James Connolly – Marxist, Irish Republican Socialist, by Alex McGuigan

Image by William Murphy via Flickr

by Alex McGuigan
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
Belfast, Northern Ireland
November 18, 2021

James Connolly is one of Irish Republicanism’s best known revolutionary figures, and upwards of twenty political parties in contemporary Ireland claim Connolly as their primary ideologue. Many more claim Connolly as at least a significant figure in their own particular, and often unlikely, political tradition. Even successive right-wing, Free Stater administrations have paid tokenistic lip-service to Connolly’s legacy by christening utilities after him and commissioning grand statues, akin to corporate art, to the Marxist brought up in the slums of Edinburgh.