - God rest you all!"
-W. N. Ewen, "The Five Souls."
From the blue skies was falling a golden curtain of shimmering sunshine, clothing buildings in its filmy cloth of gold, and veiling their naked ugliness in beauty, or adding a richer appearance to their classic grace and strength.
It was a day on which to make merry, and crowded streets proclaimed that the influences of the sun's geniality was making melody in the hearts of man. Many were climbing joyously on to the trains to seek in Nature's bosom a place that would hide them for a few hours "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife," while distinct gatherings of people stood by near Nelson Pillar and found happy moments in the contemplation of the passing activities of human life. Curious glances were flung at passing vehicles, burdened with hopeful crews, flashing swiftly by on their way to Fairyhouse Races, and the pulse of human anxiety was scarcely felt besides the quick-beating pulse of human enjoyment.
Now the holiday seekers were disregarded for an additional novelty; the cars for Fairyhcuse went speeding by unnoticed, and a semi-lazy but curious concentration of attention was fixed on an approaching body of marching men.
Passengers on the tram cars leisurely approached the sides and looked down on the armed force, and wondered vaguely at the sharp order to halt, as they came in front of the General Post Office. "Those there," Said someone, "dressed in the dark-green uniforms, with the slouch hats, are the Citizen Army, and the others in green-grey are Irish Volunteers."
The curiosity displayed in the proceedings gave place now to bewildered astonishment as the ring of falling glass echoed from the direction of the Post Office. Astonishment was followed by stupefaction as faint echoes of rifle shots penetrated from a distance to where the people were gathered together, and all things were forgotten as the news spread from mouth to mouth that the Volunteers ahd the Citizen Army were taking Dublin, that a Provisional Government had been established and an Irish Republic proclaimed.
. . . . . . .
At three o'clock p.m. on Easter Monday the General Post Office was occupied by the united forces,and separate detachments of the Citizen Army were marching on Stephen's Green and on Dublin Castle.
The contingent that took possession of Stephen's Green was in command of Michael Mallon. Countess Markievicz was second in command, and detachments were hastily sent to hold the advanced positions of Harcourt Street Station and Ranelagh Bridge till the Green could be advantageously arranged for occupatian by the main body of the Citizen Army. Owing to the fewness of the contingent that operated in this district, it was found to be impossible to take possession of the surrounding buildings, and, consequently, the position became untenable, and it was abandoned on Tuesday morning, the Citizen Army retreating under heavy machine-gun fire to the College of Surgeons, which they immediately fortified as best they could, and where they were reinforced by a detachment of Volunteers from Jacob's biscuit factory.
The company which attacked the Castle was under the command of Shaun Connolly, who was fatally wounded in the melee. For hours a bitter struggle raged in the Castle Yard, in Henry and James', Parliament Street, and in the Mail offices, during which this little band, contending against hopeless odds, suffered severely, and were finally forced to gradually withdraw to stronger positions nearer the Headquarters of the Republican Army.
On Thursday morning the attack on the Republican Headquarters commenced. Field Artillery had cleared away many of the intervening buildings, and incendiary bombs were dropped in regular order on the roof of the Post Office. Blazing buildings surrounded them on every side. Most of their faces were bloodstained; the skin was chipped from their cheeks by flying fragments of stone and mortar, and, occasionally, the bright flame of the burning Post Office would be stabbed by the dark shadow of a falling man. Connolly, who had been wounded twice, was carried, by his orders, from the room that was being used as an hospital to superintend the withdrawal from the front defences, and it became clear that if the little band was not to be buried in the tottering masses of timber and stone, an immediate retreat was inevitable.
On Friday night, between 8.30 and 9.30, the retreat began from the side entrance of the Post Office, into Moore Lane, where a party held a cottage facing Glass Marble Alley, up which, from behind a barricade, a contingent of soldiers were firing rapidly at the passing Volunteers and Citizen Army.
A plan had been determined upon which was to break through the houses in Moore Street towards Parnell Street, in which there was a strong force of soldiers. These were to be attacked and driven back by a picked company of Volunteers, and the main body was then to seize the premises of Williams and Woods, link up with the detachments fighting in North King Street, and beat a fighting retreat towards the north in order to make an effort to arouse the companies of Volunteers and sympathisers who, it was thought, only waited a definite opportunity to throw in their lot with the Irish Republicans.
It was discovered that, owing to the superiority of the Royal troops, this attack, arranged to take place at dawn, could not possibly succeed, and it was accordingly postponed till the dusk of the evening, so that the element of surprise might, conceivably, make up for the numerical weakness of the Republican attacking force, and orders were given to the men to take such rest as might be possible under the circumstances that surrounded
them.
A few hours after rumours were circulated that communications had been commenced with the General Commanding to ascertain the best possible conditions which would be given to the Republican forces should a surrender be decided upon, the rumour being shortly confirmed by an order that no shots should be fired pending the discussion that was then taking place between the leaders of the opposing armies.
At 8.30 on Saturday night, April the 29th, the men were definitely told that surrender had been decided upon, and Sean MacDermott, his whole frame shaking with emotion, in the yard of a house in Moore Street, spoke to the silent gathering of dust-covered men, gloomily sharing the half-suppressed agony of their leader, and told them "that their Republican Army had surrendered, not because they were beaten, but because they wanted to save their women and children and their beloved city of Dublin. They would march out with their arms through Moore Street, Henry Street, to O'Connell Street, where they would lay down arms."
In the gathering shadows of a spring evening the small band of men, who had passed through such a terrible experience, marched in order of company column to the statue of Parnell, where, in the centre of O'Connell Street, they deposited their arms and accoutrements, which step was shortly augmented by the arms of the different contingents arriving from the various parts of the city.
--------------------------------
AFTERWORD
"Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose,
And Jamshyd's Seven-ring'd Cup where no one knows;
But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,
And still a Garden by the water blows."
-Omar Khayyam.
The breath of Death which had swept over poor Dublin carried with it the seeds of a new life, which, falling in different parts of Ireland, began to appear as green blades of new thought and new activities. The bonfires of Sinn Fein began to blaze on every Irish hillside, and thousands of the Irish people danced around the blaze of Sinn Fein, as if they warmed themselves at the fire of life. Parliamentarianism was a sinking fire, and, now, not all the united breath of a united party could ever again succeed in blowing it into an inspiring flame. The new wine of new thoughts and new activities was everywhere bursting the old battles, but though the new wine has a Sinn Fein label it certainly has not an absolutely Sinn Fein flavour, for Labour has tinged it with a brighter colour and strengthened it with a stimulating cordial.
In this new wine a lowly life, like a pearl, had been dissolved; a life untarnished by worldly ambition, or selfish perception; a life of mourning struggle and valorous effort, sacrificed humbly and fearlessly for the general good; sacrificed under circumstances that stripped the offering of all the impressive draperies of martyrdom. Unwept, except by a few, unhonoured and unsung – for no National Society or Club has gratefully deigned to be called by his name - yet the ideas of Sheehy-Skeffington, like the tiny mustard seed to-day, will possibly grow into a tree that will afford shade and rest to many souls overheated with the stress and toil of barren politics. He was the living antithesis of the Easter Insurrection: a spirit of peace enveloped in the flame and rage and hatred of the contending elements, absolutely free from all its terrifying madness; and yet he was the purified soul of revolt against not only one nation's injustice to another, but he was also the soul of revolt against man's inhumanity to man. And in this blazing pyre of national differences his beautiful nature, as far as this world is concerned, was consumed, leaving behind a hallowed and inspiring memory of the perfect love that casteth out fear, against which there can be no law.
In Sheehy-Skeffington, and not in Connolly, fell the first martyr to Irish Socialism, for he linked Ireland not only with the little nations struggling for self-expression, but with the world's Humanity struggling for a higher life.
He indeed was the ripest ear of corn that fell in Easter Week, and as it is true that when an ear of corn falls into the ground and dies it bringeth forth much fruit, so will the sown body of Sheehy-Skeffington bring forth, ultimately, in the hearts of his beloved people, the rich crop of goodly thoughts which shall strengthen us all in our onward march towards the fuller development of our National and Social Life.
. . . . . .
One of the most gratifying and encouraging indications of the broader and kindlier vision of human nature was the earnest sympathy expressed towards the Irish people by many of the leaders of thought among the English people, subsequent to the sad events of Easter Week. Nowhere in England, among the working classes, was manifested that insensate outburst of rage and malice that invariably characterised the attitude of England's workers towards Irish people during previous Irish declarations of revolt towards the English domination. It has certainly demonstrated that even the English workers have been potently influenced by the change of thought that has enwrapped man in a new and better social environment. Sympathy and kindly feeling towards Ireland were manfully expressed in many places in England during this period of sorrow and sacrifice, which ought to convince even the most bigoted of Sinn Feiners of the truth testified to by Boyle O'Reilly and John Mitchel in the fundamental unity of man.
George Lansbury, speaking at a great meeting held in Albert Hall, to commemorate the Russian Revolution, said :" We English people have to clear our own doorstep. I stood here just about three years go; almost where Williams is sitting sat James Connolly (cheers). He and his dead colleagues of a year ago were just too soon, that is all; and, friends, we British people have got to clear that Irish question up, because until we do it, it is not for us to celebrate other people's triumphs over reaction." And in many English Labour papers the writings of Jim Connolly have been quoted, and his Labour songs published, so that these and many other indications conclusively prove that the mind of the English working class has undergone a revolutionary change, and that "the unbought section of the English Labour movement" - to quote from Nationality - is seriously anxious to stretch forth the hand of true comradeship towards their Irish fellow-workers.
We laugh, frequently, at bile efforts of English Governments and English journalists to understand us, and our amusement is invariably justified; but let us at least make an effort to acquaint ourselves with the new trend of thought passing like a pillar of illuminating fire over England's workers, that we may know them as they are, before we unjustly and foolishly relegate this a1l-powerful element in England's political and social life among the irreconcilable enemies of Inisfail.
. . . . . .
While the ultimate destiny of Ireland will be in the hands of Labour, it would be foolish to deny that the present is practically in the hands of the Sinn Fein Organisation. Its activities are spreading over the land, and Labour comes halting very much behind. This is explained by two reasons: Sinn Fein is not yet democratic, though Irish; while Labour, though fundamentally democratic, is far from being National. As Parliamentarianism was a poor copy of English Liberalism, so is Irish Labour a poorer reflex of English Trades Unionism. Its boasted Irish characteristics are far from being apparent, and its pretended love for the Irish language is very superficial indeed. It has done nothing to ensure that Irish shall be the language of the future nation; its propaganda literature is practically written from an English point of view, and the Irish Labour leaders are all painfully ignorant of their country's history, language and literature. It is because of these self-evident facts that Sinn Fein possesses a tremendous advantage over the Labour movement. Persecution has deepened our sympathies with our Irish origin, and the Irish Labour leaders, sooner or later, will be forced to realise that they must become Irish if they expect to win the confidence and support of the Irish working-class. Sinn Fein, too, will have to cope with the greatest of all difficulties - Success. Here now, like tares and wheat,the good and evil will grow up together. It will roughly be composed of two classes of thought: those who love themselves so well that they have none left for Ireland, and those who love Ireland so well that they have none left for themselves. The first love is selfish; the second is foolish.
It is from these elements that Labour must build the future state; democratising the national movement and Irishising itself. Labour will probably have to fight Sinn Fein - indeed the challenge seems to have been thrown down already - but the Labour leaders must become wiser and more broadminded than they at present seem to be; they must remove the beam from their own eye that they may clearly see to remove the mote from the eye of Sinn Fein, and then they will find in that organisation elements that will readily yield to as penetrating forces; then the leaders of Labour in Ireland will be able to glean grapes from a tree that hitherto brought forth only wild grapes, because Labour, through the Citizen Army, has broken down the first trenches of national prejudice, and has left a deep impression on the bloody seal of Irish Republicanism.
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APPENDIX
MANIFESTO SENT TO IRISH TRADES BODIES.
IRISH CITIZEN ARMY HEADQUARTERS,
LIBERTY HALL, DUBLIN.
The Secretary...........Trades Union.
A Chara,-In view of the present situation it has been decided to reorganise and develop the scope of the Irish Citizen Army. No one knows what a day may bring forth. We have the Ulster Volunteers preparing for eventualities in the North, and the National Volunteers actively organising themselves in various parts of Ireland, while all the time the Labour Hercules leans foolishly and lazily on his club.
Would it not be a shame if the forces of Labour alone were content to believe all things, suffer all things, endure all things; to starve rather than take, to be stricken and not to strike back ?
Believing that Labour will shake itself to action, we have formed a Provisional Council to develop the power and influence of the Citizen Army in Labour circles, and we hope their efforts will receive the co-operation of your Trades Union. We propose to hold a meeting in your........................ shortly, and, in the meantime, we appeal to you to use your efforts to prevent the members of your Union from joining any organisation, how ever attractive its name or principles may seem, till we have the opportunity of fully explaining to them the principles, objects and aims of the Irish Citizen Army.
We enclose copies of Constitution, posters and handbills, and hope that these will show that the Irish Citizen Army is the only suitable organisation for the workers of Ireland.
Fraternally yours,
President, CAPTAIN WHITE, D.S.O.,
Hon. Secretary, SEAN O CATHASAIGH,
Irish Citizen Army.
========
FIRST HANDBILL ISSUED BY IRISH CITIZEN ARMY.
WHY IRISH WORKERS SHOULD NOT JOIN THE NATIONAL VOLUNTEERS!
1. Because many members of the Executive are hostile to the workers.
2. Because it is controlled by the forces that have always opposed Labour.
3. Because many of its officials have locked out their workers for asserting their right to join the Trades Union of their choice.
4. Because they refuse to definitely declare that they stand for the Democratic principles of Wolfe Tone and John Mitchel.
5. Because they welcome into their organisation creatures that are proved renegades to their own class.
REASONS WHY THE WORKERS SHOULD JOIN THE IRISH CITIZEN ARMY.
1. Because it is controlled by Leaders of your own class.
2. Because it stands for Labour and the principles of Wolfe Tone, John Mitchel and Fintan Lalor.
3. Because it has the sympathy and support of the Dublin trades Council
4. Because it refuses to allow in its ranks those who have proved untrue to Labour.
WORKERS, don't be misled; trust only those ye know and have suffered for your class.
JOIN THE CITIZEN ARMY NOW!
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COPY OF MEMBERSHIP CARD.
FRONT PAGE.
THE IRISH CITIZEN ARMY
MEMBERSHIP CARD,
President:
CAPTAIN WHITE, D.S.O.
Hon. Secretary:
SEAN 0 CATHASAIGH.
Hon. Treasurers:
COUNTESS MARKIEVICZ. RICHARD BRANNIGAN.
Army Headquarters:
LIBERTY HALL, DUBLIN.
Go gCuirdh Dia an Rath Orainn.
BACK PAGE.
"The Land and Sea aud Air of Ireland for the People of Ireland. This is the gospel the heavens and earth are proclaiming; and that is the gospel every Irish heart is secretly burning to embrace."-John Mitchel.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE IRISH CITIZEN ARMY.
1.-That the first and last principle of the Irish Citizen Army is the avowal that the ownership of Ireland, moral and material, is vested of right in the people of Ireland.
2.-That its principal objects shall be :
a. To arm and train all Irish-men capable of bearing arms to enforce and defend its first principle.
b. To sink all differences of birth, privilege and creed under the common name of the Irish People.
3.-That the Citizen Army shall stand for the absolute unity of Irish Nationhood and recognition of the rights and liberties of the world's Democracies.
4.-That the Citizen Army shall be open to all who are prepared to accept the principles of equal rights and opportunities for the People of Ireland and to work in harmony with organised Labour towards that end.
5.-Every enrolled member must be, if possible, a member of a Trades Union recognised by the Irish Trades Union Congress.
GOD SAVE THE PEOPLE.
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COPY OF FIRST POSTER ISSUED BY CITIZEN ARMY COUNCIL, 1914.
"Train your hands and your sons' hands, gentlemen of the earth, for you and they will have to use them."
FINTAN LALOR.
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND.
This is the Time for Action. All political organisations are preparing for the future. Shall labour remain apathetic? Remember, workers, that
THE PRICE OF LIBERTY IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE.
Put the advice of Labour in practice by joining now
THE IRISH CITIZEN ARMY,
which stands for the Cause of Labour and erects its Constitution on the principles of
WOLFE TONE AND JOHN MITCHEL.
Enlist at once and help us to create
THE IRISH CO-OPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH.
GOD SAVE THE PEOPLE.
All particulars from
THE HONORARY SECRETARY,
Irish Citizen Army,
Liberty Hall
Dublin.
Posted By
Red Marriott
May 25 2007 17:42